The Time Shield Read online

  “You wanna talk about stupid?” I asked. “You blew up the Lance of Power!”

  “Not my finest hour,” he shrugged.

  “Why are you here?” asked Cassandra, pulling out the Shattered Sword and leveling at the goblin.

  “I didn’t know this was a dead end. Maha!”

  “No, she means why are you in Vorova, goblin,” I said.

  “I have a name, you know,” he said, keeping his hands up and away from the Sword.

  “And that would be?”

  “Dhot Skullsong,” he said, puffing his chest out.

  “Okay, Dhot, why are you in Vorova?”

  “Obviously to get the Lance! Although that didn’t quite go as planned…”

  “Why did you want it, though?” I asked, looking him up and down. “No offense, but I’m not really sure you’d be able to use it. To sell, then?”

  “Sell? How pedestrian. No, no… I was going to figure out a way to wield it. In fact…” he turned around and started digging in his bag.

  “He’s going for a bomb!” I shouted at Cassandra.

  The elf hesitated for a half second, before raising the Sword up to strike the goblin.

  “Got it!” exclaimed Dhot, turning around and holding up two long, metal devices.

  “Those are weird looking bombs,” said Cassandra, giving me a look.

  “How was I supposed to know he was going for… whatever those are,” I said.

  “These are longer arms, see?” he said attaching them to his hands and moving them around. It elongated his arms by a foot or two, and had a couple of metal fingers at the end of it. Dhot tried to move them around quickly, and got the two arms tangled up. “Haven’t had much time to practice with them yet… guess I won’t really need to, now that I think about it.”

  “Why did you want the Lance in the first place?” asked Cassandra, Shattered Sword by her side. I figured out she didn’t view the goblin as a serious threat. After seeing him dispatch all of his guards faster than she could, I wasn’t so sure.

  “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” said Dhot, putting the metal arms back into his bag.

  “You’d be surprised what we’d believe after the month we’ve had,” I said. “Come on, give us a go.”

  The goblin paused as he closed his bag, contemplating whether or not to tell us.

  “Whatever,” he sighed, turning back to us. “I grew up in a small village in Gorland called Tu’Wun.”

  “I’ve heard of Tu’Wun,” I nodded. While I had never been there, the goblin village was sort of famous for being the closest inhabited place to the red and black dragon’s island of Ra’Chok. No one but goblins, and maybe a few orcs or kobolds, dared to live there. “It’s practically on the eastern coast, right?”

  “It was,” said Dhot. “Until the reds flew over and burned it to the ground.”

  “Tu’Wun was attacked?” I said, eyes widening. I hadn’t heard about that. Granted, no one cared about keeping communications up with a goblin village.

  “Yes, several years ago,” nodded Dhot, staring off into space as he thought back on it. “There were six or seven of them. The leaders of our village tried to reason with them first. One of the dragons took the form of a man, and told us that they wanted all of our quat. We were just a small village, with not much to our name. We couldn’t afford to give everything away, especially since it was months before the beginning of our harvest season. We would’ve starved.”

  “So you fought back,” said Cassandra.

  “If you could call it that. It was more like a genocide,” he said, shivering even though there was no breeze. “After our leaders said no, the man reverted back to his dragon form and took to the skies. We thought we were safe, until all of the dragons unleashed their breath on us. I and a few other goblins that weren’t killed immediately took to throwing rocks and sticks at them, but of course it didn’t do any good. The dragons just continued to dive down, scorching everything and everyone in sight.”

  Cassandra and I stared quietly at him as he paused, his mind back at that terrible scene.

  “I was the only one to survive. I went to several town across Gorland and Truska, telling people of what happened and asking for help. Everyone laughed at me, assuming I was a beggar just trying to get money from them. They said the black and reds never leave their home, and wouldn’t waste their time on a small goblin village even if they did venture back to the mainland. No one was going to help me. I was going to have to be the one to avenge my people. That’s why I wanted the Lance. I’m trying to collect as many legendary items as I can, so that the next time I run into any black or reds - or any dragons, really - I’ll stand a chance.”

