****
“Oh, sure. We can track this dragon, you said. Shouldn’t be difficult, you said.” Tristofer gave Breslin his best attempt at a scowl. “What do you have to say for yourself now?”
The band of dwarves was standing before a sheer cliff rising several thousand feet into the air. Its bare rock beckoned mockingly, indicating there would be no scaling this behemoth. Athos and Breslin both felt the cliff’s surface. It was smooth, as smooth as if the rock had been burnished several times by hundreds of their finest stone grinders.
In response, Breslin turned to look at Lukas.
“Is it nearby?”
Lukas nodded. He pointed up.
“I’m being pulled up. It’s up there somewhere.”
“Of course it is,” Athos grumbled.
They all took several steps back and stared up at the sheer expanse of stone above them. The cliff’s surface may have been perfectly smooth, but the wall was not entirely solid. Dark nooks and sunken caves were seen scattered all across the cliff as far as the eye could see. The dwarves stared up at the imposing cliff for so long that they all developed kinks in their necks at about the same time. Rubbing his, Athos turned to look at his companions.
“Anyone have any ideas?”
Breslin held out a hand to Venk.
“Spells.”
“What?”
“Shardwyn’s spells. One of them is levitation. Would you hand it to me, please?”
Venk pointed up at the wall. “It’s up there, remember? My pack was taken.”
“Wizards be damned.”
“We climb.”
“How? Our tools were taken, too.”
Breslin let out an irritated sigh.
“Better give me a minute.”
“You’ll find the nest three quarters of the way up the mountain,” Rhamalli’s voice informed them.
“How did you find it?” Breslin asked, impressed.
“By smell. Humans and dwarves don’t smell very good. There are many caves scattered across the cliff’s face, but only one that reeks of man. I’m watching that cave now.”
“Is Two Heads home?” Athos asked.
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“There are no signs of movement
“Then take us up there. Hurry!”
A distant wyverian form appeared high in the sky and came rapidly closer. Beating his enormous wings to remain aloft, Rhamalli extended his forelegs down onto the ground and waited for the dwarves to jump on. Once all five were sitting in his hands the dragon pumped his wings harder to gain altitude. Rising steadily upwards, the dwarves marveled at the sheer size of the cliff with its many possible hiding places. Countless small, and some large, caves were seen flashing by at an amazing rate.
Slowing their ascent so that he remained level with a particularly large cave, Rhamalli deposited the dwarves into the Zweigelan’s nest then retreated back into the sky. He had already informed the Dragon Lord of the nest’s location. In return, Rhamalli had learned that a formal invitation to join the wyverian ranks had been issued for the Zweigelan. While unclear what that meant, Rhamalli was certain the renegade was not going to like it.
“I’m going on a hunch here, but I’d say this is Two Head’s cave, no doubt about it,” Athos observed, whistling as he looked around.
Piles upon piles of junk were scattered everywhere. Sunlight glinted off several chests full of gold coins and various pieces of jewelry. Another chest was open nearby and contained pieces of chainmail. A large bundle of spears were propped up in the far corner of the cave. Several open-ended barrels contained swords, axes, and various other hand held weapons.
“Lukas, can you feel anything?” Venk whispered. While still daylight outside, the cave remained mostly in shadow and what he couldn’t see made him nervous.
“Father, it’s really close! It’s somewhere over to the left!”
“What about the gem?” Breslin asked. “Can you feel that, too?”
“No, only the plate.”
“Are we in the wrong blasted place again?” Athos hissed out, clearly frustrated.
“I don’t think so,” Tristofer told them. “Lukas, when could you feel that plate pulling you towards it? After you touched it, right?”
Surprised, Lukas nodded.
“Then it stands to reason he won’t be able to feel the gem’s pull until he touches it, too.”
“Find our belongings first,” Breslin instructed. “Then we’ll find that gem and get out of here.”
“Do you realize that until we find our things we won’t be able to leave?” Tristofer pointed out.
“I do. Stop wasting time and start looking.”
They split up and began sifting through the vast piles of items. Athos located a stack of weapons that were relatively dust free. Mixed in amongst several short swords and a mace were his axe and Venk’s crossbow. Mythryd, Breslin’s red hued axe, was also there. As the rightful owners reclaimed their weapons Tristofer gave a triumphant shout. He had found a stash of scrolls and books and found his belongings mixed in. Figuring he didn’t have the time to sort everything out, he scooped up what he could see and dumped them into his pockets.
“Lukas found our packs,” Venk called out. He pulled his own out from under what looked like a ship’s folded sail and verified the white silk pouch containing the spells was there. He retrieved the levitation spell and slipped it into his front pocket.
Tristofer ran up to him clutching an armful of books and scrolls.
“Do you have room for these? I can’t fit them all in my pockets.”
“What the blazes are you doing with all of that? Don’t even think about putting that stuff in here. Carry your own junk.”
“Please? I’ll sort it out later. I just don’t want to leave anything behind and I don’t have time to check to see if I’ve missed anything.”
Venk jerked his pack open and began jamming in dusty scrolls, moldy books, and decaying scraps of paper.
“When we get out of this, you are personally going to scrub my pack inside and out. Is that clear?”
Tristofer nodded enthusiastically. “Of course, of course!”
Venk grunted as he slung the ridiculously heavy pack over his shoulder.
“Wizards be damned, Tristofer. You better hope there isn’t a weight limit on Shardwyn’s spell.”
“Stop dallying!” Breslin snapped out. “Help me find this blasted gem so we can get out of here before the Zweigelan returns.”
The group parted ways once more as they searched for the special jewel. What it would look like no one knew, but they did figure they’d know it once they saw it.
Venk had just pushed aside a heap of fabric, wondering belatedly if some traveler had lost the clothes off their back, when he saw a wooden chest. It had been lying concealed beneath the fabric.
“What do you have?”
Venk looked up to see his brother approach.
“Just found a chest. I was going to see what was in it.”
Together they pried the chest open. Both gawked in amazement. They had found the Zweigelan’s stash of jewels.
“Wonder how many of these once belonged to dwarves?”
Venk reached into the chest to pull out a sapphire the size of his clenched fist. He moved into one of the last beams of sunlight and held the jewel out. It sparkled radiantly, casting bits of light all about the cave.
“Is that the one we’re looking for?” Athos asked.
“Give it to Lukas and see what he says.”
Athos grunted and took the jewel, disappearing behind a pile of armor. He reappeared moments later and shook his head.
“Nope.”
With a sigh, Venk dropped the gem on the ground and began digging through the chest of jewels, much like he would if he was searching for a specific tool through his tool chest.
There it was! Without a doubt he knew he had found wh
at they were searching for. It was a ruby a little smaller than his fist, but unlike any ruby he had ever seen before. It was a spiraled jewel! The helix shape was cool to the touch and caused the hairs on his arm to stand up. Venk excitedly turned to his brother.
“Look at this! This has got to be it. Now let’s get out of ...”
Venk trailed off as he suddenly got the impression he was being watched. He and his brother nervously eyed each other. Then they both noted that the nest had gone eerily quiet.
Clutching the spiral gem tightly in his hand, Venk swallowed nervously.
“It’s behind us, isn’t it?”
Chapter 6 – What in the Whorl?