Thrall - Christie Golden [63]
“Then start,” said Arygos bluntly.
Thrall took a deep breath and began to speak, telling the dragons about Ysera’s request, the confused ancients, becoming lost in the timeways and finding himself, finding Nozdormu. Despite Arygos’s rudeness, they all listened attentively. These were dragons of magic, of intellect. Knowledge, even one brought by an orc, was meat and drink to them.
“Nozdormu believes that all the events—the tragedies—that have challenged the dragonflights are interconnected,” Thrall finished. “He suspects the infinite dragonflight, and has lingered behind to gather more information before he comes to you with what he knows. He bade me find the Life-Binder and bring her with me, but … she has suffered a grave loss, and remains too shaken by it to come. So Tick agreed to bear me here. That is all I know, but if there is anything else you wish to ask, I will answer as best I can. I stand more than ready to help.”
Kalec stared at the orc, shaken to his very core. “This is all … extraordinary news,” he said, seeing his own concern and apprehension reflected on the faces of many of the other blues.
But not all of them. Arygos and his contingent seemed unaffected. “With all due respect to Ysera, she has much to sort out after thousands of years of abiding almost entirely in the Emerald Dream. She has admitted to being … confused. She does not know what is true, what is a dream, and what might be her own imagination. As for Nozdormu, you said he had been … caught? In his own timeways? And you were able to help him escape? Please enlighten us as to how.”
Thrall’s cheeks darkened slightly at the obvious skepticism in Arygos’s voice, but his expression didn’t change, and when he spoke, it was in calm tones.
“I understand your doubt, Arygos. I myself had very serious doubts. But it does seem that Ysera was correct. I have already been able to be of some use to two dragonflights—if not to Alexstrasza herself. If you are perhaps implying that Nozdormu has been somehow addled by his experiences in the timeways, then I urge you to talk to Tick and see what she thinks. I for one think not. You ask how I, a mere orc, was able to pull the Timeless One out? It … was simple.”
There was angry and offended murmuring at that, but Thrall held up his hand. “Know that I do not belittle anyone when I say this. ‘Simple’ does not mean ‘easy.’ I have learned that the things that seem the simplest are often the most powerful of all. They are the things that matter, in the end. Regarding Nozdormu: to free one trapped in all moments of time, I had to learn to be truly in one moment—the moment.”
Arygos’s disapproval deepened. “Anyone can do that!”
“Anyone can,” Thrall agreed readily. “But no one had. It is a simple thought, to be in the moment—but one that I had to learn myself.” He smiled a bit self-deprecatingly as some of the dragons began to look less annoyed and more thoughtful. “While the lesson itself was simple, the learning of it was most certainly not. We best teach what we ourselves have learned. If I could help two Aspects … perhaps I can help you.”
“We are without an Aspect for our flight,” said Arygos. “I somehow think that if such a problem is new and confusing to us, then you will be unable to assist.”
“It’s new and confusing to me too. That makes us equals, in that at least.”
Mirth rippled through the assembled blues, even those who were allied with Arygos.
“Orc, you are here as a guest of our flight,” said Arygos, a hint of warning in his voice. “You would be well advised not to mock us.”
Kalec sighed; before his madness, Malygos had been known for a sense of humor and playfulness, two attributes which seemed completely lacking in his son.
“Arygos, he’s not mocking; he’s making a serious point in a light manner. These are uncertain times. We are blazing new trails, making history in a way even the Aspects have never made history. Thrall comes with the approval of two Aspects. What is the harm in letting him listen and offer his opinion?” Kalec spread his hands. “He is not one of