Still, Diric has them convinced, 1 think. He'd have had more trouble if Shana had asked him for direct help against the elves, but I think he can manage to get them calmed down under the current circumstances.
But now he was going to have to force a confrontation on Dora. He hadn't wanted to, not this early, but there wasn't going to be much choice.
She's going to have to choose between running back to her own Lair—and—
And what? And him?
But what choice did he have?
With her help we can all travel back to the Citadel in a few days. Sheyrena is light enough that Kalamadea can carry her double with Lorryn. But without Dora—we'll have to make
double trips, because I can't carry two people for very long. That's going to take time that we just don't have.
Besides that, in the morning all six of them were leaving this place. Dora would have to reveal herself sooner or later, so why not sooner? She couldn't hide her presence forever.
He stopped at the edge of the herds, and sent out a questing tendril of thought.
:Here. At the edge of the herds.:
Well, he no longer needed to hide what he was—and he wasn't going to have to explain to any of the herdsmen what he was doing out here! He shifted—slowly, and with a bit of the pain that weariness always caused when he shifted—and lumbered into the air. Muscles ached and joints creaked as he flew.
I am going to have to stay in better shape from now on.
A moment later, Dora met him in the sky above the camp. They flew together, neither one saying a word, as she led him off into the low hills beyond the encampment.
To his surprise and delight, she led him to a cache of freshly killed plains deer, and she waited patiently while he sated his ravenous hunger.
"Oh," he said fervently, when hunger-rage had worn off enough for him to be able to think clearly, "I needed that. Thank you."
"I knew you would," she replied, gravely. "Keman—I didn't know what to think when I saw that strange female! And then when she spoke—and you fought—I was so afraid for you!"
The words came out of her reluctantly, as if she was as afraid to voice her feelings as he was.
"I wanted to help you," she continued, "but I didn't know how."
"You couldn't have done anything," he told her, bluntly. "Myre has resented me from the time she was born, I think. That resentment curdled into hate long before we met, you and I. Anything you could have done to help me would just have delayed things between Myre and me."
"Oh." Her head sagged, deflated. "All I could think of was that you'd be hungry."
"I was. Thank you." He sat down on his haunches, wondering what to say next. Well, better get it out of the way at once.
"We're leaving tomorrow."
Her head shot up, her eyes wide. "Is it because of what she said, your sister? About the elves, and your wizard friends?"
"She didn't have any reason to lie, and plenty of reasons to tell the truth. We have to assume that's what she did," he replied. "We have to get back—Shana has to settle things with the wizards in case the elves do mount an attack, and Lorryn and Rena both think they have a plan to disrupt the situation in the elven lords' ranks. But we haven't much time."
"So you're leaving." She looked as if she'd bitten into something bitter. "I promised to help you escape, but it doesn't look as if you need me now."
Was that all that was troubling her? "We need you more than ever," he told her. "With your help, if you let Shana ride you, we can fly at something close to our normal speed. Without you, Kalamadea and I will have to make double-trips."
She looked into his eyes. "You're asking me to—to show myself."
He nodded. "Dora, you have to, sooner or later, or else just go home. And what would be the point of that? I'll be telling my Lair about yours. Some of our dragons are going to go looking for yours. And you'll be telling your Lair about all the other Lairs up here! Eventually our Kin are going to meet, whether or not you show yourself to my friends."
But she looked troubled. "Our laws have always said never to show ourselves to two-leggers as we are."
He snorted. "My two-leggers already know what we are, and Myre certainly took the matter of the Iron People out of both of our hands! As my two-legger friends say, 'the horse has been stolen, so what's the point of locking the barn?' You won't be accomplishing anything."
She sighed. "I said I wanted to help you——-"
"But not necessarily my friends?" he asked shrewdly.
She nodded. "I can't help it," she confessed. "It's hard to think of them as people."
"You have to start somewhere," he told her softly, "or you end up like the elves, who don't count anyone who hasn't got full elven blood as 'people.' Or like Myre, who sees anything that isn't a dragon as rightful prey. Can't you see that?"
"I wouldn't want to be like them." Her skin shuddered, and she looked away. "Especially not your sister."
"Then help us, Dora," he said, weariness creeping into his voice. He wasn't as good at this persuasion thing as Shana. He really wished he had Lorryn's gift for it. "Not me, help us."
She still didn't look at him. "I have to think about it," she said slowly. "I don't know what else to tell you."
"All right." He sighed, but what else could he say? He certainly couldn't coerce her, and he didn't want to use a different kind of coercion on her by telling her how very, very much he liked her…
So instead, he stretched weary and aching muscles, and prepared to take flight again, back to the tent, and some well-earned sleep. "Thank you for everything that you have done, Dora; I really appreciate it," he told her as he stretched out his wings. "Just remember; we take off a little past dawn tomorrow."
"I'll—remember," she said slowly, making no move to take to the air herself, keeping her wings furled against her sides. "Good night, Keman."
"Good night, Dora." He forced himself not to add anything. She had to make up her mind by herself. Instead, he launched himself into the dark, star-spangled sky, and made a slow, weary flight back to the tents of the clan. From this height, the lights from their lanterns looked as if stars had dropped down out of the sky to arrange themselves in concentric rings on the plain.
This might be the last time he'd see it, too. From here on, they moved into unknown territory. Lorryn, Mero, and Rena would not be the only ones going into elven lands. Someone would have to set up shops to "sell" the silver-plated iron jewelry. It would be very dangerous for wizards to even attempt such a thing.
But shifted dragons, now… there was a possibility.
There was another possibility as well, something he hadn't bothered telling to Shana, because he didn't want to get her hopes up. But with Myre out of the way, his way was clear to return to the old Lair and recruit more of the Kin. In fact, there was nothing stopping him from going to other Lairs. That would free the original rebels, as many of them as were willing, to shift into two-legger forms to run those "jewelry shops," because there would be other recruits to take their places at the Citadel to help the wizards defend themselves. It wouldn't matter if they shifted to the forms of human slaves; only slaves ran shops anyway. And certainly none of the elven lords would be looking for trouble among the fat and contented merchanter-slaves!
That, he had decided, would be his responsibility, as soon as he was free to pursue it—which would be as soon as they reached the Citadel.
Already he felt the stirrings of impatience. He wanted to be at the job; he had the sensation of time pressing in on them from all directions, the feeling that he was only now beginning a race that had started without him.
Perhaps he had. Perhaps they all had.
No matter. They were in it now. They had no choice but to run this race full-out, and hope that they could finish it.
Dawn came much, much too soon for Keman; despite eating to beyond satiation, and sleeping as only a thoroughly bloated dragon could sleep, no matter what form he took, Keman felt as if he would have been a lot happier with a great deal more sleep.