at the hands of the Overlord wasn't completely healed yet, and his back and shoulders ached more with each passing mile. By the time they finally began their long, steady climb into the mountains, he was laboring under a torment of burning pain such as he had not endured since those dark, hopeless days in the stronghold of the Overlord. He knew he was hardly fit to turn and fight their pursuers as he had planned.
Indeed, he no longer saw much hope for escape. As the western sky began to darken with the fading of the last light of day, he saw perhaps a dozen more flickering points of light in the distance, following the first group of pursuers. A second, larger force of gemstone dragons was some five miles behind the first group. The first company of Masters was now barely a quarter of a mile behind the dragons. Thelvyn knew it was inevitable that he and his companions would slow even more as the climb into the heights became steeper, and he doubted they would be able to make it to the high peaks.
Suddenly the night itself seemed to shake beneath a great, echoing roar. It was the battle city of thousands of dragons as they rose swiftly from their hiding places in the woods below. They launched themselves fearlessly at the gemstone dragons, making the most of the element of surprise and their overwhelming numbers. The Masters responded almost too late, calling forth their enhanced powers. They opened their fiery jaws and arched their backs, releasing great, branching sheets of lightning that danced over the mountainside, exploding stone and earth. The land itself was shaken violently, rent and splintered by gaping cracks, so that entire cliffs and hillsides collapsed in great avalanches of stone and dust. Floods of intense flames washed over the lands, so that great stands of trees flashed into fire and exploded in the fierce heat.
But the dragons were already upon them, darting between the lightning and the fire. They attacked quickly but cautiously, guessing that their usual weapons of flame and claw with be useless against the fiery shapes of the Masters. The gemstone dragons suddenly found themselves caught in a deadly hail of large stones that their attackers had carried aloft. Battered relentlessly by stones, the gemstone dragons were stunned and their concentration was shaken. One by one, the magic that sustained their flames was broken, and they reverted back to their usual form. Then dozens of dragons descended immediately upon each of them, forcing them to the ground, where they were slain.
Thelvyn had circled back sharply the moment he saw what was happening. By that chance alone, he suddenly found himself hurtling headlong toward the leader of the Masters, the only member of his company that had been flying far enough ahead of the others to escape the ambush. They came together so quickly that it was almost too late for either of them to react. Thelvyn stood almost on his tail for an instant, breaking his speed furiously with his wings and sails, then dipped his left wing sharply, as if he intended to dart away and escape.
At the last instant, he reached out and caught the gemstone dragon's wing in his claws, holding tightly while he pulled back as hard as he could with long, quick sweeps of his wings. He knew that he was taking another chance, trusting his armor to protect him from the flames that flickered and danced over his opponent's entire form. The fiery dragon was whipped around sharply, scattering a great flash of flames that filled the air all around them as it struggled to catch itself. Each flailing stroke of its wings and whip of its tail raised a storm of swirling, leaping fire.
While Thelvyn didn't feel the heat of the flames, the gemstone dragon was thrown completely off-balance, and the tremendous drag of his weight made Thelvyn's back and neck explode in searing pain. He struggled to maintain his hold, closing his eyes and holding his breath as much against his own pain as to protect himself from the firestorm that engulfed him. In the next moment, the tough sail of the gemstone dragon's wing ripped away, tearing loose from Thelvyn's claws. Still struggling desperately to catch himself, the stricken Master plummeted downward in a flash of fire like a falling star. A moment later he crashed through the stands of tall pines on the steep hillside two hundred yards below, exploding in a great burst of flames.
Stricken with pain, struggling to keep himself in the air long enough to reach shelter, Thelvyn looked about quickly and then circled around to land in a small clearing atop a stony cliff. The battle was over by that time. The Masters were all dead, and the dragons appeared to have fared very well. They all watched for a long moment, staring westward at the flickering forms of the second wave of gemstone dragons, still several miles away. After a moment, their fires went out, and they circled around to retreat back to the west. The dragons let loose with a mighty cheer that filled the night and echoed and reechoed through the mountains.
