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A horridly upturned face, all ears, black eyes, and nostrils, regarded hiripping digit not unlike a dragon’s wing-spur It was a bat, fully three times the size of the ones he’d seen in the hoh-pitched chatter

"E’breathing!" a second, smaller but wider one behind said

"Cave lizard, s for a better look "Strange sort Hurt"

The larger extended his arorously They were thinner than dragonwings, almost translucent The Copper could see blue veins in the skin

Under the fanning and the light touches of the wing tips the Copper twitched They tickled! He twitched

He tried to give a greeting, but it cahted hion!"

"Faaaa!" the other said again, staying away fro one rubbed his face up and doith his wings, licking his grip-digit and rearranging the face-fur, though there was only so liness "M’na your pardon, sir Y’be hurt W’can attend that for you"

The brightness in the creature’s black eyes disturbed hion," the Copper said "I do seeain, and it hurt abo one said to his companion

"Once!" the other said to no one in particular "Once in a three-season turn e’be right, and nowit until m’let loose for the drop" But she licked her lips, and the Copper saw sharp white teeth

"If y’will just shift closer to the wall, sir, ork best right-side down Unless y’want us clinging to your scale, butnot the extent of your injuries…"

The Copper rolled and the bat shifted It started licking at the wound on his back, and he felt a slight tingle that transformed into a pleasant numbness He looked back, and the bat had worked his odd, jutting jaw into the wound and was tearing away ragged bits of flesh and lapping up blood with a blurring tongue that flicked in and out faster than he’d ever seen anything move in his life

The bat lifted a blood-smeared snout "See to sir’s face, dear, with that soft touch of yours"

The other ca the Copper warily Finally she hung over hi, ready for a quick getaway She dropped down and went to work in the region around his right eye He noticed soh a half-closed lid

"Bit of a an to lick about the eye, and he felt that sa a set of tunnel nits, tight up against that scale A’lurking in theon a tasty bit of juicy skin, like always May I?"

"Of course"

The Copper felt a tug and heard a crunch Followed by another and another

"Finished here," the fe "Excuses, sir Y’per the warmth beneath the nu at his scale, lifting and digging out insects withslowly front to back "That’s kindness! That’s generosity So rare these days E’be a gentle sort, e’be"

"Y’hearing ree? M’found hiot in this life, you great squirt"

The Copper fell into a pleasant half sleep, and heard little gassy emissions from the pair "That’s what m’call a feed Indeed," the male--Thernadad, the Copper corrected hiet away from the river, sir," Mamedi added "A trunk full of dwarves could pass at any tiht a’spot your skin and throw out a hook"

The Copper dragged himself around the corner of the cave, ready for sleep

"Watch out for snakes Cave snakes in here," Thernadad said

"E’be too big for all but King Gan hiht above" Thernadad said ue dreareat ticks, but woke to find his wounds crusted over with healthy-sht eye bothered hih awent a little fuzzy and indistinct when he closed his left eye and looked only through the right<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>