ã€ŠDawn of the Overlordsã€‹


 The Great Council

    SUMMER, 666 BCE, PRYDEIN

    A COOL BREEZE blew through the cloudless, azure sky, belying the tension of the gathering on the plains below. Only rarely had such a gathering of dragons come together, and such events never portended pleasant happenings.

    Baalhalllu led the Council, his brilliantly shining platinum scales a sharp contrast to his dark mood.

    ¡°Let us simply kill Gurgastius and be done with the human threat,¡± called a voice from the crowd of wyrms encircling the members of The Council, turning Baalhalllu¡¯s mood even darker.

    He sighed. How many times would they suggest this inanity? ¡°Gurgastius is but one human leader among many, my friends.¡±

    ¡°¡¯Tis true,¡± Graayyyavalllia said. ¡°I hear tales from the mainland of the chieftains in Gaul and Rome, the kings in Greece and Persia, and the lords, earls, masters, chiefs, kings, and emperors of the hundreds of nations between. Like Gurgastius, they all think to command us, to rule us. To force us, often by threat of violence, to do as they wish.¡± She thumped her glittering, garnet tail as she finished.

    ¡°Dragon slayers are also becoming a larger and larger problem with each passing season,¡± said Jorrduliannsa, a pale celestine wyrm from the far north.

    ¡°The problems are mounting, no question,¡± his daughter, Kwallindauria, said. Her gaze roved slowly around the massive circle of dragons to lock eyes with each of them. ¡°What we need, however, is not a recounting of the problems we face, but solutions.¡±

    Baalhalllu smiled. For one so young, she showed surprising wisdom.

    ¡°Here, here,¡± called dozens of metallic wyrms together. Baalhalllu¡¯s glow of pride shattered and he barely stopped from rolling his eyes at them. Did they truly think their rehearsed praise for his daughter¡¯s words would help? Wisdom was needed this day, not some foolish attempt at feigned acclamation.

    He waited, meeting several gazes around the circle in silence. Not yet, he thought. Others need to make their suggestions first. If my plan is the first they hear, they will dismiss it out of hand.

    ¡°It is time to strike!¡± said Vordillainsura, a powerful agate wyrm from western Gaul. His black scales sparkled in the midday sun. ¡°Not the foolish one-dragon-against-an-army battles that have been occurring in haphazard fashion throughout the world, but a concerted attack against the Humans! We are not the only ones being threatened! The Sidhe, the Gnimshei, the Famorians, the Firbolg, the Tuatha, and scores of others are being threatened by the Humans as well! They will all join with us in a war against mankind! It is time! Who is with me?¡±

    A few stone dragons cheered, but the sound was muted and gained little support.

    Thank for you being the idiot to speak first, Baalhalllu thought.

    ¡°Are you insane?¡± Graayyyavalllia asked in earnest.

    And thank you, Graayyya. Another stone dragon speaking out against him will go far.

    ¡°Coward,¡± Vordillainsura shot back.

    ¡°Not in the least,¡± Graayyya said. ¡°But I prefer not to destroy the Earth. I suppose you don¡¯t much care?¡±

    ¡°What would you know? You were practically raised by the cowardly platinum.¡±

    ¡°Cowardly?¡± Kwallindauria asked. ¡°In what way, exactly? Where there is injustice, I fight it. Where there is unnecessary conflict, I eliminate it. Where there is warmongering, I address it. Where the weak are oppressed, I defend them. Where the truth has been obliterated, I restore it. When battle is needed, I will never hesitate to fight. But much more often, there is a better way. Do not let your violent nature get the better of you, Sura.¡±

    The agate scoffed and turned away from her. Addressing the mass of stone wyrms behind him, Vordillainsura roared, ¡°Rally behind me, wyrms! Battle comes, and we will not run from it! We must fight and we must destroy the humans once and for all!¡±

    ¡°Do not be an idiot,¡± Jorrduliannsa said. ¡°You know the destruction we have wrought in the past when we have warred openly. If we do this, if we go to war, one and all, there will be no Earth left by the time we are done. Nothing will survive.¡±

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    ¡°If that is what is needed.¡±

    ¡°Can you hear yourself?¡± Graayyyavalllia asked, her voice stern.

    ¡°All I hear is the bleating of a coward,¡± Vordillainsura said.

    Graayyya shook her head. ¡°How many times have you come to me to arbitrate disputes with your Gauls, Vordillainsura? Or your Greeks, Korathroonllea? Or between you and the Gnimshei, Dreerovadia? Thrunndiaun, what about you and the Romans? Or the Vikings that occasionally try to raid your younger dragons, Briteillaun? Or Viritriain, when your wyrmlings occasionally raid livestock from your Germanic tribes? And Cukhorilai, what happened the last time the Persians encroached on your territory? How often have you all come to me for my wisdom, to settle disputes, or to facilitate talks with the other races? How often have each and every one of you come to me and listened to my counsel?¡±

    That¡¯s cowed them, thank the gods.

    Even Vordillainsura bowed his head, appearing more subdued than Baalhalllu had ever seen him.

    For a moment, at least.

    Raising his head, the agate glared up into Graayyya¡¯s eyes. ¡°What do you suggest we do, then?¡± he asked with a snarl.

    ¡°Can I at least convince you to accept that war is not the answer?¡± she asked.

    ¡°If you can show me a better solution.¡±

    Graayyyavalllia nodded, as though that settled everything.

    Which, of course, it did. He would listen. He would follow the plan.

    And now, Baalhalllu thought, to settle the others.

    Kwallindauria looked around the standing stones to all the dragons massed there. Again, she took the time to meet the gaze of each wyrm in turn. The process seemed to take ages.

    ¡°If you will all listen, the Council of Elders has a plan which will ensure both our own continued survival as well as that of the Humans and Mother Earth herself.¡±

    Baalhalllu¡¯s gaze swept the circle to meet the eyes of the dozens of wyrms who came together for this meeting. Though some were pleased, in all but a few he found at least acceptance.

    Good enough.

    With a nod to the group as a whole, he began to speak of his plan for their future. It wasn¡¯t an ideal solution, he knew. The Watchers would have their work cut out for them, especially for the first few centuries while the dragon slayers would still come searching for them. But it was the only course of action open to them that would not result in unacceptable loss of life as well as the potential destruction of the Earth itself.

    If we destroy the Earth, we destroy ourselves anyway.

    Are you certain this is the way? Dauria¡¯s voice spoke within his mind.

    It is a good plan, he said. Not the best, but we don¡¯t have the luxury of a plan which will please everyone. We don¡¯t have the luxury of a method which will allow us to live in peace with the Humans. Not anymore. The moment they stopped revering us, this became inevitable. They have become stubborn, avaricious, and narcissistic creatures.

    Why can we not merely change our shapes and hide within their own ranks?

    He sighed. You forget that not all dragons can do so. Most of the older wyrms can, as can almost all metallics. But of the others? Only a few can manage it.

    She shrugged, projecting the movement through their telepathic link. So those of us who can¡ª

    No, Dauria. The solution has to be the same for all dragons. We cannot segregate ourselves from the rest of our kind. They will not accept it if we try. Civil war would be the result.

    As you say, Sire, she said.

    She was displeased with the answer, that much was obvious.

    By the tails of his ancestors, he was displeased with it. But what choice did they have? When left with the choice between going to sleep, possibly forever, and destroying the Earth, sleep had to be his choice. Anything less and they were no better than the Humans.

    It was a sobering thought.

    What happens if they find one of us while we sleep? Dauria asked.

    They will not.

    How can you be so sure?

    That is part of the reason for The Watchers, my dear. For the first few centuries, while they still remember us, they will search. They will hunt us with reckless abandon, I am certain. The Watchers will keep them from finding us, or, barring that, keep them from returning to their people.

    So we are going to end up killing humans anyway? Dauria asked, incredulous.

    By the ones or twos, it is unavoidable. It will be no worse than what we¡¯ve been doing for decades. When one of them threatens us and will not listen to reason, we have been forced to kill. This will be no different.

    Except that they will be killed out of hand, with no chance for talking them out of it.

    Better that than letting the stones have their way and entering into a full-scale war with the Humans. You know as well as I how destructive that would be. I don¡¯t like it any more than you, but we must do what we must do.

    But to kill them without provocation, Dauria protested. How is it any better?

    As I said, we will do what we must. This is a necessity, Kwallindauria. It cannot be avoided. It is better to kill the few of them who wander too close to our sleeping forms than to make all-out war with them.

    I suppose you¡¯re right, she said glumly.

    It is the lesser of the evils, he said. Do not sulk. This is what must be.

    I know, Sire. She paused, then added, we will wake someday. I pray it is to better circumstances than we now face. I eagerly await the day we can go back to living in peace with the Humans. Watching over them. Caring for them. That is what I was made for.

    I know, my dear. I know. You will have it back. Someday.

    Although he couldn¡¯t see her, Baalhalllu felt her glowing smile in his mind and he smiled back.

    He wasn¡¯t sure he believed what he¡¯d told her about the future, but he hoped it was so.

    The Humans can¡¯t possibly be foolish enough to continue on their destructive path throughout all the ages, can they?

    Such a thing seemed preposterous.

 Chapter One

    Winter, 2064 CE, Japan

    DEEP WITHIN THE bowels of the Earth, in a vast cave system sunlight never touched, the platinum dragon¡¯s eyelids twitched several times before fluttering open. Ropes of greenish ichor stretched between the lids, trying to pull them closed again.

    The dragon darted her eyes left and right, up and down, but the world appeared to consist of nothing more than a blurry haze of dark colors.

    With a thought, she directed a tiny trickle of arcane power from her Apex to banish the eons of ichor blurring her vision. The obstruction cleared instantly, allowing her to see across the chamber to the wide entrance of her lair. There stood a young granite dragon. His eyes darted nervously around the cavern.

    Certainly, he couldn¡¯t have been worried about the cavern itself. Once, millennia ago, the walls, ceiling, and floor had been raw earth and stone. They had been almost crumbling, the ceiling and floor covered in stalactites and stalagmites, the walls covered with moss and lichen.

    But no longer.

    Before she had begun the Long Sleep, Kwallindauria had sculpted the interior of the cavern with careful precision. At the time, she¡¯d been tiny compared to the cavern, less than the hundredth part of its size. She¡¯d shored up the walls and carved out the stone formations. When she¡¯d been done, the walls were down to bare, smooth stone and the ceiling and floor were even, solid, smooth, and free of dirt and debris.

    After all that, she¡¯d drawn out tremendous arcane power to reinforce the stone, making it stronger. She¡¯d needed to ensure that in the event of a terrible quake or volcanic eruption, her lair would remain intact and undiscovered.

    Yet, the small dragon¡¯s scales clicked together softly and his wings started to flare out before he pulled them back in. Clear signs of his anxiety, perhaps even fear.

    He fears I am displeased, she realized with a silent chuckle.

    ¡°Why have you wakened me?¡± she asked, testing her voice. Though thick and raspy from disuse, it boomed powerfully from her throat.

    I have grown much in my slumber, she thought. How long has it been?

    How many centuries? Or is it millennia?

    ¡°Apologies, Mistress.¡± The younger dragon clicked his talons against the stone floor, creating a soft, tapping rhythm. ¡°You set out orders long ago that you were to be wakened if anything of import were to occur.¡± He paused, as though to allow her time to respond.

    After the space of a clawful of breaths, he continued. ¡°Well, we¡­ that is, the other Watchers and I¨C¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes. I know you and the other Watchers made the decision to wake me. I¡¯m sure I¡¯m not the only one. What I want to know is what happened and why.¡±

    The young granite dragon gulped loudly.

    ¡°We¡­ believe.¡± He hesitated. ¡°That the time may have arrived for us¡­ all of us, to¡­ act.¡±

    Kwallindauria¡¯s scales quivered in irritation. She offered a forced widening of her eyes and waited.

    ¡°The Humans,¡± he finally said. ¡°The Watchers all agree. We¡¯ve given them enough time to learn from their mistakes, but the problems are accelerating.¡±

    ¡°How so?¡± she breathed.

    ¡°Mistress, human warfare is not what it once was. They manipulate chemical interactions and biological agents. Their¡­ what is the word¡­ bombeis? Explosives. They produce conflagrations more destructive than the breath of even your great species.¡±

    Kwallindauria scoffed, I find that highly unlikely.

    ¡°Mistress, I know it doesn¡¯t seem possible. But I have seen the destruction with mine own draconic eyes. An entire city of your humans, I believe they call themselves Japanese these days, were bombeid. One of these devices was detonated in their midst and the loss of life was devastating, measured in the tens of thousands. And nearly as many died in the following days from the chemical poisoning created by the explosion.

    ¡°How is that possible?¡± she breathed.

    ¡°The total destruction of the explosion itself was an area of approximately one-hundred standard wingspans.¡±

    ¡°A hundred!¡± she said, incredulous.

    ¡°Yes, Mistress.¡±

    ¡°How long ago did this happen?¡±

    ¡°One-thousand-five-hundred-forty-two moons, I believe.¡±

    Kwallindauria nodded, but kept silent. It was a long time to wait, but she could imagine a multitude of scenarios that would lead the Watchers to continue watching rather than take any drastic action.

    ¡°In the intervening time, their technology has advanced further. Become more deadly. More destructive. And there are now tens of thousands of those bombeis in the world.¡±

    ¡°And what concern is it of ours if the humans choose to destroy themselves?¡±

    By the tails of my ancestors, she thought. If just one of these devices can cause so much devastation, imagine the cataclysm hundreds of them could cause? Let alone thousands.

    ¡°Under ordinary circumstances we would agree with you, Mistress. But it is not only themselves they are destroying. The bombeis that dropped on Japan¡­ the physical destruction was only the beginning. The chemical poison still affects that part of the Earth today. It rained destructive acid for several moons, it has been proven that these chemicals mutated numerous living species¡ª and destroyed others ¡ªand even now crops struggle to take root in the soil for thousands of wingspans around the area of the explosion.¡±

    ¡°And what do you and the other Watchers think to do about all this?¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± he faltered. He lowered his head for an instant before looking up again. He glared in obvious defiance.

    ¡°That is not for The Watchers to decide. We were appointed not for our wisdom, but rather our discretion and obedience. We watch, we report, and we obey. Whatever the Elders decide, we shall obey.¡±

    Kwallindauria smiled. ¡°And if they decide you should do nothing?¡±

    ¡°If that is the Elders¡¯ decision,¡± he sighed, ¡°then after strongly voicing our objections, we shall obey.¡±

    She nodded in approval. ¡°Then wake the Elders. They will discuss and decide the matter.¡± With a bit of advice from me, of course, she added silently.

    ¡°Yes, Mistress.¡±

    She waved a claw in dismissal and the Watcher left her cavern.

    After all these centuries, why now? For eons, the most destructive thing we could do was rejoin the world. It seems that may have changed. What if the Humans have become more destructive than a war between us would be?

    Or, what if it¡¯s something else? What if something more dangerous is happening?

    What if our Watchers have been corrupted?

    Stop! she commanded herself.

    She needed to speak with the Elders. They would investigate the claims of The Watchers before any decision was made. She simply had to ensure they came to the correct decision.

    But what was the correct decision? She couldn¡¯t deny that the Watcher made a compelling argument for the need to intervene. This situation, now, was vastly different than the one that led to the Long Sleep. However long it might have been.

    Never mind that it felt to her as though only a few days had passed.

    I need to speak with Graayyyavalllia, she thought. And Baalhalllu.

    Dauria moved to climb up from the cave floor, but she found the movement awkward. Her limbs were heavier than she remembered, yet without the commensurate strength that should have come with such growth.

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    This was going to take some getting used to.

    Trying again, this time doing her best to compensate for the change in her physique, she lumbered up from her position on the stone floor. It was all she could do just to remain standing, her scales clacking with the trembling of her muscles.

    Breathing a deep sigh, she moved her head forward toward the entrance to her lair. She tried to ignore the soft clack of neck scales as her muscles shook.

    The scent of the granite¡¯s fear, bordering on terror, followed in his wake in an obvious trail. Only an anosmic dragon could have missed it.

    What is he so afraid of? she wondered as she pulled her head back to let her neck rest for a minute. That can¡¯t all be from his fear of displeasing me.

    She clicked her sharp talons against the smooth stone surface as she considered the situation.

    Clearly, something in the human world had The Watchers in a near-frenzy of worry. But did they truly believe¡ª and near enough to unanimously as made no matter ¡ªthe Humans had carried things far enough to warrant direct draconic intervention?

    Was it beyond repair?

    She thought it unlikely. What problem could there be that could not, with the proper motivation and manipulation, be fixed within the span of a human generation?

    Humanity turning on the dragons couldn¡¯t be avoided, a chilling voice in the back of her mind said.

    She scoffed at herself. That had been different. That was humans turning on another creature, which was in their very nature. Utterly obliterating their own species was not in their nature. Such an act was not in the nature of any creature.

    So why were The Watchers jumping to the idea of direct draconic intervention being necessary? She couldn¡¯t force it to make sense. She wanted¡ª truly, in her heart, needed ¡ªto believe there existed a rational explanation for their behavior. Something to combat her growing fear.

    She did not want to believe it was possible.

    Yet it grows increasingly difficult to deny the likelihood that The Watchers may have been compromised somehow, she thought.

    Shaking her head to banish the dark thought, Dauria took her first trembling steps toward the exit to her lair. Her legs came near to giving out, unaccustomed as they were to bearing her now-immense bulk. Her scales clacked together with the trembling of her flesh, echoing through the otherwise empty lair.

    Oddly, her body strengthened as she walked. Her vitality renewed, the famished feeling in her stomach dissipated, and the haze in her mind diminished with each step.

    Perhaps this is some unforeseen side effect of the Long Sleep?

    With her strength growing, she traversed the winding, maze-like tunnels of the cave system with increasing speed.

    * * * * *

    She was almost back to her pre-Sleep self again by the time she rounded the final bend before reaching the entrance to the cave, near the summit of the mountain.

    Almost.

    Well, she thought, as she glanced down the corridor, this is a problem.

    The cave opening was much smaller than Dauria remembered. Even accounting for her growth since The Sleep began, it was not nearly as tall as it should have been. Nor as wide.

    Rock fall? she wondered.

    But no, that couldn¡¯t be right. The stone at the cave mouth was not compacted rubble, there were no pieces crunched together. It was solid stone, as though it had always been there.

    What is this?

    Kwallindauria stopped herself in the act of gouging the stone with her claws and forcibly separated her clenched jaws.

    Who, or what, could have done this? Has it been inside my lair?

    Turning back toward her lair proper, Dauria opened herself to the arcane strength within and drew forth a tendril of power, directing it to her sight.

    Her vision shifted to infinitesimal hues of blue and red. Stark streams of glaring white enveloped the entire tunnel from floor to ceiling. That was the imprint of her own essence, the power she¡¯d used to carve out the tunnel. She knew it well.

    No other arcane imprint touched the walls, floor, or ceiling of the cave tunnel. She turned back to the cave mouth and her jaw slipped open in amazement.

    A rainbow of intertwining streams crisscrossed and zigzagged all around and across the mouth of the cave and spread along almost a full wingspan of the wall, ceiling, and floor of the tunnel.

    What in the name of my first ancestor could do that?

    She tried to pick out the individual threads braided into the streams of power, but they were too tightly interwoven. She couldn¡¯t separate any of them from any other, leaving her bereft of any way of identifying even the creator¡¯s species, much less who it could have been or what the intended purpose was.

    Curse you to Infernalis!

    The sheen of rainbow light crisscrossing the cave entrance only faintly obscured her view of the world beyond, however. The slope of the mountain was covered in snow and ice and it opened on a rocky plain. There were villages and cities in the distance, but none were close enough for an inhabitant to see her when she exited. Not even at her now-massive size.

    ¡°It could be nothing,¡± she mused aloud. ¡°Or it could be something disastrous. The larger issue though, as I see it, is where did this come from and who¡ª or what ¡ªis responsible?¡±

    Dimly, in the back of her mind, she wondered at why. Whatever it was meant to do, why target her? Assuming it was something malicious, the likelihood of which could not be ignored, why not focus such effort on wyrms of import. She wasn¡¯t even on the Council.

    True, she had been known to have great influence on the Council from time to time, but that was not the same thing. She was not an important wyrm.

    Could The Watchers be involved, somehow? she thought, her incredulity somewhat forced. Or perhaps just one of them? Would they¡ª or he ¡ª or she ¡ªhave the temerity to go so far? If it is them, a word of this breathed to the Council would ruin them. Forever.

    ¡°No,¡± she whispered to the darkness. ¡°There has to be another explanation. Whoever is behind this, whatever their goal, they intentionally waited for the Watcher to leave my lair so they could spring this on me alone. That must be the way of it.¡±

    What will happen if I cross through those streams of power on my way out? she wondered, but couldn¡¯t begin to guess at the answer.

    Or rather, she had entirely too many guesses. Maybe nothing. Maybe I¡¯ll be vaporized. Maybe I¡¯ll be turned into a chicken, or maybe I¡¯ll be struck deaf, dumb, and blind? Who can say with any certainty?

    Without being able to identify the power used to create them, the answer could be any one of ten thousand different effects. Or, of course, it could just as easily be nothing and meant to do no more than frighten her.

    With no other way in or out of the lair, though, her choices were to either take her chances with the unknown arcane power or go back to sleep and forget about The Watchers, the Humans, and the rest of the world.

    Well, perhaps that¡¯s not entirely true. I suppose I could make my way up as close as possible to the tip of the mountain and use sustained fire-breath to blow the top of the mountain off.

    If that would even work, which I doubt.

    By the gods, am I truly considering trying it?

    If any act had the potential to unequivocally announce to the Humans that dragons were real, still existed, and had returned to wreak havoc on the Earth, that one would have been at, or at least near, the top of the list.

    She discarded the idea.

    The day may yet come that such an announcement will be right and proper, but that day is not today.

    Not yet, she added after a moment.

    In frustration¡ª and not a little trepidation ¡ªshe admitted that she had only one available course of action: to shift into a smaller form and pass through the arcane weaves.

    No. It isn¡¯t worth the risk, she thought. Those streams could do anything.

    But you have to do something! The Elders need you. Even if you¡¯re wrong about The Watchers¡ª and gods willing, you are ¡ªthis is too important for you to sit by the wayside while a decision is made.

    With a thought, Dauria released the tendril of power affecting her sight and drew forth a stronger stream of arcane energy. This particular magic was easier for her than most others. Many dragons, particularly those of the stone and gem families, never mastered it. But for most metallic dragons, it was almost second nature by the time they reached adulthood. For the platinum dragons, though, it was still easier. Most mastered their first form before adolescence.

    She wrapped the streams of power around herself and directed her body to change.

    Change it did.

    Her long neck and tail seemed to pull themselves into her shrinking torso. Her wings melded into the scales they touched, which in turn were pulled into the flesh beneath them. Her talons retracted and her claws shrunk, toes elongating. Bones cracked painfully, some vanishing altogether. Her hind legs twisted as they shrunk, altering to a shape far less mobile as her torso turned in on itself, compacting and writhing in stomach-turning fashion. Although she had never seen it, she imagined the change in the shape of her head and nausea overtook her.

    If there¡¯d been anything in her stomach she would certainly have lost it before the transformation was complete.

    Regardless of how many times she underwent the transformation into human form, the process continued to disgust her. Within a dozen seconds she had gone from an awesomely powerful platinum dragon, more than ten standard wingspans in length, to a puny, frail human less than the tenth part of a single wingspan in height.

    Where does the mass go? she wondered. She had asked the question hundreds of times, but no wyrm she had ever met could give a satisfactory answer.

    With jerky, one-sided movements¡ª this was going to be a painfully ungracious experience, as it always was when she had gone too long without walking in the skin of a human ¡ªshe made her way across the threshold of the cave mouth and out into the cold, mountain air.

    Her new body shivered, goose prickles popping up everywhere. She clenched her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering.

    She had forgotten just how cold human flesh could be.

    She shook herself and wrapped her arms around her thin body in an effort to warm it, but she only shivered harder.

    Clenching her jaw tighter, she trudged through the snow as fast as she could. Between the impediment of the snow and the awkward, shuffling gait of her new form, it was painfully slow going.

    She counted out steps as she went. Although the help was minimal, it did help to divert her mind from obsessing over the cold.

    She estimated ten minutes had passed when she stopped and turned around to judge the distance she had traveled from the cave mouth. Five wingspans, perhaps ten at the most. It was difficult to gauge distance with these human eyes. Well, human-ish. Her senses were far more acute than any ordinary human¡¯s, though still far short of a true dragon¡¯s senses.

    So far, nothing untoward seemed to have happened from passing through the weaves of power.

    Alright, that¡¯s enough of this, she thought and reached for the arcane energy of her Apex to resume her natural shape¨C

    Oh, gods, she thought. There was nothing there!

    Her eyes widened and her mouth went dry. Panic seized her by the throat, trapping the breath in her lungs.

    ¡°Not. Possible,¡± she managed to gasp as she tried, in vain, to pull new oxygen into her body.

    Her vision darkened around the edges and Dauria thrust her consciousness down within her being, hunting the cause.

    A dragon¡¯s arcane strength did not simply vanish! It was always there, regardless of what form she took. What was going on?

    As hard as she tried, she found she could not focus her mind enough to delve into herself. Each time she tried, something seemed to thrust her right back out again.

    Dauria clawed at her burning throat in frustration with thin, blunt fingernails.

    This can¡¯t be happening! she screamed inside her head.

    The darkness around her vision spread and she tried to cry out, but no sound came.

    The darkness finally consumed her vision and her legs gave out, but she didn¡¯t feel her body hit the sharp rocks at her feet.

 Chapter Two

    Spring, 670 BCE, Prydein

    THE COOL SPRING air whistled through cracks and crevices in an immense cave in the tall, Granite Mountains near the center of Prydein.

    The cave tunneled all the way through the mountain and served on one side as audience hall betwixt humans and dragons, while the other was a wide cavern large enough to house more than a dozen wyrms. The cavern side was where dragons were meant to enter, as it was large enough for several dragons to enter abreast. While the other side, in contrast, connected directly with the hillfort settlement and its entrance was only just large enough to admit a single dragon at a time.

    Two dragons drifted down toward the wide opening in the mountain, gliding in wide circles on opposite sides of the valley surrounding it. On one side glittered bright scales of shining garnet that reflected the glaring light of Ryujin¡¯s Blaze in the azure sky above. On the other, black agate scales sparkled darkly, drinking in the light.

    After making several circles around the valley, the pair landed almost simultaneously, less than two wingspans from the massive opening that led into the tunnel.

    A slight sneer touching his lips, the agate wyrm moved to stand near the garnet.

    ¡°Thank you for coming,¡± she said.

    Vordillainsura bristled. This was most irregular. The human king should have come to them for audience, not the other way around.

    He felt certain she thought differently, but then, the Lady of Prydein was practically half-metallic herself. If she had her way, every dragon across the Earth would be at the constant beck and call of some human or another.

    ¡°What do you suppose he wants?¡± Sura growled. He saw no reason to waste time with pleasantries.

    ¡°I doubt even he knows.¡± Her voice sounded light, almost musical.

    Sura only just kept himself from snarling at her. ¡°Then why did you insist I come?¡±

    Graayyyavalllia turned to face him, golden eyes shining in the bright light of Ryujin¡¯s Blaze. ¡°To present a united front.¡± Her voice was matter-of-fact. ¡°The human leaders around the globe have been testing us in recent years, to see what they can get away with. How far they can push us. How much they can demand of us. They need to see us together, with one will.¡±

    Sura forced out a frustrated breath.

