Rakanor

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Rakanor
S'ayad'i & Felis
Troubled Dreams

    The lightning hit nearby the two travelers, and the storm was getting worse by the second. Lightning lit the area again and the two could be seen clearly. Both were trying to keep themselves dry with their gray traveling cloaks. The one on the left, a tall man about 6'3", wondered if he was the tallest thing on the empty landscape. He was wearing a thick blue shirt over his muscled frame and black pants ending in soft boots. The other, a tall, stunning female wearing a tight green bodice and leather guards, trudged after him, the prints of her small soft boots looking minuscule compared to her companions.
    "We should have ridden," Felis Strongarm growled between the booming thunder.
    "Well, the weather looked fine when we left," Alexis Riverforge countered, though it was a weak point.
    "That was over a week ago! We would have been there by now." Lightning flashed and thunder rang out nearby."We need to find some cover."Felis scanned the horizon.Ahead he thought he saw the beginning of the forest they were looking for."Look ahead!Cloak Wood already. You said it would take another half day, some ranger," he chided.
    "It shouldn't be but we can find cover there anyway." She estimated that it would take them another fifteen minutes before they reached the cover of the trees. It seemed like a small grove, but they would take any port in a storm.
   Eventually the two weary travelers came to the end of the forest, yet both stopped before entering even though they were still pelted by the rain. "It's not right," Alexis said, speaking for both of them. Before them at the break of the tree line was a visible band between the storm and quiet, peaceful solitude inside the woods.
   "Magic," Felis muttered. The hair on the back of his neck was slightly raised. "Come on, we can brave the storm. I have a bad feeling about this forest."
   "Oh the BIG fighter is scared of the little magic grove. Come on Felis, there *is* a typhoon happening out there! It's dry and so what if it's magic. Your uncle practices magic - aren't you used to it?" Magic was a bit of a sore spot for him. He didn't trust the way his uncle controlled, or didn't for that matter, his magic. He was sure that some day his uncle was going to kill someone while trying to help them. "Well I'm staying where it is dry and safe, staying out all night is foolhardy, and besides, how about a little adventure?"
   Mumble, mumble, mumble sounds came from Felis as he walked into the thick grove. The ground past the tree line was bone dry.  He frowned. "OK, but we camp near the edge..." Even just a few meters inside the grove, one could hardly hear the growing storm. Felis and Alexis quickly set up camp and searched the immediate surroundings for dry, dead wood for a fire. Felis noted that Riverforge never strayed far from edge of the grove either. There was definitely a bad feel about the place.
   But soon that was almost forgotten as they sat before a crackling fire, warming their bodies and drying their clothes. 
   "You should really send word to your father; it's been many weeks since you left," remarked Alexis to Felis as he warmed himself.
   "He probably doesn't even know I left," he uttered flatly.
   "I don't believe that for a second, he knew the moment you walked out the door, you have to stop believing that your dad doesn't care about you. You're just angry because he wants you to fit his image."
   Felis grumbled, "Ah, forget it. So when do we finish our little scenic jaunt, I'm all for getting horses at our next stop and riding toward civilization. We certainly have enough money after escorting that caravan to Baldur's Gate."
   "Hey now, You know how I feel about living in cities for long periods of time.... I just prefer to stay on the move, in the wilds of nature."
   "Yeah in the beautiful weather..." Felis said dryly. He had spread out his bed roll and was preparing to sleep. "Don't forget to set up our night watchman. I'm going to get some shut-eye."
   "I will," she was still trying to give a retort to his weather comment, but she just set out her small lion figurine, said a command word to awaken it, and slipped into sleep.

   Felis awoke suddenly, he had the feeling that he had just fallen onto his bedroll. It was as if he had been dreaming that he was falling and woke up before he hit, yet he could remember no dreams. He got up and began to attempt to restart the fire, which had long ago run out, "Too bad she can't teach you to keep the fire burning," he said to the large lion which was cleaning its fur.
