Erick's Journey - Epilogue

Dimitri slipped away from the group after the last of the werekin cubs had been collared. In all, there were four children who had survived on their own.

Dimitri had declared that he was not needed to escort the cubs home, but the dwarfs suspected that the wyrm had grown tired of the constant dirty looks being cast by Luther.

In truth, Dimitri was starving, and he hadn’t taken any meals during the entire hunt. He wanted to avoid provoking the orcs, who would make claims that he was invading their hunting grounds. By that point, Dimitri just wanted to finish the mission and head north to look for a dire bear, or possibly a dire elephant. Anything smaller would have been a snack to him.

Upon arriving to Stout Hart forest, Darryl and Luther went to Finrod to brief the king about their mission. They were both surprised to find Dimitri in attendance. The wyrm stood beside the king, his thin white mouth pulled up in a sneering smirk. He’d already hunted down a bear and then returned to Forest Heart to deliver a report several days before, and he remained in attendance in the court during the evenings. He stayed to see the look on Luther’s face when the half-orc realized that the wyrm had done the right thing after all.

Finrod himself relayed the contents of Dimitri’s report, and neither Luther nor Darryl could fault his description of events.

But Luther could not let go of his anger, and he pointed an accusing finger at Dimitri. “Even if he feigns innocence, it’s obvious that he taught Erick the portal spell.” He was disappointed when Finrod offered a shrug in reply. He growled, “Don’t you care?”

“If Erick had taken his magic studies seriously, we would have already taught him the same spell,” Finrod said. “I’ve looked into Dimitri’s mind, and I cannot place blame on him for anything he has done to Erick.”

Finrod gestured to Larin on the other side of the chair. “Larin has also weighed in on the matter, and he feels that Dimitri acted properly. Dimitri has done more than could be expected of him by volunteering to help. If there is fault to be found here, it lies with Erick, for failing to accept his punishment.”

Finrod paused, sitting back in his chair. “But Erick took the orc to Earth, and so long as he maintains his promise not to leave a portal open, I will accept his decision. Taking the orc away resolves the problem, and the balance is restored to the territories.”

“So you won’t send anyone to look for him on Earth,” Luther said.

“No, I don’t see why I should. Erick collared the orc, so there’s little risk of the humans being tainted by the werekin curse. Even if there were a risk, I have no concern for the humans. I know that they will kill the orc, along with any humans he curses. The humans kill everything and leave nothing behind.”

Dimitri made a tsking sound, smiling as he shook his head. “Typical elf attitude. You don’t care to look too closely at the affairs of your enemies, unless it concerns you directly.”

Finrod frowned at the wyrm. “What do you mean?”

“You claim that you only left the halflings behind on Earth, but you know that your elders abandoned most of the blood drinkers. You left them to suffer under the tender mercy of the humans, and you made no offers to shelter them.” Dimitri snorted derisively. “You must think that all the blood drinkers are extinct, but in the short time that I’ve been out of my prison, I’ve confirmed that many races are still hanging on.”

Luther said, “If you’ve only been outside for a short time, how could you know so much about Earth?”

Dimitri started to make a rapid change then. His body lengthened to fill the full height of the room, and his limbs melded into his body before heads started sprouting everywhere.

In front of each head, a scrying shadow formed, and in each shadow, Dimitri watched somebody on Earth. The portals moved to cover his eyes, immersing him inside dozens of monochrome virtual worlds.

The wyrm spoke from all of his mouths in synch with each other, making his voice much louder. “I am not limited to absorbing information through a weak flesh brain like yours, nor am I limited to one pair of eyes or ears. I learn at a faster rate than you can possibly imagine, and what I have seen on Earth intrigues me.”

Finrod asked, “What are you planning?”

Dimitri shrank himself back down into a humanoid form, making himself almost as short as a rhyndarhin. It was a false display of humility toward the king, but the wyrm did it because he knew his next gamble could risk provoking Finrod’s temper.

Dimitri said, “If I’ve satisfied you, sire, then I will travel to Earth, and I will begin making allies with the other blood drinkers. I may even be able to build an army and kill a few million humans.” He stopped, leaning his head over while he gauged the king’s reaction.

Finrod regarded him with an impassive, bland expression.

Dimitri asked, “Do you care?”

“No, I have no concern for what happens to the humans,” Finrod said. “So long as you do not try to bring this alleged army of blood drinkers to Lissand, than I have no quarrel with you.”

Dimitri grinned, exposing all of his white, pointed teeth. “Then I have one final question, and I shall take my leave of your fair kingdom, your highness.” He pointed a bony finger at Luther. “Suppose I kill his nightmare. Will that upset you?”

Finrod sighed. “I really wish you wouldn’t, but it isn’t a crime, is it?”

Luther started to growl an objection, but the wyrm was already slipping into a shadow portal. His horrid cackling rose from the portal entrance as he raced away to complete his terrible act.

