Dragons of the Valley - Donita K. Paul [88]
Hollee left Librettowit’s side to watch the pile of things grow as her wizard unloaded his hollows. “Is that in Wulder’s Tomes?”
Wizard Fenworth’s attention snapped to her face. He held up the hammer he’d just pulled out. “This? This from Wulder’s Tomes? Did you eat something unusual today? Poison berries? Had a drink of tainted water? Your mind’s gone wandering. First you’re expecting stones to dance and sing. Now you’re thinking hammers come out of books. Librettowit, the child’s cracked.”
Librettowit shook his head slightly at Hollee. Only a bit of alarm had disturbed her at the wizard’s words, but the librarian’s expression told her not to worry.
He began sifting through his own hollows and pulling out things they might need. “She’s hardly a child. A young kimen, yes, but a child, no. She said talk, not sing, and it was a comment of assessment not expectation. And the that she referred to was the comment you made. ‘A comfortable night nourishes a busy day.’ She wanted to know if that came from Wulder’s Tomes.”
“Well, then why didn’t she say so?”
Librettowit didn’t answer, and the two men concentrated on sorting the materials they needed to set up a suitable encampment.
Hollee waited as long as she could before asking a question that niggled at her insides. “What will we do first?”
Leaving behind the contretemps of their last discussion, Fenworth answered, “We’ll eat. I’m always in favor of eating first.”
“And then?” asked Hollee, squelching the eagerness to learn everything at once.
“We’ll see what we’ve brought along to make ourselves at home here in this splendid cave.”
“And then?”
“We’ll set up temporary quarters, eat again, sleep. Maybe we’ll have a bit of song and storytelling before we sleep.”
Hollee scrunched up her face and let out a long sigh.
Librettowit turned her way. “We’ll dig a tunnel out of here and find dragons to take over as guardians of Wulder’s cornerstone.”
Hollee squealed and did a hop, skip, twirl, and flip dance. “This is going to be so much fun.”
Librettowit shook his head. “We didn’t have much success the last time we tried to deal with the dragons of Chiril.”
“Bealomondore told me that story. You’ll need Paladin.”
The tumanhofer frowned. “Paladin is busy elsewhere.”
35
Reunion
Since her chaperone had gone off with the wizard, Tipper rode behind Paladin high above the countryside on his white and gold dragon, Caesannede. Tipper loved flying. She tightened her arms around Paladin’s middle.
“Cold?” he asked.
“A little.”
“It’s not much farther. Tuck your moonbeam cape around you. The fabric rebuffs any unpleasant temperature.”
Tipper did as she was told but kept her arms free to hold on to the man in front of her. Of course, the garments the kimens made would keep her warm, but that warmth was not as pleasant as that generated by the young man. Taeda Bel had tucked herself inside the cape, so Tipper used that as another excuse not to close the front completely.
Danto Posh rode on the second dragon. Tipper touched his mind with hers and found him sullen and not scared by his first flight. Paladin had persuaded Fenworth not to send Danto to the island with his comrades. Instead, the spiritual leader of Chiril decided to bring him along. The young marione vacillated between excitement over the chance to fly and resentment over the fact that the dragon would not heed his commands. The dragon obeyed Paladin. For the most part, the captured Baardackian wallowed in self-pity.
Maxon rode with Bealomondore. Tipper dragged her thoughts away from her riding companion and Danto long enough to check on the tumanhofer artist. His initial flying experience had been threatened by fear and nausea. He still had some of the medicine given to him by the proprietors of the Insect Emporium.
Wondering if her developing ability would let her speak to Bealomondore, she reached out to him with her mind. Are you all right?
He jumped. “You startled me. I could have fallen off.”
You’re not wearing