Chronicles of a So-called Fire God (Abridged)

22. The Demon

The open door, the one through which we'd entered the room, was the only way we could go. The leader must have escaped through there. His wounds meant he could not get far, nor could he flee without leaving a trail. The blood smeared on the door told me this man would not last long without help.

The man in black left before us and turned out of sight. His lacky followed with her tail literally between her legs. I hadn't seen the woman's tail at first, but now it was obvious. And disturbing.

I reached the door next and looked left then right. The blood trail told me the leader had gone left, but the man in black was nowhere to be seen. I headed after the cult leader and my friends followed.

The trail led us further than I thought it would. We reached the outside of this cave complex still following the blood.

Outside we saw a few denizens, at least I assumed they were, of this underground community. Two orcs, the ogre we saw earlier and an out of place elf in fine robes. Instantly I tried to merge into the crowd of people I was with and stood behind Ix. I didn't want to be seen by the elf.

Sneaky, ever the opportunist, walked straight up to the ogre and tapped him on the back to get his attention. "You seen oik with brown robes and lots wounds escape here?" he said.

The ogre looked a little concerned he'd been addressed by such a strange looking creature that is Sneaky, but then smiled as he saw Iggy. What he saw in Iggy is a mystery and one I'd love to discern. We just didn't have the time.

"He entered the Dark Delver's domain over there." The ogre pointed to another door in the cliff wall a hundred feet away.

"Thank me," replied Sneaky.

The ogre stopped Lestergrad with a hand on his shoulder as we passed. "The shiny one, he still not for sale?"

"No I'm afraid not," Lestergrad said.

We moved on to the door. All the time I could see the ogre discussing something with the elf. The elf then passed a parchment to the ogre and a pouch of coins. I heard the elf say a few words and phrases, none I liked the sound of. They were "fire magic", "not a wizard", "human" and "reward". I could only hope they were not talking about me.

At the door of the Dark Delver's domain we could see a sign written in dwarven.

Armory
10GP to enter
20GP to leave
Buy something or don't leave.

I rapped my knuckles on the door and waited for a response. At around my chest height a face appeared through the little door.

"10 gold please or bugger off," said a grumpy old dwarf.

I handed over 10 gold pieces to a little, scrubby hand and the face disappeared. A few bolts could be heard being drawn back, a chain, and what sounded like a bar across the door. Eventually the door opened and the face we saw earlier appeared again. This time we could see the full dwarf. He was old, probably getting on for 300 years old by the way he walked and talked. A crotchety old crank with a white beard down to the floor and a mean look in his eyes.

"That way and be quick about it," the crank snapped. "Got to get this door closed."

As we all filed by the dwarf, I heard him mutter under his breath. He was grousing about how many of us there were. And how busy it had been today. "First that blasted imp, then his sheep of a follower and now this lot. Gods help me."

The reference to 'imp' got my attention.

I drew my sword and went back to the dwarf and placed the top of it under his chin.

"Wah! Watch what yer doin' wi' that. If you're here to rob good luck getting by the wards." I liked the fact I'd surprised the dwarf.

"I'm not interested in common burglary, I'm after the imp and his," I paused, "sheep."

"In there," pointed the old dwarf.

"Thank you. Now please don't go raising the alarm if you want to see tomorrow," I said. I wouldn't hurt him but he didn't know that, the old dwarf looked petrified and too scared to move.

We entered the next room, a large, spacious area with a small, knee-high fence bisecting the space into two. Across the other side was the leader of the death cult, and Renkle.

The leader, looking very much like he'd crawled here, a blood trail all across the floor. The cult leader was on his knees before Renkle.

"Master please help me, I fear I am dying." When he coughed blood came from his mouth and nose.

"You're dead already, you just don't know it yet. More food for my supper." Renkle smiled.

"Imp! Don't play with your food," I said.

Renkle looked at us for the first time since we'd arrived. There was a hint of fear on his face too.

"You can't have it," he said a he held the Herald out. "This is mine and all I need now is the ritual scroll which these crooks are trying to bleed me dry with purchasing."

"Crooks?" scoffed the dwarf behind a counter on the other side of the fence to us.

"Well that is all nice and good, if your pet cultists hadn't stolen our property," said Torq.

"Yeah, we like it back," said Sneaky.

I incanted my power word and flame engulfed my right hand.

"Your attacks won't harm me. The Delvers have a ward to protect them from harm," said Renkle.

"The wards protect the Delvers," said another dwarf from behind the counter. "Any property disputes are not our concern."

At this thick, iron rods slotted down from the ceiling and into the floor between the counters and the rest of the room. There was a magical aura around them too meaning nothing could get through the gaps to the dwarfs on the other side. Immense power emanated from these rods.

"The Herald if you please," Torq said and held his hand out towards Renkle.

"Catch me if you can," said Renkle. His expression changed from sly grin to horrified frustration in a blink of an eye. "What sorcery is this?"

"Stolen property claims invoke a low level anti-magic spell to prevent any disappearances," said one of the dwarves behind the bars.

"So Renkle," I said, "shall we try that again? I believe my friend here was saying something." I stepped back a little to allow Torq to take centre point.

"The Herald if you please," repeated Torq.

I incanted my power word again and now both hands were encased in flames. At the same time I noticed both Lestergrad and Bostik preparing their own spells and Iggy was spinning the chain-shovel contraption he'd made good use of so far.

I think we must have spooked him because with a small sound escaping from his lips he surprisingly dropped the Herald. Iggy was on it in a flash. Renkle then disappeared.

"I thought -" I started.

"The magic field knows who the owners are of disputed items. Once order is restored it relents," said the old dwarf that let us in.

"Sentient magic? Interesting," I said

Iggy handed the Herald over to Torq, who then placed it in his backpack.

"Now to get home," Torq said.

"Our agreement, Gransta," said Bostik, stepping in front of me, "was 'we help you, you help us'. We still need Skeptic of Office stick."

"And I have not forgotten that," I said.

"The goblin Sceptre of the King?" asked one of the dwarves as the bars slid back into their hiding place in the ceiling. "That is here. In the Xenuth Star domain. We've tried to purchase it many times, but they don't want money."