Hidden Dragons (3 page)

“
That, and he usually growls like
one,” Robert put in. “And don’t get me started on his snoring. We
share a suite in the Lair and I can hear him all the way in my
bedchamber, on the other side of the sand pit.”

“
That’s a lie,” Bear defended
himself, even as he chuckled, used to Robert’s easy manner. The
Mother of All had given him a good match in the fun loving,
mischievous knight. They might look like opposites, but they
complemented each other.

Bear helped Robert focus and Robert helped Bear
see the humor in life. They had become good friends—more like
brothers—since being chosen by Tildeth and Growloranth a dozen
years ago.

“
So you two live together?”
Isabelle asked, looking from Bear to Robert and back.

“
All four of us share quarters, in
fact,”
Tilly put in, craning her neck
downward as her mate, Growloranth, removed the buck she had taken
down from where Bear had put it over her back.

Growloranth moved away with his prize, using
his sharp talons to skin and cut up the meat that the humans would
eat. Bear watched Isabelle, who watched the dragons with rapt
attention. When Growloranth shot a pinpoint of flame at his own
forelimb, she jumped back a little, right into Bear. He put out his
hands to steady her, caressing her shoulders.

“
It’s okay. He’s cooking our
dinner. See?” Bear whispered near her ear. He nodded toward Robert,
sending a private message into his partner’s mind.
“Go get the meat from your dragon. She’s
trembling. We have to prove our dragon friends are not dangerous to
her.”

“
Don’t think I’m not taking note of
how many times you’ve managed to put your hands on her,”
Robert growled back into Bear’s mind, but he went
anyway.

Robert collected the three steaks Growloranth
had speared on one talon, using an old dragon scale as a platter.
They kept a few of the dragons’ shed scales with them for just such
instances. The scales were incredibly strong and impervious to just
about anything. They also didn’t transfer heat. The steaks were
sizzling on top of the scale when Robert brought them back to where
Isabelle stood with Bear.

“
I hope you like your venison well
done,” Robert said, grinning as he presented the makeshift platter
for Isabelle’s inspection.

“
That’s amazing. Thank you, Sir
Growloranth,” she said, turning to look at the dragons. They stood
closer to the river, side by side. Bear knew they would share the
rest of the deer as a snack. When they were done, there would be
little left for the forest scavengers.

“
You are very welcome, Lady
Isabelle,”
Growloranth replied, preening a
little.

“
Come, let’s sit and eat,” Bear
invited, escorting her to the flat rocks by the small
waterfall.

“
She was sitting here, crying, when
we found her,”
Robert imparted directly to
Bear’s mind, filling him in on what he’d missed while he and Tilly
were hunting.

Robert also brought the bag of sweets and other
provisions with him, and they set up an impromptu picnic on a
large, flat boulder that peered out over the water’s edge. It had
been Robert’s turn to make camp while Tilly and Bear hunted. The
dragons enjoyed a good hunt, as did the knights, so they took it in
turns to provide meat for the proverbial table while they were on
extended patrols or special missions.

This time, it was the latter. Bear and his
nearly invisible-in-daylight dragon would be flying forays over the
border with Skithdron, doing reconnaissance. They were particularly
interested in troop movements or, even worse, skith sightings along
the border with Draconia. Not too long ago, the crazed king of
Skithdron had tried to herd an army of the vile, venomous monsters
over the border as a first wave of attack on the people of
Draconia.

Dragons were the only real threat to the giant,
snake-like skiths. Given enough concentrated flame, skiths could be
turned to ash. And only dragons had that kind of
firepower.

Skiths could spit their highly acidic venom for
twenty feet or more. Only dragons had nearly-impenetrable scales
that could withstand the acid long enough to fight the snake-like
creatures. Many dragons and knights had been injured in battles on
this border in recent years, and it was prudent to keep a close
watch on the enemy forces positioned just over the rocky division
between the two lands.

Tilly and Bear had been sent to the Border Lair
for just that purpose. When it came to daylight flying, nobody was
better suited to stealth with Tilly’s almost reflective, sky blue
hide. Bear wore specially-made light-colored leathers on their
secret flights and took careful notes of whatever they
saw.

Oddly enough, Growloranth and Robert were well
suited to another kind of stealth. They could blend in with almost
any forest. Growloranth’s bronze-green hue adapted really well to
the dark part of a loamy forest. He also was almost as good as the
royal black dragons at night flying.

“
Do you live in the village we flew
over, just to the west?” Robert asked Isabelle as they all settled
on the large boulder and began to eat.

“
Halley’s Well. That’s the name of
the village,” she answered as she accepted the smaller dragon scale
upon which Bear had placed a portion of the meat and some of the
other items they had with them. “I live on the outskirts, in the
old healer’s hut. Mama and I fixed it up as best we could since
nobody else was using it. It’s not far from here, through the
woods. I come up here every day to fetch water.”

“
But isn’t the village named for a
well?” Bear asked, perplexed. If there was truly a well in Halley’s
Well, then why did Isabelle have to fetch water from the
river?

“
It is, but the villagers can
be…difficult sometimes,” she admitted. “Ever since Mama died, it’s
just easier to stay away from them when I can. I keep to myself for
the most part.”

“
That doesn’t sound very
neighborly,” Robert observed. Bear knew his partner was just as
angry as he was about the way Isabelle seemed to have been treated
by the villagers. They would have to investigate. There was no way
around it.

“
They are an…insular folk. They
don’t like outsiders and they never really accepted Mama and me.
It’s okay. I manage.” She shrugged quietly and went about eating
the meal they had provided.

