She leaped to obey and told Bran that he might want to walk next to her, so he didn’t trip or get lost. She didn’t repeat the offer for Elizabeth or me.
With a wink in my direction, Bran fawned, “Would it be okay if you held my hand so you can steady me?”
Just like that, Anna had her first crush on a man. I couldn’t help myself from teasing her. *Anna, would you like me to give you another alphabet letter or two? We can work on them together as we walk.*
*Do you want me to come back there and punch you on your arm?*
She couldn’t have said anything nicer. The only other people to do that to me were Elizabeth and my sister. We struggled behind, glad to use our legs again after a day confined on the ship. Although we climbed the side of a mountain, there was no doubt we were in the Brownlands. A stunted shrub or two clung to waterless life. The rocks were dark gray, porous, and had sharp edges.
We didn’t climb directly up the side of the mountain, but a circuitous route that wound around the base, always climbing, but not so fast that our legs revolted. There was little talking. We stopped several times to rest and drink. Anna remained at Bran’s side, giggling and laughing at the least little comment. He didn’t seem to mind, and while twice her age, he may have liked the attention.
As we climbed, the view became endless. As we rounded a quarter of the way around the base, there was a switchback that turned us the other way. We climbed a steeper grade before reaching another switchback and walked in our original direction again. The walls of the mountain rose steeper, at times becoming cliffs.
Anna took us to a rocky break in a cliff where we had to climb using all fours. We went over and around boulders until reaching a shelf of solid rock about two-thirds of the way to the top. On that shelf, looking off to the Brownlands far below sat the dragon. Beside it sat my sister.
She leaped to her feet and ran to us. We ran to meet her—all but Bran. He remained behind, near the slot on the cliffs, his eyes as wide as those on anyone I’d ever seen. I remembered we had never mentioned the dragon to him. Only that we were going to find my sister.
I didn’t blame him for the reaction or being scared. When sitting, Kendra was no taller than the dragon’s foot. Besides that, the dragon had turned and stared at us, and who can tell what a dragon is going to do? Especially when sitting on an egg.
It squatted and never rose, but its attention never flinched away from us. After we settled down, I sat on the ledge and looked out at nothing. There were no houses, roads, rivers, lakes, or anything else that was not flat, dry, and brown.
The parched air smelled dusty—but it usually did. Now it was overridden by several distinct scents of rot and worse. Below us, on a lower shelf, were the remains of a dozen or more animals that had been eaten by the dragon and the bones, some skin, and other offal contributed to the smell.
That was not all. Behind the dragon stood a pile of dragon manure taller than me. I’m not one to judge, but if ever asked I will swear it is the foulest smelling thing in creation. The breeze came from the desert directly into our faces and carried away much of the smell, but that only helped a little.
We finally coaxed Bran to join us.
“She’s sitting on an egg?” I asked.
Kendra grinned. “Four. Maybe five.”
I felt my mouth open in surprise. Kendra reached under my chin and pushed my mouth closed. I said, “Will they hatch?”
“I think so.”
That would make as many as six dragons in the world. If half were female, the number of eggs in the future would be three times as many. And all might be female.
Kendra said, “That’s not all.”
She placed a hand on my knee to make sure I paid total attention as if that wasn’t always the case. “What else?”
“Baby dragons learn to fly quickly.”
“That’s nice,” I told her, not understanding the implied meaning of what she meant at all. There was more to whatever she was trying to tell me, I felt sure.
Instead of addressing me, she stood and looked at the others, an almost sad smile on her face. She spoke softer than usual, “Anna, will you take Bran down to our camp and make food and prepare places for us to sleep tonight?”
Anna stood and looked at Bran and said, “I think she’s trying to get rid of us.”
That only left Kendra, Elizabeth, and I. The original three of us.
*I’m right, aren’t I? You want to be alone?* Anna protested in my mind as she started down the trail.
*I’ll let you know what we discuss. You are being forced to entertain our new friend. Enjoy yourself.*
“Stop talking to Anna. Like we can’t see what’s happening between you two,” Kendra said as she motioned for Elizabeth to come closer. “Your eyes go blank and the next thing that happens is Anna laughs.”
We sat in a three-cornered circle if that is possible.
My sister had called the meeting between us, and Elizabeth and I sat and waited for her to begin. The dragon snorted and she ordered it to be quiet and not interrupt. I looked under the dragon for evidence of the eggs and saw none. Like many birds and reptiles, she hadn’t built a nest but sat on the eggs with the soft underside of her belly.
The dragon hadn’t moved since we arrived, and I wouldn’t want to be the one that made her. However, for what seemed the first time in a month, the three of us were alone—together. Sure, we were sitting on a mountain top with a dragon at our side, but it was again just the three of us.
Kendra appeared almost sad, in a wistful sort of way. Her eyes watered but she fought the tears back.
“What is it?” Elizabeth coaxed.
Kendra said, “It’s just me feeling melancholy. About the three of us, I guess.”
“About what?” I asked. “We have a war to plan and you’re thinking about the good old days?”
She looked at me in surprise, then shifted to Elizabeth. “You don’t know? Neither of you? You haven’t figured this out?”
Elizabeth and I exchanged stupefied looks.
Kendra sighed as she shrugged her shoulders slightly. “It’s over. It’s all over.”
Elizabeth said gently as if trying to soothe a small child, “Start at the beginning and tell us all about what you’re thinking.”
I wished we could move away from the pile of dragon excrement and then have the conversation. I tried scenting it and failed. Then, turned back to the others and tried to concentrate.
Kendra drew in one of those long, ragged sobs I’d heard other women use, but never her. She steeled herself, eyes streaming tears, and said, “You have an army arriving here to protect us and fight the Young Mage?”
“Three of them,” I said proudly.
“We only need a few days of safety, but better to have too many than not enough, huh?”
Elizabeth and I waited her out this time.
She said, “The little ones will fly away a few days after hatching. Dragons on the ground are helpless to anything hungry, even rats and such will rush in and snatch a bite or two. They are safe in the air and only nest at night in the same place rarely, so they don’t attract wolves, rats, dogs, and other predators.”
“Baby dragons can fly that soon?” My tone relayed my disbelief.
Kendra said, “Most songbirds fly after about fifteen days of emerging from the egg. Others take more time. Some less. And there are some that fly sooner. There’s a bird called a Maleo that flies right after hatching, the very same day. That does not mean baby dragons fly the same day but after a few. They are not ready to cross seas, but they can gain the air and every day after that grow stronger. So, three or four days to learn to fly is not so unusual.”