"It's fortunate for us that they are gone," Kharendaen agreed. "Otherwise we might have leapt through right into their claws."
"I should have thought of that," Thelvyn said. "I don't think much of our chances if I make such stupid mistakes right from the start."
Kharendaen was prepared to argue with him, but at that moment, they finally rose through the clouds of dust into the clear sky above, or at least as clear as the skies of this world ever were, since a fine dust filled the air higher than a dragon could fly, drawing a pale, thin shroud over the cold, distant sun. Thelvyn knew that they could have remained hidden if they had stayed within the thicker dust, but their large eyes could not bear the relentless assault of grit and sand. Instead, they flew low over the thicker clouds of dust, watching the skies around them for any sign of movement, trusting that their burnished gold and deep brown coloration made them hard to detect.
They flew for over an hour in the direction that, in their own world, would have brought them over the western Highlands near the village of Graez, where Thelvyn had grown up. He was not concerned about failing to see anything that might have been below them, since the very fact that the dust storm remained thick and unbroken almost certainly meant that they were still over the open desert. According to Jherdar's report, they would fly in a straight line for several hours before they approached the area where the main stronghold of the Masters was likely to be.
The hazy image of the sun was advancing steadily toward the west, and night would be falling in another hour or so. The day had still been young when they had left Braejr, indicating that the passing of day and night in this world did not correspond to their own. Thelvyn welcomed the approach of night, with its promise of deep darkness to keep the two dragons hidden as they flew farther into the lands of the enemy. He began to hope that they might be able to scout the stronghold of the Masters and withdraw from their lands by morning.
After another half hour of flight, they began to realize that what they had thought were bulges in the clouds of dust below them were in fact hills and ridges of rugged land. The final miles of open desert passed swiftly beneath them, although they never saw the windswept dunes. Now the clouds of gray dust were confined to the valleys between the barren ridges, like the sea reaching to form deep fjords. The clouds hung thick even in places that were largely sheltered from the restless winds. The rugged land, with its rocky, barren ridges and stark cliffs gave the impression that they were higher in the mountains than they were.
Now the two dragons had to be more careful than ever, hugging the deeper valleys and ravines as they moved steadily toward the northwest. They had wondered previously how such a lifeless world could support the armies of men and monsters of the Masters, but as they moved away from the sea of sand, they finally began to spot the first signs of native life. At first they saw only small patches of dry, tough grass or stunted bushes or twisted trees hidden in sheltered place among deep dells or behind huge boulders, protected from the harsh, dry wind. While their first impression was that this bleak land must never feel the soothing touch of rain, they soon saw signs of floods brought by sudden, violent storms, the raging waters ripping through the ravines.
The long miles passed swiftly below them, and they began to see even more signs of life. The rugged heights were too blasted by cold winds to support more than the smallest and most hearty plants, but many of the sheltered valleys began to harbor ragged stands of stunted, stiff-leaved trees and tough, dry ferns. Thelvyn had the impression that the weather was less severe and the ceaseless winds not quite as strong and relentless as they flew farther from the sea of sand. He tried to picture in his mind the place that Alessa Vyledaar had described from the visions in her dreams when she had been under the control of the Masters. Her description of a world that was always dark, hidden beneath a haze of dust, with winds that were cool even in the height of summer had proven extremely accurate so far.
Night had nearly settled when Thelvyn spotted something in the distance, dark shapes that were too regular to be natural in a broad valley ahead of them. Thelvyn's remarkable night vision, which he had possessed all his life, was even sharper in dragon form. He was certain he had seen something unusual, and Kharendaen agreed when he pointed it out to her. They paused in their flight, circling cautiously while they searched for any sign of life. There was no light to be seen, no trails of smoke rising into the night sky, nor any scent of burning wood or coal on the wind. After discussing the matter briefly, they decided to detour from their journey long enough to take a quick look. They approached with great care, aware that any
sign of iife in this world could mean danger.
As they came nearer, Thelvyn saw no hint of fields or orchards. Instead, there were wide, low dikes and ditches nearly choked with sand, running in straight lines or smooth curves of obviously artificial constructions. In places, he saw lines of tumbled stones, the tops of ancient fences protruding through the sand, and even the broken walls of old houses. Ahead, the dark, irregular shapes he had seen from the distance became the crumbling, wind-blasted remains of a large town, the dry bones of a place that must not have seen life for centuries.
The two dragons crossed the last couple of miles slowly and cautiously, flying low over the ground. Already they could see clearly, even in the gathering darkness, the crumbling remains of the buildings of a small city. The roofs had long since fallen in, and many of the walls were broken. Parts of the city were nearly buried in sand, while other parts, swept clear by some trick of the endless winds, stood open down to the stone-paved streets. There was no light anywhere, nor any sign of life.
Since there was no apparent danger, they decided to enter the city, flying slowly between the ruins of the ancient buildings. They found no signs of life except the tracks of strange animals in the sand. Since it seemed to be safe, they landed in a large paved square in the center of the ruined city, folding away their wings, then taking a few minutes to explore. The first thing they noticed was that the buildings didn't seem to have been made for men. The doorways were large and wide and the ceilings high. However, they were still too small for the dragons to enter.
Kharendaen extended her head well inside one of the doorways, but Thelvyn was more interested in something he saw on the walls. At first it appeared as a faint haze of blackness on the rough stone, so that even his sharp eyes did not detect it immediately. He stared intently, to make certain that what he saw wasn't merely paint nearly blasted away from centuries of sandstorms, although his eyes were made for distance and had difficulty focusing on anything so near. But when he began to look around, he quickly discovered that all the stone had a
similar haze of darkness, especially thick in the deep cracks.
"The Rain of Fire," he said softly.
Kharendaen swiftly drew her head back from a doorway to stare at him. "What did you say?"
He turned toward her. "This place was destroyed by flame. At some time in the distant past, this town was consumed by fire. I wonder if perhaps this entire world was enveloped in flame, changed forever into the cold, dark, dry place that it is now."
The female dragon walked over to join him, staring intently at the wall that had caught his attention. Then she turned, inspecting the walls of a nearby building. She brought her head through one of the doorways to search the interior, but it was too dark inside for even for a dragon to see. The time of fire had been so long ago that any scent of smoke had long since vanished, even for her sensitive nose.