DRAGON CAMPAIGN
CHAPTER 12
Descent
Gurnatrast, the once great capital city of the Dragons, was now little more then a mining city dedicated towards serving the Wingly's every need. Unfortunately, many of the city's greatest nutrients were sucked dry from this area centuries ago. Thus the town was seldom fruitful for the Wingly. However, almost a month ago, the Winglys returned to this land, mining even more. Now all life was practically dead. Tortured souls labored vigorously to try and stay alive while performing their duties. Many more died of over exertion or just from the sheer amounts of sand and dust that continued to clog their arteries.
The city was fairly big, ranging from a dozen small makeshift stone huts spattering the outter rims and deeper into the city. The Winglys occupied the few building structures present in the city. They much more stable then the huts and efficient in make. Deeper into the heart of the city was the base of the huge volcano. No man dared to enter and yet, by force, some of the slaves were unfortunate enough to be positioned there. The molten heat and magma either burned the tortured slaves skin until they died of heat stroke or else they were lucky enough to fall into the lava rivers below the stone bridge catwalk, ending their lives quickly. Either way, to work at the base of the volcano was a death ticket.
Now, as the city was becoming even more overrun with Wingly occupation, the workload became even more toilsome for the hapless slaves. The Wingly now patrolled daily, flying towards the volcano. The slaves knew that many of their comrades, for whatever reasoning, were forced into the heart of the volcano to find something. No one ever made it back alive. The Wingly were growing desperate. They, themselves soon began entering the heart of the Volcanic center, determined to do themselves, what their slaves failed to succeed at. Many workers mining near the base of the volcano were shocked when they were suddenly hearing the tortured cries of death coming from the very people who enslaved them. They were completely baffled by this new revelation and more then a little terrified about their own fate.
****
Towards the central area of the city, a somewhat different scene was being played out. Rose brushed sweaty palms against themselves as she narrowed her eyes around one of the off shoot corners by the edge of the side street she was currently positioned at. Dressed in a heavy cloak to guard her against Wingly suspicion, the dark haired girl felt vaguely confident about her security yet at the same time, she had no desire to chance that claim. Just a few steps away, on the other side of the building she was leaning on, a Wingly guard marched, nonchalantly down the street, looking too and fro, seemingly without a care in the world.
Rose tensed slightly, waiting minute after minute until the guard slowly disappeared into the distance. After a few heart wrenching moments, the guard finally walked away. Rose immediately sank to the side of the building, letting a huge sigh escape her dry lips. Another similarly cloaked figure quickly made her way along side the dark haired woman. Rose eyed her companion caustically. "I'm really getting sick of this."
"No real choice in it." Shirley replied, shifting her own cloak so that the hood effectively covered her stark red hair. She had to be especially weary that her features not be seen amongst any of the Wingly. It was by far, no little known fact that the Wingly favored human concubines, especially ones with red hair. Shirley tightened clinched fists at the mere thought of such savagery but kept it in. The two women had been searching about this wretched town for days, silently observing the cruel activities of its occupants. Shirley had to honestly say that Rose was right in deciding they come to this town. These people were obviously suffering and she could no longer bare the cruel actions of these Wingly overlords.
"Were you able to find out anything more about how to get around the guards blocking the Volcano?" Rose asked, absently ignoring her friend's silent fury.
Shirley shook her head. "No. I couldn't find anything. Every place that seems vaguely important is too heavily blocked for me to find out anything."
"Shit!" Rose slammed her fist against the wall angrily. "There has to be some way to get inside. We've been in this hell hole for three days already. There's just gotta be something we've been overlooking."
"Just deal with it Rose. Sometimes these things just take time."
"Well we don't have much time left Shirley. You know what will happen four days from now. We've only got a limited window of opportunity here."
Shirley sighed, sinking her back onto the hard surface of the stone hut. As she glanced on, she spotted many enslaved villagers passing by casting them odd glances. Many of their faces were rugged and lacked nutrition or any traces of contentment. All of them were completely dirty from head to toe. Shirley could only look in mournful silence as many of them walked hurriedly past them straining under the heavy weight of freshly removed volcano rock. Soon she began to realize that a good number of people were now looking at them with odd expressions.
"Well it won't do us any good if we remain standing around here." The red haired woman anxiously rose up to a standing position. "We'd best find a safe place to converse and plan our next actions from there."
