“He’s coming up the stairs!” Zalan hissed urgently.

The others immediately dragged themselves to the edge of the stairs to confirm. They watched in horror. As soon as they reached over the edge, they witnessed Docrun stepping up another stair, then inspecting the area slowly before taking another step.

“He is moving slowly. I do not think he knows we are here,” Fran guessed.

“Then let’s get out of here before he finds us,” Zalan said.

Gorb and Yelsa immediately moved toward Fran who raised her arms for them to pull her up to her feet. Yelsa assisted Fran onto Gorb’s back. Quickly, they rushed up the stairs. Zalan and Rep occasionally tried to help Gorb up steps, but he would refuse with a quick shake of his head. Yelsa kept a close eye on Docrun’s ascent.

“He is slow. But he is consistent,” Yelsa assessed.

“How far are we from the top?” Gorb asked, breathless.

“Maybe one quarter is left before we reach the top,” Zalan shrugged.

“Mmm,” Gorb intoned, disappointed.

“Do you want one of us to help carry Fran?” Rep asked.

“No,” Gorb said firmly.

Rep and Zalan exchanged a glance, then looked back at his reddening face and slackening steps.

“Are you sure?” Zalan ventured.

“He does not trust you to carry me,” Fran dismissed them. “He thinks you will drop me right on my foot. As if my broken leg can get worse.”

“It definitely can get worse,” Gorb said, annoyed.

Zalan supported by pulling up on Gorb’s tunic at every step. Gorb scoffed in annoyance, but didn’t say anything to the gesture. Rep joined in, and Gorb was able to move faster without totally exhausting himself of what little energy remained. Yelsa kept her eye over the edge, slightly shaking as Docrun continued his slow steps forward.

“What are we going to do if he gets here before we reach the top?” Yelsa asked nervously.

“Kick him back down!” Fran said confidently.

“We will arrive at the top before he is anywhere near us,” Gorb assured her.

“But when we get to the top… Will we just go straight in?” Yelsa asked.

The question got no response, compounding Yelsa’s fears. Zalan had no idea what the plan was anymore. Would they be able to sneak up on the dragon if they had to rush into its chamber? Would Hatewing be watching the door? How long would the Homeseeker take to activate? What if it took so long that the dragon was able to burn it to a crisp before he got out of there?

Would Zalan be stuck in this world?

Zalan shook the thought out of his head. He needed to focus on getting out of Docrun’s path instead of hypotheticals. The occasional skittering in the walls still made Zalan feel nauseous, but nothing was as serious as Docrun on their tail.

Sweating, sore, and fatigued beyond belief, they arrived at the large double doors at the top of the tower. They were made of metal, and totally in-tact as opposed to most of the wooden doors below. The companions took a break for a few seconds, Yelsa watching over the center of the spiral staircase the entire time, hoping to God that Docrun would turn himself around on a whim and leave them alone. Docrun took another step up.

“Now what?” Yelsa asked, dread in her eyes.

“Do we even know if the doors are unlocked?” Zalan asked.

They looked at one another nervously. If they were locked out, there would be no chance of getting inside before Docrun arrived. Rep took nervous steps toward the door and laid his hand on it, then pulled away sharply.

“What? Is it primed with a trap?” Yelsa hissed, terrified.

“No, it is very cold,” Rep said, running his hands together with a small flame then reaching out once more. He pulled on the handle and it slid open quietly, just enough to know they could pass through, but not enough for a dragon who was watching the door to see. The group looked to one another, elated.

“What do we do now?” Rep whispered, stepping to the stairs to look over the side. Docrun continued his ascent. He was about halfway up the stairs now.

“We should slow him down so we can think,” Fran said.

“How?” Zalan asked.

“The same way you did the first time! Throw off his crown and send it all the way back to the bottom of the stairs. Gorb, do you think you can manage it from here?” Fran asked.

Gorb was still catching his breath, but he crawled his way to the edge of the stairs.

“Perhaps. It was a little out of my range before, but I have not tested my distance after gaining a Level from facing the Melders,” Gorb said.

“Blast the crown off his head and send it down the center of the stairway. That should give us a lot more time. And if he tries to come back up before we have a plan we are confident in, just send him down again,” Fran said.