  Any dragons? Note to self: Don’t tell this guy I’m a half dragon.

  I looked over at Cassandra, who’s eyes softened significantly as Dhot continued with his story. When he came to the end, she sheathed her Sword and took a few steps back.

  “We believe you,” she smiled.

  “You do?!” said Dhot, surprised before turning suspicious. “Why? No one ever believes me.”

  “Well, we were actually after the Lance for similar reasons,” I said. “We believe a second Dragon War is coming, and are trying to prepare for it.”

  “A second Dragon War?” whispered Dhot. “I just assumed the attack on my village was a small raiding party… do you think it could be the first acts of war against the mainland?”

  “It could’ve been,” I shrugged. I really doubted that, especially since Ulrich only recently got the crown and this attack was years ago. Still, maybe something more was going on, even back then. “That’s why we came to this town, and why we have the Shattered Sword.”

  “Fascinating… you know, I’ve already got something mythical, too,” he said, pointing at the goggles over his eyes. “These are the legendary Goggles of Greshok!”

  “Greshok?” I asked, looking over at Cassandra who shook her head. “I’ve never heard of him, or that item before.”

  “Doesn’t surprise me. Maha!” laughed Dhot. “Greshok was a goblin hero of old, known for taking on magic users and even dragons without anyones help!”

  “Interesting,” nodded Cassandra. “What do the Goggles do?”

  “Well, they are highly stylish,” smirked the goblin, putting his hands on his hips and striking a pose.

  “That’s it?” I asked, frowning slightly. Not really useful, no wonder I had never heard of them or the goblin who first wore them.

  “Maha! Of course not! They also let me see far distance, magical illusions, and through smoke. Basically, anything I could need from them.”

  “Seems useful,” I said slowly. Something came to my mind. “Could you stay right there for a second?”

  Dhot shrugged noncommittally. That was enough of a yes for me, and I pulled Cassandra over with me a few feet back.

  “I think we should invite him to come with us,” I whispered.

  “What?!” she hissed. “I feel bad for the guy too, but I think he might be crazy!”

  The two of us glanced over at Dhot, who had the two metal arms out again. He was talking and laughing at them as he banged them together.

  “Okay, he probably is a little crazy,” I yielded. “But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t work with him.”

  “You’re always going on about how we shouldn’t talk to crazy homeless seers!”

  “I see where you’re coming from, but this guy can really fight! You should’ve seen him earlier!”

  “Maybe I could’ve if someone helped me take out more than just a couple of the guards trying to kill us,” she said, crossing her arms.

  “Hey, it’s hard to control the power behind my magic,” I said. “There’s no telling if I would’ve accidentally killed those guys. Anyway, trust me on this one. I’ve got a good feeling about the goblin.”

  Cassandra sighed. “Okay, but it’s not my fault if he blows us all up.”

  “Works for me,” I said, walking back over to Dhot. If he
blew us up, I wouldn’t have to worry about her gloating anyway. “Dhot, what do you think about traveling with us?”

  “Traveling with you?” he asked, putting the arms back in his bag. “I don’t really see what good that’ll do either of us. We don’t know where any more mythical items are, and none of us have ever killed a dragon.”

  “Actually… you’re wrong on both accounts,” I said. “We know where the Time Shield is, or at least roughly. We know it’s in Lake Quip.”

  “In Lake Quip, eh?” asked Dhot, rubbing his chin. “I wasn’t aware humans and elves could breathe underwater…”

  “Well… we haven’t exactly figured that part out yet,” I nodded. Once we got out of town, we really needed to figure that out as soon as possible.

  “Also, we’ve already killed a red dragon,” added Cassandra.

  “It’s true,” I nodded. “Granted, Stalrik was kind of a small one… but he was-”

  “Stalrik?!” shouted Dhot, his eyes bigger than ever.

