The Book of Fire (78 page)

And sure enough, Paia stares solemnly into Köthen’s eyes, then gently disengages herself from his embrace. She turns and takes a few unsteady steps toward her accuser. “My lord Fire, I have been loyal to you past all reason. Do not blame me now if reason reasserts itself.”

The gilded nail curls into a claw aimed at Köthen’s neck. “You call that a reason?”

“Reason of the soul, my lord.”

“The soul?” His voice is soft, incredulous. “Oh, no, beloved. So wrong. So very wrong. The body perhaps, but not the soul. Your soul belongs to me. To me! If you have been restless in my care, then I must, I
will
, work harder to satisfy. And look how much I will sacrifice to content you: you may keep your concubine. Come with me now and you’re welcome to him, as the Suitor we’ve been searching for, for so long as he amuses you. A pretty thing, I admit, but just a man, after all. The interest will pall.” He leans forward, and Paia’s body shifts in his direction like a reed in water. N’Doch is amazed to see actual hope soften the giant’s glare. His hand is out again. He is almost singing to her. “Come, my lovely priestess! Come, my most
beautiful beloved! They cannot stop you. It’s ah . . . against the rules.”

Paia sways, toward Fire, away from him. N’Doch is surprised when Köthen backs up a step to give her room. He knows something N’Doch isn’t sure of yet, until Paia reaches out within the circle.

Is my cousin right about this? Can the bond between this dragon and myself compel him to change his ways?

WE HOPE IT WILL BE SO
.

You are our only hope of winning him to our cause.

IT WILL NOT BE EASY
.

No.

Will you try it?

It seems I must.

Way to go!

When Paia moves forward this time, her step is firmer. “How poorly you perceive the truth, my lord, when it’s not in your own interests.” She advances slowly, in almost ceremonial step. “You speak of honor. Tell me, where is yours? Have you forgotten it? Mislaid it? Or simply put it aside? When you find it again, I will keep that pledge laid on me by my ancestors. Until then, my lord Fire . . .” She stops a mere pace from the barrier. The golden giant looms over her as she draws herself into her formal Temple stance: head up, arms out, palms at right angles. “I do deny thee.”

“NO! YOU WILL NOT DENY ME!”

Fire lashes out, smashing his clawed fist against the barrier. Sparks explode through it, catching in Paia’s clothes and hair, driving her backward. The barrier itself seems to catch flame. N’Doch has seconds to wonder if the fire is real, and how could a force field or whatever it is be burning, before he feels the heat and hears the roar above his head.

“YOU WILL NOT DENY ME!”

“Kill it! Kill it!” N’Doch shouts frantically to the Librarian, who’s already tapping at his remote. He grabs Erde, drags her behind him. They’re all about to be suffocated and broiled alive.

Then the barrier is down, a hissing release of air, and suddenly water is falling around them, sheets of it, cool
and quenching, then a rising curtain of steam and a bronzy mountain of scales and claws is between them and the raging giant. N’Doch swears Earth gets bigger every time he sees him. He shoves Luther and the Librarian into the dragon’s protective shadow. Water, newly winged, hovers above. Erde follows, calling to Köthen and Paia to hurry.

For Paia has stopped, long paces away, to gaze back through the smoke and mist at her errant dragon.

“YOU WILL NOT DENY ME!” shrieks Fire. He is a whirl of flame and smoke and motion. He spits magma with every word, but he keeps his distance. “Listen well, my reckless kin! You can hold me at bay, but you cannot defeat me! Without the Fourth, you are nothing! NOTHING!”

He stalks them around the perimeter, as if the barrier is still in place. Water hovers, hissing showers of mist at him in warning. He ignores her. He pulls up opposite N’Doch.

“You boy. You have . . . a favorite grandparent. And a mother, as I recall.” He points at Erde. “And this presumptuous child has a circle of women she cherishes. Do you not, brat?” He laughs at Erde’s stricken look. “Did you truly believe you are strangers to me? Even the puny man-thing there has a friend he would die for. We all can play at the hostage game!”

Then Fire swivels his heated glare toward the dark and huddled figure of the Librarian. “And you! So quiet there. Still hoping to hide from me? You’ve hidden very well, all these years. Too well. But for you, my plan would have gone undetected. This requires proper recompense . . . one day soon.”

He gestures, an abrupt arc that scatters a bright rain of embers hard into the staring human faces. Earth roars, a sound like continents shifting, and rises hugely to his feet.

Suddenly dwarfed, Fire holds his ground. “Will I continue my resistance? To the end of Time! And what do I promise you? War, with no quarter! War here, and war wherever your puny humans call home! I will harry and destroy, up and down the centuries, until not a soul known and loved by any of you is left alive!”

With a blinding concussion of light and air. Fire leaps and is sky-borne, a dragon again. His gilt-and-enamel wings beat the new-made mud into a cloud of grit and dust.

AND WHEN I WIN, MARK MY WORDS, YOU ALL WILL THANK ME FOR IT! IF THE WORLD MUST END, IT WILL END ON MY TERMS!

He circles once, dark and vast against the rising sun, and is gone.

Looking for more?
Visit Penguin.com for more about this author and a complete list of their books.
Discover your next great read!