A Journey up Thorne Mountain

“Oh, and how the serpent screamed!” Sor roared as he smashed his fist into the table. “Just the way you strangled it! Was like the eyes were going to pop out of their skull!” Kayden returned the roar as he pictured himself wrapping his fingers around the slippery body of the hydra. What a glorious victory it was! To hear its last hiss was sweeter than any song he had ever heard.

Kayden lifted his stein over his fiery red beard. “For the honor of the Azure! To the might of the axe!” The dwarfs chugged until ale ran down their throats, and they shattered their drinks against the floor.

However, their merriment was but a whisper in the surrounding revelry. The song and dance of the green gnomes echoed throughout the tavern, and their joy and laughter jigged from out the walls and dug deep inside Kayden’s core. If only every day could feel as fanciful as this day, the little dwarf thought.

Then as if from the sky, a gnome flew onto the table, knocking it. Within an instinctive flash, Kayden and Sor arose with hands at their axes. “What is the meaning of this!” Kayden commanded.

His cry went unheard as the gnomes chanted and jigged, but surfing among the sea of green heads came a figure cloaked in white. He seemed to float over to Kayden, stopping only within an inch of his broad nose.

“My apologies,” the stranger whispered, “but I’m sure you of all know how unreasonable little men can be when they have large drinks.”

“Indeed.” Kayden’s eyes gazed high at the stranger that stood an axe’s length above his head. From under the hood, grey eyes returned his gaze.

“My, oh my!” the stranger said, pointing at the sapphire A that adorned his pelt. “You two are of the Azure clan?”

Sor growled. “Aye, and what of it?”

“Oh, it’s just that I have heard many tales of the bravery of the Azure dwarf,” the stranger said, “They are told to be masters of combat and conquest. . . despite their statue.”

The stranger’s tone was grating against Kayden’s skull. “Who are you?”

“Of course.” The stranger pulled down his hood. Sharp ears flapped out of the fabric, and long silver hair flowed from out. His pale skin glistened even in the dim firelight.

Ick, an elf! Kayden thought.

“I am Lief,” he said, ”and I am on a little bit of what you would call a quest. You see, a neighborly village has recently had their treasures taken from them by a dragon that is rumored to nest atop of Thorne Mountain. They have appointed me as the liberator of their spoils. However, I don’t feel like I could make such a journey on my own, but perhaps with a warrior such as an Azure dwarf at my side. . .”

“Not interested,” Sor said, slumping back in his seat.

The grey eyes rolled. “Oh well then, I suppose such a journey would be too much for such little men, too deadly even.”

Kayden rushed him. “We do not fear death!” he yelled, for how dare someone question his honor, especially a cowardly elf! “To die in battle is what we dream every night.”

“Well then,” Lief said, “would you like to die today?”

Before he could answer, Sor crowded him. “Do not do this,” he whispered, “To raise an axe with an elf is disgraceful! I will not allow this!”

He didn’t think long about it. This was the opportunity that his father would have wished for him. To slay a dragon for a poor village’s sake, to perish for it, to show an arrogant elf what for, it was as if Kayden had no choice at all.

“Yes.”

The two wandered to the edge of the meadow, where the grass receded into dirt, which receded into hard crust, and soon the land itself receded. They approached what the dwarfs called “The Edge of The Known.” Beyond that laid the great crevasse that divided the meadows from Thorne Mountain and other dark lands.

At least the journey is quick, Kayden thought. Indeed, it seemed they had walked many miles in only a few moments without even the aid of a horse. But the peculiarities of this world are none of my business.

“Halt!” a voice called out, and Lief snatched the dwarf's shoulder.

“Unhand m—”

“Shush.” Lief looked out toward the great crevasse that scarred the ground. “Who’s out there? Reveal yourself!”

From nowhere, a stool materialized just at the edge of the crevasse, and then a frail man occupied it. “I am Allister The Purple!” he screeched, waving his staff in the air. “The wizardry council demands that Thorne Mountain remain abandoned until the dragon is slain.”