    ¡°Although we must keep our relations cordial,¡± she said pointedly, ¡°we need to show them, together, that we will not be pushed. We will not be controlled. We will not be commanded. That we have reached the limit of our tolerance for commands.¡±

    ¡°But why me?¡± He hated how petulant his voice sounded. ¡°Why not one of the wyrms from your own island? Or at least your domain?¡±

    ¡°Precisely because you are not within my domain. You are not compelled to do my bidding any more than any dragon must obey a council member. But as the wyrm who oversees the other major group of Celtic peoples, the two of us acting in unison sends exactly the right message.¡±

    He gave a slight, if unhappy, nod.

    ¡°Do you understand?¡±

    He scowled.

    ¡°Vordillainsura!¡± She snapped.

    He narrowed his eyes in irritation. ¡°Yes. I understand. Can we get this over with?¡±

    The garnet nodded.

    Ahead, a single human emerged from the wide entrance to the tunnel through the mountain, looking pathetically small in the large space.

    He was covered in haphazard fashion in the silly bits of leather and iron his kind used for protection, and carried a heavy spear with a head of iron in one hand, and a shield of ash with some sort of painted animal hide stretched over it in the other. As though such flimsy defenses could stop a dragon¡¯s tooth or claw. Much less their elemental breath.

    To say nothing of the non-chance the pathetic spear had of piercing one¡¯s scales.

    Sura almost laughed.

    ¡°Th¨C the king will¡­ will see you now,¡± the little man stammered. He kept his eyes downcast, bushy red brows pulled together, and his flesh trembled.

    Sura blinked in annoyance, but his garnet companion gave a magnanimous bow of her head and said with surprising grace, ¡°Please. Lead us in.¡±

    The human gave a shaky bow of his own head, then spun on his heels and moved back through the tunnel rather more quickly than protocol demanded.

    Sura rolled his eyes. ¡°Must we continue this farce?¡±

    Graayyya turned her head to face him and gave a small smile. ¡°Sura, my disagreeable friend, I realize how much you dislike this. But understand, renewed hostilities with the Humans serves none of us. Do you remember the last time?¡±

    He gave a defiant nod.

    ¡°Do you recall that we left huge swaths of land uninhabitable, even by our own kind? I have no wish to leave that kind of destruction in my wake again. Do you?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± He muttered the word as though it were a curse. He hated being forced to agree with the garnet.

    By virtue of being a member of the ruling Draconic Council as well as the Lady of Prydein, and therefore the official ruling body over all the Celtic peoples, she was technically above him in the draconic hierarchy. But even still, he could not bring himself to see her as having power over him. No wyrm raised by a metallic would ever be worthy of his respect.

    ¡°No living human remembers the last time we came into direct conflict with them¨C¡°

    ¡°War,¡± he snapped, cutting her off.

    She narrowed her eyes at him.

    ¡°It was war, not conflict. Call it what it was.¡±

    The garnet sighed. ¡°You are correct, of course. The point, though, is no human remembers the last war. We do. They are bound to repeat the mistakes which led to it. It is in human nature to repeat the mistakes of the past. They do this even when they do remember them!¡±

    ¡°So?¡± Sura growled. What did the human propensity for repeating their mistakes have to do with him?

    She sighed again. ¡°Sura, since we are the ones who remember, we are the ones who have to rise above those past mistakes and prevent them from spilling over into war again.¡±

    Sura growled deep in his chest. He did not like where this seemed to be going. ¡°Just what are you saying, exactly?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m saying that as long as Gurgastius¡¯s requests are not too outrageous, we should endeavor not to offend him. Maintaining peaceful interaction is more important than our pride. But as I said, he needs to see that we are united and will not acquiesce to unreasonable demands.¡±

    This nonsense again, Sura thought. It was a point they had disagreed on often. But seeing no sense in renewing the old argument, he kept silent. Above any other consideration, this was neither the time nor the place for it.

    The last thing they needed was for the Humans to see them squabbling. The less united they appeared, the weaker they would seem, and the more likely Gurgastius would take the initiative and make some ludicrous demand.

    As much as Vordillainsura welcomed the chance to destroy the Humans, he wanted it to happen on his terms. When he chose.

    With a frustrated sigh, he dipped his head down beneath the height of the garnet¡¯s, though only just. The message, he knew, would be clear. He would accept her decision in this, at least for now. But he was none-too-pleased about doing so.

    She gave a curt nod, then turned and followed the human through the tunnel into King Gurgastius¡¯s Draconic Audience Hall.

    Sura followed more slowly, casting furtive glances in every direction as he passed into the tunnel. This whole situation stank of an ambush.

    The tunnel was, of course, far larger than any human had a need for. Although he¡¯d been inside it many times, every time he found its size incredible.

    This is how humans should treat dragons, he thought, remembering the story Graayyyavalllia had told him of the creation of this edifice. The hillfort on the other side of the mountain had already been there for decades, but it was only at Graayyya¡¯s direction that they dug out the tunnel, connecting the larger entrance to an internal chamber near the hillfort side, and making it large enough to house a dozen full-grown dragons comfortably.

    The ceiling stood close to six wingspans tall¡ª more than thrice Sura¡¯s considerable height, though he could reach it if he reared up and stretched his neck ¡ªwhile the chamber was close to a dozen in width, and stretched half a hundred in length. He doubted there was another human construction like it anywhere in the world.

    Impressive as it was, he still had difficulty believing that even Graayyyavalllia would have actually helped in the physical construction of such a site. Why would she degrade herself in such a way? Dragons constructed lairs, they did not waste their time and effort digging or building for humans.

    Glancing around the vast chamber, Sura narrowed his eyes. The walls were lined with human men in their ridiculous coverings of iron and leather. Each held a small, round shield in one hand, a long-hafted spear in the other, and wore a sword belted to his hip. The very image of the one who led them inside.

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    Recalling Graayyya¡¯s words from only a moment ago, he stopped himself from sneering. Doubtless, another human leader would be impressed by this show of force. He estimated there were at least five-thousand men arrayed around the walls of the chamber.

    But to a dragon¡ª or to him, at least ¡ªthe presentment of all these armed humans stank of desperation. What was Gurgastius trying to say with this?

    He narrowed his eyes as he glanced about once more. Perhaps it was different here, he couldn¡¯t be certain. But in Gaul, it was unusual for an average human warrior to wear such trappings.

    For the humans, their paltry defenses were an expense that many could not afford. Most of the common soldiers, so he understood, went into battle with no more than a shield for defense. Possibly supplemented with several thick layers of cloth that may or may not dampen a sword strike or spear thrust. So why were there so many here in full armor?

    Is he expecting to intimidate us, impress us, or make us feel secure under his protection? Sura almost laughed at the last thought. It was the sort of nonsense a metallic might suggest.

    As they made their way down the long tunnel to the audience chamber, Sura ignored the aesthetics of the chamber. The paintings, engravings, tapestries, and banners adorning the walls did not interest him, nor did the displays of crossed swords and spears or the stands of armor spaced about the chamber.

    At the far end of the smooth stone-floored chamber sat King Gurgastius in a tall, gilded throne.

    Sura couldn¡¯t help thinking the chair looked ridiculous. Why did humans insist that a special chair made them important?

    Well, he thought. It is a beautiful chair. But it is, in fact, only a chair.

    The bulk of the throne appeared to be silver, with inlays of gold and platinum showing scenes of the Celtic migration from Iberia. It was adorned with an array of gemstones from diamonds, to emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and close on a hundred other types, ranging from fine, beautifully cut stones to raw chunks, from massive stones to flake-like slivers.

    The king sat with his thickly-bearded chin in one palm, elbow resting on the silver arm of his throne. His expression seemed to vacillate between dour and bored.

    Sura would have liked nothing more than to leap across the distance between them in an instant and put an end to this farce, but Graayyya hung much on ceremony and had been clear that she would not tolerate any behavior from him which might be viewed as disrespectful.

    Were it almost any other wyrm, he wouldn¡¯t have given a wyvern¡¯s teat what she thought of his actions, but he was not prepared to risk displeasing the garnet.

    Not yet, he thought, consoling himself. He had plans. Big plans. But he needed more support to see them through. Announcing his intent, or even beginning his coup, would be useless without the support to make sure it succeeded. Exile would be the best possible result he could look forward to if that happened.

    The worst result didn¡¯t bear thinking about.

    No, he had to wait. Until he quietly acquired the necessary support, he would continue under the yoke of the cowardly metallics. As much as he might respect Baalhalllu for his wisdom, insight, and power, Sura chafed under the platinum wyrm¡¯s insistence on pandering to the foolish, arrogant human leaders.

    These people should be our slaves! he thought, only just stopping himself from gnashing his teeth.

    With a shake of his dark head, he pushed the thought away. This was not the time to get worked up over it. Cool and calm. That was what he needed right now. Patience. His time would come.

    Sura followed after Graayyya in her slow, stately walk through the immense chamber. He did his best to emulate her regal bearing and polite mien.

    Though the distance was little more than ten times his own length, traversing it seemed to take an age.

    At last, Graayyya came to a stop with about a wingspan between her and the steps leading up to the throne. Suppressing a sigh of mingled relief and annoyance, Sura stepped around the garnet to stand at her side.

    With effort, he kept the sneer from his lips and maintained a carefully neutral expression. He stopped half a step behind the garnet. If he did not maintain the show of deference to her, it was likely to offend both her and the human king.

    Following her example, he bowed his head to the human king as a sign of respect, though he never took his eyes from the human. Graayyya could trust the humans all she wanted, but he would not. This whole situation still carried the stench of an ambush.

    The human¡¯s lips curled back in a sneer and Sura only just stopped the growl fighting to form in his chest. This was not an acceptable way for a human to acknowledge the presence of two dragon masters!

    ¡°Greetings, my friends,¡± the human said in his primitive, guttural tongue. Sura couldn¡¯t be certain, but he thought he heard a slight, sardonic emphasis on the last word.

    Graayyya inclined her head a few claw-widths lower than before. ¡°I trust the day finds you well, King Gurgastius.¡±

    King Gurgastius, Sura thought. Not your majesty, not your eminence, not my king, but simply, king. I wonder if he¡¯ll notice the slight in those words.

    The king¡¯s mouth curled up an in unpleasant smile. ¡°And you, great wyrms. Your journey was¡­¡± his eyes narrowed. ¡°Uneventful?¡±

    What was he playing at?

    The stench of ambush grew within the vast chamber.

    Graayyya flashed a charming smile. ¡°The way was pleasantly quiet, King. In these peaceful times, I would expect nothing less. Don¡¯t you agree?¡±

    The king¡¯s eyes seemed to focus and harden. Sura would not have said the king¡¯s eyes had been soft or unfocused before, yet those qualities grew by orders of magnitude. ¡°Peace,¡± he spat in apparent disgust. ¡°Is that what you see in my land, dragon? Peace?¡±

    Graayyyavalllia seemed taken aback. Her jaw hung open.

    The king went on coldly. ¡°I do not see a land of peace. I look at my realm and I see strife. I see famine. I see war approaching my borders from all sides.¡±

    Even Sura¡¯s jaw fell open. War? From where? What people did he think were coming?

    ¡°And here sit my dragons, complacent and lazy, heedless of the disasters approaching my realm. As though it matters not at all!¡±

    My dragons? Sura thought. This human needs to be taught his place.

    Graayyya¡¯s jaw clamped closed and she narrowed her eyes. The movement was slight. Sura didn¡¯t think the king would even notice, but he could well guess its meaning.

    ¡°And what,¡± she said stiffly, ¡°pray tell, would you have us do, King Gurgastius?¡±

    The human¡¯s eyes narrowed and he hissed venomously, ¡°Must I say it again? Do as your king has commanded! Bring peace and plenty to my realm. Destroy mine enemies. Put the fear of the gods into any who would oppose me or try to take what is rightfully mine.¡±

    Sura opened his mind, connecting to Graayyya directly.

    After a moment¡¯s thought to ensure he was putting this in a way she would be receptive to, he asked, has he lost his mind? Has he forgotten that we could destroy him and his realm in the blink of an eye? How does he think this will end?

    Graayyya gave a small, sad smile. I have to believe he has been corrupted somehow. Something has twisted his mind around on itself.

    Sura scoffed. You give him too much credit.

    No, my friend. I knew him before. He was always rational, humble, and respectful. Not like this man at all.

    The garnet¡¯s smile faltered after their near-instant conversation. From the slight tremor around her eyes, Sura guessed she was struggling not to glare at the small human. ¡°My friend, you¨C¡°

    ¡°Friend?¡± the King sneered. ¡°Friends do as they¡¯re bid¨C¡°

    ¡°My friend,¡± she repeated emphatically. ¡°You have forgotten yourself. We dragons are not here to fight your battles for you. We are not here to bring in harvest for your people. We are certainly not here to hunt down your enemies for you, especially when said enemies are not even campaigning toward you yet!¡±

    Gurgastius¡¯s lips twisted into a snarl.

    ¡°We are here,¡± she continued, as though she didn¡¯t see the expression, ¡°to advise you. To help you. And to enable peaceful relations with the peoples with whom such would otherwise be impossible.¡±

    The King glared.

    ¡°And so, my king, is there anything we may help you with? Do you have any honorable, just request we might consider?¡±

    The King blinked, his expression going blank. Then he stood in the stiff, barely mobile fashion that humans seemed to believe somehow denoted regalness. He spoke softly, with deadly calm. ¡°Get out of my home. Remove yourselves from my realm. I will not tolerate dissent. I will not accept disobedience. If you will not do as commanded, then you have no place in my realm. Remove yourselves this instant.¡±

    He wants to die, Sura growled silently to Graayyya.

    She gave a slight shake of her head. I don¡¯t know what it is, but something must have happened to him. Something terrible. Perhaps he has gone mad.

    Graayyya turned to face Sura, a crimson tear glimmering in her golden eye. ¡°Vordillainsura, my friend, I believe it is time we left the king¡¯s presence. This line of conversation is getting us nowhere.¡±

    Confused, Sura gave a small nod and turned to lead the way out of the chamber. What was she doing?

    ¡°Do as I command! Remove yourselves from my realm. You are no longer welcome here. I will find dragons who will do as they are bid! Do not come back to my realm.¡± The king¡¯s voice trembled with rage by the time he finished.

    Sura seethed. He wanted to turn around and spew his acidic breath on this foolhardy human. How dare he! To think that this pathetic human had the temerity to order him. To command great wyrms to do his bidding.

    Were it not for Graayyya, he would have done exactly as he wished. Were it not for her, the ostensible mistress of all Prydein, having ordered him not to, he would have destroyed every last human in the chamber and melted the hillfort down to slag for good measure.

    As it was, however, he held his head high and put all the swagger he could muster into his steps.

    Let my every movement be an insult to this foolhardy human, he thought.

    A part of him¡ª perhaps not such a small part, if he was being honest ¡ªhoped the mad king would order the soldiers arrayed around the chamber to attack them. It would be just the excuse he needed to tear this ridiculous settlement down around the humans¡¯ feet.

    Let them witness firsthand the power of an angry wyrm.

    With a frustrated sigh, he pushed the thought away and led Graayyyavalllia out of the tunnel into the midday glare of Ryujin¡¯s Blaze.

    ¡°Mistr¨C¡°

    ¡°Not now, Sura,¡± she snapped.

    He took a deep breath as he struggled not to lash out at the garnet.

    ¡°I need to speak with Dauria. And Baalhalllu. And the rest of The Council,¡± she muttered, clearly not speaking to him.

    What do you need those moldering sacks of bones for? Sura thought bitterly. You should just listen to me and turn around and strike the fear of gods into these idiotic humans. The only lessons they will ever respond to are power, violence, and destruction.

    He kept silent, however. Angering her would avail him not a thing.

    She paced back and forth, apparently oblivious to his presence, her visage growing more and more worried with each cycle.

    Sura did his best to maintain the appearance of calm.

    * * * * *

    At length, she stopped her pacing and raised her eyes, meeting his gaze for the first time in over an hour. Her eyes widened, as though she had forgotten he was there. ¡°Vordillainsura. My apologies. I did not mean to keep you here waiting on me. I trust you are ready to leave this place?¡±

    ¡°Beyond any doubt,¡± he said, struggling to maintain his calm. To suggest she had been trying his patience would have been tantamount to calling the Antarctic region a bit chilly.

    With a nod, she turned away toward the west, where he knew she made her lair. Turning her head back to watch him from over her shoulder, she said briskly, ¡°I know direct confrontation is your usual way, but please, believe me when I say that will not serve you well this time. We need to come together and find a solution which does not involve mass genocide and destruction. Can we agree on that much, at least?¡±

    Sura contemplated for a moment. As much as he despised humans, he had to admit that he didn¡¯t want to destroy them all. Enslave them, certainly, but not destroy. Not all of them, at least. They had uses, after all. Limited uses, but uses all the same.

    After a long moment, he nodded. They could gather their imbecilic council and talk the matter over if they wanted. In the end it would avail them little, if anything at all.

    Graayyya turned from him once more, appearing satisfied, and leaped into the air. She snapped her wings out to catch the thermal updrafts, which sent her soaring skyward.

    Sura watched her fly away toward the west until she was little more than a speck on the horizon.

    He shook his head. After the things he had seen from Gurgastius this day, he saw no chance of the mad king being reasoned with at any point in the future, near or far.

    But go ahead and try anyway. I have my own¨C

    Vordillainsura had to use a talon to snap his jaw closed, so great was his amazement. The idea that slammed its way into his mind was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

    He turned toward his realm in the east, but Graayyya¡¯s voice in his mind halted him. See to your people, my friend. They will need you in the coming days.

    With a grunted reply, he leaped into the air and began his trek home. Gathering strength from his Apex, he sent a silent message to every agate and malachite wyrm he knew of throughout his realm in the east.

    For his plan to work, he would need as much support as he could find.

    Hopefully, what he could find would be enough.

 Chapter Three

    Winter, 2064 CE, Japan

    WAVES OF LIQUID blackness lapped at Dauria¡¯s consciousness, rising and falling, yet never allowing her any glimpse of her surroundings.

    After a time, the ocean of blackness surrounding her slowly receded. By degrees, she opened to a vague haze of physical sensation.

    Cold.

    The bitterest cold she had ever experienced lapped at her face and claws¡ª no, that wasn¡¯t right.

    Hands! she thought. These are hands! I¡¯m still in human form!

    Her breath caught in her throat and her blood turned to ice. The frigid air around her suddenly felt as warm as a tropical heat wave.

    How is this possible?

    She wracked her brain for the answer, but came up empty. She couldn¡¯t recall where she was or how she¡¯d come to be here.

    What¡¯s this? she wondered as she noticed the soft, stiff weight of something rough that covered most of her naked human flesh. It carried the acrid scents of old death and old blood mingled with the sweetness of long days in the rays of Ryujin¡¯s Blaze.

    What was the wretched thing covering her? Why was it covering her? Perhaps it was actually binding her in place?

    Moving slowly, with as much subtlety as she could manage, she moved a hand out from under the covering. Her movements were not hindered, though the cold in that hand grew exponentially. She immediately drew it back beneath the covering.

    Oh! she thought as realization dawned. It was a fur blanket, of course. How ridiculous of her to have forgotten such a basic fact as humans needing coverings to keep warm.

    I truly have been out of the world for far too long.

    ¡°Just as well open your eyes,¡± said a coarse voice from perhaps ten human paces away. ¡°I can see you¡¯re awake.¡±

    Stifling her shock, she cracked a single eye to peer at her surroundings. A single, curving wall of animal hide surrounded her, though it had no discernible frame. In the center of the small room a new fire crackled as it struggled to life, its tiny flames licking their way around several thin sticks.

    A tiny, sallow-skinned man with a long, thin beard of snowy-white sat cross-legged before the fire, watching her intently.

    Her eye narrowed. ¡°Who are you?¡±

    The man chuckled. ¡°I was going to ask you that very thing.¡±

    Without meaning to, her mind snapped out to touch his and pulled a name from his surface thoughts, a woman from his past for which he cared deeply.

    ¡°Amaya,¡± she said.

    He nodded without expression and she waited, watching the man.

    Interesting that the telepathy still functions, she thought.

    The small man stared back at her, unblinking. Tiny wrinkles in the shape of crow¡¯s feet surrounded dark eyes that seemed to swallow her, freezing her solid within their embrace.

    She tried to turn away, to focus her attention elsewhere, but her body refused to respond to her commands. Opening her mouth to speak, she found her throat too dry to produce sound.

    Although ordinarily a patient creature, even among dragons¡ª or, rather, she had been. Who knew how one might change during centuries of deep slumber? ¡ªDauria clenched her teeth and fists. The inability to act grated on her.

    After a moment, she forced her jaw to relax and her fists to uncurl in an effort to fight down the impatient frustration gnawing at her nerves.

    The old man smiled at her then, the lines around his slanted, angular eyes vanishing in the process.

    ¡°Kaito is my name,¡± he said, smoothing the cloth of his trousers. He paused then, looking thoughtful for a moment, then added in a whisper, ¡°It is so strange to hear it said aloud again.¡±

    Dauria offered a small nod and closed her eyes again, this time to delve into her own soul. She¡¯d lacked the focus to do it before her blackout, in the cold. She prayed she could manage it now. It would be something productive to do while the strange little man sat in silence.

    She raced through the corridors of her Internal Universe, seeking for any sign of her arcane energy. It was normally an easy thing to find.

    The Apex Of The Soul was a spot just behind the heart, a nexus point where all the energies of a dragon¡¯s body converged and reached out into the Ether. It was there, in the unreachable Nothing of the Ether, that a dragon¡¯s arcane power was kept hidden.

    Or locked away, she thought bitterly.

    The Apex was supposed to shine with a light proportionate to the dragon¡¯s arcane strength. Dauria had glimpsed her sire¡¯s Apex once. She recalled the experience fondly, as the most humbling event of her life. Baalhalllu¡¯s Apex outshone her own as Ryujin¡¯s Blaze outshone a single star in the night sky.

    Where is it? she thought. She was there, in the spot behind her heart where it should have been, but there was no sign of her Apex. No light. No flame. No window into the Ether.

    What was going on? A dragon¡¯s Apex couldn¡¯t just vanish, could it?

    It seemed an eternity passed while she looked over the area where it should have been over and over and over again.

    At last, after passing the spot at least three times, she noticed a tiny pinprick of unlight. A spot where, when she shone a light on it, it did not reflect, but instead swallowed the light, giving nothing back in return. She wanted to roar in frustration.

    This must be my Apex, she thought. But by the tails of my ancestors, what could it mean?

    She reached out a trembling¡ª human, even here in the heart of her soul ¡ªhand to touch the Apex, but found she could not. Her fingers stopped little more than a hair¡¯s width from the Apex itself.

    Dauria ground her teeth together in frustration and pushed at the barrier with all her strength.

    After several minutes of intense effort, her metaphysical muscles slackened and she fell to the floor before her Apex, panting.

    ¡°How. Can. This. Be,¡± she gasped between breaths.

    ¡°¡­be here, Amaya?¡± a gruff voice intruded on her private battle.

    Blast it, she thought, realizing the old man had been speaking to her for some time.

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    She abandoned the corridors of her soul and opened her eyes again. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Kaito. I think I may have drifted off for a minute there. I didn¡¯t hear your question.¡±

    ¡°Quite all right,¡± he said. ¡°I was asking how it is that you came to be here, all alone and in such a¡­ delicate situation.¡± His eyes remained fixed on hers.

    Good question! she thought.

    Fixing a confused expression on her face, she looked down at her blanketed form. She forced her eyes to widen slightly, as though only just then realizing she was naked beneath the blanket.

    ¡°I¡­¡± she didn¡¯t have to fake her faltering voice. Bereft of any idea of what to tell the man, she floundered. Her mouth worked, but no sound came.

    After several tries at speaking, she stopped and swallowed hard. The beginnings of an idea drifted into her mind and she seized on it, forcing her voice to work. ¡°Truthfully, I could not begin to guess. The last thing I remember before waking up here is picking berries in a field about an hour outside of my village.¡±

    ¡°Speaking of which,¡± she added, inserting a note of helplessness to her voice. ¡°Where am I?¡±

    Kaito¡¯s eyes widened slightly for an instant before his features returned to his careful, expressionless mask. ¡°I don¡¯t know where your village is, Amaya, but it must be a considerable distance from here. I found you a short way up the mountain.¡± He pointed to his left. ¡°Not sure what you might know it as, but the maps all call it Mount Fuji. We¡¯re in a small valley near the mountain¡¯s base.¡±

    Mount Fuji? she wondered. Where is that? The mountain of my lair, I hope. Elsewise, I can¡¯t imagine what I¡¯m going to do.

    ¡°Did you hit your head?¡±

    Dauria made a show of reaching up to feel around her head with her hands, taking no pains whatsoever to keep the blanket up to cover her human skin.

    Kaito didn¡¯t respond in any recognizable way to the display of feminine flesh.

    Curious, she thought. In her admittedly ancient experience with men, they never failed to note such a display.

    After feeling every inch of her head thrice over¡ª and fully exposing her form¡¯s pink flesh down to her waist ¡ªshe dropped her hands and pulled the blanket back up. ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem so.¡±

    Unperturbed, Kaito nodded. ¡°What is the name of your village, Amaya?¡±

    With an inward cringe, Dauria tossed out the first name that came to mind. ¡°Kauljiinra.¡±

    Kaito¡¯s blank expression didn¡¯t change, but Dauria caught the roil of thoughts and emotions bubbling just beneath the surface of his mind.

    Did he recognize the name?

    She didn¡¯t know what had happened to the place. At the time of the Long Sleep, it had been a thriving town. Not large, even by local standards, but it had certainly had the potential to grow into a bustling city.

    ¡°If that place even still exists,¡± Kaito said slowly, ¡°it is far from here. Much too far for me to take you there.¡±

    Dauria narrowed her eyes.

    ¡°Is there someplace else I can take you?¡± Kaito asked.

    Dauria relaxed her expression and offered a faint, coy smile. ¡°There might be.¡± She paused, then added, ¡°Which side of the mountain are we on?¡±

    ¡°South.¡±

    ¡°Can you get me to the north-east spur?¡±

    ¡°Should be easy enough, if somewhat time consuming.¡±

    ¡°Then you¡¯ll do it?¡±

    Kaito brushed a hand down his beard, smoothing it. ¡°Yes, Amaya. I¡¯ll do it. I could never abandon a lost soul to this place. I don¡¯t know what you expect to find there, it is a desolate place, but I will see you arrive there safely.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Kaito.¡±

    Inanely, a warm flush of pleasure crept up Dauria¡¯s neck and into her cheeks.

    * * * * *

    For two days, the pair hiked in a generally north-easterly direction around the low, rocky hills near the base of the mountain.

    Even at this low elevation, she couldn¡¯t stop herself from shivering with the intense cold. The sharp pain of her gasping breaths was a new experience for her. Never before would she have believed breathing could be painful, though she couldn¡¯t help but appreciate the clean, fresh scent of the open mountain air. It was a far cry from the musty dankness of her lair.

    ¡°You seem quite at home out here, Kaito,¡± Dauria said between heavy breaths. ¡°How long have you been doing this?¡±

    ¡°Doing what?¡± Kaito grunted.

    ¡°This!¡± Dauria said, spreading her arms wide. She immediately pulled them back though. She curled in the heavy fur blanket draped about her shoulders to envelop the thick, fur-lined blouse and trousers. ¡°Living out here, in the wild, away from other people.¡±

    Where did he get the clothes? she wondered, not for the first time. Not only where they women¡¯s clothes, but in a size closely approximating her human form.

    But more curious was the question of why he had them in the first place. To say nothing of why he¡¯d kept them.

    Kaito chuckled. ¡°My dear Amaya. City-dwellers and I don¡¯t get along so well. It¡¯s really much better that we are kept separate.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± She couldn¡¯t stop the curiosity from bubbling to the surface of her mind.

    Why do I care? she wondered. This man is nothing more than a means to an end.

