by JD Franx
Ember couldn’t answer fast enough. “Oh, there’s no way I would tell them that. Are you completely healed now?”
“Yes, though it is very tiring. And thank you, Ember, for everything. I would have died without all of your help… vehr nahlla,” she said, as she smiled.
Ember looked at her with a puzzled smile. “What is vehr nahlla, Yrlissa?”
“Very good pronunciation, Ember. Incredible, in fact. I apologize. Of course you don’t speak Elvehn of any kind, do you?” she asked.
“No, we don’t. You are the first elf we’ve really even met,” Max said, a little sheepishly as he walked back down the river’s bank.
“Don’t feel bad about it. You will meet many more eventually. But don’t use the term elf. If you please. Always refer to us as the Elvehn. ‘You are the first of the Elvehn we have met’. An elf is a derogatory term used by slavers.”
“I apologize, Yrlissa. I didn’t know…” Max stammered, this time out of embarrassment.
“I know, but you must learn these things. It will save us trouble in some communities. In TaCeryss, such a word could start a fight.” Max nodded his apologies.
“As to your question, Ember. One must start with mai nahlla. It is a very old Elvehn term for… how to explain? Mai means ‘my closest or most treasured.’ Nahlla is the word for friend and is used as a term of endearment to a close, respected friend of the Elvehn. It is a word used very seldom among our own kind, and almost never with other races. Vehr nahlla means that a debt stands between our true friendship. Until I have repaid you for saving my life, I cannot consider you, mai nahlla. But I would like to. I sense something in you. It has been so long, though, I…” she trailed off, before finally shaking her head, as if trying to clear memories from long ago.
Ember smiled. “I’m honoured, Yrlissa. Thank you.”
Gently placing her hand on Ember’s arm, the young Elvehn woman continued. “I don’t know what it is about you, but there is something. I feel that I can trust you with my life. I meant it when I said that my loyalty lies with you. We will find your husband together, and from now on you may call me Lissa. Doing such refers to me as a friend in any language.”
“Thank you, Yrlissa,” Max said.
Ember swung her new leather travel cloak over her shoulders and Max gave her a quick hug for support. They had finally found an ally, and the fact that she was an assassin was a good thing. She sighed, asking yet another question. “Can you do that for other people? Heal them, I mean? Max has this scrape on his neck from those witches. It seems to be infected.”
“What witches, Ember? No one has said anything about that,” Yrlissa frowned.
“Well, yeah. I guess with the excitement of finding you, we must have forgot. Actually if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have found you. One of their spells hit the guard with me and knocked me into the moat. His body shielded me but threw us off the bridge. He wasn’t so lucky,” she said, with a hollow look in her eyes. “Kasik called them Dead Sisters.”
The last two words drained the colour from Yrlissa’s face and a haunted darkness fell over her sparkling amber eyes. Ember noticed right away, but Max was the first to speak.
“Yrlissa, what’s wrong? You look ill,” he noticed.
“I’m fine,” she replied, and approached Max. A single, unfamiliar word drifted from her lips as she touched his skin. The festering wound healed, leaving only a small scar where his neck and shoulder met.
Yrlissa smiled, but inside, she was ill. Just the mention of the Dead Sisters had brought back a storm of dark feelings. Memories of events over a decade past came flooding back. Her throat closed as she tried desperately to swallow the emotions caused by the events in Yusat. Yrlissa was well aware that it had been their coven who had destroyed her family. Her daughter and husband were buried in the Yusatan mountains. Now, they’d succeeded in bringing Kael back to a world where he didn’t belong. So many things moved beyond her control.
The prophecy Ember had mentioned earlier was now clear, and Giddeon’s past decision to plane jump his son to another dimension was even more obvious. It was a drastic mistake, because like most wizards, in his arrogance he had wrongly interpreted the prophecy, a serious error that could no longer be fixed.