   Soon he had a small fire burning and began a new carving. It was just a hunk of pine now, but Felis had the magic touch when it came to shaping wood, and it would soon be something measurable.
   After a few minutes he slowly nudged Riverforge back to the realm of the living, "Wake up sleepy head." He was not the one who was responsible to hunt for breakfast.
   As Riverforge took up her bow and stretched she stopped cold. "Felis..." she said slowly, "The camp moved."
   "I know," he said, "I saw it when I first woke up. Well you wanted adventure, and now we have it." He slowly followed her gaze as she made a complete turn at the continuous trees on all sides.
   "Did we move, or did the trees?" She looked up, the trees shielding the sky from them, she could see light, just not the sun. "How about giving me a boost up to these trees?"
   "No sweat," said Felis as he lifted her up into the high branches. "Well?" He said as she disappeared into the canopy of trees.
   "Trouble, big trouble." From where she sat in the strong branches all she could see was a continuous, rolling sea of tree tops, no clearings in sight. The woods had no end. It would have been beautiful if not for the scary fact that she could not see the mountains where they should have been in the east. In all the forests she had been in as a ranger, never had she seen a forest so large. It was simply the sun above the clouds, and the clouds above the endless trees. She slowly climbed back down and told Felis what she saw.
   "So, I guess we could assume that we, and the forest, moved. Or we moved to a different forest. Well we best be on our guard. Time for some training to loosen up?"
   "I'd love to," she smiled, "If you're sure you're up to it?" she chided. They both began to stretch and loosen muscles, sore from the nights sleep. "You'll have to take it easy on me since I just had to climb that tree." Smiling as she unsheathed her short swords from her baldric, the red sash over her shoulder which held her swords with a golden pin. They had burnished hilts with strong handles of mother pearl.
   "I've learned not to go easy on you, just watch out you don't get hit by a tree!" She made a face at him as he loosed his arms by easily swinging his axe. "I'm ready when ever you are..." he voiced as he began to slowly circle to the left.
   Both possessed awesome skills, skills they now unleashed upon each other. Riverforge, telepath and two handed fighter, moved with the grace of a panther and with the speed of a striking cobra. Yet her short swords blows had scant effect as Felis parried and blocked with his axe, while his titanic strength and sharp axe were of little use against a opponent he could not touch. Neither could gain an advantage, they were too evenly matched. Victory could only be won by exploiting a careless move, or a moments hesitation.
   As Riverforge executed a back flip over one of Felis' strokes she chided, "You can't win, my telepathic abilities allow me to anticipate your next move before--Overlord Thultrl flies in boats with wheels?!?!?!?"
   Felis spun to the right and tripped her from behind with the spike on his axe, sending her to the ground and as he laughed, "It's gibberish I was thinking of, I thought it might confuse you!" He grinned widely.
   "Very tricky, and simple..." said a voice from the tree line.
   "Who's there. Show yourself!" said Felis as he helped Riverforge to her feet. The sound was coming from in front of them.
   Yet from behind them a man walked toward them. He appeared to be of average height, wearing black clothing of unrecognizable style. He sat down quietly by the fire. "I'm here. What are you two doing in this wood?
   Felis turned slowly.
   The man regarded them as if there was no reason for them to react in such a manner. He began to warm his hands. He did not have many belongings and looked as if he had been in a fight a few days ago, dried blood was caked around a wound on his arm. He was arrayed in elven mail, like Felis', but at the same time, not like Felis' elven mail. He had a black scabbard which could only hold a long sword. The hilt of the sword appeared as if when grasped it would look like the mouth of a writhing demon engulfing the wielder's hand. The man had a crossbow slung across his back and a short black leather quiver strapped to his right thigh. Beside the quiver was an oddly shaped case, it seemed to be made to hold a rod of some sort, yet it seemed that it was constructed to be watertight. He had one silver ring on his right hand, one of blackest night (at first it looked as though he had no index finger it was so dark) on his left, and one dwarven hammer amulet, aside from that everything was hidden.
