The Adventurer's Guide to Dragons (and Why They Keep Biting Me)

by Wade Albert White

  “It’s all the rope we were able to salvage, I’m afraid,” said Emmanuelle. “There should be enough handholds and footholds to get you the rest of the way down if you need them.”

  Anne’s eyes widened. “Us? You mean you aren’t coming?”

  Emmanuelle shook her head. “Beyond the archway lies a realm separate from this world. If I entered, my condition would accelerate.”

  “And what about us?” asked Penelope.

  “For you it should be safe.”

  “Why are our quests always so full of shoulds?” said Hiro.

  Anne stared at the barrier again. “How do we find it?” she asked. “The Three-Handed Sword, I mean. Once we’re down there. Is it just lying around? Is it hidden somewhere?”

  “I don’t know,” said Emmanuelle. “I only know its location. I’ve never actually seen it for myself.” She stepped back from the rim, still holding the eye.

  “Are we really going to do this?” Hiro asked in a low voice.

  Anne frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “Emmanuelle said she’s never actually seen the sword, but we’re supposed to trust that it’s down there? And what about Valerian? How do we know we’re not simply helping him finish this quest?”

  “Don’t mind this one,” said Penelope to Anne, while patting Hiro on the back. “He’s just nervous.”

  Hiro glared at her.

  “Look, I’m not saying we shouldn’t be cautious,” said Anne, trying to appease both of them. “But we need to get that sword before the Copper Knights do. Emmanuelle spoke to Valerian, and he fought alongside Penelope against the lava beetle. And if nothing else, we have Rokk with us now.”

  Hiro’s expression remained grim, but he agreed they should go.

  Since Rokk weighed the most, he went first, the theory being that if the rope could support him, it could support all of them. Also, Rokk was the least likely to suffer any lasting damage from a fall. Anne followed Rokk, and the others, including Valerian, came after.

  Unlike travel by fireball or being transported by a portal, passing through the archway felt like nothing at all. There was no sense of passing from one place to another. By whatever means the archway connected the two sides, the transition was smooth. The only difference was when Anne had been standing on the tier above the stone ring, she couldn’t see into the pit. Once she passed the threshold and she looked back up, however, she discovered she could make out everything clearly on the other side, including Emmanuelle standing at the edge waiting for them.

  The crystal formations in the pit were various shades of blue, and many of them reached from one side of the pit all the way across to the other, forming a labyrinth of sorts. As Penelope had feared, though, the rope didn’t quite extend to the bottom. Once Rokk reached the end, he stepped down onto one of the larger crystals.

  “These structures appear to be sufficiently sturdy,” he informed them.

  Rokk continued climbing down, and Anne followed him. Though she had to choose a slightly different path among the crystals because she was so much shorter, there were plenty of hand- and footholds. The crystals were smooth and cold, but she managed to reach the bottom without slipping. Moments later, Penelope dropped down beside her, and Hiro and Valerian joined them.

  Despite the pit being quite deep, Anne had no trouble seeing. A nondescript blue light emanated from a massive crystal pillar that had appeared in the center of the pit as soon as they touched the bottom. When they approached the pillar, an object appeared in the air above it: a small crystal key.

  “Huh,” said Penelope. “No offense to whoever made it, but that’s one weird-looking sword. Also, very tiny.”

  “I’m pretty sure it’s just a key,” said Anne. “It probably unlocks whatever the sword is stored in.”

  “That’s a relief. Because I was going to say, whoever named it the Three-Handed Sword was way off. It would barely fit in one hand.”

  Rokk hoisted Anne up on his shoulders. She reached out to grab the key, but her hand passed through it.

  Valerian gasped. “What’s wrong with it?”

  “Relax,” said Anne. “It’s probably just a hologram.”

  They had encountered a holographic key once before, and Anne knew what to do. She stretched out her gauntlet-hand, and when the gauntlet touched the key, the key disappeared.

  Anne brought the gauntlet in front of her face. “Activate key,” she said.

  The key appeared again, this time above the gauntlet. Anne reached up with her gauntlet-hand and grabbed it. Even though she knew it was just a projection of light, it felt solid in her grip.

