The wide, well lit staircase went down and down; somewhere past the two hundredth step Sorus lost exact count, and another hundred after that he no longer bothered to keep track. The evenly spaced lights made the passage of time and distance seem like a dream, and the young brewer wasn’t sure how far or how long they had traveled when he bumped into Germanius whose hand was up against the wall. “What is it?” asked the young brewer.
“It’s my knees,” said the old knight. “These stairs are too much, give me a moment to rest,” he finished and flexed first his left knee and then his right.
“Jon,” whispered Sorus, but the gray knight was already too many steps ahead to hear the voice. “Jon!” he said a little more loudly but even that voice seemed to die in the stairwell. “Wait here,” he said to Germanius with a pat on the old warrior’s shoulder. “I’ll get him and we’ll wait a bit. It’s been a long day and night, we all need to rest.” With that Sorus started off down the stairs in pursuit of Jon as he whispered out now and again, “Jon!” but he got no reply. He went down another hundred steps at a quickened pace and once stumbled as his toe caught an edge, and he almost fell head over heels but managed to catch himself with a quick hand on the wall and skittered to a stop, “Jon!” he whispered again, “Jon, wait, it’s Germanius!” But there was no reply. Sorus stood for a long moment and looked forward down the stairs and backwards towards Germanius and then sighed, “damn.” Then he began to trudge back up the stairs towards the old warrior. It took him longer than he thought but he found the man coming down towards him with hobbled little strides.
“Germanius,” he whispered as he came up to the old warrior. “Sit down, Jon’s gone ahead but he’ll realize he’s alone and come back for us soon enough,” although Sorus didn’t believe it even as the words came out of his mouth. After a month with young Jon Gray the brewer knew the boy’s habits too well and caution wasn’t one of his traits.
The knight of Elekargul looked at Sorus for a long moment as if he wanted say something caustic but then a pained expression came over his face and he winced badly. “Damn shooters, maybe you’re right, I’ll sit for a spell. That boy is headstrong but I can’t say I wasn’t the same when I was his age. He’s got a lot of responsibility for one so young.” With that the knight slowly lowered himself to a stair and, with Sorus’s help, came to the ground with only a small thump. “Ahhh, damn that hurts,” he said.
“It’s ok, Germanius,” said Sorus. “Now that I think about it, my knees hurt too and I’m exhausted. I’m a fifth your age. We’ve pushed too much. We should have stayed in that cave and waited until morning.”
“I should argue with you,” grunted Germanius, leaning against the wall and putting his legs out along the step, “but I’m too damn tired.”
“Here,” said Sorus and took off his heavy woolen jerkin, “use this as a pillow, it’s warm down here anyway,” he said and put it under the old knight’s head. “Get some sleep, Jon’ll be back eventually, he won’t just leave us.”
Germanius nodded his head and his eyes began to close even before he leaned back on the make-shift pillow. Within seconds his snores filled the stairwell and suddenly Sorus felt very sleepy as well. He knew he had to stay away to keep watch over the old knight but it wasn’t long before he dreamed as well. It seemed only a moment later that a rough shake of his shoulder woke him up. “Good morning,” said Jon and smiled down at him. “Did you sleep well?”
“Huh,” said Sorus, looking around. He couldn’t remember where he was for a moment. “Where are we?”
“On the stairs into the darkling land,” said Jon. “I let you sleep for a few hours, Sir Germanius is still out, but I’m going to need some sleep as well. Can you take over the watch?”
Sorus nodded his head, “At least it’s warm,” he said and groaned as he tried to sit up.
“What is it?” said Jon.
“My back,” said Sorus, reaching behind and putting his palm to his spine. “This floor is a bit harder than my bed at home or even that cot at the Smooth Strider. I’ll be ok.”
