“Something that rare, you would think more would know about it.” Mya said, calming down at the intrigue to the animal.
“No one comes out alive to tell others about it. A few mages tried to corner one once, that did not end well.” Kallis chuckled.
“So, fighting it is out of the question?” Tharissa had to ask.
“Very out of the question Darling. Even with the strength of the Dragons you possess, we would meet a timely end.” Kallis smiled and put a hand on her shoulder.
“The Elves have stories of one or two head mages fighting one, but nothing was ever confirmed.” Mya sat down at the same table as Mara. “If you read a book to two, you would have remembered.”
Tharissa stuck her tongue back at her.
“If it is so formidable, then we should move while it is not around and get clear of the city.” Mara stood from her chair with a creak of wood on wood.
“All we really can do Darling.” Kallis winked at her.
“Then we should leave while it’s gone.” Chyla stepped forward.
“We will have to be quiet and fast, there is no telling where it could be or if it can even sense us.” Dominic stood from his chair in a broken optimism.
Everyone nodded before splintering off to gather their gear. Sounds of weapons and bags ruffled through the empty dark tavern as the six of them gathered their things from the nests they made. Once they were all gathered near the front door on the main floor, with everything strapped to their person, one by one they flipped up their hoods.
“When we exit, skirt the buildings North through the district until we reach the gate.” Dominic talked with his hands while giving his orders. “From there, it is maybe five hundred meters to the tree line. There is no trail leading to the Glacier, so we will have to be careful at that point.”
“This beast has outstanding senses, so we need to keep it quick and quiet as we possibly can.” Kallis pushed her index finger to her lips.
Chyla mouthed the name of the beast to herself.
“I don’t hear anything.” Mya perked her ears closer to the crack in the door.
“Now’s our window.” Kallis pushed against the door and lead the group into the courtyard.
Each of the party filed in behind her and mimicked her steps as closely as they could. Keeping low and minimizing the lift of their feet, each step slide through the snow like a mole burrowing in the dirt. Their pace was slow while they limited the crunch beneath them, allowing Dominic to take up the back and keep a check on the scene behind them. With each minute, the gap between him and the girls grew.
Kallis kept her hand against the foundations they passed by, brushing off clumps of snow that collected on the odd stone that protruded. Chyla watched from close behind, shaking her head as she caught herself getting too focused on the curvy form of the belts surrounding Kallis. There was something about her that kept drawing her in.
Mya’s smooth elven features pinched around her eyes with each thought of Gemini that popped into her head. She reached behind her back to feel if her knife was still there and bounced her pack to center it before bringing her hand back out. She could sense her sister and the angelic woman behind her, invading her personal space more than she would have liked.
It was hard for Mara to keep close to the buildings with her wings, even with tucking them in tight, they would still catch on the small stones of the structures. Dominic would get distracted with each shimmy she would do to free the buildup of snow on her feathers before snapping back to his scouting.
The gate to the city could be seen ahead. A small steel arch extending below the stone rampart above, holding the same portcullis as the main gate. Snow had collected on the bars even with it being close to the underside of the overhang. Tattered flags of white and the tribal emblem of a bear rest against either side of the small wall towers.
A low rumble shook all the surrounding shutters, creating an orchestra of clattering wood on stone. Everyone stopped to crouch into the snow with the hopes that their stillness would make the threat pass by and leave them unnoticed. Mya slowly scanned upwards from where slow heavy breathing cascaded down at them.
The face of the beast, the Ahkm’zikar, focused on their position with a horror of an intensity. It was a surprise that the building it stood on wasn’t crushed beneath its weight. Its face looked like they had found themselves face to face with Necrolis’ pit fiend, a demon risen from the depths to swallow their very existence.
Two large eyes to the side positioned mostly forward, gave it a bear like width of a skull covered with a draping of carrion-like scales. Spikes formed jagged edges around any curved portions of it like little blades of bone eager for a victim. Two smaller sets of eyes could also be seen, one set a little above and behind the larger that did not look like they moved with their solid colouring and being so dark. Little onyx gems taking the world in all around the beast. The second set sat in a similar position, but below the main eye. They were coloured a rich deep blue with a small green pupil that darted around rapidly as if it couldn’t focus on one thing too long. The mouth bore massive overlapping spikes of teeth that filled in the front of its face, making it seem as if it had no lips and could act as a natural shield for the face behind them if needed.
With its front right leg, covered in bone like claws and talons that stretched part way up its leg, stretched outward and down towards the pillowed street. Gently shifting its weight to the street leg, it slipped the back half of itself down into the street, blocking their way to the gate entirely.
Mya had been whispering an incantation to herself and circled her hands around with some careful hand gestures, forming symbols with her fingers. Pushing her arms out toward the house foundation, she motioned her hands as if she were holding onto the structure and pulled on it.
Cracking and crumbling sounds exploding into the quiet ghost town as the building walls shattered, shooting towards the demonic beast. How fast Mya was able to cast the spell, the creature was taken by surprise and was only able to lift its closest leg to try and block the shrapnel, making it flinch to the side and giving everyone a break in the blockade and a moment of escape.
