~The kids find something’s amiss in the town of Stalmoore. I was just as surprised as the kids to discover Karna and the Master of the Souls! They really did come from nowhere! There’s a new baddie on the scene that the kids have to contend with! Read on and enjoy. There will be a Part IV and, it hadn’t been planned, but the way this is going, possibly a Part V!~
Renee still rubbed her aching wrists, even after she got outside the Forgotten Dungeon. Both wrists and ankles smarted and sported deep cuts, which were finally scabbing over. Her shoulders also felt the strain of hanging there for so long and she knew she’d be soar all over for a while. She couldn’t believe that she was finally free! How long had she been cooped up in there? Renee had no idea and wondered how things were back in LA. She was very much aware of how indebted to these six young travelers she was and she was quite prepared (so she told herself) to pay her debt in full to them anyway she could. She had been introduced to each of them and marveled that for ones who were younger than her, could have ever known the wilds of the modern Earth city, for they seemed to be even more street-wise in this place than the occasional gang punk she would run into near her unglamorous Eastside apartment.
Eric couldn’t take his eyes off her. He hoped none of the others noticed how this beauty had turned him dumb with want. He tried to avert his eyes every time she looked at him, but he couldn’t stop himself from staring so. This might just get awkward. How in the world should he approach her? ‘Oh, come on, man!’ He chided himself, ‘A gorgeous creature like that, she must have a dozen boy friends back home! She looks like she could be a movie star. As if you would have a chance in Venger’s Hell in getting to first base with her!’ But he didn’t release her with his eyes.
They were about to leave the Forgotten Dungeon behind when a short, squat man suddenly appeared out from behind a nearby boulder.
“I see you have found the Jester.” He said with a soft pride.
“Dungeon Master! Why didn’t you say the treasure was a girl?” Sheila asked.
Renee protested, “I’m no treasure!”
“A treasure comes in many forms. Now, you must hurry to Stalmoore,” the DM said, eyes growing serious.
This was still a bit much for even the almost perpetual cheerful Renee to comprehend, “Listen, Dream Weaver, what are we doing here? What is all this? Do you realize you probably just cost me my biggest chance to make something of myself back home?”
The smile returned to the old mans face, reaching his eyes, “The Realm needs you more than your home world. It needs all of you. I give you an even bigger chance of making something of yourself here, where you will make a difference. It is something you’ve always wanted, yes?”
Renee stepped back. How did he know? She looked over at the Young Ones, their faces not betraying any sign of amazement, as if all this was old hat for them. She wanted to know why she was called here and knew that she would not get a simple answer out of this man. She resigned herself to listen. She had a feeling that this man would only reveal a little at a time and only when it was truly needed. Just like her Grandfather, she thought, suddenly annoyed and homesick. But, she was here now. And here was what mattered, just as he had said. She waited for him to finish with whatever enlightenment he intended to give.
“Drink the water of the flames,” he looked at her, “and you will know yourself. But, don’t eat, or you will suffer far greater than you might otherwise.”
“Huh?” Renee said, uncomprehending.
Dungeon Master nodded at her, then at the Young Ones and walked back behind the boulder. The unicorn, out of habit, followed and vanished behind the same boulder, but she came out the other side bleating confirmation of his disappearance.
“Mr. Cryptic strikes again,” Eric shook his head.
“Well,” Hank took silent stock of the situation and sighed, “I suppose we aught to go on to Stalmoore.”
He waited to hear exclamations of protests, but was pleased when none issued forth from anyone, even Eric. But, Hank noticed that Eric was a bit preoccupied with something else and he smiled to himself. Good. Maybe, Eric would settle down and mellow out a bit if he had a girlfriend. They decided on the best direction to take and left the lonely tower behind.
‘Forgotten Dungeon, my butt!’ Thought Renee to herself, ‘I’ll never forget that place for as long as I live.’
She took to observing her alien surroundings as they marched across the rest of Rookwold. They were grateful that they didn’t run into any more Griffins. The mood of the group was darker than she was used to. She decided that perhaps a song would lift their spirits. Something, homey. A grin cracked her face and she started to sing Respect by Aretha Franklin . . . loudly. This brought curious glances from the group. Diana grinned and added her voice to counter Renee’s fumbling. The song rolled awkwardly along the hills and gorges, as out of place in the Realm as they were. She didn’t seem too fazed about it. Besides, she was the Jester, the morale builder, and if anyone ever needed morale building, it was this unusual group.
