A Dwarf, A Wizard, and A Princess Walk Into A Tavern
The twelfth (and final) entry in my (personal) monthly fiction challenge
I’ll be honest: I’m not quite sure what this is yet. It functions as a loose prequel to The Quest for The Elder Tree, while at the same time intersecting with some characters that I’ve had lurking in my Google Drive for a couple of years now.
Dora, Farnatz, and Theodoric were my first real stab at writing a fantasy anything and what I ended up with was a hot mess, to be honest. My initial concept was: “What if it’s 1520 Europe, but there are elves and dwarves and magic and stuff?” And I was fully prepared to double down on that and go all in, but then I realized that to do that concept correctly, I was going to need to do a ton of research to get the details right. But then, I read the First Law Trilogy and found out that if you mucked up country names just a touch and didn’t provide a map, you could have a fantasy world flung together pretty quickly, so I decided to take that tack here.
Some of the names and references will probably be pretty obvious to even the most casual students of history and that’s fine- maybe even intentional on my part. I don’t know if these characters are on different quests or might wind up on the same quest, but I do know that this probably isn’t the last time I’m going to play around with them.
(The art this time, is nothing fancy— I messed around with Midjourney and asked it to give me roughly what Doramor Stormcleaver would look like. The images below are the result.)
I hope you all have as much fun reading this as I did writing it, so without further ado, I’m very happy to present, A Dwarf, A Wizard, and A Princess Walk Into A Tavern.
~~~
Doramor Stormcleaver reined in her horse and dismounted as she caught sight of their destination at the end of the road. It had been a long ride through the great city of Malantia, the greatest and most populous city in the known world.
“Finally,” Farnatz said, dismounting as well.
“That’s it?” Theodoric rumbled. “Doesn’t look like much.”
“Appearances can be deceiving,” Dora replied. She reached behind her and made sure her battleax was in place. She smoothed out her beard and made sure her purse was secure and then looked at the other two. “Ready?”
“If I must be,” sighed Farnatz, gripping his staff a little more tightly. “Do we really have to go in here?”
“You know this is the best place to find what we need.”
Their destination was a low-slung building perched on the edge of the water. There was no rhyme or reason to its architecture, as over the years, the original building had been added onto, demolished, burnt down a few times, and rebuilt all over again. A sign above its well-lit entrance creaked gently in the wind.
As they got closer, a couple of stable hands came running up. “You need stables for your horses?”
“Do you have room for them?” Dora asked.
“Of course we do,” the first stable hand bowed deeply. “Whatever you need.”
“For a nominal fee, I’m sure,” Farnatz said drily.
“Of course,” the second stable hand said. “Nothing is free here.”
Dora unhooked her purse and after digging around in it pulled out two coins and pressed them into their outstretched hands. Their eyes went wide as saucers.
“Are these… dwarfish silver?”
“Aye,” Dora replied. “Two silver marks. You take good care of our horses and there might be two more for you as well when we’re done.”
They both glanced at each other in awe. “It shall be as you say, ma’am.”
“It better be,” Dora growled. But she handed over the reins of her horse to the stablehand and Farnatz did as well. Theodoric hesitated. “My horse, you take care of it?”
“Yes, sir,” the second stablehand said.
“Be careful, he bite,” Theodoric warned, but he too handed the reins of his horse over. The stablehands led them away and the three of them were left staring at the entrance to the tavern. Dora set her shoulders. “All right, keep a tight grip on your coin, don’t start fights, and remember to duck.”
“Duck?” Theodoric asked, confused. “What is duck?”
“They throw things here,” Farnatz explained wearily. “It can get a bit… rowdy.”
“Glasses, chairs, tables, axes,” Dora said. “It’s fun.”
“You and I, Dora, have very different definitions of fun,” Farnatz replied, but he fell in behind Dora as they walked up to the entrance and stepped across the threshold.
~
From her perch in the far corner of the tavern, Shaleena watched the newcomers step through the entrance. The noise level dropped, as heads swiveled to eye up the newcomers and see who they were, but a dwarf, a ruffian, and a ragged-looking man in a brown robe were not deemed worthy of anyone’s attention so the noise level returned to its usual level of chaos almost immediately.
“Dora, you wench!” The tavern keeper, a vast mountain of a man called Andronikos bellowed a greeting to the newcomer who winced in recognition. “The last time you were here, you ran out on your tab!”
“Aye, after I found out you were watering down the mead, you swindler,” the dwarf, who, as Shaleena looked more closely at was, in fact, a female, bellowed back at him.
