The Darkness of Old; The Ancient Crown; The Winged One

by Hans Bezdek

  “Not as a half dragon,” I said.

  “Then go all the way!” insisted Braun.

  “That’ll draw so much attention,” I said.

  “Wait,” said Roxbury, tilting his head. “Did you think that you wouldn’t have to turn into a dragon during something called the Second Dragon War?”

  “The kobold’s got a point,” laughed Dhot.

  “E-Even if I transformed and took us, we wouldn’t be enough,” I insisted. “We’d need to get an army together if we want to fight against the Dar’Ka forces.”

  “We’re in Durnskeep,” said Cassandra. “Let’s go tell Dmetri we need one.”

  “Aye,” said Braun, pounding a fist into his open hand. “And we’ll remind him what’ll happen if he says no.”

  “I’m good with that,” I nodded. There was no way I’d be able to carry more than a dozen or two people with me even as a full dragon, but we’d cross that bridge when we got there.

  “Sounds like you have the beginnings of a plan,” nodded Roxbury. “I believe I’ve been all the help I can be to you at this time.”

  “Thanks for bringing us up here,” nodded Cassandra.

  “And thank you for being with the Great Oracle when he passed,” I said sincerely.

  Roxbury looked like he was going to say something, but then nodded sadly.

  “Until we meet again,” said the kobold.

  “W-Wait,” clamored Braun. “Where are you dropping us!”

  It was too late. The kobold snapped his fingers, and a portal opened up beneath us.

  Chapter 4

  The four of us crashed into a pile of trash in an alleyway.

  “Ew, really?!” cried out Cassandra, quickly pushing a few bags of something particularly smelly off of her.

  “I guess he was going for a soft spot to land us?” I guessed, getting to my feet and helping the others up.

  “Blast that little rat creature!” shouted Braun. “We’re separated from our horses again!”

  “I completely forgot about those!” exclaimed Dhot.

  “Hey, at least it happened to you in this form this time,” I pointed out.

  “That don’t make it better!”

  “Should we go back for them?” asked Dhot.

  “After the three of you were calling everyone around us idiots?” asked Cassandra. “Of course not. They’ve either taken the horses by now or shooed them away.”

  “Ya think they could hear us?” asked Braun.

  “We weren’t exactly keeping our voices down…” I said, thinking back. I wasn’t in the best of moods and probably could’ve handled that better.

  “We can find new mounts later,” sighed Cassandra. “If we’re going to get an army, we might as well go talk to Dmetri as soon as possible.”

  “Fine by me,” said Braun, noticing a moldy banana peel on his boot and kicking it off. “But the next time ye try to tell me to get a smaller horse, I’m pointin ya back to this moment!”

  I led the four of us towards the Tumbler’s Headquarters. I couldn’t explain it, but I was doing better than earlier. Maybe I had gotten all the mourning over with on the way up. It could’ve been that getting confirmation about the Great Oracle actually being dead clicked something in my head, or that we knew what his dying wish was. Now that I had a clear goal, I was able to focus on that instead of replaying his death in my head over and over.

  Roxbury had knowingly or unknowingly dropped us just a few minutes away from the Tumbler’s Headquarters, and we reached it in no time. After our little visit to Dmetri before we left last time, I assumed the Tumbler leader would’ve set up more security or made changes to the building. He must have known it wouldn’t have mattered, as everything looked exactly the same. The only person we had to get by was in the guard shack.

  “Think we’ll have problems getting through again?” asked Cassandra.

  “We better not,” said Dhot, holding a shaking hand out in front of him. “I haven’t blown anything up in days and my trigger finger is getting antsy. If they try to keep us out, I don’t think I’ll be able to control it anymore! Maha!”

  “Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and try it the easy way first,” I said, breaking away from the others and walking up to the guard shack.

  The man inside of it was on the portly side and bald. I didn’t recognize him, and the gaze he gave let me know he didn’t know me either.

  “Help ya?” he asked.

  “Hello,” I smiled. “I need to get inside.”

