"At least you have retained your clerical powers."
"I didn't realize at first just how much the Overlord was controlling me," Thelvyn said. "The Masters seem to be unaware that their will is subject to his control, apparently regarding themselves as willing servants, allies rather than slaves. Later I realized that something had been very wrong about that first confrontation, when he made it seem that his powers were vast compared to my own. He was controlling my responses. He wouldn't allow me to defend myself, which gave the appearance that I wasn't strong enough to stand up to him."
"You seemed more evenly matched later," Kharendaen observed.
"I'm still certain that he is very powerful," Thelvyn said. "He commands the powers that you would associate with one of the lesser Immortals. But for whatever reason, it seemed to frighten him unduly when we were able to prevent him from controlling us. He could have put an end to our escape at any rime, but instead he chose to withdraw, as if he feared for his safety. Perhaps it has been too long since he has had to confront his enemies directly."
Kharendaen rose up higher on her haunches so that she could push down harder on his back; his dragon's armor made it difficult to give him a good back rub. Then she bent her neck around to bring her face close to his. "Don't you think the Overlord also might have deceived you about your standing among your own kind?"
Thelvyn sighed heavily. "No, I don't think so. Deceit isn't his only weapon, not when he has the power to look inside your own thoughts and use the truth against you. He knows that the truth can wound far deeper and more sharply than any of his tricks. He merely put into words some ideas and impressions that I have always held,' that I thought that I was above the common faults of dragons."
"Well, if that is a failing, then it is one I share," Kharendaen told him. "I have often been driven nearly to distraction by the foolishness, the suspicion, the selfishness, and the narrow-minded beliefs of the dragons. And, yes, I, too, like to think I am above such faults. But I also prefer to think that most dragons could rise above such things, if they could only be made to believe that they belong to a wise and noble breed. Perhaps I am an optimist, but I chose to become a cleric not only to serve the Great One but also the dragons themselves. Are you and I really so different, then? I've known you to argue with the dragons about changing their ways."
"That may be so," Thelvyn agreed, sitting up slowly. "At least I've learned an important lesson about myself. But just now I find myself desperate to return home. I worry what may be happening in our absence."
"I suspect my brother has kept things from falling apart."
"Yes, your brother," Thelvyn said, lowering his head and laying back his ears. "Marthaen is going to slay me."
Kharendaen looked perplexed. "Slay you?"
"For getting you pregnant." He lifted his head, staring into the night. "I think our friends have returned."
At least he hoped they were their friends. A small group of Veydran were approaching the square cautiously from one of the side streets. Although they were moving furtively, trying to stay hidden between the ruined buildings, they were not trying to hide themselves from the two dragons. Enemy Veydran warriors would have been more stealthful in their approach, their movements conveying a greater sense of hostile purpose. He waited patiently for them to approach, sitting up with his tail wrapped around his legs and his neck arched proudly, careful not to move.
A large group of Veydran were approaching this time, nine in all, and he saw that all but their leader were bearing large bundles of some type. As they came nearer, he could see that four of the dragon-folk were carrying large skins filled with water or some other drink, and the other four carried roasted meat wrapped in what appeared to be large, dry leaves of some strange type. He was pleasantly surprised, since he had never expected that they would offer him the food or drink he needed so badly, partly because he had not expected them to have such things to share.
The leader of the Veydran stopped a few yards away. The others remained behind him. After staring at the two dragons briefly, he bent his neck in an odd gesture of respect. "You have returned."
As before, the dragons did not understand the words that he spoke, but nevertheless they were aware of most of what he said in their minds. Thelvyn bowed his head in return. "We were made the Overlord's prisoners, and I suffered serious injuries from him. But we got the better of him in the end and managed to escape."
"Then you are able to fight him?"
"I would not choose to fight him again, not in this world," Thelvyn said. "I will wait until he comes into my own world, where my strength is enhanced. Then we will defeat him, and your people will be free."
