really expected to see him again. Perrantin looked much the same as ever, more like a baker or a street vendor than an experienced wizard, both in his appearance and in the way he dressed. Thelvyn was wearing the Collar of the Dragons, and the wizard realized that it was him at once.
'Thelvyn!' Perrantin exclaimed, hurrying to greet him as he entered the court. 'My word, it's been a long time.'
'It certainly has,' Thelvyn agreed, laying back his ears. 'And it has also been a long day for me. Did Sir George bring you here?'
'No, I commandeered one of your dragon couriers who was passing through Traladara bringing news of the invasion,' Perrantin explained. 'I thought you might need me, since I'm sure that Sir George is of no possible use to you as an advisor.'
'Now, why should I suddenly no longer be of my usual incalculable worth to the lad?' the old knight asked indignantly.
'Possibly because you are so insufferably pleased at getting back your missing hand that you can't possibly appreciate just how desperate the situation really is.'
'If you don't mind, the two of you can argue your alleged worth later,' Thelvyn interrupted, although he was privately amused. Watching those two eccentric older men reminded him of the days he had lived with Sir George in the small frontier village of Graez, making him feel almost like a child again. He had matured enough lately that he no longer resented feeling young. 'Is this a party to welcome old friends, or is this a serious discussion?'
'Alessa is having a problem with her Flaemish suspicion of strangers,' Sir George explained. 'She has some strong objections to allowing the dragon sorcerers to study the Radiance.'
'We don't have time for this,' Thelvyn remarked. 'Come with me.'
He walked slowly over to where Alessa Vyledaar was arguing quietly but firmly with Marthaen and the two dragon sorcerers. She was wearing a Flaemish wizard's robe with a high, stiffened collar, and Thelvyn was impressed by how much her appearance and demeanor reminded him of Byen Kalestraan. He sat back on his haunches facing them, sitting upright so that he was looking down at Alessa in a manner designed to be intimidating.
'What is the trouble?' he asked simply.
'The Radiance belongs to the Flaem,' Alessa declared sullenly. 'When the war is over, it is to be left in our control.'
'And I keep reassuring her that it will be,' Marthaen insisted. 'It's not something that we can take with us, even if we wanted it. We just want to help you use it to defend yourselves. Did you discuss this with the other members of your order?'
'None of us are happy about this,' she answered. 'But they've left it up to me to decide.'
'Then will you listen to Perrantin?' Thelvyn asked. 'He's come all the way from his dark hole in Traladara to advise you in your time of trouble. Perrantin is a wizard and scholar of great renown. When the renegade dragons were attacking six years ago, he took on the task of finding an answer when no one else knew what to do. They ended up making me the Dragonlord. I've never forgiven him. You can tell your young colleague what she should do, can't you, Perry?'
'Yes, I believe so,' Perrantin agreed, nodding vigorously. 'You have to let the dragons help you or the Masters are going to toss your pot, as the saying goes.'
'How pithy and direct,' Thelvyn commented. 'How can you refute such wisdom?'
Alessa had been glaring more and more fiercely with each
passing moment. 'You're getting to be as bad as Sir George.'
Thelvyn feigned surprise. 'I think I've just been insulted.'
'You can take that the way it was intended,' she told him, with a stern glance at the old knight that made him shut his mouth before he could comment. Then she frowned. 'Very well. Better to have the Radiance in the hands of the dragons than let the Masters take it. But you have to promise me that you will tell us everything that you learn about it.'
'I promise you will be told,' Marthaen assured her. 'What you do with such secrets will be up to you.'
Watching Alessa, Thelvyn was certain she was still rather suspicious, or at least angry. He hadn't understood the real problem at first, until he realized that her annoyance was not with the dragons but with herself. The Radiance was one of the greatest heirlooms of the Fire Wizards, much as the collar had been for the dragons. Alessa's instincts told her to refuse to allow the dragons to work with the Radiance because she very much wanted to uncover its secrets for herself. She might need a little more persuasion in the morning, but she would be more agreeable once the dragons had actually begun their research.
'If that's the last problem I need to handle tonight, then I plan to have my dinner and go to bed,' he said, turning his head to look at Kharendaen, seated patiently behind him. 'I've been fighting the will of the Masters all day, and frankly, I've had enough. Is there anything to eat around here, or do I have to hunt for my supper?'
'You've earned your dinner,' Solveig told him. 'It took some work, but we managed to scare up three virgins for you.'
'I don't find that amusing,' Thelvyn said as he rose slowly and began to move toward the warehouse.
'Wait in your lair,' she called after him. 'We'll have something brought to you right away.'
The next day brought new problems in need of answers. Thelvyn had been afraid from the first that the Masters would press their attack on Braejr as soon as they could, and he was not prepared for that. That was why he had resented the two days he had spent getting the people of Braastar to safety while he had needed to be making preparations for war. Of course, he was able to remind himself that there was little he could have done while he waited for the dragon sorcerers to arrive, and Marthaen had brought them only the previous evening. But while the time lost had been unavoidable, it had allowed the Masters to move ahead in their plans while he had accomplished nothing of real value in the interim.
Nor had he forgotten the mysterious voice that was the true master behind the Masters, the powerful will he had fought to rescue Alessa when her mind had been held captive. By necessity, he had been forced to fight the underlings of the true leader behind the invasion, dealing with the Masters and their armies first and often forgetting that his greatest enemy had not yet challenged him directly. That was why he found it so important to discover the secret to commanding the full power of the Radiance.
At least he had been able to enlist spies who kept him informed of the situation in Braastar, now a stronghold of the enemy. His dragons didn't dare fly near enough to the fallen city to see anything for themselves, but dragon messengers were able to secretly carry elvish scouts to within a few short miles of Braastar. They reported that an army of some fifty thousand was gathered in and around the city, and that perhaps two hundred gemstone dragons were gathered there as well.
The scouts also brought back reports of strange creatures that had been set loose in the woods and hills of the Highlands, terrifying, unworldly creatures that posed strange and unexpected dangers. Thelvyn had heard such reports during the invasion of Rockhome, tales of monsters with many eyes on short stalks, eyes that did not see but which possessed various magical weapons that could slay from a distance; flowing, formless creatures that hid in the shadows to trap the unwary; and huge insects with deadly bites and stings. Many types of monsters had been seen, creatures that had never before existed in Mystara, gathered by the Masters from many strange worlds.
Unfortunately, the release of such monsters was the least of the problems that Thelvyn and his allies faced right now. Just after dawn, the will of the Masters increased, so that many of the people of Braejr now struggled against the call of that strange distant voice. It was not yet so great that anyone was in danger of being enslaved, but it was enough to leave many of the Flaem troubled and distracted. The wizards tried to compensate by increasing the power of the Radiance, but they did not dare exhaust its reserves.
Thelvyn knew that he could no longer spend all his time fighting the will of the Masters. If he did not prepare to fight the Masters themselves, he would ultimately lose the Highlands to them. But he thought he might have one answer to the problem of combatting the relentless call of the Masters. Early that morning, he requested that six large stones should be brought to him. He didn't specify the shape of the stones, but they had to be of a certain type, a dense, dark stone with the sparkle of crystal, at least the size of a large trunk but not much larger. Within the hour, workmen had found building stones that suited his needs perfectly and brought them in a wagon to the court of Solveig's house.
Thelvyn had never tried to use his unique powers to create artifacts of magic, so he could only try his best
