Hunting of the Last Dragon by Sherryl Jordan Page A

beast, and what is the perfect weapon.”
    A chill came over me, like a fear. I glanced at Lizzie. She was watching me. There was a curious look on her face, as if she had heard all this before, and now wanted to know my response to the matter. I returned my gaze to Lan. She no longer sewed, but looked across the room at me, her eyes burning in the gloom.
    â€œJude of Doran, it was fate brought you here to me,” she said. “And fate brought Jing-wei with you. For the weapon I have is something Jing-wei understands well, though you have never heard of it. And the willto win—well, who better to crave the dragon dead than yourself, since it destroyed everything you loved?”
    I said nothing, but a coldness clamped across my heart, and I was sure the devil was lurking in that place.
    Lan went on: “The dragon must be stopped, Jude. It will go on destroying, until all that is left is a land scorched bare, cities and villages laid waste, and corpses all consumed by flame. And if any folk survive, with burned crops and razed homes and unspeakable wounds, then they will be in such torment that they will beg the Almighty to send the plague, for even that will be a blessed relief.
    â€œI know this, Jude, as sure as I know the sun will rise tomorrow morn. Dragons, once they have tasted human flesh, become twisted in their minds, and must be destroyed. No one else will carry out that task; the king is busy with his battles, and even if some noble knight took it upon himself to slay the beast, he would have no knowledge and would end up worse than my Ambrose did, cooked alive in his armour, and with the dragon still rampant. But we—we have the means to put an end to this calamity, to spare a land from ruin and save a multitude of souls. I tell you true, Jude, ’tis not by chance you stay beneath my roof.”
    My heart thundered in my breast, and my mouth went dry. Of a sudden I knew what the old hag was hatching; knew, too, that Lizzie was already persuaded, spellbound, and that the mad plot wanted only my consent. I shook my head. I longed to escape, to flee for my life—but I was drowning in the madness of Lan’s eyes, and her words wove about me, bewitching and binding, though I strove with all my soul to shut them out.
    â€œYou fear your enemy,” she said, “because in the wildness of your imaginings it is huge, hellish, beyond defeat, and ’tis folly to even think of hunting it. But if you saw it true, as it is, in the flesh, you would see that it is but a beast, no wiser than a warhorse, no larger than an ox, no more wicked than a starved dog that hunts for food. I tell you, lad, it would do you good to face the dragon. It would knock that unseemly terror out of you, and give you the strength to take up your true destiny. This task is yours, Jude: for this you alone survived, out of all your village. You’ll not rest until you have avenged your family. If you refuse this task, the regret and grief will gnaw at your heart, all your life. I know; I saw the poison that ate at Ambrose, when he failed to do his duty.”
    At last I tore my gaze from hers, and seized backmy wits. “I am not Ambrose, and I have no knightly duty,” I said. “And ’tis no unseemly terror, to be afraid of a thing that overnight destroys a village and all its people with it. As for my destiny—that’s for God to know, not for you to plot. I’ll have no more to do with you, or with this heathen talk. You may have Lizzie under your evil enchantment, but you don’t have me.”
    â€œThere is no enchantment,” Lan said, “only a dragon that must needs be slain, and two people who have the means to do it—though one is brave and willing, while the other is a coward.”
    â€œI’m no coward!” I shouted, and Lan laughed. Her mockery woke a wild defiance in me, scattering my wits again. “Since you know everything, witch,” I said,