The Dragon Stone.
Book Two: A Clash of Light and Dark
Copyright© Andrew G. Wood
2017
ISBN-13:
978-1546619086
ISBN-10:
1546619089
All Rights Reserved.
Other titles:
The Chronicles of Elemental Magic
Book One: Rise of the Darekians
Book Two: Holding the Line
Book Three: Prince of Magic
The New Chronicles of Elemental Magic
Book One: A New Threat
Book Two: The Zulani Empire
The Sulbria Chronicles
Return of the Phoenix
The Kothian Chronicles
The Elementalist
The Elementalist: Battle of the Mind
The Elementalist: Next of Kin
Chosen: A Gift of Power
The Caldronian Guild:
Book One: The Apprentice Sorcerer
Book Two: The Rogue Sorcerer
Book Three: The King’s Sorcerer
A Clash of Light and Dark
Book One: Return of the Darkness
Book Two: The Dragon Stone
Chapter 1.
Akeev was sat looking out across the sea. Just off in the distance were the mainland and the former residence of the trolls. Now tainted and home to little more than rocks and the darkness that had devastated the race, he pondered the question as to whether they would ever be able to return. A troll in his late teenage years, he had endured a tough life and knew just how close his race had come to vanishing altogether.
Having been made virtually extinct by the horrors of the darkness and the very god who was said to have created them, the trolls now existed on the small islands a few miles offshore. Such had been the scale of the slaughter, barely a few dozen had survived those dark days. However, those few that had escaped had, in the centuries since that time, slowly increased in number. So much so, that each mating couple was now restricted to just one baby, due to the very limited resources at their disposal.
The three main islands that now made up their homeland were all quite small, with the largest all but full to capacity. With careful management of resources over the centuries, they had cut trees only when new ones had been planted, meaning even wood was somewhat a rare commodity. Thankfully the weather on the islands was generally quite mild, albeit sometimes very wet and windy, which meant shelter was not a major factor in their survival. With just a few crops, rotating annually and fruit trees that were guarded to stop people taking the fruit because they were so valuable, the sea had, and still did provide the majority of their food.
Akeev watched another wave crash up onto the shingle beach. Often he had wondered if it were possible to swim the distance to the mainland but had realised that even if it were conceivable, he would not survive long on the tainted lands of his ancestors. Yet the urge he felt in needing to get away from his present home was still great and something he felt increasingly like he should be doing. His dreams had been troubled of late, and he was unsure of what to make of them. Visions of a land very different to his own, with large stone buildings and massive walls built up around them. He also found himself having dreams of figures with strange faces, which he assumed to be from the other races of the world; although he couldn’t be sure, being as he had never seen any of them for real. He had tried talking about them to his mother, but she just clipped him around the head and told him he was talking nonsense and that such talk would get him in trouble.
Having lived his entire life on just a few square miles of land, Akeev was not familiar with many of the creatures, nor even the races of the world. Only through teachings passed down by the elders, did he know that elves, humans, dwarfs and orcs even existed. As to the many animals that roamed the world, Akeev was only familiar with a few. Aside from a few sea creatures and various birds, anything else was merely down to his imagination. He knew others existed, from tales passed down from previous generations, some even had descriptions, but he was unsure how accurate these would be.
The island did have use of the small fishing craft they had built, sparing some of the precious timber to enable them to build a boat, allowing them to fish in slightly deeper waters. Unfortunately, Akeev doubted the vessel capable of making it far enough up the coast to enable him to avoid beaching up onto tainted lands. As far as Akeev was aware, no troll had ventured onto the mainland since his ancestors departed it in desperation all those centuries ago. Occasionally they had moved in close, just to check if anything had changed for the better, but apparently one could tell that the taint was still present by the mere smell that hung in the air.
While trolls were tough, resilient creatures, as demonstrated by their remarkable survival, they, like every other race needed food and fresh water; something that was evidently amiss on their mainland home. Occasionally items washed ashore, although from where nobody was quite sure, carried up onto the beaches of their islands. These random objects had varied greatly from the vast amount of seaweed that was collected for food to driftwood, which was also gathered, and even the occasional body of a large sea mammal. However, Akeev stood quickly as he noticed something very different being rolled about as the waves lapped over it.
He hurried quickly down and across the shingle, his large three-toed feet sinking in slightly as he did. He held his hand up to his mouth as he realised just what had been washed up. “A dwarf?” he asked questioning himself having never actually seen one before. The body was a little bluish in colour and somewhat bloated, but judging from the size and shape, and the fact it had long facial hair tied at the ends, he was sure his assessment matched what little he knew about them.
