Arin fell silent and looked from one to another, finally asking, "Has any aught to add?"
Alos cleared his throat. Arin motioned for him to speak. "Hem," he said. "They can sense when so-called intruders are in their domain, and they can change shape to become anything they wish, at times passing among cities in human guise."
Ferret snorted, but otherwise remained silent.
"They breathe fire," said Aiko. "And in accord with Arilla's tale, I would deem them vain… some, at least."
"It is said they like riddle games," added Delon.
"They can see in total darkness," added Burel, "or so Mayam told me when I was but a lad."
"Speaking of that," said Alos, his white eye glaring, "they say that Dragonsight allows them to see things that are hidden, invisible, and unseen. Perhaps that's why they can see in the dark."
Quiet fell, and only the creak of rope and the plash of water along the hull broke the silence. Finally Egil said, "Most of the Dragons are pledged not to raid as long as the Mages guard the Dragonstone."
"Do you think they know that the Dragonstone is, um, mislaid?" asked Delon.
Arin shrugged, then said, "They haven't begun widespread devastation. Hence, mayhap they do not know."
"If so," said Ferret, "then we mustn't give that secret away, especially not to the Dragons."
A murmur of agreement muttered 'round.
"Is there aught else?" asked Arin.
Burel heaved a great sigh. "I have heard from others that Dragons have the power in their eyes to charm a being witless, and that their voices can beguile the wisest of men and women."
"Oh!" exclaimed Ferret. When all eyes turned her way, she said, "Old Nom said that there is a chink in the armor of every Dragon, and if you know where it is, well, you can kill it."
Delon raised a skeptical eyebrow but remained silent.
"Perhaps that's the way Gurd killed the Monster Kram," said Egil to Arin, harking back to the heroic song they had heard while at supper in the Silver Helm in Koniginstadt. "Found his chink and did him in."
Arin shook her head. "As with much about Dragons, I think 'tis but a myth Old Nom hath repeated. Even so, let us not overlook the possibility."
Again silence fell upon the group, and no more rumor or fact was forthcoming. Finally Egil said, "Then let us see if we can find a way to get past the Drake on Dragons' Roost."
Ferret took a deep breath and said, "If they value treasure, perhaps we can bribe the Drake to let us enter the cavern and make our way down to the pool."
"I tell y' he'll eat us and just take the tribute for his own," declared Alos.
"Well, perhaps we could hide it-the bribe, I mean- and only tell him where it is after we've got what we came for."
Alos shook his head. "He'd eat us still, and take not only the tribute, but the silver chest and Dragonstone as well."
"Well then," said Delon, "if they like riddles, how about this…?"
They debated until it was nearly noon, discarding plan after plan, until finally Egil said, "We're getting nowhere, and some of us need rest ere it is our turn to crew again. Let us sleep on it."
And so, Arin, Egil, Aiko, and Burel took to the bunks below, while Alos, Ferret, and Delon sailed the Brise onward and continued their futile planning.
Likewise that night, Egil, Arin, Burel, and Aiko debated at length to no resolution. Too, on this night Aiko suddenly took in her breath, then turned to Arin and said, "My tiger growls of distant peril."
Arin stood and scanned the waters all 'round by the light of the silver half moon setting in the west. Finally she said, "I see nought, Aiko."
The Ryodoan shook her head. "Nevertheless, Dara, peril is yon somewhere. I felt it last night as well."
"Is something trailing us, do you think?" asked Burel.
"If so, it comes only at night," Aiko replied.
"Perhaps it's a Rover ship passing by, just beyond the horizon," suggested Egil.
Aiko turned up her hands, for the peril was fading. And none saw the great dark silhouette high in the sky flap away among the stars above.
A week passed, and still the comrades had no viable plan, and still at night peril came and went, or so said Aiko. The Brise had now turned on a course across the wide northern strait toward the coastline of Vancha some two hundred miles away. She was making for the port of Castilla on the southern shores of that land, where they planned on restocking the sloop with food and water, and whatever else they might need, should they come up with a scheme.
"Damn, damn!" hissed Egil. "This is why that bastard Ordrune hid the chest by the Kraken Pool. There's no way to get in there and steal it back… guarded by Dragons and Krakens and a maelstrom-driven current you can't swim against."
"Perhaps we ought to go to the Mages on Rwn and get help," suggested Delon.
"Take these with thee, no more, no less," intoned Ferret. "I don't think the rede permits a Mage to go with us."
"Well, if they can't go with us, there may be a chance that they can suggest something," said Delon. "I mean, after all, Dara Arin sought their help once before."
"Perhaps they can give us a ring of invisibility," said Ferret.
"Ha!" snapped Alos. "Didn't you listen when I said that Dragons can see things hidden, invisible, unseen? Ring of invisibility, indeed. He'd just snap you up and swallow you whole, visible or not."
"Well," said Ferret, nonplused, "if not a ring, then something which would help us get into the tunnel past the Drake."
"Not only in, luv, but out, too," said Delon. "Remember, we've got to escape as well."
On the third night in the port city of Castilla, Delon and Ferret sat in the common room of La Estrella Azul, one of the rowdier inns along the waterfront, having tracked down Alos to find him under a table passed out. As they quaffed a brew of their own, Delon laughed and pointed and said to Ferret, "Look."
Gyrating atop the bar was a woman dressed in nought but swirling veils, her hips rolling and turning as she dropped the tissue-thin garments one by one at the behest of a patron with a fistful of coins, the man obviously aroused and paying out copper or bronze for each veil released, depending upon where they were draped. Other men were gathered 'round and whooping and clapping and urging the woman on, their gazes filled with lust.
Suddenly Delon's eyes lit up. "That's it!" he exclaimed.
"What?"
Again Delon pointed. "The man: think of him as a Dragon."
"The man with the coins? How fitting, though 'twould be even more so were he dealing gold. But what does this have to do with us getting the treasure?"
Delon turned to Ferret, his eyes shining. "Think of the dancer as a Kraken."
"Kraken? Look, Delon, though she writhes like one, she hasn't enough arms."
"Yes, yes. But listen, luv, and look: what does the Dragon want?" Delon gestured toward the bar.
Ferret looked once again at the man with the coins; his pants bulged at the crotch. Then she turned to Delon, a glimmer of understanding beginning to dawn in her eyes. "Leave it to you, my love, to think of such a thing."