"Get up!" cried Tahmu. "Drop your weapons. Keep your hands in front of you so no one will think you armed and head for the tents!"Others, overhearing, imitated the boy, dropping their weapons and rushing gratefully to safety. Tahmu wondered if this was a battle or a rescue mission.

There came a brief lull in the battle and as Tahmu wiped sweat and blood from his face, his gaze traveled skyward. He saw the Dragon wheeling, saw Kevla as a tiny shape atop it.

Tahmu frowned. Something was wrong.

The Dragon was flying erratically, and as Tahmu watched in horror, a small shape toppled forward from the safety of the Dragon's broad back.

"Kevla!" he cried in impotent horror as his daughter hurtled toward the earth.

There was nothing he could do for her nothing to stop her downward plummet.

The Dragon dove, extending his enormous forepaws and catching the falling woman just in time. Relief washed over Tahmu.

She was safe. His daughter was safe.

"My lord!" The voice was Dumah's. Recovering himself, Tahmu whirled just in time to parry a stroke and begin a counterattack.

Kevla awoke from dreams of pain to the reality of agony. She was lying on her side, and as she tried to draw breath the pain increased a thousandfold.

"Gently," came a familiar voice. "Don't move. Asha is working on your injury now."

Kevla blinked, trying to keep still. "My lord?"

Tahmu was there, kneeling in front of her, tenderly holding one of her hands in his. "Don't speak, Kevla."

But she had to. "The Dragon... he's hurt too... "

"Do not fear for me, I am all right." Despite the reassuring words, the Dragon's voice was laced with pain. He moved so she could see him. "They were able to remove the arrow. I will heal."

Tears trickled down her face. "I'm glad," she whispered, then arched in torment as behind her, someone touched her back.

"Careful, Asha!" cried Tahmu.

"My lord, I am sorry, but-may I speak with you?"

Tahmu squeezed Kevla's hand and then rose. He and his healer walked off a few steps and conversed in whispers. Kevla locked eyes with the Dragon.

"Make them tell me," she whispered. "I need to know."

He nodded his understanding, lifted his head and bellowed, "Tell her what is wrong, Asha!"

The healer knelt in front of her, looking more sorrowful and frightened than she had ever seen him."It's bad, Kevla," he said. "An arrow entered your back at an angle. The shaft runs all through your body. The tip comes out in your shoulder. I fear that I will be unable to remove it without causing fatal damage."

Kevla blinked, not comprehending. To have come this far, to have endured so much, and now one arrow would take her life? Doom the whole world?

She started to shake her head, then hissed as the movement exacerbated the pain.

She licked her lips and spoke.

"No. There has to be a way."

"Truly, there is not. Nothing has been pierced yet, but the arrow's shaft... "

Aware that he was repeating himself, Asha fell silent. Tahmu shoved him aside and again gripped his daughter's hand, his gaze roaming over her face.

"Dragon," Kevla whispered, looking into her father's eyes. "Dragon, you know more about me than I know about myself. Is there nothing that can be done?"

"Yes, there is. But it will be difficult."

Hope swelled inside her, dimming the pain ever so slightly. Tahmu looked up at the Dragon.

"Save her."

"She must save herself."

"How is she to do that?" Tahmu demanded. "She lies near death, an arrow running the length of her body!"

Kevla closed her eyes, drifting. The Dragon continued to speak, but she barely heard him.

"The arrow is made of wood. You are the Flame Dancer. You must burn it, Kevla. Burn it to ashes inside of you. Burn it away to nothing. You know how to do this."

Because I did it to Jashemi. Tears leaked past her closed lids.

"Fire destroys," said the Dragon, as if she had spoken aloud, "but it also cleanses and purifies. Burn the arrow shaft, and cauterize your wounds."

It sounded so easy and so difficult at the same time. She was holding onto consciousness by a thread, only faintly aware of the pressure of her father's hand on hers.

"Kevla, you must do as the Dragon says," Tahmu said softly. "I have forsaken Keishla and lost Jashemi. Don't let the Emperor take my daughter too."

Slowly, she opened her eyes. She had never seen him look like this; not when she told him about Jashemi, not when he had taken his blood-marked daughter to give to Dragon. On his strong, handsome face were mingled hope and fear and... love?

Quickly, before she lost her courage, she squeezed her eyes shut and visualized the arrow that had pierced her body. It sprang to her mind's eye immediately. She could see its harsh wooden shaft embedded in her flesh. She understood now thereason for Asha's concern; it would indeed have been impossible to remove.

But not to immolate.

Kevla, my love, you are fire!

She gasped and arched her body as the heat began to burn from deep inside her.

It spread rapidly through her body, and she felt her father drop her hand; no doubt it was too hot for him to continue to hold. She willed her body to consume the wooden arrow shaft, and she screamed aloud as the internal heat increased. She felt the shaft catch fire and burn to ashes in the space of one heartbeat to the next.

More. She needed to do more.

The ashes inside her continued to be consumed. Burned away until they had completely dissolved. Now she turned her attention to the entry wound in her lower back, willing her body to concentrate the heat there. She heard gasps and low talking as her father, Asha and the Dragon, and whoever else had clustered around to witness, saw what they could only call a miracle. One final, excruciatingly hot burst, and then it was over.

She had been sweating profusely, but her skin was dry. It was so hot that her sweat had evaporated instantly. Kevla gasped in short, harsh breaths, willing the fire to fade, to leave, to return to wherever it dwelt deep inside of her until she called it again. Slowly, the nearly unbearable heat subsided.

Kevla opened her eyes. "Asha," she whispered, her hands fluttering to her shoulder. "You can cut out the arrowhead now."

She closed her eyes and knew no more.

The man resembled those who had attacked her people, but Kevla knew he was not one of them. Tall, with yellow hair, he waited for her on a hill covered with white.

