2:* A New Journey Started
Kariana awoke
to the gentle ministrations of a young human cleric. Looking around, she
noticed that she was now in a small tent laying on a straw pallet. The
cleric, a slightly portly man dressed in the robes of his clergy, saw her
awakening, and smiled.
"Ah, the
Elf lady awakes." He said, handing her a cup of water. "Here, drink this.
You've been asleep for a couple of days now." Gratefully, she drank
from the cup. When he saw that she was finished, the cleric spoke again.
"I am called
Drakar Kanelon." he told her, sitting back and looking at her with a hint
of sorrow in his clear blue eyes. "You were found lying under a burned
tree in the midst of what had been an Elven village, I assume, yours?"
Kariana nodded wordlessly, green eyes betraying much pain. Drakar shook
his head and continued.
“When we
came upon your village, we were in the process of checking for survivors.
You see, we had seen the dragon from far off. We watched it as it attacked
something, obviously your village.” he explained. “There were no other
survivors, save yourself. Trust me, I and my companions did a thorough
search.”
“Thank you.”
she said when he finished. “I’m sure that the gods will smile upon you
for all that you have done.” she told him, sitting up. Drakar quickly laid
a hand on her shoulder.
“No, you
shouldn’t get up yet, you’ve had an extreme trauma, I think you should
stay here for at least another day.” he said quickly, not noticing Kariana’s
startled reaction to his forwardness. She had grown up in a place where
she had been royalty and she was not used to someone being this blunt to
her without her permission. After a brief silence, she shook off his hand
and stood up, much to the clerics’ dismay.
“Where are
my weapons?” she asked, looking around the small tent. Drakar looked confused.
“A sword and dagger?” she asked again, pointedly, her look betraying that
she expected him to jump up and lead her to them. Hurriedly, Drakar nodded
and stood up.
“Tazir has
them.” he managed to say, cowed by the Elfs’ pointed words. “Follow me.”
he said, almost running out of the tent. Drakar was used to ministering
over fragile maidens, but he had never rescued an Elf noble before.
*****
The old wizard
smiled as the great red wyrm circled above the mountain top that he was
standing on. He was looking out over the once great Elven city of
Kith'tarka, reveling in his display of power. He could have done the job
himself with a simple fireball or two, but using the dragon, he was assured
that many others did not know that he was involved. The Order of the Red
Dragon was very competitive, with wizards slaying others daily with their
rules about using the judgements of their visions to back up their actions,
and he did not wish to die yet.
Long ago,
he had a vision. A vision of an Elven ranger from Kith'tarkan that would
eventually learn the ways of very powerful magic. This magic was a form
so incredible that only a very few could make use of it, and those that
could became gods or goddesses in their own right.
The thought
of an Elf, no less, becoming a god, while he had always aspired to become
one, had rankled him to the very core of his being. He had decided long
ago that he would have to eliminate this competitor.
Finding Kith’tarka was not
a problem, finding a way to destroy it without drawing attention to himself
was. Finally, he had come upon a dragons' hoard, luckily, he found
it when the dragon was out for a bit. By the time the dragon got back,
he had enspelled the treasure hoard with a very powerful form of disintegration
spell. If the great red did not obey his every whim, his treasure would
be destroyed. That would be a strong incentive for any red dragon.
He chuckled
evilly as he thought of how well his plan had worked. There would be no
survivors to the devastating fire in Kith’tarka, and now he was free of
yet another competitor.
*****
Tazir looked
up from his studying with a frown. Someone was coming towards his tent.
Moving the sword that he was holding to the side, he stood and waited for
his visitors. Presently, an out of breath Drakar and a young Elf entered
his tent. He noticed that the Elf was the very same that they had found
in the ruined city.
"Greetings."
Tazir greeted them as they entered, bowing slightly to the Elf maiden.
"I am Tazir Kintras Quallat, to what do I owe your visit?" he asked pleasantly.
"Beg your
pardon, Tazir, but the Elf lady wishes to retrieve her weapons." a puffing
Drakar said hastily, looking warily between the Elf and the wizard. Drakar
had always had a fear of strong magic that did not come directly from a
god or goddess. He was quite untrusting of wizards, even one that he had
been traveling with, such as Tazir. Considering no one really knew anything
about this wizard that had joined their group, the cleric was even the
more jumpy around the wizard.
"Drakar,
my question was directed towards her, as I presume you already know me."
Tazir said, amused, catching onto Drakars’ fear. "You may leave now, I'm
sure I will be fine with an Elf." He commented, smiling wryly. Drakar
hurriedly backed out of the tent.