  “Look for a keyhole,” said Anne.

  Rokk put Anne down, and everyone spread out to search.

  “Here,” called Penelope a moment later from the other side of the pillar.

  Anne and the others joined her. About halfway up the side there was a small hole. Anne didn’t hesitate; she inserted the key and turned it. The key clicked and the pillar pulsed with blue light.

  “Um, is it supposed to do that?” asked Hiro.

  The pulsing increased.

  “Maybe we should give it a little space,” said Anne, and she took a step back. Everyone followed her example.

  As the pulsing increased even more, the pillar shook violently.

  “Take cover!” yelled Anne, and everyone scattered. Anne tried to run, but she tripped over the uneven ground. Rokk leapt forward and shielded her just as the pillar exploded. Crystal fragments flew in all directions.

  Rokk helped Anne to her feet.

  “Were you harmed?” Rokk asked. “Did you sustain any injuries to your head, neck, trunk, arms, hands, legs, feet, and/or attached digits?”

  “My digits are just fine, thanks,” said Anne. “And thanks for saving me. Are you okay?”

  “My body appears to be undamaged.”

  The top half of the pillar was gone, disintegrated in the explosion. Valerian walked over and examined the remaining stump. “It’s hollow,” he said.

  Anne looked inside. Sitting at the bottom of the hollow pillar was a long, flat, and ornate chest. Rokk reached in, picked up the chest, and set it on the ground. Anne knelt down and opened the lid. The chest contained dozens of pieces of jagged metal.

  “It’s just a bunch of junk,” said Penelope.

  “It’s not junk,” said Valerian. “They’re shards from a broken sword blade.”

  Anne picked up one of the shards. She took another one and held them together. They didn’t match.

  “Try this one,” said Penelope, handing her another piece.

  Anne held the fragment against the first one. This time they fit together perfectly, like puzzle pieces.

  “I guess we need to match all the pieces to put the sword together,” said Anne.

  As they began taking pieces out of the chest, it soon became clear there were more than a few dozen. They removed piece after piece until hundreds of shards lay on the ground in front of them.

  Hiro scratched his head. “It’s impossible that all of those pieces were in there. That chest isn’t remotely large enough.”

  “Except we saw them come out,” said Penelope.

  “Perhaps the inside of this container is larger than the outside,” said Rokk.

  “We have an even bigger problem than weird treasure chests,” said Anne. “I’m pretty sure there’s more than one sword here. I count over a dozen hilts.”

  “But if there’s more than one sword, how will we know which is the right one?” asked Hiro.

  “Maybe they’re labeled,” said Penelope.

  “Actually, some of the pieces do have an inscription,” said Valerian, and he held out two pieces in his hand. One contained a tiny column of numbers, the other a small square.

  They matched the blade shards one at a time—carefully, since many had sharp edges—and slowly reassembled them into swords (albert still broken ones). It took a lot of time and patience. Rokk scanned the pieces as they held them up, and over an hour
later they had thirteen loosely assembled blades laid out on the ground, complete with hilts, all of them over eight feet long and seemingly identical. They stood back to assess their handiwork.

  “So, by any chance does one of them say, ‘This is the real Three-Handed Sword’?” asked Penelope.

  Valerian crouched down and examined the inscriptions on the first two blades. “The numbers on each sword are different,” he said. “That must be how we distinguish the real one from the rest.”

  “But which set of numbers is correct?” said Hiro. “All of the numbers are three digits long, meaning they’re already higher than fifteen even before adding them together.”

  The phrase “three digits” rang in Anne’s ear. She looked at Hiro, then at Rokk, and then back at the row of swords.

  “That’s it,” she murmured. “The blade of fifteen fingers.”

  “We already know that part,” said Hiro.

  Anne pointed to the remains of the hollow pillar. “When Rokk asked if I was hurt from the explosion, he referred to my fingers and toes as ‘digits.’ And you just used ‘digits’ to refer to the numbers.”

  Hiro shrugged. “That’s what they’re called.”