"That is good." The Veydran leader paused, glancing back at his companions. "We have brought food and drink for you. If you need anything else, we will try to get it for you."
"We thank you for your gifts. We need food and drink badly," Thelvyn replied. "I ask only one more thing. Do you know of any other worldgates we could try to use to return home, and, if so, could you lead us to them?"
"We will lead you wherever you want to go, but the journey would do you no good. The Masters seal all the worldgates they do not use, and those they do use are under heavy guard. They fear that their enemies might use their own gates against them."
"Are there no secret gates, perhaps ancient ones that the Masters have closed but forgotten to destroy?"
"It is not possible to forget a worldgate. You can hear them as you come near, even if they are sealed."
Thelvyn lowered his head. "I had suspected as much, but the question was still worth asking. We must try to find our own way home."
"We will do what we can. If you need us again, circle the village once in the air, then land ag^in. We will come to you."
The Veydran brought forth their gifts, then made a gesture of respect and withdrew quickly, disappearing into the night. When Thelvyn and Kharendaen unwrapped the leaves, they found what appeared to be roasted carcasses of some kind of deer, although the taste was more like game fowl. Kharendaen was unable to force her mate to accept more than half of the food in spite of her arguments. She insisted that he needed to regain his strength during his recovery. Thelvyn resisted reminding her that she was now eating for two.
"What do you think?" Kharendaen asked as they ate. "Do we dare try to find the gate where we came in, even with that new stronghold so close by?"
Thelvyn frowned. "Finding that gate should be easy enough. If the winds are still stirring up the dust and sand, the Masters would never see us. They might not even be aware of that gate. Most likely they're watching the old gate near Braastar."
"Marthaen said he would open gate at regular intervals to see if we might be waiting to return home. We might have to wait some time for the gate to open again."
Thelvyn shook his head helplessly. "We can only try."
The dragons rested through most of the night, although they made a point of departing before daybreak in an effort to avoid being seen. The wind had increased somewhat during the night. They remained whenever possible under the cover of clouds, which were heavy but somewhat broken. The clouds offered the best cover the dragons could have, since they were far more likely to be discovered if they tried to fly in and out among the valleys and ravines. From this height, only the sharp eyes of another dragon could have seen them during the brief times when they passed between clouds.
Thelvyn had regained much of his strength with the night's rest, and he was now in relatively little pain. He was becoming impressed with just had badly he had been injured, and how easily that damage could have been fatal. For the first time, he was beginning to appreciate how close he might have been to death. He found himself a bit shaken by that realization. What he could not guess was whether his survival had been a matter of chance, or if the Overlord had deliberately kept him alive to torment him.
Flying at such height, enduring the thin air, was not the ordeal that it had been for him the day before. Traveling six mil
es or more above the ground also made him feel somewhat insecure, knowing he couldn't land quickly if something happened to him and he could no longer fly. The cold, thin air dried his throat, and he wished they could find water for the empty skins they carried. He wished he had thought to ask the
Veydran about how to find food and water in this inhospitable land, in case they were unable to return to their own world.
At first they flew above the especially rugged, barren lands northwest of the sea of sand, where they had previously dodged in and out through the valleys and along the ridges to remain hidden. The land did not look nearly so rugged from such a great height, and Thelvyn was interested to see that there were more definite patterns in the landforms than could been seen from low altitudes. The ridges and lines of mountains ran in strangely orderly systems, and great valleys looked like streambeds cut by recent rains. At least he had the answer to one of his questions; his sharp eyes occasionally caught pale, almost hazy hints of white in the deepest crags of the mountaintops, suggesting snow. At least the dragons would not need to suffer from thirst, although he suspected any drifts of snow would include a generous mixture of dust.
