Cloak & Dagger: Book II of The Dragon Mage Trilogy

by Carey Scheppner

  Vera gave the cyclops a shot in the arm. “You guess! My foot! You would have beaten the hair off his smelly armpits!”

  Cyril’s grin got wider. “They did smell, didn’t they?”

  “Something awful!” said Vera. Her serious demeanor suddenly returned. “You can use that gift of yours to save others, you know. You just have to use it wisely.”

  Cyril’s grin vanished. “Maybe, but most people wouldn’t see it that way. You might understand me, but others would think I’m up to no good. Every time I try to help, someone interprets my actions as being bad. It’s been that way all my life. I doubt those attitudes would change now.”

  “You’d be surprised,” said Vera. “If I understand you, there must be others who think the same way.”

  Cyril sighed. “It doesn’t matter, Vera. After what I did to the head groundskeeper, they will never let me return. I ran away like the guilty creature I am. It’s pointless to consider the possibility.”

  “I’m not so sure,” said Vera. “The Tower of Hope does not discriminate.”

  “The groundskeeper did.”

  “True,” admitted Vera. “But he paid the price for his actions. I don’t expect he would treat you like dirt anymore.”

  “That’s a sad way to gain respect,” said Cyril.

  “Some people learn the hard way,” said Vera. “But most people would accept you without resorting to those measures. Just give it time. You’ll see.”

  “I don’t know,” Cyril mumbled.

  A dull echo halted their discussion.

  “Did you hear that?” asked Vera.

  “Yeah,” said Cyril. “It came from over here.”

  The cleric followed the cyclops to the side of the alcove where a fissure in the rock became evident.

  “I never spotted this earlier,” said Cyril. “It’s an opening into another part of the mountain.”

  Vera held her staff closer to the opening to shed more light on the crack. “I wonder where it leads.”

  The cyclops and cleric looked at each other in anticipation.

  “Do you want to check it out?” asked Vera.

  “Sure!” said Cyril. “I think I can just squeeze through there. I’ll go first.”

  “I’ll follow you,” said Vera.

  The cyclops squished through the opening and Vera followed. It was a struggle to get through the tunnel, but they doggedly continued. A short while later, they ended up in a small cavern that was just big enough to accommodate both of them if they stood close together.

  “Now what?” panted Cyril, who was glad to be able to stretch to his full height.

  Another echo interrupted their thoughts.

  “Something is just beyond the wall,” said Vera. “I can’t see any openings, but maybe if I put out my staff’s light we can see light beyond through a hole or something.”

  “I don’t know,” muttered Cyril. His breath was hot against Vera’s head.

  Vera grinned and knew what the cyclops was thinking. Without debating the point, she put out the staff light.

  A long tense pause was followed by a sudden twitch in the cyclops’ arm. “Wait! I see something!”

  “What is it?” asked Vera. She could see nothing but blackness.

  “You were right!” exclaimed Cyril. “There is a hole!”

  “Can you see through it?” asked Vera.

  “I - you’re in the way,” said Cyril apologetically.

  Vera tried to move over but couldn’t. “Do you have room on your left side?”

  Cyril moved and twisted. “Not really.”

  “Maybe I can slide over here,” said Vera. A sudden movement followed some pushing and shoving and Vera’s voice came from somewhere below the cyclops. “How’s that? Can you look through the hole now?”

  Cyril was glad it was dark in there. “Let me see.” He twisted to his left and peered into the source of the light. “I see something!”

  “What is it?” asked Vera. The echoes could be heard again.

  Cyril did not respond. His eye widened at what he saw. A number of ogres had gathered in a large cavern. One stood on a platform speaking to the gathered throng. He wore black gloves and held a wineskin in one hand. As he spoke, he pointed repeatedly to the wineskin. His voice was faint, but as Cyril watched, he could make out the odd word that the ogre spoke. Every so often the throng would react and that’s when the echo could be heard where Vera and Cyril stood.

  “Well, what is it?” demanded Vera. “I’m getting cramped down here.”

