The Father of Withering

Chapter Nineteen: The Council of the Powers

Relma and Drakaran quickly made their way out into the midst of the camp, and there Relma saw Wrynncurth. The cow-sized dragon had folded up his great wings and seemed to be speaking with some of the sentries. The other dragons, most of them smaller, were pacing around this way and that under the gaze of Dust Elves.

"Many thanks, old chap. Glad to be welcomed." Said Wrynncurth.

"Wrynncurth!" called Relma, moving up to him at a run.

The dragon removed his pipe between his teeth and smiled with his toothy maw. "Relma Artorious. Splendid to see you once again? Is the Lady Pandora about? I'd wager we have a thing or two to discuss."

"I got separated from her," said Relma. "I'll tell you later. Right now, there are other things we need to talk about. This is King Drakaran."

"I know all too well," Said Wrynncurth, moving past Relma rapidly, "Drakaran, nice to see you, old chap. Hear about your coronation. Sorry about your father."

"You know me?" asked Drakaran.

"Oh yes, of course, old chap," Said Wrynncurth. "We haven't met directly, but I know many people I haven't met. Jolly good to meet face to face at last, though. Very nice city you have here. Blends into the natural landscape like a chameleon."

"Well, we try," said Drakaran.

"And you succeed," said Wrynncurth. "I am fond of some human architecture, but some is just tasteless. And others are so menacing you might think they expected me to be afraid of them.

"How is it that you two came to be together?"

"Drakaran is my host at the moment," said Relma quickly. "I only just got free of Del Gabor."

"You escaped Del Gabor?" asked Wrynncurth, raising an eyebrow. "Now that sounds like a story in itself. Do tell?"

"Well, actually, I was set loose," said Relma. "You see, I convinced Lucius that I might be able to help him get a meeting with you."

"You do?" asked Wrynncurth. "And what makes you think I'd ever accepted such a thing?"

"Well, he is one of the oldest beings in the universe," said Relma. "And he is heavily associated with undead magic. It would be him if anyone could help you with your research."

"Well, he might," noted Wrynncurth. "But that's the trouble with deals with his sort. It all seems very mutually beneficial, but you get deeper and deeper. Pretty soon, you're in their service.

"I'm mostly self-taught myself."

"Well, that was just the thing," said Relma. "You wouldn't be going it alone. See, Gel Carn could act as an intermediary in the whole thing. That would bring Elranor into the equation, and Elranor is much more powerful than Lucius."

"So that's the scheme, eh?" asked Wrynncurth, motioning with his pipe. "Start dealings with dark powers and have their machinations help your machinations?"

"Well, good is stronger than evil," said Relma. "And if evil men can use good ones' for their own ends, it stands to reason that the reverse can be done."

"And what makes you think they won't slowly cause you to slip into evil?" asked Drakaran flatly.

"Because I'll be making them slip into good," Said Relma. "They won't realize it at first, of course. They'll say 'I'll use this naive fool for my own ends.' But they'll have to do a few good things here or there, and it will get easier. And then one day, they'll wake up and find that they've become good people, and I will be laughing.

"Or something like that."

"And what happens when you run into someone who decides they'd much rather just cave your skull in?" asked Drakaran.