"I got you, mate!" The muscles rippled across Bonn Skaard's arm as he reached over the edge of the sharp rock cliff where Leiffen hung with a white-knuckled grip. With a grunt, he lifted his friend to the safety of the now-singed rock plateau.

Starlex let out a long breath, her heart gladdening at the sight of the shaken but unhurt Leiffen.

Quetzex flapped her great wings and flew over Nazeera. Warning bells rang from the palace tower, blending with citizens' terrified screams.

"Let's get out of here before the bitch changes her mind and comes back," Leiffen said, then remembering his company, added with chagrin, "Sorry, milady."

"I'll look for the horses," Starlex said, turning toward the narrow path carved into the rock face where she had seen the horses flee.

Bonn lifted a large hand to halt her and, placing his fingers between beard and mustache, let out a long whistle. Within moments, the horses came trotting down the path, reins flapping at their sides.

The exhausted trio continued along the old miner's road in single file with Bonn leading the Stellarion in front and Leiffen at the rear with Emberfall. Starlex walked between them, casting anxious eyes up to the peak of the Great Vulcan, now simmering with a low rumble and a steady stream of black smoke.

“Do you think her babies will come out?” Leiffen asked.

Bonn grunted in reply. “Let’s hope not.”

When they approached the singed spot on the ground where the dragon had perched moments ago, they saw a giant boulder now blocked the mouth of the mineshaft.

"Damn," Leiffen muttered. "Now what?"

Bonn paused, let out a long sigh, made a seat of a boulder, and opened his saddle sack. From it, he produced a leather flagon of wine and tossed it to Leiffen. "To calm your nerves, mate." Then he pulled out a map, unrolled it, and began to study it.

"Illym blesses you," Leiffen said with a sigh. After he had taken a long pull on the wine, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and offered some to Starlex.

She drank. The wine, slightly sweet, warmed her parched throat. When she handed the flagon back to Leiffen with a thank you, she noticed Bonn Skaard's ice-blue eyes on her. The wine in her veins giving her courage, she met his gaze, and a current of electricity rippled across her pale skin. She felt a small victory when he was the first to turn away, although a crooked smile alighted on his face when he did.

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She wondered what that smile meant and why he gazed at her so intensely.

"Don't get the lady drunk now," Bonn said, turning his attention back to the map.

Leiffen chuckled and helped himself to a long slug of the wine. "Don't worry about that," he said, smacking his lips. "I'm keeping it all for myself.”

"While you're keeping it, keep your wits about you as well, mate," Bonn retorted. "Your lady friend might come back to finish the job."

Leiffen shuddered and cast an anxious gaze back to the red sky where the dragon resumed her attack on Nazeera. A steady stream of fire shot from her open jaws, silencing the screams of the Nazeers.

"I wonder what made her blow like that?" Leiffen said.

"Old Nargos' rage wakened her," Bonn replied with a dry laugh.

Leiffen mimed holding a heavy sword with two hands and slicing it through the air. “You sure chopped off that lad's head," he said with a chuckle. "I'm sure Nargos will never forget that, eh? Old Quetzex felt his rage through the ground and wanted to get in on some of the action."

Starlex, closed her eyes and rested her head in her hands. As repulsive as Dizzo Nazeer was, she wanted to extinguish forever the image of his head rolling across the floor near her feet. As a culture, the Illymiums abhorred violence, which is one reason why their kind diminished throughout time, while the Nazeers grew and prospered.

Even a dragon attack would not keep the Nazeers down for long, Starlex thought, exhausted from the exertion and the wine.

Some beings just know how to fight and stay alive. Like my sister, Hyperia. But she's an Illymium like me. Isn't she? Why do I feel so weak in the face of danger? But wasn't I brave in my own way when I was kidnapped? Didn't I stay alive? If I hadn't been rescued, I would have been brave, too. I would have figured out a way to escape. I know I would have.

Leiffen began to sing:

Quetzex, the dragon, is a surly lass,

with fire on her lips,

and a tail on her ass—

He broke suddenly and said, "Sorry, milady."

Starlex laughed. "I don't mind," she said.

Leiffen shrugged and continued,

Wings that stretch a mile in the sky,

teeth like spears,

and smoldering eyes.

Don't make her mad,

or she burns you to pitch.

Quetzex, the dragon,

is a surly old bitch.

"That's the way." Bonn poked a thick finger onto the leather map.

Leiffen stopped singing and a made a looping path toward Bonn.

Bonn stood and folded the map. "The high path we passed wraps around the other side of the mountain." He pointed up to the Great Vulcan. "The lava didn't flow on that side."

Leiffen bit his lip. "But I bet it's hot as old Nargos' mines, mate. And will the horses make it up that high?"

"We'll see," Bonn said. "The only other option is to go back to Nazeera."

Leiffen let out a slow whistle. "Looks like we're taking the high road then." He turned to Starlex and said gently. "If you're too tired to walk, milady, you can ride at least until the path gets too steep."

"All right," Starlex said. As much as she wished to be strong, she was too exhausted to walk. The wine filling her empty stomach only added to her fatigue.

Leiffen gave her a boost onto Emberfall’s back, and in no time the horse's slow and steady steps rocked her to sleep.