As the blaze in the kitchen reached its height, the first of the wall supports collapsed. The sound was like nothing Tate had ever heard before-like a whip crack, only as loud as an avalanche.
Uncured mortar, weakened further by the heat of the fire, could not hold up the massive stones. One stone slid out and crashed through the kitchen, casting up a shower of sparks to more than twice the height of the curtain wall. Several more stones followed, then the entire upper section of the wall poured down.
The castle shook under the blows, and people claimed later they were actually knocked off their feet by the shock. When the dust cleared, Tate didn't know whether to laugh or cry. A gaping hole forty feet wide and twenty feet deep made the wall look worse than it had four months ago, when the restoration had just started. But in collapsing, the stones had buried the kitchen, extinguishing the fire that had caused them to fall.
Wolter came to stand by his slack-jawed friend. The old knight's face was streaked with soot and sweat, gray hair hanging in his eyes. "We'll rebuild, Tate. We did it once, we can do it again."
Tate nodded numbly. In spite of his misery, Tate recalled a legend his father had told him often. It was about two ances shy;tral enemies who fought for hours only to ultimately kill each other with simultaneous deathblows. As a child, Tate had thought the story epitomized the ideals of honor and passion. Now, it just seemed a waste.
Chapter 13
Fed up with inactivity and pteros's indecision, Khisanth slipped out of the elemental air pocket. Outside was the same turbulent world as before, featureless, constantly changing, lit by light shy;ning and pounded by thunder. Khisanth pushed herself away from the bubble and drifted slowly, trying to focus her thoughts on escape.
Suddenly a flash of lightning ripped into her flank, con shy;vulsing the muscles there and forcing a bellow of surprise and pain from the dragon. Looking back in anger, Khisanth saw her hind leg kicking uselessly in spasms caused by the lightning. The randomness of the attack infuriated her; she couldn't even "think" like lightning to anticipate the next bolt. As though answering her thoughts, several more bolts of lightning shot past dangerously close. She flapped back into the airy haven.
Pteros was just as she'd left him. He eyed her scorched scales and asked apprehensively what happened. Frustrated and impatient, Khisanth refused to answer.
"Did you see some other creature? Or has the elemental come back?" No answer came from Khisanth. "Why would the elemental attack you? Do you think it was the enemy the elemental had mentioned? Fraz, was that its name?"
'It was just a bolt of lightning."
Pteros was silent for a while. His head slumped on his forepaws. He stared forlornly at the shimmering blue wall.
"You've got to try that gate spell, Pteros."
Hearing the uncompromising tone in Khisanth's voice, the ancient beast answered without raising his head. "That spell is something I learned from an elf captive long, long ago, near the end of the war. I've forgotten most of what the elf told me about its use. I seem to recall it wasn't something we could use to go elsewhere, but rather a portal to bring something to us." Pteros looked worried. "It would be most imprudent to try it."
The ancient dragon's timidity in the face of emergency brought Khisanth's anger back full force. "Does that mean you won't try anything, for fear of making things worse? How much worse can they get?"
Khisanth's words only made Pteros look more miserable.
"Your friend is right. Creating a magical gate here is most unwise. In fact, even the discussion of it might attract the attention of creatures more powerful than yourselves, plentiful indeed on a quasi-elemental plane."
Khisanth and Pteros whirled in the bubble to find the source of the unnaturally deep voice. They both lurched back at the sight of a bestial, yet beautiful face pressed through the side of the air bubble. The face resembled a gorilla's, but with large, fan-shaped ears and a bald, pointed pate. The fur was white, almost a blindingly pure white, and the lips and mouth bright crimson. But most startling were the eyes, which promised incredible yet sinister intelligence.
Khisanth eyed the beast warily at a distance. "You speak as if you've met such a creature."
"I am one." The creature stepped fully into the bubble. His body, half the height of a dragon's, was thick and muscular and covered with sleek, pale fur. Like the face, the rest of the creature was vaguely simian, except for an unnaturally long tail that ended in bony barbs. The creature moved through the lightning environment with an easy grace that told Khisanth he was no stranger to this realm. "How is it you were foolish enough to come to my little plane without the means to leave?"
"If you're as powerful as you say, you already know the answer to that," Khisanth said boldly.
Pteros gasped at her reply. "Actually, a lightning elemental brought us here against our will," the old dragon explained hastily. "Perhaps you've seen it, a globe-shaped creature filled with white bolts of lightning?"
"I knew the elemental to which you refer, yes." The crea shy;ture's meaning was unmistakable. "That one won't bring unwanted creatures here anymore." He raised one brow. "You would both be wise to choose your words carefully, lest you give the impression you don't like the realm of Fraz."
With no apparent physical effort at all, the creature whirled across the bubble at tremendous speed. He stopped a short distance behind the two dragons.
"Very well, Fraz, now that you've killed our elemental, can you return us to the Prime Material plane?" Though her tone was bold, Khisanth was wary of this creature who had dis shy;posed of the elemental, something Khisanth was not at all sure she could have done in this place.
"If s within my power to send you anywhere you want to go, and some places you'd rather avoid, too. Because I find you and your lost friend so amusing in a helpless, pathetic kind of way, I'm willing to help you. You must do something for me first."
Fraz allowed that to hang in the air for a few moments before continuing. "While I have many friends, I have even more enemies. In that regard, I am truly wealthy. I'd like you to engage one of them in a true contest of fighting skills. You needn't slay it."
Pteros summoned the nerve to ask, "Why must we fight someone you don't even want us to kill?"
The creature drifted close to Pteros and stared into the dragon's eyes. "Because I am the most powerful creature in my realm, and it would amuse me."
"What if we refuse your challenge?" asked Khisanth.
"Call it a command, call it an order, call it a request you can't refuse." The creature's tail flicked like a caf s, motionless except at the tip. The bony spikes clicked against each other as they flexed. Then Fraz shifted so he appeared to stand on all four limbs, like a gorilla, and walked through the air on his knuckles. He circled around the dragons twice, never looking away.
Abruptly Fraz tapped his chin with a razor-sharp nail. "There was another creature here recently from the Prime Material. He tried to refuse. Perhaps you met him, a slight fel shy;low with slanted eyes and charred flesh?" Though the refer shy;ence to Yoshiki Toba had meaning for Khisanth alone, she was suitably impressed.
The creature's sinister eyes shifted from side to side as if he were concentrating. Fraz pointed a fingernail at Pteros. "Charred flesh would be your fate." He turned his gaze on Khisanth. "You, on the other hand, would be forever trapped in my cozy realm, which would be the greatest punishment for you, if I'm reading your mind correctly."