Chapter 9

The rest of the gathering went by in a blur. Books were presented, issues were discussed, but nothing important happened. The singing wasn't repeated, but Serali hardly noticed. Instead she kept remembering, over and over, the casual way that the red dragon had killed the bronze. She had asked Drevass about it and he had told her that punishing criminals, including killing child-slayers, was something that the dragon king was expected to do.

Still, Serali was glad that the course of the moot didn't bring them into contact again. Given the madness she'd seen in his eyes, and the way he had glared at her, she was certain that Drevass's earlier warning was well worth heeding.

At last it was over and the dragons left the area around the great bowl where the moot was held. Serali returned with the plains dragons to Dragon Stone. She had considered staying, learning more of mountain dragons, but... the red's bloodstained teeth were vivid in her mind, and she decided that it might be better to visit the mountains some other time. She had all the time in the word, after all. At the dragon stone she tried to put the red out of her mind. There were other things to occupy her now, hunting, tending Vulcnor's hatchlings, discussing draconic culture with Drevass, but still the image of the red dragon king kept running through her mind at the oddest times.

Eventually other things distracted her, and she began to forget the disturbing incident. One thing that helped her put it out of her mind was her growing friendship with Kethro. They explored odd caverns in dragon stone, they swam down the river, or flew out across the plains together. Serali even managed to teach Kethro to shapeshift.

She had offered to before, but he had refused, saying that he probably wouldn't be able to do it anyway. She stopped bothering him about it, but she still spent some time almost every day in human form practicing her lute and her singing. One day as she put away the lute, she noticed the tiny golden statue of her horse in the bottom of her pack. Impulsively she decided to go riding. A few minutes later she was standing on the plains outside of dragon stone.

She placed the statue on the ground and spoke the activating word. A swirl of golden mist flowed out of the statue. It congealed into the tall form of Orison. Serali picked up the statue, which was warm to the touch, and put it in her pocket. Then she looked at Orison. He tossed his head and whinnied. Serali stroked his smooth golden flank, and then in one smooth motion she grabbed a handful of mane and swung up onto his broad back. With a touch of her heel to his sides they were off.

Serali clung to his back as they raced across the plains. Suddenly a shadow crossed over them. Serali looked up to see Kethro soaring overhead. She waved at him as he passed. With a showy roll, he dipped low over her and then landed on a slight rise not far ahead. Serali raced Orison toward him, grateful again for the training that had removed all fear of dragons from the horse. She brought him to an abrupt rearing stop mere inches in front of Kethro's nose.

She slid off the horse's back onto the ground.

"Hi Kethro!"

"Hello Serali. What are you doing?" He looked curiously at Orison. "And where did that creature come from?"

"I've had him with me all along." She laughed at Kethro's puzzled look. "Here, I'll show you."

She took the statue out of her pocket and placed it on the ground. Then she spoke the activating word again and Orison dissolved into mist and swirled back into the statue.

"Amazing! How did you do that?"

"Actually, I didn't. The horse was my teacher's gift to me when I left. I'm a good mage, but not good enough to do that on my own!"

"What's it like to ride it?"

"I could show you if you'd just let me teach you how to shape-shift."

Kethro paused for a long moment before speaking again. "I'm not sure how I'd like being a human, but that creature was truly wonderful. The way it ran! Could you teach me that shape?"

"Humans call them 'horses.' I don't know the dragon word for them. Have you never seen one before?"

"I think I saw a few, but the humans that lived in the mountains didn't have many, and they only plodded along, I never saw one run like that!"

"Orison is certainly much faster than a farm horse, I suppose. But yes, I can probably teach you horse shape."

Kethro took a deep breath. "Go ahead."

Serali nodded and began. "First you need to become aware of the feel of the form you're wearing now…"

She spoke for several moments before directing Kethro to go ahead. He closed his eyes tightly. For several long moments there was no visible change, but then his form began to dissolve into a black and green mist. The mist shrunk rapidly down to horse-like proportions and then solidified into a large blood bay stallion. Serali grinned at Kethro and shifted into horse form herself. She shook her long golden mane and reared up dramatically. Then, with a challenging whinny, she raced off over the plains, Kethro close behind.

They played tag as horses for hours. Finally when the sun was setting, Serali stopped and shifted back to dragon shape. Kethro halted next to her. He closed his eyes tightly again and a few moments later he was his usual scaly green self. "That was fun!"

Serali grinned at him. "Yes it was. You see why I've been wanting you to try this?"

"I confess, I was wrong. But don't get carried away over this. You're not right all the time!"

"No, I'm just right almost all the time."

Kethro just laughed.