BAELAN: Fantasy Romance (Zhekan Mates Book 4) by E.A. James (29)

TANAK

 

CHAPTER ONE

 

Margila Fallosi headed across the Village Common toward her home when her best friend Amara Dunroy rushed to meet her. “Margila! I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

 

“Well, you found me. Now, what’s the big fuss?”

 

“Have you finished the decorations for the Harvest Festival? You’re in charge of the decorating committee, and you haven’t told me one thing to do. If we don’t finish in time, the village won’t be ready. We can’t let that happen.”

 

“If you looked on your way across the Common, you would have seen that the decorations are all finished. I put up the last garlands not an hour ago. Would you like to go back and check if they meet your standards?”

 

Amara seized her arm. “Oh, Margila, I’m so relieved. I should have known you wouldn’t leave such a big job to the last minute, and I’m sure the decorations look marvelous. I have a feeling this is going to be the best Festival ever!”

 

“It won’t be the best ever if we don’t do an equally grand job on the food for the feast and the flowers for the procession. We had better get back to my house. Mother will be waiting for us, and there’s so much to do before the full moon.”

 

The two young women fell in side by side on their way back to Margila’s house. “What’s your Mother preparing for the feast?”

 

“Just...everything. Roast pig and roast venison and roast vegetables and pies and cakes and cookies and crumbles and everything in between. Salads by the score, cordial syrup for drinks, candied apples and sugar-dried chips—you name it, she’s preparing it. You know how my Mother is. When she sets out to make food, she doesn’t spare. She’s been a whirlwind for three weeks, and I’ve been pressed into service. That’s why I volunteered to do the decorations, so I could get out of the house for a little while. What’s your mother preparing?”

 

“I don’t think she’s doing a pig this year, but she’s doing everything else. I only wish....”

 

The two friends came to the end of the Common and turned off into a side lane. Clusters of small cottages lined the lane set off with flowerbeds. They passed through the garden gate toward Margila’s front door when Margila laid a hand on Amara’s arm. “Sh! Do you hear that?”

 

The two girls stopped in their tracks and listened. Amara frowned. “Who’s that talking in your house? I recognize your father’s voice, but I hear someone’s I don’t recognize. Who is that?”

 

Margila grabbed her friend’s hand and towed her around the corner of the house. She crouched low under the kitchen window and held her finger to her lips. They peeked over the windowsill at three men standing in Margila’s kitchen. Margila didn’t see her mother anywhere.

 

Thomas Fallosi murmured in low tones to the other two. Margila knew Amara’s father, Councilor Dunroy, as well as she knew her own father. The third man wore a crisp, dark-blue uniform with gold braid looping from the shiny epaulets on his shoulders. Medals and ribbons hung on his lapel, and he stood very tall and erect. “The Axis Joint Command is doing everything it can. I’m mustering the fleet, but it takes time. We can’t move any faster than we already are. You must understand that.”

 

“Of course we understand,” replied Thomas. “We’re desperate. That’s all. We’ve been at war with these beasts for over a hundred years, and the only solution we’ve found to stop them devastating our crops every autumn is to sacrifice a virgin maiden on that mountain over there. We go through the same quandary every year. Should we keep up the sacrifice, or fall back on outright hostilities?”

 

“I understand your dilemma, but surely hostilities can’t be worse than throwing away innocent lives. You only have a few more months to wait, maybe less. Then my fleet will enter orbit around Phomentina and wipe out the Raveniss menace forever. You won’t have to worry about sacrificing your daughters anymore.”

 

“I only wish I could believe you, Major Bloodkist, but we’ve heard the same promise from the Axis before. We’ve been so close to defeating the Raveniss, but the promised support from the Axis never materialized. You have to forgive us for not trusting you now.”

 

“That won’t happen this time. The fleet is on its way here as we speak. We know you can’t defeat the Raveniss on your own, and the Axis remains committed to ridding the galaxy of this pest once and for all. Just hold out a little longer. We won’t let you down this time.”

 

“Where will we go? What do you have in mind for us after it’s all over?”

 

“We have the destination all lined up. It’s the perfect solution to your problem, but you must trust us. Put off the sacrifice, just a little while.”

 

Amara whispered to Margila, “What’s he talking about?”

 

Margila silenced her with a wave of her hand and bent closer to the window to listen.

 

Thomas Fallosi shook his head. “I’m sorry, but we’ve learned through hard experience that the loss of one person means little compared to dragons destroying our crops, burning the village, and killing hundreds of people, not to mention leaving the rest of us to starve over the winter.”

 

Major Bloodkist drew himself up. “In that case, I’ll send the fleet as fast as I can. We’ll stop this terrible business and get all your people to safety.”

 

He strode out of the house, but Margila didn’t see where he went. She never saw him in or around the village again.

 

Her father turned to Councilor Dunroy. “I only wish we could believe him. I would give anything to skip the lottery, even for one year.”

 

“I feel the same way. We both have young daughters, and the more times they enter the lottery, the more likely their chances of being chosen for the sacrifice. I don’t understand why the Axis is sending all their fleet here to destroy the Raveniss. Why don’t they just evacuate us and leave the Raveniss behind? That would solve everyone’s problem with a lot less effort and expense.”

 

“Why does the Axis do anything? I can almost believe Major Bloodkist enjoys fighting so much he would go out of his way to start an all-out war between the Axis and the Raveniss. They don’t really care about us. They just want to show off their firepower.”

 

Councilor Dunroy smiled. “I wish I could share your humor, Thomas, but with the lottery coming up tomorrow, I just can’t seem to enjoy anything. I won’t enjoy anything until I know Amara is safe. Then I can relax for another year until next year’s Festival.”

 

Thomas laid a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I know. We had better go now, before anyone starts to suspect.”

 

The two men wandered out of the room, and Margila lost track of them. She and Amara crouched under the window. “What was that all about?”

 

“I don’t know. I didn’t know the Axis sent their representative here. I’ve never seen him before.”

 

“What was all that about evacuating and finding a perfect destination for us? It sounds serious.”

 

Margila stood up. “I don’t know, but I have more important things to think about right now. I’m sure my father can handle anything the Axis Joint Command throws at us. If they’re coming up with a way to defeat the Raveniss so we don’t have to keep conducting these wretched lotteries, I’ll be happy to go along with it. Now, come on. I have to find my mother and get to work.”

 

Amara hung back. “I better go home, too. My mother will be wondering where I am. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She gave Margila a kiss on the cheek and hurried away.

 

Margila went around the front of her house where she met Marcus Drury at the door. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

 

Marcus swept his arm around her waist. He hustled her around the opposite corner of the house. Three large spruce trees sheltered that side of the house from the cold winds. They hung over the eaves and made a shelter out of sight of the lane and the Common.

 

Marcus pushed Margila against the wall and kissed her. He pressed his chest against her breasts and crushed her with his body. His hands roamed around her waist and down her hips to her thighs. “I had to see you. I couldn’t stand it anymore.”

 

Margila sighed into his mouth and closed her eyes. “I’ve been busy.”

 

“You’re not too busy to sneak off with me, are you? Just for a little while? We’ll hide in my father’s barn.”

 

He rubbed his hips against her, and his flesh swelled between his legs. Margila’s body quivered with excitement, and a pleasant warmth spread between her legs. Oh, how lovely it would be to sneak off right now. She would roll with Marcus in the warm hay in his father’s hayloft. His hands would explore under her skirt to hidden places underneath.

 

He hitched up her dress around her thighs, and he caressed her bare skin with long strokes of his fingertips. Margila mewed, and she panted through her nostrils. His insistent mouth pushed her lips apart to let his tongue dart inside.

 

Their tongues danced in a rising swirl of intoxicating passion. Marcus found the moist center between her legs and circled it with his fingers. Margila writhed against Marcus, longing to satisfy her craving with those fingers. Marcus always knew the best way to drive her wild.

 

“Come on, lovely. Come away with me. I just need you for a little while. I’ve been out of my mind. Come on now. You’re so wet. You know you want to come. You want me, don’t you? You want me to touch you and make you moan?” He pressed his bulging crotch against her leg. “You make me so hot. I need you now.”

 

With a great effort, Margila tore her mouth away from his, but he nibbled down her neck to her bodice. He mouthed along her collarbone even as his hands traced up to her breasts lying taut and bound under her bodice. He found the delicate softness of her nipple and pressed it with his thumb. “Oh, Marcus!”

 

He breathed into her ear and ground his crotch into her swollen mons. “Say my name, darling. Say it loud. Scream for me the way you know I like it. I’m going to take you tonight. I’m going to make you mine.”

 

She gasped for breath. “I can’t! I want to, but I can’t. Mother needs me. I can’t just leave her without help.”

 

He gave her one last pump of his hard prick. He kissed her until his passion subsided. “After the festival, then. Promise me you’ll come to me as soon as the Festival is over.”

 

“You know I will. You know I want to more than anything.”

 

He pulled his hand out from under her skirt and it fell to her ankles. He smelled his fingers. “I know you’re a game vixen. That’s what I love about you. Well, you better get in there and I’ll get back to work. Don’t forget your promise. I’ll be waiting for you.”

 

“I won’t forget. I want you as much as you want me.”

 

He checked both directions to make sure no one was coming. Then he ducked out from under the branches and disappeared.

 

CHAPTER TWO

 

Amara burst into the kitchen and found Margila up to her elbows in flour. Piles of pastry lay rolled out on the work table. “Come on, Margila. We’ll be late.”

 

Margila dusted off her hands. “I’m coming. Just let me wash my hands first.”

 

She washed the flour off her hands and untied her apron. She hung it on a hook by the door, and she and Amara walked out into the lane. Dozens of people flocked from the village houses toward the Common. The two girls had to wait at the gate for a crowd to pass before they found room to follow.

 

Countless people already crowded the Common. They surrounded a low platform where Thomas Fallosi and Councilor Dunroy stood with six other village men. They all looked very somber. No one smiled.

 

Murmured conversation rippled through the crowd, but everyone kept their voices low. The children didn’t run and shout, and the younger ones clung to their mothers’ skirts. Margila spotted her mother in the crowd and migrated toward her.

 

Dara Fallosi turned beseeching eyes toward Margila and caught her daughter by the hand. She tried to smile, but her lips started to tremble. She compressed them to keep her composure.

 

Margila held her mother’s hand and they turned their attention to the platform as her father addressed the crowd. “Is everyone here? That’s all right if someone is missing. We can inform them afterward. Let’s get this over with without preamble.”

 

A little boy approached the platform and climbed up the steps. Margila recognized him as Paulo Rakner. At nine years old, he was the oldest of three brothers. He would never enter the lottery, and he had no sisters to enter it, either. No one could accuse him of harboring any vested interest in the outcome.

 

Paulo carried a large platter balanced in his hand. Dozens of huge, ripe red strawberries lay heaped on the tray. He stopped next to Thomas Fallosi. “Does anyone have any objections to raise about the conduct of this lottery? If you do, speak now.”

 

No one said a word—as if anyone would object to a tradition the people of Phomentina followed for generations. Thomas Fallosi rummaged around in his pocket and brought out a tiny glass bottle. Without ceremony, he uncorked it and poured a clear fluid all over the strawberries. It drizzled into the stack and covered all the berries.

 

He corked the empty bottle and put it back in his pocket. Then he nodded to Paulo and turned away to the other men. He kept his back turned while Paulo climbed down from the platform and wormed his way into the crowd.

 

He went from one young woman to another and offered the tray. Each one took a strawberry and ate it. He stopped in front of Amara. She hesitated before she took the biggest, ripest, reddest berry she could see. Amara held the berry in her hand and stared at it. Then she looked around to find Margila watching her.

 

Margila didn’t have time to smile or give her friend any reassurance before Paulo came toward her. She studied the berries on the tray. They all looked so tantalizing. None was less ripe and red and perfect than another, but that meant nothing. She picked a beautiful berry off the top of the pile. She weighed it in her hand. She couldn’t escape her fate by choosing a better berry.

 

She eyed it with mixed emotions, but in the end, she took a deep breath, mustered her courage, and took a big bite. The delicious juice gushed into her mouth, and the bite mark showed up red and bright in her hand. She chewed the berry and swallowed it, but it stuck in her throat. She couldn’t enjoy it.

 

Paulo made a complete circuit of the Common and came back to the platform, where he started over with the first young women again. He still had quite a few berries left. One by one, the girls took a second berry. Some broke down crying when they tried to bite into them. One by one, their loved ones threw their arms around their necks in tears of relief.

 

Paulo came back to Amara. Her hand shook when it hovered over the tray. Amara’s mother had to put her arm around her daughter’s shoulders to comfort her before Amara could summon the courage to select a berry. Even then, she sniffed back tears before she bit into it.

 

As soon as she found the berry bright and red and sweet and juicy inside, Amara broke down in her mother’s arms. Cries of joy and relief spread through the crowd, but the girls who hadn’t yet selected their second berry shook and wept at the back of the crowd.

 

As if by magic, Margila found Paulo standing in front of her. He gazed up into her eyes with childlike innocence. A dwindling layer of berries remained on the tray, but each one looked as fine and tempting as the last. She couldn’t stand there hesitating while the other girls waited their turn. She closed her eyes and grabbed a berry.

 

Without opening her eyes, she guided it to her mouth. Better to know the truth right away. Then she could get back to preparing for the festival. She bit into the berry, and it crumbled into a sour meal in her mouth. Her eyes popped open, and she stared at the fragment left in her hand. Inside the bright red skin, the berry was white and dry.

 

Her mother looked over her shoulder and saw the berry in her hand. She let out a shriek that brought the whole village flocking around. Her mother’s hands flew to her mouth to stifle her screams, and other women hurried the distraught mother away.

 

Margila stared down at the white berry. She couldn’t make her mind comprehend the terrible truth. She’d been selected. She would be sacrificed to the dragon on the full moon so the rest of the village could survive in peace for another year. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t think. Should she be happy or sad?

 

Tumultuous cheers and laughter broke out on all sides of her. The maiden girls who escaped the lottery joined hands and danced around Margila. They laid flower garlands on her head and around her neck. Two strapping young men hoisted her onto their shoulders and paraded her around the Common. Children showered her with flower petals. Singing and festivity accompanied her everywhere.

 

All the attention worked its magic on her mind. She smiled down at her friends and loved ones, but she didn’t see her father in the crowd. She clasped the hands thrust up at her, and she laughed in excited joy. She was the Harvest Princess!

 

The young people conducted her to a special pavilion in the center of the Common. Flowers and decorations of all kinds made it gay and inviting. Only from a great distance did Margila register the fact that she herself made those decorations and put them in their place the day before.

 

The young men and women sat Margila on a throne surrounded with garlands and golden vessels. They draped a magnificent gown over her shoulders and laid a scepter in her hands. Then they all sat down to feast and make merry for the rest of the day.

 

All thought of helping her mother or anybody else flew right out of Margila’s head. From that hour, the whole village paid strict attention to her. The young maidens attended her every need and whim. They bowed to her when they spoke to her and called her “My Lady.”

 

Amara moved among the maidens, but she kept her distance from Margila. They passed no friendly conversation anymore. Amara slipped through her fingers, the same way her family and the rest of her friends did. Amara barely lifted her eyes to meet Margila’s gaze. When she did, her eyes remained cold and distant. She might as well be looking at a tree in the far distance.

 

The older villagers came and went in the pavilion to wish Margila well and to ask her blessing. Anyone who wanted a special blessing, for health, for safe childbearing, or for prosperity, could come forward, kneel at the Harvest Princess’s feet, and receive the blessing touch of her scepter.

 

In the evening, fires warmed the pavilion. Old and young joined in festive merrymaking with music, dancing, drama, and stories for the children told by their elders. Margila noticed her parents in the crowd, and the weight of responsibility lifted off her shoulders. They would be all right. The village would close ranks around them and help them through the coming weeks. The village people always helped anyone in need.

 

Margila laughed at the drama plays and enjoyed the dancing. She relished the attention and the fine food. Her attendants kept her plate full of the best meats the village could offer, and her cup never emptied of the choicest wines. For a few hours, she forgot all about her former life of toil and want for the most basic necessities of survival.

 

Only one shadow clouded her joy when she spotted Marcus hanging around the periphery of the pavilion. He never entered into the light and warmth of gaiety and plenty. He scowled at the merrymakers and especially at her. He brought back to her, for a fleeting instant, the glaring fact that this celebration would end in only one way. When she saw him, the shadow of the dragon darkened her joy.

 

She tore her eyes away from him. She couldn’t let him rob her of the few moments’ reprieve this celebration offered her. She couldn’t turn a frightened or uncertain face to these people. They counted on her to embody the joy and celebration of the season.

 

The merrymaking lasted late into the night. The fires burned through the darkness, and a dozen young maidens fluttered around Margila to attend her every need. Long after she got tired, people approached her for one final blessing or a touch of her hand or a reassuring smile.

 

In the small hours of the morning, the maidens made a bed for Margila between two blazing fires. They draped warm quilts of goose down over her and stood at her head and feet to protect her while she slept.

 

She let her eyes drift closed, but she couldn’t settle down to rest. A dark presence called to her from beyond the fire’s glow. With a power she couldn’t resist, it pulled her away from the people who loved her.

