Chapter 5
Walking into the inn Vekao immediately began looking for the innkeeper; soon he spotted someone who he figured had to be the innkeeper and walked up to him.
“I’m looking for a young elven girl named Lizzy. She is supposed to be staying at this inn and she’s been expecting me.” Vekao says to Turley.
Turley eyed the minotaur standing in front of him, which wasn’t easy to do since he stood a full foot and a half taller than he did, yet he looked at him and said,” Well sir, if your name is Vekao then I believe she has been expecting you. But I’m afraid at the moment she is not here. If you’d like to wait for her I can prepare a fine meal for you?” Turley asked with a look of concern on his face.
Vekao smiled at Turley and said, “Sure why not? I have no where else I need to be, so I’ll just sit and wait for her to return. But why the long face?”
“Oh nothing really, it’s just that I’m a little concerned for Miss Lizzy’s safety. You see a man attacked her here in the inn just this morning!” Turley confessed to Vekao, for Turley liked to talk.
Vekao grunted at Turley, “Really? Just this morning? What happened?”
With that Turley sat Vekao down at one of the tables and spilled the whole story to him, right then and there. He didn’t get back up until Vekao’s stomach began to growl. When it did Turley hopped up from the table and rushed back to his kitchen to prepare some food.
So Turley began to work his magic, not literally, but magic none the less. He began by bringing a delicious vegetable stew and some fresh oven baked bread, after Vekao downed all of this he brought him roasted pheasant, smothered in mushroom gravy. Vekao couldn’t help but eat it all, he was stuffed, but he didn’t care!
“Master Turley that was an excellent meal!” Vekao told the innkeeper as he came to check on him later, and to offer some of his best ale. “Well hopefully Lizzy shows up soon before I fall asleep here at this table!” he snorted.
Turley laughed at Vekao and slapped him on his back, stinging his hand in the process. “Well yes I hope she does too. Can I get you anything else?” Turley asked
“No, I’ll just sit here and sip on this fine ale. Thank you for your hospitality.” Vekao said to the innkeeper.
At that moment Lizzy came hurriedly into the inn and quickly looked out the window to the street. Breathing a sigh of relief, she looked over and saw Turley and Vekao staring at her with looks of concern on their faces.
“Vekao! You made it!” exclaimed Lizzy as she came running across the room. She threw her arms around Vekao and gave him an enormous hug as he was still seated at the table. He quickly stood up, with Lizzy still dangling from his broad neck.
“Lizzy, what’s wrong? You seemed worried when you came through the door a second ago.” Vekao said to her despite her clinging to him.
“Oh, well sorry Vekao.” Lizzy said as she released her hold on Vekao and dropped to the floor. “I thought that I was being followed, so that’s why I ducked in the door the way I did. But when I glanced back out the window, I didn’t spot anyone. It was very disheartening and I am afraid that Zhuerelm may be sending more assassins my way soon!”
Turley looked at Lizzy sideways and said, “Now wait just a minute there Miss Lizzy. I don’t need anymore of those types coming creeping around my inn. I will get a bad reputation from all of this!”
Lizzy looked at Turley and smiled her most disarming smile she could muster at the moment. “Master Turley I don’t intend to stick around long enough for that to happen. Now that Vekao is here to help, I hope to be moving on soon.” She said to him, and then looked over to Vekao. “I have something setup so that I can hopefully get these assassins off my back, at least for awhile. Perhaps we should retreat to my room so we can discuss what I have in mind?”
“Miss Lizzy, are you sure you don’t want me to go and talk with the guard? I can explain to them what is happening and hopefully they can get to the bottom of this!” Turley said to Lizzy.
“No, no thank you Master Turley, I would rather handle this myself please. But thank you for your kind offer.” Lizzy responded back and then quickly thought to herself, “That’s exactly what I don’t need to happen!”
Lizzy and Vekao excused themselves and went down the hall to Lizzy’s room. Lizzy shut and locked the door behind here and went to sit on the bed, she motioned for Vekao to sit next to her. He shook his massive head and declined, deciding to stand instead, knowing instinctively that if he had sat on the bed he would have broken it for sure.
Lizzy started the conversation by saying, “So did you want to see it?”
