FIERCE: Sixteen Authors of Fantasy

by Mercedes Lackey

  Of course the treasure was cursed. Possessing it invariably turned people into the very worst parts of themselves, cruel and selfish and murderous, caring nothing for anything but their own pleasure. It would have been exhausting to try to explain it all to her, though, and I was tired of talking.

  “But what if—”

  “Shh.” I held up a hand to silence her. “There’s someone here.” I relaxed when I realized that it wasn’t Severn I’d sensed, but that didn’t mean we were safe. It felt like two men behind us, still far enough off that they wouldn’t know exactly where we were, but close enough that I wasn’t just going to wait and hope that they’d go away. They didn’t feel familiar. Darmish, perhaps, though I couldn’t tell whether they were magic hunters.

  Either way, I would deal with them. I just hoped it wasn’t the Langleys. That would be particularly messy.

  A strip of grassy, treeless land stretched out to either side of us like a deserted road. I urged my horse forward, into the shelter of the trees on the opposite side, and Rowan followed.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Wait here,” I said, and handed her the reins while I dismounted. “We can’t have people following us. I’ll take care of it.”

  “How?”

  I looked down the broad path in both directions. The trees on either side reached branches across, and the ground was overgrown with grass and saplings. Definitely unused, but still… “Don’t go anywhere, and try to be quiet. I don’t think there’s anything here, but it’s best not to take chances. Just stay well off the path. If anything threatens you, leave the horses and run. I’ll be back.”

  “What is it?”

  “Dragon path.”

  “Really?” She leaned forward and squinted as she looked toward the place where the wide path curved back into the trees.

  I tried to forget about her as I crept back through the forest toward whomever was unlucky enough to be on our trail.

  Chapter XV

  Aren

  THE MEN WERE EASY TO locate. They were locals sent to search the woods for us, careless and unaware of how close they were to success. I heard and saw them long before they knew I was there.

  “Do you see anything?” His Darmish accent made it come out, “D’you see hennyting?” His thoughts were easier to follow than his words.

  “Same as. Are we going to turn back? I’m about ready to get back to my Mary and a home-cooked meal.”

  “Nuts to your Mary. Give it another few. We’ll never hear the end of it if we’re first back.”

  “Imagine if we did find them?”

  The first speaker snorted, then wiped his nose on his sleeve. “Gawd, I hope not! Magic stuff gives me the creeps.”

  They certainly hadn’t located us through any skill of their own. More likely they’d been sent off in our direction, picked up a few signs of someone passing, and followed because they’d been instructed to follow every clue. What a shame for them that they were so keen on doing their duty.

  They were alone, and hadn’t thought to send word back to the magic hunters. The second one told me so before I broke his neck.

  I dragged the bodies to a shallow ravine, then hurried back to where I’d left Rowan.

  That could have been worse, I thought. I didn’t enjoy dealing with situations like that, but if those two incompetents were the worst thing we had to deal with before we got to some kind of safety, I wouldn’t complain.

  The horses were still there, tearing away at the leaves of some low redberry bushes. Rowan had left our bags piled under the boughs of a thick pine, but she was gone. I hoped she’d only gone to look for food, but I knew better. I left the horses where they were, took the bags with me, and set out down the dragon path, heading toward the rocky hill to the North.

  She’ll be fine, I told myself. Just a young dragon, long dead. Dorset Langley probably killed it and made a piano bench out of its bones. Even if it had been an older dragon that left its treasure behind, Rowan would know not to touch anything in its cave, wouldn’t she? Perhaps not.

  I pushed my feet harder into the grassy earth and ran.

  The cave entrance was wide and low, opening beneath an overhang of dark rock. The leaves littering the ground were another reassuring sign. If a large dragon had been going in and out, its belly would have cleared the debris. I left the bags outside and ducked my head to creep into the cave.