“We should have thought all this through before we charged away,” said Jon with a shake of his head. “I’m worried about the horses as well. We left them hobbled back at the camp site and they won’t survive more than a couple of days without water. We need to finish up here and head back as soon as possible. If Jane finds out about this I’ll never hear the end of it. Now, keep watch and give me a few hours of sleep. If Sir Germanius is up for it in the morning I know where to go.”
“Where?” said Sorus as he suddenly came fully awake and the pain in his spine vanished.
But Jon already lay on the stone step his eyes closed and his breath in an even rhythm.
It seemed to Sorus that each minute took an hour as he watched the two sleep that long, long night, but eventually Germanius stirred, groaned loudly, and opened his eyes. It took the old warrior a few seconds to focus in on Sorus and then Jon, still gently in slumber, but then he grimaced and began slowly to rise.
“Arrahgh,” he said. “That smarts,” and he grabbed at his back exactly the way Sorus did earlier. “How long did you let me sleep?”
“I’m not sure, how do you keep track of time underground?” said Sorus.
“You don’t,” said Germanius. “You pretty much eat when your belly tells you and sleep when you’re tired. I was underground once for almost a week chasing darklings back in the year Romius Openpalm was First Rider. We never caught them and we only found out how long we were underground later when we got back up. It’s a strange thing being underground.” All the while the old knight stretched and turned first his legs, then his arms, and finally his back. “I haven’t warmed up like this in years,” said the old knight, “but you should do it. It keeps the body limber.”
“I’m not too bad,” said Sorus, smiling and stretching his arms to the sky.
“I know that, because you’re young,” said Germanius. “But, you should learn to stretch everyday proper like and when you get older you won’t have as many troubles.”
“So, how do I do it?” asked the young knight and watched Germanius. The two went through a long series of small movements and by the end Sorus had to admit that he did feel a bit better. When they finished they saw Jon Gray watching them with a twinkle in his eye.
“I’ve seen morning salutations like that before,” he said. “In Tanelorn we’re allies with the elves of Alianus and they practice that sort of thing. One of my father’s friends, a dwarf named Sir Pedlow Fivefist has a son that married an elf girl and she tried to teach them to me.”
“A dwarf married to an elf?” said Germanius, “That must be some place, your Tanelorn. She must be an ugly elf.”
“It’s a long story but ugly isn’t the word I’d use for Appolonia,” said Jon and got up and started a routine similar but different from the one Germanius used.
“It’ll take me a wee bit longer to be ready,” said the old knight with a smile as he flexed his leg. “Why don’t you go ahead and tell it. I’m sure the boy wants to know,” he continued with a look towards Sorus. “Yes, even though you’re a knight now, I can still call you a boy,” he said which shut the objection that was on Sorus’s lips before it could emerge.
“About five years ago, I was just a kid then,” started Jon, “a group of orc kingdoms called the Five Nations attacked an elf nation called Alianus. My father has pledged never to lead a war of aggression and we only defend ourselves, but to get to Alianus the orcs either had to go through a gnoll kingdom called Grelm or Tanelorn. My father and many of the knights wouldn’t let the orcs pass so we got involved in the fight. One of the dwarves was the son of Sir Pedlow, a fellow by the name of Sir Strombolt Fivefist, and he went up to the elf lands for something or another. I can never remember the story, but he ended up saving the life of one of the elf princes, Halavar Evenday, but took a terrible wound doing it. Halavar took Strombolt back to his home in Alianus and his sister, Appolonia, nursed Strombolt back to health. Well, you can guess the rest. They’ve got a little girl now but I can’t remember her name. She bit me though, I remember that, when I tried to pinch her.”
“Maybe if I get wounded,” said Sorus, and Jon and Germanius looked at the boy with smiles on their faces.
“It’s a good strategy for finding a wife, that’s true,” said the old warrior and chucked Sorus on the chin, “but it comes with its own dangers.”
“The wounds or the wife?” said Jon.
