Read Online Dragon Blood-Hurog 2 by Patricia Briggs - Free Book Online
Authors: Patricia Briggs
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uncaring, slightly silly lordling if I had looked back
—so
I didn't. The stupider they thought me, the easier it would be for Oreg to get me out of this mess. We rode until full dark. We didn't make it to Tyrfannig, which was the nearest town, so they drew up camp in a relatively flat field. I protested mildly when my wrists were tied, but allowed it without active
resistance. While the men cursed and stumbled about putting up tents, I sat by the fire and watched. The soldiers had dismissed me as a threat, so the ropes around my wrists were loose and comfortable. They all knew the reason that the writ had been issued in the first place was that I was stupid. Very stupid. If they'd heard rumors that I'd recovered, the information was more than countered by my size (which had initially alarmed them), my slow speech, and the pretense I kept up that I believed I was going to a genial discussion despite the ties on my wrists. Garranon could have warned them, and I found
it most interesting that he didn't.
I put my forehead against my knees and tried to get used to being off Hurog land again. My head ached,
my bones ached, and my muscles felt without strength. It would ease in a couple of days, but only being
back on Hurog land would make it leave entirely.
When I lay down to sleep, my arm was tied to the general's wrist and that rope was well-tied. He was taking my continued presence very seriously. That was all right—I didn't intend to escape tonight anyway.
As I closed my eyes, I could feel Jade Eyes watching me.
He hadn't yet uttered a word, but his eyes had followed me constantly. The surveillance bothered me, but it was the knowledge that he was a wizard that really gave me pause. Oreg was in a nearby copse of trees not a hundred yards away.
I knew where Oreg was because finding was my best talent. It was the only magic my father hadn't stolen from me the day he tried to beat me to death. I could work magic now, but finding was second nature.
I wish Oreg hadn't stopped so near us. In his dragon form he oozed magic. He covered it well, but I Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html didn't know if he was aware how good Jade Eyes was. Dragons, I had learned, were arrogant creatures. When I awoke, the first thing I saw was the mage's ice-green gaze.
"What is it?" Jade Eyes asked in a voice like honey, "that you do when you dream?" It was an odd question and I couldn't see what he wanted from my answer. Without conscious decision, I fell back upon my old habit of sounding stupid when I was defensive. "I sleep when I dream," I said. Had I done something while I slept?
"I could feel your magic beside us in the woods all night long," he said. "It tastes of you as your home tasted of you. But when the sun began to rise this morning and you awoke, the magic went away. Why is
that?"
He had it backward, I thought. Oreg and I both tasted of my home, not the other way around. I realized that I'd been worried for naught. No one would believe in a dragon—Jade Eyes found it much easier to conjure up a new power from his imagination than to believe there were dragons at Hurog again. There was desire in his eyes that had nothing to do with sex and everything to do with the lust for power.
"I can't work magic anymore," I said. People who lusted after power were dangerous; one of them had destroyed Hurog.
"But that doesn't mean that the magic went away," he replied. "Magic doesn't do that. It came to us here and watched over you all night—I could feel it hover. You have given your magic an intelligence of its own. Did it happen when your father beat you?"
"If there is magic here, it is not mine," I said. I knew what must have happened: When Oreg had fallen asleep, he'd forgotten to mask his power. But Jade Eyes had certainly come up with an entertaining explanation.
He ignored me as if I hadn't spoken, rocking back on his heels and humming a bit to himself. When he stood up, he
—so
I didn't. The stupider they thought me, the easier it would be for Oreg to get me out of this mess. We rode until full dark. We didn't make it to Tyrfannig, which was the nearest town, so they drew up camp in a relatively flat field. I protested mildly when my wrists were tied, but allowed it without active
resistance. While the men cursed and stumbled about putting up tents, I sat by the fire and watched. The soldiers had dismissed me as a threat, so the ropes around my wrists were loose and comfortable. They all knew the reason that the writ had been issued in the first place was that I was stupid. Very stupid. If they'd heard rumors that I'd recovered, the information was more than countered by my size (which had initially alarmed them), my slow speech, and the pretense I kept up that I believed I was going to a genial discussion despite the ties on my wrists. Garranon could have warned them, and I found
it most interesting that he didn't.
I put my forehead against my knees and tried to get used to being off Hurog land again. My head ached,
my bones ached, and my muscles felt without strength. It would ease in a couple of days, but only being
back on Hurog land would make it leave entirely.
When I lay down to sleep, my arm was tied to the general's wrist and that rope was well-tied. He was taking my continued presence very seriously. That was all right—I didn't intend to escape tonight anyway.
As I closed my eyes, I could feel Jade Eyes watching me.
He hadn't yet uttered a word, but his eyes had followed me constantly. The surveillance bothered me, but it was the knowledge that he was a wizard that really gave me pause. Oreg was in a nearby copse of trees not a hundred yards away.
I knew where Oreg was because finding was my best talent. It was the only magic my father hadn't stolen from me the day he tried to beat me to death. I could work magic now, but finding was second nature.
I wish Oreg hadn't stopped so near us. In his dragon form he oozed magic. He covered it well, but I Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html didn't know if he was aware how good Jade Eyes was. Dragons, I had learned, were arrogant creatures. When I awoke, the first thing I saw was the mage's ice-green gaze.
"What is it?" Jade Eyes asked in a voice like honey, "that you do when you dream?" It was an odd question and I couldn't see what he wanted from my answer. Without conscious decision, I fell back upon my old habit of sounding stupid when I was defensive. "I sleep when I dream," I said. Had I done something while I slept?
"I could feel your magic beside us in the woods all night long," he said. "It tastes of you as your home tasted of you. But when the sun began to rise this morning and you awoke, the magic went away. Why is
that?"
He had it backward, I thought. Oreg and I both tasted of my home, not the other way around. I realized that I'd been worried for naught. No one would believe in a dragon—Jade Eyes found it much easier to conjure up a new power from his imagination than to believe there were dragons at Hurog again. There was desire in his eyes that had nothing to do with sex and everything to do with the lust for power.
"I can't work magic anymore," I said. People who lusted after power were dangerous; one of them had destroyed Hurog.
"But that doesn't mean that the magic went away," he replied. "Magic doesn't do that. It came to us here and watched over you all night—I could feel it hover. You have given your magic an intelligence of its own. Did it happen when your father beat you?"
"If there is magic here, it is not mine," I said. I knew what must have happened: When Oreg had fallen asleep, he'd forgotten to mask his power. But Jade Eyes had certainly come up with an entertaining explanation.
He ignored me as if I hadn't spoken, rocking back on his heels and humming a bit to himself. When he stood up, he
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