Rose continued to glance around the corner for any indication of the Wingly guards return. Once she was sure he wouldn't be back soon, she turned and nodded her head towards her friend. "Yeah, that's probably best."
The two women hurriedly gathered their flowing cloaks about them and proceeded to walk in the same fashion, typical of slave woman in this town. Little did they notice the two odd forms just now emerging from the other side street, inconspicuously making their way towards the center of town.
****
Zieg looked on stoically at the horrible scene before them. Many people stumbled to their knees from over exertion. Others were occupied with the lashes of a whip because they were not moving fast enough. Many more were trying their best to keep their Wingly overseers satisfied so as not to suffer the same misfortune of their comrades.
The whole display was completely different from that which he saw at the Giganto village. There, it seemed as if none of the Wingly even remotely made their way around there. At such a place, Zieg could almost forget the unbridled rage he was now beginning to feel burn within him once more. He absently brushed the hilt of the hidden sword he wore attacked to his waist amidst the many folds of the cloak he wore about himself.
A hand lightly enraptured his shoulder in a friendly gesture. Zieg turned to see the comforting look Belzack was giving him. "Easy friend. I know this place is bad but you're gonna have to get used to it if you plan on carrying through with this plan of yours."
Zieg shook his head disdainfully, as if eliminating any previous thoughts he had of rebellion. "No… you're right. Not yet…" He slowly eased his hand away from the hilt then folded his arms and began walking forward.
Belzack quickly walked along side him to catch up. "So what's the first order of business."
Zieg passed him a wicked grin. "We're going to check out this Volcano of theirs. We'll take a look at its defense parameters first, then, when we figure out their weakest time intervals, we attack."
"Sounds like a good plan. I just hope you don't plan on jumping the gun too soon."
Zieg only gave his friend a confident smirk. "We'll see."
Belzack shook his head helplessly while the two continued their trek further down the crowded streets of Gurnatrast City.
Many people passed them by, some giving them curious looks while others simply went about their daily business, coping as best they could. Before long, Zieg and Belzack realized why they stood out so much. Many of the slaves had a certain gait about them that they themselves hadn't taken up. Once they realized this, they immediately assumed that position as best they could. Unfortunately, this only generated more curious looks from the surrounding citizens.
Zieg shook his head, feeling there was nothing more they could do to disguise themselves any further. Suddenly Belzack gripped his shoulder tightly and yanked him out of the street path. Zieg glanced up at his friend with something akin to anger in his eyes. "What the hell was that for?"
"Shhh!" Belzack enraptured his heavy hand over the shorter man's mouth so as to silence him. Slowly, the heavy sounds of boot falls began echoing through the streets and before long a huge entourage of Wingly soldiers began marching down the street in trained unison. So loud was their ruckus, the two men were forced to cover their ears. Once they finally left, Zieg crumbled his back against the wall, letting out a heavy sigh. Belzack seemed content to remain on his feet, bowing his head in relief. Zieg looked up at his big friend and grinned. "Thanks pal. Didn't see that one coming."
"I figured as much." Belzack replied then prepared to exit his current position.
"Why do you hide…"
Immediately both Zieg and Belzack spun around quickly at the sudden voice. Zieg cupped his palm around the hilt of his blade until he realized the holder of that voice belonged to a stooped, figure cloaked in the rags of a slave. At the very sight of the hapless man, Zieg eased his stance. He noticed that Belzack kept his hand tightly fastened about his own enclosed weapon.
"Ease up Bel. This guy doesn't particularly strike me as a threat."
Belzack shot his friend a dubious glance but did as he was told, despite himself.
The figure before them chuckled maliciously. "That… my friend, depends on how you answer my question."
Zieg stood up straight, thankful of relieving his back from all the excessive bending and crouching, the two of them were doing earlier. Zieg narrowed his eyes ever so slightly as he took in the ragged form of this stranger. The man was typical of a slave. His face was cracked with the familiar lines of age and strain, his feet chaliced and shriveled by abuse and unsanitary usage. His rags, also had seen much better days as they now clung to his shoddy figure as if they were a second skin. However, at a closer glance, he realized that this man's eyes held a penetrating awareness in them. So much that suddenly he was no longer simply a man in rags to him, but a shrewd, highly skilled tactician at best.
