The group reached the first rest stop late in the afternoon. It was a large area enclosed by a high stone wall with two heavy wooden doors at the gate. The buildings were simple wooden structures with hay-thatched roofs. Several vendors were selling food next to tables where people were eating.
Damon stopped in front of one of the shelters and dismounted. “We’ll sleep here for the night. It doesn’t look like much, but the beds are comfortable.”
“Are there any orcs here?” Xan asked.
“Not here.”
Drakor noticed they had caught the attention of some people eating at the tables. “Do you know any of those men over there?”
Damon looked at the tables and shook his head. “I don’t know them. Why do you ask?”
“They looked our way.”
“It’s your cloaks. We never see nobles on the road to Kazzix—and I mean never. But don’t worry about it. They’re merchants like me. They’re curious, but they won’t give us any trouble.”
“I’m not taking any chances,” Drakor said. “It seems warm enough here. Let’s remove our cloaks.”
The former dragons removed their cloaks and put them into their packs. After a simple meal of porridge and bacon, they retired for the night.
“I’ll take the first watch,” Drakor said, “followed by Aesus, and then Toshen.”
The group travelled for two more days before they saw a large city in the distance.
“Is that Kazzix-Tor?” Drakor asked Damon.
“That’s it,” Damon said.
“What’s that group of buildings off to the side of it?”
Damon turned and looked at Drakor. “Well, that’s where we’re heading. Little Kazzix.”
“What’s Little Kazzix?” Drakor asked with a puzzled look on his face.
“That’s where we sell our goods.”
“I thought we were going to Kazzix-Tor?”
“Well, we are. Just not the actual city itself.”
Damon paused and looked for some type of acknowledgement from Drakor, but Drakor just looked back at him with a blank stare.
“Men aren’t allowed in Kazzix-Tor,” explained Damon, “so the orcs let us build our own town outside of their city. They come when the sun rises and leave when the sun sets. That’s how it works.”
“If we can’t go into the city and we can’t ask about Raah, how are we going to find him?”
“That’s your problem, not mine. Just don’t get me killed.”
CHAPTER 16
Toshen sat in the back of the cart and stared at the city of Kazzix-Tor. Its dark-red walls were one hundred feet high, with harpoon turrets scattered halfway up the sides and on top. The walls stretched one thousand yards in each direction. Large roofs and tall towers were visible above the wall line.
“I wonder what they’re protecting themselves against,” said Toshen.
Aesus smiled. “It’s impressive, isn’t it? I’ve never seen anything like it in the land of men.”
“I wonder how many orcs are in there.”
“Too many for us to take down, that’s for sure.”
“And we’re supposed to steal a staff from a shaman in there?” Tess asked. “That’s impossible.”
Toshen looked at Aesus. “If anyone’s going to do something impossible, it’ll be us.”
“Drakor,” Aesus called out in a loud voice, “I’m starting to regret my decision.”
Drakor turned his head, gave Aesus a piercing glance for a few seconds, grunted, and looked forward again.
Damon steered his cart through the back entrance in the wall that surrounded Little Kazzix. After a few minutes, he stopped the cart in a stall at the side of a tan house with a red roof. He stepped off the cart and the others got off as well.
“This is my place,” Damon said. “It only has one bed, but you can sleep on the floor—or you can get a room at one of the inns, but those are expensive.”
Drakor looked at the surrounding buildings. They were identical and neatly aligned in rows. “We’ll sleep on the floor.”
“Do we have to?” Tess asked.
“I think it’s better if people don’t know where we’re staying.”
“How do we find Raah?” Toshen asked.
“Damon says we can’t ask people where to find him, so I don’t know,” Drakor said.
“What do you mean we can’t ask?”
“You’ll end up dead if you do,” Damon said. “And just so everyone knows, we’re in Little Kazzix.” He pointed to the dark-red wall in the distance. “That’s Kazzix-Tor. We’re not allowed to go there.”
