Dragonmage of Mystara

CHAPTER TWO

Early the next morning, Thelvyn and Kharendaen met with Sir George on the porch behind the house to discuss a plan to locate the missing Collar of the Dragons. Thelvyn was surprised to discover that he already disliked returning to his Eldar form. The previous night had been the first one he had ever spent with his mate in human form in a real bed, and it had been a remarkably unromantic event. He was in a rather foul mood that morning, although the old knight seemed to find it all quietly amusing. Kharendaen told him of Thelvyn's secret parentage, and he sat back in his chair wearing a curiously satisfied grin.

"Does Thelvyn look like his father?" he asked at last.

"He actually looks very much like his mother," Kharendaen explained, showing her own amusement for the first time. "His father came from a breed of dragons that no longer exists."

"Well, let's hope that he has inherited other talents from his father," Sir George said. "That brings us to the problem of finding the Collar of the Dragons. The trouble is, I'm not sure that we know anything more than we did when we left Braejr last

year. I don't suppose that the Great One had any suggestions."

"No, he didn't," Thelvyn said with annoyance. "I don't know whether that means that he cannot or will not help us, but at any rate, we have to assume that we are supposed to figure this out for ourselves."

"Well, he is your father," the old knight insisted.

"You don't wheedle the god of the dragons, even if he is your father. And I think it best that secret should remain known only to us three for now. I don't suppose that the dragons ever found out anything more about the theft of the collar."

"No. We can only infer that a dragon must have been involved," Kharendaen replied. "I've always been troubled by the fact that the location and even the existence of Windreach is supposed to be a secret. For that reason, I suspect that renegade dragons helped in the theft, considering its size and location. Only a dragon would have known of its existence and where to find it. Only a dragon could have made off with the better part of a ton of jewels and gold right from under the snouts of the parliament itself."

"But we do know that Byen Kalestraan was involved in the theft," Sir George added. "He was working with a band of renegade black dragons when they attacked you and Solveig. We can easily assume that those same black dragons took the collar. I've always wondered if the dragons might be able to identify who those renegades were."

"Not without more clues than we have," Kharendaen said. "The dragons distance themselves from the renegades. We don't have a very clear idea just who all the renegade bands are and where they might be. And while they almost certainly stole the collar for Kalestraan, they might not know where he hid it."

"Still, it's the best lead we have," Thelvyn commented. "If the dragons still have no idea who those renegades might have been, then perhaps the time has come for us to return to Braejr. Solveig and Alessa Vyledaar have had over half a year now to search for clues, and we have no way of knowing if they found anything yet. That seems the best place to begin."

Kharendaen looked rather uncertain. "How can we return to Braejr? After all, we are not entirely welcome there."

Sir George shrugged. "I don't expect that to be any real problem if we go directly to Solveig's home at a time when she is most likely to be there."

Since Braejr was only a few hours away if they flew, they had to wait until that afternoon to depart so that they would arrive well after nightfall. Thelvyn hadn't expected to return to his old home so soon, if ever. But he thought that Sir George was right; he had not actually been run out of Braejr but had left by his own free will. As far as he knew, there was no formal decree exiling him from the Highlands. He knew it would be wise to be discreet. He was certain that Alessa Vyledaar and the Fire Wizards wouldn't be pleased with his return. But if they wanted him to save them from the wrath of the dragons, they would have to cooperate with him.

Although he often had to remind himself of the fact, Thelvyn had been the king of this land, even if only for a few short weeks. The circumstances had been so desperate that he had never felt so much like a king as a general, a leader of an army rather than a nation, and his leadership of the Highlands had been merely an extension of his duties as the Dragonlord. That seemed like a very long time ago to him, almost as if it had been in another life. In a way, it had been, since it was before he had become a dragon.

