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They reached the fields already late at night. The tower was the only structure for miles around. It sat there, like a sore thumb, sticking out in the middle of an otherwise clear field, a tall brick tower that belonged to no one and went nowhere. It was a little run down, the top seemed to have burst, the rubble from it having long fallen at the base of it. Now it was all covered in grass and moss. The door was partially barred by one of the larger bricks.
“I don’t like this,” said Amath, senses on alert.
“It’s just an empty tower,” Yuval reasoned, trying to push the door open. The wood, rotting, gave way under his weight.
Amath grabbed him at the last minute, preventing him from falling over the piece of sharp wood he’d created. He pulled him back on his feet.
“I don’t like this.” He repeated.
Yuval sighed and rolled his eyes. He used a spell to rid them from the rest of the door and another to create an orb of light. He led the way inside. Dust and cobwebs was all they found, the lower rooms were empty, only having an overturned table, also rotting, or the occasional chair. Up the spiral stairs they went, careful with their steps as now and again some of the bricks came off and made them slip.
Up, and up, and up... until they came to the broken top. A golden, impressively fat dragon lay asleep on a heap of treasure. Behind him, what rows were left of scrolls and books, open to the elements.
Amath and Yuval stopped short. It did not bode well in any way.
“What’s this thing?” Amath asked, a little too loudly.
Yuval smacked his arm. “Shh!”
The dragon stirred, but didn’t wake.
“You wake that thing, we’re in deep trouble.”
Amath snorted. “Doesn’t look like much.”
Yuval gave him an incredulous look, shook his head. “Just stay put. And quiet.”
He tried to round the dragon silently, wanting to reach the tomes, hoping they would not have been too damaged by weather. After all, there was a tiny bit of roof just above them... perhaps...
The light of his orb caught on something on the dragon’s treasure. Yuval turned to stare at it. Was that Eckhart’s Diamond?
“What are you doing?” Amath hissed from the doorway, where he’d been told to stay put.
Yuval pointed at something out of the demon’s range of sight. “It’s a very powerful crystal!” he mouthed, and reached to grab it... He should have known better. The moment his hand made contact with the crystal, the dragon woke with a frightening roar.
Yuval cried out in surprise and, grabbing the diamond, hurried to the scrolls to try and find the right one.
Amath, startled but with the instinct of a fighter, had launched in at once.
“Buy me time!” Yuval cried.
The dragon turned to Yuval. Amath ran and tackled Yuval to the ground just as the dragon breathed fire his way.
“Noo!” Yuval cried, as the scrolls and books caught in flames.
“What do you think you’re doing?!” Amath cried in turn, grabbing Yuval by the collar and hauling him up. “Let’s get out of here!”
The dragon’s tail slammed between them and the door. The beast roared and prepared again to breathe fire. Amath and Yuval each dodged to a different side.
“Get to the stairs!” Amath cried as he launched to the dragon, claws digging on its fat belly. The dragon roared and raised, wings flapping.
Yuval cast a spell, the ball of energy, sparks and all, hit the dragon straight in the face. It seemed to only anger him more. Amath was thrown aside by a wild shake of its body.
All air went out of Amath’s lungs as he hit the far wall, some pieces of rubble falling on him. He groaned and rolled aside... just as a larger piece fell where he’d been.
“Stop helping!!”
Yuval snorted and ran the rest of the way to the stairs. He watched Amath jump back up to the dragon... and climb his way up. The dragon flapped its wings again, this time it took flight... not without some difficulty. Clearly, the weight was a problem. Yuval wanted to cast another spell, but now he feared hitting Amath by mistake, or worse... He could only watch in horror while Amath climbed up to the dragon’s head and clawed at its eyes.
Another roar and a shake of his head – it was a miracle Amath didn’t fly out. The dragon flew unsteadily, up and down and sideways until it was out of view. Yuval hesitated, then ran back into the room, trying to approach the open wall to look out. He was thrown back by a strong gust of wind created by the dragon as it desperately tried to stay afloat. Then, finally, with a loud crash, the dragon fell.
Yuval quickly crawled back to the edge of the tower and looked down. “Amath?!” he called in a panic. “Amath!!” he was about to run back to the stairs when he saw Amath’s figure once more climbing up the side of the dragon, apparently in one piece. Yuval sighed in relief.
Amath waved from below and called up loudly. “Can we go now?”
Yuval sighed again. He turned back to the scrolls and books, still on fire, already almost consumed. He used a spell to put out the flames, but there was really very little that could be saved. Shaking his head, he ended up grabbing instead some of the dragon’s treasure before meeting Amath at the bottom of the tower.
The demon, bruised and dirty but no worse for wear, raised a brow.
“This will be a good payment for our troubles~” Yuval said, smiling widely. “You’re okay, right?”
Amath snorted. “Thanks for your worry.”
Yuval chuckled. “What?” he asked, feigning less worry than he’d felt. “It looked like you had it under control.”
The demon rolled his eyes. “Now can we go?”
