The Disintegration of Dragons, Part 1: A Death in Vastervik
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Ensch pulled a sword off his hilt. “You would not dare!” he roared.
“Zagi is the only one here interested in seeing your sword, Ensch,” Allaria said. “So put it away and fall in line like the good dog you are.”
BAKIG WAS SHOCKED to see the rulers of the Third Continent make his way to his station in the first basement level of the castle. “My queen!” he said, coming to attention.
“Open the door,” Allaria ordered.
“But-”
From out of her robes, she removed a large silver key.
“Yes, Ma’am,” Bakig said, his eyes never leaving the key as he pulled open the door.
Allaria looked at the assembled group. “There is no need for all of us to make the trip. I will represent the humans,” she decided, “and Zagi will have to represent the dwarves.” All nine of the goblins raised their arms and Allaria pointed at the nearest one and announced, “You will do.”
“I’m coming,” Ensch declared.
“As am I,” Ishora said.
“Curran will represent the elven leaders,” Olmero said, “but I want to know what’s down there.”
It was Ensch who answered. “The Continent’s greatest shame.”
Allaria corrected him. “He means the Dragons’ greatest shame.”
She led the small group down nearly one hundred stairs, then through a series of hallways that the others quickly recognized were part of a maze.
“Bah!” Zagi scoffed as they turned what seemed like their fiftieth corner. “The only reason for a maze is because you don’t trust the door you have on the … oh.” Zagi’s eyes took in the massive door that stood at the bottom of a short incline. Standing nearly twenty feet high and latched with locks of human, elven, and dwarven design, the Emperor believed it to be the most secure door she had ever seen. Not even the dwarves’ treasure hordes had doors like this.
“Impressed?” Allaria asked, unable to help herself.
Zagi gave the human the smile she craved. “By everything except the guard.”
A short redheaded woman, dressed in the light, purple armor of the Queen’s Guardsmen, stood at attention.
“Ma’am?” Kestrel asked as Allaria approached.
The queen handed her the key. “Open it,” she ordered.
“But … but Bakig said this door never opened.”
“It shouldn’t,” Ensch grumbled.
“Open it,” Allaria ordered again.
Kestrel took the key and, in turn, unlocked each of the fifteen locks on the door’s frame, then pulled the heavy door open.
All eyes peered inside, to where a naked, partly emaciated man sat on the floor. His bedraggled, black hair hung down over his eyes, and he squinted as light hit his face for the first time in a year.
“Who is he?” Curran asked.
“And why can we trust him?” Ishora added.
“We can’t trust him,” Ensch explained, moving into the cell to slap the prisoner’s face. He turned back to the others as he grabbed the prisoner’s hair and slammed his head back against the wall.
“That doesn’t answer our questions,” Curran said.
“He is the missing Legionnaire,” Allaria explained. “He is their great shame. Their traitor. When all of those soldiers went lock-stepping into the Keskeinen Mountain, this was the one man who refused to follow Mogon’s orders. What happened down in that mountain that saw nearly 3,000 soldiers die but the Golem War won? Only the Legionnaires and my father know the answer to that question.” Allaria smiled. “He’s the man who most wants Mogon dead, and the one man who couldn’t possibly have killed him.”
“Is he pissing on the floor?” Zagi asked.
Allaria turned up her nose. “Let’s not let details get in the way of a good plan.” The queen turned to Kestrel. “Pick him up. Clean him up. Your investigation starts at dawn.”
END PART ONE
You have just finished reading
DISINTEGRATION OF DRAGONS, PART 1: A DEATH IN VASTERIK
by Mark Bousquet
This story is part of the Single Shots Signature Series.
Edited by Tommy Hancock
Editor in Chief, Pro Se Productions-Tommy Hancock
Director of Corporate Operations-Morgan Minor
Publisher & Pro Se Productions, LLC-Chief Executive Officer-Fuller Bumpers
Cover Art by Rick Johnson
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