A Storm in the Desert: Dragonlinked Chronicles Voume 3 (42 page)

“I know, but that one was broken in just right.” Fillion sighed. “Oh, well. We’ve wasted enough time looking. Let’s just go.”

“I’ll open the portal back,” Willem said. “I don’t have anything going on the rest of today, so it won’t matter if I do it.”

“Open it to the Guildhall, if you would,” Aeron said. “I want to check the clutching room and Anaya wants a swim in the lake, after.”

“That’s a fantastic idea,” Polandra said. “Ikan is complaining about sand, too.”

“Sounds good,” Willem said. He glanced up and a normal-sized portal appeared.

Anaya followed Balam through. She banked down to the enormous ledge outside the clutching room. A large opening led to an entry chamber and then a short, wide hallway continued on to the dragon entrance of the clutching room itself.

“It’s perfect!” Renata ran into the clutching room, Xochi on her heels. The red dragon’s barks and chirps were proof she was just as excited as her bond-mate.

Anaya could not blame them. The room
was
perfect.
It is beautiful!

Even though powdery grit was grinding at various parts of her body, she ran onto the sand and looked around. Everyone followed, making appreciative sounds—happy gasps along with happy chirps and barks. The sand had been spread evenly throughout the former pit. There was no difference in height between the stone floor and where the sand began.

“I take it everyone approves?” Guildmaster Millinith, a smile on her face, walked in the room from the other entrance.

“Master Millinith,” Aeron said. “Guildmaster. It’s golden. It’s gigantic!”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. It is big, yes, but—”

“No, no. It’s
gigantic.
” Aeron looked at her expectantly.

Her brows drew together. “I don’t follow.”

Willem, laughing, said, “He means, awesome, amazing, golden, fantastic . . .”

“Ah. Yes, well, it is incredible.” She smiled. “Gigantic, as you say.”

Aeron nodded enthusiastically and glanced at the transition between stone and sand. “I see you beveled the end of what used to be the ledge.”

“Yes. A deeply beveled edge is a great deal safer than a hard, straight corner, as it may occasionally be uncovered of sand. I felt it would be better to modify it.” She took in the room with everyone else. “I have to admit to minor doubts about this idea, but it is perfect. Much better than soil and gravel.”

I told you this would be good.
Xochi sat on the sand, looking happy.

Just as happy, Anaya barked at her in agreement. It was very good.

“Fillion?”

The boy looked at the Guildmaster. “Ma’am?”

She tossed a jacket to him. “Please endeavor to take better care of your gear in the future.”

Looking confused, he caught and looked over the leather item. When he found the name badge, he said, “It
is
my jacket!” His brows drew together and he looked at her. “How did—”

“It came through the portal along with the sand.” Guildmaster Millinith shook her head. “Honestly, Fillion. Those take a good amount of time and skill to produce. Each one is tailor-made. Please take better care of them.”

“Oh, I will, ma’am.” With a happy little smile, he slipped on the jacket.

“Lucky for you one of the workers spotted it as it came through. Who knows how long it would have taken to be found otherwise, if indeed it ever was.”

“It’s funny,” Polandra said, hand on the ground. “The sand is still quite warm.”

“Speaking of sand,” Aeron said, “we should get going.”

Anaya turned to Aeron.
We should, then I can get a swim before we have to go to the South. It will wash off sand, and it might help my sore muscles.

He turned to Polandra. “Anaya wants to hit the lake before our patrol.”

“Ah, yes. We’ll go with you.” She turned to Ikan. “Come on, love, let’s get you your swim.”

He gave out an eager rumble and padded over.

“Be careful,” Willem said.

Balam let out a little bark, too.

Anaya knew they did not mean while they swam.

Aeron nodded. “We will.”

Anaya walked with Aeron, Polandra, and Ikan to the door. She could not wait to wash the sand off. As the four of them entered the wide hallway, she turned for one more look at the amazing room. It would be the perfect place for her to clutch.

Balam and Willem were watching them leave. Balam chirped at her.

With an excited flutter in her belly, she chirped back.

+ + + + +

Air whipped past Aeron, tugging at cap, goggles and jacket. Above, stars glinted in a bed of subtle violet, indigo, and deep pink, a hazy swath of color behind the band of stars arcing across the sky, Alandra’s Sash. Hemet, nearly full, loomed against the painted velvet of night. The air was cooler now, less sharp in his lungs. The only sound at nearly a thousand feet was Anaya’s powerful wings beating the desert air.

Aeron had insisted on a quick shower for himself, once Anaya was done swimming. Polandra had as well. He felt much better for it. The dragons weren’t the only ones who had sand in places it should not be. How sand had got there was a mystery to him. He’d been in full riding gear, too. Well, except for the jacket.

Ikan says that our clutching room is much better than the one at the caves.

Aeron smiled.
Yes, it is.

Guildmaster Millinith required two teams to go to the South for each patrol. One did the actual patrol and the other waited at the caves. ‘In case something happens.’ Aeron had felt it was a waste at first, but he’d come around to her way of thinking once the test had been performed.

They’d tried having two dragons speak to each other, one here in the South and one at the Caer. They couldn’t. Bond-mates, as far as they’d yet to find, could be any distance apart and still speak to each other in the dragon fashion, but there was a definite limit to how far apart non-bond-mates could be before they could not. That’s why they’d had to leave Jessip at the Guildhall. What the actual maximum distance was, they didn’t know, but it was at least as far as the distance between the Caer and anyplace here in the South.

There were a number of things that could go wrong on these patrols, the Guildmaster had explained, and having someone nearby that could be called on for help was good. Aeron agreed. Tonight, Polandra and Ikan were his and Anaya’s backup team. The two of them were at the caves now. It sounded like Ikan was exploring, more than likely out of boredom.

