Igenin crouched, his hands touching the ground in front of him, and his legs coiled under him ready to spring. His clothes suddenly felt odd, his gloved hands yearned to claw at the earth and his leather armour felt heavy and restrictive. He felt the absence of his sword at his hip and for once was glad that it was gone. Dragons, he knew, saw the use of weapons as a sign of weakness.

He growled keeping his eyes locked with those of the huge creature about two hundred metres in front of him. Igenin blinked feeling his eyes narrow as he did so. There was something wrong but he couldn't figure out what it was. Igenin's anger flared at his self doubt, the dragon opposite him was crouched in the position of challenge, why should he back down from a direct challenge? Igenin growled again, confirming his acceptance of the challenge as much to himself as to the challenger.

The dragon was as large as a small fort, long, sleek and covered with glittering hard golden scales. The creature pulled a fore leg towards itself indicating that he wanted something that Igenin had. This puzzled Igenin slightly, what did he have that a dragon might be interested in?

He felt something being held out to him from behind and a quavering female voice whispered, ``Your sword.'' Igenin's eyes widened again as he realised whom the voice belonged to. Oh nuts! Igenin swore to himself, he had forgotten the princess in his anger at being challenged. Given that he was supposed to be protecting the princess accepting the challenge had been a really bad idea. It would have been much better to lie low and hope to escape detection but as usual his rage had overtaken his reason.

``A sword wouldn't make any difference,'' he snapped at her angrily. He was sorry as soon as he said it, he could almost feel the fear emanating from her. He had to win this, this time there was a little more than his own life resting on the outcome. If he could stare the dragon down then it should leave peacefully. The princess was still holding out the sword. He lifted a hand from the ground to wave her back momentarily breaking eye contact with the dragon opposite.

The creature gave a trumpeting cry and charged.

``Rrraaaarrgghhh!'' screamed Igenin a split second after leaping forward towards the rapidly advancing dragon. He heard the princess' scream of terror and hoped the dragon wouldn't figure out that he was bluffing. As he thought this he realised that he had slowed his pace, his anger took over once more, filling him, driving him on towards the dragon. He roared again and charging towards the dragon. It's eyes locked with his, the triangular golden head filled his vision and he hurled himself at it with all his fury.

When it was almost upon him Igenin saw the dragon's eyes waver and suddenly with a flash of golden scales the dragon launched itself into the air and fled.

With the object of his charge gone Igenin stumbled and tripped over his own feet, falling face first to the ground and sliding a metre or so before he came to rest.

After a moment he sat up and saw Princess Felice running towards him. He groaned and then winced from the pain of the cuts and abrasions on his face as he put his head in his hands

``Are you hurt?'' she asked as she reached him out of breath.

``No,'' he replied sarcastically, ``I've just slid five metres along the ground using my face as a brake! I'm fine.''

She helped him back to their camp and tended the wounds on his face, while repeatedly saying that he was the bravest man she had ever seen. ``It was amazing!'' she exclaimed for the fifth time, ``You charged a dragon and frightened it away! Weren't you afraid? How did you know it wouldn't eat you? I've never seen anything like it! How did you do it?''

Igenin grumpily dismissed her enthusiastic praise, the fact was that his thoughtlessness had almost got them killed, it wasn't something he ought to have been proud of. However part of him was pleased by her praise and the fact that he had bluffed the dragon and won. ``When you know dragons the way I do it's not all that difficult,'' he said, ``You just need to know how to read a dragon's body language, that's all.''

``It must take courage though, you must be the bravest man in the world to be able to do that!'' Or the angriest, Igenin thought to himself. ``You must be the greatest dragon slayer that ever lived!''

Igenin grimaced at the comment as if it were an accusation, ``A dragon slayer is the last thing I am!'' he said angrily standing up. He looked at the expression of hurt on her face for a second before turning and walking away to allow his temper time to cool down. A dragon slayer was the last thing he was, and the last thing he wanted to be. There were too few of the majestic creatures left as it was without even more being killed. Yes, he thought to himself, accepting the challenge had been a really bad idea. He should have tried to hide, the chances were that it was only growling at shadows anyway. Besides, if he ever did anything like this again he might never be able to get rid of the adoring princess.

***

Igenin decided that they should set camp for a couple of nights at the spot where the dragon had attacked them. It was unlikely that it would be back and other dangerous creatures would also probably avoid that area for a short time. The stunt he pulled with the dragon might attract some unwanted attention but the chance of that was small and they both needed a rest from travelling for a while. Igenin's face was taking too long to heal, despite his best efforts some dirt and sand must still be in the wounds preventing it from healing properly.

