The Fire-Eater

Plot

Great scaly dragons roamed the dunes -- unreal beasts resurrected daily in the mirage belt. Illusions created by atmospheric manipulation -- and by magic. For although Esmeralda was a backward world, it had a very real and unusual native art -- witchcraft! Raker of Soldiers of Fortune, Inc. was being paid well to track down the planet's deadly Fire-Eater -- who visited flaming death upon distant enemies. But Raker found himself battling not one wizard, but a whole pack of sorcerers, plague makers, lycanthropes, and fire assassins. And the ones who couldn't kill him with words went at him with battle axes, swords and the like. Raker began to wonder if even a great fortune was going to be just compensation if he couldn't live long enough to collect....