by Tom Liberman
The arrival of the third force changed the dynamics of the situation immediately as the darklings turned to face their new foes, while the last of the furry creatures grabbed a reptile man and tore off his arm with a seemingly nonchalant motion. One of the priest’s eyes opened wide and a smile began to form on his lips as he assumed the First Rider and his friends were allies. Jon disavowed him of this notion with a flick of his wrist; his massive stone sword came down on the head of the creature, crushed it and sprayed a wide splatter of skull and brain matter in all directions.
Jon, Vipsanius, and Odellius blew straight through the combatants and into the maze of giant white stones while Sorus moved behind them. The reptile men and darklings stood in stunned silence for a moment, their weapons and spell-casting paraphernalia held high. The third, and final, great furry beast recovered first and took a swipe at a priest of Sakatha, severing his head cleanly, after which the battle resumed in full force.
The First Rider strode through the white stones, running headlong into a spectacularly bedecked priest and shoving him against a pillar with a thrust of his short but powerful arms. The reptile man cracked his skull against the stone, slumped to the ground, and left a trail of blood on the otherwise bright white surface. Within seconds all four of them stood near the center of the stone circle where a huge green stone made of jade, or some like substance, glowed with an internal light, and three reptile men stood around it, their arms raised and their chants at some sort of a crescendo.
Vipsanius raised his hand and the others stopped immediately as they took in the sight. One of the reptiles spotted the group from the corner of its eye, and the chant faltered for a moment, but a glance from the leader of the group returned them to their duties. The leader then raised a hand towards the First Rider, Jon, Odellius, and Sorus and a greenish gas engulfed them. All four scattered away from the miasma and coughs racked their lungs, although the First Rider went towards the priest at the center of the circle with his sword upraised.
At that moment the chants hit a crescendo and a tremendous flash of intensely bright green light, focused on the stone in the center of the room, exploded into the chamber.
Chapter 28
Jon Gray stood stunned for a moment, shook his head as bright little spots impaired his vision, blinked again and again as he tried to clear his sight. First he began to see large blobs of white but they slowly resolved themselves into marble pillars and then he spotted both his friends and the reptile men priests. Everything seemed unusually bright and a glance up revealed blue sky through a skylight in a domed ceiling that he didn’t remember from a moment before.
The reptile men looked up, down, at one another, and then merely stood there without a sound.
“What … what happened?” said Sorus as he blinked his eyes and tried to clear his vision. “Where is that light coming from? Are we outside?”
“The stones look the same,” said Vipsanius as also shook his head and blinked rapidly. “We’re in the same place, they’re,” with a point to the reptile men, “the same, I don’t hear any combat, but that,” with a look up, “is very different.”
A cool, calm voice said something that no one understood and a moment later a tall man who wore white robes with the emblem of a lithe cat on them appeared around some of the rocks. Right behind him came a group of children. He stopped, pointed to one of the rocks and began to lecture the little ones in the strange language without a glance at the group.
Odellius went right up to him, looked at him, waved his hand in front of the man’s eyes, but neither he, nor the children, seemed to notice as he continued to lecture and the children looked rather bored. A number of different races appeared to be in the mix with at least one full blooded elf child, an orc, and even a little minotaur boy.
“What happened?” said Sorus again.
“Look,” said Jon, and pointed to the side of the chamber where a long set of stairs led towards the cavern roof and out into the open where sunlight filtered in. The reptiles seemed to notice it as well and they, with a glance towards the group and a bit of jabbering among themselves, began to walk towards the stairs.
“Is Tenebrous here?” said Odellius and looked around for the shadowy form but there was no sign of the creature.
“Let’s follow the reptile men,” said the First Rider as he started to walk after the creatures, “we still don’t have the Staff of Sakatha and they know where it is … presumably.”
The four followed, took the perfectly cut stairwell up to the surface and soon found themselves in a small city with dozens of tidy stone buildings and hundreds of people of all sizes and shapes who wandered around apparently oblivious to the two strange groups.
“What is this?” said Jon and noted that the reptile men likewise stared in stunned silence at the region.
“It’s the ruin, Jon,” said Sorus as he suddenly guessed the truth. “The ruin we were supposed to find, that the First Rider sent the other group to visit, but from thousands of years ago when the Old Empire still existed!”
“That’s not possible,” said Jon.
Odellius nodded his head in agreement, “I’m with Jon on this one, this is not possible,” he echoed the thoughts. “How can we be here?”
“I’m not sure we are here,” said the First Rider with a look around at all the people who seemed to take no note of them at all. “What was it Tenebrous said about Chusarausea and his dreams?”
“We’re in a dream?” said Sorus as he looked around from the mountainside at the valley below and then pinched his arm, closed his eyes, and shook his head.
“Did that work,” said Jon with a smile.
“No,” said Sorus as he opened his eyes, “and I didn’t think it would.”
“How can we be in a dream?” said Odellius as everyone in the crowd suddenly looked up and pointed towards the sky, and a low murmur began to grow.
