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

by Hans Bezdek

  “How excitin!” declared the dwarf, thumping his fists on the table. “How’d ya get out of there?”

  Cassandra looked at me. The truth, of course, was that I turned into a green dragon and flew us all out there. While I knew King Soeren would find out the truth about me sooner rather than later, I figured that would be a talk better saved for during or after a battle.

  “We took some horses and rode out,” I lied, taking a bite out of my biscuit.

  “Oh,” said King Soeren, deflating slightly. “Guess it can’t all be excitin, eh?”

  “We live with enough excitement to have it be a bit boring every once in a while,” I reassured him.

  “Can’t blame ya fer that,” chuckled King Soeren, pushing his plate forward and patting his stomach. “We’ve been preparing fer a battle fer most of our lives, so we could use some excitement. I’d be lyin if I didn’t say I was lookin forward to gettin a chance to fight these dirty dragons.”

  “We’d love to hear what sort of battle plans you have drawn up,” said Kiera. “We’ll have to make some adjustments, of course.”

  “Aye,” nodded the King, stroking his beard as he thought. “I figure it’d be easier fer ya to know what I’m talkin about if ya can see it. Ye good moving above ground?”

  “We’d be happy to,” I nodded, pushing my plate away as well.

  “Let me take ye all upstairs,” announced the king as he stood on top of his chair and turned to address everyone. “We can discuss some plans fer the war and show ye what we’ve got up our sleeves!”

  The blue dragons around us looked excited, as did our friends. The humans from Durnskeep looked less thrilled, but it was too late for them to back out now.

  “I’ll send some guards to go collect the rest of yer people,” King Soeren said, turning to speak quietly with some of the guards to his left.

  “I’m feeling pretty optimistic about this,” said Cassandra as she got up. “We normally fight without a plan, so this’ll be nice.”

  “Sounds like they’ve been preparing for quite some time,” nodded Kiera in agreement. “Luck is on our side.”

  “Stop!” I hissed, putting my hands up towards both of them.

  The two gave me confused looks.

  “What’s the matter?” asked Kiera. “Do you disagree?”

  “No,” I said, shaking my head and lowering my voice. “You two are going to jinx it.”

  Cassandra rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. Us saying something isn’t going to magically ruin things.”

  I sighed and went to collect the others. I hoped she was right, but things had a way of not going well for too long.

  “This place is great!” exclaimed Dhot as I brought him and Gerard over to the rest of us. “I hope we get to stay here for a while!”

  “Aye,” nodded Braun. “This reminds me a bit of me home. It’s nice.”

  “We’ll be staying here until the battle,” shrugged Cassandra. “Who knows how long it’ll be until then.”

  Some of the blues and the people from Durnskeep moved past us, as did several of the guards.

  “Get a move on,” insisted Eluf, walking up to join our group. “King Soeren ain’t one fer waitin.”

  “Understandable,” I nodded, glancing at the others. “Ready to go?”

  Everyone nodded, except for Fulco.

  “There’s something I’ve gotta do first,” said Fulco, holding up a finger for me to wait.

  “Uh… sure,” I shrugged. He must’ve needed to go to the bathroom or something. I glanced around to see where one was, thinking back to any that we passed on the way in.

  Instead, the troll pulled out one his sai, spun it around in his hand, and jabbed it into Eluf’s neck. The dwarf let out a gargled shout as he fell down, grabbing his neck and kicking on the ground. Fulco jumped on him, sinking his sai into the dwarf’s chest as a final blow. The troll wiped his weapon on Eluf’s cloak to get the blood off, then sheathed the sai and stood up.

  “Okay,” said Fulco matter-of-factly. “I’m ready to leave.”

  The room was completely silent as everyone gawked at the troll. Braun looked impressed while Dhot looked horrified. The dwarves of Jiezvall around us tensed up, backing away from the troll and hands going for their weapons.

  I glared at Kiera and Cassandra, who were both staring in shock at the troll.

  “See?!” I shouted, pointing at Fulco. “Jinxed!”

  Chapter 12

  “Ye traitors!” roared King Soeren, pulling out a dagger from his boot.

