Zoran Chronicles Volume 1 A Dragon in Our Town (52 page)

            
“No other signs of anything around it,” Bernard reported. “Told you this was a
weird one. We searched about a quarter mile perimeter and found absolutely nothing at
all, just pristine forest.”

            
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Zdenka spoke and then wished that she hadn’t.
After all, her experience with stonework was extremely limited, so of course her opinion
was worthless. Then, she had an idea, conservatively she said, “Perhaps someone was
building a temple here and only got the base done before they left. That would explain
it.”

            
“Hey, I like that idea,” Zoran complimented her. “That’s the best idea so far. I
wonder who built it and when. The stonework looks amazingly similar to that in Castle
Dorumova.”

            
While they were discussing this possibility, Jarka found a stout branch and began
tapping on the stone, moving methodically along its surface. Curious, Bernard asked,
“What’cha doing, dear?”

            
“Tapping. Seeing if it is solid all over. Hey, come here everyone!” her tone
changed from boredom to enthusiasm. The others gathered round her. “Here, listen to
this tap over here and then to the tap at this spot,” she asked eagerly.

            
“Hear the difference?” she asked.

            
“It sounds different. Maybe it’s due to a difference in the stone,” Bernard replied.

            
“No, silly, it’s a hollow sound. There is a space beneath this central area. Let’s
mark out its dimensions. Here, stand here, this seems to be one corner.” Bernard moved
where she pointed. A few minutes and a lot of tapping later, Karel, Zoran, and Zdenka
stood at the three other corners of the hollow area, while Jarka stood by proudly looking
at the space they defined. “Ten by ten, big enough for a person to enter. I wonder if there
is some secret door that somehow opens. There must be some chamber below ground.”

            
“Could it be a burial ground? Could this be a tomb?” asked Zdenka, wondering
aloud what constructions might be hidden in this manner.

            
“I don’t think so,” Jarka replied thinking hard. “No head stones, no ornaments,
no flowers — no nothing to indicate this was an important person’s tomb. I wonder how
it opens?”

            
She began to cast a number of spells. “Well, no magic is radiating, so the opening
mechanism must be mechanical. No pull rings, no levers. How does this thing open?”
she said getting somewhat hostile about it not revealing its mysteries to her.

            
“Maybe it doesn’t open,” Zdenka suggested. “Perhaps, after they put whatever in
the chamber, they sealed it up with these stones. Maybe it is a tomb.”

            
“Well, they didn’t count on Jarka Mitova Dragan!” she retorted and began casting
her Mystical Door spell. After its sixth casting, she added a Light spell. “Ah ha! Now we
are getting somewhere. Okay, everyone, there are steps leading down. I’ve got a door
opened inside and a light going. Shall we go exploring?”

            
“What about the air? Perhaps it is poisonous,” Karel volunteered rather worried
about charging into some underground chamber with no easy exit at hand.

            
“I’ll bring my dogs along. Keep a close eye on their behavior. If they sense danger,
they’ll let us know,” Bernard suggested. One by one they and the three dogs stepped
through her magical door arriving on a long set of descending stairs.

            
The walls absorbed the sounds of their feet and breathing. A musty smell
registered in their noses, but the dogs eagerly trotted on down the steps. “Hey, look at
these rotting bags,” Jarka commented. One was on either side of the walls. As she
touched it, the leather crumbled into dust. A bright light radiated from a stone affixed to
the wall. “And there was light!” she humorously declared.

            
“A Mage has had a hand in here,” Zoran declared. “Let’s follow the dogs. If you
see any more of the lights, open their bags.”

            
“Wait, let me go first! There could well be all manner of traps in here for the
unwary!” Jarka exclaimed, pushing Zoran back from the lead.

            
“Say, are my dogs in danger?” Bernard asked, suddenly worried about their
safety.

            
“They are probably okay, they weigh a lot less than a person. Weight is likely the
trigger.” She slowly descended the stone stairs. After some fifty feet, she halted. “Ah, just
as I thought. A trap!”

            
“See, Zoran, it’s good to have a thief with you,” Bernard jested. The others
chuckled.

            
“Only a fool wouldn’t,” she teased them. “Let’s see if I can disarm it. Ah, yes,
there. You see, if I had placed my full weight on this step, then the stone would have
moved down a bit and something bad would have come flying out from these two holes
in the side walls. Spears or arrows would be my guess. It’s safe. On down we go.”

            
“Thanks, good work, Jarka,” Zoran praised her and followed slowly after her.

            
One hundred feet below the surface, the stairs opened into a twenty foot square
room with ten foot tall ceilings. The dogs were in the middle panting and waiting for
Bernard. Jarka found another rotting leather covering and suddenly light began to
illuminate the room. “Oh my!” she exclaimed. As the others joined her, they too had
similar exclamations.

            
Stacked against the far wall were five wooden boxes, whose wood had dry rotted.
The weight of their contents had then burst the sides. Gold coins, silver coins, gems, and
jewelry lay in piles mixed with bits of the remains of the boxes. Against the left wall was
a table which held armor and weapons, while against the right wall was another table
holding a number of books carefully wrapped in oil coated skins, well preserved. The
prints of the dogs were clearly visible in a layer of dust a half inch thick.

            
“No one has been here for a very, very long time, Zoran,” Jarka commented.
“How long does it take for a sealed space to accumulate so much dust?” she asked. No
one knew, but stared in disbelief at the treasure before their eyes. “Well, don’t touch
anything. Check for traps. All of you, cast your spells, while I look for signs of
mechanical traps,” she ordered. They followed her orders, but after ten minutes of
searching, no traps had been found. Jarka was finally satisfied and allowed them to
begin to examine the room’s contents.

