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He finished, exhausted, at the point where he was acco 1 bryan, Pony, and Avelyn to the distant Barbacan, before he turned back to , ith the refugees, before his encounter with the demon dactyl
d with ?Little did we know that the beast atching our ready to spring upon us," which he doubted was exactly true, L he kneould keep the dragon&039;s interest piqued for his con- annot stop there!" Agradeleous roared in coht froround "But Iof bat-when I aood "en&039;? the dragon echoed skeptically ?Why, sleep for the centuries nd&039;play when you are aware spouting fire that had Juraviel and Cazzira ducking and dodging wildly
"Verv well, then," Agradeleous offered when his mirth had played out ?But I will not let you sleep for more than a year! It is a story I wish to Juraviel shook his head erin A year? He had been thinking of only a few hours!
"Not a year," he tried to explain, reons and all the other races These were the creatures from the dawn of time, itnessed the early sunrise of Corona They lived forever, unless they were killed, and saw the passage of ti-living elves ?I need but a few hours to rest and to eat, and then I will call to you, radeleous" As he finished, an idea ca around the floor of the pit, scratching his head
"What is it?"
&039;I aht better embellish the story," Juraviel explained ?No radeleous stared at hied, fell into a crouch and leaped away, easily clearing the fifty feet to the ledge
That is power beyondover to -and beside Juraviel, as also looking up to where the dragon had dis- eared She draped her ar r head very close to his
&039;1 let his still-for m the sweet scent of this beautiful creature He turned and consid-ered her porcelain skin and those striking blue eyes
t wasn&039;t for theBrynn, Belli&039;mar Juraviel would not have nded the captivity at all
keep stopping!" Agradeleous protested when Juraviel again halted ory and began stalking about the pit
With a growl, the elf grabbed up one stone and inspected it, then tossed it aside
"What?" the dragon dee so bland?" Juraviel angrily replied
"Perform? I asked you to tell a story!"
"But it is a story of battle and courage, of heroes, living and dead!" the elf shot right back ?I would do the htbird justice, or I will tell his tale no ue, and forcefully, but Agradeleous stopped suddenly and glanced all about, at Juraviel, at Caz-zira, and at the nearly eon looked back to Juraviel and nodded
"Corabbed her up tightly with one hty arm, then sihty leap, the dragon exited the pit and set both the elves down on the stone floor of a huge treasure chaold coins, sparkling with glittering geon explained
Juraviel nodded andthe hoard Were there iteht put to better use than as props in a play? he wondered Ahi the foe he would have to defeat, a creature beyond his power even if he held the finest sword in all the world, if he was clad in the finest aremstone in all the world
Besides, Juraviel knew, he really didn&039;t want to do battle with Agra-deleous, even if he thought he could win
That notion stopped hi real-ization Had he coon?
Juraviel shook the notions away and cleared his throat, then took up his tale, running about the es of the roo up a sword at one point to replay the bat-tles that had faced Nightbird and Pony around and within the Barbacan Again he e artistic license - because he did not wish to finish quickly
At one point, telling of the run fro, Ju-raviel ran up the side of adown the back slope, out of sight of his audience of two He waited a long while out of their sight
"Where are you, little one?" Agradeleous booer
Belli&039; in the air ?So lied the giants!" he cried dra \" air about hihtbird, Tehty beasts, cutting the them"
The elf danced a ferocious and wild routine as he eradeleous
He finished and turned to face the pair, then planted the sword, tip-down to the floor, and leaned on it heavily
"And so ends my tale for this day, ?he announced
To Juraviel&039;s surprise, Cazzira voiced her outrage before Agradeleous had the chance But Juraviel re the sword to the nearest pile of treasure ?Let your er on that which I have told you this day, that toradeleous roared with laughter and ju the whole of the chaon bade, and he gathered up Cazzira, and then Juraviel, and carried them back to the pit
The next day was much the same, as was the next, and in both plays, Ju-raviel found at least one moment where he could slip away from the others for an extended period of tiht on
"You are leaving," she said to hi in the rooht"
Juraviel put his finger over her lips to silence her ?I am bound by my word and by my duty," he explained
"And bound not at all by your time with me?"
"More than you can understand," Belli&039;mar Juraviel replied, and he ently on the lips Cazzira started to talk again, but Juraviel cut her short with another kiss, and then another, pressing her closer each ti hiht, in a barren pit in the lair of a dragon, and to Belli&039;mar Juraviel, it was ht sky in Andur&039;Blough Inninness
Much later on, when Cazzira awoke, she found Juraviel lying beside her, propped on one elbow so that he was looking down at her
I am bound to youhis hand fro her silken hair ?I am bound by love to exclude you from my desperate plan I will not lead you to death, Cazzira, though I fear that death will catch up to radeleous&039; lair"
She is only huer, and I am bound to aid her, and so I must try"
"And when you are done?"
Juraviel looked away, considering the question honestly, then looked back to her, staring her in the eye, showing her his sincerity ?When I aradeleous If Cazzira is here, then I will remain If you are not, if you have found your escape, then I will return to Tyain"
The Doc&039;alfar smiled and reached up to stroke Juraviel&039;s face ?If you do not, I will lead ainst Caer&039;alfar," she promised ?Battle has been joined for less a reason than this!"