He sent Princess Felice to collect water from a nearby stream while he went hunting. Hunting was the one thing he had missed more than any other during his short stay at the palace. He delighted in the thrill of the chase, the skill of entrapment and the blood of the kill.

He had just returned to the camp after a successful hunt when he noticed a slight rustle in the undergrowth, it could just be some small animal he thought to himself but somehow he doubted it, it just didn't feel right. ``Princess, get inside the tent,'' he commanded, ``I think something's watching us.''

Stealthily he approached the undergrowth hoping to catch a glimpse of whoever or whatever it was. As he approached the area that the sound had come from he saw that either he must have misheard or the creature, whatever it was, had moved soundlessly away. There was another rustle nearby and Igenin turned to follow it. This time when he reached the spot he found a set of human footprints although their owner had again managed to mysteriously move away with no sound. There was another rustle, farther away from the camp this time, and Igenin realised that he was being led away. The creature knew exactly where Igenin was despite his stealth and was toying with him.

Enough was enough. Igenin stood up facing the direction of the last rustle and called, ``Come out, I know you're there. Show yourself.'' He waited listening for any slight sound but for a few seconds there was none. The silence was eventually broken by a polite cough from directly behind him. Igenin spun round to be confronted with a man standing only a metre away. The man was very smartly dressed for one so far from the city and remarkably clean, as if he had just stepped out on to the drawbridge of his own castle. He wore a long dark blue cloak over his white shirt and light blue trousers. His shoes were fashioned from dark blue stained leather and he wore a dark blue wide brimmed hat. His arms were folded and his face wore a sly lopsided grin to match the glittering humour in his eyes.

Igenin leapt on him forcing him to the ground. The man made no attempt to dodge Igenin's attack and he went down easily. Too easily, Igenin realised as he found himself flying upside down through the air. The breath was knocked out of Igenin as he landed on his back with a thud but he turned and sprang again as fast as he was able. This time the man wasn't ready for his attack and Igenin wrestled him to the ground pinning his arms to the ground beside him. The man went limp as he realised that he was beaten.

``I never could beat you, could I Igenin?'' the man said with his usual lopsided grin.

``I should have known it was you, Merlar you trickster,'' replied Igenin returning the other's grin ``I wasn't expecting that throw. You've improved since we last met.''

``What happened to your face?'' inquired Merlar, ``I'm sure I didn't do that with my throw.''

``Let's just say I had an unfortunate run in with the ground.''

``Ouch! I'll take a look at it if you like. As soon as you let me up that is.''

``Oh sorry,'' said Igenin standing up. Merlar stood and retrieved his crumpled hat from where it had fallen during the scuffle. He waved his hand over it and it straightened out into its original shape. Another pass of his hands and the dust and dirt he had gathered left his clothing and blew away in the wind. ``I wish you wouldn't do that,'' said Igenin irritated, ``You use magic on the most trivial things!''

``What's the use of being a wizard if you never use it?'' said Merlar as he positioned his hat on his head. He bowed to Igenin and gestured in the direction of the camp, ``Well, shall we go?''

Princess Felice peered out from the tent as they approached the camp. ``What was it?'' she called as if she hadn't seen Merlar walking beside him. ``It was just my brother,'' Igenin glanced towards Merlar and saw that he had shielded himself from her sight, no doubt in order to effect a dramatic entrance. ``Princess Felice I'd like you to meet my half brother, Merlar,'' said Igenin elbowing Merlar in the ribs and breaking his spell. Merlar was a little startled but hid it behind a grin. ``Merlar,'' continued Igenin, ``This is Princess Felice, I'm escorting her to Arleth where she is to meet the prince with a view to marriage.''

Merlar bowed deeply, ``The prince is a lucky man to have such a beautiful woman travel to see him and doubly lucky that he may have the chance to marry her.'' Igenin rolled his eyes skyward in an expression of exasperation. The princess giggled but Merlar continued in spite of them, ``Were I the prince, I would pick you for my wife out of a line of the most beautiful women in all seven kingdoms.''

``Eight,'' said Igenin automatically.

Merlar put on a suitably vexed expression. They sat down to eat the squirrels that Igenin had caught and they talked.

Merlar leaned over to look at Igenin's face, ``It looks as though you've got some dust under your skin. It's not letting you heal properly. Hold still.'' Merlar positioned his hands a few centimetres from Igenins face and concentrated. ``There,'' he said when he was finished, ``You will experience some discomfort in an hour or two but afterward you will heal much faster.''

``So what brings you around this way?'' Igenin asked his brother.

