Chapter Fifteen

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Chapter Fifteen

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“Alright, Mirelle. You can do this. Just…climb on his back. Strap in. It’s perfectly safe. Be brave. Be strong. Just think about-”

“Are you about done babbling to yourself?”

Mirelle straightened. “You’re not supposed to be listening!”

“I can’t help it that dragons have excellent hearing.” Revaramek pawed at the ground, shredding the sod. “Now stop muttering and mount me! Wait, I don’t like that way that sounds.” The dragon snorted. “Just climb on my back already! Ah, damn it, that’s not much better. Umm…let’s see…”

Mirelle whirled on him, grinding grass beneath her new boot heel. “Will you shut up?”

“Will you get on me so we can get this over with?” The dragon tossed his head, then tugged at the dark leather straps crisscrossing his chest plates. “This thing is itchy.”

Mirelle took a few deep breaths, trying to stay calm. She wasn’t even angry with him right now, she was just nervous. She told herself again that it was going to be safe riding on the dragon’s back, strapped to him, but her stomach didn’t want to listen. Her belly lurched and sunk as anxiety twisted her bowels into a braid.

The two of them stood in her yard, between The Cathedral and her home. Once the dragon’s harness was complete and she’d learned how to work it, she’d returned home to pack her things. There was enough open space outside there that at Revaramek wouldn’t be able to do too much damage while she packed. Then she’d said her goodbyes to Beka and Tavaat, promised them she’d be careful, and now…now the moment had arrived, and she wished it hadn’t.

Mirelle wrung her hands, swallowing. “Promise you’ll fly safely?”

The dragon tugged at another strap, scratching at the scales beneath. “Why wouldn’t I? I don’t want to crash.”

“Don’t say that.”  Mirelle’s stomach heaved as if she were already falling.

“Trust me, Girl.” Revaramek craned his long neck, licking at the place where a buckle was rubbing against his scales. “Dragons are as frightened of falling as you are. As much as we love flight, there are few more frightening ways to die for us than to have that beloved flight fail, and send us plummeting-”

“Please stop talking!” Mirelle covered her face in her hands. Gods, why couldn’t their village have had a truce with a sensible monster? “Just promise me you’ll fly safe?”

Revaramek lifted his head and stared at her, bronze eyes shining in the light afternoon sunlight.

“Well?”

He cocked his head and kept staring.

“Don’t look at me like that! Just…what are you doing?”

The dragon gave a weary sounding sigh. “You asked me to stop talking. Make up your mind.”

“I didn’t mean…” Mirelle trailed off. Gods, he was infuriating. She wanted to smash her heavy pack over his head. She kneaded at her blouse, grimacing. “I meant stop talking about all those bad things. Just…for my own superstition, please promise me you’ll fly safely.”

“I’ll fly as safely as I can. Happy?”

“No, but it’ll have to do.” Mirelle hefted her pack and secured it over her shoulders.

She gestured at the ground until Revaramek lay down on the grass. Then she took a deep breath, made the most sanctifying gesture she could think of, and ran straight at the dragon. Just before she reached him she took a flying leap, and put her boot against his shoulder, vaulting up. At the same time she reached over the base of his neck, grasping at his scaly form. Her boots scrabbled at his scales and pushed herself up till she was able to swung a leg over him.

Mirelle settled herself at the base of his neck, just where it met his body. “How…how’s this?” She leaned forward and back a few times.

“Should be fine. As long as you’re not interfering with my wings we won’t have a problem.” He turned his head on his long neck, gazing back at her. “That was a pretty impressive leap, actually.”

Mirelle managed a smile despite her fear. “Thank you. When I was younger, I used to roam the marsh a lot, got used to leaping over broken sections of boardwalk, scrambling over boulders and climbing trees, that sort of thing. Do you want to try your wings before I strap in?”

“Might as well.”

“Just don’t take off or-ACK!”