Yrlissa’s only hope was to ride with these people, with the council wizards who would betray the last of the remaining races. With her kin long gone and no one to believe her, Yrlissa was out of options. Her original plan to be in complete control of the Broken Blade Guild when this prophecy came to pass was no longer viable, and she was now an outcast instead. What her guild had done made no sense, but without their finances and resources, her only hope was in finding Kael. She would have to hide so many things from her new friends. If she told them, the knowledge could doom them all. It wouldn’t be long before the Dead Sisters tried to attack again. They weren’t known for giving up. The knowledge Yrlissa carried had to be kept from their sadistic hands at all costs, even if it meant she had to lie to those who’d saved her life.
Giddeon yelled from farther up the riverbank, interrupting her thoughts. “Riders, and they’re coming in fast!” He grabbed his staff and disappeared behind the river’s high banks. Max and Ember both put an arm around Yrlissa and began carrying her back to the wagon. Though she was now fully healed, they didn’t want Giddeon and the others aware of what she was capable of doing. After helping Yrlissa back into the wagon’s false bottom so she could hide, Ember drew the two forged obsidian hook-daggers Max had signed out of the armoury for her. He had made a point in helping her learn how to use them. Still far from skilled, at least she’d be able to defend herself with the eighteen-inch-long daggers that were, in all reality, swords to her small hands.
After the fight with the Dead Sisters, someone had placed them in the weapon room and knowing that they had belonged to one of the witches, Max had gotten permission from Giddeon to give them to Ember. Unlike raw obsidian’s chipped surface appearance, the forged glass was smooth, shiny and very light, but incredibly strong while still remaining razor sharp. Kasik told her that they had been made in an Orotaq forge far to the north, in the land known as Black Hollow.
Max, on the other hand, had drawn both of his Elloryan steel swords this time, not knowing what to expect. The two riders where only seconds out from the camp as everyone prepared for an attack. Both Giddeon and Saleece finished casting spells as a thin, shimmering, yellow wall of protection rose from the ground fifteen out from their camp.
Kasik looked over at Max and Ember. Smiling at their puzzled expressions, he said, “The shield will only stop projectile weapons like arrows and crossbow bolts. It won’t stop warriors from entering our camp, so be ready.” Ember glanced at Max. He smiled to reassure her and they both nodded back at Kasik.
When the riders came within shouting distance of the camp, they quickly slowed, and then stopped to address the campsite. “Ho, the camp. May we enter? We are looking for the ArchWizard, Giddeon Zirakus. We are here on official order for Stillwater Village.”
Giddeon stepped forward. “Come forth. I am Giddeon Zirakus. Please, feel free to enter the camp, but be warned: if you draw your weapons, you will be killed with no further warning.”
As the two horsemen began cantering towards their camp, Saleece asked, “Father, isn’t Stillwater north of here, inside the Wetlands?”
“Yes, girl. The farthest northeast corner of the Wetlands. I don’t know why they would be here though. The people of Stillwater keep to themselves, mostly.”
Listening to the two wizards, Ember offered, “Why don’t we just go ask them. They look like they have been pushing their mounts quite hard.” She frowned, purposely pointing out the frothed and panting horses.
The two riders dismounted, tying their animals to Giddeon’s supply wagon.
“ArchWizard Zirakus,” the first rider said, bowing in a show of respect. “I am called Toman Ballus. We have travelled hard to find you. Five days now to be exact. We just missed you this mornin
g in Corynth, but had to rest the horses before continuing.”
Giddeon grasped the man’s arm at the elbow in greeting. “It is good to meet you, Toman. What brings you so far from home? I’ve not been to Stillwater since Saleece was a young girl.” Though both men carried big smiles and looked very excited, only Toman spoke with Giddeon.
“Let me explain to you, sir, what happened,” Toman said, barely able to contain his enthusiasm. “Not but a week ago, we were clearing mountain rock to make space for more cottages when one of our demolition crews blew open an entry way into some old ruins. Salabriel Aranasse was staying at the Drifter’s Inn at the time and it was she who sent us to seek you out as soon as she looked inside the ruins. She also asked that we inform you, and I quote ‘that in her professional opinion, the ruins look of Ancient design. Giddeon, get your ass to Stillwater as soon as you and Saleece can.’ I apologize sir, for the language, but she made me promise to quote her exact words.”
