Chasing the Dragon

by Jason Halstead

  "That’s the way up into the splisskin temples and halls," Mordrim said and pointed at the ramp.

  "This is enough gold to build a thousand churches," Karthor whispered as his eyes took in the veins of gold, silver, copper, and platinum that streaked through the floor, ceiling, walls, and uneven surfaces of the room.

  "Churches?" Kar snorted. "I could build a tower to the very heavens. A tower devoted to magic and the elements. Yes, a tower of five spires."

  "Ignore the gold!" Mordrim cautioned. "Look to the ground ahead of us or to each other!"

  "It’s a test," Patrina said.

  "A test?" Alto whispered, his own eyes reflecting the glimmering light that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once.

  "Havar’s test," she reasoned. She turned and looked at her spellbound companions. She frowned when she saw all but Mordrim standing slack jawed. "Would you be a slave to this wealth?"

  "A slave?" Alto asked. "With a pack full of this gold, I’d never be a slave to anyone ever again."

  "You never were!" Patrina protested. She turned to Garrick and pushed him in the shoulder. "What about you? You’re a hunter of clan Snowbear! What use is gold to you?"

  "I could arm my people," he whispered. "Build walls to keep their foes away and provide food enough so no babe would ever go hungry in the winter again."

  "You would spend your days digging and prying at the bones of the earth," Mordrim said. "Just a little more and you’d have enough. Then the splisskin would find you or maybe you’d be lucky and die on your own. You can’t eat the gold."

  "We could assemble the greatest army that’s ever been seen," Alto mused. "Wipe the Order from the world and every dragon with them. Caitlyn and Namitus could be safe then."

  Patrina slapped Garrick across the face hard enough to rock his head back and force him to take a step. He stared at her, the gloss gone from his eyes and a fury in its place. Garrick stepped towards her and then stopped when he saw the point of her axe only a few inches below his chin.

  "Help me," she demanded. "Wake these fools up."

  The rage drained from Garrick’s eyes. He nodded and kept his eyes down until he stepped up to Karthor. He shook the priest until he snapped out of his fantasy and then moved on to Mordrim.

  "Hey! I’m not bewitched, you crazy oaf!" Mordrim cried out after Garrick dropped his hand on Mordrim’s helmet and staggered the dwarf.

  "Just making sure," Garrick said.

  Kar sputtered from his son’s attempt to rudely awake him. He shook his head free of the thoughts and turned to watch Patrina step up to Alto. She pressed her lips against his and pulled herself up to him, kissing with a passion that a statue would have been tempted by.

  "You’re right," Alto said a few moments later when she backed away. "I already have the greatest treasure to be found."

  Mordrim woke Carson from his stupor and soon they all learned to keep their eyes close to them. The dwarf led the way through the uneven chamber, steering clear of any open veins or loose-looking rough gems that were begging to be picked up. Even so, he missed it when Kar, trailing behind the others, slipped a few of the uncut jewels into his pouches.

  "This wealth is amazing," Carson whispered as they walked.

  "It's only gold," Mordrim said.

  "Far more than that," the woodsman argued. "Gems, silver, copper—why, I think I even saw some jade!"

  Mordrim shrugged. "Live long enough and you learn there's more to wealth than gold."

  "A hard-earned lesson," Karthor offered. "Especially for a dwarf."

  "Never been farther than this room." Mordrim changed the subject. He walked up to the silver ramp and whistled. "That's not silver."

  "What is it?" Garrick asked as he stared at the shiny metal.

  Mordrim shook his head and then bent down to drag the pick opposite the head of his hammer against it. He whistled again. "Didn't even scratch it. I heard of metals like this, but I never seen none of them."

  "What's important is that it takes us up there," Alto said as he stepped onto the ramp and led the way up. It circled around the stone column twelve times before they rose above the ceiling of the massive cavern.

  The light remained constant, confusing them until Kar chuckled. "The ramp is glowing," he said.

  "Bah, it's just mirror smooth," Mordrim said.

  Kar shook his head. "I have no doubt of that, but that's not a shine you're seeing. It's giving off its light."

