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Heather, riding on her dragon’s back, relaxed and leaned forward to lay her cheek on her dragon’s scales. They were deliciously warm. She kissed the scales, then sat back up in her seat, nestled safely between his dragon spikes like a saddle. They’d been flying for a bit, maybe almost half an hour, and Heather felt euphoric. Nothing made her feel as free and as invincible as flying with Graeme did.

She was a little damp from the snow, but not bad. There was a kind of steamy bubble around them, moving with them, and it kept most of the snow off her. Whenever she got too wet, she blazed fire around her, while protecting her clothes with dragen magic, and then she was dry again.

She could see little on the ground. The snow was still falling thickly.

Are we going in circles? she asked in ruhi.

Aye—to be sure of the bounding circle.

Heather didn’t think she’d heard him talk about a bounding circle before and she was about to ask what it was when Graeme explained.

Imagine Serenity sitting in the middle of a triangle, with the points of the triangle marked by the three statues around the town—the catamount statue to the west, the bear statue to the east, and the wolf statue to the north. The bounding circle will be similar to what your mathematicians would call the circumcircle of such a triangle, passing through each vertex and encircling the entire area. If I hide the gold as well as I ought and it is within the bounding circle, it will be safe.

How do you know Rhen wants her gold brought over?

I had a dream.

And that’s it? Just a dream?

Aye, that is the way of it, for all of dragen history.

What does she look like?

Heather could hear the smile in his voice while he spoke. If I told you she was a great and scaly dragon, what would you think of that?

Really?

Graeme laughed softly in her mind . I havnae seen her. I dreamt I was in dragon form, sitting on a pile of gold, and the gold had a voice, and it told me, ‘we belong with ye’.

That doesn’t sound like much to me. How do you know it wasn’t just a dream?

It is never just a dream. It always means something.

When Heather didn’t say anything, Graeme added, It took me two hundred years to learn it’s never just a dream.

Heather stayed silent, thinking. Graeme was over 900 years old and he’d been in charge of Rhen’s gold for much of that time. Her own dream of the night before swam into her mind. She’d been a pinkish dragon with leathery wings, a long snout, and shimmery scales, which was not too unusual—she’d been dreaming of being a dragon off and on since she’d bonded with Graeme. In last night’s dream, she’d been walking through the forest on four strong legs, flexing her wings and thinking she wanted to test them, when she entered a meadow. In the center of the meadow had been a stack of gold bars. The stack had been waist high and four-feet long, with an item on top—a present wrapped in red and white paper with a silver bow—and then she’d woken and had run to the bathroom to puke.

I had a dream about gold, too, you know, she said, a bit of sass in her voice, anticipating a fun little bit of banter with her man, her saying dreams were just dreams sometimes, and him saying something smart.

Instead, Graeme, still flying, bent his neck back to look her in the eye, something she couldn’t remember him ever doing before.

Aye? he said, in an intrigued voice, then he looked forward again. Tell me all about it.

She described it to him.

Interesting, was all he said.

In front of them was forest, seemingly appearing from nowhere. Graeme flew up, skimming the trees.

Crimson Bluff, he said.

This might be a good place, Heather said. There’re caves up here.

Many, but it strikes me that this bluff belongs to the foxen and they would sense the gold and look for it.

But not find it?

I dinnae think they would, but the chance isnae worth it. The foxen in Serenity are especially cunning.

There’re caves up Morning Bluff also.

Aye, but what I really want is a waterfall, I think.

Heather thought about it. She’d grown up in Serenity and knew all the good spots.

There’s a waterfall near Trevor’s place—Serenity Falls. It’s super popular when the weather is warm, though.

Isnae problem, Graeme said. Direct me.

Go to Trevor’s and head due east. Once you pass the old highway, look for a dip in the land. The water falls over the furthest south portion of Blue Island Gorge.

Whose land?

Government land. It’s a city park.

Braw.

Heather knew that meant ‘good’. They made it there in a few minutes, and Graeme flew low, banking left and right, until he found the waterfall. It was frozen solid, and they landed right in front of it.

Heather threw a leg over and slid off Graeme’s back, landing in deep snow. She raised her temperature and it melted, water gushing away from her, melting snow as it rushed into the gorge.

Graeme transformed smoothly into a man, looking sexy as hell in his uniform. He gave her a smile and took her hand and they walked under the waterfall together. Behind it was only a small area, and then solid rock.

“Not too much room,” Heather said.

“This is perfect,” Graeme said, looking at the wall of solid rock.

Heather understood then. “You’re going to hide it in the rock?

“Aye.”

He heated his hand until it glowed red-hot and then touched the rock with his fist. The rock shuddered and groaned as a hole melted around his fist, and rock tried to flow down the wall like lava. Graeme spun his hand slightly, and the melted rock vortexed back up on itself, while he pushed his arm in deep, until he was up to his elbow in rock. He pulled his hand back out, and let the molten rock drip to the ground, increasing his heat until the last bits flaked off him. Graeme pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his hand.

“That’ll dae fine,” he said. “Next is Scotland, but we have one more errand to run first.”

Heather looked at him, waiting for him to explain. Instead, he grasped her hand and took her back out into the gorge, then he transformed into his beautiful red and yellow dragon. He brought his wings forward, positioning them around her. She knew what he wanted. They’d traveled like this before, through worlds and between worlds. She stepped close to him and he wrapped his strong leathery wings firmly around her, then pulled her against his chest.

sidestep

Intense heat and pressure assailed her, but it was over quickly. She expected to be let go, but Graeme walked forward twenty or so paces instead, still holding her in his wings, and then

sidestep

The heat and pressure were back, and then gone again.

