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  The first dragon streaked into view above him, coasting into sight against the gray clouds. A female, she wasn’t flying as warily as Talon expected. Maybe she could not tell if he was down in the crater or hunkered on the side of the volcano somewhere.

  Talon stretched out with his senses, checking on his other pursuers. The second dragon was sailing around the volcano, searching the mountainside. While he did so, the female dove below the lip, peering into the gloomy interior. The other two had fallen behind, but they would catch up soon. If he meant to act, meant to take this final step that would push him to the other side, he had to do it soon. No, he had to do it now. Before he had to face four-on-one odds.

  The searching dragon dropped lower than his perch, and Talon made his choice.

  He leaped, claws outstretched as he arrowed toward the female. She was indeed one of the ones that had helped lock him up the year before. His heart grew as remorseless as stone.

  She sensed him and twisted in the air, trying to bring her claws up to defend herself. She was far too late. Talon slammed into her side, his weight and momentum sending her flying. Like an upended turtle, she was helpless in the air, unable to right herself before she struck the lava.

  Her screech made him wince, stealing some of the hardness from his heart, but it did not keep him from swooping down to finish the job. She clawed her way out of the lava, flapping her wings, but the steaming orange liquid clung to her form and hampered her efforts. Talon struck again before she could recover, landing on her side and sinking his fangs into her throat. His wings flapped, keeping them both aloft as his fangs punctured vital arteries. Blood washed over him, as hot as the lava flying from her body. She struggled briefly, but the life bled out of her, and eventually her body slumped in his grip. Talon dropped her into the lava.

  Before he could relax, his senses screamed a warning. The second dragon streaked toward him, claws outstretched. This time, he had the advantage of streaking down from a higher elevation.

  Knowing he couldn’t let himself be caught right above the lava pool, he flapped his wings with the speed of a hummingbird. The other dragon swooped down, but Talon darted aside, avoiding him. His foe pulled up hard, belly almost skimming the lava pool.

  Talon turned, picking up speed as he flew toward him. The other two dragons couldn’t be far behind, so he had to finish off this one before they arrived.

  His enemy screeched and charged at him. Talon weighed more than the other dragon and had a wider wingspan, but he did not appear intimidated. Right before they came together, claws slashing and lips rippling back to reveal fangs, he hurled a mental blast at Talon.

  Usually, only females had such power, so it surprised him. But not enough to harm him. When he had been a human, Semptrusis’s attacks had been devastating, but as a dragon, he always kept a wall around his mind, as his mother had taught him a century earlier. Talon clashed with his foe, unaffected by the attack. Using his longer legs and throwing his powerful limbs behind his claw attacks, he flew in, raking the dragon’s scales. His opponent’s head darted in like a cobra’s, fangs striking for his throat. Talon whipped his wing around, using it like a shield to block the attack. The move caused him to lose some elevation, but he flapped as soon as he could, climbing into the air.

  The dragon chased him, but Talon was the quicker. When he reached the rim of the crater, he whirled. Once again, he used gravity and momentum, arrowing down toward his foe. Since the dragon had been right behind Talon, he did not have the distance to gain as much speed as he would have liked. His opponent saw him coming and attempted to dodge. Anticipating the move, Talon raked him with his claws. This time, he felt the satisfaction of the sharp tips sinking several inches into flesh as they scraped down the dragon’s side.

  His adversary screeched in pain and battered Talon with his wings. But Talon had already swooped past the dragon, and the attack came too late. He twisted in the air and grabbed his foe’s tail, his claws sinking in like anchors. He climbed up the dragon’s back, plunging his claws in with every adjustment. His enemy screamed again, wings flailing about, but he could not hit Talon, not while he was busy trying to stay airborne. Talon yanked himself up until he could sink his teeth into the back of the dragon’s neck. From this position, he could not sever any major arteries, but he shook his head. Bone crunched beneath his fangs.