As the dragons approached Braejr, they saw that spring had definitely returned to the southern Highlands. The fields surrounding the city were carpeted in short grass that rippled in the night breezes, although even their keen eyes could not clearly discern the rich green in the darkness of night. Much of the destruction waged by the dragons during the previous summer was no longer visible, the ruined fences repaired and most of the burned homesteads and barns replaced. The city itself had actually suffered very little, since the dragons had not attacked Braejr except for ontf night of terror when they had unleashed a rain of fire upon the tiled roofs.

Once more Thelvyn had to trust to Kharendaen's lead, since the city at night from above looked like a maze of dark shapes to him. The dragons moved in over Braejr as quickly and quietly as they could, hoping to land before they were seen. Thelvyn disliked these nearly blind approaches. Just as he was beginning to feel completely lost, he recognized the distinctive forms of his old home with the warehouse standing, dark and massive, across the paved court. Kharendaen lowered herself deftly into the narrow front part of the court, just inside the closed gate. Thelvyn landed heavily just beyond her, beside the old warehouse.

They had only just settled to the ground and were folding away their wings when sounds began to emerge from the warehouse, like those of some wild, restless animal. It began with a loud and curiously high-pitched growl, rising in fury until a sound like the hoarse call of a hunting bird pierced the night. Kharendaen paused only long enough to allow Sir George to drop down from the saddle, then arched her back and lifted her neck to glare at the massive door of the warehouse. Obviously annoyed, she moved away from the warehouse into the wooded yard before the house. Thelvyn followed her, hoping that putting some distance between them might help calm the beast stabled within the warehouse.

The front door of the house opened, and warm light poured down the steps. The young valet, Taeryn, stepped outside but remained standing by the door. Solveig hurried out a moment later. True to her old habits, she was wearing her favorite white robe, which was barely long enough for her long legs. She recognized Kharendaen at once and hurried to help Sir George retrieve his travel bag, which was tied to the straps of the saddle. Solveig kept her distance from Thelvyn, staring at him in a way that suggested she did not know who he was. He was struggling to remove his harness so that he could change form, the most certain way to pacify the beast still voicing its complaints and challenges from within the warehouse.

"Why is there a griffon in my lair?" Kharendaen demanded, hardly containing her annoyance long enough to remove her saddle.

"It's not your lair anymore," Solveig insisted, undaunted. "Thyatian messengers come and go constantly, and I use the warehouse to board their griffons."

Thelvyn finished removing his harness and changed form.

"I wondered if that was you," Solveig remarked, watching cautiously. "So you've finally learned how to become a dragon."

"I've been a dragon for some time now," he told her. "But we should talk about that inside. I don't know if we were seen flying in, and I don't want anyone coming around to discover dragons in your yard-or the Dragonlord, for that matter."

Kharendaen finally managed to release the straps and slip out of her saddle, setting it aside before changing form. She assumed her Eldar form rather than becoming the elf maiden Sellianda. Solveig brought her visitors inside and led them to the den, where they had sat together often in the past. Then she had Taeryn find them something to eat from the kitchen while she hurried upstairs to dress. Thelvyn noticed that her habits were becoming steadily less barbaric, perhaps influenced by her new responsibilities.

"I suppose you must be here about the collar," she said when she joined the others in the den a few minutes later. "Are the dragons getting restless to have it back?"

"They probably are," Thelvyn explained simply. "We're here now because the Great One told me that the time has come that I need to find the collar. The Dragonking needs to wear it when he goes among the dragons for the first rime."

"Then the Dragonking has already arrived?" Solveig asked, recalling the legends she had heard the previous summer. Then she paused and settled back in her chair, frowning as she stared at the drink Sir George had slipped into her hand. "You're the Dragonking yourself, aren't you? I should have figured that out for myself long ago."

"I know now why I was chosen as the object of all these prophecies," Thelvyn said. "I still don't know what the Great One expects of me, but it sounds very dire indeed."

Solveig shrugged. "I anticipated we were due for more trouble sooner or later."

