by Dragon Lance
The head shifted. With her good eye, the silver dragon stared bitterly at the tiny figure to her side.
Being devoured by the very thing he had come to rescue was not part of Kaz’s plan. “I am a prisoner here also, Great One. By my ancestors, I swear that what I tell you now is the truth. You have my word of honor.”
“Minotaurs are... are known to lie now and then. For a prisoner, you have very... very long chains.”
Kaz snorted. “Like you, Master Brenn made assumptions.”
“Why... have you truly... come to... to me?” The dragon might not believe him – not yet – but she evidently knew enough about minotaur honor to at least listen to him.
“To get you out of this.” Even as Kaz said it, he realized how ridiculous he sounded. He was trying to rescue a dragon. “I need your power to help end this.”
“Even if... if I believed you, I cannot... leave without my children, minotaur. I will not leave... with... without them.” The silver dragon flinched several times during the course of her reply. She turned her head and indicated the wall before her, the one Kaz had been unable to see from the entrance. “Look there. Just beyond my... my reach.”
Kaz followed her direction. His eyes widened. There in a nook in the rock wall were six large, leathery eggs identical to the fragmented egg Brenn had pieced together. It seemed strange that the mage would put the eggs here, when he would be forced to move them for his experiments. How did he hope to maintain the dragon’s cooperation if she saw them vanishing, one by one?
The dragon swung her head around. “They were only freshly laid a few days before he... he... stole them. Although time has passed, his accursed spell has... kept them as they were.”
Kaz snorted. “How was it he was able to seize them?”
“A battle forced us to leave them for a time. A terrible battle as you can see. I came back, helped by my mate, to discover them gone!” She grimaced as pain shook her. “My mate and I swore that only death would keep... keep us from our children.” The dragon paused for breath. “It seems I will be held to... to that vow. I am beyond either help or helping. Yet, if you would do me any favor, minotaur, save my children.”
Kaz fought down his disappointment at finding the dragon too weak to aid him. He studied the eggs. He could not abandon them to the fate of the other. He could not allow Brenn to create any more such monstrosities... even if that meant destroying the eggs.
It was only when he dared reach up to the eggs themselves that he discovered something strange. He couldn’t reach the nook. He felt a rough, rocky surface beneath his hand. Had his eyes been closed, he would have been unable to tell where the wall ended and the nook began.
He ran his hands around the edge, trying to find some mechanical means to open it, like the entrance. Nothing. He contemplated trying his axe on the wall, but the noise would certainly wake the spellcaster and most likely accomplish nothing but damaging the weapon. Defeated, he turned back to the dragon. “Is there nothing that you can do?”
“Would I be here?” She sighed. “My only hope is that he will keep his word and give... them back.”
“He will do nothing of the kind.” Kaz snarled. “He intends to take your eggs and draw on your power to twist your children into abominations obedient to him!”
The dragon lifted her head. “Even he could not do that; he dares not!”
“Haven’t you wondered why the eggs aren’t all here?” Kaz asked her.
Now she appeared suspicious. “What sort of trick is this? All of my eggs... are there. I see them.”
“What? They can’t be!” Kaz was astounded.
“They are.” The dragon eyed him. “Whatever you were plotting has failed. Perhaps you should return to your master.”
“By Paladine! Listen to —”
Before he could finish, another voice cut through. “Kaz, you know I ordered you not to torment our guest! You would do better to learn to obey!”
Brenn stood near the entrance. Kaz cursed silently; he had been a fool not to guess there might be some sort of magical alarm.
Kaz tried to reach for his axe, discovered he couldn’t move. The silver dragon regarded the minotaur with much loathing. She would never believe him now.
“You are going to have to be punished for this disobedience, Kaz,” Brenn continued.
A bubble formed around Kaz, a floating sphere identical to the one that imprisoned the dragon-man.
He found he could move now, but where could he go? Even as he thought that, there was a sudden, ominous change in the bubble. It began to shrink! Now the top barely cleared his horns, and the sides were so close he could touch them with his fingers.
