Dungeons & Disappointment

Chapter 20: Candle Keep

Finally, after what seemed like a near-endless day of traveling, I saw the gates of Candlekeep, a large Dwarven city, rising against the backdrop of the plains and the sword coast behind it. The city genuinely looked beautiful with the many ramparts of the outer wall in stark contrast with the medieval homes that were inside and around it. All around the outskirts of the town were large crop fields, growing all of the food for the town as random herders and farmers took care of both the fields and the animals around the town. Small archer towers and guard posts dotted the fields around us as the caravan grew ever closer, and I looked over at Finana.

"Jesus, how long have we been traveling?"

"Been about four days now. Five hundred miles?"

"FIVE HUNDRED MILES!??" I said. "How the hell did we get that far?"

"I mean, we just kinda rode here."

I gave her a playfully dumb look, and she smiled as some of the farmers gave us funny looks from their spots in the fields. Some of them hadn't seen any Serpentines before, but after a few seconds of staring, they all looked back to their duties. As we were staring at the city of Candlekeep, suddenly, Tol-Tokeel came running up to us in a hurry, and I knew something was seriously wrong when I saw an arrow sticking out of his side.

"THAT BASTARD!!!" He yelled as the rest of the Serpentines stirred. "XEXON!!! HE STOLE SO MUCH GOLD!!!"

Immediately, both Finana and I jumped down onto the ground, running up to Tol-Tokeel as he collapsed, still clutching the arrow in his side as I knelt next to him.

"What the hell happened??!!" I said frantically as Finana started pulling out bandages for the wound.

"No, no!" He replied, waving her away. "I'll be fine, that bastard stole the money!!"

Right as he said that, there was the sound of horse hooves behind us, and I saw, none other than Xexon himself, riding away from the convoy, right at the city of Candlekeep.

"He's heading for the city! After him, I'll be fine over here!"

At that, I heard an extra set of footsteps behind us, and I saw Tharngeil and Drar come riding up to us on horseback, and behind them, they were leading another horse, and I saw that it was mine, stolen from the slavers.

"Wait a minute, where's my horse?" Finana asked, holding her tome at the ready.

"Xexon stole it!" Tharngeil replied. "The lad never had a horse!"

"Well, we'll take this one. Good enough for now."

I ran straight up to the horse, then slung myself up as Finana climbed on behind me, wrapping her hands around my waist and chest to hold onto me.

"You two stay here, guard the convoy," I said as Xexon was getting closer and closer to the city. "We'll get him back."

With that, I spurred the horse forward, and we took off toward the city, the horse's hooves pounding against the ground. We raced closer and closer to the walls of the city, but as we got closer, I saw Xexon's small figure disappear into the city, and I cursed under my breath.

"Why the hell would he head into the city?" I yelled to Finana as we passed up an armed guard tower.

"The city is huge!" She said. "He's probably trying to disappear into it so he can head out the other side without being detected."

"Where do you think we'll find him?"

"I'm not sure, but I have a few spells that may help us."