When she reached the top of the stair, the wails were like a physical assault, but as soon as she stepped toward the entrance, it stopped. With the light behind her and relative darkness within, Catrin stood momentarily blinded.
"So, the Herald Witch has come to witness my triumph!" Archmaster Belegra said, his voice grating and raw.
Stepping into the chamber, Catrin barely noticed the exquisite carvings that adorned the entranceway or the ancient sculptures that lined the walls. It was the object in Archmaster Belegra's hands that drew her attention: a chunk of dragon ore the size of a melon that sparkled even in the dimness of the mountain hall.
A foul smell filled the air, and Catrin turned to a place where a doorway had recently been walled in and reinforced. Only a small hole let her see what was within. Pinkish and sickly, the dragon looked very unlike those she had seen in the vale, but there was little doubt as to his true nature. As soon as she looked at him, she knew his name: Kyrien. It came to her like a song filled with joy and life, despite what her eyes told her. His eyes locked with hers, and in that moment, she knew what she had to do. With a deep breath, she drew power from the air and from her staff.
Quietly and humbly, another reason for her presence emerged from the shadows, his head down and his face concealed within the hood of his robe, Prios came. She knew him the instant he moved, and she turned back to face the one foe she had in the room. "You will enslave and corrupt no more, Belegra. Stand down now or I will attack."
Hysterical laughter threw him into a brief fit of coughing, but he regained his composure and faced Catrin with sudden clarity in his eyes, which narrowed as they beheld her. Disturbances in his energy field were so intense that it looked to Catrin as if his energy would collapse in on itself. "Burn," he said in a low and unfamiliar voice, as if he were a completely different person. His hands, gripping the dragon ore, sent ropes of fire and lightning sailing through the air toward Catrin, but she was not unprepared and created a shielding sphere around herself.
His attack struck her barrier with a violent impact that sent her reeling, nearly pushing her over the nearby ledge. Maintaining the protective sphere sapped her strength, and Catrin knew she needed to launch an attack of her own. Momentarily dropping her defenses, she hurled blue lightning at Archmaster Belegra, sending it with all the rage she possessed. Howling, she lashed out again and again, but he brushed her attacks aside as if they were little more than annoyances.
His laughter started as a deep rumble in his chest, but then he began to cackle, and in another moment of transformation, he spun and attacked. Balls of fire raced before bolts of fetid lightning, and a wave of nausea poured over Catrin as they approached. She hastily cast her defenses about her, but the onslaught threw her aside and pinned her to the chamber wall. Helplessly she watched as Prios joined the attack, his movements synchronized with Belegra's.
Inexorably, her sphere began to shrink under the pressure, and she could feel the heat on her face. Hot air burned her lungs as she sucked in desperate breaths, and still the attacks continued. Dizziness began to overtake her, and the world grew dark despite the flames that surrounded her.
The wailing drew Chase on, and he found himself in a rocky vale. When he saw grass stained with blood and a piece of the leather from Catrin's leggings, he was as frightened as he was relieved. There was too much blood, and he wondered how she could have walked away.
Turning to the mountain where the wails originated, Chase saw the stairways. He covered his eyes as he thought he saw a form moving up the rock face. Moments later, the wailing stopped, and Chase knew it must be Catrin. Taking off at a run, he climbed with abandon. Seeing flashes of light and hearing thunderous booms from above, he could only pray he got there in time.
Relent.
The command came just when the pain had reached its height, and Catrin was tempted to obey, tempted to just give up. It would be so much easier to let someone else be in control. She was so very tired. In the corner of her sight stood Prios, deep in the throes of compulsion, coerced to do that which was not his will. Kyrien, trapped in a tomb of stone, did not deserve such a horrid fate; she could not relent. They should suffer no more.
The pain began to fade, and her sphere slowly grew. Belegra looked spent, drenched with sweat and breathing hard, a wild look in his eyes. Prios looked worse, and Catrin knew Belegra would run him dry without another thought. Watching as a nimbus of power began to form around Belegra, who seemed to have found his strength, Catrin prepared a hasty attack. Prios lay, unmoving on the floor.
The nimbus grew brighter and more intense as Belegra drew an enormous amount of energy. The stone around his feet grew red hot, and he stepped back. Catrin launched her attack not on Belegra, but on the rock around him. Meanwhile, he cast a massive wave of raw energy at her, flames leaping out and forming the tortured faces of those she had lost, and they howled at her as they came. At the last moment, she cast up a sphere to protect herself, but it was insufficient, and she was thrown, tumbling, to the back of the hall.
Belegra howled in glee as Catrin fell before his attack, but he also took two steps away from the super-heated stone. As he raised his arms for the killing blow, his aura glowing like the sun, Kyrien struck like a massive viper. His head and neck shattered the wood and plaster that filled the doorway to his prison. Before the wood and stone hit the floor, he snapped Belegra up in his jaws and bit down hard. It was over in an instant, and Catrin could hardly believe what she had just seen. Consumed from within by blue flames, Belegra began to burn.
With only his head and neck freed, Kyrien gave Belegra's body one last shake then cast it aside. An instant later, Chase ran into the cavern. Seeing Catrin on the ground, smoking, he charged in, looking for someone to fight. His eyes landed on Prios, who was trying to stand, and Chase descended on him, howling. Even Catrin's screams could not pierce his blinding rage; only Kyrien's fierce visage kept him from killing Prios. Kyrien moved his head between Chase and Prios and locked eyes with Chase.
The sword dropped from Chase's hand, and he turned away from the dragon. Then he ran to Catrin. She was trying to stand as he approached, and he helped her to her feet.
"Anything broken? Are you hurt?"
"I'm bruised and burned and scraped, but I think I'll make it. Prios?"
He moved from behind Kyrien slowly. His face was still concealed, and he approached with his head down.
"Who is this?" Chase asked.
"Prios was one of Belegra's cadre. He was enslaved and compelled to attack me, but now he is free," Catrin said, and the hooded face snapped up at her words. Reaching up, Catrin pulled the hood back and looked on the face of Prios for the first time. He was only slightly younger than she, and to her, he looked beautiful.
I am free?
"You are free."
"Why doesn't he say anything?" Chase asked, suspicious.
"He speaks in my mind," Catrin said. "He has helped me in the past, despite the risks, and I trust him. He comes with us."
"What about the… uh… dragon?"
"We need to find a way get him out of there."
"The walls are really thick, Cat. It would take days to chip him out even if we had the right tools, which we don't."
"We're getting him out," she said in her most commanding tone, but then she remembered the others. "Where are Strom and Osbourne and Brother Vaughn?"
"I sent them back to the ship after the Gholgi attacked. Osbourne hurt his knee, and Brother Vaughn broke a few ribs, I think. Strom went with them so they would not be helpless in a fight. I came looking for you."