“You mean after that Botuk found out you were bedding his wife!” Andronikos passed off an empty tray to one of his serving girls and bustled back up to the newcomers, slapping Dora on the back and greeting her friends. As he did so, she saw the dwarf’s cloak shift a little bit and her eyes caught sight of the purse. She hadn’t seen a purse that full in days and-
Are you really going to do this again? This is how low you’ve sunk? You, a Princess of Cormant and-
“I will do what I must,” Shaleena whispered to herself. Cormant was months behind her now and it seemed like a lifetime ago. She had been so foolish, so naive to think that his journey would have been easy. Her father had insisted on sending two of his best knights with her and his Vizier, Dena had sent along the best of her spies. All were dead now: Ser Dertax had been thrown from his horse in the forest of Ghenta on the frontier between Burgovia and Gelemania. Dena’s spies had tried to sell her out to the Duke of Felgandy and Ser Bedevere, faithful, chaste, honorable Ser Bedevere had been anything but. His intentions had been made clear near the borders of Vascadora. Shaleena had escaped with her honor intact and Bedevere had received a knife in his belly for his troubles.
The following weeks had been the hardest of Shaleena’s life. She had spent too many nights hiding in bushes, and too many days with an empty belly. She had crept into Vascadora looking more like a drowned, bedraggled rat than a Princess. It was by sheer happenstance that a Cormanti wife of a Vascadoran merchant had recognized her in the market, swooped down on her, fed her, cleaned her up, and got her passage to Malantia but it had all been too good to be true. The money had run out, food was scarce, hunger gnawed at her belly and she was no closer to getting where she needed to go.
Andronikos was gesturing for the newcomers to sit at a nearby table and pulled a chair over to sit with them. He and Dora were chatting away, if not old friends, then certainly not enemies at the moment, as one could never be entirely too sure in this place. Shaleena glanced around the room, planning every move. The dwarf’s height would make it difficult to pull off, but that purse… it could be enough. If it was, then maybe she could find what she was looking for and get out of there.
At the very least, it meant she would be able to buy some food to eat.
Shaleena felt despair fill her. She was stuck here, no matter what. She didn’t have the money to book passage home to Cormant and even if she did, returning home empty-handed, facing her brothers and probably burying her father and the Blight still ravaging their Kingdom? There was no other choice. She was Shaleena din Tesatare, Princess Royal of the Kingdom of Cormant and she was going to save her people.
“I will do what I must,” she whispered. Then she pulled her hood up and hopped down from her perch.
~
“So,” Andronikos rumbled as he leaned back on his stool. “You still haven’t told me what you are doing back here, Dora? Did you miss The Emperor’s Cloak that much?”
Dora nodded in thanks as a serving girl set down a foaming mug of ale in front of her and placed two others in front of Theodoric and Farnatz before bustling away. She raised her tankard in salute before taking a long pull and grimacing in distaste. “Well, you still haven’t learned how to brew proper ale.”
“My ale tastes fine. It’s just not dwarfish.” Andronikos shrugged.
“I have question,” Theodoric interjected. “Why do you call this place The Emperor’s Cloak? I thought you had Sultans now.”
“We do,” Andronikos replied. “May he reign forever. It is an old story that goes back to when the Ozmani Cannons breached Stonehammer’s Wall. They say the last emperor of Malantium, Paleogous, cast off the purple and went to fight and die with his soldiers as one of them. After the battle was over and the Ozmanis had taken the city, they found his cloak snagged on a spear, blowing in the breeze right here where this tavern sits.”
“And his body was never found,” Dora added in a derisive sing-song tone.
“So, he’ll come again?” Theodoric said. “Like our Ancient King, Wulfgar The Savage?”
“Something like that,” Farnatz replied.
“But your dwarfish friend remains elusive as ever,” Andronikos said. “If you dance to music half as well as you dance around questions-” he left it hanging and Dora took another long pull from her tankard before answering him.
“Where’s the Elvish Quarter these days?”
Andronikos stiffened immediately. “No. Impossible. I will not-”
“Nikos, you know everything!” Dora protested. “It’s been nearly a century since the Ozmanis took over. They can’t have maintained their silence for this long.”
“You don’t understand, Dora,” Andronikos said. “Even if I could tell you for sure, you won’t find them unless they want to be found. Every year, the Sultan’s jaziriyahs, his tax collectors, go to the moon gate door in the Night Market of the Golden Horn on the appointed night, and there they receive the taxes from the Elvish Quarter. They keep to themselves now. They don’t trade with outlanders. Don’t talk to outlanders. If you go in there and you don’t speak Elvish or they think you are up to no good..” he shrugged, as if that explained everything.
“I would like to see them try to kill me,” Theodoric said.
“You don’t understand, big man,” Andronikos replied. “It is not death, necessarily, though plenty of people who have gone in without permission have never been heard from again. No, if you find a secret they don’t want you to have… they will take your mind.”