“You’ll find a girl that steals your heart one day,” said Germanius to the young gray knight. “I know you’re happy to sow your wild oats in whatever pretty lass happens by the farm, but one day you’ll find someone and then you’ll see. Yes you will.”
“I already found the one I want,” said Sorus, and neither the old man or the young knight chose to contradict him.
“Come along now,” said Jon. “Sir Germanius, I’ve found that dragon for you and it’s not a small one either. I wouldn’t call it an earth shaker but a good twenty feet long to the tail, white as snow, with a pair of horns about as long my dick and twice as thick!”
The old knight suddenly stood up straight and nodded his head, a gleam of anticipation in his eyes. “You’ll let me strike the first blow, boy,” he said more as an order than a request and Jon nodded his head.
“Of course, old man, a promise is a promise,” he replied and put a huge hand on the knight’s shoulder. “It’s about five hundred steps down and then along a corridor into a cave. It’s with another of those dragon children and a darkling elf. I couldn’t get close enough to hear what they were saying, but I think it might have something to do with my little quest as well. I think they’re waiting for our friends upstairs and I doubt they’ll wait much longer.”
“Then why do you stand there and yak away,” said Germanius, looking up at Jon, and putting his hand to the hilt of his sword. “Let’s be about it. If this is my last day alive I’d prefer it to be shorter than the second to last. My knees can’t handle much more. I feel like it’s bone rubbing bone down there, can’t you hear the grinding?” he said and squatted down and then rose again.
Jon and Sorus listened for a moment but the old man suddenly broke into a large grin, “Stop your foolishness boys, I wasn’t serious. There’s a dragon to kill and I’m just the old knight to do it.”
With that the three made their way down the stairs, although Sir Germanius moved with care and his limp became pronouncedly worse as the journey went on.
“Only 500 steps you say,” said Germanius with a grimace as his right knee almost collapsed under him.
“Here, put an arm around my shoulder,” said Jon and leaned down and put his own arm around the waist of the old knight. “You need to save up strength so you can kill that white beast down there.”
“Ahh, that I do,” said the old knight as he slipped his arm around Jon, who walked hunched over to help Sir Germanius, as they slowly made their way down the staircase.
It seemed like hours to Sorus as he watched the old knight and Jon Gray limp down the stairs, and the long journey gave him too much time to think, “Maybe I should whittle,” he said quietly to himself and then laughed. This brought about a glance from Jon and Germanius but neither said anything as they continued their trip. “It’s well and good for Sir Germanius to want to die in glory at the end of his life, but fighting a dragon I could die as well, and for what, so that Jon can find this thing his father just wants to lock away so no one can ever get to it?” he thought to himself as the journey continued. “If it’s that powerful who’s to say I couldn’t use it and become a great knight, the First Rider, and then Shia will marry me.”
Every time his thoughts drifted down this path he pulled himself up short and tried to think more nobly, like a knight should, but it didn’t take him long to realize that being Sir Sorus didn’t change him more than his thirteenth birthday changed him into being a man. “I’m the same person no matter what,” he finally admitted to himself. “I want the same things I wanted before. I promised Sir Germanius I’d stay with Jon and I guess that’s what I’ll do.”
He just came to that decision when they reached the bottom of the seemingly endless stairwell. “Who could have built these stairs?” he asked out loud and looked back up to the endless string of light stones that stretched behind them.
“Darklings,” said Jon, but Germanius shook his head. “This was built by the Old Empire, nobody builds a set of stairs like this unless they’re marching armies. When the emperor finished conquering the world he started conquering the darklings and this was one of the roads that made it possible.”
“You can’t know that,” said Jon with a skeptical look at the old man. “It could be darkling construction just as easily.”
“No,” said Germanius, “I’ve seen plenty of darkling tunnels to the surface and they’re not anything like this. This is a road for an army and the darkling’s don’t invade the surface, they can’t stand the light. Besides, they see well enough in the dark, what do ya think those light stones in the walls are doing?”
