by R. E. Fisher
He slowly tried to regain his breath. As it became steadier, a sound crept toward him though the darkness. His breath caught in his throat. He heard it again. It sounded like someone giggling at him. Panic began to well up within him once again. He then realized that there was a familiar odor in the air. Tobacco. Pipe tobacco, smelling sweet, like honey and vanilla. He crept forward, toward the small sound he had heard, ensuring that his movements were cautious and quiet. He strained his eyes to see where he was going, dots of pinpoint lights flashing across his vision. He thought he saw a small glow of red ahead of him. He paused, flattening against the wall as he saw it again. He watched as it appeared again. That time he was positive he saw it. He began to creep toward it again, and it became brighter as he drew nearer. The smell was almost overwhelming in the confined space. The closer he got, the more Dmitri realized he could see a shadowy figure staring at a wall. He paused. Whoever it was knew how to get in, and if it knew how to get in, it could get him out. Provided it was one of the servants he could bully or beat into submission. If it wasn’t, well, at this point he figured dying would be better.
Moving as cautiously as he could, he began edging toward the glowing ember of what he assumed was the pipe. Creeping like he had on a couple occasions in his other life, he stalked the figure. Suddenly a flash of burning embers dropped to the ground, accompanied by the muted popping of the figure emptying the pipe against its hand. It was small, like the thing that had kept him prisoner. Dmitri reached out and grabbed the small figure, wrapping his arms around what he hoped was its neck.
Niloy Oiy dropped to the ground to slip loose from his attacker. His instinct for survival was as sharp as it could possibly be for such an aged shelfling. A gasp of fright slipped from him he did so. The beast that had attacked him fell on top of him, hard. His breath was knocked from him, Niloy’s own fear becoming as real as his attacker’s. With nothing else he could do, Niloy opened his mouth and bit down hard onto something that belonged to his attacker, tasting blood and dirt as he did. What he bit, he had no clue, but it got a result.
Dmitri groaned in pain and tightened his hold around the creature’s neck, but it was wiry, and it bit him again. He climbed to his knees, then to his feet, lifting the not-so-heavy creature as he rose. Its weight was held only by its neck, which he gripped tightly. He began shaking the creature.
“Be still!” Dmitri threatened, his accent making him sound even more dangerous in the darkness.
The small figure stopped its thrashing, its breath labored and choking. Dmitri loosened his hold a bit.
“Who are you?” he asked with his thick Russian accent.
Niloy recognized that voice. He had heard his whining ramblings from the prison cells. It was the prisoner he had tended in the dungeon. How did he find these tunnels? he thought.
“Let me down...please,” Niloy begged, gasping for breath.
Dmitri continued holding Niloy tightly by his neck, dangling him above the ground. He then grabbed Niloy’s arm, twisting it firmly behind his back. Only then did he lower the shelfling to his feet, keeping a tight grip on the front of his clothing and twisted arm.
“What are you doing here?” he asked after his captive had caught his breath.
“I could ask you the same, prisoner,” Niloy stated.
“You could, but then I could just kill you and leave you here, couldn’t I?” Dmitri asked menacingly.
Niloy thought about that for a split second, hearing the fear in the man’s voice. “But you won’t.”
“Why won’t I?”
“Because you need me to find your way out of these tunnels,” Niloy guessed.
As they talked, Dmitri realized he could see the shape and outline of the small man. He spun his head around, noticing for the first time the dim light coming from what appeared to be a piece of glass laid into the stone wall. He looked closer at it and saw that it was a view into one of the rooms in the keep. As he looked, he saw Illissa sitting at a desk, facing them. The sunlight from the windows of her room lit it, and some of that same sunlight had also seeped into the dim corridor.
“You were spying on her?” Dmitri asked as he lifted the shelfling onto his toes using his arm being held behind his back.
“Owwwwwww!” the shelfling nearly screamed.
