There were large, forbidding city gates at the far end of the city that provided the only entrance or exit to and from the city. They were positioned in the side of the mammoth wall, with a gate tower that seemed to dwarf anything in the city, almost seeming to touch the sky. The gates of the city, Ceras knew, were close to twenty feet thick, and when they closed at night guarded the city against the surrounding monsters or any attacking force. The walls on the high escarpment now made the city nearly impenetrable by any invading force – as had been Cleosre’s assessment, when she had discussed the design with Ceras and Hidden-Caverns.
The construction of the city and the surrounding fortifications were still ongoing. Ceras could see parties of working orcs and other dungeon creatures spread across the city’s bow-like interior. In between the city’s walls were large park areas filled with trees and plants producing a garden-like environment for the inhabitants to relax in. Each of the public areas, including the large plazas for markets and other public events, were covered with a blue, shimmering dome providing some escape from the bitter wind at this altitude.
Hidden-Caverns and Ceras had been able to cast the spells themselves using the dungeon’s large mana pool as a resource, but Ceras was still interested in increasing the shield spells to cover the whole of the city, giving it a warmer climate that would help attract more people to live here.
At the moment the city was only about ten percent full of the people it could house, and most of those were adventurers using the dungeon on a temporary basis, living in the barracks provided by the dungeon for a fee. Ceras was very keen to have a more permanent residence, living and working in this growing city. There was also a small core of families that were making the city their home and were starting to produce equipment from the dungeon’s many resources.
Cleosre had told him he would need to be patient, and that movement of large populations around the kingdom would take a while, because travel had its perils which meant people needed a large incentive to move a great distance. Ceras’ dungeon city was on the edge of the kingdom where the population had always been small, and with the added fact of the cold mountain climate people were still not here in great numbers, but slow growth was happening.
Ceras moved away from the balcony and started to walk down the spiral staircase to the bottom of the keep and out into the courtyard, passing the orc guards who had luckily stopped trying to smile at passersby, as their politeness mostly came across as terrifying. Across from the keep were the stairs to the Symania hospice, a large building in the corner of the courtyard. Ceras had heard some talk of moving the hospice into the main city, as had happened with the adventurers’ accommodation that had once been in the castle, but nothing had happened as of yet. Sometimes there was so much to do that he could not keep track of it all.
Entering the reception room, he saw a team of kobolds manning the front desk, directing some injured dungeon adventurers toward the triage section of the hospice that was run by a few healers under Symania’s supervision.
Ceras was still happy to see that he was not a recognizable figure in the dungeon city, as none of the adventurers looked at him with any interest. This was because of his self-imposed near isolation, as he had mostly been studying or grinding to try and reach the legendary level.
Moving past the entrance to the hospice, he went into the main healing area to try and find Symania. She was at the back of the room, seemingly in deep discussion with another healer as a man with a spear in his leg was sitting on a bench. Ceras noticed the man did not seem to be in pain, which was a wonder as he still had the top of the spear sticking out of his leg with the shaft embedded in his calf.
As Ceras approached he could hear the conversation between the two healers.
“...but I can’t fully heal him until the weapon is out.”
“I know,” said Symania, looking grim.
“So, what do you suggest? How am I to remove the spear?”
At that point, Symania looked up and saw the large, muscular dungeon master approaching and smiled.
“I may have a plan,” she said, addressing both the healer and the approaching Ceras. “Perfect timing, Ceras. I need your help with a small task.”
Having heard her conversation with the healer, Ceras knew what to expect as he looked at the smiling man on the bench.
“How is he smiling so much with a spear in his leg?” asked Ceras of the two healers, curious.
“It's the effects of a new healing spell I’ve just learned, called Painless,” said Symania with a nod to the man who was sitting there. “Could you do the honors for us by taking out the spear so we can finish the healing? Please don’t make the wound any bigger than it is!”
“Ok then, stand back - I’m sure that there will be some blood.”
“Thanks.”
The two healers moved behind Ceras as he approached the man, whose vacant smile suggested he was not paying attention to anything that was happening.
“Please hold still as I pull out the spear,” Ceras told the man.
“Huh...” was the only reply, but Ceras took that for permission to operate.
Looking down at the leg he eyed the spear and the shaft buried in the calf. Holding the leg with his overly large hand so it would not move and disturb his work, he activated his fire spell and produced a brilliant white flame extending from the tip of his index finger. The flame formed into a thin line of energy that he could use for cutting the spear and moving his finger slowly, he cut through the head of the spear shaft. As the wood and metal burned, Ceras could smell the sharp odor of scorching metal. The head of the spear fell onto the floor with a clang, drawing a surprised look from the two healers but no reaction from the injured man.
It took Ceras a few more seconds to cut the long pole on the outer side of the leg, allowing him to slowly pull the spear shaft from the leg. When the shaft exited the wound, Ceras felt Symania’s healing start to close up the wound. The job was so smooth that no blood was spilled onto the floor, to Ceras’ surprise.
“Good job,” Symania said to Ceras, before addressing the healer. “Do you want to finish off the rest of the healing?”
