Dustin

Toward evening, Seph pulled him to a halt, looking up at a huge boulder that an ancient river of ice had deposited in their path long ago. “What do you think?”

Dustin sniffed the air, then shrugged. “Looks as good as anything.”

“All right, then,” Seph said, “Let’s find a way to get you up there.”

“What about you?” Dustin asked.

Seph looked up at the stone, then away again, looking queasy. “I’ll manage. Here.” He offered his huge hands for a boost.

Reluctantly, Dustin gathered the chain and put his foot into the Auldhund’s hands. Before Seph helped him, however, their eyes met. The Auldhund’s were even more bloodshot, and a froth was tipping the end of his tongue.

“When you reach the Ganlins...” Seph said.

“You’ll reach them with me, lad,” Dustin said quickly. “Here, as soon as I get up, I’ll throw you the chain and help you to the top.”

Seph cut him off with a shake of his head. “Send them after me.”

Dustin felt the air leave his lungs. Pinned by the Auldhund’s needful stare, he nodded.

“Good. Now jump.” Seph hefted, throwing Dustin’s weight into the air with ease. Dustin caught the lip of rock, grunted, and struggled against the manacles to pull himself over the edge. Below him, Seph grabbed his feet and pushed, giving him the final boost he needed. He clambered over the boulder’s edge and turned to peer down at the Auldhund.

“Send them,” Seph said. His eyes were pleading. “I don’t want to be a—”

“I’ll send them,” Dustin assured him, his heart aching for the youngster.

The Auldhund nodded, and for the first time since his capture, Dustin was left alone.

As he watched Seph’s retreating back as it bobbed amongst the boulders of the moraine, however, Dustin’s thoughts were sad. You’ll never survive long enough for the Ganlins to find you, lad.

#

Dustin did not sleep that night. He heard the tszieni circling his boulder in the darkness, hoofbeats going around and around and around...

Finally unable to stand it any longer, Dustin leapt up and looked over the edge. “You whoreson, you’re not getting up here. Why don’t you leave me in pea—”

Seph stared up at him, his too-big eyes sucking in the night. Dustin felt a chill and lowered himself to the stone. “Which one are you?”

The tszieni just stared at him, a dull lack of understanding in his gaze. When it saw Dustin wasn’t going to climb down, it began to circle again. A slow, trodding step, one hoof falling in front of the other.

Seph, then.

“I’m sorry, lad,” Dustin said, watching the mindless creature circle its prey. “I wish—”

“Wish what, drake?” The voice came from a shadow leaning against a boulder draped in moonlight. It moved closer, until it was standing on the path that Seph had beaten into the ground. Bearing its needle teeth in Tyroan’s black, wolflike snout, it looked up at him. “Wish you could join me?”

On the other side of the boulder, Dustin heard Seph continue his slow march. He glanced down at the tszieni, a tendril of fear worming its way into his heart for the young one—or what was left of him. He held his breath, listening to Seph’s footsteps carry him closer to the ancient monster.

When he found the hulking creature in his path, Seph hesitated, then slowly went around.

“You’ll never reach Ganlin Hall,” the tszieni said, ignoring Seph. “And even if you do, you’re never getting out of those chains.”

Dustin fought down a stab of panic at the thought of never again being able to take his natural form. He’s just trying to work his way into my mind, Dustin thought, watching the creature below him step out of Seph’s way as the youngster walked past him again. That’s all.

“Really?” Dustin said, somehow finding his voice. “And why’s that?”

The tszieni laughed. “Because the ones who made them are dead.”

Dustin froze. If Rees had died... But there were others. Agathe, Wynfor, Nerys... Any one of them could take the manacles off his wrists, even without a key. The tszieni would do anything to get under his skin, trick him into making a mistake. “You’re lying.”

The tszieni raised an arm to the sky. “Smell it, drake. It’s on the air.”

Dustin took a tentative sniff of the mountain breeze. The faint aftertaste of rot was there, a heavy feeling against his tongue. Until now, he had thought it had been the smell of the tszieni. Now, though...

