J. King - PLANESHIFT

As the dancers stepped lightly across the floor, Crovax dispelled the illusions of Agnate and Rhammidarigaaz.

They had served their purpose. He only wished Yawgmoth owned their souls, but he should not be greedy. Now even Gerrard belonged to Yawgmoth.

"Great lord," intruded a quiet voice into the dance. It was Ertai, standing above the body of Squee. "You had best see this."

On any other day, Crovax would have punished such umbrage with a shock to the mimetic spine. Triumph made him indulgent. Crovax patiently danced Selenia to the spot. He looked down.

No longer was Squee's head spattered across the floor. It was solid again. No longer was his body still. Breath slid into and out of his lungs.

"He lives again. He rises from the dead – again."

Crovax stared down in amazement. "I must have fixed him better than I had thought. Or perhaps this is the work of our lord." Crovax blinked in thought. "That must be it. Squee is a gift for my labors, a plaything I can kill a hundred times each day."

Even as he spoke, the goblin began to cough. He sat up, looking about in confusion.

Resuming the dance, Crovax strode right across Squee. He crushed the goblin to the ground. His claws sank into Squee's belly and ripped it open. Crovax and Selenia continued onward, leaving red footprints.

Once again, Squee lay dead.

"Tahngarth, get yourself fore!" ordered Sisay. She hauled hard on the helm, bringing Weatherlight into the slipstream of the black dragon god. "We've got only one forecastle gun, and it's yours!"

"Aye, Captain," Tahngarth replied from the aft speaking tube. He released the fire controls of Squee's gun and dragged the traces from his shoulders. "But a dozen more dragons are diving on us from the rear."

Through gritted teeth, Sisay shot back, "First, we'll worry about dragon gods, then about run-of-the-mill dragons." She blew a sweaty lock of hair away from her forehead and hissed to herself – " 'run-of-the-mill dragons.' "

The creature that fled before Weatherlight was anything but a run-of-the-mill dragon. Hugely muscled, sinuous as a snake, the black dragon was sleek and dangerous. Still, it seemed diminished by the death of Rhammidarigaaz. No longer did its scales gleam like fine-cut onyx. Sisay hoped the beast also was no longer impervious to ray-cannon fire.

Tahngarth reached the forecastle. He strapped himself into the gunnery traces. Swinging the great cannon around, he drew a bead on the retreating dragon. Spittle on the gun's casement sizzled immediately away. With a grim smile, Tahngarth unleashed a barrage. Bolts barked upon the air. They swarmed toward the retreating dragon. The first blast mantled the lashing tail. The second splashed across one wing. The third dug a furrow up the monster's hackled back.

"It can be hurt!" Sisay called. "I'll stay tight. Tahngarth, keep up the attack!"

Karn's voice reverberated through the tube, "It can be hurt, yes, but not killed-never killed."

An incredulous look spread across Sisay's face. "Since when have you been an expert on dragon gods?"

"Since I sifted through the mind of Rhammidarigaaz."

Sisay sent the ship into a dive after the black dragon. "Since when have you been able to sift through minds?"

"I've been changing, Sisay. My memories change me, and so does Weatherlight. The Thran Tome is my history. I can read it simply by holding it. I know things by touch. I touched Darigaaz's mind and saw his past and mine. I know where these gods came from."

Flack burst from Tahngarth's ray cannon and blossomed into roses beside the dragon.

Sisay struggled to keep the beast to the fore. "Well, Karn, spill."

"When all five Primevals banded together, they had absolute control over the dragon nations. With Rhammidarigaaz's sacrifice, the other four are weakened. If we send this black dragon back to sleep, they will be further weakened."

"Back to sleep? Where does a black dragon sleep?"

"A tar pit on the other side of the main volcano. We must drive him down into it. The ancient magic will take hold. It won't be easy. The other Primevals know the weakness. They'll do everything to stop-"

"Here they come!" shouted Sisay.

Three Primevals-green, white, and blue-surged in an angry V toward Weatherlight. The black Primeval swooped up behind its comrades and joined their shrieking attack.

Sisay's first impulse was to head skyward, but that would slow the ship and open her belly to attack. There was no room below the dragons. They would drive Weatherlight down into the cypress forests. Only one route remained.

"Full frontal assault!" Sisay called. "Bring all guns to bear. Pave a highway through the sky."

From Weatherlight's remaining cannons, fire erupted across the sky. It struggled to outpace the hurtling ship. Beams blazed her trail. A crimson wall of flame broke over the Primevals. Fire blasted eyes and rolled down throats. It curled scales and sent smoke whuffing from mantles. Wings singed. Tails sparked.

The four dragon gods soared from the holocaust. Flames limned them as they came. With impossible speed, they fell on Weatherlight.

Sisay spun the helm to starboard. Karn stoked engines. Still, the ship could not escape.

The green dragon clapped talons on Tahngarth's gun. Like an eagle ripping a fish from the water, it tore the cannon from its mounts. Tahngarth shoved the traces between his teeth and bit through. He hurled himself back on the forecastle deck as his gun drew away.

The white dragon strafed low over that deck. Its throat poured out a blinding radiance that ignited everything in its path. Tahngarth's fur burst into flame. He rolled on the deck, but it too burned. Magnigoth planks blackened. The dragon poured light through the shattered windscreen of the bridge. Sisay released the helm, skipping back behind a bulkhead. She saved herself but only just. Everything else on the bridge-maps and desks and even the helm- flamed.

The black dragon shot past next. His mouth spilled the ancient word for death. Tahngarth was spared the killing sound, which was drowned out by his own bellows. Others on deck heard the word. They dropped down dead. Their bodies slid across the planks.

The blue dragon's attack was the worst, though. Azure power rolled out from the thing's mouth-a disruption cloud. It twisted wood and metal, sapped power, shut down engines. Weatherlight plummeted from the sky.

Sisay flung her captain's cowl over the helm, suffocating the fire. She grabbed hold, but the stick was dead in her hands. "Let's have some power, Karn!"

In answer, a pair of deep booms came from below. Greenish-black smoke poured from the exhausts. Still, the power would not engage.

"How about stopping these fires, Multani?" Sisay shouted. Beads of sap welled up and spread across the blackened wood. Where the liquid went, fires guttered and ceased.

Even before they were gone, Orim scrambled across the deck to Tahngarth. The minotaur had suffered serious burns.

"Power, Karn!" Sisay yelled. The volcano below surged up to smash the ship. Lava extrusions reached their gnarled fingers toward the hull. "Power!"