“So.” Darbuk began as he honed a nicked edge out of his ax with a small whetstone. “How is it you knew about the storm and the shelter?” His tone was abrupt.
“I was warned about the storm by a friend. She told me to keep an eye open for suitable shelter, and I did.” He chuckled wryly. “Well, Kuan found it at my urging.”
“And who is this friend who told you about the storm.” He had set down his ax and was staring at Gareth intently. From the shadows Gareth could feel Ria’s golden eyes, and knew that she was listening as well.
“Are you sure that you want to know?” Outside there was a flash, and a rumble of thunder as if to make his point.
“Yes.” The dwarf’s voice was gruff.
Gareth sighed. “I was brought to this Eldenworld from thirty eight thousand years in the past by Athena, specifically to save the people on this world from a disaster that will kill every living thing.” Darbuk’s face was turning red. “Athena and I speak the same way I speak with my familiars… in my mind.”
“You are so full of shit boy, you don’t even think you smell.” The dwarf scoffed. “Prove what you say.” He stuck his arm behind his back. “How many fingers do I have out?”
“Was für ein Arschloch!” Gareth swore, holding out his hand, cupped palm facing up. “I’ll tell you how many fingers you have out… none! Ignis Pila!” A hardball sized fireball glowed in his palm, the light from the plasma flickering off the cave walls.
“NO!” The voice of Chiu, Lyndra and Ria shouted in unison.
“NO!” The voice of Athena boomed through the cave. “You will not kill him Gareth, although he richly deserves it. Put the fireball out, please.”
Gareth glared at the dwarf one more time, and then after shrinking the plasma ball to the size of a marble, dropped it into the neatly stacked wood. The fire caught instantly. His face was expressionless as he turned back to group of travelers. You took your own sweet time getting here. I thought I was actually going to have to burn the dwarf’s arm off.
It was all a put-on to get me here? Her thought sounded shocked.
Life would be pretty boring if I couldn’t take our friendship out, every once in a while, and wave it around. Now maybe they’ll take me seriously. A crooked smile touched Gareth’s face.
You’re impossible. He felt a soft hand touch his cheek, and she was gone.
Chiu was glaring at Gareth, but Lyndra was laughing softly. “It seems that things between our Gareth and his employer are a bit more complicated than we thought.” She murmured aloud.
Standing beside her, Ria smiled. “You think maybe?”
Darbuk was slowly edging toward the cave entrance, where rain was currently descending in a solid sheet.
Chui gave Gareth one last glare before she turned to face the escaping dwarf. “And where do you think you’re going?” She asked in a tone sharp enough to peel the hide from a buffalo. The dwarf winced.
“I think I’ve gotten involved in affairs that are over my head.” He grumbled, looking at the floor. “I made a fool of myself.”
Chiu’s look warmed somewhat, to about two hundred degrees, Kelvin. “We all make mistakes. The trick is not to compound the error, like you’re doing right now, and not doing it again.” She crossed her arms. “Now pick a spot against the wall. Dinner will be coming eventually.”
Ria had moved quietly to stand beside Darbuk. “Don’t you think this is all terribly exciting? We even met a deity.” Behind her Gareth snorted as she continued. “Just think of this as a great adventure.”
The dwarf turned a cold glare on the elf. “You’re all bloody insane. This adventure as you call it is going to get us all killed.”
Ria shrugged. “We all have to die sometime. What better way to go than trying to save all life from destruction?”
“Won’t bother the dwarves none.” Darbuk grumbled. “We all live underground.”
Ria shook her head. “But what about all the other people?”
“Good riddance I say. It will make more room for the dwarves.”
The elf’s face was slowly going red, and Gareth was glad to see that he wasn’t the only one the dwarf drove to distraction. “If all the animals die, what will you eat?” Ria snapped.
“Lots of things in the deep caves.” He rumbled. “Mushrooms and fungus to be sure, blind fish and albino rats for meat.” He looked up, jaws clenched. “Don’t worry about dwarves. We’ll survive.”
Ria had taken a deep breath to retort when Gareth touched her shoulder. “I’ll handle this.”
