Avarii- the Golden Child

by Mark A Herring

  Reaching Seberkyne, I take out the warrior fighting with him, and hamstring him. This warrior falls to his knees, and I thrust him through the back into his heart.

  I honestly don't know how many there are, but we are starting to stumble over their dead as Seberkyne and I fight back to back, as we did the last time the Boreth had attacked us.

  A signal is given out, and the few remaining Nong retreat out of the cave.

  Breathing heavily from the fight, we clean off our weapons and look about us to assess any injuries or casualties. Seberkyne uses his torch to look me over to make sure I didn't get cut, and we look to each other.

  Everyone is still here. Everyone is still fine. No one is injured.

  Our horses!

  I run for the cave entrance to check on our mounts. Dakanii tries to intercept me, but I make it out before him.

  And... our horses are just fine. They are spooked from all the traffic in and out of the cave, but they have not been harmed.

  Strange...

  I frown up at Dakanii as he comes up behind me and gives me a stern look.

  “Why didn't they... kill our horses?” I ask.

  Instead of answering me, he continues his stern look at me. Then he sighs and kneels down to me and puts his hands on my waist and locks eyes with me, “Sean, never chase after an enemy, as there may be others waiting to ambush you.” he says gently. I have noticed, during my time spent with them, that the angrier Dakanii gets, or, emotional at least anyway, the quieter he gets when he speaks. He speaks softly, and is a fearsome warrior in his own right.

  I realize what he was afraid of, and I look down to my feet and nod my head, scolded.

  “I'm sorry.” I whisper as I turn sad eyes to him. I didn't mean to make him upset with me.

  Dakanii relaxes and gives me a wry smile, grunts out a laugh and runs his fingers through my hair as everyone else joins us at the cave entrance, “I'm just glad you're alright.” he says softly to me.

  I am suddenly reminded of my promise to Sharae to be careful while I'm out here... oops.

  Then Dakanii stands to his feet and looks out to our camp. “But... yeah. Why didn't they kill our horses, or just take them?” he asks, puzzled by the Nong.

  Did they just not have time as they were in a hurry to kill us?

  “No one has ever said they are smart.” Jenna retorts, then turns back to the cave to go exploring.

  I turn back to the cave, and stop dead in my tracks. I look behind me again, in the direction the Nong have escaped, and I am suddenly reminded of that vision I had the day before when we arrived here, all that fear I had experienced. Did what I see then have anything to do with what happened just a few minutes ago? As Jenna had suggested about yesterday, the deep magic within me? Is what I'm seeing parts of the future? Things yet to come, or possibly happen? I'll have to see what Seberkyne says about that later.

  The cave is fairly deep and wide, and we comb over every inch of it, looking for the nayfursheth, and anything that would keep us from finding it. We are down there for hours, with no luck! Nor are there any fire breathing dragons, or spiders (giant or otherwise), or any other living creatures too scary for us to deal with. Just the dead Nong warriors who stormed in to kill us or take us captive... but as I consider how much they fought, they were not looking to disarm us.

  Seberkyne found my long sword for me, but upon inspecting it, the blade had cracked from the warrior's blow. Well, that's OK. I felt more comfortable with my other weapons anyway. And as Seberkyne had told me about D'menaconnen steel, my short sword looks like it had not been used at all!

  The day moves on into the evening, and we still have not found any clues to the nayfursheth. We decide to call it a day and get back to camp. This time we move the camp to just inside the mouth of the cave, but close enough so that our horses know that we are there.

  * * * * * * *

  After several days of searching the cave, with no nayfursheth in sight, we are now running dangerously low on supplies.

  How do we know this is the only cave in the area? Is this even the right one?

  And how did someone discover it here in the first place and not bring it with them— oh, yeah.

  Seberkyne is the only one who can use it. I guess, others would be vaporized on the spot if they touched it? And no one has said how large this thing is, just that it is a powerful talisman to be used against their enemies.

  So who told them where it was? How did they “find” it? Or was all this just a ploy to raise their hopes, only to have it all dashed away to demoralize them further?

  Seberkyne even uses a spell to try to locate it, with no effect.

  I feel Dakanii's pain as he gets more and more desperate to find it, and he begins to grumble out loud. Not about his king, but at the fool who told them it was here will surely lose his life if they go back home empty-handed.

  After what seems like a week, maybe two, of being at this cave looking over every surface, we decide to pack up and go back north. Hopefully, the war between Yassan and K'mere has ended by now, and we can safely resupply ourselves. And then what?

  Come back down here? Look for any other caves in the area? Deal with any more Nong that decide we are too easy to get?

  Or go home and report to the king that the sighting was bogus? And the repercussions to the person(s) responsible for this quest?

  I get the feeling that heads will roll (and quite literally) over such an important issue.

  Disheartened, we lead our horses away from the cave and back to the road that will lead us through the swamps.

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  Empty handed, we trek back into the swamps to the north of the mountain range. The swamps are still creepy with their twisted trees and brambles. Maybe that's what makes them swamps?