Toshen glared at Drakor. “What do we do now?”
“I don’t know,” Drakor said. “Let’s walk around and see if we can get some ideas.” He turned to Damon. “Can you take us to the place where goods are sold?”
“The market? Of course,” Damon said. “But before we go anywhere, I need to tell you a few unwritten rules. First, never draw your weapon around an orc. He’ll panic and start attacking you. That’s always bad. Second, if one of us gets into a fight with an orc, the rest should stay out of it. As soon as a group of men start fighting an orc, any orcs in the vicinity will join in the fight. That’s also bad, because men usually never win group fights—and if they do, the orcs are probably dead, which means you’ll be dead soon too. Any questions?”
“Everyone stay close,” Drakor said. “Let’s go.”
“Not so fast,” Damon said. “I need your swords, your breastplate, and your bow. You can keep the daggers.”
“What? Why?”
“Wearing armor and carrying weapons are considered acts of aggression. We’re supposed to be merchants selling goods, not mercenaries. I’ll lock them up in the house for you.”
Drakor sighed, removed his sword and breastplate, and handed them to Damon. Tess handed him her sword. Toshen reluctantly gave up his bow.
Damon locked the items in a large empty chest inside the house and handed Drakor the key.
“Now we’re ready to go,” Damon said. He motioned for the others to follow him.
As they approached the edge of the market, Xan stopped and scrunched up her face. “What’s that smell?”
Tess stopped and pinched her nose. “It’s the orcs,” Tess said in a nasal voice. “I told you they smell bad.”
“The orcs at the checkpoints didn’t smell like this,” Xan said.
Damon rolled his eyes. “That’s because everyone complains, so they bathe once a day. Back here, they bathe once a week, if that.”
Damon pulled Tess’s hand away from her face. “Don’t do that. It’s considered rude. You’ll get us into trouble. You’ll get used to it after a while.”
“I doubt it.”
“Deal with the smell as best you can,” Drakor said. “We don’t have a choice.”
Tess mimicked Drakor’s words. Aesus, who was standing next to her, grabbed her wrist, which caught her by surprise and made her stop mocking Drakor. When Aesus wouldn’t let go, she pulled her arm away from him. “All right, I get it.”
“Is there a problem?” Drakor asked.
“Not anymore,” Aesus said. “Let’s go.”
The group entered the large market area where they were greeted by a sea of male and female orcs of all shapes and sizes. The market stretched in all directions. Stalls covered with red cloth canopies and white oak tables were neatly aligned in rows and tended to by men and women. The muddled conversations of deep voices filled the air.
“What are they buying?” Tess asked Damon.
“Everything,” Damon replied. “Whatever we bring, the orcs buy. I once sold an entire cart full of olive oil when I opened shop one day. It was amazing. Every time I bring something, they buy all of it—and they don’t even haggle over the price. It’s a merchant’s dream.”
Tess watched as an orc toddler wandered over to her and hugged her leg. She cringed but remained calm. A woman ran up, about Tess’s height, with a slim, muscular build and hair pulled back int
o a ponytail: the child’s mother. She apologized in the orc language, bowed her head, and slowly pried the toddler off Tess’s leg.
Xan smiled at Tess as the orc mother and toddler walked away. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
Tess screwed up her face but nodded.
The group walked down each aisle, looked at the goods being sold and carefully observed the orcs without making it obvious they were observing them. The orcs paid little attention to the group as they were more interested in what they could buy.
At the last booth, Drakor turned to Damon. “Is this it?”
“What did you expect?”
“None of this going to help us find who we’re looking for.”
“I could’ve told you that. I’m not sure how it would help you, but we could go to the fair.”
“The fair? What’s a fair?”
“Surely there must be fairs where you come from.”
“Show us.”
“All right,” Damon said with a smile. “Follow me.”
