Slowly, with the chain dragging loosely, non-threateningly at his side, Ashok took two steps toward the nightmare. The beast flicked his tail. Sparks showered the ground. They flared and singed the grass before going out.
Ashok took another step forward, without hesitation. He kept walking until he was almost close enough to touch the nightmare’s thick black chest. The reek of burning flesh clung to the beast like a shroud. It dipped its head, releasing a cloud of steam that Ashok did touch, his fingers caressing the phantom heat. He blew a breath of his own into the nightmare’s face, letting him take in his scent. He stood still while the nightmare’s nostrils flared, and the beast tossed his head, whether in apathy or disgust Ashok couldn’t say.
More breaths passed, and Ashok stretched out a hand tentatively.
The nightmare snapped at him, its wicked teeth sinking into Ashok’s flesh. Ashok tore his hand away, but that only made the wound worse.
Ashok immediately backed off, clutching his hand, which had a large chunk of flesh torn out of the heel. Blood spattered the ground.
“Are you all right?” Chanoch called out to him.
Ashok could see the warriors were tense, their bodies half hanging over the fence, prepared to strike. But the nightmare seemed in no danger of charging or lashing out again. It stood as sedately as before, and Ashok thought he read a smug expression in the beast’s eyes.
“I’m fine,” he assured them. He smiled darkly at the nightmare. “You were just greeting me, weren’t you?”
The nightmare snorted. Ashok tore a bit of his sleeve and wrapped it quickly around his hand to staunch the bleeding. The wound would need to be tended, that was certain, but he wasn’t surrendering the field.
He stalked forward, boldly entering the nightmare’s space, and put his entire body within striking distance of those teeth and deadly hooves. He reached his bloodied hand out again.
As before, the nightmare struck, faster than Ashok’s eyes could track. But he’d been expecting the snap, and instead of recoiling he jerked his other hand up-the hand that held the chain.
In a swift motion he encircled the beast’s neck twice with the chain, the leather-covered spikes snarling with mane and flesh in a rough lasso. Ashok dropped to his knees to try to avoid the gnashing teeth, but the nightmare caught his shoulder, ripping apart the bone scales of his breastplate.
Ashok fell forward against the beast’s legs and instantly felt the fetlocks burning him. The flames surged up around him as if he’d sat in a campfire. He would burn alive if he didn’t move.
Throwing himself backward, Ashok rolled to put out the flames that had sprung up along his cloak and shirt. The nightmare, to Ashok’s relief, did not pursue him, but bucked and jumped, his four legs leaving the ground. He tossed his head madly, trying to dislodge the wicked chain.
Flame roared from the beast’s mane, consuming the metal. The leather burned away to blackened scraps, exposing the sharp spikes. The barbs dug into the nightmare’s flesh, and the beast let out another scream of pure rage and frustration.
“The fire won’t get you what you want,” Ashok said. He lunged and grabbed the dangling end of the chain. A mistake.
The nightmare reared and yanked Ashok up to his toes. Ashok tried to dig in, but his palms were slick with sweat from the fire. The chain slipped out of his hands.
Free, the nightmare barreled forward, knocking Ashok to the ground with a blow from his chest. The chain swung above Ashok’s head. He grabbed for the end, but the nightmare pulled it out of reach. The beast reared up again to strike at Ashok with his hooves.
Ashok rolled away over the hard ground. His world spun, but he kept his body moving until it fetched up against an obstruction.
He looked up to see Skagi gazing down at him in amusement. For a breath, Ashok was confused. The shadar-kai was on the wrong side of the fence. Then he looked around and saw that the others had entered the paddock.
The nightmare, pursuing Ashok, came up short when he saw the other shadar-kai had closed in. The beast snuffed a breath and turned a defensive circle, still dragging Ashok’s chain.
“He turned you crispy yet?” Skagi asked.
Ashok coughed. His chest burned where the nightmare had struck him. “Not yet,” he replied.
Skagi helped him to his feet. “Maybe that’s enough for one day,” he said seriously. “You don’t have to break him on your first try.”
Ashok watched the chain snag and drag through the dead grass. Skagi was right. He was still trying to establish dominance, something he’d told Vedoran he would not do.
He walked forward, weaponless, aware of his companions looking on in trepidation. He motioned them back.
For a third time, he approached within striking range of the hooves and teeth. He held out his hands, one bloodied, the other creased with blisters and scratches from trying to chain the beast. He stared the nightmare in the eyes.
“Your choice,” he murmured. “We’ll fight, and one of us will die, if that’s what you want. But maybe I have something more to offer you.”
At first the nightmare stood frozen, his tail swishing back and forth in time with the chain around his neck. The beast’s flaming mane glowed brightly.
Suddenly the beast lunged. He came toward Ashok.
And Ashok stood perfectly still.
He was prepared to dodge at the last possible moment, but the nightmare stopped his charge before he could run Ashok down. The crimson eyes were so close. Ashok smelled his own blood on the nightmare’s breath. He waited for the scream, but silence reigned in the paddock.
“That’s it,” Ashok whispered. The nightmare blew steam on his face. He shivered. “You’re interested in me now, aren’t you?” Ashok asked.
The nightmare jerked his head back, the chain swinging, but the fire ceased to flare from the beast’s mane. The flames softened and died out, leaving black strands. The beast pranced in place, agitated, but Ashok had expected nothing less. He would never be fully tamed.
Ashok reached up and took hold of his chain. The nightmare threw his head from side to side, but Ashok ignored the fury and untangled the spikes and ruined leather from the beast’s mane. The hair strands were still hot.
Then it was done. The chain fell to the ground, but Ashok kept his hands at the nightmare’s neck, stroking his flesh in small circles. His scent went into each stroke. Ashok spent long breaths running his hands up and down the nightmare’s neck before he moved on to its flank.
The creature was dense and so tall-fifteen hands at least, Ashok surmised. His muscles were a wonder. A beast like that had no need for fire, when with one kick he could cave in a man’s chest.
Ashok ran his hands under the nightmare’s mane. The heat radiating there was intense. He pulled his hands back, half expecting them to be black, but they weren’t. His skin was red and slick with sweat.
“You’re calm now,” Ashok said, and threaded the mane through the fingers of his left hand. “But what will you think when I do this?”
He hoisted himself up and swung a leg over the nightmare’s body.
All around the paddock came audible gasps from the watching shadar-kai. Ashok didn’t look at them, refused to reassure them. Let them think he was crazy.
Beneath him, the nightmare quivered, every muscle in the beast’s body resisting the thing that dared to sit on his back. Ashok knew exactly what the beast felt, struggling against his nature, fighting to maintain control. He reached out to stroke the nightmare’s neck, exposing his chest to the hot mane.
“No reins,” Ashok said. “No chains. You can burn me anytime you want. You still have a choice.”
Ashok knew the beast didn’t understand his words, but he thought the nightmare could read his intentions.
Across the paddock, Skagi whistled. “I’d never have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes,” he said in bemused admiration. “Assuming it doesn’t burn you to ashes, you may have made a new friend.”