  About half way through the swamp on the road, we once again hear the monstrous bellow off in the distance.

  What is that?

  We get ready to fly down the road when—

  A shiny object clatters down on the road in front of us. No, not shining, its glowing! And the glow— looks like... was this what I saw when we came through the first time? And that... monster was playing with it?

  What is it?

  I hear Seberkyne gasp with awe, “The nayfursheth!”

  The monster comes into full view from the fog of the swamp and looks at the nayfursheth, and picks it up with its mouth. So it is playing with it!

  ….

  Oh, great! How do we take its favorite toy away from it?

  On the road, this thing notices us and takes a defensive stance. It looks like its about to charge—yep! It charges us!

  We only have time to duck our horses out of the way, and there are so many of us, it doesn't know who to go after. As if from a signal, we end up surrounding the creature on our horses, with it in the center, snapping its massive jaws at us.

  As I had described it before, it looks like a hideous combination of a snake and crocodile, with a body more than fifty feet long! Now that its out in the open and no longer a mystery, I wish it would go back into the swamp and stay a mystery!

  When the thing snarls and whips around to face Dakanii, Seberkyne is in front of me in our circle, opposite Dakanii, and he casts a quick spell, levitating the nayfursheth from the thing's mouth, right into the empty space on his carved wood staff!

  With it in our possession, the dragon-thing whips back to Seberkyne to reclaim it, but in a loud voice Seberkyne shouts a few words and holds the staff high above his head. The nayfursheth gives out a blinding pulse and a sound like thunder, and the dragon-thing takes off into the swamp like a whipped dog.

  At last!

  So... it was here after all, just not in the cave under the mountain...

  Perhaps the directions were misheard in the telling of the story?

  We all gather around Seberkyne with the nayfursheth perfectly mounted on the staff. It's a crystal. A crystal that can fit in the palm of a man's hand and roughly egg shaped.
A crystal that glows from its own internal light. And what light! Soft white, with subtle pulses from each color of the rainbow at random!

  So this is the treasure they sought. And from their description, has immeasurable power to the one who knows how to use it.

  I watch Seberkyne's expression, and he is near tears in his eyes, “At long last. We thought it lost to us forever. At long last!”

  I tug on Seberkyne's sleeve, “Uh, can we go?”

  I know they all want to stare at it and revel that they have retrieved it, but we need to be quick and get out of the swamp!

  “Yes, you're quite right, my boy.” Seberkyne says, and urges his horse to fly down the road.

  We can hardly keep up with him now, and he seems a little preoccupied with the jewel on his staff.

  Did he forget us already? He got what he came for, now we can fend for ourselves?

  No, its just that we are now in a hurry to get their possession back home before the Boreth mount a major offensive against them.

  Do we dare go back the way we had come? With K'mere and Yassan at war with each other? The Nong to the west? The canyon beyond that? Spider Valley? I wouldn't mind going back to Kikkierilon, but is that now out of our way?

  Looking at the map, I see that we can take a more direct route back heading west and north. I wonder why they didn't take that route when coming here, but the explanation they gave me was to avoid the Boreth as much as possible, as east was opposite from Boreth territory, and the Nong territory was far south to that.

  But now that they have the nayfursheth in their possession, do they need to fear opposition any more?

  Am I hearing the old pride coming back into them? Is there a consequence to owning this thing?

  We head west-northwest to the western most part of the canyon where it ends, rationing out as little food as possible until we can hunt for more meat in the forests on the other side of the canyon river.

  It takes us several days to get to the river, and to our immediate right is the end of the canyon, or the start of it, what ever. We encounter no Nong at all during our flight to the river, and we wonder if they have been warned about us.

  But I wonder, also, if they wondered who we were and what we were doing. Did they know what we were after? I doubt it. They probably only thought we were from either K'mere or Yassan, soldiers from one of those two cities.

  A pity we didn't get to visit either city, I would have liked to see one of them in all their glory. Perhaps someday I will.

  We ride through a few villages along our new route, now heading north, keeping to ourselves and making camp late in the evenings in the wild.

  I understand their need to get back home as soon as possible, but come on! This is ridiculous!

  I'm starting to wonder if we're going to run our horses to death when we come across another river, the one that leads into Spider Valley. The mountains to our east are the ones that form the valley that the gigantic spiders have infested countless years ago.

  We take a break before crossing the river to let our horses drink and cool off.

  “Is there anything... that can be done about... the spiders?” I ask Seberkyne.

  The kindly old man looks at me for a moment, “Well, it wasn't created for that purpose, but I suppose, it could be used to drive them out.”

  ugh... the thought of those things running rampantly about, chased out by the nayfursheth is not quite what I had in mind. I don't want other areas to be infested by them because of us. With my imagination I begin to see webs covering everything, the world covered in webs...

  “No. Can you kill them...?” I ask. I'm thinking of the people to the south of the valley, who has been cut off from the northern settlements for years because of the spiders. Can their town be brought back to its former glory? Can we do some good with this thing?

  Seberkyne's expression turns sad as he looks at me.

