A deep rumble shook the wall where Korinn stood, as if the spine of the mountain itself had suddenly snapped, reverberating for a long moment through even the deepest caverns of the lower city. The invaders on the ramp paused for a moment, waiting in apprehension as the vibration in the stones on which they stood died away. Then, just as they began to feel that the danger had passed and began to resume their climb, the seemingly solid stone of the mountainside crumbled and the entire middle length of the ramp broke free and began to slide away. The long line of soldiers, including their beasts and their armor and their great war machines, fell away in a cascade of broken stone, sweeping down the steep slope in a deadly avalanche, carrying away even more segments of the invading army on the slopes below.
Within moments, the lower half of the escarpment disappeared beneath a great cloud of brown dust, billowing out across the valley below, so that Korinn was unable to see the bottom. Even after the lower half of the ramp disappeared in a spreading cloud of dust, he could hear the cries of the injured and the shouts of terse orders. The dwarves along the wall began to cheer and to call out fierce challenges, greatly heartened by the swift, devastating rout of the first assault.
Korinn knew that any other army would have just been dealt a serious setback. The invaders had lost at least several thousand soldiers, but they had tens of thousands waiting in the valley below. A large portion of the middle of the ramp had been destroyed, creating an obstacle that would bring most armies to a stop for days. But he was certain that the Masters were out there somewhere, watching and waiting.
Indeed, the answer was at hand almost at once. The dwarves fell silent as the dark, menacing forms of dragons passed almost directly overhead, the unearthly forms of gemstone dragons as they moved down from the upper slopes of Point Everast. With all their attention focused on the invaders below, the dwarves hadn't even seen them approaching. They flew swiftly over the city, passing just over the wall in an almost contemptuous gesture, then circled around tightly as they braced their wings to drop toward the forests below.
Following their line of flight, Korinn leaned out over the parapet, but he couldn't see the gemstone dragons once they had dropped down beneath the cloud of dust created by the avalanche. Even after the cloud of dust began to settle, he couldn't tell for certain just what the Masters intended. For the moment, they seemed to be devoting their full attention to restoring order among their troops and preparing for a new assault. Companies of soldiers had been gathered into precise columns and stood ready, although Korinn could not imagine what they proposed to do next. The ramp was closed to them, unless they were reckless enough to swarm over the wreckage of the center loop while the dwarves sent a deadly hail of stones and arrows down upon their heads.
Many long, anxious moments passed while the invaders reorganized. Their new tactics seemed to defy reason: they were not gathered on the road at the base of the ramp but in two large groups well to either side. A pair of alien dragons moved behind each of the two large companies of soldiers. Standing at the parapet of their high walls, the dwarves were utterly silent as they watched and waited in apprehension. Then the Masters stood up on their hind legs, their long, proud necks held high and their wings spread out behind their backs for balance. Facing the wall of the escarpment, they lifted their forelegs in a gesture that was clearly a part of some invocation of magic.
The jewel-like armor of the strange dragons began to glow, two like ruby, one with the clear light of crystal, and the last with the deep green of emerald. Then, with a sudden flash of light, brief but so intense that Korinn had to look away, they disappeared. The light faded away slowly from that first blinding glare, but then the light surrounding each of the gemstone dragons reached upward toward the city in a long, graceful curve like the arc of a rainbow. The companies of soldiers began to hurry forward in orderly columns, forming into long, narrow lines of two abreast as they stepped into the streams of light.
An instant later, they began to stream out of the far ends of the arcs of light before the walls of the city. During the first moments, the invaders spread out across the open fields unopposed, swinging grappling hooks at the ends of looped ropes to the top of the wall. The dwarves began to recover from their surprise, raining down arrows and stones and cutting away the ropes even as the enemy was climbing the walls of Dengar. But the dwarves were in a desperate position from the outset, since they had hardly expected to have the battle at their very walls so soon. Many of the dwarven soldiers were still away from the wall at the hidden defenses designed to keep the invaders off the ramp.
