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.My question, though, is what Gormestia has to do with any of this—Restuel has no quarrel with them, and hasn't since the last war two centuries ago.What would provoke them to assassinate our king and start a war?"Old anger boiled up inside Najlah as he realized the attempted assassination was part of a larger, more complicated matter.Snarling, he pulled up the memories and pressed them upon Barkus:Visitors plagued Tahjil incessantly, everyone wanting to see the demons with their own eyes when all his people wanted was to be left alone to their own problems and politics.The bastards from Gormestia had helped themselves to a young, red-scaled bitch, helped themselves so thoroughly they'd left her for dead—or so they had thought.But she'd lived and whelped.and had died shortly thereafter.Gormestia’s sin had not ended, or even begun, there.It was the greatest of their crimes, however, for females were sacred, and a bitch who had been violated, broken, and ultimately killed.Gormestia had suffered for their crimes, and greatly.Najlah had no ties to that particular dragon nest, but he had a mother and a sister and so had spilled plenty of Gormestia blood, devoured their organs, and crunched their bones.Afterward, the word 'demon' became more prevalent than ever, whispered in fear or screamed as a justification for slaughter.It was the people of Restuel who had stepped forward to help Tahjil smooth matters over with other countries, help push back the renewed fears of demons.For the sake of peace, Ajith had volunteered to leave home, travel as an ambassador and help show the world that dragons were not monsters.Najlah had refused to let his brother go anywhere without him—Ajith was a horned brute, a den-keeper, protector of the nest, meant to protect the kits and help the women.He wasn't a hunter and fighter like Najlah.He felt angry and afraid when he considered what might have happened to Ajith if he had not been there, had not called for help when the poison had felled Ajith and the others.Was the assassination attempt really about that terrible tragedy back home? He had thought the matter finished.It did not even make sense if the assassination was their idea of revenge.Why attack Restuel? What did assassinating King Wyst have to do with Gormestia's exacting revenge on Tahjil?"I see relations with Gormestia are not so peaceful after all.Not all news reaches us here in Shide, but I feel that matter should have.You are not much for politics, are you, Najlah?"Najlah gave a short growl."Gormestia and Restuel have been allies for a long time—two centuries, as I said.When Gormestia angered Tahjil and got what they deserved.instead of supporting them, Restuel turned on them and supported a bunch of demons instead.Gormestia took that as great an insult as you took their behavior."The two did not even compare—of course Restuel had not sided with Gormestia.Instead of taking offense, Gormestia should have punished their people and apologized."I agree," Barkus replied."But Gormestia seeks to throw Restuel into upheaval, and I have no doubt now the ultimate purpose of this plan is to somehow blame your people—perhaps even you and your brother directly—for the assassination.Killing Ranteth here would certainly mean he'd never be able to reveal that he had been cursed.That would also explain the golem, which is something Gormestia would be very good at.They skulk about the parts of the mountains that are not Shide practicing such spells and incantations.Come, we need to get out of here and to safety.I'll carry him; you lead us through the caves.I might be more familiar with them, but you traverse them better."Najlah flicked his tongue out, tasting Barkus' skin briefly before pulling away to sniff out the best direction to take while Barkus got Ranteth settled.Shifting back to his true form, Najlah tasted the air again.He froze at the new scents that struck him: people and magic and fire.In the next moment the cave was filled with blinding, burning light.Najlah closed his eyes, roaring in rage, spikes re-emerging.If they thought the light would do him harm, they only proved they still knew nothing about dragons.Letting out another roar, Najlah did what he was made to do: hunt, fight, kill.Something to his left.Najlah whipped his tail around, arcing it up—and growled in triumph as his foe screamed in pain.He prowled toward the fallen man, tasting the air to examine him—a shifter, but he was already dying of the poison, if the holes Najlah had put in his stomach did not kill him first.Either would take several minutes, though.Najlah tore out his throat instead, then turned his attention to the other three in the room, opening his eyes when it seemed there would be no more bursts of blinding light.The rest of the attackers were focused on Ranteth and Barkus.He roared again, so loudly the cave shook and some of the hanging rocks high above seemed as though they would come crashing down.Najlah ran at the nearest of the figures, a female who threw some sort of purple-colored spell at him.He had a vague sense of stop, but the spell did not grab hold, simply slid away along his scales.He reached her and sank teeth into her leg, tearing out chunks of flesh and spitting them on the floor.When she collapsed, in too much pain to even scream properly, he closed his teeth over her throat and ended her as quickly as he had the first.Najlah hissed as something sharp slipped past his scales and sank into flesh.His tail moved, struck, and he then whipped around and butted his head hard into the stupid human's gut—sending the attacker falling down right on Najlah's spikes.Sighing at the irritation, annoyed he had not thought that one through better, Najlah waited until Barkus finished off the remaining threat and then growled impatiently for help.Barkus took in his dilemma and laughed.With a grunt and a couple of fumbling starts, he finally yanked the body off Najlah's spikes enough that Najlah was able to retract them."You are just as nasty in a fight as your appearance promises.I am curious how brutal your homeland must be that something as artfully crafted for killing as you exists."Najlah was not entirely certain how he was meant to take that, but he was a hornless brute and meant to be good at all those things, so he decided to take it as praise and rumbled his thanks."I never thought I would meet someone who could rival the Lukos," Barkus added.That was definitely intended as praise.Najlah rubbed against him, thinking praising thoughts of his own—Barkus was certainly tougher than the other humans he knew.Even his battle brothers did not compare and Najlah trusted them in a fight.Barkus stroked his head, startling Najlah when he nailed the perfect spot behind his ears.He rumbled low in approval, making Barkus pause briefly before he resume with a soft laugh."Not so different from a wolf, in the end.Come on, let's get moving.If we fell as far and deep as I fear, we have a great deal of walking to do."Najlah growled and went off to find a path as he had been doing before they were attacked.He watched impatiently as Barkus went to each of the bodies and collected something, huffing when he finally joined Najlah with Ranteth in tow."Sorry, I wanted proof that it was Gormestia we fought down here."Politics [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]