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

by Hans Bezdek

  The sun set and the moon rose high above us. It was a full one tonight, giving me a bit of help seeing some of the land below me. While I could’ve continued west towards Durnskeep, it was out of our way and would’ve added more flight time. I shifted southwest once I was fairly certain we had passed the midway point of Truska, choosing to fly over the territory the rest of the way until we hit the Republic.

  Unfortunately, I hadn’t really seen Truska from this angle before and started to lose track of where we were. I probably should’ve looked at a map or something before we set off...

  After a couple of hours of hoping I was flying in the right direction, I slowed down. Looking back and forth, I couldn’t make out anything but trees, trees, and more trees. We had passed over some sort of small town half an hour earlier, but I had no idea which one it was. I wasn’t sure what time it was and hadn’t been paying much attention to the moon above me, so now I had no idea if we were still going west or just south.

  “Reimar,” said Cassandra, holding tightly onto my neck. “Can you see well enough?”

  “Yes,” I said, glancing back at them. “Although we might want to touch down soon.”

  “W-Why?” asked Braun. “A-Are ya worried ya’ll drop us?”

  “No,” I laughed, continuing to scan the area below us. I was completely lost. If we waited until the morning, though, I’d be able to get a better sense of direction. “I think it’s probably best for all of us to get some sleep soon and finish up the flight tomorrow.”

  “I-I think I’d like that,” called back Braun.

  After another ten minutes of flying over nothing but forest, I spotted a slight clearing and touched down. My three friends dismounted, stretching out from the ride as I transformed back into my human form.

  “That wasn’t so bad,” said Dhot, cracking his neck. “How much longer do you think we’ve got until we reach Ravendale tomorrow?”

  “Er…” I hesitated. “Maybe a couple hours?”

  “You know where we are… don’t you?” asked Cassandra, stopping her stretching and narrowing her eyes suspiciously at me.

  “Come on, do you think I wouldn’t?” I laughed.

  “Yes,” said all three of them.

  “Thanks, guys,” I mumbled, finding a spot on the ground that looked comfortable enough. “Get some sleep and let me worry about the directions in the morning.”

  The others made a few more side comments, then settled down not too far from one another.

  I shifted a few times, trying to find the best angle to fall asleep in. I was happy to get some sleep, even if it was in the middle of nowhere. Flying so far really took a lot of energy.

  I was confident I’d get to sleep through the night uninterrupted. The Great Oracle should still be busy building his new place and would hopefully not disrupt my dreams. I drifted to sleep with a smile on my face.

  The smile lasted for several hours, until an orc nudged me awake.

  Chapter 2

  “Wake up!” roared the orc, giving me another kick.

  It didn’t feel good, but it also could’ve hurt a lot more. I glanced around as I stood up, noticing Cassandra and Dhot were already standing. The two were staring defiantly at the humans and trolls surrounding them. Braun was also getting to his feet, handling the situation a bit differently...

  “D-Don’t hurt us!” whimpered Braun, putting his hands over his face.

  Two of the humans shared a grin and nodded at the dwarf. They had probably never seen a dwarf groveling before. Most people hadn’t, unless they had met Braun in his light form.

  “What’s your problem?” I asked, turning back to the orc. I looked him over, noting the belt with multiple weapons on it and the thick leather he wore. He had the typical ugly mug of an orc, but there didn’t seem to be a Dar’Ka tattoo on him. At least we had that going for us.

  “What are the four of you doin out here?” asked the orc, arms crossed.

  “Building a farmer’s market,” said an annoyed Dhot, gesturing around at the empty clearing. “We’re almost finished, as you can see.”

  “M-Maybe don’t m-mock them,” mumbled Braun.

  The orc didn’t look amused. “I’ll ask one more time. What’re ya doin out here?”

  “What did it look like we were doing?!” shouted Dhot. “We were sleeping!”

