by Brian Beam
After what felt like hours, we came to a three-way branch, each branch as large as the cavern we were in with the same natural shiny rock walls and flat, rough floor. Sal’ examined them individually before turning to me with a shrug. “They all seem the same to me.” I looked down at Max, but he just gave a similar shrug.
“Well, I guess any way is as good as another. My guess is to go down the middle one. That’s the most straightforward path.” Well, that and my brain still felt like mush and I didn’t think I could puzzle it out any more effectively.
“Flawless logic as usual,” Max rasped. “Though, still stupid.”
My angry glare had to be put on hold as I fought the urge to sick up again. I don’t think Sal’ knew what she was talking about with that bread and water.
“Well, it makes more sense than anything I can come up with,” Sal’ defended giving me a smile. Her hair, as well as her whole face seemed to glow in the orb’s light. She was so beautiful. And crazy. I couldn’t let myself forget the crazy part. Except, she had been a lot more stable since the prior night…
I shook the thought out of my head with dizzying results and started to take the lead until Max blurted, “Stop! Listen.”
Max had much better hearing than I, so even though all I could hear was the throbbing pulse in my head, I stopped and listened as quietly as I could. At first all I heard was the faint sound of wind blowing through the branching tunnels ahead. Then, I heard a light, rhythmical, slap-like tapping sounding almost like a butcher smacking raw meat. The tapping grew louder and louder, eventually creating enough echoes to throw off its rhythm.
Leaning forward and tilting my head towards the right tunnel, I located where the loudening sound was coming from. I was definitely hearing running footsteps echo through that tunnel, or hallway, or whatever these things were called. There was no hint of light coming from the tunnel, though. Whoever made their way towards us was doing so in the dark.
Still being slightly on edge after having so many people try to kill me over the past couple of days, I reached for my sword. In my peripheral vision I could see Sal’s hand go to her case. Max was up on all fours, whiskers bristling, with his attention solidly focused on the pattering as it grew louder. Whoever, or whatever, was running towards us was very close. I was easing my sword out, ready to draw if necessary, when out of the blackness and into the light of Sal’s orb, a black-cloaked figure over a foot shorter than myself came to a sliding halt. It was Til’, the Kolarin thief who had brought me more trouble than he could ever guess.
Til’s cloak hood was down to reveal a rather pale face with straight black hair dropping to his shoulders. Tips of long, pointed ears poked out from his raven hair. His face was as smooth and childlike as his height, yet as a Kolarin, his height marked him as an adult. A dirty white shirt was tucked tightly into black pants which were in turn tucked tightly into tan, worn leather boots. Two fairly large sacks hung from his belt at either hip to comple the ensemble. Large, silver eyes glowed with fear that was corroborated by thin, quivering lips.
The three of us stood there staring at the trembling little guy as he stared right back at us for several shocked moments as if time stood still. Then, as suddenly as he had appeared, he darted towards us, ducked under my poor attempt to grab him, and snatched the lighted orb from Sal’s hands. With that, he went sprinting down the left path.
“Stop, you Othanor-blooded thief,” I screamed. Othanor is the god of thieves. He isn’t one that is typically worshipped in churches or anything, but you can find lots of seedy folk wearing his sigil around their neck or wrist in city slums.
I started after him before we could be left in darkness and was faintly aware of Max running at my side. Sal’ was no longer beside us and I couldn’t hear any footsteps other than my own. I couldn’t make myself worry about her, though. I was going to catch Til’ and get the gem back from him. That is, if it hadn’t already been lost from his flight with the dragon. I’d worry about that possibility after I had the thieving little runt in my hands.
The smooth tunnel flashing by me was bare of any furnishings and branched off several times in different directions, but Til’ continued straight on as if too scared to take the time to pick another path. With a stride that must have been only just over half of my own, Til’ was somehow able to keep us from gaining on him. We stayed on the edge of the light coming from the orb, but either the light’s circumference was shrinking, or he was actually gaining ground on us.