“That’s true,” said Sorus and Jon nodded his head.
“You’re probably right, Germanius but that was so long ago. My father, he thinks the Old Empire… that things are turning circle, that creatures buried during the reign of the Usurper before the fall of everything are coming back, that the world is… well, I don’t even really know, he mostly talks to Val about that stuff.”
“I thought your sister was named Jane,” said Sorus.
“My older brother Valarius,” said Jon. “He’s a druid. He and father talk a lot about those sorts of things but I’ve never really been much interested. It always seemed kind of boring but these steps are something else. The power to do something like this, the power to make… Banisher,” said the young gray knight.
“Banisher!” said Germanius and suddenly turned to him. “That’s a name from the dim. Banisher, the Black Sword, wielded by the Usurper to slay the Emperor and send his allies back to the Nine Hells and beyond.”
“No one knows if those stories are true,” said Jon. “In any case, yonder lies a big open cavern and the dragon is inside with the darkling elf and the dragon child. I don’t think we can surprise them. The cave is big and they’ll see us coming from a distance.”
“How can we take them then?” asked Sorus, his hand ahold of his slim blade. The cold of the hilt made him feel better, but the thought of a dragon quickly sent fear through his body again. He felt his legs suddenly go weak, and he put a hand up against the wall to steady himself. “If we can’t surprise them and that dragon unleashes his breath on us we’ll never even get close to them.”
“We don’t know if it can use its breath,” said Jon. “Not all dragons can but we do need a plan and I’ve been thinking all the way down here.”
“Go on, Jon,” said Germanius, standing up straight and looking into the young knights eyes as much as he could from so far below. “You make a plan and I’ll follow it. So will Sir Sorus here. This is your mission and yours alone to decide.”
“They’re waiting for those creatures we killed upstairs, so they might not be in the mood to attack us right away,” said Jon. “Germanius goes in first and tells them you found their friends just after an ambush up in that cave. Tell them the truth, the dying creatures, the bloody remains, and then say something about a giant human with a big sword and a young knight of Elekargul. Then Sorus and I burst in; while they look at us you close in on the dragon and kill the creature. You’ll be alone up there against all of them for a few moments and it won’t be easy but Sir Sorus and I will come up as fast as we can to help you.”
“I’ll have to cover my knightly sigil,” said Germanius and pointed to the symbol of the knights of Elekargul, a set of four horseshoes pointing away from each other and a hand broken at the wrist in the middle.
“I don’t think so,” said Jon. “I didn’t watch them long but I got the impression the dragon child and the white dragon weren’t from around here and the darkling elf has probably never been on the surface at all. He might know about the knights of Elekargul but he won’t make the connection between your symbol and the knights fast enough. If we go quickly this has a chance of working.”
“All right,” said Germanius. “I’ll kill the dragon but I won’t be able to hold off the others long.”
Jon stood up straight and stuck his hand out for the old knight to grasp and they shook for a long moment and stared at one another. “It’s been a pleasure serving with you Sir Germanius Brokenhand,” said Jon with a nod of his head. “If I ever do find one girl to settle down with I’ll remember you to her with kind words.”
Sir Germanius smiled, “You’re a good boy, Jon,” he said. “But you’re young and headstrong. You listen to your father if you ever make it back to Tanelorn, and I want you to promise me something.”
“Of course,” said Jon with a nod of his head, “anything.”
“Take Sir Sorus with you. You two are bound together I think. Take him back to this Tanelorn of yours, keep him with you and keep him safe.”
Jon nodded, “I will.”
The two men then turned to Sorus who stood there, a sheepish look on his face, and suddenly he found tears in his eyes, “I don’t want you to die, Germanius,” he blubbered and hated himself immediately.
“What you want doesn’t matter,” said the old knight with a smile as he patted the young knight on the shoulder. “It’s time for me to die. You watch me kill that dragon and tell everyone back in town; my grandson lives in the hills west of Red Roost. You tell him how I died, and you tell the First Rider.”
