***
Mikal came running into the Great Hall to find his guardians sitting down for their midday meal.
“Steve! Sarah! We have news!”
Steve looked up from his plate of steaming phedras, cousin to their breakfast brethren. The luncheon variety contained seasoned meat, steamed veggies, and some type of red root. He had to keep telling himself it was just a chicken pot pie and they typically didn’t include beets. He hated beets.
Mikal was practically jumping up and down with excitement, anxious to share the news with his friends.
“You appear to be bursting at the seams,” Steve observed, smiling at their charge. “What’s up, Mikal? What’s the news?”
“We heard back from the messengers sent to Verdayn!”
“Okay, with you so far.”
Sarah smacked her husband on the arm. “Does someone there know where Maelnar is?”
“According to some old villager, he passed through Verdayn about ten years ago!”
Steve snorted. “Ten year old news is good news?”
“I guess. Father was really excited. He said that an old man remembered trading with a really good dwarf blacksmith who mentioned that he was on his way to Borahgg.”
“Bo-rug?” Steve briefly wondered just how badly he had mangled that pronunciation. “Where’s that? I don’t remember your father mentioning that one.”
Mikal rocked back and forth on his heels, bursting with his secret. “That is the point! There are only two known dwarven cities. This makes number three!”
Sarah nodded. “Okay, so there are three dwarf cities. After ten years, how do you know that’s where he still is?”
“Father is positive that’s where he’s at. Why, he did not say.” Mikal suddenly snapped his fingers. “He did want to talk with the two of ye.”
Steve, working on getting as big a bite of phedra on his fork as possible, paused. “He wants to see us? Now?”
“Aye, right now. I forgot to tell ye.”
As they walked to the Antechamber, Steve began noticing a subtle change in the general populace of the castle. Instead of everyone ignoring them, or else pretending that they didn’t exist, servants, kitchen staff, even soldiers were now starting to smile, tip a hat, or even give a small nod of recognition in their direction.
They had just exited the Great Hall, walking through the large, vaulted corridor that took them to various rooms in the southern wing of the castle, when, as they were approaching the outer door to the Antechamber, several soldiers leapt to attention at their approach.
The four guards, two on either side of the door, all nodded. One even grasped the handle and pulled open the door. “Nohrin. His majesty is waiting for you.”
Sarah beamed at him. “Thank you.”
Deciding his messenger duties were fulfilled, Mikal ambled off, hoping to find one of his friends before he was given another assignment. Entering the Antechamber, they found the king seated at his desk. He looked up as they entered. He shook his head.
“Allow me to venture a guess. My son just asked ye to come in here, correct?”
Confused, Sarah and Steve nodded.
The king sat back, sighing. “I asked him to bring ye here close to an hour ago.”
He couldn’t help it. Steve chuckled. The king’s tired eyes swiveled over to his. “Sorry, no disrespect intended. Boys will be boys.”
“Indeed. As he may or may not have told ye, we have a lead as to where Maelnar might be.”
Steve nodded. “Borug, wherever that is. Another dwarf city?”
Kri’Entu nodded. “Aye. Borahgg, a previously unknown dwarven city.” He rose from his desk and walked to a section of wall that had the map of his kingdom tacked up on it. Small colored markers were now dotted all over. He gestured to the northern Bohani Mountains. Red markers were scattered across every inch of the entire mountain range, with a few yellow mixed in. He started tapping the various markers.
“Red signifies where we have already searched. Yellow is where we are presently searching. And here,” he tapped a small, southern section of Lake Raehón, “ye will notice there are no markers. And there is a reason for that. That area is known to be heavily populated by dragons. It is here that I believe contains an entrance to the dwarven realm. This is where the two of ye need to go.”
Sarah paled. Dragons! They had to traverse through dragon territory?
Steve cleared his throat. “With all due respect, your majesty, I seem to recall you mentioning that you weren’t too sure where to start looking for the dwarves. What makes you think that’s the right area? If we’re gonna go into dragon territory, I think we ought to be damn certain we’re going in the right direction.”
With a gleam in his eye, the king smiled. “Come with me.”
The king led them out the northern gate, continuing past the moat. With as much finesse as a fully armored phalanx of troops could attain, their armored shadow fell in step behind them.
“Where are we going?” Puzzled, Steve looked around. “There’s nothing out here.”
Turning to gaze at Steve while he walked, the king smiled again. “Ye wanted to know how I know where to look for the dwarves. It is quite simple, really. I should have thought of it years ago. Ye ask a resident of the area.”
