Albrek's Tomb

“Yes, they will, but I don’t think they will need this much help,” Turlock answered with a weak smile. “Leave a third of this wealth. That will be more than enough to help the needy of this city.”

“You are wise and kind, and perhaps too generous,” said Alex. “I will leave half, but you must promise me two things.”

“Whatever you ask of me, I will do,” Turlock answered firmly.

“First, no one can know that I left this wealth with you, at least it can’t be generally known. You’ll have to explain things to the lords of Neplee, but I’m sure they will understand my wishes.”

“It will be as you wish. And the second promise?”

“That you use this wealth only to help those who are truly in need,” Alex said, holding Turlock’s eyes with his own. “You are not to give any of these gems to those who don’t work or don’t try to provide for themselves. You understand my meaning.”

“Yes,” Turlock answered with a bow. “It will be as you ask.”

“Then I will leave you for tonight, my friend,” said Alex. “And we will say farewell in the morning.”

“You are forgetting something,” Turlock said as Alex turned toward the door. “You are to take half of this with you, remember?”

“Yes, of course,” Alex answered, laughing at himself. “You know, there was a time when such treasure would seem like all the wealth in the world to me. Now it seems a small thing, something that is easy to forget.”

“Your wealth is greater than gems or gold,” said Turlock. “You have the love of friends, and their hopes for you.”

Alex smiled and nodded. He spoke once again into the top of his magic bag. The air moved slightly and the pile between Alex and Turlock grew smaller. Alex nodded once more to Turlock before he left the room, slowly making his way back to his friends and then to his room to sleep one last night in Neplee.

Their departure the next morning was both a happy and a sad event. Every dwarf in the city lined the road to the main gates, and those who couldn’t find a spot along the way crowded around and outside the city gates. Turlock waited at the gates to wish them farewell, reminding Alex one more time that if he was ever in need, the city of Neplee would come to his assistance.

“Farewell, my friends,” Alex called as Thrang led them away from the city. “May your city prosper in peace.”

There was a loud cheer in reply, and then the dwarfs began to sing an old traveling song.

“It is meant to bring us luck,” Thrang said by way of explanation. “It is an old song, and some people say there is magic in it.”

“Magic?” Kat questioned.

“I don’t know if that is true, but it’s well meant,” Thrang said happily.

They rode across the open lands, their horses’ hooves crunching loudly through the last few inches of snow that remained on the ground. The air was pleasantly cool, and they could smell the promise of spring in it.

“The open air is wonderful,” Nellus called from behind Alex. “The dwarf city was a good place to spend the winter, but I’m happy to be in the open again.”

“As am I,” Barnabus agreed. “We did too much sitting around in Neplee. I fear we’ve all grown soft from the kindness of the dwarfs.”

“Then you’ll have to harden in a hurry,” said Thrang. “I fear our quest for Albrek’s tomb is far from over.”

“The dwarfs of the Lost Mountains didn’t know where Albrek had gone,” Kat said softly. “If they ever knew, they have forgotten long ago.”

“And we are ru

“That’s not true,” Thrang said with a grunting laugh. “There are lots of places we can look; we’re just ru

“Growing tired of the adventure already?” Arco

Alex laughed and shook his head. He was partly amazed at what they had already accomplished on this adventure and partly troubled by what he had learned along the way. More than anything else, however, he was worried about taking the form of the dragon. Salinor had warned him that it might be difficult for him to return to his human form once he had made the change, or, at least, he had hinted that it might be difficult. Alex didn’t want to risk it, and he didn’t want to run into anything that might tempt him to use his new power. He took comfort in knowing that he had faced and defeated the necromancer without taking the dragon’s shape, even though he had used some of the dragon’s power to do it. For his own reasons he hoped he would have time to prepare himself before making the change.

Alex pushed his worries to the back of his mind as they continued riding south. It was a su

They camped that night near a small stream, and though it seemed unlikely they would meet trouble, Thrang insisted they keep a watch.

“We don’t know what lies ahead of us, so we might as well prepare for the worst,” Thrang said sternly.

“Hopefully nothing as bad as what’s behind us,” Thrain said.

“It has been an exciting first adventure for you so far,” said Alex.

“Much more than I ever expected,” Thrain agreed. “I’d heard stories about first adventures, and most of them seemed very dull. Your first adventure was full of excitement, but you were a wizard-in-training then.”

“Yes, that’s true,” agreed Alex. “Though I don’t think my first adventure was as dangerous as this one has been.”

“Easy to say that now.” Arco

“That is also true,” Alex agreed. “But we’ve met more dangerous things on this adventure than we did on that one.”

“Oh?” Arco

“You count the oracle as dangerous, but not the dragon on the Isle of Bones?” Alex questioned. “And you have forgotten to mention Bane.”

“Oracles can be more dangerous than most other things,” Arco

“All right,” Alex said, waving away Arco

“As do I,” Thrang agreed, taking a seat beside the fire. “We’ve been lucky so far, and I hope we don’t need too much more luck to finish this adventure.”

“I wouldn’t call it luck,” Arco

“No, I suppose not,” agreed Thrang.

They ate in silence, as everyone was tired from the long day’s ride. As the others went to bed, Alex remained by the fire alone, assuming his customary first watch. Staring at the glowing coals of the fire, he thought about the crystal he had taken from Nethrom’s table. The crystal was the same as the one he had recovered for the Oracle, Iownan. He thought about the crystal and the empty tower by the Eastern Sea for a long time.

When his watch was over, Alex woke Thrain, but he did not go to his tent to sleep. Returning to the fire, he continued to think about the crystal, the tower, and the oracle that was to come. He wished he could make sense of it, but he didn’t know much about the empty tower or the legends surrounding it. He watched the fire for a long time. Slowly he felt his mind drifting away, returning to the hidden Isle of Bones.

“So, you come again, young one,” Salinor said softly.

“I wanted to thank you for waking me when I was under the mountain,” said Alex.

“And to ask more questions of me,” Salinor said with a smile.

“Yes.”

“The crystal you took from the cave is the tool of seers and oracles,” Salinor said calmly. “Yes, you could make it work, but you don’t really need it.”

“Should I give it to Kat? Is she to become the Oracle of the Empty Tower?”