“Where'd ya go and where’d ya get all that stuff?” Granite demanded.
“I hid until the golem got fixed on you lot, then I decided to sneak past and check out its lair, in case there was something we could use against it. Sorry I missed all the fun.”
“Bah! It's just as well ya weren't here,” he grumbled. “You'd probably've been more likely to drink my blood while I was down, than fight yon beastie.”
“Not likely,” she retorted. “It takes a month to get rid of the taste of dwarf, not to mention all that hair! Yuck!”
“Fighting would've done ya good, lass,” the dwarf shot back. “Ye need some exercise - help ya lose some o' that fat from around yer arse!”
“I think that blow to the head did something weird to your vision.”
“Nothin' wrong with my eyesight, lassie. It's yer mouth that needs sortin' out.”
Bunny laughed out loud. “There's nothing wrong with you; your skull's too thick for a blow to the head to do any damage. Quit faking it and wasting the time of these good people, shorty.”
“Shorty? Don't EVER call a dwarf shorty!”
Bunny just blew him a kiss and said, “Love you, too!”
At that, Granite just turned bright red and started grumbling to himself.
“So,” said Bunny, turning back to the Knight. “How do you like your new sword?”
“A more magnificent piece I hath never beholden. A Mithril blade! Thy gift is most generous.” “Hey, hold on there, Lady. My gift? I never said anything about a gift. Let’s se e, it's worth no less than five hundred gold brand new. Second hand, mint condition, it's got to be worth at least three fifty.”
“You wish me to pay?”
“Hey, I know you can afford it, so don't pretend otherwise. Tell you what, as a special favour, it's yours for three hundred but don't you dare tell anyone about my foolish generosity.”
“Thy price is fair. I accept.”
“I rather thought you might.” She then began mentally cataloguing the rest of her find.
“Dost thou not want thy money now?” Hannah wondered. “Hmmm? Money?” the Sumorityl asked, absently. “Oh, you mean the three hundred?” She tapped her money pouch so it jingled. “Already got it. Thanks.” She winked. “I thought it would save time. Now, who wants this dragonscale knife? I'll start the bidding at sixteen gold.”
Thus began a series of items put up for auction. The dragonscale knife went to Granite, who managed to negotiate a price of twenty-five gold plus a small rough-cut emerald. Phaer accepted a collection of forty-two arrows and a pair of short swords. If he absolutely had to resort to melee fighting, he preferred to dual wield. That cost him a total of sixty gold, and he acquired a few sharp bits of metal that nobody else could see a use for, for an extra three. None of the arrows were mithril tipped, but they were finely crafted and would work fine against most targets. Eilidh got a magic lantern for seventeen, gems and minerals exchanged hands for various amounts.
The wall trap was no problem. A quick Trap Zap from Toli and some considerable brute force reopened the passage and the party got on their way.
Toli walked with Bunny and remarked, “The rate you're going, you'll be rich by the time our quest is over.”
The beautiful Sumorityl shrugged. “I could live with that, I suppose,” she said, “But it really isn't the point.”
“You mean you don't want to be rich? Why else would you do what you do?” “It's a game, my dear hobbit. Money’s just a way to keep score, but mostly it's the fun of playing the game, the thrill of it. Just like warriors like to test their prowess in battle, rangers enjoy the thrill of the chase, the hunt, and mages like to explore the boundaries of magic. I'm a thief and I like to test my skills. Plus, like any skill, it's important to practise among friends and allies, so when the day comes when it's important, maybe life or death for one of us, my skill won't let us down.”
“I never thought of it like that,” Toli admitted. “Not many people do. If a pair of warriors duel to the death over a certain treasure; th at is considered honourable. If a thief tests her skill against an enemy and steals the item, nobody gets hurt; yet the thief is scorned. That's simply the way the world works, but it doesn't stop me playing my game.”
As they walked past the entry tunnel into unknown territory, Lady Hannah took the lead with Loric, Granite taking up rear guard with Phaer, who had slowed down as he was fiddling with some of the bits and pieces he’d just acquired.
