Chapter 3: The Adventure Begins
Deep inside the mountain To attract the adventures into the patterns of habit Maybe life it self is one big adventure
the adventures hide themselves.
They are of all forms and shapes.
They all have an excellent ending,
because those that life their lives in adventure
see the world in an extra ordinaryspecialway.
you only need to close your eyes
and ask them to embrace you.
You can also imagine that you are transparent
and feel the wind stream through you
instead of going against you.
Or imagine there are tiny little wings on your back
and every time you take a newstepyou bounce a bit.
if only you have the correct
Anthony glanced around the busy streets and saw a crowd of people heading his way. The guards had been busy checking to make sure that everyone was okay in the market square. So the guard who had a hold of Anthony had relaxed his grasp enough for his to wiggle free.
As soon as Anthony felt the vice grip on his arm relax, he bolted into the crowd of people. He could hear the guards shouting behind him, looking for him. Anthony slowed down to a walk to match the pace of the crowd around him. He was headed for the docks as it was getting close to nighttime.
Anthony looked around and saw no guards following him, so he entered a hotel to wait for the heat to die down. When he entered, the loud sound of laughing men greeted his ears and a piano playing in the background. There were at least fifteen round tables and a bar that could accomidate guests and patrons. The smell of food wafted past his nose and drove him to find the source. Not only was this a hotel and pub, but it was a restaurant as well.
Anthony sat down at the bar and glanced around. Each of these people looked like they had never shaved in their life, with their long flowing beards and mustaches.
"What can I get you?" The man behind the bar asked.
"A glass of water," Anthony answered.
The bar tender looked at Anthony confused. But complied and gave him a cup of water which Anthony guzzled down.
"That will be two robsons," he told Anthony.
Robsons are the money that the humans use for their currency.
Anthony turned to where his back was against the bar table and he looked around as he drank the last of the water in his cup. The crowd was noisy and Anthony could hear smacking from someone who was on the other side of the pub entirely! Then he noticed that at one of the tables, they were playing a game of Egyptian war but instead of gambling for money, they wre gambling for strudel chips which were a delicacy to the people of Orecant.
"Waiter, I will order some strudel chips please," Anthony told a young woman who was waiting tables.
"Will be right back with your order," The lady said cheerfully. Anthony then meandered over to the men playing the game. There was one empty seat that hadn't been taken and it looked like they were waiting for that last person.
"Can I play with you guys?" Anthony asked the group.
"Do you think that you can keep up with us?" A man with a scruffy, brown beard asked as he turned to look at Anthony.
"Look Turnball, it's just a boy!" Carell exclaimed as he began to laugh.
"Here are your strudel chips," the waitress said as she handed Anthony the prize.
"He is serious about playing," Turnball solemnly stated.
"You are right about that," Anthony answered.
"We'll deal you in but first you have to tell us a little bit about you," Carell stated.
"My name is Anthony Dempsy and I am a farmer's son seeking adventure. I am headed on a journey that will make me the most daring human ever to live on the face of our known world."
"You have gone on some adventures in the past haven't you Borris?"
"I stared death in the eye as I was battling the fearest creature that was known to us humans at the time we settled here. It was a gigantic snake and it almost beat me but if I hadn't had me trusty sword, I would not be hear talking to you today," Borris answered, "Where do you plan on going during your little adventure?
Anthony hesitated. He watched the hand for the first match of Egyptian war being dealt out. He knew that if he divulged where he was going, it might hindure his trip. But he knew how inquisitive these guys might be and wanted to please them.
"I am going to Denderath," Anthony whispered so that no one really heard him.
"Say that again," Carell stated as he took his turn, "I didn't hear you."
"I am going to Denderath," Anthony stated a little lounder.
"You are going to have to speak up, lad if you want old Carell to hear you," Turnball stated bluntly.
"I am going to Denderath," Anthony yelled so that the whole restaurant could hear him.
The whole restaurant became eerily silent and every eye was on Anthony. No one could believe their ears. A human in Dederath?
"That's madness!" Borris answered as he laid his card down on the pile, "No one has been to Denderath in over a thousand years. What makes you think that the dragons will treat you differently than they did to our ancestors?"