    Kaito chuckled again, this time more darkly. ¡°I suppose you would call me a naturalist. I can¡¯t abide all the cars and computers and pollution. I grew up in a simpler time, when men had honor and toiled with their own two hands. Japan has grown lazy. And complacent. And corrupt.¡±

    Although the images she gleaned from his surface thoughts were confusing, they were enough to get at least a rough idea of the things he spoke of.

    And the clear disdain in his voice made it plain what he thought of those technological marvels.

    She nodded as though she understood everything and flashed a knowing smile. ¡°No family?¡±

    ¡°Long buried and mostly forgotten.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± she said in genuine sadness. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Friends?¡±

    ¡°Not for many, many years.¡±

    ¡°Sounds lonely.¡±

    Kaito smiled. ¡°Not at all.¡±

    Dauria raised a single brow.

    ¡°I have the moon and the stars and the animals to keep me company.¡±

    ¡°Animals?¡± she asked, bewildered.

    ¡°After a fashion,¡± he said through a laugh.

    It was such a strange sensation. For some reason, his laughter made her want to laugh as well. And that twinkle in his eye didn¡¯t help. Not one little bit.

    ¡°And you?¡± he asked. ¡°No family or friends?¡±

    ¡°Some,¡± she said hesitantly.

    Kaito watched her in silence. She couldn¡¯t tell if he was waiting for her to say more or if he simply watched her while waiting for the next conversational turn.

    ¡°My¡­¡± she paused to consciously force herself to use the human words, rather than the draconic ones. ¡°Father and my siblings are here in Japan, somewhere. My truest friend, though, the only one I¡¯m certain I can still trust, is a long way from here. But I will find her when I¡¯ve finished what I need to do here.¡±

    ¡°When you¡¯re finished here?¡± he asked.

    She didn¡¯t think she heard suspicion in his voice, but she watched him carefully as she spoke, just in case. ¡°Yes. My father left me something that I need. Once I have it, I can be on my way.¡± She hoped he didn¡¯t notice the obvious holes in her story.

    ¡°I see,¡± he said, his expression falling just a touch as he turned his face away from her.

    Dauria breathed a silent sigh. Is this even going to work?

    Kaito cleared his throat and turned back to face forward, his expression returning to the blank mask. ¡°What is it your father left you?¡±

    ¡°Um¡­¡±

    Blast it, she thought. How do I handle this?

    Kaito turned back to her with a raised brow.

    ¡°It¡¯s more of a place than a thing.¡±

    Kaito¡¯s lips curled into a small smile. ¡°Now I¡¯m intrigued.¡± His eyes twinkled in the fading light before he turned back to face the path.

    Dauria sighed aloud this time. I just keep digging my hole deeper.

    ¡°Is it such a secret?¡±

    ¡°Not as much anymore, I suppose,¡± she said. ¡°I wasn¡¯t born in the village. In my earliest memories, we were very near here. My s¨Cfather and I, we made our lives with only what nature provides in a cave delved into the side of this mountain.¡±

    ¡°And that is our destination?¡±

    ¡°It is.¡±

    ¡°And there¡¯s something you need there?¡± he asked, glancing at her.

    Dauria opened her mouth to answer and Kaito stumbled, a foot landing only half on the sharp rock beneath it. His foot twisted with a wet crunch, his arms pin-wheeling and his eyes wide with fear, then he fell backward.

    With inhuman speed, Dauria zipped across the rocks to catch the human in his backward fall, arms locked around his chest.

    Stupid, stupid, stupid! she thought. Why did I do that?

    His weight was more than she¡¯d anticipated and his fall bore her to the ground along with him. Her tailbone struck sharp rock and sent a jolt of agony¡ª unlike anything she¡¯d ever experienced as a dragon ¡ªup her spine. She gave a soft grunt, her sole concession to the pain.

    With her arms still wrapped around Kaito, her hands clasped together over his chest, the heat of his body as it pressed against hers soaked through the blanket and her clothing into her own flesh. Her body warmed more than she felt was natural.

    A tingling flush crept up her neck and she glanced down at the small man¡¯s face. She blinked in surprise.

    What? Did I really just¡­ But she cut the thought off.

    For a moment, she thought she must be losing her mind. Perhaps the days spent as a human were getting to her. She couldn¡¯t have seen what she thought she¡¯d seen, could she?

    For a moment she¡¯d been certain, but that certainty dwindled with each passing second as he looked up at her with confusion in his dark eyes.

    ¡°How did you¡­?¡± he asked, voice a husky rasp.

    ¡°Hush,¡± she whispered. Disentangling herself from Kaito, she slipped from beneath him and stood.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Setting up the tent,¡± she said softly. ¡°That slip is proof that we¡¯ve come far enough today. We both need rest.¡±

    ¡°Let me help you,¡± he said as he climbed to his feet.

    And fell right back to the rocks with a wince.

    ¡°You¡¯re in no condition for that. I¡¯ll do it while you get some rest.¡±

    He nodded glumly.

    Besides, she thought, I need time to think.

    For that bare instant when she¡¯d first looked down at his face, she¡¯d been certain his eyes had flashed metallic gold with vertically slit pupils.

 Chapter Four

    Summer, 666 BCE, western Gaul

    VORDILLAINSURA SAT IN his watery lair in the swamplands of western Gaul contemplating his situation.

    Yesterday, the call had come. A call to meet, in force, at the Prydein monument known as Stonehenge. He was left with no option but to comply, as this was one of the very few compulsory gatherings in their long history.

    As such, any who did not attend the council would be branded as renegades, which typically resulted in the offending dragon being hunted down.

    While that thought didn¡¯t bother him as much as it had in ages past, he was not prepared to abandon the Council just yet.

    In time, perhaps, he thought. But not yet.

    Shaking his head in frustration, Sura considered.

    His plans had not yet come to complete fruition, the result of which being he did not have quite the support he needed. He had a fair number of wyrms backing him, and that number grew every day, but it just wasn¡¯t enough. Not yet.

    With a final glance around his home, Sura turned from the slimy, black walls and hanging vines toward the entrance, half a league up the steady incline at the north end of the artificial cave.

    A strange sense of melancholy gripped him as he moved up the incline. The salty, brackish scent of his cave vanished as a gust of hot, humid wind blew through the tunnel from the entrance above. It reminded him once more that he was abandoning this place and might never return.

    Depending, of course, on what happens tomorrow. On if I¡¯m right about the solution they have arrived at.

    Stepping from the open hole in the marshy ground, Sura touched his Apex and pulled forth several streams of arcane power. With them, he pulled vines from the trees around him and laid them in a crisscrossing latticework over the entrance to his lair. They would be strong enough and solid enough to keep almost any creature standing upon them from falling through to his lair below.

    That done, he used a second stream to shield his lair from arcane observation and locating.

    With a heavy sigh, he turned and leaped into the air. Immediately, he shrieked several times in rapid succession, using yet more power from his Apex to augment the strength of his voice.

    Within minutes, a trail of wyrms followed in his wake. There weren¡¯t many dragons sharing the north-western swamps with him, as each dragon required an array of sizable food sources, so as not to deplete them. But of those who did, all had joined his cause. As he¡¯d known they would. Most stone dragons weren¡¯t any fonder of humans than he was.

    Few of them¡ª with the obvious exception of Graayyyavalllia, who had been brought up by the foolish platinum female, Kwallindauria, which practically made the garnet a metallic herself ¡ªwould tolerate being placed under the yoke of human rule.

    While the metallics, of course, would do anything in the name of peace. Therefore, few of them would ally themselves with him. The gemstone dragons, however, were another matter altogether.

    Not all of them would see things his way, that was so. Gemstones were a whimsy bunch, but many would see the wisdom in his plans and join his crusade. He prayed it would be enough.

    So far he hadn¡¯t found many, as the gems mostly kept themselves aloof from the doings of both men and other dragons. But he¡¯d convinced a diamond, an emerald, and two sapphires to join him so far. With luck, there would be many more at the council who would be amenable to his way of thinking.

    They needed to act, and soon.

    Sura was pulled from his thoughts by a bright, silvery flash from the center of a copse of black trees ahead. The hot, summer air in his eyes made it difficult to see, but the growls from the other stone dragons behind him informed him that his initial supposition was not incorrect.

    The silvery shape ahead could have been a silver wyrm, though what a silver would be doing here was beyond him. Though less likely, it could also have been a rather large steel dragon. They were known to frequently disdain the dogmatic approach of the other metallics.

    Flying on, however, he realized the creature ahead of him was neither silver nor steel. Nor was it a rare pyrite, cobalt, or hematite wyrm.

    No, ahead of him, hovering almost motionless, was one of the exceptionally rare, blue-silver platinum wyrms. The realization amazed him. What was a platinum doing here?

    The platinums had always been few in number, but conflicts in recent millennia had thinned those numbers even further.

    These days, he felt certain, there couldn¡¯t have been more than perhaps three or four families of platinums left. The choices of whose wyrmling this could be was quite limited indeed.

    What was he going to do?

    The platinum wyrmling was sleek and slender, his small scales shining dully in the brilliance of Ryujin¡¯s Blaze overhead. Blue-gray scales overlapped one another across the majority of his tautly muscled form, though the scales of his underbelly were more blue than gray. Almost azure.

    Although young¡ª certainly at least a few centuries younger than Sura himself, based on the size and dull color of his scales ¡ªthis wyrm appeared quite large. It was difficult to be certain at this distance, but Sura thought it likely the wyrm was larger even than himself. Not uncommon for a platinum, as the largest¡ª yet least numerous ¡ªdragon breed. But it still galled Sura.

    His lip curled up in an expression somewhere between a snarl and a sneer. What did this plat want?

    Peace, my friend. Peace. I do not seek conflict, the deep, resonant voice sounded inside his head.

    Sura fought back the growl trying to sound in his chest. The other stones behind him were doing enough of that, there was no sense in adding to the chorus.

    What do you want?

    A mental smile passed through the telepathic link. Please, let us speak in person. You will be here in a few short minutes anyway.

    Sura nodded. That would be better. He didn¡¯t like having a metallic in his head, as it was too easy to convey more than intended when speaking mind-to-mind. Never mind the details that could be missed if they were given with too much subtlety.

    Impatient now, he flew on. As much as he despised metallics, especially the platinums, who had no taste for battle whatsoever, he couldn¡¯t deny that he was intrigued by the wyrm.

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    What was this all about? The fact that this wyrm was here alone spoke volumes. Obviously he wasn¡¯t here to oppose Sura and the others. He would have brought a hundred dragons with him if that were the case.

    And it had to be related to the Council. Else, why come now, when all wyrms the world over had been summoned to take part in the Grand Council of Wyrms.

    He couldn¡¯t possibly be here to help, or, Tiamat forbid, to join them, could he? Was that something a metallic would even consider? If so, what would lead him to such a choice?

    Sura had extreme difficulty imagining any situation in which a metallic would willingly go against his fellows in preference for joining with a force of stone wyrms intent on subverting The Council.

    Is it possible the metallics are more complex than I¡¯ve ever given them credit for? he wondered.

    He shook his head, pushing the thought away. He would find out soon enough.

    ¡°Sura,¡± a low voice growled from behind him, ¡°what is¨C¡°

    ¡°We shall see,¡± Sura said. ¡°I¡¯m not certain what he¡¯s about just yet.¡±

    ¡°You do realize who that is, don¡¯t you?¡±

    In fact, he didn¡¯t. Should he have recognized the platinum?

    ¡°Of course,¡± he said, unwilling to admit to ignorance.

    ¡°What is the Great Brat doing here?¡±

    ¡°I told you we shall see!¡± Sura snapped.

    The other lapsed into silence, but Sura was mystified. Great Brat? What did that mean? Who was this wyrm?

    * * * * *

    The low swamplands of north-western Gaul rose into a grassy plain, flat and green for leagues around with nothing but the occasional tree or stream for decoration. It turned out that the plat only appeared to be within a copse of trees from a distance. In truth, he hovered lazily over a broad, open field.

    Sura hovered about a dozen wingspans from the sleek platinum when it finally hit him who the wyrm was. His jaw fell open and he almost forgot to flap his wings. What was the Great Brat doing here? Was he so stupid as to not comprehend he would not be welcome here?

    Sura slowed and angled himself upright to face the Platinum Brat on an equal plane. ¡°What is it you want, Bratling?¡±

    ¡°Oh, come now,¡± the platinum said, his voice dripping with scorn. ¡°Is that any way to speak to one who comes to you with open claw and glad tidings?¡±

    ¡°Open claw?¡± Sura asked suspiciously.

    ¡°Of course. Lest you would never listen to my tidings.¡±

    Sura grunted. The Bratling had a point. With a sigh, he spoke the ritual words. ¡°I see your claw is open. Show me what you bring within it, that I may accept your gift with a full heart.¡± Silently, he added, blasted rules of hospitality.

    The platinum smiled in what seemed genuine pleasure. ¡°Thank you, my lord.¡±

    My lord, Sura thought. I like the sound of that.

    ¡°Now if you please, my lord, I would prefer to land before showing you the contents of my open claw.¡±

    With a growl of annoyance, Sura nodded his assent. This better be worth it.

    The platinum circled around in a wide pattern and glided to the Earth. Sura followed suit, but signaled his followers to remain airborne with a gesture of his tail.

    Coming to a hard landing before the platinum, he waited impatiently.

    The lustrous dragon stood up on his hind legs and reached down to the scales at his belly. Lifting a wide patch of them with one claw, he gritted his teeth and slashed at the soft flesh underneath with a single talon from the other.

    Groaning in pain as silvery-blue blood pumped from the wound, the platinum thrust the claw into the wound.

    Sura¡¯s eyes went wide. What in the name of the Queen of Chaos was this insane plat doing?

    The platinum claw seemed to be fishing around beneath his hide. Sura grimaced. He couldn¡¯t help imagining the array of sensations the younger wyrm must be feeling.

    Though his eyes were riveted on the claw, still fishing about inside the platinum¡¯s body, Sura imagined the pain that must be evident on the wyrm¡¯s face just now.

    The platinum stopped and seemed to clasp something within his body. Sura couldn¡¯t help wondering, through his horrified fascination, what it could possibly be. Did the wyrm have something secreted there? Or was he offering up a bit of himself?

    The platinum pulled the claw from his body, clutching a long, black shaft that dripped silvery blood. Sura couldn¡¯t tell what the substance was, but he felt certain it was not a part of the platinum¡¯s body.

    Incredibly, the shaft kept coming from within the platinum body, a new gush of the silvery-blue blood coming with each claw-width of the strange shape. The wyrm fully extended his foreleg then gripped the shaft at the wound in his flesh and kept pulling. How did embedding it in his body not kill him? And what was this thing?

    Another dozen claw-widths of shaft emerged, then it stopped. The platinum pulled again, but it wouldn¡¯t move any farther.

    ¡°Please.¡± Though the wyrm¡¯s voice was fearful and pleading, he did not sound panicked. He seemed surprisingly calm. ¡°I need you to help me pull the last of it out. I didn¡¯t cut the opening wide enough, it would seem.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re insane,¡± Sura breathed.

    The young platinum shook his head. ¡°You will understand. Very soon, you will know.¡±

    Sura scowled, but gripped the shaft in both foreclaws and yanked. The platinum shrieked in agony, but the shaft did not move.

    After a moment, the platinum¡¯s shriek died. He took several ragged breaths. ¡°Again,¡± he rasped. ¡°Harder. Don¡¯t stop until it comes free.¡±

    With a shrug of his wings, Sura wiped the platinum¡¯s blood from the strange black shaft and renewed his grip, grasping it closer to the wyrm¡¯s body this time. He set his hind legs for better leverage and pulled.

    This time, rather than a single, hard yank he started softly, and leaned back a bit as he increased the force of his pulling, determined not to let go and not to stop until the shaft came free of the foolish platinum¡¯s body.

    Harder and harder he pulled, his breath coming in ragged gasps. His muscles trembled. Still, he pulled harder, investing all his great strength into it.

    With each increase in force, the platinum¡¯s response increased. First a whimper, then a groan. He grunted and growled in growing intensity.

    At last, with a sickening ripping sound which reminded Sura of hatching eggs and a horrid shriek from the platinum¡¯s dry lips, the shaft came free with a huge spurt of silvery blood and he was thrown back from the wyrm. He rolled head over tail several times before the momentum died and he came to a stop against a rocky rise.

    Shaking his head to clear it, Sura stood, still clutching the shaft in both claws.

    Looking up and down the length of the peculiar thing, Sura¡¯s breath caught in his throat and power surged through his Apex.

    The shaft itself, now devoid of the platinum¡¯s silvery blood, seemed to be carved from an opaque black gemstone. Perhaps onyx or black opal. He could detect no seams in the material, lending credence to his theory that it was carved from a single piece.

    And what a piece of stone that must have been!

    The finished shaft was well over a standard wingspan in length. Just how the platinum had gotten it into his body in the first place, and without killing himself on top of it, was beyond Sura¡¯s ken to determine.

    At the top of the shaft sat a huge chunk of fire opal carved in the rough shape of a dragon.

    A memory ticked at the back of Sura¡¯s mind. He had heard of an item matching this description once, he was sure of it. If only he could¨C

    Yanking a stream of power from his Apex, Sura sent it surging into his mind to enhance his memory.

    He staggered with the strength of his effort. He hadn¡¯t held back, he¡¯d meant to use a lot of power, but this was so much more than he would have thought possible.

    He found he now held every memory in his mind as though he were living each and every one right now. He remembered hatching from his egg in the swamp lands of the far south-east. He remembered his time in the egg, humming to his dam¡¯s wonderful singing as she placed his egg in its incubating swamp mud. He even recalled the very moment he first came into existence as a single cell when the tiny egg was fertilized within his dam¡¯s womb.

    He had a vague sense of both Sire and Dam before then, of who they¡¯d been and the passion which had led to his conception, but it was only vague sensations with no context.

    This. Is. Not. Normal! he thought.

    After a moment of confused overload, however, the memories calmed somewhat and he sifted through the legends he¡¯d heard as a wyrmling and found the one he was looking for.

    The Dragon Scepter!

    According to the descriptions he had heard as a wyrmling, even down to the phenomenal enhancement of Apex and active arcane power, it seemed that was what he held in his claws. The Fabled Dragon Scepter. Most thought it nothing more than a myth. He surely had, up until this very moment.

    Only with tremendous effort did Sura finally order his thoughts enough to address the platinum with a coherent question. ¡°Where did you get this?¡±

    The platinum grinned, though the slight tremble in his mandibular muscles told Sura he was still in great pain. ¡°Begging my lord¡¯s pardon, but that secret will remain my own. Suffice it to say I did not steal it, so no one will come looking for it.¡±

    Sura shrugged. That was enough. As much as his curiosity wanted an actual answer, he could make do without. It would have been nice to search the location for other fabled artifacts, though.

    ¡°Alright, whelp,¡± Sura said briskly. ¡°You have my attention. What are these tidings you bring?¡±

    The platinum¡¯s expression narrowed to sly amusement. ¡°I know what Baalhalllu¡¯s plans are for the Grand Council. I know what he intends to force everyone to agree to.¡±

 Chapter Five

    Winter, 2064 CE, Japan

    DAURIA WATCHED THE human through the darkness from across the hide tent. His face was relaxed, if pale. His chest rose and fell with his breath in the slow, even rhythm of deep sleep.

    Am I going mad? Or did I see what I think I saw? What could it even mean?

    Closing her eyes, Dauria tried to force herself into the realm of sleep, but it would not come. She tossed and turned, her mind filling its internal view with a hundred-thousand images of what the man could be, what he could be hiding.

    If any one of those imaginings were true, she couldn¡¯t fathom what he could be doing here. Did she still believe he had found her by happenstance? Or was there something larger, something darker at work here?

    There¡¯s an easy way to find out, she thought, eyes flashing open wide.

    ¡°No,¡± she whispered to the darkness. ¡°I cannot do that. Reading surface thoughts is one thing, but the Delving of minds? No matter what he is, human or otherwise, I won¡¯t do it.¡±

    It is not forbidden, said a small voice in the back of her mind.

    ¡°Perhaps not,¡± Dauria whispered, then almost laughed. Was she losing an argument with herself? She sighed. ¡°Other dragons may do as they wish. I will not. I have always believed it an immoral practice.¡±

    The Delving of minds, of any species, should never have been discovered. It has led to nothing good in all the history of Dragonkind.

    And yet, said the small voice, growing louder in the back of her mind, the general principle of Delving is exactly the basis for telepathic communication between dragons.

    ¡°I won¡¯t do it,¡± she hissed.

    But what if holding to her ideals ended up getting her killed? Or worse.

    Dauria sighed.

    Is it worth the danger? Delving him might condemn my soul, but if I don¡¯t, and he intends harm, it could be disastrous. Certainly in this body I can be wounded or killed as easily as any human woman. What will happen at the council meeting if I¡¯m not there? Isn¡¯t my soul an acceptable price?

    ¡°Arrogant wretch,¡± she whispered. ¡°As though you, and you alone, have the power to move The Council to the correct decision! As though you even know what the correct decision is!¡±

    She sighed again.

    You know you¡¯re going to do it, came the small voice again. So get on with it.

    Dauria only just stopped herself from growling in the back of her throat.

    She couldn¡¯t argue the point, however. She knew it was true. She had already made her decision, much as she despised herself for it.

    With a long, deep breath, Dauria plunged her consciousness into Kaito¡¯s mind.

    How very odd, she thought. He was, at that very moment, thinking about the Amaya from his past, a woman he had known almost thirty years earlier. What were the chances of that?

    She couldn¡¯t quite tell the nature of their relationship, but whatever it had been, his feelings for her had been strong.

    Are strong, she corrected. He still cares for her as much as he ever did. The fact that she is dead and gone doesn¡¯t change that for him.

    While consciously thinking of Amaya, however, he was also immersed in a deep dream in which he watched from the high slopes of the mountains as, from the translation provided by his mind, a bomber jet flew by and dropped the atomic bomb¡ª so that¡¯s the correct word! ¡ªthat hit Tokyo back in the days of the Second World War.

    Interesting, she thought, then proceeded to Delve deeper into Kaito¡¯s mind.

    Passing beyond his surface thoughts and the imagery of the dream was similar to how she imagined an ant would feel diving into a droplet of rain. The boundary pushed back with as much force as she put into penetrating it. The barrier was firm, yet soft.

    She tried again, putting more mental force behind her attempt to enter his mind, but came back with the same result.

    After several more attempts, she forced her way through the jelly-like barrier and proceeded into the man¡¯s mind.

    That was strange, she thought. Never before had she encountered such a barrier. Not in any mind, human or otherwise.

    Then Dauria slammed into a solid barrier unlike anything she had ever imagined could exist. His mind glowed with a bright, golden light which reflected back every attempt she made to bypass it.

    She thrust her consciousness against the mental barrier again and again and again, but it did not give, did not crack. There was no weakness in it, no point in the whole which might be easier to bypass or penetrate or break.

    She was stuck.

    Now what, by the tails of all my ancestors, is that?

    She had no way to answer the question, however. She¡¯d never even heard of such a barrier before. Not in any mind, not in any species to ever walk the Earth¡ª or fly above it.

    With no other recourse, she pushed and prodded and thrust at the barrier in Kaito¡¯s mind until exhaustion descended and sleep claimed her.

    * * * * *

    The soft swish of cured hide against human flesh woke Dauria from a deep, dreamless sleep. The tent was still dark, much too dark for ordinary human eyes to see with any clarity.

    She picked out Kaito across the tent. He was stuffing his bedding and other effects into his large, hide bag. Every few seconds, he glanced out the doorway to the horizon which was just beginning to glow pale orange.

    Dauria sat up and began folding her own blankets. She didn¡¯t need to be told it was time to pack up and get moving.

    Kaito stopped, hand halfway to a shapeless lump on the floor, and stared at her. Even with her enhanced sight, Dauria couldn¡¯t see the expression on his face. The stiffness of his posture, however, spoke volumes.

    ¡°Everything okay?¡± she asked.

    He grunted. There were no words in the sound, yet it sounded suspiciously like a ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°I have to go,¡± he said.

    ¡°Of course. It¡¯s time to get moving.¡±

    ¡°No, Amaya. I have to leave you.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± she almost shouted.

    Kaito shook his head and went back to packing his bag in silence.

    ¡°What in the name of m¨C¡± she froze. That wasn¡¯t right.

    She breathed in, long and deep, then spoke with as much calm as she could muster. ¡°What in the hell is going on, Kaito?¡± Curse you, she silently berated herself. What a wonderful time to slip!

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    ¡°I can¡¯t stay with you any longer,¡± he said. ¡°I have somewhere to be.¡±

    Dauria¡¯s control vanished. She couldn¡¯t stop herself from yelling this time. ¡°You didn¡¯t have anywhere to be three days ago!¡±

    Kaito stilled. Staring down into his half-full bag, he took a long breath and released it slowly. ¡°Being with you has become dangerous. That slip on the rocks yesterday¡­ ordinarily, that would never have happened. Somehow, you distract me. I need to go back to being on my own out there.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s it,¡± Dauria snapped. ¡°You¡¯re just going to abandon me because I¡¯m distracting? What about your promise to get me where I need to go? What about your promise to keep me safe?¡±

    Kaito turned to her, looking into her eyes for the first time since his stumble. ¡°You know as well as I do that you don¡¯t need me to keep you safe.¡±

    Dauria blinked. What did he know?

    Behind her, Ryujin¡¯s Blaze crested the horizon and a beam of orange light stabbed through the tent to illuminate Kaito¡¯s bright, metallic gold eyes.

    He stared at her, and this time his eyes did not change. His vertically slit pupils shone lustrous gold and were surrounded by scleras of deep, matte bronze. There were no irises.

    Like a dragon¡¯s eyes, she thought in wonder.

    ¡°Damn,¡± Kaito mouthed, but no sound came.

    ¡°What are you?¡± Dauria breathed, fighting through her shock. There was, of course, an obvious answer. But throughout her life, the obvious answers rarely proved correct.

    And besides, if he were one of The Watchers in disguise, why would he be wasting his time with me? Surely he would know who I am and this charade would not have been necessary.

    What was the answer, then?

    ¡°I¡­¡± Kaito began, then faltered. After a pause, he said, ¡°I don¡¯t know how to answer that.¡±

    ¡°How about with the truth?¡± Dauria said with a gentleness which surprised even herself.

    He inclined his head ever-so-slightly. ¡°That would be the obvious answer, wouldn¡¯t it? But then, nothing about my life has ever been obvious. Or easy. And I¡¯m not sure I¡¯m ready to admit the truth to you.¡±

    Dauria crawled across the floor, closer to him. He did not move away, nor did he give any sign of wanting her to stay away.

    She stopped less than a human hand-span from him and stood on her knees, looking down into his golden eyes. ¡°Do you know what I am?¡±

    Kaito nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve known since I first saw you. We¡¯ve been dancing around this for days.¡±

    Dancing? she wondered. What a curious expression.

    Dauria swallowed, forcing down the solid lump in her throat. ¡°Do you know who I am?¡±

    He shook his head. ¡°I could offer a guess, Mistress, but no, I do not know who you are.¡±

    Dauria nodded and offered a small smile. ¡°You are one of us, then.¡± It was not a question.

    He gave a cautious nod.

    ¡°Not one of The Watchers, I should think. You would have come out and said so as soon as you were sure of what I am. Similarly, if you had been wakened by The Watchers, you wouldn¡¯t be hiding your wings here, you¡¯d be doing something or heading somewhere important.¡±

    A muscle in his shoulder twitched, but otherwise he did not respond.

    ¡°Which leaves, as far as I can tell, only one possibility. Somehow, through some monumental show of power, will, or both, you chose to ignore the mandate to Sleep and have been living here in the human world. Quite possibly for a very long time, and without proper authorization from the Council of Elders.¡±

    Kaito¡¯s jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed.