  “It’s a bunch of ogres,” said Cyril. “They’re talking about a wineskin. It looks like they want to fight for the wine in the wineskin. Maybe they found a stash of dwarven spirits or something. They just went to get - wait a minute! They’ve captured a lizardman! The lizardman is dressed in some sort of armor. He looks like a guard or something!”

  “A lizardman!” exclaimed Vera. “Good for the ogres!”

  “They’re taking him on stage,” continued Cyril. “They’re jeering and throwing things at him!”

  The echoes were again noticeable.

  “The head ogre is drawing his short sword!” exclaimed Cyril. “He’s going to - ugh!” He turned his eye away.

  “What is it?” asked Vera.

  “They just slit his throat,” spat Cyril distastefully.

  “Good for them,” said Vera coldly.

  Cyril was shocked by her tone. “Not for the lizardman.”

  “There are plenty more where they came from,” said Vera.

  Cyril sighed. “You have no compassion for lizardmen, do you?”

  “No,” answered Vera. “Lizardmen and humans have always hated one another. That’s not about to change.”

  “How do you know that this lizardman was evil?” asked the Cyclops.

  “They all are,” said Vera.

  “Just like all cyclops are evil?” said Cyril slyly.

  There was a pause before Vera answered. “That’s different. You’re part human.”

  Cyril didn’t answer.

  “What’s happening now?” Vera asked quickly, changing the subject. The echoes were getting louder.

  Cyril looked through the hole again and focused on the proceedings once again. The ogres had hacked the lizardman into pieces and their leader had his sword raised over his head. He yelled several commands. With a roar, the entire assembly charged from the cavern into a tunnel and disappeared from sight, leaving the fragmented remains of the lizardman in a bloody pulp on the floor.

  “They just left,” said Cyril. “They looked like they were on the warpath. A battle is probably going to take place. It won’t be a pretty sight, either.”

  “Battles are never pretty,” said Vera.

  “That’s it, I guess,” said Cyril. “There’s no more to see here. We might as well get back to the other tunnel.”

  “Easier said than done,” said Vera.

  “What do you mean?” asked Cyril.

  Vera giggled. “I’m stuck!”

  * * * * *

  Graf was irritated by the noise in the council hall. Lizardmen were arguing and hissing at each other. The whole place was in an uproar at the announcement made only moments ago by one of the army generals. Graf rose and chanted a short spell. A deafening thunder clap cracked from his staff, causing the entire assembly to cease their chatter at once. All turned their attention to their leader. Graf turned to the general, known as Slong, and told him to continue before sitting down.

  Slong nodded. “As I was saying, some of our remote front line garrisons have recently been attacked. My scouts have returned with reports that confirm large numbers of ogres and orcs have been responsible for these attacks. It appears we are at war.”

  “Why are they attacking?” demanded a lizardmage from an alcove.

  “I have been informed that the orcs and ogres are blaming us for the poisoned water. They don’t see us suffering from the same illnesses that affect them, and assume our water is pure. They don’t realize that we a
re immune to the poison.”

  A murmur filtered through the council hall but subsided immediately when Graf rose to his feet again. “Continue, Slong.”

  Slong nodded. “Reinforcements have been dispatched to bolster our second line of defense, but I don’t know if it will be enough to stem the tide of ogres and orcs heading our way. They are angry and unafraid of our magic.”

  The murmurs began again but ceased when Graf tapped his staff on the floor for silence. Relg rose and Graf nodded at him to speak.

  “We were counting on the ogres and orcs to assist us in our upcoming battle. Perhaps we should convince them the humans are responsible for the poison and get them to join us using that as a source of motivation.”

  Murmurs of agreement rippled through the lizardmen in the hall below.

  “Perhaps we should give them clean water,” countered Graf suddenly.

  The idea was so preposterous that the entire assembly stared dumfounded at Graf in complete silence.

  “B-but how will that help this situation?” sputtered a lower-ranking lizardmage. “If we give the ogres and orcs fresh water, they might stop attacking and go away, but they might be angry enough not to join us in our cause!”

