Ortai Legacy

7 - Revelation (L)

In moments, the ranch came back into view. I guided my drykon down to land gently by the stables. Shaking, I pried my arms off her neck and stroked her feathers.

"Good girl." I murmured the words in my mind as well, and she cooed like Eura did when Harker spoke to her.

Baffled-looking scalewings watched from the corrals. None of them seemed eager to come any closer. Cadmus landed his mount nearby, and I realized it didn't have any legs, just a snake-like body.

"Wh- what did you do to Bloodflight?" Cadmus asked, panting.

"What do you mean?"

He stared at my drykon, who'd started growling at him. "No one's been able to ride him for more than a few centiblinks without getting knocked off—or having a bite taken out of them."

I shrugged. "She didn't like being chained down. I told her I would never chain her down if she let me ride her sometimes, and she said that sounded okay."

"She said?"

"Yeah, Bloodflight's a girl."

"Those red markings mean he's a male." He shook his head. "But that's not what I meant. How did the drykon say anything?"

"Well, she didn't really use words, more like images and feelings."

He cackled like a madman, and even his own mount seemed disturbed by the sudden shift in mood. "Harker told me you were crazy, but I never thought-" He slid off his drykon and shook his head. "Does he know you're a telepath?"

"I am?"

"You think all of us can read the minds of drykons?"

"I'm guessing the answer is no."

He snorted. "That kind of Skill is worth its weight in crystal around here. Come on down. I'll have someone take care of the drykon, and-"

"By 'take care of,' you mean feed and brush, right? Not like kill? 'Cause the paper on the fence said I could have her if I broke her, and I'm pretty sure I broke her."

"Yes, yes, of course he- she- whatever Bloodflight is, it's yours. Tell him to go with Eril so we can talk."

"Okay." I slid off Bloodflight's back but kept a hand on her, just in case that was necessary for the telepathy thing. [You should go with Eril—he's that green scalewing over there. He'll give you food and brush you. Then we can fly some more later.]

She didn't trust the green scalewing—or any scalewings, for that matter. She very much wanted to kill them all. [You sure he has good food? And no chains?]

[I'm sure, but you can't hurt them, or else they'll hurt you back.]

[They're small and weak.]

[Then how'd they catch you in the first place?]

She paused, grumbling. [I won't fight.]

[Good.]

She followed the green drykon away.

I turned to Cadmus. "Eril knows not to tie her up, right? Because I'm pretty sure she's ready to kill someone if they try to tie her up again. Or restrain her in any way."

Cadmus muttered something that sounded like a curse and ran after Eril.

For the rest of the day, Cadmus supervised me interacting with the wild-caught drykons he'd imported recently. It wasn't as productive as either of us had hoped. Apparently, my abilities to influence drykons only worked if the drykon was thoroughly desperate—like mine had been—or very open and friendly—which was the kind of drykon anyone could train without a telepath's help.