“She’ll obey me?” Kendra asked.
“Yes,” Raxtus said. “The hamadryads of her line serve the unicorns. Cyllia has already been prepped to heed the orders you give.”
“Ronodin is a unicorn,” Kendra pointed out.
“But Ronodin is a disgrace,” Raxtus said. “Unicorns despise him. The power of his crown mainly influences fairies.”
Kendra slipped the ring and the seed into a pocket.
“Potion maker,” Raxtus said, turning to Tanu. “The Fairy King thought you might benefit from these ingredients.” He held up three packets the size of tea bags. “Source water, unicorn blood, and powdered horn.”
“Powdered unicorn horn?” Tanu asked, clearly excited.
“Yes,” Raxtus said. “It can only be obtained after a unicorn dies.”
“Rare ingredients,” Tanu said, his expression somewhere between wonder and delight. “Thank you.”
“Thank the Fairy King,” Raxtus said. “I’m just the messenger. And . . . I guess I’m the final gift. I’m here to help.”
“You’ll come to the Dragon Temple with us?” Kendra asked.
“The other dragons already call me a traitor,” Raxtus said. “I might as well live up to my reputation. The Harp of Ages can slow the war—let’s go get it.”
Kendra scrunched her brow. “Do we need to know how to play a harp?”
“I know some basics,” Vanessa said. “It’s possible that using the Harp has nothing to do with musical talent.”
“I hope it works like a magical music box,” Warren mused.
A moment later, the rain turned into a drenching downpour. High winds propelled some of the moisture sideways into Kendra and her friends.
“We’re not even by a window,” Warren said, wiping water off his face.
After moving away from them, Raxtus expanded into his dragon form, a sleek specimen whose silver-white scales reflected prismatic sparkles of light. His body was a little larger than a horse’s, not counting the added length from his neck and tail. By stretching his body and spreading his wings somewhat, the fairy dragon turned himself into a windbreak.
“Much appreciated,” Warren said.
Bernosh came to a standstill. Howling wind drove rain against the portable dungeon.
“We have arrived,” the giant announced. “So has the Perennial Storm. And we’re not alone.”
“Who else is here?” Warren called.
The giant turned around.
Kendra and her friends ran forward to a barred window and saw they had stopped at the mouth of a box canyon. Two hundred yards away, visible through the driving rain, the canyon dead-ended against a tall rock face made exquisite by relief carvings of dragons. Fir trees lined the base of the cliffs leading to the carved rear wall, but the middle of the canyon floor was a sloppy mix of rocks and mud.
At the base of the carved rock face waited an older man clad in black and a younger woman dressed in white. They stood unflinchingly as the rainfall doused them.
“Are those guardians?” Kendra asked.
“Not official ones,” Raxtus said. “Celebrant might have stationed them there to deny anyone entry.”
“You know them?” Warren asked.
“Purnag and Riotta,” Raxtus said. “A black dragon and a white one. Purnag has many breath weapons: fire, poison gas, or a sludge that disintegrates flesh. Riotta’s breath could freeze a pond in seconds. They have offspring together, and they like to partner in combat.”
“Why are they in human form?” Kendra asked.
“Maybe to take people by surprise?” Raxtus guessed. “Maybe it feels easier in this weather.”
“Finally,” Bernosh said, unshouldering the portable dungeon and setting it down. “Dragons who want to stand and fight.”
“Do you need help?” Tanu asked.
Bernosh gave a snort. “There are only two. You’ll be on your own inside the temple, but out here, let me do you this favor.” He drew a sword longer than most of the trees in the area, crouched to pick up a boulder the size of a car, and stomped into the box canyon.
“If he goes down, we’ll be in horrible danger,” Raxtus said.
Tanu used a key to open the door of the dungeon. “Let’s get ready to flee. Raxtus, if it comes to it, fly Kendra to safety.”
“And take Vanessa,” Warren said. “I know you can fly well with two.”
“I have my sack of gales,” Kendra said, getting it out and holding it ready.
Raxtus returned to his fairy form. “To fit through the door,” he explained.
Beyond the doorway they saw Bernosh throw his rock at a relatively tiny figure ahead of him. The woman in white lunged to one side, barely avoiding the boulder. Within an instant, she expanded into a magnificent white dragon with spikes down her neck, and the man enlarged into a black dragon with a bony frill just behind his fearsome head. Neither dragon carried more mass than Bernosh, but from nose to tail, the length of Purnag rivaled the height of the giant.
Wings spreading, Purnag flew upward, while Riotta attacked low. An icy spray whitened the giant’s legs, only slightly slowing his charge. Purnag sent a crop-dusting of dark gas down at the giant, but the wind and rain swiftly shredded the murky cloud.
With one hand, Bernosh caught Riotta by the neck just below the head and began to repeatedly slash her body with his sword. Purnag flew over Bernosh, swaying unsteadily in the stormy air, gliding directly toward the portable dungeon.
“I’ve got this,” Kendra said, stepping out into the full deluge, becoming almost immediately soaked as she readied the sack of gales.
As Purnag swooped down toward her, Kendra opened the mouth of the sack, and a wind even stronger than the gales of the storm gushed outward. The wings of the black dragon ballooned like overtaxed sails as the furious creature was blown violently backward. Purnag tucked his wings and fell to the ground, only to get attacked from behind by Bernosh. Roaring, the dragon turned and clamped his jaws down on the giant’s upper arm. Bernosh went down, stabbing the dragon again and again until he finally managed to sever the neck.
Kendra retreated into the shelter of the portable dungeon, where Vanessa greeted her with an embrace. “Well
