****
“It’s an insult. Just because humans are bigger than us doesn’t mean we can’t have our own rooms.”
“Athos, for the last time, they only had one room left. It’s fine. Relax.”
Athos glared at his brother then eyed the lone bed in the room.
“Who gets the bed?”
“Lukas and I do,” Venk calmly told him.
“And the rest of us?”
A knock came from the door. Venk opened it to reveal a rolled up mattress standing on two legs.
“Don’t just stand there,” Breslin told him from the other side of the mattress. “Get out of the way!”
Venk stepped aside in time to avoid getting hit by the unfurling mattress. The straw pad was only four inches thick, but it was certainly better than sleeping on the hard floor. Tristofer appeared next, dragging a second mattress along the ground behind him.
“I’m a scholar, not a laborer,” he wheezed as he took off his spectacles and wiped his brow with his sleeve. “The least that Thacken fellow could have done is brought this up here for us.”
“At least the proprietor let us use them,” Breslin told him. “No charge. Now stop complaining.”
Athos reached behind the scholar and easily pulled the mattress into the room. Setting the two pads next to each other pretty much took up the entire floor space, but no one complained. Within minutes everyone was sound asleep.
The next morning the dwarves awoke well past sunrise. Thacken, the owner of the inn, almost summoned the village constable due to the lack of activity from that room for such a long period of time. Thanks to the loud snores coming from the dwarves the cleaning girls all believed there was a deadly animal in the room and refused to enter it.
Once the dwarves finally descended the stairs and had a meal, they dropped several pieces of silver on the large wooden counter and bowed to the owner, thanking Thacken for his hospitality and left.
“Sleep well, did you?”
The dwarves all paused as they looked up. They expected to see the dragon’s large form either pass by overhead or else see him circling high in the sky. They saw neither.
“Where are you?” Athos demanded as he cast his eyes about. “How is it we can hear you but not see you?”
“When a dragon so chooses it can accelerate to a speed usually undetected by most eyes.”
“You’re telling me you’re flying faster than we can see?”
“Aye. From the time we started this conversation I have passed by three times.”
Dumbfounded, Venk stared at the sky and waited. If the dragon had truly passed overhead three times there must have been some traces of his passing, whether feeling a blast of air pass by, or hearing the beat of Rhamalli’s wings, or something! Venk felt foolish as he stared open-mouthed at the empty sky. He couldn’t see, feel, or hear anything.
“Until I decelerate, you won’t see me, Master Venk,” Rhamalli’s voice floated down from above. “I can see that you’re trying.”
“Just when you thought you knew everything about dragons,” Athos muttered.
“We really don’t know anything about dragons,” Tristofer protested.
Breslin approached the scholar and slapped him on the back.
“Ever hear of sarcasm, Tristofer?”
“Of course I have. Oh.” Tristofer turned to stare up at the sky. “Do dragons sleep?”
“Not in the fashion you are accustomed to,” came the dragon’s reply.
“What do you mean?”
“We enter into a state of consciousness where we shut off our senses and rest.”
“That’s like sleeping, isn’t it?” Lukas asked.
“No, young Master.”
“What’s the difference?” Venk wanted to know.
“The difference, Master Venk, is that my senses will resume at a moment’s notice. I’m aware of everything around me. I just choose to ignore it.”
“I get it,” Tristofer said, smiling. “You meditate.”
“I am unfamiliar with that word.”
“To meditate is to engage in contemplation or reflection.”
There were a few moments of silence as Rhamalli considered.
“I accept your definition. Aye, we meditate.”
The dwarves followed the road, which hugged the river, for two days before they finally arrived at Lentari’s eastern coast. There, stretching farther than the eye could see, was the great Sea of Koralis. Looking north they could see that the land curved gently northeast, while looking south showed the land continuing the curve southeast. However, there were no signs of a waterfall because they were at sea level. Unfortunately it meant they still weren’t anywhere close to their destination.
“Do we camp for the night or should we keep going?” Athos wanted to know.
