“I have no time to argue. Return, Bennett. Kaz, go with him,” Huma said.
The minotaur looked down at his mount, then back at Huma. “I agree that one of us should return, and it is right that it be Bennett. But I will stay. I swore an oath, too, and I have not yet proved myself. And Bolt thinks as I do.”
Huma sighed. “Kaz, I cannot stop you. Bennett, do your duty.”
Bennett gritted his teeth, but nodded. At a signal, his silver dragon turned—but not before meeting the gaze of Gwyneth. Some message passed between them, and Huma remembered that here was kin of his own dragon. Parting was no easier for them.
When Bennett was gone, Huma turned to the minotaur. “Now.”
The two dragons rose higher and higher. Above them, Takhisis’s five-headed dragon form seemed to waver. The entire mountain, and even the heavens above, were being warped by a vast hole in the fabric of the sky itself. The gateway from which the Dragonqueen had materialized in this world. The portal through which she had drawn her absolute power with the help of the unlamented Galan Dracos. Her full power was cut off from her because Huma had shattered the emerald sphere, but the gateway remained. And Takhisis already had the power she had drawn earlier. Never in her invasions of the mortal plane had she ever been so strong.
Enchanting. Even more interesting than your constant need to argue with one another over hopeless causes.
The cold, cruel thoughts buffeted Huma’s mind.
I will have to gather a few such as you and study this amusing, transitory thing called love. It seems so . . . wasteful.
At least Huma had some satisfaction in that he knew Takhisis could never experience any of the emotions he felt. They would ever be a mystery to one such as her. In that, she was less than any mortal.
Teach me, then.
Though he knew her dragon form still perched atop the mountain, he also saw the graceful, enticing figure of a raven-haired enchantress, clad in the thinnest of dark silks. When she smiled, it was as if for the first time anyone had truly done so.
I could be whatever you desire me to be. You could show me this love you think so much of. I would be a very willing student.
In his mind, the seductive form turned to the side slightly, revealing new and provocative poses. Huma found it impossible to concentrate. She was beautiful beyond compare, and she was willing to learn what it meant to love, to be a mortal. If he could show her what it meant, then Krynn might never again have to know evil or suffering.
There was added—and it weighed heavily—the interesting aspects that would surely be involved in teaching her.
She smiled and seemed to hold out a slim, perfectly sculpted hand.
Huma felt a warmth on his chest. Involuntarily, he clutched at it. A familiar object seemed to fall into his hand.
“No!” he shouted on impulse. “I will not fall to your dark charms! You cannot ever know love or life and I want no part of you. My love is for another!”
He felt a jolt beneath him, as if Gwyneth had caught herself. He had no more time to think of her, because the Dragonqueen once again clutched his thoughts.
You might have known joy such as no man has ever known. You might have commanded my armies, for no warrior has proved more resourceful, more adaptable, and more determined than you. You could have been second only to me, and I would have rewarded you beyond your expectations.
A horrible wind rose up. The silver dragon was nearly swept against the mountainside, and Bolt and Kaz fell behind. Huma gripped the Dragonlance with one hand and fingered the medallion of Paladine with the other. With both of them, he was able to maintain hope.
Very well! You have rejected me. You have opened the doorway to your own destruction—and that of the one you love.
Unable to know love, the Dark Queen was all too familiar with hate.
“Huuummmaaa!”
The knight turned back briefly and saw Bolt being forced to land on a rocky ledge. Kaz was clutching the saddle, desperately.
This is between us now, oh, so mortal Knight of Solamnia! You will beg for forgiveness for all you have done! You will plead with me for an end to the agony, but it will not be until the end of eternity that I may even consider granting it.
Huma recalled the choice made by Galan Dracos: oblivion of body and soul rather than the tender “justice” of the Queen of Darkness. This from one who had no compassion, who had cruelly tortured Magius, and who had sent thousands to their needless deaths. In the end, there had been only fear for Dracos, fear at the thought of being at the mercy of his mistress.
First will I batter your physical form to jelly—but you will not die. Then I will take your mind and reveal to it the full dark beauty of my domain. Madness will not save you. I will not allow it. Then I will take your love and treat her to only the finest of my—entertainments—while you helplessly watch,
Huma had seen wonders and terrors that few men had faced, and only his belief in Paladine and the justice and good the god represented had saved him. Each time, that belief had strengthened him. Huma had come to love Krynn as much as Paladine, and he was willing to sacrifice all for the sake of the world if it meant the defeat of darkness.
Rather than urge Gwyneth back, Huma pressed her on.
The silver dragon obeyed. She would not abandon him.
You are fools. Bigger fools than Dracos, who believed he could become a god. His escape to oblivion saved him from my tender mercy. What will save you?
It was as if a curtain had suddenly been drawn away. The Dragonqueen stood watching, her beauty breathtaking and terrible at the same time.
Each head of the gigantic dragon mocked him. Five in all, and each one representing one of her children. Cunning and cruel green. Tenacious white. Powerfully destructive red. Unpredictable black. Dominating blue.
They swerved sinuously back and forth, as if weaving a hypnotic spell. Never did their eyes leave Huma. Never did a single head pause in its movements.
The Dark Queen was well over sixty feet of pure power. Each movement was grace and strength incarnate. In each movement, no matter how subtle, she revealed the foolishness of daring to forestall her will.
Now you see. Now you know.
The quick, tinier white dragon suddenly exhaled in his direction. Huma barely saw the cone of intense frost projected at him, but Gwyneth swerved easily and flew out of range.
The Dragon of Many Colors and of None—the ancient name came back to Huma—laughed scathingly. The attack had been no more than play to the goddess, as a cat plays with a mouse before eating it whole.
Wind continued to whip around, and the silver dragon veered perilously close to the side of the mountain. The heads of the Dragonqueen laughed in amusement.
There was a slight hesitation in the actions of the godly leviathan as Huma’s mind shifted. She also was mocking him no longer. The focus of each pair of eyes was more intense, as if she studied him anew. The massive wings spread in what Huma might have termed the anxiousness of a normal dragon.
Huma signaled to Gwyneth. She turned, gave herself plenty of space from the terrible form of the Dragonqueen, and turned to face the goddess. Huma’s hand steadied the Dragonlance. The five heads froze in position.
The knight signaled again.
The tempest unleashed by the Dragonqueen increased tenfold, forcing both Kaz and Bolt to seek safety at the innermost part of the ledge. They had only a brief glimpse as the silver dragon defied the ripping winds and the sudden torrential downpour, and continued forward with ever-increasing speed. Then knight and dragon vanished as they neared the top of the peak.
Kaz muttered a prayer to every god of Paladine’s house that his hazy memory could recall. He saved his last and longest for the Platinum Dragon—the god known to humans as Paladine.