Kizzlorn’s eyes fluttered and opened.
She inhaled deeply, then coughed the dust from her lungs. She sat up. Discarded arrows and blood lay all about the floor, but she was unharmed, and glowing white. The glow faded, and left. Her last memories came to her and she looked about for Crow, eyes wide. The fear and pain of her dying moments came home to her, and she was haunted. Worst was the end, when she had broken. Spirits are hardy things, and Kizzlorn’s among the most defiant on Oerth, but the sorceress found herself empty inside when all she met was death at the end of the quest. Death, she thought. I died… I remember. I did. why am I here now?
She looked around again, this time seeing the mirror with the frozen dragon wizard within. She saw all of her friends dead on the ground… save for Dartan, who was sitting with his back to the wall, reading a piece of paper. He looked up at her. Snooky sat in his lap. “Dartan,” Kizz gasped. “What happened? Why are we alive?”
His eyes went back to his paper. He seemed oddly numbed, she noticed. The paper was the note he’d been given, supposedly from his wife. “It was all a lie. She was lying the whole time,” he said quietly.
“Who? Your wife?”
“No… Bree.” He looked back at her, eyes wide and hands trembling. “Bree was lying about it all.”
“What…” She shook her head and tried to come to her senses. She repeated herself. “Dartan, why are we alive?”
“The soul-beings. When we defeated Ashardalon. The glowing soul-beings came and gave us a gift. ‘Should you die… you will be reborn, immediately, at full strength. Then shall the gift be spent, and you will live on’ We forgot about it. Crow didn’t even know. Now we’re back.” He folded the paper, placed it in his belt-pouch, and stood. Snooky jumped from his lap as he rose and ran to Kizzlorn, who hugged him fiercely.
“We’re back,” Kizz said.
Nearby, Edge shuddered as he gasped and coughed, glowing white as Kizz had, and Dartan before her. He sat up and touched the place on his chest where Metus had stabbed him through. The skin was whole. “What… Kizzlorn, we… Where? Oh gods…”
Broldek’s corpse began to glow, and the blackened crust fell away from him in a rain of ash as he shifted. His entire body was whole again, and he awoke with the same confusion the others had. Kizzlorn comforted the two as best she could, and explained why they yet lived. Like herself and Dartan, they’d forgotten all about the gift of the Soul Children in the Bastion.
Now, they stood and noticed that Myramus and Menerous- who had, of course, not been along for that adventure- were still laying dead on the ground. As only the two of them had the ability to resurrect the dead, none of the living Knights had any means to bring them back… the brothers Maximus would have to remain dead for the time being. Time, of course, was of the essence… Thuriaq was awake, and walking the Oerth above. They could feel the tremblings beneath their feet, even from here.
“What now,” Kizzlorn asked nervously.
“The mirror,” Snooky said. “Gorgoldand. We must free him.”
They all looked at the tall mirror, and the white-bearded man frozen within. Kizzlorn approached the mirror and touched the glass. “Yes. How do we free him?”
“Jamison freed Acessiwal by shattering his mirror, some time ago,” Dartan said as he drew his sword. “Stand back.” The others crowded behind him, and Dartan swung his sword into the mirror.
What they didn’t know was that a protective spell had been placed on this mirror. Crow knew Gorgoldand’s imprisonment was worth insuring, so he’d likened the mirror’s hardness to a crystal shard, and hidden that shard deep within a dark place in the world. So long as the shard came to no ill, the mirror would be nearly impossible to destroy. No one knew where it was, and no one cared, as long as no one even knew it existed. When Crow had conquered the Oerth, he would recover the crystal and destroy it, thus allowing him to free Gorgoldand and fulfill his evil plans.
What Crow didn’t know was that only an hour before, a small group of adventurers had come upon the shard and mistaken it for long-lost treasure. Grumbar, Horacio, and Meepo had delved deeply into a cavern, believing Crow to have been there some years past, based on the testimony of a nearby villager. They’d fought and slain many foul creatures, and in the end found the crystal shard.
Meepo’s eyes had grown large with greed. “Ooooh, shiiiiiny!”
“Shut up, that’s mine,” Grumbar had said. “I was the one that beat the big monster.”
“You don’t eeven know what kind of monstair eet was,” Horacio’d argued. “Let me have eet!”
They’d fought over the shard, and it was passed quickly from hand to hand. Meepo had bitten Grumbar’s ankle, who’d screeched and dropped the crystal, which was caught by Horacio, who was tackled by the other two. This went on for some time, until the combative compatriots discovered that in the fray, they’d smashed the crystal to dust from their roughhousing.
“Oh, NO!” Grumbar had cried out. “The treasure!”
