Tom Liberman - The Staff of Sakatha

A cool, calm voice said something that no one understood and a moment later a tall man who wore white robes with the emblem of a lithe cat on them appeared around some of the rocks. Right behind him came a group of children. He stopped, pointed to one of the rocks and began to lecture the little ones in the strange language without a glance at the group.

Odellius went right up to him, looked at him, waved his hand in front of the man’s eyes, but neither he, nor the children, seemed to notice as he continued to lecture and the children looked rather bored. A number of different races appeared to be in the mix with at least one full blooded elf child, an orc, and even a little minotaur boy.

“What happened?” said Sorus again.

“Look,” said Jon, and pointed to the side of the chamber where a long set of stairs led towards the cavern roof and out into the open where sunlight filtered in. The reptiles seemed to notice it as well and they, with a glance towards the group and a bit of jabbering among themselves, began to walk towards the stairs.

“Is Tenebrous here?” said Odellius and looked around for the shadowy form but there was no sign of the creature.

“Let’s follow the reptile men,” said the First Rider as he started to walk after the creatures, “we still don’t have the Staff of Sakatha and they know where it is… presumably.”

The four followed, took the perfectly cut stairwell up to the surface and soon found themselves in a small city with dozens of tidy stone buildings and hundreds of people of all sizes and shapes who wandered around apparently oblivious to the two strange groups.

“What is this?” said Jon and noted that the reptile men likewise stared in stunned silence at the region.

“It’s the ruin, Jon,” said Sorus as he suddenly guessed the truth. “The ruin we were supposed to find, that the First Rider sent the other group to visit, but from thousands of years ago when the Old Empire still existed!”

“That’s not possible,” said Jon.

Odellius nodded his head in agreement, “I’m with Jon on this one, this is not possible,” he echoed the thoughts. “How can we be here?”

“I’m not sure we are here,” said the First Rider with a look around at all the people who seemed to take no note of them at all. “What was it Tenebrous said about Chusarausea and his dreams?”

“We’re in a dream?” said Sorus as he looked around from the mountainside at the valley below and then pinched his arm, closed his eyes, and shook his head.

“Did that work,” said Jon with a smile.

“No,” said Sorus as he opened his eyes, “and I didn’t think it would.”

“How can we be in a dream?” said Odellius as everyone in the crowd suddenly looked up and pointed towards the sky, and a low murmur began to grow.

“Magic, I’m guessing,” said Vipsanius with a wry grin. “These white marble sites contain much of the magical residue of the Old Empire. I’ve heard they are focal points for the magical energy that exists in the world. All the ruins are central points but the white marble is special beyond that.”

“That’s right,” said Jon. “Val talks about that all the time, that magic is more powerful when performed in the ancient stone circles, and even more in the white marble ruins. That’s their whole purpose, or at least that’s Val’s theory on the things. He’ll be so happy I actually listened to him for once!”

“Fellows,” said Sorus, his gaze on the sky.

“I think the First Rider’s on to something,” said Odellius. “If this is all a dream then we’re back in the cave with the fight still going on.”

“Guys,” said Sorus again, this time pointing to the sky along with almost everyone else in the small town.

“What is it?” said Odellius and he followed the gaze of the boy and then said, “I see.”

Jon and the First Rider looked up as well and spotted a long train of greenish smoke in the sky headed directly towards them, “What’s that,” said the young gray knight.

“I don’t know,” said Sorus, “but everyone is heading onto that cleared platform up on the hill over there,” pointing towards where the vast majority of people in town gathered.

The reptile men saw the movement of the crowd and immediately started off in that direction. “I’ve never been one to follow the crowd,” said Vipsanius with a shrug, “but in this case it might be the best strategy.”

“Agreed,” said Jon and the four set out after the reptile men towards the top of the hill. By the time they arrived the green trail of smoke was close enough to see clearly, and it appeared to be a massive green dragon with noxious fumes emanating from every pore in its body. Each time it beat its giant wings the smoke dispersed in little puffs, leaving behind green clouds. At least one person rode the beast and the crowd around them buzzed with excitement.

The top of the hill was cleared, and armed soldiers, wearing blue plate armor with the crests of black cats on their shields waited in a semicircle around a flat piece of stone that was a good hundred feet long and half again as wide. Around it a line of bright red stones seemed to mark a point the crowd did not cross. Right at the top of the hill stood a man in brilliant gold armor with a gold helm capped with the immense feathers of some strange tropical bird. As the dragon approached, the sound of the crowd suddenly died out, and the creature moved in with surprising agility to land without a sound on the platform.

The gas that came directly from the pores of the dragon coalesced in a thick noxious cloud, apparently heavier than air, and began to filter down little vents in the red stones and thus did not accumulate. The spectators all stayed well behind this demarcation zone and the thick gas looked intensely toxic.

Out of the green gas a regal man, with a brown hair, a simple crown of ivy, and heavy leather riding gear, emerged as an attractive woman with long blonde hair and a simple white dress emblazoned with the symbol of three towers connected by walkways on each sleeve, held his arm. In the man’s other hand he held a long staff carved to look like a crocodile with each scale made from crystal, the teeth of white ivory, and eyes of red rubies.

“That’s the symbol of Doria!” whispered Sorus as he looked at the towers on the woman’s dress.

“That’s Sakatha!” said Jon as he looked regal man whose white, reptilian eyes were now apparent.

“That’s the Staff of Sakatha!” said Odellius his eyes fixed on the staff.

All of the reptile priests suddenly leapt forward, and dropped to a knee, while the most spectacularly dressed of the group tried to address the great king Sakatha, but the creature and his escort simply walked passed.

The man in the golden armor walked over to the two, took the young woman’s free arm under his own, and whispered something to her that made her laugh. The reptile king glanced in that direction and sneered ever so slightly but said nothing. The three began to walk down the narrow path along the hillside to the cheers of the crowd.

The reptile priests looked at one another and babbled in they’re sibilant tongue for a moment, but then set out after their lord as they gesticulated wildly and tried to get his attention.

“We should go after them,” said Odellius. “That’s the staff and they’ll get it first if we don’t keep up.”

“No,” said the First Rider and examined the dragon, whose head now rested on its paws, and the breath from its nostrils cleared the otherwise impenetrable haze of green gas that surrounded it. “We are somehow in the dream of Chusarausea the Great, the Great Green Dragon, the Toxic One. He is the secret to what will happen.”

“What’s already happened,” said Jon. “If this is all a dream of a thousand years ago.”