“It?” Vekao responded.
“The ‘item’ I took from the merchant, Vekao! You haven’t forgotten already!” Lizzy chided her friend with a smile.
“Oh that, yes sure, I guess you should show me what you have risked your life for Lizzy! You know how I feel about your chosen life style.” Vekao said back to Lizzy with a serious look on his face.
“Oh don’t be so glum!” Lizzy exclaimed back at him as she jumped up off the bed and dashed over to her hiding place to pry the board up. Soon she had the work of art in hand and was practically skipping back to where Vekao was standing, arms crossed over his massive chest.
“Well this is it!” Lizzy said to Vekao as she uncovered her prize and held it out to him.
Vekao took the unusual piece from Lizzy and studied it for a few minutes, turning it this way and that way in the fading light. Soon his eyes widened and he looked over at Lizzy who was again sitting on the edge of her bed.
“Lizzy I think I know what this is!” he said to her as he came over to stand next to her with the statue in his shaking hands. “It is a very ancient artifact that can be used to summon a very powerful earth elemental. I remember seeing it used back during the war, about the same time that I met your father. The dark dwarves used it against us and our wizards talked about it often. No wonder Zhuerelm wants it back so badly!”
Lizzy was so excited! “So it was magical after all!” she thought quickly to herself. “Then I should be able to get a lot of money for this!” she exclaimed to Vekao as she grabbed it back from him and held it up before her.
“Now wait a minute Lizzy! Vekao said grabbing it back from her. “This thing is very dangerous and we need to get rid of it in a hurry. So get the idea of fame and fortune out of your head!” he nearly shouted at her. Then he added more softly, ”Oh and we should probably keep it down too. Don’t want the whole world to know we have this thing.”
Lizzy smiled up at Vekao and nodded her understanding. She stood up and quickly took the artifact from Vekao’s hands and wrapped it and placed it back in the hiding place. She then turned back to Vekao and said, “well did you want to hear my plan or not?” half mockingly.
Vekao smiled down at her and stated, “sure, sure let’s hear it little one. What great plan do you have in mind?”
“Ok now that I have your attention. I have already contacted my local fence, her name is Taithmar, and is well known in the city. She has agreed to look at the piece and to take it off my hands if she thinks she can move it. Which I have no doubts in my mind now that she will immediately do so! Being that this is such a marvelous artifact and all!” Lizzy smiled and threw her arms around Vekao to give him a big hug, which was rather hard to do considering his size and all.
“Lizzy is that you big plan?” Vekao asked her with a look of concern on his face.
“Yes what’s wrong with it? I thought it was an excellent plan, one that would rid me of this piece and reward me greatly.” Lizzy explained to Vekao with a big smile on her face.
“Well first off this piece may be too hot to handle here in this city, seeing as this is the same city you ‘acquired’ it from. Second, your fence might be frightened off once she see’s that the piece is a very powerful artifact. We should probably take it to the King and see if he would want it, most likely he would give us some sort of reward.” Vekao spoke to Lizzy in his fatherly voice.
Now Lizzy was confused. She couldn’t believe that her wonderful plan was coming apart so easily. But Vekao was right. There was no way for her to dispose of the artifact here in Koth, she needed to get out of the city and make their way to see the King. She had to think…
Vekao saw the look of concern on Lizzy’s face and quietly said to her, “Well it’s not the end of the world Lizzy, we can think of a way out of this mess. Perhaps we can catch a ship and sail around the coast towards the King’s castle, or just find someplace to hide for awhile. What do you think Lizzy?”
“What do I think” Lizzy stared at Vekao. “What do I think” She repeated herself, this time with some heat behind it. “I think that I have gotten myself in a lot of trouble and now I may not be able to profit by it at all. The very thing I was hoping for, a great and marvelous item to fence, is just that, only TOO marvelous and TOO great.” She groaned and then fell over onto her bed with tears beginning to stream down her eyes.
“Crying” now there’s something you haven’t done in awhile Lizzy scolded herself. For crying was not one of her habits, yet here she was falling apart and crying! How embarrassing!
