Order Of The Dragon (Omnibus 1-4)

by Jason Halstead

  Her cry felt muted and oppressed to her.

  Breathing hard and fast, Jethallin took a few steps forward and then stopped. She had to go back. She had to find Jennaca. But she'd turned a few times and wasn't sure which way was the right one. "Where's the wall?" she whimpered as she reached for the side of the tunnel in vain.

  She turned slowly and gasped when she saw a light ahead of her. The foggy radiance proved she had stumbled into something beyond her understanding. Fog was unheard of in the desert city of Mira. She walked towards it, knowing she had nowhere else to go. Her bare feet began to sink into the spongy ground and she soon could make out the tendrils of mist reaching towards her.

  She hugged her arms to her chest to ward off the chill. She couldn't see where the light came from; it grew brighter as she walked. Her foot splashed into a shallow puddle, drawing her up short and making her look down. She couldn't see through the mist more than a few inches past her knees. She dug her toes into the ground and felt the cold and smooth texture of the mud broken up only by the scratchy roots and sticks trapped in it.

  Jethallin swallowed and hugged herself tighter. "Hello?" she called into the fog. "Is anybody here? Or there? Or, um, anything? Please, I'm lost. My daughter, I mean, she's lost. I can't find her."

  A dark shape parted the fog ahead of her and moved closer. She heard the splash of each step and soon saw more than the shape of a man carrying a spear and walking through the impossible swamp. He wore a loin cloth and had some animal fur wrapped around each wrist, acting like a bracer. A necklace filled with animal teeth hung around his neck. His chest and face bore scars and cuts, some of which still oozed blood from them.

  Jethallin stared at the savage looking man and felt her lip trembling. A moment later, she realized her entire body was trembling. "Help me, please," she begged. "I don't know where I am! I was walking with my baby one minute and—"

  "Silence, child!" the savage barked at her with a wave of his spear. "Who are you? Where did the woman go?"

  "What?" Jethallin stammered. "I'm not a child! I have a child, I, um, I don't—"

  He stared at her chest and scowled. "Your teats are swollen with milk."

  Jethallin gasped at his crude behavior and lifted her arms higher to cover herself. He was right; they were swollen and the pressure of her arms made her breasts ache.

  "Where is the woman, Caitlyn?"

  "Caitlyn? Alto's sister? She, uh, she's in the dungeon, I think."

  He turned and used his spear to gesture at the foggy swamp around them. "She was here, doing as I bid her."

  "Um, I don't know?" Jethallin tried again. "I followed Alto into the dungeon but they were gone when I got there. There was a lot of blood on the floor, but the only bodies were guards."

  His eyes narrowed. "Alto?" he asked.

  Jethallin nodded and asked, "Who are you, anyhow? Where is this place?"

  He stamped his spear into the water and said, "I am Snake-Killer. This is my home, and my prison."

  Jethallin looked around. "Your prison? Can't you just leave?"

  He gestured into the darkness. "Walk as far as you wish. There is nowhere else to go."

  "So how did Caitlyn leave, if she was here?"

  "Sometimes they leave," he said. He looked her up and down before saying, "One of the lizard men comes and tells me what is next. Your flesh is not scaled?"

  Jethallin frowned at his changing topic. She glanced down at her arms and the skin of her upper chest and frowned. "No, I don't have scales. I'm human, not a splisskin."

  "Splisskin," he repeated in a hiss and twisted his spear in the mud.

  "So, you're trapped here? And so was Caitlyn? How'd she escape?"

  He looked around and then at her. He shook his head. "I do not know."

  "You said she did your bidding. Um, what do you mean?"

  He moved forward, startling her as he walked up to her and studied her closely. He sniffed and walked around her. "You don't smell like one of them."

  "Um, I'm not," she assured him. "Look, I was walking through the Shadows when suddenly I was here. I don't know where my baby is, and I'm sure she needs me. Can you just tell me how to get out of here?"

  He raised his head and stared down his broad nose at her. "Always they make demands of me. They tell me what I must do when a new person comes to win my freedom, but they have no honor."

  "What are you talking about?"

