Fire Dragon - Katharine Kerr [131]
A hot sun woke Rhodry some while after dawn. He threw off his unnecessary blanket and lay naked on the grass, contemplating the clear sky. The night before, he and Arzosah had made a rough camp on this hilltop where, as she remarked, they'd have a bit of a view. Behind them rose the dark-timbered flanks of the high mountains, coiffed in white, while in front of their camp the grassy slope led down to the valley below. When he sat up he could see Cerr Cawnen as a circle of turquoise lake among house shapes, wreathed in mist like a city of ghosts.
“You're awake,” Arzosah said.
“I am, and I gather you are too.”
The dragon yawned for an answer, revealing her enormous grey tongue and fangs the size of sword blades. She was lying some feet away, comfortably curled with her tail lapped over her front paws.
“Do you want to hunt again?” Rhodry said. “Or shall we just go down?”
“I'm still full from last night. That cow was delicious.”
“I don't want to know about it. The farmers are going to start badgering me for cattle lwdd if you keep this up. Why don't you just eat the deer? There's plenty of them around here.”
“I get tired of venison. A lady likes a little treat now and again.”
Rhodry got up and dressed, ate what was left of his bread and cheese, then rolled up his blankets. By the time he had her harnessed and ready to go, the sun had climbed a handbreadth above the horizon. The town would be awake, no doubt, and people out on the streets.
“I hope Dalla got a chance to warn everyone about you,” he said.
“They've all seen me before,” Arzosah said. “And it's not like I'm going to eat any of them, after all. They haven't angered me or suchlike.”
“Well, once they know that, no doubt they'll feel a good bit better.”
“You're laughing at me!”
“Am not.”
“Humph! You're a fine one to talk about cattle raids. I've seen your Deverry lords close up now, and there's no difference twixt me and them.”
“What? Come now!”
“Well, your lordship sits in his hall all day or rides out and watches the farmers work, and then he steals some of their food. If they tried to stop him, he'd kill them. Just like me, except the lords aren't even beautiful like I am, and there's rather a lot more of them, too.”
“Here! It's not stealing. The gods have ordained—”
“Oh indeed? You mean, the priests say that the gods have ordained it, but the priests know which side their bread is buttered on. They steal some of the farmers' food themselves. Can you imagine a priest standing up in one of your courts and announcing that Bel thinks the lords should raise their own food like the farmers do?”
“But the lords have their place. They protect their people.”
“From what? Other lords, that's what. If there were none of you, they wouldn't need any of you. Just like here in the Rhiddaer.”
Rhodry found himself without a thing to say. Arzosah curled a paw and smugly considered her claws.
“Shall we be going?” he said at last.
“As soon as you admit I've won.”
“Huh. I'll admit there's some justice in what you say, and that's all.”
“It will do. For now.”
Arzosah stretched out her neck and lowered one shoulder, and he swung himself up onto the saddle pad of her harness. Once he was securely aboard, she stretched out her wings and trotted off, bunching her muscles and springing into the air with a few hard wing strokes that took them well clear of the hillside. She allowed herself to glide, spiralling down in long loops while below Cerr Cawnen grew steadily larger. He could see the outer ring of walls, and the untidy town clustering around the lake, while out in the middle of open water Citadel rose with its burden of trees and buildings, whitewashed wood or pale stone, gleaming in the bright morning. As they swooped lower he realized that the lakeshore town extended out into the lake, built up on pilings and tiny islands that, he suspected, were man-made. Steam rose from the warm water, carrying with it the ripe stench of town life.
“Strange