But Rhonin's relief was short-lived, for, with a look of anger, the black dismissed the rings.
'You are cunning and powerful... for a human,' she declared. 'And if I thought you intelligent enough to see matters as they will be, I would let you live to serve and worship me.'
'How generous of you.'
'Your impertinence is no longer amusing. Dargonax, you may feast upon him.'
The gargantuan fiend roared. The huge head lunged at Rhonin, who cast a powerful force spell. Much to his dismay, though, themagic seemed instead to
He was going to die... and without knowing if Vereesa was at least safe. Someone had to be there for the children—
And then a terrible blast of energy struck Dargonax full in the face. The leviathan roared, but more from frustration than pain. He glared in the direction of the attack's source.
Zzeraku was free.
No, not free, not entirely, but enough that he could attack utilizing some of his magic... and the reason for him being able to do anything at all took the form of the draenei and, wonder of wonders, Rhonin's old comrade, the dwarf Rom. The pair stood near the rear of the imprisoned dragon, where Iridi even now sought to destroy one of the remaining crystals. Rom kept guard behind her, beating off a pair of skardyn whose fear of Sinestra's wrath had apparently been greater than their fear of either behemoth.
The priestess looked exhausted... and no wonder. She could not have been standing there for more than a handful of seconds, yet, in that time, she had managed to do far more than before.
Dargonax shook off the effects of the spell. The Devourer leered not at Zzeraku, but rather Iridi. 'What have we here? Another morsel of power?'
The draenei could have fled during Zzeraku's attack, but had remained behind to finish her task. She turned at Dargonax's voice and prepared to make a stand against him, which made the behemoth laugh. As she raised the staff, he exhaled at her.
A ring of foul red energy struck her, sending the draenei hurtling back. She crashed against the rocks near the last of the bonds and lay still.
And from Zzeraku there came an angry roar that caused even Dargonax to pause.
His savior had been attacked. The one creature who had believed him to be something worth saving lay as if dead.
Zzeraku shrieked his fury. This tiny, insignificant creature had shown more value than he ever had. She had stood where he likely would have fled. Shame filled the nether dragon.
He strained to be free, to be able to throw his full might at Dargonax... and this time the remaining strands could not deny him.
With great glee he felt them shatter. Freedom was his at last, but Zzeraku did not waver in his choice. He was not afraid of the larger dragon, whose size and relative solidity in the nether's mind only made him that much more easy a target. Indeed, he flew with eagerness to confront his foe.
'Foul vermin!' he roared at Dargonax. 'You are good at harming the little ones, as I once blindly did, but Zzeraku is not little! Zzeraku will teach you that they are worth far more than you or I! Far more!'
However weak he had looked previous, Zzeraku was now a mighty fury. Lightning crackled all around Dargonax, sending the twilight dragon into a startled retreat. The walls shook as, in his surprise, Sinestra's massive creation collided with them...and a nether dragon learned what it meant to fight for others, not himself.
But if Dargonax was occupied, that still left Sinestra. Furious at what she beheld, she roared. Her mouth distorted, becoming more reptilian. One clawed hand thrust out at the draenei—
Rhonin put all his will into a shield between Iridi and the oncoming spell. When the black dragon's power struck, it jolted the wizard as if he were the target. Rhonin cried out, but held his ground even as Sinestra fed more and more into her assault.
At that moment, the priestess stirred. She managed to push herself up....
But as Iridi rose, Rhonin noticed a new danger to her. A drakonid had slipped out of one of the tunnels and in one hand he held a small weapon like a crossbow.
A weapon aimed at the priestess's back.
Rhonin would have warned her, but then a monstrous black paw came out of nowhere to smash the distracted wizard against a wall. A raptor leapt to his defense, only to be crushed in the jaws of a great, ebony dragon.. .an ebony dragon with one side of its face covered in grotesque burn scars.
The true Sinestra spat out the reptile's remains, then leered at Rhonin. 'Much too sinewy...I prefer a tidbit a little more soft...like you...'
She bent to swallow Rhonin—then suddenly looked away. The black dragon let out a mad snarl... and disappeared.
Krasus paused.
'What is it?' Vereesa asked.
'Kalec, you and she go on ahead!'
The younger dragon frowned. 'If you—'
'Do as I say!'
Kalec shut his mouth. After a moment, he nodded. To Vereesa, the blue said, 'We'd better listen.'
The ranger looked to Krasus. 'You're heading back the way we came...why?'
In reply, the dragon mage gritted his teeth...and vanished.
The high elf spun around to face Kalec. 'I know how much that cost him to do! Neither of you are strong enough to really transport yourselves yet! Not in Grim Batol! Why is he heading back—'
'Because he must... just as we must hurry on!' Kalec eyed her close. 'All the evil of Grim Batol has come to a boil....'
Because she could do nothing else—and because she feared somehow that Rhonin was here and in the midst of it all—the ranger reluctantly nodded.
But as she and Kalec picked up their pace, Vereesa could not help but imagine why Krasus now risked so much... imagine it, and shudder.
A gasping Krasus materialized in the chamber of the eggs. The hundreds of misshapen eggs immediately sent a new wave of revulsion through him as he once again thought of the lives within that would never become what they should have. He cursed Sinestra for what she had wrought here.
This horrific chamber was his chosen destination, but not his final one. That, of course, had to do with the next cavern, the one that had housed the reconstructed Demon Soul.
And, as the faint golden glow emanating from it indicated, a foul artifact yet again seeking resurrection.
'More than enough pieces, more than enough, I promise,' he heard Sinestra muttering. 'You'll be better and better than ever, you'll see....'
He stepped into the chamber to find the immense black dragon ever so gently plucking up the shards of the Demon Soul one by one with the great claws of her right paw. Each time Sinestra did this, she then set it floating before her. On the ground, the shards were still, lifeless, but once they floated, a hint of their vileness returned.
The secret for her ability to recreate it had to do with the cube she wielded in her left paw. It took Krasus a moment to recognize Balacgos's Bane, and he marveled that this other artifact, as dangerous as it was, could enable Sinestra to rebuild the second and far worse one, even if the Soul would still be a shadow of its former infamy.
What mattered was that it would exist
'Soon, very soon,' she murmured to the floating shards. 'Almost enough! Almost—'
With a roar, she turned her head toward Krasus and unleashed a torrent of molten lava from her gullet.
But Krasus had been expecting such an assault from one of the black flight, the followers of the Earth-