“Even better,” Theodoric raised his glass in salute. “My mother always said I was thick as two short planks anyway. Not much mind up here,” he tapped his head, “for them to take.”
“Ironically, that’s not the worst idea in the world,” Farnatz muttered. “But it does pose a problem, Dora. My High Elvish is shit.”
“If you don’t speak High Elvish, they won’t talk to you,” Andronikos said.
“But you know everything, Nikos,” Dora said, shifting slightly as someone passing by bumped into her. “You can find me someone who can speak High Elvish. And you can tell me when the Elvish Quarter is.”
“No. It’s impossible. The only place anyone knows is the moon gate door in the Night Market.”
“Nikos,” Dora said. “I know how big my tab is. You help us out...”
“This I’ve heard before,” Andronikos scoffed. “Show me the color of your money..”
Dora reached down for her purse and then froze. It was gone! Her entire purse had just vanished and she bit off a vicious dwarvish curse and shot to her feet.
“Dora, what?” Farnatz sounded confused.
“My purse,” Dora snarled. Turning to look around the room. Not there. “It’s gone. Someone just bumped into me and-” Not there. She turned again. “It’s gone and-” she saw a small hooded figure weaving in and around the tables headed towards the back of the tavern. “There! Thief!” She bellowed, leaping up onto the table, sending the tankard of ale flying and pointing. “Stop, thief!” The hooded figure froze for a moment, shot a glance backward, and began to run. With a vicious grin, Dora jumped down from the table and plunged after her.
The hooded figure had a head start on her, but Dora resembled an angry boulder going downhill at increasing speed. “You’ve got my purse, thief!” She roared as she dodged a waitress. She could hear Theodoric and Farnatz behind her but kept her eyes squarely on her quarry. Dora slammed into someone’s knees and, spitting out curses, went sprawling on top of them. There was a frantic collision of limbs and flesh and she heard angry cursing in what sounded like Filastani before she pried herself loose- just in time to see the thief crash through the swinging door that led to the kitchens. With another bellow, Dora followed.
The kitchens were a mad symphony of noise and chaos and the fleeing thief only added to it, causing dishes to be dropped, serving girls to flee with shrieks of terror, and the cook to bellow a stream of curse words at their passage into her domain. Then, through the kitchen, the thief crashed through another door and into the darkness of the storerooms beyond. Dora’s smile grew, as she realized that she was gaining on the thief, who had lost a step or two in the chaos of the kitchens.
“Run, little rabbit, run!” Dora roared. There might be a turn at the far end of the storerooms or maybe stairs into a cellar she didn’t know about, but with shelves lining either side of the narrow passageway, there would either be an exit or a dead end for the thief. Unfortunately, the thief must have realized that as well, because with a glance back, seeing that Dora was gaining on her, lowered their shoulder and drove it into a nearby shelf, causing it to rock and a bag and slip off the shelf and, quick as a flash, Dora slipped her ax out and slashed upward with it. The bag exploded into a white cloud of flour and Dora kept running.
Desperate now, the thief tried again and again, but Dora kept swinging her ax, smashing aside jars, crockery, blankets, anything, and soon enough, the thief ran out of the store room and had to stop and frantically scrabble with the latch of the heavy door at the far end of the storeroom and those few seconds were all Dora needed. As the thief figured out the latch and began to lift it to open the door, Dora flung herself at the thief, crashing into them and tumbling out into the alleyway beyond.
There was a blur of chaos as the thief and dwarf found themselves tangled together. Dora heard a grunt as her fist caught the thief in the side, but then she was sent reeling back at a sharp blow to her chest and then sprung apart.
“Give me my purse back, you scoundrel!” Dora bellowed. She started forward, intent on seizing the hooded figure by the scruff of the neck and dispensing justice herself, when, at a speed she hadn’t thought possible, the thief moved.
Suddenly, Dora found herself flat on her back staring at the sky, her dwarven helm ringing with the impact on the cobbles. Laying there dazed for half a second was all the thief needed to dart past her. Dora tried to grab the thief, but they were too quick, so with a groan, she rolled over and hauled herself to her feet, spitting out curses in dwarvish. She hated this festering chaotic nightmare of a city. She hated how easily her purse had been lifted. She hated thieves and most of all, because she was a dwarf and not a human or an elf with their ridiculously long legs, the one thing she hated more than anything in the world… was running.
Getting to her feet, still spitting out curses, straightening her helmet, and picking up her ax, she looked up and burst out laughing. For all their cleverness, the thief had been undone by pure chance and had run smack dab into Theodoric, who was holding the thief a couple of feet off the ground by the scruff of their shirt.
