She turned to face the dragon, but then moved again to face Solon, trembling with indecision. The veins in Solon’s temples were clearly visible as he grunted with the effort.

A crack of light poured from under the slowly opening golden lid.

Chloe decided to charge the sun king, knowing the dragon would kill her before she came close to the tall man at the golden chest.

Then something incredible happened.

A second dragon plummeted down from the sky, but where the scales of the one-eyed Triton were glossy silver, this dragon’s scales were as black as night. Until now the one-eyed dragon was the largest Chloe had ever seen.

The newcomer rivaled it in size.

The black dragon’s claws were outstretched from its body as it swooped, screaming a challenge to the eldran king. It struck the one-eyed dragon with lightning speed, gripping hold of its enemy’s body with muscled forelegs until both creatures tumbled one over the other, rolling over and over, smashing into one of the temple’s columns with enough force to shatter the marble and break the column in two, toppling it with a crash of shattering stone. The two tumbling dragons flew up into the sky, writhing in an embrace of terrifying strength.

Solon turned at the sound, his face shocked. He saw Chloe running at him with the sword held in white knuckles as she lunged. With a snarl, he came forward to meet her.

But she realized too late: Solon was a warrior king; he would have been trained since birth in combat. He nonchalantly weaved and brought a hand smashing down onto Chloe’s wrist. The sword fell out of her hands and skittered along the smooth paving stones. He pushed on her shoulder as she tumbled out of control, the shove sending her running forward until her head struck a column. A burst of pain exploded in her head as she staggered and then collapsed onto the hard ground.

Her senses reeling, Chloe was about to roll over and push herself to her feet, when Tomarys spoke again.

‘To sow the seeds of victory before the fight begins, we must play with expectations.’

She kept her eyes closed and body still, even as part of her screamed that she had to act. Finally, she lifted her head and saw Solon return to the Ark of Revelation and heave at the handle. The lid came up. Rainbow light now bathed his face in a glow of rippling color. His expression was triumphant as he held the edge of the lid high with one hand and reached inside with the other.

High above her, the one-eyed silver dragon and its shiny black opponent flew apart, then collided again. Chloe saw torn skin on both of them, blood dripping from ugly gashes.

She saw the sword, resting on the ground between her and Solon. There would be no better time.