Now the two dragons had to be more careful than ever, hugging the deeper valleys and ravines as they moved steadily toward the northwest. They had wondered previously how such a lifeless world could support the armies of men and monsters of the Masters, but as they moved away from the sea of sand, they finally began to spot the first signs of native life. At first they saw only small patches of dry, tough grass or stunted bushes or twisted trees hidden in sheltered place among deep dells or behind huge boulders, protected from the harsh, dry wind. While their first impression was that this bleak land must never feel the soothing touch of rain, they soon saw signs of floods brought by sudden, violent storms, the raging waters ripping through the ravines.
The long miles passed swiftly below them, and they began to see even more signs of life. The rugged heights were too blasted by cold winds to support more than the smallest and most hearty plants, but many of the sheltered valleys began to harbor ragged stands of stunted, stiff-leaved trees and tough, dry ferns. Thelvyn had the impression that the weather was less severe and the ceaseless winds not quite as strong and relentless as they flew farther from the sea of sand. He tried to picture in his mind the place that Alessa Vyledaar had described from the visions in her dreams when she had been under the control of the Masters. Her description of a world that was always dark, hidden beneath a haze of dust, with winds that were cool even in the height of summer had proven extremely accurate so far.
Night had nearly settled when Thelvyn spotted something in the distance, dark shapes that were too regular to be natural in a broad valley ahead of them. Thelvyn's remarkable night vision, which he had possessed all his life, was even sharper in dragon form. He was certain he had seen something unusual, and Kharendaen agreed when he pointed it out to her. They paused in their flight, circling cautiously while they searched for any sign of life. There was no light to be seen, no trails of smoke rising into the night sky, nor any scent of burning wood or coal on the wind. After discussing the matter briefly, they decided to detour from their journey long enough to take a quick look. They approached with great care, aware that any
sign of iife in this world could mean danger.
As they came nearer, Thelvyn saw no hint of fields or orchards. Instead, there were wide, low dikes and ditches nearly choked with sand, running in straight lines or smooth curves of obviously artificial constructions. In places, he saw lines of tumbled stones, the tops of ancient fences protruding through the sand, and even the broken walls of old houses. Ahead, the dark, irregular shapes he had seen from the distance became the crumbling, wind-blasted remains of a large town, the dry bones of a place that must not have seen life for centuries.
The two dragons crossed the last couple of miles slowly and cautiously, flying low over the ground. Already they could see clearly, even in the gathering darkness, the crumbling remains of the buildings of a small city. The roofs had long since fallen in, and many of the walls were broken. Parts of the city were nearly buried in sand, while other parts, swept clear by some trick of the endless winds, stood open down to the stone-paved streets. There was no light anywhere, nor any sign of life.
Since there was no apparent danger, they decided to enter the city, flying slowly between the ruins of the ancient buildings. They found no signs of life except the tracks of strange animals in the sand. Since it seemed to be safe, they landed in a large paved square in the center of the ruined city, folding away their wings, then taking a few minutes to explore. The first thing they noticed was that the buildings didn't seem to have been made for men. The doorways were large and wide and the ceilings high. However, they were still too small for the dragons to enter.
Kharendaen extended her head well inside one of the doorways, but Thelvyn was more interested in something he saw on the walls. At first it appeared as a faint haze of blackness on the rough stone, so that even his sharp eyes did not detect it immediately. He stared intently, to make certain that what he saw wasn't merely paint nearly blasted away from centuries of sandstorms, although his eyes were made for distance and had difficulty focusing on anything so near. But when he began to look around, he quickly discovered that all the stone had a
similar haze of darkness, especially thick in the deep cracks.
"The Rain of Fire," he said softly.
Kharendaen swiftly drew her head back from a doorway to stare at him. "What did you say?"
He turned toward her. "This place was destroyed by flame. At some time in the distant past, this town was consumed by fire. I wonder if perhaps this entire world was enveloped in flame, changed forever into the cold, dark, dry place that it is now."
The female dragon walked over to join him, staring intently at the wall that had caught his attention. Then she turned, inspecting the walls of a nearby building. She brought her head through one of the doorways to search the interior, but it was too dark inside for even for a dragon to see. The time of fire had been so long ago that any scent of smoke had long since vanished, even for her sensitive nose.
She brought her head back out through the doorway after a moment and turned to her mate. "Could this be the home world of the Flaem?"
Thelvyn shook his head. "I don't think so, for three reasons. For one thing, Sir George has taught me a few tricks about judging the age of ruins by their decay as a result of time and the elements. This destruction is far too old to have been the world of the Flaem and the Alphatians. Also, the shapes of these doors and the sizes of the buildings suggest to me that they were made to serve the needs of some creature considerably larger than a man or elf. And the histories of the Flaem all state that their world was utterly destroyed, not merely ravaged."
"Indeed?" Kharendaen cocked her head, curious. "I've never heard how they managed to destroy their world."
