C14 Chapter 14

The armor of obedience

They had reached their destination. Somewhere around here, there was supposed to be the passageway to the home of the First Dragon.

“Careful! We don’t know how stable the construction still is.”

Dana looked at Gomek when she said that, and then she shooed Shari off a dragon statue that was decorating the entrance.

“We don’t want anything tumbling down.”

They cautiously entered the temple, which turned out more sturdy than Dana had assumed. The inside, about twenty meters in diameter, appeared simple. It was a round room with columns lining the circumference. Behind it was a gallery with another passageway. A few stone benches completed the circle.

In the center of the temple, a dragon statue filled up most of the inside. In front of that stood a blackened, golden basin of fire, and that was it. Back in the day, there probably had been a fire burning there in honor of the dragon. That was long gone now. They searched the room and the statue carefully, but didn’t find anything.

Dana felt Shari’s agitation. The little pixie had been bored once again, and curious as she just was, she’d flown through the other passageway and outside. Now she was flitting back to the others, agitated, to tell them what’s she discovered. Dana already knew it, since she’d seen it through Shari’s eyes. Gomek though was clueless. He was not connected to Shari, much to his dismay, and so he had to make his way over to her before he found out the great thing she’d discovered. Excitedly flying back and forth, Shari pressured the others to follow here immediately.

A short time later, they were standing in a ceremony court, shaped like half a circle. This place was also lined by columns, roofed with a gallery that was lined with tiny walls. The Hof itself did not possess a roof. There were small dragon statues mounted to the columns everywhere. Even the inside of the courtyard was decorated with a mosaic made of dragons. But the most interesting thing was probably the pentagon sign that was drawn into the rock wall at eye level. There was probably some thought behind it that the sign was pointing upward with one corner, because in every corner of the sign there was also another circle, about the size of a palm. Dana could see a different symbol in every circle. The middle of the sign was recognizable in a different scripture. It was a little weathered over tie, but still easily readable.

“Only who turns out to be of worth, is permitted entrance.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Do we have to solve puzzles now, too?”, Gomek asked Dana. “We got this far and this is it?”

Dana didn’t reply. She walked over to the sign and searched it. The symbols in the circles seemed familiar. There were wavelike lines that were drawn both vertically and horizontally. Then there was a symbol of flames, and one for rock or stone. The last of the five was an aim, only that the rings were of different diameter and had been drawn by hand. What could that mean? She didn’t know.

“Slow down, Gomek. We’ll ask Erogat.”

Dana plucked the little crystal out of her bag and activated it. Shortly after, they heard Erogat’s voice. She explained in a few words what they’d found out so far and asked him for help. Dana held up the crystal so that Erogat could easily make out the sign and the symbols.

“You don’t recognize these? You really should pay more attention in class. This is a magic lock. As it says up there, it only opens his door to those who can open them with magic. Do you have it now?”

Dana mulled it over. Then her face lit up.

“I got it. The symbols are for fire, water, air, rock, and wood. I only need to find the right incantation, put it in the order of the symbols, and then we’ll be granted access to the dragon’s cave.” “Excellent…”

Dana heard Erogat laugh.

“…seems like you learned something after all. Have fun and please be careful.”

With that, he signed off. Dana looked at her friend.

“Of course. Now we know what to do. Let’s get started.”

Gomek and Shari positioned themselves behind Dana for security reasons. Then she started applying the different bouts of magic. It was harder than she had expected in the beginning, because she’d assumed it would be easier to aim for the small, circular symbols. Too many times, she hit two symbols at once. Afterwards, she lost track with the incantation, hitting the wrong symbol or sometimes none at all.

It felt like forever until she had gotten everything in the right order. Suddenly, the symbols disappeared together with the sign. Where they had been just a second ago, the rock became sort of fluid in the shape of a gate. Almost like the entrance to the prison cave. Dana hoped that this time she could take Gomek with her through the wall. The other portal hadn’t allowed that. She looked at him thoughtfully.

“I guess what you’re thinking. You don’t know if we’ll both make it through…since I couldn’t pass through the other entrance.” Gomek had guessed her thoughts correctly.

“Should I find the dragon, I’ll make sure to bargain something for you. You know how persuasive I can be!”, she replied and smiled at him.

“Let’s try it anyway. Come on! Give me your hand and let’s walk through this wall.”

Together, they positioned themselves in front of the wall. Cautiously, Dana approached the waving mass. Breathing became harder. In the span of a second, the material swept her up and pulled her through, until she stepped through on the other side. At first, she didn’t realize that Gomek had actually not made it through with her. She was completely speechless. In front of her, a mighty cave stretched out. Dana thought she had found the ultimate paradise. Wherever she looked, there was life happening everywhere. Trees, plants, and countless kinds of animals were gathered everywhere. Everything, just no dragons. After she had dragged her gaze away from the side, she called for Gomek.