Meepo sat on the ground and wept. “We, the Impossibly Invincible Knights of Kobold Fury and Kitchen Mastery and Bread, set out to beat up bad things on night when bad things rise. What good have we done? We fight over treasure, not kill many beasties, and Meepo get splinter.”
Grumbar then picked the kobold up and hugged him. “It’s alright. We did good, I think.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Remember that goblin you killed? He was fierce! I think you may have helped save the world tonight.”
Horacio rolled his eyes. “You two are patheteek.” Then, the fighting had started anew amongst the Impossibly Invincible Knights of Kobold Fury and Kitchen Mastery and Bread. May their tale someday be told…
Now, in the cavern beneath the Oerth where the Knights stood around Gorgoldand’s mirror, Dartan’s sword connected with the glass. It burst apart into glittering fragments that seemed to light the air with a thousand tiny stars for just a second. The glass crashed to the stone floor and Gorgoldand fell to the ground. He breathed and lay still as the dust settled about him.
Snooky jumped out of Kizzlorn’s arms and approached his master. Gorgoldand. Welcome back.
The old man turned his head slowly and looked at the cat. “Who?” he said as his mind came back to life from over two decades of being trapped in the mirror. He reached out and petted his old friend. “Snooky. What… where am I? I don’t remember a thing.” He looked up and saw the Knights. Surprise showed on his face. “Dartan? Is that you? You look so old.” He sat up and the cat curled in his arms happily.
“I’m still not as wizened as you, old man, “ Dartan said with a smile on his face. “It’s good to see you.”
Kizzlorn knelt by Gorgoldand. “It’s an honor to meet you, sir. My name is Kizzlorn Spellforge. I have come a long way to see you. We all have.” She gestured back towards her friends. “This is Edge, and the big one there is Broldek.”
“I don’t remember any of this,” Gorgoldand said, sounding tired. “What has happened? The recent past is a cloud in my mind.”
“There is a lot to tell, and a very short time to tell it in,” Dartan said. He began talking. He spoke of Jamison’s fall to evil, which of course saddened the wizard greatly. He told of how Gorgoldand had been imprisoned by Jamison in a mirror for over twenty years and hidden, while his fiendish plots developed. He spoke of Thuriaq, the grandest titan, and of how Crow had plotted to raise him just to destroy his adopted father after ruining the Oerth’s life. Finally, he told how they had come to free him, and how the destiny of the entire world rested in tonight’s doings.
It was all briefly summarized for the wizard, and when it was done, the heartbreak on his face was clear. He’d spent his life doing good and raising others to a position where they could do good. The very idea that his beloved son had turned evil, and that the good part of him died, was more terrible than anything they could have told him. His head hung against his chest in despair, and not even Snooky could properly console him.
“Thuriaq, by the gods,” he said. “And my son did it all.”
Kizzlorn put a hand on his shoulder. “He’s not your son, now. He’s a dread agent of evil. Your son went to the next world. This ‘Crow’ is merely a poor shadow of what he was. Soon, all will be lost… but it’s not too late. Thuriaq is freed, but it’s never too late.”
Gorgoldand knotted his brow. “You are right, Kizzlorn. I’m glad Dartan had the good sense to take on such sensible companions. It’s never too late. Crow locked up the one thing he knew was a real threat to his plot. The one real threat to the elder Tarrasque, Thuriaq.” He stood up. “That threat was me, and I am released.” Grim hunger burned on his face. He brought the brothers Maximus back to life once more, and they crackled with new energy. The astonished and humbled brothers bade Gorgoldand many thanks, and then spoke their usual introduction, followed by a bopping of fists in the air. The wizard seemed to like their fiery spirit.
“I’ve found something,” Edge called from the low wall where Erasmus had stood. “Over here.” He lifted a large sack.
Myramus said “Edge, who cares? We need to ACT.”
“You’ll care about what’s inside this.”
Gorgoldand walked over and looked inside the sack. “By the gods,” he whispered. “We may well win this yet.” He turned to the others. “Friends! All is not lost. Come!” He took the sack from Edge and held it.
Then, in the vast stone cavern, Gorgoldand changed. Sparkles of magic danced in the air around him. His elderly human form rippled and distorted, and he grew, turning golden in color. Edge jumped back to avoid being squashed as the wizard transformed, growing ever larger. His neck elongated, his arms grew claws, and scales bubbled all over him. His wings folded behind his back, and Gorgoldand the dragon stood before them with orange eyes glowing like torches. He was, by far, the largest dragon any of them had ever seen… save for Dartan and Snooky, of course, who had seen him in his true form before.
