by Hans Bezdek
“What do you think about what the dwarf said?” asked Dhot, looking to the right as a couple watched us nervously. “Do you two really think the black and reds are responsible for this town acting crazy?”
“Who knows,” shrugged Cassandra. “I’m at the point now where I’ll believe almost anything. If you told me a month ago I’d have the Shattered Sword with me, I’d have thought you were a nutjob.”
“I wonder if it’s magic, or some kind of weapon that’s causing it,” I said, nearly back to the main street now. “If we weren’t in a rush, I’d say we should try and help-”
A green fist crashed into my head, disorienting me badly.
“Give us your stuff!” shouted someone off to the side.
I took a few steps, instinctively drawing magic into my hand. The group of humans and orcs surrounded us now. They must have jumped down from atop the buildings. I couldn’t believe they waited for us.
Cassandra and Dhot stood with their backs to me, each reaching for their weapons.
“You heard us!” shouted a different voice, this one an orc. “Drop your weapons, or else!”
The orc raised a dull looking axe threateningly, taking a step closer to us.
Without a second thought, I put my palm out towards him and let go of the magic. A gust of wind flew him back, along with two of his buddies.
I turned at the sound of running feet to see the other teens scattering, abandoning their friends.
“They didn’t put up much of a fight,” said Dhot. “Maha!”
“Are you okay?” asked Cassandra, tilting my chin gently with her hand and looking at my cheek.
I looked past her, to the horrified faces of random passerbys pointing their fingers at us.
“Spell casters!” screamed a woman.
“Guards! Guards come quick!” shouted a man. “It’s a mage!”
“What?!” shouted Dhot, spinning around and glaring at everyone. “We were getting mugged! We’re lucky he can use magic!”
“Guards, hurry!” shouted another man.
“We’ve got what we needed,” shouted Cassandra, grabbing both of our arms and starting to run. “Time to leave while we still can!”
Chapter 15
Getting out of Rexford was surprisingly easy.
Calls for guards continued as we ran through the streets, but everyone stayed far away from us. Even though only a couple of people saw me cast my wall of wind, everyone else immediately accepted it and called for us to be arrested. We could hear a couple of guards chasing after us, but when I looked back they seemed to want to keep some distance.
We made it to the edge of town, and continued out and into the trees. I risked another look back as we made some distance, and saw that a crowd had gathered, along with a few guards. They shouted and pointed in our direction, but no one moved outside of the town’s limits to chase us.
“We can slow down,” I said, taking my own advice. “They won’t chase us any further.”
The other two slowed to a stop, waiting for me to catch up to them.
“What a horrible town,” said Cassandra, shaking her head. “It was like the whole place finally came alive after we were accused of spellcasting.”
“I guess that’s what they do for entertainment,” said Dhot, breaking out his map and trying to use his cloak to protect it from the rain.
“That and try to mug people,” she said.
“It might not be their fault,” I said, rubbing the spot where the orc clobbered me. “At least, it might not be the town people’s fault. I’m pretty sure that group of thugs were going to attack people regardless of any activity from the black and reds.”
“Either way, I never want to go back there,” said Cassandra, crossing her arms. “Able to figure out where we are, Dhot?”
The goblin nodded. “I can’t figure out what time of day it is with all this poor weather, but we ran out of the western side of Rexford. We’ll continue on straight from here, and can either take the path or go parallel to it.”
I groaned, but knew what the right answer was. “Best to go parallel. Who knows if they won’t send someone down that path to look for us at some point.”
“Better safe than sorry,” nodded Cassandra.
The three of us pushed deeper into the woods, keeping the path a half mile or so to our left. The ground was muddy and slowed us some, but the path wouldn’t have been much better. Every so often, the goblin would scurry off and make sure we weren’t veering off too badly. He was never gone more than a few minutes, and would correct our trajectory as needed.
The rain stopped after a few hours of walking, but the sky remained dark and cloudy. We figured it was starting to get late, and had to decide if we should camp out now, or wait until we got to Mela. Dhot took out his map, and ultimately we chose to keep moving. He determined we were another four or five hours away, which was worth it for a bed and a place to dry our clothes.
“We’re in the Republic, right?” asked Cassandra after another hour of walking.
“Yup,” nodded the goblin. “First time, right?”
“It is,” she said, looking around. “I don’t know why but I expected it to look… different…”
“We’re still in the area that was taken from Truska a few hundred years ago,” I explained. “The further west we go in the Republic, the more the landscape will change. The capitol is on a giant mountain, surround by open fields and prairies. Further west and to the south you get deserts, before getting to the port towns.”
“Will we be seeing any of that?” she asked.
“Not near Mela,” said Dhot. “It used to be a border city back in the day, and aside from the area near Lake Quip, Mela will probably look mostly the same as any other city in Truska.”
Cassandra opened her mouth, but suddenly stopped, looking off to the right.
“Do you-”
“No,” I said. “No, I don’t hear anything.”
“It sounds like people talking,” whispered Dhot, looking off in the same direction.
Bunch of show offs with their freakishly big ears.
