The Camelot Spell - Laura Anne Gilman [60]
“Hmmmmmmmm.” The great eyes closed halfway, scaled lids dropping down in a move that fooled no one into thinking the dragon wasn’t paying attention. “Trade? Hmmmmm. What, little human? Why would I do that?”
The voice was deep and dark, sending shivers down Ailis’s spine.
“To acquire new treasure without effort.” Her voice ended on an upswing, making it sound like a question, and she cursed herself for it.
“I don’t mind effort,” the dragon said. While its expression didn’t change, she could swear the voice was amused now. It was playing with them, just as it had been before. “And yet, you smell different, of places I have not been in many, many years. Perhaps…perhaps you have something that might intrigue me. What have you of worth, to tempt me into giving over something of mine?”
Gerard got to his feet slowly, trying not to draw too much of the dragon’s attention, and moved just behind Ailis, careful to keep his hand away from his sword’s hilt. Newt, already by Ailis’s side, rocked back onto his heels but otherwise didn’t shift.
“Ah…” Ailis thought hard. “We have three horses outside, well-fleshed and grain-fed. Excellent eating.” She jabbed Newt with an elbow when he would have protested. “We could bring them to you or let them free for you to hunt, as is your pleasure.”
A snort sent a darker, thicker cloud of scented smoke rising into the cavern, and the dragon yawned, showing off two rows of wickedly sharp teeth. “I would be more interested in hunting something that gave me more challenge.” The meaning was clear, and Ailis heard her companions swallow hard.
“I’m afraid I cannot offer you…” Was it better to say more or stop there? She decided that less was better, at least until she knew what the dragon was thinking. Was it a serious counteroffer? Or was the dragon planning to eat them and the horses no matter what?
Gerard jumped in, his voice surprisingly steady. “You say you have not traveled to where we come from in many years. Few dragons have. Our king would be grateful were you to allow us to take back the item we came for…. And the gratitude of a king is no small thing.”
“The gratitude of kings is a very small thing. How can one being say a word and bind another to it? Are you this king’s own self, to speak for him?”
“I…no. But he—”
The smoke rose in a trio of rings from each nostril. Gerard stopped talking.
Newt stirred but didn’t say anything. The silence drew out an uncomfortable tension; the dragon, still coiled lazily around its hoard, stared at them with those unnerving eyes.
“Me.” Gerard looked as startled as anyone that the word had come from his mouth.
“You?”
“I’m offering me. Not as food,” he was quick to say. “As a…servant. How many other dragons, Wise One, no matter what their treasure, could boast a squire—a human servant—of their own?”
“You wear the armor of another; their sigil is on you.” The dragon’s eyes were terrifyingly sharp, to notice and recognize the design on the left shoulder of Gerard’s jerkin: the emblem of Sir Rheynold’s house. “You cannot serve when you are already sworn. And I would not desire a servant who cannot stay true to his vows.”
The tones of the dragon’s voice seemed familiar to Gerard, and he fought to stay focused on what it was saying, rather than trying to chase down that familiarity.
“I have sworn no oaths,” Newt said finally, getting to his feet with obvious stiffness.
“Nor I,” Ailis said.
The dragon craned its neck to inspect first Ailis, then Newt. “You are not so well-dressed. You are servants already—there is no satisfaction in having servants serve.”
“I’ve been sneered at before,” Newt said, his voice shaking with what might have been either fear or laughter, “but never so well with so few words.”
That earned him one large smoke ring, blown directly into his face. Newt coughed, turning away from the heavy, bitter smell.
“I’ll make you a vow,” Gerard said, stepping forward until he was well within the dragon’s reach. “Now I am a squire, and sworn to my master’s service. But soon I will be named a knight, and my only obligations will be to