Dennis McKiernan - The Dragonstone

As before they stood turns at guard, again excepting Alos, for the old man was beyond redemption in his fear and cried himself to sleep.

Near mid of night Aiko's tiger again whispered of peril, yet it was a peril that grew and grew. Hastily she awakened the others, hissing, "Something wicked comes."

In the faintly luminous mist, hooded lanterns were lit and made ready for battle, though their light was kept shut for the nonce. And weapons were taken in hand: Egil with his axe, Aiko and Burel and Delon with swords, Ferret with her daggers, and even though Arin loosened her long-knife in its scabbard, she readied her bow, though it was unlikely she would make use of it, for the chill fog yet swirled and coiled 'round. And they stood back to back in a small circle and waited, Alos in the center meeping tiny moans, ready to bolt.

Still the peril grew and grew, and of a sudden something monstrous swept overhead and bellowed an earsplitting roar- RRRAAAAWWW! -the comrades all flinching down in the thunderous blare.

The bellow was met by a harsh skreigh, as something screeched high above.

"Waugh!" shrieked Alos, and he threw his blanket over his head and groveled down against the earth.

The others peered upward, yet they could see nought in the dark swirling mist above, but they could hear a mighty swashing, as of huge pinions churning air.

The horses and mules screamed in fear and jerked against tethers staked in the ground, some to get free and gallop away in the dim fog, staves and tethers bouncing behind. The cattle, too, bellowed, and pulled up their own anchors and fled.

RRRAAAAWWWW! came another roar.

Grrrakkk! screeched an answer.

Of a sudden there was a violent blast, and the swirling mist flared red, as if a great gout of fire bloomed above. Again came roars and skreighs and the flap of vast wings, and again the mist above glared red. And now the skreighs dwindled, yet remained overhead, as if whatever thing made such shrieks flew higher into the sky.

"What do you-?" began Ferret, but her voice was drowned out by harsh shrieks and a maddened bellowing, and the fog overhead was backlit with furious flames, and moments later there came the sounds of rending, and then something thudded to the ground nearby, and then something else, and again and again, as if huge things were falling from the sky, unseen in the night of pale mist.

Then there came one last vast roar, and a great blooming of fire… and the flap of leathery wings heading south.

And as the sound dwindled, so, too, did all peril, or so a red tiger claimed.

Aboard the dhow, mortar and pestle in hand, the dark Mage Ordrune stopped crushing an admixture of black and green crystals and looked up from the arcane blend.

Ah, as anticipated, my fell beast is dead.

Splendid! For it means those fools are nearing their goal.

He hissed a command, and the tongueless Drik leapt up from his station inside the door and raced away topside. Shortly a Ghok came groveling inward.

"Turn east and ready my Helsteeds and chariot," commanded Ordrune in Sluk.

The Ghok paused a moment, waiting to see if there were more his master would demand. Yet when Ordrune turned back to his mortar, the Ghok scrambled out and away, shouting his own harsh commands as he gained topside.

In moments there came the sound of rope pulleys in blocks and the whipcrack of canvas in wind, and the dhow heeled over to begin cleaving a new wake across the cold, cold brine.

“Adon!" exclaimed Delon. "Look at this." The others moved toward the bard, misty halos blooming about their lanterns in the fog.

"What is it?" asked Ferret, bending down. "A great leather cloak?"

"No, luv. This is no cloak, but part of a wing, I believe."

Ferret sucked in her breath and drew back.

"Wing?" quavered Alos, stepping back as well, then peering over his shoulder as if seeking monsters in the pale night mist. "Wing from what?"

Arin squatted down and touched the leathery membrane. "A fell beast from the elder days, I would imagine. Slain by Raudhrskal."

"Is that what it was, the fight in the sky?" asked Alos, his eye wide with fright.

Arin nodded. "The beast encroached upon the Dragon's domain and was slain for its trespass."

Alos threw back his shoulders and glared at Ferret and said, "See! I told you they could sense intruders."

Ferret took a deep breath and said, "If that's true, then it means Raudhrskal can sense us."

The air puffed out of Alos; his triumphant glare collapsed. His face fell and he uttered a small, "Oo."

Aiko, squatting on her heels next to Arin, stood. "I think we'll find no more steeds in the dark. The two back at the camp will have to do for rounding up the others in the dawn."

Arin also stood. "As soon as the fog lifts, we'll look. It's not as if the animals can hide from us in this grassland."

Alos looked at Arin beseechingly. "Perhaps we should go back to town and wait until the Dragon gets past his rage. I mean, it would not do to approach him when he's upset, now would it?"

Arin just shook her head, but Egil said, "We are yet two days away from Dragons' Roost, Alos. More than enough time for him to settle."

"We don't know that, Egil," protested Alos, wringing his hands. "It seems to me that a Dragon might hold a grudge a very long time."

Burel looked at the oldster. "And why would the Dragon be vexed with us?"

"Well, we're intruders, for one thing, trespassers," replied Alos, wiping his brow. "And for another thing, perhaps the beast he slew was after us, and that's why it was in his domain."

Aiko's eyes widened, and she touched her breasts where the tiger lay. "Perhaps, ningen toshi totta, you have struck upon something. Perhaps the fell creature is what my tiger sensed in the dead of nights past."

"But why would he be following us, my love?" asked Burel.

Aiko shook her head. "Who knows the mind of such a beast?" she replied.

"Nevertheless," said Arin, "whether we led the creature here or no, we will press on for Dragons' Roost as soon as we recover our animals."

At these words, Alos groaned.

The wind from the Boreal shredded the fog and the sun overhead burned the remnants away by midmorn. Aiko and Arin rode the two remaining steeds and rounded up missing horses and mules and cattle, all found placidly munching grass on the open plains.

As they again resumed their journey, they rode past the severed head of the fell beast, its leathery neck torn in twain as if by mighty claws, its glaring yellow eyes now glazed over and dull, its long, fang-filled beak silenced forever.

"Adon," breathed Delon. "Raudhrskal must have ripped the beast apart."

Egil nodded, then said, "Can you imagine how powerful this beast must have been? Look at the size of that beak, and think on its wing as well. And for a creature as powerful as that, think how much mightier a Dragon must be to rend it asunder."

Alos moaned and fumbled in his saddlebags for a flagon of brandy.

On they rode toward Dragons' Roost, the mountain looming ever closer. With hills in the near distance to the fore, the land began to draw upward toward the great slopes ahead. In the sunlight the snow and ice on the peak glittered pearlescent, shining white with glints of blues and greys where frozen crags cast their shades.

And the cattle plodded slowly ahead.

The sun set and darkness fell, but still they pressed on by the light of the gibbous moon, for they wished to make up some of the time they had lost that morning rounding up their scattered animals.

They had gone another two miles or so, when Aiko hissed, "Peril comes on wings," and she pointed toward the crest of Dragons' Roost, where, silhouetted by the moonlight against the white snow, something large and dark with pinions spread wide hurtled toward them.