by Dragon Lance
Kaz the minotaur wondered if someone had forgotten to tell this particular dragon that she was not supposed to be here.
The silver dragon was enormous; Kaz had never seen one so large. Brenn was little more than a mouthful to such a grand creature, yet the dragon made no hostile move toward the master mage. Kaz dared to step a bit closer, and saw the dragon in a better light. The dragon was badly injured. Deep, fetid scars scored the massive body. Her wings were torn. One eyelid drooped and the orb that it half-obscured did not focus well. Most of the wounds were old, yet untreated. If not cared for soon, they would almost certainly mean a slow, painful death.
The minotaur’s respect for the mage’s dark powers grew a hundredfold. Brenn could not have possibly inflicted such damage... at least, Kaz thought not... but even this badly wounded, the silver dragon must be a terrible force to reckon with.
“Your children are safe, as you can plainly see, madam,” Brenn said, stretching his right hand to the side to indicate something. Kaz tried to see, but couldn’t from his vantage point. Did the mage have a cage full of young dragons as well?
“Monster!” The silver dragon moaned.
Brenn crossed his arms. “You can say that, madam, when I so thoughtfully allow you to gaze upon your precious eggs whenever you desire? I thought it rather a kindness on my part.”
“Kindness?” The dragon struggled. Like Kaz earlier, she was held in place by invisible magical bonds. After a moment of intense effort, the glittering dragon’s head sank to the ground.
Kaz feared she was dying.
“Kindness...” the dragon whispered. “Torture... is... is what you mean, mortal! Placing my eggs where I can see... but not... touch! Eggs that... that you stole from... my lair!”
“Well, madam, no one seemed to be taking care of them. I thought to give them a good home.” Brenn chuckled. “And you know well, my dear, that I have made a very fine offer to you that would see your children back in your care in perhaps two or three days at most! Just give me what I want, and I promise you that your eggs will be returned to you.”
“How... how can I believe you?”
The spellcaster shrugged. “Believe what you like, madam, but either accept my offer or...”
Brenn must have performed some spell on the hidden eggs, for suddenly the injured dragon renewed her struggle to escape. “No! Don’t hurt them!”
“Well?”
“Yes!” She spat, turned a burning gaze on the black robed spellcaster. “You win, fiend! I will do as you wish, but” — the dragon was rocked by spasms of pain — “if you harm my children, I will find some means to destroy you!”
Brenn laughed. “I would make a poor meal, madam, for your kind. All gristle and no meat to speak of.”
“You... have my word now, human. What do you want of me?”
“That you shall learn on the morrow, madam.” Brenn bowed. “For now, other things demand my attention. I recommend you try to rest. You will certainly need your strength.”
The silver dragon was no longer paying any attention to him. Instead her gaze returned to the area that Kaz could not see, to her eggs. Despite her weakened condition, the gleaming dragon craned in that direction.
Kaz eyed the mage. The minotaur’s grip tightened on the axe, yet he forced himself to hold back, fearing Brenn’s magic.
“At some point, though, there will come a moment when you let down your guard, Master Brenn,” Kaz muttered. He simply had to survive until then.
Returning to the passageway, Brenn sagged, leaned wearily against the outer wall. His imprisonment of the dragon was apparently costing him a great deal of effort. After a breath or two, the mage straightened and proceeded past Kaz.
“Come,” Brenn commanded.
They had taken a dozen steps or so before Kaz decided to speak. “You’ve captured a dragon.”
“Weak as she was, it was easy. I caught her while her attention was on other things. That is all I have to say on the subject.” After a moment of silent contemplation, Brenn turned to a new topic. “I will show you where your horse is being stabled. It will serve as your quarters, too. If you are hungry, I will also show you where you may find food. I think I am being quite generous. All I ask in return is your obedience. Fair enough?”
Kaz grimaced. There was nothing he could do but continue playing the grateful prisoner.
