rider with long, yellow hair streaming out behind her. “Damn,” he said. Within a few seconds he was able to confirm Milli as the first rider and assumed it must be Petra right behind. They thundered up to the front door and Milli yelled out, “Hello, in the house. Have you seen a dwarf pass by recently.”
Dol stood for a moment without saying anything but then dropped his shoulders and started to walk back to the door. “Hello, Milli.”
“Dol,” shouted Milli with a broad smile on her face as she leapt off the horse, stumbled and had to put her hand on the ground, and then stood and ran over to him. “What are you doing here? We thought we’d never catch you after our last report. We were more than a day behind you. What happened?”
Dol reached up and gave one of the apples in his hair a flick and the thing exploded with a bang.
“Oh,” said Milli and reached forward to touch his hair.
“It frightened the horse and I fell off,” said Dol with a shake of his head and a wry smile. “I’ve been on foot ever since and I lost track of what direction I was headed. I tried to do what Petra taught us with the sun but it’s confounding trying to determine direction here on the surface.”
Milli laughed and so did Petra.
“Does this mean you’ll be wanting your gold back?” said the attractive young woman who stood at the now opened door with a small child clutching her leg.
Dol smiled at the woman, “Keep the coin but tell me in what direction lie the Five Sisters?”
The woman smiled in relief, slipped the coin into a pocket of the floral dress she wore, and pointed over her right shoulder towards the distance. “They’re about a week’s travel south,” she said but then took a closer look at the powerful steeds that Milli and Petra brought with them and her eyes opened widely “On desert horses like that it shouldn’t take you near that long.”
“Are there any towns between here and there?” asked Milli, staring up at Dol with a bemused smile on her face.
“At the foot of the mountains there are a several towns, Shandoria is the biggest city but it’s west up the coast a ways on the Southern Sea,” said the woman. “What are you going to do at the volcanoes?”
Dol smiled, “I am to become famous. In a few days you’ll tell people you met me.”
“Are you going to kill the fire in the mountain?” asked the woman, her mouth slightly ajar.
“The fire in the mountain?” asked Petra suddenly turning sharply to the woman. “Do you know about the elemental living there?”
“Everyone knows,” said the woman. “It’s been there for thousands of years or maybe since the dawn of time. They sacrifice to the great beast so that it doesn’t spew fire on them.”
“That will no longer be necessary,” said Dol with a smile as his hand went to the hammer at his side. “You’re an attractive woman,” he continued and took a step towards her.
“Dol!” said Milli. “Get a hold of yourself.”
Dol turned and looked at Milli with a broad smile on his face and reached forward with his blackened hand and arm, “You’re pretty good looking yourself, Milli.”
“By Davim,” said Milli and took a step back. “Are you going to be like a randy darkling goat all the rest of the trip?”
Dol shrugged, “A dwarf has certain needs and we’ve been on the road a long time.”
“The sooner you kill Gazadum and we get that hammer back to Craggen Steep the better,” said Milli.
“I’m never giving up the hammer,” said Dol his smile suddenly replaced with a grim look of determination. The weapon crackled with energy the metal hammerhead seemed to throb and glow with a deep red. The runes etched deep into it radiated a burning intensity and Milli and Petra had to look away. “With this hammer nothing can stop me, I’m invincible. Together we’ll conquer the world,” said Dol. “Bring on Corancil, bring on his armies. We’ll establish our own empire here in the south. I’ll subjugate the horsemen of The Sands and they’ll be my cavalry. We’ll return to Craggen Steep as conquerors of the world!” shouted Dol, his voice rising to a crescendo.
Petra looked at Milli who stared at Dol with her mouth wide open and her eyes wide, “Dol, you don’t mean that. That’s… that’s… insane.”
“Is it,” said Dol with a cackling laugh as he stared at the horizon. “Then you just watch it happen and then you’ll see. You don’t understand, Milli. This hammer is power, unlimited power. No one can stand against me, and there are many who would follow. Corancil will be in the south in a few years with his armies and they’ll need a leader to unite the defense against him.”
“I sort of liked the messenger and what he said about Corancil,” said Milli and stared at Dol defiantly with her yellow eyes ablaze. “I’m not sure I like what you’re saying at all. I came after you. You abandoned Brogus and me.”
“Brogus is dead, what was the point in delaying my mission,” said Dol with a shrug. “There are always going to be casualties along the way.”
Milli turned away from Dol and went back to her horse. “I’ve already said my peace,” she said without turning around. She reached up, grabbed the saddle-horn, and pulled herself up onto the horse. “I’ll travel with you all the way until we kill Gazadum because that was what we set out to do together,” she said after she mounted and turned back to him. “But, after that, you’re on your own. I’ll head back to the north to join Corancil maybe; or make my own way, but I don’t like you anymore.”
Dol shook his head and laughed, “Do you think whether or not you like me makes any difference? When I slay Gazadum the people will flock to me. I’ll be a champion and when I tell them Corancil is coming the rest will fall into place. I don’t need you, I don’t need Petra, and I certainly don’t need anyone’s help.”
Mill stared down at him, “Do you need help climbing up on my horse so I can give you a ride or would you prefer to walk?”
Dol looked at her and sneered, “I’ll take that mule after all,” he said to the woman who still stood in the doorway, her mouth hanging open.
“He’s in the barn, over there,” she said, pointing to a small frame structure fifty or so paces away along a dirt track with a number of wagon ruts.
Dol immediately put the hammer in the loop at his side and strode over to the barn without looking back.
Petra turned to Milli with no expression at all on her face, “Are you still going with him?”
Milli nodded, her face a blank mask, “I’m in this until the end,” she said with a flat voice. “Once he finishes maybe he’ll change back into the Dol I know.”
Petra shrugged her shoulders, “Maybe.”
“Are you going to stay with us or not?” asked Milli of the older woman and looked over her shoulder towards the barn from which Dol had yet to emerge.
“I’ll stay with you until we get to the volcanoes. I didn’t realize people knew there was an ancient elemental living inside. They worship it around here, probably like a God. They’re not going to take kindly to Dol showing up with the intention of killing their lord.”
“Dol won’t listen to anything we tell him anymore,” said Milli, her gaze still on the barn. “He’s mad with the power of the hammer.”
“We can still tell him what we think,” said Petra. “And it’s up to him if he wants to listen to us or not. We can’t just march up to the volcanoes claiming we’re going to kill Gazadum anymore. It might be too late anyway. That woman,” with this Petra nodded her head towards the woman at the house, “heard everything Dol said and word spreads quickly.”
“What can we do?” said Milli with a shrug of her shoulders. “He won’t listen to reason. He’ll just want to ride straight there and kill anyone that stands in his way.”
“He might listen to reason,” said Petra and her first two fingers went to her chin.
Milli snorted, “You heard him, Petra. He’s beyond reason.”
“No,” said Petra with a smile. “You just have to reason with him for who he is now not who he was before.”
Milli blinked rapidly a few times and squinted, “I think… you mean talk to him like he’s a power crazed maniac and he’ll listen to us?”
“Exactly!” said Petra and her smile broadened. “I’ve found those with large egos are actually far easier to manipulate than people who have a more realistic view of themselves.”
