Jherdar was obviously stung. The dragons tended to forget the price that Thelvyn had been required to pay for the sake of his duty, especially the grief and pain they had caused him. But Jherdar could not allow Thelvyn's attack on his pride to pass unchallenged. He drew himself up in cold fury. "Even you may not talk to me that way."
"Then stop wasting my time with your foolish talk," Thelvyn answered him boldly. "You have said nothing but words of cowardice and irresponsibility. Challenge me now, or follow me as your rightful king. I will accept no other choice from any of you."
The silence that followed was absolute as the dragons waited tensely. All arguments were at an end, for Jherdar could do nothing now but accept the Dragonking or challenge him. Thelvyn had seen that this debate could lead nowhere but to compromise on his own part or a challenge of his authority, and so he had issued the challenge first, a bold move that surprised the dragons and impressed them tremendously. Thelvyn had fought and defeated gemstone dragons, and he knew that he could defeat Jherdar.
He waited calmly for his answer. In the end, it was his obvious confidence in himself that convinced Jherdar. The red dragon laid back his ears and sat back. "I am not a coward, and I will not be disloyal when the Great One calls me to serve his chosen one. If you will lead well and wisely, I will follow you. Tell us what we must do."
Jherdar's capitulation startled the other dragons, and they lifted their heads and moved out to the edge of their ledges to stare in astonishment. But their fear and anger had passed, and they waited in curiosity to hear what the Dragonking had to say.
"You have said that I do not know the strength of our enemy," Thelvyn began. "But I can infer at least this much: The Masters tried to conquer this world once before, and only the combined power of the Dragonlord and the Immortals succeeded in driving them into exile. They've had thousands of years to gather their strength, and they've returned at a time of their own choosing. Our only advantage is that they have to bring the battle to us, coming into a world where they have no strongholds of their own. We don't dare allow them a single victory."
The dragons once again muttered anxiously among themselves, but Marthaen thought Thelvyn had finally gotten them to face the full implications of the danger they faced. The Immortals had chosen them to defend their world because they alone had any hope of defeating this enemy. Their only choices were to do their best to fight an enemy that might yet prove too powerful for them, or to be defeated by their own stubbornness.
"With any luck, we can still be ready for them," Thelvyn continued. "To be prepared for the worst, I propose an alliance between the dragons and the other nations of our world against the invaders."
Jherdar opened his mouth to protest, then laid back his ears as he reconsidered and sat back on his haunches. He glanced over at Marthaen.
The gold dragon nodded slowly. "He is the Dragonking. I will follow him."
Jherdar considered Marthaen's words and nodded. The crisis of confidence was over, and the dragons would follow the Dragonking's leadership. They had doubted that he knew how to be a dragon, and he had proven himself by facing down Jherdar's challenge as one dragon to another. Marthaen realized now that the very confrontation he had been trying to avoid had been the only way that Thelvyn could have convinced the dragons that he was capable of leading them.
He decided that he would never tell Thelvyn that Jherdar had been under pressure from the representatives of the red, green, and black dragons to challenge him in combat. Then again, Marthaen wouldn't be surprised if Thelvyn had known after all. The new Dragonking seemed to know more about being a dragon than even Marthaen had expected.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Kharendaen helped Thelvyn remove the Collar of the Dragons and return it to its stand in the Hall of the Great One, where it had waited for the coming of the Dragonking for centuries. Marthaen, Jherdar, and Sir George Kirbey watched in silence from just beyond the two-stepped dais leading up to the stand. By nature of being first speaker, Marthaen, like Kharendaen, had the right to approach the collar, although neither of his two companions dared to pass the magical barriers that guarded it. The spells of protection were said to bring instant death to anyone who was not allowed access to the collar.
"I would feel better if you kept the collar with you," Marthaen said to Thelvyn. "I have no idea what powers it is supposed to bring you, but I would prefer that you had its protection."
"If I wore the collar, there would be times when I might need to remove it to change form. If that happened, I would never feel the collar was safe. This is the only place I would ever dare to leave it. I still have the powers of the Dragonlord
to protect me."
Having secured the collar on its stand, Thelvyn and Kharendaen descended the steps. They planned to leave for the west at once, and they were both ready for travel. Kharendaen was already wearing her saddle, since Sir George would accompany them. Thelvyn wore his harness, which now included a double-edged sword of draconic proportions, with a blade more than five yards long, much like the one Marthaen always wore when he traveled. Indeed, it had been Marthaen who had insisted upon giving it to him, saying that such a weapon was fitting for a true leader of dragons. In his Eldar form, Thelvyn was well trained in using a sword, but he had no idea if this ability held true in his dragon state.
"We expect to reach Braejr late tonight," Thelvyn explained to Marthaen and Jherdar as they walked together toward the stairs. "Matters being what they are, it will be best for us to enter the city in the dark. It would probably be best to summon representatives of the various nations to Braejr using the Thyatian griffon riders, until we can convince everyone that we are not their enemy."
"For all the good this alliance is likely to do," Jherdar grumbled. "I'm still not sure what the other races can do to help us fight the Masters."
"If nothing else, they'll have to bear the responsibility of defending themselves," Thelvyn said firmly. "If we send out dragons to guard every city and large town in this part of the world, there won't be anyone left to fight the Masters. Our first concern is to make it clear to everyone who their true enemy is, so that the dragons are free to move about wherever they want without worrying that the people we are trying to defend will attack us."
They all fell silent while they descended the wide spiral staircase leading down to the ground level of the Hall of the Great One. Dragons were not built for going down stairs, so they had to descend carefully in single file.
"We will begin to summon and instruct the dragons at once," Marthaen said when they finally reached the bottom and started toward the main door. "The bands of dragons in the wild will be told to watch for any sign of our enemy, and an army will be gathered and prepared. However, the dragons would be more eager to serve if they could see the Dragonking for themselves."
"Kharendaen and I can go to Braejr in your place," Sir George suggested to Thelvyn.
"Thanks for the offer, but we still have a traitor to turn out," Thelvyn said. "I want to try break the influence the Masters have over Alessa Vyledaar so that she can tell us what she knows. And that might be something that only I can do."
"Be careful," Marthaen warned him. "Until you break their influence, the Masters are going to know where you are and what you are doing. You will be most vulnerable to them at that time."
"Didn't you say the dragon-kin are immune to their influence?" Jherdar asked.
"We thought so at first," Kharendaen answered. "The Masters made no attempt to control any of us when we were in their world. But they did control the renegade, Murodhir."