by Chris Bunch
The dragon curled in agony, and rolled toward the mountainous landscape below.
Kimana Balf's dragon was locked in a face-to-face fight with a red and black, but Hal had no time to watch as a pair of dragons attacked him.
Farren Mariah took one off his back, and Hal fired at the second, wounding it.
There was another wild dragon plunging in from the side, slashing at Hal.
Sweetie ripped at it with a wing claw, and it dove. But there was another red and black tearing at his tail.
Sweetie turned on himself, almost throwing Hal, as a second dragon came in.
Kailas barely sensed Limingo shouting something, then the wild dragon had his mount by the leg, tearing at him.
Limingo screamed, and fell free, spinning down and down to his death.
Kailas shot the second dragon between the shoulder blades, and he contorted and fell away. The first had a death grip on Sweetie, tearing at him.
Hal's dragon clawed at his opponent, paying no attention to his rider's shouts to 'ware his height.
It was too late.
Sweetie hit the ground hard, throwing Hal over his neck, into a thicket.
Hal didn't feel the prickers, but tore himself out of the brush, killed the first dragon, and worked his crossbow's slide.
But Sweetie was writhing in his death throes, ichor spraying, and guts bulging.
Kailas didn't notice. He was transfixed by the red and black's death… if that was what it was. Again, as he'd seen once before, and thought it an illusion, the dragon flared into flame, and then there was nothing, not even smoke or ash.
Hal was gaping, then he heard a scream, and saw two red and blacks bearing down on him, exposed on the hillside.
He shot one, ducked behind a boulder as the other struck, almost crashed, but pulled up, turning for another run.
Kimana was there, her dragon striking at the wild dragon's neck, just behind the head. Hal heard the beast's neck snap, and then there was a pair of wild dragons on them.
One went for Kimana's dragon's throat, the second ripped at its wing.
The wing tore, and the dragon spun down.
The beast hit the ground, and Kimana sagged off the dying monster, lying against it, momentarily stunned.
Hal ran toward her, pulled her away from her dragon's body.
Four red and blacks were attacking the hillside.
Farren Mariah and Aimard Quesney came from nowhere, and the four wild dragons veered away.
Kimana was staggering up, recovering consciousness.
Hal pulled her pack from its ties on her dragon's carapace, and a quiver of bolts, threw them to the woman.
She took them numbly, then seemed to come to, saw her crossbow lying nearby, stumbled toward it.
Hal dashed to his own dragon's body, secured pack and quiver.
The red and blacks were coming back.
He sent a bolt in front of them.
These wild dragons evidently weren't used to bows, and climbed away.
Quesney was coming back, Mariah behind him, trying for a pickup. But there wasn't time, wasn't room, and Kailas was shouting them away as other wild dragons bore down on him.
He shouldered into his pack, helped Kimana on with hers.
Aimard and Farren dove down, close along the mountain's cliff, too close for the red and blacks to get them, but Hal had no more time to worry about them.
He shoved Kimana toward the shelter of a nest of boulders. A dragon came in low, snapped at him, missed.
They were momentarily safe.
Hal saw a gap in the rocks ahead, went for it as the wild dragons screamed their rage, circling overhead, looking for the chance to attack.
Then the two fliers were in the open, running downslope toward a vertical face.
Kimana skidded to a halt at the edge, looked down, and shuddered.
Hal did the same, saw treetops forty or so feet below.
"Jump!" he shouted, as a dragon, claws extended, came at them.
She hesitated, obeyed, plummeting down.
Hal went after her.
They smashed into the trees below, crashed through, branches pulling at them.
Somehow neither of them was more than scratched, nor did they lose pack or weapons. They thudded to a halt no more than ten feet above the ground and clambered out of the saving trees, felt solid ground under their feet.
Hal couldn't see the wild dragons above him, through the tree cover, but heard them shrieking rage and hatred.
He pointed at a brushy draw that led on down toward a valley floor, and the pair ran for it.
Kailas was still breathing hard two hours later, as the sun fell.
He and Kimana had found shelter of a sort in a large grove of thorn trees.
The wild dragons had followed them almost to the end, finally losing them in a narrow ravine.
But they continued flying overhead, in ever-widening circles, until dusk.
Finally, Hal's breathing slowed.
Kimana didn't seem, other than her various scrapes, to be out of sorts at all.
"I think," she said drily, "we may have run into a different sort of dragon."
Hal managed a rather feeble smile.
"You noticed."
"I noticed. I always tried to keep track of where the Roche I killed fell. It kept my squadron commander quiet."
"Different sort," Hal said. "If they're even dragons."
"What else could they be?"
"I don't know," Kailas said. "Maybe magical apparitions, created by their masters?"
"Damned powerful magicians, if they can do that. What's for dinner?"
Without waiting for an answer, she moved her pack in front of her, dug into it.
"Naturally, not thinking I was ever going to need anything in this, and that we'd be back at the ships in a day or two, I didn't exactly pack delicacies.