  “Exactly. Maybe the riddle really means to look for the blade with fifteen digits—not as in fingers, but as in numbers.”

  They examined each of the blades and counted how many numbers were on each one. As it turned out, though, none of the blades had exactly fifteen numbers. Most had less.

  “So much for that theory,” said Anne.

  “What about the shapes?” said Hiro. “One of the pieces Valerian found had a square, and I’m sure I saw a triangle and a circle, too, but I don’t see them on any of the blades.”

  Hiro bent down and examined one of the blades. He turned over several shards until he found what he was looking for. “Here’s the triangle. And the other side of this blade has ten numbers.” He paused. “The number ten plus the three sides of a triangle equals thirteen.”

  Anne caught on. “If they all have a shape, we must have to add together the total number of digits with the total number of sides on the shape—”

  “Until we find the one that adds up to fifteen,” finished Penelope.

  They reexamined all the blades again, this time carefully checking the back sides of each one. Hiro scratched the sum for each one in his notebook.

  “I think this might be the one,” said Anne, holding a shard in her hand. “It has nine numbers on the front, and a six-sided symbol on the back.”

  “That’s the only one that adds up to fifteen,” said Hiro, rechecking his notes.

  “Woo-hoo!” said Penelope, and she gave Anne a high five.

  Even Hiro and Valerian had silly grins on their faces.

  Rokk remained as impassive as ever.

  Now that they’d located the Three-Handed Sword—or at least the pieces of it—all they had to do was keep it away from the Copper Knights. Anne brought out the leather bag Emmanuelle had given her earlier and carefully placed each piece of the sword inside. Then she closed the flap and tied it securely with a leather cord.

  “Scatter the other shards across the ground,” said Anne. “We can’t fix the pillar, but if anyone else finds their way down here, we might as well make it as difficult as possible to figure out that we’ve already taken the real sword.” They quickly disassembled the other swords and tossed the pieces in all directions.

  Even though the leather bag contained the fragments from just one sword, it was so heavy that only Rokk was capable of lifting it. He looped the strap easily over his head and across his chest. Penelope started first up the crystal wall, followed by Valerian, Hiro, and then Anne, with Rokk bringing up the rear this time. When they reached the place beneath the dangling rope, Penelope looked up.

  “This quest has way too much climbing,” she said.

  “Perhaps it would be best if we went together,” said Rokk. “I am capable of carrying everyone at the same time.”

  Anne nodded. The faster they got out of there, the better.

  Rokk grabbed the rope in two hands and scooped up Penelope and Hiro together in his third arm. Meanwhile, Anne and Valerian clung to Rokk’s neck. Rokk swiftly ascended the rope, climbing hand-over-hand until they reached the top. Anne passed through the archway first and climbed onto the tier. Valerian followed, and then Rokk placed Penelope and Hiro on the ground before pulling himself up last.

  Anne expected Emmanuelle to be waiting for them at the archway’s edge, but she wasn’t there. Anne scanned the area—until she noticed a strange shadow and looked up. A sleek sailing ship floated overhead, and on its deck were four Copper Knights. In the same moment, the remaining two knights emerged from a nearby copse of trees along with Emmanuelle. One of them held her arm firmly in its grip. The other one was holding the eye.

  “What are you doing here?” said Valerian to the knights.

  The knight holding Emmanuelle stepped forward, bringing her along. “We’re just making sure you keep your word. Now bring us the sword as promised.”

  Anne gasped.

  Valerian’s cheeks flushed. “I told you to wait for my return.”

  “And you told me you were no longer in contact with them,” said Emmanuelle.

  “No one is taking the sword,” said Anne. “You’ll never defeat Rokk.”

  “We won’t have to,” said the knight. It turned to Rokk. “Come with us.”

  “Affirmative,” said Rokk, and he immediately walked over and joined the two knights.

  “No!” shouted Anne.

  She started after him, but a bolt of lightning struck the ground in front of her and knocked her back. The four knights on the airship aimed their staffs directly at the young adventurers. Penelope and Hiro helped Anne to her feet. Valerian stood motionless in shock.

