Trask left Kendra holding the horn alone and proceeded down the long row of elevated tables, pausing beside the glittering gauntlets. He looked behind the pedestal on which the fancy gloves were situated. "I've found the key," Trask announced. "He stashed it behind the gauntlets."
"Good job!" Kendra cheered. She and Seth joined Trask, who struggled to pick up the egg-shaped mass of black iron.
"Big pineapple," Trask grunted. "Patton didn't mention the key was solid iron. This must weigh at least eighty pounds. Tough to get a grip."
"Use both hands," Kendra recommended. "I'll follow behind and keep the horn in contact with your skin."
They shuffled in an awkward train back across the treasure room, down the hall, and through the pillared chamber, passing Siletta's shrunken corpse. Tanu, Dougan, and Mara awaited them at the bottom of the steps.
"Success?" Dougan asked.
"We have the key and the giant's figurines," Trask reported.
"The key looks heavy," Tanu remarked.
"Or I'm getting really weak," Trask said.
"I'll lug the key down into the storage room," Dougan offered. "I already hauled the giant sword down there."
Trask gratefully handed off the iron egg. "Once you're back up, I want to move out. I hope Gavin fared all right. I'm not sure I should have let him go alone."
Face red with exertion, Dougan managed to descend the rungs into the storage room cradling the egg in one arm. When he came up, they hurried back toward the hydra. Kendra tried not to fret about Gavin. She told herself that he was fine, that he wouldn't have taken needless risks. But she knew how brave he was, and how deadly the hydra had appeared.
As they neared Glommus's cave, Tanu went forward alone to sample the ait. He came back and reported that the air was breathable, and that he had found no sign of Gavin. "We might do well to raid the dragon's corpse ourselves," Tanu added. "We could smear our weapons with sedatives, and it would be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to acquire potion ingredients."
"We need to hurry," Trask pointed out, "but prepping our weapons could pay dividends. Mara, come with me and Tanu."
While waiting outside the cave, Kendra saw Gavin walking back to them with a slight limp. Squealing with relief, she ran to him, and he caught her in an embrace. He was soaking wet, his clothes were torn, and he bled lightly from several cuts and scrapes.
"What happened?" Kendra asked, pulling back.
"I got her," Gavin said with a shy smile. "I found a g-gland in the neck of Glommus and drenched my spear and a few quarrels. You know how Trask shot out one of the yellowish head's eyes? I pierced the other one with a tainted quarrel. The heads started to thrash, and I got in a few stabs with the spear."
"You're hurt," Kendra said.
"A couple of the heads jostled me as Hespera went down," Gavin said dismissively. "Nothing major. No bad cuts, no broken bones, at least for now. She's beneath the water. We should hurry."
Trask, Mara, and Tanu shortly emerged from the cave, and Gavin recounted his battle with the hydra as they jogged toward the lake. Trask made the others hang back as he and Gavin advanced through the narrow passage to survey the dark water. They returned promptly, and then all of them hurried through the passage and across the ledge in two separate groups.
Kendra walked quickly, ready for shrieking heads to rise from the depths at any moment, but the murky lake never stirred. With the slumbering hydra behind them, they climbed the knotted rope and hustled between the enormous stone dragons out into the late afternoon sunlight. Clouds of dragonflies drifted near the reedy pools.
"What now?" Kendra asked.
"We rush to the rendezvous," Trask said, picking up the pace. "It will take over an hour. From there, the griffins will transport us to Thronis. The giant has given his word to help us, and he cannot lie. We'll weather the night in his mansion and then plan how to get out of Wyrmroost. Maybe some of his griffins can scout to see if Navarog is truly at the gates."
They marched single file, following a trackless route beneath tall conifers. Nobody spoke. With the woods around them quiet except for sporadic breezes rustling through the branches, Kendra supposed nobody wanted to jinx the group by disturbing the silence. They had survived the Dragon Temple. They had the key and the figurines. Now if only they could reach the griffins without attracting the notice of any passing Wyrmroost predators!
At one point Mara made them stop and crouch low as she watched a far-off dragon gliding in the sky. The creature showed no sign of having observed them and soon drifted out of view.
