“I do not,” said Brogus and frowned. “I’m just…
“Shut up, Brogus,” interrupted Milli as she gave him an elbow to the ribs. “We stay together.”
Brogus lowered his head and muttered something under his breath but said no more aloud.
“Well, that’s settled then,” said Manetho with a turn towards Tahnoon, “I hope you’ll have a chance to talk with Tahnoon when you return but, who knows, we might be ready to send you along to your destination if the Black Rider signals his approval. I wish you could stay at least until I finish my experiments,” he continued as his hand went to his pocket and he fingered the round apple within.
“Experiments?” asked Milli and turned to the bald nomad.
“You’re friend was kind enough to loan me one of the apples that grow in his hair,” said Manetho. “Actually,” he looked more closely at the tall dwarf, “he actually seems to have sprouted a bumper crop. Perhaps it is life- giving blessing of Ras shining down in such abundance?”
Dol’s hand went to his hair and he felt half a dozen or more of the little round apples in various states of growth.
“You are really sprouting,” said Milli with a smile as she watched her friend. “It’s probably the change in climate or something,” she continued and put her arm around his waist. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Come along, I’ll take you to the horses,” said Manetho with another bow.
“Do we get the same ones as before?” said Milli, her eyes darting back and forth looking for the horses.
“Of course,” said Tahnoon. “They are fine geldings, bred especially for visitors.”
“What’s a gelding,” said Brogus with a puzzled expression on his face at the unfamiliar word. Usually the translator device worked flawlessly.
“A male horse than cannot breed,” replied the nomad. “They are more docile and if a stranger should ever steal one then the bloodline cannot be taken to our enemies.”
“Your horses are that much superior to the other nomad’s steeds?” asked Petra her eyes keen to watch the nomad’s reactions.
Tahnoon thought for a moment with his hand on his fat belly and then nodded his head, “Not other nomads so much as people outside the desert who want our horses for their own. Kings and princes and military leaders from many nations. Our horses are coveted by all who know them and I would imagine Corancil himself wouldn’t mind getting his hands on a few score to help his invasion plans.”
Petra smiled, “I would imagine so.”
“Here we are,” said Tahnoon as they arrived at an area well to the north of the main encampment where dozens of nomads watched over an open patch of well trampled dirt and scrabbly grass where dozens of horses galloped and played. He shouted something towards the nomads and within a few minutes the group found themselves reunited with their steeds from their earlier ride across the desert. “Manetho and I will ride with you out to the Broken Pyramid and there you will meet the Black Rider and discuss matters. After that he will continue his journey to the conference with the Jagged Edge nomads.”
“The Broken Pyramid,” said Milli as she stroked the long, muscled neck of her horse. “What’s that?”
Manetho and Tahnoon mounted their own horses and the group, Brogus with a leg up from another nomad, mounted theirs as well, “A pyramid not far from here that dates back to the Age of Elementals. We often use it as a rallying point. There are not that many landmarks here in the desert and such places are useful for gathering men,” said Manetho with a flourishing wave of his hand out towards the desert.
“The Age of Elementals,” said Dol, now suddenly quite interested as he used his reins to turn the horse and face Manetho. “What do you know about that time?”
Manetho looked at the tall dwarf with the apples, “I’m surprised such a thing interests you, my friend.”
Dol nodded his head, “It interests me greatly and has to do with our quest to the south. I ask again,” this time with a sharp edge to his voice, “what do you know about the Age of Elementals?”
Manetho shrugged his shoulders as the horses set off at a canter, “It was thousands of years ago but the desert preserves time more surely than the grassy plains. The elementals shaped the earth for untold generations but eventually were overthrown by an alliance of tree shepherds, dwarves, men, elves, and the other races. Their relics remain all over the world and many of the creatures still serve, spellbound, their conquerors.”
“And the greatest of elementals, the most ancient four. Do you know them?” asked Dol.
“We know mainly of those of fire here in the desert, the great first elemental Gazadum, his first-born son Shadak the Black Fire, the twins Hezfer the Blue Flame and Eleniak the Dancing Flame, the terrible Mountainous Fire Loigor, and there are others of course.”
“Gazadum, the first fire elemental,” said Dol and fingered the hammer at his side, “what do you know of him?”
The horses covered the dry lands of the Sands with breathtaking speed even moving along as casually as they did now. The thundering of their hooves on the hard sand and dirt drowned out the sounds around them and the nomad had to raise his voice to be heard, “He was the first.”
“I know that,” said Dol and narrowed his eyes. “What else?”
“Don’t be rude,” said Milli as she skillfully maneuvered her horse next to the dwarf, “are you feeling all right?”
“I’m fine,” shouted Dol and then turned back to Manetho. “Tell me everything you know about Gazadum.”
Manetho looked at Dol out of the corner of his eye and then waved one hand in sort of a circular movement. “That was thousands of years ago, my friend. I know he was the first and most powerful of the fire elementals. That with his three siblings they shaped the world. He supposedly lived in a volcano in the far northern realms but was driven out by the tree shepherds and their allies. Does this have something to do with why you’re looking for five volcanoes?”
Dol nodded his head and fixed his steely eyes to the horizon, “It does.”
“Dol,” said Milli trying to put warning in her voice.
“Shut up, Milli,” said Dol with a fierce look at the halfling girl. His eyes had a reddish tint and his lips were curled in a snarl. “It doesn’t make any difference if he knows my mission.”
“Our mission,” shouted Brogus from not far away as he held onto the reins with both hands with white knuckled intensity.
“My mission,” said Dol. “I seek Gazadum,” he went on and took the handle of the Hammer of Fire in one hand and held it at eye level. “To destroy him.”
Manetho raised his eyebrows, tilted his head to one side, “I wish you luck with that.” Then the nomad pointed his finger towards an object in the distance that seemed to waver back and forth in the waves of heat. The horses hooves continued their rhythmic beat as the shape began to coalesce into something their eyes could understand and within minutes they approached the massive pyramid.
Its height was difficult to judge but Milli thought it might just fit into the Grand Hall of Craggen Steep whose ceilings measured nearly two hundred feet in height. The strange structure was possibly even wider than that at the base. The sides were sand-blasted stone and apparently smooth although as they approached, the weather- beaten nature of the structure came into clarity. The most striking feature was a long rent that started near the top of the pyramid and wound down the side they approached before it disappeared around the corner. It seemed likely the crack extended further down the side of the mammoth structure that faced away from them.
“It’s massive,” said Brogus as all the horses stopped although his went a few strides further before he remembered to pull back on the reins. The short-legged dwarf tried to dismount gracefully but only managed to fall out of the saddle and onto the ground with a thump.
“I thought the Black Rider was supposed to meet us here,” said Petra looking around at the absence of horsemen in the vicinity. Her hand went to the little knife at her side but the only nomads in evidence were Manetho and Tahnoon and she doubted they would attempt to attack them. Her eyes darted back and forth but she could see nothing of anyone else.
“Apparently he was delayed,” said Manetho with a shrug of his shoulders. “Many people demand his time and circumstances arise that make his schedule unpredictable. I’m certain he will be along shortly. In the meantime, perhaps you would care to examine the pyramid, although I see your friend has already begun that process.”
“I will go and find them,” said Tahnoon with a strange look at Manetho that Petra could not decipher. With