"Forgive
me for Drakar. He is a young cleric with a fear of wizardly magic. Perhaps
he had a bad experience as a child, but that is not what you have come
to hear.” he said, smiling pleasantly at Kariana. "So, you have come for
your weapons, hmmm?" he asked, picking up the sword reverently.
"Yes. I
am Kariana Steeleaf, last heir to the ruling family of Kith'tarka."she
said, drawing herself up proudly. "The sword and dagger belonged to my
parents, Lady Liliana and Lord Rillanos." she said regally.
"Ah, now
I understand!" Tazir said, looking down at the weapon. "These weapons carry
a lot of magic, I had wondered if they belonged to a king or queen
of some sort. Knowing Elven love of magic, I should have suspected that
they belonged to your family and that it wasn't coincidence that we found
them near you."
"Yes, it
was the only thing that I could find that was left unharmed by the attack
on my home." Kariana told Tazir stoically. "I would like the weapons back
now."
"And so
you shall have them." he said, picking up both weapons and tossing them
to her, flipping them end over end. Kariana caught both in one quick
motion and slid them into her belt. He grinned. "Quick reflexes." he applauded
her. “Not many children of nobles are taught to do such things, most spend
their days learning etiquette.”
“In Kith’tarka,
all Elves are taught to be warriors at first, if there is ever a need for
us to protect our forest.” she informed him, forgetting momentarily that
Kith’tarka had ceased to exist.
“Oh?” Tazir
commented, looking interested. “I think a wizard would have been a better
defense against the dragon.” he reminded her pointedly, ignoring her glare
at his blatent statement that Kith'tarka had needed a few wizards to hold
off it's destruction. He gestured to her weapons.
"The sword
is a very powerful weapon against fire and fire magic. That is probably
why it survived the blaze." he told her. "That dagger is enchanted to be
surer of a strike in battle. It is also made of one of the strongest materials
that is found in Akura, mithril. It will never break." he informed her,
grinning at her mildly surprised look. “I take it you did not know that?”
"I did not
know the power of my familys' weapons. Thank you, wizard." she said, bowing
slightly to him. "Can you also tell me where the dragon is that attacked
Kith’tarka? I thought that we had seen the last of them many centuries
ago."
"No, they’ve
just all been hiding. Crimsionarperadnicles Hai Draco, Crimson, he is called
in our language." Tazir explained, "Although I know not why he attacked
the forest. He is an old dragon, one of the last great ancient wyrms from
long ago. Since he is so old, Crimson has not bothered any of the gentle
folk since the great war. I even believe he had a treaty with G'Dyra,
which should have prevented him from attacking any of the fair folk of
Akura. I fear he is under the enchantment of a greater wizard than I."
Tazir got up and moved outside the tent. Kariana followed. Once outside,
he pointed up to a tall mountain peak off in the distance.
"That peak
is his lair." Tazir explained, pointing to where a large shape was making
great circles in the air over the mountain. "He rarely leaves, except
to find food. Lately, we've seen him flying around more and more. It is
most unnatural." he told her, watching as her eyes narrowed at the
sight of the dragon circling it's mountain. Tazir knew what she was thinking
and placed a gentle, wrinkled hand on her shoulder. "It is not wise
to meddle in the affairs of dragons, especially for one so young as yourself."
Kariana
stood silent for a bit, watching the dragon making it's lazy circles around
the mountain. She had a desire to go after the dragon, making him pay for
what he had done to her village. The wiser part of her, though, told her
that it was better to wait until she could find a more sizable force to
go with her, knowing that dragons were extremely difficult foes.
"Come."
Tazir said, finally shaking her out of her thoughts. "You must be hungry,
it is near meal time, I shall introduce you to the rest of our small party."
Realizing
that she was hungry, she gladly followed the wizard, listening to his idle
prattle as they walked, though, her eyes never left the dragon for long.
She could not help the feeling that he should be made to pay.
*****
The old
wizard chuckled again and held up a golden scepter, originally from the
dragon's lair. This signaled Crimson to stop and land. Gratefully, the
dragon landed and glared at the wizard that held his treasure captive.
He was currently powerless to do anything about the wizards’ diabolical
scheming pertaining to his treasure hoard, but he knew that eventually
he would have his chance to strike back. He would just have to wait.
*****
Kariana
tasted the food that she was given by Ragnor Elrich, a large battle-scarred
warrior who was surprisingly the partys'cook. She grimaced and looked at
the stew in the bowl that she was holding.
"I can't
understand how you can eat this stuff." she commented, looking into the
bowl warily. "What did you say was in it again?"