“Well, sounds like we shouldn’t go that way,” I whispered.
“You’re not curious what people are doing out here, even further away from the path?” he asked.
“No. No I’m not.”
“They might be up to something!”
“I can almost guarantee they’re up to something! That’s what I don’t want to get near them!”
“I’d like to check it out,” said Cassandra. “Maybe it’s someone shadowing us, and this is our chance to get the jump on them?”
“Absolutely not,” I said, shaking my head. Why couldn’t they appreciate the subtle art of not getting involved and staying alive?
“How about we take a vote?” she said, giving me a look. “All in favor of checking it out, raise your hand.”
The goblin and elf both raised their hands.
“Those not in favor.”
I sighed and raised my hand.
“Looks like those in favor win,” smirked Cassandra.
“Maha!”
“Whatever,” I said. “Let’s get this over with.”
The three of us moved off to the right in a single file line. We were crouched low, careful not to bump into anything that would make too much noise. After moving in just a bit closer, I began to hear the voices, and could start making out what they were saying shortly after.
“I’m saying we raid one of the smaller town,” came a woman’s voice. “It’d help us make some money for the next search, and we could finally get a bit of fun going.”
The three of us grouped together as we made it up to some bushes, looking through the leaves to see three humans standing in a circle fifty or so feet away. They were talking at a normal volume, clearly not concerned about anyone happening by.
All three wore black cloaks, hiding most of their body. Their hoods were down, though. It looked like one was a woman, while the other two were men. The wo
man had her dark hair up in a ponytail, while the other two men were bald. One of the bald men had a tattoo of something on the back of his head, but I couldn’t tell what it was from our location.
“We don’t have time for that, Jacqueline,” hissed the man with the tattoo. “We need the digging operation to be done now.”
“I just don’t see what the rush is,” replied the woman. “We are the only ones that know about it… right Domino?”
“Not exactly,” said the other man, shaking his head. “It appears our source had loose lips. I knew we should’ve killed him immediately.”
“You know our orders were to let him live,” said the tattooed man. “I don’t want to hear another complaint about this.”
“Just because he put you in charge, Nadeem, doesn’t make you better than us,” growled Domino, turning and cracking his neck. “I’ll let it go for now, though. We’re being listened to by a few parasites.”
“Uh oh,” whispered Dhot.
The three humans turned in our direction.
“What should we do?” whispered the goblin.
“Oh good!” I said loudly. “Fellow travelers! We’ve been lost for so long!”
Hopefully I’d be able to get us out of this with the old ‘lost traveler’ routine. These humans looked pretty rough, and I didn’t exactly want to fight them.
“Uh, y-yes!” said Cassandra, matching my volume and looking at me nervously. “We… we’ve been wandering around these forsaken trees for weeks now! If only someone would come help us!”
“Laying it on a little too strong,” I whispered.
“You two get back to your jobs,” said Nadeem, ignoring us. “I’ll take care of these pests.”
“Aw, come on!” whined Jacqueline. “I want to have some fun, too!”
“No!” he shouted. “Your task isn’t done yet. When it is, you’ll get to have all the fun you can handle.”
The three humans glared at each other for a moment, no one making a move.
“Should we try to take this time and sneak off?” whispered Dhot.
That was a good idea. Unfortunately, the humans had come to a decision.
“Whatever,” grunted Domino. “Let’s get this over with, Jacquie.”
Black wings sprouted from the man’s back as he grew taller and wider. Black scales sprouted all over him as his clothes absorbed inward, his arms and feet become thicker and ending in claws. Jacqueline shifted as well, knocking over a few trees with her dark wings and black tail.
“I think we found the black dragons Debra was talking about,” I mumbled.
The two black dragons were each about twice as large as Stalrik was. They looked down at us with their dark eyes, smiling. Without a word, the two shot up into the sky, flying off to the west.
“We don’t mean any trouble, we’re just lost!” shouted Cassandra. “My name is Bertha!”
I put a hand on her arm and shook my head. The time for being lost travelers was over. This guy wasn’t going to let us go after we saw his friends turn into dragons.
The man took a few steps closer to us.
“Any last words?” he asked, stretching his arms out.
“Yeah, what’s up with your tattoo?” called out Dhot.
“Seriously…?” I mumbled.
“My tattoo?” laughed Nadeem, turning his head to show it again to us. Now that he was closer, we were able to actually see it.
There was an outline of the top half of a circle, with two triangles pointing down attached to it. The left triangle was filled in and black, while the half circle and right triangle remained unfilled. I had never seen the design before, and had no idea what it stood for.
“What does it mean?” asked Cassandra.
“No point in telling the dead, now is there?” he asked, turning back as his skin grew darker, scales forming.
Dhot looked back and forth between me and Cassandra. “Plan?”
“Kill the dragon,” said the elf, drawing out the Shattered Sword and walking towards the shifting Nadeem.
“What she said,” I nodded, following after her.
“Maha!” laughed the goblin, running past me and pulling out a few explosives from his bag.
Nadeem had finished his transformation by the time Cassandra closed in. He was slightly larger than the other two black dragons, and it was all muscle.