Zieg did his best to hide the utter shock from his expressed as he cleared his throat slightly. "I'm afraid you have us at a disadvantage sir. What question would that be?"
"Hmph." The stranger smirked rudely. He shifted his hunched form so that he now revealed the cane he was leaning on. Bending low, the stranger scratched the shriveled skin of his ankle, all the while staring at them. However, Zieg and Belzack were skilled enough with the lands to know 'that' sign anywhere. The man was using his malady as a cover so as to secretly seize them up.
The aging man rose back up to full height and smirked once more. "You would do well to pay attention to what is being said to you."
Zieg flashed him an abashed look. "What do you mean?"
"Why do the two of you hide from the Wingly? It is atypical of us common slaves to be 'that' terrified of our overseers. The two of you are hiding something… You don't even walk with the same gait as that of common slaves in this area. What is it that the two of you hide from seeing eyes?"
Zieg smirked devilishly, placing a comfortable palm on his hip, just above the hilt of his blade. "Who wants to know?"
The old stranger nodded to himself as if making a final decision. "A most highly applaudable answer." The man then turned his back to them and began walking towards the dank shadows of the offshoot streets beyond.
"Wait!" Zieg called out. "Who are you? Just exactly what was your purpose for stopping us?"
The stranger stopped in his tracks for a split second, leaning slightly towards them. "Come. All your questions will be answered down below."
"Down below?" Belzack spoke for the first time. The big man clutched Zieg's shoulder wearily. "I don't like this."
"Neither do I Bel but what choice do we have?" Zieg easily broke away from his friend's hold and proceeded to follow the ragged man. It was an awkward travel at best. The man began traveling in a zigzag pattern through many alleyway offshoots, so many that Zieg felt as if he were becoming nauseated by the experience. Finally the man stopped at one particularly dirty street then bent low as if he were removing something.
Both Zieg and Belzack moved up along side the man to inspect exactly what he was doing. "Well are the two of you just going to stand there or are ya gonna help an old man in need?" the ragged stranger asked. Both men quickly removed what seemed to be a metal grate from the ground. Just as soon as they moved the grate away, the elder man dropped down, disappearing into the darkness that engulfed the opening. Zieg and Belzack traded uneasy glances with each other.
"Come on down! Time's a'wastin." Came the echoed reply of their strange companion. "And don't forget to close that grate on your way in!"
Belzack gave Zieg a cautious look. The shorter man shrugged helplessly. "No other choice." He replied, then dropped in, joining the old man in complete darkness. Belzack sighed heavily. "This is insane!" He hissed before dropping in after the previous two, holding the grate above his head so that is slammed shut as he entered.
****
Axerdon, one of the 10 remaining Wingly councilmen, stumbled back in utter fear before his Emperor. Melbu Frahma was by no means in a good mood. The Wingly official had originally come to his Emperor's room to report that they still had no clues on the whereabouts of the third and final Signet Sphere. However, by the way his Emperor reacted simply on his entrance, he was seriously rethinking his logic for coming in the first place.
Frahma threw over the desk in his room, scattering tones of papers and other documents so that he could scale over to his prey all the faster. "My patience grows thin Axerdon!"
Frahma swiftly closed the distance and grabbed the terrified Wingly by the shirt collar. The poor soul began shivering violently under his Emperor's penetrating gaze. "What have you to report?"
"S…s…Sire…" The Wingly official could hardly speak, half from the tight grip Frahma had about his throat and half from the pure and utter fear that continued to clutch at his heart. Frahma's eyes narrowed at his obvious fear. He tightened his grip even further. "Speak!"
Beads of sweat began to drain down the Wingly's face as his eyes widened ever so slightly. His mouth formed a small o shape and his tongue perched out like a hot potato. Melbu finally realized what was happening and quickly eased his grip on the poor servant.
The Wingly readily doubled over, coughing violently while trying to catch his breath. Melbu simply stood there expressionless yet with each passing second he could feel the rage of anxiety burning more and more. After a few more moments of this, Frahma couldn't take it anymore. "Speak Axerdon! What have you to report?"
The Wingly official timidly straightened up to face his Emperor. "Your highness, our scientists have indeed been able to analyze the Signet Sphere we have in our possession. It will take them some time before they complete their analysis however."
"How long?"
