CHAPTER XIV: A FLIGHTY FOE
The sky erupted in darkness, a darkness one usually sees in the very middle of the night, as great beams of dark energy continued to pummel the sky. The obelisk was completely wrecked; far off in the distance, the seven makeshift friends ran at a full tilt hoping to catch up to their ride…five miles back to town could prove very taxing…they couldn't even see the carriage as it disappeared over a hilltop, taking all promise of a safe journey with it.
"Great! Son-of-a-bitch!" Furrius wheezed as they ran.
"Don't stop," Barakus said, leading the pack. Sic stuck his tongue out at Furrius as he sat atop the massive man's shoulders. The smug way in which he regarded Furrius changed in a heartbeat – his eyes grew wide and his mouth literally hung open as wide as it could go.
From behind them, a gentle breeze brushed their necks; a much less gentle screeching brushed their ears. Like an eagle…but darker…more rugged…more…powerful…
Turning their heads as they ran (Barakus choosing to run backwards, still powering ahead of the group), they all caught a glimpse of the worst result of their tampering with the obelisk – a massive, sixty foot dragon flew straight up into the sky, riding the waves of dark energy that were pulsing from the obelisk...but now, it seemed that the pulsing anti-lightening was emanating from the dragon itself…
It was enormous compared to them…they realized just how large it was as it swooped menacingly down above them, knocking Illonel, Furrius and Celathiel over as it passed closely overhead. In a stunning and rather beautiful display, it spread its ebony wings and twirled, landing on the road between the adventurers and the town with a frightening crash.
Four dark black horns jutted from its skeletal head – deep, dark eye sockets filled its head, directly above a toothy maw. Patches of deep grey scales peppered its mostly black hide…as it heaved a deep breath, a thick, acrid smell came from its dank nostrils, which only happened to be fifty feet away from the travelers…
"It hurts…to breathe…" Celathiel said, coughing. It was true; the group had to cover their mouths with bits of their clothing to keep out the painfully acidic dragon breath.
The dragon screeched in a deep, punctuated series of growls and yelps, seemingly trying to convey a message – Furrius and Sic used their spells to comprehend Draconic…slowly, the screeches and growls subsided as a thick, dark common replaced it – but only in the bard and cleric's ears.
"Some mighty interesting company you keep," it said, and though it was heavily accented and translated, they could both sense it drenched in sarcasm.
Sic swallowed hard, trying his best not to scream out loud and lose control of his bowels. Furrius gave up on trying not to scream – instead, he covered his mouth tightly as he bit down on his small leather pouch, absorbing all of his completely justified screaming.
Krougu stood behind Barakus and Sic, looking visibly shaken – Sic thought about how poor a position he was in – he was nearly two feet higher than anyone in the group, sitting on Barakus' shoulders…he was practically begging to be eaten…the irony was delicious for Illonel, as he stood off to the side, biting his lip but showing no other signs of dismay. Celathiel stood a few feet away from Emily, both looking like they really wished the obelisk had never crumbled…
"W…were you imprisoned by the obelisk?" Sic asked, hoping that it was the case. Even if it did look exactly like a black dragon, harbinger of death and doom, perhaps there was a chance to reason with it…after all, dragons are exceedingly intelligent creatures…
The black dragon's decaying lips turned in a slight smile as it chuckled, a small huff of green smoke coming out of its nostrils. Without any warning, it spread its wings, snatched up Emily in its jaw and took to the sky, flying north, the beautiful elven wizard dangling helplessly from his mouth.
"Emily!" Illonel called, reaching an arm out to her…he knew it was futile…the dragon was a mile away before long, a distant fleck on the endless horizon.
"After her," Barakus said, drawing his greataxe.
Everyone but Furrius and Illonel laughed. "Are you crazy, lad? A black dragon? We're lucky we escaped with our lives!" Sic said, looking down into Barakus' auburn hair.
"Yeah, no way. It's miles away by now, we have no way to know where it's going…"
"And it might come back. We've got to get to town," Illonel said, his voice audibly choked. "We can't do anything about the dragon. Or Emily. It's…" he trailed off.
