The Dragon's Eyes (8 page)

Behind us, Vivian screamed.

Edward

It may have been the cold that woke me, or the splitting headache. My
first response was to pull my blankets over me, but instead of soft covers, my
fingers found cold, wet stone. The gravity was slightly stronger than Duran’s.
Opening my eyes was painful, and it seemed my right eye was sticky with blood.
The room I was in was slightly blurred, but I could easily tell it was a cell.
The walls, floor, and ceiling were roughly cut dark red stone that was damp in
most areas and in front of me were bars, just slightly too narrow for me to
slip through. I was only wearing a loose, thin pair of light brown pants. I
felt around for nominal energy but the only energy to found was pulsing from
the walls too faintly to use; the stone must have been a type that absorbed
nominal energy. Even my stored supply was fading slowly. I slowly climbed to my
feet and pulled at the bars, but they didn’t bend nor break.

Instead, my efforts attracted the guard’s attention.
The guard was a small creature of no more than four feet tall, though his wide
width made him look even shorter. He was bipedal and had relatively the same
shape as sentient beings, like sago and humans, but his skin was rough and dark
brown. He wore a dark green tunic with light brown pants and curl-toed, dark
brown boots. On his short fingers were sharp black claws. His arms were long
for his body and his shoulders and neck were broad. His chin and nose were very
flat while his head was round. Behind thin, blue lips bent in a permanent snarl
were small, sharp, stained teeth. His eyes were beady and black, showing
suspicion and frustration. Slightly higher than on a sago or human were his
ears, which were long and slightly folded like a feline’s.

“What you doing, sago?” he inquired in his high
voice. He spoke broken Lilat, and I was so glad I bothered to learn it.
Unfortunately, he stopped about four feet in front of me, though his smell was
so ghastly I would have backed up involuntarily had he come closer.

“Sir goblin, will you please come closer. I have
something to tell you and my voice is broken with dryness,” I said in Lilat.
Lilat was a language with grammatical rules very similar to English and vocabulary
that sounded similar to Modo.  

He sneered even wider. “Foolish other-worlder. Me not
stupid as you thinks.”

Possibly because of their skin, goblins are highly
resistant to magical manipulation. Still, it was not impossible and with the
stone consuming my energy, reserving it would have been pointless.

“Perhaps not, but I have a secret. Unless you believe
I can hurt you, come closer so I can give you this secret and you can give it
to your boss for a reward.” As I said this, I used my remaining energy to
convince him. It was very difficult to get through to his simple thoughts, but
it helped that every goblin was essentially the same; every goblin wanted money
and their egos were easily preyed upon. The little creature looked very
confused, but as I pushed my power over him with urgency, he stumbled forward.

When I grabbed his arm he started to thrash and
scream in fear. “Let me go! Help!”

His arm flexed with his powerful muscles, but I held firm
as I searched his pockets for the keys. Goblins always had many pockets full of
various things. My search turned out sticks, bones, coins, moldy bread, a ruby,
a small plaque of wood, and a troll tooth. Finally I found the ring of four
keys. I set them aside, but didn’t release the goblin. I didn’t have enough
energy left to make him sleep, but I didn’t want to kill him. Fortunately,
before I had to do anything harmful, he passed out from fear and air. Goblins
were cave dwellers and sucking in enough air to scream was too much for him.

I let him slip to the ground and put the key in the
lock. I had to jerk the key several times but it was the right one, and soon
the lock unlatched. The bars scraped loudly on the ground as I escaped my cell.

The chamber was fairly large and dim with a heavy
wooden table against the opposite wall, on which was a loaf of bread, a red
fruit of some sort, and a large knife. To my absolute relief, my bag was lying
on the stool next to it and a quick check revealed that everything was intact.

There was a cell next to mine, and two perpendicular
to them. Across from that wall was the only door. All of the cells were empty
except the one beside mine, in which a man stood, watching me.