"A week at best. They need time to properly analyze exactly how the Signet Sphere's powers can be accessed. It is truly not an easy task. They've gotten little to no sleep since-"
"I care little about their well being!" Frahma interjected harshly. "My only concern is that they get the job done. Even still, it appears they are taking too much time. I have no choice but to go there myself to personally see what has been holding them up. Regardless, what else have you to report?"
The Wingly gulped nervously as he rang his shivering hands behind his back. "Your excellency, we have indeed found a way to acquire the Signet Sphere located in the volcano region of Gunatrast. It will take us some time and some fatalities on our part but our men have found a secret path through the volcano and we're fairly certain it could lead us at least part of the way towards the Signet sphere. At least we shouldn't have to worry about the volcanic lava anymore."
Melbu smiled crookedly. "See how well our people can devise tactics when given certain…'incentive' to do so."
Once again, Axerdon gulped nervously. "Yes… Very good Sire. In any case our people are heading into the volcano by mid day tomorrow and should have the Signet Sphere by the end of the following day."
"Why should it take so long? Can they not just fly through."
"But your highness… certain risks are-"
"I have told you before, I care not about the risks!"
"Your highness, the Spheres will indeed get to you in time."
"I should hope so!" Frahma snarled viciously. "What have you to report about the final Sphere? Since the 'disappearance' of that coward Duvok, I have entrusted its retrieval to you. Have you located it yet?"
Now Axerdon was becoming extremely pale. His hands became clammy as he clenched and unclenched them. He found that he could barely get his voice out while his throat was too busy constricting with fear. "Y… your excellency… The final Sphere still eludes us…"
Frahma did not waste a second. His hand rapidly shot out and wrapped tightly about the terrified Wingly's throat. Once again his eyes began to grow wide. He tried to utter a few words but they only came out in short spurts and gurgles.
Frahma narrowed his eyes even further. "I have been waiting far too long for this to allow your incompetence to get in my way. Duvok's punishment has been delayed far too long, do you not think?" The more he spoke, the tighter his grip became. The hapless Wingly could do little more then stare in agonized fear as he felt his life being squeezed away while staring into the eyes of a demon.
Suddenly the Wingly felt a sharp pain piercing his stomach. So intense and painful was it that he wanted to scream but couldn't. He'd die for air but found none would come. He felt a wet sensation dribbling down his torso and realized that it was his own blood. As he stole a glance downwards he noticed that somewhere between Frahma's death grip, the Wingly Emperor had unsheathed his sword and drove it through his stomach. He was even more terrified now as wet tears began sliding down his face.
Frahma didn't care. He wanted him to feel the full extent of his wrath. He angrily ripped the blade upwards a few inches causing even more blood to spill. The Wingly would have coughed up blood from his mouth except Melbu stopped it at the throat so that the blood too began to choke him. The poor soul by this time could only blink as the pain was too intense and the fear too overwhelming. His eyes slowly glazed over, the tears now turning crimson red while spilling from white irises.
Once certain of his death, Frahma released his grasp on the man and let his body fall heavily to the floor. He easily dislodged his sword, wiped it on the dead man's fashionably clean shirt then sheathed it in his hilt. Axerdon had always had a fettish for cleanliness and perfection. It was fitting to Frahma that a man who in his last moments preformed such a sloppy job for him that he die in a sloppy way. An arrogant smirk formed across his face as he turned on his heels and slowly walked away to signal for the guards to clean up.
****
It was now midnight as Rose silently crept along the far walls leading towards the heavily guarded volcano entrance. After she and Shirley had conversed more, Rose felt more convicted to finding the Signet Spheres before her enemies. Even though she could tell Shirley too was eager to find them and prevent the great catastrophe the Dragon's planned to carry forth, she herself felt as if it was her obligation to correct this wrong immediately. For they both knew how the war with the dragons would end.
Rose let an unsteady shudder escape her lips as she saw a Wingly guard pass by, completely oblivious of her position. Rose turned ever so slightly as the guard approached his comrade. Rose could tell from her vantage point at the edge of the side building that the guard seemed jovial about something.
"Hey Benzgnar." The man greeted warmly. His companion merely nodded his head at his approach. "Did you hear the latest news? We're finally gonna get out of this hell whole!"
"Oh yeah?" Benzgnar asked curiously. "How's that?"
