Plans
When Rynn awoke the sun had risen behind a filmy curtain of cloud. Ebontyne was crouched nearby, examining something in one mailed hand. Rynn blinked to clear the fuzziness from her eyes, squinted, then jumped to her feet and shouted, "Give that back!"
Ebontyne calmly held up the Rift Crystal, which Rynn snatched back and returned to the pommel of Runeblade. "Another interesting jewel," the black-armoured woman observed.
"One I had to go through a lot to get," Rynn replied, stretching.
"I can imagine." Ebontyne stood, still watching Rynn's face closely. "We knew Rimril had it in his Belltower, and that he'd altered the elemental tests within. Before, there was never a chance of dying. A few of us discovered that had changed the hard way." She shook her head and looked away. "Then the amulet needed to start the test was stolen by goblins."
"Why were you trying to get the Rift Crystal?" Rynn asked. "In the end, Navaros didn't need it to get out."
"He didn't get out, though, did he?" Ebontyne gave her another half-smile. "He had physical form only, thanks to his Death Magi. He was still in the Rift. We concentrated our efforts on giving him flesh. Once that was done we could take care of getting him out."
"That flesh you gave him was my brother," Rynn said softly, eyes narrowing.
"We gave him young boys from across the land. It was your brother's... misfortune to be selected." She brushed back a drifting strand of black hair. "Arokh says your brother, Delon, fell into the void after Navaros' spirit fled him, and you want to find him."
Rynn seized on the change of topic. "If we can find someone or something to tell us where in the void he is, we might be able to find him."
"You realise that Navaros is back in the void too, don't you?" Ebontyne raised a brow.
Rynn felt her heart freeze. "I thought after killing that four-headed dragon..."
"Think again." She turned with a swirl of her black cloak and pulled a large pot off the glowing embers of the campfire.
"Where did you get -" Rynn began, then stopped as Ebontyne willed two serving bowls and spoons into existence. "I suppose a War Mage conjures that kind of thing often," she said as she was handed a bowl of porridge. Her mouth watered at the delicious smell of honey.
"Pots, sometimes," was Ebontyne's reply. "Useful for boiling oil."
"We could go east," Morghus said suddenly. The black dragon was stretched out across the ground, flexing his foreclaws in front of him like a large cat. Settling back on his haunches, he added, "Navaros mentioned mirrors that reflected blackness. Windows into the void."
"That might help," Ebontyne agreed.
"Where's Arokh?" Rynn asked, just realising her Bonded wasn't in sight.
"Getting breakfast, I imagine," Morghus said, picking his teeth with a talon. "He probably hasn't eaten in a few hundred years." He looked at Ebontyne again. "You think they can face the dangers out there? Even we couldn't go too deep into the wildlands."
"I wouldn't worry about your brother, except for that unfortunate incident with the giant yesterday," Ebontyne said, stirring her food with a spoon. "From what he told us last night, he can handle himself." She looked at Rynn. "And so can she, evidently."
"What kind of dangers are we talking about?" Rynn asked. "Wartoks? War giants? Succubi? Scavengers?"
"More like gorgons, molochs, daemons and leviathans," Morghus said with a snort of draconic laughter. "Perhaps you should see how good she really is, Ebon. I'm starting to think Arokh was exaggerating if that's all she's faced."
"I can hold my own," Rynn said.
Ebontyne shrugged and kept eating. "We'll see. There'll be enough tests of your mettle if we end up going east. The question is, are we companions? We help you rescue your brother, and you help us destroy Navaros."
"Why do we need your help?" Rynn asked. "All we have to do is search in the east."
"It will be faster, if not easier, if you have our help," Morghus rumbled. "The monsters that infest the wildlands are not easily killed. More than one dragon and his or her rider have been killed over there. The odds are better if there are four of us. Secondly, we've searched the east for two centuries and found nothing." He put heavy emphasis on that word to make his point. "How soon did you want to save Delon? Before he starves?"
"I think we could use their help," Arokh's voice said. Rynn looked up to see the red dragon circle the camp once then land nearby. He'd obviously found game, as he looked alert and energetic.
"You trust them after they betrayed the Order of the Flame?" Rynn asked.
"No," Arokh replied, looking steadily at the other two. "But it sounds like the best chance you'll get if you want to find Delon."
"What if they're lying about these mirrors and the rest? This could just be a trick to get us to go east!"
"If they wanted us dead, they would have attacked us before."
Ebontyne waved a hand and the remnants of breakfast vanished. Morghus shot a breath of ice at the campfire and put it out. The rider then put her helmet on, mounted the dragon and waited silently.
"Is that why you left me alone with them?" Rynn whispered angrily. "They could have stolen Runeblade and -"
"I wasn't far." He lowered a wing. "Coming?"
Rynn climbed up and the two dragons leaped into the air, gained height then flew for the misted sunrise.