dawn, when you mean midmorning.'
It was Led's turn to scowl. 'Let me tell you the three rules this party has,' he said evenly, employing great effort to con shy;trol his temper. His green eyes narrowed beneath thick, arched brows. 'First, you do what I say, when I say it, with no questions. Second, if the cargo I'm paying you to guard is threatened, you will fight like a damned hellhound and won't stop until I say it's over. Third, if there is a battle, nobody searches bodies or gathers loot until the enemy is dead or run off.'
Onyx hooked her thumbs under her rope belt noncha shy;lantly. 'So whaf s this precious cargo I'll be guarding?'
Led tensed. 'You're violating rule number one.'
Frowning, Khisanth decided on a new tactic. 'What do I get in exchange for following your rules?'
'A share of the loot,' Led replied.
'One share? And how many shares do you take?'
Led snorted. 'More than one. Don't be obtuse.'
Onyx lifted one eyebrow. 'Do you really think one share is a fair split for a mage? The same share as one of those mind shy;less ogres?' Onyx cast an artless, wide-eyed look at the throng milling in the slush behind Led.
The brown-haired man fidgeted imperceptibly. 'No. More than that.'
'How much more?'
'Whatever I decide.' Led twirled one end of his red-brown mustache. 'I'm the boss.'
Onyx shrugged under her purple tunic. Turning on her heel, she took a step toward the inn's front door. 'Not my boss. Find yourself another mage-if you can.'
Led considered her as she stomped across the porch. She was more like a man than any woman he knew. She knew magic, too, and Led had never met a mage in all his travels, let alone one willing to do mercenary work. He let out his breath, sending tendrils of white fog into the chill air.
'Tell you what, Onyx.'
The young woman stopped in her tracks, her back as straight as a pillar. She did not turn around.
'Give me a better demonstration of your, urn, skills,' he said softly. He eyed the villagers passing in the icy street. 'Then I'll reconsider your pay level.'
Onyx hesitated, considering how far she should take this tack. Her goal was to earn Led's trust, become a member of his party. Perhaps she should just agree to whatever he said.
Led took note of her hesitation. 'Of course, if you can't cast spells, then you wouldn't be of much use to me….' He spat casually and turned to leave.
Onyx's reptilian-slitted pupils flared inside yellow irises. 'Now who's being ridiculous? I was merely scouting out a secluded spot for a demonstration.' She looked at him archly. 'Unless, of course, you'd like me to throw a fireball down the street?'
'Lower your voice and come with me, then.' Leaving the ogres and Toba behind, Led took Onyx by the elbow and pro shy;pelled her toward the mews between the inn and a wattle-and-daub house.
Onyx ducked through the door of the deserted building and jerked her arm away. Flexing the tension from her shoul shy;ders, she concentrated on controlling her breathing. She'd been bluffing about a fireball, which was still beyond her ability. She closed her eyes and focused on a simple spell, basic to the dark nature of a black dragon.
'Hey, whaf s going on?' cried Led, his voice cracking with surprise.
Onyx opened her eyes. She and Led stood in absolute blackness. Her dragon sight allowed her to see Led in the dark. He was groping about wildly, unable to determine up from down. Led wavered like a stalk of overripe corn in a summer wind, then crashed to the ground.
With a wave of her hand, Onyx dissipated the spell. As the darkness slipped away like mist, leaving sunlight, she extended a hand to Led. He slapped it away.
'I was talking about a demonstration of your fighting skills/' he said. 'Don't ever use your magic on me again.' Flustered, he twisted his clothing back into place under his armor. 'You'll get the same shares as Toba until you prove yourself in battle.' He crossed his arms over his chest. 'Take it or leave it.'
'I'll take it,' Onyx said, rocking back on her heels.
Led jerked his head to indicate she should lead the way back to Toba and the ogres. It was not just bruised pride that made the human wonder at the wisdom of taking into his party someone more powerful than he. Led was a man to whom power was everything. Still, he reasoned, stealing it was far less taxing than earning it.
A short time later, Onyx stood in flesh-pinching brigan-dine armor, waiting for a stable hand to bring in another horse for Led's approval.
Led had chosen this 'lightweight' armor from his per shy;sonal collection because, 'It's the best quality suit the jack shy;anapes who calls himself the village armorer can alter to your size without ruining it.'
The armor was composed of a layer of small metal plates riveted to an undercoat of soft leather. Over that was a man shy;tle of noise-muffling quilted cotton batting. If the armor had not been so uncomfortable, Onyx would have been amused by the irony of protecting her human flesh with a parody of her dragon form. At least it kept her warmer than her tunic and leather jacket had.
Following a few nips and tucks at the armorer's, Led selected a short sword from his weapons cache and buckled it around Onyx's waist. 'Even if you never use it, just wear shy;ing it will make people think twice,' he'd said.
Now Onyx stood girded as a warrior, watching as the sta-bleboy led a black mare to her and held out the reins. Onyx took the lengths of leather awkwardly.
Nodding with satisfaction, Led patted the mare's shiny flanks and said to the boy, 'Tell your master we'll take her.' Counting coin from his pouch, Led dropped ten into the boy's hand. 'Not one piece more.' The boy scampered off between piles of dirty yellow hay.
'I'll take her price out of your first pay,' Led told Onyx. Adjusting a strap, he laced his fingers and held them out to boost her onto the back of the horse. 'She's a nice piece of flesh. Her coloring suits you, too.' Onyx placed her left foot in Led's hands and swung her right leg over the horse with great difficulty, unused to maneuvering in the cumbersome armor.
Led watched her clumsy handling of the beast with sur shy;prise. 'Surely you haven't traveled entirely by foot all your life?'
'Not by foot, no,' Onyx said. The mysterious glint in her eye suggested her magical abilities. Led looked properly impressed.
'I've got to check on a special order the cartwright's been promising me,' he told Onyx after watching her first awk shy;ward attempts to ride the mare. Promising to return in short order, he left her to her own struggles in the paddock.
Onyx was relieved to see the backside of his long-legged stride so she could practice without his green eyes on her. Used to being a mount of a sort to the lightweight nyphids, she did not like the feeling of sitting on a horse one bit. The ride was jarring, not smooth like flying. More disturbing to Onyx, though, was the idea of turning control of herself over to an animal not half as intelligent as she.
Slowly, she learned to control the animal instead of allow shy;ing it to control her. Her shoulders ached from the effort to direct the animal, as well as the weight of the armor. The sun had risen past the midpoint, and the mare beneath her had churned the paddock to ankle-deep mud by the time a now-helmeted Led returned on horseback himself.
To her surprise, he was accompanied by his entire band of ogres and flanked by Toba, who sat upon the buckboard of a small, windowless box of a wagon, reins in hand. Khisanth sprang from the mare's back and led the creature by the leather bridle through the paddock gate.
'Yoshiki Toba, Onyx,' Led said simply by way of intro shy;duction. 'She's our new hand.' Led's lieutenant eyed her willowy, muscular form skeptically, but said not a word. Obviously adding a woman warrior to their ranks was noth shy;ing new. Onyx wondered at Led's reasons for not telling Toba of her spellcasting abilities, but she knew she had already strained Led's tolerance for questions.
'You're doing better on the horse,' Led observed. 'Just in time, too.'
'We're leaving now?' Onyx glanced from the last ranks of ogres up to the small wagon behind Toba.
Led pushed back the helmet he'd donned since she'd last seen him. 'Any problem with that?'
'No!' she said quickly, her mind racing. How will I tell Kadagan and Joad I'm leaving? I don't even know