Juraviel bent low and kissed her again, gently, but Cazzira grabbed hi to rest atop hi while later, Belli&039;in what he considered his final perfor forward, every inch of Agradeleous&039; sinewy, on awaited Belli&039;mar Ju-raviel&039;s reappearance froe htbird and Pony&039;s escape frohty stallion Sy his ar a sword, skyward to represent the mummified arm of Brother Avelyn
And then he had rushed off to the back of the huge cha over the furthest mound of coins
The moments continued to slip away
Cazzira sat back and relaxed, reflecting on the loss She was surprised at the size of the hole in her heart, the sense of profound loneliness She knew that Juraviel had acted in what he believed to be her best interest; they didn&039;t expect that Agradeleous would hurt her, after all, though Ju-raviel had just certainly placed himself in dire jeopardy
Still, had she realized how painful this separation would be, Cazzira would have found a way to get out with him, to radeleous&039; expression went fro anger that only a dragon could exhibit ?Where are you, little one?" the dragon growled
Agradeleous looked to Cazzira, who shrugged and tried to look as sur-prised as he ?Soon," she assured the beast
Agradeleous stood up and narrowed his eyes, peering all about the charowl all the while He took a step forward, turning slowly, and began to sniff loudly ?Little one?" he asked again, the volu started toward him, but backed away, noted that his iron-corded, cal Drills were tre with explosive power ?Little one?"
Several more moments slipped past
A radeleous spun suddenly on Cazzira, and with a quickness and power mocked the Doc&039;alfar&039;s catlike reflexes, he scooped her up under one took a couple of running steps, and leaped long and far, sailing into nit He dropped her uncere a rock-shaking roar
"Little one!" the dragon bellowed, plowing through thewildly about the chaer than his present bipedal for away Not satisfied with that, Agradeleous reached down and lifted the boulder over his head, then hurled it the length of the rooainst the wall Behind the farthest mound, where Juraviel had disappeared, there looradeleous started down, but stopped and sniffed the air
The dragon backed away and looked up, to a second hole in the wall, a dozen feet off the floor, a hole that Juraviel, with his wings, could have reached
Eyes narrowing again, Agradeleous sprang up into the hole, running along on all fours, his ss curled up on his back, his short and thick tail straight out behind him
Juraviel ran flat out, but the tunnels outside the cha lava, and despite his keen eyesight, the elf stu, he realized that he could not siradeleous He had to hope that the tun-nel forked and branched off,in fast pursuit soon after, and stuht quickly, unless
The elf breathed a bit easier when he ca down and to the right, while the ht ahead Juraviel instinctively went for the branch, but stopped and changed his radeleous would expect him to head down the narrower branch
He ran on, as fast as he could, hoping that the fork had bought hi behind hi sounds He cringed and ran on - what else could he do?
And then caon&039;s thunderous pursuit
Several intersections gave the elf a bit of a lead, for at each one, Agra-deleous had to stop and locate Juraviel&039;s scent At one such three-way break, Juraviel ran for e that dropped off into the darkness Then he backtracked, and when he turned the corner to enter another of the tunnels, he used his wings to get hih up on the wall for a long way
Again he heard Agradeleous stop and sniff, then nodded with soon&039;s footsteps receded, then ended altogether
Still, less than an hour later,in coain, closing fast
Those laht, and he knew that it wouldn&039;t take Agradeleous long to catch hihtened again, and a short while later Juraviel cah above a river of flowing lava Across the way, the tunnel continued out of the wide cha that it eak at some points and would not support the beast, but he understood soon enough that the powries had likely constructed this nonnatural bridge, and that it was quite secure
Juraviel squinted in the orange glow, looking for some other choice The air was thick with a sulphurous sradeleous could not track him anywhere near here
The elf had an idea He looked to the side, to the distant wall, then looked down, gauging the distance against the height of the bridge
Dragon thunder shook the ground, not so far away
Juraviel sprinted sidelong across the bridge and leaped high and far, his di the hot updrafts of the lava across the wide expanse He hit the sidewall hard, but held on, crawling to an area shadowed by a jag in the warhtly as possible
He heard Agradeleous enter the chae He waited a bit longer, until the dragon&039;s heavy foot-steps receded, then gradually ca his neck to look back at the now-eet to it and double back along the corridor
That bridge was a long way froh, and above him, and he knew that if he tried to leap from the wall and fly back, he would surely plu his wings to lighten his body andeasier Inch by inch, Juraviel worked around toward the ith the tunnel through which he had entered the large chaet right beside and be-neath the span, he believed that he could leap up and fly enough to scram-ble atop it
Inch by inch
one particularly sth Then, ready to half fly and half scramble s the elf set hiradeleous&039; roar, from not so far away The &039;s voice seemed enhanced now, even more powerful than Juraviel eard it a short while before And the elf saw his own shadow on the Til before his face, as those terrible la beams over him
He turned his head slowly, but stopped and just closed his eyes, noting the edge of one huge leathery wing, for the dragon was back in its true, radeleous roared, and the sheer volurasp He scras furiously, but he could not find any solid holds His fingers bloodied as he raked at the stone, and he kicked hard, trying to set his feet
But he was falling, without the strength to stop or even slow his descent
He thought of Tuntun, then, an elf maiden who had been his dearest friend of old, and hewould be so eerily similar to hers