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The dragon hiccupped, and another cloud of smoke emerged, smelling decidedly like roast meat. Definitely, I did not want to meet his last meal on a face-to-face basis. I just prayed that Tom Lane wasn't down there in his belly, along with the spirit seal. Gutting a deer was hard enough; gutting a dragon was a full-blown expedition into monster surgery, and first we'd have to kill him.
After another moment's pause, the dragon said, "Fox-man, you'd better cease your attempts to enchant me, or I'll start with your head and pick my teeth with your bones. Now, tell me the truth, why are you in my territory?"
Morio glanced at me, a question on his face. We had all of about three minutes before old Smoky here was going to start blasting. If the dragon was in league with the demons, we were dead. If the dragon was out for himself—a distinct possibility—then who knew? What I did know was that dragons were terribly clever at sniffing out liars.
I finally shrugged and said, "We're looking for a man named Tom Lane. We need to talk to him."
Smoky's eyes lit up. "You want to talk to that meddlesome idiot?"
Uh-oh. By the tone of his voice, it was obvious he wasn't Tom's friend, but I didn't sense a demonic aura around the dragon. Maybe he and Tom just had issues. But why hadn't Smoky already resolved them with a puff of fire? I couldn't be sure, and I didn't think it was diplomatic to ask.
"We need to find him," I said. Then a stroke of genius hit me. "If you tell us where he is, we'll take him away, and he'll never bother you again."
The dragon shifted, hunkering down on the mound. His neck bobbed like a king cobra in a snake charmer's basket before stretching out to zero in on my face. Those glittering, glacial eyes were about ten feet away, the dragon's head huge in comparison to me. He was scrutinizing me. I did my best to appear wide-eyed and innocent.
"Witchling, what's your name?"
Another no-no. Never give a dragon your real name. Not a good idea. I shook my head. "I'm not that stupid. You know I'm not going to give you my name, so don't even bother."
A deep rumble filled the air as he huffed and then laughed. "I like you. Funny and brave, a rare combination. Your quarry ran into the cave early in the day. I chased him as far as I could, but he got away. If you take him with you, I'll let you live and walk in my forest. If you fail, then I'll eat you for breakfast."
I sighed. I was starting to feel like the universal stooge on the end of the baddeal train. Bring me a demon's finger bone, or I'll take one of yours. Terminate the demons, or they'll destroy the world. Get Tom Lane out of my sight, or I'll eat you for breakfast.
"I guess that's our only choice. It's a deal." What more could I say? "But you have to let us into the cave so we can go find him. And no scaring him off while we're trying to catch him. And no funny business."
Morio suppressed a snort, and I knew what he was thinking. We'd really dug ourselves in with this one. I still couldn't sense where Delilah was.
The dragon gave his best imitation of a shrug. "My word of honor, on my smokestacks and whiskers, little witch."
Word of honor indeed. Dragons were good at twisting words, and I didn't trust Smoky's jovial nature. But it was the best we were going to get, barring the protection of a wizard or a witch far stronger than I.
He dipped his head and pointed toward the cave in the mound. "I chased him in there. Just get busy and find him. I'm feeling irritable today."
As Morio and I cautiously approached the cave, I forced myself to stare straight ahead. I wanted to look for Delilah, but the dragon would suspect something. We were at the mouth of the dark tunnel when I glanced back.>He shook his head. "Since she works at the Wayfarer and is aligned with the OIA, chances are she probably has a tree somewhere near Seattle. No, this magic is too powerful for her. The music makes me think of Pan, but it's rumored that Old Shag has been staying close to home in Greece."
I took a step closer, and we locked eyes. Morio held out his arms, and I stepped into his embrace. He kissed me, long and slow, tender without the fury that had spurred us on earlier.
"We're going to have to discuss this later," I said. Thoughts of Trillian filled my mind, but even as I worried over his life, my body had a will of its own and I'd responded so strongly to the fox demon that it made me afraid. And I liked Morio. Trillian thrilled me to the core. I loved him and I hated him. But I really didn't like him. Whatever came out of this mix was going to be interesting, that was for sure.
"I know." Morio let out a long sigh. "But right now we need to focus on matters at hand and avoid being caught up by that whimsy spell again."
"Excuse me," Delilah piped up. "But what the hell are you two doing?"
I broke away from Morio and jerked my head toward the mound. "While you decided to take a kitten break, we ended up in a lip-lock that would hit a tripleX rating. Didn't you notice the nice layer of mud I decided to add to my outfit?" Unfortunately, that wasn't a joke. Thanks to Mr. Fox's wild ride, the back of my jacket and skirt were soaked with dew and mud and soggy leaves.
"I was wondering but was too polite to ask," Delilah said with a cough. "Uh-oh. I can't wait to see the fallout on this one," she said, a snarky grin creeping across her face. "Well, I'm just glad you guys caught me before I took off into the woods and got myself lost."
"Thanks, wild child. Back to the matter at hand. If this isn't Wisteria's doing, then whose? It's Sidhe magic, but linked to Earth, not to OW."
Morio knelt to examine the toadstools. "Camille's right. This is very powerful magic and dangerous to leave unattended."
With a frown, Delilah stared at the barrow. "Then the question is, how do we break the illusion? I want to know what's under there."
I studied the mound. "I can probably break through, but there's a very real chance that when my magic comes into contact with the barriers, I might cause some sort of an implosion. I'm not sure it's worth the risk. Maybe we can just go around it?"
Morio cocked his head to one side. "I can try to banish the force field, but I don't know if I'm strong enough. This isn't just illusion. What about if we try it together? Maybe I can deflect any misfire from your magic, Camille."
"Brave, aren't you?" I rubbed my backside. I'd really taken a pounding. Morio was stronger than I'd given him credit for. It was going to take a lot of stretching to work out the knots in my inner thighs. "You sure you want to chance it? If something goes wrong, I can't guarantee your safety."
