by Marcus Sloss
“Speak. What are you doing here? Why do you have a dragon’s egg on your back?” She pressed her foot down firmer, letting him know she meant business.
When she eased up on the pressure, he seemed eager to talk.
“We were just supposed to grab the egg—-I don’t know why. The portal-“
“Shut up, you idiot!” the other ratman screamed from his place against the building, rocking forward to warn his comrade.
Cera easily stopped his protests, her battle hammer coming down hard, splintering the wood next to the ratkin’s head. He glared across at the other rat, threatening him with his eyes not to say another word. With the disruption settled, Aquina returned her focus to the ratman under her boot.
“You were saying?”
He thought for a moment, weighing which side he currently feared more.
“We were supposed to be sent back to the main village through the portal. I don’t know why we are here. I really don’t know anything.”
“You thoughtless buffoon. Do you really think the General will let you live when he hears of your betrayal?” The other rat spoke up again, clearly not intimidated by Cera’s presence.
“I think you should be more concerned with the dangers that are right in front of your face.” Cera said with an aggressive tone, her patience for the ratman’s arrogance completely depleted.
“Like I would fear a weak Hivini,” the ratkin scoffed, belittling her presence.
Using a sword she had surely stripped from the ratmen earlier, she drove the blade through his neck. He struggled to stop the strike, his hands shooting up to guard, but it proved useless.
The force behind her thrust was enough to cut deep, and the wound was fatal. She glared into his beady eyes as she pulled back, ripping the sword from his body.
He attempted to stop the blood as it pulsed from the wound, but nothing worked, and in under a minute he was dead, his body slumping forward, his arms falling limp beside him.
The ratman whose head was pushed into the ground, clenched his fists as he watched his comrade die, his body becoming still, hoping he wouldn’t face the same fate.
Aquina mumbled something incoherent, her spell lifted before she said, “Get up. And for the love of Zinbi, get that thing off your back.”
The ratman obeyed, cautiously standing upright. He took the contraption that held the egg off his back, setting it on the ground between himself and Aquina.
“Now-- can you tell me anything about your plans for the invasion? Why are you stealing this dragon egg?”
“How many of you were given this mission?” I spoke up, remembering the two ratmen that had died in the dragon’s cave.
The ratkin’s eyes darted around, clearly anxious about how much he should reveal. Realizing his life hung in the balance based on what he said, he decided to speak up.
“When the initial unit didn’t return, we were immediately dispatched. The mission was easy at first. The dragon wasn’t even in the cave.”
He danced around the question, revealing little information. Annoyed, Aquina drew her sword, pointing it at the rat’s neck.
“He asked you a question,” she growled, inching closer to his vitals.
“Five! There were five of us!”
At his confession, we immediately began searching the area, only accounting for two of the enemy combatants.
“Where are the others?!” Aquina demanded, her sword never faltering.
“They were -” his words were cut short by an arrow, the head piercing through his right eye.
His body slumped forward, lifeless. Clearly, the Rexco would rather eliminate their own than chance having their plans exposed. We followed the path of the arrow with our eyes, hunting for the culprit.
Movement behind one of the houses alerted us of the ratkin’s position, and without prompting, Cera and Illia headed in that direction. Aquina and I had other plans, setting a trap that would hopefully lure out any of the remaining rats in the area.
We moved, feigning following the others while staying nearby and keeping an eye on the egg that by all appearances had been left unguarded.
Illia and Cera were swift in their apprehension of the ratkin, removing the crossbow from his person before restraining him.
We didn’t have to wait long for the other ratman to make a move. We watched from our hiding spot as he cautiously approached the egg, struggling to lift the massive thing onto his back.
Together we surrounded him, his comrade in tow.
The look on his face let us know he wanted to run, but the fact that we outnumbered and outpowered him could not be ignored.
Slowly, he stopped his attempt to steal back the egg, putting it softly on the ground then raising his hands in surrender.
When he felt we had dropped our guard at his supposed forfeit, his hands deftly grabbed for his loaded crossbow.
The bolt aimed and shot in a matter of seconds. As the bolt whizzed through the air, a few things happened.
First, I quickly extinguished the life that had threatened our own, shooting three of my fire arrows instinctively at the ratman, each one finding its target.
Next, Illia brought up an earth barrier, easily blocking the arrow that had been aimed at her.
The arrow collided with the barrier, splintering before falling harmlessly to the ground.
With another of the ratmen deceased, we turned our attention to the only one that remained alive, hoping to find out something useful about the enemy.
Illia released his rocky shackles, believing our presence would be enough of a deterrent to dissuade him from trying to escape. He glared in our direction, backing up slowly while we all held our position.
“When does your general plan to attack again and where?” Aquina got right to the point.
He remained silent, his eyes pacing rapidly, searching for a way out. When the pressure built to an unimaginable level, he ran, no one moving to chase him. He won’t get far, I thought to myself, letting him hang on to the small hope of escaping.