Luther ran out of the king’s hall, his chest pounding with anger and fear. He thought, Please, let me make it before it’s too late.

It was foolish of him, and he knew it long before he saw the sickened expressions of the stable hands. Moving to the stall, Luther found nothing left but a bloody skeleton. The horses in the surrounding stalls were in a frenzy, and the stable hands could not calm the animals down, not even with magical charms.

Luther growled, “Damn you, Dimitri. I swear, one day—”

His body froze as Dimitri entered his mind and took control of him. Luther couldn’t turn around to see the wyrm lean over. He could not flinch away when he heard the wyrm’s whispering voice less than a centimeter from his ear.

“You are a stupid creature, speaking before you think. I can consume you right here, and Finrod will not do a thing to punish me, aside from asking me to leave his kingdom. I was already planning to leave, so killing you won’t mean a thing to me.”

Dimitri moved around to look Luther in the eye. “I don’t kill you now, because Erick is fond of you, and I want to regain his trust.” Dimitri’s face tightened into a mask of anger. “But if you come looking for me with murder on your mind, I will consume you without a second thought. You’re a barbarian, and you have no way to defeat me. You’re so pathetically ineffectual, and that’s why you’re mad at me. You couldn’t save Erick, so it must be my fault, not the fault of the stupid half-orc. You could have saved your nightmare, though. All you had to do was shut up and stop acting like this was my fault.”

Dimitri’s lower body became insubstantial, and he floated into the stall with the remains of the nightmare. “I will let you in a secret, Luther. I did manipulate Erick. I took his mistrust of the elves, and I fed it by giving him the truth.” Dimitri smiled. “It’s the perfect revenge, to my mind. I’ve watched the shadow hunters slay hundreds of my children. Now, I can take the son of a shadow hunter and encourage him to leave Lissand. Once I find him on Earth, I can gain his trust by helping him protect the orc. I’ll tell him that I agree with him, and I’ll take him under my wing.”

Dimitri laughed, his voice a dry, rasping cackle. “Can you image that? A wyrm adopting a shadow hunter as his foster son? Can there be anything more absurd?” He leaned over until his face was right in front of Luther’s. “Of course there is. A weakling half-orc who thinks that he can kill a wyrm is much more absurd.”

Dimitri flicked his hand up toward the crude ceiling. “Maybe you could run upstairs and cry to the king, or to Larin. But they won’t care.” Floating closer, Dimitri moved to whisper in Luther’s ear. “Go back to your wild places, Luther. Find another nightmare. Forget you ever saw me. Because if we cross paths again, and you are still thinking about killing me, that will be your last day of life.”

Dimitri blurred and vanished.

Luther dropped to the floor on his knees. He wanted to shout or growl while he pounded a hole in the floor. But every huffing breath he drew in carried the wretched scent of the dead nightmare, and the odor sapped his anger.

Instead, he felt grief, because he had been unable to do anything. Despite all of his strength, he could not fight with Dimitri. In spite of all his wisdom, he could not convince Erick to respect the balance of life on Lissand.

It didn’t matter to him that the balance had been returned to Lissand, or that Finrod considered their mission a success. As far as Luther was concerned, the most important part of the mission was lost. Erick was gone, and Luther had no way to protect the young elf from Dimitri. Dimitri could hop dimensions to hunt down Erick. But Luther was powerless to do anything but remain in Lissand to the end of his days.

So to Luther, the mission was lost, because Dimitri had won.

***

Erick closed his eyes and dropped his head just before the ring of light blinded everyone else, the werebear included. He heard the bear growl in confusion, but underneath it, he heard something else, something hissing and humming at the same time.

He was just opening his eyes when he saw a pair of bright lights rushing toward him. Leaping to his right, Erick barely missed the vehicle’s bumper and hood.

But the werebear was still blinded from the portal, and the car slammed into the back leg of the giant black bear.

Erick spun at the sound of rending metal and screeching tires. The bear growled in anger and pain before his head slammed the pavement. The impact knocked the bear out, but it also crippled the vehicle, destroying both the engine and the front suspension.

Erick slipped into a shadow portal, moving the portal to the side of a fence post to allow him to peer out at the occupants of the car. After several tense moments, the bear began to wake up.

Then the muscular passenger got out of the car, and Erick heard the driver ask, “Jobe, what are you doing?”

The man named Jobe slammed his door shut without answering, and he started walking over to the bear. Erick thought, Where is his weapon?

The bear tried to take a swipe at the man, who almost blurred when he moved. He struck the bear hard, knocking the animal back with a strength that seemed impossible.

Erick’s eyes widened in shock. Could it be possible? Yes! The man fighting the bear wasn’t human. He was a halfling, and a berserker, judging by his hidden reserves of strength.

Erick tensed, watching Jobe and the bear fight. It took only a few seconds for him to decide that he would try to approach Jobe as an ally, and with that decision, Erick’s journey from Lissand was finished.

The End?