live on Xren in any great numbers, as far as we know. But I suppose I could try some fishing if I can make a better and thinner line.
In fact, I better get started on that. And on making a spear.
This could be a busy night. Which is fine, because I have no intention of going to sleep.
I get to my feet again and gather some useful materials I spotted while collecting firewood. The pines are not useful to me, but there are smaller trees and bushes here. None of them bear anything edible, but I should be able to fashion a spear.
I painstakingly cut a sapling off at the root, then pull off a strip of bark. It seems strong enough to make a thinner not-fishing line from, although—
“Not the hottest fire.”
I jump and spin around, holding the little tree out from me like a sword.
Caronerax dumps a dead raptor on the gravel beside the fire. “But dragon fire is known for its heat, of course. Anything less seems pitiful to us.”
I lower the sapling. “You scared me!”
He reaches his fist out towards me and spreads his fingers like he did with the bobont. “Boo.”
Bending down, I pick up my dropped little knife. “I’m not that jumpy. It’s just that I thought you were gone for good. Are you going to use that thing?”
He puts his hands on his hips, clearly satisfied with himself. “I will use it to feed you.”
I take in the dino. “It’s a lot for one girl to eat.”
“They don’t come in smaller sizes. Take it or leave it.”
I tiptoe over and kick the dino’s rough skin. I have tried dinosaur meat before. It’s sour and stringy and not strictly edible unless it’s boiled to a gray mass of fibers and used to fill out stews if there is absolutely nothing else available.
And this thing is big. If I were to gut it and try to get a small piece of meat from it, it would take me all night. “Thanks.”
Caronerax peers out over the lake. “This is a remarkably tedious planet. Nothing of value anywhere.”
“Thanks again,” I mutter and squat down to cut a claw from the raptor’s paw. Those things can be sharpened to good points and used as spearheads or arrowheads. The teeth, too, but I doubt I’ll want to start working inside the dino’s mouth. If I cut myself on one of its teeth, I have a good chance of dying from sepsis or some terrible infection.
“Are you feeling better?” I ask while working on this disagreeable task.
The dragon taps a finger around his wound. “Perhaps.”
In the darkness I can’t be sure, but it looks to me as if the injury has stopped bleeding, and the dried green paste of the healing herb is still hanging on. That’s a good sign. “I’ll put some more paste on it. After I wash my hands.”
“You may.”
“Too kind,” I mumble.
“Yes, without question,” Caronerax agrees, sending me a cold glance. “I hope you will show yourself worthy of the kindness of a dragon.”
I put more wood on the fire and rinse my hands in the lake. The water is clear and cool. I doubt there are big monsters at the bottom of it, but of course you can never know.
Taking the bundled-up leaf with herbal paste out of my pocket, I pat the ground. “You want to sit down so I can reach?”
“No,” Caronerax says, but he does it anyway.
I gently remove the old, dried paste from his chest. In the flickering light from the fire, it does appear that the tender area under the scales has shrunk a tiny bit. “Looks like it worked.”
“I’m happy for your sake that it did,” he growls. “It would be hard to live with no fingers.”
I get some paste on my finger and start working it onto his silky skin with the hard scales underneath. “You know, you don’t have to keep making those threats. I know you’re dangerous, and I’m not going to harm you.”
“You have already harmed me.”
“Again, I mean. Harm you again.”
“It’s rare for anyone to harm a dragon,” he points out. “Nobody gets a chance to cause harm a second time.”
The paste covers the wound, which I see now is quite a small hole in the skin and the scale. Only one of the pieces of metal scrap has penetrated. The others haven’t left any marks.
“Do you know what kind of thing might be able to go through your scales? I mean, ordinary steel