  “By giving in to their demands so quickly,” added another lizardmage, “they might continue their assault, thinking that we are weak and can be defeated!”

  Graf’s lips slid into a devious grin as the crowd began to murmur again. He chuckled evilly, just loud enough to be heard by those nearest him. As the murmurs waned, Graf’s chuckle became a sinister laugh.

  “I take it there is a reason for your statement,” interrupted Relg irritably. He knew better than to shoot down Graf’s idea out of hand.

  Graf stopped laughing and nodded. “We will give the ogres and orcs fresh water - and anybody else for that matter - but only if they agree to fight for us in exchange. Those who do not fight for us do not receive clean water. It’s as simple as that! Why, we could even recruit humans to fight for us, should they be in need of clean water! By the time we attack, many humans will only be too grateful to swell our ranks!”

  This time the hall exploded in a roar of hissing as everyone spoke at once.

  “Do we even have clean water to offer the ogres and orcs?” cried out one lizardman loudly.

  “We still have access to clean mountain springs!” bellowed Graf, though he was barely audible above the raucous below. “We also control the water elemental, so good water is easily acquired!”

  When the raucous died down, Graf sighed. “Is there anything else?”

  A lizardmage fairly high in rank rose to her feet. Her lips were puffy, like a fish, and her navy blue cloak had purple trim at its edges.

  “The council recognizes Narla,” stated the lizardmage below Graf.

  Graf knew who she was but the announcer below him had to get a word in from time to time. His position was virtually meaningless, but he was tolerated nonetheless.

  “Proceed,” stated Graf.

  Narla smiled, her fish-like lips spreading grotesquely - although it was considered attractive from a lizardman’s point of view. “The air elemental has been contained within a solid wall of rock created by the earth elemental. There is still resistance, but full control will be established shortly.”

  “Excellent!” praised Graf. “Now all we need is that fire elemental and the world will be ours!” He turned to Brind, the black-cloaked lizardmage. “Have you summoned the fire elemental yet?”

  Brind shook his head. “Not yet. I need to get closer to it in order to summon it.”

  “Lynch!” called Graf in a serious voice.

  “Present!” answered Lynch from below. He was glad he was mixed in with the crowd. He did not want to be singled out when Graf was angry. He wasn’t in his alcove right now because he was close to the main hall when the meeting was called.

  “I take it you still haven’t been able to capture the fire elemental?” Graf had a note of sarcasm in his voice.

  “No,” said Lynch quietly.

  “What?!” yelled Graf. “I didn’t hear you!”

  “No!” repeated Lynch, louder this time.

  Graf scowled. “Keep trying!” He turned to the general. “Slong, lend some of your scouts to Lynch. They know the tunnels beyond our realm better than most.”

  “Of course,” answered Slong.

  “And begin sending caskets of water to the orcs and ogres,” ordered Graf. “It’s time to generate an army!”

  “Yes, Sir!” said Slong.

  The meeting was over and everyone exited the hall, eager to put Graf’s plan into action.

  Chapter 14

  Rebecca rummaged through her pack looking for some fungus she had accumulated in the last couple of days. Alric was complaining more and more frequently about being hungry, and Rebecca decided to do something about it. She found the fungus she had wrapped to keep it fresh. “Here,” she said, extending it toward the elf.

  “What is it?” asked the elf, taking the package in his hands and holding it close to his face.

  “Fungus.”

  Alric quickly held it out at arms’ length when he heard what it was. “Fungus!” he exclaimed. “Are you trying to kill me?”

  “Of course not!” retorted Rebecca. “That fungus is safe to eat. It’s good for you, and some dwarves even use it for medicinal purposes.”

  “What’s it taste like?” queried the elf, pulling his hand close again.

  “It’s O.K.” said Rebecca. “It’s not something you would eat on a regular basis, but it beats being hungry.”

  Alric looked at the dwarf uncertainly as he brought a small piece of fungus up to his mouth. He popped it in and chewed. Suddenly his face wrinkled in revulsion. “Eww! This stuff is terrible! Are you sure it’s not poisonous or something?”

