Humbly Khisanth untied the vine around her neck and threaded it through the center of the glowing orb. To her sur shy;prise, the small ball caught hold and continued to glow softly between the swords on the thick string. She refastened the vine around her scaly neck and adjusted it so that the maynus hung just above her breastbone.
"Someone comes!" hissed Kadagan.
Khisanth's glanced up from her necklace to see a shrouded form emerging from the unguarded gates of Styx, its head bent against the early snow and unseasonably cold winds. Khisanth dropped to a crouch to make herself smaller against the backdrop of the black trees. Squinting, she focused her sharp dragon sight on the creature.
The person looked up suddenly, as if it felt the dragon's gaze. It peered into the darkness beyond the torchlight, but its limited human vision revealed nothing.
Khisanth's eyes allowed her a clear view. Heavily bundled against the elements, the form lacked definition. Its features, swathed in a tattered blue scarf, were something like an ogre's, but softer, much more pleasing to the eye. A narrow strip of soft brown fur arched over each of its eyes, which were shaped more like Kadagan's than Khisanth's, but not so impossibly bright as the nyphid's. It had plump pink cheeks that curved, then hollowed abruptly. The mouth between them was too small to be of use in tearing apart food, Khi shy;santh thought disdainfully.
"It is a human woman," said Kadagan. "She seems ner shy;vous about the weather."
Aggis Mickflori was indeed worried. Her trip to Styx for much-needed supplies had taken longer than usual. Now she was terribly afraid of traveling back to her small shack dur shy;ing a snowstorm on a moonless night, but her children were little and her lame husband was nearly as helpless as they. In truth, with rumors of ogres in the hills of late, she was more afraid of what she would find at the shack if she did not hasten her steps, storm or no.
Dragon and nyphids watched the woman adjust her scarf lower over her determined face, hug her packages closer to her chest, and set off. Head bent to the storm, she was oblivi shy;ous to the presence of the black dragon lurking in the dark shy;ness ahead.
Annoyed that the woman should pick the path that led to her hiding place, Khisanth's first instinct was to ready her breath weapon. She wondered absently what human flesh would taste like.
"No!" Kadagan hissed softly, sensing her thoughts.
The dragon shook away the urge to attack. "I remember the ogres," she whispered. Khisanth focused on her breath shy;ing, envisioned the steady rise and fall of her own chest to slow the pounding of her blood. In time, it thrummed peace shy;fully through her veins. The woman was almost close enough to see Khisanth, if she looked up.
"Now thou hast seen a human. Change form, before she discovers us," urged Kadagan.
The dragon closed her eyes and concentrated on an image of the woman: hair under the scarf, plump cheeks, softly curved jawbone, arms to the narrow waist, the stride of legs that were half the height of the body. She held tight to the vision in her mind, blocking out all other sensations.
Suddenly the black dragon's snout began to tingle. Then through her body a hot flash raced like mercury, ending at the very tip of her tail. Her entire frame convulsed as her bones constricted. Khisanth could hear strange pops and clicks, and then only the eerie wind that accompanies a snowstorm.
The dragon nearly staggered from the enormous weight that suddenly pulled at her neck, dragging her to her knees. Looking down, she saw that the sword choker that before had seemed so tight now dangled to the ground, the maynus casting a soft yellow glow from under snow that was quickly covering it. Closing her eyes again, Khisanth formed a men shy;tal picture of the choker reduced to about the size of the human woman's neck. Tinkling together gently like bells in the wind, the swords and globe shrank until the vine was snug, the snow-covered swords and globe unexpectedly cold against the skin of her neck.
"Goodness, child, what are you doing out in this storm? And as naked as the day you were born. Did you think that ugly necklace would keep you warm?"
Khisanth's eyes popped open at the insult to her hoard. She looked into the woman's clear brown eyes. The young dragon's mind was a tumble of conflicting sensations, not the least of which was a new and unpleasant vulnerability to the elements. She glanced around furtively for Joad and Kada-gan, but the nyphids were gone.
"Look at those goose bumps! You must be freezing!" cried the woman, dropping her packages in the snow. She shrugged off her shawl and draped it around Khisanth's naked, dark-skinned shoulders.
So this is what cold feels like, the black dragon-turned-young-woman thought. She looked down at her new, shiver shy;ing form, barely covered by the shawl. Soft flakes of snow drifted onto her warm brown skin and melted into rivulets.
The woman ripped the ratty blue scarf in two and handed both halves to Khisanth. "Wrap your feet in these until we can get you inside and find you proper shoes." She tucked her packages under one arm and put the other around Khi shy;santh's slight but muscular waist in support.
"Were you robbed?" the woman asked, turning Khisanth toward the gates. "Or worse?" She dropped her tone to a hor shy;rified whisper. "Did someone-" she stumbled over the dis shy;tasteful word "-molest you, dear?"
Khisanth didn't know how to respond, so she said nothing.
"Are you touched, dear, or just mute?"
The words were unfamiliar to her, but Khisanth was some shy;how certain she had been called stupid. She was conjuring up a fiery response when her training in patience came unbid shy;den to mind.
"I can speak," Khisanth managed to moan, her human voice unfamiliar to her own ears. It was surprisingly soft and pleasant. "I was robbed-by ogres," she added.
"Oh, you poor thing," cooed the woman. "Styx isn't the same place, now that the mercenaries and their filthy bands of ogres have found us. No one feels safe anymore." She clucked her tongue. "Strange that they took your clothing, but left this necklace," she said. Her hands, swollen and red-tipped, touched the tiny swords that lay against the smooth skin of Khisanth's human neck. The disguised dragon jerked her hoard from the human's touch.
