Artifact and the Princess by R. D. Ray - HTML preview

Chapter 25

Lizzy went over to sit next to her father, but she just sat there for a moment without saying anything, and without moving, just sort of staring down at the ground. He allowed her the time she needed to gather her thoughts, soon though he cleared his throat and looked over at her and smiled, reaching out he grabbed her by her hand and said “Are you doing alright Lizzy? Does it hurt much?” he said as he pointed at her wound.

Lizzy didn’t respond right away, but soon she looked up at him and smiled back and said “Yes Father I am fine, the wound will heal. I was just thinking about all the people who had to die for what I did.” She choked back a sob and looked away.

Davkas glanced over at the ones who had died, and then he looked at Lizzy and gently placed his hand on her chin and turned her back to face him. He spoke softly to her and said, “Lizzy, we know it was not your intention to involve anyone in what happened. Just remember all of these here made a choice to help both the problem with the artifact and the rescue of Princess Lunansa, I’m sure they understand what you must be feeling right now. But we need to press on now and honor the lives that were laid down for our cause and bring the Princess to safety, along with placing the artifact in the hands of the King so that it can be either destroyed, if possible, or hidden away to prevent the Dhag’arii from using it again.”

Lizzy smiled back at her Father and nodded to him. The rest of the group was preparing for the night and had built a large fire, the Lijissa soldiers, now under the command of their Sergeant were setting up a watch schedule for the night, out of the twenty sent to search for the Princess, along with Captain Silverstar, there were only a half dozen left alive. Argha was busy going from one wounded person to the next, concentrating deeply and healing one after another, even though he himself was in great pain, he also produced s few healing potions he had secreted away. Soon all the wounded had been attended to in one form or another including Argha himself and they settled down for the night. Argha made his way back over to the Princess and sat down next to her under a large tree, he decides to just lean up against the tree and ended up falling asleep quickly, for he was very tired!

Vekao couldn’t sleep really he was too keyed up from the battle, so he, Davkas, Lizzy and Taithmar all sat huddled around the fire talking quietly among themselves. They spoke of the artifact mostly and what they had witnessed that day. Taithmar spoke of the power she had felt when the evil mage Tin’ther had animated the statue. She knew that if they had not killed Tin’ther when they did more of their party would now be surely dead. The others just sat with grim expressions on their faces, staring into the fire. Soon Lizzy broke the silence…

“I know now that I’ve learned my lesson and will refrain from ‘acquiring’ items that don’t belong to me any more!” she said to them with a small smile on her face.

Davkas coughed a little nervously and then said “Well I for one am very glad to hear that! Now maybe I can sleep at night!”

They all shared a little laugh over that, and then they grew quiet again. Vekao had picked up a long stick and was now poking at the fire, causing little sparks of ashes to kick up in the night air. They could hear the sounds of crickets all around them, and an occasional hooting of an owl, hunting in the night. The Lijissa soldiers had taken the first watch and there were two of them patrolling the camp perimeter. From time to time they could hear them whistling to each other in some sort of code. Soon the friends grew sleepy and one by one they dismissed themselves and crawled into their bedrolls to get some needed sleep.

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Concentrating on his scrying spell the mage Tasanal soon was beginning to focus on a location…it seemed the spell was working! There! She was there! Lying next to a tree and surrounded by…the King’s soldiers? But who were those others … Tasanal pulled back in his mind so he could determine exactly where she was, soon he felt that he could pin point the location and he ended the spell.

“I believe I can find the Princess now!” he proclaimed to his colleagues with some excitement. “We must hurry and tell the King!”

So with that they all made there way to the King’s chambers, they were soon escorted in by his chamberlain. They shared their exciting news with the King, of course the King told them of the messenger from Ironhold. So they presumed that the others that the mage had observed were the ones mentioned by the messenger. So then the King immediately asked if they could arrange to teleport themselves and some soldiers to the location where they thought the Princess was at. They agreed that they could do this with ease, due to a certain magical item they had in their possession, and so they were off again, rounding up the party to be sent to the Princess.

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The morning came quickly and soon all the camp was stirring and everyone was preparing to leave as quickly as possible. They were still very concerned for Princess Lunansa and wanted to get her back to her Father’s castle as quickly as possible, for they knew that from what the old dwarven mind mage had told them they needed the powerful magic that the King’s court mages possessed to combat the terrible magic used to put her in the deep sleep.

