by Joseph Lallo
“Describe it. There’s got to be one around here.”
Tristofer shook his head. “I can tell you, but it won’t do any good. It’s probably the most rare and sought after flower known to exist.”
“You’ve got to be kidding. We’re looking for pontal now?” Athos threw his hands up in protest. “This is not the type of quest I signed up for!”
“Ignore him,” Venk told Tristofer, glaring at his brother as he did so. “What are we looking for?”
“You’re looking for a tri-petal flower that has purple elongated petals with white edges. The column and stamen are golden that will sparkle when exposed to the sunlight. It’s presumed the nixies are attracted to the reflected light.”
“Sounds like a very unique flower,” Breslin admitted. “So once we find one of these flowers, then what do we do?”
“I doubt very much you’ll find an orikai, but if you do, you’ll know it. The flower lives on a distinctive blue stalk that looks a lot like a vine. If you find it, bring it back here as quickly as possible.”
“Split up,” Breslin told the group. “Find one of these flowers. Call out when you do.”
“You’re not going to find one,” the scholar insisted. “There haven’t been any sightings for a very long time.”
Breslin grabbed Tristofer by his jacket collar and dragged him along. “Don’t think you’re getting out of searching. The more eyes, the better. Get moving.”
Four hours later, after meticulously combing the area around the lake and then expanding the search for a full two leagues beyond, Breslin was forced to admit Tristofer had been right. There were no exotic purple flowers anywhere in the area. How were they supposed to summon the nixies now?
“Was there any other way to get their attention?” Venk asked.
The group was all sitting around the hearth eating their midday meal which consisted of cold mutton and hard crusty bread. Several fallen logs had been dragged over to serve as seats.
“There’s no other way that I’m aware of,” Tristofer admitted. He was hot, sore, and quite ready to take a nap. He hadn’t had this much activity in the last five years combined.
“Then we must find one of these flowers,” Breslin decided. “Who’s got the spells Shardwyn gave us?”
“I do. I’ve got them in my pack,” Venk answered.
“Get them, will you? I think it’s time we use one of them.”
Curious, Venk stood up and went to his pack. Retrieving the small silk bag, Venk handed it to Breslin. The bag was opened and upended on the ground in front of the hearth. Selecting the white sphere with the symbol of the quill on it, Breslin gathered up the other four spells and dropped them back into the bag and handed it back. Venk pointed at the sphere Breslin was still holding.
“That’s the messenger spell. Who are you going to contact?”
“My father. He wants this quest to succeed just as much as we do. Therefore we’re going to make it his problem to find one of these blasted flowers.”
Venk and Athos both grinned at the same time in the same manner. Each caught sight of the other and the two brothers gently clinked their axes together.
Breslin closed his fist tightly around the spell and mentally instructed it to deliver the message to the correct recipient.
Father, we are at Lake Alpin. We have discovered that there’s a strong chance nixies still exist, but we must summon them. We need an orikai flower. It’s a purple flower with three petals. Gold stamen. We need this as soon as possible.
The sphere grew warm, surprising Breslin into opening his hand. The sphere flashed brightly and then vanished.
“That’s just great. Now I’m seeing spots everywhere.”
“We all are,” Venk complained.
“Now what?” Athos wanted to know. “How long do we have to wait?”
“As long as it takes,” his brother told him. “We have no idea how long it’ll take for Maelnar to find one of these accursed flowers. If he isn’t familiar with local pontal in this region then it might take him a while.”
An hour and a half later, there was another flash of light, but this time a small wooden box had appeared and was sitting on the ground in front of them all. Breslin knelt down to retrieve the box. Standing slowly, he opened the tiny chest to reveal a striking purple flower with three elongated petals ringed with white. And a note.
Be sure you know what you’re doing, son. You have only one shot at this as this is the only known orikai flower in existence in all of Lentari. The owner was very reluctant to part with it. On a side note, Shardwyn had to promise all kinds of favors in order to obtain it, so for that, I’m in your eternal debt!
“Now that we have it, what do we do with it?” Athos asked.
Tristofer was at a loss.
“I’m not sure. If I were to offer an educated guess, I would say that since nixies are water sprites, we should place the flower on the water.”
Athos reached for the wood chest, intent on throwing it and the flower out into the lake when Breslin suddenly twisted to his right and blocked the outstretched hand.
“Let’s let Lukas do it. He’s the one with the mark.”
Breslin held the chest down low so that Lukas could reach in and extract the flower. Holding the delicate purple flower by its blue stem, Lukas walked to the water’s edge and gently placed the offering on the water’s surface.
As if pulled by an unknown current, the flower floated out about fifteen feet. It rotated lazily as it floated away from the shore, as if guided by an unknown hand beneath the surface. After spinning about for a few more rotations, the flower silently slipped beneath the surface and disappeared from sight.
“Now what?” Athos demanded. He had expected something to happen, whether an immediate reaction from the nixies, an appearance, anything! But alas, the water was as still as a windless sea.