I AM GORGOLDAND, MASTER OF DRAGONS, AND I SAY WE ARE NOT DONE. THE TIDES OF WAR ARE UPON US, BUT WE ARE NOT DROWNED. NOT YET! WE WILL FIGHT!!. The Knights screamed their war cries and lifted their weapons. CLIMB INTO MY ARMS, AND STEEL YOURSELVES. They did as they were told, and Kizzlorn covered them with a protective magic shell. The immense dragon clutched them closely and turned his head upward. He blasted the cavern’s ceiling with magical fire, hotter than any blaze on all of Oerth. The ceiling’s stone melted almost immediately, or became so hot that it shattered to dust from the sudden energy. Then, the dragon coiled his legs and rocketed upwards, shearing through layers of the planet’s crust. He turned the sack upside down and allowed its contents to plummet down beneath them. Even through the crashing the dragon made through the stone, he heard what he had freed from the sack, screeching and fluttering. Bedrock, frozen ground, and soil alike were ripped through easily as the dragon breathed and burrowed upward.
Suddenly, they flew up into the night sky above the Greyhawk countryside. The moon was large and yellow like old bone. Beneath them, dozens of dragons were shooting up from the hole they made. Dragons erupted from the ground like a geyser, and arced up into the air, screaming for freedom. Hundreds of dragons, now, of all different colors. Blue, white, silver, copper, green, black, orange, yellow, purple, steely-gray, and even a few large reds and golds. The dragons of Greyhawk, captured by Crow over the course of two decades, and held prisoner in a sack of mirrors as possible threats against the titans he was freeing all over the world tonight.
None was so large as Gorgoldand. BROTHERS!! the great gold dragon cried. HEAR ME! I KNOW YOU ARE CONFUSED. YOU HAVE SPENT TOO LONG IMPRISONED, AND NOW ARE FREE, THIRSTING FOR VENGEANCE AND FIRE. YOU SHALL HAVE IT! ALL OVER THE OERTH, AT THIS MOMENT, YOUR CAPTOR HAS RELEASED HUNDREDS OF TITANS. THURIAQ, HIMSELF, IS FREED.
A large green spoke. THURIAQ? THE TITANS? GOOD… THEY WILL CRUSH THE HUMANS AND RID US OF THE SQUEALING PINK THINGS THAT IMPRISONED US. I SAY LET THEM HAVE DONE. Several dragons murmured agreement.
NO, Gorgoldand said. ALL THE HUMANS ARE NOT TO BLAME FOR THE CRIMES OF ONE. THE ONLY WAY TO HAVE TRUE REVENGE ON YOUR CAPTOR IS TO UNDO HIS PLAN!
A magenta dragon stroked his tendril-like whiskers. WHAT WILL YOU DO, IF WE ARE TO DESTROY THE TITANS?
I WILL TAKE THE FIGHT TO THURIAQ HIMSELF. IF WE DO NOT FIGHT TONIGHT, MY FRIENDS, THE TITANS WILL GROW TOO POWERFUL FOR EVEN US. THEN, THEY WILL OVERRUN US, LEAVING THE ENTIRE WORLD DEAD IN ITS WAKE! I WILL NOT HAVE THIS, NOT HERE, IN THIS WORLD I LOVE! The dragons growled together. FLY, AND FIND THE TITANS. FIND THEM WHERE THEY RISE, AND FIGHT. THERE IS NO TIME TO WASTE- GO! FLY! Gorgoldand flapped his wings, rising before the moon. TAKE BACK THE WORLD!! FLY!!!
Each dragon roared and flew. The dragons spread outward from the area at a demon’s pace to all the corners of the world. They spewed flame and lightning as they went, looking like shooting stars from the ground as they shot across the night sky.
Gorgoldand himself turned east towards the city of Greyhawk. He put the Knights on his back, who clutched at his back-spines and felt the wind on their faces.
Menerous turned to Menerous. “Pelor is good, brother!”
His brother laughed and they smashed fists together, agreeing. “Pelor is good!”
On the horizon, something huge and black was moving across Greyhawk’s high skyline. Smoke and fire rose from its path. Gorgoldand flew harder, and the wind screamed past their ears as Greyhawk loomed larger. There, they looked upon Thuriaq, the horned demon-god thrown out of hell. It was taller than any building it stood amidst, and its eyes shone pale yellow as it devoured and destroyed.
Erasmus, floating high above the devastation with Crow and Metus, looked westward when his eye caught a glint of something. “What is that?”
Crow glanced up and his eyes flew wide. “No.” He screamed. “NO!!!”
The dragon in the distance screeched and bellowed fire as his wings pumped him on. The Knights of Spellforge Keep were riding Gorgoldand, ready for war, shouting oaths with their weapons held high.
MORE TO COME…
