Logan’s gaze next moved to the dragon’s horde. The dragon was sleeping on a bed of gold and jewels. Amongst these glittering treasures, he could see the remains of old armour and weapons.
Maybe, he thought briefly. We could find some magical weapon of immense power that could vanquish all our foes.
Ruefully, Logan realized that if they hadn’t worked for their previous owners, there was no reason to think that he and his friends would be fair any better.
Nope, definitely, no help there, he thought. Fighting is clearly not the best option.
That only left escape and if he didn’t find something soon, they’d lose that option too. He was studying the room one final time, when a strange shape at the far wall caught his eye.
A straight line in the wall of a mountain cave, he thought. There’s no way it can be natural, nature does not work in straight lines.
He could hear the trolls getting closer. Whatever they were going to do, it had to be soon.
He refocused on the distant object.
Is that what I think it is, he wondered? It has to be.
Logan turned to the others. Gesturing quickly, he relayed to them what he wanted them to do. El’s look of disbelief made him smile. He could always count on El to tell him what she thought of his plans, even when they couldn’t risk talking. Logan took the lead, with El right behind him. Raeth came next, though Lan’thor had to push her to get her moving.
Their footsteps on the coarse stone rang loudly in Logan’s ears. He cringed inwardly, expecting the dragon to wake at any moment. His breath caught in his lungs as the massive reptile moved in its sleep. He could see the large eye moving behind the closed lid, its’ tail twitching back and forth, but the beast continued to sleep.
They followed the cavern wall, keeping the pillars between themselves and the dragon as they circled around behind the big wyrm. Logan studied the wall before him in the dim light. His earlier smile spread into a massive grin. He’d been right, it was a door. Now, the only question was how to open it.
The large wheel in the centre of the door was the obvious answer. The wheel was connected to two bars that were acting as the door’s locking mechanism.
Turn the wheel, release the lock and away we go, he thought. That seems easy enough.
He stepped forward and tried to turn the wheel.
It didn’t move.
Logan went pale. The wheel was nearly rusted solid. He heard the trolls nearing the end of the passageway. The dragon was moving in its sleep again, its tail twitched back and forth in longer and longer arcs. The noise from the trolls must be disturbing it.
All Hades was about to break loose at any moment and he really didn’t want to be at its centre. Lan’thor stepped up to help Logan with the wheel. Between the two of them they managed to move it slightly. Raeth joined them and they all heaved together. The wheel didn’t move and the door didn’t open.
The first of the trolls came barrelling into the chamber. Hooting and hollering, they ran straight into the sleeping dragon. One of the poor creatures actually slid into the big reptile’s snout. The dragon snapped reflexively as it woke. The troll was sliced in half. Hollers quickly turned to screams of pain as razor claws and teeth tore through flesh and bone.
The dragon was up and moving now and it was clear it wasn’t happy at being disturbed. Its tail flicked back and forth dangerously close to the companions, while body parts and blood splattered around the chamber. As the sickening sound of bone crunching under powerful jaws reached their ears, the three friends pulled harder on the wheel, still nothing.
Suddenly, Logan felt a change take place in him. He felt himself grow stronger, more powerful. He put his knew found strength to the wheel and felt it turn slowly. A defiant screech came from the mechanism as he felt the locking bolts retract from the stone that held them.
The remains of a troll splattered against the wall next to them. A quick look over his shoulder told Logan that they had finally caught the dragon’s attention. With no time left to waste, he pulled on the door. With the bolts free, it moved easily now and he held it open as he ushered his friends through it. He followed closely on their heels. A roar of anger followed them as the dragon’s tail crashed into the open door, slamming it shut. Logan quickly turned the matching locking wheel on the inside of the door, bolting it shut.
Chest still heaving from exertion, Logan turned to face his friends. El had cast a sphere of light, and he could plainly see them leaning against the walls of a hallway, breathing heavily.
“Everyone in one piece?” he asked as he leaned against the door.
El looked pale and tired, yet she was smiling to herself.
“Do I have you to thank for that?” Logan asked.
She smiled at him as he let himself slide down the door to sit on the floor.
“What good is being a mage if I can’t give some support now and then?” she replied as she came over and sat beside him.
She nestled her head on his shoulder. It felt good to have her close. Lan’thor followed Logan’s lead and lowered himself to the stone floor. Raeth moved with him. The encounter with dragon seemed to have left her in shock and Logan could plainly see the concern on Lan’thor’s face. She cuddled in close to him and he wrapped an arm around her. Logan smiled to himself.
Good for Lan, he thought.
He sighed in the dim light as he looked at El. He could only hope that one day she might feel that way about him.
“I think, you’ve been replaced,” he whispered to her.
El looked over at Lan and Raeth before smiling and nestling back against his shoulder.
Chapter Thirty-Five: He Sees You When You’re Sleeping
Hephaestus released the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding in a loud sigh. He had been watching his creation’s progress in the flames of his forge and had been sure that Logan had finally pushed his luck too far. Old Graynor was renowned for being cranky when he woke up, even more so when it was done so rudely.
