The Dark Monolith: Heroes of Ravenford Book 3

by F. P. Spirit

  Donnie ignored the dig, his attention fixed on the smoldering, tattered vest before him. He took it from Ruka, and turned it end over end, a wan smile on his face as he stuck his fingers through the newly-formed holes in the material. “So much for my lucky vest…”

  Glo was uncertain how to react. The sight of Donnie dancing around had indeed been comical, but he felt it rude to laugh at his friend’s loss. Glo cast a sidelong glance at Elistra—the seeress’ expression was impassive, but her eyes danced with amusement. Elladan, on the other hand, had a hard time containing himself, coughing vigorously into his hand in a vain attempt to hide his laughter. The sound drew Donnie’s attention away from his vest, his eyes flickering around the group.

  “Not a word,” the slight elf cautioned, his gaze lingering a moment longer on Elladan. He paused a moment to stuff the tattered cloth into his backpack, then dropped down to his hands and knees, searching the ground ahead. Donnie soon discovered the pressure plate that had set off the stream of flames that nearly fried him. He traced it along the ground and up the wall to its control box. After disarming the mechanism, Donnie turned to face the others, his hands on his hips and his eyes narrowed as they swept across the group. “Well… any more comments?”

  Elladan peered at the slight elf with a half-smile. “No, not really… although if you keep it up, you are going to be naked in no time.”

  Donnie fixed the bard with an acid stare. “I’m sure I can manage without losing any more clothes.”

  “I wouldn’t mind,” Ruka chimed in.

  “Ruka!” Donnie gaped at the young teen, his face turning a bright shade of scarlet.

  “Just don’t singe any of the important parts,” she added, her smirk widening as she spun around and walked away.

  Donnie stared after her, his mouth still agape. His eyes abruptly shifted to Elladan. “Why do I feel like I’ve suddenly lost my edge?”

  The bard chuckled for a moment or two, then reached out and placed a hand on his bewildered friend’s shoulder. “Ah, Donnie… she’s a teen… there’s no winning with them.”

  Donnie let out a long sigh, then finally shrugged, a wry smile returning to his lips. “I guess you are right. Some things will always be beyond our control.” As he spoke those last words, his eyes shifted between Elistra and Glo. Donnie gave his fellow elf a sly wink, then spun around and rubbed his hands together. “Might as well be moving on.”

  The small group continued down the tunnel, Donnie finding two more pressure plates and a trip wire. He disarmed all of them without further incident. Finally, the companions made it to the end of the tunnel. There was a pedestal there with another piece of globe floating above it. After finding and disarming yet another fire trap, Donnie retrieved the sphere piece and handed it over to Glo, who swiftly merged it with the larger piece. When he was done, Elladan grinned at the elven wizard. “Just one more to go…”

  The small group backtracked their way to the beginning of the tunnel and found Alana waiting there. Donnie strode up to the lady knight, gazing at her with a mixture of fondness and concern. “How are you feeling?”

  Alana dismissed his question with a wave of her hand. “Just fine.”

  Donnie’s face fell at her abrupt treatment of his affections. Alana must have noticed, because her entire demeanor changed. A tender smile spread across her lips, her eyes filling with warmth for the slight elf. “After all, Aksel is a rather expert healer.”

  Donnie’s face lit up. “That’s what I’ve heard.”

  The pair stood silently staring into each other’s eyes, until Ruka interrupted them. “So where’s everyone else?”

  Alana’s eyes shifted toward the young teen, her skin momentarily flushing. She covered her discomfort with a quick nod toward the cave entrance. “Aksel finished healing me, then went to help Seth with Lloyd. Last I saw, they were still working on him.”

  Donnie’s eyes narrowed as he peered at the lady knight. “So… do they know you came looking for us?”

  Alana briefly met his gaze, then averted her eyes. “Well… not exactly. He did say I was fully healed, though.”

  Donnie folded his arms across his chest, and stared at her accusingly. “Still, I’m sure he wanted you to rest.”

