“I am a half-breed,” said Dol as he took a sip from his mug and smiled broadly. He eyes also wandered over to the girl leaning down to clean up Brogus and a flush came to his cheeks. “This beer is most unusual but I find myself in agreement with Brogus.”
“Half-breed what?” said Manetho interjecting himself into the conversation. “You don’t look human, elf perhaps? But, no not that either. Certainly dwarf blood is predominant.”
“My grandfather was a tree shepherd,” said Dol and stared directly at Manetho with an expressionless face.
The mage’s eyes opened wide, “A tree shepherd! There are not many forests in the desert but there were tree shepherds even in the Sands, or so the legends say. But they vanished centuries ago, long after the elemental were driven from power. Are they still common in your part of the world?”
“Nuhnh uhnn,” said Brogus with his mouth full of food, “he’ss a freaaihk.”
“Dol is not a freak!” said Milli turning to Brogus. “And you might want to slow down with that beer.”
Brogus shrugged his shoulders and took another long draught of beer to wash down whatever caused his cheeks to bulge out so fully.
“A tree shepherd, really?” said Tahnoon as he took another drink of wine and motioned with his head for the serving girls to refill Brogus’s glass.
Dol shrugged his shoulders and narrowed his eyes, “I never met him.”
Milli jumped in, “He doesn’t really know. His mother and father told him stories but we’ve never met a tree shepherd. I don’t think anyone alive has ever met a tree shepherd.”
“Elves live long lives and some darklings too,” said Ming with a narrow-eyed look at Milli. “In the darkling lands the rulers have lived for a thousand years, perhaps longer.”
“Oh, said Milli turning to look at Dol with wide eyes, “I didn’t know that. I don’t even know how long Halflings live. I’ve only been around dwarves and they live to be maybe a hundred or so. Do you think Dol will live for a thousand years? I’ll be dead and gone, oh.”
“Who can say,” said Manetho with a smile. “The world is a strange and wonderful place.”
“Please,” said Ming with a nod of his head and his purple eyes flashed brightly in good cheer, “enough of this morbid talk. There will be time enough for that later. You will stay on as my guests.”
“We will head to the five volcanoes as soon as possible,” said Dol and looked down at the hammer at his side.
“I appreciate that you have a mission,” said Ming. “I am a busy man as well. However, you must see it from my point of view. There is a ruler in the north who covets my territory. You are strange visitors from the north. I cannot let you leave immediately after seeing my… palace… as it were. I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you some questions about this Corancil and the disposition of the armies of the north.”
“We don’t know anything about that,” said Milli with a little hiccup. The fruity drink was quite tasty but it did make her a little light-headed. “We’re just here to find the volcanoes.”
“I’m sure that you’re telling the truth,” said Ming his face expressionless. “In any case, you’ll be my guest for a few days while we try to figure out exactly where these five volcanoes of yours are hiding. Then we’ll want to provide you with horses to make the journey. But, I’m afraid affairs of state consume my time and I’ve already spent as much as a I dare with such charming company.” With this the warlord of the Black Horsemen stood, slightly tilted his head in the direction of the seated guests, and then quickly exited the area by one of the, apparently many, hidden egresses.
“He can never shtay,” said Tahnoon, slightly slurring his words as he fumbled around to try and get at a cup of dates nearby. He almost managed to spill them on the tent floor but somehow, at the last moment, steadied the bowl and took one of the delicacies for himself. “The sand never burns the feet of a ruler. So, why are those five volcanoes so important?” asked Tahnoon as he helped himself to more of the food that seemed to arrive continuously carried on trays by an endless supply of dark-skinned girls.
“Dol is on a mission!” said Brogus waving a thick leg of some sort of game bird in a circle. “A mission!”
“Is this mission secret or can you share it?” asked Tahnoon.
Milli looked at Petra, Petra looked at Dol, Dol simply stared straight ahead without saying anything.
“I’m not sure we can say,” said Milli.
“I’m afraid Ming won’t like that,” said Tahnoon with a shrug and a silly smile. “He suspects you are spies. Of course I’m the one who told him that.”
“Spies?” asked Milli with a smile. “We would have died in the desert if we hadn’t managed to overpower those other fellows. Farriders?”
“Ahh,” said Tahnoon and sipped deeply from his glass yet again, “our current enemy. We always seem to have one enemy or another here in the desert. Our entire history is rife with warfare. One tribe against the other. There are now at least a dozen tribes in the Sands and that doesn’t count the dwarves of Temin or the insect men of Dnubcia.
“You said something about a city to the east?” said Petra. She had sampled a little of almost everything that was offered while managing to keep relatively clear of the strong drink.
“Yes, a trading zone of sorts, Tanta, the City in the Sand. There all people are welcome. It is on the great eastern ocean and the priests convert the salt water into drinkable liquid thanks to the miracles of Ras. It is the greatest city in the region but no one is allowed to fight within its confines. It is a neutral territory for all nomads, traders, and others. It is a city of many delights. Perhaps, Brogus, if Dol can be dissuaded temporarily from his quest, you might visit this place. The women are beautiful and skilled in how to please a man in many ways.”
“Sounds good,” said Brogus, turning to Dol and slapping him on the back. “What do you say, chum? Back in Craggen Steep we were just measly apprentices but here, with our gold coins, we could be kings!”
Manetho gave a sideways glance to Tahnoon but the advisor to the Black Horseman continued to drink wine and eat food as if he heard nothing.
Chapter 13
“Miserable mess!” shouted Cleathelm looking up at the ash spewing volcano that stood high against the hot blue sky and shaking his fist to the heavens. “Achooo! That damn sun makes me sneeze. How many volcanoes are there in the southlands?”
The little goblinoid at his side shrugged his shoulders. “At least six.”
“What? How do you know that? Idiot.”
“You said we’re looking for a group of five of them, right?” said Blaggard.
“Yeah, so?” replied Cleathelm with a look of disgust on his face as he shook his head at the little goblin.
“And there’s one right there,” continued the little fellow pointing to the volcano in the distance. “That makes at least six.”
“You think you’re smart, don’t you,” said Cleathelm and reached over to smack the goblin who was quick enough on his feet avoid the blow with room to spare. “One of these days you’ll get what’s coming to you and then you’ll be sorry, yes you will. That damned mage of Corancil’s said he could send us right to the five volcanoes and we paid him a whole bag of gems.”
“Actually,” said another heavily armed dwarf who stood just to the other side of Cleathelm, “he said there was only one active portal and he wasn’t sure exactly where it came out.”
“That’s not what he said to me, you moron!” said Cleathelm and punched the third member of their party in the shoulder. The light chain shirt didn’t give an inch and Cleathelm shook his hand back and forth. “Damn, that hurt.”
“What should we do, Cleathelm” said the second dwarf, not making any attempt to retaliate for the blow.
“I don’t know,” said Cleathelm shaking his head and looking to Blaggard.
“Follow the road,” said the mixed-breed goblin as he pointed to a dirt trail that led off in the opposite direction of the volcano. “It’s got to lead somewhere eventually.”
Not too high above them, on a little escarpment, sat Uldex and two friends. They watched the three below shouting at one another and looked back and forth to each other with bemused grins.
