* Rent, I would have words with you. *
If the mountain itself had seized Rent and spoken to him, it could not have shaken him more. There was no question why his master was calling. Rent's anger vanished, in the face of terrifying guilt. Yes, he whispered. Of course.
* Leave that place and come to me. *
But I must—Rent hesitated. Yes—of course. At once. With a last, venomous glance at Hodakai, he sped away.
He sank through the underrealm, stunned by the turbulence he met, even in places that had been made strong and fast by the workings of the Nail. Rent grew increasingly fearful as he slipped through the weavings of power that lay between him and his master. He passed through a region of smoke and fire, and felt the underpinnings of the Nail's power shaking, like tremendous concrete pillars, deep in the underrealm of the Dark Vale. Rent came at last to a darkened place, and hovered over a pool of something resembling molten steel afire. Its surface shone like a mirror, blazing with a reflection of his kuutekka, a shadow-figure in the shape of a man.
Rent tried, trembling, to draw himself into full human form, but found he could not. At last he gave up and called out: I am here, Nail of Strength.
The pool grew still—then quivered and collapsed into a shaft of fire, opening deep into the underrealm. A voice spoke from the shaft, deep and reverberating. * You have failed me, Rent. Do you not hear the battle rage in my vale? The time for the final victory is upon us, and you have failed me. *
But I—
The voice thundered, * Why did you allow her to die? *
I didn't, I—
* Do you not feel the realm trembling with her passing? *
But I—Rent choked—was on my way to see to her, when she—
* What? What did she do? *
Rent struggled to find words. She—took her own life. Somehow. I am not certain how. But I believe I was—betrayed by Jarvorus—and by Hodakai—
His words strangled off into silence. Prolonged silence. He did not sense in the silence any forgiveness. When the next words came from his Master, it was in a voice that he had to strain to hear, though it seemed to shake the realm as deeply as the thundering of a few moments ago.
* She has not died, you fool. She has passed to the Mountain of Fire. Everything has changed now. Everything. And you, my failed servant, must atone for your failure. *
Yes, he whispered. Of course—whatever—
* Go to my vale. As a man. Walk among the dragons. See for yourself the fire and struggle. SEE FOR YOURSELF THE SPIRIT OF THE DRAGONS! *
The—spirit—?
* See for yourself how they rejoice! THEY KNOW THAT SHE LIVES! *
The dragons know? Rent thought in astonishment. But how?
* I will destroy those who betrayed me to do this. But you will FINISH the job I gave you to do in the Vale! You will CRUSH the spirit of the dragons. CRUSH the captives. *
Rent bobbed in acquiescence. He struggled to speak. The . . . victory . . . remains certain, does it not? The preparations, and the One . . . He gasped, struggling to form his plea for reassurance. She has fallen, as the Words say . . . even if . . . early. Is that not . . . true?
There was another silence, and this time he felt first a profoundly deep chill, and then the sudden fierce heat of the Nail's anger. * Do not question me, servant! You have your instructions! *
Yes, Rent whispered, as the shaft of fire abruptly closed, restoring the reflective molten pool. Yes, he thought. I will do that. I will make the dragons suffer, and despair.
I will not despair.
* * *
Jael was caught between joy at the fleeting touch of Windrush's presence, and fearful concentration as she tried to understand what FullSky was saying. Must fly—join Windrush—probe the Nail's strengths, find his weakness—
But how? she whispered, from the fluttering curtains of dracona-light.
Not sure. I—aahhhhh—! FullSky's words choked off, turning to a throaty cry of distress. Jael was stunned to realize that his presence, his kuutekka, was wavering and growing insubstantial.
FullSky! murmured the dracona Lavafire, from the shadows. What is it?
Under—attack, FullSky groaned, billowing a ghostly flame. I—cannot stay!
Wait! Jael cried. I don't know what to do! I need your help!
I—cannot—stay! FullSky gasped. Jael—do what you must! Never doubt! He was less dragon than a formless light now. Draconae—you must help her! he whispered. Then he was gone.
