The Darkness of Old; The Ancient Crown; The Winged One

by Hans Bezdek

  “You must be the Great Oracle I keep hearing about,” sneered Ulrich.

  The Great Oracle stared quietly back at the black half dragon.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked. “What do you want?”

  “It’s polite to respond when people ask who you are,” said Ulrich, ignoring me.

  “I am he,” said the Great Oracle, his voice much louder than before.

  “I take it you knew I was coming?” asked Ulrich.

  The Great Oracle nodded.

  “Why are you here?” I asked Ulrich again.

  “Brave of you not to run away,” said Ulrich, taking another step forward. “Or foolish.”

  The half dragon continued to walk forward, now just a foot or two away from me. The surprise of seeing him here wore off and I stepped towards him. I hated being ignored.

  “Back off!” I said, shoving at Ulrich’s chest. My hands went through him, and the half dragon took another step closer.

  Ulrich hadn’t been ignoring me. He didn’t know I was here. The spell the Great Oracle used to summon me in my dreams must’ve only let him see me. That meant I couldn’t help if things turned sour…

  “Do you know of another one like me?” asked Ulrich to the Great Oracle. “Goes by the name of Reimar?”

  The Great Oracle didn’t respond.

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” shrugged Ulrich. “Last time I was in this dump of a city, me and him had a nice chat. While we were talking, he let slip that he knew I was planning an attack on Yaerna in a month’s time. I had no idea how he could’ve possibly found that out, and it’s been bothering me ever since. Once I found out you lived in this secret little place above Durnskeep, I put two and two together.”

  I winced at hearing this. I hadn’t been entirely truthful with the Great Oracle, and now it was all coming to light in the worst way.

  “You’re smarter than you appear,” smiled the Great Oracle. “Although that isn’t that difficult.”

  Ulrich let out a low growl and my eyes widened. Even I knew now wasn’t the time to verbally attack the half dragon.

  “M-Maybe don’t insult him,” I warned the Great Oracle. “He’s strong, and I can’t help you-”

  “I assume that’s why you accelerated your plans,” guessed the Great Oracle. “You didn’t want everyone knowing when you and your army of evil would arrive.”

  “Army of evil,” chuckle Ulrich as he shook his head. “The real evil is that my people have been forcibly removed from their position at the top of society! The only evil armies are the ones that stood against Ludek, and any foolish enough to stand in my way.”

  “The black and red dragons deserve the same respect and rights that all the other races deserve,” said the Great Oracle. “No matter what you believe, your people are no better or worse than a human, goblin, or elf.”

  “I didn’t come here to have a philosophical debate,” said Ulrich. “I’ve come to see why you are getting in my way, and why you are trying to persuade Reimar.”

  “You are the one trying to sway Reimar!” said the Great Oracle, his calm demeanor suddenly changing to anger. “You’re the reason he has been involved at all in this silly war of yours, and all I’m doing his trying to help put an end to it!”

  “You’re poisoning his mind!” hissed Ulrich. “He knows deep down inside that we should be working together, not against one another! If it weren’t for you, he’d have joined the Dar’Ka and we’d be on our way to ruling Yaerna together!”

  “I like to believe that isn’t true,” said the Great Oracle, his voice going quiet again.

  “Aha!” said Ulrich, pointing a clawed finger at the man’s face. “You know it! You can see the future and different paths. You know that if you never got involved, Reimar would be on the other side of this war!”

  “He’s lying!” I shouted at the Great Oracle, growing more and more annoyed that I couldn’t shut Ulrich up. “I’d have never joined up with him!”

  The Great Oracle stared resolutely at Ulrich, not agreeing with him but not denying it. The man’s silence burned me with guilt. Did the Great Oracle believe what Ulrich said because I hadn’t told him about our conversation? Did he think I really would’ve chosen to join the Dar’Ka’s mission to enslave and rule the world?

  “Will you stop your communication with Reimar?” asked Ulrich, lowering his hand. “You seem like a man of principle, even if they are a bit misguided. If you say that you will not try to taint Reimar’s opinion of me and my goals anymore, I will leave you be.”

