who had frozen at the sight of it, began to stir. Rendel was ignored. They, too, had sought whatever treasure the ancients had left here. Whichever one of them mastered it would become the new overlord, not merely of this region but of the entire land.
Is there no end to the chaos your kinds bring? A vague, animallike shape formed. Molten earth burbled from the inner depths of the world, joining the dirt and stone in creating the image of life. Despite so much flying about, not one particle of dust or one drop of melted earth so much as touched the Tezerenee. Even the statues, so close to the center, remained unaffected.
Is there truly hope for such as you?
Though no one looked in his direction, unless those were eyes in the midst of the jumbled pile, Rendel knew it was he who had been asked the question.
“Cease your prattle! I am the one who commands! I am the one who judges!” Rendel’s doubt added a quiver to his voice.
Fiery wings spread, composed almost entirely of burning earth. What had once been the mouth of the horned beast was now the mouth of an entirely different monster, but one growing all too familiar in shape with each passing breath.
You have daring… and nothing more. My obedience is not yours to demand. Nor theirs, either.
It spoke of the avians. Rendel started, wondering how he could have forgotten the onrushing creatures. He looked around, but the three had vanished.
They have been redirected elsewhere until something can be done with them. It is you who I have come for, Vraad, at the command of those who rule here.
“You can’t take me from this! Not now! It’s why I worked so hard to make the cross-over work! It’s why I risked all, coming here alone though I knew there was the threat of danger!” Rendel knew he was babbling, but it was buying him time. His mind raced, seeking some solution to his predicament. He had been rescued from death for… for what he did not know, save that it would separate him from what was his by right.
Manling, I found much to admire in one of your kind, but I see little of those traits within you. Do not stir me to measures that I will be forced to regret… later. I have already interfered more than I am supposed to. Your destruction of this place, of those who preceded my kind in the aid of our masters-elementals, you might call them-was accidental, but your desire to abuse their purpose was not.
Rendel no longer had any thoughts concerning the glory that was to have been his. Instead, he wondered whether he was going to leave this place alive.
The mock dragon dipped its macabre head, the burning earth giving it the appearance of a fire-breathing beast. It filled the Tezerenee’s entire field of vision.
You have no more need to wonder, manling.
The false jaws opened.
Rendel shut his eyes and screamed.
XVIII
“Is this what it all comes to? Does nothing but ruin follow the Vraad?”
Dru could not respond to Xiri’s question, not at first. The portal, through either the whims of its creators or, as he personally believed, its own, had returned them to Nimth near the Vraad communal city. Though it was night, a dim glow from above left the land in the equivalent of sunset, enabling them to see. Even from the slope on which they had materialized, it was evident that some catastrophe had struck. From what he could see, Dru knew already that the catastrophe had not been natural. The destruction was too well organized. Someone had wanted to destroy the only thing that had ever linked the individuals of his race together. The Vraad swore quietly, both saddened and ashamed.
“I’ve never seen such a green before,” the elf whispered. “I feel as if it eats the soul of Nimth.” She was gazing skyward, watching the maelstrom above. A massive storm was forming, one that looked to cover everything, for it stretched as far as the sky itself. Dru did not want to be caught outside when it broke; what rained down upon Nimth would not be so simple and harmless as water.
“Take my hand again.”
She did, squeezing it tight. The sorcerer drew some comfort from having another person to touch during this period of chaos.
“Do you plan to teleport?”
He nodded. “At least try, anyway. I have to chance it. Time is short. Nimth won’t die today, but we might.”
Xiri looked up again. “The sky?”
“This glow from the clouds is a new phenomenon… very new, I think. There is also a storm brewing. It won’t be a normal rain like you might expect. We’ve not had a rainstorm for years. If it strikes, it will be magical.”
“Which means it could produce anything. Will it necessarily be bad?”
He swept his arm across what lay before them. “Look around you. Do you see anything good coming from what the Vraad have done so far?”
His point was obvious, but something seemed to disturb her. “Will not your spell aggravate conditions? Is there not a chance it will act as a catalyst?”
“It might, but our choices are few. I either use my sorcery or we walk.”
Her hand slipped from his as she visibly struggled with herself. “There is one other way.”
“What might that be?”
Elfin eyes lowered. “I could try my own powers. Like you, mine have been returned to me.”
In the suddenness of their release by the founders, Dru had forgotten that his companion also worked magic of some kind. “Do you need anything?”
Xiri smiled. “Luck?”
He stepped back as she concentrated. The natural, if they could still be called such, forces of Nimth stirred as they were summoned. Her way felt different from that of his kind, however. It was more gentle, asking instead of taking. A glimmer of light materialized before the elf. Dru rubbed his chin, trying to understand the nuances of her spell. Was this the course in which Vraad sorcery should have developed?
He heard a gasp then, and saw Xiri starting to crumple. Instead of following her desires, it almost appeared as if Nimth sought to use her. Not only had power answered her summons, but it was trying to pervert her spell, almost as if it consciously desired to do so. With the swiftness born of centuries of careful practice, Dru seized control of her spell. The power fought back, not as a living thing but in the way that a raging river might fight against a dam that had broken partly away. Yet he did not turn the spell to the way it would have been had he been the originator. Instead, the spellcaster strained to make a hybrid of the two sorceries, at least long enough to perform the spell. Dru doubted the two could really be joined without a cataclysm resulting.
The strain was horrible, but in the end a shining, circular portal stood open before them. His concentration still monitoring the strength of the spell, Dru reached down and helped Xiri to regain her footing.
“That should never have happened!”
Dru knew better. “You tried to use the binding forces of Nimth as you would those of your own world. Nimth no longer follows the same laws of nature, if it ever actually did. We Vraad have made it too much like ourselves. Vicious and hungry. Still,” he added as encouragement, “I think what you accomplished was likely more effective than the results I would have obtained.”
“We have not crossed through yet. Save your congratulations for then.”
Stepping through the portal was only slightly less unnerving than entering the founders’ living gateway. Dru had a brief vision of a path, one that reminded him greatly of those Darkhorse had utilized to escape the Void, before he and his companion stood once more on the surface of his home world.
They stood in the courtyard that Dru had stared down at only… only… the Vraad gave up trying to count the days since his unexpected departure. After all, those who had ripped the massive structure apart had probably only needed hours, not days. He could not help glancing away from his companion, however. Seen up close, the devastation that had overcome the city was even worse than he had imagined.
