Citadels of the Lost Read Free Page A

through all the smoke and the brightness of the burning trees to the north.
    â€œThose are the same mountains where these infernal dragons flew at us from the north ,” the dwarf continued. “We’re on the other side of them.”
    â€œSo you’re saying that this portal did take us thousands of leagues out of our way?” Ethis’ chimerian face betrayed nothing but Drakis detected an edge of goading in his voice.
    â€œNo, of course not,” Jugar huffed, folding his thick arms across his chest. “But we are at least a hundred leagues farther north than where we started out the evening—and likely well over two hundred leagues north of the coast.”
    â€œSo you do know where we are?” Drakis asked.
    â€œI do NOT know where we are!” Jugar roared, then cried out in agony.
    â€œYou insist on getting upset like that, dwarf,” Urulani said, “and you’ll make that leg worse.”
    Jugar growled through gritted teeth, closed his eyes, and continued with all the calm he could manage. “I have a general idea where we are because of the mountains and the stars overhead . . .”
    Drakis glanced up. He could not see a single star through the smoky haze.
    â€œ. . . but as to the specifics of this cursed land, none of us has a worthy map by which we might guide our way. All that’s left is legends and stories and that’s no way to set your compass, boy. When Ethis here got it into his head to close the portal he burned our bridge behind us, so to speak.”
    â€œAnd you would have preferred we all be eaten, I suppose,” Ethis said through a false smile.
    â€œDragons don’t eat people!” Jugar grumbled.
    â€œI don’t know as Yithri would agree,” Ethis observed coolly.
    â€œIt spit him right back out, didn’t it?” Jugar yelled then sat back quickly once again as pain shot up his leg.
    â€œBoth of you just shut up,” Drakis barked. His mind was still reeling from the day and this ridiculous argument was rubbing his nerves raw. “So how do we get back?”
    â€œWe don’t,” Urulani said as she stood up.
    â€œWe don’t?”
    â€œWell, not the way we came, anyway,” Urulani sighed. “And not right away. If what the dwarf says is true—and I’ll admit that is a big if—then we’re weeks from getting back to where the ship is now. We’d have to cross those mountains to get there which, it seems, are filled with what I would think are very angry dragons right now. I left the ship with Ganja and Dakran. Kendai knows what happened to us and about our plan to use the fold.”
    â€œIf he survived, “Ethis pointed out.
    â€œThey’ll be looking for our return,” Urulani corrected the chimerian. “They will wait for us.”
    â€œAnd just how long will they wait?” Ethis asked.
    â€œAs long as it takes,” Urulani said through a tightened jaw.
    â€œTwo weeks? Three?” Ethis speculated. “We still could not reach them in such a short time.”
    â€œThen what about the portal itself?” Drakis asked. “Can’t we bring it back—make it work again? I seem to remember a dwarf who has demonstrated some rather impressive powers of his own in that regard lately.”
    Jugar turned his head away. “It doesn’t work that way, lad.”
    â€œEnlighten me,” Drakis said, and his tone made it clear that this was not a request.
    Jugar looked up. “There are basically two kinds of magic—Aer and Aether. Aer magic is that of nature: it comes from the ground, the rocks, the trees, the water, and the wind. It is within each of us, actually. The stories of its origins among the dwarves are some of the oldest and most fascinating tales ever told either under the mountain or above it. It all began with Thel Gorfson who . . .”
    Drakis reached forward and knocked several times on the dwarf’s