"Kill it, Sigmund!" She cursed herself for saying it, but she
297
knew the demons were going to erupt. Perhaps their only chance of stopping the demons was to kill the dragon host, which was going to die anyway. "Be quick!"
Nidintulugal, covered with blood, pushed Sigmund aside. "I will do it." The knife in his hand flashed once across the baby dragon's throat. The priest and Shilo watched as the writhing in the dragon's stomach slowed, then finally stopped.
Behind them, Sigmund and Kim kept stomping. They were making a game of it and trying to keep score.
"Do you think it's over?" Shilo looked at Nidintulugal. She hoped all the blood on him belonged to the demons and the man he killed, and wasn't his own. She felt blood on herself, too, and saw that Kim and Sigmund were splattered.
"I do not know if it is over, Shilo. Must we break open this one, too, and kill the dragon inside?" He pointed to the last intact egg.
"I don't want to. I hope not. The spell is off it. So let's just get it out of here, put it on the cart, and get it out of Babylon."
"The other egg's by the back door," Kim said. "I left it there, just like you told me. Oh . . . was that a person?" The boy stared at the Hand of Nebuchadnezzar's stiff clothes.
"Oh." Shilo felt weak and rocked back against the blood-drenched nest.
Only the hardened robe and scarf remained of Arshaka. All trace of the man was gone.
"The demons must have swarmed him."
"And feasted well, Shilo," Nidintulugal said.
"Ewwww," Kim said.
"Let's get the hell out of here." This came from Sigmund.
The floor was covered with a red pulpy mass that had been the demons. Shilo slogged through it to make sure none were still alive. She bent and searched through the goop around the base of Arshaka's robe, coming up with eight gold, bejeweled rings and a thick gold bracelet. She put them all in her pocket.
Then she touched the stiff robe and willed it soft again, ripped it in half and passed one section to Nidintulugal.
"To wrap that egg in," she told him. "Don't need the common folk seeing it." She gave the other piece to Kim. "For the egg by the door."
Then she sloshed toward Sigmund and put her arms around him and hugged him tight. He returned the embrace, neither talking for a few moments.
'Yeah, let's get the heck out of here," she said.
31The Dragon Mage
THEY HAD LITTLE TROUBLE GETTING OUT OF THE CITY. SHILO used Arshaka's smallest ring to trade for a change of clothes for each of them and for a bag full of nuts, which she used to color Sigmund, Kim, and herself. She used her magic to strengthen the cart, and to smooth the wheels so they might travel faster, and she gave up Arshaka's bracelet for a small crate of food and a big jug of goat's milk—all of them were terribly hungry and thirsty.
They ate along the road, Kim and Nidintulugal walking on either side of the ox, leading it. Only once did they go off the road—this when they heard voices ahead. They hid in the tall grass until a dozen men passed, led by Ekurzakir. From the conversations, Shilo could tell they'd been looking for her and the priest, and that the Hand of the Hand was terribly angry.
For most of the rest of the way, Shilo and Sigmund walked behind the cart, chatting endlessly about Georgia and baseball, Neil Diamond songs, and history. It was like they were old friends.
"So where do you live in Georgia?" Sigmund finally asked.
"I used to live in Marietta." There was a touch of sadness in her voice. "I loved it there. I really loved my father. Now I live in Wisconsin with my grandparents. They're good people."
Sigmund dug the ball of his foot into the ground. "Wisconsin. Ugh. From time to time my folks talk about moving there. Cows and snow." He let a silence settle between them, before he added: "Wisconsin, huh? Maybe I'll see you there sometime."
They swung wide around the village of Ibinghal, fearing that a guard or two had been left behind to look for them. Then they hid the ox and cart in the foothills and carefully carried the eggs up to Ulbanu's cave.
Shilo marveled that the egg she toted felt just about as heavy as that bolt of cloth.
The dragon was pleased to see them. And Sigmund and Kim were awed in Ulbanu's presence to the point their knees shook.
"My dragon . . . Fafnir . . . was not near so big as this," Sigmund said. His voice cracked, and he leaned back against Shilo for support. "Wow. Double wow."
"Triple wow," Kim added. "Everything in the world was worth seeing this. All the hurting and the demon-killing. It was all worth it."
Ulbanu wrapped her tail around the eggs and pulled them close to her.
"Are they—" Shilo didn't quite know how to phrase the question.
"The dragons inside the eggs live. No demons beat in their hearts. They are but a few days from hatching. And they owe their lives to you." Ulbanu purred. "I shall name them Sigmund and Shilo."
"Neato-keeno," Sigmund gushed. "I'd like to stick around and see them hatch, but I better be getting back. My mom'll be worrying."
"Mine, too," Kim added. "Four times wow."
"But maybe we'll come back sometime," Sigmund said. "If you don't mind."
Ulbanu let out a breath, warm and dry, sounding like sand being blown by a strong wind. It fluttered their robes and threw their hoods back. "I would relish your company, Kim, Sigurd Clawhand."
"Neato-keeno," he repeated, raising his hand and waving. "Be seeing you then."
