Dragonlord and the Great One together had defeated the gemstone dragons once before, and Thelvyn possessed a combination of the powers of both. The Great One had never said he would lose the powers of the Dragonlord when he made the decision to remain in dragon form. He couldn't afford to overlook the tremendous powers he possessed as the Dragonlord.
For the time being, Marthaen agreed with Thelvyn that he should wait at least a day to give time for the invaders to move away from the protection of their strongholds in the north. Once the Masters and their army were well away from their strongholds, Thelvyn and the dragons would attack, cautiously drawing out and slaying the gemstone dragons a few at a time. If the invaders couldn't be stopped before they reached Braejr, then Thelvyn would probably assume the form of the Dragonlord and face the enemy in a final battle in the fields north of the city, where there would be no woods or hills to conceal the enemy from him.
'I would like to suggest one other alternative,' Marthaen added. 'My sorcerers have been working hard at probing the nature of the Radiance. They have been exploring it in visions, which seemed the best way to delve into its secrets without exposing their minds to traps or other dangers. They've been making significant progress, and they hope to know the nature of the Radiance and learn how to control it very soon.'
'How soon will they know?' Thelvyn asked. 'If I am to wait for the Radiance, I need to know that it will work by tomorrow morning. Otherwise, I must make plans that do not include its powers.'
Marthaen nodded. 'I understand. I will have your answer by morning.'
In addition to his many other concerns, Thelvyn had to be careful that only his most trusted friends and advisors were aware of his true plans. He hadn't forgotten that there was a proven traitor somewhere in the city, a spy who had somehow relayed the details from his first meeting with the Grand Alliance to the Masters. He knew the spy must be a delegate to the meetings of the alliance, and he strongly suspected he was the representative from Alphatia. Thelvyn wanted to give the Masters the impression of being less prepared for battle than he actually was, a tactic that had worked well for him once before.
So far the only delegates who had left Braejr were Korinn Bear Slayer, Lord Derrick of Darokin, and King Celedril of Alfheim, who had returned to their own lands to prepare armies for the defense of the Highlands. The other delegates remained in Braejr for now, although they would most likely leave if a siege threatened. Thelvyn kept them informed of his plans, but only those matters he wanted them to know. If the Masters appeared to know only what he told the delegates, he would know for certain where his spy was hiding. At the same time, he hoped to be better prepared to face the Masters than they expected him to be.
Of course, he said nothing of the Radiance or made any suggestion that the dragons and the Fire Wizards were seeking special magic to defend the city. The Masters knew of the Radiance and possibly already knew more about its true nature than he did, and they could easily guess that he might be trying to find ways to use it as a weapon against them. He knew that he could not hope to be fully successful in tricking them, but he still hoped to give the impression that the dragons were having no luck in probing the secrets of the Radiance.
The dragon sorcerers were indeed making progress in understanding the Radiance. As he had promised, Marthaen came to the lair early the next morning to report all that he had learned so far. The discoveries of the sorcerers were so remarkable that both he and Alessa agreed that no one should hear what they had learned except a few who really needed to know. The only others admitted to their meeting were Kharendaen, Sir George, and Perrantin.
'At least we have a very good idea of what the Radiance is,' Marthaen began. 'I admit that we cannot completely understand what we have found, and perhaps we never will. As we had expected, the source of the Radiance is not an artifact of magic or a portal into another plane, but a great machine that generates tremendous amounts of power. Although it is similar to the devices of ancient Blackmoor, it is obviously alien in origin.'
Thelvyn lifted his ears in surprise. 'Could this be something that the Masters made for their own use long ago?'
Marthaen shook his head firmly. 'The device is very old, older than the origin of the gemstone dragons. In fact, it predates even the dragons themselves. It might be a relic of the forgotten First Age of the world, the time of the civilization of the Eldar, before the coming of men and elves. And we suspect that it might not be from this world at all.'
Thelvyn thought he had never seen Mage Perrantin look so pleased since they had first discovered the Citadel of the Ancients. The discussion of the Radiance excited his curiosity so much that he appeared ready to take a shovel and start digging for it. Thelvyn also wondered why Alessa looked so sullen and angry, even disillusioned.
'Can the Radiance do anything to help us?' he asked, wondering if that was the cause of her concern.
'I believe that it can,' Marthaen answered. 'One thing we have discovered is that the Radiance device, as powerful as it is, has only been waiting idly. It is capable of producing far greater power in service of anyone who can command it. The mortal wizards are unable to control the function of the device itself. They can only channel its powers into other forms of magic. But the dragons can control the device.'
'And the Masters as well, no doubt,' Sir George commented.
'Unfortunately so. We still dare not attempt to destroy it. We can at least shut it down, but it could easily be brought back to life again by the Masters if they were able to capture
it.'
'But the dragons can use it to defeat the Masters,' Alessa said. Thelvyn now understood the cause of her discontent. The Fire Wizards claimed the Radiance as their own, but they could never fully command it. Only the dragons could do that, which seemed to give them a claim as the rightful owners of the Radiance.
'We cannot defeat the Masters with the power of the Radiance alone,' Marthaen was quick to explain. 'The range of its power remains limited even to us. But we could use it to drive the Masters from the Highlands and prevent them from ever returning here. And that might be, the key to their ultimate defeat, since their plans for invasion seem to have been built around their control of the Flaem.'
Alessa sighed deeply, apparently coming to some kind of a decision. 'That's why I decided to surrender the control of the Radiance to the dragons, so that they can use it to protect us at a time when we cannot save ourselves. The people of Braejr are feeling the pull of the Masters very strongly now, in spite of the protection of the wards that the Dragonking has set, and it causes us great discomfort. I would not have my people suffer an hour longer than can be helped.'
'We will do all that we can for you,' Marthaen assured her. 'If we can vanquish the Masters from the Highlands, they will never be able to return. Only one or two dragon sorcerers could then use the Radiance to keep all our lands secure from their influence.'
Thelvyn looked up suddenly. 'Are the Masters aware of your experiments with the Radiance?'
'They must be,' the older dragon agreed. 'When we manipulate magic of such proportions, they must surely sense it. And as our control of the Radiance grows, they will be aware of that as well. I cannot guess how they might respond to that, except that there is nothing much that they can do to stop us.'
'How they respond is an important consideration,' Thelvyn remarked, almost to himself. Then he saw the others watching him. 'If they anticipate defeat, they might salvage what they can by retreating back through their gate at Braastar. Or they might still believe that common dragons are foolish and weak, no match for them even with the power of the Radiance. I don't know them well enough to anticipate an answer.'
'They have proved to be very cautious and calculating so far,' Marthaen reminded him. 'I can only believe they will continue to be so. If they sense that we are using levels of magic that could be a threat to them, they will certainly proceed more cautiously, possibly even withdraw.'
'Then we must respond accordingly,' Thelvyn agreed. 'I need to know when you plan to use the Radiance to break their power. At that time, I want to have somehow moved most of our dragons between them and their gate, and I will be there as the Dragonlord to face them. And no one in this city must be able to guess our plans.'
'If they retreat, is it wise to stand in their way?' Sir George asked.
'We have to win battles, not avoid them,' Thelvyn insisted. 'We must try to avoid fighting the Masters when they have the advantage, but we must fight them when the advantage is our own. If we allow them to escape, they will only return at a time of their own choosing.'
Marthaen bowed to his king and hurried to rejoin the dragon sorcerers. Alessa accompanied him, looking very tired and unhappy about the situation. Only recently had Thelvyn learned that the Flaem with the greatest talent for magic were also the most vulnerable to the call of the Masters, so he realized how much she was really