Sorus nodded as the tears still came down his face, “I will, Sir Germanius. You can count on me.”
“I know I can,” replied the knight and then turned towards the cave mouth and strode inside.
A moment later they heard his voice calling, “Great dragon of the north, I have news of your allies, they are slain by a giant but they told me of the staff!”
There was a sudden babble of sounds from beyond the door as the acoustics of the large cave seemed to turn all conversation into a muddle.
“Give him a few moments to get away from the cave entrance,” said Jon. “He’ll move off to the side so they’re not looking directly at it and then we make our move.”
Sorus nodded and pulled out his sword, “I’m with you, Jon.”
“I know,” said Jon. “It looks like I’m to take you back to Tanelorn. There’s no getting out of that promise I made to Germanius, so you’re stuck with me.”
Sorus nodded and they waited for a few more seconds and then Jon pulled his mammoth stone sword from its scabbard and raised it up, “For the Gray!” he shouted and dashed into the room. Sorus didn’t have a moment to contemplate the war cry but simply shouted out, “For Elakargul” and charged in after.
Sorus watched Jon as he loped across the smooth marble floor of the immense cavern, immediately broke into a sprint of his own, but fell further behind with every stride. The seven foot tall teenager moved with apparent languid motions but covered ground faster than a sprinter, which left Sorus far behind. Up ahead stood the first dragon the young knight saw outside of pictures, a dragon child much like the one upstairs but with green and white scales, and a darkling elf with purplish black skin, silver hair, and a twinkling set of chain mail on his breast and arms. In front of them stood Sir Germanius, his arms spread out as if in appeal although the eyes of the three foes eyes locked on Jon Gray as he dashed towards them his sword raised above his head.
Things seemed to move in slow motion as Sorus willed his legs to move faster. The darkling elf moved first as it pulled a slim, curved blade from the jeweled scabbard at his side and lunged towards Jon and shouted out something in a language that the young knight did not understand. The dragon child looked towards the white dragon in confusion and the creature itself, just as Jon described with two long, thick horns protruding from its head, turned to face Jon with a look of anticipation in its eyes.
“Jon Gray,” it said in the plainest words Sorus ever heard in his life. “My master told me you might be meddling in these affairs. I’m glad it will be I, Snowball the steed of Lord Wh… Argahaha,” it screamed, and Sorus noted Sir Germanius’s sword plunged deeply into its neck.
The dragon child hissed, charged towards the old knight, and drew a wicked blade from its side with a quick motion.
“Watch out!” screamed Sorus still halfway across the great chamber and Germanius pulled the blade from the creatures neck but not before it reached forward like a snake with one talon and grabbed the wrist of the old warrior. Sorus heard the snap from across the room clearly, but the broken sword arm didn’t stop the old knight as he pulled a longer dagger from his belt with his left hand and lunged forward towards the beast’s mouth. The creature opened its jaws wide enough to encircle the waist of Germanius and bit down with a terrible crunching sound as the teeth bit into chain armor.
Germanius plunged the dagger into the creature’s head between the two horns and a fountain of blood spewed out of his mouth. A moment later the dragon child plunged his blade into the old warrior’s lower body which hung kicking and squirming in the mouth of the creature.
“Damn you,” screamed Sorus, and suddenly he was there, on top of them, as he rushed past Jon and the darkling elf and towards the dragon child. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the elf raise up his sword to parry Jon’s sweeping blow and heard a strange little tinkle sound, but then he was upon the dragon child who busied itself plunging its blade into Sir Germanius a second time. He lunged forward the point of his own sword aimed at the creatures exposed back but it half turned, perhaps as it heard his cry, and the blade slid along its right shoulder and sliced through a thick leather breastplate but failed to damage the creature.