"Then you probably guessed why we're here," Sir George added. "If you can't tell us where to search for the collar, I'm not sure what we can do but strangle every renegade dragon in the world looking for the ones who were in league with the Fire Wizards."

"Things might not be as desperate as all that," Solveig said, taking a quick sip from her glass. "I was having dinner with Alessa Vyledaar a few nights ago when she said something about finding a new clue to uncovering Byen Kalestraan's secrets. I never did find out what, but I can have her over here first thing in the morning to talk to you."

"Alessa?" Thelvyn said rather dubiously. "The last time I talked to her, I was trying to prevent her from seizing control of the Highlands once I was gone."

"Well, whatever you did certainly worked," Solveig insisted. "She really has changed. In fact, she's been my strongest supporter since the end of the war. I know she's wanted to see you again for some time now, to make amends for her part in driving you from the Highlands. Besides, you don't have very much choice, do you? It's the only possible clue I know that might lead you to the collar."

Thelvyn considered that briefly, frowning. "Very well. But there are a few secrets she doesn't need to know. For one thing, I don't want her to know that I'm the Dragonking."

"If you insist," Solveig agreed, sounding dubious. "But I'm not certain why."

He smiled wickedly. "There are a few things even you don't know about yet."

*****

Early the next morning, Solveig set to work on the problem. First she hurried to the palace. Following Alessa's lead, she had established her own spies and supporters among the wizards. Although she felt some regret for treating her friend so suspiciously, she had every reason to question Alessa's motives and loyalties in the early days after she had become the first Prime Minister of the Parliament of the Realm. Solveig had been concerned that Alessa might try to use the power of the Radiance in an attempt to seize control of the Highlands. She had also worried that Alessa might locate the Collar of the Dragons but keep it hidden, hoping to use it in her own schemes.

As it happened, Solveig's spies had discovered nothing of any particular importance. As Alessa had said from the first, the connection between the wizards and the dragons had been limited strictly to Byen Kalestraan and his closest associates and a small band of renegade dragons who were trying to profit from the war by playing both sides. Of course, her spies were also able to confirm Alessa's new loyalty. One of the greatest troubles with politics in the Highlands in the past had been that no one dared to trust his own allies and advisors.

Solveig returned home late that afternoon with Alessa. Thelvyn still felt ambivalent about this meeting, remembering only too well his past difficulties with Alessa and how she had attempted to seduce, deceive, and finally discredit him. Alessa was surprised, since Solveig hadn't told her beforehand whom she was to meet. When she saw first Thelvyn and his companions seated about the den, she hesitated in the doorway for a long moment. She seemed uncertain what to do or say, and she nervously clutched the curious broach she wore on the breast of her wizard's robes.

"Dragonlord!" she breathed at last, coming into the room to take a seat across from him. "I didn't know if I would ever see you again."

"Solveig tells me that you've turned over a new leaf," he said. "If that's so, then you can prove it by helping me now. I have to find the Collar of the Dragons, and I have to find it soon. Solveig said that you may have found some clue."

"Finding the collar would divert the wrath of the dragons from the Highlands, which is in my best interests any way you look at it," she said, beginning to sound more certain. "But you must understand that I haven't found the collar itself, only what may be a hint."

"Even a hint would be welcome," Thelvyn told her. "Without any lead to follow, I'm not certain what I can do."

"Except to seek out and interrogate every renegade dragon in this part of the world," Sir George said, taking a small taste from his glass of cherry liqueur. "My word, I can't say how much I've missed this stuff!"

"I hope it won't come to that," Alessa commented, staring aimlessly at the wall as she appeared to consider, or perhaps to debate the matter with herself a moment longer. At last she frowned. "Unfortunately, the collar isn't in Braejr and apparently isn't even in the Highlands. The wizards, fearful of the wrath of the dragons, had sent it directly into hiding and were

afraid to bring it home for experimentation."

