The dark elf tossed the twin the gun and then raised her own bow. She turned so her back was to Uchiko’s. The ninja never thought she’d be grateful to be fighting with the Shadow Archer, yet there they were, back to back, ready for battle.

  Floating on dark energy, skeletons emerged from the upside-down spires. Some wore armor, rusted and marked. Others were dressed in tattered gowns and frayed tunics. Their hair either lay drab and dirty on their dead scalps or frizzed out in halos of wispy cotton. All were covered in smoke, writhing smoke, leaking liquid. Morta.

  Skeletal archers unleashed black-feathered arrows.

  “Defensio!” Steven roared. He and the other dragons converged on the basin.

  Chazzie stood with the archers. She opened fire on the incoming skeletons. Bullets tore through skulls and spines until they dropped to the reeking waters below.

  Uchiko fired one of Tessa’s Inferno arrows. A flash of fire arced through the undead, lighting clothes on fire, before the shaft exploded, flinging enemies away. With every death, she felt the sting of losing Animus. It was like fighting the Zothoric. Each murder cost her. They were in real trouble. If only Tessa were there with Icharaam’s Orb.

  Nefri was a blur, firing arrow after arrow, each projectile finding a skull and ending whatever demonic life filled the old bones.

  Mouse hit others with ShadowFlame. The Exhalant ate away dozens of the things, turning armor and bone to ash. “That hurts!” the amber dragon complained.

  Skeletons, nearly seven feet tall and slender, landed on the platform. Shadow swords, axes, and spears bristled from the intruders. They rushed toward Steven, ignoring the other Dragonsouls. Steven smashed his shield spell into the living dead, driving them off the platform. They fell. Whatever Morta energy had allowed them to fly seemed spent. He breathed lightning to clear a path. Bodies exploded from the blasts or tumbled to floor, burning. The stink was awful.

  Three skeletons rushed forward, armed with swords and oval shields. They were going for Nefri.

  Uchiko called to the dark elf, “Nefri, keep firing. I will keep you safe.”

  Before the ninja could stop her, the Shadow Archer grabbed the Hellstring out of Uchiko’s hands. Pulling back on the string, Nefri hit more of their enemies with dark shafts. The dark elf sighed, a faint black mist rising from her shoulders.

  Uchiko knew what that meant. Unlike the Animus-based Dragonkind, Nefri pulled Morta from her kills, and with every murder, she grew stronger. That was some good news.

  Uchiko flung the lead weight on her chain and crunched a skull, then leapt forward, fueling herself with SerpentGrace. She chopped down two more of the skeletons. Her speed was cut in half as her Animus stores grew low.

  Pru’s gun rattled off more rounds. More of the specters crumbled around them.

  Mouse took to the air, came around, dodging skeletons, and grabbed Uchiko by her shoulders. Her claws bit into the Warling’s flesh. “We have got to get out of here.”

  Pru’s gun clicked empty. “Yes, we certainly do, sweet tits.”

  “Hey!” Mouse protested. “Currently, I’m a dragon. I don’t have tits!” Then Uchiko was taken from the fight. She and Mouse were hurled through the darkness, back to the ledge where the twins had dropped their ammo bags.

  The amber dragon dropped Uchiko, then hurled herself back into the fray.

  Uchiko didn’t pause. She scooped up a machine gun. The thing weighed a ton, but adrenaline gave her strength. She started firing at the edges of the skeleton army, careful not to hit her friends.

  Mouse ducked and dodged, flying almost as well as Aria, until she grabbed Nefri. By that time, all the dragons had left the platform.

  One by one, they changed into Homo Draconi so they’d fit in the corridor leading to the surface. Uchiko gave them cover, and she had to smile. She’d used guns over the long centuries of her life but rarely such modern weapons. This thing was fun.

  Aiming and firing, she gunned skeletons out of the air.

  Then Chazzie grabbed the gun out of Uchiko’s hands. That was annoying. First Nefri took the Hellstring from her, and now she’d lost her weapon to a twin. The ninja ran up the stairs until she realized she hadn’t seen Steven make it back.

  She turned and left the others as they fled up the stairs.

  Steven was on the ledge, casting Impetim magic and protecting himself with Defensio spells.

