Someone was following him. He wasn't sure why, but ever since his teleport spell had carried him into the mountains his senses had been alert. Every time he glanced back, there was a flicker of movement. The next moment it was a mirage, dissolving away in the sullen sunlight. He had cast a spell to hasten his movements, feeling the lingering presence trailing him. When he stopped, the presence stopped. He could see past most illusions, and he had a talisman that helped him with the more difficult ones. What he was seeing was not an illusion, apparently.

It was the wind.

Somehow the Archmage had sent someone after him in the guise of vapor. Denaris was certain he could kill the mage in one-on-one combat, flattered that the Archmage distrusted him so. Intrigued, he let the spy stalk him. The transmutation spell would wear off eventually. When it did, he'd be there with a lure and a net.

He presumed it had something to do with the scroll he held in his hands. In the dull mountain sunlight it looked fairly harmless, but of course that was how it was supposed to look.

Only when he had warded himself with a manner of spells including invisibility and was outside the entrace to Ladeos's cave did he see that the dragon was not alone.

A silver dragon lay baring its fangs at its adversary. It sheltered a young elfmaid that looked vaguely familiar. Denaris cast about for illusions and curses Ladeos might have put around his cave. Finding everything to his satisfaction, he looked around for the dragon himself.

The scroll slipped from his pouch, dropped silently to the stone floor. Frowning, he bent to pick it up. Was he going to stumble into another of the Archmage's traps so easily? He prodded into the scroll's defenses for the third time since he left Pnen'adr. To his surprise, he was awarded for his efforts.

The scroll emanated a soft red light. The first words imprinted on it flashed in his mind: To Lord Ladeos, black dragon... A letter! Triggered in the presence of the dragon! He congratulated himself, his fingers eagerly drawing patterns in the air to dispell the defenses -

He stopped his hyperactive fingers just in time to spot a trap. The scroll was triggered. Should anyone, not excluding Ladeos, open it the curse would set off. It was a torture curse, he realized after a moment's prying. The victim's flesh would disintegrate but his heart would still pump, forcing a slow and agonizing death. Very good, Archmage, he thought. Kill the dragon. It makes my job all the more easier. Carefully he set about dispelling the curse. The weave fell apart in his hands, knotting and dropping in an obscure mess. He could not see what lay beneath it. Shrugging, he tucked the scroll back into his pouch to hand to the dragon later in case there were any more curses.

First thing was first. He cast an illusion of himself stepping into the cavern as the real him slipped into the shadows.

_________________

Cayo growled deeply "Why did you save us?"he snapped using the dragon language.

_________________



. O r b i s N o n S u f f i c i t .

Ladeos felt someone was there, he looked at the entrance. The mage was back and he hmped with amusement in it.

"So you are back mage... well I know that you are here for something in my treasures, which I was able to figure out and to your disappointment I must admit that what you are looking is no longer here so don`t make a mess...

It is a different black dragon you will have to ask that item for..."

Ladeos said to the arriving mage, but for some reason somehing felt odd as if there was something wrong.

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

Another black dragon had the artifact? Unless Ladeos was lying, that had just complicated matters. Denaris shrugged. One dead black dragon was the same as any other, and it was too late to go back now. Maintaining the illusion of himself by the cave entrance, he picked his way along the walls of the cave and finally came to the back. He felt with his hands the stone wall, searching for any hidden doors.

As he stooped down to feel along the bottom, the scroll slipped out of his pouch again. It rolled a few feet, then stopped by Ladeos's tail. Denaris cursed. The dragon had not seen it yet but unless he did something it would be seen soon.

On the other hand... if the dragon opened it....

Allowing himself a small smile, he settled back to see how events would transpire.

_________________

Ladeos never noticed the scroll and looked at the elf whom said nothing, with few quick words Ladeos cast a magical arrow that went trough the illusion and Ladeos looked around the entrace. He knew that the mage was there, invisibility was the trick and there were few ways to solve this.

