Legends of the Dragonrealm Volume 2

XVIII

“Is this what it all comes to? Does nothing but ruin follow the Vraad?”

Dru could not respond to Xiri’s question, not at first. The portal, through either the whims of its creators or, as he personally believed, its own, had returned them to Nimth near the Vraad communal city. Though it was night, a dim glow from above left the land in the equivalent of sunset, enabling them to see. Even from the slope on which they had materialized, it was evident that some catastrophe had struck. From what he could see, Dru knew already that the catastrophe had not been natural. The destruction was too well organized. Someone had wanted to destroy the only thing that had ever linked the individuals of his race together. The Vraad swore quietly, both saddened and ashamed.

“I’ve never seen such a green before,” the elf whispered. “I feel as if it eats the soul of Nimth.” She was gazing skyward, watching the maelstrom above. A massive storm was forming, one that looked to cover everything, for it stretched as far as the sky itself. Dru did not want to be caught outside when it broke; what rained down upon Nimth would not be so simple and harmless as water.

“Take my hand again.”

She did, squeezing it tight. The sorcerer drew some comfort from having another person to touch during this period of chaos.

“Do you plan to teleport?”

He nodded. “At least try, anyway. I have to chance it. Time is short. Nimth won’t die today, but we might.”

Xiri looked up again. “The sky?”

“This glow from the clouds is a new phenomenon… very new, I think. There is also a storm brewing. It won’t be a normal rain like you might expect. We’ve not had a rainstorm for years. If it strikes, it will be magical.”

“Which means it could produce anything. Will it necessarily be bad?”

He swept his arm across what lay before them. “Look around you. Do you see anything good coming from what the Vraad have done so far?”

His point was obvious, but something seemed to disturb her. “Will not your spell aggravate conditions? Is there not a chance it will act as a catalyst?”

“It might, but our choices are few. I either use my sorcery or we walk.”

Her hand slipped from his as she visibly struggled with herself. “There is one other way.”

“What might that be?”

Elfin eyes lowered. “I could try my own powers. Like you, mine have been returned to me.”

In the suddenness of their release by the founders, Dru had forgotten that his companion also worked magic of some kind. “Do you need anything?”

Xiri smiled. “Luck?”

He stepped back as she concentrated. The natural, if they could still be called such, forces of Nimth stirred as they were summoned. Her way felt different from that of his kind, however. It was more gentle, asking instead of taking. A glimmer of light materialized before the elf. Dru rubbed his chin, trying to understand the nuances of her spell. Was this the course in which Vraad sorcery should have developed?

He heard a gasp then, and saw Xiri starting to crumple. Instead of following her desires, it almost appeared as if Nimth sought to use her. Not only had power answered her summons, but it was trying to pervert her spell, almost as if it consciously desired to do so. With the swiftness born of centuries of careful practice, Dru seized control of her spell. The power fought back, not as a living thing but in the way that a raging river might fight against a dam that had broken partly away. Yet he did not turn the spell to the way it would have been had he been the originator. Instead, the spellcaster strained to make a hybrid of the two sorceries, at least long enough to perform the spell. Dru doubted the two could really be joined without a cataclysm resulting.

The strain was horrible, but in the end a shining, circular portal stood open before them. His concentration still monitoring the strength of the spell, Dru reached down and helped Xiri to regain her footing.

“That should never have happened!”

Dru knew better. “You tried to use the binding forces of Nimth as you would those of your own world. Nimth no longer follows the same laws of nature, if it ever actually did. We Vraad have made it too much like ourselves. Vicious and hungry. Still,” he added as encouragement, “I think what you accomplished was likely more effective than the results I would have obtained.”

“We have not crossed through yet. Save your congratulations for then.”

Stepping through the portal was only slightly less unnerving than entering the founders’ living gateway. Dru had a brief vision of a path, one that reminded him greatly of those Darkhorse had utilized to escape the Void, before he and his companion stood once more on the surface of his home world.