"And, of course, the wizards who knew about the collar are either dead or they disappeared when their bid for power failed," Thelvyn said. "As for the dragon conspirators, I killed one in the assassination attempt. That's just the point. I need to find at least one of the surviving conspirators, either one of the wizards who disappeared or one of the renegade dragons."

"I have not been able to discover where the surviving wizards went," Alessa said. "They fled the Highlands when Kalestraan was defeated. But I might be able to tell you which renegade dragon to seek. All that is known is that they were all black dragons, that their leader was a renegade king, and that he wore a gold ring in one ear."

Kharendaen glanced up when she heard that, startled and obviously excited beneath her typically calm demeanor. "A gold ring? That might be all the clue we need. Dragons are not in the habit of wearing earrings. That would be remarkable enough that other dragons would remember it."

"If you can ask a dragon," Alessa said, staring at her.

Kharendaen had been sitting alone in the most dark and remote corner. Alessa had never met Kharendaen as a dragon, only in her secret form as the elf cleric Sellianda. As far as Alessa was concerned, she saw only a tall, dark-haired woman with the same racial features as Thelvyn, perhaps enough for her to surmise that this was another dragon in enchanted form. Alessa may have even deduced who it must be, but Thelvyn deliberately offered no introduction.

"Asking a dragon is the easy pan," he said. "Is there anything else you might know?"

"I've discovered nothing else at this time," Alessa said. "But I'm still working at digging up Kalestraan's secrets. If you can't learn anything useful from this renegade dragon, I might have something more for you soon."

"We might need your help," Sir George remarked. "I keep thinking that this renegade would only know where Kalestraan hid the collar if he was the one who actually put it there. Which is not unlikely, considering the size and weight of the collar."

Soon after that, Solveig saw Alessa to the door to return to the Academy. The others were still discussing what they knew of renegade dragons when Solveig returned to the den a few minutes later. Their plan now was to leave as soon as it was fully dark and seek out dragons who might be able to tell them where to find a renegade black dragon who wore a ring in one ear.

"I'll have Taeryn get you something to eat before you go," Solveig said. "At least now you have a lead."

"Yes. . apparently Alessa came through for us," Thelvyn said with some reservation. "Still, I'll have to take your word that she's come over completely to our side now. She didn't seem particularly happy to see me again."

"You probably frightened her," Solveig insisted. "I suspect that seeing you again unnerved her. You have to keep in mind that the old Alessa did a few things that the new one finds embarrassing."

Thelvyn and Kharendaen shared dinner with the others as a matter of courtesy. They would be returning to dragon form soon, and they would need a dinner of dragon proportions, which meant catching something in the wild. About an hour after nightfall, they went out into the yard. Thelvyn slipped into his harness while Sir George helped Kharendaen with her saddle. Minutes later, they climbed quickly into the dark sky over Braejr.

The two dragons immediately turned eastward toward the Colossus Mountains, where they planned to hunt and then wait out the rest of the night while they cooked and ate their catch before continuing northeast toward the wilderness of Norwold and the hidden city of Windreach. They needed to talk to Marthaen, and possibly other elder dragons as well, about the matter of the black renegade with the gold earring. Thelvyn remained reluctant to enter Windreach until he had recovered the collar. Kharendaen agreed. She decided she would bring Marthaen out into the mountains of the Wyrms-teeth to speak with him.

They were nearing the rugged western face of the Colossus Mountains when they saw a pair of dragons flying out to intercept them, followed at some distance by nearly a dozen others. Their presence came as no surprise. They were probably members of the band of young reds that had been left behind to keep watch on the Highlands. However, Thelvyn was afraid he wouldn't be able bluff his way past them a second time. But as the pair came nearer, they could see that the two lead dragons were quite large, obviously elder dragons by their size. The silver of moonlight glinted from their armor, revealing one to be a mature red while the other was a gold.

