Barius let his voice trail off on the final note, and his eyes closed, as if overwhelmed by the beauty of his own voice. Ryslind immediately broke in, saying, “First of all, as any tome will tell you, there were twelve Mage-Gods, not nine. You’re confusing Ellnorein with a completely different tale. Furthermore, that last stanza should begin, ‘The spell was spoke, their powers broke, the mages died in sickly smoke.’ ”

“Nonsense,” Barius snapped. “ ‘The spell was spoke?’ What bard would dare set such a clumsy rhyme to song?”

“Pah. Neither has the gut-ripping style of the dwarf version.”

Jig looked from Barius to Darnak, then to Ryslind. “So what you’re saying is that Ellnorein was a wizard?”

They stared at him.

“Did you not hear my song? The Epic of Ellnorein is famous. Surely even here you’ve heard of the great mage who healed the world after the God-Wars.”

Jig didn’t know what to say, so he just stood there.

Barius started to protest further, but Darnak interrupted. “The gist is this. Ellnorein was a mighty wizard, but he’s dead now. Before he went, he trapped a goodly bit of power in his wand.”

“Rod,” Ryslind corrected. “The bards said ‘wand’ to make the rhyme work. But it was a rod, about three feet long and made of simple wood.”

Darnak rolled his eyes. “So he put that power into a rod. The Rod of Creation. The power in that thing was the same magic the gods used to bring dragons into the world. According to legend, Ellnorein used it to make this whole mountain out of nothing. Pulled it out of the ground in a single day, then carved out these here tunnels to protect the rod after he was gone. Didn’t want anyone else to get their hands on it, you see. Earthmaker only knows what guards the rod today.”

“A dragon,” Jig said.

Silence.

“What . . . what did you say?” Darnak asked softly.

“A dragon,” said Ryslind. “Ironic, yet there’s a certain logic to Ellnorein’s choice. The magic used to create dragonkind could also destroy them, so what creature would have greater cause to keep the rod safe?”

Not everyone reacted to Jig’s revelation with Ryslind’s cool appreciation. Riana’s wide eyes stared at Jig in disbelief, and Darnak whistled softly.

“We knew we faced an opponent of some power,” Barius said.