Several guards came in to eat, looking exhausted, grumbling. One-Eye departed, leaving me in deep thought. What were they plotting?

The most carefully laid plans… Like that.

The Lady marched into the mess hall. "Get your gloves and coats, Croaker. It's time."

I gaped.

"Are you coming?"

"But…" I flailed around for an excuse. "If we go, somebody will have to do without a carpet."

She gave me an odd look. "Limper is staying here. Come. Get your clothing."

I did so, in a daze, passing Goblin as we went outside. I gave him a baffled little headshake.

A moment before we lifted off the Lady reached back, offering me something. "What's this?"

"Better wear it. Unless you want to go in without an amulet."

"Oh."

It did not look like much. Some cheap jaspar and jade on brittle leather. Yet when I secured the buckle around my wrist, I felt the power in it.

We passed over the rooftops very low. They were the only visual guides available. Out on the cleared land there was nothing. But being the Lady, she had other resources.

We took a turn around the bounds of the Barrowland. On the river side we descended till the water lay but a yard beneath us. "Lot of ice," I said.

She did not reply. She was studying the shoreline, now within the Barrowland itself. A sodden section of bank collapsed, revealing a dozen skeletons. I grimaced. In moments they were covered with snow or swept away. "Just about on schedule, I'd guess," I said. "Uhm." She moved on around the perimeter. A couple times I glimpsed other carpets circling. Something below caught my eye. "Down there!" "What?"

"Thought I saw tracks." "Maybe. Toadkiller Dog is nearby." Oh, my.

"Time," she said, and turned toward the Great Barrow. We put down at the mound's base. She piled out. I joined her. Other carpets descended. Soon there were four Taken, the Lady, and one scared old physician standing just yards from the despair of the world.

One of the Taken brought shovels. Snow began to fly. We took turns, nobody exempt. It was a bitch of a job, and became more so when we reached the buried scrub growth. It got worse when we reached frozen earth. We had to go slow. The Lady said Bomanz was barely covered.

It went on, it seemed, forever. Dig and dig and dig. We uncovered a withered humanoid thing the Lady assured us was Bomanz.

My shovel clicked against something my last turn. I bent to examine it, thinking it a rock. I brushed frosty earth away…

And dived out of that hole, whirled, pointed. The Lady went down. Laughter drifted upward. "Croaker found the dragon. His jaw, anyway."

I kept on retreating, toward our carpet…

Something huge vaulted it, trailing a basso snarl. I flung myself to one side, into snow that swallowed me. There were cries, growls… When I emerged it was over. I glimpsed Toadkiller Dog clearing the carpet in retreat, more than a little scarred.