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Chapter 10: Dead man on the Throne

"Come in, young maiden."

Led by curiosity, rather than common sense, Twoflower stepped forward. The figure in the seat was human, as far as she could make out in the murky light, but there was something about the awkward way it was sprawled in the chair that made her glad she couldn't see it any clearer. It was as if it was…

"I'm dead, you know," came a voice from what Twoflower fervently hoped was a head, in conversational tones. "I expect you can tell."
"Um," Twoflower said slowly. "Yes." Her hands were clenched tightly against her chest in a nervous way as she began to back away.
"Obvious, isn't it?" agreed the voice with a nasty wheezing noise. Twoflower decided that it was meant to be a chuckle. "I take it you're Twoflower? Or is that later?"
"Later?" The woman stopped, her head tilted in a curious fashion. "What do you mean 'later,' sir? And how do you know my name?"
"Well," said the voice. "You see, one of the disadvantages of being dead is that one is released as it were from the bonds of time and therefore I can see everything that has happened or will happen, all at the same time except that of course I now know that Time does not, for all practical purposes, exist."
"That doesn't sound like a disadvantage at all." said Twoflower. "In fact it sounds like a very big advantage."
"You think so?" the voice laughed. "Imagine every moment being at one and the same time a distant memory and a nasty surprise and you'll see what I mean." Twoflower frowned slightly in confusion. That sort of made sense. In a way she would never understand.
"Anyway, I now recall what it was I am about to tell you; Or have I already done so? That's a fine looking dragon, by the way. Or don't I say that, yet?" Twoflower perked up, excited to talk about her dragon.
"It's wonderful, isn't it? It just turned up," she said.
"'It turned up?'" rasped the voice. "You summoned it!"
"Well, yes, well, you see all I did-"
"You have the Power!"
"Power? No, you misunderstand. All I did was think of it, sir." Twoflower tried to explain. She was still confused on the whole subject. Happy, but confused.
"That's what the Power is. Have I already told you that I am Greicha the First? Or is that next? I'm sorry, but I haven't had too much experience of transcendence. Anyway, yes - the Power. It summons dragons, you know."
"I think you already told me that," said Twoflower, still confused, but starting to get the hang of the conversation.
"Did I? I certainly intended to." said the dead man.
"But how does it work?" Twoflower asked, hoping to finally get some answers. "I've been thinking about dragons all my life, but this is the first time one has turned up. That I'm aware of anyway." Twoflower was suddenly hit with the thought that she may have summoned thousands of dragons who were now roaming the world with her knowing.

The dead man went on to explain the natures of the dragons and about his three children. Apparently she was able to summon Ninereeds because she had a powerful imagination and was at the in the center of a powerful magical field. He was very impressed with the dragon she made.
"Your dragon is almost as good as some of mine used to be. A sight for sore eyes, not that I have any to speak of now. I don't suppose you'd settle for marrying one of my sons, would you? I think we'd get along grand and with dragons like yours we could go far."
"Sorry, I'm a widow." Twoflower decided to quickly change the topic.

"You keep saying you're dead..." she said hurriedly.
"Well?"
"Well, the dead, er, they, you know, don't talk much. As a rule, you understand. Except for zombies and Vampires and anyone living in Uberwald. But I'm sure there's a sort of loop hole there for them."
"I used to be an exceptionally powerful wizard. My daughter poisoned me, of course. It is the generally accepted method of succession in our family, but," the corpse sighed, or at least a sigh came from the air a few feet above it. "it soon became obvious that none of my three children is sufficiently powerful to wrest the lordship of the Wyrmberg from the other two. A most unsatisfactory arrangement. A kingdom like ours has to have one ruler. So I resolved to remain alive in an unofficial capacity, which of course annoys them all immensely. I won't give my children the satisfaction of burying me until there is only one of them left to perform the ceremony." There was another chuckle.
"So it was one of them that kidnapped us?" said Twoflower.
"Liessa," said the dead wizard's voice. "My daughter. Her power is strongest, you know. My sons' dragons are incapable of flying more than a few miles before they fade."
"Fade? I did notice that we could see through the one that brought us here," said Twoflower. "I thought that was a bit odd."
"Of course," said Greicha. "The Power only works near the Wyrmberg. It's the inverse square law you know. At least, I think it is. As the dragons fly further away they begin to dwindle. Otherwise my little Liessa would be ruling the whole world by now, if I know anything about it. But I can see I mustn't keep you. I expect you'll be wanting to rescue your friend." Twoflower gaped.
"Hrun?" she said.
"Not him. The skinny wizard." Twoflower let out a gasp as her heart pumped. Rincewind was here? He came? The dead king continued, "My son Lio!rt is trying to hack him to pieces. I admired the way you rescued him. Will, I mean." Twoflower drew herself up to her full height.