Giddeon chuckled at the message sent by Talohna’s foremost expert on the Ancients. Glancing at Saleece, he could see she was shocked speechless. It seemed even Kasik was at a loss for words. Though no one noticed, Yrlissa had a scowl on her face as she heard the news.
Max, not knowing any better, asked, “Who are the Ancients?”
“Oh, I know,” Ember blurted. “You mentioned them when you told us about the Fae fountain and Zefar told me that most people believe they were responsible for every race being where they are today. Magic, especially, right?”
“That’s right,” Giddeon said, as he smiled at her enthusiasm. “The Ancients were a race similar to the Elvehn. They helped us get to where we are, taught us how to use magic and built some of the most amazing structures we have, including the city of Corynth. But we have never found a ruin from their own time. We’re talking roughly twelve or thirteen thousand years ago. More perhaps. The Cataclysm destroyed any ruins that might have remained intact. This find could be a colossal discovery in terms of our history and what we could learn from them. The Ancients are the civilization that started everything we have come to believe in and cherish. They are idolized by nearly everyone for their discoveries and the races they protected us all from. There were some very evil races and creatures roaming Talohna at that time. They were all wiped out by the Ancients, making our world today a lot better and safer. Every country remembers their sacrifice in their own way. In Corynth, they are honoured during the university’s graduations. In Ellorya, the Ancients and the Fae are worshipped like gods. Gladiators fight for their glory at the arena in Avalera every week’s end. You can’t imagine what this might mean.”
Turning back to the Stillwater envoys, Giddeon continued, “We will leave with you in the morning, but we cannot spare much of our time. Our priority right now lies elsewhere, but I will write a draft for your partner to take to the Eye. The university will likely put forth a large expedition to help uncover what your village has found. Will that suffice?”
Toman nodded and sent the guard on his way immediately after Giddeon had given him the letter. Very exited about the discovery, Giddeon would spent the night at war with his conscience. Finally, he decided that even though tracking and killing the DeathWizard was the priority, it wouldn’t hurt for them to spend a couple days in Stillwater to see what was really there. As ArchWizard, it was his responsibility to at least check out the ruins.
DEMONBONE SWAMPS
The Dead Sister’s Cardessa was in a wretched mood. Having used an exhausting dark-eye spell to watch the assassination attempt in Corynth, the results had been disappointing at best. For reasons she couldn’t begin to imagine, her witch’s magic had been drastically weakened during the attack. She could feel it while watching through the complex magic of the demon’s dark-eye. The poisonous, black-web hex was one of the Dead Sisters’ strongest spells and yet it fizzled to nothing long before it was used against the Northman. Part of the blame fell on her as she realized that by having one ternion focus on killing Kasik, it allowed the other warrior with Giddeon’s group to kill three of her sisters with little effort.
The powerful witch frowned as she recalled the skill and savage intensity of the new warrior Giddeon had found. A very dangerous man who moved faster than anyone she had ever seen. He was at least twice the warrior that the Northman was. She wouldn’t make the mistake of a direct attack again, her sisters were too valuable to lose six at a time. Even nine or twelve would have made little difference.
There were other ways to keep Giddeon’s group from killing Kael. The Dead Sisters would focus their attention on finding him before Giddeon did. After all, they did have allies who would help. A fully-skilled coven would be sent to help Arabella, the six extra witches would increase her search capabilities, and their allies could blanket the larger areas. It wouldn’t be long before their DeathWizard was back were he should be: leading the coven towards the future, and sowing death and destruction across the world of Talohna and killing those who defended it.
Chapter Twenty-One
Stillwater Village is known throughout Talohna as a place where the best granite and marble can be found. With no option to build out into the often bottomless muck of the marshlands, the town has been forced to expand into the mountain range instead. Cutting massive blocks of varied-coloured granite, which is then sold all across Talohna, the town has carved its way into the mountains, making more room for village expansion.
