A Portal for Your Thoughts

by Jeffrey M. Poole

  The majestic jet black dragon lifted its enormous head off the ground and surveyed the area. Twin silver orbs peered intently at the surrounding countryside as it was evident it was searching for whatever had collided with it. Thankfully the grass was waist high and with Cecil stretched out on the ground the dragon wouldn’t be able to see him. Yet.

  Steve dove head first down into the grass the moment it was obvious Cecil had collided with a dragon. He had only a few seconds before the dragon was bound to notice Cecil’s prone form in the grass. There, not twenty feet away, was the boulder that concealed the entrance to the dwarven realm below. Somehow he had to get the dragon away long enough for him to grab Cecil and get underground.

  Cecil sat up and groaned. Loudly.

  “Ohhhh…”

  Steve rolled his eyes and cursed to himself.

  “I have got such a headache. What happened? It felt like I just collided with a tree.”

  Steve sighed. He risked a glance at the dragon, who was now staring straight at Cecil. If he didn’t know any better he’d say the dragon had just licked his chops. There wasn’t anything else he could do. The dragon knew they were there.

  Steve stood up. The dragon’s eyes jetted over to his.

  “Ummm, greetings. Would you believe we mean you no harm? We didn’t see you there. Sorry. We’ll just go about our business now.”

  “You dare touch me, human?” the dragon’s gravelly voice bellowed out. “For centuries I have avoided your ilk, never once having the misfortune of touching your kind. Now thanks to your blundering arrogance, all my efforts are for naught!”

  Irked, Steve glared at the massive wyverian towering over him.

  “One of my ilk? What are we, some type of disease?”

  “One that is easily eradicated,” the dragon smugly agreed.

  Both nostrils pinged closed. The dragon began taking deep gulps of air. Its jaws opened and from deep within the huge scaly body they could feel the rumble of internal combustion as the dragon’s furnace was stoked. It was gearing up to spit fire and there wasn’t a damn thing Steve was going to be able to do about it. Cecil, realizing what was about to happen, stared up at the dragon with huge saucer-like eyes.

  “Oh, this can’t be good.”

  The black dragon jaws opened even wider and belched forth a huge jet of flames. Steve was barely able to get his hands up in front of him before Cecil slammed into him from behind. Already in a defensive stance, Steve managed to keep his feet so he wasn’t knocked over. However, a human standing out in the open made for an easy target.

  Steve instantly made a fist with his left hand and grasped it with his right hand, effectively turning his arms into a rudimentary ‘plow’. He knew that he’d never be able to absorb the ferocity of the dragon’s flames so he didn’t bother trying. Instead, he focused all of his strength on diverting the intense bout of flames away from the two of them. At the same time he crouched low and braced for impact.

  The blast of fire hit Steve’s arms and was instantly bifurcated. Half of the dragon’s fiery breath blasted harmlessly away into the air while the other half was directed downwards and hit a point on the ground nearly twenty feet away. The grass blackened and crumpled, leaving a huge scorch mark on the earth. Steve could feel the shear power and intensity of the dragon’s breath as his arms began trembling under the massive assault. His fingers and knuckles were glowing red, which he was quite certain had nothing to do with his own jhorun. The dragon’s flames were so hot that even his clothes, which were typically immune to his own fire, blackened and became singed. He tried to move a few degrees to his right so that he could shift his weight onto his other leg but in doing so his right shoulder barely grazed the jet of fire blasting harmlessly up into the air. His skin stung horribly, as though he had brushed up against a red hot oven. Steve let out a curse that would have curdled his wife’s blood had she been there to hear it.

  The dragon’s relentless barrage of flames finally lessened and came to a stop. Steve hesitantly turned to glance over his shoulder at Cecil.

  “Still alive back there?”

  Cecil had wrapped both his arms around Steve’s chest and had him in a white-knuckled death grip.

  “Is it safe?”

  Steve looked up at the dragon who was now gulping in more air for round two.

  “Nope. Heads up! He’s ready to go again!”