"Where is he?" she said, with as much confidence as she could muster.
"Just follow the pathway in the dust," said the voice. Twoflower headed towards the door with what she hoped was an heroic stride. "Liessa comes to see me sometimes. She still comes to see her old dad, my little girl. She was the only one with the strength of character to murder me. A chip off the old block. Good luck, by the way. I seem to recall I said that. Will say it now, I mean."

The rambling voice got lost in a maze of tenses as Twoflower ran along the dead tunnels. Ninereeds was easily able to lop along behind her. But it wasn't long before she found herself out of breath. She fell against a pillar. It seemed ages since she'd had anything to eat and now it was catching up with her. But she had to keep going. She had to find and save Rincewind! But at this rate…

"Why don't you fly?" said Ninereeds, inside her head. Twoflower jumped slightly.
"Can you?" The dragon spread its wings and gave an experimental flap, which lifted it momentarily off the ground. Twoflower stared for a moment, then with a large smile on her face, she ran forward and clambered quickly on to the beast's neck.

It was not long before they were airborne, the dragon skimming along easily a few feet from the floor and leaving a billowing cloud of dust in its wake. Twoflower hung on as best she could as Ninereeds swooped through a succession of caverns and soared around a spiral staircase that could easily have accommodated a retreating army. Before she knew it they were outside. She as she breathed in the fresh air. This was beyond anything she could ever imagine…!
"I smell other dragons."
"Hm? Oh!"

The wings became a blur and Twoflower was jerked back as the dragon veered and sped off down a side corridor like a gnat-crazed swallow. Another sharp turn sent them soaring out of a tunnel mouth in the side of a vast cavern. There were rocks far below, but what caught Twoflower's attention was the ceiling for there was a lot of activity... As Ninereeds hovered, thumping the air with its wings, Twoflower peered up at the shapes of roosting beasts and tiny men-shaped dots that were somehow walking upside down.
"This is a roosting hall", said the dragon in a satisfied tone. Twoflower watched in amazement until one of the shapes far above detached itself from the roof and began fall. As it grew closer, Twoflower began to recognize the shape. She let out a gasp.

"Rincewind!"

Quickly, she steered the dragon in the direction of the falling wizard. As she neared, Twoflower momently noted there was a strange array of colors in the air, but her focus was sorely on the wizard. As his body drew nearer, Twoflower leaned out and caught Rincewind around his waist. It only a by mixture of luck and miracle that Twoflower did not completely fall off. This was also due to the fact that once Twoflower caught him, Rincewind's arms had naturally grabbed the side of the dragon.

Twoflower laughed triumphantly.
"Got him!" And the dragon, curving gracefully at the top of his flight, gave a lazy flip of his wings and soared through a cave mouth into the morning air.
"What the?! How the?! Twoflower?!" Rincewind gasped. His eyes were wide as rhinu as Twoflower pulled him up behind her.
"It's a long story. But meet Ninereeds, I created him!"
"Charmed."
"You-! But! How?!" Twoflower shook her head.
"I don't really understand myself," she admitted. "Something about the power of imagination and this… area…"
"Imagination… Wait, so you imagined this dragon up?!"
"Yes."
"So this dragon is only here as long as you're thinking about it?!"
"Now that you mention it, I suppose so!" Rincewind let out a squawk as his grip tightened around the tiny tourist. They flew for a few moments before an important thought made its way to the front of her mind.

