Chapter 30: MERIS REMEMBERS

DIANA’S POV

The last time Meris had looked at Diana that way, the dragon had been standing on a roadside tower.

There had been one dragon then.

Today Blackharrow had filled the mountain with them.

Diana remained under the covered passage.

Meris stepped down from the landing terrace.

Captain Veyr tightened one hand on the riding line.

"Meris."

The dragon stopped for several seconds, then moved again.

People nearest the landing terrace began noticing.

One keeper backed away from the path. Another caught the attention of the Dragon Host officers working beside the next perch.

Diana’s hand went to the dragonstone beneath her collar. It was warm, though not burning. Another change to remember, even if she did not yet know what it meant.

Alma moved closer.

"Princess."

Diana kept watching Meris.

Captain Veyr gave another command.

This time the dragon stopped completely.

Her gray head remained lowered.

Toward Diana.

Raigoro crossed the Muster yard from the route board.

"What happened?"

Captain Veyr did not look away from Meris.

"She left the landing mark."

"Why?"

"If I knew, Your Grace, I would have included it."

Raigoro found what Meris was watching.

Diana wished he had not.

A second dragon on the lower perch lifted its head.

It had been eating.

The strip of meat remained hanging from its mouth while it turned toward the covered passage.

One of the keepers noticed.

"Sir."

Captain Veyr looked over.

The second dragon took one step toward the edge of its platform.

Then a third dragon farther down the court unfolded its neck from where it had been resting.

Diana stopped touching the dragonstone.

That did nothing.

Meris moved closer again.

Raigoro turned toward Diana’s guards.

"Take Her Grace beyond the roost line."

He had given the order as though she had developed a habit of attracting dragons for administrative inconvenience.

She took out her slate.

I DID NOTHING.

"I know."

Raigoro pointed toward the marked arch behind her.

"That is why you are moving."

Annoyingly coherent.

Diana did not move.

Meris lowered her head farther.

The dragon was close enough now that Diana could see the pale lines where old scales had grown back differently along one side of her jaw.

Captain Veyr kept his voice level.

"Meris. Hold."

The dragon held.

Raigoro looked toward Master Dragonkeeper Husen Clair, the senior keeper overseeing the Muster.

"Any reason she should remain here?"

Master Clair watched Meris, then the other dragons that had turned toward Diana.

"None I can support yet."

That was apparently sufficient.

"Outside the line."

Diana gave him the slate.

YOU ARE VERY FOND OF LINES.

"Most people stop when they reach them."

That was probably directed at her.

She turned and walked through the marked arch.

Alma followed.

The Household Guards took position on either side.

Diana made it six steps.

Behind her, Meris made a low sound.

Diana turned.

The gray dragon had raised her head.

The second dragon on the feeding perch shifted again.

A keeper called across the yard.

"Your Grace."

Raigoro had seen it.

So had Captain Veyr.

Diana stayed where she was.

Master Clair took the writing board from one of the younger keepers. He recorded Meris’s distance from Diana, whether she had encountered Diana before, what she had been doing before her attention shifted, and how long the reaction continued after Diana crossed the roost line.

He ordered the same information recorded for the other dragons.

Diana watched Master Clair’s pencil move across the board.

He had not written that Meris knew her. He had not written that the dragons liked her. He had written distances, names, what each dragon had been doing, and whether any of them had seen Diana before.

Diana touched the dragonstone again.

Master Clair noticed.

She wrote:

THE STONE?

He glanced at the necklace, then at Meris.

"Possible."

Diana waited.

Nothing else came.

She added:

THAT IS ALL?

"That is all I can support."

Diana looked down at the black stone beneath her fingers. It had warmed when Meris noticed her on the eastern road. It was warm now.

To Diana, that felt connected.

Master Clair was apparently less cooperative.

She reached toward the clasp.

"Leave it."

Diana looked at him.

"If you remove it now and the dragons stop reacting, we will not know whether they reacted to the stone, to your movement, to the increased distance, or to something else that changed at the same time."

Diana slowly lowered her hand.

Master Clair returned to the board.

She looked from him to the dragons.

Until now, Diana had mostly wanted to know why they kept noticing her.

Master Clair seemed more interested in proving what they had noticed first.

That was considerably slower.

It was also harder to argue with.

Tavia approached from the lower gallery carrying a transport ledger.

She looked from Diana to Meris.

"I assume this is why half my wagons have stopped moving."

Diana wrote:

APPARENTLY I AM BLOCKING TRAFFIC AGAIN.

Tavia read it.

"This time without taking the court."

Meris had returned to Captain Veyr but kept turning her head toward the arch.

Diana wrote:

IS THIS NORMAL?

"No."

At least Tavia did not insult her with comfort.

Diana watched Master Clair add another note to the board.

Raigoro stood beside him asking questions.

Which dragons.

Which sectors.

Age.

Previous contact with Diana.

Whether any of them had been present on the eastern road.

The answers kept Raigoro beside the writing board longer than the others.

Tavia watched him.

"He dislikes variables he cannot name."

Diana wrote:

I HAD NOT NOTICED.

Tavia’s mouth almost curved.

"Try being a transport officer."

She left before Diana could decide whether that had been a joke.

By late afternoon, the Muster resumed around the disruption.

Dragons returned to inspection.

Feed wagons moved.

Members of the Dragon Host complained about delayed schedules.

Blackharrow continued functioning despite the Grand Duchess apparently becoming a point of interest to several creatures large enough to crush a carriage.

Before leaving the Dragon Heights, Diana paused beneath the covered arch and looked back once.

Master Clair still had the writing board.

Three dragons were listed on it.

Then another keeper crossed the yard and pointed toward an upper perch.

Master Clair added a fourth.

Master Clair studied the completed list.

"Different sectors. Different keepers. Two with no known previous contact."

Raigoro looked at the four entries.

"What does that tell you?"

"That four dragons reacted."

Master Clair handed the board to one of his keepers.

"I am not naming the reason yet."

Across the court, Meris was still watching Diana.

So was the dragon on the upper perch.