"It will not be my power that releases you-it shall be the queen herself," Ariakas countered. "And in that power you will see the destiny that brings us together. No, indeed-you are not a servile creature. You will serve only in the same way as I-in the acknowledgment that in Takhisis we prostrate ourselves before a might that makes puny any power on all this world."
"Agreed, Highlord Ariakas," replied Tombfyre. "I give you my pledge of alliance-if I am released from my cage."
Ariakas stood at the edge of his narrow platform, clos shy;est to the place where the metal girder met the cavern wall. Carefully, reverently, he raised the blue blade, utterly confident now of the Dark Queen's will-and of her power, as it would be made manifest by his sword.
"Hear me, O Queen," he murmured. "And show us thy will!"
A brilliant flash exploded in the vast chamber, fol shy;lowed by a sharp clap of sound. The explosion crackled, and Ariakas saw a bolt of energy-like a furious blast of lightning-hiss into the iron strut that spanned the yawn shy;ing space to the dragon's cage.
The roaring clap of noise created a sustained echo in the cavernous space, but that was nothing compared to the brilliant flare of searing, sputtering fire that took root in the long beam of iron. Where the lightning bolt had struck, the metal began to glow-red, then yellow, and finally a pure white that glared like a desert sun, forcing Ariakas to turn his eyes away.
The light sizzled along the length of the girder in a cas shy;cade of smoke and sparks as it streaked toward the caged dragon. Glowing embers trailed from the rippling explosion, and Ariakas smelled a pungent, burned odor in the air all around him.
In an instant the eruption of power reached the cage, and the entire structure of bars stood outlined in glaring, searing light. Within the grid, the huge dragon cringed against the floor, trying to duck away from the fuming, sparking magic surrounding him.
Then, with a burst of sound that swallowed the echoes of the lightning bolt, the metal frame exploded. Pieces of glowing iron showered the vast cavern, some of them landing on the ledge beside Ariakas, while many more tumbled into the smoking depths below. The sound of that destructive explosion boomed deafeningly back and forth, the caverns seeming to growl with the voice of the world. Then slowly the chaos died away.
Ariakas kept his eyes glued to the mighty serpent. Tombfyre tumbled free as the cage shattered. Once again the warrior saw those vast wings unfurl. This time, un-confined, they spread wide, the joints creaking stiffly, and when the serpent struck them downward they swirled a gust of wind that reached Ariakas like a cool shy;ing breeze.
The dragon dived, wheeling gracefully to the left and gliding through a full circle in the vast cavern. Then, as he approached the ledge where Ariakas awaited, the dragon craned his neck upward and, with a dip of his tail, swooped up to the narrow shelf of rock, to the very feet of the highlord.
The human held his breath. The dragon had been freed-but would the mighty creature keep his word? Tombfyre turned those huge eyes, now glowing a bril shy;liant sheen of yellow, toward Ariakas. The dragon bel shy;lowed, a triumphant, exultant sound of pleasure, power, and promise.
Tombfyre seized the ledge with his front claws, wings beating powerfully as his iron-hard talons cut into the crumbling stone. For a full second Ariakas stared into those huge eyes, seeing the long, slitted irises cutting ver shy;tically through the yellow pupils. Then, with just a trace of a mocking smile on the broad, tooth-studded snout, the red dragon dipped his head in a dignified bow.
Ariakas again felt overwhelming awe. He stood still, holding his great sword. Idly, he noticed that the blade was now green-a rich, verdant color like the foliage of a tropical grotto. It was, he reflected, a very beautiful color. Now the weapon seemed more like an icon than a tool, and he gently, reverently, resheathed it.
Again Tombfyre beat his powerful wings, and the human saw the great dragon's sinews tighten in his fore shy;arms and shoulders. Too heavy to hover, the creature struggled hard to maintain its position in the air.
Impetuously, Ariakas stepped onto the great, taloned forefoot. The serpentine neck rose to meet him, forming a handrail to his side as he walked along the taut, mus shy;cular foreleg, barely conscious of the infinite drop yawn shy;ing below. Grasping a handful of the dragon's wiry mane, the man slipped around the great shoulder, com shy;ing to rest in a natural depression between the roots of the creature's massive wings.
Still holding the tufts of mane, Ariakas smiled grimly when Tombfyre turned his head to meet his rider's gaze. The dragon's mouth, too, split into a cruel grin, and a long, forked tongue snaked from between the reptilian lips.
Then, with a forceful shove, Tombfyre pushed away from the precipitous ledge. For a brief moment Ariakas felt weightless, and only his hands tightly gripping the mane prevented him tumbling into the abyss below. But abruptly the dragon's wings thrust downward, biting into the air and firmly settling the human in his natural saddle.
With another powerful wing beat, the crimson dragon curled them into a fast glide, and then they were climb shy;ing higher and higher, spiraling upward … ready to set fire to the sky.
Chapter 25
Tombfyre carried Ariakas through a long, laboring climb. Even in the huge chamber the monstrous red dragon had to spiral constantly, striving every moment to increase their altitude. Ariakas stared above them, seeking some sign of the sky-anything that would show them a way out. Yet the higher they climbed, the more clear it became that this massive vault of stone was sealed by a solid dome of rock overhead.
"How did you get in here?" Ariakas asked, as they soared in a circle near the top of the vast space.
"I don't remember," Tombfyre replied with a rippling shrug of his powerful shoulders and sinuous neck. The serpent's tone was bitter. "The queen placed me here after the war-I have no knowledge of occurrences im shy;mediately following Huma's victory."
"It may salve your pride to know that Huma died in that battle-your army had its vengeance, at least."
"Vengeance is no substitute for victory," growled the wyrm. Abruptly, he tucked his wings, plummeting into the depths of the vast caverns, toward the smoking, smoldering reaches below. The plunge should have taken Ariakas by surprise, but a warning tingled in his mind a second before the dive-he tightened his hands in the dragon's mane, and when the serpent dived, the human clung securely to his back.
Still spiraling, Tombfyre sped through his long descent. Wind whipped Ariakas's hair back from his face, and his lips clenched into a snarling smile of tri shy;umph. The dragon's wheeling path continued down shy;ward, circling around the shaft that had held his prison for more than a thousand years.
Smoke stung Ariakas's eyes, and heat began to build oppressively. They plunged ever lower, still faster, and the human began to imagine an inevitable, fiery end to their descent. The smoldering depths became clear, as he saw eddies of cloudy smoke whisking past bright, flam shy;ing lava. He pictured an instantaneous finale, life blotted out at the very moment they smashed into the abyssal fires seething within the heart of Krynn.
The light grew brighter, forming a reddish haze of flaming illumination, burning the very air around them. Abruptly, and with a dizzying sense of expansion, the shaft they flew down opened through a hole in the ceil shy;ing of an incredibly vast, furiously burning cavern-like a plain of fire, sprawling to the horizons far below the surface of the world.