Magistrate Fafnir had come out to watch his departure. Stepping out of the black carriage, he strode over to the embracing couple. The Pale Gates were not allowed to be opened unless in the presence of either the magistrate or a member of the Council of Twelve.
“I see we are saying our farewells?” he asked thoughtfully, looking to the crying maiden. “Madame Elise, you must not fret so, this will all be over before you know it, becoming just another story to tell around the dinner table.” He slyly moved to console the woman, as the couple broke to greet him properly.
“Good day, Magistrate Fafnir.” Corbin hailed.
“Good day, Corbin, hope we have not kept you waiting too long, lad.” Fafnir directed his focus to the gates, as if Corbin were an afterthought.
“Would that we had more time to cling to, milord, I’m afraid this still seems rather surreal to us.” Corbin said.
“Now lad, have some faith.” The magistrate clapped his shoulder, turning to beckon his footman to bring forth a small parcel. “In the short time I have known your person; you have represented yourself to be possessed of true honor and deep integrity, son.” He explained, turning his back to open the hinged lid.
“That is too kind, good sir….” Corbin was surprised by the man’s high opinion of him, after Lady Cassandra’s warnings just hours before that the magistrate was not to be trusted.
“It is not so much a kindness as the truth. Lady Elise, do not be filled with sorrow, you waste these tears, surely? Our hero of Riverbell will fulfill his task.” Fafnir gave a nod to Elise then turned to face Corbin, producing a fine pair of hand tailored black leather gauntlets.
“And with your successful return, we will secure the safety of your village, as well as quell these nasty rumors, showing Riverbell’s true allegiance to the kingdom. Just to be sure, here is a little gift to help get you back in one piece.” He offered the present to Corbin.
“Oh my! Magistrate Fafnir, you truly are an amazing man!” Elise exclaimed, covering her mouth, surprised by the extravagant gift.
Corbin bowed to him before pulling the tight gloves over his fingers and buckling the thickly padded gauntlets around his wrists. He guessed the magistrate had these made just for him, as they fit perfectly, and admired the man’s ability to have his view remain unclouded. The magistrate undoubtedly hated his brother, fully believing he was a murderer, but he seemed to hold no such feeling toward Corbin.
“Now press tight against the palm.” Fafnir instructed, pointing at his own hand for reference and eagerly watching as Corbin did the same. He could feel a pressurized button inside the leather lining, which gave a light pop, releasing a two-inch steel blade from a slit in the padding, gliding over the top of his hand to reveal a deadly weapon, causing Elise to gasp.
“They look to be functioning excellently, fit like a glove as they say, eh?” The group laughed awkwardly for a moment, forgetting the path that lay ahead. Fafnir abruptly cut off the merriment, beckoning his men to open the gates. Behind them, the massive stone doors grated against the ground, slowly moving outward, to reveal the wild lands. Corbin and Elise were lost in a trance as the gates moved, their minds elsewhere, brooding on the dangers awaiting him.
Once the gates came to a halt, fully opened, Corbin grasped Elise’s hands in his own and pulled her body close once more. They shared a long kiss, before he whispered in her ear. “Trust no one, be the strong woman I have come to love.”
With bright eyes she pulled back to stare at him in astonishment. “I will.”
“By the Crystal, I swear I will be back for you, my love.” Corbin promised, firm in his resolve to leave with his head held high, even though every instinct in his body screamed to run back to Riverbell with her.
“I know you will, because if you don’t, I’ll come right out there into the wilds and drag you back here by the ear!” Elise squared her shoulders, trying to sound foreboding while desperately holding back her tears.
“Now, that’s the Elise I know.” He smiled warmly, giving a curt nod to Fafnir before he headed out through the Pale Gates.
The magistrate moved to stand beside her, and they watched Corbin leave the capitol together. He was walking with determination and made no attempt to look back. Fafnir understood the man did not want to upset Elise any further than she already was, putting on a brave front in the face of his hopeless journey.
“He has much honor, Madame Elise. I can only hope this tragedy ends in us seeing him come back through these gates, my dear.” He consoled the future leader of Riverbell.
