"The Masters have grown very bold," one of the dragons offered. "They seem to think we no longer dare to oppose them."
Marthaen sighed, frowning. "We must convince them that we can hold our own, or they will force us into a retreat. I don't know how long we'll have to hold out before the Dragonking returns."
"I told you I'd hurry back," someone said.
Marthaen turned quickly to see Thelvyn sitting patiently only a few yards behind him, although no one had seen the Dragonking arrive. For a moment, Marthaen simply stared, wondering if Thelvyn's journey had been unsuccessful. He looked much the same as always. Then Marthaen had to duck aside as Kharendaen rushed past to join her mate. Thelvyn sat up on his haunches to take her in his arms.
"How did you get back so quickly?" Marthaen asked, confused.
"I knew a shortcut," Thelvyn said evasively.
"Then your journey was successful?" Marthaen asked.
Thelvyn nodded. "I thought it best to continue for the time being to appear in the form that you have always known me. I am now Diamond, the first new dragon Immortal since the time of the first Dragonlord. In my actual new form, I am what the gemstone dragons were trying to make themselves into long ago, when they tried unsuccessfully to raise themselves to the status of Immortals by their own magic."
For a moment, he assumed his true form. His armor shone like cut diamonds in the morning sun, glittering with such brilliance that the eyes of the mortal dragons could hardly bear to look upon him. The dragons turned their heads aside and drew back fearfully. After a moment, they bowed to him with their necks bent low and one claw pressed to their chests. Only Kharendaen dared to look upon the manifestation of his true form.
After a moment, the overwhelming light faded as he returned to his more familiar form. "I have shown you this so that you will not mistake me for any of the Masters, especially the crystal dragons. Today I will lead you into our final battle. Although this fight is my own, I will need the dragons as a decoy to draw the Masters and the Overlord out into the open."
"We wait to serve you," Marthaen assured.
"Gather all the dragons and bring them here as quickly as you can," he instructed them. "The time has come for me to do battle with the enemy I was brought into the world to fight."
Later that same morning, the dragons came down out of the mountains in a single massive company, now more than seven thousand strong. They had been gathering quickly over the last couple of hours, and their numbers had grown so great that the Masters did not dare confront them. Now they flew swiftly to the west, rank upon rank of dragons of every breed. They seemed to fill half the sky. To all appearances, they were making a bold rush directly at their enemy, as if they hoped to overwhelm the army of the Overlord by their very numbers. If the Overlord was hidden somewhere within his fortress of storms miles to the west, watching them through the eyes of his slaves, he was not greatly impressed by their brave show of force.
Thelvyn flew near the head of the army of the dragons, but he left it to Marthaen and Jherdar to lead the mighty phalanx. He kept himself hidden among the ranks of the golds, hoping to remain unobserved for the moment. He meant to reveal himself when he was ready, but he hoped to keep the Overlord guessing until it was too late. He watched as the Masters moved out to intercept the dragons, drawing upon the power of the Overlord to assume their fiery forms. But when they saw the numbers of dragons approaching, their fires went out and they retreated swiftly to the east. Thelvyn expected that they planned to regroup their limited numbers into a single force to strike the force of dragons quick and hard, scattering their determined assault.
That suited Thelvyn perfectly. He could deal with the Masters more quickly and easily if they were all together in one place.
The great bank of storms, a wall of darkness a hundred miles across that rippled and flashed with lightning, grew quickly as the dragons raced swiftly westward. They began to slow as they came around in a wide circle, aligning themselves in a path that would lead them directly over the columns of the invading army, heading into the very heart of the fortress of storms. The invaders had advanced farther into the east during the previous day, so that they were now within hours of the mountains. The dragons forced themselves to their most rapid pace, the larger, quicker golds and reds in the lead, while the small white dragons trailed behind, their efforts strained by the warmth of these southern lands.
