With the city of Trewek behind them, the travelers walked west for days along the vegetative desert, which bordered the mountains to the north. Small flashes of red light flickered from the sparse tree and brush covered foothills. Always appearing as a single light near a hilltop, the red glow seemed to be following the travelers to the west.
“Do you see that?” Avanda asked Thorik.
“Yes, I’ve seen it several times since we left Trewek.”
“What do you suppose it is?”
Attempting to see farther, Thorik squinted without any luck. “I don’t know. I think someone might be following us.”
Avanda followed his lead and squinted at the distant light. “Do you think so? Could it be one of those assassins which Asentar told you about?”
“Possibly, but they are traveling in a very difficult way. It appears they are climbing up and down those sharp ridges in order to go from peak to peak.”
The two Nums continued to watch the light until it faded from one location, only to show up at a distant hilltop moments later.
Avanda shook her head in disbelief. “How are they doing that?”
Waving the Mognin forward, Thorik kept his eyes on the distant red glow. “Grewen?”
Slapping his huge bare feet onto the hot desert, Grewen was enjoying the walk. “What do you see, little man?”
“It’s a light up on the foothills that seems to jump from peak to peak in only but a few moments. We think we’re being followed, but don’t know what it could be.”
Grewen glanced out toward the mountains. “A dragon? It could be flying from foothill to foothill and then give off a fiery blast upon landing.”
Thorik agreed with the logic. “Scout? Or is it spying on us?”
“It’s more likely to be a scout, seeing that we have nothing to do with the pending war. And even if we did, Del’Unday are more likely to attack us and get it over with instead of watching us from a distance.”
The flame faded as they all watched and waited for it to reappear. But this time it did not.
“Odd.” Avanda kept searching the distant landscape. “It’s as though it knew we were talking about it so it stopped following us.”
Brimmelle showed little interest as he walked past them to the west. “Coincidence,” was his only comment.
The other Nums followed Brimmelle as they continued to peer off to the side in an effort to see the red glow again. Their interest quickly died off as the foothills showed no signs of life.
Bryus followed Grewen, who was following the Nums through the desert as it slowly became littered with cacti, short desert trees, aloe plants, and jagged rock outcroppings. Wind had carved horizontal designs and holes into the unearthed large rocks. Even with a slight breeze, the holes caused an eerie whistling sound.
“Do you hear that?” Thorik turned his head to hear it better.
Avanda stopped to listen to the wind flow through the holes in the rocks. “I think it sounds nice.”
“No, not the wind.” Thorik motioned his hand for everyone to stop moving. This worked for everyone except Brimmelle who continued to lead them home as he walked around the next outcropping. Thorik waited for his uncle’s footsteps to fade off in an effort to listen for the sound once again. “I thought I heard a rustling from an animal or something.”
Grewen didn’t think much of it. “These parts are covered with snakes, scorpions, and rodents.”
Shaking his head, Thorik didn’t accept the explanation. “It sounded bigger than any of those.”
Grewen’s tiny ears couldn’t hear anything moving. “How big would you say it sounded like?”
“I’d say the size of a man,” Thorik answered as a man in black clothing stepped out from behind the rocks where Thorik had heard the sounds.
“Thorik Dain?” the uninvited guest asked.
Thorik immediately felt intimidated by the stranger’s knowledge of who he was, but also by the weapons he carried. “Who wants to know?”
Sliding two thin short swords from their sheaths, the man spoke in a cold tone. “The Matriarch. She has a score to settle with you.”
Thorik slowly stepped backward. “I’ve never met her. You must be mistaken. What is my crime?” Contradictory to his own words, he knew that escaping the Southwind mines would eventually catch up with him. In addition, the Dovenar Knight had warned him about the Matriarch’s assassins.
“Crime?” the man said. “I could care less. The Matriarch ordered your capture. That is enough for me.”
Glancing over the man’s shoulder, Thorik searched for the man’s ride. “You should know that we have seen you following us for days. We’ve had time to prepare for your attack. And as expected you’ve fallen into our trap.” Thorik stood up straight and firm, hoping to bluff his way out of the confrontation. “I will give you only but a moment to turn and leave on the dragon you flew in on, before we release our plans.”
“Dragon?” The man chuckled at Thorik, causing the Num’s square shoulders to soften. “I know not of who you have been watching, but I travel by land, which is how I plan to return with you.” Stepping forward, he raised the tips of his swords toward Thorik in order to caution the Num from any unexpected movement.
“Not his dragon?” Thinking to himself, Thorik’s demeanor sunk as he questioned what he saw. “Is there a second assassin tracking us?”
“Leave us alone!” Avanda valiantly jumped in front of Thorik. “We won’t allow you to harm him.”
Now, with both of his blades near the female Num’s face, the assassin grinned. “Extra casualties are not a concern of mine.”
Her eyes watched the sharp points of the swords circle her nose and lightly touch against her cheek. Swallowing hard, she realized that her move may have not been her best option to help Thorik.