"How about some nice dried vegetable soup?"
"How about," Hal said, "some jerked beef. I'd just as soon not light a fire."
Kimana considered.
"The bastards do fly at night," she said. "And they surely could see a fire, unless we found some sort of cave or something."
"I'm worried that they could sense a fire," Hal said. "Without seeing it."
"You're building these creatures up as something scary."
"They are scary," Hal said. "And the only reason I lived through the war was because I always took my enemy seriously."
He thought about his words, grinned wryly.
"I think that was as pompous as it sounded."
Kimana managed a smile, reached out, patted his cheek.
"That's all right. The Dragonmaster is permitted to sound toplofty."
Her hand stayed on his face for just an instant, then withdrew.
"By the way. I don't think I've thanked you for saving me."
"Or you for trying to save me," Hal said. "In spite of orders."
Kimana shrugged.
"I suspect I'm being punished. I never should have rigged the lottery in the first place."
"You did what?"
"Shuffled those bits of paper until I felt the inky one. I always was good with my fingers."
Hal goggled in surprise, couldn't find anything to say.
Kimana chewed jerky, swallowed. "Speaking of which, we'll have to hurry to make the coast before the ships leave. Twenty-four days is all we have left.
"I'm in no mood to play First Woman of the World around here."
Hal took a deep breath.
"Less than that, actually. Because I'm going to find that sorcerers' base first."
Kimana looked at him through the growing dark.
"You're mad."
"I'm mad," Kailas agreed. "But that's what we set out to do."
"I didn't," Balf said. "Those weren't my orders… and I never volunteer. Too easy a way to get killed."
"Which is why you've got a couple of choices," Kailas said. "We'll find you a cave, and you stay with most of the provi
sions. Give me three days, and if I'm not back, you strike for the coast.
"Or you can do that right now."
Kimana thought about it.
"I don't like the idea of sitting on my ass and waiting," she said. "And I surely don't like chancing those prairies by myself. Those pussycats didn't look friendly… and I don't even want to think about what whatever was shaking the bushes likes for breakfast."
She sighed.
"I always hated heroes," she said. "All the bastards were good for was getting themselves… and anybody around them… killed."
Hal saw her logic.
"But I can't just turn back. Not this close."
"No," Kimana said, and there was a hint of anger in her voice. "You, being you, can't. And so you're going to get me killed, too."
Without waiting for an answer, she took a blanket from her pack, and wrapped herself in it.
"I guess we'd better get some sleep," she said. "We'll need an early start, and I don't see any point in keeping a watch. Everything we've seen so far could eat us without a fight.
"Good night."
She lay down, and gave every appearance of instantly going to sleep.
Hal tried to think of something to say, couldn't find anything logical, rolled in his own blanket.
The next day, they moved out, cautiously, heading toward the peak behind which the fliers had last seen the six dragons disappearing.
There were red and blacks about, snooping like dogs that had lost the scent but knew their prey was still nearby.
But the pair weren't seen.
At midday, a gold-colored, unridden dragon flew toward them, keeping low, head snaking back and forth, watchful for enemies.
Its caution didn't do any good.
Three red and blacks came from behind a bluff, and savaged the other dragon out of the sky.
They kept walking.
Kimana risked a bolt, and killed a rabbit-looking animal, skinning and dressing it as they moved.
They moved into a near-trot when the terrain let them, always thinking of the sands running, ever faster, through the glass.
Hal stopped before dusk, built a small fire from dry brush he'd collected. They cooked the rabbit hastily, ate it half-raw, went on.
That night, they found another thicket, crept into its midst, and slept, continuing their trek as soon as there was the slightest hint of light in the sky.
The next day, they reached the peak they'd targeted, and found a pass below it.
They started through, but there were dragons overhead, and the land was too open.
A huge bear headed their way, and they pulled aside, into a rocky niche, crossbows ready.
The bear, almost twice the size of any Hal had seen, even in the north of Roche, snuffled at them curiously, evidently didn't much like the way they smelled, went about his business.
There was a creek running downslope, with a pool. Hal saw what looked acceptably like crayfish, snagged a dozen, and they ate well, boiling them in a small pot they carried with them.
There was an overhang large enough to shelter them.
Hal took water from his canteen, scrubbed his teeth carefully, and kissed Kimana good-night.
It seemed like a good idea.
She looked a bit surprised, then kissed him back.
That was the ninth day.
The next day brought one of the greatest surprises of Hal Kailas's life.
They found the city of magicians.
Hal hadn't been sure of what to expect. Certainly there would be great buildings, standing impossibly high. They would be made of strange materials, and would glitter with gold and gems.
The streets would be thronged with their creations—slaves, bedmates, monsters.
The two had followed the pass around the peak, and, at its highest point, found concealment and looked down on the valley they'd seen the dragons drop into.
Neither of them believed what they saw.
Or, rather, didn't see.
There were dozens, perhaps a hundred, red and black dragons milling about.
But there was no city.
There were great slabs of rock, piled haphazardly to make shelters, not even monolithic construction.
