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The drakka eyed each other The look they exchanged re a private joke at his expense His hearts ached at the -rehearsed speech, not really knowing the y that he’d at times heard from NooMoahk "My nae in friendship froe for me to reach your Lavadome so that I may deliver her words, I will hereafter call you friend"
The dragonelles blinked at hi so less hunter stalking the jungle south of Uldam
"Soray with a stumpy tail who talks like a drunk Wyrr The Red Queen can keep him"
Chapter 14
Wistala’s introduction to the Lavadome left her thrilled yet mazed, speechless despite words of adet out
After the tall cavern of the river ring, griffaran heeling in and out of shafts of light from cracks in the surface as cold waters carried their secrets beneath They swa in the cold, the pain half exquisite She cli more alive than she ever had before in her life
Ayafeeia, three dragonelles, and three drakka accoh a ht she’d seen beauty enough to reriffaran
Then they passed through another tunnel on the other side of the ring and entered the Lavado her to see her reaction
The space see above clouds rather than below, or afroround, vast beyond iht it an optical illusion, a strange effect like soarden-pool she’d seen near a seaside palace that visually ths of sand and coral between the palace and the Inland Ocean
Brighter than all the lava, a glowing orb topped the Lavado a tall, squared-off rock Ayafeeia identified as the Imperial Rock, the residence of the Tyr and his faest of the Fire to Ayafeeia, sometimes passed into the Fireht faded from the top of the dome, and they still hadn’t crossed to the other side of the Lavadoround with several caves in its walls and floor
"Odd that a sink should be called a ‘hill,’ but this place is called Halfhollow Hill"
The soil here was looser than elsewhere in the Lavadome Wistala slid as she descended and had to brace herself with her tail
"This is sacred ground to the Fire and pros"
"Why, could the mothers not defend their own?"
"Oh, it was a terrible tiainst Skotl Groups of dragons were seeking out egg-caves and s to break the will of the opposing clan or swap murder for murder
"The First Score were all unmated feht They swore to forsake their clans, guard any eggs or hatchlings brought into their protection, to reons ca or two in their -s for Wyrr eggs they fought thes they fought theether Only three of the First Score knew the key to their arrangement, and of them each knew only a part, so that pain could not reveal all"
In her i for the caves with eggs in their ons above--that she hardly needed iination to picture Her own memories supplied the details
"Ever since, the Fireuard far-off holes and the hills of our siblings We prowl unlit tunnels and stand guard in the burning sun at the Uphold entrances"
Froht herself a protector of her kind Here stood a sister in spirit if not in body
"How ons are in the Lavadome?" Wistala asked
"A score of scores counted six, and another score of scores in the Upholds," Ayafeeia said
Wistala had never ions could live in one place But she’d seen the pens and cattle that supported the dragons, the scruffy ho rown mushrooms into chunks of feed for thereat Tyr, FeHazathant," Ayafeeia continued, "he and his mate established traditions for the Firemaids, and set up the Drakwatch in imitation of the Firemaids The idea was that Wyrr, Skotl, and Anklene would serve together and never coain The Fireainst each other Many a ainst the drakes
"But this space is important in one other respect Firemaidens take their first oath here As they pass into adulthood some take the second oath and are trusted to hold a position Then there are those who take the third oath, to reonkind and defend it as our own"