They stood in the courtyard that Dru had stared down at only… only… the Vraad gave up trying to count the days since his unexpected departure. After all, those who had ripped the massive structure apart had probably only needed hours, not days. He could not help glancing away from his companion, however. Seen up close, the devastation that had overcome the city was even worse than he had imagined.

“The city of the elders fell to time,” Dru whispered, again shamed of his kind. “Before a fraction of the same time has passed, this place will be a foul blot in comparison.”

“A ruin is a ruin,” Xiri said, more to mollify him than because she believed in the simple statement. “What do you hope to find here?”

“Nothing. I hoped that there might be someone. They can’t have all crossed over. Not so many and not so quickly. This was done by those left behind… the ones I’m supposed to help.”

“What do we do now?” Xiri clearly did not want one of their choices to be to remain in this dark and ugly place. Dru was not so fond of the idea himself. He had hoped part of the city still lived, that some of the magic that enabled it to serve the Vraad still functioned. From what his higher senses told him, nothing had been left undamaged. There would be no food, no water.

It seems I am destined to never eat a normal meal again! The guardians and their masters had removed his hunger and thirst more than once, but they were not available. Dru glanced at his companion. Could Xiri’s sorcery provide them with the sustenance they would be needing before long? “Can you conjure food and drink?”

She mulled it over. “After what happened, I think I might be able to, but there could be a better way.”

“Such as?”

“If we work the spell together, as we did more or less before, then it should be possible.”

It made as much sense to Dru as anything else had in a long time. “Let’s try it, then. We shouldn’t go on without dealing with the problem. I’d hate to think what would happen if we needed food or water in some desperate moment and found we couldn’t do a thing about it.”

He began first this time, determined to keep the forces of Nimth under control from the start. The slow work annoyed him; it was like learning the use of his sorcery all over again. After a moment’s consideration, the spellcaster decided that this was what he was doing.

“I have it,” he told her.

Nodding, Xiri reached out and coaxed the power to work with her. The firm hold that Dru’s consciousness had on it prevented a magical assault akin to that taking place during the teleportation attempt. He felt the elf turn the land’s binding force to the task she had wished completed.

The sorcerer blinked. The abrupt completion of the spell left him dizzy. Xiri, too, was trying to reorient herself. Dru looked down at the broken courtyard floor.

A loaf of bread, some fruit, a bit of meat, and a jug of some liquid made an incongruous image when surrounded by so much destruction.

“Better than I could have hoped,” he said, smiling.

They split every item into equal portions, save the contents of the jug since neither of them had thought to conjure cups. Dru was surprised when Xiri sank her teeth into the meat. He had supposed that being an elf she would abhor the thought of eating the flesh of some wild creature, even if what they ate now was actually magical in origin.

“Eating meat does not decrease my spiritual nature,” she said, swallowing a piece. “Wasting meat would. A diet of plants is lacking in a few necessities. There are a few I know who believe it is the only way we can become more than we are now, but I notice they are usually the ones lacking in strength and mind as time progresses.” With her fingers, Xiri tore off another piece. “I do give thanks to the creature that provided me with sustenance, though it might be impossible in this case since the beast never existed.”

The jug proved to contain wine that tasted vaguely familiar to Dru. It took him several swallows to recall that it was one of his own creations. He wondered if the spell had somehow tapped into his own mind, then decided that it was a matter for a more peaceful time.

It took only minutes to satisfy themselves. Dru noticed that the food and drink had materialized in quantities exactly matching their present needs. Again, it was a thought for another day, but he did want to ask Xiri if she had planned it so or somehow the spell itself had known. He rose and stared in the direction of his own domain. A part of him wanted to fly directly there to see if Sharissa was there. She should have crossed over, but the signs and what the one guardian had said hinted that more than a few Vraad had been abandoned by Barakas. Unless they had dragged her to the pentagram themselves, the Tezerenee had likely just forgotten her. Dru could not say why, but he felt that left to her own devices, his daughter would still be here.

“Dru! There is another nearby!”

