Return of Dark Dragon

by PJ

 

 

Chapter 7

 

Rodger and Victoria lay chained to the walls of the cold, dark, dungeon cell.

Facing each other across the room, Rodger smiled ruefully as his arms dangled

above his head.

 

"Not exactly the southern isles, is it?" asked the raider lightly.

 

"This isn't funny, Rodger," muttered Victoria with a frown.

 

"You really need to develop a sense of humor, Vicci.  It must be an Elven

thing," observed Rodger.

 

Before the irritated Elf woman could reply, the iron door of the dungeon cell

opened noisily, and two burly guards dressed in chainmail entered the room and

moved forward to release the prisoners.  Rodger and Victoria had their wrists

manacled behind their backs, then were pushed roughly through the cell door and

down a dimly-lit hallway.  After climbing a spiral staircase and led down

several different passageways, the duo was escorted into a sumptuous dining

chamber.  The raider and the Elf woman were pushed into soft chairs at the far

end of the table facing each other, while Emperor Darkblade ate quietly at the

head of the table in a high-backed chair.  The handsome, raven-haired ruler

finished his well-done steak and drank from a golden goblet of wine, then

cleaned his lips with a white, cloth napkin.

 

"I trust that my dungeons were to your liking?" asked Darkblade nonchalantly.

 

"It was quiet, but the decor was atrocious.  I'd have your decorator hung at

the earliest opportunity," replied Rodger with a grin.

 

"I'll take that under advisement," said Darkblade.  "Now I something more

important to discuss."

 

"What?" asked Victoria impatiently.

 

"I'm getting to that," admonished Darkblade with a petulant frown.  "In case

you don't know, I have a sister, her name is Gema.  She has long been a student

of magick and history, and now she believes that she can return sorcery to the

world.  To do that, she needs to free the Dark Dragon, a creature of ancient

myth."

 

"My people know of the Dark Dragon, it is a being of pure evil," said Victoria

with a shudder.

 

"I don't care about its personality, only its power.  My dear sister is

confident that she can control the beast and command its awesome abilities.

With the Dark Dragon, I will be able to rule the world, and Gema will be my

beautiful Queen," declared Darkblade with burning eyes.

 

"Where do we come in?" inquired Rodger skeptically.

 

"My sister will require an escort.  My general was impressed with your sword

skill, so I want you to accompany Gema with the squad I've assembled," replied

the Emperor.

 

"Surely you have your own swordsmen to go with the Princess," remarked

Victoria.

 

"True, but they aren't expendable, you are," answered Darkblade with a cold

smile.  "If you go with the expedition, I am prepared to reward you generously

with gold and jewels.  If you refuse my offer, I'll have your heads cut off

within the hour.  What's your decision?"

 

"We'll go," replied Rodger without emotion.

***********************************************************

 

The following morning, a small group of thirteen riders left the sprawling

city of Abyss and began its long journey north.  Princess Gema led the way,

following the ancient instructions written in the histories.  Two muscular

soldiers rode on either side of the Princess, with Rodger and Victoria close

behind.  The remaining eight horsemen rode in two columns behind the raiders.

Two days passed uneventfully as the party rode across the desolate plains of

Darkblade's domain towards the towering Northern mountains.  On the afternoon

of the third day, Gema's band reached the foothills of the range, and she began

the long, treacherous ascent.  An uneven, twisting trail led to the higher

elevations, just barely wide enough for horses to traverse.  Two more days were

spent climbing the mountains, with nights spent in cold, shallow caves.  Gema

went forward with sparkling eyes, obsessed with freeing the worm and freeing

magick into the world once more.  The two raiders watched out for each other

and tried not to fall to their deaths from the narrow path.

 

At last, with the sun descending beyond their view to the west, the group

found an ancient cave with a rune-inscribed doorway.  Gema left her snorting

horse, and walked up to the entryway, reading the runes with intense

concentration.

 

"What do the writings say?" asked Rodger curiously.

 

"Not to awaken the evil that has been imprisoned here," replied Gema softly.

 

"Sounds like good advice," muttered Victoria.

 

"Silence, Elf!" shouted Gema as she boldly strode into the dark cavern.

 

The Princess' huge bodyguards quickly followed their mistress, followed by two

more soldiers carrying lit torches.  The remained troopers followed the torch

bearers, but the last two waited until the bandits had entered the cave.

Rodger glanced nervously at the rough, stone walls while Victoria walked calmly

next to him.

 

"Is your Elven Sight working?" asked Rodger softly.

 

"Yes," replied Victoria.  "Everything's clear, so far."

 

"Makes me wish that I was an Elf sometimes," muttered the raider.

 

"You have plenty of other talents," whispered the Elf woman with a smirk.

 

"Thanks, I think," replied Rodger with a frown.

