Spirit Blade: Book III of the Dragon Mage Trilogy (21 page)

Zylor loosened his grip on the dwarf so he could speak. “I’ll talk! I’ll talk!” pleaded the terror stricken dwarf at last.

“Then talk!” breathed Zylor in a quiet, menacing voice.

“Your friend was here!” said the dwarf hastily. “Some of my contacts - they spotted your friend in town wearing chainmail from the king’s personal guard. None of the king’s personal guards ever leave the dwarven realm. They are always on duty. So my contacts figured he was a defector or a thief. Either way, there would be a healthy reward for his capture. They followed your friend to my shop and ordered me to lure him into the back where they ambushed him and took him away.”

“Where did they take him?” snarled Zylor.

“Back to the dwarven realm, of course,” said the dwarf. His mustache quivered nervously.

“When?” asked Kazin.

“Several hours ago,” said the dwarf. “They left with one of the many dwarven convoys that deliver weapons to the Tower of Sorcery and the human guard posts. The returning caravans carry some human goods and the gold that the weapons were sold for. They are heavily guarded. The return convoys travel quickly. In two days your friend will be at one of the entrances to the dwarven mountains. Beyond that, the dwarves won’t let you past. You might as well forget about your friend. You’ll never see him again.”

“How do we track the convoys?” asked Zylor.

The dwarf shook his head, his mustache quivering. “I don’t know very many details about the convoys. I do know they use different routes to confuse the roving bands of ogres, but that’s all.”

“Where do the convoys gather before departing?” asked Kazin.

“I don’t know,” said the dwarf, “but caravans are coming and going regularly. You just have to be at the town’s north gate to see them depart.”

“How many caravans leave per day?” asked Kazin.

“That depends on the volume of goods being transported,” said the dwarf. “Some days there are as many as twelve convoys. The last couple of weeks have been brisk. I’d say at least ten convoys have come and gone today alone.”

“Are there any more convoys departing today?” asked Zylor.

The dwarf turned to regard the minotaur who towered over him and nodded. “I’d wager that there is another one or two leaving before nightfall.”

“Ok, Zylor,” said Kazin at last. “You can let him down now. We have what we came to find out.”

A look of disappointment crossed Zylor’s features as he put the dwarf down and re-sheathed his axe.

“I’ll have to change you back to your original form, Zylor,” said Kazin. He chanted and Zylor immediately returned to his human form.

Zylor frowned and turned to the door. Kazin waited until the warrior had stepped past him and turned to follow when the dwarf called out. “You’ll pay for this! My contacts will deal with you like they did with your friend!”

Zylor turned and looked past Kazin with a sadistic grin. “I hope they try! Once we dispose of them, we’ll know exactly who to come for next!”

“I really think it’s in your best interest not to mention us to anyone,” added Kazin. “I’d sure hate to see harm come to your son because of your stupidity!”

“H - how do you know I have a son?” stuttered the dwarf.

“He’s been watching his father through the opening in the storeroom doorway,” said Kazin. “I’m sure you’ll have some explaining to do.”

The dwarf spun to look behind him and just caught sight of his son ducking out of sight. Then he turned back to the front door which stood ajar, the hinges all but torn off. The unwanted guests were gone. The dwarf’s face was white as he contemplated his next move. He decided right then and there not to say anything about this incident to anyone.

Kazin and Zylor returned to the inn with Harran’s horse. The others waited anxiously out front and looked hopeful when they saw the extra horse. Kazin ushered them into one of the rooms and filled them in on what they had uncovered thus far. Everyone was disappointed at the circumstances surrounding Harran’s disappearance.

“We have to get him back,” said Amelia.

“How do we do that?” asked Sherman. “It will be difficult to track him down.”

“Why don’t you change into a dragon and we can fly after the convoy?” suggested Amelia. “Surely we can catch up to them quickly.”

“The problem is which route did they take to the dwarven mountains?” said Zylor. He was now in his original form, having removed the amulet. “If they go a different way each time to avoid the ogres, we would be flying around aimlessly.”

“Besides, it’s too dark,” added Sherman.

“But that’s the best time to go,” argued Amelia. “We could fly under cover of darkness and look for the lights of the convoys. It would be easier to find a light in the darkness that a dark convoy in the daytime.”

