prince,” Otho commanded.
He slowly turned away from the brute and headed inside the cave. The path sloped up slightly immediately upon entering. However, just beyond the slope, they could make out a dead end from the light.
“That really can’t be it. Is it?” Landon asked. The short distance they had walked didn’t give him much time to do any maneuvering behind the brute.
“Don’t know. Haven’t been in here before,” Otho reminded him. Up until this point, he had been following Landon about four steps behind. He stopped immediately behind him and pointing right over the prince’s shoulder to the ground. “There’s a hole though.”
There was an opening on the ground for a set of steps that spiraled downward.
“I guess we’re going in there,” Landon said as he carefully took the first step.
The descent was slow as the steps were steep. The walkway was also extremely small. Otho had to hunch down so as not to hit his head on the rock above. “So why is it so important to you that you get whatever’s in here?” asked Otho.
“It’s called the Emerald of Sleep. It’s supposed to wake someone that has been cursed with a sleeping spell. I have to get it to wake up my bride to be. I don’t really want to marry her as I’m quite happy with the single life, but my kingdom will go to war if I don’t. Me getting married won’t really hurt my lifestyle, but causing a war for not getting it would. Because of this, I am unfortunately forced to be here today,” Landon explained. “Why is it so important for you to be guarding it?”
“It’s not important. It’s just a job. I only do this because I got married and had to be respectable. I’d much rather go back to thievery.”
“Well, I’m glad I could help put you back on track for accomplishing your life’s true desires.”
“I never said I was actually going to steal anything. That’s all your work. I only wanted to know about what was down here,” Otho said defensively.
“Sure, but you never know. Maybe we’ll find something down here that you can’t live without. I surely can’t watch you the whole time. It is dark in here. Who is to say that something couldn’t just fall inexplicably into your pocket without me knowing? You could hardly be blamed for that now could you?” he propositioned. He had hoped that sharing in thievery would get the brute to let down his guard. “Look there!”
They had descended about 100 feet when the steps ended at an archway. This led into a circular chamber about 25 feet across. In the center was a stone pedestal. There didn’t appear to be any other exits.
“There’s nothing in here,” Otho said as he stared confusedly towards the empty pedestal.
Landon was just as confused. He asked, “How long have you been guarding this cave?”
“About three years...off and on.”
“Off and on? What does that mean?”
“Well, I’m not ALWAYS guarding the cave. I sneak off for home at night...and much of the day. You were actually lucky that you came up to the cave when I was here,” Otho said embarrassed.
“I wouldn’t call that good luck,” Landon said. “So what you mean is that you aren’t here most of the time so someone could have easily come in here and stolen the Emerald and you would have never known if I hadn’t shown up? This is probably good luck for you knowing about this before your employer did.”
The Prince was right. It was one thing to have just quit and taken a few gold coins or something small, but to find out that the room he had been guarding was completely empty was something else entirely. An empty room was enough to bring on a wizard’s curse. “We should leave. Wait, he’s a wizard. Maybe it’s just hidden,” Otho said hoping that his desperate statement was true.
“That’s possible. It was rather easy to get down here,” said Landon as he started checking along the walls in the hope that there was a secret doorway. He looked back at Otho who was walking in circles swinging his arms in front of him. “What are you doing?”
“Maybe it’s invisible,” Otho replied.
“Oh, that’s stupid. Help me look for a hidden doorway,” he said as he went back to checking the walls.
There was a sudden sound like thunder that shook the rock and reverberated through the air. Landon turned and threw his back against the wall. “What was that?” he quietly yelled to Otho who was standing in the middle of the room facing archway. “Did you do that?”
Otho did not reply. “Did you find something? Where is it?” he asked again. He walked over to where Otho was standing and held the torch to light his face which now had an expression like someone had just kicked him in the stomach. “What is it?”
Otho finally replied with one word, “Wizard.”
Landon looked over to the archway. He could make out a faint blue light in the stairway. “The wizard? That’s really him? He’s here?” he whispered excitedly.