 

She kept her eyes closed for hours, but her racing heart kept her tense and alert. She listened to the fires crackle. Only when she heard them start to die down did she dare open one eye to peek out.

 

Sure enough, her two attendants dozed at their posts. Without a sound, she slipped out of bed. She laid her cloak and crown and scepter on the bed and glided out of the pavilion into the night.

 

A large orange moon, almost full, lit up the countryside almost as bright as day. She ran over the chilly grass, across the Common, toward the fields in the distance. She ran all the way to the plowed farmland beyond.

 

A huge black barn loomed some distance back from the road, but she ran straight past that. She wouldn’t find what she was looking for there. She crossed the bumpy field to the trees lining the stream of the far side.

 

The branches closed over her head and blocked out the moonlight. Margila hesitated next to a deep pool. She whispered into the dark, “Marcus!”

 

A black figure emerged from behind a tree. “So, you came.”

 

“I told you I would.”

 

“But you didn’t come for me. You promised you would come to me, to belong to me, after the Festival ended. That will never happen now.”

 

She rushed toward him and threw her arms around him. He stood stiff and still under her arms. Not a breath of life warmed him. “I’m here now. Oh, Marcus, hold me! I can’t keep my heart still.”

 

He put his arms around her, but his body remained cold and lifeless. “You shouldn’t have come.”

 

“I had to come. I had to see you.”

 

“You belong to them now. They’ll never let you go, and they’ll give you to the dragon. I’ll never see you again.”

 

She raised her face to his and tried to kiss him, but he dodged aside and turned his head away. “We’re together now. Can’t you love me anymore, now that I’m to be the sacrifice?”

 

“Do you think I can rejoice that you’re going to die, that you’ll be ripped away from me just when I was about to marry you? Go back to the Common, if you want someone to be happy about it. I would rather kill myself along with you than see you taken from me this way. It’s criminal, and I’ll use all my strength to fight it and stop it. You’ll see if I don’t.”

 

“Don’t talk like that. I had to enter the lottery, and I was chosen, just like hundreds of other young maidens before me. You knew this could happen. Now we just have to accept it.”

 

“I won’t accept it. I’ll never accept it. I’ll put a stop to this if no one else will. I won’t let the dragon kill you.”

 

Margila froze. “What do you plan to do?”

 

He grabbed her in his powerful arms, but his embrace frightened her. “Marry me, Margila.” He grabbed two handfuls of her buttocks in his fists and crushed her against his hips. He ground his crotch against her vulva. The movement sparked her old passion for him. “Give yourself to me tonight, before they offer you as a sacrifice.”

 

“You know I can’t do that. The sacrifice has to be a virgin.”

 

“That’s the whole idea. If you marry me and lose your virginity tonight, they won’t be able to sacrifice you. You’ll be free, and we can run away together.”

 

“I couldn’t do that. My whole family would be disgraced, and my father is Alderman of the village. Besides, if I back out now, they would have to do the lottery all over again. Some other poor girl would be sacrificed in my place. I couldn’t do that.”

 

Marcus flung her away from him. He strode down to the stream and stood with his back to her. “Then I’ll kill the dragon. That’s the only way to save you.”

 

Margila ran around to face him and she grabbed him by the shoulders. “Don’t do anything foolish, Marcus. You know you couldn’t defeat the dragon. You would only kill yourself trying.”

 

“Others have done it, so I can do it, too.”

 

“No one has fought the dragons for generations. The sacrifice is our only hope of living in peace with them.”

 

“We hear tales about knights of old killing them, hunting them to their lairs and cutting off their heads to save their maidens. If they can do it, I can do it.”

 

Margila smacked her lips. “Nonsense. Those are just old stories. Even if they did it now and then, we haven’t had knights fighting dragons in the living memories of our oldest villagers. Don’t endanger yourself. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you. This is the way of our people, Marcus.”

 

He didn’t listen. “I’ll hide on the mountaintop. When they bring you up, they’ll tie you to the post like they always do. Don’t be scared if you don’t see me. After they leave, the dragon will come. I’ll jump out and cut off its head. Then you and I can run away together. No one will ever know you weren’t sacrificed.”

 

“That will never work. The dragons will know I wasn’t sacrificed. When their comrade doesn’t come back with his virgin prize, they’ll descend on the village in force. They’ll be especially cruel when they find one of their own murdered. You and I will run away together, but we’ll bring disaster on our own friends and families. How can you think of doing that.”

 

“Someone has to fight these vicious beasts. All these old men like Aldermen Fallosi can only think of conciliation and obfuscation. I want to fight! I want to kill and maim and destroy. I can’t sit by and watch them send you to your death.”

 

“How do you plan to kill it?”

 

“I’ll steal that old sword hanging on the wall in my father’ study.”

 

“You have no battle training. You’re as likely to cut off your own leg as the dragon’s head.”

 

He didn’t answer. He stared off into the dark, full of his own thoughts

 

Margila laid her hand on his arm. He was solid and still as stone. “Marcus?”

 

He still didn’t answer. Nameless dread seized her. Why was she out here in the dark, risking everything for him? What was he to her, compared to her responsibility to her people?

 

She turned, and without saying anything to him, hurried back to the pavilion.

 

CHAPTER THREE

 

On the day before the full moon, no one came near the pavilion all day. Margila’s maiden attendants hung curtains around the pavilion to bathe her in a private tub. They perfumed her hair and dressed her in costly gossamer gowns. They decked her hair and wrists with flowers and crowned her with a circlet of gold.

 

Margila went through the whole process in a daze. She just couldn’t bring herself to imagine what was about to happen. This day, so like all the other clear autumn days she loved so much, could end only one way. She would go home to her own house and spend the evening by the fire with her parents. She would meet Marcus on the way and share a passionate kiss in some secluded spot. She would spend the evening dreaming of their future together in the fullness of love and tranquility.

 

By mid-afternoon, the maidens took down the curtains and the villagers gathered around the pavilion. They wore their best clothes and played music on homemade instruments. The children ran around and played and laughed. The spirit of joy and festive belonging filled the air.

 

Margila’s mother and father stepped out of the crowd and took their places on either side of her. Her father kissed her on the forehead, and her mother embraced her with eyes brimming with tears. Her father blessed her and thanked her for her sacrifice. Other people listened with clasped hands, and applause broke out when he finished.

 

Then the maidens and young men went forth from the Common. They adorned Margila’s path with flower petals, and the crowd sang all the old songs to mark the occasion.

 

Margila’s parents linked their arms through hers, and the whole village led her in procession across the Common, down the road, and out into the countryside. Margila didn’t see Marcus in the crowd, but she refused to think about him. He lay in her past. Whatever happened to him, she wouldn’t see him again. Their love no longer existed. The man she loved no longer existed. He’d changed into something Margila no longer recognized.

 

The road wound between farms and fields into the unbroken country beyond the village. The crowd kept up its exuberant music and song. Everyone ignored the mountain looming black and foreboding overhead. A single blackened post stuck out of its top. Margila kept her eyes down. She couldn’t look up the mountain without losing her nerve.

 

The road circled the mountain and rose into the heights. The gaiety and joy increased the closer they came to the summit. Margila’s heart beat faster, and her mother tightened her grip on her arm. Her father laid his other hand on her arm to steady her. She swallowed a lump in her throat, but she had no choice but to keep walking. The maidens’ ethereal dancing mesmerized her, and a tambourine beat gave rhythm to her steps.

 

She put one foot in front of the other, but the air on top of the mountain got so thin she couldn’t breathe. She panted through parted lips and leaned on her parents for support.

 

All at once, the crowd turned a corner and the post came into view. The vast countryside, for hundreds of miles in every direction, lay spread out in a complete circle all around her. There was nowhere else to go, and nothing separated her from that post.

 

All the gaiety and merrymaking stopped in a heartbeat. Nothing remained but the raw truth. She would die up here, and nothing could save her. Raw instinct took over her mind. She struggled to break free and run away, but her own parents laid hold of her and held her back.

 

Her desperation gave her superhuman strength, and she fought with all her might to break away. She kicked and scratched. She screamed insults and threats, but the young men lent a hand and dragged her to the post. She begged her parents to help her, but they turned a deaf ear to her entreaties. Her father clenched his lips together while they tied her arms above her head and her ankles, one to the other.

 

Margila tugged at her bonds. “Please, Father, don’t do this to me. Untie me. I’ll do anything you say. I promise. Just let me go.”

 

Her father stood before her. Margila couldn’t remember such pain in his eyes. “Goodbye, my lovely. Believe me, your sacrifice shall not be made in vain.”

 

The other men surrounded him, and he vanished out of her life. Her mother came forward with tears streaming down her cheeks. She kissed Margila. “Never forget, I love you more than my own life. I would happily take your place if I could.”

 

She, too, vanished into the crowd. The sea of bodies closed around them and swept them away, down the mountain.

 

The young maidens came forward now, and Amara took her place in front of Margila. She took off Margila’s crown and removed the flower garlands from her wrists. She took off the cloak and the gossamer gown. She left Margila dressed in nothing but a plain cotton shirt.

 

Margila blinked at the woman who used to be her friend. “Amara? How can you do this to me?”

 

Amara gave her a gentle smile. “If I was in your place, it’s you who would be doing the same thing to me. You’re not the Harvest Princess anymore. You belong to the Raveniss now. Good-bye.”

 

Amara walked away. Margila yanked at the ropes holding her wrists. “Amara!” No one answered her, and the last maidens disappeared around the corner. “Amara!”

 

A deadly silence fell over the mountain. The wind howled through the rocks. Was Marcus hidden somewhere in those rocks? For the first time since she left him at the festival, her heart leaped at the prospect of seeing him again. She would gladly run away with him and condemn her whole village to death if he would only slay the dragon and free her.

 

She twisted one way and then the other, but the ropes cut into her hands. She whimpered in desperate terror. A cry hung on her lips, but she couldn’t muster the courage to call out or scream. No one would answer her, anyway.

 

The sun set blood red over the mountains. The wind swung around cold from the south and bit through her thin shirt. What would become of her? She hung helpless from the post. Her shoulders started to ache, and the ropes cut into her skin. She closed her eyes and longed for death to put an end to her suffering.

 

Shafts of sunset light touched her face when a shadow covered the sun. Out of the west, a huge shape blacked out the sun. It covered the whole mountain. Margila’s eyes snapped open just in time to see a massive dragon sail over the mountaintop. Its enormous wings glistened iridescent green and purple with the light shining through their skin. The dragon swept down and landed right in front of Margila.

 

She turned her face aside to hide, but the dragon strode toward her with acrid smoke billowing from its nostrils. Its head bobbed and weaved on its long neck, and its tail lashed the air with the whistle of a cracking whip. It lowered its head to peer into her face, and it sniffed at her dress.

 

Margila tried to cringe away. She crossed her legs under her dress, but the thing pressed its nostrils against her hips and inhaled a long breath. It exhaled with a low rumble deep in its chest. She sobbed under her breath. It would open those disgusting jaws and end her life here and now.

 

At that moment, a broken yell pierced the silence. Marcus leaped out from behind a nearby rock with his father’s ancient sword brandished in his hand. Margila’s spirits soared, but at the same time, she flinched in fear. That sword couldn’t cut a thick strand of rope, let alone the dragon’s scaly hide.

 

Marcus charged forward. He bared his teeth, and sweat flew from his disheveled hair. He must have been hiding on this mountain since last night, where he knew no one in the Festival procession would see him.

 

He dashed across space toward the dragon. With one powerful sweep of his arm, he slashed the dragon with his sword. He must have sharpened it, because it gashed the dragon’s shoulder, and black blood oozed from the wound.

 

In a rage, the dragon whipped around to face him. It roared in his face, and the rocks shivered from the noise. Its mouth gaped at him, and the blast of air from its beating wings knocked Marcus backward.

 

To Margila’s surprise, however, the dragon didn’t spit a jet of fire at him to kill him on the spot. It whipped its tail around and struck him hard across the chest. Marcus flew back and slammed into a big rock. The sword fell from his hand, and he slumped to the ground. His head lolled sideways, his eyes closed, and he moved no more.

 

The dragon bent its long neck and licked its wounded shoulder. It growled under its breath. Then it turned its attention back to its helpless prey. That hideous head hovered inches from Margila’s face. It took several deeps sniffs of her.

 

For some reason she couldn’t understand, its behavior caused a curious reaction in the depths of her being. Maybe the extreme fear of standing helplessly at its mercy confused her. Maybe being tied to that post excited her more than she realized. The dragon’s presence sent a quiver of electric energy through her nubile young body. It ignited all her passions, and her flesh came to life.

 

A trickle of wet warmed her tissues between her legs. She closed her eyes and moaned. The dragon sent out its forked red tongue and licked its scaly lips. The thing nudged at her legs. She uncrossed them, and her bare thighs rubbed against each other.

 

She couldn’t stand this maddening sensation any longer. She needed something down there to satisfy her deepest longing. Not even Marcus’s expert hands could bring her the fulfillment she so desperately craved.

 

The dragon’s head darted back faster than mortal eye could follow. Its tail lashed, and with a calculated flick, its sharp spikes severed the ropes holding Margila’s wrists to the post. They remained bound together, as did her ankles, but her body slumped forward.

 

The dragon caught her before she hit the ground. She draped across its neck, and with a powerful downbeat of its wings, it took off into the air. It banked west and flew away into the dying sun.

 

CHAPTER FOUR

 

Margila came to her senses and sat up. The first thing she noticed was the post wasn’t there anymore. The rocks looked different. She wasn’t on the mountain where the village people left her. She was somewhere else.

 

The sun climbed overhead. She must have slept all night long. How far had the dragon taken her? How far away was she from her home?

 

She lay on a flat rock. A bowl of towering boulders surrounded her on all sides so she couldn’t see beyond them. Only in one direction, several mountain peaks jutted against the sky. She must be on another mountain.

 

Heat radiated up through the rock on which she lay. The boulders protected her from biting wind howling among the crags. She flattened herself on the rock to keep warm when she saw the dragon slither out from across the bowl.

 

Its red eyes burned, and its nostrils smoked. It dragged its huge body over the ground toward her. The ropes still tied her wrists and ankles together so she couldn’t run away. She cowered lower, but she couldn’t get away.

 

Its head bobbed one way and then the other. Its tongue flickered in and out of its mouth. She closed her eyes. Her end would surely come now.

 

Her eyes popped open when a distinctly male voice spoke to her. “You have nothing to fear from me. You are perfectly safe here.”

 

She stared at the dragon. The voice couldn’t have come from anywhere else.

 

“What is your name?”

 

She swallowed hard. Could he really be speaking to her? “My name is Margila.”

 

“I am Tanak. How do you do?”

 

She didn’t answer.

 

“Are you comfortable enough, Margila? Is the rock warm enough for you?”

 

She couldn’t speak. She could only nod.

 

“You must be hungry and thirsty. I will bring you food and water later, but first I want to talk to you and get to know you. Tell me about yourself. What sort of people do you come from?”

 

She looked all around her in search of something to explain this incredible turn of events, but nothing came to her aid. Looking at him and listening to that voice posed an incomprehensible puzzle she couldn’t solve. He was a giant lizard. How could he talk to her? She stared at the ground.

 

“I’m just a village girl, like all the others. My father is Alderman. Other than that, I’m nothing special. You must have eaten hundreds of others just like me.”

 

“I do not eat girls, Margila. I told you, you’re perfectly safe on this mountaintop. I brought you here so you would be comfortable and I could look after you until you choose to leave.”

 

Her head shot up. “Until I choose to leave? Do you mean I can choose to leave whenever I want? But we hold the lottery every year to select a virgin maiden to sacrifice to the dragon. That’s what I’m here for—at least, that’s what I was on the other mountain for.”

 

“You do all that to sacrifice a virgin maiden to the Raveniss, but our people do not eat human beings. We take the virgin sacrifice to live with us in our stronghold to the north.”

 

She blinked. What in the world was he saying? “That’s impossible. Everybody knows the sacrifice dies.”

 

“The sacrifice dies—to the rest of the village. After the people leave her on the mountain, one of our people comes to get her, and she starts a new life with us. The same thing will happen to you.”

 

She started to sit up. “Then let’s go. I choose to leave right now.”

 

“Not just yet. There is one piece of business we have to attend to first before I can take you away.”

 

“What is that? I’ll do anything.”

 

“Don’t promise that until you hear what it is.” He curled himself up into a ball, but he still towered over her. “Our people have inhabited this planet long before humans. We have not always been at war with humans, but now the humans have decided to wipe the Raveniss out of existence. I suppose you know all about that.”

 

“I know the Raveniss devastate our crops and wipe out our villages. That’s why we had to instigate the sacrifices. That’s the only way we could keep the peace with the dragons.”

 

“Humans started the war between us. They hunted us almost to extinction. We only attacked their villages to defend ourselves. That’s why we need females, to increase our population. As long as we had females with whom we could mate, our population survived. The knights of old killed too many Raveniss females, so we had to take human ones.”

 

Margila shook her head. “That’s impossible.”

