DragonKnight - Donita K. Paul [98]
“Exodus from where?” asked Holt.
Jue Seeno spoke.
N’Rae repeated. “She doesn’t know.”
The tiny minneken turned and faced the blind seer. Bardon knew from the inflection of her words that she asked a question.
From across the fire, Sittiponder responded. “No, Mistress Seeno, I do not know either. The voices have not told me.”
Holt muttered, “He could not have heard from way over there. I can barely hear anything sitting right beside her.”
The minneken turned and shook her fist as she spoke to the upstart marione. Her raised voice carried distinctly to Bardon.
“Not all creatures have their own egos stuck in their ears, keeping them from hearing.”
Bardon laughed out loud. Jue Seeno had quoted a principle with her own twist to the words.
Holt looked puzzled. Ahnek smiled but did not seem to understand what was going on. The others smiled or laughed.
When Bardon could still his laughter enough to speak, he quoted the principle properly. “‘A man’s ego may interfere with his hearing the truth.’”
“Very funny,” growled Holt. “I suppose that is written in one of those Tomes of Wulder you drag around.”
Bardon nodded. “Right smack dab in the center of the second book. And since there are three Tomes, it is in the middle of Wulder’s written word. Some say it is the crux of the whole revelation.”
33
NORTH
As they traveled north, the trees showed a less mature green, reminding Bardon that spring was several weeks newer in the northern part of Amara. Cooler nights also reinforced the feeling of a different climate.
They camped one night by the sea, where waves crashed against granite cliffs. Bardon paused in his assembly of the tent N’Rae and her grandmother would sleep in to watch the silhouetted ballet of the dragons over the water. Of course, he knew they were merely fishing, gorging themselves to be exact, but the beauty of six dragons plunging into the waves and then reemerging to soar through the orange-tinted skies took his breath away.
“Oh my!” N’Rae’s exclamation at his side expressed how he felt. She turned, her eyes seeking out Granny Kye. “Look, Grandmother. Everyone, come see.”
She insisted that each member of the party stop what they were doing and gather at the top of the cliff. Huge, rough boulders served as seating.
“Play,” she ordered Bardon and the others who carried instruments with them. “Play one of those slow, haunting melodies.”
Pont pulled a piccolo from his breast pocket. “‘He Will Greet the Morning’?”
The others nodded. Captain Anton counted the tempo and raised his hand to begin their impromptu concert.
“I know the words to this one,” whispered N’Rae. She began to sing.
“He will greet the morning,
Because He will make each day.
Now He scatters the stars.
He covers the moon.
He draws the light in the blaze of the sun.
“Do not mourn the day’s end,
As the sun declines its realm.
Now He collects the stars.
He reveals the moon.
And He allows the sun to stay its course.
“He will greet the morning
And never restrain new light.
Now He governs the stars.
He directs the moon.
As He greets the morning, He orders our world.”
They repeated the entire song, then the musicians went on to other melodies. Granny Kye sat on a rock. N’Rae sat on the grass at her feet. Bromptotterpindosset, Holt, and the two boys chose to sit on smaller boulders closer to the cliff’s edge. In the distance, the dragons swooped, dove, and rose again as the sky deepened to purple.
When the dragons turned to shore and the musicians put down their instruments, Ahnek stood and watched Sittiponder get up.
“That was nice, but now we have to get everything ready in the dark,” said the practical o’rant lad.
Sittiponder grinned. “I’ll help you.”
“And I’m hungry.”
“Me too.” The blind tumanhofer turned away from the ocean’s roar. “Too bad those dragons didn’t catch us our dinner.” He scrunched his shoulders as the wind from Frost’s wingspan swept over them.
Sshplatt!
Sittiponder giggled.
“What is that?” Ahnek took two steps forward and peered at the ground. “It’s a strange