“This is your thief, no?” Theodoric asked.
“It surely is,” Dora replied with a wolfish grin as she strode over to him. “Well, rabbit, what do you have to say for yourself?”
The thief twisted and kicked at Theodoric, but it was futile. His grip did not slacken and the thief did not move and finally, the thief gave a scream of frustration and then:
“Taig’sleanra! Ekee! Gutta athuum, ud’raan kuu datto!”
Dora raised an eyebrow in surprise as a torrent of High Elvish, albeit with a slight accent that Dora couldn’t quite place came pouring out of the thief's mouth.
“Coranuu hakuu! Otuuk fe’saign!”
Dora turned her head and spat. “Enough, rabbit,” she growled. “My Elvish might be shit, but I know that one and I am no warg kisser.” She nodded to Theodoric. “Let’s find out who our rabbit is, shall we?”
Theodoric, not loosening his grip, lowered the struggling thief to the ground and Dora leaned up, slapping their flailing hand away, and jerked the hood that concealed their face backward. She spat out a curse of her own. “Gorbadorabad’s beard, it’s only a damn kid!”
~
As the dwarf warrior pulled her hood back, Shaleena leaned back slightly and spat, hoping to catch the dwarf squarely in the eyes, but with an evil laugh, the dwarf ducked away and her spit landed on the cobblestones of the alley instead. Shaleena kept cursing them: “Otuuk, fe’saign! Hakkuu!”
“Enough, rabbit,” the dwarf growled. “You’re no elf, so you can stop cursing like one.”
“Exa partak! Texiorro kibalinda!”
“Ah, now she speaks Tuskadi,” the giant chuckled. “And such language!”
“What did she say?” The dwarf asked, slapping her hands away again and patting her down. Shaleena tried twisting out of the giant’s grip, and the dwarf’s hands closed on the pocket where she had slipped the purse.
“Madrixi cartuxxo!”
“She talks about your mother, not… nicely.” The giant said.
The dwarf held up the purse to Shaleena’s face. “This is mine, rabbit. Not yours. Don’t you know it’s not nice to steal?”
Shaleena fell silent, cursing her ineptitude in her head. She should have waited until the dwarf had dulled her wits for a tankard or two more of ale. She should have been quicker. She should have–
“Ah, so the rabbit finally goes quiet,” the dwarf said. “You have a name, rabbit?”
Shaleena stared down the dwarf and deliberately and defiantly closed her mouth.
“Did you really expect her to talk, Dora?” The giant turned slightly, lifting her slightly as the worn and tired-looking man clad in simple brown robes climbed over the shattered remnants of the door. “Andronikos is probably going to want compensation for this, you know.”
“From me? I didn’t do anything,” Dora replied.
“There’s a trail of destruction from the common room, through the kitchen and the length of his storerooms, Dora,” the tired-looking man replied. “I think he’s going to notice.”
“Hang it all, Farnatz, it wasn’t me,” Dora shot back. “It was her.”
“What, all of it?” The tired-looking man- Farnatz asked.
“Well, well… she helped!” Dora pointed an accusatory finger at Shaleena.
“She’s just a kid, Dora,” Farnatz pointed out.
“A silent kid,” the giant gave her a quick shake and she glared up at him. “A silent, angry kid,” he rumbled with amusement.
“A silent, angry kid who can speak High Elvish fluently,” Dora pointed out.
“And curse like Tuskadi sailor,” the giant added.
“She speaks Elvish?” Farnatz sounded surprised.
“I don’t know if she can speak Elvish,” Dora replied. “But she knows all the curse words, that’s for sure. Called me a warg-kisser twice, amongst other things.”
“Interesting,” Farnatz noted.
“She’s got an accent though,” Dora narrowed her eyes and fixed Shaleena with another glare. “I can’t quite place it. How about it, rabbit? You want to tell us your name?”
Shaleena tightened her lips shut and shook her head.
Dora rolled her eyes. “Look, this show of defiance is all well and good, but I’ve got my purse back now and we can probably mollify Andronikos with some coinage. I'm sure he’s seen worse brawls, but you intrigue me now, rabbit. I want to know your name.”
Shaleena shook her head again.
“You know that we’re in Malantia,” Dora continued. “But, since you’ve still got all your fingers, I have to assume you’ve either been careful or clever with your thieving because you haven’t been caught yet. You know what thief takers get paid in Malantia, rabbit?” Shaleena still said nothing and the dwarf, Dora, continued: “They get paid shit. So even if they feel so inclined to throw you in the Sultan’s prisons or just chop your finger off right there in the street and be done with it, they’re more likely to try and sell you to double their pay. And you know what that means, rabbit? It means you’ll either get sold to some brigands, used, abused, get your throat cut and dumped in a ditch somewhere, or wind up in some Ozmani noble’s harem and-”
Shaleena could stand it no more. “I am Shaleena din Tesatare, Princess Royal of the Kingdom of Cormant and I will be no man’s whore, dwarf.”