Thelvyn immediately sensed that this meeting was probably more important than a simple challenge by the sentries guarding the borders of the Highlands. Kharendaen followed him as he slowed and began circling in a wide arc as he waited just beyond the dark wall of the sheer mountainside. As the dragons came nearer, he was surprised to recognize them as Marthaen and Jherdar.

"Dragonking!" Marthaen called out to him as they pulled alongside him in a slow glide. Jherdar looked vaguely dissatisfied, as if he were uncomfortable with the use of Thelvyn's title.

"Find a place where we can spend the night in peace. We have something to explain to you," Thelvyn responded.

They made camp for the night in a narrow, forested valley deep behind the fold of one of the lower ridges of the Colossus Mountains, where the light of their fires would be hidden from the farmlands to the west. Marthaen instructed his bodyguards, a collection of gold and red dragons, to go hunt for their dinner. Once they were alone, Kharendaen quickly explained about their conversation with the Great One and what they had learned so far in their search for the collar. She remained silent about the matter of Thelvyn's hidden parentage, knowing that Jherdar would be upset to hear such a thing.

"A black renegade king with a gold ring in his ear. ." Jherdar repeated slowly to himself, searching his memory. "That does indeed sound familiar."

Marthaen glanced at his old friend, quietly amused. "When the guards we had left in these mountains reported that you were on your way to Silvermist, and that you went into the Highlands the next night, we thought that we should look into the matter to see if we could be of any assistance."

"You have saved us a long journey to Windreach," Kharendaen told him. "We were on our way there to consult with you about this mystery."

"A gold earring," Jherdar repeated to himself, his neck bent in a stiff arch so that he was staring at the ground as he struggled to remember. Suddenly he lifted his head, his ears laid back. "Yes, I know of such a dragon. The black dragon in question is Murodhir, an especially nasty sort, although calling him a renegade king is flattering him. The last I heard, he had only two or three dragon cohorts, although Thelvyn probably killed one of them last year. He also has a few goblin retainers. His true strength is in his command of magic, since he hardly has much else going for him. Murodhir lives somewhere along the north shore of Lake Amsorak, on the southeastern border of the Highlands."

"Murodhir?" Sir George asked incredulously. "Why, he's the bane of every drake in Darokin and Traladara."

"Then he must be good for something," Marthaen declared, impatient with the old knight. "If you knew about Murodhir, then why were you looking for the dragon who stole the collar everywhere else in the world last year?"

"Because Murodhir is also a monumental coward," Sir George answered defensively. "He fears only one thing-other dragons-but his terror of them is so absolute that I could hardly imagine him going into Windreach after the collar. I'm still not sure I believe it."

"Then perhaps we should discover that for ourselves," Marthaen commented coldly. "I suggest we pay Murodhir a little visit in the morning. Jherdar, would you like to come along?"

"Indeed I would," the red dragon replied eagerly, anticipating the event with delight.

"You would help me?" Thelvyn asked incredulously.

Jherdar stared at him. "I am not enthusiastic about the prospect of having you as the Dragonking, and I will oppose your policies if I do not agree with them. But I am certainly no traitor, and I have no patience for any dragon who would betray his own kind. I want to see the Collar of the Dragons recovered, even if I have to see you wear it."

Thelvyn was careful to hide his amusement over Jherdar's qualified statement of support. But it was more than he had expected from the red dragon he had once defeated in battle as the Dragonlord.

*****

The dragons left the Colossus Mountains well before dawn in order to pass directly over the Highlands with little concern for being seen. If they followed a straight path, the journey to Lake Amsorak was a fairly short one, perhaps three hours for dragons who were rested and eager. They came within sight of Lake Amsorak while the day was still young, and they turned to pass westward along the north shore in search of their quarry.