``I saw a dragon take off into the sky, I came to see what spooked it. I might have known it was you. You know one of these days a dragon's going to call your bluff, then where will you be?'' Merlar glanced at Felice and then back at his brother his expression showing disapproval for a brief moment.

It was a mild rebuke obviously because they were in the presence of the princess but one that Igenin deserved. He should have been angry, Merlar accused him without proof, but Igenin was still feeling guilty over the incident. ``I've done it so many times,'' he said embarrassed, looking down at his feet, ``I guess I just challenged it out of habit.''

``That is not a good habit to get into,'' Merlar remarked then relented, his brother's temper was almost legendary.

``You challenged the dragon!'' exclaimed Felice looking at him with awe.

``Well, actually,'' said Igenin meekly, ``It challenged us and I sort of accepted.'' Felice just looked at him with amazement.

``You should have seen him when we were up in the Iktrag Mountains,'' began Merlar with grinning slyly at Igenin. He spun a tale of how when Igenin was herding goats a dragon had attacked and was scared off by him. He told the tale well and the princess hung on every word and again at the end exclaiming that Igenin was the bravest man who ever lived. Merlar met Igenin's irritated scowl with a wicked grin of amusement.

``Last I heard you were doing court magicianing for some king or other,'' said Igenin, his tongue wasn't nearly as barbed as Merlar's could be but he never gave up without a fight, ``What happened? Did you get on the wrong side of the kings daughter or someone else at the palace?''

Merlar looked at him, ``Well,'' he began, ``there was this dog-''

Igenin burst out laughing and Merlar watched him with an amused smile on his face. ``You mean like that wolf?'' Igenin said when he could get it out over his laughter.

``What wolf?'' asked Felice.

``Well, a long time ago Igenin had an'' he paused smirking while Igenin burst into fresh laughter. ``Had an encounter with a wolf which was rather embarrassing and it has become a sort of family joke. You see our family is slightly allergic to dogs.''

``Sorry, Merlar it's just that it's so funny now that the joke's on the other foot.''

``You know, that poodle ruined my life.''

***

``Merlar, are you going to hunt with me?'' Igenin asked after breakfast.

Merlar seemed a bit surprised by the question and answered, ``No, I'll go to the stream to wash.'' Well, there was no arguing with that, thought Igenin and left to hunt on his own.

Felice watched Merlar depart in the direction of the river with the water skins, the thought of a wizard collecting water or hunting was a bit strange to her but she reasoned that, even wizards had to eat and drink. They seemed to have to eat and drink quite a lot actually, she thought remembering Roger the court magician to her father, but she had never thought of them having to collect meat and drink for themselves.

The brothers, it seemed to her, were both somehow more than ordinary people. All the wizards she had met looked imperiously down their noses at her as if she were beneath their notice. Merlar however was as kind and charming as any of the sons of minor nobility that hoped to win her hand. She suspected that most of the noble sons would lose their veneer of charm if they were faced with this wilderness though. Igenin was braver than the mightiest warrior in the kingdom! He waved her praise away saying it was nothing but it must have taken incredible courage to case away a fully grown dragon! Felice hadn't entirely believed Merlar's story about Igenin's exploits, such stories were usually exaggerated out of all proportion but the wizard had not seemed at all surprised by his brother's actions so there was probably have been some truth in it.

She looked up as a rustle indicated that someone was approaching, she looked anxiously in that direction ready to run but it was only Merlar returning with water. He was waving his hands over his clothes causing water to drip to the ground around his bare feet. His shoes resting one on each of his shoulders. He smiled as he sat down next to her, the first time she had seen him smile rather than grin. ``Ahh,'' he sighed with contentment, ``There's nothing like a cold bath first thing in the morning.''

She looked at him as if he were mad, ``It's al right for you, you're a wizard, you can heat it up! I can't stand water so cold.'' After a moment she looked at him and said ``Igenin was very brave to challenge that dragon, but when I said he must be the best dragon slayer-''

Merlar winced, ``Princess, you must never ever mention dragon slayers to Igenin again. He grew up where there were many dragons and he has a great respect for them. That was when he learned the challenge, Igenin knows dragons better than any man alive and he has only contempt and hatred for those that would kill them. He has been know to fly into a violent rage when he has been named a dragon slayer even in jest.

``At one time he went around palaces and kingdoms trying to convince people that dragons could be of service to them but naturally people did not believe him, now I think he just goes around trying to kill the dragon slayers.

``Once I had to restrain him from attacking a braggart in a bar. I told him that the man had obviously not killed a dragon since he was too skinny and knew no magic. He told me that the man needed to be taught a lesson for insulting dragons with the notion that one could be slain by one such as him.