"It's best not to think about it, for now…" Furrius said, gently laying a hand out across Barakus' greataxe. The tall warrior scowled and shook his head in silent prayer for their fallen comrade.
"Can we decide what we're going to do about Emily when we get back to the room?" Krougu said, rushing past the group as he headed west, toward town. The five of them trod, trying to keep up…eventually, they all outran the gruff human to the point where he could barely keep up with them.
"What? Don't you wanna get back to town as quick as possible!" they taunted him as he fell behind. The taunts fell on deaf ears, however, as a familiar sounding beat filled their ears…clip, clop, clip, clop…hooves pounded the earth in all directions around them, coming from the thin forests on the side of the dirty path…
"Fucking horses. The guards are gonna be pissed about the obelisk…" Sic said, as the group continued to run at full speed.
"Stop where you are," a voice drawled out…it was steeped in wisdom, the owner clearly turned off by the entire idea of stopping these creatures in the first place…
From between a dark patch of trees came a normal looking man, sporting a small, yellow goatee and slicked back hair. His torso was dense and rippled, unclothed…tapering down into the powerful, brown body of a horse. A centaur followed by nearly fifteen of his friends slowly poked their way out of the forest, all of their shortbows drawn and aiming at the six weary travelers. The yellow haired leader trotted around them, sniffing and coughing despondently.
"Tell me…why do you run as though your lives are at stake?" he said in his prim and proper common.
Illonel remembered that centaurs spoke elven…an interesting trait, indeed, for he, Celathiel and Furrius all shared that information. When talking to a creature such as a centaur, its important to show them that they are respected…talking in a beautiful language such as elven was an easy way to do it.
"Good sir, we run as though our lives are at stake because they are…a black dragon has been unleashed upon the lands…" Illonel started, but the uppity centaur cut him.
"A plague that has been brought on by you!" he snarled, the elven turning downright scary.
"No…not intentionally…" Furrius said in his halted elven; his mother had taught him a great deal, but it had become rusty over the past few years with Barakus…
"We saw you leaving the obelisk…speak no lies!" the leader screamed, restraining himself from grabbing Furrius by the scruff of the collar. The rest of the centaurs started to chant, pumping their arrows into the air.
"Speak no lies! Speak no lies!" they chanted, keeping it in elven.
"Please, hear us out…all we want to do is speak with the Duke…surely you know the Duke?"
The head centaurs chin twitched back and forth and finally, he said, "you know the Duke? Fine. If that's where you WANT to go, I suppose there's no reason to drag you there against your will…but we will escort you, just to be safe…"
"What's going on?" Barakus asked, as the circle of centaurs closed and started moving down the path toward town, taking the six adventurers along like a piece of driftwood caught in a stream.
"Can I get a…" Krougu said, looking at one of the thicker centaurs.
Illonel quickly jabbed his finger over Krougu's lips, quieting him. "Do NOT ask for a ride…" he said harshly under his breath. Centaurs were typically neutral, though when a human asked them for a ride, to treat them like a common horse…it was not something many humans escaped from alive. Or, fully put together, at the least…
"The dragon went north…stay safe…" Illonel said, nodding professionally to the centaur.
"Safe journey, boys…" the leader said smugly, and as quickly as they appeared, they bounded off into the woods and vanished without a trace.
As they neared the walls of the castle, Celathiel's eyes narrowed – when they were no more than one-hundred feet from the west entrance he tugged on Furrius' sleeve.
"It looks…cleaner. Like someone scrubbed all the walls of the castle…" he said, eyeing up the entire length of it – it certainly looked fresher.
"Who the hell would scrub the walls of an entire town? That job has to suck…" Furrius mused, heading forward.
"Maybe someone important is coming to town?" Sic proposed hopefully, still atop the weary barbarian. As if the voice reminded him, Barakus sourly dumped the gnome off of his head, relieved by the loss of nearly fifty pounds…
A sharp twang alerted the six of them to a group of guards positioned on the upper parapets of the town walls, each of them holding a drawn bow…once again pointing at the group…
"Jeez, can we ever go anywhere and not have arrows pointed at us? Is that so much to ask?" Krougu said quietly, raising his hands slowly…