    ¡°Fear not, whatever your real name is. I¡¯ll not do anything about it. Quite frankly, I have my own problems just now.¡±

    He seemed to relax, the tightness of his features fading. ¡°Is it really your sire¡¯s lair we¡¯re going to?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I have a¡­ problem.¡±

    ¡°Come now,¡± Kaito said. ¡°You know my dark secret, what harm will it do to tell me yours?¡±

    Perhaps much, Dauria thought, then breathed a deep sigh or resignation. ¡°Alright. I will trust you in this. The story goes back only a few days to when I was awakened by one of The Watchers¡­¡±

    Although the story didn¡¯t take long, Ryujin¡¯s Blaze was nearly above the horizon now and Dauria felt as though the story had taken days to tell.

    ¡°That¡¯s quite a story,¡± Kaito said. ¡°So you¡¯re stuck like this?¡±

    ¡°If you so much as smile, I¡¯ll rip your throat out,¡± she said sweetly.

    He shrugged and turned away to begin taking down the tent. He mumbled something she couldn¡¯t quite catch, but it sounded suspiciously like, ¡°Lucky you.¡±

    If he transforms, he could kill me in the beat of a heart, she thought with not a little concern. And there¡¯d be nothing I could do about it.

    After a long moment, she shrugged as well. Since there would be nothing she could do to stop it, she decided, there was no sense in worrying over it.

    She started gathering up her things, placing them in her own hide bag.

    ¡°What are you hoping to find?¡± Kaito asked.

    ¡°The lair is filled with Baalhalllu¡¯s essence. My hope is that there will be enough residual power there to break whatever has me locked in this form so I can get to Graayyyavalllia and speak to her about all this before the meeting of the Elders. Or, barring that, I might get lucky and find some trinket or ritual in his old things to accomplish it. The Earth could be facing unprecedented disaster if this goes poorly.¡±

    ¡°Well, best be on our way then.¡±

    Dauria nodded, scooped up the last of her things, and deposited them into her bag while Kaito dropped the last of the tent into its leather case. How long has he been in this form? He seems, in nearly every way, so¡­ human.

    She let him lead her back to the rocky path and they turned what she assumed was northward.

    Warmth blossomed in her cheeks and she imagined her skin was likely as red as Graayyyavalllia¡¯s scales. She couldn¡¯t help feeling embarrassed at how poor her sense of direction was in this body. She silently thanked both Lord Ryujin and her ancestors that Kaito walked in front of her and not to her side.

    ¡°How much farther, do you think?¡± she asked.

    ¡°If it¡¯s as close to the bottom as you say¨C¡°

    ¡°Which is difficult to be certain of, since I always came and went in dragon form. And even at that, it has been a very long time.¡±

    ¡°If it¡¯s as close to the bottom as you say,¡± he repeated with emphasis. ¡°We should be there within half a day or so.¡±

    Dauria couldn¡¯t help smiling.

    * * * * *

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand!¡± Dauria wailed in frustration. ¡°It should be right here!¡±

    ¡°What are we looking for?¡±

    Dauria sighed. ¡°There should be a star-shaped keyhole about a tenth of a wingspan in diameter above the sigil of Ryujin.¡±

    Kaito¡¯s eyes turned golden again and he scanned the rock wall around and above them.

    Within seconds, he grinned. ¡°Got it.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Her blood boiled in her veins. How could this rogue dragon find the thing in five seconds when she¡¯d been searching for it for the better part of an hour?

    He pointed to it and her jaw fell open.

    Somehow, when he pointed it out she saw it easily, in spite of having looked past that exact point at least a dozen times since she started looking for the entrance.

    ¡°Alright,¡± she said grudgingly. It must be some sort of enchantment to make human eyes overlook it. I didn¡¯t expect that, though I probably should have.

    She uttered a soft growl as a memory came to her. ¡°You have to be in true form to unlock it,¡± she said, making no effort to cover her annoyance.

    Why am I just now remembering that? What did I think I was going to do if I found it on my own? she thought bitterly.

    ¡°Using both foreclaws, you¡¯ll place a talon at each of the points of the star and turn it in the direction of the rising of Ryujin¡¯s Blaze.¡±

    Kaito¡¯s grunted. ¡°Are you certain there¡¯s no other way?¡±

    She turned back to him. His eyes were hard, his lips twisted in a grimace.

    With a sigh she said, ¡°I¡¯m certain. I can¡¯t believe I didn¡¯t remember it sooner, but Sire put an enchantment on it to ensure only a dragon could access it.¡±

    He nodded, though his grimace deepened. His flesh seemed to take on a green tinge.

    What does he have against being in dragon form? she wondered. Has he tried to abandon his draconic nature altogether?

    Kaito transformed slowly, with many false starts and sudden, jerky spurts. His limbs lengthened slowly, suddenly elongated in a rush, then slowed again. His fingernails grew, his skin hardened into scales, and his teeth grew long and pointed, all in similar fashion.

    It¡¯s as though he hasn¡¯t done this in a very long time, she thought.

    His head elongated and his torso expanded in all directions.

    After several moments of inconsistent change and growth, the transformation stabilized into a steady pace.

    Before long, the change quickened and his body grew at a phenomenal rate, ending with the sudden sprouting of his tail from the bottom of his spine.

    At last, when his length was a little more than a standard wingspan, his scales turned dull yellow, then brightened, then darkened again to a lusterless gold before they brightened again. And kept brightening, until they shone bright, lustrous gold in the waning light of Ryujin¡¯s Blaze above.

    Where only minutes ago had been a tired, aging man with dark, wrinkled skin, there now stood a long, thin, sinuous dragon of metallic gold with horns of ivory and a long, angular fin running the length of his spine. Blinding red-gold light reflected from his metallic mane shone in her eyes, obliterating her sight.

    Dauria clenched her teeth against the pain in her eyes and slammed them shut. After a moment, she brought her hands up to shade her eyes and slowly opened them. With her hands held in place to shade her from the glare, her vision returned.

    Humans are such frail things, she thought.

    She glanced at the golden dragon again and her breath caught in her throat. His entire body appeared sculpted from a single, massive chunk of pure, polished gold. It took her a moment to find the breath to create sound.

    ¡°Majestic,¡± she said in a breathy whisper.

    The golden dragon rolled its gold-within-bronze eyes at her and stepped up to the star-shaped lock above. He spent a few moments orienting himself to the star and situating his talons into its grooves.

    With an audible heave, he turned the lock three-quarters of a turn before it clicked. A slight rumble sounded beneath her feet and an entrance opened to the left of the keyhole. The rock wall seemed to rise up into the mountain itself, revealing a wide, deep tunnel.

    Kaito lowered an open claw to the rocky path and, without hesitation, Dauria stepped onto it. He lifter her up to the cave mouth, then followed after her, shrinking back to his human form.

    Dauria¡¯s blood throbbed behind her eyes and thundered in her ears. This is it! I¡¯m finally here! There has to be something here to get me out of this mess!

    The cave walls were every bit as smooth as she remembered, the floor just as clean. The rocky protrusions, stalactites, and stalagmites had all been removed eons earlier by the loving claws of Baalhalllu.

    With the giddy restlessness of extreme youth, she all-but-hopped her first steps into the perfect tunnel for the first time in centuries.

    At last, I am home, she thought.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Kaito asked.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I feel something I can¡¯t identify. It feels dark, yet bright. Energetic, yet lethargic. It doesn¡¯t make sense.¡±

    ¡°Strange,¡± Dauria said. ¡°I don¡¯t sense anything.¡±

 Chapter Six

    Summer, 666 BCE, Prydein

    VORDILLAINSURA LED HIS procession of dragons across the skies over the flat, empty plains of central Prydein at a measured pace. He did not hurry, but neither did he take his time.

    Balhamuut, the young platinum, had given him much to think about yesterday. So much, in fact, that he had struggled to rise and get the others moving again this morning. They were going to be late to the Council.

    As he had when he¡¯d risen, Sura shrugged. It wasn¡¯t as though Baalhalllu would do anything to him for being late. Surely, he would not be the only one. With so many wyrms coming from so many points across the Earth, it was inevitable that not all would make the midday appointment for the start of this Grand Council.

    Wasn¡¯t it?

    Besides, he had much to ponder. And of far greater import than this farce of a Council.

    Assuming Balhamuut was telling the truth¡ª and why would he lie? He would be discovered in short order, so what would be the point? ¡ªBaalhalllu had an unprecedented plan and intended to force it on all of them. A plan Sura most definitely did not agree with.

    How would Baalhalllu force them, though? The younger platinum hadn¡¯t been able to give him an answer to that.

    Might it be possible to sway the Council against him? he wondered. Overthrow him and install myself in his place?

    Sura made plans and contingencies all throughout his flight. He wasn¡¯t at all certain he could, in fact, sway the Council against the dithering coward, but he was determined to use every trick he could come up with to make it happen.

    He would only have one shot at this. If he didn¡¯t garner enough support, it would all be for naught.

    * * * * *

    In the end, owing in large part to his refusal to allow his followers to perceive him as hurrying to do the bidding of a metallic, no matter his station, Sura almost missed the Council. It was nearly six hours past midday when he reached the appointed spot in the southern plains of Prydein.

    In the fading light of Ryujin¡¯s Blaze as it neared the horizon, the veritable rainbow of dragons glittered and shone, sending an array of colors shooting in all directions from the massive gathering of wyrms.

    Sura couldn¡¯t recall ever having seen such an array of dragons in one place before.

    Ever.

    He came in to land at the edge of the circular gathering amid mutterings from the crowd and dark looks from the thirteen who stood in a circle at its center. The Council themselves.

    Graayyya glared at him from that inner circle.

    Sura shrugged and allowed himself to be surrounded by his followers. Scanning the crowd, he found Balhamuut¡ª surrounded by a sea of metallics, of course ¡ªand a clawful of others he knew would support him.

    In the center of the gathering, Graayyyavalllia cleared her throat and spoke in an annoyed tone, as though she had been interrupted¡ª Doubtless she had been. By his arrival, no less ¡ª¡°It was then, good wyrms, after I had clarified our position for him, that King Gurgastius moved to order us to depart his realm and not return. For failing to do his bidding, as though we were his servants¨C¡±

    Angry mutterings cut her off.

    The Council waited, no doubt hoping the assemblage would quiet itself.

    After several minutes, during which the angry mutterings continued to grow in intensity, Baalhalllu flared his shining, blue-silver wings out to his sides with a snap and the voices ceased immediately.

    ¡°After much consideration,¡± Graayyya said, raising her voice. ¡°I have come to the conclusion that contrary to behavioral evidence, Gurgastius is not mad. I believe it is pride and arrogance that rule his actions now, perhaps spurred on by foolish advisors.¡±

    ¡°What can we do?¡± cried a voice near Sura.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we leave him to his death, then?¡± rumbled a low voice from across the gathering.

    A few of the council members shook their heads.

    Klarrundiaul, a large azurite from the highlands in the north of Prydein, stomped a claw into the dry soil. ¡°This kind of arrogance is epidemic. If we acquiesce and leave his realm, the commands will continue. They will also grow in magnitude.¡±

    Jorrduliannsa, a pale celestine from the far north who was known for rarely speaking his thoughts, chose that moment to do so. ¡°Not to mention that we¡¯d be forcing the wise Graayyyavalllia from the only home she¡¯s known in long centuries.¡±

    ¡°You say this like it¡¯s a bad thing,¡± Sura said under his breath.

    From within the sea of metallics, Balhamuut¡¯s young voice rang out, cold and clear. ¡°Let us simply kill Gurgastius and be done with the human threat.¡±

    Sura¡¯s blood surged. That was the signal! His moment was coming. He had to pre-empt Baalhalllu¡¯s inane plan.

    The platinum leader rose up, his shining, silver-blue head towering over the other council members. He breathed a gusty sigh. ¡°Gurgastius is but one human leader among many, my friends.¡±

    ¡°¡¯Tis true,¡± Graayyyavalllia said without missing a beat, as though it were part of the same thought. Which, of course, Sura knew it was. ¡°I have heard tales from the mainland of the chieftains in Gaul and Rome, the kings in Greece and Persia, and the lords, earls, masters, chiefs, kings, and emperors of the hundred nations between. Like Gurgastius, they all now think to command us, to rule us. To force us, often by threat of violence, to do as they wish.¡±

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    Her speech was punctuated by the crack of shattering stones, which Sura guessed meant she had thumped her tail to the ground like an impudent wyrmling.

    Jorrduliannsa spoke up again. ¡°Dragon slayers are also becoming a larger and larger problem with each passing season.¡±

    ¡°Only for you,¡± Sura said softly. ¡°If you¡¯d learn to control your Vikings, you wouldn¡¯t have that problem.¡±

    By the Chaotic Queen, were celestines truly part of the stone breeds? In Sura¡¯s experience, they acted more like the cowardly metallics.

    Kwallindauria, Baalhalllu¡¯s other wyrmling, looked around the huge gathering from her place just outside the circle of elders. When she had circled around to meet the gazes of nearly the entire gathering¡ª no mean feat, that ¡ªshe spoke, slow and deliberate. ¡°The problems are mounting, no question. What we need, however, is not a recounting of the problems we face, but solutions.¡±

    Sura¡¯s belly roiled. He wanted to vomit. That young dragon¡¯s archaic sense of honor was sickening. It was said, often and never in her hearing, that her idealistic sense of morality was such an intrinsic part of her that her scruples had scruples. Or that her scales must have honor of their own.

    Sura scoffed at such nonsense, of course. He cared only that this foolish dragon go back to her own island in the east. Let her dwell with her adoring humans and leave the real world to real dragons.

    ¡°Here, here!¡± rang out the voices of dozens of metallic dragons.

    This, too, was rehearsed. He¡¯d known to expect it.

    As if pre-planned accolades will sway anyone, he thought in disgust. Just what do they think they are going to accomplish?

    As though a gong went off in his head, Sura realized this was his cue. He needed to speak now. Convince them of the right of his plans.

    ¡°It is time to strike,¡± he called out in loud, ringing tones. He shifted his head slightly to catch the light of Ryujin¡¯s Blaze, hoping the glare would draw the attention of any wyrms who might be engaged in other discussions and not paying attention. ¡°Not the foolish one-dragon-against-an-army battles that have been taking place in haphazard fashion throughout the world, but a concerted attack against the Humans.¡±

    He paused for a moment, to let the thought sink in. ¡°We are not the only ones being threatened! The Sidhe, the Gnimshei, the Famorians, the Firbolg, the Tuatha, and scores of others are being threatened by the Humans as well. They will all join with us in a war against mankind. It is time. Who is with me?¡±

    It was not strictly accurate, of course. He had no assurance whatsoever that any of the aforementioned species would agree to take part in a war against humans. It sounded good though. And he felt certain that if he had enough support, they would all join his cause. He refused to believe that, with the support of enough dragons, the other species could do anything other than join them.

    Some of the stone dragons cheered, mostly those in his immediate vicinity. But not many outside his circle joined in the accolade, and scant few metallics or gemstones took part at all.

    Sura¡¯s heart sank. What happened? What went wrong? Balhamuut had assured him that if he gave the speech, hundreds of wyrms would support him.

    Did the platinum trick him?

    Graayyya turned to face him, obvious pain in her golden eyes. ¡°Are you insane?¡±

    Sura¡¯s blood boiled and a haze of darkness blotted out his vision. He heard himself say something, short and clipped, but he had no idea what it was.

    More words passed and these, too, were well beyond his comprehension. A small voice in the back of his mind whispered that he needed to calm himself and speak intelligently.

    He struggled to do exactly that.

    When his hearing and vision cleared, Kwallindauria was speaking to him. ¡°Do not let your violent nature get the better of you, Sura.¡±

    How dare you call me familiar! He thought, but managed to tamp down his rage and think with at least a modicum of clarity.

    With a scoff, as though he¡¯d heard all that had been said and dismissed it, he turned away from the platinum to face the stone masses around him. ¡°Rally behind me, wyrms!¡± he roared at the top of his voice. ¡°Battle comes, and we will not run from it! We must fight and we must destroy the humans once and for all!¡±

    A bit more cheering support seemed to come, but it was cut off by Jorrduliannsa¡¯s smooth voice. ¡°Do not be an idiot. You know the destruction we have wrought in the past when we have warred openly. If we do this, if we go to war, one and all, there will be no Earth left by the time we are done. Nothing will survive.¡±

    ¡°If that is what is needed,¡± Sura snarled. Why could the fools not see that no matter what destruction they wrought in the process, the destruction, or at least subjugation, of humanity needed to happen?

    Graayyya glared at him, a tinge of crimson marring the gold of her eyes. ¡°Can you hear yourself?¡±

    Sura almost laughed. ¡°All I hear is the bleating of a coward.¡±

    The garnet shook her head sadly. ¡°How many times have you come to me to arbitrate disputes with your Gauls, Vordillainsura?¡± she asked.

    Turning, she stared at the malachite to his left. ¡°Or your Greeks, Korathroonllea?¡±

    She pivoted and faced the azurite at his other side. ¡°Or between you and the Gnimshei, Dreerovadia?¡±

    The garnet twisted and looked to a copper standing near Balhamuut. ¡°Thrunndiaun, what about you and the Romans?¡±

    Arching her neck, she looked to the emerald immediately behind Sura. ¡°Or the Vikings that occasionally try to raid your younger dragons, Briteillaun?¡±

    Then she turned to a celestine who stood next to Jorrduliannsa. ¡°Or Viritriain, when your wyrmlings occasionally raid livestock from your Germanic tribes?¡±

    Finally, she moved her gaze far to one side, where she settled on a charoite wyrm lounging to the west of the gathering. ¡°And Cukhorilai, what happened the last time the Persians encroached on your territory?¡±

    She paused, looking around to all she had addressed. ¡°How often have you all come to me for my wisdom, to settle disputes, or to facilitate talks with the other races? How often have each and every one of you come to me and listened to my counsel?¡±

    Flaming garnet, Sura thought, lowering his head a bit. She makes far too good a point. What more can I do here?

    He raised his head to meet her eyes with a glare. ¡°What do you suggest, then?¡±

    ¡°Can I at least convince you that war is not the answer?¡± she asked sweetly.

    And, she has me, he thought. She¡¯s snared me in quite the trap. If I don¡¯t agree, she¡¯ll have me removed, and if I do, then this whole battle will have been pointless.

    If only I¡¯d been able to recruit her to my cause! What an ally she could have been. Curse your influence on her, Kwallindauria.

    He spoke quietly, carefully enunciating each word. ¡°If you can show me a better solution.¡±

    The garnet gave a curt nod and a small, knowing smile. As though his answer settled everything. As much as it annoyed him, he supposed it probably did. From her perspective, at least.

    Baalhalllu looked rather pleased with himself, to which Sura snorted in disdain. The platinum¡¯s daughter looked around the mass of standing stones, once again catching the eyes of most of the wyrms who had gathered for this Council.

    She certainly is taking her time, he thought in annoyance. He hadn¡¯t achieved nearly the support today he¡¯d been hoping for, but all was not lost. He still had at least one more gambit he could play.

    It was true that the plan Balhamuut had brought to him was now void and useless. The young platinum had not brought him nearly the support the plan called for. But maybe, just maybe, he could still turn this apparent failure into victory.

    Was The Council¡¯s plan truly as Balhamuut had outlined?

    Finally, Dauria spoke, her voice stern and pointed. ¡°If you will all listen, the Council of Elders has a plan which will ensure both our own continued survival as well as that of the Humans and the Earth Herself.¡±

    Baalhalllu¡¯s gaze swept the assemblage, though he spent much less time at it than had his daughter. He gave a curt, satisfied nod and began speaking.

    The plan he laid out was so ludicrous, so inane, so close to what Balhamuut had said, Sura wondered that the assembled wyrms didn¡¯t laugh.

    Or riot.

    Or both.

 Chapter Seven

    Winter, 2064 CE, Japan

    THE TUNNEL LEADING to the lair complex was considerably longer than Dauria remembered.

    Cursed human legs, she thought sourly.

    ¡°How far is it?¡± Kaito asked.

    ¡°Your guess is likely as good as mine. I was a rather large dragon the last time I was here.¡±

    ¡°Did he do the excavation by hand?¡± Kaito asked. Softer, he added, ¡°It¡¯s brilliant work, either way.¡±

    ¡°He always claimed this was a natural cave that he only slightly modified, aside from the smoothing of surfaces, of course. And he did claim to have done that by hand. The ¡®old-fashioned way,¡¯ as he called it.¡±

    ¡°As if arcane power were a thing developed during his lifetime,¡± Kaito said through a slight chuckle.

    ¡°Who knows,¡± Dauria said, forcing a soft laugh. ¡°Maybe it was.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t seriously believe that.¡±

    ¡°No. But who are we to say? My sire lived more than two-thousand years before I hatched. Who can guess at the marvels he witnessed in that time?¡±

    ¡°The creation of the arcane itself?¡± Kaito scoffed.

    ¡°Not the creation,¡± Dauria said pointedly. ¡°The arcane power of our souls is such an intrinsic piece of dragon physiology, I have to believe we could not exist without it. But who are we to say that the ability to consciously control the arcane could not have developed within the last few thousand years before the Long Sleep began?¡±

    ¡°Do you ever lose an argument?¡±

    Dauria grinned. ¡°Rarely.¡±

    Kaito sighed. ¡°Do you sense anything like the power you talked about harnessing?¡±

    Dauria frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t feel anything here. Not the slightest tingle. My Apex is as dark as ever.¡±

    Kaito¡¯s eyes widened.

    It had long been a taboo to openly discuss the quality of one¡¯s Apex. Even more so to speak of another¡¯s.

    Dauria, however, was beyond propriety. The sensibilities of dragons had stopped concerning her the moment she¡¯d been trapped in her human form. What mattered now was getting back what she¡¯d lost.

    Kaito¡¯s expression calmed abruptly, as though he forced it, and he swallowed loudly. ¡°It seems the first plan is a bust then? I sense great power here. Strange power, but great. But that does you no good if you cannot even sense it, much less harness it.¡±

    Dauria kicked at the smooth floor as she walked. ¡°And you cannot harness it?¡±

    ¡°I dare not. As I said, this power feels volatile and contradictory. I fear what it would do to me if I tried.¡±

    She nodded. ¡°No less than I expected,¡± she muttered.

    ¡°Do you have any ideas as to what we¡¯re going to be looking for, since that isn¡¯t going to work?¡±

    ¡°Few. The truth is that I¡¯ll know it when I see it, but beyond that, there¡¯s not much I can tell you. I don¡¯t know of anything in particular that will help, but I believe in my heart that there is something here that will. We just have to find it¡±

    ¡°And if this turns out to be another case of you can¡¯t see it because you¡¯re not really a dragon anymore?¡±

    She scowled.

    Kaito shrugged and arched a brow.

    ¡°If that ends up being the case, then may my ancestors help me.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not very encouraging.¡±

    Dauria turned to face him and stopped walking. He stopped and turned to face her as well.

    ¡°Kaito,¡± she said, expression serious. ¡°Why are you helping me? You easily could have abandoned me. By the tails of my ancestors, you could have killed me. Yet here you are, trying to help me get back what I¡¯ve lost. Why?¡±

    Kaito blinked and turned away. His cheek seemed faintly reddish in the dim light of the tunnel.

    ¡°Kaito?¡± she asked as her hand slid gently around his. Quite of its own accord, she felt certain.

    He turned back to face her, a faint glimmer of moisture shining in one eye. ¡°I¡­¡± he stopped and swallowed before continuing. ¡°I believe in what you¡¯re doing, Amaya. Or whatever your real name is. This business with the Elders is important. Not just to you and the others, but to every living creature on Earth. It¡¯s vital that you get to them and make your voice heard.¡±

    He smiled and squeezed her hand in his. ¡°I¡¯ll do everything in my power to make sure that happens. You have my vow on it.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Kwallindauria,¡± she said. ¡°And thank you, Kaito. I can¡¯t tell you what that means to me.¡±

    He nodded.

    Without quite realizing how, she found his lips brushing her cheek lightly. With an impish grin, he turned and strode down the tunnel.

    Dauria¡¯s cheeks burned. She reached up to stroke the spot he¡¯d kissed with tingling fingertips. What is happening to me?

    * * * * *

    Dauria had lost track of how long they¡¯d been in the tunnel some time ago. Daylight was little more than a memory and even her enhanced eyesight was beginning to fail.

    ¡°Is this it?¡± Kaito asked, glancing up.

    The tunnel branched in four directions.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Dauria said. ¡°The far left was my chamber, next to that my brother¡¯s. The right was my dam¡¯s and the far right my sire¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°Which do we think is most likely to be where we need to be?¡±

    ¡°Far right, almost definitely.¡±

    Kaito nodded and moved down the far right fork.

    ¡°How¡¯s your vision, Kaito?¡±

    ¡°Dragonsight is perfect, or course. The human eyes are pretty much useless down here, though.¡±

    Dauria nodded. He wasn¡¯t looking at her, but she felt certain he was aware of the motion anyway.

    Before long, the tunnel opened into the wide chamber she remembered. There would be three connecting chambers, one straight back and one to either side. Baalhalllu used to keep his most personal things in the far back, his artwork to the left and his arcane-infused trinkets to the right, while the bulk of his wealth was relegated to the main chamber.

    Which is more likely to house what we need? she wondered. Right, or straight back?

    Logic suggested the arcane was the way, but her instincts told her his personal room would be more likely to contain the volatile sort of power she needed.

    Dauria made her way through a maze of pathways in the huge main chamber with mountainous piles of coins and jewels on either side, Kaito trailing after her.

    It took what felt like an hour, or possibly more, to reach the rear of the cavern and the short tunnel leading back into Baalhalllu¡¯s personal chamber.

    Although this chamber was smaller than the last, it still seemed massive to her human senses. Everywhere she looked revealed only shadows over deep shadows over deeper shadows, all detail obscured from her view.

    ¡°Kaito, can you get us some light?¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± he said in surprise, ¡°of course. My apologies.¡±

    After a moment, a large globe of pale yellow light appeared above his head.

    The chamber walls, now clearly illuminated, were lined with bookcases, the shelves blanketed by books of every size, shape, and description imaginable. In the center of the room, a massive tome¡ª even by dragon standards ¡ªstood open upon a pedestal.

    ¡°Much too obvious,¡± she whispered.

    Kaito gave a soft chuckle. ¡°The books, perhaps?¡±

    ¡°Seems unlikely,¡± Dauria said. ¡°But we should at least look. Do you want to go look in the chamber to the left of this one? That¡¯s where he keeps his arcane trinkets. Perhaps something in there has a chance of being useful to us.¡±

    Kaito nodded, though his dark grimace made him look somewhat less than pleased about it. ¡°I¡¯ll leave you the light.¡±

    Dauria nodded in appreciation and flashed the best smile she could muster.

    Kaito¡¯s grimace became a true smile as he turned to stride from the chamber, his footfalls echoing from the passageway.

    Dauria stifled a chuckle at the odd behavior. What is that human phrase? she wondered. ¡®As shy as school children¡¯? Or was it ¡®as giddy as school children¡¯? But more importantly, why am I trying to apply human adages to our actions? Neither of us is human. Not really.

    Dauria pushed the thoughts away and moved to her left to scan the spines of the books on the shelves. She was not at all certain of what she was looking for, but still felt certain she¡¯d know it when she saw it.

    * * * * *

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    Title after pointless title, most seemed to be personal treatises on history and philosophy. Nothing jumped out at her as useful or important.

    With each shelf she searched, her frustration mounted. Perhaps the whole venture had been pointless. What if there was nothing here that could help her? What if she was stuck in this human body for the rest of her life?

    For that matter, how long was the rest of her life likely to be in this body?

    Kaito is still around, she thought. And by all appearances, has been so for a great many years. Perhaps the human form does not affect our lifespans?

    She couldn¡¯t convince herself that it mattered much, if at all. There was simply no chance, even if she could manage to find the Council and get to them, they would listen to her in her present form.

