The Anti-Quest by angel martinez

Author:angel martinez [Martinez, Angel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mischief Corner Books

They stopped that evening on a wider plateau as the land began to shift from continuous waves of jutting rock to more predictable formations. The stream canyons they passed were tempting, offering quicker passage than rock hopping, but Gruyère avoided them. One harrowing scorparach gauntlet was enough for this trip. Honestly, she was fine with no scorparach encounters for the rest of her life.

The space between them felt different this time, though. More comfortable, maybe. At least Snillek didn't ignore her.

"So what's next, Science Human?" Snillek asked as she unpacked her tent. "We reached the tiny dragons, so are we getting close to larger dragon country?"

"Getting there." Gruyère ignored the epithet that didn't sound entirely flattering as she sorted through her food choices and picked out a cream of something. They always tasted the same, so cream of what didn't really matter. "This terrain has a couple of recorded intermediate species. Solitaries. Small family units. Nothing much bigger than a housecat."

Snillek found a convenient rock seat and took off her helmet. The little thud of Gruyère's heart on seeing her face again? No. That hadn't happened.

Those Dzedek eye ridges rose a couple centimeters. "So, there's a dragon-size grade along with the elevation until we hit the mountains?"

"It's a hypothesis." Gruyère shrugged. "The species seem to increase in size at higher elevations, but no one's seen the big dragons since the initial settlement days."

"So they're probably extinct," Snillek muttered, leaning sideways to rummage in her pack for dinner.

"We just don't know. The drones don't have enough range to go that far and, well, Tarribotians just don't go out to the hinterlands."

"That's all right. Maybe we'll find a huge scale or a dragon bone to satisfy the court."

"That would work?" Gruyère couldn't help a puzzled frown. "Here, lords and ladies, I killed the dragon that kidnapped the princess. I brought you a… scale?"

"Probably not. Especially if they're extinct and it's an old, dried-out scale." Snillek heaved a put-upon sigh. "They're silly and self-absorbed, the courtiers. My courtiers. But they're not stupid."

She sounded so discouraged Gruyère felt like she had to say something. "We'll figure something out."

A fleeting smile skittered over Snillek's face before she nodded and dug into her grubs du jour.

"Something that doesn't result in dragon death," Gruyère went on quickly, though Snillek only huffed at that. Right. Too much repetition equaled annoying. "What deity do you serve?"

"Hmm?"

"Don't paladins usually swear to a deity?"

"Oh. That." Snillek tipped her head from side to side. "Kind of old-fashioned idea these days. Sure. Some paladins are religious. I'm not a fan of most of the ones I've met. Rigid farking superior… Though I did meet a Dionysian paladin once." She stopped to tap her spoon on her chin. "Interesting person. But no, most of us swear to the ideals of the guild—defend the helpless, answer when called upon, protect those under our guardianship, and on like that."

Gruyère wasn't much for religion, either. Her father had been a Lavathian with the end of the universe around every corner.

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