~
There was a stunned silence as the three of them absorbed that declaration before Theodoric began to laugh. It started as a low rumble deep in his belly, but soon he was shaking with his booming laughter, shaking the self-proclaimed Princess as well, which only made her angrier. “You? A Princess? If you are Princess, then I am Kristina, Queen of Svardland!”
Farnatz chuckled at that and even Dora smiled.
“Put me down, you big, lumbering oaf,” Shaleena snarled. “And I will show you a Princess of Cormant can fight! I trace my lineage back to King Wallis the Conquerer and before that, the blood of the Warrior Queen herself runs in my veins!”
“You need to learn how to lie better, rabbit,” Dora said. “What would a Princess Royal of Cormant be doing in Malantia?”
“And never mind that,” Farnatz put in. “What would she be doing here at the most infamous tavern in the city?”
“My business is no concern of yours, whoever you are, you vagabond!” Shaleena snarled again, twisting in Theodoric’s grip with no success. “I answer to no one. I am-”
“Yes, yes, rabbit,” Dora interrupted her wearily. “You’re a Princess of Cormant.”
Farnatz frowned and tilted his head slightly. “You know, it would explain her accent.”
Dora nodded in agreement. “Aye, I think you might be right, Farnatz. Our rabbit might be telling the truth about the Cormant part of things. If you’re a Princess, rabbit, you’d best prove it. Name me your lineage.”
Shaleena, still twisting in Theodoric’s unmoving grip, spat contemptuously onto the ground. “I shall prove nothing, dwarf.”
“Rabbit,” Dora said, “You steal my purse, lead me on a merry- if short chase, cause a not inconsiderable amount of property damage and then try and tell us you’re not a thief, you’re the Princess Royal of Cormant itself. Forgive our skepticism, but what’s your business here?”
“My business is my own, dwarf.”
“All right, rabbit,” Dora replied. “Be like that. Come on, Theodoric, let’s go find a thief-taker.”
“Okay,” Theodoric rumbled. He turned and started walking down the alleyway towards the street, Shaleena twisting in his grip. Dora followed a step behind and Farnatz, after a moment or two followed behind her. They were almost to the end of the alleyway and just about onto the main street when Shaleena went limp in Theodoric’s grip and a quiet, defeated voice, said: “Wait.”
Theodoric stopped and turned. Dora leaned forward. “Well, rabbit? Do you have some proof for us?”
“The Blight has ravaged our land for years now. Every day that passes, more people die. My Kingdom will be the Kingdom of the dead if I do not succeed. My brothers are Prince Artan and Prince Artax. My father is King Lentan, the ninth of his name. He had no brothers and his only sister, Princess Mary died in the early years of The Blight. My mother was Princess Melinda of Burgovia before her marriage and her sister, Princess Beatrice was married to the Duke of Savoy-”
“Beatri- Princess Beatrice is your aunt?” Dora broke in.
Shaleena blinked in surprise. “Yes?”
“You’ve met her?”
“Of course,” Shaleena sounded even more confused now. “She would come and visit in summers if the weather was good and Burgovia wasn’t at war with Gelemania. She stopped when The Blight came.”
“Describe her for me,” Dora said.
“Dora, what-” Farnatz put in, sounding just as confused. Dora flung out a hand to silence him and kept her eyes fixed on Shaleena.
“She is a tall woman,” Shaleena began. “Nearly half a hand taller than the Duke, but I think he enjoys that. In her youth, she enjoyed archery and swordplay and claims that she bested the strongest knight in all of Burgovia once. Her hair is red and-”
“What color are her eyes?” Dora asked.
“Green,” Shaleena replied. “I don’t understand.”
“Put her down, Theodoric,” Dora said.
“You sure?” Theodoric asked in surprise.
“Yes,” Dora sighed. “I’m… fairly sure she’s telling the truth.”
“Fairly sure?” Farnatz sounded dubious.
“She’s not wrong, there’s is a Blight in Cormant and she has at least seen the Duchess of Savoy in person,” Dora said. “Tell me, rabbit, does your Aunt have any beauty marks on her fair skin?”
Now Shaleena was looking at Dora was curiosity. “Yes, she has a… mole. A small one on her neck.”
“Which side?” Dora asked.
“The right, just below her ear. She would touch it sometimes, usually when my Uncle was being particularly beastly to her, but… how did you know that?” Shaleena asked.