With most of the older homes built on stilts to avoid the invasive waters, it takes a unique individual to live in a village with constant damp and cold mountain winds, not to mention where the main industry is wrought with danger from cutting stone. Tough but fair people live in Stillwater and so long as you mean them no harm, you’ll find a hearty welcome and a warm room in the Driftwater Inn.
GARREN SALLUS, TALOHNA:
A TRAVELLER’S CODEX. VOLUME 2
STILLWATER VILLAGE, CETHOS
Five days of travel saw Giddeon’s group reach the village of Stillwater. Though Yrlissa felt better after healing herself by the riverside camp, she rode in the wagon, not wanting Giddeon and his companions to know that she had almost fully recovered. It also gave her a few extra days to regain the strength she had lost due to the guild’s poisoner. On the day of their arrival in Stillwater, she rode the horse that had been brought for her, staying close to Ember for most of the day. The two were quickly becoming fast friends, considering the short time they had known each other.
Since waking in Cethos two weeks prior, and during the trip north, Ember had witnessed plenty of amazing sights. The Cethosian wetlands, a large area north of Corynth, was incredible. Formed centuries past by runoff from mountain snow and thaw-swollen rivers, the air was constantly saturated with damp and the land itself never dried out. During Talohna’s year-long winters, the wetlands never froze; most locations in Cethos didn’t. Instead, the standing water dropped to its lowest levels, sometimes becoming stagnant and attracting insects and small creatures that could sometimes pose a threat to the town, but the small detachment of royal soldiers dealt with the dangers as they arose.
The town of Stillwater lay in the heart of the wetlands, at the foot of the northern Corynthian mountains, in a wide valley across from the opposing Wayvir mountain range. The area bordering the freshwater swamp was a fertile land, remaining green throughout both seasons, and grew an over abundance of crops, many of which wouldn’t take root in other locales. It was the town’s only other large resource besides the granite quarry. Life in Stillwater was damp, uncomfortable, and at times very dangerous. It took a special kind of person to live there.
Riding into Stillwater with the evening sun still above the horizon revealed an area that took Ember’s breath away. Rays of sun slanted through the mountain trees on her left, coming to rest on the calm waters surrounding the town. The colours sparkled, rippling on the water when a gentle breeze blew in from the mountain range. Even with standing water everywhere, the air was still flush with the rich scent of pine and maple
syrup, one of the smaller commodities Stillwater was famous for. The rare bottles of mountain-grown maple syrup sought prices just as high as the Tay family’s popular Icewine.
After riding the wetland trails for days, the village’s peculiar setting was a welcome sight. Nestled in a small alcove carved from the mountain rock, Stillwater was a neat, tightly-arranged village. Every inch of space was accounted for; most of the buildings supported a trim second story and the roads heading into the mountains via the town were smooth and clean. In the centre of the village stood an open air marketplace that seemed to be bustling with activity as people went about their daily routines.
Most of the homes and other structures of the main settlement were built on stilts, which kept them from the pervasive water that was a couple of feet deep everywhere one looked. Floating boardwalks allowed the townspeople to walk from their homes to the marketplace or to the inn. The only solid ground was the road in from the plains and those that led from the town square and marketplace to the granite quarries up the mountain. Built from local granite long ago, the main rode into Stillwater was well worn from travel to and from the town, yet remained as solid as when it was first constructed. As Toman had pointed out during their arrival, Ember could see that the high water marks on the legs of the stilted homes showed that the water level, at some point in time, would rise several feet higher that its current depth. The low waterline was indicative of the late winter season; the spring flood only weeks away.
Riding up to the Drifterwater Inn, Toman asked the guard stationed there to register Giddeon’s group and to stable their horses. With a salute, the guard left to complete his orders.
“You would like to see the ruins first?” Toman asked, turning to Giddeon for direction.
The ArchWizard nodded as the horses were led away. “Yes. Salabriel will be there?”