I checked my pockets, before remembering that my terrible tunic didn't have any. Then I racked my brain, trying to recall the last time I'd seen the Dragon's Tooth. I remembered having it when we got sent into the far future. I could have sworn we had it with us for a good portion of our journey, and yet, at some point, it had disappeared, and neither Noel—for whom it was a cherished heirloom—nor I had noticed that it was missing. And now, it was here, of all places!
I frowned. This had to be the work of some higher power. What were the immortals up to now? What could they possibly hope to accomplish by doing this? Was it all just to unsettle us? Really? Didn't seem worth the effort of stealing something from us if they were just going to give it back like this.
I decided not to risk going in alone and waited for the others. I reached over the edge to lift Noel up, but she was so out of breath, she grabbed her knees and closed her eyes while taking quick, rapid breaths. By the time she looked up, I'd helped Kelser up onto the ledge too.
"Wait, is that?" said Noel, her eyes widening.
"Yeah," I said, "the Dragon's Tooth."
"But—"
"I know, I can't remember when we lost it either," I said, "and I have no idea how it got all the way here."
Noel frowned. Kelser was still catching his breath, but Noel and I decided to pull out the Dragon's Tooth. Noel insisted on doing it herself, so I stepped back, ready to grab both of them and jump off the ledge if I needed to. I wasn't sure my balance magic could save all three of us from this height, but I'd be willing to risk it if pulling out the spear let out some crazy three headed spider, or something.
Noel took a deep breath, raised both of her hands, and began slowly lifting the Dragon's Tooth with a magic hand. The spear looked to be stuck tight, so Noel had to take a firm stance, and pull harder. She had to be careful not to pull too hard, since she didn't want to break the spear. I positioned myself behind her. It was a good thing I did, because she dug her feet in and pulled the spear loose, almost tumbling off the ledge as she did so. I helped her regain her footing, and the three of us looked at the spear in her hand.
It was unmistakably the Dragon's Tooth. It even had some of the marks and scratches that it had only gotten after Noel and I had been thrown into the far future, which meant it really had been stolen from us and put in front of this cave at some point.
The rubble guarding the cave had parted, revealing a dark, gloomy entrance. There was a draft coming out from inside the cave, and I was surprised that I had noticed it. After all, the wind was so intense up here, it was whistling like a bird. No, maybe it was better described as a wail or a cry. It was kind of scary, hearing the wind make such harrowing sounds so high up on a mountaintop.
"Cas," said Noel, poking me with the safe end of the Dragon's Tooth, "do you hear that?"
"Yeah," I said, "the wind is crazy up here."
"No, Cas, it isn't the wind," said Noel, "it's a person. Can't you hear them? They're crying out in pain."
I looked at her and realized she was serious. I closed my eyes and strained my ears. It was tough to make out among the whistling winds, but my elf ears weren't long for no reason. I could hear it. A terrifying cry like somebody was being tortured into the depths of despair. I opened my eyes.
"It's coming from inside the cave," I said. Noel nodded. Kelser still had his eyes closed. It didn't look like he could hear the voice over the winds. I tapped him on the shoulder and he opened his eyes. I pressed a finger to my lips and he nodded.
There weren't any trees up here, so I grabbed some monster fat from our previous meal, and made it into a makeshift torch by attaching it to a long stone with some sinew. It wouldn't last long, but there was no way I was going all the way inside that creepy cave full of tortured cries without some light.
Still, the winds were too fast out here. I wouldn't be able to light this torch until we found a less windy spot inside the cave. I grit my teeth and stepped forward. Noel followed behind me, with Kelser bringing up the rear. I stepped cautiously into the darkness. The air felt damp and musty, but the wind died down as soon as I stepped inside the cave. The cries became louder. I lit the torch.
The outline of a man became visible in the very edge of my vision. The torch illuminated his body, which was suspended to a wall several feet in the air. The cries seemed to be coming from his direction, but I could not tell if he was the one making them. The light did not cover his face. I stepped forward.
