Three Quest Deal (Tales of Former Dragons Book 1)

by Rainer Domingo

  The rest stop host approached the group and greeted them. “I’m Gemma. Terrible weather we’re having.”

  “Terrible indeed,” Drakor said. “We’ll be staying until it stops raining.”

  “It might be a few days,” Gemma said.

  “That’s fine,” Tess said. “Do you have any hot food?”

  “Yes, yes,” Gemma said. “Sit by the fire, it’s warmer. I’ll be right back.”

  Toshen held up his hands in the direction of the fireplace. “This feels good.”

  Gemma and her assistant brought plates of hot, steaming pork and bread. “Would you like some ale?”

  “Yes,” Drakor said.

  Gemma gestured to her assistant to get the drinks. “If there’s anything else we can get you, please let us know. We’ll be in the kitchen.”

  “She’s very friendly,” Toshen said. “Much nicer than most of the hosts we’ve encountered since leaving Triton.”

  “Almost too friendly,” Tess said. “I don’t trust her.”

  Aesus stabbed a piece of pork with his knife, pointed it at Tess, and laughed. “One thing I’ve noticed about you is that you don’t trust anyone running an inn or rest stop.”

  Tess stopped chewing and looked at Aesus. “I can’t help it. That’s how I feel. There’s just something about them that makes me nervous.”

  “All right, you two,” Drakor said.

  Aesus smiled. “Just having fun.”

  Tess rolled her eyes. “You’re always testing me.”

  “No, I’m not.” Aesus frowned and looked at Tess, who nodded. “Am I really that bad?”

  “Worse.” Tess laughed and then glanced at Drakor. “Sorry.”

  Drakor smiled at Tess and continued eating.

  “What if it keeps raining?” Xan asked Drakor. She looked across the table at the gemstone around his neck. “We’re running out of time.”

  “You need to stop looking at the stones,” Drakor said.

  “I can’t help myself. They’re almost completely clear. Aren’t you worried?”

  Drakor looked at Toshen, who was sitting next to Xan. “Are you?”

  Toshen shook his head. “Why worry? We’re doing everything we can to complete the last quest. Why should I think we’ll fail? Like before, I choose not give in to those feelings. I will die fighting.”

  “That’s how I feel too,” Drakor said as he turned his attention back to Xan. “We’ll stay here for no more than two nights. After that, we’re leaving, rain or no rain.” He reached over, put his hand on hers, and gave it a gentle squeeze. “We’ll get there before the next full moon.”

  Xan put her hand over Drakor’s, gave him a weak smile, and nodded.

  After they finished their meal, they retired for the night.

  Drakor awoke the next morning to the sound of chirping birds and rays of sunshine through the window. He woke the others, and they got ready to go to the dining room for breakfast.

  Tess entered the dining room first. She noticed three men eating at a table next to the fireplace. Two of the men wore polished breastplates and the third man wore a dark-blue velvet robe. She stopped and motioned with her hand for the others to stop. They complied.

  One of the men at the table noticed the group. He said something to his companions, and they in turn looked at the group, and resumed talking amongst themselves.

  Tess sat at the closest table and pulled on Drakor’s arm so he would sit next to her. The others joined them.

  “Is there a problem?” Drakor whispered.

  Tess whispered back, “The men at that table are the king’s men.”

  “How can you tell?

  “Only men in the king’s service wear dark-blue robes like that one.”

  “And the men with him?”

  “His guards. This isn’t good. We should leave.” Tess rose to stand but Drakor pulled her back down.

  “Don’t you think it will look suspicious if we leave? We just sat down to eat.”

  Tess looked at the three men. They were watching her. The man in the robe stood and approached the table. Tess looked away. “Too late now. Be ready for anything.”

  The robed man stopped at the end of the table. He smiled and bowed his head. “Good day. Sorry to bother you, but is there a Tessandra amongst you?”

  Tess frowned. “My name is Tessandra.”

  “And your grandfather is Master Sage Garon?”

  Tess nodded. “Yes.”

