Daughter of the Serpentine by E.E. Knight

Author:E.E. Knight [Knight, E.E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2020-11-17T00:00:00+00:00

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After a hearty, and salty, meal, the dragons were content to nap out of the weather, getting their first comfortable rest since the trip began, as dragons felt as tucked in and safe in a cave with walls all around as humans did in a familiar bed. Amrits, serious for once, explained to Ileth that dragons were only truly happy in an underground nook with plenty of echo so they could hear anything creeping up on them.

Back at the Sag—they clomped through the mud of the trail left by the dragons—there was the classic midday welcoming food spread out for them, still-warm bread and sausages swimming in a sea of brown-sauced beans, with plenty of strong tea. The wealthy didn’t eat that differently from the ordinary in the north, though the bread at Sag House was much better than it had been at the Lodge. Everyone else had already eaten and Ileth grazed on what was left after Amrits and Henn filled their plates.

Ileth liked the house. The ceiling beams and riblike staves made her think of childhood stories of boatmen inside a whale. The small windows, set high to admit a little light rather than a view, reminded her of belowdecks on a ship. She overheard the eldest of the family speaking to the Borderlander about its double-walled construction. Sand filled the space between the layers of heavily tarred timbers. It wouldn’t burn or batter easily.

There was a single iron chandelier, and oil lamps hung about with plenty of little shelves and sconces to set more candles at need. It looked like the family was accustomed to spending their time together in the hall, in little groups or alone as whatever their duties and habits needed. Musical instruments were hung up or sat behind glass in cases.

The widows were together on a sofa sewing, ignoring the talk between the dragoneers, Comity, and the men. From what Ileth could see, Comity was the axle that spun the rest of the household. When some men came in to ask about the meat in the smokehouse, Comity told them where to put the finished joints. When Gandy said she was interested in seeing the dragon saddles and fittings for equipment more closely, she went through Comity, who asked Dun Huss. He told Ileth to show her Telemiron’s that evening. Eventually Dun Huss, Amrits, Serena, Comity, and the two other men disappeared into the study, supposedly to look at a new survey map of the Headlands that they had, more recent than anything at the Serpentine.

The Borderlander had pulled the patriarch’s chair close to the fire and stood next to it, listening to his discourse. Every now and then he would bring a plate or a drink for the man, carefully setting it on a little stool that served as a table next to his comfortable armchair, as tender as Governor Raal had been with his wife. Ileth smiled at this side of the Borderlander; usually he spoke short when he didn’t just ignore you.

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