    And Kaito¡¯s experience isn¡¯t likely to be the same as mine, anyway. He still has access to his Apex, which could make all the difference.

    ¡°These might help.¡±

    Dauria jumped at the sound of Kaito¡¯s voice. She had almost forgotten he was there in the lair with her.

    ¡°What are they?¡± she asked, turning to him. He carried an armload of seemingly random items, from earrings and amulets to over-sized armbands, thin, wooden wands to circlets, knife sheaths, and more. ¡°I don¡¯t sense anything from them,¡± she said in consternation.

    Kaito frowned. ¡°I was afraid of that.¡± After a pause, he continued, ¡°Each does something a bit different. From enhancing natural draconic abilities to arcane enhancements to shapeshifting. They all seemed as though they could be helpful to you.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Kaito. I don¡¯t imagine a shapeshifting trinket will be of much use to me, though. Not in my present condition.¡±

    ¡°Considering that you can¡¯t even sense the magic in them, I expect you are correct. But if extra power is needed, they may be useful.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true. Want to help me search the books?¡±

    He gave a silent nod and went to the bookcase at the opposite side of the entrance. He gently sat the trinkets on a table to the side of the bookcase and set to work.

    ¡°What am I looking for?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Anything to do with the arcane. But particularly rituals, shapeshifting, locking a dragon in human¡ª or other ¡ªform, or manipulation of one¡¯s connection to their Apex.¡±

    ¡°Got it.¡±

    Time passed slowly. Kaito worked in silence and Dauria struggled to keep her temper reined in while she scanned through shelf after shelf after shelf of pointless volumes.

    ¡°Have you checked the tome in the center?¡± Kaito asked.

    Dauria scoffed.

    ¡°I realize it¡¯s unlikely,¡± he said in mollifying tones. ¡°But did you check to be sure? Maybe this is where they learned how to do it.¡±

    ¡°Calling that unlikely is quite the understatement,¡± she said as she looked at the cover of the next book on the shelf. A History of the Tengu. She sighed and put the book back, moving on to the next.

    ¡°So you didn¡¯t check.¡± It was not a question.

    ¡°Nope.¡±

    Kaito¡¯s boots scraped the floor of the chamber as he stepped toward the center. A light thump behind her brought Dauria¡¯s head whipping around. Kaito stood atop the pedestal looking down at the open pages of the immense tome. The book was taller than he was.

    Dauria shrugged and turned back around to continue skimming titles. Aristotle, Plato, Confucius, all the Great Wise Men of the ancient past seemed to be represented here.

    She skimmed titles and occasionally Kaito turned one of the massive parchment pages.

    Is he using arcane power to turn them? she wondered. She shrugged again, intent on her own task.

    She passed volumes by Dante, Homer, and scores of others ranging from pseudohistory to blatant fiction.

    Kaito gasped aloud behind her. ¡°By the gods, Dauria, I think I¡¯ve found it!¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m almost certain this is it!¡±

    In spite of herself, her heart raced with excitement. She looked up at Kaito with wide eyes. ¡°How is that possible?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but you¡¯re not going to¡­ oh, dear.¡± He stopped speaking abruptly.

    Dauria narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing him. ¡°What is it?¡±

    He didn¡¯t answer. The color drained from his face as his eyes raced across the pages.

    ¡°What is it, Kaito?¡±

    His pale lips whispered something, but she couldn¡¯t make it out.

    ¡°Kaito!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Kaiyutaulliaund,¡± he said softly.

    Her jaw dropped, hanging open. Kai¡­ Kaiyu¡­ how is that¡­?

    In her shock, it took her a minute to form words again.

    ¡°The lost one?¡± she whispered in a rasp. ¡°But Kaiyutaulliaund disappeared more than a millennium before The Sleep. Presumed dead. If he is you¡­¡± Her voice strengthened as she finished, ¡°Where have you been?¡±

    ¡°I am sorry, Kwallindauria. I would love to bore you with the details, but this is more important. You need to find Graayyyavalllia and address the situation with the Elders. I fear your time is running short. Let this act prove my devotion to you. Let it prove my worth and my love.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to prove anything to me,¡± Dauria said. ¡°Wait, did you say¨C¡°

    She was cut off by a whirlwind of power, a tempest of arcane energy. The pile of trinkets flew through the air. A few landed on Dauria¡¯s human form¡ª an armband clasped to her bicep, a pair of earrings stabbed into her lobes, and a ring slid onto her finger ¡ªand the rest struck the gold dragon, embedding themselves into his scales.

    Wait, scales?

    Inexplicably, he was back in the full majesty of his dragon shape. Yet not. He was indeed the majestic golden serpent with a fin running the length of his spine, but he was of vastly greater size than she had seen previously. In fact, he was larger than any dragon she had ever seen, dwarfing even the immense size of her sire before the Long Sleep.

    Kaiyu raised his wings and sucked in a deep breath. Air and warmth drained from the chamber over the seconds it took the gold dragon to pull in his enormous breath.

    He held his breath, body poised, and seemed ready to leap. He held the pose for several moments while Dauria stared, dumbfounded.

    A tornado of force tore through the chamber, spinning arcane power and gale-strength winds throughout the chamber. Kaiyu deflated and all his inner mass seemed to disintegrate. The storm amplified in size and strength as it ripped through the chamber, taking up the books, quills, ink, tables, a few loose coins which had tumbled in from the main chamber, a few loose pages from the massive tome, and even the bookcases themselves and flung them about the room, as though they were so much detritus.

    The winds pulled at her, threatening to draw her up from the floor. Curling into a ball, she flung herself back to the floor, determined not to join the arcane whirlwind.

    She leaped back as a huge tome sailed toward her face, only narrowly avoiding being struck by it.

    Following the book was a never ending stream of trinkets, books, quills, and other oddments, each coming nearer and nearer to striking her.

    What was going on?

    It seemed almost as though this whirlwind was an attack on her rather than something meant to help.

    A hail of coins, gems, and a long staff like those used to carry banners into war came flying toward her.

    In desperation, she flung herself forward to avoid them and was sucked up into the twister. Her body twirled this way and that until she lost all sense of direction. Everything around her was a blur of motion.

    Something small struck her forehead and liquid dripped down into her eyes. Something larger struck her hand with a crunch and flames raged through the appendage. Something even larger struck her full in the back and she cried out in agony as she dropped out of the maelstrom and fell to the floor.

    Nothing more struck her, but she was again lifted from the floor and flung about the chamber by the wind as though she weighed nothing, as though she were a child¡¯s toy.

    She tossed and turned, the world spun end over end.

    Distantly, she marveled that she didn¡¯t strike walls, ceiling, or floor.

    After several minutes of terror, the wind died and Dauria dropped from the air. A moment before she struck the floor, a massive gust of torrential arcane power slammed into her, thrusting her into the wall and pinning her there.

    Kaiyutaulliaund shrieked in agony, the sound piercing Dauria¡¯s auditory receptors as though she had been stabbed with razor-sharp claws.

    Her heart ached with the sound.

    Without warning, his shriek ended and incredible warmth suffused Dauria¡¯s body. After another moment, the power released her and she slumped to the floor, the world fading into darkness.

    A bright, silver flash consumed her vision for an instant, then all went black.

    * * * * *

    The moment Kwallindauria opened her eyes, she knew the world had changed.

    Dust motes floated through the air in beams of sunlight no human could see, the creaks and groans of the Earth were so near, she almost thought she had moved to within a wingspan of the inner side of the Earth¡¯s crust. The scents of iron and gold came to her on a tiny breath of air from the surface.

    Arching her long, sinuous neck to look down at herself, she noted without surprise that she was a dragon again. But so much more than she had been. She felt infinitely more attuned to her senses than ever before. It was almost as though she had opened her eyes, and other senses, for the first time in her life.

    Had she been seeing the world through closed lids all her life? Smelling it with her face plunged into a deep lake? Tasting it through a claw-width coating of dust on her tongue?

    The sensation, with her new definition of the word, couldn¡¯t have been more wondrous.

    ¡°Kaiyu,¡± she called, suddenly remembering his pain-filled shriek. ¡°Where are you? It worked!¡±

    Rolling to the side, she rose to her claws and glanced about the chamber for the dragon who had made this all possible.

    She stepped over to the tome, or rather, what was left of it. Which wasn¡¯t much. Looking beyond it, she spotted what was left of the golden dragon. Metallic gold moisture obscured her vision.

    The words came back to her then, in Kaiyu¡¯s voice. But you¡¯re not going to¡­

    I¡¯m not going to allow it, she completed the thought as she realized the truth.

    ¡°He sacrificed himself,¡± she whispered hoarsely. ¡°For me. To bring me back to myself. He knew what the cost would be before he did it.¡±

    With golden tears streaming down her serpentine snout, Dauria couldn¡¯t help wondering what could have possessed the ancient wyrm to sacrifice himself for her. Who was she? She was no one. An insignificant wyrmling compared to his majesty. He was a wyrm who had seen millennia come and go before the Long Sleep had ever been contemplated.

    Just what in the name of Infernalis do I have to offer that he would be willing to do this?

    Raising her snout to the ceiling, she shrieked, ¡°Why would he do this?!¡±

    She allowed herself only another minute of tearful questioning before she forcibly dried the golden tears from her eyes. With a soft growl of annoyance at herself, she brought her attention back to the here and now. This was not the time for lamentation.

    All that remained of the majestic creature was a small, sinuous stone of deep green¡ª like a jasper ¡ªflecked with gold. She reached down and picked up the stone. It was still shaped much like the serpent-bodied dragon.

    ¡°Thank you, my friend,¡± she said, looking deep into the stone statue¡¯s bronze eyes. ¡°I will always remember your sacrifice.¡±

    Reaching to her chest, she raised a patch of her gleaming platinum scales over her heart and lodged the statue beneath them. Summoning a tendril of power from her Apex¡ª it had become a glorious beacon once more ¡ªshe fused the stone to her hide on one side and her scales on the other.

    By the gods, she thought. Her Apex had been bright when she¡¯d awoken. Nearly as bright as any she had seen. But that blaze was a small thing to the raging inferno she now saw within herself.

    Had she gained all of Kaiyutaulliaund¡¯s power? She couldn¡¯t imagine how that could be possible, yet it seemed so. What other explanation was there?

    ¡°You were right to think I wouldn¡¯t allow you to do this if I¡¯d had the choice,¡± she said sadly. ¡°But now we shall never be parted, my friend.¡±

    After a time, her golden tears dried and she turned to leave the chamber. ¡°Perhaps in time, there could have been more than friendship between us.¡±

    She snuffled. ¡°Now we¡¯ll never know.¡±

    * * * * *

    Dauria waited for darkness before leaving the lair. She set out westward for the Mare Gallicum where she would find Graayyyavalllia. The constant wind of flight kept her eyes dry of tears as she flew.

    Now free of the trap, her thoughts wandered once more to who may have been responsible. Whoever was behind it, they had to be powerful. And far too clever for their own good.

    It was a brilliant move, I can¡¯t deny that.

    But who could have been behind it? She had several thoughts, mostly among those who argued against The Sleep in preference for war. But was she blinding herself to a more dangerous possibility? Could the answer be closer to home?

    With a frustrated growl, she pushed the thoughts away. In the absence of enough information to determine who was responsible, her circular thoughts only built her own impotent rage.

    During her flight, she paid particular attention to the landscape of the Earth and found it much changed, though not unrecognizable.

    Most of the mountains were the same, if more worn down. The landmasses were in slightly different places, though still easily navigable. Seas and lakes were, for all practical purposes, unchanged.

    The rivers, though. What radical changes! The Iteru was much the same, and the Istros and the Reinos. Perhaps the Hiddekel and Euphrates as well. But the smaller ones? Most of those she knew were gone, dried up and vanished. Similarly, most of those now present had not existed when she last flew above the Earth.

    What are the names of those rivers now? she wondered.

    Across the entire flight, she cast her telepathic net far and wide, seeking to learn all she could of the sorts of men and women who were in power in the human nations of this age.

    The anger, the fear, the violence, and the apathy of the majority left her immensely disheartened as to the possible future of the human race.

    Could The Watchers be right? she wondered.

    It was true that much of the damage to the Earth would have happened without Humankind, but what about the rest?

    What about all the atrocities of Man?

    Was there any excuse for the mass destruction directly¡ª and directed ¡ªby his hand?

    What about the chemical warfare which destroyed not only massive swaths of human life, but also infected and mutated huge amounts of flora and fauna?

    And this haze of dark fog, Smog¡ª the word came to her from the mind of an asthmatic teenager who hacked for breath on a deserted city street ¡ªthat seemed to cover at least half the planet.

    Was it their place to say Humanity had its chance and failed? Did they have the right to take Mother Earth away from Man?

    She wasn¡¯t convinced of either argument and couldn¡¯t decide which was the correct answer.

    Let the Elders decide, she thought at last. It is in no way my decision to make anyway. That¡¯s why we developed the Council of Elders in the first place. I will share with them my findings and my opinions, however.

 Chapter Eight

    Summer, 666 BCE, English Channel

    IN THE BRIGHT, windless skies over the small channel separating Prydein from the main continent, the only breath of air to touch the agate wyrm came from his own passage through the sky and the flapping of his wings. Which he did with furious abandon.

    What were those idiots thinking?

    A dastardly possibility occurred to him.

    Could it be? he wondered. Might Baalhalllu have insured the majority of them would agree? But how would he do it? Surely, the platinum would not use a threat of violent force. Such has never been his way.

    Sura pushed the thought away. It didn¡¯t matter. Regardless of how the platinum had managed it, he had gained almost unanimous support for his plan.

    With nearly everyone voting against him, Sura had been forced to go along with the idiocy.

    Let the imbeciles go to sleep, then, he thought. Undoubtedly, at least some of them will be found and destroyed by Jorrduliannsa¡¯s dragon slayers. But no matter. They can sleep all they want. It will not affect my plans in the slightest.

    A twinge of guilt pulled on his heart. He did not wish harm on his fellows, not truly. Death at a dragon slayer¡¯s hands was not a fate he would wish on any dragon. Not even a platinum.

    It was clear to him that a massive number of them had been compelled in some way to go along with the plan. Compelled in what way, he couldn¡¯t begin to guess. But the more Sura thought through his plans, the more he was convinced this whole situation could work to his benefit in the end.

    In the end. That is the key. Think long term. It will likely take centuries to bring to fruition, but when it¡¯s ready, there will be none who can stop me!

    With that thought, his blood finally cooled and he relaxed the pumping of his wings a bit. Slowing his pace to something more natural, he considered his plans again, searching for flaws or weaknesses in the strategy.

    When it came right down to it, the biggest difficulty he needed to overcome was ensuring one of his minions would be inducted into the new order of The Watchers when the Long Sleep was enacted.

    There was no possible way The Council would allow him to be among them, that much was obvious. He had been much too vocal in his desire to go to war. He would have to work through agents unknown to the Council to make his will done.

    Balhamuut, he thought. He won¡¯t be selected as one of the Watchers either, but he could help to ensure someone loyal to me does become one.

    Yes, the idea had merit. Plus it gave him the opportunity to test the young platinum¡¯s loyalty. Something which was very much in question after the fiasco of the Council.

    But who could he select as one of the new Watchers? This was the immediate question he needed to answer. Who could he trust with it?

    He went down his mental list of potential candidates. No one who openly supported him was an option, as The Council would never allow it. Which left him with¡­

    A very short list.

    * * * * *

    With an abruptness which startled the few denizens of the swamp into scattering, Sura came in to land at the entrance to his lair. Rolling onto his back, he squirmed against a rotting root beneath the surface of a black pool to scratch at an itch beneath his scales.

    Sated at last, he stood again and an idea came to him. It was so simple, he wondered that he hadn¡¯t thought of it before. How could he have missed it?

    The pyrite.

    Pyrite dragons occupied such a strange place in draconic society, this one not least of all. There were so few of them that they couldn¡¯t form their own communities and their place so near the line which divided metallics from stone dragons only made their positions that much more precarious.

    Sura smiled. He had never thought to have an opportunity to collect on the debt owed him by the pyrite, but this was a prime opportunity for it.

    Climbing back to a standing position, he leaped into the air and flew to the south-east post-haste. With how little time he had left, he would need to put this plan into effect quickly.

    The winter solstice was the day. The Council, along with their hundred most trusted wyrms, would send out their power to compel all dragons to sleep. All his plans had to be settled long before then. The Council would finalize everything at least a month beforehand. If he was to get the pyrite into the ranks of the Watchers, it would have to be done before then.

    How will they do it? he wondered.

    It was only natural, of course, that Baalhalllu and The Council did not disclose their exact method in front of all the assembled wyrms. They would want it kept secret so none could find a way to thwart their plans. The last thing they wanted was to have a few rogue dragons running about while the rest slept.

    But they didn¡¯t know about the Dragon Scepter. Surely, its powers could keep him from succumbing to the arcane might of The Council and those who would help them. If anything could keep him awake, it would be the Dragon Scepter.

    But what about the lost ones? He wondered. Kaiyutaulliaund, Siigorriiuud, and the others who have vanished over the centuries. Will it force them to sleep as well?

    It was an interesting question, but unfortunately it was one to which he had no ready answer.

    Chhry¡¯stuulliound, he sent, trying to reach the wyrm ahead of his arrival in the pyrite¡¯s realm.

    There was no response.

    * * * * *

    The flight across the lush, vibrant greenery turned Vordillainsura¡¯s stomach.

    He snorted in an attempt to eject the stench from his nostrils. How could the pyrite stand all this greenery? The scent of vibrant life, utterly lacking in decay and putrescence was sickening. Vegetation should be black, rotting, and waterlogged.

    Shaking his head in bemused wonder, Sura raced past the stinking, steaming vegetation to the mountain range near the southern sea where the pyrite made his lair.

    At least the stone of the mountains was properly dark, warm, and moist, even if it did emit the stinking scent of green and of life.

    He dropped to the stone floor just outside the entrance to the cave. With a trumpeting call to announce his presence, he stepped inside the cave.

    The interior was dark and gloomy, but a few degrees cooler than the hot, summer air outside.

    ¡°What are you doing here, agate?¡± hissed a soft, menacing voice.

    ¡°Careful who you speak to in that tone,¡± Sura breathed, his voice laced with dangerous calm.

    A sharp intake of breath sounded from the other end of the chamber.

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    Sura nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right. Now you know me.¡±

    A soft, scraping sound reached his auditory receptors, as though a small dragon were scrambling up from the floor. ¡°My apologies, friend Sura.¡± The voice was all respect now. ¡°But my question stands. What are you doing here?¡±

    Sura snarled. ¡°You¡¯d know that if you hadn¡¯t closed your mind to contact.¡±

    Another soft scrape suggested a shrug.

    ¡°Release the darkness,¡± Sura hissed. Instantly, the shadowed sunlight poured into the cavern, revealing a deep chamber. At its end stood a diminutive pyrite wyrm with scales that shimmered in the sunlight, seeming to constantly shift between gold and silver.

    But he was tiny! The pyrite had always been a small dragon for his age, but he had shrunk since the last time they¡¯d met. At a guess, Sura supposed the creature was perhaps a touch over half the length he had been.

    How had that happened? Was it an unexpected side effect of the power they had discovered?

    ¡°What happened to you?¡± Sura breathed.

    Now that he thought of it, he didn¡¯t remember seeing the pyrite at the council. Was this why? Had he mistaken the creature for a wyrmling? Or simply missed him altogether on account of his inexplicable small size?

    The pyrite screwed up his face in obvious distaste. ¡°I should think that¡¯s rather obvious.¡±

    Sura shrugged. ¡°I suppose we should have expected side effects. Any idea how or why?¡±

    The small dragon barked a high, sharp laugh. ¡°Not specifically, no. My best guess is it¡¯s my Apex balancing things.¡±

    ¡°Balancing? So the rest was effective?¡±

    The bitter, distasteful expression vanished from the pyrite¡¯s visage and he smiled, his yellowing teeth making the expression look feral and vicious. ¡°Oh, yes.¡±

    Sura nodded. ¡°So it was worth it.¡± It wasn¡¯t a question.

    ¡°Every bit. And so much more!¡±

    ¡°And yet, you¡¯re hiding here in the dark,¡± Sura said dryly.

    The pyrite¡¯s vicious smile widened. ¡°Playing possum for those who think my size makes me weak.¡±

    Sura laughed, deep and throaty, for a long time. All the while, Chrys held his grin and even chuckled a bit himself.

    Once the chuckles subsided a while later, Sura blanked his expression, all serious business once more. ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re pleased. Now it¡¯s time to repay that debt.¡±

    ¡°Debt?¡±

    ¡°Yes, sand for brains. Your debt.¡±

    ¡°And what debt would that be?¡±

    Sura ground his teeth. ¡°The one you owe me for helping you unlock this new power!¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡±

    Sura had to tamp down on his anger. If this miserable creature was trying to renege on their bargain, he would make the sniveling little wyrmling rue the day they ever crossed paths. ¡°Chhry¡¯stuulliound, mark me, I¡¯m not playing games here. You agreed to owe me a favor after I helped you discover the secret.¡±

    The pyrite flashed an easy grin. Perhaps a bit too easy. ¡°Of course, my friend. Of course. What can I do?¡±

    In that instant, the combative air vanished as though it had never been and the pyrite seemed almost his old carefree self again.

    Sura, now thoroughly suspicious, made a show of lowering his guard and opened his wings wide to accept whatever the younger dragon might send.

    The pyrite raised his brow ridges ever so slightly.

    Sura swallowed a frustrated sigh. ¡°I have a task for you. The Council has voted, as I¡¯m sure you¡¯re aware¨C¡°

    ¡°Naturally.¡±

    ¡°You know the whole plan?¡±

    ¡°Near enough.¡±

    Sura nodded. ¡°Including The Watchers?¡±

    ¡°Especially them.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± Sura said. ¡°Then you probably know of at least some of my plans as well.¡±

    The pyrite smiled a bit wider.

    Sura sighed. He was growing less and less fond of the creature before him. What happened to the predictable, readable wyrm he had once known? ¡°Long story short, I need you to be one of those Watchers. I¡¯ll explain on the way, though. We have little time. There will be much you must remember.¡±

    * * * * *

    Time passed much more quickly than Sura would have liked.

    After turning the pyrite over to Balhamuut for training and to familiarize themselves with one another¡ª a necessary thing for him to recommend the pyrite as a Watcher ¡ªVordillainsura had been left with little to do apart from waiting and preparing.

    Almost immediately, he returned to his lair in Gaul and used the power of the Scepter to aid in forming protections around his dwelling.

    While he thought it unlikely, he had to protect against the possibility of human, or other, incursion should he end up succumbing to the Sleep along with the others.

    To that end, he formed arcane illusions and other defenses to ensure humans would never find or accidentally enter his lair and used similar defenses to ensure no wyrm save Chhry¡¯stuulliound could even find his lair, much less enter.

    ¡°By the Lady of Chaos,¡± he breathed as he realized what he was doing. ¡°I pray trusting the pyrite is not a mistake.¡±

    His efforts finally complete, down to the last detail, he lay down to rest. The day of The Sleep was fast approaching, yet still he had heard no word from Balhamuut as to the acceptance or rejection of the pyrite as a Watcher.

    Nervousness gnawed at him, preventing him from sleeping. Baalhalllu trusted his wyrmling, there could be no doubt of that. The platinum was as ill-suited to deception as any wyrm Sura had ever known. Surely, one of them would have noticed if the older platinum suspected the younger. Or even if he mistrusted him in any way.

    Yet Sura couldn¡¯t escape the feeling that something would go horribly wrong and all his plans would be for naught. Surely, something would go wrong.

    Stop this! he commanded silently. Your plans are as well-formed as they could possibly be. It will work. You will succeed.

    * * * * *

    Flapping wings woke him from his slumber. Chill wind blew into his lair from above, bringing with it the briny scent of cold swamp water.

    Sura took a deep breath, savoring the delicious flavor of the wind.

    The flapping outside ceased and a deep, rumbling voice echoed down. ¡°Sura?¡±

    With a deep sigh, Sura almost wished the platinum had tried to enter his lair.

    Reaching forward with claws outstretched, he arched his back in a stretch. His spine popped in a hundred different places and he breathed a genuine sigh of contentment.

    After a moment, he picked himself up from the cave floor and walked up the long corridor out of his lair.

    Thrusting his head out of the hidden cave entrance, he imagined himself appearing as just a head and upper portion of a neck, which vanished into the empty space below as though severed. He almost laughed. ¡°What is it?¡±

    The young platinum drew himself up. ¡°All the plans are set. The Long Sleep will commence tomorrow at midday and your friend, the pyrite, will be in the fourth rotation of The Watchers.

    ¡°The fourth?¡± Sura growled, incredulous. ¡°That¡¯s of so little¨C¡°

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear it, Sura. I did all I could. Count yourself lucky he got in at all. My sire didn¡¯t want him. Said he wanted only those he knew were loyal to The Council. It took a lot of glib talking on my part to convince him that Chrys would be loyal to him and all would be well.¡±

    Sura smiled. The situation was less than ideal, of course, but he had no true complaints about the outcome. ¡°Fourth, though,¡± he mused.

    The platinum sighed. ¡°It was the best I could do.¡±

    Sura widened his smile. ¡°It will suffice. How long did you say The Watchers¡¯ cycles are? A century?¡±

    ¡°Half.¡±

    ¡°So Chhry¡¯stuulliound will be wakened one-hundred-fifty years from the commencement?¡±

    ¡°Correct.¡±

    Sura nodded, thoughtful. ¡°That should work. It will give me time to arrange things before he wakes.¡±

    The platinum¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°You don¡¯t plan to Sleep?¡±

    Sura scoffed. ¡°Of course not. I¡¯ve been against this plan from the start. Why would I let them force me into succumbing to this idiocy?¡±

    The platinum shrugged. ¡°How do you plan to circumvent it? Surely, they must have plans in place for any who might think to prevent themselves from Sleeping.¡±

    ¡°Of course they do. For all that Baalhalllu does some stupid things, he is not a fool. They will structure the ritual in such a way that it overcomes all foreseeable defenses.¡±

    Balhamuut nodded. ¡°Foreseeable?¡±

    ¡°Of course. There is no chance of them knowing about the Dragon Scepter. Well, certainly not that it has resurfaced and most assuredly not that I have it in my possession. It is my key.¡±

    The platinum nodded thoughtfully. ¡°That makes sense.¡±

    ¡°Where will you go?¡±

    ¡°I have a lair prepared. The pyrite knows where it is, so when you two are ready for me to awaken, he can find me.¡±

    Sura almost laughed, but settled for a snide grin. It seemed the distrust between the two of them was mutual and close to equal.

    He looked up to the western horizon, where Ryujin¡¯s Blaze hung just above the sea. ¡°You should go. You have scant hours remaining before the commencement.¡±

    * * * * *

    Sura finished his last-moment enchantments just as light from Ryujin¡¯s Blaze began peeking through the entrance to his cave. The Winter Solstice had come.

    Just in time, he thought.

    He couldn¡¯t be certain of the time of day the ritual would be performed. The plan had been for midday, but he knew all too well how easily plans changed.

    Forcing the frustrations from his mind, he waited.

    Impatience will gain you nothing, he reminded himself.

    Scant minutes after midday, with Ryujin¡¯s Blaze at its zenith in the sky, the light and heat at their peak on the coldest, darkest, shortest day of the year, a slight tingle tickled at the back of Sura¡¯s mind.

    He frowned.

    Even through his defenses, he had expected more. Was The Council truly so weak? Did they even have the power to do as they had proposed?

    He shrugged, pushing the question away. It didn¡¯t matter, after all. Even with how weak The Council¡¯s power seemed, how weak the sensation in his mind was, he was better off using the power of the Scepter to defend against it. Just in case.

