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herd of her sisters. The cow looked over her shoulder and nodded, before
putting her head down to gorge on grass as fast as she could pull it up.
He hadn't known the dragon could switch sex, too. Was it all
external, he wondered, or
Never mind.
Melody drifted towards him on the sultry breeze, with a hint of
exotic perfumes and a breath of flower-scent. Triana's home was always
surrounded with music; it was one of her abilities, the conjuring of sounds.
And when the music wasn't mage-born, she had an entire staff of
humans trained as minstrels, both vocalists and instrumentalists, enough so
that she had music night and day. Valyn hurried towards the lights and music
in the near distance, and as he drew nearer the manor, he recognized two
things that filled him with mingled relief and apprehension. There were no
signs of guests, which meant Triana was not having one of her parties. And
there were lights blazing in the top of the tower, and a single moving shape
up in the room at the top which, since only Triana went up there alone, meant
that she wasthere , in a reasonably good mood, and awake and probably bored.
Probably very bored, since most of her usual companions were if their
fathers were anything like Dyran out on various attempts to solve the mystery
of "dragon-skin."
And Valyn's friends might just be exactly what she needed to relieve
that boredom. But what she'ddo with them was anybody's guess&
V'dann Triana er-Lord Falcion paced the narrow edge of walkway that
rimmed the inside of the windows of her tower, and stared at the lights of her
manor below her. A restlessness was on her, and she hadn't stopped pacing
since she came up here. She'd hoped to walk off her nerve-born energy, but the
exercise wasn't working.
Damn, I'm bored. I need to do something.
Maybe she just ought to call down and get Rafe sent up
Ancestors. She was not only bored, she was losing her memory. She'd
broken him yesterday, and Mentor hadn't finished training a new stud for her.
Now not only bored but frustrated, she considered the options before
her, as she twisted a silken strand of her hip-length, pale gold hair in one
hand.
Not another party. Not until people stopped sending their children
off to chase lizard-skins. Right now the only ones free to come to the party
were the ones she'd rather not see. At least, not without plenty of more
amusing people around at the same time. There was a limit to how much
stupidity she was going to endure for the sake of entertainment.
For a moment she considered joining the hunt; after all, there
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weren't too many elven lords withher resources out looking for the things. One
rumor and the scrap of skin that verified it weren't important enough to rate
the attentions of a Clan head but it was significant enough if true for the
Clans to put subordinates and younger sons on it. Now if she found them
No, it was a stupid idea. If she found these so-called "dragons,"
what would she do with them? Hunt them herself? She wasn't the kind of fool
who thought risking her life was a good way to combat ennui. Send her
underlings in to hunt them? Then what? Make a fortune?
She didn't need a fortune. She had one. As long as her people kept
their skimming within reason, what more did she need? Father had picked the
best possible people to run things before he fell off that horse she'd put
them in the best possible position forher . As long as she did well,they did
well. If one of them found the stupid things on his own, fine. Otherwise, why
bother with it?
She had the suspicion that it was all a hoax, anyway. And she
mentally congratulated the author, whoever he was. Everyone seemed to have
forgotten that the skinscould have beenmade magically. After all, the
one-horns, the grels, and plenty of other animals had been made that way. All
it took was patience and the proper root material, and a very powerful
magician.
She stared down at the illuminated water-garden below her, and
chuckled a little at the thought of someone spending all that time on a prank.
It sounded like somethingshe'd do.
It would have taken years to set up, with the "wild" girl and all,
but who cared? If it was a hoax, it was brilliant. She wished she had thought
of it herself!
Now that was an intriguing idea&
She wouldn't be able to pull it off if it turned out that thiswas a
hoax but if the whole thing just fizzled, or it actually turned out to be the
real thing, maybe she should try pulling a similar trick. It would be no end
amusing to watch those stiff old elders chasing their tails over something
that never existed! She could do it, too, if she could lure one of the few
youngsters who was a strong mage over to helpher set up something like the
dragon-skin scam&
Someone like oh Valyn.
The faint, musical sound of a bell rang from the speaking-tube near
the entrance to the staircase.
The message bell? She gathered up her amber-silk skirts in one hand
and crossed the cushion-covered floor to reach it, interest piqued. The slaves
knew not to disturb her when she was up here unless it was something or
someone special.
Maybe it would be something exciting.
"Yes?" she said into the tube. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]