The Spectral Blaze

Then Eider plunged down on its back. Gaedy

Eider’s talons dug into the dragonspawn’s scales. Her beak snapped shut on its neck, and blood spurted around the edges of the bite. The reptile thrashed, trying to shake her off or at least get her into a position where it could bring its natural weapons to bear. Then it collapsed as one or another of its hurts finally caught up with it.

“Good girl!” Gaedy

One of the creatures was twice as big as the one Gaedy

Then it spit its invisible breath weapon, and Aoth jumped aside, but not quite far enough. Gaedy

The dragonspawn instantly raised a forefoot high to follow up. Aoth kept turning until he was facing his foe again then dropped to one knee and braced the spear. When the reptile lashed its extremity down, it impaled it on the weapon’s point, which punched completely through. The steel triangle blazed. The blood on it bubbled and smoked, and the dragonspawn howled.

Probably because Aoth had told him to, Jet stood between Cera and the smaller of the dragonspawn. He lunged and bit, retreated and ducked, reared on his leonine hind legs and snatched with his talons, fighting savagely. But a griffon was less agile on the ground than in the air, and despite the flying mace the priestess had conjured to battle alongside him, he had fresh blood on his head and wing where the enormous reptile had clawed him.

“Get your sword,” Gaedy

Mardiz-sul scurried to retrieve his blade. “The other one’s bigger!” he called.

“Trust me!” Gaedy

He and Mardiz-sul charged the dragonspawn together while Eider swooped in overhead. Then Gaedy

Mardiz-sul had sense enough to evade when he realized the reptile was about to attack him. But he had trouble keeping track of all its natural weapons. At one point Gaedy

Cera’s flying mace blinked out of existence. Chanting, she swept the similar but fully corporeal weapon in her hand over her head in an arc, then, on the final word of her prayer, thrust it at the dragonspawn. Even though Gaedy

That meant it dropped its guard relative to its other foes, who seized the chance that afforded them. Gaedy

The reptile was clearly finished, so Gaedy

Aoth didn’t give it a chance to get loose. He shouted words of power that made Gaedy

Aoth immediately lowered his left arm. Gaedy

“I think it’s out of the socket,” Aoth replied.

“I wish I’d realized. I thought you had things under control.”

“I did. I used a tattoo to mask the pain.” Aoth looked around. “How’s everyone else?”

“How do I look?” Jet rasped. Mardiz-sul jumped. He might have seen griffons up close before, but he’d almost certainly never heard one talk. Jet was unique.

“Scratched,” Aoth replied unsympathetically. “Cera, will you attend to the poor maimed chick? Since there’s no else who needs it worse.”

Gaedy

“Well,” he said, “now we know that Vairshekellabex has a spy at Arathane’s court too.”

“Apparently,” said Aoth. He turned his gaze on a dragonspawn carcass. “I suppose I’d call those scales gray. But they’re a shiny kind of gray.”

“Whatever they are,” Cera said, “won’t this convince the queen that we’re telling the truth?”

Gaedy

Mardiz-sul shivered. He’d fought courageously once he got going, but since the threat was past, the fear that he hadn’t allowed himself to feel before was nibbling at him. “This is what it’s like to fight dragons,” he murmured, more to himself than anyone else.

Jet answered anyway, with a screeching laugh. “This is what it’s like to fight dragonspawn. True wyrms are far more dangerous.”

The firestormer swallowed. “Captain, I… suppose we could talk further about how the expedition should be led.”

Tchazzar claimed Jhesrhi’s gift was a surprise, and so he chattered about everything but the gift as he led her through the War College. He rattled on about his plans to sculpt every remaining natural exterior surface of the fortress into a huge bas-relief celebrating his reign, the preparations for the invasion, salacious stories about Sune and other deities, and a dozen other subjects.

Perhaps he meant it to distract her. But she soon realized they were heading for the dungeons, and a chill crawled up her spine. Did he still suspect her of helping Khouryn to escape? Was he taking her back to the scene of the offense in the hope that she’d do something incriminating? Or had he already made up his mind that she was guilty and decided to punish her in the same place where she’d betrayed him?