With that, they stopped at the familiar mound of rocks in the midst of the northern orchard.
Steve stared at the entrance to the great underground cavern.
“Are you telling me –” He didn’t get to finish his question.
Small tremors could now be felt, growing steadily stronger, and coming in short bursts: thud… Thud… THUD… **THUD**.
Steve’s mouth opened in shock. Sarah scooted behind her husband. The tremors were coming from inside the hollowed out cavern below the orchard, which meant...
Twin blasts of smoke erupted from the tunnel, causing all but Kri’Entu to jump back in terror. The tremors in the ground grew to an intensity strong enough to throw both Steve and Sarah off balance. More smoke was emitting from the tunnel mouth, as well as discreetly placed vents in the cavern ceiling, making it appear as though there was mist floating up from the ground.
The dragon finally emerged into the sunlight, giving Steve his long anticipated first look at an actual live dragon. Kahvel was a prime example of his species. He massed about ten tons, had a wingspan of seventy-five feet from tip to tip, and was an iridescent golden color. His claws alone, Steve figured, were at least two feet long. It would be a very foolish human, indeed, who tried to slay a dragon.
Kahvel took a deep breath and rustled his wings. There was the human he was familiar with, along with two other humans who were holding their ground, a male standing in front of a female.
“Kri’Entu,” the dragon acknowledged, the bass of his deep voice being felt by all present. Kahvel gracefully lowered his head down to inspect the two humans who didn’t flee. “Who are these two? I do not recall smelling them before.”
Kri’Entu turned to the Nohrin. “Steve, Sarah, may I present the dragon liaison, Kahvel.” The king turned back to the dragon. “Kahvel, allow me to introduce the Nohrin. This is Steve, and his wife, Sarah.”
Two intelligent, reptilian eyes stared at the small female before shifting to the male. “Are ye not afraid, human?”
Steve was ecstatic. The dragon could speak! It was intelligent! “Call me Steve,” he corrected, “and I’m very pleased to meet you.”
With a rustling of scales, Kahvel raised his head back up to his normal range, all the while maintaining eye contact. He grunted, snorting out a small puff of smoke from each slitted nostril. He eyed the small human king. “This? This is the famed Nohrin that ye speak of, Kri’Entu? How could something so small be capable of generating the amount of fire and heat that ye have been talking about?”
Bemused, Steve grinned. He was really starting to like this dragon. There was a
small voice in the back of his brain that was screaming at him, insisting he should be afraid. He just simply wasn’t. Looking up at the dragon, he ignited both hands.
“It is my general understanding,” Kahvel observed, “that humans are not supposed to burn.”
“Who said anything about humans burning?” Grinning like a school kid, Steve raised both arms, palms out, and took aim at a tree, one of the blackened remains of a casualty from his last excursion to this orchard. Twin jets of fire shot from his outstretched arms, enveloping the already blackened tree in flames, reducing it to ash in mere seconds. Pulling his jhorun back, both hands poofed out. He smiled up at the dragon.
Nodding appreciatively, Kahvel sited the next blackened tree. His mouth opened slightly as he gently blew the tree a kiss. The resulting jet of fire had the tree instantly reduced to ash where it fluttered away with the wind before the tree could even break apart and fall to the ground.
Human and dragon stared at one another, each appreciating the other’s abilities. “That was a helluva lot hotter than I can get,” Steve said, impressed. “I don’t know if I could ever reach that temp. That tree blew away before it had a chance to fall. That’s so cool!”
Deep growls emanated from the depths of the dragon, which had started to gently sway from side to side. Tendrils of smoke escaped from his nostrils as the dragon rocked back and forth.
He’s laughing, Steve thought. An intelligent dragon with a sense of humor!
Giving a final snort, sending more smoke up into the air, Kahvel once again stretched his neck down so that he was at eye-level with the human fire thrower.
“Ye damn me with faint praise, human. Steve. Ye will do.”
“I will do for what?”
Kri’Entu appeared at his side. In a hushed tone, he said, “I will explain later.”
“Are we to begin tomorrow, then?” the dragon asked, his voice rumbling out across the orchard.
The king nodded. “Aye.”
“So be it.” The dragon lowered his head a final time to scrutinize the two humans. “Be ready at sunrise.”
With that, the massive dragon retreated back into his temporary lair under the orchard.
Steve raised a hand. “Um, excuse me, what about sunrise tomorrow? Does something happen tomorrow morning?”
Again, the king nodded. “Aye. Your quest to find Maelnar starts tomorrow. We must make haste.” The king paused, lowering his voice considerably. “I fear another attack on my son.”