Blood of Four Dragons (2 page)

Xamuiez gathered and cast Zangoath among the stars like shadow dust. The evil wizard thought he was immortal, in the end he was shown he was not the God he fancied himself. Zangoath however had been clever at planning; he created and left both a castle and a pupil on a secluded lake to carry on his evil work and legacy. He had been training his pupil for several hundred years and had even named him similarly to himself as a personal honor. Thus began the reign of the evil Zangonath the clouded, who would organize the Eshken and bring the horror of world war to Oleskia both above and below her ground. Each of the four dragons wore a jewel on their chest containing their life’s essence; before they were placed in slumber each was removed from them and placed on a statue that looked like them deep within the earth to be hidden until Xamuiez would reawaken the four dragon lords. These statues are guardians of the precious gems and if they are disturbed they are activated, what they will do if activated only Xamuiez knows.

When the dwarves were created from the stone the fathers of the dwarves were born with the knowledge and desire to mold the mountains into cities. The legends tell they toiled generation after generation carving under the mountains glorious kingdoms and cities spanning thousands upon thousands of miles. Each successive generation not only created their individual cities and specialties but also worked on a special project collectively. The entire dwarven race is immune to the heat of fire and the cold of ice, and are said to have been since the beginning of their existence been building piece by piece in the middle of their underground world what has been whispered and named only as the forge to smelt the world. What does this mean and does it even exist? Most likely it exists only in legend. However, there is an ancient dwarven document called the smelting. This book contains the intended use, finished size and look of what it describes as the great smelter of the world. Throughout time it has been thought to only be another dwarven mythical or religious text containing a symbolic meaning. Nevertheless, it makes for an interesting read. It is said to have been written by Kalsh the elder who lived to be nine hundred, when he was a mere fifty years old and was dictated to him by his grandfather Nokaesh. The purpose of the smelter if it exists is absolutely horrifying beyond all comprehension. If the myths are true, the smelter by this time since it would have now been worked on for eons is said to encompass the entire iron core of the planet as a vice would a ball. If the dwarves are ever overrun by their enemies and face extinction it is to be activated. Upon activation the entire planet from the inside out would melt, turning into a molten ball of iron.

Digging is a dangerous occupation, even for a dwarf. From what our spies tell us, the great forge is nearing completion, only the southeast remains to be excavated and constructed. The dig will be the deepest ever by any people and will delve into areas even unknown to the under the mountain dwarf. Unlike the above ground forest dwelling dwarves, their cousins, mountain dwarves prefer to spend their lives underground. The forest dwarves or skychasers as the under mountain dwarves call them left the underground cities millennia ago as they didn’t agree the dwarves had the right to construct the forge to smelt the world. They felt that a species who creates the means of its own destruction forfeits their right to exist. For voicing this opposition they were permanently exiled. They are how the rest of the world has come to know of the existence of this forge to smelt the world.

The under mountain dwarves have grown deformed and dark in their demeanor under the mountains. Their skin is a dark blue, their eyes are black and their hair, including beards are white.  Rising within their civilization is based solely upon conning and killing your way to the top. Class and family are nothing but words, meaning nothing more than political tools used to their advantage. They mine an ore they call blue iron that they say they have constructed the forge with. Yet, it does not behave like iron; it has taken over their minds and their will. All under mountain dwarves will discuss is either blue iron and its beauty or the forge and its divine purpose. It is as though some evil force, perhaps even the iron of the forge itself is leading them to some nefarious purpose. Forest dwarves have been sending scouting parties to observe and collect even more intelligence than their spies on their now brainwashed blue cousins.

Yesterday, the rock smelters moved through four miles of mountain in sixteen hours. We started our work where the forges southern arc currently ends and began southeast excavation, moving downward from there. After proceeding two more miles we came upon an open cavern and in this space in the rock, ancestors help us as to what we saw. We came upon a dragon made of stone. Perhaps he was a living dragon turned to stone; the beast or sculpture as we know not whether it ever lived was massive. The dragon measured one thousand two hundred and six feet from snout to tails end and one hundred and forty eight feet high from ground to shoulder, unbelievable! We have come upon many unexpected wonders in our years of excavation, but this discovery immediately became the most important. A dragon, even a stone one had not been seen in fifteen hundred years! Much less hundreds of miles under the ground, who could have put it there? Never the Eshken they don’t create only destroy. The dragon stood on all four legs with its wings tucked; neck extended and mouth open as if it was frozen right before beginning to spew fire, it did not look happy. There was a huge triangular ruby in its chest the size of a large boulder. Even as veteran excavating dwarves who have both seen and mined many large and varied gems, the size of this ruby was beyond any of our imaginings. We were stunned as we were unaware gems that large even existed, though our halls are studded with precious gems. The ruby had not turned to stone; it remained a blood red, glowing so deep it appeared to pulsate.