 

“I’m afraid it’s all tragically true. You’ve heard the stories in your village from the time you were a young child—all about the brave knights hunting the dragons. After several generations of that, we didn’t have enough females to stay alive. We laid waste to a few villages. After that, we sent our proposal to the Aldermen. We would leave the humans in peace in exchange for a virgin maiden each year at the Harvest Festival. The Aldermen agreed. That is how you come to be here.”

 

“So what are you saying?”

 

“Dear Margila, I can see you’re a strong and smart young woman. You must mate with me. Then I will take you to our stronghold, where you’ll dwell with me and my people.”

 

Margila tried to struggle to her feet, but with her ankles tied together, she fell back down on the rock. “Mate with you! Never! I could never think of mating with a monster like you. I would rather die.”

 

He didn’t flare up in anger. He only regarded her from his place. “Then that is what you will do.”

 

“How could I mate with you? Our bodies don’t even fit together. You would kill me if you tried.” She succumbed to hysterical laughter. “You’re out of your mind for even suggesting it.”

 

“Do you really think you would be doing anything differently from all the other young women who’ve come here before you?”

 

Margila caught her breath. “What about them? Have you mated with all of them, too?”

 

“Not me. A different dragon earns the privilege to come each year. I’ve waited many years for my chance to take a mate, and I won’t turn back until I succeed. You will stay here, on this mountaintop, and you will never see another living face until you agree to mate with me and bear my offspring. Only then will I take you to our stronghold in the north, where the Raveniss live with their human consorts and our hybrid children.”

 

Margila slumped down on the rock in despair. “Please don’t do this to me. Please, can’t you just let me go?”

 

“I cannot do that. Anyway, you have nowhere left to go. You cannot return to your village, and you would die in these mountains without me to take care of you. This bowl is the only volcanic caldera of its kind. Underground lava heats the rocks. If you went outside this bowl, you would freeze to death before nightfall. I couldn’t let that happen to you.”

 

“Don’t try to be nice to me. I’m your prisoner, and you want to coerce me into mating with you. You’re disgusting to me, and you always will be. You might starve me or force yourself on me, you might even starve me of company until I submit to you, but I will never give myself to you of my own free will. I can promise you that. I will hate you for the rest of my life.”

 

His wicked head hovered on the end of his serpent’s neck. “I have no plans to starve you or force myself on you, Margila. The Raveniss are a benevolent people, despite what you may have heard. We do not mistreat the humans who come to live with us. We treat them well, and they come to love their Raveniss mates as much as if they had chosen them themselves. They fight for the Raveniss and support our people’s cause.”

 

“Well, I won’t. You’ll never turn me against my own people. Do you think I could ever forget the way you killed my fiance back there on the mountain? You’re a vicious killer. Don’t deny it.”

 

He purred under his breath. “So that gangly creature was your fiance? How quaint! Did he think he could harm me with that toothpick of his?”

 

“He made you bleed, didn’t he?”

 

Tanak got to his feet and lumbered around in a complete circle. “Take a look for yourself.”

 

He turned his shoulder toward her, but Margila could see no sign of a wound or even a scar. From what she could see, the skin had sealed itself up and completely healed.

 

He curled himself up again. “I did not kill that man, whatever you may think. I only knocked him down so I could take you away. He’s still very much alive.”

 

“How can I take your word for that, after what you did?”

 

“Because I heard his heart beating. The Raveniss have increased senses. I heard his heart and his breathing, and there was nothing wrong with him.”

 

Margila bent her head into her hands and groaned in despair. She couldn’t get the image of Marcus, lying helpless and unconscious on the rocks, out of her head. He could have been killed for love of her, and now she would never see him again.

 

Tanak watched her. “Why do you grieve over such a trifling little man? Our people used to roam freely over this planet. We used to hunt our food in the forests and dive into the oceans to fish. Then the humans came, and they slaughtered us by the thousands. Can you imagine mothers with babies and even old people too old to fly anymore, cut down by men exactly like your beloved fiance? Then the villagers invented stories to tell their children about how deadly and evil the Raveniss were for trying to defend themselves.”

 

“I didn’t know. None of us knew.”

 

“You knew. Do you deny you heard the stories of dragon slayers, along with all the others?”

 

“Of course, I heard them, but I didn’t understand...None of us really understood.”

 

“You understood from your own perspective. No human ever bothered to consider the situation from our perspective. All you know is kill, kill, kill. Nothing will satisfy you but blood.”

 

His words brought back her father’s comments about Major Bloodkist. That gave her an idea. “If you let me go home, I’ll explain it to them. I can make them understand. Then we can all live in peace on this planet.”

 

He studied her with searching eyes. “You know that’s impossible. No one will ever live in peace on this planet again.”

 

Her head shot up. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

 

“Your people have brought in a fleet of ships to fight us. They’re moving toward Phomentina right now, aren’t they? Don’t bother to deny it, because we already know it’s true.”

 

She stared at him. How could he know that, when most of the villagers didn’t even know? Her father and Councilor Dunroy must be the only men in the village who knew the truth. “I won’t deny it.”

 

“Then don’t say anything more about getting your people to understand. The humans will never understand. They don’t want to understand. All they want to do is fight until no Raveniss remains alive, on this planet or on any other.”

 

“You’re wrong.”

 

He turned away. He stretched his wings and beat the air with them. “Never mind. I will go out and hunt you something to eat.”

 

“Can’t you untie me before you leave?”

 

“I can’t run the risk of you trying to escape. Stay here and stay warm. I will return shortly. Then we can talk further.”

 

CHAPTER FIVE

 

Margila woke up hours later to a strange whining hum buzzing toward her. She sat up and looked at the sky. Some kind of vehicle glided overhead. It buzzed from one side of the bowl to the other and disappeared. A moment later, another crossed going the other way.

 

She settled down to more fruitless waiting when Tanak appeared over the side of the bowl and landed in front of her. He dropped a bundle tied in canvas at her feet. “What’s this?”

 

“Open it. It’s food and water. I think you’ll like it.”

 

She did her best to untie the string holding the bundle together. It wasn’t easy with her hands bound, but she managed in the end. She found a large dish of roasted meat and a flask of clear, cold water. She guzzled down the water and tore the meat with her teeth. She didn’t realize how hungry she was, but the meat made her mouth water.

 

Tanak paced around the bowl and looked at the sky. “I see they’re escalating their campaign against the planet. I only hope my people are safe up north.”

 

Margila glared at him out of the corner of her eye. Now that she took the edge off her hunger, her animosity returned. “Where did you get this meat? Did you steal a cow from one of the villagers? Who tied it up for you? I don’t think you could do that with your claws.”

 

“I didn’t steal it from anyone. I killed it in the forest on the other side of these mountains, and I cooked it with the fire from my own breath. You’re welcome, by the way. I can see you enjoyed it. That’s the most important thing to me.”

 

His words shamed her, and she sat back on the rock to chew her meat. “I’m sorry. Thank you. It’s delicious. Did you see many of those ships flying over?”

 

“I noticed a bunch of them hanging around the village and another group heading north to scout our territory. I imagine my people will be arming for war right now.”

 

Her heart beat with a faint hope. “Don’t you think you ought to join them? They probably need you fighting with them.”

 

“Not yet. I’ll go when you’re ready.”

 

“I’m ready now.”

 

“Does that mean you’ll mate with me?”

 

“Yes, I’ve decided. I’ll mate with you.”

 

“I mean, will you mate with me of your own free will? Don’t answer that. I can tell you’re getting ready to lie. You don’t really want me. You just want to get out of here. I won’t take you until you’re ready to give yourself to me with your whole heart and make the Raveniss your own people. Until that happens, we’ll stay here.”

 

“What if those ships wipe out the rest of your people? What will you do then?”

 

“Then it will be more important than ever for me to win your love. The two of us will be the only Raveniss left alive on the planet.”

 

Margila pulled her head down between her shoulders. “I will never be Raveniss. No matter what I do, I will never join your people.”

 

He collapsed on his side with a heavy sigh. “Very well. Have it your own way. I’m tired. I’m going to sleep.”

 

“How can you expect me to give myself to you when you keep me tied up as a prisoner here?”

 

He buried his head on his big front paws. “If I untied you now, you would run away the first time I left you alone. You will come around in time and agree to be my mate.”

 

He closed his eyes, and in a minute, a loud rumbling snore came out of his body. His sides rose and fell with his breath. Margila studied him. She loathed him more than ever, especially for his kindness. She resolved not to let his care break down her hatred. He was only being nice to her to get what he wanted. In the end, she was nothing but a prisoner and a slave.

 

She looked all around the bowl for some sharp rock on which to sever the ropes that bound her. The rock on which she lay gave her enough warmth to keep her comfortable in her thin dress. When she tried to rub her bonds against the corner, it crumbled into sand. She crawled off it to search for something harder, but the moment she hit the ground, the cold seeped into her bones. Tanak was right. She couldn’t survive if she ran away.

 

She retreated to her rock and lay down in despondent despair. Should she starve herself? That was the only way to thwart his plans. She already gave herself up for dead when she took part in the lottery. She would lose nothing by killing herself, but she could strike a blow against the Raveniss.

 

Then her eye fell on Tanak. He slept in peace a few dozen yards away. He trusted her, as far as she could move tied hand and foot. Maybe he told her the truth, and the Raveniss really were a peaceful race. She couldn’t deny her own people harbored murderous intentions toward the dragons.

 

No one ever talked about why the dragon-slaying knights first set out to annihilate the Raveniss from the face of the planet. Even the village’s own legends said the dragons didn’t come in force to devastate the crops and burn the village until centuries after the dragonslayers first waged their campaigns against the dragons.

 

The humans never once considered leaving the dragons alone to live their lives. Why had they slaughtered so many dragons, when they weren’t dangerous in the first place?

 

How many innocent virgins has the village sacrificed over the years? They could have avoided all of that, had they left the Raveniss in peace.

 

Then the reality hit her like a ton of bricks. All those virgins weren’t dead, the way the villagers thought they were. They were all still alive, living their lives and raising their children with their Raveniss mates. What were their lives like? What were their children like? If only she could catch a glimpse into that world, even if only for a fraction of an instant, she might make her decision easier.

 

She would never know the truth, though. Tanak would never allow her to know what their lives were like until she agreed to mate with him. She shuddered at the thought. She could never do that. She could never give her body to a thing like that, a devil serpent. The very thought disgusted her beyond endurance.

 

As if in answer to her thoughts, Tanak stirred and raised his head. His slanted eyes flickered open, and he regarded her with that inscrutable gaze of his. “Did you sleep?”

 

“No.”

 

“You should have. You need your rest.” He got up and stretched. When she didn’t answer, he came toward her. “Is anything bothering you?”

 

“Can I ask you a question?”

 

“Of course.”

 

“What’s it like, where you come from? What’s it like, in your stronghold, where the other human women live?”

 

“It’s a lovely place, full of light and laughter and music. It’s much nicer than your village.”

 

“Are the women happy there?”

 

“Very happy.”

 

“I wish I could see it for myself. Not knowing is the hardest part.”

 

“I’m afraid I can’t let you see it until you make your decision.”

 

“What are the children like? What sort of hybrid comes from a cross between human and dragon? No, wait. Don’t answer that. I don’t think I want to know.”

 

He put his head on one side and studied her. “Why don’t you want to know? What made you change your mind about asking me?”

 

“Because I will never mate with you. I don’t care if the children are the most beautiful creatures in the world. I’ll never let you touch me, let alone.....” She shuddered. The thought turned her stomach.

 

He lowered his head until he came level with her eyes. His head inched closer and closer until his breath warmed her through her dress. The tingle of excitement scorched her flesh, the same way it did back at the mountain where he found her. He smelled her through her clothes.

 

She wanted more than anything to turn her face away, but his eyes held her enthralled. Her ripe petals unfurled to invite him between her legs, and a delicate blush colored her cheeks.

 

His nostrils flared. He smelled her desire. He could hear her heart beat and her breath rasp in and out of her lungs. He sensed the convulsive twitching of her inner channel in her aching need for...

 

She forced that thought out of her mind. She couldn’t dream about him. She couldn’t fantasize about a dragon inserting its flesh into her. She wouldn’t be human if she gave in to the craven hunger burning her up from the inside.

 

With all her strength, she turned her back on him and sank down onto the rock. The volcanic heat radiating into her bones only made her desire blaze hotter. She stretched out at full length and let the heat melt her anxiety and tension away. She no longer cared if he took her or not. She was no longer human, anyway. She was nothing but a pulsating mass of primal instinct.

 

She wanted him. She wanted him far more than she ever wanted Marcus. That’s the real reason she managed to keep her virginity against all Marcus’s efforts to take it. She never really wanted him in the first place—not like this.

 

Something in Tanak’s eyes, in his flesh, in his skin, blasted away her inhibitions and left her panting and moaning in agony for him. Nothing could satisfy that craving but him.

 

All those other women who mated with Raveniss must be very happy they did. If the dragons excited them as much as Tanak excited her, she would eventually mate with him. It was only a matter of time.

 

The dragons’ bodies didn’t damage them or tear them apart. How did it work? She didn’t care. She wanted him inside her. She wanted to hurl herself on him and destroy herself against him.

 

He didn’t notice or pretended not to. He turned away and went back to his place. She extended her bound arms above her head and undulated against the rock. Was he watching her? Did she excite his passion as much as he excited hers?

 

He wasn’t watching, though. He kept his back turned, so he didn’t see her antics. She rolled over on her side and closed her eyes. She didn’t have to bother telling him anymore that she didn’t want to mate with him. He already knew the truth.

 

At that moment, a massive explosion rocked the whole mountain. It knocked Margila off her rock onto the cold ground. She fought to sit up in time to see one of those vehicles soaring over the bowl. A blast of some bright light burst from its nose and slammed into the mountainside. It shattered the boulders overhead and sent rocks tumbling down on top of Margila and Tanak.

 

Margila cried out in surprise, but she couldn’t get away with her ankles tied. Tanak crossed the bowl with one hop. “They’re attacking!”

 

“Who?”

 

“The fleet—whoever they are. You know better than I do who they are. You tell me.”

 

“The Axis Joint Command. That’s all I know. I overheard my father talking to one of them.”

 

“They must have seen me on their last flight over. They want to kill me and move on north to the Raveniss stronghold.”

 

“Isn’t there anything we can do?”

 

Another blast pounded into the mountainside. One whole side of the bowl collapsed in a shivering pile of rubble. Boulders bounced around Margila. She covered her head with her arms for protection and screamed.

 

“Get on my back. We have to get out of here.”

 

“I can’t. My legs are tied together.”

 

He didn’t take a moment to react. His head darted out and he lifted her up. He draped her across his back and took to the air. The bowl’s rim fell away. Margila tossed on Tanak’s back, but she dared not move around too much for fear of falling off.

 

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of the ship in hot pursuit. It fired on Tanak, and the sizzling blast sailed past his wing.

 

He didn’t turn around. With a few powerful thrusts of his wings, he left the ship far behind. It broke off its pursuit and returned east, the way it came. “They must be operating from the village.”

 

“How can you be sure? Did you fly over there since you took me from the mountain?”

 

“I haven’t been back, but it’s the only place that makes sense. They can park their ships on the Common and barrack their troops with the villagers.”

 

Margila didn’t argue. How could her quiet little village be transformed into a battleground in the short time since she left it? She didn’t have to ask that question. Her village would do anything to get rid of the Raveniss, even if it meant cooperating with a tyrant like Major Bloodkist.

 

Her heart sank when she thought of her father and mother hosting that man in their own home. They let him parade around the village in his dress uniform and pretend he was saving them from the dragon menace. How could they?

 

Then again, how could they do anything else? They just lost their only child, their daughter, to the dragon. To them, she was dead. They had no idea another life waited for her in the far north. They had no idea the very same Major Bloodkist would kill her along with the rest of the Raveniss.

 

Tanak landed on another mountaintop far away from the last one and Margila slid to the ground. No volcanic caldera sheltered them here. The bitter wind scoured the peak and moaned among the rocks. It blew right through her thin dress and chilled her to the bone. The ground on which she sat froze her even more.

 

Tanak checked the sky. Then he noticed her huddled on the ground. “I’m sorry I couldn’t find a better place for you, and you must be hungry. I was just about to go hunting when that thing came along. The night is coming on. We’ll have to spend the night here and move on in the morning.”

 

She couldn’t answer through her chattering teeth.

 

“Come here and lie against my side. I’ll keep you warm.”

 

He curled his long body around her. A mesmerizing heat radiated from his skin and penetrated her frozen limbs. She rested her head and side against his bulk. His body rose and fell with his breath. “Tanak?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Don’t you think you could untie me now? I couldn’t run away now if I wanted to.”

 

He didn’t answer for a long time. “All right. I suppose I could.”

 

He didn’t move, though, and neither did she. They just lay, one against the other, in the peace of the moment. “Tanak?”

 

“What is it?”

 

“You wouldn’t lie to me, would you?”

 

“What possible reason could I have to lie to you?”

 

“You wouldn’t tell me it’s nice in your northern kingdom when it isn’t, would you? You wouldn’t lie to me about that just to get me to consent to mate with you, would you?”

