Chapter Ninety

Trusted

Though I didn't let it show, parts of our conversation from the day before were bothering me. Did I trust my team? Should they trust me? Why did I feel like I needed to keep secrets from them? Who was I more loyal to? There was one other time I felt like I had held information back from my friends for a similar reason, and I wondered if it was really necessary.

I couldn't stand it anymore, I broached the topic as we were getting ready to retire for the evening. "Melima, I've been thinking about what you said about trust, and sharing the information that we have. And I've been thinking about something else that I know and might be good for everyone to know. Do you all remember that guy with the cart?"

"Yeah, I remember him," Melima said. "What juicy secrets do you have with him?"

"As we were parting ways, something just didn't feel right to me, and I looked back... and he's a dragon."

"Nice!"

"His face all of a sudden his face looked like a dragon, and he had a twinkle in his eye and then looked back, and I was like 'what?' I'm pretty sure he's a golden dragon, he could be bronze or brass, but I'm pretty sure he's a gold dragon. I just thought you all might want to be aware of that."

"So, what does that mean," Sephra said, "because I promised a favor to the dragon? Do you know, my cleric friend?"

"My relationship with Bahamut is more of one of 'I'm telling you things so that you can do things that I think are going to help the world,' kind of thing, 'and yeah, it's going to help you,' but it's not necessarily a favor type thing."

"Are dragons good?" she asked. "Or are they bad, or are they indifferent?"

"Gold dragons generally are good."

"I hope that whatever we got is comparable to whatever we're going to have to do for a freakin' dragon," Melima said. "Does anyone have any knowledge of different tasks dragons have requested of those who have offered?"

Between both of us, knowing chromatic dragons being evil, we knew making deals with them was an extremely bad idea— they would find some way to screw you over. Metallic dragons leaned more towards good, though some were neutral, but wouldn't use things for nefarious purposes. Some might just want to talk for a while. Making a deal with them wasn't necessarily bad, but they would probably think they were better than you. They could still have good relationships with other races though. In Aurel's case, being a gold dragon, he might ask us to get an artifact for him.

"Honestly," I said, "during the whole conversation I was kind of wondering. I was like, '—no, you're being paranoid. —No, Tawariell, stop it! He's a human, leave him alone!' There were a lot of things that made me wonder."

"Wait, Tawariell," Sephra said, "if you knew at the time, why didn't you say anything about it?"

"I had a lot of mixed feelings about dragons at the time.I was overcoming them, still had a lot of mixed feelings, and like with Aleena, I still didn't feel like it was my secret to reveal. But after our discussion, thinking about it more, and the way he acted—he knew that I saw him—I feel better— I feel that I can share it."

"Thank you," Melima said. "Thank you for your honesty and insight. I don't know how that information will help us down the road, but I'm sure that it will come in handy. And that's my main prerogative when it comes to communicating as a team, is that it can only benefit for all of us to know what we know. The more that… what am I trying to say here?"

"The more people that know the information, the better we can make decisions?" I asked.

"Yeah, we become a more well-oiled machine, a more powerful unit because we all trust each other and we can all contribute," Melima said. "So, what do you think about this, Tawariell? About the fact that he's a gold dragon?"

"Um, one thought I have had—and I don't know how off-base this might be—gold dragons breathe fire, and we're trying to get to the Fire Elemental Plane. And I don't know if he'll show up sometime soon because we're trying to get to the Fire Ashari, or if it will just be happenstance, but it's something that came to mind."

"That's an interesting idea," Melima said. "I didn't realize those two things were related. He could have a personal relation to this Fire Plane or the fire people because he breathes fire?"

"I don't know," I said. "I don't know the Ashari people, and dragons are super mysterious in their motives anyways."

. . .

We went back to the temple the following afternoon. Sephra felt like we needed another signal, but wasn't sure what. I suggested that she give me a tap when we got to the lodestone. That way, I wouldn't be alarmed with a 'stop' signal. She agreed, saying she'd tap three times if it needed to be dug out, and tap twice as soon as she had it ready to go.

Before anyone took any potions the next morning, Sephra cast her darkness spell and poked her head through the portal. She stayed there for a while, but came back and let us know it was clear. Sephra and Melima took their potions, then Sephra took my arm and stepped us through the portal.

The cold, crushing water greeted me, and I cast the spell to find the nearest lodestone. To my relief, I felt a tug to my left. Marnalore had told us the kraken's lair was to the right. Hopefully, that meant we would avoid it altogether. We went a little slowly, but as fast as we felt we could comfortably be quiet.

I recognized the twists and turns to where we found the second lodestone, but after that, we hardly had to deviate at all. I made a few course corrections to keep us going straight, but it seemed as though there wasn't much for us to navigate around. Every now and then Sephra pulled me around something large.

At one point, she pulled me around something, and the direction of the lodestone drastically changed. We were close. Sephra tapped my arm and let go. She didn't tap any more, it must not have been buried at all. I listened for any sign of movement, but other than the tiny bit of noise the water made around us as we moved, I didn't hear anything the entire time we were down there.

Sephra came back with the lodestone. We'd nearly been down there for ten minutes, and the pressure was getting harder to ignore. I ventured a whisper to her, "we probably want to dimension door back to the portal because of how long we've been here."

