"Why do they work for you?" Onyx asked. She watched the wiry Toba strike a violet-colored ogre with a club. The creature dug marginally faster, a vicious snarl erupting through its pointy green teeth.
"I killed their chieftain." Led took a long pull on a wine shy;skin that hung from a frayed string on his right shoulder. "They hated him," he continued, wiping his mouth on the back of his fringed leather sleeve. "Blogrut was even greedier than most ogres, driving them hard, feeding them little, and giving them less than nothing of what meager booty they managed to find.
"We make sure that they're fed regularly, and that each of them gets some bit of treasure now and then, even if it's just a shiny button." He ducked his head through the wineskin string and handed the leather bag to Onyx. "They're as loyal as any human troops, so Toba and I sleep in shifts."
Within minutes the ogres had scraped out fire pits, gathered wood, and started several fires: large ones for warmth and a smaller one for cooking.
Led pulled some thick blankets from his saddle pack and tossed one to Onyx. "Unless you can sleep through an ogre's snoring, you'll want to bunk down here by my fire." He dropped his blanket and settled to the ground, leaning against the soft bundle. As Onyx did the same, Toba stepped up with three steaming platters of brown stew.
They ate the same way they traveled, in silence. Onyx smiled at the irony of sharing bread and meat with these people she might shortly have to kill.
"What's funny?" asked Led, mopping up the last of his plate with a lump of hard bread.
"Nothing," Onyx lied. "If s good to be out of town."
"You prefer the open spaces? Me, too," Led replied.
Onyx felt suddenly talkative, though she wasn't sure why. "It isn't the buildings I mind," she explained. "If s the people. I feel uncomfortable surrounded by strangers. I have to watch what I do and say too closely. I like more freedom."
Obviously bored with such prattle, Toba gathered up the platters and strode back to the cooking fire. Watching him go, Onyx wondered if the nyphids were also watching. She wished she knew enough about the maynus to use it to contact them. If nothing else, she suspected Joad could confirm whether Dela was in the wagon.
Led slid over next to Onyx, their elbows touching. She stole a glance at his profile; a brown weed was clamped between his white, even teeth. She had never been so close to another crea shy;ture without killing it. Led exuded some unfamiliar, inviting scent that made her want to lean in and smell his skin. The impulse brought her nose halfway to his neck before her new human senses jerked her back. Led gave her a curious glance. Then, to her surprise, he reached up with a gloved hand and swept a strand of hair from her forehead.
Led pulled the weed from his lips. "What's that in your hands?" he asked, looking at the two stones she was shuffling between her fingers.
"These?" she looked down. "I found them along the trail and thought they looked interesting."
"Let me see." Taking them from her dark fingers, Led tipped the stones toward the firelight. One was pure black, with alternating bands of slightly lighter hues. "Hmm," he said. "This big egg-shaped one is onyx."
"Really?" She reached out eagerly to take the stone back.
Led yanked his hand away and smiled. "I think I'll keep it, if you don't mind. To remind me of you."
Onyx looked intently into his face. Behind his grin, the human was deadly serious. Her heart thrummed wildly. They fell into an awkward silence and stared into the fire, listening to the sounds of night.
"We haven't really discussed what I need from you," he mumbled without looking at her.
Onyx jumped. "What are you talking about?"
"I was asking what protection your spells could provide." His green eyes twinkled with amusement. "What did you think I was talking about?"
"I… didn't hear you," she muttered. Led saw her red face, and he smiled. "Is it your goal to be a bounty hunter all your life?" she asked, hoping to change the subject.
Led chuckled. "Actually, I'm a jack-of-all-trades. My first 'goal,' if you will, is to wake up every day with all my parts intact." He turned deadly serious. "My second is to be filthy rich. The package in the wagon is going to ensure that."
"It must be very valuable."
Led snorted. "You wouldn't believe whaf s in-" He looked anxiously over his shoulder to the other fire pit, where Toba watched the slumbering ogres. "Never mind."
He spit the weed from his teeth. "I've been thinking about what I'll do afterward. You mentioned dragons before." Led relit his pipe and squinted at her through the pungent haze. "Have you heard about the armies gathering in the south?"
Onyx leaned forward. "Armies?"
"I've heard, like you, that dragons have returned to the world. If they have, and nobody seems to know for sure, some people say there's going to be a war. A big war, with dragons on one side and who knows what on the other; probably the Knights of Solamnia, anyway. In a war like that, mere's lots of opportunity for someone with brains. And if dragons are everything the stories say they are, I know which side I'd want to be on."
"So why haven't you joined them already?"
"I've been a grunt before, like them." He jerked a thumb at the ogres. "I'll never go back to it. Besides, everything's changed now that I've met you."
"I don't understand."
Led looked at her closely. "With my experience and know-how and your magic, we could lead such an army."
"Tell me more about dragons," she said, her back stiff despite her efforts to look indifferent.
"Rumor says that the core of this army and its greatest strength are the human generals who ride dragons into battle."
"Are you saying these dragons not only allow humans to sit on their backs, but they follow the directions of such obviously inferior creatures?"
Led gave a startled laugh. "Thafs an odd way of putting it. Dragons may be smart for animals, Onyx, but they're still just beasts. They're not civilized; they have no culture or society like humans; they live in the wild like animals."
"How do you know this? Have you ever seen a dragon?" she asked in a clipped tone.
Led fell back against the blanket roll with a snort. "I don't have to. If they were even half as smart as humans, why would they have agreed to go away for thousands of years?"
"Those dragons who were banished had no choice but to go underground-they were ordered by their goddess, Takhisis," she said a bit defensively.
"Some goddess," he laughed, then leaned forward again with interest. "That name sounds vaguely familiar. Wasn't she one of the old gods of evil that the Seekers talk about?"
"Seekers?"
"Boy, where have you been?" he cried. "Seekers are the cler shy;ics of the religion that's risen since the Cataclysm to take the place of the old, false gods who caused that catastrophe. Like this Takhisis."
It was Onyx's turn to give a bitter laugh. "Let me assure you, Takhisis is not a false god." Onyx locked her arms around her knees and considered how much she wanted to reveal to Led. "Do these 'Seeker clerics' possess magical skills, which only a god can grant?"
"I don't think so.. .." he answered. "That's why no one believes in magic anymore--" His voice trailed off. But Onyx
could do magic. In the awkward silence, they both considered
the implications of the odd conversation.
"So, are you interested?" Led asked at last. "In joining the army with me, that is?" he added quickly with a suggestion of a light-hearted smirk.