"Even the survivors of that time never knew exactly what spell of magic was involved," Thelvyn explained. "They describe a wall of flame that moved across the land as fast as a dragon can fly. Behind it, the land itself broke apart. Great pieces of earth, from dust and sand to fragments the size of small towns, rose into the sky and drifted toward the stars. Water turned to spray and flew off into the sky. Even the air itself grew thin and cold. Whatever the cause, their very world
shook itself apart."
"No wonder they don't like to talk about it," Kharendaen commented.
"Only the senior Fire Wizards know as much as I've told you," he said. "I only learned of it when I became their king."
"Quickly. . quickly!" a voice suddenly spoke out of the night.
The two dragons turned, realizing they were no longer alone. Some distance behind them, standing in a passageway between two large buildings where they could quickly retreat, were three tall, slender creatures that looked vaguely like wyverns. Thelvyn had already seen their like in his own world in the form of the fierce, swift warriors fighting alongside the Masters in the siege of Rockhome and again in the wild of the Highlands. They somewhat resembled the wyverns of his own world, although they were more delicate. Nevertheless, they were strong and alarmingly swift. Their greatest difference from true wyverns was that they had both wings and arms like dragons, although they walked only upright like wyverns.
Another important difference was that these slender dragon-folk were apparently intelligent, while wyverns were nothing more than wild beasts. Recalling what fierce warriors they were, Thelvyn's first thought was that he and Kharendaen were about to be attacked, or perhaps called upon to surrender. Certainly these three were a delegation of some type, although they were hardly enough to take on two gold dragons.
To Thelvyn's surprise, the three bowed their heads to him, and their leader stepped forward. When Thelvyn turned to face him, the leader cautiously came a few steps closer and bowed his once head again before looking up and speaking earnestly. "Please … we must speak. . quickly. ."
"Do you understand him?" Kharendaen asked quietly.
"Somewhat," Thelvyn answered. These dragon-folk spoke a language of their own unlike any th
at Thelvyn knew, but he was able to understand some of their words by the means of some latent magic of his own. Clerics often had the ability to understand unknown languages and sometimes to be understood by those who did not speak their own tongue.
"Do you know what I am saying?" Thelvyn asked, speaking slowly.
"Yes," the leader answered, although he spoke a great many words that Thelvyn didn't recognize. "Are you. are you an enemy of the Masters?"
"I am," Thelvyn replied, taking the chance that the dragon-folk were also their enemies. "I am the Dragonking, chosen by prophecy to fight and defeat the Masters."
"You have come to fight them?"
He thought he recognized a note of cautious hope, although it was difficult to be certain. "I have come to try to learn their secrets, so that I can fight them in my own world where my strength is greatest."
"I am Long Spear, leader of my clan," the speaker said, introducing himself at last. He seemed at last to have grown to trust these strangers, as if had to overcome long-held suspicions and resignation. "My people are called the Veydran. Once this world belonged to us alone. Then, in a forgotten time some five thousand years past, the Overlord came upon us."
"He is not of your own world?" Thelvyn asked.
"We do not know. If we ever knew, it has long since been forgotten. All we know now is that he came to us long ago. At first, he was our god and protector, and we prospered. Then the Overlord's heart turned to the blackness of utter evil. He told us that we lived only to serve him, that we had no life or thought of our own. But he could not control us, and so he tried to destroy us with a great Wind of Fire that swept through the world, turning the seas to sand and the sky to dust. Our land turned cold."
"But he could not control you?" Thelvyn asked.
"He cannot control us, for we know his name," Long Spear explained. "Some of us were taken away. Their children were Stolen from them and never allowed to learn his name, and so they must serve him. But they were not enough to satisfy his ambitions. He began to conquer other worlds where he could control others who do not know His name."
"Is that when the Masters came?"
Long Spear stared at the ground sadly. "The Masters came and shared with him the visions of the world they had left, the world of the dragons. The dragons had sent them away. Their black hearts were bitter, and they hated this cold, dry world just as the Overlord hates it. The Overlord could never pass through his own gates to leave this world, but now the Masters had a way to lead him into their world. They have waited a long, long time, gathering their strength so that they could defeat and control the dragons. Then the Overlord would depart, but we would still not be free."
"I will destroy the Overlord if I can," Thelvyn promised. "But it is beyond my power to make your world the way it was."
"It would be enough for us to be free." Long Spear took another step forward, cocking his head to stare up at the gold dragon. "The Masters are very busy. They fly constantly between their strongholds, but they do not have the time to bother us. They are fighting you, and you are here. Take a look at their great places, but be careful not to go too close, not unless you are ready to fight them."
The three Veydran bowed their long necks once again, then turned and disappeared quickly into the shadows. Thelvyn guessed they never dared to stay out in the open for very long, a lifetime habit that kept them alive in a hostile world that had not belonged to them in a very long time. He suspected that it would also be wise for him to avoid open places for very long.
"That was the most interesting chat I've had in some time, whatever language it was in," Thelvyn commented, then turned to look at Kharendaen. "Did you understand any of it?"