The trees thinned as they scaled the side of a rocky spine. About halfway up the long slope, Trask assembled the group below an overhang.
"Our griffins should await us just over this skinny ridge," Mara explained.
Trask nodded. "I'll cross over first with Gavin. If things look good, I'll whistle."
Kendra and the others huddled under the overhang and listened to loose rocks clack and shift as Trask and Gavin ascended the ridge. Not too long after they passed over the crest, a brief whistle shrilled twice. Mara took the lead as the rest of the group clambered up the stony slope. As Kendra picked her way up the loose rocks, she better understood why Trask and Gavin had climbed so noisily. No matter how she stepped, the rocks shifted and slid.
Near the top of the knifelike ridge, Kendra heard a flutter of wings. An astrid alighted on a rocky projection near the crest of the ridge, and words spilled into her mind.
This is an ambush. Two dragons lie in wait. Run!
Cautiously regarding the expressionless human face of the golden owl, Mara held her spear ready. "What does it want?" she asked Kendra.
"He's warning us," Kendra said, placing a calming hand on the spear. Kendra studied the astrid. "Are you sure?"
Run!
They will strike at any moment. Warn your friends.
The astrid took wing.
"It's a trap!" Kendra yelled. She hurried to the top of the ridge and peered over at Gavin and Trask descending the far side. They had turned toward her in response to her shout. Several griffins had emerged from the trees below, including one ridden by the dwarf. "Dragons! Run! It's an ambush!"
The dwarf barked an order and the griffins took flight. At the same time, a pair of enormous dragons soared over the far ridge. One had green scales and a bony frill framing its angular head. The other was a monstrosity in scarlet, with lumpy knobs on its snout and a club-shaped tail. The red dragon swept low over the trees, a roiling inferno jetting from its jaws to set a long strip of pines ablaze. The green dragon wheeled out wide, curving and climbing to approach from a different angle.
The griffins scattered. Some fought to gain altitude; others stayed near the ground. They darted in every direction. The griffin with the dwarf snatched Gavin in one claw and Trask in the other. Wings beating furiously, the overburdened griffin flew up the ridge, depositing Trask and Gavin near Kendra and the others.
"We'll come back around," the dwarf promised, his words trailing off as his griffin carried him away.
Trask grabbed Kendra's arm and guided her down the back side of the ridge, rocks rolling underfoot. After a few steps, he dove with her into the lee of a boulder, shielding her with his body. Overhead a dragon bellowed. Heat washed over Kendra as a fervent downpour of flame scorched a field of scree off to their right.
After the dragon had passed over, a pair of griffins streaked low along the slope. Seth sprang out from hiding and a griffin snatched him up and angled skyward. The other one grabbed Tanu. Above her and to the left, silhouetted against the setting sun, Kendra saw the green dragon diving toward a trio of griffins, fire spurting, but the griffins split up and maneuvered aggressively to evade the larger predator.
The scarlet dragon seemed to have been coming back around for another fiery pass, but then it swerved away to follow the griffin carrying Tanu. The griffin dropped into the trees for cover as the dragon released a searing stream of fire. Below the wide, red wings, the forest erupted into a raging conflagration.
"Into the bag," Trask commanded, seizing the knapsack from Kendra. As she stepped inside, a charred, one-winged griffin crashed onto the rocks less than twenty yards down the slope. Kendra hastily descended the rungs.
Warren was propped up on one elbow. "What now?"
"There were dragons waiting when we went to meet the griffins," Kendra said, eyeing his new splint. "How's your arm?"
"Messed up, just like the rest of me. At least Tanu dressed it and gave me painkillers. Are we going to make it?"
"We'll see."
From inside the storage room, the battle seemed far away. Kendra heard the shrieks of griffins and the roars of dragons, but the stationary room remained otherwise unremarkable.
Dougan rushed down the ladder, followed by Gavin. A moment later Mara entered, but she stayed on the top rungs. "Trask found a griffin," she reported. Mara poked her head up through the mouth of the knapsack. "We're airborne."
Gavin sidled up to Kendra. "How are you?"
"I don't know."
