Do you have a plan to convince him to get close enough to strike with your sword? Sindari asked as Shaygor flew past, banking to turn around for another attack.
I’m working on it.
I wished Freysha were here to make some vines grow out of the ground and capture the dragon’s foot, but having them shoot up twenty feet in the air might be beyond her skills.
Where is the gnome? Shaygor boomed into my mind.
What gnome?
He was beside you two minutes ago. Do you think I’m sense-dead? Shaygor arrowed toward my tree.
He told me he’d pay me if I gave him my cloaking charm and kept you busy while he escaped.
Where did he go?
This time, Shaygor came within fifteen feet of the ground as he opened his great fanged maw, smoke gathering in his throat. Maybe he wanted to make sure he struck me full on.
I darted toward another tree, zigzagging my path to try to throw him off. He could only adjust the trajectory of his descent so much now that he was committed, but he had no trouble swinging his neck around toward me while he was diving.
I was tempted to throw Chopper and hope to prong him in the stomach as he sailed past, but it was easy to envision him snatching the blade out of the air with his talons and flying off with it. Instead, I tried Freysha’s fern trick as I ran, envisioning wet protective fronds filling the space between us as he breathed flames down on me.
This wasn’t about mind manipulation, so I didn’t expect it to work, but I only knew a few types of magic so far. To my surprise, as the flames spewed toward me, they were deflected by an invisible barrier where I’d imagined the fronds. The fiery gout bounced back up into the night.
That must have surprised Shaygor as much as it surprised me, because instead of coming around to attack again, he flew up and landed in a stout tree at the edge of the dog park.
Where did he go? Shaygor repeated, this time with compulsion in the words. He glowered down at me from the treetop, putting images of me spouting everything I knew to him while dropping to my knees and begging for my life.
Why did everybody want me on my knees?
Resisting him seemed easier than in the past—was the charm in my pocket helping out?—but I still felt the pull of his power. Before my body could think about obeying, I employed the fern fronds again, this time imagining them around my mind. As he glared at me, I could sense him summoning more power and directing it at me. My fronds wavered, threatening to dissolve, and one of my feet treacherously stepped out from behind the tree.
I dropped to one knee and pressed my fingers into the dirt, willing the earth to lend me its power. The fronds re-formed, steady and firm in my mind’s eye.
I can kill you easily, Shaygor stated. Even if you had not been responsible for my son’s death, I would enjoy killing the mongrel toy that Zavryd’nokquetal plays with. I would enjoy it very much. Would he weep at your death, do you think? Our eyes do not have tear ducts, but I have seen dragons in elven or human form weep. They succumb to the weaknesses of the creatures they shift into, the fools.
If you’re trying to butter me up to get information from me, you suck at it.
Tell me where the gnome went, he boomed into my mind again, throwing a torrent of power at me.
I gasped and almost lurched to my feet, nearly overwhelmed by the urge to run out into the open and expose myself to him. But I willed the power of the earth and my own power to wrap around me and my mind, to protect me from his coercion. And the charm in my pocket warmed against my thigh, as if it too was contributing.
Once again, the urge lessened, and I glared defiantly back at Shaygor. Look, asshole. If you want information from me, you better come down here and ask nicely, the same as anyone else. With a fistful of money for me.
Not that I expected him to have money or wanted it. I just wanted him close enough for me to hit with my sword.
I glanced at Sindari, who crouched behind another tree, using his stealth magic to hide himself from Shaygor. I didn’t speak to him, afraid Shaygor would intercept our telepathic communication, but I trusted he knew I would want him to try to distract our enemy if he came down. Just long enough for me to get close…
Shaygor snorted. You are a whore. No wonder you find it so easy to hold the tail of such a weak dragon.
Weak? Zav? I saw him kick your ass twice.
Shaygor sprang from his tree, and I braced myself for another attack, but he sailed to the bottom of the hill and landed next to a wooden bench. His big silver butt almost took out a large wooden sign with information about the park.
He is weak, and his family is weak. They will all be destroyed, and we will rule. Shaygor’s outline blurred as he shifted into a smaller form.
I rushed out from hiding, hoping to attack while he was transforming, but he finished too quickly. The silver-haired elf version of him stood before me with a glowing sword in his hand. It was an imitation of Chopper, and I could tell from its aura that it wasn’t as powerful. Unfortunately, Shaygor’s aura was plenty powerful.