Sorus’s momentum took him past the dragon child and into the side of the dragon itself where he bounced off the hard scales and took a step backwards. He spun around just in time to see his foe lunge with its sword and the young knight managed to parry the blow with a quick down stroke and then whip his own blade up towards its throat, but the creature was too quick and dodged backwards and out of the way.
Screaming with fury, Sorus launched himself towards the creature and was inside a sword blow that would otherwise have cut him in half. He wrestled with the thing for half a step but then it stumbled over something and went over backwards to the floor with Sorus on top. The dragon child tried to wriggle away but the brewer hacked downwards with a chopping motion, the very bottom of his little sword slicing into the thing’s face and cutting through its lower jaw to expose a complete second set of teeth embedded below its main fangs.
“Ahhh,” he screamed as the thing tried to raise its head and bite at him. He struck again with the bottom edge of his sword and pushed down with all his strength until he felt the blade bite heavily into bone. Blood was everywhere but he raised his sword again and jammed it down at the throat of the creature, slicing through its neck as more blood shot out. He raised his sword yet again and felt a heavy hand restrain him. He spun, without thinking and slashed at the hulking figure behind him but a thick stone sword blocked his attempt and there was a sudden strange little tinkling sound. When Sorus brought the blade back it was light, and when he looked at it he realized it had snapped in half. He gazed up through the haze and saw Jon Gray’s intent gray eyes.
“So… sorry,” he said with a shake of his head. He staggered to his feet, his legs unsteady and his hands trembling. “I got carried away,” he went on and looked at the broken sword in his hand but did not really see it. “I think it’s broken,” he said.
Jon nodded his head. “You’ll have to take Sir Germanius’s,” he replied with a motion of his head behind Sorus. The young knight felt the anger and energy suddenly drain from his body, and he wanted to fall down, but he managed to turn and see the old knight still in the jaws of the white dragon with his small blade buried in the thing’s head. On the ground near him lay his long sword where it dropped when the creature snapped his wrist.
“I don’t know,” said Sorus and looked back at Jon, who nodded his head a single time.
“Of course you do, he wanted you to have it, you know that,” said Jon with a motion of his head towards the sword again.
Sorus shook his head and the strange webs that seemed to engulf it slowly evaporated and returned clarity to his thoughts. “What happened to the darkling?”
Jon pointed with his heavy stone sword toward a figure slumped on the ground ten feet away that made little sounds, “I cracked him pretty good in the ribs and he’s not breathing so great. We won’t torture him for information though, right?”
Sorus nodded his head, “Right,” and went over to pick up the sword. He took it in his hand and the hilt of the heavy blade felt like a bolt of lightning. He stood and looked at the crushed body of the old knight still in the jaws of the dragon and smiled, “Should we leave him like that?” he said. “It’s a pose I think he’d be proud to be remembered by.”
“Can you draw at all?” asked Jon as he came over to stand next to the boy.
Sorus shook his head, “No.”
“I’ve had lessons,” said Jon. “You watch the darkling while I make a sketch. We’ll carry Sir Germanius back up to the surface, bury him, and then take the sketch to Odellius and see if he can do justice with a statue. I think the old fellow might like that, what do you say?”
Sorus nodded his head and smiled, “I think he’d like that just fine, and I think Sir Odelluis might be proud to have that chance.” The young knight then walked over to the slumped form of the Darkling and saw that the creature looked like a curled up baby and the wheezes that escaped his lung were his best attempts to breathe. The creature looked up at him with those strange silver eyes and made sort of a gasp but said nothing else. The skin of the creature seemed to turn a lighter shade of blue as its breath became more and more labored while Jon worked away with a piece of parchment and some charcoal pens he pulled out from some deep recess in his pack.
“I think he’s dying,” said Sorus to Jon and the big gray knight looked up from his work for a moment. “My amulet only works with dragon children and you did a good number on that one over there so it doesn’t really matter anyway. I’m sure they knew something about the Staff of Sakatha but now we’ll never know. We can only hope that we find out something from someone else.”