Song finished, Bobby interrupted her before she could start another, “What are you doing?”
“I thought you guys looked down in the dumps and thought a song from home might help.”
Bobby had a strange look on his face, “Why?”
Renee shrugged, and then flipped one of her now chimeless prongs on her hat (she had pruned her whole outfit from the annoying bells as she had promised to do once she got free) in a playful gesture.
“Anyways, it’s in my job description, Barbarian.” She grinned.
Hank and Sheila smiled at each other then Sheila turned to the Barbarian,
“She is our entertainment director for this adventure.”
Eric hoped beyond hope that she would be there longer than for just this latest assignment. ‘Even if she has no voice for singing’, he thought privately to himself. ‘Well, if love had made him dumb, at least love hadn’t made him deaf’, he added.
“You got a good singing voice, Diana,” Renee moved back to walk side by side with the dark skinned Acrobat, “Let’s see if you know this one.”
She launched into another song, by the third word, Diana’s face lit up, “Hot Stuff by Donna Summer!” And she added her voice again, Disco once again made a come back into a world that had never wanted it in the first place.
‘At least Diana’s voice kinda drowns Renee’s out’, Bobby thought.
Dusk was becoming evident and soon nightfall was well underway. They all decided to make camp. They searched for a fairly flat bit of ground and cleared it from any debris that would impede their comfort. There was no wood for them to light a fire with. The last evidence Eric had seen of any trees was back when that branch had almost taken his head off when they were flooded out of the stupid narrows.
“We don’t have any food rations left,” Bobby said miserably.
“Well, ole’ Dream Weaver said I wasn’t supposed to eat, for how long, I don’t know. So’s that’s okay.” Renee partially lied. She was starving and hoped the others didn’t hear her stomach trying to belay that order.
Presto muttered, “Not the first time we’ve gone to bed hungry.”
“Or gotten up hungry, or gone another entire day hungry, or gone to bed hungry again,” Eric ground out, his hunger pains affecting his already brittle attitude.
“Come on, Eric,” Hank reproached, “We’ll survive.” He had hoped that with Renee here and with the obvious thing Eric had for her, Eric would put on airs and not complain as much. But, bad habits, like Venger, die-hard. Hank supposed Eric just wouldn’t be Eric if he wasn’t grumbling and complaining about something.
After they all bedded down, Presto had a dream that night which he kept to himself. It wasn’t his usual kind of dream and he held it close to him with a faint sense of foreboding. In the morning he decided not to tell anyone, especially Eric. He kept an eye on Renee after, trying to see if he could actually see through her like in his dream. He hoped he was wrong because she seemed like a great person before the Realm and Venger happened to her. He sighed; the Realm changed everyone eventually.
Breakfast was not forthcoming. Renee was fine with that because it would have been tough to not eat while the others did. Then she felt guilty for such thoughts and wished that she had some kind of hunting skills so she could fetch something for them to eat. But she was an urbanite. She didn’t sleep well outside that night, on the hard ground. Better than trying to sleep while hanging, chained up to a wall, though. She stretched and noticed again that Eric was trying to hide the fact that he had been staring at her. She smiled at him from across the way and was gratified at his startled reaction as he quickly turned away and pretended to polish his spotless shield. She still wore the smile, though it was for herself and she lowered her gaze to study the ground as well as her mixed up feelings. Eric was very good looking and she had noticed the way he always just happened to be looking in her direction. It was very flattering and it stirred up some old feelings in her she wasn’t sure on how to express.
Eric cursed himself for not being the suave gentleman he always pretended to be. When it came down to it, he had no idea what he was doing. ‘There she is, just a few feet across the camp circle from me and I can’t get up the nerve to go over there, sit down, and talk with her’, he reprimanded himself. ‘She had smiled at me even, and what did ole’ Mr. Charm do? Turn tail and fled, like always.’ He sighed and looked up from the useless, busy work of shield polishing to see that the others had the look of people ready to break camp. He glumly wished they could break fast first, though. It was better to be depressed on a full stomach than on an empty one.
