Then the Highlord jerked the spear free and Sturm's body crumpled where he stood, a dark mass against the sun. The dragon roared in outrage and a bolt of lightning streaked from the blue's blood-frothed mouth and struck the High Clerist's Tower. With a booming explosion, the stone burst apart. Flames flared, brighter than the sun. The other two dragons dove for the courtyard as Sturm's sword clattered to the pavement with a ringing sound.
Time began.
Laurana saw the dragons diving at her. The ground around leer shook as stone and rock rained down upon her and smoke and dust filled the air. Step Laurana could not move. To move would make the tragedy real. Some inane voice kept whispering in her brain-if yau,stand perfectly still, this will not have happened.
But there lay tile sward, only a few feet from her. And, as she watched, she saw the Dragon Highlord wane the spear, signaling to the dragonarmies that waited out upon the plains, telling them to attack. Laurana heard the blaring of the horns. In her mind's eye, she could see the dr,aganarmies surging across the snow-revered land.
Again the ground shook beneath her feet. Laurana hesitated one Instant more, bidclirig a silent Eaf,eweh to the spirit of the knight, Then she ran forward, .stumbLin.g as 'he ground heaved and the air crackled with terrinring lightning blasts. Reaching down: she grabbed Sturm's sward and raises it defiantly in the air_
~S°l'-'si Ar'atlFr?" shoe cried in elven, her voice ringing above the sounds of destruction in challenge to the attacking dragons.
The dragon riders laughed, shouting their scornful challenges in return. The dragons shrieked in cruel enjoyment of the kill. Two dragons who had accompanied the Highlord plummeted after Laurana into the courtyard.
Laurana ran toward the huge, gaping portcullis, the entryway into the Tower that made so little sense. The stone walls were a blur as she fled past then,. Behind her she could hear a dragon swooping after her. She could hear its stertorous breathing, the rush of air past its wings. She heard the dragon rider's command that stopped the dragon from following her right into the Tower. Goodl Laurana smiled grimly to herself.
Running through the wide hallway, she sped swiftly past the second portcullis. Knights stood there, poised and ready to drop it.
"Keep it open!" she gasped breathlessly. "Remembers"
They nodded. She sped on., Now she was in the dark, oarrawer chamber where the oddly shaped, toothlike pillars slanted toward her with razor sharpness. Behind the pillars, she saw white faces beneath gleaming helms. Here and there, light sparkled oar a dragonlance. The knights peered at her as she
past. ,
"Get back!" she shouted. "Stay behind the pillars."
II.5urrn'I" one asked.
Latxrana shook her head, too exhausted to talk. She through the tb:ird portcullis-the strange one, the one with hale in the center. Here stood font knights, along with Flini This was the key position. Laurana wanted someone here sI could depend on, She had no time for more than an exchange a glances with the d•rrarE, but that was enough. Flint read tE story of his friend in her faze. The dwarf's head bowed far moment,I'ds hand covering his eyes.
Laurana ran on. Through this small room, beneath d doors made of solid steel and then into the chamber of dragon ofrb.
Tasslehoff had dusted the .orb with his han
dker
Laurana cbuldsee inside ix now, a faint red mist swirling
myriad o3lors. The kender stood before it, staring inrlo it,
rjragical ,glasses. perched upon his small nose. -_
""What do I do?"'Lavaarna gasped, out of breath..
"Laurana;' Tas pegged, "don't do this!. I've read-if yes.
to control the essence of the dragons within the orb, the dragons will come, Laurana, and take control of you!"
"Tell me what I need to do!" Laurana said firmly.
"Put your hands on the orb;' Tas faltered, "and-no, wait, Laurana!"
It was too late. Laurana had already placed both slender hands upon the chill crystal globe. There was a flash of color from inside the orb, so bright Tas had to avert his eyes.
"Laurana!" he cried in his shrill voice. "Listen! You must concentrate, clear your mind of everything except bending the orb to your will? Laurana. . :"
If she heard him, she made no response, and Tas realized she
was already caught up in the battle for control of the orb. Fearfully he remembered Fizban's warning, death for those you love, worse-the loss of the soul. Only dimly did he understand the dire wards written in the flaming colors of the orb, but he knew enough to realize that Laurana's said was at balance here.
In agony he watched her, longing to help-fret knowing that he did oat dare do anything. Laurana stood for long moments
without snowing, her hands upon the orb, her face slowly draining of all life. Her eyes stared deep info the spinning, swirling colors. The kender grew dizzy looking at it and turned away, Eeelirg sick. There was another explosion outside. Dust driEked down from the ceiling. Tas stirred uneasily. But Laurana never moved.
Her eyes closed, her head bent Forward. She clutched the orb, her hands whitening from the pressure she exerted. Then she began to whimper and shake her head. "II0," she moaned,
and it seemed as if she were trying desperately to pull her hands away.. But the orb held them fast.
Tas wondered bleakly what they should do. He longed to run up and pull her away. He wished he had broken this orb, but there was nothing he could do now. He could only stand and watch helplessly.
Laurana's body gave a convulsive shudder. Tas saw her drop to her knee, her hands still holding fast to, the orb. Then
Laurana shook her head armgrily. Muttering unfamiliar words in elven, she fought to stand, using the orb to, drag herself up. Her hands turned white with the strain and sweat trickled down her face. She was exerting every ounce of strength she possessed. With agonizing slowness, Laurana stood.
The orb flared a final time, the colors swirled together, becoming many colors and none. Then a bright, beaming, pure white light poured from the orb. Laurana stood tall and straight before it. Her face relaxed. She smiled.
And then she collapsed, unconscious, to the floor.
In the courtyard of the High Clerist's Tower, the dragons were systematically reducing the stone walls to rubble. The army was nearing the Tower, draconians in the forefront, preparing to enter through the breached walls and kill anything left alive inside. The Dragon Highlord circled above the chaos, his blue dragon's nostril black with dried blood. The Highlord supervised the destruction of the Tower. All was proceeding well when the bright daylight was pierced by a pure white light beaming out from the three huge, gaping entryways into the Tower.
The dragon riders glanced at these light beams, wondering casually what they portended. Their dragons, however, reacted differently. Lifting their heads, their eyes lost all focus. The dragons heard the call.
Captured by ancient magic-users, brought under control by an elfmaiden-the essence of the dragons held within the orb did as it was bound to do when commanded. It sent forth its irresistible call. And the dragons had no choice but to answer that call and try desperately to reach its source.
In vain the startled dragon riders tried to turn their mounts. But the dragons no longer heard the riders' commanding voices, they heard only a single voice, that of the orb. Both dragons swooped toward the inviting portcullises while their riders shouted and kicked wildly.
The white light spread beyond the Tower, touching the front ranks of the dragonarmies, and the human commanders stared as their army went mad.