The sorcerer sensed it, too. It was almost as if the newcomer had literally popped into the city… and why not if he or she were a Vraad?

Someone laughed. It was loud and lacking somewhat in sanity. Male, that was all the duo could tell other than the fact that they were mere seconds away. It was as if he had been searching for them.

“What should we do?” Xiri asked, deferring to Dru since this was his world, his madness. She knew little about the Vraad and looked as if she would have liked to keep it so.

“We find out who it is.” A dangerous decision, the sorcerer knew, but it might also be their best way to find out the state of things. Between the two of them, he felt they had a definite edge over the newcomer. It was even possible that they would find the intruder friendly. Not likely, of course, but still a possibility to consider.

The real reason, though Dru would have denied it after all he had been through, was that he was simply curious. His unexpected exodus had only temporarily cooled his inquisitiveness.

With the care only experience can bring, Dru and the elf made their way through the rubble of the courtyard and toward the sound of laughter. Neither was too concerned with silence. The newcomer’s laugh continually rose so high in volume that they doubted he could have heard them even if they had stood behind him and shouted.

Xiri was the first to see him as she peeked around the corner of a roofless building that had been, as far as Dru’s memory served, the place where he had first discussed his theories of ka travel with the patriarch. “He just sits there and laughs!”

Dru, looking over her, held his breath. “Rendel?”

It was indeed Rendel. The Tezerenee, clad in torn garments and looking as if he had risen from a harsh burial, sat on a battered bench. He was silent for the moment save for the gasping sounds he made as he gulped in air. Readying himself for another round of madness, Dru decided. What was Rendel doing here and where had he been?

“You know him?”

The tall Vraad nodded, unmindful of the fact that the elf had her back to him. “I’m going out there.”

“You should not!”

Her words went unheeded. Dru stepped out and walked toward Rendel, trying, all the while, to maintain an image of confidence he knew to be false. When he saw that the Tezerenee intended to laugh once more, Dru called out.

“Rendel! It’s me! Dru Zeree!”

The other Vraad leaped to his feet and shook his head. He was silent, though his mouth kept forming words.

“Rendel. I’m real. Where have you been? What happened to you?”

“What happened to me?” Rendel almost began laughing, but found the strength to resist. “What has not happened to me? You should ask that!”

Dru forced his own voice steady. “All right, Rendel. What happeened? Tell me.”

“It took everything away from me.” The tattered Tezerenee’s eyes revealed his close battle between sanity and madness. “Took it all away! I had worked so hard, given so much up!”

“Who did? Who took it from you?” Rendel’s lost prize did not concern Dru so much as what power had returned him from the realm beyond the veil to dark Nimth.

“A dragon. It rose from the depths of the earth… only it was not a dragon! It was the earth!”

A dragon formed from the earth itself? One of the guardians. One with a fondness, it seemed, for the form of that particular leviathan. “The guardian brought you here?”

If Rendel noted the familiarity with which Dru spoke of the ancient familiar the latter had befriended, then he made no sign. “Sent me here. Said it had already interfered more than it had been allowed. Assumed that if I made it back to… to where I was… from Nimth, then I was meant to be there.” His eyes snared Dru’s. “But there is no way to cross! We are trapped here, Master Dru!”

The brown-and silver-tressed spellcaster hesitated, wondering whether his response would weaken or strengthen Rendel’s sanity. He also wondered if he really wanted to tell the Tezerenee his belief.

Rendel, the remnants of his cloak wrapped around him, started to sit again. It was not clear whether he desired to continue with his pointless laughter, but Dru knew that listening to that much longer would drive him insane.

“There may be a way back… if you’ll listen to me.”

“There is no way back!”

Dru stepped closer. “I crossed to the shrouded realm and back again. It’s possible.”

For the first time, hope crossed the Tezerenee’s scarred visage. Dru wondered what he had gone through over in the other domain.

“Possible?”

“It is.”

Drawing himself straight, Rendel managed a shadow of his old, arrogant self. “Then we can still win.”

