A Twist of Fate

At the beginning of the battle, the black-robed knights beside Duke Anlek had scattered and occupied the two long bridges on either side. Thus, if Brando wanted to launch a sneak attack on him, he had to cross one of the defensive lines. Fortunately, that was no trouble for Brando, who possessed the Cloak of Concealment. He simply held up the cloak and flew over the crowd. Such sneaky behavior was both thrilling and exciting to the Little Female Dragon. She asked with great interest, "I never knew this lousy cloak was so much fun. Otherwise, I would have asked William for one ages ago. Brando, can you lend it to me for two days?"

"No." Brando had always politely declined deals where nothing ever came back.

"Stingy." Her reasonable request had been rejected—of course, Aloz thought it was perfectly reasonable—and she immediately bared her fangs, revealing two rows of snow-white little teeth. When she glanced down and realized that Brando was still holding her wrist, the Little Female Dragon bit down hard without a second thought.

"Hiss—" Brando sucked in a breath from the pain. Even though his skin was as tough as steel, those were dragon teeth! And what was wrong with this girl? Why was she acting like a dog? Wasn't she a dragon? He turned back in annoyance, only to find Aloz had climbed onto his back again and bitten him on the neck. Brando's veins throbbed violently. He reached back, seized Aloz by the wrist, and pulled her over. He was about to scold her when he saw her staring at him with golden eyes, her little mouth pursed and her face looking as though she were about to cry.

Brando froze, then felt a headache coming on. He had just remembered that although Aloz