Indeed, it had been Marthaen who had insisted upon giving it to him, saying that such a weapon was fitting for a true leader of dragons. In his Eldar form, Thelvyn was well trained in using a sword, but he had no idea if this ability held true in his dragon state.
'We expect to reach Braejr late tonight,' Thelvyn explained to Marthaen and Jherdar as they walked together toward the stairs. 'Matters being what they are, it will be best for us to enter the city in the dark. It would probably be best to summon representatives of the various nations to Braejr using the Thyatian griffon riders, until we can convince everyone that we are not their enemy.'
'For all the good this alliance is likely to do,' Jherdar grumbled. 'I'm still not sure what the other races can do to help us fight the Masters.'
'If nothing else, they'll have to bear the responsibility of defending themselves,' Thelvyn said firmly. 'If we send out dragons to guard every city and large town in this part of the world, there won't be anyone left to fight the Masters. Our first concern is to make it clear to everyone who their true enemy is, so that the dragons are free to move about wherever they want without worrying that the people we are trying to defend will attack us.'
They all fell silent while they descended the wide spiral staircase leading down to the ground level of the Hall of the Great One. Dragons were not built for going down stairs, so they had to descend carefully in single file.
'We will begin to summon and instruct the dragons at once,' Marthaen said when they finally reached the bottom and started toward the main door. 'The bands of dragons in the wild will be told to watch for any sign of our enemy, and an army will be gathered and prepared. However, the dragons would be more eager to serve if they could see the Dragonking for themselves.'
'Kharendaen and I can go to Braejr in your place,' Sir George suggested to Thelvyn.
'Thanks for the offer, but we still have a traitor to turn out,' Thelvyn said. 'I want to try break the influence the Masters have over Alessa Vyledaar so that she can tell us what she knows. And that might be something that only I can do.'
'Be careful,' Marthaen warned him. 'Until you break their influence, the Masters are going to know where you are and what you are doing. You will be most vulnerable to them at that time.'
'Didn't you say the dragon-kin are immune to their influence?' Jherdar asked.
'We thought so at first,' Kharendaen answered. 'The Masters made no attempt to control any of us when we were in their world. But they did control the renegade, Murodhir.'
'I suspect that the Masters had the Fire Wizards trap him somehow,' Thelvyn added. 'I'll have to be wary of traps as well.'
They all fell silent again as they filed out the main door of the Hall of the Great One, descending the broad steps down into the court paved with large, smooth stones. Thelvyn lifted his head and sniffed the cool morning air. The sun had not yet begun to climb above the rim of the crater, and the city remained in deep shadows. He saw a few dragons drifting on the morning wind above the towering buildings and halls of Windreach, their smooth white stone still appearing pale gray in the shadows. Other dragons could be seen sitting or reclining on the ledges of their lairs along the inside wall of the old volcano.
'I know you need me here,' Thelvyn said, turning back to the others. 'We'll be back in just a few days, I promise you.'
He crouched low and then leapt into the air, his wings snapping out and catching the wind with long, quick strokes. Within a couple of moments, he had gained enough speed to turn and begin to circle while he waited for his mate to join him. Kharendaen moved in close beside him, and they turned to fly westward over the city, building speed before they began to ascend in a wide spiral as they climbed over the outer wall of Windreach. They were just coming over the ragged edge when they moved into the morning sun, warm and bright above the ragged expanse of white clouds that hid most of the wilderness of Wendar far below.
By leaving early in the morning, they hoped to reach Braejr about two or three hours after nightfall. It was a long, difficult flight, especially since they had made the same journey in the other direction only a couple of days earlier. The two dragons had eaten their fill of venison and warm bread before they left, so they shouldn't be hungry.
Thelvyn had to admit that he would have liked a little more time to explore Windreach, having had only a portion of the previous afternoon to look about the city. He found that he liked the company of dragons more than he thought he would, at least now that they were coming to think of him as something other than their deadly enemy. Indeed, dragons of every breed were now eager to serve and to please him, even if most of them had still had to hide an almost instinctive fear of him. He even had his own lair now, not in the outer ring of the city but high in the towers of the Hall of the Great One, near the lairs of the clerics of his order. In fact, his accommodations were quite kingly, with an entire suite of apartments and young dragon clerics and one of the Eldar at hand to serve him and his mate.
Now that Thelvyn was more or less officially recognized as Dragonking, he was beginning to feel the weight of that responsibility, just as when he had been the king of the Highlands the previous summer. He didn't much feel like the lord and master of a nation as much as he felt like what he had always been, a defender. He saw his duties as the Dragonking as being not very different from what he had known as the Dragonlord, except that he now had far greater authority to direct others in assisting him. He certainly wasn't about to attempt to rule the Nation of Dragons himself, even if that authority seemed to be inherent in his rights as the Dragonking. He had already made it clear that he expected the parliament to retain its authority as the governing body of the
Nation of Dragons, although he would now become a pan of the parliament.
He appreciated the enormity of the task before him, arranging the defense of his world against an enemy even the Immortals feared. Having convinced the dragons to follow his leadership, he now had to convince all the other nations of the world to defer to him as well. He felt daunted to have to begin his reign as the Dragonking in such dire times, but that was the nature of his duty, the chosen defender in a time of desperate need. Becoming the Dragonking had never been intended as a gift that was his to enjoy, but a grave responsibility that he had been born to fulfill.
Night had long since fallen when the two dragons descended over the city of Braejr. Thelvyn led the way down, trusting in his developing sense of direction, and he landed quietly in the dark street just outside Solveig's house. He had hoped to avoid disturbing any griffons that might be stabled in the warehouse. There was indeed a griffon in the stables, and it made a few angry noises as the dragons landed, but nothing compared to what had occurred on earlier occasions. In fact, their arrival had so quiet that Solveig didn't come out of the house to investigate until they were almost finished removing their saddle and harness. Darius Glantri joined her a moment later.
'Have you finally moved in here?' Thelvyn asked the young Thyatian.
'No. Actually, I've been waiting for you to return,' Darius explained. 'I expect that you have a great deal to tell us.'
'Far more than you could have ever expected,' Thelvyn said, pausing a moment to leave his sword and harness in a safe place before he changed form. Only a dragon could have lifted that sword. 'But we can talk about it inside. We've spent the entire day in flight, and we could use some hospitality.'
'Yes, of course,' Solveig agreed, hurrying to assist Sir George with his travel bags. 'Let me give you a hand.'
'I appreciate the thought, but you're actually too late for that,' Sir George said, showing her his newly acquired left hand.
'My word,' Solveig said, obviously surprised. 'How did you manage that?'
'As it happens, it was a gift from the Great One for having made myself so useful to the Dragonking.'
Solveig led them into the den and had Taeryn fetch something from the kitchen. She even located a bottle of cherry liqueur for Sir George in the cabinet. He was greatly pleased, complaining that the real problem with a life of adventure was being required to do without so many civilized comforts. He had actually enjoyed a great many comforts while in Wind-reach, since the Eldar had been pleased to fetch anything that the companion of the Dragonking wanted, but there had been no cherry liqueur.
'Then you did succeed in finding the Collar of the Dragons?' Solveig asked impatiendy as soon as everyone was seated.
'Oh, yes. We finally found the collar,' Thelvyn said. 'I left it in the care of the dragons for now.'
'Was it where Alessa said it would be?'