"Wait a minute." Shilo grabbed him. "The dragon has to do something to send you back, to send all of us back!"
"Nah," Sigmund said. "Artie . . . Arshaka . . . the Hand of Nebuchadnezzar, he forgot how to use the magic. I figure he stayed here too long, didn't travel enough, was too far from the puzzle. See, there's this puzzle that's a magical focus. Anyway, Artie just forgot how. But me and Kim, we just learned it. So it's still fresh." He gave her a wide smile. "So I'll be seeing you, Shilo. Hey, if I ever have any kids, I'll name one of em after you . . . just like Ulbanu's doing."
He started to fade. Kim, too.
"I love you, Sigmund . . . Sigurd Clawhand." She prayed he heard her before he completely disappeared. Shilo stared at the empty space for several minutes, listening to herself breathe and the dragon purr.
"So they could travel on their own." She raised her gaze to stare into one of the dragon's massive eyes. "Did they come here on their own?"
"I did not bring them. I merely asked if they would help."
"And me?"
"You do not need me to send you home, Shilo."
Shilo's face reddened.
She intended to berate Ulbanu for implying that the dragon would send her back, that she couldn't get back on her own. And that for the dragon to do the sending, Shilo would have to retrieve the eggs. There were a dozen mean things that flitted through her mind. But she dismissed one after the next, dominoes in a line she knocked down.
The dragon wanted her eggs saved, and wanted dragonkind helped—so any deception could be forgiven. In the process, Shilo stopped a wave of demons and found three kinds of courage.
"So I can get home on my own, Ulbanu?"
"You always could. It is inside of you, the magic. You only need to look for it." The rumbling of the dragon's voice sent pleasant vibrations against the bottoms of Shilo's feet.
"I guess you're right," Shilo said. "I can feel it, the magic." She reached into her pocket and pulled out seven of the heavy rings she'd retrieved from Arshaka. She pressed them into Ni-dintulugal's hand. "Nidin, these ought to be worth a lot around here."
He looked at them and felt their weight. "Worth a great deal, Shilo."
"What are you going to do?" She looked up into Nidintulu-gal's eyes. "Not going back to the Temple of Shamash, are you?"
He shook his head. "I do not know—"
"I would wish him to stay here," Ulbanu said.
Nidintulugal and Shilo turned to again face the dragon.
"There is magic in you, Nidintulugal of Shamas
h. More even than in Shilo and the one called Sisurd Clawhand. You have felt it before. It drew you to follow her the first time to my cave. And it compelled you to help her and to fight the demons."
Nidintulugal didn't say anything; he just kept staring. Shilo noticed a sheen of sweat forming on his face.
"I can teach you, Nidintulugal of Shamash. And in exchange you can help me raise my young. Together, we will watch for demons."
"A mage," he finally said. "Myself, a mage?"
"A dragon mage," Shilo said. She stood on her toes and kissed his cheek. "A real hero."
Nidintulugal blushed and opened his mouth to say something. Shilo put her finger to his lips. "More powerful than me and my father. You'll do Babylon proud, Nidin." She paused. "And I might come back to check up on you ... if I get the hang of this time-and-space traveling."
"We both would welcome you, Child of Sigurd."
Shilo smiled wide.
She liked the sound of that title.
SHE WOKE ON THE FLOOR OF HER BEDROOM, HEAD ON THE puzzle she'd assembled. The image she'd slept on was of a singular dragon, one cobbled together from the pieces of the gold and silver dragons depicted on the lid of the puzzle box. She touched the dragon with her fingertips and concentrated. All the pieces fused together and the surface smoothed and sparkled.
"I think I will come back for a visit, Ulbanu," she said. "Provided this all was real."
"Shy . . ." It was her grandmother standing outside her door, gently tapping. "I'm going to open early this morning. Hurry with your shower and come down for breakfast."
Shilo looked to her window. Sunlight streamed in.
Was it possible?
Had she really journeyed to Babylon and spent days there while only hours passed here?
She had fused the puzzle.
The back of her hand was tanned, as was her arm, though it was streaked a little. The dye from the nuts! The bottoms of her feet were scarred and calloused. And she reeked!
"I was in Babylon." She stood and padded to the window, looked out just as Big Mick was putting up a sign advertising Wisconsin cheese soup.
"I'm not in Hades anymore," she said. A look back at the fused puzzle, still sparkling.
Maybe she ought to have it framed.
During her lunch break she intended to visit the attic, to look at some of her dad's things and to check out the clay bowls she'd spotted. She wanted to make sure they were the good version of demon bowls—she was pretty sure that they were. Maybe her father had made a few more trips back to Babylon, and they were souvenirs he'd brought home. And then there was the matter of those rabbit ears. She'd test her magic and see if she could manipulate them to give her grandparents better reception.
But she'd have to be careful with her magic.
"Shy ..."
"Coming, Meemaw." Softer: "Such a tale I will tell you today. And when I'm done, you 11 think that if I had Pinocchio's nose, it would stretch all the way across the street and to the front door of Big Mick's Pub.'
Andre Norton, Dragon Mage
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