  The airship dropped down over the barrier so that it hovered next to the inner rim of the archway. As the airship extended a ramp, the knight holding Emmanuelle began leading her toward it, but she jerked back and managed to pull away. The knight grabbed for her but bumped her shoulder instead and sent her stumbling over the edge. In an instant, she disappeared through the archway barrier.

  “Mother!” yelled Valerian.

  The knight holding the eye kicked the black pillar, smashing it to shards. The barrier dissolved, and all that remained was the original empty space and a long drop to the BGFM. The first knight took Valerian by the arm and led him to the ramp. Valerian didn’t resist but only walked numbly as the knight took him aboard the airship. The second knight followed. And then so did Rokk without so much as a glance in Anne’s direction. Once Rokk was on board, the knights pulled back the ramp.

  The ship maneuvered away from the tier and flew into the sky, taking the Copper Knights, Valerian, Rokk, the eye, and the Three-Handed Sword.

  Anne, Penelope, and Hiro watched helplessly as the airship sailed away. They were stunned. They were flabbergasted. They were at a complete loss for words. And the last thing any of them would have expected at that moment was for three large dragons to swoop down out of the clear blue sky and snatch them away.

  Curiously enough, however, that is precisely what happened.

  Possibly a Middlelogue*

  THE ADVENTURER’S GUIDE TO FANTASTIC STORYTELLING SAYS THE FOLLOWING ABOUT PLOT TWISTS:

  A plot twist is an unexpected turn of events.

  Example 1: Someone formerly thought dead turns out to be alive.

  Example 2: Someone formerly thought dead turns out to be a parsnip.

  Example 3: A group of dragons swoop down out of nowhere, pluck up the main characters, and carry them off to who knows where.

  THE PALADIN SERIES USER MANUAL SAYS THE FOLLOWING ABOUT MEMORY MODULES:

  Your PALADIN series robot is equipped with eight high-capacity memory slots. The memory modules are interchangeable and can be used to program your unit for various tasks.

  IMPORTANT NOTE: All memory modules should be password-protected. Failure to e
mploy proper security measures could result in someone taking control of your robot.

  MORE IMPORTANT NOTE: Please refrain from inserting food or other foreign objects into the memory slots.

  Prisoners of the Clan

  If travel by fireball was truly the most terrifying form of transportation, traveling in the clutches of a dragon’s enormous claws was a close second. Anne had no idea where she was being taken, partly because it was difficult to make out anything through the narrow spaces between the dragon’s toes, but mostly because dragon fumes burned her nose and throat and stung her eyes so badly she was forced to cover them with her hands. Apparently, a dragon’s body odor included a healthy dose of brimstone dust. The only thing Anne could tell for sure was that wherever they were going, they were getting there fast. The dragon was flying at tremendous speed.

  After about an hour, just as Anne was all but gasping for fresh air, she was suddenly and roughly deposited onto the ground. She rolled onto her hands and knees, but her eyes were stinging so badly she couldn’t see. When she heard the sound of coughing and gagging nearby, she knew Penelope and Hiro had been dropped as well, and her heart beat a little easier knowing her friends were safe—or at least nearby.

  Anne heard the thump of heavy, retreating dragon footsteps, and then a loud metallic clang. Moments later, a terrible screeching filled her ears. Anne wondered if they were being attacked. She tried to rise and run, but she fell as the ground suddenly shifted and swayed wildly back and forth. Two familiar bodies slammed into her.

  “What’s going on?” yelled Penelope. The three friends clung to one another. “My eyes hurt and I can’t open them! Where are we?”

  “I don’t know,” said Anne.

  “I’m guessing no place good,” said Hiro.

  The swaying gradually lessened, although it didn’t stop completely, and the stinging in their eyes abated. Finally, Anne was able to pry open her eyes. Through blurry vision, she discerned their immediate surroundings: They were inside a giant cage. It was dome-shaped, with long strips of metal crisscrossing in all directions and large rusty panels bolted over any significant gaps. The cage seemed to have been built entirely out of scraps.