  “What are you doing?” Uchiko yelled.

  “A scroll appeared in the ice. It fell into the basin. We have to get it!” He shifted into his True Form and flew from the ledge.

  Uchiko wasn’t about to be left behind. She ran and jumped onto his back. She barely made it onto his tail. She clung to a spine. “I will retrieve the scroll. Drop me onto the platform!”

  She was amazed that Steven still had Animus. He breathed fire, incinerating skeletons.

  He whipped his tail. Uchiko was flung onto the platform. Skeletons clustered around her, but a power sweep of her sickle-chain drove them back.

  She rolled under swords, ducked under axes, and avoided spears through luck and grace, until she reached the basin. There, in the water, was the cylinder. But wouldn’t the paper be ruined? She could answer that question if she lived long enough to get off the platform.

  Seizing the cylinder, she felt metal, not paper. She tucked the tube into her robes. Then she barreled her way up the steps of the hanging amphitheater. A sword struck her back, and the pain ignited her speed. It hurt, but it helped—she was running for her life.

  She didn’t see Steven. No time to do anything else but trust him.

  She hurled herself into space and fell.

  The wind whistled in her ears.

  “Come to me, Steven,” she murmured. “Save me one last time.”

  And then?

  Dragon claws found her, holding her by her underarms. More fire, more big sweeps of his wings, and they made it back to the ledge, trailing an army. Steven shifted into his partial form.

  Some of the undead had chased the others up the steps. Steven and Uchiko hit them from behind. He roared “Excrucior.” His chain-whip sword came undone and he lashed through the skeletons in front of them. Uchiko struck with her sickle-chain at the undead behind.

  Steven was more effective, but that was just as well. With the way clear, they raced up the steps until they reached the ornate steps and the clay walls. Then, the fresh air of late afternoon. They were under a blue sky. The yellow sun was on the horizon, along with the red splotch of the other strange star.

  Uchiko pitched forward. She felt blood staining down her back from the sword wound and the punctures in her shoulder.

  She would not die on her knees. She rose, breathing hard.

  A sound, the creak of rusted armor, made her whirl.

  The entryway down to the underground city was full of skeletons, all standing there, bones shrouded in smoke. Black ichor dripped from their armor and swords, pattering on the stone steps.

  The empty sockets of their skulls appraised Nefri and her friends. Then, one by one, they turned and started back down the steps in silence, until they were out of sight.

  Nefri walked up to the Warling and offered up the Hellstring. The Shadow Archer trembled and swallowed hard. Her cowl covered her eyes.

  Uchiko took the bow, astounded.

  Mouse, in her human form, lay on her back. “Well, that was a lot of fun.”

  The twins were silent, as was Steven.

  When Uchiko finally lost consciousness, it was Nefri, the Shadow Archer who had nearly killed her in the Congo decades before, who caught her.

  The ninja smiled wearily before blacking out completely.

  She woke to the sound of a fire, flames crackling, the sweet smoke of pine burning. That wasn’t all she smelled. Steven bent over her. The scent of sex along with orange blossoms perfumed him.

  “You cured me,” she said quietly.

  “I helped with that. I provided our Prime the quick sex,” Mouse said before Steven could say a thing.

  Steven kissed Uchiko sweetly before helping her sit up. She’d been out for a while. It was twilight in their campsite. Her gi was stiff from the dried blood.

  “Where are we?” Uchiko asked.

  Steven kissed her again. “We’re safe.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  BEFORE UCHIKO COULD ask more, Chazzie let out an exasperated gasp. “No, Pru, I need the red pole, not the blue one. Get your head in the game, sis. I want to get our tents up and then I want to sleep for a week. Maybe we’ll eat. Probably some sex. Dammit, but I need a nap first. So we have to get this fucking thing set up.”

  Pru muttered, “We always used to get the men to do it while we drank wine coolers. Remember Bartles and Jaymes? Why aren’t they still a thing?”

  Uchiko sat with Steven crouched next to her.