Grewen stepped closer to the Nums in an attempt to intimidate the assassin with his massive size. But the act only caused the man to bolt forward, pushing Avanda to the ground and then grabbing Thorik. In the same motion, he swung himself behind the Num and placed one of his sharp iron blades to the Num’s neck, the other near his gut. The man was incredibly quick.
Avanda shot back up, only to see the blade pull tight against Thorik’s skin as she approached.
“Stay back,” Thorik told her, in an effort to prolong his life long enough to find a way out of the situation.
She did as he asked, but it wasn’t easy. Her instincts told her to lunge forward and knock the man on his backside. Nevertheless, she followed Thorik’s instructions.
Bryus looked the man over, only to find nothing intriguing about his attire or weapons. The risk of losing Thorik from the party actually resolved the issue of the missing dagger secret, plus it provided an opportunity for him to retrieve the Spear of Rummon. Therefore, Bryus stood idly by to see what would unfold.
Vowing not to harm others, Grewen had only hoped to scare off the intruder, but instead he had escalated the issue. This vow had often put him at a disadvantage, for a quick bit of violence from a giant his size could easily change the outcome. One advantage Grewen did have was his height, and with it he could see Brimmelle working his way back around the outcroppings toward Thorik and the Assassin. Grewen needed to keep the man’s focus away from Brimmelle’s path long enough for the Fir to show up and grab him from behind, assuming he had the courage.
“Do you plan on killing all of us?” Grewen asked the assassin.
“If you choose to protect Thorik. However, the Matriarch’s purse of gold is awaiting only one head, and apparently I was the first to find you, so it will belong to me.”
Grewen’s eye focused on the man, even though he was tempted to glance behind him at Brimmelle’s approach. “Are there more coins for your purse if you should bring him back alive?” His voice was loud enough that the Fir should be able to hear the conversation.
“There is, which is why I’ve allowed him to live this long. But if any of you try to stop me I will gladly accept less funds for his dead carcass.”
Grewen patiently waited for Brimmelle to jump out from the outcropping and tackle the assassin, but he hadn’t seen any movement out of the corner of his eye. Raising his voice, he again tried to tell Brimmelle what was about to happen if he didn’t act quickly. “So, you’re going to kill Thorik right here in front of us?”
Darting his eyes between Avanda, Bryus and Grewen, the assassin thought it was odd that the only one showing any interest in saving Thorik was the female Num. “If you’d like to watch.” An evil little grin rose from one side of his face.
It was at that time in which Brimmelle finally jumped out from behind the large rock and grabbed the assassin from the back. The act nearly caused one of the blades to slice Thorik’s head off, leaving a long cut along the side of his neck to remind him how lucky he was.
All three fell to the ground and rolled toward Bryus. Brimmelle clung to the man’s back as Thorik turned to face the assassin and grab the man’s wrists. Thorik’s arms strained and shook in an effort to push back the sharp iron blades from piercing his face.
Avanda never thought twice as she ran over to help subdue the assassin, but found it difficult to reach him while being sandwiched between the two Nums. This issue didn’t stop her from trying. Collecting a hand-sized rock, she grasped it as a weapon and began to strike the man. Unfortunately the majority of the attacks hit Thorik and Brimmelle by mistake.
The three continued to wrestle as Bryus stepped closer and watched with concern. “Watch out for the spear! It’s irreplaceable!” As he tried to avoid Avanda’s wild swings with her rock, he attempted to pull the spear out from behind Thorik, but the incessant rolling prevented him proper access to it. “Brimmelle, hold him still!” he yelled as he made another unsuccessful attempt to grab the spear.
Grewen had stepped over to the chaotic mess of flailing body parts fighting for dominance. Wishing to pull the assassin off of Thorik, the Mognin realized he would have to peel away Bryus, Avanda, and Brimmelle first. Not an easy task to do while trying to avoid injuring them.
Wrapping his three fingers around Avanda’s waist with one of his mighty dual-thumbed hands, he pulled her out of the mix.
She responded with one last attack on the assassin as she threw her rock at his head. This, of course, hit Brimmelle square in the back.
Setting her off to the side, Grewen grabbed Brimmelle with his left hand while moving the Alchemist away with his forearm. His other mighty hand swung forward to scoop up the assassin. But before he could do so, Avanda jumped back toward the fight, causing the giant to reach out and stop her. Inadvertently, this allowed the assassin time to make an attempt on Thorik’s life.
Rolling Thorik onto his front, the assassin swiftly pulled his sword over his head to make a fatal cut into the Num’s back.
Eyeing the Spear of Rummon as it sat in jeopardy of being damaged during the attack, Bryus lunged forward to push the assassin off of Thorik as the hired killer swung downward.
It was too late for Grewen to stop the motion, too fast for Avanda to conjure a spell to disable him, and too close for Brimmelle to not visually remember this tragic end to his sister’s son with the Fir’s non-forgiving memory as it would assuredly play in his mind every day for the rest of his life.
Just as the sharp blade began to puncture the Num’s skin, the unthinkable happened. Bursting out of the ground, a crusted-over molten mass flew up, striking the assassin in his torso and arms. The heat from the object instantaneously vaporized his flesh upon impact as it arched over Thorik’s body. The assassin hadn’t even had time to scream before he was devoured by the heated rock.
