Temple of the Dragonslayer (16 page)

While Elidor had by no means mastered all the skills of his father’s people, the Kagonesti, he knew his way around a forest
well enough and had little trouble finding Catriona and Sindri’s trail.

Before long Elidor came to a boulder the color of copper, and for an instant he thought he saw an eye wink on its surface. But when he got closer, all he could see was unbroken stone. He decided his own eyes were playing tricks on him or else some mischievous forest sprite was having fun at his expense. He continued down a short incline and past some damaged trees until he saw the others.

Elidor sighed. This morning it was a dragon, then the goblins, and now an ogre. In the Blind Goose, he’d acted on impulse—as he so often did—when he’d decided to offer his services as a guide. Now he was beginning to wonder if that was one lie he wasn’t going to live to regret.

Elidor heard stomping and heavy breathing behind him, and he knew that Jax had caught up to him. The elf didn’t turn to look at Jax.

“I understand we have a score to settle,” Elidor said. “But I suggest we worry about that after we help the others.”

A moment’s hesitation, and then Jax rumbled, “Agreed.” Without another word, the minotaur ran forward.

Elidor was tempted to take his leave while Jax was occupied with fighting the ogre alongside the others, but both his mother’s and his father’s people believed most strongly in the principle of honor. And while Elidor had his own way of interpreting the concept—a way neither his father nor mother would have approved of—he too believed in honor, most of the time. And honor wouldn’t allow him to abandon the others while they were fighting for their lives.

Elidor drew a pair of his precious throwing knives from their boot sheathes, then dashed forward to foolishly risk his life.

Chaos swirled around Nearra, but she was only distantly aware of it. Davyn lay unconscious on the ground next to her,
while Catriona, Jax, and Elidor fought the ogre. Sindri had hold of her left hand and was trying to pull her to safety, but the kender was having no more success than Davyn had earlier. The power inside her was rising, and she was magically rooted to the spot as it happened.

The tingling in her hands had become a raging fire and had spread throughout her body. The sensation wasn’t painful, though. It felt almost natural, as if she were
supposed
to feel this way.

She once again became aware of another presence within her. An older, confident, cruel presence.

An ogre, eh? Not much of a threat. At least we’ve got the others doing our fighting for us; that’s a good start. But we could use an ally who’s a bit more … formidable
.

Nearra felt her mouth opening as if it were out of her control, and she whispered a single word.

“Tarkemelhion.”

The copper-colored boulder opened its reptilian eyes wide in surprise upon hearing its True Name whispered. The creature was even more surprised to realize there was magic fueling the word—powerful magic that called to him and which he could not disobey.

He spoke his own magic word to dispel the illusion that he was a boulder. The air around him shimmered and the boulder disappeared; in its place now stood a copper dragon.

The dragon, who normally went by the name of Raedon, had been telepathically monitoring the battle. It had been his intention to reveal himself at the exact moment when it looked as if the little ones were doomed. He would then leap to the rescue as Raedon, the Copper-Scaled Savior!

But now it seemed a wizard had tapped into his mind and discovered his secret name. All dragons have a secret name. If anyone else should learn of this name, he or she could gain power
over that dragon—which was exactly what had just happened to Raedon.

Raedon coiled his leg muscles, got down low to the ground, and then gave a mighty leap and quite literally sprang into battle.

N
earra felt as if she were waking from a dream. She recalled the voice of the woman speaking to her but she couldn’t remember who it had been. She did remember one thing, though. A very long word that she’d never heard before:
Tarkemelhion
.

But none of it seemed important when she saw what was going on in front of her.

The ogre was reaching for Catriona with his massive hands, but she dodged his clumsy swipes with ease. While the ogre was distracted, Jax dashed in and swung his axe at the creature’s legs. The ogre howled in pain and turned to strike at Jax. But the minotaur retreated before the man-beast could hit him.

With a graceful flick of his wrist, Elidor threw a knife at the ogre. The blade streaked through the air and lodged in the monster’s shoulder. The ogre was now bleeding from a dozen wounds, but he didn’t appear to have been significantly hampered by his injuries. It seemed as if they served only to make him angrier. Nearra remembered what had happened. She and Davyn had been running from the goblin raiders when—

Davyn!

She looked down and saw the ranger lying still on the ground. She started to go to him, but something held her back. Still somewhat fuzzyheaded, she turned and saw that Sindri had hold of her left hand and was trying to pull her away.

“Please, let go,” she said. “I have to see if Davyn is all right!”

Sindri’s face broke into a relieved smile. “Nearra, you can move again! I guess I was able to dispel whatever enchantment had hold of you!”

Nearra didn’t know what the kender was talking about, and right now she didn’t care. All she wanted to do was check on Davyn. Please don’t let him be dead, she prayed to no god in particular. She knelt by his side and gently touched his face. His skin was warm, but not feverish. She then moved her hand close to Davyn’s nose and felt his breath on her fingertips. Good, he was still breathing.