Dora smiled. “A dwarf never reveals her secrets.” Then, she bowed. “Your Highness, knowing the extent of the Great Library of Cormant, I would ask if your grasp of High Elvish is as good as I think it is.”
Shaleena shrugged. “I am… fluent, I think.” She shrugged, a slight smile playing across her face. “I’ve never actually met an elf to be told one way or the other.”
“There might be a way we can help each other,” Dora smiled.
The Night Market of the Golden Horn was one of many markets and bazaars that were scattered across the city of Malantia, the former capital of Great Malantium, now gone, swept aside by the Sultanate of Zahan a century before. The Ozmanis had come howling out of the mountains of Aratolia and been the hammer blow the aging, creaky empire had been unable to resist. Their cannons had reduced the famed Walls of Sylvaar Stonehammer, which had stood unbroken for over a thousand years and many had been fearful that the Ozmanis intended to raze the city to the ground.
But, money cured a lot of things, including whatever zealotry their sorcerers had tried to implement in the nascent Sultanate of Zahan. The First Sultan, Ozmani himself had taken a few heads in the process, but in the end, the message was received. The prosperity and power of Zahan depended on maintaining the centers of commerce and trade, and, after all, taxes paid to the old Empire were taxes that could now be paid to the Sultanate of Zahan.
As they reached the entrance to the market, Farnatz fell in beside Dora, keeping a sharp eye on Shaleena a few paces ahead. “Are you sure about this, Dora?” His voice was low, pitched for her ears alone. “We’re not even sure she is who she says she is.”
“Honestly,” Dora replied. “No, I’m not sure. But she needs something. We need something. For the moment, our interests coincide.”
“And what if they stop coinciding?” Farnatz asked.
“Then, things will get interesting.”
The noise of the market swelled as they passed through the open gates of the market and the opportunity for quiet conversation was lost. Every known language of the world was spoken here. The stalls were stuffed to the brim with silks from the Sa Empire, and carpets from Iskalan that were so delicate and beautiful that people paid just for the privilege of touching one. There were spices and fruits from places that people had never heard of. And somehow, the lanterns stayed lit without the aid of flame for the entire night.
But that was the power of the Night Elves of Malantium. For centuries, they were the Court Astrologers and advisers to the Emperors and Empresses of Malantium. Their magic was said- at one time, anyway, to be the strongest in the known world, protecting the armies of Great Malantium as the Empire reached its height.
When the Empire had fallen, their magic had failed. No one knew why, though many speculated and so, they had withdrawn from the world into silence. They were still in Malantia. They were still visible, here and there on the streets. But they kept to themselves now, maintaining their silence.
But Dora knew their secret.
They were taking their time reaching their destination as they had to assume they were being watched. By whom was an open question: The Night Elves, the Sultan’s secret police, spies from a dozen Kingdoms, it didn’t matter. So, they… browsed. Shaleena made a show of examining the tapestries in one stall. Dora examined the produce at another stall. Theodoric stopped to admire some axes. Farnatz engaged a wizard in a conversation that seemed to last forever, but a few coins exchanged hands and a couple of brightly colored pouches went into his pockets.
On and on they went, stall by stall, until finally, Shaleena stopped at a bookseller. Dora caught up with her after a moment. “The moon gate,” she said, quietly.
“Where?” Dora replied.
“Behind us, in between the spice merchant and the chaywalla.”
Dora glanced over. As promised, there it was. Round moon gate with a midnight blue door.
“Are you sure about this?” Shaleena asked.
Dora thought for a moment, but then said, “Yes. Andronikos deals straight with people. It’s how he’s stayed in business as long as he has.”
“All right. What’s the plan?”
“You go first,” Dora said. “I’ll follow and signal the others as well.” Shaleena nodded and then, after a moment, closed the book she was examining, slipped it back onto the table of the stall, and then crossed towards the moon gate. Dora glanced back and made eye contact, first with Farnatz and then Theodoric before casually making her way across to the moongate.
Shaleena was there already, hands running over the outer edges of the door, where a delicate, Elvish script was written. She was muttering to herself, trying to make it out and Dora was quite content to let her do so, glancing over her shoulder to make sure Farnatz and Theodoric were getting closer.
“Well?” Dora hissed.
Farnatz arrived, standing just behind Dora and looking around at the market, pointing up at the lamp. “Do we need a password or something?”
“Maybe we knock,” Theodoric said.
Shaleena giggled at that. “You know what? I think that’s exactly what we do.” And then, before anyone could stop her, she reached out and knocked on the door of the moon gate. Sound seemed to slow and the noise of the market around them faded into sluggish noise and then, suddenly, Elvish script began to appear on the door in front of them. Shaleena frowned at it for a long moment.
