we even trust Jon Gray? Should we just take the thing ourselves, throw it into the Maw, and be done with it once and for all?”
“That was my idea,” said the First Rider. “We know that anyone who wants it, be it Jon Gray, the reptile folk, or the manipulators whose identify we do not know, are not aligned with us.”
“I do not think Jon Gray wishes us harm,” said Odellius. “I know that I only tussled with him in the ring, but the boy seems true-hearted to me and what I’ve heard of the Gray Lord is all good.”
“You fought him in the ring?” said the high priest with a smile, “a seven foot boy against a seven hundred pound man, an interesting image.”
“Seven hundred? That hurts,” said Odellius his lips turned down in a frown and even the First Rider laughed aloud.
“He impressed you in the fight then,” said a smiling Vipsanius as he took a bite of his pie.
“The first round was easy enough,” said Odellius, as he leaned back in his chair the stout wooden legs creaked loudly, “I got in close and tumbled him as quickly a girl on her wedding night.”
“And the second?” said the high priest who leaned forward, his fork hung in midair and his mouth partially open.
“Ah, that was a tussle,” said Odellius. “The boy learned quick and stayed away from me. I dodged in close once, but he’s quick for his size and his stride is enormous, so he jumped back and I couldn’t catch him. He’s got a reach like a forest troll and kept whacking me with his stick from further than I could reach, and he’d a had me if he kept it up but the crowd started to give him whatfor and even some of the young Speed girls seemed to turn against him. Then he tossed his stick at me, grabbed me around the waist, and tried to spill me.”
Imprilius looked at Odellius for a moment his eyes blinking rapidly, “And how did that work out for him?”
Odellius nodded with a big grin on his face, “You haven’t heard the best of it yet. The boy got his arms around me; don’t say anything Imprilius,” noticing the high priest beginning to open his mouth to make a comment.
“Me?” said man in the robe and closed his mouth, opened his arms palms facing up, and smiled broadly.
“Gray lost his grip and went to a knee, so I put my weight onto him and the boy drove his shoulder into my belly and lifted me off the ground. I thought I was going over but managed to get in a good thwack with my practice sword behind his knee and he went straight down after that. I almost fell on him. That would have been the end of him for certain!” Odellius finished his voice almost rose to a shout and his face red as if he just finished the fight again.
“Off the ground?” said Vipsanius his mouth agape. “He actually lifted you?”
Odellius nodded.
“I was going over if I didn’t get in that lucky blow on his leg,” concluded the rotund warrior. “For me, the important thing is he didn’t beat me by staying away and tiring me out when he knew that was the way to victory. He came after me like a man, not a silly boy. That’s why I don’t think he’s lying about our mutual interests with the Gray Lord.”
First Rider Vipsanius nodded his head, “I’m willing to agree with that. High Priest Imprilius, Sir Odellius and I will stay here the night and head out first thing in the morning looking for those reptile priests. Do you have any trustworthy boys you can send out to scout for more patrols to join us?”
“Our stable lads are excellent horsemen,” said the high priest as he eyes flickered towards an attendant who stood in a nearby doorway. “I’ll instruct them to find men patrolling along the Mountains of the Orc and tell them to report to you anything they see of reptile priests. You’ll be heading south along the mountains so you should have news within two or three days at the most.”
“I hope that is soon enough,” said Odellius, “and I’d like to know more about this mysterious force that can coax a dragon to dream. That is our true enemy.”
“Agreed,” said the First Rider with a nod of his square head. He stood up, although this added little to his height, and smiled. “Imprilius, you’ve been an excellent host as always. Have our horses prepped for departure at dawn tomorrow and you have my permission to let chef stock Odellius’s saddle bags.”
“Why Vipsanius,” said Odellius. “I was beginning to think you didn’t love me anymore,” he continued with a huge grin and then grabbed the decanter of wine that sat nearby and poured himself a brimming glass. “Perhaps one more before bed to help me sleep.”
The First Rider shook his head but Imprilius nodded his own and motioned for Odellius to fill his glass. “It is many hours until morning and wine helps the digestion. You don’t mind if I stay with Odellius for a bit?” he said to the First Rider, “I’d like to hear how he’s doing in Black Dale as a mason. My nieces Shia and Rhia live there.”
“Of course not, Imprilius,” said the First Rider with a little bow. “I, on the other hand, will turn in for the evening to contemplate these matters. You’ve both given me much to think about.”
“Good night, sir,” said Odellius with a raised glass.
“Don’t stay up too late thinking about things Vipsanius,” said the high priest bobbing his own head up and down. “You cannot do anything by thinking and you need your sleep.”
The First Rider said nothing, frowned, and walked slowly out the room.
“He thinks too much,” said the high priest once the leader of the knights was out of earshot.
“He didn’t used to be that way,” said Odellius. “He was a bubbly little fellow, always cooking up something or another, got that from his mother, a lovely Halfling woman; although what she saw in that hobgoblin husband of hers I’ll never know. I offered to marry her when I was a lad, finest cook in all of Elekargul. I remember the puff pastries, she made the bread so light, filled with honey and berries.”
“Since he became First Rider he’s given up a lot of that,” said Imprilius as he sipped lightly from his glass, a small frown on his face. “It’s a position of great responsibility. He worries about all the people in the nation. Their lives are his responsibility.”
“That’s why I’ve never tried for the honor,” said Odellius who, in contrast, took a great swig of wine some of it spilling out of the corner of his mouth and on to his jerkin. “We Buffaloriders are not suited for such positions of leadership. We’re much too frivolous.”
The high priest looked at Odellius for a moment and took another shallow sip of his wine, “You’d be a fine First Rider, Odellius, and it’s not that you couldn’t do the job, it’s that you don’t want to.”
“What’s the practical difference,” said the rotund warrior and poured himself another full cup of wine. “The end result is the same.”
“Times are changing my friend,” said the high priest leaning back in his chair. “This Staff of Sakatha is just the first of it, I think. There’s a great deal more going on in the world these days.”
“You’ve piqued my interest, Imprilius,” said Odellius and also sat back in his own chair that again squeaked in agony from the pressure. “Tell me what else is going on.”
“You wouldn’t believe some of the things I’ve spoken about with the orc priests from Relm,” said the high priest, “and some traveling monk warriors from just outside of Doria, Thilnog Monks they call themselves, live on the side of the Maw volcano.”
“No one lives there,” said Odellius. “I’ve heard it’s as tall as the moon and erupts as frequently as an drunkard visits the slit trench.”
The high priest shook his head, “Now that Vipsanius is gone please feel free to exercise that vile tongue of yours to your heart’s content,” he finished with a laugh.
“You know you love it,” said Odellius with a smile. “Those acolytes of yours probably bow and scrape, and any petitioners do the same. You and I rode together as boys before you took up the calling. A fine knight of Elekargul we lost when you took the robes. The world is worse off without you in in armor astride a charger.”
“That is kind of you to say Odellius,” said the high priest with a smile and continued, “but that is one of the things that the clerics of Relm, and Adas Jdar, and the Thilnog Monks are concerned about. The Gods. The future of the world.”
“Go on,” said Odellius, “although keep in mind that I’m not a religious sort of fellow. The Black Horse is fine for most but I prefer to put my trust in my lance.”
“Have you heard the name Shinamar, Shinamar the Loathsome?” asked the high priest his voice lowered almost to a whisper as he looked around the room for the sign of another presence.
Odellius looked around as well, his eyes half lowered as he returned his gaze to the high priest, “No, can’t say that I have,” he replied not quite in a whisper but in a lower than normal tone.
The high priest nodded his head, “You know that the entire world was once ruled by an emperor. He built the
