Bakkian Chronicles, Book I - The Prophecy

by Poole, Jeffrey

  The thin man jumped forward to excitedly pump Steve’s hand. “Pleasure to meet ye, m’boy. Great things I have heard about ye! Are ye really a fire thrower? That is simply amazing! To think that outsiders can have that much power without -”

  “Later, Shardwyn,” the king murmured, “there will be more than enough time at a later date.”

  “Of course, yer majesty, of course.”

  “Now. Steve, Sarah, I asked ye here for a reason. The two of ye will be heading out on a long journey tomorrow.”

  They both nodded.

  “It is customary in our land that when someone goes off on a long journey to send gifts with them. Quisen and his people volunteered their services. Let me just say that they have outdone themselves.”

  Steve held up a hand. “Wait a moment. You’re a dwarf?”

  Quisen nodded.

  “Then can you tell us where to find Maelnar?”

  Quisen shook his head. “With regret, lad, I cannot. My clan lives far to the south, deep in the heart of the Selekais. I know naught of Maelnar but legends of his skill.”

  “Oh, okay. I didn’t know there was more than one dwarf clan.”

  “There are far more that ye would think, human.”

  “Getting back on track,” the king interrupted, “Quisen, go ahead.”

  Turning, the dwarf retrieved his bundle of gifts that he had placed next to the hearth. Untying the straps, he withdrew a white shirt. He handed it to Sarah.

  “This is the finest armor our craftsmen can make. The threads are of pure bryl, our strongest metal. Ye will find it as light as a feather.”

  Sarah took the shirt and felt the texture. It felt like silk! This was armor? It looked as though a simple thorn would be capable of ripping it to shreds.

  Sensing Sarah’s thoughts, Quisen took the shirt, laid it on the floor, and with a yell, struck it a mighty blow from an ax that was on his belt. Not the slightest mark could be found on the shirt.

  “That’s remarkable! Thank you so much!”

  He turned to Steve, who was admiring Sarah’s gift. The dwarf handed him a package next. Opening it, Steve discovered a pair of leather gauntlets. He fit one to his right hand. Flexing his fingers, he was pleased to see a perfect fit.

  “These gauntlets,” the dwarf began, “are also made of bryl. They will protect your hands from all types of injuries. Observe.”

  Quisen turned to a slab of stone that had been brought in for this very occasion. Donning the other gauntlet, the dwarf punched the stone. With a resounding crack, the stone broke in two. Pleased, he returned the gauntlet to Steve.

  “It’s made of the same material as that shirt? Looks like leather! Thank you! I will treasure this always!”

  “The gauntlets were indeed crafted to resemble leather. We thought it best to disguise their true nature, lad, lest ye run afoul of thieves.”

  “That is very cool. Many thanks, Quisen of the southern mountain dwarves!”

  The dwarf bowed and stepped aside.

  Shardwyn stepped up. “Guess it’s my turn, is it not?” He chuckled and slapped Steve heartily on the back. “Thought long and hard, I did.” He reached behind one of the chairs to retrieve his parcel. “I personally think,” he continued, as he opened his bundle, “that this is one of my finest achievements. But then again,” he winked at Sarah, “I am biased. Here we go.”

  He handed the separately wrapped packages to the two of them.

  “Go on, go on, open ‘em!”

  Chuckling to himself, Steve couldn’t recall ever having a more misguided preconception of what a wizard would look like or how he’d behave. He acted like, well, like how he could see himself behaving when he hit that age. He chuckled again. Best not to bring that up.

  He took his package and unwrapped it, revealing… a billy club? There was also some type of harness there with small pouches sewn into the straps. He checked to see what Sarah’s held. Hers was some type of a medallion with a big, fat purple crystal sitting in the middle of it. He removed the wrappings from his ‘club’, picked it up and glanced at the wizard. What was he supposed to do with this? Sneak up on an adversary and thump them on the head?

  Shardwyn noted his quizzical expression and started laughing. Big, fat tears rolled down his wrinkled face as he tried to control himself. Still chuckling, he wiped his eyes with his beard.