  “It’s perfectly safe,” said Rebecca. “Here.” She took a piece out of Alric’s hand and put it in her mouth. She chewed a few times and swallowed. “See? I’m not trying to poison you.”

  Alric continued chewing slowly and then swallowed. He wrinkled his face again. “I wouldn’t recommend this stuff to anyone unless they’re starving to death. It’s horrible!” He popped another piece of fungus into his mouth and chewed distastefully.

  “It’ll keep you from starving,” said the dwarf. Sitting down with a faint ‘plop’, Rebecca pulled out her map and began making modifications.

  Alric swallowed with a grimace. “Do you know where we’re going?” Gingerly, he lifted another piece of fungus to his lips.

  “We seem to be spiraling downward,” commented Rebecca. “Things should be getting warmer in a day or two.”

  Alric stopped chewing. “Warmer?”

  “Yup,” answered the dwarf. She ran her fingers along the silver streak in her hair. “As we get deeper, the mountain gets warmer. The rocks in the mountain are so compressed that they become hot. We may even start encountering lava flows.”

  “Interesting,” said Alric, swallowing the last of the fungus. “A few days ago we were in cold, damp conditions. Now we’re going to be experiencing the exact opposite.”

  “It’s a bigger world down here than you elves realize,” said Rebecca. She quickly wrote a few more notations on her map and then stashed it away. “Are you ready to continue?”

  “I was waiting for you,” said Alric, springing to his feet.

  Rebecca was about to argue the point when she saw the elf wink at her. He was only teasing. Feigning an angry tone, she jabbed him in the ribs and ordered, “Get moving!”

  A few hours later, the duo ran across a fork in the tunnel.

  “Which way?” asked Rebecca, looking at the elf.

  “I think we should go right,” said Alric.

  “I was thinking the left path is better,” said Rebecca. “It seems to slope downward, deeper into the mountain.”

  “I have a hunch there are more chances of finding lizardmen on the right path,” insisted Alric. “It seems to be more heavily traveled.
”

  Rebecca hesitated. “I don’t know.”

  Alric brightened. “Why don’t we investigate both?”

  The dwarf looked up at him. “Huh?”

  “I’ll take the right path and you take the left,” continued the elf. “We’ll explore for an hour or two and then meet back here. We can compare notes and make a decision then.”

  “I don’t know,” said Rebecca slowly.

  “I can even give you information to help you expand your map,” insisted Alric. “We’ve got nothing to lose.”

  “And we’ll meet back here in a couple of hours?” asked the dwarf. She looked searchingly into the elf’s face.

  Alric sensed her discomfort. “I promise.”

  Rebecca didn’t know whether elves kept their promises or not so she didn’t feel reassured. Reluctantly she agreed.

  “Great,” said Alric. He handed the torch to the dwarf.

  “How will you be able to see?” asked Rebecca suddenly.

  “Elves have keen eyesight,” stated Alric. “I’ll be fine.” He moved a few steps away and donned his invisibility cloak. In an instant, the elf vanished.

  Rebecca felt momentary wind as the elf ran past her into the right tunnel. “Good luck,” she called after her companion.

  “Same to you,” came the response.

  Rebecca sighed. She was alone again. She was just beginning to enjoy Alric’s presence and wondered vaguely if he would rendezvous with her back at this spot in a few hours. She realized that the only way to find out was to fulfill her part of the bargain. Shouldering her pack, Rebecca strode resolutely into the left tunnel.

  Nearly half an hour of ducking into side tunnels and alcoves turned up nothing, and the dwarf was almost ready to call it quits and return to the rendezvous point. Up ahead, she could make out a five-way intersection that had a promising look to it. As she neared the intersection, her nose picked up the faint smell of orcs.

  Rebecca quickly put out her torch and waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. Soon, she could distinguish between the walls and the ground. The tunnels ahead looked black and forbidding. Withdrawing her light stone from her pouch, Rebecca cautiously walked forward to the middle of the intersection. She peered down each tunnel but saw nothing. There was also no sound but that of her own breathing.