Rendel’s widening eyes told Dru that the Tezerenee had finally noticed Xiri, who had joined them. A strange look crossed the battered figure’s face for the merest of moments. “Who is that?”

“Xiri. My friend and companion.” The description sounded inane and inefficient to Dru, but he was not about to attempt to define his growing relationship with Xiri at this time, not when he himself was not certain in what manner it had grown. “She’s an elf. We met on the other side, when both our lives were in danger.”

“An elf.” Rendel looked her over as one might look over a prize pet. “I had forgotten there were elves.”

“We have not forgotten the Vraad,” she returned, her voice chilling.

“So I see.” With each passing second, Rendel was becoming more and more his old self. Dru wondered if he had made a mistake.

His worries lessened a bit when the pale-haired Vraad turned back to him and asked, “What about this way across? How did you find it? Can we get there easily?”

“It found me.” Dru described his involuntary crossing and went into vagaries about how he had returned. Rendel’s eyes lit up at talk of the founders and the news that the golems’ purpose had been usurped made him smile.

“Father must have been furious.”

“I suppose.” Dru tried to remain unsuspicious. “I would have thought you’d have come across Barakas and the rest.”

“Circumstances separated me from where they were to arrive.” Rendel would say nothing more about the subject. Taken with what the Tezerenee had said during his less lucid moments, however, a specter of the truth began to form. It was not a truth Dru appreciated.

“Well.” The other Vraad crossed his arms. He still wore his tattered outfit, but no longer looked like one of the walking dead. His bearing was that of a man fully in control of his life. “What now?”

“We have to find whoever is left here. We all have to cross. I have this feeling that Nimth will be cut off at some point soon and left to rot. I don’t want to be left here to rot with it.”

“No, neither do I.” Rendel growled. His anger, it seemed, was for someone else, likely the guardian who had delivered him back to the dying world. “I have a suggestion, however.”

“What might that be?” Xiri asked, moving close to Dru, as if to show Rendel that the two of them were a united force. Neither Dru nor his companion wanted the Tezerenee to become the dominant partner. Their trust hardly ran that deep.

“Instead of seeking them out, let them come to us.”

“Why should they come to us?” Dru rubbed his chin. “They came here once, expecting to begin a new life, and were betrayed. Why should they come here again?”

Rendel uncrossed his arms and indicated himself. A wry smile spread across his face. “Tell them that you have a Tezerenee, myself in particular, and they will come with the speed that only the hunger for revenge can give them.”

He was offering himself as bait, in a ploy that could end in his slow, nigh-marish death. Dru had to admire his daring, if nothing else.

“They will blame everything on you,” the elf remarked needlessly.

“Concerned, little one? Let them, if it pleases them. They will forget when we show them there is a true path, one which would ensure they were never in debt to my father.”

“Only to us. Only to you,” Dru added.

“They might feel some debt to you, outsider, but not to an elf-whom you had better protect-or from me. From me it will only be a balancing of scales.”

“He is correct, Dru.”

“I know.” He did not trust Rendel, knowing there was too much that the Tezerenee had not told them. Yet, the plan had merit. Further argument would only waste time they might not have.

“The only question remains,” the other Vraad interjected, “is how to contact the rest. It will be a long task, I think. My own power works haphazardly, as yours likely does.”

Dru looked down at Xiri, who returned his gaze with a smile, too. “We have a way around that.”

Rendel glanced from one to the other, openly puzzled. “Do you really?”

It would have been impossible to perform the spell and keep their new companion from discovering the truth. Any attempt to hide their secret from Rendel would have only further weakened the bond they had forged. Dru wanted no trouble from the Tezerenee and admitted to himself that, of all other Vraad, it was Rendel who had the most knowledge concerning the shrouded realm, knowledge they might still need before all this was over.

“Step back.” The curious Tezerenee obeyed without question. Dru and Xiri sat, the better to concentrate fully on their new task. Alone or with another Vraad, Dru doubted the summoning could have been performed with so much chance for success. Even Rendel’s clan would have found themselves hard-pressed at this point. Oh, their summoning might have gone out, but not so clearly or so far. Besides, would anyone believe Dru if they knew that his supposed prisoner was aiding him in the spell?

