Chloé had waited until Petra arrived and the four travelers were well on their way to Hjarta-fjalls before she told them of her dream. It would take them three days to walk to the city. And this gave them something to talk about. There were two roads from where they started at Fjalls-r?tr that led all the way to the city located at the base of the central most mountain. One road ran along the base of the mountains. that winded its way through a forest and across several rivers and streams before it arrived at their destination. It was a week-long journey that consisted of battling the elements and various creatures of the forest. Not to mention that this road is plagued by giants and trolls, and thus too dangerous for their group.
The path they had chosen had been dug through the mountains. It was not a very straight tunnel, as the dwarves pride themselves on the ability to cut a path through the stone straighter than a razor's edge, but most of the road was constructed by connecting many of the various caves that have been carved out throughout the many years that the mountains have stood. It would take them much longer to navigate the dark tunnels, but the advantages were worth the few extra days.
Once the members of the expedition had traveled several hours, and there were no signs of anyone else along the dark tunnel, Chloé began to tell the tale of her vision. The group was horrified by the news, but worst of all, they were in no position to help. They focused their attention on their own mission. They ventured onward, in hopes that they would succeed in the quest very soon.
Ryan began asking Petra about certain landmarks that were mentioned in the texts. Many of which Petra had only heard about in childhood stories. He had grown up hearing the tales as bedtime stories. These stories were childish fantasies and like most of his people, after a certain age, the stories became fiction and they stopped believing that they were anything more than legends.
"Do you remember any of the tales about Náttúra from your childhood?" asked Ryan. "Only one," said Petra. "It was always my favorite, and my father would tell it to me nearly every night as I sat upon his lap and played with his beard," he continued forlornly, reminiscing on his memory of his father. "Could you tell it to us?" asked Jonah, who was gladdened that the long silence since their journey into the caves had been broken. He remembered how uncomfortable he had felt when they were lost in tunnels after his village was attacked, and he didn't like that feeling.
"I don't think so lad," said Petra, "I wouldn't at all be able to do it justice." "Please," begged Chloé, "I would love to hear it," she said with a smile. "Lass, I'm not sure I can remember it all. It's been a long time," he said shyly. "Could you try? It would be wonderful to hear a dwarven tale," she said amusedly. "Anything would be better than the silence," interjected Jonah.
"I guess that I shall give it a go," replied Petra. "It is the tale of ?dger Erfier, or ?dger the Unyielding. It is a very old tale, a tale older than even the city in which we are destined," he began. "My people had just settled these lands in the Crescent Mountains. A small group of my kin had fled their homes in the Attikì Mountains in the wake of a pending attack from a powerful enemy from the far side of the mountains. Or, so the story goes."
The settlers had made for themselves a camp where the city of Fjalls-r?tr lies today. For many moons they explored the caverns of the mountains and began to build for themselves a new home. The mountains were rich in gold and gems and the surrounding lands had fertile soil for growing crops.
After many more moons, while the new city was being carved from into the mountain side, there began to be disappearances. Miners and workers from different areas in the mountains were going missing. ?dger was a sewer of seed in the springtime, but after the planting, he dwelled in the mines, searching for the rarest of the rare jewels and gems.
?dger had traveled deep into a cave in search of his gems. He began to hear strange sounds that echoed through the cavern that he was in. He searched for the sound, but with all of the echoes, it made it difficult for him to discern where it was coming from. The strange sounds were coming from every direction, and as though it were all around him. He began to slowly spin around in circles, surveying everything, as he moved deeper into the cave with his eyes searching all the while.
The sounds began to grow louder and louder as he crept through the cave. All of a sudden the sounds stopped. He peered, deep into the darkness, beyond the light of his torch. He spied two yellowish red eyes staring back at him. The creature growled at him. Frozen with fear, ?dger stood there as the beast stepped into the light. It was the largest wolf that he had ever seen. It had fur, black as night, that stood tall upon its neck. It was larger than a horse, and its teeth were the size of a human head.