Before long they saw the invading army far ahead, five massive columns forcing their way through the wilderness. The dragons did not lessen their pace but now dropped lower until they were hurtling only yards above the tallest trees. The armies of the Overlord had already halted to prepare themselves for battle. When the leading edge of the force of dragons was less than five miles away, the Masters moved swiftly forward to defend their army, some three hundred gemstone dragons rising suddenly out of the surrounding forest to intercept the dragons. Their numbers represented nearly all that remained of the Overlord's most trusted servants.
The dragons responded to the challenge unexpectedly, at least considering the determination with which they had descended upon their enemy. Their ranks divided and then began to circle around to either side, almost as if they had lost heart for battle and sought to escape while they could. Encouraged, the Masters pressed forward quickly to descend upon the slower ranks of the dragons in the rear, many of them taking on their fiery form.
Unnoticed in the confusion of the moment, a single gold dragon dropped down almost into the tops of the trees as he continued his attack run directly into the heart of the enemy. Thelvyn knew he would not remain undetected for long, but he hoped to take the Masters by surprise. He was just about to pass beneath their forward ranks when they saw him at last. Many of the nearest gemstone dragons turned sharply and darted down to intercept him.
To the attacking Masters, the lone gold dragon seemed to be caught unprepared during those first moments. The gemstone dragons dived at him swiftly, their strange, fiery shapes striking-him with glancing blows, hitting him sharply in the wings and back. Any other dragon would have died under the ferocious assault, blasted by any one of the explosive impacts.
Caught off-balance and disoriented, Thelvyn suddenly found himself falling. He struggled to catch himself, but it was too late. He had been too close to the ground when the attack had started. A moment later he crashed heavily to the ground near the edge of a half-cleared track left by the passage of the invading army. He slid through the loose dirt and brush while soldiers ran to get out of his way.
Thelvyn realized his mistake at once. The Overlord had sacrificed control of his army to retain his command over the remaining gemstone dragons. He was only just struggling to pick himself up when the Masters struck again with the deadly weapons of their fiery forms, focusing their attack against him in a fierce barrage. Great bolts of lighting raked over the ground, ripping the earth asunder. Thelvyn arched his neck and roared with pain as one of the bolts flashed over his back. Then he was thrown violently aside as the ground beneath him was blasted by searing lances of lightning. He was thrown heavily onto his back, half buried in mounds of rock and dirt.
For a brief moment he lay without moving, quickly considering his options while the gemstone dragons continued to bombard him with their deadly barrage of lightning. He was reluctant to reveal his true form so soon, before he had even found the Overlord, but his mortal manifestation as a gold dragon was more vulnerable titan his new incarnation as Diamond. Shaking himself free of the dirt and debris, he spread his wings and leapt effortlessly straight up into the sky. At the same moment, he vanished in a blinding radiance as he became the Immortal Diamond, a great dragon made of pure silver light.
The Masters could not endure the sight of him, and they turned their faces away. For a long moment, Diamond hung in midair like a shaft of brilliant sunlight in dragon form. Then he arched his neck and breathed out a shaft of intense light, trapping the Masters one by one for a brief instant within the brilliant light. Their
flames immediately flickered and went out as they fluttered helplessly to the ground, stunned.
Diamond immediately returned to his mortal manifestation as a gold dragon, although he could no longer try to hide his true powers now that he had been forced to reveal himself. Once again he turned his magic to the task of fighting back the powerful influence of the Overlord. The remaining gemstone dragons hesitated, dropping their fiery forms as their ties to the powers of the Overlord were broken. As they came to realize that they were free, they paused a moment in their uncertainty before they turned to flee into the wild.
It was not only the gemstone dragons that were being freed. In the forward ranks of the invaders, the great enslaved beasts that had been tearing and tramping roads through the wilderness suddenly turned and broke free from their drivers, crying and rampaging in their fury as they escaped into the wild. Rank after rank of soldiers lowered their weapons as the Dragonking passed over their heads. The towering metal warriors suddenly paused in midstride, then collapsed heavily to the ground with the force of an earthquake, like great puppets whose strings had been cut by a gigantic scissors.
