“An opponent of some power?” Darnak glanced heavenward. “Lad, you’ve either got the greatest gift of understatement ever seen in a human, or else you’ve not the slightest idea what you’re talking about. You’ll be lucky if your precious sword doesn’t snap like a twig against a dragon’s scales. As for Ryslind, he may know how to toss magic about, but a dragon is magic. Throwing spells at one is like pissing on a forest fire. Either way, you’re going to burn. We’ll need Earthmaker’s blessing to steal the rod from one of those beasts.”

There was that name again. “Is Earthmaker another adventurer?” Jig asked.

This time it was Darnak’s turn to stare at Jig. “Is that a joke? For if so, it’s in poor taste.”

“Silas Earthmaker is his god,” Riana explained.

“Will he help you fight Straum?” When nobody answered, Jig added, “That’s the dragon’s name.”

Darnak shook his head. “Earthmaker expects every man to prove himself. He’ll not interfere in a fight, even when the odds are against us.”

“Oh. He doesn’t sound like much help.” He saw Riana cringe.

His hand resting on the handle of his club, Darnak asked, “What would you be knowing of gods, goblin?”

Jig started to answer, but closed his mouth when he saw Riana shake her head. “Nothing,” he said meekly. That seemed to satisfy the dwarf. Darnak turned back to the humans, leaving Jig to study Riana and wonder again what she was doing here. To judge by the way the others ignored her, she wasn’t a friend. She had done nothing during the fight, so she wasn’t here to help during combat. In fact, the only thing she had done was hide and stay out of the way. Which wasn’t a bad example for Jig to follow.

So he sat down against the wall and tried to wrap his brain around exactly what this party wanted to do. To steal the rod from Straum’s own hoard was unthinkable. As Darnak had said, their best efforts would do little more than annoy the great beast, and the most they could hope for was a swift death by flame, tooth, or talon. If the dragon was in a bad mood, he had other ways to dispose of those who annoyed him. Jig knew of tales wherein Straum had stolen the very souls of his enemies. Others he simply turned over to the Necromancer, the sorcerous master of the dead who some said dwelled beneath these very tunnels.