The minotaur ate the provisions and cared for his horse. His quarters consisted of a small cave accessible from inside the mountain by means of a tunnel but also open to the outside world. Kaz considered escape, but a trip to the cave’s entrance revealed that the edge ended in a sheer cliff several hundred feet high. No escape from this exit.
He was polishing his axe, his thoughts running over the pattern of tunnels he had walked through, when the mage entered. Brenn looked distracted. “Come with me. I have need of your physical prowess. Bring the axe.”
Acting the obedient soldier, Kaz followed Brenn back through the maze of underground corridors. As he walked, the minotaur kept careful track of the steps and turns he and his host took. If he was to have any chance of escape, it would be essential to know his way around the sorcerer’s domain.
They returned to the cadaverous mage’s sanctum. With distaste Kaz eyed the magical pattern on the floor and the metal device that stood on it. He could still recall his bubble prison.
Brenn, too, studied the pattern. His words were more to himself than to the minotaur. “Now that I have her word, I can wait no longer. It has avoided the traps I’ve set. There’s no telling if it still even exists. I will have to use more extreme measures and try to bring it here now. “Without looking at his companion, Brenn added, “Stand to the side and do exactly what I tell you to do.”
The mage raised his bony hands high.
A bubble – identical in shape to the one that had held Kaz – formed just above the top of the metal device. At first the bubble was no larger than an egg, then it grew to the size of a melon, then larger until its diameter was greater than the length of Kaz’s arm. A tingle ran through Kaz, who readied his axe, even though he was not certain what good the weapon would do under the circumstances. The bubble did not cease its expansion. Kaz wondered whether it would eventually fill the entire chamber.
Then Kaz saw something in the center of the bubble. Kaz squinted to see better. Inside the bubble was a wooden chest – a simple wooden chest devoid of decoration. As the bubble grew, the chest grew.
When the chest was almost as big as the minotaur, Brenn flicked a finger at the magical bubble. The transparent sphere floated over to him, coming to rest at the mage’s feet. As it touched the cavern floor, though, the bottom of the bubble dissolved. The bubble continued to sink, and as it did, it dissolved. Before long, there was only the chest.
Another flick of Brenn’s finger opened the lid. Brenn removed several leathery-looking fragments of what might have been pottery from the chest. He eyed each piece carefully, especially the edges, then – every fragment held securely in his arms – the mage stepped away.
The lid closed and the chest began to rise. The bubble formed around it, and the entire process that Kaz had just witnessed repeated itself, only in reverse. The bubble and chest returned to their place above the pattern and the metal device. Then the chest and the bubble gradually shrank until at last both vanished.
Brenn entered the pattern the moment the bubble disappeared, and he began piecing together the fragments in the large bowl at the top of the talisman.
Soon the true form of the object became apparent. It was not pottery, as Kaz had first surmised.
An egg! He was rebuilding a broken egg! An egg so large and so peculiar in appearance that it could only come from...
“A dragon!”
Only after he had said the words did Kaz realize that he had spoken out loud. Fortunately, Brenn was too engrossed in his work to notice. The mage put the finishing touches on the egg. He stepped out of the pattern and turned to the minotaur.
“Now your skills may be necessary, my friend. Ready yourself.”
Kaz had no time to consider what Brenn was doing with the eggshell of a dragon. Already something was happening in the center. Another bubble – this one reddish in tint – formed around the shell, growing larger and larger until it could have easily contained Kaz and the mage.
Brenn stretched a nearly fleshless arm toward the bubble and muttered something. A fierce look glowed in his eyes. The skin of his face, already taut, pulled so tight Kaz thought it would soon tear away, revealing the skull underneath.
The eggshell wavered.
Brenn stretched forth his other arm. Sweat poured from his forehead; his hollow eyes flared.
“Wherever you are,” he shouted, “you must come to me! The pull of your birth will not be denied!”
In the bubble, the reconstructed shell smoked. Plumes rose above the egg, swirling and forming a cloud.
Kaz blinked. For a moment, he would have sworn he saw an arm in the cloud.