  He lowered his spear until the tip was pointed at her face and only a little more than a foot from her. "You will help me."

  "What? I will help you? Help you what? Look, I just want to get back to Jennaca!"

  "Do you have honor?" he demanded.

  "Honor?" she repeated. She shook her head. "I don't understand. I'm not anybody, okay? I'm just trying to take care of my daughter and keep her safe. We want to get away from Mira but we don't have any money and nobody's going to help us, so I do what I have to."

  His eyes narrowed.

  Jethallin nodded. "Yeah, that's right. I steal and I sell my body so we can get by. I don't like it but you know what, I realized when I first looked into her eyes and she grabbed my finger that it doesn't matter what I like. I have to keep her safe and give her everything I can."

  Jethallin stepped forward and pushed his spear aside. "So if that means I have to lay with you to get out of here and get back to her, then that's what I'll do. Is that the help you need?"

  Snake-Killer backed away a step and brought his spear back between them. Jethallin frowned and held her ground. "You have courage."

  "Yeah, but no honor. I'm a thief and a whore."

  "I am a warrior. The mightiest of my people," he said. He reached up and ran his fingers over the sharp teeth on his necklace. "Every one of these came from a different lizardman. Until they came in numbers too great for us to defeat."

  "I'm sorry," Jethallin said.

  He stared at her. "Can you fight?"

  "Fight? Um, if I have to. I'm better at running and hiding."

  "I will teach you."

  "Teach me? To fight?"

  He nodded. "I will teach you and you will be able to protect your daughter on your feet, not your back."

  Jethallin winced. "Thank you, uh, Snake-Killer, but I don't have time for that. I have to get back to her."

  "You will help me." He ignored her and repeated his earlier statement.

  "Help you do what?"

  "Help me be free!" he said. "I will help you and you will help me."

  "Sure, whatever you say," she said. "Just let me go!"

  "You agree?" he asked.

  Jethallin's eyebrow rose as she said, "Yeah, whatever."

  Snake-Killer grabbed the chiseled stone head of his spear and pulled it across his palm. Blood ran from his wound. He thrust his open and bleeding hand towards her. "Seal it."

  "Seal it? What do you mean?"

  "Seal our deal with blood."

  "What will that do? Did you do that with Caitlyn? What deal did you make with her?"

  "She was to kill the kelgryn princess."

  Jethallin's mouth fell open. She looked down at the swirling mists and remembered the blood on the floor of the dungeon. "All that blood," she whispered. She looked up at him. "That was Patrina's, wasn't it? Caitlyn killed her? Oh, saints!"

  Snake-Killer's blood dripped into the mist and plopped into the water below while he held his hand out, waiting for her.

  Jethallin jerked her gaze back up to him. "How did you go from her to me? I was there, in the room, but the others were there before me." She looked down at the ring on her finger and saw in the light that it was carved out of jade.

  "Everyone I have seen in this place wore a ring such as that."

  Jethallin reached down and felt it on her finger. She grabbed it and tugged at it while the savage warrior stared at her. It stuck on her knuckle at first but a second and a third tug worked it past. She pulled it free and looked up, only to find herself standing in a cool but dark and dry tunnel again.


  Jethallin felt the reassuring pressure of Jennaca against her chest. Her baby was still sleeping. She spun in the tunnel and saw the faint receding light at the corner where she'd left the other thief behind.

  Jethallin turned around again and clutched the ring in her hand. That was how she could leave, by taking the ring off. He said he could train her to fight, but did she want to fight? She rubbed her hands across her sleeping baby and wondered about the knives stashed in her clothing. Fighting would mean she could protect them both. Nobody would be able to take things from her again.

  She nodded in the darkness. Yes, she would make him teach her how to fight. She smiled and reached out to run her hand along the left side of the tunnel before setting out again. She'd lost count of how many steps she'd taken but she knew it was the third tunnel on her left and she guessed she'd already passed the first.

  Two passages later, Jethallin stared in the near total darkness up at the trapdoor above her. Jennaca had woken and stretched against her, and then started to whimper. Jethallin fed her and waited at the bottom of the stairs. Alto's friends should be gathering upstairs, but the news she had to share wouldn't be welcomed. Patrina was dead and she had no idea what happened to the others. Captured or killed, most likely.

