Cube Route Read Online Free PDF Page B

that dragons preyed on centaurs, but probably it was a matter of opportunity. A healthy alert centaur with bow and arrows was nobody's prey, but Karia had her liability, so she was vulnerable. That was all the dragon needed. Cube was disgusted, but realized that this was the way it was with predators. They got their prey any way they could.
        They came to the river. It was far too wide to jump across; in fact it would be a fair swim. There were colored fins circling in the water: loan sharks, waiting to take an arm and a leg or two. No swimming there!
        The path turned and followed the riverbank south. This was the detour to the safe crossing. Most travelers would follow it, rather than risk the dangers of air and water.
        “Are we ready?” Karia inquired in a murmur.
        “I think we are.”
        But the centaur hesitated. “It just occurred to me: Can the nickelpedes come to you if you are in the air? They will have no crawling space.”
        “You're right!” Cube said. “I forgot that they need some way to reach me. I'll summon a bagful now.”
        She dismounted, went to the edge of the path, and held out a cloth bag. Immediately nickelpedes came and swarmed into the bag until it was bulging. Cube held it carefully and remounted. “Now I am ready.”
        “Hold on to my mane.”
        “Mane? I don't see one.”
        “My hair,” Karia clarified. Now Cube saw the lustrous fair tresses lying across the wings.
        “I don't want to pull your hair.”
        “It's tough. Don't be concerned.”
        Karia trotted toward the river. Cube grabbed a handful of flying hair, her other hand held the bag. The wind rushed past as the centaur broke into a canter, and then a gallop, achieving takeoff velocity. She spread her wings and launched into the air just as they reached the river. The wings became huge, spreading out to either side like great white fans.
        Cube stared down, seeing the river so close below that the centaur could almost have galloped on it. The loan sharks saw it too, and quickly clustered, snapping at hoofs. But Karia was already gaining altitude, just out of their reach. Still, it was scary; any mistake, and the sharks would feed on four centaur legs and two human legs, and four arms as well. Cube wasn't sure whether they ate anything other than arms and legs, and didn't care to find out.
        “Dragon at one o'clock,” the centaur murmured.
        Was it that late in the day already? Oh--she meant a direction. Cube looked forward, just right of the arrow quiver. There it was, swooping down, not firing fire. Instead it was shaping its mouth to form a word. In this case, a word was more deadly than fire.
        “Kaarriaa!” the dragon roared.
        It was distorted, but recognizable. The centaur went inert, gliding without control. The loan sharks congregated below, gazing hungrily up, and the dragon glided in for the kill.
        Cube balanced so she could use both hands. She held the bag with one, and reached in with the other. She brought out a handful of nickelpedes. “Chomp 'em!” she whispered, and hurled the handful at the approaching snoot.
        Her aim was good. Most of the nickelpedes landed on the dragon's nose. A few fell to the side and dropped to the water, where they landed on upturned shark noses. There was a pause of two to three fifths of a moment.
        “Wake,” Cube said to the centaur. “It's happening.”
        The centaur became alert, steadying her flight with her wings, just enough to hover in place. She did not want to attract attention.
        Then the dragon yiped. Nickelpedes were gouging out nickel-sized disks of flesh from its snout. There was a scream from below as the other nickelpedes did similar work on the noses of the sharks. Then they moved on to the dragon's body, and to the fins. They were feasting on dragon skin and making a gory soup of shark