[Deposit, Military]

  “I felt it too, Opal, as soon as we crossed the border to this estate, you portal back to the tower and tell Draco about it. I’ll look around and try to locate it.”

  “I don’t want to leave you alone, here, Rose.”

  “It’s all right sweetie, I’ll be fine. Mossbeard is right over by the mansion, so I’m not alone. But you get back to the tower, just tell Draco, he’ll know what to do. People have been living and working out here for years honey, don’t worry, we are just being careful.”

  “Yes, Rose.”

  “Good, girl.”

  She opened her portal wallet and was gone. I started looking around for a golden glowed magical field, but I could not see any. Next I put a stone where I stood and walked ten feet north of the stone, it felt the same, I returned to the stone and went ten feet south. No Difference, twenty feet, still no difference. I returned to the stone repeated the same process for the east and the west ten foot from the stone felt no difference so I went to twenty paused, looked around. It felt the same but, I heard a sound, muffled words. I went another ten feet and they might have been a little louder, but still too muffled to hear clearly. But I thought it might be coming from the south of my position. Draco flew down to my side.

  “What’s going on Rose. What’s that sound?”

  “I’m just trying to get a fix on it, I think it’s a little south of here could you fly up and see if you can determine anything odd. As soon as we crossed the border to the estate, the hairs on the back of my neck went straight up. But it has to be safe, people have been living and working on this estate for hundreds of years.”

  Draco took off again and began circling flights, I followed my ears, it wasn’t too long before I could make out the words.

  And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,

  From this day to the ending of the world,

  But we in it shall be remember'd;

  We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

  The speech Henry the V gives in Shakespeare's play. That’s also when I saw a dim purple glow. I hurried to the spot, the same four muffled lines, repeating over and over.

  “Hello, can you hear me?”

  “Wizard, quick, please dig me up.”

  “Who are you?”

  “Wizard, please I lie buried here for four hundred years, do you know what it’s like to lie in dirt, for four hundred years. Dig me up and I am yours, and I will faithfully serve you.”

  “That sounds suspiciously like something the one ring would say if it could talk. Tell me what you are.”

  “I am your protector, even ten thousand knights can not harm you while you carry me. I wilt be thy shield my lady, wizard, just please un bury me. Bring me once again into the light, I swear all that is holy that I will serve you to your dying day.”

  “How do I know that today won’t be my dying day if I unearth you?”

  “Hmmm, good question my lady, I’m trying to think of a way to prove that I mean to love and cherish the person that restores me to the sun. If you were me, my lady, what would you say to prove yourself to the person who could restore you?”

  “Maybe I’d explain why I was reciting one of Sheakspeare’s most famous speeches.”

  “Nay, milady, twas not Shakespeare who wrote that speech, he merely recorded what was said that day by master the good King Henry, to his troops before we went on to trounce the French. Is a shield wielded by a king not worthy of a wizard of Emain Ablach?”

  I waved to Draco, who landed with a thud beside me. I filled him in on the conversation so far. I asked him to wait by the glow so I could easily find my way back. There was a barn not too far away, where I hoped to find a shovel. I didn’t know if his story was true but it certainly was intriguing. Even though recent events have proven that Draco is not indestructible, I still felt completely safe while he stood by my side.

  I reached the barn and after poking around a bit I found an old shovel. I put it over my shoulder and marched back towards Draco, he started towards me. When we were close enough to speak.

  “Rose, I’m not sure this is a good idea.”

  “I agree, it’s very dangerous, the first thing it said to me was ‘ Dig me up and I am yours, and I will faithfully serve you.’ I immediately thought of the one ring. I even told it that, but it didn’t seem to get the reference. Which means that it probably was buried here more than one hundred years ago.”

  “Right, which makes it even more dangerous, it’s older magic, and look at that magical field it’s magenta, why is a magical field magenta.”

  “We have to be really careful with this, I’ll send Mossbeard for Sparky but even so, I don’t think we have any choice but to dig it up.”

  “Yes we have a choice, you plan on building homes on this estate you could build a house on it. That ought to keep it buried.”

  “Draco we can’t do that.”

  “Is this some moral choice or other you are about to hit me with?”

  Mossbeard was coming towards us, we diverted and walked towards him.

  “Mossbeard please portal back to the store and get Sparky, tell him Draco and I would like him to come out here. We found something magical buried here and I’m about to dig it up.”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “That doesn’t sound like a good idea, Rose.”

  “Mossbeard, please just go get Sparky in case we need help.”

  “Alright Rose, but you should wait before you start digging up any magical artifacts.”

  “Please Mossbeard.”