  “I am very sorry, but ye should have seen the look on your face! Priceless!” He snorted out a few more chuckles.

  Sighing inwardly, the king yet again steered the wizard back on track.

  “Disguise, m’boy! It is in disguise! Just like Quisen here, I decided to make it look undesirable! Who’d want to steal that? Hoo hoo! My best work ever!”

  Hefting it in his hand, he looked at the (still) laughing sorcerer. “So what does it do, then?”

  “I will show ye, I will, and ye will see how clever this is! This is the ‘nohrstaf’, named in yer honor!” He took the club from Steve and then faced the dwarf, who had been watching with rapt attention. “If ye would be so kind, sir Quisen, as to approach with yer ax in hand. Go on, come at me!”

  “And what will happen?” Quisen hesitantly asked. Tales of the quirky wizard have been told as far south as his beloved Selekais. He cautiously pulled his ax off of his belt.

  “No harm will befall ye, trust me! Come at me!”

  The dwarf approached the wizard, waving his ax from side to side. Suddenly, Shardwyn was holding a sword. Stunned, the dwarf retreated, putting his ax away. The sword vanished, and the club returned. Amazed, he again drew his ax and made a downward striking motion towards the cackling wizard. He stopped the descent of his ax lest it hit the shield that had appeared.

  “That is truly amazing, wizard,” the dwarf admitted. “I would know how ye came about crafting that weapon.”

  “A wizard never tells his secrets!”

  Sighing, the dwarf returned to his spot by the hearth.

  Sarah took her medallion out of the box and admired it. It had a large amethyst centered in a silver and gold setting, but it looked tarnished! Was it supposed to look that way? Must be in disguise, too, she mused.

  “What does this do?” she asked the wizard.

  “That is the strongest protective charm I have created thus far in my life!” Shardwyn said proudly. “While ye wear that ye will be immune to any jhorun. However, if ye are physically attacked, then it will be ineffective. Very important to remember that, milady.”

  “Will ye demonstrate the medallion’s charms please?” the king asked.

  “Thought ye would never ask!” Shardwyn gleefully rubbed his hands together. “Let’s see, who can we get to attack the lady?” The wizard’s crafty eyes alighted on Steve. “Perfect! Fire off a blast at yer wife and watch what happens!”

  Steve snorted. “I don’t think so.”

  Sarah shoved the medallion into her husband’s hands. “Nuh uh, no way. You’re not going to make me the guinea pig.”

  “Here, let’s do this.” Steve took the medallion from Sarah and placed it around his neck. “Okay, use me. Someone try to do something to me.”

  In the blink of an eye, Shardwyn had summoned an intense, frigid blast of air and fired it straight at Steve’s chest. Within moments, a ten foot tall block of ice had completely enveloped him, hiding him from sight.

  Sarah rushed to the mini-iceberg. “Omigod! Honey, are you okay? Say something!”

  Steve’s muffled voice could barely be heard through the thick ice. “This is freakin’ cool!”

  Sarah scowled at the grinning wizard. “Okay, you put him in there. Get him out!”

  Shardwyn had just raised his arms when Steve’s faint voice sounded again.

  “Move back! I can get out of this.”

  Rivulets of streaming water poured off the block of ice, creating pools of water on the floor. In a matter of a few seconds, the ice had rapidly melted right before their eyes.

  “See?” Shardwyn was cackling triumphantly. “Not a hair on his
head has been harmed!”

  “From his own jhorun keeping him warm or from the medallion?” the king wanted to know.

  The wizard’s mouth closed with a snap.

  “I have a better idea.” Kri’Entu turned to address the shadows on the far wall. “Tristan.”

  The tall, quiet soldier materialized next to the king’s side.

  “Sir.”

  “Use yer daggers. Try to attack sir Steve.”

  Tristan didn’t even blink an eye. A dagger appeared in his hand as he faced the fire thrower. A split second later, the knife had been thrown straight at the dumbstruck Nohrin.

  Steve blinked. One moment Tristan had been standing right before him. The next, a flash of green light had temporarily blinded him. When the spots finally cleared from his vision, he could see the dagger lying on the ground in front of him. Tristan was just regaining his feet from his hasty journey across the Antechamber.

