"I know what to do," she snapped. She proved it by kicking the paint into motion and trotting on up the muddy road to Mourktar.

From a distance, with a number of towers jutting high above the buildings huddled around them, Mourktar looked like a fairly impressive city. Jhesrhi supposed that viewed from the seaward side, it would seem even more so. Because the town was Threskel's one deepwater port on the Alamber Sea, and by all accounts, the bustling heart of the place was the docks and the warehouses adjacent to them.

Although Jhesrhi had no reason to care about that. Not unless she gave in to the temptation to board an outbound ship and flee. She and Gaedynn were there because prospectors, trappers, and others who sought their fortunes in the hills and mountains called the Sky Riders often passed through Mourktar on their way in and out.

The blue dragon flew on toward the city, and then a second such creature soared up from among the buildings. Surprised, Jhesrhi reined in her mount. Gaedynn caught up and halted beside her.

The blues circled each other. After a while, Jhesrhi said, "I can't hear them at this distance, but I suppose they're talking."

"I'm sure they are," Gaedynn replied. "By all accounts, dragons are garrulous creatures. But they're doing more than that. I saw something like this once before and never forgot it. Each wyrm is trying to climb higher than the other. Given your affinity for the air, if you just look for the currents and updrafts, you'll see it more clearly than I can."

She reached out with her perceptions. It was only partly a matter of seeing, partly a matter of feeling at a distance. "Yes. You're right."

"And notice the smell in the air, like a storm is brewing. Notice the flicker inside their mouths. You can see it blink like a twinkling star, even this far away. I doubt there's much point to it. It's difficult to hurt a dragon with the same element it breathes itself. But it's their instinct to ready the weapon, no matter what."

"So they really are going to duel. I wonder why."

"I have no idea. But I do know I'd rather not be in the town underneath them while they do it. Let's watch from here."

And that was what they did, for what seemed a long while. Then the dragons swooped toward the buildings below. One disappeared into the streets on the north side of Mourktar, and the other into the southern part of town.

Gaedynn shrugged. "Well, whatever it was that divided them, apparently they worked it out."

"Apparently," Jhesrhi said. She felt a little disappointed. How often did a person have the chance to watch dragons fight each other?

"Then shall we?" Gaedynn waved his hand at the road ahead. Jhesrhi gave a nod, and they rode onward.

By the time they reached the outskirts of the city, the clear sky was giving way to gray clouds blowing in from the sea. The streets teemed with a mixture of races. Humans. Kobolds. Goblins no taller than Khouryn with big pointed ears and ruddy skin, and orcs with swinish tusks and, occasionally, one eye gouged out in honor of their patron deity Gruumsh.

Whatever his kind, if a person was well armed and carried himself like a warrior, he often wore the wand-and-scepter badge. Mourktar was full of soldiers, some likely sellswords arrived by sea. It was additional evidence that Threskel really did intend to mount an invasion.

In a sensible world, Jhesrhi thought, she and Gaedynn would scurry back to the Brotherhood with this valuable piece of intelligence. But in this one, they had to proceed with their pointless errand, searching for a creature who'd surely perished in the cataclysm that had killed even mightier beings and altered the face of Faerun itself.

With the streets so crowded, it was slow going, and she worried they wouldn't find anywhere to stable the horses or to stay themselves. Gaedynn managed it, though. A silver coin and the promise of more persuaded an innkeeper that he could somehow provide care for two more nags and that it would be all right for a pair of weary travelers to sleep in the hayloft.

By that time, the sun had set. They ate a supper of fish stew, rye bread, and ale in the inn's common room, then headed back out into the streets. Jhesrhi braced herself for the press of bodies. It had been unpleasant enough on horseback, when people could only brush and jostle her legs. It would be worse when she was fully submerged in the crowd.

But she tolerated it because she had to. She caught Gaedynn glancing at her repeatedly, checking on her, and shot him back a scowl.

Which perhaps he didn't deserve, for he wasted no time leading her to a narrow, doglegged street where the taverns had names like The Five Nuggets and The Hill Man's Bliss and the merchants sold shovels, pans, sluice boxes, traps, bows, and boar spears. Since he'd never visited Mourktar before either, she had no idea how he found the right part of it so quickly. It didn't seem fair that a man raised in the woods should seem so completely at home in cities as well. Especially since she seldom felt fully at ease anywhere at all.

As they wandered from one smoky, boisterous taproom to another, he presented himself as the woodsman and hunter he was, and the hill men took him for one of their own. She looked on quietly as he bought rounds of drinks, swapped preposterous boasts and filthy jokes, and in time turned the conversation to strange tales and rumors from the wild.

It was probably because she remained aloof from the conversation that she was the one who noticed someone watching them.

