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

by Hans Bezdek

  The kobold looked down at them with annoyance and flicked a number of them. About a third of the ones he hit started ticking. He looked back at me with a satisfied smile.

  “I think I’ll pass,” I said.

  “Wha… Where am I?” asked Braun, finally coming to.

  “We’ve made it to Khu’Mul,” smiled Cassandra, helping the dwarf up. “We fought off some Greeners on the way in, and Reimar killed a red dragon.”

  “Technically Emerich killed him,” I clarified. “I was trying to show mercy.”

  “That’s unlike ya,” said Braun.

  “Yeah, well…”

  “You fought and killed one of the red dragons?!” gasped the kobold, staring at me with wide eyes.

  “I mean… yeah?” I shrugged, unsure as to why the creature was still wasting time with us. “That’s kind of been our thing since this war started.”

  “Are you planning on killing all the black and reds?”

  “Only the ones that try to kill us,” I said. “If they stop once we kill Ulrich, then I don’t see why we’d keep fighting them.”

  “Maybe more of em will be nice to us once Ulrich’s dead,” pondered the kobold. “The majority of them weren’t too bad to live near before he came around. I’d rather like that.”

  I paused. That was interesting to hear that the Dar’Ka weren’t too harsh to the residents here, but what was more interesting was the kobold’s interest in returning to before Ulrich was in charge. What were the odds he knew where the half black dragon was…?

  “If you happen to know where he is, we could make that become a reality even faster,” I offered.

  “Afraid I don’t,” sighed the kobold. He suddenly straighten his back and snapped his fingers. “But I do know a place where someone might!”

  “Great!” smiled Cassandra. “Where?”

  The kobold opened his mouth, then glanced at some of his questionable watches.

  I rolled my eyes. “We’ll buy some of your broken watches if that’ll help jog your memory.”

  “You read my mind!” smiled the kobold.

  Dhot begrudgingly handed over a large amount of quat for two watches that barely worked and one that didn’t at all.

  “I haven’t sold any in months!” grinned the kobold as he counted his quat.

  “I’m thrilled we could help,” I said dryly. “The name of this place?”

  “It’s called the Orc’s Shoe Tavern,” said the kobold, shoving the quat in a pocket. “I’d be happy to show you the way, if you’d like.”

  “That’d be helpful,” I nodded.

  “Just another hundred quat!”

  “I don’t think I be liking this place very much,” commented Braun.

  Chapter 5

  After paying the outrageous fee, the four of us followed after the sketchy kobold. The thought crossed my mind a few times that this could all be a trap, and we just paid him to lead us into an ambush. The thought became more prevalent as the path he took us down had fewer and fewer people, and the tents were more darkly painted and battered.

  “I-I’m guessin this be the b-bad part of town?” asked Braun, sticking close to Cassandra. She patted him on the back reassuringly.

  Several unsavory looking goblins and humans watched us walk by, their arms crossed or behind them.

  “Don’t mind them,” said the kobold casually, turning down another alley. “People like to keep to themselves in this part of Khu’Mul. Really hard to sell watches out here, let alone anything else.”

  “That would explain why we haven’t seen as many merchants,” I mumbled, keeping an eye over my shoulder. No one was making any moves to follow us. At least, that I could see.

  The kobold pulled to a stop in front of a tattered brown tent. There weren’t any signs to say what the place was, and I wasn’t even sure if anyone would be inside.

  “Here we are!” announced the kobold, proud to have successfully guided us here. “The Orc’s Shoe Tavern!”

  “This is a tavern?” asked Dhot skeptically.

  “Said it was, didn’t I?”

  “We have no way of knowing, since there isn’t a sign,” pointed out Cassandra.

  “They don’t like having a bunch of conquerors coming in,” said the kobold. “Can’t say I blame em. It gets a little annoying every few months having a bunch of new faces in, thinking they run the place all of the sudden and demanding taxes. The owner here likes to keep out of all that noise.”

  “So he probably won’t like that you brought us right to him,” I reasoned.

