Could it have been a vision of the future from Takhisis? Her geetna had predicted she would do great service for the queen. Perhaps it had been fate, not accident, that the nyphids awak shy;ened her and directed her toward Led. Was it Takhisis's wish that Onyx and Led fight as one for her glory? She paused. Where was Led, anyway?
Onyx rolled up onto her elbow, and her fur blanket slipped away. She felt her first twinge of modesty as she remembered she was unclothed. Cinching the fur up tightly under her armpits, the young woman discovered with dismay that she, alone, still lay close to the fire pit. She heard mingled sounds of activity and sat up to investigate.
Onyx's acute hearing detected splashing water. Following the noise through the snow-covered branches of the pine trees, Onyx saw Led in the distance, bobbing in the chill mountain stream, slapping water on his bare chest. The sight brought a blush to her cheeks and a smile to her lips.
Hearing orders being barked in the opposite direction, Onyx's gaze fell next on Yoshiki Toba. He was at the other end of the oblong clearing, running the ogres through a routine drill in hand-to-hand and weapons combat. They wore no armor, but many had round wooden bucklers strapped to their thick arms. Spiked clubs and crudely made spears appeared to be their weapons of choice.
If Led was bathing in the stream, and Toba was engaged in morning drill, then who was watching-Onyx's gaze shot to the left. The wagon was parked out of the way, far back in the trees between the fire pit and the lanky lieutenant. There was no guard in sight.
Onyx sprang to her feet, yanked on her cotton batting, and tugged up her leather boots. Forcing herself to stroll, she cir shy;cled the wagon. She had seen Toba leave the ogre's fire pit with a plate of food last night, headed for the rear of the wagon. Onyx hastened to the back and searched the flat wooden panel from top to bottom with her hands, but found no latch or crack to suggest an opening.
Onyx chewed her lip, thinking. There were only two sides she hadn't examined. The top of the wagon would be risky, since she would be in clear view up there. Dropping to her knees, she ducked under the frame. But the box hung so low to the ground that she had to turn onto her back and kick her feet into the dirt to push herself beneath it. The wagon was sup shy;ported by thick metal straps and the two axles that stretched between the wheels.
Near the middle of the wagon was a small trapdoor, held shut by a dead bolt. Onyx carefully slid the bolt aside, then grabbed at the wooden door before it could swing down and bang into the metal strap.
Still on her back, Onyx gripped the edge of the wooden slot and pulled her head and shoulders toward the opening. It was so narrow that her face scraped the side when she managed at last to poke her head into the bottom of the wagon. Onyx peered around, calling on her dragon sight in the lightlessness. There, huddled in a corner, was a small heap covered by a dirty fur.
'Dela?' Onyx whispered.
The lump shifted slightly at the sound. The fur began to slip. Onyx caught a glimpse of disheveled blond hair. Her heart hammered in expectation.
Something grabbed Onyx by the feet. Her jawbone slammed into the rough opening as the hands around her boots labored to haul her from under the wagon. After three jarring tugs, her bruised face cleared the hole. The hands tugged again, and the back of Onyx's head dropped painfully onto the hard, frozen ground. She scrabbled and clawed to escape, but all she man shy;aged was to roll onto her front, so that she was pulled from beneath the wagon on her face. A blade-tipped boot kicked her in the side, rolling her onto her back again. Onyx looked up the legs that formed an inverted Y above her.
'Lose something, Onyx?' Yoshiki Toba's breath ringed his head as white steam. 'If thaf s even your name.' He snugged his feet closer to her sides, trapping her.
Onyx looked up at Toba's yellow-skinned face, speechless. Almost seeing Dela, Toba catching her spying-it had hap shy;pened so fast she could scarcely think of what to say, how to explain away her presence under the wagon. She saw the anger in his eyes and knew there would be no fooling the watchful overlord.
'Got nothin' to say?' Toba chuckled. 'I knew from the start there was something strange about you. Led's always had a soft spot in his melon for pretty women.' He grabbed Onyx by the left arm and nearly tugged it from the socket. 'Maybe you'll find your voice in time to explain to your paramour what you were doing under there.'
