CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE A MAGICAL MEETINGAfter hearing his closest friend’s shocking tale, Maldrin not only believed Garrick, but he was eager to meet the mercenary’s new companions. While Garrick went out to get Elias and Cerelene, Maldrin poured some water into a small cauldron to brew some tea for the surprise visit. Then his mind began to race as he chose the choicest of leaves.

  So much was said over the st few minutes between himself and his oldest friend. The location of the Scepter Sword of the King Priest was now known, as well as those of the remaining Holy Stones that powered it. And now he could be part of the quest to acquire the legendary weapon. Of course, there was also the added mystery of the sudden invasion from The Barren Wastend, which was now happening as well. All this news, along with having held one of the ancient Holy Stones in his hand, was almost too much to take in at once.

  After putting the lid over the cauldron, Maldrin heard the voices of Garrick and his companions coming closer to the cottage. The wizard loved to go on jobs with the mercenary from time to time, but this time it, for sure, would not be like the old days. He did not know the elf maiden nor the knight and, though he was pretty sure of joining them, he would wait to make the decision until after he met them.

  As Garrick opened the door, Maldrin walked over to meet his new visitors. Elias came in first, followed by Cerelene. Though the Knight of Providence set his sword and shield by the door, near the mercenary’s weapons, the elf maiden only id her quiver down.

  Maldrin’s eyes widened when he got a good look at Elias. Then he chuckled. “You look like you could break me in half across your knee if you wanted to.” Then he raised his staff with a grin. “But do not try or I will add you to my statues.”

  “I am quite happy in my present state, wizard,” spoke Elias, looking at Maldrin with a wary smile. Then the big blonde knight slightly bowed. “Elias Romwell, Captain of The Knights of Providence.”

  After Elias stood straight again, Garrick gestured to the elf maiden, who was taking in the cluttered cottage.

  “And this, my friend, is Cerelene,” announced Garrick. “Miss Lightshower, Maldrin Esselbach,” said the mercenary, moving his outstretched hand from the elf maiden to the wizard.

  As Maldrin went to Cerelene, Elias began looking over the wizard’s home as well.

  “You are so young and beautiful for such a formidable fighter! I would not believe it if I had not heard it from Garrick himself,” stated Maldrin in astonishment.

  “You are too kind,” replied Cerelene, nervously fiddling with her red braided hair. Then she took another quick gnce around the unkept cottage. “Your home is most...comfortable.”

  Garrick did his best to cover up a ugh, but Maldrin heard him. After giving the mercenary a short look of consternation, the wizard returned his gaze back upon the elf maiden.

  “Such manners. I expected nothing less from the royal house of Lightshower. But please, do not stretch the truth, my dear,” stated Maldrin with a grin.

  Caught in her lie, Cerelene smiled shyly. Then her eyes fell upon the dress against the door. “This dress is beautiful. Garrick had told us that it was only you and Tal living here. Is this a family heirloom?”

  Maldrin smiled and slightly bowed as Cerelene walked over to the garment. “Yes you are right. It is only myself and Tal. The dress is more of a memento than an heirloom, if that makes sense.”

  “I see,” answered Cerelene, running her hand over the fabric of the simple, yet beautiful dress, wishing she was wearing it instead of her green shirt and skirt.

  Seeing a group of tiny knight figurines dispyed meticulously in front of a rge fortress, Elias left Garrick’s side to admire it.

  “I have heard many great things about you, Maldrin. A good friend to Garrick is sure to be a good friend to me,” nodded Elias, picking up one of the knights from the small wooden table. After looking at it, he stared back at the dispy. “The second siege of Fortress Destros. When the fortress finally fell, the tyrant Jurek Navim surrendered to King Almanor Brock, after he was found in the mysterious underground tunnels beneath the fortress.”

  A second ter Elias tapped the knight figure as he looked at it. Then he finished, “And the human nds were finally united into one kingdom.”