  Sarah was giving the fallen soldier a hand up.

  “Are you okay? That was a nasty tumble you took.”

  “I am fine. I have taken worse.”

  “I would say that was a successful test,” Steve observed, removing the medallion from his neck and returning it to his wife.

  Quisen was staring at the medallion with unabashed curiosity. Seeing that the dwarf wanted a closer look, Sarah took off the pendant and handed it to him.

  Surprise spread over his features as the dwarf was handed the prized medallion. Respect for these two trusting humans increased by several notches as Quisen held the medallion up close to his face, inspecting it this way and that. He gently prodded the metal, applying pressure to one end, then the other. With a soft click, a hidden compartment on the back of the medallion appeared, exposing a tiny vial. With a triumphant grunt, the dwarf held up the medallion.

  “Hah! I thought as much.”

  “Ye are good, dwarf,” Shardwyn admitted, “Ye found that very quickly. That is a vial of kaormac juice. Just one drop will heal practically any wound.”

  The dwarf grunted his approval, tucking the precious vial back into the compartment. He returned the pendant to Sarah, who placed it back around her neck.

  “Thank you, Shardwyn, this means a lot to me. I don’t think I’ll ever take it off.”

  The wizard beamed with pleasure. “One more thing, sir Steve. Ye will notice the nohrstaf harness has pouches on it?”

  Steve pulled the harness out and inspected the pouches sewn into the straps. He opened one to reveal a mimet, the nine-sided crystal disc.

  “Ye are familiar with a mimet?”

  Steve nodded. “Yes, actually the king here told me what they were and even demonstrated their use for me. Trust me, I won’t forget what it can do.” He absent-mindedly ran his hands down the front of his tunic.

  Sarah smiled, and had to look away. The king smiled as well, noting her behavior.

  “Excellent, m’boy, excellent! Start charging them now. Incredibly handy, those things! Never know when you will need ‘em!”

  The king clapped his hands together. “So! The two of ye will start yer journey tomorrow morning. Rhenyon will meet the two of ye out by the southern moat just before sunrise. Ye need your rest. Go now, for ye have a long day ahead of ye. Good journey to ye.”

  Both Steve and Sarah bowed before the king. “Thank you, your majesty.”

  ****

  Husband and wife slept fitfully. Clearly they were anxious to start their journey the following morning. Steve couldn’t get the fantastic notion of travelling with a dragon out of his head while Sarah fretted about not being able to locate the dwarf key maker. Realizing that the other was already awake, both decided to give up trying to fall asleep, opting instead for an early start. However, a stealthy departure wasn’t to be had.

  Standing at the entrance to the Great Hall, both stared in disbelief at the pandemonium before them. Cooks were scrambling to prepare food, servants were busy wiping down tables, and pages were hastily polishing numerous pieces of armor. Squires then fastened those pieces to stationary men holding their arms aloft.

  “Did we miss something?” Steve inquired, looking about. “Why are so many people awake? This has got to be super early.”

  They would have made it down even earlier, but Steve ran into a little trouble trying to don the custom norhstaf holder. It consisted of a metal plate designed to fit into the small of the back with several small, elastic loops embedded into it to allow the weapon to be easily removed and deployed. The problem came, however, from the four straps sticking out of all four corners that required his arms to slip into the harness just so, buckling securely into place below his right arm. Fortunately, once the brains of the outfit figured out where each strap went, she was able to tighten the harness snugly with no possibility of losing the unique weapon.

  Outfitted in a pair of khaki trousers and a loose-fitting green doublet, Steve escorted his wife into the heart of the mayhem. Sarah, wearing comfortable travelling clothes consisting of a long-sleeve forest green top and grey leggings (she utterly refused to wear a dress), fingered the medallion around her neck, reassured by its presence. Were all these people awake because of them? The sun hadn’t even come up, and yet it appeared as though the entire castle had been awake for hours.

  They rushed through their breakfast, both eager to commence this latest undertaking. The sooner they located this maker of keys, the sooner they could return home.

