Traitor's Moon

pass,” Amali told him, smiling. “The first traveler to be touched so by a dragon is the luckbringer, and anyone who touches you before it flies away shares the luck.”
    Alec felt a bit self-conscious as the others crowded around to touch his leg. The fingerling seemed in no hurry to go. Wrapping its whip-end of tail around his thumb, it poked its bristly head under the edge of his sleeve as if investigating a potential cave. Its soft belly was fever-hot against his palm.
    Klia reached up to stroke the dragon’s back. “I thought they’d be more colorful.”
    â€œThe laws don’t extend to hawks and foxes,” said Seregil. “These little ones take on the color of their surroundings to hide. Even so, only a few survive, which is probably a good thing. Otherwise we’d be hip deep in dragons.”
    Alec’s little passenger rode with him for over an hour, exploring the folds of his cloak, burrowing through his long hair, and resisting all efforts to be passed to anyone else. Suddenly, however, it scrambled around to his left shoulder and bit him on the earlobe.
    Alec let out a yelp of pain and it fluttered away, clutching a few strands of his hair in its claws.
    Their Aurënfaie escorts found this highly amusing.
    â€œIt’s off to make itself a golden nest,” Vanos declared.
    â€œA kiss to welcome you home, Kalosi!” said another, thumping him on the shoulder.
    â€œIt stings like snakebite!” Touching his ear, Alec felt the first signs of swelling and swore.
    Vanos produced a glazed vial from a pouch slung from his belt and tapped out a few drops of viscous blue liquid.
    â€œDon’t worry, the venom’s not much worse than a hornet’s at that size,” he said, holding out his finger. “This is
lissik
. It takes away the pain and heals the wound faster.”
    â€œIt’s also pigmented to permanently color the teeth marks, like a tattoo,” Seregil said behind him. “Such marks are highly prized.”
    Alec hesitated, thinking of the ramifications of such an unusual distinguishing mark for someone in his profession.
    â€œShould I?” he asked Seregil in Skalan.
    â€œIt would be an insult not to.”
    Alec gave a slight nod.
    â€œThere you are,” Vanos said, dabbing lissik on the wound. It was oily and smelled bitter, but it cooled the burning instantly. “That’ll be a real beauty mark once it heals.”
    â€œNot that he needs one,” said another ’faie, giving Alec a friendly wink as he showed him a similar mark at the base of his right thumb.
    â€œYour earlobe looks like a grape,” Thero observed. “Odd that the creature took such a dislike to you.”
    â€œActually, a fingerling’s bite is considered a sign of Aura’s favor,” said Nyal. “If that little one survives, it will know Alec and all his descendants.”
    Other riders showed off their own marks of honor on hands and necks. One named Syli laughed as he proudly displayed three on each hand. “Either I am greatly loved by Aura, or I taste good.”
    â€œKnown to a dragon, eh?” Beka let out a whistle of admiration. “That could be useful.”
    â€œTo the dragon, perhaps,” Seregil remarked.
    They made camp at a way station that stood at the meeting of two trails. It was unlike any structure Alec had seen in Aurënen so far. The squat, round tower was at least eighty feet in diameter and had been built into the uneven rocks that rose around it like a mud swallow’s nest. It was topped with a conical roof of thick, dirty felt and entered by a sturdy wooden ramp leading up to a door halfway up the tower. A few dark-eyed children watched their approach from the top of a low stone wall that fronted it. Others could be seen behind them, laughing as they chased black goats and each other up the tower ramp. A woman appeared at the door, then came out accompanied by two men.
    â€œDravnians?” asked Thero.
    â€œThey are, aren’t they?” said Alec, who’d recognized them from Seregil’s stories. Shorter than the ’faie, and more heavily built, they had black, almond-shaped eyes, bowlegs, and coarse black hair slicked back with grease. Their sheepskin clothing was richly decoratedwith colorful beading, animal teeth of various types, and painted designs. “I didn’t expect to see them this far east.”
    â€œThey wander the whole Ashek