"I have to try. I am tired of living out in the country and tilling fields or feeding animals. I want to go on the adventure of a lifetime and travel the world seeing new sights. Haven't you ever wanted to go see what's beyond that ocean that lies only a few yards east of you?"
"Nope," Borris stated, "I am content to stay right here and if you had some sense in yourself, I would turn back and forget that you ever wanted to leave the borders of safety from those retched dragons."
Anthony laid down the final card of his deck. He lost and lost a whole lot more as his heart sank. He thanked the gentlemen for allowing him to play and then left the restaurant.
When he walked onto the bustling street, he thought about how crazy that this adventure might be. Maybe Borris was right. Maybe the dragons wouldn't accept him and he would be burned to a crisp by their terrible fire. He wondered what his family would think of him if he never came back or actually came back.
Soon the clanging of armor against the stone roadway filled the ears of everyone in the square. Anthony glanced around, trying to locate the source of the noise. Then in a split second, out came the guards that had chased Anthony into hiding.
"There he is!" The lead guard commanded as he pointed straight at Anthony. The crowd around him just stared. Some glanced between the prosecutor and the perpetrator.
Anthony, almost within a split second of noticing the guards, took off once more, heading in the direction of the docks. With the ships still in view, Anthony pushed through the crowd, saying excuse me whenever he bumped into someone accidently.
He finally slowed down to a walk as he turned around to try and see if the guards were still chasing him, but he found no trace of the pursuers. He was so engrossed in finding his enemies, that he failed to notice that he was at the docks, until he lost his step and fell into the ocean.
The crowd surrounding the docks burst out into laughter as if this happened often. Anthony took that cold swim back to the shore and decided to hide. Not only did he have the eyes of the guards watching him, but he had every eye of the villagers that saw him fall into the icy waters below. He looked around as if looking for some sort of escape, and found that the only thing that seemed to provide the best source of hiding spots were the ships that lined the docks. His only hope was that whichever ship that he decided to hide on, was headed in the direction that he wanted to go; toward Denderath.
During the next day, Orean and Orion had school to do, to their displeasure. Orion was the one who actually cared about his education, but Orean was the one who would rather be out training than sitting at a desk, reading a book about their ancestors.
Orion was in the expansive library that stood on the western side of the castle. The bookshelves stood from the floor to the ceiling which stood about one hundred feet tall. Each book was big enough for a dragon to carry, if the humans had access to these books, then they would have to walk around on them just to read the print or look at the pictures. The doors to the library were rarely closed except for when it's nighttime and everyone was asleep. The doors were a strong maple and were carved with two dragons, one on each door. The two dragons were fighting and in the middle of them sat a map of Denderath. One wall had a stained glass window depicting King Orimeer who had created the library. The final wall was a door to the outside world. The border was intricately painted with the colors red, blue, green and gold.
Orion decided that for his history lesson, he was going to read about how the crystals were created in the first place. But first before he could read, he had to find the book.
"Can I help you, young Orion?" an elderly dragon stated as she shuffled over to where the young prince was standing.
"Yes, Merenna, I think you can. Do you happen to know where there might be a book about the history of the crystals that king Annaheim made?" Orion inquired.
"Let me go to the syllabus and check," Merenna stated.
Merenna waddled over to a big book that sat on a pedestal in the middle of the room. She was the keeper of the library and had been since she was just around Orion's age. She flipped through the pages of the book. In this book, had every book that was in the library in alphabetical order and each had a number. The number corresponded to which shelf and space each book would be.
"Aha! Here it is! The name of the book is Anneheim and the Kingdom of Denderath's first Years. It's right over here."
Merenna spread her wings and took flight to where the book sat in the shelves of the library. She glanced from book to book as she hovered in front of one of the shelves.
"Orion, will you come help an old dragon come find the book?" Merenna asked, "My old eyes are proving faulty and I can't find my glasses right now."
"Yes ma'am," Orion stated as he crouched low to the ground to take flight.
Orion soon flew beside the elderly librarian keeper.
"The book number is 2405," Merenna instructed, "These numbers are harder to read since these books are some of the oldest that exist here in this library. You remember that and make sure that my predecessor doesn't ever damage these as these are the only books that exist about the early years of Dederath."
"I will make sure of that for you Miss Merenna," Orion stated as he glanced between books.