  The twins were setting up camp in a grove of pine trees near a stream, in the mountains somewhere. Smoke from the campfire drifted through the strange pines, along with the yellow pollen that swirled in a light breeze. The stream danced over rocks, and that water smelled so good. She was thirsty and hungry since the Magica Cura only dealt with her wounds. She needed to wash her clothes. Well, that was a chilly, uncomfortable prospect.

  Nefri was nowhere to be seen. The Hellstring and the ninja’s kusarigama lay in a pile near a log.

  Mouse sat huddled close to the fire. She caught Uchiko’s eye. “I tried to help the twins, but it got nasty. So I’m not shirking work, just protecting myself. It’s kind of tense around her. We wanted to get the fuck away from undead central. I couldn’t very well sleep in the Lyra city knowing Dawn of the Dead was beneath my feet.”

  “We flew you west,” Steven explained. “We’re on our way to this Keereeneeda place.”

  “It’s pronounced San Diego,” Mouse said.

  Uchiko wasn’t appreciating the humor. “Where’s Nefri?”

  “Doing your job.” Mouse’s smile softened her sarcasm. “We have to have someone running recon and waiting in the shadows for the inevitable attack.”

  Uchiko sank against Steven. Her Animus levels were not what they should be. Perhaps Steven could help with that. She enjoyed his strong arms around her. She knew, if she asked, he would make love to her, no matter how much Mouse might have satiated him.

  Then again, the night was only going to get colder. She had work to go before she could enjoy any time with Steven.

  The twins were back at it. “No, you have to push the poles through, not pull them,” Pru complained.

  Chazzie sighed heavily. “I know that. I just hope Keereeneeda has houses. I hate putting up this tent.”

  “It will most likely have ruins like in Denver. And I bet there’s a city underground, though that might be hard, since the whole geology is certainly going to be affected by the ocean. I’m wondering what the codex is going to tell us.”

  The codex. The cylinder that Uchiko had pulled out of the basin for Steven.

  Chazzie threw more sighs. “Not sure how it’s going to help us since it’s all in Lyra, and I don’t speak no Lyra you know.”

  From Pru, “I’m wondering about the ice letters. Nefri could certainly read them while they were in blue flames but not after. Only enough to give us the next clue.”

  “Do you think it’s strange that this world has the general geography of the other two planets?” Chazzie asked.

  “Variations on a theme. I certainly find it interesting that the flora and fauna here are so different. The ice flowers, the fly-eating sagebrush, and those black cottonwoods. It’s strange.”

  “And the skeleton elves?”

  “Yeah, uh, those too. Hidden in shadows. I keep wondering what that might mean. And how Nefri plays into it all.” Pru gulped. “It’s wrong. All of this is wrong. We should never have come.”

  “Push the poles through the loops!” Chazzie nearly yelled.

  “I know!”

  Uchiko didn’t blame them for being snippy with each other. This world was wrong in so many ways. She stood. “I wish to wash. It will not be easy. But this adventure shouldn’t be easy.”

  With Steven and Mouse watching, the ninja walked away.

  She moved down the banks of the river until it widened, growing deeper, and of course colder. This wasn’t like the Congo River, that massive worm of brown water making its way through the jungle. Mbiti Urator, the Dragonlord of the Congo Primacy, had hired her to murder a vassal who was looking to overthrow him. If only it had been that simple. That vassal, a Dragonskin, had put a price on Mbiti Urator’s head, and both the Shadow Archer and Bruno Illick had come to collect.

  Uchiko shook away the memories. She untied her belt and slipped off her coat. She felt her nipples harden in the chill.

  Something huge splashed in front of her. Steven, in his True Form, stood there, exhaling fire from his nostrils. Water gurgled around his body. “I can make your bath a little easier.”

  Uchiko dropped her pants and stood naked in front of him.

  His serpentine gaze licked up her body, from her toes, to her thighs, to her breasts, until his eyes met hers. “You’re beautiful.”

  “You thought I was beautiful when I was a monster,” Uchiko said.

  Steven’s laughter rumbled like thunder through the forest. “You were never a monster. You’ve had a rough road. You dealt with it.”

  “Because of your strength and courage,” the ninja said.

  She took her bloodstained clothes and walked out into the ice-cold water. It brought gooseflesh across her taut belly and muscled arms.

  She walked to a rock sticking out of the water.

