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I looked back and saw the dragon rise, struggling to disentangle that mass of intertwined necks. One head almost popped free, but then another drew it back down in its own attempt to yank itself out of the mess. It was like watching an angry pile of shoelaces try to untie themselves.

The sound of hoofbeats reverberated across the bridge. “Get on!” Sunbeam bellowed as he skidded to a halt in front of us, bending low to make mounting easier. I managed not to wince at the smell of his breath—his halitosis really was appalling—and swung my leg over his back. Yudit clambered on behind me. The dragon was already on the move, thunderous footfalls shaking the bridge as Sunbeam galloped away.

We’d barely reached solid ground when Yudit was wrenched off the horse’s back. The swipe of a claw had sent her flying. She landed in the grass a good fifteen feet away. Her cuirass had a dent in the side that looked like an impact crater. A cold spike of panic pierced my chest.

I didn’t have time to check how injured she was. Sunbeam wheeled around to face the dragon. Two of the heads had gotten free, and the rest of the knot was noticeably looser.

A head lashed toward me. The bite only missed because Sunbeam leapt sideways in a way that most horses wouldn’t have been able to manage. “Ow!” he yelped as he landed. “That was not good for my lumbago.”

“DIE!” the dragon screamed. “PERISH!” “EXPIRE!” “CROAK!” “SNUFF IT!” “BITE THE DUST!” “KICK THE BUCKET!” “DEADIFFICATE!”

I brandished my sword, searching for any chance to strike a telling blow. When a second head snaked around to get behind me, I slashed at the neck as it passed. It was a solid swing, but it bounced off without leaving so much as a mark. I might as well have attacked the bridge. I ducked low as the head tried to swallow me, its jaws clacking shut on air as Sunbeam carried me farther away.

The dragon snickered. “The strength to harm us, you do not possess,” hissed head number one. “Against one such as you, we are invulnerable.” “Invincible.” “Undefeatable.” “Unconquerable.” “Impregnable.” “Unbeatable.” “Indestructible.” “Antistabtabulous!”

Several dragon heads turned to glare at the final one. “What?” it said. “I’m last in line. You try to come up with word number eight.”

Off to the side, much to my relief, I saw Yudit struggling to sit up. Although she gave up halfway and collapsed back down.

I shifted my grip on the sword. “OK,” I whispered in Sunbeam’s ear. “We’ll try for an eye. When I say go, charge straight at the—”

The dragon smacked my sword with a claw, a tremendous slap that knocked the weapon right out of my hand. It arced through the air, spinning end over end. Yudit managed to roll out of the way just before it buried itself point-first in the earth, exactly where her head had been.

So much for that plan. Or any plan at all. Without anything to fight with, I wasn’t going to last very long.

The enormous creature loomed over us, all of its heads free to attack. “Now,” the first one said, “prepare yourself to—”

“Ha!” Sunbeam shouted. “You’re dead, dragon!”

The dragon paused.

“Not dead, are we,” the same head said. “We live.” “We breathe,” said another. “We survive.” “We—”

Sunbeam snorted. “Regard your claw.”

Eight heads swiveled to peer at their palm. A small cut on it oozed black blood. I might not have been strong enough to penetrate their scales, but they certainly were. They’d given themselves a nick when they slapped my sword away.

“That sword,” Sunbeam said, “was coated with the deadliest poison known, Anoplocephala perfoliata. The tiniest scratch is enough to kill. Even now it works its way slowly toward your heart.”

As one, sixteen feathery eyebrow crests went up in alarm. “Is this a joke?” the dragon asked. “A jest?” “A lark?” “A—”

“Look there if you don’t believe me.” Sunbeam motioned a hoof toward Yudit. All around my sister—and the sword, still vibrating in the earth—the grass was dying in an ever-expanding circle. “That’s what happens when it seeps into the ground. So you can imagine the fate that awaits you.”

Yudit lay there blinking for a moment, and then cried, “Ack! Ouch! Even such close proximity to the poison makes me writhe in agony!” She performed a passably good impression of agonized writhing, although her tortured wails edged into overacting.

“The poison does terrible things to your spleen,” Sunbeam said, shaking his head sadly. “And your liver? It’ll melt into liverwurst.”

“If that is so,” the first head growled while the rest regarded Yudit with alarm, “then slaughter you, we should, before we perish.” The dragon took a step closer to us.

“You could do that,” Sunbeam acknowledged, prancing back a few paces. “On the other hand, if I were you, I’d go find the cure instead. Every minute you spend here brings you that much closer to death.”

“There is a cure?” “A treatment?” “An antidote?” “A remedy?”

“Yes,” the horse began. “It—”

“An antitoxin?” “A medicine?” “A panacea?” “A reviviffectuator?”

“Yes!” Sunbeam answered impatiently. “Far to the north, beyond the human lands, there is a rare…” His voice trailed off.