By the Wings of Dragons. Part II
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Part II
The adventurers stood in the center of a massive cavern of jagged stone. They were surrounded on all sides by members of the Ring of Scale, dragons of many colors and shapes that lounged around the room, sprawled over rock formations that seemed well-worn to their shape, suggesting they had assumed these traditional posts for some time. There was a dark dragon with gray and silver scales and a pair of curled horns, and a blue one with horns running down the length of its head and snout, and in the center was what Eylee took to be Phara-Dar herself, the leader of the Ring of Scale. Her scales shimmered a beautiful azure color, with purple on her wings and chest. Her head was long and elegant and her eyes were frighteningly intelligent.
Xygoz gestured to the group to stand in the center and then reverted to his natural form. The gold dragon joined the others in the circle, watching the party with inquisitive eyes.
"You've come," said Phara-Dar.
Bayle glanced at the rest of the group and then stepped forward uneasily. "Yes," he said, "Master Xygoz said you wished to speak to us."
"Yes," said the dragon, stretching her wings and letting them settle against her back once more. "We know what you're doing here. You have the Staff of Theer."
"You know what this is?" asked Bayle. He unstrapped it from his back and held it up.
Phara-Dar exhaled a deep breath, which blew across them hot and wet. "Yes," she said, "we know very well what it is, where it came from, and what it can do."
Asharae stepped forward and said, "Perhaps you would be so kind as to share, then?"
There was an audible groan from Kaltuk's direction and even Eylee had to shake her head at the Teir'dal, who stood haughtily before the dragon.
"Only a dark elf," muttered Nurgg.
Phara-Dar stared at her intently. "What you have been doing is futile," she said. "You are patching the cracks but not fixing the break. In order to stop this, someone would have to go to the source, and use the staff there."
"Which is...?" asked Asharae.
"The first full invasion happened in Innothule Swamp," said Phara-Dar. "We believe it to be there."
Bayle nodded and then said, "Thank you, this has been very helpful. Why was it that you wanted us to come here? This has all seemed to be to our benefit."
There was something like a chuckling among the dragons, but to say that a dragon ever truly "chuckles" is grossly inaccurate. It was a deep, rumbling noise that echoed throughout the cavern. "You will not be going," said Phara-Dar.
A cold chill passed down Eylee's back. Reactions were similar throughout the group. Everyone began to shift uneasily, Kaltuk cursed under his breath. "What was that?" asked Bayle.
"We are talking about the fate of Norrath," said Phara-Dar. "You have run away bleeding from more than one place here on Kunark, and you think you're ready to enter the Void and take all of that into your hands?"
Eylee had to admit that as she listened to the dragon, she didn't entirely doubt Phara-Dar's words. It stirred up doubt inside of her. Were they ready? Was it foolishness to think that they, of everyone, should be the group to follow this through? Looking amongst her companions, she noted that others were obviously experiencing the same self doubt. Only Roadyle seemed unaffected. His expression was passive, as it had been since they entered the dragons' caves. She landed lastly on Bayle, whose expression was even more of a struggle than anyone else's and her heart sunk. But then, she thought of her visions, and the certainty they had granted her every step of the way. They had all come together for very specific reasons, in very specific ways. That had to mean something.
She gathered together whatever shred of courage she could find inside and stepped forward, saying, "I've had visions of every member of this party, of things that have happened, and things that still need to happen. We were meant to do this." She looked among the dragons, guessing little from their expressions. She glanced back at her companions though and was pleased to find that they looked bolstered.
"It is true," said Xygoz, "that the Feir'dal has visions. She's seen their enemy in her dreams." Eylee's heart leapt a little as she heard Xygoz's voice but quickly sank again. This was Xygoz the dragon, back among his kind, and any tenderness from him she might have imagined was just that, imagination. That he might have had any regard for them was as ridiculous as thinking they might have regard for a spider, or a fly. She felt foolish and childish.
Phara-Dar snorted and said, "Then we keep her too, but we will still be handling it, and they will not."
Eylee shrank back and Nurgg stepped between her and Phara-Dar. Bayle said, "Are you threatening us?"
"Only if that's what must happen," said Phara-Dar. "Leave the staff and the prophet and you can go."
Around the room, the dragons began to rise, and at their full heights, they were even more threatening than seated. Eylee heard Roadyle whisper, "Get in close to me." Everyone began to inch in slowly. At first, Asharae seemed to consider resisting, but then she too followed.
"Now, please, the staff," said Phara-Dar.
