"If nothing else, we could simply fight our way through to one of their other gates," she suggested.
"That's something we could try as a last resort," he agreed. "The problem is that if we have to fight for access to a gate, they'll probably have time to close it first. We could return to their main stronghold and try to dart through that big gate before they can defend it, but I'm concerned that the Overlord will be aware of us if we come that close to his stronghold. That leaves us with the possibility of trying to open a completely new gate at a place of our own choosing."
Kharendaen laid back her ears. "Do you command the power necessary to accomplish such a thing?"
"I think I know how we could try," he said. "Remember the reason why you were told to accompany me. As his cleric, you might still provide some vague link to the Great One. If he could be made aware of our need, he might be able to reach out from his side to help us complete a worldgate."
"But I've been isolated from my clerical powers ever since we first came into this world," she protested. "How can I possibly contact the Great One?"
"In the usual manner, I would suppose. Try to commune with the Great One, reaching out to him across the void."
Kharendaen sat upright with her long tail looped tightly around her legs, closing her eyes so that she could concentrate. A moment later she was disturbed from her thoughts by a distant sound of something large moving through the fog of wind-blown dust, the slow, ponderous steps of some massive creature. She opened her eyes, and both of the dragons listened carefully for a moment.
"The metal warriors are coming," Thelvyn said softly. "The
Masters must have some idea of where to look for us."
"Do we flee now and try again later?" Kharendaen asked.
"No. We should have time for at least one try," Thelvyn decided quickly. "They won't find us quickly in this place. The Great One may have to direct the dragon sorcerers to open a gate for us. We should be as close to the place that corresponds to the source of the Radiance in our own world as we can be."
Kharendaen still looked concerned, and it took her a moment to regain the composure of a cleric. Once again she closed her eyes, and after a moment, her entire form began to glow with a soft blue light. Thelvyn waited patiently, certain that she must be having some success. Then he saw the form of a dragon slowly beginning to appear atop a large stone only a few yards from their hiding place. The image remained indistinct, pulsing into moments of clarity and then fading almost completely away. It was the image of his mother, Arbendael, not the Great One.
"The Great One hears you," she said, although her voice was very distant and blurred. "He cannot leave his own realms of influence to cross the void to this place, but I was able to come near enough that I may at least speak with you. What is your need?"
"We have to open a gateway back to our own world," Thelvyn explained. "All other gates are closed to us, and our enemies are at hand. But I doubt that I have the power to open a worldgate myself."
"I think you have that power," Arbendael told him. "What you lack is the means to find your way home across the void. Open your portal and pass within it. Just as Kharendaen has reached out to guide me to you, I will draw you back home again."
Now it was Thelvyn's turn to work his strongest magic. Standing at the opening leading into the cluster of great stones where the dragons had been hiding, he closed his eyes and opened himself to his own powers, seeking the means to open a worldgate. The spell revealed itself to him, but from the first, his greatest struggle was against himself, for he was in pain and his strength was failing. With great effort, he was able to command his full powers. Then he released the magic, tearing an opening in the continuum. But the substance of space and time resisted his efforts to force the tear to open into an actual passageway large enough for the dragons to use, and he needed great will and effort to slowly force his way in.
He succeeded just in time. Glancing to his right, he suddenly saw the dark form of one of the warriors approaching through the clouds of gray dust, slowing as it came within sight of the island of stone where the dragons were hiding. Thelvyn turned to Kharendaen and shook her back to awareness, and then they leapt one after the other into the tunnel of darkness that now stood open before them.
The dragons knew from the moment they entered the passage that something was very different about this gate, something that was not at all right. They realized they weren't moving through the passage but instead hung suspended between worlds, for there was nowhere for them to go. They could see no distant end to the tunnel, since the far end of the passage had not yet opened. In growing alarm, Thelvyn began to wonder if he had failed. He wondered what would happen if the passage collapsed, whether he and Kharendaen would be thrown back into the cold, desert world of the Overlord or if they would be forever stranded between worlds.
Then, just as he was preparing to reinforce his spell, the dragons began to feel themselves drawn forward along the length of the passage. Thelvyn could only hope that they were being drawn to their own world. Then the light opened before them at last to show them a distant, distorted view of fields of deep grass standing under a bright sun.
Thelvyn emerged from the worldgate moments later, moving quickly to one side to make room for Kharendaen. They were standing in the middle of a pasture bordered by stone walls, with more fields or small stands of woods beyond. A river flowed only a few hundred yards behind them, not the Aalban but the Areste, and the city of Braejr stood only a few miles to the southeast. A small group of farmers were rushing across the field, bearing axes and pitchforks, still too far away to see that the trespassers in their fields were gold dragons and not the Masters.
For the moment, Thelvyn had a more immediate concern. He moved well to one side of the worldgate, indicating for Kharendaen to follow him, and then quickly invoked the magic that would destroy the passage. The gate seemed almost to snap shut, drawing in upon itself in an instant until it became nothing more than a point of darkness standing in the air. A moment later that, too, vanished with a great flash of flames that leapt outward to singe the grass in a fan-shaped patch several yards long.