The golden eyes gave Gareth a level look. “What are you going to do, shoot him? You have my vote if you do.”
Gareth smiled. “In a manner of speaking… yes. I am going to shoot him down.” He turned back to the glowering dwarf. “It sounds like you have things well in hand. I just have one last question—what will you breathe?”
The dwarf frowned. “What do you mean? We’ll breathe air, just like you.”
Gareth smiled. “Ahhh, but you see air comes from the trees and the grasses on the land, and the plants in the ocean. If everything on the land and in the water is dead, nothing will be alive to produce the air you breathe, so I ask you again… what will you breathe, or will you all just suffocate like rats in a hole?”
Darbuk turned first white, and then red. “You’re lying!” He snarled, crossing his arms over his chest.
Ria looked at Gareth, her eyes wide and frightened. “You’re not kidding.”
“I wish I was.” Gareth replied in a sad voice. “Some people might survive in The Yeugate, and that city could probably manufacture both food and air for the foreseeable future, but it would be the only refuge on the entire planet. I can see fights erupting among the survivors as they struggle for control of the city.” Gareth didn’t mention the fact that even if life somehow managed to survive the lethal blast of radiation from the supernova, the death of the sun within a thousand years couldn’t be avoided. Sometimes I wish you’d never conned me into this job. He told Athena with a depressed sigh. My world is dying, and there isn’t a damned thing I can do to stop it.
Then why, pray tell, are you running back and forth across this world? Don’t tell me you aren’t trying to save these people, because you are. You and your companions are the only hope they have.
Have you ever heard the story of Sisyphus?
Unlike Sisyphus, there will come a time when your task will be done, and your stone will sit firmly on the top of the mountain.
I wish I could be as optimistic.
You just need to have a little faith, my Gareth.
He chuckled dryly. If I didn’t have faith in you, I wouldn’t have started this insane expedition, or continued on it once I found where it was headed.
There was silence in his mind for several long moments. Thank you. She said at last.
Bitte. He replied as he smiled in his mind. Please don’t let me down.
I won’t. Now that you’ve said what you’ve said to the dwarf, remind him of his wife and children. I suspect that he’ll come around then.
That’s hitting below the belt.
I never said I fought fair, Gareth. I too care for the world and its people.
Fighting to keep a straight face, Gareth turned to the dwarf. “What about your wife and children, Darbuk. Would you see them die also?” The dwarf’s face went pasty white, and his dark eyes widened as he envisioned the horror of his family suffocating slowly in the dark caves. Gareth watched in sympathy. “So… we can count on your help?”
The dwarf looked up and nodded, unable to do more.
The rain stopped overnight, and by morning a bright red sun shone down on a land that smelled fresh-scrubbed. Since his argument with Darbuk, the small company had been unusually quiet, and all went about their business of saddling and loading the horses and kept their thoughts to themselves. Gareth glanced over at the glum dwarf as he crawled up into his saddle. Darbuk, due to his short stature, had a bit more trouble mounting his horse than the o
thers.
Motioning Kuan to take the lead, Gareth rode beside the sullen dwarf. “Where are you from, Darbuk? Where is your family?” Gareth knew that speaking of one’s family was usually a safe subject.
“There is a range of mountains in northwestern Meocripia. Dwarves have been living there since the dawn of time.” He threw Gareth a sour look. “Or so the stories say. From there the dwarf cities and villages stretch to the west for thousands of leagues.” The dwarf stared out over the bleak gray boulder-strewn landscape without seeing.
“How many of you are there?” Gareth asked softly. “Dwarves, I mean.”
Darbuk shrugged. “Forty or maybe fifty thousand. Dwarves have small families, and it’s hard to keep track of where a group might have moved to.”
The sound of soft footfalls made Gareth turn to see Ria running lightly at his side. “And where are elves from, if I might ask?” Her long silky hair was blowing in the brisk breeze, and she looked his way with a smile.
“Elves inhabit most of the Realm of Koworus.”
“Koworus!” Chiu exclaimed, riding up beside Gareth. Even the dwarf looked interested. “Everyone knows that only monsters live in Koworus.”
