Jandra smirked. "So the bar for comparison is fairly low."

"Have you seen many naked men?"

"Ragnar, obviously. Bitterwood when I cleaned his wounds. And I caught a pretty good look at Pet," she said. She paused, and he wondered if she was still searching her mental list. Apparently, however, she was remembering the last man on her list. "Pet was... well, honestly, he was like a work of art. He'd been bred to have a perfect body. It was only everything else about him that made my skin crawl."

"I suspect magnificent isn't the word about to spring into your mind," Shay said. He clenched his jaw. Jandra was all but naked. It was time for him to take the plunge. Since she'd turned her back to him to work up the courage, he did the same. He unb.u.t.toned his long johns and pushed them down. They didn't bunch around his hips. Unlike Jandra's hourgla.s.s figure, Shay was built like a plank. His limbs were lanky and lean. His torso was so thin his ribs could be counted. If there was an ounce of fat on him anywhere, he was unaware of it.

His skin was as white as the soap Jandra held, save for stripes of freckles around his shoulders. His torso was mostly hairless, though his legs were covered in thick orange growth. Jandra was quiet. He wondered if she was repulsed. He looked over his shoulder and discovered she was only a few inches away, staring at his back. Her hand fell gently upon his shoulder blades, her fingers tracing the map of ropey white scars.

"By the bones," she whispered. "You said... you said you'd been whipped. But..." Her thought trailed off. Shay knew why.

His most severe beatings were best described as flayings, the whip peeling away flesh and muscle down to the bone. It was why he always stood with rounded shoulders and a slight hunch. Due to the scarring and muscle damage, he couldn't stand truly straight if he tried.

"You said I was brave," she whispered, her voice trembling. "I couldn't have survived this. I can't believe you're still alive, let alone still hopeful. So willing to risk everything to share what you know with the world. I don't know that I could be so defiant after what's been done to you."

"I was always willful," Shay said, managing the faintest ghost of a grin. "I read about things like freedom and justice and love, and I believed in them. I wanted to experience them. And if a world run by dragons didn't offer these things, then I knew from an early age I'd have to change the world. Chapelion did his best to beat my dreams to dust. I'm not brave, Jandra. I'd beg to avoid a whipping. I'd weep before the leather ever touched my back, and renounce every idea I'd ever believed in. When the beatings would stop, the slavecatchers would order me to drop and kiss their talons in grat.i.tude for their devotion to my improvement. I've groveled, Jandra. It's not courage that drives me. It's fear. It's shame. I'll slit my own throat before I ever bow down to a dragon again."

Silently, she took him by the hand and led him toward the pool. They crept into the cool water together, their hands clasped for balance on the slick, smooth stones. Shay shivered as the water rose up his legs. They neared the white water at the edge of waterfall and suddenly he slipped. He plunged beneath the water, pulling Jandra down with him. They both flailed about, their legs and arms entwining. They both grew still as Jandra pressed her b.r.e.a.s.t.s against his chest. They clung to each other tightly as they drifted back to the surface. Jandra's body was hot against his despite the chill of the water.

They bobbed above the surface of the pool. The water was deep here; Shay could barely touch bottom by stretching his toes. Jandra was floating, with her arms still clasped around his shoulders and her left leg wrapped around his hip. Gray water streamed out of her coal-tinted hair. Dark, oily spots lay upon her cheeks as the water beaded on the grime. Her face was only inches from his.

"Clean enough," she murmured, as she pressed her lips against his.

His a.s.sumption proved true. Kissing was simple enough to figure out. He closed his eyes as his toes curled and they drifted in the water, weightless.

"Scary birds," said Lizard.

Jandra's eyes fluttered open. The little green earth-dragon was perched next to her head. Behind Lizard, the fire had died down to a few smoking embers. Shay was still asleep beneath the blanket with her, his bony arm draped across her rib cage. It was warm under the blanket with the two of them pressed together. Jandra wasn't in the mood to get up and worry about breakfast yet.