  “And have been for decades still, under King Gideon Brock,” added Garrick, looking from the dispy of figurines to Maldrin. When the wizard winked, Garrick looked back at Elias.

  Maldrin wiggled his fingers and spoke, “Animate.” Suddenly, the knight Elias held lifted his shield and swung his sword.

  Elias gasped and dropped the knight. Then when the figurine nded back in the mock battlefield below, it returned to its pce.

  Garrick and Cerelene ughed as Elias looked up with an expression of surprise at the wizard. With a wave of Maldrin’s other hand, a strong gust of wind flew toward a rge stone table, clearing the dust from both it and the chairs that sat around it.

  “Please, the tea is almost ready. I do not get many visitors, especially ones of your stature,” replied Maldrin. Then he walked back to the steaming cauldron and, after he poured tea for four, the cups floated in front of him as he returned to the table.

  Garrick watched as Elias and Cerelene grabbed their cups. The mercenary nodded at the wizard, who then grabbed the elf maiden’s arm as she blew the steam rising from her tea.

  “Garrick tells me that you defied Queen Lightshower, your very aunt, by speaking in favor of helping King Brock and King Ironhearth in their fight against the treasonous Landon Rosser,” spoke Maldrin with much interest. Then the old wizard patted the elf maiden’s hand twice. “Cerelene, please if you would, tell me the whole story.”

  Cerelene smiled and nodded at the old wizard. Then she breathed in slowly, in hopes of holding back the strong emotions that always came every time she told the story.

  “As you know, Queen Ilsa Lightshower is a strong Sorceress. But I believe she is becoming a weak leader,” began Cerelene in a steady voice. “My aunt must make the right decisions for her people first. I know that. I believe that. However, I want others to respect us. To know that we elves will ultimately do what is right.”

  Garrick and Elias fixed their eyes on the elf maiden intently. They knew why and how Cerelene was banished, but they could tell by the elf maiden’s demeanor that the whole story would come out now.

  “When the human and dwarven dignitaries asked for her help and she refused, I was not only let down, I begged the queen to reconsider. And, though she was surprised by my speaking out in front of the dignitaries, she only looked at me from her throne and calmly said she would not,” continued Cerelene.

  Maldrin took a sip of his tea as Cerelene fell silent, trying to find the right words. Though it took her more than a few seconds, the wizard’s eyes never left her.

  “When she turned from me to dismiss the dignitaries, I knew I had to try once more,” continued Cerelene, finding her voice again. “I told my queen that King Brock was a good man, and that if Dwarf King Ironhearth had allied with him, we should as well. My mother grabbed my arm. My father raised his hand in apology as the queen looked at me with anger starting to rise in her eyes. But that slow burning anger rising in her eyes was less than the wild anger that was now building in me.”

  Everyone watched without blinking as Cerelene relived the intense memory.

  “She told me to be silent. But how could I? To not ally all the good races of Danaria against a madman and the goblins we despised so much! And that is what I yelled, holding back my tears.”

  Garrick, Elias, and Maldrin watched as Cerelene tried to hold back the anger and sadness as she finished the full account of her altercation with Queen Lightshower.

  “Though my aunt banished me for a year as punishment for criticizing her not once, but three times in front of the human and dwarven dignitaries, she did allow my parents to send me anywhere they chose. I was still royalty and, even more, the daughter of the her sister. However, I decided to leave that night.”

  Cerelene pulled her bow from her shoulder and looked at it lovingly before looking back at Maldrin.

  “Now my other aunt, Leti, and I are close. As captain of The Royal Archer Brigade, she, of course, taught me the bow, but more importantly that time training with her had also brought us closer together,” continued Cerelene, rubbing a finger over the bow string. “She knew I would leave, even though I did not tell her. She tried to stop me as I went for Azure, but decided, in the end, that it was my decision, after I reminded her that I was of age and not the little one she might always see me as.”