“They don’t use torches,” said Olag. He had removed the invisibility ring since he was in the relative safety of the room away from any prying eyes. “They avoid using torches for travel and don’t even make campfires when they pause to rest in order to avoid detection by the ogres.”

“How do you know this?” asked Amelia.

Olag shrugged. “I found out by listening to a couple of dwarves in a tavern.”

“You were in a tavern?!” asked Amelia. “You were supposed to be searching for Harran!”

“What better place is there to find out information?” retorted Olag.

“What else did you find out?” asked Kazin.

“Apparently there is another dwarven convoy scheduled to depart the town this evening,” said Olag. “The meeting place is at a book store, of all places. It’s located on the north end of town.”

“Did they say if they had a prisoner to transport?” asked Sherman hopefully.

Olag shook his head. “No. This convoy is traveling light. They will merely be transporting gold obtained from the sale of dwarven weapons. But they did say dwarven civilians are welcome to go with them for security reasons. There will be some construction engineers who have recently completed work on the Tower of Sorcery who will be heading home with the convoy.”

“We could follow them,” suggested Sherman.

“I doubt if we could keep up without being noticed,” said Zylor, “if they travel as fast as the dwarf told us.”

“And we can’t exactly join them,” said Sherman.

“Not unless we were all invisible,” admitted Olag.

“What do you think, Kazin?” asked Amelia.

Kazin looked at her. “What does your orb tell us?”

Amelia withdrew her orb and studied it. As she concentrated, the orb’s colour varied its reddish hue. At one point it turned dark red and she looked up at the companions. Her face was strained. “I’m sorry, but if we go after Harran, we will lose track of our quarry and he will change history. Our only chance to stop him is contingent on us following his trail. If we go after Harran, we will lose that trail and our quarry will be unstoppable.”

Zylor pounded his fist on the table beside him. “We will not abandon Harran!”

“And what does the orb tell you about Harran? Will he escape his captors? Will he find a way to rejoin us?” asked Kazin.

Amelia studied her orb. It turned dark red again. She looked up and her face was haggard. “No, he will not escape on his own. If we don’t free him, he will change history as well. The orb shows that we still have a chance to free him if we respond quickly.”

“Then that is what we will do!” stated Zylor fervently. He gave Kazin a defiant look. “If history is altered by the one we seek, we can still go back to our own time and live our lives as we ordinarily would have before this quest began.”

Kazin shook his head. “I wish it were that simple, Zylor, but if history is changed now, everything after this can be affected. I can’t guarantee your own time will not also become affected somehow. Even small changes can have considerable repercussions.”

“Then we must have caused some of these changes ourselves by now,” said Sherman.

“If that were so,” said Kazin, “Amelia’s orb would indicate that.”

Everyone turned to the red-haired mage.

“Well, both of you are right,” said Amelia. “We should have made some sort of impact on history by now, however small, but we haven’t. I don’t understand why this is, but it’s true.”

“But either way, stopping the one we seek will be pointless if we don’t rescue Harran,” objected Olag. “Amelia just said so earlier.”

“What if we pursue both objectives?” asked Kazin. He nodded at Amelia. “Will your orb show if that’s possible?”

Amelia sighed. “That’s going to be difficult, but I’ll try.” She consulted her orb again and long moments passed. The orb colour wavered with varying shades of red but did not go to a dark red. At last, the mage paused and looked up. “According to the orb, it’s possible to succeed at both objectives. Barely. The odds are against us.”

“How do we do it?” asked Sherman.

Amelia shook her head. “It’s not that specific. It only shows me that it can be done.”

“I don’t like it,” muttered Sherman. “United we stand, divided we fall.”

“True,” said Kazin, “but if we don’t separate, this whole expedition is a failure.”

“If the orb is to be believed,” added Olag.

Amelia shot him an angry glance.

“I believe the orb,” said Kazin. He looked at Amelia once more. “If we succeed, will our whole group be able to reunite? I wouldn’t want half of us lost in time.”

Amelia sighed and consulted the orb again. A few minutes later she looked up again. “There’s a good possibility we will reunite. Ultimately that depends on how we fare with our goals.”