“Lizzy, now cut that out!” Vekao told her. “We can think of something that will work, just give me a couple of minutes to think. First we need to distance ourselves from Koth and the assassins this merchant Zhuerelm keeps sending your way. Second we will need to figure out a way to make it to see the King. I have some connections that might help, so we’ll start there. But let’s head down to the docks and see what ships are leaving the quickest. Then we can decide from there where to begin. I’d suggest that you cancel your visit with your fence though, it may not turn out as well as you had planned.”
“Ok Uncle if you think that is best.” Lizzy said from her bed. So she got up and quickly straightened herself, wiped any tears from her face and headed towards the door.
“Whoa there now wait a minute Lizzy!” Vekao called out from behind her, and then caught Lizzy by the arm. “I didn’t mean we have to go tonight! We should get some sleep and head out first thing in the morning.”
“Oh, well OK if you say so.” Lizzy said to him, and then went back over to sit on the bed. “Hopefully there wasn’t another assassin skulking after me like I thought when I came in awhile ago, because if there was, then we will be in some trouble tonight I’m sure!”
“Well then we should setup a watch then I suppose” Vekao said to her. “I’ll take first watch, and then I will wake you after a few hours. Try to get some rest until then.”
The night came and went without any strange happenings, well not completely, at some point during his watch Vekao had heard what he thought was flapping wings, but he quickly dismissed this as being too jumpy. Lizzy yawned and went over to wake up the sleeping Vekao, shaking him awake. Vekao woke with a start, and grabbed Lizzy by the arm. She winced in pain and shouted out, ”Vekao let go it’s just me!”
Vekao instantly realizing that he had Lizzy’s arm in his huge hand let her go and said, “Sorry Lizzy, I just reacted without thinking, nerves I guess.”
Lizzy looked at her friend and winked, rubbing her arm in the process. “That’s OK Vekao, I understand. I probably should have made some noise before I got too close to you in your sleep.” Lizzy said to him and smiled.
Vekao smiled back and got up from the floor where he had been sleeping. He stretched and yawned, rubbed his back and said, “Well we should get going quickly this morning Lizzy, not bother staying and eating breakfast in the inn. Maybe we could get Master Turley to fix us something for the road?”
“That sounds good to me.” Lizzy stated as she began to move about the room gathering her things, taking care to pack them carefully. She waited until the last to go and pry the board up in the floor and remove the artifact, still wrapped in the rags, she went and placed it gingerly inside her pack. Then she looked at Vekao expectantly.
Vekao grabbed his pack up off the floor and flung it over his shoulder, he grabbed his battleaxe and slung it on also, he was ready. They both walked out the door quietly, for it was still before sun-up, and they walked down to the kitchen of the inn, there they found Master Turley already slaving away over the morning breakfast.
“Good morn to you two!” Turley all but shouted at them as they came in the room.
“Good morn to you Master Turley.” Lizzy said a bit more quietly, while Vekao just nodded his direction. “We are taking off this morning good sir and I would like to settle my debt, and to ask if we could have some rations for the road.” Lizzy added.
“Sure Lizzy, here I can put something together for you to take. And just leave a couple of gold coins over there”, Turley points to a small wooden box in the corner, “that will do for now.”
So Turley assembled a package for them to take on their journey, some cheese, dried meats, meat pies, fruits and other items, wrapped it all up for them and sent them on their way with good wishes, telling them both to come back soon, yet as they walked out the back door and headed on their way down the alley, Turley shakes his head and wonders to himself if he will ever see the lovely Lizzy or her large minotaur friend again.
Chapter 6
Davkas was sick and not getting any better. His stomach was flipping and flopping so much he thought that it would soon do a flip right out of his body. Life in captivity didn’t agree with the old elf, he was used to life outside in the open air, elves weren’t meant to live underground he thought to himself.
How long had it been? He was starting to lose track of time he had been held in the dungeons for so long. That was disturbing him to no end; he had to maintain his grip on the here and now if he had any hope of escape.
“Escape” he thought to himself. That light was beginning to grow dim in the back of his mind; he had been placed here over a year ago by the dark dwarves when he was caught spying for his King. But now, here he was stuck in this cell, being feed scrapes and barely enough of those to keep his strength up. What he couldn’t figure out was why they were holding him in the first place? Why wasn’t he dead?