“Tristofer, check your map,” Breslin instructed. “How much farther is the waterfall?”
Careful not to have misplaced the map this time, Tristofer retrieved it and studied it.
“I’d say about two more hours northeast as we follow the coast. However, I have to point out we won’t be on the road as it veers west. We have to follow the coast, not the road.”
“How close is R’Tal?” Breslin inquired.
“From Drammli Falls? About an hour north.”
Breslin nodded. “Not far then. That means we should be safe when we leave the path.”
Venk nodded, encouraged. He didn’t want any other surprises when it came to the safety of his son.
“I say we continue on,” Breslin decided. “Besides, there aren’t any rocks or trees here for us to string our hammocks.”
“And there will be when we get to the waterfall?” Tristofer asked. “How can you be so certain?”
“What’s the matter? Tired?”
“Utterly exhausted,” Tristofer admitted.
Breslin smiled. “Acknowledged. Be patient. I know there are trees because the Questor’s Mark shows them.”
Surprised, Tristofer glanced over at the underling who was busy chatting with his father.
“I forgot. You’re right of course. I think I can make it.”
“Excellent. Let’s go.”
Two and a half hours later they had found the waterfall. The ground had risen steadily ever since they had turned north, so by the time they had encountered the waterfall they were well over three hundred feet above sea level. Lukas’ mark had indicated there’d be trees about and it didn’t disappoint. There were plenty of pine trees available that would be perfect for stringing hammocks.
The sun had just set so as darkness was settling in the dwarves constructed their camp. Venk and his son searched for firewood while Breslin and Athos strung hammocks. In the meantime, Tristofer fetched rocks to be used as their hearth.
“Think we’re in the right place?” Athos murmured to Breslin as he tied one end of a hammock to a tree.
“You don’t?” Breslin shook his head. “Lukas’ mark has been incredibly accurate in every way thus far. We won’t know we’re in the right place until Lukas returns and tells us if he feels anything.”
“Where would you hide something in a waterfall?” Athos wondered aloud.
“Probably in a cave behind the falls.”
Tristofer approached them.
“Assuming you’re right,” the scholar began, “how exactly do you propose we verify that? Did you see how high up we are?”
“I say we string him up and lower him down the cliff,” Athos thoughtfully suggested, glancing briefly at Tristofer before returning his gaze to Breslin. “That way we could let him investigate all he wants.”
All the color drained from Tristofer’s face. “You wouldn’t dare.”
Breslin laughed. “He’s joking. Pay him no attention.”
Tristofer breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness.”
“I wasn’t joking,” Athos muttered under his breath.
Tristofe
r gasped with alarm. “That’s not funny.”
Breslin turned away before Tristofer could see him smile.
The following morning found everyone standing at the edge of the cliff staring down at the water far below.
“Are you sure, son?” Venk asked. “You can’t sense anything?”
Lukas shook his head. “I can’t feel a thing. I’m sorry, but until I touch whatever it is, I won’t be able to sense it.”
Tristofer looked over at Athos and frowned. Athos was staring straight at him and smiling. Tristofer surreptitiously moved away from the ill-tempered brother.
“Is your back tingling at all?” Tristofer asked the underling.
Lukas paused as he tried to sense whether his back was reacting to the area or not.
“No.”
Venk frowned. How were they supposed to know where to look if they didn’t know where to start? Drammli Falls was huge!
Lukas shrugged and moved off south, farther away from the river and waterfall. They all watched the underling turn and move back towards them. As he neared, he veered west and walked along the river for just a bit. He turned again and returned to their side.
“Nope, I still can’t feel anything. My back usually tingles a little to let us know we’re in the right area, but so far I haven’t felt anything.”
“What does that tell us?” Athos asked. He turned to Tristofer, expecting an answer.
“It tells us that our destination is still far away,” Tristofer answered. “Either we’re in the wrong spot or else the object we’re looking for is at the other end of the waterfall.”
