Chapter 16
“You let them escape!” Tahnoon glared at Manetho and at the snap of a finger two fearsome warriors with sand scarred face drew long knives and approached. A hundred nomadic horsemen were in their saddles all around the Broken Pyramid although there was no sign of the Black Rider; the sun stood high in the sky its tremendous heat bearing down on them.
Manetho shrugged, “What real value did they offer, Tahnoon?”
“That is not for you to say,” spat out the rotund nomad as he shook his finger in the face of wizard as sweat and spittle rained down. “You are a servant of Sheikh Ming; you are a servant to me. You will follow my orders and they were, specifically, to hold the prisoners here so that we might interrogate them away from the city.”
“You meant to torture them,” said Manetho with a steady expression on his face.
“So what if I did?” said Tahnoon and stomped his foot onto the hard packed sand around the pyramid. “It is my decision as how to dispose of prisoners, not yours. You allowed a terrible danger to the Black Horsemen to escape. I might well call you a traitor to our people.”
“Your decision?” said Manetho with raised eyebrows. “I think not.”
“You dare!” screamed Tahnoon and raised his hand to the two warriors who moved quickly to the side of Manetho with knives in hand. Their eyes watched the wizard closely although they did not make any move to restrain him. “I can have you killed right now. These are my nephews and they will obey my every command.”
“The bonds of family are strong among our people,” said Manetho, “this is true. However, if you order them to kill me then you will live with the consequences. I will be dead and beyond the punishment of Black Rider. You, on the other hand, will not.”
Tahnoon’s face seemed to contract on itself with a terrible grimace and spittle danced on his lips as he gazed at the wizard. “I should do it just to see the surprise on your face when the knife slides into your flesh.”
Manetho stood quietly.
“Have it your way then,” said Tahnoon, spitting on the sand and dragging his left boot through it. “You will have to face Ming and explain yourself. He will be here within the day.”
“I am prepared to do so. Now, if you do not mind, I have work to attend,” said Manetho who gave a short little bow and walked towards a yellow tent with a red banner depicting a black horse flapping in the strong desert breeze.
Chapter 17
“It’s good to be on the trail again,” said Milli as her long blonde hair flew out behind her.
“You have me to thank for that,” shouted Brogus over the wind that danced past them as their horses galloped over the grassy plains.
“I don’t think we’ll ever hear the end of that,” yelled Petra with a wide smile on her face as her own horse cantered up near the two.
Milli laughed and it sounded like musical accompaniment to the thundering of the hooves along the turf as both the witch and Brogus immediately joined in. Dol rode his own steed a dozen yards away his eyes fixed ahead and apparently unaware of the merriment of the others.
Ever since their escape from the dwarf stronghold they rode south towards the lands of Shandoria as indicated on the map that Brogus somehow managed to connive away from a gullible young dwarf maiden. The map, while certainly colorful and filled with hints of danger, did not have an accurate legend which they discovered when it took them five days to travel between two landmarks that appeared right next to each other. At the time they thought that meant their journey was far from over, but they encountered the next landmark within hours and this was yet further away on the map. This left the foursome in a complete quandary as to the actual distance remaining in their journey. The map indicated a large town called Ndra lay somewhere ahead but two other mapped towns already failed to materialize and Milli, more than once, expressed an interest in throwing the thing away.
Nevertheless, the group charged over the plains on their desert horses at a tremendous clip and all with smiles on their faces except Dol. Late in the afternoon they stopped near a fast-flowing creek and Petra got out some fishing gear she had thought to pack so long ago. She walked a ways upstream while Drogus and Milli unpacked the horses and set up camp. Dol, as was his want of late, simply sat by the fire and watched the flames flickering and dancing.
Brogus looked over at Dol and motioned in that direction with a nod of his head, “He’s at it again.”
Milli glanced over her shoulder at Dol as she continued to unpack the horses, “What do you want to do about it?”
Brogus shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows, “I don’t know. I’m the one who got us out of Temin, you figure it out, Milli.”
“He’s so intense now, I mean, he was always quiet, a thinker, but now there is a look in his eyes. I make up excuses not to talk to him,” said Milli, her finger coming to her lip as she began to chew on the nail. “He’s scary now and he never lets go of the hammer. Do you think it could be… influencing him?”
Brogus shrugged, “I don’t know. Could be, maybe not though. I know some powerful weapons are said to be able to corrupt the soul.”
“I know, I know,” said Milli shaking her head and tossing her long hair. “Fine, you keep unpacking and bring out the fish pans, Petra will catch something for sure. She’s good at that kind of thing.”
“The fish are different here,” said Brogus as Milli walked towards the fire.
“What was that?” she said and turned to look at the stout dwarf.
“Nothing,” he replied and continued to rummage around in the saddle bags. “You’d think after doing this ten times I’d know where everything was.”
“Hey Dol,” said Milli taking a seat on her haunches next to the dour dwarf. “See anything interesting?”
Dol tore his gaze away from the flames for a moment and looked at the pretty halfling girl, “It’s beautiful, the fire. I never really noticed before. The way the flames dance and weave.”
“I’ve never known you to be poetic, Dol,” said Milli and put her hand on his back. “Is this a new side of you?”
Dol nodded his head, “Perhaps it is. Out here in the open, the desert, the mountains, and now these grasslands, maybe it’s opening my eyes to the world for the first time. I feel different, I feel energized,” he said and reached his blackened right hand all but into the fire. “I want to touch things, to feel them, to see them burn.”
“What?” said Milli.
“I… meant,” stuttered Dol for a moment, “I want to experience more of life. I didn’t say it like I meant it.”
“What’s wrong with your hand,” she said and reached towards it, although the heat of the fire quickly drove her to pull it back.
Dol quickly put his hand in his pocket, “It’s just dirty from all the riding,” he said.
“Dol,” said Milli and gently tried to pry his hand from his pocket. “That wasn’t dirt. What’s going on?”
Dol shook his head and pursed his lips. “It’s from holding the hammer I suppose,” he said and scratched his hair. “Damn. Those apples are popping out all over the place. It’s the heat or the fresh air or something.”
Milli, thus distracted, turned her attention to Dol’s head and did note a fairly large number of little green apples, some of them had a reddish tint as though they were ripening.
“I think they’re getting ripe,” said to Milli and reached out to pluck one.
Dol moved his head away and stood up quickly, “You know I don’t like them,” he said and glared at Milli for a
