"Iridi?"

His brow arched. "Ah? You have met. Yes. She seeks not one impossible quest, but two. She hopes to either free or destroy a nether dragon—"

"Yes... and also take from a blood elf a staff that he stole from a friend's murdered corpse." Vereesa's expression turned cold despite the nearby pool. "But Zendarin Is mine and no one else's...."

He studied her face in concern. "A personal quest, a personal feud. I will not ask you why, but remind you of the folly of such."

"You are hardly one to judge that," the ranger curtly replied, standing. She glanced around at the monstrous display. "And what do you make of this? Is this left over from Deathwing or his children?"

"No... this is the obsession of the mother of Nefarian and Onyxia, an obsession whose depth I have only just begun to appreciate... and fear. How long she must have collected these eggs, collected them and then corrupted each—no doubt with the aid of the accursed, still malevolent Demon Soul—for her own foul desires! And how—and how much effort she must have gone through—to move them here to Grim Batol after my own kind had abandoned their guarding of it."

"You think she and this were not here already?"

"She—she could not have been here, done all this evil, and not be noticed by those keeping sentinel. No, Sinestra has only recently come to this forlorn place, but she has—has settled in very, very, well!"

He did his best to push himself up. Vereesa quickly aided him when it became clear that he was about to drop again. "Thank— thank you. I am growing stronger by the moment, though I hope never to go through that again. That is more the way of the Earth-Warder, Deathwing's lot. But fire in any form is a valued part of life and that enabled me to do what I did." The dragon mage scowled at the many eggs. "And, as a servant of life, this hideous mockery of it—" Krasus gestured at one of the swollen eggs."— fills me with such rage that I could destroy this chamber and all in it with little regard for my own destruction!"

Vereesa looked aghast, fearing that he would follow through on his dire notion. She saw herself perishing with him, leaving her children and Rhonin without her and Zendarin able to go hunting the twins at his leisure. Much as she, too, thought that this cavern deserved razing, she was selfish enough to want to at least protect her family first.

But Krasus shook his head. "No, that I cannot do just yet. That would leave Sinestra to still plot. She has the nether dragon at her mercy and one abomination already born. She may find another blue or red dragon—magic and life—to further her creation's horrific powers—"

"Why would she even need to do that? She has eggs from your flight and likely ones stolen over the generations from even the blues, rare as they are. She could raise her own."

"The raising would require more trouble, and she would need a mature adult, well into their power for years, to even hope to achieve what she desires. Sinestra has patience, but not in all things. Besides, there have been many generations in which she herself has had to hide as much as plot." He smiled slightly as something else became apparent. "And there are few enough eggs of the other flights. They would be more valuable to her than her own... which is surely what all these black flight eggs are."

"All from one dragon alone?"

"It looks like so many, but these have been salvaged over many centuries...." He shook his head. "The tremendous range of years Deathwing and his blood use for some of their plots ever amazes me...."

Vereesa shivered. "Do we destroy them one by one, then? The two of us together—"

"Would take far too long. I am still weak, young one, and I think I know why...." Krasus gestured further into the bizarre cavern. "And if I am correct, we need to go that way now."

Wondering what could be of such greater importance to the dragon mage, Vereesa aided him in heading in the direction indicated. As they left the vicinity of the eggs, the heat from the pools began to take over, so much so that it grew harder for the high elf to breathe.

The area also took on a more crimson cast, the pools now the only source of light. While she had usually trusted Krasus in the past, the ranger began to wonder if he actually knew where he was.

The cowled figure suddenly groaned. "Yes..." he gasped. "We are very close." "Close to what?"

But Krasus did not clarify, instead peering at something ahead. Even with the eyes of a high elf, Vereesa could not see what it was until several more unsteady steps.

The glow was barely perceptible at first, only a slight, golden glimmer. It emanated from a chamber whose entrance was a crack that, when finally reached by the pair, had to be entered one at a time and sideways.

Krasus hesitated. “I will go first...but I need you to follow quickly after. I do not know how well I will be able to withstand what is in there."

"What is it?"

He looked back at her as he began to slip through. "One of my nightmares..."

And with that, the dragon mage vanished into the chamber. Aware that Krasus was not one to overstate a situation, the ranger immediately followed after. She pressed her back against the rock and slid from the previous cavern, wondering what she would find.

"It is as I suspected and feared," Krasus whispered, staring at what lay ahead. "And it made only too much sense, especially with her."

Even as he spoke, Krasus started to lose his legs. Vereesa quickly leapt to his side and helped him right himself.

The dragon mage swore with a vehemence the ranger had never before heard from him. She could see the bitterness in his face, a bitterness focused in great part, Vereesa knew, at himself.

Her gaze turned to a small platform carved from the very stone of which the mount was composed. Set atop it was the source of the glow... a horrific artifact that she recognized despite its odd state.

"One shard I had," Krasus rasped. "Another tiny one I found. Of the rest, I saw nothing and feared nothing of... but only she could resurrect even this much of that abomination... only Deathwing's consort could even dream of trying to recreate any aspect of the Demon Soul..."

Grenda did not notice Vereesa's disappearance until well into the trek to freedom. When she did, the dwarf debated calling for a halt, then decided against it. The ranger had made her own choice; Grenda had to concern herself with her own people's well-being.

This did not mean that she only intended to lead them out of Grim Batol. After all, the Bronzebeards had come to the mount on a mission. Grenda sought an exit, yes, but she was also on a lookout for anything relating to the goings on in the dire place.

And, at last she found just that. The chamber was huge and in it was a sight both fearsome and striking.

The great beast bound by magical strands could only be the cause of the great roars of anguish that the Bronzebeards had heard on and off over the recent days. It was like no dragon that she had seen and appeared more apparition than substance.

"What're they doin' with that thing?" muttered one dwarf near her.

"Something foul," remarked another.

Grenda shushed them both. As concerned as she was about the imprisoned beast and the purpose for that situation, the female dwarf also needed to study the chamber's layout.

The first things she noticed were the five skardyn taking care of various tasks in the vicinity of the dragon. They seemed greatly engrossed in their efforts, almost as if their lives depended upon it. After the dragon and them, the next point of interest to her was a long ridge running along the side of the cavern, one that she saw ledto another passage that, to her best estimation, had to lead to some exit.