Look!” Oswyn shouted. “In the sky to the northwest!” They all turned and looked to the sky above the ruin of Clarion. And there, just as the sun broke through the clouds, the sky filled with dragons!
“At last we have a strand of hope!” Kaliam announced. “It is our own force of dragons! Gird yourselves, warriors! For the Dragon Guard of Alleble has come!”
Dragons bearing knights in gleaming armor swooped into Clarion. Banners they flew but all with the same emblem: twin mountain peaks with the sun rising between them!
Sir Gabriel, the lead dragon rider, rode a magnificent gray dragon with a vast wingspan. Its scales glistened in the sun as it landed softly at the foot of the stairs. Next, Trenna’s dragon landed. They quickly dismounted their dragons and ran to Kaliam.
“Sir Gabriel, you are a sight for weary eyes!” Kaliam shouted, and he embraced him.
“My Sentinel, I bring you three thousand mounted knights!” he said. “But I fear we are too late!”
“For Clarion, yes.” Kaliam nodded sadly. “Our worst fears are realized, my old friend. Paragor has set free the Wyrm Lord. Clarion fell in minutes before the onslaught of Paragor and his fell beast. It is a loss beyond words.” Kaliam looked over his shoulder at the castle of Clarion. “But mourning must wait. Even now, Paragor turns homeward and approaches Yewland. Alas, I wish that you and the Dragon Guard had gone there instead of here!”
“Then know this!” Sir Gabriel said, and his eyes flashed blue. “The force that you see here is only a fraction of the army King Eliam has sent to Yewland. As we speak, twenty thousand knights march and ride to Yewland with haste!”
“Bless you, Sir Gabriel,” said Kaliam, and he kissed him upon the cheek. “You encourage me! And I think now the pieces are in place to cast Paragor down once and for all!”
“But how?” Sir Gabriel asked. “How can you be sure now that the ancient wyrm has been called out of dark legend to life?”
Kaliam took Sir Gabriel by the shoulders and gently said, “Tal and Tobias were among those killed in the battle here.” Sir Gabriel gritted his teeth, but he did not look away.
“But Tal saw the Wyrm Lord,” Kaliam went on. “And what he told me leads me to believe that the old dragon has not yet recovered his full strength. Paragor keeps him in a large carriage, and he only entered the battle for short spans. Granted, even in his diminished form, the Wyrm Lord is a dreadful force. But if we could assail him now, before Paragor cloisters him away in his dark land, then we might have a chance!”
Kaliam held up a fist and a broad, lustful grin broke out on his face. “Paragor does not know this, but he is heading right into the jaws of a trap!”
“What do you mean?” Sir Gabriel asked. Aelic, Trenna, and the knights gathered close around.
Kaliam held up both hands and gestured vigorously as he spoke. “Paragor thinks he will march through Yewland as quickly as he did Clarion. But if Mallik, Sir Rogan, and Nock reached Queen Illaria as I think they must have, then she will have the Forest Road swarming with her braves! The massive force of our countrymen from Alleble, twenty thousand strong, will pour into the western exit of the Forest Road. Then we will swoop in from the east and we will crush the enemy from all sides!”
“Yes!” shouted Sir Gabriel.
Kaliam turned to the dragon riders and bellowed, “Dragon Guard of Alleble! Knights of all lands who have come to our aid! Paragor has much to answer for, and finally he has come out into the open! You must make one more flight, one more journey, and you must race to the Forest Road to face the enemy and defeat him!”
Thousands of voices cheered as one. Kaliam raised a hand to quiet them. “But servants of King Eliam, gird yourselves! Paragor has a weapon of dread, and old tales you have heard spoke more truth than many of you believed. The Wyrm Lord has been released from his tomb!”
Fear swept over the knights, and they began to clamor. Kaliam raised his hands, but they did not quiet. Finally, he raised his sword, and little by little, their anxieties ceased to be voiced. Kaliam kept the sword in the air and yelled, “I fear that name just as you do! It is a terror magnified by the years and yet still worse now that it is real. He is the firstborn dragon, the Wyrm Lord, and he is endowed with fearsome power. His name ought to make us all tremble. But I for one will not tremble, and do you know why?” A great hush fell over the knights and dragons that filled the streets of Clarion as they waited on Kaliam, their Sentinel.
“I will not tremble at the name of the wyrm!” yelled Kaliam. His eyes flashed, and his voice grew more powerful and assured. “No! Because I know another name . . . a greater name than his! A name that strikes terror in the heart of Paragor and the ilk who serve him! A name the Wyrm Lord himself will remember! And this name is on our side and wields a power none can overcome! I will not be afraid. Nay, we will not be afraid because the name we serve is King Eliam the Everlasting. And he will put down the enemy once and for all by our hands!!” Cheers erupted, and three thousand swords stabbed up into the air. And one by one, the Dragon Guards took to the air for the urgent journey to Yewland.
