"Steel Dreams Chapter 4-5" by Charles Davis

Stavon's head shot up. There was a knocking on his door. He got up slowly from his chair and made his way over the cluttered mess on the floor of his room. He turned the knob to the door. In the doorway stood a tall man. He wore an elegant black cape, which hung down to his shins. He had long blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. He wore an elaborately designed shirt with the colors and logos of the town of Redum on it.

"Chancellor," said Stavon in wonder, "please come in." Why would a high-ranking official such as Chancellor Tandum want with a lowly gate guard such as him? "What ever calls you to my room?"

"I heard rumors that a Kessop entered last evening while you where on duty," he said. His voice was cold.

"Um, yes, I believe one did. Hold on a second," said Stavon as he went to his desk and took his report book. He flipped through the pages. "Ah, yes, here it is. A Kessop entered the city last night, with a man."

"So he was with a man," said the Chancellor.

"Yes, why?" inquired Stavon.

"Tell me," said the Chancellor ignoring the question, "what did they say their business was?"

"They said they were just travelers passing through," said Stavon looking at his book.

"I see," said the Chancellor, "tell me one more thing. Did they carry any weapons?"

"Yes, actually. The man carried a rather gorgeously designed rapier," recalled Stavon.

"Did you take a good look at the weapon?" asked the Chancellor.

"Yes, we make everyone have their weapons checked out before entering the city. It was actually a very nicely designed sword. It, uh, had some writing on the handle, but I didn't recognize the language of it. The Kessop said it was Kessopish and it meant 'let him who wields it have much strength.'"

"I see," said the Chancellor. He slowly turned around and began to walk to the door. He stopped and reached inside the arm of his shirt. "One more thing," he said, "where you the only one on duty at the time?"

"Yes," said Stavon.

"Have you told anyone else about what's written on the sword?"

"....No...why?"

"Good." The Chancellor spun and slashed Stavon in throat with the blade he had hidden in his sleeve. Stavon grabbed his throat and jumped back with a shocked look on his face. Blood started to pour out from under his hand. He gurgled and fell to the floor. The Chancellor put the knife back in his sleeve. He turned away and walked out the door. The head of the military unit in Redum was waiting for him. "Clean up what's in there and burn the body. After that, lock the gate to the city, but try not to let the people know. And find that man and the Kessop." The man nodded and ran into Stavon's room. Chancellor Tandum turned the corner and walked up the steps that connected the guard dorms to the city center building.

Satuk looked out the window at the lake. It was hard to see just what the landscape was in the night. To the left, back the way they came, the forest could be seen. The town lied in the middle of a giant green field, which was filled with rolling hills and slopes. To the right there were mountains with snow covered tops. The mountains sloped all away around to the other end of the field until they made a sharp drop downwards and connected with the forest. Straight-ahead was the river. It was connected to the ocean. The water cut through the forest and continued through the mountains, which was also the way it flowed. The salt water turned to fresh water where it met the mountains. Satuk didn't need to be a sorcerer to be able to tell that the banks of the river were filled with magic.

Satuk looked at the Dasegad as he slept in the bed next to him. He wasn't sure why he told him about the cave. He had actually never told anyone about the cave before in his whole life. In his travels Satuk had come across a lot more likeable people then Das, it was just something else. He was the first person that Satuk ever came across that he actually... trusted. He didn't know why he trusted him. It was just a thing about him that told Satuk he wasn't a liar, or a thief, and that he wasn't out for his head. Satuk looked back at the river and saw a certain unnamable similarity between Dasegad's face and it's grassy banks.

Xantio ran down to the front gate as fast as he could. His hands were still stained red from Stavon's blood. He put his gloves on before the guard noticed anything.

"Commander Xantio, what brings you here?" asked the guard.

"The gate needs to be closed... right now."

"What?" asked the guard perplexed.

"I said close it, as of order of Chancellor Tandum," Xantio said in a firm voice.

"But sir, I just can't..."

