Three Quest Deal (Tales of Former Dragons Book 1) (3 page)

The dragons’ first night in the cave was uncomfortable. Unlike prior years, when the cave had been spacious, warm, and humid, the stone floor section of the cave where they slept was cramped, cold, and wet. The self-illuminating crystalline rocks lining the ceiling that had brightly lit the cave for eons were now dim, giving the cave an eerie, dusk-like glow.

Drakor tossed and turned most of the night. He bumped into the others and constantly woke them. By morning, they all looked tired.

“I don’t know what’s worse,” Aesus told Drakor, “the smell in here or you keeping me up all night.”

Toshen laughed. “That smell is coming from Drakor.”

“It’s not Drakor,” Xan said, rolling her eyes. “It’s the water.”

“She’s right,” Drakor said. “When the cave was dry, the air removed most of the dragon smell while we were gone for the year. All of it is in the water now.”

“What you’re saying,” Aesus said, “is we’re all covered in dragon smell, but you happen to smell worse than the rest of us.”

Drakor turned in place, and made sure he lightly hit Aesus across the face with his tail. “Sorry, didn’t see you.”

They all laughed.

A piece of ceiling broke off, hit the floor next to Xan, and sent shards of rock and dust in all directions. The dragons scattered. When the dust settled, they took a closer look at the debris and examined the spot where the piece had fallen from the ceiling.

“That’s odd,” Drakor said. “I didn’t think there were any gaps in the rocks of light, but many of them are missing.”

“There were never gaps before,” Toshen said. “I used to spend hours lying on my back looking at the lights.”

As they looked up, an illuminated rock a few yards away from them turned dark and fell into the water.

“Ah,” Aesus said. “I know what’s happening. The rocks are losing their light and falling.”

“You’re absolutely right,” said a voice behind Aesus.

Aesus spun around, looked down, and saw an old man with an ornamental staff. He had a long white beard and shoulder-length white hair, and wore a gray robe. An emo. Aesus instinctively reached down to bite off his head, but the man dodged the attack and scampered toward Drakor.

“Stop, stop!” the man yelled. “I mean you no harm.” He stood by Drakor and put his hand on the side of the dragon’s body.

“Baldazar,” Drakor sneered. “What are you doing here?”

“You know this emo?” Aesus asked.

“I know him. He’s a wizard.”

“A spellcaster?” Xan asked in amazement. “That explains how he got here. I thought all the spellcasters were dead. The last time I encountered a spellcaster must have been a few hundred years ago.”

“We’re not all dead. There are still a few of us left,” Baldazar said.

“You mean a few too many,” Drakor said. “What are you doing here? This place is forbidden to you.”

“This place won’t be here much longer, my old friend.”

Drakor grunted and jerked his body away from Baldazar’s hand. He moved to stand with the other dragons.

“You’re not still angry with me, are you? That was a long time ago.”

“Not so long ago that I’ve forgotten.”

“These are difficult times for all of us. We need to help each other while we still can.”

“Like you helped me and the other dragons? I don’t think so.”

“What are the two of you talking about?” Aesus asked.

“A group of us were held captive by the dark elves,” Drakor said. “Our chains were enchanted, so we couldn’t break free of them. Baldazar came and offered to release us in exchange for owing him a favor sometime in the future. I paid my debt by fighting beside his undead army against the forces of man. When Baldazar was defeated, my debt to him was paid in full.”

“Dark elves?” Toshen asked. “They haven’t been seen for more than two hundred years.”

“And you fought beside an undead army?” Xan asked. “I’ve never heard that tale.”

“And you won’t,” Drakor said. “That was a long time ago. It doesn’t matter now. All that matters is why Baldazar is here right now.” Lowering his head, he came face to face with Baldazar. He forced air through his nostrils, which made Baldazar cough and take a few steps back.

Baldazar cleared his throat. “I know this is a difficult time for all of you. No one can reliably predict the future, but one thing is certain. The cave will be completely underwater next year. You won’t be able to respond to the summoning, and in all likelihood you will die.”

Drakor took an aggressive step forward. “We already figured that out. If that’s all you came here for, you wasted your time.”

Baldazar held up his hand as if it would prevent the dragon from advancing any further. “Yes, yes. Of course you already figured that out. I didn’t mean to insult you. Please let me finish.” He paused briefly, waiting for any objections. “You see, my friends—I mean—Well—I—” He put his hand up to his forehead, closed his eyes, and mumbled to himself as if trying to remember what to say.

“Go on, Baldazar,” Xan said. “We’re listening.”

Baldazar regained his composure and focused his gaze on Xan. “What I have to offer you is a new life. A fresh start. You can live the rest of your lives without having to worry about the cave, the summoning or being hunted. You can go wherever you want. Be whatever you want to be. Doesn’t that sound like something you’d want?”

“What exactly are you offering to do?” Aesus asked.

“Transform you into men, and a woman.”

Drakor shook his head and laughed.

“Turn us into men and a woman?” Toshen asked. “You can’t be serious.”

“No,” Xan said with a disappointed look. “Not that.”

“Given our situation, it’s something we should consider,” Aesus said. “If I have to choose between certain death and living the rest of my life as a man, perhaps being a man isn’t such a bad idea.”

“But wait,” Drakor said, “you haven’t heard the best part of his offer.” He turned to Baldazar. “What exactly do you want in exchange for this transformation?”

Baldazar grunted and gave Drakor a disapproving look. “All I ask in return is that you complete three quests after the transformation.”

“That’s all? Only three quests? They must be extraordinarily difficult if you can’t do them yourself.”

“I’m not as young as I used to be, and certainly not as strong as any of you.”

“What are the quests?” Aesus asked.

“I can’t tell you. If the quests fall into the wrong hands, the world as we know it would come to an end.”

