Black Thorn Read online

  Siegfried scoffed ignoring the last comment, “No Dwarf could out drink an Elf.”

  “Oh is that right. Good barmaid some ale please!” Harth said to the waiting bar maiden.

  The others watched with a mixture of amusement and horror as the two drank their way through pint after pint. While Siegfried and Harth drank their body weight in ale, Gideon, Asuna, and Katrina ate their body weight in food. It was an exotic blend of steamed mushrooms, wild rice, cheese, fish, and some of the best bread Gideon and Katrina had ever eaten.

  As the night wore on and their stomachs were filled talk turned to life here among the Elves.

  “All Elven citizens are required to serve five years in the Elven army.” Asuna explained, “So most of us do not marry or start any form of trade until we are in our late thirties.”

  “So by your standards, your King must be very young,” Gideon said.

  “It is not so, Radavas is very old even among the Elves. He is one of the long-lived ones, an Elf that has not been touched by the mortality of this earth. I believe he is closing in on three hundred and his Queen is at least seventy.”

  Gideon’s jaw dropped, he had never known the Elves were so long lived.

  “Do most Elves live that long?”

  Asuna took a moment to consider, “Our kind will normally live to one hundred and fifty, but we are nowhere near that of Radavas. It is predicted that he will live to five hundred years which I know is long for a Human, but is only a fraction of what we once were.”

  “What do you mean, what you once were?” Katrina asked puzzled.

  “I really shouldn’t go into it with an outsider, but you are my friends. Our race and that of all the fae come from beyond the veil. The fae lands are on this earth, but not, you see originally we were the opposite of the Human world. Where this side of the world is governed by the goddess of order Ava, our side was governed by the goddess of chaos Arianna.”

  “But how did your kind come to this side?”

  Asuna smiled sadly, “Our goddess the creator of magic planted the seeds of our destruction and of your destruction, but I will not go into it. Needless at the peak of the calamity the Maker took pity on us and brought our kinds together along with the magic and punished the goddesses. As for the way we were before, the tales say that we all were once immortal and our magic was so great our very thoughts became a reality. It was these thoughts that breathed life into magic creating the demons.”

  Gideon perked up on this, “You mean to tell me that the Elves are responsible for the shade that caused me such trouble?”

  Asuna looked pained, “I was not one that caused you to pain Gideon, nor was any Elf that is alive today, but yes. Not just the Elves, but the Dwarves and the Orcs as well.”

  Harth roused himself from his stupor long enough to add “N-now don’t be lumpin me in width them girl.”

  Asuna shot a disgusted look over at him, “You’re drunk.”

  Harth gave a hearty laugh, “Yes, I am in my cup. I beat your Elf though.” He babbled and pointed to Siegfried who was snoozing in a bowl of mushrooms. “You do make wonderful ale, lacks the stoutness of mine people, but wonderful just the same.”

  Gideon put a comforting hand on Asuna’s arm, “Please don’t mind him. I do not hold you or your people responsible for the evil that has befallen me. That blame alone stands at the feet of the necromancer.”

  “Speaking of the necromancer, your king said he knew something of it,” Katrina added.

  Asuna took a draft of mead and very carefully she said. “We have known of the threat for some time. It is why my squad was stationed near the pool when we found you. We knew that some force of magic had been working its will on the Orc people.”

  A spark of irritation played across Gideon’s face as he stood up, “Come, Harth, it's best we get Siegfried to bed. Katrina, Asuna don’t stay up too late.” He went around with Harth and hoisted Siegfried by the arms and dragged him off.

  Once they were out of ear shoot Katrina turned to Asuna, “Don’t mind Gideon, he’s always been a bit of a hot head. He’ll realize how rude he was just now and apologize tomorrow.” Asuna looked relieved and continued sipping her mead.

