Prions and Prisoners
“No!” cried Illuvetar.
“Look what you made him do, you miserable little dwarf!” shouted Lirsti at the tree-stump sized man. “Do you have any idea how precious that stone was – the power it contained?”
The dwarf looked startled. “I –” he began. “I’m sorry. I… Just like gems.”
“Fool!” shouted Lirsti, smacking his palm against his forehead.
“Look,” said Illuvetar. “You may or may not have premeditated this, but either way, you’re going to have to come with us.”
“What?” protested the dwarf. “I don’t want to! You can’t make me!”
Lirsti’s eyes were suddenly filled with fury. “Oh, my little friend,” he said menacingly, we can make you and you will come.
As the dwarf cowered away, Lirsti wasted no time in conjuring a fiber cord and using it to bind its hands. Before it could start hurling curses at them, a gag was applied to its mouth.
“Ok, what do we do now?” wondered Lirsti.
“I’ll say,” said Illuvetar, “this quite a pickle. Let’s take him back to Tetravigesimal castle. There they can question him and perhaps we can find out what had happened to the orb.”
“Hmph,” sulked Lirsti.
“We can torture him,” added Illuvetar.
This cheered Lirsti up who then smiled and walked on along the road.
The dwarf looked at Lirsti’s back and then at Illuvetar with eyes that pleaded to hear the words “We’re only joking.” But those words never came. Illuvetar just whistled a tune and led the dwarf along the road. He then caught up to Lirsti.
The road meandered through tall, dense trees. Light beaded playfully through the canopy and offered to illuminate the adventurers and dwarf’s path. For a long time no-one spoke. There were also no other sounds to be heard other than footsteps of three individuals on a dirt path.
The silence was broken.
“Goodness me. What’s that?” gasped Illuvetar.
Lirsti’s eyes narrowed. “Prion guards.”
At this, the dwarf’s eyes widened and he started squirming. The two adventurers pulled the dwarf well into the wood where they could still see the road.
“Shut up,” hissed Lirsti.
The dwarf stopped squirming but still continued to whimper quietly.
A few moments later, some hunched soldiers walked into sight where the three of them had been standing. The prion guard’s tentacles protruded from their helmets and appeared to taste the air.
“What’s this?” sparked the one in a robotic voice.
“It looks like a Jewelry box,” sparked another.
Illuvetar patted his pocket and cringed when he felt no jewelry box.
“It was probably left here a long time ago,” sparked a third one.
“No. This is not true,” sparked the first one. “These tracks are fresh.”
The three observers’ instincts kicked in and they were bolting into the deep forest before they could hear the rest.
Occasionally they would hear the prions behind them but never were the sounds too close for comfort (relatively speaking).
“Woah!” said Illuvetar, nearly falling into a hole in the side of the hill. It was a neatly concealed cave entrance.
The three lowered themselves into the hole with Lirsti going first. They waited in the mouth of the cave. Soon they heard the hobbled footsteps of the prions.
“Take a look in there,” sparked a prion.
Lirsti gave a panicked look at Illuvetar who gestured deeper into the cave. They quietly made their way further in but the dwarf slipped and fell – yelping as he collapsed by Illuvetar’s feet.
“In there!” electrified a prion. “Get them!”
Illuvetar drew his sword. “Cast a portal spell, chap!”
“Not enough time to pick a destination,” said Lirsti with a worried look on his face.
“Do it!”
Lirsti closed his eyes and with a dazzling display of arcane prowess, he summoned a magical portal. Lirsti jumped in, then Illuvetar. The dwarf weighted up his options, rolled his eyes and jumped in after them.
TaleTurner 