“That’s Drake,” Grant
said. “He’s going to the columns.”
“Why’s he in Bessie’s
mouth?”
“You want to trade
places with him?” Grant said. “There’s only room for two in the saddle.”
“I’m good here,” Aria
said. “It’s not like I’m in your old saddle anyways. I’m sitting on this here
itchy blanket.”
“It’s a sight better
than Bessie’s teeth. Besides, Drake’s not a nice man. We’re safer up here
whilst he’s down there.” Grant leaned forward to get a clear view of Drake,
and, loud enough for Drake to hear, said, “Besides, where he is, if he causes
any problem, all Bessie gots to do is clamp down a might, and problem solved.”
“Remind me not to be
no problem to you,” Aria said.
Grant sat up and leaned back against Aria’s chest so her head
was right next to his. “It’s a little late for that, don’t you think?” And
kissed her on the cheek.
The kiss befuddled Aria. She tingled, and became intensely
aware of her body. She felt the dragon’s muscles ripple under its skin. The
air growing colder as they glided higher and began drifting through wispy
clouds. She felt Bessie’s spine gently undulate as its head bobbed with each
flap of her wings. Aria’s dress bunched at her thighs, flapping in the wind.
Tiny hairs on the back edges of the dragon’s scales tickled Aria’s bare legs
where they rested against Bessie’s flanks each time the dragon thrust forward.
Aria shivered.
“Down a bit, Bessie,”
Grant said. Bessie’s head dipped down and the rest of her followed in slow
rhythm.
Under Aria, Bessie’s spine arched
downward - vertebrae by vertebrae - to follow after her dipped head. “Unhh,”
Aria cried out.
“What’s wrong?” Grant
said.
Aria blushed, and buried her face in Grant’s jacket. She sucked
in a deep intoxicating breath rich with leather and Grant. “Nothing,” she said
trembling. “Nothing at all.”
Half the sun had already dipped below the horizon and the
air began to take on an evening chill when, “Look,” Grant said. “It’s the Columns.”
In the distance Aria could see white pillars rising out of
the deepening shadows of the desert floor. Dusk had robbed the distant city of
other colors, but the whiteness of the pillars seemed to glow in the dimming
light. “It’s
beautiful,” Aria said. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
“Maybe from here,”
Grant said. “Up close, it’s not the kind of place I want to spend any more time
than I have to.”
“How can you say
that?” Aria said. “Why, if I could live there, I don’t think I would ever want
to leave. Look at those.” She pointed to smaller white pillars that formed
a circle around a dome. “How can you say you don’t want to stick around that?”
Grant sighed.
“It
ain’t the architecture I object to, it’s the people.” He nudged Bessie down.
Aria shivered again, and bit her lip, as the dragon dipped.
“Those what ain’t
crooks in the Columns, is worse.”
(Uh oh. Are you
really confused as to why Grant and Aria are riding atop a dragon? If so, and you wandered into Episode 11 at random, you
might want to start out at Episode
1 of Tongue Tied)
