A Child of Two Worlds

by Mark Cole

  The fifteen Halfmen charged up the sloping embankment. They were cut down, but not before the remaining five Daemen slipped past them and began to rush toward the World Tree. Each held a shard of crystal so dark it seemed to absorb the light cast by the hundreds of floating sprites.

  Caitlyn hamstrung one as it tried to dart past. Brahm cleaved the skull open of the second with a leaping strike. Alex cut the legs out from under the third and ducked low when Terra shouted. Her thrown axe hurtled through the air, tumbling end over end, until it firmly embedded itself in the fourth Daemon’s spine.

  The last Daemon drew its arm back to drive the obsidian shard into the World Tree. Sprites screeched. Alex fell onto his side as Caitlyn used him to launch herself through the air. The Daemon’s eyes darted up as she landed on all four perpendicular to the ground on the ancient tree. It never had a chance to scream before her jaws clamped around its throat.

  With a twist of her head, Caitlyn snapped the Daemon’s neck. Alex and Brahm finished off the two injured Daemen. Sprites whirled around Caitlyn, whispering to her their thanks.

  A sprite the same light-red color as the first one that had talked to Alex floated to him. “Thank you, dark one.”

  “You’re welcome,” he said. “Why do you call me that?”

  The sprite made a sound that could only be confusion before it floated away to be near Caitlyn. The mass of sprites spun around her faster before lifting into the air. The sprites seemed to compress into a pulsating ball. “What do be happenin’?” Brahm asked.

  Caitlyn looked at the three of them in confusion. “I have no idea. They were whirling around me saying they must thank me for saving Ygg. I think that’s what they call the World Tree. They said they must give me a gift for saving them. They said they would return to me what had been forgotten.”

  Terra’s eyes opened wide, and she opened her mouth to shout warning, but it was too late. A line of sprites shot from the ball floating above their heads, piercing Caitlyn from her head to her tail.

  The changeling screamed in pain. Alex and Brahm lifted their weapons up to a defensive position, but Terra held them back. The screaming increased in pitch as more and more broke from the circle, thickening the flow piercing the panther. “It’s too late now,” Terra said. “We are in their realm. They could kill us with barely a thought. Whatever they do to her, we have to accept. I hope the gain is worth the cost.”

  Caitlyn’s screaming fell off as the last of the sprites from the ball passed through her. The changeling collapsed, and they rushed to her. “Caitlyn,” Alex said as he fell to his knees beside her. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m on fire,” the changeling rasped. “All of me.” Terra heard bone and sinew snap. Caitlyn was changing forms, but not back to human. The three fell back from her as the changes went on.

  Her bones grew longer; her legs more heavily muscled. Razor sharp spines of bone elongated through her back along her vertebrae. Caitlyn’s head grew larger, the incisors grew to over a foot in length. She screamed again. Her paws enlarged, and eight-inch long claws erupted from them. Her fur lengthened and grew shaggier. The changes stopped.

  Caitlyn panted and stumbled to all four paws. Now twelve feet long from her nose to the base of her tail, she stood eye-level with Alex. “What, did they, do to me?” she panted.

  Alex studied her. Caitlyn looked like the cross between a panther, porcupine, and saber-toothed tiger. He led her to the water, and the light from the thousand sprites cast her changed visage back to her. She flinched at the sight. Caitlyn stepped away from the water and with downcast eyes said, “I look terrifying. Feral.”

  Alex stood in front of her. He placed a hand to either side of her head and lifted her eyes. “You are still Caitlyn. I’m not scared of you,” he said with a gentle smile.

  “It do no’ look like I can call ye Cat, Caitlyn,” Brahm said. “Ye may try eatin’ me if I make ye mad.”

  Caitlyn grinned a toothy panther’s grin. “Bah,” she said in a close approximation of the Dwarf’s gruff voice, “ye’re too tough fer eatin’.”

  The four of them laughed as the sprites spun back around them. “It is good you are pleased with the gift,” they said as one. “And now, dark one, what is it that brings you to our land?”

  “Dark one?” Terra said. Alex could feel and shared her confusion.

  “Him,” they said, a few breaking off from the enclosing circle to spin around Alex.