“The other end?” Breslin repeated. “Does that mean we have to go…”
“Down?” Venk finished for him. “Figures. So what do we do now?”
Breslin turned to Tristofer. “Got any ideas?”
“Well, I’d suggest we send the one member of this party, who can fly, down to investigate. Perhaps Rhamalli can see something we can’t.”
“I can see plenty,” Rhamalli’s voice rumbled, startling all of them.
They turned to see the giant dragon sitting on the edge of the cliff, also leaning his long red neck out over the precipice. How long Rhamalli had been sitting there was unclear. The fact that this was the second time in as many days that they had been surprised by the appearance of a dragon did not go unnoticed by Breslin.
“What is it with you dragons? How is it you can move with such stealth that no one can see or hear you?”
Rhamalli said nothing.
“Fine. Be cryptic. We don’t care. What can you see?”
“Rocks.”
“Aren’t you a barrel of laughs? Anything else?”
“Water.”
Breslin sighed while Lukas tittered quietly.
“Would you like me to inspect it closer?”
Breslin rubbed his temples. The dragon was starting to give him more headaches than the scholar.
“Aye, I would.”
Rhamalli launched himself off the cliff and fell like a stone towards the surface of the sea. When it looked like he was going to splash down into the water his great red wings unfolded and he arced gracefully above the water. He even dropped a foreleg down to lazily skim the surface of the sea as he flew overhead.
As Rhamalli beat his wings to rise back into the air, he circled about and headed back towards the base of the waterfall. He circled a second and then a third time before he steadily rose back to the top and alighted on the ground next to them.
“There’s nothing out of the ordinary I could see,” the dragon reported. “No marks, no runes, no foreign objects of any type were observed.”
Athos looked back at his nephew. Lukas was wandering slowly around the area, hoping to get his back to react to something.
“We’re going to need to get Lukas down there to see if he can determine whether or not we’re in the right area,” Breslin announced. “Who wants to go with him?”
“That’s not even a valid question,” Venk told him. “Of course I’ll go. Do we know what we’re looking for?”
“One of two possibilities,” Tristofer told them. “After studying the picture of the power hammer closely, based on what we already possess, we are either looking for the handle or the hammer head.”
Athos raised an arm. “I’ll go, too.”
Breslin nodded. “Good. Tristofer and I will remain topside.”
“Thank goodness,” Tristofer exclaimed.
Breslin looked at their wyverian friend.
“Will you carry the three of them down there?”
Rhamalli nodded. “There is a large slab of stone that looks as though it cleaved off from the cliff face. It appears stable. I can deposit them there.”
“Sounds good. Venk and Athos, get your gear. Tools, hammers, chisels; take whatever you might need down there in case you find something.”
Venk grunted in way of acknowledgement. He and his brother went for their tools.
Half an hour later both brothers were standing on the slab of rock just north of the waterfall. Both were staring up at the cliffs far above them.
“Where do we even start?” Athos had to practically shout at his brother. Their close proximity to the waterfall made communication difficult.
“Lukas said his back tingled the moment Rhamalli first landed on this rock. We flew all around the area. This was the only place where Lukas could feel anything. Therefore it must be around here somewhere. Split up and look for anything out of the ordinary.”
“Rhamalli said he didn’t see anything unusual.”
“Stop complaining and start looking!”
Venk and his brother quickly covered the entire surface of the roughly thousand square foot slab of rock. Rhamalli was right. The stone had broken off from the cliff due to natural erosion. Judging by the size of the slab Venk figured it must have made a tremendous splash when it fell into the sea. Venk’s eyes traveled up the cliff face and hovered over the large indentation from where the slab must have been originally sitting. Rhamalli had indicated that he hadn’t seen anything, and Lukas had also indicated his back hadn’t started tingling until they were as low as they could possibly be without submerging themselves into the water. That could only mean that the object was hidden in the sea or...
“Rhamalli, can you hear me?”
The dragon’s huge head swung out over the edge of the cliff far above and gazed down at them.
