His strength had been returned to him with as much effort as she would have used in taking a single breath. “Thank you.”
“For what?” the warlock asked, thinking she talked to him.
I have spared you where I should have punished your impudence, Gerrod of the Tezerenee.
“You!” The warlock rolled to his feet, ready to take on what he imagined was his opponent of before.
Your link to the dead world is no more. I have reconstructed the barriers, made them far stronger than you could ever be. Also, as I told Sharissa Zeree, I am not the renegade. If you prefer, your own people gave me a name, however irrelevant it is. Let me appear to you as I did to them.
The cavern was tested by yet another tremor, albeit a much more subdued one than those prior. Where the ground had split open, gas drifted skyward. The cavern grew warmer and, to their dismay, molten earth began to spew forth.
Have no fear for your lives.
Rock, loosened by the series of quakes, broke from the ceiling. Sharissa looked up, saw one above Faunon’s head slip free, and started to shout a warning. Before she could do so, however, the fragment, as if moving of its own accord, ceased its downward motion and flew toward the growing eruption, where it was joined by more of its kind.
More rock and molten earth gathered. A shape formed, only a vague parody at first, but more and more distinct with each passing second. Sharissa was thankful the cavern was so huge; the thing before them nearly touched the ceiling itself. Fragments kept breaking off as it expanded, but nothing came within even a few feet of the trio, much less the ground itself. The fragments would return to the leviathan and merely help strengthen some other portion of its body.
When the great wings stretched, impossible wings of stone and magma that refused to obey gravity’s dictates, Sharissa was almost certain that she knew who and what stood before them.
They were all on their feet now, worn but unharmed. The sorceress frowned at the massive unliving creature, trying to keep in mind that this was merely a shell the guardian had made and nothing more. “The Dragon of the Depths?”
That is it.
Faunon was beside her. It felt good to have him near, especially after facing such chaos. He leaned close, as if whispering would not be heard by a thing that could read their minds at will, and asked, “You know this one, too?”
“He-it-can be trusted.” I hope so, she added to herself. To the new guardian, she asked, “How did you come to be here? The other one was certain it had protected itself from the danger of discovery.”
The mock dragon dipped its head. The indifference gave way to a touch of embarrassment. Most of the guardians, the great familiars of the ancients, had little in the way of separate personalities. Only a few, such as the two they had met this day, could be called individuals. It was not the outcast we sought. What drew us here was the warlock here.
“Me?” Gerrod withdrew to the confines of his cloak, giving him the appearance of a living shroud.
Somehow, the guardian made the eyes narrow, though they were only bits of stone surrounding glowing balls of fiery earth. We did not sense the renegade, for it had shielded itself well, but, with so much of its power already in demand, it could not sufficiently shield the presence of so much Nimthian sorcery.
“Then Gerrod actually did you a service,” Sharissa interjected, fearing that the warlock might still face some punishment.
The dragon head withdrew. Not by choice… but because of the magnitude of the outcast’s crime, the warlock is forgiven… for now.
Glancing at Gerrod, the sorceress’s relief gave way to renewed worry. From what she could read in his stance and his shadowed features, the patriarch’s son was not defeated. He would attempt, someday, to reestablish his link.
My time grows short, and there is much to do. I will take you from here and place you where you must be.
She was not certain she understood what the guardian meant, but decided to trust its judgment. It had befriended her father, after all. Instead, she asked, “What became of the outcast?”
That one has evaded us for the moment… but it will eventually be taught the folly of its ways.
Knowing how time meant little to these virtually immortal creatures, Sharissa wondered what damage the renegade would cause before that. She decided not to ask.
“And my clan? What about them?” The warlock walked closer, defying the entity who had stripped him of so much power. “What about the insanity your counterpart plotted for them?”
The long hesitation stirred the curiosity of all three. The Dragon of the Depths seemed to be considering its response carefully, as if even it was uncertain it cared for the answer. Sharissa walked over to where Gerrod stood and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. He shrugged it off, not even looking her way. More hurt than she cared to consider, the young woman returned to Faunon, who tried to smile in sympathy but failed.
The land will do what it chooses to do, and I will abide by that decision.
“That is no answer!” the angry Tezerenee shouted.
It is the only answer. It is the sum of my existence. If the land finds some use in the renegade’s actions, which will still not excuse that one, then the experiment will follow that new path. If not, the land, not I, will choose to reverse what was done.
“But the renegade interfered with the experiment! If what it said was true, it even dared to subdue the mind of the land!”
All true and all irrelevant now. Before their eyes, the mock dragon began to crumble. A wing collapsed and the lower jaw dropped to the cavern floor and shattered. Despite the din, the voice was still very clear in their minds. The land will decide… but you have a choice in the matter. I tell this to you, Sharissa Zeree, because of the respect with which I hold your progenitor. Whatever changes are wrought upon your kind, those who fight them will only succumb that much more harshly. You have a choice in how you are adapted to this world. The elf is proof of that. His kind have remained more or less untouched.
The three stumbled back as the body collapsed and the magma receded down the hole it had spewed forth from.
And now, I will take you to where you must be.
“What do you mean ‘must be’?” Faunon, who had stayed silent most of the time, shouted at the last moment. Understanding his sudden worry, Sharissa would have lent her voice to his-but the cavern and the guardian had vanished and they were now elsewhere.
“Well,” came a familiar voice, one that hinted at no sleep for days and terrible stress suffered during those waking hours. Any arrogance was little more than mockery now. “Welcome back… and you, too, my son.”
Elsewhere was the main cavern that Sharissa and Faunon had been plucked away from by the mad guardian. The voice belonged to the patriarch, who sat upon a high-backed throne now standing atop the dais and looked down at the three stunned gifts that had been placed before him.
XVIII
“I must admit that I had not thought to see you-any of you-again since your escape, what is it, five days ago?”
“Five days?” Faunon leaned his head toward Sharissa’s. “We were not down there more than an hour!”
“So we thought, but the first guardian hinted that we might have been talking longer than it appeared. Who can say what they’re capable of? That means the damage could only be worse if-”
“I would appreciate it,” the patriarch interrupted. He straightened. His armor was covered in dust and-she squinted-blood? “Yes, I would appreciate it if you would recall who it is you face. I am, after all, lord of this domain.”
“This sounds very familiar,” Gerrod muttered. His father, possibly understanding what he said, focused on him. The warlock retreated into his cloak.
