Pan ku burst in. He did not apologize for his presumption. “Flyers, Lord.” He snatched up Shih-ka’i’s mask and stationed himself by his master’s armor.

“They’re attacking?”

“Yes, Lord.”

In minutes Shih-ka’i stood on a balcony overlooking one of the drillyards.

The night was full of dragons; he guessed at least five hundred. The waning moon illuminated them perfectly. They dropped to deposit riders. There were two aboard each, the usual skullface and another behind. Most of the skullfaces remained mounted, urging their beasts back into the air while hurling bolts of power into the fortress. They took no particular aim.

The dead warriors rushed here and there without apparent purpose. When they encountered members of the garrison, they fought.

Chaos ruled. Shih-ka’i spotted a half-dozen fires.

The dragons raced back to the desert to collect another wave of invaders.

“We’ll go to the map room,” Shih-ka’i said. “We’ll organize from the heart outward.” He scanned the east wall. The men were holding their posts. Good. There would be an attack when the Deliverer believed he had created enough confusion.

They had to cross a court to reach the building where the map room lay. Raiders caught them there.

They came out of the darkness, in total silence. Shih-ka’i was uncertain how many there were. One skullface, for sure, and at least six of the pudgy warriors. They flung themselves forward as if recognizing him. He blasted two with a small spell. Pan ku separated another from his head. Then blades were flashing in Shih-ka’i’s face, and for the first time in a long life, he was wielding a sword in his own defense.

He had drilled a thousand times, as training demanded, and had performed well, but had always wondered how he would do against a deadly opponent. He was not sure he could kill a man.

The training took over: He did not think, he acted. His blade became a spider weaving a web of protection. The shortsword in his left hand darted like a serpent’s tongue, making the deadly strikes from dangerous angles. Pan ku guarded his back for the few seconds it took to even the odds.

Then Shih-ka’i faced no one but the skullface. Bodies lay scattered about them. Would he have the stomach to dismember them? He couldn’t leave them lie….

The dragon rider bore a sword in keeping with its size. It was a good six feet long. The creature swung it in great screaming arcs. Shih-ka’i reeled each time he turned a stroke. Fear knotted his stomach.

There was an astonishingly loud clang. The skullface staggered forward, fell to one knee. Shih-ka’i found its eye with his shortsword, then followed with a vicious overhand chop with his longsword. Pan ku struck another two-handed blow.

And the damned monster tried to rise!

They hacked away till it surrendered its unnatural life.

Panting, Shih-ka’i and Pan ku considered one another over the body. Pan ku grinned. “He was a tough one, Lord.”