This time it was Kazin’s turn to sigh. Then his face lit up. “Of course!” He withdrew his miniature pouch and used enlarging magic to increase its size. Then he searched through it and pulled out several rings which he placed on the table. “These rings,” he explained, “I brought along for just such an occasion. I anticipated that some of us would get separated. In hindsight, I should have handed them out earlier. Then we wouldn’t have been in such a predicament in the first place. These rings allow the wearer to magically transport themselves to the one wearing the master ring, in this case the one I’m putting on right now.” He slid a ring onto his finger. Then he handed one out to each of the others, except Amelia. “I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I wasn’t expecting any additional companions on this journey.”

“But you have one left,” said Amelia, pointing to a left over ring on the table.

“That one is for Harran,” said Kazin. “Whoever finds him has to give him this ring and it will allow him to be magically whisked back to me with the others.”

“How do they work?” asked Olag.

“When you’re ready to come back to wherever I am,” instructed Kazin, “you rub them continuously with your finger for five seconds.”

“Why so long?” asked Sherman.

“Because that eliminates activating the ring by accident,” said the mage.

“There’s one problem,” objected Zylor, holding up his ring in his giant hand. “It’s too small for my fingers.”

“No it’s not,” said Kazin. “It’s magical. It will fit any finger you choose to put it on.”

The minotaur looked doubtful as he tried to slide the ring onto his finger. But as Kazin had promised, it slid onto his finger perfectly. “Remarkable!” exclaimed Zylor in fascination.

“But now the real question that’s on everyone’s minds,” said Sherman. “Who’s going on which quest?”

Everyone looked expectantly at Kazin as he considered. “Well,” he said at last, “the only way to track our original quarry is using Amelia’s orb, so Amelia has to go on that quest, and since we are in human territory, the best one to send to protect her is Sherman. As far as the quest to find Harran, if the trail leads to the mountains, Zylor is best equipped to find his way through the dwarven tunnels. The training you received from Harran previously is an asset that cannot be overlooked.”

“Good,” said Zylor. “I would have gone after the dwarf anyway.”

“That’s what I figured,” said Kazin. He turned to Olag. “The ring of invisibility makes you an asset either way, Olag, but I think you should go with Zylor.”

Olag looked at the minotaur without enthusiasm but Zylor merely grinned back.

“The ability of stealth is paramount if you are going to free Harran,” continued the mage. “And if I change Zylor - wait a minute! I have a better idea! Zylor has a tendency to draw his weapon too readily, so if I transform him, he will be prone to returning to his original form at an inopportune time. But if I transform you, Olag, into a dwarf, you can blend in with the dwarves who are heading home with the caravan. As long as you refrain from drawing your weapon, you’ll remain a dwarf indefinitely. Zylor can protect you, and stay nearby while wearing the invisibility ring!”

“You mean - you mean I could have had a turn at wearing the ring of invisibility all along?” exclaimed Zylor. “I always thought it was because my fingers were too big!”

“Um, I suppose you could have had a turn,” stammered Kazin, “but I just thought that you didn’t want to wear it because it wasn’t particularly honourable to do so.”

“Being invisible is cowardly,” agreed Zylor, “but this time I’m doing it for Harran. His life is at stake. In my current form I would never be able to get close. With the ring there is a chance.”

Olag reluctantly passed the ring to Zylor. Just to be sure, the minotaur tried the ring on - and disappeared. Then he reappeared as he removed the ring again.

“That’s a lethal combination,” remarked Sherman.

“What about you, Kazin?” asked Amelia suddenly.

“I will have to proceed with the original quest,” said Kazin. “I fear our adversary is particularly dangerous, and I will need all of my magical power to stop him.”

“Good,” said Sherman.

When everyone looked at him, he added, “Um, I mean it’s good that he’s coming with me. It’s easier to keep an eye on him that way.”

“Ditto,” said Amelia with a twinkle in her eye.

Kazin addressed Zylor and Olag. “Take what supplies you need. We can purchase more in the morning.” He passed Harran’s ring to Zylor. “See that Harran gets this.” Then he gave Zylor’s amulet to Olag and cast a spell on him, making him look like an ordinary dwarf. His quiver of arrows was altered to look like a pack with tools for making concrete.