  “W-What are you doing?!” Dhot shouted at Fulco.

  “What?” shrugged Fulco. The troll wasn’t stupid, but I couldn’t fathom how he’d believe this was perfectly acceptable behavior.

  “I can’t believe ye’d do this to me!” shouted King Soeren towards Kiera and the blues. “We’ve never meant ye any harm!”

  “This isn’t our doing!” insisted Kiera, pointing at Fulco. “This troll has betrayed all of us, not just you!”

  King Soeren looked conflicted, then shook his head. “Kill the troll and take the rest of this lot prisoner. We’ll figure out who’s tellin the truth later.”

  Cassandra and I instinctively stood back to back, hands on our hilts.

  “What do we do?” whispered Cassandra.

  I quickly thought through the options, and figured we only had two. We could surrender, let Fulco be killed, and then hope that King Soeren not only talked with us before Ulrich attacked but also believed us. The other option was to fight back, quickly get an explanation from Fulco, and hope that the troll had a good reason for what he did.

  Neither option seemed particularly promising.

  “Fight,” I whispered back, pulling out my dagger and readying my Shield.

  Cassandra nodded and took out the Shattered Sword, the blade glowing blue. Dhot, Gerard, and Braun saw what we were doing and prepared their own weapons.

  “Reimar, stop!” shouted Kiera, looking concerned. “We need to stand down.”

  It was too late. The dwarf nearest to me charged at me and swung his sword. I lifted the Time Shield up and blocked the blow, kicking at him and pushing him back. The dwarf caught himself before he got too far, diving forward and going for my legs. I hopped back and dodged the attack.

  “Watch out!” shouted Gerard.

  I looked towards his voice in time to see an axe head swinging at me. I ducked and felt the axe take off a few hairs on top of my head. I stabbed out with the dagger and caught the dwarf near his armpit. He grunted and fell back, nursing the wound.

  “Fight on Reimar’s side!” ordered Kiera, pulling out her long curved blade. “It’s time to save them and return the favor!”

  The blue dragons all pulled out their blades without a second thought, running at the nearest dwarves and joining the fight. I was more optimistic we could get out of this alive with Kiera and her people fighting with us, but I couldn’t help but feel guilty about all of this. We came here to fight against the Dar’Ka, not the Jiezvall inhabitants.

  “Maha!”

  Boom.

  Dwarves cried out and were thrown backward as a wave of heat hit my side. It sounded like Dhot wasn’t wasting any time to blow something up.

  The floor started to shake.

  “Uh oh,” I mumbled, glancing up to see the first dwarf that attacked me looking up with horror.

  “Ya fool!” cried out King Soeren. “Ya’ve killed us! Ya’ve killed us all!”

  The room continued shaking as a large rock crashed through the ceiling on the other side of the dining hall. The wall behind the King’s table collapsed inward, taking out a few of the dwarven guards that hadn’t moved towards us yet.

  “You idiot!” hissed Cassandra towards the goblin. “Why would you set off an explosive while we were underground!”

  “I-I’m sorry!” cried Dhot, putting his hands over his head. “I forgot!”

  Another giant rock fell through the ceiling, this one much closer to us. I covered my head when I hear
d it break through, then heard all of the dwarves cry out in unison. Lowering the Time Shield, I watched as the dwarves rushed towards the rock that landed where King Soeren had been standing.

  “No!” shouted Kiera, tears filling in her eyes.

  My arm started shaking more than before, and I looked down to see the Time Shield activating.

  “Thank goodness,” I sighed in relief, walking back towards Cassandra.

  Time slowed to a stop, then reverted backwards. The rocks lifted into the sky, the wall went back to where it belonged, and Cassandra moonwalked into her initial position with her back to mine and her hand on her hilt. I sheathed my dagger and put the Time Shield on my back, then leaned against her.

  “What do we do?” whispered Cassandra.

  “Nothing,” I whispered back, slapping the Time Shield. “If we try to fight them, we’ll all die. You can trust me on that.”

  Cassandra’s shoulders sagged and she nodded. She knew what I was getting at.

  I looked over at Fulco, sad to watch him meet his fate but knowing he had no one to blame but himself.