"I didn’t"
Ragnor said grinning at the look on her face. Ragnor was, by profession,
a warrior. Originally from Shonika, he firmly believed that the best way
to get what you wanted was by a sword. For all of his brawn in battle,
he was surprisingly the only one out of their small party that could cook,
so cook he did, and usually did an interesting job of it, too. "I
suppose you Elves are more used to eating leaves and berries, huh?" he
asked, smiling at the face Kariana was making.
"Well it
is your cooking after all." a small voice piped up from the other side
of Kariana. Kerry, a small, lean halfling, sat on a rock and smiled at
the Elf. "I too am often wondering what it is exactly that Ragnor puts
in his stew." she said, winking. Kerry was, unsurprisingly, a thief, as
she introduced herself to Kariana earlier by attempting to remove the silver
dagger from her belt.
"I suppose
I'll just have to get used to it." Kariana sighed, taking another spoonful
of the stew, which tasted bitter to her delicate taste buds. Ragnor laughed
heartily as he pantomimed breaking a crockery mug over Kerrys’ head. The
halfling just grinned.
Tazir watched
the conversation silently, sipping from a goblet of wine. That was all
anyone ever saw him ingest, very few had actually seen the wizard eat anything.
He had a strange feeling about this Elf from Kith'tarka. His party had
originally been traveling to reach there to request help from the Elves.
They had been searching for a long-forgotten artifact, "The Ring of True
Seeing". This ring was supposedly able to read peoples' thoughts and desires
and would warn against evil. The ring had originally been the property
of the temple of Saertyr in Shonika, their partys' mission was to get it
back. It had been rumored that the Elves of Kith'tarka had either possessed
this artifact or knew of its whereabouts. Tazir was reluctant to ask Kariana,
though, after what had happened to her village.
"So what
brings you to this region?" Kariana finally asked, pushing away the still
half-full bowl. "We don't usually see many adventuring parties go this
far into the forest. The most I’ve seen of outsiders in a little over a
century was a Dragos’Myndaran fellow about half a century ago."
"Well, we
were going to ask your city if they knew of this magical artifact." Kerry
piped up, looking to Ragnor for confirmation. "But I suppose we can't do
that now." she said off-handedly, taking Kariana's half-empty bowl from
her as the Elf gave Kerry a strange look. Drakar cut in hurriedly, to try
to avoid the Elf from strangling the halfling for bringing up such a subject.
“Well, what
Kerry actually means is. . .” he stammered, trying to think of a good way
to make up for Kerrys’ misstep. “I mean, she didn’t mean that the destruction
of Kith’tarka was a thing to be taken lightly. . .” Ragnor broke in then,
saving Drakar any more explanation.
“I’m sure
Kerry only meant to explain to you why we are here.” he said, in an uncharacteristically
gentle tone. “Obviously, the loss of your home was very devastating to
you and the forest around it.” he told her. Suddenly, Kariana grinned.
“I have met but five other
halflings so far, and I seem to think that the entire race is the same.”
she commented, giving Kerry a curious look. “Tell me, does your entire
race take things as lightly as you do?”
“Oh, no.”
she said, looking up from the now empty bowl. “I’m one of the more serious
ones.” she explained, grinning at the Elf. Ragnor burst out laughing and
even Drakar suppressed a grin.
"I
am curious. Of what artifact do you speak?" Kariana asked, restarting the
original subject.
"The Ring of True Seeing."
Tazir explained, "We had heard that the Elves of Kith'tarka had come into
possession of it at one time or another."
"I know
of no such thing that we owned.” she answered thoughtfully, “At least not
in the last century. To my knowledge, there weren't many magical items
in the village." she said, shrugging as she spoke, "I would have known,
if we did, the wizard of our village was my uncle."
"Tazir,
you dragged us out here for nothing?" Ragnor boomed at the wizard, who
sat looking at Kariana thoughtfully. Tazir remained silent.
"Ah, calm
down, Ragnor, at least you got to kill that group of orcs that tried to
attack us the other night. You've had your fun." Kerry said merrily, ignoring
the topic alltogether. "Do we have any more stew?" She asked, holding out
her bowl.
“You might try the dragon’s
treasure hoard if you’re looking for a lost artifact. I hear that red dragons
love treasure and the acquisition of it.” Kariana suggested, noticing Tazirs’
stare.
“Dragon’s
hoard? You mean in a dragon’s lair?” Drakar asked, giving the party as
a whole an incredulous look. Tazir calmly nodded, Ragnor merely grabbed
his sword and stood up.
“Dragons?”
he said, winking at Kerry. “Let me at them, they’re no match for Ragnor
of the Silver Blade, slayer of dragons and insolent halflings!” he cried,
swinging his sword so that it sliced in the air right in front of Kerry’s
nose. The halfling looked annoyed.