The creature became known as Njal Ulf. ?dger took a chance when the beast raised its head to howl. He threw his torch at the beast and then he began to run. He ran as hard and as fast as he could. His legs began to ache, for dwarfs were never meant to run. It was dark, but he heard the beast gaining from behind. His eyes began to blur as he began to gasp for air. He stumbled and fell to the ground. The beast lunged at him, but he rolled out of the way and he fell into a crevice in the cave floor.
The beast began to dig into the hard rock that was the cave floor like it was dirt. Its paws had long nails that made scratch after scratch into the floor. ?dger began to bleed. The nails had scratched deep into his back and legs. He was able to wriggle his way deeper into the crevice and away from the beast before he was overcome by pain and passed out.
When he awoke, the beast had gone. He slowly worked his way out of the hole in the floor that had saved him from the beast. He searched the cave for any sign of the beast lying in wait before he made his way home. He arrived at the encampment and told his tale over a pint of ale.
Petra paused his narrative for a moment and then began to tell the others about how ?dger, bloody, bruised, and barely able to stand, drew the strength to crawl to his home where he kept a family heirloom, Náttúra. It was a magical suit of armor that legend tells could fit any and all who wore it. The armor was said to be impenetrable and that whomever wore it could withstand any attack.
Petra told how ?dger, still bruised and bloody, had donned Náttúra, and inspired the others to go after the beast. After many weeks of searching for this creature of death, they had tracked it deep inside the mountains, to a cave that had gems that glowed with an eerie green light all on their own.
It was there that hunters encountered the beast in a narrow passage. Njal Ulf began to charge at them with its mouth open wide. Njal Ulf lunged forward and bit one of the hunters in two. The others began slashing at the beast with their swords and axes. The weapons bounced off the teeth and claws as it bit at them. The arrows that were loosed, shattered and fell to splinters when they struck the hide.
Njal Ulf bit at another one of the hunters, then another. ?dger, who by now had healed from his last encounter with the beast, leapt, with his sword raised high, from the back of one of his countrymen. The giant wolf caught ?dger with his mouth in mid air and closed his maw on him and out of sight of the onlookers.
The hunters, whose numbers were dwindling rapidly and had just witnessed their leader entering the maw of the beast, began to panic. They dropped their weapons and started to flee as the beast's mouth began to open. They stopped when they began to hear laughter coming from the mouth of the beast.
They turned around and saw ?dger standing in the maw of the beast. He was laughing heartily. He pried the mouth wider as he stood taller. With one hand he held the beast's mouth open, and with the other, he stabbed at the eyes of the creature. It began to howl with pain and in a swift motion, ?dger climbed on the beast's snout and drove his sword deep into the eye socket of Njal Ulf. The beast wailed and fell to the floor and was no more.
"And thus ends the saga of how ?dger the Sewer became known as ?dger the Unyielding, and the first king in our new lands," said Petra as he finished his tale. The group continued to walk in silence for awhile before Ryan asked, "Do your legends tell of what became of Náttúra?" "Nay, laddie. There are many more tales of ?dger Erfier and Náttúra, with his many adventures clearing the mountains of all sorts of beasts and monsters as they dug deeper into the mountains, but I do not recall any mention Náttúra after his death," replied Petra.
"How did he die?" asked Chloé. "Old age I suppose," said Petra. "It's said that when he had grown old and frail, he walked out of his home one day and entered the tunnels. He was never seen again. It is also said that in his final days, he often reminisced about his first battle and he yearned for the skull of Njal Ulf as proof of his victory." "I wonder if he went in search of the cave where he slew the beast," said Jonah.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
"Many young dwarves, including myself, were caught up in the tales and had thought the same. They ventured out in search of the lost cavern. Some became lost in their search and never returned, while others began to lose hope and returned home an unbeliever. When I returned, I hadn't eaten in days and had begun to imagine strange creatures in the darkness. I was lucky; someone found me and showed me the way back home," he explained.
