DragonFire by Donita K. Paul Read Free Book Online

eyes of an endangered sleeper.’”
    “She aimed to burst our bubble with her point?”
    Bardon’s eyes crinkled as he smiled. “Right. She knew we’d respond as she expected. ‘A few heavy words will not crush the hearer. The fool won’t listen, and the wise man will place the words on the scale of righteousness.’ She trusted us to hear the words and act as Paladin’s servants.” Bardon’s eyes narrowed as he watched Regidor and Gilda. “On the whole, our meech friends don’t look especially crushed by Granny Noon’s reproach.”
    “Not listening or using the scale of righteousness?”
    “I’m not sure they’ve decided whether to heed the instruction or shelve it for a more convenient time.”
    Kale spared them a fond glance. “Considering the miracle of Gilda’s recovery, who could blame them for not wanting to face a harsh reality?”
    “‘Consider the circumstances in which a man reacts before you think you can predict his action.’”
    “That’s enough principles for one morning, Bardon.”
    He chortled and bit down on the next maxim that had sprung to his lips, but Wulder’s principles still streamed through his consciousness. He had no doubt that one would answer the unease he felt.
    A druddum barreled through the tunnel. The small furry creature ricocheted off the walls and around their legs in a frantic effort to avoid crashing into them.
    Gilda squealed, causing the creature to jump in the air before it careened around the next corner.
    “They’re harmless,” said Regidor. “Their only vices are an obsession with speed and the collection of shiny objects.”
    Gilda’s voice returned to a deep, lazy drawl. “They look a bit too much like rats.”
    Kale chuckled, but Bardon sensed she, too, suffered from a strange mood.
    He came up beside her as they passed into a wide stone corridor, placing his arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him for just a moment before they continued on through the tunnels, still following Granny Noon. Kale’s sense of security grew from the interchange, and because of their connection, Bardon experienced the same surge of well-being. Of all the gifts Wulder had bestowed upon him, Kale was the best.
    He sought to lift her spirits further. “Neither Paladin nor Wulder is angry with us. We were establishing a new order in The Bogs, Kale. We were doing just what Wulder had assigned as our responsibility.”
    “And now we have a new direction?”
    “Yes.”
    Although the sob did not come through her body, Bardon, nonetheless, felt her shudder of despair. Her soul whispered to him.
“I want to go back to my safe home.”
    I think the point of what Granny Noon was trying to tell us is that soon there will be no safe homes in Amara.
    Kale didn’t answer but kept her eyes on the smooth black hair of the emerlindian she followed. The path narrowed, and Bardon let Kale go before him.
    A second and third druddum scurried through the tunnel, making Gilda squeak and causing Kale to let out a shaky laugh.
    He admired his wife. Her purposeful stride and straight posture revealed her determination. At fourteen, she had answered a call to serve Paladin. On that first quest, she discerned her own strengths and weaknesses.
    The next quest brought her, now a beautiful young woman, together with him, a rather solemn lehman. At the time he’d thought her undisciplined, clumsy, and inept.
    Her next thought interrupted the pleasant memories he had of the adventure that taught him what a treasure Kale was.
    “We’re always learning our strengths and weaknesses, aren’t we?”
    He grinned. Whether she had done so consciously or not, she had picked up a phrase from his musing.
    He answered her question.
Every day.
    She giggled.
“Don’t you have a principle to quote on that?”
    A dozen.
But he didn’t quote them to her. He glanced over his shoulder at Regidor and Gilda. The husband seemed overprotective of his clinging wife. The two whispered with each other.