Akeev scratched his head. Trolls did not have hair, and seeing it for the first time was a little surreal. He could not quite work out what purpose it had. Did it keep their heads warm? Then again, why did they have so much of it on their faces as well? Rather tentatively, Akeev nudged the corpse with his foot, just to check the strange looking thing was actually dead. Happy that was indeed the case, he poked it a little harder, turning it over completely onto its back.
Something caught his eye, strapped to the waist of the body and despite the sight of it making his stomach turn, he moved in closer. “A steel dagger” he mumbled to himself, pleased with the find. Any metal was very rare on the islands, and something like this was almost unheard of. Most of the weapons currently used by the trolls were wooden spears with bone or stone tips, and although very crude, served their purpose.
With the excitement of his find completely taking his mind off the fact he was sat next to a dead body, Akeev checked it for anything else interesting. Whether it was morally right or wrong to remove valuable items from the dead, he was unsure, but he figured the dwarf if indeed that’s what it was, would not miss them.
Aside from the metal-bladed knife, he found two rings on the fingers, although he had to use the knife to cut them free from the swollen digits. There was a small pouch containing several highly polished coins, and strangest of all was a short stick strapped to the dwarf’s waist. At first, Akeev was just going to take it because it was a piece of wood, and would likely come in handy for something. However, as he ran his three fingers along it, brushing off the loose sand, he could see it had strange markings running the full length of it. Unsure as to exactly what these were, he dipped it in the wash to remove the remaining sand before putting it in with his small collection of goodies.
Aside from the strange clothes on the body, which Akeev thought not to remove, he had taken everything else of worth. As if the sea somehow knew this, a larger wave came up the beach, soaking him and taking the body back out with it. Coincidence? Or was there really a grea
ter power at work here, he wasn’t sure. He shook his head slightly as he watched the corpse bobble about in the water slowly being carried away.
Knowing he was supposed to share his find with the others on the island, being as they all had so little, he felt unwilling to do so in this instance. After all, this was not the same as finding a piece of driftwood or a dead whale that could be shared. These few items had been sent to him, he was sure of it. Why else would the body have rolled up onto the beach, and disappear away again when he had finished removing the items upon it?
The trolls, no longer worshipped any god and religion of any kind had long since vanished from their lives. Yet Akeev always believed there must be others with great powers in the world, other gods and if the stories he had been told as a child were true, people of the other races who could wield magical powers. As far as he knew, no troll on any of the islands could exercise magic, and that it had died out and vanished from their lives when their lands had.
After glancing briefly over his small trove of treasure, he tucked the steel bladed knife inside his threadbare shorts, hiding it from the view of others. The rings he placed in the purse with the coins and placed in his small pocket, which left only the strange looking stick. Being as it was about two feet in length, it was a little too large to conceal anywhere on his person, so for now, at least, he decided to venture back up the beach and sit and examine it a little more thoroughly.
Made from a dark timber, he noticed how it was slightly thicker at one end, tapering down just a little to a rounded tip. With it not having a sharp point he deduced it was clearly not used for any kind of piercing weapon as he had first thought. The markings running the length of it were strange, and like none that he knew of, assuming that perhaps as it had come from a dwarf, it was possible they had their own language. As to the purpose of the stick, he had no idea and stood to wave it about as one might a sword. “Perhaps some kind of pointing stick,” he said to himself thinking of a possible use for it. Whatever it was, he thought it best to keep it and do so away from the others.
After walking further up the beach, he found a spot beside a large boulder protruding from the soft ground around it. With his large hands, he quickly dug a channel a few inches deep, and placed the stick inside it, before covering it back over. He quickly looked around to make sure nobody else was watching, before standing and stamping the area down with his foot to make the ground appear undisturbed. After feeling inside his shorts for the knife and his pocket for the coin purse, he headed back to the main village area, with a spring in his step as went.
Chapter 2.
Finley had been relieved to make it as far as Neylarin unscathed. The journey had taken them a few days, and he was feeling tired and sore from spending so many hours in the saddle. His mother and brother, along with Galdrac had split up briefly after arriving, with the promise to meet up again before moving on to their agreed destination of Durn Raldun, the dwarf capital city.
While he and his family had sought out fresh supplies, the old mage had headed straight for the main library in the city. Galdrac had hoped to find some literature on the troll language, in a bid to translate the writings he had discovered with the ring he had found. While that had gone to Finley, Galdrac had kept the parchment in the tube for its own protection.
The library in Neylarin was housed in one of the elf’s grander buildings. Set on three floors with an elaborate stone entrance, it was probably only bettered on content by the one in Carison, the capital city of the humans. With row upon row of shelves, each fully laden with books, parchment and scrolls, some of which dated back several centuries, Galdrac was sure he could find something to assist in his translation.
