as Agradeleous' expression went from intense eagerness to confusion to suspicion, to the mounting anger that only a dragon could exhibit. ?Where are you, little one?" the dragon growled.
Agradeleous looked to Cazzira, who shrugged and tried to look as sur-prised as he. ?Soon," she assured the beast.
Agradeleous stood up and narrowed his eyes, peering all about the cham-ber, issuing a low growl all the while. He took a step forward, turning slowly, and began to sniff loudly. ?Little one?" he asked again, the volume of his growl rising. started toward him, but backed away, noted that his iron-corded, cal Drills were trembling with explosive power. ?Little one?"
Several more moments slipped past.
A radeleous spun suddenly on Cazzira, and with a quickness and power mocked the Doc'alfar's catlike reflexes, he scooped her up under one took a couple of running steps, and leaped long and far, sailing into nit He dropped her unceremoniously to the floor and sprang away, his growl becoming a rock-shaking roar.
"Little one!" the dragon bellowed, plowing through the mounds of oins sending treasure flying wildly about the chamber. Under one mound, ,e hit a rock, larger than his present bipedal form, and still his kick sent it skidding away. Not satisfied with that, Agradeleous reached down and lifted the boulder over his head, then hurled it the length of the room, where it smashed in half against the wall. Behind the farthest mound, where Juraviel had disappeared, there loomed a small tunnel. Agradeleous started down, but stopped and sniffed the air.
The dragon backed away and looked up, to a second hole in the wall, a dozen feet off the floor, a hole that Juraviel, with his wings, could have reached.
Eyes narrowing again, Agradeleous sprang up into the hole, running along on all fours, his small wings curled up on his back, his short and thick tail straight out behind him.
Juraviel ran flat out, but the tunnels outside the chamber were not nearly as well lit from the orange-glowing lava, and despite his keen eyesight, the elf stumbled many times. Even if he had not lost his footing, he realized that he could not simply outdistance Agradeleous. He had to hope that the tun-nel forked and branched off, many times.
He heard the rumbling footfalls coming in fast pursuit soon after, and stumbled along in the low light, knowing that he would be caught quickly, unless...
The elf breathed a bit easier when he came to the first fork in the trail, one branch winding down and to the right, while the main tunnel contin-ued on straight ahead. Juraviel instinctively went for the branch, but stopped and changed his mind, guessing that Agradeleous would expect him to head down the narrower branch.
He ran on, as fast as he could, hoping that the fork had bought him some time. But then the rumbling behind him stopped, and a moment later, Juraviel heard snuffling sounds. He cringed and ran on - what else could he do?
And then came the dragon's thunderous pursuit.
Several intersections gave the elf a bit of a lead, for at each one, Agra-deleous had to stop and locate Juraviel's scent. At one such three-way break, Juraviel ran for many feet down one steeply sloping path, coming to a ledge that dropped off into the darkness. Then he backtracked, and when he turned the corner to enter another of the tunnels, he used his wings to get him up to the top of the large corridor and scrambled along, high up on the wall for a long way.
Again he heard Agradeleous stop and sniff, then nodded with some hope as the dragon's footsteps receded, then ended altogether.
Still, less than an hour later, moving in complete darkness, Juraviel heard the wurm's pursuit again, closing fast.
Those lamplight eyes, he thought, and he knew that it wouldn't take Agradeleous long to catch him, and likely devour him.
Around a bend, the corridor brightened again, and a short while later Juraviel came to a wide chamber with an arching stone bridge, high above a river of flowing lava. Across the way, the tunnel continued out of the wide chamber. Quickly, he inspected the bridge, hoping that it was weak at some points and would not support the beast, but he understood soon enough that the powries had likely constructed this nonnatural bridge, and that it was quite secure.
Juraviel squinted in the orange glow, looking for some other choice. The air was thick with a sulphurous smell, so much so that he knew Agradeleous could not track