He let out a laugh when he saw the elf’s blade, bringing one of his claws down to swipe her away. The Shattered Sword caught the dragon’s claw and Cassandra was able to hold her ground. While I was glad it worked, the lack of the blue glow from the Shattered Sword wasn’t ideal. I doubted she’d be able to do any damage to Nadeem until it activated, if it would at all.
The dragon’s eyes widened as he looked down at the elf. “You blocked my claw with a flimsy sword? How very strange…”
“Do the wind thing!” shouted Dhot, tossing several grenades into the air above him.
In a panic I threw my palm up, shooting out a gust to carry the explosives away. The bombs flew at the dragon, who brought his claw back for another swing on Cassandra. The explosives went off as they connected with the dragon’s face, most of them close to his left eye.
Nadeem brought his neck back and roared up at the night sky, bringing a claw up to nurse his eye. Cassandra rushed in, swinging away with the Sword at the dragon’s side.
I couldn’t get too excited, though. The blade didn’t seem to be able to penetrate the dragon’s scales. To make matters worse, I noticed fire forming in the dragon’s open mouth.
“Watch out!” I shouted, punching with my rocket glove to give me an extra boost as I ran off to the left side and dove.
The dragon brought his head down towards the goblin, shooting off a pillar of fire. The goblin had activated another one of his devices at his feet, though, and just managed to soar over the flames.
The trees all around us were set ablaze but didn’t spread very much. The rain from early kept this from turning into an even more dangerous fight.
“My eye!” roared the dragon, his left eye closed and darkened as he glared at Dhot with his right. “You’ll pay for that you green maggot!”
Fire danced again in the dragon’s mouth as he watched the goblin, his tail whipping out and smacking Cassandra away from his side. I prepared a good chunk of my magic, flowing it into my hands. Dhot smiled with confidence as he stared back at the dragon, pulling out another one of his devices to shoot him into the air. Did he think we were fighting a stupid beast?
The dragon let loose another burst of fire. The goblin let off his blast as the flames started coming, shooting upward again.
“Mah-AAAA!”
The dragon shifted his neck up, redirecting the blast into the air where the foolish goblin was heading.
I reached out my hand, pointing at where Dhot would meet with the fiery pillar of death, and unleashed my energy. A thick wall of water appeared right in front of the goblin as he entered the path of the flames. A heavy flow of steam rose above the cutoff flames as the dragon finished his breath.
“Thank you!” shouted Dhot, landing on his feet and running for cover.
Nadeem turned his attention towards me now.
“I will not be harassed by a misfit group of-”
Cassandra jumped up at the dragon’s neck, the now glowing Shattered Sword arcing up. The blue tinted blade sliced along the bottom of the black dragon’s throat as the elf flew underneath it, until Cassandra tumbled to the ground on the other side.
A stream of crimson poured out of the dragon’s neck, cutting off his complaint into a gurgle. Nadeem desperately brought his claws up, but there was nothing to be done. The dragon gave a final, horrible croaking noise as it collapsed down into a pool of its own blood.
“Woohoo!” shouted Dhot, running out from his cover and throwing a fist into the air. “That was awesome! Maha!”
“You’ve really got to get control over that thing,” I said, walking up and pointing at the Shattered Sword.
/> “I know,” she nodded, staring down at it. “It’s so powerful… at least, when it wants to be.”
I glanced down at the dragon, making sure it was dead. Its lifeless right eye stared at me, still in a glare.
I wasn’t a fan.
“Let’s keep moving,” I said, exhausted from expending so much magic. Dhot not giving me any warning about the grenades required me to use more energy than I should’ve, and the huge water wall was very magic consuming on its own. This feeling of running low on magic was becoming a bit too common for my taste. “We can’t wait around. The other two dragons might have heard the cries of this one, and could come back any minute.”
Cassandra nodded, sheathing the Sword.
“You know, it’s been months since I’ve even seen a dragon, regardless of color,” said Dhot, smiling at the two of us as we all started our march again. “But after just a few days with you guys, we’ve already fought two!”
“It’s not like we’re trying to seek them out,” said Cassandra apologetically.
“We just have a bad knack for running into them,” I shrugged.
“This is the best!” squealed Dhot, jumping up and down. “I knew traveling with you both was the right move! Maha!”
Chapter 16
I was suddenly in a large, circular room.
The room was filled with piles and piles of books, several bookcases, chairs, and tables. Candles were set in a seemingly random order all over the place, and they were the only source of light. The smell of old books filled the place, almost to the point of being nauseating.
Darkly tinted windows surrounded the room, and I instinctively walked over to look out. There were massive mountains all around, with a large city down below. I’d never seen a city from so high before, but something about the place seemed familiar.
I glanced back around the room, looking for a set of stairs or perhaps a lift. Somehow, there wasn’t one. How had I come up here? Actually, how did I get here at all? Where were Cassandra and Dhot?
Cough.
A man with a blue robe suddenly stood at the edge of the other side of the room.
“Hello?” I asked.
I couldn’t see his face, but somehow I knew he was looking at me.