   Felis nodded to Riverforge for her to be on her guard. "We are simply traveling in these woods."
   The stranger sighed, "No one travels in these woods I think, or at least no one leaves..."
   "Yes we saw that the forest seems to go on forever," Alexis piped up, sitting across the smoldering fire from the stranger. "And I can't seem to get my bearings of the direction we came. I sometimes wonder if we are even on Toril anymore."
   The stranger looked up, "Then Slicer was right, I guess I should consider my self lucky to be anywhere. You say this world is called Thoril?"
   Felis looked confused, "No, it's Abeir Toril. And who are you!" He had not yet sat down and stood, wary of the stranger.
   "I'm a lucky man, simply that. Have either of you heard of a thing called the unlife?" They both answered no from their silence. "It came to invade our world, my world. They appear like the undead, but if one is slain by one, he becomes like them. Almost vampirism." Felis gives Alexis one of those, "Who is this guy?" looks. "We were on a strike force, it was Myshella, Vulner... ah well, you wouldn't know them anyway, they are heroes of my world. It was ironic that I would fight along side such pure and lawful characters..." pauses as he realizes he is trailing off.  "We and a select group of individuals from across Krynn, that's my world..."
   "Where?" Felis interrupted.
   The stranger looked disturbed and simply continued, ignoring the remark. "...We captured one of their inverted floating pyramids and were attempting to fight off the unlife there. It was not until then that I realized how powerful Myshella had grown. I had traveled with her for many years and we had become separated by our differences in... well anyway.... It was a slaughter. Thirty of us were cut down almost immediately, it was simply the experienced who survived the initial charge of the unlife's forces. But those of us who were strong began to turn the tide as it flowed in. That was when Myshella surprised me, after all we had been through, she came to my aid as I was attacked by five or so unlife. She parted the group.... Anyway, later I was cornered by two anti-paladins, I was holding my own when I was hit from behind by a spell. Slicer was unable to stop the affect, and I could feel myself fading, unraveling and disappearing. I awoke a few days ago in this wood. It must have been some kind of plane shift spell or something." He smiled with pride. "I guess they figured they couldn't handle me," his face clouds, "but what of the others?"
   "Um, I don't exactly follow what you mean, but I get the gist. So they stuck you here. But where exactly is here?" Felis said.
   "I thought you said this was Toril, your world?" Said the stranger.
   "No," replied Alexis, "I said 'I wonder if we are even on Toril anymore'. I'm Alexis Riverforge, and this is Felis Strongarm."
   The stranger stood, "I am Ebon, Ebon Shatterstaff, at your service." He bowed to Alexis, sizing her up. "Slicer and I have determined that this place" he gestured around him, "is a construct created be some kind of wyrm magic. But we can't track the source."     "Who is Slicer, do you have a friend out there with you?"
   "No, Slicer is my blade. He is a demon bound in it to be exact. He could take me there, to the source and I could end this now, but he is stubborn, he demands things for using his magic. Things I don't think I can pay now." He glanced at Alexis and then continued, "Do either of you propose a way to get to the heart of this problem? If we can reach the wyrm I can handle it from there."
   "When you say wyrm you mean a dragon don't you?" said Alexis apprehensively.
   "Exactly milady."
   "You mustn't think that you can defeat a dragon all by yourself," replied Alexis skeptically.
   Ebon stood, "You've never seen me fight. When I kill this dragon perhaps I will be sent back home and I can aid my," pauses, "friends."
   Alexis turned to Felis and said, "Can you feel it?"
   "Yes, ever since our camp 'moved' I have felt an evil dreading from that direction." He pointed to the right. She nodded, confirming the direction and shivered. Ebon seemed to be wearing a poker face. 'He can't feel it,' Felis thought, 'I wonder why.'

   They traveled toward the feeling for the better part of the day, Felis and Alexis asking questions about Ebon's world, the dragon armies, the different pantheons, physical landscapes, anything to keep the conversation moving. Ebon never seemed to tell anything of himself, though. He was so good at dodging questions about his own life that Felis and Alexis hardly noticed it, and if they did, they dismissed it.
