He’d chosen a small clearing to camp in, but it wasn’t that big. Small saplings were scattered here and there, but Lognion ignored them. They bent and snapped as he settled to the ground, forming no more nuisance than would tall grass to a bull.

  Fear greater than any he’d ever known filled Will’s heart as the massive slitted eyes focused entirely on him. He’d missed seeing Lognion’s true form when he’d attempted to save his mother, only arriving after his home had been reduced to ash and glass. Seeing the dragon in the flesh nearly unmanned him. Evie hissed beside him, growing in size.

  “I’ve missed you, William.” The voice was entirely human and completely recognizable, for it was the same voice that had once issued from the king’s human lips, but the dragon’s mouth remained perfectly still. Nothing moved on the monster except its nostrils as hot air moved in and out with each breath.

  His mouth opened, closed, then opened again. “You sound the same,” was all he could manage.

  “Magic,” said Lognion. “My body isn’t capable of human speech, and my natural voice would likely cause you to void your bowels. I’m glad you’ve decided to allow me to speak this time.”

  Will’s body was so tense he could barely move as he debated between attempting a retreat or beginning a probably suicidal attack. Evie had already grown to the size of a horse and was still swelling. The sound coming from her throat and the shiver in her flank gave notice she was preparing to leap. Will had seen the Cath Bawlg overpower not one but two demon-lords, but only when they were weakened, or when he was attacking from an ambush. The demi-god had known his limitations—Evie didn’t.

  Based on what he had seen while fighting the egg guardians, Lognion’s size, and the fact that every known power in existence—living and unliving—feared to face dragons, any dragons, much less one of such advanced age, Will didn’t expect a positive outcome if she attacked. The desire to protect her overwhelmed his paralysis.

  Without taking his eyes off the existential threat in front of him, Will’s right hand reached out to touch the fierce cat’s shoulder. “Easy, Evie. We aren’t fighting today. Relax.” As his hand met her fur, he realized it wasn’t her shoulder, but mid-leg. His feline ally had nearly surpassed the size of any earthly creature he’d previously observed. He wondered if she would continue to grow until she attained the same colossal proportions of their enemy.

  “Surprising wisdom, William, considering how you treated me the last time we met in person. Has something changed?” The former king’s voice was tinged with humor.

  “You smelled better then. If we fight now, I’ll have to take a bath to wash your stench off. That spoils the mood.” The words fell from his lips before his brain had a chance to edit them.

  Thankfully, the dragon ignored his insult. “I’ve been looking for you, William. It’s been terribly boring since you murdered me and kicked over my game board. Watching a nest full of eggs is hideously dull. If you’re going to hatch secret plans to destroy my eggs and save the world, you could at least have the decency to let me watch.”

  “You have enough advantages already.”

  “Do I?” The dragon sniffed, inhaling so much air it almost pulled Will toward the enormous snout. “You’ve got the stench of necromancy around you, William. You’ve been consorting with my old playmate. It’s bad enough you gave him Selene. Have you become his servant as well? I thought better of you.”

  How much does he know? Will had trained his mind and body for battle, but the fear and adrenaline coursing through him were too much for careful deliberation. Calm down, he told himself, taking a deep breath. “Facing you, I’ll take whatever help I can find, but I’m no servant to the lich.”

  “Is that so? Why would you abandon your resources among the fae then? The one that leads them is just as mighty, yet you’ve limited yourself to allying with the failed wizard I defeated long ago. Trust me, he’ll poison everything you’ve built,” warned Lognion.

  Raising his chin, Will responded, “I’ll deal with him as well.”

  Lognion’s voice rang out loudly in laughter, an eerie and unnatural thing as it was juxtaposed against the dragon’s body, which remained still and unreadable. “That’s the spirit! You should have been born a dragon, William. I am as proud of you as I am of my own daughter. Neither of you were ever willing to submit. You should destroy the walking corpse first, though.”