"As head of the military in Redum, I order you to close the gate immediately!" demanded Xantio. The guard hesitated. He moved from his standing post and went over to the lower crank. He took out his key and unlocked the padlock, which was attached to the wheel. He cranked the wheel until the gates of the city closed with a thud. "Now lock it," said Xantio. The guard reluctantly put the padlock back and locked it shut with his key. "Now," said Xantio, "make sure no one enters, and most importantly that no one leaves. And do not say a word about this to anyone. If you do this, you will be given a respectable reward." The guard shook his head in understanding and went back to his post.

By this time people who were near the entrance started to gather around the door, asking questions. The commander raised his hands for attention.

"Good people," he said in a loud projecting voice, "we have found a technical problem with the gates to city. In order to perform the necessary corrections we have closed the gates for the time being. We are sorry for any inconvenience it will cause you. Please bear with us for now and we will quickly get the gates fixed. As for now, please continue about your business." This seemed to quench the thirst of the crowd. They all separated and continued to move about their business.

Xantio looked back at the guard. He was sitting at his post with a stone look on his face. Xantio turned around and ran for the city meeting building.

After gazing out of the window for a while Satuk became impatient. He thought about leaving without Das, but was decided not to. It probably wasn't the best idea to let Das roam about the city yet. At least not until he knew more about the area.

He walked over to Das's bead. He was still asleep. Satuk wondered if he was dreaming about the voice. Satuk had heard some crazy stories before, but never about dreams. He looked at Das and tried to think about how he would react if he were in the same situation.

Satuk picked up his foot and nudged Das in the chest. Das's eyes opened and he looked up at Satuk.

"Good morning," said Satuk.

"What time is it?" asked Das.

"Almost noon. You've been out for a while."

"Oh. I'm sorry." Das looked up at Satuk and immediately knew what he was thinking.

"No, I didn't. I actually do remember what I did dream about though. I was on a ship and I was sailing down a river."

"Possible something from your past," Satuk suggested.

"Maybe," agreed Das.

"Well, either way, let's get going." Das got up and put his clothes on.

"Where are we going?"

"To find a witch." Das put his sword on his belt and they walked out of the room and made their way to the outside of the inn. The wooden streets where bursting with life and activity.

"What do you mean a witch?" asked Das.

"A witch is a person who..." started Satuk.

"I know what a witch is," interrupted Das, "I was just wondering what we were looking for one for." Satuk opened his mouth to say something but then closed it again. Das was just as lost as to how he knew what a witch was as Satuk.

"I was in a town a while back and I heard a rumor that there was an elven witch who worked out of this city. She supposedly knows a lot, and will help people for a price. I'm hoping she might be able to give me some information on where Resskunt is. Maybe she can help you to." Satuk stuck his hands in the various pockets on his clothing and looked inside a small side pack he was carrying. "Hmm, it appears we are rather short on money. I don't take it you have anything you can pawn?" Das patted himself down.

"Sorry."

"Hmm, we'll lets see how much she works for first."

They began to walk through the wooden platforms of the town. Every now and then a pack of children would run around the legs, nearly knocking them off the walkways. Satuk went up to a person selling fruit out of a wagon and asked if they knew where the witch was located. The lady at the wagon told them they need to go to the third platform. This answered two questions that both Das and Satuk had been pondering. One was where the witch was; the other was if she even existed

. They made their way through the wooden weaving paths until they finally made it to an area where the third floor could be reached. They ascended the ladder and continued on their trek through the city. It took a while of searching and asking, but they finally made it to the house that the witch worked out of... they thought.

From the outside it appeared to be a small wooden apartment. Satuk knocked on the door. From inside the noises of shuffling and things falling down with the occasional cuss word could be heard. Eventually the door opened. A girl with long dark brown hair's head poked out from behind the door.

"Yes?" she asked. She had a very soft and feminine voice.

