"Perhaps Wise Prince cares to give order?"

Yuan stood in the center of his own blood-streaked raft, apparently oblivious to the screams of the legless man at his feet. The young officer was watching Tang with what could only be called a look of impertinent impatience, as though he understood exactly what needed to be done and knew his commander for too much of a fool to see it.

Tang scowled in thought, determined not to lose an^

more face by asking Yuan's advice. The prince could not order an advance without forcing the men to step within reach of the alligators' snapping jaws, but neither did he see any sense in remaining where they were and allow- ing the monsters to pluck them off the rafts one-by-one.

What they needed was magic. A wu-jen could drive the beasts away, so his soldiers could get on with the impor- tant business of finding and slaying the dragon.

An angry light flared in Yuan's eyes. "When enemy attacks, it is customary for commander to issue order."

"Alligators are not enemy!" Tang snapped, waving his sword at the beasts between their vessels. "They are stu- pid animals."

A loud thump sounded in the bottom of Tang's dugout.

He looked down to see a scaly brown cord gathering itself into a coil. Whether because of the lasal haze in his mind or the shock of having the thing drop into his boat, the prince did not recognize the writhing tendril until it showed the pink lining of its mouth. Tang calmly brought his sword down, catching the snake behind the head.

The prince did not enjoy snakes as much as he did lizards, but he knew enough about the species to recog- nize the white-mouthed viper as more of a swimmer than a tree climber. He scowled and looked up, then cried out in surprise as three more dark, writhing ropes dropped out of the canopy overhead. One of the snakes splashed into the water beside the dugout, where it was promptly snapped up by an alligator, but the other two plopped into the bottom of the punt.

Almost before he realized it, Tang's sword had lashed out to sever the head from one serpent. The other recov- ered from its fall quickly enough to bury its fangs into a boatpusher's leg. Unlike the other two snakes, this one was gray, with a black diamond pattern and rattles on its tail. The victim screeched and reached for his dagger.

Before the man could draw his weapon, Tang grasped the viper behind its head and yanked it free. He tossed the

serpent into the water, where a ravenous alligator quickly avenged its attack on the prince's servant.

The snake bite bled profusely, instantly coating the boatpusher's foot in sticky red syrup. The man opened his mouth to thank Tang, then cried out and dropped into the bottom of the punt. He clutched his leg and began to squirm, causing the dugout to rock dangerously.

"Stop, fool!" Tang ordered. By the panicked cries echo- ing across the pond, the prince knew that his boatpusher was not the only soldier to suffer a snake bite. "Do you mean to capsize us?"

The man looked up. "What does it matter? I die any- way We all die!"

Tang slapped the man. "Poison makes bite bleed and hurt, but it does not kill-unless you spill us into swamp with alligators!" Though he was not particularly fond of serpents, the prince's poison trade had taught him more than a little about their venom. "Now stand up and return to duty."

Tang glanced up and saw another ropy form dropping out of the gloomy boughs overhead. He caught this snake on his sword and flicked it away, then quickly returned his eyes to the canopy. Though it was difficult to see into the murk above, it seemed to him that the branches were alive with slinking, writhing forms, all working their way into positions over his small flotilla of rafts. The behavior seemed most unnatural for snakes, which were usually more anxious to avoid trouble than start it.

Tang hazarded a glance at the rafts and was horrified to see his soldiers in a panic. They were lying prone on the logs, groaning over their bleeding bites and begging their ancestors for help, or they were dancing madly about on the logs, hacking at serpents and trying to stay beyond the reach of the voracious alligators. Many had failed already. The water was thick with severed limbs and shredded leather corselets, and some of the behe- moths in the water were even beginning to drift away, each clutching a drowned man in its crooked jaws.

"This is dragon's doing!" Tang yelled. "He fears to show himself!"

Another pair of snakes dropped into his dugout. He dispatched one, while the bitten boatpusher used his pole to fling the other to the alligators.

"Take up poles and go to cavern!" the prince com- manded. "Do not fear snakes! If you are bitten, you can still fight."

Incredibly, the soldiers ignored their attackers and obeyed. The alligators continued to pull men into the water, and the snakes continued to rain down on their heads, but the rafts started to drift forward. Now that the company had orders, the entire troop was focused on its goal, and it did not seem to matter how many ofthe›r comrades fell. Thinking that perhaps he had a natur il aptitude for military leadership, Prince Tang flicki ‹ another serpent into the water and commanded his boc.'- pushers forward, then turned to face the cavern.

He found Cypress roosting on the toppled tree outs-He the cavern. The dragon looked half-agam as large as he had in the spicehouse, with scales so dark they seemed almost shadows in the murky swamp light. Perched beside Cypress were a pair of small wyverns that had been fluttering about the swamp during the prince's ear- lier visits. The creatures looked like huge iguanas, save that their thick tails ended in needle-sharp barbs and they had wings instead of forelegs.

Cypress's empty eye sockets swung toward the prince

Am I to assume you don't have the ylang oil?

Tang's knees nearly buckled. His grip grew so we A

that he dropped his sword into the bottom of the boat.

"I have come for Lady Feng. Then we talk about oil."

There is nothing to talk about. Without the oil, you will find only death.

"I prefer that fate to disgrace of leaving venerable mother with you."

Tang retrieved his weapon, quietly relieved that

Cypress had not yet recovered his voice. Without his

breath weapon and magic spells, the dragon would not prove so difficult to defeat. The prince glanced over his shoulder, and when he saw the remains of his small com- pany still behind him, he raised his sword. His hand was trembling so badly that the blade wobbled like the mast of a tempest-tossed caravel, but he did not let that stop him from pointing it at Cypress.

"There is enemy! Do not be frightened. He cannot spray you with acid, and he cannot hurt you with magic!"

Tang's soldiers raised their spears and cheered bravely, then allowed their rafts to drift to a stop and glowered at the dracolich. Cypress opened his muzzle slightly, return- ing the troop's glare with a mocking, yellow-toothed grin.