"We'll be all right." Taking her hand in his, he offered a reassuring squeeze.
"The green dragon is tailing us," Mara called down. "It's gaining. We're swerving. We're plunging. We're close to the cliff! I think we might--" She flinched, ducking her head, then looked up after an instant. "No, we made it. This griffin can really fly!"
Staring up at Mara, Kendra and the others could see the wind whipping her long, black hair. "We're diving," she reported. "We're rising. I think I know where we're going. We're upside down. Now we're rolling. Rising. Oh, no. No, no, no. No! Trask is falling! We're falling!" Tugging the flap down, Mara tucked her head and clung to the rungs.
They all heard the knapsack slap against the ground. Mara climbed up out of the room. Grabbing a sword, Gavin followed, then Dougan. Kendra scaled the rungs as well.
"You could wait in here," Warren suggested.
"I have to see," Kendra said.
She emerged on a long ledge near the brink of a high drop-off. Behind her rose a sheer cliff. Above her, the green dragon glided high in the sky, chasing other griffins. The red dragon pursued a distant griffin heading for Stormcrag. Mara, Gavin, and Dougan were staring upward. "What happened to Trask?" Kendra asked.
"He's coming down," Gavin said, pointing.
It took Kendra a moment to catch sight of the ghostly shape of Trask slowly descending toward them, his body a swirling mass of vapor. "He swallowed a gaseous potion!" Kendra exclaimed in relief.
Trask was waving for them to go.
"He wants us to head toward Sidestep Cleft," Mara said.
"How close are we?" Dougan asked.
"Not far," Mara said, snatching up the knapsack. "I think the griffin was trying to make it there. A griffin would fit much deeper inside the gap than a dragon. And a person could fit in deeper than any of them. The cleft is our best chance. We should be relatively safe there." They set off at a brisk run over the rocky ground.
"What about Trask?" Kendra asked.
"He'll try to hide," Dougan said. "Going gaseous saved him from the fall, but now he can't move very fast. We have to leave him. Our presence would only draw more attention to him."
"Trask will find a place to hide," Gavin said. "He knows we have to make it to the cleft. He and Mara are right--the dragons shouldn't be able to reach us in there."
Heedless of the treacherous footing, Kendra raced along the ledge. The green dragon remained in view whenever she looked back, but it seemed intent on chasing griffins. She was surprised the dragon didn't swoop over and kill them. They were such easy prey on the ledge. Perhaps the dragon had failed to notice them.
"The cleft should be around this bend," Mara announced.
"Here comes the dragon," Gavin warned.
Risking a glance, Kendra saw the dragon soaring straight at them, still a good distance away. They picked up the pace to a full sprint.
"Should we put Kendra in the bag?" Dougan asked.
"No time to slow down," Gavin replied. "We have to make it to the cleft."
Mara pulled away from them, her long legs eating up ground like a track stat. But as she rounded the bend, Mara skidded to a stop. When Kendra and the others caught up, they saw why.
A huge dragon blocked the entrance to the Sidestep Cleft. The dragon had an underbelly as pale as cream and dimpled yellow scales with a texture almost like linoleum. A
pair of forked antlers crowned the long head. The beaklike mouth opened and closed, clacking ominously.
Kendra felt the dragon terror take hold of her. Her muscles locked. Beside her Dougan had become equally immobile. Mara glanced back toward the green dragon, then ahead at the yellow, her dark eyes panicked. They were trapped. Gavin shrieked violently in the dragon language. The dragon responded sharply, prowling forward like a cat stalking a mouse. The huge creature did not seem interested in what he had to say. Despair took hold of Kendra. They had trespassed in the Dragon Temple, and now they would pay the price.
Kendra willed her muscles to move, but they refused. What a sad way to die! Cornered by dragons after enduring so much. At least Seth might escape. And Tanu. Maybe the dragons would fail to check inside the knapsack, and Warren would make it out as well. Hopefully Trask would quietly drift to a safe place.
The yellow dragon had almost reached them. The green dragon had to be closing in as well. Kendra wanted to close her eyes, but her eyelids refused to operate. Although her body would not move, she seemed to shake inside with fear.