  The flailing wings lurched to a stop, and the dragon started to fall with Talon still on his back. He gave his wounded opponent a final shake to be sure he could not recover, then released him. He flapped his wings to stay aloft, watching as the other dragon tumbled through the air, his head limp, and finally fell into the lava. The female’s body had already disappeared beneath the surface.

  It occurred to him that the molten lava would hide both of the deaths, and that if he fled now, he might get away with nobody knowing for certain that he had betrayed his kind. But other witnesses remained.

  Talon flew toward the top of the volcano to check on the other two dragons. They should have caught up by now, and they would have sensed the pain—the deaths—of their colleagues. They might be planning an attack even now.

  But when he reached the top, flying above the volcano and into the rain, he saw the two other dragons in the distance. They were flying back toward the valley. To warn Hul and anyone else who would listen? To tell them that Aristalonis had returned and was a threat?

  He considered giving chase and striking them down before they could report back, but he couldn’t bring himself to attack opponents that were fleeing. Besides, he wanted to check on Zala. His fate was already sealed. He had to make sure she survived this night. Even with him leading her, the mission she had chosen herself was not an easy one; she had to expect that failure could happen, complete and utter failure that left her entire team dead. That left her dead.

  His gut clenched at the idea of her lying broken in the jungle, her sword fallen at her side, her unseeing eyes staring emptily toward the sky. No, he would not allow that to happen. Even if he couldn’t feel the same arousal as a dragon that he had as a human, he knew she was special and that he would never find anyone like her again.

  He leaped from the rim of the volcano and flew back toward the jungle.

  Chapter 14

  Zala kept her hand on the hilt of her sword as she led her team through the jungle, rain pattering onto the top of the canopy and dripping off the broad leaves and spattering the tops of their heads. Five years ago, there had been villages and plantations in this valley, farmers turning the lush earth into coffee, cocoa, citrus, and sugar cane. Under the dragons’ influence, the land had gone back to wilderness, vining plants snaking across the ground and frond-filled shrubs growing higher than a man’s head. There might still be food to be found, but this was the haven of a predator now, of creatures that preferred meat to fruits and vegetables. Zala felt particularly disgruntled at the loss of the coffee bushes. She didn’t make enough to pay exorbitant amounts for her addiction, and the army, not considering it a necessity, did not automatically include it with troop rations.

  Monkeys howled in the treetops, and bats and birds flew for safe homes. She had grown up scarcely a hundred miles from here, in a similar environment, but the jungle felt wild and perilous now. It didn’t help that her sword had been humming since before they had stepped out of the tunnels.

  “Trouble?” Colonel Sandirr asked, walking beside her. He could not have seen much in the fading twilight, but he nodded toward her waist, where her hand gripped her sword.

  “A lot of dragon activity. Those four flew off, but there are others within a mile.” Zala kept her voice down, glancing back at her men.

  “I can feel them out there too. Even without a sword. Every time the monkeys go quiet, I hear the distant flap of wings.” Sandirr pointed toward the dripping canopy. “You can’t see them, but they’re up there.”

  Zala nodded.

  “When I was here before, there weren’t so many dragons around,” he said.

&n
bsp; “We’re near their seat of power, their king’s home. Last time you were here, they didn’t have a king yet, right?”

  “No, but their supreme commander held the mountain; this was still their seat of power.”

  The monkeys fell quiet abruptly, and the team walked in silence, Zala eyeing the darkening shadows beneath the trees. She noticed Sandirr shooting glances at her. When the sounds of nightlife returned, bugs buzzing and bats on the hunt flapping about, she spoke again.

  “Say what’s on your mind, Sandirr.” Zala expected a comment about that parting kiss Talon had given her, about receiving it in front of her entire team. Though she had been glad Talon had reassured her and had left the images of the mountain base in her mind, she would not have chosen such a public place for tongue tangling. She could only imagine what her people were thinking. Would they believe that Talon controlled her, instead of the other way around? Would they all lose faith and trust in her and request transfers to other units when this was over?