    Taking up the Dragon Scepter, Sura reached into his Apex and drew out a massive river of power. He split it into a plethora of streams, which he used to blanket himself in a shell of anti-magic, to prevent any magical power from touching him.

    It took several minutes to form, but once complete there would surely be no way through it. Nothing Sura could fathom had the power to overcome such a defense.

    Arcane power came then and struck the barrier. First little more than a trickle, but growing stronger with each passing moment. A burst of electricity seemed to slam into the barrier then dissipate as so much static. With explosive force, the attack renewed and it pounded through the defenses he¡¯d built into his lair as though they didn¡¯t exist. The power hammered at the shell around him, crushing through it and slamming into his soul.

    Vordillainsura shrieked in agony. Never before had he felt such power. Such strength. The overwhelming destructive force behind it was beyond anything he had ever imagined.

    In an instant his protective barrier crumbled and Sura felt himself tumbling down into the eternal darkness of dreamless sleep¡­

 Chapter Nine

    Winter, 2064 CE, south-western English Channel

    A SLIVER OF silvery light from Tiamat¡¯s Eye above reflected from Kwallindauria¡¯s metallic scales as she plunged into the icy waters of the Mare Gallicum, which separated Iberia from Prydein and Hibernia.

    How many times have those islands been conquered and renamed since we left the world to the Humans? she wondered.

    ¡°I¡¯ve watched those islands change hands at least five times in the century I¡¯ve been here,¡± Graayyyavalllia had said once, centuries before the Long Sleep.

    How long did we Sleep? she wondered again. Even after her flight more than halfway across the globe, pulling information from nearly every human mind she passed, she still hadn¡¯t found a definite answer.

    A millennium? Two? Who knows what else has changed in that time. If the surface of the Earth herself has changed, what other radical changes might there be? Humans change more quickly than we shed scales, after all.

    She swam down through numerous schools of fish, the dazzling colors of their scales flashing in her peripheral vision. She went wide of several pods of orca and other porpoises, but intentionally swam as near to the few sharks she saw as they would allow. Seeing the powerful tails of such predators slicing through the water to a rapid escape brought a grin of pure joy to her lips.

    Down she went, passing octopuses and other cephalopods, reefs of coral, and other, stranger organisms until she reached the layer humans incorrectly considered the bottom of the ocean. It was a thick layer of silt that had compacted over eons to form an ocean floor that only a creature with the strength of a dragon could push through.

    She plunged into the silty soil and continued to propel herself downward through the muck. It felt slimy and filthy on her scales, much more so than it had the last time she¡¯d been down here. What were the Humans putting into the ocean?

    At last, her snout pushed through the deepest layer of the filthy muck and into the inky-black waters of The Deeps. The water here was a few degrees warmer than that above the silt layer, owing to a cascade of deep sea hydrothermal vents that spewed super-heated liquid into the depths. Life down here had evolved to depend on the chemicals vented in rather than the light of Ryujin¡¯s Blaze.

    Even now, she couldn¡¯t help marveling at the resilience of the lifeforms that survived down here.

    Downward she went, cleaving to the wall of the trench. In minutes, she reached the marker she sought. A boulder carved in the shape of a dragon¡¯s head, lodged into the rock wall of the trench one-thousand-seven-hundred-fifty wingspans beneath the surface.

    Planting her hind legs against the trench wall, she thrust her foreclaws around the edges of the boulder and heaved. After a moment, she was rewarded with a thunderous crack.

    A torrent of air bubbles surged past her on their way to the silt layer above.

    Reversing her grip on the boulder, she backed into the opening and replaced the boulder. Although there was almost no chance of this place being found by anyone other than a dragon who knew exactly what they were looking for, it was better not to take chances.

    She turned to face the water tunnel and began the swim toward its end.

    With perfect clarity, she noted nothing had changed in the tunnel since her last visit. The rock walls were featureless and unmarred, having never been worked by human tools.

    Over her minutes¡¯ long swim through the tunnel, she noticed the water growing warmer. That was new. It hadn¡¯t done that when she¡¯d helped create this sanctuary.

    Another minute down the tunnel and the water no longer carried the icy chill of the upper portions of the deeps. The rising heat of the water, reminiscent of that much closer to the hydrothermal vents, warmed her blood, bolstering her flagging energy.

    The tunnel banked sharply upward and within another minute her head broke the surface of the warm water.

    The hidden lake beached on a rocky island less than two wingspans from her and was lit by a dull, ruddy glow from the far rear of the cavern. The island was long, easily two-hundred wingspans, but less than five in width. And it was empty. There were no signs of life.

    Curious. Did she choose to lair elsewhere at the last moment?

    Seems unlikely, she answered herself. Why would she leave the boulder in its place at the entrance?

    She swam to the rocky beach and crept up the ledge onto the island. She looked around again, but still saw no sign of anything living.

    She moved toward the back of the cavern. Although her talons gripped the rock without difficulty, she felt as though her claws were slipping across the saltwater-moistened stone.

    The scent of sulfur came to her nostrils and she smiled. That had to be Graayyya. Was she awake after all? She¡¯d thought the Watchers had to have already visited her friend, but if that was true, where was she?

    She turned a bend at the back of the cavern and came face-to-face with the source of the glow, a flowing river of magma. The heat of it slammed into her, a mallet of warmth and pleasure hitting her full in the face.

    Glorious!

    But where was Graayyya?

    An odd tinkle sounded above her and before she knew what was happening, a tremendous weight slammed her body to the stony floor.

    She struggled to rise, but the immense weight was too much for her. Something hard and sharp pierced the scales of her flanks and she felt twin trickles of blood dripping down the soft flesh of her underbelly. She tried to cry out, but sharp talons gripped her neck, piercing the flesh. Sword-like fangs glided across the scales of the back of her neck.

    ¡°One wrong move, platinum,¡± the soft voice hissed with deadly calm, but spoke her breed-name in disgust. ¡°And no one will ever find your body.¡±

    Dauria offered a slight nod.

    ¡°What are you doing in my lair?¡±

    ¡°I came,¡± Dauria rasped around the talons in her neck, ¡°To find my old friend, Graayyyavalllia.¡±

    The claws at her neck loosened slightly. ¡°How does a platinum wyrm know that name?¡± the voice took on a menacing air.

    What?

    Dauria turned her head toward the voice, as far as she could without shearing her flesh on the sharp talons embedded in her neck. ¡°Graayyya? Is that you? Do you truly not know your old friend Kwallindauria?¡±

    ¡°I would never befriend a metallic!¡± the garnet wyrm spat.

    ¡°Graayyya, if that be true, then how do I know you? How did I find your lair?¡±

    ¡°Excellent questions,¡± the garnet said pointedly.

    Dauria sighed. ¡°It would seem, my old friend, that we have reached a bit of an impasse. I know you. Because we have been close friends for centuries. We fought in the wars together. We were in agreement¡ª us and many others ¡ªwhen the time came to abandon the Earth and the Humans to their fates. We helped mould the plans which became the Long Sleep. I helped you find and shape this lair. Yet, inexplicably, you do not remember me. So what happens now?¡±

    ¡°If you will not speak truth then you die, here and now!¡± the larger wyrm snarled.

    Kwallindauria sighed again. ¡°Graayyya¨C¡°

    ¡°Stop using my name as though we are familiar!¡±

    ¡°But we are. I¡¯ve known you for centuries.¡±

    The garnet dragon growled deep in her chest, but Dauria ignored it.

    ¡°Whether or not you remember enough to believe it does not change the fact, Graayyyavalllia. I know you because we¡¯ve been friends near to kin for centuries. I helped you to manage your Celts with something less than an iron claw, and you taught me that sometimes my J¨­mon needed a war. Sometimes one needed to be invented for their benefit, even if it wasn¡¯t wholly justified. Because that was what they needed. I know you, Graayyyavalllia. Nearly as well as I know myself.¡±

    Stolen novel; please report.

    ¡°I never needed any metallic¡¯s help¨C¡±

    ¡°But you did! Discipline you understood! War you understood! But leniency? Compassion? Such things do not come naturally to the dragons of stone. You know this! You had to learn those traits. From me!¡±

    Graayyya faltered. ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t¡­¡±

    ¡°How can you not remember?¡±

    The talons in Dauria¡¯s neck loosened further and she turned her head around to look her old friend in the eyes.

    She froze, utterly shocked at the creature before her.

    Graayyyavalllia was a pale shadow of her former self. Her gaunt cheeks were sunken into her narrow face, the lustrous, golden eyes had become a dull yellow. Her flesh hung loosely from her body and once-glossy, iridescent scales were flat and almost colorless.

    ¡°What happened to you?¡± Kwallindauria breathed. How does a wyrm come to look like this? she added silently.

    Dull, orange lips curled back from yellowed teeth in a sneer. ¡°Oh, yes. That¡¯s right,¡± the voice dripped with scorn. ¡°Tear down the tired garnet dragon to diminish your own inadequacy. Such simple, predictable things you metallics are.¡±

    ¡°Graayyyavalllia, I do not mock and I do not make light. I¡¯ve never seen a dragon in your physical condition and I¡¯m concerned for you.¡±

    The orange dragon scoffed. ¡°Concerned? For me? Don¡¯t make me laugh! You metallics are never concerned for anything beyond your own shiny, perfect hides!¡±

    ¡°No, Graayyya. I am concerned for you,¡± Kwallindauria said sadly. ¡°Very much so. Please. Allow me to help you discover what has happened to you and how we can reverse it. Please!¡±

    Something in the larger wyrm¡¯s stony facade cracked. The hardness in her eyes eased and her sneer faltered.

    ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t understand,¡± she said slowly. ¡°Why would you care?¡±

    ¡°You have been my closest confidant for centuries, Graayyyavalllia. How could I not? I know you don¡¯t remember any of that, but we¡¯re going to help you to do so. We will recover your lost memories.¡±

    ¡°I truly hope you are correct,¡± Graayyya said, her voice distracted, as she withdrew her talons from Dauria¡¯s body and moved off of her.

    Kwallindauria stood and stretched her cramped muscles. Being trapped beneath a wyrm so much larger than herself and unable to move for talons in her throat was not an experience she intended to repeat.

    With a shake of her head, Dauria looked over her old friend more closely.

    To say the garnet did not look good would have been an understatement on a grand scale. What was the human expression, Understatement of the century? She found it decidedly inadequate. Aloud, she said, ¡°When was the last time you dipped into the river of magma?¡±

    ¡°Too long.¡±

    ¡°Then it is time. Go ahead and go for a swim. When you¡¯re done, we¡¯ll discuss our options.¡±

    Graayyya nodded her great head and strode into the river of magma at the rear of her lair, while Kwallindauria brooded in silence.

    * * * * *

    ¡°I still don¡¯t remember any of this,¡± Graayyya said in frustration.

    ¡°I know,¡± Dauria sighed. ¡°How long were you awake before I came to you?¡±

    Graayyya opened her maw, then hesitated. After a moment, she said, ¡°I¡¯m not certain. Weeks, perhaps?¡±

    ¡°Weeks?¡± Dauria asked, incredulous.

    Graayyya briefly cocked her head to the left. I don¡¯t know, the movement clearly communicated.

    ¡°I see. What woke you?¡±

    ¡°Rage,¡± the garnet wyrm breathed.

    Dauria¡¯s brow ridges furrowed. ¡°I don¡¯t follow.¡±

    Graayyya stared, her expression blank. After several moments, she said, ¡°I really can¡¯t explain it.¡± She paused, then added, ¡°Kwallindauria,¡± as though tasting the name for the first time.

    The sound of her name from her beloved friend¡¯s lips sent a thrill of pleasure through her.

    Tamping down on the emotion to focus on the here and now, she asked, ¡°Can you describe your exact thoughts and sensations? As much as you can remember, from just before waking onward?¡±

    ¡°I will try,¡± Graayyya said, then fell silent.

    Patience. She needs time. This must all be an infernal shock.

    The larger wyrm furrowed her brow ridges and bowed her head, eyes darting from side to side. When she looked up, her muscles clenched beneath her quivering scales and she squeezed her eyes closed.

    When the garnet lids finally snapped open, Dauria felt as though she were looking at the old Graayyyavalllia once more. The garnet stared into her eyes with surprising intensity.

    ¡°I was dreaming,¡± she said, her voice steady and strong, ¡°about the old conflicts with the Humans. Dragon slayers looking for fame, sages hunting for wisdom. The knights who blamed us for the disappearances of maidens and younglings. The wars that followed. The wanton destruction we wrought in defending ourselves against the human armies.¡±

    She sighed. ¡°I know it didn¡¯t happen this way, but in the dream I exulted in my power. I spewed a raging inferno on a massive human army, cooking them inside their suits of bronze and iron. I loved it!¡±

    Breathing heavily now, the garnet stopped and took several deep breaths. She seemed to be trying to calm herself.

    If anything, the intensity in Graayyya¡¯s eyes increased as she continued in a breathy whisper. ¡°But the rage overtook me. And the scent of cooking human flesh fueled my rage. Enhanced it. I wanted to seek out all of Humanity. I wanted to burn them! I wanted to kill them all!¡±

    Kwallindauria nodded, her expression carefully neutral.

    ¡°When I woke, my rage burned hotter! I don¡¯t know how long I thrashed, spewing flames, gouging at the stone, flinging magma from the molten river.¡± She paused for a moment, staring at Dauria. Her eyes glowed with golden light. ¡°Understand, I¡¯ve experienced rages before. Especially during the Dark Times before the Long Sleep. But I¡¯ve never felt anything like this before. I was out of control. I couldn¡¯t focus, couldn¡¯t even think, really. I don¡¯t know how long that went on.¡±

    Very strange, Dauria thought. ¡°But you had obviously calmed somewhat by the time I arrived.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Graayyya said hesitantly. ¡°Some.¡±

    ¡°I find it curious that you remember the Dark Years, the wars, the battles, the human idiocy. Yet, you don¡¯t remember me. Or your family.¡±

    ¡°Agreed! But what do we do now?¡±

    ¡°Well, since your other memories are largely unaffected, my purpose in being here appears to be unchanged. I came here seeking your wisdom, old friend.¡±

    The garnet wyrm¡¯s brow ridges raised. ¡°In what?¡±

    ¡°I was wakened by The Watchers. The things they said are¡­ disturbing,¡± Dauria said, then launched into the tale of everything she had been told about the destruction wrought on the Earth by Humanity.

    * * * * *

    ¡°And the Watchers want¡­ what?¡± Graayyya asked. ¡°To start a war? To rain destruction down on the heads of the Humans with no regard for the damage we will cause to Mother Earth?¡±

    ¡°So it would seem.¡±

    Graayyya shook her head. ¡°This is not good.¡±

    ¡°You always had a talent for understatement,¡± Dauria said with a sly grin.

    ¡°Better than the alternative,¡± Graayyya murmured.

    ¡°What are your thoughts?¡±

    ¡°It all seems awfully convenient.¡±

    Dauria nodded.

    ¡°Have you confirmed any of it?¡±

    ¡°Some,¡± she said. ¡°Japan still bears traces of the weapons they described. Many of the Earth¡¯s national leaders are consumed with thoughts of war and conquest. There is undeniable damage to both the Earth and its natural defenses to the rays of Ryujin¡¯s Blaze.¡±

    ¡°Enough to warrant what the Watchers propose?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­¡± she hesitated. ¡°I¡¯m not certain. I feel that involvement in the form of leading them away from conflict in the guise of human advisors would be better. At least for now. I can¡¯t help thinking that extreme actions the like of what the Watchers are proposing should be a last resort, fallen back on only after all other avenues have failed.¡±

    ¡°In that, we are in agreement,¡± Graayyya said. ¡°Where are The Watchers now?¡±

    ¡°Waking the other Elders. I told them to assemble The Council.¡±

    Graayyya¡¯s head shot up, her blazing eyes burning into Dauria.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Does it not strike you as odd that no Watcher has come to me? None have even attempted to breach my lair. Was I not counted among the Elders? Were there not at least some who considered me among the wisest of the Council before the Long Sleep?¡±

    ¡°And one of the¨C¡°

    ¡°Oh, no,¡± Kwallindauria cut her own thought off and leaped into the air, taking wing in a rush. Flying less than a wingspan beneath the ceiling of the cavern, she passed the edge of the island and tucked her wings tightly against her body before she plunged into the placid water at full speed.

    She spent a moment of concentrated thought to morph her form into that of the more traditional platinum serpent-dragon, sleek and sinewy. She slithered through the water at blinding speed.

    After little more than a minute, she reached the boulder sealing the water cavern.

    She slowed only slightly before she slammed into the boulder with a mind-numbing thud. It didn¡¯t budge.

    Kwallindauria resumed her natural, almost humanoid, draconic form. With its greater physical strength, she swam out several wingspans from the boulder and swam toward it once more, packing every iota of her immense strength into the motion.

    Her shoulder crunched painfully into the stone, her teeth rattled in her skull. The wall of the cavern trembled, yet the boulder remained in its place covering the hole.

    Kwallindauria bared her teeth and growled deep in her chest. She roared her frustration, but the sound was obliterated by the sea water surrounding her.

    What am I doing? she thought. Brute force is not the way wyrms do things. Use your head, foolish dragon!

    Dauria closed her eyes, calming the rage in her blood, and focused her thoughts on the problem. She took several long, deep gulps of water, her body claiming the oxygen from it before expelling the fluid back into the cavern.

    Opening her eyes, she summoned arcane strength from her Apex. Carefully, she weaved the power into a molecule-thin net and wrapped it around the boulder, with the open end on the outside of the cavern. She spent many minutes strengthening the net, ensuring it would not break regardless of how much strain was placed upon it.

    With the construct ready, she pulled the net with all her metaphysical strength, yanking the boulder from its place in the cavern wall.

    The boulder shuddered, then leaned a claw-width from its place in the wall before it snapped back into place. The force of it thrust Kwallindauria backward, flipping her body end over end for nearly one-hundred wingspans before she righted herself.

    Despair clawed at the back of her mind.

    A reddish shadow passed overhead and Graayyyavalllia¡¯s voice came into her mind. What is it, Dauria? What¡¯s wrong?

    Dauria offered a telepathic huff. It is as I feared. We have been trapped here. I cannot move the boulder.

    But why?

    Can you think of no reason, Graayyya?

    By the Astral Dragon, you cannot be serious!

    Can¡¯t I? Dauria asked.

    But why? Why would they want war? We nearly destroyed the Earth last time!

    My guess is a combination of boredom and indignation at being forced to leave the fate of Mother Earth in the hands of a species they see as inferior.

    Do you think they sabotaged all of the even-tempered elders? Graayyya asked.

    I¡¯d say it¡¯s a fair assumption.

    Is there anything we can do?

    Dauria emitted a sound somewhere between a grunt and a sigh. I think it likely they planned for anything the two of us could manage, but we can try pooling our efforts. Perhaps together we will have a chance¡­

 Chapter Ten

    Winter, 515 BCE, mountains of western Persia

    THICK WAVES OF utter darkness sloshed against the wyrm, carrying with them the agonized screams of the dying.

    He turned to face the waves that weren¡¯t water and the screams that were not sound, but nothing changed. Another dark, viscous wave slammed into him, though he felt nothing more than an odd tingle in the back of his mind.

    Curious, he thought.

    The last thing he remembered was waiting in his lair, plans complete, and everything set for the future. And now this¡­ whatever it was. A world of utter darkness, which seemingly had no beginning and no end.

    A whispered word reached his mind, from where he could not say, but he could not comprehend it.

    He turned over, directing his attention back to the past. Surely, there must be something in his memory to explain where he was and what was going on.

    The whisper came again, more insistent this time, yet still every bit as incomprehensible. What was making that irritating sound?

    Although he had vague memories of what he¡¯d been before this, he couldn¡¯t quite pin a talon on exactly who he was or what his plans had entailed.

    He delved further into his mind, digging for the memories, seeking an answer. A tremorous sound rumbled around him, setting the darkness around him to vibrating with power.

    Sealed within that powerful sound was a name. His name. Yet he didn¡¯t recognize it. Nothing about it felt familiar. Perhaps he was imagining it?

    The rumbling sound came again, more insistent than before, then vanished again. What did it want? What was going on? He couldn¡¯t fathom what has happening or what any of it could mean.

    Without warning, the dragon found himself rocketing upward out of the rolling darkness. Above, for the first time he could remember, was light. A pair of thin lines emitted only the smallest bit of light, yet it was blinding to his dark-attuned eyes.

    Below, as his eyes adjusted, he found the world he had left behind. In truth, it was pure blackness, roiling and swirling with the tide, from horizon to horizon. No structures, no caverns, no other creatures, just pure, viscous blackness in every direction.

    He looked upward again just in time to feel his non-form crash into the black surface around the pair of thin cracks of light. He had just enough time to wonder what he would do next when all existence vanished from his perception.

    The pyrite dragon pulled open heavy lids, a thick layer of mucus adding to their weight. Glancing about, it took him a moment to realize where he was and what was going on.

    That¡¯s right, he thought as memory returned. He hadn¡¯t expected waking from the relatively short slumber to be such an arduous experience.

    Pulling a whisper of power from his Apex, he cleared the film from his eyes and looked to the annoyed visage of the golden wyrm standing at the entrance to his lair.

    The gold¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly, his frown growing more pronounced. ¡°You sleep much more deeply than the rest of us,¡± he said.

    Chrys shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s odd.¡±

    ¡°Yes. It is.¡±

    The gold did not seem inclined to speak further, however.

    Standing, Chrys stretched his limbs and looked around. His lair appeared in good order. ¡°What do I need to know?¡± he asked through a jaw-popping yawn.

    The gold talked him through many of the changes throughout the human world over the last two centuries. The peoples of eastern Asia were solidifying into a unified empire and beginning to experiment with flammable powders as weapons. The J¨­mon islanders to the east of them had begun to unify and turn largely to an agricultural existence. A few outliers were beginning to use metal for weaponry, but most of their communities still relied on the older technologies of wood, stone, and bone.

    In the west, the descendants of Gurgastius and his ilk were campaigning across the continent, destroying all opposition with their superior weapons. For while the vast majority of the continent was still using bronze, the Celts had discovered a method of smelting iron into steel, making their weapons far stronger than their counterparts. Largely though, in other parts of the world life continued, nearly unchanged, much as it had for millennia.

    Chhry¡¯stuulliound accepted the information with simple nods. There was nothing to be concerned about. Nothing he could imagine the Humans doing would impede Vordillainsura¡¯s plans in any way.

    ¡°None of the sleeping dragons have been discovered?¡±

    The gold shook his head. ¡°None. There was one close call, but it was¡­¡± he grinned nastily. ¡°Dealt with.¡±

    ¡°And no wyrms have violated the agreement?¡± There was no need to be more specific.

    ¡°None,¡± the golden Watcher said confidently. ¡°No dragon has been seen by man since The Sleep was enacted.¡±

    Outwardly, Chrys projected an aura of calm, pleased acceptance. Inwardly, however, he cringed. Sura had planned to be active in the world. Perhaps not overtly, but he¡¯d felt certain it would have been noteworthy enough that the Watchers would have noticed something. What did it mean that such had not happened?

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    ¡°Who is my fellow Watcher?¡±

    The gold frowned. ¡°Jorrduliannsa, the celestine. He was wakened several moons ago. You will meet him at the Stonehenge monument in three days¡¯ time. There, the two of you can decide on a schedule and separation of duties.¡±

    Chrys nodded.

    ¡°Unless there is something you need of me, I will return to my rest. I am weary of the petty conflicts of Humankind.¡±

    Chrys nodded again. ¡°I can¡¯t blame you. Enjoy your rest. I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll see you again in¡­ what? A millennium?¡±

    The gold gave a curt nod, then turned and leaped from the mountain lair¡¯s entrance.

    ¡°A wyrm of few words, that one,¡± Chrys mused.

    Moving to the open entrance to his lair, Chhry¡¯stuulliound looked out over the valley below him. He breathed in the lush, humid heat. The scents of life, heat, and green were energizing.

    His lair seemed a bit higher than it had when he¡¯d gone to Sleep¡ª though certainly no more than a few claw-widths ¡ªbut otherwise the view was unchanged. He took another deep breath and touched his Apex. It, too, was little changed. A bit brighter, but otherwise much the same.

    With only a hint of trepidation, he touched his other source of power.

    His breath caught in his throat.

    The total strength of arcane power available to him seemed little changed. Perhaps a slight upward tick. But two of the sources had vanished!

    Were they lost, somehow? he wondered.

    For long moments, he kept his eyes on the lush forest outside his lair and pondered this new information.

    They must have, he decided finally. Yet while I slept, the others have grown more than enough to make up the difference.

    With a slight shiver of anticipation, he shrugged. In the end, it didn¡¯t matter if some were lost so long as his power remained intact.

    Nodding, he directed his attention to the present. The pressing question was, why hadn¡¯t Sura been noticed? The wyrm was not that subtle. Had he succumbed to the Sleep with the rest of Dragonkind after all?

    He supposed he would have to visit the agate¡¯s lair to be certain. He was loath to do so, the stench of the swamp never failed to incite his stomach into turning somersaults, but there was nothing for it. Even if he woke another wyrm first¡ª or corrupted Jorrduliannsa first ¡ªonly he could enter the agate¡¯s lair.

    Why had the agate put so much trust in him?

    Because the others he associates with would turn on him in an instant, Chrys thought with a soft chuckle.

    The platinum might be an exception to that, of course, but he wasn¡¯t certain. The truth was he didn¡¯t know what to make of the young platinum at all. What was the wyrmling doing siding against his own family?

    Chrys understood his own motivations. He didn¡¯t believe in the agate¡¯s crusade, not in the slightest. He didn¡¯t exactly wish to sleep away the ages while humans ruled the Earth, but neither did he have any desire to destroy them.

    What he did believe in, however, was paying his debts. Together with the agate, he had discovered an entirely new source of arcane power. One he never could have imagined on his own. And for that, he owed the agate a deep debt.

    With a long, shuddering sigh, Chhry¡¯stuulliound leaped from the mouth of his cave and spread his wings, propelling himself westward. If Vordillainsura was under the influence of the Long Sleep, Chrys was honor-bound to wake him. It was time to move their plans forward.

    * * * * *

    The sight of the black, waterlogged vegetation turned his stomach, but the overpowering stench of the steamy swamp in high summer was worse. It very nearly forced the pyrite to abandon his course and fly on to Prydein to meet with Jorrduliannsa.

    How could the agate stand it here?

    Summoning a stream of power from his alternate source, he cleaned the air before it entered his nostrils, filling it with the scents of dry earth, green leaves, and rock-walled hot springs.

    He breathed easier.

    Coming to the agate¡¯s lair, he circled the spot several times. He focused his gaze on the ground around the lair entrance, alert for any signs of life. For any activity, draconic or otherwise.

    There were none, however.

    With a deep breath, he came in to land within a wingspan of the lair entrance. He approached slowly, wondering that it was in such plain view.

    How is it that no humans have stumbled upon it? he wondered. Then a darker thought came, I do hope he remembered to allow me access.

    With only faint trepidation, he moved past the latticework of vines¡ª which gave surprisingly little resistance ¡ªinto the downward sloping stone corridor that led into the agate¡¯s lair.

    Inside, the place was untouched by time. Not a single speck of dust marred the pristine floor. No animal tracks or stray scents belied the perfection. It was a place of pure, solitude. Untainted by any outside influences.

    In the center of the chamber, Vordillainsura lay on his side, one claw clutching the black-shafted Dragon Scepter. He snored peacefully, as though in the throes of a long-deserved nap after a hard day¡¯s exertions.

    Chrys stepped closer and felt a piece of himself melt away and vanish. He cried out in agony.

    Yanking his head this way and that while he raced within himself, he found nothing untoward had happened. Nothing had harmed him. Yet something was not right. Something was missing.

    He directed his attention inward and instantly he found what was amiss and wondered at it for the briefest of moments before realizing the reason for it.