Amsorak was the largest lake in that part of the world, perhaps in all the world. Its vast proportions almost qualified it as an inland sea, although its waters were fresh, fed by the icy meltwater of the snows from the great range of the Amsorak Mountains to the north. Even though they knew that Murod-hir's lair was somewhere along the north shore, that included a couple of hundred miles of remote territory. And the lair itself was just as likely to be somewhere in the mountains, several miles inland from the lake itself. The lair of a renegade king could be difficult even for another dragon to find.

As it happened, Murodhir's own cohorts betrayed the location of their hidden lair. The dragons were still fairly early in their search when Marthaen's keen eyes suddenly spied a pair of black dragons winging northward as quickly as they could fly, hanging low over the trees along the shore of the Amsorak River as it stretched northward toward the mountains. The blacks had seen the approaching dragons first and were sprinting for the protection of their lair, knowing that they faced an overwhelming force. Immediately Marthaen led the pursuit.

"We'll never catch them before they reach home," Jherdar said, struggling to keep pace with the gold dragons.

"We don't want to catch them yet," Marthaen said. "Let them lead us to their lair. Otherwise we might spend days searching."

The dragons pushed their pace as hard as they could, determined not to lose sight of their prey. Indeed, they were actually gaining slowly on the pair of frightened black dragons, although they were still nearly a mile behind as they came to the foothills of the mountains. Murodhir's lair was less difficult to locate than they had expected. A wide, dark cave opened beneath a broad overhang of moss-covered stone along the western shore, where the river had cut deep as it cascaded down from the heights. A high wall of dark stone, massive but crudely set, had been laid across the lower part of the entrance to the cave, leaving the upper portion open to the approach of dragons.

The two black dragons flew directly into the dark opening, landing quickly and folding away their wings as they turned to crouch behind the wall, raising their heads to peer out. They seemed to offer a poor defense, but they were not alone. A company of goblins began to file out at a run along the top of the wall, most of them still putting on their armor and helmets. There were about a hundred goblins in all, and they were armed with powerful crossbows.

Since Marthaen was still in the lead, he elected to bring their company down into the open field before the cave, landing just out of range of the crossbows. The goblins held their position, waiting. Sir George leaped down from his saddle as soon as Kharendaen settled to the ground, hurrying to get out of the way. The battle seemed hopeless for the defenders. Besides Thelvyn and Kharendaen, both Jherdar and Marthaen had their bodyguard, a dozen more young dragons. Even so, they did not fancy taking on so many crossbows.

Marthaen rose and reached over his back to draw the massive sword he always carried. If the dragons made a sudden charge at the wall, they were unlikely to take any serious harm before they were over it. Then it would be a simple matter to scatter the goblins and capture the two black dragons.

"Wait a moment," Thelvyn said. "Let me try to crack open their fort.Then you can drag them out without any bother."

"I suppose that the Dragonlord has such powers," Jherdar commented.

"Perhaps he does," Thelvyn agreed. "But I think that the time has come for us to see what the Dragonking can do. I need for all of you to be ready to rush in the moment after I

strike."

"When we go in, you wait outside," Marthaen told him. "This is not work for the Dragonking. We will bring the

renegade out to you."

It was all right with Thelvyn not to go into that dark, damp hole, and not because he was afraid. He was determined to scatter the goblins before they had a chance to use their crossbows. The last thing he wanted to see was the barbed bolts of those weapons penetrating Kharendaen's sleek armor. He rose to his hind legs and lifted his arms with his wings half open, reaching within himself for the powers that were his to claim as the child of an Immortal.

His own part in the battle was brief, if spectacular. His form began to glow with a soft light of pure silver as he gathered raw destructive power to himself. Then great, swift spears of lightning shot out from him, eight or ten rapid bolts of power in rapid succession, leaping across the clearing with the sound of thunder. Each bolt struck a separate part of the crude stone wall, progressing along its length in a line as they ripped apart the stone, sending great blocks and jagged splinters of stone flying along with the burned bodies of the defenders.

