nowbound

Part Seven - The Lifestone - The White Wyrm

Jodotha, Cain and Darkhawk each took a watch while the spell casters slept in order that they could learn new spells in the morning. Trimus so he could try to identify the items they had found, Ako so that he could heal the wounds that the party had suffered. Jodotha didn't begrudge them the sleep but he sometimes felt that Trimus slept when he didn't need to on the pretence of changing spells. He hated the middle watch. Two separate three hour naps were never as satisfying as one six hour sleep. You always had more company on the first and last ones as well. There wasn't even a campfire to keep him warm. There must be a way for Trimus to magic a fire into existence. Some mages could travel instantly from place to place. If Trimus was a mage worth his salt he'd know that spell and he could have gone back to Lakeside house and brought them some bread and cheese, some wine perhaps even some wood for a fire. Jodotha shook his head to clear it, he had been on the brink of dropping off. He stood up and paced around the room. At least with the heat from that strange lizard a few doors away the air wasn't quite as chill as it was above ground. He hoped that the stones they had found in the secret chamber would satisfy Grenden, he might turn a blind eye as Jodotha asked the soldier of the Iron Fist a few questions. Eventually Darkhawk came to relive him and Jodotha hunkered into his blankets for his sleep and a final prayer to Korotiku that they would soon be back home.

He was shaken awake by Trimus who offered him a wineskin and some of the food that Grenden had given them. "It's not much but it's the best we can do. Ako has been gifted his spells by Normanus and you look as if you need healing like the rest of us." The mage grimaced as he stood up, numerous small injuries adding up to considerable pain and discomfort.
Ako did what he could with spells and the healing powers of his staff but even so no one was completely rid of their injuries.
The web spell that Trimus had cast over the entrance to the secret chamber had faded overnight leaving the door free to open. Inside the strangely impractical, ornate helm, the glowing sphere and the similar stone that gave off heat rather than light stood, upon the shelves just as they had left them the day before.
Trimus checked the glowing sphere first casting an analyse spell has he laid his hands upon the stone.
"It is a simple continual light spell cast upon a stone." He said scowling, "A waste of my spell."
He tried the warm sphere next but his spell gave him no more useful information.
"That is my limit as far as identification spells goes." He said wearily. "The rest will have to wait till later." He put the helm in his pack and the two spheres into Darkhawk's bag of holding.

Fearful of what might be to come, the fighter grasped his amulet and transformed into the Celestial Knight. He then stepped towards the glowing sphere atop the pedestal and tapped it with his gauntleted fist. The sphere sounded hollow. He then tried to twist the sphere, rock it from side to side and lift it in an effort to remove it from the pedestal but nothing had any effect.
"Leave it be Darkhawk." Sighed Jodotha, "It is just a magical source of light, I've got one of those it is just a little smaller." He pulled the light gem on a cord out of his shirt and waved it around. Darkhawk's muttered reply was lost in the iron helm that covered his face but Jodotha guessed the gist of what the fighter was trying to say.

They returned to the room with the door they had barricaded the day before. While the others removed the pile of benches, Trimus sent a wizard eye through the crack in the door and along the passage beyond. "It is a rough passage, goes a long way, a hundred feet or more. The walls are getting icy, the floor as well, we will have to watch our footing. There are two forks, the one to the right ends after another fifty feet or so, strange marks or holes in the walls, not seen anything like them before. I'm going down the left fork now, the passage turns goes into a cave, it's empty. Back to the main branch now, keeps going beyond the limit of my sight."
Trimus ended the spell and rubbed at his eyes and his scalp. "That is hard work; it really makes my head hurt and my stomach churn. Still it has given us some useful information."
The door was now clear and Jodotha led the way along the passage and despite Trimus' warning all bar Ako slipped on the slick of ice that covered the rocky floor. Jodotha waited for everyone to stop grumbling before he listened at each of the passages.
"Can't hear anything." He said after a few moments.

They tried the right hand passage first which after a few paces started to descend gently. This time it was Ako who failed to keep his footing and he slid down the slope until he managed to brace his legs against the pockmarked walls of the passage.
"I've broken something." He called back as he stood up. A quick check inside his pack revealed that he had shattered two flasks of holy water that had been stored there.
"Get your skates on!" called Trimus as he spotted two blue-white lizard like insects emerging from the holes in the passage walls. He then noticed that still more of them were emerging from the holes near him so he drew his staff and rammed it up the hole. Darkhawk hit one near him and the creature retreated back out of range. Jodotha and Trimus were bitten and felt an icy chill spread from the wounds. "Enough," muttered Trimus as he cast a trio of magic missiles, the spell energy killing two of the creatures outright. Ako and Cain finished off the others with more mundane means after which the holes were searched but nothing of value could be found.

They returned to the junction and then traversed the left hand fork. As Trimus' spell had determined this irregular, ice-rimed cave was almost empty. The only items of interest were the numerous shards of eggshell that littered the floor.
"Dragon?" asked Jodotha turning one of the shards over in his hands.
"More than likely" replied Trimus.
"In that case" Jodotha sighed, then checking his gear continued, "I had better go on ahead and see what lives at the end of this passage."

He others quietly wished him luck and the rogue stared his trek along the long, cold passage, knowing in his heart what was likely to be at the end. Moving as quietly as possible Jodotha moved along the icy passage, hugging one wall and then the next as it twisted and turned. Eventually it widened into a cave, curled up on the floor at the centre of a treasure pile was a large white dragon. Jodotha's eyes widened as he took in both the wyrm and the wealth but he withstood the temptation to take one of the large gems that had rolled to the side of the pile and instead turned quietly to depart. His blood froze when a deep resonant voice boomed "Who are you? Where is my tribute?"

Back to my home page.
Back to the story's contents page
The Next Chapter

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page