  Underneath Steven’s huge body, it was tolerable. His scales radiated heat.

  Uchiko scraped the clothes over the rock to work the blood out of the fabric. “The Shadow Archer gave me back the Hellstring. She could’ve taken it. She could’ve done any number of things. Maybe she thinks to lure us in, gain our trust, before she betrays us.”

  “You were unconscious,” Steven said. “You didn’t see her after we escaped the underground city. She almost broke down crying. This is hard for her, Uchiko, but she’s dealing with it. We need to be there for her.”

  Uchiko worked her robes harder on the rock. “You can. I can’t. In an Aerie, in the Congo, a palace built in the trees there, with bridges crossing the river, I went in the darkness to kill a Dragonskin named Ezekiel Prat. He had wives of his own, in a bed. They were asleep. It was hot, you can’t know how hot it was, even at midnight. I couldn’t stop sweating. My sweat dripped onto the floor.”

  She wasn’t sure she could tell him everything that had happened that night. Or that Rahaab had encouraged her to take the contract, since Mbiti Urator had been loyal to the Alpherian overlord.

  Uchiko shivered.

  Steven exhaled fire around her, helping her keep warm, though her legs were turning to ice in the river. It was an odd feeling, to be so hot and so cold, all at the same time.

  Uchiko lifted her robes. Most of the blood was gone, and the dark cloth would hide any stains. She didn’t look forward to wearing wet clothes, however.

  Steven saw her problem. “Magica Incanto!”

  Her robes swirled with black energy, and they dried in her hand. She gazed up at him. “I am surprised.” She went and touched his great chest.

  Steven chuckled over her. She felt the vibrations through every part of her. “Drying clothes is simple compared to what we normally do with Incanto spells. If this Dragonlord thing doesn’t work, I can find a job as a drycleaner.”

  “It is a joke,” Uchiko whispered.

  “It would be if you were laughing,” Steven replied. “I guess I’ll leave the humor up to my other wives. And damn, I could’ve enchanted your clothes clean. Then you wouldn’t have needed to get wet.”

  Uchiko sank down into the water, washing herself, and yes, it was freezing. When she popped up, she clung to Steven’s leg. That fire in him, that heat off his scales, felt amazing. It was going from a cold bath into a sauna in seconds.

  Steven lifted her up in his huge claws. His rough hands held her back and legs. More fire from his nostrils bathed her in heat, and she was dry in seconds.

  That power, that warmth, made her shiver, and then, she had an idea, a deliciously depraved idea. She spread her legs. “Will you keep me warm while I pleasure myself? Will you watch me?”

  “I’d be glad to.” Steven exhaled more flames in the growing darkness. Her skin dried quickly in his inferno embrace. “I can do more if you want.”

  “No, you will need your strength for your other wives. And I like being next to you in your True Form. It makes me ...” She tried to remember the English word. She found it. “Yes, it makes me horny.”

  Throaty, fiery chuckles came from Steven. “I have to admit, I like it when my wives are horny.”

  She cupped her left breast with her left hand. For a long time, she’d only had the scales on that side of her body. Now, she was whole, and she loved how soft and smooth her skin was. She reached down to her sex. She was completely human now, not the half-monster thing she’d been in the Congo. She couldn’t think about that, though she knew she would eventually tell Steven everything. And she would have to confront Nefri, if she was ever going to have any kind of friendship with her.

  It seemed possible. Uchiko wasn’t sure what was happening to her, but she was changing again.

  Uchiko groaned and raised her hips. Steven’s breathing was growing quicker, and that meant more of his hot breath washed over her. She was sweating, despite the autumn twilight. She pulled on her nipple. Every rub on the sensitive nubbin between her legs made her want to cry out. Steven’s power swirled around her. He was a Dragonlord, the greatest Dragonlord to ever exist. He had already conquered dozens of Primacies on Earth, and now, he was going to rid the universe of its greatest enemy. And he loved her. He wanted her.

  Uchiko continued to masturbate in his hands, smelling him, feeling him, until it was like her entire world had become the black dragon holding her.

  She whimpered as the orgasm took her. Her skin glowed, making the sweat glisten. The Animus was good, but better was Steven, her Steven, so kind, so loving.