"Oh my goodness! Hurn! I'd nearly forgotten him!"
"Who cares—What are you doing!?" Rincewind screamed as Twoflower turned the dragon around.
"We have to save Hurn!" she called over the rush of the wind.
"Why?!"
"He's our friend!"
"Friend?!" Rincewind tightened his grip even tighter around Twoflower as the wind bounced them.
"Yes! We can't abandon him to whatever horrible fate he might be facing."
"What's this 'we' stuff!? I can leave him just fine!" Twoflower stared determinedly onward. Rincewind frowned, slightly because of a green eyed monster was rising but mostly because they were heading back towards the people who had just tried to kill him.

"He didn't attempt to rescue you!" he pointed out desperately. Twoflower shrugged this off.
"Rincewind, not even Hrun could have prevailed against those crossbows." she said, stoutly. She bent as low as she could in Rincewind's tight grip to talk to the dragon. "What can you see?"
"I see fighting on the top of the mountain," came the gentle reply.
"See!" said Twoflower urgently. "Hrun's probably fighting for his life at this very moment!" There was no reply. After a moment Twoflower became worried and looked around. The wizard was staring intently at nothing at all, his lips moving soundlessly.
"Rincewind?" The wizard made a small croaking noise. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"
"... All the way... The great fall..." muttered Rincewind, his eyes focused, looked puzzled for a moment, then widened in terror. He looked down and began to slide. Twoflower grabbed him.
"What's the matter?!" Rincewind shut his eyes.
"Don't you get scared of heights?" he said at last. Well, croaked more like. Twoflower blinked then looked down at the tiny landscape, mottled with cloud shadows. The thought of fear hadn't actually occurred to her.
"No," she said with a shrug. "Why should I? You're just as dead if you fall from forty feet as you are from four thousand fathoms, that's what I say." Rincewind seemed to consider this for a moment, but then he started to slip again. Twoflower grabbed him quickly.
"Steady on!" she said cheerfully. "We're nearly there." Rincewind moaned
"I wish I was back in the city. I wish I was back on the ground." Twoflower wasn't listening. Her attention was instead on the sky.

As a child she always dreamed of someday reaching into the sky touching star, but also flying away to another world where things were… better. Where no one was told what to do, and no one ever died.

"I wonder if dragons can fly all the way to the stars?" she mused. "Now that would be something..."
"You're mad," said Rincewind flatly. "Don't you even think about it," added menacingly after a minute. Twoflower wasn't listening of course. She was still lost in a far off dream.

"The man you seek is talking to the dragon-woman." said the dragon inside her mind.
"Hmm?" said Twoflower, still looking at the stars.
"What?" said Rincewind urgently. Twoflower didn't know whether or not he could hear Ninereeds.
"Oh yes. Hrun!" said Twoflower. "I hope we're in time. Dive now. Go low." Twoflower's braided pigtails flew in the wind along with her dress as the air increased to a whistling gale. Anyone who was looking up at the moment got a full view of her panties.

The flat summit of the Wyrmberg rose up at them, lurched alarmingly, and then somersaulted into a green blur that flashed by on either side. They were close enough where Twoflower could see Hurn. Ninereeds managed to quickly grab Hrun gently in his claws and fly back into the air.

She could hear Hrun screaming something, but couldn't make out what he was saying in the wind.
"What did he say?" roared Rincewind in her ear as the dragon ripped its way through the air in the race for the heights.
"Didn't hear." Twoflower bellowed back. Behind them the other dragons were pursuing them. Ninereeds flew higher and as he did the air started to vanish. Twoflower felt her ears popped for the third time. Panting very heavily she turned to look at her pursuers.

Ahead of the swarm was a golden dragon with someone on it. However her vision was too blurred to make out anything.
"Hey, are you all right?" she heard Rincewind say urgently. He sounded so far away…. Blue lights appeared in front of her eyes as darkness became her vision.

~*End of Chapter*~

Well, at least our favorite duo is together again. I'm sorry this is mostly the book; I'm trying to fix that for future chapters. (In between classes that is.) The next one will be more orginal.