A Crown Of Blades(ARTK, Book 3)

Chapter 133-134

Anug 19th,3330 A.G

Andre continued to hold his spoon midair, the pudding in it cooling as he stared at the beast. What were one supposed to say to-

  There were no words for what anyone around the table were feeling, with everything so tangled up- the slight twinge of fear and the larger of respect and fascination mixed together. Andre slowly lowered his spoon, no longer hungry- and tried hard to peel his eyes away from the dragon.

  Dragon.

  He were staring at a dragon. A real, living-

  What were one supposed to say to that? How could one begin to process  that, knowing what the creature would be used for now?

  Andre shifted uncomfortably on the cold log he sat on, allowing the part of his brain that still held onto logic to speak.

  "I'm.... Im going to go check on.... Ysmen and.... Sela." Andre got out. Of course it were only Ysmen who's well being he cared for, but that were harder to explain. It were an unkind thing to do at the very least; given what all of them had just laid eyes on.

  He walked so fast it could have been considered running, cleared his throat outside of Rose's recovery tent and decided he would not presume to enter without an invitation from her.

  "May I come in?"' He called, and a few dozen moments later he were answered.

He looked over the four women inside, the one in the bed and the three sitting down- and sighed. He couldn't claim to know the Wet Nurses Cristeane and Sela well. He couldn't claim that of Rose either; but given what she'd survived , the things Ysmen had-

  It were almost ridiculous for this to shock them this badly. Almost.

  Andre sat on the floor next to Ysmen's chair, his voice softer. "So.... that happened."

Ysmen turned to him after a few moments, her expression completely unreadable. "So... we weren't all seeing things from a lack of sleep? From some..... witch of the blood arts having.... Sacrificed someone she cared for to the... to the gods so she would have enough.... power to make us all....."

  Andre shook his head.

  "Every single person in the world has grown up on stories of the dragons being dead." Ysmen whispered. "Every single one, no matter where they're from or what stories they've been told- no matter how made up said stories are. And if there is one that large right outside that has gone unseen for gods knows how long, what else is hiding in the little pockets of the world that no one dares to live in? What could be hiding on the islands? What's to stop the egg at Dragon's grave from hatching?"

  By the gods, Andre had no intention of finding out. Not anymore, not if the discoveries weren't made by another. During his very first ventures on the trade ship with those very first island's he'd seen in the distance, he'd been tempted. But the islands were dangerous places- all but one. Everyone knew that. None had dared to settle on since the Vraemore's, and none would dare ever again.

  "I suppose....." Andre gulped. "Every single one of us will just have to wait and see. And if Aenor Rand is their tent negotiating an alliance- may the gods and goddesses have mercy on all of our enemies."

  Andre reached for the half empty bottle of wine on the table beside Ysmen.

  It could not be said that Nara, Renard and Aenor were alone in that strategy tent. A hundred or so moments after they'd begun their discussion, a hundred or so moments after Andre had entered Rose's tent- Tuyon were the first to snap out of that state of shock. The strategy tent were the first place he went, And from the way Nara immediately stood she'd been expecting him- or maybe even Maude first.