Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75457 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75457 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
With a laugh coming through the bond and a full body wiggle, Klynn’s wings spread out again and suddenly he was off.
I really was slow compared to a dragon.
“I’m fast.”
It wasn’t exactly a fair comparison, but since he was already halfway to the castle, I couldn’t complain about that out loud.
“I’m fast for a human.”
Did it.
My probably terrible first attempt at talking to my mate through the bond got giggles and happiness coming back through it.
“Daddy’s the Pokey Puppy. I heard about that story.”
Only compared to someone who could fly.
The low light around the castle didn’t help either, but it was clear enough that I could see where I was going. That might’ve made the slow poke status worse, though, because between him flying and the incredible ruins, I kept getting distracted.
There was no way I could go anywhere close to full speed when I kept slowing to watch him glide through the air and marveling at the truly ancient building that somehow had whole walls and a big chunk of the stone structure still standing.
Was it magic that’d kept it in such good condition?
Had it been built with magic?
Where had they gotten stones that large in the middle of what looked like the plains in the middle of America?
“Is this the castle in the story you told me about?”
I didn’t have the right education to be able to piece the castle back together in my imagination, but it had the same basic shape as the one at home and that was the most logical place for us to end up having an adventure.
“Yes. The mage king’s castle.”
Klynn wasn’t the detailed story kind of little, but he seemed willing to indulge me as we made our way around the side of the ruins where I had to dodge huge chunks of the walls that were scattered around. But he was a good boy and went slow enough for me to keep him in my line of sight even if I’d never catch up to him.
“He built it after the big catastrophe. That’s a good word, Daddy. He kept his people safe.”
At some point he was going to have to give me a detailed accounting of what the history of the castle actually was.
“What kind of catastrophe was it?”
He was right…that was a good word.
“Um, I think the poem says sky explosions?”
Like meteors?
“The seers said, ‘Oh no big sky explosions. We have to run and hide.’”
Seers?
Was that the actual word or a translation error because the word didn’t exist in English?
“Do you have Seers?”
Was that a type of mage?
Had anyone said they had clairvoyants?
“Not now.”
I let him get away with that answer while he did a barrel roll and whooshed through the opening of a wall that had once been part of the fortifications around the castle. Once he was safe, though, I poked again.
“What happened to the Seers?”
If they’d survived the Younger Dryas impact event, they would’ve needed to have been able to predict it. Everything we’d been able to figure out said it’d happened so quickly animals hadn’t even been able to run from it.
“The poem just said they were sad.”
Sad?
Had they perished on the other side of the gate?
“Where they mages?”
Had that magic been lost?
“Nope. They were Seers. Nope is a good word, Daddy. Look at me.”
He was going to make me motion sick if I wasn’t careful.
Giggles.
Shoot.
“You spin so fast, baby. Don’t listen to my worries. I’m fine and you’re beautiful.”
It was going to take me a while to get my stomach out of my throat, though. He was flying and the ground kept coming up to greet him faster than he seemed to realize.
“I’m cute, Daddy, and you’re a Daddy, so you have to worry. I’m glad I’m not a Daddy. It’s hard work.”
Was I supposed to apologize for making Daddies seem like insane worrywarts?
“You’re very cute, but I think you can be beautiful too. Cute when you’re bouncing around and beautiful when you fly.”
The low light of the setting sun was shimmering on him and he was flying. That would always be beautiful in my book.
“I’m fast when I fly.”
But beautiful or not, he was thoroughly enjoying teasing me. I just didn’t know how he’d gone through a hole that small or how he’d done it upside down.
“You can be beautiful and fast.”
And could still make my stomach try to do flip-flops every time he did something that looked dangerous.
“Look at the top, Daddy. That’s where the mage waited.”
Waited?
I was going to have to learn their language just to be able to read the poem.
“The tall tower? What was he waiting for?”
I could almost hear the brat roll his eyes.
“His dragon, Daddy.”
His tone made that sound obvious, but I was going to have to remind him that I hadn’t read the full story yet.
“Sorry, Daddy.”
Shoot.
“Eventually I’m going to get used to the bond. Ignore my grumbles.”