“Is there any way to tell what’s below this slab? If it was water then it would have sunk beneath the surface. This slab isn’t that thick. See the cliff there? Where the stone broke off? It’s fairly shallow, maybe ten to twelve feet thick. We’re farther away from the water than that. This stone landed on something. I’m wondering what that might be.”
Rhamalli jumped off the cliff and was quickly circling about overhead as he studied the slab of stone.
“You’re right. It’s not as thick as I thought. I cannot tell what lies beneath. At a minimum the water lies five feet beneath the bottom of the slab. It appears to be a rock formation of some sort. You’re dwarves. Can you not tunnel through?”
“Of course we can. Given enough time, we could. The problem is we need a faster resolution than that.”
Athos knelt down and studied the stone’s surface. He leaned out over the slab’s edge and tried to see for himself what the slab was resting on.
“Take us back up.”
Once the two of them were back at the top of the waterfall they compared notes.
“We have no way of knowing how long that slab has been there,” Breslin told them. “I think it’s safe to say that what we’re looking for lies beneath. The question we must now ask ourselves is how do we inspect the other side? How do we move it? We need ideas. Let’s hear them, no matter how preposterous.”
Surprising them all, Lukas was the first to offer a suggestion.
“Shardwyn is a powerful wizard. He could pul
verize that stone with a simple spell!”
“Even if he could,” Venk patiently told his son, “there’s no way to contact him. We’ve already used the messenger spell. Besides, I think this might be over his head. It’s a very good idea, though.”
Lukas beamed.
“Who else has an idea. Tristofer? What say you?”
“How long would it take our fastest diggers to tunnel through it?”
Breslin thought a moment. “It’s hard to say without knowing what type of stone it is. It looks sedimentary. If I were to venture a guess I would say two weeks. And that’s creating a standard five foot diameter tunnel. What if what we’re looking for lies beneath a different part of the stone? They’d have to keep digging until they found it.”
Rhamalli’s deep voice drew everyone’s attention. “What if the stone were broken in twain?”
“How?”
“Repeated strikes. Dragon fire is very destructive.”
“You’re telling us that you could break it?”
“Not without help,” Rhamalli admitted. “I would seek assistance.”
“From other dragons?”
“Aye.”
“How long would it take?”
“Unknown. I have never tried to split a stone before.”
Breslin bowed. “If you’re offering, my friend, I’m asking. If you can, break that thing in two.”
“Very well. I have just asked for help. Kemxandra and Cantreya are en route. They will be here soon.”
Fifteen minutes later the large black female dragon was back, along with the white male dragon that had helped pin the Zweigelan. Both were staring at Rhamalli as though he had just suggested all dragons should swear off flying.
“Would you please repeat that?” Kemxandra asked incredulously. “You want us to do what?”
Rhamalli extended his neck out over the cliff and looked down. The other two dragons followed suit.
“Do you see the slab of stone that has broken off the cliff and lies just above the water?”
The two dragons looked out over the cliff edge and eyed the slab far below. They nodded.
“It is believed the stone slab conceals what the dwarves are seeking. The stone shelf must be broken. We are to render aid in accomplishing this task.”
“How do you propose we do that?” Cantreya’s gravelly voice asked.
“Repeated blasts by the three of us should accomplish the task.”
Kem shook her black head. “I cannot believe Rinbok Intherer would want us to –”
“I’ve already informed him. He has no objections.”
Kem’s large black eyes narrowed as she stared at the slab hundreds of feet below.
“Think of it as a chance to practice your aim,” Rhamalli suggested.
Kem’s head swung around until she was facing Rhamalli. “Would you be insinuating your aim is better than mine?”
Cantreya chuckled; the deep rumblings were felt by dwarf and dragon alike.
Rhamalli gave the best approximation of a shrug that any of the dwarves had ever seen. “Your aim could benefit from repeated practice, Kem.”
