“I’d like to have a sample to study,” said Valdez.
“I’m getting a larger quantity delivered to me very soon,” said the High Cleric. “Unfortunately, I have no way of getting it to you. The mountains that separate us are still a nagging issue that needs to be dealt with.”
“I could ask the unicorn to go there to retrieve some samples for me,” suggested Valdez. “The other day he brought some samples of your herbs for our experimentation, along with a patient. He didn’t know we already had patients of our own. The unicorn could be there in a couple of days’ time, I’m sure.”
Malachi nodded. “That would work. I’ll have a sample ready for you.”
“Good,” said Valdez. He sighed. “I’d better go. The queen was waiting for me in the council chamber. As her advisor, I’m going to have plenty of work while she’s gone.”
“Wish her well for me,” said Malachi. “I miss her ever since she left us to become a druid.”
“Will do,” said the Arch Mage. “She always tells me to put in a ‘hello’ for her anyway.”
Malachi smiled. “Keep in touch, Valdez. I always look forward to our little chats. It gets my mind off of the stresses of the job.”
“Likewise,” said Valdez. “Goodbye.”
Malachi sat back as the orb cleared. It was time to begin preliminary tests with the ale. But first - he looked around even though he knew no one was there. Then he took a sip of the ale - and almost choked.
* * * * *
Martha sighed. She lifted the covers to conceal the body of yet another casualty. “It’s terrible, absolutely terrible.”
Adriana came up to her from behind. “Another one?”
Martha nodded sadly.
“I’ll get the treemen to dispose of the body.”
Martha turned to face her counterpart. Her usual jovial expression was replaced by a haggard, tired look. “How many more do we have to bury before this is over?”
Adriana reached out and touched Martha’s arm consolingly. Ever since she almost lost Martha to the summoning magic, she was always nearby, making sure Martha wasn’t overdoing it as she was apt to do when things got tough. “You should rest. I can take care of the sick for now.”
“Are you sure?” asked Martha.
“Of course!” said Adriana. “I just took a break. Now it’s your turn.”
Martha reluctantly nodded. “Very well. I’ll send for the treemen. Call me if something comes up.”
“I will,” lied Adriana.
“Remember. We need to try summoning the air elemental again in one hour.”
“You shouldn’t bother wasting your energy with that,” cautioned Adriana. “We won’t succeed in summoning the elemental anyway - not while it is under someone else’s control.”
“Our summoning attempts will make it more difficult for the lizardmen to fully control the elemental,” explained Martha. “I know this because I can feel their magic falter when we do our summoning magic.”
Adriana knew Martha was right, but wished she wouldn’t push herself so hard. “Milena will be here soon. We’ll let her take on that job when she gets here.”
Martha’s face brightened at the mention of Milena’s name. “I can’t wait to see her again!” Then her face darkened as she scanned the room full of beds laden with mermaids who were close to death. “It’s unfortunate she has to come home under these circumstances. I wish she didn’t have to see this.”
“I have already seen it,” said a voice behind them softly.
The druids spun around to see the speaker. Standing there was a fair-haired woman with a regal appearance dressed in the brilliant blue cloak common to those who wielded druid magic.
“Milena, my child!” cried Martha happily. She pounced at the newcomer and gave the fair-haired druid a bear hug. “I’ve missed you so!”
“Uggh!” gasped Milena. She detached the robust druid gently. “I’m happy to see you too.” She looked at Adriana. “Both of you.”
Adriana smiled, an expression that rarely crossed her face, especially of late. “Milena. I’m glad you could make it.”
“The griffin flew swiftly,” said Milena. “You chose a larger, more experienced one to fly me. I barely had time to explain my instructions to Arch Mage Valdez, my advisor.”
“That’s because time is in short supply,” said Adriana. She gestured to the numerous beds behind her. “This plague is deadly.”
“I know,” said Milena. “Some of my people are suffering too. The spread of the poisoned water must be stopped.”
“The lizardmen are behind it,” said Martha. “The elementals have been captured, one by one. Recently the air elemental was yanked from us even though we had already summoned it.”