  Will’s body was finally beginning to relax as it realized the danger wasn’t immediate, and with the change, his thoughts began to clear. An idea percolated somewhere below the surface of his consciousness. “I’ll need his help to kill you. Removing him early would be counterproductive.”

  Lifting his head, the dragon blew a small gout of flame into the sky, then replied, “Dragons eat the weakest first. That’s why I plan to save you for the very last. If you bring that dusty skeleton to face me, it won’t help. I can crush him in an instant. You are the better opponent. I imagine it will take several minutes before I can taste your flesh, assuming you don’t flee. I was quite shocked to realize you had killed my egg guardians.”

  “You say you can crush him, but you can’t kill the lich. Otherwise, he wouldn’t still be here, taunting you after all these centuries.”

  “Trickery doesn’t suit you, William,” announced the dragon. “I am a paragon of chaos and creation, the power that underlies the foundation of the universe. If you want my advice on destroying the unlife that sustains that gnat, simply ask.”

  Cautious, Will declared, “I won’t bargain or offer anything of value for your advice.”

  Massive lips pulled back to display enormous teeth as the dragon smiled, nearly causing Evie to attack. Will had to put his hand against her leg once more as Lognion responded, “Dragons rarely bargain, William, for we have no equals. We take what we desire. I will give you my advice freely, as a parent to the surviving whelp of a nest.”

  The metaphor disgusted him, but Will was too interested in the possibilities to spoil the conversation. “You know how to kill him?” He already had a plan for Grim Talek, but the dragon’s answer might provide vital clues as to whether it would work, or whether there was a better option.

  “Two ideas come to mind,” said the dragon. “Starving him of the magic you wizards are so dependent on is the first. Vampires are anchored by blood, but the lich is merely a debased and inferior wizard. Without some source of power, his will must inevitably lose its grip on this world, causing his spirit to drift back to the primal source where all souls go to be reforged for the next life.”

  The dragon’s description of death was fascinating, for Will had never heard it described in such a fashion before. Coming as it did from a self-professed paragon of chaos and creation, he filed it away as useful information. “Would Muskeglun work?” he asked, since the plane the trolls came from was famously meagre when it came to ambient turyn.

  “I doubt it would be enough. You would need complete isolation, and then you’d need to exhaust whatever reserve he has.”

  Will knew of no spells that would completely isolate an area to enable such a turyn vacuum, but there were others who could help him investigate the idea. “What’s the other idea?”

  “The lich has anchored his soul to an enchanted object hidden away somewhere, a phylactery. Destroy it first, then destroy whatever body he is currently inhabiting, and he’ll die like any mortal,” answered the dragon.

  “Do you know where his phylactery is?”

  The dragon snorted. “The vermin still lives. That should be answer enough.”

  Will doubted he could find in the span of a few weeks what Lognion had missed in a millennia-long war. “Do you know what it looks like?”

  “It could be anything, large or small, though within some limits, I’m sure. Hiding it is easy. The only hint at its location would be the fact that Grim Talek probably keeps it somewhere close to a source of new bodies so he can replace whatever body he has abandoned or lost.”

  Will’s shoulders slumped slightly. The dragon’s first idea was new, though it was similar in some ways to his own. The second idea was basic knowledge that he already knew, offering no real hope. “I don’t think your ideas will help.”

  Before he could say anything, Lognion spoke again. “Not in a span of weeks, William. The greatest flaw of mortals, and youth in particular, is impatience. My eggs won’t hatch for years yet, possibly even a decade—there’s plenty of time for you to consider a different proposal.”

  He lifted one brow, surprised. “You aren’t seriously trying to make a deal with me, are you?”

  Lognion’s disembodied voice chuckled realistically, even though the dragon’s body remained still. “Why not?”

  Will answered plainly, “I’ve killed you once, and I plan to do so again, hopefully with more final results. Why would you want to work with me?”