  The cave Rowan had slept in the previous night had been damp and cool. This one was warm and dry enough that I had to breathe slowly so as not to cough. My stomach tightened with apprehension, but I forced myself to go on. Something rumbled in the cave ahead, but the echoes and the curves of the tunnel distorted the sound. The passage grew lighter, not with daylight, but with a red-gold glow.

  Had that not told me what lay ahead, the strong magic in the air would have. Had Rowan felt it? Could she? Perhaps that had been enough to warn her off. But I had to know.

  I stayed close to the smooth wall, creeping forward until the tunnel opened onto a larger cavern which was almost entirely filled with a massive dragon.

  The light in the cave came from the dull glow of the creature’s red scales. Its thick body rested on the floor, and great clawed feet curled at the ends of four muscular legs. Relaxed, not aggressive or defensive. The tail curved around the wall of the cavern toward me, and the head, which was half again as large as one of the horses I’d left outside, was raised at the end of a sinuous neck, gaze directed at a spot just to the side of where I stood in the shadows. I leaned forward. Rowan crouched on a stone outcropping with her back pressed to the wall, her attention fixed on the massive face in front of her. She appeared unharmed, but frightened.

  “I think we have company,” the dragon said, and a chill spread from the base of my spine through my body. The rasping voice spoke with our words, but sounded nothing like a human. The dragon and Rowan both turned to look at me.

  “Aren, run,” Rowan ordered.

  “Don’t be rude, girl,” the dragon replied. Its green eyes were surrounded by scales that were the same deep gray as its neatly folded wings and the narrow spines crowning its head and tracing the length of its back. “Come in, please.”

  I stepped into the cavern, but stayed near the entrance. There was no point trying to reach Rowan. We’d both be dead before we took one step toward freedom. The dragon shrugged, a gesture that rippled down the length of its body and ended with a flick of its tail. “Good enough. This young lady was just telling me about this journey that the two of you are on. Seems strange to me that you’d help her. Out of what? The goodness of your heart?” The beast lifted its lip in a sneer. “I hardly think there’s much of that in you.”

  “You know who I am, then?”

  “I do. I rarely care for the short-lived concerns of humans, but your family is familiar to me.”

  “I’m sorry,” Rowan said. “I just wanted to look, and then Ruby invited me in, and I didn’t think I should say no.”

  “Ruby?”

  Another flick of the tail. “The girl wanted to know my name, and I told her dragons don’t have them. She asked me what I ate to become such a lovely color, and I told her.” The dragon blinked slowly and fixed its gaze on my hands. “Very nice gloves you have there. Dragon skin?”

  “Yes.” There was no point lying. “He killed a dozen people before we killed him. Fourteen if you count unborn children.”

  “I don’t, but I suppose you are correct. He earned his death.” It stretched its forelegs and flexed its claws, clearly not intimidated by my presence. “If I kill her, will you do the same to me?” There was a mocking tone to its voice.

  “I’ll try.”

  Rowan sighed. “I told you not to come in. Are you going to kill me?” she asked the dragon.

  “Of course. You’re not much, but my young are hungry.”

  I hadn’t noticed the pool of still water between the dragon’s forelegs. Beneath the surface I could just make out the pale shapes of a trio of drag
onlings, still too young and soft to survive the air their mother’s heat made so dry. That was why the path appeared unused. Mother dragons guard their eggs and their young more carefully than any other creature, forgoing food and exercise in order to protect them.

  “Your story has entertained me,” the dragon continued, “and I thank you. But if you’re finished, I have no reason to spare you. Or him.” She leaned her head closer to Rowan. “But I’ll let you choose flames or claws, by way of thanks.”

  I scrambled to think of a way to get us out of there, but couldn’t come up with anything that would work fast enough. All I had was my hunting knife and magic, neither of which would work quickly enough to save us.

  Rowan stood, slowly and unsteadily. She reached out a trembling hand and laid it on the glowing red snout. “I think you should let us go.”

  It was a lucky thing the creature didn’t snort in surprise. It might have cooked Rowan where she stood. “Why ever would I do that?”