And yet the assault had only just begun. Many of the invaders were not even vaguely like men, but rather strange beings who could leap up the ropes faster than the dwarves could cut them down, or strange, hulking warriors whose natural armor could resist almost any arrow or battle-axe. In addition, there were swift, slender swordsmen who towered over the dwarves, with arms so long that it was difficult to penetrate within their reach to slay them. And then the Masters arrived, sweeping down from the mountains in great waves.
Korinn fought desperately to hold his own on the wall over the gate, standing with a dozen soldiers to drive back the hordes intent upon sweeping over the wall and opening the gate. He could no longer spot his brother, who was off somewhere trying to muster reinforcements to man the walls. For his own part, Korinn thought it was already too late to hold the wall, perhaps even too late for the defenders along die wall to retreat back to the passage to the lower city. Still he fought on with grim fury, sweeping his ax from side to side to snap the ropes of the hooks that were being flung over the parapet, then turning to engage in fierce battle with some alien warrior.
Suddenly the attackers fell back from the gate wall so abruptly that Korinn and his fellow defenders glanced about in surprise, so caught up the fierceness of the battle that for a moment they did not understand what had happened. Korinn turned sharply and saw that one of the largest of the gemstone dragons, a jade, was approaching the gate of the city, snapping its broad wings in quick, powerful strokes as it landed at the top of the ramp. The dragon waited for a long moment, folding away its wings while it was joined by the terrible creatures ihat served as its bodyguards, slender creatures not unlike wyverns. They were quick, darting flyers but could also stalk swiftly on their long hind legs, bearing broad-headed spears in their claws.
Rising to its hind legs, the jade dragon suddenly hurtled itself forward toward the gate. Korinn and his dwarven companions leapt aside. The parapet over the gate had suddenly become a very unsafe place to be, and consequently they failed to see the jade dragon's actually attack. A tremendous blow crashed like thunder against the timbers of the gate. The crossbars snapped, and the portals were nearly broken free from their hinges. The walls of the city shook from the impact, and the parapet above the gate cracked and collapsed in a shower of splintered stone.
Two more gemstone dragons arrived, and they rose to their hind legs to take hold of the shattered portals and force them open, sweeping aside the broken stone of the crumbled parapet. The jade dragon forced its way through into the gate yard, intent upon tearing open the inner gate as well. It had only just stepped through the gate when the floor suddenly broke open, dropping the creature into a deep pit filled with sharp spikes.
The pits had been built with the intention of trapping enemies on the central bridge, but both of the pits were more than large enough to contain a dragon. Dorinn had ordered the supports holding the retractable platforms to be deliberately weakened. The jade dragon disappeared into the darkness of the pits and fell screaming upon the spikes far below.
Some of the dwarves cheered, but the celebration was halfhearted at best. They had managed to slay one of the Masters almost by chance, but the upper dity would fall in a matter of minutes. Korinn did not wait to see how the remaining gemstone dragons would respond, hurrying the remaining defenders off the wall back toward the city. Now that the gate parapet had fallen, they could easily find them
selves trapped, with no way to retreat back to the main wall. Glancing briefly over his shoulder, Korinn had the impression that the Masters were everywhere, at least a score of them crawling over the front of the escarpment and physically tearing away the defenses along the wall so that their forces could pour into the city.
Then the sounds of battle died away, and Korinn paused at the doorway of the wall tower to stare. The Masters had stopped short in their destruction, lifting their long necks to stare toward the north. They roared in fury and frustration, a final, futile challenge before they reluctantly drew back from the walls of Dengar to face a new challenge. Moments later the first of wave upon wave of dragons hurtled down from the north and east, red, black, and gold dragons of their own world rushing into battle with swift strokes of their wings.
Holding aloft their shields and weapons, the defenders of Dengar shouted encouragement to their unexpected allies. For the first time in the history of their race, dwarves cheered and laughed to see dragons descending upon their city, and wept with joy to see as if for the first time the grace and beauty of those warriors of the wind.