Eilidh dropped back to inquire, “What are you doing?” “W hen Bunny sold me these metal shards, I realised that I could probably use them in conjunction with one or two of the bear traps I’ve picked up, and make them into very nasty spike traps. The people of this village were obviously respectful of animals, because these bear traps are designed to merely immobilise an attacking animal, not harm it. I imagine they used herbs or magic to tranquilise a trapped bear and release it safely into the wild. But if I can just work on them a bit and add a couple of metal shards, they would be quite vicious. At best, an enemy would step in one and lose a foot.”
“And at worst?” Phaer smiled. He was getting used to Eilidh's practical nature of examining all sides of an issue. “At worst,” he said, “it'll do absolutely nothing which means I've wasted a bit of time and five gold pieces. I think it's a good trade.”
“And of course, there's no magic involved,” Eilidh remarked, trying to deal with the bad taste in her mouth.
“Obviously.” “I'm sorry, Phaer, I'm just naturally suspicious of anything that isn't at least a bit magical.”
“Does that include me?”
The Catalyst smiled, feeling totally at ease in his company. “No, it doesn't. You’re an exception, a special case.”
“Story of my life,” he quipped. “Just trust me, OK? I know what I'm doing...more or less.”
“I wish I did,” she laughed. “Fine. Do whatever you think is best.”
“Thank you for your faith in me.” Eilidh shook her head. “It’s not faith,” she insisted. “I've already lost track of how many times you've proved yourself to me and I'll certainly feel better if we can reduce the chances of anything sneaking up behind us.”
“That's the beauty of being non -magical, Eilidh. To anyone scrying for the magical signature of traps, mine will be invisible. The only way anyone is likely to even think of looking for nonmagical traps if they, too, are magically Dead. They'd probably have to be a ranger, too, or a thief with elfsight.”
“That's pretty unlikely,” Eilidh agreed. “I can't imagine we're going to be followed by a magically Dead elven rangerthief.”
Chapter 19
The party continued to adopt the principle of taking the first left at every opportunity. Along the way Taka, recognising a fellow metallic dragon, walked by Calandra’s side, who offered, “Thank you, child, for your timely intervention. The gentle hand of Patrelaux Himself must have guided you to us.”
“Well, there’s a lake near here. It’s a favourite spot of mine. I’m just grateful that the Father of Light helped me to be in the right place at the right time. What about you lot? What brings you all the way out here to the middle of nowhere?”
“Well, I’m not certain it’s my place to say. Eilidh?” she called out. The Catalyst was deep in thought, and it was only when the Cleric called out a second time that she snapped out of it, and realised that it fell to her to deal with this. Why me? She wondered, not for the first time, but she pushed that aside and admonished herself to focus. The situation was for Eilidh herself to deal with, and wishing it were otherwise would not change reality.
Putting on her best polite smile, she extended a hand and introduced herself and the rest of the group. From her observation, Taka seemed to have caught most of their names already, but she was buying herself time to decide what to do about their new acquaintance.
“You were asking the Revered Daughter what we’re doing here?” she asked.
“If you don’t mind my asking,” Taka replied.
“Well there you’ve hit the target on the nose,” Eilidh said.
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t tell you. Not just like that.”
“Well, you don’t have to if you don’t want to, but—”
“—It’s not about what I want,” Eilidh interrupted. “It’s about what I must do. All the others you see here are…my comrades…”
“And friends!” Toli popped up and added. “Yes, and friends.” Eilidh wished she could give her friend a hug in exchange for that simple statement, but that would shatter the image she needed to project. “The point is,” she continued, “we’ve not known each other for that long, but we’ve been through a lot together and I trust them.”
“But you don’t trust me,” Taka deduced.
“I don’t know you,” Eilidh corrected.
“I did just save your lives back there!” Taka objected.
“And you tried to warn us about going that way in the first place, and although your warning was a fraction too late, please don’t think I don’t appreciate that you tried.”