Revaramek pushed himself up in a smooth motion before she’d even finished speaking. She wobbled a little but felt balanced enough so far. The dragon spread his wings, and flexed them. His flight muscles rippled beneath her. Then when he took a few steps, his whole body rolled against her. It reminded her of riding a horse bareback, only infinitely more powerful. As the dragon walked a wide circle, testing his wings, Mirelle stroked a patch of broad green scales. They were warm, and fairly smooth. He was not an unpleasant creature to touch or ride, when he was still firmly on the ground. And kept his mouth shut.

The dragon came to a stop and glanced back. “We should be fine. Strap your harness thing so we can go. And once we reach out destination, you will take this off of me at once. It itches. You can put it back on when we are ready to return home.”

Mirelle grunted but did not argue. The leatherworkers had shown her how to take it off and put it back on. Doing so after every flight seemed a small price to pay for safety and peace of mind. Her hands trembled as she picked up the first set of straps. She murmured, repeating the instructions as she worked the harness’s safety belts around her body.

“Buckle A…slot B…”

“Do they actually have letters?” Revaramek glanced back again.

“I asked for them so I don’t forget.” She buckled another one around her middle.

“Do you think those little buckles will actually hold if you should fall?”

Mirelle froze. Oh, Gods, what if they didn’t?

“Sorry, that’s probably not helping.” Revaramek smirked at her.

Mirelle forced herself to take a breath, and buckled the last safety strap around herself. “Just…fly safe. And smoothly! If I even get the sense that you’re trying to bump me around, you know what’s going to happen as soon as we land.”

“Tell you what.” Revaramek rolled his shoulders beneath her. “You promise not to puke all over me, and I promise to fly as smoothly as I can. Ready?”

“No.” Mirelle took a deep breath and held it. “Just go.”

The dragon tensed beneath her, and Mirelle squeezed her eyes shut. He leapt and muscles rolled against her as he beat his vast wings. Her stomach sank and puddled in her new boots as they ascended. Wind swirled around her, buffeting her hair. She’d tied her curls back best she could to try and protect them from becoming a knotted mess. Another wing beat, and they lurched higher in the sky. She clenched her safety straps, nails digging into the leather.

Revaramek banked, and her weight shifted. She whined through grit teeth, willing herself not to fall off of him. The straps pressed against her. She told herself it was a very secure hold. She squeezed her legs against him and friction of his scales against her breeches helped keep her from sliding too much.

When the dragon banked again, Mirelle tried not to fight the motions. Her body leaned with him, but she remained in place. He pumped his wings a few times in quick succession, and the force of their ascent pressed her against his back. Mirelle turned her face away from the rushing wind, and forced herself to take slow, even breaths.

Once the dragon’s flight had evened out, he called back to her. “You’re going to have to open your eyes eventually. You’re the only one who knows where we’re going.”

Mirelle gulped, and cracked her eyes open. At first, she focused her vision on the back of his neck, trying to ignore the ground rushing by so far beneath them. She traced his scale patterns with her eyes, lifting her gaze up his neck until it reached the spiny frill that ran down the back of his head. The black spines and gold-edged membranes between them were flattened out against him while he flew, but the colors were still visible. Although she’d called him ugly before, he did have pretty colors. If his personality matched them she might have found him a more beautiful creature.

As the flight wore on, Mirelle tried to work up to looking at the ground. At first she watched it out of the corner of her eye, while staring at the back of the dragon’s neck. It slid by in a blur of trees, reeds and water. Then she turned her head enough to watch his wings work. The vast, green membranes rippled in the air currents. The copper markings strewn across them shone in the late afternoon sunlight. When angled just right, veins became visible, tiny pulsing lines spread throughout the green and copper sails. A few small, pinkish scars marked them as well.

Beyond the edges of his right wing, the distant mountains formed a jagged wall across the horizon. Snow draped a few of the higher peaks like a cold blanket. Somewhere beyond the mountains was a vast desert said to be all but impassable without proper guidance. Mirelle watched the mountains a little while. Thanks to their size and distance, they trailed past in a slow march, rather than the terrifying blur of the ground just below them.

