Faith of the Fallen

General Reibisch caught Zedd's arm. "There's more than we thought, Zedd. Twice the number at least. If my scouts weren't just stuttering, there may be three times the number. Think you can slow that many down while keeping them focused on trying to sink their teeth into my backside?"

The plan was to draw the enemy north while staying just out of their reach-close enough to make them salivate but not close enough to let them get a good bite. Crossing the river at this time of year would be impractical for an army that size. With the river on one side, and mountains on the other, a force the size of the Imperial Order couldn't so easily surround and overwhelm the "D'Haran Empire" troops, who were outnumbered ten or twenty to one.

The plan, too, was designed to keep in mind Richard's admonition about not attacking directly into the Order. Zedd wasn't sure about the validity of Richard's warning, but knew better than to so openly tempt ruin.

Hopefully, once they enticed the enemy into that tighter terrain, terrain more defensible, the Order would lose some of their advantage and their advance could be halted. Once the Imperial Order was stalled, the D'Harans could begin working the enemy down to size. The D'Harans thought nothing of being outnumbered; it just gave them a better opportunity to prove themselves.

Zedd stared off, imagining the hillsides darkened with the enemy pouring forth. He was already seeing the lethal powers he would unleash.

He knew, too, that in battle things rarely went as planned.

"Don't you worry, General, today the Imperial Order is going to begin paying a terrible price for its aggression."

The grinning general clapped Zedd on the side of the shoulder. "Good man."

General Reibisch charged off, calling for his aides and his horse, collecting a growing crowd of men around him as he went.

It had begun.

CHAPTER 30

Arms resting on his thighs, Richard crouched in the belly of the beast.

"Well?" Nicci asked from atop her horse.

Richard stood beside a rib bone that towered to well over twice his height. He shielded his eyes against the golden sunlight as he briefly scanned the empty horizon behind himself. He looked back at Nicci, her hair honeyed by the low sun.

"I'd say it was a dragon."

When her mare began to dance sideways, trying to put distance between itself and the expanse of bones, Nicci took the slack out of the reins.

"Dragon," she repeated in a flat voice.

Here and there dried scraps of meat stuck to the bones. Richard swished a hand at the cloud of flies buzzing around him. The faint stench of decay hung over the site. As he stepped out of the cage of giant rib bones standing belly-up, he gestured toward the head, nestled in a bed of brown grass. There was enough room to walk between the ribs without them touching his shoulders.

"I recognize the teeth. I had a dragon's tooth, once."

Nicci looked skeptical. "Well, whatever it is, if you've seen enough, let's be on our way."

Richard brushed his hands clean. The stallion snorted and stepped away from him when he approached. The horse didn't like the smell of death, and didn't trust Richard after having been near it. Richard stroked the glossy black neck.

"Steady, Boy," he said in a comforting voice. "Easy now."

When she saw Richard finally mount up, Nicci turned her dappled mare and started off once more. The late-afternoon light cast long, clawed shadows of the rib bones toward him, as if reaching out, calling him back to the ghost of some terrible end. He glanced back over his shoulder at the length of the skeletal remains, stretched out in the middle of an empty, gently rolling grassland, before urging his stallion into a trot to catch up with Nicci. His horse needed little encouragement to be away from the dying place, and happily sprang into his easy loping gallop, instead.

In the month or so Richard had spent with the horse, the two of them had become used to each other. The horse was willing enough, but never really friendly. Richard wasn't interested enough to go to the effort of doing more; making friends with a horse was just about the last of his concerns. Nicci hadn't known if the horses had names, and didn't. seem interested in naming animals, so Richard simply called the black stallion "Boy," and Nicci's dappled gray mare "Girl," and left it at that. Nicci seemed neither pleased or displeased about him naming the horses; she simply went along with his convention.

"Do you actually believe it's the remains of a dragon?" Nicci asked when he caught up with her.

The stallion slowed and, glad to be back in the herd, gave the mare's flanks a nuzzle. Girl merely turned her closest ear toward him in recognition.

"It's about the right size, as I remember."

Nicci tossed her head to flick her hair back over her shoulder. "You're serious, aren't you?"

Richard frowned his puzzlement. "You saw it. What else could it possibly be?"

She conceded with a sigh. "I just thought it was the bones of some long-extinct beast."