“Marthiel is one of the mutineers?” Gemini asked herself as she looked at the two still in combat.
“The Elder actually. Ko-Rin and Yvane never always saw eye to eye but on this front, it looks like they were truly in sync. Marthiel never did like Ko-Rin and saw through her ruse.”
“I need to help her.” Gemini tried to lurch forward but was stopped again by Mara’s scythe.
“No. As I said before, she can’t afford the distraction. Ko-Rin is a formidable opponent.”
The two watched on as the battle in front of them moved back and forth around the flaming battlefield. Marthiel and Ko-Rin each made it look like their weapons were lighter than a feather, riposte after defending, flourishing mid combat in the hopes to put the other off balance. Axe and hammer connecting midair or sending the other off into the ground. The match was quite even.
Needle smiled to himself at the carnage and with each collision of the large weapons, took a step around the outside edge of the platform, trying to skirt from the none combatants’ field of view. It did not take long for him to reach the other side of the battlefield before Gemini and Mara both noticed him on the side of the main hall.
“What is he up to?” Mara questioned.
Needle disappeared through the flaming entry of the main hall.
“I will keep an eye on him.” Gemini ran off to the left and circled around the skirmish in hopes to not draw Marthiel’s attention.
As Gemini reached the flaming facade, the two combatants spun around to bring her into Marthiel’s field of view. With eyes widening in surprise, Marthiel smiled to herself and with a new surge of stamina, pushed harder in her retaliation. Ko-Rin was not ready for the new-found strength and staggered from the first advance. Looking up at her opponent, Ko-Rin was met with another smile before she had to deflect another energetic swing.
The inside to the building was engulfed with flames, blood. And bodies of the dead. A few Spiri bodies could be seen from the entry as Gemini scanned for her goal. Needle was near the middle of the building, standing close to the stone hearth of the bonfire. He was playing with something in his hands and looking very intently at the stonework at his feet.
• • •
Everyone ran along the edge of the forest, checking behind them every few steps. Three hulking Furhdrae, cloaked in their shadowed cloaks, pursued them with a deathly intent. Mya held a small blue fireball in her palm and launched them backward when they were fully cooked.
“Why don’t we just stop and fight?” Kallis called over their footsteps.
“Suppose they will catch up eventually.” Dominic sighed.
All four came to a skidding halt and turned to face their pursuers. The three Furhdrae stopped with them in curiosity and stood still, watching, waiting. Silence filled the dusk environment, shuffling the shadows from the last light, stretching along the ground like fingers reaching from the forest, trying to grab hold of everything.
“Meidrae, bursha duu Furhdrae. Brajke kjaakul, raptuks duu caldri.” The center larger Furhdrae called out.
Silence between them filled in.
“Why do you they think one of us is the Mother, and what chains are they talking about?” Kallis turned to the other three as she drew her bow.
“You can understand them?” Mya questioned.
“It’s an old language, Ancient Tulcran I believe, but yes Darling.” Kallis gave her a little wink.
“The Mother is needed to get into the Crucible and open the door to the Immortal Realm. I assume the chains are those holding Necrolin in the realm of the dead.” Dominic grabbed hold of his knuckle weapons and lifted them up, ready for combat.
“They have been following me since I left Uridine.” Mya flexed her fingers to increase the intensity of the blue flame within.
“Then let’s get rid of them now, the journey through the Stone Giant Forest will be hard enough without them following us.” Dominic looked at the three women and then back to the three cloaked hulks.
Chyla nodded and slipped out her two blades, clipping them together with a flourish and readying herself for combat. Kallis grabbed the small box behind her and knocked it down to open the bow, lighting the strings and connecting the shaft with their energy.
The three Furhdrae shot forward towards them.
• • •
“Stay back child, things could get dangerous.” Needle laughed through his words.
“What are you up to worm.” Gemini looked around for a discarded weapon and having to keep her wings close to her body, protecting them from the flame.
“I knew it was here, always in the place you least expect it; perfectly hidden in plain sight.” Needle looked through the ash and smoke toward Gemini with a sinister smile on his face.
With a single hand, he reached down with a green glow emanated from one of the stones in the hearth. The green turned to a bright white and then a burst of light shot up through the ceiling, busting a new hole through the flame drenched thatch and stretched far into the evening sky. Anything it touched, clouds or the billowing smoke from the fire split a part like it was oil on water. Just as fast as it shot up, it faded.
“It’s a beautiful thing.” Needle’s sinister smile came back as he raised his eyes to look at her.
“What is?” Gemini angrily asked.
“Freedom.”
Running over to the fire pit, dodging flames and debris as she went, Gemini knew she had to deal with him before he got up to more tricks. Getting closer to the mage, his smile faded and his focus on her changed as she approached.
With a weave of his hands and muttering an incantation, an ash filled cloud surrounded him and just as she was about to reach him, Needle shot his hands to the floor. In a plume of more ash, the mage disappeared like he was being sucked into a black hole and Gemini was left alone with the glowing rune and flaming building.
Her strike went wild to the floor, nearly losing her balance with his sudden disappearance. She was able to catch herself before going face first into the stone fire pit and ended up staring down at the small glowing, shifting seal.
