“Bad tool for the job, but you use what you have. A bit like our captain. Leftrin got greedy and lost it all. If he’d lived up to his end of the deal, he could have had the kind of money we’re going to have. Then the ugly old goat could have had any woman he wanted. Well, his loss is our gain. We’ll have it all. Wealth, power, and any sort of woman we want, once we get back to Chalced.” He leered at Sedric nastily, baring his little brown teeth, and added, “Or whatever you fancy.”

He inspected his tools and they met his satisfaction. He set them out in a careful row. “So, you’ll help me. Or you can be stubborn and try to keep it all for yourself. Try that, and I’ll take just what I want. Won’t be as easy without someone to handle the animal for me, keep it calm and lure it to the blade. But I can get more than enough to live the rest of my days as a very rich man.” He thumbed the edge of the knife, nodded to himself, and looked directly at Sedric. “Well. Time for a decision. Shall we get on with it?”

Sedric swallowed. Reality seemed to re-form around him. Leftrin had been part of this man’s plan to acquire and sell dragon parts? Then he’d probably just been using Alise all that time. Alise had been duped. And he’d been blind to the machinations going on all around him. He should have guessed. He should have known that he wouldn’t be the only one to see the chance for profit. He’d known all along there had to be some bizarre motive behind the captain’s apparent infatuation. So now what? Did he take the hunter’s offer? Could he coax and calm the dragon until Jess got close enough for a kill?

The man had set it all out quite plainly. If he helped him, Jess would help him get to Chalced and sell what they had. He didn’t need to go back to Bingtown at all. From Chalced, he could send Hest a message to come and join him. With the kind of money they’d have, there’d be no need for any more pretenses. They could go anywhere they wanted and live exactly as they pleased. He could have everything he’d dreamed of. He’d paid dearly already. Would it be so wrong to take some small measure of happiness for himself?