Part 71

Askalaad sighed once more, but suddenly stopped when he heard my footsteps from behind him. The dwarves in front of him looked up at me, each of them with frightened expressions on their faces.

"Oh, great, another group of deep dwarves," Aksalaad muttered with annoyance. He turned around, then quickly noticed me. His annoyed expression quickly disappeared, replaced with anger, "A human!"

"Hello?" I said. Askalaad ignored me, instead choosing to charge directly at me. His speed was fast, but nowhere near as fast as mine. He held his sword in his hand and brought it into the air to strike, but I simply stepped out of the way as his sword hit the earth near me.

"What?" Askalaad gasped. Before he had another chance to strike, I brought up my leg and lightly kicked him in the side. Askalaad gasped with pain and flew across the cave. He landed on the stone ground just a few meters away from the wall but quickly got back on his feet.

"Wow, that was more than I thought," I said with surprise as I lowered my foot onto the ground. Askalaad looked at me once more, his eyes a little calmer. He held his sword tight in his hands and let his body relax a little.

"What is a human like you doing down here?" Askalaad asked. I smiled, then brought my hands up to my head before pulling my helmet away from my shoulders. I gasped in relief as the cold cave air went into my lungs, then brought my helmet down to my side as I held it between my forearm and waist. I looked back to Askalaad, then smiled.

"You're a Lazarus Dwarf, aren't you?" I asked, even though I already knew. Askalaad furrowed his brows, then relaxed his body even more.

"You're not human, are you?" He asked. I looked at him, then nodded. Askalaad sighed, then said, "Good. Humans are our enemies, but it's nice to see you're not one of them."

Askalaad then sheathed his sword and brought his helmet away from his head.

Askalaad's face was much younger than I thought. He had auburn hair that was tied back in a small braid. His beard which also had a few strands braided by golden cords hung lower than any of his comrades. Then I remembered that the fungus within his body was able to manipulate him into whatever form it wanted. Askalaad himself was probably much older than I was.

"I am a Lazarus Dwarf," Askalaad said as he looked back up at me, "How do you know about Lazarus?"

I turned my body, then pulled out a book from my back. As my body moved, Askalaad and all of the dwarves looked at me with caution, a few holding their weapons in fright as they prepared to battle.

Once I revealed the book in my hands, Askalaad gasped.

"Where did you find that?" Askalaad asked.

"You know it?" I asked. Askalaad nodded.

"Of course. It's one of the ancient texts, valuable enough to be held in museums," Askalaad answered. As he looked at the book, he turned to me, "You read it, didn't you?"

"I did," I nodded. I opened the book, then turned to the last pages, "Do you know who wrote this?"

"No," Askalaad said as he shook his head, "Well, not his name. I do know who he was, as well as some of the other journals he has created."

"I see," I nodded, "So you don't know if it's true or not?"

"True? Of course, it's not true. The man that wrote that is the founder of the deep dwarves," Askalaad said with a confused look on his face, "He's not a scientist, boy. He's a prisoner that escaped from death row and brought all of the other prisoners into the caverns below us. The other two volumes of his journals are full of misinformation. He only wrote them to attempt to rile the people to rebellion."

I looked back at Askalaad, confused.

"What happened to Dram then? This says that it was overrun by the Lazarus Dwarves, so he and a few others hid in the caverns," I said. Askalaad chuckled, then shook his head, "And what about Lazarus itself? Is it not a fungus that destroyed your bodies and took over your minds?"

"So many questions," Askalaad said, "It seems you're right about a few things but wrong about others. Why don't we head to Dram and talk there? I still have to bring this group back, after all."

Askalaad looked to the dwarves that came with him, his expression turning into disappointment as he met with their eyes. I looked to the group of dwarves as well, then looked back to Askalaad.

"You won't harm me or my friends?" I asked. Askalaad looked back at me, confused.

"You're not alone?" He asked. I nodded, then turned my gaze back to the cave entrance. As my eyes met with Hazel and Icarus, who were both still watching from the distance, I nodded.

Hazel and Icarus walked away from the cave as they made their way to me. As soon as Askalaad saw them, he gasped.

"A dragon fury!" He yelled with shock. He suddenly unsheathed his sword but didn't charge. I looked back at Askalaad and the other dwarves. Askalaad was the only one that reacted that way. The other dwarves were all either staring at Askalaad in confusion or were looking at Icarus in awe.

"How do you know about dragon furies?" I asked, "Dragons should be extinct, as well as the record of them."

"My memory stretches to an era far beyond this time," Askalaad said, "I may be old, but I'm not so senile as to forget dragon furies. How do you have one? Their kind can't be tamed!"

I smiled, then shook my head.

"Don't worry about it," I said as Askalaad looked back at me, "It seems we have lots to talk about. Why don't we walk to Dram, as you suggested."

Askalaad looked back to Icarus, then slowly relaxed.

"Yes, let's do that," Askalaad said. I nodded, then turned my gaze toward the deep dwarf corpses near us. As my eyes landed on their wounds, I realized something strange, but that conversation would have to come later. For now, we had a city to walk to.

I grew excited as I thought about visiting a dwarven city. Hazel appeared to be excited, as well, though she was still wary of the dwarves that we were traveling with. We began our journey by walking back to the place where Hazel and I came from, though we quickly diverged from that path by walking through another fake wall.

"So, boy, what is it that you're called?" Askalaad asked as he turned his gaze toward me. He and the other dwarves walked in the front, but there still wasn't much room between Askalaad and myself.

"My name is Arthur Aureys," I said. I looked to Hazel and Icarus, then said, "This is my partner, Hazel. The dragon fury that you're looking at is named Icarus."

"Icarus? How did you tame him, that shouldn't be possible," Askalaad asked.

"I'll tell you if you tell me everything you answer all of my questions," I answered. Askalaad nodded, "However, this doesn't look like a good place to have a private conversation, so I'll leave my questions until we get to our destination."

Askalaad nodded again, then turned his gaze back to the tunnel ahead of him.

"We'll need two days to get to Dram," Askalaad said, surprising me.

"Two days? Is Dram really that far away?" I asked. Askalaad looked at me, then shook his head.

"It's not how far away it is, Arthur," Askalaad told me as he pointed his finger to the ceiling, "It's about how high we have to climb to reach it. We'll have to go through the old mines, after all."