“OK.”
Ceras backed away from the injured man on the bench as the healer stepped forward to take over his healing. Ceras then indicated to Symania that he wanted to have a private chat in her treatment room.
When he entered the room with Symania close behind, he sat on one of the chairs and turned toward her desk which was piled with medical potions and equipment used for healing.
“So, what is this rare visit about? I’m not normally graced with your presence,” said Symania with a wry smile, as though Ceras was a rare sight to see on the surface.
“Yes,” admitted Ceras. “It does seem that I’ve been a bit of a recluse with the studying and gaining experiences in the dungeon, but now it's time to go into the bigger world.”
“Interesting, what do you have planned?”
“I need to gain more information about the nature of magic, and it seems the best way to do this is by going to the university in the kingdom’s capital,” said Ceras, with some nervousness to his voice.
“That’s going to be an interesting experience for you!”
“Why so?” asked Ceras, surprised at her statement.
“Sometimes your naivety really is apparent,” said Symania with a laugh.
“Thanks for the compliment, I think.”
“But really - do you expect to be able to waltz into the capital - or any of the cities in the kingdom - and not be at the center of a political thunderstorm?” asked Symania seriously. “You're a dungeon master. Not only that, but you’ve managed to fend off one of the high-up dukes from taking over your dungeon. What else do you expect?”
“Well, I was hoping to keep it quiet and just live without a target on my back while I studied,” said the frustrated Ceras.
Symania smiled and reached over to pat his hand as if she was comforting a small child.
“As soon as you leave the city you’ll have somebody following you, or your location will be reported to the kingdom’s various nobles. By the time you get to the capital they will already be scheming to pull you into their political games. It will be like a lamb to the slaughter and this time you’ll be the lamb roasting,” the serious healer told him.
“Great, so what do I do?” Ceras asked with exasperation, leaning back. “I won’t be able to progress to the legendary level if I don’t have access to more information.”
“Well, you’re in luck,” Symania said with a smile. “I have the same problem as you do. I need to do some studying at the university to develop more as a healer, so it works out that we can go together. That way I can make sure that you don’t get into too much trouble.”
“How...?” Ceras eyed her suspiciously, but decided it was best not to ask her for more details on how she would be able to keep him out of the clutches of the nobility.
“What’s the timescale for leaving?” Symania asked, getting up and starting to look around her shelves as if she was mentally packing already.
“Really, as soon as possible. There’s nothing I can do here to progress to the next level without taking this step.”
“How about you give me a week to get everything sorted out here, and then we can leave?” Symania suggested.
“Fine. A week it is.”
Chapter 2 The Dragon‘s Reward and Burden
Five adventurers - Rhef, her brother Rinaldo, Symania, Ceras and Grikius, with his enormous dog Apollo - exited the portal together onto the dragon's level at the bottom of the dungeon.
“So, why are we here?” asked the normally boisterous Rinaldo with a nervous edge to his voice as he looked around the dark, smoky cavern. The volcano was going off in the background and spewing out hot lava in a misty red spray.
“Didn’t you read my note?” asked Symania.
“As reading is the operative part of the question, let me attempt to answer. I’m sure that the note didn't get read at all by my dear brother,” said Rhef in a mocking tone of voice.
“Hey, I can read!”
“Just not very well, as I remember,” Rhef shot back.
“Only when it's your scribbled writing,” answered Rinaldo as he dodged his twin’s fist.
“Anyway, you two, if you will stop arguing for a moment I’ll tell you again why we're here as it’s very simple,” said Symania, sounding exasperated.
“It was her fault! She started it!”
With a withering look from the healer, the ‘barbarian tactician’, as Rinaldo liked to call himself, shut up and nodded his head for her to continue.
“Quite simply, the dragon Shoavneon told us to come here,” said Symania with great solemnity.
“Why couldn't you have simply told us that?” Rinaldo asked.
“I did, in the note,” said Symania, and before Rhef could interrupt, “Please let’s not repeat the conversation again with Rinaldo. Well, here we are. Remember to be on your most respectful behavior.”
“Is that because she could burn us to a crisp in one breath?” muttered Grikius worriedly.
A booming sound emanated from the cave that the dragon normally made her home, as if somebody was torturing a large drum.
“I heard that, warlock!” The deep, grating voice of the dragon blasted out from the cave.
Grikius and the rest of the adventurers, except for Symania, all went white as a sheet with fear. Rhef looked at Grikius with an angry glare and mouthed the words, “Big mouth!”
“Come in, children. I won’t hurt you,” came the booming voice of the dragon.
Symania had already gone ahead of the rest of the adventurers as if she was on an afternoon stroll, not meeting one of the most feared creatures on the planet, but the rest made their way slowly and cautiously forward. Grikius tried to call Apollo to his side, but the massive hairy dog just turned and walked away from the entrance of the cave. Grikius stopped for a second, a frown on his face, but the dog only looked back, shook its large head and kept on walking.
Ceras heard him mutter, “You're supposed to be a man's best friend.”