No more.
Hal used the glass he had in his pack, and here and there saw the carcasses of animals, in various stages of decay.
It looked like a bigger version of the dragons' plateau camp.
Nothing that looked human, or like a magician.
"I don't believe it," he muttered inanely.
They watched on.
Perhaps this was just another way station, and their rulers' grand city lay farther on, deeper in this continent.
But Hal saw no signs of dragons flying on east, or, indeed, making any flights other than short hops here and there, returning quickly.
They watched until almost dark, expecting something, finding nothing.
Then they went back the way they had come, to the overhang they'd slept under the night before.
"So where are the magicians?" Kimana wondered.
Hal could only shake his head.
"Maybe… invisible?" he hazarded. "Or maybe the dragons are controlled by demons?"
"Or maybe," Kimana said, "they are the demons."
"Huh?"
"Normal dragons don't explode like a bottle of brandy thrown into a fire," she said.
"I still can't believe it," Hal said. "We'll have to go back tomorrow and make sure."
"And how are we going to do that?"
"I don't know."
They went back up the pass, and found hiding places just at dawn.
The dragons below were waking, stirring about, eating from the scattered carcasses.
About fifty of them were gathered in a circle in an open area.
In the center of the circle was a fire, a ball of flame, as big or bigger than any of the dragons below. But there was no fuel to be seen, and the fire burnt with a steady, high flame.
Then, from the fire's center, a second ball of flame appeared, rolled forward, and began changing.
The flame died, and where it had been was a full-sized red and black dragon.
That was enough for Hal. He motioned Kimana back, and once again they went down the hill.
They stopped at their outcropping long enough to grab their packs, then kept going, back the way they'd come.
"What are they?" Kimana said, when they paused at a tiny spring.
"I still don't know. Demons, maybe, like you thought. That sounds good enough for me. Certainly they're not dragons. Maybe the demons came here from some other world, and thought dragons were the best form they could take to conquer, or at least to survive.
"Maybe, maybe not.
"But we're headed back for the ships.
"If these things are to be fought, it will have to be with magic. And we don't have much of that with us."
They went down the pass as quickly as they could move.
They had to take shelter regularly.
Red and blacks were flying overhead, again as if they'd scented the man and woman.
The next two days were spent clearing the mountains, and then, on the afternoon of the thirteenth day, they came down to the plains again.
Each night, before they slept, it seemed appropriate for them to kiss.
Their kisses were hardly chaste, but Hal never went further.
He thought he smelled too badly to be acceptable in anyone's bed, barely into his own.
Kimana didn't seem to want him to pursue his romance, and Kailas wondered if she felt equally unwashed.
On the fourteenth day since they'd left the ships, they moved carefully across the plains, wary of encountering one of the great snakes, if that was what they were.
Twice they hid under a tree as red and black dragons passed overhead, but the creatures paid no attention to what was below.
Hal was startled once, seeing what looked like an enormous fat man waddling across the plains.
They hid, and the being approached.
It wasn't a man, although it was almost as large as one, but a furry being with a ringed tail. The fur was black and gray, with a masklike configuration around its pointed snout.
The animal looked directly at the brush they were hiding in, sniffed, and kept on moving.
Kimana and Hal went on.
They came upon a stretch of burnt-over land, the ground bare, blackened, and still smoking.
Hal couldn't tell what had set the fire, decided it must have been lightning, although they'd seen no storm in their passage.
A confused antelope bumbled across their path, and Kimana shot it down.
Hal gutted it, and they carried the body until they found an idyllic place to camp—just at the edge of the fire zone, the ground hot, and trees a short distance away still smoldering.
Nearby was a bubbling spring, and next to it, a nest of rocks that appeared made for small furless creatures like themselves to hide in.
Hal skinned and butchered the antelope.
"Now, watch my woodsy lore," he told Kimana, and, clutching two haunches, trotted to the smoldering trees.
He used a great leaf to fan the fire to life, and cooked the meat until it was just done.
Hal came back to see no Kimana.
But he heard a splashing from the spring, and peered over a rock.
Kimana, naked, was splashing about in a pool surprisingly deep.
"Dinner," he announced, realizing his throat was a bit dry.
Kimana came out of the water, unashamed.
"I shall drip dry," she said. "Now, you have just enough time to scrape off the worst.
"Here. I found some soap in my pack."
She handed it to him.
"And I'll even wait for you."
Kailas hastily stripped off, and stepped into the cool water. He lathered, submerged, and used some of the soap on his filthy clothes, which were really beyond redemption.
He was about to wash again, when Kimana called:
"My civilized ways are fading. Get your behind out here."
Hal obeyed.
Not quite as brazen as Kimana, he pulled on his wet underbreeches, then went to where their packs lay.
"Sit," Kimana said, her mouth full. "Eat."
He obeyed, and thought no meal he'd eaten had ever tasted as good.
And Kimana, he realized as his stomach filled, was as lovely as any woman he'd ever seen.
