by R. E. Fisher
He was interrupted by loud shouts of alarm; they both turned to look where everyone else was looking and saw the gold dragon with a rider circling overhead.
“Ooooh, that’s new,” Winston uttered, awed by the sight of a rider on a dragon’s back. Still, he moved slightly closer to Ollie without realizing it.
Tetra looked down on the large group and realized that the only place she saw for Telerex to land would make them think they were going to be attacked. “Circle here. I’ll go to them.” Tetra disappeared from the dragon’s back to appear in the middle of the group.
They had all drawn their weapons, and Dumas and Sterling were rushing toward her.
“Hold! I mean you no harm,” she said as she raised her empty hands. “I seek information.”
“Ye best be on your way, miss,” Sterling told her. “There’s nothing here for you.”
“I seek a demon that was here. I hunt him.”
“Who in their right mind hunts them?” Dumas asked. “Are you daft?”
Keeping her hands high, she asked, “Have you seen one or not? I haven’t the time to waste if you haven’t.”
“And why would ye be seeking him out?” Sterling asked, sensing something sinister about the woman.
Tell them that it is none of their concern. You’ll panic them, Lavalor implored.
With what little of her honor remained, she told them part of the truth. “I seek him because he seeks two outworlders, and I would prevent him from finding them.”
Not knowing this woman or her true intentions, Dumas replied, “We did meet a demon, its name unknown, but he was wounded by the dragon we were battling below. And I believe that man may be one of the outworlders you are seeking. He came to me for training,” he said, pointed toward Laz’s body as he protected his remaining charge.
Winston watched the exchange, uncharacteristically silent and apprehensive. He reached up and took Ollie’s hand to reassure his friend.
Tetra walked to the wrapped body and knelt to expose his face. Ollie stepped toward her to stop her, but Winston tugged on his hand, shaking his head as he looked up. Ollie stopped but looked to Dumas, who was also shaking his head.
Tetra looked at the corpse, seeing the horrendous damage the dragon had done to him. She turned her head to the bear. “And what of the demon?” she asked him.
“He attacked the dragon, and the dragon fought back. We didn’t stick around much longer, but after the dragon was killed, the demon departed,” Sterling interjected. “Maleaux’s mercy,” he added with reverence while laying two fingers over his heart.
“Where?” was all she asked.
“There,” the dwarf said as he pointed to the entrance they had used to exit the subterranean keep.
Showing respect for the human, Tetra re-secured the blanket over his face and stood. She then walked to the entrance and entered the darkness without a word.
“We should leave. Now!” Dumas said.
With a quick nod of agreement from Sterling, they secured Laz over the saddle of his horse and departed as fast as they could. The party split into two groups: the dwarves toward Stout Steech to secure their regained treasure, and Dumas and his group down the mountain toward Noli Deron while eyeing the dragon above.
Tetra worked her way down to the location of the battle. Lavalor began using his magic to try and locate the demon, attempting to maintain the deception of trying to help Tetra. He kept silent and was afraid to even think, lest Tetra pick up on his thoughts and expose his true intentions.
Tetra looked about the cavern, her steps echoing throughout as she examined the area. She found nothing that indicated whether it had been Jerrous or some other demon.
It was he, was all Lavalor offered, keeping up his façade.
Where would a demon go if wounded grievously? she asked Lavalor.
He could go anywhere, he said.
Tell me where. Now! she commanded.
Unable to resist her will and without thought, he blurted out, He would have to return to Asmordia to recover.
Why?
Because they heal faster in their own plane than they do here, he replied, still unable to resist her.
Then it is to Asmordia we must go, Tetra declared as she turned to leave.
You cannot defeat him there; it is where we are strongest.
We? Tetra observed.
I did create the realm, woman. It was my intent should your kind come seek us out!
And where are your loyalties now, Lavalor? she asked, hoping his honesty continued.
They still lie in what is best for me, he replied.
They both kept silent, keeping their own thoughts close as she trudged upward. However, she noticed an increase in her thirst as they traveled.
As they exited, Tetra saw that the group of adventurers had departed and that Telerex had settled into the small clearing and set up camp for them. She watched him as he turned to face her. His golden armor shone brightly under the white moonlight being given off by the Phalen moon.
What she hadn’t expected was the complete lack of regard he immediately exhibited toward her as she entered the clearing. She felt violated once again, but this time by someone she trusted. He had cast some sort of spell at her! Out of reflex, she disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the clearing, angry at someone she had thought was her friend. She strode toward the dragon. He raised his hands, showing them to be empty.
“Forgive me, Mistress, but I have to learn of that sword. It is a cursed blade, Mistress, and it is changing you!” he said while realizing even in the moonlight how dingy and dark her once bright armor had become. The floral pattern that had been on her pauldrons was now displaying the craven face of some demon.
“You presume too much, Telerex.”
“Do I? Look to your hand, Mistress. You would attack me?”
Tetra looked down and saw that she held Lavalor tightly, ready to battle her friend. The realization of what she had been thoughtlessly prepared to do confused her. “What have I become?” she cried, knowing that she had been seconds from attacking her one true friend.