The last echoes of the lightning were still fading as the dragons leaped forward, crossing the clearing in long, swift bounds. Jherdar raced ahead of his companions in his eagerness for battle, but there was more of a fight waiting for him than he had expected. As he leapt over the ruined wall, he expected to face only a pair of dazed black dragons. Instead, he found himself pulled down by five renegades, who had been waiting for him. They were on top of him before he could begin to fight back. He could feel their claws pulling at his armor and their sharp fangs snapping for a death grip on his neck.

The attackers outnumbered the black dragons, and Jherdar should have had no great cause for alarm, but the tight quarters in the mouth of the cave kept his companions from assisting him. Marthaen climbed up on the highest part of the ruined wall, desperate to help his old friend before the renegades gained a hold on Jherdar's neck. The area just inside the wall was packed with blasted stone. He could barely see occasional glimpses of red armor beneath the tangle of black bodies writing below him. Hardly knowing what else to do, Marthaen arched his back and leapt down into the midst of the battle with the indiscriminate fury of a lightning bolt, crashing down with his greater weight onto the back of one of the black dragons. Not daring to pause, he pushed his way into the middle of the fight, thrusting aside the smaller black dragons to give Jherdar a chance to force his way free.

Two of Jherdar's red dragon bodyguards came over the wall and tore into the renegades furiously. Jherdar pulled free of his attackers a moment later, catching one of the black dragons by t he neck and dragging it down. The three surviving renegades tried to break free to retreat into the shadowed depths of the cavern, and the remaining gold and red dragons began leaping over the shattered wall to pursue them. Marthaen paused, feeling odd points of pressure against the armor of his legs and belly. Glancing down, he was almost amused to see a small army of goblins swarming over him, trying to slip their swords and spears inside the joints of his armor. He responded by spinning quickly, his long tail scattering the goblins like vermin.

The attack was essentially over a few moments later. Marthaen followed the others into the depths of the cavern, leaving a couple of his bodyguards to chase down the surviving goblins. The bodies of two of the renegades were tossed out of the cavern a short time later, their necks broken.

But the two elder dragons did not come out, having unfinished business of their own deeper within the cave. Thelvyn hoped that they would remember how treacherous a renegade king could be in his own lair. He folded away his wings and approached the smoking, dusty ruins. Kharendaen hurried to join him. The bodyguards were already clearing away some of the wreckage, pushing the broken stones aside so that they could haul the bodies of the black dragons out into the open. Marthaen returned from the depths of the cave a few minutes later. Jherdar followed more slowly, pulling the renegade king out of his own lair by the tail. Murodhir was bleeding slowly from his ears.

"That was quite an impressive show," Jherdar said to Thelvyn as he dragged the renegade out into the clearing and released his tail. The black dragon lay limp and panting in the trampled grass.

"We seem to have made an impression on Murodhir,"

Thelvyn said as he approached and sat back on his haunches so that he could take the renegade by one horn, lifting his head. "Good day, Murodhir. You don't mind us just dropping in like this, do you? We want to have a little chat about the Collar of the Dragons."

Murodhir began to take a deep breath, but Thelvyn was too quick for him, clamping shut his snout. Black dragons breathed deadly acid rather than flame like the larger breeds, although the acid was usually an ineffective weapon against other dragons. Nevertheless, Thelvyn would have suffered grave harm if he had caught it in the face at such close range.

"Come on, now. Breathe out," Thelvyn told the renegade firmly, knowing that black dragons lacked the ability to use their breath weapons through their nostrils. "Do you want me to make Jherdar sit on you?"

Murodhir relaxed. "What difference is that to me? I don't expect you will allow me to live."

"You already owe me for the grave injury you did to my friend Solveig White-Gold," Thelvyn said. "But what happens to you depends upon what you decide. You can answer my questions now, or you can go back to Windreach to answer to the dragons for the theft of the collar."

The black dragon fell silent and began to quiver in fear. The worst of all possible fates he faced at that moment was being taken to Windreach to stand trial. The dragons would be especially inventive in punishing the greatest traitor their race had known in a long time.

