Spiredore had one more task to do, and it prayed and begged that it could do it soon.
DragonStar looked up as he finished, his face ashen. "We have almost no time!"
"What is happening," Dare Wing said.
"The Demons are laying siege to Spiredore, trying to destroy it... and you need to use its power to transport yourselves to —"
"Gods!" Dare Wing and Goldman rose as one, the women not far behind them.
"DragonStar," Faraday said, taking his arm. "Leagh ... I am so concerned for her ... she is not far away from birth, and —"
He stopped her words with a finger to her lip. "Leagh is a strong and determined women — and weren't you, when you planted out Minstrelsea while carrying Isfrael? Faraday, I can watch over her."
Faraday nodded, accepting, although she did not like the situation, nor envy Leagh her aloneness with whatever she met at Ferabrake Lake.
No, DragonStar whispered in her mind. Faraday, be still, and trust and believe in Leagh.
Again she nodded, and, as did Gwendylyr, Leagh and Goldman, withdrew her folded doorway from a pocket in her robe.
"The Strike Force?" DareWing said.
"I will command them for the moment," DragonStar said. "They are mobile enough without Spiredore."
"And you?" Goldman asked. "How will you travel about once Spiredore is gone?"
DragonStar grinned. "I have my Star Stallion," he replied, "and he is as effective as Spiredore for travelling about Tencendor itself ... and less vulnerable."
The worried look reappeared over his face. "Quick! Quick!"
Then DragonStar turned his head to one side and gave a piercing whistle.
The feathered lizard bounded out from the pack of Alaunt, grinning from ear to ear as if it had been summoned for a game of hide and chase.
Goldman and DareWing looked at him, and smiled.
"Share!" Qeteb whispered in Roxiah's ear. "Share the Enemy's power with me, and together we can tumble this tower to the ground!"
He rested a splayed, hammer-fingered hand on Roxiah's belly, and pressed.
Roxiah considered this request. It knew it was a good idea so far as demolishing Spiredore was concerned, but to share this new-found power with Qeteb? What if Qeteb did not want to give it back?
"Share!" Qeteb whispered, and dug his fingers in a little.
Roxiah trembled and, fearing for the life in its womb, shared.
Qeteb shuddered as the strange power thudded through him, then he leaned his head back and laughed.
"Spiredore! I have you!"
"Quick! Quick!" DragonStar almost pushed the other five towards the glowing doors. "Fast!"
DareWing and Goldman stepped through, the lizard bounding after them, and their doorway folded closed.
Then Gwendylyr stepped into her door, having given Leagh a fierce hug and a kiss goodbye.
Then Leagh picked up her skirts and stepped through her door, DragonStar watching and wishing her luck silently.
He turned to Faraday. "I wish you would trust me," he said.
She blinked back tears, then stepped forward and hugged him. "I love you," she said, her head against his chest, "but I find it hard to forget the past. DragonStar, please, do not abandon me in the Maze!"
He tilted her chin up with a finger, then leaned down and kissed her.
"Go with my love, and my promise that I will never let Tencendor claim you as sacrifice again."
She trembled. "Katie ..."
"I will watch over Katie, and you will surely see her again."
"Keep her safe," Faraday said, but at that DragonStar lifted his head and avoided her eyes.
"There must always be some pain, mustn't there," Faraday said, her voice bitter, and she drew back from DragonStar.
"Go," he said sadly. "Go."
And she was gone.
For a moment DragonStar stood, gazing into the emptiness where once had been friends and lovers and glowing doors.
