Legends of the Dragonrealm, Vol. III

“Misfit . . .” muttered Ursa, breaking her silence. “Freak of nature . . . they usually don’t live this long. . . .”

It only remotely resembled a dragon. The thing was several times taller than a human, but that was in part because it stood on two legs instead of four. The tail that dragged for several yards behind was all that allowed it to balance. Even still, the monster teetered at times, in great part because its head was far too large for its body. Strange follicles almost resembling whiskers hung down from above its maw. Two spindly, almost useless arms waved back and forth in agitation.

It should have been dead. It should have died of starvation or something after Cabe and Gwen had forced it into the depths of the immense cavern system. Trust my luck that not only did it survive, but Toma found it first!

The renegade was laughing, no doubt in part because of the expression that had crossed the warlock’s countenance when the beast had first started toward him.

“Yesss, I think you recognize each other. He isss more than a dumb beassst like a riding drake, human. He is very much like usss, a thinking-to a point, that is-creature. Doubt not that he recalls what you did to him and the one who gave him care and purposesss. Doubt not that he remembers well when you took his provider from him.”

At the comment, the thing howled. Everyone but Toma was forced to put their hands to their ears until the monster ceased.

The duke silenced his pet with a glare. Had he not known what the creature was capable of, the mage would have felt more sympathetic toward its plight. It craved guidance. It needed someone to command it. Unfortunately, that someone had first been the Gold Dragon and now was the renegade.

“How did you find it?” Cabe asked Toma, not so much because he wanted to know but because he was desperately trying to think of some way to defeat the monster before it literally destroyed him with a glance.

To his relief, Toma was willing to explain. After so many years of silently coordinating his various plots, it was not surprising that the renegade might desire to boast of his success to his enemies. “After the death of my sssire in the Northern Wastes, I returned to this cavern. Although I dared not leave signs of my stay in the upper system, I was still able to spend quite some time here recuperating and thinking.” There was a distant look in Toma’s eye. “I know the cavernsss of Kivan Grath better than anyone. I explored their depths asss no one before me or sssince. There are few sssecrets here that I am not privy to.” He pointed at the waiting monstrosity. “Who do you think firssst noted the potential and informed the emperor asss to the possibilitiesss? I am always looking ahead, plotting for every circumssstance . . . but then, you know that now, don’t you?”

Kyl moved a step, but Toma’s pet turned and eyed him, causing the young drake to grow still once more. The monster seemed a bit confused by Kyl, Cabe noted. Why that was, he did not know, but it was something definitely worth considering . . . provided that Toma gave him the time to do so.

The duke gave Kyl a mocking smile. “It would be ill-advisssed to move much, Your Majesty. Asssk Master Bedlam. He knows what this creature can do. A magical marvel! A fire- breathing dragon in reverssse! Let him fix his baleful eye on you long enough, and suddenly the world will feel like an inferno. It will be asss if all the heat of the world isss building up within you and there is nothing you can do to douse those fires. All thisss will happen in but the blink of an eye, too.

“You will burst into flamesss and be consumed from within. A truly novel death, at the very leassst. Our sssire found him to be a very useful tool, much to the permanent regrets of the traitorousss kings Bronze and Iron.”

Everyone knew that something had happened to the two Dragon Kings who had sought to usurp control from their counterpart, Gold. What the emperor had done had been a mystery. The only thing that most knew was that there had been little left of either drake lord. The deaths had, for a time, quelled any further notion of rebellion by the surviving monarchs.

“Massster Bedlam!” whispered Ursa in as quiet a voice as possible. “I remember that thing . . . I sssaw it once; heard our sire talk about it. The . . . the creature was blindly obedient to the emperor!”

Blindly obedient? To the Dragon Emperor? A plan, admittedly thin in substance, came to the warlock. At the very least, it would throw Duke Toma’s plans into chaos . . . hopefully all of them, this time.

“The emperor must’ve taken good care of it for it to have survived at all. It must’ve been very loyal to him.”

Toma was visibly amused by the continuing conversation. He was clearly prolonging it only to give his foes desperate hope. In the drake’s eyes, he held all the cards.

Cabe hoped that did not prove to be true.

“Only my sssire had greater control over him than I did . . . and now, only I am his massster!”

The monster’s attention strayed to Toma while the renegade spoke, but then the head slowly swung toward Kyl again. It was not simply the young drake who seemed to interest him, though, but also Kyl’s proximity to the throne.

“But if Gold-if the Dragon Emperor were here,” persisted Cabe, “it might not even look at you.”

Toma now only looked annoyed at his comments. Cabe dared not look at Kyl, for fear that the renegade would realize what he was attempting to do. The drake duke folded his arms and stared at the warlock. “I think that this missserable attempt to drag out the last few momentsss of your lives has come to an end, human.” He had eyes for no one other than Cabe. “I think that it isss time to end our long and colorful association, don’t you?”

The renegade turned to the monstrous creature, who seemed to shiver in anticipation.

“Stop!” roared a commanding voice that echoed throughout the caverns. “I, your emperor, command it!”

Even Toma could not help but turn.

Cabe thanked the Dragon of the Depths and whatever else might be watching out for Kyl and the others. The heir had picked up on what the warlock had been hinting at . . . picked up on it and taken it further than Cabe could have believed possible.

Kyl no longer stood near the throne. Instead, impossible as it was to believe, there loomed before them a dragon as had not been seen in years. To Cabe, it was as if time itself had stepped backward, resurrecting for all to see the glory of the Dragon Emperors in the form of the drake lord Gold.

He had confronted the emperor only in the final moments, when that glory had been, in great part, tarnished by madness. Kyl, on the other hand, was a sleek, gleaming leviathan, the epitome of glory and command.

For several seconds, even Toma was speechless. He gaped at the dazzling sight, then recalled himself. Hissing loudly, the duke whirled to his pet beast and pointed at the sun-drenched form atop the dais. “Slay him!”

In response, the monster emitted a mournful howl. Duke Toma stepped back as if slapped. The creature took a few tentative steps toward Kyl, then paused to glance at the renegade.

It remembers the Dragon Emperor as its guardian! It did not matter that this was not the same dragon. Kyl was similar enough in form that even Cabe had had to look twice to see the differences. Toma’s pet had evidently sensed the kinship from the beginning. Moreover, to it, the throne represented the emperor, the one who had given it a place. The beast was understandably torn in its loyalties. Kyl had solidified that impression by taking on the form of his sire.

The heir had done something more than simply copy the appearance of his father. Cabe doubted that Kyl had ever so completely changed form before. What everyone saw now was the form that the drake, had he not been influenced by human presence, would have certainly worn when he had reached adulthood. What stood before them was truly Kyl, emperor of the drake race.

It was a realization that did not sit well with Toma.

“What are you waiting for, you misssguided monstrosssity? That isss not the one who gave you purpose! That isss an enemy of hisss in disguise! I am the only one you can trussst here!”