"Yes," said Balandrick. "And it looks like they're attacking the Havalqa."

"This get stranger and stranger," said Hollin. "Do we have allies we don't know about?"

"The Telchan?" suggested Abaru.

The dragons were almost upon Hethnost itself. One of them-a black creature with long orange markings along its hide and wings-swooped down toward the Hammdras and unleashed a stream of fire across the battlements. The dragon continued inside the fortress and burned an entire company of Sunrise Guard that had turned to flee before it.

"I'd say we and the Havalqa have a common enemy," said Abaru's wife, Delarra.

They could not see the Havalqa camp from their location, but it was apparent that a number of the dragons were raining fire down upon it, circling the encampment like vultures above a dying animal. Let the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds burn, thought Gerin.

More dragons had begun circling Hethnost itself, blasting fire upon anything that moved. "We need to find shelter!" said Kirin. "We'll never make it to the Part.i.tion Rock with those things up there, let alone reach the Kalabrendis Dhosa!"

The closest structure was the storage tower. "Is there a cellar in that thing?" asked Balandrick.

"Yes. Several, I believe," said Kirin.

"Then that's where we're going," said Balandrick.

"No!" shouted Hollin. "Not there! We'll be trapped. The dragons will either collapse the tower on our heads or the Havalqa will find us. We need to get to the Varsae Sandrova."

"We'll be just as trapped there," said Kirin.

"There's a safe place we can hide where we won't be found."

Two hundred yards behind them a dragon roared and burned a swath through the gra.s.s and into one of the walled gardens. Trees exploded as soon as they were touched by the dragon's fire. All of them could feel the heat of the flames on their backs. Peylo Ossren shrieked in terror and threw her hands over her head. Gerin thought she might faint, but Elaysen grasped her wrists and managed to calm the woman. Yes, she needs to be helping others, he thought. Focusing on something other than her own troubles. That's where she draws her strength.

"I hope Hollin knows what he's doing," muttered Balandrick.

"So do I," said Abaru.

The dragon's path carried it off to their left, but it was close enough that they could feel the wind of its pa.s.sing and smell its rank, leathery hide and sulfurous reek.

Gerin fired a death spell from Nimnahal at the dragon. Before it hit the creature, the spell veered sharply away.

"What the...?" he muttered.

"I saw that," said Abaru. "The G.o.ds take me, how is that possible?"

"I saw it, too," said Hollin. "It's just like those things that cut off your brother's arm. The dragons must have rezarim in their bodies."

"That's just great," said Balandrick. "That's the metal that's immune to magic, right? So you're saying you can't hurt these things with your powers?"

"It appears that way, yes. No wonder the Atalari had so much trouble fighting them."

"Quiet!" said Kirin. "We need to keep moving!"

They'd gone only a short distance when at least a hundred Havalqa appeared between them and the Varsae Sandrova. The enemy soldiers were fleeing the dragons, all thoughts of conquering the fortress apparently lost to them for the moment. They hadn't yet seen Gerin and the others, who hid themselves behind a pile of rubble blasted out from the ruins of a nearby building. The Havalqa huddled behind a stone retaining wall and seemed in no hurry to move.

"They're between us and the library!" said Balandrick.

"We can fight our way through them," said Abaru.

"We can, but I'm sure the fighting will draw the attention of the dragons to us," said Kirin. He faced Hollin. "What is this secret place?"

"There's an entrance in the library hidden by magic. It leads beneath the earth to an underground lake."

Kirin arched an eyebrow. "Indeed. And why have I never heard of this?"

"It's a secret known only to the Archmage."

"Then how do you know about it?" asked Nyene.

"That, young lady, is none of your concern. But if we can get to it, we'll be safe. At least safer than anyplace else."

A dragon unleashed a river of fire between them and the Havalqa. The enemy soldiers shot arrows at the beast but their missiles had no effect, bouncing harmlessly off the creature's tough hide.

The Havalqa cloud came to life once more, releasing another blast of red light down upon the Varsae Sandrova. At least a third of the structure collapsed upon itself.

"Hollin, forget the library," said Gerin. "We can't get there."

"Back to the tower," said Kirin. The cloud of dust from the Varsae Sandrova blew across them and turned the world an ashen gray. They coughed and wiped their eyes as the fine powder settled on them, insinuating itself in their hair and clothes.

The two-hundred-foot-tall tower was painted white, with pale blue bands encircling it at regular intervals. So far it had remained undamaged by either the Havalqa cloud or the dragons.

Balandrick shouldered open the heavy wooden door, stuck his head inside, then backed away so the others could enter. "Get in, quickly!" he yelled.

Kirin looked over his shoulder, drew a hissing breath through his teeth, then created a spark of magefire as he crossed the threshold to light their way. Balandrick slammed and barred the door behind him.

Gerin, too, created a spark of magefire above their heads. They were in a small antechamber filled with crates and storage shelves.

"This way," said Kirin. Outside, they heard another roar of a nearby dragon. The entire tower trembled; small streamers of dust and grit fell from the ceiling to mingle with the grime from the Varsae Sandrova.

Kirin led them through several short hallways until they reached another closed door. "The cellars are down here," he said as he opened the door and started down.

Gerin found himself descending a short staircase that ended in a low-ceilinged room. They pa.s.sed through another door and another set of stairs before Kirin halted.

"Are we safe here?" asked Peylo Ossren.

"Safer than we were outside, that's for certain," said Elaysen.

They were quiet for a time, listening to the distant sounds of battle. There were only a few chairs in the room, which they offered to the women. Nyene chose to remain standing.