The black dragon sniffed disdainfully. “Perhaps my aim is not as accurate as yours. At least my shots do damage.”
Cantreya’s laughter grew louder. This time Rhamalli growled. “Do not even think of suggesting your shots are more powerful than mine.”
“I destroyed three of the metal creatures last year. How did you fare?”
Rhamalli said nothing.
“What creatures?” Tristofer timidly asked.
Kemxandra glanced down at the spectacled dwarf. “Last year during the battle with the human sorceress Celestia we faced a mechanical foe that was extremely difficult to vanquish. I managed to dispatch three.”
“Once you were told how,” Rhamalli pointed out.
“Regardless,” Kem continued, “I destroyed them. Refresh my memory. How many did you destroy?”
Rhamalli went silent again.
Nodding her head, Kemxandra smiled. “That’s what I thought.”
“Neither of you can match the power behind my blasts,” Cantreya rumbled as he stirred. He unfolded his massive wings and stretched.
“I’d say we have the makings of a wonderful competition!” Breslin chortled while he rubbed his hands together. “The dragon that makes the final blast which splits the stone will forever after be known to be the strongest amongst the three of you. Agreed?”
As if sensing that something drastic as about to happen, the surrounding countryside fell silent. Insects scurried back to their lairs. Kytes anxiously retreated to their nests to verify their young were unharmed. For several seconds the dragons looked at one another as is mentally daring each other to make the first move.
“Two pieces of silver says the white one breaks it first,” Athos whispered.
“Make it a gold piece,” Breslin whispered back. “And I say Rhamalli will do it.”
The ground lurched as the three dragons all leapt off the cliff in a mad flapping of leathery wings. Cantreya immediately dove straight towards the slab and fired two quick blasts at the stone, expecting it to be reduced to rubble.
It wasn’t.
Kemxandra and Rhamalli both flew east over the sea before circling back and targeting the stone slab. Rhamalli fired off five shots, all of which bounced harmlessly off the stone’s surface. Kemxandra elected to fire just one shot, but gave her shot as much power as she could muster. Inhaling sharply, she spat out an enormous fireball and watched it speed towards the slab. It impacted the slab with the force of a trebuchet. The large stone creaked ominously but remained intact.
Three hundred feet away, from the safety of their camp, the dwarves listened to the relentless pounding the rock slab was taking. For close to an hour the dragons blasted jets of fire at the stone shelf, hoping it would break under the ruthless assaults. At least the slab began to show signs of damage; jagged cracks had formed on the surface.
“What goes on here?” an authoritative voice suddenly demanded, startling the dwarves.
Jumping to their feet, the dwarves turned to see a dozen human soldiers approaching on horseback. At the front of the procession was a human Breslin was quite familiar with. He bowed to the human who was now holding up a hand, signaling his battalion to stop.
“Commander Rhenyon. It’s an honor to see you again, lad.”
Rhenyon dismounted and approached the dwarf. He clasped Breslin’s forearm and gave it a mighty shake.
“Master Breslin! What the blazes are you doing out here? I’ve always heard its damn near impossible to get a dwarf out of a mountain, let alone five!”
Breslin grinned. He motioned for the others to approach.
“I believe you have already met Masters Venk and Athos last year. Over there is Tristofer. He’s a scholar from the Kla Rehn.”
Rhenyon nodded. He locked forearms with each of the brothers and then the bespectacled scholar.
“I remember you two,” Rhenyon said as he turned back to the brothers. “You aided the Nohrin last year during the battle with Celestia, am I right?”
Both brothers nodded. Venk pulled Lukas to his side.
“This is my son, Lukas. Son, this is Commander Rhenyon. He is friend to the Nohrin and holder of another of the Mythra weapons.”
Lukas’ eyes went wide as they immediately settled on Rhenyon’s sword.
“That’s Mythron! He has the blue-bladed sword!”
Rhenyon briefly unsheathed his striking dark blue weapon and presented it to the underling.
Smiling, Lukas turned to his father to show him the fabled sword. “Father, can you make me one of these?”
