Even his death.
Indeed, at this point there were only two others he would have entrusted even with the knowledge, but Rhonln and Vereesa had troubles of their own.
It was up to him alone, then. With a curt wave of his hand, Krasus sent the spheres flying into the shadows above. Death was no fear to him, who had seen it and nearly experienced it far too often. He wanted only that—should it happen—It at least would mean something. He was more than willing to die for the sake of his world and those he loved, if that was what was required.
If such is required, the dragon mage pointed out to himself. He had not yet even begun the Journey. Now was not the time to think of his demise.
The search must be done with stealth, Krasus considered as he abandoned his seat. This is no mere happenstance. There is something going on that threatens us al; I feel it....
If it had been another time. If it had been the Second War, Krasus would have known who to blame. The mad Aspect once called the Earth-Warder or, more specifically... Neltharion. But no one had called the immense black dragon by his original name for millennia, a much more apt one having arisen after the first of the insane behemoth's monstrous plots.
Deathwing. he was called now. Deathwing the Destroyer.
Krasus paused In the midst of the huge cavern, taking a deep breath in preparation for what was to come next. No. Deathwing could not be blamed for this, for it was nearly positive that he was this time dead. Nearly positive. That was far better than In past Incidences when the black dragon had only been presumed likely dead.
And Deathwing was not the only great evil in the world.
Krasus spread his arms to each side. It did not matter whether what lurked In Grim Batol was simply the culmination of ages of past evil or some sinister new foulness; he would find out the truth.
His body swelled out of proportion. With a grunt, the mage fell to the floor, dropping on all fours. His face stretched forward, his nose and mouth melding together as they formed a long, powerful snout. The robes Krasus wore shredded, the pieces flying up into the air, then immediately settling all over his body, where they became hard crimson-colored scales.
From Krasus's back burst two small, webbed wings that grew as his body did. A pointed tail sprouted. Hands and feet twisted into powerful paws ending In a sharp set of claws.
The transformation took but the blink of an eye, but by the time it was done, the mage Krasus was no more. In his place stood a magnificent red dragon who nearly filled the cavern and who was dwarfed in size by few of his kind other than the great Aspects.
Korlalstrasz stretched his vast wings once, then leapt up toward the stone celling.
The celling shimmered just before he reached It, tons of rock becoming as If water. The crimson dragon dove into the liquefied stone unimpeded. Powerful muscles lifted him ever upward as he drove full pace through the magicked barrier.
Seconds later, he burst into the night sky. The rock solidified behind him, leaving no trace of his passage.
This latest of his sanctums perched among the mountains near what remained of Dalaran. Ruins appeared below, yes—far too many ruins of once-proud towers and powerful keeps—but there was something much, much more astounding enveloping most of the fabled realm. It originated from where the Kirin Tor had ruled and spread equally in all directions. It was the desperate attempt of those that remained of the inner council to resurrect their glory, to rebuild their might while aiding the Alliance against the Scourge.
It was what appeared to be a vast, magical dome, a dome of shifting energies, but especially those that gave it a shimmering violet or gleaming white appearance. It was utterly opaque, giving no clue to the efforts within. Korlalstrasz knew what the wizards planned and thought them mad for It, but let them do as they must. There was still the hope that they would succeed....
Despite their own not-insignificant abilities, the council of wizards was utterly ignorant of the dragon almost in their midst. When he had been a part of their order—one of its secret founders, in fact—they had known him only as Krasus, never as his true self. Korlalstrasz preferred it that way; most of the younger races would have found it impossible to deal directly with such a mythic beast.
Shielded by his magic, the dragon flew over the fantastic dome, then headed southeast. He was tempted to veer toward the lands of the red flight, but such a delay might prove costly. His queen might also question his journey, even forbid it. Even for her, Korlalstrasz would not turn back.
Indeed, it was for her in great part that he sought to return to Grim Batol.
