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“Perhaps. But I have kept my word and my honor intact.” Alise’s voice had grown more and more ragged as she spoke. As she affirmed her honor, that she would keep her word, she bowed her face into her hands. For a time, she choked in silence. Then thick, painful gasps of mourning escaped her. Thymara stepped forward and hesitantly patted Alise’s shoulder. She had never attempted to console anyone before. “I understand,” she said in a quiet voice. “You are choosing the only honorable path. But it is hard for you. And even harder when people think you are a fool for keeping your word.”

Alise lifted a tearstained face. Impulsively, Thymara put her arms around her. “Thank you,” the older woman said brokenly. “For not thinking me stupid.”Advertisement

THE RAIN WAS coming down again, harder this time. Leftrin pulled his knitted cap down over his ears and squinted through the darkness and the downpour. He’d had a long day, and all he really wanted to do was settle down at his galley table with some hot tea, a bowl of chowder, and a redheaded woman who smiled at his jokes, and said “please” and “thank you” to his crew’s efforts at courtesy. Little enough, he thought, for a man to ask out of life. As he’d clambered down to the shore and stalked off across the muddy flat, Tarman’s painted gaze had followed him sympathetically. The ship knew his errand, and knew how much he disliked it.

It was just like that bastard Jess to demand he meet him out here in the rain and dark. They’d been exchanging silence and glares for several days now. Leftrin had been successfully avoiding conversation with the man by refusing to be alone with him. But tonight, just as he’d been getting ready to settle in by the warm galley stove, he’d found a note in the bottom of his coffee mug.

He’d done his best to slip away unobtrusively from his gathered crew. No one seemed to mark his departure. He moved quietly through the dark, veering away from the keepers and their bonfire. A burst of wind carried their laughter and the smell of cooking fish toward him as it whipped the flames higher. He’d no wish for anyone to see him ashore tonight.

Wind and the spattering rain and the dark all cloaked him as he approached the silver dragon. That, he took it, was the cryptic location for his meeting with Jess. “Meet me by silver or the secret is out.” That was all the note had said, but it was a threat he could not ignore. The dragon had his front feet braced on something and was tearing chunks of meat loose from it. He knew a wild moment of hope that it was eating Jess. Another two steps and he could see that it had been something with four legs. The hunter had brought the dragon a bribe to keep him occupied while they talked. And it had worked. He watched the silver tear a leg loose from the carcass. The silver’s condition had improved since he had first seen the creature, but he was still smaller and less healthy than the other dragons. His tail had healed, but he seemed to acquire parasites much more often than the other dragons. The dragon became aware of Leftrin and shifted to watch him as he chewed on the hoofed leg.

“Evening, Captain,” Jess greeted him as he walked around the dragon’s shoulder. “Fine night for a stroll.”

“I’m here. What do you want?”

“Not so much. Just a little cooperation, that’s all. I saw an opportunity this afternoon and thought we should take it.”

“An opportunity?”

“That’s right.” Jess patted the dragon on its shoulder. The silver rumbled a growl at the hunter, but his focus was still on the meat. “He growls, but he’s used to me. I’ve been slipping him an extra ration of meat every chance I got. He doesn’t mind me at all now.” As he spoke, he opened his coat, displaying a hatchet, two long knives, and one short-bladed one, all neatly sheathed in pockets concealed inside his vest. He tipped his head slightly toward the silver. “Shall we begin?”

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“You’re insane,” Leftrin said quietly.

“Not at all.” The man smiled. “Once he finishes eating that deer, he’s going to want a very long nap. From the start, I planned for this possibility and came prepared. I cut that deer’s belly open and put a large quantity of valerian and poppy in before I offered it to the silver. Enough to drop a dragon, I think. We’ll find out soon enough.” He pulled his coat closed against the wind and rain and stood grinning at Leftrin.

“I’m not doing this. We won’t get away with it, and I’m just not doing it.”

“Of course we’ll get away with it. I’ve thought it all through. Dragon falls asleep, and we make sure it’s forever. We spend a quiet hour or two claiming the most marketable parts. We take them back on board the Tarman and head downriver. Tonight.” pqdm.com