Kalec suddenly gripped his arm and pointed farther on.
Two dragonspawn entered from the other side of the chamber.
The dragonspawn were more startled than the prisoners. Kalec leapt forward, a magical blade already summoned. It was fainter in its glow than Krasus knew that it should have been, but it still cut through thick scale well enough to badly wound the first guard. As the massive creature tried to rally, Kalec cut through both its arm and its chest.
As the one collapsed, the second started to call the alarm. Krasus gestured, hoping that at least he could spare enough magic to prevent that.
The dragonspawn's long mouth opened...but no sound escaped. The guard clattered his ax against the rocky wall nearby, with the same lack of results.
Expression almost murderous, Kalec battled the survivor. The ax came near his skull, but his weapon severed the head of the ax from the shaft.
As the guard registered the loss, Kalec slashed again.
The dragonspawn's muzzle dropped to the floor.
The monstrous guard stumbled back. Even for a four-legged giant, the loss was a terrible one regardless of the fact that the sword had also immediately cauterized the wound. The dragonspawn clutched at his ruined face.
The blue dragon drove his blade through the guard's chest.
Krasus joined Kalec, who was panting, but not from effort. The elder dragon saw that the younger had relived some past, critical moment.
'We need to dispose of them quickly,' Krasus whispered to him, more to shake Kalec from his reverie than because he really had to tell him what was obvious.
'This pit seems very handy.' Kalec created a blue-tinted glow sphere. He sent the sphere down into the pit for some distance, but when the bottom remained invisible, finally summoned it back to him. 'It's huge...and there's a tremendous drop on the right side, Krasus. This would be as good a place as any for these two.'
Krasus had no argument. The farther into the depths of Grim Batol, the less likely that anyone would find the bodies. The disappearances would still be noted, but there would be some question of what had happened, buying the escapees precious seconds.
Gritting his teeth from effort, Kalec used his magic to tip the first dragonspawn into the pit, then joined Krasus In disposing of the second in the same manner. It was not until the second slipped over the edge that they heard the first strike bottom.
Kalec smiled grimly. 'That definitely should be deep enough.'
Krasus nodded, but felt even more unsettled somehow. Suddenly he wanted to be very far from this chamber.
The other dragon noticed. 'What is it?'
'This is no unused chamber...' the red pulled his younger counterpart from the edge of the pit. 'That second cry... It had to be from somewhere near to here, Kalec.'
'And so?'
The unsettled feeling magnified. Krasus felt as if something lurked all around them, watching, judging.
His eyes narrowed as he studied the darkness of the pit again. 'Come! Hurry!'
There came a low, ominous sound that shook both to their core. It was a laugh filled with the promise of terrible things, terrible things that even dragons could not face.
From out of the pit arose tendrils of energy a dark and foreboding amethyst in hue. The monstrous waves of purple illumination were not an attack in itself, but presaged something terrible to come.
Kalec suddenly slipped. His body slid back, heading toward the pit as if pulled by an invisible hand. Krasus seized him, then pulled. At the same time, he felt something trying to drag him over as well.
'Leave me!' the blue shouted. 'Leave me!'
'Never!'
Kalec's feet tipped over the edge. Despite his best efforts, Krasus doubted that he would be able to save either of them.
Something tugged hard on the blue dragon.
Krasus could not maintain his grip.
With a shout, Kalec vanished into the sinister light below.
Krasus felt himself also dragged closer to oblivion. The edge of his feet crossed. He knew that in another breath, he would join the unfortunate blue.
And then... Just as suddenly as it started, the threat vanished. The sense that something huge was about to rise up over the edge of the pit ceased. The dark amethyst glow winked out.
Gasping, Krasus dragged himself away from the pit. He did not go far, though, still hopeful that Kalec might have somehow survived. The red crouched, then concentrated his will on the pit—
A powerful burst from the other end of the chamber sent him flying through the air. He collided with the far wall. Half-dazed, Krasus slid to the floor.
Sinestra loomed above him. She was terrible to behold, all pretense of propriety gone.
'You are troublesome,' Deathwing's consort quietly declared.
She held up a small container, a dread thing with four sloping sides that appeared to have been made from black and fire-red crystals that pulsated in what seemed a perfect imitation of breathing. The front side was the narrowest, the two flanking it longest. The lid bore a pattern of alternating crystals shaped to form a symbol that matched the shape of the box and, to Krasus's horror, identified its origins and use. The symbol represented a volcano, the ancient mark of the power of the earth...and the black flight, whose master had created it.
It was a chrysalun chamber....
Sinestra slid back the lid halfway—as far as it could actually move—revealing a v-shaped gap barely large enough to allow for a nut or some other tiny tidbit.
Krasus raised a hand before him in what he knew was a feeble attempt to stave off the inevitable.
The chrysalun chamber swallowed the dragon mage whole. The lid then slid shut of its own accord and the crystals began their slow, steady breathing again.
Tucking the artifact under her arm, Sinestra turned to the pit. She peered over the edge.
Dargonax stirred.
'You have been naughty,' she murmured to her creation, her ultimate child. 'Such a waste! I will have to find a proper punishment for you...'
'Forgivvveee...' a ghostly voice—like that of the wind on a chill day—replied from below.
'Your first word!' Her anger dissipated. 'Your first word... how delightful... you are almost all grown up now...'
Sinestra glanced at the chrysalun chamber, then into the pit again. After another moment of thought, she laughed and carried the magical prison off.
Her child was almost ready to leave the creche. There was much to prepare.
The landscape where Vereesa and the dwarves had been captured lay deathly quiet. The fissures remained open and from them sulfuric gases continued to rise.
A pair of strong, leather boots made only slight sounds as another newcomer to Grim Batol looked over the ravaged scene. He shook his head, then went in search for something in particular that lay among the ruined earth.
It was here, somewhere. He sensed it, sensed it as well as if it were a part of him... or
The evil that was the dread mount did not go unfelt by him. There were things even now that should be watching his every move, but they could not because they had been told by him to look other ways, at other things.
He had come prepared for the worst, and the worst he had found. Still, with him were not only his own tricks, but some added strength passed on to him by others. It was ironic that he, once reviled, now could ask for them what he needed and they would give it to him.
But then, so much had changed. It was for him interesting to think that one of the most consistent factors in Azeroth was that Grim Batol would be filled with menace. There was almost a twisted comfort in that
