Chapter Forty Two
The room grew silent as the reality of what they were planning fully hit me. "What do we do now?" Philip cleared his throat from the back of the room. Justin didn't remember him having walked there, but he seemed content on watching the scene unfold from a distance. "First you will need to be fitted with equipment for your journey."
"What kind of equipment?" There was the obvious rope, rations , and a map, but Justin's mind couldn't think much farther than that. He just kept seeing the large pointy teeth of a dragon as it opened its mouth and roasted him in flame.
"You will need a map, a canteen, food, rope, a walking stick, sacks to carry the gemstones, flint for a fire, a knife, a change of clothes, There is much to gather before you leave." Philip was clearly planning out the list of things to bring in his head, adding some things and removing others.
"We will also need to ascertain how strong you are?" Oaklie's words brought Justin up short. He had walked to stand next to his brother. "Why would you need to do that? Justin was looking at the brothers, but didn't miss Art nodding once at Oaklie in agreement and then turning towards Justin. "60 gemstones will be extremely heavy, Even divided between the two of you it will be a lot to gather and carry. You will need to be up for the task."
Justin wanted to protest in anger, but looking down at himself he realized that he did in fact look scrawny. There was nothing that he could do about it right now. But he still didn't like it. Art could clearly see Justin's frustration and continued in a softer voice. "Don't forget, you will have just walked a long way and will have rested outside in the elements. This will not put you in prime condition.
"I am sure I can handle it, but even so, couldn't you just put a spell on the gemstones that would make them weigh less?"
All four mages shook their heads at once. "Having a spell that close to the dragon would definitely alert it to your presence. However, I can teach you a spell that you can perform once you are safely away from the dragon."
The idea of Justin getting to perform a spell on his own was both terrifying and thrilling. "Do you really think I would be able to do it?" He hoped his question came out as carefree as he intended it to, but he knew there was a small part of him that hoped Art would change his mind and just expect them to carry the weight. He would do it to keep from making a fool of himself and potentially jeopardizing everything.
Art walked up next to Justin and gripped him by the shoulder. "You need to have the faith in yourself that you have given to us." Justin looked up at Art in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Art dropped his hand and gestured around him at the room. "You were unexpectedly ripped from your world and dropped into ours. You were presented with multiple problems including one that will affect the entire fate of the kingdom and the lives of two people. We have laid all of this at your feet and expect you to solve it. We need you to steal from a dragon and make deals with gnomes and interact with territorial unicorns. You have met every crazy situation and problem we have thrown at you head on. With very few questions you accepted what our situation was and what we needed from you. You have not once wavered when it has come to facing the potential dangers we have asked you to face. You have trusted that the the problems we are facing are worth the danger involved. Now you must trust that you are the one to face the dangers and to overcome them. You were sent to us and you are the one to go on this quest. Believe in yourself as we believe in you. The spell we cast would not have brought you here if you couldn't do it."
Art's words sent a wave of emotion through him that brought him close to tears, But when he looked over at Maggie he saw that she was already crying and somehow all he wanted to do was hug her. He pulled himself together and nodded, no words needed for the kind words from Art. But his mind did catch onto one thing Art said at the end.
He had to stop a second and laugh as he realized that he was in fact going on a real life quest. If he ever made it back to his world he might create his own role playing game campaign based on his adventures. Of course, he would have to survive his meeting with a real dragon before he could go home and role play fighting against a fake one.
"Okay, well, I don't think I can get stronger over night, so if I am not already able to carry the gemstones what will we do." Sigmund stepped forward and cleared his throat. "I have an idea. If we promised Fred extra gemstones he might be willing to come with us and help carry the loot."
Justin looked sideways at Fred who was sitting at the table with his nose barely above the table top. "Um, I don't mean to be rude but he looks weaker than me" Sigmund failed at hiding a smirk. He does look it, but gnomes are unnaturally strong. Watch this." Sigmund leaned down and whispered in Fred's ear. The gnome smiled and nodded once before grabbing the man around his legs and lifting him a full foot off of the floor. Even Cora looked shocked at how effortlessly the gnome did it.
"He could hold me like this for an hour. Thank you Fred. You can put me down now." Fred gently sat Sigmund down and smiled a big toothy grin at the group. "Well then, I think it would be a good thing if we renegotiated with Fred. Sig would you like to do the honors this time?"
After a few minutes of discussion and a promise of 10 extra gemstones for Fred and 5 extra for his wife and baby the deal was struck. Now, even if Justin had no problem carrying the gemstones he would have someone who could potentially pick up a large rock and hurl it at the dragon if they were found out. It couldn't hurt having him along.