(Dragonkin) Dragon Rider (13 page)

   Captain Brannor caught up with the men he had sent to follow the remaining bandits less than three hours later, with their two captives in tow. Several of the bandits in the group ahead were injured, and barely keeping up with the others. They were slowing the outlaws down, and over the next nine days, five more of the more badly wounded men, were taken prisoner when the outlaws abandoned them to their pursuers.

   The bandit that was badly wounded, died within two days of the attack at their camp, and was left lying where he died after he was stripped of everything he had that was useable.

   On the tenth day of the chase, Captain Brannor spotted another group of bandits coming west, and headed straight at them. He called his men together, and told them they would need to attack the outlaws, before the brigands could get organized and defend themselves. The solders from Argnon formed into two lines, and as the two groups of brigands came together, charged into their ranks, and attacked them without mercy.

   Out of the trees came a military force in great numbers, and within minutes, all but two of the one hundred plus outlaws were dead. That would give Captain Brannor ten bandits to return to Menimeth for interrogation.

   Captain Brannor looked at the seasoned cavalrymen that had entered the fight from the trees, and believed they were a grand sight as they formed up and waited for their orders. Their leader was dressed just like his men, but had an air of authority that only a seasoned officer of many campaigns would emanate. The leader turned his horse, and riding up to Captain Brannor, saluted.

   "I am Commander Rayden of the lost cavalry." He said. "We are from Griblund, far to the south."

   "I am known as Captain Brannor." He said. "And I am from Argnon, capital of the western realm of the Great Kingdom. What has brought you so far from your home, to be lost?"

   "The evil mage king has overrun our land, and we are all that is left of the army of Griblund. I seek your king, to offer our aid in return for his." Commander Rayden said, in a very formal manner.

   "That is what brought you here and into this fight?" Javen asked, surprised.

   "We discovered a woman who was a victim of the brigands, and a town that was losing people to them." Commander Rayden explained. "We located the nest of highwaymen that were responsible, so we killed or captured all but those that fled before us."

   "If you need to speak to our king, come with us, we are taking these murders back to him." Captain Brannor said, as he pointed to the outlaws they had captured. "He is only two weeks to the west."

   "Thank you, we will come with you." Rayden said. "But I have some men back at the town where all of this started, and they are waiting for us to return. I need to send one of my men back to tell them to protect the town, until further notice."

   "I can see only one problem with that." Captain Brannor replied. "One man is a target out here, you should send at least two, if you wish them to reach the great road alive."

   "That is sound advice." Commander Rayden said. "And you can never be too careful."

   In the end, Commander Rayden sent four men back to the great road with their orders, and he and the rest of the men, followed Captain Brannor to the west.

*****

Menimeth watched Captain Brannor ride out in pursuit of the outlaws, as the men who were moving the camp from its original location by the stream, were setting up the new one inside the monastery. Chanry was with him, and they looked like father and son, as they stood watching the men ride west. He had to find the box that Falendor wanted in exchange for the request he had made at the banquet, but it could not be so easy as Falendor would have him believe it to be. No one has been able to find or retrieve the box, in the more than five hundred years since it was placed there, and there had to be a reason why.

   The outlaws had been here for several days, and it was obvious that they were searching for something Menimeth thought. He suspected that they looked for the box he was sent to find, but how could they have known that he would be coming. The ambush was set up almost before he departed from Argnon, and the outlaws seemed to know how many were in his group. There had to be a traitor in Argnon, however, so far the plans of whoever was behind the ambush had been thwarted.

   The chapel that stood in the center of the monastery was still in good condition after all this time, but the rest of the monastery lay in ruins. Menimeth walked to the large doors of the chapel, followed closely by Chanry, while Litlorn, Kyler, and Feran, waited for them inside with the torches. The walls were covered with elaborate paintings that depicted various scenes from the ancient empire, and stone carvings of dragon riders were everywhere. The men from Alenvale stood in the center of the chapel, and were captured by the beauty of its ornate interior.

   Menimeth entered the chapel, and the companions walked to the door that led to the dungeon below.

   "We will all stay together as we search the dungeon." Menimeth told his friends, "That way if we get lost, we will all be lost together."

   "Where do you want to start?" Litlorn asked. "It is a large maze down there?"

   "We are looking for a statue of Darious, the ancient priest of Glansford, nothing more. So the beginning will have to do." Menimeth replied.

   "Does anyone know what he looked like?" Kyler asked, as he looked around the group.

   "Yes, I once made a trip to the city of Glansford with my father when I was younger." Litlorn replied. "And we visited him while we were there."

   "Then let us begin the hunt." Menimeth said, smiling at the others. "And Litlorn can lead the way."

   When they had reached the bottom of the stairs that led down into the dungeon, they found themselves in a small room, and three hallways led from it in different directions. There was a statue in all four corners of the small room, and Litlorn looked at them. Each was different, but they were all of the same person.

   "These are all statues of Darious." He said.

   "I did not think it would be that easy." Menimeth said, as he examined each statue, one at a time.

   "I see nothing in the stone that is odd. None of these are the one we seek, I think." Litlorn said.

   "Then we will start with the hallway to the right, and continue the search." Menimeth said. "Since that is where the brigands were looking."

   During the next two days, the searchers found twenty-seven more statues of Darious, but none of them proved to be the one they were looking for. All of the statues that they found were of Darious, and each one showed him in a different way. They were all about the same size and height as the four statues in the first room that they entered from the stairs, and all of them were on the same, block stone base.

   That day, Danorathin reported that an attack on the brigand camp had killed several of the remaining outlaws, and that two of the brigands were captured, but one of them most likely would not survive to be brought back to him.