“You’re not mad I killed the dragon child?” asked Sorus as his eyes turned back to the still corpse and the thick pool of blood all around it. The image reminded him that blood covered his hands and armor and he realized how sticky he suddenly felt.
“Killing your opponent is the objective,” said Jon in a monotone sort of voice and Sorus could tell this was another lesson from the young gray knight’s father.
“I suppose, but we needed that information if we’re going to find the staff,” he replied. “By the Black Horse I’m a sticky mess. We need to find some water.”
“I’m not much for a jaunt around in the darkling lands,” said Jon as he still looked at the climactic battle scene of the dragon and Germanius. “But, you are a mess. That darkling isn’t going anywhere and there’s probably water in this place somewhere. Look around but don’t get too far away.”
“Okay, Jon,” said Sorus with a glance at their downed foe as it struggled to breath. The rattling sound in his throat grew more pronounced with each breath. “Do you think you broke his ribs?”
“I probably punctured his lung,” said Jon. “The flat of the Stone Blade is more dangerous than the edge at times and I sometimes forget that. Now go get cleaned up, this figure drawing is damned difficult and my big meat hocks weren’t meant for fine work like this.”
Sorus looked down at the darkling whose skin now looked almost yellow and who gasped out quick, short breaths, and then he turned to walk past the white dragon and Sir Germanius although he tried not to look too closely at the pair. He walked for maybe fifty paces, still well within sight of Jon and the battle, when he heard a slight rush of a sound that reminded him of the noise a small creek might make and soon enough found a pool where a cataract of water cascaded from a crack in the wall nearby. He quickly stripped off his clothes and took a step into the water only to give off a howl and jump back.
“Are you okay?” shouted Jon’s voice echoing throughout the large cave and bouncing back and forth several times before silence once again fell.
“I’m fine,” said Sorus in a lower tone but now concerned that sound might alert any other creature in the vicinity to their presence. “Water’s cold,” he finished and then clenched his jaw and moved quickly into the freezing water. He could stand the intensity for only a few seconds but managed to duck his head and rub out at least some of the blood. He leapt out, his body gave a shudder, and then tried to quickly wash off his jerkin, but the thick blood seemed to have seeped into every nook and cranny and he knew the job was impossible down here under these circumstances. He did his best in the short time, then slipped the wet clothes back on, and made his way back to Jon as his body shivered badly.
“You look like a drowned rat,” said the young knight. “We should get out of here as quick as possible. I didn’t mean to yell that loud earlier and who knows who heard. I finished drawing,” he said and handed over the art for inspection.
Sorus looked at it as his hands shook from the cold and his teeth chattered, “I can’t tell in this light,” he said, “but it looks okay.”
“Help me pry open the jaws of this thing,” said Jon and took ahold of the creature’s upper jaw.
Sorus grabbed the lower and with a, “One, two, three,” they managed to extricate the old knight from the dragon’s mouth. Puncture wounds ran up and down his body in the shape of the dragon’s jaw. The razor sharp teeth apparently cut through his heavy chain armor like the old man’s knife through soft pine.
“By the Black Horse,” said Sorus and stared in wonder at the damage the creature did to Germanius with a single bite. “The power of this thing,” he said as they kicked over the dead dragon.
“Cut the horns off,” said Jon. “We’ll take them back to town to give to his grandson and any other relatives.”
Sorus nodded his head and reached for his sword and only belatedly realized it was the blade of Germanius and he didn’t want to use it for the first time in this way. He looked around for a long knife but the only one readily available was stuck in the head of the dragon. He tried to yank out the deeply embedded hilt, but the skull of the creature did not yield the blade. “Thing’s stuck in deep,” he grunted and put his back into the effort. Blood and other gore stuck to the hilt of the blade and made it difficult to grip and even with his best effort he failed to pull it free.