"The question is really quite simple," Thelvyn continued, having given Murodhir a moment to think about his options. "Were you the one who stole the Collar of the Dragons for the Fire Wizards? Yes or no?"

Murodhir sighed loudly. "I knew the Fire Wizards from the time when they first came into the Highlands over a hundred years ago. They had always paid me well for information, especially about the dragons. Kalestraan proposed a bargain by which I would help him to gain the power he desired to rule the human races, and in return he would give me the power to rule over the dragons. He said that he would make it possible for me to steal the Collar of the Dragons and defeat the Dragonlord.

1'hen, when he was done with the collar, he would give it back to me so that I could proclaim myself Dragonking."

"Then you were the one who told him where the Collar of the Dragons was kept?" Thelvyn insisted.

"No. He knew that already," the renegade insisted. "He gave me an artifact of magic that allowed me to safely pass through the barriers that guarded the collar."

"Then you don't know how Kalestraan knew of the collar and its location? He did not learn of it from you?" Thelvyn asked.

"No, I swear that," Murodhir responded earnestly. "I brought the collar to him in the woods near the city of Braas-tar. That was the last I saw or heard of it. Some months later, he sent word of the day and the time when I was to attack the Dragonlord, but the attack did not go well. He hadn't warned me that you commanded magic other than the enchantments of the armor."

"Do you have any idea what Kalestraan did with the collar?" Thelvyn insisted.

"No. I tried to learn, so that I could still claim the collar for my own if Kalestraan tried to trick me. All I know is that I placed the collar in the back of a wagon. The wizards covered it over with a canvas and drove off into the night. I tried to watch, but after they had gone a mile or so, there was a flash of light beneath the trees and I never saw them again."

"Well, at least that's something," Thelvyn said. "You can take us to that place, I trust?"

Without warning, Murodhir suddenly panicked, as if something the others did not understand had filled him with terror. He began to twist around violently, trying to get his legs beneath him so that he could pull away, except that Thelvyn was still holding him by the horns. Realizing he couldn't get away, the renegade seemed to lose all sanity and became a snarling, thrashing beast. Unable to pull back from his captor, he abruptly thrust himself forward.

Thelvyn was not caught entirely by surprise, but he was in an awkward position. Sitting up on his haunches, he was unable to keep his balance as the weight of the black dragon was suddenly thrown against him. He crashed heavily on his back, and Murodhir was on him in the next instant, the sharp fangs of the renegade snapping inches from his throat. Moved by an instinct to defend himself at any cost, he pulled Murod-hir's head to the left, since he was still holding the renegade's horn by that hand. With an effort, he reached around with his right hand until he was able to get a firm grasp of Murodhir's other horn, then twisted sharply. The renegade king instantly collapsed and went limp, his neck broken.

"A pity you had to kill him," Marthaen said as he pulled away the body of the black dragon so that Thelvyn could climb free. "I don't know if we can find the place where the Fire Wizards took the collar without him."

"I'm not sure that's really important," Thelvyn said. "If there were anything in the woods outside Braastar for us to discover, Murodhir would have found it long ago. If he had any idea where the collar is, he would have stolen it for himself after Kalestraan died last summer."

"That's true," Jherdar agreed, looking discouraged. "So now what?"

"First, we're going to search every inch of Murodhir's lair," Thelvyn replied. "We know that the Fire Wizards were paying him something for all his little chores and errands. Something they gave him might provide some clue about where to look for their hidden stronghold. Frankly, I was hoping that Murodhir had been in contact with the surviving traitor wizards since Kalestraan's death and would know where they were. But I believe that he was frightened enough to tell us all he knew."

"And what if you find nothing here?" Marthaen asked.

"Then we go back to Braejr," Sir George said as he joined them. "Alessa Vyledaar is still working on the problem. She might have learned something by now."