“And leave all that treasure behind...?” Yuval hesitated, gave Amath a little glance. The demon was crossing his arms once again, looking rather annoyed. “Fine, fine,” he sighed. “I suppose we can go. The scrolls are all burnt up anyway.”
“You don’t believe in ghosts, do you?” Yuval asked as they crossed the double doors of the abandoned monastery. “This one has to be easy. Just ghosts, no dragons, no crazy sorceress, no nothing. Just find the library and go.”
Amath gave him a look, “I seriously doubt it.”
“You’re so negative lately,” Yuval sighed, leading the way.
Amath followed, trusting his lover to know where he was going.
“Well, this brings back memories,” Amath complained, as once more they came across cobwebs and dust and worn out pieces of furniture, though this time most rooms were furnished. Had they not, barely two months ago, gone through the same only to find a dragon at the end? He hoped not to meet the same fate here.
He sighed and watched as they passed the chancel, the chapter hall, the refectory... he scratched an arm as he walked, feeling the legs of a spider crawling on him. Further down was the kitchen. Then then what looked like a meeting room, past that, the refectory, the kitchen...
As it turned out, it seemed Yuval didn’t know where they were going. When they passed through the same kitchen for the third time, Amath asked, “Do you even know where you’re going?”
“Of course!” Yuval said “Past the cloister, down the stairs to the monk’s dormitories, and then through that, further down, to where they kept their libraries... ”
“Right. Just past how many kitchens is this?”
Yuval looked back at him, pursing his lips. “You noticed too?”
Amath stared. “... It’s a bit hard not to.”
The wizard pursed his lips and looked around. He opened another door... to the kitchen.
Amath cleared his throat.
“Oh, keep quiet,” Yuval grumbled, half glaring.
“I didn’t say anything,” Amath drawled, crossing his arms once again. It was starting to become his go-to sign of ‘I’m annoyed’.
“Since your sense of direction is so good, go ahead and lead us out.” Yuval dared.
“Fine,” Amath started walking the way they had come.
Despite his lack of faith on this working, Yuval followed. Past the kitchen. Past a second kitchen.
“Hah!” Amath pointed ahead triumphantly. “Something different!”
“The cloister!” Yuval brightened. He grabbed Amath’s hand and pulled him along, right across the courtyard. They explored down the corridor, opening the door to the end, right to... the refectory.
“No, no, no. That can’t be.” Amath reached for the door and closed it. “This has to be a different room.”
Yuval slapped his hand away “Maybe it’s another refe-” he stopped short. Having pushed the door open, the same door, they came to a kitchen.
“Okay,” Yuval closed the door, opened it again. Refectory again.
“This is stupid,” Amath growled. He stalked into the room.
“What are you-?” he closed the door in Yuval’s face. Yuval let a little cry. “Amath!” he opened the door... to the kitchen. He looked around “... Amath?”
A door opened across the cloister and Amath appeared through it.
Yuval shook, fists tightening. He stalked to his lover. “Don’t you dare do that again! I could’ve lost you!”
Amath opened his mouth, closed it, sighed. “Alright,” he took hold of Yuval’s fisted hand and brought it to his lips for a kiss. “I’m sorry.”
Yuval relaxed a little bit. He looked around pensively. “Maybe I’ll try a few spells... ”
Dragging Amath along, the wizard went to stand before a door, and waved his hands, drawing a symbol with a deft gesture. The door opened to a room. They closed it and reopened, to a different room. Grumbling, Yuval tried a second, more complicated spell, to no avail. Spell after spell after spell, it didn’t seem like they had managed anything. The hours passed, they were sure... and yet the sun did not move in the sky.
Tired and hungry, Amath went to the courtyard and picked a couple apples, handing one to Yuval, and sitting on the railing to eat his own, watching as Yuval attempted this or that spell between bites.
Finally, in what had felt like weeks of roaming and trying spells, a door opened to the dormitory. Unwilling to cry victory yet, they walked through the long corridors until they came to the stairs that, at last, led them down to the libraries. Not caring for the dust gathered there, Amath lay on one of the long tables and closed his eyes to rest.
Yuval grumbled, but he couldn’t really blame him; they’d been so busy, it’s not like they’d busied themselves with teaching Amath how to read and write the language... and here in this library there were many scrolls and tomes in many languages, most of which he could likely not read. The wizard let him rest then, and ended up using his magic to select several tomes that might address what they needed. He hoped none had been left behind that could have been useful... but he still had a pile to browse through, unable to bring them all back.
Amath slept and woke, and then debating on finding them more food... but feared leaving Yuval alone and not finding him again. Thus he waited until he was done, and made himself useful carrying the books once Yuval had selected them.
The way out of the monastery was as troublesome as the way in, but eventually they found their way back out. It had been day still in the monastery... it was past midnight outside.
“How long do you think we’ve been in there?” Amath asked.
“I’d rather not know... ” Yuval said. They loaded the horses, and went to the nearest town for a well-deserved meal and rest before they’d move along and go back home.
Unfortunately, after another two weeks of pursuing the tomes and scrolls, they proved useless for what they wanted, and they had to search again elsewhere.
