7: Dragon!

It was three days' ride north, always in sight of the narrowing chasm, before we reached the bridge to the other side. At this point, the chasm narrowed to only a hundred feet, but the bridge that spanned it didn't seem solid enough to cross. I wondered, in fact, how they'd managed to construct it.

"The Brothers Cho got tired of sending their goods around the chasm," Chang said. "It's nearly a hundred miles north to where the chasm ends in the mountains. Going south, the land eventually slopes down to meet the base of the chasm before it reaches the sea. Both were costly alternatives to shipping goods to profitable markets. There is a steep trail into the canyon and back out, but it's impractical for shipping goods. They sent a team around and constructed this rather remarkable bit of engineering. I would have to say I believe there was an Earth engineer involved. You don't see many suspension bridges on Chaos."

As in none. The ropes that stretched across the canyon were a good three inches thick with a stone tower on either end of the bridge anchoring them. The bridge was wide enough for a wagon to cross, but the bridge swayed in the wind.

"How often do they replace the ropes?" I asked.

"Whenever they break."

We crossed the bridge one at a time and discovered there was a toll at the other end. We were questioned and Chang's suggestion that it was a diplomatic mission was accepted. It wasn't like we had a force that could really challenge what appeared to be a well-fortified city. We were allowed to pass and headed back south on the west side of the chasm. We passed a caravan headed north loaded with goods. It was well-guarded. Just after it passed, five riders came down from the West to intersect with us. They had us pinned against the canyon and Chang immediately formed up our little squad for defense.

"Ho the Minstrel!" came one of the riders, dressed in a red cape called out. Lees and I rode forward with Chang and Cadence right behind us.

"Khan! You made it," I called.

"Thought you'd never get here," the rider responded.

"Well, if it isn't Little Red Riding Hood," Chang muttered.

"Ah, the ageless wonder," Khan responded. "Where do you get all the iron you use to make your fist?"

"I pick it from the rusty bones of your comrades," Chang responded.

"Guys! Could we be civil here? I see you already know each other so understand this. I count you both as my friends and would appreciate it if you'd tolerate each other while we're on this mission," I said.

"I suppose you have a campsite already chosen and provisioned from that last caravan that passed," Chang said.

"They were only too happy to help stranded travelers," Khan said. "Right this way."

It was an uneasy truce. Chang had a couple more men than Khan did, but they stayed well separated as we rode farther from the rim of the canyon. A mile off the road, we came to Khan's camp where two more of his company tended cook fires. We settled with Lees, Cadence, and I pitching our tent between Khan's company and Chang's. One of Khan's cooks fed his company and one fed us. A fire with a kettle of stew and pan bread was left for Chang's men. The five of us sat in the middle and settled into our meal.

"I have to say, your meals are always the best on the road," Chang muttered begrudgingly.

"And you know why," Khan said. "It's always been."

"It's unnatural to take women along as warriors," Chang said. "That always separated us."

"Yet here you travel with two of the best warriors I have ever met, and they happen to be women," Khan said. "Though we don't let Master Lees be known. It would be too embarrassing for our men," he laughed. Chang stopped to consider this for a minute.

"It's different. They are ... special."

"I take it you two have known each other for a long time," I ventured.

"Khan was our commissary for the slaver war. He was off raiding a farm for supplies when Holland turned on us and Danny was killed," Chang said.

"I was doing what my commander sent me to do," Khan said. "Just as you were. Neither of us could reach him. Don't forget who scraped you up off the battlefield and got you healed."

"We should have ridden back to fight," Chang said.

"We didn't stand a chance against them. You couldn't even stand up. By the time you mustered another army, the war was over," Khan said.

"So you used to fight together?" Cadence laughed. "That was before I was born. You need to learn to get along."

Her laughter had a magical effect. Not that it calmed Chang or Khan, but because her little pixie popped into the air near the fire and landed on Cadence's shoulder.

"There you are, Caprice," Cadence said. "I wasn't sure you crossed the chasm. I saved some meat for you. Are you hungry?" The little pixie chittered to Cadence and she fed her a few morsels from her bowl.

"I'll be!" Khan breathed. "Our Cadence is a pixie charmer. I've not seen anything like that for twenty-five years."

"Her name is Caprese?" I asked.

"She needed a name and when I suggested it, she seemed happy."

"Like the salad?"

"No! Like capricious. She's unpredictable. Like me. I think we're related."