2324
Orion moved a little to his right, being careful not to get into Merenna's way.
2389
2400
"Here it is, 2405," Orion exclaimed as he took the book off the shelf.
"Thank you, my dear. Now be careful with it and place it on the table over beside the stained glass window. That book cannot be taken outside of the library because of its importance."
Orion landed and took it over to the table that Merenna indicated.
He opened the book to the first page before he sat down. The first page had a picture of a green dragon, two yellow ones and a white one standing side by side. In front of the stood humans who had spears or axes in their hands and they stood on boats. He then turned the page and found a map of what was then Denderath. The map was not dotted with cities as it was now and most of the mainland was filled with forests and villages seemed to be few and far between. The next page had these words, "My Account During the Years of My Rule" and underneath it was written the signature of the first ever dragon king of Denderath.
Orion took interest immediately and began to settle into his chair.
"I was appointed king by both humans and dragons alike. The humans loved me and respected me. Before I became the very first dragon king of Dederath, there had been human kings and queens. When I had become king, I was very nervous about how some humans might react to a dragon as their king instead of their kind, but I needn't worry because they wanted me as their king."
Orion turned the page and found a picture of King Annaheim who was the green dragon. There were humans with actual smiles on their faces. Each had a gift of some sort. Orion assumed that they were going to give it to Annaheim because he was their beloved king.
"In the seventeeth year of my reign, there had been many people and dragons who had come to try and claim Denderath as their own. As a precaution, I had my loyal blacksmith Gerrund create five crystals that could hold special powers. Then had one of the best magicians place these powers into the crystals. I needed them and used them a bunch in the days to follow for a new force decided to attack while the dragons and humans were vulnerable.
But soon fate turned against just dragons. The humans started hearing rumors that I had created these crystals that could determine the fate of the entire country. These crystals use their powers on how the heart of the wielder is. If their motives are bad, then the crystals will do something bad. If they are good, then the crystals will do good things for the country.
But the humans didn't care, even after I had told them what would happen if they did not back down. They demanded that I hand over the crystals or else bad things would happen. I still refused and the humans began a war that lasted till the end of my rule. The humans became smart as they attacked us dragons in ways that we could not counter. So I ordered my Commander Samuel to push the humans out of Denderath forever.
Samuel pushed the humans west past the unknown isle to uncharted lands and that is where I believe the humans will reside for the next one thousand years.
The book did not have many pages in it, but it did enlighten Orion. It told more of what happened after the humans left and what happened with the kingdom after Annaheim ended his rule, but it left Orion excited. Martin was telling the truth. The crystals did exist and he was going to be the one to find them.
When Orion closed the book to hand it back to Merenna, a piece of paper fell out and fluttered to the floor. He stooped down to pick it up.
The paper looked empty and on one side it showed signs that it had been torn in two. Orion opened the book to see if there was any page that had been torn out.
Orion laid the blank torn sheet of paper onto the older map of Denderath at the beggning of the book and then began to turn to the next page until something on the blank sheet of paper caught his eye.
What was a blank sheet of paper, now had inscribing and a map of its own on it. The inscribing was in dragon tongue and it read that if you are to embark on this journey, know that the road will be rough and you might die, but the reward will be well worth it. It also said that there was a legend that one thousand years after the crystals were hidden, two twin dragons who were princes to the throne would embark on the journey. But evil will have the upper hand during the entire journey. The map then showed five places in Denderath and some round object with it. As Orion continued to look, symbols on the round objects appeared. The first one was a sword, the second was two check marks, and a third one had an eyeball on it. Because the map had been ripped, Orion could not read where the last two were and that irritated him.
The legend left Orion speechless. He currently lives in the year that is now one thousand years away and he was one of a set of twins. He was a part of a legend that was told before he was ever born. Orion glanced on the map that now life in it as colors started to show. The border was a deep rich gold that shone and glittered. The land that was not desert, became a deep, rich, forest green. The yellow of the desert was fabulous and very vivid as was the aquamarine blue of the water. The crystals became white and the symbols red.
Orion picked up the paper to see of the symbols would fade, but they did not. And that took some of the irritation out of his mood. Now all he needed to do was find the other piece of the map and he would soon be on his way, finding the five fabled crystals which had been lost for centuries.
