million strong in absolute control. The great fortress of storms continued to rise before him until he passed into its outer limits into its deep, protective darkness. The cold, damp winds grew fitful, and the constant flashes of lightning cast deep shadows through the forest.
Suddenly the will of the Overlord grew sharply stronger, opposing his attempt to seize control of the invading army. He was able to maintain his own will with increasing effort, but soon he was only holding his own, unwilling to expend the power he would need to force back the influence of the Overlord. It seemed wise to keep some of his secrets in reserve.
He found the Overlord where he had expected, at the rear of his army, surrounded by a score of Masters still subject to his control and five of the remaining metal warriors. The Overlord himself crouched in the center of the protective ring. In size and shape, he was very much like the warriors. Although his actions seemed to suggest cowardice, as they had in his own fortress when his prisoners had turned on him and he had allowed them to escape rather than face them himself, Thelvyn knew that he was actually trying to guard his own secrets. However, Thelvyn already knew this great, monstrous being was only a manifestation of the Overlord's magic and intellect, not his true self.
Thelvyn landed a short distance away and faced the Overlord and his bodyguards. Even though he was as small as a child in comparison to his enemy, he had to hope that his new powers were sufficient to keep him safe.
'This must be our last battle,' he declared. 'You cannot begin your conquest of this world until you have dealt with me.'
The Overlord cocked his massive, nightmarish head as he stared down at the gold dragon. 'Your powers have increased, Dragonking. Does your Immortal dare to support you?'
'I am his chosen champion. I was created specifically for the task of fighting and defeating you,' Thelvyn answered evasively.
'We shall see about that.'
Apparently the Overlord still wasn't ready to fight his own battles. Two of the nearby warriors dropped their massive heads, and the red jewels of their glittering eyes blazed with a surge of power, sending forth bolts of intense ruby light that struck Thelvyn in the chest. The force of the deadly beams hurled him violently backward, and he crashed heavily onto his back. The magic of the ruby light somehow seemed to rob him of his powers, leaving him weak and dazed.
The Overlord began to retreat slowly, removing himself even more from the actual battle. At the same time, his warriors began to move forward as quickly as dieir eight legs could move, placing themselves protectively between the Overlord and the fallen Dragonking. Apparently none of the nearby Masters were directing the warriors; the Overlord seemed to control their massive draconic forms himself. Thelvyn knew that the full power of the Dragonlord had been ineffective against the warriors, and the Overlord was confident that his small opponent could never be sufficient to break his commanding will.
Thelvyn was struggling to rise when the metal warriors attacked again, the beams of ruby light from their jewel eyes raking over the ground, advancing toward him. The very earth was rent asunder, shaken violently by the devastating blasts, which caused the ground to split open in great, gaping fissures before collapsing slowly into unseen depths.
Thelvyn was struggling to retreat from the fury of the assault when he was struck once more by the beams of ruby light. This time he was held trapped as several of the beams ripped over the ground to focus upon him. He was thrust down against the torn earth and held there, as if by some crushing weight. His neck arched in intense pain. His jaws were wide as if to roar out in his agony, but he had no breath to cry out. It was as if the power of the ruby light was ripping apart his very being. Then the ground beneath him tilted and began to slide away, hurtling him into the depths of the ragged fissure that had opened behind him.
He seemed to fall for a very long time, crashing against first one side of the gaping chasm and then the other as he plummeted into the darkness. Unable to catch himself, he finally landed heavily atop the loose debris of dirt and stone at the bottom of the fissure, snapping his chin violently against the ground. So weak that he could hardly move, he began to lift himself slowly and painfully in an attempt to escape that place before the warriors could trap him there.
Then the darkness at the bottom of the chasm grew even deeper, and he looked up apprehensively to see that one of the warriors was leaning out over the opening of the fissure more than three wingspans above him, as if it intended to climb down after him. It tottered on the edge for a moment before it fell, its incredible weight crashing downward in a shower of dirt and boulders.
Thelvyn instinctively dropped to the ground and lowered his head, preparing himself for the crushing impact of hundreds of tons of metal. Massive stones rained down upon him, and he was nearly buried in mass'es of damp earth, but the warrior itself slammed to a halt a couple of yards above him, its eight legs pinned against the sides of the chasm. Shaking his head free from the debris, Thelvyn glanced up fearfully. He had not been in danger of death-as an Immortal, he knew he could not easily be killed-but the destruction of his mortal manifestation would have forced him to retreat to his own plane to recover his powers, leaving the Overlord unopposed
in his conquest of the world.
Nor was the fallen warrior so easily destroyed. Although it hung upside down near the bottom of the chasm, it continued to struggle. Thelvyn pulled himself free of the dirt and stone covering him and began to work his way through the darkness until he finally crawled out from beneath the trapped warrior. He still felt weak and his powers remained uncertain, but his magic was slowly beginning to return. He ran a short distance along the bottom of the long chasm, intending to climb out in a place where his enemies might not be expecting him. The fissure continued to collapse slowly in a constant rain of dirt and stone, making the task of clawing his way out even more difficult. The effort required to pull himself from the chasm was tremendous, but using magic to free himself would have alerted the Overlord to his escape.
He climbed out at last into a scene of tremendous destruction. The attack of the warriors had devastated the landscape for hundreds of yards around the area of the battle. The ground had been ripped open by several gaping fissures, and boulders and great mounds of earth had been heaved aside. The remaining four warriors stood motionless some distance away, hesitant to enter the region of destruction because of the threat of becoming trapped. Thelvyn couldn't see the Overlord, but that meant the Overlord couldn't see him, giving him a moment more to recover his strength.
What he had forgotten in his desperation was that the Overlord could see through the eyes of his warriors. One of the metal beasts turned its head abruptly toward him, its jewel eyes glowing fiery red. One after another, the immense fighting machines turned and began to move ponderously in his direction, the smoldering lights in their eyes growing steadily brighter. Thelvyn knew they would begin attacking again at any moment, and he also knew he had not yet fully recovered his full strength. Desperate to protect himself, he employed the only defense he could think of, reaching out with his will to attempt to seize control of the crystal eyes of the warriors.
The Overlord was already sending vast amounts of his own power into the jewels, turning them into deadly weapons, but nevertheless Thelvyn's will was enough to prevent the discharge of that power. He had expected the Overlord to back off once the power had nowhere to go, but it seemed that his opponent was more stubborn than he thought, considering how cautious the Overlord had been in the past. The eyes of the warriors continued to grow brighter and brighter until they blazed like small red suns, and then, one after the other, the massive iron heads of the warriors exploded in rapid succession. The enchantments that controlled them destroyed, their lifeless forms collapsed heavily to the ground.
Thelvyn immediately seized the moment to launch his own attack, leaping up and bounding across the ruins of the battlefield. In the next moment, a crushing force like a vast, invisible fist struck him in the chest, knocking him completely off his feet and sending him hurding backward. Circumstances now demanded that the Overlord fight for himself, setting aside his usual caution to act direcdy, and he was obviously no coward. But Thelvyn was no longer so easily harmed; after a moment, he was able to spread his wings and catch himself in midair, returning quickly to the circle of combat.
He drove directly at the Overlord, rushing forward at tremendous speed. Although he was hesitant to reveal his true powers so soon, he knew that this was only the prelude to their true battle. He ducked down almost to the ground and then thrust himself back up again, striking the Overlord hard just under his chest, lifting his great bulk completely off the ground and flipping him over to crash heavily onto his back. The Overlord's remaining bodyguards, some twenty gemstone dragons, attacked at the same moment, having assumed their fiery forms.
