Solbert Looks at the Amber Stone

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 37205

Solbert moved from his niche, and spoke, half to himself. "Yes, yes, I can help. I will need to talk to her, and the more information that I can get, the more I can do. At the very least, I can get her out of the pocket she is in. Mature dragons can change their form, and from the way you describe her, she should be able to do so. Dragons can do it intuitively, but Astra may require a little prodding from me. The first change will probably come in her sleep, or in a daydream, when she is thinking about vivid experiences as a human. After that, the rest will come naturally."

"Could you break the charm and make her into a normal human again?" asked Lord Fred, as he wandered to the niche with the two statues.

"That might be stretching my abilities, but I do not mind trying. Quite the opposite, in fact. The trick is to find out exactly what caused her to change."

"Yes, we do not know for sure. There was a book that Checkers, the Glider that is with us, was reading from. She was reading a long passage in a language that I do not know."

"Old High Dolomite," she added.

"Yes. At about this time we hear the fight between Astra and Minestus. The caves changed and the book disappeared, unfortunately. Could reading the passages in the book have caused the transformation?"

The gnome frowned. "I hope I have not caused offense," Fred stated.

"No, no. It's just that I do not what you are talking about, Checkers. I do not know of any such language."

"It was definitely Old High Dolomite, the ancient language of my people. Ti silishi Dolomiti alisi."

Solbert replied, "Shi silisha Tetroliniti Astralini alisi, Gliderini. Nefeshi silishi."

"Ti ti-deciti. Sforna."

To Fred's relief, Solbert continued in the Common tongue, "I would say that you learned it quite well, considering the passage of time. One dialect of what we call Southern Tetralonian is called the mage's speech. It is a bit funny hearing you speak that way, Checkers - you do not speak with a Glider accent. If anything, you speak it the way a native of Kalarin would speak."

"Kalerin?" asked Checkers.

"Yes. That was originally one of the lands of the West. The men from there fled from there after the Tetralonian Wars, like many of the people of Mount Erebus. Most of them settled around the Gap of Gana and the area to the south."

"Part of the Ryngaerd," said Fred.

"Yes. Here, I can show you on the globe."

Solbert walked briskly (for a gnome) to the globe, and pointed to the area west of Aqualaria, and started to describe something, when he stopped.

"Hmm. Interesting."

Fred asked, "Did the amber stuff on the other continent catch your attention?"

"Yes. It might be nothing sinister. It's a bit of a concern, though. We built this globe to keep track of events, spells, and forces that could affect Mount Erebus. Are you sure that Astra killed Minestus?"

Fred said, "Yes. We saw the body."

"What does the amber mean, Solbert?" asked Checkers, trying to push her concern to the back of her mind.

"It could mean a number of things. That is not the colour of war, so that is not what is going on. But it concerns a powerful force. I would say that a dragon is behind it somehow. It almost looks like one of them is claiming that land under the amber as his or her own, and has bonded to it. Dragons are strange creatures. The bond is a source of great power, but limits them in important ways. They feel a pull toward the land, and their fate is bound up with it. It is rare, but not unknown. I never it in Atheline's time. I was concerned that perhaps Minestus made a deal with some savage tribe or evil force beyond the pale of civilization, and that he somehow survived."

"That land is not beyond the pale of civilization now, Solbert. That's my home, and that is where the last of the Gliders live."

Solbert looked at Checkers, and grunted. "You have a spear like a savage, but you know a dialect of Tetralonian. I have slept a long time, and the world has changed a great deal."

Fred says,

  1. "Well, I think Astra can answer many of your questions, Solbert. Let us head that way."
  2. "Solbert, we have a couple of statues of us in that niche. Would you know why they are there?"

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