Legacy of the Darksword - Margaret Weis [129]
The diamond embedded in its forehead shone with a cold, sharp brilliance. It did not illuminate. We could not see the dragon. We could see nothing, not even each other, though we stood bunched together, side by side.
The dragon’s breathing reverberated through the tunnel. It shifted its body again as we stood outside its lair, and the floor shook as it flopped over on its side, its tail thrashing against the wall. The diamond lowered, the dragon had settled its head on its side, apparently. We stood in the darkness, immersed in fear and awe.
I could not have ventured inside that cavern. I don’t know where Saryon found the courage to do so. But then, where had he found the courage to suffer himself to be turned into living stone?
“Wait here,” he said to us, his words no more than a breath. “I must do this alone.”
He left us and walked into the cavern. I could not see him, but I could hear his robes rustle and the soft padding of his feet. His figure passed in front of me, blotting from my sight the light of the diamond.
Eliza clasped my hand. I held on to her tightly. Mosiah stood beside us, tense. Sometimes I could hear whispered words and I guessed that he was rehearsing his magic in his mind. Not that it would do us much good. We’d been through that before.
The Duuk-tsarithl Were they here now as they had been here in that other time? Would they try to seize the sword?
Taking hold of Mosiah’s hand, I signed my question with my fingers pressed against his palm. If he could not see my words, at least he could feel them.
“I thought of that myself,” he said back to me, his mouth against my ear. “I have sought my brethren. They are not here.”
At least that was one worry off my mind.
I had not forgotten Saryon. I walked with him in spirit every step of the way. The dragon snuffled and shifted once again. A gleam of pale light beamed from a slit in its eyelids. My heart stopped. Eliza gripped my hand so tightly that she left bruise marks on it, yet I don’t recall feeling any pain at the time.
Saryon halted, held still. The dragon breathed a great sigh, and the eyelids closed. The light vanished. Those of us in the cavern added our sighs to the dragon’s.
Saryon moved forward once more. He must be very close to the dragon’s head now, I thought. I could see the diamond again, since the dragon had changed position. The massive head was lying completely on its side, resting on the jawbone. And then I saw a hand, Saryon’s hand, looking frail and fragile, silhouetted against the diamond’s bright chill light.
The hand hesitated a moment. He must be asking the Almin for strength, as I was praying to the Almin to protect him, protect us all.
Saryon’s hand touched the diamond.
The diamond flashed. The dragon twitched, muscles contracting, a tremor passed through it. In the alternate time the Dragon of the Night had been injured, caught out in full sunlight. This dragon was probably very healthy and it was inside its dark lair. The dragon made a rumbling sound, deep in its chest. Its claws scrabbled against the floor.
“Now!” Mosiah whispered urgently, though Saryon could not hear him. “What is he waiting for? Cast the spell now!”
I cannot imagine what it would have been like to have had my hand on the dragon’s head, to feel that great beast move beneath my fingers. I could not blame my master for faltering at this juncture. His hand jerked back, the fingers clenched.
Mosiah took a step forward. Eliza pressed her cheek against my arm.
The diamond moved. The dragon was raising its head.
Saryon gave a great gasp, that I could hear distinctly, and then his hand pressed down hard against the diamond.
He spoke words that I didn’t understand. Words of power and authority. The dragon ceased to move. It might have melded with the stone around us.
Saryon finished speaking the charm and stepped back, removing his hand from the diamond.
This was the moment when we would know whether we lived or died.
The dragon reared