Flames of Awakening: Faemoch Cycle Book 1

by Reynolds, Michael

  Jaxius drew his elven blade and spun to face his closest threat, cutting that one down with ease. The expertly crafted blade sang as it whirled through the air, slicing through armor, bone, and even other weapons. The half-elf became a whirling frenzy of death. He, for just a moment, lost himself in the bloodshed. He felt what the others around him felt, the overwhelming power and awful beauty of battle. He spun about just in time to see young Bergar collapse to the ground. The true leader of the onslaught stood over the fallen boy.

  Morgrys, witch's pet and master of the horde, grabbed Bergar and threw the boy's limp body over one shoulder. With two powerful jumps, he was back across the trench and headed toward the forest. He put a curved horn to his lips and let out a single long, loud blast; the horn dropped back to his chest, dangling from the leather thong around his neck. Immediately all the remaining raiders moved for the woods. Some were cut down in their retreat by the Nordrasians, but many made it to the forest line and their freedom. They fled with the same magical speed with which they had arrived.

  Hearing the horn blast, Grundar turned to see Bergar's limp body disappearing into the woods and cried out, "Bergar! Me son!" He reached out, grasping for his stolen son, and his legs buckled weakly beneath him. He fell to his knees, tears stinging the edges of his eyes.

  "We'll get him back," Jaxius assured the clan chieftain, reaching out a hand to help the grief-stricken man up the hill. "Come, let us prepare. We leave within the hour."

  "No! We leave now," Grundar argued.

  "If you go now, your son is lost to you, as is your homeland. They could be baiting you to follow, only to cut you down when you enter the woods," Tolian reasoned from higher up the hill. His clothes seemed relatively unstained by the blood of the battle.

  "Spoken like a true coward!" Grundar spat.

  "Ah, maybe, but a coward that sank blade into as many foes as any of your men today."

  Grundar started to object, but then the many daggers protruding from fallen raiders caught his eye and shut his mouth. Grundar, still aching to act, quickly gathered his remaining men and put his cousin, Larin, in charge until his return.

  Jaxius, Tolian, and Grundar quickly grabbed their ever ready packs and their weapons. None of them looked back as they entered the forest, crossing into Hawklos, the witches' cursed lands.

  Chapter Three

  Grundar crashed through the trees with reckless speed. Fatigue should have taken him days ago, but Grundar wasn't feeling much of anything anymore. Pain, fear, and even fatigue had totally given way to a blinding anger. His thudding heart pumped gallon after gallon of bright red rage deep into his soul. It consumed him. He would not be slowed. He would find his boy and put an end to those that took him.

  "That's it, we have run for five straight days. I cannot run one step further," Tolian gasped. He dropped his pack heavily to the snowy, leaf littered ground.

  Grundar barely turned, "We move."

  "No. I can barely breathe. I am going to sit for at least a short bit," Tolian argued.

  "Grundar, if we do catch them, in this state, we stand no chance. Come. Rest for just a bit," said Jaxius.

  "But," Grundar said, "me son ...."

  "Grundar, please, trust me," said his friend.

  "Fine," Grundar relented with a grimace.

  Jaxius and, eventually, Grundar joined Tolian and began to make a hasty camp.

  Then, seeing that Tolian was, as usual, the first to find the comforts of his blanket, Jaxius accepted the first watch of the short night. He settled by their small, smokeless fire and pulled some richly spiced sausage from his laden rucksack.

  "Yer bard friend doesna have the heart nor the will fer this. I can sense it." Grundar grumbled about the delay in their race to save his only son.

  Jaxius shrugged, "He's been used to a different lifestyle. That's all. We do need some rest, though. Those men, they move with an unnatural speed. I don't think we will set upon them in these accursed woods; most likely, not until they arrive at their destination, wherever that may be."

  "Bah! ‘Tis the witch's magic. Like this every year, ya know. They come from nowhere, movin' silent an' dark as shadows or runnin' fast an' fleet as deer. Then, they disappear jus' as quick," the anxious chieftain complained to the half-elf.

