Servant of the Dragon

Servant of the Dragon (1999) is a fantasy novel in David Drake's Lord of the Isles series. The story begins when seven wizards cast a spell using a mummified reptile to raise the lost land of Yole from the sea. Meanwhile, in the city of Valles, a magical blue bridge appears where none has existed for centuries. The wizard Tenoctris determines the bridge is dangerous but not connected to the evil Throne of Malkar. While investigating, a giant bird snatches Sharina and carries her away.

Cashel sets out to rescue Sharina. Tenoctris sends him to a wizard named Landure on another plane. Cashel arrives near a door and finds the wizard Landure already dead. A woman named Colva, revealed to be a human sorceress and Landure's wife, drugs Cashel. He recovers, returns to Landure's body, and finds a sapphire ring containing the demon Krias. Krias instructs Cashel to take a wafer from Landure's corpse to animate a new body, but Cashel must travel through the Underworld to reach Landure's spare bodies. Cashel takes a fruit from the Tree of Life and, at Krias's suggestion, keeps one. He revives Landure using the wafer and a painting. Landure insults Cashel, causing Krias to refuse service; Landure gives Krias back to Cashel. In exchange for freedom, Krias helps Cashel cross a chasm to reach Sharina.

Garric, Liane, and Tenoctris remain in Valles to handle the bridge and a brewing rebellion. Garric appoints Lord Tadai as ambassador to Sandrakkan. Garric dreams of the destroyed city Klestis and the wizard Ansalem, who owned a mummified reptile, a fossilized ammonite, and a powerful amphisbaena. King Carus reveals he once sought Ansalem's help but was refused. Ansalem's seven acolytes, led by Purlio, used the ammonite to imprison him. Ansalem claims he is not behind the bridge but could repair it with his amphisbaena. Tenoctris seeks a wizard named Alman and his viewing crystal. Katchin the Miller, Cashel's foster father, asks Garric for work but is turned away and later captured by Colva. The group travels to the end of time, finds Alman in a ruined city, and learns his crystal is stolen. They return to their time. Garric learns his uncle helped kidnap Tenoctris. He and Blood Eagles cross a portal to ancient Klestis but fail to retrieve her. They rescue a woman claiming to be Colva, Landure's wife, who warns that seven necromancers plan to sacrifice Tenoctris.