Cormyr_ a novel - Ed Greenwood [143]
"Before," repeated Arangor bitterly. "Out in the wilderness, far from any city and any king. And each time his appearance has marked a weakness in the crown and the nation. What are the people saying now that the Purple Dragon has attacked the castle itself?"
"What matters now," said Thanderahast calmly, "is what we are going to do."
The decision that followed had brought them both to this wind-whipped hilltop: Jorunhast, armed with one of his mentor's wands, and the young crown prince, lightly armored. They sat in the saddles of their spindly-legged ponies, waiting for the dragon to arrive. The elder wizard had set out with Lord Gerrin to flush the dragon out.
"I don't like it," said Azoun.
"You've said that before," said the wizard-in-training. "Why didn't you say such things when it was proposed?"
"And have everyone think me a coward?" protested the crown prince.
"Best to speak up and be thought a coward than to fail in action and be proved one," said Jorunhast calmly.
The slender young prince looked hard at the mage. Loudly he said, "And I don't particularly like you either."
"I don't believe they make you a court wizard based on popularity," said the mage, turning in his saddle to face the younger man. "It's sort of like kings that way."
"Ah, but I am popular," the prince replied, smiling tightly.
"With the ladies, I'm sure," snapped the wizard. "Ah-some of them, at any rate." He allowed himself a small smile and ignored the fuming prince.
"If I'd been there I would have rescued-" Azoun began, but the rumbling cut him short. The sound seemed to rise out of the ground itself, and both young men could feel it through their saddles as well as hear it. It was a roar that seemed to envelop their world, coming from the east. Both men looked to that direction, where a small dot blossomed on the horizon.
It was on top of them in an instant. In fact, there were two airborne figures, one pursuing the other. In the lead was Thanderahast, mounted on a wyvern's back. The wyvern was a smaller kin of dragons, lacking forelegs, and this one was marked with orange and red striations. Of Lord Gerrin, who had accompanied the mage into the woods that morning, there was no sign.
Behind the wyvern and mage came the dragon. Jorunhast clearly saw it approach, and it still looked huge. Its ancient scales reflected in the morning sun in shades of lavender and lilac, belying the powerful muscles that lay beneath them. It beat the air heavily and steadily, as opposed to the wyvern's quick, panicked wing thrashings. The Purple Dragon was gaining. Magical energy danced from the old wizard's fingertips, and the bolts of power he hurled ricocheted off the dragon's ancient scales.
Prey and predator were over their heads in a heartbeat, the windy wake of their passing carving furrows in the tall grass. The wyvern banked sharply after it passed over them, and the great flying behemoth banked in pursuit. Its large size took it into a larger turn, and its massive wings nearly scraped the ground as it swung about to follow its smaller prey.
It was even bigger than Jorunhast remembered. Now, without the city around him, without the protection of walls and redoubts and buildings, it dominated the young wizard's vision. He suddenly felt very small and exposed and alone on that bare hilltop.
Something cold and clammy settled in Jorunhast's stomach and clung there tightly.
The dragon passed over them again, and the wizard was aware that the young prince was shouting something at him.
"The wand!" he bellowed, his smooth, beardless face almost apoplectic. "Use the damnable wand!"
The wyvern-mounted mage banked again, and the Purple Dragon followed, this time pulling out of its turn almost directly behind its quarry. The two young men on the hill saw the monstrous creature's throat bunch and swell. Azoun was shouting again, and Jorunhast was fumbling frantically with the wand.
The dragon breathed a huge gout of acid-and the wyvern and mage evaporated. Jorunbast thought he saw his mentor move his arms in sudden spellcasting before the heavy,