by Brian Beam
“You will not escape,” the thunderous voice bellowed as I suddenly was jerked backwards off my feet, sending Max flying forward as my cloak’s clasp dug painfully into my neck. Til’, who had turned at some point, miraculously caught him.
I landed on my ass yet again and was being dragged backwards. I turned my neck to see a giant claw stabbed through my cloak and pulling me towards the larger cavern. I reached up and frantically unfastened the clasp on my cloak with trembling fingers just as I was about to be drawn out of the smaller confines we had escaped into. I slid to a halt as my cloak was pulled away. I sprinted forward to join the others and spun, drawing my sword, ready to do whatever I could with it. You can’t say that I’m unable to react under pressure.
The cave shook with an angry roar and I could see the dragon clawing furiously at the entrance to our smaller tunnel with Sal’s dimming light. The ceiling above us started making some unsettling cracking noises and small bits of stone started to pelt us from above. We broke into a run away from the dragon as part of the tunnel collapsed down behind us. Not until the only the sounds were our own ragged breathing and tumbling of smaller stones falling down the larger ones that had broken from the ceiling did we stop and turn to the wreckage behind us.
The larger tunnel was officially blocked off with rubble. James McAlwain and tourists interested in gods of livestock would not be pleased. Nansunic’s temple was not going to be accessible again without some real work.
I dusted off my clothes, immediately regretting the loss of my cloak as cold air drifted through the tunnel from the temple’s nearby entrance. Soft flashes of light sporadically illuminated the cow statue down the tunnel from us. It seemed as if it the lightning storm still raged outside.
“Well, that was fun,” I joked, sheathing my sword and then putting my hand to my aching head. Stupid hangover. But hey, how many people can say they outran a dragon while they were hungover? Probably the same number that could say they outran a dragon, I suppose.
All of a sudden, the cave plunged into complete darkness. I reflexively clutched my coin purse as a matter of precaution.
“Yeah, it was fun,” Til exclaimed in all seriousness as I heard him step up beside me. Abruptly, sparks appeared from where I heard his voice and a second later, a small lantern was lit. It wouldn’t burn long, but I was grateful the little guy had one stashed away in one of his sacks. He placed it on the ground. “Looks like we bored them though,” he noted, pointing down at Sal’ who was fast asleep on the rough floor with Max on her legs where Til’ had apparently laid him.
I couldn’t help but smile. I looked down at the Kolarin and my smile dissipated. “You better go ahead and get out of here. You’ve caused me enough trouble already.”
Til’ planted his feet shoulder-width apart and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not going anywhere,” he replied stubbornly after setting the lantern on the ground. “Besides, you’re the one causing trouble.”
I sighed. “Don’t make me physically carry you out of here. I can’t trust you around the dragon egg.”
Til’ continued to glare at me obstinately. “Look, I don’t even want the stupid egg anymore. I couldn’t take it back home knowing it was some dragon’s offspring. It wouldn’t be right.” He gave me a knowing look indicating that I should feel the same. “If I can’t take it back, then I can’t go back home. Therefore, I’m going with you.” He nodded his head once in finality after his last statement.
My mouth involuntarily dropped. I recovered quickly. “No way, little guy. You are not coming with me. I’m going to wait for my cat to wake up, then I’m moving on alone.”
Til’ stuck his chin in the air, giving the impression of looking down on me, though the top of his head only came up to my chest. “You owe me for taking that egg from me. Plus, I’d like to see you stop me. I’ll follow you whether you like it or not.” He stomped a shabby leather boot for emphasis.
I sighed yet again. And I had thought my difficulties were easing now that I had the dragon, presently unable to fly, stuck in a cave behind me, and the dragon egg in my pocket ready to deliver to Galius. I wasn’t going to come out on top in the argument with Til’ without tying the little guy up and leaving him for dead. Besides, I didn’t have any rope on me anyway. “Okay, but you try taking this egg even once, that whole Max turning you into a goat thing still stands. Got it?”