"Is this where I can find," Satuk took a moment and shuffled through his pocket and pulled out a piece of scrap paper with writing on it. "Uh, Edwena the Elven witch of Redum?" The girl's head perked up when she heard this.

"Um, yes, I am Edwena," she said pushing her hair back to reveal pointed ears, "have you come for spiritual assistance?"

"Yes, we have actually," answered Satuk.

"Ah, good, good. But please before you enter" she said holding the door in place, "that will be fifty gold up front." She gave off a very cheeky smile.

"Um," said Satuk in hesitance. He fished around in his pockets for a minute and pulled something up. He looked in his hand. "I have 6 gold, 3 silver, and some, uh, sand." The smile on Edwena's face quickly folded.

"Sorry hot cheeks, no money, no magic," her voice was still feminine, but it had lost the softness. She pulled her head back in and closed the door in front of their faces. Das turned to Satuk.

"Hot cheeks?"

"I can't believe I'm going to do this," said Satuk.

"Hey," said Das, "do you want to get to Resskunt or not?"

"Alright," said Satuk hastily. He tied the eye patches around his eyes and Das led him out into the street. Das then quickly ran back and hid in the alleyway. They were on the base floor of the city. Das watched carefully as Satuk worked.

In the middle of the street stood Satuk. In one hand he had a stick which he was feeling around with. In the other he had an old metal cup which they had found in a garbage heap. Around his head he had tied a piece of string with two patches covering his eyes. Around his neck hung a block of wood secured with a piece of string, also from the garbage heap. Engraved on the block of wood in claw marks was written:

It was Satuk's idea. He told Das that he once knew someone who did it back in Resskunt. He just hoped that the people of Redum were as generous.

Satuk staggered around and randomly poked at things with his stick. It was actually quite believable from Das's perspective. The drooling and random undistinguishable yells where a very nicetouch he thought. Every know and then a passerby would take pity and dump a few gold pieces in the cup. After about forty-five minutes, when no one was looking, Satuk ran back over to Das and emptied the coins into his hand. Das counted them.

"And you have six more right?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Satuk putting them into Das's hands. Das counted over them again.

"Damn," he said, "were still twenty short."

"...Alright," Satuk said hesitantly. He slipped the patches back over his eyes and headed back out into the street. After about five minutes a few more people dropped money into the poor creatures cup.

Suddenly from what seemed like nowhere, three young men came. They walked in a triangle with one man leading in front. The two behind him were dressed in rather raggy, ripped up clothes. The man in the front wore what appeared to be very nice clothes. The type a noble might wear. Everything on him was puffy, and purple. Over everything he wore a long coat, which from what Das could tell was made out of the fur of some kind of animal. The leading stranger walked with a long wooden cane. Das assumed that he must have been the leader of some kind of organization or something. The three men noticed Satuk stammering. They went up to him.

"Well look what we have here," said the leader, "a blind Kessop."

"Awww, what a pity," said one of the guys's behind him.

"Yeah, it sure would be a shame if he were to drop his little cup," said the other as he knocked the cup out of Satuk's hand. It fell to the ground spilling coins out. Satuk kept up his act.

"And look what else," said the leader pointing to the sign on Satuk's chest with his cane, "it appears he's having a little head trouble to." The two behind giggled a high squeaky laugh.

"He, he, yeah boss, look it says he want's money to," said one of the laughers.

"Well I could give him money, in fact I got a big old bag of it right here," said the leader as he wagged a bag of coins in front of the patches attached to Satuk's head. "But I think I'd like to test something out first. If he truly is numb in the head. Then he wouldn't feel this at all." The leader raised his cane over his head. He aimed at the top of Satuk's head and swung down.

Satuk knocked on Edwena's door again. She opened the door and peaked her head out. This time she was wearing an over elaborately decorated head dress, which appeared to be cheaply thrown together, and was made of various hand made materials.

"Do you have ze mooney," she asked. Her voiced had changed. She now appeared to be talking with and accent. It was hard to tell which one though.

