Squeezing the throbbing eye shut, Khisanth could see the desperate ogre scramble over broken weapons and dead bodies. If the creature reached the woods, she would be unable to follow.
Khisanth pulled back her thick lips and constricted her abdomen. The black dragon's gorge rose, and she felt the hot, salty acid race up her long throat, storm over her crimson tongue, and roar through her tightly drawn lips. As it hit the air, the steaming bile exploded into a shimmering mist and blasted across the clearing in a five-foot- wide stream of ruin. Plants withered and dissolved in the awful vapor. Droplets fell and sizzled upon the remains of bodies in the path of the blast, filling the air with a noxious green fog and the scent of burning blood.
In less than a heartbeat the full force of the blast slammed into the back of the fleeing ogre. The corrosive river splashed around the beast's shoulders and head, eating through its deerskin clothing and past to its flesh. The chieftain's death scream pierced the air for a second before fading into a stran shy;gled gurgle. Then the forsaken creature fell forward on the hideous remains of its face.
The only sound in the still clearing was the hungry sizzle of acid burning through bone. When it had finished its meal, the darkened liquid bubbled and soaked into the dirt and ashes, burying itself.
An eerie, whispering wind rose to fill the silence in the clearing. Khisanth stood among the wreckage, her hind legs a bit shaky. The bloodlust that had driven her was gone, leaving her weak and light-headed. The blast of acid had left a sour taste in her mouth. She bent her head to feast on the corpses, if only to cover up the bitter taste in her mouth and renew her strength.
A beam of light suddenly sliced across her path. Khi-santh's gore-covered face popped up and looked toward the night sky. The moon had cut through the clouds, and the angled beams of bluish light provided a pathway for Kada-gan. He slid along the moonlight and landed soundlessly at the dragon's hind feet.
'Did you see the battle?' she asked the nyphid eagerly. Kadagan nodded. 'Thou fought brilliantly, striking with the power and unpredictability of lightning.'
Khisanth's brows raised at the pleasing comparison. Resuming her feast, she spoke only between gulps. 'I used the qhen technique and fought on instinct. You would have been proud of how I just let myself be a dragon. Nothing can stand up to the power of a dragon who knows qhen.'
'Thou knowest nothing of qhen,' said Kadagan, his voice and bright blue eyes as cold as ice.
Khisanth's head snapped up. 'How can you say that?' she gasped. 'You've seen how I've studied and practiced.'
'It is not a skill to employ when it suits thee,' said the nyphid with silent fury. 'It is a way of living.'
'How can you say in one breath that I was brilliant, and in the next say I know nothing?'
'Greed blinded thee to thy goal. Qhen is focus, and patience, among other things. What hast thou accomplished, and what not?'
Chortling, Khisanth puffed out her chest. 'I knew I could overpower fifteen ogres, and I proved it!'
'To whom hast thou proven what thou already knew?' The dragon bristled. 'I also have a full belly, and gem-studded weapons with which to line my cave.' 'Was thy goal to slaughter a band of ogres?' 'No, but-'
'Hast thou furthered thy goal to study Styx or sight a human female?'
'No, but-'
'Could the ogre thou spoke with, undoubtedly their leader, have furthered either goal if thou hadst not killed it in anger and lust?'
'No!' Khisanth snapped defensively. Frowning, she thought for a moment, then had to mumble, 'How do you mean?'
'Perhaps, living so close to Styx, it knew something of the village, or even of Dela.'
Khisanth thought about that for a moment. 'The ogre was not going to tell me anything.'
The nyphid surveyed the stinking goo that was once the chieftain. 'Thou hast ensured that with thy thoughtlessness.'
Khisanth looked up with angry eyes. 'Have a care, little creature,' she muttered, her tone low and threatening. 'I tol shy;erate you when you are useful. When you are not-'
The little nyphid was not cowed. 'Thou cannot control me in a meaningful way, if thou cannot control thyself.'
Khisanth's first instinct was to pluck off the nyphid's wings, but on some level she realized she would only be proving him right. The dragon turned away from her teacher in frustration. Hoping to calm herself, she ran her long, moist tongue over a small abrasion on her left foreleg.
Khisanth stopped abruptly. Kadagan's displeasure had soured her mood so that she found even the taste of blood was dulled. Moving clumsily over the mounds of bodies in the small glade, Khisanth thoughtfully hooked her claw into another ogre corpse and dragged it to the growing pile of bones in front of her. The task of separating ogre bodies from their treasure was tedious with her large claws, which were not suited to such fine work. She neither wanted nor expected the help of Kadagan's slender fingers. His silent observation of her work made her burn with unspoken fury, yet she did not express it, would not give him the satisfaction of proving she couldn't control her temper.
Kadagan surveyed the wreckage around the campsite, then looked to the moon traveling across the night sky. 'It is late,' he muttered. 'We will return to thy lair.'
'What about Styx?' Khisanth asked. 'We still have time to observe, and perhaps spot a human woman.'
'We will return to thy lair/' Kadagan repeated firmly. 'Only dogs are about at this late hour. Further, after tonight's display, I would not allow thee near Dela.' Before Khisanth could fire off an angry defense, the nyphid issued an order. 'Use thy acid to destroy the evidence of thy folly.' Snatching up a loincloth from a dead ogre, he darted out of the way.
Startled by the tone that brooked no insolence, Khisanth obeyed. When she finished, she saw that Kadagan had fash shy;ioned the filthy loincloth into a sling that accommodated the swords she'd pilfered from the dead ogres. His thoughtful acknowledgment of her desire for treasure angered her since it engendered the first pangs of guilt she had ever experienced.
'Canst thou fly?' Kadagan asked, considering her wounds. 'I did not expect to need Joad's services on this trip.'
Khisanth stood slowly and stretched her wings high. There was some stiffness. The descending moon shone as a fuzzy blotch behind the translucent, leathery membranes, except in a few places where it streamed through jagged tears in the flesh. She would be sore for several days, but Khisanth was certain she could make the flight back.
Taking three powerful, rabbitlike hops she sprang into the air. Then the dragon dipped her left wing to pivot north toward her lair in Endscape.
Summer gave way to autumn while Khisanth applied her shy;self to her studies. The leaves turned golden and tumbled from the trees. Ambling in the form of a white-striped badger through grasslands gone stiff and brown, Khisanth was con shy;templating the stride and stance that made her form uniquely that of a badger. She had long sharp claws like a dragon, but-
Khisanth's head jerked up. She heard soft rustling ahead in the tall grass, coming toward her. She stood only half as high as the weeds, so she could not see what approached. Baring her teeth against possible predators, she waited.
Joad popped through the grass and waved her on. 'Come,' he said, his voice old and scratchy from lack of use.
Khisanth's badger body nearly fell over with surprise. 'You talked!' she rumbled.
'Of course,' Joad said simply, as if his speaking were nothing unusual. 'Thy progress has renewed my strength. I am grateful.' His old gray head bowed.
Khisanth had thought of late that the elder nyphid looked better, not so sad, his lightning-blue eyes less hollow. She was strangely gratified.
'And now I have a surprise for thee in the forest,' he rasped. 'Come.' Seeing the badger's eyes focusing, he reached down and laid a soft hand on her head. 'Do not change-a dragon would be far too large to follow where I lead thee.'
Thrilled at the change in Joad, intrigued by the mystery of his surprise, Khisanth followed, past the pods the nyphids would soon have to abandon when the grasses died entirely. Nyphid and badger entered the trees, tiny booted feet and splayed claws crunching over mounds of fallen brown leaves. The forest looked more spacious to
