Serpent's End by Lorn Hillaker

Author:Lorn Hillaker [Hillaker, Lorn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Side Quest Publishing
Published: 2024-01-30T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

“Vonda Cleray, also known as the Last Daughter of Hearthton, is one of the most dangerous Wingbinders alive. As part of three different crews, she has humiliated or slain the privateers attempting capture.

Her Gilt’s control of powder weapons and projectiles makes her a lethal threat to all but the most overwhelming force. Rumors of an additional Gilt require verification. From a distance.”

— “GILDED AT LARGE” CHAPTER FOUR OF THE DOMINION REPORT ON EMBER SEA THREATS

Lucien suggested Elliot explore his library if he wanted to learn more, so Elliot dove in headfirst. He hoped to find information about his Gilt or even about what they were up against with an elder dragon.

Several hours later, Elliot had learned nothing more about his Gilt in all the books documenting ancestral Wingbinder powers. He did learn that Wingbinders had acquired their name from the dragon-wing sail most used on their ships. And that Gilded had been developed as a term for Wingbinders that acquired their second Gilt. Captains earned their third Gilt through some kind of separate encounter with Lykophon, from what Elliot could gather. The books did not go into detail on that.

From there, he tried to read all the accounts of elder dragons he could find. There were none.

Stymied, Elliot moved on to study the map of the Ember Sea hanging in Lucien’s cabin. It was more complete than most maps of the Ember Sea, but still had territory near the Dominion left blank where it was dangerous to sail.

Elliot examined it to see how much more time they would need at sea. Based on the distance they needed to travel to Silverton and them needing to find Yaleb, they would need at least a few more days before they went after the elder dragon. And he couldn’t be sure how far away the dragon’s lair was. Each day that passed was another day with his mother imprisoned in the Reef and his impatience grew.

Of course, at the end of the journey there was the minor task of needing to actually kill an elder dragon.

Rather than keep worrying about time passing, he forced himself back to the books. Unfortunately, there were no real accounts of elder dragons, he did find some brief mentions of them in a couple texts.

No Wingbinder had taken down an elder dragon since Lucien, and he had only done it together with LeCirq. Elliot found whispers of dragons far larger and more powerful than their fellows written in diaries of lone survivors and second-hand scrawls. None of the texts mentioned a weakness.

But, he discovered, there were some theories about using Gilt to separate a dragon from its hoard. Elliot took notes on that. It was the type of thing he would have looked out for when planning to break into the Reef. Any weakness was an opportunity.

He rubbed aching eyes. He’d been reading for hours. Someone rapped a few times on the doorway to the captain’s cabin and Elliot jumped.

He looked up and Vonda smiled wryly in the doorway.

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