Thelvyn looked surprised. "What would I want with a pair of virgins?"
"To eat them, of course," Kharendaen said eagerly, licking her chops.
Thelvyn looked even more alarmed for a moment before he realized that Kharendaen was making a jest at his expense. He looked disgruntled over the matter, which only amused the others even more.
"You've never heard that old legend about dragons and virgins?" Darius asked.
"There aren't many virgins to be found around here, I assure you," Thelvyn replied, then paused at the entrance to the lair to glance back at Kharendaen. "I don't say that from personal experience, mind you."
The light banter matched Thelvyn's positive mood. Things were progressing better than he had dared to hope. Most of the delegates of the proposed alliance were not only gathered but apparently in a mood to talk. Only a year before, King
Jherridan had striven desperately to organize an alliance against the Alphatians, and later against the dragons. Now both Alphatia and the dragons were a part of a new alliance against an unexpected enemy. Thelvyn himself had been more or less run out of civilized lands the year before, and now the world was ready to defer to his leadership. He was not so surprised at how much things had changed but at how quickly it had all happened.
A short time later, he and Kharendaen walked through the streets of Braejr to the palace, where the representatives were housed in the guest chambers. This was the first time he had seen the palace since the previous summer, when the extensive damage from his battle with the traitor wizards had not yet been repaired. The restoration was nearly complete, although Thelvyn was only able to enter as far as the main hall for a quick look about. So much of his past had been spent in this place, as the advisor to King Jherridan during his time as the Dragonlord, and then later when he had served as king. He had to resist the urge to change form so that he could take a more complete tour of the building.
Solveig had gone to the palace ahead of them to summon the representatives. Since the dragons couldn't enter any of the meeting rooms within the palace, they had elected to meet in the garden near the main gate. Thelvyn sat in the center of the paved court, like a broad patio outside the doors of the reception hall, with stone benches for the other delegates. Kharendaen lay beneath the trees near the wall. Once the meeting was assembled, they all spoke together for some time, although it was more accurate to say that Thelvyn explained everything he knew about the invaders to the representatives and answered their questions.
For his own part, Thelvyn watched the representatives closely and weighed their words with care. He was trying to judge the extent of the commitment their nations were able or willing to make. He also wanted to determine just how much the various nations would comply with the decisions made by their own delegates. The only representatives he could be certain of were Solveig and Darius Glantri, who already had broad authority to make binding decisions in this council.
Korinn seemed to have that same authority, but Thelvyn was not yet certain that the dwarves would continue to be so willing to cooperate once their memory of the invasion had faded.
Of the others, King Celedril of Alfheim could decide his own counsels without challenge at home, and he was obviously supportive of the alliance. Lord Derrick of Darokin was also supportive, as Darokin had been during the previous summer. The Traladaran representative didn't seem to understand all of what he heard, but he was willing to vote with the majority, perhaps to spare himself the strain of making decisions in matters that were mostly beyond him. The delegates from the Emirates of Ylaruam and the Jarldoms of the Northern Reaches were still alarmed that the burning of the steppes and the invasion of Rockhome had occurred so near their own lands. Their lands were controlled by loosely allied factions that were often at odds over old feuds and rivalries, and Thelvyn wondered how much of an organized defense they were capable of assembling.
The Heldannic Freeholds had failed to send a representative, giving the Thyatian messenger a rather haughty reply about their confidence in their ability to defend themselves. The Ierendi representative was cautious in his support, believing that his island kingdom was far from the actual danger. The delegate from the Minrothad Guilds was also disinterested, but he followed the Thyatian vote as a matter of politics.
Which was all very much just as Thelvyn had expected. The only unpredictable element in all of this was Ambassador Ser-ran, the Alphatian representative. Thelvyn found his position on the alliance to be most surprising. As he had been warned earlier, Ambassador Serran was very friendly and eager to please, and insisted that his people were willing to follow the Dragonking without hesitation. Thelvyn wondered if the Alphatians simply found it easier than most of the others to understand just how desperate the situation really was. They had fought the dragons the year before, provoking a long war that they had no hope of winning. Thus they saw any enemy the dragons feared as being very fearsome indeed.
Under the circumstances, Thelvyn had no problem convincing the council to follow his plans for the defense of their world. They had already known that they would have to arrange for their own defense as much as they could. That meant they needed to be ready to endure a sudden invasion at any time and hold out long enough for the dragons to gather an army and respond. The places where Thelvyn wanted to establish garrisons of hundreds of dragons were in the very lands where they would be most welcome. The northeast garrison was the city of Windreach itself. The garrison in the forgotten city of Darmouk was also convenient, and another garrison in the mountains of western Thyatis was no problem. Only a couple of hundred dragons could be spared to give Alphatia some peace of mind.
Thelvyn felt certain that the next attack would come in the west. The Masters had been active in the Highlands in the years since the Flaem had first come into this world. He was suspicious that the Flaem would once more play some key part in the Masters' plans for a major invasion. For that reason, he planned to move several hundred dragons into the mountains of the Highland Frontier and southern Wendar. Yet another garrison would be located in the wilds of northern Darokin, near Lake Amsorak. The delegate from Darokin said that he would try to have soldiers from his own country moved into their northern forts, to aid the Highlands when the invasion came. King Celedril of Alfheim promised a couple thousand elvish rangers, to be stationed in the elvish holdings in the southern Highlands.