  Cerelene shouldered her bow once more and continued. “I needed to be free from the cage of royal life. It was Leti who told me to seek out the High Priest in The Holy City. Somehow, she knew he would take me in.” Then the elf maiden smiled at her favorite part of the memory. “She said in The Holy City, I could think about what I truly wanted, and that I would, at the very least, be a well pced pair of elven eyes and ears in The Human Kingdom Lands, since our queen would not move to help in the war happening outside our forest. When I left, I had the hopes that all that was happening to me was for a reason.”

  Cerelene looked at Garrick and Elias, whose eyes were already on her. Then she looked assuredly at Maldrin. “Now I no longer hope. I know.”

  Maldrin, intrigued by the elf maiden’s story, leaned forward, his fingers caressing the top of his staff. “Ahh, Cerelene. You may be hot tempered, but growing up in the royal house, combined with your lengthy stay in The Holy City, has made you wise beyond your years.” Then the wizard abruptly turned to Elias. The big man, caught off guard, sat his tea down after having just lifted the cup close to his lips.

  “And you my boy, the captain of The Knights of Providence,” smiled Maldrin. “That does not surprise me in the least. Elias, of course, meaning ‘Dedicated to Elion.’ Your parents must be very pious.”

  “Yes, Maldrin,” replied Elias politely, returning the wizard’s smile. “Both my mother and my father. They were humble farmers though, like Garrick’s mother, they also revered Elion. And even though they were childless for many years.”

  The knight took a drink of his tea and continued as the old wizard eyed him with interest.

  “However, my name was not always to be Elias,” continued the knight, thankfully. “Wizard, I would not be alive today if it was not for Elion hearing my father’s prayer. I was born sickly. I almost did not live through the night. With the cleric of our small town away, the midwife did all she could for me, but I stopped breathing. As she and my mother cried out in sadness, my father whispered through tears, ‘Great god Elion, save my son, my only child, and we will raise him to serve you above all else.”

  Elias stopped for a moment and then csped his hands together. “My father told me that within a few seconds of whispering those words, I started to cry in my mother’s arms.”

  Maldrin gnced at Garrick as Elias proudly told his birth story. The mercenary locked eyes with the wizard for a few seconds. Then they both returned their gaze to the knight. However they did not know that Elias had noticed their actions.

  Without missing a beat, Elias continued. “They wanted me to become a cleric.” Then he ughed. “But I was always battling with wooden swords. Taking on imaginary dragons and goblins, always energetic and ready for action. I think they knew I would defy them and become a Knight of Aubrelon in the service of King Brock if they continued to force the cleric life upon me. So they relented and had our town cleric petition The Holy City to allow me to take the trials. That, coupled with the midwife as a witness to my birth, I was given the opportunity to become a Knight of Providence.”

  Elias sat back in his chair and looked at Garrick first, then Cerelene, and finally his gaze fell and stayed on Maldrin.

  “I still have nothing but the utmost respect for the holy clerics and The Knights of Aubrelon,” continued Elias. “However, I know that Elion has guided my steps since birth, to not only become a Knight of Providence, but now to join this quest for the Scepter Sword, and in doing so return the world of Danaria again to all that is good and sacred.”

  With Elias’ gaze still fixed on him, Maldrin stood up and smiled. “Elias, I have no doubt that you are not only ready for anything that comes your way, but it is your faith in Elion that will keep you until the end.”

  Garrick watched as his old friend walked over to one of his book shelves. As Maldrin eyed the titles on the spines of all of his many spell books, Elias and Cerelene studied the old wizard they had just been introduced to only minutes ago. They had questions for him as well, but were silent as Maldrin caressed the wyvern tooth that hung around his neck by a braided leather cord. After being lost in thought for a moment, he finally spoke.

  “You need a wizard to fight the Shadowmage. That is why you’ve come to me...” began Maldrin.

  “Yes, but you are also my...” interrupted Garrick, starting to stand.

  Maldrin turned to face the mercenary, cutting him off. “Yes. Yes, I know Garrick. I am also your friend. Sit down, my boy.” Then the wizard waved his hand and Garrick sat back down. But it was not a magic spell that made the mercenary return to his seat. It was respect. Respect for an old friend who now had much on his mind and not much time to think about it.