  “He is fond of you, ya know. I’ve seen the way he looks at you, and I’ve seen how you look at him.” Katrina said slyly over her mug of mead. Asuna blushed from her neck to her roots, and with her face downcast in her cup she said, “Nothing will come of it.”

  “What do you mean?” Katrina asked.

  “Well isn’t it obvious, I’m an Elf, and he’s Human. Not only will I outlive him by at least sixty years, but it’s forbidden for any Elf to pursue one of another race.”

  Katrina smiled, “Well maybe it’s time that changes. Come on let’s get to bed.”

  Chapter 14 The Black Tower

  T hey left the city at first light, trying and failing to escape much notice from the inhabitance of Haven. This time, however, they were not met with the outright hostility as before. Despite a few angry glares they were able to pass from the city without incident. They traveled southwest to the spire of rock that formed the high peak in the Blackridge Mountains. This as far as any of them could tell was the point in which Joseph expected them, as it was the only peak near Glenwallow. They were unsure what they would find, and a certain amount of dread was on their hearts as that mountain was all that separated them and the Orc city of ShadyFair.

  “Do you think we will meet any Orcs on the way?” Gideon asked the group at large.

  Siegfried laughed, “Not unless the Orcs wanted to be filled with arrows. No, we patrol our borders well.” He ended this with a glance at Katrina, and for an instant, Gideon thought there might be something in that, but he let it go. For this bit of information encouraged Gideon only a little, Thornpine had been well defended and hadn’t a shade been able to come right in and kill whom it pleased?

  “Will we stop in Glenwallow? I’d like to see more Elven cities.” Katrina asked

  Asuna put a hand on her shoulder, “In Haven, our kind is a bit more civil as Great King Radavas keeps everyone at ease, but that is not so in our outer most cities, and I would not want any of you to come to harm. So no we will go around.”

  This led them in a faster, if not more difficult route. There was no pass in this area, Elf-made or otherwise and they were forced to climb the bare snowy rock of the mountain at times. The spire shots hundreds of feet into the air before dropping into a manageable incline where big black pines thickly covered the surface giving the mountains its name Blackridge. They walked in partial darkness winding their way through the maze of trees.

  “Where do you think Joseph would be if he were meeting us?” Siegfried asked at the beginning of their second day of searching the mountain.

  “I don’t know Siegfried; he just said he would be close to Elden. I fear in our tardiness he must have pressed on. So I say we keep heading towards ShadyFair and look for some sign of him.”

  “Gideon that plan is well and all, but none of us are trackers, we’re warriors. What if we have already missed some track the old man has made for us?” Harth said

  “Fear not Harth,” Gideon said patting his friend on the back, “I feel that we will find him. The sage likes for us to figure things out on our own after all.”

  As night began to descend, Gideon started to play with his magic, sending balls of light flying around the group. This had little practical use, but Katrina was happy to see that her brother hadn’t lost all of his playfulness. They traveled in the near dark for over an hour. Finally, it was Harth who stopped them.

  “I can’t go any further, I’m sorry, but I need to eat and rest these tired feet of mine.” Gideon looked annoyed at stopping, seeing this Asuna said

  “I too would like to rest. Wondering around in the dark will only get us lost, and we may miss some vital clue we would not have otherwise.”

  The others sounded their weariness and Gideon saw that he was outvoted. So he helped them make camp. Cleari
ng away as much brush, fallen leaves and snow (what little reached the ground through the thick canopy.) as they could so to make a fire without fear of it catching the forest around them. Once the fire was burning Harth set to work cooking dinner. Siegfried passed around a bottle of some amber liquor he had acquired in Haven, and they all drew close around the fire for some comfort in this strange land.

  The third day of their journey found the party utterly lost and they wondered again if Joseph meant for them to come this way. Each direction they took looked like the last until Gideon stopped them.

  “Friends I fear that I have led you astray,” Gideon said.

  “It’s alright lad, and I’m sure we will find our way out of this blasted forest,” Harth said.

