The Half Dragon of Yaerna: The Gathering Arc Box Set: Books 1-3

by Hans Bezdek

  Dhot kicked off his boot as we hopped through the window, digging around inside it.

  “Stop them!” shouted the gnome to the guard outside.

  “Not today!” shouted Dhot, taking out a metal ball, twisting it, and tossing it at the remaining guard. Electricity sparked out of it as it landed at his feet, arching out and striking the man multiple times. He fell over almost immediately, convulsing around.

  “Why didn’t you do that earlier?!” shouted Cassandra, grabbing her things and strapping the scabbard back onto her hip.

  “You guys were so excited to flirt that I didn’t want to ruin your fun! Maha!” he laughed, slipping his boot back on and running for his bag.

  The clink of metal on metal rang out, echoing off the inside of the gate as we looked back into town. At least fifty guards were marching for us, weapons already drawn.

  “Not good!” I shouted, grabbing my things and running outside.

  “What are we going to do?” shouted Cassandra as she and Dhot quickly joined rank with me. “They’ll be able to follow us down to those trees!”

  If only there was something that would stop them… that was it!

  Hands clenched together, I pivoted around and began mumbling the words to my spell.

  “What are you doing!?” shouted Dhot, stopping once he realized I was no longer following. “There’s too many of them! We’ve got to run!”

  “Reimar’s got an idea,” said Cassandra. “Let him try it.”

  We could see the guards in the opening of the gate now, staring down at us as they marched, weapons at the ready.

  “And people think I’m crazy!” cried the goblin, taking a few steps further back. I didn’t blame him for being worried. I wasn’t really sure this was going to work either.

  The spell was finally ready, and I opened my hands up, aiming for the top of the gate. Blue and yellow lightning shot out of my hands, firing straight at the portcullis. The gate shook as it was hit, taking a second before it finally shot down to the ground.

  The gate made a loud crashing noise as it collided with the earth, and I could see a metal chain from inside the town break off.

  “Good work!” shouted Cassandra.

  “Maha! That’ll sure slow them down!”

  “That won’t hold them for long,” I said, already hearing someone bark orders to find someone to attach a new chain to the portcullis. “Let’s get moving!”

  Chapter 9

  We ran as fast as we could to the forest line. Or rather, I ran as fast as I could while Dhot and Cassandra slowed down to keep pace with me. There were quite a few disadvantages to being in human form, but at least I didn’t have to worry too much about people hunting me down for my eyes.

  We stopped for a breath when we made it to the safety of the trees, looking back to see if we could make out any figures trying to cross through the open field. Luckily, it looked like no one was trying to follow us.

  Yet.

  Without a word, we made our way over to the path through the woods. While this would cause us to interact with more people, no one would know about the little bombing incident that happened for a while. The path let us cover more ground faster, and also provided a small amount of safety over the forest.

  Keeping our pace up to a fast walk, we continued along the path for an hour or so. It looked like we might be home clear, and with some time ahead of anyone trying to follow us.

  People continued to walk by us, occasionally on horseback or in wagons. No one paid us too much mind aside from a glance or two. I couldn’t blame them. The three of us did make odd traveling companions.

  “Do you guys think we should pause for a minute, and figure out what our next steps our?” asked Cassandra.

  “Works for me,” said Dhot, slowing to a stop.

  I didn’t think we really needed to stop moving in order to talk about this, but I was clearly outnumbered.

  “I’ve never been this far north or west,” said Cassandra, walking over to a fallen tree on the side of the road and taking a seat. “I have no idea where we’re going, or how far we are from it.”

  “Lake Quip is a few days from here,” said Dhot. “It’s on the other side of the border, into the Republic of Hur.”

  “Never been there,” she said. “I’ve heard it’s very nice.”

  “It’s not,” I interjected. “Everyone there is all fake nice and polite, but they are the worst. Especially the gold and silver dragons.”

  “Too bad the dragons couldn’t just fight each other, huh?” said Dhot. “That’d rid the world of any problems we get from that kind once and for all.”

