Chapter 7
The sound of dripping water was constant, a never ending noise in the back of his mind. Davkas was lying on his side, huddled in the corner of his cell; his mind was wandering back to more pleasant times between him and his family. His wife had been dead now for more than a dozen years, having taken ill when his daughter was just a teenager. Yet he remembered all the good times they shared together as family, fun times as his daughter was growing up, times of laughter, times full of excitement. But all that was in the past now, for now he was being held prisoner in a deep holding cell by the dark dwarves.
He awoke with a start, his eyes alone betraying that he had woken from a deep sleep, for the noise of his cell door banging open jerked him out of his sleep! He instantly was on guard, yet he didn’t move. “Let them think that I still slumber.” He thought to himself.
“On your feet sluggard!” shouted a guard at his feet.
Davkas sat up and yawned, “Oh is it morning already? I’m sorry but I couldn’t really tell seeing as it is dark in here all the time.” He replied in a cheery tone to the guard.
“Cut the wise cracks you stupid elf! The Captain wants to see you.” The guard growled to Davkas and then motioned that he should place his arms out in front of himself so that he could slap the manacles on his wrists.
Davkas slowly, with great effort, moved his arms into place where the dwarf wanted them, but as the dwarf went to place the manacles on his wrists, Davkas deftly grabbed them and in one swift move had them around the dwarf’s neck. The struggle began, but soon with Davkas pretty much riding the back of the dwarf, Davkas quickly had him on the ground gasping for his very life! It wasn’t long before the dwarf was motionless and Davkas knelt next to him and watched to see if he was still breathing, satisfied that he was truly dead, he slowly rose to his feet and then went and peered out into the dungeon hallway.
“Strange” Davkas thought to himself, it’s not like the Dhag’arii to only send one guard to his cell. But Davkas quickly shook his head and pushed the thought aside for now, his next thought was for the Princess. He made sure that there was no other guards around and quickly padded over to the cell that held Lunansa.
“Princess!” Davkas hissed through the cell door. “Are you there?”
“Yes I’m here!” came her quick reply. “What is it? What are you doing? It sounds as if you are right outside my cell door?” she added.
“Hsst!” Davkas whispered through the door, “Yes I am but keep your voice down, I am going to try and get you out.”
Davkas went back to his cell and quickly searched the guard and found the keys in his belt pouch, at the same time he also took the guard’s weapon, a mean looking mace. He then went back to the Princess’s cell and opened the lock as quietly as he could manage and swung wide her door. Looking inside he saw her huddled in the far corner of the room, dirty, hair in disarray and looking very gaunt and frightened. Yet when their eyes met she smiled up at him.
“Davkas! You were able to get free?” Lunansa said to him and started to get to her feet, but quickly fell back down with a grimace on her beautiful elven face.
“Yes Princess I was able to overpower the guard and escape, now we can flee this retched dungeon! Quickly now, but try and keep your voice down, more guards my come at any moment.” Davkas said to her as he reached his hand out for her to grab hold to.
Lunansa took his offered hand and smiled brightly at Davkas, and then they both scurried to the open cell door and peered around into the hallway of the dungeon. Seeing no dwarves they began creeping back up the hallway in the direction the guards would come from when they feed them or tormented them. Slowly they inched up the corridor, trying to keep to the shadows, which was fairly easy since there were very few torches burning here. Soon they found their way to a closed door at the end of the corridor they were walking in.
Lunansa looked at Davkas and said, “Well now what do we do?”
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Zhuerelm walked down the hallway in his home and turned the corner, he went to the panel on the wall and looked up and down the hallway swiftly, noted there were no servants or anyone else in the hallway, he deftly pressed the area that revealed the secret entry way. The door way quietly slide open and Zhuerelm quickly entered, as he did so the torches on the wall burst into life, having a mage on staff did come in handy after all! He moved slowly, but deliberately down the passage way, he turned the corner and went to the steps leading deep down under his home. The torches here too flared to life as he began his descent.
Zhuerelm quickly went down the stairs to the main room below, the room where he would be meeting with the dark dwarves. The Dhag’arii had setup a meeting with his agents and they were coming here tonight to meet with him, they wanted their artifact and he was suppose to supply it to them. Of course that was all before the piece was stolen by the thief, for now the artifact was missing and he wasn’t sure what to do.
