The Balborite Curse (Book 4) by Kristian Alva

It was gifted to me during my manhood ceremony.”
    Tallin rubbed his fingers over the leather’s knobby surface, which felt like sandpaper. He brought it closer to his face to examine it more closely and discovered that the leather was embedded with dozens of tiny gemstones. There were sapphires, carnelians, emeralds, onyx, and even tiny diamonds—the same color as dragon’s stones. The leather looked like ordinary cowhide, but the gemstones, although small, were of high quality. Tallin wrapped the strip around his knuckles and squeezed firmly. He felt a tingling sensation. How did Haluk come into possession of such a thing? he wondered.
    “I’ve seen plenty of enchanted weapons, but I’ve never seen an object such as this Do you know its origin? Are these gems enchanted?” he asked.
    “It is a fragment of an ancient artifact, crafted eons ago,” said Haluk. “Before me, it was owned by a powerful medicine woman. She lived to be very old, and when she died, it passed to me.”
    “Does any other shaman speak dragon-tongue like you?” asked Tallin.
    “No,” he replied. “I am the only shaman with this gift. However, I have been told that several of our medicine women can speak to animals. It is a rare gift among my people, but more frequently found in our women. Our male and female spellcasters do not mix, so I am uncertain how many of our women have the gift.”
    The nomads had female spellcasters, but they were trained separately. Female mageborns become medicine women or powerful midwives, and cater exclusively to women. Tallin handed the item back to Haluk. “Thank you for letting me see it.”
    Duskeye moved forward to examine Haluk more closely. " Flesh-friend, you move like a dragon. How did you learn to move in this fashion?"
    “From a she-dragon in the desert—she taught me her ways, which were the ways of a female, not of a male, but I was pleased to learn, nonetheless.”
    Tallin’s eyes popped with astonishment. “You found a female dragon in the desert? How long ago was this? What was her name?”
    “Her name was Shesha . She was dark red, the color of a blood cactus. She lived far away from here at the southern edge of the desert. I used to visit her in the winter, when the days cooled. We meditated together, sometimes for days. She was very wise. ”
    Duskeye and Tallin stared at each other. Could there be another surviving female somewhere in the desert?
    "How did you find her?" Duskeye asked.
    “After my manhood ceremony, I went into the desert for my spirit journey. I prayed to the gods while carrying the leather strip. The magic of the object drew me to her secret cave. I stopped there to meditate, and I discovered her outside.”
    "What happened when you found her?" asked Duskeye.
    “At first, she was afraid. She reared up upon her hind legs and roared at me. But I simply sat down and offered her some dried camel meat from my pack. She looked at me oddly, but didn’t flee. But neither did she accept food from me. After a while, I greeted her, and she understood me, although my speech was poor. Every year thereafter, I would visit her during my spirit journey. We talked and enjoyed our meals together. Her dragon stone was not like yours. It was uncarved—smooth and round, like a river pebble.”
    "That means she was always wild —never bound to a rider," said Duskeye.
    “Yes, I suspected so,” said Haluk. “She did not speak very highly of humans. She was afraid of them.”
    “I explored that area of the desert a hundred times and never saw any evidence of a dragon living there. How did I miss her presence?” said Tallin.
    “Shesha rarely left her cave,” said Haluk. “There was a sulfur mudhole nearby, and the stink kept animals away. She smeared mud on her scent glands to mask her pheromone. It worked, for she told me that I was her only visitor.”
    “I wonder how she survived the war?” wondered Tallin out loud.
    “Shesha told me that dragon hunters attacked her once