The Time Shield

by Hans Bezdek

“Debra’s in town, she is?” smiled the dwarf. “Well, if she sent ye three, then yer alright in me book. Even the boy over there that wet himself.”

  “It’s raining!” I shouted. “I didn’t wet myself!”

  “Easy now, easy now!” laughed Jonah, putting his hands up. “I’m just havin some fun with ya. Must say, a bit strange seein a goblin, an elf lady, and a human traveling about together.”

  “Just as strange seeing a gray dwarf this far south,” noted Cassandra.

  “Aye, very true,” nodded Jonah. “Very well. I have some Muarium I could sell ye. Don’t have no Muarium sprockets prepared, though. If ye can wait a few days, I’d be happy to make some fer ye.”

  “We’re unfortunately on a bit of a time crunch,” said Dhot. “We’ll just take the Muarium. Reimar, pay the nice dwarf.”

  I shot a glare at the goblin, but pulled out my money and waited for the gray dwarf by the counter. I was eager to get out of here.

  Jonah showed Dhot the amount of Muarium he could sell, and the two agreed on a price. The dwarf swore he was giving us a good deal since we were friends of Debra, but it still seemed pretty steep. Dhot didn’t seem bothered, but he also wasn’t the one paying.

  “Ye’ve got me curious,” said Jonah as Dhot was shoveling the raw materials into his bag. “What’s the rush?”

  “We’ve got to get over to Mela as soon as possible,” explained the goblin. “We’re after the Time Shield.”

  “Ha!” barked Jonah. “I didn’t take ye all to be fools. Well, maybe the human.”

  I sighed and shook my head, but held my tongue.

  “Just kidding!” laughed Jonah, slapping me on the arm. It took all I had not to wince and grab it. It felt like someone just attacked me with a mace. “What’re ye after the fabled Shield fer? Wanting to sell it?”

  “No,” said Dhot, who finally finished scooping the Muarium into his bag. “We need it to defend against the black and reds.”

  “Black and reds?” asked Jonah, his face quickly turning serious. “What’ve ye heard?”

  “A second Dragon War is coming,” I said, flexing my right hand in an attempt to get feeling back in my arm. “I know that sounds dumb, but-”

  “Nay,” said Jonah, shaking his head. “Not dumb at all. Somethin strange is goin on in the air, here.”

  “You mean all the citizens being paranoid?” asked Cassandra. “You think the black and reds are doing it?”

  “Aye,” he nodded. “The Dar’Ka have always been a nasty group, but what’s been happenin here is a new low. I dunno how they be doin it, but mark me words, their kind is somehow turnin the people of Rexford against one another. It’s a sad affair.”

  “What makes you say that?” I asked.

  “Saw a red dragon headin north the other day with me own eyes,” he whispered. “It’s got to be them black and reds doin somethin to make everyone here turn on each other.”

  I nodded, but wasn’t convinced. The increased activity of the black and reds was definitely concerning, but they didn’t have the ability to control peoples emotions… did they?

  “Well, I’ve held ye back long enough with me conspiracies,” nodded Jonah. “Pleasure doin business with ya. Keep safe on yer journeys, ya hear?”

  “Thanks,” nodded Cassandra. “You be careful, too. If you’re right, things are going to get worse before they get better.”

  “Very true, lass,” nodded Jonah solely.

  The three us departed, leaving the warmth and dryness for the windy rain. Dhot had most of what he needed, and all that was left now was to hope we could find the sprockets in Mela. Worst case, we’d have to come up with some other idea quickly when we arrived.

  “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 m
ile 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 woman 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 b
lack 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.