Page 34 of Ale Storm

10

With her bow in hand, her quiver of arrows across her back, and the horn on its new string over her shoulder, Rylana felt like she was leaving on a quest. Maybe she was. Though she was only taking the ferry across Luminous Lake so she could visit the family estate, it seemed like a great undertaking.

The morning sun had disappeared behind clouds, and a soft summer rain pattered on the water. She hoped that wasn’t a sign that her mission would fail. She needed to talk her father into giving Jildarin his blessing—or at least agreeing not to send him on errands, pirate-slaying errands. Ideally, her father would tell Jildarin he could do what he wanted in regard to Rylana and that the outdated courting book need not be followed.

Ostensibly, she’d brought her bow and quiver in case any female dragons decided to risk the ire—and magical beams—of the pillars to pay her a visit. But maybe she would lean the weapons against the wall while she spoke to her father to remind him that she’d been a mercenary and wasn’t to be trifled with. She doubted that would work, but one could embrace fantasies, right? Fantasies in which one’s father realized he would be foolish to irritate the mighty warrior that his daughter had become.

“It’s raining, but you’re smiling. Are you daydreaming about your dragon?” Sylin joined her at the railing, her hood up against the drizzle, and her gnomish vacuum flash making frequent trips to her lips. Despite Captain Tassani’s warning, Sylin hadn’t brought any weapons along,

“About shooting my father in the butt with an arrow, actually,” Rylana said.

“Because of your dragon. I see.”

“It wasn’t necessary for you to come along on this errand.” Rylana hadn’t expected Sylin to join her. After they’d finished their jog, Sylin had beelined for the coffee shop, not mentioning any interest in crossing the lake. But by the time Rylana had grabbed her gear, let Jildarin know where she was going, and walked out of the diner, two elves had been walking into the coffee shop. It was possible they’d had nothing to do with Sylin or the ambitious Shaldona family, but, perhaps with Tassani’s warning in mind, Sylin had appeared at the ferry dock as Rylana had been boarding.

“You wouldn’t have been bereft without my company?” Sylin asked.

“Oh, I would have been. Without your companionship, my life is bleak and without meaning.”

Her instincts twanged, giving Rylana the urge to look up. When she did, she groaned. An elegant golden dragon was soaring high above the lake.

Sylin tilted her chin skyward. “There might be companionship waiting for you when we reach the dock.”

“That’s not one of the sisters. Wrong color.”

“This is the first golden dragon I’ve seen since the war.”

“I have a hunch that’s the first golden dragon I’ve seen since breakfast.” Rylana had already mentioned the shape-shifted visitor who had touched Jildarin’s shoulder and led him out of the diner that morning. She’d had blonde—golden—hair.

The dragon flapped her wings hard a few times, then folded them in and dove toward the shallows at the southern end of the lake. In the trees bordering the marshy area, several birds flew up and away from the descending predator. But the dragon was diving toward the water rather than the branches. Her golden head snapped beneath the surface as her wings spread to pull up from the dive. A glowing eel dangled from her jaws but only for a couple of seconds before she chomped it down.

“I gather it—she—didn’t stay for breakfast.” Sylin sipped from her flask.

Murmurs came from the crew and passengers on the ferry. Others had noticed the great predator’s presence.

“Why are there so damn many dragons in Tranquility these days?” a nearby crewman grumbled.

“Do you think that chef is inviting them?”

Rylana eyed the question asker, prepared to come to Jildarin’s defense if need be. Of course, his presence in the city technically was the reason so many dragons had visited the area of late.

“Probably not,” the first speaker said. “He makes all that good food for humans, gnomes, dwarves, orcs, and everyone else. Everyone normal. He’s not like other dragons.”

Rylana smiled, pleased by that encomium.

“I heard he was banished and that’s why he had to come work in Tranquility,” another crewman said. “His mother won’t give him any coin, so he has to legitimately earn his way in the world.”

That was close enough to the truth that Rylana was surprised. Though a desire for money wasn’t what had prompted Jildarin to start his diner, his unwillingness to mate with dragon females was apparently the reason his mother had cut him off from the family hoard.

“His food is amazing.”

Rylana almost laughed because the crewman said the word in the same reverent tone as the postal clerk had.

“I haven’t tried it,” someone else said. “I heard it makes you horny. My wife already groans when I come to bed randy.”

“That’s because you’re a cross between a rabbit and a goblin. What do you have? Eight children? I’d be groaning too, if I were your wife.”

“I’d be doing a lot more than groaning if you were my wife.”