  “So you will go with us, my friend?” asked Garrick after a few moments. The mercenary could tell that Maldrin wanted to go, but the old wizard had to be sure.

  Maldrin sat back down and pced an aging hand next to Garrick’s on the table. After looking at the contrast of the two hands, the wizard stroked his long gray beard with his other hand and then slowly nodded his head at the mercenary.

  “Yes. I will go,” answered Maldrin, with a sigh. Then the old wizard chuckled to himself. “I am not getting any younger. If this is the st quest I take, I will be happy. There is no doubt that the stakes are the highest I have ever been apart of.“ Then Maldrin tapped his master’s staff on the floor twice. “Even when acquiring this.”

  “You still have what it takes, old friend.” smiled Garrick. Then the mercenary nodded at the staff in Maldrin’s hand. “That is all the proof I need.”

  Maldrin nodded, though his face became contemptive again. “Garrick, I am not yet strong enough on my own to defeat the Shadowmage, even with my master’s staff.” Then the old wizard’s expression softened and turned optimistic as he faced Cerelene. “With all of us working together, I believe we can defeat his apprentice. It will not be easy; the dark elf is not only strong in her magic, but in confidence.”

  Then Maldrin’s gaze fell on Elias. “However, if Elion is willing, he will grace us with the dwarven representative by then. But more importantly, we will need a cleric as well, to have any chance at all against the Shadowmage. Not only is his magical power immense, he is as wise as he is cunning.”

  Maldrin rose from his seat again and walked over to the one window that still allowed the sun to shine through. As Elias and Cerelene watched Maldrin closely, Garrick rubbed his beard as he took in everything the wizard said. After a few seconds, Maldrin turned and looked back at the table and his guests.

  “Remember, this is a man who has not only lived for hundreds of years somehow, after being sealed in the Tower of Mystics and Magic by the strongest of wizards. But time and time again, the Shadowmage has defeated all comers, even after my master’s master, along with the others in the High Council together, could not destroy him completely, but only banish his flesh into the void.”

  Then Maldrin looked over at Garrick. “But first things first.”

  The mercenary was now looking at a dragon statue as he listened. Then with his gaze still fixed upon the marble figure, he asked, “What of Firebaugh? What are your thoughts?”

  “We can defeat the dragon as long as we can make it up The Cloud Shroud Mountain,” replied Maldrin, matter of factly. “But first we must go into The River Caverns.”

  The mercenary sat up quickly, taken aback. “You never wanted to go into the caverns with me before. You said the creatures there were too strong for us.”

  After Maldrin walked back to the table he sat down again next to his old friend. “Yes my boy, but my powers have strengthened,” assured the wizard. “And we are bringing the captain of The Knights of Providence, carrying a shield created by The Sacred Bcksmiths, as well as this young elven archer, who is most excellent with a bow.”

  Elias and Cerelene looked at each other nervously, and then back at the mercenary and wizard, who were more than catching up. Then Maldrin finished his thought.

  “Besides Garrick, we do not have a chance of defeating Firebaugh if we do not acquire what is deep within The River Caverns.”

  “And what is deep within the River Caverns, my old friend?” asked Garrick, his interest peaked.

  “A bag,” whispered the wizard.

  “A bag!?” blurted out Elias and Cerelene simultaneously, in disbelief, but more in confusion.

  “Yes a bag. Oh, but it is really the item that is in the bag that counts,” winked Maldrin.

  Garrick ughed. Seeing others react to his friend’s antics for the first time never got old. Then the mercenary sat back and csped his hands together, resting them on the table.

  “What is in the bag, Maldrin?” asked Garrick with a grin.

  The wizard smiled and tapped the paz zuli gem in his staff. “A Seeing Stone...”

  Maldrin watched as all three of his visitors gazed at him intently. Then the old wizard sat back and stated calmly and casually…

  “With it, Firebaugh will never see us coming.”