The High Druid of Shannara Trilogy

“I think so,” he said.

He took a deep breath. They waited quietly, listening to the sounds without, to the breaking down of the door in the far chamber and then to the thudding of booted feet as the Gnomes rushed to the door that led into their room.

“It helps that you are with me,” he said softly.

Bellizen gave him a small smile.

Then a horn sounded, its wail deep and ominous, reverberating off the walls and through the rooms of the Keep. Shouts rose from below, and abruptly Paranor came alive in a new and terrible way.

Outside their door, the Gnomes turned and ran, abandoning their efforts. Trefen Morys and Bellizen stared at each other in disbelief, and then they looked out the window where the sounds of activity were loudest.

Thousands of Rock Trolls were striding out of the trees, armored giants forming up battle lines at the gates to the fortress of the Druids.





TWENTY-SEVEN


Grianne Ohmsford took a quick step back as the dragon settled into place on the flats, its wings folding against its huge, scaly body. Steam rose off its back in clouds, and she could feel the heat of it from fifty feet away. The dragon flexed and undulated from head to tail, the spikes that ridged its back shivering like great stalks of grass blown in a wind. It coughed once and then exhaled a huge gout of fire and smoke.

An eerie silence settled over the landscape, and it felt to her in that instant as if everything living had disappeared from the earth save the dragon, the boy, and herself.

Then the head swung toward her and the maw parted to reveal rows of blackened teeth. The stench of its breath sent her backwards another few steps. Its yellow eyes narrowed and fixed on her.

Except they weren’t fixed on her, she realized suddenly. They were fixed on Pen, who was standing next to her.

“It’s the darkwand,” he said quietly. “It’s fascinated by the glowing runes.”

He was right. The dragon had settled down into a comfortable crouch and was staring intently at the staff. The runes carved into its surface were pulsating with hypnotic consistency in the gray mistiness of the afternoon.

“It’s been following me ever since I arrived,” Pen said.

She blinked at him. “You’ve encountered it before?”

“Twice.” He looked chagrined. “The first time was after I had walked into the passes leading down from the heights where I came into the Forbidding. I fell asleep, and it was there when I awoke, staring at me. Or at the staff. I couldn’t get rid of it at first, but finally I did. I thought I was done with it, but yesterday it reappeared here on the flats while I was trying to reach you. It came to my rescue, actually.”

“Your rescue?” She couldn’t hide her disbelief.

“I was trying to find somewhere to spend the night and I wandered into a nest of Harpies. They wouldn’t let me out again. They were going to eat me. But the dragon reappeared and ate them, instead.”

He saw the look on her face and shook his head. “It doesn’t have any interest in me. It doesn’t care about me one way or the other. It’s the runes.” He glanced over at the dragon, which was watching them contentedly. “Something about watching the glow of the runes makes it happy. Or fascinates it. I don’t know, Aunt Grianne. I just know that I can’t get rid of it.”

“Well, you managed to do so twice now,” she pointed out.

“It was the wishsong magic,” he said. “It surfaced after my bonding with the darkwand, but it was the dragon’s appearance that gave me a reason to test it. I didn’t know if the magic would work, but I was desperate. So I tried it out. I used it to send images of the runes off into the distance, like a lure. The dragon went after them, and I escaped.”

He paused for a moment, frowning. “The second time it was too busy eating the Harpies to pay much attention to me. I just slipped away. But I guess it came looking for me.”

“I guess it did.” She looked at the monster, at its huge bulk and great, hooked claws and muscular body. She stared into its yellowed eyes and found them glazed and unfocused. A dragon mesmerized by bits of light—she would never have believed it. “Can you get rid of it now?”

“I don’t know. I can try.”