Page 57 (1/2)

On the third day after Ayafeeia left, the roc-riders attacked

They caons were occupied dropping fire on stone-throwing machines that they later decided had been built solely to provide theonelles across the back, tearing wing and ligah the air into the Ironriders

If the fall didn’t kill them, they were soon speared by the Ironriders

Noas the Ironriders’ turn to jeer

The roc-riders stole the food they’d kept on ice on a high glacier One lucky rider plucked a drakka and lifted off with her, carried screaonelles tried to pursue in vain The roc dropped her, just to hear her screas that had sheltered thee theested a tactic that had very nearly worked on her when a troll plunged out of the sky upon her They buried two dragonelles in snow so they wouldn’t be seen, and then they fell on the riders as they rode through the pass The dragons did better than trolls, though--they could use their wings to control their dives When they struck the riders, rider and mount disappeared in a burst of blood, flesh, and feathers

Takea returned that night with the top half of a beak, wearing it as a hued to the Ironriders Wistala and as left of the Fire roc-riders and their arrows

"We could sneak away Why do we hold this pass alone? Where are the ht at our side?"

"They have troubles enough with the riders who aredo we stay here?"

Wistala bristled "Until they stop co or we breathe our last"

The Firemaids needed ladly if they guarded the s at the other end But the reasons for fighting here--how could she put them into words?

"I believe humans will never trust us unless we prove our loyalty to our word and their law by dying for it"

"What’s human law to us?" a Firemaid asked, both nostrils and lips caked with blood and the er-strokes of some Ironrider she’d finished off "I say withdraw!"

A Fire out if they withdrew There were no longer enough healthy dragonelles to carry the drakka

"What’s dragon tradition to humans?" Wistala replied "If we keep our word, do our duty, they’ll know they can rely on us in the future"

"We should keep our word for ourselves, no matter what the humans think," Takea said

"A future on’t live to see," another replied

"Maybe," Wistala said "No one knows But every day we create a future Our fight here creates a better one"

"I still say they deserve these steppe-de us die up here in the cold, alone It’s their lands I would not expect a bunch of dwarves to die protecting o, if you wish," Wistala said "I’ here I will prove it" She tore off the brace on her wing, threw it down, and s it anew

"There," she said through the pain "I can’t fly off"

Little Takea could take no more She ran and stood before Wistala "Hoe live, Fireht?"

"Together!"

"Then how should we die?"

"Together!"

She organized all her Firemaids into pairs or trios One would always keep watch for the roc-riders while the other dug sleeping holes in the snowdrifts or stole down into the pass looking for a loose horse or a lost dog to eat

It hile watching the drakka melt snow for everyone to drink that Wistala had her idea

A dam of ice and snow had built up on the southern slope Snow exposed to the sunlight and war down into the pass, but as it passed into the shadows of ridges and otherheavy in thenoise, for noise soon roars had no effect on the ice-daht satisfying sounds of alar what Rainfall had taught her about bridges, loads, keystones, and so on It seee, with a line of rocks and boulders blocking it

She waited for a stor snow reduced the horizon to a few dragonlengths and turned the sky a sray, they went to the base of the dam

"If we can’t block the pass ourselves, maybe ice and snoill do our work for us Ready?"

"Be sure to take off as it gives way"

"If it gives way," a Firemaid said "But what about you?"