The trajectory over Thorik led the molten rock through the assassin as well as one of Bryus’ arms. Falling to the same fate, the Alchemist’s right arm dissolved into steam and liquid from the flying mass. The nerves and arteries were instantly cauterized, and Bryus’ mind had yet to comprehend the pain as he tried to jump out of the way.
Landing and then rolling to a stop, the heated mass paused for a moment. As it did, Thorik and his party watched as the spherical magma-filled-mass opened its enormous mouth, spewing inferno temperature heat as it surveyed the damage it had done. Thin long teeth extended from the outside as well as the inside of its mouth, as the red fiery blaze inside dried the air around them. Its prominent under bite allowed an enormous amount of heat to escape his mouth even when it was shut, causing the view of him to look blurred through the vapors.
“It’s you!” Thorik attempted to block most of the heat from his face. It was clear that the Num was only shocked and not seriously harmed.
Upon that one comment, the mass lowered itself into the solid rock below, leaving a black scorched mark on the desert floor. As quickly as it had appeared it had also departed, the heat along with it.
“What was that?” Bryus asked as he stood in awe from the experience, and having one less arm than he had a few seconds prior.
“Bryus!” Avanda shouted, as she stared at the stub of an arm remaining. “Your arm is gone!” She rushed to his side to help, but once there, she realized there was nothing to do.
The Alchemist looked down at his missing limb. “Damn!” The pain from the unexpected amputation began to overpower him. Falling to his knees from the wave of agony, he began giving Avanda instructions to help him reduce the pain. His voice was difficult to understand as he clinched his teeth from the horrific sensations he was now feeling from the remaining stub of his arm.
Avanda quickly grabbed the needed components and followed his instructions. Slicing off a leaf from a local aloe plant, she collected an iron bowl from his pouch. “Bryus, where did you get all of these things?” she asked, as she looked into his pouch upon an hourglass, empty jars, blades, and metal plates to name a few of the items.
“Who cares!” he screamed. “I obtained them from Trewek, if it hastens your pace!”
Avanda ignored the items and quickly mixed the plant’s juices with some pollen that they had collected earlier on their journey, per his instructions. She then quickly began applying them to the burnt flesh on the end of his remaining arm, just below the shoulder.
“Awww!” Bryus screamed as she applied it, causing her to stop. “Don’t stop! It will be worse for a moment, but then will quickly subside.”
She did as she was told and continued to apply the aloe juices as he yelled from the liquid’s touch. However, within moments, she could see the agony in his face quickly drop and he began breathing normally again. Avanda sighed. “Bryus, your arm is gone. What are we going to do?”
With the pain reduced to a tolerable level, the Alchemist looked at his now stub of an arm. “Well, actually my arm has been gone for years. The one I just lost wasn’t mine to begin with.” A clinched teeth light-hearted chuckle over his obvious pain showed he was fighting his way through it.
“Not yours?”
“It once belonged to a blacksmith from Spiritwater.” He glanced over at his still intact arm. “Why couldn’t that beast have taken the one I retrieved from River’s Edge?”
Brimmelle had finished dusting himself off from the fight as he watched Avanda and Bryus. “Your arm is missing, and you’re upset about which one it is?”
“I’m not missing my arm. It was destroyed,” he spit back as a facial tic pulled hard on his cheek. The aloe continued to reduce the pain, but Bryus’ temper was starting to show through as he began to fully rationalize that he had lost a body appendage. “If I was missing my arm, then we’d all be walking around looking for it. Or I’d be having sentimental memories about it, causing me to miss it. The arm is gone, and now I need to look for a new one again.”
Avanda tilted her head at his last statement. “Again?”
“Alchemy is dangerous profession, my dear.” The cold tone of his voice was clear as he stood back up. “You’ll learn that the only way to succeed is to try, and sometimes that means causing a few painful attempts until you get it right.”
Brimmelle coughed. “She’s had plenty of pai
nful attempts, for sure.”
“It hasn’t been that bad. I just need practice and guidance.”
“Guidance?” Fir Brimmelle pointed at Bryus, who was looking for objects to temporarily replace his arm until he located a new human one. “You want to take guidance from a man who has blown both of his arms off?”
Bryus spoke up without looking toward the Nums. “Not true. I only blew one arm off twice. The other one was eaten away.” Bryus shivered at the memory. “Nasty story.”
A sickly look crossed Brimmelle’s face at the thought.
Avanda, on the other hand, was intrigued. “How do you put on a new arm?”
Bryus picked up one of Thorik’s cooking spoons and held it up to his stub to see how it looked, but he wasn’t impressed so he tossed it back down. “The same way you put on a new leg or eye.”
“A new eye?”
Swiveling abruptly toward her, Bryus pointed at his eyes, one blue and the other one green in color. “You don’t think these are my originals do you? I lost my first one while casting a spell to achieve my mastery in enchantment.”
“I’m sorry it didn’t go well.”
“What are you talking about? The spell went perfectly. In fact, I received special commendations for ingenuity.”
Chapter 22
Prattle Box
Essence of Gluic Page 27