            
Bernard headed for the treasure pile, as did Zdenka. Neither had ever seen so
much money and valuable gems and ornate jewelry before. Karel cast a spell and headed
over to the armor and weapons pile, while Zoran began examining the oil skin wrapped
books. “Zoran! All of these items on the table are radiating magic!” Karel exclaimed, his
voice cracking from uncharacteristic excitement!

            
“All of them?” asked Jarka in total disbelief.

            
“Yes, all of them!” Karel replied. As he touched the table, the dry rotted wood
crumbled, sending the entire table disintegrating to the floor with a resounding crash.
Helms, shields, swords, and armor landed noisily on the floor, a cloud of dust rose
causing everyone to begin coughing like mad. “Clean! Clean! Clean!” Karel commanded,
his spells firing off like a machine gun. The others joined in, rapidly the dust and
fragments of wood vanished, particularly from the air.

            
“That’s better,” Jarka stated, putting her hands on her hips. “Now, this is the find
of a century!” she exclaimed, her enthusiasm returned. “Sacks, we need lots of sacks.
Zoran, don’t touch your table.”

            
“I’m not. Yes, sacks. Okay, Bernard, why don’t you teleport you and your dogs
back to the tower and return with a whole lot of sacks,” he asked. He didn’t need to be
asked twice. “I’m going to levitate these books and see if I can keep from wiping out the
table. I sure hope these books are not as fragile as the tables are.”

            
Bernard returned ten minutes later to find that Jarka had begun to sort out the
coins; Zdenka, the gems and jewelry; Karel, the magical items. Zoran sat in the middle of
the room on the floor, a large volume opened in his lap. “Hey, listen to this book’s title:
Journal of Baron Valentýn Vladislov, first Baron of Adapazan
. Incredible. This stuff
probably belonged to the first baron on Adapazan! It’s hard to read, though. The dialect
is very different than ours. I have to use a translation spell. This is an incredible find!”

            
For an hour, the five filled sack after sack, teleporting them back to the tower,
only to return with now empty sacks for more. At long last, Jarka made a final thorough
search to make sure that nothing had been overlooked, including more secret doors.
Alas, she found none.

            
“Okay, we three will continue our sweep of the island. You two can head back and
start counting,” he teased, knowing that was precisely what Jarka had in mind.

            
“I’ve got to see to my students, but I think I will call a halt and have them all lend
Jarka a hand with it,” Zdenka added. A bit later, the three continued their Shadow Walk
above the island. After three more days of searching, they found nothing else at all. The
island was devoid of human occupation, which pleased Zoran, who now knew he had a
viable alternative for the yellers.

            
After diner, the counting finished, Jarka reported that there were five thousand
six hundred gold coins, four thousand nine hundred and six silver coins. Aldrick had
been called in to appraise the gems and his estimate was four hundred fifty-three
thousand gold coins worth. The jewelry he estimated might bring an additional one
hundred thousand.

            
“Okay, first action, divide the gold, silver, gems, and jewelry into eight equal value
piles, please,” Zoran asked.

            
“Why?” asked Jarka, confused by this strange request. She was ready to begin her
study of the properties of the many magical items.

            
“Because I want each one of you, including Emil and Renata here to have an equal
share of the treasure. I’ll give General Janos some of my share. This way, you each have
your own money to spend. I know, make sure that the twins only get the large
gemstones. They don’t want gold or silver,” he teased. Both Renata and Emil nodded
wildly, about to get what their hearts desired, a pile of gems! Everyone enthusiastically
thanked him over and over. Such generosity was nearly overwhelming, to say the very
least. Each of his friends just received the equivalent of nearly seventy thousand gold
coins.

            
For the next few days, Zdenka had her advanced students using their Identify
spells on the various magical items, attempting to identify just what their magical
properties were. It was an extremely good training exercise for them all. While Zoran
greatly desired to study the six volumes, he knew that he honestly had to deal with the
Yeller problem soon.

            
“Okay, I’ve been putting the Yellers off for too long. Tomorrow, I am going over to
Zovou Province and see Warlord Petr about the Yellers there,” he announced over
dinner.

            
“How are you going to move them? We have no boats?” asked Zdenka, rather
worried about his safety.

            
“They aren’t going to go peacefully,” Jarka added.

            
“They are stronger than us,” Bernard put in his thought.

            
“We can always put them to sleep or stun them and then teleport them,” Karel
stated flatly.

            
“Dunno yet, gang. I’ll have to see.”

            
“Well, we’re coming with you,” Karel announced in a manner that Zoran could
not refuse.

            
“I’ll take all of you, except Zdenka, who has her students to handle. I think
General Janos ought to come and maybe a half dozen security men. We ought to be
prepared to stay there a few days,” he announced.

            
He sent a Message to the warlord that night. At nine the next morning, the small
group teleported over to the most western province of Adapazan, Zovou. There, Warlord
Petr welcomed them. He was a burly man, heavily bearded and in dire need of a bath,
Zoran thought, as he introduced his party to the rebel leader. Their main fortress was
crude by all standards — the smoothly cut and polished stonework of Zoran’s slowly
forming walls contrasted sharply with the rough and ill-cut stone that formed Petr’s
outer wall and central manor. Theirs was a life of barest necessities, Zoran realized at
once. They eked out an existence, barely.