Everyone was soon on the march again. The multi-sunrise had long ago ceased to impress Eric, but Renee had never seen such an event, having been cooped up in a tower her entire time in the Realm, and was very vocal in her expression of delight as she watched the mixture of colors compete for their bit of space in the sky. It was kind of like a natural psychedelic phenomenon. ‘The gods belonging to this world must have some kind of a major hempfest going on’, she thought. The beautiful display was over too soon and with four suns to light the way, she was once again reminded of just how far away from home she was.
Lunchtime rolled around and they realized that they must be out of Rookwold finally because the territory changed around them dramatically. The broken mountains they had been traversing gave way to a desolate plain. A constant wind familiarized itself with the flat terrain. It didn’t look like there was any kind of vegetation growing there either. Eric’s stomach growled. From long experience, he knew that vegetation usually meant a chance to hunt for something that to eat, be it an animal or vegetable. Well, there was no turning back. They continued on, trudging wearily, forcing one foot ahead of the other, and trying to ignore complaining stomachs. Even Renee found it hard to concentrate on songs with her stomach demanding attention.
So it was with a great relief that they could just make out the outline of a fair sized town up ahead.
“Please, let this be Stalmoore!” Bobby said. Uni bleated with hope.
“We can get something to eat here!” Eric was hopeful as well.
Diana shook her head, “We don’t have any money, remember?”
Renee could almost hear her friend’s faces fall. Then an idea came to her, she looked at Presto, “I could do a street performance, and maybe Presto could do some parlor tricks. Do the Realm’s people enjoy that kind of thing?”
Hank nodded, “Yes. That just might work! I don’t know if Presto should flaunt his magic around, though. Just like on Earth, people here have a pretty poor view of people who may be ‘witches’. Maybe Diana could sing instead and you could do . . . I don’t know, what can you do?”
“Well, I can juggle, balance on objects, and the like. I had once run away to join the circus before I finished high school.” She gave an embarrassed shrug at her old childhood dreams, “Falling off of the high wire pretty much convinced me that it was time to change careers. Sure there had been a net, but you never forget the feeling of utter terror that you know you’re falling. Never cared much for heights after that. I left the circus, got my GED, and tried my hand at stand-up.” Not that stand-up actually paid her bills. She wondered if she should tell them of her underground life as a hacker. After the circus, she discovered that she had a knack for computers. She used to break into corporations for fun. Now, companies actually paid her to break into their security system to see if they had forgotten any backdoors while tightening up the system. That was what she had been trying to tell the DM. She had a gotten a shot at some big name company in Tokyo. A Mr. Yasutake had stuck his neck out and vouched for her. He was one of the company’s big wigs and had set up her own credit line with a major bank there. It was a gesture that was not lost on Renee who was not a stranger to Japanese customs. He had put his name on the line by bringing her in. And now she had missed her flight out. Might as well had just spit on him and insulted his ancestors. She sighed and decided not to reveal that to them at the moment.
“Maybe we can get enough money for dinner!” Bobby was enthusiastic with the idea.
“And maybe a couple of rooms in a lodge,” Sheila said wistfully.
“You’re putting a lot of faith on me.” Renee said.
“No pressure.” Hank replied.
“It’s been a while since I’ve done any kind of circus act.”
Presto took his hat off, “Maybe you can practice on the way to town. Hocus abracabuggle, please give Renee something to juggle!”
A pair of nun chucks appeared from the depths. Diana took them and made a few experimental swings with them. No good, no one had any kind of martial arts ability. Diana gave them back to Presto, much preferring her staff. He tossed them back into the hat.
“No, hat. Look, try again.”
Three, small red balls appeared.
“Great!” Renee held out her hands and the balls floated down onto her outstretched palms. It was a familiar feeling, grasping the juggling balls like she was. Pleased, she gave a few practice tosses and was happy to have been able to catch every one. They continued walking and Renee practiced. When she was fairly confident that she remembered the basics well enough, she asked Presto for two more balls and tried some complicated tossing pattern with the five balls. It was all coming back to her.
The town was now only a few minutes away and they could see the few dirt streets and wooden houses and buildings. To Renee, it reminded her of any town you might see in some old western movie.
“Welcome to Silverado.” She said.
“Huh?” That from Bobby.
“Nothin’.” She returned and with a final toss of the balls into Presto’s hat, they entered the lonely town.
