"Poor Meshach," she said, as Jazz's memories flashed the men's names into her mind. These were survivors of the goddess's long-wyrm riders. The wounded one was Meshach, the one with the thick black beard was Shadrach, and the last one, a short, balding man with a unibrow, was named Guido.
Shay sat up, stretching his arms. "Good morning," he said, his voice low and hoarse. "Waking up next to you is like waking up in heaven." He looked up, following her gaze. "Okay," he said. "Even this close to heaven, I didn't expect angels."
The winged men halted about fifty yards away, hovering in the air. Jandra vaguely remembered that the wings didn't need to flap to keep the men airborne. It was the sort of memory that might prove useful, yet, as often happened whenever she tried to actively access Jazz's memories, the details faded away before she could grasp them.
"Hide," she said to Lizard.
Lizard crept away, low to the ground, slithering into pool with barely a ripple.
Shadrach, the highest ranking of the three guards, called out, "Intruders! You've violated the sanctity of the sanctuary of the goddess! The punishment is death!"
"Wait!" said Jandra. "You must know your goddess is dead! We're not violating the sanctity of anyone. There's no need for us to fight."
"She's right!" Meshach, the wounded one, snarled. "I told you the goddess was dead. Look around, Shadrach! The evidence is before your eyes!"
"Silence!" Shadrach snapped. "I'll bash in the other side of your face if you don't still your blasphemous tongue."
"But Shadrach," said Guido. "What if it's true? We don't need to follow the codes no more. We can make our own rules."
"We will obey the commandments!" Shadrach shouted. "Intruders are to be killed, not molested!"
"What if we just molested her a little?" said Guido. "We can kill her after we're done."
Shadrach spun around in the air, delivering a savage kick to Meshach's guts. Meshach doubled over, clutching his stomach.
"Guido suggested it!" Meshach whined.
"You were closer, and you were thinking it too," said Shadrach, completing his spin, halting as he faced Shay and Jandra once more. "Now, kill them!"
Shadrach lifted his crossbow. Guido did the same, though he didn't look happy about it. Meshach was still clutching his stomach. He looked a bit greenish.
Jandra flapped the blanket, jumping up as the crossbows rang out in simultaneous twangs. The crossbow bolt fired by Shadrach punched through the blanket, passed a few inches to the left of Jandra's belly, and buried itself in her backpack. The bolt fired by Guido was better aimed. It tore into Shay's left thigh, right on the inner edge of the skin a few inches above his knee. Shay's mouth opened as if to scream, but no sound came out. Jandra quickly analyzed the wound. The bolt had only cut the surface. His muscles looked uninjured, which was confirmed when he sprang to his feet.
Jandra dropped the blanket and dove toward the shotgun.
"Sweet goddess! She's naked!" Guido shouted. "Shadrach, you've got to-"
"Shut up!" said Shadrach, swinging out with the butt of his crossbow, smashing it into Guido's nose.
Guido did a loop in the air in response to the blow. He dropped down toward the saline lake, catching himself only five feet above the surface, with a massive down-flap of his silver wings that sent waves rolling toward the shore.
"Bastard!" Guido growled.
"The goddess is dead!" Meshach screamed, spraying spittle from his flapping lower lip. He was now the only guard with a loaded crossbow. He turned the weapon toward Shadrach. "I'll do as I please! There is no law!"
He fired, the crossbow bolt passing neatly through Shadrach's neck. The bearded man's eyes rolled up in his head as he tilted in the air. His body went limp, and his wings did as well. He plummeted toward the rocky shore, landing with a wet slap on the black beach.
"The woman is ours!" Meshach screamed, casting his one leering eye toward Jandra.
Jandra finished stuffing the shot bag down the gun barrel and pulled the ram rod free, dropping it onto the blanket at her feet. She took aim at Meshach. "I think I should have a say in this," she said, then pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. Oh, right. The safety.
Meshach dropped his crossbow and zoomed toward her, his arms open, on a trajectory to tackle her and carry her back into the sky. She fumbled to release the safety, but somehow her finger couldn't quite find it. Guido was now racing toward her as well, coming in low, skimming along only a few feet above the ground.
Suddenly, Lizard shot out of the pool, his claws extended, his jaws open wide, flying like an angry green bobcat into Meshach's path. Meshach's already tortured face collided with a smack into the little dragon's belly. Lizard's claws snapped around the flying man's head like a mechanical trap. Meshach zoomed skyward, shrieking. Jandra tracked him with the shotgun, her finger finally on the safety. There was no way she could be certain she wouldn't hit Lizard as she fired. She lowered her gun to target Guido, but here, too, her aim was blocked. Shay jumped into the path of the on-rushing guardsmen. The short, winged man smacked into Shay's lanky, naked form at the knees, flipping him into the air. The impact was enough to knock Guido off course. He smashed face-first into the rocky beach, tumbling head over heel before coming to a splashing halt in the pool. He lay limp, his head underwater.
Meshach, still under assault by Lizard, had flown back out over the water. He was about thirty yards off shore, his toes grazing the surface of the salt lake, as if he were dancing upon it. He had both hands on Lizard, trying to pull him off. Lizard had his turtle-like beak clamped down in a death-grip on the man's right eyebrow, and both his fore-claws buried into the scalp behind Meshach's ears. Meshach released a string of loud, incoherent yelps that might have been curse words.
Shay rose on his hands and knees following his collision. He shook his head. Except for the blood trickling from his bolt-wound, he looked okay. Jandra ran toward the shore, worried about what would happen to Lizard if Meshach flew further away.
Meshach gave a blood-curdling shriek as he finally tugged the little dragon away from his face, throwing him toward the water below. Lizard left a trail of blood as he fell. Meshach's face bled from countless wounds.
Jandra raised her shotgun. As she sighted down the barrel, her eyes were drawn to something odd. The once flat surface of the lake was mounding up behind Meshach, a moving hump of water almost a yard tall rolling toward his dangling legs.
Jandra almost shouted a warning-almost. The hump of water suddenly shot into the air, splitting open into a pair of toothy jaws that clamped around Meshach's legs. As quickly as it had appeared, the ichthyosaur plunged back down into the water, taking Meshach's legs and hips with it, leaving the guard's remains floating in the air, a winged torso from which entrails slowly spilled.
Meshach looked down, his face growing pale beneath the bloody wounds that crisscrossed it. He gave a breathless sigh and fell into the water with a splash.
Jandra stood on the shore, feeling a chill that ran all the way down to her bones.
"Lizard!" she yelled, lowering her gun. "Lizard!"
Meshach's winged corpse bobbed upon the waves. Aside from this, there was no sign of motion. She turned back toward Shay. He was in the pool, crouched over Guido. It looked as if he was making sure the guard's head stayed beneath the water.
"Lizard didn't come up for air!" she shouted.
Shay looked up, his eyes scanning the waves.
"He can hold his breath for a long time," said Shay. "You saw him in the pool."
"There's an ichthyo…" he wasn't going to know what she was talking about, "a sea monster out there!"
"A what?"
"It's a great big ocean-dwelling reptile! It can swallow Lizard whole!"