“Run!” Mya screamed at the top of her lungs.
Everyone scattered towards eh opening with what space they had available to them. The deep snow made it difficult to move around but with they were able to get some distance between them and their hurdle.
In a fury of the attack, the Ahkm’zikar rushed towards Mya, making sure the threat was to be the first abolished. Tharissa stopped a handful of paces away and rolled her hands around to form her purple balls of fire in her hands. Throwing each of the little fireballs towards the fiend, they splashed away like rain on a leaf. The little annoyance she made was responded by a flick of its thick tail at her, connecting like a whip and sending her hurling through the air against the side of a bookstore across the street.
Mya watching in horror as her sister collapsed to the ground, unmoving. Lifting her hands up like she grabbed something inside the earth and trying to pull it from the ground, most of the snow around the fight floated into the air as if there was no gravity. A quick clap of her hands and the still white blanket shattered into a maelstrom of ivory haze, making it almost impossible to see anything.
The creature ran full steam towards Mya without a care, through the smoke screen and crashed into one of the buildings. The assault from the beast demolished the walls like twigs and pebbles to a gale wind. Debris erupted around it as it angrily thrashed around looking for her in the white out.
Taking the time, she had, Mya ran through the blizzard to where Tharissa was thrown. Being able to see through her spell, she ran across the cobbled streets that were free from their icy prison. Skidding to take the corner up a set of stairs to the bookstore, she knelt beside her still sister.
“Tharissa?” Mya spoke under her breath.
She lay still. No breath came in from the cold to fill her lungs. No colour in her cheeks from the pu
mp of her heart. No expression to show her pain from the attack. Her eyes looked up at her with an emptiness that only Necrolin could bring.
Tears ran down Mya’s cheeks as she held Tharissa in her arms. The hazard of the ancient wyrm coiled up in the back of her mind, she did not have time to grief. Kissing her sister’s forehead, she slowly let her back to the ground and stood in a vengeful anger.
“Run! Get to the gate.” Mya called through to everyone through the squall of snow.
A continuous low rumble emanated from the Ahkm’zikar as it righted itself within the rubble. Its growl pulsed like a wave of weighted sound, making everything feel heavy in their own skin. Suddenly, the growling stopped, and a gale Mya created crashed back down to the street, covering everything once again in its fluffy cold confinement.
Mya watched from her stoop as the beast crashed its way back into the street, preparing for another assault on its prey. Trying to keep herself hidden behind a small stack of crates, she could see from her peripheral view that the others had made it to the gate and had hid themselves on the other side. There would be no way she could get to them without the wyrm getting to her first.
“Think Mya, think.” She pressured herself with whispers.
Getting closer and closer to her with each heavy step, the Ahkm’zikar used its hulking clawed paws to push against the front of buildings to expose the inside while it searched for her. With each crash and crumble of the homes and shops, it would not take long for it to find her. There was nothing she could do without giving herself away and ending it quickly.
It was right beside her now. The creatures breathing sucked out her own air, making it difficult to breath. The low rumble of its anger filled her body and weighed her down. The very thought of optimism faded into a despair of certain death. After the collapse of the house across the street, the Ahkm’zikar turned to her hiding place and raised its boney talon filled arm up for the strike.
Suddenly, the beast just froze. Hearing something in the distance caught its attention. The wasted section of city went silent as dust gathered with the snow as it fell. The lingering anger faded from the air and Mya could feel the intent to kill dissolve, joining in with the cascade of calming snow.
Peering out from behind her crate, Mya watched as the beast reared its head slowly towards the center of the city, to the courtyard well. Straining her neck around the edge of the crates, she could see a cloaked form standing next to the well. A dark hooded figure leaning over the edge like they were looking for some water to drink.
Without another thought, the Ahkm’zikar spread its massive boney wings and shot into the air, sending all the surrounding snow and loose timbers bubbling away from its launch site. The impact of the Ahkm’zikar taking off pushed her back into the stone walls, pushing all the air from her lungs. A harrowing screech from the terror thundered across the sky like a storm. The figure had spooked the ancient terror in a strange way.
“Tha, rissa?” Mya coughed through her lungs lack of air as she crawled over her dead sister.
Kallis was the first to reach Mya’s stoop. Putting a hand to her mouth in seeing Tharissa’s still body, no words came to her.
“What are they doing?” Chyla came up behind Kallis and pointed at the dark figure by the frozen well.
Everyone stood up tall and squinted to focus on the dark figure. They watched as they reached out with their hands and slammed them down on the edge of the well. A burst of light shot out from inside, sending the ice from the well into the air with a thick stream of white light up into the sky.
Another screech from the Ahkm’zikar reverberated against the broken city, making any loose object rattle. Dominic, Mara, Kallis, and Chyla all stood in the street, watching as the burst fading into the day.