Thelvyn flew low over the columns of the invaders as if he were following a road, mile after mile of soldiers, siege weapons, and supply wagons passing below him. His very presence spread confusion among his enemies as he drove steadily deeper into the Overlord's region of influence, shattering the will that had held an army of over a million strong in absolute control. The great fortress of storms continued to rise before him until he passed into its outer limits into its deep, protective darkness. The cold, damp winds grew fitful, and the constant flashes of lightning cast deep shadows through the forest.
Suddenly the will of the Overlord grew sharply stronger, opposing his attempt to seize control of the invading army. He was able to maintain his own will with increasing effort, but soon he was only holding his own, unwilling to expend the power he would need to force back the influence of the Overlord. It seemed wise to keep some of his secrets in reserve.
He found the Overlord where he had expected, at the rear of his army, surrounded by a score of Masters still subject to his control and five of the remaining metal warriors. The Overlord himself crouched in the center of the protective ring. In size and shape, he was very much like the warriors. Although his actions seemed to suggest cowardice, as they had in his own fortress when his prisoners had turned on him and he had allowed them to escape rather than face them himself, Thelvyn knew that he was actually trying to guard his own secrets. However, Thelvyn already knew this great, monstrous being was only a manifestation of the Overlord's magic and intellect, not his true self.
Thelvyn landed a short distance away and faced the Overlord and his bodyguards. Even though he was as small as a child in comparison to his enemy, he had to hope that his new powers were sufficient to keep him safe.
"This must be our last battle," he declared. "You cannot begin your conquest of this world until you have dealt with me."
The Overlord cocked his massive, nightmarish head as he stared down at the gold dragon. "Your powers have increased, Dragonking. Does your Immortal dare to support you?"
"I am his chosen champion. I was created specifically for the task of fighting and defeating you," Thelvyn answered evasively.
"We shall see about that."
Apparently the Overlord still wasn't ready to fight his own battles. Two of the nearby warriors dropped their massive heads, and the red jewels of their glittering eyes blazed with a surge of power, sending forth bolts of intense ruby light that struck Thelvyn in the chest. The force of the deadly beams hurled him violently backward, and he crashed heavily onto his back. The magic of the ruby light somehow seemed to rob him of his powers, leaving him weak and dazed.
The Overlord began to retreat slowly, removing himself even more from the actual battle. At the same time, his warriors began to move forward as quickly as dieir eight legs could move, placing themselves protectively between the Overlord and the fallen Dragonking. Apparently none of the nearby Masters were directing the warriors; the Overlord seemed to control their massive draconic forms himself. Thelvyn knew that the full power of the Dragonlord had been ineffective against the warriors, and the Overlord was confident that his small opponent could never be sufficient to break his commanding will.
Thelvyn was struggling to rise when the metal warriors attacked again, the beams of ruby light from their jewel eyes raking over the ground, advancing toward him. The very earth was rent asunder, shaken violently by the devastating blasts, which caused the ground to split open in great, gaping fissures before collapsing slowly into unseen depths.
Thelvyn was struggling to retreat from the fury of the assault when he was struck once more by the beams of ruby light. This time he was held trapped as several of the beams ripped over the ground to focus upon him. He was thrust down against the torn earth and held there, as if by some crushing weight. His neck arched in intense pain. His jaws were wide as if to roar out in his agony, but he had no breath to cry out. It was as if the power of the ruby light was ripping apart his very being. Then the ground beneath him tilted and began to slide away, hurtling him into the depths of the ragged fissure that had opened behind him.
He seemed to fall for a very long time, crashing against first one side of the gaping chasm and then the other as he plummeted into the darkness. Unable to catch himself, he finally landed heavily atop the loose debris of dirt and stone at the bottom of the fissure, snapping his chin violently against the ground. So weak that he could hardly move, he began to lift himself slowly and painfully in an attempt to escape that place before the warriors could trap him there.