He’s just trying to get under my skin.

Dustin pulled back away from the edge of the boulder and lay down, staring at the night sky, praying dawn would come quickly.

Below him, the tszieni laughed. Dustin heard another set of footsteps join Seph’s and, after ten minutes of listening to the dual rhythm, he peered over the edge again.

The tszieni was walking beside Seph, arms slung behind his back, scrutinizing the younger tszieni. The monster looked up at Dustin. “It’s quite pathetic, isn’t it?”

Dustin said nothing, and the tszieni continued his inspection of Seph, who remained oblivious. They walked in synch for another hour before the tszieni stopped suddenly, directly under Dustin’s roost. He looked up. “We both know how this is going to end.”

Staring into the seeping blackness of the tszieni’s gaze, Dustin’s eyes narrowed. “Aye.”

“Then why put off the inevitable?”

“Because,” Dustin said, “I’ve always liked to tempt fate.”

The tszieni laughed. “And it is fate, boy. The great prophets have spoken.”

“Some old crone said the Spyre would fall when the last fire drake kicked it,” Dustin said. “She never mentioned me.”

The tszieni held up outstretched arms. “Then where, dear drake, are the others of your kind?”

“In process,” Dustin replied, glaring.

“Ah.” The tszieni stepped back, allowing Seph to pass again. When the big Auldhund had trudged by, he looked up again and said, “You’re deluding yourself.”

“Maybe,” Dustin said, “Maybe not.”

“The Ganlins are dead,” the tszieni repeated. “You’ll never rise up to greet the sun again. Just bow out, drake. You’ve lived long enough.”

Seph made another pass, then Dustin patted the stone and said, “Tell you what. I’ll sit right here the rest of the night. You run up and check on the Ganlins for me, then you can come back and eat me to your heart’s content.”

The tszieni bared its teeth at him. “Toss that chain over the edge and we’ll have a deal.”

Dustin laughed. “I don’t think so.”

“You are really starting to annoy me, drake.”

“A pleasure that must be new to a soulless husk like you.”

At that, the tszieni lashed out, grabbing Seph by the throat as he made another pass. As Dustin jerked away, surprised by the lightning-fast movement, the tszieni reached out with his other hand and ripped off the Auldhund’s head. Still holding the huge corpse up by the neck, the tszieni tossed the head aside, where it hit a nearby boulder with a thud. Dustin heard hissing where the blood spattered the rock below him.

The monster released its grip on Seph’s neck and his corpse slumped awkwardly to the ground at the tszieni’s feet.

“It really was pathetic,” the creature said, wiping his hand on his coat.

“You didn’t eat him,” Dustin said, shocked. Grateful.

There was irritation in the monster’s eyes as he looked up at him. “That sheep was for you, drake. The Auldhund was supposed to give you first taste.”

It was a custom of the Auldhunds to feed their prisoners first, and it would have worked, had Dustin been willing to eat the sheep. He said as much.

The tszieni cocked his head up at him, his face suddenly going blank. “You knew it was a trap?”

“I saw something similar during the war with Etro.”

The tszieni scowled for several moments before he said, “You’re that drake, aren’t you? The one that helped Bryda beat back the armies of Etro when their Aulds had failed. The one they called Sunwaker.”

Dustin said nothing.

A look of confusion crossed the tszieni’s face. “You helped them do battle with us, yet they throw you into shackles?”

A tickle of a memory drifted into Dustin’s mind. His breath caught. “Pathenian.”

The tszieni inclined his head slightly, his lips peeling back from his teeth. “So it is you.”

Knowing which tszieni stood at the base of his boulder, Dustin actually considered his offer, simply for the cruelty he knew the creature would unleash upon him if he didn’t.

When he did not reply, Pathenian bowed and turned.

“Where are you going?” Dustin demanded, suddenly anxious.

“I understand now why you didn’t eat the sheep,” Pathenian said. “I’ll have to think of something better.”

Then he was gone, the silence of the night pounding in Dustin’s ears.