“Here they have made their mistake,” stated the Queen. “They have allowed the eggs to remain upon Krynn.”
“Where we can reach and destroy them!” Furyion pledged, determined that he would gain that necklace of golden scales.
“Yes, my sons. You must slay Aurora, and eradicate the clutch of metal eggs. Only then will our future be safe, freed from the threat of Paladine’s dragons.”
“The gold is a daydreamer-she will be easy prey!” boasted Corrozus. “It shall be my pleasure to rot the gilded scales from her flanks with the spittle of my breath!”
“We fly at once, my Queen!” promised Furyion, with a flexing of his broad, sail-sized wings. The red was annoyed that his black cousin had been quicker with the boastful promise.
“But tell us,” inquired Akis. “Where may the eggs of the metal dragons be found?”
“You must search, my sons. They are concealed in the western mountains, and I bid you, all five of my mighty children, fly there, find the clutch, and destroy it- utterly and completely. Succeed, and the dragons of metal shall be forever banished from the world!”
Five proud bellows challenged the sky as the wyrms of Takhisis raised their heads. Jaws spread wide, they spewed deadly breath-fire and lightning, acid and frost and deadly gas, all churning together, rising in a pillar of evil might.
In the sudden silence that descended, Furyion trembled, on the brink of his lofty ledge. The western mountains were far away, across the broad plain that was central Ansalon. Yet he knew that he could cross that distance in a matter of a few days. Once above the distant range, he could use magic, or perhaps merely his keen eyesight, to discover Aurora and the clutch of eggs.
Arkan and Akis flung themselves into the air, crying in martial fury. Furyion tensed, then halted as the voice of his mistress came into his mind.
“Wait, my crimson son … I would have words with you, alone.”
Tingling, Furyion paused, watching as Corrozus and Korril took wing. He waited, taut with anticipation, as the black and green wyrms trailed their brothers along the swooping gorges leading to the west.
“I desire, Furyion, that you shall win the greatest triumph in this battle. All have heard me decree that the red dragons shall be lords of the world-but you need this trophy, this proof, to hold above your brothers, to show them the rightness of my choice!”
“Aye, Queen Mother.” Furyion was grimly certain of this same fact-he had already determined that he would do whatever was necessary to slay Aurora himself. “I shall wear the scales of the golden wyrm around my neck, a trophy that will herald my greatness through the ages! My talons, my fangs shall rend her to pieces!”
“Brave words, and true. But heed: Do not make waste of your magic, my son. I have granted you the mightiest of spells, the most potent enchantments within my power. Use them!”
Already the red dragon had pictured the brute violence he would deliver against golden Aurora, but here again he heard the Queen’s advice. He would paralyze her with magic, then squeeze the life from the idle serpent of gold before she knew that she was attacked.
With a bellow of challenge and triumph, Furyion spread scarlet wings to catch the upward drafts, leaping into the air and winging westward toward the destiny that would decide the future of the world.
*****
There were no seasons, then-nothing like the passing of months or years. In places the world was cold, and cold it remained; in other realms, warmth was the ruling condition, and such climes held sway with the passing of hundreds, of thousands of sunrises.
Yet still time passed, and one being sensed this more keenly than any other. Like a band of gold she encircled the finger of a spiked mountain peak, following her master’s command, waiting with immortal patience through the passing of countless days for the arrival of her sisters.
Still she waited, as time and events took shape upon the world. And at last she knew:
The others would never return.
*****
Aurora coiled near the summit of her lofty peak, holding her golden head upraised, keen eyes searching the eastern horizon as they had searched it for days uncounted. The sky was cloudless, the sun high above, yet no glimmer of brightness speckled along that distant horizon.