Being slowly crushed to death in a magical bubble was not an honorable way to die. He tried breaking the bubble with his horns, but realized it was more likely his horns would break before the sphere would burst.
Unable to do anything else, Kaz cursed Brenn in the name of every god he could think of, then began telling the malevolent magic-user what the minotaur would do when he got free. It didn’t matter that Brenn probably couldn’t hear him; Kaz was quite confident that the mage would understand.
Brenn apparently did. As Kaz took a breath, the mage pointed a finger at him. The air caught in Kaz’s throat.
A moment later, he collapsed.
*
Kaz woke up, looked swiftly around. He was still trapped in Brenn’s accursed bubble, but his location had changed. Now he floated in one corner of the Black Robe’s inner sanctum, near the huge pattern and the other sphere that still floated above it. Too near. Brenn’s dragon-man stared at the minotaur as if nothing else in the world mattered. Now and then, the creature would blink or its forked tongue would dart out, but otherwise the dragon-man did not move.
“Size me up all you like, lizard,” Kaz growled, not caring whether or not the beast could hear or even understand him. “You’ll find me a meal that bites back!”
The dragon-man took no notice of Kaz’s ravings and simply continued to stare at him.
Kaz was not certain how long it was before Brenn entered. An hour, maybe two.
“Ah, both of you are awake!” Brenn remarked. He took some time to inspect the dragon-man, which suddenly recommenced with its snarling and clawing. Brenn turned to Kaz. A flick of the mage’s finger brought the minotaur’s sphere floating to him.
“You may notice that you can hear me, but nothing else.”
It was true. Despite the many times the dragon-man opened its mouth in what was obviously a roar, the chamber was silent, save whenever the spellcaster spoke.
The cadaverous mage gave Kaz a smile. “In a way, you make this much easier. I admit I would have felt guilty about sacrificing a useful soldier like yourself if you had not revealed yourself to be the traitor you are. Imagine! A minotaur with a conscience!”
“You actually know the word?” Kaz snarled.
“Still defiant. Good. It means you will put up a strong fight when the time comes. The battle should be entertaining, even if the outcome is inevitable.”
Battle? Kaz did not like the sound of that. “What battle?”
Brenn turned and strolled back to the pattern. As he walked, the minotaur’s sphere followed. “When I said your arrival was timely, I meant it. I was trying to devise a way in which to test the strength of my creation – once I recaptured it – and then you fell into my hands. My original intention was to let you become comfortable, put your mind at ease, so that when the time came to fight, you would be at your best. Then, of course —”
“You plan to have me fight that thing?” Kaz roared, pointing at the snarling dragon-man.
“I would have thought that was obvious, even to you,” the mage commented, looking at Kaz with mild surprise. “I hope your wits are sharper during battle, especially since you will be fighting claw-to-claw.”
Kaz reached back. His axe was gone. He scowled at Brenn, who pointed to one of the tables nearby. The battle-axe now lay upon it.
The minotaur looked from Brenn to the dragon-man, then to the spellcaster again. “This is your idea of a fair fight?”
The mage studied his creation, who continued to scrape at the bubble with talons nearly the length of the minotaur’s hand. The dragon-man opened wide its jaws, revealing once again its razor-sharp fangs. After some deliberation, Brenn turned to Kaz. “No, but it will satisfy my curiosity.”
“Let me loose, and I will satisfy your curiosity!”
The mage smiled. “I think it’s time we begin.”
The bubble containing Kaz retreated several yards. The other sphere also moved away from the pattern. Brenn eyed the magical design and raised a narrow hand.
A bubble appeared, and inside was the huge chest from which Brenn had removed the egg fragments.
Brenn directed the bubble to him. As before, it dissolved when it touched the cavern floor, leaving behind the chest. The spellcaster opened the chest and reached in.
Giving a nod of satisfaction, Brenn pulled out his prize. Kaz could not see what he held at first, but when the tall mage lifted it high, there was no mistaking.
Another silver dragon egg.
