by Joseph Lallo
Humans were cowardly. Most would not stand up to a dragon, let alone one of his size. Being larger than most of his kind, Rhamalli knew that he could intimidate the most stubborn of humans just by his presence alone. That was all that was needed to scare off the motley band of humans.
“There’s the path,” he told the dwarves, indicating a well maintained, cobbled path heading east. “The human king had it enchanted against harm. Stay on it and you’ll be safe.”
“We are not a lost group of school boys,” Athos retorted. “Try not to treat us like such.”
“Forgive me. That was not my intent. Follow the road and it’ll lead you to the human village of Donlari.”
“Great,” Athos muttered, “that’s just what we need right now: an entire village of humans. No thank you.”
“I think I’d have to agree,” Breslin began. “Perhaps we should –”
“Look to the underling,” Rhamalli scolded them. “He needs sustenance and rest.”
“Are you trying to tell me how to take care of my own son?” Venk demanded. He glanced at Lukas standing quietly behind him and nudged his shoulder. “Are you well?”
Lukas nodded.
“Are you hungry?”
Lukas shrugged.
Venk frowned. “Did the humans steal your tongue?”
“No, father.”
“Are you able to keep going?”
Lukas shrugged. Afraid his father wouldn’t appreciate his less than stellar non-vocal response, he added, “Of course.”
“Rhamalli is right,” Tristofer told them. “We need to rest. Donlari should be an acceptable resting point.”
****
“It’s an insult. Just because humans are bigger than us doesn’t mean we can’t have our own rooms.”
“Athos, for the last time, they only had one room left. It’s fine. Relax.”
Athos glared at his brother then eyed the lone bed in the room.
“Who gets the bed?”
“Lukas and I do,” Venk calmly told him.
“And the rest of us?”
A knock came from the door. Venk opened it to reveal a rolled up mattress standing on two legs.
“Don’t just stand there,” Breslin told him from the other side of the mattress. “Get out of the way!”
Venk stepped aside in time to avoid getting hit by the unfurling mattress. The straw pad was only four inches thick, but it was certainly better than sleeping on the hard floor. Tristofer appeared next, dragging a second mattress along the ground behind him.
“I’m a scholar, not a laborer,” he wheezed as he took off his spectacles and wiped his brow with his sleeve. “The least that Thacken fellow could have done is brought this up here for us.”
“At least the proprietor let us use them,” Breslin told him. “No charge. Now stop complaining.”
Athos reached behind the scholar and easily pulled the mattress into the room. Setting the two pads next to each other pretty much took up the entire floor space, but no one complained. Within minutes everyone was sound asleep.
The next morning the dwarves awoke well past sunrise. Thacken, the owner of the inn, almost summoned the village constable due to the lack of activity from that room for such a long period of time. Thanks to the loud snores coming from the dwarves the cleaning girls all believed there was a deadly animal in the room and refused to enter it.
Once the dwarves finally descended the stairs and had a meal, they dropped several pieces of silver on the large wooden counter and bowed to the owner, thanking Thacken for his hospitality and left.
“Sleep well, did you?”
The dwarves all paused as they looked up. They expected to see the dragon’s large form either pass by overhead or else see him circling high in the sky. They saw neither.
“Where are you?” Athos demanded as he cast his eyes about. “How is it we can hear you but not see you?”
“When a dragon so chooses it can accelerate to a speed usually undetected by most eyes.”
“You’re telling me you’re flying faster than we can see?”
“Aye. From the time we started this conversation I have passed by three times.”
Dumbfounded, Venk stared at the sky and waited. If the dragon had truly passed overhead three times there must have been some traces of his passing, whether feeling a blast of air pass by, or hearing the beat of Rhamalli’s wings, or something! Venk felt foolish as he stared open-mouthed at the empty sky. He couldn’t see, feel, or hear anything.
“Until I decelerate, you won’t see me, Master Venk,” Rhamalli’s voice floated down from above. “I can see that you’re trying.”
“Just when you thought you knew everything about dragons,” Athos muttered.
“We really don’t know anything about dragons,” Tristofer protested.
Breslin approached the scholar and slapped him on the back.
“Ever hear of sarcasm, Tristofer?”
“Of course I have. Oh.” Tristofer turned to stare up at the sky. “Do dragons sleep?”
“Not in the fashion you are accustomed to,” came the dragon’s reply.
“What do you mean?”
“We enter into a state of consciousness where we shut off our senses and rest.”
“That’s like sleeping, isn’t it?” Lukas asked.
“No, young Master.”
“What’s the difference?” Venk wanted to know.
“The difference, Master Venk, is that my senses will resume at a moment’s notice. I’m aware of everything around me. I just choose to ignore it.”
“I get it,” Tristofer said, smiling. “You meditate.”
“I am unfamiliar with that word.”
“To meditate is to engage in contemplation or reflection.”
There were a few moments of silence as Rhamalli considered.
“I accept your definition. Aye, we meditate.”