  “The dragon. In our meeting, you said this was your idea.” Sandirr waved in the direction they were heading, though the trees hid the mountain from view.

  “Yes.”

  “Are you positive about that? That you brought it up first?”

  “Yes. Why do you ask?”

  “I can’t help but think your prisoner might have manipulated things so that we came here where we could be captured. Why else would there be so many dragons about?”

  Manipulated things? He meant manipulated her, even if he did not say it so bluntly. Her cheeks flushed.

  “It could have nothing to do with us,” Zala said. “For good or ill, I was the one to bring up this idea first.”

  “And he went right along with it?”

  “No, he objected at first. But he wanted his freedom badly.”

  “Listen, ma’am—Zala.” Sandirr rested his hand on her forearm briefly. “I’m not questioning your command abilities or even the fact that we’re out here, risking our team without orders. The king usually goes along with whatever you decide to do anyway.” He smiled. “I’m just concerned. I’ve known you for years, and in all that time, if you’ve ever had a sexual relationship with anybody, you’ve been so discreet that nobody would have guessed. You always seemed indifferent to the entire notion, too dedicated to protecting our people and killing dragons to notice a pretty face.”

  Not indifferent... just busy. And, as she had grown older and acquired more wounds, of the body and of the soul, she had stopped believing she could appeal to anyone. It had been easier to distance herself from the idea of romance than to risk rejection.

  “I know I’m the one who suggested seducing the dragon—I was joking, to be honest, and didn’t think you’d even entertain the idea. But to see you actually affected by him, it’s disconcerting. Especially when you’re not the only one. Jhadsken and Salena both drool when he walks by. He clearly has some strange allure, and it’s not your fault if you’re taken in by it, but what if he was chosen for that? What if this is all a trap?”

  “Awfully elaborate just to catch a group of humans.”

  “Humans with two storm swords. And with General Shaylinor leading them. You’ve been a thorn under their claws for years. They would love to see you dead. They—”

  Something screeched over their heads, the foliage rattling.

  Zala was on the verge of dismissing it as some panther hunting in the treetops, a creature unlikely to target them, but then her sword pulsed, the vibrations coursing up her arm and through her body.

  “Dragon,” she whispered, waving for her men to close in.

  Salena ran up to join her, her blade drawn, the gray glow lighting the way ahead of her. Zala hoped the illumination would not be visible to any dragons flying above the canopy.

  “How many?” Sandirr asked.

  “I have no way to tell,” Zala said. “That looks like a clearing up ahead, maybe a pond. Let’s skirt it and stay in the trees, making it—or them—fight the vines and branches to get to us.”

  “Agreed.”

  A figure ran out of the darkness up ahead. Vorkan.

  “Dragons?” Zala asked.

  “Yes, but we’re close to Mount Slash too,” Vorkan said, wiping sweat and rain from his face. He took deep breaths. “I saw two dragons circling over that pond up there, but if we run, we might make it to the tunnels before they can find us.”

  “There aren’t tunnels,” Sandirr said. “According to our prisoner. Our former prisoner.” He frowned. “Just rubble that we have to dig through. If we can’t get through it quickly, that won’t be a good place to make a stand.”

  “Let’s at least try to get close,” Zala said. By that point, the rest of her team had gathered around her. “Who’s up for a run?”

  “A run from a dragon or a calm jog through the evening air, ma’am?”

  “Whatever will make you fast, Jashar,” she said.

  “Fast? Jash? I always figured he was in the unit to be rear bait so the rest of us could escape.”

  “Quiet, Carver. I could throw you into that pond up there, and we’d see who was the bait.”

  “You’d have to catch me first.”

  Zala held up a hand. “Quiet. We’ve got company up there. No time for chatter. Come on. Vorkan’s leading, and we’re going on a jog.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” the men responded together.

  Zala waved for Vorkan to lead. “Salena, follow him. I’ll take the rear this time.”

  Salena hesitated. “Are you sure, ma’am?”

  “Yes.”