“You’re fortunate,” Lief said, ”We’re are here to do the deed.”

“Nonsense! Only a wizard with the power of the seventh jewel of. . .” And Allister rambled on and on about mystical concepts that had no meaning, or interest, to Kayden. Lief wasn’t so keen on listening either as he pulled a small sack from his cloak and threw it at the old wizard’s feet.

With a greedy grab, he weighed the sack in one hand while stroking his ratty beard with the other. His crooked jaws snapped into the sack and tore, raining gold onto his lap.

“I never liked the council anyway,” the wizard said, snapping his fingers. Knot by knot, plank by plank, a bridge roped across the crevasse.

Lief made quick steps onward, but Kayden only stood at the edge and saw how the jagged edge of Thorne Mountain stabbed into the bloody sky. Now that his pride had faded, he could see there were things that may be cloaked from his sight in shadow and flame. Now that it was no longer a game to best an elf at, the journey was real to the dwarf.

Allister snickered behind his back.

The dwarf reached for his axe. “What are you laughing at you old—”

“Kayden!” Lief called from the other side. “We must make haste!” And so Kayden followed, knowing the wizard had a strange smile on him.

They stepped upon the rocky earth, Kayden’s knees buckling the whole way. His breathing became heavier as he took in the hot soot in the air. His eyes watered away as they wandered, and finally his lungs couldn’t take it anymore. He coughed and hacked.

Lief looked back. “Are you alright? Perhaps you need a rest?”

Kayden coughed. “I need no rest, elf! The Azure have a strength greater than what your arrogant mind could—”

Impossible! The dwarf thought as he hit the dirt. It came out of nowhere. No sight. No sound. It just appeared behind him. The glimmering green serpent, hung over his head, blowing a whiff of its eternal hellfire on his face.

“Kayden!”

As he reached for his axe, the beast stretched its jaw to an unnatural length and spat roaring blue fire. He shielded himself behind the axe, as if it could stop his skin from searing in seconds, stop his bones from disintegrating into ash, and stop his eyes from boiling in their sockets. Kayden cried.

“Oh, and how the serpent screamed!”

He could see in that moment that his eyes had not melted, and that Sor was sitting across from him. “What?” he whispered as he ran his palms over his face. “How?” Looking about, there was no denying that he was in the tavern again with all the gnomes hopping about being merry.

“Just the way you strangled it,” Sor said, “Was like the eyes were going to pop out of their skull!”

What sorcery is this? he thought, but before he could even grasp what was happening, the gnome crashed into the table. While Sor came to his feet, Kayden simply squirmed in his seat.

He remained as Lief introduced himself once again. Word for word, the elf repeated himself down to the phrase, “Would you like to die today?”

Sor urged him not to go, and he considered it, but how could someone waste such an opportunity? Perhaps my own mind is performing sorcery, he thought. Maybe it was just some bad lamb. No need to let superstition prevent an Azure dwarf from taking part in honorable combat.

“Yes.”

They made their long trek in a short time to the crevasse, and with a loud “Halt!” Allister the Purple appeared and accepted the elf’s gold, no variation, no deviation from Kayden’s memory.

“It was just some bad lamb is all,” he whispered as he crossed the bridge, the old wizard’s snickers following close behind. “It’s just some bad lamb.”

As he rubbed a crick in his neck, he glimpsed a pool of water. Maybe a good face and beard washing would do him some good, help awaken him. He cupped his hands, peering over the pool.

“Sor?”

Indeed, it seemed like his old friend was staring back up at him in the water, but it couldn’t be. It was himself. The dwarf peeled his eyes. Do we really look this much alike? he thought as he scanned over his features. The broad nose, the red beard, and even the blue eyes were exactly Sor’s doppelganger.

Thoughts of his friend made his mind turn. ''Where is Sor? What happened to him?'' Sure, he might have thought it was dishonorable to fight alongside an elf, but wouldn’t it also be dishonorable to leave a fellow dwarf to fight a fearsome beast alone? Kayden stretched his skull, but found no recollection of how he left Sor in the tavern, or leaving the tavern at all.

