Through a sudden, splitting pain, she gripped her head and tried to see what was happening before her. There was the dragon. The chains. And Eldred. He stood on his two feet, on the cavern floor. And behind him was the violet whirlpool.
His arms had regenerated. Eldred noticed Arienne’s confusion.
“These arms? You see, that thing only happened in your mind. That was just imagination. I am no longer at the mercy of your mind.” He turned to the dragon and said, in a satisfied voice, “Now I shall have my revenge.”
A face she had seen before, words she had heard before. Perhaps in a dream.
“The chains?”
“They will be severed, as I do what I must. Do not worry, littlesorcerer. I will not let such a magnificent beast be kept in chains… And now that I am free, the world will be unchained as well, its wonders restored. I will rule as a god-king, as I had so long ago.” Arienne recalled what Eldred had said, back at the tower in the forest, before the inquisitors came.It was a wondrous time when magic was grand, and we ruled supreme…
Eldred placed a hand on the sleeping dragon and spoke a long incantation. Another violet whirlpool appeared in the air.
“How simple the mind of a dragon can be! But deep. Very suitable, for me to create a room within it.”
“What are you saying?”
Eldred didn’t answer as he stepped into the whirlpool. Arienne hesitated only a moment before trying to follow, but she was too late. The whirlpool disappeared.
Then the dragon suddenly raised its head and roared.
Its body shook. Its wings spread wide. A hazy violet aura filled the dragon’s many eyes like a grim omen. The cave seemed to shrink in comparison. Arienne stumbled backward, trying to get away.
Chips of volcanic rock fell from above. The dragon stretched its four legs and stood. It folded its wings. It spoke in a voice too heavy to be misunderstood as human.
“I am finally received by a vessel worthy of a king!”
It fluttered its left wing, then its right. The resulting wind made it difficult for Arienne to remain standing.
“This magnificent strength of flesh, Power as if containing a generator of its own… Behold, Arienne, what a true sorcerer is!”
Eldred, with his dragon mouth, recited Arienne’s incantation of severance, but with a foreboding of Power far beyond what Arienne had thought was possible. There was a sound so loud it felt like hereardrums would split. The runes on the black chains shone and screamed at once. They snapped in a hundred places and listlessly slid down the scaled hide of the dragon to the cavern floor, before the dragon turned its many eyes on Arienne.
“You have done well. In return, I shall bestow upon you the honor of being the first sacrifice. I have always wanted to know what a human tasted like to a dragon.”
The dragon’s tongue slithered from its mouth, red as lava and split into three prongs.
36LORAN
The skies were clear and the wind was cold. From the top of the tallest fortress tower flew the red dragon banners of Arland.
“What say you?” said Griogal.
Loran, standing on the fortress wall, looked out at the main contingent of the Twenty-Fifth Legion approaching. The snow had begun melting on the plain, which stretched before them yellow with patches of white.
“Legate Aurelia of the Twenty-Fifth Legion demands the surrender of the rebel Loran. You cannot hope to stand against the might of the Empire.”
It was a Power-amplified voice, like the one she had heard in Kingsworth. Only this time, the speaker was an older woman of grave seriousness. She had repeated this warning several times since the Twenty-Fifth arrived.
“The enemy seems to have everything but cavalry,” Loran commented. On her side, they didn’t even have archers, much lesscavalry. Many had trained with bows since arriving at the fortress, but they had not made significant progress.
Griogal grunted. “And three thousand strong.”
“You have deceived the people of Arland,”said the amplified voice,“and confused them into rebelling against the just rule of the Empire.”
Loud as it was, the voice was merely a nuisance.
“They have many Powered chariots. Why don’t they attack?” Loran wondered. Four sets of five Scorpios chariots stood in wait.
