The dragons were silent. "Good, I see you've agreed to my contest. You will be fighting a storm giant. He's a crafty old fel shy;low named Comenus who has been a thorn in my side for too many centuries. Seeing how two mighty black dragons pitted against a lone giant isn't much of a contest, I've decided you'll fight not as dragons but as serpents. Feathery serpents, I think, for variety."
As he spoke, the beast traced a glowing symbol in the air with a yellowed fingernail. The completed symbol hung before them, and Fraz positioned his talon beneath it as if bal shy;ancing the glyph. A puff of breath started the device spinning and spitting tiny sparks. Suddenly, with a flick of Fraz's finger, the sigil split in two and flashed across the bubble to burn into Khisanth and Pteros. Color swam before Khisanth's eyes.
When her vision cleared, she saw, where Pteros had been, a snake with wings. His body was all black, with two large wings that had red spots at the base. He resembled a mon shy;strous, serpentine blackbird, like those Khisanth had seen so many times in the swamp. Glancing down, Khisanth saw that she looked the same.
The dragon despised being compared to a snake. She squeezed her eyes shut and willed patience, but it alluded her. The infuriated dragon tried to belch murderous acid from her stomach to blanket and obliterate Fraz, but all that came forth was a weak growl. Instead of being angry, Fraz seemed tremendously amused, laughing out loud at Khisanth's feeble effort to attack. "No! No! Please don't burp on me, oh mighty dragon," he mocked. In a blink, he turned deadly serious. "That is all your acid is to me."
Fraz abruptly opened his mouth, far wider than it should have been able to go, wider than his jaws could allow, and then wider still, until his maw was twice the size of his head. He exhaled, filling the elemental bubble with heat and stench.
But a swirling cloud appeared before Fraz. His mouth returned to normal and closed. "Move forward to see what I am showing you," he commanded. The dragon-snakes moved up reluctantly as the mixing colors formed shapes and pic shy;tures. A huge man, with light green skin and dark green hair, dressed in a flowing tunic, sat in a titanic chair. A massive sword rested across his knees. "This is your foe, Comenus. Concentrate on this place you are seeing, and whichever direc shy;tion you travel, you will arrive there. Remember this place. Proceed straightaway to Comenus. He's expecting you." The image, as well as Fraz, dissolved into a swirling cone of colors, but the undulating laughter echoed in the bubble for moments afterward.
Khisanth searched her mind for some qhen advice of Kada-gan's. What she fixed on was not qhen at all, but the reason Kadagan had given her for choosing her as the instrument of Dela's rescue:
"Dragons and humans have long been enemies, and the enemy of my enemy is my friend."
"We need to find Comenus."
"You, a snake, are planning to fight a storm giant?"
"I'm not staying here forever." Khisanth didn't care whether Pteros followed her or stayed behind. All his tales of heroism aside, he was proving to be nothing more than a tired, timid old creature.
"How will you find him?"
"By concentrating on him, as Fraz said."
"Wait for me!" she heard Pteros call, more afraid to be left alone than to follow.
Khisanth darted through the bubble and into the seething tumult beyond. Once removed from the protection of the pocket of elemental air, the two snakes were buffeted like leaves in the wind. Moving in a continuous direction took tremendous effort. Khisanth had no idea where she was going, but she concentrated on the image of Comenus. After much fluttering, she spotted something approaching through the seething clouds and flashing lightning. She slowed down to get a good look. Pteros winged up alongside.
The approaching object was becoming more distinct through the turbulence. Comenus. The storm giant was enor shy;mous, far larger than Fraz's image had made him look. The giant would have been much taller than Khisanth, and nearly as massive, even in her natural form. His skin was pale green, his beard and hair a darker shade of the same color. A narrow jeweled crown circled his brow. Across his shoulders was draped a tunic of silk and spun gold, while tores of gold and electrum circled his biceps.
Comenus sat on a throne that appeared to be made of dark clouds shot through with lightning. Lying across his lap was a sword half as long as Khisanth's body. Propped against the back of the throne was a bow as thick as a tree, with arrows like lances. The throne was propelled through the air by some invisible means, like everything else in this realm. As the chair approached the two snakes, it, too, slowed then stopped, a mere fifty or so paces away.
Khisanth had hoped to find Comenus in another elemental sphere so she could talk to him. Out here, in the deafening
thunder, she could not hope to communicate with the giant. As if in response to her thought, the thunder died away, the lightning stopped flashing. Even the wind dropped. It made sense, Khisanth guessed, that a storm giant would have con shy;trol over the elements.
After he had silenced the storm, Khisanth expected Comenus to address her, but he sat impassively. So Khisanth broke the silence. "You must be the storm giant, Comenus."
Instantly the giant was on his feet, shouting in a voice that outdid the thunder, "Fraz has sent you to slay me!" The sword floated at his side within easy reach while he snatched the bow from its rest. An arrow disappeared from the quiver and reap shy;peared nocked on the bow. When the giant drew the enor shy;mous bow, it sounded like a tree crashing in the forest. Khisanth was shocked that a creature so large could move so quickly. She and Pteros scrambled away from the enraged titan, but not fast enough.
The shot cracked like thunder. The arrow rushed past Pteros, its steel tip missing him by a hand's breadth, but its immense feather fletchings grazed his wing. The impact spun the snake-dragon around in a spray of blood from the lacer shy;ated wing. Pteros flew back, nursing his wound.
The giant touched the bowstring a second time, and another arrow jumped from the quiver to the bow. As he drew it to his shoulder, Khisanth called, "We don't want to kill you. What could two tiny snakes hope to do to a storm giant? We only want to talk!"
The giant's bow was still poised and ready to fire at Khi shy;santh. Even though she was minuscule next to the giant, Khi shy;santh doubted Comenus would miss at such short range.
"You're right, Comenus. Fraz sent us to fight you. But we are not his allies. First, Fraz slew the elemental that could send us back to our home plane. Then he changed us from dragons into these ridiculous snake things. The last thing we want is to see his wish fulfilled."
The gianf s expression was blank. "It would be faster for me to simply kill you." He loosed his arrow. It streaked straight toward Khisanth. There was no time to think, but her reflexes were still those of a black dragon in her prime. The snake body twisted aside, stretching to get out of the huge arrow's path. The iron tip, razor sharp and spinning through the blue air, sliced through Khisanth's tiny right wing at the first joint. She watched in mixed horror and fury as two-thirds of her wing tumbled away. In spasmodic flight, she barely managed to land on the storm-giant's cloud.
Comenus set aside his bow and grasped his sword. As he extended the weapon, there was a burst of smoke. Abruptly Fraz appeared in front of the giant, facing Khisanth. The giant froze in place, as if time had stopped.
"You've lost," the ape-creature said, then wagged a hideous finger. "Tsk, tsk. You tried to betray me. Still, you did come." Fraz looked suddenly sorrowful. "I know what. I'll send just one of you back to the Prime Material. But which one?"