“That didn’t go well. Gomek didn’t come through …then let’s go find the dragon!”, she snarled at looked around for Shari.

“Do you have any clue where we should start? This cave is almost bigger than the one back home.”

She’d hardly said it, when Shari let out a loud cheer and then dashed off. She disappeared into the depth of the cave without answering again.

“Could’ve guessed that. With that side, I can’t keep up. She just had to explore the area”, Dana mumbled and looked after her smiling.

Then she continued to look around. Not far from her there was a little hill covered in moss.

“From up there, you’ll have a beautiful view of the valley!”, she thought and marched off to climb the hill.

Once up there, she was witness to a beautiful scenery. As far as she could look, she saw forests, fields and pastures, landscapes and rivers, as well as some small lakes. The perfect biotope. Something of everything. And plenty of animals: Butterflies, birds, rabbits, and deer … many of those she saw, she only knew from books, which apparently had something to do with the time difference and the not existent ability to leave the mountains. The rest stayed hidden to her. And in the dwarf kingdom there were only very few animals. Who would want to bring competitors into their own territory? Even if one was a friend of animals like the dwarfs were.

As hard as she tried, she still couldn’t spot a dragon. Therefore, she tried the next best option and used Shari’s strategy. She called for the dragon as loud as she could.

“Hello? Is there a dwarf in here?”

She had hardly spoken the last word, when the hill started shaking. She lost her balance and tumbled down the incline. It would have probably ended badly if not something or someone had cushioned her fall.

“Why are you barking into my ear? I’m old, not deaf.”

Dana gazed around. She heard these words in her head, the same way she heard Shari and the demon.

“Where are you? Are you the dragon? Show yourself!”

“You were standing on me and didn’t recognize me? What kind of magician are you?” Deep, dark and pleasant, that’s what this new voice sounded like.

“I’m new to the business. Please excuse me.”

Dana heard a laugh and saw a mighty dragon’s head appear behind the “hill”. Now the supposed hill started moving until the dragon stood in front of her at full height.

“So you are Dana.”

The dragon studied her lovingly from head to toe.

“How do you know that?”, she inquired in surprise.

“I can read the thoughts of anyone that is near me. Not like in a book, but more like a picture story with subtitles. That’s how I know of your friend Gomek who is still waiting for you at the temple. I have already given him permission to walk through the gate.”

“Can you just do that? I had to work really hard to solve the puzzle. Mostly the throwing of those stupid wood- and rock balls that I have created to…”

The dragon laughed again in a friendly manner and replied:

“I know. After all, I have created that wall and the riddle. In a way, it’s something like a door knocker. Only those who can do magic can step into my kingdom. There are humans that can do a little magic, but they don’t have power over the five elements. You don’t need to be a magician for that … That was a tiny mistake on my part”, he smirked at Dana.

“Then you could have let me in without me solving the puzzle? I could’ve just used a rock to found on the wall?”

Dana shot the dragon a mystified look.

“Of course, … But that wouldn’t have been much fun for me, now would it?”, he answered snottily.

“Why is there an entrance portal anyway?”

Dana wanted to know the details now.

“Thousands of years ago, there was no wall there. The humans that had settled here wanted to worship me. They were searching for a new belief. I didn’t want that – they were strange people. So, I erected the wall and the magical gate. But I still kept my protective hand above then – until the catastrophe happened. The earth opened and destroyed the city. Afterwards, the humans disappeared. Later I blocked the only entrance by creating the ice cave.”

“I saw that. There are snow creatures living there now, the Yetis.”

“I know…”, he interrupted her.

“Rufus has told me about it at some point, even though I knew of them long before that.”

“Rufus is here? Where?...Where is he?”, she questioned anxiously.

“Somewhere in the back area of the cave in a little building…Oh, look. There’s your friend. Hello Gomek!”

The dragon lifted his impressive head and gazed in the direction Dana had come from. She followed his gaze and then beamed and ran over to Gomek.

“Can you see him? We found him.” Dana beamed even brighter and pointed at the “hill” behind her.

Gomek sported his own large smile. “Of course, he is hard to miss.”

Dana turned to the dragon again.

“Dragon, this is Gomek. Gomek, this is… What should we call you? What’s your name?”

The dragon took his time to think about it.

“My true name is too difficult to pronounce for any of you. It wouldn’t be good if you tried. Because once he’s spoken, he’s creating new worlds and new life, and he can also destroy that. Just call me…Rudi.”

“Ok. Gomek, this is Rudi”, Dana finished the introduction of the dragon.

