Part 18 (1/2)

Zylas abandoned his repast, red eyes positively glowing with excitement. ”So you once had dragons in your world, too?”

The rat/man looked so happy, Collins hated to disappoint him, but he would not lie. ”Only in myth and fairy tale, I'm afraid.”

The light died in Zylas' eyes, and he returned to eating.

”Sixty million years before people, we did have dinosaurs. Those were giant lizards, some of which bore a resemblance to dragons.”

”Really.” Zylas spoke around a mouthful of bug. ”Did they use magic?”

”Most had brains about the size of your lunch.” Collins addressed the question more directly, ”It seems highly unlikely.”

Zylas made a wordless noise.

Collins returned to his point, ”Anyway, in the stories, dragons keep h.o.a.rds of s.h.i.+ny treasure which they guard fiercely.”

”It has to be s.h.i.+ny?”

”Apparently.” The details of legend seemed unimportant to Collins.

Zylas shook out his fur. ”Well, that's not like dragons here. At least, it's not like the one I know. She doesn't have much interest in ... material things, except as they pertain to causes.”

”That's good to know.” Collins could not see a long-term use for the knowledge. ”If I ever write a story or start role-playing again, I'll keep that in mind.”

Zylas finished the beetle, licked his paws, then cleaned his face with them.

Collins returned the leftover rations to the pack. Zylas waited only until he shoved it aside to ask, ”Ready?”

”For what?” Collins asked cautiously.

”To learn the inside of the castle.”

”No,” Collins said, settling down on his b.u.t.tocks. He doubted his answer mattered, however.

True to Collins' hunch, Zylas began. ”The lowest floor contains the storerooms and dungeons ...”

The lesson droned on for hours while Falima continued to graze outside and Ialin made occasional buzzing appearances. Benton Collins got his first break when Prinivere appeared at the entrance. The green-gray scales looked ruffled, the leathern wings droopy, the ancient eyes dull. She dragged wearily back into the cave, finding her sleeping corner, and flopped to the ground.

Zylas abandoned his lesson in the middle of a sentence and rushed to the dragon's side. Ialin fluttered in after her, hovering at her eye level.

Savoring a few moments alone, Collins sighed and remained in place, unable to hear their exchange.

His head whirled with information: kitchens and workshops on the ground floor, above underground storage rooms, food cellars, and the dungeons. The second story held the library and great dining hall, the third the servants' quarters. Every floor had what Collins understood to be a primitive bathroom, translated as ”garde-robe.” Apparently, both dragon spell and translation stone considered it an English word, though he had never heard it before. He imagined it had not entered common American parlance; though, with their known penchant for fart, belch, and bathroom humor, it would have worked well there.

Zylas described it rather like a park potty: a thigh-high platform with a hole in it. The rat/man seemed to think it might prove a suitable portal for entry, escape, or for secreting the magical crystal. Though not averse to tossing the stone down the hole, Collins would rather eat bugs than retrieve it afterward. And using it as an exit was not even a remote possibility.

Zylas knew nothing about the two uppermost floors because of their warding against switchers, but he surmised they held the private quarters of the royals. The roof was crenellated, with crossbowmen and ballistae protecting it, and the winding stairwell proceeded a story higher, to a trapdoor that opened onto the top of a guard tower. Heavy ironbound oak doors opened onto each floor and the roof in both directions, though the four to the two upper stories did not admit switchers. Apparently, if a commonerso much as touched it, the door would sound an alarm and latch up tight.

Unable to put any logical explanation to such a system, Collins had to a.s.sume magic. Unless other portals exist, and folks from civilizations more advanced than ours have come. He shoved the thought aside. Zylas would know that. Hard enough accepting magic. Do I have to put some Planet of the Apes twist on this? Collins had once read that ”advanced science is virtually indistinguishable from magic.” The average man on the street could not explain how a toaster or a microwave worked, and a significant portion of the population considered the simple running of electricity through wires a miracle too technical for understanding. He himself found the concept of fax transmission fascinating and incomprehensible. The source doesn't matter. I just need to know how it works on the macro level.

Shortly, Zylas returned, translation stone clutched in his jaws. He scurried up Collins' arm to his shoulder and spit out the quartz to speak directly into the man's ear. ”She says she just needs a short nap.

Then she should be strong enough to return home.”

”Home?”

”A different cave,” Zylas explained. ”She has several residences. Safer.” He pawed the rose quartz into a more secure position. ”Better you know as few as possible, too.”

Collins nodded agreement, then glanced at his watch. It read a couple of minutes until noon. ”You'd better get off me. A full-grown man would definitely put a strain on my rotator cuff.”

”Don't worry. I'm going.” The last syllable was m.u.f.fled by the translation stone, and Zylas scrambled to the floor. He settled himself by the pack to wait.

Knowing his companion would emerge from his switch-form naked, Collins politely turned his back.

Experience told him it was unnecessary. Accustomed to the change from birth, the Barakhains apparently did not view nudity as a vulnerable state the way full-time humans did. But the gesture made Collins feel more comfortable and respectful, and his discussion with Falima made it clear that embarra.s.sment could be reawakened by the wrong stare.

Stealing the few moments during which the change distracted his companion, Collins left the cave.

Clouds pulled like lace across the sun, dimming it to caramel. Falima whinnied a soft greeting. Flies settled in a line along her spine, and the skin of her legs wriggled to dislodge others. Scraggly mountain gra.s.ses drooped from her lips, growing shorter as she chewed.

Collins clambered up an enormous rock near the cave mouth and looked out over the crags.

Tree-loaded mountains stretched as far as he could see, sunlight glazing their needles and leaves. Peaks and boulders thrust between wide patches of greenery. Absently, he stroked Falima's back, dislodging the flies into angrily buzzing chaos. She swished her tail, black hairs like wires stinging across his bare arm. He s.h.i.+fted to a crouch to avoid another las.h.i.+ng and ma.s.saged the fur behind her ears. Her head sank, eyes closed, as she enjoyed his caress.

Collins shut his own eyes, imagining himself running his hand through the soft, black curtain of Falima's human hair. The strands glided through his fingers like silk while he ma.s.saged the tension from her upper back. He could see himself sliding his hands to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, her turning her head to meet his kiss.

”Ben!” Zylas' voice shattered the guilty pleasure of Collins' reverie.

Startled, Collins jerked, lost his footing on a smear of slime, and plummeted from the back of the rock. The landing jarred through his ankles, and he slapped his hands on the rock to protect his face.

With a surprised whinny, Falima sidled away, eyeing Collins with wary caution.

Collins waited for the pain to fade before peering over the granite at Zylas in man form. ”What did you do that for?”

Zylas studied Collins blandly from the shadow of his hat. ”I presume my transgression was . . . um . . .

speaking your name?”

Collins stepped around the rock, brus.h.i.+ng dirt from his tunic. ”The transgression part was sneaking up on us.” He glanced at Falima who s.h.i.+fted from hoof to hoof, still watching him with suspicion. ”On me.”

”You were facing me,” Zylas defended. ”I thought you saw me.”

”I had my eyes closed.”

”Ah, my fault.” Zylas smiled, clearly meaning none of it. ”Falima was right. You are jumpy.”

That being self-evident, Collins did not deny it. ”Wouldn't you be, too, if you had to do what I'm goingto have to do?”