Little by little, she allowed herself to look lower than the mountains. The foothills were nearer, and rolled by with a little more speed. When she grew used to watching them, she looked to the forest, and the trees that passed in a rolling green undulation. Sun glinted off water beneath her, and finally she worked up the courage to look down.

Seeing the ground so far below her twisted her stomach, but not as tightly or painfully as it had when the dragon had forcibly yanked her into the sky. She forced herself to stare at the vast marsh beneath them. She doubted she could ever get used to being so high, but at least she could get used to the idea of flying. Mirelle shifted against her straps, wriggled her rump against the dragon. He felt firm and solid, the straps secure. She took a deep breath, and let it out slow. This isn’t so bad. She wriggled again. She might not be on solid ground, but at least the dragon felt solid and steady beneath her.

“Have you got an itch?” Revaramek glanced back at her, ears flat against his head.

“Shouldn’t you be watching where you’re going?”

“I don’t think I’m going to crash into anything up here.”

Mirelle hooked her fingers into her safety straps. “I guess you’re right. They don’t build houses this high, do they?”

“Oh, hah hah.” Revaramek pumped his wings a few times. “Wasn’t I supposed to go apologize or something?”

“We have more pressing matters, unfortunately. But you will apologize to him, and you help help him rebuild.” She licked her lips a few times, the wind left them dry. “For now he’s settled in one of the villages.”

“Must be nice to have people who offer you shelter.” Revaramek snorted, glaring at her. His eyes looked dull.

“If you weren’t such an ass, you’d find yourself more welcome among us!” Mirelle freed a hand to gesture at his head. “What’s wrong with your eyes? They’ve lost their shine.”

“My flight membranes! Protects them from the wind. Where are we going, anyway?”

Mirelle forced herself to look at the ground. It was disorienting seeing everything from above, and familiar landmarks were hard to come by. They were already well beyond the village. She spotted a familiar bridge in the distance, spanning a wide, slow river. The bridge had a golden arch with blue supports, like half a wheel spoke.

“That way!” She pointed to the bridge.

“I hope you don’t expect me to follow your finger the whole way there.” Revaramek turned his head forward again, banking towards the bridge.

“Once you reach the bridge, you can follow the road! It passes through the other major villages. We’re going to the third one out!”

“Very well!” Revaramek turned again to start following the road. From above, it was just an earthen snake, winding through the forests and marshes. “I shall follow it at a distance then. No sense letting the other villages see me and get riled up for nothing. Oh! Unless…Can I at least fly low over the other villages to inspire a little terror?”

“No!”

“What if I have to piss? Can I piss on the villages when I fly overhead?”

“What!?” Mirelle gave a horrified gasp. “Certainly not!”

“Oh, untwist your underwear!” The dragon snorted. “I wouldn’t really do it. Pissing while you fly is a great way to get it all over yourself.”

“That’s disgusting!”

“Which is why I only tried it once!”

“Ugh.” Mirelle leaned forward, checking her strap buckles. “I hope that was when you were little and not just last week.”

“I couldn’t fly when I was little. A dragon’s wings are not strong enough to carry him until he’s nearer to adolescence.”

“And I’m sure your mother was very proud to see you…pissing all over your swamp.”

Something changed in Revaramek’s posture. His neck stiffened, and his spines flared up, their membranous frills rippling in the wind. “No, I…we…I could not fly while we lived in the swamp.”

Mirelle inspected another buckle, softening her tone. “You live in the swamp now, you silly creature.”

“No.” Revaramek hissed, and flattened all his spines right back down. “I do not.”

“Then what do you call-”

“I do not live in the swamp, Mirelle!” The sudden, angry snarl in his voice caught her off-guard. “I live in the marsh! The marsh!”

Mirelle swallowed, hooking her fingers under her safety harness. No sense pushing him. “Alright, Revaramek. May I ask the difference?”

“The marsh is beautiful and clean! The water is safe and life-giving, and all the creatures in it are…” He trailed off, his voice so soft Mirelle half thought he didn’t expect her to hear him. “As they should be.”

“What do you mean?”

