"We have a dispute concerning your right of passage over the kingdom of Possiltum," I corrected.
"Yes, yes," Antonio yawned. "Of course, if you want to stop us from gaining Possiltum, you had best stop us here."
"That's about how we had it figured," Aahz agreed.
"Not to belabor the point, Antonio," I smiled, "but I believe we do have you stopped."
"Temporarily," the officer smiled. "I expect that situation to change shortly... shall we say, a few hours after dawn? Tomorrow?"
"We'll be here," Aahz nodded.
"Just a moment," I interrupted. "Antonio, you strike me as being a sporting man. Would you like to make our encounter tomorrow a little more interesting? Say, with a little side wager?"
"Such as what?" the officer scowled.
"If you lose tomorrow," I said carefully, "will you admit Claude's defeat had nothing to do with incompetence and drop the charges against him?"
Antonio thought for a moment, then nodded.
"Done," he said. "Normally I would fear what the reaction of my superiors would be, but I am confident of my victory. There are things even a demon cannot stand against."
"Such as?" Aahz drawled.
"You will see," the officer smiled. "Tomorrow."
With that, he spun on his heel and marched off, his officers trailing behind him.
"What do you think, Aahz?" I murmured.
"Think?" my mentor scowled. "I think you're going soft, kid. First Brockhurst, now Claude. What is this ‘be kind to enemies' kick you're on?" "I meant about tomorrow," I clarified quickly. "I dunno, kid," Aahz admitted. "He sounded too confident for comfort. I wish I knew what he's got up his sleeve that's supposed to stop demons." "Well," I sighed, "I guess we'll see tomorrow."
Chapter Twenty-One:
"It takes a giant to fight a giant."
-H.PRYM
OUR pensiveness was still with us the next day.
Our opponents were definitely up to something, but we couldn't tell exactly what it was. Tanda and Brockhurst had headed out on a scouting trip during the night and had brought back puzzling news. The Empire's soldiers had brought up some kind of heavy equipment, but it was hidden from sight by a huge box. All our scouts could say for sure was that whatever the secret weapon was, it was big and it was heavy.
Gus offered to fly over the box to take a quick peek inside, but we vetoed the idea. With the box constantly in the center of a mass of soldiers, there was no way the gargoyle could carry out his mission unobserved. Even if he used the invisibility sheet, the army was so far flung that someone would see him. So far we had kept the gargoyle's presence on our team as a secret, and we preferred to keep it that way. Even if we disguised him as Aahz or myself, it would betray the fact that someone in our party was able to fly. As Aahz pointed out, it looked as if this campaign would be rough enough without giving the opposition advance warning of the extent of our abilities.
This was all tactically sound and irrefutably logical. Nonetheless, it did nothing to reassure me as Aahz and I stood waiting for Antonio to make his opening gambit.
"Relax, kid," Aahz murmured. "You look nervous."
"I am nervous," I snapped back. "We're standing out here waiting to fight, and we don't know who or what we're supposed to be fighting. You'll forgive me if that makes me a trifle edgy."
I was aware I was being unnecessarily harsh on my mentor. Ajax and Gus were standing by, and Brockhurst and Tanda were watching for any new developments. The only team member unaccounted for this morning was the Gremlin, but I thought it wisest not to bring this to Aahz's attention. I assumed our elusive blue friend was off somewhere with Gleep, as my pet was also missing.
Everything that could have been done in preparation had been done. However, I still felt uneasy.
"Look at it this way, kid," Aahz tried again. "At least we know what we aren't up against."
What we weren't dealing with was soldiers. Though a large number of them were gathered in the near vicinity, there seemed to be no effort being made to organize or arm them for battle. As the appointed time drew near, it became more and more apparent that they were to be spectators only in the upcoming fray.
"I think I'd rather deal with soldiers," I said glumly.
"Heads up, kid," Aahz retorted, nudging me with his elbow. "Whatever's going to happen is about to."
I knew what he meant, which bothered me. There was no time to ponder it, however. Antonio had just put in his appearance.
He strolled around one corner of the mammoth box deep in conversation with a suspicious-looking character in a hooded cloak. He shot a glance in our direction, smiled, and waved merrily.
We didn't wave back.
"I don't like the looks of this, kid," Aahz growled.
I didn't either, but there wasn't much we could do except wait. Antonio finished his conversation with the stranger and stepped back, folding his arms across his chest. The stranger waved some of the on looking soldiers aside, then stepped back himself. Drawing himself up, he began weaving his hands back and forth in a puzzling manner. Then the wind carried the sound to me and I realized he was chanting.
"Aahz!" I gasped. "They've got their own magician."
"I know," Aahz grinned back. "But from what I can hear he's bluffing them the same way you bluffed the court back at Possiltum. He probably doesn't have any more powers than I do."
No sooner had my mentor made his observation than the side of the huge box which was facing us slowly lowered itself to the ground. Revealed inside the massive container was a dragon.
The box had been big, better than thirty feet long and twenty feet high, but from the look of the dragon he must have been cramped for space inside.
He was big! I mean, really big!
Now I've never kidded myself about Gleep's size. Though his ten-foot length might look big here on Klah, I had seen dragons on Deva that made him look small. The dragon currently facing us, however, dwarfed everything I had seen before.
He was an iridescent bluish-green his entire length, which was far more serpentine than I was accustomed to seeing in a dragon. He had massive bat wings that he stretched and flexed as he clawed his way out of the confining box. There was a silver glint from his eye sockets which would have made him look machinelike were it not for the fluid grace of his powerful limbs.
For a moment, I was almost overcome by the beautiful spectacle he presented, emerging onto the battlefield. Then he threw his head back and roared, and my admiration turned icy cold within me.
The great head turned until its eyes were focused directly on us. Then he began to stalk forward.
"Time for the better part of valor, kid," Aahz whispered, tugging at my sleeve. "Let's get out of here."
"Wait a minute, Aahz!" I shot back. "Do you see that? What the keeper's holding?"
A glint of gold in the sunlight had caught my eye. The dragon's keeper had a gold pendant clasped in his fist as he urged his beast forward.
"Yeah!" Aahz answered. "So?"
"I've seen a pendant like that before!" I explained excitedly. "That's how he's controlling the dragon!"
The Deveel who had been running the Dragon stall where I acquired Gleep had worn a pendant like that. The pendant was used to control dragons... unattached dragons, that is. Attached dragons can be controlled by their owner without other assistance. A dragon becomes attached to you when you feed it. That's how I got Gleep. I fed him, sort of. Actually, he helped himself to a hefty bit of my sleeve.
"Well, don't just stand there, kid," Aahz barked, interrupting my reverie. "Get it!"
I reached out with my mind and took a grab at the pendant. The keeper felt it start to go and tightened his grip on it, fighting me for its possession, "I... I can't get it, Aahz," I cried. "He won't let go."