of each city and the local commanders, and then they hurried on.
By late afternoon, they arrived at Fort Denwarf. Korinn had been concerned about the safety of the fortress he had been forced to abandon, but the invaders had done no great damage in their haste to push on into Rockhome. Korinn planned to summon a small force under General Balar from Stahl in a couple of days to secure the fortress and begin necessary repairs. The dwarves would feel better once their borders were secure once more. The dragons had already slain more than twoscore of the Masters. The rest had fled across the steppes back toward their base somewhere in the Wendarian Range to the north, with over a thousand dragons in close pursuit.
The Ethengar were in a worse situation, scattered in the forests of the foothills of the mountains of Rockhome. They had witnessed the flight of the Masters and the pursuit of the dragons, but they didn't understand what was happening. They remained as fearful of the dragons as they were of any other enemy, and so they were unwilling to come out of hiding to speak with Thelvyn and Korinn. There seemed to be no way to get news to them until the dwarves returned to Fort Denwarf, and Korinn knew that they would have to remain in the lower mountains of Rockhome for some time to come. The steppes had been completely destroyed from north to south and across its full width from the Northern Reaches in the east to the Highlands in the west. Weeks or even months would pass before the deep grass and the herds would return to the blackened hills of the plains.
Night had long since fallen by the time they had returned to Dengar. The upper city seemed to glow under the golden light of hundreds of lamps and flickering torches, for the dwarves were already hard at work on repairs. Their first concern was with restoring the damaged portion of the gate ramp and the gate itself, since there was no way to carry goods in and out of the city while that access was blocked. Dragons had already lifted the body of the amber dragon out of the trap in the gate fort and were helping to fix the collapsed platform.
'Now, there's something I never expected to see,' Korinn said as they circled down to land. 'Dragons working alongside dwarves. How were you able to manage that?'
'I told them the dwarves would pay them a hundred gold crowns each for their trouble,' Thelvyn said, staring straight ahead as he spoke. Finally he couldn't help smiling, and he turned his head to see if the dwarf was taking him seriously. 'Actually, the dragons are genuinely concerned about the Masters. And being helpful to someone else is such a novelty to them that it piques their interest.'
Kharendaen glanced at him briefly, as if she wanted to dispute his last remark about dragons, but she found that she could not. The gold dragons would, on rare occasions, offer some help to adventurers of other races if their quest and their motives seemed worthwhile. But for the most part, dragons were seldom helpful, even to each other.
Thelvyn circled wide, giving Kharendaen a moment to drop down quickly and settle onto the paving stones of the market square before the entrance to the lower city, a scene of great activity as the dwarves worked to restore Dengar. Everyone hurried out of the way as the two dragons approached, giving them far more room than they actually needed. Thelvyn dropped to the ground just as Korinn was climbing down from his saddle. The dwarves cheered loudly, and most of them rushed forward as soon as both of the dragons had folded their wings, but others paused to stare in awe and mutter among themselves when they saw that Thelvyn wore the Collar of the Dragons. He was pri-vntely amused to wonder if their admiration was for him or for the wealth of gold and jewels in the collar.
Korinn lifted his fist to the crowd in a triumphant salute. ' The Masters are gone, their armies scattered. Rockhome once more belongs to the dwarves. The dragons have brought us victory!'
The dwarves cheered again, then began to chant his name rhythmically. Thelvyn was grateful that dragons lacked the capacity to blush. Kharendaen poked him gently with her nose, reminding him to sit up straight.
Then the crowd parted, and King Daroban himself stepped out to greet the dragons, together with his eldest son. Daroban still wore his armor, but Dorinn had changed to more casual dress and appeared to have rested some, possibly against his will. He was leaning on a cane and walking stiffly. The crowd fell silent as Daroban came to stand before Thelvyn.
'Greetings, Dragonking, lord of the winds,' he declared.