  “Do you really wish to kill?” he asks me pointedly.

  I... I'm not... why are you asking this?

  “What about that... town to the south of the valley?” I ask him. “You saw what their... situation is... because of the spiders. Whole armies have not been able to... kill them off. They are evil.”

  “You must learn to respect life.” Seberkyne patiently says to me. “All life.”

  I frown at him, “I do. But there are many things... that would like to end my life. And those spiders... infesting the valley is doing... no one any good.” now we have this power, and he doesn't want to use it to right wrongs, even if they are natural?

  Are those spiders natural? Or were they put there by some evil force all those years ago?

  Seberkyne sighs as he considers my position. Can he see that my heart is in the right place and want to do right by others that have suffered?

  He quietly consults Dakanii's map, and points out that in order to do what I'm asking of him, he would need to get to the heart of the infested area in order for it to do any good. How many spiders would we encounter along the way? And the power of the nayfursheth can't be wasted by endlessly using it to kill every last spider in that valley. And it would take us several days traveling, without a road, through the forest of the valley until we got to the area that would do the most damage.

  Time we just don't have.

  Chapter Twenty Nine

  We ride on to the north, straight towards Navarae now. I don't recognize any of the forest here, but I know that Midnight's territory is to the east of our position now.

  Seberkyne's decision doesn't sit well with me, leaving those people to their fate as their town slowly dies because the spiders have closed off travel through that part of the valley, but I understand their need for speed. To get back home quickly.

  Maybe I should have set that forest on fire after all, the first time I came upon it, before I met Midnight... and burned myself in the process. Dying for a people I did not know, not knowing about their plight in the first place?

  Surprisingly, we encounter no Boreth on this road to Navarae. Are we just lucky? Or is there something else going on?

  According to Bogamin and Jenna, over the past several months they had been getting attacked more frequently by the Boreth, driving the king of Navarae to desperation to stop the madness. Then they heard that the nayfursheth was discovered far off to the south, and their best warriors was sent to find it, with the only one schooled in how it works.

  We charge on through the last village on the road to Navarae, and within hours we see the sprawling city before us.

  Like Kikkierilon, it is a magnificent sight as well! High walls around the city to protect from invaders, likely very thick, impenetrable. Fertile farm land all around the city supplying crops to the inhabitants. I can see the river off to the northwest of the city— no, actually going through the city and going west away from the city.

  And... it is besieged on all sides. By an enemy. Everyone in and around the city had been brought in for protection, and they are buttoned up tight.

  I see catapults being used, flinging boulders against the city's walls, and gigantic fireballs made out of hay and set ablaze to be flung over the walls, setting anything that can burn inside on fire.

  Those poor people! I would have thought their army would have been positioned outside the city to fight them off, but I wonder if they didn't have time to muster their forces.

  I look to the men around me, and see their expressions harden. Their homes are being attacked. And we just made it back, none too soon! OK, so I don't feel so bad as I did before regarding Spider Valley, but now is not the time for this!

  What do we do?

  I look to Seberkyne, I see him grip the staff tighter, and with a snarl on his face he charges down the road to the city! What is he doing?!

  The road we are on is only one of many roads leading into Navarae, with one of the many fortified gates keeping enemies out.

  We charge down the road behind him, swords drawn, riding like the wind!

  I wonder wh
at Seberkyne is going to do, as the horde gathered around the city look to be in the thousands of warriors. Is he mad?

  Well, yes, he is mad. But is he crazy?

  Its all we can do to keep up with him, but with my lighter weight on my horse, I catch up with him better than the others.

  With my sword drawn, I look to the old man, and see his vision only on those before him as his horse charges recklessly towards the enemy army.

  With the enemy army solely focused on Navarae, they do not see us come pounding up behind them and completely take them by surprise. Dakanii, Anjax, Bogamin, and Jenna all start to slashing at the Boreth from their horses, and with my shorter sword, yes, I slash at them too as we cut our way to where the Boreth generals seem to be located.

  Still on his horse's back, Seberkyne slows not a bit as he charges full into their tent and—

  A blinding pulse of light, with a shock wave that knocks all our enemies off their feet, and nearly knocks us off our horses, too!

  I shake my head to clear it, and the ringing in my ears, when I look around me and....

  What happened to the Boreth? We were surrounded on all sides by them, and now?

  Not a one is left on the battlefield.

  What happened to them? Are they dead? Vaporized? Transported? What?!?

  I see Seberkyne slowly walking his horse out of the tent, a satisfied smile on his face.

  OK. They have now convinced me. The nayfursheth is indeed a powerful talisman. And its no wonder the Boreth were afraid of them with it! But what about everyone else inside the city walls? Well, its evident that that pulse only affected the Boreth, and not us. We're still here.

  We start to hear cheering inside the walls of the city, as the warriors on the wall just reported what had happened.

  Just to make sure that all the Boreth are now gone from the city, we circumnavigate around Navarae to all the camps and catapults and— all the machines of war the Boreth had used is now laying around in splinters. Demolished.