  Any aerial assailant would likely swoop down on them from behind. Zala did not believe Talon had sent her team into a trap—she knew very well that she had chosen this all by herself—but if she had timed this mission poorly, then she should take the largest risk. Perhaps she should have done as Sandirr had suggested and taken Talon back to the king to propose this mission to him instead of taking it upon herself to undertake it. The king might have said no, but he might have sent a scouting team ahead of time, too, so they could have chosen the right night to approach. But she had not been comfortable with the idea of keeping Talon as a prisoner indefinitely or handing his fate over to someone else.

  She ran after the rest of her team, her sword alternating between humming angrily and pulsing warnings. In the increasing darkness, roots tripped her, and thorny vines scraped at her clothing and gear, but she kept up. They reached the pond and skirted it, as she had instructed. Above the water, the canopy broke, revealing dark, heavy clouds in the night sky. Rain pattered onto the water’s surface, and frogs croaked. If there were dragons flying up there, she couldn’t see them.

  The jolt her sword sent up her arm was the only warning she had of the attack.

  “Dragon,” she called as she whirled, trusting the blade and drawing it.

  A huge dark shape plummeted toward her. She held her position for several long seconds, wanting the creature to believe she meant to meet it head on, that she wouldn’t spring away. Meanwhile, she used her peripheral vision to examine the adjacent terrain. At the last second, she dove to the side, avoiding claws that swept along the trail, inches above the earth.

  She rolled behind a tree and jumped to her feet. The dragon had already cruised past and was rising again, but the jungle limited its maneuverability. It gained altitude, but not quickly. It had to duck massive branches that even a dragon could not fly straight through and snap off.

  Zala ran up the trail, almost crashing into Salena, who was on her way back. She veered to the side, leaped into a tree, and raced out on a thick limb. The dragon was banking, coming back in for another attack. It had to fly around a copse of thick trees, and Zala couldn’t see it for a moment. It shouldn’t be able to see her either. She sheathed her sword, so the glow would not give away her position, and scrambled higher into the tree.

  Sandirr’s voice drifted down the trail as he barked quiet orders, urging the men into the woods for cover. Several bows twanged, arrows fl
ying into the darkness. So long as they did not fly toward Zala.

  The dragon streaked out of the dark canopy, angling not toward her but toward Salena and the trail. It might not realize that its original target had moved. That would be ideal. Zala froze on the branch, one hand grasping a vine and one on the hilt of her sword, ready to draw it again.

  As the dragon flew closer, she crouched. Her timing would have to be precise.

  Not yet... not yet...

  “Now,” she whispered, and jumped off the branch, drawing her blade at the same time.

  She landed lower on the dragon’s back than she had hoped, but she twisted and scrambled up it quickly. The slick scales offered little in the way of toeholds, but as she’d long ago learned, momentum could take a person to impossible places. She made it to the dragon’s neck before losing her balance. She dropped, wrapping her legs and one arm around the sinewy neck.

  The creature had been shooting straight for Salena, but she had disappeared from the trail. Recognizing the new threat, it whirled and bucked, trying to hurl Zala off. She hung on like a tick and slashed into the side of its neck, shearing off scales.

  “More coming, General,” came someone’s yell from up the path.

  Zala, feeling an increased urgency, hacked at the dragon’s neck. Between the creature whipping its head around and her tenuous position, she struggled to find the leverage she needed to land a killing blow. She thought about loosening her grip and trying to climb higher, but the dragon landed and reared up on its hind legs first. It tucked in its wings and backed toward a tree—quickly.

  It almost succeeded in smashing Zala into that tree. Spotting the branches, she loosened her grip enough to slide around to the underside of the dragon’s neck. One of her knees crashed against the trunk, pain surging through her body. Still, she kept her grip and jammed her sword into the bottom of the dragon’s throat.

  A clawed limb swiped toward her. She couldn’t dodge while she hung so she was forced to let go. The claws came so close, they batted at her braid. She hoped she hadn’t just lost half of her hair.