  He looked down at his fair skin in continued confusion. Alex glanced at his wife and shook his head. Terra shrugged. The sprites repeated their question.

  “Your world is in danger,” the Guardian said. “The mortal races march to war. I ask that you come with us to fight off the blight that has struck your lands.”

  The sprites stopped spinning as he talked. Once he finished they began to flicker, having a sort of non-verbal conversation. Slowly, the sprites stopped flickering, save two on opposite ends of the enclosing circle. Those two flashed at each other for minutes before the sprites spoke again. “We must confer with Ygg. You will wait.”

  The sprites flew into the air and glided into the World Tree. The ancient tree began to glow as more and more sprites from all over the Wraith Marsh flew toward it, some moving so fast they appeared as nothing more than a streak of light before disappearing into the tree. Hundreds of thousands of sprites flew to the World Tree.

  “I had no idea there were so many,” Terra said.

  “Me either,” Caitlyn said. The painful crack of sinew and bone began anew as Caitlyn changed back into her human form. Alex heard her whimper from the pain of the new transformation that had been forced upon her.

  “What was keeping the sprites from killing the Halfmen and Daemen?” Alex asked.

  Terra rummaged through one of the corpses. What she found turned her stomach. She held an obsidian shard up for all to see. “This is the same thing the Halfman used to subdue me, but this one is much larger.”

  Alex nodded. The sprites stopped appearing and bands of color began to flow up from the roots of the tree all the way up the mile-high trunk to the leaves high above. The flowing lights continued for some time until at last a single red sprite floated from the bark. It hovered near the tree. The four of them walked to it.

  “We will come, but we do not know when to come,” it said in a soft, sighing voice.

  Alex reached in his pack and pulled out an Eye of the Stars. “We can tell you with this,” he said.

  The sprite floated around his hand. “Ancient magic from Outside,” it said. “We can make this work, but it will take time.” A knot opened on the trunk of the World Tree. “Place the crystal in Ygg.”

  Alex put the Eye into the trunk of the tree. The knot closed when he removed his hand. The lights traveling up the trunk sped up. “We will come,” the sprite said. “Now rest; you will be safe here.”

  The sun had just begun to peek over the horizon when Caitlyn awoke. The stone was cold beneath her hands as she lifted herself to a sitting position. Stone? she thought. She stood and took stock of their surroundings.

  Pillars of pale yellow stone thrust into the sky around them. The Wraith Marsh ended just a few hundred yards to the south. We are in the Pillars of Dawn. The sprites must have brought us here while we slept. She faced the rising sun and basked in the warmth of it.

  Caitlyn heard movement behind her. She recognized the footfalls and breathing as Alex. He walked over to her making little noise so he wouldn’t wake the others. He put his right arm across her shoulders and gave her an affectionate squeeze.

  A flutter of emotion began at his touch. They stood there enjoying the sunrise for a few minutes before Alex spoke. “How are you holding up, Caitlyn?” he whispered in her ear.

  She turned her head to look at him and was shocked by how close Alex was. The sunlight reflected in his green eyes. She could see flecks of gold in the iris. She could feel his warm breath on her cheek.

  “I don’t know. I… I’m scared, Alex,�
�� she said. “The sprites… they did something to me, more than giving me that monstrous form.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m not sure. I just… feel different. It’s hard to explain.”

  “Don’t worry,” Alex said as he turned his head back to the rising sun. He took a deep breath and smiled. “I’ll be here, if you need to talk.” He gave her another reassuring squeeze.

  “I know,” Caitlyn said. She studied Alex’s sun-bathed silhouette.

  His brown hair had blonde highlights, she noticed for the first time. How can he always be so confident? He had a dusting of stubble on his chin, cheeks, and upper lip. Just being near him makes me feel better. His still-smiling lips were a soft pink. I wonder what it would be like to kiss him.

  Caitlyn blushed at the stray thought. She stepped away from him and turned back to the camp. Her shoulders were still warm where his arm had been. Caitlyn shook her head. “I think it’s time we wake the others and get a move on,” she said.

  “Sounds good to me.”

