'Haven't they?' Thelvyn demanded. 'The Masters have tried to implicate us for their attacks on other lands, with the intent of forcing us into war with those who are not our true enemies. The Masters were behind the theft of the Collar of the Dragons. There was a time when you were very eager to punish those who stole the collar, but you do not seem so eager now. Are you in sympathy with our enemies now that you know who they are, or is it that you fear them?'
There was a loud muttering among the dragons when they heard Thelvyn's bold accusations. Marthaen watched apprehensively. Thelvyn wasn't about to compromise himself to placate the red dragon. He couldn't afford to. He had to earn the loyalty of the dragons even if he must fight Jherdar for it.
'I am not in sympathy with our enemies,' Jherdar answered coldly. 'Nor do I fear them. You are young and hardly even know
what it means to be a dragon. You are too eager to go to war.'
'I am not eager for war,' Thelvyn insisted. 'And I am not proposing that we carry the battle into their world. We would be at a distinct disadvantage if we tried to fight them on their own ground. But at the same time, we can put them at a disadvantage when they invade our world. We must be prepared to defend not only ourselves but our world, wherever the Masters attack. If we wait until our enemy brings the war directly to us, we will have already lost.'
'Never!' Jherdar shouted, crouching in fury at the front of his ledge. 'If the enemy comes to us, then we will fight in our own defense, but never for a world that hates and despises us.'
Marthaen tensed, moving closer to the front of his ledge. He could see that Jherdar, caught between his anger at the other races of the world and his fear of the Dragonking, was desperate enough to challenge Thelvyn for the leadership of the dragons. Dragons were forbidden to fight within the city of Windreach and were required to take their challenges into the wild, but Jherdar looked furious enough to forget the law. It had happened before in the past, and Marthaen's duty as First Speaker was to insure that there were no fights on the floor of parliament.
'Yes, we will fight to defend the other nations of the world,' Thelvyn said patiently but firmly. 'We have no choice. What hope do we have if we allow the Masters to turn people who should be our allies into their slaves? Are we to wait until they besiege Windreach? What would you have us do?'
'We are fools to fight in the defense of those who hate us,' Jherdar insisted stubbornly.
'And do you believe that I am eager to do so?' Thelvyn demanded. 'I was their champion for five years before they chased me away in contempt, and now they beg for my protection. If anyone has cause to be angry with our world, surely it is I. But I will defend them just the same, because in so doing, it is my best chance to defend the dragons as well.'
'Then defend them alone,' Jherdar said coldly. 'That is your appointed task. The Immortals supposedly gave you all the power you need as both Dragonlord and Dragonking.'
'If I must fight alone, I will,' Thelvyn answered in a voice that was as cold and hard as ice. 'Do you think that I have forgotten the injuries I received from the dragons when I was forced to oppose you for your own good? I will defend you if I can, but if you prefer to act like a coward, then you deserve to be enslaved.'
Jherdar was obviously stung. The dragons tended to forget the price that Thelvyn had been required to pay for the sake of his duty, especially the grief and pain they had caused him. But Jherdar could not allow Thelvyn's attack on his pride to pass unchallenged. He drew himself up in cold fury. 'Even you may not talk to me that way.'
'Then stop wasting my time with your foolish talk,' Thelvyn answered him boldly. 'You have said nothing but words of cowardice and irresponsibility. Challenge me now, or follow me as your rightful king. I will accept no other choice from any of you.'
The silence that followed was absolute as the dragons waited tensely. All arguments were at an end, for Jherdar could do nothing now but accept the Dragonking or challenge him. Thelvyn had seen that this debate could lead nowhere but to compromise on his own part or a challenge of his authority, and so he had issued the challenge first, a bold move that surprised the dragons and impressed them tremendously. Thelvyn had fought and defeated gemstone dragons, and he knew that he could defeat Jherdar.
He waited calmly for his answer. In the end, it was his obvious confidence in himself that convinced Jherdar. The red dragon laid back his ears and sat back. 'I am not a coward, and I will not be disloyal when the Great One calls me to serve his chosen one. If you will lead well and wisely, I will follow you. Tell us what we must do.'
Jherdar's capitulation startled the other dragons, and they lifted their heads and moved out to the edge of their ledges to stare in astonishment. But their fear and anger had passed, and they waited in curiosity to hear what the Dragonking had to say.
'You have said that I do not know the strength of our enemy,' Thelvyn began. 'But I can infer at least this much: The Masters tried to conquer this world once before, and only the combined power of the Dragonlord and the Immortals succeeded in driving them into exile. They've had thousands of years to gather their strength, and they've returned at a time of their own choosing. Our only advantage is that they have to bring the battle to us, coming into a world where they have no strongholds of their own. We don't dare allow them a single victory.'
The dragons once again muttered anxiously among themselves, but Marthaen thought Thelvyn had finally gotten them to face the full implications of the danger they faced. The Immortals had chosen them to defend their world because they alone had any hope of defeating this enemy. Their only choices were to do their best to fight an enemy that might yet prove too powerful for them, or to be defeated by their own stubbornness.
'With any luck, we can still be ready for them,' Thelvyn continued. 'To be prepared for the worst, I propose an alliance between the dragons and the other nations of our world against the invaders.'
Jherdar opened his mouth to protest, then laid back his ears as he reconsidered and sat back on his haunches. He glanced over at Marthaen.
The gold dragon nodded slowly. 'He is the Dragonking. I will follow him.'
Jherdar considered Marthaen's words and nodded. The crisis of confidence was over, and the dragons would follow the Dragonking's leadership. They had doubted that he knew how to be a dragon, and he had proven himself by facing down Jherdar's challenge as one dragon to another. Marthaen realized now that the very confrontation he had been trying to avoid had been the only way that Thelvyn could have convinced the dragons that he was capable of leading them.
He decided that he would never tell Thelvyn that Jherdar had been under pressure from the representatives of the red, green, and black dragons to challenge him in combat. Then again, Marthaen wouldn't be surprised if Thelvyn had known after all. The new Dragonking seemed to know more about being a dragon than even Marthaen had expected.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Kharendaen helped Thelvyn remove the Collar of the Dragons and return it to its stand in the Hall of the Great One, where it had waited for the coming of the Dragonking for centuries. Marthaen, Jherdar, and Sir George Kirbey watched in silence from just beyond the two-stepped dais leading up to the stand. By nature of being first speaker, Marthaen, like Kharendaen, had the right to approach the collar, although neither of his two companions dared to pass the magical barriers that guarded it. The spells of protection were said to bring instant death to anyone who was not allowed access to the collar.
'I would feel better if you kept the collar with you,' Marthaen said to Thelvyn. 'I have no idea what powers it is supposed to bring you, but I would prefer that you had its protection.'
'If I wore the collar, there would be times when I might need to remove it to change form. If that happened, I would never feel the collar was safe. This is the only place I would ever dare to leave it. I still have the powers of the Dragonlord
to protect me.'
Having secured the collar on its stand, Thelvyn and Kharendaen descended the steps. They planned to leave for the west at once, and they were both ready for travel. Kharendaen was already wearing her saddle, since Sir George would accompany them. Thelvyn wore his harness, which now included a double-edged sword of draconic proportions, with a blade more than five yards long, much like the one Marthaen always wore when he traveled.
