Part 4

Peregrin's first day in the cave.

There was hardly anything around me when I woke up. I had no idea where I was. The room was dark and had no windows. The walls were made of stone and there seemed to be two lights in the room. One was a lantern, and the other looked vague, but close to me. It didn’t blind me, but it was hard to look at.  It felt more like a hand than a light. At first I thought it was the dark magician, so I immediately grabbed the hand to pull it off me. But then the man with the glowing hand spoke, however. it was unclear to me what he had said. It sounded like he was speaking in a different language. It was then that I realized there was a gash on my head. In seconds, the gash disappeared. This seemed impossible to me. No one could make a gash just disappear in a few seconds. The only person that could do that was… a cleric. Clerics were a very religious group of people that could heal with their book, their hand and a word. They were widely associated with light magic. I had never seen a light spell myself, and I did not care if I ever saw one. Mother wanted me to be a cleric, but I did not wish not to be one. My mind was set on becoming a rogue and avenging my brother’s death.

The light dimmed and I saw the man controlling it. Well, perhaps man wasn’t the best word to describe him. He had blue scales for skin and a hood over his head. Though I could not see his face, I could tell that he was well-aged.

“What are you?” I asked. The man stared at me and sighed.

“I am a dragonborn.” He stated. “That means I am half dragon, half human. I speak common and draconic, the language of the dragons.” I stared at him for a while. I had heard of dragonborns, but never thought I would live to see one before my very eyes. A dragonborn cleric was rare. I looked around me. The lighting was still dark even though he had finished healing.

“Where am I?” I asked.

“In a cave, right in the centre of Destrung, the Dark Forest. Are you aware of the attack on Kemadri?”

“The Halfling city? Of course.”

“This cave is the spawning ground for the Goblin race. The magician who attacked you doesn’t just recruit the living goblins from other caves; he can also bring them back from the dead.”

“I’m sorry. Did you say he has the power to bring people back from the dead?” I asked, my voice rising a little. If he could bring goblins back, maybe he could bring my brother back as well, I thought.

As if reading my mind, he replied, “Yes, but he only brings back goblins.  There’s no use trying to get your brother back.” I paused for a second and a shiver went down my spine. I hadn’t said a word about my brother.

“How do you know about my brother’s death?”

“I think that is enough questions for now. Tell me, what is your name?”

“Peregrin Old-fur.” I stated, attempting to sound bold. He gave me a long look, as if he was reading me.

“Well Peregrin, I hope you’re okay. Unfortunately for you, that’s about all the sympathy you’ll get around here.” He sighed, but then continued. “When we get to the inners, please don’t be loud or violent, it’s for your own safety.”

“Why would I be-“  I was interrupted by a loud horn. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move, so I turned around. A stalwart came to the door and stared at us. I was ready to attack it, when the dragonborn touched my shoulder.

“Let’s go.” He said. The half man/half dragon walked out the door and I followed. For some reason, this dragonborn gave me a sense of security, though I didn’t even know his name. He still wore the brown hood that covered most of his face. He was fully clothed and I could barely see any of his scales. I noticed a book in his pocket.

“It must be an implement.” I thought. Every cleric needed an implement with them. It was a holy book filled with light and healing spells. There were also spells that could give someone strength, make barriers, and more spontaneous spells that dealt with fire and controlling light. It would be interesting just to take a peek at it.

Everywhere I looked, the walls were the same, but you couldn’t expect anything less from a cave. I was surprised that the stalwart could fit inside. Even from my small height, it  looked like a tight fit for the big goblin.

We reached a big section of the cave. They called this room The Centre. I stopped and stared at the vastness of it. There were elves sharpening spears, dwarves creating armor, and humans working on portals for the goblins to spawn. There were dozens of hallways, similar to the one I came from. Without hesitation, I ran straight towards the farthest hallway, hoping to see the outside of the cave. I needed to get out. I knew this was some sort of prison and I wanted nothing to do with it. In front of the entrance was a stalwart, staring right at me, gripping its club, as if it had a thirst for my blood. He lifted the club in the air, aiming to drop it on me, but I managed to roll under his legs. Dumbfounded, the stalwart tossed and turned to search for me. I continued down the hall at full momentum. When I reached the next room, it was dark and had sheets on the ground for beds. The room looked very similar to the room I had first woke up in. I realized that I had turned down the wrong hallway. Something tugged at my shirt and as it pulled me backwards,  I fell towards the ground. The hand that grabbed me was rather large and rough, so I assumed it was a stalwart’s hand. After it dragged me to the end of the hallway, it tossed me towards the center of the room. I tumbled, making a loud noise and groaned.

“Come on Goblin Hunter, behave!” A man said jokingly behind me. I turned around to see the dark magician with playful, teasing eyes staring at me. Anger took over and I went to flash my blade at him, but then realized that I had none. I desperately searched for all my other belongings, but they had disappeared as well.

“Looking for these?” He grinned. In his hands were blades, a pouch and all my other possessions. At this point, I was furious. With all the energy I had, I ran towards him. The dark magician laughed, and then snapped his fingers. As he did so, I was unable to move a bone in my body. The dark magician slowly walked towards me. He grinned and then laughed again.

“Listen kid.” He said as he bent his knees looking at me at eye level. “There’s one thing you should know about me.” He leaned in close and whispered in my ear.

“You don’t screw with me, and if you try, I’ll ruin your life.” He stood up and raised his hand. My feet began to feel light as I was lifted magically into the air. With a wave of his hand, my body uncontrollably catapulted towards a wall. I fell to the ground head first. My head was throbbing and my heart was pounding. I felt a little lightheaded, and I had trouble focusing. I saw the dark and twisted magician walk over to me.

“What more can he do?” I asked myself. He bent over and sighed.

“Fine, I’ll go easy on you, since you’re new here, but it will only get worse if you don’t cooperate with me.” He smiled and then got up and left. I looked away, lifting myself up from the ground, and when I looked back, the magician was nowhere in sight.

“He was going easy on me? What will his aggressive side be like?” When I looked around, people were working, but their attention was focused on me. Some had sympathetic faces, some scared. Others rolled their eyes at me. I realized that the stalwart I had temporarily ran away from, would not let be letting me out of his sight. I breathed heavily and slowly walked towards the dragonborn. Concern showed in his eyes.

“See what I mean?.  You’re going to have to get used to this place” He sighed.

“Yeah yeah, can you just heal m-“ The dragonborn pulled me away so that anyone within ear shot of us would not hear the conversation.

“Please, don’t mention to anyone that I am a cleric. The more people that know, the more that word will spread and then eventually Tylovine will hear.” He looked again to see if anyone heard us. It seemed as if no one had as the workers were all concentrating on their jobs.

“Who’s Tylovine?” I asked.

“The person you have to blame for those bruises. As you already know, he’s a dark magician and is obsessed with taking over Kemadri.  He failed the last time he attempted, thanks to Reen, but he    captured him in this cave. He killed him because he was being disobedient. Now he plans on bringing a much larger army to Kemadri in hopes of being successful in taking it over.”

“Why does he want Kemadri?” The dragonborn looked around.

“We must not discuss it right now. Let’s just get started on sharpening knives and I’ll tell you later.”