There were folk bustling about, women out doing errands and children playing in the streets. They all looked at the strangers with what looked like fear in their eyes, especially when their eyes landed on Hank, Eric, Presto, and Bobby. Eric didn’t like it. The activity on the streets grew as they were spotted by more and more of the inhabitants. A few of the women who had seen them enter snatched as many children they could and dragged the protesting youngsters back indoors, indiscriminant of the fact if the children belonged to them or not.
“I don’t like this,” Diana whispered to the group as she watched yet another anxious woman physically haul off another child.
“Anyone notice anything else weird?” Presto whispered back.
Sheila nodded and quietly answered, “There are no men. Just women and children.”
“What kind of a kooky place is this?” Eric asked.
Hank’s internal alarm went off. This was all wrong. What happened here? The whole town looked upon them like they were a plague. Maybe they should continue on through. However, he couldn’t forget how tired he felt, and knew the others were not going to want to wait for the next town to get something to eat. But, there was the money problem. This wasn’t going to be easy, but as Eric so often puts it, nothing in the Realm ever was. He sighed. Sometimes being the leader really stunk.
The street was soon emptied of everyone except for themselves.
“Hi.” Came from behind.
The group nearly jumped at the unexpected greeting. When they turned to see who had addressed them, they found a young girl, younger than Bobby holding a dirty, worn stuffed patchwork toy that looked like a sorry attempt at a unicorn. Uni scrunched her nose at it, insulted. The young girl held it by its hind leg and stared up at them curiously. She had long, black stringy hair and it was not brushed.
“Hi.” Hank managed.
“What are you doing here? Have you come to get my father out?” She asked pitifully with doe eyes too young to have known the obvious feelings of betrayal.
Hank blinked, not sure where to go with that one.
“There’s a little food left at the house. I’m all alone,” she sniffed, eyes threatening tears, “I can’t cook any of it. I’m only seven and a half. You can have it all if you can get my father and the others out. There were others who said they would help, but they just took things and never came back. They were bad men. Are you bad men?”
Eric wanted to groan. He knew there was no way that the gang would say no to this kid. She had them effectively trapped, wrapped around her dirty fingers the way her stuffed parody of a unicorn was.
“Where’s your father?” Sheila kneeled down to her and brushed some wayward hair from the child’s stricken, dirty face.
“Took. Took, by Him.” She sniffed again and stuffed her thumb in her mouth to keep from having to say more scary things.
“Do you think she means Venger?” Presto asked unhappily.
Eric replied just as unhappily, “You think ole’ Mr. Happy would pass up any chance to make people miserable? Look at this place!”
“Hi. I’m Renee,” Renee kneeled next to Sheila, attempting a grin that she didn’t feel, “What’s yours, honey?”
The youngster looked them over and her eyes fell on Uni. They were riveted upon the baby unicorn.
“Beah?” Uni bleated and cautiously edged up to the child.
Wide eyed, she stretched out a grubby hand and placed it gently on the vibrant, red mane. Uni was very still as the child stroked her, awe evident on her face.
“I’m Karna. You are all good! The unicorn told me.” She grinned, her whole face lighting up.
Bobby felt a twang of jealousy as she acted like she knew Uni. No one knew Uni like he did! He was tempted to pull Uni over to his side, but he stayed put. All he could do was grind his teeth silently.
“Follow me.” She said happily, full of sudden trust. She dragged the stuffed unicorn in the dirt behind her, fully expecting them to follow.
The Young Ones glanced at each other and resignedly, wordlessly followed Karna. They wandered through back ways, winding deep into the heart of the town. It hadn’t looked that big when they first entered, but when they got within the very bowls, it was much larger than they had guessed. Finally they came up to a door that must have belonged to her because she opened it with more authority than any almost eight year olds should have. The house, or more accurately, the large room was sparse. There were a few chairs, a table, and two stuffed mats in the corner as beds. There was a rudimentary kitchen and a few cupboards. That was it. ‘What a dump’, Eric thought.
“Where’s your mommy?” Sheila asked.
“Dead.” Karna mumbled. “Just me and father. Now I’m all alone!” She started to weep openly, in the middle of the room with strangers surrounding her. She ran to Sheila who surrounded her with knowing, comforting arms. Sheila gave Hank a sideways look.
