hear him. He had remained close by, drawing protection from Dru’s mere presence. An unwelcome, eavesdropping shadow that Dru was regretting. “Not, at least, until I’m across!”
The two faced off. “It’s a fallacy that the Tezerenee understand what caring for a son or daughter means, but that doesn’t give you the right to command me, Rendel!”
“Would you like me to tell them that you plan to abandon them? I doubt whether I’d have to worry much about my hide if I did! It would be you they were after, outsider! You and your sweet pet here!”
Xiri had already proven her bravery time and again, but the covetous look Rendel gave her turned her face pale. Her eyes were daggers as she tried to pretend his implications meant nothing to her.
“They’d still take you, don’t think otherwise! I won’t be bullied, dragon! You don’t want me as your enemy!”
Rendel tried a new tactic. “You were given a purpose when the guardians sent you back here.”
It could not be denied. Dru took a deep breath. “Rendel, I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do except probably bring you all to the one rift that I know of, the one in the far reaches of my lands.”
“Is that it?” The Tezerenee laughed out loud, causing more than one head to turn. “I’ll take them there! Go on and find your get! I’ll make certain they cross safely.”
Dru could read some of what Rendel planned by the minute but visible changes in his expression. Somehow, Rendel would try to make certain it was he to whom the other Vraad owed a debt. He wondered just how much of a fool Rendel was. Most of the Vraad would still want his hide even after the crossing, preferably in many screaming pieces. He was a part of something they hated and this was their opportunity to strike back.
“If anyone leads them, it should be the one called Silesti,” Xiri suggested. Her dislike for the Vraad race was still strong, but if there were any who could be trusted other than Dru, it was the somber Silesti. Dru agreed. Silesti’s contribution to the new plan was growing with each addition to the ranks. He appeared to have been born for this moment. Everyone looked to him as the symbol of defiance, defiance against the draconian Tezerenee clan. Barakas had tried to kill him, so the rumors now went, and had failed.
Silesti had already proved his ability as a leader, something that came as a bit of a shock to Dru and possibly the somber warlock himself. Dru wondered if it was his way of filling the void left by the abrupt end of his lifelong duel with Dekkar. Thinking of the duel, he wondered again how Silesti had survived. The other Vraad had not offered a reason and no one had the audacity to ask. For now, it did not really matter. What mattered to him was that he and Silesti both trusted and respected each other now. Had he dared to consider the black-suited Vraad’s last conversation with him, a simple talk over questions raised by some of the newcomers, Dru might have even gone so far as to say the two of them liked one another… at least a tiny bit.
“It will be Silesti.”
Rendel’s mask of calm nearly slipped away. Rage spread like wildfire and it was all he could do to keep from screaming. “As you like it! We will speak again in the Dragonrealm.”
He turned and caught sight of Silesti and several others, all of whom had an avid interest in the conversation between Dru and the Tezerenee. It was clear that they were hoping for some kind of break between the two so that Rendel would no longer be protected from their wrath.
The Tezerenee paused, measuring their emotions, and stepped back until he was next to Dru. Without meeting Dru’s eyes, he whispered in a cold tone, “I will be waiting for you, Zeree. Waiting for all of you to bow to me, not my father.”
The pale-haired warlock pushed past Dru and strode off into the deserted sectors of the city.
“Perhaps someone will find him alone and unprotected among the ruins,” Xiri suggested, watching the receding figure with disgust. “What did he mean by that last?”
Several Vraad had stirred the moment Rendel had walked away. Silesti rushed over to Dru and Xiri.
“What happened? Where did that reptile go? Is he coming back?”
It had only become clear to Dru now what the Tezerenee had meant. A search of the city would reveal nothing of him. “He’s gone. He won’t be with us.”
“Will he escape to the Dragonrealm?” The ebony-garbed figure spouted. Not having another name for it, the Vraad as a whole had unconsciously adopted the one coined by Barakas.
First victory to you, patriarch! Dru thought in sour humor. “He may. Rendel knows where I planned to go and he knows much concerning the shrouded realm and its intrusions here. Still…” An idea dawned, one that he did not care for. “I could be wrong about the location. The place I fell through might not be our way out. Rendel might be following a dead trail!”
“If he gets left behind…” Silesti smiled at the image. “What a perfect fate! Better than any torture! Nimth will kill him far more slowly than we would!”
“Yet he may escape to the other side if the rift does prove open,” Xiri pointed out.
Silesti still had a bit of trouble dealing with an elf. Because she was Dru’s close companion, he had succeeded so far in treating her with at least some respect. “Then we will track him down at our leisure once we have finally reached our new home!”
That was Dru’s opening. What Rendel did could be dealt with once they were all safe and secure, but Sharissa was a subject that could wait no longer. “I think it might be best to see if there is another path through. I know what to look for now. If the way I know of is closed or if it only opens periodically, then I should find that out before we dare lead the others there. Are there those you can trust to act in concert with you? Those who can keep our people trusting for a time longer? It might take into the morning to do what I must.”
The other Vraad frowned. “That sounds as if you will be leaving us.”
“I won’t be here for a time, that’s all. There’s still more I have to do. I want the cross-over to work.”
“You underestimate me.” Silesti’s visage grew troubled. “Or perhaps you do not trust me. That you care for your daughter is a mystery to many of us. Now she is missing and you want to find her; that is what you are really thinking about. You asked where Melenea was and I know that she’s also among the missing. I, for one, would draw the same conclusion as you have, that Melenea has your Sharissa. She has always been a vindictive and deadly bitch and this smells like one of her mad games! Only she would play when the world is crumbling about her!”
As opposed to the rest of the Vraad, Dru thought with what he considered justified criticism. Left abandoned by Lord Barakas, had they attempted their own plan of escape? Hardly. He did not, of course, reveal any of this to Silesti. It would have been unfair, anyway. Dru was just as guilty as the rest. Only the past two decades had he attempted to redeem himself. “I meant what I said about the cross-over, Silesti. I do want to check my work before we try. We know what will happen if the others feel they’ve been betrayed again.”
“And I would join you as one of those facing their combined wrath.” Silesti gave him a brief smile that would have looked more appropriate on an animal being led to slaughter. “I really have no choice, do I? Get your little hellion and make certain that you have a destination for us, that’s all I care.” The other sorcerer’s voice grew fatalistic. “If you don’t return by a reasonable time, I’ll do my best to see that I lead the mob that comes for you.”
Though Xiri was taken aback by the threat, Dru accepted it as normal. With time ever passing too quickly, he outlined the basics of what he had in mind concerning the second cross-over, only vaguely making references to the guardian who had aided him. Dru hoped he himself understood what he was doing. The guardian had said that he was to lead them to the shrouded realm, but had never actually said that the rift the sorcerer had fallen through was the correct path or that there might be some other way altogether. The magical creature had inferred a few things, but…
With an effort born of anger, Dru ousted the worries and the second thoughts from his mind. He would defeat himself without aid from either Melenea or Rendel if he fell prey to his own fears.
Silesti nodded his understanding when Dru concluded. “I have it. Remarkable!” he added, his dark mood fading as he once more fell victim to the wonder of it all. “To think escape stood there waiting for us and we thought it was merely an aberration, a part of Nimth’s long dying! Why is it these others sought us out in the first place?”
“That’s something that must wait until we’ve crossed.”
“Not going to tell me. As you wish. You can count on me, Zeree, if only so that I can be around to see the dragon lord’s sickened face.”
Dru’s jaw nearly dropped until it occurred to him that Silesti was speaking of Barakas, not the statue whose likeness the guardian had taken on.
