“Will you read the spell for us?”
Nashara laughed. “Is that what you have that belongs to me? The enchanted crystal corruption and fusion spellbooks? I have those spells memorized.”
Xan pulled the books out of her satchel and offered them to Nashara.
Nashara took the books from Xan and ran her hands over the covers. “I have not seen these in a long time.” She looked up and scanned the group. “None of you know how to read these? What are you doing with these books?”
“Obtaining The Book of Fusion was the first quest,” Drakor said.
“And the second?”
“Obtaining Grand Master Shaman Raah’s staff.”
“You have Raah’s staff?” Nashara said in disbelief. She scanned the group. The wrapped staff Aesus wore across his back caught her eye. “It’s said to hold half of the enchanted crystal used by Baldazar the wizard.”
“We have the staff and it does have a crystal at the end of it.”
“And what of the other half?”
“We don’t have the other half.”
Nashara frowned, tossed the books aside, and stomped her foot on the ground. “What good is the spell of fusion if you don’t have the other half of the crystal?”
“The third and last quest is to place the staff on the altar and read the spell of fusion. That’s all we know.”
“You have half of an enchanted crystal, you came all this way, and none of you can read the spell? What fool gave you this quest?”
“Baldazar.”
“Baldazar lives? That’s impossible. Everyone knows he was killed in battle by Raah. That’s how Raah came to possess half the crystal.”
“No one ever found Baldazar’s body,” Tess said.
“How do you know this?” Nashara asked Tess.
“I read about the battle in a book. Raah defeated Baldazar during the siege of Wolford I’s castle. After Baldazar was defeated, the dragons fled and we defeated the undead army. Baldazar’s body was never found.”
“I can’t believe he’s still alive after all these years,” Nashara said. “Whatever that old fool is up to, it can’t be good. I’m not reading the spell.”
Xan looked into the night sky and saw the rising full moon. “You must help us.”
“Why?”
“Our lives are tied to the completion of the quest. If we don’t complete the last quest, we’ll perish.”
“And how is that my problem? Actually, I’d be doing myself a favor by not reading the spell. Not only will you die, but you’ll fail in Baldazar’s quest as well.”
Aesus stepped forward. “As you said yourself, we only have half of the enchanted crystal. Reading the spell won’t do anything, and we’re only expected to read the spell, not actually fuse any pieces together. Once you read the spell, the quest will be complete and we can leave.”
Nashara squinted at Aesus. “But what if something does happen? What if the crystal becomes whole?”
“Then the crystal is yours,” Drakor said. “We have no interest in the crystal, just completing the quest.”
Nashara stared at Drakor. There was a long pause before she spoke. “I’ll read the spell as it is written in the book. After reading the spell, no matter what happens, I get the crystal and all of you leave the temple and forest. Do you agree to this?”
“Agreed,” Drakor said. “I speak for all of us.”
Nashara gave the other elves instructions to open the portcullises and allow the group to leave freely after she read the spell.
The group stood on one long side of the altar, an arm’s length away from it. Nashara, flanked by the four robed dark elves, stood on the opposite side. Aesus stepped forward, placed the unwrapped staff on the altar, and stepped back.
Nashara held The Spellbook of Fusion open in front of her and whispered the spell as written.
The crystal on the staff shone brightly, and to everyone’s surprise so did the circular gemstones around the necks of Drakor, Xan, Aesus, and Toshen. The gemstones separated from their leather cords, levitated to the altar, swirled around the crystal on the staff, merged with it, and became a single clear crystal. The crystal shone even brighter, and everyone shielded their eyes.
When the light from the crystal dimmed, a body was visible, lying on the altar. It was Baldazar, his arms crossed his chest, holding the glowing crystal. His hair and beard were gray, his face wrinkled and worn, just like it had been in the Cave of Origins. But within seconds he transformed into a younger man in his thirties. Short hair as black as night. Face without a hint of old age, adorned with a well-groomed mustache and beard.
“No!” Nashara shouted. “This can’t be.”