Hephaestus had been certain that the crotchety old wyrm was going to finish the boy once and for all. The healing power he’d infused in the boy was strong, but even he doubted that it could contend with being mashed between the jaws of an irate dragon.
And, even if it could, he pondered. The result would be something truly horrible to behold.
Thankfully, it hadn’t been tested. Logan and his friends had found a way out of the lair, admittedly, by the skin of their teeth, but out all the same.
He was also pleased that Logan had yet to attract the attention of the other gods. Hephaestus knew that it was only a matter of time, but the longer it took the better for Logan and his companions. Not to mention the better for his own plans.
Of course, if the boy insists on taking on entire goblin villages, that’ll soon change, he sighed. Ares is attracted to battle like a fly to shite.
Hephaestus was just relieved that the war god had been otherwise engaged with the nomads in the northern plains when that little scuffle had taken place.
Looking back at the image of the four companions in his forge, a small grin spread across his ruined visage. His plan was working, at least on a small scale. The boy was attracting others to his cause. It had been quite a while since Hephaestus had seen elves inspired to leave their woodland homes. This boded well.
He’d also been quite pleased to see how the boy had dealt with the solitary ogre in the swamp. Hephaestus had been starting to worry that Logan would try to meet all threats with violence. The boy’s reaction with the ogre and just now in Graynor’s lair, told him that the boy was thinking and at least trying to consider other options and solutions.
Hephaestus’ plan might just work, but it wouldn’t hurt to help it along a little.
Nothing to overt, just a quick word with the dwarves, he thought. Maybe a sense of alarm, that their territory had been breached.
Sitting back with a self-satisfied smile, Hephaestus watched the effect of his message amongst the dwarve
s.
“That ought to get them into the lower tunnels to investigate,” he muttered to himself.
Chapter Thirty-Six: Welcoming Party
Logan wasn’t exactly sure when his friends had drifted off to sleep. What he did know for certain was that they were all exhausted. Between the desert sun and the snow covered mountains, it was amazing that they were all still alive.
It may have been the joy of finally being warm again or the relief at making it out of the dragon’s chamber in the right number of pieces. Either way, Lan’thor and Raeth were snoring softly as they slept against the grey stonewall. The sphere of light was beginning to dim as El also slipped into a fitful sleep against his shoulder.
The light was soon totally extinguished and he could hear El’s rhythmic breathing as she slept. His eyes adjusted as well as they could to the complete darkness of the tunnel, but even with his superior night vision he could only see a few feet ahead. He tried to stay awake to watch over his sleeping friends, but as the adrenaline from his encounter with the dragon left him, he felt himself begin to grow weary.
Logan hadn’t realized that he’d actually fallen asleep until the flickering light from a torch woke him. He slowly opened his eyes. There standing before him were half a dozen men. He regarded the figures more closely.
No, that’s not quite right, Logan corrected himself. Not men, but dwarves.
All were wide through the shoulders with relatively short legs and arms. They stood about fifteen feet from the friends and as they stared back at him in stony silence, he realized that at least two of them held nasty looking crossbows. The dwarves holding the crossbows held them with confidence, clearly levelled at Logan and his friends.
With a small sigh, Logan slowly rose to his feet. His movement woke El who immediately assessed the situation. Logan stepped carefully forward being careful to keep his hands clear and away from his body.
No point giving them a reason, he thought as he placed himself between the dwarves and the others.
As he moved past Lan’thor he gently kicked his boot.
“Time to get up, sleepy head,” he said quietly. “We’ve got company.”
Lan’s eyes opened then narrowed as he recognized the threat. He slowly rose to his feet behind Logan. Raeth and El stood just behind the tall elf.
Logan studied the dwarves. All six stood a little shorter than Logan himself, none of them could have been more than four and a half feet. They all had beards of various lengths with the one directly before them having the longest, his beard was coal black in colour, well kept and stretched all the way down the dwarf’s wide chest to his waist. He had a rugged complexion and steely grey eyes.
Logan couldn’t help but notice that where the elves he had met had been fair and delicate, the dwarves before him were heavy sturdy creatures. Their muscles bulged against their tunics and they all looked like they knew how to handle the heavy axes and hammers they carried loosely in their hands.
Logan knew that his friends had realized the same thing he had, the passage was too narrow for them to fight effectively. The elves longer reach would work against them here. Not to mention the fact that the crossbows would take out at least one if not two of the companions before they could be disabled. He sighed to himself. All the advantages currently belonged to the dwarves. He spoke softly to his friends.
“No weapons, guys.”
Best to get that out of the way before anyone could get ahead of themselves, thought Logan.
Lan had told him enough of the old stories over the past months. Logan knew that there was no love lost between the elves and the dwarves, much of that hostility stemming from the elf-dwarf war a thousand or so years back. Both races were long-lived and both knew how to hold a grudge, but this wasn’t the place to settle those old rivalries.
The lead dwarf had been studying Logan since he’d come forward, but the shorter man’s stony expression gave Logan no indication as to their possible fate.
Finally, the dwarf stepped forward.