Ria laughed. “That is what everyone is supposed to think. The high council worked very hard to develop scary stories, and make sure they were told in all the right places.”
“But…” Chiu looked confused for a moment.
“What about the sea monsters. Those aren’t just stories.” Lyndra commented as she came up beside the elf.
Ria looked thoughtful. “The kraken can be a problem, but we know the ways around them. Certain substances, when spread on the hull of a boat, will keep the kraken far away, even in mating season.”
“Like the stuff we used in the river between Knoumm Harbor and Iyreeqeka, to keep the river snakes away.”
Chiu nodded thoughtfully. “But what about the sightings of monsters?”
Ria let out a tinkling silver laugh. “The monsters are the most fun. While Koworus does have its share of dangerous creatures, it’s not much different from Oseothan or even Meocripia. We have watches set at all the trails and landing places for ships. When the ships come we dress up in monster outfits and make a fearful racket. Inland, we gather armfuls of narcotic flowers to drape along the trail. A few breaths of THAT pollen, and travelers will think they see all manner of monsters, especially when we are sitting in the bushes growling and carrying on.”
“How do you keep from being overcome by the pollen yourself?” Gareth asked curiously.
“We have special masks we wear over our noses and mouths. The finely woven cloth of the mask we soak in water before we put it on. It lasts for thirty minutes.” Her face became deadly serious. “Sometimes slavers from Strizruofast sail up our rivers, looking for towns to raid. Elven girls are a profitable commodity. Slavers sent in six boats last time, with twelve men per boat. We let one boat escape to tell the tale, with four survivors.” Her voice was as sharp as her blade. “Of the four, three had been castrated.” Gareth shuddered, but noticed that Lyndra’s eyes were bright as Ria continued. “The fourth survivor wasn’t castrated, exactly, but he will no longer function as a male.”
The leagues passed, and Gareth noticed that as they progressed into the hills, the size of the boulders grew. Stopping, the one boulder he examined appeared to be a section of wall, with bent and twisted rebar jutting from the ragged edges.
This isn’t natural. Chiu murmured in his mind.
I agree. Gareth replied with a worried frown on his face. I saw something like this once as I traveled in the American west. In that case the debris came from a small meteor. He looked around. The debris field I’m talking about was only a few kilometers across. In our case the debris field stretches as far as the eye can see. I don’t understand this at all.
They had been traveling up a wide range of ragged-topped hills when they saw Kuan flogging his horse down the hill and in their direction. He was shouting, “Mister Gareth, you’ve got to see this. Hurry!”
Wondering what could be so important that it would upset their small guide, he urged his horse into a reluctant gallop. Reaching the crest of the hill fifteen minutes later, he pulled his horse to a halt beside the staring guide. The rest of the small company, along with the pack horses were far behind.
“What is it, Mister Gareth?” Kuan asked in a mystified voice.
“Wir sind also geschraubt!” He cursed under his breath. “That, my friend, is all that remains of the great city we were sent to find.”
“Which city was it?” Kuan asked in a sort of terrified awe.
“I have no idea.”
The bowl he stared down into was 5 kilometers across, and more than a kilometer deep. The surrounding debris wall rose from the floor of the strewn field a full half kilometer, while the bottom half of the crater was filled with green water. The crater walls that he could see rising above the lake appeared to be made of fused glass.
Chapter 8
THE UNIVERSITY
The six stood for a long while, on the rim of the crater, staring at what had once been a great city. Why didn’t you tell me? He asked Athena, barely keeping the anger from his thoughts. Why didn’t you tell me that this was a waste of my time?
Her thought, when it finally came, was calm and collected. I didn’t tell you about this for the same reason that I can’t tell you where the city of Jafelon is.
He began to snap at her and then stopped, thinking about what she had just said. ‘…where the city of Jafelon is.’ He thought to himself. Not was. Ria, Darbuk and Kuan all looked at him as if he were insane when he began to smile. “Welcome to the great city of Azheles, ladies and gentlemen.”