 

He let out a long breath. “I have no reason to lie to you about that when I want you to love me and be happy there. If I lied about it, you would discover the truth as soon as I took you there. That would defeat the purpose, wouldn’t it?”

 

She didn’t answer. She hid her face against his side.

 

“I’m not lying about it, Margila. The women who come to live with my people are very happy. They live in a beautiful, safe city far away from war and hunger and strife. Their children receive the best education available anywhere in the galaxy. They grow up tall and straight and strong, and they take their place in our society with honor and support from the whole community. You have nothing to worry about for your life in the north or from my people. You have only to love me. Everything else will take care of itself.”

 

Her shoulders shook with emotion. “How can I love you? You’re a dragon, and I’m human. I’m not supposed to mate with you. I’m supposed to mate with another man of my own kind. That’s only natural.”

 

“Look beyond my appearance. You know me well enough by now to know I would never lie to you or harm you in any way. Can you love me for myself, in spite of being different? Can you let yourself share your heart and your life with me?”

 

“I only wish I could. Everything would be so much simpler if I did.”

 

He rumbled deep in his chest. “There’s no hurry. We have all the time in the world.”

 

She let the subject die and fell asleep there, against his side. He wrapped his long tail around her to keep her warm, and the wind pounded against his back and blew over her head.

 

CHAPTER SIX

 

Margila woke in the first light of dawn and looked around her. The ropes that bound her wrists and ankles for the last days lay in shreds on the ground. She rubbed the painful welts on her skin and moved her arms and legs freely for the first time since she was bound.

 

Tanak lay in the same position, with his body wrapped around her and his skin glowing with heat to keep her comfortable. She stood up and stretched her legs. She got a good look at rugged mountain ranges running away in all directions. Not a single house or wisp of smoke interrupted that wilderness. She sat back down in the pocket of warmth against his side.

 

His voice rumbled inside his chest. “Good morning. How are you today?”

 

“I’m very well. Thank you for letting me go.”

 

“You’re welcome.”

 

She looked up into his face. “I feel like we can talk for the first time since you took me from the mountain. I feel like there’s nothing standing between us anymore.”

 

“I’m sorry I had to keep you tied up. I shouldn’t have.”

 

“Oh, yes, you should have. You were right about me. I would have run away the very first chance I got, even if it meant dying in the mountains. I didn’t care, as long as I got away from you.”

 

“And now? Do you still want to run away?”

 

“You were right about something else. I have nowhere to go. My only option is to go north with you.”

 

“Are you prepared to do that?”

 

She stared down at the ground. “I want to go north. I want to start a new life with your people, but I would be lying if I said I wanted to mate with you. I care about you, but I don’t feel that way about you. I’m sorry.”

 

“I understand. I appreciate your honesty.”

 

“So what do we do now?”

 

“Nothing. We wait until you change your mind about me.”

 

“How can we wait? You can’t leave me alone here while you go hunt, and I’ll die without food and water.”

 

“That is true. I will have to think of something else. Perhaps I could take you back to the caldera.”

 

“Is that wise? That ship might come back. It could attack us again, and we might not be lucky enough to get away this time.”

 

“The truth is, I would be taking my life in my hands hunting for you anywhere. Those ships will be surveying the whole planet. They’ll attack any dragon they see, and I can’t hide from them forever.”

 

“So what choice do we have? You have to take me north.”

 

“I’m sorry. I can’t run the risk. We have a strict rule that no maiden can come to the stronghold until she gives herself to the dragon that took her. I would be driven out and probably killed if I took you back now.”

 

“Why? Why such a harsh rule?”

 

“You know the answer to that if you only think about it. You have to give yourself to me completely, in full awareness of what you’re doing and with your whole heart, without reservation. If you don’t do that, you won’t fit into our society. You won’t embrace the Raveniss as your own people, and you won’t help us fight the humans in this war. You can only be on one side, and we need to know you’re with us all the way. You won’t be allowed in the stronghold until you make that commitment.”

 

“It seems a little too harsh for my taste. It seems there could be some compromise, especially given the situation we’re in.”

 

“It is humans who created a situation in which there can be no compromise. You’ve been our enemy all your life. Now you have to decide to join us and make humans your enemies. You make the commitment, not just to me and my people, but to yourself.”

 

“How do you figure that?”

 

“Do you really want those villagers as your people? Do you want to cast your lot with them and live hand to mouth for the rest of your life? Do you want ignorant peasantry to be the highest and best you can aspire to? Or do you want to join an advanced race that can compete with the richest and brightest anywhere? Do you want your children to till the soil and slave for their daily bread, or do you want them to read and write and learn and communicate with other sentient races on other planets? Do you want them to take their place in an intergalactic community with a future, or do you want them to sacrifice their children to some barbaric seasonal ritual?”

 

Margila stiffened. “This is my people you’re talking about.”

 

He put his head down and closed his eyes. “Exactly. When you can see them the way I see them, then you’ll be ready to go north to the stronghold. Not before.”

 

She left it at that. What was the sense in arguing? They were too far apart to agree on something so fundamental to them both. The life she left behind in the village, the life she cherished above everything, the life she longed to share with Marcus and in which to bear his children—to Tanak, this was all rude squalor.

 

She couldn’t stop herself, though, from dreaming of something more. The pictures he wove in her mind of worlds extending beyond the broken fields and Common—how could she resist that? Who wouldn’t want something grand and promising like that for herself and her children?

 

If only she could have that with a human man, she would grab it with both hands. After all, what could a human man do for her that Tanak couldn’t do? Did it really come down to a few seconds of intimacy? When she looked the unvarnished truth in the face, what argument could she have against giving herself to him? She certainly didn’t have many options.

 

She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. Tanak haunted her dreams, but not in his dragon form. In her dreams, she met an enchanted lover in the shape of a man. He wore glittering green armor and a spiked helmet, and his auburn hair hung down to his shoulders. She met him in a craggy mountain pass, where they flew into each other’s arms in tumultuous passion.

 

She woke up buzzing with fresh desire, but when she put her hand on the scaly skin under her cheek, her body tensed. He wasn’t that knight in the mountains. He was nothing but a dragon. She couldn’t even touch him without cringing.

 

She got up to stretch, and he unwound his tail to let her step out on the treacherous rocks by herself. The wind tossed her dress around her body, but the sun warmed her. She lifted her arms to the dawn. How wonderful to be free at last!

 

She didn’t have time to enjoy her newfound freedom before one of those sky vessels whizzed over the countryside, headed straight toward them. Tanak raised his head to look at it. It hovered over the peak for a moment before a thunderous clap shook the whole sky. At the same moment, dozens of armed men materialized on the mountainsides. The armed men wore the same uniform as Major Bloodkist, but Margila registered that only at a distance.

 

Battle helmets covered the soldiers’ faces and made them look like giant ants. They rushed up the mountainsides and fired their weapons on Tanak. Energy blasts burst from their weapons and slammed into the rocks. They shattered and sprayed dust and rock in every direction. Tanak unwound his long body, and his tail thrashed through the air toward the men.

 

Margila darted toward him when another blast ripped past her. It crashed into the rock just inches from her head and sent her scurrying for cover. Tanak bellowed at the men and let out a jet of orange flame from his mouth. It swept across the landscape and cleared ten men in one pass.

 

He couldn’t fight them all at once, though. No sooner had he scorched those men than their comrades moved in behind him. They fired their weapons on him and one of them hit him in the back.

 

Tanak reared up on his hind legs. His wings beat the air, and he let out a piercing screech that stood Margila’s hair on end. All thought of crouching in fear evaporated from her mind. She rushed forward, straight into the path of those guns.

 

Tanak saw her first and called out, “Margila, no!” but he couldn’t stop her. She ran between him and soldiers in the very act of firing on him.

 

The soldiers hesitated. Some lowered their guns to avoid hitting her. In that fraction of a second reprieve, Tanak wheeled to face his foes. He swept the mountainside with his fiery breath and vaporized a dozen soldiers closest to him.

 

The others reacted instantly. They shouldered their guns and fired on him with everything they had. Tanak drove his pointed head to block Margila from their fire, but he couldn’t move fast enough. One of the shots landed next to her with such force that it knocked her back against his solid flank. She slid down his leg to crumple on the ground at his feet.

 

Another three shots ripped across his side. He bellowed to the skies, but the soldiers advanced with their weapons at the ready. He couldn’t stand against so many enemies.

 

He pivoted right and left to keep as many of them in sight at a time as possible, but the battle was hopeless. He bent down and picked up Margila’s lifeless form in his mouth. He extended his wings and flapped. The rush of air blasted the soldiers backward and gave him just enough time to take to the air. In a moment, he rose from the ground and soared into the widening sky.

 

Margila dangled from his mouth. The soldiers recovered and fired on him from the ground, but he put more distance between himself and them and left the battle scene far behind.

 

In the distance, one of the flying vehicles banked and headed toward the spot. Tanak went the other way and soon disappeared among trackless mountain peaks.

 

CHAPTER SEVEN

 

Margila came to herself in darkness, but warmth surrounded her on all sides. She sat up, instantly alert, but her hand touched Tanak’s scaly side. Fear and uncertainty melted away. She was safe, as long as she was with him.

 

She rested her head against his side and closed her eyes when her hand touched the stone floor under her. Heat radiated up from it the way it had in the caldera. Were they back there? Why would Tanak return there when he knew the danger?

 

She didn’t have to think about that. She could trust him with her life. He wanted nothing more than to protect her. He wouldn’t bring her anywhere he didn’t believe was safe.

 

She let out a deep sigh. Her chest still hurt from the blast. She wasn’t sure what had happened, but at least she was alive. Had Tanak been so lucky? Was he mortally wounded, even now when he kept her warm and protected?

 

She traced the outline of his long, scaly body with her hands in the dark. She touched some rough patches, and he growled under his breath. “You’re hurt.”

 

“It’s nothing. Go back to sleep.”

 

She settled back down. He had flown away from those soldiers, far enough away that they couldn’t follow. “Where are we? It’s warm here. Are we back in the caldera?”

 

“We’re in a cave in the side of the same mountain. The caldera was too exposed, but they can’t see us here.”

 

“They’ll find us when we come out.”

 

“Yes, they will.”

 

“What will we do?”

 

“I really don’t know.”

 

“Tanak?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Thank you. Thank you for saving my life.”

 

“It is I who should be thanking you. I didn’t think you would do it.”

 

“Why not?”

 

“Those were your people, fighting me out there. If you had let them kill me, they would have taken you home to your village, and there is nothing our people could have done to stop it. Why did you do it? What changed your mind?”

 

“Those aren’t my people. They’re Axis soldiers.”

 

“But they fight for the humans on this planet. They plan to wipe out the Raveniss to make the galaxy safe for human beings.”

 

“Maybe that’s why I did it. I couldn’t stand by and watch them kill you. There are already so few of you left. There must be a way we can bring Raveniss and humans to some peaceful accord.”

 

“I don’t think so.”

 

“Either way, I’ll do what I can to protect you from them. They’ll tell the village I’m still alive. Maybe they’ll get the message you aren’t as dangerous as they think.”

 

“They’ll get the message you threw yourself in front of those guns to save me. They’ll get the message you’re helping the Raveniss against them. They’ll treat you as an enemy, and the Axis won’t hesitate to shoot you next time.”

 

“Then I’ll die defending you. I have to do what I think is right.”

 

He lapsed into silence. Had he gone to sleep? She rested, too. Her whole body ached, and dreadful hunger and thirst plagued her. She dared not tell him that, though. She couldn’t let him risk his life by going out into the open. She would numb the hunger and thirst by going to sleep.

 

She dozed off and woke to gray morning light shining in through the cave mouth. She looked around. The cave extended back into the mountainside. She couldn’t see the back of it, especially not with Tanak’s bulk in the way.

 

He uncurled his tail to make room for her to stand up and stretch. She was still very sore, and the hunger and thirst tortured her even more, but at least she was safe. She could move around and work the kinks out of her arms and legs without fear of the soldiers attacking.

 

She stepped to the mouth of the cave. Nothing surrounded her on all sides but endless mountain ranges. She couldn’t see a tree or hear the tinkle of water. She went back inside. She had to find a way to hide her discomfort from him.

 

His voice broke in on her thoughts. “You must be hungry and thirsty. I will go out hunting later.”

 

“Don’t do that. It’s too dangerous. I’m okay.”

 

“You haven’t eaten or drank any water in two days. I can take the chance if it means tending to your needs.”

 

“What will happen to me if you get killed out there? Wait a little longer. It’s not worth risking your life.”

 

He sniffed her. “You’re hungry and thirsty. I can hear your heart racing even now.”

 

“Maybe there’s water deeper in the cave.”

 

“I would be able to hear it if there was. Sit down. I’ll go out later when the sun gets higher.”

 

“Where will you go?”

 

“Down into the valleys. The sky vessels won’t be able to see me down there, and the hunting is good. I’ll bring you back food and water.”

 

“Why don’t you go at night? The soldiers wouldn’t be able to see you at all then.”

 

“The animals I hunt hide at night. It’s easier to find them and catch them during the day.”

 

Her head swam from thirst. She sat down on a rock near him, but chills swept through her. She had no choice but to lie down among his coils again. He purred under his breath when she laid her head on his shoulder. “Talk to me. Make the time pass.”

 

“What would you like me to tell you?”

 

“Tell me about your people. What’s your society like?”

 

“We live in family citadels in our city in the north. Each family lives together, and everyone helps raise the children. We have vast libraries with information on dozens of planets. We have observatories to monitor the movement of the stars and planets around us. We even have contact with other Raveniss in other parts of the galaxy.”

 

“Tell me about your family.”

 

“I live with my father and mother, three brothers and their families. My two sisters went to live with their husbands’ families. We also have my two uncles, my father’s brothers, and their children and grandchildren. In all, I’d say there were more than a hundred people in our citadel alone.”

 

“So many? How do so many dragons live in one place? The citadels must be enormous.”

 

“Don’t you even want to know how we communicate with other Raveniss on other planets?”

 

“Of course. How do you do it?”

 

“We have technology that sends signals through space.”

 

“What does ‘technology’ mean?”

 

“It means certain types of machines that do certain types of work.”

 

“Do you mean like a water wheel?”

 

“Something like that, only these machines use the power of the sun and the volcanic heat from the planet to make them work. They can do much more difficult work and much more complicated work than a water wheel. You’ll understand when you see it all.”

 

“I guess I have a lot to learn before I become one of your people.”

 

“Everybody has to learn. The other women had to learn, too, and now some of them are the best we have at working them.”

 

“I wish I could talk to just one of them.”

 

“Everything will be all right. You’ll fit in there, and you’ll have family and friends of your own.”

 

“Hearing that from you doesn’t mean as much as if I heard it from another woman who had been where I am now. I’m sorry if that offends you.”

 

“It doesn’t offend me. It’s a simple truth.”

 

“You make your world sound so beautiful and appealing.”

 

“It is. I honestly wonder how people live in those villages, scratching just to put food in their children’s mouths when they could be living like us. If the humans made a lasting peace with us, they could share our technology. They could enjoy our prosperity and our peaceful way of life. Instead, they would rather fight and starve.”

 

“Do those other women wonder the same thing? Do they wonder how they ever lived like that?”

 

“Yes, they do. My older brother has a human wife, and sometimes she breaks down in tears when she remembers the way she used to live. She wishes her sisters would get sacrificed so they could come and live with her.”

 

“Are you sure she’s crying for that, and not for the life she left behind? Are you sure she’s not crying because she wants to go home?”

 

“No, she told me she would never go home. She cries because her parents and sisters suffer when they don’t have to. They suffer over a misunderstanding between our peoples.”

 

Margila closed her eyes. “Let’s not argue about it anymore.”

 

“Are we arguing? You asked me to tell you about our people, and that’s what I’m doing.”

 

She must have drifted off again. When she woke up, neither she nor Tanak had moved, but a bright sparkle took the place of the fog in her head. She didn’t feel her hunger or thirst. She stared up at the interplay of light and shadow on the cave ceiling.

 

Sublime comfort and peace filled her, body and soul. The despair and confusion of the last days faded. For the first time, perfect clarity brightened her future. She knew what she wanted and how to get it.

 

She shifted in her place on the ground and rolled over on her back. Tanak stirred under her, and he lifted his head to look at her. “You’re awake.”

 

“How long have you been awake?”

 

“A few hours. I’ve been waiting for you to wake up so I could go hunting. The sun will be down soon. If I don’t go now, I won’t be able to go until morning.”

 

She put out her hand to touch his shoulder. She couldn’t speak above a whisper. “Don’t go.”

 

His eyes widened. “What do you mean? You need to eat and drink. Now is my only chance.”

 

Her hand glided across his skin. A prickly thrill ran through her fingers, up her arm, and out to the rest of her body. “Don’t leave, Tanak. Stay here with me.”

 

The sparkly sensations tingled between her fingers and his skin. It jumped back and forth from him to her and back again. His muscles tensed under her touch, and his breath caught in his nostrils. He grumbled deep in his throat.

 

The queer sensation set Margila’s nerves on edge. It squirreled down into her deepest core and spread that old wicked warmth between her legs. He lowered his head to peer closer at her, and his nostrils flared to catch her scent.

