Scirye

Heart thumping, Scirye turned from the woman and the boys to see Kles flying overhead, screaming defiance. His opponent lay dead with a bloody throat. Somehow he must have evaded the trap and carried out his attack. “Stand back-to-back,” Nishke ordered.

Scirye had been staring in horrified fascination at the dying dragonfly, but her sister’s words woke her as if from a nightmare. She turned and pressed her back against her sister’s when there was a gigantic crash.

Even shatterproof glass could not stand up to a dragon’s tail. Everyone was hunching as bits of glass flew from the case that held Lady Tabiti.

As the dragon hovered, it reached a foreleg into the case. “I’ve got it!” With a cry of triumph, he held up the archer’s ring clutched between his claws. “There’s no stopping me now!”

And then, with a vengeful malice, the dragon brought his tail down upon the Jade Lady herself. Jade rectangles and gold wire flew in all directions as the dragon pounded the fragile body into dust.

“No!” Nishke cried.

While everyone else’s eyes had been upon the dragon, Nishke had been the only one to charge forward. Desperately she raised the halberd over her head to fend off the thief.

With an evil laugh, the dragon swung his tail so that the heavy column of bone and muscle struck her, tossing her backward like a doll.

Still laughing, the dragon flapped his wings so that clouds of dust flew everywhere as he flew toward the domed ceiling.

He struck the shatterproof panes with his huge paws and his mouth bellowed magical spells that made the listener’s hair stand on end. Finally, the glass broke in a rain of crystal shards and the magical wards dissolved.

With a cry of triumph, the dragon’s massive body soared through the hole and into the sky.