She took hold of Davyn’s shoulders and was about to attempt to shake him awake when a huge copper-colored beast leaped over their heads and landed with an earth-jarring impact in front of Ugo.

It was a dragon! Nearra braced herself for the dragonfear to take hold. But something was different this time. This one’s scales were the color of copper and glittered in the sunlight, as if truly made of metal. It was smaller than Slean, perhaps twenty feet from the tip of its snout to the end of its tail. Its wings were folded against its sides, but given the way it could jump, it didn’t need those wings at the moment.

Two daggers lodged in the ogre’s neck and shoulder. Yet the ogre had still managed to pick up his bone club with his uninjured hand and take a swing at Elidor. But when Ugo suddenly found himself confronted by a copper dragon, he stopped his attack in mid-swing.

He stared at the giant reptile in surprise.

“This some trick!” Ugo said. “Dragons gone. Leave Krynn long time ago!”

“That’s true,” the dragon said in a pleasant voice that sounded decidedly male. “But now we’re back.”

Ugo frowned. “What dragon want? To share Ugo’s food?” The ogre gestured with his bone club, indicating Nearra and her companions. “Only six, but you welcome to a couple if you want.”

The dragon chuckled. “I imagine I am welcome—especially if I help you slay these little ones. They seem to have gotten the better of you so far, while there isn’t so much as a scratch on any of them.”

“Little ones?” Jax said, sounding offended. Catriona hushed him and motioned to both the minotaur and Elidor to back away from the ogre.

“Bah, these snacks no match for Ugo. Ugo just do as Ugo told. Make good show before killing any.”

“Really?” The dragon sounded intrigued. “And who exactly told you to put on a good show?” the dragon asked.

Ugo noticed his three attackers retreating and gave the dragon a sly look. “You no want to help Ugo. You want to help snacks!”

“Well, I am a copper dragon, after all. We prefer not to harm intelligent beings if we can avoid it.” The dragon smiled, and though Nearra was certain he was on their side, the sight of his extremely large and extremely sharp teeth was nonetheless intimidating.

“But since ogres hardly qualify as intelligent, harming you won’t bother me in the slightest.”

Ugo stared blankly at the copper dragon, as if trying to figure out whether or not he had been insulted. He must’ve decided on insulted, for he raised his bone club and roared.

The dragon didn’t seem worried. He took a glance to see if Catriona and the others had made it to safety. Then just as the ogre took a swing, the dragon leaped straight up into the air.

Ugo swung and missed. Growling in frustration, he looked up to see where the dragon had gone. The dragon landed behind him and tapped a claw on his shoulder.

“Tag, you’re it!”

Ugo turned around and started to raise his bone club for another blow, but the dragon opened his mouth wide and with a loud hiss, released a stream of copper-colored gas into the ogre’s face.

Before Ugo could stop himself, he inhaled the gas. He continued to raise his club for another attack, but he was moving far more slowly than before—so slowly that he almost appeared to be not moving at all.

The dragon laughed. “That didn’t turn out so bad after all!” He turned to Nearra and the others. “You may call me Raedon,” the dragon said. “Which one of you summoned me?”

“I’m afraid we don’t understand,” Catriona said. The warrior was sweaty and breathing hard from the battle with Ugo, but otherwise she was unharmed.

“One of you is a wizard,” the dragon explained in a tone that indicated he was beginning to wonder if they were any smarter than the near-motionless ogre. “Someone used magic to summon me to your aid.”

“Magic?” Sindri said. “Well, I
am
the only wizard in the group.”

Raedon eyed the kender skeptically for a moment before walking over on four clawed feet to inspect him. The dragon whispered words in a strange language, then stared at the kender intently.

Finally, he chuckled. “A wizard, eh? Well, why not? I have no objection to playing along.” Raedon gave Nearra a quick glance, and for an instant she felt as if the dragon could see inside of her, all the way to the very core of her being.

The dragon nodded at Davyn. “Is your friend seriously hurt?”

“I don’t think so,” Nearra said. “He has no fever and he’s still breathing.”

Raedon cocked his head, as if listening to something. “His heartbeat is strong as well. He should recover soon.” The dragon
returned his gaze to Sindri. “Very well,
wizard
. I have answered your summons and have stopped the ogre with a blast of what in the common tongue would be called slow gas. The ogre will continue to move, but at only a fraction of his normal speed. This will give you all ample time to get away.”

“Why didn’t you just slay the foul creature?” Jax demanded.

Raedon sighed. “As I told the great smelly oaf of an ogre, I am a copper dragon.” He wiggled, making his scales ripple up and down the length of his body.

“Copper?” Nearra said.

Raedon looked at them as if they were complete morons.

“Dragons have only recently returned to Krynn,” Elidor said. “Most folk have had little or no experience with your kind.”

“I suppose you have a point.” Raedon glanced over his shoulder at Ugo, who was still laboring to raise his club. “It might be best if we travel while we talk. That way you’ll be far away when Ugo-ly returns to full speed. Where were you headed?”