  I looked around as Dhot kept the orc’s attention. There were eight of them. They all wore dark clothing and had several weapons on them, but they weren’t matching. The humans with them let me know they weren’t Greeners, and the fact we were still alive made me believe they weren’t with the Dar’Ka either.

  “We were just passing through on our way to The Republic of Hur,” I said, cutting off the goblin before he got us into deeper trouble. “We figured this was as nice a place as any to get some rest before we continued. Do you own this land, or something?”

  “In a sense,” shrugged the orc. “We run everything in this part of Truska, and we don’t like getting unexpected guests.”

  “We’re happy to move on to the next town if you don’t mind pointing us that way,” offered Cassandra. Her tone was light and friendly, but she kept her hand resting on her hilt.

  “It ain’t that simple,” said the orc, shaking his head. “There’s some villages around here, but we’ll have to escort you.”

  “That’s alright,” I smiled politely. “We can handle ourselves fine enough.”

  “I wasn’t offering,” said the orc, locking eyes with me. “I was telling.”

  This was going well. I began summoning magic energy into both of my hands. Things were escalating and it was just a matter of time before it got heated.

  “W-We appreciate the offer!” chimed in Braun. “A bit of extra protection is never a bad thing, eh?”

  “This is your idea of a good night?” Dhot asked the orc sarcastically. “You and your goons wandering around the forest, hoping to run into a group of sleeping travelers to harass?”

  “We ain’t goons!” shouted one of the goons.

  “Maha! Surprised you let them speak up like that. Sounds like this one doesn’t know it’s rude to interrupt while the grownups are talking.”

  The goon in question pulled out a chipped dagger and took a step towards Dhot.

  “Wait!” barked the orc. The goon did as he was told, continuing to glare at the goblin from a few feet away. The orc narrowed his eyes and looked between all of us. “You’re quite the strange group. Don’t see many travelers with such diversity.”

  “We’re awfully progressive,” I smiled.

  The orc didn’t.

  “We don’t usually randomly scan the area,” continued the orc, ignoring my quip. “The reason we’re out here is we heard reports of a green dragon flying nearby.”

  Dang it.

  “Green dragons?” laughed Cassandra. “They’ve all been dead for decades!”

  “She’s right,” I nodded. “Whoever is giving you this kind of information is clearly seeing things.”

  “So the four of you didn’t see anything flying overhead?” asked the orc.

  “Nope,” I shrugged. The others shook their head, Braun with more emphasis than the others. “We must’ve been sleeping when whatever it was flew by.”

  “Odd,” said the orc, beginning to walk around our group. “Word was that the green dragon landed right over here. It’d be pretty hard to sleep through the sound of anything large landing nearby, even if it wasn’t a dragon…”

  “Reimar snores loudly,” said Cassandra. “It’s hard to hear anything over it.”

  “Hey!” I said, offended. “Why do you keep telling people that?!”

  “There is something off about you four,” said the orc, ignoring our argument. “I can’t tell if you’re telling the truth or not, but it doesn’t matter. While we might not get the green dragon’s eyes, taking your quat and goods is a decent consolation prize.”

  The other bandits laughed at this, the one that tried to stab Dhot louder than th
e others. They all closed in and pulled out their weapons in case we tried to resist them.

  “Okay, stop!” I said, holding out my hands.

  The bandits paused, glancing over to the orc. He hesitated, then nodded. “Sounds like someone has come to their senses. We’re listening.”

  “My friends and I are saving Yaerna!” I said, gesturing towards the others. “We just fought against the black and red dragons in Jiezvall a couple of days ago, and are on our way to gather help from the Republic. Now isn’t the time to be robbing people or hunting down green dragons. You should join up with us to fight against those that wish to enslave all of us!”

  A few of the bandits shifted uncomfortably on their feet.

  “I’ve heard rumors there’s a Second Dragon War goin on,” mumbled one of the trolls.

  “Should we bother fightin the Dar’Ka?” asked one of the humans. “They ain’t never done nothin against us.”