Too scared to speak, for fear of breaking down, she could only stand there with a quivering lower lip, as tears streamed down her face. Fafnir coolly smiled behind her and shouted for his men to secure the city.
“Close the gates!”
Logan had a solid day’s march through the wilds with Bipp during which they had much time to catch up and get to know each other. The exile felt so at ease with the little gnome, although he was not sure if it had something to do with witnessing Beauford’s untimely death or if it was just that Bipp was genuinely a funny guy whom he felt comfortable being around. Whatever the reason, he found himself opening up and sharing all the details of his recent journey to Fal and subsequent flight over the wall.
In return, the gnome shared the story of how he came to be a three-day’s hike from his hometown, naked in a crate, waiting to be eaten by cannibals.
“We got this job out at old man Torkin’s potato farm, seemed the motor went haywire on his water pump. Wasn’t like it was the first time, I probably been out there once every couple of months just in the last two years. So I grabbed me toolkit and headed over pronto! Nothing like knocking a job off early in the day so you can fit a couple rounds of scrum in, I always say.”
“When I got there it was plain as day that goffers had gotten into the motor, chewing the carbonator all to pieces again. Keep telling that cheapskate Torkin to get a latched cover, but he never listens, that man would haggle over the price of air if he had to. Except Mrs. Torkin keeps him right in line, don’t you doubt it.”
“So anyhow, where was I… oh yeah, I was just finishing up tightening the rollers when I hear wings flapping real close-like. Now my first instinct was to roll under the wheelbarrow and get out of sight. And what do you think I saw right there before me very own eyes swooping out of the air?” Bipp paused for dramatic flair.
“Only one thing makes flapping sounds like that.” Logan reasoned.
“Don’t know about that, but you guessed sure enough, it was a roc-bat, damn right, and the furry flying rodent was stealing my tools!” Bipp explained.
“Wait, what? Why would a roc-bat want a bag of tools?” Logan interrupted doubtfully.
“Wasn’t the tools she was after, it was my lunch that thieving monstrosity was vying for! So I ran fast as these little legs could pump and snatched ahold of that bag!” Bipp said.
“So you risked your life for some tools and a lunch?” Logan thought perhaps the gnome was a little touched in the head, roc-bats being the size of a human, they were no easy target, and anyone that tangoed with one over a lunch must be mighty hungry indeed.
“Aw now… don’t you be rude with me, even a human like yourself would have fought the critter for my Aunt Tilly’s honey soaked ham. Three years winning the county prize for that recipe she’s had, damn sure worth fighting for and no way I was letting go of what was mine. Only problem, as you can imagine, is the bat did not share my enthusiasm, and had no intention of releasing its catch. ‘Fore I knew what was what, we were soaring fifty feet high up in the air, and wasn’t she just thrashing about trying to knock me loose. Well I did the only sensible thing, reached right down and grabbed my trusty hammer, this thing has been in my family last seven generations you know, and gave her a right good smack in the eye. She never even saw it coming eh, har har har.” The gnome laughed at his own joke over the bats blindness, almost tripping over a thick root stretching ac
ross their path.
“Except I learned the rough lesson that hitting a creature carrying you fifty feet up in the air is maybe not the brightest idea one could come up with in that situation, as I was falling to the cave floor.” He admitted, rubbing his bulbous nose in reflection.
“You know how they say your life flashes ‘fore your eyes and all that ‘see the light’ nonsense…all I can tell you was going through this head was how my honey soaked ham was gone.” Logan could only snicker at the gnome’s sentiment over his lunch, which earned him a fleeting dark look.
“Mighty Thorgar himself must have been watching me that day, only way I can figure I was lucky enough to land in that tar pit. Had me sunk in right up to my shoulders, that hot stuff really does the trick for your pores I gotta admit, when along came these bandits. I didn’t know they were bandits of course, not at first at least, I just thought they were goodly folk, doing the right thing by fishing me out of the muck. Learned my mistake on that one right quick, didn’t I? They didn’t waste no time stripping and binding me. You see those pits were pretty close to that bloody little camp them cannibals call home. So anyhow, that is how I went from fixing a pump to naked in a crate waiting to be dinner.” He finished the tale as if it all made sense.
