75 A Challenge to ALL Clans

"Whose head is held highest here?"

The Second Call. Part of three, in a ritual older than the Council, older than the war, very nearly as old as the Blood Feud. It was a ritual from a time when Reason did not reign among the dragons, but instead raw force held sway. Purest power.

"Whose head--"

"Mine is the head that is held highest here," Ahnkar thundered, at the last possible moment before he lost all by default, the words dragged out of him as his eyes filled with dread.

"Then I Challenge thee," I intoned. "I Challenge thee for thy power, I Challenge thee for thy position, I Challenge thee for thy clan."

"I accept thy Challenge," the banded dragon rumbled, as if he had a choice, the dread in his eyes rapidly being replaced with anger. "Name the place and time of thy doom."

I paused for a tiny moment, thoughts racing, then answered. "The place will be where the one known as Tin'na'tak preserved his clan's honor, the time is when the moon is once again dark. There and then is where I shall take all from thee."

"So be it," snarled Dithra's usurper. "I look forward to thine ending."

"Of that, I have little doubt," I murmured sardonically. And now," I straightened from that so-very formal posture, turned my back on Ahnkar and faced Dithra "I believe we shall take our leave."

"Hasai!" Dithra hissed, her eyes darting about. "Have you any idea what you have done?"

"Taken the velvet glove off the steel fist, my Lady," I replied, then chuckled darkly at her expression of confusion, my eyes also tracking the muscle that was fanning out from around Ahnkar's seething form, moving to surround us. Similar movements began among the clans. "And, since the gloves are indeed off, I do think we should get the hell out of here."

With that, I summoned the sphere of the Lung. It materialized before me with its usual snap, along with more than a few astonished hisses from our audience. I secured a good grip on Dithra while I reached for the sphere--

--Only to get a face-full of flame from one of Ahnkar's charging goons. I jerked my head back, blinking frantically, getting my sight back just in time to see one of our attackers right on top of us, the hulking brown and black dragon lifting a paw to swat the sphere out of her way--

The instant the dragon's paw came into contact with the sphere, Time seemed to slam to a halt for her. For the rest of us, the air itself turned gelatinous as a shock wave visibly rippled outward from the point of contact, rocking us with its force. From the sphere a low keening whine began, rising in both pitch and amplitude, sounding to my ears very much like a military jet engine spooling up. The sphere's light grew brighter, the glow spreading to engulf its helplessly frozen victim. Soon both were shining like miniature suns, too bright to look upon, the keening sound so intense that many dragons were flinching back in pain--

Then, just as abruptly as it began, it ended. The sound cut off, the light winked out. We blinked the dazzle out of our eyes, looked back to see the sphere returned to its usual softly glowing self, floating serenely in mid-air as if nothing had ever happened. Ahnkar's agent, however, had vanished without a trace.

For several long seconds all of us stared at the spot where she had once stood, then I cleared my throat. "Well," I rumbled, "so much for that one." I lifted my head, gave the surrounding dragons a feral grin. "Does anyone else here wish to get in our way? . . . . No? I didn't think so." I gave a deeply shaken Ahnkar his own dose of that grin, then once again turned to Dithra. "And now, my Lady, we shall take our leave." With no further ado, I grabbed the sphere and popped it into my mouth, that feeling of connection coming over to me as I reached out to touch the Eldest and thought of a little municipal airport.

Snap.

It was fortunate that nobody at the airstrip was around to see a pair of dragons suddenly pop into existence between two hangars, nor witness them quickly shift into human guise. Dithra glanced about us, then rounded on me with a look that could have slagged chromium steel at fifty meters.

"Um, I'll go look for our crew--"

"You will not," the Eldest snapped. She stared at me, oblivious to the rain, emerald eyes simmering, her head shaking slightly as if she refused to believe what she saw. "You really have no idea what you have just done, do you, young one?"

I caught Dithra's deliberate emphasis on the word young, which isn't exactly complementary among dragons. I returned her gaze with one of my own. "Ahnkar has my niece, Dithra. I could not stand there and do nothing."

"Your niece," Dithra repeated, then paused, her eyes never leaving mine. "Is she one of us?"

I thought for a moment, remembering the glow of Power I had seen within the child on that dark night in Georgia. "I believe so."

"Then why--" Dithra cut off, held herself silent until she regained control. "Why did you not tell me?" she finally asked through clenched teeth.

I looked at the seething elder dragon for several long seconds. Because it was none of your damned business, I was tempted to answer. Instead, "Dithra, you had just been deposed, and we were on the run when I discovered her. I did not want to drag her into our mess, especially when it looked as if we would not win," I replied at last.

"And since?" Dithra shot back.

"The subject never had a chance to surface," I replied evenly, "and we have not yet won this battle."

"Battle. Yes, it will indeed be a battle, young one; one that will be remembered for as long as dragons live," growled the Eldest, switching back to the original topic. "Why did you issue Challenge?"

"We were going to lose, Dithra; we both know that. Issuing a Challenge to Ahnkar was the only thing I could think of to do, short of declaring Blood Feud."

The ancient dragon stared at me. Then, finally, a hand lifted to rub wearily at her eyes, a grim chuckle forcing its way from within her. "Oh, Hasai. Young, young Hasai. Do you truly think that Ahnkar was the only one that you Challenged?"

I blinked at her, and suddenly the Eldest was right in my face. "The Challenge applies to all who hear it, you fool!" she raged. "Both the Council and all the clans were gathered at that place! You have Challenged not only the Council Eldest, but also every member of the Council and the Eldest of every single one of the clans!"

I stared at her, a small, sick feeling starting in the pit of my stomach. "Then, on the next dark of the moon. . . ."

"You fight them all!"

I opened my mouth, closed it again, then licked my lips. Finally, I said the only thing that I could think of for something like this.

"Oops."

Dithra looked at me for several moments more, then her gaze dropped and she turned away. "Hasai, please find our pilot," she asked, her voice weary beyond measure "We need to be away from this place, and I need . . . . And I very much need to not look upon you for some small while."