Dragon Chameleon: Paths of Deception by Sarah K. L. Wilson

Author:Sarah K. L. Wilson [Wilson, Sarah K. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sarah K. L. Wilson
Published: 2019-01-08T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

The ‘gate’ - if that was what it was - was three times as tall as it was wide, but four different boardwalks passed through it – two on one level and two beneath them, not quite parallel, but squeezing through the structure. Two guards were posted at each boardwalk, looking outward and stopping each person to note their names in a logbook.

Stairs climbing from below or descending from above or winding up in spirals led to the boardwalks and where they surged through the gates they were straight and flat. Everywhere else they were more vertical than horizontal.

My eyes stung from opening so wide. I wanted to see everything at once. I’d lived in Vanika while it was still a skycity. I shouldn’t be impressed by this – but I was. I was imagining what it would be like to pick pockets and try a round of ‘find the weevil’ in this city.

Wait. Observe and think. You’ll only get us in trouble if you rush in without watching first. When you live to deceive, you’ll often find you are as much the victim as the perpetrator.

Dragons sure were a stuffy breed.

Saboraak descended to the lower level of boardwalk and tucked in next to the rock wall. I could see why. Here, in the shadows, she was less conspicuous. The guards would notice her, but I doubted anyone else would pay her much mind.

Animals, carts – how did they move carts up the stairs? – and people filled the boardwalks despite the early hour. Their backs and beds were heavy with packs and loads. And the animals were not horses, as I would have expected but a creature that looked like a large mountain goat.

Those carts move on rails. Do you see that? The animals and people pull them along those metal rails. I see them going up the slopes, too.

How would that help anything?

Maybe they have a system that keeps the loads from slipping backward once they reach a certain level.

If Saboraak could think like that, then maybe she should have been planning better dragon cities instead of careening through the countryside with me. Did dragons have cities?

Our cities would make your eyes pop right out of your head.

Yuck.

Your brain would get so hot from overuse that it would melt out your ears.

That was so gross.

I am not prone to exaggeration. I merely state the truth.

Then keep me far away from dragon cities!

“What’s that creature pulling the cart?” I whispered to Zyla.

“A yudazgoat. They are native to these mountains.”

We fell in line behind a cart and my eyes squinted as I looked for the rail Saboraak had seen. There it was. It made the load less maneuverable, but the path was also more predictable. I could see how that would help but there had to be more going on to make this possible. What if two carts wanted to go different directions on the same rail?

Did you notice that everyone on this boardwalk is walking in the same direction? The other boardwalk on this level is walking the other direction.

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