Then the darkness at the bottom of the chasm grew even deeper, and he looked up apprehensively to see that one of the warriors was leaning out over the opening of the fissure more than three wingspans above him, as if it intended to climb down after him. It tottered on the edge for a moment before it fell, its incredible weight crashing downward in a shower of dirt and boulders.
Thelvyn instinctively dropped to the ground and lowered his head, preparing himself for the crushing impact of hundreds of tons of metal. Massive stones rained down upon him, and he was nearly buried in mass'es of damp earth, but the warrior itself slammed to a halt a couple of yards above him, its eight legs pinned against the sides of the chasm. Shaking his head free from the debris, Thelvyn glanced up fearfully. He had not been in danger of death-as an Immortal, he knew he could not easily be killed-but the destruction of his mortal manifestation would have forced him to retreat to his own plane to recover his powers, leaving the Overlord unopposed
in his conquest of the world.
Nor was the fallen warrior so easily destroyed. Although it hung upside down near the bottom of the chasm, it continued to struggle. Thelvyn pulled himself free of the dirt and stone covering him and began to work his way through the darkness until he finally crawled out from beneath the trapped warrior. He still felt weak and his powers remained uncertain, but his magic was slowly beginning to return. He ran a short distance along the bottom of the long chasm, intending to climb out in a place where his enemies might not be expecting him. The fissure continued to collapse slowly in a constant rain of dirt and stone, making the task of clawing his way out even more difficult. The effort required to pull himself from the chasm was tremendous, but using magic to free himself would have alerted the Overlord to his escape.
He climbed out at last into a scene of tremendous destruction. The attack of the warriors had devastated the landscape for hundreds of yards around the area of the battle. The ground had been ripped open by several gaping fissures, and boulders and great mounds of earth had been heaved aside. The remaining four warriors stood motionless some distance away, hesitant to enter the region of destruction because of the threat of becoming trapped. Thelvyn couldn't see the Overlord, but that meant the Overlord couldn't see him, giving him a moment more to recover his strength.
What he had forgotten in his desper
ation was that the Overlord could see through the eyes of his warriors. One of the metal beasts turned its head abruptly toward him, its jewel eyes glowing fiery red. One after another, the immense fighting machines turned and began to move ponderously in his direction, the smoldering lights in their eyes growing steadily brighter. Thelvyn knew they would begin attacking again at any moment, and he also knew he had not yet fully recovered his full strength. Desperate to protect himself, he employed the only defense he could think of, reaching out with his will to attempt to seize control of the crystal eyes of the warriors.
The Overlord was already sending vast amounts of his own power into the jewels, turning them into deadly weapons, but nevertheless Thelvyn's will was enough to prevent the discharge of that power. He had expected the Overlord to back off once the power had nowhere to go, but it seemed that his opponent was more stubborn than he thought, considering how cautious the Overlord had been in the past. The eyes of the warriors continued to grow brighter and brighter until they blazed like small red suns, and then, one after the other, the massive iron heads of the warriors exploded in rapid succession. The enchantments that controlled them destroyed, their lifeless forms collapsed heavily to the ground.
Thelvyn immediately seized the moment to launch his own attack, leaping up and bounding across the ruins of the battlefield. In the next moment, a crushing force like a vast, invisible fist struck him in the chest, knocking him completely off his feet and sending him hurding backward. Circumstances now demanded that the Overlord fight for himself, setting aside his usual caution to act direcdy, and he was obviously no coward. But Thelvyn was no longer so easily harmed; after a moment, he was able to spread his wings and catch himself in midair, returning quickly to the circle of combat.
He drove directly at the Overlord, rushing forward at tremendous speed. Although he was hesitant to reveal his true powers so soon, he knew that this was only the prelude to their true battle. He ducked down almost to the ground and then thrust himself back up again, striking the Overlord hard just under his chest, lifting his great bulk completely off the ground and flipping him over to crash heavily onto his back. The Overlord's remaining bodyguards, some twenty gemstone dragons, attacked at the same moment, having assumed their fiery forms. They began to dive at Thelvyn in a series of swift, relentless attacks, pummeling him over and over with bolts of lightning.
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