   Night fell quickly and the three made camp. They promptly gathered wood, started a small fire going and then opened their bedrolls. Felis and Alexis were close to the fire and Ebon stayed at the edge of the light. "I miss the city," Ebon muttered to no one in particular as he arrayed leaves to create a suitable sleeping site. Alexis' lion was already on guard. She and Felis chatted for a while, and Felis could see that there was something bothering her, but decided she wanted to wait until Ebon was asleep before discussing it.
   She leaned toward him and whispered, "What do you think of him? What was your first impression?"
   "Disturbing, he seems to radiate a fear about him, no not a fear, it's just that I felt that if he wanted to kill me, he could."
   "Yes," Riverforge said nodding, "I felt the same thing, and there is more, remember when he was saying that his demon sword was stubborn and demanded things from him?"
   "Yes, so?"
   "Well he looked at me and I skimmed the thoughts off the top of his mind. Felis, he sacrifices female virgins to his sword to get it's obedience."
   Felis' face grew grim. "Well, his society and world could be very different from ours," he smiled, "and what are you worried about...?"
   She stuck out her tongue at him. "You're just lucky his sword only goes for the souls of female virgins..."
   "Ha, ha, very funny," Felis said sarcastically as he rolled out his bed roll. "How are we doing on food?"
   "Oh, sure, change the subject," she whispered, "What are we going to do about HIM?"
   "Nothing, If there is one thing I can tell about him it is that he is trustworthy, but then most assassins are."
   "Assassin?!? How do you know that?" She looked to see if Ebon was creeping up on them in the dark; he wasn't.
   "Didn't you see the poisons he was carrying as he prepared for bed? He was checking to make sure the seals were tight. And look at him; how else could he make us feel this nervous"
   "I guess you're right; he is very loyal. I could feel that from him. But if he is a good assassin, wouldn't he be able to make us think that?" She said as she climbed into her bed roll.
   "Probably, but if there is a dragon, we will need all the help we can get." They both tossed and turned, but eventually fell fast asleep.

   Early the next morning Felis awoke to see a small fire burning smokily in the center on the camp. "I'm sorry Felis," Ebon said, "I think I must have given our position away, I didn't think the fire would cause so much smoke."
   "It's not your fault, you have to use only certain kinds of wood to avoid lots of smoke." Felis answered as he went to wake Alexis. "So what do you do on your world, or rather what did you do?"
   Ebon smiled slightly, "Well, I guess you could say I worked for on a commission basis. But I was kept quite wealthy by adventuring with Myshella, Vulner, Krill and Silverlocks. Alexis and I are much alike in our professions."
   "Oh? How do you figure?"
   "Well, she moves as one with the forest, she is at home here. If she doesn't want to make her presence known, she doesn't have to. The forest conceals her and protects her. I function the same way in cities. The city protects me and I am one with it. I have free reign there, as she has free reign in the forest."
   "Hmm, that's a very interesting way to put it." Felis admitted.
   They cooked and ate the last of their food, sharing more than a third with Ebon, who admitted to not having eaten in a few days, and began to get on their way toward the area which disturbed them.
   At about mid-day they began to notice a change in the woods around them. The trees began to thin and many looked as if they had been ripped from the soil. Before long they came to a large clearing with a low hollow cave underneath a small craggy cliff. The entire area was dark, doleful and dreary, like an empty grave waiting for a corpse. On top of the cave dwelt a ghastly owl, shrieking a baleful note which echoed across the empty field. All about were old stumps and stubs of trees, and no leaves or life could be seen.
   "Well, I guess this would be the place," said Ebon as he drew his sword. The blade was as black as night and looked like a tear in reality itself.
   "Felis, come, let us leave this place," Alexis said looking at what seemed to be a partially buried skeleton.
   "No I agree with Ebon, we must confront the lord of this place, dragon or no. I just don't know if we should march in without a plan..." Ebon merely shrugged in response. Felis and Alexis lowered their packs to the ground and readied their weapons, not really knowing what to expect. "Are you sure you know what you are doing, Ebon?" Felis said quietly.