In spite of his terrible pain, Thelvyn felt encouraged by the swift victory. All the same, he was dismayed by the amount of destruction the Masters had been able to unleash in the few brief moments before they were overwhelmed. Large portions of the surrounding hills had been raked by the lightning and flames of the gemstone dragons, and much of the land was ripped apart, as if it had been cut by random strokes of some immense blade, plowing aside great stones and shattering trees. Dragon sorcerers raced about the hillside, casting spells of dampening to put out a series of fires that threatened to spread through the forest.
Thelvyn's companions hurried toward him, aware that he was injured. Unsure of the extent of his injuries, Kharendaen and her brother moved in close to his side to support him, while Sir George returned to his more familiar human form the moment he was on the ground. For a long moment, Thelvyn could not even bend his back to lie down in the soft grass. He was surprised to notice that he had not been burned.
'What have you done to yourself?' Kharendaen asked as she called upon her clerical powers to begin easing his pain.
'I doubt that it's anything but my previous injuries,' he assured her. 'The muscles in my back are killing me.'
'You cannot be spared the time you need to rest and recover from your injuries,' she said bitterly. 'Your pain is so great that you can hardly even fly, and yet you must fight again and again.'
Thelvyn did not answer, since there was nothing he could say. A moment later he saw Jherdar approaching the edge of the cliff swiftly. He landed lightly and folded away his wings in a quick snap, then lowered his head respectfully as he approached, looking very anxious.
'Dragonking, are you hurt?' he asked.
'Nothing serious,' Thelvyn replied. 'I'll probably have to go through life as a sway-backed dragon, but the pain isn't too bad. I am far more concerned at finding all of you here, as grateful as I am for your unexpected and timely assistance. You were supposed to lead the dragons to safety.'
'The dragons had other plans,' Jherdar said, his usual loud, gruff self returning now that he knew the Dragonking wasn't injured seriously. 'If you can speak to them, I'm sure they would very much like to see you. They saw that you were in trouble, and they've gathered to await word of your condition.'
Thelvyn rose, moving stiffly forward until he stood at the edge of the cliff. Thousands of dragons had gathered in the meadow below him and all along the wooded slopes of the surrounding hills. Although the night was dark and moonless, he was certain they could see him as clearly as he saw them. They sat in deep, peaceful silence, their heads lifted high as they looked up toward their king with large eyes that glittered in the flickering light of the last remaining brush fires.
'It's all very simple, you understand,' Jherdar continued after a long moment, his voice alone breaking the utter silence. 'I wasn't about to leave you, and the dragons that look to me as their leader were determined to stay as well. When I told the others they were free to go, none would leave.'
'None of them left?' Thelvyn asked.
'No, of course not,' Jherdar said. Then he glanced away, looking a bit embarrassed. When he spoke again, it was in a softer voice. 'When it came down to it, we found that we just couldn't leave you. We might not have wanted you as our king at first, but you've turned out to be much more than we could have ever hoped. We know you would do anything to protect us, but you've also taught us that there are many things in this world worth protecting. So if you don't mind, we're going stay right here and fight with you, no matter what happens.'
Thelvyn closed his eyes for a moment to hold back the tears. 'It seems that the Overlord was wrong on all accounts. Just now, I couldn't be more proud to be a dragon.'
'Then we fight?' Marthaen asked. Jherdar lifted his head, ready and eager for battle.
Thelvyn shook his head slowly. 'No, not yet. So far we've managed to catch the Masters by surprise, but they've never made the same mistake twice. Given time and careful planning, we could wear them down, but now that the Overlord is here, he won't allow us that time. Yet I cannot face him with any hope of defeating him, not until I have the powers the Immortals have prepared for me.'
He rose and turned to walk away from the cliff, moving slowly through the dark forest up the long slope toward the mountains. The pain and stiffness in his back had eased somewhat, but he knew it would be a long
