Chapter 3
Midsummer 1368 DR, Year of the Banner
They had reached the desired area of Myth Drannor by the next afternoon. As the bard and the young Harper recruits continued towards the desired area of the ancient elven city, a beautiful woman with long silver hair approached them. She wore beautiful scale mail armor, similar to Virgo's, and carried a long sword at her side.
"Good day to you Bowie Butterball and Harpers to be," greeted Dove Falconhand with a warm smile.
Roland and Val stared in awe at the woman. They hard many stories about Dove Falconhand, and her husband Florin, and now they were meeting her, face to face. Sawyer's eyes also gazed at the woman, who then stared at him for a lingering moment. After a playful hit from Virgo, he let out a smile and looked down at Erilett, who rubbed up against his leg.
"Good day to you Lady Dove," Bowie greeted with a bow. "It looks like you are on Knight Patrol today."
"Yes I am Bowie Butterball," Dove answered. "It seems Torm and Rathan were unable to do their job." Roland and Val glanced at Bowie and laughed. The halfling sighed as a smile parted his lips.
"Congratulations on making this far," Dove continued in a more serious voice. "Like many, the road the lies before you is a difficult one, where some of you might not make it. If you do make it out alive, then the life of a Harper awaits you. Truthfully, you couldn't have asked for a better teacher, Good luck to you all."
With that, Dove Falconhand walked out of their sight. Bowie turned to the entrance of the set of ruins that he and the young Harpers were about to explore. He sensed a powerful being down there.
"I can't believe that Dove Falconhand wished us luck," Val said with a big smile.
"Me neither," Roland added with a big smile," and did you see the way she was looking-" he stopped when he saw a glare from Virgo. Bowie smiled as he looked back at the Harper recruits.
"Come on then, let's do some exploring," Bowie said soft voice.
The Harper recruits and their halfling teacher slowly walked down the dark and narrow hallway, flanked by walls decorated with runes and ripped up tapestries.
In the lead, the druid sensed a strange feeling that he had been here before. His dark green eyes glanced down at the sword on his belt. "Elowynn, have you been here before?" he asked the sword.
This place seems familiar to me. I visited the streets of Myth Drannor many years ago, in the hands of many wielders, the sword responded in a soothing voice.
Sawyer nodded, then looked at Virgo. "Elowynn says that she was in this place, many years ago."
Virgo looked at the sword, then back at her lover. "Does she know what lies ahead?" The druid paused for a moment as the sword responded to him. Then he shook his head no. Next to Sawyer, the wolverine's nose caught a scent and ran forward.
Several steps back, Roland and Val had great difficulty trying to keep themselves calm. They kept their hands on their respective blades and jumped at any sound they heard. Next to them, Bowie had managed to keep his composure. He had never seen these parts of Myth Drannor, nor heard about it from Storm.
"We found a room!" Virgo's voice ran up from up ahead. Roland and Val looked at each other, then ran eagerly towards Virgo and the druid. A second later, Bowie followed suit, running to catch up with the young Harper recruits.
When Bowie caught up with the others, he saw a large wooden door. Erilett was on the ground, growling.
"What's wrong with the beaver?" asked Roland.
Sawyer turned to the others. "She gets like this whenever she smells goblins."
Val looked down at the wolverine. His eyes widened when he saw the hair stick up from the wolverine's back. "There must be a lot of goblins then."
Sawyer and Virgo let out a chuckle. Bowie stepped forward and looked at the door. "Should be easy to break," he remarked in a soft voice. "Anyone want to give it a try?" Before Val and Roland could accept the bard's challenge, Virgo stepped up and gave the door a mighty kick. The door flew off it's rusted hinges and fell to the floor as it hit the ground.
This caused the ten hobgoblins in the room to be caught off of their guard. Erilett dashed into the room and leaped at one of the hobgoblins, ripping the throat. After her claws tore into the flesh, she flipped off of the dead hobgoblin's body and landed on to another, slashing her claws though the hobgoblin's face.
Val and Roland charged into the room. They swung their blades high, deflecting the spears that were being jabbed at them. One of the spears managed to pierce Val's shoulder while two stabbed Roland in the side.
Already in the room, Virgo let out a scream of rage and tackled the hobgoblin that had wounded her brother. The hob tried to throw Virgo off of his body, but the young woman punched him in his face, breaking the hob's nose. The hobgoblin let out a painful scream that was ceased when Virgo snapped his neck.
