A walker had never yet died while in human form, but the dragons had prepared for that eventuality. The illusion of the human body remained even in death. Otherwise, humans might come to know that dragons were spying on them. The dragons would recover the corpse in secret and then use spells to lift the illusion, so that the dead could be laid to rest in the bottom of the sea, the traditional dragon burial site, where all life began and to which all life must eventually return.

What with Grald yelling at her and shrieking humans swarming about the place and her head throbbing, Anora found it difficult to concentrate. She grit her teeth and shut them all out. Draconas was not here and he must be here.

Her illusory body possessed dragon strength, and the humans watching were amazed to see the pudgy holy sister lifting up enormous boulders and flinging them aside, heaving huge timbers out of her way, kicking and clawing at the rubble. They assumed she was searching for survivors, and they regarded her with awe and admiration.

“Shut up,” she finally ordered Grald. “Where are you? I need your help!”

“Then you shouldn’t have dropped a goddam building on top of me!” returned Grald, who tended to use regrettable human expressions even in his dragon thinking. “It’s a good thing this human body has a thick skull, otherwise . . .” He paused, seething, then roared, “What the hell happened? You were supposed to kill Draconas, not level my city!”

Anora was silent, her colors smoldering.

“What?” Grald thundered. “Isn’t he dead?”

“He must be,” Anora returned coldly. “It’s just ... I can’t seem to find his body.”

“Perhaps it was blown to bits,” Grald suggested.

“If that were the case, there would be blood, bone, hunks of flesh. There is nothing. You must help me search for him.”

“I would like to,” Grald stated caustically “But at the moment I am buried under a half-ton of rubble. My magic protected me from harm, but I can’t free myself. The monks are digging me out, but it’s going to take some time. What about my son? What happened to Ven? The monks can’t find him and neither can I.”

“Ven was always adept at keeping his mind hidden from us.” Anora stood in the middle of the debris, angry and frustrated. “What about his brother? The human prince? He should be easy enough to locate, and if you have one, you have the other.”

“Not necessarily,” said Grald. “The human managed to escape.”

“He escaped the explosion?”

“The city.” Now it was Grald who was on the defensive.

“How is that possible?” Anora demanded in disbelief. “The human is strong in dragon-magic, but not strong enough to penetrate the illusion of the wall. Only another dragon could do that ...” Her voice trailed off.

“So Draconas did escape you,” said Grald grimly. “You destroy half my city for nothing.”