simple appearance was enough to cause cracks and fissures in the solid mountain as the entire region now shook with vehemence.
A gargantuan stalactite suddenly broke free. Caught up in his reverie, the Earth Warder did not notice it until it was too late.
Only a formation of this magnitude could have injured the black dragon. It struck Neltharion on the left side of his jaw, ripping away even the hard, scaled flesh. One piece of bloody scale went flying, its hard edge hitting the Dragon Soul at the center.
Neltharion roared with horror, not for himself but rather at what had happened to his precious creation. The scale gouged the disk deep, ruining its perfection. The shapes above and below spun in an uncontrolled frenzy.
The dragon acted quickly, ending the spell. The ghostly figures sank back into the disk, but slower, more hesitantly than he desired. As they vanished, the tremor ceased, leaving only drifting dust to mark its brief but terrible passage.
When it was safe to do so, Neltharion seized the Dragon Soul and held it close. The gouge was not as deep as he had thought, but that it existed at all nearly threw him into a new fit. He had not expected anything, much less himself, to be a danger to the disk.
'You will be healed,' he whispered, cradling the tiny piece in his paw as a mother might cradle her child in her arms. 'You will be my perfection again…'
Clutching the disk tightly, he departed the chamber as quickly as he could on three limbs, heading back up in a swift, half-hopping motion. Neltharion radiated a pensiveness that would have unnerved even his consorts. The Earth Warder's breathing turned ragged, as if he feared that all he had wrought would now be for nothing.
Rather than return to where his own kind dwelled, however, the dragon veered to another series of tunnels. The hammering echoed louder as Neltharion moved his tremendous bulk through the narrow corridors, soon becoming distinct sounds of hard work. Peculiar voices chit-tered away, but their exact words were drowned out by the hammers.
Neltharion thrust himself into the new chamber. The fiery illumination forced him to let his eyes adjust for a moment. When they had, they revealed scores of tiny, limber goblins busy in various stages of metalwork. There were huge ovens everywhere, all fueled by the raging, molten earth far below. Half a dozen of the green-skinned creatures struggled to remove from one huge casing what seemed an oval shield fit for a giant. The metal inside blazed a bright orange. The goblins quickly turned the casing over, letting its contents drop into a vat of water. Steam rose in a tremendous burst, nearly boiling one slow worker.
Other goblins hammered away at various pieces. A few wearing smocks wandered among the rest, making certain that everyone did his task properly.
Not finding what he searched for around the chamber, Neltharion roared, 'Meklo! Meklo, attend me!'
The leviathan's cry overwhelmed all other sounds. Startled, the goblins halted in their work. Two almost poured molten iron on a comrade.
'To work, to work!' snapped a high-pitched, irritated voice. 'Want to ruin all?'
The laborers immediately obeyed. From a walkway above, a spindly goblin of elder years, with a tuft of gray fur atop his otherwise bald head, scampered down to the impatient dragon. The chief goblin muttered to himself all the way, but his words held no anger against his master. Instead, he appeared to be constantly calculating things.
'Density of eight inches with a surface area of a hundred twenty square feet, which means approximately adding forty-two more pounds to the mix and-' His foot bounced against the center toe of the remaining forepaw. The goblin glanced up, acting almost surprised to see the leviathan. 'My Lord Neltharion?'
'Meklo! See this!'
The Earth Warder brought his huge paw close so that the goblin could study the disk. Meklo squinted, making a tsking sound.
'Such craftwork, and now marred! The design was flawless!'
'A scale of mine fell upon it, goblin! Explain why that should damage the invulnerable!'
'Blood, too, I see.' Meklo looked up, surveying Neltharion's injury for a moment before tsking again. 'Of course, this makes perfect sense! My Lord Neltharion, you were integral in the formation of the disk itself, yes?'
'You were there, goblin. You know.'
'Yes. You created the matrix of its construction.' The head goblin thought a moment more, than asked, 'The others, they've given their essences? They're tied into the disk's matrix?'
'Of course.'
'Aaah, but you are not. You created the Dragon Soul matrix, formed it with your power and blood, but you are the only dragon not directly bound to it.' The goblin grinned, showing pointed yellow teeth. 'That makes you its only weakness, my lord. The scale, your blood…any part of you has the capability of destroying the Dragon Soul. You could crush the disk with ease, I imagine.' Meklo made a squashing gesture with his index finger and thumb.
The Earth Warder's eyes grew monstrous to behold, even for the goblin. 'I would never do such a thing!'
'Of course not, of course not!' babbled Meklo, groveling for Neltharion. 'Which means that nothing can ever destroy it, eh?'
The fury smoldering within the dragon lessened. Neltharion's lip stretched back, revealing teeth larger than the goblin. 'Yes, nothing. So, my Dragon Soul is…is invulnerable!'
'So long as you take no part in its destruction,' the spindly figure dared remind him.
'Which shall never happen!' Neltharion gazed down at the damage wrought on the Dragon Soul. 'But this must be repaired! The disk must be perfect again!'
'It'll require what it did last time.'
The dragon scoffed. 'You will have all of my blood that you need! It will be whole!'
'Naturally, naturally.' Meklo peered back at the other goblins. 'It will slow completion of your other plans. We need your blood and magic for those, as well.'
'All else can wait! The disk cannot!'
'Then we shall begin now, my lord. Permit me a moment to shut down work. I will return with the necessary assistance, then.'
As the goblin retreated, Neltharion breathed easier. His precious creation would be healed. Like him, it would be perfect once more.
And together, they would rule all…
Ten
'This is insufferable!' Lord Stareye said, removing a pinch of powder from his pouch and sniffing into one nostril. 'A perfect opportunity wasted, Kur'talos!'
'Perhaps, Desdel. Perhaps not. Still, it's done and must be looked past now.'
The two nobles stood in Lord Ravencrest's tent with several other aristocratic officers, discussing a plan of action now that the rout had been stopped. Desdel Stareye, however, was convinced that Krasus had been premature in deciding that the host had to come to a halt just when they had their enemy on the run. Stareye felt certain that the night elves could have advanced all the way to Suramar unhindered if they had just listened to him-an opinion he had voiced more than once since Krasus and the others had joined the group.
'The soldiers have fought valiantly,' the mage replied politely, 'but they are of flesh and blood and are flagging. They must have this rest.'
'Food, too,' grunted Brox, who had accompanied the spellcasters. The night elves had clearly not desired the orc's company, but as Ravencrest had not commanded him to be put out, no one, not even Stareye, would make an objection to his presence.
'Yes, there is that,' the master of Black Rook Hold agreed. 'The soldiers and refugees are eating and