"It's you?" said Noel.
I squinted my eyes. "Priest Oxi?"
The man stuck to the wall, screaming out in pain, was the old priest of the human Jora tribe, who had disappeared after fighting me in the secret ravine. The old priest was in even worse shape than what I'd left him in. His clothes were in tatters, his body covered in cuts and bruises, and his own blood was splattered on his skin like liver spots. I couldn't tell what was holding him up against the wall, but it must have been painful.
The old man seemed to have heard us. "Please, help me, anybody, please!" He continued crying out. I wasn't sure if he couldn't see who we were or if he was in too much pain to realize that he was begging for help from someone he had just fought.
Suddenly, the old man's cries subsided. He hung limp against the wall, his breathing uneven but deep, and his voice hoarse from all the screaming. He began to tremble, and made noises that sounded halfway between sobbing and laughing.
"Thank you," he muttered at last, before continuing to repeat his thanks in a murmured slurry. It took him a while to catch his breath and gather his senses. We waited in silence. Eventually, he took a deep, steadying breath, and regained a bit of the calm, collected voice he had used when blatantly lying to my face in the ravine. "I will not forget your help, my benefactors. My Jora tribe is a great tribe. We will repay you. Please, let me down from here."
"Shouldn't you look your benefactors in the eyes as you say that?" I said.
"My apologies, my old eyes cannot see you from back there," he said.
I signaled for Noel and Kelser to stay back. I stepped forward, keeping the torch close to my face. Stepping closer lit up more of the old man's face, showing me his many wrinkles, which looked like torn napkins, as well as giving me a closer look at the silver rings that were keeping the old priest chained to the wall.
"It seems you couldn't run away from me after all," I said, meeting the old priest's eyes. His expression fell as he realized who I was, and he tried to struggle against the rings. The rings began to vibrate, which made the old man panic. He began to apologize, once again, mumbling the words: "please, not again" over and over again.
The rings settled down. The old priest's ragged breathing and feral expression, caught my attention. "It seems your master couldn't save you," I said, "but what were you expecting, serving someone with the title God of Evil?"
Unlike before, the old priest did not retort. He was either tacitly admitting to serving the God of Evil, or had resigned to the fact that I was going to label him as such. Either way, he remained tight-lipped.
"You're lucky I'm not like your master," I said. "I'll let you down if you answer a few of my questions. That sound good to you?"
He hesitated. After a while, he gave a slow, but definite, nod.
"Good," I said, "then the first question is, how did you get here?"
"I do not know," he said. "After fighting you, I lost consciousness. I was awoken by a jolting pain, the kind that runs through your entire body like a raging animal."
I frowned. I remembered the way he'd plead ignorance to everything the first time I questioned him. Still, it was possible that he really had no clue how he'd gotten up here. The immortals were involved, after all.
"Then tell me more about your tribe," I said. "If you didn't tell us about your secret ritual, then there has to be other stuff about your history you aren't telling us right. Stuff like—"
A gust of wind blew in from behind me, stretching the tendrils of my torch further than they'd gone before. The orange light trailed in the empty air, shedding light on the entirety of the old priest's body as well as on something that was poking out from beneath his feet.
I furrowed my brows. That thing below his feet. It looked familiar. I took a single step forward and caught my breath. I heard a cry come from behind me. Noel rushed forward, grabbed the torch from my hand, and chucked it towards the old priest.
The torch arced through the air, sending waves of light onto the walls, washing them all in an orange hue, and making my eyes go wide in surprise and terror. A hollow feeling appeared in my stomach. The torch hit the ground and was snuffed into darkness, but the image it had revealed lingered like an apparition. Haunting. Blood curdling. Chilling.
Up on a mountain on the roof of the world, inside a tiny cave with a tortured old man, lay walls lined with many bones and skulls. Bones and skulls that belonged, unmistakably, to elves.