Varia, I am here.
Linsha! came the reply. You are alive! I am coming! The call was a little louder this time, perhaps a little closer.
Linsha grinned with joy, flung her arms wide, and fell back in the grass. Varia was back, and she was coming. She hadn’t deserted her. The owl would help her find the egg chamber. Varia, I am here. By the palace.
She lay in the warm grass and felt something tickle her forehead. She swatted at it, thinking it was an insect, but something about that faint sensation on her skin was familiar. She had felt it each time she tried to use her few magic talents the past year or so, and each time the power she so laboriously called forth washed away like a small dam bursting. It was very vexing. Just as times before, her energy flowed out of her and left her lying there weak and empty. This time it didn’t matter, though. She had had enough time to answer Varia. The owl knew where she was. All she had to do was wait, and Varia would come.
She stretched out and smiled peacefully at the sky. Her eyes slipped closed. For just a short while she was able to luxuriate in the solace of a quiet hour.
All at once the peace shriveled in her mind. Terror, cold and sickening, dashed over her. She came fully awake and saw a shadow moving over the trees toward her. Pressed into the grass, she lifted her gaze to the east and saw a blue shape wing ponderously over the palace gardens. The wind of its passing whipped the trees like a storm and sent leaves and dust flying.
Shouts and screams came from the distant palace. Somewhere nearby a horn sounded a belated warning. Linsha realized it was a Solamnic signal. The Knights had arrived just in time to meet the dragon.
She sprang to her feet. What would the dragon do? Was this just another fly-over, or did he plan to fight for Iyesta’s lair?
Her answer came almost immediately on the trumpeting notes of the Brutes’ horns. They were launching another attack.
Escape into the Labyrinth
20
Linsha drew her sword. She had no idea how close Varia was, but she had to warn the owl of Thunder’s arrival. Varia!
The name had barely left her thoughts when a single word thundered over the palace grounds. “You!” it rumbled with mingled surprise and malicious pleasure.
Linsha heard a roar of fury and protest. Another dragon? Incredulous, she sprinted along the path toward the palace courtyard. She plunged out of the trees and skidded to a halt, staring at the air above the palace ruins. Thunder curved overhead, his huge body filling her vision. But just to her left, crouched in the road leading to the palace was a big bronze dragon, his head raised to challenge the blue, his wings half-furled.
Linsha gawked as she tried to take it all in. Lanther, Mariana with her arm in a sling, General Dockett, and several others stood bunched in front of the bronze as if they had been talking to him when Thunder arrived. Lanther drew his sword, and he and the others backed hurriedly away.
Armed warriors on the road from the city poured toward the palace, their homemade dragon badges clear in the morning light.
Linsha bit back a curse. There wasn’t time to ponder where or how the militia’s lines had been pierced, or how or why Crucible was here. She had only a second to accept the obvious and decide what to do.
A bird winged away from the bronze dragon and streaked for her. “Linsha!” The owl hooted and came to circle overhead.
Linsha looked from the owl to the dragons to the approaching enemy to the palace in one sweeping movement. Then she shoved on her helmet to cover her telltale curls and raced for the courtyard gates.
“Varia!” she called. “Tell Crucible to hold off Thunder for five minutes. That’s all! Then he’s to bolt for Iyesta’s throne room.”
The owl whistled in reply and wheeled around. As she flew to warn the bronze, Linsha charged into Lanther’s group.
“Mariana, the treasure room, the tunnels,” she grabbed the half-elf s good arm. “Get everyone down there.”
Lanther’s eyebrows shot up. “Tunnels? Under the palace?”
“Under the whole city!” Linsha shouted over the uproar of angry dragons.
“Gods,” breathed General Dockett at this unforeseen possibility. “We could get the rest of the militia out.”
A massive bolt of lightning exploded behind them just short of Crucible’s side. The thunder was instantaneous. The force of impact sent them staggering.
Linsha clapped her hands to her ringing ears, yet she could still hear Thunder bellow, “Crucible! So the little lapdog returns to crouch at his dead mistress’s rotting feet. Your timing is excellent. I am in need of a bronze skull.”
Linsha shuddered in fear for her friend. He was large for a bronze and had grown nearly forty feet since she’d last seen him, but even at that size he was only slightly less than half of Thunder’s massive bulk. Crucible had participated very little in the bloody Dragon Purge of the previous ten years, choosing to stay out of sight and to kill only those evil dragons who threatened his territory around Sanction. Because of that, he had not attained the huge size of Iyesta, Thunder, or the other greater dragonlords.
To his advantage, he had a powerfully elegant build and the speed to compensate for his smaller size. He also had a breath weapon that could melt rock. A beam of light as hot and intense as the light of a star sheered from his mouth and struck Thunder’s underbelly. The white-hot light could not instantly penetrate the dense, protective scales of the blue’s belly, but it was hot enough to burn.
The blue roared in pained fury. Before he could turn his ponderous bulk around, Crucible fired a second long beam of light at the approaching foes then arrowed into the air after Thunder.
Through the dust and the tumult, Linsha saw the small body of the owl blown sideways by the gale whipped up by the dragon’s wings. She tumbled head over tail feathers and landed hard in the dirt. The Rose Knight sprinted out to scoop her up. She snatched up Varia without stopping, turned on her heel, and bolted for the courtyard.
Mariana, the general, and Lanther were already ahead of her. Like madmen, they ran from group to group, urging everyone off the wall, out of the courtyard, and into the throne room. Already, people were snatching up the wounded and fleeing for the open palace doors.
Linsha hesitated a step when she saw the small group of battered, weary Solamnic Knights looking very confused. They had just arrived and stood in a group around the commander. Sir Remmik was arguing with Lanther.
Hoping the other Knights would not recognize her in her helmet and strange, bloodied clothes, Linsha hurried close to Sir Hugh and hissed, “Get them out of here! We cannot fight a dragon. Live to fight another day.”
He glanced down at the owl cradled in her arms, gave her a brief wink, and ordered the Knights into the throne room.
Sir Remmik raised a hand to reprimand the younger Knight when a bolt from Thunder exploded against one side of the massive stone gatepost of the courtyard wall. Chunks of stone and splinters flew outward in a deadly hail. Sir Remmik did not hesitate further. He led the Knights into the throne room and followed the militia and the dragon’s guards down the stone steps into Iyesta’s splendid treasure chamber.
In barely five minutes the defenders of the palace abandoned the upper levels to Thunder and his forces.
Linsha, Lanther, and General Dockett were the last to leave. They paused in the palace doors and looked out. All of the living had left the courtyard; only the dead remained. Outside the gates they could see the mixed force of Brutes and dragon mercenaries make their way cautiously toward the palace. Crucible’s warning bolt had killed the first line of soldiers and thrown the others into fearful dismay. Under control now, they spread out and advanced toward their objective. There was no sign of the two dragons.