"Hmm. On your father's side, no doubt," Lees chuckled.

"I don't know, Mom. She sort of looks like you, don't you think?"

"Especially the tail."

Two days later we approached the smoke of Beilong City.

"I suggest we call it an early night tonight," Khan said. "My women have found a good campsite about an hour east of here."

"And why would we want to go so far out of our way?" Chang asked.

"Because that is where the perfume factory keeps its ladies for scent," Khan said flatly.

"I know that," Chang said. "But we were going to go visit the Brothers Cho and bargain with them for their release. And your man scouting last night was spotted by my man scouting. They've probably doubled the guard."

"We saw him. It will be much easier if we don't bother with the brothers. The facility is lightly guarded, even if they doubled it, and we could snatch and run with the Minstrel's twins," Khan said.

"First of all, let's look at how this plays out," I said. "It's true that there are few guards—just six. But, it's an interesting compound. A stockade is set a hundred feet outside the building where the sisters are kept. That means that no matter how we enter, we have to cross a hundred feet of open space to reach the house. Only women are allowed inside near the sisters. We believe that is because Chaosian men cannot be trusted closer than that with the sisters being stimulated so much and producing so much of their unique pheromone-laden scent. How about the men here in our company? How difficult will it be to control them?"

"How did you get so much information?" Chang asked.

"Did neither of your spies spot Master Lees last night?" I asked.

Khan and Chang looked at each other and then at Master Lees. They both shook their heads in chagrin.

"What is your plan, Hero?" Chang asked.

"I think we should send Cadence in," I said. Cadence snapped around to look at me so quickly her horse sidestepped. "She's obviously a woman and could go into the compound. Once inside, I don't think she'd have a problem subduing the female attendants. We have our horsemen ride at the front gate, kicking up a big plume of dust. That should draw the guards around to the front entrance of the compound. We have Khan's women cut a passage through the back of the stockade and while the guards are dealing with the men at the front, we take the damsels out through the back."

"There's a problem," Chang said. "Companions can't do the rescue. You have to go into the stockade and get them. Cadence can't do it."

"How many more rules are there?" Cadence moaned. "I could do this."

"No. Chang's right, my love," I said. "While the guards are running to meet the approaching horsemen, you, Lees, and Khan's women will have to help me breach the stockade from the back. You can guard my back while I effect the rescue."

"How do we keep the women from driving the men insane after we have them in camp and are escaping?" Khan asked.

"We bathe them in vinegar," Lees said softly. "Vinegar will neutralize their scent. I tested it with this," he said, holding up a bottle. "I stole a vial of perfume while I was investigating. We can keep the damsels in a tent when we camp and ride ahead when we're on the move. We'll need Khan's women to surround them. Your men will have to make camp."

"We needn't worry tonight," Khan said. "Our women have already set up camp. I suggest we go meet them and get lots of rest." We agreed and turned east.

"Are we ready?" I whispered to Lees and Cadence.

"As we'll ever be. Are you sure this is wise?" Cadence asked.

"No. But it's heroic," I laughed. "Let's move out."

We crept out of our tent into the silence of midnight. By the time Khan and Chang set up their disturbance out front, we should be on our way into the chasm. Chang had said that before the toll bridge, individuals actually rode a narrow path into the chasm. The river was not difficult to cross as it was relatively shallow. On the opposite wall of the canyon, another narrow path led up to Beilong Village. It reminded me of the kind of trail you ride on burros at the Grand Canyon.

As it turned out, we weren't the only ones who decided on a midnight raid. When we approached, we saw the stockade had been breached. Shouting and running reached our ears as we entered the compound. Torches lit the side where three guards were running from a dark shadow toward the front gates. I tripped over the body of another.

"This looks bad," I said.

"What is that thing?" Cadence asked. She was pulling her crossbow into the ready position.

"Don't shoot it," Lees warned. "That's the Chaos version of a dragon."

"That doesn't look like any dragon I've ever seen," Cadence said.

"Nor does your pixie look like any picture of a pixie we've ever seen," Lees answered.

"This thing is ugly," I added. It looked like a huge snake, maybe thirty feet long and a couple feet thick at its widest. That section seemed rigid, like there was a carapace where the wings attached. There were four of them, similar to Caprice's wings, but longer and broader. For the most part, the creature was using its massive tail to lay waste to all around and extinguish the torches. As soon as the guards were out of the way, it began thrashing at the walls of the building that housed the damsels. I saw three women run from the front of the building and head toward the gates. It was obvious that one of them wasn't dressed. Damn! Had we brought any clothes? I took off at a sprint with Cadence and Lees right behind me. We cut the women off before they reached the gate.