“That was a complete waste of –”
Athos trailed off as he noticed ripples had formed in the water. Beginning at the point where the flower had sunk, tiny waves radiated outwards, and eventually caused the water to lap against the shore’s edge.
“Look!” Lukas was pointing out at the water.
A tiny head had appeared at the center of the ripples and was staring directly at them, unblinking. It had jet black hair, pale skin, and striking blue eyes.
“We mean you no harm,” Breslin began diplomatically, taking a step towards the lake.
The head vanished beneath the waves.
“Nice going,” Athos remarked as he gave Breslin a light punch on the arm. Breslin punched him back.
“Like you could have done any better,” Breslin angrily retorted, retreating backwards a few steps.
“Quiet!” Venk snapped. “It’s back!”
Sure enough, the nixie’s head had broken the surface of the water and was again staring at them. Going on a hunch, Lukas gently approached the water’s edge and lifted his jerkin to expose his back. He carefully turned around so that the creature in the water could see the reason why they were there.
The nixie moved closer to shore and gripped a partially submerged broken tree. It pulled itself up so that it was mostly out of the water and stared at the boy’s back.
“Well, there’s no doubt about it. That one is a female,” Athos told his brother.
The nixie had glossy green scales covering its torso but even though the scales sparkled iridescently, it couldn’t disguise the womanly curves of its gender. Athos was right. This nixie was female.
Tristofer, who remained mired in place, pointed an arm at the nixie and whispered excitedly to Breslin.
“Look! There at the base of her neck. Do you see her gills? She has six gills total, three on each side. This is remarkable!”
Breslin, determined to make a good first impression for all dwarfkind, stepped forward again, arms open in what he hoped was a welcoming gesture. The nixie bolted from her perch on the sunken tree and dove back into the water.
Venk turned to Breslin and angrily smacked his right shoulder, spinning him around until the two were face to face.
“Stop doing that! We’re here to establish contact, not to frighten it away! Get back over here and let’s see if it comes back.”
As soon as Breslin and Venk moved away from the water, the ripples appeared again and once more the female nixie was eyeing them from the safety of the water.
After giving the adult dwarfs a speculative look, the nixie turned her attention back to Lukas. The underling pulled his tunic up and squatted down near the water’s edge.
“Can you help me?” Lukas asked the water sprite. “Does this mean anything to you?”
The nixie’s head dipped below the water’s surface only to reappear moments later right beside him. Venk flinched as the nixie raised herself out of the water and approached his son. Breslin put a restraining hand on Venk’s left shoulder while Athos put a hand on the other.
Delicate webbed fingers gently touched the hammer in the crest on Lukas’ back. After a moment’s hesitation, a string of chirps and clicks erupted from the nixie’s mouth.
Lukas smiled at his father. “She sounds just like a kyte, doesn’t she?”
More ripples appeared in the lake as first one, then two, and then many more nixies surfaced. Several dozen sets of blue eyes all focused on the small group of dwarves.
“This is starting to resemble a very bad idea,” Athos grumbled to himself. He had set his axe up against his pack which was, unfortunately, at least twenty feet away from him.
The first nixie turned to look behind her and made another series of clicking noises. One male nixie, with just a few streaks of black through his otherwise gray hair, swam steadily closer. The old nixie joined his much younger counterpart near the shore and gazed with rapt fascination at the mark on Lukas’ back. The male was motionless for a few moments as it studied the mark.
“What do you seek?”
The voice was high and shrill, barely resembling anything more than a squeak. The voice could have been made by either the male or female, it was so high. However, the dwarves knew from the way the older male was regarding Lukas that it was the one who had spoken.
“I’m so very pleased to meet you!” Tristofer began. “I’d like to –”
“I’ll handle this,” Breslin gruffly interrupted. He faced the nixie and tried to soften his expression so that he didn’t appear threatening. “We are on a quest. As you can see from the boy’s back, we are searching for –”
“You seek the object,” the male interrupted, still addressing Lukas.
Breslin shrugged. “I was going to say answers, but let’s go with that. What object are you talking about?”
The nixie didn’t say anything but instead waited for Lukas to respond.
“Ask him what object he’s talking about,” Breslin whispered to Lukas.
“What object?” Lukas asked as he dropped his jerkin back down and turned around so that he was facing the water. He sank down and sat cross legged on the ground.
The old nixie pointed at Lukas’ back.
“You want to see the mark?” Lukas asked, reaching for the hem of his shirt. “I can show it to you again if you’d like.”
“The mark of Nar is upon you.”
The four adult dwarves looked excitedly at one another.
Lukas nodded at the nixie. “Can you tell me anything about it?”
The water sprite gazed with fascination at the boy’s back. “It’s Narian.”
“Thanks for letting us know. Er, will you tell us more about the object you were talking about from before?”
The old male turned to look back at several of his followers and uttered a string of nonsensical chirps and clicks. Half a dozen of the closest nixies vanished beneath the surface.
“We will give you the object in exchange for your offering. We knew one flower remained, but had no idea where it was or how to bring it here. You have done this for us. We are grateful.”
