Cloak & Dagger: Book II of The Dragon Mage Trilogy (21 page)

“No, it’s O.K.” said the mage over his shoulder. “My staff has an endless supply of energy. It hardly costs me any magical energy to keep it lit.”

“Really?” asked the cleric enviously. She eyed the green orb atop the mage’s staff. “Is it because of the orb?”

“Yes,” said Kazin. He did not elaborate.

“Why are you marking the walls?” asked Cyril.

“It’s just a precaution,” said Kazin. “If we have to backtrack, the marks will guide us. Sometimes I wish we had a dwarf to guide us. They know their way around the mountains better than anyone.”

A good half hour of intermittent rumbling and shaking plagued the companions’ journey before the silence reigned once again. Heavy breathing and footfalls were the only noises.

“It seems to have stopped,” commented Cyril after a while.

“Yes,” said Kazin. He pulled into an alcove with a solid rock wall and ceiling. Using his lit staff, he quickly inspected it for weaknesses and found none. “We’ll rest here for a while. I’ve got some food if you’re hungry.”

“I have food as well,” offered Cyril. He removed his pack and pulled out some rodents and a rabbit. They were still alive but paralyzed.

Kazin blinked. “That’s better than the rations I brought with me.”

“Help yourself,” offered the cyclops. “I can easily get more.”

Kazin thanked him and quickly prepared a fire using some porous rock fragments on the floor nearby. He made a small pile and pointed his staff at it. Then he chanted a spell and the rock fragments lit up in a ball of flame.

“That’s an interesting spell!” complimented Vera. She held her hands over the flames for warmth.

Kazin produced a pot and some utensils. “Can you cook?” He was looking at the cleric.

Vera returned the mage’s gaze when she heard the challenge in his voice. “That’s a specialty of mine!” In a few moments she had a delicious meal cooking for them.

“This method of cooking uses very little water,” explained the cleric as she worked, “which is good since our water is in short supply. The magic draws most of the needed water from the surrounding air. I’ve combined a spell meant to help someone who is dehydrated with a spell to cool the body and restrict perspiration. The spells are almost identical, but when combined produce this interesting effect. I don’t know if anyone else has managed to figure this out, though.” The cleric smiled. “I like to think of it as my own little secret.”

“Impressive!” complimented Kazin. He accepted the bowl of rabbit stew and carefully tasted the hot meal. “Impressive!” he repeated.

The cleric beamed and handed a bowl to the cyclops.

Cyril took a spoon full. “Mmm!” he mumbled loudly.

After finishing supper and engaging in small talk, the companions continued their journey. On the way Kazin told them of his adventures leading him to the mountains.

“So you really spoke with the air elemental?” asked Vera for the fifth or sixth time.

“Yes,” said Kazin. “And I hope to speak to him again. He needs our help, and so do the earth and water elementals.”

“I hope we can find the fire elemental,” said Vera, “if he - it - hasn’t already been captured by the lizardmen.”

“It won’t be that easy for them,” said Kazin. “The only magic that can capture it is summoning magic. Most other magic won’t affect it.”

“Wait a minute!” said the cyclops suddenly. The others stopped and turned to look at Cyril. He had a strange expression on his face and a distant look in his eye.

“What is it?” asked Vera.

“What does the fire elemental look like?” asked Cyril.

“I don’t know,” said Kazin. “I haven’t seen it yet.”

“Would it look like a man who is on fire?” asked the cyclops.

“Perhaps,” said Kazin. “Why?”

“I remember seeing a fiery figure shortly after entering the mountains. It looked at me before running away from me down a tunnel. After you mentioned that elementals were immune to most magic, I remembered that it looked directly into my eye before it ran. I thought that was odd at the time. I tried running after it but it was long gone. It sure moved fast!”

“That could have been it!” exclaimed Vera. She looked at Kazin for confirmation.

“It’s quite possible,” admitted Kazin. “You say it looked like a man?”

Cyril nodded. “A human on fire. Where his eyes should have been were dark holes. I couldn’t tell if he wore clothes or not because his fire was too bright. But he didn’t appear to be in any pain.”

Kazin nodded. “That was very likely a fire elemental. If he moves as fast as you say, he may very well still be on the loose. If we find him, I hope we can convince him to help.”