Roadyle began to chant and with a gesture, circles of light surrounded them. Eylee felt herself slowly dissolving, and in front of her, Phara-Dar began to chuckle again. "Wizard, your magic is not going to --" Then the dragon's voice fell and her head reeled back in surprise. "That one is more powerful than he looks. Who is he?!"
But if any dragon had insight into it, Eylee didn't hear it. She phased completely from the room. As she began to slip away, she felt as if a force reached for her and tried to pull her back, but then she ripped away in her current direction. She felt herself reeling, though, spinning around wildly as she passed through nothingness. When she hit, she landed apart from the others and went headlong into a tree, knocking her into unconsciousness.
When she woke, she was aware of the acrid smell of burning and that she was bouncing. She opened her eyes groggily and found that she was being carried on Nurgg's back as he barreled through the forest. No one else was nearby except for Kruzz, who ran alongside Nurgg with his cleaver in his hand. They seemed to have landed in the Emerald Jungle, and despite its dampness, it was ablaze. Few things could burn like that, but one of them was dragon fire.
"What's going on?" she murmured. She gazed at a long swaying vine that was completely alight, leaving trails of smoke as it moved.
"Wizard got us close, but not close enough," said Nurgg. "We need to cross the jungle. But they are here, hundreds of them, and dragons above."
"We going to die," said Kruzz. The most terrifying thing about the way he said it was that he didn't sound frightened, just certain.
"Where's everyone else?" she asked.
"Scattered," said Nurgg. "Better to move in pairs."
"Kaltuk isn't with you?" she asked.
"He would not leave you," grunted Nurgg in Kruzz's direction. "Kaltuk is with Asharae. Illisia with Bayle. Roadyle is safe. He cannot be seen. Though not safe from dragon fire."
"They caught up with us? So soon?" she asked.
"You were asleep a long time," said Kruzz.
"But dragons are also fast," said Nurgg. "Too fast. They are fighting with Void creatures, but they will not let us go. They will be back."
The trio moved through the jungle quickly. For a time, they didn't encounter the hundreds of alluded to "them", though Eylee assumed those to be void-touched iksar and void beasts and whatever else they had corrupted. Soon, though, they encountered a group of four iksar. Nurgg dropped Eylee and barreled at them, Kruzz beside him screaming and raising his cleaver. Eylee struggled to get to her feet and began to sing, bolstering her own damaged self, as well as her companions.
Kruzz and Nurgg each faced off against a pair of them. Nurgg danced around the blows while striking in soft spots when he could manage. Kruzz, on the other hand, was fighting madly, ignoring the fact that he took more than one blow, simply focusing on hacking at them. As her strength returned, Eylee advanced on them, stunning them with screams when she could. Finally, their opponents had all fallen, and they moved on. Nurgg offered to carry Eylee once again but she shook her head and said, "No, I'm fine." Before she could get out of the way, however, he'd grabbed her and tossed her up on his shoulders anyway. She struggled only for a moment and then quit as they barreled on. They fought their way through more groups, and before too long, the airship came into sight. Eylee's heart sunk as she noticed the vast number of iksar and shadow beasts below the airship, throwing spears up at its body. She couldn't see Fiddlewiz or Twiddy, but assumed that they were huddled for safety, overcome with terror. She hoped it was that, anyway, and not that they were already dead.
It didn't take long for them to be spotted. Nurgg slipped Eylee to the ground again and said, "Get to the boat."
"I'm not going to leave you two," she muttered.
"Go!" he said, practically shoving her, but she wouldn't budge.
"We're all going," she said. Nurgg pulled back and glared down at her. Kruzz stared at the pair of them nervously. Then the ogre's expression faded and he nodded. Eylee drew her weapons and they began running in the shortest possible line, ready to fight those around them. Just as they reached their first set of opponents, an arrow buried itself in the head of the iksar advancing on her. Behind her, Illisia and Bayle emerged from the jungle and rushed into the fight with them. Shortly after, spells began to rain down from the boat on the crowd, consuming the attacking force in fire and lightning and dazzling lights. Eylee spied Roadyle flashing in and out of sight, and then Twiddy and Fiddlewiz were there, throwing things down at the aggressors.
Eylee fought desperately for her life, thrusting her rapier at whoever came at her. Her world became a blur of blood and ichor. She knew she had taken wounds herself, and every now and then, she would feel warmth pass through her as presumably one of Kaltuk's spells healed her, but mostly, the wounds persisted. There was probably too much to do to focus on just one person. Finally, though, a path was cut to the ship. Bayle gestured them at it and called for the ladder to be dropped. Twiddy and Fiddlewiz scrambled, and the rope ladder fell. Eylee began running at it. All of the sudden, a void beast stepped in front of her, raising its razor-sharp arm with a roar. She stumbled back, but realized she was too slow. Before it struck her, though, Kruzz was there, shoving her out of the way and swinging his cleaver. He cut into the pincer deeply with his cleaver, slicing through it cleanly, but the other arm stabbed him in the side before he could react. He cried out in pain but then whipped around, chopping off the other arm. Meanwhile, Eylee let out a piercing scream that caused every eye on the void beast's head to bleed, and the thing staggered away.
