Master, can’t you do something about that alarm?”
The silence was still being shattered by that damn noise. He knew the tiny wyvern’s ears were every bit as sensitive as his own, yet of course she lacked the more rugged dragon abilities to block out such things. She did not have hands, either, to cover her ears. Wyverns were simple creatures, dragon in nature but possessing only wings and one pair of clawed feet. Helpless little beasts, really. They couldn’t even shift into human form when needed. The most skilled of their members sometimes managed to pass themselves off as chickens, but that was the extent of their shifting abilities. No wonder they had indentured themselves to their larger, more self-sufficient cousins all those eons ago.
“I’m sorry about the alarm,” he said, sending out a wave of localized heat that functioned as a slight dampener for the sound. It would not shield the delicate creature for long. “You should go, Eubryd. Just tell me, where did you see the fairies? I’ll meet you there soon.”
She flapped her leathery wings nervously, her glowing eyes flicking around and her voice even more trilling than usual. “I…I’m not sure. They were moving quite a bit and, as I said, they were trying to be invisible.”
Nic knew his own senses would have picked up on even invisible fairies if he’d been close enough, but of course he could not expect Eubryd to do the same. “Where would you guess they might be?”
“Guess? Oh, well I think they might have been on the far side of the mountain, near the…near the auxiliary vent.”
Damn. If they located that shaft, they’d very likely know where to start looking for the way in. By the Fires, what could fairies possibly be doing poking around a dragon clutch? Nothing they ought to be doing, obviously.
“Go,” he ordered. “Wait for me there. Keep your eyes and your ears open.”
Eubryd cringed and he had to chuckle at her discomfort. She gave him a weak smile. “I’ll keep my eyes open, at least.”
“Do your best,” he said, waving her off. “I’ll go to the humans and make some excuse. Then we’ll get to the bottom of this.”
She nodded and gave multiple assurances of her loyalty and dedication until he finally had to remind her time was of the essence. With a puff of steam in the cold night air, she huffed off to do his bidding. If there were fairies on their mountain tonight, she would hunt them with full diligence. He could trust her for that task.
As for himself, his task might be a bit more difficult. If there were fairies lurking about, the last thing he needed was humans getting inquisitive. His plans had to change.
Instead of claiming the alarm warned of earthquake or impending doom, he’d better convince the humans this alarm really meant nothing. While earthquakes might eventually convince the humans to abandon their project here, they would only do so after prolonged investigation. With magical creatures stalking his mountain, he could never allow that. He had to make the humans believe this alarm was nothing more than faulty equipment that hardly merited attention.
This was going to be a problem. He’d already convinced Lianne this was a legitimate concern, and now she’d gone off to rile up the rest of the group. They were being dragged from their beds by a frantic alarm. Redirecting their thought patterns and influencing their perceptions of this new data wasn’t going to be easy for him, especially since his powers of manipulation were not as fully recharged as he had expected to be at this point in the night.
By the Fires, he’d been eager for Lianne and had planned to pleasure her and get what he needed. How had he let her take control? He’d been counting on her submission, the energy of her release, to give him his full satisfaction. He found it impressive as hell that she’d gotten him off before he’d been ready. Impressive and unbelievably sexy. He could hardly wait to get her alone and
The silence was still being shattered by that damn noise. He knew the tiny wyvern’s ears were every bit as sensitive as his own, yet of course she lacked the more rugged dragon abilities to block out such things. She did not have hands, either, to cover her ears. Wyverns were simple creatures, dragon in nature but possessing only wings and one pair of clawed feet. Helpless little beasts, really. They couldn’t even shift into human form when needed. The most skilled of their members sometimes managed to pass themselves off as chickens, but that was the extent of their shifting abilities. No wonder they had indentured themselves to their larger, more self-sufficient cousins all those eons ago.
“I’m sorry about the alarm,” he said, sending out a wave of localized heat that functioned as a slight dampener for the sound. It would not shield the delicate creature for long. “You should go, Eubryd. Just tell me, where did you see the fairies? I’ll meet you there soon.”
She flapped her leathery wings nervously, her glowing eyes flicking around and her voice even more trilling than usual. “I…I’m not sure. They were moving quite a bit and, as I said, they were trying to be invisible.”
Nic knew his own senses would have picked up on even invisible fairies if he’d been close enough, but of course he could not expect Eubryd to do the same. “Where would you guess they might be?”
“Guess? Oh, well I think they might have been on the far side of the mountain, near the…near the auxiliary vent.”
Damn. If they located that shaft, they’d very likely know where to start looking for the way in. By the Fires, what could fairies possibly be doing poking around a dragon clutch? Nothing they ought to be doing, obviously.
“Go,” he ordered. “Wait for me there. Keep your eyes and your ears open.”
Eubryd cringed and he had to chuckle at her discomfort. She gave him a weak smile. “I’ll keep my eyes open, at least.”
“Do your best,” he said, waving her off. “I’ll go to the humans and make some excuse. Then we’ll get to the bottom of this.”
She nodded and gave multiple assurances of her loyalty and dedication until he finally had to remind her time was of the essence. With a puff of steam in the cold night air, she huffed off to do his bidding. If there were fairies on their mountain tonight, she would hunt them with full diligence. He could trust her for that task.
As for himself, his task might be a bit more difficult. If there were fairies lurking about, the last thing he needed was humans getting inquisitive. His plans had to change.
Instead of claiming the alarm warned of earthquake or impending doom, he’d better convince the humans this alarm really meant nothing. While earthquakes might eventually convince the humans to abandon their project here, they would only do so after prolonged investigation. With magical creatures stalking his mountain, he could never allow that. He had to make the humans believe this alarm was nothing more than faulty equipment that hardly merited attention.
This was going to be a problem. He’d already convinced Lianne this was a legitimate concern, and now she’d gone off to rile up the rest of the group. They were being dragged from their beds by a frantic alarm. Redirecting their thought patterns and influencing their perceptions of this new data wasn’t going to be easy for him, especially since his powers of manipulation were not as fully recharged as he had expected to be at this point in the night.
By the Fires, he’d been eager for Lianne and had planned to pleasure her and get what he needed. How had he let her take control? He’d been counting on her submission, the energy of her release, to give him his full satisfaction. He found it impressive as hell that she’d gotten him off before he’d been ready. Impressive and unbelievably sexy. He could hardly wait to get her alone and
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