  It was at that moment that Siegfried drew his sword looking wildly around, Asuna too looked panicked drawing her bow and crouching low and training an arrow on a group of trees. Harth pulled his axe, squinting around looking for the danger that the two Elves had sensed and Katrina and Gideon drew close to each other, each drawing their weapons ready for the fight to come.

  “We mean you no harm.” Came a silky voice from behind the trees in front of them. “We only wonder why you are here.”

  “Lost they are in our woods, should not be here we think.” Said another voice from behind them.

  “They look frightened; they should be. Evil things walk these woods.” A voice from their left said.

  “Should we help them? It would speed them on their way.” A voice from the right sang.

  Then the voice from behind the trees in front of them charmed, “The sage would want us to bring them we think.”

  Alarmed Gideon said, “What do you know of Joseph? Show yourselves!” From behind the trees, from all sides came creatures Gideon had never seen before. They had slanted features like the Elves, but where covered in glistening scales of every color. Their body was much more serpent like than Elven.

  “Drackens.” Siegfried spat in disgust, “Abominations of the underworld.” The drackens recoiled as if burned.

  “We are not abominations cousin Elf. We are the perfected sire of the great dragon and our lady of the mountain.”

  Asuna stood, holstered her bow and walked over to Siegfried and placed a calming hand on his shoulder. He paid her no mind, just stayed tense and glared at the drackens.

  “Siegfried it is not our place to question what creatures the Maker allows to surface and it seems they may have some ideas to where our friend is to be found.”

  Siegfried glared at her, “You know our laws, contact with the taboo is forbidden.”

  “Then as your commanding officer, I command you sheath your sword so that we may hear what is to be said about our friend Joseph.” Shock painted Siegfried’s face and it was clear that he would rather run the drackens through with his sword than listen to what they had to say. Finally, he heaved his massive greatsword to the half sheath on his back and strode away muttering all the while.

  “Forgive him,” Asuna began “He is only following the teachings of our race and knows no better.”

  “We understand, we have had contact with our cousins before and have seen this type of… discomfort.” One of the drackens said giving Asuna a mock bow. Harth and Katrina put away their weapons, but Gideon was not so quick to trust.

  “You said you had heard word of the sage Joseph; I would have you tell us this news before we go any further with pleasantries.”

  The group of drackens looked at each other as if deciding how to respond. This did not instill any ease to Gideon’s heart and he tightened the grip on his sword.

  “We found the old one, the sage. We says to ourselves; this is a great one, let us help him. His quest he tells us and to our leader, we take him, so that he might find this necromancer he searches for.” The drackens said this as a group, each, in turn, their heads swaying with their odd sing-song voice.

  “Will you take us to him?” Katrina asked. This aroused so much excitement in the drackens that it was several minutes before their strange chirping and hissing (which Katrina assumed was their language.) stopped, and they were able to respond in the common tongue.

  “Yesss we would be most happy to take you where the sage is.”

  Gideon wrestled with indecision for a few moments then said, “Then let us make haste, lead on.” And the group of drackens turned in one fluid motion and began a western descent. They led them onto a path Gideon swore was not there when the group had first ventured this way, but it was apparently a well-trodden path that cut between the trees and underbrush. They traveled for the better part of the day until the drackens stopped.

  “Why are we stopping? There’s nothing here.” Gideon asked

  The drackens turned to him, “We must make camp, a storm will surely blow up around us and we would not want to be out of the forest when it comes. We will stay here for the night and in the morning we will take you to your sage.”

  “Fine, but we will make separate camps. I don’t mean to offend you, but I think my friend Siegfried here will sleep better for it.”

  The drackens didn’t look at all fazed by this, they merely moved off a little way down the path and began making themselves a camp.

  Harth, Katrina, and Asuna began preparing their own camp, but Gideon took Siegfried aside. “I need you to tell me what you know of these creatures now before we go any further.”

