"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."