The Fading Dream_ Thorn of Breland - Keith Baker [69]
“What if we go?” Drix said.
“I agree with Pyrial,” the Rose Queen said. “I would still see how the bough survives without the trunk.”
“What makes you think they will let you be?” Joridal said. “How did the goblins find us so quickly? What stirs the Karrns to aggression? Perhaps you will survive the fall of the Tree. But if these dreamers want their vengeance, they will come for you, and they have the stone of your spire.”
“What if we go?” Drix said.
“Joridal is right,” Syraen said. “We have been attacked. We must strike back while we can, or we give our foes the chance to strike again. We will not live in fear.”
While they were talking, Drix took a piece of parchment out of one of his pouches. He rolled it up, creating a cone. He drew a few symbols on the parchment then took a deep breath and held it up to his mouth. When he spoke, his voice was as loud as thunder.
“What if we go?”
The ghaele fell silent and looked at him.
“He’ll sense your presence,” Drix said, “because you’re creatures like him. But what if Thorn and I go? What if we get the stones for you?”
All eyes turned to Thorn.
“You swore to serve us in this matter,” Tira said. “With the questions and where they lead. And I still hold the truth of you. What say you?”
That I’d like a simple job fighting ogres and werewolves, she thought. And yet … What really happened in this place, beloved? She heard Drego’s voice in her mind and wondered what Tira might be able to tell her.
“It doesn’t matter. We’d never get there in time. Even with an airship.”
“I wasn’t thinking of an airship,” Drix said. “There’s an Orien enclave in Ascalin, abandoned since the Mourning.” He rubbed a hand over his heart. “I think … I think I could get the teleportation circle working. Take us to the closest circle. There’s got to be one nearby, somewhere in the Principalities.”
Thorn looked at the map. “And then we charter an airship, or a Vadalis bird. It’s possible. But how would you get an Orien circle to work for you?”
“Trust me. I can do it.”
Thorn looked at the eladrin. “Ascalin is still too far away if we’re traveling by foot. We could try this. But you’ll need to get us to Ascalin and quickly.”
“It is done,” Syraen replied. “My retinue came on hippogriffs. If you speak of the ruins of the north, my soldiers can take you there. It would be hours, no more.”
“Then let’s get ready,” she said.
Drix hugged her then. Her first instinct was to push him away, her Citadel defense training flashing to the fore. She pushed it down and hugged him back.
“We can do this,” he said. “Together. We can save the world.”
“Recover the shards, no more,” Tira said. “You cannot conceive of the power Shan Doresh has at his disposal.”
Syraen nodded. “Save the Tree. Bring us the stones. If there is war to be fought, we shall fight it.”
“I’m not arguing that,” Thorn said. “Just give me my equipment and show us to the hippogriffs. Let’s take the battle to the dreaming citadel.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The Ruins of Ascalin The Mournland
Barrakas 25, 999 YK
Where’s a griffon when you need one?” Thorn muttered. It was the first time she’d ridden a hippogriff, and it was proving to be a difficult experience. The beast balked at the unfamiliar sensation of Thorn on its back. Luckily the beast had been trained to follow the movements of the flight leader, and rough as it was, all Thorn really had to do was hold on. And with Drix on his own hippogriff and the flight leader well out of earshot, she finally had the chance to have the conversation she’d been waiting for.
She drew Steel, holding tightly to the stirrup horn with her free hand. “I think we’ve got a few things to talk about.”
What did you have in mind?
“I still think this idea that the Mourning was caused by stabbing Drix is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”
I’ve never disagreed with that. However, it may very well