A cluster of six stars forming around three hoops, almost touching but never connecting. The rings spun slowly around each other, growing into a more ornate layout with additional rings and lines, finally encasing the stars into what looked like six more rings with thorns protruding at the apex of the ring. In the middle, being perfectly spaced in a triangle formation, the circles were no more than a sliver a part and spun around a small strange twisting symbol that took the shape of two dragon heads about to devour each other.
“This is.” Gemini spoke to herself as she looked up through the hole in the burning roof and then back to the shifting symbol.
• • •
The three Furhdrae stopped mid attack, only handful of paces before connecting with the group. Everyone’s attention shot up towards the far mountain range as a steak of white light shot up into the sky and suddenly faded. A brief pause in silence before the three Furhdrae spun on their heels and shot off in the opposite direction, toward the burst of light.
“What in the name of the Twenty was that?” Kallis exclaimed.
“A seal has been broken.” Mya calmly answered.
“A seal for what?”
“We can explain along the way, but we need to hurry. Strazen is not far.” Dominic urgently beckoned the three women to follow him.
Putting their weapons back into their sheaths and holsters, everyone kept watch on their would-be attackers fade into the horizon.
• • •
Gemini jumped to the side, avoiding a hole in the floor before a portion of the ceiling fell on her. The flames were getting too intense and she needed to escape before she would not be able to. A scan of the room showed her a somewhat safe path through the ever-growing fire. Ducking under a freshly fallen beam and having to roll through a litter of coals to dodge another falling beam. She was getting the hang of using her wings as protection. The door was close and the sound
s of the battle raging outside clanged on.
Pushing through the fire wreathed doorframe, the fight between Marthiel and Ko-Rin still shuffled around the platform. Ko-Rin had a sizable gash on her forehead that covered most of her face in blood and was favouring her right arm. Marthiel had a bad limp that looked the cause of a broken leg.
Marthiel caught a glimpse of Gemini in the corner of her eye and smiled to herself.
“Seems this needs to end, traitor.” Marthiel stood up tall and brought her weapon to a more open offensive stance.
Ko-Rin lifted her Warhammer up, having troubles holding things with her left hand. The two Spiri charged at each other ready to finally end things. Their massive weapons swinging wild in a downward arch, smashing into the weak platform. Their exhaustion was very apparent.
Bringing her fist up from the weapon shaft, Marthiel caught her opponent on the side of the face, sending her reeling back. With a flourishing twirl, Ko-Rin was able to use her weapon as a guard, freeing herself before another blow could be landed. She was too slow, Marthiel was already on her with another large swing with her massive axe.
With her injured arm, Ko-Rin was too slow to get her guard up and the blade connected with her neck, severing it clean from her shoulders. The dead Spiri’s head spiraled through the air, landing with a squishy thud and off the platform to the jungle below, her lifeless body wavered for a second before collapsing to the ground in a heap. Marthiel spun on her good leg, leaving her axe head buried in the wood of the platform.
“We need to get out before the Dragoon comes out.” Marthiel called out, limping a couple steps before sliding her weapon up beside her to use as a crutch.
Gemini took a couple steps forward to help before a massive air burst sent a shockwave across the platform from Ko-Rin’s headless corpse, knocking her backward and Marthiel forward. Gemini slammed against the flaming wall of the main hall and Marthiel fell forward towards Mara. The crystalized spirit formed fast over the body and jolted towards them.
“Relinquish.” A voice inside Gemini’s head filled her mind.
The spirit paused, almost frozen in time like the one on the ground that Granol had bound but without his chains. Gemini watched as the edges around the form flickered like they had been glitched in their creation.
“Quickly, while we have a chance.” Marthiel pushed herself from the ground, bracing her weight against her weapon.
Gemini stood and ran over to give her a shoulder to rest on. The two limped their way over the edge of the platform where Mara was standing next to one of the burnt-out bridges. Looking over her shoulder, Gemini squinted at the frozen spirit in curiosity before turning her focus back to the dissolved bridge.
“How are we going to get down, this place is going to collapse soon. The fire will bring things crumbling to an end, your fight did not help much either.” Gemini gave her a slight shoulder nudge to try and cheer her up.
“We have wings child, getting down is the easy part. Getting away will be the trick.” Marthiel looked up into Gemini’s face with a smile and grabbed hold of her tighter before jumping off the platform.
Extending her wings out to catch them from the fall, their speed slowed down enough to gently glide down to the forest floor. Fire dripped down around them like cracks in a glass ceiling along with pieces of the wooden village as it crumbled above them. Scattered bits of the debris scorched the ground all around them, trying to set nearby foliage on ablaze.
“We are the only ones left, how is getting away going to be tough?” Gemini asked, helping Marthiel take steps forward while dodging the ash and fire.
“My leg will slow us down and we don’t know if there are any more Skkooh or Koad roaming around in the valley.” Marthiel stood up as straight as she could on her strong leg and looked Gemini in the face. “And, we are still stuck in the valley.”
“Something tells me that that won’t be a problem anymore.” Gemini smiled to herself and took a step forward with Marthiel.