   "Certainly. Haven't you ever fought a dragon before?"
   "We've never even seen one," said Alexis, "Well I did see a dead one once...."
   "Oh... well... you two just stay back and I'll deal with it."
   "Ebon!" Felis hissed. "There has to be another way, this is suicide!"
   "Leave this place..." A whisper seemed to come from all around them.
   "We intend to leave wyrm! Let us go or face our wrath." Ebon shouted toward the cave.
   A large dark shape moved within the cave, moving toward the entrance. "None shall leave this place. It is my domain." said the whisper. Felis opened his vest to reveal his set of daggers and steadied his axe in his hands, stretching his muscles slightly, preparing for battle. Alexis did the same. Both never moved their eyes from the cave as they spread out in a crescent, with Ebon in the center. They may have never seen a dragon, if that's what this was, but they had heard many stories, especially of dragon's dangerous breath. If they stood in a group they could all be hit at once, but spread out as they were, they would make more difficult targets.
   "You do not amuse me," said the whisper as it grew in volume. Slowly a serpentine figure began to take shape in the darkness. The dragon emerged. It was huge. All over its body were shield-sized reddish scales, shiny and captivating in their beauty. It was like a coat of steel so closely were they overlaid. His blazing eyes, like two shining suns burned with wrath and sparkled with living fire. They flamed with rage and rancorous anger at being disturbed.
   Felis and Alexis grew cold. It was immense; how could they expect to defeat such a thing? They both began to slowly back-pedal. Ebon showed no reaction at all at the dragon's appearance. He almost invisibly opened the case which held his wand. "I give you one more chance to reconsider, wyrm."
   "Consider it rebuked," snarled the dragon as it quickly flapped its wings, creating a gust of wind which knocked Ebon to the ground. The dragon then launched itself into the sky and dove toward the prone Ebon, it's deep, devouring jaws wide open, like a horrid mouth of hell through which into his dark abyss all prey fell.
   Quick as a wink Felis was moving toward Ebon's side, but stopped as Ebon waved him off with a grin. Ebon drew a blood covered wand from his case. It dripped as he pointed it toward the dragon. "Smexather'e," he said quietly to himself. Immediately the dragon was enshrouded by a solid cube of black shadows. Ebon came to his feet and ran backward as the demonic cube headed down, carrying the dragon with it. "Slam!" The sound echoed throughout the clearing, all eyes were looking toward the shadow winter spell. Cold began to radiate back towards them, blue lightning crackled and swirled in the gaseous cube, it was followed by black thunder. The dragon cried in agony. Ebon slowly returned the wand to it's case, blood squirting out as he dropped the cylinder into its case. He began to brush himself off and steadied his sword. "Be ready," he said.
   Eventually it seemed as if the dragon was able to shrug off the diminishing affects of the wand's powers, and the cube dissipated like a early morning fog. The fury in his eyes was readily apparent. He stood to his full height and opened his foul maw.
   From his internal furnace he drew forth huge flames which made the bright light of day seem dim in comparison. His flames, dark smokey and with the scent of brimstone enshrouded the place where Ebon had been standing, the rocks broke to pieces and melted as the land was covered with stench. The gust of heat threw Felis and Alexis back onto the ground. It was then that the dragon shrieked in agony.
   Slicer had teleported Ebon, at his command, out of danger, and in this case directly behind the dragon. There he thrust his freshly envenomed sword in to it's hilt, tossing the empty flask as he did. The dragon howled. Felis threw two of his daggers, which disappeared when they left his hands, only to reappear in the dragons neck and chest. "Frich! Nargold!" he shouted. The one in the dragon's neck burst onto flames, while the other began to radiate intense cold. The dragon seemed to cast some kind of spell and spun to face Ebon. Ebon smugly commanded Slicer to move him across to the cave entrance. Yet when the dragons claw passed through the space where Ebon was standing, it still found him there, and slashed him deeply. At the same time Felis noticed that his teleporting daggers would not return to him. "What the?" he said as he watched Ebon tossed about by the dragons blows. He ran towards the fray, pulling out his axe. Alexis continued to barrage the dragon with her arrows, but they had little effect against its armored hide.
