“Before you make up your minds, I want you to consider two things. We have learned, much to our regret, that Iyesta was guarding a nest of eggs under the city. Somehow, Thunder learned of that nest and stole the eggs before we could save them. We don’t know what he plans to do with them.”

“It’s not just the eggs we are worried about,” Linsha said.

Falaius gestured for her to stand up. She climbed onto the flat rock and stood in front of Crucible. For a moment she gazed up at the dragon’s head towering over her, one gleaming eye slightly cocked so he could see her better, and she was very glad to have him with her, even to the possible detriment of Sanction’s safety. She felt a deep sense of connection with him that surprised her sometimes when she thought about it. Some of it, she knew, stemmed from their time together in Sanction. The dragon had saved her life and lent his strength and sympathy to her when she needed it most. Some of it came from their shared grief for the death of an irreplaceable dragon and friend. But the rest? It was more than friendship, more than gratitude. Perhaps it was something similar to what her brother, Ulin, felt when he flew with the gold dragon Sunrise. It was a feeling of comfort and strength and delight that she would not change for anything in the world.

“Most of you heard the rumors that Iyesta’s head was missing when we found her body,” Linsha began. “It was. So was Purestian’s. And if we could find the bodies of the triplets, I believe we would see their skulls are missing, too.”

She paced the short distance back and forth on the rock and tried to look at the faces of the people before her. Although the sun had just set and a vestige of light still remained on the plains, shadow and darkness filled the Wadi and lapped up to the top of the canyon walls. Without some form of firelight, Linsha could barely make out shapes let alone faces. She raised her voice a little to be certain everyone listened.

“Imagine if you can. Thunder-we all know what he is like-a dragon overlord increasing the power of his totem. What would he do? He could change the land like Malys or Sable. He could obliterate the city in a single afternoon. He could use his power to twist Iyesta’s beloved eggs into something hideous. Worse, he could attract the attention of one of the other dragon overlords. Especially Malys.”

Linsha didn’t have to see the faces of the people around her to hear the quiet gasp of horror from her listeners. She pushed her point forward.

“Malys called an end to the Dragon Purge to establish the borders of the Dragon Realms. And to prevent more Great Dragons from challenging for land. What will she do when she hears Thunder has killed Iyesta, doubled his realm, and taken the skulls of several dragons? Will she be pleased to see an upstart claim the vast Plains of Dust?”

“What about Beryl or Sable?” a Legionnaire called out.

“What about them? I cannot believe either of them would be happy by Thunder’s move. So where does that leave us?”

“Caught between the Pinnacle of Panic and the Abyss of Doom,” said the same voice. Several people laughed. Most didn’t. It was too close to the truth.

“An apt description. Which is why we should move quickly to destroy Thunder’s totem before he can finish it. I would rather deal with a dragon like Thunder than a monster like Malys.”

“But where is this totem?” shouted a man’s voice.

Linsha peered through the darkness toward the speaker, but Lanther rose to his feet and answered for her. “I have spoken to several prisoners who told me Thunder has broken into Iyesta’s treasure chamber. He plans to bring his collection of skulls from his lair and erect his totem in the chamber, under heavy guard.”

Someone else asked, “Do you know where the dragon eggs are?”

“Not yet.”

The questions, comments, and advice came faster and faster until almost everyone was talking at once. Lanther gave up trying to say anything and sat down with Mariana. Falaius and Dockett fielded questions and tried to keep order.

Standing in the darkness with Crucible beside her, Linsha felt a sudden surge of energy. She had had her say and told the people what they needed to hear. They had to make their own decision from here. In the meantime, she wanted to get out of this stifling canyon, to do something useful, to do what she was good at-gathering information.

To say they were going kill the dragon and destroy his totem was one thing. To actually do it was something else again. They needed information on his whereabouts, his guards, his preparations for the totem, his plans for the eggs. Something Lanther had said came back to her thoughts-Find his weapon and use it against him. Thunder had used something to kill those brasses. Neither Iyesta nor Purestian had suffered the burns characteristic of a lightning attack. Something had killed them quickly and effectively. If someone could just find that weapon, the chances of killing Thunder and living to tell about it would be much greater. She wanted to find it.

Linsha quietly edged off the rock and walked past Crucible into the darkness. She heard him turn around and come after her, she heard Lanther call her name, but she acknowledged neither of them until she had left the cave and the noise far behind and was enveloped by the solitude and darkness. She whistled a soft, lonely call and held her arm out. She felt rather than saw the owl float silently from night and land on her arm. Only then did she turn around to the bronze dragon and say, “Want to go hunting?”

The Brute Camp

22

You don’t have to go with me. You hurt your leg yesterday. It needs to heal.”

Linsha crouched at the foot of a large outcropping outside the mouth of Scorpion Wadi. Crucible lay behind her, his long body flattened against the ground. They had bypassed the sentries in the canyon and now waited for Varia to return and tell them all was clear.

“Someone has to keep you out of trouble,” he whispered. “Just what do you intend to do?”

Linsha hesitated. While she felt determined to do something and strong enough to do it, she hadn’t really considered exactly what she should do.

“I gave my word to Iyesta that I would protect her eggs,” she said after a while. “We need to find them. But first, I want to look for the weapon Thunder used to kill Iyesta. It’s possible the enemy has not yet found the back entrance to the labyrinth-the one in the palace grounds. We could go there and look for-”

Crucible cut her off with a sharp sound. “Quiet! I hear hoofbeats.”

They froze, listening to the staccato rhythm of a horse approaching at a fast trot. An almost silent flutter of wings brought Varia to land on the rocks by Linsha’s head. “It is the young centaur,” she hooted.

“Leonidas?” Linsha’s voice warmed with pleasure. She stepped out into the open where he could see her and called his name softly.

There was a clatter of hooves on stone, then silence. “Lady Linsha?” The relief in his voice almost overwhelmed the wariness of the question. He moved forward until he could see her in the starlight. “What are you doing out here?”

She heard something heavy move behind her and saw the glow of golden light illuminate the rocks around her and gleam on the centaur’s pale hide, then it flashed out leaving nothing but spots dancing in her night vision. The centaur’s eyes grew huge. He reared up, his hand reaching for a weapon behind his back. “No, no it’s all right,” she reassured him. “It’s just a friend of mine.”

Leonidas pranced back several steps and shook his mane. “You keep interesting friends, Lady Knight. What was that light?”

“A shapechanger. We were going to go on patrol.”

“Then I am glad to find you. Once again we meet in darkness and need.”