  Alana nudged a pebble across the ground with a steel-clad toe. “Now that you mention it, I believe he said something about that.”

  At that moment, Ruka strode up and punched Donnie solidly in the arm. The slight elf yelped, and grabbed his shoulder. “What was that for?”

  “For the gods sakes, you are not her mother!” the young teen declared vehemently. She grabbed the lady knight by the arm, and steered her toward the second tunnel. “Come on, Alana, before he decides to tuck you in for the night.”

  Donnie stared after the two women, his expression dumbfounded. Elladan, chuckling softly, sidled up next to him, and placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “You were getting a bit carried away there, Donnie.”

  The slight elf arched an eyebrow at the bard. “Was I that bad?”

  Elladan nodded and grinned. “Smothering.”

  Donnie hung his head. “I am losing my edge.”

  Glo felt a momentary pang of sorrow for his elven comrade. He was obviously quite smitten with the lady knight, and was just as much out of his element with the young teen. Glo thanked the gods he was not in Donnie’s position… heck, it was hard enough having a relationship with one woman, let alone two. He was about to say something to that effect, when he noticed the pair had reached the entrance to the other tunnel. “Um, Donnie… you might want to go after them.”

  The slight elf roused himself, and peered across the cave. On seeing the fair duo, he immediately took off with the cry, “Wait! Let me go first!”

  Glo exchanged a brief glance with Elladan, the two elves chuckling softly as they strode after the others.

  A short while later, the small group reached the other end of the tunnel. Strangely, there had been no traps of any kind along its entire length—they soon found out why. The passageway abruptly opened into a small cavern, the pedestal containing the last piece of sphere situated in a small alcove on the other side. Between the companions and their objective sat a steaming pool of bubbling lava. The molten liquid stretched a good ten yards in front of them, and from one wall of the cave across to the other. The group stopped at the edge of the bubbling lava, deliberating what to do next.

  Donnie’s eyes swept across the length of the cavern, his lips pursed. “I could try climbing across the walls… although they do look kind of hot.”

  Donnie was right—on closer inspection, Glo noticed that the walls had a reddish glow to them. Donnie’s hands would be burnt beyond recognition were he to try climbing his way across. Glo cocked his head to one side. “I could cast the fly spell on you…”

  Before he could finish his sentence, something rushed past their heads. Glo ducked down instinctively, then looked up, his eyes focusing on a white-tailed hawk as it glided over the steaming pit of yellow-gold liquid.

  “Ruka! Stop!” Donnie cried, but it was far too late. The hawk flew into the alcove, hovered over the pedestal, and grasped the golden piece of orb with its sharp talons. The moment the piece lifted off the platform, the entire alcove was flooded with flames. Jets of hot fire streamed into the nook from every direction.

  “Ruka!” Donnie shouted in horror.

  Glo felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. There was little chance the young teen could survive such an onslaught. He reached out to place a hand on Donnie’s shoulder when, without warning, something shot out of the flames. It was the white-tailed hawk—by some miracle, she had survived the fiery death trap. The bird now flew over the pool toward them, still grasping the piece of orb firmly within her talons.

  As one, the companions stepped back from the edge of the pool, making room for the h
awk to land. Ruka shape-shifted in mid-air, and landed neatly in a crouch on the ground in front of them. Her leathers looked a bit scorched, and there were traces of soot upon her skin, but otherwise she appeared unharmed. Donnie rushed forward to meet her. “You scared the heck out of us, young lady!”

  Ruka’s mouth twisted into a half smirk as she stood up. “Aww, Donnie, you do care.”

  Donnie stood there for a moment with his mouth agape, then let out a huge sigh. “Of course I do,” he said finally, reaching forward and wrapping his arms around the young teen. Ruka’s eyes went wide, most likely startled by the slight elf’s sudden affection, but her surprise just as quickly faded, the teen closing her eyes and sinking into Donnie’s warm embrace.

