Tender Mercies

Nordan and Martin both surfaced to see Luingirth grappling with the older, larger, and more powerful green dragon. They also noticed the two dark elves trying to recover from the effects of the dragons breath weapon. Kayala seemed to be doing better then Marthollin was, but even he had risen to his feet and drawn his katana. Both ranger and barbarian charged into the fray, hacking, slashing, and crushing as best they could. Marthollin soon joined them, but his swings were weaker and his katana had difficulty piercing the tough hide of Cuivegirth.

Kayala had regained enough composure that she was able to finally cast one of her quicker spells. Picturing her companions in her mind, she finished it and smiled in satisfaction as she felt it take hold on each of them. All three of them were alarmed at the tingling feeling that overcame them, but when they realized that time had seemed to slow down slightly for them and that they now moved twice as quickly as they had a second ago, they renewed their assault. All except for Nordan, who paused to look at her and scowl. The distraction proved costly, for Cuivegirth's tail slapped him in the chest, sending him sliding across the floor and back into the water.

Alesha launched attack after attack, not trying to breach Kelnozz's defenses so much as to try and get him to breach hers. He had nicked her a few times, taking her measure, but it was not the sort of injury she needed. Growing frustrated, she slashed at his shoulder, knowing he would deflect it. When one sword came up and parried the blow, she spun inside his guard and tried to drive her knuckles into his throat. He batted her arm aside easily with his other sword, her bracer saving her hand from being cut off. Alesha then kicked up at him, somehow driving her foot through the space between her body and his. Kelnozz flipped backwards, landing on his feet a short distance away from her, unharmed.

"I had expected better from you, Alesha," Kelnozz said, disappointed in her offense. Having wounded her superficially a few times, Kelnozz began to suspect that her real power lie in her magic, not in her martial skills.

"I'll have to try harder to impress you," Alesha responded, grinning to show their fast and furious fight was not troubling her stamina at all.

Using his questionable new hand, Martin found again that it held a strength he was unaccustomed to. Repeatedly he hacked into the side of the dragon, his strikes not deep, but not shallow either. Enough to cause the dragon concern if allowed to continue unabated. With that in mind, Cuivegirth's tail swung at Martin next. The ranger easily leapt over it, however, and continued to poke and prod the dragon's flesh.

Dragon blood fell on Marthollin where he stood, as Luingirth and Cuivegirth bit and clawed at one another. Cuivegirth was gaining more of an advantage as time progressed against the smaller dragon. Occasionally Marthollin could get his sword to slip between the green dragons scales, but even then the wound was typically slight. It was only his preoccupation with Luingirth that kept Cuivegirth from squashing Marthollin like a bug underneath him.

Kayala had tried a few offensive enchantments, causing freezing rays of cold and lances of fire to strike the green dragon, but that dragons age and power were such that her evocations had no effect upon it. She looked about desperately trying to come up with a way to use her magic for the benefit of her companions.

Alesha charged at Kelnozz again, an overhead slash aimed at him. He blocked her attack with his newer longsword. Dropping low and lunging forward, he sunk his old longsword deep into her belly, barely missing her spine with the tip when it protruded from Alesha's back. The wound was still mortal, she simply was not paralyzed.

Kelnozz looked up at her, expecting to see something in her face. Shock, pain, outrage. He was not sure. What he saw was her smiling at him confidently. A little surprised himself, he stood up and pulled at his sword. It remained stuck in her belly, refusing to yield to his desire to retrieve it. Alesha laughed, drawing his attention back to her eyes. Before he could react, she spun rapidly and landed a solid kick to the side of his head. Kelnozz lost his grip on his sword and fell to the ground, stunned as much by the impact as what had just happened. Alesha walked over to stand above him, her short sword vibrating in her hand as she positioned it above the prone elf.

"My armies are marching, Kelnozz," She said, smiling triumphantly at him. "You and your friends have failed, nothing will stand in my way. Aren't you at least a little bit proud of me?"

Nordan climbed out of the water then, just in time to see Luingirth knocked back by a powerful swing from Cuivegirth's clawed forelimb. Scales and blood flew and Luingirth fell backwards into the water. Nordan silently thanked Garrick for letting him get out of the water before the dragon crashed in on top of him, then turned back to the battle.