"Go catch fish," she mumbled as she closed her eyes. She snugged the blanket tightly beneath her chin. She felt marvelous. For the first time since the G.o.ddess had altered her memories, she felt like she'd dreamed her own dreams. Shay's arms around her made her feel safe. He held her tightly enough that she couldn't be pushed out by the G.o.ddess.

Lizard's damp paw fell onto her forehead. He flexed his claws ever so slightly, p.r.i.c.king her.

"Scary birds!" he said, more emphatically.

She opened one eye. She didn't normally consider birds a threat, though she supposed a particularly robust eagle could have carried off Lizard. Still, for all she knew, there could be eagles the size of elephants down here.

"Where?" she asked.

"Scary birds!" Lizard shrieked, pointing skyward.

It wasn't birds. Three winged humans were flying across the lake. Their wings were metallic silver, similar to the wings Gabriel-the G.o.ddess's robotic angel-had flown on. While Gabriel had been designed as the pinnacle of human perfection, these winged men were a sorry looking bunch. They were wearing the once white uniforms of long-wyrm riders. All carried crossbows. Two of them still wore silver visors, but the third one's visor was missing and he'd recently suffered some horrible injury to the left side of his face. His eye was swollen shut and his lower lip dangled, streaming drool.

"Poor Meshach," she said, as Jazz's memories flashed the men's names into her mind. These were survivors of the G.o.ddess's long-wyrm riders. The wounded one was Meshach, the one with the thick black beard was Shadrach, and the last one, a short, balding man with a unibrow, was named Guido.

Shay sat up, stretching his arms. "Good morning," he said, his voice low and hoa.r.s.e. "Waking up next to you is like waking up in heaven." He looked up, following her gaze. "Okay," he said. "Even this close to heaven, I didn't expect angels."

The winged men halted about fifty yards away, hovering in the air. Jandra vaguely remembered that the wings didn't need to flap to keep the men airborne. It was the sort of memory that might prove useful, yet, as often happened whenever she tried to actively access Jazz's memories, the details faded away before she could grasp them.

"Hide," she said to Lizard.

Lizard crept away, low to the ground, slithering into pool with barely a ripple.

Shadrach, the highest ranking of the three guards, called out, "Intruders! You've violated the sanct.i.ty of the sanctuary of the G.o.ddess! The punishment is death!"

"Wait!" said Jandra. "You must know your G.o.ddess is dead! We're not violating the sanct.i.ty of anyone. There's no need for us to fight."

"She's right!" Meshach, the wounded one, snarled. "I told you the G.o.ddess was dead. Look around, Shadrach! The evidence is before your eyes!"

"Silence!" Shadrach snapped. "I'll bash in the other side of your face if you don't still your blasphemous tongue."

"But Shadrach," said Guido. "What if it's true? We don't need to follow the codes no more. We can make our own rules."

"We will obey the commandments!" Shadrach shouted. "Intruders are to be killed, not molested!"

"What if we just molested her a little?" said Guido. "We can kill her after we're done."

Shadrach spun around in the air, delivering a savage kick to Meshach's guts. Meshach doubled over, clutching his stomach.

"Guido suggested it!" Meshach whined.

"You were closer, and you were thinking it too," said Shadrach, completing his spin, halting as he faced Shay and Jandra once more. "Now, kill them!"

Shadrach lifted his crossbow. Guido did the same, though he didn't look happy about it. Meshach was still clutching his stomach. He looked a bit greenish.

Jandra flapped the blanket, jumping up as the crossbows rang out in simultaneous tw.a.n.gs. The crossbow bolt fired by Shadrach punched through the blanket, pa.s.sed a few inches to the left of Jandra's belly, and buried itself in her backpack. The bolt fired by Guido was better aimed. It tore into Shay's left thigh, right on the inner edge of the skin a few inches above his knee. Shay's mouth opened as if to scream, but no sound came out. Jandra quickly a.n.a.lyzed the wound. The bolt had only cut the surface. His muscles looked uninjured, which was confirmed when he sprang to his feet.

Jandra dropped the blanket and dove toward the shotgun.

