Page 75 of Consort's Dragon
A question, if you please, before you depart.
“What would you like to know?”She’d told them everything.
Given you disagree with what happens here, why do you not flee?
She arched a brow.“You do see the lava all around, right?”
But you are one of the blooded.
“And?”
A dragon is hatched in liquid fire.You are descended from us, meaning flames can’t hurt you.
She snorted.“Pretty sure they can.”
Have you ever been burned?
Her mouth opened to say yes only for her to frown.“No, but that’s because I’m careful.”
Careful or impervious?Calixte slyly replied.
“Pretty sure I’m not impervious.When I entered the heart of the volcano, I thought my eyes would shrivel to husks and my lungs collapse.”
Minor discomforts.You wouldn’t have come to actual harm.
Avera pinched her lips.“Are you saying I could walk out of here and across that plain without getting burned?”
Your garments might not survive, but you would.
“Let’s say that’s true, how is one naked woman supposed to deal with the monsters in the chasm?”
Ooh, the yummy crunchies are still here?Lance rocked on its haunches.
“Yummy to you.Deadly for me.”
Only if you try to traverse at night.They are dormant when it’s light.
“What about when it’s cloudy?”
You might encounter a few who think it worth the risk.Stay out of any pockets of deep shadow.
“I won’t see any at all because I’d be seen before I could make it far.”
Only if they noticed.We could cause a distraction that you might escape.
“Why would you help me?”
Because it would vex our captors.
And apparently that was a perfectly valid reason for dragons.
However, Avera shook her head.“It would be suicide for me to set off across the plains.I have no weapon, no food, and what of when I reach the chasm?I have no way of crossing it.The bridge was taken down.”She now understood why they’d built it of rope and wood.Anything more permanent would have been destroyed by the lava.
Excuses.
“More like me thinking ahead rather than rushing headlong.Besides, if I leave, how can I find a way to remove the collars?”
Only the blooded witches can do so.Calixte growled.