The air next to him began to shimmer and soon his mage, the old wizard named Vitros, was standing in the room with him. Zhuerelm sighed with relief, for he felt better with the mage by his side.
“Everything is ready?” he asked the mage.
“Yes my lord, all is ready, I have cast the protective spells as you desired, and those should protect us if the dark dwarves try anything.” The mage spoke quietly back to Zhuerelm, but secretly he added “I hope so anyway.”
“Good, well I suppose all we do now is wait then for them to make their appearance, I just hope it is soon, it’s rather chilly down here.” Zhuerelm said back to his house wizard.
The mage nodded to his employer and they both began watching and waiting for the Dhag’arii to show themselves. The mage was fidgeting somewhat with his staff, and Zhuerelm began humming quietly to himself, trying to stay calm. They didn’t have long to wait for soon the air began to shimmer again and two dark figures materialized in front of them in the room.
“Greetings Zhuerelm, and to you also mage Vitros!” one of the figures exclaimed as their forms took shape. “We come from our King and bring his greetings to you.” The one to the right of Zhuerelm continued, obviously to the merchant and his mage, the royal Dhag’arii wizard Tin’ther.
“Greetings to you also, lord Tin’ther.” The merchant said in response. “I send your King It’tor greetings also. Please, what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”
The dark dwarf mage, Tin’ther to the right of the merchant looked to his cohort in the room with him, made a gesture and said, “You should know by now what purpose our visit is for! We come for the artifact that was promised our King. We have the payment here with us. So please provide us with what we seek and we will be on our way. King It’tor is anxious to have this artifact back in our possession so that we can begin our domination of the Kingdom of Lijissa. ” The other dark dwarf, who was obviously a bodyguard, shifted his feet slightly, but kept his eyes locked on the merchant and his wizard. The merchant Zhuerelm and the mage Vitros noticed that he had a large pack in his possession which made them think that this was the one carrying their payment.
Zhuerelm glanced at his wizard and then back to the dark dwarf mage, he then shrugged slightly and said, “Well unfortunately I no longer possess the artifact, someone stole it from my home and I have yet to recover it. Yet even now I have my agents attempting to locate the thief and retrieve the artifact!”
The dark dwarf mage lifted his eye brows at the news, with a look of disgust he spoke a word to his guard and then focused on the merchant. “That is not good news, not good news indeed! You need to tell me about this thief, everything that you know. My king will not be pleased by this news, Zhuerelm; we had been counting on you to provide us with the artifact for it is very special to us.”
“Y-yes, yes I know” the merchant stuttered back at the dark dwarf, then quickly looked to his house wizard. “Perhaps, Vitros can explain the details of the theft to you?”
“Yes, well I will do my best. You see recently a young elven girl broke into our good home here and pilfered the artifact for which you seek, I tracked this girl down using my spells and we sent assassins to take her life and reclaim the artifact, but to no avail since she killed both of them so far. But I assure you Lord Tin’ther we will get the artifact back soon!” The mage responded and grasped his staff with both hands with a look of determination on his face.
The Dhag’arii mage listened in silence, obviously fuming silently, when the house wizard finished his story he nodded and said, “Well we have released our servants, the shadow serpents from the depths of our stronghold, they will help us track this little thief down and also help us recover what is rightfully ours! Soon this entire region will be under our control, and you Zhuerelm will be answering to our King as to why you allowed our property to be stolen from under your roof!”
With that the dwarven mage spoke a word of power then he and his bodyguard began to fade from sight, soon they were gone and the only ones left in the room were the merchant, Zhuerelm, and his wizard Vitros. They quickly looked at each other and exhaled audibly, for they both had been unconsciously holding their breath. Slowly they both walked back up the stairs to the secret entrance, they paused at the top of the stairs, and Zhuerelm looked at his friend the mage and said, “Perhaps we should continue our pursuit of this thief Lizzy and attempt to recover the artifact ourselves? I need you to take personal charge of finding her and getting the artifact back! In that way we will have a better position with the dark dwarves, I don’t want them to find it before we do, or else they will never give us what we deserve.” The mage smiled back at the merchant and nodded his understanding, both of them then passed through the hidden portal to the main house, with looks of determination and cruel smiles.