  “That’s why this is where I leave you,” grinned the kobold. “I hope you find what you’re looking for and can stop Ulrich. Be nice to have the black and reds less stressed.”

  “Strange guy,” said Dhot as we watched the kobold walk away and disappear.

  “Are we really ones to talk?” asked Cassandra.

  “Maha! Good point.”

  Not knowing what we were getting ourselves into, the four of us entered the tattered tent.

  I felt a slight chill run through my body as I stepped through, then gasped. There were nearly twenty tables in here, a mixture of circular and long ones. Finely etched stones created the walls of the place, with low burning torches set into them. Even with the light, the place was surprisingly dark and had a damp feel to it. Nearly two dozen patrons sat at the tables or at the bar, all of them hard looking humans.

  “H-How’s it all stony in here?!” whispered Braun. “I ain’t never seen a tent like this before!”

  “We must have walked through a portal when we came in,” I said, glancing back behind us. There was a tent flap, but we could neither see nor hear anything past it. That had to be magic’s doing.

  “Guess that’s one way to keep safe,” shrugged Dhot. “Don’t have to worry about dragons burning the place down if it’s not there!”

  “Seems like they really appreciate their privacy here,” I said, glancing around. “That might make finding answers to our questions a bit more difficult.”

  “There’s something more,” said Cassandra quietly, nodding toward the tables. “Most of Khu’Mul is goblin, but everyone in here is a human.”

  “Maybe you all should leave the talking to me, then,” I said.

  They all gave each other sideways glances and snickered.

  “As if there were any other way,” chuckled Braun.

  “What? It’s not like I take the lead on everything!” I argued.

  “Uh, you kind of do,” said Cassandra. “Very consistently.”

  I crossed my arms. “Fine. If someone else would like to take the lead on this one, have at it.”

  “Don’t be like that,” teased Cassandra. “Everyone has something they do best. Yours happens to involve talking… A lot.”

  “Y-You talk a lot…” I muttered back as I moved to the bar.

  Even though we were clearly new visitors, no one in the tavern bothered to look at us. A couple of men sitting at the bar shifted in their seats to angle away from us as we approached, but they didn’t make any moves against us. Before I could decide on which person seemed the least uninterested in talking to us, an orc came out from the back and approached from the other side of the bar.

  “Ello,” said the orc, eyeing us with some suspicion. “What brings you lot in today?”

  “We’re just, uh… looking for a drink,” I said. I decided it would be better to casually bring up the Ulrich matter rather than just start loudly asking.

  “How’d ya find this place?” asked the orc, fishing out a few glasses.

  “We walked by and decided to poke our heads in.”

  “So ya went lookin for somethin to drink, came across an unmarked tent, and decided this was it?” he asked, filling each cup with a light amber liquid.

  I looked at the others for help, but they looked away.

  The orc sighed and passed the drinks over toward us. “Look, I dunno who told you about us, but if you don’t give us no problems there won’t be no problem
s. Fair?”

  “More than fair,” I nodded. “How much do we owe you?”

  “Consider it on the house,” said the orc, grabbing a dirty rag and ‘cleaning’ the counter. If that’s what he used on empty glasses, I would probably pass on drinking the free drinks. “Prefer if you not mention this place to yer bosses.”

  “We don’t have bosses,” I said pushing the drinks toward the others. Cassandra looked down at hers with disgust, then shifted it over to Dhot. The goblin and dwarf were thrilled to have two each and began downing them.

  “Well ain’t that nice,” said the orc, moving down the bar with his rag.

  Cassandra gave me a small nudge, then nodded at the bartender.

  “Yeah, yeah,” I mumbled. I cleared my throat and walked after the orc. “So, uh, how has business been?”

  The orc gave me a strange look but continued cleaning. “Slow but steady, the way I like it.”

  “That’s good,” I said, trying to act natural as I leaned against the bar. “Things more or less the same regardless of whoever is in charge of the city?”

