Spear of Destiny by James Baldwin (little bear else holmelund minarik .TXT) 📕

Taltos one time, I died and woke up in a tomb with an altar to Matir instead of spawning back to my bedroom. Only once, though.”

“Huh. I wonder why? What happened before that?”

“It was while you were imprisoned by Andrik in Vulkan Keep. An escort took me to your cell, and these Void-things killed us both. I should have respawned in my room at the castle, but I woke up in this ancient tomb under the city instead. There was an altar to Matir and some bodies there. That’s where I got the Boots of the Winding Path and a few other things. I know it sounds weird, but this dead Baru gave them to me.”

“That makes sense.” Karalti half-closed her eyes as I continued to pet her nose. “I mean, if you’d respawned in the castle, you’d have just been captured again. Maybe Matir was protecting you? He had some more power to spare back then.”

“Yeah, but he doesn’t have that power now.” I had a feeling that wasn’t all there was to this. It was like I could see the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle laid out on a table, but had no way to bring them together into a picture. “Anyway, as much as I want to solve the mystery, we have to get out of here. Suri, Rin, Istvan, and Vash are probably freaking the fuck out right now.”

“The only way to do that is to finish the quest,” Karalti replied. “That’s gonna be hard. The Spear is okay, but your armor got wrecked.”

I checked my Inventory and cursed in three different languages: English, Korean, and Tuun. She was right. My beloved Raven Suit was at 0% durability, trashed beyond repair. The only pieces that had survived the battle with Baldr were the helmet and the boots, and they each were sitting at 12% and 5% durability. Everything else was toast. “The Spear? Where is it?”

“Here.” Karalti moved her foreleg, revealing the Spear of Nine Spheres tucked against her chest. “I kept it safe.”

“Phew. Okay. Thanks, Tidbit.” I paused for a moment, rubbing the back of my neck. “And... thanks for watching over me.”

“Of course.” She briefly squeezed her eyes shut, like a contented cat. “You wiped drool off me when I was a hatchling, and now I get to wipe it off you while you’re convulsing on the floor! We look out for each other. We always have, and we always will.”

Without thinking, I cupped the dragon’s snout and stroked my hands over the edges of her mouth. She didn’t have lips the way a mammal did: it was more like a row of scales that covered her teeth. It apparently felt good, because she sighed and relaxed just enough to place some of the weight of her head in my grip. As she did, I pressed my forehead in against the bridge of her muzzle, breathing in deeply as a powerful, bittersweet feeling flooded through my chest.

“Hector... I...” Karalti trailed off.

Her purple eyes were wide and bright, and as I looked deep into them, my heart swelled. The same sweet silence I felt in me was mirrored in her. Her longing washed over me in waves, complex and awkward and beautiful. I could feel her apprehension, too: not just about what had happened when I’d died, but about the challenge of the dungeon—and the prospect of entering the tomb of her great-great grandmother.

“It’s alright,” I said, softly. “I’m okay. We’re okay, and we’re going to smash this trial, just like we have all the others. You’re the best flyer in all of Archemi. I believe that one-hundred percent.”

“I know you do.” Karalti nuzzled against my hands with extraordinary gentleness for such an enormous creature. The dragon was large enough and strong enough to break every bone in my body with her head. She could eat a full-grown man in two bites. But she couldn’t hurt me. Instead, she wuffled air softly against my fingers, rubbing her sensitive nostrils against them. “You should get ready. I want to get this over with, then go home and snuggle. Besides, it’s potion day tomorrow. We should probably get back to Kalla Sahasi before then.”

“Tomorrow?” I checked my HUD and winced. Shit. She was right. The once-a-week potion was the tradeoff for the Bond and the beneficial mutations gained through the Trial of Marantha. If I didn’t take the potion on time, I lost my dragonrider adaptations and faced the prospect of some pretty serious withdrawals until I brewed the stupid thing. Unfortunately, the ingredients for the [Dragon’s Blood Potion] were at home.

I stripped off the remains of the Raven Suit and my flight harness, and equipped my old Jack of Plates, some plain trousers, and the leather bracers I’d made in Rin’s workshop. With the Raven Helmet and Boots of the Winding Path, the mis-matched ensemble brought my Armor score up to the princely sum of 210. It was a big drop. The Raven Suit alone had a base Armor score of 260.

Once I’d dressed, I slowly rose to my feet and went to collect the Spear from Karalti’s claws. But before I even touched it, I knew something had changed. The Spear had nine gem slots punched into the base of the curved blade, the setting for each one of the Dragon Gate Keys. The last time I remembered holding it, there’d only been two Keys: The Ruby of Boundless Strength, which opened the Dragon Gate of Khors, and the Star of Endless Night, a black star sapphire with a brilliant white flash. But now, there was a third stone: a huge white pearl the size of a large marble, gleaming with a soft silvery-pink sheen.

“Well, fuck me sideways and call me George,” I whispered.

“Huh?” Karalti cocked her head. “Why would I call you George?”

“Because that is the Pearl of Glorious Dawn. It’s the key