Lightning flashed from both sea and sky. Tempest felt the Veil weaken, then spring back. She pushed forward, her titanic muscles burning with the effort. The barrier surged around her, turning the dragon’s own force back against her. She flayed it with spells, but the magic ricocheted back against her iron scales. Tempest roared with fury and indignation.
The enchantment of the Veil swirled, twisting her mind and body. The evil fish who had accompanied her flailed about aimlessly, lost and confused. She tried to call them, but the Veil buzzed in her head, confusing her commands.
Through the whirlpool energies she saw the blazing eyes of the ancient statue. With a powerful slash of her flukes she propelled herself toward it. Energy from the diamond eyes leaped up, meeting the sea dragon head on.
Her mind reeled. She lashed out against it, smashing coral and stone with her talons and flukes. The sea bed shuddered with the assault. Currents swirled around her like a whirlpool. She summoned lightning, maelstroms, lifesucking darkness, and deadly rip-tides, and blasted them against the Veil’s power.
Again she struck, again and again. Weariness drew over her mind, but still she turned and attacked. She battered her body against the magic until her scales bled. The world became a timeless, crimson haze.
Then die resistance ceased.
Tempest opened her yellow eyes, triumph filling her rotten heart. She looked for the hated isles and saw-
The reef, nearly a league away through dark, clouded waters. At its base a statue with glowing eyes, standing unmolested on the sea floor. And beyond the statue, her dragonish senses detected the Veil, still standing.
She had failed.
Once more, the ancient magic had tricked and confused her. Once more it had deceived her senses. The dragon howled her rage, belching a scalding torrent into the brine.
She devoured those of her minions unfortunate enough to be lurking nearby. The Turbidus leeches ringing Tempest’s neck hissed with delight as they gobbled up the scraps.
By the time Tempest finally regained her composure, the morning sun was just peeking over the corner of the world.
“How?” the sea dragon wondered. “How do those small, weak creatures penetrate the barrier when I cannot?”
Very faintly, in the back of her mind, she heard Mog’s answer: “A diamond,” he said. “They used an enchanted diamond. They summoned its magic, and the barrier parted.”
“Yes!” Revelation dawned in Tempest’s mind.
“The black diamond would not be large enough for you, great mistress,” Mog told her in his thoughts.
“No,” Tempest agreed, “surely it is too small. There is one larger, though. The hated dragons placed an ancient diamond at the root of the Veil. It must he the key that opens all.”
Pictures formed in her reptilian mind, a huge, glowing gem shining in the sky and a temple sunk beneath the waves.
More pictures came, elves and humans, and even a tasty kender, searching for the lost treasure. Tempest smiled.
“They will find the key to the ancient magic,” she said to Mog. “And when they do, the Dragon Isles shall he mine.”
Chapter Eighteen
Vistas of Glory
Sunrise lit the mountains of the Dragon Isles crimson and gold, making the snowy peaks glitter as though they were on fire. The archipelago dotted the glassy sea like exquisitely formed gems set down on an azure mirror.
Some isles lay so near that Mik could hear the whispers of the surf upon their shores. Others were so distant as to he only mirages on the far horizon. A few were tall and proud, thrusting towering mountains high into the air. Others crouched low in the water, like enormous basking sea turtles. A number of the isles looked big enough to hide large populations of people and even dragons. Some were so small that they could have disappeared entirely down a leviathan’s gullet. Lush greenery tumbled down the sides of even the smallest keys.
Standing at the edge of this glory, it was hard to imagine a more perfect morning. No clouds besmirched the clear blue sky overhead. The sounds of the storm to the west had died away. A warm breeze wafted the earthy scent of the distant shores to the small band of fugitives.
“It’s beautiful,” Mik said, his voice low and welling with emotion.
Trip and Karista, too dazzled to say anything, nodded their agreement.
“So it seems,” Shimmer murmured.
Ula leaned against her spear and gazed out over the quiet sea. “I wasn’t sure I’d ever see this place again. I wasn’t sure I wanted to.”
“Imagine the wealth,” Karista whispered. “Imagine the glory of opening a trade route to these isles.”
Ula laughed. “Imagine being smashed on the reefs, or being devoured by dragons, or destroyed by the Veil in trying to bring an unwanted ship here,” she said.
Karista scowled. “We passed the Veil ourselves. Surely there is a way for a fleet of ships to do it. You said yourselves that island privateers use crystals-like Mik Vardan’s diamond-to sail back and forth through the Veil.”
“With the blessing of the dragon overlords,” Ula said.
“And such blessing is not easily won,” added Shimmer. He rubbed his left shoulder absentmindedly.
Mik smiled. “On a morning this glorious,” he said, “anything seems possible. Try to win your trade deal, Karista. I wish you well at it. Who’s to say you can’t? We all deserve a share of good luck after what we’ve been through.” He stretched his arms wide to welcome the coming dawn and, in his mind, saw a glittering white diamond.
Shimanloreth stared out from behind his bronze helmet. His orange eyes looked grim. “I fear our trials are just beginning,” he said. “Lakuda won’t be pleased when she finds I’ve helped set you free….”
“It would be just like that witch to send someone after us,” Ula said. A grim smile cracked her pretty lips. “Not that they’d have much chance.” She twirled her borrowed spear through the air, gauging the feel of the weapon on land.
“You think she’d waste her time?” Mik asked. “She said we weren’t much of a catch.”
“Lakuda is a proud woman,” Shimmer replied. “Offended, she might do any number of foolish things.”
“And Shimmer leaving is bound to offend her,” Ula added, with a sly glance at the knight.
“Assuming,” said Karista, “that Lakuda has lived through the dragon’s attack.”
“What’s that?” Trip asked, pointing to something high in the sky.
At first, the creature looked like a distant bird circling above them. It grew larger as it descended-larger and larger still. The rising sun glinted off its beating wings and its armored back. It burned orange in the dawn, a creature of living fire.
“A dragon!” Ula said, making it sound like a curse.
“Sleek!” said Trip.
Awe and fear battled within Mik’s heart, and his jaw went slack. True, the dragon was beautiful, but he found it hard to share the kender’s enthusiasm.
Beside him, Karista gasped with terror.
“Brass, from the look of him,” Shimmer commented. “He must patrol this area.”
As he spoke, the dragon dived at them. The fugitives-all but Shimmer-instinctively ducked as the creature swooped low overhead. They felt the wind from its huge wings and heard the breath heave in its monstrous lungs. Its brass scales rattled like the armor of a battalion marching to war. Its talons, each as long as man’s arm, shone like polished swords. The wyrm’s green eyes blazed with fierce intelligence.
The dragon arced back into the sky, turning northwest toward one of the nearby islands. As it winged low over the isle and disappeared, Mik, Trip, Ula, and Karista rose once more; Shimmer gazed stoically after the departing beast.
“Did you see?” Trip said enthusiastically. “That was amazing!”
“We saw,” Mik said, suppressing a shudder. He took a deep breath to regain his courage.