dragons guarding the fortress were now somewhere in the wild behind him, or if more might still be waiting within the fortress. He would have to be cautious, but he also needed to move as quickly as he dared.
At least he had sprung the first trap prematurely. If all four of the alien dragons had attacked together, neither he nor Kharendaen might have escaped. But who were these strange
dragons? Did they obey the Fire Wizards? Had they been expecting him? And had they been behind the recent attacks in his own world? He had many questions and no time to consider the answers, but he suspected that he would soon understand many things much better than he had. And if his suspicions proved true, he would demand an accounting.
Following the tracks in the sand that were already beginning to disappear under the relentless wind, he returned quickly to the place of the first attack. He paused a moment, giving Sir George a chance to see him in the expectation that he would want to be certain of his friends and enemies before showing himself. He also wanted to have a look about in the fearful possibility of finding the old knight's broken body. Sir George showed himself a moment later, emerging from a deep shadow amid the boulders.
'I'm glad you finally remembered me,' he complained, hurrying to Kharendaen's side.
'You were probably safer here than you would have been with us,' Thelvyn told him. 'But we must hurry now. The alien dragons are probably at the worldgate waiting for us to show up, but they won't wait long.'
'But won't we have to face them eventually?' Sir George asked as he pulled himself back into his saddle.
'Not if we can help it. I hope that we can raid their fortress while they're guarding the gate, then escape through the gate when they come looking for us at the fortress.'
Sir George looked skeptical but said nothing. Thelvyn had to agree with his companion's cynical assessment. Thelvyn knew any number of things could go wrong with his plan, but he still hoped for the best. He paused just long enough to rise up on his hind legs and lift his head to look around. He had wondered if the alien dragons would take to the sky to search, but he saw nothing. The fortress was only a little more than a mile from where they now stood. He hoped to be inside its forbidding walls very soon.
Dragons moved in an ungainly manner on the ground, but they could move along at a very quick pace and surprisingly quietly when they needed to. The land rose slowly as they approached the high point of land where the fortress stood, and they had to cross an open stretch of ground before the terrain became even more rugged during the last few hundred yards. At least it would hide their final approach. Thelvyn was both startled and immediately suspicious to see that the main gate of the fortress stood invitingly open, the massive wooden drawbridge lowered and the iron-bound portals within drawn back so that the soft golden light of lamps spilled out into the night.
Indicating that Kharendaen should follow at a safe distance, he stalked slowly along the last few yards of the road before inching carefully toward the open gate, creeping like a great cat, with his legs bent so that his deep chest was almost touching the ground. He edged forward until his slender nose was almost within the doorway, as if he meant to poke his head inside. Then, without warning, he suddenly leapt forward, hurtling himself ahead with an abrupt lunge of his powerful hind legs. His leap carried him well past any enemy that might have been lurking just inside the gate.
Thelvyn landed on the smooth stone floor of a vast chamber just within the gate and turned quickly to look for any enemy that might attack after that first moment of surprise. The purpose of this chamber was not immediately clear to him. It seemed to be like a great hall or large reception room rather than a courtyard or enclosed stables. There were few furnishings, and the light came from magical lamps set along the walls. Stairs at either side led up to a wide balcony on the second floor, although the stairs were exceptionally wide, long, and shallow-stepped. But there was no sign of any defender. Kharendaen slipped through the gate a moment later, lifting her head to look about.
'Everything here seems to be built to the proportions of dragons,' Thelvyn explained. 'Look at those stairs, the doorways, the height of the ceiling. I'm inclined to believe that those strange dragons are the true masters of this world.'
'But Alessa didn't say anything about dragons being native to this place,' Sir George said. 'That's not something she could have simply overlooked. All she said was that this was a stronghold of the Fire Wizards.'
'Yes, she did, didn't she?' Thelvyn agreed thoughtfully. 'Now, why do you suppose she neglected to mention something like that? We'll have a little talk with Alessa Vyledaar when we return to our own world. But for now, let's locate the collar and get out of here.'
'The collar is straight ahead,' Kharendaen said, staring intently toward a wide corridor that led directly inward from the gate. 'I sense its magic, and I can remember the distinct presence of the powers of the collar from the times when I have seen it in Windreach.'
'I'm almost surprised that the collar is still here, considering how the circumstances have changed,' Thelvyn said, having sensed the magical presence she described. 'Follow me. We still have no idea who else might still be lurking about this place.'
'Not traitor Fire Wizards, at least,' Sir George commented.
No attempt had been made to hide or safeguard the Collar of the Dragons in any way. Thelvyn followed the sense of its remarkable magic straight into the heart of the fortress, hurrying past many dimly lit chambers of great size. From what he could see, there seemed no doubt this was indeed a fortress or stronghold and nothing more. While everything was built to the scale of dragons, there were few furnishings, with no carpets on the cold stone floor and no tapestries or other decorations hung on the bare walls. Even the dour forts of the dwarves were more hospitable. Thelvyn smiled to himself, thinking that even the Fire Wizards of the Flaem showed better taste.
His search came to an abrupt end as the wide corridor led to the doors of the largest chamber he had seen yet, near the very center of the fortress. Thelvyn slowed to approach the doorway cautiously, then stopped just outside the chamber to look around. This chamber was truly vast in its proportions, the ceiling so high that he could have flown around it in a tight circle. Thelvyn guessed that this was a place where magic was learned and practiced, for great shelves of books lined the walls, and there were couches and reading stands much like those he had seen used by the dragons of Shadowmere. Objects he knew to be associated with magic also stood on the shelves and on stands, and on the walls hung weapons and samples of rare plants and the preserved bodies of strange creatures, the odd
trophies of explorations or perhaps conquests.
In the center of the room stood a simple stand of dark stone, nothing more than a long cylinder of smooth marble supported on a heavy wooden frame. Perched atop the stand was the Collar of the Dragons. Thelvyn had never seen the collar nor even heard it described in clear detail, but he knew immediately that this was the object of his quest. The collar was made of large golden plates hinged together so that it could change shape with the movements of a dragon's neck. A row of large, hollow triangular plates along the top were shaped to fit over the ridges of a dragon's crest. The plates of the collar were adorned with a wealth of jewels.
Thelvyn refrained from rushing forward to claim the collar just yet. He had become aware that one of the alien dragons was crouching close to the wall beyond the doorway to his right, ready to spring out as he stepped through- He pretended not to notice, seeming to keep his attention focused on the collar. He waited for a long, tense moment, letting his enemy become apprehensive with uncertainty. Then he darted forward in a sudden, unexpected move, catching the alien dragon by the neck and dragging him down.
Thelvyn almost lost the battle as quickly as he had seized the initial advantage. Having little experience fighting in his dragon form, he was unaware that he should have seized his opponent's neck with his jaws and left his hands free to pin the arms of the other dragon, preventing him from thrashing and pulling free. The alien dragon was about to twist away when Kharendaen rushed forward and hauled back on his tail, pulling him off balance so that Thelvyn could get a better hold. Sir George jumped down from his saddle so that Kharendaen could help subdue their enemy without worrying about his safety.
The alien dragon acted surprised to face two intruders, and he suddenly relented, lying passively on his back and panting heavily. Thelvyn kept his entire weight on his foe's chest to prevent him from using his breath weapon. While the first of the strange dragons they had fought had possessed armor like plates of ruby, this one appeared to be made of amber. He was also larger, fully as big as Thelvyn, who was rather large for a young gold. Nor did he seem to be a creature constructed and animated by magic; they could see that he was definitely a male, and a golem would not have had a sex.
