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to take dragon-form and jump on it from behind."
"And do what?" Kyrtian asked, aghast.
"How should I know?" she snapped. "He's decided that's what he's
going to do so we can get out the way your two mendid. He says he's going to
follow "
"Well I think I can drain that thing if he can get it immobi-lized "
Kyrtian began, and the crashing footsteps stopped.
Before Kyrtian could do anything, Shana rolled out from un-derneath
the construct and stood up."Hey!"she screamed,waving her arms this time."Hey!
Stupid! Over here!"
35
Barking his elbows on the stone floor in his haste to get out,Kyrtian
scrambled from under the construct just in time to see the monster turn
towards them.
It was not an encouraging sight. And it got rapidly worse.
Shana just stood there, waving her arms at it, and the two bright
spots far too much like glaring, angry eyes on itssquare, flat front panned
over the space between them and pinned her in a circle of white light.
His mouth went dry, and fear ran down his backbone like atrickle of
icy water. The thing emitted an angry whine, andlurched forward.
But before it had taken more than a single step, somethingmoved in
the darkness behind it, a shadowy form he barelymade out against the glare,
that wavered and surged upwards all in an instant and then lunged.
Keman!
Monster of flesh against monster of metal. The dragonlanded squarely
on the construct's back, claws shriekingagainst its sides. The monster's legs
buckled beneath the dragon's weight as Kyrtian stared in frozen fascination
And that was all he had time to see, as Shana grabbed his wrist and
wrenched him around, pulling at him."Run!" sheshouted, showing her heels as a
good example, and he didn'tneed a second invitation. The monster might be
encumbered, but it certainly wasn't defeated, and behind them the sounds of it
thrashing about and Keman's claws scrabbling to take hold were proof enough of
that.
Fear gave him a new burst of energy. They sprinted across the cave
floor with Shana slightly in the lead not because Kyrtian was playing the
gentleman, either. The girl must have
spent her childhood scrambling across rough ground like this; where
he stumbled, she skimmed over obstacles like a fright-ened deer.
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She must have a separate set of eyes in her feet.. . .
Behind them, crashes and earth-shuddering impacts testified that
Keman was still in the fight.Ancestors bless you, dragon.But get yourself out
of it as soon as we're clear!
She reached the ledge first and vaulted up onto it like an ex- pert
acrobat, turning just in time to offer her hand to help himscramble up beside
her. Her hand was hard and tough, with sur- prising strength in it.
Keman A quick glance over his shoulder showed him that the dragon
still clung tenaciously to the back of the construct-monster, and nothing the
monster could do was shaking him off.
He grabbed Shana's hand and hauled himself up beside her, turning
immediately to face the fight, hoping that Keman hadsomehow gotten clever
enough to outwit the thing.
And his heart leapt. Although the monster's "arms" flailed
desperately, it couldn't reach the dragon with them, and thosepincers were,
next to its feet and weight, its best weapons. Ke-man had his hind claws
lodged firmly all over the thing's backhalf, and his foreclaws clamped over
the front edge. Kyrtianfelt a smile as he saw what the dragon had done wisely,
he wasnot making any further offensive moves. Instead, he was content to let
the monster wreak further damage on itself as itblundered about, trying to
dislodge him. Keman had his tailcurled tightly between his legs and out of
harm's way, his wings folded tightly across his back, and his legs all tucked
inso that the construct couldn't scrape him off without first scrap- ing
protruding sections of itself off as well.
The lights on the front swiveled independently as it tried and failed
to illuminate the dragon on its back. It threw itself re-peatedly against the
walls, and bucked like a green horse, but couldn't get rid of him. It hadn't
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