“Just a minute,” Lentor growled from behind his smokescreen. “No cheating. I don’t trust humans. It has to be something you’ve seen, right?”
“Ri…cough…right.” Adam could hardly speak for the smoke. He was squatting on the floor where there was a little air. “Listen…cough…carefully, Lentor.” And using the same pompous tone that the dragon had used, recited:
“I lived in water…cough…when I was young,
But…cough…grew up to fly faster than others…
Cough…I take my food on the wing…cough…
And though my life is short,
I bear on my back the long-lived one:
Wings on wings…cough…
And a crown to top it all. Cough, cough, cough.”
Adam finished with a long coughing fit.
“Say it again, say it again!” Lentor snapped. “And this time without coughing!”
“How can I,” Adam choked, “with all this smok