A small man sat alone in the shadowy corner nearest the door. He wore the same stained, patched, rugged garb as most of the people in the room, but to judge from the pallor of his face and hands, he hadn't really spent much time in the sun and the rain. He wasn't quite staring at Gaedynn, Jhesrhi, and the hill men at their table, but his dark, pouched eyes kept returning to them.

She wondered how best to find out who he was and what he wanted. She was still pondering when he abruptly rose and headed out into the night.

She took hold of her staff, still shrouded in a layer of cloth to hide the rare, valuable blackwood and inlaid golden runes. The wrapping attenuated her mystical link to the rod, but not so much as to render it useless. She waited another moment, then rose and started for the door. Gaedynn gave her a questioning look. She raised her hand, signaling him to keep his seat.

Though she was only a few heartbeats behind the watcher, by the time she stepped out the door, he was nowhere to be seen. She whispered to the breeze that carried both the stink of the city's garbage and the saltwater smell of the sea. Unfortunately, it hadn't taken any notice of the pale man.

"What's going on?" Gaedynn asked.

Startled, Jhesrhi jerked around to find him standing right behind her. "I told you to stay put," she said. But he hadn't, because he didn't trust her nerve and judgment anymore.

"We're done here anyway," he said. "What pulled you out of your chair?"

"Someone was watching our table. I wanted to find out why, but somehow he outdistanced me."

Gaedynn looked around. "Well, he could have ducked in any of these doors, and it's not that far to the bend in the street. Who do you think it was?"

She shrugged. "Someone trying to pass for a hill man, but not. Beyond that I can't say. I hope he wasn't a spy looking for his opposite numbers from south of the border."

"Even if he was, we weren't doing anything overtly nefarious. I think it's more likely he's a spotter for the local thieves' guild. I was spreading a little coin around. And even though you have that hood shadowing your face and a cloak obscuring your shape, a perceptive fellow could still tell you'd make a lot of coin for any of the local festhalls."

She scowled at him.

He grinned back. "Facts are facts, buttercup. The point is, if we keep our guard up, we can surely handle a few toughs." He hesitated. "Can't we?"

"Yes," she said, gritting her teeth. "In your estimation, have we learned anything?"

"I assume you heard most of it. Plenty of people have stories to share about a dragon roaring in the night. The problem is, the tales are vague as to what hillside or mountaintop it's roaring on. But just now I got the name of a fellow who collects information about the Sky Riders, then sells it to trappers looking for particularly luxuriant pelts or prospectors looking for streams that run yellow with gold."

"In other words, a swindler."

Gaedynn smiled. "I'd bet my life on it. Or at least somebody's life. But I'd also wager he gathers real information to make his lies more convincing. And that he's not averse to peddling that as well, when there's a market for it. Shall we go find out?"

Jhesrhi kept watch for the pale man, and for any lurking ruffians, as Gaedynn led her into a shabby dead-end street. She didn't see anyone suspicious. Nor, when she consulted it, did the wind. Maybe the watcher had taken their measure and decided to seek easier prey.

She noticed the structures in the immediate vicinity were smaller than average, with windows placed lower to the ground. Some builder had thrown up a dozen apartment houses for people shorter than humans.

Gaedynn rapped on one of the street-level doors, then waited. After a time it squeaked open a crack, and a halfling peered out from the darkness within.

"Good evening," Gaedynn said. "My companion and I are headed into the Sky Riders. We need information to ensure a successful journey."

"I need silver to open this door," the halfling answered. Because of their size, his kind tended to have voices higher than humans, and old age seemed to have pitched the scratchy one Jhesrhi was hearing higher still. Yet she was reasonably sure the speaker was male.

Gaedynn produced a coin and presented it with a flourish. It disappeared into the crack, and then the door opened. Despite a soldier's familiarity with wounds and scars, Jhesrhi had to suppress an impulse to stare or wince at what stood revealed on the other side.

The halfling was missing the eye, the ear, and some of the white hair from the right side of his head. In their places were deep, livid, horizontal grooves. His right hand and some of the forearm were gone too, while the right leg, though present, was twisted shorter than the left, hitching his body off center.

He turned and, limping, conducted his visitors into a candlelit, low-ceilinged room. Bearskins, wolf pelts, racks of antlers, and halfling-sized hunting weapons hung on the walls. A scatter of maps lay on a table, along with the hook and leather cuff the halfling presumably wore when he felt the need for a prosthesis.

Jhesrhi was somewhat encouraged. Judging from appearances, their host might truly have known the Sky Riders well, in the days before some beast mauled and crippled him.

He flicked his remaining hand at a bench with chipped and peeling paint that looked like he'd salvaged it from the town dump. "That's the one thing big enough for humans to sit on."

"Thank you," Gaedynn said.

The halfling flopped down in a chair. "What exactly do you want?"

"We've heard stories," Gaedynn said, "about a dragon that roars by night somewhere high in the hills."