It seemed like a century ago now, but it was only last year. The King had heard rumors of the goblins and dark dwarves stirring up again along his borders, so he had asked Davkas to go investigate for him. Davkas had been creeping along the border when he was surrounded by them, he thought about fighting his way through, but knew instinctively that it would be useless to do so; he then threw his weapon down and surrendered.
Most of the day Davkas spent trying to stretch his muscles in the cramped, dark cell. He also spent a lot of time thinking about his daughter Lizzy and how much he missed her. He hoped that she was doing OK, he knew the type of life style she had chosen and wasn’t very happy about it, he would have preferred that she had followed in his footsteps as a scout for the King or something similar.
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard noises in the corridor outside his cell room door; it was too early for feeding time he knew, so this was not ordinary. He quickly tensed up and decided that if they had come for him he wasn’t going to go quietly, he stood by the cell door listening. Soon he heard the gruff voices of dark dwarves, then he heard a cell door being opened close by, then a muffled squeal sounding to him that it was a female being shuffled into an adjacent cell close by. His curiosity was getting to him; he had to find out who this was that they were bringing down next to him. He waited patiently until he heard the door slam shut and then the sounds of the dwarves walking noisily away back down the corridor.
“Hello?” he said quietly through the slit in his cell door. “Are you OK?”
At first he heard nothing, and then he heard the almost silent sobs of a woman. “I’m not sure, I’m not sure where I am or why I am here.” He heard the female voice say.
“Well I can help on the first part, but as to why you are here that I wouldn’t know. You are in a deep holding cell of the Dhag’arii, the dark dwarves, we are along the border to the kingdom of Lijissa. My name is Davkas, I was captured almost a year ago when I was sent here by the King to spy out this area.” Davkas said to the voice.
He heard a small gasp from the woman, and then heard her say, “Lijissa? My name is Lunansa, Princess of Lijissa. I remember you Davkas from my Father’s court. You were considered captured and killed a long time ago, Father had given up hope ever hearing from you!”
Davkas couldn’t believe what he was hearing! The Princess here? His mind was reeling, think Davkas, think! “Princess! What happened?” was all he managed to croak out of his mouth.
“I’m not exactly sure myself, but I will explain as best as I can. I was outside the castle walls enjoying the day, the sun was up and bright, I was feeling very good about the day. But then the area I was walking in turned dark and cold, like a shadow fell over it, but it was more than a shadow. Then I simply don’t remember much of anything else, until I woke up here just moments ago!” Lunansa replied to Davkas.
“That sounds like they used some sort of dark magic on you my Princess.” Davkas responds back to her through the cell door.
“Yes that is what I assumed also.” Lunansa said back to him. “Well I hope that you have a plan then for my rescue.” She added, with a smile and a little laugh. “For I’m sure that I don’t want to stay here for very long!”
“Well you are probably right about that, I certainly don’t want to stay here any longer than I have to either. Although there haven’t been many opportunities to escape from this pit!” Davkas added. “I once tried, and was soon recaptured, beaten and returned to my cell. Since then they have kept a more watchful eye on me I’m afraid. But of course I will help when I can my Princess.”
“Of course I will help when I can my Princess!” a gruff mocking voice called back to Davkas from the darkened corridor.
It was Or'acke the guard captain, who had slinked back down the corridor, listening in on their conversation. He was laughing now; Davkas and Lunansa heard the evil chuckling from the shadows of the corridor. His laughter grated at Davkas’s nerves, his hands twitched for they longed to grab the evil dwarf by the throat and throttle him then and there.
“I will be keeping my eye on you little elf, and you too Princess Lunansa, for you will bring us a very valuable ransom, very valuable indeed!” Or’acke called to them then started up his laughter once again. Both Davkas and Lunansa heard him walking away back down the corridor, both felt the frustration of their situation rise as bile up into their throat.
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As Vekao and Lizzy made their way across the city to the docks Lizzy couldn’t help but talk about the artifact.
“So you say the piece is magical Vekao?” Lizzy called over her should to the massive minotaur trailing her down the alley.
