Free Dragonmaster by Karleen Bradford

Caulda’s menace when he had flown. But even the thought of trying to contact her took more energy than he could summon up. She it was who had reached him—he had no way of reaching her. Even if she did hear him, what would be the use? Deep in his mind was another, stronger reason why he would not try to reach Catryn. How could he admit to yet another failure?
    He finally gathered the will to look up. The sky was visible as a pale grey hole in the cliff, far above him. He could reach that if he flew. He looked at his hands and arms. Solid flesh. His body felt heavy and unwieldy. Blood had dried in clots on the gashes in his arms and shoulders. Every move he made sent shafts of pain coursing through him. He tried to imagine himself as light and feathered. Couldn’t. Couldn’t even remember the sensation of flying—what it had felt like. Perhaps he had imagined it? Perhaps he had slept during that interminable night after all, and had just dreamed that he had flown. He let his head sink down upon his knees and closed his eyes again.
    He did not know how long it was until he summoned the will to raise his head and look around him again. He looked up first, and could see blue sky now. A white cloud scudded past and a sunbeam struck downward but did not reach where he huddled. It seemed impossible that outside this cave the world was continuing on just as usual. As if nothing had happened.
    He did not want to look in Caulda’s direction, but finally forced his eyes away from that impossible crack in his world. In the gathering daylight, Caulda looked even more immense. Her great body was covered in scales that shimmered gold, then green.
    Like Hhana’s hair, Norl thought, then blocked the picture from his mind. He did not want to think of Hhana. There were too many questions there.
    The great creature’s eyes were closed. He could see nosign of breathing, other than a whiff of smoke that issued forth regularly from cavernous nostrils. A thick, viscous stream of saliva dripped from one side of her maw and the tips of two gleaming fangs were just visible. She lay immobile.
    Norl watched her, holding himself just as motionless. He feared that any movement on his part would wake her. Then he became aware of an insistent need. He had to piss. The thought of soiling himself where he lay was repulsive. He would have to get up and search for some other place. Carefully, he put his hands on the earth beneath him and pushed himself up.
    Pain from his burned finger and yet more pain from his wounds almost caused him to cry out, but he bit his lip and forced himself to remain silent. He paused for a moment and took deep breath, then, slowly, carefully, stood. He cast a furtive look at Caulda, but she had not stirred. He took one step, then another. He stumbled over a rock and froze. Caulda slept still. One step at a time, he crept away from the massive body and into the farthest reaches of the cave. He stumbled again! Another rock? No, in the increasing light he could see that what he had tripped over this time was the skeleton of a small animal. His gorge rose as he realized that he had stumbled into a cache of bones, skulls and skeletons. Mostly small, a few large enough to be wolves. Not all the bones were clean, shreds and chunks of rotting meat clung to many of them. Their stink rose around him to such a degree as to make the normal smellof Caulda’s cave pale in comparison. Norl fought down his nausea. Quickly, he relieved himself, then, as quietly as he could, made his way back to the place where he had slept.
    In the daylight, he could take stock of his surroundings. The bottom of the cave was not large but, as Norl looked at the walls of the cliff surrounding him, he could see that there were several deep-shadowed fissures. Could they possibly lead to tunnels within the mountain? If so, might one of them possibly lead up to the surface? Caulda certainly did not use them, she was far too big. She would circle up and fly out of