“What’s it say?” Farnatz asked. “I know the first word is ‘speak’.”
“It is,” Shaleena said. “But the noun is… ‘mellan’ and that’s..” she trailed off for a moment and gazed into nothingness. “It couldn’t be that easy, could it?” Then in a loud clear voice, she said: “Friend.”
With an audible click, the door opened ever-so-slightly. Shaleena and Dora exchanged a long glance before Dora shrugged. “Guess that means, “Come on in.”
“Guess so,” Shaleena said. She pushed the door open some more and stepped over the threshold, followed by Dora, Farnatz, and then Theodoric. They crowded into the dimly lit room and Shaleena waited until they were all safely inside before she gave the door a pull.
“Wait!” Farnatz suddenly shouted, but it was too late. The door shut and they were plunged into darkness.
“What is it?” Dora demanded.
“I just saw it, just as the door was closing,” Farnatz said. “There were no other doors. It was a windowless, exitless room.”
“A box?” Theodoric asked.
“Yes, a box and-”
There was a sudden lurch, a brief moment of dislocation and then, they were somewhere else.
~
It looked like every common room of every inn or roadside tavern she had ever seen. A tall, lithe-looking elf, young and beautiful was singing in Elvish on the stage at one end of the room. An old lady sat behind the bar. All the tables were full- of elves. The singer on stage trailed off, the music stopping and suddenly, every head in the place turned to look at them. Dora saw several hoods get pulled up and hair was quickly adjusted to conceal pointed ears, but it was too late.
Shaleena stepped forward, bowed deeply in the direction of the old lady behind the bar, and began to speak in High Elvish. There were some quiet gasps of surprise, but the old lady’s face was unreadable. Farnatz leaned down and put his mouth close to Dora’s ear. “None of it’s real. None of it.”
“I kind of figured that,” Dora whispered back.
The old lady was talking now, so both Dora and Farnatz fell silent and watched. She asked a few questions in Elvish, and Shaleena responded. There were a few more exchanges and then, after a long, pregnant pause, the old lady nodded her assent and Shaleena sighed in relief. Then, the old lady nodded behind her towards Dora. Shaleena began speaking in Elvish again, ready to serve as a translator, but the old lady held up a hand.
“It has been many years since a dwarf has come to us,” the old lady said, a note of distaste in her voice. “How can we… help you.”
“My friends and I have come a long way. We’re looking for someone.”
“Who?”
“Mereleena Starblessed.”
The silence that fell had an angry edge to it and every one of them felt it. The old lady held up a soothing hand, to the rest of the patrons in the common room before replying. “A dangerous name for you to say in a place like this. What makes you think she can be found here?”
“I know who has the Amulet of Naxos.”
Silence again- but this time, she could hear someone whisper: ‘mentira.’ Elvish for ‘liar.’ The old lady’s expression did not change. “I have never heard of this Amulet of which you speak.”
“I think you have,” Dora replied. Shaleena looked at her, uncertainly, but Dora nodded. “Tell her. Just like I told you too.”
“You sure?” Shaleena asked, nervously. “They sound… angry.”
“Just tell her,” Dora urged.
Shaleena stepped forward once again, bowed deeply to the old lady, and began to speak, exactly as Dora had told her to. When she was done, the old lady turned her gaze back to Dora for a long moment before snapping out one, short, terse sentence in Elvish. There was that feeling of a sudden lurch, a brief moment of dislocation and then, they were somewhere else.
~
It was a throne room, they saw that much immediately. But then, Dora glanced up and saw the stairs winding up and up to impossible heights, and there, at the very top of the tower, impossibly far away, you could see the stars. This was the Tower of the Moon, alone on its island on the Straits of Abraxos, perched between the eastern and western halves of the city. The old lady from the common room was sitting on a throne, looking down at them. She was wearing a sapphire blue robe and one of her hands rested on a book that was perched on the arm of her throne, her fingers drumming across its cover, impatiently.
“Was it something I said?” Dora asked, mildly.
“Speak, dwarf. How do you who has the Amulet of Naxos?”
“A kinsman of mine was taken there after they captured his ship,” Dora replied. “He described it to me and more besides. It would explain everything.”
The old lady considered that for a moment before nodding. “It would. But how do I know you can deliver what you promise, dwarf?” She sounded curious, now. “If you are lying to me, it will not go well for you.”
“No lie. But there’s a catch.”
“A catch?”
“We need your power to make this work. It’s the only way we can get into their treasure vault and get out in one piece.”
“I’m sorry,” Farnatz interrupted, sounding very confused. “Who are you?”
