Laurana ran toward the huge, gaping portcullis, the entryway into the Tower that made so little sense. The stone walls were a blur as she fled past then,. Behind her she could hear a dragon swooping after her. She could hear its stertorous breathing, the rush of air past its wings. She heard the dragon rider's command that stopped the dragon from following her right into the Tower. Goodl Laurana smiled grimly to herself.
Running through the wide hallway, she sped swiftly past the second portcullis. Knights stood there, poised and ready to drop it.
"Keep it open!" she gasped breathlessly. "Remembers"
They nodded. She sped on., Now she was in the dark, oarrawer chamber where the oddly shaped, toothlike pillars slanted toward her with razor sharpness. Behind the pillars, she saw white faces beneath gleaming helms. Here and there, light sparkled oar a dragonlance. The knights peered at her as she
past. ,
"Get back!" she shouted. "Stay behind the pillars."
II.5urrn'I" one asked.
Latxrana shook her head, too exhausted to talk. She through the tb:ird portcullis-the strange one, the one with hale in the center. Here stood font knights, along with Flini This was the key position. Laurana wanted someone here sI could depend on, She had no time for more than an exchange a glances with the d•rrarE, but that was enough. Flint read tE story of his friend in her faze. The dwarf's head bowed far moment,I'ds hand covering his eyes.
Laurana ran on. Through this small room, beneath d doors made of solid steel and then into the chamber of dragon ofrb.
Tasslehoff had dusted the .orb with his han
dker
Laurana cbuldsee inside ix now, a faint red mist swirling
myriad o3lors. The kender stood before it, staring inrlo it,
rjragical ,glasses. perched upon his small nose. -_
""What do I do?"'Lavaarna gasped, out of breath..
"Laurana;' Tas pegged, "don't do this!. I've read-if yes.
to control the essence of the dragons within the orb, the dragons will come, Laurana, and take control of you!"
"Tell me what I need to do!" Laurana said firmly.
"Put your hands on the orb;' Tas faltered, "and-no, wait, Laurana!"
It was too late. Laurana had already placed both slender hands upon the chill crystal globe. There was a flash of color from inside the orb, so bright Tas had to avert his eyes.
"Laurana!" he cried in his shrill voice. "Listen! You must concentrate, clear your mind of everything except bending the orb to your will? Laurana. . :"
If she heard him, she made no response, and Tas realized she
was already caught up in the battle for control of the orb. Fearfully he remembered Fizban's warning, death for those you love, worse-the loss of the soul. Only dimly did he understand the dire wards written in the flaming colors of the orb, but he knew enough to realize that Laurana's said was at balance here.
In agony he watched her, longing to help-fret knowing that he did oat dare do anything. Laurana stood for long moments
without snowing, her hands upon the orb, her face slowly draining of all life. Her eyes stared deep info the spinning, swirling colors. The kender grew dizzy looking at it and turned away, Eeelirg sick. There was another explosion outside. Dust driEked down from the ceiling. Tas stirred uneasily. But Laurana never moved.
Her eyes closed, her head bent Forward. She clutched the orb, her hands whitening from the pressure she exerted. Then she began to whimper and shake her head. "II0," she moaned,
and it seemed as if she were trying desperately to pull her hands away.. But the orb held them fast.
Tas wondered bleakly what they should do. He longed to run up and pull her away. He wished he had broken this orb, but there was nothing he could do now. He could only stand and watch helplessly.
Laurana's body gave a convulsive shudder. Tas saw her drop to her knee, her hands still holding fast to, the orb. Then
Laurana shook her head armgrily. Muttering unfamiliar words in elven, she fought to stand, using the orb to, drag herself up. Her hands turned white with the strain and sweat trickled down her face. She was exerting every ounce of strength she possessed. With agonizing slowness, Laurana stood.
The orb flared a final time, the colors swirled together, becoming many colors and none. Then a bright, beaming, pure white light poured from the orb. Laurana stood tall and straight before it. Her face relaxed. She smiled.
And then she collapsed, unconscious, to the floor.