  Caitlyn awoke Terra as Alex roused Brahm. “Pillars o’ Dawn,” the Dwarf said. “How’d we bloody well get here?”

  “The sprites”--Terra yawned--”must have carried us.”

  “Aye, an’ it seems they’ve left us a present,” he said as he pulled a burlap bag over to his side. He pulled open the sack as everyone looked on. “Bah,” he said as he tossed it to Alex.

  Alex reached into the bag and pulled out a gray mushroom. He nibbled on it. “Doesn’t taste bad,” he said.

  “I hate bloody ‘shrooms,” Brahm said.

  Caitlyn raised an eyebrow at him. “I thought all dwarves loved mushrooms. Your people cultivate them like any other crop.”

  “Aye,” Brahm said. “When you got flamin’ wet caves, ye grow bloody ‘shrooms, but it do no’ mean that I love the bloody disgustin’ things.”

  Terra laughed. “You have the roughest language of any Dwarf I’ve met, Brahm.”

  “Why thank ye, Nexus,” he said with a perfunctory bow. “It do me honor to hear ye speak o’ me so highly.”

  She laughed again. “Please, call me Terra. We’ve journeyed together for weeks now and will for weeks more.”

  “As ye say, Terra. I’m sure Highwind Point’s north o’ here if me brain’s not gettin’ addled in me old age.”

  Terra nodded. “But, I think we should head northwest. I’m not sure how far east we are, if we head that way,” she said pointing northwest, “then we should find the road, and it will lead us to Highwind Point. I would hate for us to travel for a week only to pass it and be forced to backtrack.”

  Alex nodded his assent. He wore the black leather jerkin and pants that Terra had given him in Starfall. He saw Brahm rubbing the amulet around his neck. “How were the first Stone names chosen, Brahm?” he asked as he shouldered his pack and brought up the rear of the party. Caitlyn listened with interest. She had wondered the same thing when she was younger.

  “They’re the names o’ the dwarves that discovered Adorac Volcano an’ mined it out. Brahm, the first Brahm, was the king o’ the dwarves then. He was a mighty warrior an’ a just leader. His name hadn’t been chosen fer a long time.” Brahm lifted the amulet and studied it.

  “When I was just known as ‘Boy Ironfist,’ me ma’ and da’ would tell me stories o’ the foundin’ o’ the volcano, and how King Brahm cleared the mountain o’ its vicious inhabitants, lava spiders.” Brahm lowered the amulet and lifted the large war hammer. “This’s the very weapon he used to crush the queen o’ the lava spiders, a big one named Firespinner.

  “His victory gave us a new home. His was the first Stone name to be recorded. Since then, there’d been no Brahms of note, certainly none to measure up to ‘im. I chose me Stone name because I wanted to have great adventures like the Brahm. Wish I knew then what I know now. Adventures’re nothin’ but runnin’ round, tryin’ not to get killed. Better to be home, feet in front of yer fire, with yer woman there with ye.”

  “Were you ever married?” Alex asked.

  “I was,” the Dwarf said quietly.

  “What happened?”

  “Delly, Mother cradle her, died o’ a wastin’ sickness while I was off havin’ adventures,” he said.

  “I’m sorry,” Alex said.

  They continued to walk northeast in silence.

  Chapter Sixteen - Leave None Alive

  “No, Lord, please stop,” the old man begged. “We don’t know anything!”

  Azreal laughed as he pulled out a few more inches of the old matriarch’s intestines. The feel of the woman’s warm slick blood on his fingers almost drove the Demon Lord to distraction. “Know anything?” he chided. “I never assumed you did.” The crone shrieked anew as he pulled out a few more inches.

  “Then why?” the old man asked, his eyes rolling wildly as he tried to look anywhere but at the ruined form of his wife.

  “Because, old fool. I’m punishing you for what you were going to do.” A few more inches. More screams. “The Nexus and Guardian are coming. You were going to help them overthrow me.”

  Azreal felt a snag as he reached the end of the woman’s innards. And here come the most beautiful screams, he thought as he yanked viciously. The top of the intestinal tract separated from the bottom of the woman’s stomach. He shuddered with ecstasy as the woman screamed louder than any he had heard before. It was a wonder the old mother had survived to this point.