The two limped their way along the glowing forest floor, freeing themselves from the overhead burning disaster. Granol caught their eye off to the side, still holding the crystalized Dragoon Spirit in his bind. They adjusted their trajectory slightly to get close to the small creature.
“Granol, are you alright?” Gemini called out to the Narx.
Granol nodded.
“Get safe young ones, the others will likely circle in.” Granol spoke while keeping his attention on the frozen spirit in front of him.
“Where are all the other Dragoon Spirits?” Gemini asked.
“Most were eaten by the gluttonous Koad, but there will be others that escaped the feast and will be back for their revenge.” Granol paused to take a breath. “Get away quickly, find a safe place until morning. I will need to make right what has gone wrong.”
Mara came crashing down behind them with her scythe in hand, more debris and flames followed with her. The look on her face was very urgent and she called out to the other two Spiri.
“We have to hurry, to the third watch cave.”
Just as she finished talking, a loud burst of air erupted above them, sending more debris from the edges of the platform and around them. Ko-Rin’s spirit was free, and angry.
Chapter 21
The door to the small house swung open, exposing the tired group standing in the night on the other side. R’nuuk looked up from his book laying in his lap and took a sip from his tea cup as he watched the four fatigued friends in his entry. Taking up the rear, Dominic was the last to nod at R’nuuk as he closed the door behind him.
“True, but the relevance of the Furhdrae heading toward that burst of light and what you are needing to talk to the Iceclaws about is probably a lot more than we think. You said that it was the same light from a seal you found near Uridine?” Kallis continued her conversation with Mya while putting any loose equipment against the neighbouring wall to the door.
“It had the same properties as what I saw. With it looking to be in the far North-East, it is more than likely from somewhere in the Draag Mountains.” Mya responded while doing the same with her own things, dropping them next to where Kallis put hers.
“In needing to talk to them about the Spiri, and some of these Dragon relics; if they were calling you ‘Mother’, it has to do with the Spiri. Furhdrae are not mindless when it comes to what they are supposed to be after.” Kallis took a few steps over to a nearby padded chair and flopped down into it with a sigh.
R’nuuk nodded her way when she looked at him with her beautiful smile in return.
“If it is one of the seals, we shouldn’t wait another night, we should push on and get up to talk with Thron-din. The more seals broken, the sooner the Chains will fail and Necrolin will be able to flood our realm with his energy along with the bridges to the other realms being opened.” Mya folded her arms across her chest and leaned against the wall. “I don’t know how long Tharissa will be able to hold on without something helping her against the dread that Necrolin touched her with.”
Chyla huffed down to the floor, exhausted from the fast-paced walking and smiled at R’nuuk when he lifted a filled cup of tea towards her. Standing from his seat, he disappeared from the room with his own cup without a word to anyone.
“We will need a solid night’s rest if we are to take on the Stone Giant Forest. Even with a quick pace, we won’t be able to make each travelers tree from first light to the night. We do not want to be out in the forest at night. There are things wandering those woods that we do not want to cross paths with.” Dominic cut his way into the conversation.
All three women looked his way making him shrink back a little and take a squished in spot on one of the couches.
“Just saying.” He said under his breath.
R’nuuk came back into the room with a medium sized kettle and four cups dangling from his fingers. Silently pouring each person their own before settling back down into his original spot, he took another sip from his steaming cup.
“There is a lot we will need to talk about with the Iceclaws, hopefully they have the answers we are looking for.” Kallis took a sip from her cup. “Or even will listen.”
Silence filled the room as each warmed against their drink.
“Nice to see you again Princess.” R’nuuk broke into the dead air like a thunder clap over a dry desert.
“R’nuuk.” Mya smiled and nodded toward him.
“You were saying that the Furhdrae were calling you ‘Mother’?” R’nuuk asked her direct.
Mya nodded again.
“And the light you saw drew them away; looking like separate burst you saw from a seal near Uridine castle?”
Mya nodded a third time.
“Then the rumours are true.” R’nuuk took a sip from his cup, filling the room with silence again. “Chyla, you look more at peace tonight, no late-night personal philandering?”
“Things are different, something has changed. Inside.” Chyla placed her hand on the middle of her chest and her other hand on her stomach.
“When you met the Princess?” R’nuuk gestured to Mya with a subtle nod.
Chyla smiled at her and nodded.
“Seems there is tragedy everywhere you are going these days. My condolences for your brother Kallis, he was a strong soul, the Sigil finally filled his contract.”
Kallis looked down at her knees and nodded to herself. Silence again. R’nuuk took a sip of his tea again and turned to Mya who was playing with the strap of her bag with her foot.
“There is a relevance to what you are all out to do. Both the bursts of light and the fate you were all brought together with.” R’nuuk took another sip of his tea. “The seals set by Necrolin to lock High Realm from the others were his hope to secure the world from their, more entitled children.”
“If the Draag Mountain seal is broken, that would mean that the Spiri are free from their imprisonment and there are two seals left.” R’nuuk took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, blowing the steam from his tea. “Aside from what else was trapped within the valley, the Neightur will be more in the forefront now. They truly are the only ones with enough strength to cleanse the fanatics.”
Age of Souls Page 33