Venk rolled his eyes. “Do you know how difficult it is to make a blue sword blade? Especially a dark blue one? I don’t know what trick Master Kharus used when he made it but I sure would like to learn it.”
Rhenyon indicated the cliff’s edge and b
egan moving towards it. “So tell me, my friends, what’s going on here? What are the dragons battling?”
Breslin smiled as he walked back to the edge of the cliff and looked down. Kemxandra and Rhamalli were still circling about as they blasted their fireballs at the stationary stone. Cantreya had located several outcroppings and was clinging to the rock face. He was blasting the stone relentlessly from his stationary position, not that it did any good. More cracks had appeared in the stone shelf but it was still, unfortunately, in one piece.
Rhenyon looked down at the cliff face and watched the wyverian activity.
“Is this some type of dragon target practice?”
“We need to see what’s beneath that stone slab,” Breslin explained. “The dragons are kindly helping us save some time by breaking that slab for us.”
“That stone has been there as long as I can remember,” Rhenyon remarked as he watched Rhamalli fly out to sea to circle about. “What do you think is under it?”
“I’m not really sure,” Breslin admitted with a shrug. “It’s something that will hopefully point us in the right direction for the next task.”
“You’re on some type of mission?”
Breslin nodded. “In a matter of speaking, aye. My father was presented a puzzle and he wants to solve it. I think he believes it could be beneficial to our people.”
“Do you require assistance?”
Breslin looked at his human friend. The desire to tell the truth was strong, and he didn’t like concealing anything from anyone. However, if there was still a chance that Nar could be waiting for them, he’d never hear the end of it if he let it slip now.
“I do not believe so, my friend.”
Satisfied, Rhenyon nodded. The commander turned to study the circling dragons for another minute or two. Breslin watched the human from the corner of his eye. Did he suspect something?
“So tell me, why are you here?”
Rhenyon smiled. “Do you have any idea how far sound travels?”
Breslin let out a short bark of laughter.
“Heard them, didn’t you?”
“The king thought we were under attack. When we couldn’t find the source of the explosions I was sent to investigate.”
“Sorry. It’s just us.”
“How do the two of you know each other?” Tristofer asked, sinking back down to sit cross legged on the ground.
“We met when we fought with Sir Steve and Lady Sarah during the battle of the guur.”
Athos’ eyes widened in disbelief. He turned incredulously to Breslin.
“You fought the guur during the battle in which those infernal bugs were eradicated?”
Breslin nodded. “Aye. It was one of the few times I was damn glad we were fighting side by side with humans, and one of them was a fire thrower.”
Venk sank down onto the grass next to his son.
“Was fighting the guur as bad as the stories lead us to believe?”
“Worse,” Breslin and Rhenyon both said together.
“They’re just bugs,” Tristofer exclaimed as he polished his glasses. “How bad could they be?”
“Just bugs, Master Tristofer?” Breslin squatted down next to the scholar and thought how best to describe the terror that used to haunt his clan. “Imagine a ten legged bug the size of Lukas. Imagine it is fully armored so that it’s immune to arrows. Imagine it can move so fast that swords and axes are virtually useless. With me so far?”
Tristofer wordlessly nodded.
“Good. Now take that horror and multiply it by a thousand. That’s what we faced when we fought them.”
“How in the world did you vanquish them?”
“We killed their female. No female, no young. We did dispatch many of them, but with the female gone the colony couldn’t replenish its numbers.”
Tristofer was amazed, and his expression showed it. He sat there quietly in the grass as he tried to envision what type of weapons would possibly be effective against that type of adversary.
“As I said,” Breslin reminded him, “one of the humans with us was Sir Steve. The Nohrin. He was, and still is, a fire thrower, and the most powerful one that has ever been recorded. He did most of the work.”
“Impressive,” Tristofer admitted. “Where is this fire thrower now?”
“Back on his world,” Rhenyon told him. “He and Lady Sarah visit frequently. I just saw them last month when they came for the prince’s fifteenth birthday.”