FullSky! Jael cried. You can't! Not after—! Not after saving my life, bringing me here . . . but to do what? she whispered desperately, in the silence of her heart.
There was no answer.
But from the draconae there came a loud murmuring, and she found her mind filled with an image of FullSky's underrealm presence: stretched like a spiderweb thread from the Enemy's dungeon to the Dream Mountain, and she understood suddenly his shocking vulnerability, and the risk he had taken in reaching out to the Mountain, much less to the place where he had found her. The draconae had given him strength where they could, but they were helpless to protect him at his source, the body from which his kuutekka had sprung.
And yet the draconae kept hope, and their hope was in Jael. Why me? she whispered silently. And she knew that it was because of the Words, because she was the outsider who had come and befriended a dragon. And now her life was in their hands, and theirs in hers.
(Urrrk . . . fly, Jael? Fly?)
(I don't know, Ed—I just don't know.)
Jael felt a curtain of fear closing around her, and struggled to resist it. She focused upon her own kuutekka, and made herself as real, and yet as insubstantial, as if she were still in a rigger-net. Only now she was standing in the draconae's cavern of translucent glass, parrot on her shoulder, staring at the almost apparitional sight of the Forge of Dreams, where the draconae labored to draw their skeins of protective magic about the fire. She heard them sing a fragment of the Words:
The One will fall
and the realm shall tremble.
And the fires will flicker and bend . . .
And she suddenly understood something . . . that perhaps the way to save the dreamfire was not to protect it, but to use it. If the Enemy had his weaknesses, Jael thought she knew what one of them might be. Tar-skel's greatest sorcery was the web of power that was strangling the realm, holding the Dream Mountain and the lumenis groves captive. She had torn the web a little, with her death. But she needed to tear it a lot more, and she thought she knew where she might do that—in a place where a rigger had once before defeated the Nail of Strength.
(Awwwk, yes—try, Jael—try!)
(We can't do it alone, Ed,) she murmured, but she was already making her plan. Help me reach out! she whispered to the draconae. And she felt the helping, strengthening touch of Deeplife, and Waterflow, and Starchime, showing her the way through the underrealm.
(Scrawwwww, yes! Now!) cried Ed in the back of her thoughts. And she nodded, and human and parrot together, they slipped into the underrealm and reached out toward the Black Peak.
* * *
Rent strode through the chasms of the Dark Vale, heedless of the battle raging overhead. His form was human—but what human had ever wielded such barehanded power? Lightning flashed from his fingertips—darted and blazed and drew screams of agony from the imprisoned dragons. Rent had been given the one task that could restore his own pride to him: make the dragons suffer, make them despair.
He held at least a hundred captives in his power—not just dragons, but shadow-cats and sprites, and guardian-spirits, pressed into his service. From all of them came the stink of fear—fear of the carnage in the air, and fear of a human demigod bringing his wrath upon them. He wasn't trying to kill them, not yet; but if some died, he would hardly worry. The death of a few would be a fine stimulus to despair.
Rent flicked a spike of flame at a young dragon impaled upon a lance of stone, and he crowed to himself as the creature writhed. Hearing a
groan of outrage, he whirled upon a larger dragon, an old and nearly broken beast. With a scornful toss of his hands, he flung fresh bolts of pain at the groaning creature.
"You will die, demon!" the dragon gasped angrily, and vented a failing breath of flame at him.
Rent jumped back, startled by the blast of heat as the flame singed his face. He'd felt pain. What was this! He probed back through the sorcery that formed his body, and discovered that it had been altered at its source. He was no longer wearing his human form like a cloak; his life and breath and kuutekka were now contained within his human form. He felt a clammy chill of fear. He was vulnerable now, just like the others. He had never been vulnerable, as the Nail's most powerful servant. He felt a tingle around him at the thought, and he wondered in horror, was even his fear being tapped into the web of power?
Just the thought made him tremble; he felt a sudden weakness in his stomach and groin.
He felt the tingle about him grow stronger.
Tar-skel, he thought desperately, you aren't leaving me to the fate of your prisoners! No!