  “I’ll be direct,” the man said, “since there’s no point in concealing who I am or my intentions. I am Master Advisor Randolph, advisor to King Wolford V. He sent me to find all of you before you enter the Dark Forest. The king needs your help with an urgent matter.”

  They looked surprised by Randolph’s revelation.

  “How do you know we’re going to the Dark Forest?” Drakor asked.

  “In order to protect the kingdom, we have eyes and ears everywhere.”

  “How did you find us?”

  Randolph grinned. “Actually, you found us. We, like you, needed to get out of the rain and this was the closest rest stop. It’s sheer luck we meet.”

  “On what urgent matter does the king need our help?”

  “The queen and his son have the talking madness, and as I understand it, one of you healed Master Garon. All the king asks is that you heal them, and then you can be on your way.”

  “We would like to help the king, but we can’t help him until we’ve completed a quest.”

  “Our concern is that none of you will make it out of the forest alive. It wouldn’t be a problem if there were more healing mages, but since the healer amongst you is the only one we’re aware of, you’re our only hope.”

  “What would you do if we chose the forest over helping your king?”

  “I’d have to let you go. If that’s the case, can you help the king after your quest?”

  “If all your king desires is that we heal his kin, we can do that after we’re done.”

  “Excellent. I’ll let the king know you’ve agreed to help him. How long will your quest take?”

  “No more than ten days, but then we have to get out of the forest, so perhaps twenty days.”

  Randolph nodded. “Very well then. Giving you some extra time, I’ll expect you no more than forty-eight days from today.” He reached into his tunic, pulled out a small scroll, and handed it to Drakor. “Show this to any of the guards at the castle gates and they’ll escort you to me. Safe journey.”

  He motioned to the men sitting at the table near the fireplace and they left the dining hall.

  Tess let out a sigh of relief. “I wasn’t expecting that. Do you think Damon told him about the forest?”

  “No,” Drakor said. “He was worthy of our trust.”

  “But who else knew we’re going to the forest?”

  Toshen grunted. “It was the stable boy at Barland. We talked openly about our plans without even thinking he might be listening or that he would tell someone.”

  “Stable boys are taught to mind their own affairs,” Tess said. “The less they know, the less likely it is they’ll be tortured for information. Everyone knows this.”

  Gemma walked up to the table while drying her hands on her apron. “Good morning, everyone. Ready for a hot breakfast?”

  “Yes,” Tess said.

  Gemma and her assistant returned with bowls of porridge and fruit.

  “We’ll be leaving this morning,” Drakor said.

  Gemma smiled. “I figured as much, with the sun shining and all. Do you need any food for the road?”

  “No, we’re fine. Thank you.”

  “All right.” Gemma nodded, and she and her assistant disappeared back into the kitchen.

  “Regardless of what anyone thinks they know,” Toshen said, “that stable boy told someone, and that information found its way to Randolph. It concerns me that we can be tracked so easily.”

  Aesus said, “Haven’t you noticed? It’s our cloaks. It’s the one thing tha
t makes us stand apart from everyone else. If we wore something less conspicuous, we wouldn’t be noticed.”

  Tess nodded in agreement. “I wish I’d realized that earlier.”

  “We’ve benefitted from our noble attire,” Drakor said, “so don’t feel that it’s been a problem. If we weren’t wearing these cloaks, I’m sure they would have found another way to track us.”

  “Even without the cloaks, the color of your armor would still get attention. Look how white and clean Xan’s clothes are. They’re always clean. How’s that even possible?”

  “I think our clothes are enchanted,” Xan said. “If I spill something on my pants, it’s clean the next morning.”

  “See?”

  “And even Drakor’s tunic healed itself after being cut.”

  “We have self-cleaning and healing hides?” Toshen asked.

  Drakor frowned and looked at his sleeve where he had been slashed in his first battle. There were no indications it had ever been cut open. “Enough of this talk about clothing,” he said. “Let’s finish eating and go.”

  “Do you really intend for us to help the king after we’re done with the quest?” Xan asked Drakor.

