The Radiant Dragon

tore through his wounded side. Gasping through gritted teeth, he fell back to his knees, pushing away the elf s steadying hands.

Vallus Leafbower grimaced and shook his silver-haired head. 'Perhaps you're not yet dead, Teldin Moore, but you soon will be if your wounds are not tended.' The elf looked up and raised on hand in a quick, imperious gesture. Five uniformed elves hurried to his side. 'Get this man aboard the swan ship and take him to the healer,' Vallus directed them.

Two of the elves started to do Vallus's bidding, but something in Teldin's eyes stopped them. 'I'll see you in the Abyss first,' he told Vallus coldly.

'That is a distinct possibility,' the elf returned with equal warmth. 'The man-o-war is burning, and I will not leave you behind. If you don't let us help you, we're all dead.'

'But the battle-'

'Is over,' Vallus concluded firmly.

Teldin hesitated, listening. The battle sounds had dwindled to a few scattered clangs, a few faint moans. Smoke billowed up from the stairwell, and a faint, ominous crackling came from beneath the deck. 'Take me to the Valkyrie, then,' Teldin said resignedly.

'The illithid's wizard slaves hit the drakkar with a barrage of spells.' Vallus's flat tone and steady gaze made it clear that Teldin's ship was gone.

'And the crew?' Teldin demanded, not able to take it all in. Vallus turned to one of the other elves and raised his silver eyebrows in inquiry.

'A small longboat got away before the drakkar exploded. We took the survivors aboard the Trumpeter,' the elf reported.

Dread filled Teldin. 'Some of my crew boarded the man-o-war. Have any survived?'

'I'm sorry,' Vallus said gently.

Teldin slumped, despairing. More deaths tallied on his slate, all due to the cloak. Whatever the Spelljammer might be, it couldn't be worth this.

The elf rose to his feet. 'Come.'

He had no choice but to go with the elves, Teldin realized. He nodded dully, numb to the core. 'Take Estriss first. His wounds are worse than mine.'

'Estriss?' Vallus echoed in disbelief. The elf squinted through the smoke at the crumpled form beside Teldin, then with a cry of recognition he dropped to his knees beside his former captain. Gently turning the unconscious illithid over, Vallus bent to peer into the empty white eyes. 'Barely alive,' he murmured distractedly. He looked up at the other elves, who had formed a tight, curious circle around him. 'Take these two to the swan ship, now,' he commanded.

As Vallus spoke, another sharp-edged perception penetrated the pain and anger that clouded Teldin's mind:

Vallus's concern and distress were genuine. For the first time, Teldin wondered whether his harsh judgment of the elven wizard was warranted.

Two of the elven warriors exchanged glances. 'Take a mind flayer aboard?' one of them ventured.

Vallus was on his feet in a heartbeat. 'Now!' he thundered. The elves hastily lifted the wounded illithid and headed for the flitter that had landed on the Nightstalker's deck.

As gentle hands lifted Teldin to his feet, a faint groan came from the deck and the waxen figure of Teldin's navigator stirred. Hectate Kir was alive.

'The half-elf!' Teldin demanded weakly, clinging to what he knew about his friend. 'You have to bring the half-elf.'

'Why not?' one of the elves grumbled, looking on with distaste as a comrade hoisted the unconscious Hectate over his shoulder. 'We might as well complete our collection of oddities.'

'That's enough, Gaston,' Vallus snapped. Before he could say more, the dracons thundered around the corner. Trivit, as usual, was in the lead. He drew up short when he saw Teldin, and Chirp bumped heavily into him.

'Siripsotrivitus reporting, Captain Teldin Moore, sir,' Trivit announced in his fluting, formal cadences as he snapped off a salute. 'The illithid slaves have been routed, though I must say we've had a beastly time telling one elf from another. Some few of the illithids and their slaves escaped in flitters, but Chiripsian and I have dispatched all those who remained on board.' The dracon paused, and his lower lip trembled. 'As you know, sir, the illithids deceived us. We are… without a clan.'

Remembering what Estriss had said about the dracons' clan mentality, Teldin suspected what was coming next. Sure enough, Trivit drew his sword and raised it in a salute, then he laid it on the deck before Teldin.

'Kaba,' Trivit said simply, but his reptilian eyes pleaded.

The dracons had adopted him as their clan leader! Teldin's frustration bordered on despair. Would there be no end to the responsibility he was forced to assume? He took a deep, calming breath, knowing that if he did not accept this role, the adrift dracons would die.

Teldin challenged Vallus with his eyes. 'They come,' he said evenly, then he turned to glare at the elf named Gaston, the one who had spoken slightingly of Hectate. The elf raised both hands in rueful surrender.

A deep boom began in the hold of the Nightstalker, echoing throughout the ship. The man-o-war was breaking up.

'Time to go,' Vallus said abruptly. As the elves half-carried Teldin to the flitter, he found himself thinking about Netarza and wondering whether he had heard the last from the mind flayers of Falx.

*****

Vallus Leafbower watched the unconscious human with deep concern. Three days had elapsed since the battle with the illithid ship, and Teldin Moore had yet to regain consciousness. The knife that had struck Teldin had been treated with poison, and after several tries the ship's healer managed to decoct a potion to counteract it. Teldin's delirium had faded within hours, and the restraints binding him to the narrow cot had been removed as soon as it was safe to do so. Vallus did not want Teldin to awaken to the perception that he was being held prisoner in some way.

Throughout the process Vallus had attended the human, praying for his recovery with a deep, desperate fervor. As if in response to his prayers, the human's eyelids fluttered, then opened. Teldin Moore's cornflower blue eyes looked dim and 'disoriented, but relief flooded the elven wizard. By order of the grand admiral, Vallus would have had to done the cloak if the man had died. Having seen the results with Teldin, he wasn't looking forward to the experience.

'I am glad you're back, Teldin Moore,' Vallus said from the heart.

The human's eyes met his, focused, then narrowed. Vallus suppressed a sigh. Despite Cirathorn's treachery, Vallus was startled by the extent of Teldin Moore's animosity toward the elves. Perhaps, Vallus thought with dismay, his task would be more difficult than he'd anticipated.

Teldin tried to speak, but the sound caught in his dry throat and sent him into a weak spasm of coughing. He grimaced and touched his left hip. Despite the elves' best efforts, the wound was still angry and red. Vallus motioned for the healer.

Deelia Snowsong glided to the bedside. She slipped one hand behind Teldin's neck and lifted his head, holding a goblet to his lips. Teldin managed several painful swallows and nodded his thanks. As he focused on his elven attendant, his eyes widened with wonder. Deelia was pale even for an elf, with hair and skin the color of a snowdrift. The elves from her ice-covered homeworld were tiny, seldom reaching five feet, and their ethereal beauty gave pause even to other elves.

There was admiration in Teldin Moore's eyes, of course, but Vallus saw something far more important. The human's curiosity and wonder struck an answering chord in Vallus's soul, which sang with a burning, childlike need to know. This need had defined the wizard's life, first by his choice of profession, and then by seducing him from his homeworld and sending him into wildspace. Once again the elf saw in Teldin a flicker of the flame that burned in his own heart. Someone had implanted in Teldin Moore the need to explore, to question, and to know. Perhaps the human had suppressed this need, but it was there and Vallus would exploit it.

'Where-' Teldin broke off, painfully clearing his throat. Frustration was written clearly upon his face.