Only moments earlier he had been standing in the deep forest on a gentle spring morning. Now he stood in a land of harsh, barren stones beneath a night sky. A cold wind swept sheets of stinging desert sand along the ground. He seemed to be standing amid boulders and deep ravines near the rugged shore of some great lake surrounded by sharp, towering peaks and ridges of lifeless mountains. Farther along the rocky shore, perhaps three miles from where he stood, stood the dark, imposing bulk of a fortress of great size, a shadowy collection of high walls and towers that was nearly as large as a town. It was perched atop a high bluff overlooking the lake.
Surely this must be the stronghold of the Fire Wizards of the Flaem. And it seemed that the traitor wizards must be at home, for a few pale lights could be seen in the distant windows. Thelvyn noticed something odd about the lake below the cliffs that supported the dark walls of the fortress. The high waves seemed frozen in place, just as they were about to crest. He saw that the waves were in fact dunes of dull gray sand, partly hidden within a fog of wind-blown dust.
Kharendaen moved close to his side and rubbed her cheek lightly against the side of his long neck. She had in the past remained calm and brave in the face of many dangers they had shared, but this barren land was so hostile that even she found it disquieting. The cold wind whipped around them once again, so that they had to lift their heads above the sheets of blowing sand. Sir George had to climb back into his saddle to escape the worst of it.
"At least we won't have to worry where we left the gate," he said, looking back at the great archway of stone that framed the worldgate. Thelvyn released his will, permitting the gateway to close.
"My powers as a cleric have left me," Kharendaen warned her companions. "I am too far removed from the influence of the Great One."
"I don't feel any different," Thelvyn said, testing his own abilities just to be certain.
"Your powers do not come from the Great One," she explained. "They are your own. Of course, as a dragon, I also command the magic of a sorceress, and to a fairly high degree. Just the same, I fear that you alone might be able to defend us from hostile magic."
"Can we be done with this?" Sir George asked impatiently. "You armor-plated lizards might not mind this sand and cold wind, but I'm not having a very good time. Let's rout those wizards so that we can be back in Braejr in time for dinner."
Routing the Fire Wizards did indeed seem like a very good idea, although Thelvyn lacked his old friend's confidence that things would be so easy. The defenders of the dark fortress probably would have been alerted to anyone coming through their worldgate, especially since Sir George had sprung their trap. The two dragons could have simply flown to the fortress in a direct assault, but they agreed that it was best not to take for granted Alessa Vyledaar's assumption that the stronghold was probably poorly defended. They preferred that any battle be as much as possible on their own terms.
Rather than fly to the distant fortress, they elected to walk, keeping themselves hidden as much as possible in the deep shadows of the ravines and large boulders.
While it was obvious that Sir George cared nothing for the local climate, the wind-driven sand got in the large eyes and ears of the dragons, and they wanted to be done with their quest and leave this place. The land was barren and lifeless, and Thelvyn could hardly imagine the Flaem living in such a desolate place. He wondered if this fierce sandstorm was a rare event or an everyday occurrence.
Suddenly a crushing blow caught Thelvyn in the chest just below his neck, hurtling him over backward into the sand with tremendous force. He had barely caught a glimpse of his attacker, a dark shape that had suddenly leapt out at him from the shadows of a large boulder. Powerful claws caught his own wrists and forced apart his arms while the weight of his adversary held him to the ground. Jaws closed with crushing force on his neck, preventing him from recovering the breath that had been knocked out of him. He had been caught by the only enemy he had not expected to face in this place, for he had seen just enough to know that his attacker was a dragon.
Thelvyn was desperate, yet he was unable to defend himself. He would have surely been dead in a moment, but his opponent had apparently assumed he was alone. Having overcome her own brief moment of surprise, Kharendaen spun around quickly, and the whipping end of her tail caught the strange dragon hard in the side of the face. Alarmed and half stunned by the blow, the dragon released its hold on Thelvyn's neck and drew back, bracing its legs and arching its back as it snarled in rage. But Kharendaen was ready, having spun completely around so that she once again faced the enemy dragon. She caught it with a tremendous blast of flames.