Damon led the others down a street crowded with orcs who were heading away from the market. When they reached the fairground, Damon held up his hand and gestured at the area. He cleared his throat and raised his voice. “Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the greatest fair in the land!”
The fairground encompassed a large circular area surrounded by flagpoles flying decorative banners. Food and game booths lined the outer perimeter, and in the center stood a large round tent that rose fifty feet into the air. Festive pipe organ music played in the background and the smell of cooking pork and chicken filled the air.
“This is amazing,” Tess said. “I’ve never seen a fair this big before.”
“You know of this fair?” Drakor asked.
“Not this particular fair. The traveling fair stops at Lord Byron’s castle every year. It’s very festive. I always have fun. Everyone looks forward to it.”
“What’s the point of this?” Xan asked.
“It’s to have fun, and see the show in the big tent.”
“Show?” Toshen asked. “What’s a show?”
Damon laughed and shook his head. “You people sure are odd.”
“Never mind them,” Tess said. “They’re from Shen. They don’t have such things in Shen.”
“Oh,” Damon said.
They walked around the perimeter of the fair. The orcs were playing various ball throw, ring toss, and knockdown games, and eating food. After the group had visited each booth, they entered the big tent. It contained a circle of bleachers around a large center ring. Some two hundred orcs were scattered upon the seats.
The ringmaster was a short, skinny man with a black top hat, a short red jacket with tails, a white shirt, and black pants and boots. He stood on a round, raised platform to the side of the center ring and shouted, “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages, welcome to the greatest show in the land.”
As the crowd of orcs cheered and hollered, a parade of men and women entered the tent dressed in decorative costumes. They walked along the inner edge of the center ring, waving at the crowd. Interspersed among the performers were horses, several large predatory cats in cages, and two elephants.
For the next hour, the various performers entertained the crowd.
“That was amazing, wasn’t it?” Tess said to Xan as they exited the tent.
“I really enjoyed it,” Xan said. “I didn’t realize men and women did such things. Flying in the air, making cats do tricks, making us laugh. Even the orcs enjoyed the show.”
“They definitely enjoy the show,” Damon said. “They don’t have anything like it. They’re fascinated by our kind.”
Drakor turned to Damon. “I noticed there wasn’t any type of performance using fire. Do orcs have a problem with fire?”
“They love fire,” Damon said.
“Why,” Toshen asked Drakor. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking that if we can’t go to Raah, perhaps we can get him to come to us. If we put on a fire show that demonstrates a mastery of skills beyond his as a shaman, he may be curious enough to come and see the show for himself.”
“I think you mean if ‘I’ put on a fire show,” Aesus said.
“You’re the only one among us who has a way with fire.”
“But if he casts fireballs,” Xan said, “then everyone will know he’s a—”
Drakor put his hand over Xan’s mouth, looked into her eyes, and shook his head. He glanced over and noticed Damon was looking at both of them.
“He can pretend to be a shaman,” Toshen said.
“There’s no such thing as a human shaman,” Tess said. “And even if they existed, they wouldn’t hurl fireballs.”
“Then what does a shaman do?” Aesus asked.
Tess frowned. “They control fire.”
“How do you show control of fire?”
“Make it bigger. Make it move. Something like that.”
Aesus raised his arms in the air, “Like this—”
Drakor thrust his hand in front of Aesus and motioned for him to stop. “Not here. Someone might see you. Let’s go back to Damon’s house.”
Aesus shrugged. “All right.”
When the group arrived at Damon’s house, the street was empty and, as far as they could tell, no one was watching them.
Drakor turned to Aesus. “Now you can show us.”
Aesus held out his right hand in front of him, and spontaneously produced a palm-sized, rotating sphere of fire that levitated above his glove. He leaned forward and slowly blew on it, increasing the size of the sphere to the size of his head. The others felt the heat and took a few steps back. Aesus raised his hand a little higher in the air and slowly blew on the rotating fire sphere again. Its size increased twofold.