After making his way in through the main entrance, he stepped inside, looking rather daunted by just how long it may take to find the information he needed. Fortunately, he spotted somebody who he thought should be able to help. An elderly elven woman wearing the attire of a librarian was busying herself returning books that had been borrowed and replacing them to their rightful place upon the shelf. After excusing himself for his intrusion, he enquired as to where he may find literature to help translate from the troll language.
The lady gave him a smile, tapping her chin several times as if deep in thought, before clicking her fingers and gesturing for Galdrac to follow. “We don’t have much,” she said, walking much quicker than he thought someone of her age would be able to. Galdrac followed as he was led between several large racks, turning one way then the other, wondering where she was leading him to. The woman slowed as she turned to face the shelves before her, humming to herself while deep in thought as she perused a rack containing several very shabby looking leather-bound books.
After several more moments mumbling to herself, she eventually reached up with both hands and collected probably the largest book on the shelf. “You might try this one,” she suggested, “But I cannot let you take it with you. You will have to use one of the study areas to do whatever it is you need it for,” she said before handing the book over. The weight of the book caught Galdrac a little by surprise, made worse by the fact he only had one free hand.
After finding a quiet spot at one of the many study areas, Galdrac had amassed two further books and several pieces of folded parchment, none of which he was permitted to remove from the building. Despite his annoyance at that being the case, he set about seeing if what he had been given was of use to him. Starting with the large book, first of all, he carefully flipped through the pages looking for something that might assist him.
Stopping just briefly to read a few passages every now and then, before moving on to the next page, he was just beginning to think the book not really what he was asking for when he caught sight of a familiar symbol. “Hmm dragon,” he mumbled to himself remembering how Finley had somehow recognised it on the ring. While that one symbol was familiar, none of the others seemed to make any sense, and so he flicked through several more pages.
Knowing his time was short, and that Leyna and her boys would soon be ready and waiting for him, he gave up on the larger book and shuffled through the pieces of parchment. The first was merely a piece written in the common language about how the trolls had met their demise; something that was pretty much basic knowledge to any person who had studied history at all.
His eyes lit up as he opened up the second piece of parchment, unfolding it carefully to reveal a long list of letters and words in the common language now used by all the races. Alongside these were hundreds of symbols and letters he thought to be troll, and after a few seconds quickly scanning over the document, realised this was probably as good as he was going to find. Although he had the tube containing the rolled up parchment in his cloak pocket, he knew he did not have time to start translating it now.
After glancing about, looking left and right for anybody that might be watching, Galdrac carefully refolded the piece of parchment he needed and with a blatant show of disregard for the rules tucked it inside his cloak alongside the tube containing the troll missive. He stood and picked up his staff, which he had leant up against the wall behind him, before nonchalantly heading for the exit. With a wry smile, he stopped briefly at the doorway, before heading back outside to find his travel companions.
He thought that Leyna, who was clearly more familiar with languages than he was, may be able to assist in the translation once they had reached Durn Raldun. Galdrac was also quite certain she would not be overly impressed with his actions in stealing what he needed from the elven library, but he dismissed the thought as trivial and would return it next time he was passing through the elven capital.
Galdrac watched on as a long train of soldiers lined up ready to depart, knowing that they were likely being sent to reinforce the outposts and towns situated on the western edge of the elven territory. He wondered just how many of those now preparing to ride out knew exactly what they would be facing when they arrived. Having battled the forces of darkness for numerous years, these newer, larger, mo
re intelligent breed had even him concerned. Just how mere mortals were supposed to compete with such beasts, and in such huge quantities, he did not yet know, and yet walking across the street towards him was one who gave him hope they may somehow still have a chance.
With fully loaded backpacks on, Finley and Karesh, who carried two, walked just a pace behind their mother. Galdrac stepped a few steps forward with a smile on his face, as Leyna enquired as to whether he had managed to find anything suitable in the library. Rather than admit to stealing the parchment, knowing only too well the elf would march him straight back to there to return it, he merely grinned a little more and tapped his pocket. Leyna smiled back and nodded, as he joined them and headed for the main building in the centre of the city.
The broad, well-maintained streets were busy with people going about their everyday lives, completely oblivious to the dangers that threatened them. Abalyon had already shown his hand by attacking the outpost at Barilyn, and if not for the intervention and the presence of Finley, might well have completely overrun it. As to the reasons why Abalyon had decided to retreat when so close to victory, only he knew, but Galdrac was aware they just might not get another such offer. If the fallen god was willing to withdraw his forces to allow Finley to ponder his offer, then so be it; he and the others just needed to make sure the lad did not stray towards the darkness and accept it.
The Dragon Stone Page 1
