“I hardly have the heart to tell the rest. I ran and hid among some brush on the far side of the tower, which was pushed over into the sea. Men came in from the sea in longboats with the heads and tails of dragons fore-and-aft. The dragons hunted any elves who tried to flee, and the men came for murder, not for plunder. Even the smallest babes in swaddling clothes were spitted on the broken timbers of the city, before all was set aflame. The dragons attached some sort of iron contraption to the ends of their tails, and began to smash things up. The dragons saw to it that no stone stood upon another. They broke the foundations of the tower with tailswipes and pushed it with elves still screaming inside into the sea.

“The dragons rested in the ruins of the city feasting on their prey, then roared inland. Those who had hurt themselves in battle went afoot, the rest aloft. Death and destruction passed over me time and again until the merest flutter of a crow’s wings put me on my face in the undergrowth.

“I lay there, watching, praying for the sun to hurry across the sky before I was discovered. When darkness came I started east.”

“We know they’ve served the dwarves, and men who will not join them, likewise,” Hischhein said, his face wet with the story of Hazeleye’s grief. “It is always the same. The dragons see to it that there is no rumor of approaching war. They come in sudden fury from the darkness, and the men follow to take advantage of the chaos. Ancient Hypat wears a circlet of burned cities, and it will be the next to fall, I fear. The Wizard of the Isle of Ice has sent an ambassador to my cousin, our queen. He thinks the Dairuss a barbarian people, an opinion perhaps many of the Ghioz shared until this last lesson in true barbarity. The queen plays for time, shows him preparations for war, which are in truth preparations for our defense. Our good cousins in Hypat will find their eastern doors held while we still live.”

“The queen’s first duty is to her people,” Naf said. “She could spare her land much grief by becoming an ally of this far-off wizard. The people already complain about the refugees from the other side of the mountains. When they hear that war is coming out of the east, they may force her to choose the wizard’s side.”

Hischhein looked at Naf in blank astonishment. “The Dairuss are ignorant of politics. I am surprised that you, commander of our foremost forces, would even think such thoughts, leave alone give voice to them. Those words, which I will endeavor to forget, could cost you your command.”

AuRon saw that Naf’s eyes were alight with battle. “Hischhein, the Dairuss aren’t as ignorant of the affairs at court as you think. Chamberlains tell stories more interesting than who has a certain green-eyed smoke-dancer brought to his suite at night.”

“How-how-how dare—,” Hischhein sputtered.

Naf lunged. The explosive energy in coiled body flashed out, turning over the furred chairs, and he pushed Hischhein across the low wall and over the edge of the cliff. At the last moment, he grabbed the Ghioz’s ankles.

“Naf, to attack the Ghioz is death!” Hieba shouted, running to him.

AuRon stretched his neck so it hung over the abyss, and saw the interesting sight of Hischhein thrashing like a fish on a line—enmeshed in his own mountain cloak—with his back against the cliff wall. Naf’s muscles bulged as he held the man’s feet at his chest. Naf ignored Hieba’s attempts to aid Hischhein.

“The queen will sell us out, am I right? She plots with this ambassador to join the war. She’ll sell us as slaves and open the falls to the blighters!”

“No! No! Help, men of the Guard, seize him!”

Naf released his grip, and Hischhein screamed as he dropped, but Naf grabbed his feet again.

“The next drop will be farther, and every man will swear you had a seizure and fell. Tell the truth, and my guides will see you over the mountain to the borders of Hypat. You have my oath. Do you witness it, Evfan?”

“I do hear your oath.”

“No, you are wrong. The queen is true to her duty. What put such thoughts into your head? Put me before this witness who slanders the queen and let me defend her.”

“My forearms ache to let you go.”

Hischhein ceased his struggle. “Then drop me and be damned as a murderer by the gods you hold dear, Naf. I’ll die with a clear conscience, and you’ll die with my murder on your soul.”

Naf took a deep breath and pulled the Ghioz up. Hischhein’s face was red and flushed as Naf let him breathe.

“Sir, forgive his madness,” Hieba pleaded, on her knees before Hischhein. She kissed his feet in desperation, and AuRon felt his sii claws slide within their sheaths.

