He and Greenwillow paused for breath under the wide arms of an oak. Various plans rippled through their minds, and they both talked at once.

"Better to stay out here, strike from two sides… No, they'll close and we'll need strength in numbers… Hide until dark… The dragons have some magic, can sniff us out… Can't fire the forest to keep them high, it's too dry… Only three arrows between us…"

But something else was bothering Sunbright, and now he discovered what. His hand against the tree touched fresh gashes such as he'd seen back beside the road. The lower end of gashes, actually, for they extended above his head higher than he could reach with his bow. "Look! We've got-"

"Dorlas signals! Let's go!"

Like a deer breaking cover, the elf maid charged into the open, loosed an arrow at the back of a circling huntsman, then sped on toward the frantically waving dwarf. Sunbright ran after her, pausing to shoot side-on at a disk rider. He didn't wait for the hit but kept going. Evidently he missed, for as he reached the first vine-covered rocks, an ebony flail hissed by his head, ticking the pommel of Harvester slung at his back. At the same time, Dorlas reared just in front of him, leveled a crossbow, and shot. An encouraging grunt revealed a hit. Then Sunbright was climbing, grabbing vines and thorns and tumbling into the semi-trough of a rock split by water and ice action.

"They'll die as good as us!" pronounced the dwarf in satisfaction. "By the Rocks of the Reaver, I knew I should have demanded more pay up front!"

"You may get paid in full," gasped Sunbright. He glanced around to note their surroundings. This side of the three-quarters round outcrop didn't have any proper caves or even crevices. What they hunkered in was a simple gap shielded by a split boulder, though it was hard to tell under the dense, interlaced trees and creepers. Oddly, the sun-warmed cedars sent a thrill of nostalgia through Sunbright. It was amidst such trees that he and other children had played hide-and-seek on one of the tribe's yearly rounds though a cedar forest to hunt pheasant. He shook that happy memory away, for today's game was a deadlier one. The two were alone, Greenwillow having pressed on to beef up defenses elsewhere. "We might have an ally here somewhere, for there's a cave-"

"I knew that from the lay of the land!" The dwarf fussed with his crossbow, lining a bolt as straight as possible in its groove. "Don't tell a rock-eater how to read rocks!"

"I mean there's a bear's den somewhere nearby. Smell it? Bear shit stinks as bad as a human's!" Sunbright tracked the hunters, who circled and circled but didn't press. One worked to wrench Greenwillow's arrow from his thigh armor, though whether the barb had bitten flesh or only padding wasn't clear. Under the heavy armor, even their sex was unclear, though it appeared two of the dragon riders were women. Evidently the huntsmen awaited orders from those above. Sunbright saw one of the dragon riders tilt a wineskin and drink, and a pang of thirst stabbed him. He'd enjoy killing those bloodthirsty bastards when the time came; this was just a jaunt in the park for them.

"I don't smell nothing but cedar resin. And a bear can't hurt us," the dwarf growled, looking to his right.

"This one might. It's big. Gashes on the tree where it sharpened its claws stand higher than a rearing horse."

"Wonderful," groused Dorlas. "Just what we need. But maybe it's out hunting-Here they come!"

Clapping down their visors, the dragon riders banked their metal mounts and swept in to the attack. At the same time, two of the huntsmen skittered their disks close, then abandoned them. Hopping to the rocks, the two armored men descended on Dorlas and Sunbright. As if we were rabbits, thought the barbarian, to be flushed into the open and killed by the masters.

One hunter had a spear with a long barbed head, the other a flail, and they worked as a team. Whirling a whizzing wall of wood, one picked down the rocks and vines while the other poised, the spear ready.

"Split!" Dorlas refused to play their way. Clambering one-handed, he scrambled like a brown spider to the left. Sunbright propped his bow-he was out of arrows-drew Harvester, and swung right.

The Neth paused at such canny prey. In that second, Dorlas leveled his crossbow from six feet away and pulled the trigger. His eye was good. The bolt slammed the spear wielder just below the hip at a juncture of the armor plates. A squeak rewarded him; he'd hit flesh.

At the same time, Sunbright flummoxed the whirling flail by simply thrusting Harvester straight out. Steel screaked a protest as the flail's chain wrapped around and around the harder sword blade. Then came a grim tug-of-war, as the huntsman leaned to yank back on the long flail handle. Sunbright let him haul, then helped him out by stepping sideways and lashing out with an iron-reinforced boot. The armored man, already unsteady on hidden rocks and crushed leaves, let go of the flail to grab for balance. He caught only the tip of a cedar, which bent like a lily, and he pitched to crash on his side. Sunbright jumped after him, took careful aim for another armor chink, and stabbed down with Harvester…

… but leaped backward as a golden flash blotted the sunlight.

A hiss like an iceberg dropping into the sea roared by his hand. As the barbarian crunched amidst fragrant leaves and lumpy rocks, a searing blast of cold scorched the ground. Vines, a tree, the legs of the fallen huntsman, all were blasted a harsh, glistening white. Then the dragon rider with his deadly lance had swept on. Sunbright clambered up to strike at the Neth, but he levered himself off the rocks with his hands-his legs couldn't move-and tumbled headlong down a rock face to crash like a crate of dishes ten feet below.

Dorlas grappled with the spear wielder. He'd dropped his crossbow, crowded inside, locked the spear in his armpit, and now hammered with a stony hand on the end of the bolt to drive it deeper. The plagued huntsman strove to push the dwarf aside and dodge his punishing hand and was still backing off when Sunbright tripped close, took a short chop, and slammed Harvester's blade at the base of the Neth's helmet. The sword came away bloody, and the huntsman dropped.

But there was no time for congratulations. "Jump, boy!"

Without looking, Sunbright jumped as a fire flashed in the spot where they'd stood. The flying bird hovered not seven feet high, its rider's lance lipping flames like a water pipe. The barbarian landed, sprawling against the same rock face where the half-frozen huntsman lay. The Neth raised a hand, either for succor or attack, Sunbright didn't try to divine which. Slinging Harvester, he stabbed the man's armpit, shearing chain mail and knocking him flat. There was no time for a second blow, for a dragon rider swept at him. The rabbits had indeed been flushed, at the cost of two huntsmen.

Pelting over slippery rocks and ducking cedars, arms pumping, Sunbright raced around the ledge, flames kissing vegetation just behind him. Ahead he saw a long-limbed oak that leaned far enough to almost touch the rocks, and he dove headlong for the space underneath it. Flames licked his legs as he bounced into the tree's shadow, but he knew he was safe: the dragon rider couldn't follow here.

Spinning, he looked and listened for his companions, wondered how short-legged Dorlas fared. He hoped the dwarf had fled to the left.

Continuing right, under the brief shelter of the trees, Sunbright mounted the rocks, then paused, sniffing. The fuggy, wet-dog stink of a bear came to him. Above a narrow shelf, he saw the cave. It was not too high, though he'd have to duck double to enter, so perhaps the bear wasn't that big. He debated gathering the others and sheltering inside, then dismissed the idea. With those lances, the dragon riders could squirt fire and lightning and cold inside and roast, crisp, and freeze them all at the same time. And the humid odor of bear was strong; the animal might still be inside, despite a fine day for hunting.