"Yeah, here's the fifty gold... and, uh, hey, do you want a fur coat?" She looked at the ripped up coat in Satuk's hand. She also noticed the broken cane he was holding in the other.

"Never mind," he said as he threw the cane and the coat into the street for some random person to pick up.

"Pleaze, coome in," she said opening the door widely. The two entered the dark room. It was decorated with various symbols, beads, furs, black sheets and other things that looked like they could be mystical. Edweena wore a long black gown with many layers. She seemed to have a bit of trouble walking in it. Das took a look at her hands. She had the longest fingernails he had ever seen. They hung down from her fingertips and almost reached her shins.

"How do we know you're actually a witch?" asked Satuk.

"You doubt me? Witnezz my power mere mortal!" As she said this she turned around. She extended her hand and pointed her long fingernails at a lump of hair hanging from the ceiling. A flame shot forth from her finger and melted the lump of hair in an instant. "Any other questionz?" Satuk didn't answer. "Now come and sit." They followed her over to a small table in the corner that was immersed in shadows. Das and Satuk pulled up a seat, and Edweena sat on the opposite side of them. In the center of the table they're sat a crystal ball. "Now what questionz woould you bring unto me?"

"I am looking for a place called Resskunt. It is my homeland. It lies underground and I haven't been able to locate the entrance."

"Ahhh, zez, Rezzkuunt. I have heard of thiz mystic place. It lies faar awaay. Let me conzult ze ball of agez." She started to widely flail her hands over the crystal ball. Ever now and then her fingernails would accidentally scratch the table. She started to chant unfamiliar words at the ball. Das and Satuk looked at each other. She stopped. "Zez, zez, Rezzkuunt, very far awaay. Muchdanger liez in your path. You my friend must..." Before she could finish a sound came from another room.

"Raluna, what's going on in there?" called a female voice. From another room entered an older woman. She to had pointed ears also. "Oh, Raluna, not again."

"Grandma... do you mind?" Her voice had lost the accent and returned to the feminine voice that they had heard earlier.

"Raluna, do you realize how disgraceful this is?" she turned and faced Das and Satuk, "she not a witch you know, it's all fake!" she began to tear down the black sheets that covered the room. Sunlight poured in exposing the brightness of the room.

"Grandma, how dare you interrupt my place of business!" Raluna yelled as she stood, and shuffled over to the woman.

"How dare I? How dare I? How dare you! Do you realize what you're doing? Do you realize who you are? Where you come from? Does that mean nothing to you?" She turned and faced Das and Satuk, "She's royalty. But you'd never be able to tell that would you. She was supposed to be the link between two nations, the Elf's of Jeran and the Saratans. But oh no, she'd rather be here, stealing peoples money with phony predictions and deny her destiny."

"Uh..." started Satuk.

"Oh grandma," Raluna said in an exasperated tone, "I have no destiny. The war between the Elf's of Jeran and the Saratans has been over since before I was born. Hardly anyone even lives in the Jeran forest anymore. They have all moved on to do something useful, which is what I wish you would do!"

"How dare you disgrace your families name like. And how dare you go and break my old heart like that."

"So she's not a witch?" asked Das.

"No!" said the grandmother.

"But how did she melt the hair?" asked Das pointing at the melted blob still clinging to the ceiling.

"Oh that? That's just a parlor trick! Any Elf with half a wit can do that." She turned back to Raluna, "but you could be doing so much more with your magic if you only let your talents grow! You could actually help someone."

"Oh grandma!"

"Hey, Edweena," said an annoyed Satuk.

"Raluna!" responded the grandmother.