Argha and the other remaining dwarves made a sled to place the Princess on and soon had it lashed to the back of one of the horses. The horse would then drag the Princess behind it along the trail, so they knew that this would make the journey a slow one, yet they didn’t know how else they could transport her. The soldiers of Lijissa all had mounted and were ready to be off, the dead had been placed on the back of the now mostly unused horses and so the party started their journey to the castle, with the soldiers leading the way. Davkas, Vekao, Taithmar and Lizzy brought up the rear of the group, with the dwarves and the Princess in the middle.

They weren’t on the trail for long before something strange began to happen! The air around the party began to swirl and mist and soon out of this mist a group of what appeared to be mages stepped out, along with a group of soldiers! The party came to a swift halt and everyone was straining to figure out who or what this new threat was! But soon it became clear that the soldiers with their group realized it was the King’s men and let out a loud cheer!

Tasanal lead the mages closer and they stopped just short of their position, for Tasanal was still not sure what was going on. So he spoke “Greetings, we come in the name of King Brightwater! We come to claim his daughter, the Princess Lunansa, missing all these past months.”

The old sergeant, now in charge of the King’s soldiers, since the death of Captain Silverstar, replied to the old elven mage “We are soldiers of Lijissa sent by the King to find his daughter, we were following our Captain, Captain Silverstar who is now dead. We came upon the Princess who was being brought back to the Kingdom by these dwarves and their comrades, the Princess during this time came down with a strange illness and is still under the spell of what has struck her down.” He spoke the last and motioned towards the sled with the Princess Lunansa lying on it.

Tasanal came forward then with the other mages following and looked down at the Princess on the sled. Argha who was next to it then spoke “She is under a powerful spell which has given her this condition, I was unable myself to break the hold of the spell and was hoping that mages from the King’s court, such as yourselves, could do so.”

Tasanal knelt down beside Princess Lunansa and examined her closely, he then called together the other mages with him and discussed what they thought should be done. Soon they had decided, they felt there best option was to take the Princess back with them as quickly as possible, which meant using the device again to transport them back to the castle, yet they also knew that there were limitation to this and they could not transport them all back, so they had to decide who they would take with them. The dwarves all decided to stay behind for they had no love for being magically transported, yet they felt that Argha should go with the Princess. The original Lijissa warriors sent to rescue the Princess were all chosen to go, while a contingent of the newly arrived soldiers would stay. As well as the four friends would stay behind, Davkas, Lizzy, Vekao, and Taithmar. Although Taithmar was sorely disappointed for she wanted to experience this form of transportation!

So the group heading back to the castle all gathered together and they soon were swallowed up by the swirling mist and were gone! The remaining party all blinked, glanced around at each other and then started the journey to the grand city of Castitrona. It would be a swifter journey now that they didn’t have to go so slow with the sled and the Princess. So off they went, the dwarves lead by Captain Hammerstone, the newly arrived soldiers from Lijissa, and Lizzy, Davkas, Taithmar and Vekao all traveling along together.

The journey was uneventful, the sky was clear, the sun was out and a good, warm breeze was blowing in from the sea. They all made their way along the trail and then by the end of the day, they soon turned into the main road leading to the gates of the city. At the gates, which were open for it was still daylight, yet only barely, they quickly made their way through, the soldiers leading the way. Soon they found themselves at the gates of the castle and the guards there opened the gates quickly and allowed them inside the courtyard.

They all filed within the courtyard, with the soldiers peeling away and going towards they barracks instead, while they continued up to the steps of the castle itself. There they were met by a servant who told them that they would take care of their horses, and that they were expected inside. So up the castle steps they climbed and through the great doors at the top, which were opened for them by another servant. They were led down a great hall and then led into a very large room. Inside the room were all manner of food and drink, along with wash basins to freshen themselves.

It was Davkas who finally broke their silence saying “I have been called many times to the castle, yet I have never been inside this room before, this is a great honor the King has bestowed upon us!”