Ladeos opened his jaws and breathed a huge amount of toxic towards the entrance, he then looked around with a grin.

"If you are alive mage then come on over here and let`s have a talk.."

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

Of course, Denaris didn't deign to "go on over there and have a talk." Instead he gazed at the scroll in some frustration. The dragon hadn't noticed it, and it was too dangerous to go and retrieve it. Instead he threw a pebble somewhere into the toxic gas, knowing the dragon's excellent hearing would pick it up.

_________________

Ladeos had heard something, he wasn`t sure what it was, but was silent and looked around in fustration and then began a new spell that would destroy all other all magic on that area so that, if the mage was alive and invisible he would then be revealed.

Ladeos finished the spell and looked around for the mage.

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

Denaris cursed as his invisibility spell and all his other wards slipped from him. He found a small tunnel branching out from the main cavern. He grabbed the scroll and slipped into the shadows of the tunnel. His eyes slid to the scroll again and widened.

Now that all magic had been dispelled, he saw clearly the scroll's trigger. The obscure and knotted strands of weaving had been pulled apart, betraying what lay beneath.

A time trigger.

After the torture curse was dispelled, it had triggered another curse hidden beneath the elaborate mess of weaving. After the allotted amount of time the scroll would explode, destroying everything within a one hundred foot radius. Both he and the dragon would be dead, and the spy the Archmage had sent to stalk Denaris could arrive to pick up the artifact. It was a cunning trap, one that removed both the Archmage's potential rival and the dragon obstacle from the scene.

And Denaris had nearly fallen for it.

When the dragon removed his spell the magic would activate again. He had no desire to be caught up within the explosion. From without he detected Ladeos's scales slithering against the stone. Denaris retreated into the shadows, searching for an escape route.

_________________

Ladeos hmped as he saw nothing, but he had heard movement and went for it, there was something in the small tunnels that he could not fit into. So the mage was there and now he would only have to drive him out, Ladeos hmped as he began a spell to shoot fire trough the hole tunnel.

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

[eh... wait I thought you said he had dispelled all the magic?]

_________________

(I mean that at the moment, I meant that it didn`t create a zone that would stop casting spells, but so that it would dispell all the current spells)

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

[oh, sorry ]

The dragon's shadow plunged the tunnel into pitch black. The scroll was warm to the touch. Not long now, and all that would be left of Ladeos's cave would be a few charred spots and an artifact that may or may not be there.

Denaris aimed a lightning bolt in the general vicinity of Ladeos, then sprang from the tunnel with a haste spell. Cloaking himself in illusion that was more sleight-of-hand than magic, his haste spell whisked him to the cave entrance in seconds.

_________________

The elf gave a strangeled gasp, and her dragon folded its wings about them both protectivly.The fact that he was a silver dragon, was usefull here, as the fire simply deflected of his wings, and bounded back in the opposite direction.
Whats happning? Rhan asked in a scared voice, but she was suprised that Cay severed the connection instantly. He was busy weaving protective spells about them.
"Ladeos!" The elf cried loudly "Stop it!"

_________________



. O r b i s N o n S u f f i c i t .

Ladeos sighed and looked back at the silver dragon.

"Stop what? Chasing the mage? This bug isn`t getting away like the last time..."

Ladeos began a new spell and soon before him were 4 elementals from the plane of air, Ladeos knew that these creatures had magical powers and they could use them to find the mage, if he was alive and that lightning bolt had hurt, but confirmed that the chase wasn`t over. The elementals hurled off and soon out of the cave making Ladeos feel better because the mage was no longer in his cave.

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

Rhan shook her head behind the wings "Your harming us as well. Me and Cay." she said stubbornly.

_________________



. O r b i s N o n S u f f i c i t .

Ladeos was quiet.

"Oh should I have warned you that the smaller tunnels go around my cave sides and that the fre might come out from one of them? Use your brains, if you have any.."

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!