“Just the army!” The girl seemed at the end of her young patience, standing with small fists upon her hips.
Kulgan said, “We’ll send a message to the garrison at Landreth, and another to Shamata.” He looked at Katala. “Given your rank as Princess of the royal house by marriage, it might be time to go dig out that royal signet you routinely misplace. We’ll need it to emboss those messages.”
Katala nodded. She hugged Gamina, who was quieting down, and said, “Stay here with your brother,” then hurried out of the room.
Kulgan looked to his Tsurani colleagues. Hochopepa said, “Now, at last. The Darkness comes.”
Kulgan nodded. “To Sethanon.”
Pug opened his eyes. Again he felt fatigue, but nothing as severe as the first time he had spoken to the girl. Tomas, Macros, and Ryath observed the younger sorcerer and waited. “I think I got through enough that she’ll be able to give instructions to the others.”
Macros nodded, pleased. “The Assembly will prove little match for the Dragon Lords should they manage to break into this space-time, but they may aid in keeping Murmandamus at bay, so we can gain the Lifestone before him.”
“If they reach Sethanon in time,” commented Pug. “I don’t know how we stand with time.”
“That,” agreed Macros, “is a problem. I know we are in our own era, and logic says we must be there sometime after you last left, to avoid one of the knottier paradoxes possible. But how much time has passed since you left? A month? A week? An hour? Well, we’ll know when we reach there.”
Tomas added, “If we’re in time.”
“Ryath,” said Macros, “we need to travel some distance to the next gate. There are no mortal eyes upon this world to apprehend the transformation. Will you carry us?”
Without comment, the woman glowed brightly and returned to her dragon form. The three mounted and she took to the sky. “Fly to the northeast,” shouted Macros as the dragon banked and headed in the indicated direction.
For a while they were silent as they flew, no one feeling the need to speak. They sped away from the bluffs and beach, over rolling plateaus covered with chaparral-like growth. Above, a warm sun beat down.
Pug weighed everything Macros had said in the last hour. He quickly incanted, so they could speak without shouting. “Macros, you said even one Valheru would be a force unleashed in the universe. I don’t think I understand what you meant.”
Macros said, “There is more at stake here than one world.” He looked down as they sped over a river emerging from a canyon of staggering proportions, running to the southwest to join the sea. He said, “This wonderful planet stands at risk equal to Midkemia. As does Kelewan, and all other worlds, sooner or later.
“Should the Valheru’s servants win this war, their masters will return, and chaos will again be loose in the cosmos. Every world will stand open for the Dragon Host to plunder, for not only will they be unmatched in their wanton destruction, they will be unmatched in might. The very act of returning to this space-time will provide them with a source of mystical power heretofore unthought of, a source of power that would make just one Dragon Lord an object of fear for even the gods.”
“How is such a thing possible?” said Pug.
Tomas spoke. “The Lifestone. It was left against the final battle with the gods. If it is used . . .” He left the thought unfinished.
They were now flying high above mountains, entering a land of lakes, to the north of rolling plains, as the sun sank in the west. Pug found it difficult to contemplate concepts of utter destruction while flying above this splendid world. Macros pointed and said, “Ryath! That large island, with the twin bays facing us.”
The dragon descended and landed where Macros instructed. They leaped off her back and waited while she transformed herself back to human form. Then Macros was off, leading them toward a large upthrusting of rock near a stand of pinelike trees. They were before another door, upon the face of the large boulder. Macros stepped through. Tomas followed, then Pug. As Pug returned to the Hall, a dread shrieked its haunting whisper of rage and struck out at Macros, knocking him to the floor.
Tomas jumped forward, drawing his blade as the life stealer attempted to finish Macros. He ducked as another of the dread attempted to grapple him from behind. Pug was knocked to one side by Ryath as she came through the door. A third dread lunged at the human form dragon and seized her arm above the elbow. Ryath screamed in pain.