“Magic, I’m guessing,” said Vipsanius with a wry grin. “These white marble sites contain much of the magical residue of the Old Empire. I’ve heard they are focal points for the magical energy that exists in the world. All the ruins are central points but the white marble is special beyond that.”
“That’s right,” said Jon. “Val talks about that all the time, that magic is more powerful when performed in the ancient stone circles, and even more in the white marble ruins. That’s their whole purpose, or at least that’s Val’s theory on the things. He’ll be so happy I actually listened to him for once!”
“Fellows,” said Sorus, his gaze on the sky.
“I think the First Rider’s on to something,” said Odellius. “If this is all a dream then we’re back in the cave with the fight still going on.”
“Guys,” said Sorus again, this time pointing to the sky along with almost everyone else in the small town.
“What is it?” said Odellius and he followed the gaze of the boy and then said, “I see.”
Jon and the First Rider looked up as well and spotted a long train of greenish smoke in the sky headed directly towards them, “What’s that,” said the young gray knight.
“I don’t know,” said Sorus, “but everyone is heading onto that cleared platform up on the hill over there,” pointing towards where the vast majority of people in town gathered.
The reptile men saw the movement of the crowd and immediately started off in that direction. “I’ve never been one to follow the crowd,” said Vipsanius with a shrug, “but in this case it might be the best strategy.”
“Agreed,” said Jon and the four set out after the reptile men towards the top of the hill. By the time they arrived the green trail of smoke was close enough to see clearly, and it appeared to be a massive green dragon with noxious fumes emanating from every pore in its body. Each time it beat its giant wings the smoke dispersed in little puffs, leaving behind green clouds. At least one person rode the beast and the crowd around them buzzed with excitement.
The top of the hill was cleared, and armed soldiers, wearing blue
plate armor with the crests of black cats on their shields waited in a semicircle around a flat piece of stone that was a good hundred feet long and half again as wide. Around it a line of bright red stones seemed to mark a point the crowd did not cross. Right at the top of the hill stood a man in brilliant gold armor with a gold helm capped with the immense feathers of some strange tropical bird. As the dragon approached, the sound of the crowd suddenly died out, and the creature moved in with surprising agility to land without a sound on the platform.
The gas that came directly from the pores of the dragon coalesced in a thick noxious cloud, apparently heavier than air, and began to filter down little vents in the red stones and thus did not accumulate. The spectators all stayed well behind this demarcation zone and the thick gas looked intensely toxic.
Out of the green gas a regal man, with a brown hair, a simple crown of ivy, and heavy leather riding gear, emerged as an attractive woman with long blonde hair and a simple white dress emblazoned with the symbol of three towers connected by walkways on each sleeve, held his arm. In the man’s other hand he held a long staff carved to look like a crocodile with each scale made from crystal, the teeth of white ivory, and eyes of red rubies.
“That’s the symbol of Doria!” whispered Sorus as he looked at the towers on the woman’s dress.
“That’s Sakatha!” said Jon as he looked regal man whose white, reptilian eyes were now apparent.
“That’s the Staff of Sakatha!” said Odellius his eyes fixed on the staff.
All of the reptile priests suddenly leapt forward, and dropped to a knee, while the most spectacularly dressed of the group tried to address the great king Sakatha, but the creature and his escort simply walked passed.
The man in the golden armor walked over to the two, took the young woman’s free arm under his own, and whispered something to her that made her laugh. The reptile king glanced in that direction and sneered ever so slightly but said nothing. The three began to walk down the narrow path along the hillside to the cheers of the crowd.
The reptile priests looked at one another and babbled in they’re sibilant tongue for a moment, but then set out after their lord as they gesticulated wildly and tried to get his attention.
“We should go after them,” said Odellius. “That’s the staff and they’ll get it first if we don’t keep up.”
“No,” said the First Rider and examined the dragon, whose head now rested on its paws, and the breath from its nostrils cleared the otherwise impenetrable haze of green gas that surrounded it. “We are somehow in the dream of Chusarausea the Great, the Great Green Dragon, the Toxic One. He is the secret to what will happen.”
“What’s already happened,” said Jon. “If this is all a dream of a thousand years ago.”
“Far more than a thousand,” said a new voice, deep, sensuous, and strangely feminine.
All eyes turned to the dragon who gazed back at them with green eyes like impossibly large emeralds.
“Chusarausea?” said the First Rider and stepped as far forward as he dared towards the green fumes that still surrounding the beast.
The green dragon nodded its head languidly and closed its eyes for a long moment, “I am,” it said and opened its eyes once again. “And you are apparitions of a sort. I am now lying in a cave, shackled by little creatures, although my mind is now free from their magical influence. All this happened long ago … from my perspective.”
“This really happened in the past?” said the First Rider as he looked carefully at the languid green eyes of the creature. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“I don’t understand,” said Jon squinting and frowing, “but don’t let that stop you.”
The green dragon looked at them, placed its head on its long paws, and exhaled deeply which cleared the thick green smoke away from it for the moment. “Come closer,” it said with that somehow feminine voice that sounded both sultry and horrible at the same time. “I have something of great importance to tell you before you return from whence you came.”
