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

by Hans Bezdek

"I'd kinda prefer skippin the flyin again," admitted Braun.

  "It'll be good for us to arrive early," I explained, shaking my head. "The faster we can warn the citizens the faster we can communicate everything that needs to be done. We'll have to talk with whoever the military leaders of Vorova are."

  "Will they even be much help?" asked Dhot. "I seem to remember us slipping away from them without too much trouble when we first met."

  "We were just trying to escape," pointed out Cassandra. "We have no idea how strong they'll be against an army."

  "Plus, it might take some time to persuade Nicole," I said. "I know we left on somewhat good terms, but we did sort of cause her some problems..."

  "Like blowing up a legendary weapon," said Cassandra, giving Dhot a disappointing look.

  "What?" he shrugged. "That was just as much your fault as mine. If you hadn't been there, I'd have taken more time and judged the right amount of firepower to use."

  "Yeah," I said. "Because you're one to limit your own explosives."

  Once the four of us finished eating, we paid our tab and left for the gate. To our surprise, a large number of carts were lined up, being filled with soldiers. While we knew they would be leaving soon, we didn't expect The Republic's army to be preparing already. As we pushed through the throng of men and women, we bumped into Varinia on the outside of the gate.

  "It's good to see you four again," she smiled. "I'm glad you've been so successful getting the other territories to help in the Dragon War."

  "It's a miracle Laurinaitis is willing to help, too," I said. "I imagine you were working on him some while we were gone?"

  "I did my best," she laughed. "I think the stress of following in his father's footsteps has been more than enough motivation for him to look for help."

  "So long as we're all fighting for the same thing," I shrugged. I nodded back to the carts. "You all heading out shortly?"

  "Yes," she nodded. "We need to get there as quickly as possible, so we're leaving without delay."

  "Got room for four more?" asked Cassandra.

  "Of course!" replied the silver dragon.

  "Uh, that actually won't be necessary," I said, shooting a look back at the elf. She glanced away. "We're going to take another route. We've got a couple of things to do on our way."

  "I understand," said Varinia.

  Before we left, I took another look at the soldiers. There was one noticeable group missing.

  "Where are the Deathbringers?" I asked. "I had assumed they'd be coming with us, but I don't see them."

  "They should be easy to spot," agreed Cassandra. We knew all too well how large and terrifying The Republic's elite could be.

  Varinia laughed. "We couldn't risk transporting them along with the regular troops. The last thing we need is someone accidentally offending them on the way. That would cause some... unfortunate delays. Don't worry, though. They'll meet us there. I sent the orders myself."

  "Whatever works," I said. "I'm just glad we'll be fighting on the same side this time."

  The four of us left Varinia and the troops, heading for the abandoned barns we used to touch down the day before. After taking a wrong path once or twice, we found them. Unfortunately, they weren't so abandoned this time. In fact, there were dozens more people there than we had seen at most of the farms we passed on the way out.

  No one here seemed to be working, though. They were all well armed and didn't seem to know one another. That last point meant they probably weren't of the same guild or gang, but it didn't make me feel that much more comfortable. There were a few groups that stuck together, looking up at the sky or scanning the horizon.

  Two human men were leaning against the wall closest to us, lazily looking around.

  "Excuse me," I said, approaching them. "What's everyone doing out here?"

  "Same thing you're doin, I imagine," shrugged the one on the left. "Huntin."

  "Huntin for what?" asked Braun.

  "Oi, keep it to yerself, Paul," said the other human quietly.

  "Why else would they be out here, Lawrence?" asked Paul. "Obviously they know about that green dragon spotted touchin down here yesterday."

  "You don't say," said Cassandra, giving me a worried look.

  "Crazy, innit?" laughed Paul. "We figured we might as well come out and take a chance. Seems that these others thought the same thing. Can't blame em for doing the same. Capturing a green dragon would be the talk of the city."

  Lawrence punched his friend in the shoulder. "Shut your trap!"

  "W-What would you do if you captured the green dragon?" asked Braun.