  Cecil muttered something under his breath and buried his face in the back of Steve’s shirt. Once more the dragon spat fire at them, clearly perplexed that they weren’t succumbing to its flames. They both heard the dragon growl louder and if possible, the flames grew hotter and more fierce.

  “We can’t keep this up much longer!” Cecil hollered from Steve’s back.

  Steve risked a glance at the nearby boulders. They were less than twenty feet away. Steve suddenly smiled. If memory served, the way they got into the hidden door last time was by blasting fire at the door until the boulder opened up. Since both of his hands were tied up he might be able to get the dragon to open the door for him! All he had to do was angle his right arm until he had that half of the dragon’s deadly breath aimed at the door.

  The fires lessened and came to a stop. Steve lowered his aching arms and warily eyed the dragon, inching back towards the closest boulder at the same time. Once more the dragon gulped air. Both nostrils pinged close again and it took a step towards them.

  “What are you doing?” Cecil hissed with alarm as they both stumbled over a small rock on the ground. “Are you trying to kill us? Stop moving!”

  The third blast of fire hit them with unerring accuracy. Steve positioned his arms so that the blast on his left continued to be directly harmlessly up into the air. The other arm, however, was adjusted so that the right blast slammed into the dwarven door.

  Nothing happened.

  Startled, Steve kept the jet aimed at the large rounded boulder for a few more seconds. Maybe it needed time to heat up. He scowled. No, that couldn’t be it. The rock was already glowing red. It should have opened by now.

  “Whatever you’re doing, do it faster!” Cecil cried from behind him.

  Steve risked a glance back and saw a few more boulders nearby. Could he have misremembered which boulder was the door? Cursing silently, he repositioned his arm to target the next closest boulder.

  The only thing that happened was that this boulder, too, began glowing red from the constant blast of fire.

  Desperate, and growing more fatigued by the second, Steve targeted a third boulder. After a few seconds this one also began glowing red. Much to his relief, the boulder smoothly swung upwards, as if on hydraulics. Finally! There was the much sought after staircase leading down into the earth.

  “Get ready to run!” Steve called back to Cecil. “Look behind you. See it? Get ready!”

  The flames ceased. The black dragon saw that its prey was about to escape and roared angrily. It lunged forward, intent on snapping up both of the impudent humans. Steve cried out with alarm and threw himself backwards, pushing Cecil back with him. Both of them tripped over the slight lip the base the rock door had sat upon and tumbled down into the inky blackness. Moments later the faux boulder slammed down, plunging them into instant darkness. From outside they heard the dragon pounding on the giant stone.

  Steve painfully got to his feet and ignited his hands so that the two of them would be able to see. The incessant pounding coming from above increased in intensity. Dust and bits of pulverized stone filtered down, getting into their eyes and noses. Cecil sneezed.

  “Come on,” Steve ordered, as he headed down the stairs. “I don’t think the dragon closed the door for us. I’m hoping there was some type of failsafe built in to the door which caused it to close. Whatever the case may be, that’s one pissed off dragon. I don’t want to be around if he manages to get that door open.”

  “He won’t, human,” a voice came out of the darkness. “There is no failsafe on the door, although I will admit it’s a good idea. I cl
osed it.”

  “Who’s there?” Steve demanded as he increased the flames in his hands. Neither of them could see anyone else on the darkened stairway.

  “Get your arses down the stairs. Hurry! I’ve set the tunnel to collapse!”

  “Why are you –”

  A small bulky figure dressed in a dark outfit brushed by them, running down the stairs two at a time.

  “Move, human!”

  Not about to wait for further explanations, Cecil brushed by him and bolted down the stairs. Steve followed as quickly as he was able. The walls and floor had begun to tremble and was growing progressively stronger.

  “Move! Move! Move!” the voice urged from farther down the stairs. “We are too close. Too close! Run!!”

