But that was assuming they ever got a taste of normal again.
Nori patted him on the shoulder to get his attention. “Go head inside, warm up. Haru was supposed to be checking up on a good lead. I’ll round everyone up and we’ll discuss your options.”
Caelan might have thought Nori was crazy for attempting to get in the middle of that mess, but at the same time, he was the clan leader. If anyone knew how to break up a dragon wrestling match, it had to be him. Either way, Caelan was grateful to get out of the cold and the snow.
He located Rayne exactly where he thought he would, sitting in the cozy family parlor sipping a cup of hot tea and nibbling on some cookies. Yes, they were being well taken care of by Clan Omari, which made it all the more important to him that no one was hurt by the Takahashi, New Rosanthe, or even the gods.
“You could have stuck around and given him a better reason than simply saying no,” Caelan griped as he snagged a cookie off Rayne’s plate. Caelan shoved it into his mouth and worked on removing the various layers he was wearing. The temperatures had dipped sharply, but none of the dragons seemed to mind much, even when they were walking about in their human forms. Caelan was tempted to ask if they were always warm, but after his lesson in where dragon babies come from, he found he wasn’t ready for any more dragon information.
“I was horrified! My brain locked up. Retreat was the best option,” Rayne said. He curled both hands around the mug and held it close. “What if we were to fall?”
“I think the answer to that is, don’t fall,” Caelan replied, which earned him a dark look.
But beyond Rayne’s glares, he did appear much better. His color had improved and he was stronger, steadier than he had been days earlier. Caelan had attempted to heal him a couple of times more, but Rayne batted his hands away. Well, he had bad news for his advisor. He was definitely getting his way before they left the Omari compound. Rayne needed to be as strong as possible.
Noise echoed from multiple people talking and laughing at once, cutting off any further attempt by Rayne to argue with him. Adrian and Eno entered first, shedding coats and snow. Drayce came next, earning a shout from Caelan as he spotted the man’s left eye starting to swell shut.
“What happened?” Caelan shouted, pointing at the injured eye.
“What? Oh! That.” Drayce winced and waved behind him. “Haru’s big foot landed in my eye.”
Haru followed a step behind, rubbing his face. “Only because you nearly dislocated my jaw with your tail.”
Caelan dropped into a chair, rubbing his temples. “I can’t. I just can’t. My mother warned me about labor disputes and negotiating trade contracts with Ilon and supply chain concerns when the ice arrived sooner than expected to the east. There was never any mention about wrestling dragons and gods.”
Drayce dropped down on the arm of his chair and placed his cheek against the top of Caelan’s head. “Just think about how much more interesting your reign is already.”
Luckily, Nori entered carrying the rolled-up map they’d been using over the past several days. “Both those boys are fine. Quit torturing King Caelan,” Nori grumbled.
Rayne and Eno quickly swept aside the tea-and-cookie setting to make room for the map. It wasn’t incredibly detailed, but considering that they’d arrived with no map and no knowledge of how the dragons were spread about the island, it was already proving to be a huge help.
Over the past several days, Nori had sent out several dragons to the north and northwest in search of any signs of abandoned areas that were still getting lots of traffic, particularly by the Takahashi. After the first three days of turning up nothing, Caelan had been willing to throw in the towel. Each dragon sent out risked drawing the attention of the Takahashi and their allies. They had a better chance of going out with Caelan since he could at least sense the power of the godstone in some fashion. However, when that was suggested, the idea was immediately nixed by Nori and all of Caelan’s companions.
But last night on Haru’s way back to the clan, he’d caught sight of a crumbling structure that had the strong scent of dragons despite being abandoned. He’d done a little investigation but had planned to return today for a closer inspection.
“So,” Haru drawled. He stood over the map that his uncle had spread on the table, his hip kicked out a bit and his arms folded over his waist. “I think we might have a winner. I managed to get fairly close, but there were at least two guards that I spotted, and they were far more alert than I would have expected for two guys stuck alone in the middle of nowhere protecting a rundown set of buildings. I hung out for about three hours watching them. No one came or left. No one followed me home either.”