nowbound

Part Seven - The Lifestone - A Dragon's Trinute

"Who are you manling? You are not one of the wizards? Are you one of their slaves?" The dragon's eyes opened and looked directly at Jodotha as the beast's head raised from its talloned claws.
"Oh mighty dragon," Jodotha bowed and scraped before the beast, not daring to retreat an inch, "You are the most magnificent of creatures. You are even more fair and fearsome than Respin-ak-Tarpis of Arentilla who is as nothing compared to you."
"Enough slave." The dragon spoke loudly but not angrily, "I need not your flattery. I want what is owed to me, I want the tribute."
"What is this tribute?" asked Jodotha almost immediately regretting it.
"Coins; Gold; Jewels" The dragon ran its claws through the pile of treasure.
"Such trinkets are not worthy of your magnificence" flattered Jodotha, "We have magic helms, glowing spheres and other such magic at our disposal. I am sure the wizards never brought such as that to lay at your feet."
"You talk too much, manling. Bring me the wizards and the tribute now." The dragon leaned closer to Jodotha so that the rogue could see his fear etched face in the wyrms huge, dark eyes.
"The wizards? Did they live in the tower on the cliff?"
"No, fool, they cam from far away, I know the tower is ruined and the magicless ones that dwell there now. Find me the wizards and order them to resume their tribute."
"Certainly, what name shall I say when I find them?" asked Jodotha.
"I am known as Fear and Death to those that cross or defy me" replied the dragon.
Jodotha bowed and scraped as he walked backwards to the corridor, where as soon as he felt he was out of sight of the beast he put the ring of quickness upon his finger and ran as fast as he could along the corridor.

"What is it?" asked Trimus as the out of breath rogue skidded to a halt ahead of him.
"Dragon, big one, called Fear and Death, wants the wizards to bring him tribute, gems and gold. The wizards came from far away don't know more than that."
"We are in no state to take on a dragon" Trimus mused, "We should complete our explorations of this complex them move on."
"But the treasure" Jodotha whined.
"What about the people on the cliff, the dragon may attack and eat them. We should destroy the wyrm to protect them." Ako pontificated getting a nod of agreement from Darkhawk.
"We should sleep on this decision, out of this lair." Cain suggested; an arrangement that gained everyone's agreement.

They returned to the summoning chamber and Trimus opened the door from a distance using his ring of telekinesis to protect them from the fierce heat that belched from the creature trapped within the summoning ring. The mage then cast a spell of dispel magic, he felt that the spell had to overcome some resistance before a ring of golden and silver fire flared up to the ceiling and the salamander vanished leaving the room suddenly cold.
Trimus examined the runes that had been etched into the floor around the circle. "They are runes of conjuration, summoning and protection. They would act as protection for the mage who summoned the creature. I don't know how long they have been here; if they are correctly drawn they can last forever." He looked around the room for anything that might give a clue to the whereabouts of the wizards that had summoned the salamander and had set the strange creatures that had attacked them but he found nothing. Frustrated, he put the magical helm upon his head, heedless of the dangers that represented. Nothing happened.
"I don't have the spells to challenge a dragon," Trimus said tucking the helm away, "We need to rest and formulate a plan, it may not even be possible to destroy a beast of such power."
"You are right" agreed Ako, "I have expended all of my healing spells and we are still wounded from our last encounters. Let us take what we have found back to the barbarians and see what comes from that."
"Let us not forget that we still have to question that soldier from the Iron Fist to question, finding the Phoenix and returning home should be our priority. Who knows what has been happening in our absence." Jodotha juggled a dagger as he spoke.
"Then it's agreed. We return to the surface, get a night's rest then decide what to do." Trimus summed up and got a nod of approval from everyone. "I have a spell I can cast to check that we have not missed anything on the way back." He cast a detect invisible spell and started to march briskly back to the entrance.

They reached the collapsed staircase without finding anything new. Trimus once more transformed himself into a snake and slinked his way up through the tumble of rocks to the surface. The others followed after all bar Jodotha suffering minor cuts and bruises when Ako dislodged a boulder as he tried to yank his pack free half way up the stair.
They emerged into the light with the barbarians standing in a circle with weapons drawn around a flustered looking Trimus.
"They weren't expecting a snake to emerge" the mage explained, "I think I have calmed them down now though."
"You surprised us" Grenden smiled warmly as the others looked askance at the mage. "Such magic is unusual and we have not seen anything like it before. Were you successful in your quest?"
"Yes we were," replied Darkhawk removing the glowing orb from his bag of holding. "Is this what you were looking for?"
A gasp of joy escaped the lips of the barbarian chieftain and his clan. "Indeed it is. Thank you so very much, we are grateful for what you have done. Please warm yourself by the fire and share our food once more and tell us of what you found."
All the barbarians crowded round to listen, even the younger children, who had hidden in the huts the first night Trimus and the others had arrived, came to hear the tale.
Jodotha told a gripping tale of the strange ice worms, the undead beast, the spirit of the old man, the spell casting strangers, the fire lizard and finally as the sun slipped down and darkness crept across the camp he described the lair of the white dragon.
"We have heard tales of the dragon before but it has not been seen in my lifetime." Grenden explained once Jodotha finished his tale. "The same is true of the wizards. As I told you before, a tower once stood here, the home of a great Lord and his many servants. He had wizards, more mighty even than Trimus, at his beck and call. Then the tower was struck down, the wizards were killed and the servants scattered. After that the dragon used to attack the village and claimed some of our beasts as well as some of the warriors."
"Now you deserve a reward for your actions. In our search for building materials we have accumulated a small collection of gems. We have little need for them; we have little contact with outsiders so we would like you to have them."
He handed to Darkhawk a leather pouch of gems, some of which looked as though they may have once been fitted to rings or goblets.
"Thank you Grenden. May we rest here this evening before we decide what to do next, whether we take on the might of the dragon or we carry on our search for the Phoenix so we can return once more to our home?"
"Of course you may, for as long as our clan lasts you will always be our honoured guests."

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