  “We all do,” Alana added, stepping forward and hugging the girl from behind. Ruka stood there between the two, her head on Donnie’s chest, practically purring with delight. At the same time, Glo felt an arm wrap around his—he glanced down and saw Elistra snuggling into his side, wearing a serene smile on her lips. Glo felt his insides practically melt, a warm smile spreading across his face in response.

  After a moment or two, the elven wizard swung his gaze back to the enfolded trio. Suddenly, Ruka’s eyes snapped open, her face flushing and her eyes going wide. She disengaged herself, pushing away from Donnie and Alana, her eyes sweeping around the group, finally coming to rest on Elladan. “Don’t you have anything better to do than stand there and gawk?”

  Elladan let out a short laugh, seemingly unphased by her accusation. “Oh, I wasn’t gawking…I was just trying to figure out how you survived that fire trap.”

  Ruka folded her arms across her chest, and glared at the bard. “Does it really matter?”

  Glo had been wondering the same thing, but the answer suddenly dawned on him. He cleared his throat, a wry smile on his face. “I think I can answer that.” All eyes turned questioningly toward the elven wizard. “I had cast a fire protection spell on her, Alana, and Lloyd just before the battle with the golems. That was less than an hour ago, so it was still in effect.”

  “Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Ruka responded, her tone a tad more sarcastic than usual. “How about focusing on what we came for instead,” she added, striding deliberately toward Elladan, and dropping the last piece of orb into his hands. The young teen then brushed past him and strode away toward the tunnel entrance. “Let me know how it turns out,” she called over her shoulder.

  As Glo watched Ruka’s small form recede down the passageway, he heard Alana’s strained voice behind him. “I think I might have embarrassed her. Perhaps I should go apologize.” The lady knight abruptly pushed her way past them in pursuit of the angst-filled teen.

  Elistra was the next to speak. “I think I should probably go too, and help smooth things over.”

  Before Glo knew it, the seeress brushed by him as well, striding swiftly down the tunnel after both Alana and Ruka. Glo’s eyes remained fixed on the lovely retreating form, until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw Donnie standing between him and Elladan, an arm around each. “Life would be far less interesting without them.”

  All three of them exchanged a grin. “Truer words were never spoken,” Elladan added with a nod.

  After a few moments, Donnie let go of his fellow Elves and said, “How about we finish what we started?”

  “Good idea,” Elladan responded, holding out the last piece of orb for Glo to take. The elven wizard took the piece, and brought it together with the rest of the sphere. It silently merged into place, and Glo now held a perfectly round, golden orb in his hands.

  Donnie’s eyes shifted between his two friends, a satisfied grin on his face. “Well, we got what we came for.”

  Elladan fixed them both with a half-smile. “Now to see what it does.”

  Golden Sphere

  A set of stone stairs descended into the depths below

  The elven trio retraced their steps, crossing the bridge to the cliff on the other side of the now empty pit. Aksel and Seth sat with Lloyd, the young man sitting on the ground, looking healthy but tired. Alana, Ruka and Elistra stood off by themselves, the two women talking quietly with the teen. As the elves approached, Seth stood up and strode over to them. “So I hear you got the final piece.”

  “As a matter of fact, we did,” Donnie responded, his chest puffing up with pride as he motioned to Elladan. “Show him.”

  The bard reached into his portal bag and pulled out the completely round, golden orb, holding it up for the halfling to see. Seth moved in closer and examined the artifact critically. When he was done, his eyes swept across the threesome, finally coming to rest on Donnie, the half-twisted smile they had come to know so well upon his lips. “Nice… and Donnie’s even in one piece.”

  Elladan responded with his own half-smile. “That’s because Ruka did his dirty work for him.”

  Donnie spun to face the bard, a hurt expression on his face. “Hey! How about all those traps I disarmed in the first tunnel.”

  Elladan let out a short laugh. “You mean after nearly getting fried by the first one?”