“Right,” Gorb acknowledged, raising a trembling, tired hand as he targeted Docrun.

Gorb breathed in deeply. The slight quiver in his hand ceased entirely as he put his whole focus into his next attack. He breathed out smoothly and flexed his hand. The royal garb on the Fleshless Docrun shook impressively in the wind. The crown flew up and off his head, then was quickly blasted down the center of the stairs by another gust of air.

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Docrun caught it before it was out of reach.

Quickly returning his crown to his head, Docrun looked up sharply. His normally unfocused gaze had a manic rage in the one remaining eye. He was able to catch the travelers by surprise, making eye contact before they could pin themselves back against the floor. He made no noise, only staring for a moment, then began bounding up the rest of the stairs, two at a time.

“Oh no!” Yelsa stammered. “What now?”

“Inside! Now, let’s go!” Zalan said, no longer keeping his voice low in the heat of pursuit.

“But what if the dragon sees us?” Yelsa protested.

“I really don’t think we have a choice, let’s move!” Zalan ordered.

Gorb pulled Fran back up onto his back and stumbled his way through the door that Rep pulled open. Yelsa was ahead, but she hesitated and Zalan ran through first. Yelsa immediately followed, then Gorb and Fran, and finally Rep, who slid the door shut behind him. He pulled his weight against the door, trying to keep it totally shut in case Docrun tried to pull it open. Yelsa caught on to this and immediately looked down at the scepter in her hand then pushed it through the pull handles, locking it tightly. Rep nodded to her and they took a step away from the door, hoping it would be enough to stop the powerful king.

“Ahp—” Zalan made a tiny noise, but covered his mouth before shouting anything.

The chamber was massive, like a circular arena perfect for holding fighters and an audience. It was covered in mountains of treasures of all kinds, whether gold, jewelry or splendid weapons. It was enough to sustain someone for at least several lifetimes and Zalan could see how it could easily maintain a kingdom of hundreds or thousands. Throughout the hills and valleys of this gold were several Artifacts. Zalan could recognize a Satiator on a pile, but others just stood out as clearly Artifacts, like a green, glowing ring.

Behind all the marvelous wares ahead of them was a massive creature. Hatewing lay sleeping on the other end of the domed chamber, the orange glow of the sunset streaming in from the hole above. The dozing monster was easily the size of a commercial airplane, maybe larger. It was colored mostly black, with hints of purple running through its hide, natural stripes running from its eyelids to wings. Its body was covered in black iridescent scales that reflected different colors as it slowly breathed in and out.

Zalan wasn’t shocked nor began yelling because of any of these aspects of the chamber. Rather, something much more disgusting had joined them in the room. Roaches. They were crawling around the room with their hideous, hairy legs and uncanny mandibles. They stuck to walls and some were crawling around and pruning scales from Hatewing’s hide. Zalan shuddered and kept his hand clamped over his mouth. His friends were examining the room in silence, Yelsa was equally disturbed by the presence of Roaches in the room.

“Is that where the little patters outside the walls came from? They are all over this tower,” Yelsa whispered, disturbed.

“Just ignore them,” Rep advised quietly. “We just need to find the Homeseeker.”

Zalan and Yelsa stifled a scream under closed mouths as a Roach skittered right across their path, racing through the room for Roach reasons.

“Ignore them,” Zalan spat sarcastically in a hushed voice.

“Better to face them than the dragon,” Yelsa said quietly.

They slowly began to move across the room, doing everything in their power to keep the dragon in a state of slumber. Fran was set back down on the ground so Gorb wouldn’t breathe as hard. Gorb, Rep, Zalan, and Yelsa tiptoed across pieces of gold and treasures. They scanned the area for the Homeseeker hoping that it wasn’t buried under the small mountains of gold, as it would be impossible to locate without making noise in that case. The closer they drew to the dragon, the more anxious they became. There was an unspoken agreement that communication would be silent from then on.

