The Dragon Ring (Book 1) (12 page)

“Help!”

As he approached the cemetery’s tattered fence, he realized the woman was changing into a monstrous sphinx. Her claws ripped at the crate boards while someone inside jarred the cage to avoid the claws. As Tournak approached, a splintered board flew off and landed just short of him. He picked up the shaft and rushed the monster growling down at Saxthor in the box.

“Help, Tournak!”

Tournak stepped on a splinter that snapped. The sphinx spun around and snarled. Her glaring red eyes locked on Tournak. She crouched too late. Tournak thrust the jagged board up into her chest. She stood stunned for a moment. Tournak pulled out the shaft. The creature, transforming to her original state as a woman, fell backward into the pit.

Saxthor crawled out of the shredded heap. He turned to Tournak and both stared down into the grave at the peaceful, dead Tog, released from her torment.

“She was trying to kill me! What do we do?” Saxthor asked.

“Go back to the boat; I’ll be along in a few minutes.”

“Do you need help?”

“No. Do as I say this time.”

“I’m sorry Tournak, I thought…”

“I realize you meant to help. Go back and wait with Bodrin.”

When Saxthor was out of sight, Tournak threw the bloody board in the pit with the shape-shifter and shoveled soil in to the appropriate level for the coffin. He struggled to lower the casket and filled in the grave a little.

She must have planned this to be a double grave, Tournak thought. And so it is, but not as she expected. When the townspeople return to bury their friend, they’ll think the coffin blown in and finish filling in the grave burying both bodies. Though we survived this attack, too, Earwig is still with us. She’ll keep trying. We must hurry on and try to get beyond her reach.

When he returned to the boat, Tournak decided he’d say nothing more about the incident.

Saxthor trudged up to him. “I’m sorry for leaving here when told to stay put.”

The wizard puffed up hands on his hips then patted the boy’s head. “I realize you thought you were coming to my aid. I can’t find fault with that, but don’t disobey again. From now on, always carry Sorblade with you. Sorblade would have kept the shape-shifter from touching you. Remember, your aunt is close behind us. You can’t let down your guard.”

“Tournak, when she tried to push me down in that cage, something happened inside me, and she jumped back.”

“That would be an energy surge from your excited and threatened state. Your power is getting stronger.”

Bodrin gave Saxthor a puzzled glance, but the admonished boys said no more. They hoisted the sail and the vessel sailed on past Hyemka into the night.

* * *

Almost slobbering, Earwig hung over the vision in her crystal ball as Tog dragged the crate towards the waiting grave. She jumped up knocking her chair over backward when Tournak appeared from nowhere and killed the shape-shifter. When Saxthor emerged and Tournak buried Tog, Earwig shrieked and slammed the crystal ball on the floor shattering the orb into fragments. She stormed around the tower workroom raving before settling down with broom and dustpan to sweep up the shards crunching under her boots.

She tossed slivers out the window and her gaze followed the shower of crystal fragments as they shimmered down the tower wall. A lone small man in garish attire walking down the seldom-used road to the Earwighof’s front gate caught her attention.

“What can that little thing want here?”

She threw the broom and dustpan out the window, too and stomped down the stairs to meet the curious, little man at the door. Radrac followed, his bouncing rump flopped on each stair step. Banging on the door annoyed the witch. She wasn’t sure she wanted the strange man, just less than four feet tall, in her decaying palace.

The servants might dare admit him, she thought.

“Get away from there,” Earwig said to the approaching maid. The woman turned and fled out of sight somewhere inside the Earwighof. Minnabec was coming up the cellar steps as Earwig passed. He spied the fleeing maid and retreated down into the musty basement. Earwig’s boots scraped on the foyer’s stone floor. Forewarned, other servants fled far from the knocking that reverberated again across the foyer. Earwig pulled back on the great oak door, but only a crack through which she could see the small peddler.

“What do you want here?”

“What a hospitable greeting,” the little man said.

His wily smile and twinkling eyes irritated the witch. Without responding, she moved back behind the iron-framed door and started to push the oak wall shut in his face. His foot thrust in the crack halted the door’s progress.