Not long after they entered the sea of sand, the high cloud cover began to break apart, as if the clouds could not endure the dry air over the open desert. The clouds didn't disappear entirely, but now they offered minimum cover for the dragons. Thelvyn spoke with Kharendaen about whether it would be better to fly low, returning to the protection of the fog of gray dust near the ground. In the end, they decided they would continue to fly at their present height, at least for now, so they wouldn't have to endure the dust in their throats or the sting of sand in their large eyes.
In time, they came within sight of the fortress that stood just north of the location of their gate, and they were forced to fly low to avoid being spotted. The hours of flight had provided Thelvyn with time to assemble something of a plan. Guided by their unerring instinct for direction, the two dragons circled around to approach the gateway from the south, finally landing amid the great boulders of the island of rock that rose out of the sands. The worldgate now stood only a couple hundred yards north of them, and the fortress was several hundred yards more beyond that. Whether or not the fortress had been abandoned when they had arrived, he felt certain that guards would be on hand now to watch for the escaped dragons. Thelvyn planned to wait in hiding until they sensed the opening of the gate, then dash through before the Masters could stop them.
"I only hope Marthaen is continuing to open the gate from time to time as he promised," Kharendaen said, shielding her face from the blowing sand with her mate's chest as they huddled together in the shelter of a group of large boulders. "We've been gone for a long time, and Marthaen may have given up hope."
"This isn't our only hope," Thelvyn said, bringing his own head around to escape the sting of the windblown sand, "but it may be our best opportunity."
They hadn't waited long when they suddenly sensed a flare of power, followed by the distinctive presence of an open worldgate. Thelvyn lifted his head sharply, startled that the gate should open only a short time after they had arrived. Then he realized that Marthaen might be opening the passage often, fearful because of their delayed return and aware that they might need to escape hastily. Even so, Marthaen would open the gate only briefly, perhaps no more than a few seconds at a time. The dragons had to reach it in a hurry.
They emerged from their shelter and leapt down through the boulders at a run until they came to a relatively flat shelf where they could jump into the air. They were flying blind in the thick dust, but they had no problem finding their way, drawn by the unmistakable source of magic. But almost at once Thelvyn began to sense that something was wrong. Suddenly he knew they were not alone.
The magic shifted form, and abruptly the fierce wind died and the air around them became as still as death. The wind-born sand fell to the ground, leaving only the gray dust hanging in the air like thick fog. He became aware of several vast, dark shapes moving through the dust, and a moment later three massive steel warriors emerged out of the grey darkness, towering shapes moving slowly and deliberately amid an escort of the smaller forms of the Masters. Thelvyn was forced to turn sharply, passing almost directly beneath the head of one of the metal warriors.
A dark shape hurtled down from above as one of the Masters darted in, striking Kharendaen in the middle of her back and driving her downward. The large amber dragon already had her neck in a death lock, but in the next moment she crashed heavily into the side of a low dune. The impact broke her opponent's hold, sending both of them tumbling. Kharendaen was shaken by the blow. The amber dragon rose unsteadily and shook its head, then snarled fiercely as it turned toward Kharendaen, moving in to finish the kill. She lifted her head and blinked, finding herself staring into his fangs, her eyes round with fear.
Thelvyn had circled back tightly, and now he dived to the attack, dropping down with braced legs to strike the gemstone dragon's back with crushing force. His head darted in for a death grip, but at the last moment, he suddenly leapt over the Master's sprawled form and dragged his mate out of the way. In the next instant, the massive head of one of the steel warriors thrust down out of the dense grey dust, striking the side of the dune with a tremendous explosion of sand that nearly buried the two dragons, crushing the amber dragon and driving his broken body deep into the sand.
Thelvyn shook the sand from his back and wings before he grabbed Kharendaen by her shoulders and pulled her free, half carrying her quickly to one side. The warrior pushed its head on through the side of the dune as easily as if it had been a drift of snow, and the two dragons were lifted up and sent tumbling by an avalanche of sand. This time Kharendaen was able to regain her wits, recovering from the impact that had forced her from the air. But the sky was no safe place for them, crowded with the circling forms of the Masters waiting for their own turn to attack. Tucking away their wings tightly, the dragons dropped their heads low and ran as fast as they could, struggling for purchase in the loose sand.