  “I’m bored, William. That’s my strongest motivation, alongside the fact that your current benefactor has been a thorn in my side for thousands of years. The game was interesting, but now that I’ve lost, there’s nothing to occupy my mind.”

  The dragon’s complaint seemed childish, but Will played along. “You’re confident I’ll lose when I come to square accounts with you. You can simply start another game after I’m dead. Leave me out of this.”

  The dragon growled faintly, sending a shiver through Will’s chest and nearly sending Evie over the edge once more. “Without a human power base, my network of spies is deteriorating, not to mention I’ve already lost once. That’s never happened before. If I’m to outmaneuver your moldering corpse-lover, I need to try something new. You are the ideal piece for this game.”

  “You want a double agent,” said Will.

  The massive eyes gazed at him with fierce intensity. “You already have his trust.”

  Shaking his head, Will confessed, “Selene would be a better choice for intrigue.”

  “She wouldn’t cooperate, and her head is already swimming with the promise of Grim Talek’s forbidden magics, but if you help me, she will have no choice. Without even telling her of my involvement, she can be brought to heel. If your focus is discovering the lich’s secret, she will work tirelessly on your behalf.”

  From his own perspective, it all seemed silly. The game of nations that Lognion had lost did nothing to alter the ending. The dragon eggs would hatch, engulfing Hercynia in a titanic struggle for primacy and nourishment, destroying civilization and most life. Lognion would move on to a new home, and none of these distractions would matter, but the dragon was more concerned with his present boredom and evening his score with an opponent that couldn’t hurt him. Under other circumstances, Will might have been tempted. The dragon would probably be an effective ally while trying to find a way to put Grim Talek to rest, but it was a selfish goal, for while it would prolong Will’s life and possibly even succeed, he’d be lowering his chance of success against the ultimate enemy.

  The lich had to die for Will to live, but the world would continue just fine either way. The dragon had to die no matter what. “No,” he answered quietly.

  “No?” Lognion’s voice was full of menace.

  Denying the drake was a mistake. Will knew the proper response would be to simply pretend and play along for the sake of keeping things quiet until they were ready to tackle the nest, but the fear generated by the dragon’s massive presence had faded, and something more important had taken its place. In his mind’s eye, he could still see Tabitha’s body lying on the ballroom floor, studded with crossbow bolts. Worse yet, he had felt Laina’s soul being shredded by the heart-stone enchantment. A fire was building in his belly, spreading to his heart and mind. “No.”

  Lognion’s voice was full of puzzled resignation. “Help me understand. For as long as I have dealt with your kind, I have never understood the urge to suicide.”

  “You killed my sister.”

  “And your mother, but one sister remains. Are you willing to risk her life for your pride?”

  Even angry, Will filed the information away. Lognion’s sources were close enough to know that Grim Talek was tutoring Selene, but they didn’t know that Erisa had survived. That reinforced the fact that the lich could indeed hide Will’s friends and family successfully. “Pride has nothing to do with it,” said Will evenly. “If it turns out I can only end one of you, you’re the one that has to go in order to save my people. Using the lich to increase my chance of success is worth it, even if it means I’m less likely to survive in the end.”

  Will and Evie were once again treated to the sight of the dragon’s deadly smile. Lognion’s voice was accompanied by a deep rumble from the dragon’s throat. “Unless I put an end to you here and now.”

  Widening his stance, Will opened his hands, holding them out slightly on either side of his body. An ominous rumble rolled across the forest, the threat of a storm despite the blue sky and sparse clouds. He’d been drawing power steadily for several minutes already, and without even consciously trying, Will knew the heavens were ready to answer his call. Sparks began to dance in the air around him, and the giant cat moved to one side, preparing to circle around the dragon. “You can try.” Will’s voice thrummed with latent power, filling the air with tension.

  Time seemed to stop while the world held its breath, until finally the dragon laughed. “Not today. As much as I look forward to this fight, it would spell the end of my entertainment.” Spreading his wings, Lognion took to the air. The downdraft blasted around Will but didn’t move him, as a low-power wind-wall kept the air close to him steady.