Marthollin had run out of free attacks, Cuivegirth snatched him up in one mighty hand and raised him up high. Still holding his katana, Marthollin stared in terror at the dragons maw as it opened up. At the last moment he remembered his sword, but his fingers were numb and weak with panic, and by moving his arm the sword fell to the ground to clatter against the stone floor. A moment later Cuivegirth's needle sharp fangs descended over Marthollin's shoulders and chest. The elf was decapitated and tossed to the ground before he realized what had happened to him.

Dropping down so that all four limbs were on the ground, Cuivegirth kicked out at Martin next, catching him a glancing blow that was still powerful enough to spin the ranger around and send him staggering away from him. Martin stumbled into Tiamat's corpse, somehow magically preserved, before he regained his balance. By then Cuivegirth's attention had turned to Kayala.

Kayala sent five magical missiles of energy streaking at the green dragon's eyes, trying to blind it. The dragon dodged two of the motes and took the other three on its cheek, with none of them showing any injury to it. Nordan screamed out a guttural challenge to the beast and threw his hammer at its head. Expecting little to bother it, the dragon took the strike from the hammer on the same cheek the magic had struck. The power behind the throw and the magic of the hammer was obvious at once, for the dragon's head jerked back from the force and the pain and it made the telltale sound of crashing thunder when it hit.

Seeing a chance to help, Kayala turned to Nordan and cast another spell. This one allowed him to fly. He looked at her in disbelief that she continued to cast magic on him and disbelief that his feet were not touching the ground.

"Just think of where you wish to go and it will happen!" She yelled at him, pointing up at Cuivegirth, who had recovered from the hammer throw and was about to launch another assault at them.

Nordan looked back up and saw the dragon preparing to unleash its breath weapon at them again. He held out his hand and with a thought, summoned his hammer again. Throwing it as hard as he could, he watched Cuivegirth's opened mouth about to exhale on them. In slow motion it seemed, the hammer flew through the air end over end. Cuivegirth saw it coming to late to dodge it, and the hammer impacted squarely with the bridge of scales between the dragons nostrils on the tip of its snout. It's head rocked upwards in pain from the impact, the poisonous cloud of gas exhaled safely towards the ceiling of the cavern.

Luingirth emerged from the water then, worse for wear but not out of the fight yet. He lunged forward and caught Cuivegirth around the neck with both taloned hands, then he tried to crush the green dragons throat by biting down on it. The dragons hide and muscles were to thick and strong to be crushed so easily, but Luingirth kept up the pressure, trying to saw away at him.

Nordan took to the air with a great trepidation. When he did not fall, he continued upwards, summoning his hammer and aiming for the dragons head. Cuivegirth had blood running freely from his broken snout, but was more concerned with Luingirth trying to choke him. Cuivegirth's hands tore and pounded into Luingirth, exacting a terrible toll, but unable to break the determined blue dragon away. Cuivegirth's eyes glared at Nordan with a baleful light when the beast saw the barbarian rapidly approaching it. Nordan laughed at the green dragon and called out to his God before unleashing his most powerful swing yet.

Luingirth quit gnawing on Cuivegirth's throat when he felt the dragon shudder and go limp in its arms. Letting go, Luingirth sat back on the ground and watched Cuivegirth collapse and lay beside Tiamat, a great blackened and smoking hole in the dragons forehead. Martin glared at them angrily, having just vacated the area mere moments ago himself. Nordan floated down a moment later and looked to Kayala, who stood there watching with a numb look on her face. Nordan nodded once then turned to see how Kelnozz fared.

Kelnozz kicked out with his foot, tripping Alesha just as she began her downward plunge with her sword. Her intent had been to capture Kelnozz's soul right alongside of Talifernon, for in spite of everything, she still strove to keep the elf close to her. Her plans backfired right then, however, for he was not as stunned as she had thought. With the tables reversed, she found herself laying on her side, propped up by the sword still transfixed in her belly. She struggled to bring her powers to bear, but the strain of trapping Kelnozz's blade and continuing to function without it hindering her had weakened her too much.

