front wall had crumbled away, and only two towers remained, on the southwest and northwest corners. Much of the rubble from the inner wall had fallen outward, making passage diffi shy;cult between the walls. The lower stories of the main keep still stood, tilted slightly and surrounded by the tumbled stones of its upper floors. All of the wooden buildings were long gone.

Inside the four thick walls were the same low shrubs and scrub pines that dotted the Great Moors, only these were tram shy;pled down from some great weight.

The croaking and chirping of frogs filled the air, punctuated by the buzzing of insects. But these natural denizens of the bog were very sensitive to intrusion. On this morning, when the glaring light and crackling noise erupted in the center of the bog, the insect sounds dropped away to silence. A shimmering circle appeared in the air. Its outlines were vague and shifting, and filled with flashing lightning. A jagged bolt of electricity shot out of the form to scorch the ground. Smaller lines of cur shy;rent danced between the ring and the ground, twitching in a constant dance.

With a crack that echoed off the fortress walls, a portal opened in the shimmering field, and two enormous shapes tumbled out of it to sprawl on the soft ground. Before they could disentangle themselves, the portal and its swirling frame disappeared. In moments a pair of black dragons stood shak shy;ing their wings and surveying the area.

When his eyes fell on the decaying fortress, Pteros froze. Khisanth noticed the other dragon's alarm, and her eyes fol shy;lowed his to trace out the castle. She had never seen it before.

'This is Talon's lair," Pteros whispered. "He lives here, in a tunnel beneath the courtyard, in what remains of the citadel's dungeon. If s no accident that we're here. Fraz must have read in my mind where I'd least like to be. After the elemental light shy;ning place, of course."

Khisanth was surprised at how well Pteros seemed to know the other dragon's lair. "Thanks to Fraz," she said, "you'll have to confront Talon whether you want to or not." She rubbed her claws in eager resignation. "He must surely detect our presence in his lair."

Khisanth could see the fear on Pteros's lined face. "I've a plan. Quickly, fly around behind the citadel, with good alti shy;tude. When Talon emerges to sniff me out, he'll spot me. Right then, you dive into his back and hit him before he knows what's going on. Even if he hears your dive, he'll be staring into the sun when he turns toward you. That moment of con shy;fusion is all you'll need to split him open."

Pteros was scared. "Do it," Khisanth hissed. "You've wal shy;lowed in your fear long enough. Be a worthy member of your race again, Pteros. Write new tales of valor for yourself." Pteros nodded once at her call-to-arms and flew off shakily. She watched until he disappeared from sight.

Many minutes passed before Khisanth detected the sound of movement inside the fortress. The noise grew steadily louder until suddenly, two dragons in flight burst over the top of the fortress wall.

Where had the second dragon come from? Pteros never mentioned any other besides Talon. The dragons swooped low past Khisanth, taking care not to get too close. They were obvi shy;ously hoping to intimidate her, so she stood her ground res shy;olutely. Soon they landed between her and the castle, just as Khisanth had hoped they would, where they stood momentar shy;ily eyeing her.

Khisanth took the opportunity to study them, as well. The larger of the two appeared also to be the older. His scales were sleek and shiny except over his left eye, where a nasty scar made the eyelid droop. The second dragon, who seemed ner shy;vous, bore no visible scars, but her claws looked particularly long and sharp to Khisanth. From Pteros's descriptions and her own brief encounter, she knew the older to be Talon, but who was the younger? A sibling, or even offspring, perhaps?

Talon approached Khisanth slowly, cautiously looking behind her. "Who are you, and why have you disturbed our sleep?" he asked. The second dragon glanced nervously around the sky.

"Don't you recognize me?" Khisanth snorted. "Of course, you did strike my tree and flee like a coward without facing me." Where was Pteros? Khisanth screamed inwardly, glancing to the skies yet again. The best moment to strike was fleeting away.

The bigger dragon's eyes narrowed suspiciously as memory dawned. His comrade, who had been watching the area behind Khisanth, stepped back toward the ruins without a word and suddenly stiffened. She tapped Talon's shoulder and pointed somewhere beyond Khisanth.

Khisanth twisted her neck and was angered to see Pteros circling high above, clearly visible. Already the younger dragon was working her way around to the left of Khisanth. The smooth tone of Talon's voice was soothing and appealing to Khisanth, but she remembered Pteros once mentioning the dragon's magic, and she steeled herself against the voice.

What was Pteros doing? Why had he shown himself, and why wasn't he attacking?

Khisanth had no time left for wondering. The young dragon was nearly behind her, and Talon continued talking in those flat, steady tones that probed into Khisanth's mind, dulling her wits. He was weaving a spell of some sort.

I must get above them, Khisanth realized dimly. Focusing her strength into one mighty leap, she took to the sky. Her head was clouded as if filled with fog, but the sheer physical effort of the standing take off and steady climb rapidly cleared her judgment.

As soon as Khisanth was airborne, both dragons were after her. She had a small advantage from being the first into the air, but she would lose altitude if she turned to fight. She contin shy;ued climbing, pushing her wings as hard as possible, but Talon and his partner were keeping pace.

Khisanth glanced skyward. Pteros was still circling! "Is he insane?" she growled. Then she heard a deafening roar from below, and a blast of hot bile splashed against her hind legs and tail. The pain was unbelievable. It burned like nothing she had ever felt before. Khisanth thought she knew what an acid burn felt like from those few times when she had contacted some of her own spew. But those experiences were nothing compared to this. She felt as if her lower half was being scraped away by hot needles.

Anger consumed her, at these two dragons for attacking her, but also at Pteros for what she could only consider betrayal. Was he planning to watch her die, or was he simply too scared to intervene?

Desperate now, reeling from the pain and hardly able to continue flying, Khisanth wheeled in the air and pointed her shy;self at Talon. She did not just dive, but drove herself earthward with all the force of her wings. She could see the green spittle still dripping from Talon's pulled-back lips. The dragon's eyes were filled with hateful glee, but the look turned to shock at the sight of Khisanth's sudden plunge.

Talon tried to swerve away, but Khisanth was moving too fast. The two massive dragons smashed together, and Khi shy;santh locked her limbs around her foe. Her claws raked across Talon's back and belly. Her jaws closed on the twisting, ser shy;pentine neck, fangs stabbing through leathery scales and veins and threatening to crush her foe's windpipe.

Both dragons plummeted, locked in their death embrace. They flailed and flayed each other with enormous claws. Black scales and gobs of blood and gore sprayed behind them like a grisly wake as they rushed ever faster toward the ground.

With her jaws securely clamped around Talon's throat, Khi shy;santh disgorged a blast of acid. The other dragon shrieked and exploded into a fury of writhing and twisting limbs. The acid streamed into the wounds in Talon's neck, flooding his throat, drawing into his lungs. He was drowning in thick, oozing heat that devoured him from the inside. A grating bellow blasted a cloud of greenish steam from Talon's maw. The acid sprayed frantically in every direction, but still the dragon writhed and convulsed in Khisanth's iron grip.