"Sweet G.o.ddess! She's naked!" Guido shouted. "Shadrach, you've got to-"

"Shut up!" said Shadrach, swinging out with the b.u.t.t of his crossbow, smashing it into Guido's nose.

Guido did a loop in the air in response to the blow. He dropped down toward the saline lake, catching himself only five feet above the surface, with a ma.s.sive down-flap of his silver wings that sent waves rolling toward the sh.o.r.e.

"b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" Guido growled.

"The G.o.ddess is dead!" Meshach screamed, spraying spittle from his flapping lower lip. He was now the only guard with a loaded crossbow. He turned the weapon toward Shadrach. "I'll do as I please! There is no law!"

He fired, the crossbow bolt pa.s.sing neatly through Shadrach's neck. The bearded man's eyes rolled up in his head as he tilted in the air. His body went limp, and his wings did as well. He plummeted toward the rocky sh.o.r.e, landing with a wet slap on the black beach.

"The woman is ours!" Meshach screamed, casting his one leering eye toward Jandra.

Jandra finished stuffing the shot bag down the gun barrel and pulled the ram rod free, dropping it onto the blanket at her feet. She took aim at Meshach. "I think I should have a say in this," she said, then pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. Oh, right. Oh, right. The safety. The safety.

Meshach dropped his crossbow and zoomed toward her, his arms open, on a trajectory to tackle her and carry her back into the sky. She fumbled to release the safety, but somehow her finger couldn't quite find it. Guido was now racing toward her as well, coming in low, skimming along only a few feet above the ground.

Suddenly, Lizard shot out of the pool, his claws extended, his jaws open wide, flying like an angry green bobcat into Meshach's path. Meshach's already tortured face collided with a smack into the little dragon's belly. Lizard's claws snapped around the flying man's head like a mechanical trap. Meshach zoomed skyward, shrieking. Jandra tracked him with the shotgun, her finger finally on the safety. There was no way she could be certain she wouldn't hit Lizard as she fired. She lowered her gun to target Guido, but here, too, her aim was blocked. Shay jumped into the path of the on-rushing guardsmen. The short, winged man smacked into Shay's lanky, naked form at the knees, flipping him into the air. The impact was enough to knock Guido off course. He smashed face-first into the rocky beach, tumbling head over heel before coming to a splashing halt in the pool. He lay limp, his head underwater.

Meshach, still under a.s.sault by Lizard, had flown back out over the water. He was about thirty yards off sh.o.r.e, his toes grazing the surface of the salt lake, as if he were dancing upon it. He had both hands on Lizard, trying to pull him off. Lizard had his turtle-like beak clamped down in a death-grip on the man's right eyebrow, and both his fore-claws buried into the scalp behind Meshach's ears. Meshach released a string of loud, incoherent yelps that might have been curse words.

Shay rose on his hands and knees following his collision. He shook his head. Except for the blood trickling from his bolt-wound, he looked okay. Jandra ran toward the sh.o.r.e, worried about what would happen to Lizard if Meshach flew further away.

Meshach gave a blood-curdling shriek as he finally tugged the little dragon away from his face, throwing him toward the water below. Lizard left a trail of blood as he fell. Meshach's face bled from countless wounds.

Jandra raised her shotgun. As she sighted down the barrel, her eyes were drawn to something odd. The once flat surface of the lake was mounding up behind Meshach, a moving hump of water almost a yard tall rolling toward his dangling legs.

Jandra almost shouted a warning-almost. The hump of water suddenly shot into the air, splitting open into a pair of toothy jaws that clamped around Meshach's legs. As quickly as it had appeared, the ichthyosaur plunged back down into the water, taking Meshach's legs and hips with it, leaving the guard's remains floating in the air, a winged torso from which entrails slowly spilled.

Meshach looked down, his face growing pale beneath the b.l.o.o.d.y wounds that crisscrossed it. He gave a breathless sigh and fell into the water with a splash.

Jandra stood on the sh.o.r.e, feeling a chill that ran all the way down to her bones.

"Lizard!" she yelled, lowering her gun. "Lizard!"