 

Her body undulated against the rock in a ferment of excitement and desire. What magic was this? She was ready for him. She wanted him, and she wanted to give herself to him. She wanted him to touch her and bring her to her completion. She wanted her skin to touch his, to feel the excitement of his slippery scales caressing her secret places. She wanted his tongue and his body to stimulate her to full arousal and fulfill her every wish.

 

He dropped his head farther still and nuzzled his bony forehead against her stomach. She closed his head in her arms, but he kept moving it back and forth, a little farther every time. He rubbed it around her sides and stroked his long neck over her hip and down her leg. His coils slithered up her chest, around her breasts and across her neck.

 

She twisted and rubbed her body against his powerful curves. Every inch of him brought her to the peak of desire. Her thighs parted to surround its length. She couldn’t hold back much longer. She ached for some part of him inside her to bring her juices flowing to the surface.

 

She flexed her hips to grind her mons against his pelvis. He growled under his breath, and his whole body seethed in massive roiling power. She opened her eyes and found his head weaving above her. His eyes pierced her soul and flashed fire.

 

She gazed up into his eyes without fear. Nothing remained for her but him. The rest of the world ceased to exist. She belonged to him. “Take me. Take me now.”

 

“Are you certain this is what you want?”

 

“I’m certain. Take me now. I want you to.”

 

He needed no second invitation. He heaved up off the ground and loomed over her in all his great bulk. She kept her eyes locked on his face. As long as she looked at him, she knew what she wanted. Nothing would stop her from giving herself to him without reservation.

 

He twisted up onto his feet and stood over her. She remained on her back on the floor. Insatiable desire for him filled her being. The same undeniable attraction that first excited her when he sniffed her on the mountaintop when she hung bound and helpless from the post, boiled in every corpuscle of her body.

 

She spread her legs to him. She would take him into herself and sacrifice her virginity to the dragon, the way she should have done in the first place. She was always his and never any other’s. The childish desire she felt for Marcus only prepared her for this moment.

 

To her surprise, though, Tanak didn’t overpower her or throw himself between her legs. He moved back toward the cave mouth. She watched him with bated breath. What was he doing? Would he leave her here alone, now that he finally secured her permission to take her?

 

Before her eyes, he started to change. His enormous body shrank. His tail retracted into his body, as did his neck. He folded his wings against his back, and they disappeared. His face flattened out, and his nose pulled into the bones of his head.

 

His hind legs straightened and shrank. The knees bent back the other way, and his claws softened into fingers. His front legs hung down at his sides. His neck vanished between his shoulders, and his spine straightened to allow him to stand upright.

 

Margila sat up to stare at him. His glowing greenish purple skin lightened until barely any color remained. Only the faintest hint of soft pink glowed beneath the surface. His eyes changed from fiery red to the deepest blue she ever saw.

 

In a few seconds, the fearsome dragon with its great leathery wings and fire-breathing snout vanished before her eyes. A tall, handsome man with auburn hair touching his shoulders stood before her. He wore trousers of beaten leather down to his bare feet, and a soft woven linen shirt. Her eyes popped out of her head, but she couldn’t speak. It was the knight from her dream.

 

He knelt down before her. His bright eyes glimmered in the light. “Margila, it’s me.”

 

She put out her hand to touch his fine skin. His hair swayed when he leaned forward. His breath brushed her lips when he bent down to kiss her. “How did you....?”

 

“Now you know why I couldn’t take you to our stronghold before you were ready. This is our most closely guarded secret. We can shift back and forth between our dragon form and our human form. Only those people who agree to join us and make the Raveniss their own people can know our secret. If the villagers knew the truth, they would attack and wipe us out in our vulnerable human form. Only fear of the dragons stops them from mounting an all-out assault against us.”

 

She still couldn’t bring herself to speak. She could barely believe the evidence staring back at her.

 

“Now you understand how so many of us can live together in our citadels. We live there as people, not as dragons. We only take our dragon form to fly over the land and to hunt our food in the mountains. We take our dragon form to fight our enemies, but to our friends and families, we are as human as you.”

 

Her eyes drank their fill of his handsome face, but overwhelming emotion welled up within her and threatened to burst out. She dangled on the brink of laughter and tears at the same moment.

 

He put his arms around her, and his face hovered not an inch from her eyes. His warm lips touched hers. In a flash, she threw her arms around his neck and clutched him against her. Her eyes overflowed with tears of joy. She devoured his mouth and hurled herself against him.

 

She never wanted anything but him, and now all her dreams came true. Her body longed for completion in him, and now nothing remained to bar her way. She gave herself over into his arms.

 

He leaned closer, and she lay back on the warm ground. He stretched his body over hers, and her arms and legs welcomed him. His lips probed her mouth open, and their tongues frolicked in joyful union.

 

All the dragon’s magnetic power permeated his human form. He intoxicated her senses and filled her nostrils with the scent of a man. This time, unlike the many times she played around with Marcus, she could give her whole self to him. Her inner being lay bared for his pleasure, and her flesh quivered with anticipation.

 

Tanak was in no hurry. He cradled her in his arms and kissed her long and deep. His warmth rippled down into the nest between her legs, and she rubbed her thighs against his legs. He ran his hands up and down her sides, from her hips to her ribs. She pressed her chest up into his hands in an agony of desire.

 

His endless caressing caught hold of her thin dress. It migrated up to her hips, and his hand touched her bare thigh. She trembled at the contact. His hand trailed her sensitive skin and found the inner line leading up to her warmth.

 

She opened to his exploring fingers, and his gentle circles around her opening brought a moan to her lips. She arched her back against the ground, but no encouragement would induce him to escalate against his inclinations.

 

He discovered her inner wetness, and her flesh rose to meet him. She tried to claw his clothes off him, but he only pushed her back down with a firm hand. He made her lie in seething torment while he stimulated her to the brink of insanity. His fingers delved into her molten cavern and brought her vital essence bubbling to the surface.

 

She contorted on his fingers, but he wouldn’t bring her to completion that way. Just when she thought she would explode, he withdrew his hand and rolled up on top of her. He covered her mouth with his lips, and his tongue insisted on her attention with no room for respite.

 

She whined for him and wrapped her legs around his hips. He rocked back and forth with his bulging spike digging into her engorged flesh. She grabbed his buttocks and scratched his back.

 

With a quick movement of his wrist, he freed himself and laid his naked manhood against her choice fissure. He arched to angle his shaft into her waiting channel. A flicker of fear blinked across Margila’s mind, but she didn’t have time to hesitate before he was home.

 

His rigid lance split her open. A stab of pain rocketed through her, and she screamed out loud. The next minute, he pumped down hard to the very limit of her being. His shaft touched the delicate landscape of her innermost self, and his rhythm transported her to a distant world full of pleasure and delight.

 

She grappled with him there on the floor, but every stroke of his shaft sent waves of heavenly warmth through her. They rocked her far away to the clouds, where no fear or anger or danger could touch her.

 

CHAPTER EIGHT

 

Margila straightened her dress in the sunshine at the cave’s mouth. Tanak sat on a rock outside and checked the sky. “We should be going.”

 

“What happens now?”

 

He stood up. “Now we go home. There’s no reason to hang around here anymore.”

 

“I thought you planned to hunt.”

 

“You’ll have plenty to eat and drink when we get there. We’ll be safer there, and I have no idea when the soldiers will come back.”

 

“They’ll be looking for a dragon, not two people.”

 

“All the more reason to get out while we can. I have to report to my father what we’ve seen. Our people need to prepare for the Axis invasion.”

 

Without another word, he started to grow larger. The same transformation process reversed itself until the dragon stood before her in all its majesty. Margila stared at him. She still could hardly believe the man to whom she just gave herself was the same person as this fearsome reptile.

 

In spite of everything, she could never forget that she gave herself willingly, with her whole heart, to this beast without knowing he was really a man underneath. She loved him for his inner strength, for his kindness to her and his noble bearing. His handsome appearance was simply a nice addition. She would love him and desire him even if he wasn’t a man.

 

His tail whipped the air, and he raised his head to sniff the air. Then he bent his head close to her. “Climb onto my back. Step on my head, and I’ll lift you up.”

 

She put her hands against his side and her foot on his head. With a sweep of his muscled neck, he boosted her up. She threw one leg over his back and found a secure place to sit where his neck met his shoulders.

 

He unfurled his wings and lifted off the ground. The wind whistled through her hair, and she raised her face to the sunshine. His wings stroked up and down, and his muscles rippled under her. The mountain fell away.

 

Tanak circled the caldera where they spent their first days. One side of the bowl had collapsed where the Axis vessel fired into the mountain. Then the mountain grew smaller and smaller. He swept over the landscape, but he didn’t head north. He circled east.

 

Fields and roads appeared down below. Tanak hovered over a high mountain with a blackened post sticking out of the top. Margila gazed down at the sight of her own sacrifice. She cast her eye farther east. Her own village spread out along the river. The green grass of the Common lay browning in the autumn sun. Smoke billowed from the chimneys.

 

How tiny and insignificant the village looked from here. Even the few shiny metal vehicles parked on the Common reminded her of children’s toys. How little those people understood about their own world! How paltry and petty their concerns seemed to her now!

 

If only they could understand the Raveniss as she could, maybe they would give up this tragic war. She didn’t understand the Raveniss as well as the other women who went before her, but even she knew how fruitless and wasteful this war was for both sides. If only she could get them to understand, she could save so many innocent lives.

 

Even as that thought crossed her mind, she knew, as Tanak and all the rest of the Raveniss knew, that it was useless. The people in that village didn’t want to understand the Raveniss, and they certainly didn’t want to save innocent lives. If they did, they wouldn’t hunt the Raveniss in the first place. The Raveniss represented innocent lives. Now the village sold what little sovereignty they had to the Axis for some blood-thirsty obsession with destroying the dragons.

 

Margila turned away. She no longer belonged to those people. She no longer wanted to be one of them or to involve herself with their concerns. She hated their prejudices and their headstrong traditions. Another, brighter future awaited her. Enlightened people with access to a whole universe of information waited for her in the north. They would welcome her as Tanak’s consort. She would raise children with him in peace and light.

 

Tanak didn’t linger around that mountain, either. He only gave her a brief glimpse into the world she was leaving behind, enough of a glimpse to solidify her resolve. Then he turned away northward.

 

She never saw him in the full power of his flight. He covered vast distances with every downbeat of his wings. Mountain ranges slipped away. In the far distance, the ocean crashed against rocky shores. Margila had never seen the ocean before. Her village had no word for it, and she couldn’t understand what it was.

 

They passed another mountain range, and deserts stretched to every horizon as far as the eye could see. Night fell, and another day dawned before they came in sight of a higher mountain range. It dwarfed all the mountains Margila had ever seen before. Snow capped its peaks, and waterfalls tumbled from high cliffs into bottomless canyons.

 

Margila sat up to get a better view. Tanak flew far into this vast mountain range before a spot of gray sprang up on the cliff face. They flew closer, and Margila could just make out spires jutting against the sky. Colored banners waved from their pointed tips, and the battlements extended from one mountain to another.

 

The city covered several mountains with high walls and towering spires. Interconnected citadels formed one massive edifice set into the mountains. Tanak flew over the first parapet and soared down over well-tended fields dotted with villages. Margila craned her neck to look down. Livestock browsed in the fields. A herd boy raised his hand to wave to the dragon as it passed overhead. Could this be a home like the one she left behind?

 

Tanak flew onward to the next parapet and up to the highest spire. The closer he came, the better Margila could see. A wide courtyard connected four spires at their corners, and people walked around down there. The dragon didn’t concern them at all. Why should it? It was one of their own people.

 

Tanak flapped his wings and banked down into the courtyard. He landed on all four legs, and Margila slipped down to the ground. She couldn’t get enough of the impressive structure and the flags flapping in the wind.

 

The people she saw from the sky were soldiers. They wore armor, like ancient knights, and they held weapons at the ready. Before Margila could formulate the words to ask any questions, she found Tanak standing at her side in his human form. He took her hand and turned her toward the north spire, where a crowd of people came to meet her.

 

A man and a woman in the finest clothing Margila had ever seen led the procession. The man wore a golden crown on his head. The woman came toward her and held out both hands. “Welcome, my dear. You don’t know what a pleasure it is to finally meet you and welcome you to our fair city. My name is Katya, and I am Tanak’s mother. This is his father, the Archduke Martindale.”

 

Margila blushed and bowed to them both. “Thank you. It is an honor to finally meet you.”

 

Katya laughed and raised her up. “Please, please. You are our own family now. You must dispense with all those formalities. We may not look the same as your people in the village, but we are, after all, people just like you.”

 

Tanak stepped forward and embraced his parents. His father clapped him on the shoulders. “You took your time coming back. I was worried and wanted to send out a patrol to find you, but your mother insisted these things take time. She should know.”

 

Margila’s head shot up and she stared at Katya. “You do?”

 

“Of course, my dear. I was sacrificed, the same way you were, and look at me now, welcoming my own son’s mate to follow in my footsteps.”

 

“But that means Tanak is a hybrid, too.”

 

“That’s right. As you can see, there is no difference between the hybrid offspring from any other Raveniss. Your children will be fully Raveniss, as if you never came from the village at all.”

 

Margila shook her head. “I wonder why I worried about coming here at all. I shouldn’t have taken so long to make up my mind.”

 

“Nonsense, my dear. Leaving behind everything you know and love to mate with a Raveniss takes real courage. You have our deepest respect, and we will make every effort to make you comfortable here. As you can see, you will find other maidens from your own village here, in every walk of life. Some of them you may already know from previous lotteries.”

 

Tanak interrupted. “There’s another reason we took so long getting back. The humans have brought in a fleet to wage war against us. They have vessels patrolling the mountains, and they attacked us more than once. I would have been killed if Margila hadn’t saved me.”

 

“And I would have been killed if Tanak hadn’t saved me.”

 

The Archduke frowned. “In that case, you had better come and give me a full report. We must send out fliers to patrol our southern boundary, and the other families will have to be informed so we can call up a council of war.”

 

Tanak turned to Margila. “Mother will take you down and show you to our chambers. I will meet you there in a little while.”

 

He and his father went back through the door into the spire, along with a crowd of other men. Katya hooked her arm through Margila’s elbow. “Come with me, my dear. You must be starving.”

 

Margila laughed. “Pretty close to it.”

 

Katya snapped her fingers, and a bunch of women crowded around. Others hurried away into the citadel. “I’ll show you to your quarters, and you’ll find a hot meal waiting for you there, along with some more suitable clothing. Leaving the village as a sacrifice is hard for a young girl. No one knows that better than me.” She motioned to an elegant lady on Margila’s other side. “This is Praila. She is married to my older son. She came from your village several years ago. Maybe you remember her.”

 

“Only distantly. I think, back then, I was too young to understand the lotteries.”

 

“I remember you, Margila,” Praila replied. “I remember what a lovely little girl you were. I’m glad we’re here together, married to two brothers.”

 

“What about your other sons? Tanak said he had three brothers. Are the others married to a Raveniss woman?”

 

The smile evaporated from Katya’s face. “I’m afraid no one is married to any Raveniss woman. We have so few people that all the men must take their wives from the village. We have a lottery of our own, and each man must wait his turn before he goes to collect the sacrifice. My younger sons have not yet had their turns.”

 

“That must take a very long time.”

 

“Not only that, but each man takes his life in his hands going anywhere near the village. Sometimes a girl already has a sweetheart who wants to fight the dragon to save her.”

 

“That happened to me. Tanak had to knock my sweetheart out to get away.”

 

“Some men aren’t so lucky. In earlier years, whole cadres of village men would lay in wait on the mountaintop and attack the dragon as a group. Several of our men lost their lives that way, and our numbers are already low enough.”

 

Katya led Margila down into the spire. A winding stone staircase spiraled into the citadel’s heart and opened out in a large stone passage lined with vaulted chambers. Light poured into the rooms from windows in the walls. Tapestries covered the walls and made the place bright and inviting.

 

Katya kept talking the whole way down the passage, but Margila couldn’t stop staring at everything around her. She didn’t understand half of what Katya said.

 

At last, Katya opened a heavy wooden door and led the way into a chamber unlike any Margila had seen so far. An enormous bed stood in the center, and high windows overlooking the mountains gave a commanding view of the villages and farms far below. A washstand stood beside the bed, and a stuffed couch and chair sat before the windows.

 

Margila went to the window and drank in the sights with her whole self. “It looks like home.”

 

“It’s much nicer,” Katya told her. “None of those people suffer from hardship or want. The produce from the farms goes to a central distribution hub so everyone has enough during the winter. When the snows come and the winds howl, all the people and animals come into the central keep to stay warm. They sit around the fires and tell stories, and the children play games together in between wrestling in the snowy courtyards. No one goes without here. We all look after each other.”

 

“Who tends the farms? Do you have a subclass of farmers that provides all the food to everyone?”

 

“There is no subclass. There is only Raveniss. Many of the men from the ruling families make their lives on the farms. Everyone gives their work according to his or her skills and desires. If someone wants to tend the flocks, he does so. If he feels called to observe the stars, he spends his time doing that. No one tells anyone what to do, but everything gets done in its own time.