"Well, I'm going to sit if you will not," said Abaru as he sank his bulk into a chair that seemed in danger of collapsing beneath him. "Who knows how long we'll be down here."

"You're bleeding," said Delarra, touching a cut on Abaru's face.

"Bah," he said. "It's nothing. A scratch."

The men settled against the walls, their legs stretched out before them. The magefire sparks floated in the air near the ceiling. Beyond the short reach of their light, the room was lost in darkness and gloom.

"What brought the dragons here now?" asked Balandrick. "I mean, what kind of coincidence is it that we see a vision of them, things that haven't been in this world for who knows how many thousands of years, and then suddenly they show up here while we're in the middle of a siege? It feels like some power is behind it, some force we don't yet know."

"Not a force, but there is definitely someone responsible for the dragons," said Kirin. "Did you see the men riding the neck of one of the things?"

"What?" Gerin, Hollin, Balandrick, and a number of others all blurted out at the same time.

"There was someone riding a dragon?" said Gerin.

Kirin nodded solemnly. "I saw them just before we entered the tower. Two men in some kind of harness on the neck of one of the larger dragons."

"That's insane," said Nyene. "You're mistaken."

"I wish I was, but I'm certain of what I saw, and what it means."

"And what is that?" asked the Threndish woman.

"That the Commanding Stone, which was thought to have been destroyed in the Last Battle of the Doomwar, has been found."

42.

The flying lizards were destroying Ezqedir's army before his eyes. He could only watch in stunned horror as the creatures breathed streamers of fire across the ranks of his Herolen, roasting them alive. Thousands had already died, their corpses still burning in the field. The Loh'shree had erected some measure of protection that repelled the fire the monsters breathed; a shimmering, translucent dome enveloped their part of the camp, but that defense was beginning to crumble. The fire the monsters breathed vaporized the barrier wherever it struck, leaving gaping holes the Loh'shree seemed unable to repair.

What in Herol's name are they? Ezqedir wondered as he watched the flying monsters begin to attack the Loh'shree's black cloud. They spewed their hateful fire at it. To his surprise, the cloud began to burn like a pitch-soaked torch. It seemed almost to solidify as it burned, shrinking on itself as if attempting to recoil from the heat. Chunks of it started to drop away, creating smoking streamers as they fell.

These creatures had not been summoned by the wizards; they were destroying the fortress with the same grim efficiency they were exercising on his army.

The Voice and his insipid adjutant had fled, unable to conjure any means of countering the malefic flames. The demons had vanished from the skies when three of the flying creatures washed their flames across the mursaaba tents, killing the eunuchs.

Victory was quickly slipping from his grasp. Not only would he lose his chance to capture the Words of Making, he was very likely going to lose his entire army unless he could drive these beasts off.

The Harridan truly rules these lands with a fist of iron. Nothing else can explain the degree to which the will of the Powers is undermined here. For the first time, he felt a twinge of sympathy for the late Sword Drugal, realizing the obstacles he must have faced.

"General, we must call for a retreat," said Meloqthes.

"And if these creatures pursue us rather than wage war against the wizards?"

"Then we will all almost certainly die," said his adjutant flatly. "But we must retreat, and hope these Harridan sp.a.w.n do not follow. To stay is certain death."

The cloud exploded from its core. The blast propelled thousands of chunks of burning black debris into the air.

He thought frantically for a way to fight back, to drive off these monsters while defending his men. But there was nothing he could do, no strategy he could employ that would save them. He had no means of fighting these beasts.

The enemy had won the day.

"Sound the retreat," said Ezqedir. He'd never felt so weary in all of his life.

"Everyone stay here," said Gerin. "I'm going back out."

"Do you want to die?" asked Nyene.

"I must respectfully and completely disagree with that course of action, Your Highness," said Balandrick. "It's crazy."

"This has to end. Maybe we can't hurt the dragons, but if there's a human controlling them, we can hurt or stop him."

Hollin stepped in front of him. "Gerin, the combined might of the Atalari couldn't destroy the first dragonlord. This is suicide."

"But whoever's controlling them now isn't an Atalari."

A tremendous boom shook the tower. Peylo Ossren screamed. A spidery crack appeared in the ceiling. More dust and dirt settled over them.

"It sounds like the whole place is coming down on our heads," said Balandrick.

"It may very well be," said Hollin.

An idea came to Gerin. I'm a fool for not seeing this earlier, he thought.

He drew magic into himself, flooded the Scepter of the King with amber magic, felt the spells within it awaken and cut a hole in the reality around them. The door to the Varsae Estrikavis appeared a moment later, floating above the floor.

"By all that is holy, what is that?" asked Nyene.

"It's the entrance to a secret library. You can all wait safely in there."

"Very clever," said Abaru.

"Go inside, all of you. Leave the door open so I can come back if I need to. If you hear Havalqa, or the dragons...close it."

Balandrick opened the door. Light from the magefire lamps in the antechamber spilled out into the cellar. The short hallway within the door extended past the wall behind it, creating a disorienting sense of skewed depth.

Nyene stepped up into the hallway.

Elaysen helped Peylo Ossren to her feet. "What is this?" asked the serving woman, her voice filled with anxiety.

"Someplace we can be safe," said Elaysen.

"I'll help you," said Hollin to Gerin.

"Me, too," said Balandrick. "And before you think to argue, we're not going to change our minds no matter what you say or how much you pout, so you'll just be wasting precious time that you could be putting to better use outside trying to avoid becoming a roasted snack for our flying lizard friends."

"A way with words, as always," said Hollin.