“Can’t you summon him?” asked Vera.

Kazin shook his head. “I don’t know how to do that. It seems the only ones still capable of such ancient magic are the druids and lizardmen. But if we can talk to him, he might help us; especially when he realizes the impact his capture would have on the entire world. If the lizardmen control all of the elementals, the forces they unleash will not only wipe out humans, it will destroy all life, including the lizardmen themselves. The water elemental and earth elemental are already under the lizardmages’ control, as indicated by the poisoned water and earthquakes. Because the air elemental has been captured, the air might soon become contaminated, with uncontrollable winds to spread the contamination around the world. If the fire elemental is captured as well, fires will consume everything the lizardmen wish to burn and then some. Even the lizardmen will not be able to stop the destruction then! So you can see how critical our mission is!”

Vera swallowed nervously at this vision of doom. Even Cyril was frightened by the possible scenario.

Kazin tried to ease their fear with a relaxed smile. “Don’t worry. It hasn’t gotten that bad yet. We still have a chance to change things. I’ve been in worse scrapes before.”

Vera had difficulty visualizing a worse situation than the one Kazin had described. Her look was not lost on the mage.

Kazin laughed. “Remember the wars a few years back? My companions and I put a crimp in most of the necromancer’s plans and we eventually won the war. We beat the odds then and we can do so again. You’ll see.”

“I hope so,” said Vera uncertainly.

“Absolutely!” boomed the cyclops’ voice behind her. He laid a hand gently on the cleric’s shoulder. “The air elemental thought so.”

The cleric looked up at the cyclops, who deliberately looked at her pendant. Cyril’s face had a new expression on it. It was a look of determination and resolve. Vera drew strength from her friend’s expression. She returned her attention back to the mage with a determined expression of her own. “Lead the way, Kazin!”

Kazin held up a fist in victory and turned to lead them on their important and exciting quest.

What suddenly happened next caught everyone off guard. A deafening rumble was followed by a loud cracking noise. The tunnel behind them rose sharply, dumping its hapless travelers like sand down a chute. They slid helplessly down the tunnel and bounced off a couple of corners on their way down. After a third corner, the trio approached a massive, gaping crevice that separated their half of the tunnel from its continuation on the other side. With too much momentum and no handholds, they were incapable of stopping their descent. The companions tumbled unceremoniously from the tunnel into the black and forbidding nothingness.

Down, down they fell as the heaving mountain changed its form and reconnected the tunnel high above them. Large chunks of rock could be seen breaking off from the sudden impact.

Kazin was trying to complete a complex levitation spell when he heard Cyril cry out. In the dim light of his staff, the mage saw the cyclops frantically pointing below them and looked to see what was wrong. It was too late. This type of landing was not what Kazin had in mind …

Chapter 17

A
lric rose to his feet and brushed the dust from his clothing. He shook his head to rid his hair of more dust and flipped up his hood to cover his head. “Does this sort of thing happen often in the mountains?” he asked the dwarf as he helped her to her feet.

“From time to time,” answered the dwarf. She brushed her own clothes clean and checked her pouch for a comb. “I’ve never experienced such a heavy, continuous earthquake before, though.” Finding her comb, she proceeded to brush her hair, taking care to accentuate her silver streak.

“It was indeed an uncharacteristic quake,” put in Tyris. “Something doesn’t seem right.”

“It will take more than an earthquake to stop me from my objective,” said Alric resolutely. “I’m going on regardless.”

“Absolutely,” said Rebecca. Satisfied that her hair was in order, she put her comb back into her pouch and withdrew her maps. Unrolling the current map, she held it so the others could see. Tyris leaned as close as he dared to provide additional light.

“See this path?” asked Rebecca, pointing to a spot on the map.

“Yeah,” said Alric. “What about it?”

“It is directly over us by about a hundred feet. We were there about a half hour ago.”

Alric scratched his head. “And?”

“That means we’re going deeper into the mountain,” stated Rebecca. She drew a line from a different part of the map across to the path in question. “This is the path we are on right now.” She continued the line through the other one and stopped it abruptly. “And here is where we are now.”

“But how can you tell that the line you crossed is above us?” asked Alric. “It looks like the two paths intersect.”

