silently.
Caura kept their pace slow and steady until they got within bowshot of the trees. At that point, instead of continuing southward around the perimeter, they veered toward the woods and picked up the pace. They had only covered half the distance when a shout arose behind them.
“What did he say?” Jenns said, a panicked look in his eyes.
Caura turned to run. “Not sure, but it sounded a lot like ‘Halt!’” she yelled. “Come on!”
“We’re going to die,” Jenns groaned as he hurried behind her.
A few arrows flew lazily overhead, then a few more thunked into the ground near their feet as the archers found their range. More shouts erupted from the camp, and Caura thought she heard the tromp of pursuing feet far behind, but she didn’t dare slow down to look backward. Jenns had caught up his initial lag and kept pace with her. A quick glance confirmed the terror she expected to see on his face.
“We’ll make it,” she gasped.
But the trees didn’t seem to be getting any closer, and they weren’t dense enough to guarantee cover from their pursuers. She started to feel guilty for leading Jenns to his death, then she reminded herself that she’d already saved his life once. So she hadn’t caused his death, merely delayed it.
The arrows started falling short, the shouts faded in the distance, and no one seemed to be gaining on them. Caura saw a look of hope begin to dawn on Jenns’s face as they came closer to the sheltering trees. She shot him what she hoped was a reassuring smile, but he wasn’t looking at her. As she watched, the color and the hope drained from his face, and his steps faltered.
“Sweet Sovereigns, protect us,” he breathed, stopping his headlong run and falling backward onto the ground.
Caura slowed her pace but didn’t stop, searching the forest ahead for a sign of what had terrified him. The forest’s edge was thinly scattered with trees, but a covering of ferns and bushes promised more cover, and just a few yards in the trees grew more closely together. Everything was lush with spring growth, and a gentle breeze stirred the branches in a soft susurrus.
Then she saw it: a dragon snaked among the trees. Its green scales helped it blend in among the leaves and ferns, but its eyes were fixed on her. It was one of the smaller dragons she had seen around the camp, but that still meant it was roughly horse sized. And it looked hungry.
Caura stopped dead. She cast a glance over her shoulder. Jenns was still on the ground, looking desperately back and forth between her and the dragon. Far behind him, a clump of soldiers from the camp had stopped to watch-they had evidently spotted the dragon before Jenns and didn’t want to approach it any more than he did.
“Caught between the Kraken and the Hydra,” she muttered. The expression made her think of the two rocky islands that marked the entrance to the dangerous straits of Shargon’s Teeth, poised like twin monsters waiting to devour ships passing between them. “Well, that’s nothing new.”
“What do we do?” Jenns shouted.
“Follow me!”
Caura ran, turning her course just to the right, aiming for a spot a little south of where the dragon waited. She saw the dragon whip around, keeping even with her, but after a moment it disappeared into the heavier trees. She glanced back and saw the soldiers move again, ready to catch them if they circled back toward the camp.
Caura and Jenns reached the woods, charging into the undergrowth with a clamor of rustling leaves and branches. When they were out of sight of the camp and the pursuing soldiers, Caura put up a hand to stop Jenns. The forest settled around them. She listened. Birds fluttered, a few squirrels or chipmunks scurried at their feet, and something large stalked nearby. Too near. It stopped when it couldn’t hear them moving anymore.
Caura was painfully aware of how loud she and Jenns were breathing after running so hard. She held a finger to her lips and tried to catch her breath. After a moment, though, she heard the dragon resume its stealthy movement toward them.
She realized the flaw in her thinking. She’d been treating this dragon as a strange reptilian leopard or something, a big predatory animal stalking them through the woods. This was not an animal-not any more than Vaskar was.
“All right, dragon, you’ve got us,” she said.
Jenns goggled at her, but she held out a reassuring hand. If dragons could argue with each other over the Prophecy, then certainly they could talk to her before eating her. Maybe this one could be talked out of eating her.
The rustle of its approach grew louder. It wasn’t trying as hard to sneak up on them. Getting closer. Caura saw branches bending and swishing back into place as it passed-thirty paces, then twenty, fifteen. It must have been crawling along the ground to remain so well hidden, and it used the trees for cover as much as possible. But at ten paces it couldn’t possibly keep out of sight any longer, and it reared up on its hind legs like a bucking horse, revealing itself in its terrible majesty.
Jenns let out a tiny whimper and took two steps away from it. It was much smaller than Vaskar, more like a sleek, agile tiger than the lumbering behemoth she was more familiar with. Its scales were mottled green and gray, resembling the patterns of light and shadow on the forest growth. Its head bore a crest that stretched high as it reared up, and it spread its wings to look larger, breaking branches and pushing saplings aside. For a moment, Caura wondered if she had misjudged-its behavior was not too different from that of a threatened predator ready to strike. But then she noticed its eyes. They watched her with evident curiosity, flicking occasionally to the terrified Jenns behind her.
The dragon’s snout was long and narrow, tipped with a wicked point that made it look almost like a bird of prey. As it looked at them, the flesh at the corners of its mouth stretched back to reveal its sharp teeth. Caura’s heart leaped, but then she recognized the expression-the dragon was smiling.
“And now that I’ve got you,” it said, “what am I to do with you? A pair of deserters, are you?” Its voice was low and smooth, almost seductive.
“That’s right,” Caura said. Jenns whimpered again. “We don’t have the stomach for the coming battle.”
“I think my course is clear, then,” the dragon said, its grin growing wider. “You’ll be my main course. I do have the stomach for you.”
Caura resisted the temptation to groan at the dragon’s awkward wordplay. At least it hinted at a strategy for keeping the dragon busy, and she leaped at the opening. “But if we’re deserters, shouldn’t we be your dessert?”
The dragon opened and closed its mouth in a gesture Caura discerned as a laugh. “Well spoken, meat. But who ever heard of eating meat for dessert?”
“Don’t you think it’s sweet to meet us?” Caura glanced over her shoulder. Jenns stared at her with his mouth hanging open, incredulous. But the dragon was still enjoying the game.
“Perhaps I’ll eat your sweetbread for dessert.”
“Oh no, we’re not well bred.”
“Are you suggesting I was born in a well?” The dragon fanned its wings, breaking more branches. Caura thought she detected an impatient tone in its voice. At the thought, her mind went blank.
Jenns stepped forward to stand beside her, then bowed before the dragon. “We hope your offense doesn’t run deep.”
The dragon laughed again, and furled its wings. “The male joins in the game!”
Caura shot Jenns a smile and picked up the thread. “There must be tastier game in the forest.”
Jenns added, “I fear you’ll find us too gamey for your taste.”
“I think perhaps you’re too tasty to let this game continue.” The dragon’s tongue flicked out and brushed its lips.
“No, not at all,” Caura shot back. “Haven’t we amply demonstrated our bad taste?”
Again the dragon flapped its lower jaw. “You have indeed. I suggest you flee before I change my mind.”
Caura almost retorted, but Jenns grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the dragon as fast as their legs could run.
