Dusk,

the mountain fastness

lost in shadow below.

A black speck descended,

growing, hinged wings beating.

Li placed himself

between the dragon

and his king.

Wind, a reek of smoke

as the dragon landed a man’s length from Li,

its golden eyes, dark-flecked,

staring right at him,

steam issuing from the black holes

of its nostrils.

“Step aside, Captain,”

said the dragon, her breath ash.

“I could burn your king to cinders

whether you stand in front of him

or not.”

Li held his ground.

“Hah!” said the dragon. “You defy me.

Good. Shield your king at all costs.”

Xau moved alongside him,

set his hand on Li’s shoulder.

“It’s all right, Li. We trust her.”

“Do not! Do not trust anyone!

The Hidden Queen died three hours ago.

Murdered. Poisoned. A gasping death,

eight days from start to finish.”

(How could the dragon know that?

No pigeon, no messenger so swift.)

She turned her head away, flamed hugely.

The thin snow cover vaporized,

the air where they stood flaring hot

as a blast from a blacksmith’s forge.

Li weighed his options

if the dragon should attack—

to try for her eye sockets, barehanded,

perhaps gain enough time for Xau to run—

“We are sorry.” Xau’s voice soft.

“We met her once. We liked her.”

“Liked her? She was manipulative,

gluttonous and devious.”

The dragon lowered her neck,

laid her head flat.

“I will miss her greatly.

We spoke to each other often,

she in her underground squalor,

I on my mountain.”

(They’d spoken—

with hundreds of miles between them—

Li careful not to react.)

“Are you in danger also?” asked Xau.

“Can we help you?”

“Me?!” An explosive snort.

“I summoned you to warn you.

The Hidden Queen’s death

will be ruled an accident. It was not.

I have tasted a malevolence in my dreams,

a foul force that I believe

lies behind the queen’s death.”

Li caught the slight shift

in the king’s stance,

that bracing,

but Xau’s voice calm, level:

“A force like the demon?”

“Neither demon, nor human.

Concealed. Corrupt. Cruel.

Slowly, slowly, its power grows.

Strengthen your alliances.

Ready your army for war.”

“How long do we have?” asked Xau.

“Years, not months, I think.”

The dragon’s eyes darker,

her nostrils smoking.

She lifted her head, looked at Li.

“Captain, you must be ready now.

They may try to eliminate Xau

well before they move to open war.”

“Thank you for the warning.”

Bleak the thought of how many ways

a king, his king, might be killed.

His king who stepped past him,

sat down by the dragon,

leaning his back against her

as if it were a normal thing to do,

a thing he had done before.

Then the king and the dragon talked,

and Li stood, watching them,

as dusk deepened to night.

The sky hung bright with stars

when Xau at last settled himself

against the dragon’s bulk,

slept.

The dragon sighed. Closed her eyes.

The slow-wheeling stars marked another hour

while Li stood guard, his back chilled,