Suds woke with a yawn, then stretched.
Despite the fact he’d spent the night on a rocky cave floor, he felt refreshed after a good night of deep and uninterrupted sleep.
With one more yawn, Suds sat up and looked around the brightening cave, then his one good eye went wide, and he leaped to his feet.
“Bhrán, Meibhín, Elyon!” he called as he spun on the spot and looked for his missing companions.
His calls instantly woke those still asleep, and they too leaped to their feet, ready for battle if needs be.
“Did any of you hear anything in the night?” Suds asked as he quickly gathered his weapons and readied to depart their makeshift camp.
“Nothing,” Brigit replied as she strapped her sword to her belt.
“I heard nothing,” Avaegrett added as she swung her ax over her shoulder and into its holster on her back.
Stomarim, who now stood at the mouth of the cave, looked back at his companions and smiled. “Come see this,” the Wizard said as his tall hat magically appeared in his hand and he placed it on his head.
His fellow travelers joined him at the cave’s mouth, and Suds let out an annoyed huff.
“Damn fools,” the Elf said as he stepped out into the early morning light.
“Suds!” Elyon shouted as he excitedly jumped from Dilly’s back and ran to his brother. “We captured a Dark Lord and his lady, see.” Elyon turned and pointed at the two downtrodden individuals walking between Bhrán’s steed and Meibhín’s.
Suds walked forward to meet the returning members of the fellowship, but his eye remained fixed on the man who’d killed one of his dearest friends.
“What do we have here?” Sir Duncan asked derisively. “A band of mixed breeds.”
Suds stepped forward and struck the Dark Lord across the face with the back of his hand. Lady Clementine screamed and tried to race to her husband’s aid, but Brigit dashed forward to block her path.
Sir Duncan spat blood and a tooth onto the dirt, then leered up at Suds. “I thought your race was supposed to be enlightened, and full of reason untouched by emotion. You don’t seem so unemotional now.”
Suds drew his knife and bent toward the Dark Lord.
“Enough, Suds!” Bhrán commanded from Nesrialian’s back.
The Elf stared up at Bhrán, and he saw real anger in his old friend’s eye.
“This man killed your father! He was also one of the harbingers of the plague that all but destroyed the race of Men.”
Bhrán jumped from Nesrialian’s back and landed lightly beside the Elf. “I know who he is, which is why we will bring him to justice. Real justice, not the kind you want here and now.”
Suds’ face softened, and he sheathed his blade. “You are wise beyond your years, Bhrán.”
The Wolf Blood looked over at Elyon. “Thank your brother for making me see the right of things. For I wanted to do exactly what you wish now. He made me see how wrong that would be.”
The whole group turned to look at Elyon as he fed sugar cubes to Dilly from his seemingly endless supply. On feeling their gaze on him, the kind and simple Elf looked their way.
“What?” Elyon asked as he stroked Dilly’s nose.
Suds walked over to his brother and pulled him into a hug. “You truly are the best of our people.”
“Thanks,” came a muffled reply as Elyon’s face pressed against Suds’ chest. “But what are we talking about?”
Suds laughed and kissed the top of his brother’s head. He then released the smaller Elf and turned to Bhrán once more.
“So I am guessing yesterday’s diversion was so you could deal with this piece of dung?”
Bhrán nodded. “Aye, but we will resume our old route as I want these two under lock and key as quickly as possible.”
“Very well,” Stomarim said as he clapped his hands. “First, we eat. Then we head out.”
“I’ll relight the fire,” Avaegrett said as she headed off in search of wood.
“Elyon, if you’re not too tired would you like to help me prepare breakfast?” Brigit asked.
Elyon’s face lit with delight. He had a slight crush on the Nymph and jumped at any chance to spend time with her.
He skipped lightly over to her and asked, “Do we still have milk?”
“I think so. Why?”
“Well, we still have a little flour and a couple of eggs. I could make pancakes. What do you think?”
Brigit folded her arm into the Elf’s. “That sounds wonderful.”
Elyon blushed, but the wide smile on his face was brighter than the sun. “You’re so pretty, Brigit. Do you know that?”
Brigit laughed. “You tell me that every day.”
Meibhín moved to Bhrán and Suds’ side. “I think we should question this one,” she said as she looked at Sir Duncan, who still sat in the dirt. “I couldn’t hear everything he said to Bhrán last night, but he mentioned Wolf Fang and how the Evil Ones desired it. We should find out what he meant by that.”
Suds nodded. “Maybe I can open his mind to see the truth as I would not believe a word from his mouth.”
Sir Duncan laughed. “An Elf will never penetrate my mind.”
“Really. And what makes you think that?” Suds asked as he crouched to be eye to eye with the Dark Lord.
“I’ve kept the Evil Ones out for decades, so I’m sure I can keep out a mere Elf.”
“How about the Lord of Wizards?” Stomarim asked. “Do you think you can keep me out?”
Sir Duncan shifted uneasily. “I... I....” He then jutted out his chin, an action filled with pride. “Aye, Wizard, I can.”
Stomarim smiled. “We’ll see.”
***
Bhrán, Suds, Meibhín, and Stomarim moved back inside the cave with Sir Duncan. The Dark Lord struggled against Bhrán’s firm grip as he dragged him inside, but his struggle was for naught.
Outside the cave, Lady Clementine wailed for her husband, but Avaegrett now returned from her hunt for wood, restrained the Dark Lord’s wife with strong rope weaved from the beards of her ancestors.
