They rounded a turn on the pathway, and ahead and below and churning in the sea they could see the wheeling waters of the Great Maelstrom, the spin fully five miles across, a vast twisting funnel, and in the very center gaped a dark rumbling hole, spiraling down and down and down into a black, unplumbed abyss, dragging their hearts down within.

Above Alos's sobbing, Arin remarked, "I once said the green stone was like the eye of a maelstrom, and here I look down upon one."

Ferret took in a deep breath, then said, "Oh, my, speaking of eyes, I just had a thought."

Arin looked back at her. "A thought, Ferai?"

Ferret gestured out at the thundering gape. "Perhaps, Dara, perhaps this is the one eye in dark water."

It was midafternoon when they came to the vast shelf cloven back into the face of the mountain, a great mantel a thousand feet up from the twisting swirl in the ocean below and four miles from where they had started. And as they rounded the final shoulder to come to the wide, stony ledge, a monstrous rust-red Drake turned its flat, scaly head and fixed them with a yellow ophidian eye and hissed, "Why should I not kill you now?"

CHAPTER 73

Babbling incoherently, Alos turned to flee, but he was fastened by rope to Aiko ahead, and Egil stood immediately behind.

In the lead, Delon called out, "Why should you not kill us, O Mighty Raudhrskal? Because we have something to offer, a special gift just for you which will be greatly to your liking, most pleasing, in fact, and we ask but a trifle in return."

Some eighty feet from snout to tail, massive Raudhrskal shifted his weight, his long, saberlike claws scraping against the stone of the ledge, his wicked fangs gleaming. And in a voice sounding like great brazen slabs clanging one on the other, Raudhrskal bellowed, "Pah! Did you think that bringing a few cattle would allow you to trespass into my domain? To actually step here upon this ledge? Imbecile! Cattle are mine to take as I choose. Bah! I am being assailed from all sides by fools who surely come seeking death."

The Drake inhaled a deep breath.

Arin clenched her fists. "He readies his flame."

A savage chuff came from Aiko's throat.

Alos fell to his knees and covered his face.

As the others braced for the annihilating fire, Delon straightened his spine and threw back his shoulders and called, "Wait! I demand you hear us out!"

Raudhrskal's eyes flared wide in anger. "Demand? You demand? You who brought a foul beast winging into my domain, you who encroach upon this very ledge, you demand of me?”

Delon unclipped the rope at his waist and shrugged out of his pack, then swept low in a deep bow. "O Mighty Drake, the beast was not of our doing. In that as well as in all other things we are innocent of malice. And yes, we do humbly come into your domain, for there is a boon we would ask, a boon for which we will more than recompense you. O Great Raudhrskal, do you not wish to hear what we have to offer? 'Tis not only cattle we bring-for they are but a minor tribute-but something much greater as well, something more fitting to one of your grand potency."

Now Raudhrskal narrowed his eyes and suspiciously peered through slitted pupils at Delon. "Your voice is most persuasive, man. Is it enhanced in some fashion? Ah, yes, I see. There is a talisman about your neck. Do you attempt to cozen me with a charmed tongue? If so, you will fail."

"Cozen you?" Delon stepped back, aghast. "Nay, O Mighty One, for that would be the height of folly."

"You speak of a grand gift, puny man, yet but for a few paltry coins and gems you and your companions bear, I do not sense any great bounty of treasure. Do you think to ensnare me by guile?"

Delon shook his head. "Ensnare you by guile? Never, Dragonlord, for we know that cannot be done. Nay, we do not bring you common treasure, for it is nought but a material thing; instead we offer you something even more precious, a thing that will pleasure you dearly." The bard glanced back at his companions, then turned once more to the Drake. "May we approach?"

"You pique my curiosity," rambled Raudhrskal. But then the Drake raised his great head and glared down at the group entire and hissed, "Yet seek to trick me and I'll slay all of you where you stand."

Delon stepped forward, then gestured for the others to follow. Egil raised Alos to his feet, the old man sissing, "Don't look in his eyes, don't look in his eyes, don't look in his eyes, don't, don't," over and again, Alos shuddering and turning his face aside. Egil had to haul him forward, as all followed Delon.

They came out onto the great shelf of smooth dark stone, the mountain to their left rearing up toward snowy heights far above, the precipice to their right falling sheer a thousand feet down to the Boreal Sea below. Two hundred or so paces wide, and just as many deep, the ledge itself cut back into the mountainside, an enormous cavern yawning at the rear. Here and there sat huge boulders, as if deliberately placed in some arcane pattern, but as to the purpose of such an arrangement… who could say?

Raudhrskal studied the rest of the band coming onto the ledge-the six yet roped together-his gaze passing over each of them swiftly, all but Arin and Aiko. "You, Elf, there is something strange about your aura. Are you a Mage, perhaps?"

The Dylvana turned up her hands and said, "At times I ‹see›."

"As I thought: wild magic."

Now the Drake bent his glittering gaze upon Aiko. "I have not seen your kind before, you and your companion."

Aiko glanced at Burel.

"No, no," said the rust-red Drake, "not the fool of a man, but the hidden companion, instead. She paces and lashes as if enraged… and now crouches and would leap upon me"-Raudhrskal's laughter boomed-"but changes her mind."

Turning away from Aiko's astonished gape, Raudhrskal glared at Delon. "And now, little man, this boon you would ask, this trade you claim will please me, I would hear your words."

"Honeyed Ogru eye, deliciously aged," declared Raudhrskal, his long forked tongue sliding 'round his wicked fangs. "Have you another?"

Aiko shook her head. "No, Raudhrskal, I do not. Getting that one nearly cost us our lives, my mistress and I. Yet I do have this…" Aiko reached into her pack and pulled out the peacock feather she had carried since finding it in Queen Gudrun the Comely's pool. She presented the iridescent plume to the Drake, saying, "It comes from an exotic bird not found in these parts."

His eyes glittering, Raudhrskal reached out a forelimb and managed to take the lustrous plume from Aiko between two saberlike talons. The Drake held it up in the sunlight and twisted and turned it, the brilliant feather shining in the afternoon rays. "This came from a bird?"

"Yes. 'Tis named peacock."

"When I choose, I shall hunt such a bird for me."

Aiko nodded. "They come from islands south of the Jinga Sea."

Delon cleared his throat. "There's one in the citadel gardens of Gudrun, the Queen of Jute."

Raudhrskal turned his eye to the bard and smiled. "Ah, then, that is much closer. Perhaps I will go there to get my bird."

Delon turned to Aiko and smiled a toothy smile, and she returned his grin, both of their faces filled with guileless innocence.

"Have you anything else for me?"

Delon shook his head. "No, O Mighty Raudhrskal. Lady Arin and I have sung you our gift of song; Master Burel has invoked the name of Ilsitt on your behalf; Lady Ferai has performed her acrobatics for your pleasure; Master Egil has told the saga as to why Dragonships are so named; and Lady Aiko has given over the honeyed Ogru's eye and the iridescent feather you now hold. In addition, there are four cattle to assuage your hunger when the deed we propose is done."