Treasures of Fantasy - Margaret Weis [177]
Still, Skylan clung to the belief that if he could reach the Venjekar, all would be well. The Torgun had their freedom and they had their ship and they had their dragon. The Torgun stood together. Nothing could stop them. In his mind, he was already setting his foot upon the soil of his homeland.
Which made it all the more shocking to reach the bank of the river and find the Venjekar gone.
CHAPTER
19
* * *
BOOK THREE
Skylan roamed the riverbank, cursing Sigurd for a fool and a coward for sailing off and abandoning his friends. But Skylan did Sigurd an injustice. Sigurd might be many things, but he was neither a fool nor a coward. The Dragon Kahg had made the decision to run.
The Torgun were elated with their freedom. They lifted up the Venjekar, and though their numbers were far fewer than would have normally been needed, they were able to haul the ship over the wall and drag the ship, singing, down to the river.
They were about halfway there when Wulfe appeared. Sigurd scowled to see the boy and told him to get lost. Instead of obeying, Wulfe handed him the spiritbone.
“Skylan said you would like me now,” said Wulfe.
Sigurd stopped dead in his tracks.
“Where did you get that?” He snatched the spiritbone from Wulfe.
“The dragon gave it to me,” said Wulfe. “I gave it to Aylaen and she gave it to Skylan and he said I was to bring it to you.”
“Where is Skylan?” Sigurd asked.
Wulfe shrugged. He had no idea.
Mystified, Sigurd looked at the dragon. Kahg’s eyes gleamed red in the darkness. Sigurd shrugged and ordered the men to keep going.
They launched the ship in the river at about the time Treia was pouring water on the fire in the fire pit. The Torgun boarded and were breaking out the oars, Wulfe was scampering down into the hold, and Sigurd was hanging the spiritbone on the nail on the prow when the Vektan dragon spread its wings and blotted out the stars.
The Dragon Kahg looked into the heavens, and although he had never before seen one of the Five, he recognized it immediately.
The Five Vektan dragons. All dragons honored and revered these wondrous creatures that were godlike, wise and powerful, all-seeing and all-knowing.
Ilyrion, the great dragon who had created the world and fought Torval for a thousand years, had not been defeated by Torval, as the Vindrasi believed. Dragons believed that Ilyrion, seeing that their battle was having devastating effects on the world she loved, had sacrificed herself. The Five Vektan dragons sprang from her bony crest as her blood rained down from the heavens.
The world belonged to the Vektan Five. Torval and the other gods were viewed by the dragons as the world’s caretakers. Vindrash, born of the blood of Ilyrion, served the Five, giving each of five gods one of the Five spiritbones to keep safe.
Eons passed and other strange gods found the world and sought to dislodge the old gods. These interlopers could not find the power of creation; they had no idea it had been embodied in the Five Vektan dragons. Thus Kahg had been furious to discover that Horg had given one of the spiritbones of the Vektia to the ogres and the Gods of Raj. The dragons had been appalled to discover Sund’s betrayal, that he had given yet another spiritbone to Aelon.
The dragons did not blame Vindrash for the losses. Their dragon goddess had been driven to the extreme of taking on human form in order to hide from her foes, who were growing in strength. The dragons were starting to fear that the old gods might be too weak to survive.
Now would come the time of the Vektia. Now the Five would return in triumph. Dragons, true dragons, would save the world.
“I will fly with him, the greatest of our kind,” Kahg vowed, and his being began to coalesce around his spiritbone.
To fly with the Vektia! What dragon did not dream of that? Kahg would be nothing, of course. A grain of sand amidst glittering diamonds. The Vektan dragon would not even deign to notice him. But to see with his own eyes such magnificence,