"Oh, yeah. I want to do that." I offered to hold the stone so she could cast the spell. We only had about a minute left, and her spell would only get us about halfway to the portal, the stone was much farther away than the others had been.

I touched the earring to talk to Melima. "Don't respond. We have the lodestone." I shook my head at myself. We were too far away for the message to get to her. She had no idea what was going on.

Sephra grabbed my arm and pulled me forward, stopping right away. I noticed a slight purple light as I stepped forward. Hopefully, the darkness covered it enough that the kraken wouldn't notice. She paused for a moment, then repeated the process.

She paused, then pulled me backwards. I listened as we moved, there was no noise around us. A sudden movement in the water in the direction we were going alarmed me, it sounded close. Sephra kept moving in that direction though, and I realized it was probably Melima reacting. We paused for a moment, then stepped into warmer, more friendly water. We'd done it!

The darkness disappeared, and Jörgen and Ari'yasa greeted us with huge smiles. We took the lodestone out of the pool and were greeted by Marnalore. A look of relief covered her face. She checked the stone, then a couple guards took it just outside the pool area. A few people prepared the stone as we recovered, and Marnalore let us know that we'd be welcome to watch them replace the lodestone in the temple.

Someone we hadn't met before cast a spell on the stone, causing it to glow. Aleena came in and used her druidic magic to lift the stone, while the other person used their magic to take the old one out. Aleena turned the stone over a few times before deciding on the position she wanted, and she set it into place. Energy pulsed from it for a moment, then it started glowing brighter. The other stone—now on the ground by the pool—slowly dimmed as the other grew brighter.

Aleena let out a sigh and came over to us. "Thank you so much. This one was one of our oldest stones and has been keeping the dome of this area of the city at bay for nearly five years because it has extended beyond what we thought it would. So, thank you for getting this one. This is why we needed the third."

The old stone finally dimmed out, no light coming from it. "We have had some of our other druids and mages enhancing it over the last few weeks and months to keep its magic going and running. So, thank you so much. I know you were only gone for a moment, but please take a moment to rest and collect yourselves, and come meet with us again in another hour or two. Come to the elders' chambers, and then we will discuss the Stone."

She and the other druid moved the depleted stone over the pool, then turned it into mud and stone and let it fall into the pool. After a few minutes, we followed Marnalore out of the temple, the guards parting for us. We looked up at the dome again. The entire time we'd been in the city it had been a dark blue and purple, but now it had a brighter blue cast to it, veins streaking through it. It looked stronger, but also bigger. Other domes looked the same way as we walked through the city.

I took time to reattune with my Stone while we waited to talk with Aleena. We were finally called back. The entire council of elders was there again. Aleena was more at ease with us, not as stiff as she had been before. "Thank you again, so much for the task that you have completed. We have lost too many to this point to have to risk more again. Thank you so much."

She pulled her hands out of her robe, neither having the glove on. "At this point, our agreement is fulfilled. You have fulfilled your part of the agreement. Now, the task remains of who will guard it from this point until its return?"

"That will be me," Sephra said.

Aleena looked at her. "I kind of had a feeling that would be the case." She came down to us and motioned to someone to the side, who brought over a case. Aleena took the glove out of the case and gazed at it for a moment. The Stone set inside was an opaque white stone. At first it looked like coral, but soon realized it was quartz. It was polished a little bit, but not as much as Ari'yasa's.

"This, Sephra, has been my most prized possession for all of my life. I was given it by my grandmother nearly four thousand years ago. It has been only in the hands of two guardians up to this point since its creation and its initial use. When this task is complete please return it, and we will continue to guard it as it is needed."

I could feel my Stone in my pocket pulsing heavier. The Stones were becoming more powerful as we brought them together. The feeling of being tougher and more weathered returned, and I felt somehow healthier. What would my Stone do once we found the Fire Stone?

The council thanked us again and asked if there were any minor supplies that we stood in need of before we continued on our journey. Unfortunately, they didn't know where the Fire Ashari were. They could get us back to the surface, but asked that we not reveal the location of the city, and that our coins to enter would be requested back.

I had a question for Aleena. "You mentioned that you couldn't hold our Stones, being a holder of a Stone already. Is there something that would happen if, say, by some accident, someone were to hold someone else's Stone?"

She thought for a moment. "When I was given my Stone by my grandmother, there were only a few warnings that were given to me, and guidance about the Stone. First, keep it hidden and safe, to not reveal its location unless absolutely necessary.

"The second, the power within the Stones themselves on their own is basically inert, but as you can tell, when they are brought together, their power increases. From what she was told, and what she told me, is that the power within them is too great for any one person to have, and something that the gods innately created in the Stones makes it dangerous to physically hold the Stones and try to use their power for any period of time.

"You could hold them for a moment or two, but not any period longer than that. You would begin to suffer—and I don't know exactly what—from what she told me, basically first, your mind would begin to wander and suffer excruciating pain, then your body, then your soul. There was some sort of protection put in by the gods so that these could not be used by one single person, that there must be a unity between four to use them."

I nodded. "Noted."

Sephra looked around, then at Aleena. "Do you mind having a minute? I wanted to talk a moment alone with you."

Aleena nodded. "That would be perfectly alright. Please, come."

She motioned up to the council seats, and the rest of the council departed. The rest of our party took our leave as well. On our way back, I noticed that all the bubbles the city was made of were a little bit larger than they had been. It seemed we had averted disaster.