 

"Shut up, you two!" hissed one of the soldiers behind the bandits.

 

The party made their way down a wide tunnel until they reached an immense iron

wall.  Runes similar to the ones outside were engraved around the outer edges

of the barrier.  Gema read them swiftly, then clasped her hands in front of her

breasts.  Muttering words of magick, the young woman recited the ancient glyphs

of opening.  A deep, reverberating rumble shook the tunnel, then the iron wall

flared with a portal of white light.  Smiling with satisfaction, Gema entered

the doorway, followed closely by her bodyguards.  Rodger and Victoria slowly

entered the portal after the soldiers, hands clasped tightly to their weapons.

After a moment of blindness, the two raiders could finally see again.

 

A huge, circular chamber stood before them, the stone walls smooth and glassy.

Gema stood at the edge of a huge pit that plummeted hundreds of feet below.

The torches held by the two soldiers reflected their light from the walls,

illuminating the entire cavern with a warm glow.  At the bottom of the pit

slept the Dark Dragon, coiled like a serpent as it breathed lightly.  It had

the four limbs of a quadruped, with a long tail and elongated snout.  Two ebony

horns jutted forward from its forehead, and razor-sharp spines ran down the

length of its back.  The Dragon's claws reflected the glow of the torches as

its deep breaths vibrated the floor and walls of the cavern.  Gema smiled like

a proud mother watching over her sleeping child, then she took a deep breath

and began chanting the words of awakening.  Rodger and Victoria looked

carefully over the edge of the pit, then stared in wonder at the powerful

beast.

 

A dull rumble began to shake the walls of the cavern as Gema's chanting grew

more urgent and powerful.  Bits of rock fell from the ceiling and pelted the

alarmed soldiers as the sleeping Dragon began to stir.  Fiery, red light

started to emanate from the worm as its limbs shook and uncurled.  Dark

Dragon's eyes popped open, then the evil creature sat up and roared with

pleasure.  The cavern shook violently, knocking all of the humans and the Elf

off of their feet.  Gema crawled to the edge of the pit and smiled with

satisfaction as Dark Dragon stretched out its enormous wings and flapped them

slowly.  Rodger helped Victoria to her feet, then slowly advanced to the side

of the Princess.

 

"Who awakens Dark Dragon?" rumbled the worm as it looked up to gaze balefully

at the slim, young sorceress.

 

"My name is Gema, and by the ancient pact you are sworn to obey me in all

things," replied the Princess proudly.

 

"Yes, I must obey you, mistress," agreed the Dragon reluctantly.  "What are

your orders?"

 

"You will fly across the Chasm and destroy a city called Sentinel," commanded

Gema firmly.  "When you have completed that task, you will go to another city

called River Towers and destroy it as well."

 

"Very well, mistress," acknowledged Dark Dragon before it raised its

ebony-scaled head and opened its mouth wide.  With a loud intake of breath, the

Dragon spat out a stream of violet fire, melting the stone ceiling and opening

a pathway for the enormous worm.  Flapping its large, black wings, Dark Dragon

created a small windstorm as it left the ground and flew like an arrow through

the newly-made exit, dislodging shards of rock the size of horses.  One

unfortunate soldier was crushed like a grape from a piece of falling debris.

As the remaining guards scurried for cover at the cavern's entrance, Rodger

grabbed Victoria's small hand and dragged her into the pit's depths after him.

A small avalanche cascaded from the smoking hole in the ceiling, blocking the

entrance to the cave with a wall of immovable rock.  After several minutes, the

thunder of falling rock subsided, and Gema rose slowly to her feet.

 

"What do we do now, my lady?" asked a disheveled guard tentatively.

 

"We return to the surface and tell my brother that we have succeeded," replied

Gema primly as she dusted off her black robes.

 

"What about the two prisoners?" asked another guard as he pointed to the stone

barrier behind them.

 

"They're dead, let them rot," dismissed the Princess with a toss of her long,

red hair as she led the way back to the surface.

*******************************************

 

"That was brilliant, Rodger, but warn me next time," muttered Victoria as she

clung desperately to the raider.

 

"Give me a break, I had to think fast," replied Rodger acidly as he pressed

his back closer to the rough wall of the pit and tried to keep his footing on

the small ledge that thrust out twenty feet below the pit's opening.

 

"Any ideas on how we get out of here?" asked the Elf woman worriedly.

 

"Well, after all that racket up there, and the fact that none of those thugs

looked for us, I think that the cave entrance is not an option," reasoned the

bandit.  "I guess we go down."

 

"How will that get us back to the surface?" questioned Victoria.

 

"Maybe we'll find something useful.  After all, this is a dragon's lair,"

replied Rodger.