 

“That sounds very civilized.”

 

“It is. Now stop talking and sit down to eat. The food won’t get any hotter.”

 

Margila became aware of the most delectable smell, and Katya showed her to a table set next to the window. Roasted meat, steamed vegetables, and warm bread with butter lay on a plate, all ready to satisfy Margila’s appetite. She ate and drank until she could hold no more.

 

“Now for your clothes. Come and get dressed.”

 

Margila would have fallen asleep if Katya and Praila hadn’t taken her to the other side of the room. A magnificent gown of brightly-colored brocade lay on the bed. Lace trimmed the bodice and the hem, and gold thread decorated the puffed sleeves. “Oh, I couldn’t possibly wear that. It’s far too rich for me.”

 

Katya guffawed with laughter. “Too rich for you! Take a look at my dress, my dear, and Praila’s. All the women in the citadel wear this, and you can’t go around in that flimsy little shift. Come now. Would you like to take a hot bath before you get dressed? I can send one of the other women in to wash and comb your hair.”

 

Before Margila could answer, the door opened without a knock, and half a dozen women entered. Each one carried a large jar with steam swirling from the top. They set up a wooden tub in front of the windows and filled it with hot water. Then they all filed out as quickly as they came.

 

Katya patted Margila’s hand. “Take your bath, my dear, and enjoy yourself about it. You deserve it, after what you’ve been through. Praila and the other women will come back in a little while and help you get dressed. These gowns take some getting used to.”

 

She followed the others outside and shut the door. Margila found herself utterly alone for the first time since long before the lottery. Blessed silence filled the chamber, and the sunlight streaming through the windows made her eyelids drift closed.

 

This place was far nicer and far more comforting than she ever would have dreamed. Tanak didn’t do it justice when he told her how rich and wonderful it was. She could stand at those windows and gaze out for the rest of her life and never get tired of it.

 

The steaming bath water sent out tendrils to tempt her, and she meandered over to the tub. She slipped off her shift and let it fall to the ground. That was the last vestige of her old life. She would ask for a fire later to burn it.

 

She stepped into the hot water and let it swallow her up to the neck. She lay back in the tub, and the gorgeous view still lay before her eyes. The green of the grass and the blue of the sky married perfectly with the golden sunshine. Her eyes drifted closed, and she fell asleep.

 

CHAPTER NINE

 

Margila didn’t wake up until the water got cold. She got out of the tub and dried herself off with the towel Katya left for her. She’d just wrapped it around her naked body when Katya and Praila returned. “Goodness! You must have been exhausted. We thought you would never wake up.”

 

“Did you see me asleep?”

 

“We checked on you more than once, but we didn’t want to disturb you. Come over here and we’ll get you dressed. Someone is waiting for you.”

 

“Who is it?”

 

“Get dressed, and you’ll find out.”

 

Somehow, they put that magnificent gown on her. She couldn’t figure out how they did it. Katya was right. Learning how to put it on and take it off would take some doing.

 

They combed her hair and twisted it up on top of her head like their own. Margila smoothed down the brocade skirts. She didn’t recognize herself.

 

The women pushed her toward the door, and she found Tanak waiting for her out in the passage. He wore the same fancy clothes, with brocade trousers and doublet, and his hair hung wet and freshly combed around his shoulders. “There you are. Are you feeling better?”

 

“Yes, thank you. Are you?”

 

He took her hand. “You don’t know how relieved I am to get you back here alive. I was really worried.”

 

“How did the meeting go with your father?”

 

“Everyone is on high alert. We expect the Axis to attack at any moment.”

 

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

 

He inclined his head toward the far end of the passage. “Come with me. I want to show you something.”

 

He led her all the way back to the spiral staircase and all the way back up to the courtyard between the spires. They crossed the courtyard to another spire, where Tanak started up another spiral staircase winding into the sky.

 

Margila caught sight of the countryside outside the windows. The spires she thought were so high fell away, and she looked down on them from above.

 

At the top of the spire, Tanak opened a door into a gigantic chamber. The roof split in two and the clear sky showed between the two halves. A massive black shape stuck its pointed nose up through the gap. It looked like one of those guns the soldiers pointed at her, only ten times the size.

 

Tanak guided her up another block of steps to the base of this thing. He pointed to a small tube. “Take a look inside there.”

 

She bent her eye to the hole and peered inside. What she beheld took her breath away, but she had no idea what she was looking at. Small lights hovered on a black background. They moved together in a slow, mysterious dance. “What does it mean?”

 

“The large light you see is the sun shining in the sky. The smaller light is the moon, and that big shadow you see across the bottom of the screen is the planet Phomentina.”

 

Margila yanked her eye away from the hole. “That’s impossible.”

 

“This is one of the machines I told you about. It’s used to look far out into space, above the sky, to see what the sun and the moon and the stars are doing.”

 

“What good does that do? Knowing what the sun and moon and stars are doing won’t keep you warm in the winter.”

 

“I brought you here to show you this. You couldn’t understand what I’m about to tell you if you didn’t see it for yourself. If you watch carefully, you’ll see the planet moving around the sun. That’s what makes the sun rise in the east and set in the west.”

 

“That’s ridiculous. Everyone knows the sun goes around the planet. We can see it moving with our own eyes.”

 

He shook his head. “We can see other planets moving around the sun, too. Phomentina moves in a circle around the sun. We call that circle an orbit. All the planets have them, but Phomentina’s orbit is decaying, falling apart. Every year, Phomentina moves closer to the sun. One of these years, the sun will suck the planet into itself, and the planet will cease to exist.”

 

Margila stared at him. “Do all the Raveniss know this?”

 

“This is the main reason we take maidens from the villages. We want to build up our population before we leave for another world.”

 

“Do the villagers know? Do they know they’re all going to die soon?”

 

He put his head on one side. “You tell me. Do the villagers know?”

 

Margila cast her mind back to her days before the sacrifice. Her father’s conversation with Major Bloodkist came rushing back. “They know—at least, some of them do.”

 

“What did you hear or see that makes you think they know?”

 

“The day before the lottery, I overheard my father talking to the Axis Joint Commander. The Major said something about finding the perfect destination. He wanted my father to postpone the lottery until the Axis Joint Command could bring in the fleet to fight the Raveniss. Councilor Dunroy was there, but I don’t think anyone else in the village knows.”

 

Tanak nodded. “There you have it.”

 

“My father said he couldn’t understand why the Axis didn’t evacuate the village and leave you to die. He thinks Major Bloodkist won’t be satisfied with anything short of full-scale slaughter. He thinks the Axis and Major Bloodkist are out to annihilate the Raveniss for the fun of it, to show off their firepower.”

 

“So that’s the kind of man leading this campaign?”

 

Margila looked down at the floor. “I’m afraid so.”

 

“That’s nothing we didn’t already suspect. Anyway, now you know. We’ll take a few more maidens from the village over the next couple of years. Then we’ll leave this planet.”

 

“How will you leave?”

 

“We have special ships ready to take everyone. We have everything we need except a few more females.”

 

“How do you know the village will continue the sacrifice? Now that they have the Axis fleet to back them up, they don’t have to do it. They know you won’t retaliate by attacking the village.”

 

“They won’t stop the sacrifice. They’ve been doing it for generations. They won’t stop now.” He took her hand. “Come on. We’ll go back down.”

 

Margila said nothing on the way down. A thousand things crowded her thoughts. He led her all the way back to the bedchamber before she realized where she was.

 

Someone had taken the bathtub away, and her shift had disappeared. She sat down on the stuffed chair by the window in relief. She didn’t have to deal with the shift or even look at it again. It vanished out of her life.

 

She noticed Tanak rummaging around on the other side of the room. She got up and went over to him. “What are you doing?”

 

He showed her a small device that fit into the palm of his hand. “I’m priming my weapon. All the Raveniss are preparing for the Axis assault.”

 

“What makes you think there will be an assault?”

 

“My father sent fliers down to the village. They just got back a little while ago. More and more Axis vessels and soldiers have set up on the Common. They’re getting ready for something. Since your Major Bloodkist wants to wipe us out to the last man before evacuating the village, we can only assume they’re planning to attack us.”

 

“Can you give me a weapon? I want to do something. I don’t know if the women among your people are allowed to fight, but.....”

 

“Everyone will fight. Anyone who wants a weapon will get one. You’ll have to learn how to use it, though.”

 

“Can you show me how to use it? I can learn if you just show me.”

 

“I’ll show you tomorrow. For now, you better just relax and get used to being here. You look very nice in that gown, by the way.”

 

“It’s a lot nicer than that shift. That thing belongs in the manure pile.”

 

He pulled her closer. “You looked just as beautiful in that shift as you do in this gown. You’ll always be beautiful to me.”

 

She blushed. “Thank you. You look very dashing in that suit, too.”

 

He circled her with his arms and kissed her. “The best thing about that shift was that I could smell you straight through it.”

 

Her eyes shot to his face, and the color mounted to her cheeks.

 

He murmured into her ear. “I could smell the honey oozing out of you. I could hear your heart pounding when your legs rubbed against each other. I could taste your sweet nectar on my tongue.”

 

Her nipples stood to attention under her stiff bodice, and her skin tingled with unrequited passion. Even now, his words brought a gush from between her legs. The fury of their first love-making flooded over her. She wanted him all over again.

 

He hitched his hands under her armpits and lifted her up to meet his kiss. She put her arms around his neck and followed his head down her neck. He mouthed her collarbone, and his kisses left a trail of glowing embers plunging down into her cleavage.

 

Margila threw back her head and gasped in delight. If only she could free her breasts from their restraint and fling them into his mouth, she would die of happiness. She didn’t have to struggle, though, before his hands moved along her ribs and found the heaving mound of her breast. He stroked her nipples through the rigid stays of the bodice until she couldn’t stand it anymore.

 

All of a sudden, he went wild with madness. He clawed her bodice down, and her breasts sprang free into his waiting hands. He fell on them with his teeth and brought moans of excitement to her lips.

 

Margila grabbed at his clothes, but she couldn’t figure out how to get them off or even open. She couldn’t do anything to him, anyway, with his hands all over her. He scooped up her ample buttocks with both hands and crushed her against him. He poked his growing bulge into her soft vulva until she moaned and writhed in wanton desire.

 

He lifted her higher and pulled her legs around his waist. She fought her dress to get her legs free until her bare skin lay exposed to his ravaging hands. He stumbled back under her weight. His legs hit the bed, but he didn’t fall back on it.

 

He pushed himself upright and staggered across the room. He slammed Margila’s back against the stone wall, and she cried out in surprise. The next thing she knew, his naked manhood touched her sweet tissues.

 

She caught her breath and froze, but he burned with unquenchable fire. He tore at her dress until he got it out of his way. He cradled her bare buttocks and pried her flesh apart to make way for his hard rod.

 

He found the moist cleft waiting for him. Margila sucked in air to rise higher, but gravity dragged her down on top of it. He jammed his hips between her legs and let her sink down on his powerful cock.

 

A cry of naked lust ripped from her throat as he penetrated to her molten core. He wasted no time in setting up a steady rhythm. He dowsed to the quick with his rigid tool and touched the deepest spots along her channel.

 

She bounced on his upthrusts with rising cries. His hips slapped against her thighs when he buried his shaft in her brimming hole, and his pubic bone bumped her clitoris to the heights of sensitivity.

 

He slammed her back on the hard stone, and his weight crushed the air out of her lungs. She yelped and squeaked in insatiable delight. Every stroke of his member brought her higher than she could tolerate until she exploded in his hands. His hot injection sent her rocketing into the darkness of space, where sweat and their primal elixir melded them into one.

 

CHAPTER TEN

 

The next morning bright and early, Tanak took Margila to the Armory. He passed a few murmured words with the Master at Arms, who stood back and let them enter without interference.

 

Tanak opened the door and ushered Margila inside. She beheld racks and racks of weapons not unlike the blasters the Axis soldiers carried. Thousands of these weapons lined the walls. “What are these?”

 

“They’re weapons. You said you wanted one. This is our armory.”

 

“I thought you would give me a small one, like the one you carry.”

 

“You can have one of them, too, but they won’t help you fight the Axis. When the alarm sounds, everyone will line up outside that door. The Master at Arms will issue every man, woman, and child one of these. They’re called phase rifles.”

 

Margila swallowed hard. “Then what will happen?”

 

“On your way out, you’ll meet my father. He will assign everyone into one of three factions. My brothers and I will lead the factions, so I would be surprised if he didn’t assign you to my faction. We’ll be together, so you don’t have to worry about that. Each of these factions will defend a different area of the city. My older brother Ralo, Praila’s husband, will take the upper battlements. My younger brother Waru will take the fields.”

 

“Where will your faction be?”

 

“We will take the inner passages. We’ll spread our numbers through the entire city, just in case the Axis forces breach our defenses and find their way inside.”

 

“How likely do you think that is to happen?”

 

“Who knows? An advanced squad of fighters in dragon form will patrol our southern boundary. They’ll engage the Axis forces first and try to drive them back. With any luck, they’ll never reach the citadel. Even if they defeat those dragons, we have massive cannons all along the battlements. Specially trained gunners will man them and destroy as many of the sky vessels as they can. That way, fewer soldiers will be able to land on the citadel itself.”

 

Margila shuddered. “It sounds dangerous.”

 

“It’s beyond dangerous. It’s desperate.”

 

“Isn’t there anything we can do? Can’t we leave now, before they attack? Don’t we have enough people so we don’t have to stay behind?”

 

He shook his head. “We don’t have enough people to keep our population going long term, and we won’t have a source of new blood the way we do now with the village. Besides, if we left the planet now, we would have to fight the whole Axis fleet out in space. The ships we have prepared to leave this planet aren’t made for that, and we’re too few to defeat them. They would destroy us, one by one, and there would be nothing left.”

 

“There must be something we can do. I can’t stand the idea of rolling over and dying, now that I’ve come so far.”

 

“There is something you can do.” He unclipped a rifle from the rack and placed it in her hands. “You can learn how to use this.”

 

She stared at the hunk of gleaming metal in her hands. She’d never even seen a gun before he took her from the mountain, and now she had to learn how to use it in the most desperate possible circumstance. She braced herself. “All right. Tell me what to do.”

 

He took her out of the Armory to a big room surrounded by solid stone walls. Not a single window opened out into the sunshine. A series of lights in the ceiling lit the place. A low table stood at one end of the room, and Tanak went over to it. “Put your weapon down here.”

 

His entire manner changed, and his voice took on the hard, crisp edge of command. She obeyed. She was his soldier now, and he was in charge. He showed her every part of the weapon. Then he showed her how to open it and put the ammunition inside and charge it. “Now pick it up. No, not like that.”

 

He took it out of her hands and swept it up to his shoulder. “Jam this part in hard against your shoulder. This hand here should hold it in tight so it doesn’t move. Keep this hand here, but don’t move your finger to the firing mechanism until you know what you want to shoot. Believe me, when you push that button, you will wish you had a tighter hold on it.”

 

He put it down again. Then he put something in her ears so she couldn’t hear. He picked up the weapon and locked it into his shoulder with a powerful grip. He pointed the weapon to the far end of the room, where a bright red square appeared against the wall. Funny, she hadn’t noticed that before. Then he pressed the firing mechanism.

 

The weapon buzzed for a second. Then it exploded. Even with those things in her ears, the concussion burst against her skull with a loud bang that made her jump. A blast of lightning sizzled from the rifle and struck the center of that red square.

 

He fired again, and again. After the tenth or twelfth shot, she started to get used to the noise. She saw for herself how the weapon jumped in his hands, even though he used all his strength to hold it steady.

 

Then he handed it to her. “Now you try.”

 

She did her best to hold it in position. The red square appeared on the far wall, but when she touched the firing mechanism, the weapon jumped out of her hands and the shot sailed wide. It hit the ceiling and shook the whole citadel.

 

Tanak only shook his head and jammed it in tighter against her shoulder. “Like this. Now try again.”

 

She tried, again and again, and again, for hours, until her arms were too tired to hold the thing anymore. At last, he took it away from her and put it away in the Armory. “Now you know what you’re getting into.”

 

That thought sobered her. She took his hand and they started out of the Armory when a deafening shriek pierced the air. Margila spun around. “What is it?”

 

“It’s the alarm! Quick! Back to the Armory!”

 

He burst into the Armory and grabbed the same rifle he just put away. He snatched a fresh ammunition case and shoved it into the magazine before he pushed the weapon into her hands. “Don’t go anywhere. Just stay close to me.”

 

He rushed out with Margila on his heels. They bumped into the Master at Arms coming the other way. They got untangled from him just as the first people came running down the stairs.

 

Tanak and Margila took their places in the passage and waited until the Archduke came striding down the stairs. He gave Tanak a curt nod and made his way to the front of the queue where everyone stood waiting for their turns to arm themselves.

 

As soon as the Archduke appeared, the Master at Arms started handing out rifles. As Tanak warned, men, women, and children stood in line to defend their city. Each person turned away from the Master at Arms and came to the Archduke to be assigned to a faction.

