Dragons of the Valley - Donita K. Paul [89]
“Yes, I am, but I’m not comfortable up here.”
Are you sick to your stomach?
“I’m not riddled with terror, but this is not my favorite mode of transportation.”
You took the Rowser Remedy for Anxiety?
“I did.”
She waited a moment to see if he would mindspeak something else. Instead she got impressions of falling, grasping the saddle horn in a hold that pulverized the leather, and a long, screeching sound she finally recognized as Bealomondore screaming. The artist’s imagination worked overtime.
A group of men walking north on a wide country lane caught Tipper’s attention. She mindspoke to Taeda Bel and all four men in her party.
Look, there’s another dozen men going toward the Mordack Mountains.
“You want me to open my eyes? No, Tipper,” said Bealomondore.
Paladin’s responding laugh cut short. “I assume they are volunteers to defend Chiril.”
The reaction from Danto Posh confused her, until she realized his agitation and disbelief linked to the fact that he had heard her voice in his head. He’d never experienced mindspeaking.
She focused on him. Today has been rather mystifying for you, many unusual incidents.
“Do I just talk and you hear me?”
You don’t have to talk, just think.
“Do you listen to everything I think? Are you constantly eavesdropping?”
No, I have to intend to observe your thoughts. For the most part, your reflections are private.
“But you can listen any time you want to?”
Tipper hesitated before responding. Well … I’m not as good at it as my father or Wizard Fenworth or Paladin.
“Then you can’t?”
I actually don’t know what all I can and can’t do yet. I’m still learning.
Paladin’s voice interrupted her conversation with Danto. “Look below us. A fight has erupted among those travelers.”
Tipper looked down and saw two of the men pushing at each other as the onlookers formed a ring to jeer them on.
Paladin made a growling noise. “That is how it has been since this awful business began. Cantankerous men volunteer and then fall into quarreling on the way.”
Three more men joined the two fighting in the center of the ring. Tipper didn’t know why they had gone forward, whether to break up the fight or to assist whichever one they chose, but the fracas grew. Within the span of time it took Caesannede to flap his wings twice, the dozen men participated in the brawl.
Tipper stretched up a bit to bring her mouth more directly behind Paladin’s right ear. “If we could just put a few warriors from the enemy’s army in front of them, they’d do a good job of milling them down.”
“If Fenworth is successful in setting up the statues in a secure place, one of our obstacles will be eliminated.”
“Father will know. He says he feels it in his being when Wulder’s cornerstone is rightly aligned.”
“I agree he’ll know when they are set up properly, but a major concern is stability. If the Trio is in a fortress that can be breached, we will eventually have to deal with the problem again.”
“Fenworth will do something. Probably different from what we expect, but it’ll work.”
“I agree.”
Paladin looked over his shoulder, enough for Tipper to catch the wink he sent her.
“There’s the village.” Paladin pointed to a small town, and Caesannede began a descent. Villagers soon spotted the three dragons and gathered outside of town in an open field, the obvious place for the visitors to land.
Tipper watched with great interest. At last, she spotted Sir Beccaroon, his bright red feathers obvious among the common browns, blacks, tans, and blues of most of the townspeople.
She scanned the crowd around him and found her mother and father. Her mother wore a large hat the same color as her dress. Her father had on a conservative wizard’s robe. She’d seen Wizard Fenworth’s formal robes. The material shimmered and had elaborate embellishments, pictures depicting wonders of Wulder’s creation. Her father’s most distinguished robe had depictions as well, but he’d fashioned his with black on black so that the images changed with movement as the threads caught the light in different ways.
“I see them.” She