Free The Dragons of Argonath by Christopher Rowley Page A

the Deceiver, the Dominator of Twelve Worlds, Waakzaam the Great.
    The house they'd been given was a pleasant, two-story place, built of the grey stone they built everything with in Cunfshon. There was an herb garden and a curving drive up to the front steps.
    A curious little man, a midget no more than three feet tall, had met her at the door. It had been an astonishing experience, she grinned at the memory. He had been immaculate, hairless, with a noble set of fine features. He moved like a dancer, and he treated Lessis very rudely, remarking in a loud voice that she had no business coming to the front door of the house, since she was dressed like a servant and should go to the servants' entrance to be let in. Vexed, she had responded with a spell and discovered that it was hard to keep it in place. The little man was a magical construct of quite fantastic power. Awed just a little, Lessis had given up any attempt at reining it in. She had to explain twice who she was and what she wanted. The amazing tiny man had then made her wait in the hall while he disappeared to find Prince Evander.
    Fortunately for Lessis, Princess Serena appeared after a few minutes, having been warned by someone else that there was a visitor in the hall. She explained to Lessis that the servant was an unusual little person, much older than he looked and very cranky. Lessis had accepted the explanation and passed off his rudeness with a laugh. Her awe had given way to intrigue. How had these young princelings from Kassim come to possess such a fantastic creature for a servant anyway?
    The princess, a laughing brown-skinned girl with handsome eyes, led her down a passage of polished brick, through a small garden, and into a pleasant whitewood room that looked out over a pond covered with lily pads.
    The room was furnished in lovely old wooden things from the Cunfshon Foresters workshops. On the wall was a painting by one of the famous Czardhan painters, possibly Giltoft.
    The prince had been working on a watercolor of the paddies and the pond. It rested on an easel to one side. Lessis could see that the prince had some skill with the brush.
    They had sat there, while a more cooperative servant came in with some hot kalut and a selection of small cakes. The prince and the princess had then told their story.
    In a few moments her long-dreamed-of retirement had been laid to rest. Such a mad saga was related that she was by turns torn by sadness, ripped by pity, and then left frightened, more afraid than she had been in a long time.
    Swayed by the rhythmic motion of the coach, Lessis murmured a prayer to the Great Mother for her guidance and put her head back and let sleep claim her. The coming day would be another nightmare as the emperor put himself about in the city of Ryotwa. Security would be fragile, an assassin might strike at any moment, Lessis would be on duty all day. Some sleep now would be a good investment.
     

Chapter Ten
    Sleep ended with a sudden eruption of noise. A tremendous crack broke along the bottom of the coach. It came to a staggering stop amid a mad tangle of rearing and screaming horses, and the emperor pitched off his seat with a muffled curse. A fierce green light beat down from the sky above them. Lessis noticed that it threw stark shadows, even inside the coach. Men were shouting all around them.
    "What the hell is this!" roared an enraged Pascal as he struggled to extricate himself from the space between the seats. Wide-eyed in apprehension, Lessis opened the door, her other hand resting on the long knife hidden within her robe. The light shone down on them as if from a giant's lantern. Arrows flashed past, she heard them distinctly through the rest of the noise. Then, ten yards distant, she glimpsed things approaching at a lumbering run, huge creatures like nothing she had ever seen before. At first glimpse they looked like bears, but then she noticed they had human heads with faces like those of pigs. One of them was