The poor mite looked like she hadn’t had a
truly good meal in a long time. She savored every bite and seemed
especially enraptured by the sweets. Bear unobtrusively put another
portion of the sweet breads—his own portion, though he was careful
to be sure she didn’t realize it—on her dragon scale plate. She
tried to demur, but he politely insisted and she smiled in
thanks.

Her smile could light a room, he decided,
stunned for a moment by the way her eyes seemed to glow with
happiness at his small kindness. They talked of the river and how
it was high for this time of year. They talked of the weather and
of the wildlife in the area. Slowly, Bear came to realize that his
canny partner was probing for just the sort of information they had
been assigned to discover, among other things.

Bear suddenly realized that they could kill two
birds with one stone. They could use Isabelle’s knowledge of the
surrounding area to their advantage, if she was willing. And by
doing so, they could stay close to her for a few days.

“
Are you thinking what I’m
thinking?”
Bear sent to Robert
privately.

“
If you’re thinking we’re going to
camp near Isabelle’s house, I’m way ahead of you, partner,”
came the dry reply.

“
Milady Isabelle,” Robert began,
broaching the subject delicately. It wouldn’t do to scare her off.
“We have been dispatched from the Border Lair to do an in-depth
survey of these lands. It was our intention to camp in the area for
a few days and make our study, but we’ve never been here before and
we could benefit from your knowledge. Would you be willing to aid
us in our mission?”

Oh, that was very cleverly worded. Bear was
glad yet again that he had been partnered with a knight who had a
gift for oratory. Bear himself would have made a hash of it, he was
sure, which was why he mostly kept quiet.

“
I’m not sure what help I can be,
but I am willing to assist if I can,” she answered
thoughtfully.

“
There would be payment for your
services. And we would not expect anything but that you share your
knowledge of the area with us,” Robert was sure to point out. “We
can do surveys from the air—and of course, we will—but the trees
often obscure what lies beneath. For that reason, Growloranth and I
will be scouting on the ground each day while Bear and Tildeth take
to the sky. Would you be willing to act as our guide on the ground?
That is, if it doesn’t interfere with your own work too
much.”

Bear was jealous as hell that Robert would get
her all to himself all day while Bear and Tilly scouted in the air
over the border, but it couldn’t be helped. Bear trusted Robert to
keep her safe and while it wasn’t necessarily their mission to
scout this side of the border, it wouldn’t hurt.

Nobody from the Lair had been this far north in
a very long time. Rumors of enemy infiltration of border towns were
flying lately, and this was as good a place to start their
reconnaissance as any. In fact, from what Isabelle had already
revealed of the villagers’ suspiciously bad attitudes, it was
perhaps a very good place to begin.

“
The harvest is in and my
preparations for winter, such as they are, have been mostly
completed,” Isabelle said slowly. “I believe I could help you for a
few hours each day. And…I’m not sure if you’re interested…but I do
have a barn of sorts where you all could camp out under a roof at
least. It looks like it might rain before the dawn and I hate to
think of you all suffering in the cold and wet out here in the
woods.”

Robert smiled broadly and shot Bear a
triumphant look. “That sounds like a grand idea, milady. Thank you
for your generosity.”

Chapter Two

Robert and Bear, plus the dragons, followed
Isabelle to her home on the edge of the woods. Her small dwelling
was situated on a rise above the rest of the village. It was a good
vantage point to see anyone coming up the path, and gave a view of
most of the village.

It was dark by the time they got to her place,
and they could see the little dots of flame in the distance that
marked the lights of people’s homes. There weren’t all that many.
It was a very small village. But it was telling that they all
clustered their houses together while Isabelle was sentenced to
live up here on the edge of the wood, without the little protection
afforded by clustering together with the rest of the inhabitants of
the area.

Robert didn’t like that at all. To him it was
like the villagers just left her out here to fend for herself. What
kind of people did that to a young woman who had lost her
mother?

She showed them to the barn, located to the
right of the house. The home itself was run-down, but the barn was
even worse. Robert knew he would be making some repairs as soon as
he was able. For now, at least, the place had a roof and enough
space for the dragons and knights to shelter from the rain. It
would do for the night. After all, they had intended to camp
anyway. The roof and dry floor would be nice, since there was
little doubt, as the night deepened, that it was going to rain by
morning.

“
There is firewood for the old
forge. Before the healer lived here, it was a smithy, though the
lighter equipment was taken away long ago. The forge remains and
can be used for a fire, if you wish,” Isabelle explained, showing
them around. “I also have an oil lamp you can use for light.” She
reached up to take the lamp down from a peg. It was of simple
design and only had a small amount of oil left in its base. Robert
took it from her with a smile, though inside he noted the sparse
way she lived and the lack of proper supplies in the barn. “Will
you be warm enough?” She seemed to worry over how to provide for
them.

“
We will be fine, mistress,” Robert
reassured her. “Our companions provide plenty of heat, and we have
supplies of our own. We had intended to camp all along, so we came
prepared. Do not fret about us. We’ll be all right. In fact, we’ll
be far more comfortable here than we would have been out in the
forest with rain coming. Now, you go inside and take care of
yourself.”

She seemed to hesitate, but Bear, bless him,
stepped forward. “Is there anything we can do for you before we all
seek our rest?” Bear was gruff at the best of times, but he didn’t
seem to scare Isabelle, which was a very good sign.

“
Oh, no. I am fine. Thank you, Sir
Bernard.” She looked at them all, the dragons standing behind their
knights, every eye on Isabelle. “Good rest, then. I will see you
all in the morning.” She blushed, curtsied and then hurried
away.

The knights watched her until she was safely
inside and a lamp was lit. Robert followed her progress through the
small house through the fabric-draped windows. The curtains were
thin and allowed him to see the movement of her lamp through the
building until finally, she seemed to settle in one
place.