  Two dwarves took out their battle axes and ran for the troll, one swinging high at his face and the other going for his leg.

  Fulco sighed.

  The troll jumped over both dwarves, landing behind one of them and yanking the axe out of his hands. The dwarf stared down at his empty hands in disbelief, the took the axe handle to the side of his face and collapsed. Fulco chucked the axe away and pulled out a sai.

  “You better stop,” Fulco warned the remaining dwarf that attacked him.

  The dwarf hesitated for a brief second, then charged again at the troll. This time, the dwarf swung his axe down vertically, cutting off the troll’s ability to jump over him again. Fulco didn’t seem particularly bothered, and shoved his sai up as the axe came down at him. To the surprise of everyone, most of all the dwarf, Fulco caught the dwarf’s axe perfectly between the side rod and the main one on his sai.

  The dwarf tried to pull the axe back, but Fulco twisted the sai and kept the axe locked with his weapon. The dwarf yanked back with both arms, but the axe didn’t budge. As the dwarf grunted and focused on getting his axe back, Fulco lunged forward and headbutt the dwarf.

  There was a sickening thud and the dwarf fell backward, unconscious.

  “Did… did he just…?” asked Dhot.

  “Yes,” nodded Cassandra quietly. “He just headbutt a dwarf. And it worked.”

  “Maha!” laughed Dhot as he shook his head. “This guy’s nuts!”

  “Everyone chill out!” growled Fulco, raising his sai in the direction of the speechless King Soeren. “Why are you attacking me?”

  “Y-Ya killed one of me best men!” replied King Soeren, clearly shaken by the troll assassin’s display. “Y-Ya must be workin with the Dar’Ka!”

  “They could never afford me,” scoffed Fulco, sheathing his sai. “Besides, I just killed one of their spies.”

  “Uh… come again?” I said. The troll was completely off his rocker.

  Fulco sighed and rolled his eyes. He walked over to Eluf’s body and pulled the dwarf’s arm up. He pointed at the inside of the dwarf’s forearm, which wasn’t covered in armor. “Look.”

  Against my better judgement, I took a few steps closer to the troll and squinted at Eluf’s arm. Aside from being extremely hairy, there was a small mark on it. It was a tattoo of a half circle with two triangles.

  “Ulrich’s mark,” I marveled.

  Most of the dwarves and blues gasped, including King Soeren. The King pushed through his men as they warned him not to approach the troll, shaking his head in disbelief. He took Eluf’s arm from Fulco and examined it for himself.

  “I noticed the strange tattoo when Eluf gestured for us to take our seats,” said Fulco. “I figured it was a dwarven piece of art or something, but when I overheard Reimar discussing the human spy’s tattoo, I realized it was the same one.”

  “Aye,” said King Soeren quietly. “He be tellin the truth. This be the mark that Reimar mentioned over breakfast.”

  Several of the dwarves began murmuring to one another. It sounded like most of them would’ve never questioned Eluf’s loyalty to King Soeren, and were now wondering if anyone else was a spy. It sure seemed like a valid concern to me.

  “I’m sorry for your man betraying you,” said Kiera, moving towards the King. “However, I think this clears the troll.”

  “Aye. That it does,” nodded King Soeren, looking up at Fulco. “Ye’ve done me a great service. We all owe you our thanks.”

  “Meh,” shrugged Fulco. “Don’t mention it.”

  Gerard, Cassandra, Dhot, and I shared bewildered looks. Why didn’t Fulco just say what he saw from the beginning? And how was he so apathetic after having King Soeren command his death just a couple of minutes earlier?

  “Haha!” roared Braun with laughter. “I told ye this guy was great!”

  “I’m sure you all would have done the same,” said Fulco. “I just happened to see it before any of you did.”

  “Y-Yeah… exactly the same,” I lied.

  “I can’t believe someone that’s lived in Jiezvall all his life would be willing to work with the Dar’Ka,” said King Soeren, shaking his head. “After all the preparation we had done to prepare for another war…”

  “You can’t blame yourself,” said Kiera, placing a hand on the King’s shoulder.

