Chapter 19
IT WAS GETTING LATE, and people were still talking.
Nellie’s eyes were gritty with fatigue. She was looking for a way to leave the gathering, because she had the information she needed, she wanted to avoid making any further agreement about giving the dragon to these people, and she had quite a long way to go back to the barn. The talk about the fire dog prowling the streets had made her nervous. She wasn’t normally prone to seeing things in the dark, but she had seen this creature before and knew it wasn’t a trick of her mind.
In the middle of a discussion, one man in the group got up. He walked to the window and looked out. Because they were on a level below the street, the window existed for little more than letting in light from a tiny sunken courtyard.
He then went to t