“Mistress, where did you get that weapon?”
“Daena used it to try and kill me. Quensi then told me to take it, not wanting to bury Daena with it.” She wept as she collapsed to the ground, tossing the blade aside.
“Let me help you, Mistress! I could take it someplace that you would not know. Never to see it again,” he pleaded.
“I can’t, my friend. I need him,” she said, knowing he would not understand. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes as she looked up at her friend. “You must leave, Tel. I have become something else, and it endangers you.”
“I will not!” he exclaimed as she looked at him. “We dragons care little for people, Tetra, but I would find my life all the more empty if I could not be here for you in your time of greatest need.”
“I know where I must go, Tel, and you cannot take me there. I must find another way,” she replied cryptically as she stood.
“And where is that?” the dragon asked.
“I must go to Asmordia and face Jerrous while he is weak. And he is weak for now.” Tetra walked over to the sword, staring at it apprehensively as she looked down. She picked it up, placing it in the scabbard at her waist, then turned and looked at Telerex. “I love you, Tel. Return home where you will be safe from me,” she said as she disappeared from the clearing.
Telerex roared in agony and helplessness, knowing that his friend had left him behind. He shifted to his natural form; in his anger, he began striking at the tent, destroying it with a single swipe of his wing. He unleashed his breath upon the rocks, the heat causing them to glow and burst. He stomped on those that hadn’t, crushing them under his feet until they were sore and bloody from the sharp, broken stones. He leapt into the air, rushing back toward the Elfaheen’s village. He wished in that moment that he understood how mages could just pop from one location to another, because he would make Quensi pay no matter the cos
t. His anger grew with each beat of his massive wings.
Before Telerex had even begun destroying the campsite, Tetra arrived at the Guarded Isle within Lleward’s tower, startling him and his acolytes.
“I need your aid,” Tetra declared.
“How can we help?” he replied, standing and walking toward her, closing the book that he had been studying.
“I need you to show me how to visit Asmordia. Jerrous is no longer in our realm; he is there.”
Lleward turned to one of the acolytes. “Go get Tacel. Tell him I need his counsel.” He turned his attention back to the Elfaheen. “I know little of the other realms. He is the current master of astral and planar travel, along with his extensive knowledge of the dead.”
“Thank you,” she said. Lleward studied her in her disheveled state. He was unsure of what she had been through, but her armor was now almost all black, and she looked thin and haggard. Whatever it was, this quest or need of hers was killing her.
“Tetra, if I may be so bold?”
“I already know. I won’t explain it, but I already know. Suffice it to say, it is my burden and I will carry it,” she said, cutting him off before he started. She began telling him of all that she had found out regarding Jerrous, falling silent when she had told him all that she thought he should be aware of.
They sat in silence, looking at one another until Tetra saw a tall, gaunt figure walking into the room. She could have called him the grey man. His skin was grey, his hair—what was left of it, anyway—was grey, and all his clothing was grey. His high collar and gossamer gown seemed more suitable for a woman than a man, but there was something else about him. His eyes were hollow, so hollow that they seemed to make him appear perpetually frightened. She realized that because of his knowledge, he must have seen things that would have made other men insane.
“You wanted to see me?” he asked in a thin, shadowy voice.
“I—well, we, rather—need you to find a demon in Asmordia. We need to know exactly where he is.”
“To do that, I will need to summon some…uhhh…acquaintances,” Tacel Dark-Crevice said.
“Do what you need, but we MUST find out where a demon named Jerrous is. All we know is that he is in Asmordia and that he is injured,” Lleward instructed.
“That will take time, Master, and entrance into certain agreements and obligations. Those in Asmordia are not the type to willingly share information unless it benefits them,” Tacel replied.
Lleward had told the rest of the Tower Masters of Tetra’s need after her first visit, and he had been assured by all of them that they, too, would aid in any way possible.
“I understand, but just so we are clear, we will meet any obligation required to gain their aid?”
“Yes,” Lleward replied, understanding the implications.
“As you wish, Master of Towers,” Tacel said as he turned to return to his tower, ready to begin searching for those who held the knowledge he needed.
Tetra had watched the seriousness with which the exchange took place, realizing the danger that all the men and women were going to be subjecting themselves to in order to help her.
Lavalor, though, smiled to himself. He would be home soon. He nestled down as far as he could within his limited existence, trying to whisper to himself of his plots against Tetra.
Tetra, nervous and unsure, fought back the rising thirst within her. She was afraid of what might happen should the thirst overcome her while the mages were preparing. “Do you have someplace I could seclude myself until you are ready? I need to rest,” Tetra said.
“You may have my chambers. Use them as you see fit,” Lleward said.
Tetra stood and followed him as he led her up the center stairwell of the tower until they had neared the top. He opened a door and stepped through it, inviting her in with a wave of his arm. She stepped through the door and saw that the room appeared to curve around the central stairwell; though it was simple, it was also opulent in that it was filled with books, tomes, braziers, crystals, and all the other accoutrements that a mage might need.
“I will have a meal sent up to you. Is there anything else you need?” he asked.