“Maybe it’s meant to be there,” said Jon and handed over a small dagger. “This is a Tanelornian knife,” he said, “my father made it himself. Why don’t you keep it for a while?”
Sorus looked at the blade which seemed sturdy and plain with only a floral symbol at the end, the same symbol that adorned Jon’s armor.
“What is that flower?” he asked and pointed to the decoration.
“Mistletoe,” said Jon. “It’s the holy flower of the gray druids and the symbol of Tanelorn. They say it stands for neutrality.”
“I’ve never heard of that plant,” said Sorus as he began to work on the horns of the dragon. “This isn’t a really big one is it?”
Jon looked at the dragon, walked around it, and finally shook his head, “Not really, but big enough. It’s no baby.”
“It knew your name,” said Sorus as he finished the first horn and started on the second.
“You noticed that.”
“I did.”
“I noticed it as well.”
“What do make of it?” said Sorus with a final hack through the last of the thick horn, and the young knight pulled it out.
“I’m not sure,” said Jon. “It means someone knows I’m here which surprises me. This dragon must work for that someone but I don’t think it is going to tell us.”
“No,” laughed Sorus and put the horns in his pack. The exercise warmed him considerably although he still shivered in the damp clothes. “It’s a long walk up those stairs and Sir Germanius isn’t exactly a featherweight,” he said dubiously as he eyed the fallen knight.
“You’re right,” said Jon. “Help me take off his armor and that should lighten the load enough. We don’t have anything to make a bier out of so I’ll throw him over my shoulder. He’s an old man and might not be all that heavy.”
A sudden strange sniff or grunt sound came from somewhere on the far side of the cavern and Jon looked at Sorus. “It’s time to go.” He bent down and picked up the body of Sir Germanius, threw it over his shoulder, armor and all, and began to walk quickly towards the entrance door. Sorus followed, although he looked back several times to the rear of the cavern for the source of the strange sound but never spotted anything.
Soon they began the long trip up the stairs as Jon carried Germanius, and to Sorus, suddenly incredibly tired and his legs sore, it felt like every step was a mountain to climb. The journey seemed endless to the lad and his breath came in labored gasps long before they reached the half-way point. “I… gasp… don’t think I can make it
…,” he said to Jon and leaned up against the wall, but one look at the gray knight, who carried dead Germanius over his shoulder, his own face red with exertion, told him not to say it again. “I’m sorry, I’ll make it. Can I take him?”
Jon simply shook his head and began to put one foot in front of the other as they moved more slowly with each step. They took several rests on the journey and it seemed to Sorus that the trip back was at least twice as far as the trip down. After who knows how many hours, they suddenly saw a dim light from up ahead and soon enough found themselves back in the cave where they first ambushed the dragon child and his goblin cohorts. Jon let out a huge groan, dropped Germanius to the ground with a thump, fell to his knees, and then to his hands. Sorus leaned up against the wall where the funny little key still stuck out of the notch. Almost without thinking he reached up, twisted it, took it, and put it in his pocket.
“We could sleep here,” said Sorus and put his head back on the wall and closed his eyes as a sudden tremble indicated the passageway was closed again. “It’s probably safe.”
“The horses,” said Jon slowly as he climbed back to his feet. “Well get to them, ride down, and then camp at the base of the mountain where we built the cairn for Mikus.”
The mention of the mayor’s son was like a splash of cold water on Sorus’s face as he remembered the death of the day before. “It was only yesterday,” he said with a shake of his head, and his mouth hung open in wonderment. “I… it’s hard to believe all this happened in a day.”
Jon nodded and bent down to pick up the old knight but failed in his first attempt to hoist him. “Here,” said Sorus, moving over, “you take him under the arms and I’ll get him by the legs, it’s not that far down the hill to the horses and then it’ll be easy.”
Jon nodded and the two picked up their burden and began to walk slowly down to the horses.