Guild Wars_ Edge of Destiny - J. Robert King [87]
Perhaps you have also heard that we were in the midst of celebrating this victory when the threat of another dragon champion came to our ears: the Destroyer of Life. It is a new champion of the Elder Dragon Primordus, and it rises near Rata Sum, homeland of two of my dear friends.
I made a case for traveling to Divinity’s Reach first, but my comrades are too eager to fight again, too fearful of what would happen if we let the situation in Rata Sum simmer. Eir keeps us busy with preparation.
Just say the word, though, and I will leave them and come to you. I desire more than anything to see you again, face-to-face. It is my sole consolation that you are before me every time I close my eyes.
Let me know what you wish, and I will obey.
Your humble champion,
Logan
From Her Royal Majesty, Jennah
To the Magnificent Logan Thackeray
Greetings:
I knew you would kill Morgus Lethe. The champion of a dragon cannot stand before the champion of a queen. Your works bring honor and glory to yourself and to me.
Yes, of course I had expected you and your comrades to appear before me, but this next mission does take precedence. I have been in long-term negotiations with the Arcane Council of Rata Sum for a restored asura gate into Ebonhawke. The new gate will bind our farthest outpost to our greatest city. Long the asura have stalled, fearing a backlash from the charr. But when I received your letter, I at last had the bargaining chip I needed.
I will allow my champion to fight this fight, and in return, I will get my superior gate.
This is your greatest service yet to me, Logan, but I recognize the price we both are paying. I fear to lose you, and I want more than anything to see you again. But you cannot fight for me by standing around the halls of Divinity’s Reach. The last thing I need is another polished advisor. They are just statues compared to a flesh-and-blood champion.
So, fight for me. Defeat the Destroyer of Life. And in our long separation, I will content myself with letters and with visions of your heroism.
Your queen,
Jennah
BATTLE ON THE LAKE OF FIRE
Damned inconvenient,” Zojja said a month later as she tromped behind Caithe and Snaff through deep jungle. “Why’d the Destroyer of Life have to rise so far from civilization?”
“Just be glad he did,” Snaff said.
“But the mud,” Zojja said, not for the first time. “And the bugs.” She slapped her neck, and her hand came away red. The burst body of a gigantic mosquito was pasted to her palm. She shook the insect from her hand, then saw another giant mosquito land on Snaff’s face. “You got one!”
Snaff went cross-eyed, staring at the gangly critter. “Look at that proboscis!” he said in genuine wonder. Just then, the bloodsucker rammed its snout right through Snaff’s left nostril. He sneezed, a blast of air that shot through the proboscis, inflated the mosquito, and popped it. Snaff gazed cross-eyed at the limp thing, then dragged it from his face. “A design flaw, I’d call that.”
From up ahead came a whistle.
Snaff’s face brightened. “That would be Caithe. I wonder if she has found something.”
The two asura pushed past ferns and fronds and entered a clearing. Caithe stood at its edge, looking down at a black rift in the ground. Sulfuric smoke rose in a long curtain from it.
“That looks like a way in,” Snaff blurted.
Caithe held up a hand to signal that the two asura should stay still. Then she stalked soundlessly up to the rift, dropped to hands and knees, and stared within. After a few moments, she motioned her two comrades over.
The asura waddled toward her as quietly as possible, though their stubby legs stirred up the undergrowth and cracked sticks. Soon, they reached the brimstone-reeking rent, knelt beside it, and gazed within.
The jagged cleft descended into a dark cavern beneath the ground, south of Wildflame Caverns. As the asura stared, their eyes grew accustomed