“No; this is more than generous. Thank you,” she said. “Perhaps a bath?”
“Just follow the room around to the other side; there is always a bath prepared,” he said with a smile. “Too many small creepy crawlies for me not to have one ready. I’ll leave you to your rest.”
Tetra watched as he closed the door and she heard him begin the long walk down. Why doesn’t he just use his magic to pop around to get from place to place? She picked a direction, which happened to be to the right, and followed the room toward her bath, hoping it would help relieve her thirst.
Telerex hadn’t stopped for more than four days; he was exhausted, but he also knew that he could not stop. He needed answers from Quensi, but to get them, he was going to need help; the only other Elfaheen that he thought he could trust was Lysette. He was going to have to trust her. She had always been kind to Tetra, and that was going to have to be enough. He saw the island ahead and sighed with relief, knowing he would be there soon. Exhausted, he thought he should rest before going to see Lysette.
No; for all he knew, Tetra could be suffering in Asmordia already, and that was not something he was willing to sleep through.
He reached the shore and landed next to the cavern he called home. He thought to transform into his human form, but he knew that should he have to battle Quensi to get the answers he sought, it might not be enough. So he thought to try something he never had before: to emulate those who had created his kind, taking the form of an Elfaheen. He closed his eyes and concentrated, seeing within himself how he thought he should appear; once he was satisfied with that vision, he shifted into it.
He now stood over seven and a half feet tall, was muscular, and wore the same armor he did when in his human form. The only way anyone could tell that he was not an actual Elfaheen was to use magic, or as was typical, look to the eyes. His eyes were still the same golden color and carrying the iris that was unique to dragons. It probably wouldn’t work, but it might buy him enough time to get to Quensi.
He started walking toward the village, realizing how badly he had injured his feet on top of the mountain. He was limping but refused to stop, so he ignored the pain.
He passed by Tetra’s favorite spot and crashed through the brush and into the village. He was unsure where Quensi lived, seeing several dozen homes. He looked about at those who walked through the village; he could no longer recognize any of them by name, but they all had stopped to stare at him. They had not seen a male Elfaheen in eons, so they were not sure whether they should be frightened. One of the women rushed to Lysette’s door, determined to let her handle the outsider. She pounded on the door and kept pounding until Lysette opened it; when she did, she simply pointed to Telerex.
Taken by surprise at seeing an Elfaheen male, Lysette left the doorway and walked toward him, thinking that one had survived. Until she drew closer, saw his eyes, and grew dejected.
“Who are you, dragon?” Lysette demanded.
“Telerex.”
“Why do you look like this? You know better than to give my sisters hope; why would you do this?” she said. Then suddenly she realized who he was and asked, “Where is Tetra?”
“She seeks a path into Asmordia in search of Jerrous. But one of your own has betrayed her!” he replied. With his hands balled at his side, he shouted, “Where is Quensi?”
“We will find her. Now tell me of this betrayal,” she said, trying to calm the dragon.
“She and Daena gave a cursed sword to Tetra, and she keeps referring to it as ‘he.’ I will find the answers, Lysette. She will pay with her life if any further harm comes to Tetra.”
“Come with me now!” Lysette commanded him.
“I am not yours to command. Where is she?” he asked with a quiet threat in his voice.
“Please come with me; we must speak
out of the hearing of others. Now.”
Telerex looked at her and managed to set aside enough of his fury to begin walking toward the home he had seen her exit. She followed him and shut the door behind them.
“Please tell me all that has happened,” she said. “No one here cares for her as much as you do, Telerex; of that I have no doubt. But I have always loved her as well, so please tell me.”
Telerex saw that she was being honest with him, and he could see the love she had for Tetra in her words and in her eyes, so he told her everything that he had seen. He recounted what she had done and how she had changed; it was dark by the time he finished. Lysette wept as he spoke, knowing the pain that Tetra had suffered through.
Once he had finished, he gave Lysette a few moments to absorb the gravity of his words, and then said, “This is the last time I will ask. Where is Quensi?”
“She has been withdrawn, remaining within her home since Tetra departed. She is refusing to see anyone and has not tended to anything outside of her house. Let’s go see why,” Lysette said as she stood and moved toward the door.
They walked to Quensi’s home in silence. When they arrived, Lysette knocked on the door and said, “Quensi, we must speak.”
“Go away; I have no need to see that thing!” she said, acid in her voice.
Without hesitation, Telerex pushed Lysette aside and kicked in the door, shattering it from its hinges, and entered the home. He grabbed Quensi from the chair she had been sitting in and began to drag her outside.
“Telerex, no!” Lysette shouted, catching herself before she fell. Before she could even enter Quensi’s home, she saw the dragon pulling Quensi from it.
Lysette stared in horror at what Quensi had become. She was nothing but bones with dying flesh clinging to them. Her hair, once luxurious, had almost all fallen from her head, and she had not bathed in weeks. Her nails were long, yellow, and cracked. It shocked Lysette—so much so that she was unable to speak as Telerex dragged her into the center of the village. Throwing her onto her back, he knelt across her body while once again grabbing her by the hair, and placed his dagger at her throat.