  “And I need a more comfortable chair,” grunted the man. “Don’t always get what we want, do we?”

  “Right…” I said. This wasn’t looking like it would go well. “I believe Dmetri is expecting us.”

  “Ain’t nobody scheduled to come in today,” said the man, crossing his arms. “If ya think lying to me is gonna help you out, think again. The Tumblers only recruit the best, ya feel me?”

  I most certainly did not feel him.

  “My friends and I are in a rush,” I said, nodding back to the others. “Can you just let Dmetri know he has visitors?”

  “Nah.”

  “Excuse me?” I asked, feeling my eye twitch.

  “Don’t feel like it.”

  I could feel the dragon blood surging through me now. Today had been pretty bad so far, and I was getting dangerously close to reaching my boiling point.

  “If you don’t tell him Reimar and his friends are here,” I shouted, slamming my hands onto the counter. “We will burn this place to the ground!”

  The guard looked unimpressed for a moment, then his eyes widened and he sat up straighter. “D-Did you say… R-Reimar?”

  “I did.”

  “I-I’m s-so s-sorry!” he stammered. “T-The boss said to never d-deny you! P-Please, go right in!”

  I straightened my cloak and breathed a sigh of relief. About time something went the way it was supposed to.

  “We’re good guys,” I said, waving at the others to come up.

  “P-Please don’t tell D-Dmetri I almost turned you away!” begged the guard, bringing his hands together in front of him.

  “I’ll consider it if you tell me where he is,” I offered. “Is he in his usual room?”

  “No,” said the man, shaking his head furiously. “He rarely spends time there after… w-well, after he told us to never give you any trouble.”

  “Maha!” laughed Dhot as they joined us. “Smart gnome.”

  “Where do you think we’ll find him, then?”

  “I-It’s about lunch time?” guessed the guard. “T-The kitchen?”

  “It’s worth a shot,” I shrugged. “Thanks for the help.”

  I could still hear the guard whimpering as the four of us passed through the courtyard and into the building. There were a few people walking around the confusing halls, but none paid us any attention.

  “Think we’ll run into Aliz or Rupert again?” asked Cassandra.

  “Doubt it,” I shrugged, hooking a right and then taking the second left. “Both of them are usually out on various jobs. Granted, we ran into them last time, so who knows.”

  “Maybe Dmetri is keepin extra people around in case we come back,” chuckled Braun.

  “I feel like we would’ve met a bit more resistance so far if that was the case,” I mumbled. I was fairly sure Dmetri wouldn’t try anything. He couldn’t afford to mess with us and one of us living. We still had his letter to the Shadows for insurance, and if what was inside of it leaked out he’d have more trouble than just the four of us on his hands.

  It wasn’t a bad idea to be prepared, though. I pulled out the rocket propelled glove I took off a goblin weeks ago and strapped it onto my hand. I hadn’t used it in a while and figured it could use a work out. I had limited options since I didn’t want to kill Dmetri. At least, I didn’t want to kill him until after he helped us.

  After a couple more twists and turns, the four of us found ourselves in the kitchen. If there was one thing that Tumblers lov
ed more than gaining money through questionable means, it was eating. We always had the best chefs from Durnskeep and the surrounding area, and our members were never shy to mention that when bragging to a rival guild or trying to recruit. The guard out front certainly partook.

  The kitchen was one giant room, sectioned off by various ovens, countertops, and sinks. At least twenty cooks were running around the place, decked out in white, as they quickly prepared for lunch.

  “It’s smelling great in here!” said a familiar voice towards the back of the room. “Keep it up, everyone!”

  “Sounds like the guard was right,” said Cassandra.

  “Guess I won’t tattle on him now,” I said, prompting smirks from the others.

  We made our way through the cooks, occasionally getting yelled at for not moving fast enough or getting in someone’s way. Braun looked like he was growing more and more agitated, and Dhot looked like he was growing more and more hungry.

  “We should get something to eat,” said Dhot, eyeing an uncarved ham to the side.

  “When we’re done here,” said Cassandra, nudging him forward.