"Raluna, whatever, can we have our money back?" "Sorry, read the sign," Raluna said pointing to a sign on the wall. Sure enough, no refunds. <P> "Ok, fine," said Satuk. Das and Satuk got up and headed for the door. <P> "Wait!" Raluna cried to them. Das and Satuk turned around. "Ok maybe I'm not exactly a witch..." her shoulders dropped, "but I have actually heard of Resskunt. Listen, I have a pretty big library of old books. You can look through it if you want. Maybe it has something in there that you can use." <P> "...Alright," said Satuk reluctantly. She pulled off her fake fingernails and threw them on the table with the crystal ball. <P> "Follow me," she said to them. They followed her as she wobbled into a room with a huge window, which made up most of one of the wall. Against a wall without the window, there stood two bookcases filled with books. "Here," she said, "you can look through these. Now please excuse me while I get out of this thing." She scooted off out of the room. Satuk started to look through the books. Das walked over to him. <P> "What's an..." <P> "An Elf is a humanoid creature that..." Satuk began to explain. <P> "No, no. I actually know what an Elf is. I was just wondering what a Saratan is?" Satuk put down the book he was looking at for a second and thought. <P> "I actually don't know," he said. They both shrugged and Satuk continued to look through the books. Das started to look through also. He figured maybe there was something in there that would be able to help him. <P> After about ten minutes Raluna reentered. She sat down on the couch that was in the room. It apparently was the reading room. <P> Das turned around and looked at her. She had changed her dress considerable. She wore black leather boots and black leather pants. She also had on a silk dark purple shirt, which was tucked into the top of pants, but it bloused over the edge. On her hands she wore black leather gloves. She had taken off the headdress. She had very long brown hair that hung down almost to the small of her back. She had four very long bangs, two on each side of her forehead, which hung down nearly to her chin. On the left side of her head there hung a single braid. She had a very attractive face. Her lips were small but at the same time pouty. Her nose was the perfect size in proportion to her head and it pointed at the tip. Her deep green eyes were the most distinguishing features of her body though. They were very curvaceous and mysterious. Like that of a cat's. She was very attractive, but she didn't need to reveal skin to show it. It was something in her eyes. She knew she was attractive. <P> She sat there and quietly watched them, occasionally looking out the window at the noises of the street. Das walked over to her. <P> "So have you red all of these?" he asked referring to the books. She looked up at him. <P> "Yes," she said with a hint of confidence in her eyes. <P> "I noticed that some of them were in different languages, did you read those to?" <P> "Yes," she said still looking at him, "I'm fluent in eight languages." She looked over to Satuk. "Including Kessopish." <P> "Well maybe you can help me with a language problem," he drew his sword and showed her the handle. "Do you know what this means?" She took the blade in her hands with care. She had obviously been around weapons before. She looked over the shining handle and examined the engraving. <P> "Hmm, very interesting," she said half out loud and half to herself, "it appears to be an early form of Sabinar." <P> "Sabinar?" asked Das. <P> "It's a very ancient language. It is basis of a lot of the languages that are spoken today, including Yuntokish and Elven. This appears to be an extremely early form of it." <P> "Can you translate it?" <P> "Hang on," she said as she got up and walked over to the bookshelf with the sword still in her hand. She was about six feet tall, the same height as Das. She shuffled through the shelves for a little bit until she came across a book. It was very dusty and it had a silver cover on it. She opened it up and flipped through the pages. She finally found the page she was looking for. She held up the handle and continuously glanced back and forth at the book and at the handle. "Um, let's see. Destar...tet...de." She stood and stared at the book for a while. "Ok, ok. I think I have it," she looked up, "or something close to it. It's hard because the language is a little different from straight Sabinar. It, um, reads like this. Death of Death, is brought by an eagle's claw. It might mean that." <P> "What do you mean might?" asked Satuk, who had stopped looking through the books for a second to examine what was going on. <P> "Well it's the Destar. In Sabinar there is a word Desitar, which I believe is the same word. The word means two things, one it means death, and two