The Dragon God (Book 2) (13 page)

“It’s only a rat,” Skath shrugged.

Rozelle stepped forward, “That’s no rat, it’s a shape changer. Trust me, I know. I’ll get it.” She instantly morphed into a large rodent and chased after it.

“Rozelle. No!” Trillius pleaded.

“What is that thing?” El’Korr exclaimed.

There was no response as they listened to the hurried scratching claws of the metamorphic animals battling within the walls of the ship.

The two creatures scampered through the narrow, damp, and moldy hull. A strong musty scent filled the passageway. Rozelle moved with ease as she stayed on top of the spindly tailed intruder. There was a slight turn, and then suddenly there was nowhere else to run; a wide and reinforced beam cut off access from going any further. The spy turned on Rozelle, hissed, revealed its sharp fangs, and glared with glowing red eyes. Rozelle skidded to a halt.

“You have nowhere else to run,” Rozelle squeaked in her new rat language.

It screeched back a response, the tone stronger, “They will smell your rotting body inside this ship for days, druid.”

“I’m not looking to harm you. I just want to talk. Let’s work out this misunderstanding.”

The vile rat lunged for Rozelle. They tumbled together. She extended her legs and claws to try and keep the feral animal’s distance. One of its claws raked across her stomach and then grabbed hold of her neck with its razor sharp teeth. Screeches of pain echoed through the ship.

Rozelle morphed once again, this time into a large snake. She wrapped her new, long and slithering form around the rat, attempting to squeeze the life from it. Growls of pain came forth from the rodent at Rozelle’s surprise counterattack. It managed to scratch its way free from her grip. She quickly coiled into a defensive posture.

It attempted to get around her, but Rozelle snapped and pushed it back, blocking its escape. Feeling trapped, the mangy rat attacked relentlessly, and Rozelle was unable to react quickly enough in her snake form to defend each strike. Rozelle knew she couldn’t defeat this creature as a reptile.

The spy hissed as it lunged in with its claws but was surprised once again by the clever druid as she morphed into a black cat—the clear rival to the entire rodent family. Startled, it backed away from the vicious feline retaliation. Rozelle confidently approached in her new body, her feral yellow eyes glowing in the dark. The fur on her back rose and she hissed, revealing her sharp, white teeth.

The rat tried to change back to its original size but was unable to do so, backed into the corner of the confined area. It was desperate to get away. Rozelle moved in for the kill. Her senses were heightened and she could smell fear. It didn’t take long for her to swipe the rodent a few times with
her paw and then grab hold of it with her teeth at the back of its neck. She tasted blood and felt its body go limp.

A sleek black cat emerged from the opening that led back into the storeroom with the rat dangling from its mouth. Skath and Myers pointed their swords. Everyone was speechless, waiting to see what was going to happen.

Rozelle laid the rodent on the ground. It suddenly materialized back to the two-foot tall creature they had originally seen. Rozelle then shape shifted back to her gnome stature and joined Trillius, proudly clutching his arm.

“What is that thing?” Captain Elsbeth questioned.

“It’s called a devling,” Raina responded.

“A what? I’ve never heard of such a thing. Why is it on my ship?”

“It is following
us
,” Raina said. “Devlings are used by mystics. Apparently, someone is keeping an eye on us.”

“What are we to do with the gnomes?” Skath asked the captain.

She eyed them carefully before responding and then walked closer.

“What were your intentions, little-ones?”

Trillius quickly chimed, “We overheard Raina speaking of ‘the Pearl of the Deep’ and thought we could…help.”

“When did you hear this?” Raina questioned.

“Well, before we even came aboard this ship of course, otherwise, how would we have known which one to hide out on?” Trillius smiled, thinking his ploy had worked. He looked around the room confidently at each of the heroes.

“Put them in the brig,” Captain ordered.

Trillius’ expression changed to shock, “What? Surely helping you kill a spy should garner some leeway?”

“I think not,” Skath said as he grabbed the gnome.

“Captain Elsbeth, I wish to hire these gnomes,” Raina stated.

Everyone froze and looked confused. El’Korr, Elsbeth, and Trillius simultaneously exclaimed, “What?!”

“We are in need of someone of their caliber. Yasooma did not keep things out in the open, so I suspect we will need some skullduggery skills in acquiring the items.”

Trillius stumbled over the words, “Yes, skull-doog-eerriie skills.” He then whispered to Rozelle, “What does that mean?”

“She said you’re a thief.”

“And now it seems it is a paying profession,” Trillius responded. He turned back, “I require ten percent value of all the loot we partake in on our little excavation.”

A low growl alerted Trillius, and he turned to look over at El’Korr. The dwarf glared at the gnome and, to Trillius’s eyes, he seemed to resemble a fire giant with his orange hair and beard ablaze. “Or whatever you deem is fair,” his voice a higher pitch.