“Amazing!” Tess shouted as she clapped her hands. “I’ve never seen anyone do that before.”
“I’m not done yet,” Aesus said with a grin.
“You’re done for now,” Drakor said. “Put it out before someone sees it or you burn everything down.”
Aesus laughed. The fire sphere collapsed upon itself and disappeared.
Toshen smiled and nodded at Aesus. “That’s impressive.”
“Indeed,” Xan said. “Is that in your spellbook?”
“No,” Aesus said, “I stumbled on it by accident while trying to get better control of my fireballs. If I focus on creating the fireball without throwing it anywhere, it can stay in my hand for hours. I can control what it does.”
“It’s certainly amazing, but you’ll have to do more than that if you want to get into the show,” Damon said. “The ringmaster is the one you have to impress. If you can do four or five different tricks, I bet he’ll hire you.”
“Four or five?” Aesus asked. “I only know the one.”
“I’ll help you,” Tess said enthusiastically. She ran to Aesus’s side and wrapped her arms around his arm. “I’ll think of all kinds of different tricks you can do.”
Drakor nodded. “You two work on the fire tricks. Toshen, keep an eye on them and make sure things don’t get out of hand. Damon and Xan, let’s get food for our evening meal.”
Drakor walked in the direction of the market, and Damon and Xan fell into step next to him. Drakor leaned over to Damon. “You must have many questions.”
“I do,” Damon said. “Xan healed my foot, and now Aesus appears to have control of fire. I thought mages no longer existed. Are all of you mages?”
“No, only Xan and Aesus. It’s important you don’t tell anyone. It will put us all in danger.”
Damon nodded. “I understand. I won’t say anything to anyone.”
CHAPTER 17
Drakor awoke to the crow of roosters outside Damon’s house. The early sunlight beamed through the window. Everyone else was asleep, sprawled out on brightly colored pillows and other bedding purchased from the market.
“All right everyone,” Drakor said. “It’s time to get up.”
The
group stirred and woke, with the exception of Aesus, who lay face up, snoring.
Drakor knelt next to Aesus. “Aesus, it’s time to get up.”
“I think he overdid it yesterday,” Tess said. “He did the tricks over and over again, until he was satisfied with them. He was barely able to make it inside to lie down.”
“Can you do anything for him?” Drakor asked Xan.
Xan whispered a few words. “Try now.”
Drakor leaned over. “Aesus,” he said in a loud voice.
“Let him sleep,” Tess said. “He’ll get up when he’s ready.”
“We can’t see the ringmaster without him,” Toshen said. “You might as well just leave him be.”
Drakor sighed and shook his head. “All right.”
Aesus awoke a few hours later, tired and grumpy. He sat up on the bedding and covered his face with his hands. “My head really hurts, and I’m so thirsty.”
“I can take care of the headache,” Xan said. She whispered a few words and waved a hand in the air.
“That’s much better,” Aesus said. He stood and walked to the table, where a simple breakfast of bread, water, and dried fish had been left for him.
“Do you think you’re ready for the ringmaster?” Drakor asked.
Aesus nodded, eyes half-closed.
“Are you all right?”
Aesus turned to look at Drakor and attempted to fully open his eyes, but couldn’t. “I need to go back to sleep.”
“Don’t. You need to see the ringmaster.”
Aesus nodded, stood, and went outside. He sat on a bench next to the house, leaned back against the wall, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.
Drakor stepped outside and saw Aesus sleeping on the bench. He nudged him until he woke. “Go inside and lie down. You’re in no condition to see the ringmaster. We’ll do it when you’re awake.”
Aesus dragged himself back inside, lay down, and was out cold within seconds.
“It’s not his fault,” Xan told Drakor.
“I know,” Drakor said. “I hope he’ll be back to his normal self tomorrow.”
Three Quest Deal (Tales of Former Dragons Book 1) Page 9