A Child of Two Worlds

by Mark Cole

  “I’m going with you,” Caitlyn said. “It is safer for us to stay together in groups. There are things up here in the tundra that can easily kill us. Yeti, and the like.” Alex nodded. She turned to Brahm. “It won’t be safe to sustain a magical fire I can’t see. I have to let the spell fade, or it could flare up.”

  “Don’t ye worry ‘bout me an’ Terra. We’ll be safe in here.”

  Alex kissed Terra on the forehead, and they squeezed out through the cracked door. The fire flickered then disappeared as Caitlyn stopped feeding magical energy into it. Brahm moved over to where Terra lay in the corner between the floor and wall and began to hum softly while he waited for them to return. After a few minutes, the air grew chill. He took off his cloak and put it over Terra. He began to rub his arms and sing a smithing song as if trying to evoke warm memories of the forge. His soft baritone filled the small room.

  “Blow after blow ye rain down,

  Turn the steel round and round.

  Blow after blow ye rain down,

  Sparks reach high an’ hit the ground.

  Pump and pump the bellows,

  Forge the blade ‘til it glows.

  Pump and pump the bellows,

  Don’t singe the hair in yer nose.

  Blow after blow ye rain down,

  Blade takes form, sharp an’ sound.

  Blow after blow ye rain down,

  Wipe the sweat off yer brow.

  Quench the blade with a mighty hiss,

  Ye’ll ne’er be hotter than this.

  Quench the blade with a mighty hiss,

  Think o’ yer lass yer gonna kiss.

  Grind the blade, make it sharp,

  Instrument fine an’ keen.

  Grind the blade, make it sharp,

  Secrets from the steel ye glean.

  Swing yer blade with fiery might,

  Ye’ll be drawin’ blood tonight.

  Swing yer blade with fiery might,

  Do it strong, an’ do it right.”

  “Where are we?” Terra muttered. Her voice just about made Brahm jump out of his skin.

  “Ye’re awake! We’re in the back o’ the ship. It was no’ damaged in the crash, aside from bein’ ripped from the rest of the bloody Silverwing.”

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I was so tired…”

  “I’m not fer blamin’ ye. Ye did all ye could an’ more. It’ll be a week or more walk from here, but ye’ve still saved us five times that from what it would’ve taken on foot. We’re all alive. Caitlyn’s with Alex out searchin’ fer our packs to get some food.”

  She sensed Alex nearby, that his collarbone was injured, and that he was cold and tired, but he wasn’t afraid or angry, so she was confident he was safe. “How long have I been asleep?”

  “Fer ‘bout a day an’ a half.”

  “You have a beautiful singing voice,” Terra said. She smiled at him faintly.

  “That’s what me wife would say. She used to come to the forge to listen to me singin’. It was the only time she’d ever hear me singin’.” Brahm’s downcast eyes seemed lost in memory. “Wish I’d sung fer ‘er more. Wish I’d done a lot o’ things.”

  Terra nodded. She could understand the sentiment. “What things do you wish you had done, Brahm?”

  The Dwarf looked at her pensively. “It’s no’ something I like talkin’ ‘bout.”

  “I don’t mean to pry,” she said. “If you don’t want to talk about it.”

  “It’s alrigh’, Terra. I’ve held it in fer a long time. Let me think o’ how to start.” The burly Dwarf shivered, and she handed him the cloak he had draped over her. He wrapped it around himself. “Did ye know that I’ve been to the other Realms?” Terra shook her head. “All o’ ‘em but Life and Death.

  “It happened ‘bout thirty years ago. Delly, me wife, was deathly sick, but somethin’ was goin’ on in the Realm o’ Chaos, an’ I never could turn down an ‘adventure’.” He spat the word out. “Have ye ever been to Gile?” She shook her head again. “It be an odd place. Always enshrouded in an impenetrable fog. Ye can barely see more than ten feet in front o’ ye…”

  “Now lash yerselves tight. If ye get separated from the group, we’ll ne’er be able to find ye,” Brahm told the other four dwarves with him. Things unseen, sometimes large, sometimes small, moved in the thick fog. A building, from Caine by the look, appeared to the left of them, lingered for a few seconds then disappeared. Chaos reigned on Gile, and only a strong force of will could hold a place still for long.