An ear-splitting crack rent the air. Everyone present jumped. Several of the horses reared up into the air in fright. Breslin rushed to the cliff’s edge, followed closely by the others.
“What was that?” Tristofer asked as he swallowed his fear of heights and joined them at the edge.
The three dragons soared by them and circled high in the sky. Cantreya and Kemxandra flew off moments later. Rhamalli circled around a few more times before coming down for a graceful landing.
“It is done,” Rhamalli told the dwarves. The red dragon then spied Rhenyon and his men. He lowered his head for a cursory sniff. “I do not believe we have met before, human.”
“We haven’t. I am Rhenyon, Commander of the Royal Guards in R’Tal.”
“Rhamalli.”
Rhenyon waited to see if any other titles were forthcoming. There wasn’t.
“Pleased to make your acquaintance. Breslin, you appear to have everything under control. We’ll be off. Good journey to you.”
Breslin and the other dwarves bowed. After receiving a quick cuff on the back of his neck from his father, Lukas followed suit.
“And you. Give my regards to Kri’Entu.”
Rhenyon nodded. He mounted his horse and galloped back the way he had come.
Breslin looked up at Rhamalli, clapped his hands together, and vigorously rubbed. “So! I had wagered on you. Athos and Venk bet on Cantreya. Who finally broke the stone?”
Rhamalli shook his head in disgust. “Kemxandra. Lucky shot.”
“Indeed? Blast. I just lost three pieces of silver to Lukas. Was there anything below it?”
“Nothing significant that I could see. The stone was broken into three pieces. At the point of impact there does appear to be what could be a cavity of some sort directly below. I could not tell if it was natural or if it was artificial.”
“Can you take Venk and Athos down to investigate?” Breslin asked the dragon.
Rhamalli nodded. “Of course.”
Tristofer raised a hand. “Wouldn’t young Lukas have to accompany them as well? So we can determine if we’re in the right place?”
Venk frowned. He didn’t relish the idea of putting his son in harm’s way.
“Just until we can determine if something is down there. Once we do, if we do, then he goes back. Is that agreed, son?”
Lukas nodded emphatically, thrilled to be included in the activities.
Minutes later the three of them were staring at the broken slab. Lukas hadn’t taken three steps before announcing his back had started tingling. Venk nodded and signaled for his son to be returned to the others. As soon as Lukas departed, Venk pivoted in place. He wordlessly eyed the numerous scorch marks blackening the area. The giant slab of stone lay in three pieces. The section they were on, roughly half the size of the original, had jagged cracks running all across the surface. The smaller two pieces were about the same size and were now tilting haphazardly down, their far corners resting in the water.
“Has this stone always sloped down to the water?” Athos asked as he stared down at his feet.
“Looks like it slid towards the sea when it broke loose,” Venk observed.
Athos approached the recently broken edge of their slab and squatted down. He motioned for his brother to join him. He pointed at a gap of about four feet which separated the three pieces. With the largest section of the broken slab now sloping down, and the two smaller slabs sloping in the opposite direc
tion, a narrow space was visible underneath the thick stone. The opening was just large enough for a dwarf to slip through.
“Give me some rope,” Athos told his brother. “I’m going down.”
Once Athos had been lowered into the hollow he untied the rope and looked around the tiny cavity. This part of the stone, namely the undersides of the broken slab, had once been exposed to the elements. If something had been attached to the rock face, this was the correct side of the stone to be looking at.
Athos smiled. There was just enough light to look for irregularities. Catching sight of a discolored section of rock down near the narrowest part of the hollow, Athos dropped to his belly and inched forward for a better look. It was a slightly yellow color, standing out amongst a backdrop of solid gray stone.
Wanting to see if the discoloration existed anywhere else, Athos painstakingly checked the rest of the undersides of the slab he could reach. The discoloration only existed in the one place. That had to be it!
“Did you get stuck down there?’