Captain Elsbeth began to walk out of the hold, “As you wish Raina, but I ask that all items are returned to my crew and any further ‘skull-doogery’ that happens aboard my ship will be your responsibility.”

Raina nodded in acknowledgement of Elsbeth’s demands. Skath and Myers followed their captain and headed back to the deck. Xan, who had kept his charge out of the way until he knew it was safe, now allowed Lufra to enter the room to get a better look at the creature and the gnomes.

There was a short span of silence as everyone looked each other over.

“I’m Silly Samuel and this is Rozelle.”

“You look familiar to me,” Xan professed while scrutinizing Trillius.

“Seen one gnome, seen ’em all,” he laughed.

“A druid, I presume?” Raina said.

“Why yes I am,” Rozelle proudly stepped forward.

“You were very lucky to take on a devling by yourself and live to tell about it.”

“If you say so. It tried to revert back to its original shape but it was too small of an area. I guess it was stuck as a rat.”

“Well, I don’t know about you all, but I sure could use some fresh air,” Trillius began to walk toward the door.

“Where do you think you’re going, Trillius?” Xan asked, emphasizing the gnome’s true name.

He turned back to the elf and began to respond to the question, raising his hand with his index finger in the air. “Well, I—” Trillius held his
gaze and froze in place as he realized he was caught. “Dammit!” he brought his hand back down, taking in a deep breath and then exhaling. “Rozelle, maybe one day you will understand what it is like being famous. It’s lonely at the top.”

“T
his must be the place the old villager woman spoke about,” Dulgin announced.

They studied the slightly tilted granite column, towering above the heroes, adorned with carvings of dwarves and ancient symbols. The old marker stood at the base of a sheer-faced cliff. Prairie weeds dotted the area while fragments of sharp chipped rock littered the ground.

“Do you know what it means, Master Dulgin?”

He studied it for a moment and then said, “It’s old.”

Spilf scoffed, “That’s it? I thought you knew a lot of history.”

Dulgin clenched his fist, “I know that you are going to be
history
in a second, Stubby.”

“Spilf, have Lester and Ross check it over,” Bridazak jumped in.

“I don’t think there is anything here, but it’s worth a try.” Spilf withdrew his simple leather wrap and revealed his rusty thieving tools. Lester and Ross were once a sacred secret to the Dak, but since their heroic escapade with the Orb, Spilf had shared the mystery with his comrades, including ‘Grumpy,’ as Lester and Ross had titled Dulgin. The brothers appear not as rusted items, but instead truly as magnificent magical instruments, pure bronze in color with enlarged round eyes, but only to whomever wields them. Lester and Ross blinked often throughout their use, adding to their innocent appearance, as they telepathically linked minds with their owner.

“Hello Master, so good to see you again,”
Lester chimed in his metallic sounding, slightly echoing voice.

Ross’ greeting was high pitched and squeaky,
“Hi Spilf, I just had an amazing dream.”

“You can dream?”
Spilf quickly formed the words inside his mind.

“Yep, and it was a good one.”

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds before Lester yelled,
“Well, what was it?”

“What was what?”

“Your dream, you pick-head!”

“Oh, you do care about me after all, Lester! I knew it even though you said awful things to me those hundreds of years ago when we were trapped inside that scary coffer in the lair of—”

“Would you shut up and just tell us your dream for a lock’s sake.”

“Yeah, okay, the dream. Well, it had a beautiful golden lock that gleamed my reflection and I don’t know where you were Lester, but I was in charge this time and I had this mechanism figured out. It had never been opened by anyone, as it was legendary. It was constructed inside a monstrous stone door. Come to think of it, I can’t remember who my master was during this dream. Oh well, it doesn’t matter cause I opened it and I was the hero.”

“What was on the other side of the door?”
Spilf asked.

“Beats me, but wasn’t that a good one, Lester?”

“Yeah, great. Remind me not to ask you about your dreams next time.”

“Okay, I will.”

Lester changed the subject,
“Master, what can we pick for you today?”

“I want you both to try to find something hidden amongst this old dwarven marker.”

“Easy enough. Okay Ross, let’s do our thing.”

“Oh no, not dwarves,”
cried Ross.

Spilf maneuvered his magical tools from top to bottom and circled the ancient pillar, until his trusted items alerted him by revealing hidden writing. The mysterious gold lettering running straight down the frame of the granite, materialized before his eyes.
“Can you read it?”
Spilf questioned.

“Yep, we can read it, but are you sure that is a good idea?”
Lester inquired.

“Yeah, reading the ‘Grumpy’ language is never a good idea,”
Ross added.

“Guys, I need to find my parents, and this could help us.”

“Master, I’m sure it is not important. Dwarves are barbaric and brutal, probably a warning to stay away from their gold.”

“Yeah, they are a scary race, just look at Grumpy, he has that nasty scar on his face, you know, the kind that you just can’t stop staring at but you also want to look away. Oh no, I’m looking at it now. He has me under his ugly web of ugliness, Lester. Help me.”