"Then you really do believe that the Masters will attack here next?" Solveig asked quietly after the council concluded and the other delegates were left to speak among themselves.
"Perhaps not next," Thelvyn explained. "They could make other, lesser attacks in other parts of the world, to draw away our strength and throw us off our guard. But I feel certain that the Masters will invade the Highlands soon. The Highlands have been central to their plans for more than a hundred years, even before they sent the Flaem into this world. And the Highlands have been central in my own destiny since before I was born. The Masters have to deal with me before they can secure any conquests in this world, and this is where they will find me."
"That's very reassuring," Solveig commented sarcastically. "The Highlands seem to be your chosen battlefield. Now I remember why we threw you out a year ago."
"The Flaem need me," he insisted. "They remain especially vulnerable to the control of the Masters. They can't escape deep involvement in this conflict, and only the dragons and I can protect them. Even if I leave, the Masters will use the Flaem to draw me back. I feel sure of that."
"Then I know what I have to prepare for as well," Solveig added. She glanced up at the dragon. "Considering how we've seen the Masters operate, I have good reason to suspect that we have at least one traitor in our midst-probably not in our company, but near enough to report any plans we begin to implement."
Thelvyn nodded. "I agree. In fact, I'm counting on it. I'm playing the same trap that has worked for us once already, saying things I want the Masters to hear whenever I suspect the presence of any possible spy. I am baiting t
hem to attack here in the Highlands. Why subject other lands to needless destruction when the final battle must be here anyway? I want the Masters to know that I am waiting for them."
"Do you have any idea who the traitor could be?"
He glanced around at the delegates, talking together in small clusters near the open outer doors of the reception hall. "I suspect Ambassador Serran, or at least someone of high authority in Alphatia. Remember that, like the Flaem, they are not originally of this world. Many of their policies of conquest can now be interpreted as a prelude to the invasion of the Masters. Have you asked yourself why they were so determined to wage a hopeless war against the dragons last year, even to the point of launching a doomed invasion fleet after they had been forced to surrender once before? They drew the dragons out of hiding. The dragons have always kept to themselves, and their gathering places have always been closely guarded secrets. Because of their war with the Alphatians, most of those secrets were betrayed."
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Daylight faded slowly, the brilliant sapphire blue of day growing deeper and deeper, becoming a dark indigo that in turn faded slowly to black as the first stars of night appeared in the east. The light seemed to draw back from the rugged, forested hills below the Colossus Mountains, as if retreating after the sun, already set beyond the wild lands of the west.
The deepest shadows of night gathered first beneath the trees, turning the still, almost mysterious silence of the day to the brooding, fearful darkness of night. But in the wilderness east of Braastar, to one side of a crude, long-forgotten road, a single point of light shone with a soft, silver radiance like a star that had fallen from the sky. Hidden in the darkness beneath a spreading oak, lost in the shadows, a pair of small, carved stones stood an equal distance to either side of the small light. Other pieces of shattered stone lay half hidden in the grass and fallen leaves; the tree itself was only beginning to recover from being damaged by fire in some recent disaster.
Suddenly the point of light flared and rushed outward in a luminescent ring, like the wave from a stone dropped into a
pool of liquid silver. The ring of light raced outward, expanding quickly to form a wide oval like a doorway into the night. The cold wind of an alien world whipped through the portal, dry and heavy with dust. Then, with a sudden rush of icy air, a dark form hurtled out of the depths of the portal, at first only a blurry shape that expanded rapidly. In the final instant, it leapt out from the passage, fully formed, an amber dragon of great strength and stature, with plates of armor almost like translucent gold.
The dragon stepped forward, making room for a ruby dragon that followed close behind. Then, while the second of the pair stood guard at the gate, the amber dragon stepped forward to stand in the partial opening in the forest beside the road. For a moment, it paused, its head cocked as if listening, and then it rose up on its hind legs with its great neck stretched to its limit, lifting its head as high as it could. It looked first one way and then the other, searching the night sky. Satisfied, it dropped back down and turned to face its companion, nodding its head. The ruby dragon disappeared back inside the portal, drawn away in an instant, while the amber dragon turned back to watch and listen.
Only a moment passed before other gemstone dragons began to come through the portal, one by one in rapid succession. They separated at once, moving out quickly in all directions, as if they were desperate to hold and protect the worldgate from discovery and danger. A vanguard of more than twoscore gemstone dragons came through in a short time, many leaping into flight to take their positions in the region surrounding the gate for five miles around. Then companies of soldiers began to appear, marching out of the gate in neat rows before spreading along the sides of the road. Supply wagons began to file through as well, small groups of heavy wagons drawn by massive horses nearly as large as the dragons themselves.
Now the leader of the Masters stepped away from the worldgate, moving quickly a short distance down the road until it came to a rise where it could look back through a break in the trees. The worldgate and all the activity surrounding it was now several hundred yards behind the creature and no longer a distraction. It sat up on its haunches, its forelegs off
the ground and bracing the bulk of its body with its tail for balance. Then, in the quiet, remarkably understated way of dragons, it began to work great magic.