Though he heard no audible answer, he imagined the voice of the Nail thundering in the back of his mind: * If you prove your worth, all of the power you can ask for will be yours. But if you do not— *
As he stood before the old dragon, battling his own fear, the dragon hissed at him through the pain that Rent had inflicted. "You will not live, demon! You can kill us, but you cannot defeat us!"
"SILENCE!" Rent screamed. He drew forth a new bolt of fire, and a second, and held the crackling thunderbolts aloft on his fingertips. Then he hurled them one after another into the dragon's eyes. Fire erupted from the dragon's head, and it screamed, and a moment later crumpled to the ground. As Rent stood triumphant over it, the dragon turned transparent and vanished.
"DOES ANYONE ELSE HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY?" he bellowed as he strode through the blasted maze of the dungeons. He passed one broken prisoner after another, but none answered his challenge. He didn't expect them to.
But there was one dragon whom he thought might talk back to him. He had been saving this one for last, but perhaps now was the time. Perhaps now he would make the thing suffer and suffer, and finally die.
"WingTouch, I am coming to you!" he snarled, as he strode across the blackened floor of the Dark Vale.
* * *
The attack had come as a sharp spasm of pain, deep in his kuutekka. FullSky knew at once that he had been discovered. It was all he could do to hold fast to the Dream Mountain long enough to cry out a farewell; then he let go and fell back through the underrealm, a spark fleeing from a fire into darkness.
The underrealm was a thunderstorm exploding with battling furies of wind and fire, blackness and light. He glimpsed the eye of Tar-skel in the storm and streaked past it, a speck driven by the wind. The eye was flashing in every direction, and FullSky felt the razor-sharpness of its vision, taking in all of the world. FullSky felt a burst of hope, because the Enemy's angry searching spoke not just of arrogance and power, but of worry, and—could it be?—of fear.
And then the eye flashed upon him, and FullSky knew that the Enemy had identified him as the one who had saved Jael, who had transported her to the Dream Mountain, out of reach. You! that flash of recognition seemed to cry. Yes! he whispered back, fleeing even faster down the thread of the underrealm. For a terrifying moment, he thought that the eye would strike him down right here in the midst of the storm. Instead, he felt the eye suddenly shift away—drawn perhaps by something more urgent. The Enemy had greater concerns than a single dragon kuutekka, even one who had angered him. Jael, perhaps? Was she doing as FullSky had urged?
He was not free of the Enemy's wrath, however. The underrealm was full of the Nail's servants, and FullSky felt a searing blast following him down the thread. A watcher, probably summoned by the Nail, was in pursuit. He dodged frantically, jumping from one thread to another. As he approached the lower clouds, he saw two other watchers speeding across the clouds to intercept him. A heartbeat later he reached the clouds, and skipped across two threads, shirting through the pathways of the web, fleeing for his life through the turbulent concealment of the clouds. He knew he could not escape for long, but for the moment, he was still free. FullSky streaked inward toward his own body, lying broken in the dungeons of the Dark Vale.
Fire erupted around him as he reentered the underwebbing of the dungeons. The place reverberated with the screams of aroused prisoners, and he darted frantically through the glowing caverns of fire, hoping for just a little more time, struggling against the inner pull drawing him inexorably back to his body. Nothing awaited him there except pain and death, but perhaps there was yet something he could do here.
Though weary beyond belief, he continued through the undercaverns, searching for his brother. Everything looked different now; fires blazed in all directions, and he sensed a growing intensity in the torment, and he sensed the presence of the human enemy, Rent. There was terrible suffering here—even more terrible than before. He felt the captives' desperation and pain feeding the flames of the sorcery. He felt their awareness of the battle in the sky, and of the appalling losses of the dragons.
If only he could bring them hope!
But perhaps he could. How many of them knew that Jael was alive and powerful, and that the Enemy had suffered his own losses today? He prayed that there was one being still alive who had kept the spark of hope burning even here. WingTouch! he called. WingTouch! Are you alive?
If only his brother had even a speck of underhearing!
And then he heard the answer, crying out through pain: FullSky? Is it you?