I assumed Max must have started shooting wind spells towards our target as gusts of wind that were probably meant to knock down the Kolarin instead reflected off the walls back towards us, strong enough to knock my stride off to the side. I was sure the hangover wasn’t helping with my balance either.
“I didn’t know you had decided to try Sal’s way of doing magic,” I commented breathlessly, my lungs burning.
“Oh, go eat a rotted fish,” Max retorted just as breathlessly. “I cannot hit him for some reason.”
“Great. This little shrimp is leaving us behind and we can’t catch him with magic.” I am pretty sure that what I had said came out as an unintelligible mess. It’s not that I’m in bad shape; I just can’t sprint for a fifteen minute chase and still be able to breathe.
The tunnel started to meander, the branching paths becoming less frequent. The ground started sloping upwards with the ceiling and walls closing in on us. The tunnel seemed to be ending and the lack of friction between my feet and the smooth floor indicated that this had not been a part of the temple. Max and I had fallen out of the edge of light, but I could still see it, and the shrinking form of Til’, ahead of us.
Despite losing ground, I struggled on. Max started falling behind, his magic having most likely exhausted him once again. As the floor steepened even more, I felt like I was taking a step back for every two I moved forward as my feet fought for purchase. I had to hunch my back as the ceiling continued to close down over me. All this work—struggling through the haze of a hangover, even—and the little thief was going to escape.
Or so I thought until the light ahead of us stopped flickering from Til’s running and stood motionless. After a few more strides, I could see Til’ had run into the end of the tunnel with nowhere to go and no branches between us to double back to. I had gotten close enough to see that Til’ had turned my way with his silver eyes reflecting the light. I grinned and started to pull out my sword. A little intimidation couldn’t hurt. I slid it back mid-draw, though, as my elbow hit rock above me. I was starting to have to crouch and practically duck-walk.
“Til’,” I called with the Kolarin still a dozen paces away. “I don’t want any trouble. I just want the gem and then you can be on your way. Simple as that.”
“You can’t have it,” a shrill, childlike voice called back defensively. Apparently Kolari didn’t just look like children.
“Til’, it’s not yours,” I stated, realizing I was trying to reason with him as if he really were a child. “I’ve been paid to take it back to its owner.” I continued waddling toward him until I could make out the anger in those large eyes of his.
“It belongs to the Kolari,” he screamed, sending the orb he had stolen from Sal’ shattering to the floor with a blinding flash of light before we were swallowed by darkness.
I heard his pattering footsteps running towards me and threw myself into a dive into the blackness with my arms outstretched. With an amazing stroke of luck, I caught his legs and sent him crashing to the cave floor with grunts of pain from both of us as we landed on the rocky surface. A split-second after, another golden light, softer than the orb’s had been, burst into existence behind me to illuminate the now captive Kolarin with my arms wrapped around his legs. His body had fallen to my side. Max pranced up with a glowing ball of light hovering over his head.
“You can let him go now,” Max told me wearily. I looked back at him in disbelief. He didn’t even try to hide the fact he could talk or use magic.
I
released Til’s legs, but he didn’t move except for jerking his head around, realizing he was pinned down by an invisible force. I knew that Max was only pressing down on the diminutive Kolarin with air pressure. Still, it held as strong as any ropes could.
“You better let me go,” Til’ shouted as he fought capture as well as he could against Max’s magic.
I ignored his protests as I rose to a crouching position. I opened one of his drawstring belt sacks and found a square, reddish-lacquered wooden box carved with strange swirling symbols with dried dirt caked into them. Opening the hinged lid, I held back a cry of triumph when the round, smooth red gem shone back at me. I reached in and grabbed it, holding it up for Max to see, Light shot through the gem casting a red glow onto my face.
“Give it back,” Til’ screamed. I continued to ignore him.
“Um, Korin,” Max uttered cautiously, “That is a dragon egg.”
I almost dropped the damned thing like a hot coal. “What?” Til’ voiced the same question in the same tone in tandem.
