By David C. Daoust
Page 1 of 10
Efreet scrunched up his nose, closed one eye, and shoved a finger in his ear as he re-examined the map that lay on the dusty ground before him. Trying ever so hard to discern what he was trying to represent, when he had drawn up the stupid thing. He didn’t remember having done it while drunk, but clearly, clearly he must have been. It was ever so aggravating, especially considering how many years he had waited for his return to this minor adventure. He studied his quest log for a moment, and then returned to the map. Squinting his eyes at the map, and then at the distant hills, he suddenly had some form of recognition of what it was he had tried to draw. Once he figured out that the bull horns actually represented the ridge of mountains in the distance, it all came flooding back.
It was ever so long ago now, he had come out into these ruins with a rather shady character. Just the sort that would hold out on such a find as this, which was, of course, why Efreet thought it was lucky that he had found the secret passage through the ruins, and not his partner. He was sure if it was the other way around Efreet would never have got a cut in what was found below, if anything.
He had waited a good long while though, years to a gnome was nothing, and he suspected the human, well he HAD to be an old senile cripple by now, if not in the grave. So he was confident his find would be his alone at last.
At least one foot in the grave, Efreet thought to himself as he finally reached the crumbly old ruins of some ancient keep. He barely remembered what they had come out here for, some sort of research for the human, what was his name…? Bartollo, Bartello? Or was that some form of mushroom? No matter, he was a researcher of some sort and Efreet had access to a mule for his gear.
The old shady scribe had spent a good long day searching through these ruins, etching at walls, in search of what… Efreet would never know, truly. He never asked. He remembered the man was quite depressed on the return trip, though remembered faintly the man wanting to return on the morrow, but that was neither here nor there… during it all, Efreet had noticed quite a bit more than the man did. This was when he noticed the faintest outline of an old hidden door, cunningly concealed, undetectable by most, but Efreet, Efreet had a knack for just this sort of thing.
Efreet was now standing directly before the very door he had found those many years ago. In his mind it was but the day before that he had made a mental note to come back here alone, though in reality it could be a hundred years or more… he’d have to sit down and calculate exactly how long. A good long while was a good long while; gnomes were nothing if not patient. Though come to think of it, humans really don’t live so long and that was a fairly old human to begin with. He thought maybe he could have made a stop back here far sooner? Well, then or now, what’s the difference?
Efreet managed to pop the old concealed latch with only a few tools from his belt, and was now shouldering the old stone door, heaving it to the side. The blackened depths gave way to an old staircase and Efreet’s blood grew hot at the prospect of the adventure he had just popped open. Efreet considered light only momentarily, there was no telling what may be down there. Gnomes had exceptional night vision; truly they did not need much light to see at all. And so, fingering the curved weapon at his side, he began his search into the darkness!
