Dragondoom

CHAPTER 40

Winter’s End, 3E1603

[This Year]

Deep within the roots of the earth, down within a burning caldera, far below the lair above, something disturbed Black Kalgalath’s fiery dreams of conquest and subjugation.

Something from outside.

From above.

Upon the land.

It was not an ordinary animal-deer, elk, bear, mountain goat or sheep, or the like-moving through his domain that brought him awake, for animals had not the auras which would alert him. Nay, this was of higher intelligence.

A possible threat.

Black Kalgalath’s etheric being flew upward and into his corporeal form, and one of his true eyes slid open and he peered into the blackness of his lair, seeing everything, even though surrounded by darkness absolute. For among Dragonkind, outer eye and inner eye are one and the same, their sight encompassing all, perceiving the normal, and seeing the hidden, the unseen, the invisible as well.

Yet it was not his eyes that Black Kalgalath used to investigate his domain for intruders, but rather a casting forth of his senses, searching for encroachers.

Utruni!

Kalgalath was faintly surprised, for though at rare times he had sensed these gentle beings, it was always from afar, the Giants moving deep within the land in ones and twos and threes, hewing to courses that only they understood, working the stone, shaping the world. Yet now, here were seven, and nearly at the surface.

Why? Have they come for belated vengeance?

Pah! They know not that it was I who took the Kammerling from their unattended hall.

Black Kalgalath’s mind hurtled back to a time twelve centuries agone, a time that he had fallen into a true sleep, and a dream had come whispering unto him, a prophetic dream, a dream hissing of the Kammerling and its threat to the greatest Dragon of all. Offering sly suggestions as to how the hammer should be guarded by someone alert and dangerous, rather than by these inattentive, peaceful Giants. Whispers sissing Andrak’s true name. Spectral words speaking of the coming eclipse of the Moon, when the shadow would eat the silvery orb, when the earth would shake, when the Kammerling would be unguarded. And when Black Kalgalath had awakened from this sleep, from this dream, the Dragon had cast forth his senses and tried to capture the elusive trail of the essence of the dream; yet it was faint, dissipated, perhaps not at all, and there was but the barest notion that perhaps it led northward, into the frozen barrens, where only Modru dwelt. Yet Modru would have no cause to aid Black Kalgalath, for Black Kalgalath had refused to aid Modru in the time of the Great War. And so the mighty Fire-drake accepted the fact that he had glimpsed the future, that he had had a dream of portent, a true prophecy. After all, omens and forewarnings always came in times of dire need, and this was a matter of survival for the Dragon: to take the Kammerling from the stewardship of these inattentive Giants; to place the hammer where it would be protected by someone of power who had cause to fear its removal. And so on the night of that long-ago eclipse, when the shadow ate the Moon, while the land rumbled and trembled, he slithered through the hidden cavern, coiling deep down into the bowels of the earth, deep down into the empty halls of the Utruni, and there he took the Kammerling and fled. To the east. To Xian. To Andrak. And he struck a bargain with the Mage. .

But that was long ago and this was now. And at this moment, seven Utruni came into his domain. Seeking what, he did not know. But it could not be the Kammerling, for that was long gone to Xian. And it could not be for revenge, for they did not know that he had taken it; only Andrak knew, and the Mage would not tell, else his true name would be revealed. And it could not be to take the Fire-drake’s treasure, his hoard, for what need would Utruni have for gold, for silver, for jewels? Did they not have the wealth of the world at hand-vast deposits of precious metals, hoards of gems-all theirs for the taking? Were they not the Masters of the Earth?

A puzzle, this: Utruni in his domain. A threat? He did not think so, yet even were it so, still it was uncertain what he would do. A Drake does not care to tangle with an Utrun; it is not at all certain who would emerge the victor, not at all certain whether a Dragon even could survive such a battle. . or for that matter, whether the Giant would survive. For although Dragons have unimaginable strength, and claws like adamantine, and hides tougher than the finest steel, and although Fire-drakes breathe flame, and Cold-drakes poisonous acid, still, Utruni can split the hardest stone and metals with their bare hands, and lift and move masses beyond comprehension, and survive in the incredibly hostile environment found deep within the earth, though it is not known how. Yet it is unlikely that such a battle would ever take place, for Dragons avoid confrontations with these beings, and with rare exceptions, Utruni abstain from conflict altogether.

Hence, Black Kalgalath thought of these Giants, and their gentle nature, and decided that they knew not his part in the stealing of the Kammerling, the taking of an item within their care; and he knew that they had no use for treasure; and so he concluded that even now, even here, they simply moved through the stone, shaping the land, as was their wont.

And the Dragon sank back into his caldera, sank back into his dreams.

And he did not note that there were two others upon the land as well, coming closer, walking in the shadows of Giants.

Three days later, again Black Kalgalath awakened, ravenous hunger driving him up from his wicked dreams. He cast out his senses, and still the Utruni were within the land. Once more the Drake thought upon this puzzle, trying to reason out why Giants would be nearby, moving through this land, why Giants would now be at the foot of Dragonslair. But his stomach writhed, breaking his concentration, voracious hunger demanding that he find food. And so once more he concluded that the Utruni posed no threat, as he slithered up the twisting cavern, up through the dark lava rock and black obsidian, up to the exit and out upon the ledge. And just as the first of the Sun edged unto the horizon in the breaking dawn, its horizontal light sliding down the sides of Dragonslair, Black Kalgalath belled a great roar that thundered and slapped throughout the nearby peaks, causing snow to avalanche and rocks to cascade down. Again he roared, and with a mighty leap, launched himself skyward, his vast leathery pinions lifting him into the morning light.

Up and up he mounted, ever higher, and then westward he sped, toward Jord, toward the remnants of the cattle herd he’d scattered upon the plains.

Belly filled, Black Kalgalath’s flight now took him southward, toward Kachar, for he had not harassed that Dwarvenholt for more than two full seasons: when, in his quest to wreak vengeance upon Elgo’s kith, he had fallen upon Men and Dwarves locked in War with one another; when he had harried the Men, pursuing them, killing them; when he had discovered the foul truce between Man and Dwarf and had slain many and had driven the enemies inside a stone prison together, and had buried the gate, trapping the belligerents in an unbreakable embrace that they would come to rue. Not since the days after, when he had slaughtered a Dwarven work party at the rubble before the gate, not since those days had he displayed his prowess unto these puny creatures.

Yet now he would do so once again.

And so, at winter’s end, midmorn of the day of the spring equinox, Black Kalgalath hammered across the sky and unto the Dwarvenholt of Kachar, brutality and violence in his thoughts.

Sentries stood before closed gates when at last the Drake arrived, and with cries of terror they fled through side posterns as his deafening roars rent the air, splitting it asunder, for he was enraged to find that the portal was no longer buried. And in a frenzy, he whelmed upon the great iron doors, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! reverberating thunderously within. Yet the gates held, and furious, he flew to the mountainside above and clawed and shattered rock, raining boulders and slabs and scree upon the portal below, filling the forecourt and beyond, tons and tons of granite and schist and basalt thundering down, a great sliding mass ramping upward, the talus reaching out into the vale and sloping upward far beyond the top of the gate.

Now, let these insignificant fools dig free of that! And when they are nearly finished, then will I return and cover it over again!

It was midafternoon when Black Kalgalath flew back into the mountains nigh Dragonslair. And as he neared, he cast forth his senses, seeking Utruni. And the Dragon exploded in rage, for the Giants were high up in the dormant firemountain, and someone within the lair itself threatened his very hoard!