  After dodging the remaining cooks, we found the gnome testing out a large container of soup. Dmetri was wearing his patented platform boots, this time sporting an ugly off yellow robe over what looked to be his pajamas. Looked like he was having a nice, relaxing day.

  “We’re back, Dmetri,” I said loudly.

  The gnome jumped nearly double his height, spilling soup everywhere.

  “R-Reimar!” laughed the gnome nervously as he turned to face us. “What, ah, what a happy surprise to see you all back so soon!”

  “Always a pleasure,” I smiled back. I gestured at the others. “You remember my friends?”

  “Of course,” he said, eyes glancing over each of them and then remaining on Braun. “Who could forget people that destroyed a priceless nightstand…”

  “I left ya one,” smirked Braun.

  “Appreciated,” said Dmetri, clearing his throat. “What can I help you all with today?”

  “We need you to make good on your promise to get parts of Truska and Gorland on our side,” said Cassandra. “The time has come.”

  “H-Has it now?” said Dmetri. I wasn’t sure if he was nervous that we were going to hurt or about the news that the Second Dragon War was here. “Very well. I’ll send out my messengers at once.”

  “There’s another thing,” I said, crossing my arms.

  “Of course there is,” sighed Dmetri. “What now?”

  “We need Durnskeep’s army,” said Dhot.

  “You need them?” asked Dmetri.

  “And we need them today,” I nodded.

  “T-The Dar’Ka are coming here?!” exclaimed Dmetri in a loud whisper.

  “Their leader was here earlier today,” shrugged Braun. “Dunno what yer freakin out about.”

  “I-Is he still here?” asked Dmetri, his mind racing at the news. “Maybe we could try to work with him and avoid this whole thing?”

  “Not gonna work,” I said firmly. “He killed the Great Oracle.”

  The gnome’s eyes went big at that. He held his breath for a moment, then laughed.

  I shared a look with the others.

  “What’s so funny?” asked Cassandra.

  “Clearly you all are joking!” laughed Dmetri. “There’s… there’s no way the Great Oracle is dead. Why he’s… he’s too powerful.”

  “We aren’t joking,” I said.

  Dmetri quit laughing and stared at me. “I see. This is very bad, indeed.”

  “Now you can see why we need an army immediately,” said Cassandra.

  “We need them as soon as possible to stop an attack on Jiezvall,” I explained.

  “A bit far away, is it not?” said the gnome, stroking his goatee. “How do you expect to move everyone there quickly?”

  “Let us worry about that,” I said. “You worry about getting us what we need. And now.”

  “I’m sure I can convince Durnskeep to give aid, but Ravendale wasn’t built in a day,” said an exasperated Dmetri. “These things take time, surely you understand that.”

  “I do,” I nodded. “Which is why you have until the end of the day.”

  “That’s impossible!” hissed Dmetri.

  Braun pulled out Grimkell’s Mace and brought it within an inch of Dmetri’s neck in less than a second. The gnome whimpered and stared down at the weapon.

  “Ya tellin us no?” asked Braun.

  “O-Okay,” said Dmetri, raising his hands. “I-I’ll do my best t-to get it done by t-tonight.”

  “Much better,” smiled Braun, pulling back the Mace.

  “I hope you understand the seriousness of the situation,” I said. “Not just for you, but for all of Yaerna.”

  Dmetri looked petrified.

  “Do what you’ve got to do to get us troops,” I said, going for the door. “We need whatever we can get by the end of the day. We’ll be back tonight if we haven’t heard from you.”

  “Aye,” I heard Braun say with malice in his voice. “Ye can count on that.”

  Chapter 5

  It wasn’t until we were far away from the Tumbler’s headquarters that we all burst into laughter.

  “He was so scared!” laughed Dhot. “Maha!”

  “I thought he was going to jump into that thing of soup when he heard Reimar’s voice,” giggled Cassandra.

  “At least it would’ve blended in with his robe,” I snickered.

  “His face when I held up me Mace!” roared Braun. “I thought he’d make a mess of himself, I did!”

