Dragons of Winter Night - Margaret Weis [9]
The dragon sighed, flexed his huge wings, and lifted his ponderous body from the warm, soothing waters of the hot springs. Emerging from a billowing cloud of vapor, he braced himself to step into the chill air. The clear winter air stung his delicate nostrils and bit into his throat. Swallowing painfully, he firmly resisted the temptation to return to the warm pools and began to climb to the high rocky ledge above him.
The dragon stamped irritably upon rocks slick with ice from the hot springs’ vapor, which cooled almost instantly in the freezing air. The stones cracked and broke beneath his clawed feet, bounding and tumbling down into the valley below.
Once he slipped, causing him momentarily to lose his balance. Spreading his great wings, he recovered easily, but the incident only served to increase his irritation further.
The morning sun lit the mountain peaks, touching the dragon, causing his blue scales to shimmer golden in the clear light but doing little to warm his blood. The dragon shivered again, stamping his feet upon the chill ground. Winter was not for the blue dragons, nor was traveling this abysmal country. With that thought in mind, as it had been in his mind all the long, bitter night, Skie looked about for his master.
He found the Dragon Highlord standing upon an outcropping of rock, an imposing figure in horned dragonhelm and blue dragon-scale armor. The Highlord, cape whipping in the chill wind, was gazing within tense interest across the great flat plain far below.
“Come, Lord, return to your tent.” And let me return to the hot springs, Skie added mentally. “This chill wind cuts to the bone. Why are you out here anyway?”
Skie might have supposed the Highlord was reconnoitering, planning the disposition of troops, the attacks of the dragonflights. But that was not the case. The occupation of Tarsis had long been planned—planned, in fact, by another Dragon Highlord, for this land was under the command of the red dragons.
The blue dragons and their Dragon Highlords controlled the north, yet here I stand, in these frigid southlands, Skie thought irritably. And behind me is an entire flight of blue dragons. He turned his head slightly, looking down upon his fellows beating their wings in the early morning, grateful for the hot springs’ warmth which took the chill from their tendons.
Fools, Skie thought scornfully. All they’re waiting for is a signal from the Highlord to attack. To light the skies and burn the cities with their deadly bolts of lightning are all they care about. Their faith in the Dragon Highlord is implicit. As well it might be, Skie admitted, their master had led them to victory after victory in the north, and they had not lost one of their number.
They leave it to me to ask the questions—because I am the Highlord’s mount, because I am closest to the Highlord. Well, so be it. We understand each other, the Highlord and I.
“We have no reason to be in Tarsis.” Skie spoke his feelings plainly. He did not fear the Highlord. Unlike many of the dragons in Krynn, who served their masters with grudging reluctance, knowing themselves to be the true rulers, Skie served his master out of respect—and love. “The reds don’t want us here, that’s certain. And we’re not needed. That soft city that beckons you so strangely will fall easily. No army. They swallowed the bait and marched off to the frontier.”
“We are here because my spies tell me they are here, or will be shortly,” was the Highlord’s answer. The voice was low but carried even over the biting wind.
“They … they …” grumbled the dragon, shivering and moving restlessly along the ridge. “We leave the war in the north, waste valuable time, lose a fortune in steel. And for what—a handful of itinerant adventurers.”
“The wealth is nothing to me, you know that. I could buy Tarsis if it pleased me.” The Dragon Highlord stroked the dragon’s neck with an ice-caked leather glove that creaked with the powerful movements. “The war in the north is going well. Lord Ariakas did not mind my leaving. Bakaris is a skilled young commander and knows