Urake slouched into a chair and began rubbing his temples like a migraine had suddenly attacked him.
“Bani didn’t mean to startle you. He was just a little worked up.” Before Cero had a chance to make any further explanation the door burst open.
“A dragon!? How did you get a dragon!?” Inadar strode into the room purposefully.
“I hatched him.” Cero stood his ground until Inadar was only a few inches away from his face.
“You can’t possibly know how to take care of it. Hand it over before you hurt it.” Cero glared back at Inadar without even looking at her extended hand.
“No!”
“What?” Inadar was surprised by the emphatic refusal.
“I said no… I can take care of him just as well as you can.”
“No you can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because I'm a Dragon Lord and you are not.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“I can sense dragons and speak to them so I would be better able to care for him. Wait, you are doing it again!”
“Doing what?”
“Making me tell the truth. Stop it.”
“How do you know that I'm not a Dragon Lord?”
“I don’t. Stop it now!” Cero flinched as Bani shifted to a position at his back.
“How could you possibly be a Dragon Lord? Can you do anything special?” Cero demanded with another twitch. Inadar had broken free when Cero had flinched and was trying to carry on the argument without looking in his direction. Urake was watching the proceeding with a bemused expression.
“Dov sera spawn Eld'or. Dov sera yarin.” Urake started as Inadar broke into the ancient tongue. Perhaps it had nothing to do with Ice Heart; however, his back was feeling tingly where the sheath lay.
“I don’t care what the dragons called you or who you father is. Saying so doesn’t make you a Dragon Lord any more than if I were to say that I'm a Dragon Lord myself.” Inadar was about to make a response when she felt Urake’s hand on her shoulder.
“Enough. He hatched the dragon and you didn’t. It already seems to be attached to him. I don’t see how you could take care of it better than he.”
“He shouldn’t have been able to hatch it. Only a Dragon Lord should have been able to. I don’t understand.” Inadar was disappointed. Her efforts at speaking with the hatchling like she had with the dragons had not succeed. It was like a wall of iron protected the little dragon’s mind. Whirling, she stomped out of the room. Torroth had the unpleasant surprise of having the door to his room burst open a minute later.
“Hey! I was changing.” Torroth hurriedly threw a shirt over his head and finished buckling his belt. “I thought that we were leaving this evening after the rest of them went to bed.”
“We aren’t leaving.”
“But now would be the best time to escape. If we don’t, you can’t continue your search.” Torroth finished getting dressed and tried to figure out what had changed Inadar’s mind.
“Well, we can’t leave now.” Inadar paced the room in frustration.
“What is going on? What made you change your mind?” Torroth crossed his arms and watched.
“I think that Cero is the other Dragon Lord. That, and Urake has a Soul Forged sword.” It all came out in a rush.
“Wait, wait, how do you know all this?” Torroth ran his fingers through his hair as he tried to tell if Inadar was joking. Careful scrutiny caused him to widen his eyes. She was nearly mad enough to begin breathing fire like the dragons at home.
“He showed me the sword.”
“No, no, not that, I mean yes that, but how do you know about Cero?”
“He hatched as dragon and now is able to control it. I can sense it, but I can’t speak with it like the ones at home. He is blocking me.” Inadar virtually snarled.
“So…” Torroth furrowed his brow and tried to think through what he was hearing.
“So, he is enslaving it while it is weak! We have to free it.” Inadar turned on Torroth.
“We can’t just steal their dragon. These people are ruthless and won’t hesitate to kill us. If we stay around here, then we run the risk of someone finding out about you. It is too risky.” Torroth tried to overcome Inadar’s argument with logic.
“A little late to be worried about that, seeing as I already told them.”
“What! How did that happen?”
“Emeck is a telepath and Cero is able to rip the truth out of you with just his eyes. You tell me.” Torroth backed up with his hands