Legends of the Dragonrealm, Vol II - By Richard A. Knaak Page 0,231

crossed from here to any of their creations.

Nimth.

He caught sight of the image, stared at the figure of a Vraad, then felt an uncontrollable urge to face the Gate once more.

“Serkadion Manee!”

Within the frame of the Gate, there now stood the entrance to another world. Dru did not have to ask to know it was his own.

His guide left his side and stepped toward the waiting artifact. The shapes on its frame seemed to slow, though they were still not quite in focus.

Less than an arm’s length from the passageway to Dru’s world, the golem halted. It raised one hand, then lowered it in one harsh swing.

Nimth vanished, to be replaced by… nothing. More than nothing. The sorcerer knew what doorway had now been opened. His recognition of the Void was accompanied by a sense of growing dread.

The faceless being who had stood beside him turned then and, indicating the vast emptiness within the Gate, gestured for Dru to step forward.

XVI

THERE WERE STILL angry Vraad moving about what remained of the communal city, but most had departed. Ever distrusting of their brethren, the majority had returned to the safety of their private domains, there to brood and pout at the trick that had been played on them. They would be so engrossed in their self-pity and their eternal plots for vengeance that they would probably never get around to devising their own ways of escaping… something the Tezerenee had proved quite able to do.

It was those few who still remained, still seeking to find some stray ally of the dragon clan or merely desiring to unleash their frustration, who worried Gerrod. Having had one attempt at teleportation misdirected, he was not looking forward to a second try at any point in the near future. Sharissa shared his fear in that respect, which was why the two of them still remained in hiding, despite the occasional passing of a blood-thirsty sorcerer. The room they presently called safety was a tiny storage chamber in a flat, black building on the opposite side of the city from the building where the Lord Barakas had made many of his fine speeches of cooperation, including the one in which he had seemed to promise that all Vraad would indeed be crossing into the new world.

Oddly, it was Dru’s daughter who had finally had enough. She stalked over to her hooded companion and leaned over him, arms crossed. “The great and powerful Tezerenee! To think that I was afraid of you! What have you brought us to? How could you abandon Sirvak?”

Gerrod had no answer for the first question and he had already answered the second one more than a dozen times in the past few minutes alone. That, by no means, prevented Sharissa from asking it again. With her father gone, Sirvak was all she had. She no longer trusted Melenea, which, as far as the young Tezerenee was concerned, was the only good that had come of the whole incident.

“I told you, child! Sirvak flew out one of the windows the moment I snared you! It is likely back in your domain, awaiting us!” He looked up at her, more than matching her glare. “Try and remember that for at least a second or two, will you? I need to think!”

“Maybe one of those grateful folk outside would be willing to help you think! You’ve done nothing but brood since we found this place!”

He started to snap back at her, then saw that she spoke the truth. He was acting much like those he had always despised. The Zeree whelp had not helped his situation, however. He spread his hands wide and replied, “I would welcome whatever masterful plan you have conceived during all the time you’ve been berating me.”

Sharissa clamped her mouth shut and gave him a stare that should have, by rights, burned a hole through his head.

“I thought as much.” Stimulated by both her words and his growing shame, Gerrod pushed himself harder.

“Have you noticed something?” she asked, disturbing the peace he had finally gained.

“Besides the inability on your part to remain silent for more than a breath?”

She ignored his remark. “For all the damage they did to the city, it should have been far worse.”

“I think they’re doing an admirable job.”

“I mean that they’re in the same predicament as we are! They can’t trust their spells!”

Gerrod straightened, feeling very stupid. He had understood that when dealing with Melenea, understood it because he knew she lived near an unstable region. The