“Got it,” Til’ affirmed with another nod. His serious face morphed into a curious one. “So, can you do magic too? Is she your wife? Why do you use a Contract? Don’t you know how dumb that is? How does your cat talk? What is…”
I tuned Til’ out, placing my head into my palm. I was getting nauseous all over again. Stupid wine. Stupid hangover. Stupid me.
Maybe when Max woke up he would have an idea on how to deal with the runt. For the moment, however, I could only think of the headache of keeping an eye on him at all times. What had I gotten myself into?
Chapter 12
One Big Happy Family and One Big Unhappy Man
Hangovers are much easier on the brain than a chattering Kolarin. Four more questions would shoot out of Til’s mouth before I could even answer the first. Max could not wake up soon enough.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t force the little guy to shut up and I had nowhere to go. I could have taken Max and braved the raging storm outside, but evening was already settling in. If more eldrhims decided to rear their ugly faces, I didn’t want to be without some magic protection at my disposal. I was stuck sitting on a cold stone floor next to a purveyor of endless questions.
Finally, after a couple dozen questions had been thrown at me, I cut in sharply, “So, Til’, if you weren’t sent after the egg by your chief, why have you taken such a quest upon yourself?” Sure, the question could have led to a long-winded explanation, but at least I wouldn’t be expected to say anything back.
However, Til’ just shut his mouth and looked away sheepishly. He reminded me of a child who had just been confronted about something they had broken or who had been caught in the middle of some youthful mischief. I wondered if all Kolari seemed so childish.
I suddenly found myself becoming curious about his answer instead of just simply wanting his questioning to stop. His reasoning must have been interesting if it was enough to shut him up. “Come on, Til’,” I prodded.
Til’ turned back to me, but didn’t meet my eyes. “Why should I tell you? I don’t even know you.” He thrust out his jaw stubbornly and crossed his arms. If Kolari were all like this, I never wanted to find myself in Isaeron.
I exhaled loudly through my nose in annoyance. “I’m Korinalis Karell, but you can call me Korin. Nice to meet you.” I put out a scraped hand. Til’ warily put his hand in mine and shook it in greeting. “That’s my cat, Max, over there sleeping on Salmaea Fellway. I just call her Sal’ though.” My tone was aimed towards Til’s childishness and would have seemed condescending to any human adult. Til’ was unperturbed, though.
“Tilrook Brinsir,” Til’ introduced, finally raising his large eyes to mine. He glanced over at Sal’ sleeping on the rock floor. I had fished her blankets from her bag—and let me tell you, I still couldn’t wrap my head around how much was stuffed into that thing—and laid her on one, draping another over her. Max was curled up on her legs. “Sal’ and Max are both wizards?”
He quieted after asking the one question, allowing me to answer for once. “Yep. You may want to call her Salmaea unless she tells you otherwise.” Til’ had caused me quite a bit of trouble, but I saw no reason to make him face Sal’s anger when she awoke.
Til’ just nodded. “And you?”
“I am not a wizard. I’m just a guy with a Contract travelling the world.”
“Why?” he asked in the true fashion of a child.
“How about you tell me your story, and then I’ll tell you mine,” I offered. Given that I was at the mercy of waiting for Max to wake up, making the time pass with conversation didn’t seem like such a bad idea.
I couldn’t take a nap of my own since I trusted Til’ to leave the dragon egg alone as much as I would trust Sal’ to cut my hair again.
Til’s eyes lit up at my words. I had sparked his curiosity and he seemed to jump at the chance to get my story. “Well,” he began, drawing himself up, “a few months ago I was banished from the kingdom and I figured that bringing back the Dragon Gem—um—egg would make the others welcome me back with open arms. So, what about you?” He had not taken a breath or paused the entire time, spitting out his vague explanation quickly as if that would be enough in our bargain. I wasn’t about to let him get away with that.
I put up a hand in a stopping gesture towards Til’. “Wait a minute. That’s not good enough. Why were you banished?” I partially wanted to know out of curiosity, but mostly I wanted to know what could be both bad enough to get him banished and bad enough to keep him from going into a rambling explanation about it.