  “Just lie and say you won’t!” I shouted at the Great Oracle. “Who cares if you break your word to Ulrich? He’s a maniac!”

  “I refuse to tell Reimar anything but the truth about you,” said the Great Oracle, his gaze not faltering from Ulrich’s. I couldn’t understand why the Great Oracle wasn’t doing the smart thing here. “You can end this unholy crusade against the innocent people of Yaerna, and the three of us could sit down and try to plan out a way to help bring peace between the Dar’Ka and the rest of the world. That is the only way that I will change my opinion of you.”

  “Really?” asked Ulrich, shaking his head. “You think that sitting down over drinks is the answer to this problem?”

  “It’s a start,” said the Great Oracle. “Both sides of committed wrongs against the other. Perhaps we could find a way to solve this without war and death.”

  Ulrich hesitated.

  I stared hard at the back of the half dragon, filled with hope. Could the Great Oracle have finally talked some sense into Ulrich? I knew the half dragon had some warped views of the world, but he wasn’t completely unreasonable. Could war be avoided?

  “Now that I’m thinking about it,” said Ulrich slowly. “I do believe that’s one option.”

  I smiled and the Great Oracle relaxed. He was actually making headway.

  “I think I’ll stick with another,” said Ulrich, lunging forward with frightening speed. His right claw shoved straight through the middle of the Great Oracle’s chest, and the old man’s eyes went wide with shock.

  “NO!” I cried out, the spell breaking on me and sending me back to Ilkas.

  I shot up in my bed, eyes filling with tears as I continued my cry.

  Thump.

  “W-What’s happenin?!” said Dhot, falling out of his bed on the other side of the room. “Who’s shouting?!”

  I jumped out of my bed and scrambled to grab my things. “We’ve got to hurry and get to Durnskeep!”

  “W-Why?” asked Dhot, watching me with concern. “I-Is it the Great Oracle?”

  “It is,” I said, fighting back tears and failing. “He’s dead!”

  Chapter 3

  The four of us rode our horses as hard as they would go as we rushed towards Durnskeep. After explaining what happened early into the journey, silence fell among us for the several hours it took to get to the city on the mountain. When we began our ascent up the mountain, I noticed Cassandra staring at me.

  “Yeah?” I asked.

  “It… It’s nothing,” she mumbled, shaking her head.

  I could feel the question in her hesitation, and it was one I had asked myself many times over the past few hours. “You wonder if I was just dreaming, and the Great Oracle is fine.”

  Cassandra nodded, looking away.

  “Aye, I be thinkin that as well,” added Braun. “We all believe ya, don’t ya doubt that. But maybe it was a vivid night terror.”

  “I hope you’re right, but I don’t think that you are,” I said, shaking my head. “Everything went like it usually does when he summons me, and he gave me new information.”

  “We did assume that Ulrich would attack Gorland first,” said Dhot. “That’s not exactly new to us.”

  “We’re all happy to hurry to Durnskeep,” said Cassandra. “We’re just trying to give you hope that he isn’t actually dead.”

  “I appreciate it,” I said, going quiet again as I continued to replay the Great Oracle’s death over a
nd over in my head.

  Nearly an hour later we reached the high walls of Durnskeep.

  “Ugh, they’ve moved the blasted gates again, haven’t they?” groaned Braun.

  “Looks like it,” I nodded, leading my horse around to the east side of the walls. “We’ll find one sooner or later.”

  It was thankfully sooner. Unfortunately, the gate was uncommonly busy on this particular morning. Two lines made up of mostly humans waited patiently for the two guards to check through everyone’s things.

  “There’s really only two of you working today?!” I shouted to the front.

  “We don’t like it any more than you!” shouted back one of the guards checking an old woman’s oversized bag. “This isn’t exactly our idea of a good time!”

  “It’s not like these two are the ones that made the schedule,” added Cassandra, leading us to the back of one of the lines.

