The Dark Fellowship
The Hatori Graveyard
Chapter 6 and Epilogue
As the proclamation of death for all hissed from J'Hem'Stoan's dying snout a tense silence fell over the tunnels. The four looked to each other, drawing brief, deep breaths, waiting for something- anything.
Finally they heard it. Far from without the graveyard, came the sounds; faint at first, they intensified until even before it neared enough for Garadon to sense its thoughts they knew winged doom was descending upon them.
"The dragon," Shoutanei whispered to his fellows; he then turned to address Malaan "When that wyrm gets here," he spoke out much more loudly, "It's not only going to kill just us, it will hunt down the one who slew its servant," the genie stared right into the dark elf's face, "But we may have a better chance of besting it if we-"
"Do not insult me with the offer of an alliance!" Malaan spat with all his venom, "I am the great Haseid Malaan- I do not fear overfed lizards, and I need no help from frail mortal thieves like you!"
Malaan thrust out his arm, from which a great burst of water thrust toward the dark fellowship, knocking all four of them from their feet and carrying them back down the passage from which they had trod. They slid until their bodies made contact with the wall of the twisting tunnel; the water gushed past them and deeper into the tunnel, some of it soaking into the dirt as it flowed. Having helped each other off the muddy ground they stomped toward the genie- eager to show that fish-faced freak how tiresome his tantrums had grown.
As they advanced upon Malaan, they froze. Malaan's trident stabbed into the ground, the marid stepped in their direction and crouched to grasp something- the decanter they had stolen from him! Likely the water jet he had hosed the four with had knocked it away from them; as he plucked the bottle from the ground he cradled it with both hands.
Malaan sneered at the four, "You had to learn the secrets of this to sustain yourselves," he chuckled, "But it can do more than that. There's a third command; one you likely had no use for, but in my hands can be all the more powerful," he raised the bottle to the tunnel ceiling above.
"He wouldn't," Shoutanei gasped; realizing Malaan would he turned to scream at Garadon, "Shoot him- now!"
Unsure what was about to happen, Garadon hesitated; by the time he snapped out of it and started to raise his bow it was too late. Holding the decanter like some sacred offering to the sky Malaan exclaimed, "GEYSER!"
AzuraSapphirion approached the massive dunes from above. They were larger than any other dunes in the wastes; an opening reminiscent of a cave in other lands was in sight, from it stretched a furrow that ended at the corpse of a behemoth resembling a crocodile with flippers for feet. Lady J'Hem'Stoan spoke truly it seemed, this indeed was the site of the legendary hatori graveyard.
He closed in on the mounds when from beneath one an eruption blasted into the air; out of reflex his wings propelled him back, his eyelids slamming shut. Opening them on his next approach AzuraSapphirion saw one of the burial mounds had ceased to exist; in its place was a crater surrounded by a halo of soaked, muddy sand. Near an edge of the crater, in an opening into a neighbouring dune were four humanoid figures but the dragon barely registered them; his eyes fixated on the scaly creature who stood in the crater's centre holding some stupid bottle above his head- and J'Hem'Stoan's body at his feet.
The dragon descended to about ten feet from the marid; looking straight down at the genie he snarled, "You have gall to murder one of my servants, fish-face."
Malaan gave a grin revealing tiny, piranha-like teeth, "Your servant had outlived her usefulness to me," Tossing the bottle above his head aside, the trident vanished from where he had planted it in the dirt and reappeared in his hand, "I fear you no more than I did her."
His wings thrusting him higher into the air, AzuraSapphirion belched out a blast of lightning toward Malaan, but when it crashed into the ground the genie was already airborne himself; he exulted as he rose into the skies, his lower body in the shape of a twisting whirlpool.
In the scant seconds between Malaan throwing down the decanter and the dragon's breath attack Shoutanei barely managed to retrieve the bottle and back-pedal to his companions; stuffing it in a pocket in his robe he asked all three at once, "Well, what do we do now?"
"Let them fight," Kezreck advised, "And hope who wins is hurting real bad."
Seeing the looks the other three gave him an idea surfaced, "Wait a minute," recalling the Iron Bands of Bilarro, he touched the sphere strapped to his belt and looked to Shoutanei, "You know how to activate this thing, right?"
Shoutanei nodded, "The Identify spell taught me the proper command word."
The bugbear turned to Garadon, "You still got that bottle of magic glue?"
Assuming Kezreck meant the bottle of Sovereign Glue Garadon brought forth the container, "This stuff needs to be exposed to air for about a minute…"
"Perfect," Kezreck grabbed the vial with his free hand, broke the lid off with his thumb, "You just be ready with your bow- you'll know when."
A stray bolt of the wyrm's lightning breath shot over their heads, scorching the mud behind them. As they crouched Kezreck spat out the next part of his strategy, "Split up! Elf, thief, go around that way. Bug-man, you're with me."