Athos looked back up through the narrow crack at his brother’s concerned face.
“I’m fine. I found something. Hand me my tools.”
“What did you find?”
Athos took his hammer and chisel and dropped back down to his stomach.
“I think there’s something embedded in the stone. I’m going to find out.”
A loud grating sound split the air and the slab lurched forward.
“Athos, get out of there! Hurry!”
Athos began chipping away at the slab’s undersides.
“Not until I get whatever this thing is.”
Not bothering to keep his work neat, Athos sunk his chisel as deep into the rock as he could, gouging out huge chunks of yellow stone in the process. After twelve inches in he still hadn’t found anything. The yellow stone had reverted to its natural gray color. What had happened? Was the colored stone just a natural occurrence?
“Think, Athos, think.”
Athos recalled the long geological lectures he had attended back when he was an apprentice. Hadn’t one of his masters said that pyroclastic deposits could permeate, over large periods of time, the surrounding rock and therefore change its nature? While he doubted they were looking for anything volcanic in nature, it was possible that whatever they were looking for might have leeched, or tainted, the surrounding rock. If that were the case, the object they were looking for might not necessarily be directly beneath the discoloration. It could be off to the side.
Athos eagerly gripped his tools. He had to trace the yellowed rock back to its source!
The slab groaned and slid another foot or so towards the sea.
Venk’s urgent voice called out to him.
“Athos, get your butt out of there! This whole damn slab is sliding into the sea!”
“It hasn’t budged an inch in centuries. I think it’ll be fine for another five more minutes.”
The slab slid another foot.
“Any other bright ideas? You don’t have five more minutes. Get out of there! If I get wet because of you I’ll never let you hear the end of it!”
Athos ignored his brother and began frantically chipping away at the stone undersides. Where had the blasted yellow stone gone? He expanded his search, moving a few feet to his left, but came up empty. He could find nothing but gray stone.
The slab moved again. Cursing, Athos slid forward with the slab and continued chipping. There! There was more yellow stone! He doubled his efforts. A large heavy piece of yellow stone plunked painfully down on his chest. He angrily tossed it aside. Athos frowned. The yellow stone was gone! The trail had ended there. The slab started moving again and this time it felt like it wasn’t going to stop!
Athos snatched up the stone that had smacked him on the chest and scrambled up towards his brother. Venk grabbed his outstretched hand and yanked. At the same time Rhamalli descended from the sky and plucked them both from the rock slab before it finished its noisy slide into the sea.
Once they were back on top of the cliff Venk angrily turned to his brother.
“Cut it a little close, don’t you think?”
Athos held up the yellow stone.
“True, but I got it. I think.”
Breslin looked at the yellow stone and then at the brothers as though they were mad. He was surprised to learn that the rock was easily twice as heavy as it should have been. “Why would a sedimentary stone be this heavy? This doesn’t make sense.”
Athos nodded. “Right. I think what we’re looking for is buried in that stone.”
Breslin pulled a tiny set of tools off his belt and sat down on a flat rock. Slowly and carefully, he started chipping away at the stone. Tiny flakes of yellow rock began to accumulate at his feet.
Venk cleared his throat. “Er, aren’t there any larger hammers you can use?”
“And risk damaging whatever is in here? I wish I had my miniature tool kit. This chisel is way too big for this type of work. But I guess I’ll just have to make do.”
“Better make yourself comfortable,” Athos told Tristofer while simultaneously winking at his nephew. “It looks as though we’re going to be here a while.”
“It must be the hammer head,” Tristofer whispered excitedly. “It must be!”
After a while the stone Breslin was holding cracked open, much like how a cook would crack open an egg. Breslin caught a flash of metal before something heavy plopped onto his lap. Dropping his tools on the ground Breslin picked up the object and studied it.
Tristofer was right. It was a hammer head, and a unique one at that.
“There’s going to be no living with him now,” Breslin muttered.
Chapter 8 – Needle in a Haystack
Lost City Page 25