The dwarves followed the road, which hugged the river, for two days before they finally arrived at Lentari’s eastern coast. There, stretching farther than the eye could see, was the great Sea of Koralis. Looking north they could see that the land curved gently northeast, while looking south showed the land continuing the curve southeast. However, there were no signs of a waterfall because they were at sea level. Unfortunately it meant they still weren’t anywhere close to their destination.
“Do we camp for the night or should we keep going?” Athos wanted to know.
“Tristofer, check your map,” Breslin instructed. “How much farther is the waterfall?”
Careful not to have misplaced the map this time, Tristofer retrieved it and studied it.
“I’d say about two more hours northeast as we follow the coast. However, I have to point out we won’t be on the road as it veers west. We have to follow the coast, not the road.”
“How close is R’Tal?” Breslin inquired.
“From Drammli Falls? About an hour north.”
Breslin nodded. “Not far then. That means we should be safe when we leave the path.”
Venk nodded, encouraged. He didn’t want any other surprises when it came to the safety of his son.
“I say we continue on,” Breslin decided. “Besides, there aren’t any rocks or trees here for us to string our hammocks.”
“And there will be when we get to the waterfall?” Tristofer asked. “How can you be so certain?”
“What’s the matter? Tired?”
“Utterly exhausted,” Tristofer admitted.
Breslin smiled. “Acknowledged. Be patient. I know there are trees because the Questor’s Mark shows them.”
Surprised, Tristofer glanced over at the underling who was busy chatting with his father.
“I forgot. You’re right of course. I think I can make it.”
“Excellent. Let’s go.”
Two and a half hours later they had found the waterfall. The ground had risen steadily ever since they had turned nor
th, so by the time they had encountered the waterfall they were well over three hundred feet above sea level. Lukas’ mark had indicated there’d be trees about and it didn’t disappoint. There were plenty of pine trees available that would be perfect for stringing hammocks.
The sun had just set so as darkness was settling in the dwarves constructed their camp. Venk and his son searched for firewood while Breslin and Athos strung hammocks. In the meantime, Tristofer fetched rocks to be used as their hearth.
“Think we’re in the right place?” Athos murmured to Breslin as he tied one end of a hammock to a tree.
“You don’t?” Breslin shook his head. “Lukas’ mark has been incredibly accurate in every way thus far. We won’t know we’re in the right place until Lukas returns and tells us if he feels anything.”
“Where would you hide something in a waterfall?” Athos wondered aloud.
“Probably in a cave behind the falls.”
Tristofer approached them.
“Assuming you’re right,” the scholar began, “how exactly do you propose we verify that? Did you see how high up we are?”
“I say we string him up and lower him down the cliff,” Athos thoughtfully suggested, glancing briefly at Tristofer before returning his gaze to Breslin. “That way we could let him investigate all he wants.”
All the color drained from Tristofer’s face. “You wouldn’t dare.”
Breslin laughed. “He’s joking. Pay him no attention.”
Tristofer breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness.”
“I wasn’t joking,” Athos muttered under his breath.
Tristofer gasped with alarm. “That’s not funny.”
Breslin turned away before Tristofer could see him smile.
The following morning found everyone standing at the edge of the cliff staring down at the water far below.
“Are you sure, son?” Venk asked. “You can’t sense anything?”
Lukas shook his head. “I can’t feel a thing. I’m sorry, but until I touch whatever it is, I won’t be able to sense it.”
Tristofer looked over at Athos and frowned. Athos was staring straight at him and smiling. Tristofer surreptitiously moved away from the ill-tempered brother.
“Is your back tingling at all?” Tristofer asked the underling.
Lukas paused as he tried to sense whether his back was reacting to the area or not.
“No.”
Venk frowned. How were they supposed to know where to look if they didn’t know where to start? Drammli Falls was huge!
Lukas shrugged and moved off south, farther away from the river and waterfall. They all watched the underling turn and move back towards them. As he neared, he veered west and walked along the river for just a bit. He turned again and returned to their side.
“Nope, I still can’t feel anything. My back usually tingles a little to let us know we’re in the right area, but so far I haven’t felt anything.”
“What does that tell us?” Athos asked. He turned to Tristofer, expecting an answer.
“It tells us that our destination is still far away,” Tristofer answered. “Either we’re in the wrong spot or else the object we’re looking for is at the other end of the waterfall.”
“The other end?” Breslin repeated. “Does that mean we have to go…”
“Down?” Venk finished for him. “Figures. So what do we do now?”
Breslin turned to Tristofer. “Got any ideas?”
“Well, I’d suggest we send the one member of this party, who can fly, down to investigate. Perhaps Rhamalli can see something we can’t.”
“I can see plenty,” Rhamalli’s voice rumbled, startling all of them.
They turned to see the giant dragon sitting on the edge of the cliff, also leaning his long red neck out over the precipice. How long Rhamalli had been sitting there was unclear. The fact that this was the second time in as many days that they had been surprised by the appearance of a dragon did not go unnoticed by Breslin.