  Rowan closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

  Come on, I thought. She’d have to find a way to use magic again. I didn’t know what she’d be able to do with it, but we were both going to be eaten if she didn’t think of something.

  “Because,” she said, and looked up. “You want to know how the story ends.”

  The dragon opened her mouth, then paused. She pulled back, neck curving into an S-shape. “This is how it ends.”

  “It could be. But if you let us go, there will be more for you to hear. I don’t know what’s going to happen. Neither do you. I think you’re curious, that you’d like to find out. Isn’t that better than a tiny little meal?” Her voice shook, but she stared steadily at the dragon’s horrible face.

  A few seconds passed, and then a rumbling noise began deep in the dragon’s massive chest. It took me a moment to realize that she wasn’t growling, but laughing—or as close as a dragon could come to it. Her tail thumped twice on the floor.

  “I almost wish I could like you,” she said, and bared her teeth in a grotesque parody of a grin. “You’re amusing. I think your story would be worth hearing, but what’s a little human’s word worth, eh? Now, a sorcerer’s, perhaps…” Her head swiveled toward me. “What do you say, king’s son? Will you give me your promise that neither of you will tell anyone what you’ve seen here, and that you will come back to tell me how the story ends? Soon, I mean. If you don’t, I will find you, and I promise that the ending of this little story will not be pleasant.”

  I tried to erase the look of shock I felt on my face. Was this dragon actually offering to let us go? True, an agreement with a dragon was never to be entered into lightly, and the consequences could be unpredictable. But if the alternative was death…

  I nodded. “I promise, you’ll have your story.”

  Ruby drummed her clawed fingers on the floor, then stood and stretched, arching her back so that the gray spines scraped the ceiling. Her mouth twisted into a sly smile as she reached into an alcove and pulled out a mass of gold coins, jewelery, ornaments, and unrefined ore, all of it littered through with precious gemstones that would have made any jeweler in Luid weep to see them.

  “Very well, with two further conditions. First, you leave the horses. I can smell them on you, and it reminds me that my young are old enough to taste meat. Second, as a symbol of our agreement, I insist that you choose a bit of my treasure to take with you.” It seemed she was going to make sure the story that came back to her was worth the price she was paying for it.

  “Oh, I couldn’t,” Rowan stammered. “You’re very kind, but—”

  “I insist. Come, child. You must like pretty things. Choose, or stay for supper.” Rowan turned to me, eyes wide and frightened. “No,” Ruby said. “Not him. He’s got his gloves, he needs nothing more from us, and you need no help from him. Choose your prize, and I’ll let you go. Both of you. This is my offer.”

  Rowan’s shoulders sank, and she lowered her gaze. Don’t, I mouthed, but she didn’t see. I was sweating in the warm air, but my skin felt chilled. Please.

  She clenched her hands into fists, then forced them to relax. “Any treasure of yours, and we can go? I have your word on that?”

  Something like a smirk crossed the dragon’s face. “Any that’s in this cave. Let it not be said that I’m not generous.”

  “Then I suppose I’d be a fool not to take your greatest treasure.”

  “You would.”

  Rowan looked up, straight into the beast’s eyes. “Then kindly bring your children out of the water so I can choose which I like best.”

  Ruby’s gasp was nearly drowned out by the sound of my heart pounding in my ears. I didn’t know whether what Rowan had just done was brilliant or insane. Maybe both.

  Ruby lay down on top of the pool. “You wouldn’t.”

  “I could, according to the terms of our agreement. Perhaps I won’t. And perhaps you’ll remember that before you try to trick us again. No more games. We go, you get your story. That’s all.”

  The air warmed as the dragon let out a deep, shuddering breath that made my mind hazy when I breathed it in. “Agreed. But name your prize. You already said you’d take one. What do you want the most?”

  Rowan’s gaze passed over the heap of gold, along the great crimson body, toward the far end of the cavern. “There,” she said, and jumped down from her perch. She walked closer to the dragon’s rear claws than I would have dared, and stooped to pick something up off of the floor. Don’t take anything, please, I thought.

