The white dragon considered sending another telepathic message to her Queen, asking for help. But Sleet hesitated to remind the vengeful queen of either her presence or her ignorance. The dragon followed the ship all day, hanging just above it, pondering. Floating easily on the wind currents, she let her dragonfear stir the humans into a frenzy of panic. Then, just as the sun was setting, Sleet had an idea. Without stopping to think, she acted upon it at once.
Tasslehoff's report of the white dragon following the vessel sent waves of terror through the crew. They armed themselves with cutlasses and grimly prepared to fight the beast as. long as they could, though all knew how such a contest must end. Gilthanas and Laurana, both skillful archers, fit arrows to their bows. Sturm and Derek held shield and sword. Tasslehoff grabbed his hoopak. Flint tried to get out of bed, but he couldn't even stand up. Elistan was calm, praying to Paladine.
"I have more faith in my sword than that old man and his god;' Derek said to Sturm.
"The Knights have always honored Paladine;" Sturm said in rebuke.
" I honor him-his memory;' Derek said. " I find this talk of Paladine's 'return' disturbing, Brightblade. And so will the Council, when they hear of it. You would do well to consider that when the question of your knighthood arises:'
Sturm bit his lip, swallowing his angry retort like bitter medicine.
Long minutes passed. Everyone's eyes were on the whitewinged creature flying above them. But they could do nothing, and so they waited.
And waited. And waited. The dragon did not attack.
She circled above them endlessly, her shadow crossing and crisscrossing the deck with monotonous, chilling regularity. The sailors, who had been prepared to fight without question, soon began to mutter among themselves as the waiting grew unbearable. To make matters worse, the dragon seemed to be sucking up the wind, for the sails fluttered and drooped lifelessly. The ship lost its graceful forward momentum and began to flounder in the water. Storm clouds gathered on the northern horizon and slowly drifted over the water, casting a pall across the bright sea.
Laurana finally lowered her bow and rubbed her aching back and shoulder muscles. Her eyes, dazzled from staring into the sun, were blurred and watery.
"Put 'em in a lifeboat and cast 'em adrift;' she overheard one old grizzled sailor suggest to a companion in a voice meant to carry. "Perhaps yon great beast will let us go. It's them she's after, not us:'
It's not even us she's after, Laurana thought uneasily. It's probably the dragon orb. That's why she hasn't attacked. But Laurana couldn't tell this, even to the captain. The dragon orb must be kept secret.
The afternoon crept on, and still the dragon circled like a horrible seabird. The captain was growing more and more irritable. Not only did he have a dragon to contend with, but the likelihood of mutiny as well. Near dinnertime, he ordered the companions below decks.
Derek and Sturm both refused, and it appeared things might get out of hand when, "Land ho, off the starboard bow!"
"Southern Ergoth;' the captain said grimly. "The current's carrying us toward the rocks." He glanced up at the circling dragon. "If a wind doesn't come soon, we'll smash up on them:' At that moment, the dragon quit circling. She hovered a moment, then soared upwards. The sailors cheered, thinking she was flying away. But Laurana knew better, remembering Tarsis.
"She's going to dive!" she cried. "She's going to attack!"
"Get below!" Sturm shouted, and the sailors, after ogle hesitant look skyward, began to scramble for the hatches. The captain ran to the wheel.
"Get below;" he ordered the helmsman, taking over.
"You can't stay up here!" Sturm shouted. Leaving the hatch, he ran back to the captain. "She'll kill you!"
"We'll founder if I don't;" the captain cried angrily.
"We'll founder if you're dead!" Sturm said. Clenching his fist, he hit the captain in the jaw and dragged him below.
Laurana stumbled down the stairs with Gilthanas behind her. The elflord waited until Sturm brought the unconscious captain down, then he pulled the hatch cover shut.
At that moment, the dragon hit the ship with a blast that nearly sent the vessel under. The ship listed precariously. Everyone, even the most hardened sailor, lost his feet and went skidding into each other in the crowded quarters below deck. Flint rolled onto the floor with a curse.
"Now's the time to pray to your god;" Derek said to Elistan.
"I am;' Elistan replied coolly, helping the dwarf up.
Laurana, clinging to a post, waited fearfully for the flaring orange light, the heat, the flames. Instead, there was a sudden sharp and biting cold that took her breath away and chilled her blood. She could hear, above her, rigging snap and crack, the flapping of the sails cease. Then, as she stared upwards, she saw white frost begin to sift down between the cracks in the wooden deck.
"The white dragons don't breathe flame!" Laurana said in awe. "They breathe ice! Elistan! Your prayers were answer-ed!"
"Bah! It might as well be flame;" the captain said, shaking his head and rubbing his jaw. "Ice'll freeze us up solid:'
"A dragon breathing ice!" Tas said wistfully. "I wish I could see!"
"What will happen?" Laurana asked, as the ship slowly righted itself, creaking and groaning.
"We're helpless;' the captain snarled. "The riggin'll snap beneath the weight of the ice, dragging the sails down. The mast'll break like a tree in an ice storm. With no steerage, the current will smash her up on the rocks, and that'll be an end of her. There's not a damn thing we can do!"
"We could try to shoot her as she flies past;" Gilthanas said. But Sturm shook his head, pushing on the hatch.
"There must be a foot of ice on top of this;' the knight reported. "We're sealed in:'
This is how the dragon will get the orb, Laurana thought miserably. She'll drive the ship aground, kill us, then recover the orb where there's no danger of it sinking into the ocean.
"Another blast like that will send us to the bottom;' the captain predicted, but there was not another blast like the first. The next blast was more gentle, and all of them realized the dragon was using her breath to blow them to shore.
It was an excellent plan, and one of which Sleet was rather proud. She skimmed after the ship, letting the current and the tide carry it to shore, giving it a little puff now and then. It was only when she saw the jagged rocks sticking up out of the moonlit water that the dragon suddenly saw the flaw in her scheme. Then the moon's light was gone, swept away by the storm clouds, and the dragon could see nothing. It was darker than her Queen's soul.
The dragon cursed the storm clouds, so well suited to the purposes of the Dragon Highlords in the north. But the clouds worked against her as they blotted out the two moons. Sleet could hear the rending and cracking sounds of splintering wood as the ship struck the rocks. She could even hear the cries and shouts of the sailors-but she couldn't see! Diving low over the water, she hoped to encase the miserable creatures in ice until daylight. Then she heard another, more frightening sound in the darkness-the twanging of bow strings.
An arrow whistled past her head. Another tore through the fragile membrane of her wing. Shrieking in pain, Sleet pulled up from her steep dive. There must be elves down there, she realized in a fury! More arrows zinged past her. Cursed, nightseeing elves! With their elvensight, they would find her an easy target, especially crippled in one wing.