“Remove your foot lest I crush it for you.”

“Is that anyway to treat a much needed purveyor of power crystals you so need?”

Earwig shot upright, her iron-ribbed corset locked in place. She peered around the door edge at the smiling peddler. His shabby, frizzed hair and thick scraggly beard framed and accentuated his questioning appearance.

His cocky grin is most annoying, she thought.

She hesitated then moved back to the door crack and allowed it to slide open a bit more. However, she stood with her legs apart, elbows fanned, and hands on her ample hips to blunt his advance.

“Power crystals?”

“Power crystals, very rare and each unique.”

“Why should I have need of power crystals?”

“I believe you just-- shall we say, ‘lost’ your visionary globe.”

Earwig shuddered and lowered her arms, but kept her narrow-eyed expression and head cocked. She considered the man’s unexpected knowledge as she brushed off her acid spattered apron.

“How would you be aware of that?”

“It’s my business to know such things. Will you admit me or shall I be on my way?”

Earwig sneered, yet pulled back the door to allow the little man entry into the cold foyer, but no farther. She scrutinized him from his disheveled hair to the prominent silver shoe buckles.

I’m sure his tacky, multicolored outfit and outlandish shoes proclaim overcompensation for his diminutive frame, she thought. This pompous runt’s game is over. I’m in charge here and I’ll shatter his confidence. He’ll soon learn his place in this negotiation.

Earwig rocked back on her haunches, one arm crossed her waist to prop up the other elbow as she scratched the hairy mole on her chin.

“Where are these rare power crystals you seem so anxious to sell? For a peddler, you’re rather
short
on inventory.”

To Earwig’s surprise, the little man retained his assertive grin. He moved to the hall table where he cast his arm in an arc and a semicircle of large crystals appeared across the tabletop.

“Why before you of course.”

Earwig stepped back and scrutinized the man before she moved closer to inspect the sparklers.

“No crystal ball among your rocks?”

“No, but perhaps another time.”

The man arced his arm again and the crystals disappeared, one by one, before Earwig stepped closer and stayed his arm.

“Perhaps I should observe for myself what you have to offer, she said.

The peddler returned the gemstones to the table and Earwig cast him a slight smile as she moved to select a mineral.

“This one, a power crystal you say, what can this rock do?”

“May we move to a darker chamber where I can better display the precious stone’s attributes?”

The witch shook her frowning head but clutched the gem in her hand. They descended the spiral staircase into the subterranean vaults. The two stopped in a storage room before a plain, dusty dresser. Earwig lit a candle with a flick of her finger torch and placed it on the dresser top with the crystal.

“Enough chatter. Show me.”

The grinning salesman with gleaming eyes watched the witch while his pointing finger levitated her selected crystal above the furniture. He mumbled a spell and the crystal glowed, turned brilliant dark amethyst purple and shot a spark that burned a hole through the wooden cupboard on the far wall. The fellow’s outstretched arm held the crystal suspended over the table.

“Great color and clarity, but not so powerful as others.”

Earwig stared at the smoking cupboard. “Others more powerful than that?”

The man held his stare on Earwig, unnerving her. He lowered his arm and the crystal settled to the dresser. Another arc of his arm and the other crystals reappeared before them.

“Any visionary crystals among these?” Earwig asked.

She bent over to examine each crystal in turn when a sudden pat on her ample posterior made her jump straight up. She set her shoulders back and glared at the beaming merchant. Heat surged up and flooded her face. She wound up, spun around, and smacked the little man so hard he back flipped and landed sprawled eagle on the floor, his quivering head aglow with her handprint.

“You presume too much, nasty little man.”

“What does one gain if one doesn’t try?”

“You’ll gain the grave should you touch me again.”

The bruised fellow got to his feet, rubbed his swollen jaw, and stepped to the far side of the table. Narrowed eyes and a sinister smirk replace the grin. He straightened his brilliant coat and surveyed the gems.

“None of these are visionary crystals, they’re active gemstones, madam. They can assist in removing annoying things, so to speak. Each crystal resonates to a different frequency causing varied responses.” He picked up another, larger crystal twirling the selection through his fingers. “This jewel of a crystal projects a resonance that dissolves the object struck.”