In the courtyard of the High Clerist's Tower, the dragons were systematically reducing the stone walls to rubble. The army was nearing the Tower, draconians in the forefront, preparing to enter through the breached walls and kill anything left alive inside. The Dragon Highlord circled above the chaos, his blue dragon's nostril black with dried blood. The Highlord supervised the destruction of the Tower. All was proceeding well when the bright daylight was pierced by a pure white light beaming out from the three huge, gaping entryways into the Tower.
The dragon riders glanced at these light beams, wondering casually what they portended. Their dragons, however, reacted differently. Lifting their heads, their eyes lost all focus. The dragons heard the call.
Captured by ancient magic-users, brought under control by an elfmaiden-the essence of the dragons held within the orb did as it was bound to do when commanded. It sent forth its irresistible call. And the dragons had no choice but to answer that call and try desperately to reach its source.
In vain the startled dragon riders tried to turn their mounts. But the dragons no longer heard the riders' commanding voices, they heard only a single voice, that of the orb. Both dragons swooped toward the inviting portcullises while their riders shouted and kicked wildly.
The white light spread beyond the Tower, touching the front ranks of the dragonarmies, and the human commanders stared as their army went mad.
The orb's call sounded clearly to dragons. But draconians, who were only part dragon, heard the call as a deafening voice shouting garbled commands. Each one heard the voice differently, each one received a different call.
Some draconians fell to their knees, clutching their heads in agony. Others turned and fled an unseen horror lurking in the Tower. Still others dropped their weapons and ran wildly, straight toward the Tower. Within moments an organized, wellplanned attack had turned into mass confusion as a thousand draconians dashed off shrieking in a thousand directions. Seeing the major part of their force break and run, the goblins promptly fled the battlefield, while the humans stood bewildered amidst the chaos, waiting for orders that were not forthcoming.
The Dragon Highlord's own mount was barely kept in control by the Highlord's powerful force of will. But there was no stopping the other two dragons or the madness of the army. The Highlord could only fume in impotent fury, trying to determine what this white light was and where it was coming from. And-if possible-try to eradicate it.
The first blue dragon reached the first portcullis and sped inside the huge entryway, its rider ducking just in time to avoid having his head taken off by the wall. Obeying the call of the orb, the blue dragon flew easily through the wide stone halls, the tips of her wings just barely brushing the sides.
Through the second portcullis she darted, entering the chamber with the strange, toothlike pillars. Here in this second chamber she smelled human flesh and steel, but she was so in thrall to the orb she paid no attention to them. This chamber was smaller, so she was forced to pull her wings close to her body, letting momentum carry her forward.
Flint watched her coming. In all his one hundred forty-some years, he had never seen a sight like this . . . and he hoped he never would again. The dragonfear broke over the men confined in the room like a stupifying wave. The young knights, lances clutched in their shaking hands, fell back against the walls, hiding their eyes as the monstrous, blue-scaled body thundered past them.
The dwarf staggered back against the wall, his nerveless hand resting feebly on the mechanism that would slide shut the portcullis. He had never been so terrified in his life. Death would be welcome if it would end this horror. But the dragon sped on, seeking only one thing-to reach the orb. Her head glided under the strange portcullis.
Acting instinctively, knowing only that the dragon must not reach the orb, Flint released the mechanism. The portcullis closed around the dragon's neck, holding it fast. The dragon's head was now trapped within the small chamber. Her struggling body lay helpless, wings pressed against her sides, in the chamber where the knights stood, dragonlances ready.
Too late, the dragon realized she was trapped. She howled in such fury the rocks shuddered and cracked as she opened her mouth to blast the dragon orb with her lightning breath. Tasslehoff,trying frantically to revive Laurana, found himself staring into two flaming eyes. He saw the dragon's jaws part, he heard the dragon suck in her breath.
Lightning crackled from the dragon's throat, the concussion knocking the kender flat. Rock exploded into the room and the dragon orb shuddered on its stand. Tas lay on the floor, stunned by the blast. He could not move, did not even want to move, in fact. He just lay there, waiting for the next bolt which he knew would kill Laurana-if she wasn't already dead-and him, too. At this point, he really didn't much care.
But the blast never came.
The mechanism finally activated. The double steel door slammed shut in front of the dragon's snout, sealing the creature's head inside the small room.