The dwarves were a motley group, even compared with how dwarves often were seen in the eyes of humans or other races. They themselves would have preferred a better state of affairs, but their duty demanded that they ignore their discomforts for the sake of their people.
Squat but powerfully built, the dwarven warriors numbered both males and females, although those not of the race might have had some difficulty discerning the physical difference from a distance. The females lacked the thick beards, were of slightly lesser builds than their counterparts and if one listened close, the voices were a little less gruff. However, they were known for fighting with as much determination, If not more sometimes, than their mates.
But male or female, they were all grimy and exhausted, and this day had seen two of their comrades lost.
"I could've saved Albrech," Grenda said, her lips twisted into a frown of self-recrimination. “I could've, Rom!"
The older dwarf to whom she spoke bore more scars than any of the rest. Rom was commander and the one with the most knowledge of Grim Batol's legacy. After all, had he not also been leader years ago when the wizard Rhonin, the high elf archer, Vereesa, and a gryphon rider from the Aerie had aided his forces in ridding the foul place of the orcs and freeing the great Dragonqueen? He leaned against the wall of the tunnel through which he and his band had just run, catching his breath. He had been young not that long ago. The past four weeks here had aged him in a manner unnatural, and he was certain that it was the sinister land's doing. He recalled the reports concerning the red dragons and how they had suffered even greater before finally having the sense to depart barely a month back. Only dwarves were hard-headed enough to march where the very realm itself sought to kill them.
And if not the realm, then whatever black evil that had now burrowed deep into the dread caverns.
"There was nothing that could be done, Grenda," he grunted back. "Albrech and Kathis knew this might be."
"But to leave them to fend for themselves against the skardyn...”
Rom dug under his breastplate to retrieve his long pipe. Dwarves went nowhere without their pipes, although sometimes they had to smoke something other than what they generally favored. For the past two weeks, the band had been making due with a combination of ground brown mushrooms—the tunnels were full of those—and a red weed found near a stream that was their best source of water. It made for a tolerable smoke, if not much else.
"They chose to stand and help the rest of us get our task done," he replied, stuffing the pipe. As he lit the contents, Rom added, "and that was to bring this stinkin' creature back with us..."
Grenda and the rest of the party followed his gaze to their prisoner. The skardyn hissed like a lizard, then snapped sharp teeth at Rom. It—Rom was fairly certain the thing was male, but did not wish to grant the skardyn even that much identity—stood slightly shorter than the average dwarf, but was a little wider. All of that extra width was muscle, for the scaly creatures dug through earth with their clawed hands as not even the most powerful of Rom's people could.
The face that stared out from under the skardyn's ragged brown hood was a macabre mix of dwarven and reptilian features, the former not at all a surprise to its captors—for skardyn were descended from the same race as Rom and his comrades. Their ancestors had been Dark Iron dwarves, accursed survivors of the War of Three Hammers hundreds of years earlier. Most of the traitorous Dark Irons had per
ished in that epic confrontation between dwarf and dwarf, but there had always been rumors that some had escaped into Grim Batol after their leader—the sorceress, Modgud - had cursed Grim Batol just before being slain. As no one had desired at that time to hunt any possible remaining foes in a place blackened by magic, the rumors had remained just that... until Rom had had the misfortune to discover the truth in them shortly after arriving.
But whatever links there had been between Rom's people and the skardyn's had long ago become so intangible as to be nonexistent. The skardyn retained the general shape and some traces of facial similarity, but even where they had once sported beards, coarse scales now covered everything. Their teeth were, indeed, more like those of a lizard or even a dragon and their misshapen hands—paws, to be precise—also resembled those of the two beasts. The thing that the dwarves had captured was also just as likely to run on all fours as it was on two legs.
