Dragonseed by James Maxey Page A

times, it was considered a safe road, heavily trafficked by the king’s armies. Human villages were abundant along the Forge Road. The one nearest Dragon Forge was Mullton, a hamlet of two hundred souls, only ten miles distant. Jandra was in the lead as she and her companions approached the town. In the weeks before Hex had stolen her genie, her senses had been fine-tuned by the device, so she still had excellent night vision. A cloudy sky without a hint of stars hung over them. They’d ridden slowly for the last few hours; it was too dark to ride a horse at a gallop.
    They traveled in silence. Outside the walls of Dragon Forge they’d encountered the worst of the aftermath of the battle; week-old decaying corpses of sun-dragons, the stench of rot thick even though the cold snap of recent days had frozen the bodies. Lizard had clung to her tightly as they’d passed through the killing fields, trembling, from the cold or from fear she couldn’t guess.
    She’d half expected to find the town of Mullton razed by the retreating dragon armies. Thousands of earth-dragons and dozens of sun-dragons had fled in the aftermath of defeat. Burke had said there would be reprisals, earth-dragons attacking undefended human villages for revenge or banditry now that law and order had broken down. Yet, as they crested the top of the hill, she was relieved to see the village a few hundred yards away. Little stone cottages were interspersed with log cabins in a model of rustic serenity.
    She felt a tension she hadn’t been fully aware of until now pass from her body. She breathed a little easier to find this vision of peace so close to Dragon Forge. Except, as she took that easy, deep breath, she couldn’t help but taste rotting meat in the air, the same battlefield stench she thought they’d left behind. She noticed that there wasn’t a single light in the village. No candle, lantern, torch, or fireplace burned anywhere that she could spot. As they rode past the silent farm houses, no dogs barked as they caught the scent of strangers passing by.
    Anza quickened the pace of her horse and caught up to Jandra. She held the reins in one hand, in her other she held a drawn sword.
    Jandra asked, “Do you think—?”
    Anza brought her fingers to her lips and guided her horse into the lead. She sat tensely in the saddle, her head turning back and forth as she watched the shadows. They rode toward the center of town, toward a stone well. Behind the well was some sort of monument, like a small pyramid of piled round stones. As they drew closer, Jandra realized they weren’t stones.
    One by one the four riders drew up in a line, halting before the well. All eyes were fixed on what lay beyond—a neatly stacked pyramid of heads, mostly human, a few dogs. The eyes were all hollow—the ground was littered with the black feathers of buzzards.
    Vance was the first to speak. “I’ve been to Mullton once or twice. My village used to trade with them.” He paused, swallowing hard. “It’s… it’s only half a day’s ride from here.”
    Jandra noted that the heads were mostly women and children. All the adult men, no doubt, had been pressed into service by Ragnar for the invasion of Dragon Forge. His army had roamed the countryside, raiding villages, offering all men a choice: Join or die.
    “There was a girl here named Eula,” Vance said, softly. “She smiled at my brother Vinton last spring and he spent all summer thinking about her. I kept telling him he should ride up here and court her if he was that crazy about her.”
    “Guess he missed his chance,” said Shay.
    Jandra thought this was a particularly callous sentiment, but Vance didn’t seem to take offense. “Vinton died the night we took Dragon Forge. In the end, I guess it don’t matter if he’d talked to her or not.” He shook his head. “Looking at this, it’s hard to know. Did we do the right thing? Was taking Dragon Forge worth this price?”
    Shay said, “I was taken