Til’s eyes dropped shamefully again and he kicked at a pebble by his foot. “I kind of got banished for stealing,” he admitted in a mumbled reply.
I wasn’t surprised given that he had taken the dragon egg from me and the lighted orb from Sal’ so easily. I found my lips curled up in a smile. “What did you steal that was so bad?”
Til’ seemed to hunch in on himself, mumbling to the floor. “Hilstone Tanasir’s hoe, Malra Belisir’s locket, Flimmin Hasir’s prized donkey—”
“Okay, that’s enough,” I laughed. There was something funny about a grown man, even if Kolarin, confessing as meekly as a five year old. I almost felt bad for the kid—er—guy, but at the same time, his banishment meant that he thought he could latch on to my travels.
“Hey,” Til’ scolded, looking up at me angrily as I laughed. “It’s not funny.”
I put up my hands in placation. “Okay, okay. Sorry.” I wiped the smile from my face—well, mostly did—and looked down at him. “Well, fair’s fair. I’ll tell you a little about me.”
I told him the generalities about searching for my parents and how I was using the Contract to fund my travels including my current job. I left out the parts about my training with Chasus and the specifics of where I had travelled, being certain to leave out the part where I got beat up by Galius’ thugs to save a little pride.
Surprisingly, I did end up telling him about the supposed prophecy, Menar, Raijom, and the eldrhims, enjoying his wonderment at my story. I even made Sal’ look better in her rescue of me instead of explaining how it had been mostly an accident that kept us both from being mauled by the zombieish eldrhim. I made sure to leave out the fact that I had killed someone. I had no wish to relive that moment.
Although I found it strange that I would tell someone who had made my life harder so much about me, it felt kind of fun to do, like I was a storyteller. I told myself that when I got around to writing in my journal, I’d try to keep it interesting as if writing a story.
Til’s silver eyes looked unnatural being opened so wide since they were already larger than a human’s. “Wow. So, do you think Menar’s still after you? Do you think Max knows more he isn’t telling you? Why do you want to find parents who got rid of you? Does Sal’ have a love interest?”
I let out a resigned sigh. My attempt to stop his questioning didn’t last very long. “Til’, my advice to you is to leave before we get attacked by another eldrhim, or Menar.”
Til’ shook his head. “Nope. I’m coming with you. I want to see an eldrhim. Are they scarier than dragons? How big are they?”
I dropped my head and took a deep, calming breath. “And again, how can I believe you’ll keep your hands off the dragon egg?”
Til’ sat up straight. “Because, as much as I want to go home, I’m not going to take that dragon’s child. I wanted to bring it home because I thought it belonged to the Kolari. It doesn’t.”
I looked at him skeptically. “From what you said of your banishment, proper ownership hasn’t seemed to matter to you before.”
Til’ gave me another affronted expression, his eyebrows rising. “Hey, I’m trying to do better. I don’t want to be accepted back home for the same reason I was kicked out.” He paused in thought and then said, “I really don’t know, Korin, it just wouldn’t feel right.”
Unconvinced, I asked, “What about the rest of the Kolari? Don’t they need this back to grow their crops and all?”
As if it were only a paltry concern, Til’ waved a hand in front of him. “They’ll be okay. At the rate the crops are failing, I’d say they have a couple years yet before any problems arise. It’s not like we needed the Dragon Gem to grow the crops. It just allowed us to grow a lot more. There’ll be some food shortages eventually.”
I arched an eyebrow at him concernedly. “So they’ll start running out of food in a couple years? You’d leave them to that fate?”
Til’ just looked at me like I was an idiot. “All they have to do is increase our woodcraft trade with merchants from other kingdoms. The Chief didn’t even send anyone after the Dragon Gem. He didn’t think it was worth sending any Kolari out to find something that they would most likely not be able to find. With good reason, too, considering how long it took me to find Galius and figure out what had happened to the thing after it was stolen from him. I just thought they’d appreciate having it back, ya know?”
His sincerity seemed genuine and I almost felt comfortable in lying down for a nap of my own even if he was there. I would want Max’s opinion of him first, though. “Well, just know that your life will be in a constant state of danger,” I warned.