Ducking their heads they divided into two groups and move to flank the space between the battling genie and dragon. The route Kezreck and Path-Chak took left their backs exposed to the outside desert; looking around Path-Chak saw that behind him in the distance was the hatori carcass whose jaws he had wedged his gythka between. A sound from the battle above regained his attention, but only for a moment.
For the first time since he met his new companions the thri-kreen felt powerless. His instincts told him the dragon would eventually win but his chatkcha would not breach those scales, and Kezreck had yet to reveal what role the thri-kreen played in whatever strategy he was cooking up.
Chittering to himself, Path-Chak recalled the scroll of divine spells he claimed from the dead giantess Vanahbi. Rifling through the sheaves of healing wounds or dispelling curses, he found something promising- a spell labled Banishment. Briefly looking back to the carcass he made up his mind; no one saw him bolt to the distance, their eyes glued to the skirmish above.
Malaan laughed insanely as he dodged a swipe of the dragon's claws at the last instant. By now both genie and dragon had lashed out at each other more times than should have been possible; only when he struck AzuraSapphirion with one jet of water like what he had struck the thieves with for their arrogance had any of their hits connected. But the battle grew tedious; coming to the conclusion that making the reptile too angry to think straight would help end this fracas sooner he shouted out an appropriate insult.
"You should be glad your servant is dead," Malaan yelled, "She would be embarrassed by your ineptitude!" Stung by words, a dragon whose scales could break spears roared as he whipped his head toward the one who dared mock him- giving Malaan exactly what the genie wanted.
The wyrm opened his jaws to exhale thunder on his enemy; Malaan's water jet struck first, slamming straight into the dragon's chest. The elemental blast failed to knock the dragon back any distance, but successfully disrupted his attack and worse, provided his enemy with the perfect opening.
Trident in front, Malaan charged toward AzuraSapphirion's left wing with all the speed he possessed. Tearing through the wing's membrane, he left a hole too wide to allow for flight, the dragon tumbled to the ground.
AzuraSapphirion survived the fall, but knew his flying days were over. He pushed to right himself; turning his head he saw Malaan hovering close by, ready to loose another taunt.
"Oh dear, it seems you have a tattered sail," the marid mocked, "Maybe you can jump enough high enough to catch me- shall we try?"
AzuraSapphirion did not jump, he merely closed his damaged wing- allowing him room to smack the genie with his long, powerful tail.
Malaan struck the ground this time; before he could even realize he'd been hit, let alone get up the dragon blasted the genie with one last volley of lightning. By comparison, what the Lady J'Hem'Stoan had hit him with was a scratch- the breath of her master obliterated the arrogant elemental, who died with a screech that seemed to linger in the air.
AzuraSapphirion swung his head to the sky and screamed his triumph. But it was a costly victory- his agent was dead, his wing harmed beyond healing. The only consolation he had was finding the hatori graveyard; if the stories of the wealth it hid proved to be only that…
Finally he noticed them. Three mortal specks- a drow, an oversized goblin-kin, and a man- no, some shapechanger wearing the face of a man, AzuraSapphirion was not fooled. However he seemed more confident then he truly was; not only was he too sorely injured for flight, it would take at least a day's recovery before he could use another breath attack. This battle would have to be fought and won with tooth and claw.
No matter, he had won such fights before. His scales would deflect the changeling's arrows and the brute's pointy stuck he knew, the true danger was the elf, that one had the look of a wizard. Best to eliminate him first.
Rearing on his hind legs, ready to pounce, the sound of footsteps caught his ear. From behind he saw a ridiculous bug-man running his way. It clutched a strange double-spear in its greater arms, one smaller arm held a parchment that crumbled as the insect targeted him with some wordless spell…
No! AzuraSapphirion felt the pull of another dimension, but he would not give in; with every iota of his will he resisted. When the spell failed, he had decided on a new target, he would kill the bug-man first.
Twirling the vial of Sovereign glue in the makeshift sling he had converted his belt into, Kezreck was surprised to see the dragon suddenly look behind; even more to the bugbear's surprise Path-Chak- whom he had failed to notice even left his side charged the wyrm, gythka held high. Though the bugbear heard no incantation, for a moment it looked as if the cleric cast something on the dragon, but whatever it was, the spell failed and the lizard found a new delicacy.
He'd counted on the dragon attacking Shoutanei first but Kezreck like to believe himself adaptable, besides one target served as well as another. Angling his swing slightly he pitched the bottle toward the wyrm's open maw yelling, "Now!"
The bottle was maybe an inch above the dragon's tongue when Garadon's arrow shattered it; AzuraSapphirion suddenly found his mouth full of some sticky goo- that muffled his shriek of outrage!
Chuckling at the sight Shoutanei almost missed seeing Kezreck toss his other surprise- the Iron Bands of Bilarro; pressing his palms near his mouth he shouted out the utterly nonsensical-sounding word "BLUDSTUK!"
Immediately the tiny metal sphere unravelled into flexible steel ribbons that enlarged at least twenty fold, wrapping themselves around the nearest creature, which happened to be an unfortunate blue dragon.
