Suddenly, instead of a cavern buried hundreds of feet underground, the two startled young men saw a sweeping vista before them. Green hills stretched away into the distance. In their folds were copses of trees, a winding brook, and a large pond. The vault of the sky above was dotted with fluffy, white clouds. A small cottage stood in the center of a meadow before them, its chimney issuing a thin plume of bluish smoke. Insects hummed, birds sang, and what appeared to be wild cattle, aurochs, grazed on a distant ridge.
"Now that's magic!" Chert exclaimed. "Let's get out of here and head for home!"
Eneever Zig laughed his barking laugh, derisively. "We'll get out of this passageway, all right. And we'll visit the home before us, too. More than that, my hulking barbarian. I will not promise."
Soon they were standing before the door of the cottage. From its dim interior stepped a tall, muscular man. His white garments, staff, and adornments showed him to be a druid of some sort, Gord thought. The man looked at them with his bright, commanding brown eyes. "What seek you here?"
"The Element Master," Eneever Zig said with a tinge of uncertainty discernible in his voice.
"You have found him, little wizard. Now what do you wish of me?"
"I... we ... will pass through your domain!"
"Will you face the heat of my fire then?"
"No! We demand another challenge."
"Very well," the tall man said smoothly, "water it shall be."
"No!"
Now the Element Master frowned as if he were annoyed at this second contradiction. "You are a difficult one, bushy-brows. Nevertheless, I offer the trial of air to you and your associates."
Eneever Zig had regained his full confidence. "Not so! We decline air as well!"
Scowling at them, the white-garbed Element Master called back. Then only earth is left to you."
"Do not deceive us, Master of the Elements," the wizard countered yet again. "We decline earth, for I am aware there is a fifth challenge, one you are not required to mention — we call for Nature!"
This caused the tall man to shake his fist angrily at Eneever Zig. "For one so limited in the arts, wizard, you are well-versed in certain lore. Bah! Take that niggling trial then, rather than the heroic ones I presented."
"We accept!" cried the spell-binder.
The Element Master gestured, and a huge bull aurochs came thundering toward them. The burly hillman must best the bull!"
A second wave, and a monstrous reptile slithered forth from a clump of brush nearby. The quick little thief must best this snake!" Finally, a third pass, and a dark shadow covered them. "Wizard, you will defeat the roc that plummets upon you even now, or your bones will nourish my soil!" As he concluded, the Element Master turned as if to walk away but then swung to face the trio. "Oh, one minor detail I forgot to add." A broad grin played across his face as he continued. "One of you may not help a companion until you have defeated your own challenge. Then and only then may you come to the aid of a comrade. If this rule is broken, all three of you will die instantly!" The Element Master issued a loud, cruel laugh, and he and his cottage vanished.
The terrain seemed to shift and flow, and all three men found themselves within a large bowl, a natural amphitheater with cliffs forming a barrier around its half-mile diameter.
"Let's get this over with!" Chert exclaimed excitedly as he turned to face his opponent. Axe raised high, the hillman shouted a battle cry and ran forward to meet the bull's charge.
Chert thought the battle with the wild aurochs would be a fairly easy matter until he saw the true size of the bull. From a distance it had appeared to be of normal size, but close up there was no question that the beast was monstrous. The creature was fully as tall at the shoulder as the barbarian and its head was armed with wickedly pointed horns that appeared to be at least four feet long.
"If this is 'niggling' i'd hate to see the other challenges we were offered!" the disheartened barbarian marveled.
Meanwhile, Gord did his best to avoid the snake that threatened him. It was a giant cobra, its hood spread and its fangs dripping venom. The monster reared back, its head poised for a fraction of a second, then it shot forward. The young thief detected the attack at about the same instant it occurred and quickly did a back-flip to avoid the strike. The glob of poison the cobra spat barely missed its mark, a fact that Gord found somewhat disconcerting, to say the least. Circling, the two opponents began a game of cat and mouse, although it wasn't apparent who or what was which, since the snake was not eager to expose itself to the young man's two blades.
If Chert and Gord thought they were having a difficult time of it, they should have been in Eneever Zig's robes! The wizard was beginning to wonder if he would live to see the completion of this challenge, let alone the completion of his quest. The great bird had him pinned to the ground with a single, mighty talon. The horny claws of one foot caged the wizard as the roc sought to use its deadly beak to snap him in two. Eneever darted and flapped, too busy avoiding talons and snapping beak to cast a spell, but able to send forth a dart of energy now and again from his small wand. The crackling streak of power that issued forth from the crystal-tipped wand was aimed always at the terrible roc's massive beak. Each time the creature was struck by a little bolt of energy, it squawked in pain. The sound was earsplitting because of the bird's massive size, and the effect seemed to make the roc redouble its efforts to devour the wizard.
As the aurochs thundered down upon him. Chert managed to sidestep one of the great horns that was aimed right at the barbarian's belly. As the beast bellowed and screeched past its intended victim. Chert brought his massive blade down upon the animal's shoulder. Brool bit deep, but the shaft was ripped from Chert's grasp as the bull quickly skidded into a perfectly executed turn. Blood streamed down the animal's side, and this same sanguine hue lit its eyes as it came back with a look of vengeance the likes of which Chert had never before seen in man or beast!
All the huge hillman could do was grapple with the monster. Yelling like a madman. Chert ran directly at the bull, grabbed one of the massive horns, and twisted. But he wasn't quite quick enough and his leverage was off. The aurochs tossed its head, and its thickly muscled neck shot up and back. The barbarian sailed through the air and landed with a thump, twenty feet behind the enraged beast. The bull spun, brought its forward-curving horns parallel to the turn, and trotted ahead, horns parting the low grass as it came. Chert was on his feet instantly and he did the only thing left to do — he ran in the opposite direction. The bull's head shot up at that, and it quickened its pace to a lumbering, deceptively rapid run. The distance between man and animal narrowed rapidly. The monster's hot breath was beginning to warm Chert's back when the barbarian threw himself to one side, crouched and rolled. One hooking horn gouged a bloody groove across his calf, but he was otherwise unhurt. Somehow Chert managed to regain his feet quickly, a difficult act for the clumsy barbarian. He immediately sprang after the bull. Keeping to the flank in which his axe was still imbedded. Chert began a game with the animal.
The cobra was readying itself to spit again. Desperately, Gord took aim and hurled his long dagger. But the monstrous reptile weaved its head at that moment, so the blade failed to take it full in its gaping mouth. Instead the dagger's edge passed along the snake's skull, not piercing it, but slicing the thing's eye. Hissing in pain, the cobra struck, knowing that being blind on one side would assure its death.
Gord was nearly taken by the sudden attack, for he had been poised to counter a venomous missile when the strike came instead. He managed to bat the cobra's head aside with the flat of his sword, then darted ahead among the huge reptile's coils. Once, twice, the shortsword slashed, then Gord was beyond the writhing body. The cobra slithered so as to come at him again, and Gord decided that he had to get to close quarters quickly. He leaped to attack again, blade pointed ahead. The cobra reared higher, pulling its head back. Gord was on its blind side now. and, wasting no time, he jumped at the opportunity to finish the creature. Gord's blade struck upward. The tip went through the cobra's lower jaw from below, pierced its mouth, sliced its brain, and protruded from the reptile's thick skull in one smooth plunge. The snake thrashed in its death throes and Gord, utterly exhausted, stood by and watched till it died. Then he wasted no time in rushing to his friend's side.