Hip Deep in Dragons Read Online Free PDF Page A

leave her homeland of Marzinia now. Lammas is the secondary breeding season, but it has already mated, and now it is looking for a safe place to lay a clutch of eggs. What better location than here on Vayron, where it has no natural enemies? No, as you say, checks and balances. If even half the brood survives, your plague of serpents will seem as insignificant as a wisp of smoke before a forest fire.”
    He shook his head and rose from the table. “Can you tell me where this place is? Where the animals are going missing?”
    “I can do better than that. I can show you.” He followed me out of the kitchen, into the living room to the large, framed map that hung over the fireplace.
    “My parents used to do a lot of off-roading. We’d take Dad’s old Jeep out and explore the wetlands. Well, back then we called it the swamp. He taught me all about the land and its animals, how everything worked together in harmony, just the way it was supposed to. I guess that’s where my passion to keep out those invasive species comes from.”
    My fingers caressed the smooth surface. Then, the map hadn’t been under glass but tacked up on my bedroom wall. After each outing, I’d pencil in all the trails we’d taken and place tiny silver stars over the spots where I’d seen wonders. A huge flock of ibis here or a rare ghost orchid there. Just after I’d returned to Naples, I’d had it framed and mounted, to preserve a piece of my childhood.
    “As close as I can figure from the news reports, it’s around this area.” My fingers circled a spot beyond where the paved roads ended.
    “What is out there?” he asked.
    “Not much more than wetlands and cypress hammocks. This is an old map, so it’s grown up a little more, but it’s still sparsely settled—mostly ranchettes, and people who like being out where they can have all the animals they want without their neighbors complaining.”
    “Where are we on this?” He pointed toward the map.
    “Under the red star.” When the map had been new, that star over my home was the first thing I’d stuck on it.
    He placed a finger over that marker and slowly traced a shallow arc, crossing over the city and its outlying suburbs. As he stepped closer to me, I could smell the scent of sun warmed grass and exotic spices on him. His finger stopped, tapping a spot several miles northeast of the place I’d indicated.
    “It should be right about here,” he whispered.
    “Who? This Shakagwa person you’re looking for? What would it be doing out there in the middle of nowhere?” Then I added in a quiet voice, “Laying eggs?”
    “Aye, but it would be better if I told you no more. My master would be peeved that I have allowed you learn this much. So, I shall thank you for your fine repast and all the kindness you have shown me, but I should best be about showing the errant Shakagwa Dun the way back home.”
    As he turned to leave, I grabbed the front of his shirt, stabbing a finger into that hard muscled chest. “Oh, no you don’t. You’re not leaving here without telling me what’s going on. If there’s something out there in the glades that could cause as much damage as you suggest, I want to know about it.”
    He closed his eyes, nostrils flaring as he heaved a deep sigh. When he opened them again, the pupils were so dilated his eyes appeared black. “Shakagwa Dun is a dragon.”
    A headache began to pound behind my eyes. “A dragon?” I hated the tremble I heard in my voice. “As in big and winged and fire breathing?”
    “Dragons do not breathe fire.” He smiled crookedly. “They spit venom.”
    “Well, I’m relieved to hear that.”
    “I warned that you would be happier not knowing.”
    “This dragon,” I began, taking a deep breath to steady myself. “You think it…it’s built a nest in the glades.” He nodded, and I asked the question at the fore of my mind. I didn’t think I’d like the answer. “What happen when those eggs start hatching?”
    “’Tis only