liked their meals cooked.) The wind that passed his ears was cool.
âI would like you to get off my ship because your claws are ripping holes in its hide,â Konner said mildly.
( Oh. ) The dragon leaped free of the shuttle. Its talons screeched against the cerama/metal.
The sound became needle darts in Konnerâs ears. Again he cringed but did not back away or cover the offended organs.
( Forgive my trespass, ) Irythros said as he settled to the ground beside Konner.
The beast towered above him, as big as the shuttle. It spread its wings before furling them. The moonlight turned them into shimmering translucent veils. For a moment, Konner thought he could see star maps in the vein network. Or maybe transactional gravitons, the theoretical energy force that held the universe together and at the same time conspired to keep everything in place.
Overcoming the inertia of the gravitons posed the single largest obstacle to space travel. Or atmosphere flight, or rolling a cart.
Konner shook his head free of his fanciful thoughts. Dragons were planet bound. They might speak enigmatically with a great deal of wisdom, but they did not carry star charts etched into their wing membranes.
âNow why did you seek me out?â Konner asked again.
( Hanassa speaks to the stars. We need to know why. )
âBut Hanassa is dead.â Konner began to shiver with a new chill. Twice he and his brothers had thought they had killed the man. Twice he had recovered and come back to threaten their friends as well as themselves. The third time they had made certain he stayed dead. Two flywackets, purple-tip dragons shrunk to the size and shape of winged house cats, had dumped Hanassaâs body into the lava pit. The same pit where Konner wanted to dump the beacon.
( The body of Hanassa died. Yet still he speaks to the stars. We need you to tell us why. )
âSpeaks to the stars,â Konner mused. âThe beacon! You know where the locator beacon is. Can you take me to it so that we can destroy it?â
( No. )
Konner stared at the dragon, expecting the beast to fly away.
Instead Irythros parked his haunches on the ground and returned Konnerâs level gaze.
âYou may be able to see in the dark, but I need more light to see you properly,â Konner said at last.
( Fetch it. )
âYou will wait?â
( Yes. )
For the first time in this bizarre conversation, Konner realized the difference between this dragon and Iianthe, the purple-tip who had helped him and his brothers through the last crisis. Iianthe spoke in bass tones very like a large bronze bell tolling across the landscape of his mind. Irythros was more of a tenor, sounded more like an Ubberlund doodlehorn chattering away with the crisp notes of a military march.
Konner wasted no more time. He touched the keypad in his pocket to banish the cloaking field and open the hatch. Heâd stashed the portable illuminator just inside. A simple matter to grab it and exit without taking his eyes off the dragon for more than three heartbeats.
He blinked rapidly. Where had the beast gone? And why had Irythros contacted a human with such a very frightening and bone-chillingly cryptic remark?
Kim kissed Hestiia lightly on the cheek. âI have some work to do,â he whispered.
She looked at him sharply. âWill you use the weed?â
âI donât know. Depends on what I find.â He could not hold her gaze.
âYou know it is dangerous.â
âI know that Pryth thinks it is dangerous.â He walked back toward their cabin, the one he and Hestiia had built for themselves the day they married. Well, actually, the village had built it for them as part of the wedding ceremony. They were still chinking the logs with moss and turf to insulate it against the winter cold. The moss they used was as ubiquitous as the red cow wool. It absorbed moisture in babiesâ diapers, became good tinder when dried, and insulated against
âI would like you to get off my ship because your claws are ripping holes in its hide,â Konner said mildly.
( Oh. ) The dragon leaped free of the shuttle. Its talons screeched against the cerama/metal.
The sound became needle darts in Konnerâs ears. Again he cringed but did not back away or cover the offended organs.
( Forgive my trespass, ) Irythros said as he settled to the ground beside Konner.
The beast towered above him, as big as the shuttle. It spread its wings before furling them. The moonlight turned them into shimmering translucent veils. For a moment, Konner thought he could see star maps in the vein network. Or maybe transactional gravitons, the theoretical energy force that held the universe together and at the same time conspired to keep everything in place.
Overcoming the inertia of the gravitons posed the single largest obstacle to space travel. Or atmosphere flight, or rolling a cart.
Konner shook his head free of his fanciful thoughts. Dragons were planet bound. They might speak enigmatically with a great deal of wisdom, but they did not carry star charts etched into their wing membranes.
âNow why did you seek me out?â Konner asked again.
( Hanassa speaks to the stars. We need to know why. )
âBut Hanassa is dead.â Konner began to shiver with a new chill. Twice he and his brothers had thought they had killed the man. Twice he had recovered and come back to threaten their friends as well as themselves. The third time they had made certain he stayed dead. Two flywackets, purple-tip dragons shrunk to the size and shape of winged house cats, had dumped Hanassaâs body into the lava pit. The same pit where Konner wanted to dump the beacon.
( The body of Hanassa died. Yet still he speaks to the stars. We need you to tell us why. )
âSpeaks to the stars,â Konner mused. âThe beacon! You know where the locator beacon is. Can you take me to it so that we can destroy it?â
( No. )
Konner stared at the dragon, expecting the beast to fly away.
Instead Irythros parked his haunches on the ground and returned Konnerâs level gaze.
âYou may be able to see in the dark, but I need more light to see you properly,â Konner said at last.
( Fetch it. )
âYou will wait?â
( Yes. )
For the first time in this bizarre conversation, Konner realized the difference between this dragon and Iianthe, the purple-tip who had helped him and his brothers through the last crisis. Iianthe spoke in bass tones very like a large bronze bell tolling across the landscape of his mind. Irythros was more of a tenor, sounded more like an Ubberlund doodlehorn chattering away with the crisp notes of a military march.
Konner wasted no more time. He touched the keypad in his pocket to banish the cloaking field and open the hatch. Heâd stashed the portable illuminator just inside. A simple matter to grab it and exit without taking his eyes off the dragon for more than three heartbeats.
He blinked rapidly. Where had the beast gone? And why had Irythros contacted a human with such a very frightening and bone-chillingly cryptic remark?
Kim kissed Hestiia lightly on the cheek. âI have some work to do,â he whispered.
She looked at him sharply. âWill you use the weed?â
âI donât know. Depends on what I find.â He could not hold her gaze.
âYou know it is dangerous.â
âI know that Pryth thinks it is dangerous.â He walked back toward their cabin, the one he and Hestiia had built for themselves the day they married. Well, actually, the village had built it for them as part of the wedding ceremony. They were still chinking the logs with moss and turf to insulate it against the winter cold. The moss they used was as ubiquitous as the red cow wool. It absorbed moisture in babiesâ diapers, became good tinder when dried, and insulated against
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