  The orc held up his hand to get the others to stop talking. “Hold on. If you were just in Jiezvall… how did you end up here?”

  “Didn’t you hear him?” asked Dhot. “We’re on our way to the Republic!”

  “It’d take more than a couple of days to get here from Jiezvall,” said the orc, a smiling forming on his lips. “Even if you had horses, which you don’t, you wouldn’t have gone this far yet. Only way to get here so fast would be to fly.”

  I felt the hair on the back of my neck rise.

  “W-What are ya gettin at?” asked Braun.

  The orc pulled out a sword and pointed it towards me. “I’m sayin I think we found that green dragon after all!”

  I looked over at the others. Cassandra and Dhot nodded slightly at me while Braun looked as scared as ever.

  “Good guess,” I said, raising my hand up toward the orc.

  A ball of red light flickered to life in my hand, causing the orc’s face to twist from excited to confused. I let the magic loose and a pillar of fire shot out at the orc. The creature’s eyes widened and he tried to turn, but was too slow. The powerful blast connected with him, setting him ablaze and rocketing him deep into the trees on the other side of the clearing.

  Before the other bandits could react, Cassandra drew out her blade. The Shattered Sword ignited blue as she swung it at the closest troll, cutting deep into his midsection before turning her weapon towards a human. The man managed to bring his hand axe up in order to block the strike, but the Shattered Sword sliced right through it and into his shoulder.

  The goon that hated Dhot lunged at him, the dagger making its way toward the goblin’s throat. Dhot was faster, though, and jumped back, throwing a disc between them. The man paid it no mind, running over it as he tried to chase down the goblin. Right as the goon got over it, Dhot pulled out a switch and smiled at the man.

  “Maha!”

  Click.

  The disc exploded, sending the man and two of the unlucky bandits nearby flying up and away. If the blast didn’t kill them, the fall back down finished the job.

  “Help!” shouted Braun, half crying as he ran from two bandits.

  Seeing that the other two were preoccupied, I ran after the bandits and the dwarf. Braun apparently thought running away from our group was the best option, which made it harder to catch up to the people chasing him. They were closing in on the slower dwarf quickly, and I knew I wouldn’t make it to them in time.

  I dove forward into a crouch, releasing my remaining magic into the ground before me. Doing my best to gauge the distance, I used my magic to form a deep hole in the ground. I lucked out and got the spacing right, forming the hole right behind the dwarf’s feet and in the path of the two bandits.

  The two men cried out in surprise as they slipped into the pit, arms flailing as they tried to grab onto the sides. Neither of them succeeded, and I closed the pit over the top of them. I could hear a couple of muffled shouts for a moment, then the clearing grew quiet once again.

  “You can quit running!” I called after the dwarf.

  Braun risked a glance back, slowing to a stop as he realized he wasn’t being chased anymore.

  “T-That was horrifying!” shouted Braun, doing his best to catch his breath as he walked back to join us.

  Cassandra sheathed her blade as I rejoined them, Dhot slinging his unending bag over his shoulder. The sun was just starting to come out, and I wasn’t a huge fan of sleeping near dead bodies. It was about time for us to keep flying to Ravendale. There was only one thing left to do before I transformed.

  “Way to not let us know they were coming!” I said, turning on Cassandra. “That could’ve gone so much worse!”

  “H-How is this my fault?” asked Cassandra incredulously. “We didn’t have a watch set up! This is all of our faults!”

  “No, I get what Reimar is saying,” said Dhot. “You’re the responsible one.”

  “Exactly,” I nodded, pointing at the goblin. “You should’ve really known better.”

  Cassandra glared at the two of us and shook her head. “Why do I stick with you three…”

  Chapter 3

  There wasn’t much of a point in trying to go back to sleep after dealing with those bandits. It was clear that flying in my green dragon form wasn’t the safest option, but it was still the fastest. While I might’ve preferred that we stuck to walking, we didn’t have the luxury. It was just a matter of time before the Dar’Ka struck again.