  “I’m going but just be careful, tell her Draco.”

  “I already did, it's a morality thing, apparently it’s the right thing to do.”

  We started back toward the purple glow.

  “Draco, sure if it’s evil and faking that it’s good, we should leave it buried, but what if it’s good or at least neutral and we just leave it buried. What does that say about us? If we saw someone hurt along the road wouldn’t we help them even though we know that a clever criminal could be feigning an injury to take us unaware. I have a little bit of a plan.”

  “Well let’s wait to dig up after you have a whole plan.”

  “Listen to my plan and tell me what you think.”

  “milady please, I beg of you, I do not wish to remain buried and forgotten. I do not blame you for being frightened. We have all heard the fey tales about digging up powerful artifacts and dooming the world. But didn’t excalibur serve Arthur like no other sword could, it wasn’t excalibur that betrayed Arthur, it was his friend, his most trusted knight.”

  “Why don’t you speak of the grail or the spear of destiny, surely you came after these holy relics.”

  “Mere bunk milady, I’m sorry if you are a believer but you shouldn’t waste your time on such things. Religion does more harm than good, how much history was destroyed by religions, now much art and literature. Poor Joan of Arc, that was a dark day when the English burned that poor deluded girl. What honor we gained in Agincourt we lost when we murdered her.”

  “Tell me of other artifacts that have not caused death and destruction.”

  “Merlin himself carried three stones or maybe bones, carved or somehow shaped. Red, blue and green, each oddly shaped and none a pair. With numbers on each facet. When he had a hard choice to make and there was no clear wise path to take he would roll them and the numbers would tell him what to do. They never led him astray, and he carried them always but used them sparingly.”

  “Draco is that true, you knew Merlin did he really carry stones like that.”

  “Yeah he did, each stone had a number, d10 was dark as the night sky blue, perhaps it was a sapphire , d12 was ruby red and I often wondered if it was carved from some great ruby, the last and greatest was the d20 carved from jade. I never saw him use that one, he told me the d20 was only used in life or death situations.”

  “So shield should I carve some stones and number them to decide your fate?”

  “I’d rather you trust me, milady, for it wounds my pride to be doubted, but if your fear is that great that you can not, then roll your stones to know that I speak true. But I thought of another artifact that never betrayed it’s master, Robin of Locksley's bow milady.”

  Then I saw Sparky striding across the field toward us, Mossbeard running to keep up.

  “This better be good, Rose.”

  “It claims to be Henry the V’s shield, it further claims if I dig it up it will protect me from as much as ten thousand knights.”

  “Are you planning on riding off to war, Rose”

  “No, of course not.”

  “Then leave it where it lies, someone buried it, they must have had a good reason.”

  “But what if it is good and decent and was buried for an evil purpose, by an evil man.”

  “There’s no way to know, Rose. It could go in either direction. You could dig it up and it just tells you stories from its past or it could kill the four of us and then everyone in the town. Do you want to take that chance with everyone’s life, Opal, Lu, all the gnomes in the new gnome colony, you brought them here are you going to now risk their lives, or Elma and her kin. They are awake now as a direct result of your actions, which means you bear some responsibility to them as well.”

  I saw Ashley approaching from the vineyard estate.

  “I have a plan, Sparky, and I can’t just abandon it. If I can help, I really have to help. Here comes Ashley, let's hear what she has to say.”

  When she arrived she spoke in that whispery voice it used to scare me it sounded so inhuman, like someone talking through a whistle.

  “So you found the shield, ma’am.”

  “You know of it, Ashley?”

  “Yes ma’am he’s been speaking to the trees out here in the hills for years and years.”

  “Do you know if he’s good or evil, Ashley?”

  “No ma’am, but he talks real fine and he has plenty of stories, good, kind stories mostly but darker more tragic stories sometimes too. But isn’t that just how life is ma’am. Sometimes your days are filled with sunshine and happiness, but then a storm appears and you can’t do anything about it, the best you can do is weather it.”

  “Should I dig him up Ashley even if it puts everyone at risk, even the trees.”

  “How can I tell you not to dig him up, what if someone had counseled you not to wake the trees, then I wouldn’t be here speaking with you. No, I can't tell you what to do. But I can tell you what you’ll do.”

  “What will I do?”

  “You’ll dig him up, because you can’t imagine being buried there and not digging him up. Besides, good always trumps evil, so if you dig him up and he turns out to have a sweet tongue and a black heart. Just put him right back into that hole ma’am.”

  “Thank you Ashley.”

  I started digging, it took awhile, I’m not really used to digging, it’s very hard work.