Free Siege At The Settlements (Book 6) by Craig Halloran

make them pay for this.
    But the dwarves were all looking at him. Waiting. Gorlee was scratching his hairy chin when it hit him. They weren’t looking to Gorlee. They were looking to Nath Dragon.
    “We keep tracking them, of course,” Gorlee said.
    The biggest dwarf led the way. His armor was covered down to his chest in brown hair and beard. His dark green eyes were penetrating and inquisitive. He went by Devliik because his dwarven name was too long.
    Gorlee followed along quietly in the middle. His thoughts were heavy and his instincts wary. This was the first time he’d taken on a mission without Brenwar, Ben or Bayzog, and though he’d been around a long time, the chameleons weren’t the most responsible people. Their awesome shape-shifting power pretty much allowed them to do whatever they wanted while easily avoiding harm to themselves. He shivered. The recent encounter with the six-legged bluu dragons had shaken him up. His ribs were still plenty sore from it.
    They wound through the mountains at a brisk pace, with Devliik stopping to dig at the ground from time to time. All the dwarves were silent and hard-faced, their determined debating character dulled by the tragedy that had happened to their brethren at the settlement. Gorlee felt for them. He wasn’t used to losing family. None of his kind had ever died and he’d never spent enough time with the mortal races to get attached to any before. The chameleons were very reclusive. Small in number. For the most part, they only mixed with the other races to humor themselves.
    Gorlee stretched out his fingers in front of him. The black scales and claws were each a unique color that he’d only been able to master by being close to Nath. He wondered what that felt like, being a dragon, the most powerful creature in all the world. Much like Bayzog, it was his fascination with dragonkind that drew him out into the world. That and the danger that had grown after Nath Dragon disappeared. He clenched his fist. He could feel power in it.
    I wonder how much power Nath feels. It must be great, but miserable that he can’t unleash it.
    He’d seen the struggle in Nath’s face. The fire that built and had to be extinguished. Having to pull back against mortal enemies that did not draw such a line seemed an impossible feat. Yet Nath did it and he handled it well at that.
    If I had that kind of power … oh mercy . He shook his head. I don’t think I could do that. There would be rows of corpses in my tracks. He looked at his hands again. How does he do it!
    “How does who do what?” Pilpin said.
    “What do you mean?” Gorlee said. “Did you hear me thinking?”
    “No, but I looked over and your lips were moving.”
    “Interesting.”
    “I see people doing that a lot. Talking to themselves.”
    “I wasn’t talking to myself,” Gorlee corrected, “I was thinking to myself.”
    “Aye, but your lips were moving.”
    Gorlee eyed Pilpin. “That’s a special gift you have, reading lips.”
    Pilpin eyed him back. “Not as special as yours.” Pilpin adjusted himself in the saddle. “So how does who do what?”
    “I just don’t understand how Nath contains all that power he has. With that kind of power, I’d decimate the Clerics every time I crossed them. Wouldn’t you?”
    “I do anyway,” Pilpin said, patting the weapons hooked over his saddle. And then nodding, he said, “Nath wasting his power seems stupid to me, too.”
    They kept riding. Gorlee’s forehead was creased between his brows. Taking Nath’s form seemed different than taking other forms, somehow. It made him want to be more responsible. Careful. Normally, he was carefree and easy, but inside him things had changed.
    I’m not sure if I can get used to this or not.
    He felt like he had to help the dwarves find their tormentors. He wanted to help them. Prevent any more harm from coming to them. And being curious, he wanted to see face to face what such an evil person would be like. One who