Ryan was even more eager to get to Hjarta-fjalls now that he had an idea as to where to start looking. He was hoping that there might be a library or some place where he could find a map of the vast tunnel system beneath the mountains. "There is bound to be a record, somewhere, that could help us," he thought to himself as they continued on their way to the city.
*****
Mrs. Clary had tried to sleep after the boys had left. She was exhausted from taking on the night's watch so that Jeremiah and Matáo could sleep and so she could look after the injured horses. No matter how hard she tried that morning, she could not sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, her mind would race, imagining everything that could go wrong.
Near midday, she brewed for herself a vitality potion to refresh her mind and body, and give her the strength and energy that she would need. When she was finished, she drank a cup and poured the rest into a jar that she kept in her bag, and then began the half day's walk to Oaken Meadow. She stayed close to the trees so she could hide in case she might come across enemy soldiers on patrol.
Around the time that she had reached the halfway point, her feet began to ache, and she had wished that the boys had discovered another horse to save her tired old bones. She trudged onward until what was left of the bridge was in her sight. She could see a ferry station with two guards on post. She found a cluster of trees that she could use for cover and sat down to rest her feet as the sun began to set. She closed her eyes to rest, and fell asleep.
She awoke to the sound of the city's bells sounding an alarm. She could hear men shouting in the distance. She moved closer so she could see what was happening inside the city. Most of the walls along the riverside had not been rebuilt and she could see men running around, and she could hear the shouts of the lieutenants as they ordered a search of the grounds.
She saw two figures by the river frantically removing their armor. She watched as they jumped into the water and swam across to her side of the river. She could see now that it was Jeremiah and Matáo as they ran towards the stable next to the ferry. She was about to call out to them, when she spied two more figures running into the stable after them. She caught the words before they left her mouth, and she gasped when she saw the other two men dragging the two boys down to the ferry and taking them back across to the city.
She began rummaging through her bag. She pulled several small items and laid them beside her. After searching and sorting through her bag, she pulled out a small block of wood and a small carving knife. She gathered her things and went to the water's edge and began to carve the block of wood.
When she was finished, she held in her hand a tiny piece of wood that looked like a tiny boat. It wasn't much, but it would have to do. She placed it on the bank beside the river and she placed the ring that Wilhelm had given her on her hand and began to draw from the magic stored within it. It was easier for her to draw the magic from the ring than from herself. When she had summoned enough of the magic, she said, "Rífka." The tiny boat began to grow in size until it was big enough for her to get into.
She picked up a broken tree limb from the bank and used it to shove her and the boat into the river. Once she was floating out in the river, she once again drew from the magic inside the ring and said,"Togna." The branch began to stretch out longer and longer. The waters of the Kilgor were not deep, and she used the branch to push against the bed of the river and quietly made her way to the other side.
When she had climbed out of the boat, she placed her hand on the boat and said, "Endr-g?ra." The boat shrank back down to its original size and became just a block of wood, void of any shape once again. She tucked it away, back in her bag, and satisfied with what she had done, she thought to herself, "If the boys were here, I could have explained to them that this was no ordinary block of wood. I'd tell them that it had been imbued with magical properties and will always return to this form, whenever I want it to."
With the walls not being fully restored, she could see the men begin to return to the barracks at the docks. She stayed close to the shadows and carefully crept towards the Peacekeeper's center. She saw the men that were dragging Jeremiah and Matáo exit the Center and walk towards the ferry crossing.
She could hear shouting from inside the building. Then she heard what sounded like someone getting struck; hard. She slunk back into the shadows and moved as quickly as she could without being seen. She made her way to the backside of the barracks. She opened her bag again and pulled out two glass jars. She opened them and poured the contents of the jars on the wall of the barracks.
She dropped the jars back into her bag and ran, as fast as she could, back to her hiding spot outside of the Center. She waited for the potions to work their own magic. She heard more shouting from inside as she waited. She listened, trying to discern what the voice was saying. Then the voice changed. The new voice wasn't shouting. It was speaking calmly and without emotion.
