Dragonquest - Donita K. Paul [72]
Why are you so angry?
“I’m not.”
You’re angry because you can mindspeak, and you can think with me when we do something together, so we don’t even have to try to communicate. It makes you mad.
“Mad. Angry. Those aren’t the right words, Kale. I’ve always known what I was going to do in my life. I was going to be a knight, a plain, ordinary knight, serving Paladin to the best of my ability. Now what am I?”
You’re still a servant of Paladin. You’re a skilled warrior. You’re an honorable man. You just don’t have the word “knight” in your name someplace.
The ropma jumped up and down. His squeaky voice screeched in the night air. “No, no, Sir Dar. You not go to there. Far away. Many bad people. Bad ropma. Bad bi-becks. Bad grawlies. Bad high people. Not go.”
Dar patted the excited ropma’s arm. “It’s all right, Dirt. I have a lot to do before I could go to the Northern Reach. Tell me about the dragons.”
“Bad. Everything bad. Dragons bad.” The ropma dug his fists into his eyes, grinding away the tears falling down his hairy face. His nose ran, and he swiped it with a scraggly arm. “Dragons bad. Eat Da’s sheep.”
“Are the dragons always bad?” Dar asked.
Dirt scrunched up his face, obviously thinking. After a moment, he struggled to put words to his thoughts. “Nice dragons bad. Not happy. Nice dragons not happy. Nice dragons bad.”
Dar nodded as if he fully understood the garbled words. “The dragons who used to be nice were happy. Now those dragons are not happy so they are bad, not nice. Right?”
Dirt’s eyes brightened, and he grinned. “Sir Dar nice man. Smart man.”
Dar patted him on the arm again. “You are a good ropma, Dirt. A good man. Go back to Ma and Da. Tell them Sir Dar is happy.”
Dirt made a noise in his throat that might have been a giggle and took off across the field.
In amazement, Kale watched him run. He sped across the grassy pasture and leapt a fence with the ease of a gazelle.
Bardon’s voice rumbled at her back. “Dar, you don’t look happy.”
“I’m not. Dirt has brought us very bad news.”
30
MEECH DRAGONS
Kale drew in a sharp breath. How could Dirt with his limited vocabulary convey anything but the most basic information? What could be the bad news? “Dar, are you talking about the dragons turning bad? We already knew that.”
Dar shook his head. His ears laid back, a sure sign he was disturbed.
“We expected the dragons to become uncooperative as they fell under Risto’s influence. The bad news is that early on a cold morning, the colony of meech dragons was attacked and driven into the Northern Reach.
“There’s a colony of meech dragons?” Kale looked at Bardon to see her surprise mirrored on his face.
“There was a colony of meech in Wittoom. They secluded themselves in the Kattaboom Mountains. Occasionally, a member of a warm-blooded race was allowed in to quicken an egg. I believe that is how Risto got wind of Regidor, or rather the egg that was Regidor.”
“Explain,” said Bardon, his voice cool.
“A meech dragon sent out a request for someone to come quicken an egg. This would have been a message to a specific person, not a general announcement. But Risto heard of it, followed, or had the person followed.
“The doneel traveling to assist the meech died on his journey. Soon after, a battalion of bisonbecks descended on the colony. The fact that it was early in the morning aided the attackers. No dragon moves very quickly on a cold morning when woken from a deep sleep. During this raid, Risto acquired the meech egg. The entire cluster of dragons fled to the north.”
“And at this time,” said Bardon, “the second egg was also stolen?”
“Apparently. My people have not had contact with the meech dragons since they abandoned their homes and escaped. An envoy discovered the disaster on a routine diplomatic visit. Of course, he had no way of knowing two eggs were stolen.”
“How did he know one was stolen and where the dragons had gone?” asked Kale.
“There’s a tribe of mountain ropma in the same vicinity. He questioned them.”
Bardon rubbed his fingers across his chin. “I take it