Speak only ruhi, Graeme said, and then he released her from his wings. Heather’s mouth dropped open. She was in what was obviously another world, like one she’d never seen even in movies. There were no houses, roads, or signs of civilization, and not even one tree. The ground she was standing on was a bare, dull red, almost like the surface of Mars. The sky was a deep purple and filled with wispy yellow clouds.

This way, Graeme said.

Heather turned around and saw a purple ocean, a colorful beach, and three large moons glowing silver off the horizon. She was too stunned to say a word. Graeme took her hand and got her moving. She felt light-headed, and squeezed his hand, leaning against him.

The oxygen mixture here is different than what yer used to. Nae bother, our business will be quick.

Heather focused on breathing deeply and felt better right away. As they got closer to the beach, it became clear that what she’d first thought were smooth stones, like river rocks, were not actually rocks. They were smooth and they were round, but they were also vibrantly colored, and some were transparent. Past the rocks, purple water lapped gently at the shore, and the familiar sound of the waves put Heather at ease.

These crystals are of similar substances but different properties than the ones ye are familiar with. These will melt nicely at high heat, Graeme said.

Heather looked at him, wide-eyed. You mean glass-blowing?

Aye. Take a few. I’ve been wanting to bring ye here since I first saw ye at yer hobby.

Heather looked back at the beach of smooth, round crystals, her mind whirling. Crystals normally were too unstable to work with, but these were obviously different. Some looked like quartz, and other minerals she recognized, but others looked completely foreign.

They made it to the beach. Heather gingerly stepped on the round spheres, while Graeme took a few normal steps to show her it was safe. It was like walking on packed, oversized marbles, and Heather was fascinated. She bent to pick one up, then stopped and looked at Graeme. He nodded at her and motioned that she could touch it. It was the size of a tennis ball, bright blue, and perfectly round. She picked it up and was so surprised she almost dropped it again. It was hot, as if the ground under their feet was volcanic. It also seemed to weigh very little. Heather moved a few spheres out of the way to touch the ground beneath, but the others weren’t hot and neither was the ground. She moved on and found another bright blue sphere and picked it up. It was hot also. She compared the two and picked her favorite, putting the other down.

Heather spotted a spattering of fluorescent pink spheres, and she headed that way. She found another the size of a tennis ball and picked it up, running her thumb over a crack in it.

Something touched her ankle. She looked down to see a wet red tentacle emerging from a hole in the ground and wrapping around her leg. Heather screamed, unable to help herself, and immediately, a riot of sound exploded under her feet, with the spheres popping one by one and many at a time. Sharp crystals flew in every direction. Heather bent forward, protecting her face and shooting her temperature up as fast as it could go. She blazed with fire and the sharp, shooting crystals melted in the air like thick rain—and then Graeme was there. He wrapped her in strong wings and—

sidestep

Intense heat and pressure from all sides—

sidestep

The pressure was gone but they weren’t on the ground—they were falling through the air, plummeting, because Graeme’s wings were wrapped around her. They were going to hit the ground—

I’ll flip ye! Graeme called in ruhi.

Flip? What? Heather called back, but then she was out of Graeme’s wings and flipping in the air and with a fwump , she landed on his back, with her legs side-saddle. She wobbled in her seat and he banked to correct her balance. She flipped one leg over, grabbed him with her forearms, and dropped her torso to lie on his back, breathing heavily, still clutching her treasures.

They were back on Earth and it was still snowing heavily. Graeme landed in an empty cornfield and transformed to a man before she was even off of him. He turned and caught her before she could fall to the ground and then he hugged her tight.

“How did you do that?” she asked, her voice muffled by his shirt.

Flip ye? I don’t ken, exactly, but I was certain I could do it, or I wouldnae have tried. I would have flipped myself to hit the ground on my back instead, protecting ye.

“What happened?”

I had no time for calculations and entered this world at altitude.

When her breathing had slowed, he held her at arm’s length and spoke out loud, as snow continued to fall all around them.

“Let’s have a swatch at ye,” he said.

She laughed weakly. “A what?”

He smiled and kissed her nose. “A look. Are ye fine?”

“Fine, yes,” she said, her brain still spinning from everything that had happened. She held her belly, feeling a bit of nausea, glad she hadn’t eaten anything. The nausea passed quickly.

Graeme took her hands and turned them over so he could see them. She opened them to show him her two round crystals.

He nodded at her, a proud look on his face. “Ye melted the whole beach, but not the ones in your hands. Impressive control.”

She smiled, warmed by his compliment, but also worried about what she’d done. “Will that world be okay?”

He nodded once. “The world’s name is Franronigen and it’ll be fine. That’s happened before, many times.”

“But what blew up?”

“There is one particular crystal on that beach that will explode upon hearing a voice. It is purple and black and usually smaller than the others, about the size of a golf ball. I didnae see any, but they were there. One crystal exploding will explode all its mates. That’s all.”

“That’s all,” she repeated, still a little shaky. “And the tentacle?”

“Only a giant sandworm. It wouldnae hurt you.”

Heather shuddered—the thing had been big, and gross. Graeme hugged her one more time, then transformed into the horse-sized dragon and knelt before her.

Now to Scotland, he said.

She stuck her foot on a spike and climbed on, and in no time, they were in the air. Graeme flew in a steep incline for a long time, while Heather silently studied her crystals and thought about what had happened. Eventually, she put the crystals in her cargo pockets, then settled in for the long flight over the Atlantic.