The Realms of the Gods (21 page)

Grizzle jumped between Jewelclaw and the humans.
—You can't touch them!—
she cried. She was now an eye-smarting shade of pink, with no trace of gray, but she stood her ground. Scamp, also entirely pink, scrambled to stand next to her. Tiny sparks flared on both youngsters.
—They are under Grandsire's protection.—

—Then Diamondflame will answer to the Dragonmeet! Out of my way!—
Jewelclaw ordered, wings fanning.
—They will be my captives!—

—No!—
Scamp's voice was shrill, but firm.
—She's the one who's raising Skysong!—

—Raising? Or imprisoning?—
demanded the adult.

Numair crossed his arms. “If you know anything about the young members of your race, you know that captivity is not an issue,” he said mildly. “I do not believe there is a cage that could hold Kit—Skysong—if she wished to get out.”

Leaf, still on Daine's shoulder, extended its head to chitter angrily at Jewelclaw. After a moment's pause, Jelly thrust its head through Numair's collar and chimed in.

—Must we tell Grandsire you took them from us?—
Grizzle asked.

—The old newt has gone senile!—
snarled Jewelclaw.
—And I'm not the
only
one to object! I'm not finished with this!—
He took to the air, the back draft of his wings making both humans and dragonets stagger.

—He is
not
senile!—
Scamp shouted. If Jewelclaw heard, he gave no sign, flying off with hard, rapid wing
beats. In a small voice she added,
—I bet his mother was a wyvern.—

—Scamp!—
cried Grizzle, shocked.

—I don't care. He's rotten. He's
always
rotten. Come on,—
she told Daine and Numair.
—Before anyone else comes after us.—

When they reached a bridge that looked as if it had been spun from glass, the two young dragons raced ahead as if it were rough and sturdy wood. Daine and Numair, certain that mere humans might just slide off, were testing the bridge with their feet when crackling filled the air. Grizzle and Scamp halted in midspan, raising themselves up on their hindquarters as Kitten so often did. Jelly retreated inside Numair's shirt, while Leaf raised its head, looking for the cause of the disturbance.

—There has been a change.—
The voice boomed in their minds and all around them.

—Grandsire, Jewelclaw came and yelled,—
cried Scamp.

—I know it. He and the other Separatists have been dinning my ears since our guests came through the portal. They have called the Dragonmeet.—

Scamp shrank inside her skin.

—Uh-oh,—
Grizzle whispered softly.

—Take them to the amphitheater,—
ordered the voice.
—Do not enter the floor with them, mind. Sit among our people.—
Voice and presence faded from their surroundings.

—Turn back,—
Grizzle told them, dropping to her fours.
—At least it isn't far to go.—

Daine and Numair exchanged glances. They needed to talk. “May we get a drink?” asked the girl as they stepped off the bridge. “And
I
need to relieve myself.” The dragons nodded. Daine stepped into a cluster of bushes to empty her bladder, first making sure that her urine wouldn't run into the water. Finished, she joined Numair. They crouched beside the stream to drink and wash their faces.

“What do you think?” asked the mage softly.

“We have to go. We can't force dragons, only persuade,” she reminded him.

Scamp and Grizzle looked down at them from the top of the stream bank.
—Are you finished?—
Grizzle inquired.
—It's a bad idea to keep a Dragonmeet waiting.—

Grizzle led them uphill from the bridge, following a broad track through knee-high grasses. When they crested the hill, they stood on the uppermost edge of a deep, tiered bowl in the earth. It was too regular to be natural, though grass flourished on the tiers. The floor of the amphitheater and the long ramps that cut it into eighths were bare earth, beaten and gouged by centuries of pressure from dragon paws and talons. At the far end of the giant oval was the only other exception to the grass carpet, a heap of glistening blue stones that was piled above the arena's rim.

