As it did with horses, the blindfold steadied Kellen. He didn’t say anything when I told him of the dragon. I think he was concentrating too hard on surviving his rescue to be concerned about legendary creatures.

With my guidance, Kellen scrambled onto Oreg’s back. I sat behind him to hold him on. Oreg shuffled awkwardly to the edge of the room and launched.

I thought we were going to have to land, but three quick wing-strokes had us aloft.

As we neared Menogue, I said, “Oreg, can you take us somewhere for Kellen to recover a bit before we meet with the others?”

Oreg dipped his wings in answer. He took us to the far side of Menogue and landed in a small clearing where long-ago people had encased a small pond in stone. The clearing was surrounded by trees and lit by the full moon.

I took the blindfold off Kellen and slid down Oreg’s shoulder to the ground. After a brief hesitation, Kellen followed. When we were safely dismounted, Oreg curled up and laid his great head on the ground, looking as harmless as he could.

“So Hurog has dragons,” Kellen said. He was stiff with stress, but was clinging with his fingertips to sanity—I knew how that felt.

“One,” I agreed.

“Where is your mage?”

I gestured to the dragon. “He is not full-blooded dragon. He tells me he’s equally comfortable in either guise.”

Kellen nodded slowly and gestured to the pond. “Is it safe to wash in this?”

“Yes,” said the Tamerlain from the opposite side of the pool. “Welcome to Menogue, Kellen Tallven.”

Kellen looked at her, then at the dragon, and abruptly laughed.

“I’m no dream,” she said, catching the edge of hysteria in his merriment. “I have been here serving the kings of Tallven for a long time. The world has changed since you were bound in stone, Tallven, though most people don’t know it yet. Dragons fly, the old gods stir, and mages grow in power because an old wrong has been righted.”

The expression on Kellen’s face was oddly blank, despite his earlier laughter.

“Go away, Tamerlain,” I said, staring worriedly at Kellen. “Time enough for this later.” The Tamerlain shot me an amused look and disappeared with a needlessly theatrical crack of sound. “Let’s wash the stink of that place off our skins and eat before we start thinking further ahead. Oreg?”

The dragon head lifted and Oreg looked at me mildly.

“Go tell the others Kellen is safe and bring his man here—only his man—with clean clothes, please. Take enough time for us to bathe.” If Kellen felt like I had, it would take a while before he felt clean. I’d only been in the building for a few minutes this time, but I felt as though the smell of that place clung to me.