“They’re not poisonous! Or…wrong, or…”

“Wrong?”

Revaramek hissed, turned his head, and spat fire. The heat of it washed over her as he snarled. The dragon’s voice had changed, more bruised than angry, the sound of someone tired of being hurt. “Leave me alone, Mirelle!”

“I’m sorry.” Mirelle leaned forward towards the dragon’s neck. Why was he so upset? There must have been horrible memories in that place, memories she hadn’t meant to dredge up. “Revaramek, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“No you’re not.” The dragon snorted, pumping his wings.

Mirelle furrowed her brow. “Yes, I am.”

 “No.” The dragon banked to follow the road. “You aren’t.”

“Yes, I am!” Mirelle grit her teeth. “I’m trying to apologize!”

“Sure you are.” Revaramek rumbled, a low growl that caused his body to shudder beneath her. “And then soon you’ll yell and scream at me for putting my paw in the wrong place and tell me I’m a filthy monster and a pervert. You don’t care about me, Mirelle. You don’t care where I am came from and you don’t care how I feel. I enjoy our banter, but I am under no illusions that you have the slightest bit of sympathy or concern for the monster who lives in your marsh. So don’t tell me you’re sorry unless you mean it. I’d rather we just argue and banter and you threaten me with your boots than hear your false platitudes and lies. Just…just don’t say I live in the swamp, alright? I don’t. I live in the marsh.”

With every word, Mirelle shrank a little more till she was hunched over, huddled against the dragon. A heavy cloak of guilt pressed against her. She wanted to look away, to look anywhere but at the dragon. Even with his eyes focused on the horizon, she still felt as if his bronze gaze was piercing her to her soul. She could not refute what she knew to be true. She didn’t really care about him, and that was what troubled her the most.

“You’re right.” Mirelle swallowed a few times, staring at his green scales beneath her. “I…did just think of you as the monster in the marsh, something to help solve our problems, to carry your end of the truce. And…I guess for the most part, I still do. And…I do…yell. I…” Mirelle worked her tongue around her mouth, struggling to form the right words. “I have…anger problems, sometimes.”

She paused, expecting the dragon to snap back with some witty retort. Instead, his silence only dragged her deeper into the guilty mire. “I’ve…always had them. And I have…issues with…” Mirelle ran her fingers against one of the straps. “With respect. I…I don’t feel like women always get the respect we should, as if…some of the men feel as though we’re lesser than them, somehow. I don’t always react well to that, I don’t always do what I should to prove them wrong the right way. I overreact, and…” Mirelle sighed. “I’m sure you don’t care about my excuses any more than I cared about yours. But I’ve apologized to you several times, something that is very difficult for me, and you’ve yet to change your…”

Mirelle trailed off when she realized how that sounded.

Revaramek shot her a glare, a bloodshot gleam in his bronze eyes. “I should not have to change! You dragged me into this, Mirelle, you used the truce against me to bind me to your will! I am already forced to do your bidding; I should not also be forced to conform to your ideals!”

“No…no, you shouldn’t.” Mirelle grit her teeth, cursing herself. She wouldn’t appreciate someone on the council asking her to change the person she was just to fit their standards. They’d invited her, warts and all, and that was what they got. “I just…you see, I have to learn to control my temper for the council, and…maybe you could learn to…behave yourself, that’s all.”

“Why?” Revaramek pumped his wings, his muscles rippling against her. He snapped his jaws. “You apologized before, and yet you treat me no differently. Perhaps you should change your behavior! Or do you only wish me to behave myself so that my forced servitude is more enjoyable for you?”

“That’s not…” Mirelle grimaced, heat flooding her face. Was that how he saw this? She couldn’t exactly deny it. Mirelle took a deep breath and held it as long as she could. She squeezed the safety straps, and when her lungs burned, she heaved a great sigh. “I’m sorry, Revaramek, and please don’t cut me off.”

The dragon swiveled his ears, but did not reply.