That did not mean that the skardyn were merely animals. They were cunning and well-versed in weaponry, be it the daggers they carried on their belts, the axes—unchanged since the War of Three Hammers—or the metal, palm-sized balls wickedly spiked that they either tossed by hand or threw using slings. Still, if disarmed, they were also more than willing to utilize their teeth and claws, as had been disastrously proven the first time the dwarves had encountered them.
That time, the verification that these were the descendants of the Dark Irons had been proven by the garments, which still retained the markings of the treacherous clan. Unfortunately, it had proven highly difficult for Rom's force to capture any of the creatures alive, so fierce did the skardyn fight. Three times before this had he organized missions to take a prisoner, and three times had the dwarves utterly failed.
And three times had others under Rom's command perished.
That last damned streak still held with the loss of two fine warriors this night. However, at last the mission had something to show for its efforts... or so he hoped. Now, at last, Rom believed that he had a source by which he could at last discover what could be so malevolent and powerful that even dragons fled in fear of it. What darkness commanded the skardyn with such absolute mastery that the abominations would die for it?
And what now howled its anguish as unsettling lights and energies radiated from the desolate peak?
The skardyn spat as Rom leaned close. Its breath was awful, which said much considering the stenches to which dwarves were used. Rom discovered another change that further pushed skardyn and dwarves apart; the prisoner had a double-forked tongue.
None of these alterations were natural, but rather the result of living in a place so saturated with evil magic. The dwarven leader peered grimly, matching the bloody red gaze with his own stern one.
"You filth can still speak the language," Rom rumbled. "Heard you use it before."
The prisoner hissed... then tried to lunge. The two hefty guards holding its arms had been chosen by Rom for their strength, but they were still hard-pressed to keep the skardyn in place.
Rom took a deep puff of his pipe, then exhaled deeply in the creature's face. The skardyn sniffed longingly; one trait that apparently had not changed was the love of the pipe. When first thedwarves had checked the bodies of dead ones, they had found curled pipes carved not from wood, but crafted from clay. What exactly the skardyn used to fill those pipes was another question, for the only substance anyone had discovered on the skardyn had smelled like old grass and mulched earth worms. Not even the hardiest of Rom's followers had been willing to try it.
"You'd like a smoke, would you?" Rom took another puff, then again blew it in the creature's face. "Well, just talk with me a little, and we'll see what we can do..."
"Uzuraugh!" snapped the prisoner. "Hizakh!"
Rom tsked. "Now that kind o' talk will only get you turned over to Grenda and her two brothers. Albrech, he was Gwyarbrawden to them? You know that old word? Gwyarbrawden?"
The skardyn stilled. Dwarves counted their blood connections in many ways. There was the clan, of course, the most prominent of ties. Yet, within and without the clan there were other bindings, and the ritual of Gwyarbrawden was foremost among the common warriors. Those who swore Gwyarbrawden to one another marked themselves as willing to cross all of Azeroth to find their comrade's slayer, should that happen. They were also not averse to making the death of that slayer long and harsh, for Gwyarbrawden was a justice all unto itself. Clan leaders did not publicly acclaim its existence, but neither did they condemn it.
It was a part of dwarven society that very few outsiders knew about.
But skardyn were not outsiders, evidently, for the wild, crimson orbs flashed toward a grinning Grenda, then back to Rom once more. Legends concerning Gwyarbrawden quests often finished with extravagant descriptions of the prey's lengthy death. It did not surprise Rom to know that such grisly stories would still circulate among this creature's kind.
"Last chance," he said, taking another puff. "Going to talk so we can understand you?"
The skardyn nodded.
Rom hid his anticipation. He had not been entirely bluffing about Grenda and her brothers, but giving up the prisoner to them might have meant finding out nothing. True, Grenda would have done her best to wring some word out of the ugly thing, but he could not discount one of the three perhaps too eagerly pursuing Gwyarbrawden and killing the skardyn before that happened.