“Do you see the difference in darkness in my lines?” asked Rebecca.

“Yes.”

“That means the paths are at different altitudes. The light line is the path above us. The dark line runs below it, not through it.”

“I see,” said Alric uncertainly. “So you have to write darker the deeper you go.”

“Only on this map,” said Rebecca. “On the next piece of parchment that I use to continue the map, the dark lines become the light lines, and any deeper lines I make will be darker. One can only make the lines so dark, after all.”

Alric looked confused.

“Some dwarves use different colours when there are lots of elevations to contend with.”

Alric looked lost.

Rebecca smiled. “It’s O.K. Alric. It’s not easy for most people to understand.” Changing the subject, the dwarf pointed to the dark line. “Hopefully, if we continue on this present path, we will enter a different part of the mountain farther west than we’ve gone thus far.”

“So what?” asked Alric impatiently.

“That means we’re getting farther away from the dwarven realm, which in turn means we will have a better chance of encountering lizardmen.” Rebecca rolled up the map while she let this sink in.

“That sounds reasonable,” said Tyris.

Alric shrugged. “Lead on, dwarf.”

“My name’s Rebecca,” said the dwarf sternly.

“Sorry.” The elf beckoned ahead. “After you, Rebecca.”

The dwarf led the way, followed by the elf and fire elemental. The path had a very slight downward slope, and the going was easy. They passed a tunnel on their right that was dark and cobwebbed. It didn’t appear to have been used in some time. As they passed it, however, they heard a noise from within. As one they stopped, giving one another quizzical glances.

Rebecca shrugged. “I don’t know. Tyris?” She looked at the elemental.

Tyris moved toward the entrance and stuck his hand into it. The flames on his hand wavered and flickered. “There is a draft,” he said slowly. “This tunnel is not a dead end.”

“I’ll check it out,” said Alric. He pulled his invisibility cloak from his pack and put it on, turning himself invisible. Rebecca and Tyris watched as the cobwebs in the tunnel parted and clung to the elf’s invisible form.

“Be careful,” said Rebecca.

“I will,” was the answer.

They waited about five minutes before they detected motion in the tunnel again. An instant later, the elf reappeared as he removed his cloak and brushed off the cobwebs.

“Well?” said Rebecca anxiously.

“It goes for quite a ways,” said Alric. “I heard more noises the further I got. A pile of rubble part way down the tunnel must have been a cave-in at one time. My guess is that the last earthquake loosened the rocks and re-created an opening to the other side. I didn’t go any further because I think we should investigate what’s on the other side together.”

“Then let’s go,” said Rebecca. She led the way with the others in pursuit.

As Alric had explained, they reached a massive cave-in. Near the top, they could see an opening just barely big enough to crawl through.

Alric turned to the dwarf. “Are you up to a climb?”

“Of course,” answered Rebecca. She freed her hands and began climbing.

The footing was unstable and many rocks were kicked down the side of the cave-in as they advanced, but progress was made. Soon they were at the opening. Tyris’ flames flickered noisily as the air from the other side came through.

“I’ll go first,” offered Alric. He quickly threw on his cloak and disappeared, noisily crawling through the opening. Rebecca followed, with Tyris behind her.

On the other side, they discovered that the tunnel here was virtually identical to the side they had come from. The trio continued down the new path and noticed a considerable incline as they walked.

“We’re going uphill,” said Alric, stating the obvious.

“I’ll keep that in mind when I mark it on the map,” said Rebecca.

The tunnel leveled off and made several minor turns, ending at an opening. A large canyon loomed before them, dropping to an unknown depth. On the far side, they could see a path that was illuminated by several torches. A cave entrance was evident on either end of the path.

“Interesting,” said Alric slowly. “Someone’s using -.” His voice trailed off as some movement at one cave entrance caught his eye. The companions ducked back into the shelter of their tunnel and Tyris stepped back a fair distance to prevent his glowing light from being seen by the individuals below.

An orc appeared, followed by two armored orcs carrying spears. Behind them, pulling a wooden wheeled cart, were two more orcs. They were bent over, laboring to pull the cart, which was laden with a large, wooden barrel. The cart rumbled along the path, bouncing and creaking as it rolled over the uneven surface. Two more guards followed the procession, their spear tips glinting in the torchlight.