She turned to look at the barracks to see if the potions had taken effect. They had. She could see smoke rising from behind the barracks. She watched as the flames began to form and climb up the walls. The fire began to grow quickly and it began to spread to the other buildings nearby. A man ran from the Peacekeepers Center towards the fire shouting commands to anyone that was listening.
She quickly started towards the door of the Center and as she reached the door, she saw a cloud of mist waft out of the window. The voices from inside the Center had stopped. She entered the Center and began searching every room for her boys. She saw an open door that led to the Captain's Quarters and she headed straight for it.
*****
It had been three days since the two groups ventured out into the world, and the twins had been going to see Wi?dwyr? as often as they could. They were fascinated by the amulet that was called Dreka-galdra. When they had heard that it gave the wearer the ability to use magic, they started to obsess over it because they desperately wanted to be able to use magic. Ever since J?kob had obtained the ability to use magic, they were becoming more and more envious of him and his abilities. They wanted nothing more than to be able to use magic too. They practiced the ancient language in the hopes that they too would develop the ability.
The twins were going around the Sanctum and had been asking everyone they could about the amulet and secretly searching for anything that could lead them to where it could be. Their visits with Wi?dwyr? had given them the most information on the whereabouts of the amulet, but they didn't know how they would get to the Isles of Doom. The volcanic archipelago in which the dragons' call home.
With nearly everyone from their group of friends being away on secret missions, the twins had a lot of free time to explore the Sanctum. Once they were shown the winding pathway to get to the forbidden room, the twins began discovering other tunnels that branched away in different directions. There were many new tunnels for them to explore.
It was in one such tunnel that they discovered a crack in the wall of one of the tunnels. It was a narrow crack, and the twins could barely fit through it. Once they were on the other side of the crack, they found an entirely different set of passages that led down, deep into the mountains. After several hours of exploring these newfound tunnels, the twins found a way to the dwarven city that lay deep below the Sanctum.
They carefully made their way back to the Sanctum, and the following day, they tried to find the way to the dwarven city again. It took them much less time to get there than the day before. They had wanted to go exploring outside of the Sanctum since their arrival, and now they had found a way to get out.
That afternoon, while visiting with Wi?dwyr?, Wi?dwyr? had told them about a shipment that was delivered to the islands twice a year. It contained goats, sheep, and other types of livestock to supply the dragons with fresh meat so they didn't have to venture to the mainland in search of food and accidentally devastate a farmer's herds. It was part of an age-old treaty that was agreed upon after the war with the dragons.
They had become very excited at the news, for now that they knew how to leave the Sanctum, they could go on an adventure of their own. The twins had been preparing for several weeks to go on an adventure of their own, but it wasn't until now that they had a purpose, and a way out. They began storing everything that they wanted to take with them in the tunnels behind the crack to prepare for their journey.
The morning that Jeremiah and Matáo were to return from Oaken Meadow with Mrs. Clary, the twins woke up early and snuck down to their secret tunnel before everyone was to go to breakfast. They made their way to the dwarven city and carefully snuck through the city's gate before anyone knew they were gone.
The fresh morning air felt amazing to them and filled them with hope. Until now, they hadn't realized how long it had been since they were out in the morning air. They had been at the Sanctum since the day after the picnic with J?kob and the others. This was their first time outside since their arrival. They stood outside of the dwarven city gates breathing in the fresh air. Their packs were loaded with everything they thought they would need for their journey.
They watched the sunrise for the first time in months, and then Joel took the first step, that would become one of many, and the two of them set out on their first adventure. They were filled with joy and excitement, nervousness and a little fear. They weren't sure exactly where they were going, or how exactly they would get there. All they knew was that they needed to go south. Towards the sea and to the Ocean of Sorrows. From there, they hoped to climb aboard a ship that was bound for the dragon isles.
