“Doubt can be deadly. Would you run from this challenge?”
“I would rather face it and free the people of Neplee, but I don’t know how, and I’m not sure that I can defeat this evil.”
“Caution is one of your more human traits,” said Salinor with a soft laugh. “It may be useful, I would not know.”
“I want to ask something of you,” said Alex before he could stop himself.
“Ask something, of me?”
“If I cannot defeat the necromancer, if he gains control over me, I want you to come and destroy me. Don’t let me be used by this evil,” said Alex in a pleading tone.
“Yes, I will come,” Salinor agreed slowly. “Though I think there are few things you could not overcome, even though you are still young.”
“Thank you,” said Alex, bowing to the dragon in his thoughts.
“You should return now,” said Salinor, a strange smile curling his gigantic mouth. “Guard your thoughts from the prying of the dark one, and look deeper into what your friend Vankin said in his message to you. If I feel the darkness overcoming you, I will come as you have asked.”
Alex bowed once more, and before he could dream himself back across the dwarf realm to Neplee, he woke with a start. Jumping out of bed, Alex retrieved Whalen’s letter and reread every line of it carefully, pausing on one line that he didn’t remember reading at all.
***
“There’s at least a foot of snow on the ground, and there will be another before we’ve eaten breakfast.” Thrang turned as Alex entered the common room. “If I didn’t know better, I’d ask if you’d conjured up this storm,” he said.
“Not me,” said Alex, smiling at Thrang. “And Nethrom didn’t conjure it either,” he added quickly.
“Well, we won’t be moving anytime soon,” Thrang grumbled. “So I suppose we’ll have to wait and see what happens.”
“You know what’s going to happen,” said Alex. “I will go into the mountains and face the necromancer.”
“Madness,” said Thrang, dropping into a chair by the fire. “I’ll never understand wizards, not if I live to be a thousand years old.”
“It is not madness,” said Alex. “It is simply what has to be done.”
“Very well. I’ll ask no more questions,” Thrang said as he got to his feet again. “Besides, there’s no time anyway. Turlock has asked us to join him for breakfast, and we’d better be on our way,” he said as a guide appeared to lead them back to Turlock.
Once more the city was dark and quiet, though there were a few dwarfs moving about this morning. Most of them moved quickly away as Alex and the others approached, but a few stayed and silently watched them pass.
“Our people are not used to strangers,” their guide said. “It has been so long since anyone has come to the city.”
“Do they fear us?” Thrang asked as they walked.
“In a way they do,” the guide answered. “The evil one in the mountains has sent his servants among us before. Now, we have trouble trusting anyone, even those we hold most dear.”
The look on Thrang’s face told Alex all he needed to know. Thrang’s mind had been made up, and even if the weather permitted them to leave, he would insist that Alex try to free the city of Neplee from the curse of the necromancer.
Turlock greeted the company as they entered a small feasting hall. A large, round table had been set up, and breakfast was already waiting for them. Alex thought Turlock looked tired, as if he hadn’t slept in days, so he waited until they were almost done with their meal before asking his question.
“A metal worker?” Turlock asked in response. “We have many metal workers in Neplee, though there is little for any of them to do these days.”
“Who is the best metal worker in the city?” Alex asked.
“That would be Volo Silverforge—”
“Volo Silverforge lives here?” Thrang interrupted. “His work is well-known and much prized, even in Benorg.”
“Where can I find Master Silverforge?” Alex asked.
“I can have someone take you to him,” Turlock answered. “Though I doubt he will be willing to help you. He has taken an oath, and refuses to make anything that might please or aid Nethrom. He has done no work in the past three years.”
“I would like to come along,” Thrang said, glancing quickly at Alex. “If I may.”
“I think I should go alone at first,” Alex said to Thrang. “It will be less imposing, and I may be able to convince Volo to aid me.”
Thrang reluctantly agreed, though Alex could see that he wasn’t happy about it. As soon as they were done eating, Turlock had one of his servants lead Alex through the city to Volo’s workshop. Alex asked the dwarf to leave, and then he stood for several minutes looking at the door and wondering what kind of dwarf Volo Silverforge would be.
Alex knocked loudly on the workshop door with his staff, but there was no answer. Alex wondered if Volo might not be in his workshop, but then he heard movement behind the door. He knocked again. He could clearly hear the sound of shuffling feet behind the door, but the door remained closed. Smiling to himself, Alex raised his staff and knocked a third time.
“Volo Silverforge, if you do not answer your door after I’ve knocked three times, I will blast it off its hinges and turn you into a dormouse,” Alex said loudly.
Slowly the door creaked open, and an ancient-looking dwarf stuck his head out from inside the workshop.
“No need to get angry,” Volo grumbled, looking closely at Alex. “I’m closed for business, so you can take your threats and your knocking someplace else.”
“You prefer to leave the city to Nethrom, then,” said Alex as Volo moved to close the door.
“I prefer to be left alone,” said Volo sharply, opening the door a little wider.
“So your peace is more important to you than your friends and neighbors are,” said Alex, leaning on his staff.
“We are all in the same boat here,” said Volo, opening the shop door all the way. “There is no escape from the curse, and no point in searching for false hope.”
“If that’s how you feel, I must have come to the wrong place,” said Alex. “I thought Volo Silverforge would be the dwarf who could aid me in riding Neplee of its curse, but it appears I was wrong. You should go back to gathering dust like your forge; I will find someone else to assist me.”
“No need to be rude,” said Volo, taking a step out of his shop to get a better look at Alex. “I’ve never had a wizard knock on my shop door before, so the least I can do is offer you tea.”
“Then you are willing to discuss a job I need done?”
“I don’t know about that,” Volo answered, turning back toward his shop. “Come inside and have some tea. I’ll listen to what you have to say before I tell you that you’re mad.”
Alex smiled and followed Volo into the shop, closing the door behind him. Volo shuffled his way across the room and placed a large copper kettle on top of his forge, pumping the bellows a few times. Alex took the chair that Volo offered him, sitting silently while Volo made their tea.
Chapter Eighteen
Necromancer
You’ve been working with Volo for weeks. Are you going to tell us what you’re up to, or are you going to leave us sitting in the dark?”
Thrang was in a bad mood, and for a moment Alex considered telling him what he had planned. Fortunately, Nellus spoke before he had to answer.
“Sitting in the dark is right. If I don’t feel some wind on my face soon, I think I’ll die.”
“The snow is five feet deep around the city gates. The guards have to shovel it away every night and morning just to open and close the doors,” Barnabus said.
“There is little snow once you move away from the mountains,” Arconn said.
“That’s fine for an elf who can move easily on top of the snow,” said Thrang, disgruntled. “The rest of us cannot move so easily. And what were you doing so far from the gates anyway?”
“Looking,” Arconn answered. “Feeling what is there.”