“Dissolves the object does it…”

“Yes indeed. It’s a neat, clean, untraceable means of disposing of unwanted items-- even living items. Have you a need for such a power?”

“Indeed I do. An obstacle heading for Olnak needs dissolution when I can get my hands on him – I mean it. The impediment gave me the slip at Hyemka, but the problem won’t escape Olnak.”

“I comprehend your meaning madam.”

The man muttered a spell and pointed the crystal. The stone glowed a pale orange and radiated minor heat. A slight hum, a shimmer, and a dusty vase in the corner cupboard faded and disappeared. “Untraceable.”

Earwig clasped her hands like a schoolgirl. “I must have that jewel.”

“And so you shall.”

The two haggled over the price then Earwig went to Minnabec and snatched a bag of his gold. Though reluctant to part with the funds, she paid the merchant. He handed over the crystal with the incantation required for activation. After he tucked his remaining inventory in his coat, Earwig led him to the front door, but the peddler stopped before the oak door. He covered the crystal in her hand with his own.

“Never say, “Indensmek Diddlebot Biddleborn-wat, in the presence of the crystal,” he whispered to the witch. Then once again, he smiled.

“Be gone nasty little man. I’ll say what I please.”

No sooner had she slammed the door shut on the unusual peddler than she began to twirl the crystal in her hand. Delight overwhelmed her, and she chuckled looking at the stone.

“With this, I can eliminate even Memlatec, leaving the royal family vulnerable to eradication.”

The witch walked back into the formal reception room no one had used since Minnabec confiscated the Earwighof. She surveyed the room’s contents, pointed the crystal and muttered the incantation. A candlestick on a table dissolved into thin air. She vaporized a vase and then a chair by the fireplace. Each thrill made her giggle, until she thought about the spell the little dealer warned her not to use. Curiosity as to what happened to the crystal when one uttered the forbidden phrase worried her. She fretted through the evening and rose in the middle of the night going to her jewel case on the dresser.

“What harm can I do? For his revenge at my rejection, that presumptuous, little man probably warned me not to use it just to prevent my gaining the crystal’s full power.” 

She snatched out the crystal, and pointed it at an overflowing wastebasket.

“Indensmek Diddlebot Biddleborn-wat!”

The crystal glowed but didn’t stop at pale orange. Pale orange intensified to a deep flame umber burning Earwig’s hand. She flipped the hot crystal from hand to hand before she realized half the contents of her bedroom were gone. Still the crystal grew brighter and hotter. A maid heard the noise in her room and entered only to disappear before she could speak. Holes appeared in the palace walls, cold air rushed in as more things disappeared. Earwig grew frantic. The crystal’s resonance accelerated.

“How do I shut this thing off?”

A great cavern gaped in the hillside behind the palace. A lamp crashed shattering on the floor when the table beneath disappeared.

“What’s going on in here?” Minnabec asked as he rushed into the chamber. His food-stained nightgown appeared as if on a coat hanger under his nightcap. He scanned the bare shell of a room riddled with amorphous holes, his eyes gaped and jaw dropped. He turned loose the door handle and snatched back his hand as the door vaporized.

“I have no idea how to stop this thing,” Earwig screeched.

She turned again toward Minnabec and he ducked as a line disappeared in the wall behind him and the part above collapsed into rubble at the base of the former wall.

“Throw that dreadful object outside!”

Unable to control the hot crystal, Earwig was all jitters. She feared she’d level the palace or have it topple on her, so she threw the glowing crystal out a yawning hole in the wall. Both rushed to the opening, plunging their heads into the incoming cold draft. They leered down in time to witness the crystal shatter into a thousand fragments on the stone terrace. For a while longer, fireworks shot in every direction until their power waned.

“That what you wrenched my gold for?”

“So it is…was.”

They turned back into the icy room shivering, arms wrapped tight to their middles as they glared at each other.

“All gone,” the witch said.

Minnabec shuffled toward the open doorway and muttered to himself as he went. At the opening, he turned and beheld the duchess. “My precious gold, too…”

Earwig raised her hand and the duke bolted around the corner.