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her emerlindian mentor.
“Our time for talk,” said Granny Noon, “is limited, Kale. I must give you and your
friends the things you need to dwell in the city. But you’ve said some things that I cannot
let pass.”
She swallowed at the sound of Granny Noon’s stern voice. She is disgusted with me.
“I am not!” The voice snapped in her mind. “Now listen to me. You referred to yourself
as a slave. You are never to do so again. You said you had no talents of worth to your
comrades. In this you mock Wulder’s wisdom.”
Kale gasped.
Granny Noon nodded. “Precisely so. It is a grave error to belittle the talents given to you
by Wulder. Judge accurately the value of those talents. You must know exactly what
you’re worth so that you do not fail your friends. This would be an inadequacy in your
spirit, not in your ability.” The emerlindian gathered her skirts in her hands and headed
for the door.
“We’re running late. I want you to be able to enter the city by tomorrow afternoon, which
means you must leave before this day turns into night.” She stopped with her hand on the
doorknob. Her voice softened. “Kale, remember to use to the fullest the talents given you
and enhance your skill with every opportunity Wulder provides. You are the Dragon
Keeper, and none of your gifts are insignificant.”
26
AMBUSH
Kale rode on top of a stack of trunks and luggage strapped to the carriage roof. Bardon
sat beside the driver, a marione named Bruit, with Toopka tucked between them.
Librettowit, Regidor, and Dar rode inside. With instructions to stay out of sight, the little
dragons slept contentedly in their pocket-dens.
Granny Noon had given the adventurers bags of coins, letters of introduction, lists of
contacts, and a key to an upper-class residence. The questing party would not be trooping
through mountains, valleys, and hidden caves, but through the streets of a metropolis and
the homes of the wealthy. Regidor would be disguised as a foreign abbot whose
monastery indulged in trade for the benefit of their demesne. Librettowit, an art dealer.
Dar, butler and valet. Bardon would play the part of household sheridan, a special servant
armed to protect family and property. Kale and Toopka were ordinary servants.
Granny Noon had given Kale a piece of silver, a rather odd, flat disk with two irregular
pie shapes cut out of the sides. Granny Noon said it would help her identify people. Kale
turned the shiny silver piece over and over in her callused palm.
“How?” she had asked.
“I don’t actually know, dear. But Paladin said it would come in handy, so do your best
not to lose it.”
Kale kept the disk in the pouch with the egg Paladin had picked. Now, as they bounced
along in the warm afternoon sun, the small metal piece was all but forgotten.
A giant draft horse pulled the carriage. The urohm-bred animal had no difficulty hauling
the load up and down the cultivated hills. On either side, crops looked ready for harvest
in carefully tended fields. Farm carts, tinkers, and smaller carriages passed frequently on
the wide, well-graded road.
As they approached a wooded area, Kale relaxed against a softer bundle with her hands
behind her head. She gazed at white, puffy clouds drifting lazily in a blue sky.
This isn’t going to be so bad. No mordakleeps. No blimmets. No grawligs. No schoergs.
An arrow whizzed by Kale’s head and penetrated one of the trunks. The shaft vibrated
with a hard hum, causing the hair on the back of her neck to stand up.
Shouts erupted from other travelers on the road. A horse neighed, followed by the sound
of hoofbeats galloping away.
Kale heard Bardon yell, “Get down!” and saw him push Toopka off the seat onto the
floor of the driver’s perch.
Bruit fought to control the frightened horse, pulling it to a stop. In the next moment,
Bardon had a bow in his hands with an arrow nocked and ready to shoot. He aimed at a
target ahead and released the arrow. With a fluid motion, he pulled another arrow out of
his quiver.
Kale peered forward over a ridge of luggage. A band of tattered bisonbecks plowed into
the walking travelers. They swung clubs, grabbed parcels, and threw their victims to the
side of the road. Women screamed, children cried, and men tried desperately to protect
their families and property from the large, brutal robbers.
Bruit still struggled to keep the horse from bolting. Beneath Kale, the doors to the
carriage flew open. Librettowit and Dar rushed to lend aid.
Drawing a deep breath, Kale pulled her small sword from its scabbard. The carriage
jerked as the horse reared and stomped angrily, protesting the chaos around them. She
waited for a still moment between lurches and vaulted over the side of the carriage onto
the back of a bisonbeck bandit.
Her blade plunged into the highwayman’s shoulder and struck bone. The bisonbeck
howled and grabbed at Kale. She jerked her sword free and slid down his back to the
ground.
As he whirled around, she braced herself as she had seen Dar do in his mock combats
with Bardon. The beast’s momentum drove his leg past her blade, slicing his calf. She
rolled away, taking her bloodstained weapon with her.
The man fell with a thud to the dirt road. Kale looked back to see him squirming away
from the wildly rocking wheels of the carriage. Bardon landed on his feet beside the
downed outlaw. Kale turned away.
Librettowit swung a hadwig. The spiked metal ball tore across the side of an attacker.
The bisonbeck roared and faced the tumanhofer. With an adept change of the swing,
Librettowit clipped the taller man in the face. The brigand leaned forward, grabbing at his
wounded cheek. The next swing of the heavy weapon caught the back of his head and
laid him out on the road.
Kale joined Dar, who stood between two ugly bisonbecks and a family of farmers. The
marione farmer stood his ground with a strapping son beside him. But with no weapons
except their walking staffs, they must have welcomed the sight of the feisty doneel. The
two scruffy bisonbecks reevaluated the odds against four determined fighters and ran.
Kale, Dar, and the two farmers waded into the battle alongside a tinker fighting to keep
his wagon. When those ruffians dispersed, Kale looked back to see Bardon fighting with
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