to regard her trusted advisor. In her mind, she could hear the screams of men and woman, and the shrieks of terrified horses. In her mind, she could see the flames leaping high above Jacintha. The orange flames, the purest of destructive forces.
"Aydrian plans to conquer the whole of the world," she heard Juraviel remark.
"Aydrian destroyed Lady Dasslerond, and meant to bring complete ruin to Andur'Blough Inninness," the elf added a moment later.
Brynn didn't disagree with the reasoning, nor with the point that her former companion had to be stopped. But it wounded her to her soul to know that she would have to go through the bodies of innocents to get near to him.
"Let us light the way for our allies," the woman said.
Two hours before the dawn, Brynn, Pagonel, and Juraviel climbed onto the shoulders of mighty Agradeleous. From on high at the southeastern peaks of the mountain range, the dragon leaped out and spread his wings wide, catching the updrafts rising up the cliff facings from the warm ocean water. Agradeleous went very low, under the fog that clung to the sea, and soared out across the dark waters, gradually turning to the south, then all the way back around to the northeast. He came over Jacintha's docks in a sudden rush, eliciting cries of terror from those few people awake and about. That call did not rally the soldiers along the city wall facing the docks nearly quickly enough, though, and so barely a bow was lifted against the passing dragon as he rushed overhead.
Juraviel pointed out the pitch warehouse first, and though the building was constructed mostly of stone, Agradeleous' fiery breath found its way in through the cracks and ignited many of the piled kegs.
The next target loomed before them as they continued their flight back toward the black silhouettes of the mountains in the north, and this time the strafing run showed more dramatic and immediate effects. Mounds of dry hay exploded to fiery life in Agradeleous' wake.
Brynn didn't, couldn't, look back, but the screams caught up to her almost immediately.
The dragon, obviously enjoying the destructive spectacle, banked as if to turn back, but Pagonel yelled to him to hold fast his course, reminding him that the weapons and the Abellicans were no doubt already being raised against him.
Among the rocks of the mountains a short while later, Brynn Dharielle did step forward and look down upon the spectacle of Jacintha and the huge fire leaping into the predawn air along the city's northern wall. All the horizon glowed orange from the flames and a cloud of the blackest smoke lifted into the air and spread wide, blocking out the stars.
Brynn put the implications firmly out of her mind. "We approach at first light," she informed her companions. "We must keep their attention to the west."
The soldiers on Jacintha's western wall, their ranks thinned by the many pulled to fight the raging fires, were greeted at the dawn's light by the horsed ranks of the Dragon of To-gai. Astride their pinto ponies, short bows in hand, the To-gai-ru warriors stretched that line long and thin, just out of reach of the Jacintha archers.
Not so the catapults, though, and one by one, they sent great missiles arcing toward the To-gai-ru.
But the riders were too mobile to fall victim to such an attack and they dodged the missiles with impunity, all the while hurling taunts and insults back at the city.
"It is a common Ru ruse," Yatol Wadon said to Abbot Olin. "They try to goad us out from behind our walls that they can slaughter us on the sands."
"Horsed demons," Abbot Olin growled. "They strike in the dark of night and flee. Cowards one and all!"
"Cowards who win when they should not, time and time again," Yatol Wadon warned.
"Against the Behrenese," Abbot Olin snapped back contemptuously. "They do not appreciate the might of the Bearmen."
"With their bows and astride their fine ponies, they are unmatched."
"And how will their feeble bows fare against Bearman armor?" the abbot fumed. "Or against Abellican magic?"
The Yatol merely shrugged.
"I will be done with this troublesome wench here and now," Abbot Olin declared. "And she is all the more troublesome because your people fear her! It was fear alone that shattered the ranks on the field outside of Dharyan. Had Yatol De Hamman re-formed his forces, he could have won a great victory."
"We have been given good reason to fear her," the Yatol put in.