  "Be silent," Alto hissed as they continued to climb.

  The silence was unnecessary save that it saved them breath. They continued upwards, losing track of time and rotations. Wheezing and feeling tired legs that had no rest since their supernatural run through the jungle, they all but fell to the floor when the ramp ended in an alcove just off a large room with a tile floor and ornate paintings on the walls. Opposite the alcove, they saw a staircase that led up, while to the left the room had a set of double doors in the middle of the wall. To the right, the wall boasted two smaller doors at the end and a hallway in the middle. All of that was secondary to the people moving through the chamber.

  "Preth!" Garrick murmured as they passed by.

  "Let's hope we're the ones doing the hunting while we're here," Kar quipped while reaching into his pockets for the components he'd need for a spell.

  "Hold," Alto hissed. He'd drawn his sword and was working his shield off his back when he realized none of the splisskin that moved through the room paid them any attention.

  "Never seen so many together," Mordrim growled. "Usually the different tribes don't like each other. Taller ones seem to like making the shorter ones work for them."

  "Why aren't they attacking us?" Patrina asked, her axe held at the ready.

  "They can't see us," Kar breathed. He chuckled and then cleared his throat. "Sorry. Half a moment."

  They watched as the wizard chanted a quick spell and then smiled when the air in front of them shimmered.

  "What's that mean?"

  "It means there's a ward over this section. There's no wall here, but I wager anyone looking this way doesn't see it."

  "What do they see?" Garrick asked.

  Kar shrugged. "Nothing? A wall? An empty room? I've no idea—I'm already in here."

  Garrick scowled at the magician.

  "So now what?" Carson asked. "There's a lot of those things out there. If they're all wizards like the last one we fought, we're in for a rough time."

  "They're not," Mordrim said. "Only the ones in charge are wizards and priests. These are messengers, workers, and maybe a warrior or two."

  "Oh," Garrick said as he drew his sword. "Been itching to see what this does."

  The carved snake on the hilt writhed on the metal, causing the barbarian's eyes to bulge. Blue flames leapt up the blade but stayed above the hilt. The sword lowered until the tip was pointing at the nearest splisskin.

  Garrick grunted and said, "Feels like this thing is pulling me. I think it wants to fight more than I do!"

  Alto studied the room and nodded. "Well then, let's give it what it wants."

  "First blood's yours," Garrick offered to his short companion.

  Mordrim looked up at him and nodded, and then raised his axe and looked to the others. They were ready. He lowered his head and charged out of the alcove.

  Mordrim crashed into the first of the shorter splisskin just as it turned towards him. His hammer crushed its skull so he could push the corpse aside with his shoulder. Two more fell from Alto and Carson's blades. The snakemen responded slowly, some hissing and crying in their own language while others turned and fled. Several drew curved swords or daggers and rushed towards the companions.

  Garrick stepped into three of them as they ran towards him. His sword swept across, blue flames trailing an arc in the air behind the fatal strike. Two of the splisskin fell, their skin gashed open. The third fell back howling in pain as blue flames traveled up his arm and immolated him.

  Alto and Patrina fought side by side,
hacking and crushing the splisskin that came at them. Alto slowed when he saw Patrina come to a stop. He smashed his shield into the face of the lizardman that had parried his sword and turned his head to see the splisskin covered in flames pushed away from another one. He fell and crawled a few feet before he collapsed completely. The lizardman he'd bumped into was shrieking now as blue flames had latched onto him and were consuming him.

  Kar spat out the words to a magic spell behind them and a volley of flaming rays burst out from his hands. They had no specific target but instead drove the splisskin out of the way before they faded back into the ether from whence they'd come.

  Alto seized upon the opening that led towards the hallway to their right. "To the hall!" he cried out before he gutted the splisskin fighting him and then broke away.

  Mordrim was the last to join them after he smashed a splisskin's knee in and caused him to fall. He turned away and then looked back and decided to end the scaly man's life before rejoining his companions. Kar evoked another spell, dropping a fog on the room that offered confusion and concealment.

  "It won't last," Kar hissed.