  Harbronn had told them they were to learn if the rumors of a Demon Lord on Gile were true. Brahm had handpicked his four most experienced dwarves to accompany him. Delly was sick and begged him not to go, but the grizzled Dwarf had been itching for something to do other than grow old and fat.

  “Now be careful ye do no’ think o’ anything that’d get us all killed, ‘cause ye may make it appear in this blasted place.” He heard gulps behind him as he led the way through the fog. Walking wasn’t necessary for travel in the Realm of Chaos, but it made it easier for him to focus on arriving at the Efreet’s Palace. They walked for some time with buildings from each of the Nine Realms appearing and disappearing along their path. Brahm grew more and more annoyed with each step. They had passed a forge seven times and the same inn four. He spun on the four dwarves with him.

  “Ye morons empty yer heads, shouldn’t be hard fer ye. Ye’re keepin’ us from showin’ up at the bleedin’ palace like we need to! Or else, I’m going to take Maestro Dervin with me an’ leave the lot o’ ye here.” The three dwarves other than the aged Maestro apologized and nodded their heads. Dervin smirked at him. He turned back and continued on.

  Within seconds, the palace loomed up in front of them. They rushed inside before it could disappear. “Amazin’ how that works,” Brahm muttered. An efreet floated up to them. A being of elemental energy and chaos, it resembled a wrap of bandages around an invisible vaguely human shape. At least, that’s what most of them looked like. He had seen efreet with four arms, some shaped like spiders, and some with no definable shape, just a mass of floating energy.

  “For what does a party of dwarves come to the Efreet Palace? A long way from home, you all are,” it whispered in a sighing voice.

  “We be seekin’ information,” Brahm said.

  “And the gift is?” Efreet never accepted a trade for anything. A gift was required, and they decided if the request would be granted. Either way, they kept the gift.

  Brahm held a sack full of crystals charged with elemental energy out to the efreet. It snatched the sack from his hand greedily. He hated dealing with the efreet, but they knew everything that went on in the Realm of Chaos. It plucked the largest crystal from the sack and drained the energy from it. The shining blue stone went grey.

  “For what information do you ask? The answers to three questions, you have been granted.”

  “We’ve been hearin’ there is a Demon Lord here on Gile. I ask to know everythin’ ye do on the matter,” he said carefully. Efreet were capricious and would look for any way they could to twist a request.

  The efreet glided around them. Brahm made sure to keep it in front of him. “There is no Demon Lord here,” it wheezed with laughter. The Dwarf swore silently. Efreet did not lie, but they could bend the truth as if it were made out of the most supple cloth. Its laughter gave away that he was close to a correct question.

  “I ask to know everythin’ ye know ‘bout any powerful demons that are on Gile.”

  The efreet stopped circling them. “There is a very powerful demon here,” it sighed. “A Demon Lady by the name of Odessa. From times immemorial the Demon Lords and Ladies have reigned over Hell…” The efreet continued for some time telling them everything it knew about Odessa, Demon Lords and Ladies, and powerful demons in general in the hopes that they would lose interest, but Brahm was as patient as a stone. It hesitated before finishing its tale. “Odessa is running from the Realm of Evil, for a new Overlord ris
es. She hides from him here. He hunts for all of the High Demons. Hunts for them, and kills them. He hunts her specifically…” it trailed off and fell silent.

  “I asked ye everythin’ ye knew, Efreet,” Brahm said.

  “Not allowed. Her gift from us was to tell none why she is being hunted. She wanted us to also tell none she was here, but her gift was not enough.”

  Brahm turned to Maestro Grimm. “What do ye think, Dervin? Should we ask this Lady Demon why she is no’ in Hell where she belongs?” The Maestro thought for a minute before nodding.

  “Your third request?” the efreet asked as Brahm turned back to it. It asked many more times trying to push him to ask his question without thinking it completely through.

  “I ask that ye show us the way to Odessa now, in a way that we can follow ye, the easiest way fer dwarves ye know, without tryin’ to leave us behind, an’ without any other efreet tryin’ to block our way.”