  “I don’t see how we can avoid it,” Drakor said. “Those men know who we are and what we look like. Do you think the king will allow us to roam the land freely knowing we can heal his kin? I don’t want to live out the rest of my life worrying he’ll try to capture us to do his bidding.”

  “I didn’t think of that,” Xan said.

  “Maybe healing his kin is just the beginning,” Toshen said. “Maybe he’ll have us heal others too.”

  “Or kill someone,” Aesus said. “If we’re the only mages in the land, we would be powerful allies.”

  “Or enemies. Why do you think they didn’t capture us now? Because they’re afraid. Afraid of us and what we’d do to them.”

  “I say we help the king after the quest and then be on our way,” Drakor said. “If he tries to enslave us, we’ll kill him. Agreed?”

  The others nodded in agreement. They finished their meal, settled their bill, and left for the Dark Forest.

  CHAPTER 26

  The group rode for six days over various terrains and crossed two shallow rivers before they caught their first glimpse of the Dark Forest from the side of a hill. They saw the tops of leafless, blackened trees shooting high into the air. An eerie fog-like mist blanketed the base of the trees and spilled over into the surrounding grassland.

  Tess bit her lower lip. “We’re going in there?”

  “How far is it to the altar?” Xan asked.

  “It’s in the middle of the forest,” Drakor said. “It should take three to four days to get there.”

  “Too bad we can’t fly,” Aesus said.

  Tess gave Aesus a strange look. “Fly?”

  “Never mind.”

  Toshen pointed at the forest’s edge. “Do you see that patch of green trees just outside? We can probably camp there for the night and then go into the forest first thing tomorrow morning.”

  It took two hours for them to get close to the campsite. Toshen spotted a doe by the trees and told the others to wait. He dismounted his horse, removed the bow from his back, and crouched in the knee-high grass. He moved slowly toward the doe, bow at the ready. When he was close enough, he drew an arrow and fired. He waved the others on and ran to the felled doe.

  Aesus and Tess rode ahead to Toshen, with Drakor and Xan close behind. Tess dismounted to get a closer look. Toshen was on one knee, inspecting the kill.

  “It looks healthy,” Tess said.

  “I don’t think it’s from the Dark Forest,” Toshen said.

  “We’ll eat well tonight,” Aesus told Drakor and Xan.

  Tess heard a low growl deep within the forest. She turned to look in that direction. “Did you hear something?”

  Toshen focused on listening, and after a brief moment he heard the growl as well. He stood, bow in hand with the arrow drawn, and walked toward the forest. He soon heard the sound of branches breaking in the distance but getting closer. “Run!” he shouted.

  Tess ran to her horse and mounted it. Toshen mounted his horse, and the group galloped back in the direction they had come from. Soon after they heard a crash. When they looked back, they saw a large wolf come charging out of the forest. It was as tall as a horse and patches of fur and flesh were missing, bone and skull shining through the exposed areas. The wolf stopped at the doe and howled. It grabbed the doe with its large jaws and carried it back into the forest.

  “What was that?” Tess exclaimed.

  “A dire wolf,” Drakor said. “A very large, ‘dead’ dire wolf.”

  “That still eats flesh,” Toshen added.

  “I take it we’re not sleeping under those trees tonight,” Aesus said.

  Toshen scanned the area for an alternate location to spend the night. “While it’s not the best place to camp, I remember a shallow cave at the base of the hill that provides basic shelter from the weather.”

  “Lead the way,” Drakor said.

  The group settled into the shallow cave with a meal of dried meat and bread. A small fire kept them warm, and they took shifts keeping watch.

  A wolf’s howl in the distance woke the group at first light. They ate bread and prepared to enter the forest.

  “What’s the plan if we encounter more beasts?” Toshen asked Drakor. “We can’t just run all the time.”

  “We’ll have to hold our ground and fight,” Drakor said.

  “How do you kill something that’s already dead?” Xan asked.