The old lady threw back her head and laughed and then, she stood, raising her hands to the sky and the air began to crackle and snap with power as she seemed to draw the very starlight out of the night sky itself. There was a blinding flash of white light and when their vision cleared, the old lady was gone. In her place was a tall, elven woman, with piercing violet eyes and a cascade of obsidian hair running down her back. “Your magic is strong, Wizard, but nothing is stronger than the power of our illusions. I am the one you came here to seek. I am Mereleena Starblessed, High Priestess and Queen of the Night Elves of Malantium. I want what those thieving knights and their bastard sorcerer stole from us so many years ago and once we have it, we will bow to no human ruler anymore.” She fixed her gaze on Dora again. “If you are telling the truth, dwarf, I will come. The Amulet of Naxos is worth the risk.”
“We have a ship-” Dora began.
“I need no ship,” Mereleena interrupted. “I will meet you on Naxos at the Temple of Starlight in one week, dwarf.”
Dora shifted uncomfortably, calculating in her head how fast it would take them to get there. It would be tight, but doable. Finally, she nodded. “Very well. One week.”
“Um, excuse me?” Shaleena stepped forward.
“Yes, child?” Mereleena answered.
“Is that-” she nodded towards the book, still balanced on the arm of the throne. “Is that the book I requested?”
“Oh,” Mereleena turned and picked it up. “It is,” she tossed it down to Shaleena who caught it easily. “It has been many years since any of my people have seen The Elder Tree, I only hope this book will speed you to your destination.”
Shaleena bowed deeply. “Thank you, your Majesty. The Kingdom of Cormant owes you a great debt.”
“We have heard of your great library even here,” Mereleena noted. “Perhaps, one day, I shall come and see it for myself.”
“That would honor me deeply, your majesty.” Shaleena bowed again and then, hesitantly. “I hate to ask this, Your Majesty, but… how am I to return this book to you? I know it must be precious beyond words-”
Mereleena smiled and then, she raised her hand, snapped her fingers, and- there was that feeling of a sudden lurch, a brief moment of dislocation and then, they were somewhere else.
~
They staggered momentarily as they regained their bearings and then, Theodoric bent over and was noisily sick on the cobblestones. They all turned to look at him and he straightened back up, wiped his mouth clean, and shrugged. “The magic, it makes me dizzy. Too dizzy as it turns out.”
“Back where we started from, I see,” Farnatz said, nodding down the street ahead of them. The Emeperor’s Cloak never really closed its doors and, in the early morning light, with the sun starting to peak its head over the horizon, people were emerging from the tavern, walking, running, staggering their way back to whatever homes they had.
“I wonder if they still have beer,” Theodoric said and started walking. Dora, Farnatz, and Shaleena fell in a few steps behind him. “Well, Princess,” Dora said. “Did you find what you were looking for?”
Shaleena clutched the book tightly to her chest and smiled. “I did.”
“You know, you probably could have just gone yourself,” Farnatz noted.
“Desperation and hunger have a way of making you doubt yourself,” Shaleena replied, quietly. “In hindsight, it seems obvious, but in the moment, when you have no money, no food, and are haunted by the possibility of failing not only in your quest but your father, your brothers, and your entire kingdom? Sometimes the obvious is hard to see.”
“True enough,” Farnatz replied.
Dora pulled out her purse and held it out to Shaleena. “Here, Princess. Take this.” They halted for a moment at the entrance to the tavern. She pulled another pouch from her belt, opened it, and after a moment, pulled out a long necklace that was silver and had a pendant of jade with the shape of a dragon carved into this. “Put this on,” she said.
Shaleena shook her head. “I can’t take your money and that’s a beautiful necklace I couldn’t possibly-”
“Princess, you’ve taken my money once already tonight,” Dora pointed out. “You’ll need it for the road and I have plenty I can get my hands on. The necklace keep concealed. When you go, cross the water and head for the northern gates. Ask for directions to the House of the Jade Dragon. When you get there, ask for Master Saigo and tell him I sent you and I’m cashing in that favor. He’ll know what it means. If he doesn’t believe you, show him the necklace.”
“But… why?” Shaleena looked confused. “I… stole your purse. I-”
Dora chuckled. “Princess, you helped get me a meeting with the Queen herself. I can’t tell you how much that helped our quest. It’s only fair that we give you some help for yours. If you’re to succeed in finding the cure for the Blight, you’ll need someone to teach you to fight and someone to watch your back. Master Saigo is the best for that.”
Farnatz sniffed the air. “That smells like… sweet buns.” He sniffed again. “And chay?”
“Thank you,” Shaleena said, softly.
“You’re welcome, rabbit,” Dora replied with a grin. “Now, let’s get some breakfast. I’m starving.”
And with that, the dwarf, the wizard, and the Princess, all walked into the tavern.