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A reddish copper color that ood-sized horns--

DharSii!

She knew hio in Sadda-Vale, where she’d searched for others of her kind She’d found only a handful of indolent dragons, co valley

Her thoughts, racing alike the ink on one of those ancient scrolls in NooMoahk’s cave

DharSii carried a heavy column of stonework, one of the columns that flanked the road near the entrance to the old city He flapped one more time, strain on his face, and dove for the citadel

She dove as well, leaping frouide her fall If he saw her he gave no sign of it Instead he released his load, which fell like a huge arroard one of the old towers She just ed to strike the stone as she crossed under hions, with nothrough the end of their finalthe top of the tohere it would have sory streaks It struck the wall below, sending rubble falling into the city and out into the gate-lane in front Dust clouded the air

Each dragon coaped at her, hardly arden-troughs thick with shadeweed His ribs heaved as he caught his breath

Wistala returned to the cavern roof

Soh the old streets and alleys, vaulting obstructions ild cries

Blighters streamed down from their battlements With the wall in the old citadel broken, they hurried for souessed The city had any number of ancient undercourses for the disposal of waste or retention of water Perhaps they made for some secret bolt-hole

Canny White had retreated to a corner near the entrance, blooddark stripes on his sides even er to rejoin the fight As for Silly Green, she was nowhere to be seen Perhaps she was soaking her tail-tip in the chill of a mountain stream

She had to delay the riders Wistala mastered herself One more effort, and then she would return to the back of the cave

DharSii cried out as she flew, but whether he was calling to her or su the white she couldn’t know

The front of the colu hard Carts and horses wheeled--

A presence behind, co fast-- distance, took a breath so she ht better press her firebladder--

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Sparks and s--what evil was this?

Three projectiles like the oversized javelins dwarves fired fro like arrows but spinning like a playful squirrel running along a straight branch They trailed sly barbed hooks

"Down!" she heard DharSii shout He struck her on the haunch

Why he warned her, she couldn’t say She struck so rotted thatch like dandelion tufts

The ly flail-tails thick with barbs and hooks dancing ain their wake

She banked to the rear of the cave and made for her old hole lest some other aerial led in one of the things, raising dust and debris in an old plaza

Wistala saw ugly sights in the streets below as the human warriors discovered a little hovel of Fireblade females and their babes Hominids must love death for death’s sake--there was no other way to explain the bloody scene there

She returned to the rear of the cave and the tunnel to the old downshaft and library Only a few elderly warriors re spawn

"The city is lost," she told them "If there’s some secret tunnel where you can flee, you may wish to take it I can delay therizzled one-handed blighter began to give orders Most obeyed, but one or two of the females ran into the ruins, whether in search of their h rubble and rooftop, Wistala didn’t know