“I’m still trying to know more about who she was myself. I think there is something about her I can understand. She was trying to teach me about glyphs and help me understand what they were doing. She was also teaching me about spellslips—”
“Not spellslips,” Sashaak said. “About your true potential.”
“There it is again,” Laric said. “You referring to potential. That’s what other people have referred to it as, but at this point, I don’t even know what that means. What do you imply when you talk about potential?”
Sashaak shuffled, moving slightly until he positioned so that he looked at Laric. His eyes seemed to radiate heat, glowing with a bit of an orange light. He couldn’t tell if Sashaak was angry with him.
“Do dragons leave glyphs behind when they die?”
“Only the most powerful,” Sashaak said.
Laric frowned. “Why only the most powerful?”
“Because they are the ones who reach the greatest potential.”
“Tell me about that dragon.”
“The dragon was once powerful,” Sashaak said. “And that is all I can tell you.”
“Right,” Laric said. “The dragon was powerful, and of course it was, because it left behind glyphs, but I’m trying to understand more about what it was. I’m trying to understand more about my grandmother, who obviously knew this dragon, and might be able to help me understand more about my family so that I can know more about what it is that we’re doing in this town. Is there a reason that a dragon would leave the rest of its kind? Is there a reason that somebody would abandon everything they know and head to a place like this?”
“There is not,” Sashaak said.
“Then help me understand what it is that my grandmother might’ve done. Help me understand—”
“That is not my purpose.”
There had to be another approach to use on Sashaak, but even if there was, would it convince Sashaak to work with him and to teach him? It seemed to Laric that was the key here. There were things he needed to know, things he needed to understand, and without Malinar or another like him, how would Laric ever know what he needed to?
“Can you explain it to me as if there is something that would help me?”
“These glyphs are marks of power,” Sashaak said, “and they are bound to that potential.”
“Potential,” Laric said. “I don’t really understand what it means, even when others have talked about it, but I’m trying to. I was hoping that maybe you would be able to offer—”
“I am not here to provide you with answers that you should have had already.”
“Even though I came from a different place?” Laric asked.
“I am not here to provide you with answers,” the dragon repeated.
“I think Malinar would’ve wanted you to do that.”
Sashaak turned to him, and a bit more irritation flashed in his eyes. There was something about the way that Sashaak was looking at him, something about his expression, that seemed as if it were filled with the kind of rage that the dragon had not had before.
“Do not speak of what you do not understand,” Sashaak said.
“There is much I don’t understand.”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t know how much time we would have before the mages come.”
This seemed to cause Sashaak to pause, which Laric figured was a good thing.
“Talia was working with others who were trying to master what it would take to control the dragons,” Laric said. “If they passed information onward, the dragons are not going to be safe. They will come and claim you, or others. You can either help me understand, or you can run from them.”
“There is only so far that one can run,” Sashaak said.
And then strange images appeared in Laric’s mind. A flood of them. They seemed to come from Sashaak, as he had a sense of flight. He didn’t know if it was this dragon or another, but as he focused, he was able to see movement, as if Sashaak were flying with him but also flying ahead of something. And then Laric felt it. The sense was different than what he experienced when he felt the magic of a mage, but similar enough.
He felt another burst. Then another.
And he felt the fear coming from Sashaak.
Given the power of Sashaak—a vast absorption of heat and flame that Laric was aware of in this form—he would have expected that Sashaak would be able to withstand all of this. The dragon certainly had more power than the mages coming toward him.
Memory of the pain bloomed inside of Sashaak. Curiously, Laric thought that he recognized the spellcraft form that had been used to cause the pain. It was a strange variant, but it was tied to earth. He could feel the way the form had been created.
How?
It was gone before he could even react.
There was another attack, this time wind. It whipped at Sashaak, which caused the dragon to rage. Anger bubbled within Sashaak, hot and violent, and was shared with Laric.
Laric could almost feel something of the dragonborn.
Malinar?