  With a swift slice of the knife, he severed the bottom of the intestines from her body. Her screams were so loud, they drowned out the thousands of shouts coming from outside the stone house. He tied the ends together and draped the intestines around the neck of the old man.

  The old man’s gaze was blank and stared far into the distance. “A pity,” the Overlord said. “It seems your mind has snapped.” Azreal wove a spell around the man’s head. The toxic tendrils of persuasion slid insidiously into the man’s brain. “But, you will listen and remember my words. The Nexus has caused this with her continued defiance. None should have died here this day. It is hers and the Guardian’s fault. Your wife would be alive. Your children would be alive. Your grand-children would be alive. But they aren’t, because of those two. You will wait for them here, and when they arrive tell them who did this. Do you understand?”

  The old man nodded, the grotesque necklace swinging back and forth.

  “Wait in here until sunrise, then come out and wander around your home until they come. It would be… regrettable if you died before they arrive.”

  The old man nodded again. Azreal released the web of force and left the stone hovel without looking back. He strode through the destroyed ruins of the town, taking pleasure at the chaos. In a flutter of leather wings, an imp landed next to him as he walked. “Dark Lord,” it said, the screeching voice scraping on Azreal’s nerves.

  “What?” Azreal asked, his patience with the tiny demon already stretched to its limit.

  “Reaver reports a number of Silverwings not in their berths. A large number of changelings are away. They were supposed to return tonight.”

  The Overlord’s hands twitched, and it took all his willpower to not kill the imp for the news it brought. He wanted all of them killed. He wanted to send a message to the Nexus. Crush her. The two-foot tall demon saw his expression darken and began to cringe in fear.

  “Tell Reaver I want them found and slaughtered.” The imp nodded and skittered a few steps before leaping into flight.

  Azreal walked around the ruined town at the top of the pillar. Blood and body parts littered the street. Buildings had burned out and collapsed, strewing stones across the narrow alleys. Smoke and embers filled the air. He was pleased.

  The Overlord of Hell entered the square he assumed had been used for festivals and gatherings. Reaver had done as he asked and separated all of the survivors into groups by age.

  “Why do we not simply lie here in wait for the Nexus?” his lieutenant asked in deep tones.

  “We c
ould have them at any time. We do not need to wait for them. They will come to us. And how much more delicious will it be to see their spirits crushed when they do?”

  The twelve-foot tall demon crossed his four arms over his chest. “Much more.” Reaver turned to face the corralled masses. “We have organized them as you asked, Dark Lord,” Reaver rumbled. “What would you have us do with them?”

  Azreal, Overlord of Hell, Harbinger of the End, looked at the groups, his eyes lingering on the small children holding infants and babies. He watched with a smile as a young boy was beaten with a whip for trying to protect his smaller sibling. “Start with the children. Leave none alive”.

  Chapter Seventeen - The Massacre at Highwind Point

  “Something isn’t right,” Alex said. They had been walking for a week through the winding paths of the Pillars of Dawn, when he lost count of the number of spires that gave the area its name. It was as if something had poked its finger up through the ground thousands of times.

  “What’s no’ right, me boy?” Brahm asked. The Dwarf and man had grown to be fast friends over the last three weeks of travel. They discussed battle tactics and what they thought was the proper allocation of forces in different situations. Most of what Alex said was either outrageous or surprisingly insightful. Brahm had scoffed at some of Alex’s ideas but was forced to admit they had a certain outlandish merit.

  “That’s Highwind Point?” Alex asked, pointing to the top of the massive pillar they were waited at the base of. Highwind Point loomed over the other pillars. It was easily two miles high. The path to the top wound around the pillar in a steep spiral. It could be seen from a few days travel away and was over two miles long, riddled with a complex system of caves and tunnels throughout.

  “Yes,” Terra said. Her morning sickness had come back, and she wasn’t feeling well. Only having bread, salted pork, and the gray mushrooms the sprites had given them to eat didn’t help.

  “Why haven’t we seen anyone? Why hasn’t anyone shown up to even see if we are hostile?”