At least it was only Flowerbirth, Tal consoled himself. It would be a lot hotter in Longheat. And although the bugs were bad now, they'd only get worse later.
Which wasn't much comfort in the moment as he flapped his sticky sleeveless shirt against his chest in a search for air movement to dry some of the sweat from his brown skin. His other hand was wrapped firmly around the shaft of a spear that was topped with the heavy skull of the ursur he had slain with Deimos at the beginning of the season. It would have made a great trophy for the house...
But Dierdre had made it clear it wasn't going to hang in any of the public areas, and now he had a better use for it.
He paced near to the huge, uncanny tree with its ropes and wicked whispers but was careful not to pass under it and its cursed-looking leaves. The place was definitely haunted, but he'd heard that bone piles were the best places to find his prey and he peered about as he tried to spot a walking skull monster. Occasionally he jiggled the skull atop the staff enticingly.
Which made the companion a little ways ahead of him snort in annoyance. The big, boxy dragon with her glacier-pale scales was black to her chest and belly with swamp mud, but her back and wings still stood out like beacons in the brown-and-green gloom and she was just as on edge as her bonded.
"Don't worry, girl," Tal murmured, as much for his comfort as hers. "We'll get the hail out of here as soon as we find one."
Which wasn't much comfort in the moment as he flapped his sticky sleeveless shirt against his chest in a search for air movement to dry some of the sweat from his brown skin. His other hand was wrapped firmly around the shaft of a spear that was topped with the heavy skull of the ursur he had slain with Deimos at the beginning of the season. It would have made a great trophy for the house...
But Dierdre had made it clear it wasn't going to hang in any of the public areas, and now he had a better use for it.
He paced near to the huge, uncanny tree with its ropes and wicked whispers but was careful not to pass under it and its cursed-looking leaves. The place was definitely haunted, but he'd heard that bone piles were the best places to find his prey and he peered about as he tried to spot a walking skull monster. Occasionally he jiggled the skull atop the staff enticingly.
Which made the companion a little ways ahead of him snort in annoyance. The big, boxy dragon with her glacier-pale scales was black to her chest and belly with swamp mud, but her back and wings still stood out like beacons in the brown-and-green gloom and she was just as on edge as her bonded.
"Don't worry, girl," Tal murmured, as much for his comfort as hers. "We'll get the hail out of here as soon as we find one."