  “This,” Rowan said, and held up what looked like a shallow bowl. “I told you I’ve waited my whole life to meet a dragon. I can’t think of a better prize than one of your scales.”

  Ruby’s jaw opened, and she cocked her head slightly to one side. She turned to me. “She’s not even lying, is she?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  The dragon tapped a foreclaw on the ground and sighed. “Go, then. Take your prize, and let it be a reminder of your promise to return.” Rowan clutched the scale to her chest and ran toward me. Ruby watched her go by, then studied the two of us for a moment. “Well. I think this could be interesting, indeed. Go on.”

  “Thank you,” Rowan said, and the dragon nodded.

  I pulled Rowan up to the tunnel entrance, holding onto her arm to support her. Her whole body was trembling.

  Ruby’s head turned to follow us. “Don’t forget to leave the horses.”

  Rowan looked down at her injured ankle, then back at the dragon. She looked like she was going to object.

  “Don’t,” I whispered. “It’s a small price, believe me.”

  She nodded, and led the way through the tunnel. My gloves fell to the ground as we ran. I didn’t stop to retrieve them.

  It seemed strange that the sun still shone through the colored leaves when we emerged, as though nothing in the world had changed.

  We left the cave, turning away from the path. Ruby would find the horses soon enough, and we didn’t need to be there when she did. I hoped she’d find the bodies I’d left. It would be better if they disappeared completely.

  I handed Rowan her bag and bedroll, and we ran as far as we could before her ankle gave out and she had to stop to treat and re-wrap it.

  After she finished tying her boot, she covered her face with her hands. “That was horrible!” she cried.

  “Well, what did you think was going to happen?” I tried not to yell, but I spoke more loudly than I’d intended. I was impressed with her quick thinking, but that didn’t do anything to cancel my anger at her. “At what point did you realize it was a bad idea? Obviously not when I said ‘dragon path’. Was it when you discovered that there was a live dragon in there, or only after you started having a friendly conversation with it?” She didn’t look up. I took a few deep breaths, then knelt in the dirt beside her. “Rowan, you could have died in there. You’re lucky that’s not the first thing that happened. If that had been a younger dragon…”

  “I know.” Her
voice cracked.

  “How did you know not to take the treasure?”

  “Stories. I didn’t want to risk it.”

  “Well, good. But that doesn’t change the fact that under any other circumstances, we both would have been roasted.”

  “I’m sorry.” We stood and she wiped her eyes on her sleeve, then slipped the gray traveling cloak around her shoulders and pulled up the hood. “I need to go home.”

  “You can’t, we haven’t found help for you yet. Even if you don’t believe me about the magic, we can get help for your pain.”

  When she looked up at me, any trace of happiness or excitement that might have been there before was gone. “I thought I wanted an adventure,” she said, “but this isn’t at all what I expected. I don’t have magic, and you can’t fix me. It was stupid of me to let you try. I’m going home, and I’m going to put all of this behind me. Maybe it’s not too late for that.” She picked up her knapsack and bedroll and started down the hill, deeper into the dimly lit woods.

  “But you just got us out of a dragon cave,” I called.

  She turned back. “Yes. Right after I got us into a dragon cave. I’m obviously not ready for any of this. Which way is the border?”

  I picked up my own things and followed her. I couldn’t let her go home to be captured by Severn, or to marry a magic hunter who would probably turn her in or kill her when he realized what she was. I still wasn’t entirely sure why it was so important to me, but it was.

  If I could arrange it, I might get one more chance to convince her of her gifts, to make her stay and fight to save herself. I didn’t like to think about what I’d have to do, but I had no choice. It was time to try something drastic.

  Chapter XVI

  Rowan

  PAINFUL AS RIDING HAD BEEN, walking was worse. Aren took the lead and I limped behind, trying to keep up with his long strides, occasionally catching up when he stopped to look back. My stomach grumbled as supper hour passed, but we’d lost too much time. I doubted there would be any stops before nightfall.