“Kayden!”

The dwarf rolled back to see the elf thrust his arrows at the green beast. However, the dwarf’s skull had become like clay and the tiniest things easily impressed upon it. ''Did he carry arrows? I saw no quiver. Why does the dragon appear so sudden. . .''

No matter! Wrenching his axe out in the air, he charged at the beast with a traditional Azure battle cry booming from his throat. Unfortunately, Kayden didn’t spot the beast’s tail swinging toward him until it had already made his vision go dark.

“Oh, and how the serpent screamed!”

Trembles ran up and down his spine as he looked around the tavern. This was no mere lamb, no sorcery of the mind. The day was truly never ending. “Sor!” Kayden yelled. “There is trickery here.”

“Just the way you strangled it.”

“Listen! We’ve had this conversation thrice now!”

Without a pause or breath, Sor spoke of the eyes that were “going to pop out of their skull!”

“Sor!” he smashed his fists on the table, but it all went towards deaf ears. Sor just lifted his stein, paused for Kayden to make his toast, and chugged ale.

“How—” He stopped. In the corner of his eye, he saw it and stood. He reached for the little green man as he flew at them. He could’ve caught him, should’ve caught him, but only an icy sensation slipped through his fingers, passing through his palm. The gnome, this strange spectre, knocked over the table, unimpeded by Kayden.

The dwarf only stood, frozen by the cold untouch of the gnome, and his old friend unknowingly voiced his thoughts for him. “What is the meaning of this!”

Lief came and made his offer, and as he spoke, Kayden shook the stillness out of his body. ''I will not let this day defeat me. I am an Azure dwarf and I do not back down from a challenge! The truth shall show itself even if I have to strangle it out! ''

Lief crossed the bridge, and Allister gazed lovingly at his coins. Just as he was about to release his snicker, the dwarf grabbed the old wizard by the robe. “Speak, old man! Is this your sorcery at work?”

He simply hissed from his teeth. “Unhand me, you imp! I have nothing for you!”

Kayden had no qualms with tossing a frail man to the dirt. “You do know then, for you would not have listened at all! You know of the never-ending day!”

“Well. . .” The wizard focused on digging his finger into the earth. “Yes, I know of it, but as I said, I have nothing for you. I’ve only known of it for. . . seventy? Yes, seventy circles. I don’t know where, what, or why. I see you and the elf, and then I speak my words. I try to make peace with this.”

“But what is this!”

The old man rubbed the dirt between his fingers and listened carefully to the sound it made. “Nothing,” Allister said, “nothing at all.”

Kayden would have questioned further, but an elf came calling. “We must make haste!”

The wizard snickered, pointing his staff toward the meadow. Kayden never cared for looking back, and yet he did. The grass, the hills, all of it wavered away into blackness. Arms of pure shadow stretched forth for them.

Though the dwarf’s heart felt as heavy as stone, it slowed him very little on his trek across the bridge. He had to merely imagine, for he didn’t want to see the cackling old man being wrapped by black fingers.

Silence remained between the elf and the dwarf as they went up the mountain, for Kayden knew that the mere elf would be no help toward his situation. This was beyond anything an elf could understand.

It was clear to Kayden that he was no longer in the world he was born into. Perhaps, this is the afterworld? It would make sense. He had died in his initial battle with the dragon, unexpected and behind his back, not honorable for an Azure dwarf at all.

Indeed, this must be the afterworld his people spoke of. This was his chance to make up for his failure! He would relive this battle again and again until he was victorious!

Thrusting his weapon into the air, he called. “For the honor of the Azure! To the might of the axe!”

And as if to answer his call, the mighty beast flew overhead, circling them. Lief joined him and readied a shot. The arrow flew, and the dragon to swerved out of its path. The beast crashed to the earth, snatching the elf in its claws.

“Fiend!” Kayden swung, but the beast swiped against the tiny man, tossing him. Every bone snapped as he rolled forth, his back slamming into a stone.