Although he was still panting for breath, Thelvyn seized the opportunity to struggle to his feet. He turned to face their attacker. Although the strange dragon did not seem to have been harmed by Kharendaen's fiery breath, it was still shaken from the blow with her tail and decided that it had had enough. Obviously it had never expected to face two dragons. It turned and ran, leaping across the windswept stones toward the fortress. When it was sure that they were not following, it paused at the top of a hill and turned back, watching them.
"A dragon," Thelvyn panted at last. "Has someone gotten to the collar before us?"
"That is no dragon of our world," Kharendaen said firmly.
She paused and stared as three more dragons suddenly leapt over the top of the hill, and now all four stood in a line, their forms dimly outlined against the dark sky. Then they charged forward, rushing across the stony ground and scattering great clouds of sand from the drifts that had gathered in the lee of the boulders. Thelvyn and Kharendaen turned and ran as fast as they could back toward the worldgate.
"Stay in our tracks," Thelvyn warned as they ran, careful that he did not speak loud enough to be overheard by their pursuers. "If we can lose sight of them, they might follow our tracks the other way and lose us."
They ran as fast as they could, though running was far less natural to a dragon than flight. Within a minute, they came to a ravine that Thelvyn recalled passing through earlier. He stopped suddenly when he saw a deep recess in the wall of dull gray stone to his left, and Kharendaen nearly ran into him from behind. He pushed her desperately in the direction of the dark opening, although she acted confused.
"We can't hide in there," she protested. "We're too large. They're certain to see us."
"Not if we change form," he said quickly. "Hurry before they see us."
Kharendaen shifted form abruptly, so that the straps of her saddle collapsed about her, then hurried into the deep crevice. Thelvyn waited only long enough to toss the saddle in behind her before he changed to his Eldar form, the straps of his harness falling away. He returned to his dragon form just long enough to pass the straps of the harness into the shadows of the recess before changing form yet again.
The crevice was deeper than he had expected, almost forming a small cave in the wall of the ravine. A thick bed of sand had been blown inside the crevice, becoming steadily deeper farther back in the narrow confines of the recess. Thelvyn tele-ported into the armor of the Dragonlord, which had remained safe and nearly forgotten in its magical place of safekeeping in the months since Thelvyn had become a dragon. At the moment, it was a far better protection than his own powers or his natural weapons as a dragon. He drew the massive enchanted sword and turned to face the opening of the crevice. The enemy dragons rushed past only a moment later, so intent upon the chase that they did not even pause in their leaping stride.
Thelvyn moved cautiously to the opening to look out into the ravine just in time to see the last of the dragons disappear over a distant pile of large, rounded boulders. He stepped outside the opening, teleported out of the enchanted armor, and returned immediately to dragon form, reaching inside the recess to draw out the discarded saddle and harness.
"Quickly now," he told his mate. "They think that we're on our way back to the worldgate. If we hurry, we can continue on to the fortress and retrieve the Collar of the Dragons while they
're still waiting for us at the gate."
"But they are sure to be guarding the gate," Kharendaen said as she slipped into the straps of the saddle as quickly as she could. "They know we have to go back that way eventually."
"That's a problem we'll have to face up to later," Thelvyn said quickly. "The power of the Dragonlord should be enough to deal with them. With any luck, they might realize that we've gone to collect the collar and abandon the gate just when we need to use it."
"If there aren't any more dragons at the fortress waiting for us," she commented sourly.
Thelvyn looked up. "What are dragons doing here, anyway? Could renegades have found this place before us?"
