The Black Dragon

by W. D. Newman

CHAPTER 7

  KAHZIDAR

  Gabriel and Hob followed the narrow river upstream and eventually came to the shores of a vast underground lake. The stony beach ran a few hundred yards past the river and ended at a sheer rock wall, much too steep to climb. They returned to the river and, after a tricky crossing, followed the shoreline in the opposite direction. Not too far down the beach, they found a dilapidated dock and the remnants of a barge that was probably used to transport ore, when this section of the mine was in operation. The wood from the dock and the barge was rotten and of no use. Also, much to their dismay, they found that this side of the river was just like the other side; an impassible dead end.

  "What are we to do now?" asked Hob.

  "You forget, I am following you," Gabriel answered.

  "I do not wish to backtrack. We need to cross this lake and continue following the river to find our way out."

  "You cannot swim, can you?"

  "Ha! It is well known that dwarves tend to sink in water. Besides, even if I could swim, I would not. This water is cold, the lake is vast, and we do not know how far it is to the other side."

  "Then we have no choice but to backtrack and find another way out."

  "Drat!" Hob exclaimed. He bent over and picked up a smooth round stone, then flung it out across the lake. The stone made a surprisingly loud ker-plunk that echoed off the cavern ceiling and carried loudly across the water. They watched the rings in the water slowly spread outward from where the stone fell. Then the point where the stone struck the water, from where the rings were emanating, began moving toward them. Startled, Hob and Gabriel both stepped back from the water's edge. The rings, rather than growing fewer and farther apart, were growing more frequent and moving faster. By the time the rings reached the shoreline, the surface of the water was vibrating madly and a faint hum filled the air. Gabriel grabbed Hob by the shoulder and pulled him even further away from the water.

  "What's going on?" Hob asked.

  "It's a water nymph. Do not get within her grasp."

  A water nymph was a spirit that inhabited a lake, creek, river, or any fresh-water body of water. Mostly they were harmless and shy, and stayed hidden away in the water that bound them. Occasionally they would take on the form of a beautiful young girl, often, just to cause mischief. Some of them, however, were malicious, even to the point of being dangerous.

  The creature's head began to rise up out of the water. When her shoulders were clear of the water, she stopped rising and hovered there, staring at the two visitors on her shoreline. Hob was captivated by her beauty.

  "She is like a living statue of glass," he marveled to Gabriel.

  "Yes, very beautiful and possibly very deadly."

  The nymph spoke. "Who troubles my waters?" she asked. Her voice was like the whisper of a quiet stream across smooth stones.

  "Two weary travelers," Gabriel answered, "who are lost and seek passage to the world above. Is there a way across this water?"

  "There is," the nymph replied, "for a price."

  "What price is that?" Hob asked, rubbing his hands together, ready to haggle.

  "It is a small price," the nymph answered, with a sly smile.

  "Then, let's have it," Hob exclaimed. "We haven't all day to stand around and dicker!"

  The nymph rose a little higher in the water, so that her elbows were just above the surface. She raised her arm and turned to point across the dark waters where the dwarf and elf wished to travel. "A tiny island rises from the center of this lake. There is a large rock on this island and upon this rock there lies a horn. When we cross, one of you must go ashore there, take up the horn, and blow two blasts upon it."

  "That's it?" Hob asked with a little disappointment. "Blow a stupid horn?"

  The nymph nodded, her long hair falling down across her shoulders in a flowing curtain of icy water.

  "Why would you have us blow this horn?"

  The nymph did not answer. She hovered there in the cold waters and quietly stared at them.

  "Answer the question," Gabriel commanded. "Why would you have us blow this horn?"

  Still the nymph remained silent but when Gabriel and Hob turned to leave, she finally spoke. "There is no other way to the surface but across my waters. On this side of the lake there is darkness and death. On the other side there is light and life. The horn must be sounded for every being that crosses from death unto life. That is the way it has always been, that is the way it must always be."

  "By the waters that bind you," said Gabriel, "will you grant us safe passage to the other side if we do as you ask?"