CHAPTER TEN
Less than a score of gemstone dragons were gathered either above or below the escarpment of the city of Dengar, and yet i hey seemed determined to stand their ground, even though whole companies of dragons, several hundred strong, were approaching swiftly from the north and east. At least the assault on the walls of the city had faltered while the invading army was left without direction, unable to decide on their own whether to continue with their assault or stand by their Masters.
Leading the advance of the dragons, Thelvyn, once more wearing the Collar of the Dragons, made use of his sharp eyes to search out the scene of battle ahead. Making his decision quickly, he turned his head toward Marthaen, flying a short distance away to his right, and nodded. The First Speaker nodded in response and then turned to head swiftly over the mountains to the west. The largest part of the combined force followed him, some eight hundred dragons in all, leaving Thelvyn with only two hundred. Marthaen would lead his forces quickly against the invaders in western Rockhome; Jherdar was leading an army of a thousand more dragons into
Rockhome from the east. Thelvyn's first concern was to liberate Dengar and help the dwarves to begin to restore order to their land.
The attacking dragons circled out over the valley before turning again so that they could descend in a rapid glide toward the escarpment, soaring on stiff wings with the sails of their tails dropped slightly to reduce their speed. Kharendaen began to drift to one side, prepared to lead a contingent of dragons against four Masters in the valley below. Thelvyn led the remaining forces against the rest of the Masters on the escarpment above, selecting as his own target the largest of the amber dragons, a proud warrior easily his own size who stood just before the ruined gate.
Thelvyn dived down to land at the very top of the ramp, intending to turn the remaining speed of his flight into a swift run that would carry him into battle. For the first time in weeks, he was betrayed by his lack of experience. Dragons were not quite as agile on the ground as he had anticipated. Because his forelegs were shorter than his powerful hind legs, he slipped on his second stride and collapsed heavily onto his deep chest. The amber dragon stepped forward to catch him, tossing him backward with such force that Thelvyn was almost tumbled backward off the escarpment. Even while he was struggling to rise, he lifted his head to see two of the younger gold dragons in his company hurtle themselves upon the amber dragon, who caught them with astonishing ease and easily tossed them aside.
That was enough to make Thelvyn pause, crouching low in a menacing gesture and hackling to discourage his opponent from an immediate attack. He needed an instant to think. Something seemed very wrong. When he had fought them in their own world, the Masters had seemed no more powerful than his world's dragons, either in their magic or in their native strength and speed. Yet now they were easily three times stronger. He reminded himself that Mystara was in fact their true home, the world where their kind had originated centuries before. Whether it was because they were home, or perhaps because of some enchantment, the gemstone dragons were suddenly far stronger, and far more dangerous.
Thelvyn began to wonder if he had come to trust too much in his fighting abilities as a dragon, forgetting his inexperience. Still crouching low in a menacing pose, he began to circle slowly around the amber dragon to buy a few moments more to consider his next move. The first thing that came to his mind was a trick that Kharendaen used successfully to put a dragon on his back. Suddenly he sprang forward toward his opponent. At the very last moment, he ducked his head low, driving his neck and shoulders under the chest of the amber dragon and then thrusting himself upward.
He had no idea what happened next, except that he was abruptly hurtled to the ground with such force that his breath was torn from his chest and his sight turned dark for a long moment. He hardly even recalled what he had been doing until the amber dragon's jaws suddenly fastened tight about his throat, seeking a death grip. For now, he could do nothing more than struggle weakly, still fighting for breath. At that moment, he could not have saved himself.
A pair of gold dragons in Thelvyn's bodyguard suddenly leapt upon the amber dragon from either side, desperate to protect the Dragonking. They should have been able to overwhelm the gemstone dragon easily, even though it was somewhat larger than either of them. As the golds ripped into its folded wings, it reluctantly released its death grip and arched its long neck to roar in pain and fury. Then it shook free from the two attacking dragons and tossed them aside easily, hurtling them across the plain before the gate of Dengar. Finally the gemstone dragon turned back to the Dragonking, determined to destroy its principal enemy while it could.