  "Has to be some magic or another. We should start seriously thinking about our rescue strategy and prepare for the fact that there may be almost no options open to us," Jaxius said.

  Tolian added his own humble opinion to the conversation, but the words that escaped his mouth were sleepily mumbled and mostly about meat pies.

  A restless sleep finally found Grundar. He tossed and turned, turned and tossed. His face dripped with rank, fear-scented sweat. It was as though Grundar was caught in fever dreams. His dreams were, in fact, filled with the horrors of the many tortures that might befall his son before whatever execution Bergar was headed for.

  Jaxius understood what it was to lose someone that you loved so dearly. He sat, watching the tormented man and wishing he could help his friend. He tried futilely to understand the full situation. The invaders had no real use for Bergar, as far as Jaxius could tell. Their clans didn't usually keep slaves. Their numbers were plentiful. There was no ready way for the raiders to know that Bergar was next in line to be his clan's leader. There was no obvious reason to kidnap the boy. Yet, it had happened.

  Time dragged on for Jaxius. Seconds turned into minutes. Minutes became hours. Finally, sleep overtook the ranger before he could rouse Grundar to take the next watch.

  Chapter Four

  "Wake up, sleepy cousin," a high-pitched girl's voice squeaked.

  Jaxius opened his eyes to see large, round doe-like brown eyes inches away from his face. The face moved away, allowing Jaxius to fully see the little girl in front of him. Her extremely angular face and long pointed ears could mark her as an elf. However, she was much thinner than any typical elf. Her wild green hair stuck out in several places like it had never seen a brush before. It was heavily adorned with leaves, twigs, and the odd berry. She was dressed in nothing more than a few large leaves and a simple belt. She squatted next to the party's campfire and picked at her toes.

  "You fell asleep and I saved you. You almost died, you know."

  "What?" Jaxius asked.

  "I said, you ... fell ... asleep ... and ... I ... saved ... you!" the girl said, more loudly and slowly this time.

  "I don't understand, what happened? I must have fallen asleep. Tolian! Grundar! Wake up," Jaxius called, turning to rouse his friends.

  Grundar began to stir. He opened his eyes, grumbling. "What d'ye want? Eh?"

  The strange little girl had disappeared.

  "Wha...?" Jaxius stood up, startled. "Where did she go?"

  Grundar laughed, "Who? Ye fell asleep, did ye? Dreamin'!"

  "No. The little one, a girl, with wild green hair."

  "What are you yammering about?" Tolian asked as he started waking up.

  "There was a little girl. Right here. She said she saved my life. Then, she backed up and squatted down right ... here ..." Jaxius trailed off, looking anxiously for some sign that there really had been a feral girl in the middle of their camp.

  "I see," Tolian said. "Well, not really see, exactly, but I do think I understand what happened. You fell soundly asleep, and now you feel just a bit guilty, so you ‘found' some little, wild girl. Makes perfect sense to me." Tolian shot a mischievous glance at Grundar.

  "Oh yeah, aye," Grundar continued the story with exaggerated, sweeping arm movements. "There was a little girl, with, what was it, green hair? She magically made ye fall asleep. But now, she is gone and ye are awake again."

  "No. You must believe me. She was right h..."

  "Saved you again!" came the squeaky little girl's voice from beyond the clearing. "And again." This time from the opposite side of the clearing. "And ...," a quarter way around. "... again," completely opposite side from the last.

  Tolian and Grundar, neither laugh
ing now, quickly joined a gratified Jaxius in the center of the camp. The three men stood back to back, looking nervously toward the perimeter of the clearing.

  "Saved you one more time," the little girl's voice shot out from inside their tight, defensive circle.

  Almost as one, the three startled friends dove away from the sudden, laughing voice, drawing weapons and turning about. Jaxius' mysterious feral child stood there in the midst of the still swirling air.

  "What are ye getting at?" Grundar thundered.

  "You all almost died, you did. And I saved you," the girl replied. "OH!"

