Sea Dragon (Dragon Knights Book 9) (26 page)

But Gowan simply nodded to him, letting him go, and Seth knew there were those in need who could use even his sometimes ham-fisted attempts at healing. Which reminded him…

“The battle is over.”
He sent the message directly to Livia.

“I know. Gowan told me. I’m glad you’re both all right. And Hrardorr and Genlitha, too.”

“Hrardorr was definitely the hero of the day,”
Seth agreed, giving credit where it was most definitely due.

“I’m so glad he got to prove himself. Maybe now he won’t continue to feel so bad about being blind.”
It was a wish Seth shared with her, though he wasn’t sure how Hrardorr was going to feel after all this. If he’d learned anything about the dragon, it was that he seldom did what everyone expected.
“Bronwyn and a delegation of those with basic healing skills are heading your way. They left as soon as Gowan gave the all clear.”

“Good. They’ll be needed. I’m already sorting out those who need Bronwyn’s skill and those that I can handle. Do you know if any dragons were badly injured? I couldn’t see too much of the air battle from where I was, and I was, uh, somewhat busy.”

He didn’t know if she realized he’d been in the thick of the fighting, and he didn’t feel like discussing his first real battle with anyone just at the moment. Even Livia.

Seth knew, deep down, that he had been forever changed by what he’d witnessed—and what he’d done—that day. He would see the faces of the men he’d killed for the rest of his life, in his mind’s eye. He would remember the way they’d looked at him, clearly wanting to take his life, his riches and his land.

They’d left him little choice. He’d had to defend himself, his people, and his land from their attack. While he would rather have settled things peacefully, he knew now that when someone was intent on attacking you, for whatever reason they might have, there came a time when talk would not help. When words didn’t work and they left you no choice, you had to fight for what was yours. For what was right.

Bullies could not go unanswered. Seth knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that those men he’d killed that day would have happily killed him and every last person in Dragonscove before they were done with their evil deeds. They would have laid waste to the town and raped, pillaged and destroyed everything in their path, consuming like locusts on their way to wherever they were going next.

They’d had to be stopped.

The next hours passed in a blur of blood, sweat and work for Seth and all concerned in the clean-up of the harbor. Luckily, the fighting hadn’t advanced too far into the town itself. Most of the damage was limited to the harbor area. And of course, the burning mass of timber in the harbor itself that had once been ships was still there, providing light and heat to those that worked long into the night on land.

The harbormaster had decided to let the enemy ships burn themselves out. Unless the wind changed direction or the current drew the burning wreckage too close, they were just going to let it be for now. There was too much else to do to set the town to rights and deal with the survivors.

Dragons were guarding the prisoners while their knights questioned each man in turn. Seth worked hard, rendering aid where he could, and instructing a few townsfolk in basic wound care while working on others.

Hrardorr was harvesting the bottom of the harbor floor for the diamond-bladed weapons. Such things were too dangerous to be left lying around for just anyone to fish out of the water, and the diamonds—once turned into faceted gemstones rather than blades—would go a long way toward paying for the rebuilding of the town and its harbor defenses.

Genlitha had been called before Sirs Jiffrey and Benrik to account for her movements during the battle. They chastised her for her solo run to drop Gowan off before the call to action had been given.

Genlitha wasn’t one to stand by when hypocrisy paraded before her. Instead of answering the ludicrous charge, she had given the human leaders of the Lair a piece of her mind. She criticized them for being too slow to act. She reminded the human leaders that, while they were old men, their dragons would live on long after they left this realm. By holding back until the last possible moment, they had taken the cowardly stance. She made them feel shame for doubting their dragon partners.

She made no bones about her belief that, rather than being the protectors of the realm they had once sworn to be, they had proven to be too old and too cautious to lead the Southern Lair any longer. She called for a vote of no confidence among the dragon council and the human knights, but that would have to wait for later, when they could all gather in sufficient numbers to cast a deciding vote. For the moment, her charges were on the table, so to speak, creating much debate among the knights and dragons alike.