  Cassandra and I shared a nervous glance.

  “Anywho, we probably shouldn’t stop for too long,” continued Dhot, reaching around in his bag. “Best to chart a route as soon as possible and keep moving. I’m sure at least some of the guards are going to be sent after us. They can’t be too happy we blew up their tower.”

  “Uh, more like you blew up their tower,” I said.

  “Semantics.”

  “Reimar?” called out a voice.

  I winced. It was almost never good when someone knew who I was.

  Looking up and to the left, I made eye contact with a brown haired elf riding a horse. Sure enough, I recognized the guy. I couldn’t remember too much about him, besides his name. Oh, and the fact that he was a Tumbler.

  Great.

  “Oh my… it is you, isn’t it?” said the man, hopping off his horse and holding the reins.

  “It’s Rupert, right?” I called out to the Tumbler.

  “Good memory,” he smiled, walking around the backside of his horse. I took the opportunity to mouth ‘Tumbler’ to Cassandra. She nodded and leaned over to whisper to the oblivious Dhot. “What brings you over to this part of Yaerna?”

  “Oh, you know,” I said. “Just passing through. Not looking for any trouble.”

  “I can respect that,” chuckled the elf, reappearing behind the horse. While he was mostly in frame, I noticed that his right arm was still hidden behind his horse. The elf was new when it finally came time for me to flee from the Tumblers, and we never spent much time together. While I had a few friends and sympathizers left in the organization, I doubted he was one of them.

  “Anything I can help you with?” I asked, slowly getting to my feet. Diving behind the fallen tree made the most sense, I thought. Hopefully Cassandra and Dhot were thinking the same thing.

  “You know, one of my buddies was out looking for you,” he said, a smile painted on his face. “You wouldn’t have happened to run into Galdric, by any chance… have you?”

  “Galdric?” I asked, rubbing my chin and looking around. “I don’t think I recall anyone with that name.”

  “Really? That’s funny. The last correspondence with him mentioned that the two of you had a run in down in Trenton…”

  “Oh, that Galdric?” I laughed. “My bad. Yes, I remember him now. What about him?”

  “Haven’t really heard from him in about a week,” smiled the elf. “Was curious if you heard anything more from him.”

  “You know what? I actually think I did, now that I think about it,” I said, looking over at Cassandra. She smiled nervously, and I saw Dhot had something in hands. “You remember Galdric, don’t you?”

  “Sure do,” she nodded.

  “Not like him to not check in with Dmetri,” said Rupert, a sharp edge adding to his voice.

  “I doubt he kept Dmetri in the loop about all the horrible things he was doing, especially to elven women,” I said, holding his gaze.

  Rupert stared blankly back at me. “Where. Is. He.”

  “The Ruins of Le’Mar,” I said.

  “Ruins of Le’Mar?” he asked, confused. “I don’t even know where that is.”

  “It’s inside of the Willows of Wander.”

  “Why is he there?”

  “Well, that’s where I left his body,” I shrugged.

  I started to move immediately, knowing alr
eady what his reaction was going to be. Sure enough, the elf pulled a small crossbow away from behind the horse’s back, bringing it up in my direction. Cassandra tried taking out the Shattered Sword, but was too slow. Dhot, on the other hand, was prepared for this. Throwing a pink device down at Rupert’s feet, he jumped back behind the log and into cover.

  The pink device exploded up as the elf shot his crossbow, flinging him into the air and attaching him to a large branch overhead. A jagged burst of pressure pushed behind me, but I was otherwise unharmed.

  “Aw, man!” I shouted, holding my cloak up and inspecting it. Rupert’s shot was close, and the bolt tore a hole through my cloak. “This was my favorite!”

  “Let me down, and I’ll make sure you don’t have to worry about it any longer, traitor!” yelled the elf, hanging down in the pink crystallized gelatin.

  “Maybe some other time,” I called up at him. I swatted the back of the horse’s tail end, startling it and causing it to run off down the trail. “I’m pretty good with how things are right now. Sorry about your horse.”

