Chasing the Dragon (31 page)

Alto slapped the splisskin until it hissed and coughed. It raised its arms to fend him off
and then stopped and stared at all of them. The snakeman hissed again and tried to pull himself away, only to be stopped by Alto's strong hand on his neck.

"Humans," Alto growled at him. "Where are they
? The prisoners."

The lizardman hissed and croaked in his own language until Alto tightened his grip so much he couldn't form words.

"He's lying," Mordrim stated. "I never seen a walking snake that couldn't speak the human tongue."

"Jar his memory," Alto said.

Mordrim grinned and swung his hammer off his shoulder. Alto grabbed his captive's arm and slammed it against the ground straight out from his body. The splisskin struggled but was no match for Alto's strength.

Mordrim's hammer fell with a satisfying, and sickening, crunch. A sibilant howl escaped past Alto's hand on his captive's throat. He jerked his arm away, only to hiss and cry again from the way his elbow now bent in any direction gravity took it.

Alto picked the splisskin's head up by his throat and cracked it back against the carpeted floor, hard enough to stun him and get his attention. "My friend is going to kill you," Alto promised. "How painful that is depends on what you tell us."

"Alto, I can heal him," Karthor said from behind him.

The lizardman stared past Alto at Karthor and nodded. "Prisoner," he rasped. "Down the other hallway, across from this one. Up a ramp and through a metal door."

Alto nodded and cracked his head again a little harder. He rose up and nodded to Mordrim. Karthor opened his mouth but Mordrim's hammer smashed into the splisskin's face and ended the conversation.

"You heard him, let's go," Alto said. He went to the door just as Garrick opened it. The hallway was open in front of them but he saw splisskin guards wearing leather studded with metal rivets at the intersection. He smashed into them with his shield while he was drawing his sword.

By the time Alto had stopped and turned back around to kill the lizardmen he'd surprised and knocked aside
, he found that Garrick and Mordrim had already finished them. Blue flames flickered from one of the corpses and leapt to another one that lay nearby.

Alto nodded and turned back around,
and then continued down the passage. He ran until he found the ramp and started up it, and then had to retreat back down when a fresh troop of splisskin charged him. They used the ramp as a bottleneck and slaughtered the reptilian men, and then rushed up and emerged into a wide hallway with the promised metal door at one end and other halls and doors leading off in other directions. Between them and the door stood a force of a dozen splisskin, including one wearing a robe with some arcane runes worked into them.

"Humans!" the robed splisskin addressed them.

Alto and Mordrim snarled at them and charged. They'd managed to close half the distance when the ground beneath their feet turned to sand and tripped them up. They plunged into it and found their arms and legs trapped beneath the sucking sands.

The splisskin warriors cheered and charged forward, running towards them with weapons raised. Garrick and Patrina had slowed when Alto and Mordrim fell but now they started forward again, only to find themselves trapped
with their friends by the magical quicksand.

"I'll take care of him," Kar growled as he reached into his pocket.

"Too late," Carson said. He released the arrow he'd drawn and was nocking a second when the first struck the splisskin wizard high on his chest, just right of his left shoulder. The wizard turned and stumbled, and then started to rise up again when the next arrow struck him in the back and knocked him to the ground.

Alto and Mordrim rose up from the sand, pulling their hands and feet free just as the splisskin reached the far side of it. Their weapons leapt out, parrying the splisskin or ignoring them, in Alto's case, and then cleaving into scaly flesh. Patrina and Garrick ran across the now firm sand to add their prowess to the battle.

It was over in moments, the splisskin warriors all dead or dying. Carson retrieved two of his arrows that he'd fired; the other three had broken in the fight.

"Wizardry," Garrick spoke the word as a curse.

"It's a powerful thing," Kar agreed. "Can save your arse as soon as it can set it afire."

"Keep your fire away from me," Garrick growled.

Kar waggled his eyebrows at the barbarian and walked ahead to where Alto was studying the metal door. Mordrim joined them and then reached out to trace his fingers over the handle. The dwarf grunted and twisted the latch. When nothing happened aside from an audible click, he pushed it open. Mordrim shrugged and looked at the others.

Alto pushed into the room first and looked around. He saw hallways with barred cells visible, as well as a few tables. He motioned about and called out for his friends to search the cells,
and then he went straight ahead to the hallway that ended in a closed door. It was locked.

Alto brought his own key with him this time. He backed up and charged the door, leading with his plate
mail-covered shoulder. The door burst under his force and he went crashing to the ground. When he picked his head up, he gasped. Blood spattered the floor in front of him, surrounding a platform filled with spikes of varying lengths that stuck straight into the air. His eyes continued to rise until he saw a bloody ruin of a man hanging from chains that ran through rings in the ceiling to wheels on either side of the room. Blood dripped from the man as he hung suspended.

Slowly the prisoner picked his head up and confirmed Alto's worst fears. It was Namitus. "Knew you'd come," he whispered before he passed out.

Chapter 30

"Well, Your Highness, it seems we've discussed about all that we can," Tristam said.

Rosalyn looked up at him from the paper in front of her. She offered a smile and embossed it with her seal. "I think this will benefit us greatly, and I'm appreciative of your understanding of our situation."

Tristam smiled in response. "I'm new to this leadership thing myself, Queen Rosalyn, so we have that in common. I've had a hard enough time grappling with the intricacies of an established city recovering from a war. I can't imagine how difficult it is to create a new kingdom."

Rosalyn turned and looked at Aleena. "I must confess, I'm somewhat disappointed. All this time we've spent discussing the intricacies of mining and transport and we've had no time to ourselves."