  “I know, I know,” I mumbled, looking at all the people in front of us. There were a lot of families with young children running around and elderly men and women leaning on walking sticks. This was going to take ages.

  “Dunno about ye, but I’m sick of sittin on these stupid beasts!” declared Braun, struggling but eventually getting off his mount.

  “Couldn’t agree more,” said Dhot, hopping off his with a bit more finesse.

  Cassandra and I also dismounted. Our horses deserved a break from all the riding we had done on them over the past few days. I suspected we’d be needing them again before the day was done.

  “I hate waiting in lines,” mumbled Dhot. “Most people are idiots, which makes the whole process take ten times longer than it needs to be.”

  “That’s not fair,” said Cassandra. “Different people are at different stages in life. We don’t know what they might be going through.”

  “I’m with Dhot on this one,” I said. “It’s not just one way, though. The towns always put their worst workers on entry detail like this. The people that work hard and they like all have cushy jobs where they sit down and don’t have to actually deal with people.”

  “Aye, true that is,” nodded Braun as the line moved forward one person.

  “So the three of you believe everyone’s a moron, besides us?” asked Cassandra.

  The three of us nodded.

  “Exactly,” I said, smiling for the first time that day. I knew it sounded bad, but I thought it was true.

  “Since you all are so smart,” said Cassandra, crossing her arms. “What’s the plan when we get inside?”

  “Check on the Great Oracle, of course,” shrugged Braun.

  “And how do the three of you suggest we find him?”

  “He’s in his usual spot,” I said, not sure what she was getting at.

  “The spot that he always magically teleports us to?” asked Cassandra. “The thing he can’t do if he’s dead?”

  The three of us were quiet for a minute.

  “Sounds like you three aren’t any better than anyone here,” said Cassandra, her nose slightly in the air now that she proved her point.

  “Maha!” laughed Dhot. “She’s got us there!”

  “I never said we were the smartest people,” I argued. “We’re just smarter than everyone here.”

  “Aye, I’m sure we can figure somethin out,” nodded Braun. “There’s gotta be a way in and out of that place besides magic.”

  “Yeah,” I nodded. “We could always…”

  A portal opened up beneath each of us as we took another step.

  The four of us tumbled into the Great Oracle’s place, bouncing off of the clump of pillows that acted as a landing pad.

  “See?” said Dhot from on top of me. “We found a way!”

  I pushed the goblin off of me and got up. Taking the room in, everything looked… normal. The stack of books and papers that had blown everywhere were neatly where they belonged. There was no hole in any of the windows, and there was no marking that showed they had been damaged at all. Most importantly, the body of the Great Oracle wasn’t in the middle of the floor.

  “Looks pretty tidy for a place where a half dragon murdered someone,” noted Braun, walking up next to me.

  “It does,” I admitted, walking over and touching the glass that had been shattered just hours earlier. It was completely in one piece. “Everything felt so real…”

  “Nightmares can be that way sometimes,” said Cassandra, placing a hand on my shoulder. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. We needed to come here anyway.”

  “About time you four showed up,” came a raspy voice from the other side of the room.

  We all turned to see a three foot tall kobold wearing a gray waistcoat and tan trousers. The creature had his arms behind his back and lazily examined each of us, giving off the impression that he wasn’t impressed with us.

  I knew that was accurate.

  “Long time no see, Roxbury,” I smiled.

  “Please refrain from rhyming if you could, sir,” sniffed the kobold. “Would any of you like a cup of tea? Perhaps a biscuit? We have much to discuss.”

  “Got anythin stronger?” asked Braun.

  “Than a biscuit?”

  “He wants to know if you have any alcohol,” clarified Cassandra.

  “Heavens no,” said Roxbury, looking disgusted. “That stuff disrupts the mind from being productive. We have no use for such things here.”

  Braun looked devastated.

  “Where’s the Great Oracle?” I asked. “I had a funny dream last night I want to tell him about.”

  “I’m afraid you weren’t dreaming,” said Roxbury. “What you saw was real. The Great Oracle is dead.”