"Calm down,
Ragnor, we may not have to kill the dragon." Tazir said calmly, giving
Kariana a sly look. "We wouldn't be thinking of revenge, would we my lady?"
he said quietly, relying on the sharp hearing which was rumored of the
Elves for her to catch that remark. She obviously did, as she looked back
at him coolly, her eyes betraying nothing.
“I, for
one, would not mind visiting a dragons’ lair.” Kerry piped up as she finished
the last of the stew. “I could be a great help in luring the dragon out
so that you all could finish him off.” she said, grinning in Kariana’s
general direction.
"Yeah, I’m
also sure that our halfling friend would have no trouble also picking up
some riches on the way out!” Ragnor said, grinning at his friend. She smirked
at the blatant accusation of thievery. As far as she was concerned, she
had only made sure that Kariana's dagger was correctly in the sheath to
avoid losing it, that was all.
"I believe
you are correct, young Elf." Tazir agreed, grinning wryly. "I suppose then,
that you wish to accompany our small party to confront the dragon?"
"Yeah, we
could use another sword, if you really can use that Elf-blade that you’re
carrying." Ragnor said, giving her a friendly shoulder clasp. Kariana
winced, humans always forgot that elves were more delicate than they were.
"It would
be a pleasure." Drakar said, smiling tentatively at Kariana. Kerry only
grinned and went back to her almost empty bowl.
“It is agreed
then?" Tazir asked, looking to Kariana for an answer.
“Agreed.
I shall accompany you.” Kariana told him, “But I will warn you, I won’t
have any defacing of this forest, or attacks upon unthreatening forest
animals when I’m around.” she stated, giving Ragnor a pointed glance. The
large warrior shrugged and grinned.
Tazir
stood up and walked over to Kariana, extending his hand. "Welcome then,
fair ranger of Kith’tarka. It will be a pleasure traveling with you." he
said, shaking her hand warmly. He then turned and went back to his tent.
"Come on.
. . Kariana, is it?" Kerry said, standing and looking up at the Elf. "I'll
show you to the tent. You get to sleep with me, I suppose, Ragnors' snoring
would probably keep you up all night!" she said in that same merry voice,
leading Kariana away towards the her tent, which was startlingly tall enough
for the tall Elf to get into. Ragnor smiled and started to clean up the
campsite.
"We must
all be mad. We will never be able to get into the treasure hoard of a dragon!"
Drakar said, worriedly. Ragnor ignored him. Finally, the cleric sighed
noticeably. "I shall be praying to Torin for guidance if anyone needs me."
he said, storming off.
*****
Early the
next morning, the companions started off towards the mountain range. The
first two days of the journey went without incident as they made a wide
berth of the devastated Kith'tarka. Kariana and Kerry actually struck up
a pretty good friendship, as long as Kerry kept her hands off of Kariana's
equipment. As she was a very concientious forest dweller, Kariana was constantly
trying to describe to Ragnor which plants and berries were good for food,
and which were poisonous, in hopes that he would cook something besides
roast rabbit. By the third day of the journey, they actually had
decent food, at least in Kariana's opinion.
Drakar spent
the entire time saying prayers to his god, muttering things about attacking
a dragon, and practicing swinging his staff. Tazir walked alone, off to
the side of the party, and kept shooting Kariana thoughtful looks as they
traveled, which she carefully ignored.
The fifth
day of the journey, they found Greygold, Liliana's pony. He had been wandering
about in the woods, too frightened to go near Kith'tarka. Surprisingly,
he decided to be nice to Kariana instead of his usual wariness, so the
party used him as a pack horse and continued. Finally, after a week of
journeying, they reached the base of the mountain range. As it was late
in the day, they decided to camp for the night. Tazir walked up to Kariana
as she was unburdening and rubbing down Greygold.
"I did say
that sword was resistant to fire, but it may not extend that protection
to the dragons' breath." he told her. “It could only be valid protection
from natural fires." he commented off-handedly as he watched her.
"Did I say
that I thought that?" she asked quietly, looking amused at his suggestion.
Tazir remained silent. "Do you really think that I would charge into a
dragon's lair for revenge?" She pressed on, trying to get an answer out
of the cagey wizard.
"I think
that you should watch for dangers other than the dragon." he said cryptically,
and walked off towards his tent. Kariana stared after him for a moment.
Was he saying that she was in danger from another enemy, not including
the dragon? Not knowing the answer, she finished with the pony and went
to the tent she and Kerry shared.
*****
The wizard stood out on the cliff, watching the tiny campfire light below. There were visitors coming to his mountain. He was going to make sure he was prepared if they decided to cause trouble.
*****