The collar had been protected by powerful spells, deadly enchantments laid down by the Great One himself when it had first been brought to the hall for safekeeping. Only Marthaen, as First Speaker, and the most senior of the clerics had the right to approach the collar. All others who attempted to pass within the encircling rail should have been destroyed at once. Any thief capable of stealing the collar would have needed the protection of a wizard more powerful than even the Great One himself. It seemed unlikely that any mortal wizard could possess more power than an Immortal.
Perhaps the thief enjoyed the protection of another Immortal, Marthaen reflected. That was an even more frightening prospect. The First Speaker knew that he could never hope to fight an Immortal for possession of the Collar of the Dragons no matter how much help he received.
"How did they get past the barriers?" he asked.
"That might not have been as difficult as you might think," Lhorandyn said. "As you know, the Collar was protected by enchantments placed there by the Great One himself. Those enchantments did not fail when the Great One withdrew, but with the passage of time, they have become weaker than they once were. I fear that any reasonably competent wizard could have diverted the barriers long enough for someone else to slip inside and take the collar. We have never spoken of such a possibility, for it seemed to us that the best protection for the collar was the dire reputation of those enchantments."
" Then you think the thieves might have known about the weakened barrier?" Marthaen asked.
Again the cleric looked perplexed. "I cannot imagine hoW. Only a very few of the senior clerics know, and we have kept that to ourselves. If we had told anyone, it would have been you."
Marthaen sat back on his haunches, laying back his ears. For a moment, he looked utterly dejected, even defeated. "An Immortal would have known. I fear what we may face. What do the clerics know of this matter? Has the Great One spoken to you of anything?"
l.horandyn drew back his head. "First Speaker, you know the Great One has been gone for many years."
"You must be candid with me now," Marthaen told him sternly, rising and lifting his head so that he stood above the other dragon. "There is too much at stake here. My own sister is a senior cleric, and by inference, I know beyond any doubt that she has received instructions from the Great One. If he were truly gone, these enchantments of protection would have failed completely. So tell me now what you know."
The cleric glanced aside. "I know no more of this matter than you do, and that is the truth. If the Great One had been free to tell us anything, do you not suppose that he would have warned us?"
Reluctantly, Marthaen had to agree. "Do what you can to find answers to this mystery. Also, I must ask you to summon Kharendaen here to Windreach, as you have done for me in the past. Have her come alone. There have already been suspicions that the Dragonlord was involved, and she will be required to account for him."
The response to the theft of the Collar of the Dragons was unprecedented in all the long history of Windreach. Every dragon who could fly turned out to take part in the search. Bands of dragons passed quickly eastward to the Great Bay to prevent the thieves from escaping by sea, while others began a more careful search of the surrounding mountains in all directions. News of the theft was traveling as fast as a dragon could fly through the Hidden Kingdoms of the Dragons, the bands that lived alone in the wild. Soon every dragon in the world would know that the collar had been stolen and would join in the search. The thing Marthaen feared most was that dragons beyond the reach of his immediate control might take some dire measures in their efforts to find their lost treasure.
Morning came, but it brought little promise. The patrols that Jherdar had organized to cut off the retreat of the invaders had found no sign of anyone traveling in those barren lands, even when they searched once more in the light of day. The snows of the night had been heavy and the winds had been desperately cold. The storm continued on into the morning so that the lands of the Wyrmsteeth Mountains lay beneath a gray gloom of icy mist and blowing snow. Although such weather was a small concern for a creature as powerful and well protected as a dragon, it was deadly to other folk. The possibility existed that the thieves had underestimated the fury of the storm they had used to cover their retreat, and they already lay dead, hidden somewhere within a deep drift of snow.
The various members of the parliament who had led their bands in the search began to return by later the same morning, which suited Marthaen. He needed to establish a general understanding of just what had happened, and especially in what ways the dragons should and should not act in response. Just the same, he saw no reason to convene a formal discussion in the Hall of Parliament. Dragons continued to arrive until they filled his private chamber across from the Hall of Parliament almost to overflowing.
"I confess that I fear the worst," Marthaen admitted when the others had made their reports. "Either our enemies have already fled, meaning that they have the same speed and mobility as we do, or else they are dead or stranded somewhere in the wilderness nearby."
"And you expect that they have fled," Jherdar observed. It was not a question.
Marthaen sat upright, with his long tail looped around him. "We seem to have no clue to the identity of the thieves, but there is much that we can infer about them and their abilities by what they have done. First, they must have possessed powerful magic to safely penetrate the enchantments that protected the Collar of the Dragons. That in itself says a great deal about them. But how did they know of the Collar of the Dragons in the first place? How did they know of the location of Windreach? Obviously they are aware of even our deepest secrets. Finally I ask this: How were they able to come within our city, enter into the Hall of the Great One itself, and escape again without being seen? These are great mysteries indeed."
"It is no mystery to me," Jherdar declared. "The Dragonlord would possess the power to break the protective enchantments."