“But nevertheless you still don’t trust me.” Taka repeated. “Fine, don’t tell me anything. I know the way out, I’ll just go.”
She turned to leave, but Eilidh grabbed her arm. “I’m afraid it’s not as simple as that.”
Taka snatched her arm back and glowered, threateningly. Immediately, she found she had weapons pointing at her from all sides as Eilidh’s party moved to protect her.
“Is this how you repay someone for saving you?” the dragon-warrior demanded. “Not so long ago,” Eilidh said by way of reply, “a few of us had some trouble in Shakaran Borderlands. We acted to defend someone from attack, to save his life if we could.” She left out the fact that the man under attack in this story didn’t actually need any help. That wasn’t the point: their intent was what mattered. “We ended up being taken captive for our trouble.”
“So because he was ungrateful, you’re now doing the same to me?” “No, that’s not it. You see, it wasn’t that he was ungrateful. It was a simple matter of security. He didn’t trust us. He didn’t know us. Eventually, we were invited to join him as his guests, rather than his prisoners.” Again, she left out part of the story, both because it was irrelevant and because she couldn’t allow herself to be distracted by thoughts of Kismet. “Now, our situations differ in some ways, I admit, but one thing is the same: the need for security. What we're doing is too important to risk on the chance that someone who rushes in to save us all in the nick of time, might not be the friend she appears to be.”
“So let me go. Then I’m no danger to you.” “On the contrary, letting you go is far too dangerous. Before we entered the mine, I gave everyone the choice to stay or go, but I said that anyone who tried to leave once we were inside would be killed as a traitor.”
“So you’re going to kill me?” “Not unless you prove to be an enemy. As I’ve said, I trust my…” she hesitated for a moment, “friends, and yet if any one of them violated that trust, I and the others would have to act decisively. Now that you’re here, I have to make a decision. We’re not equipped to handle a prisoner, nor can I risk simply tying you up and leaving you here so that you can get out of your bonds and escape. Therefore, rationally, I have to choose to trust you and ask that you accompany us as our `guest`. I am simply making sure you understand the terms of that trust.”
“And after you’ve done whatever it is you’re doing and we get out of the mine?”
“At that time, you will be free to do as you wish,” Eilidh answered. “You have my word, for whatever that’s worth.” “Well, it seems to me I have little choice, but let me give you the terms of my trust and remind you than when we get outside, I’ll be a dragon again, and in a much better position to fight if your word proves false.”
Eilidh nodded. “Agreed,” she said and offered a handshake, which Taka accepted. The Catalyst motioned for everyone to put up their weapons. They all complied. “Believe it or not,” Taka offered, “I do understand the need for security. It’s something I’m accustomed to. Now, having come to terms, what can you possibly be doing way out here that’s important enough to warrant such precautions?”
“The story I told you before, about the man in Shakaran Borderlands?” Eilidh prompted.
“What about it?”
“The man in the story was the Prince Regent, Garald. We have reason to believe his daughter, Princess Mystaya, is being held somewhere in this maze of tunnels.”
“Someone took her?”
“That’s right.”
“Wow! Whoever it was must be good-”
“--To get past Shakaran Castledefences, yes, we know,” Eilidh finished.
“I don’t mean that,” Taka returned. “I mean to actually snatch Mystaya.”
“I don’t understand,” Eilidh said. “Do you know the princess?”
“Let’s just say our two families know each other.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Look, you’ve got no reason to trust anything I tell you, so there’s no point giving you a family history I can’t prove.”
“Fair point,” the Catalyst allowed. “But if you’re going to believe anything, believe this: Mystaya is not the damsel in distress type. She carries a blade at all times and she knows how to use it. I believe she even sleeps with a dagger under her pillow and she also has conjurer magic to call upon to defend herself.”
“If what you’re saying is true, then we’re in even more trouble than I thought!” “It is true," Taka insisted. "Don’t take my word. Think about it: Garald is the Commander -inChief of all Shakaran forces – a position Mystaya herself will inherit one day. Do you really suppose she hasn’t been trained?”
