“The dwarf is a curious creature. Driven by avarice and a desire to mine ever deeper is search of ore and precious stones. Often into the places time has forgotten, with good reason. Gods of olde are said to have caged all manner of daemons, not least the Djinn, but those whose desires upon earth are conquest and destruction. Despite this, they are renowned as master masons who created some of the lost cities with engineering skills that surpass all that exists today.” Jeremiah Delalande on “Dwarven Mine lore.”
“And it’s the same the whole world ’round
The hurt I see helps to compound
The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
Is just somebody’s unholy hoax
And if you’re up there, you’ll perceive
That my heart’s here upon my sleeve
If there’s one thing I don’t believe inIt’s you
Dear God, XTC. Soundtrack from IT, Stephen King
Dear God”
“We had a bond that was stronger than they could ever comprehend
We are one, we could do anything if you just hold my hand
We had a bond that was stronger than they could ever comprehend
And you know that people fear what they don’t quite understandRose Red, Rose Red, Rose Red
Blackbriar, Snow White, Rose Red
Snow White, Snow White, Snow White.”
“There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable..”
Mark Twain
This is another short story for this month’s prompt Shiver as I explore the world of Dragon Stone.
Dragon Stone: The Malachite Rises
Yish awoke to the roar of The Malachite. Chains echoed from the chamber Naz had entered in an attempt to free it from the rune lock. It sounded as if the Wyvern was awake and angry. Neither she nor Angelica were in any condition to help. Even now, she knew it was scrabbling up from below. With dread, she feared it had killed Naz. The lifetime friend that had saved her during the battle of Sorcerer’s Hill. Dragged her from the clutches of the dark horde. Of eight, only two survived. The caucus shattered in moments.
Angelica was still dead to the world. With some effort, she rose and turned the witch over, using the dwarf’s cloak as a makeshift sledge. Sweat fell from her brow as she used the last of her strength to drag the stricken sorceress down the deadlight tunnel. At least the entrance was too small for even a young Dragon to enter. Not that it would stop Dragon’s Breath should The Malachite send its inferno after them. But life without Naz would be pointless. How could she continue alone? Grief, she knew, would swamp her thoughts if they ever reached safety. All because she was stupid enough to bring them into this cursed castle.
In the hypogeum, deadlights hovered like vultures. Was that their fate? To haunt this place until time ceased and the cosmos went dark. Lost from history inside an empty tomb. She lay Angelica on the dais and fumbled for the Jade Stone. Her eyes threatened to weep, making her vision blurred. That, and the exertion of bringing the witch, had left her spent. In a haze, she placed the Stone into the rune lock. Ozone ripped through the air as it sank into the keystone. Greenlight radiated out as The Jade realised matters were failing.
Do not forget my Stone elf.
As the portal solidified, Yish grabbed the Jade Stone as it emerged from the lock. Her last thoughts were gripping the cloak upon which the witch slept and falling backwards into the rift.
###
Naz was having trouble of his own. The Malachite looked on in disdain as the dwarf tried to work out how to climb on.
The fool who carries two Stones knows less than a youngling fresh hatched from an egg.
“I never asked for them Dragon.”
Nevertheless you carry them dwarf.
“Aye, and this blasted staff never lets me forget.” Naz stroked his beard and scrutinised the scutes The Malachite had so generously presented. A closer inspection revealed slight indents. He decided these were once where some kind of harness rested. “How long since you flew Dragon?”
Centuries dwarf even longer since any dared ride upon my back.
“And if I do get on?”
Hold tight and feel the breath of the wind upon your face.
Naz rolled his eyes. This Wyvern was as elusive in answers as Yish. He paused as the memory of the elf bit hard. Could they really be dead or just hurled elsewhere? It happened before when she became caught in a portal field. That time they were both thrown into different chronologies. Her into the world of The Black and him into the ruins of the Keep. Hope rose. Fix that thought and pray it was true.
He returned to the more immediate problem. Mounting The Malachite. Drawing a deep breath, he began to climb the beast’s hind quarters using the slight indentations in the scutes from long ago. Sweat dripped from his brow by the time he reached the back of the Dragon. Matters worsened as there was very little to grasp apart from the horned ridge that flowed down its neck. These he decided would have to do.
In response, The Malachite spread its wings for the first time in living memory. Pride surged through its body. Next, it would have to persuade the dwarf to remove the chains that threatened to make flight unpredictable. That could wait until it reached the Dragon Gate.
###
Yish was having trouble of her own. Angelica was groaning and the fever had returned. Her state was poor. Dehydration was becoming acute. She needed to find water fast. Then, food and shelter. After that, figure out where they were. That would be when thoughts of Naz could haunt her nightmares. If he were dead, then all before her was pointless. Even the Amanuensis was being solicited by a harpy. The man who gave her the lover’s gifts turned out to hold a Dragon Stone. What had gone wrong?
That was obvious. The fool’s errand was created by the greed of a guild that should have known better. She always gave way to her elders, and the one person whose advice was sound, she ignored. “I’m sorry Naz.” This she whispered to the wind. The castle was the one thing he was adamant about. Turn back and yet he did not turn away despite reservations. Sacrificing himself to free the damned Dragon so they could escape.
She cursed in Elvish and began scavenging for water after ensuring Angelica was secure behind yet another fallen monolith to protect her from a wind that was turning angry. The menhir matched her mood, thunderous and rich in self-pity. In reproach, the Jade Stone pulsed hard and grew hot enough to etch a sigil upon her lower stomach. Sufficient to bring her morbidity back to the present, forcing her to take in the surroundings. Unlike the silent forest of the castle, this side of the portal was vibrant in sounds in nature. More temperate, and somewhere, she could hear a waterfall cascading into a forgotten lake.