“What’s so special about that flower?” Breslin wanted to know. The old nixie continued to ignore him.
Figuring he should ask any question that Breslin voiced, Lukas repeated the question to the nixie.
“We cannot stay on dry land. If we are caught outside the water for too long we become a flower. An orikai flower. The only way to restore a nixie to its former self is to submerge the flower back into its native waters. You have done this for us. There are no more orikai, no more trapped nixies. You have freed the last. It is for this reason we are in your debt.”
“Did you know that?” Breslin whispered to Tristofer. “About the flowers?”
“As I said before,” Tristofer whispered back, “pontal are not my specialty. So no, I didn’t know that.”
“What can you tell us about the object you’re giving us?” Breslin gently asked from his position away from the water.
The male nixie finally turned his head and made eye contact with him.
“It is an object that has been resting in our lake for many centuries. It has a Narian symbol on it. The boy’s back shares this symbol.”
There were several congratulatory arm shakes as Venk, Athos, and even Tristofer, all gave each other friendly pats on the back.
The six nixies that had departed resurfaced, struggling to lift an object between them. More nixies swarmed to their aid as collectively they lifted a surprisingly small four inch by four inch square metal plate that was no more than an inch thick. The metal object was plunked down into the soft mud at the water’s edge before all the nixies save the old male disappeared back into the water.
Lukas reached into the water to retrieve the metal plate but was surprised at how heavy it was. He ended up using both hands to pry it off the ground and then struggled to stand back up. His father and uncle were next to him in a flash. Venk took the piece of metal from his son while Athos managed to snag Lukas’ belt to keep him from tipping over into the water once he became off balanced.
Venk reached back into the water and swished the metal plate back and forth a few times so that the muck and grime from the lake bed were washed away. Curious, he stared down at the object in his hands.
The metal was the color of tarnished bronze and was far denser than anything he had ever encountered. Something this size should have been far lighter and much easier to handle. It was perfectly smooth on all surfaces except for one corner, the lower left depending on how you held it. That corner depicted the Narian crest. The all too familiar upside down hammer met his eyes.
Venk squinted at the metal. What was it made of? This one piece alone was actually heavier than his largest hammer, but nowhere near the size of it. What was it used for?
“What do you have there?” his brother asked him, coming to stand beside him.
“Do your eyes not work? It’s just a square piece of metal.”
Breslin and Tristofer joined him moments later and together they inspected the object.
“Thank you very much,” Lukas told the male nixie, who was still watching from the safety of the water.
Surprised, the adults turned back to the lake and watched as the nixie gave them all an impish smile. Moments later the old male returned to his watery realm below.
As soon as Lukas joined his father and saw the crest, his back began to tingle. He giggled as the sensations traveling up and down his spine tickled him mercilessly.
“What’s the matter with you?” Athos asked his nephew. “What’s so funny?”
“Something is tickling my back!”
“Pull up your shirt,” Tristofer ordered. “We must see the mark!”
Lukas pulled up his jerkin once more and rotated until he was facing away from the adults. Venk leaned close and held the metal plate next to his son’s back. The top left section of the Questor’s Mark, the part that had started to come into focus earlier in the day, rippled outward and became legible. What they saw drew gasps of alarm and a f
ew curses.
A two-headed dragon, with its long leathery wings partially spread, was clearly visible. In its front left claw it clutched a gem.
“Wizards be damned!”
Chapter 5 – Twice Is Not As Nice
“Since when does a dragon have two heads?” Athos wanted to know. “They’re bad enough with one. Most dragons have fangs that are longer than my arms. The last thing we need right now is to deal with a dragon with twice as many fangs. It must be a mistake.”
Breslin looked at Tristofer. “You’re the scholar. I know you told us your field of study focused primarily on Nar, but you must have at least heard of a two headed dragon, right?”
Tristofer sadly shook his head. “Not once in all of my studies, readings, or teachings have I ever heard of a dragon with two heads. I’m sorry, my friends. I cannot help you there.”
“What do we do?” Venk asked. “We’ve come this far. We can’t give up now.”
“Our next course of action is simple,” Breslin informed everyone. “We must find ourselves a dragon and ask them about this. If this unique dragon does exist then I would think another dragon would have heard of it, or perhaps even tell us where we can find it.”
“How do you propose we do that?” Venk asked.
“Do what? Find a dragon? That’s easy. We return home. You can’t walk ten paces in our valley and not see signs of a dragon.”
Lukas was crestfallen. They had to walk all the way back home before they could start the next leg of the journey? That would take days!
“Don’t look so glum,” Athos told his nephew. “We know what we need to find. We just need to know where to look.”
“But the two-headed dragon could be right around here!” Lukas complained. “It’ll take days to make it all the way home!”
“True. We are a patient race, nephew. We’ll get there, just give it some time.”
Just as they were about to depart from Lake Alpin, now known to be the confirmed home of the last band of nixies, Breslin stopped and turned back towards the water.
“What is it?” Venk asked, automatically walking around Lukas to put himself in front of his son.