Each tier was dragon-sized, big enough to contain even the largest of them when they crouched on all fours. A number of dragons were already present. Jewelclaw, for one, was installed near the western ramp. Miniature lightnings still played over his blue-green scales. He glared at them and returned to whatever he was saying to a sixty-foot dragon whose scales had the white glimmer of pearl. As Jewelclaw spoke, bursts of fire—Daine thought of heat lightning—came and went along the bigger dragon's hide.

Grizzle saw what the girl was looking at.
—The pearly one—that's Moonwind,—
the dragonet explained.
—She's one of the oldest. Her grandson Summerwing was the last dragon to willingly visit the mortal realms. That was before the Dragonmeet put a ban on visits. Um . . . —

—Stay away from Moonwind,—
Scamp said bluntly.
—She isn't even nice to people she likes.—

“Just how old
is
this dragon?” asked Numair.

Scamp cocked her head, blinking.
—Fifty-five centuries, I think.—

—Fifty-nine,—
Grizzle corrected her.
—Come on. This way.—
She started down the ramp, headed toward the arena floor.

“Your grandsire said you weren't to come with us,” Daine said quietly, watching the adult dragons. They were huge creatures whose scales blazed with color, some of them twenty or thirty feet longer than Moonwind. The girl didn't know if their kind formed lynch mobs, but there was enough mob feeling here that she didn't want to take any chances.

Busy watching the larger dragons, she didn't see the seven young ones until they swarmed around the humans, curiosity in their eyes. One was nearly as small as Kitten, still unable to use mind speech. Others were as big, or bigger, than Scamp and Grizzle. Behind them, walking majestically, as befitted their age, came a handful of dragons fifteen and twenty feet long, the length that Kitten's mother had been—adolescents.

—We'll
all
escort you,—
Grizzle announced proudly. The humans were swept along by young dragons, unable to protest, across the beaten earth of the arena floor.

The price of their escort was a hail of questions about the mortal realms. Daine left Numair to answer. She was counting the adults present—thirty-three thus far—when the air exploded to her right. Where there had been nothing but empty space a moment ago, a sixty-foot black dragon crouched.

—Aunt Nightbreath!—
cried Grizzle.
—You're not supposed to materialize so close to everyone else!—

—Oh, tut,—
the dragon replied, coolly amused.
—I haven't fouled anyone in a materialization since I was
your
age.—
There was more than a hint of wicked glee in her eyes as she added,
—I was in a hurry. This may be my only chance to see humans before these two are made into fertilizer for Moonwind's rosebushes.—

The young dragons protested her cynicism. Daine reached out instinctively, and Numair took her hand. He
kept it as they reached the center of the Dragonmeet floor. Their escort remained with them when they stopped at last.

Three dragons appeared on the highest part of the arena. The blast of air caused by their arrival made the humans stagger. Daine gulped, and clutched Numair's hand tighter. All of the newcomers were over a hundred feet long. The biggest, whose scales were a pale, delicate green, was fully a hundred and twenty feet in length.

—That's Wingjade,
— Scamp whispered, seeing where Daine looked.
—My father.—

“Biiiig,” commented Leaf.

“Too big,” squeaked Jelly, its head protruding from the V of Numair's shirt.

—We start,
— boomed a golden dragon directly across the amphitheater from the mortals.
—Diamondflame is charged with ignoring the will of the Dragonmeet, and with permitting humans to enter the Dragonlands. Humans, the question is asked: Why have you come here?—

“You should do the talking,” Numair told Daine softly. “You
are
Kitten's guardian.”

Daine was about to reply when a mind voice yelled,
—No one
cares
what they
want
! Kill them!—
Looking around, the girl saw a mottled black-and-white dragon who sat up, balanced on his back legs.
—Kill them, and bring Skysong home!—
Slowly he fell back to his fours.

