Relos Var—the real Relos Var—stepped forward to Kihrin. “Then stab me,” he told Kihrin, “but the moment you stick me with that little piece of metal, I’ll revert to my true form—” He glanced around the tavern. “Which is considerably larger than this room. So Urthaenriel won’t protect you—or your friends—from being smeared against the bedrock. I’ll heal. But you?” He shrugged. “Thaena’s quite busy killing demons at the moment, but I assume she’d get around to Returning you at some point.” Var glanced at Janel. “And you. But probably not anyone else.”

Kihrin set the edge of Urthaenriel against Relos Var’s neck. “You’re bluffing.”

Relos Var smiled. “Am I?”

Another gate opened.

Kihrin didn’t look away from Relos Var, lest this prove a distraction. But the wizard seemed just as surprised by the gate as anyone else.

Relos Var’s eyes widened. “Thurvishar?”

The Lord Heir of House D’Lorus ran through the open portal, which briefly showed a watery expanse and a sky preparing for dawn. He closed the gate, turned around, and then drew up short as he took in the scene in front of him.

“Is this a bad time?”

Brother Qown said, “Thurvishar, what are you doing here? You were supposed to wait—”

“I did,” Thurvishar protested. “That’s why I’m here. Morios just climbed out of Lake Jorat. He’s attacking Atrine.”

54: THE PROBLEM WITH TRUST

Jorat Dominion, Quuros Empire. Three days since Kihrin had a realistic sense of the odds

Before anyone else could say a word, Thurvishar reopened the gate behind him. This time, the point of view was much higher up over Atrine. Someone cursed as the portal framed a nightmare scene.

Urthaenriel’s edge left Relos Var’s neck; Kihrin couldn’t stop himself from staring. The night sky through the portal was lightening gradually—they had been up all night—but Atrine itself glowed with mage-light and fire. The flickering light highlighted the edges of a colossal shape, as it demolished a section of the white quartz wall surrounding the city. Screams echoed, audible even from this side of the gate.

If the scale hadn’t deceived him—and Kihrin didn’t think it had—then Morios towered in comparison to Aeyan’arric. Morios even dwarfed the other dragon Kihrin had seen: Sharanakal. Morios was gargantuan. And once the light hit the dragon’s scales just right—

“Are those—are those swords? Are those dragon’s scales swords?” Kihrin glanced over at Janel. “Why didn’t anyone mention the dragon is covered with swords?”

Thurvishar shook his head. “They’re not really swords, but they’re just as sharp and lethal. But it’s not just on the surface—Morios is metal all the way through.”

“How do you kill a dragon made from metal?” Ninavis muttered.