Rep waved at them, signaling to ask whether they noticed something ahead. They followed his finger only to see he was pointing directly at Hatewing’s face. Zalan, Yelsa, and Gorb looked to one another in confusion, then back to Rep for a more clear explanation. He made the shape of a square, then pointed back at Hatewing. Zalan peered closely, and blinked in surprise as he recognized that among a few gold coins just ahead of the dragon’s nose was a golden cube with black corners.

The Homeseeker.

The four looked at one another in fear and hesitation. They looked back at Fran who was still peering over and then widened her eyes in recognition, a smile forming on her face. She raised her hand and pointed to herself, trying to volunteer to be the one to go retrieve the Artifact. They quickly dismissed her, Gorb looking embarrassed as he had to explain to her through miming that her leg was not fit to be sneaky. Fran frowned in disappointment.

They then looked to Gorb. Gorb gestured to his height and size to try and display he was far too big to travel there and back undetected. Zalan waved his hands around, miming that Gorb could bring the Artifact over with his Elemental Air Power. Gorb signed something back, but the group looked confused. Frustrated, Gorb spoke in a barely audible voice.

“Too far. And too near to the dragon. Enough air to move the Artifact would be enough to nudge the dragon and wake it up. And we do not know whether my power can activate it, leaving us stranded,” Gorb explained quickly.

Zalan pursed his lips and nodded.

They looked to Yelsa next, but she shook her head adamantly in fear, waving her arms side-to-side in a quick, urgent fashion. When they looked at Rep, he pointed to the bad bandage on his arm. Zalan was going to try and protest, but had a sinking feeling that it wasn’t a good idea to force someone who didn’t even believe in himself. When they finally gazed at Zalan, Zalan stood tall, ready to grab the Homeseeker and get out of there.

Until he flinched and stifled another scream when a Roach passed his peripheral.

Gorb shook his head gravely and turned back to Yelsa. Her leg wasn’t so bad that she couldn’t be discrete. She was just scared, but even her fear didn’t cause her to scream like Zalan. That wasn’t a good enough excuse.

After a series of back and forths of head shakes and head nods, Yelsa finally breathed out in frustration and reluctantly nodded. She looked over to the Homeseeker right in front of the dragon’s closed maw, then back to them with derision in her eyes. She gestured a series of signals to tell them that if the dragon woke up after she had her hands of the Homeseeker, she wouldn’t wait. She would use the Homeseeker immediately and save herself. Zalan swallowed hard, unable to discern whether or not she was being serious.

Yelsa began to slink her way across the room as Gorb and Rep knelt down to try and minimize their presence. Zalan refused to sit while in the same room as Roaches that he couldn’t kill with impunity, so he remained standing with one hand firmly over his mouth. Yelsa made smooth strides, stretching her way over pieces of gold to make sure she didn’t clink anything together. The Roaches were climbing the piles with wanton disregard and making plenty of ambient noise, but Yelsa didn’t want to add to anything and accidentally cause Hatewing to awaken.

Yelsa was halfway across the room when something crashed loudly behind her. She whipped her head back in fear and anger, looking to the three men for an explanation. They, in turn, also looked back to see the source of the noise coming from behind them. Fran was staring at the entryway where another series of smashes lit up the room in a dangerous amount of noise. Docrun was smashing against the door with enough force to both create massive noises and shift the piles of treasure closest to the door. His blows against the door bent the scepter inward, and the door cracked open a tad before it was stopped by the bent shape of the scepter. The dead king tried to push his fingers into the door to no avail.

The travelers collectively looked back at Hatewing to see it slowly raising its head, an eye opening in a bleary, sleepy state. It looked around at the Roaches, then quickly pinpointed Zalan and his companions throughout the room. Zalan couldn’t tell what color eyes it had. Its eyes were rapidly changing in color, cycling like a pinwheel between a number of hues.

“Oh… Oh, dear God,” Rep said in fear.

“Hatewing is an Elemental Dragon?” Gorb asked in shock.

Hatewing’s eyes narrowed in on the companions. Then it roared, shaking the room and all its inhabitants with the force of a small earthquake.

“No, no, no! Go back to sleep!” Yelsa pleaded as she rushed back toward Zalan and his companions.

“Well,” Fran said loudly as used her sword to lift herself to balance on her good foot. “At least I get to face off against a dragon!”