“We can’t leave her like this.” Sheila said firmly.
Hank ran his hand through his blonde hair. She was right. There was no way they could leave such a helpless child by herself. He nodded. Some one would have to stay and watch over her while the others went out to search for the town’s men.
As if reading his thoughts, Sheila said softly, “I’ll look after Karna.”
Hank regarded the red headed thief for a moment. Sheila’s got room enough in her heart for Bobby, the gang, and a lonely little girl they had only just met. Hank wondered if she had heart enough for the whole Realm. He nodded again.
“I’ll stay, too.” Bobby said, surprising him and Uni bahhed firmly that she would stay too. Karna looked up at Sheila, still engulfed in the Thief’s protective arms, with an appreciative smile brightening her face.
“You need to eat before you leave for the Master of the Souls Temple.” Karna pulled herself out from Sheila’s grasp and went for the cupboards.
“Master of the Souls?” Diana repeated.
“He works in the High Mountains. I know I got stuff you would like, but I don’t know how to make anything. I can show you where the food is, though.”
“It’s not Venger, then?” Eric didn’t know if he was happy about that or not.
She shook her head vigorously, “Nope. Master of the Souls steals souls. I don’t know why. That’s why he took all the men from the Stalmoore. Something about positive and negative. I didn’t understand.”
“Does the Master of the Souls work for Venger?” Renee asked, remembering how it felt to be on the wrong side of the Archmage’s fireblast.
Karna shrugged, as she opened up a cupboard, “I don’t know. The women have big people meetings sometimes to try to find a way to bring the men back. Sometimes they hire someone to try to free them, but they just take our money and never come back.”
Eric was liking this idea less and less. Master of the Souls. He’d never heard of this joker. That was bad. At least with Venger, they had an idea of what to expect. From what little information this tiny tot had told them . . . he shuddered and wished it were Venger behind it all. Better the enemy you know, and all that.
Eric had managed to fix something up, though he hadn’t a clue as to what any of the ingredients he was using were. It was all slop anyway. But on an empty stomach, even slop tasted good. No one complained as they ate the curious lunch. He had tried to offer Renee a bowl the stuff; the expression on her face didn’t match her refusal. She left the table because it was too hard to watch everyone eat but her. She was certain that everyone could hear her angry stomach rumble with want. The DM had told her not to eat or something horrible would happen. She kept replaying the dining room table scene in Alien over and over again and reflexively grabbed hold of her gut. The feeling of something brewing just under her skin was growing more and more pronounced as time wore on. She knew it had nothing to do with the fact that she hadn’t eaten anything.
“Here.” Karna said from behind her.
The little girl grabbed hold of Renee and dragged her over to a large gallon jug.
“The funny short man told me to give you this. He said you had to drink it all yourself.” She gestured to the mysterious container.
Renee frowned. Well, if the Dungeon Master said so . . . she leaned down to pick up the jug. She put her nose to it and sniffed. There was no odor to it. By the weight of it, it was very full. She took an experimental swig and swallowed.
“GAHH!!!!” Her mouth, throat, and gullet now felt like they were being burned away. It felt like she had swallowed molten lava. She spluttered and gasped as the pain continued. Indeed, it seemed to grow and intensify. The others went up to her, concerned as she doubled over.
“Hey!” Eric said angrily, “What was in that jug?”
Karna looked up at him with annoying innocent eyes, “Water of the flames.”
“It . . . burns!” She gasped.
“The funny short man said once you start to drink, you have to finish it right away or it would all have been for nothing.”
Eric balled his fists and was prepared to grab the jug from Renee, but she held it close to her and everyone’s watched amazed as she took another swig. Tears sprang up in her eyes as the pain worsened. Eric made a move to snatch it away from her but she shook her head and drank more. He watched her body shudder and quake as the strange substance boiled inside her. Sweat beaded on her forehead and she made herself take more of the stuff. Sheila reached out to steady her when it looked like she would overbalance and once she touched her bare skin; she jerked her hand away with surprise.
“Her skin is hot to the touch!”