Torn between going back to the witch and rehydrating, she chose to seek out this hidden oasis. Yish edged slowly up a ridge of green, scrub and a copse of trees to her right. All looked calm until she reached the apex to look down upon a waterfall cascading from a cliff opposite. In the gully, the landscape changed abruptly. Skeletal trees, long dead, clawed at the sky. Life here was absent. She frowned. It looked familiar, yet placing it was just out of reach.
From somewhere her mid saw a waterfall with a vast lake. It looked dark and foreboding. Hiding something that was best left alone. Below was an olde path. Once well-trodden but now rich in decay. Her eyes detected a more recent trail. Someone had passed this way. Squinting, she saw signs of pursuit. Almost imperceptible and not on the trail. More like branches had moved or broken to allow something else to pass.
She needed water but knew this foul corry was poison. Yish almost turned away until she caught sight of another winding path that led toward the cascade. That meant behind the rush of water was a cave. The memory struck her. A painting on the wall of the Thaumaturgical Archaeology Guild. Her heart thumped. That meant only one thing. This was en route from the Underdark, and beyond, there were the Barrow Woods. Whoever passed here was being chased by Barrow Wights. Thoughts of dehydration evaporated as adrenaline kicked in. This place was evil. Deliberately so to protect what lay beyond the waterfall. Instinct said that would be an Elder Portal. If she were strong and Angelica was awake, then the risk of finding it would be worth it.
She tracked her path back to the megalith where the witch still slept. Although she looked calmer, food and water were becoming more than essential. Unlike the glacial scrape that now housed a dead lake, this side of the ridge seemed lush and full of wildlife. Traps may solve food, but water was still the priority, as was a fire. If wights did occupy parts of the dead woods, then at night, they may travel further. Yish added shelter to the growing list of things that could leave them dead. Fieldcraft was a speciality of Naz, as was the fire. Sighing she moved toward a stand of trees looking for animal trails.
###
Naz decided flying was not for him. Earth and mines were where dwarves should be. Not clinging to the scales of a vast Dragon dragging an enchanted chain that hadn’t taken flight in millennia. Even his beard agreed as if flew up into his face. If he survived, the dwarf swore to cut it off. An idle oath spawned from the moment. When he did manage to open his eyes he witnessed a landscape spinning past below.
Be thankful the day is calm dwarf.
He didn’t reply. Hanging on was about the best he could resolve to do. However, even he could not hold the views in anything but awe. Mountains and grasslands swept past, turning to desert and eventually a wasteland. Ash, dust and bones.
The Malachite slowed and began to circle over the burnt-out husk of a village.
Naz caught his breath. “It happened here did it not Dragon?”
This time the Wyvern did not reply.
The dwarf felt its body shaking in anger. Even the staff upon his back was weeping. Vast swathes of land had been scoured by the Breath of The Black stretching to the horizon and cursed until the deed was undone. Beneath him, Naz could see the bleached bones of Wyverns. The scale was nothing like scrolls or tales around a fire at night could bring to bear. The toll on Dragons was near absolute if the lore was true. But those of the assailants were far greater. Thrown into battle like carrion.
There dwarf. The shadow on the mountainside is where the Chaos Dragon watched it unfold after Basdroth was slain.
Naz looked and realised that that was the very place Yish had to climb all that time ago.
And where a blacksmith ventured. One who now rides with The Black.
“How know you this Dragon?”
They speak to me. Even in prison they could touch my mind.
Anger had turned to sadness. Both Dwarf and Wyvern found no more words. Dead fields drain the mind turning books into dust.
With a final circle of the village, The Malachite landed before an immense obsidian circle that stood upright inside a circle of standing stones. Runes surrounded the Gate, none of which made any sense to Naz. Yish again surfaced in his mind. It was she who could understand most ancient carvings. All except one parchment that refused to return to her memory. That was when The Sapphire came to him. Another fond memory of his friend surfaced and tears threatened once more.
Sadness is folly dwarf. What is done is done. We must leave such behind and await a time to remember and honour the dead.
“Aye, easy to say Dragon. Not so easy to let go.”
Another trait that should have erased your kind long ago fool. Think like you are pursued. Matters in all worlds are grievous. The Sapphire will not take gibbering dotards lightly.
Naz glared at the Wyvern in anger. “And arrogance is your folly Dragon.”
Better dwarf.
Naz spat on the ground. No doubt that was heresy here too. In front of the Gate was another keystone. This one atop of a large granite megalith, deliberately placed on its side. Nothing here was small. He shrugged, knowing this was a sacred place that revealed the path to the legendary Yard of Dragons. To one side piles of ash caught his eye. The earth around them was scorched and dead, as if the ground itself had melted and then cooled. Compared to the dead field this was fresh.
The Black and Hybrid Dwarf. This is what a true bond does to those who hunt them.
Naz reached for his pipe before realising the supply of weed had long since been used up. Instead, he stared at the Gate in awe. Such mastery of the craft by a civilisation that time had buried. It struck him that there must be thousands of lost cities across all worlds that nobody knew had existed. His breath fogged on the early morning air. Seasons shifting amid temporal fluxes. Nature fighting back, maybe.
The Stone fool. Place it on the keystone.
I really like the quotes you used. They resonate !
Your blog is very professional. It’s the second time I’ve tried and still haven’t got past the dashboard!!
Captivating tale of friendship and loyalty
Part of a world build. These two are well established, but very kind words so many thanks