  “You’ll die at our hands!” he shouted down.

  “Let’s keep going,” said Dhot loudly. “We’ll not make it to Grisam if we just stand around here all day!”

  I shared a look with Cassandra. Why was he talking so strange? I guess it didn’t matter.

  The three of us waved at Rupert while we left, with me adding that he should tell Dmetri and the rest of the Tumblers I said hello.

  We continued down the path for a half mile or so, with Dhot turning around every so often. Suddenly, he took both of our hands and led us off the path.

  “What are you do-”

  “Shhh!” he hissed, hurrying through the woods.

  I thought about pushing it, but figured it wasn’t worth it.

  A few minutes later, we were surrounded by trees and far off from the trail. The goblin let go and stopped.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, this time uninterrupted.

  “We had to make it look like we were going to the town of Grisam,” said the goblin, reaching around into his bag. “Either of you have a map on you?”

  “A map?” asked Cassandra.

  “You elves don’t know what maps are?” he asked. “Maha!”

  “Of course we do!” she blushed. “I just… didn’t get a chance to grab one before I left home.”

  “I’m horrible with figuring out where I am on a map, so I don’t bother carrying one,” I shrugged. “The two of us have gotten by fine enough without one.”

  The goblin sighed, pulling a dirty, torn, rolled up piece of paper out of his bag. “Well, I’m a fan of them, personally. That way, we can best plan out the quickest way to get where we’re going.”

  “Fair enough,” I said. As long as he was the one leading us, I didn’t really care what he did or didn’t use. “So, you’re thinking we won’t go to Grisam, then?”

  “Are you nuts? Maha!” he laughed as he opened up the map, spreading it out before us. “Vorova has good connections with all of the towns along that path. They would’ve sent out birds by now to let them all know to be on the lookout for the three of us. If we went to Grisam, we’d have just as much trouble as we had back in Vorova.”

  “Oh… good point,” I said.

  “So you told that Tumbler we were headed that way, to further send any guards or Gray Adders on the wrong path?” asked Cassandra.

  “Gray Adders?” I asked.

  “Tumblers?” asked Dhot at the same time.

  Cassandra glared at me. “Gray Adders are Nicole’s group, remember? I guarantee they are going to hurry to Lake Quip as fast as they can! They know we’re after the Time Shield just like they are.”

  “Y-Yeah,” I nodded. “I knew that.”

  Cassandra made a noise that let me know she didn’t believe me at all, before turning to Dhot. “Tumblers are a gang that raised Reimar. He left a few years ago, and their leader, Dmetri, is sending people out to find and kill him.”

  “Woah, you’re in a gang?!” asked the goblin.

  “It’s complicated,” I said noncommittally. “Since they don’t want anyone to quit, you’re kind of in it for life. They are actively trying to kill me, though.”

  “Maha!” laughed Dhot, although I wasn’t sure what was funny about that. “Hardcore! Well, either way, the answer is yes. I want everyone thinking we are going to Grisam, since that’ll mean getting them off our tail.”

  “Where are we going instead?” I asked, peaking over his shoulder down at the map.

  “The Gray Adders will definitely be heading to Grisam first,” he said pointing down at the map. Grisam was a town close to the border with the Republic. “They will have to camp out tonight, assuming they even left by now. They’ll make it to Grisam on the second day, and probably stay there for the night. On the third and final day, they’ll arrive at Mela.”

  “Mela?” asked Cassandra, staring down at the map. “I thought we were going to Lake Quip?”

  “We are,” he nodded, pointing down at further to the west. “Mela is a city that is just on the outskirts of that town, see? It’ll make sense for them to spend the night and do any last minute shopping in town. They would then be able to search the lake to their heart’s content, since they know they have a nice bed just a short walk away.”

  “But we aren’t doing that?” I asked.

  “Not quite,” he said, shaking his head. “Like I said, we can’t go to Grisam. We’ve already burned that bridge. Plus, the other route I’m thinking of is a straight line, and should be at least a few hours faster.”

