Cerestes smiled as his thoughts dipped and vanished behind a dozen intricate veils of magic.
It began as it always had, with Takhisis's voice low and resonant in the dark reaches of the cave and with the single glowing eye in the midst of the darkness.
Become yourself, Ember, she commanded again. Show yourself before your queen.
What followed was the old tugging of air, the first moldings of the spell soft and electric against his legs and shoulders. He felt, as always, the pain, and he cried out as always, but it would be over soon, he would be Ember again. And then he began to grow, to push against the walls of the cavern, to fill the chamber with his scales and wings and enormity, blocking the light from the passage to the cavern entrance…
Suddenly he realized something was wrong. He continued to grow, or the walls were closer, or…
He felt the crackle of tendon and bone as his spine twisted in the cold grip of the rock. Frightened, smothering, the dragon struggled against tons of stone, against the layers and pressures of the planet itself, which descended on him, tightening, grinding.
Now! the goddess proclaimed, all softness gone from her voice. The rumble of the earth took on her words, and the words passed suddenly from the congested rock around him to a place inside him, and she spoke from the depths of his thoughts and heart.
All this time, my Ember, you have fancied to mask your thoughts of rebellion. "No, he thought. That's not it. That's not…
The rocks shoved in on him, and he gasped for breath.
Silence1, the goddess commanded. You who followed them to Neraka to spy on my tower. You who have plotted from rune stone togemstone, from druidess to Solamnic hostage to whosoever serves your purpose…
This is what it was like, the dragon thought hysterically, absently. This is how they felt when she entered their minds, when she …
Attend to me, Ember! Takhisis commanded, and the dragon's scales glazed and blistered. Ember shrieked aloud, and the sound shook the mountain, but the rocks rested firmly upon him.
Do you believe you are the only one of your kind?
Ember could not reply. His forelegs bunched against his heaving chest, the air in the chamber dwindling… dwindling…
Could you imagine, even for a moment, that I could not summon a dozen of your kind to replace you?
He shrieked again, but the sound was lost in the rock and the spiraling echo of the goddess's voice.
I could crush you now. A thousand years from this day, when my followers excavate these hills, they will find your skeleton and speculate… and marvel…
And you will float in a windless abyss of your own, eaten daily by the jaws ofHiddukel and burned endlessly by the terrible judgments ofSargonnas and Morgion…
No! the dragon thought. Please, no! What would you have me? Simply obey, the goddess urged, her voice sinking back into a muffled music. "It's all I've ever asked-simple obedience. In exchange for which my boundless favor is yours.
Oh, yes. Oh, yes, immortal Lady, mistress of my thoughts and my heart and my every immutable action. I shall obey until the last. Your devoted servant I will be now and in times to come, and… and…
And in return receive my favor, which is more generous than you can imagine.
Ember held his breath. Had the rock around him suddenly begun to shift, to loosen?
For if you follow my commands, and if you accompany Lord Verminaard in the perilous path from novice to Dragonlord…
Yes? Yes? Your wish, Your Infinite Majesty…
Silence. If you follow my commands, I shall let you govern the man.
Govern?
He must not know it. As Dragonlord, he will think he commands you. But let it not be said that your cleverness went unnoticed because of your treachery. I am no fool, my Ember, and I see that under the guise of servitude, of servility, you intended to rule me. So you intended once. So you will no longer intend.
And yet 'tis not a foolish ambition when it comes to the gov ernance of men. I can use it… can use you, my darling. Under the mask of Verminaard's servant, you will answer only to me.
Yes. Yes. The idea delights me. Should I bind him more closely to your service?
I speak to him through Nightbringer. He is mine. But, yes, you may bind him further. Further, irrevocably, beyond all choice, so that he will never return to uncertainty but will stay fully, completely mine.
Yes. I will do that. Teach me the spells. I will do your bidding.
I shall speak those spells through your voice when the time comes. All you will have to do is relax, blank your mind, and give yourself over to me.
But there is also the matter of the girl. When the time is right, I shall tell you what to do. She is the candle that will guide me to L'Indasha Yman. And in return for your obedience, Verminaard shall follow your veiled commands and do your will. For from this time on, your will is my will, your desire my own…
The rocks were definitely looser now. Slowly, painfully, the dragon slipped from his rough entombment, breathing hysterical prayers of gratitude to the goddess, to her six cohorts in the Dark Pantheon, and to forgotten gods, stone deities that ruled the madness of men and beasts while the true gods had vanished from the face of the planet. But always to Takhisis his gibbering words returned, and the cool air rushed into his throat, and he slept from the pain and exhaustion, forgetting all his plans and rebellions.
He was her creature again.
Cerestes awoke at midday to the sound of thunder. Furtively, shamefully, but grateful for his life, he gathered his tattered robes together, stitched them together with spells, and slipped from the cavern, wading down the rock trails in an icy net of autumn rain. At the gates, the sentries barely recognized him, for his hair had whitened, and the gold of his eyes had been swallowed by a dull and featureless gray-the color of bedrock and abiding fear.
And in the cavern above him, the goddess laughed.
Servitude and servility. It was a phrase she relished and a strategy she loved-as one minion kept watch on another.
She had told Ember the truth-that though he would deal with Verminaard, he would answer only to her.
And now it was the young man's turn, the Dragonlord apparent, who would hear the same story.
In the chill of the early evening, the druidess found the place. The entrance was little more than a large hole in the side of an old igneous rock formation, but it was large enough for L'Indasha to crawl through and retrieve a bucket full of ice. She had broken off a good, clean hunk that almost filled the oaken vessel, and Robert helped her to the outside and the moonlight and air.
"What will you do with this?" he asked.
"The ice offers a certain reflection of reality. Sometimes it's cloudy, and always it's skewed, but this kind of augury is helpful for searching, for seeing… possibilities," the druidess replied. "Watch now, and think of Castle Nidus. My helper must surely be there, as you have said."
As Robert bent to the spangled surface of the ice block, he felt L'Indasha take his hand. Deep in the frozen currents, a slow movement began, and he could see the outline of towers and walls, of flying standards and parapets.
"Try for the inside." L'Indasha smiled.
He grinned, too, and the inner garden of Nidus took shape in the swirl of an ice cloud. At last he saw the girl, and with her, one of the young men.
"That's Aglaca!" crowed Robert, nearly dumping the bucket down the hillside. "Look at him; he's romancing her."
In the vision, Aglaca was clearly holding the girl in his arms, preparing to kiss her. L'Indasha glanced quickly up at Robert, not wishing to invade the couple's privacy. He, too, broke his gaze from the bucket and found L'Indasha's face not three inches from his own. His chest pounding and his hand still in hers, he suddenly spoke his heart to her.
"L'Indasha-I would that I were by your side, to share your life for all time," he whispered. "You are the keeper of the land, but I would keep you-love you, care for you, and give my life to you, now that I have it to give. What say you to this?"