``When the killing of dragons is concerned my brother is hardly a reasonable man but otherwise I imagine you have found him quite agreeable.''

``Yes,'' said the princess thoughtfully, and then smiled saying ``What about you Merlar? Are you a reasonable man?''

Merlar grinned, ``Unlike my brother I am very seldom courageous and unlike my brother I am very seldom reasonable.'' Standing up he gave her a bow and went to meet Igenin who was returning from the hunt.

At that moment a figure on horseback rode into the clearing.

``Argh!'' cried Igenin jumping backwards at the sight of the animal. He tripped over a rock and fell backwards into the bushes. Merlar also looked slightly shocked and paled at the appearance of the horse.

``Well Merlar, nothing to say to me?'' asked the woman dismounting. She was obviously a warrior, she wore leather from her cap to her boots and a sword hung by her side. She wore a simple green shirt under her leather armour and a practical pair of green trousers. She was some sort of knight, Felice thought, judging by the way she held herself. She was not quite as tall as Merlar but she was well muscled and overall she looked much larger than the skinny wizard.

``Helen just,'' said Merlar, his voice quavering, gesturing at her as if pushing her away, ``just, leave the horse over there.''

``Keep that thing away from me!'' wailed Igenin from the bushes.

``Who's your friend in the bushes Merlar?'' asked Helen tethering the horse to a tree, her voice was level but full of menace.

``He's my brother.'' said Merlar becoming slightly more confident now that the horse was tied up but still lacking his usual cheerful charm.

Helen walked towards him, ``Brother?'' she said surprised.

Merlar shrugged, ``It runs in the family.''

Helen turned to Felice with a smile, ``He's slightly allergic to horses,'' she explained, putting the stress on the word 'slightly'.

``As well as dogs?'' replied Felice and then wondered if it was a wise thing to say.

``He told you about the dog did he?'' Helen had turned back to Merlar the menace returning to her voice. She stopped directly in front of him.

Merlar looked at the ground for a moment and then directly at her, ``Helen, look-''

Helen slapped him hard across the face turning his face to one side.

``Ow,'' said Merlar meekly.

``That's for leaving without telling me!'' snapped the woman angrily.

Just as Felice thought that she was going to hit him again the woman pulled the wizard to her and encircled him in a crushing embrace.

``Urk,'' said Merlar weakly.

Helen released him, ``That's because I missed you so much!'' she stated.

Helen grabbed the wizard's head between her hands and kissed him. As the kiss went on Merlar relaxed and put his arms round the woman embracing her.

``If you ever leave me again, I'll break every bone in your body!'' Helen said kindly when they were finished.

Igenin picked himself out of the bushes but kept his distance from the horse. ``My mistake, Merlar, you got off the wrong side of someone at the palace.'' Helen looked sternly at Merlar, ``Why did you leave?''

``Errm, Lady Merissa's poodle, she kicked up quite a fuss when-''

Helen laughed out loud. ``For someone so wise you are a damn fool Merlar. Everyone else hated that dog too, they were just too polite to say so. The king was almost ready to give you a medal for shutting the damn thing up!''

``But all the things that Lady Merissa was saying.''

``You thought we'd take her babbling seriously!?'' exclaimed Helen incredulously.

Merlar bowed his head in embarrassment and mumbled something. ``Aww. The poor man's deranged,'' Helen pulled Merlar towards her and pressed his head against her breast.

``You can say that again!'' scowled Igenin, ``Do you mind moving your beast of burden further from the camp. It's making me distinctly,'' he paused grimacing, ``uncomfortable.''

***

Eventually it was decided that the horse could stay tethered in sight of the camp rather than on the other side of the nearest hill as the two brothers suggested. ``I don't know what you two have against her,'' called Felice from her position where she was feeding fruit to the horse. ``Sandy is a gorgeous creature. Aren't you Sandy?'' she added to the horse and then ``Yes you are, that's right!'' in a silly voice. The name Sandy was about as unimaginative a name as you could give to a sandy coloured horse. What puzzled Igenin and Felice was why Helen had used the name for her black mare. Merlar explained that Helen just liked to be perverse. Helen explained that sand came in all sorts of colours and if she were to take all the black grains of sand on a beach and put them together it would be the exactly same colour as Sandy. Igenin had no trouble accepting both reasons.

When Merlar stopped being embarrassed at leaving the palace and Helen stopped being angry that Merlar left the palace the two settled down into a sort of comedy double act of lecherous man and vengeful woman. Merlar's usual charm and wit was offset by Helen's rebukes at unfaithfulness and taking advantage of a defenceless princess.

