well as his wrists and ankles. “Are you feeling okay?”
“I’m feeling okay,” he says. “Taking into account that that word can mean anything.”
“I mean, are you much weaker now?”
“Not much weaker than yesterday, no. Only slightly weaker.”
“Do you think your cache is far away?”
He ponders it. “Yes.”
I put a bit of paste on my own shoulders, but there’s no real need. Those wounds are healing fine, and now they only itch mildly.
Then I finger the little pouch I carry around my neck. I have gone back and forth about this, but the time for caution might be over.
“What kind of valuables would you need to feel better? Is it only gold?”
He glances at me. “Gold would be good.”
“How about gemstones? Diamonds?”
“Almost as good as gold, if the quality is right.”
“An uncut diamond, for example? As big as the last knuckle of your thumb?”
He frowns. “Uncut?”
“One that looks like a common rock. But which is in fact a large diamond.”
“One diamond might sustain me a little, if it were perfectly cut and polished. A single uncut one might not be sufficient.”
“It was enough for Aragadon,” I point out. “His was kind of polished, though.”
“Ah. And he had been on Xren for a long time, separated from his hoard by many light years, and he was absolutely starving for anything of value?”
“Pretty much.”
Caronerax shrugs, then winces in pain. “I doubt it would be enough for me. The larger the hoard one has collected, the more one would need to regain one’s strength. And my hoard is very large, indeed. My cache is only part of it, but would be a fine hoard for almost anyone.”
I look over at Bune, which is now completely hidden by clouds and mist. I have not wanted to show Caronerax the diamond Eleanor gave me. Firstly because it is mine, and I suspect I would have to surrender it forever if I handed it to him. Secondly because I am genuinely worried about what he will be like in his dragon form. The dragon in him will be in charge then, and it might not feel the same way about me as I think the human part does.
But this is getting kind of desperate. I have to reach Bune in one day, or the girls will take off, having not heard from me. If this diamond cures Caronerax or enables him to Change, and his dragon form still kind of likes me, then I can fly there in a half hour. I think it might be time to throw caution to the wind.
I fish the walnut-sized diamond out of the little pouch and show it to him. “Can we try?”
19
- Caronerax -
The pebble looks innocent in the palm of her hand.
If I had seen it on the ground, I would have walked right past it. It would not have crossed my mind it might be a gemstone.
But diamonds are strange like that. I can’t sense them in my mind when they are near, like I can other gems. They don’t call to me the way gold does. And yet they are extremely potent when I know what they are, when they have been polished and I can see, by looking inside it, that it is the purest object in the universe.
I pick up the dull, gray pebble with two fingers and bring it up to my eyes. “It’s quite cloudy.”
“It’s uncut,” Jennifer says. “All it needs to sparkle is an hour with a polishing stone and someone who knows how to use it.”
“I feel very little,” I confess, turning the pebble over in my hand. “Even if on the inside it is the clearest diamond ever found, I couldn’t be sure. It might be a worthless stone. Quartz or something else that’s common.”
“It is a diamond,” Jennifer persists, annoyance in her voice. “I’m telling you.”
“And I believe you,” I assure her. “But the dragon in me is skeptical. It would need to know. To confirm with its own eyes.”
“If it could, would it be enough?”
I weigh the pebble in my hand. It’s quite heavy. “It would be enough to Change.”
“If you could Change, you could fly straight to your cache and get healed there. Can’t you convince the dragon? Convince yourself? You are the dragon, for crying out loud. It’s not a separate being!”
Jennifer’s face is scrunched up, and like everything else about her, I find it adorable. But I don’t appreciate the tone.
“Are you sure you want to talk to me like that?” I ask, calmly.