  “Perfect!” I said. “We can skip by any towns and just go straight for Lake Quip. What’s another night or two sleeping on the dirt floor?”

  “Actually… we need to stop in towns,” said Dhot.

  “Why?” asked Cassandra and I in unison.

  “I’ve got to build the underwater breathing devices, don’t I?” asked the goblin. “What, did you think I just carry those things on me? Maha!”

  “I mean, I was kind of hoping,” I mumbled.

  “No, we’ll continue on through the woods,” said Dhot. “Tonight, we’ll have to make due with the forest floor. The next day, we should make it to a town called Rexford. I’ll check around there to see if they have anything I need, and we can continue on to Mela. If we push ourselves, we should be able to make it there late into the night on the second night.”

  “So we should be able to get there before the Gray Adders?” asked Cassandra.

  “If I’m reading this right, and they don’t take horses and ride through the night,” nodded Dhot.

  That was good enough for me.

  “On to Rexford, then!” I shouted, putting my fist in the air. “Whatever small, crappy town that is!”

  Chapter 10

  The journey towards Rexford wasn’t as exciting, or quick, as I had hoped it would be. Every hour or so, Dhot would tell us to stop, and he’d pull out his map to check where we were. I didn’t see why we had to keep checking it, but if that made the goblin feel more confident then so be it.

  This part of Truska was a mix of grasslands and forest, and the flowers were in full bloom. The aroma was pleasant, and the breeze nice and cool without being too cold. I would almost have felt at peace, if it wasn’t for the fact that Nicole’s group, and possibly the Tumblers, were out looking for us at that moment.

  As the sun began to set, I started to realize we weren’t as alone as I thought we were. Deer, rabbits, and other smaller creatures ran about, occasionally pausing to watch our strange group. The more we walked, the less friendly the wildlife became, though. I caught the reflection of a wolf’s eyes more than once, always examining us from a distance. I was glad to not be traveling alone, or the beasts would have eventually become an issue.

  “Do either of you have any spare food or water?” asked Dhot when the sun disappeared. The moon was high and bright tonight, so we would probably continue on for a while longer before stopping for som
e rest.

  Cassandra and I checked out bags.

  “Not really, but I can give you some,” I said, reaching in and breaking off some of the small loaf of bread I had left.

  “I’m running low, too,” said Cassandra as I handed the food to the goblin. “Did you really not bring any rations along with you?”

  Dhot gratefully took my food, pushing his goggles up to his forehead. “Of course I didn’t. Do you think I expected to be heading to Rexford this morning? Maha!”

  “But you were planning on stealing the Lance,” I pointed out as he quickly devoured the bread. “Surely you knew you were going to be on the run.”

  “Not at all,” he said, wiping a hand across his mouth. “I was planning on taking the Lance without too much of an issue, sneaking out in all the confusion. I was going to hang around Vorova for a few more days, wait for the heat to die down. After that, I was gonna get supplies and then head off to Brumark.”

  “Brumark?” I asked, a bit surprised. “Why Brumark?”

  “I figured I would setup a base of operations up there,” he explained, taking a sudden right when we came to a large rock. “It’s so cold, I doubt the black and reds would want to bother going up there! Maha!”

  “Aren’t there a lot of blue dragons up there, though?” asked Cassandra as we followed the goblin. “I thought you didn’t like dragons in general.”

  “I don’t,” he nodded. “But my understanding is that the blues stay away from most of the dwarven towns, mostly keeping to themselves in cities of their own.”

  “The blues don’t like to interfere in the ongoings of other races like the gold and silvers do,” I explained as we walked. “The dwarves also don’t put up with dragons as well as humans do. If the blues tried to rise in the political system throughout the dwarven towns, they wouldn’t stand a chance.”

  We continued on quietly, left to our own thoughts. I was beginning to worry about our rations. We wouldn’t have enough to fill all three of us tonight, which would mean tomorrow was going to be rough. Not life threatening, but not fun. Hopefully, we’d come across a stream to fill back up on water, and maybe we’d stumble across some fruits or berries.