'Greetings, Daroban, lord of the caverns,' Thelvyn responded. 'I have no wish to speak dark words at a time of celebration, but I cannot forget that we have won only the first battle in what will be a desperate war. Now that the Masters have seen what the dragons can do, they will be far better prepared for us next time. We have to be ready for them.'
King Daroban nodded gravely, while the dwarves listened in silence. 'I appreciate your warning, and I pledge to you all the assistance the dwarves have to give. We know now that if the dragons fall, then Rockhome must also fall in time. What can we do?'
'I have already called a council from all the nations of our world to meet with me in Braejr,' Thelvyn explained. 'I need for you to select a representative to attend that council, someone you trust well enough to vote on important matters and whose judgment must be binding. You must be prepared to set aside all past differences with those who must now become your allies, at least until our common enemy is defeated. We must all stand together, dwarves and elves, men and dragons, or we will surely be defeated.'
Daroban nodded grimly. 'So be it. I understand that the Immortals themselves have selected you to be our leader. You have proven yourself devoted to your duty, and I defer to your authority in matters of our common defense. I hereby appoint my son Korinn to be our representative to your council, and to serve you in any way he can as your companion and advisor.'
'Good,' Thelvyn answered. 'I will leave behind a small force of dragons until all the invaders have been hunted down. A couple of dragons will remain here at all times, to carry important messages and patrol your mountains for any sign of the invaders. I must now divide my force of dragons into equal parts and garrison them in different parts of the world so that we are ready to move quickly in response to the next attack, wherever it might come. But enough of grim words. It is time for a little more celebration and a great deal more work.'
The dwarves cheered once again, and then the crowd began to break apart as they hurried back to their tasks. Thelvyn felt a great sense of relief. If dwarves could work side by side with dragons and even defer to his authority, there was good reason to hope for the success of the alliance.
'Will you be coming below?' Korinn asked.
Thelvyn shook his head. 'As Dragonking, it befits my new station to remain in dragon form. I must seek my chief advisors, and then I will leave for Braejr at dawn. Will you be ready?'
'You will find me here.'
The dwarves drew back, cheering once again as the two dragons leapt into flight. Thelvyn led the way, climbing quickly into the night sky above the lights of the city before he turned to glide slowly beyond the edge of the escarpment. During his approach, he had seen in the valley the lights of large fires, where the dragons remaining at Dengar were making their camp for the night. He hoped to find Marthaen or Jherdar there, although he had to be satisfied to wait when he did not find them. While he waited, young dragons eagerly brought roasted meat for both him and Kharendaen.
Marthaen arrived several hours later, near the middle of the night. Kharendaen had been lying curled in sleep, but Thelvyn had been sitting up on his haunches staring at the moon, lost in thought about the challenges he still faced. He moved quickly aside so that the older dragon would have room to land in the clearing.
'The Masters are gone,' Marthaen reported simply as he folded away his wings. 'They are swift and gave us quite a chase, but we had a force of a hundred dragons waiting in the Wendarian Range to intercept them. Only seven of them escaped us in the end, destroying their worldgate behind them. Apparently they were using only that one gate, since rhey had a large supply base hidden in a deep valley nearby. There was evidence of tens of thousands of soldiers spreading out from that one base to establish lesser camps in the foothills before they pushed into the steppes in a single line more than three hundred miles wide.'
Thelvyn nodded slowly. 'The dwarves thought there were a couple hundred of the gemstone dragons, but they had to admit that they had no way of knowing for certain.'
'I would say they overestimated the number in their excitement. We found no more than some fourscore in all. As long as we have them completely outnumbered, we have no cause for concern.'
'We don't dare count on that,' Thelvyn said. 'How many dragons did we lose?'
'We suffered a couple of hundred injuries, but few of them were serious,' Marthaen answered, obviously pleased. 'But I don't believe we lost a single dragon. As I say, we overwhelmed them with our numbers and caught them off guard. I am curious about one thing, however. When you and Kharendaen fought them in their own
