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“I don’t need a thousand ysidri.” This dragon made no sense. What use did Harden have for that kind of treasure? He bartered real goods for his living.
“You could buy an entire town.”
He shrugged. “I have a village full of dragons who are my friends and compatriots. My clutch. What need have I for that?”
This dragon was an idiot. No wonder Sebby hated it in the city if this was how dragons dealt with things there. Honestly. What nonsense.
“You could give your child anything he would ever need.”
“I have a home, a family, a farm, friends — he will have anything he might ever need.”
Mother was beginning to giggle, her smile bright and proud, he thought.
“You are very stubborn. If you will not sell it to us, we will take it.”
Harden straightened immediately, squaring his shoulders. Oh, he did not think so. No one was going to take Seren or any of his bwostfol for any reason unless he allowed them to go. “You will not take her, and I am stubborn.”
Of course he was stalling, waiting for Brayden and the other dragons to get there, which seemed to be taking a very long time, thank you very much, but he was willing to fight himself. He was no slouch with his talents. He could make a tornado that would take this whole caravan off to some other place in the world.
His mother snorted, the sound loud and impatient. “You are wasting our time. We are planning for a gathering.”
Suddenly, he could hear the sound of a million wasps, buzzing all around them — Brayden, Cade, and the Rocky Mountain clutch coming from one side, Tyr, Bailey and the villagers coming from another.
He shook his head. As many armored dragons as had come, they would not be enough.
“Take your coin and go. Find another place to test.” He was not playing this game, and he wanted his party.
The armored dragons from the convoy were beginning to shift, shedding their armor.
Harden refused to look toward the glen where he knew the ysidri were hiding. They were smart, and they knew to lay low.
I’m coming, love. We’re right here.
I know. I don’t want a war on my land.
They brought the war, not you. Remember that.
He knew. He hated it, but he knew. “Just go. You are not welcome here.”
The armored dragon moved at a speed that he couldn’t quite comprehend. It had to have been magick, but suddenly he was being held tight, where he could barely breathe, one scaled arm around his neck, a sharp blade pointed at his stomach, digging in. “I will have what I came for, one way or the other.”
Brayden, Brayden, please. Know that I love you. Know that I will love you for an eternity.
Brayden’s roar shook the very world.
“Call off your friends, or I’ll slice the child out of you.”
Harden shook his head. “I will not yield. Better that both of us die than kneel to this aggression.”
All of the armored dragons from the convoy gathered closer, moving to cut the villagers off, even as some of them took to the skies to fight off the incoming lot of dragons from the mountain.
Harden wasn’t going to flinch. He would not allow anyone to let them have the satisfaction of knowing that he didn’t want to die.
“Take me to the winged ysidri.” The knife pressed in a little farther, the tip slicing his tunic. He could feel blood beginning to seep from his belly to stain the fine embroidery.
“No.”
So many things were happening at once — dragons were fighting and flying, and Brayden was coming, and there was the sound like hundreds of thousands of wasps buzzing in the air.