Livia had come back down the mountain to Dragonscove and gathered up all the healing supplies in her father’s warehouses. She had taken Rosie with her and dug right in, patching people up. Rosie had proven especially knowledgeable in treating cuts and the few burns they encountered. Seth crossed paths with the duo every few minutes on his way to his next patient.

Bronwyn was treating the dragons and the worst of the human injuries while Seth alternately saw to less severe injuries and helped Bronwyn with the more difficult cases. The losses, thankfully, weren’t as great as they could have been. All in all, they’d gotten off lightly for such a large force arrayed against them.

According to the high-flying scouts, the remnants of the enemy fleet were on the run.

The answers elicited from questioning the prisoners began to form a clearer picture of why they’d been attacked. First, the leaders of this fleet had once been in business with King Lucan of Skithdron. They’d been the ones delivering the shipments of diamond-tipped blades Lucan had been using, only they hadn’t delivered full cargoes on every trip. No, they’d been skimming some of the pricey weapons off of every shipment until they’d amassed quite an arsenal for themselves.

With King Lucan out of business, the fleet was at loose ends, with a stockpile of dangerous weapons that had really only one use—as dragon killers. Plus, it was widely known that the kingdom of Draconia was busy fighting in the north. The southern shore was seen as unprotected and ripe for the picking.

It made sense, really, though they all could have wished it didn’t. The lesson had been driven home in the most brutal way. The south had to be prepared for invasion. Conflict had found them on too many fronts, and it would be up to the knights and dragons in each Lair to protect their own areas. They couldn’t help on getting help from other Lairs. There was just too much going on in the kingdom, and the dragon knights were spread thinner than they ever had been in the history of the country.

“Are you sure about this?”

Livia had been running around ever since returning from the Lair, helping people. She and Rosie had done whatever they could, patching up friends and neighbors. Rosie was skilled in rendering aid. It had been part of her training as a nursemaid, after all. Few still remembered that Rosie had been hired as Livia’s governess.

That hadn’t worked out too well, due mostly to the fact that Livia had been a rebellious teen by the time Rose had come into the picture. Rosie’s gruff nature hadn’t helped either. They’d tolerated each other until they’d come to an understanding.

Rosie had been hired by Livia’s father to be a combination of warden and maid while he was away, but they’d come to an uneasy truce before his first voyage ended. Rosie came to understand that Livia would not be dominated, and as long as Rosie did her job and didn’t try to run Livia’s life, she would keep her cushy job, for which she was paid a great deal by the richest man in town.

Over the years, their relationship had gone through changes. Rosie never lost her gruffness, but they’d learned to respect each other and rely on each other to keep the house running smoothly. Rosie had many skills—which was why Livia’s father had hired her in the first place—so Livia left her working with the injured people while Livia saw to the hero of the hour, Hrardorr.

He was in the family boat shed again at the moment, and Livia was almost convinced he was…hiding?

“Yes, I’m sure,”
Hrardorr said, adding to the massive stack of glittering, diamond-tipped spears he had been steadily building along one wall.
“I don’t trust anyone else with these. These blades are the only things that can slice through dragon scale. They have to be dismantled and ground down into other things as soon as possible. I trust you to do that above all others, Livia. Plus, you have experts working for your father’s company, who can do the work quickly, and under your direct supervision. I want you to keep track of every last one of these. Will you do it? For me?”

“Of course I will,” she answered immediately. “I’ll begin working on them immediately, in fact.” She went over to the pile and picked up one of the spears, examining how to dismantle it and thinking about ways she could inventory each part. “But what I was really asking was, are you sure you should be hiding out down here? You’re the undisputed hero of the hour, Hrardorr. I thought you’d want to enjoy that.”

The dragon snorted, smoke rising from his nostrils.
“I’ve been in that position many times, and it is never a comfortable one for me, Livia. I’d rather work. Be useful. Let them fete the younger dragons who need it more.”

She stopped handling the spear and just looked at him. “You’re pretty amazing, you know that, Hrardorr?”