"But how did he know about the Collar of the Dragons?" Marthaen insisted. "Do you suggest that Kharendaen has betrayed our secrets to him? Do you believe that she carried the collar away for him? I do not believe it, although I have already summoned her here to testify for herself and the Dragonlord in this matter. Kharendaen would have had no part in this. The Dragonlord is her companion, but he is not her master."
"Unless the Great One himself ordered the theft," the red dragon conjectured.
"If the Great One directed Kharendaen and the Dragonlord to take the collar, then there must be good reason, and they are welcome to have it," Marthaen declared. "The rogues turned against our clerics once before, but I cannot believe that any of us would contemplate turning against the Great One."
Jherdar sat motionless, staring downward, and said nothing. Although he had no direct part in those dark events, he was still not entirely blameless in the matter.
"If not the Dragonlord, then who?" Marthaen contin-
ued. "The Alphatians? I must suspect them, considering their recent incursions into the lands surrounding the Great Bay. If they have somehow learned our secrets, then they could be fully capable of planning the theft of the collar, providing the spells necessary to enter Windreach unseen and penetrate the protections, and even finding the means of carrying away the collar."
"A plausible explanation," Gheradaen agreed, raising his head in interest. "Yet perhaps you have an even better interpretation."
"I suspect that I do," Marthaen agreed. "The renegade dragons know our secrets already. They could pass into Windreach unopposed, mistaken for rightful inhabitants of the city."
Jherdar lifted his head in indignation. "The renegades would never dare such a thing."
"The renegades have never dared such a thing before," the gold dragon corrected him. "But they are mad in their craving for power, and there is no limit to what they may dare to do. Also keep in mind that the renegades may have supplied our secrets to other enemies."
Jherdar considered that momentarily, then nodded
. "I will admit to the strength of your arguments. Even so, I am not entirely satisfied that the Dragonlord has not had a part in this. I believe that I speak for other dragons in this matter. We must have a thorough accounting from Kharen-daen. Also, I want more assurances of our safety. Unless things go better for us, then we face a time of great troubles. I want new assurances that the Dragonlord will, according to his promise, take our part when we have not been the aggressors in breaking the truce."
"I have already summoned Kharendaen to tell us what she knows about this," Marthaen replied. "I still do not believe the Dragonlord was involved in this, and I trust him to help us recover the collar if we call upon him to do so. Even so, I do not wish to involve him in our affairs until we are certain we have need of him. But if I am not completely satisfied by what my sister has to say, then I will speak to him myself."
Jherdar nodded. "Perhaps that would be best. I understand that you are his friend."
" I prefer to have him as a friend, since he would make a particularly dangerous enemy," Marthaen insisted. "But he is a friend best kept at a distance all the same, as long as Kharendaen is there to keep watch on him for us. My own suspicion is that either the Fire Wizards of the Flaem or the Air Wizards of Alphatia are behind this, and I frankly do not consider the Flaem competent enough to have managed the affair. Kharendaen can report about the Fire Wizards to us, but I feel that our attention would best be directed toward the Alphatians. If the thieves were not renegade dragons, then only the Air Wizards would have possessed the magic required to take the collar and escape unseen."
The weather began to improve by early that afternoon. The snow finally came to an end, and the clouds began to break up, although the winds remained fierce and the sky si ill looked threatening. The improved visibility made the search of the lands surrounding Windreach somewhat easier, although it also made escape easier for the thieves. Marthaen disliked having to ask the dragons to continue i heir search, but the matter was too important. If the Collar of the Dragons was to be recovered quickly, it had to be found while it was still within their own lands.
The situation with the Alphatians become somewhat more critical at that same time. During the night, the winds had broken up the ice that had closed off the Great Bay, sweeping it eastward into the open sea. A couple of ships had left the Alphatian strongholds on the coast with the noon tide, taking advantage of the clear passage. A band of dragons had discovered the ships once they were well out into the bay and had circled slowly to investigate. The Alphatians themselves began the fight, shooting arrows and bolts from crossbows. Then the dragons attacked in fury, ripping apart the vessels in their search for their stolen treasure before leaving the wreckage in flames.
Marthaen had to admit that he would have done the same, though perhaps not in such haste. Without a better idea of where the Collar of the Dragons might be, he could never have allowed those ships to escape. Granted, ships
were a good deal slower than dragons, and there would have been all the time in the world to do something about them. Unfortunately, Marthaen now had a problem to handle with the Alphatians, whether or not they had been a party to the theft.
Even so, he had to admit that trouble with the Alphatians had been brewing for some time now. The halfling settlement at Leeha was one thing, but the Alphatians had been building strongholds and expanding their holdings uncomfortably close to the lands claimed by the dragons. Marthaen had already known that he would have to find some way of encouraging them to withdraw, preferably without involving the Dragonlord.
When there was no sign of the presence of the invaders or even their manner of escape by that evening, Marthaen felt obliged to greatly reduce to extent of the search. Hundreds, even thousands of dragons from Windreach and the surrounding lands had been flying back and forth through the mountains and along the coast since the middle of the previous night, and they were tired and hungry. It seemed best to permit Jherdar to organize the younger dragons into patrols and begin a more calculated and less conspicuous search. That would in turn allow him to organize the more powerful and learned dragon sorcerers and clerics for a more stealthful search. Since the thieves seemed to have already made their escape, he suspected that such an investigation would now be a more effective approach.
