Read Online Dragonbards by Shirley Rousseau Murphy - Free Book Online

am proud of you, Tebriel.” She smiled a
whiskery smile. “You will take back your land, now, when you
destroy Sivich.”
    Her assurance, on top of Charkky’s and
Mikk’s, made Teb uneasy. Yet why should it?
    He sat with Mitta for a long time,
reminiscing, before he took her to meet Kiri and the dragons.
    It was the next afternoon that the sky was
filled with dragons, as Charkky had said. Mikk and Charkky ran to
the highest rock, shouting and pointing. Wings hid the sky. Dragon
faces looked down. Dragon teeth and claws shone.
    When the dragons dropped onto the sea, they
sent waves heaving against Nightpool. As they swam, rocking on the
waves, two dragonlings brought Iceflower to the landward side of
the island, where the sea was calm. She looked very weak. Mitta
saw, and went to her.
    Only Thakkur was not watching Iceflower or
the circling dragons. He stared past them to where Nightraider
rocked on the far swells. Camery was standing up on Nightraider’s
back, between his spreading black wings. Her arms were raised. She
was holding Hanni up, as high as she could. He perched there,
looking across the waves at Thakkur. Thakkur looked back, rigid
with amazement.
    Thakkur dove.
    He swam between dragons like a white streak.
Before he reached Nightraider, Hanni dove, too. The two otters met
in mid sea. They bobbed on the waves, looking. They circled each
other, staring. They dove, surfaced, spun in the water, then
disappeared beneath the sea. Teb could imagine their flying race
deep down in the clear green water.
    “No one had to introduce them,” Kiri said.
“They were kin as soon as they met.”
    He laughed and took her hand. The two white
otters were together. He felt good, very complete. He put his arm
around Kiri, and they watched Mitta, balancing on the rocks, with
the waves crashing around her as she touched Iceflower and talked
to her.
    “What’s Mitta doing?” Kiri said. “Iceflower
looks so sick.”
    “She’s asking questions,” Teb said. Mitta
had that stern, doctoring look about her.
    When Iceflower rose from the sea, she winged
in a dropping glide over the island, and came down in the center
valley. Mitta stood on the rock cliff with paws raised, giving
orders to a dozen young otters.
    Soon Mitta had a fire burning in the valley
and a kettle boiling, and she was gathering roots beside the lake.
As she steeped her herbs and roots, Iceflower curled up on the
meadow with her wings tucked around her. Kiri smiled, watching the
efficient little otter. When the brew was ready, Iceflower sucked
up the warm potion obediently, and soon her eyes drooped with
sleepy comfort.
    Soon afterward, a second pot of water was
put to boil, and the otters began bringing shellfish. The bards
crowded close to the fire, warming themselves, their stomachs
rumbling as the good smell of steaming clams and lobster filled the
wind. It was not long until they were feasting, at first hungrily,
in silence, then with more grace. Marshy ate so much lobster, Kiri
thought he would be sick. Hanni sat close to Thakkur, wrapped in
Teb’s gull-feather blanket. The little white otter, like Thakkur,
preferred his shellfish raw. All the otters began asking questions
about what had happened in Dacia, though they already knew quite a
lot.
    News had traveled fast down across the
island continents, from owl to fox to great cat to wolf to owl, and
at last to Nightpool. The bards listened with excitement to how
skilled the animals’ network had grown.
    Thakkur said, “The news that there are still
dragons has given us all new hope. Even the owls are working as one
for the first time. Owls are always such loners.
    “They have formed cadres and have begun
living in communal groups, in the cave sanctuaries. By carrying
messages, they have helped the rebel bands come together into a
strong army. When news of the dragons and of your victory in Dacia
swept the continents, Tebriel, within a matter of days every
creature rose to join us.”
    The otters began