  Not surprisingly, they were met outside by the Kri’yans, including a young boy who was using every trick in his arsenal to persuade his parents to allow him to join the troupe. Mikal’s parents, however, were unmoved by his performance. Silencing his son with a disapproving look, the king greeted the new arrivals.

  “I do envy the two of ye the journey ye are about to undertake.”

  Steve met the queen’s gaze before he faced the king. “I have to be honest. I’m nervous about all of this. I’m starting to think that maybe we should have a few more members to this party. Like, say, your whole army.”

  The king gave Steve a paternal pat on the shoulder. “I spoke with Rhenyon last night and we agreed to send a small contingent of men along. Five were selected to join yer group.”

  Both of the Nohrin were nodding appreciatively. Sarah’s eyes were drawn to the queen. Callé was smiling at her.

  Did you suggest this?

  The queen nodded.

  Thank you.

  The queen nodded again. It’s the least I could do.

  ****

  Rhenyon looked up as the clamoring began and grew in intensity. What the blazes was this? People were literally streaming out of the castle, angling straight for them. Was the entire castle now accompanying them on this quest?

  “Ye have got to be kidding me,” one of his men muttered under his breath.

  “Apparently they wish to see us off,” another soldier murmured.

  Muted laughter sounded from all directions. Rhenyon turned to face his men.

  “So much for an inconspicuous start.” He sighed heavily. He had not slept well last night, either. Visions of dragons and belching fire kept interrupting his dreams, so he had figured he might as well abandon his futile attempts at getting some rest and opt for yet another check of their gear and supplies.

  The captain surveyed the throng of people all heading straight towards them. At the front were the newly famous Nohrin, along with the king and queen. Congratulating himself yet again for being the first person to “discover” the identities of the Nohrin, he nodded his head at the tall foreigner as Steve gave him a two finger salute. He had been quite impressed with how the stranger had handled himself with the ruffians that had attacked them earlier. Personally, he reflected, had someone attacked he and his wife, and he had a jhorun as powerful as Steve’s, there wouldn’t have been any survivors. Yet the resourceful fire thrower had managed to incapacitate three of them. Three!

  It had only taken about an hour to crack the three thugs. All of them were more than willing to div
ulge every detail they could remember, no matter how minute, about their failed plan to kidnap the young prince. However, none of them had been privy to more than just the absolute facts on what they needed to accomplish. None knew who had hired them, only that they had been hired by proxy, and their employer was a powerful man that was feared by everyone in their village. And that was the seaside Ylani village of Arlan.

  He surveyed the five men he had chosen, the best of the castle militia. All were loyal to the crown and all were good in a fight. Pheron, his first lieutenant, had an extremely useful jhorun: nocturnal vision. Another lieutenant, Rhein, had a useful jhorun as well: daminalis. More specifically, he could make just about any small creature his familiar for a short period of time. The other three were fairly mediocre: one could persuade pontal to accelerate its growing cycle, a fact that the soldier desperately wanted to keep under wraps; another had the ability to always know which way was north, and the last soldier could actually polish metal to a shine just by touching it once. Needless to say one could not stare directly at him while he was fully dressed for battle in the direct sunlight.

  Steve nodded at the five soldiers, all shifting their weight from leg to leg, impatient to leave.

  “Mornin’. Where do we meet Kahvel at?”

  “Far past the outskirts of the city,” Rhenyon answered. “Steve, Sarah, may I present the other members of our group. This is lieutenant Pheron, lieutenant Rhein, Jalen, Kern, and Darius.” Each soldier nodded as they were introduced.

  The Kri’yans approached. The king grasped Steve’s arm and gave a friendly shake. “Good luck to all of ye. Godspeed. May all of ye stay safe.”

  The queen took Sarah’s hands. “I will have it ready just before midday. Good luck to ye.”

  “Thank you.”

  Much to Steve’s embarrassment, everyone started applauding as they moved off through the southern gate, making their way towards the orchards. The echoes of their cheering could still be heard long after the castle was lost from sight.

  “So what was that all about with the queen?” Steve asked. “What will be ready by midday?”