Page 39 of Dragon Keeper
“What the great High Dragon awak scam? We’re going to tempt young able-bodied sports players to the murky bog and steal their sportsball capabilities. I breathe fire. And let’s be honest, man, we are big for this particular dimension. I mean, I think they grow us way bigger in the human realm.”
He detected absolutely no lies in that sentence. Every so often, he felt a little bit like a lumbering giant. He wasn’t mad at it.
The only dragon he’d met from this dimension who came close to their size was Cade. He was kind of a giant too. “I just want you to be safe. It’s not a big deal. I mean it’s not like you can’t send messages back to us if you need to.”
Tyr had told him there were magical devices that were sort of like telephones. People had them in houses or in pubs or taverns or whatever they called them. Or there were messengers who would deliver for money if something happened. He would just send some jewels with Riley so he had trade goods.
“Anyway, I’m sure you can come watch, and as soon as I know that we’re going to be having a big game, I’ll send you a message so you guys can come.”
“That sounds great. I would really like to take Tyr to a slightly larger town and maybe buy him a few neat baubles.” Sloan liked to do fun things for his mate and now that they had a house spirit, it was a little bit easier. Tyr would take a day trip at least.Maybe not an overnight trip until after the bees started to slow down for the fall, but it was a good idea to ask.
“Cool. I would dig that. Hell, maybe you could get some of the Rocky Mountain clutch to come. They’re sort of hiding out up there in their aerie, you know?”
“I do.” In fact, Cade and Poe talked about that all the time. Sure, some of the mountain bunch came down to the village to do trading, and he guessed they weren’t hiding really so much as just feeling safe. They had lived that way their whole lives. At least the Utah clutch had, who were part of the greater Rocky Mountain clutch. He felt fascinated by how all of them had come together.
Sloan was kind of getting into dragon history too. Not just human dragon history, but dragon history here on Lunastra. The stories intrigued him and the ancient books were gorgeous.
“You’re doing it again,” Riley told him.
“What’s that?” Sloan raised his eyebrows.
“Not listening to me. Look, I’m gonna go ahead and pack a bag. The guys are waiting for me.”
“All right, but please be careful, and here, take some trading money with you.” He handed Riley a few stones.
“I have plenty of stuff I can use for trade, but I’ll take these two just in case. Apparently, they have—if not a banking situation—then some sort of money-trading situation in that town. It’ll be interesting to see how it works.” Riley bounced on the balls of his feet, clearly super excited about getting out and doing something that wasn’t just hanging around the village.
Sloan got it. They had been wanderers for so many years, and while he, as the oldest, had been ready to settle down and stop wandering, Riley still felt like he had a lot of restlessness in his feet.
“I promise I’ll be careful, and if something happens, I’ll get a message to you right away.” Riley inched toward the door.
“I appreciate that, brother. Come here and give me a hug.” He held out his arms.
Riley made a show of rolling his eyes, but really, they had never been afraid of physical affection. They gave each other a back-pounding hug.
“Make sure you stop and tell Brayden you’re leaving, too. If you go without him knowing, he’s gonna be seriously angry, and I don’t want to have to be the one to tell him.” Sloan waggled his eyebrows.
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be sure to stop and tell him. No worries.”
“Have fun, Riley. I love you.” Sloan said it to his brothers any time they had to be apart, even for a day.
“I love you, too. Don’t worry. I won’t be gone forever.” With that, Riley was out of there in a swirl of magic and scales.
“They grow up so fast, don’t they?”
Sloan jumped again because this time it was his house spirit who was talking to him, sneaking up on him and making him shriek like a little girl.
“I guess they do. I’m proud of him though. He wants to make his own way.”
“He does, and I think he will do well. Awak is an interesting game, and he is uniquely suited to it with the way he is built and with his talents.”
Sloan studied his tragae. “Do you really think so?”
“I do. I would not steer you wrong. You are my householder.”
“Hmm. Well, I hear that you guys can be a little mischievous every so often,” Sloan teased.
“Perhaps, but not about this. Family is too important to make fun of. Now, do you need help cleaning anything?”