Naf kneeled and bowed his head. “You have my apologies, Counselor, but I had to be sure. The Silver Guard will stand true to the queen, now that we know the queen is true to us. But I’d heard that she’s become intimate with this ambassador, and has had him brought to her bedchamber in secret.”

Hischhein’s eyes widened. “I am deep in court secrets, and I have not heard this.”

“No one knows more secrets than a washerwoman. The same one who does the queen’s sheets attends to my bedclothes. She gets all the gossip from the chambermaids. I pay her well.”

“You’ve more layers than an onion, Commander. I shouldn’t want you as an enemy.”

AuRon curled himself on the ledge like a great hunting cat of southern jungles. “Naf, I wait to hear how I fit into this.”

“That was my job, dragon,” Hischhein said. “I want you to know I speak for the queen on this matter. She will offer you mountain, forest, and plainland on our southern borders to live as you will, with the soldiers of Dairuss seeing that you are not disturbed, if you will help us in our need.”

“The promises of man rarely outlast a generation, Counselor,” AuRon said.

“Our queen rules not just by word, but by law, as well. She obeys the laws laid down by previous rulers and their Council. Were we to break this, all would be weakened. Besides, a dragon on our southern borders will discourage invasion from the barbarians farther south.”

“Would that you were dwarves! They get to the point with half the words.”

“Very well. May I call you AuRon?”

“Yes,” AuRon said.

“Hazeleye has told us something of your past. Our enemy is the one that ordered your family hunted out of the mountains, that the eggs and young of your parents might be taken. I do not know what sort of filial loyalty dragons have, but beyond that, he has done likewise to other dragons on the other side of the Inland Ocean, or so Hazeleye tells us. We know very little of this Isle of Ice, save that it is a foggy place surrounded by treacherous rocks, and no strangers get outside the port.”

“They know this not only from me, but from others, as well,” Hazeleye said. “None have been beyond the port at the glacier bay.”

“You need a dragon to fly over it, and spy out his land?”

Hischhein looked uncomfortable. “Much more than that. We’d like you to join the other dragons under the wizard. Serve in this flying army of his. And when you get the opportunity, kill him.”

Chapter 21

AuRon’s blood coursed hot with anger. He saw the people, speaking to him as through red gauze.

“So I am to be an assassin?” AuRon asked. “I’ve learned to hate that word. An assassin is a sneak. Am I to worm my way into the cave of his enemy to kill him as he sleeps?”

“He’s made slaves of your brethren, AuRon,” Hieba said. “It’s not just elves and dwarves dying—dragons fall in this war, too. He has them under some spell.”

“This war will lay waste to ancient lands and nations,” Hazeleye said. “Barbarians will fill the void. A civilization built by elves, men, and dwarves that goes back further than any in living memory will be gone, with savages squatting in the doorways of monuments whose making they could never comprehend.”

“No more writing, no more music—,” Hieba began.

“My friends, I came here thinking you were in danger. Take my advice. Ally yourself with this wizard. If you cannot defeat him, you might as well spare yourselves extinction. Adapt to the new world. That is what I am trying to do.”

“I see the legendary selfishness of dragons is not exaggerated,” Hischhein said. “Even when it comes to their own people.”

“What about the favor you owe me, AuRon?” Hazeleye said.

“I’ve heard you out without roasting you. That favor is paid. Count yourself lucky that after you freed me, I did not dedicate my life to hunting down those who slaughtered my parents and sisters.”

“Do you know both sisters are dead, AuRon?” Hazeleye asked.

“Jizara stayed by Mother’s side. You know as well as I that they both died. Wistala made it out of the cave with me, and I heard of her death from her slayer, the Dragonblade.”

“I knew the man. He was skilled, but a braggart when it came to telling scores. She may still live.”

AuRon felt his hearts stop for a moment. He took a deep breath, trying to fight hope.

Hazeleye let that sink in for a moment before continuing. “AuRon, I made a fortune, now lost again, capturing dragons for this wizard. He paid triple, triple his bounty for healthy female hatchlings. I was not the only hunter. There is a possibility that your Wistala may be on his island even now, as his thrall. If I were to guess where in the wide world she was, if she still lives, it would be there.”