He matched her grin, sensing it was a statement of truth for her, and not simple flattery. He appreciated that she believed that.
Rysha brushed the back of her hand against his. Since they were both in uniform, hugs, hand-holding, and butt-touching were out.
“Do you think it will take long to find this dragon?” she asked.
“I don’t know. If he’s staying near our coastline, I’ll be able to sense him from fifty miles away, and our dragon allies may be able to track him down from even farther away. The question is whether he’ll want to be found by us.”
“Maybe we should take along some sample lobsters.”
Trip imagined tossing seafood into a dragon’s maw from his cockpit. He also imagined having to smell decomposing lobster sitting in his flier until they found this Drysaleskar.
“Would tarts be better?” he asked. “I can see if Sardelle has any extras on hand when I have my lesson this evening.”
“I don’t know if Angulus is prepared to add tarts to his tribute.”
“So far, all the dragons seem to have a sweet tooth. Or sweet fang.”
“I can’t deny that.”
11
Rysha squinted as the team flew southward over the ocean, the rising sun slanting into her eyes from the east. It shone above the fog still hugging the coast, obscuring the terrain, and she wondered if they had passed her family’s valley yet. She hoped it wouldn’t take too long to find this elder dragon and that she and Trip could return to hunt down that silver soon.
“Veering to the southwest for an hour or two,” Trip said, his voice sounding tinny as it came from the communication crystal tucked into Rysha’s buttoned pocket.
That morning, an officer with the dubious moniker of Captain Pimples had removed it from a flier for her and asked where on her dragon she would like it installed. Rysha was fairly certain it had been a joke, but he had seemed earnest, as if he could hunt down some glue that worked on scales if need be.
“For the random enjoyment of it?” Captain Ahn asked from her flier. “Or because you sense something?”
She was soaring parallel to Trip with Colonel Grady in her back seat while Trip flew with the human-form Bhrava Saruth behind him. The dragon had said he wished to experience human flying contraptions, but judging by the way his leg was thrown over one side, and his head leaned out the other, golden hair flapping against the hull, he wanted to nap rather than fly. Rysha suspected there was a reason Shulina Arya didn’t find his romantic entreaties appealing.
So many reasons, Storyteller.
“While I do believe the southwest looks enjoyable,” Trip said, “Bhrava Saruth has informed me that he senses a gold dragon in that direction.”
“Bhrava Saruth doesn’t look like he could currently sense his own butt.”
“His naps are only intermittent.”
“Uh huh,” Ahn said. “Is it the dragon we want?”
“He’s not sure yet. He said it’s about a hundred miles away. I can’t sense anything that far out.”
“Why do I envision spending the next week zigzagging across the ocean, Captain?” Ahn asked.
“At least we packed plenty of supplies.”
“Of all sorts, yes. I’m still trying to figure out why I, who have a year in rank seniority over you, ended up with smelly fish in my storage compartment, and you’re carrying bags of baked goods.”
“You can’t smell the fish from the cockpit, can you?”
“I most certainly can. And so can Colonel Grady. Doesn’t it seem like the powerful sorcerer who can probably make odors disappear should have the stinky things in his flier?”
“Well, I do have a dragon’s bare foot dangling over the side beside my ear.”
“That can’t rival the smell of dead fish.”
“Don’t be too sure. I don’t think dragons bathe.”
What? Shulina Arya cried, and Rysha worried she was truly offended. Dragons bathe frequently. Observe.
That was all the warning Rysha got before Shulina Arya folded her wings to her body and dove toward the ocean like an eagle swooping down to pluck up a fish. Only she didn’t want a fish. She plummeted a thousand feet and plunged into the water.
Reflexively, Rysha flattened her chest to the dragon’s back, pressed her spectacles to her face, and squeezed with her legs. Fortunately, magic kept her astride as they dove beneath the surface. It even kept her dry.
Rysha glimpsed startled schools of fish taking off in all directions, and then they came up again, as if they had bounced off a trampoline. Shulina Arya flapped her wings and radiated a sense of pleasure and enjoyment as water sloughed off her scales.
“My apologies,” Trip said. “I should have said that some dragons don’t bathe.”
Correct, Shulina Arya said. I will forgive you since you made those glorious wheeled foot devices. I—Hm.
“Trouble?” Rysha asked.
I now sense the dragons that Bhrava Saruth must have sensed. To the southeast.
“Dragons?” Ahn asked. “Multiple?”
Two golds, I believe, and a bronze, Shulina Arya said.
“Then that’s not the dragon we’re looking for,” Ahn said. “I suggest we zigzag in another direction, so they don’t notice us and decide to come pester us.”
“We do have two dragons and two chapaharii swords with us,” Trip said. “Spontaneous pestering seems unlikely.”
“Better not to risk it,” Ahn said. “They may smell the fish in my storage hold and be unable to resist the pull.”
Rysha tried to decide if that was a joke. If so, Ahn had a deadpan delivery.
There is more, Shulina Arya told them as she returned to the same elevation as the fliers and stopped flapping her wings as vigorously—she could outpace the machines easily, so she had to glide often.
“More dragons?” Ahn asked.
No, humans in one of your flying boats.
“An airship?”
Yes, it is a large vessel and there are many aboard. Perhaps fifty humans. Another flying boat is closing on it. Also, the dragons are flying toward it too.
“It could be a merchant airship under attack,” Trip said. “If so, it sounds like it’s going to need help.”
“We don’t know if it’s Iskandian,” Ahn said. “And this isn’t the mission we were sent on.”
Colonel Grady leaned forward, tapped her on the shoulder, and said something that didn’t quite come through Rysha’s communication crystal.
Ahn turned her head and said, “Iskandian merchants were told not to fly or sail without an escort, sir.”
“…don’t always listen,” Grady said, followed by something else Rysha didn’t hear.
“The colonel wants us to check it out,” Ahn said. “And if there are airship pirates harassing someone, to help out. Also, he’s already composing lyrics to a ballad that features us nobly saving the lives of innocent merchants.”
“I don’t think dragons would be working with airship pirates,” Rysha said. “Unless there’s something on board the ship that they want.” Rysha still couldn’t imagine dragons teaming up with pirates. Though she supposed some dragons openly allied with nations—just as Shulina Arya and Bhrava Saruth were allied with Iskandia—so maybe it was a possibility.
“I guess we’ll find out.” Ahn looked over at Trip.