"Yeah it seems one of the brains up there on Vellweb finally came up with a method of getting that damn Sphere we've been having so much trouble with."
His companion seemed so sigh heavily. "That's good news. It's about time. I don't know what Emperor Frahma was thinking, sending us off into that volcano. You know how many of our comrades have died already with that feat?"
"Yeah I know. But they've been studying the floor plans of this region for weeks and have finally discovered an underground chasm that stretches all the way into the volcano. If we follow that path, we can easily get to the Spheres."
"Yeah? That's great news! We'll be heros!"
The two men began laughing heartily. Meanwhile Rose face paled. This was truly not good news at all. True she now knew of a way in aside from the entrance that was guarded but how much time did they have now. It was a race between her and the Wingly. She didn't even know where this tunnel could be found at.
Rose expeditiously got ahold of her troubled emotions and quickly picked herself up off the ground, stealthily scampering away into the shadows. Once she was in the clear, the dark haired woman raced down the shrubby paths of the nearby forest where she had left a sleeping Shirley behind while she investigated. All that filtered through her mind was that she had to beat the Wingly. No matter what, she couldn't fail. So engulfed was she in her own toils that she never noticed the many branches that continued to whip at her face as she surged through the dense outcropping of wildlife. Finally she reached the campsite. Still huddled about the campfire was the slumbering form of her red haired companion. Rose immediately ran over to her friend, shaking her violently.
"Shirley! Come on wake up!"
The woman turned over peering her eyes open slightly. "Rose…? Rose what's wrong!"
"Everything's wrong! Now get up!" Rose hissed in a barely suppressed whisper.
Thinking that they had been found, Shirley immediately shot bolt upright, furiously dabbing at her sleep endowed eyes. "What's going on?" She asked anxiously.
"The Wingly have found it!"
"What?" Now Shirley's eyes were completely open, sleep all but lost in her continence.
"It's true. The Wingly have found a way to the Signet Sphere! We've got to get to it before they do!"
"Wait, slow down a minute. How did you learn all of this? Were you sneaking around while I was asleep? Rose you know that's completely stupid! I can't believe-"
"Nevermind all of that!" Rose interjected. "You can scold me later! Right now I need your help. We've gotta find this hidden tunnel the Wingly were talking about!"
"Hidden tunnel?"
"That's how they plan on retrieving the Signet Sphere. Apparently there's a path below this city that leads directly into the heart of the volcano and from there to the Signet Sphere."
"Well how do you suggest we go about finding this underground passage. If it took the Wingly this long to located it, its gonna be harder for us."
"Regardless, we've got to try." Rose replied firmly.
Shirley watched her friend silently for a moment then sighed. "Fine, well we better get moving then. If the Wingly were talking about it, that must mean they're going to be starting pretty soon. Any possible idea's were to location of the Sphere could be?"
Rose nodded her head affably. "I've been pondering that it's got to be somewhere in the city. I mean if anyone was going to build an underground tunnel, the opening, no matter how ancient it is, had to have started in the very habitat were all others dwell right?"
Shirley shrugged. "Well I suppose so. Well ok lets go look there then."
The two women promptly rose to their feet when suddenly they heard a loud click in the not too far distance. Rose instinctively narrowed her eyes and cupped her hand about the hilt of her sword.
"That's not a good idea girly." Came a young firm voice from the distance. Slowly, out walked a medium sized man with bronze hair draping shaggily across his dirt smeared face. The man held what looked like a staff with a blade at the end of it. His clothing was in equal quality as his facial appearance as the rags he wore were hardly of any protection to him an only seemed to remain as a factor of modesty.
Around him, many other men walked up from out of the shadows holding similar weapons in their hands, some holding bows. All wore grim expressions of merciless determination.
Shirley backed away, closing her distance with Rose. "This isn't good." She hissed silently.
Rose scoffed. "No kidding." She quickly turned her gaze to what seemed to be the lead man. "What do you want with us? If you are Wingly then know that we will rather fight till death then fall under your oppression yet again."
The man seemed to grin wickedly, holding his bladed weapon out to the two of them. "Young lady… the only thing you and your companion will be doing… is coming with us!"
::::::::::To Be Continued::::::::::
Author's note: Thanks for reading and please stay tuned for chapter 13.