The image was punctured by Jonas, who trotted along next to The Unknown, his tiny hand engulfed by his father's huge fist. And by Diera, who had forgiven Hirad to the extent that the pair strolled arm in arm. It was at Hirad's behest that so many would meet the dragon. And including Diera and Jonas in the group was a masterstroke. The pair had spent much time in the company of Sha-Kaan when he was marooned in Balaia and rested on Herendeneth. Diera would listen to him.
They were heading for the stone needle that dominated the island from its highest point. It was for no other reason than that Sha-Kaan had expressed a desire to see the island from the top.
They gathered in quiet anticipation, Hirad to the fore. He had told them what to expect but they all still took an unconscious pace
back. A tall rectangle traced in the air in front of them. It drew itself slowly on three sides with the ground making up the fourth, and brightened from black to a blazing white. The doorway, half the size of a barn's, filled with swirling colours that moved sluggishly, like oil poured onto still water.
'Behind here would normally be a robing room and an antechamber before the main hall but I think the design has been changed,' said Hirad.
The doorway dissolved, the intense edge light reducing to a warm orange glow and the slow-moving colours dimming to reveal a dimly lit interior. The scents of wood and oil carried on the breeze, sharp and pungent, but there was little sound from inside barring the crackle of fires. Heat flooded out, its humidity swamping the dry warmth of Herendeneth.
'Just like old times, eh, Unknown?' said Hirad.
'One old time only, Hirad,' said The Unknown. 'And the familiarity ends with my sense of impending doom.'
'Better not keep him waiting.'
'Hell, no,' muttered Denser.
They moved inside, the relative gloom resolving itself into a short arched hallway, painted in dark green silhouettes of landscapes and dragons. Beautiful in their simplicity, sombre in their depiction.
At the end of the hallway, huge double doors stood ajar letting onto a vast space. Hirad led them in. The chamber was vaulted and stone-clad, its sides scored and fluted horizontally. It reminded Darrick of a healer's sketch of a muscle. The walls were otherwise unadorned but fires burned in grates at ten-yard intervals in the one-hundred-yard-square space, filling it with an oppressive, moist heat. Sha-Kaan sat in the middle of the chamber, his head and neck resting on the ground, his body a mound behind him and his tail flipping idly about his hind legs.
Little Jonas broke free of The Unknown's grip and ran forwards. He displayed no fear, toddling towards a creature that could swallow him whole. He stopped in front of the great dragon's jaws and half-turned towards his mother as he pointed.
'Kaan!' he said.
'Yes, darling,' said Diera, walking forwards to join him.
The Raven hung back, watching the reunion from a respectful distance. Sha-Kaan moved his head slowly off the ground, speaking softly just above the boy's head.
'Hello, little man,' he said, voice so tender in a beast so large. 'You have grown. I had not expected to see you again. And I am sad that I must at this time.'
Jonas didn't respond verbally, instead reaching up to rub the horned scales at the front of Sha-Kaan's muzzle. The dragon turned his attention to Diera.
'Your son is beautiful,' he said, voice a bass rumble, his eyes a brilliant blue, shining with affection.
'Thank you,' she said. 'It is good to see you.'
'But the reason why breaks your heart.'
She nodded. Darrick saw her hands clench together.
'I don't understand why anything that happens on Balaia should affect my husband. He has earned the right to peace.'
Sha-Kaan sighed. 'I cannot argue against what you say. You married an exceptional man who is part of an exceptional group. And when the world is in trouble, it calls on such people and expects them to respond. It is the mark of their greatness that they choose to do so, though it is also your misfortune, is it not?'
'There must be someone else now.'
'You must listen to what I have to say. I think you will agree that there is not.'
Darrick saw her shoulders sag as she nodded her head and pulled Jonas to her. Sha-Kaan raised his head a little.
'Approach, all of you,' he said. T have no desire to shout.'
Hirad chuckled and led them forwards. 'Your whisper would carry clear across the Southern Ocean, Great Kaan.'
'It gladdens my heart to see you, Hirad Coldheart.'
'And you, Sha. You're looking well.'
'The air of Beshara and the streams of inter-dimensional space are kind to me.' Sha-Kaan shifted. 'How do you like my Klene?'
Hirad gave the chamber, where dragons came to rest and heal in inter-dimensional space, an appraising glance.
'It's a little plainer than your old one. Decorating not finished yet, or something?'
Darrick had to smile. Never in his most vivid dreams had he ever thought to witness a man debating wall coverings with a
120-foot-long dragon. Next to him, The Unknown had also seen the humour in the moment.
'Effectiveness over aesthetics. The shape of the chamber and those grooves in the walls are efficient channels for the healing streams.'
'Oh, right.'
Sha-Kaan rattled phlegm in his throat, the sound echoing in the chamber and startling Jonas who clutched his mother tight.
'But in the fullness of time, we will hang-the walls with tapestries, if it bothers you that much.'
'Not for me to say, Sha-Kaan,' said Hirad. 'I just have to be at one end so you can use this thing, I don't necessarily have to look at it.'
'I fear we are straying from the point,' said Sha-Kaan, a hint of irritation in his voice. He looked beyond Hirad to those grouped in front of him. 'I remember the days when I considered all humans except the Dragonene mages to be unworthy of the attention of dragons. Hirad Coldheart changed that assumption and you before me are examples of my folly.
'It makes it all the harder then to ask one more task of you. I am not surprised to see the elves represented by their best. You understand in a way humans do not the link between the living and the dead. Cleress, your presence honours me. Those who were Protectors, I am the happier to be able to gaze upon your faces. And The Raven. My friends. The fears that Hirad expressed to me are well founded. Our position is already desperate. Many will be involved in defence and attack; you will be the spearhead. And for that necessity, my heart is heavy with fear for you.'
'You're selling it well so far,' said Denser.
Sha-Kaan's head snapped round to regard the mage with slitted pupil narrowed.
'Would you rather I lied about the challenge ahead, frail human?' he asked. 'Would you rather begin your journey one-eyed?'
'Not at all,' said Denser. 'But you have to understand that for most of us we had no inkling of any problem until Hirad put to shore. I'm still getting round the shock of it.'
'Then let me explain what has happened.' Sha-Kaan breathed heavily, the air rushing over their heads, sour and sharp. 'Kaan birthings began a little more than two cycles ago, a little less than two years for you. It is a time when our efforts are focused solely on
our brood and when the paths of inter-dimensional space are closed to us because the resonance set up by the brood at birth upsets our directional sense. It is the time when the Vestare repair and improve the Klenes.
'But you will understand that it is a time when we are most at risk from attack. The brood has fought in the