His vision was but a blur, yet there was still some trembling left in his limbs. ''Still alive. Still able to conquer. . . ''

As the world came back to him, a burning terror ran through his chest, for he found the jagged stone sticking out from him. No blood, no bone, the dwarf and the stone had simply become one and the same. The burning rushed into his face. He quivered.

“Oh, and how the serpent screamed!”

The dwarf wandered behind Lief, both in step and in thought. ''Oh, I can only envision how happy my father will be to see me after I have conquered this challenge. Oh, to join him in the everlasting peace of. ..

''

He stopped at the edge of the meadow. Is father dead? He couldn’t remember. In fact, as he stretched his mind, it came to him that he had no memories of his father, or his mother. Did he have siblings? Was Sor his brother? That would explain why their faces mirrored each other, but the nature of their relationship was unknown. And may forever be, for he could never ask him.

Lief threw the gold at Allister’s feet, and slowly he reached for it. Delicately, his fingers wrapped around the sack, and his eyes were fixed upon it as if there were a flame rising from out his palm. The wizard snapped his fingers, not letting the bridge or its travelers break his fixation.

On the mountain, Kayden sliced one of the dragon’s leathery wings in two, and Lief shot an arrow right into its yellow eye. However, in its pain, the beast blew a hell-flame large enough to disintegrate the elf.

“So it appears that the elf must survive the battle as well. Is it not amusing to think that arrogant fool’s life lies in the hands of a mere dwarf?!”

“Oh, and how the serpent screamed!”

“Wish me luck, brother.”

Within this circle, Allister only looked at the sack but for a moment before dropping it to the earth, for the old man was far more preoccupied with the dirt between his fingers.

As Kayden crossed the bridge, he tried to remember his father. He taught me everything I know, and yet nothing comes to mind! He knew nothing of the afterworld, only that his people taught him it existed, or must have anyway, for he had no recollection of being taught anything by any Azure dwarf.

Lief jumped onto the dragon’s back, and he was ready to jab its skull with a knife, but the beast had flipped over in its flight, and the tall elf landed on the dwarf’s mere body.

“This is what the Azure want from me, is it not, brother? Perhaps, this is merely punishment. I have failed in battle, so I must relive my shame again and again? Am I too weak to live up to the code of the Azure?”

“Oh, and how the serpent screamed!”

The answers laid no more in his mind than that of Sor’s. Kayden reached for a memory, for any semblance of the code of his beloved people, and only the semblance came. Honor, combat, victory, these words repeated in his mind without structure or reason.

Lief had thrown the gold, yet the wizard paid no mind to it, staring off into nothingness. He didn’t snap his fingers, yet the bridge appeared.

The elf had pushed Kayden out of the way when the dragon came, and he was snatched in its jaws before he could fire even one arrow upon the beast. Rather, the beast burned the elf to a crisp black in its mouth, and spat his head back at the dwarf.

“Oh, and how the serpent screamed!”

Lief wielded flames to enchant the beast, and Kayden attempted to strike the thin hide of its belly. But in its enchantment, the beast stepped forth and crushed Kayden.

“Oh, and how the serpent screamed!”

The axe had finally snapped between the beast’s jaws, and the dwarf was swallowed.

“Oh, and how the serpent screamed!”

The beast breathed. They both burned.

“Oh, and how the serpent screamed!”

Holding a heavy head in his palm, Kayden let out a long breath that he had kept in for far too long, “Sor,” he said, “why do we hate elves? Are they arrogant? Who taught us this, and why?”

Sor lifted his stein, and Kayden left with Lief.

The wizard had been frozen in his place for well over fifty circles, long before Kayden lost count. His mouth drizzled upon his robe, and his eyes were nearly the color of flames, though there was no spark in them. Kayden didn’t think but to pass by the sorry sight of the old man.

He stepped onto the first plank, and a little sound whispered beneath the creak of the wood. “Look. . . The crevasse, look into it.”

The dwarf saw no purpose for this, or perhaps he didn’t want to see one, but no ill thought stopped his head from peering over the edge. There was nothing down there, but that brought no comfort to him, for the crevasse was filled to the brim with nothing, a vast, white, bubbling, churning, nothing.