Though much more complex due to the area that they were forced to cover, the spell proved far more willing than the last. What was sent out was not so much actual words, but images and sensations that repeated and repeated. Dru had intended on sending out an actual message, but it was Xiri who had performed that part of the spell and she had followed elfin ways. It really mattered little so long as what they desired was clear, but the end results reminded the sorcerer too much of the method by which the Seekers had communicated with him.

A glance at Rendel’s suddenly chalky features made him wonder how well the Tezerenee knew the avians.

Dru had hoped that Sharissa would be the first to respond, but as the minutes passed, his daughter made no attempt to contact him, though she had to have noted the message. Instead, when the first response did come, it was as if the maelstrom that he had been eyeing anxiously had finally let loose with a rage intended to tear Nimth apart.

What was left of the tallest tower shook as if coming to life. Several fragments broke loose and struck the battered courtyard. A blue fire spread across the northwest edge of the city, burning solid rock as if it were dry kindling. A ferocious wind threatened to topple one of the smaller, outer towers. Cracks formed in the earth. Rendel had a grim smile on his face, well aware that whoever was coming wanted his head. Dru kept his eyes focused in the direction of the source of the attack, waiting for the Vraad to reveal his or her identity.

It was not one Vraad who finally materialized before them nor was it two. Dru almost wanted to laugh. If there was one other motive than survival that could band life enemies together, it was vengeance.

A full score and more faced them down. Dru was certain he counted at least three dozen, most of them the strongest among the Vraad, and leading them was one with a special hatred for the Tezerenee, a Vraad who should have been dead.

“Silesti,” Rendel hissed. “Where is Dekkar, do you suppose?”

Dru stirred, realizing that the Tezerenee did not know about the patriarch’s command that both Dekkar and Silesti finish their feud. He was certain that both of them had died, but if the black-garbed figure was truly who he appeared to be, then Rendel faced an added danger. Silesti was one of the deadliest sorcerers, his millennium-old feud having honed his skills. Nimth’s situation had apparently not caused him much difficulty, if his entrance was anything to go by. It was evident that he had brought the others with him.

“Dru Zeree.” Silesti dipped his head in formal greeting. “I had thought the reptiles had done away with you.” His eyes were wide and bright. He wore the same darkly elegant bodysuit that he had been clad in the moment when Barakas had condemned the two rivals. There had been only one change, a small rainbow crest on the shoulder that Dru recollected had once been the symbol of his eternal adversary, Dekkar. It was a homage to a worthy foe.

“It was by my own doing that I was lost.”

The leader of the unlikely band shrugged. “We have until Nimth takes us to talk of that. What concerns me, concerns all of us, is that one.”

It was to Rendel’s credit that he merely acknowledged the remark and made no sudden attempt to flee. Dru knew that in the Tezerenee’s place he would have been considering any option that would have gained him freedom.

“Before you attempt anything, Silesti, I have a proposition.”

“You want him first? By all means! You deserve it, only see that you keep him living!” He indicated those with him, a sea of nearly identical images with the exact same expression. Had looks actually been able to kill someone, there would have remained only a scorched mark where Rendel now stood.

“That’s not what I meant.” This would be delicate. If what Dru said failed to placate the bitter spellcasters, then he and Xiri would probably share Rendel’s fate. He took a long breath and then, before the restless muttering grew any louder, presented them with the carrot on the stick. “I have a path of escape for us… all of us.”

Several faces grew hopeful, but more than a few darkened. They had been betrayed once, and because they were Vraad, it was easy for them to imagine someone pulling the same ploy. Silesti’s expression was unreadable, but his skin had turned a deep crimson.

“You… intrigue us. Tell us more.”

There was a protest from within the group, but it quickly subsided after a single glance from their chosen spokesman.