Dmitri lowered the man, glancing at the mirror. Illissa cocked her head to the side as though she had heard something. She promptly returned to grooming her hair; it wasn’t the first time she had heard screams within Eod’s keep.
As he stared at her, he noticed—and admired—her cruel beauty. He understood why the shelfling was spying on her. Her robes were open, revealing much, but not all.
“You little pervert,” Dmitri laughed. “I wonder what Eod would say if he found out you were spying on his concubine?”
Had there been better light, he would have seen Niloy pale at that statement. Niloy scrambled to get loose. “And how do you know he didn’t send me to watch her?” Niloy gambled.
“Ohhhhh, I don’t think so, you weasel. Should we go ask him, little one?”
“What do you want?” Niloy asked, trying to remember if he had worn his dagger, his memory failing him. It certainly wasn’t what it used to be. He had grown careless in his old age, and he cursed himself for it. He tried moving his free hand to see if he had, but as he began to move it, Dmitri lifted him up by his arm again. He stopped.
Noticing the movement, Dmitri tightened his hold around the shelfling’s neck and began patting him down with his other hand. He reached to each side of his waist, eventually finding what the man had been looking for: a knife. He pulled it from its sheath and slipped it into his own belt, then continued searching the man. Finding nothing more than a tobacco pouch and pipe, he spun the man around to face him, gripping him tightly with both hands and lifting him up to his own height. Niloy squirmed as he was lifted from the ground.
“Now we will cooperate with one another, won’t we?” the taller man asked.
“I have a choice?” Niloy asked, shrugging his shoulders and holding up his hands.
“No,” Dmitri said with a smile. It felt good to have the upper hand for once. He’d missed it. He’d have it again, he promised himself. “I want to get out of here, and you’re going to show me the way,” he continued.
“In exchange for what?” Niloy attempted.
“For not leaving you here with your own dagger in your throat. Sound fair?”
“More than,” he stated with resignation.
“If you try to run or break free, I will break your neck.”
Niloy looked at the man with a mock admiration. “I can see why the master wants to keep you here. You’re fitting right in, aren’t you?” he asked.
Dmitri lowered him to the ground, wrapping part of the little man’s collar around his own fist.
“Let’s go,” Dmitri ordered, looking once more into the mirror and admiring Illissa’s body as they walked away.
Trapped with nothing to hold over the man, Niloy Oiy led Dmitri to a door that opened right into his room.
“Pleciba,” Dmitri said sarcastically, thanking the shelfling as they entered his room.
“What now?” the diminutive figure asked as he stood across from Dmitri, who had let go of him as he pushed him into the room.
“You show me how to open this door from this side; then you keep my secret, and I keep yours.”
“How do I know you’ll keep your word?” Niloy asked.
“You don’t. But I know you’ll keep yours. After all, I have your dagger, now, don’t I?” he said as he patted the hilt of the dagger in his belt.
Resigned, Niloy showed him how to locate and open the door. He didn’t want to, but he even drew the human a map of those areas of the tunnels that he knew. And that was quite a few.
Dmitri sent Niloy on his way, back through the hidden corridors. He didn’t want anyone seeing the diminutive man leaving the room. He pulled the shelfling’s dagger from his belt and tossed it onto his bed
, dropping his soiled, mud-caked clothing onto the floor. He walked to the table, grabbed the pitcher of water, and poured some into a metal basin. He washed the mud and muck from his hair and body. He then hurriedly threw on clean clothes. He slipped the soft leather boots on and was about to leave the room when he spotted the dagger lying on the bed. Knowing that the midget would try and retrieve it eventually, he slipped it into the top of his boot. Had he known the blade was covered with poison, he would have found something else to do with it.
Chapter 18
“A lie is not a lie if it serves thy needs.”
