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that was only if the dragon so chose.
Kale heard the rapid blasts of a trumpet. She recognized the melody within the first distinctive notes.
 March of the King of Lightyme was a popular tavern tune.
 What s that? a soldier s rough voice bellowed.
 Music, another bisonbeck answered with a sluggish voice as if he d just awoken.
 I know that, you clout. Where s it coming from?
 Well, would you look at that? exclaimed a third voice.
Kale very much wanted to see what was going on. To do so, she pictured the soldier who stood guard
by the wagon. She repeated the words Granny had given her for protection in an evil mind and entered
the man s thoughts just as the soldier announced Dar s arrival.
 It s a fancy-dressed doneel!
Through the soldier s eyes, Kale saw Dar in brilliant yellow and blue court dress with a horn pressed to
his lips. The little doneel came high-stepping out of the fog, playing the small silver trumpet as if he were
leading a marching band. He strutted right into the open area in front of the barn.
Kale held her breath, wondering what her little friend would do next. He had never divulged the details
of the distraction he would create.
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  Oh, be careful, she whispered. She watched through the mind s eye of the soldier as two bisonbecks
circled and flanked Dar. She squealed when they charged. Celisse shifted nervously beneath her. Gymn
curled into a tight ball in his pocket-den. She felt him tremble. But Dar leapt into the air as Kale had seen
him do before, and the two soldiers collided with each other instead of trapping the doneel.
Dar lost not one note in his tune as he landed and continued his cocky march around the farmyard.
 Why, you little  The soldier on guard by the wagon suddenly charged Dar. Kale threw the enemy
bisonbeck an image of blinding light just before he would have tackled the doneel. Unfortunately, she also
blinded her vision of the action being played out in front of the barn door.
A long blast interrupted the pleasant tune from Dar s trumpet.
 Oh, said Kale, startled.  Let s go!
Celisse needed no more prompting than that. She ran full tilt ahead, smashing the wooden barn doors
into pieces. Two steps out in the open, her mighty wings extended. With a lurch, she rose into the air.
Kale held on tightly to the horn handles in front of her. She tried to open her eyes, but they remained
scrunched tightly shut. Wet, cool air rushed into her face, preventing her from forcing her eyes open. She
ducked, cowering over the front of the saddle, pressing her forehead against the hard scales of Celisse s
neck.
She stayed that way as long as the position of the dragon s body beneath her indicated they were
climbing into the sky at a sharp angle. Finally, they leveled off. Kale forced her eyes open. Below them
the fog swirled, thinning, breaking up. Trails of misty white hung over pastureland, wooded areas, and
furrowed ground. She saw patches of green, a river, a road, and a few buildings.
Celisse banked, her body tilting to one side as she glided in a circle and headed back the way they had
come.
 No, Celisse, cried Kale.  Dar said to fly to safety and come back to pick him up later.
Through the dragon s mind she saw little children, a plump woman with a kind face, an old lady in a
rocker on a farmhouse porch, and two men, one old and one young, but so alike in looks they had to be
father and son. These people were Celisse s family, and Kale felt her own heart clench with grief as she
responded to the creature s sorrow. But another emotion was mounting within the dragon s breast.
Anger. Wild, intense anger.
The anger became so hot it burned Kale s mind. It grew and lost control and surged out of the dragon s
heart as rage. Celisse meant to return to the farm and avenge the deaths of her people.
No, no,Kale begged as the dragon s speed increased.
They flew over the farm now, and Kale saw the tiny figures below. Dar in his bright clothes, a tiny
smudge that jumped out of the way of the larger, darker bisonbecks as they tried to capture him. It
looked like a game from so high in the sky.
Celisse folded her wings and started a plummeting descent.
NO! You can t. Dar is there in the middle. You ll hurt him by mistake. This is wrong, Celisse.
Wrong! You can t kill them. You ll be a murderer too.
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 Celisse gave no response to Kale s pleas. No coherent thoughts flowed from the dragon s mind, only
unrelenting hatred. Kale watched the ground rushing toward them and closed her eyes against the
terrifying sight.
A bisonbeck shrieked just before Kale heard a sickening thud. She felt Celisse jerk and knew from the
shift in the huge body beneath her that they were climbing again.
She opened her eyes and saw red blood splattered thickly along the dragon s dark neck.
No, Celisse.Kale sobbed. The dragon soared upward, changed directions, and dove for another attack.
This time she killed the last three bisonbeck soldiers, one with her teeth and two with a swipe of her tail.
Kale clung to the saddle horn, weeping as the dragon circled rapidly upward. The air became cold and
the wings of the dragon slowed to a less frantic beat. Just as Kale began gasping for air, the dragon
stopped the skyward climb and began to glide back to earth in large, unhurried loops. Kale s body
ached from the sobs that had torn at her while she begged Celisse to stop. A keening wail reached
Kale s ears. She felt spasms radiate through the enormous dragon. That s when Kale realized Celisse
was crying as she flew back to the farm.
Kale discarded each thought of condemnation as it came to her mind. She would not judge the dragon.
Kale had been long enough in the world outside River Away to understand there were things she did not
know. She was building a new system of discernment based on truths she had never known existed.
Paladin had sent her on a quest to find a meech egg. But maybe on this journey she would discover some
important things valuable to her alone.
She wondered how Paladin would feel about the dragon s attack. When Kale asked if Paladin
approved of killing, Leetu had said,  Paladin believes in protecting his people. Did Paladin also approve
of avenging his people? And wasn t it up to Paladin and Wulder to judge where only they could possibly
know all the facts?
She placed a hand on the thick, black scales in front of the saddle s horn. Celisse had fought the
monsters who killed her family. She d won, but she d need a friend to fight the battle of loneliness ahead. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]