The others, including the dwarves, all just gaped and looked around at the fine tapestries on the walls, and the marvelous selection of food which was laid out upon the table. Soon they heard a commotion in the hallway and then a couple of heralds entered the room, they quickly announced that King Brighwater was entering along with his daughter, the Princess Lunansa! Almost as soon as the words left the heralds mouths the King did enter, and he was escorting the now fully healed, Princess Lunansa! All the friends bowed to them as they entered the room.

“Arise good friends! For I truly call you my friends for my daughter has shared how you all had a hand in saving her from the evil Dhag’arii!” the King said to them as they came in.

Coming in behind the Princess was the old dwarven mind mage Argha, and next to him walked the elven mage Tasanal. Argha looked much better now than he had just the day before and the dwarves all smiled and greeted him as he walked over to stand with them.

Davkas spoke for the friends “We are honored by your presence King Brightwater and are very glad to see your daughter in good health once again.”

The Princess responded to Davkas and said “Davkas Moonglade, you are my guest here in my Father’s castle and are welcome to come and go as you please. I wanted to personally thank you for saving my life and freeing me from the Dhag’arii prison. Without you to guide me and protecting me all this way back to my Father’s side I’m afraid the Kingdom owes you and your friends a great debt. Please let’s all eat together now and share our stories with my Father!”

So they all took a seat at the large table, Davkas sat with his friends, next to him sat Lizzy, and on his other side sat Taithmar, Vekao sat across the table next to the dwarves. They all began eating and drinking with gusto, it was Lizzy who began the story telling, she relished explaining how she had ‘acquired’ the artifact. Taithmar and Davkas were whispering things to each other, and to Lizzy’s amusement she noticed that they were lingering and leaning into each other on occasion.

Soon the King rose and raised his cup and then he spoke “I am a grateful man, and a very grateful father who now has his only child next to him.” He paused briefly and looked down at his daughter seated next to him there. Then he continued “Rest assured good friends neither I, nor my kingdom will ever forget what you have done for us. To the dwarves of Ironhold I salute you, and I promise to offer aid to your Kingdom in time of need.” Again he paused and took a long sip of his drink, the others followed suit. He then took up his toast again “Also to the four friends here, Davkas Moonglade, Lissidrinne Moonglade, Vekao Untter, and Taithmar Oldelm, my dear friend and eyes in the west, to you my friends I say thank you, for you will always be welcome in this house!” With that he ended his speech and everyone cheered and tipped their cups back and drank down their drinks until they were dry.

Soon they finished their meal and they all started filing out of the room, servants led them to their chambers so they could relax and refresh themselves. Taithmar presented the King with the Dhag’arii artifact for safe keeping deep within the vaults of the castle, but of course his mages would study it to determine if they could use it as a weapon themselves.

Additionally the King awarded each of them items of power and magic. To Davkas he gave a sword which was called, Goblin Bane, a sword which was used in battle by a great captain long ago. To Vekao was given a battle axe which was named Cleaver, it was once used by a long since departed King. To Taithmar the King gave a wand of fireballs, and to the dwarves the King presented them with a chest of gold to share with their King, and finally to Lizzy the King presented her with a magical ring of protection. Everyone was very grateful for what the king had awarded them with.

Lizzy and Davkas had rooms close to each other so they spent some more time together before they retired for the night, yet Lizzy couldn’t help herself and asked her Father a question. “Father during our feast with the King I couldn’t help but notice you and Taithmar. You both seemed to be enjoying each others company!” She said this all with a little smile on her face as she looked over at her Father, who now was sitting out on the balcony of his room.

Davkas turned to his daughter and replied “Well if you are asking, yes we seem to be a little attracted to on another, if you need to know.” He laughed a little and they both smiled and looked out towards the surrounding walls of the castle and the city walls beyond.

“You know it’s been a long time now since your mother died Lizzy, and I have been a little lonely. Taithmar seems like such a wonderful woman, so …” Davkas spoke softly not looking at Lizzy directly.

“So” Lizzy interrupted he father “So you might be hanging around Taithmar more now. Am I right Father?”

“Um, yes that’s kind of what I was trying to say.” Davkas replied a little sheepishly to his daughter Lizzy.

      Then they sighed there together, father and daughter, both dreaming of what might come for them in the future. Or what new danger they may have to face, but for now they were safe behind the walls of the castle, and the war was coming to a close …or was it?

The End