A shape coalesced slowly over the shell, which seemed to be dissolving as the thing above it solidified. The thing was not human; that was obvious after the first few seconds. It was not like any creature that Kaz had ever seen. It had wings and a long, powerful tail. The thing in the bubble was bent over and seemed undecided as to whether it should stand on two legs or four. Standing, it would have been taller than Brenn and possibly even Kaz. It was also likely twice the minotaur’s weight. Kaz stared in shock and amazement at the creature.
It was the monster that had attacked him! He recognized it by the bruised and bloodied snout. Yes, this was what he had fought.
But what was it?
The monstrosity inside Brenn’s bubble opened its blunted, reptilian maw and let loose with a roar... or tried to. No sound escaped the bubble. The creature clawed at the interior of its cell with hands that looked almost human.
It was a dragon... yet it was not. Kaz knew of the silver dragon’s ability to shapechange, but this thing looked as if it had changed its mind midway through the transformation and had been unable to shift back to its natural state.
Brenn walked to where the monster could see him. Its hatred for the Black Robe was evident. Fortunately for the mage, the bubble was stronger than the monster. “Roar all you like, my dragon-man,” Brenn remarked. “Not only will this prison hold you better, but your mother will never hear you in there.”
Mother? Kaz looked closely at the monster’s scaly hide. What he had taken for gray was actually a muted silver!
The thing was one of the silver dragon’s children! There could be no other explanation, yet Kaz had never seen a dragon that looked like this one. It was, as Brenn had put it, more of a dragon-man....
What have you done, mage? Kaz wondered. What vile sorcery have you performed?
“Good. The shell holds,” Brenn commented. He walked around his creation, studying it as a child might inspect a newly acquired pet. “Some further distortion, but the spell has not completely broken down yet. Another few days, though... Yes, I think I was correct after all,” Brenn muttered.
Kaz could restrain himself no longer. “You are responsible for that creature?”
“It is something of a disappointment, is it not? Interesting, but not quite what I had in mind, and I do hate to leave a thing half done. There is also the problem that my magic refuses to stay bound to it. Given three or four more days, the spell would break down, and we would have neither this creature nor a young hatchling, nothing but a nasty mess. Until she gave in, I was ready to let him remain loose until the unraveling of the spell tore him apart. Now that I have her cooperation, I can remedy the situation. I can start on the others.”
“So that was one of the dragon’s eggs?”
Brenn ceased his inspection of the dragon-man and gazed thoughtfully at the minotaur. “Of course. Almost newly laid, in fact. This was my first attempt. Very strong he is. Tore apart the nice iron cell I had him in and fled to the woods. I was elsewhere at the time.”
“That is your reason for stealing the eggs? That thing?” Kaz asked.
“The idea was another’s – an old companion of mine who had become a cleric of the Dark Queen. He once mentioned to me how delightful it would be if Paladine’s greatest servants could be tricked into fighting for Takhisis. What better way to destroy their morale than by turning their children into creatures dedicated to the darkness?” Brenn’s expression was almost wistful. “His power was insufficient for the task, however, and he died in the process.... The fool.”
The mage shook his head. “Clerics! They are too limited by their fanatical devotion. A mage, on the other hand... well, you see what I have accomplished!”
“Not what you intended,” Kaz growled.
The observation did not seem to bother the magic-user. “No, but unlike Augus, my poor, unlamented friend, I understand my limitations... and then devise ways of overcoming them. She will provide the added strength I need.”
Brenn stepped around the pattern and rejoined Kaz. The mage walked much more slowly than before, a sign that he was exhausted. “We have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow, minotaur. I need to conserve my strength for the spell I plan to cast. The physical exertion must fall to you. Therefore, it would be best if you went to bed now. I shall summon you when the time comes.”
The minotaur bowed obediently. “Yes, Master Brenn.”