She cast a frost bolt at Baldazar, but it bounced off his body and shot up in the air. She pulled out her sword, held it high with both hands, and was about to strike when two arrows from Toshen’s bow struck her in the chest. She released the sword and it dropped behind her. She looked at Toshen with a pained expression, took a step backwards, and collapsed.
The four dark elves standing next to Nashara shimmered, turned into shadows, and disappeared into the night.
Baldazar sat up on the platform and faced the group. “You’ve done well, my dragon friends. I put my fate in your hands when I transformed you. I had faith you would succeed.” He looked at the moon. “What full moon is this?”
“The third,” Drakor said.
“The third? Oh my.”
“We have many questions.”
Baldazar put one foot on the ground, got his balance, put his other foot down, and stood. He put his hand to his forehead and sat back down on the platform, looking dazed.
“I’m sure you do,” he said, “but I have better things to do than just sit here and answer your questions.”
“Why did you send us on these quests?”
“Didn’t you hear me? You held up your end of our arrangement. You are free to go. Now go away.”
Baldazar rose to stand, but soon sat again. He felt his chapped lips with his fingertips. “Does anyone have any water?”
Toshen handed Baldazar his water skin. Baldazar emptied it, wiped his chin with the back of his hand, handed it back to Toshen, and closed his eyes.
“Can you answer at least one question from each of us?” Xan asked.
Baldazar sighed. “Very well. It appears I won’t be leaving anytime soon. I’ll answer one and only one question from each of you, so make sure it’s the question you really want to ask.”
“Answer my question,” Drakor said.
Baldazar glared at Drakor. “I couldn’t get revenge against Wolford I’s bloodline without my full strength and powers. Now I have them. After Raah split my crystal, I rapidly aged and could only cast certain spells and enchantments. I became weak, both physical and magically, even after transforming my body. It took me two hundred years to figure out how to get my powers back, but I was in no condition to undertake the quests. I also started losing my mind. I have no faith in emos, and you had something to barter with – your lives. Who’s next?”
“Do we look like people from your past?” Xan asked.
Baldazar grunted and shook his head. “I hoped I’d never have to answer that question, but you might as well know the truth. In order to transform you, I needed to base your physical forms on people, so each of you were fused with the essence of one of the first four people who attempted to kill me after Wolford found out Cierra was having my child. They were Wolford’s best warriors, unequaled in their time. Your powers and skills come from their unconscious minds. The only physical differences are that your attire matches the color and texture of your dragon skins. I thought it might make you feel more at home in your new bodies.”
“Their essence? Their unconscious minds? What does that mean?”
“I don’t expect you to ever understand what any of that means. I can’t say I fully understand it myself. Next.”
“But—”
“You asked your one question,” Baldazar said in
a raised voice. “Next.”
Drakor drew his sword and placed the tip under Baldazar’s chin. “Explain using simpler words.”
Baldazar slowly pushed the blade away with his hand. “You’re not allowed to kill me, remember?” He shook his head. “I killed them by absorbing their physical form into the crystal. When I transformed you, I reversed the process, merging your physical forms into their forms. I replaced their minds with your minds – the thoughts that make you, you. Your ‘unconscious’ minds are what made you behave like a dragon. Their unconscious minds are what make you behave like men and a woman. Is that simple enough?”
“That explains many things,” Drakor said. “Is that why it sometimes feels like someone else is guiding our actions and what we say?”
Baldazar frowned. “Oh. That’s supposed to be transparent. Rutar never said anything about having that problem. I must have missed a step.” He grunted, looked down, and crossed his arms. He raised his hand to his mouth and tapped his lips with his finger several times, deep in thought. Then he looked up. “There’s nothing I can do about that now. Hopefully, that sensation will fade over time. Can we move on?”
“Why did you make us retrieve The Book of Fusion if we can’t read it?” Aesus asked.
“What do you mean? Although Verick was originally a fire mage, he learned dark magic from the dark elves. You should’ve been able to read the spell. Did you even look at the book?”
“Xan couldn’t read it, so I assumed I also couldn’t read it,” Aesus replied.