Unfortunately, he didn’t simply try to run from our grasp. He sought a more permanent reprieve, running to pick up a discarded sword laying by his fallen comrade. We all assumed a defensive stance, waiting for him to turn the sword on us, but instead he dropped to his knees, digging a small hole in the dirt.
“What are you doing?” Cera yelled, moving closer to him.
That only hastened his movements.
He eyed Cera who stomped in his direction, his hands never stopping their frantic digging.
When the hole met his satisfaction, he plunged the hilt of the sword into the dirt before throwing himself on the blade.
We all watched, wide-eyed as he sputtered blood, his body hovering inches from the ground.
He twitched a final time before succumbing to the injury. I turned away from the scene and the desperation he must have felt for him to take his own life in such a way. Did he truly fear death, or was he afraid of what might happen to him if he were to reveal any confidential information under our interrogation?
I couldn’t be sure, but it certainly didn’t matter anymore. I focused on the problem we currently faced—if there would be additional ratmen attacks and the egg currently in our possession.
“There were five.” I said aloud, having done a silent headcount.
Only four of the ratmen were accounted for, all dead.
We didn’t have to worry about whether the last had escaped with the prize since the egg sat in front of us unharmed, but that didn’t mean we could let our guard down.
Assuming he would be lurking in the shadows, waiting for a time to strike or stealthy steal the egg, we began searching the area once more.
When we didn’t find him in the immediate area, we split up, widening our search zone. We went in groups of two. Aquina and I would search the front half of the village while Illia and Cera searched the back. We stashed the egg in the nearby hut, and Aquina placed a protection spell around it so that if the ratman retur
ned to retrieve the egg, we would know.
We walked with purpose around the front end of the village, but even with a thorough search of the surrounding houses, we came up empty handed. Maybe the ratman lied to us? I began to reason. It’s not like they were a trustworthy bunch to begin with.
Aquina wandered over to the barn, while I searched around the surrounding trees.
“He’s gone!” Aquina re-emerged moments later, her tone urgent.
“Did you see him?” I questioned, rushing to her side.
“No—Hercules, he’s gone! The rat must have taken him.”
Shit. I didn’t even think of that. It would be much quicker to escape on horseback, but I didn’t expect them to be the type to leave without their target.
We circled back to the other end of the village, locating Illia and Cera to inform them of the news. Cera’s hands immediately covered her mouth as she processed the new information.
“Even if the rat is on Hercules, it's not like they can just fly away. We can follow his trail. We will get our horse back and stop that rat from revealing our location.” Illia said confidently, which seemed to comfort Cera a bit.
She nodded, and her fists clenched as she tried to hold in her rising anger.
“Let’s head back to the stables and see if we can see what direction he headed in,” I directed them, hoping we would find the clues we were searching for.
The first thing we noted were the tracks Illia and I had left earlier in the day, leading into the village, meaning they couldn’t have come from the enemy.
We found several other tracks, but most were older and faded. Finally, we found what we were looking for—tracks that led toward the front of the village where the opening of the wall was located.
“He definitely left the village.” Aquina said as she followed the tracks, her head down, moving toward the front of the enclosed village.
We followed the hoof prints in the dirt about ten yards from the village entrance, but then they disappeared.
“They just end...” Cera said aloud what we were all thinking.
“That’s impossible.” Illia scoured the area with her eyes, searching for any sign that someone had been through the area.
“I agree. Hercules can’t just disappear. So, what happened?”
Combing the ground for any prints, we tried to assess where they could have ended up. My first thought was that the dragon scooped Hercules and the uninvited rider up into the air, but looking above at the thick treetops, I knew making such a grab would be nearly impossible for the large dragon. Then what happened?
“Maybe the portal opened up in the right place this time,” I wondered aloud, rubbing my hand on a smooth line of dirt just after the last hoof print.
“The ratman said it himself—they weren’t supposed to end up in the dwarven village. That means the portal malfunctioned or the portal user made a mistake. Maybe this was the users’ way of correcting that mistake?”
I couldn’t know the correct answer for sure but judging by everything we experienced so far as well as the evidence in front of us, I thought my explanation seemed valid.
Before anyone could add anything to my deduction, Illia raised the ground up under her, lifting herself in the air the same way she did when she showed me the mountain in the distance.
I watched as the rocky structure built upon itself, taking her higher and higher until she stood well over the tops of the trees. Waiting for Illia to return to ground level, the girls’ continued to search the area, hoping for the small chance that they would uncover a hidden print in the dirt.
A minute later, the structure started to move again, and Illia slowly lowered herself to the ground.
“Nothing. They didn’t make it to the plain, at the very least, but I couldn’t see much else in the forest. He really did escape—and took Hercules with him. And that’s not all. The dragon is still in the plain—still searching for its baby. Nothing is on fire, but it won’t be long before it ends up here.”
Silence fell over our group as we walked back into the village, the weight of Illia’s words sinking in. Although we only had him for a short time, everyone seemed fond of Hercules, and his loss left the girls disheartened.
