Free Dragon Wizard by S. Andrew Swann Page B

covered her ears.
    â€œI said something you didn’t want to hear?”
    Rabbit gave a frustrated look at the heavens, spun around facing Krys, and repeated the sequence; pointing at herself, then at her ears, then pointing at Krys and covering her ears.
    â€œKrys said something—”
    Lucille was interrupted by a frustrated grunt from Rabbit.
    â€œI’m sorry,” Lucille said. “I’m trying. Why don’t you just write it down?”
    Rabbit turned and glared at us.
    â€œWhat?” Lucille said.
    â€œYour Highness,” Krys said, “we never had much chance for tutoring.”
    â€œWhat do—oh.”
    Rabbit gave Lucille a withering stare that I thought was a little unfair. Yes, it was a bit much to assume that a homeless teenage girl, an outlaw who had spent at leastone year living a feral life in the woods, might have picked up some skills in reading and writing. But in all fairness, it was a bit much to assume a pampered aristocrat had any idea what such a life might be like.
    But then Rabbit’s eyes widened and she smiled.
    She pulled out her dagger and cleared a space on the ground. Literate or not, she still knew the same thieves’ symbols that Krys had used earlier. It might be a limited vocabulary, but it would probably be better getting the idea across.
    That’s what I thought, anyway.
    Rabbit sketched a circle with a dot followed by a pair of triangles joined at the tip.
    â€œAh,” Krys said.
    â€œWhat does that mean?” Lucille asked.
    â€œA friend was here before?” Krys said.
    Rabbit underlined the triangles.
    â€œA short time before?”
    Rabbit underlined the triangles again.
    â€œVery short time before?”
    Underlined violently.
    â€œNow?”
    Rabbit dropped the knife and clapped her hands.
    â€œA friend is here now?” Krys asked.
    â€œWhat does this have to do with what I said?” Lucille asked.
    Rabbit pointed at herself and her own ears again. Then she got up and pointed at Lucille, her finger poking the hollow between our breasts just above the hanging pendant. Then she reached over and covered our ears with her cupped hands.
    â€œI don’t—”
    Krys interrupted, “You’re hearing something we don’t!”
    Rabbit spun around and clapped her hands again.
    â€œWhat are you hearing?” Lucille asked.
    Rabbit turned and pointed at Lucille.
    â€œYou’re hearing me?”
    Rabbit sighed and put her face in her hands.
    â€œYou’re not making sense.”
    Rabbit glared at us, then pointed at her ear and slowly again at our chest.
    â€œBut not me?” Lucille asked, puzzled.
    Rabbit slowly nodded.
    â€œI got it!” Lucille said.
    â€œWhat?” Krys asked.
    Lucille grabbed the elf-pendant that had been hanging from her neck. She held it up in triumph. “You’re hearing this thing!”
    Rabbit stared at the thing, then stared at Lucille.
    â€œNo,” Lucille said, “that’s the only thing that makes any sense.” She dropped the pendant. “Why are you pointing at me when you don’t mean
me
?”
    Rabbit spread her hands in a gesture that said, “And?” Her face looked expectant.
    â€œHow can it be me and not me?”
    Come on, Lucille, what else could she mean?
    Rabbit waved her hands, “Go on.”
    â€œMe and not me,” Lucille repeated.
    Rabbit turned and pointed down at the symbols she’d written in the dirt.
A friend is here now.
    Krys clapped her hands. “I got it! She’s talking about
Frank!
”
    Rabbit grinned, made a joyous grunt and ran to embrace Krys so hard that she lifted the taller girl’s feet off the ground.
    â€œFrank?” Lucille whispered.
    Rabbit turned around and nodded. The goofy grin on her face froze the moment she locked eyes with Lucille.
    â€œFrank?” Lucille’s voice sounded low and hoarse, clawing its way through muscles that were taut enough