Page 79 of Miss Bennet's Dragon
Behind and above, wild woods climbed the far ridge, each ancient tree seizing the hillside with a giant’s fist of root. The forest’s crest and the slate roofs matched each other’s curves and rises.
The house was rather large.
No, that was wrong. I was thinking the trees were the size of those near Longbourn.
The house was very large.
The coach wound into the valley. At each reversal, we crowded across the seats to look through the other windows.
“It is beautiful,” I said, mostly to myself. My aunt and uncle’s praise did not need encouragement.
As if whispered in my ear, I realized I could have been mistress of Pemberley.
A sensation rose at the idea. Panic, mostly. A walk in the morning would hardly be sufficient to assess the estate. It might not be sufficient for the house.
I laughed wildly, and my aunt looked at me curiously.
A stream coursed beside the house, swelling into pools through the gardens. My eye followed dashing falls until the water reached the shaded valley floor.
And the lake.
“Stop!” I shouted, banging my hand behind the driver’s seat. “Stop here!”
“What on earth—” my aunt began, but I had opened the door and jumpeddown.
My breath shrank. I knew this place.
The images from the wyvern swirled and settled. Deep water the color of cold. The lowered path of the sun in the north. Strange people striped in glowing indigo.
“We have found it!” I shouted.
My uncle,his shoes removed and his trousers rolled up, touched a toe to the lake.
“Ah! That isverycold.”
My aunt laughed. “I warned you!” She was seated on a large fallen log.
My uncle turned and looked in my direction, and then my aunt as well. Even though I was fifty yards from the shore, I could see their bemused expressions. I waved self-consciously. My uncle went back to exclaiming over the chill.
I should approach. But standing beside water had dramatic results in the past, so caution seemed wise.
Then again, I had skills now I did not possess before.
I closed my eyes and let my awareness flow out. Feeling for draca in the water.
The Gardiners’ tykeworm was a spark of happy energy digging in the turf a few feet from me. There was nothing else. Good.
But… no, that was odd.
I relaxed further. Forgetting my mission. Forgetting where I was. Sound drifted away.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Even the forest around us was empty of draca. The sensation was eerie, a void of moonless night.
Uncomfortable, I opened my eyes.
The tyke seemed happy. He was tugging at a root with great abandon, although he had to shift his grip for each pull. His little teeth sheared through the tough wood with ease.
I walked to the water. My aunt and uncle fell silent. The tyke stopped his game but, unusually, did not follow me.