  "Keep it safe," said Lawrence.

  "Take its eyes," said Paul at the same time. The got him another arm punch. "Ow, stop that! Ain't no point lying! Everyone knows their eyes would be worth a fortune!"

  I glanced over at all of the poachers, self consciously bringing my cloak up to obscure my face a little more. There were at least fifty of them wandering around, looking at the ground for any tracks I might have left. It was a bit eery to be so close to so many people that wanted me dead, and they didn't even know it.

  Sure, tons of other people have wanted me dead before, but it was usually business related. This one felt personal.

  "Wait a minute," said Paul, getting off of the wall and approaching us. He kept his eyes locked on mine, which caused me to look away. "If you four didn't know all this, why are you out here?"

  "Er, just wanted to go for a walk!" said Dhot quickly. "You know, really nice day out."

  "It's cloudy and a bit cold," pointed out Paul, still looking hard at me.

  "We all like different things," said Dhot, sounding unsure of himself.

  "Ya know, you've got some real green eyes," Paul said to me. "I ain't seen eyes that green before."

  I could see the others around me tense up at this, and I did the same. I wasn't so sure fighting would be the right decision right now. Not only were there quite a few of them, but it would be stupid to get injured before we even made it to Vorova.

  "Thanks," I said, still not looking at him. "Really helps me with the ladies."

  "They look just like emeralds," said Paul, placing a hand on his dagger.

  "You're gonna make me blush if you keep this up," I chuckled, trying to diffuse the situation.

  "What are you doin, Paul?" asked Lawrence, annoyance in his voice.

  "What if there really was one of them greens here, huh?" asked Paul, pulling out his dagger and raising it toward me.

  "I'd not do that, if I were you," cautioned Dhot.

  "There ain't not tracks for em," continued Paul, taking another step toward me and holding his dagger menacingly. "They must've took on a human form, ain't they?"

  "I really would stop," warned Dhot, his voice rising like a mother scolding her child.

  "I bet we got the green dragon right here!" said Paul, a crazed smile appearing on his face. "We're gonna be ri-!"

  Click.

  A surge of electricity bounced around Paul, causing the human to shake violently. After a few seconds it stopped, and the man fell over, his dagger falling from his hand.

  "Told him to stop," said Dhot matter-of-factly as he put his detonator away.

  It had gotten extremely quiet. I glanced over to see all of the poachers now watching us. Lawrence remained against the wall, his arms crossed as he looked down at Paul, up to us, and down to Paul again. I couldn't get a read on what he was thinking, but was preparing for the worst. I began summoning magic into my hands.

  "This man had gone crazy and was about to attack us," Cassandra announced to the onlookers. "He wants that green dragon so badly he was about to kill us for it."

  "I hope you understand we don't mean you any harm," I said, addressing Lawrence in particular. "We could've killed your friend for coming at me like that, but we just knocked him out. I hope you don't plan on retaliating."

  "Don't know him that well," shrugged Lawrence. "Besides, ain't no way a green dragon would keep his eyes
if he took on his human form. If one of em is still alive, they'd be much smarter than that."

  The other poachers nodded at one another at this reasoning, and one by one turned back to their previous tasks. We took that opening as an ideal time to leave. With a few awkward glances back to Lawrence, we went back toward Ravendale. He didn't make any moves to go check on Paul the entire time we could see him.

  "Thanks for that," I said to Dhot, letting the magic I was summoning subside. "I was worried I was going to have to kill him."

  "Never have to thank me for getting to use one of my bombs!" snickered Dhot. "Maha!"

  "It looks like your dragon form is proving to be a bit problematic," Cassandra said.

  "Now you can see why I so rarely used it in the past," I said. "While it might be helpful for getting from one point to another, all it does after that is get unwanted attention."

  "Maybe we can go without that form for a bit?" offered Braun. "Not just cause me and Cassandra be scared of flyin, you know."

  "Quit saying that!" said Cassandra. "I'm not scared like you are!"