"We made it," Kharendaen breathed, looking very weary. She lifted her ears as she watched the approaching farmers, who had slowed to a walk now that they were certain that the visitors that had appeared in their field were in fact gold dragons. She sighed heavily. "I feel the need of a long drink and a good bath."
"Soon," Thelvyn assured her. "First I must find out what the enemy has been up to during our absence."
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Thelvyn and Kharendaen returned directly to the lair at Solveig's house, unheralded and entirely unexpected. Sir George and Solveig ran out to meet them in the moments after they landed on the stones of the court. Thelvyn folded away his wings slowly, feeling more weary and in greater pain now that the need for action was behind him. The dragons wore no clothes to become travel-worn, but he could see that Kharendaen looked dusty and exhausted, and he was certain that he must look much the same. When he saw the way his old friends stared at them, he knew it must be obvious that he and Kharendaen had been through the worst.
Marthaen arrived a moment later, approaching not from the direction of the Academy but flying in swiftly over the city from the wilderness northwest of Braejr. Thelvyn guessed he must have been somewhere in the western mountains of the Wendarian Range, leading the dragons to prepare a line of defense against their enemies. The First Speaker undoubtedly came in a hurry in response to the opening of the small worldgate, so he must not have been too far away if he could have gotten back to Braejr in only a few short minutes. He circled around to cut his speed before he landed in the court.
"Where have you been?" he demanded.
"What a question," Thelvyn remarked sourly, sitting back on his haunches. "Obviously we had a little more trouble than we expected, but we've made it back. The only important thing now is the question of what has been happening here since we left. I
assume that you've moved the dragons to the west."
"I had to," Marthaen answered. "There's an army of incredible size and strength coming out of the northwest. I've sent out a call, in the name of the Dragonking, for all the dragons in the world to gather here to fight this invasion."
Thelvyn nodded. "That's good. We have seen lines of soldiers and supply trains that stretched for miles, waiting to be sent into our world. I'm sorry to have caused you concern by being so late, but I'm glad you took the initiative for commanding our defenses in my absence."
"When you did not return after the first day, the Great One advised me to prepare our defenses at once," the First Speaker explained. "He assured me that he would bring you back as soon as he could."
"Then he was waiting for us," Kharendaen remarked. "No wonder we were able to make contact so quickly. I feel better knowing that."
"I don't," Thelvyn said. "If I had thought, we could have been home last night and avoided that last fight."
"Last fight?" Sir George asked, his eyebrows arched. "How many did you have?"
"The Masters are not presently engaged in any actual attacks anywhere you know about?" Thelvyn persisted, ignoring the old knight.
Marthaen shook his head. "They simply disappeared after their invasion of the Highlands fell apart. As far as we can tell, they've been gathering all their strength for a final battle, and we are doing the same."
Because the two young dragons looked so miserable, their discussion was suspended for a time so that they could fly out to the foothills of the Colossus Mountains and bathe in a small lake that Kharendaen knew about from the years when she had lived in Braejr. By the time they returned to the lair, Solveig had arranged for food and drink to be brought to them. They still looked very worn and abused, even after cleaning up. Marthaen threatened to call the clerics to inspect them. Kharendaen reminded him that she was a cleric.
They gave a quick account of their journey through the world of the Masters. Thelvyn was grateful that Kharendaen was willing to relate the events of their journey, since there were long periods of time he did not recall. He was also grateful she didn't speak of certain things he found painful or embarrassing. The others were clearly concerned by all they heard, especially about the Overlord. Indeed, Marthaen laid back his ears and stared at the floor, looking defeated.
"Then for all our efforts, we face an enemy we cannot defeat," he said. "Do we have any hope?"
"I see many reasons for hope," Thelvyn assured him. "Ever since he first encountered the gemstone dragons, he has planned to gather his strength until he could lead them here and make his home in our world. The Veydran told me he will lose some of his own strength when he leaves his own world. It is my hope he will not be nearly as strong as he was when I faced him in his own stronghold."
"And you said you made him retreat from you in fear once already," Sir George pointed out hopefully.
"Do not attach too much importance to that," Thelvyn warned. "I do not know why he fled. He appeared to have every advantage, yet he himself made no effort to prevent our escape. Perhaps he could no longer estimate my own powers, and he preferred not to take a chance. At any rate, the next time he faces me he will be in our world, where I am stronger and where I will be supported by the powers of the Immortals."
"Of course, he will also have the support of the Masters," Solveig added.
Thelvyn shook his head slowly. "I don't think so. Think of the Masters as clerics of the Overlord. We have seen already that he shares his powers with them. For that reason, their presence does not make him more powerful, because he has to divide his strength among them. Indeed, if he were forced to fight me directly, he might possibly have to withdraw his support from the Masters to strengthen himself."
"That may be an advantage we can use," Marthaen said, quick to understand matters of strategy. "If you have to face the Overlord in battle, we might be able to draw away some of his strength by pressing the battle against the Masters at the same time."