“Wait, so if there was tar all over your clothes…then whose are those?” Logan wondered, unsure he actually wanted to hear the answer.
“Couldn’t say, friend, if I had to guess, I would think these were from a guest they already had for dinner.” Both men wrinkled their nose at the prospect.
Bipp was from the trade port of Dudje, an entire town filled with gnomes! Apparently, they traded honey, crops from the surrounding farms, and worked nearby mines operating as an ore trader for the other towns in Vanidriell.
“I never even knew there were any towns in the wild lands.” Logan said, upon hearing this revelation, astonished to hear about a gnome civilization outside New Fal and Malbec.
“Hmmm…right, you know wild lands is just a name those humans in New Fal came up with, right? Folks who live out here call the land Vanidriell, its rightful name, of course. We tend to keep the human rabble from Fal out of our towns, they usually are not a good lot, but sometimes we meet one here or there that really proves us wrong, not like the exiled criminals. Kind of like you Logan, just in the wrong place at the wrong time?” he explained, understanding the young man’s confusion, having lived in the sheltered land of New Fal all his life.
“You really think your mayor will see it that way?” Logan asked hopefully, Bipp had raised the flame of hope within him that the leader of Dudje would look kindly on his rescue of the imprisoned gnome, allowing him to stay in their town as some sort of reward for the good deed. He also thought it important for Logan to share the news of Beauford’s death first hand.
“Know he will, nothing but good stock in Dudje, friend.” He confidently confirmed which relaxed Logan just a bit more. He had not realized how fearful he actually felt about not having a home and being stuck in the dangerous wild lands without friends or family, his future being a bleak path of hermitage, until this slim chance of settling with the gnomes came along.
They were headed east at a split in the winding tunnels. This area had grown much tighter, sections of the tunnel seemed to loop in and wind around them in a maze. If not for Bipp’s uncanny sense of direction, Logan would have been lost ages ago. Then again, the gnome could be making it all up to not look stupid.
Shortly after crossing a trickling creek, they heard some squealing up ahead, around the bend. Bright eyed, both men looked to each other and simultaneously exclaimed. “A pig!!” They had not had much to eat since the previous day, when they caught some small fish in one of the rivers.
“Hurry ‘fore she gets away!” the gnome’s little legs pumped as fast as they could, Logan outpacing him and laughing. Their merriment was soon cut short coming around the bend, as they almost ran right on top of the giant sauria. This was a nasty variety of trap door lizard, the size of two people, which would jump out of a hidden alcove to spit poison in its prey’s eyes then pull them back into its lair to feast. This particular sauria was about nine feet long and half that wide, thankfully small for its species, with a back covered with sticky spikes and had talons the size of Logan’s head that clawed the ground. As they approached, it spun about to face them, leaving the pig it just captured for the newly arrived meal.
Logan shoved his small companion out of the way just in time. The sauria’s face suddenly seemed to grow, as large flaps covered with tiny spikes opened up on either side of its hissing mouth and a stream of sizzling poison spit forth, hitting the spot where the men had just been standing.
“Sweet mother of milk.” Bipp bit his fist nervously.
Logan had no time for words, freeing his small hand-crossbow, and leveling it to let a round of double shafts off, aiming for the exposed sauria’s side. The pointed projectiles clattered harmlessly off the beast’s scale covered shoulder. He had no time to curse the armored skin, having to throw himself in a wild roll to dodge the lizard’s snapping tongue, which seemed to have an extraordinary reach. Missing Logan, the pink, fleshy appendage stuck onto the limestone wall behind him, saliva melting into the rock. Bipp ran forward, pounding the thing with his tiny hammer before it could retract. The sauria let out a rattling sound of pain, snapping the tongue to safety.
“Aim for the eye’s!” he called out to Logan, who had already reloaded his weapon. Taking the gnome’s cue, he let off a single bolt this time, guided straight and true to its mark, zipping dead center toward the lizard’s iris. The sauria cocked its head to the side, just enough so that the bolt missed its target, again skittering harmlessly off the creature.
