Dragonspell - Donita K. Paul [88]
Kale watched the game of ribbets. The teams ran helter-skelter back and forth across the same ground over and over, chasing a ball the size of a chicken.
“I do not get a thrill when I think about the quest,” she muttered. Gymn hummed. It was one of Dar’s marching songs.
She held him away from her and gave him a suspicious look, her eyes narrowed, and one eyebrow crooked.
“What has Paladin been teaching you?”
The little dragon sighed, licked his lips, and blinked.
A quiet thought flickered from the creature’s mind to hers.
She yelped. “Hatch another egg? Not now. When we get to The Hall there will be plenty of time to hatch another egg.”
Gymn’s thought grew more urgent. One word drummed in Kale’s mind. “Now, now, now.”
“Not now,” said Kale.
33
ON THE WAY AGAIN
Kale sat back to back with the urohm Brunstetter on his major white dragon. She faced the direction from which they had come. His huge body blocked the wind for her.
The second seat afforded her a good view of the smaller flying dragons behind the lead. The leather apparatus had two seats, one large enough for the urohm to be comfortable. The second seemed a little big for Kale’s backside but had riding hooks for her knees at the right place. Celisse flew beside Merlander. No longer the dull colors she had been when they first rescued her, Celisse’s scales flashed like silver and polished onyx in the sun.
Packs of supplies surrounded Kale. Gymn perched on Kale’s shoulder, enjoying the clear morning view. A second dragon egg rode in the soft scarlet pouch hanging around her neck and tucked into her blouse.
Paladin had agreed with Gymn.
Paladin had looked over the dragon eggs as Kale displayed them at the ruler’s request. Her treasure looked like a row of chicken eggs on Mistress Ellie Ark’s kitchen table.
“I’ve never seen so many,” that good woman commented to all those who’d gathered to witness the event. It seemed all the Ark clan and most of the neighbors were in her spacious kitchen.
“Nor have I,” added Lee Ark. “It’s a sign, I’m thinking, of troubled times ahead.”
“Nay, don’t say so,” said Ellie and looked to Paladin’s serious face for reassurance.
Paladin put a hand on each egg in turn and tapped his chin with a finger of the other as he contemplated the row. Finally, he picked one out and handed it to Kale. Then he smiled, and everyone in the crowded room heaved a sigh of relief and nodded to one another.
Kale tucked the precious egg away with a different kind of sigh. She didn’t want to deal with another baby dragon. Not that Gymn was any trouble…
Paladin patted her shoulder and gave her a wink. Kale didn’t much appreciate his nonchalance.
There’re times when I wish this great man were a bit more serious minded. He could use a good dose of Master Meiger’s pessimism. Paladin keeps handing me more and more duties. Find the wizard. Find the meech egg. Go questing. And oh, by the way, hatch out and mother a bunch of dragon babies while you’re trekking from one end of Amara to the other.
Paladin’s shout of laughter surprised her. He gave her shoulders a squeeze, whispered, “You can do it,” and left the cozy home amid friendly farewells from everyone but Kale.
He heard what I was thinking.
“I did.”
Kale jumped. Paladin stood outside the door. With one hand clasping the elbow of a doddering grandma, he rested the other on the stooped shoulder of the grandpa. Paladin didn’t appear to be paying Kale one bit of attention. He spoke to the older couple, nodding at what they said in return.
You listen to my thoughts?
“Whenever you speak to me, I will.”
How is that possible? You’re busy. Even now you’re busy with someone