"We will see," Thelvyn said. "If the Overlord has any fault, it would be that he seems to be overly cautious, preferring not to risk himself when his enemies can still fight back. But I also believe that he will fight me himself rather than see his carefully laid plans frustrated. There must be some powerful reason for him to leave behind his old, established empire to come here, considering that he has gathered his strength for centuries for that purpose."
Sir George frowned. "Considering how the two of you looked when you first got here, he might just be longing for a good bath."
Once again Thelvyn ignored the old knight. "I don't expect that he will be willing to fight to the death," Thelvyn continued. "He will flee before it comes to that. But he must not escape, or yet another Dragonking may be forced to deal with him centuries from now."
Solveig and Sir George left to prepare for a meeting of the council of the Grand Alliance. Many of the delegates of the larger and more powerful nations had returned since the lifting of the siege of the Highlands, while others would have to be returned by dragon couriers. Even though all the delegates of the council weren't present, Thelvyn decided to assemble those who were in the Highlands at once. Arranging the defenses of their world could not wait, and there was one other matter he wanted to have decided.
Marthaen hesitated when the others left, although he was reluctant to interrupt now that Thelvyn and Kharendaen were finally able to eat their dinner in peace. But there were certain matters that he thought needed to be addressed.
"I am curious about one thing," he began. "I have always been suspicious of one aspect of the Overlord's plan for conquering our world, which seems to suggest that he is doomed to ultimate failure. Either he believes that he can defeat even the Immortals, or else he has never bothered to consider them in his schemes. We have seen in the past that the Immortals will react once a situation has become serious enough. Certainly this is the greatest crisis our world has faced since the fall of Blackmoor."
"I have wondered about that myself," Thelvyn said thoughtfully. "I've arrived at one possible explanation, one that fills me with dread but seems to explain everything. Perhaps the Overlord isn't concerned with the Immortals because he has long since allied himself with the chaotic elements among them, perhaps even some of the Immortals of neutral alignment who would not oppose his conquest of our world. He can never become an Immortal himself unless they wish it, but he would make an exceptionally powerful lieutenant who could finally bring all the forces of evil under a unified leadership."
"I see your point," Marthaen said softly, turning his head away and glaring in cold fury. "If a large enough faction among the Immortals support the Overlord, the rest of the Immortals could not oppose him directly. That might be why they chose you to be their champion."
Thelvyn nodded. "I am like the Overlord in that respect. We are both very much like the Immortals in the powers that we can command, but we are not Immortals, and therefore we are not bound by their restrictions. It remains to be seen which of us will prevail in our final battle. If nothing else, we did gain one advantage from our journey. I now know how to prevent the Overlord from controlling anyone who is not already under his command. Whatever alien magic he commands has one flaw, for he cannot command the will of someone who knows his name."
The delegates of the Grand Alliance were to gather that afternoon in the garden of the palace, which was the most convenient place for the dragons to speak with them. Thelvyn made a point of arriving early, before any of the delegates had arrived, together with his human companions and Kharendaen and Marthaen. The dragons reclined under the trees while the others sat on the stone benches of the garden. Thelvyn was a bit surprised when Perrantin turned up soon after they had arrived. Thelvyn had almost forgotten until that moment that the wizard was in Braejr.
"Since I was here anyway, I found myself nominated to represent Traladara in the Grand Alliance," Perrantin explained.
"That's good news," Solveig said. "Everyone there respects
you enough to listen to you."
"You're still something of a hero in Traladara yourself," Perrantin reminded her. "Having you hosting the Grand Alliance here in Braejr carries a certain influence."
"That's all very well and good," Sir George commented. "But do they like the two of you well enough to send an army?"
"I'm not sure it matters much," Thelvyn commented. "Except for the dragons, I'm not certain we'll be able to move any other forces to the northwest in time to do any good."
He paused when he noticed that Ambassador Serran, the Alphatian delegate, had entered the garden, together with his adjutant and a couple of bodyguards. Thelvyn rose and walked slowly over to meet them, trying hard to appear unthreatening. It was a wasted effort; not many people could remain unconcerned while watching the approach of a dragon, and the Alphatian ambassador was no exception. Since Thelvyn once again wore the Collar of the Dragons, he was sure Serran knew who he was. He sat down, facing the Alphatian.
"Ambassador Serran?" he said.
The Alphatian bowed to him, recovering some of his lost composure. "I understand that you were away for a few days, Dragonking."
"Everything is going well," Thelvyn assured him. "However, there is something that I must discuss with you. A very urgent matter about someone that I met in my recent travels. Perhaps you have heard of him."
Watching the ambassador closely to see how he would react, Thelvyn spoke the secret name of the Overlord. The Alphatian's expression remained blank, as if the name had no meaning to him at all. For a moment, Thelvyn began to wonder if his guess about the identity of their spy had been wrong. But then he noticed that the ambassador continued to stare with that curiously blank look, as if he had been stunned. The other Alphatians noticed that something seemed to be wrong with their leader, and they watched him with concern.
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