(F.Ph., 3.6 - Book of Fire, Tenets of Phul, Chapter 3, Verse 6)
Knowing they were going to have to cross above the Elflands, Telerex thought they should land on the outskirts of the elvish kingdoms just north of the Upper Shill River to rest. If they landed there, they wouldn’t be perceived as intruders or a threat. He had come to know them and their ways well because of his travels. Earlier in his life, the elves had met him with a large degree of suspicion; but after spending what amounted to a short time for elves but was many years, they had learned much of one another. They had gotten to know him well, and as a result, the elves had widened their now intimate knowledge of dragons. He knew that his taking the form of one of them would not have fooled them, so he had been honest with them, telling them of his real nature and need.
He landed on the grasslands that sat adjacent to the wide river and set up camp for himself and Tetra. He managed to get a fire going and prepared their evening meal. As they ate, he watched Tetra as she sat staring into the flames of the fire; he wondered what had caused this recent change in her demeanor toward him and others. It was known that dragons had excellent vision, but those that hunted them often neglected the fact that their hearing was as good as their eyesight. If you managed to catch a dragon sleeping, it was usually because they had just eaten or had grown ancient.
With each passing day, he noticed that her appearance was becoming a bit more haggard. Her eyes were becoming puffy with darkening bags under them. He also heard her speaking to herself, as if she were having a conversation with someone who was not there. It was something she had never done during their long friendship, and it caused him worry.
Sitting in silence and still studying her, he noticed that the armor she wore was becoming dingy. It was not nearly as brilliant as it had been when they began. A result of our long journey, perhaps? he wondered incorrectly. His concern for her grew with each passing day, as she became less curious of the world and struggled with something that was causing her to change.
Wishing to help ease whatever burden Tetra was carrying, he prepared a cup of tea for her. As he handed her the wooden cup, he said, “My lady, I would help you any way that I can if you but ask.”
Tetra reached out with both hands; she took the tea with one and held onto his hand with the other, squeezing it gently. “I know, my friend, and I am grateful; but I believe this is something that I must deal with myself. I do welcome your help since I know I would be lost without it,” she said, giving him a warm smile accompanied by her haunted eyes.
Telerex looked at her, knowing when to stay silent. He smiled at her, knowing that she knew herself much better than he, and that she’d open up to him when she felt the need to. “As my lady wishes,” he said, bowing his head toward her and returning her smile before he settled into a comfortable position to sleep. He knew that they would have a hard journey to get to the Mad Mage’s tower the next day.
Tetra looked down as they drew closer to the island of the Mad Mage, wondering what she was going to say to him. Her intentions were to tell him as little as possible, not nearly as much as she had disclosed to Lleward, after he told her of his nature. The sun was high in the morning, and she knew that there would soon be those who would react violently when they saw their arrival. She gently patted Telerex on his neck and suggested to him, “Since there does not appear to be anyplace to land, stay out of the range of their arrows and magic. We have no idea how they are going to react.”
“Poorly. But as you wish, my lady,” Telerex replied.
Tetra then added coldly, “Still, circle above the castle low enough to get his attention.”
Eod heard the cries of alarm within the keep; fearing that someone had finally decided to attack his hold, he rushed to the balcony, looking out over the waters beyond the docks. Seeing no fleet, he looked around and saw everyone looking upward. He tilted his head, looking in the same direction as the others, and saw a gold dragon drifting above his castle. Dread began to fill him when he saw that the dragon wasn’t alone; a single warrior rode upon it. He called forth his staff and began preparing to use it once it had magically appeared in his hand.
He looked around the balcony and saw that Machillis had also arrived, looking upward as well while drawing his daggers. A small grin of anticipation overtook his face as he did.
Eod was wishing he had not sent Daelock and Machakos on their journey and that his own damnable dragon was there with him. He reached for the pendant on his chest and summoned the beast, positive that Jeresette would take his time in getting to the keep. He spied a servant woman cowering just inside the balcony doors and ordered her to go retrieve Illissa and bring her to him.