   Every time Ebon was hit by the dragon he pricked the dragon twice with his long sword. He looked as if the dragon's damage on him was lessened, or somehow the blow was made less severe each time he was hit. At the same times he was hit, Alexis noticed his silver ring glowed brightly.
   The dragon smiled as it slashed at Ebon. "What's the matter? Won't your sword keep you from danger? Won't it teleport you away?" Ebon gritted his teeth and kept trying to avoid the dragon's claws. He could see Felis moving toward the dragon's rear. He could also see the two things rising from the ground to intercept him.
   They were two hideously rotten, humanoid undead warriors, both armed with long glowing runeblades. Felis hardly broke stride. While moving toward the first he swung his axe in a wide arc, easily severing the first undead warrior's head and coming down to bury itself in the other's chest. "Your plebes are nothing against my skill and axe dragon!" He swung and cut deep into the underbelly of the dragon, the undead warrior still imbedded on his axe. The dragon's life blood began to flow out of the cut, staining the ground below. It snarled and snapped Felis from behind with its mighty tail. The great force threw him through the air and sent him crashing through a dead elm. He hit the ground and was still.
   The dragon suddenly disappeared. "Blast the lords of Sanction!" Cried Ebon as he clutched at the dwarven amulet around his neck, "Look out Alexis, he's at your right. But his call came too late. The dragon reappeared at Riverforge's right side, she attempted to draw her twin blades, but the dragon quickly grabbed her with his claws. He then blasted in Ebon's direction with a foul smelling smoke, Ebon choked and found the dragon clutching him as well, his sword dropping uselessly to the ground as the dragon's claws pierced his side. The battle was over.
   The dragon held them both, looking at them intently. It wiggled its claws further into the male one in the black leather. "So you thought you could defeat me? Rakanor? Do you have any idea how old I am? How many warriors better equipped than you I have defeated? I have been wounded much worse than this, though I will admit your spell and sword thrust to my back, and the warriors wound to my belly are the most serious and painful things I have felt in years." Rakanor watched the blood trickle from Ebon's body, the assassin coldly matching his stare. Alexis struggled helplessly. "You shouldn't have come looking for me. There are hundreds trapped in these woods, yet they never come to free themselves. You do have a bit of foolish courage and pride to try to escape. Farewell."
   Rakanor paused, an axe seemed to grow in his shoulder and travel through his collar bone and shoulder. He dropped Ebon and Riverforge to consider this new development. Felis ran to his compatriots as the dragon howled and lurched to its side. Alexis was trying to move Ebon, but he was in too much pain. Felis had left his axe, he could not remove it, so deeply was it within the dragon. He looked up as he tried to move Ebon without injuring him. He realized they would not make it to cover. The dragon was sucking air into it's powerful lungs, soon they would be nothing but ash. There were only seconds left, Felis dropped Ebon the ground and pulled out his last dagger. He took aim, muttered a prayer to Torm the true, and threw. The dagger logged itself right where Felis had been aiming, the jaw of the dragon, locking it shut. Unable to stop once he began to blast out, Rakanor's entire head exploded. The body stood there for a second, as if not believing that its head was gone. Then Rakanor's decapitated body crashed to the ground with a thud.   
   A few minutes later found them making temporary camp on the outside of the dragons cave. The foundation for the dragons endless forest was beginning to break down. In a few days it would be as it was before--They would simply have to wait for the effect to pass. Ebon was sleeping soundly and Felis was treating Alexis' wounds. "I think we should invite him to come with us. He doesn't seem like a bad guy, and he certainly is interesting," said Felis.
   "I agree, he does seem a able companion. Besides, he would get into too much trouble without us," she grinned. "What is it this time?" she asked, pointing to the shape he had once again started to carve.