Strange things began to happen in the night, as deep, elemental forces began to move through the world in response to the amber dragon's magic. Or perhaps it was that the world fought to resist the dragon's magic, which reached from beyond that plane of existence. But the spells were powerful and carefully prepared well in advance, so that the amber dragon needed only to invoke the magic that waited to be summoned. The darkness of the night began to gather deeper above the hill that stood just beyond the worldgate, like a well of shadows that seemed to draw the fabric of the night in upon itself.
Then, when the spells had gained their greatest strength,
the well of deep darkness suddenly rushed outward again. And when the blackness faded into ordinary night, the face of a massive cliff now stood above the forest, and a great fortress Mood at the point of the cliff. It looked remarkably like the
nine fortress in which the Dragonking had found the Collar of the Dragons, but if indeed it were, the entire fortress had been transported with the rock upon which it stood from one world to the next.
'Ihe fortress stood silent and empty. While stone and timbers could be magically transported between worlds, living creatures could not, not even the gemstone dragons. The Masters and their many slaves had been required to come through the gate one by one, abandoning their great fortress for a brief time while it was shifted between worlds. Now they had a ready-made stronghold in the land of their enemies, a place where they could stage their invasion of the Highlands with certainty and precision. And with a stronghold of their own, they could stand against the fury of the dragons of Mystara. The soldiers and supply wagons that had been gathering in the road were now moved quickly toward the fortress, making room for more fighters, who continued to file through the worldgate.
And yet the Masters were not yet done with their preparations. The amber dragon and several of its companions spread their wings to lift themselves into the night sky, flying quickly to the fortress to post guards within its massive walls and prepare it for occupation. One of their first duties would be to complete the opening of a second worldgate, one that was hidden deep within their own stronghold. In that way, they could maintain contact with their own world, even under siege, bringing in more soldiers, weapons, and supplies as needed.
This time they would not make the same foolish mistake of underestimating the Dragonking. They intended to prove to him that his bands of half-wild dragons were no match for their great powers and careful planning.
The Masters and their servants labored through the night, knowing that their fortress had to be secure before the dragons discovered it. Now that there were dragons in Braejr less than a hundred miles to the south, they knew it was inevitable that they would be discovered soon, perhaps that very dawn. The Masters took every precaution they could, moving their forces and wagons through the night without light. Above all, they had to be careful that there were no lights visible within their fortress, especially from the tower windows that faced west toward Braastar. Since they could plainly see the lights of the city only a few short miles away, they needed no other reminder of the need for caution.
The strategies and policies of the Masters had recently been unsettled, for the Dragonking had surprised them and frustrated their plans, and they still did not understand how that had happened. All they knew was that the Overlord had informed them that the dragons had rejected their king, yet somehow the Overlord had been mistaken in that, as impossible as that seemed. Or perhaps matters had changed more quickly than the Overlord suspected, and the dragons had pledged their support to the Dragonking after all. The latter explanation was easier for
the Masters to accept, but they knew for certain that such mistakes must not happen again. This time they would be a step ahead of their enemy.
Only two days before, the Overlord had warned them that the time had come. Whole armies of soldiers and supplies had been moved immediately from the nearest strongholds to the fortress that had served to guide the settlement of the Highlands, built in the time when the Flaem had been held as slaves in the world of the Overlord. The Masters had always intended to transfer their stronghold into the world of Mystara, to serve their needs when they finally came into the world they planned to conquer.
Word had been sent that the Dragonking was assembling an ulliance against the invaders and that he would soon be bringinng hundreds of dragons into the Highlands. The Dragonking seemed to anticipate that the next invasion would come in the Highlands; now it had become a race between the dragons and ilie Masters to assemble their forces in the Highlands first, and so far the Masters were ahead. The dragons were on the way, however, and the Masters and their armies had to be in place before the dragons arrived.
When morning came, the Masters were careful to remain with their slaves inside the fortress, closing the worldgate in the forest so that from now on they would rely only upon the one hidden within their own walls. By being as unobtrusive as possible, they hoped to evade discovery for as long as they could. There was always the vague hope that any dragons who iw their fortress would be new to the Highlands and unaware it had not always been there. Just the same, they would be forced to act soon, even if it meant an end to secrecy and the element of surprise. They no longer had enough room to keep their considerable forces hidden within their stronghold, and they would have to launch their attack before they could bring through more of their own people.
The Masters liked to believe they were prepared for the worst, and their plans were put to the test within the first hour of daylight. The land was still in the deep shadows of the mountains when a dragon was spotted riding the winds northward, a young gold who was drifting and soaring back and forth over the forest as he hunted. He seemed to not even see the fortress of the Masters at first, or else he was unconcerned by the great edifice of gray stone standing dark and silent over the woods, seemingly abandoned. But the young dragon's interest began to grow as he came nearer, although he was careful not to approach too closely as he circled warily. Suddenly he turned and flew back toward the south at great speed, obviously carrying a warning to Braejr.
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