With a final glance at Grenda to remind the captive of what awaited it if it did not answer, Rom said, "The veiled one! Your comrades brought her something, and now Grim Batol echoes with a roar like that of a dragon... only no dragon's been seen here in months! What's she up to in there?"
"Chrysalun... "The single word escaped the skardyn with a hoarseness that made it sound as if speaking was a rare and terrible effort for It. "Chrysalun..."
"What by the beard of my father is a chrys—chrysalun?"
"Bigger..." the prisoner rasped, its tongue darting in and out. "Bigger inside...not out..."
"What pile of tailings is that beast spouting? He mocks us all!" one of Grenda's brothers snarled. Although not twins, her siblings looked even more like one another than most dwarves did, and Rom always had trouble telling which was Gragdin and which was Griggarth.
Whichever he was, he followed his declaration by charging forward, ax raised as best the tunnel allowed. The skardyn hissed and struggled anew.
It was Grenda who blocked her impetuous brother. "No, Griggarth! Not yet! Put the ax down now!"
Griggarth shrank under his sister's admonition. She was the mistress and they were her two hounds. Gragdin, who had no reason to, imitated his brother's reaction.
Grenda turned back to the skardyn. "But if this filth doesn't make more sense with the next word he utters..."
Rom seized control again. Finishing the last bits in his pipe, he tapped the ashes out, then muttered, "Aye. One last time. Maybe a different question'll stir you right." He considered, then said, "Maybe something about the tall one and what his ilk would be doin' here of all places."
His suggestion had a disquieting reaction on the skardyn. At first, Rom thought that it was choking on something, but then he realized that the damned beast was laughing.
Drawing his dagger, Rom thrust the point under the skardyn's brown, scaly chin. Despite that, the prisoner did not let up.
"Be still, you blasted son of a toad or I'll save them the trouble of flaying you and—"
The celling caved in. Dwarves scattered as tons of rock and stone tumbled down.
And with it came three massive figures not only armored in brass breastplates and guards, but scaled even more than the skardyn. Worse, these imposing giants—nearly nine feet tall by Rom's expert reckoning—were far more deadly and far more unexpected than the descendants of the Dark Irons had been.
"What are—" cried one dwarf before a huge, arced blade cut through his midsection, breastplate and all.
Rom knew what they were, if only by description, but it was Grenda who cried o
ut their foul name. "Drakonid!"
She lunged toward the first, her ax already out. Looking as if someone had melded a dragon and a human into one vicious warrior, the black-scaled drakonid she moved against swung at the dwarf with the already-bloodied weapon. As it struck her ax, the blade flared, cutting through good dwarven workmanship as if through water.
Only Rom's swift action saved her. Having launched himself toward the monstrous figure at the same time that Grenda had, he was there in time to shove her aside. Unfortunately, the confines of the ruined tunnel did not give him enough room to avoid being struck by the blade meant for her.
The dwarf screamed as it burned through his wrist. He watched with amazement as his hand fell to the ground, where it was trampled under the drakonid's massive, three-toed foot.
If there was anything fortunate to come from the terrible wound, it was that the magic of the blade also cauterized the cut. That, combined with dwarven endurance, enabled Rom to throw his strength into a one-handed swing.
The ax cut into the armored hide near the shoulder. The drakonid let out a growl of pain and backed up.
Laughter rung in Rom's ears, laughter that less and less sounded like the skardyn's and more like something far more sinister. He glanced over his shoulder to where the prisoner should have still been held.
But the guards lay dead, their eyes staring blindly and their throats cut. Their axes remained harnessed on their backs, and their daggers were still sheathed in their belts. They looked as if they had simply stood and waited to die.
Or had been bespelled... for what stood where the skardyn had been was no magic-degenerated dwarf. Instead, the figure stood as tall as a human, but was slimmer of build. His long, pointed ears were clue enough to his identity, but his crimson robes and fiercely-glowing green eyes—the sign of demon taint—verified to Rom's dismay just how big a fool the commander had been.
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