“You infuriate me more than any creature I’ve ever met, and as far as I can tell, most of the time you’re doing it on purpose. So I won’t apologize for meeting your antagonism and disrespect with equal measure of my own. But…” She grit her teeth. “I will apologize for…going too far. For the way I see you. For not trying harder to treat you fairly, at least. I know what it’s like to be disrespected, and I…should know well enough not to do the same to you. For what it’s worth, dragon, when I do apologize, I promise you, I mean every word of it. And right now, I’m sorry for bringing up bad memories. I did not know, and I did not mean to make your heart hurt, or to remind you of whatever horrible thing may lay in that swamp. So…I’m sorry.”

Revaramek glanced back at her, bronze eyes narrowed. “I accept you apology. Again. Please do not push me on the truce, or where I live.”

“Thank you, Revaramek.” Mirelle smiled a little. “I will do all that I can to keep that in mind.”

“Very well, then.” The dragon turned his gaze back to the distance. “We’re going to keep doing this, aren’t we. Driving each other mad.”

Mirelle chuckled. “Seems that way. As if we’re destined for it.”

“I don’t mind, so much.” The dragon flattened back his ears as he flew. “Our arguments, they’re more entertaining than sitting alone, in the marsh. We’d make a good pair in a tale.”

“I think we’d be enemies in a tale.” Mirelle shifted against her straps. “We practically hate each other.”

“I don’t hate you, Mirelle. You make me crazy but at the same time I find you amusing. It’s nice to have someone to spar with.”

“So you are doing it on purpose.”

“Aren’t you?”

“No.” Mirelle glanced at the trees whipping by below. “Okay, sometimes. …Yes.”

“You see? You like sparring with me, too.” He turned his head a little. It was hard to tell, but it looked as if he was smiling. “You’re like a female dragon, all fire and threats. Only instead of claws, you’ve got boots”

Mirelle found herself laughing at that. “And they sting just as well.”

For once, Revaramek shared her laugh. “That they do, Mirelle. That they do. Very well then…as you have apologized, I shall do the same. It was…” He gazed at the earth. Late afternoon sunlight flashed upon long stretches of water. “Unfair of me to grow so angry over something you did not mean. I should not have snapped at you when you are in fact, trying to be nice. I was…already upset, and…I am sorry, let us leave it at that.”

“I accept, Revaramek.” Mirelle leaned forward and set her hand on the side of his green-scaled neck. “And thank you.”

“You are welcome. Perhaps we should…maintain a truce for the duration of the flight. Then as soon as we can land, we can return to driving each other crazy.”

Mirelle smirked. “We don’t have to.”

“I rather doubt we’d have anything to say to one another, otherwise.”

That idea put her ill at ease. Silence settled in, cold and empty. Was Revaramek right? If they weren’t at each other’s throats, what would they have to say? She’d give him his orders, he’d carry them out, and then he’d go home. It would be nice if he wasn’t acting like an egotistical pervert all the time, but…would she really want him to be silent? It seemed to cold, too clinical. Drag him from the marsh, make him do his job, then send him away.

A image flickered in her mind of Revaramek laughing and smiling, covered in soap. She’d never even imagined a dragon could look so happy till that moment. Hell, she’d scarcely given dragons a thought till she saw the truce on the wall, and decided if the council wouldn’t make him do his job, she would. Then when she’d marched out there, he’d seemed so surprised, so excited to have someone visit he could announce himself too. Even if he thought she was his ‘maiden.’ Looking back, in that moment he seemed strangely hopeful. And since then, she’d seemingly dashed every hope he had.

“You must get lonely out there, in the marsh.” The words rolled off her tongue before she could stop them.

The dragon’s head jerked up as if she’d struck him. His frills flared, and he beat his wings harder a few times. He made an odd noise, like a growl and a whimper rolled into one.

“How long…that is…if you don’t mind telling me. How long has it been since someone came to visit you? Before me.”

“I’d hardly call conscripting me to be your personal army a visit.” The dragon took a breath, then spat a burst of flame towards the ground, illuminating his face with red-orange light. “But it has been…some time, now. Usually I have to go visit my subjects if I wish to converse.”