  As the dragon rose steadily, a new gate appeared, and the dragon flew toward it. Lognion’s voice echoed. “I know your plan, William. You should have accepted my offer. Rejection comes at a price.” The gate closed as the long tail passed through, leaving Will with nothing but adrenaline and unspent energy.

  Will stared at Evie, marveling at her size while his heart gradually returned to its usual pace. The sudden ending of their crisis left him feeling as though he’d run a marathon. His head was swimming as fatigue washed over him. The cat standing across from him was nearly as large as the dragon had been, though she was already beginning to shrink. Evie’s fur was already flattening as she relaxed.

  “You don’t want to fight that thing,” said Will, sitting down and feeling the cool earth beneath his hands. “Next time, leave it to me.” The great cat yawned as if dismissing his remark, then began to groom herself. He took it as a sign of her lingering tension, but Will still wanted his point to be clear, so he changed tactics. “Dragons taste bad.”

  Evie’s green eyes locked onto him for a second, then drifted away. Lifting a massive paw, she began cleaning between her toe pads, flexing claws that were the size of swords and sharp enough to cut demon-steel. The breastplate Will wore still bore their marks.

  “I’m serious. You’ll never get the taste out of your mouth.”

  The giant feline finished with her paw, then stretched out, closing her eyes against the brightness of the rising sun. Despite having recently risen, Will had to admit that a nap sounded wonderful, but he couldn’t afford to rest.

  Chapter 33

  Grim Talek answered immediately, though his face appearing in the silver metal only made it seem more like a mirror, since it was identical to his own. “I didn’t expect you so soon. Have you already made contact?”

  “No. The dragon just visited me.”

  The lich straightened in his seat, his attention fully focused. “How did he find you?”

  Will sighed. “There’s an astral connection between us. I’d suspected it previously, but I didn’t want to believe it was true.”

  “You were that close? You should have warned me. This changes everything.” Grim Talek ran his hand over his face in a gesture that seemed genuinely human. “Since you don’t have any singe marks, I must presume your meeting was peaceful. Did you accept his offer?”

  Will frowned. “How did you know?”

  “It’s only logical, and since you decided to inform me immediately after, I can also guess you were smart enough to accept.”

  He shook his head. “You need to get everyone to wherever your safe place is. He told me there would be a price to pay.”

  Grim Talek’s eyes widened with surprise. “You told him no?” His mouth opened to say something more, then closed again, speechless.

  “That’s why you need to hide them. I don’t know where he’ll choose to strike.”

  The lich closed his eyes, becoming preternaturally still. “I’ve already made arrangements. Theravan and Mahak are in place. Moving people around in the absence of an actual threat will only increase the danger of your vengeful dragon finding the sanctuary.”

  Will still remembered finding his home replaced by a field of glass. “He can create gates! He could be anywhere. There might not be time for them to do anything if they don’t have any warning.”

  With a sigh, the lich kept his words slow and clear. “I am not a fool, William. Everything I do is carefully considered. There was no warning with your mother either. Trust me, they’ll be safe—my plans are thorough to a degree you obviously don’t understand. Unlike your head, they are not full of holes.” The long-dead wizard waited for several seconds to let his words sink in, then added, “Also, if you’ll take a moment to think, you will remember that gates also need a beacon or an astral link, much as your teleport does. Lognion does have some limitations on his movement.”

  “He’s still got thousands of people scattered across Terabinia tied to him with the heart-stone enchantment. I’m pretty sure he can use any one of those for a destination.”

  Anger began creeping into Grim Talek’s voice. “I am well aware of that, and my statement stands. Are you ready to continue having a conversation, or have you decided to end our agreement because you don’t trust me to handle my end of it?”

  Realizing the danger, Will ground his teeth together while he struggled to get his emotions under control, then replied, “You guaranteed their safety.”