 

With a sigh, Victoria nodded her head in agreement, then helped the raider

uncoil a length of rope and lower it to the bottom of the pit.  Nailing the

rope to the ledge with an iron spike, Rodger slowly began to climb down the

rope hand over hand, followed closely by Victoria.

The companions climbed for over an hour, but finally reached the bottom of the

pit.  Jumping the last five feet to the ground, Rodger landed lightly on his

feet, then drew his long sword with a sharp hiss of metal.  Victoria landed

next to him and drew her own short sword.  Carefully, Rodger lit a torch and

scanned the bottom of the pit.  The floor was completely bare, gleaming and

smooth like the upper walls of the cavern.  The two bandits searched the pit

thoroughly for anything of value, but found nothing.  As Victoria knelt down to

run her long fingers across the floor, she spotted a knob of rock to her left.

Approaching the strange formation slowly, the Elf woman pushed lightly on the

stone, and jumped back as a section of wall lowered into the floor.

 

"What did you do?" asked Rodger as he rushed up to the Elf woman's side.

 

"I opened a secret door, apparently," whispered Victoria in wonder.

 

"This is something," commented the raider as he carefully led the way into the

door and down a tight passageway.  After walking several hundred feet, the duo

entered another cavern with smooth, gleaming walls.  Another Dragon slept in

this cave, but it had golden scales and feather-like wings.  With a

wall-shuddering snort, the worm awoke and gazed at the two companions with

amber eyes.

 

"So you are the two fools who released Dark Dragon?  You have no idea of the

evil that you unleashed into the world," rumbled the golden Dragon mournfully.

 

"Who are you?" asked Rodger weakly.

 

"Gold Dragon, who else did you expect?" replied the worm sarcastically.  "And

now I'm going to have to kill you."

 

"Wait!  We didn't awaken Dark Dragon!  It was a princess named Gema.  She's

the sister of Emperor Darkblade, who forced us to guard the girl on her

journey!" exclaimed Victoria quickly.

 

"Darkblade?  That name seems familiar, somehow.  Well, if you didn't awaken

Dark Dragon, I guess that you can live.  Stand back, I need some casting room,"

said Gold Dragon before he sat up and began to sing in a deep, bass voice.  The

raiders listened in awe as the golden worm swayed to the music of its magick

and moved its wide wings in slow, sweeping gestures.  A golden orb of light

surrounded the three beings, and with a painful, white flash, all three

prisoners teleported out of the cave and re-appeared at the surface entrance of

the lair.

 

"Great, they got here before us," muttered Rodger as he observed the absence

of the party's horses.

 

"Don't worry, I can give you a short ride somewhere," offered Gold Dragon as

he sniffed the pure mountain air loudly.  "Where do you want to go?"

 

"Definitely not to Sentinel," said Victoria with a frown.

 

"Gold Dragon, please take us to River Towers, a large city to the east," asked

Rodger politely.

 

"Consider it done," agreed the Dragon as it leaned down till its head rested

on the stone ground.

 

With some reluctance, Rodger and Victoria climbed on the Dragon's back, then

held on tightly to its dull spines as it stretched out its feathery wings and

dived down the face of the mountain.  As the two riders screamed in terror,

Gold Dragon grinned and began the long flight to the east.

**************

 

A knock on the iron-banded door tore Governor Nightmane from her writing.

Sighing quietly, the beautiful woman cleared her throat and said, "Enter!"  A

young soldier opened the

door and held it for General Sath, who strode boldly into the spartan office.

 

"General!  A pleasure as always," greeted Nightmane as she stood up and

offered her right hand.

 

"Governor, you performed magnificently during the recent siege," congratulated

General Sath as he shook Nightmane's hand, then sat heavily in the chair facing

her desk.  "The arrival of my army is an anti-climax after these recent

events."

 

"The battle may be over, but your men are still welcome," smiled Nightmane as

she returned to her seat and folded her hands upon her desk.  "I have the

feeling that Darkblade isn't done with his mischief just yet."

 

"I agree, Governor," nodded Sath.  "That's why I'm leaving four divisions with

you, that's over sixteen hundred men, plus support units."

 

"If you have any military engineers with you, I could sure use them.  The

western wall took quite a beating, and the battlements are a mess.  I've got

work crews working day and night on the damage, put it's slow work," said

Nightmane.

 

"I've got a company of engineers with me.  I'll assign them to your command

before I go," promised Sath.

 

"Thank you, General," acknowledged Nightmane with a warm smile.

 

"No problem," replied Sath as he rose from his seat and saluted briefly.

"With things under control here, I'll return to the capital and report to the

King.  I intend to recommend that you get a commendation, governor.  You did

the Royal Army proud."

 

"Thank you, sir," said Governor Nightmane.  "I was just doing my job."

 

"Keep it up, and be careful, that bastard Darkblade can be stubborn when he

wants to be," remarked Sath before he walked to the door and let himself out.

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