The Tale of Five Heirs

Chapter Fifteen, in which Tamara gets a new sword

Tamara didn't get vertigo. She didn't get seasick. And riding in a cage clutched in a dragon's claw didn't make her sick either.

The three Larchmen were another story.

"How much longer till we can land?" she yelled up towards the belly of the dragon.

"Sixty units!" Kelvin called back from on top of the dragon. Skeena and Yago were up there with him. They had landed briefly so that Skeena could ride there instead of in the dragon's claw.

Big Blue banked sharply to the left, and Tamara and the three Larchmen were hurled towards the right side of the cage. Tamara was pinned between the iron bars and the largest of the Larchmen. We need a blacksmith to open the cage, she thought to herself.

Half an hour later, the sun was setting and they were just south of Noremont. Tamara saw a coastal village. Big Blue flapped his wings more and more slowly and landed behind the blacksmith's shop.

Most of the villagers fled into their metal houses at the sight of the approaching dragon. The blacksmith stared at them through a tiny gap in his metal-shuttered windows.

Kelvin slid off the back of the dragon, landed on all fours, and stood back up. "Hello," he said. "Could you help us? We've just escaped from the Dragon Tribes, and my friend is still stuck in this cage."

"Not to mention us," said one of the Larchmen.

"We're fearless warriors of the house of Weedle!" said another.

"How do I know you're not dragon tribesmen playing a trick?" asked the blacksmith.

Tamara snorted. "The Dragon Tribes don't play tricks," she said. "They aren't subtle. They dive-bomb us and shoot fire."

The blacksmith raised an eyebrow. "You have the Noremont accent," he admitted, "but, you understand, I'm worried the dragon will eat me if I come out."

"Yago," said Skeena.

"Yes?" said Yago, raising his eyebrows innocently.

"Do something about the dragon."

"You're being so rude to me! After I tamed the dragon out of the goodness of my heart."

Skeena looked like she was ready to hit him.

"Oh, cry me a river," Tamara muttered. "Yago, would you please be so kind as to do something about the dragon?"

"Why, certainly, Tamara," said Yago. He stared into Big Blue's eyes and hummed an eerie tune. Big Blue slowly turned his head back and forth, eyes drooping, before sinking off to sleep.

The blacksmith opened the door and came into the yard. He put his hands on his hips and surveyed the scene—sleeping dragon, cage containing three Larchmen and a soldier, ragged spymaster, ragged scholar, and immaculate, mysterious man in a long black cape.

"You say you escaped from the Dragon Tribes?" he said. "You're the first people I've ever heard of to manage to do that. This'll make a great story."

He strode forward and shook Tamara's hand through the cage. "I'm Zelliot," he said.

"Nice to meet you," said Tamara. "I'm Tamara. Now, will you please get us out of this cage?"

"We need to decide where we're going next," said Kelvin, after Zelliot had cut open the cage and freed Tamara and the three Larchmen. "I know something. Something really bad happened at the Dragon Tribes village."

"Right," said Tamara. "Zelliot, is there an inn in this village?"

"There is," said Zelliot. "I doubt they'll let you bring your dragon with you, through."