Kharendaen shook her head firmly. "No. Those are not dragons of our own world. The one that attacked you seemed at first to be large red, but I saw that the plates of his armor were unnatural, as if they were carved from actual ruby. And his features were different from those of any breed of dragon I know. Perhaps you were never able to see him clearly. I believe that he was not from our own world. Indeed, his appearance was so remarkable that I am not even certain that he is indeed a living dragon, but perhaps some strange creature animated by magic."
"Perhaps so," Thelvyn agreed, then glanced about. "Where's Sir George?"
Kharendaen rolled her eyes. "I must have thrown him off at the place where you were attacked, and then I forgot about him in the confusion. At least these alien dragons seem to have missed him as well."
"We can collect him on the way to the fortress," Thelvyn said. "I only hope he came to no harm during the fight."
CHAPTER FIVE
Thelvyn knew he would have only a brief time to reach the fortress and find the Collar of the Dragons. Sooner or later the four strange dragons would figure out that he and Kharendaen had circled back. He couldn't predict whether they would return at once to the fortress or stay at the gate, knowing that Thelvyn and his companions would have to return there eventually, since it was their only way home.
At least Thelvyn had not been taken completely by surprise. He had suspected that their mission would not be as easy as it had seemed, but he never expected to have to fight dragons in this world. He no longer had any idea who their true enemy was, the Fire Wizards or the alien dragons. Nor could he guess whether all the enemy dragons guarding the fortress were now somewhere in the wild behind him, or if more might still be waiting within the fortress. He would have to be cautious, but he also needed to move as quickly as he dared.
At least he had sprung the first trap prematurely. If all four of the alien dragons had attacked together, neither he nor Kharendaen might have escaped. But who were these strange
dragons? Did they obey the Fire Wizards? Had they been expecting him? And had they been behind the recent attacks in his own world? He had many questions and no time to consider the answers, but he suspected that he would soon understand many things much better than he had. And if his suspicions proved true, he would demand an accounting.
Following the tracks in the sand that were already beginning to disappear under the relentless wind, he returned quickly to the place of the first attack. He paused a moment, giving Sir George a chance to see him in the expectation that he would want to be certain of his friends and enemies before showing himself. He also wanted to have a look about in the fearful possibility of finding the old knight's broken body. Sir George showed himself a moment later, emerging from a deep shadow amid the boulders.
"I'm glad you finally remembered me," he complained, hurrying to Kharendaen's side.
"You were probably safer here than you would have been with us," Thelvyn told him. "But we must hurry now. The alien dragons are probably at the worldgate waiting for us to show up, but they won't wait long."
"But won't we have to face them eventually?" Sir George asked as he pulled himself back into his saddle.
"Not if we can help it. I hope that we can raid their fortress while they're guarding the gate, then escape through the gate when they come looking for us at the fortress."
Sir George looked skeptical but said nothing. Thelvyn had to agree with his companion's cynical assessment. Thelvyn knew any number of things could go wrong with his plan, but he still hoped for the best. He paused just long enough to rise up on his hind legs and lift his head to look around. He had wondered if the alien dragons would take to the sky to search, but he saw nothing. The fortress was only a little more than a mile from where they now stood. He hoped to be inside its forbidding walls very soon.
Dragons moved in an ungainly manner on the ground, but they could move along at a very quick pace and surprisingly quietly when they needed to. The land rose slowly as they approached the high point of land where the fortress stood, and they had to cross an open stretch of ground before the terrain became even more rugged during the last few hundred yards. At least it would hide their final approach. Thelvyn was both startled and immediately suspicious to see that the main gate of the fortress stood invitingly open, the massive wooden drawbridge lowered and the iron-bound portals within drawn back so that the soft golden light of lamps spilled out into the night.
Indicating that Kharendaen should follow at a safe distance, he stalked slowly along the last few yards of the road before inching carefully toward the open gate, creeping like a great cat, with his legs bent so that his deep chest was almost touching the ground. He edged forward until his slender nose was almost within the doorway, as if he meant to poke his head inside. Then, without warning, he suddenly leapt forward, hurtling himself ahead with an abrupt lunge of his powerful hind legs. His leap carried him well past any enemy that might have been lurking just inside the gate.