“That is a dragon egg. Do you want me to say it a third time? I am too tired and hungry to deal with your sudden lack of hearing.” Max’s eyes started closing, his magic sphere of light dimming as they did, before snapping back open. Til’ had freed an arm during Max’s briefly off-guard moment and it was now frozen stretched out towards the gem, or egg, or whatever the hell it was. I wished Sal’ had been there to help with the magic. Well, maybe not or I may have found myself pinned down accidentally as Til’ stole the gem and ran off.
I held back the urge to chuckle. “Come on, Max, seriously? This thing is tiny and dragons are, well, not. Besides,” I began as I tossed it a few inches into the air and caught it again, testing its weight, “it feels like just a precious stone to me.”
“That is a dragon egg. I am not repeating it a fourth time,” he muttered irritably.
A light went off in my head. “So, that’s why the dragon snatched up our thief here,” I said mainly to myself.
“Thief?” Til’ yelped. “That gem was stolen from the Kolari,” he argued.
I sighed heavily. Possibly, Galius’ gem was actually stolen from the Kolari who had possibly stolen it from a dragon. At some point I was going to make everything make sense in my head, but at this moment, my head just hurt from thinking in general and I tried to focus on our current situation.
“Til,” I started.
“How do you know my name?” he interrupted in that shrill voice of his. “Can you read my mind? Are you a wizard like your cat there?” The little Kolarin went from angry to rolling his eyes towards Max in wonder. He reminded me of Sal’ with his sudden change in mood. His eyes turned back towards me. “Wait, you’re not going to kill me are you?”
“Not unless you try to kill me,” I answered. I felt a sudden stab to the gut as I had reminded myself of the life I had taken just three nights prior. “If we let you go, are you going to try to take the gem or run away?”
Til’ seemed to mull the decision over for a moment before replying, “No.”
“Promise?”
“Yes, I promise,” he answered.
Wondering how smart it was to take the word of the Kolarin, I nodded to Max. Max closed his eyes a moment and suddenly, Til’s outstretched arm shot forward towards the gem. I caught it firmly with my other hand and stared daggers into his eyes. I pushed him away and waddled back a few steps. I wanted to have Max restrain him again, but given how Max hardly seemed steady on his feet, I figured he was on the edge of consciousness as it was.
“Look, Til’, I have a Contract to take this gem, or egg, back to someone. I don’t know if you have any idea what a Contract is, but basically, I don’t have much of a choice if I want to keep my freedom. So, nothing against you, but if you try that again, I’m going to break your arm.” I may not have had room to take out my sword for intimidation, but words and a stabbing glare would work just as well.
Til’ nodded, but looked shocked. “Kolari don’t take to the idea of Contracts very well. The concept of giving away free will to the whims of another person is just…” Til’ tilted his head up in thought as if looking for the right word. “Stupid,” he finished with a single jerking nod of his head and a mischievous smile.
My eyes narrowed at him. I didn’t know whether to be angrier at the insult or the fact that he was right. I did find it interesting that he was familiar with Contracts. “You may not want to insult your captors. Max, here, may decide to turn you into a goat.” Max can’t turn people into goats to the best of my knowledge, but Til’ didn’t know that. Max just nodded, or maybe he was just falling asleep. “Max,” I yelled, his head snapping up.
“Yeah, yeah, goat,” he replied.
I turned back to Til’. “Okay, I want some quick answers.” They needed to be really quick before we had no light due to a sleeping cat. Also, my legs were killing me, crouching the way I was. “If this gem belonged to the Kolari, how did my Contract Setter get it?”
“Is the Setter Galius?” Til’ asked. My eyes widened. Til took that as confirmation and continued. “Two years ago, that pathetic guy came to Isaeron dressed in rags without a penny to his name.” Til’s voice was filled with disgust. “Said he wanted us to take him in, that he was starving and broke, and that he could find no good fortune wherever he went. Our Chief said we could take him in for a few days and send him away with some woodwork to sell. The Chief was too nice if you ask me.”
I had trouble imagining the whiny, self-important count in rags, begging for anything. “Then what?” I prodded.