“Since you do not yet know your way around this place, I shall give you this to guide you to your quarters.” The skeletal figure flicked a finger at the blue light. The orb shimmered, then split into two identical spheres. One of them fluttered over to the startled warrior. “It will remain in existence so long as you need it to reach your quarters. After that, it will fade away, leaving you in complete darkness.”
Warning me not to wander anywhere afterward, Kaz thought, nodding his understanding.
Brenn returned his attention to his monstrous creation. “You may go.”
Kaz started to leave, but felt something make the hair on his neck stand on end. He looked back at Brenn. The mage’s gaze was still focused on the thing in the magical bubble. The minotaur’s brow furrowed, then he chanced to look up at the dragon-man.
It was watching Kaz.
The minotaur stalked quickly toward the passageway, not once looking back. Only when he was several steps down the tunnel and far from the unnerving eyes of the monster did he pause. It had been years since anything had so disturbed him, but the hungry, knowing gaze of the dragon-man had burned into Kaz’s very soul. Brenn had created something insidious, something whose inner darkness perhaps even the magic-user did not fully comprehend.
Kaz did not like magic. An axe could not cleave magic. Yet, Kaz knew he could not leave unless he destroyed Brenn’s creation first. Kaz added up his chances of succeeding in such a mad quest and snorted in frustration.
Little chance, indeed! He would have to be a suicidal fool to seriously consider doing anything other than escaping at the first opportunity!
“Paladine preserve me!” Kaz muttered under his breath. Just as he made that decision, he realized there was no decision to make. He could not permit Brenn to continue his unearthly experiments. He had to act.
The gods, Kaz decided there and then, really are out to get me... and this time they’ll probably succeed!
*
His memory served him well. Kaz was pleased to discover, some hours later, that despite the utter darkness, he was able to retrace his route. Only once so far had he made a wrong turn, and he had realized that mistake almost at once.
Kaz had been tempted to use a makeshift torch, but the light would have put him at risk. He was fairly certain that the weary Brenn was now asleep, but the minotaur was taking no chances. He was counting on the darkness to hide him.
Kaz had been tempted to attack Brenn in the night. But Kaz knew no mage would go to sleep without some protective spell. In Brenn’s case, it would be a powerful ward. No, the minotaur’s best hope was to remain on the co
urse he had decided.
Only she could aid him.
He turned a corner and saw a dim light ahead. At first, he feared that he had miscalculated, that Brenn was still awake. It was a moment before Kaz recognized the dim illumination as coming from the chamber where the silver dragon was imprisoned. With more confidence, he approached the mouth of the cavern and peered inside.
The silver dragon lay still, so still, in fact, that the minotaur feared that she had already died in her sleep. Then, Kaz saw her stir in obvious agony. Understanding to some extent her injuries and wounds, he could not help but admire her determination to live.
The other dragons had all departed, but she stayed behind, unwilling to take the time to heal herself, and all because of her love for her children.
Kaz was outraged at the thought of what Brenn had done to one of those children. The minotaur had to tell the silver dragon the truth... providing she would believe anything a minotaur said. The last was the part of the plan he had been unable to resolve to his own satisfaction.
Kaz started toward the dragon... and ran into an invisible wall.
Cursing, he slammed his fist against it. “What now?” he muttered.
Frustrated, the minotaur shifted position in an attempt to see if there might be another entrance nearer to the dragon. As he moved, he put a hand against the rock wall of the cavern.
Air currents shifted. A tingle ran through the minotaur’s hand. Startled, he pulled his hand from the rock. Kaz recalled something Brenn had done both when entering and departing the dragon’s prison. Twice the spellcaster’s hand had touched the wall. In fact, Kaz realized, Brenn had gone out of his way to touch the rock.
Kaz tried to touch the invisible wall.
It was gone.
Kaz quickly entered the chamber and, with some hesitation, approached the massive prisoner.
“You come... quiet... in the night,” a soft voice whispered suddenly. “The mage... has acquired himself a new servant. You should not be here without your master, minotaur. I should tear you... tear you apart.”