Renee blindly shrugged off hands attempting to assist her. She worked on the gallon jug. At least she didn’t feel hungry anymore, she thought, her stomach felt too fried and she wondered if she even had one anymore. Her entire body felt as if it were consumed in a liquid flame roaring from within. Determined, she worked down the rest. It seemed to have taken ages and the internal fire never released her from first drop to last. She let the empty jug fall to the floor. Her hair was damp from perspiration. Her eyes had trouble focusing and she thought she fainted. Eric yelped as he barely kept her from h
itting the floor with a solid thud. “Over on the mat.” Hank pointed and Eric carried his burden over to the spot and laid her down gently.
She woke up very shortly, tired, but cooled. The pain was receding and her hair was almost dry. Eric hovered over her worriedly while the others were grouped nearby, talking softly.
“How do you feel?” He asked, his voice weighted with concern.
Renee looked up into his eyes and gave him a weak smile, “I’ve been better. But I think I can get up.”
“Are you sure you should? I mean, that stuff knocked you out! You should rest!”
She raised her hand up to him, “Help me up.” She commanded. He looked at her hand for a moment like it might be a snake about to bite him then he took it shyly. He slowly pulled her up and the others surrounded her to help.
“Well, I’m not hungry anymore. Of course, it felt like it was burning away all my internal organs, who knows if I still have a stomach.” She said, trying to joke.
Hank wasn’t amused, “I think you should stay with Sheila, Bobby, and Uni.”
Renee shook her head, “NO! I didn’t take that stuff for nothing! Besides, that thing in me seemed to like it and I think it’s going to come out soon, whatever it is. Do you want it to come out here?”
Hank frowned. This was getting complicated. But she did have a point. He couldn’t risk unleashing Venger’s hidden toy on the unsuspecting town of Stalmoore.
“Fine.” He acquiesced. * * * *
Hank, Diana, Eric, Presto, and Renee went off in the direction Karna said the High Mountains were in. When night hit the desolate plain, they bedded down in a tight circle. That night, Renee had a dream and when she woke the next morning, she knew what was inside her, knew what she was and she was afraid. One look at Presto told her that he knew but he kept quiet. She wasn’t sure how she would tell the rest, especially Eric. She sighed. They broke camp and headed out, the mountains were to be seen in the distance, maybe another day’s travel. Eric boldly walked beside her with the excuse of offering a helping hand if she faltered. It was fine with her. She liked Eric and wished he would express his feelings to her. This awkward mincing around part of a relationship was always annoying.
Eric thrilled at being her helper. Earlier he had joked to her saying that he would be her Knight in shining armor. She gave him the nickname Kisa, an acronym for the phrase. Eric took it all in stride and felt his heart flutter at being called “My Kisa.”
They walked all day long, stopping periodically to rest.
“Hey, guys, there’s a tent up ahead.” Diana came back from her scouting mission.
“Did you see anyone?” Presto asked unnerved.
“One man. Human. I think he’s a Knight.” She looked at Eric.
“Did you see if he had any banner or recognizable symbols around?” Hank asked.
Diana shook her head, “Soon as I made sure he was the only one, I made my way back here to get you guys.”
The group decided to risk it and cautiously went to the camp. They would out number the Knight, so it should be all right. They spied the Knight through the protection of several boulders. They watched as the Knight sat on a rock and sharpened his heavy Claiborne. With reflexes on the alert, the group walked into the Knights camp. The older man looked up at them, startled. All he had on was a mail shirt and some leather pants and boots. His armor was set in a pile near his tent. Scorch marks made dark streaks along the gleaming surface of the armor and there were regularly placed indentations at odd angles all along the surface, like large teeth had tried to grab on to him.
“Who are you?” He asked them warily, jumping up and brandishing his sword.
Hank gripped his bow, but tried to make a placating gesture with his free hand, “Easy, we’re just weary travelers and wanted to see if we could join your camp for the night.”
The Knight considered them and then made his decision, “Very well. You are all just children. I don’t see what it would harm. I am Sir Dae.”
“I’m Hank. That’s Diana, Presto, Eric, and Renee.” Hank introduced them all.
“Ahhh! Fellow Knight!” He came up to Eric, “Sir Eric, I believe?” He shook the Cavaliers hand.
“Ummm. No, I’m not a Knight. Its just Eric.” Eric said somewhat embarrassed.
Sir Dae’s eyebrow rose questioningly, “You do not serve a Lord? Who is it you serve then?”
“Uhhhhh . . ..” Eric tried to find something to say that would placate the Knight. Nothing came to mind.