  "The first step is admitting it," counseled Dhot.

  Before Cassandra could yell at the goblin, Braun pointed up ahead. "Looks like The Republic's army is already headed out fer Vorova!"

  Sure enough, we could see a few hundred carts moving out across the land. Not having any other options, the four of us ran as quickly as we could for them. It took slightly longer than I would've liked thanks to the dwarf's small legs and complaining, but we eventually met up with the front of the caravan.

  "Wait up!" shouted Dhot, catching a lot of the cart drivers’ attention. The one at the front slowed to a stop, and Varinia poked her head out.

  "What seems to be the matter?" she asked. "Are we under attack?"

  "Got room for four more?" I asked sheepishly.

  "Funny, I seem to remember asking that not too long ago..." mumbled Cassandra.

  "What about your plans on your other route?" asked the silver dragon, tilting her head.

  "Plans fall through," I said, waving the thought away with my hand. "It's not every day you get the chance to travel with The Republic's army!"

  Chapter 6

  The trip to the east was slow and mostly uneventful. I don't know why I would've expected anything less while traveling with a group of a few hundred human soldiers, but I was still a bit disappointed. Not that I wanted to put myself in any danger, of course, but it would've at least been something to watch or do.

  The humans on our cart weren't ones for small talk. They watched Dhot and Braun with caution, stared a bit too long at Cassandra, and flat out ignored me. I tried to break the ice some when it came time for lunch and we passed some rations around, but they just quietly ate their food. The only sign of life I saw out of them was when we approached a large town after nightfall.

  "This must be Grisam!" declared one of them. "I knew we'd be stopping here to sleep! You owe me 20 quat!"

  "We don't know for sure we're stopping here for the night," argued the other one, but he sounded pretty defeated. "Could be passing through."

  "You guys got a bet going?" I asked. "I'm game."

  They quickly went back to not speaking.

  Our caravan passed into Grisam, one of the border towns between the Republic and Truska, although it was officially on Truska's side. I wasn't sure how the place would take the influx of soldiers from a neighboring territory, and the looks we received by the townspeople made me a little uneasy. When we had made it about midway through the town, the wagons in front of us came to a halt.

  "Ha!" laughed the first man as the second one groaned. "Told you! Pay up!"

  "Alright, alright," grumbled the man, passing the man some coin as they jumped off the cart.

  "Those two were lovely to travel with," said Dhot dryly.

  "Looked at me and ya like we were lepers," complained Braun.

  People from all of the other carts disembarked and split up across the town. Varinia and several other important looking dragons walked along the caravan, making sure there weren't any problems.

  "Why are we stopping?" I asked Varinia as the silver dragon walked by.

  "We need to give the horses a break," she explained. "It's good to let the troops stretch their legs some before we continue on to Vorova, and we don't want to get caught out on the road in the middle of the night. We'll leave early tomorrow."

  "Do we get some kind of per diem for spending the night here?" asked Dhot hopefully.

  "The army will be sleeping on the carts," explained Varinia. "If you'd like to get an inn for yourselves, you're more than welcome to. Unfortunately, we won't be able to foot the bill."

  "Was worth a shot," shrugged the goblin.

  The four of us left and explored some of Grisam. I had passed through it a few times over the years but never spent much time there. It was large for a border town but didn't have much going for it outside of the large population. Many of the town’s merchants were already speaking with The Republic's soldiers, excited to have new customers. The soldiers looked just as happy to have the opportunity to buy goods they hadn't seen back home. Unfortunately for us, nothing looked particularly noteworthy.

  We checked down a few sides streets, hoping to find something of interest. After a half hour of wandering, we had pretty much decided on just finding an inn or tavern and settling down for the night.

  "Gather around, gather around!" came the calls of a man up ahead. We looked to see a large crowd of soldiers piling closer together and a man on top of a stage looking down at them. Figuring we had nothing else better to do, we joined the crowd.