The blue light in the stairway was getting brighter. Otho just nodded slowly in response to his question.
“What do we do? I’m not supposed to be here and you’re probably not supposed to be in here either.”
Again, only a single word came from Otho’s lips as he shook his head, “Nothing.”
Landon dropped the torch in front of them and clumsily unsheathed his sword with his left arm. This was little comfort. Even if he had been able to use his sword arm, a sword against a wizard wouldn’t be of much use. The blue light was now starting to brighten up the room. Then, a booming voice was heard, “Who is trespassing here. Identify yourself.”
A figure took shape within the light. The wizard had arrived. Any nerve that Landon had up to this point was gone now as he dropped the sword to the ground. The clanging of the metal to the rock seemed to wake Otho up from his trance.
“It...it...it’s me lord Vax. Your guard, Otho,” he stammered.
“There you are. Why are you down here and who is this with you?” Vax demanded.
“This is a...a thief,” he replied. “I was...in the middle of catching him when you arrived.”
“Liar!” Vax boomed. He then sighed, “This always happens. I really need to find a better system for this.”
Otho was confused. He looked over at Landon who was also looking at him with a confused expression.
“What do you mean?” Otho asked.
“You came down here thinking you were going to take whatever was here, correct?” Vax said.
“I…uhh…he...,” Otho stammered.
“Don’t cover up. I know what’s in your heart. There was nothing in here for you to steal anyway.”
“What?” Landon suddenly spoke up. “Nothing’s here? Then where is the Emerald of Sleep?”
“That’s what you’re here for? So you must be...,” Vax stopped short and laughed ever so slightly. “What was the cost to get you here today?”
Landon wasn’t sure what he was getting at, but he replied anyway, “100 soldiers died, 2 fully stocked ships sunk and some horses carried off by giant birds.”
Vax now laughed hard. “Well as you are in the wrong place, it will cost you so much more to get to the proper place. I will let you leave here today with your life, but only as an amusement to myself that you have lost so much already. I’m sure your father will be just as displeased with those costs as well as those to come.”
“You know who I am then?” asked the Landon.
“Oh yes.”
“And you are willing to let me go knowing that I will probably continue looking for the Emerald?” he asked.
“Yes, just consider yourself lucky for now. Go on and leave,” Vax said.
Landon picked up his sword and the still burning torch. He started walking slowly to the exit while looking back over his shoulder. Otho moved to follow. “Not you Otho,” said Vax.
Otho was looking towards Landon who had reached the doorway, turned, shrugged, and then ran up the steps.
“I must still punish you. You allowed him to come in here after all,” Vax said.
“But you just let him go. You didn’
t even curse him and there isn’t anything in here anyways. I’ve been guarding nothing for three years.” said Otho.
Vax laughed. “It used to be here, but I don’t have the Emerald of Sleep anymore. I lost that in a gamble 10 years ago. The wizard who owns it now won’t stand for thievery. His temperament is not as forgiving as mine. You are lucky that I am your employer and not him. That prince has lost much already and will most certainly be killed trying to complete his quest,” said Vax.
“So you haven’t had the Emerald for 10 years, but you hired me to guard the cave anyway?” Otho was actually a bit mad about this.
“I guess you do not understand the situation. You do know that I have a castle, right?” Vax asked.
“Yes, a big one too,” Otho suddenly said excitedly. It was an impressive castle. He had seen it many years before getting this cave guarding job. It overlooked the ocean on a cliff with high walls and turrets. It looked exactly like you would expect a wizard’s castle to look.
“Yes, it’s huge. I have a lot of space. Why do you think I have hundreds of caves that I store things in?” he asked.
Otho shrugged. He didn’t realize there were hundreds of other caves. He never even wondered about what was in the one he was guarding for three years, so it was a lot to assume that he would ever wonder about a wizard’s real estate. Realizing that he wasn’t going to get it, Vax answered himself.
“If I kept all these important things in my castle, then people, like that prince, would be forever bothering me. It’s a problem among wizards and those that keep valuable