He looked like any sago except for his complexion. He
had short, dirty blond hair, cold blue eyes, and pale skin. I sniffed the bread
and it smelled fresh enough. I went over to the guy, keeping out of his reach,
broke the bread in the middle, and held out half. He took it slowly, then
backed away and started eating it.

“Do you speak Lilat?” I asked. Unlike Duran, Kahún
had many languages, but I only knew Lilat.

“I speak Tzoku,” he answered in Lilat.

Tzoku was the universal language, but the dialects
could be so different they sounded nothing alike. Every world had at least one
form of Tzoku. The fact that he knew what Tzoku was meant he either traveled
the worlds or was close to someone who did.

“What dialect?”

“Many, but I’m best at Sudo,” he said fluently in
Sudo.

That was suspicious. “How do you know Sudo? It’s a
Duran dialect. What’s your name?”

“Relax, I am not a traveler. My mother was sago and
she traveled many of the worlds. Did you kill him?” He indicated the goblin.

I looked at the dirty creature. “No. He’ll wake up
any time.”

“Let me out of here.”

I ignored him, went back to the table, and took the
knife. It had a horrible blade. No sword, no magic, and a sorry excuse for a
knife. I needed some clothes, but I was not likely to be able to buy some here,
or even find some to steal.

I looked back at the man, leaned against the table,
and ate the bread. Whenever my brother was in a mess, he would sit back, act
relaxed, gather information, and wait for a plan to come to him. “What are you
in here for?”

“I’m a smuggler. I was smuggling some documents, and
not even in their territory. The goblins attacked me and searched my shuttle. I
had some information on King Unis that they didn’t want reaching the
Underground.”

“So they sent you underground?”

“They figured a goblin wouldn’t care, and also, I
told them I hadn’t read it. I’ll tell you what it said if you let me out.”

“Not a chance. I don’t get wrapped up in politics if
I can help it.” I finished off the bread and started for the door. As I passed
him, he panicked.

“Wait! I have a photographic memory! I saw the maps!
I know how to get to the surface.” That made me stop. When I turned to him, he advanced
on the bars. “I know the traps in this place. I know ways around cave-ins.”

“I don’t need to get to the surface. Do you know where
the Stone of Iodus is?” I asked.

He frowned. “The Troll King’s Heart? It’s not exactly
something they put on a map.” I started to turn. “I know someone who would
know!”

I paused and considered him. His pants were caked in
dried blood and mud and his hair was matted a little. He was naturally wiry,
but not malnourished, so he couldn’t have been in that cell for more than a few
weeks. His desperation to get out made it difficult to tell by the look in his
eyes if he was telling the truth or not. “Why should I trust you?”

“Would you really leave me here? I know the way,” he
begged. I sighed, picked up the key, and unlocked the man’s cell. “Thank you,”
he said as he stepped out. “I am Cylo.”

“I’m Kiro. Let’s go.” I went to the door, turned the
knob, and pushed.

“Quiet,” Cylo warned. “We’re in goblin territory.
Great hearing and terrible personality.”

He stepped out in front of me into the stone hall.
There was a torch every twenty or so feet. After looking around for a few
seconds, he turned to the left and motioned for me to follow, and we hurried
down the hall as quietly as we could.

After only about ten minutes, we came to a corner.
Cylo moved without hesitation but I grabbed his arm to stop him, earning a
curious stare. “Two goblins are coming,” I whispered. He couldn’t hear them,
but I had much better hearing.

“We can double back and go through the second turn
off.”

“No time. Are you good at fighting?”

“I can handle myself. I get the short one because you
have the knife,” he bargained.

I nodded. We only had to wait a few minutes before
they came around the corner. The short one was identical to the goblin guard,
and I had faith that Cylo could at least keep him out of my way. The larger one
looked much more like a threat; he sported more muscle than fat and instead of
raggedy cloth, he wore chainmail.

*          *          *

“So, what were you locked up for?” Cylo asked. I had
to tell him to be quiet again. “No one will hear us; everyone is asleep now.”

“I want them to stay asleep.”