  After sprinting down the stairs for nearly four minutes at such a breakneck speed that Steve was sure he was going to trip and end up tumbling end over end down the stairs, they finally drew to a stop. They had emerged into a familiar cavern. Well, familiar to him, anyway.

  Cecil whistled.

  “Look at the size of this cave! It’s enormous!”

  Steve hunched over and tried to catch his breath. His wheezes came out in large gasps and had Cecil staring uncertainly at him.

  “Don’t worry about me,” Steve wheezed. “I’ll be fine. Just give me a moment.”

  A small figure dressed in black leather armor, brandishing a single bladed black battleax, pushed by Cecil to glare angrily at Steve.

  “Who the ruddy hell do you think you are, human? We just lost a perfectly serviceable tunnel because of you. Do you have any idea how long it takes to dig a proper tunnel to the surface? Hmm? Do you?”

  Steve stopped sucking in massive gulps of air and finally looked up at the angry dwarf.

  “Don’t give me that. I know perfectly well how fast a dwarf tunnel can be dug.”

  The dwarf’s eyes narrowed.

  “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

  “We need –”

  “Isn’t that just the way with you humans?” the dwarf interrupted. “You humans. You need something and you automatically think the rest of us exist only to service those needs. Well, forget it.”

  “There’s a cordial fellow,” Cecil whispered softly.

  The dwarf’s angry black eyes swung over to Cecil.

  “Don’t even get me started with you, human. What moronic imbecile runs all pell-mell towards a sleeping dragon?”

  Steve grunted as he turned to look at Cecil.

  “He’s got a point.”

  “And you!” the dwarf continued. “You deliberately provoked a conscious dragon! Are all humans as daft as you two?”

  “Now wait just a damn minute,” Steve angrily exclaimed. “First of all, the dragon was camouflaged, so there’s no way we knew he was there. Second of all, we survived a direct frontal assault. By a dragon, no less. Three times! Let’s see you do that, pipsqueak.”

  “How did you do that?” the dwarf inquired. “I didn’t know humans were fireproof.”

  Cecil glanced down at Steve’s flaming hands. “Ordinarily I would agree with you; we’re not. However, that being said, Steve here would have to be the exception.”

  Together they looked around the vast subterranean cavern. Great stone stalactitites and stalagmites were everywhere, not that they could see that much. Steve noted that some of the bioluminescent moss that was prevalent in many dwarf tunnels was growing on a select few of the stalactites. However, no amount of glowing fungus would be able to properly illuminate the enormous cavern.

  “Is this place as big as it feels?” Cecil asked in awe. His question echoed back at him from all directions.. Steve nodded.

  “Yep. Trust me, it’s huge.”

  Skeptical, the dwarf crossed his arms over his chest.

  “You’re insinuating that you’ve been here before? Prove it.”

  Steve confidently strode off towards two darkened tunnels visible towards the south. He made it about ten feet when he suddenly stopped and looked back at the dwarf.

  “Who are you, anyway? What’s your name?”

  The dwarf automatically bowed low. “Brugar, at your service. No, wait. No I’m not. You are responsible for the destruction of one of our six main entrances. You are no friend to us, human.”

  “What? I didn’t destroy it. The dragon did!”

  Brugar stood motionless, dividing his angry glare equally between the two of them.

  “You were lucky in finding our southern door. However, you’ll never find the Gate. Give up now and you can save yourself a lot of embarrassment.”

  Steve’s smug smile returned. “Tell you what, Brugar. If I point out where your precious gate is, will you at least escort us down?”

  Brugar adopted his own smug expression.

  “Very well. Find the Gate on your first try and I’ll escort you down. Trust me, you won’t find it.”

  Steve pointed at the right-hand tunnel.

  “It’s over there. That tunnel on the right is only about a hundred or so feet long. Your gate is at the end.”

  Brugar’s defiant expression vanished instantly.

  “How could you –”

  “Lead the way, my good dwarf.”

  “How much farther do these stairs go on?” Cecil wondered aloud. “We’ve been doing nothing but climbing down for half an hour now.”