  "I'm here," Mordrim grunted as he emerged from the haze.

  "Do you know where you're going?" Carson asked.

  "No, but even if we kill them all, enough escaped to bring reinforcements. We'd be surrounded in that room," Alto said as he pushed through his friends and started down the hall ahead of them at a jog.

  "Ah." Garrick grinned. "This hall's a good place to defend."

  "Until one of their wizards shows up and sets a bolt of lightning down it!" Kar said.

  Garrick's eyes widened. "They can do that?"

  "I can."

  "Keep going," Garrick encouraged.

  They passed doors to the left and right of them as they ran but Alto ignored them. "We can't just run blindly forever!" Kar gasped from behind them.

  Alto knew the wizard was right. He was feeling the exhaustion dragging at his feet, too. The troll's potion, no food, and now all the fighting was taking its toll on them all. He saw an intersection ahead of them and turned to his left. A few feet in front of him, a short splisskin hissed in surprise. Alto brought his shield across and crashed into the reptilian man, knocking him back and onto the ground.

  He stopped and looked down at the splisskin. The man lay still on the ground but his chest rose and fell, even though his eyes stayed open. Alto nudged him with his boot, and then did it again, harder. When the creature didn't move, he sheathed his blade and grabbed the cool torso of the man. He hoisted him up over his shoulder and then spied the next door ahead of them.

  "In there!" Alto growled while nodding towards the door.

  Patrina ran to it and tried the latch, only to find it locked.

  "Watch out," Garrick said. "I've got the key."

  The key, Garrick's boot, sent the door swinging in and sprayed broken wood from the latch onto the rug on the floor. They piled in and shut the door behind them, and then Garrick leaned against it to hold it shut.

  Alto lowered the snakeman to the rug and glanced around the room. It was a small bedroom complete with chests and personal effects, but instead of sleeping pallets there were four rectangular boxes filled with sand. In the center of the room, a large stone radiated heat warm enough to cause them all to sweat even more than they already were.

  Alto slapped the splisskin until it hissed and coughed. It raised its arms to fend him off and then stopped and stared at all of them. The snakeman hissed again and tried to pull himself away, only to be stopped by Alto's strong hand on his neck.

  "Humans," Alto growled at him. "Where are they? The prisoners."

  The lizardman hissed and croaked in his own language until Alto tightened his grip so much he couldn't form words.

  "He's lying," Mordrim stated. "I never seen a walking snake that couldn't speak the human tongue."

  "Jar his memory," Alto said.

  Mordrim grinned and swung his hammer off his shoulder. Alto grabbed his captive's arm and slammed it against the ground straight out from his body. The splisskin struggled but was no match for Alto's strength.

  Mordrim's hammer fell with a satisfying, and sickening, crunch. A sibilant howl escaped past Alto's hand on his captive's throat. He jerked his arm away, only to hiss and cry again from the way his elbow now bent in any direction gravity took it.

  Alto picked the splisskin's head up by his throat and cracked it back against the carpeted floor, hard enough to stun him and get his attention. "My friend is going to kill you," Alto promised. "How painful that is depends on what you tell us."

  "Alto, I can heal him," Karthor said from behind him.

  The lizardman stared past Alto at Karthor and nodded. "Prisoner," he rasped. "Down the other hallway, across from this one. Up a ramp and through a metal door."

  Alto nodded and cracked his head again a little harder. He rose up and nodded to Mordrim. Karthor opened his mouth but Mordrim's hammer smashed into the splisskin's face and ended the conversation.

  "You heard him, let's go," Alto said. He went to the door just as Garrick opened it. The hallway was open in front of them but he saw splisskin guards wearing leather studded with metal rivets at the intersection. He smashed into them with his shield while he was drawing his sword.

  By the time Alto had stopped and turned back around to kill the lizardmen he'd surprised and knocked aside, he found that Garrick and Mordrim had already finished them. Blue flames flickered from one of the corpses and leapt to another one that lay nearby.