  “Very well,” it snapped at his restricting request. It floated away, and they followed. After a few minutes of walking down corridors that seemed to warp into different shapes and colors, they arrived at a circular door. “We have arrived,” it sighed. “They wait for you within.”

  “They?” Brahm said as the efreet floated away, ignoring his question. “Bloody efreet.” He looked to the four other dwarves with him. “Be ready fer anythin’.” He knocked on the door. There was no answer. He pushed the door open carefully and glanced around the sitting room. A black fire crackled in the fireplace, and all of the chairs were empty.

  “Anyone home?” Brahm called. A tall, muscular human with long brown hair held back in a pony tail walked into the sitting room and stared at the dwarves in surprise. He drew a large sword from behind his shoulder and charged them. Brahm hefted his battle axe and set himself to chop low at the tall man.

  “Wait!” a woman’s voice shouted. The man stopped mid-stride a couple of paces away from the dwarves. A pale woman walked through the same door the man had come from. Her blood-red hair was strikingly beautiful on her milky white skin. “Did my brother send you?” she asked.

  “I do no’ know yer brother, milady,” Brahm said, surprised at the demon’s beauty. “Ye’re the Demon Lady Odessa?”

  Her eyes seemed to probe his mind. She studied him for a moment before nodding. “If my brother didn’t send you, then how do you know my name, master…?”

  “Brahm Ironfist. Me king heard of a Demon Lord on Gile. He sent us to see what we could.”

  The human spun to her. Brahm could have sworn the look on his face was love and concern. “I’m sorry, Odessa. I thought we would be safe here,” he said in a deep voice. She held up a hand to silence him, and she walked to one of the chairs by the fire giving the Dwarf a second to study her profile.

  “Yer brother’s huntin’ ye ‘cause o’ yer baby?” Brahm asked. Her eyes snapped to him, and the human lifted his sword again. “Either ye’re gettin’ fat, not a killable offense, or yer pregnancy is startin’ to show. I take it yer brother did no’ approve o’ ye lovin’ a human an’ decided to deal with it as a Demon Lord sees fit?”

  She sat on the chair and beckoned the human over. “Don’t worry, Tom,” she said softly. “We’ll find another place.” The human, Tom, sheathed the greatsword and stood behind her protectively. She looked back at the group of dwarves still standing in the doorway and hall. “Come in and close the door. You can untie yourselves from one another. You won’t go drifting off inside the palace.” She waited for them to comply.

  “Please sit, Master Ironfist,” Odessa bade. Brahm sat in the chair across from her. “You are very perceptive. My twin brother, Azreal, has become the new Overlord of Hell. He now works to destroy the other Demon Lords and unite Hell under one leader. Why, I do not know. I was among the first he tried to kill, and he has tried many times in the last twenty years.”

  “All right,” Brahm said studying her eyes just as she studied his. Her eyes captivated him. All demon eyes were a solid color with no pupil or white, but he had never seen one with such a stunning shade of green. “Why’re ye tellin’ me all this? It do no’ be in most demon’s natures to be kind.”

  She nodded. “True. Most aren’t. That is just another reason why I’ve forsaken my people and my birthright. I want to be safe and live my life with Tom and our child,” she said as she placed her hand over her belly. “Azreal must be stopped. Just as Life cannot exist without Death, Evil cannot exist without Good. I think he plans to destroy the Realm of Good once and for all.”

  “That’s madness!” Maestro Grimm exclaimed. “It would destroy everything. Reality would unravel. Everything would end.”

  Odessa nodded again. “That is why he must be stopped. I think he intends to marshal an army and use it to assault Bara and destroy the Libram of Fate. I’m not sure though. He could just as easily be planning to destroy Dae or Caine. Or maybe he has found some way to open a gateway to Aria. I just don’t know. But know this, Azreal is coming, and he must be stopped.”

  An explosion made the Efreet Palace shudder. Tom drew his sword, and those seated shot to their feet. “What the bloody…” Brahm muttered. A second explosion, closer this time.