  "By the waters that bind me, I will grant you safe passage and deliver you alive and well to the other side if you blow the horn as I have asked you. Two blasts - no more, no less."

  "She cannot lie upon that oath," Gabriel told Hob, "yet I feel that she is hiding something from us."

  "I feel it too. If it were not for Zoltan, I would seek another way out, but we really have no choice. We must make haste and go with her."

  "I agree. We must get back to the Twilight as quickly as possible." Gabriel studied the nymph. She was still waiting patiently, but she had moved much closer to the shoreline. "I have another feeling too," he whispered under his breath to Hob. "I feel that we will somehow regret this."

  "I already do," Hob mumbled.

  "We accept your terms," Gabriel announced.

  The nymph rapidly began to rise from the lake and a boat made of bones rose up beneath her. The boat was long and wide, woven together with all manner of bones from all sorts of creatures. The rim was lined with skulls that faced outward and a green luminescence from within the skulls lit the waters with an eerie light. The ghoulish craft glided to the beach and the nymph waited patiently for Gabriel and Hob to step aboard.

  The elf and dwarf hesitated still, a deep unease troubling them both. Finally the urgent need to escape and warn the others made them press forward. Gabriel boarded the boat first and Hob, though still deeply troubled, followed his friend onto the gruesome vessel. As soon as they both were aboard, the boat began to pull away from the shore, steadily accelerating until it was moving at surprising speed. The green light from the sightless skulls illuminated the calm, still waters before them, and the swirling, troubled waters in their wake. Hob wanted so much to hold on to the sides of the boat to steady himself, but he dared not touch the skulls that lined the rim. Some of those skulls looked peculiarly fresh.

  Soon, the boat began to slow and a small island, as the nymph described, loomed before them. When the boat touched the shore, Gabriel nimbly leapt out and hurried to the center of the island where he found the horn lying upon the rock. The horn appeared to be made of ivory and the mouthpiece was fashioned from beaten gold. He put the horn to his lips and blew two long blasts. The sound was deafening and echoed repeatedly in caverns around them.

  "What have I done?" he wondered aloud, as he laid the horn down and returned to the boat. Hob was waiting for him on the shoreline.

  "I could not stay another second in that blasted boat," he whispered. "I cannot even bear to look at it and I certainly do not think I can stomach another ride in it."

  "You must," Gabriel answered, "or stay here upon this island, where there is no food to be had, and starve to death."

  "I hadn't thought of that," he said, turning and reappraising the boat. "I suppose I can handle one more ride. It is getting close to a meal time too, I am sure."

  "Come, let's be on our way."

  The nymph was smiling as they got back into the boat, but she did not speak. Hob frowned at her. As pretty as she was, he disliked her almost as much as he disliked her foul smelling ship. A water nymph, Gabriel informed him, must at all times stay in contact with the body of water to which she is bound. Although this nymph appeared to be inside the boat, she actually was not. The floor of the boat was made with large bones that were somehow bent and twisted so that they were woven toge
ther, much like rattan is woven to form a basket. The nymph's body went through the floor of the boat, seeping between the cracks and joints in the floor below her, to connect her to her subterranean reservoir. For some reason, this really made Hob queasy, almost sick. Another thing that bothered him was that the boat actually did not float. In fact, the boat could not possibly float. The nymph simply manipulated the water from which she was formed to raise it from the water and propel it along. They were completely and totally at her mercy.

  Hob pondered these things as they sped across to the other side of the lake where a wide pier jutted out from a tunnel just above the surface of the water. The boat, or the basket of bones, as Hob began to think of it, slowed as it approached the pier. When it gently bumped against the structure, Gabriel and Hob quickly climbed out onto the platform and turned to thank her. The boat, however, was gone and the water nymph was hovering in the water, with an anxious, almost expectant look upon her face.

  "What in thunder is she smiling about?" Hob grumbled.

  "I'm sure it's not because she has delivered us safely, as promised."

