CHAPTER 2
CAVE IN
Gabriel grabbed another woody vine and wound it around his arm. He placed his foot on the dragon's shoulder and pulled. The vine held fast for a second and then, suddenly, relinquished its hold. He peeled the rest of the vine off the dragons' hide and then twisted it up from ground to sever the roots. He had already removed about half of the vines from the dragon's torso, but the other half was so dense that it covered the stone dragon completely. The vines clung to Zoltan with thousands of tiny hairs that penetrated the little cracks between the sides of the stone scales and along the bottom of the scales, where they overlapped one another. The elf was getting ready to remove his coat and then suddenly, to his astonishment, the dragon "twitched". At first he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, but then a ripple went through the dragon, beginning at the tip of its nose and flowing rapidly through its body, towards the tip of its tail that was still buried beneath the ground. As the ripple flowed through Zoltan, his scales changed from a weathered grey to a glistening black. When the transformation was complete, Zoltan raised his head and violently shook it, to clear the dirt from his ears. He tried to rise, but the vines held him fast.
Gabriel knew the vines would not hold the creature down for much longer. He ran and leapt over the thrashing dragon. Flipping and twisting in mid-air, the elf landed lightly on the ground thirty feet below. In a fraction of a second he spied the opening in the rock wall and knew that Hob had uncovered the hiding place of Merlin's staff. In his quest for the legendary dragon's gold, the bumbling dwarf had wakened the most feared, and most dangerous, creature in all of Camelot. Merlin's spell was broken. Zoltan, son of Zog the Terrible, was once again free.
An ear-splitting roar from the top of the wall spurred Gabriel into action. The elf sprang from his crouched position and sprinted up the small hill, toward the rock wall. Several paces from the wall, he dove, head first, through the entrance that Hob had created. Zoltan crashed to the ground, right behind him, just as he passed through the narrow opening.
Gabriel tucked and rolled across the stone floor of the cave, neatly somersaulting and rising to a standing position. The cavern was small and he spotted Hob immediately. The dwarf was lying face down on the cold rock floor with his hands over the back of his head. Gabriel snatched up the top half of the broken staff and stuffed it into his belt. He then scooped Hob up from the floor and tossed the terrified dwarf over his shoulder. As he raced across the center of the cavern, he grabbed the remaining half of the staff that was still protruding from the cave floor. The stick came out of the floor effortlessly and, as Gabriel flew down a narrow passage way, the cavern behind them began to cave in. Over the din of the crashing boulders, he could still hear the dragon raging, pulling down the mountain side upon them.
Once he was certain they were out of the dragon's reach, Gabriel laid Hob down and pulled a flask from his belt. He propped the dwarf up and managed to get some of the warm liquid into his mouth. In a few seconds, Hob was flailing about and sputtering.
"Hob, settle down! We are safe for the moment, but I need for you to gather your wits about you, okay?"
"Was that....was that.....was that...."
"Yes, my friend, that was."
"What have you done, Gabriel? What have you done?"
"I have done nothing. It is you that have wakened Zoltan."
"Nonsense," Hob retorted as he fingered the spell catcher in his coat pocket.
"Do you have it with you now?" Gabriel asked.
"Have what?"
"Come on, Hob, let's have it. We may have escaped from Zoltan, but in case you haven't noticed we are buried beneath the mountain in total darkness. Let me have the spell catcher."
Hob pulled the jewel from his pocket and felt for Gabriel's arm. When he located the elf's hand, he placed the spell catcher in the outstretched palm. He heard Gabriel fumble around in the darkness. It sounded as if the elf had drawn something from his belt. Hob listened intently as the elf continued to work in the darkness.
"What are you doing?"
"Give me just another second and you shall see."
"How can I see anything in this blasted darkness?"
Gabriel did not answer, but spoke a word of magic and the green jewel, now back on top of the broken stick, flared to life with a brilliant green radiance. Hob stared at the jewel, thankful for its light, but with a growing sense of dread in his stomach.
"That spell catcher was keeping the dragon asleep?"
"Yes," Gabriel nodded, "this stick that you broke in half, happens to be Merlin's staff and the spell that you released was his last enchantment."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Hob cried.
"I did not know that you would find the cave! Great heavens, Hob, that cave has been hidden for centuries and yet you managed to find it, and dig it up, within an hour!"
"This is a dreadful day," Hob moaned, "and an ill-fated adventure, an ill-fated adventure, indeed! Why did you have to come see the dragon, anyway?"
"I did not just come here to see the dragon. There was much more purpose in my visit than that. Do you not know the story of Merlin and Zoltan?"
"It is a story I have heard many times in my lifetime. Zoltan sneaked through the tree, as an infant dragon, before Merlin could destroy it. He then slipped away to the Northlands, where he grew into adulthood. When he returned, he sought out Merlin and they fought. The story goes that Merlin turned Zoltan into stone and then disappeared from Camelot. He has never been seen since. Some even believe that Zoltan ate him before the spell could take hold."
"But that is not the true story."
"I know, I know. I know the true story; I just did not connect the dots until it was too late. If only you had told me about the spell catcher, I would never have disturbed the cave."
The two sat in stunned silence as the enormity of their situation dawned on them. Finally, Hob spoke. "If you did not come here to see the dragon, then why did you come?"
"Every year, for centuries now, we elves from the Twilight have kept watch over Merlin's cave to make certain it remained undiscovered and that his staff remained undisturbed. When the witch began killing unicorns, and we realized her intent, all of our energies were focused on stopping her. Now that the witch has been destroyed, and Mordred's plans to return to Camelot have been foiled, my trip here was to mark the beginning of a new vigilance over Zoltan and the dawn of a new age of peace and prosperity in Camelot. Yet I have unleashed a creature upon this world that will make the horrors of the witch pale in comparison. We have doomed this world and all those in it."