“Obedience problems with Apollo?” he questioned Grikius.
“No, more like wisdom problems – he’s too wise to go in there,” replied Grikius as he entered the cave.
The cave was very neat and tidy, Ceras thought, for a rock cave that housed two dragons. He was half expecting to see bones of large creatures lying around, but there was no debris on the ground.
Symania, who was the first of the adventurers to enter the cave, was greeted by the ‘baby’ dragon who went go up to her excitedly and offered its snout to be petted by the healer. Ceras corrected himself as he saw its size - it was clearly no longer a baby, as it was now the size of a large house and looking like its mother, except for darker markings that were predominantly black as night.
Shoavneon’s head lowered toward the gathered adventurers as a slight flicker of flames escaped her nostrils. Ceras felt the heat radiation on his face as if he’d been sitting too close to a fire. Except for Symania, all the adventurers stood perfectly still with looks of dread filling their faces.
“Am I really that fearful to you still?” asked Shoavneon mockingly.
Ceras just nodded his head as he remembered the sensation of being burned almost to death on their first meeting. The dragon turned her eye to focus on Ceras as he was standing to the side of Rinaldo, who for once was trying to blend in with the background.
“I hear that you are planning on making a trip to the capital of this small kingdom of men,” she said in a soothing tone.
“Yes, ma’am. I need to study at the university,” replied Ceras in a respectful manner, as he noticed the smaller dragon was allowing Symania to sit on its body for her comfort.
“Good, as before you go, I need to bestow upon you and Symania a reward for helping me with the birth,” said the powerful red creature.
She turned her head to the healer sitting on the dragon, and Ceras thought he saw a slight smile expressed by the long, razor-sharp teeth that could be seen sticking out of her mouth.
“Symania, my dear. If you would come forward to receive your reward, please,” spoke the dragon solemnly.
Symania flushed slightly red at suddenly being the center of everybody's attention, but stood up with grace and moved forward into the open area of the cave just before Shoavneon. The large, imposing dragon was sitting on her back legs, her body towering above the comparatively small girl.
The first sign that something was happening was a low rumbling sound coming from the red dragon’s throat, as if she was singing. The sound reverberated around the cave, seeming to make the very particles in the rock resonate with the tone of her singing. Moving downward, the dragon used one of her massive claws to carve symbols in the rock surrounding Symania. As each of the intricate symbols were carved, they started to glow with a red fire as if the rock surrounding them was melting, unable to contain the power. The singing and carving went on for a few minutes as Symania stood still, not even flinching in the glowing circle of magical symbols.
“The rest of you will need to stand back for the next part of the ceremony,” commanded the large dragon as she reared up her head, her dark wings spread wide and seeming to fill the whole cave.
Ceras quickly ran with the others to the entrance of the cave and took cover behind a rock, watching the small girl all dressed in her healer’s robes in front of the dragon, who had now reared back and seemed to be breathing heavily and chanting in a deep voice.
Suddenly, Shoavneon’s head snapped forward as a blast of white-hot flame shot from her mouth, hitting Symania as she stood without any fear on her beautiful face. Shocked to the core, Ceras crouched behind the rock as he watched the white fire seem to intensify for a few seconds until it abruptly stopped. When his eyes adjusted to the now dim light in the cave, he could make out the form of Symania floating in the air as if her whole body was radiating light. Slowly, an
image of a white dragon seemed to condense around her body as it shrunk and faded from view.
Symania was lowered to the ground, placing her feet on the white-hot stone and gracefully stepping out of the fading circle of magical symbols.
“It is done!” Shoavneon announced with a large smile.
“So, what was the reward?” whispered Rhef to Ceras.
“No idea, but let's hope that my reward is a lot less dramatic.”
Symania was standing in the middle of the cave with a slight frown on her face. Rhef ran up to her and gave her a hug.
“So, what happened? Do you feel any different? And what was the reward?” blurted out Rhef to her friend with a face full of concern.
“I really feel no different,” said the healer, still frowning quizzically, “which is surprising, as the energy influx into my body seemed to change me in some manner. But now I just feel...”
“What?”
“...Well, I guess just the same as before.”
“The effects or changes of the reward will show themselves over time,” said the dragon as she lowered her head, "and I’m sure you’ll be happy with your new self. Now, on to the rest of our business. Ceras, dear. Come over here, please.”
Ceras cringed slightly as he moved forward toward the smiling dragon and stood still in front of her, unsure of what to expect.
“For your reward, while you are away from the dungeon, I will protect it for you,” the dragon said in a grave tone.
“Great, a babysitter,” said the dungeon inside Ceras’ head.
“I heard that, dungeon,” said the dragon out loud.
“Oh... sorry, I meant no disrespect to you, my lady,” pleaded the voice of Hidden-Caverns.
Trying to diffuse the situation, Ceras said, “We are most grateful for your gift. Thank you, my lady.”
“That’s better behavior,” the lady dragon said with a glinting smile. “Maybe I’ll teach the dungeon some manners while you're gone.”
King of the Realm Page 2