 

Two men came to Tanak’s side. They murmured to each other. Then they took their places farther down the passage. They could only be Tanak’s brothers. One by one, the Raveniss people joined their faction leaders. People milled around and waited until no more people could fit in the passage.

 

Tanak raised his rifle and shouted above the noise. “Inner passage faction, follow me.” Before they left the Armory, Margila heard the other two faction leaders calling their people to their positions.

 

Tanak led the way back up to the main passages of the citadel. Margila did her best to stay close to him, but everyone pushed and jostled in their haste to get into position. Tanak gave orders to everyone and told them where to stand. He left groups of ten or twenty in every passage of the great city.

 

Margila followed him all the way back to the passage outside their bedchamber. “Do you think it’s a good idea to have everyone near their own quarters?”

 

“People will fight a lot harder to defend their homes than anywhere else. With any luck, we won’t have to fight today.”

 

The words hadn’t fallen from his lips when loud bursts of gunfire brought Margila to the window. She looked out to the south, over the parapet. In front of her eyes, some two dozen dragons swooped into view, along with several dozen Axis sky vessels on their tails. The energy blasts sailed from their noses to fire on the dragons.

 

Five dragons flew overhead in formation. Their wingtips touched. A band of the Axis fighters followed close behind and harassed them with constant fire. The dragons banked over the fields, where the first defenders were just running to take their positions.

 

The dragons did a complete wheel in the sky. They swept up so high, Margila could barely see them. Then they plummeted toward the ground faster than thought. They caught the Axis fighters before they could react.

 

The dragons banked around behind them in a solid line. At exactly the same instant, they let loose their fiery breath and incinerated the Axis ships to vapor in the air. In a fraction of a second, they pivoted back the other way to join their fellows in the fight.

 

Margila caught her breath at the sight. Her spirits soared, but the next minute, they crashed into the depths of despair. Another dragon, fighting on its own, got caught over the fields by six ships working in concert. They surrounded it so it couldn’t get away no matter which way it turned.

 

It dove for the fields with the ships dogging it all the way. The people on the ground pointed their rifles at the sky and fired on the ships menacing the dragon, but they couldn’t make a dent. The ships were too far away, and the rifles weren’t powerful enough.

 

Two ships opened fire on the dragon, and their blasts slammed into the ground on either side of it. Bodies bounced out of the way and lay still in the craters the blasts left behind. Margila’s hand flew to her mouth.

 

The dragon swept low over the shattered fields and soared back into the sky, but the fighters were too close and too many. They fired again, and a blast ripped through its wing. It stalled in mid-air, and the sharks moved in for the kill.

 

More rifle fire popped from the ground, but even from the inner citadel, Margila couldn’t hear it. The fighters surrounded the injured dragon and let loose a massive volley of blasts. The first blast tore through its chest, and another ripped its one good wing off at the shoulder.

 

The dragon shrieked in fear and pain. A moment later, a thunderous barrage of fire sent it exploding into a million pieces. The remains of the once-proud dragon tumbled to the ground among its own people.

 

Tanak laid a hand on Margila’s arm. “Move away from the window. It’s not safe.”

 

Margila turned away all too willingly. She couldn’t watch anymore. She swallowed the lump in her throat and concentrated on the weapon in her hands. In a few minutes, she could be called on to defend her life and Tanak’s with this thing. Could she do it?

 

Just a few minutes before, she couldn’t muster the strength to hold it up. Now, her own adrenaline gave her all the strength she needed. She held it up the way Tanak showed her. She harbored no doubt she could shoulder it and fire as many times as she needed to if anyone came near her.

 

CHAPTER ELEVEN

 

The rumble of battle grew louder, but Margila dared not approach the window again. The screams of injured dragons echoed over the fields, and rifle fire drifted up from the ground.

 

Then Margila noticed the rumble coming from the citadel itself. It came from somewhere up above her. The cannons must be engaging the Axis forces. How much longer before the soldiers landed on the roof? Were Katya and Praila up there somewhere? Would they survive the assault? Would any of them?

 

Every now and again, the whine of an engine sailed overhead and ended in an explosion. The dragons and the cannons must be bringing down some of the ships. That was fewer soldiers the defenders would have to deal with when they landed.

 

Tanak moved through the passages to check on his people. He gave everyone an encouraging word, but when he returned to Margila, he let the mask of determined certainty fall from his face. How haggard and careworn he looked all of a sudden, and she’d only known him a few days.

 

What would become of them? Would they ever have the chance to live the life of their dreams, a life of love and peace together with their people? She went through so much in the mountain wilderness to discover she loved him. Would it all come to nothing right here before her eyes? Did she have to stand here and watch him die, along with the others?

 

The same horror at losing him threatened to drown her the way it did when the soldiers attacked him on the mountain. She would gladly give her own life to save him. She couldn’t stand by and watch him die. She would rather die with him.

 

Tanak sat down heavily on a bench near the window, but he didn’t look out. He leaned his rifle against the seat and let his shoulders slump. He glanced up at Margila watching him. “Are you hungry?”

 

“No, I ate right after we landed here. Your mother insisted on it.”

 

He looked around with haunted eyes. “I’m hungry.”

 

“Don’t tell me you haven’t eaten since we landed here.”

 

“I haven’t had time. I’ve been busy with my father and my brothers....and with you.”

 

She sat down next to him. “You should have told me. We could have made time for you to get something to eat. Now you may have to fight on an empty stomach. That’s not good. All these people are looking to you to be strong. You should have told me. Here. You stay here and I’ll go get you something.” She started to get up. “I don’t know where I’ll go, but I’ll find something.”

 

He stopped her. “You can’t go. We need you here.”

 

“Then you should go. We can’t have a commander who isn’t fit for battle.”

 

He shook his head. “I can’t. This is no time to worry about food.”

 

“You just said yourself you’re hungry. You’re distracted.”

 

She shook his hand off her arm. He didn’t put up much resistance. She laid her rifle next to his and went back to their bedchamber. She found the table set against the wall. A few bones with meat on them and a flask of wine still remained from her own meal. She took it back to him.

 

He didn’t say anything. He ate what she put in front of him and guzzled down the wine.

 

“I wish there was more.”

 

He put the dish aside. “Later.”

 

Another explosion shook the air outside. “What do you think is going on out there?”

 

“They’re cutting our people down. That’s what’s going on out there. They’ll land in a little while, and they’ll start cutting down Ralo’s people up on the roof if they haven’t already.”

 

“When will we know if they’re coming our way?”

 

“We won’t know until they break in here. Then it will be chaos.”

 

“How can we ever defeat them that way? They have all the firepower.”

 

“We can’t defeat them. We’ll be fighting to the last man.”

 

At that moment, a thunderous explosion rocked the citadel. It shook the floor beneath Margila’s feet. She started out of her seat. “What was that?”

 

In a flash, he was on his feet. “They’re explosive charges. They’ve breached the outer wall. They’ll be here in a minute.” He snatched up his rifle and called down the passage. “Pass the word. They’ve breached the walls. Stand ready to defend the citadel.”

 

Margila grabbed her rifle and locked it into her shoulder. It fused with her muscles and became part of her own flesh. She followed Tanak out into the passage and took her place at his side. They stood back to back, with him facing one direction while she faced the other way, so they covered both possible approaches.

 

One explosion after another rattled the massive citadel. The noise of battle got louder outside. Dragons sailed past the window, some with burning wings or missing legs and heads. Axis fighters assailed them with their weapons. At other times, the dragons assailed the fighters and scorched them with their flaming breath. Once or twice, an Axis fighter burst into flames right in front of the window.

 

At those times, a ray of hope brightened Margila’s world. Maybe, just maybe, they had a chance to beat these invaders. Then she would see a dragon shot down or destroyed in mid-air, and her hopes would crash to the ground like so many grains of sand.

 

Tanak kept his attention on the sounds drifting down from above. The cannons thumped, but above the noise, shouting and screaming rent the air. Rifle fire mixed with the sound of shouted orders and running feet. His shoulders tensed, and his finger hovered over the firing mechanism of his rifle. He bellowed down the passage to his people out of sight. “Stand fast!”

 

Margila’s pulse pounded in her temples. She let go of her rifle to wipe her sweaty palms on her dress. This dress wasn’t the best battle attire. If only she’d changed her clothes before going to the Armory, she would be much better prepared now.

 

She had no time to regret that or anything else before another deafening explosion shivered the walls. A light fixture fell from the ceiling and shattered on the floor in a dazzling explosion. The sound rattled her nerves, but at that moment, a whole section of the massive stone wall gave way and crumbled before her eyes. A gap opened in it, and soldiers in battle helmets poured through it.

 

They leveled their rifles at anything on the other side, and the very first thing they spotted was Margila. She barely had time to aim her own rifle before they sprayed the whole passage with their fire.

 

She squeezed off one shot, two shots before a rough hand dragged her down. Her shots burst through the enemy ranks, and a soldier fell. Tanak hauled her down to the floor behind the bench. “Get down! Are you crazy?”

 

“I got one!” Nothing else mattered.

 

Before he could stop her, she stuck her head up from behind the bench and squeezed off another shot. She brought down another soldier, but Tanak pulled her back. “Stop that! It’s suicide.”

 

“I got another one!”

 

“Are you listening to me? They’ll kill you. Do you think I want to sit here and watch you get your head blown off? Stay down. That’s an order.”

 

Her face fell. Why did he want to rob her of all the fun? She was enjoying this. There must be a way to kill more of them without endangering herself.

 

Just then, she heard more rifle fire from farther down the passage. She waited until Tanak let go of her arm before she took a peek. What she saw gave her an idea. The soldiers were all already inside the passage. No more came in from outside.

 

Someone, somewhere farther down the passage, fired on the soldiers. The soldiers concentrated all their attention on the resistance around the corner. They must have either forgotten or never known two people were still hiding behind the bench.

 

The soldiers stood with their backs to Tanak and Margila. She rose up behind the bench and propped her rifle against its back when Tanak grabbed her arm again. “Don’t do it. You’ll only attract their attention, and then they’ll come after us.”

 

“What do you suggest? Do you say we should hide here while they mow our people down?”

 

“Of course not. There’s a better way to do this.”

 

“How?”

 

He pointed down the passage in the direction of the firefight. At first, she didn’t see what he meant. He looped the strap of his rifle across his shoulder. Very carefully so as not to attract attention, he crawled out from behind the bench and headed down the passage.

 

Margila copied him, but she didn’t like this at all. Crawling around on the floor was no way to fight a battle, especially when you had a high-powered rifle to fight with.

 

He led the way down the passage until he was almost level with the soldiers. Then he ducked behind a tapestry hanging nearly to the floor. Margila ducked in behind him. “What now?”

 

He held his finger to his lips and slipped his rifle off. He handed it to her and put his hand into a secret pocket of his jacket. He brought out a very small, pointed dagger. Margila’s eyes widened. What was he going to do with that?

 

He stole a peek out from behind the tapestry, and when he came back, he nodded. He crouched down on the floor and peeked out under the lower hem of the tapestry. The soldier at the very rear of the enemy phalanx stood right in front of him.

 

Tanak waited for an especially loud volley from the Raveniss forces down the passage. Rifle fire rang against the walls, and a few soldiers went down. At just that moment, his hand shot out and he grabbed the nearest soldier by the ankle. He knocked the man off his feet, and the soldier hit the floor like a ton of bricks.

 

Tanak dragged the man sideways under the tapestry, and before Margila knew what happened, Tanak grabbed him by the head and slit his throat. Quick as a wink, he shoved the twitching body back out into the passage.

 

Tanak held his bloody knife in a vise-like grip, and he looked around behind the tapestry with wild eyes. No one noticed, though. The other soldiers were all too busy fighting the defenders.

 

Another burst of rifle fire rattled down the passage. Tanak grabbed another soldier, who soon joined his comrade in a heap on the floor. He killed five soldiers before he wiped his knife on his elaborate brocade pants and put it away.

 

Margila questioned him with her eyes, but he held up a finger to silence her. He took his rifle from her and whispered in her ear. “Now we do it your way. When I give the signal, jump out and gun down as many as you can hit. They’ll be surprised. Hopefully, we can kill a few before they react.”

 

She nodded. Her heartbeat quickened. At last! She unslung her rifle and got it into position just in time. He waved her to the rear of the tapestry. He paused until the fire came heavier. Then he leapt out with a shout. “Now!”

 

They landed side by side behind the enemy soldiers. Adrenaline coursed through Margila’s veins. She never knew the lust for blood like this before. She slaughtered chickens in her father’s yard, but never people. She never thought she would have to, but here she was, relishing the kick of the rifle against her shoulder. She loved the blast against her ears and the spray of blood when her shots struck their mark.

 

True to Tanak’s word, the soldiers were surprised to be shot at from behind. They stumbled and staggered in their haste to turn around. Margila clenched her jaw and aimed. One, two, three...she counted sixteen in all that fell before her fury.

 

All at once, a searing pain startled her out of her frenzy. She looked around. Some annoying insect bit her on the arm, and another on her leg. She bent over to take a look and noticed blood running down to her feet.

 

She looked up to fire again when six soldiers charged toward her with their guns going off. Their shots whizzed around her head. How they managed to miss her, she couldn’t understand.

 

She raised her rifle, but at that moment, something knocked her off her feet. She hit the floor before she realized Tanak had shoved her over from his side of the passage. “Get out of here! Run for it!”

 

He scrambled away to the other side of the passage, and she lost sight of him. She took a fraction of a second to understand what was going on. The soldiers had recovered. They were coming after her. She no longer had the advantage of firing on them from behind.

 

She tossed her rifle strap over her shoulder and headed for the tapestry, but that couldn’t offer her much protection. She ducked under it when a handful of blasts slammed against it. She barely had time to scuttle away and take shelter behind the bench before they shot her down.

 

Margila pushed her back against the bench and clutched her rifle in both hands. She couldn’t fire it if she tried. Her hands shook with nervous terror. Rifle fire exploded up and down the passage. She couldn’t tell where it came from, and she was too outnumbered to check.

 

Where was Tanak? Was he alive or dead? At last, the noise of battle moved off down the passage, and she collapsed in exhausted relief on the floor.

 

CHAPTER TWELVE

 

She opened her eyes hours later. Silence filled the passage. No light came through the gap in the wall. It must be night.

 

She hadn’t exactly fallen asleep. She’d passed out from sheer nervous overload. The whole sequence of events—being selected by lottery, being bound and left to die on that mountain, being carried off by a fire-breathing dragon, fighting the soldiers and saving Tanak, giving herself to him and finding out he was really a man, coming to this magnificent city and being welcomed as one of their own, being treated like royalty and finding her bliss with Tanak in their bedchamber, only to have it destroyed by the Axis attack—all of it caught up with her now. She couldn’t bring herself to get out from behind that bench. She couldn’t fire her weapon at another human being again, not even to save her own life.

 

Just then, she heard the shatter of breaking crockery. A voice boomed out, “Margila! Where are you?”

 

She dropped her rifle and scrambled out from behind the bench as fast as she could. “Tanak! I’m here.”

 

He rushed to her side. “Are you hurt?”

 

“No. I was hiding.”

 

He closed her in his arms. “Thank heaven. I’ve been looking everywhere for you. I thought they killed you.”

 

She got lost in his embrace. “Where is everybody?”

 

“I don’t know about everybody else, but some thirty or forty of our people are down at the other end of the passage. They’ve got a cadre of soldiers pinned down.”

 

“Don’t you want to go help them?”

 

“They don’t need my help, and finding you was more important.” He lifted her chin to kiss her.

 

Faint light from the stars glittered in his eyes. Margila caught her breath.

 

He murmured so low she could barely hear him. “Where were you?”

 

“I was always here.”

 

His voice broke with emotion. “I thought I’d lost you.”

 

“I didn’t know where you were. I thought you might be dead.”

 

He held her against him. “I never stopped looking for you. I couldn’t let you go. I’ve waited too long for you. I couldn’t imagine losing you now.”

 

He sank down to the ground, and she sank with him. Their lips locked in rapturous devotion. Her arms went around his neck, and her legs circled his waist so their bodies fit together exactly.

 

Her ardor blossomed out of the depths of despair. She clung to him in reckless yearning. If she could block out everything around her by holding him as tight as she could, she would bury him inside herself where they would never be separated again. If she could make him her own flesh, she could protect him from all danger. What happened to her would happen to him. She never had to face a future without him.

 

She held his face between her hands. She couldn’t kiss him enough. She had to consume him, to inhale him into her cells. He represented the highest perfection she could attain. Nothing remained for her life but to find its fulfillment in him.

 

He devoured her lips with the same single-minded fervor. He grabbed at her clothes with his fists and crushed her against him in an all-out effort to get at her. He flipped her skirts up, and his hands dove under her skirts.

 

For a fraction of a second, he dared not touch her bare skin. His fingers hovered over her curvaceous rump in agonized anticipation. His hands quivered with pent-up excitement. He caught his breath, and his lips held still over her mouth.

 

Margila met his gaze, there beyond her nose. She read a depth of meaning there she never believed possible. She saw to the limit of universal understanding in his eyes. She could look through his eyes to the vast cosmic source beyond.