Wishing he had the oratory skills of the patriarch, Dru detailed his mishap and what had become of him. The faces before him kept changing as emotions rose and fell. He said as little as possible about the guardians and their masters, deciding it was not yet time to tell as arrogant a people as his that they had been a failed experiment, but emphasized how there were those who shared their desire to survive. When he had finished, Silesti and the others conferred with one another.

Dru squeezed Xiri’s hand and met Rendel’s wary gaze. Neither could guess whether the vengeful band believed them. Dru was ready to defend both himself and Xiri with whatever it cost and Rendel would do no less for himself.

It was Silesti, as was expected, who announced the decision. His eyes kept switching from Dru to Rendel as he spoke. “If you were this one”-he indicated the Tezerenee with a savage jerk of his head-“we would already be taking our pleasure with your agonized screams. Because it is you, however, I, at least, am inclined to risk trusting you. That reptile… is there reason to spare him?”

“If you want my aid. Rendel is as trapped as we are. He knows more about the realm beyond than even I do.” That was a matter of debate, but he was not going to tell them so. “We’ll also need him when we confront Barakas… or would you care to begin your first moments after the cross-over fighting the Tezerenee?”

As angered as they were, Silesti’s people were no fools. “Others might not agree with what you say.”

“Between us, I think they’ll force themselves to listen. Isn’t life more important at this point? Do any of you want to remain in this hellhole we created?”

That was the point that none of them could deny. Even Silesti looked weary, now that the desire for vengeance was forced to subside. It was raw emotion that had kept these Vraad going. How were those with less strength surviving?

They were all looking at him in expectation, waiting to be told what to do. Why was he forced to lead them? All he wanted was to find his daughter and leave this place. When had he developed such a care for the survival of his undeserving race?

“I need help. From you, if possible. Many of the others will probably make their way here as the hours pass, and I don’t think I can control them all. We might even have to fetch some of those still drowning in self-pity and convince them that I speak the truth. That’s assuming you believe me. This is a sick jest. If I lie, you know I have nowhere to run from you. I swear I speak the truth. My life is my-” He stopped. His pledge would have sounded much too like the ones given by Barakas. Dru did not want to remind his counterparts of what had happened last time they had believed a pledge of honor. “I won’t fail you,” he finished up, wishing that he could have thought of something better to say.

“We’ve already given our assent, Zeree,” Silesti commented. “You should have guessed that by the fact that the Tezerenee had not been flayed already.”

Dru nodded in relieved gratitude. He knew what he had to say next. “I ask you to help coordinate steps, Silesti.”

The mob leader’s chest swelled. He acquiesced with a slight tip of his head. His eyes were gleaming.

The choice was the best one. Silesti’s control of the band proved he had the presence and might necessary. It also gave the plan a look of cooperation. Making others an integral part of the plan would build up their faith in Dru. Unobserved for once, Dru tried to relax. It was a fruitless attempt. There was too much to do and he still worried over the fact that Sharissa had not shown up yet. Dru had expected her to be one of the first. More worries. Would it ever end?

“My father could not have handled it better.” Rendel had come up behind him, but Dru had been too overwrought to notice. Xiri made it a point of switching sides so that she would be farther away from the Tezerenee. “You left out quite a bit, didn’t you?”

“What if I did? Some of it probably would have resulted in your demise… and perhaps ours, too.”

Rendel shrugged. “I meant nothing by it.” He smiled in gracious fashion. “You have only my admiration.”

There was a way that the Tezerenee had about him that demanded questioning by Dru. “You seem very pleased, more so than I would have thought.”

“Why not?” With visible effort, Rendel created an emerald dragon-scale suit with a glittering cloak that moved even when there was no wind. He was greatly satisfied with his results and smiled again. “Despite that thing you call a guardian, I will cross again. I will have what is rightfully mine.”

Dru wished he shared the pale-haired spellcaster’s confidence. Rendel’s words had stirred a nameless fear within him, a fear that the journey to the shrouded realm would be far from simple.

A fear that Nimth itself would not let them leave.