Free Dragons of the Valley by Donita K. Paul

been visited, Hollee,” he said.
    “Sir?” Hollee glanced around.
    Fenworth pointed to a spot near a bentleaf tree. “That creature called The Grawl stood just over there, watching us.”
    Hollee shivered. “He was that close? I never saw him.”
    “He’s a hunter.” The wizard chuckled. “Luckily, he wasn’t hunting kimen.”
    “Oh, he doesn’t see me.”
    “I beg to differ, Hollee. He doesn’t want you to know that he sees you so you won’t be prepared for him to attack.”
    She moved closer to stand where her side rubbed against his long robes. “Who was he hunting?”
    “Me.”
    A gasp exploded from her mouth. “You?”
    Fenworth chuckled again. Hollee didn’t think the situation was funny.
    “Don’t worry,” said Fenworth. “He was curious. He hunts for two reasons—to fill his stomach or his purse.”
    “Oh.” Hollee peered past the bentleaf tree.
    “We’ll go watch him.”
    “Why?”
    “For the same reason he watched us. To learn his ways. To gauge him as an adversary.”
    As he started forward, Hollee grabbed a fistful of Fenworth’s robe. “I’m really not all that interested.”
    “I shall hide us. He won’t see, hear, or smell us.”
    She screwed up her face. “I’m more worried about him touching and tasting us.”
    “He won’t.” Fenworth patted her on the head.
    Normally being patted on the head irritated Hollee, but his touch made her feel warm and safe.
    “You’re covered now,” he said and started to walk away.
    Hollee skipped and caught up with no trouble. “Covered?” She examined her arms and torso, and then with a puzzled frown she stuck out a leg to see if anything clung to it. “With what?”
    Fenworth waved his hand in the air. “With … whatever. I can’t remember what it’s called. It should be called the-cover-that-keeps-your-smell-noise-and-looks-to-yourself. That would be very accurate. But of course, it doesn’t work on me, so it would have to be the-cover-that-keeps-your-smell-noise-and-looks-to-yourself-and-to-your-wizard. That’s a lot to say when you can call it by what it is called if you can remember what that is.”
    “It’s like a shield, huh?” Hollee reached out all around her to see if she could feel it.
    Wizard Fenworth paused for a moment, cast her an appreciative look, and went on. “You’re a clever kimen, as well as cheerful. It is a shield. That’s the name I could not remember. It has another name in front of it. We’ll have to ask Librettowit when we get back to the camp. It is the so-and-so shield, named after the wizard who invented it.”
    They moved through the woods rapidly, not bothering to be sneaky at all. Hollee would have liked to practice being sneaky, but Fenworth said it was unnecessary and a waste of time.
    “Here we are,” Fenworth announced and sat on a boulder that gave them a good view of the valley. “And there he is.”
    Hollee settled on the rock beside the wizard. “I don’t see him.”
    Fenworth pointed. “There. It will be difficult because part of hiscraft is to blend into the scenery. He’s very still, and it looks to me like he expects to have venison for dinner.”
    Hollee spotted the herd of deer immediately. “Oh, they’re beautiful.”
    “They look good in a different way to the hunter.”
    “Oh, yuck. I don’t think I want to watch.”
    “Do you see him now?” Fenworth pointed again. “Between the stand of rock pines and the stream, near that drab outcropping of flint?”
    “Yes, I see him. He’s intent on those deer. His leg muscles are rippling. Will he pounce like a cat?”
    “You
do
have very good eyesight.”
    Hollee smiled. “We all do.”
    At that moment, The Grawl sprang forward. He covered half the distance between himself and his prey before the herd even knew of the threat. They scattered, but one half-grown fawn didn’t move quickly enough. Its neck was broken before it toppled at the feet of The Grawl. The hunter hoisted the body in the air, turned around