  Siegfried said, “They are cult worshipers. They are abominations, a twisted combination of Elf and dragon. It is said that one of the dragon gods took an Elf-maiden, the one they call the lady of the mountain, and bread with her. They are generations of twisted breeding between straying Elves and dragons.”

  “You told me what they are, but do you know anything that might help our present situation?”

  Siegfried shook his head, “That’s all I really know, they worship the dragon and the first Elf women to breed with it. They’re a cult and they are the outcasts among the Elves.”

  “Why are they outcasts and can we trust them?”

  “It’s forbidden for any Elf to mate with one that is not our own race. As for trusting them, I do not know; I get a foreboding feeling every time I look at them.”

  Gideon sighed, “So do I, it’s too convenient that they just happened upon us while we were lost and they just happen to know where to find Joseph. No everything in me is telling me not to follow them, but we don’t have much choice.”

  “Well, we should watch our backs,” Siegfried said a little coolly.

  “Agreed, we will take shifts sleeping tonight.” The two grasped hands then turned back to the group and began helping set the camp for the night, telling the others that they would be sleeping in shifts.

  After a cold dinner of salted meat and cheese, Gideon bid the others turn in for an early night; and he wanted to give them plenty of time to rest. He told Siegfried that he would wake him for the second shift around midnight and then Harth would wake for the last change around three. The girls would not have to stay up this time, but if they stopped again, they would take up the first two shifts with Gideon taking the last.

  Gideon sat with his back to the fire, staring at the dracken camp on the other side of the path. The drackens had made no fire and carried only light blankets to sleep on. As far as he had seen, they didn’t even eat anything, although they all had taken deep drinks from waterskins they all carried. Gideon wondered again if he should trust them, he couldn’t find any reason not to believe them, but still, something nagged at him bidding him to stay on guard. Their presence was a little too convenient.

  As the night wore on Gideon’s mind wondered, he glanced around at his sleeping companions all of them bundled up under thick blankets and laying on thick sleeping skins. His eyes fell upon Asuna and he marveled upon the way the fire danced on her pale skin and the way her dark hair fell to frame her face perfectly even in her sleep. Gideon shook himself and sighed; he knew any feelings he had would never be returned. He was after all Human.

/>   At midnight Gideon rose from his place beside the fire and went over to nudge Siegfried awake. He found the Elf wide awake, clutching a dagger in one hand and his blanket in the other.

  “Have you not been able to sleep?” Gideon asked concerned.

  “No, I don’t know why but I haven’t been able to rest much in this forest. There is something that watches over us, I feel it.” Siegfried whispered.

  Gideon watched his friend for a few moments then sighed and said, “Here I have some water by the fire, let’s have some tea. I’ll do part of your shift with you.”

  The morning found all the group rested save Gideon and Siegfried. After a hurried breakfast of the same salted meat and cheese from the night before, they broke camp and followed the group of drackens.

  Gideon, determined to learn more about their guides fell alongside one of them. “What is your name?”

  The dracken looked at him confused. “This one is not known by any name save this one, and this one is part of the collective. We have no need for names for this life is but a dream, it is the next that we will take our true forms and ride the air with our master.”

  “So how do you tell each other apart?” Gideon inquired.

  Again the dracken looked confused. “We are not apart. We are together.”

  “I mean, say you wanted to have a conversation with one of the other drackens, or you were describing another dracken. How would you be able to say who you were speaking about or to?” Gideon pressed.

  “Why would one scale talk to another scale? We are all part of the collective. We are all a part of the dragon.” The dracken replied.

  One of the drackens hissed and the one that Gideon was talking to would say no more.

  T he trees parted revealing a craggy outcropping of bare rock. Perched on top of this stood an immense black stone building. It twisted upwards in an odd spiral and it was only when Gideon had stared at it for a time that he realized the structure was made to resemble a dragon’s tail.

  “We welcome you,” the drackens chanted, “To Tas-maril, or the Tail of God.”