“Now, enough with the talking. Get up on my back. I’ll bring you to Rufus”, Rudi interrupted Dana’s babbling.

Then he ducked, so that they could mount more easily. Dana and Gomek didn’t need to be asked twice. They quickly climbed onto Rudi’s back. Shari was still nowhere to be seen, and so they waited for the things that were supposed to happen next.

Majestically, the dragon lifted his body from the ground. It was only now that Dana saw Rudi’s wings. They weren’t exactly large, but apparently, they sufficed for flying.

Almost without making a sound, they soared over the valley. Now they could see the full extent of the cave: Creeks, rivers, and valleys – simply fantastic. Dana enjoyed the flight while Gomek was sitting behind her, tense and with his eyes closed he was clutching her. Dwarfs were incredibly courageous, but in water or up in the air. The earth was and is their element, everything else just wasn’t “dwarf-ish”.

Dana discovered a small stone building the dragon was aiming for when he started to touch down. They had hardly set down on the ground when Gomek slid down the dragon’s back and plopped down in the soft grass. He was glad to finally have steady footing, and he’d almost kissed…the ground. At the last second though, he got a hold of himself. That would have been far too embarrassing, even for him. Dana, on the other hand, would have loved to go another round.

Before she could cheer up Gomek, she was distracted by a noise. Behind her, someone cleared his throat. She immediately spun around and saw an old man standing in the doorway of the house. Strangely enough, Shari was sitting on his shoulder. Tears of joy were running down his smiling, aged face that was framed by a long white beard.

“My little Dana! Come into my arms. How tall you have grown. I thought I’d never see you again.”

Dana cringed. She hadn’t expected a greeting like that. She just stayed still and waited. Once the exuberant greeting was over and she had wedged herself free from the man’s grip, he looked at him.

“Do I know you?”, she wanted to now.

“It’s me. Your uncle Rufus!”

“My uncle?!” Dana’s voice sounded confused.

“More precisely, I’m your godfather. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you last. Back then you were still lying in your bassinet, and now you are … a young lady. Come inside, we have plenty to talk about, I believe.”

Dana inquisitively looked around. “Where is your small creature?

Rufus stopped walking and had a sad look on his face.

“There was an…accident…she….”

Dana understood and noticed right away that he didn’t want to go into any more details, so she left it at that.

He abruptly turned around. “Come now, let’s go inside.”

Together, they stomped after Rufus. Except for Rudi – he was simply too tall for the building. Once they’d passed the threshold, they were standing in the middle of a roomy hall. Dana’s breath caught in her throat. In the middle of the room she recognized a monolith. She immediately set off to inspect it.”

“Forget about that thing”, Rudi waved her off. “I haven’t been able to active him in all the time I’ve been here. One needs a locket for that and mine has been gone since the experiment.”

“Not mine.”

Proudly, Dana pointed at her looked and then walked over to the monolith. She performed the hand gestures Erogat had taught her and activated it. He reacted immediately.

“Fantastic! … Just that I can’t use the monolith without one.”

He pointed at her jewelry.

“But I can. You only need to grasp my hand. I can bring one person through the portal easily.”

“Can I see it again? I’ve never seen one like this. Usually, there’s only one creature on the locket.”

Rufus looked at it from all sides.

“You know what that means: the dragon and the lion?” He tapped his finger on the two figures that were gleaming in gold on the crystal.

“No, what does it mean?” Dana didn’t understand the purpose of the question. To her, it was simply a pretty picture inside the locket.

“The lion presents courage, and the dragon means wisdom. You will have a difficult life, because courage and wisdom don’t always go hand in hand.”

After that explanation, they kept walking until they had reached Rufus’s living room. Dana saw right away that this was the home of a bachelor. Everything was lying around haphazardly – it was pure chaos.

“I haven’t expected visitors today.” Rufus blushed.

“Not only today…”, Gomek mumbled and searched the unruly room for a place to sit down. Everyone followed suit, and once Rufus had served drinks to everyone, they took turns telling each other about their story and the adventures they’d gone through. Time passed in the blink of an eye. Rufus, of course, questioned her on who had educated her.

“Erogat? …

He’s still living in the City of Magic? Shouldn’t he be dead by now?”

Rufus was astounded.

“He is; has been for many years!”, Dana announced as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

“So, the old rogue really did it. He was sure that if one kept their body from deteriorating after death, once could stay in this world. Well done!”, Rufus admired his accomplishment.

“Do you want to talk to him? I have this crystal that helps us communicate.”

She searched through her bags for the little object.