“Hush now about that out here Lizzy!” Vekao snaps at her in a harsh whisper. “We can’t be talking about that out in the open like this.” He added more gently.
“Oh! Well if you say so.” Is all Lizzy could think of as a reply. “Who does he think he is my father?” Lizzy thought to herself, then regretted the thought instantly, as she remembered that her Father had been missing for some time now.
They traveled in silence as they continued along the back alleys and side passages in the general direction of the docks. They soon began to hear the sounds of the dock workers, and the smell of the sea became strong. They both breathed a sigh of relief as they rounded the next corner and came within view of the docks. They hoped soon that they could find a vessel that was leaving that day and be on board, moving away from Koth and the vengeful merchant Zhuerelm.
“I feel we should look to the taverns to find what we need.” Lizzy said to Vekao over her shoulder as they trudged along the street, keeping their eyes and ears on the people and places up and down the busy dock street.
“That’s fine by me lead the way, my thirst is great right now and look forward to sipping a good ale or two.” Vekao replied back to Lizzy.
“Well I can’t promise how good it will be, but up ahead is a tavern I’ve been to a time or two.” Lizzy responded to the minotaur. She started off in the direction of the “Roaring Sea Lion” a very common drinking house that lined the streets of the docks. You could find a great number of sailors, ship captains, and general dock workers from time to time in it’s four walls, today Lizzy and Vekao only hoped to find one who would take them someplace away from the danger they faced within the city.
Vekao and Lizzy approached the “Roaring Sea Lion” and entered through the door, they quickly scanned the room for an empty table to sit at and soon found one to their liking in the far corner of the room. After they had seated themselves a barmaid approached them and asks them what they wanted. Lizzy and Vekao ordered some ale and the barmaid left to bring them their drinks.
Scanning the patrons in the room Lizzy quickly sucked in her breath, “Vekao I don’t believe it!” Lizzy hissed towards the minotaur. “Over there in the corner of the room is the fence I was telling you about meeting.” Lizzy nods toward the corner where Taithmar was sitting, apparently she hadn’t spotted them as yet.
“What?” Vekao says to her, and he slightly and cautiously turns his head in the direction she was indicating. “Oh I see, well what do you think she is doing here at this time of day? You weren’t supposed to meet her until later tonight?” Vekao says to Lizzy as he looks back to her.
At this point the barmaid returned with their order, took her coins and walked away to some other tables on the opposite side of the room. Lizzy and Vekao decided not to draw attention to themselves at this time and to watch the table where the Taithmar was sitting with a strange looking man in a brown robe.
“Yes you are correct, I made an agreement to meet with her later on today. I can’t imagine what would bring her down here at this time of day. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.” Lizzy said to her large friend as they continued to discreetly watch Taithmar’s table.
Soon it became apparent that whatever business she was conducting with the man it was coming to a close, quickly he rose and excused himself and left the tavern, it was then that Taithmar’s eyes wandered around the room and she noticed Lizzy. Taithmar got up from her table, while Lizzy let out a quiet moan, she walked straight over to where Lizzy and Vekao where sitting at their table and said, “Well Lizzy what are doing down here by the docks so early in the morning? Are we still meeting later on to discuss the ‘item’ you wished to show me?”
“Y-yes sure.” Lizzy stammered a little as she responded back to Taithmar. “Umm, well I’m showing my Uncle Vekao around the city and decided to stop here for a drink.” Lizzy managed to add.
“Oh good well then you won’t mind a little company then?” Taithmar said and indicted that she wanted to sit with them.
“Well sure we don’t mind at all!” Vekao responded back to her and pulled one of the chairs out for her to sit on. At the same time Lizzy kicked his leg underneath the table and gave him a sour look, which didn’t get past Taithmar as she set herself down in the offered chair. Soon the barmaid made her way over and took Taithmar’s order, went away back to the bar to fetch it and was soon sliding the drink, a local fruit drink, onto the table.
“It was a pleasure to see a familiar face here in this place Lizzy!” Taithmar said to her as she began sipping her drink.
“Yes, yes it is a pleasure, so might I ask what brings you down here so early in the morning Taithmar? Got some items to look at here?” Lizzy said with a slight wink, as she emphasized the word ‘items’.