  Realization dawned on her mischevious face. "You have trouble hearing like my cousin." She pointed at Jaxius. "Saved ... you ... one ..."

  "No, I can hear ye jus' fine," Grundar snorted. "Ye jus' make no sense, girly. And how did ye do tha' wit' yer voice?" He gestured emphatically toward the edges of the forest.

  "I didn't do anything with my voice. I moved with my body. It is something that you can't do. The plants do not love you like they love me." She tilted her head and looked down at the ground. "I love you, too. Yes, I do," she cooed to what looked like a tuft of grass sticking through the nearby snow and ice.

  "Alright," Tolian said. "This crazy, creepy little waif has to go."

  He reached out to grab her, but she was no longer there. In an instant, she was perched on his shoulders, biting savagely into his neck. She did not draw blood; however, when he did manage to pry her from his neck, she was changed. Very changed. Her vibrant green hair had faded into a dull gray with only a hint that it may have once been verdant. Deep, dark, sinister looking rings had formed around her eyes which were now sunken and a pale, steel gray. Her hot breath puffed from her mouth in the suddenly frigid air. Talon-like claws extended several inches from her fingers.

  "Whoa," Jaxius said, as calmly as he could manage. "Calm down. Calm down. Tolian, relax, please. Little one, I sincerely apologize for my uncouth friend here."

  The little girl's features softened a bit. The color poured back into her hair, and her beady little eyes became chocolatey once again. A vibrant smile showed on her little angular face.

  "Apology accepted. And," she nonchalantly turned and looked at Jaxius, "I saved your life ... yet again. Aren't you glad that you have such a wonderful favorite cousin?"

  "What does she mean 'favorite cousin'?" Tolian asked his bewildered half-elf friend.

  "I don't know," Jaxius responded. "What do you mean 'favorite cousin'?"

  "Well," she began, "since I have saved your life seventy-two times now, I had just assumed that I would be your favorite cousin."

  "But you aren't my cousin. In fact ..." Jaxius started.

  She interrupted, "Oh? Well, you did sleep in my forest and accepted my hospitality. You even let me save your life so many times. And now you have the temerity to say you aren't my cousin? You are a cruel, cruel man." Tears poured, streaming from her eyes like rainwater.

  All three of the companions lowered their weapons and relaxed a bit.

  "Now, now. Don' do tha'," Grundar pleaded, tears starting to form in his eyes. "Ye tell her yer sorry. And ye do it now," he demanded of the hard-hearted Jaxius.

  "Wait, hold on, now," Jaxius said. "You saw what she turned into. You both saw. There is absolutely no way she is my cousin. This whole preposterous thing makes no sense. I say we just get to the bottom of what's going on here."

  "We?" Tolian asked. "You are the one with the family issue here. A family issue that tried to devour me whole, need I remind you."

  The little girl sobbed louder and louder as the men argued. They continued on, oblivious to the changes being wrought in her by their abandonment. A devilish grin began to form on the little girl's darkening face. A slight breeze kicked up a bit of the loose snow around her. Her large doe eyes shined bright white, and her already wild hair began to stand on end.

  The men, realizing their mistake by the uncanny silence, stopped bickering to turn and stare at the changed girl, her arms stretched toward the sky. She was surrounded by a violent whirlwind of snow and leaves. Before any of them could react, large vines burst from the ground, wrapping around their waists and lifting all three men into the air.

  Tolian, Grundar, and Jaxius hacked and sawed at the constricting vines. As each vine fell, two more rose to replace it. More vines lashed out, wrapping around their weapons and ripping the blades from the astonished men's hands. Even more bright green leafy vines shot out and pinned their arms to their bodies. They hung suspended in the air, trapped like dying flies in a giant spiderweb. Terror overtook them.

  Tolian, eyes wide, asked, "What are you...mmmphf...."

  Vines snaked into the bard's mouth. More ropy vegetation twined around each man's faces, leaving only staring eyes and burning ears uncovered.

