Dragons of the Autumn Twilight - Margaret Weis [194]
“How long can you keep this up?” he shouted to Fizban as they wheeled around a corner, the double bronze doors in sight.
The old man’s eyes were wide and staring. “I have no idea!” he gasped. “I didn’t know I could do it at all!”
Another blast of flame exploded around them. This time, Tasslehoff felt the heat and glanced at Fizban in alarm. The mage nodded. “I’m losing it!” he cried.
“Hang on,” Tasslehoff panted. “We’re almost to the door! He can’t get through it.”
The three pushed through the bronze double doors that led from the gallery back into the hallway just as Fizban’s magic spell wore off. Before them was the secret door, still open, that led to the Mechanism Room. Tasslehoff flung the bronze doors shut and stopped a moment to catch his breath.
But just as he was about to say, “We made it!” one of the dragon’s huge clawed feet broke through the stone wall, right above the kender’s head!
Sestun, giving a shriek, headed for the stairs.
“No!” Tasslehoff grabbed him. “That leads to Verminaard’s quarters!”
“Back to the Mechanism Room!” Fizban cried. They dashed through the secret door just as the stone wall gave way with a tremendous crash. But they could not shut the door.
“I have a lot to learn about dragons, apparently,” Tas muttered. “I wonder if there are any good books on the subject—”
“So I have run you rats into your hole and now you are trapped,” boomed Pyros’s voice from outside. “You have nowhere to go and stone walls do not stop me.”
There was a terrible grinding and grating sound. The walls of the Mechanism Room trembled, then began to crack.
“It was a nice try,” Tas said ruefully. “That last spell was a doozy. Almost worth getting killed by a dragon to see.”
“Killed!” Fizban seemed to wake up. “By a dragon? I should say not! I’ve never been so insulted. There must be a way out—” His eyes began to gleam. “Down the chain!”
“The chain?” repeated Tas, thinking he must have misunderstood, what with the walls cracking around him and the dragon roaring and all.
“We’ll crawl down the chain! Come on!” Cackling with delight, the old mage turned and ran down the tunnel.
Sestun looked dubiously at Tasslehoff, but just then the dragon’s huge claw appeared through the wall. The kender and the gully dwarf turned and ran after the old magician.
By the time they reached the great wheel, Fizban had already crawled along the chain leading from the tunnel and reached the first tree-trunk tooth of the wheel itself. Tucking his robes up around his thighs, he dropped down from the tooth onto the first rung of the huge chain. The kender and gully dwarf swung onto the chain after him. Tas was just beginning to think they might get out of this alive after all, especially if the dark elf at the bottom of the chain had taken the day off, when Pyros burst suddenly into the shaft where the great chain hung.
Sections of the stone tunnel caved in around them, falling to the ground with a hollow booming thud. The walls shuddered, and the chain started to tremble. Above them hovered the dragon. He did not speak but simply stared at them with his red eyes. Then he drew in a huge breath that seemed to suck in the air of the whole valley. Tas started instinctively to close his eyes, then opened them wide. He’d never seen a dragon breathe fire and he wasn’t going to miss seeing it now—especially as it would probably be his last chance.
Flames billowed out from the dragon’s nose and mouth. The blast from the heat alone nearly knocked Tasslehoff off the chain. But, once again, the fire burned all around him and did not touch him. Fizban cackled with delight.
“Quite clever, old man,” said the dragon angrily. “But I, too, am a magic-user