“Where do you keep that when you’re in your dragon form?” I asked casually, slowing to a stop, as if I hadn’t been trying to sprint over in time to mow him down. “It looks sharp for a keister stash.”
“Does your idiotic wit please Zavryd’nokquetal?”
“It pleases him when I vex his enemies.”
Shaygor snorted again. “That I believe.” He gazed around the park while keeping the sword pointed toward me. “I believe the gnome is nearby, that you would not have given him your treasured trinket if you believed he would run off with it.”
“Does it matter? You couldn’t find him if he was five hundred miles or five feet away.”
Taunting him is not wise, Val, Sindari warned me.
I didn’t answer. I was prowling closer as I taunted him. If he was willing to fight me while in elven form, maybe I had a chance.
“Tell me where the gnome is.” He glared into my eyes as he spoke, his own eyes flaring with light and power.
This time, I more easily resisted the compulsion. “Leave my planet alone, or I’ll chop off another one of your toes.”
“You dare threaten a superior being!”
“Of course I dare.” I crept closer, close enough to spring. But I doubted a straightforward attack would be effective.
“Does Zavryd’nokquetal have any idea what a heathen he’s rutting with?”
“We discuss it at length daily.”
Ready to distract him? I sensed that Sindari had crept around behind the sign, behind Shaygor, but I knew he wouldn’t be happy about attacking a dragon.
No.
But you’ll do it anyway?
Yes, but only because I like Nin and want to see her grandfather live.
Shaygor extended his arm, using the sword to keep me from getting too close. “Tell me where he is.” Compulsion again laced the words. “Tell me where he is, and I will spare your life.”
“Isn’t it against your rules to kill people in the Cosmic Realms?”
“Nobody cares if lesser species live or die.” Shaygor gathered power and prepared to strike.
Willing the fern fronds to wrap protectively around my body, I dove under his sword and rolled toward him. A wall of pure magical energy swept at me, but it parted around my barrier, and I wasn’t derailed from my attack. I whipped Chopper at his legs as I rolled past.
Shaygor let out a startled grunt, but he reacted quickly, levitating himself into the air to mostly avoid my swing. I’d been trying to lop off one of his legs, but I managed to slice through his pants and nick flesh.
He roared, the sound like a dragon’s roar even though he was in elven form, and flung a second wave of power at me. This time, I was too slow getting my defenses up, and his magic struck me like a mallet. I tumbled head over heels all the way to the chain-link fence and hit hard enough to leave squares indented in my back.
Though the blow knocked the air out of me, I lunged to my feet to ready myself for another attack. Sindari sprang for Shaygor’s back, claws slashing toward his head.
The dragon whirled and raised an invisible barrier. I ran toward him as Sindari bounced off, his claws never reaching Shaygor’s flesh. He blasted power at Sindari, sending him flying across the bare earth and into one of the signposts. The wood crunched and gave, the sign toppling to the side.
Sorry, Sindari, I thought, but the diversion gave me enough time to get back to our foe and swing at the back of his neck. Unfortunately, the magical barrier extended all the way around him. Chopper halted a foot from his neck, but instead of bouncing away, the blade stuck, as if I’d swung it at a tree and it had lodged in the trunk.
As Shaygor turned slowly to face me, loathing burning in his eyes, I resisted the urge to pull back and instead leaned into Chopper. The blade inched through the barrier, drawing closer to Shaygor, but it took all my strength, and I knew I was vulnerable to attack. He didn’t look worried in the least. The sword was ten inches from his throat now, but he didn’t even step back.
“I will kill you,” he stated, “but not until you tell me where the gnome is and why he fled here of all places.”
He never lifted a finger, but pressure gripped my neck, as if he were wrapping his hands around my throat.
I kept leaning into Chopper, pushing it into his barrier. I was encouraged that it was creeping closer to his neck, however slowly, and stubbornly determined to land a blow that would do more than nick him. Even as I pressed the blade forward, I tried to use the magic Freysha had taught me to keep his attack from choking me, this time envisioning the fronds protecting my neck.
Chopper was only eight inches from his flesh. Had Shaygor lifted a hand, he could have punched me in the face, but maybe he couldn’t do that through his barrier. Maybe he could only attack with magic. Magic that hurt—my airway was constricting, and pain coursed up and down my spine—but not as much as it had before when I’d faced him. If I could just get my blade to his throat…
You’ve stolen some new trinkets, he observed, switching to telepathy. You have a ridiculous number of gewgaws for one person. How many beings have you slain to get them?