“Illusions!” Kaz gasped. “I understand it now! The eggs she longs after are only illusions! No wonder the barrier felt as if it were made of rock!”
Brenn held the egg for Kaz to see. “Of course. I needed a lure, but I was not about to risk my prizes. Dragon eggs are quite difficult to come by.”
He lowered his burden. “It is simple, really. Her own obsession feeds the strength of the illusion as her own power feeds the spell that binds her. Why waste my own energy when I can make use of others? Still, after the incomplete success of my first attempt, I decided to stop hiding from her and instead draw her into my domain. You see, if one sort of magic is not enough, then maybe two combined will achieve success. When I began this, I thought to create an army, but with the other dragons gone, I will be satisfied with my little band and the knowledge that I have once more triumphed where others have failed.”
“I knew a mage like you once,” Kaz growled. “Galen Dracos. He’s dead now, Paladine be praised!”
Brenn laughed. Then he replaced the egg in the chest and closed the lid. Reaching into the collar of his robe, he pulled out a bejeweled pendant. Kaz caught the flash of an emerald crystal embedded in the center.
The mage directed his attention to the dragon-man, which had renewed its attack on the imprisoning bubble. Brenn brought the sphere back to its original resting place above the metal device in the center of the pattern. Then, taking a deep breath, he put both hands on the talisman hanging from his neck and closed his eyes.
“The time has come, madam,” the mage said softly. “You know what I expect from you!”
Kaz sensed intense power, but Brenn appeared disappointed. He opened his eyes. “Your children, madam! Remember our bargain!”
An intense wave of magic overwhelmed Kaz. He shook his head and grunted in pain. Brenn’s fleshless face lit up. The emerald crystal gleamed.
Inside the bubble, the dragon-man clutched at its throat in obvious anguish. Its skin began to ripple. Kaz leaned forward until his snout rubbed against the interior of his prison, looking closer. The dragon-man’s skin was melting!
Power continued to flow from the dragon to Brenn. Dragons were magical creatures; Brenn had only succeeded in capturing the silver one because of her deadly injuries. To alter a dragon – even one not yet hatched – was to work against the natural magic of the legendary race. A formidable task for any mage, no matter how powerful.
The dragon-man’s skin sloughed off in horrid gobbets, yet, instead of becoming smaller, the creature appeared to grow. It reminded Kaz of a young snake shedding its skin. The dragon-man was in horrible pain, so much so that Kaz almost pitied the thing.
His pity faded when he recalled that he would soon be forced to do battle with the monster.
With each shedding, the dragon-man became more humanoid in appearance. Its snout shortened until it was little longer than that of the minotaur. Its forelegs changed into arms and taloned hands. The tail shortened, and the dragon-man’s wings became vestigial. Despite the alterations, Kaz did not think his chances of winning any better. Not only was the dragon-man now larger than before, but there was also a look in those reptilian eyes that spoke of true cunning. It was the look of a warrior.
Warrior or monster or both, I’ll give you the fight of your life! Kaz promised. He was fairly certain the battle would take place soon. The creature was still in a state of flux, but the changes were becoming more subtle. For the first time, the dragon-man seemed to take note of its own shape. It studied itself carefully, then stared at the one who had made it.
Power continued to flow into the talisman and from there out to the creature in the bubble. Brenn was no longer smiling. Strain showed on his face as he pushed for the completion of his spell. Dragon magic continued to flow to him through the talisman. The force was so overwhelming that even Kaz felt stunned by its intensity. Brenn gasped at one point, but did not falter.
Suddenly, the stream of magical power wavered. Brenn glared into empty space and roared, “Remember your children!”
His warning did not seem to help. The power faltered more and more... then dwindled away. With a painful grunt, the mage broke his own connection to the spell. “Damnable lizard!”
Kaz wondered if the dragon’s tremendous exertion had finally killed her. The mage twitched, then rubbed his pale face. Kaz yearned to be free of his prison. If there was a time when the spellcaster might be weak enough to be attacked, it was now.
Brenn gazed at his creation. “Wonderful!” the mage breathed. “Complete at last!”
