Richard Knaak - The Citadel

“I want you to help me find Leot, the White Robe, and another mage who disappeared during the battle. I want you to help me find the citadel and its masters before they return in force.”

A curious and very undragonlike expression graced the giant male’s reptilian features as he listened. After a pause, Sunfire laughed.

“I had known of your arrogance prior to this, human,” he roared, nearly bringing down part of the ceiling, “but I had never understood its depth until this moment! But a handful of humans ever dare to come to this place, and most come for either our imagined hoard or in response to our summons. I cannot recall the last time one sought to invite us on a quest.”

He laughed again, forcing Tyros to cover his ears. It did no good to try to back out of the cave in order to lessen the effect, for the dragons’ home had no ledge. To reach the mouth, the determined spellcaster had been forced, with the dragon rider’s aid, to climb fifty yards of sheer rock face.

The male gold lay curled up before Tyros, near enough to snap up the human, robes and all. Of Glisten, Tyros had seen no sign, for which he felt disappointed. Females had always been more kindly toward him, and the handsome mage had thought that perhaps Sunfire’s mate might be no different.

Still, Tyros didn’t give up. “You might also find those two black dragons.”

“Them? Upstarts! Honorless lizards!” Dragons considered “lizard” the ultimate insult among their kind. “Twins of darkness, those two! My Glisten still suffers pain in her wings from the wounds they inflicted on her. Look here.” He turned his reptilian visage so that Tyros could see his left profile. A series of jagged scars, still fresh and red, left no doubt that the black dragons had not been entirely outclassed.

“Their master must have kidnapped the other wizards,” Tyros insisted. “Perhaps we can kill two birds with one stone.”

“Or two black dragons with one breath?” returned the gold.

“Or that.” All dragons had breath weapons, be they fire, poison gas, or ice. Gold dragons, considered by many, themselves included, to be the most superior, could utilize either flame or deadly chlorine gas. The black beasts, though, had their own weapons, scalding acid chief among them, as Glisten had discovered.

“It would be nice to sink my claws into the throats of those two …” the scaled behemoth mused.

Tyros’s hopes rose. Perhaps the gold dragon had seen the merit of his plan. “They headed to the southeast. I believe that they may have entered the New Sea and-”

“And I will not be going with you, mage.” The male frowned at the human’s disbelieving visage. “Did you think me so readily swayed? I have as many reasons to reject your proposition as I do to endorse it, and chief among the former is your own self. I know something of you, Mage Tyros, and what I know I do not like. Your self-serving reputation is matched only by your ego. In addition, you choose to wear the crimson robes of the most waffling of magical orders, those mortals who would claim to follow Lunitari, but, if the whim presented itself, could readily slip into robes of night!”

“I would never do that! I donned these robes because of the freedom of choice they give, but-”

Sunfire snorted, enveloping the human in a puff of smoke. Tyros coughed, nearly suffocating. “Too many of your kind shift to the darkness, little man! Had you worn the robes of light, such as good Leot, I might have considered your petition.”

“But in the end,” interrupted a smoother, feminine voice, “we would have rejected it. We have to reject it.”

From the depths of the cave emerged Glisten. Her scales had been marred by burns, yet still the female dragon presented an awe-inspiring spectacle. Sleeker and slightly smaller than her mate, she moved with grace, while Sunfire moved with muscle.

The male swung his head to look at her. His tone became much more gentle. “You should not be up. This is the most precious of times for you.”

“I am not a fragile egg, my love.” The moment she finished the statement, though, a strange change came over the coloring of Glisten’s face.

Suspicious, Tyros studied her. The female seemed not so sleek as he recalled her from the past. During the battle, his mind had been on the moment, but now Tyros noticed that Glisten looked swollen.

“He knows,” she remarked.

The mage hadn’t realized she had been watching his inspection of her. “My apologies, fair lady … but also my congratulations! Such a wondrous event-”

“The smooth tongue of Tyros Red Robe,” Sunfire muttered. “Yes, human, my mate is ready to lay eggs, the first eggs I know of for one of my kind since we awoke!”

“I had … I had eggs before that.…” Glisten whispered, almost to herself.

“Think not on those, my love!” The male’s sudden outburst shook the cave again, forcing Tyros to protect his head. Sunfire focused on the tiny figure. “Perhaps for the safety of our eggs and the pleasure of many in the city, I should devour this intrusive wizard!”

“No!” Glisten swatted her mate on the side, more a gentle tap than an actual strike. Sunfire snarled but acquiesced. The female’s gaze met that of Tyros. “He will not tell anyone.”

“I swear by Lunitari and my life that I will not, my lady!”

Glisten seemed happier, but Sunfire still looked distrustful. She rubbed her head against his, causing the male to relax. “It probably does not matter. Many know of my condition already.”

“The dragon riders we can trust. Elfrim is a man of honor.”

“Yes, but some others in the city know, and surely those twin devils we fought will have recognized my condition!”

“Them!” A dangerous look reappeared in Sunfire’s eyes. “Perhaps I should risk going with this impetuous fool! I’ll tear their throats out for what they did.”

“I need you here!” Glisten interjected. “ We need you here.”

The male looked at her swollen form. “So you do.” To Tyros, he said, “For your concern for Leot, I commend you. From what I had heard of you, it surprises me that you had even this one friend. Yet I will tell you, as I told the female who came here earlier, this is not the time for quests for either my mate or myself. You must deal with this matter yourself.”

Sunfire shifted his attention to Glisten. Tyros felt great disappointment at being turned down, but he could not blame them. Dragon eggs were rare, though only a few people seemed to know why. Tyros had heard rumors but nothing believable.

He started back to the mouth of the cave, hoping that the dragon rider would still be waiting to help with his descent. Yet a question arose, one that the disappointed spellcaster had to ask no matter the danger to him. “Excuse me, great lord!”

Sunfire whirled on him. “I think I have excused you enough, Red Robe! Be off with you!”

“Just one question. The woman who visited you … can you tell me anything about her?” Few people would dare to come here unless on a task of great import, which had made Tyros suspicious as to the other adventurer’s identity.

“She had better manners than you, that I can say, but one would expect that of a cleric! Now, begone before I forget my mate’s condition!”

The golden leviathan puffed a vast cloud of smoke toward him. Tyros immediately departed, knowing that he had reached the end of Sunfire’s patience.

He barely noticed the descent, his thoughts on the dragon’s refusal and the interesting knowledge that the scarlet-tressed cleric had been there. Tyros wished he could have asked Sunfire more about her request. All the frustrated mage could do now was consider his next move. The trouble was, he had no next move. Tyros had made the journey up the mountain with the assumption that Sunfire would agree. Though the dragon had hinted that he wanted to go after the two black beasts, Glisten’s condition meant that Tyros had nothing to show for his efforts.