The Radiant Dragon

'Our only chance,' Tekura stressed, rounding on the captain. 'K'tide is right. If we don't move now, we'll never have another chance at getting a Witchlight Marauder, and we'll never have another chance to get one into Lionheart.'

The bionoid captain bowed his head in resignation. 'All right. We will tell Clan Kir only what Grimnosh asked of us: that we attack the elven vessel.'

'We will travel together,' K'tide said. 'I will follow aboard the klicklikak. Assign two of your ranks to serve as my crew.'

'Bionoids, traveling on an insectare ship?' the bionoid wizard demanded. 'Only an insectare can run the helm. You can't power the klicklikak alone-'

'There is an auxiliary helm,' K'tide broke in, 'a lifejammer.'

K'tide did not miss the bionoids' shudders and the shocked glances they exchanged. 'You will not use my people to power your ship,' Wynlar said, clearly appalled at the notion.

The spy master suppressed a smile. It amused him that such fierce killers could have so soft a core. Of course, they had not had the benefit of Grimnosh's tutelage, as he had. And he, K'tide, was a fast study.

'I assure you, Wynlar, that won't be necessary. I've had some kobolds packed in the hold. They should suffice as fuel.'

Chapter Thirteen

Raven Stormwalker was the first to see the approaching ship. On her insistence, she'd been assigned duty on the forward watch. Although Vallus was a little leery of having her on the bridge, he had thought it wise to treat her as if she were what she claimed to be: a moon elf adventurer. The elven wizard watched Raven carefully, though always, Teldin noticed, from a considerable distance. It took Vallus several days before he could completely discard his theory of Raven as a 'survivor,' and to shake his overwhelming horror of the type of living death such a being could deal. Teldin puzzled over the elven wizard's strange reaction, but he had to admit that his own, private response to Raven Stormwalker was equally disturbing. She was, by appearances, an elf, and quite possibly the possessor of another ultimate helm, but Teldin was undeniably drawn to her.

Almost daily Teldin found himself on the swan ship's bridge during Raven's watch, and more than once they'd spent the entire watch together, sometimes talking, sometimes gazing into wildspace in equally companionable silence. Not since Aelfred's death had Teldin felt so at ease with another being. Perhaps Raven was a competitor for the Spelljammer, but who was not? If she was a competitor, she was also a comrade, and a palpable sense of kinship drew them together.

Teldin could not, however, dispel the image of the monstrous face he'd seen superimposed on Raven's features. What was she? Obviously, she was not the Raven Stormwalker of elven legend. If she could transform herself into an elf and-if the lakshu had been right-into a dragon, what was her true form? As Teldin puzzled this, it occurred to him that he'd reached a sad state of affairs: he found the prospect of a dragon less threatening than a woman.

Whatever she was, Raven turned out to be a great favorite around the ship. She'd traveled widely and told her experiences in a wry, understated style that the story-loving elves found engaging. Her practical experience was also in demand; she even advised Hectate of a gate into the crystal sphere of Winterspace, a new one that the half-elven navigator hadn't known existed. 'Let's just say I was there when it opened,' she had observed cryptically. She was good company: intelligent and amusing as well as easy to look at. And so Teldin's days had slipped by, busy but uneventful… until now.

Teldin and Vallus were on the upper deck when Raven gave the first alert. 'Captain!' she bellowed from her perch in the swan's head. She leaned far over the railing that separated the bridge deck from the long drop to the main body of the swan ship, and her long midnight braids swayed as she gestured wildly for Teldin.

He sprinted up the stairs leading up the swan's neck to the bridge. 'What is it?' he demanded.

'Well, it's something you don't see every day,' Raven replied. Despite the flippant remark, her voice held a new, serious note. 'Look there,' she directed Teldin, pointing off into wildspace.

Teldin took up the brass tube that hung from his belt and peered through it at a distant, peculiar ship. The vessel was almost round, and two long streamers trailed behind as it approached the Trumpeter at a businesslike pace.

What now? Teldin thought with a touch of resignation. He passed the glass to Vallus Leafbower, who had come up behind him.

Vallus squinted at the approaching vessel, and his angular face tightened. 'What do you make of that?' Teldin asked.

'It's an insectare ship,' Vallus said in a worried tone. 'A klicklikak.'

Teldin grimaced, not liking the mental picture that the buglike name conjured. 'What are insectare?'

'A mysterious race,' the elven wizard said absently, still peering through the glass at the odd ship. 'At first glance, they appear to be elves. Pointed ears, angular features, and so on. They usually wear heavy robes with cowls, though, to hide their true nature.'

'Which is?' Teldin asked, eyeing the distant ship with a growing sense of foreboding.

'Imagine an intelligent insect, about the size and shape of an elf,' Raven suggested. 'If you get a good look at their eyes, you'll see that they're multifaceted. They have long antennae sprouting from behind their ears, and the way they move is a little different, too, since their bodies are covered with hard plating.' She shrugged. 'Apart from that, they're pretty much like elves. Oh, except that their skin is light green, about the same color as Trivit's, maybe a little brighter.'

'With such minor differences,' Teldin said, 'no wonder they're mistaken for elves.'

Raven acknowledged his sarcasm with a fleeting half-smile. 'Not many get close enough to get a good look at one. I have.'

Suddenly Teldin recalled the mysterious, elflike creature he had seen in the tavern back on Garden, and the terrified reaction of the drunken man who'd peered directly into the creature's face.

'I may have run into one myself,' he said. He answered Vallus's questions with a quick version of the story of the tavern battle and the strange, elflike creature shrouded in brown robes. 'At the time, I had a strong perception that it | was no elf,' Teldin concluded.

'True seeing,' Raven mused, sliding a sidelong glance at the cloaked human. 'The medallion at work?'

Her seemingly innocent question startled Teldin. He hadn't mentioned the medallion or its powers to her; how had she learned of it? He noted the peculiar expression on her face-a smug, almost feline satisfaction-and a second shock overpowered the first. She knows, he thought dazedly. She knows that I suspect she's carrying an ultimate helm and wearing a face that is not her own. As he stared into Raven's gold and silver eyes, Teldin knew precisely how a mouse must feel when a cat toyed with it. He broke eye contact and drew in a long, calming breath.

'I wonder if there's any connection between the creature you encountered on Garden and our new visitors,' Vallus said, oblivious to the exchange that had taken place.

'The cloak,' Teldin said wearily. 'That always seems to be the connection.'

'Especially in this case,' Vallus agreed. 'The insectare are a secretive and devious race. It's safe to assume they crave the cloak's power.'

Teldin sighed and reclaimed his looking tube from the elven wizard. The klicklikak was still a good distance away, but coming directly for them. 'I suppose it's also safe to assume they'll fight?' he asked with resignation. Vallus nodded.

'I'll alert the crew,' Raven volunteered. Reflexively Teldin caught Raven's arm as she brushed by.

'I want you to stay out of the fight, Raven,' he said quietly. 'Sound the alarm, then go directly to your quarters. Whatever happens, stay below.'

'I can handle myself,' she assured him. She patted the shoulder strap of her broadsword's scabbard and smiled, but to Teldin's hypersensitive eyes her smile seemed to hold secret, ironic amusement.

'Oblige me,' Teldin insisted. 'I don't want to have to order you below, but I will.'

A baffled expression crossed the moon elf s face. Teldin wondered briefly if she might be picking up his own feelings. That certainly would account for her confusion, he thought wryly.

Despite the mysterious power Raven had just flaunted, despite whatever game she might be playing with him, Teldin was afraid for her. Just because she looked like a legendary elven warrior, it didn't necessarily follow