He bowed again and turned toward the other end of the valley, toward the exit tunnel I’d originally come in through.
“Wait,” I blurted. “If I ever get a chance to go looking for him, where would I start? There are a lot of worlds in the Cosmic Realms, right? Like seventeen?”
“Yes. You need only to ask to be taken to the Sylvan Court of the Elves. There are many portals that lead there, from all the worlds where elves have colonies.”
I thanked him and started toward Zav and Greemaw but noticed that two of the kids who’d been watching had scooted closer. Their dirty faces were lean, and they looked hungry. I reached into one of my inner duster pockets and pulled out the box of fries I’d stuffed in there as I’d left the restaurant. It was smashed after the battle with the orcs, but the fries ought to still be edible. When I tossed it to them, they snatched it out of the air together and raced off behind a tent.
Are you delaying on purpose? Sindari asked. Your dragon looks cranky.
He’s not my dragon, and he always looks like that.
True.
Trusting I’d made my point—that I would not be summoned like a slave—I joined Zav and Greemaw. I did feel a little bad for making her wait, especially since we were intruding on her time, but she oozed the calm serenity of one who had lived a thousand years and more and was never in a hurry. I wondered if Zav was young for a dragon.
Fortunately, he didn’t snipe at me when I arrived. He returned to their conversation.
“The mongrel said she has a map with points that may be useful,” he told Greemaw.
“The mongrel?” I stared at him and pointed back to where I’d been talking. “You just used my name. Did you forget it that quickly?”
As soon as the words came out, I realized he might have only used it because names had power and he’d known I would be more likely to come to it than mongrel.
Greemaw stirred on her bench as Zav turned his violet gaze on me. His eyes weren’t glowing at the moment, but her stony face looked worried. Did she think he would flatten me for my presumptuousness?
Even Sindari stirred, bumping my side. Have you not yet learned to avoid being contrary with dragons?
I didn’t know asking to be called by name was contrary.
To him, you are a lesser being.
A lesser being with a name.
“It’s Val,” I told Zav. “Or Ms. Thorvald if you prefer formality in our relationship.” That ship might have sailed sometime after I discussed ass-kissing with him.
“I am aware of your name, battle maiden.” One of his eyebrows twitched. Had he been eavesdropping on my conversation from over here? How rude. “I did not know if Greemaw would be.”
“Greemaw, I’m Val.” I lifted a hand. “You’ve met me before. And my mother.”
“Yes,” Greemaw rumbled. “Is she well?”
“I think so.” I hadn’t spoken to her since I’d gone back to her house to pick up Willard’s cat. It did feel strange to be here outside of her town without calling, but… with more people than ever gunning for me, I didn’t want anyone to know about her. Especially if others here had ears as effective as Zav’s at eavesdropping.
“Good. Please show me the map.”
“Right.” I dug out my phone, chose the satellite map view, and adjusted the screen to show the three points where joggers had gone missing. As soon as I lifted it to show Greemaw, someone who could have held six phones in her palm, I felt silly. How were the eyes of a thousand-year-old golem? Did they work like human eyes? Could she see the screen decently? There was no way she would be able to manipulate it with those giant stone fingers.
Greemaw looked at Zav, as if waiting for him to explain it.
“You can’t make it larger?” Zav asked.
“I can zoom in, but then we wouldn’t be able to see all the points. Sorry, I didn’t have time to get a physical map.”
“I meant the device it is displaying on.”
“Uh, no. I can’t will my phone to double in size.” That would have been handy. Or a way to project the screen holographically. I looked at Greemaw apologetically. “This was an impromptu trip.”
Zav took the phone from my fingers without asking—I resisted the urge to yank it back, though I feared he would hurl it into a rock wall out of some frustration for the stupidity of human technology. Or vermin technology as he could call it. But I hadn’t seen him truly angry since we first met, when he flung my Jeep into the treetops.
He studied the screen, then handed it back to me and crouched, resting his palm in the dirt.
Back up, Sindari warned me.
I glanced around, making sure nobody had a gun aimed at me.
Because of dragon magic, not assassins, he added, his telepathic tone dry.
There’s a difference?
Innocent bystanders can be taken out by both.
I scooted off to the side of Greemaw’s alcove and stood beside Sindari. Zav hadn’t moved, but I could sense him doing something.
