Free Battle Mage: Dragon Mage (Tales of Alus) by Donald Wigboldy Page A

dignity.
    “Did you see the crag dog following us?” he asked changing the topic from her physical acts.
    Shaking her head, was Cheleya’s answer as she looked around the pass for the focus of his question. “I could only see the inside of my eyelids or the gray of your stony back,” the girl replied. She stopped to place her hands on her lower back and stretched bringing a near purr to her throat as her spine unwound from hours of holding onto the mar’goyn’lya. “I don’t see him,” she stated giving it a masculine description for some reason.
    Kel’lor turned and looked behind them down the pass in the direction of Mar’kal. There was nothing to see but the winding path that quickly turned enough to block his vision a few hundred feet back along the path.
    Shrugging, the giant asked, “Since we are on the ground, do you need to eat and drink? I’ve noticed Malaketh and the other humans seem to need to eat more often than we do.”
    Listening to her body, Cheleya sighed noting what he meant. “Yes, my stomach is hungry again. You would think that I would need little after spending all morning just holding onto you. It isn’t like I had wings doing any work.”
    “Maybe it is simply the difference of creatures native to this world as opposed to our ancestors’ home world. I’ve noticed that most of the animals here eat much more than any of our two races. We are much larger than most besides.”
    The girl shrugged watching as Kel’lor cut a slice of the bread and found a thick spread made of vegetables. It was a favorite among the mar’goyn’lya, though she had witnessed some humans trying the food before and few seemed to like the taste. Perhaps the winged race didn’t have the taste in food that humans could take.
    Cheleya took a bite and her nose wrinkled as she tasted the bitter spread. She understood now why most humans avoided eating with gargoyles. While it didn’t taste good, she knew that it held vitamins and energy that she needed. Not being a connoisseur in human food, the dragoness didn’t bother to complain. It was edible and fuel for her body. As long as it didn’t make her sick, it would do until they found something better, which was unlikely to be any time soon.
    “There,” Kel’lor said with a slight incline of his head along the pass behind them. The snout of the crag dog, almost more a boar than a canine in appearance, peaked from behind a large stone. It had just one tusk and Cheleya recognized it as one of the two that had protected her from the black wolf.
    Smiling at the idea that the dog was healthy enough to chase them so far, Cheleya considered her savior being so tentative watching them from afar. With his pack, the animal had been as brave as could be, but now it was alone and tentatively shy.
    “Well, if you want some of our food, you will need to come over here,” the girl’s voice called sweetly. One of the few things she still loved about her new body was the nearly musical voice that came with it. It was much nicer to her ears than her che’ther voice or her mother’s deep growl. 
    Holding the last third of her bread and feeling fed enough to offer the bitter tasting spread; Cheleya offered it to the cautious beast. It took little to encourage the animal, however, and the long legged dog soon loped over to sniff at the bread. A little whine apparently judged the smell of the spread similarly to everyone except a mar’goyn’lya, Cheleya thought in amusement. Despite its reservations, the crag dog decided to eat the piece probably with the same thought the girl had earlier.
    “I have to tell you, Kel’lor, that you mar’goyn’lya like bitter things more than animals and humans,” she informed him looking at the strange animal eating the remainder of her meal.
    Touching the side of the crag dog’s face, she slid her fingers until they could play with his left ear. The armor was both above and behind the delicate piece of flesh, but she guessed that