"We made it," Kharendaen breathed, looking very weary. She lifted her ears as she watched the approaching farmers, who had slowed to a walk now that they were certain that the visitors that had appeared in their field were in fact gold dragons. She sighed heavily. "I feel the need of a long drink and a good bath."
"Soon," Thelvyn assured her. "First I must find out what the enemy has been up to during our absence."
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Thelvyn and Kharendaen returned directly to the lair at Solveig's house, unheralded and entirely unexpected. Sir George and Solveig ran out to meet them in the moments after they landed on the stones of the court. Thelvyn folded away his wings slowly, feeling more weary and in greater pain now that the need for action was behind him. The dragons wore no clothes to become travel-worn, but he could see that Kharendaen looked dusty and exhausted, and he was certain that he must look much the same. When he saw the way his old friends stared at them, he knew it must be obvious that he and Kharendaen had been through the worst.
Marthaen arrived a moment later, approaching not from the direction of the Academy but flying in swiftly over the city from the wilderness northwest of Braejr. Thelvyn guessed he must have been somewhere in the western mountains of the Wendarian Range, leading the dragons to prepare a line of defense against their enemies. The First Speaker undoubtedly came in a hurry in response to the opening of the small worldgate, so he must not have been too far away if he could have gotten back to Braejr in only a few short minutes. He circled around to cut his speed before he landed in the court.
"Where have you been?" he demanded.
"What a question," Thelvyn remarked sourly, sitting back on his haunches. "Obviously we had a little more trouble than we expected, but we've made it back. The only important thing now is the question of what has been happening here since we left. I assume that you've moved the dragons to the west."
"I had to," Marthaen answered. "There's an army of incredible size and strength coming out of the northwest. I've sent out a call, in the name of the Dragonking, for all the dragons in the world to gather here to fight this invasion."
Thelvyn nodded. "That's good. We have seen lines of soldiers and supply trains that stretched for miles, waiting to be sent into our world. I'm sorry to have caused you concern by being so late, but I'm glad you took the initiative for commanding our defenses in my absence."
"When you did not return after the first day, the Great One advised me to prepare our defenses at once," the First Speaker explained. "He assured me that he would bring you back as soon as he could."
"Then he was waiting for us," Kharendaen remarked. "No wonder we were able to make contact so quickly. I feel better knowing that."
"I don't," Thelvyn said. "If I had thought, we could have been home last night and avoided that last fight."
"Last fight?" Sir George asked, his eyebrows arched. "How many did you have?"
"The Masters are not presently engaged in any actual attacks anywhere you know about?" Thelvyn persisted, ignoring the old knight.
Marthaen shook his head. "They simply disappeared after their invasion of the Highlands fell apart. As far as we can tell, they've been gathering all their strength for a final battle, and we are doing the same."
Because the two young dragons looked so miserable, their discussion was suspended for a time so that they could fly out to the foothills of the Colossus Mountains and bathe in a small lake that Kharendaen knew about from the years when she had lived in Braejr. By the time they returned to the lair, Solveig had arranged for food and drink to be brought to them. They still looked very worn and abused, even after cleaning up. Marthaen threatened to call the clerics to inspect them. Kharendaen reminded him that she was a cleric.
They gave a quick account of their journey through the world of the Masters. Thelvyn was grateful that Kharendaen was willing to relate the events of their journey, since there were long periods of time he did not recall. He was also grateful she didn't speak of certain things he found painful or embarrassing. The others were clearly concerned by all they heard, especially about the Overlord. Indeed, Marthaen laid back his ears and stared at the floor, looking defeated.
"Then for all our efforts, we face an enemy we cannot defeat," he said. "Do we have any hope?"
"I see many reasons for hope," Thelvyn assured him. "Ever since he first encountered the gemstone dragons, he has planned to gather his strength until he could lead them here and make his home in our world. The Veydran told me he will lose some of his own strength when he leaves his own world. It is my hope he will not be nearly as strong as he was when I faced him in his own stronghold."
"And you said you made him retreat from you in fear once already," Sir George pointed out hopefully.
"Do not attach too much importance to that," Thelvyn warned. "I do not know why he fled. He appeared to have every advantage, yet he himself made no effort to prevent our escape. Perhaps he could no longer estimate my own powers, and he preferred not to take a chance. At any rate, the next time he faces me he will be in our world, where I am stronger and where I will be supported by the powers of the Immortals."
"Of course, he will also have the support of the Masters," Solveig added.
Thelvyn shook his head slowly. "I don't think so. Think of the Masters as clerics of the Overlord. We have seen already that he shares his powers with them. For that reason, their presence does not make him more powerful, because he has to divide his strength among them. Indeed, if he were forced to fight me directly, he might possibly have to withdraw his support from the Masters to strengthen himself."
"That may be an advantage we can use," Marthaen said, quick to understand matters of strategy. "If you have to face the Overlord in battle, we might be able to draw away some of his strength by pressing the battle against the Masters at the same time."
"We will see," Thelvyn said. "If the Overlord has any fault, it would be that he seems to be overly cautious, preferring not to risk himself when his enemies can still fight back. But I also believe that he will fight me himself rather than see his carefully laid plans frustrated. There must be some powerful reason for him to leave behind his old, established empire to come here, considering that he has gathered his strength for centuries for that purpose."
Sir George frowned. "Considering how the two of you looked when you first got here, he might just be longing for a good bath."
Once again Thelvyn ignored the old knight. "I don't expect that he will be willing to fight to the death," Thelvyn continued. "He will flee before it comes to that. But he must not escape, or yet another Dragonking may be forced to deal with him centuries from now."
Solveig and Sir George left to prepare for a meeting of the council of the Grand Alliance. Many of the delegates of the larger and more powerful nations had returned since the lifting of the siege of the Highlands, while others would have to be returned by dragon couriers. Even though all the delegates of the council weren't present, Thelvyn decided to assemble those who were in the Highlands at once. Arranging the defenses of their world could not wait, and there was one other matter he wanted to have decided.
Marthaen hesitated when the others left, although he was reluctant to interrupt now that Thelvyn and Kharendaen were finally able to eat their dinner in peace. But there were certain matters that he thought needed to be addressed.
"I am curious about one thing," he began. "I have always been suspicious of one aspect of the Overlord's plan for conquering our world, which seems to suggest that he is doomed to ultimate failure. Either he believes that he can defeat even the Immortals, or else he has never bothered to consider them in his schemes. We have seen in the past that the Immortals will react once a situation has become serious enough. Certainly this is the greatest crisis our world has faced since the fall of Blackmoor."