“Put him over there,” Stomarim said as he removed his hat and rolled up his sleeves, then he slunk to the corner of the cave, his back to them. “I need to prepare myself to dive into the swamp that is his mind.”
Sir Duncan’s eyes went wide as the Wizard held out his arms to either side and colorful light erupted from his outstretched palms.
Stomarim turned back to the Dark Lord, and his eyes burned with a fiery red glow. “You cannot resist my will.”
The Wizard’s booming voice seemed to come from everywhere at once, and so deep was its timbre, it caused the stone beneath them to quake. He advanced and grew in size as he spoke, becoming a menacing figure that blocked out all light entering the cave.
“Your mind is that of a mortal and cannot stand against my will!” Stomarim boomed as he loomed over Sir Duncan. Even Bhrán, Meibhín and Suds took several fearful steps back. “If I enter the cesspool you call your mind, nothing of you will remain when I am done. You will be little more than a vegetable. A mindless creature that will need feeding and its ass wiping. Do you understand?”
Stomarim now seemed to fill every spare inch of the cave, and Sir Duncan raised his hands to his face to shield his eyes from the nightmarish figure.
“Please, I’ll tell you what you want,” the Dark Lord begged.
“Time for talk is over,” Stomarim boomed like thunder. “Prepare to lose your mind and your sanity.”
“The sword is a key!” Sir Duncan cried as he fell to his knees, weeping. “When wielded by the Opener of Doors, it is the only thing in all of Yedinerth capable of opening the portal to the Evil Ones’ realm.”
“You lie!” Stomarim boomed as actual flames shot from his eyes and mouth.
Sir Duncan made himself as small as possible, and covered his head with his hands. “I swear I speak the truth.”
Stomarim reached down to the Dark Lord with a massive hand and hauled the sniveling wretch to his feet. “Where do we find this portal of which you speak?”
“Deep in the dungeons of the King’s Citadel, there is an iron chest. Within the chest is the crystal the Evil Ones sprang from. The crystal is inert now, but the sword and the Opener of Doors will revive it.”
Stomarim brought his huge face close to the Dark Lord’s, and Sir Duncan tried to look away. The mighty Wizard grabbed the man’s chin and forced his face forward again.
“How do you know all of this?”
“A handful of Dark Lords know this. When the Evil Ones convert us, they do so with a drop of their blood, which they store in vials in the citadel. Once their blood flows in our veins, some of us learn things our masters do not wish known.”
“You lie!” Stomarim boomed again. Saliva flew from the Wizard’s mouth and soaked the sobbing man’s face. “Why would the Evil Ones reveal a weakness to those who serve them?”
“They do not know some of us have learned such things. Less than a handful of Dark Lords have seen what I have, and all belong to my family. We know not why we have seen these truths, but we have. Now please, I beg, don’t hurt me.”
Stomarim released the Dark Lords’ chin, and the sobbing man fell to his knees.
Moments after that, the Wizard returned to his normal size and form.
“Well, that was easy,” Stomarim said as he held out his hand and his hat flew into it.
Sir Duncan looked up. “What?”
The Wizard grinned. “What did I tell you, Suds? It’s all about showmanship.”
“What on Yedinerth are you going on about?” the Elf asked, confusion written over his face.
“Showmanship was all it took to make this sniveling dung heap spill his guts.”
Sir Duncan looked up with tears still flooding from his eyes. “What do you mean?”
Stomarim laughed. “I’m a Wizard, which means I am forbidden from influencing the minds of mortals. Even if I wanted to search the mind of this disgusting pig, my order forbids such acts of intrusion into mortal minds.”
Sir Duncan struggled to his feet and screamed, “You lied to me!”
Stomarim pondered the words, then grinned. “Aye, I suppose I did.”
The Dark Lord lunged for the Wizard, but Meibhín stepped forward and blocked his path. “Don’t be so hurt,” she said as she placed a hand on his chest, staying him. “Stomarim merely fooled you into speaking the truth. I, on the other hand, wanted to beat it out of you.”
“Truth or not,” Sir Duncan retorted with a sneer. “All the Evil Ones’ forces protect the citadel. There’s no way on Yedinerth you can breach its walls.”
“We’ll see,” Meibhín replied as she whipped the Dark Lord around and shoved him toward the mouth of the cave.
Once they were both gone, Bhrán spoke.
“Can we be sure he was telling the truth?”
“He was,” Suds replied as he moved to the mouth of the cave and stared out at the Dark Lord, who now sat cross-legged beside his wife. He then turned and looked back at Bhrán and Stomarim. “I mean, you didn’t need to read his mind to know that.”
The Wizard nodded. “Suds is right. I think what he told us were the truest words he’d ever spoken in his life. The crystal of which he speaks is the Evil Ones’ Heart Stone.”
Bhrán moved to the cave’s mouth with Suds and looked over to where Elyon and Brigit prepared breakfast. To think, if he’d killed the Dark Lord the way he wanted to, they would not have learned the truth about his sword.
He wondered if, deep down, the simple-minded Elf knew this all along?
“Once we are back below ground, we must summon the Elves to hold council with the Dwarves and us,” Bhrán said, his eyes still fixed on Elyon.
“Long has it been since the Elders have held council with anyone but their kind,” Suds replied.
Bhrán looked at his old friend. “Then it’s high time they did.”
Just then, Elyon turned and held a hand to the side of his mouth and shouted, “Breakfast is ready! Come get it while it’s hot!”
Bhrán patted Suds’ shoulder. “Come, let’s eat. Then we ride for King Tunmim’s lands.”