Thelvyn landed on the smooth stone floor of a vast chamber just within the gate and turned quickly to look for any enemy that might attack after that first moment of surprise. The purpose of this chamber was not immediately clear to him. It seemed to be like a great hall or large reception room rather than a courtyard or enclosed stables. There were few furnishings, and the light came from magical lamps set along the walls. Stairs at either side led up to a wide balcony on the second floor, although the stairs were exceptionally wide, long, and shallow-stepped. But there was no sign of any defender. Kharendaen slipped through the gate a moment later, lifting her head to look about.
"Everything here seems to be built to the proportions of dragons," Thelvyn explained. "Look at those stairs, the doorways, the height of the ceiling. I'm inclined to believe that those strange dragons are the true masters of this world."
"But Alessa didn't say anything about dragons being native to this place," Sir George said. "That's not something she could have simply overlooked. All she said was that this was a stronghold of the Fire Wizards."
"Yes, she did, didn't she?" Thelvyn agreed thoughtfully. "Now, why do you suppose she neglected to mention something like that? We'll have a little talk with Alessa Vyledaar when we return to our own world. But for now, let's locate the collar and get out of here."
"The collar is straight ahead," Kharendaen said, staring intently toward a wide corridor that led directly inward from the gate. "I sense its magic, and I can remember the distinct presence of the powers of the collar from the times when I have seen it in Windreach."
"I'm almost surprised that the collar is still here, considering how the circumstances have changed," Thelvyn said, having sensed the magical presence she described. "Follow me. We still have no idea who else might still be lurking about this place."
"Not traitor Fire Wizards, at least," Sir George commented.
No attempt had been made to hide or safeguard the Collar of the Dragons in any way. Thelvyn followed the sense of its remarkable magic straight into the heart of the fortress, hurrying past many dimly lit chambers of great size. From what he could see, there seemed no doubt this was indeed a fortress or stronghold and nothing more. While everything was built to the scale of dragons, there were few furnishings, with no carpets on the cold stone floor and no tapestries or other decorations hung on th
e bare walls. Even the dour forts of the dwarves were more hospitable. Thelvyn smiled to himself, thinking that even the Fire Wizards of the Flaem showed better taste.
His search came to an abrupt end as the wide corridor led to the doors of the largest chamber he had seen yet, near the very center of the fortress. Thelvyn slowed to approach the doorway cautiously, then stopped just outside the chamber to look around. This chamber was truly vast in its proportions, the ceiling so high that he could have flown around it in a tight circle. Thelvyn guessed that this was a place where magic was learned and practiced, for great shelves of books lined the walls, and there were couches and reading stands much like those he had seen used by the dragons of Shadowmere. Objects he knew to be associated with magic also stood on the shelves and on stands, and on the walls hung weapons and samples of rare plants and the preserved bodies of strange creatures, the odd
trophies of explorations or perhaps conquests.
In the center of the room stood a simple stand of dark stone, nothing more than a long cylinder of smooth marble supported on a heavy wooden frame. Perched atop the stand was the Collar of the Dragons. Thelvyn had never seen the collar nor even heard it described in clear detail, but he knew immediately that this was the object of his quest. The collar was made of large golden plates hinged together so that it could change shape with the movements of a dragon's neck. A row of large, hollow triangular plates along the top were shaped to fit over the ridges of a dragon's crest. The plates of the collar were adorned with a wealth of jewels.
Thelvyn refrained from rushing forward to claim the collar just yet. He had become aware that one of the alien dragons was crouching close to the wall beyond the doorway to his right, ready to spring out as he stepped through- He pretended not to notice, seeming to keep his attention focused on the collar. He waited for a long, tense moment, letting his enemy become apprehensive with uncertainty. Then he darted forward in a sudden, unexpected move, catching the alien dragon by the neck and dragging him down.
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