“What is it with you dragons? How is it you can move with such stealth that no one can see or hear you?”
Rhamalli said nothing.
“Fine. Be cryptic. We don’t care. What can you see?”
“Rocks.”
“Aren’t you a barrel of laughs? Anything else?”
“Water.”
Breslin sighed while Lukas tittered quietly.
“Would you like me to inspect it closer?”
Breslin rubbed his temples. The dragon was starting to give him more headaches than the scholar.
“Aye, I would.”
Rhamalli launched himself off the cliff and fell like a stone towards the surface of the sea. When it looked like he was going to splash down into the water his great red wings unfolded and he arced gracefully above the water. He even dropped a foreleg down to lazily skim the surface of the sea as he flew overhead.
As Rhamalli beat his wings to rise back into the air, he circled about and headed back towards the base of the waterfall. He circled a second and then a third time before he steadily rose back to the top and alighted on the ground next to them.
“There’s nothing out of the ordinary I could see,” the dragon reported. “No marks, no runes, no foreign objects of any type were observed.”
Athos looked back at his nephew. Lukas was wandering slowly around the area, hoping to get his back to react to something.
“We’re going to need to get Lukas down there to see if he can determine whether or not we’re in the right area,” Breslin announced. “Who wants to go with him?”
“That’s not even a valid question,” Venk told him. “Of course I’ll go. Do we know what we’re looking for?”
“One of two possibilities,” Tristofer told them. “After studying the picture of the power hammer closely, based on what we already possess, we are either looking for the handle or the hammer head.”
Athos raised an arm. “I’ll go, too.”
Breslin nodded. “Good. Tristofer and I will remain topside.”
“Thank goodness,” Tristofer exclaimed.
Breslin looked at their wyverian friend.
“Will you carry the three of them down there?”
Rhamalli nodded. “There is a large slab of stone that looks as though it cleaved off from the cliff face. It appears stable. I can deposit them there.”
“Sounds good. Venk and Athos, get your gear. Tools, hammers, chisels; take whatever you might need down there in case you find something.”
Venk grunted in way of acknowledgement. He and his brother went for their tools.
Half an hour later both brothers were standing on the slab of rock just north of the waterfall. Both were staring up at the cliffs far above them.
“Where do we even start?” Athos had to practically shout at his brother. Their close proximity to the waterfall made communication difficult.
“Lukas said his back tingled the moment Rhamalli first landed on this rock. We flew all around the area. This was the only place where Lukas could feel anything. Therefore it must be around here somewhere. Split up and look for anything out of the ordinary.”
“Rhamalli said he didn’t see anything unusual.”
“Stop complaining and start looking!”
Venk and his brother quickly covered the entire surface of the roughly thousand square foot slab of rock. Rhamalli was right. The stone had broken off from the cliff due to natural erosion. Judging by the size of the slab Venk figured it must have made a tremendous splash when it fell into the sea. Venk’s eyes traveled up the cliff face and hovered over the large indentation from where the slab must have been originally sitting. Rhamalli had indicated that he hadn’t seen anything, and Lukas had also indicated his back hadn’t started tingling until they were as low as they could possibly be without submerging themselves into the water. That could only mean that the object was hidden in the sea or...
“Rhamalli, can you hear me?”<
br />
The dragon’s huge head swung out over the edge of the cliff far above and gazed down at them.
“Is there any way to tell what’s below this slab? If it was water then it would have sunk beneath the surface. This slab isn’t that thick. See the cliff there? Where the stone broke off? It’s fairly shallow, maybe ten to twelve feet thick. We’re farther away from the water than that. This stone landed on something. I’m wondering what that might be.”
Rhamalli jumped off the cliff and was quickly circling about overhead as he studied the slab of stone.
“You’re right. It’s not as thick as I thought. I cannot tell what lies beneath. At a minimum the water lies five feet beneath the bottom of the slab. It appears to be a rock formation of some sort. You’re dwarves. Can you not tunnel through?”
“Of course we can. Given enough time, we could. The problem is we need a faster resolution than that.”
Athos knelt down and studied the stone’s surface. He leaned out over the slab’s edge and tried to see for himself what the slab was resting on.
“Take us back up.”
Once the two of them were back at the top of the waterfall they compared notes.
“We have no way of knowing how long that slab has been there,” Breslin told them. “I think it’s safe to say that what we’re looking for lies beneath. The question we must now ask ourselves is how do we inspect the other side? How do we move it? We need ideas. Let’s hear them, no matter how preposterous.”
Surprising them all, Lukas was the first to offer a suggestion.
“Shardwyn is a powerful wizard. He could pulverize that stone with a simple spell!”
“Even if he could,” Venk patiently told his son, “there’s no way to contact him. We’ve already used the messenger spell. Besides, I think this might be over his head. It’s a very good idea, though.”