it means he or him." Satuk and Das looked at each other. <P> "Well what if the word was He," asked Das. <P> "Well... it would mean the same thing just it would say he instead of death." <P> "Could it also mean death of he is brought by an eagle's claw?" asked Satuk. <P> "Yes, it definitely could, or the other way around... he of death," she answered. <P> "Well what does it mean?" asked Das. <P> "That I can't tell. Sabinar is a symbolic language. Every thing that is spoken has two meanings to it. One is the actually technical words, and the other is what the words mean. This could very well mean come down to the corner at five o clock for a good time," Das and Satuk looked at each other. "All I can do is translate it for you," she said handing him back the blade. Das took it and put it back in his sheath. <P> "Thank you," he said. <P> "No problem," she said putting the book back and walking back to her spot on the couch. Satuk turned back to the bookshelf. Raluna reached over and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen she had lying on a table next to her. She scribbled the words down on the paper and handed it to Das. <P> "Here," she said, "this is so you won't forget it. It's a beautiful blade you know." <P> "Thanks. You know a lot about swords?" Das asked. <P> "Yes, I have quite a collection actually, mostly daggers though." <P> "She's been training with them since the day she was born," said her grandmother. She had just entered the room and was carrying a tray with cups filled with a blue liquid in them. "Here you are." <P> "Thank you grandma," said Raluna taking a glass. "Feel free to drink, it's not poisoned." Das picked up a glass and sipped. It had a sweet taste, while at the same time a bit of a spicy punch. <P> "From the day of her birth she has been training with blades," her grandmother started again. "She was quite good at it to, especially the long daggers. She always liked the different shapes the blades would be in," she ran her hand down Raluna's cheek. Raluna looked up at her and smiled. <P> "But now what good is it. You only use your skills for frightening pickpockets. And don't even get me started on your magic skills." <P> "Oh grandma," Raluna said in an exasperated voice. <P> "But Raluna," the grandmother started. <P> "Would you like to come and see my collection," she asked Das, ignoring her grandmother. <P> "Sure," said Das. She got up and led him out of the room. "I don't believe I caught you or your friends names?" <P> "My name is Dasegad. My friends name is Satuk." <P> "Well hello Dasegad, I'm Raluna," she said extending her hand. Das took it in his and shook. <P> "Please, call me Das." She smiled at him. <P> "Ok," she said. She led him into a room, which appeared to be her bedroom. They walked over to a closet and she flung open the doors. She pushed aside clothes to reveal a rack filled to the top with all different types of blades. Most of them were daggers of all different shapes and sizes. <P> "Wow," said Das. <P> "Yeah, there pretty nice," she said as she picked up a dagger with a handle made of pure gold. "I've been collecting them for a while. But this one," she said as she replaced the dagger back in it's spot, "is my favorite." She reached up to the top of the closet and pulled down a box. She opened it to reveal two daggers. The handle's of them where made of gold, and on the crossbars and down the handle, shiny rubies of purple and green sparkled. The blades rose up in a wave like pattern from the handles. They were actually rather long for daggers. She took one of them and held in her hand. She looked at them with a glimmer of passion in her eyes. <P> "Where did you get them?" Das asked. <P> "They were given to me by my parents. Before they died." She stood for a moment just admiring the blades. She put the dagger back in the case and closed the lid. She looked at Das. Her green eyes seemed to hypnotize Das. "Come on," she said, "lets see how your furry friend is doing." They walked back into the reading room. <P> "Have you found anything yet?" asked Das. <P> "Nothing," said Satuk as he slammed the cover of a book close. "The most information I found is a small passage that said that 'Resskunt is the place were Kessops live.'" <P> "I'm sorry. But this is all I have," said Raluna. <P> "We'll thank you for letting us look through," said Satuk. Das turned to her. <P> "By the way. I don't mean to pry..." <P> "It's ok," she responded, "what do you want to know." <P> "What's a Saratan?" <P> "A Saratan," answered the grandmother, who was now sitting down on the couch. She answered the question with much enthusiasm. "Is beautiful creature. It has the physical build of a Yuntok, but with marvelous white wings that grow from its back..." <P> Before she could finish what she was saying there came a knocking on the door.