We’ll have to remember to tell Xochi she was very smart to have us put sand in there. She’ll like to hear that.

She will.

Based on the patrol routes Capu Cirtis had provided, tonight’s efforts would be focused around the village of Honovi. The patrol routes were such that only one manis patrol would be in this area at any particular time for most of the night. Fewer eyes to spot a dragon, even this high up, was best. Aeron and Anaya would cover a fifty square mile area with this village at the center. They were just finishing up the first east-to west-pass over the northern part.

It’s a good thing dragons are so good with directions and maps. I can barely make out where we are at night.

It is a good thing.

There was pride coming from the link, and the tiniest bit of smugness, too. The corner of Aeron’s mouth lifted in a crooked smile. He’d forgive her feeling a little self-satisfied every now and then.

Besides, there is a good amount of light right now. The stars are bright and clear and the big moon is only one day past full.

Yes it is, so we have to be extra careful, dear-heart.

After almost three hours, Aeron began to wish he and Anaya were the ones at the caves. He’d have something to do, at least, in exploring them. Up here, it was just darkness, barely visible scrub brush, dirt, and the occasional ravine. It was weird, too. With hardly anything to see, it felt as if he and Anaya were alone flying above a strange dark realm of nothingness.

With a shiver, he reached down and patted her neck.
Looks like it’s Yrdra’s Gate for us tonight, dear-heart.  Let’s get back to Polandra and Ikan.

He felt her affirmative rumble through the saddle, and she banked around toward the caves. They wouldn’t portal there. Too much risk of the glowing gateway being seen.

Yrdra’s Gate?

A losing roll in dice, love. Two sixes. I meant that tonight was a failure. No nahual, and it’s time to go.

Why are two sixes called Yrdra’s Gate?

Well, the pips on a die, when they’re arranged for the six, look kind of like the tall door of a formidable gate.

Aeron didn’t feel any lessening of her confusion. He chuckled.
I’ll have to show you a pair of dice and then you might understand.

I will take your word for—
She pulled up and backwinged.

They both turned to face where they’d come from.

Barbs and pissing blades! There is
no
way in Yrdra’s deepest hells we missed that nahual!

It just . . .appeared.

Yeah, out of nowhere. Let’s find it.

Anaya rumbled angrily and headed for the nahual, wings pounding.

Aeron thought furiously. Normally, they came upon a nahual entirely differently. It fluttered at the edge of their range, like a half-seen mirage, barely sensed at first, then getting stronger as the distance between them was closed. This one had appeared inside their detection range, blazing like a bonfire. But how?

His eyes grew large as one possibility occurred to him. Could nahual make gateways? That would be the most horrible thing, ever. If so, they could appear out of nowhere, from anywhere. Well, they would have the same limitation as dragons and dragonlinked, wouldn’t they? They’d need to go somewhere first before they could portal?

We do not know that they can use portals. It may be . . . something else.

You’re right, dear-heart.
What could it be, though?
Tell Ikan we found a nahual and are going after it.

Done.

The nahual seemed to be not too far from Honovi itself. As they neared the creature, Aeron grew concerned.
Where’s the nearest manis patrol, now?

It looks like one just completed a patrol of the village. They are on the other side of it, heading away along their route. But Aeron, there is a group of people approaching from the north. It is probably the other manis patrol on the north-south patrol route.

There was a point in the night’s schedule where more than one manis patrol would be in the area, where routes overlapped a bit, but he didn’t think it was until much later.
Damn. Have we been out here that long?
He glanced above.
Watch your position against Hemet.

I am. It seems the only place I can hide nearby is in that patch of mesquit. Be ready to run. The nahual is heading for the village.

Aeron began unbuckling the riding belt. As soon as Anaya touched down, he unstrapped his bo, grabbed it, and leapt to the ground. Robe flapping as he ran, he sprinted around the scraggly trees for the nahual and the village.

Get in the mesquit, love. But ‘ware the thorns. They hurt.

I am already in them.

Aeron nodded to himself. Good. He needed to watch his footing, though. A turned ankle would make catching up to the nahual a great deal more difficult. Still running, he paid more attention to where he placed his feet.

The nahual and village were ahead of him. He sensed the beast, like the sharp, prickly throb of a blood-starved limb, an arm or leg that had fallen asleep. As he and Anaya—and, he imagined, all dragonlinked—used their nahual sense more and more, it got better, clearer, and the way nahual felt also got sharper. Their initial vague, wispy sense of nahual was gone, replaced by the hot, fizzy, almost burning sense of the terrible things they had now.

Be careful, Aeron.

I will, love. And you be careful, too. That other group is getting closer, right?

It is and I will.

The incoming patrol was approaching from the north, behind them, along the road to his left. Ahead, the mid-sized village, Honovi, was lit up better than he thought it would be by the light of the stars and Hemet. It made just how vulnerable the place was all the more clear. If villages had walls, like the Caer, dealing with nahual would be so much easier.

He caught a glimpse of a dark form ahead, entering the village between a large tent and a building. It was soon lost in the darker shadows of the alley. No matter, he could find it with his eyes closed, if need be. He didn’t want to frighten it off, however, so he’d need to approach carefully, which was frustrating, as he had little to no time to waste. That other patrol would pass much too closely to Anaya for his liking.

Less than five minutes later, Aeron entered the same dark alley and took a moment to catch his breath. He would need to walk from this point forward, anyway. Running and dashing about would raise suspicions in any villagers who saw him, and the nahual, who could sense people, might become alarmed if it sensed him running toward it. Once he had the nahual surrounded in a barrier, however, he’d run around looking for a villager or two to tell them where the nahual was so they could direct the patrol to it. Before that, though, he had to find the beast.