stormed into my hoard and stole my things. And I'd hate to be disappointed. Where is your taaldarax?'
'I don't know what you're talking about.'
He sneered. 'The dragon. Are you hers, or did the eladrin broker your skills?'
'Neither. I have no master.'
'Do not lie to me,' Dareun said. 'The eladrin claimed you.'
Tennora swallowed. 'He's confused. I'm no longer Master Halnian's student.'
'Then where is the dragon? And before you say you don't know who I mean,' Dareun interrupted with a raised finger, 'think carefully.'
'I don't know where she is,' Tennora said. 'She left. She was angry I said I wouldn't help her any longer.'
Dareun leaned on his cane. 'I believe I told you not to lie to me. If you'd angered your taaldarax, you wouldn't be standing before me. You'd best convince her to return my mask to me,' he said, leaning closer, 'else I'll have to take you in her stead.'
His threat fell apart into a fit of coughing that had Dareun bent nearly double for a span of breaths. He pressed a handkerchief to his mouth, and Tennora saw it was stained with spots of blood. His hand shook where it leaned on the cane, and for a brief moment it seemed he might be overwhelmed by the fit.
The dragonward-it was working. Fighting the effects of the mythal was slowly killing him. He might be weak enough for Tennora to stop him here and now.
She pulled the dagger from her belt.
He hadn't expected her to fight-Tennora could tell by the way his hands went to push her away without a spell or weapon in either. She slashed at his chest, cutting through the fine silk and scoring the skin beneath.
Dareun recovered enough to grab her arm and twist it roughly. She dropped the dagger and moved with the twist, pulling her arm up. She shoved her other elbow into his gut and stomped hard on his insole, just as Mardin had shown her. He shouted in surprise and let go of her long enough for Tennora to slip out of his grasp. She dashed to the door and pulled hard on the knob.
He raised his hand and the door slammed shut again.
Frantic, Tennora snatched her staff up from where she'd left it beside the door. Dareun was on her before she could bring a spell to mind. He reached for her throat.
She swung the staff, bashing his head, and ran for the window. The tip of her staff broke the shutters open ahead of her. 'Help!' she shouted. 'Help! Intruder!'
Potent, smothering dragonfear washed over her and buckled her knees. Her cries died in her throat. But whether it was exposure to Nestrix's rages or the effects of the blessed, blessed dragonward or the sharp pain in her knee as she fell, she pushed it off before it could settle in her heart. She had enough sense to fall aside as another spell stirred the air.
A bloom of dark energy burst into being. Its edge caught her, and a bone-chilling cold seized her arm and leg.
Tennora kicked the table over in time to deflect another dark and nasty spell. Her carvestars were in the kitchen drawer, her staff only a crutch for magic she fought to call to mind-unless he came closer. She whispered the words to a spell and popped her head over the edge of the table, long enough to let loose a few feeble darts of acid toward him.
One hit. The other two destroyed her shelf of chapbooks. Tennora shrieked.
So did Dareun-he was clutching his right arm where the blast had hit.
'Dokaal bitch,' he shouted. Another blast of darkness took the comer of the table. Tennora seized the dangling table leg and wrenched it off.
She hurled it at him and struck his bad arm once more, then ducked behind the table, panting and clutching her staff and trying to ready a spell. She rubbed her aching knee.
Her neighbors had to be hearing this, she thought, her heart racing. Any minute now someone would burst in. Cassian was two floors away, she realized. He could be here in a second, wand blazing. Mardin might have heard her scream. Or maybe the smith down the hall. Or the tough old fishwife downstairs.
It was the middle of the day, she realized. Most of them were away.
Veron-Tennora reached into the apron pocket and fished out the token he'd given her.
She hurled it against the wall, and it shattered in a rain of fine sparks.
She popped her head over the table again to throw a gout of fire and sacrifice more of her beloved library, but found Dareun standing directly in front of her. He grabbed her by both wrists until she dropped the staff.
'I'm very sorry you made this decision,' he said.
Tennora released the fire.
It was bigger than it should have been, and not as hot. The blowsy flames burst toward the ceiling, streaking past both their heads. Tennora pulled away, expecting the flames, and the worst of them singed Dareun's face. He screamed and released her, and she grabbed her staff and scrambled back toward the window.
'No!' Dareun barked. Tennora felt a chill in the air and he was suddenly behind her. Cold so deep it seared her skin emanated from the hands that clutched her shoulders. It seeped into her lungs and they ached.
'Where is your mistress?' he hissed.
Tennora jerked her staff toward her and cracked him hard on the side of the face, but he wouldn't let go. She hit him over and over, unable to draw up the focus for another spell, so long as that deep, black cold was pouring into her. Her knuckles ached as the chill filled her bones. Any moment… she would drop.
'Tell me!' he shouted, shaking her.
The door banged open. Dareun turned to face the intruder, taking Tennora with him.
Nestrix's eyes were wild and glowing under the hood of a blue stormcloak. Her fingers curved into claws. She glanced at Tennora, at Dareun.
'Step away from that one, wyrmling,' she snarled, pacing into the room. 'She's not for you.'
'Gladly.' He let go of Tennora and she fell onto the windowsill. 'She's not the one I want.'
'I'm not your rival,' Nestrix said. 'Not yet. But you tempt me sorely, wyrmling.'
Dareun's vicious smile grew, and he matched Nestrix's pace to keep the room between them. 'Oh, the time for that has passed. You're in my territory, myrnixae. '
She snarled something in Draconic and licked a canine as if testing its sharpness. 'Your last chance to flee. I warn you.'
Dareun raised his cane again, a spell taking shape.
Tennora lunged at him, trying to grab hold of his sleeve, to pull his arm away and disrupt the casting. Nestrix had no spells to cast, no weapons, she was helpless as Nestrix planted her feet, opened her mouth wide, and screamed.
A veritable storm, a swarm of lightning exploded out of Nestrix's throat. It raced across the room, crackling over Dareun's body. His screech of pain was drowned out by the thunder rippling behind it so loud that Tennora clapped her hands over her ears, just as the force of it threw her across the room and everything went black.
Ears ringing, Tennora opened her eyes and stood. Her home lay in ruins-her furniture shattered, her books torn and burned. Both Dareun and Nestrix lay crumpled on the floor. Dareun's fine clothes were turned to ash in many places, the skin angry red and even black at points. Nestrix's mouth was burned as well, blistering cruelly, and her cheeks were streaked with char. Both seemed as dazed as Tennora.
But Dareun was in better shape despite all that-there was a second man, the man from the antiquary's shop, pouring a healing draught into his master's mouth. A man and a half-elf woman-both strangers-came in the door.
'That one,' the man from the shop said, nodding at Nestrix.
'No!' Tennora shouted, though it came out like a wheeze. The three ignored her, and the half-elf held a rag to Nestrix's face. She thrashed against it, but only for a moment, and then went slack.
Tennora tried to clamber over the remains of her furniture, but her knee buckled and the blood on her hand made her grip slippery. They scooped Nestrix up by the ankles and shoulders and hauled her closer to Dareun and his lieutenant.
Tennora lurched to her feet and threw herself into the kitchen. Her carvestars-they were in the drawer with the mask. She had to 'Tennora?' a voice called from the hallway. 'Is everything all right?'
'Cassian!' she shouted back. 'Hurry! Help!' The man from the antiquary's stood and drew his knife But he was too slow. Cassian burst through the door with a blaze of flames. The man with the knife threw up a ringed hand