  Would Alto's friends punish her for it? Would they beat her or kill her? Perhaps they'd been captured or killed, too. The entire city was after them and the reward substantial. Especially for a beggar. She frowned and shook her head. She couldn't face them, not without having some trick or bit of news. She squeezed the ring in the palm of her hand again. Could Snake-Killer help her?

  The time she'd spent with him before had only taken a heartbeat. Could he teach her how to fight in the same time? She already knew a few tricks. A young woman couldn't survive on the streets if she didn't. She nodded and bent her head low to brush her lips over Jennaca's forehead. "We'll be safe soon, baby," she whispered as she slipped the ring back on.

  Chapter 17

  Mordrim used the burning building as a distraction after he climbed out of the escape tunnel. He smelled horses and camels and, after a quick look, saw that he was behind the stables near the northeastern wall of Mira. The dwarf walked back through the city, moving casually and paying no particular attention to anything. He saw the smoke rising from Snord's shop and the guards rushing towards it.

  Unable to deny his curiosity, Mordrim moved closer through the streets and the gathering crowd and saw the guards were trying to keep everyone back from the building. Mordrim paused long enough to note that no one bothered trying to put it out. With a scowl tugging the right side of his lips up, he kept his head down and moved away through the city to the south.

  With his nerves on edge, the dwarf was surprised to find that he made it to the River District without being harassed. The presence of guards on the street had lessened, he noticed. He clenched his fists as he made his way to the warehouse Jethallin had shown them earlier. Had Alto been captured already? Was the would-be war averted because his friends had been turned in? Or worse, had he failed his vow to serve and protect Patrina?

  Mordrim slammed the door open to the warehouse without meaning to. He scowled at it and shut it—hard—and walked to the rusty ladder that led up to the roof. He spied movement above him and saw Namitus wave at him from the doorway to the roof. Mordrim grunted and threw his arm up in a terse response, and then climbed up the ladder.

  He climbed out onto the tile roof and moved into the sheltered section that was large enough for a dozen men to gather crouched and safe from prying eyes. They didn't have a dozen men, though; all they had right now was three.

  "Any luck?" Namitus asked him.

  Mordrim shook his head. "Almost, but we were ambushed. Snord was killed and I had to burn the place down to escape."

  "New armor?" Kar inquired while studying the dwarf.

  "It was Snord's," Mordrim said. "Found it in the escape tunnel he had beneath his place."

  Namitus sighed. "I got the merchants to agree to help, but without the Foreign District it may not be enough. Kar? What of your wizard friends?"

  The wizard snorted. "Friends? I wouldn't be so bold as to call them that to their face. One of them, perhaps." He turned and looked at the staff in his hand and Mordrim thought he saw a hint of color come to the man's cheeks. "She knew more than I thought, but less than we do. As for help, there's naught she could do."

  "Damn," Namitus swore. He opened his mouth to say more but paused and tilted his head. He turned slowly and glanced around the roof, and then moved nearer the edge and peered over the edge.

  "What are you for?" Mordrim demanded. "Them thieves hit you over the head again?"

  "Merchants, not thieves," Namitus reminded him. "And I'm wondering what that noise is."

  The dwarf harrumphed and asked, "What noise?"

  Kar nodded. "I hear it too. Faintly. A whistling noise?"

  Namitus frowned. "I think someone's playing a broken pipe. That or they're beating a cat against a rusty metal platter."

  Kar smirked while Mordrim grimaced. He glanced around and admitted, "I didn't get a chance to eat much. I'd settle for a cat on a platter about now."

  Before the others could speak, they heard the hatch thud as it fell open and Jethallin stuck her head out. She moved towards them, glancing at them all quickly and then away. She moved with her feet loose and set ready so she could spring away if she needed to, unlike her earlier stance that kept her feet closer together and allowed her to be light-footed. Jethallin clutched her baby in her sling with one hand while her other was tucked into the rags she wore.