  “Typically,” he nodded. His eyes narrowed. “What’re ya gettin at?”

  “Oh, nothing,” I said, casually glancing away. “You’d say business has been as fine now as it was before Ulrich showed up?”

  While the room wasn’t loud before, it suddenly turned deadly silent. I could feel everyone in the room looking at us. The bartender let go of his rag and crossed his arms.

  “This some sorta trap?” he asked. “If you lot are comin in here to do Ulrich’s bidding, you’ve made some poor life decisions.”

  “W-We ain’t with Ulrich!” stuttered Braun, holding his hands up.

  “That so?” asked the orc, who definitely didn’t look convinced.

  “Do you really think an elf and a dwarf would be working for him?” asked Cassandra. “He wants our people completely wiped out.”

  The orc shifted at that. “There be some foolish elves that seem to think they’ll get spared for workin with Ulrich, but haven’t seen too many dwarves doin the same.”

  The deadly silence lifted, and the room grew less tense. People went back to drinking and holding side conversations.

  “Seems like these people aren’t fond on Ulrich,” I guessed.

  “You got that right,” said a man sitting at the bar to our left. He nodded at the orc, and the bartender walked away.

  “Hey, I wasn’t done talking to him!” I argued.

  The man took a drink then shook his head. He wore a black cloak with the hood half pulled over his head. Several daggers hung at his side, but his hands were on the table and he made no move for them. “You can talk to me now. Why do you keep mentioning Ulrich?”

  I scratched the side of my face. I wasn’t sure if I liked this guy acting all tough toward us, but apparently we had gotten his interest by mentioning Ulrich. The people in here didn’t seem like fans of the half black dragon, so maybe it was time to show our cards.

  “I’m looking for him,” I said. “You wouldn’t happen to know where he was, would you?”

  The man turned to face me and smiled. “Why are you looking for him?”

  “R-Reimar,” whispered Dhot, a bit too loudly. “His eyes!”

  He didn’t need to warn me. The man’s eyes were pitch black.

  We all reached for our weapons, but the man lazily raised his hand for us to stop. “I wouldn’t do that. Everyone in here is a red or black.”

  I quickly scanned the room again, this time focusing on everyone’s eyes. While many of them were obscuring their faces, there was no mistaking the red and black colored eyes of half the room. None of them were paying us attention right now, but I was pretty sure that would change if we attacked one of them.

  I took my hand off my dagger and nodded for the others to do the same.

  “The name’s Jacob,” said the black eyed human. “Judging from your eyes, I’d say you’re Reimar. Ulrich mentioned you had an… eclectic group of friends.“

  “He’s just jealous,” said Dhot.

  “So you do know Ulrich,” I said.

  Jacob shrugged. “Know is a bit strong of a word, but sure. I’ve met him a few times.”

  “I imagine you’re about to say something about wanting to remove my head, then?” I asked.

  Jacob laughed. “Hardly.”

  Well, that was refreshing.

  I glanced back around the room again. “Why are so many black and reds hanging out in this town in their human form?”

  “We’re some of the ones that don’t wanna join up with the one you’re seeking,” explained Jacob.

  “That’s a relief,” I heard Cassandra breathe out.

  “Why not?” I asked Jacob.

  “I get why we were all banished to Ra’Chok,” said Jacob, swirling his drink around in his hand. “To be quite honest, it’s not so bad once you get used to it. Especially if you find a nice, quiet bar like this one that lets you escape into a little pocket dimension.”

  “Seems nice enough,” I nodded.

  “There are a lot of us that want to leave this island, though,” he continued. “Maybe some of em believe in those Dar’Ka tales, but most are just looking for someone that can promise them a better life. That’s why they follow Ulrich, especially since he’s gotten that crown.”

  “I’ve heard rumor he’s been convincing more dragons recently,” I prodded.

  Jacob nodded. “You’ve heard right. He’s convincing more and more of our people, even if it’s through force. It’s funny… he goes on claiming the other races are our problem, yet he’s the one killing more reds and blacks than any of your people.”