  “Where to now?” asked Cassandra. “We’ve got some time to kill while we let Dmetri try and convince the city to help us out.”

  “Why not check in with the Shadows?” I offered. After everything that happened last time we were in town, I was pretty sure Markus would be willing to at least hear us out. While I hoped Dmetri would get us some troops, we would still need all the help we could get.

  “Works for me,” said Dhot. “Always a pleasure talking with another goblin.”

  Our mind made up, we headed in the direction of the Shadows’ headquarters. It was funny to think what my old self would say if he could see me now. The Shadows had always been enemies of the Tumblers, and now I felt more of a kinship with Markus than I did with Dmetri. Time had a strange way of affecting people.

  The four of us passed through the busier streets of Durnskeep. I kept my hood up in hopes that no one would recognize me. Not that I was particularly worried someone was going to try and kill me now that Dmetri had lifted his bounty on me, but so that we wouldn’t get slowed down by an old acquaintance wanting to talk with me. Music filled the streets as we walked, a great number of performers out trying to get a few quat from the crowds. Merchants were trying hard to get people’s attention, offering furs, weapons, and toys for children. It was around lunch time now and the smell from the surrounding restaurants permeated the streets.

  “Everything smells so good,” whined Dhot. “Can’t we grab some food?”

  “We’re so close now!” I protested.

  “Gettin a bit hungry, meself,” mumbled Braun, patting his stomach.

  “Let’s talk to Markus and the Shadows first, then we can eat,” said Cassandra. “If they’re going to help us, it’ll take them some time for them to gather people. We can eat while we wait.”

  “That works for me,” I nodded.

  “Okay…” said Dhot, staring with jealousy at the happy customers at a nearby cafe.

  The four of us neared the set of buildings that made up the Shadows hideout. Several shady figures stood around various points of the buildings, a few of them casting looks at us that said to walk away. The last time I was here, I was brought straight to the leader without any hassle. While I remembered how to get down to Markus’ office, it didn’t dawn on me until then that we had no way to get inside without causing some problems.

  “Most of them don’t know who we are,”
I mumbled. “This might be harder than I thought.”

  “You’re saying you came here without a plan?” grinned Cassandra. “That doesn’t sound like you at all.”

  “Shut it,” I said, focusing on the door we needed to go through. There was no way we’d be able to make it there without being stopped, and I doubted they’d take our request to talk to Markus seriously.

  “Better think quick,” whispered Dhot. “We’ve got company.”

  Two men that were leaning against the front of the building approached us. This wasn’t a big deal. We could just pretend to be lost tourists, and-

  “Oi, yer Reimar, ain’t ya?” asked one the men, this one in a sleeveless vest. I assumed he had problems finding shirts that could contain his muscular arms, but it could’ve been a bad fashion sense.

  “Oh, good!” Cassandra smiled at me. “They know you.”

  “Yeah, ain’t he with the Tumblers?” asked the other man, this one with a black hood covering most of his face.

  “Oh…” said Cassandra, taking a half step back as she realized being recognized wasn’t always for the best. “Not so good.”

  “Not anymore,” I said, trying my best to stay still and calm. We had worked with the Shadows the last time we were in Durnskeep, whether these lower ranking members knew it or not. I preferred to not fight them if we could avoid it. “Never saw my face on the bounty boards? It wasn’t the most flattering angle, but I’ve had worst sketches.”

  Sleeveless’ eyes brightened. “That’s right! Yer worth a pretty penny if I remember correctly.”

  “I was,” I nodded, trying to emphasize this being past tense. “Dmetri dropped it, though.”

  Sleeveless’ nose curled in annoyance at that. Poor guy probably thought he was about to get rich.

  “What’re ya doin here?” asked a deep voice, joining us from behind. I glanced back to see an orc with an eyepatch and his arms crossed cutting off any chance we had of backing away.

  A strange gurgling sound broke up the tension.

  Everyone stared down at Dhot, who placed a hand over his stomach.

  “What?” he shrugged. “I told you I was hungry!”

  “We’re here to see Markus,” I said, ignoring the goblin.