“I hadn’t thought of it like th—“
“—Wait!” Taka interrupted, her manner growing more urgent. “Why are you rescuing her? Garald has the resources of one of the strongest military forces in Mythallen!” Eilidh explained about the shields that could detect sources of higher level magic. “Then we have another problem,” Taka warned. “I’m a bronze dragon. My innate magic is almost certainly above the detection threshold, and if it isn’t then the magic of a silver dragon definitely is!” She looked pointedly at Calandra, whose eyes grew wide.
“Dear Father of Light,” she prayed, “I never thought of that! I may have jeopardised our mission and put the princess in danger and all because I lied about who – what– I really am.” “It’s not your fault, it’s mine.” Eilidh offered. She wasn’t experienced in comforting a friend, but she knew she had to get the Cleric past blaming herself. “I’ve had long enough to think of it since you first showed us your true form but I didn’t. It’s hard to keep track of everything.”
“Aye, it is,” Granite agreed. “I’m a Catalyst, too, supposedly an expert in magic and I didnae think either.”
“Done is done,” Phaer put in. “We can’t undo it. If our cover is blown, then we have to move fast and not waste any more time.”
There was a general murmur of agreement and they continued, moving as quickly as they dared without being reckless.
* * * * * As they moved deeper into the mine, strange creatures of varying sizes and ferocity confronted them, but never in sufficient numbers to trouble them overmuch. It seemed increasingly likely that the bulk of the monsters that had attacked Marina Fells had continued on their way and not entered the mine. Eilidh could not celebrate this idea, however, because it probably meant some other unprepared, unsuspecting village was going to be slaughtered like Marina Fells. Sadly, there was nothing they could do about that.
In a tunnel up ahead, stood a large group of kytes - small creatures shorter than a hobbit and thinner than an elf child. Although they were not much of a threat individually, they seemed to hunt in packs of thirty or more and they were very fast and agile, making them hard to hit. This group numbered over fifty and as soon as they spotted the party, their archers started shooting arrows at mo
re than twice the rate Phaer could manage. The other kytes rushed the party with their knives. Granite, Hannah and Loric took the fight to the enemy, Taka alongside them, while Rochelle protected the magic-users and Phaer continued to act as rear guard with his bow and arrows. A few of the kytes had magic, summoning a pair of illusionary wolves.
“You want to play with illusions?” Bunny asked. “I'll give your dogs a chewtoy!” She summoned a Target Dummy that drew the attacking wolves away from the party. By the time they had finished ripping it apart, Phaer's arrows had found the kyte sorcerers. With their deaths, the wolves vanished. Eilidh restored Bunny’s spent Life.
Calandra prayed for Light Wounds on one of the kytes that got too close and then knocked it unconscious with several blows of her staff. Rochelle cast some healing on Granite and he returned the favour by Granting Life to her.
The party gradually cut down the remaining kytes with a combination of physical weapons and magic. A pair of kytes had tried to sneak around behind the party, but Bernice was aware of it. She allowed them to get close, and then whirled around, her face changing suddenly to reveal her vampire heritage. Teeth flashing, she roared,“Boo!” and the terrified kytes fled with a shriek.
Granite, breathing hard, complained, “Ye might've done that in the first place, lass. That face is enough tae frighten anybody.” “I have a vampire for a mother,” she shot back. “What's your excuse? Besi des, I can always change back to my human face,” she added, her beauty returning. “I'm afraid you're stuck with what you've got.”
Taka laughed. “I don't know why you bother, dwarf. Her sharp tongue is a mightier weapon than anything the rest of us possess!”
“Indeed so,” Lady Hannah agreed. “If her wit were a sword, it wouldst surely shatter the finest diamond blade as easily as glass.”
“Maybe,” Loric joined in,” but if Mr Longbeard's skull were a weapon, it would make a damn fine club. Thick enough to blunt even my Soul Crusher!”
Chosen (Majaos Book 1) Page 21