The four men walked forward into the narrow lane of clear air provided by the steady stream of breath from the creature. They arrived in front of it, the four of them together not much bigger than the massive creature’s head. “What do you have to say to us?” said Vipsanius, who moved to the front while Sorus and the other two stood a pace behind and eyed the gas that circulated all around them.
“The Staff of Sakatha,” said the dragon as its mouth opened slightly to reveal row up on row of sharp teeth.
“What about it?” said Vipsanius as he moved to within a few inches of the huge maw that could easily swallow him whole.
“My master, Sakatha, needs it to rise again from the dead and renew his plans of empire,” said the dragon and breathed deeply as a strange smile appeared on his face.
“I would think you would want that.” said Vipsanius.
“Before I go on, I must ask you apparitions a question. If I help you obtain the staff, what do you plan to do with it?”
Jon stepped forward, “I will not lie to you great Chusarausea. I want the staff to keep it away from the reptile men to prevent the resurrection of your master.
“And you others,” said the dragon as its eyes turned to gaze upon them with such intensity that they all looked away for a moment.
The First Rider, his eyes turned down, managed to answer first, “I will turn it over to Jon Gray, so he can take it back to his father, and hold it in Tanelorn so that no one might use it.”
Jon looked at the First Rider with wide gray eyes and said, “Really?”
Vipsanius turned and looked at Jon with an even gaze, “Yes, I don’t completely agree with your father and someday, someone will take the thing from him and use it, but I agree with his plan in principal.”
“Besides,” said Odellius from behind, “what could we do with the stupid thing anyway?”
Sorus thought about a humorous reply but a look at the massive dragon stopped the words before they emerged from his mouth.
“Is this exactly the time for humor?” said the First Rider as he looked at Odellius with a shake of his head.
“I tend to joke when the situation gets tense,” said Odellius with a shrug and a look at the dragon. “I’d call this pretty tense.”
“So,” said the dragon interrupting with its powerful voice. “You would keep the staff away from the children of the dragons and thus prevent Sakatha from rising again.”
The four looked at each other for a long moment, and then up at the terrible green eyes that seemed to bore completely through their bodies and into their innermost thoughts. The concept of lying to this ancient creature seemed completely hopeless and they all came to the same conclusion almost instantly.
“Yes,” said Jon Gray. “My father does not want the ancient relics of the Old Empire influencing the people of today … of my time.”
The dragon smiled again, “Go on,” it said and blew gently once again to clear the toxic smoke away from them. “Tell me more of your father.”
Jon looked at the First Rider who nodded his head, “You might as well.”
“My father thinks that creatures like you are posing as gods in my time, and that they, and their symbols of power, have unduly influenced the world. He wants to forego them, to let people decide for themselves what is best for their own lives,” said Jon and stood up to his almost full seven feet in height and glared for a brief moment directly into the powerful eyes of the great dragon. “Creatures like you, whose time is done, should not be allowed to rise again, not now, not ever. He means to destroy them, destroy you.”
The dragon blinked once, its huge eyelids came down with an almost audible thud and it moved one massive paw enough to expose an equally huge claw that was as long as Jon was tall.
“So,” it said, quietly and almost with a pleasant tone, “Your father means to kill me and any of my associates left alive.”
Jon nodded his head, “Yes, that’s right, and if you aren’t going
to tell us how to get the Staff of Sakatha then we’ll figure it out on our own.”
“I will help you,” said the creature, “and I will even explain my reasoning so that, should you survive, you might tell your father.”
“You’ll help us,” exclaimed Sorus, “but why?”
“In the beginning the elementals created the world, shaped it, fashioned it, for a period of time beyond your comprehension. After that they created plants and the great tree shepherds to tend to them. Then, finally, they fashioned the living animals, both thinking and bestial, to live upon the world although I do not know why they did this.”
“Go on,” said the First Rider his hand on his chin.
“The elementals and the shepherds intermingled with the living animals and the children born of these unions became the great powers of the Old Empire. We overthrew their rule. Yes, I myself am child of the elementals. I now believe the elementals let themselves be defeated as part of some greater scheme, and, just as the elementals passed, so too must we, their children, in order to let the world go on without us. My kind ruled for many tens of thousands of years, perhaps hundreds of thousands before the Emperor rose and ended all of that. Now, I simply wish to die, and if Sakatha regains his staff he will use it to coerce me into doing his bidding once again. I shall fly the skies and terrorize his enemies, slay those that oppose his rule. I see now why the elementals chose to let themselves slip into oblivion. Our time is over and that is something Sakatha the Great will never grasp. Your father,” Chusarausea nodded to Jon, “has the proper idea, but those that oppose him are mighty and do not conceive that they can be defeated. I suspect they are correct and once again shall rule the world, that the Emperor shall be reborn and that even the elementals will rise from their long hidden places. There will be terrible war, the loss of countless lives, perhaps even the destruction of the world. I refuse to be a part of such a scenario and therefore I give you the secret to the Staff of Sakatha!” it said as its voice rose to a crescendo.