“Azheles?” Chui breathed. “How do you know?”
“A little bird told me.” Gareth replied with a crooked smile.
The dark haired woman’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Did your little bird happen to mention where we might find Jafelon?”
Gareth gave her a fond look. “Actually, no. We’re going to have to …”
“Mister Gareth!” Kuan gasped out, pulling the sleeve of his coat. “What’s that??” He asked, pointing upward. His voice trembled.
Glancing up with all the others, Gareth frowned. “It’s too big to be…” His words stopped as his eyes widened. “It’s the dragons!!”
“Bloody dragons!” Durbak growled, fumbling for his ax.
Gareth rolled his eyes. “If you don’t put that ax away, I’m going to take it from you and throw it into the lake. The dragons will not hurt us.” Looking up at the rapidly approaching creatures, he hoped to hell he was right. When the large and the smaller dragon flared for a landing, he knew that he was right. Grinning, he bowed. Hello Mom.
The dragon bent a knee and returned the bow. Greetings my friend. What brings you out into the middle of nowhere?
Gareth laughed aloud. Actually, we were looking for Jafelon.
The dragon nodded knowingly. The lost city. How many of the great cities have you been to?
The human sighed. Now, all but Jafelon.
What do you search for? The dragon asked curiously.
Gareth didn’t answer right away. Is this the same hatchling I… Gareth touched the jeweled dragon imbedded in his arm.
He felt more than saw her smile. This is Kelarth the Young One, my son. The older dragon said with some pride. In one hundred years we may drop the ‘Young One’ portion.
Gareth bowed to the smaller dragon. It’s good to meet you at last.
The young dragon returned the bow, somewhat less gracefully than his mother. It is good to meet you also, in the flesh. I have listened in on your conversations, and find them very confusing.
Gareth smiled at the young dragon, whose head stood only three meters above Gareth’s own. Humans are a confusing species, Kelarth. Would it make more sense to you if I explained that we are searching for a way of saving all intelligent life on the world from a sure death that comes from the depths of space?
Although he was speaking to the young dragon, Gareth’s eyes were fixed on the mother.
You speak of the supernova. The mother dragon said slowly. We have heard about it when speaking with the Qual.
Gareth chuckled. They would know.
Will you save all the races on Eldenworld, if you can? There was an intensity to her question Gareth found alarming.
Yes… except maybe the ogres. He said with a soft growl.
The huge dragon’s head came closer still, dwarfing Gareth. There are some good ogres. She said simply.
I know. Gareth said, restraining his anger. The ogres on Iystrichi killed him. He was a friend of mine, and all he ever wanted was a family.
The dragon snorted, and a curl of smoke came from her nostrils. Gareth smelled brimstone. Some few of us will speak with them. She said in a tone that spoke eloquently of sudden death, or a quick lunch. After I eat a few of the leaders, the others may be more amenable to suggestion.
The ogres are apt to give you a sour stomach, if you’re not careful.
Suddenly both dragons were snorting meter long gouts of flame. It took Gareth a second to realize they were laughing. Sorry. The larger dragon rumbled, smoke still trickling from her nostrils. That was a very good joke, because it was so close to the truth. Gareth shuddered. Now, will you come swimming with us? The dragon nodded to the lake far below that was glittering in the sun like a green gem.
Gareth actually considered it for a moment. Our job here is done, and we should get back.
The dragon nodded. Is there anything we can do for you while we are here?
Gareth frowned. No… yes there is. He looked down at the jeweled dragon on his arm. Could you give this gift to my wife, my mate? I would have us both share this.
Most human males would choose to hoard their power. The dragon said simply. This thing is easily done. Gareth crooked a finger to Chiu, who came to stand by his side, a frown of apprehension wrinkling her forehead. Hold her arm so that the dragon in your skin presses against her skin. Kelarth will touch your joined arms, and I will breath on them. Although as painful as the first time he’d had it done, it was soon over and Gareth and Chiu stood panting on the edge of the bowl as the two dragons glided down, folding their wings at the last moment to dive beneath the deep green waters.
The City that Time forgot Page 18