The wounded wyrm seethed with more rage than he ever thought even himself capable of; to his frustration the four frail mortals he should have easily crushed approached him tentatively.
Kezreck backed a step on seeing the dragon struggle- and fail to break its bonds, he turned to Shoutanei and asked, "You sure that thing will hold him?"
"Every twenty-four hours he has a chance to break free. Unless," He looked to his doppelganger and thri-kreen friend, "We do something about it now."
Drawing his sword, Garadon buried the blade hilt-deep in the dragon's left eye; at the same time Path-Chak plunged his gythka more than halfway through the wyrm's right. Upon the reptile's passing the Iron Bands untangled and reverted back to a small metal sphere that rolled to Kezreck's feet.
Satisfied the danger had passed Shoutanei slapped Path-Chak across the mandibles, "What in the Nine Hells were you thinking? Running off like that and then casting whatever it was you tried to cast…"
"Oh lay off…" Garadon started.
"No! We are supposed to work as a team!" the dark elf snapped at the doppelganger before continuing to reprimand Path-Chak, "What you did easily could've gotten you killed-"
"But it didn't," Kezreck interrupted, "In case you haven't noticed- we won. Everybody else is dead, we still got our magic water supply and assuming we find something sharp enough to skin that sucker-" he indicated the dead dragon "We'll have more than enough meat to last until we dig back up all that loot we came for."
Garadon stared at him, "Giant-flesh turns your stomach but you'll eat a dragon?"
Kezreck shrugged, "At least the dragon's not a biped."
Shoutanei was impressed, until that last statement he didn't think Kezreck knew what the word biped meant.
As the four set about recovering the treasures they had gathered the elf silently reflected on his surroundings- what about this site drew hatori when they knew their days were numbered; and after all that happened this day, would future generations of the beasts seek out some other resting place for when their time neared its end?
Across the sands back in Balaiassi, Senior guardsman Ussim looked at the slanting passage dug into the ground, hearing what sounded like a faint roar from it's depths. He turned to see the advisor Alimi present a small chest of gems to a greyish, muscular gnome- the latter quality one he never imagined a gnome would possess. Behind the gnome stood a trio of strange creatures with rough, pebblely skin; creatures who each stood on three legs, saw with three eyes and flexed three arms. The gnome kept almost half of the gems; the rest he fed to the three creatures, who dropped the stones in the wide, toothy mouths at the top of their heads. The strange sight made him shudder.
With Malaan's decanter stolen and the merchant himself vanished every effort had been made to locate a new water source; it surprised everyone when the Caliph's diviners stumbled on a possible answer beneath the city itself! However that new source was separated from the city by more than two-hundred feet of hard stone; when word reached the masses and transients one of the latter- the 'deep' gnome, as he called himself and his people, offered the services of his 'pets'- which he claimed could chew a tunnel through the rock faster than any humans could dig with pick or shovel.
Some feared the find could merely be a small spring that would dry up soon but the Caliph, in his desperation ordered the attempt to reach it be made.
Now it was time to see if it was worth the effort. With a servant carrying a lantern and a temple cleric following him Ussim headed down that passage.
The tunnel the creatures had dug stretched wide and high, and wound in a manner similar to a flight of stairs; as they descended the roaring intensified, drowning out their gasps when they saw what awaited them at the bottom. Just over a foot beneath the passage's exit an entire river thundered past, more than enough for the city's people to drink and wash with in the communal baths- assuming the water was safe, of course.
To test that Ussim produced a tankard he had brought for this very purpose; reaching down to fill it he stood back up and faced the servant. Any order he shouted wouldn't have been heard over the river; so Ussim made his desires clear by thrusting the tankard toward the youth and pressing his sword to the lantern-carrier's neck.
The servant nervously took the tankard in his free hand and gulped it down. After a minute passed and the servant still stood the cleric motioned for Ussim to refill the cup; once they had backed farther up enough for his voice to be audible the cleric cast his spells upon the tankard. To their collective relief he found no toxins or diseases in the water- the river was clean.
Ussim looked upon the masses gathered waiting to hear the news, good or bad; rewarding a smile and nod from him with deafening cheers. When the populace had calmed down Alimi called the officer away to confer with him.
"An underground river," Ussim elaborated, "Possibly spanning the continent. If we are careful it should sustain Balaiassi for centuries."
"And we would owe nothing to that extortionist Malaan," Alimi spat, "Hard to believe the theft we feared would doom this city might actually have benefited it.
"Nevertheless, the fact remains that they endangered Balaiassi with their actions. The Caliph wants the likenesses of this drow, bugbear and man posted across the city; they are wanted criminals and any who travel with them should be treated as such, understood?"
"Understood," Ussim thought the edict was unwarranted considering how things turned out, but he would follow the Caliph's orders. Besides, assuming the thieves even still lived he had his doubts they would be fool enough to show their faces here anyways…