"Proud? Ha! You took the easy way out!" Kelnozz held his remaining blade at her throat now, behind him Alesha could see Nordan, Martin, and the dark elven sorceress approaching. She sent out thoughts to them, begging both for help. Hearing and feeling nothing, Alesha was certain her powers were drained and that she was doomed.

'I need your help one more time,' Alesha pleaded in her mind, reaching inside herself and opening up the strange communication she shared with the being that had given her the powers she used.

'Who is your master?' The voice returned instantly, as if waiting for this moment of total surrender.

'You are!' Alesha pleaded, terrified of the look of fatality she saw in Kelnozz's eyes.

'Who am I?'

The world seemed to slow down then. Alesha was unable to respond, but was instead transfixed upon Kelnozz raising his blade up and beginning a downward swing towards her. She knew she would not be able to stop this cut from slaying her. Her breath caught in her throat when all of a sudden the tip stopped, scant inches from her neck. Looking up the blade and his arms, she saw Nordan had grabbed the elf's arm and halted his strike.

"What are you doing?" Kelnozz demanded, his attention diverted. Nordan looked around, as if lost in a daze. He shook his head to clear it and looked oddly at Kelnozz's arm, which he held in his hand. Confused as to his actions, Nordan let go and took a step back.

The added time was all that Alesha needed. Reaching deep within herself she discovered that she had suspected and knew the answer to the question all along, she merely had to find it. "You are Bavorish, my Lord and Master!"

Kelnozz heard her make her declaration and then heard the clanging noise below him. Looking down he saw Alesha had disappeared, but his sword had fallen free to the ground. Looking about sharply, he saw nothing to show where she had gone. After a moment of suspicion, he reached down and picked up his fallen sword, adopting his two weapon stance again.

"Where'd she go?" Martin said, clutching his mithril arm in his left hand to help him hold it up.

"I don't know," Kelnozz said. "Any ideas, Nordan?"

Nordan had the grace to be embarrassed by the accusatory look Kelnozz shot his way. "Nay, she is gone."

"But where?" Kayala said, walking up to them as well.

"Her own powers weren't great enough to save her, she had to call upon her God to get her out of this," Kelnozz said. "Where would he put her?"

"You want us to think like a God?" Martin said, chuckling.

"Let me see your sword, I may be able to find her if I use her blood which is on it to track her," Kayala held out her hand to Kelnozz.

The dark elf offered his blade to her, but instead of taking it, Kayala ran her fingers along the flat side of the blade, gathering up much of the blood Alesha had left behind on it. She then began chanting for several minutes, making arcane gestures in the air every so often. At long last the blood on her fingertips began to glow. She turned around in a complete circle, as well as pointing her fingers both up and down. At last she canceled the spell. All of the blood on her fingers had disappeared.

"Where is she?" They all asked at once.

"She is not on this world," Kayala said, her voice weak with exhaustion.

They all looked to each other, trying to see if anyone had any thoughts. None of them did. Kelnozz then noticed Marthollin was not standing with them, nor was Luingirth. The dragon was easy to find, he was laying over near the water, tending to his wounds, but Marthollin he did not see.

"Where is the prince?" Kelnozz finally asked.

Kayala closed her eyes and shook her head. Kelnozz sighed. While he had not liked the man, by no means had he wished for him to be slain. "A pity, for who now is the Warleader of the elves?"

"He lived his entire life in your shadow, Kelnozz," Kayala said. "He hated you, but at the same time he worshipped you. He wanted to be you so badly that he was always overextending himself, thinking he could and should be doing the same things you were. It was only a matter of time before this happened."

Kelnozz nodded. "Aye, but now is a bad time for it to happen. I found him irritating, but he would have been useful in the upcoming battle. With him gone, the elves may withdraw their armies altogether."

"Cowards!" Nordan spat out, sneering at the thought.

"I can raise the resistance to aid us," Martin said, letting his arm hang limply at his side now. "But I'll need some time."

"Time we don't have, we must put the keys in the portal and make do with whatever dragons we can free," Kelnozz said, looking back to where Cuivegirth's body was next to Tiamat's.

"The elves will stay and fight for one other person... they will fight for you, Kelnozz," Kayala said, staring deeply into his eyes. "You are the chosen one. The champion of the elves. They would have followed you before even Marthollin."

