Richard Knaak - The Sundering

The black was smaller and, therefore, very swift, but Korialstrasz was sleek and cunning. As his adversary slipped around a passage, Korialstrasz took a different route. He had spent enough time staring at the landscape while he waited to know where some of the different valleys remerged.

Through the mountains, he flew. Ahead, the left side of a fork offered an enticing turn, but Korialstrasz knew that it was the one favoring the right that would lead him back to his quarry.

In the distance, he heard the hard flapping of his enemy’s wings. The red dragon grew concerned. He should have passed the other by this point, but the sound gave indication that the black one was instead widening the gap.

Pushing himself to his limits, Korialstrasz neared the point he had been seeking. Only a short distance more. He could not hear the flapping, but felt certain that he had finally gotten ahead.

He crossed back into the other valley —

There was a near collision of wings. Both dragons roared, more from surprise than fury. Korialstrasz spun around twice and the black dragon rammed sideways into a small peak, shattering the top.

But momentum was now with the smaller of the two. The black pushed ahead, regaining precious air.

Shaking his head and damning his poor luck, Korialstrasz pursued. He would catch the other dragon, no matter what it took. Too much had already been lost in this struggle…

His determination hardened, Korialstrasz roared once more and continued the chase.

But in pursuing the obvious, the red leviathan had missed something smaller below. Eyes watched — those who had eyes, that is — as the two huge beasts vanished in the distance.

“An impressive aerial display, don’t you think, Captain Varo’then?”

The scarred night elf snorted. “A fair enough fight, though too short.”

“And not enough bloodshed for you, I’d wager.”

“Never enough,” responded Azshara’s servant. “But more than enough prattle, Master Illidan. Is this proof we’re close at last?”

Illidan casually adjusted the scarf across his ruined eyes. For him, the battle between two such titans had been far more interesting, for these great creatures were of magic origins and so the sky had been filled with astonishing energies and brilliant colors. Malfurion’s brother had come to admire his new senses, they revealing to him a world such as he had never realized existed.

“I’d think that obvious, captain, although don’t you find it interesting to have not only a black dragon but a red one near here? Why do you suppose the second was in this area?”

“You said it yourself. This is a place where the beasts live.”

The sorcerer shook his head. “I said this was where we’d find the lair of the huge black one. That red was here for a specific reason.”

Varo’then’s marred face grew uglier as he realized just what his companion meant. “The other dragons want the disk! Makes the only sense!”

“Yes…” Illidan urged his mount along, the officer following. Behind them marched the demon warriors. “But they’d be so easily caught. You saw how they were beaten.” He considered further. “I think I recognized the markings on that red.”

“What of it? All those beasts are the same!”

“Spoken like a Highborne.” Illidan rubbed his chin as he mused. “No, I think that is the one I’ve met… and if that’s so, we might just have some familiar company ahead.”

Malfurion watched the goblin wend his way through the narrowing cracks and while he understood that Krasus had needed to animate the body, it still unnerved him. Even the mage’s reassurance that this was a spell little used and even less desired by his kind did not completely assuage the night elf.

Yet, he gave no outer sign of his emotions save to stand as far as he could from the creature. Curiously, the goblin’s movements grew more adept as time passed, almost to the point where he seemed to have actually come back to life.

To the druid’s surprise, it was Krasus who first mouthed what the others had been long thinking.

“How much farther?” muttered the pale, robed figure. “This abuse of the tenets of life disgusts me more and more…”

As if in answer, the goblin suddenly bent over. Malfurion glanced at Krasus, thinking that perhaps the mage had become so sick of what he had been doing that he had finally just released the body from the spell. However, the contemplative expression his companion wore said otherwise.

“Watch…” Krasus murmured. “Watch…”

The animated goblin touched a stone lying near the base of the mountain. To Malfurion’s eyes, the stone appeared to be just a random one that had no doubt fallen from the peak some time back.

Yet, as soon as the creature turned it slightly to the right, the entire rock face shimmered — and more than half of it disappeared.

Brox let out a grunt. Krasus nodded.

“Very cunning,” he remarked. “Look, where once there was stone, to the left is now a narrow passage cut through the peak itself.”

They followed their macabre guide for several more minutes, then Krasus suddenly had the goblin come to a halt.

“Listen…”

Somewhere far away, they heard the chitter of goblin voices and the constant hammering of metal.

The druid stiffened. “We’ve reached it.”

“And so we can put an end to this obscenity…” Krasus waved his hand and the goblin turned. The animated figure crawled over a rock, vanishing from sight. A moment later, the dragon mage made a cutting action. “He will be found… but after we are through here.”

Krasus started forward, but Malfurion suddenly seized his arm. “Wait,” the druid whispered. “You can’t go in there.”

He was rewarded with a rare glimpse of the mage caught off guard. Krasus stared deep. “You have a reason for saying this at such a late hour?”

“I didn’t think of it until a short time ago. Krasus, of all of us, he’ll notice you easiest. You’re one of his own kind. He’ll be expecting the dragons to try to steal the Demon Soul away from him.”

“But my kind is most susceptible and so we would be more likely to stay far from it. Besides, I have shielded myself well.”

Nodding, Malfurion continued, “And your kind also has the most to lose while the disk is still his. It behooves the dragons to at least try… and that’s what the Earth Warder will think, too. Inside, he’ll surely be on guard for any dragon magic, especially such shields.”

“And he is an Aspect…” The slim figure pursed his lips. Malfurion expected Krasus to eloquently explain why the night elf’s thinking was incorrect, but, at last, the robed mage replied, “You speak the truth. We would try and he would expect us to try. I know him well. It is something I should have considered earlier, but I suspect I wanted so badly to ignore it. I am fortunate enough to have come this far, but his lair will surely be arranged so as to trap any dragon other than his own.”

“As I thought.”

“Which does not mean that you and Brox will have it any easier,” Krasus reminded him. “Yet, the audacity of two of the lesser races sneaking through his very sanctum might slip by him, if just barely.”

“Brox should stay with you.”

“No, the orc is better suited to assisting you. There are many physical dangers, least of which are far more goblins than what we’ve come across. You will need to concentrate on securing the Demon Soul and, while I will assist as much as I can from out here, someone must watch your back inside.”

“No one will harm him,” rumbled Brox. He hefted the ax and grinned. “Make me a good song, elder one?”

Krasus gave a rare smile. “I will begin composing it the moment we are rid of this place.”