  After transforming one more time, the others mounted me and I flew straight for Ravendale. I kept us high above the clouds as best as I could, but I still needed to peek down below them from time to time to make sure we were going in the right direction. After several hours of flying, we could finally see the edge of farmland and the giant capital city of The Republic.

  “Where are we landing?” shouted Dhot over the wind.

  I missed a beat of my wings and we dipped slightly. Braun and Cassandra gripped a bit harder and I heard one of them let out a concerned whimper. I hadn’t actually considered where we were going to land. Landing smack dab in the middle of the city was a good way to get pelted with a few dozen arrows, but I didn’t exactly want to land in the surrounding forest.

  “Er, I’m opened to ideas,” I said, glancing back at them.

  “How did you not figure this out already?!” shouted Cassandra.

  “Flying requires a lot of concentration!” I lied. “If I was letting my mind wander like that I could’ve dropped all three of you!”

  “Don’t do that!” begged Braun.

  “What about one of those barns up ahead to the west?” offered Dhot. The goblin was fiddling with his Goggles as he looked over the area. “A few of them look abandoned.”

  “Works for me,” I mumbled, shifting to the west.

  I stayed as high as I could while we narrowed down the perfect set of farm buildings to land behind. After finding one that looked like it hadn’t been repaired in a few decades, Dhot scanned the area for anyone watching.

  “You should be good… now!” he shouted.

  “Hold on tight!” I warned them, diving down as quickly as I could.

  “Aaaaaaa!” cried Braun, gripping tighter than the others.

  I pulled us up right before I crashed us into a farmhouse, landing softly next to it. The three scurried off and I transformed back into my human self.

  “I think we should be in the clear,” said Dhot, messing again with his Goggles as he looked across the horizon.

  “Doesn’t matter either way,” I said, pulling my hood up once my transformation completed. “By the time anyone comes looking there won’t be any sign of a dragon.”

  “Right, because that worked out so well for us this morning,” said Cassandra, crossing her arms.

  “Yeah, well… we won’t be here this time,” I shrugged, making for Ravendale.

  The four of us pass through the remaining farmland without any problems. A few people passing by cast suspicious looks at Dhot, but that was to be expected. After half an hour of walking, we reached
the gates of the city.

  We weren’t stopped as we entered this time, although I couldn’t help notice several guards shadowing us for some time. When I glanced back a few times, I saw they were focused on Braun and Dhot, but kept some distance. I was about to stop and confront them after several minutes, but the guards had finally tapered off.

  “Why do ya keep glancin back?” asked Braun.

  “The guards,” I shrugged.

  “Right? Can’t believe they didn’t stop me this time,” he beamed. “They must finally be trustin me people again!”

  “Actually-”

  “That’s got to be it!” said Cassandra quickly. When the dwarf turned away she shot me a knowing look. I guessed there was no point in making the dwarf more paranoid.

  A short while later we reached the large, circular town hall, which was a large circular building. The four of us paused and looked up at the statue of a dragon and human holding hands. I hoped the statue would be more than symbolic, and we’d get Ravendale to understand the importance of working with us.

  “Would the four of you like to learn about the history of this building?” came a voice from the guard shack. An old man leaned out of it and smiled at us.

  “Isn’t that the same guy as last time?” whispered Dhot.

  It was.

  “Uh, we don’t need the history lesson,” I said, trying my best to keep a smile. “We actually were here not that long ago… Don’t you remember?”

  “We get plenty of visitors,” laughed the guard. “I can hardly remember everyone, now can I?”

  “You don’t think you’d remember a group like ours?” asked Cassandra, gesturing at the four of us.

  The old man shrugged. “Apparently not, if you’ve been by before.”

  “We helped defeat the Wingless,” I explained.

  The guard blinked.

  “The terrorist group that was trying to kill all of the gold and silvers,” I said slowly.