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"Oh, no, no, no Of course not" He nipped out one of the snake’s eyeballs and gulped it down "M’sees your wounds are healing up nicely Glad we got to you in ti out of the river"

The Copper looked over his ht Thernadad and his wife back a whole snake, at that

"Hope y’didn’t cho Gan’s favorites E’be a mean one E’doesn’t like anyone a’meddlin’ w’his snakes Except hisself, of course E’eats his own kind"

"King Gan eats his own snakes? Why would they keep such a king?"

"The others not be having much choice in theas they fear’ It’s a necessity, like There’s precious little to fill an appetite such as his

"A cave snake, sir, twice your length andBy the tih to swim upstream in the river if he likes Lost my own poor father to him, and an uncle besides"

"Any area I should stay away from?"

"There’s a swampy bit over there" Thernadad pointed with a vein-stitched wing "Beyond that, a real honeycoold There’s an air shaft to the surface e’using in su"

"Of course," the Copper said He squeezed into a crevice welled in shadow "I’oes for a swiits and cleaned all around his eyes "Nowt a’gets pasteyes that can spot a rat-tail twitch on the far side of the cavern, and ears that echo off a pinchedthe sir’s pardon for the coarse language; ht! Ears down and all, on duty, quick’s the wing and sharp’s the tooth…"

Thernadad’s chatter went on, but the Copper slept through the rest

The Copper woke briefly at a slight s He rolled an eye upward and saw Thernadad hanging there, wings well over his face, ," Mamedi said

Another, even wider than her and with two little bats clinging tre to its back, also looked down at hiether "Sir, not to be bothering sir, but it’s been a long trip and ry they barely a’clinging to her back Just the tiniest of nips out of your tail; won’t feel but a pinch, an’ a little blood loss heals a big wound, good for the circulation an’ all…"

"Just this once," he said, shifting so he could extend his tail

Mamedi crept down first, found a scale nit, and crunched it down "Oh, they a’be the very buggers There’s another Sir, what y’been doing that y’picked up so many so quick?"

He craned his neck a little so he could look behind and saw Maht, pleasantly tingling wound Another bat crept out of the shadows and joined in the flowing feast

"Wait, who’s that?"

Mamedi lifted her snout from his scale-roots "Her mate, of course E’s supposed to leave the father of her children behind when she ine not"

"There’s a lesson in generosity for you, nephews!" Mamedi said "Remember it Y’don’t often see the like these days E’be a very special gentle sort It’s a rare one that doesn’t forge a favor and returns kindness with kindness, Thernie andhis life and all"

Her sister and fareeable noises as they lapped

The Copper dozed He’d hunted again, keeping well away from the set of pools Therenadad had called "the swampy bit"

He wondered if the events in the ho the pool, diving, and being injured when he fell into the river He’d fallen in and out of consciousness often enough, or been half drohen pulled by undertow Could all the detail--the dwarves with their faint-glowing beards and the big -hatchling dreams?

He told hi him a bit, of course, but such was his lot as an odd male--what had Father called hiathered around Mother on the egg shelf now, feasting on soht back by Father, and Jizara was singing after the feast<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>