Led! He'd throw her out of his band for sure. Then it would be impossible to free Dela in her human form. And what about her dream? She had to silence Toba before he told their leader. She had no weapons, nothing on but her batting and boots. She searched her mind for a spell that would kill him instantly, without a trace, but her magical skills simply weren't that developed yet. If she were a dragon, she could call on her breath weapon___
Holding Onyx's arm tightly with one hand, Toba bent down and reached under the wagon. He fumbled until he found the trap door, then shut and bolted it. He straightened and glared at her with sinister eyes.
'Stand,' he ordered. When she refused to plant her feet or lock her knees, he kicked her viciously in the legs.
Onyx felt herself start to panic. Then, quite suddenly, some shy;thing burned the skin of her neck, and she cried aloud. The maynus. Pulling the choker by the vine with her free hand, she settled the tiny swords and globe atop her purple tunic. The maynus scorched her even through the cloth. It was the bril shy;liant blue-white of the hottest fire. Onyx had never seen the source of Dela's magic do that before. The faces in the light shy;ning bolts flashed through Onyx's mind. She heard Kadagan's voice from months ago: 'We commanded it to lift thee.'
She touched a hand to the scalding maynus. 'Take him, and leave no trace/' she whispered, not sure what to expect.
'Hey, what-?' Toba's muttered question was cut off when a white-hot bolt of lightning leaped from the globe. It snapped around his trunk like a lasso, pinning his arms to his sides. The wiry man's eyes went wide and fearful. He was too startled to scream at first. He wasn't given the chance later.
Toba's prominent cheekbones twisted and contorted, and his whole body seemed to melt into colorful, swirling vapor. Crackling, the branch of lightning pulled him toward its source, the globe at Onyx's collarbone. The churning mass that Toba had become withdrew into the maynus with a hollow sucking sound.
Stunned, Onyx peered down her chin to the globe. It had cooled to pale blue. Lightning bolts again danced and rico shy;cheted within. To her further amazement, she thought she could see the vague outline of Toba's face pressing against the glass from the inside. Had she killed the human, Onyx won shy;dered, or just trapped him in the magical globe? Either way, he couldn't talk to Led now. Onyx frowned. At least she didn't think he could communicate from inside the globe. She knew so little about the nyphids' artifact.
Rustling from inside the wagon brought Onyx's attention back to Dela. She could free the nyphid now. Dela would know what to do with Toba, too. Onyx dropped to her knees again and flipped onto her back to scoot beneath the wagon.
'Yoshiki Toba, you miserable scut, why have you left the ogres lumbering like aimless zombies in the clearing?' Led called from the stream, his voice bright with humor. 'You'd better be making my breakfast. Onyx, are you awake yet?'
Half under the wagon, Onyx froze with indecision. She was so close to freeing Dela. Yet, if she didn't answer Led and he found her here, she'd be in the same spot she'd been with Toba. Only, strangely, she didn't want to kill Led, or even draw him into the globe. The dream was too insistent, its promise of glory too fresh in her mind.
Onyx clambered from under the wagon. Brushing vainly at her muddy clothing, she strode purposefully along the right side of the cart and back to the fire pit.
Led emerged from the trees on the beaten snowy path that came from the stream. Scrubbing his wet hair with a nubby cloth, he was still bare to the waist, his skin red with cold. See shy;ing Onyx, he smiled in warm greeting. 'There you are.' He let the cloth drop to his shoulders. 'Good morning.'
'And to you,' she said, forcing a wan smile in return.
He peered at her curiously. 'You're a mess. And your face is all scratched up. What have you been doing?'
Onyx hitched up her pants and managed a meaningful, blushing look over her shoulder to the woods behind the wagon. 'I was … well, I unfortunately chose a very muddy patch. A branch snapped out, and, uh, you know___'
Led nodded slowly. He frowned and looked about. 'Where's Toba?'
Onyx shrugged, unconsciously tucking the silent, still-blue maynus back beneath the neckline of her tunic. If Toba was in there, he wasn't talking.
Led swore under his breath. 'He knows we're in a hurry to get to Kernen.'
