The men laughed and good-naturedly cursed Tynan. Their eyes reflected back the light of the fire. Tynan threw his dice. From the bounce of the purple die, Borac saw that Tynan’s dice were loaded.
“Cheat…” Borac said again, softly.
Tynan ignored the comment, taking his dice and money from the table. He raised his hand for another throw. Borac spat on the table before the dice fell.
The center of the table dissolved. Borac’s spit turned the wood black.
“Humans! Fools and liars,” Borac shouted.
The men at the table yelled in fear, scrambling away from their places on the ground. “Damn you, Borac!” Tynan yelled. “I’d like to kill you myself! You’d better be thankful for the damned Alliance!”
Borac flexed his muscles once, his clothes vanishing into the growing darkness of his flesh. He could feel the comfortable magic of the amulet tht gave him human form. He spread his wings against the night, his gaze cutting the darkness, his vision clear.
The Queen of Darkness forced he and his kind to follow the terms of the Alliance, the alliance of dragons with humans. But he did not have to like it-or them.
*****
“I just get to sleep and the commander wakes me,” Tynan grumbled, hauling a saddle onto Borac’s wide back. He expertly tightened the straps that slid across the black dragon’s chest. “Says you’ve got another ‘secret mission.’ ”
Borac said nothing, letting his chest relax enough for the man to make the necessary adjustments. He kept his eyes forward, his head resting on his front claws, staring at nothing.
“What’s your secret mission this time, huh? If there is one!”
“It’s been reported that the enemy has gained a cleric of Mishakal. He’s healing their wounded. The general wants the cleric dead,” Borac replied, voice grating.
“Oh, yeah?” Tynan woke up a little. He shrugged. “So how do we find this cleric?”
Tynan’s favored weapons were javelins, and he kept a brace on either side of himself, over twenty in total. He also kept a short lance mounted on the saddle in a wide, static guard, a duplicate of the lance and guard used by the enemy. The man was obviously waiting for an answer.
Borac remained silent. The lance and guard reminded him of the cursed dragonlances, and that only made his mood that much darker. He did not care to answer any of his rider’s questions.
Tynan strapped his sword onto his side, the sword he often said was enchanted to slay the weak and bring victory to the strong. Using a simple spell, Borac had found no magic on the blade, or on any of Tynan’s other possessions. The man was all brag and smoke.
With a final check of his armor, Tynan drew the black leather hood over his head to protect his face against the abrasion of flying in the dust and cold, then donned his dented helm. Borac glanced back briefly, remembering every blow Tynan had received on that helm, every battle and every campaign. And in each, he had seen the human give no mercy to the fallen, no quarter. He cared nothing about the men he had slaughtered until the drinking started at the end of the day. Then the stories of his own prowess never ceased.
“I know what you’re thinking, Borac,” Tynan rumbled from within his helm. He pulled himself up by the horn of the saddle, dragging the straps uncomfortably across Borac’s chest. When he had settled, putting his feet in the stirrups, he swung the lance into a neutral position and took hold of the reins that led to the harness around the dragon’s muzzle. “I know what you’re thinking, and I don’t care. You just keep quiet. I’ll treat you like any other horse.”
Tynan pulled hard on the reins, forcing Borac to lift his head. Borac took to the air, keeping his fury to himself. Over the sound of the rushing wind, Tynan called, “You’re working with us, now, dragon! For our side. And that’s where you’ll stay.”
*****
“Pull up, damn you!” Tynan bellowed through the smoke, letting loose another black javelin as he twisted around in the saddle, a favorite stunt. Borac attempted to act as commanded, but could not find room to maneuver. A silver dragon above him converged with another swooping in from the left.