"Are you all right?" she asked Kruzz. He was hunched over, hand on his side where the pincer hit him. He nodded his head vigorously.
"We go!" he said.
Eylee nodded and the pair of them ran toward the ladder. Asharae had already climbed up to the boat, and Kaltuk was on his way. Nurgg shoved Eylee and Kruzz up as soon as they reached the ladder, he, Illisia, and Bayle standing stalwart until the others could make it into the boat. Illisia followed them, and then there was an argument about who would go next.
"Go on," said Bayle.
Nurgg shoved him. "I am taller. Boat should begin to move. I will make it."
Bayle frowned at him, but the ogre pushed him again, and the plainsman began to climb. "Hurry, though," he said.
Eylee held her breath as Bayle made his way up and Fiddlewiz and Twiddy struggled to get the boat going. She glanced at Bayle and then noticed something that alarmed her.
"What happened to the staff?" she asked, looking at a place where the Staff of Theer seemed to have been scratched, and one of the runes was completely missing.
Bayle glanced at her, his expression strained. Illisia stepped in for him and said, "It happened on our flight from Veeshan's to the ship. An iksar struck it with a spear and one of the runes fell off."
"Did you recover it?" demanded Roadyle.
Illisia glanced at him and shook her head. "No," she said, "one of them got it first and then ran."
"Was it void corrupted?" asked Asharae, her eyebrows stitched together.
"No," said Illisia, shaking her head so that her long auburn braid bounced, "not that I could tell. We passed too close to a village, that's all, I think."
"We weren't done," said Twiddy, pulling at his hair with a concerned expression. "She's not ready, and now she's sustained even more damage." He worked at it, though, and Fiddlewiz beside him. Even the gnome looked anxious, eyes darting around.
"Come on Nurgg!" she shouted as Bayle was up in the boat. The ogre jumped onto the ladder as the boat began to move and climbed desperately. Just then, Eylee felt herself go completely numb as one of the promised dragons came into view. The dragon with the horns running down the front of his face, one that Eylee had found particularly terrifying, came at them, breathing fire and screaming furiously.
"Go!" shouted Bayle. "Go, go!"
Illisia ran to the side of the boat that the dragon was coming up on, an arrow at the ready. As soon as it came in close, she let loose the arrow, and the dragon reacted to its strike, shrieking in pain. It wasn't enough to make it so much as pause though; it kept coming at them. Nurgg reached the deck, watching everyone. As it drew in close, Eylee gasped as, suddenly, Nurgg barreled across the deck and launched himself into the air over the side, sending himself straight at the dragon.
"No!" shouted Eylee.
Everyone moved to the side of the ship, staring in amazement as Nurgg struck at the dragon. Those who could began to launch what they could at the dragon, Illisia firing arrows and Asharae and Roadyle casting spells. Bayle paced back and forth, looking as if he wanted desperately to help. But he couldn't. All he could do was watch as the dragon whipped Nurgg from side to side and he punched and kicked him, clinging to his neck.
The events that unfolded over the next few minutes seemed slowed. Twiddy and Fiddlewiz went back to the controls, pushing the ship as hard as they could to go faster. It accelerated until it was going faster than any of them had ever seen it go. They had long since left the land mass of Kunark behind and were over the ocean. The dragon kept pace with the ship, which might have been all that kept Nurgg alive: the dragon had to focus both on fighting him and keeping behind the airship.
The deadlock broke finally when Nurgg managed to strike at the dragon's eyes even as Asharae landed a bolt right in a soft spot on the dragon's underside. But then the dragon, done with this tomfoolery, dove down straight toward the sea.
"What is he doing?" asked Kaltuk, his voice harsh and demanding, wracked with grief. "What is that beast doing?"
"He's going to drown him," said Illisia. Her voice was soft and sad. "Or force him to let go. And when he lets go, swallow him whole. If it's anything else, I'll be surprised."
"No," whispered Eylee. "We have to do something."
"What can we do?" asked the barbarian, shaking her head. "We'll have to wait."
"I'll be damned if I'm going to sit here and wait!" shouted Kaltuk. His chest was heaving.
"What else are you going to do?" barked Bayle in response. "We wait, and hope." Kaltuk let out a noise of disgust and stalked away.