“Hello!” Renee raised her hand to Sir Dae, distracting him, quite aware of how uncomfortable he was making Eric.
When his eyes fell on Renee though, Eric wished he still had the Knight’s full attention and he felt the twinge of jealousy twist his gut as he watched chivalry ooze from the man. With great care, Sir Dae covered her bare hand with both of his.
“Ah, my Lady Renee! How lovely a vision you are!”
Renee could feel the heat rise on her face and knew it had nothing to do with the water of the flames. He took his top hand off and kissed her knuckles. Hank looked over at Eric to see the Cavalier’s reaction. Eric looked like he would explode and Hank wondered how his friend managed to keep his mouth shut through all this. Sir Dae released a flustered Renee’s hand and moved to Diana with whom he repeated the whole gesture.
“Lady Diana! An exotic beauty!” Diana reluctantly offered her hand and the Knight caressed and kissed it. When he released the girls, he waved everyone into the tent, unaware of, or ignoring the fact that the tension of the group had risen a notch. Renee had caught Eric’s eye with hers as they entered the tent and tried to give him a look of apology that she hoped he could read and understand. A blind man could see the anger snapping in his eyes. Renee was taken aback. She hadn’t wanted the Knight’s attention at all; she just wanted him to leave Eric alone. He honestly didn’t think she liked this Sir Dae, did he? Obviously he did. She sighed and walked into the tent. Then wished she hadn’t. It was a good thing her stomach was empty or else she would’ve hurled. Sitting on the floor in the corner of the tent was the head of a red dragon. Its lifeless eyes stared up at her accusingly. Presto coughed and glanced at the now stone still Renee.
“Ah! I see you’ve noticed my latest slaying!” Sir Dae said delightedly, misreading Renee’s reaction. “This horrible beast was about to devour yet another maiden fair, much like yourself. I killed the fowl beast with dispatch. I plan to make a cape out of its scaly hide, should be quite flame resistant. I was just about to crack the skull open to get to the brain so I can brain tan the hide I just finished stripping off of the carcass.”
“And where’s the carcass?” Presto asked not really wanting to know. He was the only one who accurately understood Renee’s disgust and actually agreed with her.
“I left it out on the plain so the scavengers wouldn’t attack my camp. I had made a vow to my Lord to slay all dragons in the Realm.” He closed in on the horrified Renee, “Ah, my dear Lady, how could I let such filthy beasts continue on with their existence when the only thought emanating from that blob of substance they might call a mind would be to rid the world of visions like you?” He embraced her protectively, “Oh, my dear Lady! Fear not to tread this Realm no longer! I will protect you!”
“Look, Sir Dae, I don’t need or want your protection.” Renee replied uncomfortably.
“Very well, my fair maiden. I will not upstage your friends. If they are your protectors, then I will not take their jobs away.” He released her and bowed.
“Um,” Hank said, “Well, it’s getting late, we should get some rest.”
Sir Dae was nonplussed, “Of course, but let me feed you before bed.”
Everyone except Renee enjoyed a cooked meal consisting of meat the gang had never eaten before. That, however, was nothing new to them. It was very good.
“Hey, that was delicious,” Diana complimented, “Just what was that we ate?”
Sir Dae smiled, “Red dragon, of course.”
Renee was really, really glad she was on a forced fast. The others, with the exception of Presto, seemed to take it in stride. They bedded down for the night. Sir Dae had offered Diana and Renee his tent but Renee refused to sleep next to the dragonhead. Diana decided to sleep outside with everyone else. In the morning they found the Knight had packed up and left sometime during the night. That was fine with Renee. He creeped her out and was creating unwanted tension between her and Eric. She would have to make the first move on Eric, then. But now was not the time. The High Mountains were just underfoot finally. The Temple was somewhere within.
The Young Ones marched onward with grim foreboding. By midmorning, they knew they’d found it. It was worth a prolonged stare from afar. It was an immense structure. Looking like an ancient Greek temple, it sported rows of white marble columns that soared to heights unknown, as if they supported the sky. It was ringed by a wall of flame, and within that wall of flame, the men of Stalmoore. In the center of the structure, stood a devilish figure in the middle of performing some kind of complicated incantation. Hank shook his head. No it was never easy!