Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind [362]
Scarlet roared in anger at the gars as she lifted into the sky with Richard hanging from her claw. He decided that this wasn’t his favorite way to fly, but it was still better than being back with the gars. Another gar came up from underneath, reaching for the egg. Richard whacked off a wing. It spun, howling, toward the ground. No more came.
Scarlet carried him high into the air, up and away from Fire Spring. Hanging in her claw, he felt like a meal being taken back to the young. Her grip was hurting his ribs a little, but he didn’t complain. He didn’t want her to loosen her hold on him; it was a long way down.
They flew for hours. Richard managed to rearrange himself and get a little more comfortable in her talons as he watched the hills and trees pass below. He saw streams and fields, even a few small towns. The hills grew, becoming rocky, as if the stone were sprouting from the landscape. Jagged rock cliffs and peaks rose up before them. Stroking the air smoothly, Scarlet lifted them higher, over rock Richard thought would scrape his feet. She took them into a desolate land, barren of life. Brown and gray stone looked to have been haphazardly stacked up by a giant, like coins on a table, into thin columns, some singular, others clumped in bunches, still more having toppled.
Beyond and above the columns of rock stood massive, craggy stone cliffs, riddled with splits and cracks, shelves and projections. A few clouds drifted past the face of the cliffs. Scarlet banked toward a wall of rock. It seemed to Richard that they would run smack into it, but before they did, she brought them up short with a fluttering of her huge wings, setting him on a ledge before landing herself.
At the back of the ledge was an opening into the rock. Scarlet squeezed her bulk through. In the back, in the cool darkness, was a nest of rock, where she placed the egg, then breathed fire over it. Richard watched as she stroked the egg with a claw, turning it gently, inspecting it, cooing to it. She played fire gently over the egg, turning her head, listening, watching.
“Is it all right?” Richard asked quietly.
Her head turned to him, a dreamy look in her yellow eyes. “Yes. It is well.”
Richard nodded. “I’m glad, Scarlet. I really am.”
He started toward her as she lay down next to the egg. Her head came up in warning.
He halted. “I just want my pack. It’s hanging on a spike, on your shoulder.”
“Sorry. Go ahead.”
Richard retrieved the pack and went to the side, against the wall, a little closer to the light. He glanced over the ledge. It looked to be thousands of feet down. Richard fervently hoped Scarlet was a dragon of her word. He sat down and pulled out a fresh pair of pants.
He found something else, too: the jar from Denna’s room. Inside was some of the aum cream he had made when Rahl had hurt her. She must have taken what was left over and put it in his pack. Looking down at the Agiel, he smiled sadly at the memory of her. How could he care about someone who had done those things to him? He had forgiven her, that was how, forgiven her with the white magic.
The aum cream felt wonderful. He let out a little moan. It cooled the burning of his wounds, soothed the pain. Richard said a silent thank-you to Denna for putting it in his pack. He took off the shredded remnants of his pants.
“You look funny without your pants.”
Richard spun around. Scarlet was watching him.
“Those are not reassuring words for a man to hear from a female, even if the female is a dragon.” Turning his back to her, he pulled on his fresh pants.
“You are injured. From the gars?”
Richard shook his head. “In the cave.” His voice was quiet with the haunting fear of the memory. He sat down, leaning against the wall, watching his boots. “I had to go through a small hole in the rock. It was the only way. I became stuck.” He looked up at the big yellow eyes. “Since I left my home to stop Darken Rahl, I’ve been frightened often. But when I was stuck in that