Dragonforge

head.

'Not hers,' she said, tossing aside the tongue. 'Hand me the next one. She's going to be in for a surprise when she wakes up.'

Chapter Five:

Hex

Pet retrieved his pants as Jandra stuffed the third tongue into the girl's mouth. His clothes lay near the dagger he'd swatted away from the girl he'd thrown in the pool. After he pulled on his pants and boots, he carefully picked up the dagger. The blade was full of pores, black venom oozing slowly from them. He shook the weapon gently and heard fluid sloshing in the handle. Up close, the poison stank, an odor somewhere between sour milk and boiled cabbage.

He jumped as Androkom dropped down beside him, an empty flower pot clasped in his fore-claws.

'Here,' Androkom said, motioning for Pet to put the weapon inside. 'When Graxen returns, I'll send the blade to the College of Spires. They'll want to catalogue this toxin.'

Pet dropped the blade into the pot. He looked back over Androkom's scaly blue shoulder to the newly arrived sun-dragon. Most humans, no doubt, thought all sun-dragons looked alike. All were enormous, with forty-foot wing spans and jaws nearly a yard in length. All were red as a ripe chili pepper, with green eyes and black claws. Pet, however, had lived among sky-dragons long enough that he could spot their individual differences. What had struck him as most unusual about this new dragon were the features he shared with Shandrazel. The dragon was older, a bit heavier, but the shape of his face, the normally unique bumps and ridges along the snout between the eyes and the nostrils, were a close match with Shandrazel.

Leaning closer to Androkom, he asked quietly, 'Who's that?'

The new sun-dragon proved to have excellent hearing. He turned his head toward Pet and said, 'I am Hexilizan, eldest son of Albekizan.'

'Oh,' said Pet. 'I didn't know Shandrazel had any surviving brothers.'

'Hex is the only one alive I know of. The fate of two remain mysteries,' said Shandrazel.

'I was bested in the contest of succession nearly thirty years past and have dwelled ever since upon the Isle of Horses in service to the biologian Dacorn,' Hex said. 'He met an untimely death not long ago, and I've been occupied settling his affairs. I've returned due to rumors I've heard of my brother's plans.' Hex turned toward Shandrazel. 'Is it true you intend to overthrow centuries of tradition and implement radical new ideas of governance?'

'We live in dark times if concepts such as justice can be defined as radical,' said Shandrazel.

'Dark times indeed,' said Hex. 'As long as we speak of justice, I must ask about the second rumor: Father died at the hands of Bitterwood?'

'His true assailant is unknown,' said Shandrazel. 'Bitterwood was in the Free City at the time, fighting for his life.'

It took Pet half a second to remember they were talking about him. He cleared his throat. He searched for words that a fabled dragon-slayer might say about the king's death, something that would be defiant without being provocative. 'Albekizan was responsible for the deaths of thousands. It was only a matter of time before someone sought revenge.'

'Agreed,' said Hexilizan. 'Father was a tyrant. I do not mourn his passing.'

'Hex!' said Shandrazel.

'Shan,' Hexilizan said, coolly. 'After my defeat, father treated me as if I were dead. I've spent decades in servitude due to the old ways. If you intend to overthrow all the laws and traditions that have shackled this kingdom for centuries, I applaud you.'

'I do not wish to overthrow all laws,' Shandrazel said. 'Indeed, I want to launch an age where laws are respected as upholding the common good. I intend to draft new laws that treat all sentient beings equally.'

'Do as you wish,' said Hex. 'But I have pondered the matter for many years and now believe all laws to be fundamentally unjust. Laws exist only for the benefit of the strong; they unfailingly justify the oppression of the weak.'

'I vigorously disagree,' said Shandrazel. 'Laws can serve to protect the weak from the strong.'

'Under your new government, if a sun-dragon were to murder an earth-dragon, how would your law respond?'

'The sun-dragon would be captured, of course, and punished.'

Hex looked smug he listened to his brother. He said, 'Don't you see the act of capturing and punishing another being is an act of force? It's impossible to enforce laws without violence. Some authority always wields the power to arrest, to imprison, and to execute. The sole purpose of law is to provide a moral gloss for the use of violence to bend others to the will of a higher authority.'

Shandrazel furrowed his brow, looking uncertain how to respond to this.

Androkom diplomatically ended the argument by saying, 'Hexilizan, you've obviously given a great deal of thought to these matters. Perhaps you should participate in our summit; your ideas will no doubt lead to a more lively debate.'

Hex shook his head. 'I have been confined to the Isle of Horses for too long. Now that I'm free, I wish to travel and see the world. The thought of sitting for weeks at some summit debating governance holds no appeal. You now know my full opinion on the matter. All law is unjust.'

'Without law, there would be anarchy,' said Shandrazel.

'Anarchy isn't such a bad thing. There is no law in the forest. There is no law in the sea. Let the world run wild,' said Hex. 'There is no injustice in nature.'

Pet cared little about the philosophical debate, but Hex's scorn for the law suddenly placed a dangerous idea in his head. He walked back toward the two sun-dragons.

'Hexilizan-' he started.

'Call me Hex,' the sun-dragon said. 'It's what my friends call me.'

'Okay, Hex,' Pet continued. 'Isn't it a little suspicious that you show up talking about the unfairness of imprisonment on the very night that Blasphet escapes? Aren't you his nephew?'

'Yes,' said Hex, swinging his head down to Pet's level. He brought his jaws to within inches of Pet's face, then said, calmly, 'So's Shan. What's your point?'

Pet's familiarity with sun-dragons meant he wasn't easily intimidated by them. Still, with Hex's carrion-scented breath washing over him, Pet somehow lost his train of thought.

'My brother had nothing to do with Blasphet's escape,' Shandrazel said. His tone made it clear there would be no further speculation on this point.

Pet nodded. 'Right.'

'Of course, it would be the fifth tongue,' Jandra muttered. All eyes turned to her as she stood, stretching her back. Jandra, standing next to the captive, said, 'I'm going to wake her. I guess we should tie her up first?'

'I'm pretty good at that,' Pet said, glad that another of his talents would be of use.

Jandra crouched next to Pet as he wrapped the slumbering assassin in the oversized towel. She reached out to touch the white nappy fabric, wiping away the blood and saliva that coated her fingers after her molecular surgery on the girl's tongue. She was startled by the texture of the cloth, the way the ridges of her fingers ran against the weave. Suddenly, she was intensely aware of her own skin, of the beads of sweat that coated her face and neck, and of the way her clothes clung to her body. She felt every tiny bump in the bricks beneath her knees. Her every nerve cell became a hundred times more sensitive. What was the helmet doing to her now? She closed her eyes, trying to regain control. Now it felt as if her skin was one giant eye that could see in all directions, but instead of perceiving light it sensed heat. The two sun-dragons at her back glowed like furnaces. Pet emitted a torch-like warmth as his muscular body rolled the assassin in the towel, mummifying her. Jandra opened her eyes as he ripped the loose end of the towel into long strips, then used those strips to tie the assassin in a tidy bundle.

As he worked, she stared at his bare torso. The well-defined muscles in his shoulders clenched and coiled as he worked. Her eyes wandered down his long arms to his perfectly formed hands, the fingers so graceful yet powerful in their movements.

'Done,' said Pet. 'She won't get out of that.'

'You're Vendevorex's apprentice aren't you?' Hex asked. 'Jandra, I believe?'