“Ohhhh…she’s angry now lad, make a run for it!” the gnome blurted, as he ran full speed toward the lizard, sliding his tiny body underneath its belly and out through the beast’s hind legs. Logan knew the gnome was correct, the sauria was livid alright. It reared back to roar before thunderously charging in to crush him against the rocks and skewer his body with its horned head. Having to react quickly, he ran sideways, moving with such agility that his feet jumped from one rock to the other against the tunnel wall in an arc over the lizard’s head. The beast did not have time to stop as its weight was propelled forward by the momentum of its charge, moving right past his gravity-defying maneuver, to smash head first into the tunnel wall.
Using the temporarily dazing opportunity, Logan caught up with his friend, who was standing beside the dead pig.
“It moves too fast for my crossbow.” He told the gnome, holstering his weapon.
“What else do you have in mind?” Bipp asked, hoping the man had an answer that would save them from becoming lunch.
The lizard was already recovering, shaking its horned head to straighten out the spinning tunnel. Truly enraged now, it barreled down at them, opening its flaps again to spit poison. In answer to the incoming attack, a stream of fire-like energy zipped out of Logan’s laser rifle, melting through the beast’s tongue and incinerating its insides. The heat of his weapon caused the sauria’s eyes to burst outward as it crashed in mid charge to the ground. Still rolling forward it came to rest only inches from their feet, while they stared on in shock, with Logan still aiming his rifle in disbelief. Both men cheered in celebration, and Bipp even ran over to waggle his hindquarters at the beaten monster.
“Plenty of food for us now, huh?” Logan bragged, eagerly gesturing at the horned lizard.
“Can’t be eating that, no sir. Filled with poison he is, right flowing through the blood.” Bipp shook his head, then pointed happily over to the hog, turning Logan’s frown back into a smile.
“The pig’s another story, that’s good meat there as sure as my Aunt Tilly is a butcher!” Bipp slapped his hands together, hungrily licking his lips.
The pair high-fived each other, like two school kids, at the bounty in front of them. The pig had to be a good two hundred pounds
of tasty tender meat and the tunnel here forked past a clearing where the ceiling went back up into the darkness, meaning there should be no problem lighting a fire to set up camp. Things were really looking up for the companions! A loud sound of wings beating through the air came from overhead and the men watched in horror as a giant roc-bat swooped down to snatch their prize!
“Drats…there goes me ham again…” the gnome grumbled, looking sad enough to cry.
“Not on my watch.” Logan held his metal fist up aiming at the fleeing bat. A small latch popped open, whirring as the little spring mechanism popped up, revealing a tiny pill shaped metal capsule.
“What in the seven blazes is that then?” Bipp asked in awe, the engineer in him fully piqued.
“Not sure… let’s find out!” Logan mischievously replied, as he released the pill, which zipped through the air into the shadows above, where the bat had just flown out of view, leaving behind a small spiraling stream of smoke. They waited for a few silent moments, both holding their breath in anticipation, but nothing happened.
Bipp scratched his head disappointed. “Well, at least we tried, and that’s all you can do sometimes, right?” he tried to sound optimistic, but the pitiful whining pitch in his voice belied his true feelings.
“I guess...” Logan was about to admit defeat, just as the capsule tapped its target, letting off a massive fiery explosion overhead that rocked the cave, violently shaking the walls all around them. In the bright fiery ball of the blast, Logan could see the ceiling was much closer than he had judged, not that he had a clue what the weapon would do in the first place anyhow.
The men had to run as fast as they could in opposite directions, as first the dead bat and next their pig came crashing down to the ground, quickly followed by an enormous stalactite, which knocked loose from the ceiling. As the thing hit the dirt, it shattered into hundreds of rocks, some small but most large. One of the smaller pieces flew sideways, catching Logan squarely in the back, throwing him face first to the cavern floor. He decided it was probably a better idea to stay there until the raining rocks ended, which went on for several minutes. As the cloud of dust settled, he could make out a wall of boulders that stretched up a good twenty feet.
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