Mirelle knit her brows. “I never really thought about dragons being…lonely. Especially not you. Everyone just knows you as…” She trailed off, then patted the dragon’s neck. “Their overlord.” The way that caused his ears to ears perk made her smile. “And it never really…occurred to me that…there aren’t many dragons around.” Then his ears drooped, and her heart sank a little with it. She nearly blurted out and asked him if that was why he’d come to like human females, but such a question would have felt wildly appropriate at any time, and doubly so in that moment. “So…when we’re done, here, I wonder if…well…If you’d want visitors…”

“Are you offering to come and visit me, Mirelle?” The hopeful surprise in the dragon’s voice took her back.

“What…me?” Mirelle furrowed her brows, scratching at her wind-knotted hair. “I…well…I was going to say, Beka and Tavaat…would…be happy to visit you, I think. They really seemed to enjoy your stories.”

“Of course they did. Stories are wonderful, and so am I.” The dragon turned his wedge shaped head, smirking. “So you’d just pawn me off onto your friends so you don’t have to deal with me, is that?”

“No!” Mirelle shook her head, black curls waving in the breeze. “It’s just that…last night, you seemed so happy with them! I thought…you’d enjoy getting to do that more often.”

“I would!” Revaramek lifted is head a little, his central frill flared and displayed its golden eyes. “I enjoyed their company. I miss having maidens-”

“Beka’s not your maiden!” Mirelle snapped at him before she could stop herself. Then she scowled, more upset with herself than anything else. “Sorry, truce, I know.”

“Seems I can’t say anything you don’t take offense too.” The dragon huffed a sigh. “I can’t blame you for wanting to be rid of me.”

“You sound as if you’d want me to come visit you with them.”

“That depends whether or not you can learn to communicate with your words, not with your boots.”

“I speak with my boots because words don’t seem to get through to you!” Mirelle laughed, incredulous. “You shouldn’t have to be told not to smack a woman on the ass!”

“I was expressing my approval for it!” The dragon twisted his serpentine neck. “You see? This is why I’d want you to visit, this is fun! But you’d have to fix that attitude and your boots at home.”

“Oh, no, dragon, there’s no way in all the many hells that may exist that I’d ever visit you without my trusty boots!” Mirelle laughed and kicked her heels against his scaly flanks. “They’ve proven themselves to be the only way to keep you in line!”

“Oh?” Revaramek perked his ears up again. “So you are going to visit me?”

“Don’t count on it.” When the dragon’s ears drooped right back down, Mirelle pursed her lips. “Though, I…suppose someone will have to make sure you don’t cross the line with Beka.”

“What if she crosses the line with me?” The dragon laughed, his head spikes all extended. “Why, that girl had her hands all over me last night.”

“That’s a called a bath. And whose idea was that?”

“Hers, of course!”

“Guess she must have caught a whiff of you, then.”

“Oh, hah hah, Mirelle. But dragons do not sweat!”

“So you just smell like marsh water and lake bottoms?”

“There’s nothing wrong with the natural scents of the marsh!”

Mirelle just laughed with him. At least he seemed back to his usual self, though she wasn’t really sure if that was a good thing. She thought it strange that the dragon could let so much slide right off his scales, yet say the wrong thing and he damn near exploded. Perhaps it wasn’t fair of her to expect a dragon’s emotional state to ebb and flow the same way a human’s did. A dragon’s emotions of anger or sorrow or even joy might be harder to truly bring to the surface, yet course through him all the more powerfully when they did.

Or maybe she’d just been pushing him without realizing it. She thought back to the day before, when she met him in the swamp. It was only when she started jabbing at him to acknowledge the truce when he finally snarled and roared and blasted his fire at the sky. And right before that, he’d grown suddenly quite introverted. Just like today when he’d suddenly cut his sentences short and…hell, he’d even asked her to leave him be. By then it was probably too late, she’d riled him up and her attempts to apologize only upset him further.

At least there were signs to watch for in the future. If he acted like an ass and brought her ire upon himself, that was one thing. But Mirelle didn’t want to bring up anything hurtful without realizing it, or push him too far if she did.