  “Yeah, that was his name,” said Cassandra. “We met him first in his human form, and were pretty surprised when he turned into a dragon. Reimar was the one that killed him.”

  “That’s you?” asked Dhot, point at me. I nodded. “Stalrik… when he was in human form, did he have wild red hair, and was really arrogant?”

  “He did!” I said. “Have you met him?”

  “He was the leader of the group that burned my town down,” mumbled Dhot. “I… I can never thank you enough for killing him!”

  “I mean, if we didn’t kill him first, he was going to kill us,” I mumbled.

  “I know!” exclaimed Dhot with a snap of his fingers. “I could build you guys a device to breathe underwater!”

  “Really?” asked Cassandra. “You know how to do that?”

  “Of course!”

  “So you’ll come with Cassandra and me?” I asked.

  “Who’s Cassandra?” he asked. “I thought the elf was Bertha. Maha!”

  “Check this way!” shouted a voice. “Someone said they saw a goblin run over here!”

  “Uh, we’ll explain later,” I said. “Let’s focus on getting out of Vorova first.”

  Chapter 8

  Dhot led us down a few side streets, looking around wildly at each corner. When he determined it was safe, he would let out a laugh and wave for us to follow. We could hear the clang of metal on metal as guards ran to and fro searching for us. I pulled my hood up tighter, but doubted it would help us much. Good thing Cassandra and I gave fake names, or they’d never stop hunting us down.

  We soon made it to a western edge of town, where the three of us crowded into a nook between two buildings.

  “There’s the western gate,” said Dhot, nodding over to the opening in the wall near us. “If we want to get to the Republic of Hur, this direction is the way we want to go.”

  “Why don’t we just try to go through the gate?” I asked, risking a glance at it. A few guards were talking to people entering, but there didn’t seem to be more than three or four of them. “Maybe word hasn’t gotten to them yet about us.”

  “That seems like kind of a stretch,” said Cassandra. “Guards are all over this town looking for us.”

  “Other ideas?” I asked.

  Cassandra quieted, shaking her head.

  “I don’t think we’ll be able to scale the walls without immediately being noticed,” said Dhot, looking up at the high walls. “We might be able to dig underneath, but who knows how long that would take.”

  We agreed to give the gate a try, even though none of us were particularly excited about the prospect. Unfortunately, there just didn’t seem another way out.

  “Remember, I’d prefer to not kill anyone if we can help it,” I mumbled as we approached the gate.

  “Maha! Got it!”

  Keeping our heads down, the three of us tried to sneak by as two of the guards were preoccupied with a troll trying to enter. The other two guards, a gnome woman and a human man, stood by and watched the troll with their hands resting on their weapons.

  It looked like we were going to make it out without any problems after all.

  “Oh, uh-halt!” said the man.

  The three of us froze.

  Were we busted that quickly? I thought about just running for it, but the land in front of us was a flat grassland for at least a mile before I saw the cover of a forest. They’d be able to call for help and still keep an eye on us, and it’d be that much more difficult getting away.

  “Sorry,” squeaked the gnome. “We forgot we’ve got to stop people going out of Vorova, too.”

  “Oh? Why’s that?” I asked, trying to sound disinterested.

  “Some group of thieves tried to steal the Lance of Power from the tower downtown,” shrugged the man, walking over to a table. “We’ve got to check everyone’s items and make sure there aren’t any problems. If you wouldn’t mind setting your things down here, and stepping inside the room over there.”

  “How do we know you won’t steal any of our items?” asked Dhot. “No offense, but guards from other towns have a tendency to make my things disappear while they are ‘inspecting’ them.”

  “We completely understand your concern,” squeaked the gnome. She must have gotten this complaint before. “Your items will remain on the table here, which you’ll be able to see from the window inside of the room.”

  Dhot opened his mouth to say something else, but then closed it. That was a good call. We were going to have to go through this song and dance no matter what, might as well get it over with as soon as we could. The last thing we needed was to waste time and end up with more guards showing up.