   "When we first entered this forest I began to make a carving of your magic lion. When ever it comes to life it's only purpose seems to be to guard us. It looks so proud of it's job. That's the look I'm trying to capture."
   Ebon began to stir. "Oh--my side! How long was I out? Ah never mind. I can see it was only a short time, the dragon is still smoking," he smirked. "So where are you two off to now?" They both shrugged. "Why don't you come with me. You're both good in a fight, I could use you." He paused to examine the stitching Felis had done in his side to close his wounds, Ebon nodded with satisfaction.
   Felis and Alexis exchanged a look, Felis replied, "We would be honored to accompany a *world* traveler such as yourself, " he grinned, "Just as long as you don't try attacking anymore dragons by walking up and inviting them to attack you."
   "Hey, I was doing fine until he erected that shield that I couldn't teleport out of. Besides, I had him exactly where I wanted him..." he said factiously, "and we won didn't we?"
   "Yeah," Alexis said, "But thanks to Felis, we can't take the head back as a trophy."
   "Hey! I know where his head is," Felis uttered dryly.
   "Where?"
   "Around...." They all laughed, Ebon holding his side as he chuckled. He pointed a thumb at Alexis and spoke to Felis, you really got the two of us out of a real quandary, we'd both be dead if not for you..."
   "I was lucky," Felis replied, "He was so intent on bragging to you two that he didn't even worry if I was dead or alive. If I hadn't been able to surprise him, we'd all be dead."
   "Well Felis," said Alexis, "you sure taught him not to boast anymore...." They talked for a while and then rested.
   A few hours later they got up, stretched, and looked toward the cave, the very edges of the cliff were starting to fade away.
   Ebon sat up, a bit too quickly. "Ow!... Hey, Felis, Alexis, why don't we check what's inside that cave before it disappears."
   "Ok," said Felis, "sounds like a good idea to me," as he rose and wiped the sleep from his eyes.

   The cave was as black as pitch, so Felis lit a torch off a dagger he had commanded to flame and they continued. After twenty yards and a sharp turn they entered a large chamber. The dragon's lair. It was just like it was out of a story book. Tons of gold were inside the place. It lined the walls of this lower cavern, uncountable. There was a dent in one of the largest piles of coin where Rakanor must have slept. There was not much else in the room. The three of them just stood in awe, Felis slowly moving his torch from side to side to watch as the gold glittered with it's reflection. "Not exactly a poor soul, was he...?" Felis vocalized. Ebon and Alexis nodded their agreement. Off in one side were two items which glinted off Felis' torch. They moved over to investigate. "Wow..." was all Felis uttered. There were two items: A helm and a shield, but they were by no means ordinary.
   The helm glowed, all bristling with gold, and there was a dragon crest unfolding on its top with greedy paws spread over the surface. The dragon had golden wings spread outward with its majestic head lying close to the visor, seeming to throw forth from it's open mouth bright flaming faerie fire. Golden plates hung from the back of the helm, making the dragon's tail, which stretched down low to protect one's back.
   The shield was not made of earthly metals, but was made from a perfect diamond, flawless, pure and clean. "It can't be real..." Felis said in awe, "Must be magically created, It's just too big to be real...."
   "And a fine job the craftsman did." Ebon commented. They all stared for a time. Alexis was the first to speak.
   "Felis," Alexis announced, "You take the helmet, it would look good on you."
   "No," said Felis "Without Ebon the dragon never would have been weakened. He should have it."
   "No, not me. A helmet is much too glamorous for me. It would attract too much attention. Also I would only sell it, and there is already too much money here to take." Ebon gestured to the large piles of coins behind them. "Besides, you fought like a true knight. You deserve it."
   "Ok, I will claim it, but not for me. I know of a man who is a true knight who deserves this more than I. I will give it to him." And it was left at that. Alexis proudly took the shield and Ebon said he would be simply content with a few coins, since he had no currency of the realms, and Felis and Riverforge were already well off, but decided a few small bags of extra money could not hurt.
