Chapter Seventeen
Beyond the Veil
Tempest’s massive jaws snapped shut, splintering the coral tower into shards. She chewed twice, to stop the annoying thrashing of the building’s defenders, then swallowed.
It had been a long time since the dragon had enjoyed herself so thoroughly. Around her, Reeftown lay in shambles. Blood stained the night sea black.
The sea elves fought back against the sharks, razorfish, Turbidus leeches, and Tempest’s cadre of dragonspawn. But with the titanic dragon leading them, the Reeftowners stood little chance.
Tempest bit another elf in half, savoring the sweet blood as it rolled down her gullet. She butted her massive head against a bony woman trying to poke her with a spear. The woman sailed through the water and crashed into a crumbling coral wall. The wall collapsed, burying the spear carrier.
The dragon surged forward, shattering an old shipwreck that had been converted into a tavern. The patrons hiding inside scattered like minnows. Tempest gulped them down one by one.
Something tugged at the dragon’s mind.
It took a few moments for her to recognize the familiar thoughts calling inside her brain.
The Veil! One of her minions had actually made it to the Veil’s final harrier!
In an instant, Tempest ripped the vital knowledge from the informant’s mind. Instantly, the path before her became clear.
Turning, she surged toward the distant reef, leaving her minions to fend for themselves.
The Veil shimmered ahead of her, penetrating reef and sea and sky. At its base stood a huge stone dragon, seemingly carved from the very bedrock. The statue’s diamond eyes blazed with the power of ancient enchantment.
The sea dragon hissed her anger and dived forward. As she approached, the Veil’s magic flickered, as though momentarily weakened.
Tempest flung herself against the barrier, summoning all her arcane might as she did so. The Veil shuddered, yielded slightly, then wrapped itself around the dragon’s huge form.
Lightning flashed from both sea and sky. Tempest felt the Veil weaken, then spring back. She pushed forward, her titanic muscles burning with the effort. The barrier surged around her, turning the dragon’s own force back against her. She flayed it with spells, but the magic ricocheted back against her iron scales. Tempest roared with fury and indignation.
The enchantment of the Veil swirled, twisting her mind and body. The evil fish who had accompanied her flailed about aimlessly, lost and confused. She tried to call them, but the Veil buzzed in her head, confusing her commands.
Through the whirlpool energies she saw the blazing eyes of the ancient statue. With a powerful slash of her flukes she propelled herself toward it. Energy from the diamond eyes leaped up, meeting the sea dragon head on.
Her mind reeled. She lashed out against it, smashing coral and stone with her talons and flukes. The sea bed shuddered with the assault. Currents swirled around her like a whirlpool. She summoned lightning, maelstroms, lifesucking darkness, and deadly rip-tides, and blasted them against the Veil’s power.
Again she struck, again and again. Weariness drew over her mind, but still she turned and attacked. She battered her body against the magic until her scales bled. The world became a timeless, crimson haze.
Then die resistance ceased.
Tempest opened her yellow eyes, triumph filling her rotten heart. She looked for the hated isles and saw—
The reef, nearly a league away through dark, clouded waters. At its base a statue with glowing eyes, standing unmolested on the sea floor. And beyond the statue, her dragonish senses detected the Veil, still standing.
She had failed.
Once more, the ancient magic had tricked and confused her. Once more it had deceived her senses. The dragon howled her rage, belching a scalding torrent into the brine.
She devoured those of her minions unfortunate enough to be lurking nearby. The Turbidus leeches ringing Tempest’s neck hissed with delight as they gobbled up the scraps.
By the time Tempest finally regained her composure, the morning sun was just peeking over the corner of the world.
“How?” the sea dragon wondered. “How do those small, weak creatures penetrate the barrier when I cannot?”
Very faintly, in the back of her mind, she heard Mog’s answer: “A diamond,” he said. “They used an enchanted diamond. They summoned its magic, and the barrier parted.”
“Yes!” Revelation dawned in Tempest’s mind.
“The black diamond would not be large enough for you, great mistress,” Mog told her in his thoughts.
“No,” Tempest agreed, “surely it is too small. There is one larger, though. The hated dragons placed an ancient diamond at the root of the Veil. It must he the key that opens all.”
Pictures formed in her reptilian mind, a huge, glowing gem shining in the sky and a temple sunk beneath the waves.
More pictures came, elves and humans, and even a tasty kender, searching for the lost treasure. Tempest smiled.
“They will find the key to the ancient magic,” she said to Mog. “And when they do, the Dragon Isles shall he mine.”