  “Kiera’s right,” I nodded. “The Dar’Ka can be very convincing. It isn’t your fault that one of your people turned.”

  “Aye,” said King Soeren quietly. “Yer probably right.”

  “The best thing to do now is to continue preparing for the battle,” offered Kiera. “We don’t know when the Dar’Ka will arrive, and if we’re all on the same page we’ll stand a better chance.”

  “I agree,” I nodded. “Show us what you have planned, and we’ll figure out a way to work the blue dragons and our army into it.”

  King Soeren straightened up and looked around the room at the other Jiezvall dwarves. “Aye. Me people need me now.”

  The dwarves around him bowed, putting a smile on his face.

  “Alright,” nodded King Soeren, walking back towards the front of the dining hall. “Let’s get ready to show the Dar’Ka they ain’t makin it through us if it’s the last thing we do.”

  Chapter 13

  “So much walkin,” huffed Braun as we finally reached the courtyard above ground. The sky was filled with gray clouds, hardly any sun breaking through them. It looked like it might rain or storm later, which I’m sure would make any potential fighting that much more interesting. “They should put one of them fancy elf portals in here.”

  “I wouldn’t hold my breath,” smirked Cassandra.

  “I could if we hadn’t just walked a bunch!” complained the dwarf.

  Dwarves broken into different groups were running drills all across the courtyard. Some were shooting arrows into bales of hay, others were sharpening weapons, and even more were doing some light jogging in full armor. The Durnskeep army was never going to come close to this.

  “We have a lil over a thousand troops,” explained King Soeren to Kiera and me. “Four hundred archers, six hundred trained to fight face to face.”

  “Do you have any cavalry?” I asked. From the looks of it they didn’t, but it didn’t hurt to ask. “I know dwarves aren’t keen on horses, but perhaps something smaller?”

  “Nay,” said King Soeren. “Ain’t got none of that. We figure we don’t need any. There only be eight bridges across the moat in any direction, which we can defend well enough without people gallopin around. Besides, mounts ain’t no good against dragons.”

  “That’s fair,” I nodded. “So you’ll spread out your men to cover all eight bridges?”

  Kiera laughed. When I gave her a quizzical look, she apologized. “I assumed you were joking. Of course they won’t defend all eight bridges!”

  “Oh…” I said, more confused. “So you’re going
to let Greeners just take a bridge and rush you?”

  “Ya think I’m loony?” chuckled the King. “We’ll blow up most of the bridges once the Greeners get on em.”

  “I’m sorry,” said Dhot, hurrying up to us. “Did someone say they were blowing something up?!”

  “Aye,” said King Soeren, eyeing him carefully.

  “I want in!” gasped Dhot.

  King Soeren thought about it, and when he saw how overly excited the goblin was he nodded and laughed. “I think we’ve got it more than covered, but if that’s what ya want-”

  “I’ll be quick!” said Dhot, scurrying away.

  “Five seconds,” I whispered to Kiera.

  “Until what?”

  “He realizes he doesn’t know what he’s supposed to blow up.”

  Right at five seconds, the goblin spun around and hurried back. “Um, what is it I’m blowing up again?”

  “The bridges,” said King Soeren as Kiera giggled. “Erm, why don’t ya take a couple of me guards with ya? Just to make sure ya don’t get lost.”

  “I’ll join him,” offered Gerard.

  King Soeren nodded at two armored dwarves, who then escorted the two of them towards the nearest wall.

  “Won’t you have problems leaving once you blow up the bridges?” I asked once they were out of sight.

  “We ain’t blowin em all up, just most of em,” said King Soeren. “We can build em back pretty fast, anyhow.”

  “They want to have fewer entry points so the bridges can act as a bottleneck,” Kiera explained to me. “The Greeners are likely to outnumber the dwarves, but their numbers won’t do them any good if they can’t flank around Jiezvall.”

  “Huh,” I mumbled. “Didn’t think about it that way…”

  “I don’t mean to sound harsh, but you’ve got to start,” said Kiera, her blue eyes on mine. “You’re very important to this Dragon War, and you’ll be called upon to lead at least some of the battles. Decisions you make can have disastrous effects if you don’t think through all the different angles and options.”