"We'll take the cockburner," I announced as I placed myself between them and drew my sword. The two women who were clothed parted from the damsel.

"Take her. We're not warriors. We're just workers," one of them said.

"It was a pleasure to work with you, Diane," the other said. "But we've got to go now. Sorry about your sister."

The two women took off at a run for the gate and left the dazed damsel standing in front of me.

"Diane Twin, I am Hero Lincoln of Earth and I'm here to rescue you." The damsel swooned into my arms, her bare breasts pressing against me.

"My sister. Please don't leave my sister. You came for both of us, didn't you?"

"Definitely. But where is she?"

"She's trapped in there. That thing knocked a wall over between us."

"Stay with Lees and Cadence. I'm sorry we don't have clothes for you yet, but I'll try to pick up something from inside."

A scream ripped through the night and it was answered by a whistling hiss. We jerked toward the building and saw the creature raise up on its tail and launch itself into the air. Trapped in the coils of the tail was the other damsel. Cadence raised her bow. Lees slapped it down and the bolt bit into the dirt at our feet.

"You can't kill a dragon!" she said.

"We can't let her be taken by it," Cadence cried.

"You have to kill it!" Diane joined. The dragon whipped overhead with the flailing sister and moved west toward the chasm.

"Get clothes, horses, and troops," I commanded. "It doesn't seem to fly rapidly with the burden. I'm going after her. Hurry it up. I'll need reinforcements! And be sure we have ropes at the ready. We might have to scale the canyon wall." I ran out the gates and followed the shadow of the dragon. How the fuck am I going to do this without killing the dumb beast? It looked like a cross between some kind of insect and a snake. And like an insect, it didn't fly in a straight line, but zig-zagged through the air. It wasn't difficult to follow as the damsel's screams kept me on track.

Until I nearly went over the edge of the chasm.

I was warned by the sudden dip and disappearance of the dragon as it dove over the edge, accompanied by the Doppler effect of the damsel's voice fading away.

We'd sat around the campfire the previous night drawing maps in the dirt and discussing strategy until we were blue in the face. That was when Lees, Cadence, and I decided to go alone. The maps we'd drawn, however, were exceptional, and I knew that I should encounter the steep trail into the chasm just a little way north. I picked my way carefully along the rim of the chasm until I found what looked like it could be a trail. It was just coming on dawn and the sun lit the opposite canyon wall, but did nothing to illuminate the side I was on. As I trod carefully down the trail I had to wonder if our horses and packs could possibly fit. Once they started, there was no way to go but down. I was sure of that.

"No. Please don't do this to me. I don't want to die. Don't eat me. Please. Please." I could hear Selene Twin's pleading voice as I drew nearer. There was a slight cavern indented into the canyon wall. I couldn't see it until I'd passed a level below on the switchback trail. I could see a nest now, but the snake hadn't seemed to notice me. It didn't look like he was eating her. And her pleas became wordless weeping. Whatever was happening, the snake seemed content to curl around the nest. I could hear horses on the trail above. One way or another we had to distract the dragon enough that someone could get into the nest and save her.

"Are you down here, Lincoln?" Cadence called.

"Yes. Be careful there is a nest in the wall halfway between where I am and where you are. I'm going to distract the beast. Chang! Rappel over the trail and grab the damsel when the dragon takes off. Keep coming to my level on the rope and I'll watch your back."

"Save me! Save me!" the damsel in the nest called plaintively.

"Don't worry. You have a Hero coming," I called to her. The worm stirred and looked over the edge of the nest at me. I grabbed rocks and tied them in my scarves to give them more weight and fished the bottle of perfume Lees had brought back from her investigation as a sample. When I had half a dozen scarves knotted around rocks, I poured the perfume over them. The worm slithered out farther, nostrils flaring at the scent.

"Are you ready, Chang?" I called.

"You forget!" Chang called back. "A companion can't rescue the damsel."

"Chang, quit thinking like a fucking companion and think like a hero!" Cadence barked. I watched from my position as she jerked the leather pouch from around her neck and handed her grandfather's ring to Chang.