He spun and saw him—a shadow-thing flashing and shuddering. His brother was so close, he could almost reach out and touch him now; and yet, without that answering cry he might have missed him altogether, so chaotic was this place of fire and misery. WingTouch! he cried, and then realized that his brother was not alone. The underweb around his brother shook with flashes of rage, and that rage wasn't from a dragon, but from a human. Rent was attacking his brother!
FullSky darted close, hoping that Rent's attention was drawn away from the underrealm. He examined the binding spell that held his brother cruelly captive—twists in the very earth, holding him immobile. But FullSky saw that the weavings were somewhat weakened, as the great web had been weakened. FullSky had little strength left, but it was enough to reach into the weaving and loosen the bonds holding his brother prisoner. The spell seared his kuutekka, and he knew that a cry of alarm was going up somewhere as his efforts were felt. WingTouch, you are almost free! Be ready to leap!
FullSky? whispered his brother.
Jael lives in the Dream Mountain! Jael lives! Tell the captives! Tell them they must hope! FullSky gasped, the fire in the binding nearly killing him. And then it was torn loose, spinning away from WingTouch with its flaring heat. WingTouch, go! You are free!
* * *
WingTouch had been shaking with such rage at his tormentor that he could not even speak. Even the earth was quaking. Rent's hands wielded lightning like a whip, lashing it across WingTouch's back. He shuddered each time, yet each blow strengthened his resolve not to surrender. He knew he could not survive much more of this. Above him, the dragons battled drahls and sorcery. Before him, Rent shrieked with laughter as he hurled lightning, crying, "They die, dragon! Your brothers die!" Crack-k-k! "All of them, one after another, they die!" Crack-k-k! "There is no hope for any of them now! Their efforts are useless, futile, stupid!" Crack-k-k!
So desperately did WingTouch want to be free and at his brothers' side, even if in death, that he almost did not hear the voice that cried out from within his own mind. It was the voice of his other brother, the voice of FullSky! WingTouch, you are almost free—!
Crack-k-k!
It seemed impossible that this was anything but a nightmare—and yet when he heard FullSky cry out again, Jael lives! and Go! You are free! he felt an astonishing release that almost made him forget the agony of R
ent's punishment. The rock had melted away from his feet, and the sudden freedom was almost more painful than the imprisonment—and he sagged for a moment, unable to move. He glared up at Rent, who was prancing about on the rim of the chasm, and he hoped that Rent would not notice his release.
He was astounded to see the human spin away with a shout of anger.
Trembling, WingTouch bent and stretched his legs—slowly, to avoid attracting notice—and then flexed his wings a little. Every fiber of his body screamed with pain; but if FullSky had freed him, he could not let mere pain keep him here. And where was FullSky? He tried to reach down into the underrealm to search for his brother, but it was beyond him; all he could make out was a hazily glowing place full of shadows. FullSky? he whispered. There was no answer.
* * *
FullSky felt his brother's astonished disbelief, and the shuddering movement of WingTouch stirring from his shackles. Then a blast of fire hit him, knocking him brutally away from his brother. FullSky felt a moment of triumph, even in the pain and disorientation. A guardian appeared before him, striking furiously, then another. He was surrounded by fire. He felt his kuutekka slip back into his broken body, his strength gone at last. But he had freed his brother . . .
The underrealm shimmered and faded, and he opened his eyes with a gasp of pain. He peered up blurrily from the scorched crater in which he was chained—into the eyes of two drahls who were hissing their freezing breath at him, who had already torn and bludgeoned his body near to the point of death. As he struggled for breath, he heard a bellow of rage—human rage—and he heard the voice of Rent, screaming, "He is the one who did it! He is the one!"
For an instant, FullSky thought that Rent was enraged because he had freed WingTouch. Then he saw the blazing fire in the eyes of the drahls and he knew, somehow, that he had been condemned by Tar-skel for a far greater crime. Rent appeared over the rim of the crater and screamed: "He took her to the Mountain of Fire! He's the one! KILLLLL HIMMMM!"
Dragon Space Page 71