``You really shouldn't spoil Sandy dear,'' Helen said as Felice sat down with the other three, ``She'll get used to it then I'll never hear the end of it. Neigh this, whinny that, she'll never be satisfied with what I give her.''

Merlar mimed dipping a paint brush in a bottle and painting a spherical object in his hand. He handed the non-existent thing to Felice, with a wicked grin ``Here my lady, give this poison apple to her and she'll never again complain about what you give her.'' Igenin chuckled.

Felice looked at them sternly, ``You're allergic to horses, you hate dogs, is there any animal that you two actually like?''

``Dragons.'' replied Merlar.

``Cats.'' replied Helen.

``Cats!?'' said Igenin shocked.

``Yeah, Merlar said he was allergic to noblemen and hung around the kitchen collecting scraps of meat to feed to the palace cats.''

``Cats?'' asked Igenin again as if to say 'I can't believe you would do such a thing!'

``Errm, my brother has a slight aversion to cats by the way,''`` said Merlar.

``Cats!'' exclaimed Igenin as if to say 'No brother of mine would-'

``An allergy to cats?'' said Helen raising her eyebrows, ``It's certainly not a family thing this time!''

``Cats.'' said Igenin as if to say 'You scum!'

``No, I don't know what causes Igenin's aversion to cats,'' Merlar lied trying to make his voice sound as innocent as possible.

``I'm going hunting now,'' said Igenin standing up.

``But you just went h-'' started Helen.

``And Merlar is coming with me!'' said Igenin through clenched teeth.

``Errm, It looks as if I'm going hunting with Igenin,'' said Merlar as Igenin pulled him to his feet.

Igenin marched him off towards the forest. ``Cat's! How could you!?'', ``I was in a strange palace.'', ``What does that have to-'', ``I was lonely with all those people around.'', ``Even so why under the sky, Cats?!'' The men's voices trailed off after this as they entered the trees although the women could still hear Igenin's outraged voice saying ``Cats!'' long after the rest of the conversation was incomprehensible.

``Oops,'' said Helen, ``Perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned the cats.''

``They're beginning to seem a bit odd,'' said Felice staring at where the two men disappeared into the forest, ``What do you think?''

``You only just noticed! It was the odd things that attracted me to Merlar in the first place, everyone else who wanted me tried to impress me, Merlar was just nice to me. After turning down everyone else who tried I just couldn't resist the fact that he was,'' she shrugged, ``well, nice. I mean he's not strong, or skilful, or courageous, he's just nice.''

``You mean he's charming, witty, intelligent and funny.''

``Yeah, those too.''

``Have you ever noticed the way that Igenin smells?'' said Felice.

``I've only known him a day but Merlar smells too.''

``Igenin smells of toast and coffee.''

``Toast?'' asked Helen confused.

``You know, cooked bread.''

``But bread's already cooked.''

Felice sighed, ``You cook it again by holding it over a fire so it becomes crunchy.''

Helen's forehead wrinkled as she digested this information, ``You mean like charcoal?''

``No, you're supposed to take it away before it goes black! It sort of goes dark brown.''

``And coffee?'' asked Helen.

``Don't worry about it.'' They stared into the distance for a bit before Felice said, ``What does Merlar smell like? I hadn't noticed anything.''

``He uses magic to disguise it but he smells slightly of, errm, that fruit that grows down in the south.''

``Melons? Peaches?'' guessed Felice.

``No, it looks like this when you cut it in half,'' Helen brushed at the remains of the fire and drew a cross section of the fruit in the ash, ``It's orange in colour.''

``Oranges?''

``Yeah, that's what he smells like, oranges.''

``Hmmm,'' said Felice thoughtfully.

``Burnt bread and oranges,'' said Helen, ``They're certainly a strange pair.''

***

``I still don't understand why you have to go with them?'' asked Helen as they walked. Felice had volunteered to ride Sandy so Helen could talk to Merlar. Igenin was walking behind Felice so that she was between him and Merlar. Both men kept their distance from the horse so the group was very spread out. Igenin hadn't been happy about Felice riding the horse because he couldn't protect her properly with the horse distracting him.

They had decided the previous night that they had almost out stayed their welcome at their previous camp site. The dragon might return to the site soon, Igenin said, since it was had the look of one of the dragon's regular stopping points inside it's territory.

``I've told you that there is no hard feelings toward you at the palace,'' continued Helen, ``so I don't see why you don't come back.''

``Helen, it isn't just about a dog. It's about self control, if I can't resist my violent feelings toward Lady Merissa's irritating pet what happens when the king irritates me or you irritate me? Will I kill you or the king the same as I killed the poodle?''

