First draft. Please don't copy or re-post.
Mary is aboard a steamboat. In this world, people use dragonets to create steampower. This snippet is related to the one from last Friday.
______________________________
A rowboat carrying three people angled toward the Celeste from the east bank. As she watched, someone held up a sign and
started shouting. She could make out the
words, Save the Dragons!, on the
sign. Mary held her breath as the
steamboat rolled on, causing the small rowboat to tip dangerously in its wash.
“Fools,” she heard behind her, and turned to see
Court standing nearby. He glanced at
her. “Do they think the dragonets stand
a chance in the wild, what with the direhawks from England taking over the
wilderness cliffs where they breed?
There are fewer wild dragonets every year. Letting Thia and Thalia go would be like
giving them a death sentence.”
“Thia and Thalia?”
Court gave her a speculative look, then said,
“Would you like to see?”
He led her down to the hurricane deck and
amidships, where he opened a door into the interior of the steamship. The engine room was noisy, and they had to
nearly shout at each other to be heard.
The big walking beam engine dominated the space. He led her to a quieter room, with glass
observation windows.
Mary looked through the
windows and saw another man with a wizard’s mark standing in a room that
contained two large boilers. Two
dragonets the size of small dogs zipped around the space and danced around the
man like an orchestrated dance troupe.
No comments:
Post a Comment