But there were the eggs, Aurora’s sole responsibility. She could not see the Valley of Paladine from here, so she knew that she could not linger in the pleasant low-land. Seizing the carcass in her jaws, she gave a powerful downstroke of leathery wings, hurling herself into the air. The golden serpent flew at a gentle incline, circling toward high altitude, gradually working her way back toward the lofty summit.
The sun had neared the western horizon by the time she reached the slopes around her peak. The body of the elk dangling from her jaws, Aurora warily looked over the mountain, and the surrounding skies, before coming to rest on the exalted height. Crouching over the still-warm carcass, the gold dragon was about to tear into the meal when she hesitated. Blinking, then staring intently, she detected a trace of movement in the sky, a winged creature approaching from the north.
The flyer was clearly larger than any bird, yet the brownish, indistinct coloring was too dull for a dragon. Propping the fresh meat firmly between two boulders, the golden serpent lifted her head, squinting into the shadows between the mountains, trying to discern the nature of the approaching creature.
Soon Aurora recognized the powerful body and the broad, feathered wings of a griffon. Because the hawk-faced predators generally avoided dragons, she was surprised to see this one coursing steadily closer to her high peak. She waited with the patience of the near-immortal, watching the griffon strain for altitude, laboring toward the sanctified rocks of the lofty summit. Now she could see the black and white pattern of the griffon’s wing feathers, the hooked hawk-beak of the proud face. The griffon’s body was like that of a great cat, powerful paws and muscular legs coming to rest on an outcrop of rock a short distance below the gold dragon’s perch.
“Greetings, Honored ancient,” declared the griffon politely. The creature spoke in its own language, but Aurora was familiar with the tongue-as, indeed, she understood the speech of every intelligent being across the breadth of Krynn.
“Welcome, Feathered Hunter,” the gold dragon replied with formal correctness. She was silent then, patiently waiting to learn the griffon’s business.
“The skies are empty, for many miles across the plains,” the sleek predator noted vaguely. When Aurora made merely a noncommittal rumble in reply, the hawk-faced creature continued. “I grieve for the loss of your bold sisters.”
“You speak with a certainty that goes beyond my own knowledge,” admitted the gold dragon-though she had guessed at this truth.
“One by one, the dragons of metal have been savaged by the Queen’s wyrms,” related the griffon, with a sad shake of the hawklike head. “Now, my cousins tell me that the serpents of Takhisis have taken wing from the Khalkist. They seek the last of their enemies.”
Aurora’s filmy eyelids half-lowered as she considered this information. The words of the griffon clearly placed a certain urgency on her situation, compelling action. The dragons of the Dark Queen would no doubt move swiftly-she knew that they had little use for a proper interval of meditation and philosophical discussion. And the gold dragon also knew that her enemy’s actions must be faced with firm choices and decisive responses of her own. Perhaps the time for thinking was past, at least for now.
With a wrenching twist, Aurora pulled a rear haunch from the elk. She reared upward with the limb in one forepaw, and gestured to the remainder of the meaty carcass.
“You are welcome to food … and I thank you for your news,” she informed the hawk-faced flyer.
The feathered cat bowed low, wings extended to honor the gilded serpent. “I thank you for your generosity, ancient One. My cubs have been hungry for some days, now.”
“Let them eat well.” With a glint of sunlight on golden scales, Aurora took to the air, leaving the pleased griffon to tear the carcass into portable pieces. The dragon circled her lofty peak, studying the skies to east and north, reassuring herself that the wyrms of Takhisis were not yet on her doorstep. In mid-flight, she devoured the haunch of fresh meat, then tucked her broad wings and dove toward the Valley of Paladine.