Baldazar shook his head and chuckled. “It’s a good thing Nashara was still alive after all these years.”
“But if I can read the spell, why did we have to come here?”
“Dark magic only works in the Dark Forest, and the strongest dark magic energy is here on the altar. The spell might have worked at the edge of the forest, but I wasn’t sure, so I made you come here.”
“What would have happened if we didn’t complete the quest tonight?” Toshen asked.
“The gemstones were enchanted to absorb your essence once it was drained of your blood, unless it was fused with Raah’s fragment to form the original crystal.”
“And what of you?”
“My essence would be trapped in the four gemstones for eternity.”
“Why do you need to get revenge against the Wolford bloodline?” Tess asked.
Baldazar raised an eyebrow. “Who are you? You’re not one of the dragon kin.”
Tess shifted her weight and put her hands on her hips. “You said you would answer a question from each of us.”
“Very well. Cierra, Wolford I’s daughter, came to warn me that his knights and mages were coming to kill me. While she was there, someone cast a spell that momentarily suppressed my powers, and they stormed the tower. Although she was skilled with a sword and fought bravely to protect me, she knew nothing about fighting spellcasters. She and our unborn child were killed by a fire blast.”
Baldazar looked at Aesus and opened his mouth to add something, but didn’t. He looked at the ground and sighed. “She was the only woman I ever loved. My only chance for happiness, and a normal life. Wolford took that away from me.”
“King Wolford V is a good and just king,” Tess said. “He hasn’t wronged you. He doesn’t deserve to die because of his ancestors.”
Baldazar clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes. “I’ve waited two hundred years for my revenge. I will not be denied. No one can stop me this time.”
“Is that why you made us give our word not to kill you?” Drakor asked.
Baldazar stood and pointed his finger at Drakor. “That’s exactly why I made you give your word not to kill me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have better things to do.”
He whispered under his breath, the crystal flashed, and he transformed into a raven. As they watched, he flew off into the night.
CHAPTER 29
Xan raised her eyebrows and looked at Drakor. “What have we done?”
“Something terrible,” Aesus said.
“You didn’t know Baldazar was going to appear on the altar?” Tess asked.
“No,” Drakor said, “we didn’t know that would happen. The deal we made with him was to do three mystery quests. He said nothing about restoring his powers, becoming young, or getting his revenge on the Wolford bloodline.”
“What now?” Toshen asked. “Do we warn the king?”
“Of course we warn the king,” Tess said. “It’s the right thing to do.”
“But do we also tell him we made it possible for Baldazar to get his revenge?”
“I say we’ve had enough dealings in the affairs of men,” Drakor said. “We don’t owe the king anything.”
“Speaking of which,” Tess said. “What Baldazar explained. About the four of you being transformed. Is that true? Were you really dragons? I didn’t know something like that was even possible.”
“It’s true,” Xan said. “The day you and your companions tried to rob us was our first day in the forms you see us in now.”
Tess grunted and grinned. “Everything makes sense now.”
“You’ve been a great help to us,” Aesus said. “We wouldn’t have been able to do any of the quests without you.”
“Agreed,” Drakor said. “We owe you our lives, and as such you are free to do as you please once we get out of the forest.”
Tess looked at Aesus for approval.
Aesus nodded. “I release you from any obligation to us.”
“So if I wanted to,” Tess said, “I could stay with you—I mean, stay with the group.”
Aesus raised an eyebrow and looked at Drakor.
“If that’s what you truly want,” Drakor said, “you’re welcome to stay with us.”
“Then I’m staying.” Tess smiled, walked to Aesus’s side, and wrapped her arms around his arm.
Aesus smiled at Tess and put his hand on her arm.
“Now that we’ve settled that matter, can we leave?” Toshen asked.
Drakor nodded. “Let’s go to the horses and get out of the forest. Then we’ll figure out what do about the king, his kin, and, more importantly, Baldazar.”
To be continued…
###
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Rainer M. Domingo
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Three Quest Deal (Tales of Former Dragons Book 1) Page 15