“Oh yes, please. But not right now, I will talk to him later.” They chatted for a while. It got later and later…Shari was the first to fall asleep, then Gomek. Rudi had fallen asleep outside the house hours ago. One could hear the noises he was making in his sleep all the way in the house. At some point, Dana got tired as well. She stood up and walked over to one of the windows.

“Rufus, does it never get dark here?”, she wanted to know from the magician.

“I don’t think so…at least not since I’ve settled down here”, he mumbled thoughtfully. A slightly suppressed yawn from Dana had interrupted him.

“No wonder that we’re all tired!”, Dana assumed. “Who knows how long we’ve been awake for. Let’s go to bed, we can keep talking later.”

“Good idea. Choose a corner and then I’ll see you when you’ve slept enough. I have to talk to Erogat. Good night.”

He left the living room then to complete his task. Hours later, Dana was the first to wake up. She went to search for Rufus and found him in his study. She wanted to know more about her parents, about the accident, and if there was anything she could do to make it all go away. She found him sitting there mindlessly brooding over a book. When she announced herself, he jerked up in surprise.

“Oh, it’s you. Can I help you?”

Without beating around the bush, she asked her questions, but the answers were more than unsatisfying.

“Your parents meant well. They had heard of the experiment that had our home continent disappear. They thought they had found the mistake that had let to chaos. But they were wrong. Now everyone is lost somewhere in time. I’ve been searching for a solution forever. Not even Rudi knows what to do. I’m not blaming your parents, but the Council of Magicians should have hindered them from doing what they did. It was too large, too much magic. It had to go wrong.”

Dana stood there, frozen. She felt responsible, and like she needed to do something. He apparently guessed her thoughts.

“You don’t have to blame yourself. There’s no one to blame when parents make a wrong decision.”

He started laughing heartily until Dana got infected and joined in.

“Come on, let’s have breakfast.”

That’s when Dana remembered her urgent problem. On the way to the kitchen, she told him about the dwarfs’ problems, about the meteorite, and how they wanted to destroy it…with the help of the prisoner.

“What do you know about the armor of obedience? Where can I find it and how do I use it.”

“No, you will have to talk to Rudi about that. It’s his area of expertise.”

After breakfast, they looked for Rudi. He was soaring a couple rounds through the cave. She waited patiently until he touched down.

“Well, how was it up there? Can you take me along next time?”

“Sure, but that’s not why you are here, is it? You are looking for the obedience suit of armor, isn’t that right? Sure it is, I know your thoughts. The suit of armor was created by me. It’s not the kind of armor that knights wear.”

“What are knights?”, Dana inquired right away.

“Humans, dressed from head to toe in metal. But the armor I mean is magical and consist of five parts: a headband, a necklace, sleeves, a belt, and knee protectors. So technically it’s seven parts, if you count the sleeves and knee protectors twice. Each object itself contains a protection charm. Only when they are all put together they can develop their full potential.

Only by using that, you can force creatures like the Ruler of Darkness into a controllable human form. It’s the only chance to get him out of his prison. There’s only to options to transform him: a handful of incantations … or he puts the armor on himself.”

Dana told him about the conversation she’d had with the demon.

“You’ve already talked to him, and if you bring the armor he will put it on voluntarily. Not bad, the thing with the bet. My appreciation. Now you only need to know the places they’re hidden in. Go and ask Rufus for the Book of Power and bring it to me.”

“Does it have all the information?” Dana got excited.

Finally, she had found another piece of the puzzle. She went to fetch the book right away. Again, she found Rufus in his study. She quickly told him about her conversation with Rudi and had him hand her the book. Rufus was a little curious, since he knew almost every book by heart, he also knew that the book contained no information on the Armor of Obedience.

“We will see. Rudi will know what he’s doing.”

Dana laughed and disappeared towards the exit with the book under her arm. Once she reached Rudi, she showed him the book. He touched it and started speaking a few indiscernible words. The book immediately changed its appearance. It got thinner and twice as large as it had been before.

“Open it. In there, you’ll find a description of how to locate the different parts of the armor, including a map and a description of the route. Even if one was currently wearing the suit of armor, the book could still show you the exact location of the parts. Not bad, right?! It’s always possible that someone finds a part and takes it out of the hiding spot. The map and the route automatically adjust the new locations. My idea!”

Dana opened it up.

“The entire cave system isn’t on here.” Dana seemed disappointed. She would have loved a map of the entire system of tunnels and caves in these mountains.

“Of course not. It only shows the way to the parts of armor and their immediate surroundings. You can’t get everything all at once! But you will find everything you need and that’s the important part. The book will also help you find the secret tunnels. Ask the book for help and it will present you with a solution.”

Dana remembered what Toben loved to say: “The more answers you get, the more questions you will have.”

That was painfully true for her at that moment.