“We don’t know that he is gone for good.” I said softly, trying to comfort them, even if only a little.
Heading for the hut that contained the egg, my mind started to race with what came next. The original plan entailed finishing my weapon and heading back to the Wen village, but what about the egg? The dragon could come for it at any time, which meant keeping it amongst the houses, could lead to a catastrophe.
Yes, the dwarves weren’t living in the village, but I still believed they would return one day. I didn’t want them to return to find their village burned to the ground because of our decision to leave the egg behind. Regardless of our intention with the egg, I didn’t think the dragon would be understanding and withhold its rage when seeking its offspring, meaning the village would likely become collateral damage.
I shook my head, trying not to dwell in the unknown, instead, focusing on the task at hand. Opening the door of the house, I pulled out the contraption the ratmen had used to carry the egg, along with the dragon egg that remained inside it.
The shell looked quite beautiful, the sunlight reflecting as colors off the once cream-colored surface. As beautiful as the egg appeared, I knew that even having it in our possession would be deadly.
“What’s the plan for this thing?”
Aquina began rummaging through the bag she wore around her waist, pulling out a thick branch and the horn of a horned rabbit.
“For now, we need to hide its presence.”
She mumbled more incoherent words before moving the items all around the egg, the motions seeming haphazard yet at the same time deliberate.
“Will that really keep the dragon off our trail?” I question when she finished, the egg appearing unchanged by her chanting.
“Dragons have a strong connection to their offspring. While her rage might be clouding her abilities, if left as it was the egg would eventually lead her right to us. With the spell, the signal has been temporarily severed. To her, it will seem like the egg simply vanished from this world. Hopefully, this will keep her from searching for a little while—and will keep us safe.”
“But what should we do with it?” Cera spoke up, eyeing the egg with the same suspicion I felt.
Seeing the dragon close-up, I wasn’t sure we would be able to fight it and live to tell the tale. I understood Cera’s fear even if she didn’t vocalize it outright.
“We need to return it, of course.” Illia answered this time, so sure of her decision.
“Return it...And how do you propose we do that?”
“It’s simple really.” Illia began.
“We take it to the open plain, release the suppression spell and run like hell,” Aquina finished for her.
I nodded, thinking about the plan. While a bit rudimentary, I understood the thought behind it. In theory, the dragon would be so preoccupied with the return of its baby that it would forget the ones that kept it for a short period of time.
This distraction would be enough for us to move away from the scene and after that the dragon would—hopefully—return to its cave in peace. The only question was what would happen if that wasn’t the outcome.
“Run—-really? That's all you’ve got.” Cera didn’t seem convinced.
Illia shrugged her shoulders, rubbing her hand across the surface of the egg.
“When should we head out?” I asked, watching Illia stroke the egg’s shell, a glint of excitement in her eyes.
I could only guess at the thoughts running through her head.
“The spell should hold up for three or four days, so there is no rush. Truthfully, we should probably give the dragon a bit of time to cool down before the egg reappears on its radar. If Illia wants to finish your weapon in the meantime, I think that would be a good use of the time. Then we can head t
o the clearing, drop off the egg, before heading toward the Wen village.”
“Perfect!” Illia responded before I could, her mind already on the weapon she would construct.
Picking up the bag of the collected material, she headed in the direction of the blacksmith’s shop, the egg forgotten.
“I shouldn’t need more than two days!” She turned to shout at us, never stopping her stride.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I still couldn’t trust that the dragon wouldn’t seek our lives as a means of compensation.
“No, but it is the only idea that makes sense. The egg can’t stay here—it's not safe. The ratmen will probably be back for it and right now we are the only ones protecting it. If we leave it here, waiting for the spell to wear off, the dragon could destroy the village to retrieve it, or worse, the Rexco could pick it up first. Trust me, returning it is the best option.” She caressed my cheek, looking up into my eyes.
“I trust you,” I replied, placing my hand over hers before kissing her palm. “It's everything else I don’t trust.” I mouthed the last part into her cupped hand, not wanting her to second guess the plan.
“Thank you,” she said softly.
Although the feeling of danger permeated the air in the camp, we tried to conduct business as usual, ignoring the presence of the egg that we moved to our sleeping quarters for safe measure. While Illia worked tirelessly on the sword, Aquina, Cera and I trained, practicing for the battle that felt closer than ever.
As the suns started to set on what seemed like a never-ending day, we had to practically drag Illia from the blacksmith’s shop, telling her the work would be waiting for her in the morning. Reluctantly, she agreed, and we all climbed the tree house settling in for the night.
CHAPTER 9
Dwarf village
Ninety-seven days after arrival
When we awoke the next morning, Illia had already headed out, eager to work on what she claimed would be her life’s masterpiece. Aquina, Cera and I spent another day training, and then another, both quite uneventful despite the ticking time bomb that rested in the treehouse sitting room.