The complete excavation around the great statue of the dragon took five days. The engineers were very concerned with preservation of the artifact for study, great care was ensured not a single speck of stone was chipped from the dragon. What a magnificent sight when uncovered and lit up, again I must ask myself, who or what could have made this and placed it this far underground if not us dwarves? For the next eighteen days our scientists and engineers ran tests upon the dragon and the ruby. Strange vibrations would interfere with the various instruments the engineers were using. On the nineteenth day the engineers concluded the ruby could be removed from the statue and indeed it should be removed for scientific examination and to add to the already bulging treasury. We knew this could not be one of the four sleeping dragon lords poisoned by Zangonath and laid to slumber until the madness passes by the God Xamuiez, as they are in the very far north and we are excavating in the deepest south. Still, this could be one of the dragon’s offspring frozen long ago, if this is one of their progeny I never want to meet its parent until we are assured the curse is completely over. The sheer size of this statue makes it hard to believe a creature so large could ever have truly existed, yet here it is staring into infinity. The engineers began the process of placing scaffolding and machinery around the statue to remove the ruby.

Eight dwarven engineers were on a large metal scaffold surrounding the ruby in the center of the great stone dragon’s chest. Inserting their metal removing bars on each side of the octagonal ruby, the command was given and the eight gave a great push and heave removing the jewel from its socket. The ruby was then gently eased forward and harnessed, being taken by steam crane to a prepared resting area before transportation. A large cushioned box had been prepared to safeguard the jewel. Everyone began to notice this jewel would vibrate on its own from an unknown energy source as it was sitting alone. The depth of its redness was impossible to imagine and it kept gaining different dimensions of shade. The jewel was taken to the royal chambers where it was of course presented to the king. 

Lavish feasts, extended games and celebrations had been planned since hearing of the discovery of the dragon statue and its ruby. The trip from the dig site to the throne room was very long and would give ample time for the servants to prepare for the festivities. Upon delivery of the ruby to the throne room the celebrations were reaching their apex. The current under the mountain king Gorv sat upon his stone throne downing mug after mug of dark ale. Huge tables of stone had been setup all around the hall for the nobility of the city. Covered with fine silks and now overflowing with food, drink and merriment. The dwarven band played off to the side their string and stone instruments humming as the light from the crystals placed strategically around the hall illuminated the unfolding feast. No one could ever mistake Gorv for a genius, nor was he a particularly good king. What he lacked in intelligence he made up for with brutality. Even among the cutthroat world of under mountain dwarven politics Gorv was considered especially ruthless and brutal. Having all his siblings down to the last cousin murdered upon his seizing the throne so no one could contest him in any manner can be called one of his more kind deeds. 

One would almost think looking upon this feast that the dwarven nobility were happy. This illusion was shattered when Gorv stood and lifted his hand above his head. Without having to say a word the entire throne room went from a raucous celebration to complete silence, the deafness of a funeral. Gorv ruled by fear, “Bring in the ruby!” he shouted to no one in particular in an angry drunken tone. The large stone doors of the throne room were already opened for the feast and the tables had been arranged to the side in advance to make room for the jewel’s delivery.  The ruby was wheeled into the throne room with all the pomp and circumstance of a kings’ coronation. Entering in a carriage made of solid gold, the laced wheels included, the ruby lay on an endless bed of silk pillows secured by a chain. Flanked by a royal guard in the finest armor, the eight guards marched in step, pushing the carriage towards the throne. Gorv stood wobbly, red faced and very proud of himself as if he was bringing in a conquered foe to grovel before him. The procession reached the foot of the throne and came to a halt. The eight guards spoke in perfect unison, “My king, we present the lost dragon ruby for your rule, to be added to your treasury.” King Gorv walked down the steps of his throne perch and approached the ruby. A guard opened the front of the carriage to present the jewel to the king. The ruby was very heavy and seated towards the back of the carriage deeply among the silken pillows, chained in so as not to move. However, when the guard opened the carriage door so the king could enter and touch the ruby, the ruby somehow rolled forward falling out of the carriage and crushed king Gorv to death in front of everyone. Before the shock of what had just happened set in or the screams could begin, the gigantic boulder sized dragon ruby rose six feet off the floor with the smashed body of the previous king still attached. The dragon ruby began to slowly rotate as those present looked on in silent horror and disbelief. A voice spoke, not the king’s, but a voice seeming to come from within the ruby itself.