   Ebon removed from his pack a small piece on black cloth. He began to unfold it on the floor next to the largest pile of gold. When he finished he had a good sized circular hole about three feet across. He then moved toward the opposite side of the pile and began to push coins on top of the cloth circle. Surprisingly the gold disappeared into the circle as if it were a hole. The gold coins seemed to merrily disappear into the hole. Ebon kept moving from pile to pile, filling the "hole," Felis looked on in disbelief as the hoards of gold were disappearing into the hole. Finally it seemed to fill up to the top, Ebon jumped on the pile and it settled a little, and he shoved a little more in. Then he quickly closed up the hole and dropped it into his pocket. Felis could contain himself no longer, "Ah, could you explain that?" Alexis nodded in agreement.
   "It's a portable hole," Ebon said, but their faces maintained a confused look. "It's a pocket into another dimension, mine is like a six foot deep, five foot by five foot room. I tried to put shelves in it once, but it didn't work." He pulled the little piece of cloth out of his pocket. "Now when I need money I can just do this:" He walked toward them and motioned for Alexis to hold out her hand, he then held the piece of cloth above his hand, and then set it on his palm it. He turned his hand upside down over Riverforge's hand and a few gold pieces dropped out, he sped up and slowed the flow to show that he could control it.
   "You're are an interesting man Ebon Shatterstaff, and you will make an fascinating companion I am sure." They took a last look at the gold filled room. Alexis could no longer resist and dove at once into a pile of coins, but found they were none too soft. They then headed out of the cave and hiked back into the forest.
   After about fifteen minutes they saw the edge of the woods, it was peeling slowly back to reveal the plains Alexis and Felis had been traveling on. "I'm sorry you were not transported back home, Ebon. But I'm sure we can find a mage who could send you back," remarked Felis as they stepped clear of the forest. Ebon smiled. Neither Ebon nor Alexis had seen him take the two runeblades or the dragons spell book, so at least he wasn't getting rusty.
   "I think I would rather make a new start here, on your world. I have many people on my world who were looking for me, and many enemies. Yes, they will not look for me here. I'm a free man." Ebon sighed with contentment. "Maybe this hasn't been a bad week after all."
   "Now if only we could find some horses..." remarked Felis. Alexis sighed and rolled her eyes.

   It was several weeks later. They had stopped off and spent the night in a tavern in a small hamlet overlooking a stunning waterfall. The leaves were beginning to turn reddish and yellow. The three were seated at a porch in the back watching the water rush past them. They had decided they would head for Waterdeep and stay there for the winter. Felis was just putting the finishing touches on a dragon he was sculpting. It was looking forward with ire and had its wings spread wide. He was skillfully putting his name on its base and left it on the table with the coins for their lodging. "How many of those have you left around this globe?" Ebon asked.
   Felis pondered for a moment. "I don't really know, too many to count. I've been doing it for many years."
   "They sure get around," Alexis commented, "Remember when we were in that tavern in Thar. [Author's note, "bar in Thar" sounded really bad.] You were sure you had never been there before and yet they had one of your carvings in a glass case near the entrance, it was a dog I think." Felis shook his head. "Ah, was it a wolf?" He nodded. "You have some real talent Felis. You should try something bigger. Oh, you never told me, who did you send that helm too? Anyone I know?" They had left the tavern and were walking by the waterfall toward the stables. Felis said something, but it was unheard through the crashing of the water. "What?!" Alexis said, "That better not have been what I thought you said."
   "I sent it to my father." Felis declared. "I wanted him to know I was okay."
   "I'll never understand you..." Alexis muttered to herself as she gracelessly mounted her already packed horse. "Sure you don't want to walk? It's a beautiful hike north from here, and winter is weeks away." Ebon sprang to the back of his black horse and grinned, "Do you two always have this discussion when ever you leave a place?"
   They both smiled at him as they began to head up the road away the Inn, "We wouldn't miss it for the world," Felis replied.