Aleena bowed her head from where she stood. Her back ached from standing for so long but it was her duty to do so. She'd been offered a seat many times, but she was an agent of Leander. A symbol of his strength and benevolence. She would not show any weakness. "I have offered what thoughts I have, Your Highness."

Rosalyn nodded. "Yes, I suppose you have. Still, there are many things I would
have liked to speak of with you. Baron Highpeak and I may both be new to ruling, but I believe you and I have far more in common. It's rare that I find someone like that."

Aleena smiled and glanced at Tristam. "If it's all right with you, Baron, I could stay a bit longer and help oversee your men."

Tristam shrugged his shoulders. "Two weeks ago I'd have been concerned, but even an old warhorse like me has to admit that I've been treated well by creatures I once considered my mortal foes. They like their meat a little on the rare side still, but I imagine a woman's touch will civilize things up here nicely. And should that fail, I've heard enough to convince me that Dame Aleena has the strength and steel to set things right."

Rosalyn rose from her seat at the table. "I appreciate your offer," she said with a smile. "And as you've said, you've been gone
from Highpeak for some time now. Surely your city must languish in your absence."

Tristam rose and laughed. "Languish? I should hope not, but I suspect there may have been a bit of relaxation."

"Well then, there is light enough left you can be well on your way if you so choose."

Tristam raised an eyebrow and then nodded. "I suppose you've got a point. I'll admit, I'm looking forward to my bed again. My body's not one for the trail anymore, I fear."

"About that." Rosalyn turned to a goblin that was sitting on a chair and carving at his fingernails with a knife. She sighed and shook her head, but ignored her minion's crude behavior. "Fetch the baron his gift."

The goblin jerked his head up and looked around,
and then settled his eyes on her. He jumped to his feet and ran off. Tristam chuckled and said, "A gift? I hardly think that's necessary, Your Highness."

"My master was a
wizard well known for his abilities with potions," she said, ignoring his protest. The goblin returned with a box and handed it to her. Rosalyn placed it on the table and continued. "I learned much from him, though I doubt I will ever be his equal. My interests lie in other realms."

"So what is this?" Tristam asked as he pulled the top off the box and saw a silver flask
lying in it.

"Something to help you with your infirmity," Rosalyn said. "If nothing else
, it should help to take the ache out during the many cold and long winters."

Tristam raised his eyebrow in surprise. "That would be welcome indeed! You've left me feeling the fool
. I've brought nothing to exchange in return."

Rosalyn laughed and gestured out the door of the tent they sat in. "You've brought men with the skills to teach my people and construct my city. A hundred such potions could not repay your kindness."

"When you get to my age, you might not feel that same way," the baron said with a smirk. "But if you say we're even, I'm not fool enough to challenge you. I'll pass word along and look forward to not living on a frontier threatened by hardship and raids at any given moment."

They exchanged a few more pleasantries before Tristam left with his personal guard and advisors. Aleena helped him break camp and saw him off,
and then returned once he'd made it to the edge of the chaotic construction site. She rode through the men, ogres, and goblins that worked side by side and left Moonshine outside the entrance to the cave.

"My
lady!"

Aleena turned, surprised to hear someone addressing her so soon. She was even more surprised to see Ketten striding towards her. "Ketten! I thought you'd ridden off on a mission for your queen?"

"I'm back," he said with a smile. He turned and swept his hand across the partially constructed town. "And I'm amazed. I never thought I'd see the day."

"Which day is that?" Aleena asked, her eyes turning to take in the foundations of roads, walls, and buildings that were well underway.

He laughed. "They day humans would work beside ogres and goblins, for one! Or the day when a real city would take shape here, not just a bunch of poorly built huts and tents."

Aleena nodded. "It does my heart good to see such things. To give the peoples of the mountains a chance to learn and become civilized means that so much hatred and bloodshed can be avoided. So many people can live in peace instead of fear. My only regret is that it did not happen sooner."

Ketten shrugged. "I suppose you're right. Is Queen Rosalyn in?"

"She was a few hours ago
. I was just headed back to see her."

Ketten's brow furrowed. "Where've you been?"

"Baron Highpeak rode out this morning and I saw him away. Queen Rosalyn retired to her chambers to deal with her affairs."

Ketten's lips pressed together but he didn't explain his reaction. Instead
, the mountain man turned seneschal said, "Well then, Dame Aleena, might I escort you into the queen's halls?"

Aleena smiled. "I'd be honored."

Ketten grinned and swept his hand in a gesture for her to walk with him into the cavern that led into the mountain. Aleena walked with him and let him lead her through the tunnels that wound up and into the chamber where Rosalyn was consulting a tome while she mixed ingredients into a simmering pot over a fire.

"My
queen," Ketten announced himself. "I've returned and found a certain lady paladin in need of an escort."

Aleena's chuckle died in her throat when Rosalyn looked up sharply at them. Her cheeks looked shrunken and her eyes had a coldness t
o them. She blinked and smiled, straightening as she did so. That quickly, the foreign animosity was gone. "Baron Highpeak is safely on his way?"

"The only thing he has to fear is a mountain lion spooking his horse and throwing him," Aleena said. "I came to offer my thanks again for your hospitality and to offer my services."

"Your services?" Rosalyn asked. "But you are sworn to your church."

Aleena blushed. "Ah, not those services. I meant the things we'd discussed. Um, about talking more and sharing ideas."

"Of course, my apologies," Rosalyn said. "I'm looking forward to that very much. Indeed, spending these last couple of weeks with you and the baron were a wonderful reminder of how much I missed civilized contact. I look forward to the day when my people can hold themselves to such standards."