The dragon-man stood erect within the confines of its cell. Its gaze shifted back and forth between Brenn and Kaz. Each time it stared at the minotaur, the dragon-man clenched its taloned fists.
“Perfect!” the Black Robe proclaimed. “Perfect!” He turned to Kaz, the only witness to his magnificence. “Do you see —”
The dragon-man abruptly bent over and howled. The monster’s skin began to peel off in large pieces.
“What is wrong?” The mage brought the bubble closer to him. Brenn walked up to the wall of the transparent cell and peered down at the dragon-man, which was now on its knees. “What is the matter with you? You must be stable now!”
The dragon-man, eyes wide and red, glared up at its creator and, driven by pain, reached for Brenn. The spellcaster flinched but did not move away.
The dragon-man’s claws dug into the bubble and tore it open as easily as if it had been formed from thin cloth. The bubble popped, dropped its prisoner to the ground.
Brenn stared at his creation in disbelief.
The dragon-man lifted Brenn by the collar and, in a voice both sibilant and deep, rumbled, “You hurt me!”
“Put me down! I can make it —”
The dragon-man ignored the command. “I will hurt you!”
Raising Brenn above him, the dragon-man threw the magic-user across the cavern.
Weakened by his spellcasting, Brenn could not help himself. He crashed into a shelf, crushing artifacts and containers, finally bringing the entire set of shelves down on himself.
Brenn tried to rise, but could not. It was clear that he was badly injured. The dragon-man started toward the mage. Brenn pointed weakly at Kaz, then slumped back, not unconscious, but unable, at the moment, to do anything else to save himself.
The bubble in which the minotaur was imprisoned faded. With a grunt, Kaz struck the hard cavern floor.
The dragon-man turned toward the minotaur, hissing. Talons flashed as it started for Kaz. The dragon-man lunged for Kaz’s throat.
Kaz threw himself to the ground and rolled toward the table where his weapon lay. He hoped he could reach his axe before the creature struck again.
The action caught the dragon-man by surprise. For a breath or two, the creature stared down at the spot where its intended victim had been. Then, h
issing again, the creature whirled. Locating Kaz, the dragon-man stalked toward the minotaur, talons extended and maw open wide. Kaz realized that he would never make it to the table before the monster was on him.
Then another wave of pain rocked the dragon-man. It fell to one knee. Its form began to shift again, almost as if liquefying.
Making the most of his unexpected opportunity, Kaz dashed over to the table and put his hand on the axe. Behind him, the howl of pain died.
The dragon-man was on its feet again. It lunged at Kaz, moving even more swiftly than before. Raising the axe with one hand, Kaz succeeded in fending off the attack. The creature was agile despite its grotesque appearance. Kaz tried a second swing. The dragon-man grabbed hold of the axe by the upper half of the shaft, nearly wrenched it from the minotaur’s grasp. Kaz fought to pull the weapon free. He did not like to think about his chances in hand-to-hand fighting.
Remembering their struggle in the woods, Kaz shifted his weapon and tried to repeat his tactic from that battle, tried to hit the creature on the snout. The monster was much more wary this time, and once more Kaz almost lost his axe.
Intent on avoiding the jaws and talons of his adversary, the minotaur saw the slithering tail too late. It darted toward his leg. Kaz struck the tail with his axe. One well-honed blade caught the tip and severed it.
The dragon-man howled with pain, lashed out without thinking. The blow caught Kaz as he worked the axe free, for the edge had not only cut through the tail but gouged a slit several inches deep in the rock-hard ground. Pain coursed through the minotaur. The axe came free just as the dragon-man attacked again. The wounded minotaur stumbled out of reach. His left arm was covered in blood, pouring from ragged gaps near his shoulder.
A red rage began to overwhelm the minotaur. The creature had wounded him!
“I... have... had... enough!” he snarled.
Kaz brought the axe around and forced his reptilian adversary back. Each swing sent shivers of pain through the minotaur, but Kaz knew he could not let up. If he stopped even for a moment, the dragon-man would have him.