    He had not been attacked. He was not wounded. His extra source of power had been severed when he moved closer to the agate.

    Of course he would do something like that, Chrys thought. Hopefully I can reacquire them when I¡¯m done here.

    Forcing a shrug, he directed his attention back to the agate. The glossy black scales of the wyrm¡¯s flank rose and fell in a steady rhythm.

    Sleeping peacefully. Might it not be easier to just leave him to it and let him wake only when all dragons have awakened?

    He shook his head, disparaging. He¡¯d made a commitment to do this, and by Ryujin and his first ancestor, he would do so.

    With no further delay, Chrys delved into his Apex and summoned forth the stream of power needed to power this ritual. Directing it outward in widening bands, he spoke the ritual words. As was specified, he repeated the steps of the ritual seven times before sending his power surging into the agate¡¯s body. The arcane power delved into the wyrm to reawaken his body and reconnect it to his mind.

    He activated Arcane Sight and watched the power course through the agate¡¯s form.

    The bright red power made several circuits of the agate¡¯s body, growing brighter with each revolution.

    At last, the power dissipated, absorbing into the agate¡¯s still form. Chrys watched, but nothing further happened.

    The black form remained inert, but now he wasn¡¯t even breathing!

    ¡°Oh, gods, what did I do wrong?¡± Chrys said in a panic. ¡°I¡¯ve killed him! What did I do?¡±

    The wyrm paced the floor in frustration. What was happening? What did he do wrong?

    He paced faster, racing from one side of the cavern to the other. How could this have happened? He didn¡¯t understand what he did wrong!

    ¡°Will you stop that infernal pacing,¡± a rasping voice growled. Chrys froze mid-step.

    Turning his head, he found Vordillainsura standing, glaring at him with gummed eyes, the yellow-within-green shot through with agate-black blood vessels.

    ¡°Y-you¡¯re awake¡­¡±

    The agate growled deep in his chest. ¡°Of course I am. What have you been doing?¡±

    ¡°I came straight here, my lord.¡±

    Towering over him, the black-scaled wyrm smiled darkly. The expression made Chrys¡¯s scales crawl. ¡°Good. We¡¯re behind schedule, so let¡¯s get started.¡±

 Chapter Eleven

    Winter, 2064 CE, 20 miles beneath English Channel

    DAURIA BREATHED A deep, watery sigh as she released a stream of power from her Apex. It had no visible effect on the wall of the cavern.

    She was running out of ideas.

    Graayyya, floating in the dark water beside her, seemed only mildly perturbed. What else can we do? she asked.

    With a slight shake of her head, Dauria swam down to the lower depths of the cavern. Drawing a sliver of power from her Apex, she shone a light on the rock walls and floor. Let¡¯s look around in here, she said. There may be an imperfection or damage somewhere in the walls of your lair that we could use to escape.

    Is that likely? Graayyya sounded dubious.

    Dauria scoffed aloud, though the sound was obliterated by the water around her. No, it isn¡¯t. But we¡¯ve already exhausted all the likely options and we now have to resort to the unlikely, the improbable, and perhaps even the absurd.

    Though she seemed far from convinced, Graayyya nodded her assent and moved off toward Dauria¡¯s left, shining a light on the bottom of the cavern.

    Although she herself thought this line of effort a waste of time, Dauria continued, paying as much attention as she could muster toward looking for anything in the rock that she could use.

    The rock floor of the cavern was perfectly smooth, as had been the intention when they had carved out the cave. Centuries of water current flowing through had polished the rock to a low gloss that reflected a portion of the light shone upon it. Across the floor she moved, looking for any sign of crack or ding. Anything that might indicate there had been damage to the rock that she could exploit.

    After what seemed like hours, she met Graayyya on the far side of the cavern, neither having found even the slightest blemish.

    Do you think it might be possible to break through the wall? Graayyya asked. Not at the exit, but up or down from there?

    Dauria shook her head. It wasn¡¯t a bad thought, just one that emphasized her friend¡¯s lack of memory of creating this place. When we built this lair, we took special pains to ensure the whole of it was reinforced to be extra strong. We didn¡¯t want to take any chance of an underwater quake or volcanic eruption destroying your sleeping space.

    Graayyya nodded, though she narrowed her eyes. Clearly a thought had occurred to her.

    To say nothing of the possibility that humans might one day develop technology to allow them to explore the depths. The last thing any of us wanted was for our lairs to be found by them. Especially then, when dragon slayers were becoming so prevalent in so many cultures.

    Again, the garnet nodded. But if there¡¯s no chance of us breaking through the wall, she said with only the slightest catch of hesitation in her voice, then why are we searching for damage to the walls? Shouldn¡¯t that be impossible?

    Dauria smiled. Even without her memories, the larger wyrm¡¯s mental faculties were as acute as ever. Right you are. However, we are investigating improbabilities now. And while we at least thought we were preparing for every eventuality, this experience has shown me that not everything could be accounted for.

    Right, Graayyya said, sounding confused.

    Although I don¡¯t think the two of us could muster the strength to break through the wall, Mother Nature is capable of incredible feats. Especially if, as I suspect, we have been sleeping for thousands of years. Just how long the Sleep has been in effect is almost impossible to tell, but I know it has been a very long time. So it is possible, however unlikely, that the right combination of physical assault, quakes, eruptions, and gradual degradation of arcane power may have conspired to weaken some point in a wall enough for us to escape.

    Graayyya raised her brow ridges quizzically. Don¡¯t you think you¡¯re reaching just a bit? That seems a rather extreme set of coincidences.

    Dauria nodded. True. But no more extreme than the one that allowed for the initial formation of life on this planet, coupled with just the right combination of mutations that led to the existence of our ancestors, I should think.

    The garnet shrugged her wings. I suppose that is valid. So what exactly are we looking for?

    As I said, cracks, dings, possibly a hole or even just a shallow recess. Something to signify weakness or thinning in the rock.

    Graayyya nodded and sighed.

    Dauria understood how she felt. This was extremely tedious work that had very little chance of any sort of payoff. But then again, what else did they have to do with their time? It wasn¡¯t as though time was a resource they lacked, and there was very little else in the lair with which they could divert themselves.

    With a nod of her own, Dauria turned from her friend to begin the long, tedious process of searching every claw-width of rock wall in the cave.

    * * * * *

    Although she tried to keep a running tally of time as she went, with no light cycles it was exceedingly difficult to track. At a guess, Dauria would have said they had been searching for days if not weeks. They had given up the search in preference for sleep half a dozen times so far.

    And while it was common for dragons to go several days to a week or more without sleep, she couldn¡¯t discount the possibility that tedium was drawing them to rest more frequently than that.

    In every place they searched, they found nothing but flat, glossy stone with no sign of imperfection.

    On the verge of giving in to her exhaustion, she swam up half a wingspan to a corner where the wall met the ceiling of the cavern. Glancing lazily, doing her best to keep her eyelids open and pay attention, she almost missed it.

    Her gaze roved over the edge again, seeking something that just didn¡¯t look right.

    Her jaw fell open in amazement.

    There it was!

    Somehow, right there at the corner was a seam that appeared to have been fractured from the outside. Several claw-widths of rock had crumbled into the chamber, leaving a jagged opening in the stone.

    Graayyya! she said in a mental shout to get her friend¡¯s attention. You need to come up here. Now.

    Scarcely more than a beat of her heart passed before the garnet was at her side in a swirl of crimson scales. The slight widening of her glowing golden eyes was all the question Dauria needed.

    She couldn¡¯t help being surprised. Even missing huge swaths of her memory, Graayyya was still the same wyrm Dauria had known in all the ways that mattered.

    Rather than waste time with words, she pointed to the breach in the wall with a talon.

    Golden eyes widened still-further until they were almost comically wide. Garnet lips moved soundlessly as the larger wyrm slipped in closer to the breach in the wall to inspect it more closely.

    Dauria backed up and allowed her friend the closer inspection.

    Graayyya was naturally more familiar with the cavern than she was, so she hoped the garnet would be able to see if there was a break in the arcane pattern around the breach. One large enough to allow them to widen the hole, at least. Just enough for them to squeeze through, that was all she asked.

    After a few moments, the garnet raised her claws and rammed her talons into the breach, digging at the jagged edges around it.

    A rush of bubbles came up from the hole in the wall and Graayyya dug at it even harder, though she seemed to be making little progress.

    Dauria wedged herself between the garnet and the ceiling of the chamber to dig her own talons in on the other side of the hole in the wall. Digging at this rock felt like trying to dig at her sire¡¯s scales, so ineffectual was it. But she refused to be deterred. She dug and struck and scraped and ripped at the edges of the breach, scrabbling for every pebble she could dislodge from the wall.

    No matter how long it took, she felt certain that eventually they could expand this breach into a hole big enough for the two of them to escape from. It was only a matter of time.

    The two wyrms worked their way well beyond exhaustion¡ª until Dauria¡¯s vision was skewed and her erratic movements made her feel as though she had consumed a few too many barrels of sak¨¦ ¡ªwith little to show for their efforts. As far as Dauria could tell, they hadn¡¯t accomplished a thing. The hole in the wall appeared no larger than it had been when they started.

    But with how exhausted she was, she had to admit she might not be the best judge at present. Perhaps after some rest she would see more clearly. Perhaps they had made more progress than she thought.

    Or, at the very least, perhaps after some rest they might be able to make some read headway toward getting out of this mess.

    With the last of her flagging strength, she followed Graayyya back up to the island. Once there, she moved into the back area by the river of magma and stretched her body taut to relieve the tension in her muscles, then curled up in a ball and closed her eyes.

    Within moments, Graayyya lay scant claw-widths from her. The warmth radiating off the garnet¡¯s body brought her more comfort than she would have thought possible, and soon she drifted into a dreamless sleep.

    * * * * *

    When the two wyrms woke, in wordless agreement they returned to the water and spent another fruitless day hammering and clawing at the small breach in the wall.

    Only when they returned to the dry island in utter exhaustion for the second time did it occur to Dauria that perhaps a brute physical assault was not the best way to go about this.

    When they woke next, she determined that they would try pooling their arcane abilities this time. Surely, that had to work. There had to be a way to break through that breach and escape this lair.

    She could only guess at what was going on up on the surface in her absence, but her instincts told her it couldn¡¯t be anything good. The two of them had been trapped down here for a reason. She suspected they were not the only ones. Could it be that all the elders were similarly trapped? But for that to be true, someone with immense power and influence would have to be behind all this.

    But who could it be?

    Most of the opponents to this plan were brutes with not the intellect or forethought to come up with a plan half as complex as the one they found themselves stuck in.

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    Pushing such thoughts from her mind, she and Graayyya re-entered the water and swam back to the end of the watery tunnel to find the breach again.

    After all, until they could escape this prison, it mattered not at all who was behind it.

    Clasping claws, they merged the streams of their arcane power and directed it toward breaking down the wall¡¯s defenses and blasting apart the hole. Surely, it couldn¡¯t be so difficult to just widen the gap enough to allow themselves egress from this cavern.

    But once more, the pair worked themselves to exhaustion with nothing to show for their efforts.

    The cycle of working at the breach until exhaustion, sleeping, and starting over continued until Dauria lost track of just how many times they had slept since beginning.

    After many, many cycles of working at the breach, as she swam with Graayyya toward it, she asked, can you recall how many days we¡¯ve been at this?

    After a moment¡¯s hesitation, the garnet shook her drooping head. I cannot be certain. Hundreds, certainly.

    Dauria breathed a deep, watery sigh. It had been months, then. Provided their guesses were at least near-accurate and they were living on something approximating a 30-40 hour activity schedule.

    Which is not at all certain, she thought.

    When they reached the breach, she investigated it carefully and used a thin trickle of power from her Apex to catalogue its exact size in her mind.

    Clasping claws with Graayyya, the two wyrms once more set to work at breaking through it. They tried transmuting a small amount of the water near the breach to virulent acid, but it had no effect. Similarly, boiling the water around it and pounding at the breach was not effective. Harkening back to her attempt to break through the entryway into the cave, she threaded a weave of arcane energy around the breach in an effort to pull it apart.

    In the end, she devolved into slamming at the breach and the stone around it with the blade of her tail.

    After what seemed like days, exhaustion prevented her from any further attempts. She had to rest, floating in the water for a time before she could even muster the energy to swim back toward the island above the water.

    Clearly, we were not going to defeat the breach, she said as they swam back toward the surface. She snatched a fish that swam too close to her mouth, chewing and swallowing it whole without truly tasting it.

    Graayyya snarled, but otherwise remained silent.

    No words were necessary, Dauria understood. Angry expressions of their frustration were not going to do them any favors.

    Reaching the surface, she climbed up onto the island and trudged back to the rear of the space to warm herself in the glow of the magma river. Graayyya followed after her, seeming every bit as despondent.

    Dauria sighed as she dropped her bulk to the stone a scant wingspan from the flow of magma.

    Graayyya dropped to the stone ground beside her, a defeated expression marring her features. ¡°What else can we do?¡±

    Dauria huffed another frustrated breath. She didn¡¯t know. They had tried and tried to budge the stone blocking the entrance into the lair, and apart from moving it less than a claw-width out from its frame, she had seen no result in the effort. They had searched the walls, ceiling, and floor and came up with only the one breach that they could not find a way to widen. What more could they do?

    She shook her head, despairing, and closed her eyes.

    Just a short nap to help clear my head, she thought. There had to be another way out that they weren¡¯t thinking of. There had to be something. She refused to accept that there was no way out.

    Within moments, her thoughts grew fuzzy and she found herself walking through a grassy field next to her sire.

    ¡°Of course there is a way out,¡± he said. ¡°Clear your head. It will come.¡±

    ¡°But Sire,¡± she whined in a voice that sounded much younger than it should have. ¡°I¡¯ve tried everything. Nothing works. This is a better trap than any I have ever seen.¡±

    ¡°And yet, there are still more possibilities.¡±

    She scowled. Why couldn¡¯t he just tell her what he was thinking?

    ¡°Think, dear one,¡± he said, gently chiding.

    With a sigh, she obeyed. What had she not considered? There had to be something. Surely, she had not thought of every possibility.

    Clearing her mind, she set it to the task of analyzing everything she had tried and comparing it against all she knew of the space they were trapped in. There had to be something she was missing.

    Sire smiled down at her, his coppery eyes glowing with pride.

    ¡°The fish,¡± she gasped suddenly.

    Baalhalllu¡¯s smile widened.

    She had noticed when she first entered that all the fish present were carnivores of similar size. In theory they could all feed on one another, thereby perpetually surviving without there being another food source, so long as their numbers remained more or less equal.

    But fish could not survive in tepid water. Not indefinitely, at least. She was sure of it.

    There had to be a continuous source of flowing water. Nothing else would allow this little ecosystem to thrive. There had to be some kind of vent somewhere that allowed sea water to flow in and out of the cave.

    There had to be.

    ¡°The water. That¡¯s the answer, isn¡¯t it? I just have to find the vents where the water flows in and out of the cave. Right?¡±

    Sire nodded his approval, but something shifted in his eyes. Was he disappointed?

    No, she thought. That doesn¡¯t make sense.

    But then the look was gone and he was all proud approval.

    ¡°Now you must put your knowledge to work, dear one.¡±

    Before she had a chance to respond, she opened her eyes and found herself back in the cave, the flowing river of magma before her. She leaped to her claws, brimming with excitement to finally find the way out.

    Then her enthusiasm deflated all at once. If there were such vents, would she not have found them during her search for weaknesses in the watery cave? How could she have missed them?

    She frowned.

    Perhaps Graayyya might know?

    She turned to face her friend, who snored gently from her place next to the magma river. She was loath to wake the garnet, but if there was a way out of this they needed to find it. Sooner rather than later.

    With a nod, she moved toward the garnet and nudged her neck. ¡°Graayyya,¡± she whispered.

    The golden eyes opened, clear and alert. ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°I have an idea.¡±

    Graayyya climbed up from the floor to stand before her. ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Sea water.¡±

    The garnet stared at her blankly.

    ¡°More specifically, fresh sea water.¡±

    The golden eyes seemed to light up from within. ¡°Of course!¡± she said with a slap of her tail against the stone.

    Dauria smiled. ¡°But we¡¯ve been over the entirety of the underwater portions of the cave. Where could the sea water be coming in from?¡±

    The garnet¡¯s expression fell. ¡°That¡¯s a good question.¡±

    Dauria¡¯s heart sank. She¡¯d been certain her friend would know. ¡°You don¡¯t remember if, or how, they might have been disguised when your lair was constructed? I have to assume I wasn¡¯t here for that part of it. I never even thought about the problem of a fresh supply of sea water.¡±

    Graayyya gave a small shrug of her wings. ¡°As absurd as it is, I just don¡¯t remember. I would expect that either it¡¯s disguised by some kind of illusion or perhaps there is some sort of natural buildup that is making it impossible to see. But the larger question is, in either event, what can we do about it?¡±

    Dauria flashed a sly smile. ¡°We can actually work with this, I think. Provided, of course, you didn¡¯t think to build any defenses against it.¡±

    The garnet raised her brow ridges in question. ¡°How do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Arcane Locating. It wouldn¡¯t have worked when looking for a breach because that isn¡¯t specific enough. But for this, I think Locating just might work.¡±

    Graayyya¡¯s blank stare returned.

    Dauria breathed a silent sigh of frustration. There was so much the garnet did not remember. ¡°My dear, we can use arcane power to find where the water is coming in and where it¡¯s escaping.¡±

    The expression cleared, though she still looked doubtful. ¡°So¡­ why wouldn¡¯t it have worked before?¡±

    Dauria nodded and smiled. Though it frustrated her to have to talk through this as though to a wyrmling, at least Graayyya was asking the question instead of pretending to understand. ¡°It is possible that someone more accomplished at Locating might have been able to find that breach with it, but it is not my strongest skill. For me, looking for a breach in the wall would be like searching through a giant pile of pine needles for one specific pine needle that looks just like all the others.¡±

    Graayyya tilted her head in thought, her eyes rolling upward.

    Clearly, she was trying to wrap her mind around the complexities of it.

    ¡°As opposed to?¡±

    Dauria nodded. ¡°With this, I¡¯ll have an easier time of it. I¡¯m not looking for a broken piece of wall. I¡¯m looking for a vent or hole or duct that would have been built into the cave. It will have a steady inward and outward flow of sea water that I can track. Because I¡¯m looking for something that isn¡¯t just like everything around it, the going should be much easier.¡±

    The garnet nodded. ¡°When will you start?¡±

    ¡°I think I need a good night¡¯s rest before I begin. Although this will be much easier than finding a breach would have been, it still won¡¯t be simple. I need to have a clear head and a full Apex before I attempt it.¡±

    Another nod, and the garnet settled back to the floor to go back to sleep.

    Dauria struggled not to laugh. She seemed so carefree, absent even the most basic stresses or worries. Was it possible that the greater kindness might be to allow her to keep that, to continue in her current existence without all the cares and pressures of being who she was?

    Would you be content to remain so? asked a soft voice in the back of her mind.

    She shook her head. There was no question, she knew she would not. She would want to know all the things she was missing. She would not want to continue a carefree, blissful existence if it meant losing all those details that made her who she was. Bliss at the expense of not knowing all the things wrong in the world was not bliss, it was ignorance.

    Then you know what you need to do, don¡¯t you?

    She nodded. She had been avoiding it all this time. Especially doing it without Graayyya¡¯s approval. But what else could she do? In her current state, the garnet wouldn¡¯t even understand what she was agreeing to. It was entirely possible she would decline out of some misguided nobility that had no bearing on the current situation.

    With a sigh, she reached deep into her Apex and withdrew the strongest torrent of arcane power she could muster given how exhausted she was. Before she could give herself time to reconsider, she sent the flood of energy into Graayyya.

    Using the force of her power, she burned away any residual effects lingering throughout the garnet¡¯s body. She cycled through the wyrm¡¯s flesh over and over to ensure no malignant forces remained.

    Once she had cycled through the body several times, she moved her arcane energy up into Graayyya¡¯s mind and sent it coursing through the pathways of her brain.

    She was intent on purging any remaining arcane effects there, removing any influence, and cleaning out any blocks or malformed pathways that might be there as a side-effect of the tampering that had been done with her friend¡¯s mind.

    After more than a dozen circuits through the garnet¡¯s mind, however, she found nothing amiss. Not one cell of her friend¡¯s mind was out of place. There were no broken pathways, nothing leading anywhere it shouldn¡¯t. Nothing there hinted at any sort of arcane work.

    Allowing her strength to dissipate, Dauria admitted utter confusion. How could that be? If there was no sign of any arcane tampering whatsoever, then just what had happened to her friend¡¯s mind? What had happened to her memories?

    She spent what seemed like hours turning her mind in continual circles trying to figure out a solution to the question. It made no sense, but she could not deny the truths before her. Clearly something had been done to her friend¡¯s mind, but it showed not the slightest sign of having been tampered with. Clearly, she was dealing with a power far beyond the scope of her knowledge.

    In exhaustion, she slumped back to the floor and allowed sleep to claim her one last time. Surely, when she awoke they would find their way out of here and make their way to the Council.

    The two wyrms stood at the edge of the island overlooking the water. Dauria took a deep breath to calm her thundering heart.

    ¡°Are you ready?¡± Graayyya asked.

    Dauria almost laughed and held out her claw for the garnet to take.

    When their claws met, Dauria felt a surge of arcane power enter her body and she sent it out along with a flood of her own in the form of a Locating, looking for the point where fresh sea water pumped into the cave.

    Within moments she had its location and she leaped into the water, dragging Graayyya with her. She pulled her friend along after her as she swam for the spot with all the speed she could muster.

    The point was much nearer the island than she would have guessed, being less than a wingspan into the underwater tunnel that led out to the exit from the cave. She slowed as she swam around the curving incline of the roof of the tunnel and came to the point the Locating identified.

    She stared in consternation.

    This was the spot. She knew it was. The Locating had not failed, and she¡¯d never had a false positive from one before. Yet before her she saw only flat, smooth stone. She huffed a frustrated sigh.

    Disguised? Graayyya suggested.

    With a nod, Dauria pulled a stream of arcane power from her Apex to augment that given by Graayyya and channeled it into a Seeing. Although related to Arcane Sight, this was a very different use of the power. Its primary use was to allow one to see through illusions and other arcane disguises. The difficulty lay in that if the creator of the disguise was more powerful, then the Seeing might not reveal anything. It could fail to see through whatever might be hiding before her.

    Numerous spots on the cave ceiling seemed to blur, then glowed with a hazy gray light. The light pulsed three times then vanished, leaving the reality before her clear to see in all its maddening, frustrating glory.

    She clenched her jaw tight and struggled not to scream, lash out, or both.

    For nearly three wingspans in each direction, small holes marred the surface of the ceiling like pock marks. Each was little wider than a talon, yet together they allowed in enough new sea water to keep the tunnel circulating and clean.

    She turned to Graayyya, trying not to be angry. How could you not be aware of this?

    The garnet¡¯s eyes widened, her mouth slightly agape in a hopeless expression. She gave a barely perceptible shrug of her wings. I don¡¯t know, Dauria. I have no memory of even being aware that there was a method of bringing fresh sea water into the cave.

    Dauria lowered her head. She could hear the truth in her friend¡¯s words, but that didn¡¯t make them any easier to bear. What was she supposed to do now? There was little doubt the water¡¯s exit from the tunnel would be similarly guarded. So little doubt, in fact, that she had no desire to check it for certainty.

    She cursed herself for a fool. Of course it would not have been that easy. Graayyyavalllia had always been among the wisest of Dragonkind, naturally she would not have left such an obvious threat to her sleeping space. Who knew what dangers could enter through a single water vent into her lair if it was large enough to accommodate even a small dragon?

    Similarly, she had no desire to test the integrity of the rock around the holes. She had no doubts whatsoever that this part of the cave would be every bit as strongly protected as the rest.

    Which left¡­

    What, exactly?

    She closed her eyes, despairing, and tried to think. What else was there? What else could she do?

    Distantly, she felt a wave brush over her as Graayyya swam away. Doubtless to test the very things she herself didn¡¯t have the heart to bother with. The exit vent. Its integrity. Perhaps the garnet would even test the integrity of this one.

    But Dauria was done. She didn¡¯t have the strength to fight anymore. They were stuck here and she couldn¡¯t find any way around it.

 Chapter Twelve

    Autumn, 2065 CE, a deep cavern in central France

    VORDILLAINSURA TOWERED OVER the wyrms around him, looking down on them even without the benefit of a raised platform on which to stand.

    The few metallics in the chamber quivered with nervousness, all except for Chhry¡¯stuulliound himself, who stood tall and proud despite his diminutive stature.

    The stone dragons, on the other claw, sat at their ease waiting for him to address them. Complacent fools. What did they think, that the coup they were going to attempt would go off without the slightest threat to their safety?

    ¡°Gather and report,¡± he commanded, beckoning the group with his wings.

    One and all, the assembled dragons gathered in closer to him to report on their activities. Some had been out in the world for centuries.

    Directing his gaze to his far left, to a deep green malachite, he waited.

    The female cleared her throat. ¡°Aggllentyya, the silver Elder, was foolish enough to lair with her family. We have taken measures to insure they all sleep for at least another century, even after the accords are broken. We have also sealed the lair tight, ensuring that even if one or more of them should somehow wake, they will not be able to impede our efforts.¡±

    He nodded in approval and turned his gaze to the wyrm next to her, one of the rare shadow dragons. Mellusarria, if he was not mistaken.

    ¡°The Council Leader is still lost to us, my lord. The platinum is either far more devious or far less trusting than any of us expected. So far, no one has the slightest inkling of his whereabouts. We can only hope that wherever he is, the sleep holds him captive until it is too late.¡±

    Sura growled low in his chest. This was not good news. Baalhalllu had the influence to destroy everything he had been working toward for centuries if he woke too soon. ¡°And,¡± he hesitated, not wanting to speak the names. ¡°His progeny and her companion?¡±

    From the center of the chamber the other platinum, Balhamuut, spoke in his unnaturally deep, reverberating voice. ¡°The females have been¡­ dealt with. Initial attempts with my clutch-mate were, through unforeseen circumstances, unsuccessful. But it has been confirmed that the two of them are now trapped within the garnet¡¯s lair with no means of escape.¡±

    Sura flashed a toothy grin. At last, some good news. Those two could have been almost as much trouble as the blasted platinum sire.

    For the better part of a day, the dozens of wyrms around him related news of the opponents to his plans. Each had been kept asleep, locked away, destroyed, or otherwise kept from making nuisances of themselves for the coming proceedings.

    When all had spoken, Sura allowed himself to breathe a deep, relieved sigh that was echoed by the cavern at large. A part of him had been expecting some disaster that would interfere with his plans. He couldn¡¯t help being almost as shocked as he was pleased by how well things were working out.

    When the last of the wyrms had exhaled their relief and the tension melted from the chamber, Sura pulled himself up to his full height and backed up a step to address the assembly once more. ¡°It seems all has been prepared. Every foreseeable obstacle has been removed. It is time to wake the others and convene the Council. Backup council members, you know who you are. It is time.¡±

    Although the wyrms did cheer, it was a muted thing with far less enthusiasm than he was expecting.

    This lot were going to be the death of him. What had they been expecting? Did they think to be part of this without having to actually do anything? Were they having second thoughts? Were they doubting his ability to pull this off?

    He shook his head. His unfounded insecurities would be of no help here. His plans were moving forward, and he would do everything in his power to ensure they were successful. Nothing else was important right now.

    * * * * *

    Weeks passed while he waited for the bulk of Dragonkind to be awakened from the Long Sleep and to make their way to the council meeting he had organized.

    The wait was excruciating.