“I know,” said Milena again. “The unicorn told me. Did you try summoning him back?”
Martha nodded. “Yes, but the magic holding the elemental is too strong to overcome. The most we’ve been able to accomplish is to weaken the lizardmens’ magic enough to momentarily give the elemental an opportunity to break free.”
Milena nodded. “I’ll help you next time. The magic from all three of us might be more productive. What about a cure?”
“We were hoping you might have some ideas that could help us,” said Adriana. “With the water elemental beyond our reach, our healing magic is rather limited.”
“You mean you can’t summon the water elemental?” asked Milena. “You obviously made contact with the air elemental even though it is controlled by others.”
Adriana shook her head. “Both the water and earth elementals were under the lizardmens’ control for too long. Our magic isn’t capable of finding them. The air elemental hasn’t been controlled for long enough to be subdued by the lizardmen.”
“Yet,” put in Martha bluntly. “That’s why we need to continue our efforts to summon it. As long as we keep interfering with the lizardmens’ magic, the summoning will not be complete.”
“What about the fire elemental?” asked Milena. “Can you summon it?”
Adriana shook her head again. “The fire elemental walks the world freely. We can only summon from the spirit dimension. The air elemental is the only one left with ties to the spirit dimension.”
Milena’s eyes widened. “This is more serious than I thought!”
Adriana nodded. “That’s why we called for you. Maybe together we can stop this madness before it’s too late.”
“I’ll do what I can,” promised Milena. She undid her packsack, embossed with her royal emblem, and swung it around to a nearby table. Some treemen shuffled past to retrieve the dead mermaid. “Here is what I’ve got so far,” said Milena. She filled them in on information concerning fermented wildhorn leaves, and dwarven ale.
“Fascinating!” exclaimed Martha when Milena was done. “Ale that can potentially cure disease! I’ll have to find some information on these ingredients in our library.”
“I’ll check the spell books,” offered Adriana.
“What do you want me to do?” asked Milena.
Adriana looked back at the patients while a treeman carried in a new mermaid patient.
“Never mind,” said Milena. “I’m on it.” She went over to examine the patient while the other druids hurried off to check their stores for information.
Chapter 23
I really don’t like the looks of it,” muttered Vera.
“It’s perfectly safe,” explained Rebecca. “It was made by dwarves a long time ago. That’s why it’s still here today.”
“But it’s so - ancient!” argued Vera. “Are you sure it will hold us after all these years?”
“Of course!” said Rebecca confidently. She walked a little way out onto it and turned to face the others. “See?”
Vera looked doubtful. The ancient swing bridge was made of planks interwoven with rope. There was a dangerous gap between the planks where someone could easily fall through if not careful. Either side of the bridge was lined with rope railings the full length o
f the bridge. These railings were frayed at intervals as a result of age and dryness common in these warmer depths of the mountains. As Rebecca walked back to the others, the bridge swayed and creaked. The cleric turned to the mage. “You can’t fly us across?”
“No,” said Kazin. He pointed out across the vast canyon to the cave on the other side. “There’s no place to land. It would be easier to use the bridge.”
“I cannot cross or the bridge will be consumed with fire,” informed Tyris. He turned to the cleric. “However, if the good cleric will permit it, I could ride on the tip of your staff.”
“You can do that?” asked Vera in surprise.
Tyris withdrew his form into a ball of flame and soared through the air to land on the cleric’s staff. “Nothing to it!” said the staff cheerfully.
“Impressive!” exclaimed Vera.
“I will go first,” offered Cyril. “If the bridge holds me, it will certainly hold any of you.”
“It’ll hold,” insisted Rebecca.
Kazin nodded. “Very well. We’ve checked most of the tunnels on this side. The cave at the other end seems to be the next logical place to go.”
Cyril wandered out onto the bridge. It groaned and creaked ominously but held firm.
“I told you it would hold,” said the dwarf. She waited for Cyril to be several paces ahead of her and stepped onto the bridge after him.