Tetra watched the commotion that was happening below them with rapt attention, searching for the mage. She finally spied him standing on a wide balcony below, looking up at them while waving his arms and staff at someone in a panic as she and Telerex circled the keep for the third time.
“They seem a bit frightened,” Tetra said thoughtfully.
“The reputation of my distant brethren precedes us, I’m afraid,” Telerex responded. “What do you wish me to do, my lady?”
“Just keep circling, my friend,” was all she said, and she then used her magic to disappear from his back.
A single moment later, Tetra appeared on the balcony, far enough away from Eod and Machillis to ensure that she did not appear to be a threat to them. She saw that the mage was unfortunately beginning a spell; the half-elven creature next to him turned and spun his daggers as he began moving toward her. She raised her hands to show them that she had no wish to fight.
“Hold, sir! I have no wish to harm either of you,” Tetra said. She also realized after what had happened in the village that these beings would attack her if given a reason or a chance.
Eod looked at her and saw something he had never thought he would see: an ancient Elfaheen! He shouted in a commanding voice, “Hold, Machillis!”
Machillis stopped immediately, as the years of service to Eod had taught him. Still, he did not put away his daggers.
Eod began walking calmly toward her as Illissa rushed onto the balcony. He nodded his head toward Tetra but stayed silent. He stopped a few feet away from Tetra, looking up at her in awe. Unsure what to say, he simply uttered, “How is this possible? Your kind is long dead!”
“As you can see, we are not.”
“Oh, I can see that. I’m curious as to why not,” Eod answered. “Rather, I mean, why have you been hidden from us?”
“Because I am needed. But how is it that you are familiar with what I am?” Tetra asked, trying to determine how knowledgeable the mage was.
Confused, Machillis and Illissa looked at one another, both unsure of what to do. The servant who had retrieved Illissa wasn’t at all unsure; she ran away from all of them as fast as she could while determining to never return.
Eod looked at the Elfaheen and said, “I have only seen the shades of your kind, those that were dead or damned.”
Lavalor listened as well, realizing that the mage’s reputation for necromancy had betrayed him. There were only those trapped in Asmordia that he could have seen. Careful, he told Tetra. He has knowledge of my dark home.
Acting as though she had not heard Lavalor, Tetra stated to the mage, “I seek information, and the Master of Towers suggested that perhaps you could aid me.”
“And why would he think that?�
� Eod asked curiously.
“You deal with mages and merchants from all of the realms, do you not? He told me that you gather knowledge like a miser gathers coins,” she answered, unaware that she had just insulted him. Then she asked, “Was he wrong?”
Taken aback by her insult but choosing to ignore it, he said, “No, he was not. But couldn’t you have found a less dramatic arrival?”
“No. My friend takes me where I need to go—especially since his knowledge of your realm is much greater than mine. Still, was this not better than fighting our way into your presence?”
“Then might I suggest you find other friends? No one in their right mind cares for dragons. They care for only themselves,” Eod said, eliciting a look from Machillis.
Tetra noticed Machillis’s glance while watching Eod’s hand reach up to touch the pendant on his chest as he spoke. She sensed its magic but could not tell what its purpose was.
“You must admire them, though; your jeweled pendant suggests that you do,” Tetra observed.
As Tetra finished her sentence, Lavalor reached out with his own magic, trying to sense the pendant’s purpose. It was then that he heard the pendant calling out to a being with a summoning spell; given the shape of the necklace, he realized that it must be for a dragon. Lavalor then realized that the mage had his own penchant for dragons, so he told Tetra as much.
“Who doesn’t admire strength and intelligence? Speaking of strength and intelligence, how should I refer to you? As simply Elfaheen?” Eod said, couching his slight with some false admiration toward her.
“I am Tetra.”
“So, Tetra, what possible interest could my business dealings have for you or Lleward?” Eod asked, getting the feeling that she wanted him to tell her something of importance but lacked the skill to do it gracefully.
“I seek someone of importance,” Tetra said.