"I caught enough to understand the gist of it. The Veydran seem to consider the Overlord a god. I don't like the idea that he has enough power to completely devastate a world. You may find yourself fighting one who has powers greater than those of an Immortal."
"No wonder the Immortals themselves seem to fear him," Thelvyn said, preparing to launch himself into the air once more. "Come on. If we hurry, perhaps we can reach their main stronghold and get back again before morning."
The two dragons spread their wings and leapt into the sky, leaving behind the ruins of the ancient town. Once again they passed swiftly through the night, keeping as much as they could to the deep shadows of the valleys as they made their way steadily northwest. For a time, Thelvyn felt so distracted by his thoughts that he wasn't being as cautious as he should have been in such a strange, hostile land.
He was beginning to form a full understanding of the situation. What impressed him was not how desperate it already was but how much worse it could yet become. Perhaps the Immortals had chosen him as their champion, but he wondered now if even they had fully appreciated what they expected of him. He suspected they had not. The Great One had apparently known only that the Overlord was a being of tremendous power. Under the circumstances, Thelvyn realized he couldn't completely trust in the knowledge and the judgment of the Immortals. The fact that they had prepared him for the task of fighting and defeating the Overlord did not mean that he could assume he would win.
Like the Immortals, he needed to know just how powerful his true enemy actually was, to judge how best to fight the Overlord … if fighting him was even a real possibility. The fact that he had devastated this world with fire was intimidating on the surface and made the Overlord seem very powerful indeed. But that was not necessarily so, Thelvyn knew. Such magic could have been prepared carefully, the power behind it drawn from many sources or gathered over a long period of time. The Overlord was still a very powerful being, but as long as he was less powerful than the Immortals, then either they or their champion could still defeat him. Thelvyn needed to know just how powerful the Overlord really was, and he could think of no way to judge that except in combat.
He had already learned a few things about his enemy, but not enough to do him any good. He could guess already that the Overlord wasn't a true god, an all-powerful enemy he could never hope to defeat. So far the Overlord had acted only through his servants, channeling his magical power to the Masters and leaving the actual fighting of his wars to them. And although he had long waited for the chance to leave behind the world he had nearly destroyed, he apparendy needed the magic of the Masters to make that possible. Perhaps at the Overlord's own stronghold, Thelvyn would see evidence from which he
could infer just how powerful his true enemy really was.
Another hour or so brought the two dragons near the lands where they expected to find the greatest of the strongholds of their enemy, and their progress was slowed by the need of being more cautious than ever. It was a remarkably rugged, mountainous area, and many of the larger open areas were lakes of drifting sand. But a few deep valleys offered enough protection from the harsh wind to be carefully cultivated. In these remote valleys, even the smallest bit of land was used for fields of crops or pastures for animals. The dragons had been weaving a path in and out of the valleys to keep themselves hidden from sight, but now they were forced to fly over the barren heights.
Thelvyn hoped they would be mistaken in the darkness for gemstone dragons even if they were seen. His image of the true size of dragons had changed somewhat over the last few months, so that he no longer thought of them as being as large as they had once seemed to him. All the same, he reminded himself, a dragon was a very big creature and not very easy to hide. As they traveled deeper into inhabited regions, his apprehension continued to grow. He knew that he was taking a tremendous risk, and he would have preferred to turn back at once, but that would mean his quest had ended in failure. He knew now that he could not hope to win this war until he found a way to defeat the Overlord.
The zigzag course that had helped to keep them from being seen had made the actual distance of their journey difficult to judge, but he was certain that they must be nearing their destination. They were entering an area of more hospitable land, highland plains divided by scattered ra
nges of low, steep mountains. As before, every small piece of reasonably level ground was neatly laid out in meticulously cultivated fields and pastures. They were even surprised to see terraces built into the eastern sides of the ridges and peaks, apparently the direction that caught what little rain might be carried on the seasonal winds.
Thelvyn had never seen anything quite like this. The fields had been laid out with absolute attention to detail for efficiency, perhaps from many long years of preparing the terraces, dikes, and the high, thick stone walls that served as windbreaks, with enclosed tubes atop the walls that apparently served as aqueducts to carry precious water. He was surprised to see no evidence of villages or towns, or even farmhouses scattered among the fields. The only buildings he saw appeared to be barns and sheds and occasional barracks, all built of heavy stone.
The dragons flew as fast as they could and as low as they dared over the fields, two dark forms passing swiftly in the dim starlight through the haze of dust. Mile after mile streaked past below them, all neatly laid out in dark squares. From time to time, they would rise quickly to pass over a ridge of low mountains, or drift to one side to fly around a lone peak of stone rising like an island out of the patterns of fields. So far they had seen no living creature except for the beasts in the pastures. At first Thelvyn found it odd that, in a nation of armies, there were no forts or guard stations to protect the fields. Indeed, it seemed that no watch whatsoever was kept over the fields. Finally he realized that since this was a land with no real enemies, there was no reason to guard the land.
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