Chapter Twenty-Five
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“I had a dream that we must seek Ash’et’s counsel,” Morgan said.
No wonder he’d acted so odd since we rose. I stopped chewin’ the rabbit I saved from last night’s meal and studied the ogre’s worried expression. Selene’s face had blanched. He sat frozen, glarin’ at Morgan.
“Does—has your majic, before—included pre-sight?” Selene asked.
Morgan nodded without lookin’ at him.
“Did the dragon by any chance chew before she swallowed me down?” Selene asked.
“Iza prostrated herself in front of her queen, over yar body, to protect ya.”
I got a sense that Morgan made that up. But wouldn’t stake my life on it.
“Makes me feel much better.” Selene shook his head slowly. “We have a plan, agreement from Iza’loch to be our eyes in the sky. I understand you wish to limit the time Louisa is—”
“In the dream, the meetin’ had naught to do with Louisa,” Morgan said.
“What, then?” I flushed with a memory of the ogre hen’s gentle, green eyes. Louisa’s so sweet. Defined the word, sweet.
Morgan blinked, connected eye-to-eye with me. “I’m not sayin’ it was pre-sight for certain.” I think I sensed his own—confusion. The ogre swallowed, and peered over at Selene. “But I’ve paid dearly in the past for not heedin’ omens that haunted me.”
“My doubt,” Selene mumbled, “is the Lake queen would lower herself to protect me.”
“It had naught to do with ya, either.”
A confused grimace crossed Selene’s face. “No matter. I’m not eager to search out that ancient dragon. Perhaps you’re meant to search her out alone.”
“Ya were indeed there.”
I shivered, not from the emotion bleedin’ from the two, but excitement over the opportunity to meet the famous queen. I couldn’t imagine how few humans got the chance to hear the wise counsel of the ancient Ash’et.
“Do ya even know where to find the queen?” I asked.
“Nay. The location of her lair is not somethin’ that’s thrown about. We’d have to be fetched to her.”
“Fetched.” Selene cleared his throat. “Delivered, you mean, like her next meal.”
“Did not see ya as a coward,” Morgan said softly.
I grinned. These two war verbally more than I suspect any two others on Earth might. Though, I’ve heard Ike and Lucas mightily insult each other, a lot. While Morgan’s words implied an invitation to battle, Selene remained stoic. He didn’t speak for a good thirty seconds.
“I’ve lain under the fangs of that younger queen. I’ve had the air starved from my lungs by the greatest wizard alive because I failed to properly form a ward during training. Doesn’t mean I’m going to be eager to face a dragon who remembers firsthand what our kind did to hers.”
“Not my kind,” Morgan rushed to add.
Selene narrowed his eyes. “What of her counsel, in your dream?”
“Can’t say.”
“Won’t say, or you don’t recall?”
“Wasn’t clear,” Morgan said. “It’s just that it seemed imperative to face her.”
Em-pair—?
“Without a more specific sense of direction, I don’t see how we can proceed with such a—uh.”
“I followed ya,” Morgan said. “Yar turn to follow me.”
“It’s your friend you were concerned with being dragged north.”
“Don’t rile me, human.”
“Hey!” I shouted. I’d had about enough of their snipin’ about that particular part of our journey.
The two jerked a look my way.
“How would we even find Ash’et?”
“One of the dragons would have to take us,” Morgan answered.
“There lies a problem.” I chewed off the last smidgen of rabbit off the greasy carcass and threw it down the slope for the birds and ants to finish off. I longed for a breakfast like those Aedwin prepared at the lair, or even better, the spread I enjoyed at the Inn that one mornin’.
“I’ll see if I can reach Iza,” Morgan said, risin’ and takin’ up Bacchus.
“You can—” I didn’t bother finishin’ my query because the ogre already stood trance-like. The ram’s head glowed subtly in the new light.
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