Knight, E.E - Age of Fire 06 - Dragon Fate by Knight E.E

Author:Knight, E.E [Knight, E.E]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Fiction, General
ISBN: 9780451463562
Publisher: Roc Trade
Published: 2011-11-30T00:00:00+00:00

Jospir regrets never having a son.

Old Kuk the blacksmith swears the best ale he ever enjoyed was brewed by Daza Yellow in the House of Yril.

Dwarfs usually had black or red beards, thick and often glowing, thanks to a curious luminescent fungus they cultivated in the thick mats of their beards. These had faded, and their beards were reduced to patchy hair the color of cold ash. Their arms and armor were rusted and bent, with no two suits matching. Those that had shields had tied them on with bits of twine, and there was not a boot to be seen, though some wore sandals of metal and chain or slippers that looked to be fashioned out of dried mushroom. Their ragged pants gaped, especially at the back where he caught glimpses of their frightfully dirty and hairy backsides.

Still, a few had enough care for their appearance that they’d knotted their mustaches and beards, or washed the filth from some jeweled brooch or an ancient family helm. Dwarfs took a good deal of wear and tear without bending their necks—even the Empire at its height had never managed to make thralls out of them, though a few served for pay and grudgingly fulfilled bargains they made to save their lives. The Copper had heard legends of dwarf prisoners surviving on nothing but licked moisture from a cave wall, until they eventually returned to the rock from which they’d sprung—if you believed old tales. Which he didn’t.

A dwarf peeked at him from a slit in a huge oval shield. A blade waggled just below the slit like a taunting tongue. “No wonder they had this one up front. He’s half blind and a cripple to boot.”

The Copper acknowledged his fear. Doing so allowed you to control it. Sometimes it even came to your aid in a critical moment. He’d escaped death many times; if it came here, he’d still done better than any dragon tossed into the world with his injuries could expect. At least a throng of famished dwarfs wouldn’t rejoice and snicker that he’d finally passed up and into the night sky, as they would if the news reached the throne room in the Imperial Rock. He could stand anything, but he particularly disliked being the subject of laughter. It might be better to fall here, unknown and unnamed.

Dwarfs with chains and grappling hooks stood by, ready to throw and snare and drag him over and expose his belly.

“May I ask, Master Dwarf, who finally humbled me?” he asked in Parl. “I am curious to know who it is that finally sends me into the mystery beyond the final veil.”

A dwarf with double-rings on each of his index fingers, matching gems of red and blue, emerald and diamond, waved the others to stillness. “First-rank Seeg, dragon, of the Deep Alliance,” he answered, using the trade-tongue with more facility than the Copper could ever manage. “My fathers were of the Wheel of Fire in its glory, though we’ve dwarfs and dwarf-wives of all four craft-marks in our number.

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