"I must find Alesha, that is more important then anything else. As long as she lives, she is a threat to this world in a way that none other can be," Kelnozz explained to her.

"She's not on this world, lad, you heard her!" Martin pointed out. "If she's not on this world, how can she be a threat to it?"

"If she got here once, she can get back," Kayala said.

"There's an army marching as we speak, the longer we tarry, the more good people die," Kelnozz said, snapping them out of their debate and returning their perspectives.

"I saw a ring on the dragon's finger that I believe was the green key," Kayala said, remembering when it had caught her attention during the fight. "He was so concerned about leaving it unguarded that he brought it to us."

Nordan chuckled at the thought, then remembered who had said it and sobered up immediately. He scowled at Kayala and turned to head towards the dragon to collect the key. Kelnozz chuckled at his actions and brought the others with him to join the barbarian.

After prying it free of the ring with a dagger, Nordan handed the key to Kelnozz and they all followed the elf back into the room with the portal in it. Kelnozz studied it carefully, rippling energies still played across its surface, announcing great magic at work.

Kayala gasped in pleasure. The others looked at her, wondering what she was so interested in. She had already begun running to the horde of treasure Tiamat had laid claim to. Scattered throughout it were books. Books containing lore and magic from ages lost to time.

Studying the gems and the empty holders for a moment, Kelnozz slipped the sapphire key into place and then the emerald key. With this first key the energies doubled, at times stabilizing enough to show a picture of another realm. With the fourth key placed in it, the picture resolved itself to be much clearer. It showed a barren land teeming with hordes of dragons.

The dragons were of a type that none of them had ever seen before, however, for they had the colors of brass, bronze, copper, silver, and gold. At a distance, they appeared to be made from flowing metal of the appropriate types. In a word, they were beautiful.

A large golden dragon leapt from where it sat upon the ground in front of the gate and flew towards them. It then passed through the gate, landing lightly in front of the four. It surveyed all of them, noting that two of the four were dark elves, while the other two were human.

"Why hast thou not ended our banishment?" The dragon spoke in the nearly forgotten language of the elves from the time when they were all one race.

Nordan and Martin looked to each other in confusion. Seeing their look, Kayala invoked a spell that allowed them to understand what it was the dragon was saying.

"Mighty dragon, we have recovered four of the five keys from your chromatic cousins. The fifth is guarded by Ancaruin himself, grown so mighty that it will take an army to defeat him, if even then," Kelnozz said, speaking in the same tongue.

"Ancaruin... I remember him well. Eldest of us all, he came from another world at Bavorish's bidding to aid him in stabilizing life and magic on this world. Know thou then this, I am Fyrentennimer, sent here by Bahamut many years past to keep a balance upon this world. We were defeated, and since then we have all languished, out of balance with nature."

"We will aid thou in the slaying of Ancaruin, but until the fifth key is procured, each of us can only withstand the calling of our prison for so long. The more powerful the dragon, the longer we can withstand it, but some of my brethren will be able to spend little more then a few days or a week away from it. Tell me, quickly, of what goes on, then I shall return to gather my brethren to aid thee."

Looking to his friends, Kelnozz launched into a story describing what they were up against. From Alesha's army to the chromatic dragons aiding them, including Ancaruin himself. When they were finished, Fyrentennimer promised their aid again, and retreated back into the portal. Looking through it, they saw the dragon speaking with the other dragons, relaying the story to them. Of varying sizes and colors, the dragons seemed all intent upon joining the fight. Soon, Fyrentennimer returned and they planned on how they would go about returning the dragons. Kayala sighed unhappily to leave the books undiscovered, but contented herself to take a couple of them anyhow.

A fight nearly ensued when Luingirth was discovered to be napping in the outer chamber of the cavern. Only by carefully explaining Luingirth's role was Fyrentennimer placated. Soon after, they had returned to the surface and sat upon the island, waiting as more and more dragons came through the portal. In a few hours, every dragon that possessed the strength to pass through the portal had done so, though some of the younger and weaker bronze dragons already showed signs of being weary. Marthollin's body was returned to the cutter, with instructions for it to return to Innowendyn with the news. As soon as that was accomplished the two elves, two humans, and countless metallic dragons took to the skies and aimed for Silverton and a quickly approaching war.