TERRA: Earth Warder Chronicles

by Adrian M Ferguson

  The demon, preparing to attack the two elemental kings, finally noticed the darkening gloom surrounding him and, looking up, he screeched an inhuman burst of terror and backed up scrabbling in vain to climb back down the hell pit to safety. The house-sized boulder brushed though the clearing of trees with a whisper and hit the demon and its Hell Hole with a resounding crash that lifted the rocks and layered debris around it, creating a spume of dust and dirt that instantly shrouded and filled the clearing. The earth around us bounced, such was the impact. I saw the necromancer who, unprepared for the impact, got lifted off his feet and then instantly smacked to the ground. Grinning, I rode the turbulence, Earth’s energy keeping me balanced and upright.

  ‘Impressive, King Ghob,’ Nichsa conceded.

  Seeing an opportunity, with the necromancer down for the count, I slid underground with my mind’s eye on his location. Sliding my sword out, I took a breath.

  CHAPTER 33

  With his location firmly in my head I felt the necromancer gain his feet slowly, and to my delight I could also sense his initial fear and confusion spike, realizing that I’d disappeared. Not wanting him to have any advantage, I eased around through the ground to come up behind him, inches from the surface. Slowly releasing my will, I gently engulfed his shoes and feet with compacted Earth. Not wanting him to feel anything I went as slowly as I dared. If he took a step, the jig would be up.

  Believing I had a good hold of him, in one rushed movement I shot up out of the ground, simultaneously holding him firm and pulling him to his knees. His filthy black robe flared up, giving me a dose of necromantic undergarments; damn, that was nasty.

  The necromancer lost his balance, falling forward and catching himself at the last moment, with a hard puff of air, on both hands. Behind him I raised my serrated rock sword and bore down with a slash to his back, cutting it across and out, hoping to cleave the evil son of a bitch deep and hard. The sword hit and exploded against his dark shield; rock shards blew out and a few unluckily hit me in the arms and legs, though the force of the blow pushed his face smack into the ground. The shock of the backlash momentarily made me lose my grip on his legs. He pulled them free with a hard wrench and commando-rolled across the wet earth away from me.

  A half sadistic cackle erupted from him, his eyes wide and fully black.

  ‘Well played, Warder, well played,’ he leered. Flicking his fingers, a cortex of writhing darkness spun into existence around him.

  ‘No one has ever managed to come that close to touching my flesh. Bezelbuth, will have a special place for you, with your pretty head on a pike, screaming for eternity in the depths of hell.’

  I ran up to him and sucker punched at his grinning face as hard as I could, drawing on the power of Earth to bolster my speed and strength. The shield ignited and cracked with a sundering tear; my wrist strained with the force and snapped.

  The necromancer hissed in astonishment, not believing my audacity. Then looking past me, he spat, ‘Bitch, you'll pay for that,’ as he stepped sideways and disappeared.

  Wincing in pain my eyes watered. Holding my hand I turned to see Ghob and Nichsa appear bearing down on me, followed by Agrona and Erdgeist, who rose out of the damp earth not far behind, spattered with blood offal. I could smell them from here.

  Tendrils of gentle thought reached out to me. Nichsa recognized and felt the pain I was in. Sinking to the ground he rode a small wave of water to me, hands reaching out for my injured wrist.

  ‘Here, Warder, reaching out to me, if you will allow me to assist you?’

  Gingerly holding out my wrist, he cupped his translucent hands and a sphere of the clearest water I’d ever seen coalesced into existence. It had a faint pearlescent sheen to it that caught the sun, breaking off into shimmers of fractured color with every small movement he made.

  The ball enlarged between his palms, ‘Place you hand into the water, Warder, past the wrist, it won't hurt you at all.’

  Looking into his eyes I was surprised to see they were now an antique silver, burnished with slight patina at the edges. Shimmers of color also glinted out when he moved in mimicry of the water he was holding. They spun and changed, never stilling.

  Putting my injured hand out, I slowly pushed it into the sphere, feeling a slight resistance, not sure what to expect.

  As my hand entered the water, a gentle warmth seeped deeply into the very pores of my skin. I sighed groaning in an unexpected rush of pleasure.

  The pearly sheen swirled and sunk into my hand. I felt Nichsa's awareness exploring the damage to my wrist. Delicately I felt on the edge of my mind the fragile snapped bones being gently buoyed and fitted back into place. A slight shimmer filled the globe and I gave in to the pleasure as the bone and sinew reknit with barely a twinge.

  Sighing again in pleasure I found I was leaning into the globe, somehow my muddled mind thinking that proximity would enhance the experience.

  ‘It is done, Warder,’ Nichsa whispered with a gentle breath.

  ‘You can remove your hand; it is fully healed.’

  Opening my eyes I saw Nichsa's eyes, half lidded, watching me. Ghob then crowded us, scowling and with thunderous glints in his dark eyes.

  ‘Thank you, Lord Nichsa, it seems I am in your debt once again today,’ I said.

  ‘No debt incurred — it pleased me to assist you, Warder. Watching your aptitude for battle was more than payment for the healing.’

  ‘Enough,’ Ghob spat. ‘Are you well, Warder?’ looking at me in concern.