  I set my dagger and bag down on the table, following the gnome into the side room. There was a large table in here, along with several chairs. As promised, we had a perfect view of the table with our things thanks to a large glass window. I watched as Cassandra set her daggers and bag down. She hesitated as she took out the Shattered Sword, holding her breath as she removed it from the sheath. Thankfully, it wasn’t glowing, and it just looked like a broken blade.

  The goblin was the last to put his bag on the table.

  “And your weapons?” asked the man.

  “Don’t got any. Maha!” laughed the goblin. “I’m a goblin of peace.”

  “Uh huh,” said the guard, immediately opening up the goblin’s bag first. The man dug around as Dhot came in to join us. The man dumped the bag upside down and shook it violently, looking at it with confusion. Nothing came out.

  “How?” I whispered to Dhot. He was always pulling things out of there, and I knew for a fact there was at least a pair of metal arms left in there.

  The goblin winked at me as he took a seat, crossing his arms and smiling at the confused guard.

  The man half heartedly checked through my bag, as well as Cassandra’s, before going over to the other two guards still outside. The troll had finally been let in, and the guards stood around not doing anything. The man whispered something to them, then came over to join us in the room.

  “We free to go?” I asked.

  “Not quite,” said the man, shaking his head and walking over to stand with the gnome guard on the other side of the room.

  The door closed, and we saw the guard that the human talked to walk away and into town.

  “Something wrong?” asked Cassandra, raising an eyebrow.

  “No ma’am,” he smiled. “He just had to go to the restroom, so I told him we’d wait a moment for him to return.”

  “Kind of a weird policy,” commented Dhot. “Maha…”

  The man smiled, then bent over and whispered with the gnome guard.

  “Guys, something is going on,” I whispered. “This doesn’t make any sense at all.”

  “They must know they’re looking for an elf, human, and goblin traveling together,” whispered Cassandra. “I don’t know why we thought this was a good idea!”

  “You weren’t sharing any other ones!” I whispered
back.

  “Because I don’t say the first stupid thing that comes to my mind!”

  “Well maybe if you-”

  “Stop!” hissed Dhot. “What’s wrong with you two? We need to work together to get out of this!”

  “You’re right, you’re right,” I nodded.

  “Fine,” whispered Cassandra. “Sorry.”

  The three of us sat silently for a second, thinking over our options.

  “How about Cassandra and I distract the two guards, while you sneak out and grab out things,” I offered. “We can take them with us as hostages until we make it out of town. Once we’re a good distance away, we let them go.”

  “But how will we distract them?” asked Cassandra.

  “Easy,” I smiled. “The subtle art of seduction.”

  “Maha!” blurted out the goblin. The two guards paused, looking over at us and raising their eyebrows. “Um-Sorry… just remembered a funny joke involving a goblin, a dwarf, and a blue dragon.”

  The guards smiled politely, then went back to their conversation.

  “You seriously think you’re going to be able to seduce the gnome?” smirked Cassandra.

  “Oh, she’ll be dying to get to know me better,” I whispered. “I just hope your game is up to par.”

  “Okay, let’s do it,” she laughed softly. “It’ll be worth being thrown into jail when this doesn’t work.”

  “What do I do?” asked the goblin.

  “Just open the door quietly, and then grab our things,” I said.

  “There’s a guard outside.”

  “Then be quick and sneaky about it,” I shrugged.

  “What if the door is locked?” asked the goblin.

  “Run over and break the window instead,” I said.

  “But I don’t have my explosives!”

  “You do know you don’t need bombs to break glass… right?” asked Cassandra. “If you would’ve just cracked the glass container holding the Lance, we’d be in a very different spot right now.”

  “Okay!” hissed Dhot. “I’ll just punch it. Obviously I know I don’t need explosives to break glass. It’s just more fun that way.”

  Our plan set, all we needed now was to execute it.