Thelvyn had been struggling to regain his breath and rise to a standing position, but suddenly he relaxed and lifted himself purposefully. For the first time since he had taken possession of it, the Collar of the Dragons began to surge with power, filling him in turn with renewed energy. He recalled that the collar was said to enhance the powers of its wearer, but no one had been able to tell him just what it could do or how he might command it. Now he understood that the collar had been created in anticipation of this very need, enhancing his abilities to make him more than an equal to the greatest of the Masters.
The amber dragon paused, as if puzzled by Thelvyn's sudden confidence. Then it elected to attack immediately, hoping perhaps to catch him off his guard, leaping forward with its head down in a tactic intended to strike him in the chest and sweep him backward over the edge of the escarpment. In response, Thelvyn rose abruptly to his hind legs and struck the amber dragon with a backhand smash against the side of its head. The blow had force enough to halt the creature's lunge and send it tumbling heavily onto its back, stunned by the impact.
The amber dragon struggled feebly for a moment, then shook its head and tried to rise. But even as it turned back to face him, Thelvyn struck the alien dragon a second blow that left it almost senseless. This time Thelvyn did not wait for his enemy to recover, but stepped forward to grab the amber dragon by the tail. Half-dragging the alien dragon, he carried it to the edge of the escarpment, its weak struggles unable to break his crushing hold. Commanding all his enhanced strength, Thelvyn tossed the amber dragon well out over the edge of the steep cliff, then drew a sharp breath to release a blast of dragonfire. The amber dragon disappeared in a tremendous explosion of fire, and its broken form fell in a fiery trail into the forest far below.
Thelvyn turned quickly, fearful for the safety of his fellow dragons, but he saw that he had little reason to be concerned. The other gemstone dragons seemed to lack the tremendous power of their leader, and the dragons had them vastly outnumbered. The Masters were getting the worst of it, and the death of their leader convinced them that they had had enough. Fighting to break free from the packs of dragons harassing them relentlessly, they leapt into flight and retreated to the north. But the dragons were not abo
ut to give up the battle so easily, and a dozen of them pursued the fleeing gemstone dragons into the sky.
For a moment, Thelvyn watched the retreating aliens and wondered whether he should follow them. His plan was to catch the Masters by surprise, which he seemed to have done, and drive them not only from Rockhome but from his world before they could summon forces to organize a counterattack. He decided instead that he could spare a minute more to speak with the dwarves. The dwarven defenders looked as if they needed some reassurance, still struggling to throw the last of the invaders from the wall.
When he turned back to face the city, he was surprised to see Korinn Bear Slayer waving to him from the north wall of the ruined gate. Dwarves built the highest walls in the world, and Thelvyn had to stretch his hind legs to lift his head level with the young dwarf. The soldiers along the wall cheered loudly.
"Everyone seems happy to see me," he commented wryly. "Did they perchance think I would not come?"
"Not for a moment," Korinn declared. "Not to complain, but you might have arrived just a bit sooner."
"Not really," Thelvyn replied. "I had to wait until I had gathered the numbers necessary to destroy the Masters or drive them from our world before they can get organized to strike back against us. I must go after the Masters as soon as possible, but you still have a large army to deal with here. Do you think you can handle the problem if I leave a few dragons behind with you?"
"Of course," Korinn said without hesitation, realizing that the dragons would be doing most of the work. "Your dragons do understand that the dwarves are now their allies, don't they?"
"I think so."
Korinn laughed to himself; he had asked the question in jest, and he hoped Thelvyn had been jesting in turn. Then he turned to see his brother, who had made his way through the tower where the gatehouse joined the main wall. Dorinn was moving with even more difficulty than usual, obviously near-ing the end of his strength, and his abused armor was mute testimony that he had seen his own share of fighting. He paused, a bit shaken to see the head of a gold dragon only a few yards away.
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