me?' he managed to gasp.
'I haven't decided yet,' she said laconically.
He looked up at her, nervous beads of sweat rolling down his brow. 'I've heard dragons like treasure,' he said. 'Take anything of value you see.'
The dragon gave a hoarse, raspy laugh. 'Do you think, human, that I need your permission to do anything?'
'N-No,' he stuttered.
'I'm in charge now.' The dragon wagged a sharp claw at him. 'Come into the light, where I can see your green eyes better. Did I ever tell you, Led, that I thought they looked like wet emeralds?'
Unable to refuse, Led stepped back into the camp. The dragon's question puzzled him. The beast knew his name, spoke as if they'd met before. There was something vaguely familiar about the dragon's voice, but… Surely a man would remember if he'd ever met a dragon.
'What a difference a day makes, Led.' The dragon's tone was lazy. 'Just yesterday you were saying that dragons aren't as smart as humans. And here you are today, at the mercy of one…I guess that means you're a stupid human.'
Led blinked. The dragon's words had a familiar ring; he closed his eyes and feverishly searched his memory for the meaning. When he looked up again, though, all thoughts of the mystery fled. Onyx stood before him, her arms crossed, unashamed of her nakedness. Her nose was broken, and dark bruises circled both eyes like a mask.
The woman looked into Led's green eyes and saw confu shy;sion turn slowly to comprehension. 'You left me to die, Led.'
Wide-eyed, he looked at her. '1 couldn't find you.'
Onyx's eyes were narrow slits. 'You obviously didn't look very hard. There was a path to me a mile wide.'
'I looked,' Led said quickly, his tone pleading, 'but I was afraid to hang around the scene of the battle for fear of
discovery. I thought you'd disappeared just like Toba.'
'I didn't,' Onyx said coldly, then her voice became almost brittle. 'Speaking of your lieutenant, would you like to see him?'
'You know where Toba is?'
The woman raised one brow and smiled maliciously. 'I have an idea.' Her fingers clutched the thong that held the maynus and swords. 'Free him,' she told the globe.
As if from thin air, the charred and bloody body of Yoshiki Toba tumbled to Led's feet. Jumping back, the mighty merce shy;nary could not suppress a scream.
'Well, I guess that nearly makes us even-on that score, anyway. I killed your friend. You caused the death of mine.' Onyx said. At Led's puzzled look, she added, 'The creature in the wagon. The one you kidnapped, she was the last female of her kind. You killed her. You killed her father and betrothed, as well. My friends.'
Led looked more confused still. Perhaps his fear is dulling his wits, the woman thought.
'My gods, you're dense.' Onyx gave him a patronizing look of pity. 'Is your ego so great you actually think you talked me into joining your little band?' She threw back her head and laughed. 'It was my plan all along. I tricked you. I was going to rescue the nyphid you'd kidnapped. I would have stolen her from under your nose if you hadn't mishan shy;dled the situation with the knights.'
Onyx tapped a finger to her chin. 'Now that I think about it, we're not even at all. But then,' she purred, 'I'm just get shy;ting started.'
She began to pace around the frightened human. 'I sup shy;pose you think I enjoyed our little encounter last night, too. Don't flatter yourself. It was all part of my plan.' Onyx couldn't keep from blushing at her own reminder of their union. She rubbed her temple as if it pained her.
Led suddenly seemed to regain use of his senses. The old, fearless smile came to his lips. He reached for her hand, his own trembling. 'You spoke in riddles last night, with your talk of dragons and the gathering armies. I dismissed the
idea because I didn't want to be an ordinary grunt. I didn't know about, well, you being a dragon. We'd rise to the top, you and I. Didn't I say we made a great team?'
Onyx let her cold hand rest in his as she considered his anxious words.
'You've got to believe me, Onyx. I thought you were the one who abandoned me.' Led bent his head to hers, his lips brushing her cool ones. He pressed himself against her naked body. 'We were so good together. I should have known bet shy;ter.'
'Yes, you should have,' the young woman mumbled in agreement against his lips. Onyx could feel Led relaxing against her, eyes closed. In a heartbeat, the dragon Khisanth replaced Onyx. She jerked him off the ground and held him up like a child examining a bug. Before the mercenary could cry out, his handsome face disappeared into the dragon's jaws. Then it was too late.
There was nothing left for him to scream with.
Part Two
Chapter 10
Khisanth's neck muscles tensed into thick black cords. Her scales rose like hackles. There it was again, that malevolent, watchful presence. Someone was definitely following her. Or some shy;thing. The dragon squinted skyward from the trail she'd beaten through the tamarack to her lair. Turning a full circle, Khisanth scanned the horizon. As before, she saw nothing to confirm her suspicion.
Ever since she'd started across the Miremier to the Great Moors in search of a lair, the dragon had not been able to shake the feeling that someone was watching her. That was many lunar cycles ago, when snow had still blanketed the tamarack and ice had covered the ponds-not long after she'd eaten her human lover. Led's death was a delicious memory for Khisanth, and she used it to reckon time-one season after the devouring of Led, four lunar cycles since, and so on.
She'd discovered the huge fen she now called home on a practice flight with Kadagan past the sandy desert on the western edge of the Endscape peninsula. Strong westerly winds had made flight difficult that day and pushed the heavy, pungent scent of stagnant water and rotting humus within reach of her sensitive nostrils. Kadagan had told her that the Great Moors were so vast that it took an entire day for the winds to push the clouds from west to east above them. Some instinct had told Khisanth that she belonged in such a bleak place, that a lair in the swamp would soothe her soul the way a cold meal sated her stomach.
After the events at Needle Pass, Khisanth couldn't bear the thought of living near there. She felt no kinship with moun shy;tains. Neither was she interested in returning to the tiny, unremarkable lair the nyphids had found for her in the grass shy;lands of Endscape. The dragon had never liked it anyway.
Khisanth's soul had stirred with the memory of the moor. Taking whatever treasure she fancied from Led and the dead ogres, Khisanth had gathered up her maynus choker and headed straightaway for the swamp. She had not looked back.
Khisanth usually explored her pond, her territory, by foot as a dragon. To practice her qhen techniques she would occa shy;sionally take on the forms of smaller creatures indigenous to the area-such as field mice or mundane serpents-to view the swamp as they would. The dragon had been curious to see how her lair looked from a muskrat's reed-and-mud dam in the center of her pond. The furry, beaverlike creature had been delicious.
Now, as she approached the hollow tree lair she'd taken for her own, Khisanth's gaze fell happily on the area sur shy;rounding it. Large, looming willows and other water-loving trees fanned out to where the earth met the dark purple sky. Low-growing shrubs covered everything else, hiding slip shy;pery bogs. At odd intervals the dead gray stumps of stripped pine trees poked skyward through the greenery, giving the tamarack an invitingly bleak appearance.
Khisanth walked the perimeter of her small pond. The southern edge was flanked by graceful willows whose