``You can't compare a poodle to me or the king! All the knights at the palace were sorely tempted to slice that hateful animal up, the idea that they would turn on each other or the king is absurd!

``Do you know how many spoilt poodles Merissa has had?'' Helen continued without waiting for answer, ``Five! Each and every one of them has met with an unfortunate 'accident', you were just the first person to admit it! As for all the other things that she said, of course nobody believes that, she's always been prone to hysterics.''

``You don't understand,'' said Merlar, ``I'm a wizard so I'm a dangerous man, I just can't take the risk.''

``That's rubbish and you know it!'' snapped Helen, ``If you won't tell me the real reason then we have nothing more to say!'' She marched back and after a quick word reclaimed her horse from Felice. She rode on ahead passing so uncomfortably close to Merlar that he started and tripped over a rock.

He sat up looking at Helen's retreating back and sighed just as Felice now on foot reached him. She looked down at him sternly, ``You should tell her the truth.''

Merlar scowled at her and she took an involuntary step back, she had seen mock anger on his face this was rather more frightening. Igenin's face was much more often the home for expressions of anger, it seemed to come naturally to him but to see it on the wizard's face was scary. She hadn't realised how gentle his face was until she saw it twisted into such a harsh expression. ``What do you know of the truth?'' he said coldly.

Igenin approached and held a hand out to help Merlar up. ``I hate horses!'' said Igenin emphatically.

``Tell me about it,'' sighed Merlar as he rose to his feet with Igenin's help and then grinned, ``At least you can talk to cats!''

***

Helen had returned after the others made camp that night and no more was said about Merlar's departure from the palace. She left Sandy tethered to a tree some way from the camp and quietly approached and sat with the others around the fire. Merlar, as usual, sat further away from the fire from the rest and Igenin brought him his food. Merlar's dislike of fire was another example of how the brothers were different, Igenin explained that Merlar had had a bad experience with fire at an earlier age and didn't like to be close to it. Meanwhile Igenin did most of the cooking, his leathery hands seemed to feel no heat at all judging from the way he lifted the hot pots and moved things in and out of the flames.

Helen was unusually quiet as they ate and she was skilfully ignored by both Igenin and Merlar.

The next day started as usual, Merlar went to fetch water and Igenin went to hunt, Helen offered to help Igenin hunt but he refused. She followed him anyway but he lost her after a few minutes. She returned to camp with a single rabbit followed closely by Igenin who had caught three. He seemed a bit surprised that Helen had hunted as well and had Merlar magically preserve one of his catch so it could be kept without going off.

Igenin set about lighting a fire for their morning meal refusing help from everyone else, Merlar watched for a bit before saying, ``Why don't you just magic it?''

Igenin scowled at him before saying, ``I don't like to waste magic on trivial things like you do.''

``Igenin's a wizard?'' asked Felice in surprise.

``Er, yes,'' replied Merlar, ``I thought you knew.''

``Well, you're a wizard Merlar why don't you do it?'' asked Helen, rudely.

``He can't,'' said Igenin, ``Remember, he has an aversion to fire.''

At that moment there was a thump and a growl as a golden dragon landed some way outside the clearing.

Merlar cursed himself, he should have seen it coming. ``Igenin, NO!'' he yelled as his brother spun and crouched to face the beast. ``Get back,'' he said pulling the two women to their feet. He turned to Helen, ``Bring the horse into camp,'' he ordered. She just stared at him, ``Do it! Quickly!'' Merlar shouted and she hurried off.

Felice turned her worried face to Merlar, ``It's all right, Igenin will scare it away. Won't he?''

``Don't count on it, princess. This is that same one as last time, it obviously thinks it's been hard done by.''

***

Igenin crouched facing the dragon, he had heard his brothers shouted warning a little too late. The dragon was the same one as he had charged last time, by the angry expression on its face it thought that last time it had been duped. His chances of bluffing it a second time were slim but it wasn't as if he had any other choice. He brushed at the ground with his fingers indicating that he just wanted to leave in peace. The dragon indicated that it wanted a fight. The dragon charged.

``Raarrrrrrgh!'' Igenin yelled as he charged head long at the advancing dragon. Anger possessed him and he roared defiance at the huge beast. They came closer and closer and just as Igenin realised that his opponent wasn't going to give in its head moved to the side. For a split second Igenin thought he had won but the dragon had not broken eye contact with him. The huge triangular head swept back towards him and there was a dull meaty thud as it impacted with his body.

***

Igenin's body flew through the air like a drop kicked rag doll, eventually landing with a crash in the undergrowth. The dragon continued its charge towards the three remaining people.