“Our stupid Chief—” Til’s eyes darted around suddenly as if to make sure the Chief wasn’t near. “Our Chief told him about the Dragon Gem that we kept buried in our fields when Galius asked him how we grew such abundant crops so far north. After he left, our crops slowly started failing. That’s when we discovered that the Dragon Gem was gone. This year, hardly anything has grown as it used to.” Til’ spat to the side as if disgusted, his face scrunched up in displeasure.
“Dragon Gem? So you all knew it was a dragon egg?” I asked.
Til’ shook his head from side to side. “No, it was given it as a gift by wizards from Jonswain sometime after the Power Wars. They told our ancestors it would help the Kolari to be self-sufficient since the Kolari wished for autonomy. They said to bury it in that box you’re holding. To my knowledge we weren’t told it was a dragon egg. I wasn’t exactly alive a thousand years ago.” Didn’t I have enough little smart alecks in my life? “Galius dug it up, took it from the box and left. Now that the crops haven’t been growing well, I wanted to do something. It took me months to track down the Dragon Gem, and here you are stealing it.”
I cast a questioning look at Max. Wearily raising his gaze to mine, he explained, “It is definitely a dragon egg. It would explain a lot. Dragon eggs are filled with magic, just like dragons. Their magic can have different effects. My guess is this one gives off, for a lack of better wording, ‘luck magic’ that brings prosperity to those around it. I will bet the salmon you owe me that that box is also magic and amplified the egg’s effects which caused the higher fertility in the land around it in Isaeron. Anyway, being a ‘luck magic’ dragon egg would make sense of a few things. That’s how Galius would rise from a beggar to a count in two years and why his employed thugs gave up on him after he was away from the egg’s magic. It must be why I could not hit Til’ with my spells. We were close to the egg, but far enough away that it affected Til’ more than us.”
“And why Menar didn’t hurt him. And why Til’ survived falling off the cliff before being snatched up by the dragon. No wonder the thing’s so damned important to Galius. He’ll eventually be back on the streets without it.” I looked down at the egg in amazement. The mystery was starting to unravel a bit.
“I guess it helped me get away from the dragon,” Til’ exclaimed excitedly. “Didn’t do me much good getting away from you, though.” His mouth turned down as he finished. I wanted to ask him mo
re about his escape. He had been taken by the dragon two days before. What had he been doing that whole time? We had more pressing matters, though.
“So what about Brennor? He didn’t seem to have such good luck at that card game or in my attempt in taking the gem from him,” I contested. I smacked away Til’s hand as he reached for the gem again to which he responded by sticking his tongue out at me. Maybe Kolari are just eternal children.
“Once you caught up to him, you were just as exposed to the magic as he was, basically negating its effects between the two of you. From what you told me, there was a lot of money in that game. I am sure most of that fortune came after he got the egg.” Max swayed as he talked, seeming like he was going to fall over. We had to get out quick. I just needed a little more information.
After hearing Max’s explanation, I doubted that Til’ had gotten help from the egg to assist his escape from the dragon since the dragon was exposed to the magic at the same time. His escape must have been just plain dumb luck.
“So, why did the dragon just now try to get the egg back if it was taken at least two years ago? And why hasn’t it hatched?” I questioned.
Max shook his head and the light above him flickered for a moment. “I am not sure on why the dragon didn’t try to get it back before. As to the hatching, though, dragon eggs stay in egg form indefinitely until one of its parents is ready for it to hatch. Well, they don’t hatch per se. They form into a baby dragon. All I know is that it requires one of the parent dragons’ magic for it to happen.”
I wasn’t completely satisfied with the explanation, but I figured I’d take what I could get. “And Til’, you’ve been charged with getting this thing back for your kingdom?”
Til’, still looking childishly offended at my slapping of his hand, shook his head. “Not exactly,” he replied rather meekly. I didn’t have time to dig further to see what he meant.
“Max, do you think Til’s telling the truth about all this?” Max could usually sniff out a lie from a league away. He just nodded. “Alright, good enough. Til’, you can follow us out, but after that, we part ways and you will in no way attempt to take the gem, or egg, or whatever this is, back from us. Got it?” Til’ nodded, but I doubted he planned on acquiescing to my demand.