Even on foot, they could move along with surprising speed, their long, leaping gait carrying them across the dunes back toward the questionable safety of the islands of boulders that rose in clusters out of the sand. They ran in an evasive path that the Masters could not easily follow on the wing. When the dragons reached the boulders, the warriors could not easily maneuver their way through the maze of large stones where the visibility was severely limited, and they were left behind.
Then the dragons spread their wings and leapt into the air. In moments, they disappeared into the cloud of swirling dust, escaping the pursuit of the Masters.
"Are you all right?" Thelvyn asked, flying close at his mate's side.
"I wasn't harmed," she insisted, trying not to pant.
Thelvyn paused, having seen the shadowy form of one of the Masters following less than a hundred yards behind them, nearly hidden in the blowing dust. He could not allow any pursuit, since he had always suspected that what one of the Masters knew was known to them all. Without warning, he lifted his head and dropped his tail, using his wings and sails to catch the wind and slow him abruptly. It was a daring move on his part, even more daring than he was aware, and the results were much more drastic than he had expected. Caught completely unprepared, the gemstone dragon crashed heavily into the middle of his back, knocking them both from the sky. With the dunes only a few yards below, they had no time to recover.
Thelvyn's luck turned at that point. The gemstone dragon crashed heavily onto the middle of his back on the long slope of a high dune, and a moment later Thelvyn fell tail first right on top of his enemy. The impact sent them both sliding on their backs down the side of the dune. Thelvyn was somewhat shaken by the fall and struggled to catch himself, while the gemstone dragon was stunned and apparently more seriously injured. Kharendaen appeared out of the clouds of dust a moment later, having circled back. She dived sharply to the attack, taking the large amber dragon by the nec
k before it was even aware of its danger.
"Leave him be," Thelvyn said, seeing that their enemy was already helpless. "We have to get away from here while we still have the chance."
Kharendaen seemed unwilling at first to release her victim, possessed momentarily by battle fury. All the fear and desperation of the last few days were taking a toll on her, leaving her at the mercy of her draconic instincts, and for the moment, she wanted only to lash out at her enemies. Thelvyn was startled, but he also learned something about dragons at that moment.
If even the proud, self-possessed cleric could be overcome by her instincts, was it any wonder that most dragons had a problem remembering to act civilized when they became enraged?
The moment passed swiftly. As if startled by her own fury, Kharendaen released her hold and stepped back from the body of the gemstone dragon. Then the dragons turned and scurried up the side of the dune, spreading their wings as they vaulted out over the crest. Moments later, they disappeared into the wind-driven clouds of dust and sand, taking care to make certain that they were not being followed. Thelvyn set an evasive course at first, in an effort to prevent the Masters from guessing his next destination. Of course, he could hardly leave clues about something that he had not yet decided. For the moment, he had no idea of what he should try to do next or where they should go.
The brief but furious battle had once more aggravated his back, not enough to be a serious problem, but he was in some pain. That and the need to pay attention to his course as they flew low over the dunes, nearly blind in the clouds of dust, left him unable to give much serious thought to his options for the moment. Within a few miles, they came entirely by chance upon another of the tumbled outcrops of stone that emerged like islands in the sand. He circled around quickly to find a sheltered place where they could rest while he gave some serious thought to the problem of finding another way home.
He found a place where they could climb in among a group of massive boulders and could at least have some relief from the driven sand and the worst of the dust. He was distressed to see that Kharendaen looked very tired and moved slowly and stiffly, having suffered her own injuries during their battle. Nevertheless, Thelvyn seemed to have taken the worst, discovering a yard-long tear in the sail of his right wing from his collision with the amber dragon. At least such damage would repair itself in a few days, even without magical healing.
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