Meshach's winged corpse bobbed upon the waves. Aside from this, there was no sign of motion. She turned back toward Shay. He was in the pool, crouched over Guido. It looked as if he was making sure the guard's head stayed beneath the water.

"Lizard didn't come up for air!" she shouted.

Shay looked up, his eyes scanning the waves.

"He can hold his breath for a long time," said Shay. "You saw him in the pool."

"There's an ichthyo..." he wasn't going to know what she was talking about, "a sea monster out there!"

"A what?"

"It's a great big ocean-dwelling reptile! It can swallow Lizard whole!"

Suddenly, Lizard popped to the surface, gasping for air. His limbs flailed wildly as he splashed across the surface of the lake in a bee-line toward Jandra.

"Bad fish!" he shrieked as the water mounded up behind him.

Jandra ran to the edge of the sh.o.r.e. The ichthyosaur's mouth gaped open, creating a suction that drew Lizard back toward its teeth.

Jandra aimed at the top of the ichthyosaur's snout and fired. The explosion knocked her onto her b.u.t.t as her feet slipped on the slimy stone. The scaly sea beast snapped its jaws closed with Lizard only inches from its teeth. Lizard shrieked as the monster flipped in a sudden u-turn. Bright red wounds speckled the ichthyosaur's snout. It dove beneath the water. The wave it left behind lifted Lizard, carrying him toward the sh.o.r.e. The wave broke over Jandra's legs, leaving Lizard sitting in her lap. Lizard swung his tail around and looked at it mournfully. The last four inches of it were missing.

"No more fish," he said, shaking his head.

"I'm comfortable with that," said Jandra.

Shay walked down the sh.o.r.e toward the still form of the first guard to fall. He poked the body with his foot, though it was pretty obvious from the angle of the man's head in relation to his shoulders that he was dead.

"This certainly wasn't the wake up I had in mind," he said.

Jandra chuckled grimly. "Me neither." She looked at the wings jutting up from Shadrach's corpse. The G.o.ddess memories stirred faintly and she realized she knew how to use the wings. "At least we don't have to build a raft now. We can just fly over to the island."

"Fly?" Shay asked, sounding skeptical. "I mean, yes, I saw them doing it, but it didn't look safe. None of these men had pleasant landings."

"The wings have an artificial intelligence that will do most of the flying for you. You'll be fine."

"If man were intended to fly, G.o.d would have given us wings," said Shay.

"The G.o.ddess corrected his oversight," said Jandra.

She stood up. She was covered in slimy grit all the way down the back of her legs.

"Looks like we'll need another bath," she said. "As long as we've got a pool of fresh, clean water-at least, we will once we pull Guido's corpse out-we should take this chance to wash our clothes."

"I only have one set of clothes," said Shay. "I don't want to walk around all day in wet pants."

"We can spend the day under the blanket while our things dry," said Jandra.

"Oh," said Shay, brushing his curly orange locks back from his face. "Yes, then. Of course. That sounds like a perfectly acceptable plan."

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO:.

HER DRAGON SOUL.

SHAY'S PANTS WERE stiff after they'd dried by the fire. He carefully tugged them up his legs, wincing. Many of his body parts were somewhat tender. Beside him, Jandra hummed as she pulled on her boots. The worried look that normally haunted her face was completely gone. She stood, b.u.t.toning the fine blue coat she'd recovered at the palace. stiff after they'd dried by the fire. He carefully tugged them up his legs, wincing. Many of his body parts were somewhat tender. Beside him, Jandra hummed as she pulled on her boots. The worried look that normally haunted her face was completely gone. She stood, b.u.t.toning the fine blue coat she'd recovered at the palace.

"What are you humming?"

"It's called 'Original Air Blue Gown,'" she said. Instantly, her face fell.

"What?" he asked.

"It's one of her memories. This song is a thousand years old."

Shay moved to her side and took her hand.

"It's okay," he said. "You're here now. Don't worry about all that other stuff in your head."

Jandra leaned into him. "I hate it when the lines blur. Some of the things we did came so naturally. What if I was drawing on her experience?"