Sawyer stepped in front of the hobgoblins that were attacking Roland and Val. Sawyer drew Elowynn, hearing the sword's battle cry as he stabbed it through a hobgoblin's heart. The druid quickly pulled the sword free and stabbed another hob in the face. Back you vile creatures! echoed the sword through the druid's mind.
Behind Sawyer, the bard and the two young wounded Harper recruits each faced a hobgoblin. Roland stepped forward, slashing Flamestrike in a diagonal cut. A thin line of fire emerged from the cut Roland had made with his sword. The hobgoblin let out a cry as his insides began to burn from Flamestrike's cut.
Next to Roland, Val parried the hobgoblin's spear, then drove Frostburn through the hob's midsection. The hobgoblin let out a shiver as coldness began to flow through his body, freezing his internal organs. Val struck once more, this time, turning the hobgoblin's body to ice. No less than a second later, the frozen hobgoblin stature shattered, the frozen pieces sliding across the floor.
Bowie had made quick work of his hobgoblin, slashing it twice across the stomach. The bard felt the hobgoblin's spear penetrate his leather jerkin and the elven chain armor underneath it. He ignored the pain and slashed the hob across the throat.
The two remaining hobgoblins were trying to stab their spears at Erilett, but the wolverine was too quick. She jumped onto the chest of one of the hobgoblins and bit out his throat, then tried to jump on the final hob. The hobgoblin batted the wolverine away, then ran for the door.
Just as Erilett was about to chase after her prey, fire sprang up from the floor and covered the hobgoblin. The hob let out a death cry that rang through the wolverine's ears. Once the hobgoblin was dead, Erilett turned to her master, who smiled at the succession of his Inferno spell.
"Sawyer, you might want to save those spells for Roland and me," Val said, holding his bloody shoulder. The druid smiled and placed a hand on Val's shoulder, channeling the healing energies of nature that lay hidden in the ruins. Seconds later, the wound across Val's shoulder closed.
Sawyer then walked over to Roland, healing his wounds. Virgo walked over to Sawyer and kissed him. Roland and Val looked at each other, shaking their heads, then walked over to the wolverine, petting her on the back.
Bowie took a moment to examine the room. On one of the walls, he noticed a painting of a red dragon that took up well over half of the wall. "It looks like a dragon maybe resting in these parts," he said quietly.
"A dragon?" Val and Roland asked in unison.
Bowie nodded. "Yes my friends, a dragon. I didn't count on this. We can turn back if you want." Val and Roland shook their heads, as did Sawyer and Virgo. The halfling knew that they wanted to test the extent of their abilities.
"I say we continue ahead," Sawyer said, looking at everyone. "Who knows, maybe the dragon-" he stopped when he felt something trying to push it's way into his thoughts. On his belt, Elowynn gave a violent shake that pushed whatever it was, out of the druid's mind.
The others stared at Sawyer, wondering what had just happened. "Love, what's the matter?" Virgo asked, her voice filled with concern.
Sawyer scratched his head. "It felt like something was trying to get into my thoughts. Like it was digging it's way into my mind."
"Something, or someone probably was trying to read your thoughts," Bowie said, looking at Sawyer over.
"Do you think it was the dragon?" Val asked.
"Maybe it was some powerful wizard," Roland suggested. "One who lives in Shadowdale, or someone from inside of Myth Drannor."
Bowie's eyes looked over at the Purple Dragon ring on Virgo's finger. "Or maybe a wizard from Cormyr."
Several miles away, in the beautiful city of Suzail, capital of Cormyr, Queen Filfaeril walked through the palace halls and stepped into a small room. On the floor was the beautiful War Wizard Laspeera, who was still feeling the affects of a failed mind reading attempt.
"I take it you couldn't read Sawyer's mind," Filfaeril guessed as she helped the War Wizard to her feet.
Laspeera shook her head. "I was starting to break through, but then an elven woman pushed me out."
"It must have been the bard, or that sword Azoun gave him," Filfaeril commented with a sigh. "Did you learn anything?"
The War Wizard smiled. "I learned that they are in a section of Myth Drannor where a red dragon might be sleeping."
The Queen of Cormyr turned away for a moment, then looked back at Laspeera. "Go to Arabel and contact Mymreen and Molliandra. They will want to know how Roland, Val, and Virgo are doing. I will talk with Jessica and tell her about Sawyer."
"Anything else your majesty?" Laspeera asked before leaving.
The queen nodded. "Pray to the gods that our loved ones make it out of Myth Drannor alive."