 

He encompassed the whole galaxy in his eyes. She gazed beyond him, beyond this little war, to the endless reaches of existence. In this fragile moment, she was everything. He was everything, and they were one, forever and eternal. She understood everything she needed to understand. Love and light flowed through them and out of them to the rest of the cosmos, in never-ending ebbs.

 

Did he see the same thing in her? He gazed into her eyes, but he saw something beyond her. He stared in amazement at something behind and through her, something wonderful.

 

Then the tempest took him. He fell on her with unbridled madness. His hands closed on her flesh with frightening intensity. Margila worried he would rip her apart in his fevered passion.

 

He pried her flesh apart and exposed the molten slit awaiting him. He fingered her delicate openings and drove her to the brink of insanity. He bounced her against his hips, and the first crashing thunderbolts exploded in her eyes.

 

He fumbled with his own clothing, but Margila already rocked and beat her own body against his rising crotch. She cantered bareback on the muscled jackhammer throbbing up underneath her to buck her up and down.

 

He ripped his pants open and released his wicked cock to probe her depths. At last, he unleashed his manhood. She gasped out loud when he penetrated the veil, but the pain of their first encounter no longer bothered her. She impaled herself on his shaft and let him ride her hard with his upward thrusts.

 

Their lips drifted apart in panted gasps. He growled at her in fury. “Come on, baby. Come on. Give it to me. I need you.”

 

She lost all control of herself. Her hips bucked against his galloping thrusts with a will of their own. She heard her voice from far away, urging him to greater feats of prowess. “Oh, yes! Oh, yes! Take me now. Oh, yes. I want it.”

 

“Is this what you want?” Tanak moaned between breaths

 

“Oh, yes! Oh, it’s so hard. Oh, it feels so good. Give it to me, please give me more.”

 

He slammed his hips up into her and knocked her off her moorings with his sharp pubic bone. She fell down hard to bang her clitoris against him. Her voluptuous buttocks slapped against his skin. Her own juice gushed out to wet him, and they stuck together with every stroke. Every bounce tore her free, and down she came again to join with him in ecstasy.

 

She threw back her head, and he supported her neck. She leaned back and angled his shaft against the sensitive spots inside her. She fought for every inch of his manhood, and it drove her higher, beyond her wildest dreams.

 

All at once, a flaming jet squirted into her. It sprayed her insides with its exotic perfume and sanctified her for all time to the vapors of love. She flew into wild spasms of frenzied passion. She kicked her legs out to the sides and struggled against his hands. Her voice echoed off the ancient stones in orgasmic delight.

 

They convulsed together in the throes of their union until the upheaval left them both spent and glowing with pleasure. Then Margila collapsed against him for support. He held her up and sheltered her from her own wild irruptions and his. They lay down on the bare floor, still entangled in their blessed oneness.

 

Tanak rolled over and wrapped himself around her from behind, but he couldn’t warm her against the night chill. She wormed her back against his chest.

 

If only he would change into a dragon now, she would nuzzle against his scaly skin. She suffered no more fear or disgust for his dragon self. She relished it. She gloried in her position as his consort.

 

What would her family and friends back in the village say if they knew she took her delight with a giant lizard, that his rough skin and his massive body brought her the greatest thrills of her life? They would be horrified.

 

She couldn’t enjoy the thought, much as she tried. That misunderstanding caused this war. It would probably mean the end of the Raveniss if they had their way.

 

Shouting voices brought her head up. Her eyes snapped open to see the dawn light shining through the gap in the wall. Tanak got up as a cadre of Raveniss strode down the passage toward them. Margila recognized Tanak’s older brother Ralo. His wife Praila followed at his shoulder. “Tanak! Where are you! Are you here?”

 

He jumped up. “I’m here. We’re both here.”

 

Ralo clapped him on the shoulders with both hands. “Thank heaven! We didn’t think anyone was left alive.”

 

“How goes the battle upstairs?”

 

“Our people are still engaged with the soldiers at every station. Father is rallying anyone left in the courtyard. Come quickly! He’s giving orders to regroup and drive the soldiers out of the city. We’re close brother.”

 

Tanak followed his brother. Margila fell in near Praila. She was just another soldier in this army. They could share close intimacy in private, but once he took command of others, she became a cog in a much larger mechanism. She dedicated her strength and her spirit to the greater purpose.

 

The whole group climbed the stairs to the courtyard. The day bloomed all around them into the highest reaches of the sky. The sun touched the mountain tops and set their snowy tips on fire.

 

The Archduke stood across the courtyard with Katya and Tanak’s brother Waru. The other factions crowded to receive their orders. The Archduke turned toward Ralo and Tanak coming with their people. His face burst into a brilliant smile of love, relief, and pride in his sons.

 

At that moment, a phalanx of Axis ships screamed over the parapet. They unleashed their guns on the citadel. Stones jumped out of their places. The parapet crumbled. The spires imploded and folded in on themselves before ballooning out into clouds of dust and debris.

 

Deafening concussions rocked the whole city. Deadly fire ripped across the courtyard. The Raveniss scattered in all directions. The Archduke roared to his people, “Fall back! Fall back to the fortified keep.”

 

Margila looked around for Tanak. He stood across the courtyard next to the door leading down to the staircase. He waved people through it. He darted out into the line of fire to help anyone who stumbled or fell or hesitated. She put out her hand to grab hold of his outstretched arm.

 

Another formation of ships screeched across the sky with their guns blazing. Rockets pounded the citadel. Rubble flew in all directions. Margila crouched in place and covered her head with her arms when another blast exploded right in front of her. It tore a massive stone out of the ground and flung it down within inches of her cowering form. It left a pile of rubble that blocked her path. She couldn’t reach Tanak. She couldn’t get away.

 

An engine whined behind her. She glanced back over her shoulder to see one of the ships angle down to land on the roof behind her. She launched herself up. She had to get on her feet. She had to find a way beyond this debris. She had to get to Tanak and join the others taking shelter inside.

 

She had no time to think. She levered her legs under her and vaulted up onto the first stone. The pile towered over her. Could she ever reach the top? Would she ever see her people again? Would she die right here, within sight of safety?

 

She scrambled up the pile, one hand over the other. One stone after another fell away. She was almost to the top. One more handhold and she would be there when the hiss of rushing air drew her attention behind her. The ship’s door opened. Another flood of soldiers would pour out of it, and she had nothing to defend herself.

 

Soldiers didn’t pour out of it, though. The ship stood silent and still with its door standing open. Was it empty? She paused in her climb to stare. Then a single person emerged from the shadows inside, a person whose Axis uniform didn’t quite fit his body.

 

He strode across the courtyard and stopped at the base of the rubble pile. He squinted up into the sun at Margila. “You might as well come down. You can’t get away.”

 

Margila couldn’t believe her eyes. “Marcus!”

 

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

 

Marcus’s eyes burned in their sockets. Was this the man she once loved, the man she wanted to marry? She hardly recognized him. His eyes sank dark and brooding in their sockets. They skittered from place to place without seeing anything.

 

He stretched forth a skeletal hand. “You’re coming back with me. I’m here to take you home.”

 

Margila stared at him in horror. Go back? Never!

 

“I went crazy after you left. I couldn’t forgive myself for letting you get away. I should have killed that dragon when I had the chance. I won’t make the same mistake again.”

 

“You never should have come here, Marcus. Tanak is my whole life now. I’m sorry what passed between us had to come to an end, but it’s over now. I can never go back to the life I had with you.”

 

He spoke in an obsessed fever. He barely saw her standing in front of him. “I never stopped thinking about you. After you left, I couldn’t eat or sleep for days. I couldn’t find any peace until Major Bloodkist came and enlisted me to help him take this place. I told him I would only come if I could bring you back.”

 

Margila started away from him. “I’m not going back to the village with you. This is my home now. You should never have come here. This whole battle is wrong.”

 

He bared his hideous teeth. “We’re here to rid this planet of the Raveniss. We won’t give up until we destroy every person in this city. If you don’t come with me now, you’ll die along with the rest of these vermin.”

 

“You have no right to call them vermin. They never did anything to hurt human beings until our people hunted them to near extinction. The Raveniss are a peaceful people. I only wish I could say the same thing about you.”

 

He didn’t listen. He darted forward and grabbed hold of her wrist. “You’re coming back with me. I didn’t come all this way to go back empty-handed. I’ll take you back with me if it’s the last thing I do, and after we leave, the soldiers will destroy this place and everyone in it. You should be thanking me for saving your life.”

 

She kicked and scratched at him, but he wouldn’t let her go. He got his meaty arm around her chest and hauled her back toward the ship. “Let me go, Marcus! I don’t want to go back to the village.”

 

He held her in a death grip. “That’s just your sickness talking. We’ll cure you of that when we get you home.”

 

She twisted around in his arms to catch sight of Tanak. Did he see what was happening to her? Was he fighting for his own life somewhere?

 

She caught sight of him across the courtyard. He was already halfway through the door leading down the stairs. She called out to him, “Tanak! Help me!”

 

He spun around and fixed his eyes on Marcus dragging her toward the ship. She extended a hand toward him, but Marcus clapped his hand over her mouth to stop her calling out again.

 

Tanak launched himself out of that doorway faster than the eye could see. He dashed across the courtyard to intercept Marcus. A feral roar tore out of his mouth, and his eyes flashed, but at that moment, another figure stepped out from behind the ship to block his path. Margila caught her breath at the sight of the gold braid and decorations adorning the man’s fancy uniform. It was Major Bloodkist.

 

Tanak never stopped. He catapulted straight toward the Major with both hands outstretched. He would barrel through the Major and rip Marcus limb from limb. Nothing could stop his preternatural flight.

 

He struck the Major with all his strength. His hands closed around his throat to choke the life out of him, but the Major raised his arms against Tanak’s chest. With one powerful blow, he sent Tanak flying backward onto the paving stones.

 

He slammed into the ground, but he bounced up on his feet again in a flash. He dove for the Major a second time, but this time, he never got within range. The Major saw him coming. He pulled a small handheld weapon from his waist and fired at Tanak.

 

Margila screamed. She put out both hands to her own true love, but she couldn’t break free from Marcus’s maniacal grip. With every step, he dragged her closer to the vessel intended to spirit her away from the only place in the world she wanted to be. Once he got her inside and took off into the sky, she would never see Tanak or the Raveniss again. Of that, she was most certain.

 

She couldn’t let that happen. She fell on him with might and main. She clawed the hands holding her. She kicked him in the shins and gouged at his eyes. She had to stop him. For a moment, she succeeded in slowing him down. He had to stop walking toward the ship and concentrate on subduing her. He gave her a few well-aimed punches in the ribs and face until she stopped fighting.

 

She dared turn her frightened eyes across the courtyard. Was Tanak alive or dead? She saw him lying on his back on the ground with Major Bloodkist standing over him. The Major aimed his weapon at Tanak, but Tanak made no move to get away. The Major’s arm stiffened in readiness to fire. His finger moved to cover the firing mechanism.

 

At that moment, Tanak whipped out his left leg and hooked Major Bloodkist around the ankle. With one kick, he knocked the Major flat on his backside. The gun flew out of his hand. At the same moment, Tanak rolled over on his stomach and planted his hands on the paving stones.

 

He didn’t jump to his feet, though. Faster than thought, his neck lengthened, and his head shot out toward the fallen Major. His legs bent forward at the knee, and hooked claws scratched the paving stones. His skin changed color from pink to greenish purple. Great leathery wings unfolded from his back and beat the air with savage blows.

 

The Major slipped in the act of getting his feet under him. He pawed at the ground to gain a purchase in his haste to crawl backward to get away from the massive dragon looming over him.

 

Tanak lowered his head to within inches of the Major’s face. He let out a ground-shaking shriek that sent chills up Margila’s spine. The Major cried out in terror in spite of himself. He kicked and fought to get away, but for the life of him, he couldn’t decide whether to crawl backward on his rear end or whether to turn his back on the dragon to stand up and run.

 

The minute he got one foot on the ground, Tanak flapped his wings. The wind drafting off his wings sent the Major tumbling to the ground again. Every inch of ground the Major covered brought Tanak pounding after him. His green head bobbed on his long neck, and his tail lashed the air with wicked hissing noises.

 

Tanak made no attempt to stop the Major scrambling backward to his puny little gun. He followed at close range, and when the Major rounded on him with the gun aimed, Tanak drew himself up to his tallest. He reared back on his hind legs with his wings outstretched.

 

He covered half the sky, and his shrieks of rage rent the heavens. Margila ducked low in Marcus’s grip. She couldn’t watch this, but she couldn’t take her eyes off Tanak.

 

The Major leveled his gun at the dragon and squeezed the trigger. At the same moment, Tanak dropped to the ground on all four legs. His head swung level with the Major, and he let out a powerful blast of orange flame. The fire incinerated Major Bloodkist in a blazing inferno. The gun vaporized in his hand, and within seconds, nothing remained of him but a trail of smoke wafting away on the breeze.

 

Marcus must have seen the whole thing, but the instant Major Bloodkist disappeared, he redoubled his efforts to get Margila to the ship. He hooked his elbow around her neck and set off across the courtyard at a smart pace. She tugged at his arm, but there was nothing she could do. She could barely breathe. She could just summon enough lung power to croak out, “Tanak!”

 

He slammed one big hind leg down on the ground, and the whole courtyard shuddered under his weight. He brought down a front leg and moved closer to Marcus. One more step and he would cut off Marcus’s only avenue of retreat.

 

Tanak bent his head low and opened his smoking mouth to burn Marcus to a crisp the way he burned up Major Bloodkist, but at that moment, Marcus jerked around. He grabbed Margila by the arms in a crushing grip, and he crouched behind her. He held her up in front of him to shield himself from Tanak.

 

Try as she might, Margila could not get away from him. She aimed her kicks backward and jerked her arms right and left until they ached. Marcus only tightened his grip. Tanak wouldn’t attack as long as Marcus hid behind Margila. He backed toward the ship. He would get airborne with Margila inside, and Tanak would have no choice but to let him fly away with her.

 

Just when she started to give up hope, Tanak turned away. He let out a stronger jet of flame than she’d ever seen, but he didn’t aim it at Marcus. The flames licked around the vessel. For a brief, lingering moment, the vessel withstood the onslaught. It stood firm while the flames flickered over its shiny metal hull. Then, piece by piece, it blew away in the blasting hot wind. Its front end turned to glowing particles, and the particles sailed off in a shimmering shower of golden sparks. They fizzled out in the cooler air behind the ship.

 

The front end dissolved and vanished. With a powerful puff of breath, Tanak disintegrated the rest of the ship, and it ceased to exist.

 

Marcus stared in wide-eyed wonder at the place where the ship once stood. For just a moment, he relaxed his grip on Margila’s arms to watch his precious ship fly apart into dust. She yanked free and ran toward Tanak. When Marcus recovered himself, he stood alone, face to face with the dragon.

 

Tanak bellowed at him in rage. Marcus could do nothing but stand there and await his fate. Tanak took one last step toward him. His shadow blocked out the sun and cast Marcus into darkness.

 

At that moment, the screech of dozens of engines whined over the horizon. Dozens of ships raced across the sky, all heading south. They rocketed away at top speed to disappear into the mountains, but before they could get far, more than a hundred dragons soared over the battlements in hot pursuit. They shot their fiery breath at the fleeing ships and destroyed those in the far rear.

 

Margila raised her face to the sky. A laugh and a shout of joy broke from her lips. The dragons covered the whole sky with their magnificent wings. They cleared the mountains of these menacing vessels and left the citadel cleansed at last.

 

A crowd of soldiers burst through a gap in the wall and charged into the courtyard, but they paid no attention to the dragon standing there. Raveniss chased them into the open and surrounded them with rifles aimed. The tide of battle had turned. The soldiers waved their arms and shouted to the fleeing ships, but it was too late. Marcus leaped forward and ran into their midst.

 

One last ship tagged behind the dragons. It raced after the fleet in search of its comrades. It hovered over the citadel and the courtyard. It sent down a whirlwind of crackling energy that surrounded the soldiers with Marcus among them. Before Margila or Tanak could react, it transported him and all the soldiers up into itself and flew away.

 

A moment later, the dragons returned. They sailed around the shattered spires and surveyed the surrounding countryside. In twos and threes, they banked toward the ground and landed. They changed back into people, and so began the long, arduous job of rebuilding after their battle.

 

Margila turned around to embrace her dragon, but she found a man standing at her side instead. She regarded him with stunned surprise. Would she ever get used to him changing so fast while her back was turned? Then her surprise fell away. She threw her arms around him in grateful relief.

 

They both spoke at once. “Are you all right?”

 

He touched her cheek. “I’m fine now that I have you back. Who was that madman?”

 

“A madman is exactly what he is. He wanted to take me back to the village. He didn’t want to believe my only home, my only life, is here with you.”

 

Margila leaned in and kissed Tanak passionately.

 

“What now?” Margila asked curiously as she pulled back from the kiss.

 

“Now, we mourn, and then we will rebuild as we always have,” Tanak replied. “Our people are resilient, this is not the first time we have faced these circumstances.”

 

“Then, I will help, and together we can start again,” Margila said.

 

“Yes, together,” Tanak smiled and leaned in once again to kiss Margila and lose himself in her embrace.

 

THE END