  The man was wearing a long purple robe that looked very expensive. He had a poorly groomed black goatee and goofy looking glasses, the frame in the shape of stars. He looked very much like someone who had never actually seen a magic user before, and thought this was how they all dressed.

  "Behold!" announced the human, waving his hands mysteriously around in circles. "I am Martin the Magnificent! I am the most powerful wizard in all of Truska, and some say all of Yaerna!"

  "I find that unlikely," I mumbled to the others, who snickered.

  "Careful," warned Cassandra. "We don't want a repeat of Greenville, do we?"

  Martin pointed down to a woman soldier in the front of the crowd. "You, there! Join me on stage, if you will be so kind."

  The soldiers around her nudged her and chuckled, and she finally got on the stage. She didn't look very comfortable with the attention. Martin circled around her, waving his hands quickly as he went. As he stepped behind the woman, he quickly reached into the sleeve of his left arm and pulled out a rose. He jumped forward and held the rose out toward her.

  "Tada!" he shouted.

  Before I could laugh, the crowd burst into applause. The woman on stage looked completely amazed as she took it, turning the rose over and over in her hands as she held it.

  "That's incredible!" one of the soldiers near me exclaimed.

  "Is this some kind of joke?" I asked, looking at the others.

  "I don't understand how everyone is impressed by that," agreed Braun quietly.

  "It was so obvious!" I said, speaking a bit louder over the crowd. "He wasn't even that fast when he pulled the rose out of his sleeve!"

  The crowd immediately went quiet and turned toward me and the others. Martin the Magnificent looked mildly annoyed.

  "Could you not cause a scene just once?!" hissed Cassandra at me.

  "Erm, sorry," I said to everyone, trying to shrink slightly.

  "That's quite alright," announced Martin, clearing his throat. "It may be hard to believe, but I've actually got nothing up my sleeves!"

  He made a big gesture of showing his sleeves, and the crowd clapped again.

  "Maybe he summoned the rose inside of his sleeve," Cassandra said to me once we were no longer the center of attention.

  "No way," I said, shaking my head. "Summoners are extremely powerful and extremely rare. They would never
do performances on the street like this guy just for a few quat. They could make so much more working for a government or guild."

  "What is your favorite kind of food?" Martin asked the woman who was still on stage.

  "Um... chicken?" she replied with a shrug.

  "Who says chicken is their favorite food?" scoffed Dhot. "It's so plain!"

  Martin wasn't as taken aback. "As a matter of fact, I've got something for you right now!"

  He waved his arms again, then picked up the bottom of his robes. Instantly, a live chicken cawed and ran out from underneath him. The crowd laughed at this, as did the startled woman. Applause soon followed, as did quat going into a bucket at the base of the stage.

  "This is impossible," I muttered. I narrowed my eyes and looked around at the crowd. Surely there was no way someone calling themselves The Magnificent would actually be a summoner. Something else had to be going on.

  "Boo!" shouted Dhot next to me, cupping his mouth and hopping up and down. "She has to be a plant! You had a chicken under your skirt the whole time!"

  We again received glares from the crowd. Martin was looking more and more agitated.

  Braun clasped a hand over the goblin’s mouth in midair and pulled him back toward him. "Me friends had, uh, a bit too much to drink. Many apologies!"

  "No, he's right!" I chimed in. "Who says chicken is their favorite food? That's clearly what the fake summoner wanted her to say!"

  "N-No," said the woman on the stage, her face slightly red. "Chicken is the only food my family has ever been able to afford outside of bread... it's always been a real treat to get."

  I grimaced as the glares from the crowd intensified. Okay, maybe I shouldn't have gone after the woman as a plant, but how was I supposed to expect some sorta sob story like that!

  "It seems we have a group of non-believers," said Martin the Magnificent Fake, playing with the sleeves on his robe as if this was an everyday thing. "What if we invited one of them up on the stage?"

  The crowd enthusiastically called for that, and Martin motioned for the woman to leave.

  "I'm not going up there," said Cassandra, her arms crossed. "You're the ones making us look like insensitive jerks."