City of Ice by Laurence Yep Page B

but didn’t wait for an acknowledgment. “D-do they include badgers on their dinner menu?”
    Roxanna’s teeth flashed in a savage smile. “I think your fur would get in their teeth, but otherwise they’d manage.”
    They could hear shouting from the central courtyard as if their pursuers were guarding all the doors, not realizing that Bayang was a dragon in disguise. It wouldn’t take long, though, before Prince Tarkhun and Lady Miunai directed their followers to the roof.
    â€œWhat if Roland heads into the Wastes? Aren’t you scared of the phantoms?” Scirye asked.
    â€œA good caravan leader has to look at the facts,” Roxanna declared. “I don’t think there are phantoms. Those stories have been around for centuries. Sure, people have disappeared, but they were hunters who probably had accidents.”
    â€œSo it’s just rumors?” Leech asked.
    Roxanna bit her lip for a moment. “Um, no.” She straightened her shoulders. “There’s something there, but I don’t think it will harm us. I talked to an Inuit who wandered into the Wastes because he’d become lost. Though he heard howls and weird noises, he never saw anything, and whenever he turned in the wrong direction something nipped at his heels to head him the right way. He said it was more like whatever was there was herding him out of the Wastes like a reindeer.”
    â€œWell, you’ve had your fun.” Bayang snagged Leech from the air and dragged him down. “But you’re going to ride on my back when we leave here. I’ll have enough to do without worrying about you flying solo.”
    The hatchling looked stubborn. “I’ve done all right so far.”
    â€œLord Leech, you’ll have to take off your disks anyway.” Roxanna pointed to a row of boots in different sizes. “Your feet will freeze in just shoes.” Then she said to the others, “Better put on the furs.” Upach had fetched new fur coats, hats, and gloves. “I don’t think even your charms will keep out the cold where we’re going.
    â€œI think I may need more than fur,” Koko said.
    As the others dismounted and Leech reluctantly returned to the ground and restored the flying disks to his armband, Bayang began another expansion spell so she could carry their supplies.
    Koko yanked on a coat with satisfaction. “There. A double layer of fur ought to keep the heat in and bear fangs out.”
    Roxanna changed her clothing with the other hatchlings, but when she caught sight of Scirye’s feet she began chewing her lip.
    â€œWhat’s wrong, Roxanna?” Scirye asked.
    The Sogdian girl bowed from the waist, keeping her eyes on the floor. “I beg your forgiveness, Lady Scirye. But your boots look as flimsy as Lord Leech’s shoes.” She paused. “Unless you think the goddess will protect you from the cold.”
    â€œLet’s not test it.” Scirye stood on one leg like a stork as she tried to remove the first boot. “I’ll just put them in the baggage.”
    â€œNo extra freight,” Bayang declared. “I think it’ll be all I can do to carry our supplies and all of you.”
    Scirye was hopping on one leg as she tried to remove the first boot. “Can’t you grow just a few more inches?”
    â€œMore mass requires more fuel to move it,” the dragon explained.
    â€œEh? In English?” Koko asked. He was putting on a pair of boots himself.
    â€œEvery extra inch means I need to eat more food so I can fly,” Bayang said. “Which then means I have to carry more supplies and that means becoming even larger.”
    Roxanna had fetched a pair of thickly padded boots from the pile of clothes that Upach had brought. Clutching them to her, she came over and knelt. “If Your Ladyship will permit, I’ll leave a note that the boots are to be saved for you. No one would dare touch