The Dragon's Cry

Both you and Sussurr glance at each other, and without saying a word you both acknowledge that to dive into the water would be an extreme calling for your condition.

"Well," you start in an attempt to raise hope. "We could always break the walls."

"I'm sure we could," Sussurr replies, not denying you confidence. "But I have a better idea. Come on."

And with that, Sussurr grabs your hand and leads you toward the water's edge. "Now hop aboard," he says and lowers himself for you to ascend.

You realize the plan he has in mind. With no questions asked, you saddle your legs around his waist and wrap your arms around across the plane of Sussurr's shoulders; a firm grip clutches at his neck. Sussurr begins to jog. His muscularity, far greater than yours, enables him to backtrack over his own footprints. And lowering your head to avoid the arch of the doorway, you both return from whence you came.

"Look! Over there! Over there. That way," you command in a low voice. You keep in mind that there are soldiers about and you mustn't do a thing to get detected. Sussurr's speed takes you past caves that open on your left and right, but you follow your weredragon instincts in search of a better setting than the mouth of a cave.

Sussurr weaves about, turning remarkably swiftly despite your added weight, and suddenly you approach the foot of a stairway. "Here's where you get off," Sussurr says. He stops immediately to throw you off rather than allow you to climb off. "I'm tired," he explains.

Along the stairway wall are torches hanging from their posts, curving along the wall of what seems to be a spiral staircase. The stone steps bear a resemblance to chipped granite or splintered ore. Centuries of scarring hold stories under the fire-light. Looking back over your shoulder (partly to see if you were followed and partly because the setting is so strange), you realize that the underground labyrinth behind you ends here at a stone archway where these stairs begin: judging by the construction it becomes evident that you are at the bottom of a castle tower.

"I wonder, should we head back?" Sussurr questions.

"I don't know at this moment. I'm so confused." You begin to speak under your breath as you eye a beetle crawling on the ground. "The only castle I can think of is Royal Sandgar, and that's in the center of town. I can't understand why we'd be here."

Sussurr glances about, preferring this time to observe the surrounding environment as opposed to answering your statement. He studies the torches while glancing behind, turning at every sound common to most caves.

The silence between the both of you allows a moment to think, and for you, it seems your thoughts dwindle on the presence of that tiny beetle: Why am I looking at this thing? you ask yourself.

As quick as you've said it, a sudden and terrifying shriek echoes in the archway behind you: the sound pierces the delicate tissue of your eardrums. Its apparent meaning leaves you with the impression of a falcon crying out for kill, only magnified ten times by the cold walls of the caverns.

You jump up. You have already ascended a flight of stairs and are in pursuit of further. Sussurr leaps behind you not more than a foot from your fleeing person, and although the wounds about your ribs and leg are aching, you deny yourself the time to whimper. Your long weredragon tail has somewhat substituted for your leg. With its thick, leathery body you are able to hold it down behind you like a crutch, and then use the staff ahead of you like another.

Sussurr maintains his speed and you both complete the series of stairs after a tiresome workout.

Before you now, at the end of a doorway, rests an ancient dining hall, which, like the top of a castle tower, is circumbulate in design. It is dark without the candle light, but the moon outside glares through open archways and reveals a lavishly decorated setting, ornamented with royal tapestries and iron chandeliers. The walls appear to be covered with paper, which bear a kind of resemblance to cloth, but are painted handsomely over with floral designs, adding to the sovereignty. The floor is carpeted and occupied by various dark-oak tables, chairs, end tables and similar royal furniture.

It becomes obvious, too, after a moment of fully examining your surroundings, that you have stepped out of a doorway from behind a large grandfather clock: albeit a concealed and hidden passageway. You figure that the clock had been fully thrown aside to reveal the stony staircase, and since the clock rises high above your weredragon stature, it would seem that a fully sprite individual (one that wasn't damaged, like yourself), healthy and strong, could perhaps move an instrument of that size. Then, after further speculation you guess that maybe two or three of the same persons might be needed.

The torch light stemming from the staircase has poured out its colors across the carpet floor, and for a moment this scene of dazzling radish, orange and yellow, set against a shadowed background, demonstrates for you the actual darkness of the room you've encountered.

"Oh No!" Sussurr cries. "Oh Goodness, please. No ... it can't be."

You turn to find Sussurr staring our one of the archways. The architecture towers tall and wide, serving as an open-air window, dominating even Sussurr's stoutly figure. You observe that Sussurr is fixed on a picture down below. He has a most petrified look to his face; you wonder if he is about to cry. With the midnight sky behind Sussurr, sparkled with stars and a bright crescent moon, you feel a sudden shiver travels through your spine like the kind you get in the cold early mornings.

It suddenly occurs to you that all across the hall there are set large wooden grandfather clocks, lined in succession, that might, you imagine, continue all the way around like a child's play thing: like something you might find at the Dragon's Fair, or the likes of which are all too familiar when Dargon's Traveling Circus rolls into town -- with clowns, and mimes and -- yes, a merry-go-round!

Sussurr begins to weep as he tries to pronounce your name. The word "Shree" no longer sounds like the extraordinary annunciation of your weredragon speech, but a garbled folly of syllables that make none the sense to you at all. A feeling of dread overcomes you as you begin to feel the presence of another about the room.

"Is there someone here who might have perhaps, arrived from behind a grandfather clock? Just as we did?" you ask aloud. Your voice echoes throughout the chamber. From far away it seems you can recognize the sobbing of your friend, whose voice is only audible as long as you remain quiet: part of his weredragon cry escapes through the window where he stands.

You could swear at this very moment that there is someone about. The weight of the clocks around the merry-go-round seems heavier, and you realize that it's because just around the bend you can see light coming from behind another grandfather clock, as though the clock was pushed aside. It has caught your attention for some time, but because you could only see it in your peripheral vision, it would disappear from sight the moment you tried to look straight at it; there could very well be passageways just behind all these clocks, and one could very well be an exit.

"Sussurr!" you shout, and your voice echoes again. "Sussurr, let's go. I have a terrible feeling about this."

"Come over here first and see this ..." he says, and continues with a short description of the scene down below, but particulars to his description are lost as his voice is broken by the wind. Again you acknowledge the pain in your left leg and the gash between your ribs, and your motivation to leave is pressed by anxiety. The impression you have of another person or thing about you, has literally made you sick.

What will you do?

Contributed by Michael Marquez

Things to consider while writing in this branch

Where is the castle? Anywhere nearby?
Why were Shree and Sussurr captured, and by whom?
Why is Sussurr so upset?
The clocks might be portals to different locations.
How many passages are there?
Who else is in the room?


Home	Read Intro	Start Over	Go Back	Story Map