  "Come, let's get out of here. I cannot wait to wash away the stench of that boat."

  As they turned to leave, a sudden commotion from the tunnels made them pause. They both drew their knives as the din grew louder. There was no place to run and nowhere to hide. Suddenly, gnomes came pouring out of the tunnel and onto the dock. Gabriel and Hob were quickly surrounded by the creatures and found themselves contained within a ring of long, sharp spears. Gnomes are neither big, nor powerful. They are about the same height as dwarves, but they have a slighter build. However, what they lack in strength and size, they make up for in speed and ruthlessness. The circle parted, and a large gnome, taller and broader than the others, approached them. His pasty white skin was mottled and an ugly scar traveled down from his forehead, across a sightless eye, all the way to his jaw. An iron crown sat upon his head and he carried in his hand an iron scepter.

  "I am Ringwald Stonebreaker, king of Kahzidar."

  "I am," Gabriel began.

  "You are a sunlighter and a trespasser!" Ringwald shouted. Spittle flew from his lips and the scar on his face turned a dark and livid purple. "Drop your weapons now or die!"

  "Lay your knife down, Hob," Gabriel said, quietly.

  "I will not," said the dwarf. "We will end up in the slave mines if we do."

  "We will end up dead if we do not."

  Hob reconsidered. He and Gabriel slowly laid their knives down on the dock and the gnomes fell upon them and bound their hands behind their backs. Their packs were taken from them, along with Merlin's broken staff. When Ringwald saw the staff with the spell catcher on the end, he snatched it and claimed it for his own. Then he took his iron scepter and beat upon the ground for silence.

  "This sunlighter and the dwarf have been found guilty of trespassing," he announced.

  "We haven't even had a trial," Hob protested.

  "SILENCE DWARF," Ringwald screamed. "You are in Kahzidar; therefore you are guilty of trespassing!"

  "To the mines, to the mines," the other gnomes chanted, "to the mines!"

  Ringwald held up his new scepter to quiet everyone. The gem was still shining brightly. Even the torches could not dim its light. "They are guilty of trespassing and for that, they will now and forever be Mudcrawlers."

  At the mention of a Mudcrawler, Hob began to struggle against his bindings and a gnome rapped him sharply on the back of his head with the butt of a spear. Gabriel told him to be still.

  "They are also guilty of spying," the gnome king continued, "and for that they shall die."

  "Listen, Ringwald," Gabriel spoke. His voice was loud and commanding and all the gnomes fell silent to hear what he would say. "Zoltan has been wakened. The broken staff that you hold is the staff of the wizard Merlin, and the jewel on the end of that staff is called a spell catcher. It held the magic that has kept the black dragon asleep down through the centuries. That magic has been released now and Zoltan is awake and free to wreak havoc on those above."

  Ringwald mulled the elf's words over in his mind. Merlin was legend, even among the gnomes. If this was truly Merlin's staff and if he could unlock the power of the spell catcher, then maybe he could defeat the sunlighters and rule over all of Camelot.

  "Take the prisoners to the holding cells in the upper city," he directed. "I will question them more and learn the truth of this matter."

  As the gnomes started to leave, the water nymph called out to their king. "Ringwald, remember our bargain? It's two for one, in case you have forgotten."

  The gnome king snarled at the water nymph. "Bring the Mudcrawlers," he shouted.

  A handful of gnomes scurried back into the tunnel and returned, dragging four bedraggled gnomes behind them. These gnomes were unlike the others. They were filthy, dressed in rags and wearing shackles on their ankles. They were dragged to the end of the dock and pitched into the icy lake. They screamed and thrashed about in the dark waters as the water nymph pulled them under.

  "What was that all about?" Hob asked as he began to yank his beard.

  "You will find out soon enough," Ringwald scowled. "But if you must know, she guards this entrance to Kahzidar and for this service I provide her bones."

  Hob paled. "Bones?" he nervously asked.

  "Yes, bones," Ringwald answered, with a smile, "bones for her boat."

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