“That’s, the same as the lake.” Mya coughed to get her throat in order. “I saw that back in Uridine, it’s one of the Seals.”
“It was the last Seal.” A deep male voice made everyone spin around in panic, ready for another fight.
A tall man covered in tribal tattoos and rock made paints stood in the middle of the lane. Holding a long staff in one hand that carried a small collection of tiny skulls and feathers dangling from one end. Little fabrics wrapped themselves around the shaft down to an ornately weaved together handle.
His long black hair braided into itself with a design of braids and knots to hold small stones or bones covered in runes and symbols. Dark leather pants and a dark leather vest were the only garb he wore, exposing much of his tattooed skin and dark toned muscles.
“We don’t have much time; you need to come with me.” He turned to walk down the street and turned to look over his shoulder.
Everything stood still, starring at the large man walking away. Mya looked back at Tharissa.
“We need to bury her.” She sternly said.
In a deep and urgent voice, the Barbarian stopped and nodded at her. “Be quick.”
• • •
Morning cascaded gently over the fields as life began its day anew. Merchants and travelers packing up their evening bedding and stuffing everything into their saddlebags, while others finished their breakfast. The roads began to fill up quickly with sunshine and those wanting to soak it in before Sky Pedestal blocked it with its towering perimeter mountains.
Latisha smiled to herself from under her cloak hood as she listened to morning hustle coming down from the city passes mingling with the collection around the main path up into the bluffs. Her long cloak barely moving around her as she stepped through the thicker grasses, reflecting the light on their sheen of morning dew. Her hood was able to block most of the light to hide her face from those circling around her.
Extending a handout to grab a small bag of fruit, she dropped a couple silver coins into the outstretched hand of the merchant of a small stall. His tired eyes really focused on not dropping the exchange. Turning around to tend back to his wares, Latisha continued through the larger busy market that was forming.
“I knew you should have brought more blood.” The voice inside her head spoke with a mocking tone.
“Only need to keep the form a little while longer.” Latisha spoke under her breath.
“Sure it’s faster to travel with your true Lamia form, but the human legs are much more graceful.”
“If you want, we can get more before we get to the Glacier.” Latisha kept watching those around her as to hope no one noticed her talking to herself.
“Was it that easy to abandon his orders?”
“We both know that he has flaws in his logic. I was blinded by my grief.”
“The loss will always be there; do you still have those feelings?”
She didn’t answer.
The market around her flowed like a stream coming down the mountain roads and spilled across the grassy terrain. Cartwheels squeaked under the weight of the loads they carried, horses whinnied and huffed their efforts in pulling their overweight owners around. The amusement Latisha found in the random conversations people had with their horses or the morning banter over a hot beverage brought a smile to her face from time to time as she made her way through the crowds.
Keeping her scan through the throng of people, she caught glimpses of the trail stretching off into the North. There was no one coming from the North which was odd to see at this time of day. Squinting at the horizon to try and make out the mountains, she knew it wouldn’t take long to get there and should get moving soon.
“By high sun we should pass into the snow with our pacing.”
“Always enjoyed being around the Glacier.”
“The siblings pride themselves on that one. Are you sure you didn’t want to bring some of your sisters along for this half of the journey? Might not be the best welcome when we get into the forest.”
“If we can catch up, we will have a better chance.”
“Even with any change you make, they will know. Remember what happened last time?”
“The Shaman will, sure. It’s not l
ike I have been totally banished from visiting the city. The Din have welcomed me in the past. It’s your siblings that are the ones causing the issues I have to deal with.” Latisha was able to free herself from the main mass of the market as she got closer to the towering stone peaks of Sky Pedestal.
“True, but sooner or …” The voice faded from the back of her ears like a mist and only the sounds of her shuffling cloak rubbing against them remained. “A power is coming, be careful.”
Through the wavy heat of the morning sun in the distance, a company of well armoured soldiers shimmered onto the horizon like a mirage in a desert. Their tromping of metal on the hardened dirt of the path echoed louder and louder, slowly taking over the bustling of the market. It did not take long for everyone in around the base of the mountains to notice and one by one, group by group, all turned to encroaching troops.
Latisha made her way out of the crowd like she was heading up to the city in hopes to not draw attention as she left the market. Sliding her way between shoppers and vendors, travelers and residents, her pathing was slow, but she was able to put many of them between her and the soldiers.
A scream let out from someone on the fringes of the bazar which rifled through the entire crowd, forcing her attention back over her shoulder. Barely making out the scene through her blocked eyeline, the first few soldiers had reached the civilians and had without question buried their swords through the crowd as they came in contact. People started to scream and scatter, falling over everything and everyone. Chaos had hit the morning market.
“The power is dormant; it’s coming from in the soldiers.” The voice in the back of her mind caught her by surprise and flinched her eyes back to the attackers.
“Is it necessary to know? We need to get out of the crowd before they reach us, there are too many for me to take on without blood.” Latisha spoke a little louder as she made her way closer to the pass into the mountain.
Age of Souls Page 43