“And I want to know I am not helping a murderer,” he
insisted.

The man had been helpful in the battle against two
goblins, but his mouth was going to draw many of them right to us. I sighed.
“You are hardly being helpful. I am searching for something.”

“And they threw you in jail because they did not want
it found?”

“I am from Duran and the people of Kahún dislike us.
However, deep in the heart of these mines is the Stone of Iodus. I need it to
find someone who can help me.”

“You are going to summon a demon to help you? I think
I should have stayed in the cell,” he said.

I nodded. “You should have. Go quick, there is still time
to get back.”

But he still followed me. I did not blame him because
we were currently creeping through tunnels which were completely black and
partial to collapsing. These were the abandoned trade tunnels; built to trade
jewels and food between cities. I was most worried about the rumor that the
tunnels were abandoned not because the poor structure, but because the shadows
kept eating the traders.

Finally, we found light seeping in through a
partially collapsed doorway. We were just able to squeeze through, but had to
step back into the shadows when we saw the sleeping guard. While it was
probably not currently guarding, I didn’t want to be seen as a threat, because
this was not a goblin guard.

“What is that thing?” Cylo asked loudly.

I instinctively tried to do a silencing spell on him,
but there was no energy to use. No magic. And yet, I was facing a creature I
would fear battling if I were at full capacity. A creature that should not
exist.

The beast was about twice the girth of a man and
nearly as tall if it were standing on four legs. It had the head, wings, and
talons of an Earth eagle, and the body of a majestic lion. It was a griffin; a
beast extinct on Earth and never meant to be anywhere else. Tiamat had created
it as a companion to those in power, but found them to be more trouble than
they were worth. In fact, she made them too perfect. Like the shark, they were
the perfect predator, or guard, as they were. They had to be exterminated. But
here I was, staring right at the magical beast.

Something was wrong… very, very wrong.

The room we found ourselves in was a library, which I
would have loved to explore in a different situation, but that was not a wise
plan. I nudged Cylo to the door and we left silently. Outside were halls, lit
well with torches. That was not to our advantage, as this was goblin territory.
While we could see, we could be seen.

“Where are we going?” I asked. “You are leading me to
the person who knows where the stone is, right?”

“Yes. I have a friend who knows the location of every
historical treasure, especially magical artifacts like that. She’s in a small
village right outside the king’s city. What was that creature?”

“Above ground?” I asked, ignoring his question.

“Yes. Most people do not like living in the dirty
caverns,” he insisted.

I had to contemplate how long it would take to make
it to the surface, track her down, get back into the under cities, and find the
stone. I didn’t have that much time left.

“You didn’t think the Troll King’s Heart is
underground, did you?” he finally asked.

I looked at him. “The trolls live underground, why
wouldn’t the stone be there?”

He laughed. “The troll king does not live
underground. Since you know nothing of this world, I should probably inform you
that the troll king has demon guards. You will not take the power source
easily.”

“Just get me to the person who knows where the stone
is and I will take the rest of the journey alone.”

“No,” he said. “I will help you get to him and defeat
him, but I need something from the troll king myself.”

“And what would that be?” I asked. “Trying to raise
your own demons?”

“I want to get back something they took from me.
Something very important.”

*          *          *

Cylo turned out to be very useful after all; he knew
a way to the surface without having to pass the goblins. It meant taking some
bad tunnels, unfortunately. While Cylo talked unnecessarily and relentlessly, I
tried to tune him out. Dylan liked to talk a lot, but he usually had something
clever or humorous if not helpful to say.

I wondered where Dylan was, what he was doing. He
would know by now that I was missing, but at least I could trust Divina to take
care of him. When Rasik came to me for help, I wanted to run back to Dylan and
make sure he was okay… But Dylan really didn’t need me. He was an adult now, in
a relationship with a goddess. He tried to hide it from me, but I knew he
discovered some magic on his own, magic far beyond the skill of any other
Guardian. It was time to let him go. There is a line between aiding and holding
him back and I was starting to cross it.