“We’re the only ones here. You can tell us.”

“No, I can’t. It’s not safe.”

“Then how are we to know what quests you want us to do?”

Baldazar frowned and pouted. He paced, tapping his lips with his finger. He stopped and opened his mouth as if he were about to speak, but closed his mouth and paced again.

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Drakor asked.

“Shush. I’m thinking. Give me a moment.”

After a minute, Baldazar stopped pacing and looked into the distance. “Yes, I’ll do that. That will work.”

“What will work?” Toshen asked.

“You’ll have three enchanted scrolls. They’ll look blank, but when a scroll knows you’re ready to do a quest, you’ll be able to read it.”

“When a scroll knows we’re ready? What type of magic is that?” Aesus asked.

“Very powerful magic. Don’t worry, it will work as I say. I’ve been doing this for seven hundred years.”

“And what happens if we don’t complete the quests?” Xan asked.

“Oh yes, that reminds me. You need to complete the quests within three full moons.” He tapped his finger on his mouth and looked into the distance. “Yes, yes. Three full moons.”

“You still haven’t answered my question.”

“What? Oh. Right. Of course. Well, you’ll die if you don’t complete the quests.”

“Die? That doesn’t seem fair. What if something happens that’s beyond our control?”

“Yes, I know it’s not fair, but these quests are important to me, and if you don’t complete them, I’ll die too. So you see, all of us have an interest in seeing these quests completed.”

“How do you know we won’t be affected by the summoning?” Aesus asked.

Baldazar sighed. “Questions. So many questions. All right. This won’t be the first time I’ve transformed a dragon into a man. He was never affected by the summoning,”

“You’ve done this before? To whom?” Toshen asked.

“Rutar, after his battle with Jarusen.”

Drakor nodded. “I remember that battle. Rutar killed Jarusen, but almost died in the process. He left the cave and was never seen again.”

Xan shook her head. “Rutar was so jealous after Usara chose Jarusen over him.”

“After the battle,” Baldazar said, “he crawled to the other side of the island, opposite the cave entrance. I don’t know how he was able to do it, but I heard him calling me day and night. It was driving me mad. I teleported to him and asked him what he wanted. He asked me to heal him, but I couldn’t, because he was so badly injured. His tail was gone, one wing was completely torn off, he was missing an eye, and his body was cut open from his jaw to his bowels. Even if I healed him, he would never fly again. So I made a deal with him.”

“You and your deals,” Drakor sneered.

“Extraordinary magic has a price, and there are those willing to exchange something for it. We don’t help others out of the generosity of our hearts. Can I finish the tale?”

Drakor grunted.

“I made a deal with Rutar to transform him into a man. The transformation process would make him whole and heal him. In exchange, he would become my apprentice and learn the ways of a wizard. He accepted.”

“What became of Rutar? Is he still your apprentice?” Aesus asked.

“Sadly, I ended up killing him. Once he became powerful, he wanted out of our arrangement. I told him it was binding until I was dead. Telling him that was a mistake, because then he tried to kill me.”

“And so you defended yourself, and killed him instead,” Xan said.

“I really liked him, and he was adept at spell casting. If he were alive, he would do the three quests for me.”

“So, Aesus, are you willing to do his quests in exchange for becoming a man?” Drakor asked.

“No, no,” Baldazar said, “it has to be all four of you. None of you could possibly complete the quests by yourself. It’s four of you or none of you.”

“Well then, I guess this conversation is over. You’re done here.”

“Are you speaking for everyone?”

“I’m not interested in becoming a man and doing your mystery quests.” Drakor looked at Xan. “What about you? Do you want to become a woman?”

Xan shrugged and looked at Aesus.

“I’m willing to give it a try,” Aesus said. “The alternative is certain death. Toshen?”

“I’m with you,” Toshen said to Aesus. “I have no love for man, but I have no love for dying either. I will try as well.”

“Come with us,” Aesus told Drakor and Xan. “Our time as dragons is over, but we can start a new life like Baldazar said. But we can’t start that life without the both of you.”

Xan looked at Drakor, who shook his head.

“Would it change your mind if I said I wanted to try too?” said Xan.

Drakor sighed. After a weighty pause, he said, “I know I’ll regret my decision, but all right, I’ll try as well.”

A devious smile lit Baldazar’s face. “Excellent. We can start the process right away.” He reached into his satchel and pulled out a small dagger and a metal bowl. “I’ll need some blood from each of you.”

Xan looked alarmed. “Blood? You didn’t say anything about taking blood.”

“I really don’t need much. I’ll enchant the dagger so you won’t feel any pain.”

He walked to Drakor and whispered a few words under his breath. The crystal on his staff flashed and the blade glowed light-blue. He stabbed the side of Drakor’s front leg and let blood trickle into the bowl. With a few more whispered words the crystal on the staff flashed again and the wound stopped bleeding and healed.

“See? Painless.”

Once Baldazar had collected blood from the other dragons, he levitated the bowl in front of him. He created a small fire under it, and waited for the blood to boil.

“Gather in front of me,” Baldazar said. He tapped the end of his staff twice on the ground and the crystal atop the staff glowed. “Do you, dragons of the cave, give your word to complete three quests within three full moons in exchange for being transformed into men and a woman?”

“We do,” the dragons said in unison.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Baldazar said with a nervous laugh. “And do you, dragons of the cave, give your word not to kill me?”

“We do.”

“Failure to uphold your end of our arrangement will result in your immediate death. The spell is now binding.” He tapped the end of his staff on the ground and the crystal stopped glowing.

Once the blood was boiling, he removed the crystal atop the staff. It was the shape and size of a chicken egg, but cut in half along its length. He took it in his right hand and looked up at the dragons.