The older woman looked surprised but compassionate. "Don't you worry, hon. You're safe with Aggis. I'll help you back to your home."
"I-I don't live in Styx," said Khisanth. "I was just passing through."
"If this is how the city treats its visitors, then I'm glad I live in the hills!" she spat. Aggis patted Khisanth's hand, and the dragon had to force herself not to pull away. "Not to worry. I know an innkeeper near the city's edge who'll help you. We'll slip in the back way, through the kitchen, to spare you the embarrassment of prying eyes." With undisguised envy, she glanced again at Khisanth's barely covered form. Her own figure had not looked half so feminine even before chil shy;dren, she thought wistfully.
As they walked to the town gates and into the city, Khi shy;santh listened only enough to respond when necessary. She was caught up in her own thoughts and had no concept of human embarrassment, especially about nudity, having never worn clothing.
With one arm draped around Khisanth's shoulders and the other steadying her elbow, Aggis led the disguised dragon through the narrow alleys. In places, the thatched peaks of the buildings leaned so close together the falling snow scarcely reached the ground. Yellow light from candles bled through oiled parchment windows, keeping the dark shy;ness of night from the walkways. A bull-necked youth cut across their path, struggling under the weight of two buckets on a yoke. Dogs ran, barking, between the legs of villagers hurrying home. Women leaned from second-story windows and called their children to the evening meal.
Finally Aggis rapped on a battered wooden door that was nearly hidden between piles of empty crates and small bar shy;rels. A fat, balding man with saggy cheeks opened the door, permitting a wave of warm air to escape and surround the two women. The innkeeper gawked in surprise for a moment at Khisanth's naked body, but he came to his senses when he heard his kitchen help whistling appreciatively behind him.
"Slice them stew potatoes and mind yer own businesses," he growled. Quickly he helped Aggis hustle Khisanth up a narrow set of stairs just off the kitchen.
The innkeeper waved them into an unheated room, lit only by the light streaming in from the hallway. The sloping, thatched roof of the building formed two walls. Rough whitewash covered the other two. The room held a trunk, a narrow rope bed, and a cane-backed chair. Dry rushes on the floor crunched softly beneath the women's feet. Snow was piled against the outside of the windowpane in the back wall. Another, similar room could be seen across the hall through the open doorway.
Aggis and the innkeeper spoke in whispers for a few moments. Finally the old woman nodded, and the man left, stealing one last, red-faced, admiring peek at Khisanth before lumbering down the staircase.
After using her teeth to pull the fingerless woolen gloves from her hands, Aggis turned to the chest and began sorting through the clothing. "Bert says to apologize, but he's only got men's clothes. He doesn't get too many ladies passing through, leaving frilly dresses behind." She pulled out a dark purple drawstring tunic and handed it to Khisanth.
"Here, this will do for now." Jamming her hands on her hips, Aggis stood back and peered at Khisanth. "You've got the blackest hair I've ever seen, as black and smooth as pol shy;ished onyx." When Khisanth didn't reply, Aggis tried another tack. "Whaf s your name, child?"
Khisanth was about to respond honestly, but something inside warned her to protect her dragon name.
"You've guessed it," she said. "Onyx. For my hair."
"Isn't that pretty?" Aggis handed her leggings, pan shy;taloons, and thick-heeled, cuffed boots. Khisanth looked in
puzzlement at the collection of clothing, unsure of where she should don any of it. Fortunately, Aggis attributed her confu shy;sion to the garment's being men's clothing.
"You must be used to dresses. Here, Onyx," she said, standing on her tiptoes to hold the tunic above the girl. "Slip this over your head. My goodness, you're a tall girl. You remind me of a black oak tree, with that dark hair and milk-in-coffee skin of yours," she muttered.
Seeing Khisanth's dark hands fumbling next with the pan shy;taloons, Aggis took the russet-colored leathers from her and turned them around so the girl could slip them on. "Of course, you know how pants go on-your fingers must be stiff from the cold. Tuck in the tunic like this." She stuffed the hem of the purple top into the waistband and stood back to examine her charge. The waist was loose, but the legs fit the young woman's muscular frame like a second skin. "You'll have to cinch in the top with some rope."
After Onyx slipped her feet into the boots, Aggis held up one last, fringed garment. Backing into it, Onyx slipped her arms into the sleeves. "This buckskin jacket'll keep out the cold," Aggis pronounced.
"Th-thank you, Aggis," the young woman stumbled over the unfamiliar words.
Aggis shook her head, and her careworn face broadened into a smile. "It was nothing." Glancing to the small glass window, where frost was quickly climbing, she saw that the snowfall had stopped. "We must be good luck for each other. You're safe and dry now, and I won't have to travel in a snowstorm." Aggis stepped to the window and closed the shutters against the weather.
"That should warm it up in here a little," she declared, tug shy;ging her gloves back on. Turning, she clasped Onyx's icy hands and frowned. "You must have cold blood." Onyx snig shy;gered inwardly at the truth of it. "You'll warm up soon enough. I wish I could stay, but I must get home, or my man will give me an earful!" Chuckling, the older woman shuffled in her heavy skirts toward the light in the hallway.
Not knowing what else to do, Onyx followed.
In the doorway Aggis turned, her gloved hand on the cop shy;per knob. "Bert says you should stay the night here, after your ordeal. In any case, don't leave without letting him give you a warm meal and a few steel pieces to get you started again. He's a good man, Bert." She wagged a finger at Onyx. "Mind you, be more careful from now on. A young woman who looks as you do shouldn't travel alone. You should find your shy;self a man to protect you if you've got the wanderlust." She pressed her lips to Onyx's dark cheek, squeezed her hand once more, and then was gone, pulling the door shut behind her.