Nearby, a second dragon reared onto its haunches.
—Our law bids us to first hear what they have to say.—

Moonwind sat up.
—They and their defenders lost their right to claim justice under our law when my grandson was murdered by their kind.
Look
at them. Already they cause trouble here. Already they try to seduce our young away from us.—

—We aren't seduced!—
cried a younger dragon hotly.
—They're new; they're different. We could learn from them—except
you
and
your
crowd have closed minds!—

—Silence!—
roared Moonwind. Daine and Numair
cringed away from the force of her rage, while the young dragon who had spoken clawed at his muzzle.

—Now you've done it,—
whispered Grizzle to the gagged youngster.
—You'd better hope that she takes the Silence off you before you get too hungry.—

—If you felt that humans were not to be treated with under our law, Sister Moonwind, you should have amended the law in the four centuries since your loss,—
snapped a new adult.
—You know as well as I that
all
changes in law must be reviewed, debated, and considered. You cannot demand that it be changed here and now.—

“Excuse me,” said Daine, wanting to answer the initial question. The dragons continued to argue about legal issues. Red tinted the scales of most present; lightning, in sheets or threads, danced over more than a few. “Excuse me!”

“Try again,” murmured Numair. Black fire glimmered around the hand he placed on the nape of her neck.

She took a deep breath.
“EXCUSE ME!”
she cried. Her voice, amplified by the mage's spell, thundered in the bowl of the arena. Daine winced, and used a quieter tone. “All we want is to go home—that's it. We don't like being here any more than you want us. So, if you could take us back to the mortal realms, we're quits.”

—No one asked you.—
Jewelclaw did more than sit up. He stepped onto the ramp and began to walk down toward them. Balls and rails of lightning raced around his hide as it turned a deep crimson, the color of dragon rage.
—You
humans.
How could we have allowed you to continue to exist, with your murderous hearts, your waste, and your noise? It's time to scour the mortal realms clean. We can start with you.—

“You
dare.
” Numair took his hand from Daine's back. Suddenly it was hard for the girl to breathe. She stepped away from him and the sudden bloom of his power.

—Do you think we fear you, mortal?—
the black-and-white
dragon asked as he stepped onto the ramp behind Jewelclaw.
—No human can face down a dragon!—

A burst of wind threw Daine back. Moonwind had vanished from her station, to reappear on the beaten earth of the floor.

Numair handed Jelly to Scamp, ignoring the darking's unhappy cries, and advanced on Moonwind. With each deliberate step that he took, fresh power shivered the air around him, as if he gathered magic like a cloak.

Daine gave Leaf to Grizzle and unlaced her over-large shirt, looking at the pair of smaller dragons on the ramp. Her skin was clammy and tingling with fear, her knees weak. She wished passionately that she knew more about dragons. Swiftly she reviewed forms she could take: A big one might slow her down, make her an easy target. A falcon's claws and beak could make an impression, and she would be fast.

—There are mortals who may battle us on an equal footing.—
The speaker was a lean, knobby dragon who sat in the lowest tier. He did not bother to rise on his haunches. His green, red, blue, and yellow scales were pale, as if coated in dust. The two on the ramp halted; even Moonwind looked at him.
—Not many, but some. Your coterie has chosen to ignore that which does not add to your over-weening selfishness in regard to which species have importance, and which ones do not. . . . Or are you merely stupid? I never could decide which it was, though perhaps I should have.—

—You do not understand the matter, Ancestor Rainbow!—
snapped the black-and-white dragon.

Pale eyes swept over Daine as the elderly dragon looked in the direction of Jewelclaw and his companion. Seeing no pupils, she realized that Rainbow was blind.

—Do I not?
— he asked, voice mild.
—Well, you are entitled to your opinions, Riverwind, however foolish they may be. I too am entitled to my opinion, which is, that I grow weary of your bad manners. Leave the Dragonmeet.—

The black-and-white dragon reared. He clawed at
the air with his forepaws, screeching so high and so loudly that Daine felt a pressure like thumbs in her ears. His screech dwindled rapidly, as did he, until he vanished from sight.