Kayden felt the nothing pouring into himself, rising to his chest, filling this throat, strangling his breath. He could look no longer, and the wizard hopped to his feet, kicking the stool down there into where it was not, cannot, and won’t be.

“They never finished it, don’t you see! They came so close, the dirt, grass, but they never finished it!”

“Who? Speak easy, old man!” the dwarf demanded.

“The Casters, I know it for sure now!” The wizard clawed into dirt, grasping it as if it were gold. “I didn’t know before, but I could feel it. Every grain was more shadow than substance.” A twitch then seized his body, and earth rained in the air. “Every grain. Every rock. Every leaf. Every tree. Every every. All of it! Just mere shadows cast before our eyes! Can’t you see? Can’t you see?”

The words dripped from the wizard’s tongue and splattered below, but Kayden could not and would not piece them together. “You speak from pure insanity. . .”

“Insanity would be to climb that mountain again! That is what the Casters want from us!” Allister’s very form wavered with every word, his arm twisting toward the white nothing. “We must leap from out their shadow and be one with the light.”

The dwarf winced. Even the thought of looking below was far too much to bear. ''This cannot be true. I cannot move on without conquering my enemy. It is not done.'' “It is not honorable. You are deceiving m—” The dwarf found a fleeting thought and strangled it.

“That is it! Oh old man, I know what you are! You are a deceiver, a test! You mean to keep me from achieving my honor in the afterworld.” Kayden wielded his axe high above so that even the sky may yield. “Well, try as you might, you will never shake an Azure dwarf!”

Allister only gazed at the weapon, his eyes barely willing to slip down to the dwarf’s face. “So. . . I suppose even shadows tell lies.”

The blade quivered until it returned to the earth, and the dwarf stood as if he were made from stone. Only a crackle in the air broke the silence, a sputtering sound underlined by mute speech.

“We must make haste!”

Kayden’s eyes locked on the black fingers as they crawled across the meadow, yet the wizard cared not to surrender a glimpse. The dwarf fled across the bridge to Thorne Mountain, as he had done many times before, only he carried more than his imagination. This time he saw, and perhaps the first definitive memory was carved into his skull, the old man’s empty step into the crevasse.

At last, he heard the beast’s shriek, and then he knew that it could feel pain, that it could not endure even the merest of torment, that he was truly superior to his enemy. Carrying a deep smile, he watched it writhe on the earth, the elf’s arrows buried in its eyes.

Still, it bled, and breathed, and lived. Kayden growled in hunger and pushed the elf aside to get to the dragon’s head. His weapon went into the air, and he called from the deepest part of himself. “For the honor of the Azure! To the might of the axe!” He spat and swung.

Stopped, it stopped, hovering just above its skull. “No! No! Why! No!” No matter how much he pushed, the blade would not touch the beast, nor, he soon learned, would he be able to lift it back up. He squirmed and seized, transfixed by his goal and unable to move. Help me, elf! Help me! His mind shouted, but all his lips could utter was a never ending “No!”

Lief looked more curious than concerned at the dwarf’s predicament. There was no fear, but a touch of annoyance. “Dude,” he said in a voice that didn’t come from him, but in one that echoed through him, “Fucking bugs! This shitty fucking game is a waste of drive space! So fuckin’ done right now. . .”

Kayden would have cried out, but he only watched the elf rub his neck and pluck out a hair so fine that it was invisible to the dwarf’s eye.

Then he was gone, vanished, and Kayden stood alone. Without a choice in the matter, the dwarf waited for the shadow’s arms to reach over the mountain.

''No, please give me another chance. Please. . . ''

Every rock, every broken arrow, every blot of blood wavered away at their touch. They took the dragon. They took his axe. They strangled the dwarf’s mind.

''For the honor of the Azure! To the might of the axe! The crevasse, look into it. We must make haste. Wish me luck, brother. The way you strangled it. Eyes were going to pop out of their skull! Tell lies. Serpent screamed. Die today?''

Yes.