  Donnie glared at his elven friend. “One time… one time and everyone’s a critic. Geez, what’s an elf got to do around here to get some respect?” Donnie hung his head in a comical manner, feigning a “poor me” expression. His acting elicited a round of chuckles from his companions, his own expression changing quickly to a grin. The moment of amusement died down as swiftly as it had started. Glo peered over toward Aksel and Lloyd, the former still fussing over the young man, while the latter argued with him. Glo’s sensitive ears caught some of the quiet conversation.

  “…but I’m fine now,” Lloyd was saying.

  Aksel folded his arms, staring intently at the young warrior. “I’m your healer, and I’ll determine when you are fine…”

  Glo shifted his eyes back to Seth. “Is Lloyd alright?”

  Seth wore a thin smirk as he watched the duo argue. “Yeah, he’s fine. Aksel is just mother-henning him is all.”

  Glo arched an eyebrow. “Over a couple of bumps and bruises?”

  Seth responded with a derisive snort. “Hmph. That, and a broken bone or two...”

  “Broken bones?” Elladan exclaimed, his voice rising an octave.

  Seth, not turning around, merely shrugged. “Mostly ribs—although there was a hairline fracture in the one arm...”

  Donnie’s mouth dropped open, his eyes shifting from Seth to Lloyd, and then back again. “I had no idea. Lloyd seemed battered when we left him, but not much more than that.”

  The halfling turned to face the slight elf, the smirk on his face widening. “It must be one of the drawbacks of spiritblade training. That steel skin coating thing Lloyd did just before the battle probably saved his life. However, that shutting off pain thing he also does, masked just how serious his injuries were.”

  Elladan’s eyes narrowed, his face filled with concern as he gazed over at the still-arguing Lloyd and Aksel. “But he’s okay now, right?”

  “Oh, yeah, he’ll be fine,” Seth replied with a nonchalant wave of his hand. He spun around again to watch the scene still going on between the young man and the gnome. “Aksel wants him to rest, but Lloyd, of course, is raring to go.” The halfling then turned his gaze to Alana, Ruka, and Elistra. “What’s up with those three?”

  Elladan laughed rather loudly, then reached out and placing a hand on Donnie’s shoulder. “Let’s just say that Donnie managed to get himself into even more hot water.”

  Seth let out a short, wicked laugh. “Heh. What else is new?”

  Donnie glared at the duo, but never got the chance to reply as Aksel’s voice rang out across the chamber. “…that’s all well and fine, but when I say rest, you better rest… unless of course you don’t want to be healed next time!” The little cleric folded his arms across his chest and glared at L
loyd as if daring him to challenge his authority.

  Lloyd hung his head, a chagrinned expression on his face, as he responded with a sullen, “Okay.”

  Aksel gave him a firm nod, then spun around to face Alana. “And the same goes for you, young lady!”

  Alana looked up from her own argument, and blushed at the little cleric’s admonishment. Yet, before she could reply, Ruka answered for her.

  “Yes, Dad,” the young teen drawled. Her response elicited a round of laughter from everyone in the chamber. Glo had to admit, she hit the nail on the head with that one.

  After a short rest, mostly for Lloyd’s and Alana’s sake, the companions left the fire room. They headed back into the main chamber, Elladan gingerly leading the way, all the while cradling the now-complete golden orb in his hands. When they reached the pedestal, the bard spun around to face the others. “All things considered, I think it only fitting that those who put their lives on the line for this thing should have the honors.”

  All eyes turned toward Lloyd and Alana. The duo appeared surprised at first, then turned to eye each other. After a few moments, the young warrior stepped back and bowed to the lady knight. “The honor is all yours, good Dame.”

  Alana smiled at the young man’s chivalry, but then shook her head. “We were not the only one’s to risk our lives.” Her eyes swept across the others, stopping first on Ruka.

  “You can count me out,” the teen responded immediately, folding her arms squarely across her chest.