Helen had brought Sandy into the camp as Merlar had asked but was now standing petrified staring at the advancing dragon. Suppressing his feelings towards the animal Merlar dashed towards them grabbing the reigns off of Helen. He quickly waved his hands in front of the horses face lifting the spell he had placed on it months earlier. ``Boo!'' he told it and it reared up in fear. It waved its hooves at him causing him to trip over backwards and then bolted, trying to put as much distance between itself and the wizard as possible.

Sandy in her panic had not taken into account the charging dragon however. Seeing the horse galloping away the dragon took to the wing and with a flick of a wingtip it turned and flew towards the fleeing horse. A quick burst of flame from the dragon's mouth and the horse was dead, rendered instantly crispy on the outside while pink and juicy on the inside. The dragon swooped down upon its fallen prey splitting it in two with a single bite.

``Run!'' shouted Merlar to no effect, the two women stood still staring at the giant animal consuming the horse. ``Run! Run for goodness sake!'' Merlar screamed at them getting to his feet.

Felice recovered first and started running, towards Merlar. ``How could you!'' she screamed in rage, ``That poor animal and you just gave it to the dragon!''

``Run away you stupid girl!'' shouted Merlar.

Felice reached him and started pounding ineffectually on his chest, tears running down her face. Merlar was so startled by this reaction that by the time he turned back to face the dragon it was charging again. ``Nuts!'' he had been so distracted by Felice's unexpected reaction that he had missed his chance to challenge the dragon when it had just finished off its prey. Felice stopped trying to hit him and collapsed sobbing on the ground.

Merlar just waited, staring into the dragon's eyes as it charged. It opened its mouth to breathe and the wizard moved one arm in a wide sweep. A magical wind picked up the two women and flung them across the clearing to land in the bushes. Merlar dived to one side as the breath of fire sped towards him but he was too late, a searing pain swept over his body as he was engulfed by flame.

***

Helen could only watch, horrified, from her landing place on the bush as the fire surrounded her wizard.

A high pitched scream of rage and anguish erupted from the undergrowth behind the dragon. The huge beast turned and slid to a stop, faster than she had thought possible for an animal of its size, to face the new sound. The wizard lay motionless on the ground where he had fallen his clothes burnt and smouldering. A small shape burst from the trees in front of the dragon screaming its defiance with a high pitched roar. The tiny creature's wings were a blur as it raced towards their enemy. Golden light bounced off its skin, it was a small golden dragon barely bigger than one of the larger dragon's clawed feet. At first she thought it must be the child of larger dragon but when it was close enough the larger one roared at it and attacked it with a blast of flame. The newcomer deftly evaded the attack with a flick of its wings and then slowly swung around unleashing a spear of white hot fire. It smashed into the large dragon, its golden scales exploding outward from its body, as the fire seared a line across it.

The dragon screamed in pain and leapt into the air trying to escape. It's wings moved in powerful strokes but the initial burst of fire from it's attacker had briefly touched on one of the wings and a bone snapped close to the dragon's body as the creature tried desperately to get away. The dragon hit the ground with a crash trapping it's injured wing beneath it. However the tiny dragon wasn't content with that, it roared its high pitched roar and unleashed another tongue of flame. The fire hit the dragons neck punching right through it and causing the dragons head to explode away from it's body. The small dragon flew like an enraged arrow towards the severed head. Colliding with it the tiny creature gripped the huge head and attempted to rip it apart with its claws.

The small creature's screams of rage died down into sobs of grief. It left the ravaged head of the dragon and began crawling towards the fallen body of the wizard all the time emitting mournful wails.

Helen, rose to her feet and ran towards the body of Merlar. Everything had happened so fast that she hadn't time to react. The first conscious decision she made was to protect her wizard's body from being defiled by the tiny dragon. ``You can't have him!'' she shouted at the creature crawling towards her as she stood between the wizard and the dragon. Although the creature had looked tiny compared to the larger dragon now that she stood before it she saw that it was at least as big as she was. The creature's whining stopped and it looked up from the body to Helen's face, on the alien features of the dragon was an expression of such menace that it made Helen gasp. She started and took a small step back but she pulled together her resolve and stood defiantly before the creature, ``You can't have him!'' The creature gave a slight flick of its nose and she was lifted from her feet and slammed against a tree by a gust of magical wind.

The creature stood over Merlar's inert body and moaned. It sniffed the body and nudged it with a clawed foot. Suddenly the dragon stiffened and began to change, its neck grew shorter, its wings and tail retreated into its back and its legs began to grow longer.

When the change was complete Igenin picked up Merlar's body and looked about until he saw Helen, ``Where's the stream?'' he asked urgently.