"So?"

Gaedynn smiled. "A dragon's lair is full of treasure."

The cripple snorted. "And you think you can carry it off? Just the two of you?"

"The tales suggest this particular wyrm is inconvenienced somehow."

"It's still a dragon."

"We don't intend to fight it. Just sneak into its lair, pocket a few prize gems, and live like lords for the rest of our days."

The halfling squirmed in his chair like he couldn't get comfortable. "It sounds like you've got it all figured out already. What do you need me for?"

"The tales are either unclear or contradictory concerning the dragon's location."

The maimed hunter grinned, revealing gapped, stained teeth. "Easy to see why, if the creature only appears at night. And seeing as how fools are always getting lost in the Sky Riders. People who saw or heard the wyrm-if anyone truly did-may not have known exactly where they were."

"Do you think anyone did?" Jhesrhi asked. "See it, I mean."

"What's the difference?" The halfling shifted again. "You and your man have decided they did, or else you wouldn't be here. Nothing I say is likely to change your minds."

"You're probably right," Gaedynn said. "So, can you help us?"

"Maybe," the halfling said. "I've heard all the stories you have and more, and knowing the hill country, I can interpret details that don't mean anything to you. I can make a good guess where you ought to look. But only if you make it worth my while."

"I already gave you one piece of silver. How about four more?"

"That's piddling for information that will make you rich, or so you tell me. How about ten gold?"

"If we had that kind of coin, we wouldn't need to chase dragons. What about this? We'll cut you in for a tenth of the profits."

"Now, that sounds splendid! Because I'm confident you'll come back loaded down with diamonds and rubies, and just as certain you'll keep your word."

"I take your point. We'll pay you three gold. But I swear by the Merchant's Friend, we can't go any higher."

The halfling grunted. "Hand it over."

Gaedynn fished a purse out of the jerkin he'd mended with big, clumsy stitches after the kobold's javelin tore it. "You just need to understand one thing."

"What's that?"

Gaedynn shook coins out into his palm. "My companion is a wizard. She's going to cast a charm that will alert her if you try to cheat us."

It was a lie. Jhesrhi had mastered dozens of spells, but none that would serve that particular purpose. But other people had no way of knowing that, and she and Gaedynn had used the bluff to extract the truth from the credulous on several previous occasions.

As he took the coins, the halfling made a spitting sound. "As long as she doesn't turn me into a rat or make my manhood fall off, she can do what she likes."

Jhesrhi whispered words of power. The room grew colder. For a moment, the candles burned green, and a breeze rustled the parchments on the table. It was likely enough to create the impression that some useful enchantment was in place.

"Now," said Gaedynn, "go ahead."

The halfling leaned over the table and riffled through the maps until he found one drawn on vellum. He sketched a circle on it with his fingertip. "Somewhere in this area. And I think that if it's really there to be found, you'll find it on the western side of a hill."

Maintaining the fiction that Jhesrhi could tell if their informant was telling the truth, Gaedynn looked to her. She nodded.

The redheaded archer extended his hand. "Thank you for your help."

The halfling blinked like he wasn't used to courtesy or gratitude. "There's one more thing I can tell you. People only ever glimpse or hear the dragon at the dark of the moon."

"That complicates matters," Gaedynn said, "but at least it's not for a while yet. We have time to get to the right place. Thank you again."

After the cripple showed them out, Jhesrhi said, "You could have just given the poor fellow ten gold."

"That would have seemed very strange to him. He expected me to haggle."

"And, it's bad luck to swear a false oath by any of the gods."

"Oh, I imagine Waukeen will forgive me." He grinned. "As you know better than anyone, I'm well nigh irresistible to blondes with golden eyes."

She scowled. "Where now? Back to the stable?"

"If you like. We have what we came for."

They headed in that direction. To her relief, the crowds in the streets had thinned out. In fact, they soon found themselves entirely alone on a block lined with dark, shuttered shops at ground level. In the quiet, even the iron ferrule of her staff bump-bump-bumping against the mud seemed noisy. She picked up the weapon and carried it over her shoulder.

Then the wind whispered to her. She willed the bindings on the staff to loosen, and the cloth fell away. She lifted the rod into a middle guard and roused the power stored inside it. The golden runes glittered.

By that time, Gaedynn had noticed what she was doing and nocked an arrow. "What?" he asked.

"People are stalking us," she said.

"Where are they?"

"All around us. I think. They're using magic that hinders even the wind's ability to perceive them, and-"

"And anyway, the breezes in Mourktar haven't fallen in love with you yet." He shifted so they stood back to back. "I've heard the song before. If the bastards are just thieves, now that they see that we're ready for them, maybe they'll go away."

"I doubt common thieves would command such potent enchantments."

"Permit me the comfort of my delusions."

The breeze moaned, warning her. "Above us!" she said.