  “He’s killing his own people now?” asked Cassandra, her eyes wide.

  “We’re not just here for a drink,” said Jacob. “We’re hiding out in here. Ulrich and his mindless followers will kill us, too, if we don’t join them.”

  It sounded like Ulrich had gone crazy. He wanted to be the savior of the black and reds, but now he thought the best way to accomplish that was by killing anyone that disagreed with him? I was never a fan of the black and red dragons before, but they deserved to be left alone if they weren’t hurting anyone.

  “Do you know where he is?” I asked. “If we can get to him, we can end this. You and the others here can go back to your lives.”

  “I like the sound of that, even if I’m not so sure you can do it,” smirked Jacob. “There’s a town about a day’s walk to the northeast. The place is called Zundif. Last I heard, Ulrich was heading there to recruit.”

  “Zundif,” I repeated with a nod. “We’ll get with our army and head out there first thing tomorrow.”

  “Good luck, you four,” said Jacob, turning back to his drink. “If all your friends die and you need a place to hide out for the rest of your days, you’ll know where to find us.”

  “Thanks for the confidence boost,” said Cassandra.

  Chapter 6

  That night we met up with Emerich, telling him what we had learned. The elf was extremely suspicious, but since we had nothing else to go on and it wasn’t exactly like he was calling the shots anyway, he eventually relented. We found an overpriced inn and spent the night in a tent filled with pillows, which turned out to not be nearly as comfortable as it sounds. The pillows were all different shapes and sizes, and I kept waking up every hour or two with a new pain in my back.

  So much for getting a good night’s sleep.

  We left bright and earlier the next morning, gathering our troops as quickly as possible. As usual, the elves were very timely and we left without any major setbacks. The town of Khu’Mul gave us a loud goodbye, trying their best to pawn off a few more items before their newest ‘conquerors’ were gone.

  “Tell me again how you know Ulrich is at Zundif?” asked Emerich a few hours into the march.

  “A black dragon named Jacob told us,” I said, annoyed at the elf. He kept asking us with his judgemental tone, accusing us of being stupid without actually s
aying as much.

  “That’s right,” nodded Emerich. “A noble black dragon. Remind me, wasn’t it a black dragon that also almost spelled disaster for The Republic back at Vorova?”

  “First of all, we didn’t know Varinia was a black dragon,” I explained. “Second, what’s your point? You clearly don’t think this is the right decision.”

  “I don’t have a point,” lied the elf.

  “I understand your concern, Emerich,” said Cassandra, “but I’m fairly certain we can trust this information. It sounds like Ulrich has turned on the other black and red dragons that won’t follow him.”

  “Then what’s the rush?” asked Emerich. “We could wait him out in Khu’Mul. Eventually, he’d kill off a decent percent of the enemy for us.”

  “He’s killing the ones that aren’t our enemy,” emphasized Dhot.

  “They’re all our enemy,” said Emerich firmly. “Or do you mean to tell me that there are some red and black dragons that have hearts of gold?”

  “Perhaps hearts of silver, or maybe bronze,” I shrugged.

  For the longest time, I believed as Emerich did, that there was no such thing as good black and red dragons. But why would Ulrich need to take so much time and effort to convince them all to come attack the mainland if that were true? Why would some of the nondragon races be fine living with them in Khu’Mul? Why would some rather die than work with him?

  “I’m not buying it,” said Emerich, shaking his head.

  “Frankly, I don’t care if you do or you don’t,” I said. “Even if all the black and red dragons are horrible creatures, it’s clear that some of them don’t like Ulrich. Isn’t there something about the enemy of my enemy?”

  “They be yer enemy twice removed,” nodded Braun.

  “I don’t think that’s it…” I said.

  “I guess we’ll find out whether or not this is a trip soon enough,” huffed Emerich. “I’m having my forces keep on their guard, though. I don’t feel as comfortable as you do with walking directly into an ambush.”

  “Want to put some quat on who was right?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.