    As one more means of distancing the new council from the one all dragons had known from ages passed, he chose a new location to hold the meeting. In the south on the large, arid continent the humans called Africa, there stood a tall mountain range, the top of which almost never lost its cap of snow and ice. That peak was, he admitted, a bit on the small side to be the meeting place for a Grand Council of Dragons, but they would make do.

    To avoid any accusations of orchestrating things, he kept himself hidden in a cave near the base of the mountain while the dragons arrived, leaving his makeshift council in place atop the mountain to welcome the wyrms as they arrived.

    It took all his self-control to keep himself hidden in the cave amid the sounds of dragons flying in to the mountaintop in ones and twos. Even more so on the few occasions that larger groups arrived as one.

    Oddly, though, there was no conversation between those arriving dragons. He admitted, of course, that the wyrms might be conversing telepathically, and he did not wish to risk revealing his presence by Delving their minds. But he found it odd that none of them were talking aloud. Not a single draconic voice.

    He counted, as best he could, the number of dragons coming in. He was determined not to show himself until the number was in the hundreds. He couldn¡¯t take the risk of too many wyrms associating him with the organization of the Council. Doubtless, a great many of them would still remember his ardent insistence on war before the Long Sleep and if they thought he was behind it all then they might find the motivation to oppose this council¡¯s decision about where things would go.

    It was a chance he could not take.

    Time crawled by while he waited, eons seeming to pass as he counted out the wyrms as they arrived.

    Finally, he counted out five-hundred dragons having arrived. He slowly crept from the cave, careful to check that no other dragons were approaching from this side of the mountain.

    Seeing the skies were clear, he leaped into the air and flew away from the mountain for several strokes before turning in a wide arc to return to the peak of the mountain and the waiting sea of color and metal that signified a large group of dragons, their scales reflecting the silvery light of Tiamat¡¯s Eye above.

    Moderating his speed, he came in for a middling landing, not overly rough but not gentle. He did his best to appear just as ruffled-yet-curious as the rest of them. A garnet of moderate size immediately greeted him from the raised shelf of ice The Council was using to set themselves apart from the rest.

    He nodded a return greeting, then found his way to the western edge of the mountaintop where the stone dragons seemed to be congregating.

    ¡°What is happening? Where is The Council?¡± he asked once greetings had been exchanged.

    ¡°This is The Council,¡± the garnet said.

    He narrowed his eyes along with nearly every wyrm in his field of view. Almost as one, the dragons turned to the thirteen dragons who sat atop the raised shelf of ice.

    ¡°Where is our Council?¡± asked a large azurite he knew as Klarrundiaul. ¡°You are not the wyrms we voted into place before the Sleep.¡±

    The garnet nodded. ¡°That is true. For reasons unknown, the Council of Elders has not risen. We know not where they are. Therefore, we alternate selections, chosen by the Council themselves, will serve the function of The Council.¡±

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    Though Klar was clearly unhappy about the situation, he nodded his agreement. After all, what else could he do?

    Choruses of grumbling circulated about the top of the mountain. Though loudest from the southern end, where the metallics were congregated, even the grouping of stone dragons behind Sura was not immune. The rumbling of draconic voices gradually grew to a dull roar that seemed to come from everywhere.

    Sura sighed. Although he had predicted this response¡ª it was the majority of why he had selected this out of the way place for this, to avoid their discovery by any humans before they were ready ¡ªhe couldn¡¯t help being frustrated by it. If the assembled wyrms were this upset about the replacement of The Council, how were they going to respond to the other sweeping changes this day would bring?

    He stepped back into the group, not listening to their individual rumblings but hoping to get a better idea of the general mood of the group while keeping himself out of view of the metallics and any newly arriving wyrms.

    The exchange about the Council repeated several times as more and more dragons arrived, many with questions about what had happened to the Council of Elders.

    Each time, the roar of the assembly grew just a little bit louder and more chaotic.

    Tiamat¡¯s Eye rose overhead, its silvery glow illuminating the myriad dragons atop the mountain. Although he felt as though days¡ª if not weeks ¡ªhad passed in the interim, it wasn¡¯t far past midnight when the new Council atop their ice shelf stood and called the assembly to attention.

    Sura rose to his full height, towering over nearly all of his stone dragon brethren.

    Thankfully, he had always been one of the larger among them, so none thought it more than passing strange that he now towered over almost all of them. Klar, the azurite, was one of the few exceptions, being a truly monstrous wyrm from Baalhalllu¡¯s generation or possibly even earlier.

    Tiamat¡¯s Eye was at its zenith in the sky above, shining down directly on the blue-white ice shelf and the array of wyrms atop it. The rainbow of eye colors within those draconic heads shone in the silvery light.

    Sura risked a covert glance about the mountaintop and couldn¡¯t help being amazed at the turnout. Dragons were crammed into every claw-width of available space atop the mountain. At a guess, he supposed there were in excess of two-thousand wyrms here tonight. He could hardly believe so many fit on this mountain.

    It is good to see so many though, he thought. With no real opposition, this should work out just the way I planned. And this is enough dragons that we can carry it out with minimal difficulty.

    After all, how much threat could the humans truly be? Even with all their vaunted technology, it wasn¡¯t as though a human could actually be a threat to a grown wyrm. At least, not one that was awake and aware of their presence.

    The garnet wyrm in the center of the ice shelf trumpeted loudly for silence, calling The Council to order.

    One final round of grumbles made its way around the assembly before the dragons quieted. Sura resisted the urge to growl at the buffoons.

    The garnet sucked in a deep breath. ¡°For those who do not know me,¡± she called, her voice deep and powerful, ¡°I am Alyygstraazzza. I was chosen by Baalhalllu himself to succeed as leader of the Council should anything untoward happen to him. Well, it seems something has. To him and all of The Council of old that you were all familiar with.¡±

    This time, miraculously, the group kept mostly silent.

    She introduced the other twelve council members then, along with the names of who selected them for their position.

    ¡°Now, as I¡¯m sure you are all aware, things have changed and we must make a decision as to what to do. Where do we go from here?¡±

    A hundred voices rang out all at once and the garnet raised her wings, quieting the group. ¡°One at a time, please. In a gathering this large, we cannot go about shouting down all others. Now, who would like to go first?¡±

    Having learned from his mistake last time, Sura kept silent.

    Nearly a dozen wings raised, requesting the right to be first to speak.

    The garnet pointed to a metallic at the far back of the crowd of wyrms. ¡°Kaiyullaaurand, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    A tall, lithe gold raised his head above his fellows. He spoke in a deep, majestic voice full of command and nobility. Clearly, he was used to being obeyed. ¡°I have heard the arguments, and I must confess myself unimpressed. Can you explain why it is that The Watchers believe our intervention is necessary?¡±

    The garnet nodded, though Sura saw in her eyes that she was annoyed with the question. ¡°Certainly. The Watchers have been keeping close tabs on the humans and their technological advances for centuries now. And while throughout most of that there was little cause for concern, things have changed in the last several decades.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes,¡± the gold said impatiently. ¡°I know all this.¡±

    She narrowed her eyes. ¡°Then do you also know that the humans developed a weapon that would make your grandsire¡¯s flaming breath seem as the first sparks of a hatchling?¡±

    ¡°Surely you exaggerate.¡±

    ¡°I do not. Two uses of this weapon obliterated tens of thousands of human lives and spoiled the surrounding land for thousands of wingspans. After more than a century, the flora and fauna still have not recovered. That is fact, my lord, not exaggeration.¡±

    The gold clenched his jaw.

    A topaz wing shot up from the eastern edge of the mountaintop.

    The garnet pointed. ¡°Yes, Phluuriityan?¡±

    The topaz rose and bowed his head to The Council. ¡°With respect to The Council, why can we not act in an indirect fashion, influencing the human leaders as he have in ages past? From the shadows, without revealing ourselves, preferably.¡±

    The garnet turned to the other Council members in turn, each giving a slow nod. ¡°This is a flight we have considered, but The Council is in agreement that such action would produce too few results in too great a period of time.¡±

    The topaz scowled.

    ¡°If I may,¡± called a silver from the back of the crowd.

    Alyygstraazzza nodded. ¡°Go ahead, Daarvyynyyshia.¡±

    ¡°What matter could be so dire that some well-placed manipulations could not solve the problem within one or two human generations?¡±

    The garnet clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. ¡°Therein lies the heart of the matter, I am afraid. We do not believe we have a human generation to wait. Many of you may not remember, but humans are impulsive creatures. And vain. Each believes himself to be the single moral authority in the Universe, and hence that only his own opinions matter. As such, these humans are not content to wait. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of these mega weapons across the globe, each pointed at a different place. It is the opinion of The Watchers, as well as this Council, that our manipulations would not sway the humans from this course.¡±

    ¡°So your solution is to destroy the Earth before they can?¡± The silver was incredulous.

    The garnet smiled sadly. ¡°No, Daar. Not at all. Our goal is to prevent such action. We believe that¡­ well, suffice to say we have an idea in mind that could solve this problem. But you, my good wyrms, must have your say before we decide what to do.¡±

    The silver frowned, but nodded.

    ¡°Who else would have their voice heard?¡±

    Wyrm after wyrm, dragon after dragon proceeded to voice their own opinions, which were in the main only variations on the ideas already presented. Some thought they should just go back to Sleep and not worry about what the humans did. How could it affect them, after all? Others thought that a campaign of manipulation to alter the course the humans had chosen was the better way to go. Some thought that revealing themselves to the humans, in all their majestic glory, would be just the shift the world needed to come back from the brink. Most thought that a terrible idea. A few suggested that revealing themselves only to the leaders of Humankind could avert the disaster the humans seemed to be heading toward.

    The debates raged on for hours, yet didn¡¯t appear any closer to a consensus than when they¡¯d began.

    With the arguments losing steam, Sura thought his time was approaching. With all other options being vetoed by one side or the other, perhaps now they would listen to him.

    He started to raise his wing to get the garnet¡¯s attention but the thunderous crack of a powerful wing snapping against the wind brought him up short. A shining blue-silver form shot past him from above and dropped to the snow-covered mountaintop right in front of the ice shelf whereupon The Council stood. The form ceased its rapid flight so quickly, Sura had no doubt it was accomplished at least in part with the wyrm¡¯s arcane strength.

    The immense platinum form rose up to his full height. For a moment, Sura thought this majestic form was Baalhalllu, somehow arisen from his hidden lair. Then the form turned and he saw the face in profile.

    Balhamuut. What was he doing here?

    Or, more accurately, why was he just now arriving? Where had he been?

    ¡°You are all missing the obvious answer,¡± the platinum said in his incredibly deep, cultured voice. ¡°The one that was suggested, and overthrown, millennia ago.¡±

    The garnet raised her brow ridges at the platinum. ¡°And what would that be?¡±

    Balhamuut smiled, his white teeth glowing in the silvery light of Tiamat¡¯s Eye. ¡°It is time,¡± he said softly, ¡°to eliminate the problem.¡± He continued, his voice growing in volume and intensity with each word. ¡°Long ago it was suggested that extermination or subjugation was the only way to handle the Humans. To prevent them from destroying everything we hold dear. Look around, my friends. We have proof of that everywhere we look. We once thought to ally with the Sidhe, the Gnimshei, the Famorians, the Firbolg, the Tuatha, and others against the humans. But look around! Where are they? Have any of them survived?¡±

    The platinum paused, apparently letting the facts sink in.

    Sura was forced to admit the young wyrm was quite the orator. He had the attention of every wyrm on the mountain in a way he could never have achieved.

    A soft murmur spread throughout the dragons.

    ¡°No!¡± Balhamuut roared. ¡°None of them live, because the humans have exterminated them all! I tell you, the time to take the Earth back from the humans has arrived! No longer will we live in shadows! No longer will we sleep away the ages while we wait for Humanity to achieve some form of enlightenment that is clearly beyond their reach! The time has come to bring war to the Humans and take back what we once ceded to them in passivity!¡±

    Again, he paused. Looking almost like his sire had all those centuries ago, he looked about, meeting the gazes of many of the dragons around him.

    The murmuring had ceased, now the dragons around the mountaintop stared at the platinum in a mix of expressions that ran the entire draconic experience, from pleasure to giddiness to worry to scorn to rage.

    The platinum reared up on his hind legs, stretching his neck and head as high as they would go. ¡°Who will join me? Who will become a part of the revolution to liberate the Earth from these humans who never deserved it in the first place?¡± he roared.

    The roar that came back to the platinum, including each and every one of the newly appointed council members, was all the confirmation Sura needed. He would get his war. Dragons would, once more, rule the Earth.

 Chapter Thirteen

    Date unknown, 20 miles beneath English Channel

    KWALLINDAURIA HAD LOST all sense of the passage of time in the watery cavern. It could have been days, years, or centuries since she¡¯d given up her efforts to escape.

    After the failure with the vents, the two wyrms had eventually gone back and tried again. But as ever, the boulder covering the entrance had refused to budge. Both entrance and exit vents had been of the same design, and had proved impervious to everything they attempted.

    After hundreds of cycles of working every possibility they could imagine until well beyond exhaustion, resting, and working at them again, they had given up and directed their minds toward trying to find another way out.

    For a time, they had maintained their hope that they might eventually find something that had been overlooked in the lair¡¯s construction.

    But all to no avail.

    Whoever sealed this prison is thorough, she thought. And more inventive than I. Though in truth, much of the blame fell on Graayyya and herself, as they had designed the lair itself.

    ¡°Dauria?¡± the garnet asked.

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°How did we meet? I mean, how did we become friends? Aren¡¯t metallics and stones usually antagonistic?¡±

    Dauria shifted to face the larger dragon and stared.

    ¡°Not just antagonistic, most would say. In my experience, direct rivals, if not enemies¡ª and often mortal ones ¡ªis the usual situation.¡± Why is this coming up now? she added silently.

    I wonder, she thought with a touch of apprehension. Could telling her spark some deep-rooted memory and bring it all back, or is it only going to reignite all the pain and anger it sparked the first time?

    ¡°Please,¡± Graayyya said softly.

    Without meaning to, Dauria nodded. ¡°Okay.¡±

    She breathed a deep sigh and began. ¡°It was only, perhaps six or seven centuries before the Long Sleep. I received a request from a human of the west. His village had been terrorized by dragons for years and he begged for help. I rarely took on such requests, but his plea was¡­ eloquent.¡±

    Graayyya nodded, but kept silent.

    ¡°I flew him back to his village and began my search for the offending dragons. Oh, if only I had known then what I know now!¡±

    Dauria sighed again. ¡°I looked for a misguided young dragon, one with whom I could reason and perhaps even educate. Or so I thought.¡±

    Graayyya leaned back, resting her spine against the low wall that served as barrier to the magma river.

    ¡°By the time I found the lair, your sire knew I was coming. Even through his madness, he saw the danger and prepared for me. I never have heard a satisfactory answer to how he kept your growth stunted for so many years. You should have been a fully mature adult, but were scarcely past the stage of a helpless wyrmling.¡±

    Golden eyes widened, but still her friend kept silent.

    ¡°Your sire prepared traps, some of which I did not wholly avoid. When I entered the lair chamber, you were insensate on the floor and your clutch-mate was held in your sire¡¯s grip. His tail coiled about you, its spikes at your throat, while his talons were at your clutch-mate¡¯s.¡±

    Graayyya furrowed her crimson brow ridges, a glimmer of crimson moisture shining in her golden eyes.

    ¡°We spoke. He warned me to leave, to forget I¡¯d been there and return home. But I saw the shine of madness in his eyes. I knew that if I left, not only would he kill you both, but he would likely destroy the village and any others he found within ten-thousand wingspans of his lair. I couldn¡¯t allow that. I could never have lived with myself.¡±

    ¡°What did you do?¡± Graayyya breathed.

    Dauria chuckled darkly. ¡°I did what any young, overconfident, self-righteous dragon would. I attacked. I believed I was quick enough to save you both before he could cause serious damage.¡±

    ¡°And judging by the fact that I¡¯m still here¡­¡± Graayyya whispered.

    Closing her eyes, Dauria nodded. ¡°I disabled his tail, but I was not fast enough to rescue your clutch-mate from his grip before the damage was done. I will save you the details, let us say only that he was far from gentle. And in the end, your sire¡¯s heart stopped before your clutch-mate¡¯s did, if only by moments.¡±

    Rivulets of moisture tore deep furrows through the dirt and ash coating Graayyyavalllia¡¯s face.

    ¡°After the battle, the Council of Elders sent out the call to your surviving kin, but none came to claim you. So I fostered you myself.¡±

    ¡°That was generous.¡±

    Dauria resisted the urge to sigh and fought to keep the bitterness from her voice. ¡°It was far less than I owed you.¡±

    ¡°Not true,¡± Graayyya said with a violent shake of her head.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not debate semantics, my friend. I felt I owed you, and no one else was willing to take you in. So I did. I knew you hated me for killing your sire and letting your clutch-mate die at his hands, but it was the least I could do for you. I believe that now as I did then.¡±

    Graayyya smiled through her crimson tears, but remained silent.

    ¡°I raised you the way any metallic is raised, with kindness, compassion, patience, and love.¡±

    ¡°And before long I was reflecting those qualities back to you.¡±

    ¡°Well, it took more than a century, but yes.¡±

    Graayyya smiled warmly, all trace of tears gone from her eyes now. When she spoke, her voice matched the expression. ¡°And shortly thereafter our relationship underwent drastic change. Almost overnight we became as clutch-mates and your position as teacher was forever left behind.¡±

    ¡°Exactl¨C¡± Dauria paused. ¡°Wait a moment. You remember!¡±

    Graayyya¡¯s smile transformed into a broad, toothy grin. ¡°I do now, my old friend. Thank you for reminding me.¡±

    Dauria stared, astonished. ¡°Do you remember¡­ everything?¡±

    ¡°There still seem to be a few gaps in my memory, but mostly, yes.¡±

    If only I¡¯d known that was all it would take. Aloud, she said, ¡°Welcome back. I missed you.¡±

    Graayyya¡¯s smile widened further.

    ¡°Do those memories tell you anything new about our situation?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Dauria clicked her claws on the stone in mock impatience.

    ¡°Two things.¡±

    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    Dauria waited. Graayyya had always had a flair for the dramatic.

    Graayyya held her silence for another minute, during which she shrugged and flexed her wings, appearing to collect her thoughts. ¡°First, the magical skill and raw power needed to induce such mind-numbing rage in me is immense. That fact alone is staggering to consider. And second,¡± she smiled slyly, ¡°Let¡¯s get the Infernalis out of here.¡±

    ¡°Graayyya, we¡¯ve been over this. Our only way out is blocked.¡±

    ¡°Not so.¡±

    ¡°How?¡±

    ¡°The magma river.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Dauria felt certain she¡¯d heard incorrectly.

    Graayyya sighed in mock exasperation. ¡°Kwallindauria, the magma flows downward, ¡®tis true. But once you go down far enough, it levels to horizontal movement and a few thousand wingspans out it comes up to the bottom of one of the ocean trenches to vent pressure, not unlike the hydrothermal vents farther down that keep the water below the silt layer warmer than it should be. We can swim the distance to that vent and escape the magma into the ocean.¡±

    ¡°But we¡¯re both much too large to leave the cavern through the tiny openings of the magma river.¡±

    ¡°And?¡±

    Dauria reached up and smacked the space between her brow ridges with an open claw. ¡°How could I have been so stupid?¡± she groaned.

    ¡°Calm,¡± Graayyya said. ¡°It is not natural for your kind to think of swimming enclosed tunnels of magma. We garnets do this for pleasure, but you platinums revel in wide open spaces and the thin air of the mountains.¡±

    Dauria nodded.

    ¡°Follow my lead. I will show you where to go. Assuming,¡± Graayyya added with a twinkle in her eyes, ¡°You can tolerate the heat and pressure of swimming through liquid magma.¡±

    ¡°Anything you can do,¡± Dauria said, making no effort whatsoever to keep the mischief from her voice.

    Graayyya spat a globule of liquid fire against the stone wall and turned toward the magma river.

    Without the slightest hesitation, the garnet wyrm climbed over the wall and dropped over its edge into the flowing river of magma. The river was several wingspans in width, but less than a single wingspan deep. Graayyya had to drop to her belly for the flowing magma to cover her back.

    After a few moments in the glowing molten rock, the garnet form began to shrink.

    Dauria watched in fascination as the garnet form shrunk to half her normal size, then a third, then a fourth, until she appeared less than one tenth of her usual size. Only scarcely larger than a crocodile, she swam with the current of the magma toward the far wall where the flow exited the chamber.

    Taking a deep breath with a whispered prayer that she could survive this, that the confines of a magma tunnel would not be the death of her after all she had survived thus far, she touched her own shining Apex and began shrinking herself down as she leaped over the wall into the flowing river of magma.

    Her entrance into the liquid rock made only a slight splash as she sunk down into the flowing river. Her form continued to shrink as she swam with the flow toward the exit.

    She reduced herself to a bit smaller than Graayyya by the time she reached the far wall where a low tunnel led beneath it. She dove beneath the surface of the magma as she passed under the wall and her heart seemed to stop. Despite the glowing heat of the magma, she felt cold and her vision was obliterated by utter blackness.

    She thrashed about, her terror of being lost down here in a river of magma getting the better of her.

    Relax, Dauria, came Graayyya¡¯s voice. Calm yourself. You have the strength to get through this. Remember your power. You can see through the lava if you wish. Just follow me. I will lead you out to the ocean. Trust me.

    And Dauria did. She trusted the garnet more than anyone else on Earth.

    With a slight nod to herself, she touched her Apex once more to initiate a variation on arcane sight, a power that would allow her to see where she was going. The world lit up around her in an array of greens, reds, golds, and blues that showed her plainly where the borders of the tunnel were, how fast the magma was flowing¡ª the speed was incredible ¡ªand how far ahead of her Graayyya was.

    Paddling with her claws felt like pushing her limbs through solid rock, yet it was not nearly as exhausting as she had expected it to be. She swished her tail behind her to gain a little more momentum.

    Before long she caught up with Graayyya, who smiled at her through the magma.

    How long did you say this is going to take? she asked.

    Graayyya shrugged. An hour. Perhaps less.

    Dauria was simultaneously relieved and felt her anxiety reach new heights. The crushing pressure against her body was maddening.

    Had Graayyya said that garnets did this for fun? What madness possessed them to actually seek out this experience? How could they enjoy such a thing? It felt to her as though a mountain had been dropped on top of her and she was trying to swim out from under it with nothing but her raw physical strength to aid her.

    And yet, she also recognized that an hour of this madness was a small price to pay. After all, how long had they been trapped within that underwater cavern?

    Even now, she truly did not know. At a guess, she would say decades. But trapped in a lightless environment with no way to tell the passage of time had left her internal clock a bit muddled.

    Had anyone suggested it, she would have believed anything from a month to several centuries. She had gone through so many sleep/wake cycles that she couldn¡¯t begin to count them.

    With her mind focused on the amount of time spent in the cavern rather than the pressure of the magma and how long the journey was taking, the time passed quickly.

    Before she knew it, Graayyya led her to the side of the tunnel and, with the garnet¡¯s tail wrapped firmly around Dauria¡¯s body, slipped out a vent in the side of the tunnel.

    A mad swirl of molten rock, bubbles, and blackness surrounded her and the temperature shifted almost instantly from supremely hot to icy cold. The shock of it drew Dauria out of her thoughts and back into the real world.

    She reversed the power she¡¯d used to shrink her body and was almost immediately back in her usual size and shape as she floated up from the sandy bottom of the sea.

    Spreading her wings, she propelled herself after Graayyya along the sea floor.

    Oddly, the water appeared devoid of any form of life. They weren¡¯t that deep. Where was all the sea-life?

    Where are we? she asked

    We are still in the Mare Gallicum, her friend said. Not too far from the silt layer that leads down into the deep realm.

    Dauria nodded. That was good. They wouldn¡¯t have far to go, though it raised even more questions about the lack of aquatic life around them.

    With no further comment, however, she began the steep ascent back toward the surface.

    The two great dragons broke the surface of the Mare Gallicum moments after Ryujin¡¯s Blaze rose above the eastern mountains. Its bloody rays showered the glassy water with fiery light reflected in glossy garnet and metallic silver.

    The combination of freedom, sunlight, and cool ocean spray was a heady brew that left Dauria giddy with exultation.

    Scarcely a moment into her enjoyment, however, her heart sank to her tail.

    Thin tendrils of acrid smoke twisted upward into the sky from every land-bound direction. Where once had been villages and castles, now only smoking ruins remained.

    She turned to Graayyya and her heart shattered. The garnet wyrm wept openly, her sobs wracking her body with spasms while streams of thick, fiery tears dripped down her snout into the glassy water below.

    ¡°They did it,¡± Dauria whispered miserably. ¡°Those infernal bastards actually did it. They convinced The Council to go to war. And we missed the whole bloody thing.¡±

    The garnet did not react. It was as though she hadn¡¯t heard.

    ¡°Graayyyavalllia,¡± she said forcefully.

    Graayyya blinked away her tears and the sobs abruptly ceased. She looked into Dauria¡¯s eyes, her expression clear. She clenched her jaw, the thick mandibular muscles bulging, and her golden eyes shone. ¡°Yes?¡±

    Angling her wings to keep herself aloft and upright, Dauria held out her claws toward Graayyya and said, ¡°Join your power to mine. We must know what has happened.¡±

    The larger wyrm scoffed. ¡°Isn¡¯t it appallingly clear at this point what happened? That agate bastard finally got his wish. He convinced the Council to go to war, and the combined might of the dragons decimated not just Humanity but the Earth as well, just as we always predicted.¡±

    Dauria couldn¡¯t deny the truth of her words, but it wasn¡¯t enough. She shook her head. ¡°We need details, my friend. We need to know exactly what happened. There might yet be a way to come back from this.¡±

    The garnet adjusted her position, gave a weary nod, and took Dauria¡¯s claws in her own.

    The rush of power that flooded into Dauria¡¯s body almost overwhelmed her. The tingling energy stormed through her, fighting for release.

    It is remarkable how much she trusts me, Dauria thought as she thrust outward with the power. She scoured the Earth for information, past and present.

    Immediately, answers slammed into her mind as though she¡¯d always known them. The flood-tide of raw data stunned her mind and carried it away from her body.

    Before she knew what was happening, she found herself looking down on her own body in confusion. Her eyes glowed bright silver. In amazement, she watched her mouth open and begin to speak in layered voices.

    ¡°It is over, Graayyyavalllia. The war is over and Humankind has been vanquished. There may be a few pockets of futile resistance, but in every way that matters the humans are dead or subjugated.¡±

    ¡°Oh, no.¡±

    ¡°But there is another war coming. A war between dragons.¡±

    ¡°By Ryujin, Tiamat, and the Astral Dragon! Why would dragons war amongst themselves?¡±

    ¡°Many reasons, Graayyyavalllia. Many reasons, and none.¡±

    ¡°What do we do?¡± Graayyya whispered.

    ¡°The window will be narrow, the wait long, and the struggle great. But there will come a moment when you will have a chance to stop it. Not before it starts, nothing can stop that now. Yet when the time is right, when the death toll is so high, the destruction so great, the damage so far-reaching that even the most heartless can no longer deny it, then the remaining wyrms will be receptive to a message of peace.¡±

    ¡°Will we even survive that long? How will we know the moment when it comes?¡±

    ¡°You will know. The peace will never be what it once was, but it will be enough to stop the wanton destruction. You will know the time, Graayyyavalllia. And you will act to save the species and the Earth.¡±

    The glow in Dauria¡¯s eyes faded and her mind slammed back into her body.

    She looked around, confused. ¡°What happened?¡±

    The last thing she remembered was taking Graayyyavalllia¡¯s claws in hers.

    The look of awed wonder in Graayyya¡¯s eyes was almost painful to behold. ¡°A gift from the gods. Come, we must prepare.¡±

    She turned and led Dauria toward her lair in the northern mountains of the large, once-Celtic island they knew as Prydein.