CHAPTER X
Finally someone lost all their money and left the table and Dad walked over with his ale and sat down. The dealer dealt him some cards with no questions once he had put money on the table. It wasn’t a very good plan; Connor was betting that cards here were simpler than on Earth, that he would know tricks that these sailors wouldn’t. Of course they might, they might know ways of cheating that he didn’t. It wasn’t a great plan.
He lost the first couple of hands while he watched the other players and started to get a feel for them. The most important thing in cards is a tell. It’s something people do when they are bluffing. That is when they don’t have as good cards as they pretend to. Or little things they do when they have a good hand, just small things like playing with their ear. That was what one sailor, a thin but muscled man did. When he had bad cards he would tug at his earlobe. Once Dad had worked out some of the tells he started winning and as he played more, the more he worked out the players tells and ways of playing and as he did he won more. And as he won more the other men got angrier.
And as people got angrier they attracted more attention to the table. Then one man left the table, pushing through the onlookers grumbling about cheating going on. But as more people left the table Dad could hear that some were disagreeing, they couldn’t see any cheating going on, but others thought there must be, no one has that much luck.
Now there were only three men at the table, Connor, an older man and a muscled sailor with a big black beard and wild curly hair to match.
The black haired man lost the next game and Connor took all but a little of his money.
“So you have cleaned up a table, have you?” he growled at Connor.
“I guess it’s my lucky night.”
“No one is this lucky; in all the nights here no one has ever beaten a table.”
“I’m still in,” the other man said.
“Shut it, old man,” black hair warned. “It’s time your luck changed.”
And suddenly two men grabbed Connor from behind and black hair pulled a long knife. Lucas was up and pulling his axe from his back when another voice boomed across the room.
“That’ll be enough there, Brann.”
The crowds parted as a man walked down the stairs, another two men behind him. Dylan stretched to see, but couldn’t, tried looking under legs, but Lucas pulled him back up.
“I’ve been watching from upstairs and I see no cheating.”
“He has to be.”
“I’m not,” Connor said.
“Nobody asked you,” the man said. “Let him go.”
Dad straightened his shirt as Brann put away his knife. Lucas lifted Dylan and pushed through to stand with Connor.
“Now there’s a man you would not have wanted to fight, Brann, hey?” the man chuckled.
“He’s not so big,” Brann muttered.
“What’s your name, Lucky?”
“What’s yours?”
The man laughed. “Don’t get cocky while I’m saving your life, Lucky.”
“Connor of the Shed.”
“Pleased to meet you, come upstairs with those winnings of yours and show me your tricks.”
“So he was cheating,” roared Brann.
“No, Brann, he’s just not as wood-headed as you, he read you like a book.”
They went upstairs and into a room.
“It was fool-headed what you did,” the man told them as they sat on a ring of couches.
Dylan looked at him, he was short, but had muscles; he had shaved black hair and black stubble on his chin.
“It was meant to be.”
“Oh yes? Looking for trouble are we?”
“Looking for someone.”
“Whom do you search?”
“The Pirate d’Gaz,” Lucas said.
“Well what luck,” the man decried, “for I am d’Gaz and I don’t like being found,” suddenly all the men in the room were pointing swords at them.
“We are not Ruling Guards,” Connor said, “we were told to look for you here.”
“By whom?”
“The Twin Magicians.”
“By thunder! Then I am in trouble after all,” d’Gaz said, waving a hand and the swords were sheathed. “So you want to go across the sea, but for what?”
“There are too many ears here,” Connor said.
“Well, well, the plot thickens. Meet me tomorrow for lunch at Jester’s Inn. I am contrigued,” d’Gaz said. “Now leave and do not hang in the streets, they’ll be dangerous for you tonight.”
They did so and hurried back to their inn and to bed.
Connor lay in bed feeling elated. He had done something, he had taken a chance and he had helped to further their Quest. He had taken a chance and he was happy to still be alive for it.
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They couldn’t know for how long they walked in the dark, but they rested where they could. They came across no more wolves, in fact they came across nothing and that in itself was unsettling. Onward they went feeling the Magicians pulling them ever closer to the dragon.
“Have you actually ever seen a dragon?” Bell asked.
“Some, but not on this World.”
“What are they like?”
“The ones I’ve seen? Terrifying,” Mattaeus answered.
“That does not help,” Bell said.
“Neither for me.”
After what could have been a couple more hours walking Bell stopped.
“It is getting lighter,” he said.
“By thunder, you’re right. Have we taken a misturn?”
“No, I still feel we are going the right way, perhaps there is a hole to the outside somewhere.”
“If there is we should have entered there and saved us much trouble.”
Bell laughed. “Did we believe this task to be easy?”
“Nothing ever is,” the Shadow Ranger sighed.
The light seemed to be coming from a cavern up ahead. It wasn’t very bright and they thought it must be coming from the roof. It was, but they didn’t really take time to look up as they were too busy staring at the huge gold and black dragon that sat in the middle of the cavern. It had its head resting on its front claws and its tail wrapped around it. It appeared to be asleep.