  Their reluctant guide hadn’t said a word since he had twisted two stone protruberances on the unfinished tunnel’s end - something Steve would have sworn wasn’t there in their time - clockwise and opened the dwarves’ precious Gate. Steve had tried his best not to gloat too much, but as anyone who knew him would attest, he was horrible at keeping secrets.

  “Aren’t you curious about how I knew where the gate was?” Steve asked their guide after another five minutes of silence had passed.

  “I didn’t want to know when you asked ten minutes ago and I still don’t,” the dwarf grumped.

  “I’ve been here before, Brugar. That’s how.”

  “Hmmmph. Lucky guess.”

  Steve pressed on. “Then how do I know we’re going to Borahgg? How do I know the city’s western edge backs up against a huge black lake? How do I know that the Council meets in a huge domed structure sitting northeast of the city center?”

  Brugar had paused in midstep and turned to look behind him.

  “Impossible. I don’t know how you know those things but what I can tell you is that no human has ever stepped foot inside the city.”

  Steve went to jam his hands into his pockets but had forgotten his Lentarian trousers didn’t have any. He switched his arm movements to rubbing his hands together and hoped no one noticed the change.

  “I just hope you guys have a spare athe crystal lying around.”

  Brugar cast him a speculative look but elected not to say anything.

  Less than an hour later the small group had emerged into Borahgg’s main cavern. This cavern easily made the first great cavern feel like a dragon cave. The large domed ceiling rose hundreds of feet into the air. The cavern’s circumference must have been at least ten times that of the gate cavern from above, and even then Steve figured his estimates were conservative.

  He nudged Cecil on the shoulder.

  “Pretty impressive, huh? It never ceases to amaze me how big this cavern is. Look. You can’t even see the other side.”

  Cecil whistled softly.

  “I had no idea that this was down here. From the surface one would suspect nothing but solid rock was down here. Simply incredible.”

  Brugar scoffed.

  “That’s the way we prefer it, human.”

  Steve leaned forward and gave the dwarf a grin.

  “Trust me, pal, it works. No one knew this city even existed until fairly recently. In fact, it won’t be until –”

  Cecil stomped on Steve’s foot.

  “Ow! What the hell did you do that for?”

  “Perhaps a full explanation would not be in your best interests, my friend.�
��

  Steve paled and nodded his head.

  “Right.”

  Brugar stared at him a few moments before he pulled off his axe and dropped the handle down on a glowing circular plate just outside the mouth of the tunnel. A loud crack reverberated throughout the cavern. Dwarves came streaming out of buildings. Guards rushed to grab their arms. Within moments Steve and Cecil were surrounded.

  “Humans! How the blazes did you find us?”

  Steve turned to look at the speaker, an older dwarf soldier who was wearing a light tan colored set of leather armor. The dwarf turned to glare at their guide.

  “Explain yourself, Brugar. It doesn’t appear you have been taken prisoner. I don’t see the humans holding any weapons. How did they coerce you to bring them here?”

  Brugar frowned at Steve and jabbed a finger in his direction.

  “He knew the way. He knew where the entrance was, which tunnel held the gate, and even the name of our city.”

  The dwarves erupted into heated arguments as though each thought their neighbor had something to do with the appearance of the humans. Brugar put two fingers in his mouth and let out a loud, shrill whistle.

  “My brothers! Still your mouths! The news worsens, I’m afraid. These two humans also caused the demise of the southern entrance. The tunnel had to be collapsed.”

  More indignant shouts and conversations sounded.

  “What happened?” the dwarf in the tan armor inquired. “How did two humans manage to destroy one of our tunnels?”

  “I had to destroy it,” Brugar clarified, drawing an instaneous hush from the crowd. “It was for all our sake. They had provoked a dragon and it was attempting to gain entry. I had no choice.”

  “What the ruddy hell did you accost a dragon for?” the first dwarf exclaimed angrily. “I know you humans aren’t that sharp but I never dreamt your level of intelligence was so low that you’d have to dig in order to find it.”