``What!?'' Helen exclaimed, trying to make sense of it all. Merlar was dead, she could see that, somehow Igenin had turned out to be a dragon and now he wanted to put the body in the river?

``WHERE IS IT!!'' roared Igenin furiously, his face a picture of rage and desperation. Helen pointed the way.

Igenin gritted his teeth as he brought the body down to the waters edge and dropped it in. His feet filled with pain and the skin reddened as water splashed over them. He was forced to take off his shoes, as he walked back to the camp, in order to let his scalded feet dry out.

***

Igenin watched his brother pull himself from the water, his blue metallic scales gleaming in the sunlight. Only Merlar could have pulled off such a feat, any other water dragon would have been burnt to nothing by that blast of fire, but Merlar always seemed to have a trick up his sleeve.

Where he had found the power from was a mystery to him. Igenin was magically drained to the point of exhaustion from his fight with the dragon and he hadn't used any power for weeks. Merlar had been using his silly, trivial spells throughout their journey and then just before he came face to face with the dragon he had removed the spell of deception on the horse and summoned the wind to move the women out of danger. Even after that he had enough power to protect himself from the fire.

The spells on Merlar when Igenin had found him were as complex as spells that had taken Igenin himself hours to weave. The defensive spells of Air were obvious enough and had probably been responsible for deflecting most of the destructive power of the dragon's fire. They were well woven although ragged and full of holes from where the Fire magic had burned through. The spells of Water underneath, not so obvious (to his eyes at least), were some of the most complex Igenin had ever seen. Constantly running over him, rebuilding his body with their healing power. They had almost failed by the time Igenin had seen them but from the state of Merlar's Air defence they must have been powerful enough to simply cancel out a great deal of Fire magic as well as healing his body after the destructive effects of the flame.

His brother changed back to his human form and with a flourish donned the remnants of his clothes. The wizard frowned and waved his hands over the ragged holes, smiling when they began to close. Igenin sat bolt upright staring at his brother, that wasn't possible! Artifacts just couldn't be mended with Water or Air magics! Only Earth magic could do that! Igenin relaxed as realisation struck him, of course, if his brother's clothing was alive he could simply get the cloth to heal itself with Water magic. Merlar put on his silly wide brimmed hat and approached Igenin.

``Thank you,'' said Merlar sitting down beside him. The words were ensorcelled, Igenin realised when their emotional meaning became very obvious to him. Those two words carried with them the thanks of someone who owed him their life, the realisation that Merlar understood the deep pain that Igenin felt over killing another dragon, and the renewal of the love that existed between them as brothers.

Igenin stared at the decapitated dragon, he felt numb inside. Merlar's words had taken the anger he felt towards his brother for Igenin having to save him and turned them into a deep sorrow. Being a fire dragon Igenin seldom felt such emotions and was strangely grateful to his brother for that painful gift.

``You had no choice,'' said Merlar, ``It was a fire/water crossbreed, it must have been mad with the pain.''

``At least it's out of it's misery.''

For a while the two brothers simply sat in silence.

***

Helen looked at the dead carcass of the dragon, it's head lay to one side in a pool of blood and golden scales littered the ground. She stood by the head looking down at the furrows where Igenin had torn into it in his frustration.

She saw a hand reach out and touch the dragon, running it's finger tips over the small scales of the dragon's head, but she didn't look up. ``The poor thing didn't even know we were brothers,'' said a familiar voice beside her.

She turned to face him, ``You're dead!'' she exclaimed in contradiction of all the available evidence.

``It takes more than that to kill a wizard!'' Merlar grinned, ``Well actually if it hadn't been for Igenin-'' he added more seriously.

She flung herself at him and held on to him with all her strength, Merlar held her to him until she pushed him away. ``You're his brother,'' she said staring at him.

``Yes,'' he said simply, ``I'm a dragon.''

``But you- we-'' Merlar just looked at her. ``You lied to me! You bastard!'' She punched him hard in the jaw, knocking him backwards.

Merlar rubbed his jaw healing it at the same time then quickly stood up to catch her as she collapsed sobbing. She clung to him as if she wanted to wrap herself in him and shut out the outside world. Ironic, Merlar thought, he was the one who lied to her, betrayed her, but now her world had been turned upside down, everything she thought she knew about dragons was changed, he was the only person to whom she could turn to for comfort. He held her to him again until she had calmed down, ``I don't want to lie to you anymore,'' he told her.

She looked up into his eyes, ``Is that why you left? Because of the lies?''

``No,'' he said truthfully, ``I really did eat the poodle.''

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Andrew Cook