“You trespass,” he spoke in heavily accented Tir’anish.
“We’re sorry,” replied Logan. “We did not mean to trespass. We fled from a tribe of mountain trolls and ended up in here.”
Logan spoke slowly hoping the dwarf understood his words. The dwarf’s response did little to ease his mind.
“You trespass!” the dwarf announced. “You must be brought before elders.”
Logan nodded his assent.
“We understand,” he replied. “Please, take us to your elders.”
He moved to step forward, but the two dwarves with the crossbows levelled their weapons at his chest as the leader raised his hand to stop him. The dwarf shook his head and pointed to the hammer hanging at Logan’s side.
“Not armed,” said the dwarf.
“Ah, I see.”
Logan looked back toward his friends. Lan’thor shrugged in response and laid his staff on the ground. Logan did likewise with his hammer and knife and soon they were stripping off their various weapons. When they finished Logan looked at the dwarf before him and held his hands up to show their emptiness.
“Better?” he asked simply.
The dwarf nodded and turned on his heel leading the way down the corridor. Behind him came the torchbearer. The crossbowmen motioned that Logan and his companions should follow. Logan nodded and led the way behind the torchbearer. To the group’s discomfort, the bowmen never lowered their weapons as they followed a short distance behind. The other two dwarves quickly gathered up the companion’s belongings before bringing up the rear.
They walked the long tunnels in silence. Light from the torch illuminated various shafts and corridors as they went, but the lead dwarf seemed to know exactly where he was going or so they hoped. As Logan studied the route, he realized that he and his friends could have been lost down here for years before ever finding a way out. He smiled to himself in the dim torchlight, in that respect, they were actually quite fortunate that the dwarves had found them. Logan laughed softly to himself, who’d have ever thought that he’d turn into an optimist.
Eventually they came to a large intersection lit by torches hung in sconces in the stone walls. The black haired dwarf led them toward a large metal cage situated against the far wall.
“Great,” muttered El. “Another cage.”
Only it wasn’t, the dwarves got into the cage with them and pulled the gate shut. One of the dwarves pulled on a chain hanging slightly off to the side and suddenly the cage started to move. The sudden jolt caught the friends by surprise and they reached out to steady themselves as the cage started its slow jerky ascent up through the mountain. The dwarves seemed much amused by the stranger’s discomfort.
After a few moments, Logan grew used to the strange motion of the cage and found his curiosity getting the better of him. He looked up into the shaft above to try and determine the mechanism that caused the cage to rise. He could just see some form of heavy cable attached to the top of the cage. As they neared the top of the shaft, he could see the cable feeding across a large spool and then hanging straight down back through the hole they had just risen through.
The large spool holding the cable was attached to a strange device of heavy black metal. The metal had clearly been welded in places and strange knobs and clocks cluttered its black surface. Near the top of the metal device were pipes that seemed to be venting steam. Whatever the strange device was, it fed the cable attached to the cage up and down. Logan was fascinated.
Chapter Thirty-Seven: City In The Stone
The cage came to a jolting halt and they stumbled to keep their balance. The dwarves pushed Logan’s companions out onto a high ledge overlooking a massive cavern in the mountain. Logan was so preoccupied with the fascinating machine that had carried them up through the shaft that he hadn’t noticed that his friends were no longer with him.
“Lan, this is incredible. It’s some kind of machine. It uses cables and pulleys to move the cage up and down.”
Logan ignored his friend as he continued to study the machine before him. The machine seemed to operate on steam. He could see smoke escaping from the chimney at its top. He wondered how the dwarves had managed to harness the power. His mind danced with the possibilities of such a thing.
“Logan!”
Logan whipped around at Lan’thor’s barked command.
“What?” he retorted.
Lan’thor didn’t need to answer as Logan gasped at the sight of the huge city that sprawled out before him. He looked back at the others and saw similar looks of amazement mirrored in their faces.
They stood on a high ledge overlooking a valley of sorts, although a cavern would probably be a more accurate description. Though, Logan had never imagined one could be made so large. Hundreds of feet wide and at least that deep, the opening in the rock was large enough to hold a good size lake in its centre. The lake was fed by a fast moving underground river that pooled in the natural basin of the cavern before rising high enough to allow its overflow to funnel over the bank and down in a natural fissure in the rock. Where it went from there was anyone’s guess. At the centre of the lake, a large tower of rock stretched up from the water to merge with the stone ceiling more than a hundred feet above. Smaller versions of the same thing were spread about the cavern and Logan guessed they provided extra support to stop the cavern from collapsing.
As incredible as the natural formations of this underground oasis was, the dwarven-made additions were even more stunning. Surrounding the subterranean lake was a city of stone. Homes and streets carved from or built into the stone spread out in a maze below them. Scattered throughout the streets and shining through the windows in many of the homes, were spheres of light that provided the city’s illumination. From their vantage point high on the ledge, they could see dwarves moving back and forth along the streets. In the distance, merchants could be seen selling their wares in the city square. It was hard to believe that all this lay deep under a mountain in the Dragon’s Spine.
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