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His nostrils pulsed. Perhaps he found the exchange of pleasantries amusing. “The same. As always.” He stalked a few more paces forward.
He’d added another ear-ring, well, not quite a ring, more of a smooth squiggle, of what looked (and smelled!) like the rarest of white gold.
He marked her gaze and lowered his griff enough to hide the decoration. Or was it just decoration? Did it hold some significance to those slaughtering men?
“You’d better move along,” he said. “The battle is lost. The Ghioz have some business in these caves and then they will depart. You could return in a day or two.”
“Behind is my cave. If any of them wish to contest my claim, I look forward to the contest.”
DharSii took a reluctant breath. In a flash he shot forward and fell upon her, not biting but trying to pin her to the mound of rubble half blocking the passage. Or perhaps trying to pull her out.
He was frightfully strong, but she had plenty of grips for limbs and tail, and though her thick body would never be called elegant, anyone who tried to overcome it would admit it was powerful. She rolled him off hard enough to feel the impact through the rock and retreated a little farther behind the mound.
The smell of blood and dragon—male! Male! MALE!—both frightened and excited her.
“Did you think I spoke idly?” she asked.
“Of course not,” he said.
“Perhaps you could convince your host to leave.”
“They’re blighters. Hardly hominids, even. What could you possibly care about them?”
She panted, but even more than the air in her lungs, his hateful tone invigorated her spirit. He was the sort of dragon she could hate as fiercely as admire.
“Even blighters have their charms if you get to know them.”
“I rather doubt that. How did they buy such loyalty? All I’ve seen in these mountains is bits of copper and brass.”
“I’m not loyal to them. I’m loyal to my sense of right and wrong.”
“If there’s a wrong here, it’s that dragons are fighting among themselves in some hominid squabble. You’ve injured my companions, and taken very little harm in return. You could fly out of this cave knowing you’d given better than you received in defense of this rubble.”
“I could say the same to you. You three tried, and lost two dragons. Only a fool would press the contest after that. You could retreat with honor intact.”
“I told the Red Queen I would clear these caves when they met my price,” DharSii said. “Clear them I will.”
“You just said they’re nothing but a rubble. What do you suppose your Red Queen wants with rubble?”
“For all I care she just likes holding parades and parties when they’ve won a victory. You know humans. They like to cheer and celebrate deeds others have done, whether it’s their armies beyond the domes or some slathering hound in a fighting pit right beneath them.”
“Interesting choice of imagery. You’re no better than a trained dog, to my mind.”
“I’ll leave that to opinion. I’m certainly richer, and I have my independence.”
“For now. Until the Red Queen decides she needs to chain you up at her door.”
DharSii snorted. “Let her try. I’m more careful than that, and she needs me and my dragons too much to chance it.”
“Then you may die when she meets an opponent greater than herself.”
“I’d simply switch allegiances. The strongest faction is always willing to buy more strength. They pay a little less than the desperate, but it’s more enjoyable to win.” He looked at his tattered wing. “Less hazardous too, but that doesn’t seem to enter your reckoning. I shall have a long job with hemp and dart here tonight.”
“Some victory. Leaving those awful horsemen to skewer screaming children.”
“You’ve not seen much of the world if you’re surprised by such behavior. You can’t expect better from blighters or men.” He lowered himself, set his wings at an angle to deflect blows, wing-spurs up and ready to close on neck or tail, and advanced, bent a little to his right side so his tail could be brought into action as well. “I give you one more chance to show the sense I credited you with those years ago when you quit the Sadda-Vale.”>A reddish copper color that might be called orange, broken by dark stripes, six good-sized horns—
DharSii!