“Korin,” Til’ began, looking up at me. “Does it feel right for you to take the dragon’s egg back to Galius?”
That was a deep thought coming from the childish Kolarin. I didn’t even have to think. “No, it doesn’t. I don’t have much of a choice, though.” As a selfish person I didn’t. However, take away that selfishness and I would become Galius’ slave.
“That’s why Kolari don’t like Contracts,” he explained, giving me a meaningful stare. “There was so much negative magic created during the Power Wars. That’s why we started our own kingdom, neutral from all the warring kingdoms. The Kolari value life above all else, unlike you humans.” Til’ spoke in a solemn tone.
It was my turn to look away shamefully.
“I mean, doesn’t it bother you to become the bad guy just to make some money?” Til’s voice was full of emotion as if he felt pity for me.
What he said hit pretty hard, not unlike a punch to the gut. Trust me, I know. I had always felt good about myself, that I always did the right thing and that I stuck to my morals and convictions. But how many Contract Setters had led me to do the wrong thing even if I never knew it. If Til’ had never stolen the dragon egg, I would have thought I was doing the right thing, even if it was for a bad person. I viewed Galius’ “gem” as his property that was wrongfully stolen and viewed myself as a do-gooder who would rectify the situation. By Loranis’ blood was I wrong.
“Actually, Til’, it does bother me,” I whispered. I pulled the Contract from my coin purse, tracing the horned dragon emblem with a finger. What was I doing? I was trying to take a stolen dragon egg to someone who in no way deserved it while the dragon whose child was inside it was trapped in the ruins of Nansunic’s temple, unable to fly to escape. I had harmed others in my quest. Telis had been sacrificed. Max had almost died to protect me. I had killed a man. For what? What kind of person would I turn into if I continued to use the Contract?
I could feel tears forming in the corners of my eyes. I was trapped. If I took the dragon egg to Galius, I really would be the bad guy. Well, a bad guy doing something for an even worse guy. Then, with the egg’s magic, how many people would end up suffering due to Galius in the end?
Conversely, if I didn’t take Galius the dragon egg, I would become said worse guy’s slave, or die by fighting the urge to go to him. I would never have the chance to set right my misdeeds. Maybe that’s what I deserved.
“Korin.” Til�
�� had stood up and put a hand on my shoulder. It was then that I realized the tears had left my eyes and were dripping down my cheeks. “I’m sorry. Hey, let’s talk about something else. Hungry?”
I sniffed and wiped at my eyes with an absurdly-purple sleeve and nodded, ashamed that I couldn’t make myself speak. Sal’ had been right to question my toughness before.
Adjusting into a cross-legged position, I watched as Til’ reached into one of his sacks and dug out smoked sausages that had been wrapped in a checkered blue-and-white cloth, two apples, a soft loaf of bread, and what appeared to be a large piece of cinnamon cake.
He noticed my widened eyes. “Undula took real good care of me,” he explained. “Did you know…”
Til’ went on a digressive story about arriving at the McAlwains’ farm, how Undula had once been a tavern wench before meeting James, and several other facts about the McAlwain family that I was amazed he had learned from them in the short time he had been there. He was long-winded and went off on tangents with every other sentence. I savored every minute of it. Maybe Til’ was wordy, but I knew he was trying to help me keep my mind off the hard truth he had helped me to recognize.
After I finished the food, I leaned my head back uncomfortably against the tunnel wall just to rest my eyes as Til’ rambled on.
****
The stone walls of the castle room were even more blurry than the faces of the three men and the blue-gowned woman. “Is there no other way?” the blue robed man wearing a crown asked the hazy-faced man in red robes.
“Fear not, my liege. My way will keep him safe. It is better than the alternative.” The man in red had a voice as slippery as a snake and filled with just as much venom.
“But Jonasir claims that—”, the woman’s soft, but commanding voice argued.
The red-robed man cut her off. “With all due respect, my queen, Jonasir is not the one who prophesized this.”