  “It seems we are leaving sooner rather than later, my love,” Odessa told Tom. She turned to Brahm. “I’ve trusted you, Master Ironfist. Do you trust me?” A second’s hesitation, and Brahm nodded. She lifted an alabaster amulet on a fine golden chain from beneath her dress. A thump in the air, and a golden portal opened up beside her. “Your people still live in Adorac Volcano, correct?”

  Brahm nodded.

  “Good, this will take you a few days travel from there. Tell your king what you have heard here.”

  He motioned the other four dwarves through the portal. He waited to speak until they were all four through. “Ye’ll be alrigh’ here?” Brahm asked as a stronger explosion made the palace shake harder. Dust fell from the ceiling. “Ye can come too, an’ tell ‘im yerself.”

  She shook her head. “If he found me here, he would find me there. I must stay on the move. Fare well, Master Ironfist.”

  “Ye too, Lady Odessa.”

  “Looks like we’ll have to change our names again,” Tom said as the portal closed.

  “A few days’ journey, an’ we were back in the Volcano. I went to see King Harbronn an’ told ‘im the truth o’ things. When I arrived in the throne room, he told me that Delly had succumbed to ‘er illness. I cursed the world. Cursed ‘im fer sendin’ me. Cursed meself fer goin’. The Maestro heard what happened and told the king everythin’ that’d been said in Gile. We armed ourselves fer war, but when twenty years went by with nothin’, we stood down. If only we had waited longer, we would’ve been ready.”

  Terra was silent the entire time he talked. “I’m sorry, Brahm. I really am. But, your warning did save lives. More were ready because of you. Even if it was just a few more weapons, a few more sets of armor.” She paused and thought for a moment. “I’ve never heard of a demon that had forsaken her people before.”

  “Nor had I,” Brahm said. “She was beautiful. Ye could almost forget she was a demon. That human loved her. But to ‘im, I’m sure she could’ve had horns, and he’d no’ have cared.”

  “Who has horns?” Alex asked as he squeezed through the door. “Good morning, my beautiful wife. You were beginning to worry us.”

  “Brahm was just telling me a story to pass the time,” she said. “I’m sorry. I’m better now. A day or two more, and I’ll be back to normal. I don’t think I have enough energy to light a candle.” Her stomach grumbled.

  He smiled at the sound and grabbed the pack being pushed through the doorway to him. “Well, at least we won’t starve to death, and Caitlyn’s been doing a good job of keeping us dry and warm.” The changeling slid easily through the gap and stood behind him. The space was small, and four people made it very cramped.

  “I’m glad to see you’re doing better, Terra,” she said more warmly than she looked. Caitlyn shivered as
she summoned a ball of fire. “It’s dark outside, but we were able to find some food.”

  Two more nights passed with the four eating sparingly from what little they had. The rain had still not lessened on their fourth morning in the cramped hold. “We have to get out of here,” Terra said after they ate breakfast. “We’re almost out of food.”

  Alex appraised her. “Are you sure? We have enough food for another day, maybe two if we stretch it out.” Brahm groaned at the suggestion. He was used to eating much larger portions than they had been able to part with.

  “I’m sure. It’ll do us no good to stay here any longer. I’m so rested that I’ll go insane if we remain here.”

  “Whatever you say.” Alex began gathering up what little things they had left. “Are you going to be able to open up the storeroom once this place collapses?”

  Terra snorted a laugh. “Easily,” she said as she squeezed out through the door.

  Alex wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but he thought he could see her belly sticking out. She had been flat-stomached before she got pregnant. Well, Alex thought, that’s what happens when women get pregnant. Was I expecting something different? He waited for Caitlyn and Brahm to exit and followed them out.

  Cold wind whipped their cloaks about. The rain fell on an enormous, invisible umbrella above them as they walked a couple hundred feet from the ruined stern of the ship. Terra winked at him when he looked at her questioningly. Caitlyn held her hands out, and after a few seconds, their temporary refuge collapsed.

  They climbed onto the fallen hulk and walked to where the storeroom should have been beneath them. A chunk of wood a few feet wide went flying as it was magically ripped aside. Alex climbed down into the hole, his nearly healed collarbone aching. He handed a few sacks of dried meat and vegetables up and climbed out.