The wings thrashed once, then were still; the huge crimson eyes above the shattered jaw blinked once, then slowly glazed over in death.
Tobas found himself sitting atop the hill, Karanissa lying on one side, Peren on the other, all three of them soaked to the skin in the monster’s ichor and surrounded by the thing’s scattered remains.
“Ick,” he said, looking about in disgust.
Then he fainted.
CHAPTER 30
The lump on his head throbbed dully as Tobas sat on the rock and studied the immense carcass. Karanissa sat beside him, one hand rubbing at her bruised hip as she worked what healing she could, while Peren, his ruined tunic reshaped into a rough bandage, tried to lift the battered remains of the dragon’s head.
“It’s too heavy,” he admitted at last, as he came panting up to join them. “I can’t get it off the ground.” “We could roll it down the hillside,” Karanissa suggested. “Or I can sort of slide it by witchcraft, but I can’t lift it any more than you can.”
“If we can’t move it, neither can anyone else who comes across it,” Tobas pointed out. “I say we go back to Dwomor and get men, horses, and wagons and come back for it.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Peren said.
“Of course he’s right!” Karanissa said. She took her hand from her hip and shifted uncomfortably, then remarked, “I don’t think I can do any more healing today; it takes too much energy.” She picked at her blood-soaked gown critically and added, “I wish I had thought to bring more clothes.”
“Well, we did come through the tapestry a little unexpectedly,” Tobas pointed out.
“I know.” She ran her hand over her skirt experimentally, and the blood ran out in a thin stream, leaving clean fabric.
“How did you do that?” Peren asked.
“Witchcraft, of course.” She did not bother to look at him but went on brushing at her clothes, separating fabric from gore.
“Wait a minute,” Tobas said as he saw the dark fluid spilling out onto the ground. “Don’t waste that stuff! Dragon’s blood is worth a fortune; half the high-order spells use it. Wizards back in Telven pay one-fourth its weight in gold, when they can get it at all.”
She looked up for a moment, then went back to cleaning her skirt. “Don’t be silly,” she said. “There must be gallons of the stuff in that carcass over there.”
“Besides, Tobas,” Peren said, “you’re already rich, anyway! All you have to do is go back to Dwomor and collect the reward. You killed the dragon single-handed, with your one silly spell!”
“That’s right,” Karanissa agreed. “They owe you a thousand pieces of gold!”
“That’s right, isn’t it?” Tobas stared at the dragon’s head in wonderment. “I killed the dragon. With a single spell.”
Then he shook himself, wishing that his clothes weren’t damp and sticky and already beginning to stink. “You were with me, Peren, I’ll tell them you helped. Karanissa and I won’t leave you out. You can marry a princess, if you like, and have a position in the castle and a share of the gold.”
“Thank you,” Peren said sincerely. “A few months ago I might have turned that down, since I didn’t do anything, but I’ve learned better now; I’ll take what’s offered in this world. I’ll choose Princess Tinira, if you don’t mind, and take however much of the gold you can spare.”
“Which princess you marry doesn’t concern me in the least,” Tobas replied. “I’ve got a wife, thank you, and one is all I need. As for the gold, we’ll settle that later; I’m too confused right now to think clearly. A third, maybe?”
Peren shrugged. “Whatever you two think is fair.”
“Don’t spend money you haven’t got,” Karanissa said acidly, straining to reach the back of her bodice to wipe it clean. “How do you know that this so-called king of Dwomor will actually pay?”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Peren said.
“Oh, he’ll have to pay,” Tobas said. “He announced that reward all over the known World!”
“We’ll see,” Karanissa said.
Her cynicism was contagious; all three sat in gloomy silence for a moment, contemplating the gore-covered landscape, their sorry condition, and the possibility of royal treachery. The witch said at last, “I suppose he’ll come through with the jobs, though, and he’s probably eager to be rid of the princesses. I have the impression from what I’ve seen and what Tobas has told me that things have gotten more primitive since my day, and I suppose unmarried daughters are probably not very welcome.”
“Elner told me that they aren’t,” Tobas agreed. “But I don’t want a princess; I’ve got you.” “Well, I know that,” she said with a trace of self-satisfaction in her voice. “But you can at least take the job; you don’t want to spend the rest of your life back inside the tapestry, living off those gardens, do you?”
“Actually,” Tobas answered, “if we could get the gardens back in shape, I don’t think I would really mind; the castle wasn’t so bad at all. It was just being trapped there that was unpleasant. Once we chase out the rest of the spriggans, it’ll be a nice place.”
“I’d like to see it sometime,” Peren remarked.
“You were scared of it, I thought,” Tobas replied.
“Well, yes,” Peren admitted, “but I didn’t know what it was then.”
“True,” Tobas conceded. His stomach rumbled. “I wonder if you can eat dragon meat?”
“I don’t know,” Peren said. “I’m hungry, but I’m not hungry enough to try.”
“Are we going to sit here all night?” Karanissa asked, getting to her feet and beginning to work on cleaning the back of her skirt. Tobas watched in appreciation.
“She’s right,” Peren said. “We should at least get to the cottage and make sure the tapestry’s safe.”
“And get away from all this dead meat before it starts to smell; I suspect dragons decay quickly,” Karanissa agreed.
Tobas nodded and rose.
They found the tapestry just as Tobas had left it, and the three of them carefully rolled it up so that no one would accidentally stumble into it; that done, Tobas and Karanissa settled in the cottage for the night, while Peren tactfully found himself a spot well away from the building, out of sight and hearing.
The following day they simply rested, while Karanissa used her witchcraft to clean their clothes and speed the healing of their various injuries. They were all still exhausted. Karanissa, in particular, had put more energy into her witchcraft than might have been wise, leaving little for traveling.
On the eighth of Snowfall they headed out again, Peren and Tobas carrying the rolled tapestry on their shoulders, and on the ninth, at midmorning, they came in sight of Dwomor Keep.
Someone spotted them as they approached; by the time they neared the gate, the battlements were lined with curious people peering down at the unexpected arrivals.
The portcullis was down and stayed down despite their presence; they halted, of necessity, just outside, and the two men carefully lowered the tapestry to the ground.
A guard on the other side called out something in Dwomoritic.
Karanissa, who had listened intently, called something back, concluding with “Ethsharitic! Speak Ethsharitic!” Tobas was, impressed that she could do so much after hearing just a few words of a completely new language; he had not realized her witchcraft was that versatile.