Now that the initial fury of the search was past, Marthaen was beginning to feel desperate. How much more would the dragons be asked to take? Indeed, how much more adversity could the Nation of Dragons endure before it collapsed in anarchy? It had been a fragile entity in the first place. First there had been the loss of the guidance and protection of the Great One and the fearful prophecy, then the dreaded return of the Dragonlord. Now the most ancient and sacred of their treasures had been stolen. But even more alarming, the most closely guarded secrets of the dragons had been betrayed. Windreach was the only city of the dragons, and its greatest security hadn't been in the fact that it was so remote and unassailable, but
That its very existence had remained unknown.
Marthaen was becoming very fearful of the future, all the more so because the responsibility for so many of the decisions that would shape the future of his people was his own. He felt as if he were guiding the dragons through a treacherous and increasingly confusing maze of challenges and threats. The last thing the dragons needed was to find themselves at war, and yet war with the Alphatians, and possibly other enemies as well, now seemed inevitable.
Above all, he had to keep the dragons from putting themselves at odds with the Dragonlord. He knew that he had to the right to call upon the Dragonlord to defend the dragons from their enemies, and yet he remained fearful of such involvement and how it might end. In addition, he had to deal with the prophecy that warned of a permanent change in the destiny of the dragons. With no idea of what to expect, he somehow had to insure that such a change was to their benefit.
His first bit of good fortune in all of these dire events was t hat Jherdar, the leader of the red dragons, had been rather shaken, even subdued by the theft, and he was willing to follow Marthaen's calculated guidance rather than fly off in fury. The leaders of all the wilder breeds of dragons, the reds, greens and blacks, were usually willing to follow Jherdar's lead in such matters. As a result, Jherdar's deference to Marthaen helped to keep the entire Nation of Dragons under control.
The other bit of good fortune was that Kharendaen made the flight from the Highlands to Windreach in rather amazing time, arriving that evening even as Marthaen was conferring with the others about changing the manner of their search. She had received the summons in the middle of the previous night in the form of a dream, a curious trick that the more talented clerics were able to manage, and she had flown without rest ever since. She was clearly hungry and at the end of her strength when she pushed her way past the startled dragons into her brother's private chamber, but the time of her arrival could not have been more critical. Many of the dragons still needed some assurance that the Dragonlord had not been involved in the theft, and
Marthaen himself wanted some assurance that the Fire Wizards were not involved before he turned his fury against the Alphatians.
"What has happened?" she asked. "Windreach appears to have been stirred up like a nest of hornets."
"Then you do not know?" Jherdar asked before Marthaen could speak.
"I have no idea," she insisted, sitting back on her tail in obvious weariness. "I was instructed to come at once, and the tone of the message was so dire that I was startled awake and did not receive the remainder of the dream of summoning."
"Windreach has been invaded," Marthaen told her, speaking directly. "The Collar of the Dragons has been stolen, and we have no idea who has done such a thing. What we need from you is assurance that the Dragonlord was not involved in any way."
"I assure you that he was not," Kharendaen said, too weary to be shaken by such news. "He and I have an understanding. I have never told him any secrets of the dragons, and he does not ask. As far as I know, he has never even heard
of either Windreach or the Collar of the Dragons."
"And you can account for his whereabouts yesterday, up until the time of your departure to answer the summons?"
She nodded weakly, closing her eyes for a brief moment. "The Dragonlord was in Braejr all day yesterday. He was still at home when I left. I have not been parted from his company for more than a few hours at time, and never by any great distance, for the last several weeks. I can guarantee that he was not involved in the theft."
"What about the Fire Wizards?" Marthaen asked pointedly.
Kharendaen had to consider that for a moment. "I do not see how they could have known of the Collar of the Dragons or its location, and I doubt that they would have the skill to take it by themselves. Still, I would not put anything past them. They are desperate for power, and the Collar of the Dragons is an artifact of great power. When I return to Braejr, I will learn what I can."
"Try to be discreet," Marthaen said. "It is the will of the parliament that no one, not even the Dragonlord, should be told of these events at this time."
"I understand."
Once her own part was done, Kharendaen left the chamber wordlessly. Marthaen wasn't able to leave for several minutes, not until he was satisfied with the plans that Jherdar and the others were formulating for continuing the search in a more methodical manner. Even then, he still had to speak with Gheradaen and Lhorandyn about other ways that they might seek the identity of the thieves.
Some time later, he found Kharendaen waiting in the hall outside his private chambers. She was sitting back on her haunches and yawning hugely as he approached. Her weariness was a matter of wry amusement to him, for she was otherwise always careful to carry herself with the quiet dignity of a cleric. She lifted her neck to rub her cheek lightly against his own, their first private gesture of greeting since her arrival.
D& D - Mystara 02 Dragonking of Mystara Page 2
