said Aralorn. "I think that he can alter his color at will; when I first saw him he was nearly invisible. It could make him even harder to fight."
"It makes you wonder why there aren't more dragons, doesn't it?" commented Myr.
Finished with the donkey, the dragon rose and stretched. No longer completely blue, its scales showed highlights of various colors. Only its teeth and the claws on its feel and the edges of its wings were an unchanging black. When it was done it started, almost casually, toward them.
Myr stepped out from the meager protection of the cave entrance into the fading light and Aralorn followed his lead. Something about Myr appeared to catch the dragon's interest: it stopped and whipped its long, swanlike neck straight, shooting the elegant head forward. Brilliant, gemlike eyes glittered green and then gold. Without warning it opened its mouth and spat flame at Myr. Its aim was so exact that Aralorn wasn't even singed, although she stood near enough to Myr to reach out and touch him.
Myr, being immune to magic, was untouched, although the same could not be said about his clothes. The hand that held his sword was steady, though his grip was tighter than it needed to be. He was no coward, this King of Reth. Aralorn surprised herself with a bit of national pride.
The dragon drew its head back and said, in courtly Rethian that Aralorn felt as much as heard, "Dragon-blessed, this is far from your court. Why do you disturb me here?"
Myr, clothed in little more than the tattered remnants of cloth and leather, somehow managed to look as regal and dignified as the dragon did. "My apologies if we are troubling you. Our quarrel is not with you."
The dragon made an amused sound. "I hardly thought that it was, princeling."
"King," said Aralorn, deciding that the contempt that the dragon was exhibiting could get dangerous.
"What?" said the dragon, its tone softening in a manner designed to send chills up weaker spines.
"He is king of Reth and no princeling." Aralorn kept her voice even and met the dragon's look.
It turned back to Myr and said in a amused tone, "Apologies, Lord King. It seems I have given offense."
Myr inclined his head. "Accepted, Lord Dragon. We owe you thanks for driving away the Uriah, sent by my enemy."
The dragon raised its head with a hiss as its eyes acquired crimson tones. "Your enemy is the ae'Magi?"
"Yes," answered Myr.
The dragon stood silently, obviously thinking; then it said, "The debt dragonkind owed your blood is old and weak, even by dragon standards. Long and long ago, a human saved an egg that held a queen; a feat that we were most grateful for, as we were few even then. For this he and his blood were blessed that magic hold no terrors for them. For this deed of the past I would have left you and your party alone.
"Several hundred years ago, after the manner of my kind, I chose a cave to sleep in - waiting for the coming of my mate. I chose a cave deep under the ae'Magi's castle, where I was unlikely to be discovered.
"I was awakened a few decades past by savage pain that drove me out of my cave and into the North. Dragons are magical in a way that no other creature is; we live and breathe magic, and without it we cannot exist. The ae'Magi is twisting magic, binding it to him until there will be nothing left but that which is twisted and dark with the souls of the dead. The castle of the ae'Magi has protections that I cannot cross, and the power that he has over magic is such that if I were to attack him, it is possible that he could control me. That is a risk that I cannot take. Except for the egg that lies hidden from all, I am the last of my kind. If I die, there will be no more dragons." It stretched its wings restlessly.
"King," it said, "your sword is new, but the hilt is older than your kingdom, and token of our pledge to your line. If ever I can aid you, without directly confronting the ae'Magi, plunge the sword into the soil, run your hands over the ruby eyes of the dragon on the hilt and say my name." Aralorn heard nothing but the rushing of the wind as the dragon spoke its name for Myr. Then in the deepening light of