  “Burn it, or perhaps chop off its head,” Drakor said. “Burning is better, because we don’t need to get close. That means it’s important that Aesus position himself as soon as possible, so he can flame any beasts without endangering the rest of us.”

  “But will setting it on fire stop it from killing us?” Aesus asked. “It may not react the same as a living creature.”

  “That’s a good question,” Toshen said.

  Drakor nodded. “Aim for the head. The eyes if you can. That will blind the creature. If we can take out its legs, it can’t move, so that’s an option as well.”

  “I’ll go for the knees,” Toshen said.

  “All right then, let’s get going.”

  The group mounted up and rode to the edge of the forest. Toshen rode slightly ahead of them, and when his horse came upon the knee-high fog, it veered to the side. The horse shook its head and neighed in protest. Toshen steered the horse again with the same result.

  “What’s wrong?” Drakor asked.

  “It doesn’t like the fog,” Toshen said.

  “Let me try.” Drakor steered his horse into the fog, and the horse veered and neighed as well. Drakor looked at Tess. “Any ideas?”

  Tess thought for a moment, and then dismounted her horse. She grabbed the reins and faced the horse. “Don’t worry, the fog won’t hurt you. Just follow me.” She turned around and walked into the fog, horse behind her. The horse complied and followed her. After a few feet, she mounted the horse. She patted the horse on the side of its neck. “Good horse.” Tess looked up at the others. “Try it, but I think you can skip talking to the horse.”

  The others dismounted and successfully led their horses into the fog. They mounted up and continued.

  Aesus pulled up next to Tess. “That was clever. Well done.”

  Tess smiled and nodded.

  After a few minutes, Toshen stopped his horse and waited for the others to catch up. “In what direction are we heading?” Toshen asked Drakor. “With no path and this fog, I’m worried about getting lost.”

  Drakor looked at the surrounding area and into the distance in front of him. It all looked the same. He looked over his shoulder and, seeing the grass in the distance, he turned his horse around and moved toward it. He heard a ringing sound in his ears. When he turned the horse back, the ringing stopped. “That’s odd.”

  “What’s odd?” Xan asked.<
br />
  Drakor turned his horse around and moved a few feet. The ringing returned.

  He rode up to Toshen. “Turn your horse around.”

  Toshen faced the opposite direction and looked at Drakor. “Now what?”

  “Take a few steps.”

  Toshen moved forward, stopped, and looked at Drakor.

  “Do you hear it?”

  “Yes, but where’s it coming from?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Toshen moved his horse in different directions using different angles. “Interesting. The ringing gets louder the more I go in the wrong direction.”

  “What ringing?” Xan asked. “What’s happening?”

  “If you head away from the middle of the forest, you hear a ringing sound that gets louder the more you head in the wrong direction. Try it.”

  Xan, Aesus, and Tess rode in various directions and then returned to Toshen.

  “I hear it,” Xan said.

  Aesus nodded. “So do I.”

  “I don’t hear anything,” Tess said.

  “What’s causing it?” Xan asked.

  Toshen shrugged.

  “Whatever’s causing it seems to be telling us where not to go,” Drakor said. “So as long as we don’t hear the ringing sound, we should be all right.”

  “What about me?” Tess asked.

  “Stay close and don’t get lost. If you get lost, you may never find your way out of the forest.”

  Tess moved next to Aesus. “All right. Let’s go.”

  After several hours of riding, the group dismounted and stretched their legs.

  “The horses still seem a bit nervous about the fog,” Toshen said.

  “The horses are moving a lot more slowly,” Drakor said. “It’s going to take longer than I expected to get there. Perhaps a day or two more. It’s going to be close.”

  Tess saw something move in her peripheral vision, but when she turned to look, she saw nothing. It happened again, and she reached out and grabbed Aesus’s arm. “There’s something out there.”

  Drakor drew his sword and Toshen his bow, arrow ready to fire. Tess and Xan ran between the two, and Aesus positioned himself relative to Drakor and Toshen to form a triangle.

  “What did you see, Tess?” Drakor asked.