The packed earth rippled and shifted, as if it were water instead of dirt. Parts rose up to form tiny mountains while others sank to show valleys and gullies with rivers flowing through them. Flat sections represented farmlands, and tiny dots the buildings in the towns of Bothell, Woodinville, and Duvall. About six feet by six feet, the map was impressively detailed and much larger than what displayed on my phone screen.
“Show me again the locations the humans disappeared,” Zav said, rising, the fine dirt on his hands trickling away and leaving them clean, even though he didn’t dust them off.
This guy does not know how to say please, I thought to Sindari. “Right away, Lord Dragon.”
Zav’s eyes narrowed and glowed violet.
Val… Sindari warned. Why do you not simply accept that he is extremely powerful and should be respected, if only because he can squash us like insects?
Because power isn’t what makes someone deserving of respect. I pointed to Zav. “See, isn’t it better to be called by name? You call me Val, and I’ll call you Zav.”
“My name is Lord Zavryd’nokquetal.”
“My tongue would fall out if I tried to say that.”
“How unfortunate that would be.”
I grinned at him before I could catch myself. Maybe it was petty, but having Lord Zav-butt getting snarky with me felt good. Like I was rubbing off on him. Or he was becoming more human. A thought which would surely make him projectile vomit.
The grin must not have been the response he expected, because for a split second, a flustered expression crossed his face. It disappeared so quickly I might have imagined it.
He walked over, took the phone from my hand again, and pressed the button to turn the screen on—I was impressed he knew that much, since I assumed this was his first cell phone. Judging from his exasperated look, he didn’t know what to do with the lock code prompt that came up.
“Don’t watch.” I leaned over, covered my hand with my other hand, and tapped in the code. “I don’t want you getting lonely in the middle of the night and ordering naughty videos with my banking information.”
He didn’t comment, only looked at the map and thrust the phone back at me.
Are you flirting with him? Sindari asked as Zav crouched to touch the earth again.
I fumbled the phone, almost dropping it on the dirt map. What? No.
I have observed humans and some of the other species like elves and dwarves using humor in an attempt to win mates.
That’s not what I’m doing.
That is good. Because I don’t believe he finds you humorous.
Yeah, that’s my read on him too.
Dragons are impressed by power and raw physical strength, not humor.
I’ll be sure to hit the gym later and work on my bench press. You know I want him to find me sexy.
Sometimes, I don’t know when you’re joking.
I’m joking. But thanks for the advice. Maybe if I ever meet a non-arrogant dragon who likes mongrels, I can put it to use.
You are welcome. I believe if you call him Lord Zavryd and refrain from sarcasm, he will treat you—us—fairly.
I’ll keep it in mind.
As I watched Zav pluck up little hills of earth to show the spots where the people had disappeared, I silently admitted that Sindari was probably right. I might be able to have a cordial, business-like relationship with Zav if I stopped giving him grief.
The problem was my aversion to having anyone boss me around. I’d struggled with it in the military, and it was even harder now that I was older and used to calling the shots. I worked for people, but I didn’t bow and scrape. They either hired me as I was, or they could find someone else to fix their problems.
When Zav was done, I stepped forward and pointed to the forested hills east of Duvall. “This is where I’m guessing his lair is. He could have picked up someone here, here, and here and then continued east to a cave. I think that land is either owned by the state or by the big logging companies. There’s a lot of wilderness out there, plenty of places for caves. He could be farther up in the mountains, too, but I assume there’s a limit to how far a dragon would want to tote people.”
Zav looked at me, and I almost expected a comment about how he’d toted me three-hundred miles, but he was apparently done being sarcastic. “If he picked up all three of his kidnap victims in the same trip, yes. There is a limit to how much weight even a dragon can comfortably carry, especially on this world.”
“What’s different about this world?”
“It is one of the planets with higher gravity on which sapient life evolved. My kind evolved on a world with less gravity.”
It was strange hearing him talking in scientific terms instead of magical. I supposed it made sense that these Cosmic Realms were actually planets in different star systems, but I hadn’t considered it before.
“Long ago, before the cities of men existed, I walked in those foothills.” Greemaw was studying the map, not paying attention to us. “It was too long ago and for too short a time for me to remember all the caves, but I may be able to speak to the earth up there through the earth here and learn a few things. All is connected.”