The Stone of Salazara (Book 1 of Saga of the Stones)

Chapter 4

I stared at the scenery around me. The town wasn't just dirty, it was gray. The bright sun in the sky didn't even seem to be shining on Croome. Ragged and disheveled people limped around. I watched as a woman looked out her house window, then sighed and closed the drapes. I wondered if she had children in there, and she was afraid to let them play outside.

We walked passed house after house, each seeming droopier and sadder then the last. Matt kept a hand on his sword, and I fingered nervously at the hilt of the dagger that Matt had given me that morning. I could feel all eyes on us, and I tried hard not to look at the people staring at me.

Finally, we reached an old, worn down house. Matt led us through the yard with dying plants, and knocked on the door.

The door opened a crack, and I saw part of a man's bearded face looking through. "Who is it?" he asked in a grinding voice.

Matt gave Jem and I a look that plainly said, Let me do the talking, and turned back to the door. "We've come for the directions to The Stone of Salazara."

The door closed suddenly, and a series of bolts could be heard unlocking. Jem let go of my hand and pulled me in under her arm. I didn't object. It was nice having a sister figure in my life now, and I was as scared as her.

The door opened again, this time all the way. The man, or dwarf, as he appeared to be, beckoned us in, then shut the door quickly and locked it again. He led us through the house, past piles of papers, old books, navigational tools, and maps of all kinds. When we finally reached the sitting room, he looked at us sharply.

"What are three kids like you doing looking for a stone that powerful and dangerous?" he asked.

"Because my uncle is after it, and my friends and I have been assigned to find it and destroy it before he can get his hands on it," Matt explained.

"Uncle? You're Massadonic's nephew?" The dwarf asked, fingering a club by his chair. He looked as if he were going to throw it at us at any moment.

"Yes. My mother was his sister."
Suddenly, and unexpectedly, the dwarf's face broke out into a grin. "Good! He said it would be drastic if you got a hold of that map, so you can have it!"

"What?" asked Matt, plainly confused.

"Kid, I was part of Massadonic's movement to kill your mother ten years back. I didn't realize at the time that Massadonic was the one I should have been against. He told us all that he was the rightful heir to the throne, and that your mother was the one trying to steal it."

I looked at Jem in shock. Throne? I mouthed, but Jem put a finger to her lips, and gave me an I'll tell you later look.

"As soon as I realized what he was actually after, I left his service," the dwarf continued. "He apparently forgot that he trusted me with the only map that shows the way to The Stone of Salazara. Now I'm extra cautious because I know someday he'll be here to get it. When he gave it to me, he said, 'Whatever happens, don't let my nephew have this map.' So naturally you can have it!"

"Oh."

The dwarf started digging through his piles of maps. "I remember the day he got this map. Stole it off a ship. When we captured them, and asked them if they had the stone, the captain said they had stopped at the shipwreck ten years aback. We had gotten them on their way back from a war in Kiolim. Captain said they had taken nothing. Ha!" He jumped to the next pile, apparently not finding the map in the first. "I knew someone had taken something, but I wasn't sure who, or what they had taken. None of the men had it on them. Massadonic made all of them his slaves. There was one, Sir Franklin, I think his name was, who resisted Massadonic's attempts to make him evil. Massadonic just threw him in the dungeon. I warned him that something about Sir Franklin was off, but did he listen to me? No!"