   For the next three days, the searchers walked the dungeons of Darious, and returned to camp each night. Fifty-nine more statues of Darious had been found, but like the others, they were not the one they looked for.

   "This is an impossible task." Feran said on the forth day. "There are so many statues, how are we to know which one is the one with the box?"

   "It will be different from the rest, if only by a small amount." Menimeth told him. "We knew it would not be easy, but we must find the box if the men from the fair are to go home."

   "You are right, Meni." Feran said. "But it just seems so hopeless."

   "We will find it Feran, you will see." Litlorn said, and slapped Feran on the back with his usual smile.

   The days went by as the men searched for the one statue, in the dungeon that turned out to be even bigger than anyone suspected. Some doors led to various rooms, but some led to other halls and even more doors. By the eighth day of searching, more than three hundred statues of Darious were located and examined. The task turned out to be much harder than even Menimeth suspected, and the friends were getting frustrated.

   "They have killed all but ten of the bandits, and the ten, they bring back with them." Danorathin told his master.

   "Then you are on your way back my friend?" Menimeth asked his dragon.

   "Yes, but the captain is not alone, and do not worry, they have not seen me."

   "I was not worried my friend, you are very clever, as well we very smart."

   "Yes, you are right of course, as always." The dragon said, and Menimeth laughed out loud, causing his companions to turn and look at him.

   "Who comes with them?" He asked his friend.

   "Solders that helped kill the outlaws. There are ninety-eight of them.

   "Then come back here, and we will wait for them to arrive together."

   The next morning, the searchers began the hunt once again, but the days had taken their toll on them, and even Litlorn was having doubts. It had been ten days, and they had still not taken the hallway left of the stairs, that led down into the dungeon. They had not reached the end of the hallway to the right yet, and they hoped they would find the box before they were forced to return to the stairs, and begin with the next hallway.

   Chanry did not go with them that day, but stayed in the chapel to look at the paintings and the statues instead. He was tired of all that walking, and there was nothing exciting down there for him to see anymore. A statue of Darious stood at the back of the chapel, and Chanry looked at it along with the lions that stood on both sides of it. It was smaller than the ones in the dungeon by half, but stood on a, much bigger stone base.

   The name Darious was not chiseled into the stone, like all the ones in the dungeon, but the stone was chiseled away, leaving his name and the runes that were under it, behind. One of the runes below his name was crooked, and Chanry reached out to straighten it without thinking. To his surprise, it turned easily when he tried it, and he turned the rune to its proper position. When it was once again straight, there was a click from inside the statue, and the chiseled out area opened and slid forward. Inside was a small box with golden runes inlayed in the top, with gold hinges, and a gold clasp holding it closed. A golden dragon was in the center of the lid, and it looked almost alive.

   Chanry grabbed the box and ran to the stairs that led down into the dungeon. His master needed it, and they had only been gone a short time, so he decided to follow them. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, and was in the room it ended in, he stopped and looked around. The light from the stairs enabled him to see, but the hallways leading away were very dark, and he had forgotten to bring a torch. Thinking he saw a flicker of light down the left hallway, he turned and ran after it. He came to the intersection where he thought the light had vanished, and looked down it. Thinking he could still see the light, he ran to another intersection and turned to follow his master.

   He did not know how many times he turned while following the light in the hallways, but he had come to another intersection deep in the dungeon, and he could no longer see the light in any direction. He did not know what to do, and it was very dark in the dungeon, but he did not panic. He stood in the middle of the intersection, and looked down each hall as best he could. He was lost and he knew it, but he was not afraid. He stood looking down the halls, as he held the box in both hands, and wondered when his master would find him.

   The faint pale light caught his attention, as it came from the hall he happened to be looking down at the time. Chanry ran to where the light emanated, and called to his master as he did. The light came from a slight crack in the wall, in the center of the hallway, and Chanry put his fingers into the crack and pulled. The door opened easily, and Chanry bolted into the room, expecting to find his master, and the men that were with him.

   The light grew when he entered the room, and a faint humming sound began. A smooth round transparent stone, sat on a table in front of him, and a light began to pulse from within it. A book sat on one side of the pulsing stone, and a Sword lay on the other. A hazy cloud formed inside the stone, and then cleared, Chanry saw a young dragon rolling in the grass by a lake, and the dragon stopped rolling and looked straight at him. The cloud vanished in a bright flash, and Chanry fell to the ground, and knew no more.

   Menimeth and his companions reached the end of the hall that afternoon, and found a large underground pool at the bottom of some stairs that were discovered behind the last door, which was at the end of the hall. The mouth of a tunnel loomed in the back of the cave that held the large pool, and a boat was tied to a small wooden dock in front of them. They were about to get into the boat when the flash of light came from behind them, and filled the entire dungeon as it did.

   The searchers raced back to the stairs that led up to the chapel, and looked for the source of the light, but did not find it along the way. Menimeth went up into the chapel, and he ran out the doors and into the courtyard. The men in the camp leaped up when he burst from the doors and looked around, and then they looked at Menimeth. He stood there and studied the camp, but everything seemed normal.

   "Chanry!" He thought, and ran back into the chapel.

   They looked around the room for him, and searched everywhere they could think to look, but could not find him. That was when Kyler found the open door in the base of the statue, and called to his companions.

   "Look at this." He said to them.

   "The boy must have found the box in here." Kyler said, as he pointed to the empty chamber.

   "But what has happened to him?" Litlorn asked.

   "He went looking for me." Menimeth said, as he turned to the stairs and went back down into the dungeon.

   The men followed Menimeth with their torches in hand, and found Chanry's footprints in the dust, leading off down the hallway to their left.