Legends of the Dragonrealm, Vol II - By Richard A. Knaak Page 0,354

rape this land as they did the last… and I can do nothing to stop them!”

“Nimth. That’s what it was called, wasn’t it? The world we fled from? The world the Vraad ravaged?”

She nodded.

His mouth was a grim line. “I doubt they will find this domain so pliable. It has faced others before your people. There were many who wanted to adapt the land to them instead of working with it. Whenever that happened, the land seemed to make them adapt.”

“What do you mean?”

“Have you felt any different since coming to this world? Any change at all?”

“I felt more at home than I ever had on Nimth. It was a glorious change for me.” For the first time, she recalled the wine and food in her hands. The young Vraad showed it to Faunon, who momentarily dropped his question and smiled at the sight. “Is that wine? Could I have a bit of that before I continue? Our friends have given me nothing but brackish water, albeit all I could drink.”

“Let me help you.” She brought the wine to his mouth and tilted it. Faunon, his eyes on her, swallowed twice and then indicated she should stop.

“Thank you… gods! What sweet honey!”

“The Tezerenee make it.”

“Proving that they have at least one good quality, I suppose.” While she broke apart some bread and cheese for him, he returned to his subject. “Having spent these few wonderful moments with you, I can see that you and the land would have no quarrel. The same cannot be said for the dragon men, however. The land will not tolerate them.”

Sharissa thought to ask him if he knew of the founders and how their kas, their spirits, were a part of the land now, but the telling of that would take her much too long.

A heavy weight fell against the wagon, striking so hard that the entire structure shook.

“Are we under attack?” Faunon asked, frustration at being chained during a time of danger taking over. The sorceress had thought of trying to remove the chains, but, recalling that they were like her collar, knew it would be an exercise in futility.

She rose. “I’ll see what it is.”

“You could be killed!”

“I’ll not wait for whatever it is to come to us!”

With great caution, she reached for the door handle. Sharissa raised her other hand, ready to cast a spell the moment she opened the door.

A hulking figure from without burst through the door as if it were dry kindling.

“Lllaaady Zzzzzerrreeeee,” it hissed.

It wore what looked like the remnants of armor, not that it needed any, for it had a natural scale armor of its own that went from head to foot. The fiend was almost human in form, but bent awkwardly, as if it was trying to move as a man but not built for the purpose. The hands were more like the paws of the riding drakes and ended in equally sharp talons.

Worst of all was the visage. As the body could only mock that of a human, so too did the face, only more so. The eyes, though crystalline like a Vraad’s, were long and narrow. The horror’s nose was virtually nonexistent, two mere slits in the center. Its mouth was full of teeth that were pointed and made for tearing flesh from a kill.

It was coming for her.

“Lllaaady Sharissssssa!” It reached out for her, but she jumped back just in time. The creature was like some legacy of mad Nimth. She tried to concentrate, knowing that only seconds separated her from death. Physically, the frightened sorceress was no match, but her powers might save her if she could only think.

If only it would stop flashing those teeth! she kept thinking. “Sharissa!” Faunon called from behind her. That snapped her out of it. It would not only be she that perished if she failed to act, but also Faunon, who could not even defend himself.

“Lllaaady, I—”

Whatever it sought to say, Sharissa would never know. A spell formed in her mind and was completed accordingly. Brilliant, scarlet bands swarmed around the reptilian terror, who fought them with the savagery of an animal cornered. The bands began to tighten around its arms and legs. Sharissa breathed easier.

A yellow aura originating from the creature evaporated the bands just as it seemed the battle had been won.

“Yooou mussst—” the creature started to say, forked tongue lashing in and out of its mouth.

Before her eyes, it twitched once—and fell forward, already dead.

There was an arrow in the back of