once more and immediately the aide reappeared from the hidden door.
“Summon the war master and my wizard,” ordered Chief Ramkalla without a glance up from the papers he now held in his hand. “Immediately with no delay. If you can manage this, I might let you live.”
“Oh, thank you master,” said the creature and bowed down so far his head touched the floor and his voice rose a couple of octaves. “I won’t let you down, chieftain, you can count on me.”
“Stop yammering and start following my orders!” shouted Ramkalla and suddenly looked up with fire in his eyes. “There is no time for this sort of simpering. You need to follow my orders quickly, immediately, and without question from here on out. The fate of our tribe rests in you doing this, do you understand?”
“Yes, master,” said the servant who bobbed his head up and down quickly. “I understand.”
“Then go right now and bring me the war master,” said Ramkalla as he stood up suddenly from behind his desk and walked to the other side of the room. Here he paused for a long moment, wheeled around, and then marched to the other side of the chamber, a process which continued for quite some time.
That is how the wizard and warlord of the tribe found him fifteen minutes later when they arrived in the chamber. The warlord was a tall creature with mottled white and black fur that looked vaguely like an upright hyena while the wizard was of the same species as the chieftain although somewhat taller, thinner, and with a strange bluish tint to his skin. Both men waited as the chieftain paced up and down in the chamber as they awaited his orders.
“Melwani, Samprokus,” he finally said as he came to a halt. “When the damned white dragon, the dragon child, and my brother interrogated those freeriders we captured did either of you overhear what they said.
Both men shook their heads but it was the warrior, Samprokus who spoke up, “Your brother did not allow us access, chieftain,” he said.
“I’m well aware of what my brother did and did not allow,” said Ramkalla, “What I asked was if either of you two showed any initiative and tried to find out the results of their conversation.”
The two looked at each for a moment and then the warrior spoke again, “I was unable to learn anything, chieftain. The white dragon did not want us involved and those creatures have superior hearing and sight as you well know. We did not want to risk being found out.”
“Likely enough you didn’t even try,” said Ramkalla with a dismissive wave of his hand, “but that is not of any importance whatsoever. Those damned freeriders are up in the mountains again and this time following reptiles. My brother was up to something and now that despicable Thantos is involved and so is Tenebrous. We must find out what this Staff of Sakatha can do that it is so important.”
“The Staff of Sakatha,” blurted out Melwani suddenly.
“Yes, you know of it?” said Ramkalla and suddenly turned on his wizard. “Why didn’t you say anything before?”
“This is the first I heard of it,” said the wizard with a bow. “It is a relic of the Old Empire and belongs to one of the great lords, Sakatha.”
“The Old Empire,” said the chieftain suddenly and smacked his fist into his palm. “That lying piece of undead waste. He said it was a fight between the Mistress of the Abyss and her sister. What does this staff do exactly?” he said to the wizard and moved over to stand directly in front of the man.
Melwani looked to the warrior, then back to Ramkalla, and managed to somehow keep from a shrug “It’s not easy to say exactly, chieftain.”
“Then say inexactly,” said Ramkalla just as the first little servant came into the room, a look of pained fear on his face. “What do you want?”
“The reptile men,” said the cringing little darkling as he tried to look anywhere in the room except at one of its occupants.
“What about them?” said the chieftain his eyes wide with fury, “why is getting a simple report from you so difficult?”
“I don’t…,” started the darkling but then, catching glimpse of the storm clouds that gathered in the eyes of the chieftain, switched in midsentence, “they came below ground just a few minutes ago but in the old mine shafts,” he finally said with a blurt.
“The old shafts,” said the chieftain his face scrunched up so much that his wrinkles appeared to multiply many times. “There’s nothing down there at all.”
There was silence in the room for a moment.
“Shall I tell Thantos?” said the servant as it cringed.
“Damn,” said the chieftain as looked up at the ceiling of the chamber. “It all has to happen at the same time, doesn’t it?”
No one said anything.
“Fine, tell Thantos and have a dozen or so men take him to the old mines,” said Ramkall with a long sigh. “Wizard, tell me everything you know about the staff.”
“It belonged to a great leader of the dragon children long ago, a creature named Sakatha. He worked with His August Magesty, the Great Emperor himself and rode a terrible dragon whose very pores exuded a toxic gas so poisonous that only the holder of the staff could ride the beast,” said the wizard.
“What else,” said Ramkall tapping on his large desk with rapidly moving fingers.
Just at that moment the cringing figure re-appeared, a look of abject misery on his face, “Master,” he said and dropped to his knees and placed his forehead on the ground. “I informed the ghoul and he goes to the old mines. I wonder if I should now inform Tenebrous of this?” he said as he pathetically wrung his hands together, his face still down on the floor.
“By the Dark Demon Lords I cannot take any more of this,” said the chieftain and slammed his fist into the table.
The little servant made a weak little grunt of a sound and kept his head glued to the floor.
“Yes, of course, tell Tenebrous, let’s get as my people involved in this thing as possible,” he stated and the creature on the floor immediately began to crawl backward and toward the door.
“The staff, damn you Melwani,” said the chieftain and turned back to the wizard as he moved to within a few inches of his face. “I don’t care about the history, I don’t care about Sakatha or this dragon; what powers does the staff have and why would the reptiles want it, why does Thantos want it, what does Tenebrous want, and what in the Nine Hells can the freeriders want with it?”
“It is a sovereign remedy against poison, I suspect,” said the wizard with a shrug of his shoulders. “It might have some power over dragons.”
“These are not facts but speculations,” said the chieftain as he spun around. “It’s pointless. We cannot betray or support one cause without risking the wrath of the others. Can we use the thing ourselves? No, that is insanity. There is no solution.”
“Yes, it is speculation merely, great chieftain,” said Melwani with a shrug. “These relics of the Old Empire are thousands of years old and their exact powers are unknown. If it is, indeed, even the real staff.”
“Get out, all of you get out!” screamed the chieftain and suddenly put his hands to his head. “I must make a decision and I can’t think with all of you talking so. Get out of my sight now!”
The two remaining darklings immediately left the chieftain on his own, and he paced back and forth along his room for several minutes as his hands waved and little disjointed statements came out of his mouth. The two stood in the antechamber and looked at each other until little servant returned. They said nothing and waited in silence as an occasional outburst came from the room. At one point a tall darkling with a thick wool cloak and leather leggings entered the waiting room, went into the corner with the servant for a moment, and spoke for a short period of time. The little servant’s face became a mask of terror as the conversation progressed and he looked at the wizard and the warrior for a moment and opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it again.
“Out with it,” said the wizard.
“Our scouts report on the movement of the lizards, Thantos, Tenebrous, and the freeriders,” he said as tears began to form in his eyes.
“Oh the sake of the Black Lord, spit it out you coward and I’ll tell Ramkall,” said the warrior, grabbed the poor creature by the collar, and lifted him into the air.
“They have found a secret chamber unknown to our miners,” said the pitiful creature as it clutched at the warrior with weak fingers.
“We’ve mined these mountains for a thousand years,” said the warrior suddenly dropping the little servant,
