tosses it at a tree. “That’s what I wonder about, too. Why are they so scared that they think they have to leave in six days? But I told them I’m alive and on the way. They’ll wait.”
I lean back, trying to get comfortable. The ache in my chest is getting worse. Deeper inside, in a way. That sliver of nastiness is moving around in there. “You were put here by the Plood, yes?”
“Me and the others.”
“They took all of you from your own planet and dumped you here so you would mess up the Inferiors’ plan?”
She gives me a quick glance.“Something like that.”
I smile into the fire. She has probably been told that this is something not talk about to a dragon. But I am probably the best informed dragon in the universe.
“Something like that,” I agree slowly. “The Plood worked for our king. He hired them to spy on the Inferiors and counter any silly little plan they might make to retaliate against us for laying waste to their planet. They abducted you and your friends and dumped you here to totally mess up the final Inferior plan to create dragon slayers. It occurs to me that the Plood ended up doing the opposite, and turned the slayers into an actual threat by dumping women into their midst.”
“I don’t know how much of a threat they are,” Jennifer says quickly. “Probably only to dragons in human form. I’ve seen Kyandros and Aragadon in their full dragon forms. They’re pretty scary. I’m not sure if anything would be a threat to them.”
I absentmindedly prod my chest around the wound. “It’s been a long time since last there were slayers in the world. Now there are suddenly many. They are peculiar, these ones. I don’t understand them. They enjoy working in teams, using blades. They have no armor. Their minds are hard to penetrate. They have a coldness and quietness to them, while most of the other slayers were passionate and loud. It’s all unusual. That should probably worry me, if I were capable of such an emotion.”
Her hand moves a half-inch up my thigh. “Will you help us?”
“I don’t think so.”
She withdraws her hand. “Okay. Can I ask why?”
I immediately miss the hand. Well, two can play that game. I put my own hand on her round knee. “You shouldn’t have to ask why.”
She looks up at me with clear eyes. “Because they’re your people? Your kind? And you don’t want to betray them? I thought dragons hated each other.”
I let the hand slide a little bit up her thigh, to the hem of her ugly dress. “Oh, we do. We despise and abhor one another. At the same time, we need each other. It’s a terrible plight. Some of us need the others more. For instance, the king needs a people to rule. And in their way, they need him to be king because without one, what are we? Yes, it’s complicated.”
“Are you… I mean, do you work for the dragon king?”
I think about it. “The term ‘work for’ has so many different meanings. In the way you mean it, no. In other ways, yes. In yet other ways, perhaps.”
“But he trusts you?”
I bark out a short laugh, genuinely surprised. “The dragon king trusting someone? Oh, but you are delightful company.”
“But he sent you here,” Jennifer persists. “He must have some kind of trust.”
I withdraw my hand the way she withdrew her own. “The king can only hope that in this case, he and I want the same outcome. In fairness, he has reason to believe it.”
Jennifer grabs my hand and puts it back on her thigh. “What reason?”
I lightly squeeze her flesh, letting five claws make small indentations in her skin. “The best reason he can be expected to have. I will say no more about it.”
“Okay.” Jennifer hides a yawn behind one hand. “Sorry. It’s not that I’m bored. It’s just been a long day.”
There’s movement off to the side. Another attacker.
“I’ll be right back.” I calmly lift my hand off Jennifer’s leg, stand up, and stride towards the threat.
It’s another one of those tiresome creatures that hunt in packs. And sure enough, there are three of them.
They hesitate at the sight of me, one of them nervously taking a step back.
I glance behind me. Jennifer is still sitting at the fire with her back to me, looking out at the swamp and rearranging her hair, pinning it back with that little wooden thing.