  “What?!” we all shouted.

  “Oh,” said Roxbury, looking slightly concerned. “I assumed Reimar would’ve told you all what happened…”

  “I-I did,” I said, more confused than sad to hear the Great Oracle was really gone. “I… I assumed I was mistaken.”

  “How did you know Reimar had spoken with the Great Oracle?” asked Braun, itching the side of his head. “And how did we get up here?”

  “Do you really think the Great Oracle would desire a servant who couldn’t use the magical arts?” scoffed Roxbury. “And to answer your first question, he told me.”

  “Before he summoned me?” I clarified.

  “No,” said the kobold. “After I fought off the half dragon.”

  The four of us stared blankly at Roxbury.

  “You…?” asked Dhot, breaking the silence right as it got awkward.

  “Of course,” nodded Roxbury. “I’ve had to kill a dragon or two back in my younger years. This wasn’t much different, except he got away.”

  “You went toe to toe with Ulrich?” I asked. “And he ran?”

  “I was terribly upset,” admitted Roxbury, looking down and messing with a pocket on his shirt. “I opened the door right after Ulrich landed the fatal blow, and wasn’t able to control myself at the sight of it. I think I caught the half dragon off guard with my fury. I’m sure if we met again, he’d defeat me. Still, I accomplished what I needed to, and got to comfort the Great Oracle in his final moments.”

  “Surely there was a big mess after that,” said Cassandra. “And what happened to the Great Oracle’s body?”

  “Do you expect me to just leave a dead body lying in the middle of the study?” asked Roxbury, looking at the elf like she was the dumbest person he ever talked to.

  “I… I guess not,” she said, face turning slightly pink.

  “This place was a disaster and I knew the four of you would probably be on your way here, so I quickly cleaned up,” said Roxbury. “It was nothing that I hadn’t had to do before. Well, moving the Great Oracle’s body was a first…”

  I both wanted to never get on Roxbury’s bad side yet really wanted to see what the kobold was capable of at the same time. I had fought alongside Ulrich before, and he was certainly no pushover. Did Roxbury spend so much effort staying put together so that he didn’t blow up
and kill people? I had a million questions for the kobold, but only one mattered right now.

  “What did he say before he died?” I asked. “The Great Oracle.”

  “He wanted me to warn you that the Dar’Ka are coming for the eastern part of Brumark next, near the border of Gorland,” explained Roxbury. “He had a final vision and said they would be aiming for a stronghold called Jiezvall, and that the black and reds would be launching their attack shortly. He said the Darkness of Old has returned.”

  “That sounds ominous,” mumbled Dhot.

  “I thought the same,” agreed Roxbury.

  “He didn’t say anything else?” I asked, doing my best to suppress any emotions I was feeling.

  Roxbury shook his head. “Just that you had witnessed it all, and that the fate of Yaerna rests in your hands.”

  I broke eye contact with the kobold and looked out of the window. I had assumed the man died hating or resenting me, but no. Even after hearing that I hadn’t told him the truth about my slip up with Ulrich, the Great Oracle still had faith in me.

  I clenched my hands and bit my lip. I’d make the Great Oracle proud. The four of us would help fight the black and reds, and bring an end to this war. I would kill Ulrich myself. He’d pay for what he had done.

  “We’ve got no choice,” I said, clearing my throat and wiping away at my eyes. “We’ve got to get to Jiezvall and help protect it.”

  “I know of Jiezvall,” mentioned Braun. “It’ll take days to get there.”

  “True,” nodded Roxbury. “By walking. Flying would be much faster.”

  “Oh!” exclaimed Dhot, jumping up and down. “Can you put a spell on us that’ll give us wings?!”

  The kobold narrowed his eyes at the goblin. “No…”

  “Oh…”

  “You don’t need them, though,” said Roxbury, turning towards me. “You already have someone that could fly.”

  Everyone turned and smiled at me.

  “N-No,” I said, backing up into the window and shaking my head. “I-I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “Why not?” asked Cassandra. “Don’t think you could carry us?”