He’s delusional.

Nell’s voice echoed in her mind, and Mirelle shivered. Was this what they meant? It seemed an awfully cruel way to characterize a few mood swings and outbursts? If anything, Mirelle thought he acted more like a child than a dragon who genuinely believed himself their overlord. But if no one wanted him around, how was he supposed to learn how to conduct himself? Asshole or not, she doubted being shunned had done the dragon any good. For the second time in as many days, twisting pangs of sympathy coiled around Mirelle’s heart.

Mirelle leaned forward and hesitantly put her hand upon his neck. “You know…you’re not really…our overlord, right?”

Revaramek glanced back and gave her a confused look. “What are you on about? Of course I am.” He smirked and glanced down at the road, reorienting himself.

Mirelle sighed. It was impossible to tell when he was joking, when he was screwing with her, and when he was serious. “Revaramek, the council, they…”

“Yes?”

“They think you’re…” She trailed off. What good would telling him do? “…A whirlwind of devastation.” Close enough, she thought.

“Oooh, I like the sound of that.”  

“I thought you might.” She patted his neck. His scales were warm and smooth. She ran her hand down the back of his neck, enjoying the texture. Revaramek made a soft, rumbling noise and arched his neck against her palm. “Do you like that?”

“It feels nice, yes.” The dragon’s rumble grew louder. “I like it when maidens pet me.”

Mirelle giggled, rubbing his scales for a little while. “I can’t tell if you’re being genuine, or lewd.”

“If I was being lewd, I’d have said stroke, not pet.”

Mirelle pulled her hand back. “And there’s a mental image I could have done without.”

“You made it dirty, Mirelle. Not me.”

“You make everything dirty, dragon.” Mirelle folded her arms. “I was just trying to-”

“Mirelle.”

“Now hold on, I’ve something to say, and I’m trying to be gentle about it, so-”

“Mirelle!”

“Revaramek, we were having a nice moment and now you’re just being rude. I know you like pushing my buttons, but-”

“Shall I just ignore the bandits and the urd’thin and the burning wagon, then?”

“What?!” Mirelle sat up straight, her straps taut. “Why didn’t you-nevermind! Where?”

“To your right!”

Mirelle twisted as far as she dared. On a road that cut through the distant forest, a column of dark smoke rose from a flaming carriage. Two other wagons sat nearby. A few men were tossing goods out of one of the wagons while a smaller person ransacked one of the crates. “Are you sure that’s him? I can’t even tell if he’s an urd’thin from here.”

“Dragons have fantastic sight! It’s definitely an urd’thin. And he’s with bandits. And he’s burning something. You want me to roast him so we can go home?”

“Not until we’re sure!” Mirelle shaded her eyes with her hand as the dragon banked towards the smoke. “And, if it is him, we still need to know where the rest of his gang is. It’s hard to believe that the three of them was all it took to burn those villages.”

“So I’ll capture him alive, then, and we continue our way, and let the guards interrogate him at our destination. They can interrogate him. How’s that?”

“Actually that sounds like an excellent plan!”

“Good! Then don’t scream, or you’ll give us away!”

“What?” Mirelle sucked in a breath. Until then, she’d almost been able to forget just how high she was. “Oh no, nonono!”

“Hush, Mirelle, you’re perfectly safe! I have to dive at a distance, then swoop in, gliding over those trees so he won’t hear or see me coming till it’s too late.”

“No diving!” Mirelle clutched her safety straps till her knuckles ached. “Please, no diving!”

“Yes, diving! Then I snatch him up and take him into the skies with us!” Revaramek cackled, his body shaking beneath her. “It’s the first lesson in the dragon’s terrorizing handbook! Or the second, I forget which. But you’re a villain, you should know these things! Ready? Here we go!”

“For the last time, I am not a vill-AAAAAAAAAH!” Mirelle screamed as the dragon broke into a step dive, and her stomach leapt into her throat.

“Mirelle, quit that!  You’re going to give us away! You’re a terrible villain!”