  "Now that you can hear me," the little girl started calmly. Her hair relaxed and laid back down on her shoulders, and her eyes slowly changed back to their deep brown hue. She extended her finger and poked the vine twisted around Jaxius' chest. "You hurt my feelings a bit. You are my cousin. Look at your pointy ears. Now, you might not be very closely related to me, but surely even you can see that you are at least partly elf. And if you know anything about anything, then you know that elves are descended from the true fae of the Faemoch. Right? Well, I just so happen to be a true fae of the Faemoch. Are you not dazzled by my awesome power and irresistible beauty? I know that I am. My name ... well, you cannot have my name. Names are full of power, you know?"

  Finally, we agree on something, Jaxius thought.

  "And I do not wish for you to have even the tiniest power over me," the fae girl went on. She looked at Tolian with a haughty sneer. "But, since you are not allowed to call me little girl anymore, you may call me Chlora. It means green."

  "Plfsd t mft gyou," Tolian murmured past his living muzzle.

  "Now, if you gentlemen will excuse me, I have to save your lives again," Chlora said. She paused briefly, cutting her eyes to first one side of the clearing and then the other. "There. That's better. And no need to thank me. I mean, you couldn't really if you tried. Could you? Well, you couldn't answer that either. He-he. Now, what I was so graciously trying to tell you earlier, before you very rudely interrupted me with your insufferable arguing, is that I am not a 'little girl.' I am, most certainly, very much older than all three of you combined. And, since I am a faerie of such beautifully advanced age, you should respect me and bow to my extremely reasonable wishes and become my slaves. Forever."

  The terror already shining in Grundar's eyes took a firmer hold. Hot, angry tears started to form at their creased corners. He wasn't afraid of being a slave, to anyone; that thought was always undeniably present on the frontier. The horror that his only son and heir was, in fact, forever beyond his reach had finally, fully solidified for the normally stoic man. Grundar sobbed.

  "Now to start with, I would like for you to watch me dance. I absolutely love dancing and singing. Do you want to watch me dance and sing?"

  Nodding acquiescence wasn't difficult for the men. The vines did it for them. The fae girl, Chlora, began to sing a wordless, haunting tralala-song and to dance in whirling, swirling circles around the small clearing.

  This went on for a number of candle-marks. Any time one of the men attempted to close their eyes, the vines would pull taut, forcing drooping eyelids to stay open. Finally, she stopped her song and dance, curtsied, and broke into a giant, toothy smile. She nodded and clapped several times, looking for some form of agreement from her new slaves. Receiving no immediate compliment, she rested her angled chin in her hand and appeared to be deep in thought for some time.

  Another candle-mark dragged by. Finally, she threw her hands out wide and shouted, " I know! Why don't you each tell me just who you are and what excuse you have for invading my forest? Oh, that does sound like fun! Now, which one of you beastly mortal trespassers should begin? Hmm."

  Chlora paced backward and forward in front of her new playthings, studyin
g each horrified man at length. Finally, she selected one. She gave a firm nod of her head, a flutter of tiny fingers, and a capricious giggle. The wrappings holding Grundar in place loosened and receded from around his head, leaving him suspended in the air, but perfectly free to answer his captor's demands.

  "Well?" Chlora asked.

  Having no idea where to start his story, Grundar stuttered through great, heaving sobs of grief and rage, "Th... th... they took m... me boy. An' now, they're going t' kill 'im. It's all because of ye, ye muddle-headed, evil b..." His heated rant was cut short by a new vine gag.

  "Boring. And you should really learn to respect your superiors!" Dissatisfied, Chlora walked to Tolian, "Can you behave and perhaps tell a proper telling of your mediocre reasons for intrusion? If you have to, embellish some. Put in something about a, oh, maybe a dragon. I do so like dragons. I know, make it a fearsome dragon with a frog's body. I haven't heard a story about any kind of dragon with a frog's body before. Can you, please?" Her smile, maybe intended to be sweet and charming, was anything but.

  Tolian tried his best to nod, but all the wary, weary bard could manage was a miserably weak shimmy inside of his constrictive cocoon.