  Alto nodded and turned back around, and then continued down the passage. He ran until he found the ramp and started up it, and then had to retreat back down when a fresh troop of splisskin charged him. They used the ramp as a bottleneck and slaughtered the reptilian men, and then rushed up and emerged into a wide hallway with the promised metal door at one end and other halls and doors leading off in other directions. Between them and the door stood a force of a dozen splisskin, including one wearing a robe with some arcane runes worked into them.

  "Humans!" the robed splisskin addressed them.

  Alto and Mordrim snarled at them and charged. They'd managed to close half the distance when the ground beneath their feet turned to sand and tripped them up. They plunged into it and found their arms and legs trapped beneath the sucking sands.

  The splisskin warriors cheered and charged forward, running towards them with weapons raised. Garrick and Patrina had slowed when Alto and Mordrim fell but now they started forward again, only to find themselves trapped with their friends by the magical quicksand.

  "I'll take care of him," Kar growled as he reached into his pocket.

  "Too late," Carson said. He released the arrow he'd drawn and was nocking a second when the first struck the splisskin wizard high on his chest, just right of his left shoulder. The wizard turned and stumbled, and then started to rise up again when the next arrow struck him in the back and knocked him to the ground.

  Alto and Mordrim rose up from the sand, pulling their hands and feet free just as the splisskin reached the far side of it. Their weapons leapt out, parrying the splisskin or ignoring them, in Alto's case, and then cleaving into scaly flesh. Patrina and Garrick ran across the now firm sand to add their prowess to the battle.

  It was over in moments, the splisskin warriors all dead or dying. Carson retrieved two of his arrows that he'd fired; the other three had broken in the fight.

  "Wizardry," Garrick spoke the word as a curse.

  "It's a powerful thing," Kar agreed. "Can save your arse as soon as it can set it afire."

  "Keep your fire away from me," Garrick growled.

  Kar waggled his eyebrows at the barbarian and walked ahead to where Alto was studying the metal door. Mordrim joined them and then reached out to trace his fingers over the handle. The dwarf grunted and twisted the latch. When nothing happened aside from an audible click, he pushed it open. Mordrim shrugged and looked at the others.

  Alto pushed into the room first an
d looked around. He saw hallways with barred cells visible, as well as a few tables. He motioned about and called out for his friends to search the cells, and then he went straight ahead to the hallway that ended in a closed door. It was locked.

  Alto brought his own key with him this time. He backed up and charged the door, leading with his plate mail-covered shoulder. The door burst under his force and he went crashing to the ground. When he picked his head up, he gasped. Blood spattered the floor in front of him, surrounding a platform filled with spikes of varying lengths that stuck straight into the air. His eyes continued to rise until he saw a bloody ruin of a man hanging from chains that ran through rings in the ceiling to wheels on either side of the room. Blood dripped from the man as he hung suspended.

  Slowly the prisoner picked his head up and confirmed Alto's worst fears. It was Namitus. "Knew you'd come," he whispered before he passed out.

  Chapter 30

  "Well, Your Highness, it seems we've discussed about all that we can," Tristam said.

  Rosalyn looked up at him from the paper in front of her. She offered a smile and embossed it with her seal. "I think this will benefit us greatly, and I'm appreciative of your understanding of our situation."

  Tristam smiled in response. "I'm new to this leadership thing myself, Queen Rosalyn, so we have that in common. I've had a hard enough time grappling with the intricacies of an established city recovering from a war. I can't imagine how difficult it is to create a new kingdom."

  Rosalyn turned and looked at Aleena. "I must confess, I'm somewhat disappointed. All this time we've spent discussing the intricacies of mining and transport and we've had no time to ourselves."

  Aleena bowed her head from where she stood. Her back ached from standing for so long but it was her duty to do so. She'd been offered a seat many times, but she was an agent of Leander. A symbol of his strength and benevolence. She would not show any weakness. "I have offered what thoughts I have, Your Highness."

  Rosalyn nodded. "Yes, I suppose you have. Still, there are many things I would have liked to speak of with you. Baron Highpeak and I may both be new to ruling, but I believe you and I have far more in common. It's rare that I find someone like that."