Vera looked at Kazin, who nodded. “Go ahead. I’ll be right behind you.” The cleric gulped and followed the dwarf.
“I’m here too,” comforted the staff.
Kazin waited until the cleric was a few paces ahead of him and then stepped out onto the bridge.
Alric took the rear, carefully grasping the now shaky railings.
The companions marched steadily, careful not to look down at the bottomless gorge below. Tyris shed enough light for all of them to see where they were going.
Vera was approximately in the middle of the incredibly long bridge when it happened.
A rumbling occurred deep below them and ran up the walls of the canyon like a shivering spine. The companions paused momentarily. The rumbling built in volume and intensity and the swing bridge began to vibrate and shake.
“Hurry!” cried Kazin.
Everyone started moving with haste.
A faint yelp, barely audible above the rumbling of the canyon, made Cyril turn around. Rebecca had lost her footing and had rolled under the railing to the edge of the bridge. She had barely managed to grab hold of the rope between two planks with one hand to save her fall. “Help!” she cried. The cyclops, seeing that Vera was too far back to help, made his way as fast as he could to assist the struggling dwarf.
Meanwhile, Vera had seen the dwarf fall. This distracted her from her concentration on the planks and she stepped into the gap between two of them. With a cry she went down, dropping her fiery staff in the process. To make matters worse, one rope tying the two planks together snapped apart. The gap opened wider and she fell through up to her armpits.
“Vera!” cried Kazin. He sprang forward to reach her but stepped awkwardly between two planks himself. The elf arrived quickly to help him get untangled.
Tyris, meanwhile, knew Vera was in trouble and nobody could reach her. He was still sitting atop the staff as it lay across the bridge’s planks behind the cleric.
Vera was losing her hold on the planks and slowly slipped downward. She was struggling so hard to hold herself up that she couldn’t even cry out for help. Tyris knew he could pull her to safety, but not without burning her. The bridge also stood a good chance of catching fire if he returned to his human form. Seeing the cleric slip even further down, the elemental made up his mind. He changed form and reached down just as the cleric lost her grip.
Rebecca strained to pull herself up. Her right hand burned from the strain of holding all of her weight. The harsh, frayed rope didn’t help matters any. Suddenly, a giant, greenish yellow hand reached down and firmly grabbed the dwarf’s arm. With relative ease, the cyclops lifted the dwarf back up to the bridge so she was standing safely between the rope railings.
Rebecca looked gratefully at the cyclops, who avoided her gaze. “I take back what I said earlier. You are good to have around.”
The cyclops wasn’t paying attention. His eye widened and he cried, “Vera!”
By now, Alric had helped free Kazin and they looked ahead of them on the bridge.
The elemental had just managed to pull the cleric to safety. Her amulet glowed fiercely, protecting her from fire damage. But Tyris had set the bridge on fire. Moreover, the elemental seemed to have gone berserk. He increased in size and intensity until he was at least three times the size of the cleric. His form coalesced and he began to float up above the bridge.
“Aieee!” he screamed. “I’m being summoned!”
“Look up there!” shouted Alric. He pointed high above them to a cave overlooking them from the side of the canyon they were leaving. They couldn’t have known it was there from their original vantage point at the start of the bridge. In this cave opening, they could see a number of lizardmen chanting a spell. The fire elemental’s form rose slowly toward them.
The mage began casting fireballs in the direction of the lizardmen but they were too far distant. The fireballs fell hopelessly short. A sudden jolt on the bridge brought their attention back to their own predicament. The fire on the bridge was now out of control. One railing had snapped, and the spot where Tyris had been was burning like kindling. The bridge was about to split apart entirely.
“Get off the bridge!” yelled Kazin. “The bridge is going to collapse!”
The cyclops, dwarf, and cleric were already running for the far side of the bridge for safety.
Kazin turned to the elf. “We’ll have to go back.”
Alric nodded and sprinted for the near side of the canyon.
“Aieee!” screamed Tyris again.
Kazin stopped and looked up. He had to try to free the elemental. It was of paramount importance that the lizardmen did not control the fourth and final elemental. If they did, it could mean the end of everything. But he had to wait until everyone else had made it to safety before doing anything.
