Sorcha's Heart Read Online Free Page B

thought.
    “ And what have you learned?” asked the Rex. “You alone, among the inhabitants of this earth, have seen the conflict from both sides. What have you learned?”
    “ Well, I’ve learned that things are not as simple as either side thinks they are,” she said. “Dragons are certainly not the unreasoning monsters that human children are taught to fear, but neither are most humans callous butchers.”
    The aerie thrummed with agitated exhalations, but the Rex willed his dragons to silence. He nodded his great head at Sorcha. “Continue.”
    “ If both species are to survive,” she said, concentrating on the Rex, “then we must communicate. I realize, now, that human speech is a...” she hesitated, searching for the proper word, “challenge. I didn’t understand these things before my transformation. Humans think dragons are unconcerned, unwilling to compromise. Some humans think you are little more than unintelligent beasts.”
    A barrage of indignant comments erupted from the flight at this affront to dragon wisdom, and Sorcha thanked the gods and goddesses that dragons couldn’t blush as she picked out isolated grumblings about the many failings of the human race. She pulled back from the link, deciding she’d said enough for one day, and observed until the mutterings died away.
    “ Your thoughts are quiet, young wizard, yet I believe you have more to share.”
    A trace of a dare colored the Rex’s tone. She cast Caedyrn a sidelong glance, looked around at the rest of the dragons crowded around them, and decided she might as well finish what she’d started.
    “ Well, there is the matter of humanity’s flocks and herds.”
    Immediately, the angry comments began again, but this time the Rex quelled his flight. “Enough,” he growled. “We will hear what the Heart of Fire has sent this human to tell us.” Mention of the legendary stone, which now dangled from Sorcha’s neck, silenced the dragons, and placed their focus firmly back on her. She thought of her mother’s battle to convince King Leofric not to antagonize the dragons, and considered her phrasing carefully.
    “ Dragon depredation has brought many villages to the edge of starvation. Yet humanity’s wanton destruction of habitat cost dragons their natural prey. These issues divide us, yet I’m sure they can be solved with time and diplomacy.”
    “ And who will be our diplomats?” asked the Rex. “Who will go among the humans to plead our cause? How are we to communicate with creatures who think us monsters and whose speech is painful to our ears?”
    The mind-link went silent, and so did the aerie. Not a thought sang through the flight’s group mind; not a sound thrummed through the ice cave’s hollow core.
    Sorcha held her breath, and then expelled a fiery blip as she declared her conviction to the flight. “I will go, Sire. Perhaps the Heart of Fire transformed me for this purpose.”
    Again the flight clamored for the Rex’s attention.
    “ You cannot trust her, Sire. She’s a human at heart!”
    “ No. She knows nothing of our kind.”
    “ And if I accompany her?” Caedyrn boomed into the link. “The Heart of Fire called me to witness her transformation. I will guard her when she returns to the humans. They will be hard pressed to recognize her now.”
    The Rex closed his eyes and breathed a benediction into the flight’s mind. “Peace, my friends. We have no need to make such a weighty decision now. Sorcha has much to learn about being a dragon, and we must learn from her alien thoughts.”
    He turned his fiery eyes on Sorcha and spoke directly to her, though he eschewed a private link. “You are in no danger from us, little wizard. I guarantee your safety.” He swept his head around to view his flight, “and we are in no danger from one untrained dragon, though she be a wizard in human form. It is my judgment that we live together in peace while Sorcha learns our ways. An envoy to the humans will wait until