Hob patted Gabriel on the knee. "Come now, all is not lost yet. Merlin may be long gone from Camelot, but I know someone who can take care of this dragon!"
"And who might that be? There are no longer any wizards in Camelot and our magic is no match for Zoltan."
Hob rose to his feet and dusted off his coat. "Benjamin Alderman, from Atlanta Georgia, that's who!"
Gabriel thought back to the adventures he and Hob had shared with Ben. Ben was only a child, but there was something very special about him. Fate and luck seemed to favor him and the Keeper himself had said there was steel in Ben Alderman. Raw and unforged, but steel nonetheless. And there were the prophecies, too. Ben defeated the witch and fulfilled the first prophecy. Could this unfortunate event be tied to the second one? Maybe Ben Alderman was the one. Maybe Hob was on to something.
"Alright then, Hob. Let's see if we can find our way out of here. If we make it back to the Twilight we will, at the very least, ask Marcus about seeking counsel from Louise and Amos." Gabriel held the staff up and peered down the tunnel. "We are in your domain now so you will lead and I will follow."
Gabriel handed the broken staff with the spell catcher to Hob. The dwarf picked up his pack, then took the staff and started down the passageway. The brilliant green light from the emerald cast dark shadows that bobbed along on the ground behind them.
They had gone no more than a few steps when, suddenly, Hob spun around with a look of terror on his face and cried, "Oh noooooo!!!"
Startled, Gabriel drew his knife from his sheath and crouched low, every muscle tense, ready to spring at a moment’s notice. "What is it," he cried.
"We have to go back! We have to go back!"
Hob pushed past the elf and was hastily making his way back up the passage. Gabriel ran after him and grabbed him by the hood of his cloak to stop him.
"Wait, we can't go back. The cavern has collapsed. The entrance is blocked. Now tell me at once, what is the matter?"
"Gus," Hob wailed. "Poor Gus will not have a chance against Zoltan! We must do something!"
"I am so sorry, dear friend; there is nothing we can do now. Do not despair yet though, I feel it in my bones that we shall see old Gus again."
Hob wiped his eyes with the back of his sleeve. "You really think so?"
"Yes, I really do." Gabriel smiled at the dwarf.
Hob straightened up and cleared his throat. "You're right. Gus is too smart to become dragon food. I'll see him again. And if Zoltan dares harm one hair on my pony, I will personally pluck off his forked tail and beat him to death with it!"
Gabriel sized his friend up. The dwarf meant every word of it. And Gabriel almost believed he would do it too.
They continued down the tunnel again and several times the passage forked. Hob paused momentarily at each fork, before choosing a route, and then continued on his way. Down and down they went, deeper and deeper. Soon, the ground leveled out and the small passage opened up into a wide space. They could not see the far walls, but they could hear a river flowing in the darkness before them, just out of reach of the light from the spell catcher. Hob searched around and found two large rocks. He placed them together so that he could wedge the staff between them.
"What are you doing now?" Gabriel asked.
"It is time for our noon day meal," Hob answered with a puzzled expression. Meals were things that dwarves missed only in the direst situations. Right now, at this particular point in time, they were not engaged in a life or death struggle and Hob intended to eat. "We are lucky I was wearing my pack when you snatched me from the cave in."
The dwarf removed his coat and laid it upon the ground. He rummaged around inside of his pack, pulled out a blue cloth bag, and emptied its contents onto his coat. A thick wedge of cheese, a large chunk of dried meat, and four hard biscuits tumbled out of the bag.
"There is plenty for both of us, but I am afraid I have lost my flask."
"I have mine," Gabriel said, producing the small flask from his belt. "It is not much, but it is water from Faerie and a small amount will quench our thirst."
Hob nodded in satisfaction and pulled a knife from his boot. He cut the biscuits in half and then carefully laid them out on his coat in two neat rows; the biscuit tops in one row and the biscuit bottoms in the other row. He then sliced the cheese and the meat into thick pieces that he placed on top of the biscuit bottoms. When he was finished, he placed the biscuit tops on top of the meat and cheese and handed two of them to Gabriel.
"A little trick Ben showed me," Hob beamed. "It is called a ham and cheese biscuit!"
Gabriel smiled at the dwarf. A few minutes ago he was cowering in fear as a black dragon from Crag clawed at the hillside to reach him. Now, he sat before him with his legs crossed, enjoying a simple meal and chatting away as if nothing out of the ordinary had ever happened.
After eating their meal and taking a sip from Gabriel's flask, they made their way down to the river. The river itself was narrow and fast moving. The cavern walls amplified the rushing waters and the echoes made the river sound much larger than it actually was. On the other side of the river, a narrow path was worn into the rock floor and polished smooth by the passage of many feet, over the course of countless years. There was, however, a thick coat of dust on the path, indicating that no one had traveled this way in a very long time.
Gabriel and Hob found a shallow place that was not too wide and carefully made their way across to the other side. The water would be ice cold this time of year and if they fell into the river, without having any wood with which to build a fire, they would be in grave danger. At least Hob would. Elves rarely seemed to be disturbed by the elements, no matter how harsh.
"Where do we go from here?" Gabriel asked.
"We will follow the river upstream. With a little luck, these waters might actually lead us out of the mountains. Once we are on the outside, we will be able to hide from Zoltan while we are still in the mountains. But we will eventually have to leave the Iron Bones and cross the open fields to return to the Twilight."
"Well, as the old saying goes, we will cross that field when we get to it. For now, dragon or no dragon, I shall be happy to once more see the blue sky above me and to feel the soft grass beneath my feet.”
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