The dragon seemed uncomfortable with her praise.
“There are more of these on the bottom of the harbor. I’m going to get them. Will there be room enough in here for twenty more, or should I find an alternate place to hide them for now?”

Livia sighed inwardly. “You can put them in here. I’ll stay and start dismantling them. The blades are only held on with leather bindings which I can cut through. There should be someone guarding the shed though,” she thought aloud.

“You’re right. I will talk with Genlitha. She may have some ideas of who best to utilize.”
Hrardorr lowered himself back into the water.
“I’ll be back in an hour. Maybe less.”

“Be careful,” she told him just before he slipped away under the surface of the water and was gone.

Livia spent the next hour using the first blade she’d taken from the spear head to slice through the leather bindings on the rest. With such a sharp edge, the work went faster than she’d thought it would. By the time Hrardorr returned with more, she’d already dismantled the first stack.

The wooden staves were stacked on one side of the boat shed, the diamond blades glittering darkly in a basket she’d emptied of fishing tackle. The new contents of that humble basket were worth a fortune, but it wasn’t hers. She’d take only a small cut to pay the workers who would turn the dangerous blades into faceted gems and small tools. Never would any of these blades be left intact to harm a dragon. She vowed it.

She knew these giant diamond crystals were the rarest of the rare. Only one place in the world boasted so many of these giants. The only place these weapons could have come from—the magic mines on the eastern border of Skithdron.

For only magic could have forged a diamond so large and potentially deadly. Livia had to be careful in handling them. The slightest wrong move and she would slice easily through her skin. She’d put on a pair of old leather gloves that had been stored on one of the shelves. Now those same gloves had little slices all over the palms from her work with the diamonds, but better the gloves than her hands.

Hrardorr put the new supply of spears where she directed him, next to the original pile she had just finished. She would begin work on them as soon as she took a quick break.

“Can you stay here to guard these for a few minutes?” she asked the dragon. “I need to run up to the house and freshen up a bit. I’m also going to grab a sandwich and bring some food and drink down so I can continue working. Can I bring you anything?”

“I will stay. And I ate some fish while I was out hunting spears, so I am content. Thank you for asking. I regret putting you to such hard work, but this is vital, Livia.”

“I understand,” she told him. “Don’t worry. I want these things rendered harmless as much as you do.”

When Livia returned to the boat house, Hrardorr was dozing. He woke the moment she entered, and she smiled. He was a good guard, even as exhausted as he was from his exertions that day. Night had fallen, but the work in the town went on. Fires were lit everywhere, and the normal quiet of the night was broken by dragon snorts and the occasional intimidating burst of flame—coming from the square where they’d put all the prisoners under dragon guard—and people bustling about, carrying supplies and cleaning up after the battle.

The townsfolk had begun to return to reclaim their home. Livia was proud to see the way Dragonscove was bouncing back from the dreadful events of the day.

“Genlitha approaches. Can you open the sea doors for her? She is not very good at swimming underwater yet, but she can paddle around on the surface nicely.”
Hrardorr’s observation caught Livia off guard. She hadn’t realized Genlitha was coming to the boat shed. Good thing it was large enough to hold two dragons…just barely.

“I’ll get the doors.” Livia went to the far end of the tall shed, built between two wide piers to her father’s exacting specifications. She tugged on the mechanism that opened the huge doors and stood back to secure them in the open position while searching the area for Genlitha.

Sure enough, she was making her way toward them at a steady paddle. She wasn’t kicking up any water, so her movements were mostly soundless, which was good, though her light color stood out a bit against the dark water.

“Thank you, Livia,”
Genlitha said as she paddled through the open doors. Livia closed them behind the sky blue dragon.
“Oh, this is cozy.”

“I’m sorry it’s not more comfortable. This place was designed to shelter my sailboat, not dragons,” Livia explained as she walked back down the left side pier toward Hrardorr while Genlitha pulled herself out of the water onto the right pier and padded up toward the main deck where Hrardorr was sitting.