  Bemused by Ghob’s obvious jealousy, I nodded with a slight grin.

  ‘Nichsa has been a great help today, Ghob. I am very much grateful for his presence,’ I murmured with a straight face, gauging his reaction.

  ‘Yes, yes, we are all grateful,’ Ghob bellowed lowering his head towards the water king and not taking the bait I had just put out for him.

  I caught the hard glare from underneath his thick brows.

  Well, aright, maybe he did pick up on it.

  Two elementals, kings of their elements, and me stuck in the middle, one jealous and the other subtly taunting him.

  Yay, it was good to be me, right now.

  ‘I see you were victorious, Warder,’ indicating the wight’s body.

  ‘Well done! I don't think I have ever seen one so large before. They are incredibly hard to dispatch. I am impressed.’

  ‘Thank you, Ghob.’

  ‘Though that bastard necromancer escaped.’

  ‘He mentioned a name: Bezelbuth. It sounds familiar — I think he said it before in our last encounter. Who is Bezelbuth?’

  Ghob and Nischa stepped back, almost having an apoplexy between them when I mentioned the name. Nischa’s watery form turned a deep, dark impenetrable blue, reminiscent of the ocean’s fathomless depths. He faced Ghob, who had also shifted form, his armor plates glinting darkly, now with razor sharpness.

  ‘You sure he said, Bezelbuth, Warder? You were not mistaken in the heat of the battle?’

  Both looked at me intently, their eyes hoping I’d laugh and tell them otherwise.

  ‘Yeh, I’m sure, he definitely said Bezelbuth, and how’d he shove my head on a spike after he killed me.’

  ‘Yes,’ Nichsa sighed in defeat, ‘We heard him utter that name as well.’

  ‘But the doors were sealed, Nichsa,’ Ghob said, eyeing him seriously. ‘The magic was indestructible and should have held for many more millennia.’

  Ghob, seeing my confusion, looked at me soberly. ‘At the beginning of this world, demons and their ilk roamed free, causing untold pain and destruction in their wake.’

  ‘All the elemental kings and queens united and with the mightiest of our magic we sealed the door to their realm; their hell was closed, protecting Earth from utter destruction.

  ‘Bezelbuth was the Crown Prince of that empire of hell, founder of the Order of the Fly. He and his six princes and dignitaries fought to stay here but we were victorious, trapping them in their hellish domain for
all eternity.

  ‘But it seems now we know who has been influencing the necromancers and causing them to stir. He has given them the power to summons lesser demons, which is unheard of. Necromancers deal with the dead not demons. Thankfully, it appears that the Demon Lord himself has not been able to escape. Otherwise this Earth would feel his power.

  ‘There will be evil days ahead of us, I am afraid,’ he intoned.

  ‘Hey, hang on, there for one minute, Mr. All Doom and Gloom, from what you’re saying, he and the big bad guys are still imprisoned, correct, looking at both of them?’

  ‘Yes, yes, otherwise Earth would be awash in blood and evil,’ Nichsa pointed out.

  ‘Erdgeist and I prevented what looked like a summoning in the cemetery, and we won here, so all's not lost. Correct?’

  ‘We have been astoundingly lucky to avert disaster so far, Warder,’ Ghob said.

  ‘Luck, no, we coordinated and fought together and kicked their asses, so I say we've done pretty damn well so far.’

  ‘This has coincided with the rising of our new Warder,’ Ghob stated, glancing at Nichsa.

  Nichsa nodded.

  ‘The Earth Mother has given you her blessing numerous times, and you achieved the unachievable in retrieving the Focus.’

  ‘Correct,’ I replied. ‘It is all connected, Ghob, even I can see that. We have hope.’

  ‘The necromancer must have reported this to Hell and now Bezelbuth is aware of the new Earth’s champion. He must be furious.’

  ‘Great, so I am a demon’s wet dream, huh? Fantastic,’ I drawled sarcastically.

  ‘Holllllly shit,’ came a shout echoing clearly across the clearing.

  Standing at the far end of my property, near the driveway, stood Ford, dressed in full camouflage gear. He gaped widely from elemental to elemental, his eyes wide in shock and disbelief.

  ‘Holy friggin' shit,’ he voiced more softly, and then he realized all of our eyes had shifted to him.

  Nichsa, realizing that Ford was not on the list of the few that knew of their existence, formed a slender crystalline spear, hefted it in one fluid motion and let loose. I tried to scream ‘no’, but it was too late. At least the croak that came out of me was enough to disrupt his aim; the spear flew haphazardly, veering to the left, hitting less than a meter from where Ford stood.

  Nichsa spun to me. ‘He is human. He cannot know of our existence, Warder,’ hissing furiously water literally boiling and steaming off his words.

  Ford disappeared around the bend. I heard a motorbike cough into hasty gear and heard the gravel screech and crunch as he sped away.

  ‘I will deal with him, King Nischa. He is known to me and he has overstepped his fucking boundaries now, but not enough to warrant killing him.’

  Nischa glared at me. I felt ripples of anger shimmer from his thoughts. Ghob, usually on my side, was mirroring his expression.

  ‘See that you do, Warder,’ he spat.

  Gazing off into the distance, I felt Ford through the Earth leave my property, great just one more problem to deal with, yay for me.