“Oh my gosh,” Sunny said, momentarily distracted from Queen Scarlet. “It’s so cute.” The scavenger looked kind of like a bigger, less hairy version of the sloths in the rainforest. It ran on its back two legs with easy balance, and its slender paws had no claws on them. A thatch of dark fur covered the top of its head and ran down like a mane onto its shoulders. It had a square of white fabric tied around itself that looked suspiciously as though it had been hacked off one of the main hall curtains, plus a sort of pouch bag made of the same material.
“I know, isn’t she?” said Smolder. “That’s what I’ve been saying. I have to watch her carefully, though. Several dragons would be perfectly happy to eat her if they caught her alone. This is one place I figure she’s safe.” He lifted her up to his snout and the scavenger leaned forward to bump noses with him.
“Where did you get her?” Sunny asked. “And why do you call her Flower?”
Smolder reached around and set the scavenger on the back of his neck, where she grabbed on to his spikes and balanced as he started up the ramp. Sunny trailed behind him, wondering if this might be a good time to make a run for it, but she was pretty sure the tower door had locked behind them.
“We had some scavenger visitors about twenty years ago — you may have heard about that,” Smolder said in his sarcastic voice. “This is the one who didn’t escape.”
Twenty years ago? It took Sunny a moment to realize what he must mean.
“Wait — visitors, plural?” Sunny asked. “I thought it was just one scavenger who killed the queen and stole the treasure.” They passed a fish tank glowing with a greenish light that seemed to be coming from the sea creatures themselves. There were fish with bulging eyes and extra flippers, seahorses with fangs, snails that oozed purple ichor, and an octopus kind of thing with at least twenty arms that was busily occupied with crushing up seashells and dropping them into its black beak of a mouth.
“Nope,” said Smolder. “Three scavengers. Two escaped with the treasure, but we caught this one trying to hide just outside the palace. Burn was going to put her head on a spike on the wall and eat the rest, but I decided I wanted to keep her. And at the time, I had other dragons to back me up.” He took a deep breath and folded his wings back into a tent over the scavenger for a moment, before tucking them into his side again.
“Blister argued that a scavenger head on a spike wouldn’t impress anyone — in fact, it would just remind everyone of Mother’s embarrassing death,” he went on. “Blaze thought Flower was cute, too, and wanted to see if we could get another scavenger and breed them to make more pets. And my brothers said I should get to have one thing I wanted, now that Mother wasn’t around to keep making me unhappy.”
He paused, and Sunny glanced up at him. She got the feeling it wouldn’t be a good idea to ask any questions about Oasis.
“SMOLDER!” Queen Scarlet bellowed again, and a burst of fire lit up the tower from an upper level.
“Coming!” he called politely, then carried on talking to Sunny as if there were really no hurry at all. “Anyway they voted to let me keep her, and by now Burn is used to her. I was going to call her Stabby — she was pretty fierce with this little sword she was carrying, before we took it off her. But then she found a tapestry with some flowers on it and kept pointing to them, and then to herself. So I think she wants me to call her Flower, although all her chattering noises sound the same to me.”
Sunny glanced at another glass exhibit case as they walked by, and then really wished she hadn’t. Inside were lots of parts of dragons — webbed SeaWing talons, a few tongues with three forks instead of two, half a wing that was speckled purple and gray unlike any dragon’s she’d ever seen, a coil of tail with strange lichens growing on it, and a number of oddly bent teeth and claws.
She shuddered and dragged her focus back to Smolder and Flower.
“I’ve never heard of an animal choosing its own name before,” she said. “But then, I’ve never heard of anyone keeping a scavenger as a pet either. The only pets —” She stopped and clapped her front talons over her mouth in horror. She’d nearly mentioned the RainWings and their pet sloths, which could have given away exactly where her friends were.
Stupid stupid stupid, Sunny, she scolded herself. Be more careful about what you say.
“The only pets?” Smolder echoed, giving her a curious look.
“The only pets I’ve ever heard of are kept by scavengers,” Sunny said quickly.
“Ah, yes,” said Smolder, and for the first time his voice was affectionate instead of sardonic. “Flower likes mice, and she’s always feeding any birds that dare to come down into the courtyards.” He lifted one of his claws and the scavenger patted it, as if to reassure him she was still there.
“Does she … understand you?” Sunny asked.
“Of course not, but she’s very clever,” he said. “I trained her to come when I ring this bell, and I taught her to draw, so she can draw pictures of anything she needs.”