Just as the last of the companions cleared the bridge, a loud groaning and snapping noise occurred. Kazin transformed just as the burning bridge split apart and crashed into the lower canyon walls. The mage sprouted his leathery wings and flapped hard to gain altitude. The lizardmen above were no longer visible in the cave entrance but he flew up there anyway. As he reached the opening, he blasted it with a fierce flood of his fiery breath. He was secure in the knowledge that the elemental would not get hurt in the blast, being naturally immune to fire damage, but he hoped he could destroy any unwary lizardmen nearby. Unfortunately, he was too late. The lizardmen had already gone with their prize.
The ledge was wide enough to land on, so Kazin landed and returned to his human form. He turned around and looked down to where the others were gathered on the other side of the canyon. The mountain was still rumbling, so trying to call down to them was pointless. He made hand motions indicating that he was going after Tyris and hoped they understood.
He couldn’t signal his intentions to Alric, who was on the same side of the canyon as himself, so he turned and hurried after the lizardmen. He didn’t have time to find a way to reunite the companions right now. They were on their own. Tyris was the one who needed help.
The cyclops, cleric and dwarf saw Kazin’s hand signals and realized what he was going to do.
“He can’t leave us behind!” wailed Vera. “How are we going to find our way in this place?”
“Relax,” said Rebecca calmly. “I know how to find my way in the mountains. We won’t get lost.”
“But what if we need to get through a portal?” asked Vera, “assuming we can even find one?”
“We’ll just have to do without portals,” said Rebecca coolly. “It looks like we’re in lizardman territory now, anyway.”
“What about Alric?” asked Cyril.
The trio looked across the canyon at the tunnel they had earlier vacated. One half of the bridge hung uselessly down the side of the canyon, the bottom section still on fire. The tunnel entrance was empty.
“He’ll be okay,” said Rebecca. “He can turn invisible, so he’ll be better off than we are.”
“That’s true,” said Cyril, rubbing his healed shoulder gingerly. He remembered the disembodied sword that had pierced him previously.
Vera saw Rebecca’s sore hand. “Your hand is injured! Let me heal it.”
“It’s all right,” said Rebecca modestly, but she held it out for the cleric anyway.
Vera pulled some spell components from her pouch and chanted a spell. The wound healed over almost instantly.
“Wow!” exclaimed Rebecca. “That was fast!”
“I’m a level one cleric,” said Vera proudly. “Healing wounds like these is a prerequisite to becoming a full-fledged cleric.”
“Thanks,” said Rebecca. “I’m glad you’re stuck on my side of the canyon.” She glanced at the cyclops, who looked at the floor. “Both of you.”
After a moment of awkward silence, Rebecca added, “Come on. Kazin wouldn’t want us to stand here moping around. He’d want us to do everything we can to stop the lizardmen from succeeding. Once he gets Tyris back, he’ll come looking for us. I’ll leave the odd mark for him to follow so he’ll know it was us.”
“You’re pretty confident he’ll get the elemental back,” commented Vera.
“I’ll tell you some of the stories my uncle - I mean king - told me about Kazin,” said Rebecca. “There’s a lot more to him than meets the eye.”
“I’ll vouch for that,” said the cyclops. “He met my eye without getting paralyzed.”
The women laughed.
* * * * *
Alric returned to a passageway they had ignored because it appeared to be unused and difficult to navigate. The upward slope, however, meant that it could lead up to the cave where the lizardmen had performed their summoning spell. His keen elven eyesight helped him to traverse the passageway successfully, and it opened up wider the further he went. He stopped to pick up some loose pebbles that were undoubtedly the result of the mountain’s quakes. He needed them for his magic arrow spells. Had he had some in his possession previously, he could have sent his magical arrows up to where the lizardmen had been. He was sure his arrows could have outdistanced Kazin’s fireballs. At least now, if he encountered more than one lizardman at a time, he would have long range capability.
Cloak & Dagger: Book II of The Dragon Mage Trilogy Page 23
