"I think I once heard Mother and Father say the district with the best hotels in Ihris is to the south. Let's head that way."

They moved along the streets, Kira trying to keep her head buried in her coat, trying to keep Jason between her and most people, and trying to maintain her concentration on the Mage-presence blocking drills.

As she and Jason went down a sidewalk, Kira noticed a pair of police officers sauntering down the street. Before she could slip around to the other side of Jason, one of them looked at her, looked away, then looked back, surprised. Without realizing it, Kira's concentration dropped, recentering on the police.

"Hey," the officer said, still looking at Kira.

But Kira felt something else, a sudden surge of power, and turned to look across the street where it was coming from. A man stood there, staring at her with abrupt yet clear recognition. And his eyes…

"If you ever meet a Mage who creates dragons," her mother had told Kira, "you'll know it. There's something about their eyes. Something…fierce and brutal. I can't describe it better than that, but you'll know it when you see it."

Kira realized she was staring back at a Dragon Mage.

Dragon Mages hated her mother and her father.

The police officers were walking toward her. Before Kira could react to that, a dragon appeared in the street.

The spell must have been a hasty one. The dragon was only about a lance and a half tall, about three of Jason's meters, but to Kira's eyes the claws on the dragon's forearms and the teeth in its gaping maw were huge.

And the dragon's eyes were fixed on her. She was its target.

The two police had begun turning, drawing their hardwood clubs, their faces reflecting shock, when the dragon backhanded both of them. They flew across the street toward Kira, tumbling to the pavement, one of their clubs clattering to land at her feet.

Without realizing she had done so, Kira had her pistol drawn. She flipped off the safety, chambered a round, then without knowing why crouched down to grab the hardwood club with her free hand.

Jason was running toward the dragon as it charged her, but another backhand swipe tossed him aside. Kira was vaguely aware of screams and shouts echoing around her as the other people on the street saw the monster, of the panicked snorts of horses reacting to the appearance of the dragon, but all she could see was the beast charging her.

It was on Kira in a flash. She raised both hands, arms extended close together, pistol in one and club in the other. The dragon's mouth gaped wide as it lunged down at her, engulfing both of her arms.