“Or dead,” Bell whispered quietly.
“Well let’s make sure.”
“We can’t. What if killing it doesn’t break the curse?”
But they drew their swords anyway.
“Really?” a voice said in their heads. “You’re going to kill me with swords, are you?”
“Can you hear that?” Bell asked.
“I can.”
“I can feel strong magic around you, helping you sneak up on me. Have a little help do we?”
“Perhaps,” the Shadow Ranger said.
“But even with help do you really think you can best me with your tiny swords?”
“We did until we saw you,” Bell admitted.
“Well at least you are honest, Forest Ranger.”
“This sword has killed dragons before,” the Shadow Ranger said.
“It has?” Bell asked surprised.
“Even you have soft spots, dragon.”
The dragon lifted its head on its long neck and stood up. It was massive, Bell thought in awe, at least fifty foot long and twenty high at its back.
“Well then let us proceed,” the dragon said.
“You heart does not seem in it, dragon.”
“I am old and tired, I knew this day would come eventually.”
The Shadow Ranger felt a pang of mercy towards the creature and he remembered what the Princess had said to him. How his mercy was his undoing he already understood, but how it could be the redemption of others he did not. But now he had a thought.
“We do not need to do this dragon,” he said.
“But you have come a long way for this end. Had to face those nuisance wolves, no doubt.”
“We are on a Quest and we need the help of the Magicians you ho
ld bound by curse.”
“Free them I cannot do,” the dragon said.
“But why?” Bell asked. “Why do you hold them?”
The dragon lowered its head to the ground and seemed to sigh.
“We dragons are not unlike you humans, we think and feel much the same. For centuries we ruled, we did whatever we liked, there was no man or beast we could not defeat. A long story ends with the Chinerthians changing the Balance of Power, suddenly we were vulnerable, our magic lessened and we were hunted by our prey.
“Some of us realised this and realised how we had treated the lesser races and we were sorrowful, but others thirsted for their power and they joined the Chinerthians, made deals with them. They got some of their magic back and helped to win the War of the Four Worlds.
“We fought them, but we were no match so we took to hiding. We formed Dragonstones that allowed us to use the magic of others to hide ourselves. If I break my hold on the Magicians I will be found and killed.”
“But our Quest is to destroy the Black Queen,” Bell said.
“Bell,” Mattaeus warned.
The dragon laughed in their heads. “Destroy her? And how will you do that?”
“We are going to bring back the Balance.”
“Oh, it is that simple, is it?”
“We wish,” Bell said.
“Do I have permission to ask that your magical defenses be lowered?”
“Why?” Mattaeus asked.
“To see all that you know and plan, to know I can trust you on these things.”
“How do we know we can trust you?”
“I did not have to ask permission, I do not have to ask at all, you think I cannot break such spells?”
“Very well,” and the dragon went silent for a few seconds. Mattaeus and Bell both felt the magic drain away and the dragon was silent for more minutes until they felt the magic start to course through them again.
“Very interesting, very interesting,” the dragon said. “Portals and Fifth Worlders. There will be war, Shadow Ranger, great war.”
“I know.”
“More than you let on.”
“So what now is your answer?”
“You will need all the help you can get. Realigning the Balance will free my kind from their hiding, it will free everyone, man and beast. I cannot turn my back on this opportunity from my own fears. I have learned sacrifice, Shadow Ranger.”
“Thank you, dragon,” Bell said.
“It is Nagendra,” the dragon said. “Look around you at my things; you will find the Dragonstone in there. It is gold and black like myself.”
The two men looked around the dragon and couldn’t believe they had not seen the piles of gold, weapons and armor that lay in the cavern.
“Where did you get all this?” Bell asked.
“Some I brought with me, keeping it out of the hands of the Chinerthians, but most has collected over centuries of people coming to slay me. Help yourself.”
The two men started sorting through the piles looking for the Dragonstone.
“There Forest Ranger, to your left is a fine bow,” Nagendra said.
Bell picked it up along with a quiver of arrows.
“That is the bow of Galvyn, you can feel the magic in it.”
“Galvyn is a legend,” Bell protested.
“He is not,” Mattaeus said and continued looking.
They tried different weapons and shields that they found and put gold in their bags and eventually they found the Dragonstone.
“It is smaller than I would have thought,” Bell said.
“So, Mattaeus, Shadow Ranger, do you take possession of the Dragonstone of Nagendra?”
“I do.”
“Then the hold is broken.”
“Thank you, Nagendra. We must go at once to reunite with the Foreshadow,” Bell said.
“Indeed you must, I will keep the Cave Wolves at bay for you, but be aware for the cave worms and the Jalandandraw,” and the two men bid farewell and walked towards the tunnels.
“Shadow Ranger, two more things. The Dragonstone still holds power, in the right hands it may be used on others as I used it. It is also forever connected to me and can be used to contact me if you should ever need to do so.”
Mattaeus nodded. “Then maybe we shall talk again, Nagendra,” and with that they left the cavern and the great dragon.