She walked toward him, and the strange whiteness melted at her footsteps.

His face had laugh lines around the bright blue eyes, but now those eyes were hardened with pain and anger. This was a man who understood suffering, and who also understood the desire for vengeance.

And sitting at his feet, blue stripes running along its body, was a creature that resembled a simmar.

Jashemi's dream, she thought; I am dreaming Jashemi's dream. Floating toward her as she slowly swam toward the waking world came a voice she knew and loved.

Jashemi's.

"You must hurry, Flame Dancer. Hurry, or you will be too late."

When she awoke, it was to find the Dragon gazing down at her. "You'd sleep through an avalanche, wouldn't you?"

She grinned up at him. The grin faded as memories flooded back: the memory of fireballs leaving her hands to destroy an enemy, the memory of a flow of molten stone that obeyed her commands to engulf hundreds, perhaps thousands, in its flood.The memory of turning an arrow shaft to ashes inside her own body.

He helped her sit up. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," she said. Her garment had been cut away so that Asha could tend to her injured shoulder. It was bandaged securely. She winced. "It hurts."

"I imagine it would," said the Dragon. He eyed her. "You can heal that, too, if you choose to do so."

She shrank from invoking that power again so soon. It was still so strange and frightening to her. But her dream had been laced with urgency, and she would not serve her great duty if she were injured and taking time to heal.

"I don't want to leave so soon," she said softly.

"I know," said the Dragon. "But the other Dancers are ready, and you have made an enemy here."

"The Emperor," she said, and he nodded. "I felt him. He is full of hatred. He-he wants the Dancers dead, doesn't he?"

Slowly, the Dragon nodded. "I am not certain, but thus far, I think he is only aware of you. You need to find the other four, Kevla. Trust me, they are ready. Fire has always been the leader, the most passionate of the four Dancers. They will follow you."

She let out a shaky laugh. "Follow me, Kevla Bai-sha. It seems absurd."

"But you know it is not undeserved," he said. "You know how well you fought today."

Bile rose in her throat as she heard again the cries of the dying. She would probably never know exactly how many lives she had taken today, and she did not want to.

"I did what I had to do."

"As the Dancers and Lorekeepers ever have," he said gently. "Call on the power again, Kevla. Heal yourself."

Slowly, she put her left hand to her right shoulder and, wincing, undid the bandages. The wound was clean, but deep where Asha had dug out the arrowhead.

The heat came so quickly it was startling. She confined it to her hand, felt it penetrate deeply. Her skin began to crackle and smoke, then suddenly, the heat abated. The wound was seared closed. After a moment, even that redness faded, leaving her skin unscarred.

"Behold the healing power of Fire," the Dragon said softly.

"Fire, then," said the Emperor. "He was the Flame Dancer."

The advisor nodded, then said hesitantly, "Our men said they saw a woman riding the Dragon, Your Excellency."

"Man, woman, it matters not. What matters is that it was one of them. It is no wonder we were defeated so abysmally. I did not appreciate how powerful she was.We will not fail again."

The advisor blanched. "Lord, she decimated our troops. Nearly half of them are dead, and all of the Arukani captives fled back to their Clans. The pass is blocked with stone that yet smokes. We cannot try again!"

"Not a full assault, no," the Emperor agreed. He glanced down at the imprisoned ki-lyn. "But there are other ways to attack the Dancers. Aren't there, my little friend, hmmm?"

The ki-lyn lowered its head and wept diamond tears.

Chapter 31.

When she met with the khashims, who were almost drunk with their victory, Kevla learned that the casualties on the Emperor's side had been high, as high as perhaps ten or twelve thousand. Many of the dead, and some of the living from the Emperor's army, had been Arukani who had been captured in raids and forced to fight. Their return to their families had been moving to behold, they told Kevla.

"I have no doubt," she said. She hesitated, then told them, "The Dragon and I must leave you."

"When?" demanded Terku.

"Tomorrow."

"But we need you!" cried another khashim. She looked at her father and saw that his face was impassive, but his eyes sad. "We could not stand against the army without you. If the Emperor attacks again-"

"He won't," Kevla said with certainty. "He knows that I am here now, and I'm the one he's after. You have learned how to work together. You stood side by side, Clan by Clan, to defeat a common foe. If you continue to rely on one another, there is nothing you will be unable to do."

She smiled, sadly. "That was Jashemi's dream, and that of at least one khashim here. You will be all right without us." Before they could protest further, she stood.

"Gather the Clans. I would speak to them before I leave."

It took a while, but at last everyone who had come to Mount Bari to stand against the Emperor was present. Kevla had insisted that everyone come, women and children as well as men of all castes. She looked out over the sea of upturned faces and was moved by what she saw."You have dared so much," Kevla told them. "You have not shirked your duty, and you have paid a painful price for your continued freedom. You have accepted that there are things you did not know before, and have grown to look upon the Lorekeepers as true bearers of wisdom, not as madmen and women. You listened to me, a woman, and followed my counsel. You have learned that the Dragon is very real, and has a kinder heart than some of the laws you attribute to him would indicate.

"All of these things speak to the quality of the people you are. Arukani are passionate and proud. We will not be dominated by the will of outsiders. We will tend to our own, and when we see injuries and injustices, we will heal them. The Great Dragon helped us see the path, and now you have chosen to walk it. You don't need us any more.

"But there is one thing you need," she continued. "One thing you must reconcile."

She nodded to the Dragon. He raised his head, closed his eyes, and uttered a long, crooning call. Even though Kevla knew what to expect, the hairs on her arms lifted at the sound.

"It is time for you all to understand the beings that you have called... the kulis."

A cry went up. Exhausted and injured as they were, they were not beyond fear.