bursting apart, flinging lava and ash in all directions. A tremendous wave of fatigue rolled over her body; then her island erupted as she had envisioned, pouring forth molten stone in such prodigious quantities that the acid lake completely vanished beneath its fiery blanket.
Ruha felt control of her limbs return. Gasping for breath and trembling with fatigue, she slipped back to the center of the wagon. Her mind was not entirely free of its attacker, however. The dragon locked gazes with her again, and once more his bat figure appeared inside her mind, rising from beneath the sea of flaming rock like a phoenix reborn. An angry rumble rolled from Cypress's throat; then the flaming bat transformed itself into an immense, black-haired Cyclops. The brute floated down to the ground, then waded through the lava toward the witch's volcano. He stood as tall as the summit, and his knobby hands looked powerful enough to crush stone.
Ruha pictured the ground beneath his feet turning to quicksand, but this time she experienced no strange tinglings in the pit other stomach. She felt only a dull, nauseating ache, then a searing wave of pain as the last of her energy drained from her muscles. The witch col- lapsed to her knees, so exhausted and enervated that she could not find the strength to rise. The cyclops stopped beside her volcano, then reached out and tore away a huge chunk of glowing stone.
As I annihilate this mountain, so I annihilate your mind! the cyclops cackled. When I finish, your head will be naught but a smoking hole, as empty and useless as a spent sulfur pit!
Ruha tried again to change the scene inside her head, but succeeded only in exhausting herself to the point that she almost dropped the fireball. The wagon rocked as someone climbed in behind her, but the witch could not rip her gaze away from Cypress's empty eye sockets to see who it was. She thought about trying to drop the fire- ball before the dragon seized control of her body again.
The resulting conflagration would kill her as well as the newcomer, but she felt fairly certain that destroying the ylang blossoms would also delay the theft ofYanseldara's spirit.
Prince Tang kneeled beside Ruha, holding several slender yellow leaves in his hand. His eyes appeared glassy and vacant, and he seemed to be chewing some- thing. Cypress glanced away from Ruha and glared at Tang. Inside the witch's mind, the cyclops stopped tearing apart her volcano. She was too exhausted to take advantage of her foe's distraction, but she found herself free to look away from his gaze. A small company of Shou guards had appeared at the door and were cautiously advancing into the shadowy spicehouse, squinting at the dragon as though they could not quite believe their sun- dazzled eyes.
Whatever the dragon said to Tang, Ruha could not hear it but the prince's response was short and angry:
'No. If you want oil, you leave now-or I burn wagon myself.' Tang raised one of the slender leaves to Ruha's lips, then instructed, 'Chew leaf, wu-jen.'
Ruha clenched her teeth and considered thrusting her fireball into Tang's face.
'Trust me. This no love potion. It is lasal. Leaf protects against Invisible Art.'
Ruha allowed the prince to slip the leaf into her mouth and began to chew. The wail of a distant wind arose inside her mind, and the cyclops slowly turned toward the sound. Cypress glanced at Wei Dao, who immediately stepped to the wagon side and spoke to her husband in Shou. The prince responded sharply and pointed toward the guards, who were advancing on the unconcerned dragon with polearms leveled for battle. They seemed rather unsteady on their feet, and even from halfway across the spicehouse, their eyes appeared more glassy than Tang's.
Inside Ruha's mind, the wail of the wind became a roar, then a howling sand cloud billowed across the boil- ing plain. Cypress groaned, and the cyclops turned to face the storm. The brute took a deep breath and began to blow, but his breath was no match for the fury of the gale. The sand blasted over him, and he vanished into the tempest.
Cypress grunted, his empty-eyed head recoiling as though the storm had struck him physically. He backed away from the wagon, trembling and sputtering and madly scratching at his temples. Tang's guards charged, filling the spicehouse with a tremendous clamor as their blades struck their foe's impenetrable scales. Several of the blades snapped on impact, but most either bounced off or became lodged without causing any damage. The dragon lashed out with fangs, claws, and tail, littering the floor with the shattered bodies of Tang's loyal guards.
Finding herself completely in control of her own body-if somewhat exhausted and fuzzy-headed-Ruha rose to her feet and swung a leg over the side of the wagon.
'No!' Wei Dao shrieked.
The princess leapt toward Ruha, causing the witch to hesitate just long enough for Tang to grab her by the shoulder.
'If you leave wagon, we all die.' The prince's words were slurred, and he seemed to be having trouble focus- ing his eyes. 'Only fear of burning blossoms saves us now.'
'I know that.' Ruha scowled, struggling against the roaring storm in her head to remember why she had decided to throw the fireball in the first place. 'But I must attack… while we have the advantage.'
You have nothing.
Cypress cast aside the bodies of two more guards, then pointed his long snout in Tang's direction. The dragon was far from destroyed, but he looked as haggard as
Ruha, and more than a few of his thick scales had been pulled or cut away. Tang called something to his surviv- ing guards, who looked rather relieved and backed away.
'But wu-jen is under my protection,' the prince said, speaking in Common.
Your protection? This time, Ruha heard Cypress-though whether it was intended or an accident of his anger, she did not know. She is a Harper, sent to take Yanseldara away from me!
Tang cringed at the dragon's anger, but did not back down. 'Nevertheless, while she remains in Ginger
Palace, she is under my protection.' The prince glanced at his battered guards and nodded once. They leveled their weapons and took a single step forward. 'If you do not agree, we finish this now-and you lose Yanseldara anyway.'
'Are you mad. Husband?' Wei Dao cried. 'Give him barbarian! She causes too much trouble already.'
Tang glared at Wei Dao. 'I hear enough from you, Wife.
I am Prince of Shou Lung, and to call me mad is treason.'
Wei Dao's face darkened to an angry ocher, but she obediently lowered her gaze and mumbled, 'Please to for- give outburst, Merciful Husband.'
Cypress observed the exchange in silence, then pointed his snout in Tang's direction. Why all this trouble for a barbarian, Young Prince? he demanded, still allowing Ruha to eavesdrop. Could it be you have fallen in love?
'That is not your concern,' Tang replied. 'I have ylang oil by evening. Please to bring Lady Feng, and we make exchange.'
Cypress stepped forward, bringing his nostrils almost to within arm's reach of Ruha. You are fortunate that I understand the power of love. Harper. Treat Tang well.
You owe him your life.
Ruha brought her fireball around. So exhausted was Cypress that he barely pulled his head away in time to keep her from stuffing the sphere into his nostrils.
'I'll treat Tang as well as he deserves, I assure you.' Ruha said.
The dragon backed away and swung his snout toward Tang.
The prince listened for a moment, then pointed to the door. 'You bring Lady Feng. I see to wu-jen.'
Cypress allowed his empty gaze to linger on Ruha for a moment, then turned away. With a weary beat of his wings, he lifted himself into the air and flew out the door.
Tang waited until he was gone, then turned to Ruha.
'Perhaps now you understand wisdom of my actions.'
The prince's voice was smug and condescending. 'Or do you still believe Cypress is destroyed?'
Ruha shook her head. 'I do not-but how could he have survived?' The lasal haze inside her mind was already beginning to clear, but it had not yet grown thin enough for her to understand what she had seen.
'I blasted him into a thousand pieces.'
'You destroy body, not spirit,' Tang explained, assum- ing a superior air. 'Cypress is dracolich. He hides spirit inside gem-'
'Wise Prince,' Wei Dao interrupted. 'Cypress says she is Harper. Is it prudent to tell her so much?'
By the scowl Tang shot nis wife, Ruha could see that the prince wanted to impress her with his proscribed