“
Hatred and evil always find a reason to justify their existence, while love and goodness simply exist.” The dragon ruby spoke those words as everyone stared unable to grasp the gravity of the full situation. The ruby spoke again, “You have failed both, now become what you desire!” At that instant everyone and everything in the throne room was turned into a solid gray stone.

There is a purpose and a power behind the dragon statue. If the jewels on the four dragon lords’ statues are disturbed then this power and purpose is activated. The jewel serves as a conductor of sorts, when the jewel is disturbed it will transfer all matter within a certain distance to stone. This is the energy that allows for the dragon statue guardian to transform from stone to a seemingly living dragon of scales. The dragon statue found by these under mountain dwarves is the guardian of Zebial first born of the dragon lords. The guardian dragon is not a copy or clone of Zebial, nor does it possess the wisdom or years of knowledge. It is simply a tool. The dragon statue has one purpose, to destroy all in its path when disturbed. The ruby cannot be returned to the statue if removed after transformation. The dragon statue will rampage until it is destroyed by something completely or the actual Zebial comes and relieves the guardian. The latter option being impossible as Zebial sleeps away Zangoath’s curse in the unknown north.

The moment the ruby transformed the throne room banquet to stone the guardian of Zebial came to life. No one could know this with the dig site being hundreds of miles removed from the throne room where the ruby activated. The guardian immediately began thrashing wildly and burning everyone and everything in sight. All the experienced dwarven miners and engineers along with generations old equipment were lost. The guardian continued thrashing the stone, slamming back and forth widening its already huge cavern with every thrust. The remaining garrison of dwarves numbered two hundred soldiers. Not many were there as this was such a far flung and routine mission it was assumed to be nothing more than a simple mining and building expedition as done countless times before.  These operations and excavations are the very reason dwarves exist, they take pride in their stone craft.

Captain Oelrud was the leader of the two hundred remaining dwarves sent along with the mining and building expedition for the great forge. The captain had sent fifty men to guard the banquet and ceremonies, they are now stone. Had he committed everyone, they would all have suffered the same fate. Captain Oelrud was an honorable enough dwarf from a highborn family. He had served in many campaigns against the Eshken and distinguished himself. The captain proceeded to gather all his remaining men and head towards the throne room. Upon entering they froze at the site, the ruby lay on the floor colorless, more like a diamond than a ruby now. Everything from tables, to cups, to dwarves was now a solid gray stone. The contingent of dwarves could not believe it when they stumbled through. The shock caused them to forget their formation and begin to wander through the stone ruins at individual paces. Captain Oelrud recognized this mental lapse and commanded his men’s attention. They immediately fell back into a proper formation. That was fortuitous, since at that moment the guardian smashed through the small stone doorway leading into the throne room they currently occupied, leaving a gaping chasm in its wake. There followed a moment of stillness but for a single rock falling as both parties surveyed the situation. That is, until the guardian saw his colorless jewel on the ground. This caused extreme rage to come over the guardian. The captain recognized this immediately, “fall back behind the farthest stone!” He shouted to his men as the hasty retreat began. It was more like a stampede than a retreat. Almost all of the men were crushed or burned to death before reaching the other unscathed doorway of the throne room. Captain Oelrud reached it with only twenty of his men alive. They ran as fast and as hard as their stout legs loaded with armor would carry them. Running through the opening just as the guardian crushed his now worthless, colorless ruby under its foot. The guardian slammed his head into the doorway behind them extending his long neck faster than a snake striking, another twelve dwarves were gone. Captain Oelrud, stout and brave of heart as he was, almost stopped and gasped at that last strike, the remaining soldiers ran up the long spiral stairs leading out of the dig site. Coming to the surface and seeing daylight after what seemed like hours of running the captain now had a moment to properly assess the situation in which he found himself and his remaining troops.