  "Where's the others?" Mordrim was the first to ask.

  She opened her mouth as she stared at him and then closed it. She licked her lips and squared her shoulders to them. Jethallin's head shook from side to side as she said, "I don't know."

  Mordrim's eyes narrowed and he found his hand on the head of his hammer. He opened his mouth for an angry question when Namitus stepped between them to block his line of sight with the girl.

  "You took them to the dungeons?" he asked with a calmer voice than the dwarf would have managed. "Are they still there?"

  "No," she said with another quick shake of her head. "I heard noise. Someone yelling something. Then footsteps. Fighting, too, and they were gone. I went and checked but found nothing. Well, almost nothing."

  "What's that mean?" Mordrim growled.

  "Dead guards," she said. "And blood in a cell. A lot of blood. I, uh, I don't know what else happened."

  Kar stepped up to her, one furry eyebrow lifted. "There's more, I think. Tell us, girl, what happened. No harm will come to you, as long as you didn't bring any harm to our friends."

  She turned and looked at all three of them and backed up half a step. Her hand fidgeted in her rags, drawing their attention.

  "Let's see your hand," Namitus demanded.

  She swallowed and glanced around, and then pulled her hand out and held it up, showing she didn't have anything.

  "That's new," Kar observed.

  Jethallin's breath hissed through her parted lips. Her eyes followed the wizard's to her finger where the jade ring rested. "I found it. In the dungeon."

  Kar frowned as he studied it. "There's magic in that ring, girl. Powerful magic."

  She nodded. "I know, but it's mine!" she hissed. "I have to do something with it. I, uh, I just came back to tell you what happened. I have to go. I'm sorry about your friends."

  "Wait!" Namitus cried out.

  "You can't just be dropping that like a brick of molten ore on our toes and taking off!" Mordrim growled.

  "I don't know any more about them!" Jethallin said. "My guess is yes, they were captured. I don't know, though. I didn't see them and I had to get out of there as quick as I could once I thought they weren't coming back."

  "Where are you going?" Kar asked.

  "What? Where? Oh, uh, a long ways away from here, I guess. To the west."

  "The west? Why?"

&
nbsp; Jethallin's eyes went to the ring. "You wouldn't believe me."

  The wizard offered a brief smile. "You might be surprised what we'd believe."

  "It's not important. Not to you or your friends. If I were you, I'd leave as quick and quiet as you can. The king has agents everywhere. They'll find you sooner or later."

  "Very well," Kar said. "If you're sure that's all you know."

  "Yes!" she insisted. Jennaca stirred and let out a cry against her chest.

  "You're just letting her go?" Mordrim demanded, his gruff voice rising. Jennaca cried louder at the dwarf's surly tone.

  Namitus turned and glanced over the edge of the building again as the sounds of poorly played pipes grew louder.

  "One more question," Kar said. "I promise."

  Jethallin bounced her daughter to try to soothe her. "I'll try to answer if I can."

  "The scream you heard, you said they yelled something. What was it?"

  She frowned and shook her head. "I, uh, I'm not sure. I don't even know if it was a word."

  "What was it?" Kar pressed.

  "Well, it sounded kind of like, uh, Thork."

  Jennaca quieted against her chest while Mordrim swore under his breath. Namitus stiffened. Just as she'd spoken the troll's name, he heard a commotion that was followed a moment later by people running through the street at the mouth of the alley beside him.

  "You're not going to believe this," he said without looking at his friends.

  All three of them walked across the roof to stand near him and stare down. A massive green-skinned swamp troll stood at the mouth of the alley with some pipes in his hand. Around and behind him trailed dozens of rats big enough to scare away a grown dog. The troll looked up at them and paused his shrieking melody to wave and shout, "Ey der!"

  Jethallin yelped and stumbled back. She held both her hands protectively over her baby and stared at the others. "What is that?"

  Kar turned and sighed. "That, my girl, is Thork."

  * * * *

  They met the troll on the ground floor of the warehouse. Jethallin tried to escape but the hound-sized rats that circled the troll made her shriek and hide behind the three adventurers. The rats showed them no interest, other than an occasional sniff.