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"Yes, safe dark, Berrysweet Good with us"
NooMoahk snaked his head between his legs and looked at theo down a sink There’s plenty of holds for your sii"
Auron squeezed past his elder and poked his head into the sink There was a glow beneath, like the one in Father’s hoard NooMoahk must have accumulated an enormous trove over his many years He snapped his jaws shut and listened to the echo It was a long drop
"Ar herself so she was against his chest, ar NooMoahk started down, al the chute Auron waited until he was sure he wouldn’t be swatted off the cavern wall by a careless swipe of the old dragon’s tail, and then he climbed down
"No like," Hieba protested after a ht side up It made the climb slower Below hied direction after a dragon-length Auron heard NooMoahk’s bulk receding down another passageway, blocking the glow He followed and Hieba ca to herself; Auron understood enough to know that she was counting things
They cah they had been carved toupside down fros of blighters driving or tor the other forms Flat and polished panels had been for like claw-scorings told tales of the glory of Ulda shaken in an iron druon lay curled a little above him on a circular dais in the center of the cavern, already asleep Rather than steps as humans and dwarves used, the surface went up to a platform marked in a series of foothold notches The dais had curved stonework, tapering like giant dragon claws, projecting up and out from the platform They must have been carved froh to bear the weight of NooMoahk, who slept against theainst tree branches
A crystalline statue, worked with silver, gold, and geht Auron had seen enough artifacts of the hominids to know that it was some kind of artistry, but what it was supposed to depict, he could not say The crystal leaned out and bulged at the top, cut into thousands upon thousands of facets There was a faint white glow from within, refracted by the crystal into a blue-white shape that changed and danced as Auron circled the giant gem
Hieba pointed at the crystal "Pretty!" she exclailes, it looked as if a fors writhed within, liaze But if he took two ht Two more steps, and the starburst shattered into a thousand slivers The heart of the stone never presented the sae twice He wondered if this was all that remained of NooMoahk’s hoard
He broke away froes of the cavern Hieba protested for a hts There were galleries and filled-in passageways He saw chests and shelves against one side, a dilow from the cavern roof revealed iron-bound books and scroll tubes Another wall looked to be some kind of honeycomb with the cells filled in with masonry A trickle of water, but just a trickle, fell into a pool at another end Then there was the end of the cavern where they came in There must have been battles by the chute, the carven stalactites were broken and the walls blackened froonfire Melted metal had sunk into cracks in the cavern floor and hardened
Hieba jus for a blanket "Cold," she explained, wrapping herself up and hugging his back tight If they were to have a home in the mountain, Auron decided to make it nearer the entrance, where he could have a fire for her
Given space and a per of a packrat Odd shapes, vivid colors, and interesting textures collected in the forate stones, and bark accumulated in the room they shared within the ruined city It was built into the wall of the cave: rock face for the staggered staircases of the building next to the trunk across the gap in the span and drew it in after theht Auron took a lesson from the dwarves and had his hold reachable only by this circuitous route If the blighters carab Hieba and climb down the far wall
There was a sort of a porch at the front of the rooer hoh whether in the old city it arden, or si years detritus accumulated, Auron could not tell He stood there with Hieba and tried to picture the city in its glory with both the cavern roof and floor occupied
He worried about the blighters because he stole their offerings to NooMoahk The elder dragon didn’t seem to miss them; he sniffed the empty fountain at the center of the outer city now and then as he passed in and out, not knowing that oats and birds ended up in Auron’s hideout When Auron went back to the cavern to speak with the dragon, the subject never cas with cere responsorials as the anihters found that the flesh was going into stood had intended, there would probably be trouble<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>