by Greg Curtis
Some of them descended too quickly of course. They moved too quickly out of the portal's zone of control, and as a consequence, they started falling. More than a few hit the ground too hard. But none hit it as they would have if they'd simply fallen from a great height. None died as far as he could tell. He saw a lot crawl to their feet and then start staggering towards him, while others had to be helped. They were clearly hurt. But at least they were alive. And free.
They weren't heading for him though. They were heading for the road behind him. The road that led to safety. Or just away from the giant wheel of fire in the sky.
“What happened?” He yelled at the first of them as they approached. “I mean what in all the hells happened?!”
“It just appeared,” a man yelled at him. “It burst into the sky above us, and then things started getting lighter. Some got clear. Not enough.”
“You mean people went into that … fire?” Chy didn't want to ask. Or rather he didn't want to hear the answer. He knew these people. He knew the man he was talking with, if only to recognise his face.
“A lot. Hundreds … more.” The man told him as he hurried awkwardly past him. “And there's … things … in it. We heard them scream.”
“Things?” Chy didn't understand that. But the man didn't answer him. He just kept walking, moving quickly despite the fact that he was limping, heading for the road leading away from Stonely. Though where he was going wasn't clear to Chy. He suspected the man didn't know either. He wasn't going somewhere as much as he was simply leaving.
“Alder bless them,” Chy replied without thinking. But what the Lord of Light could do, he didn't know. He didn't even know if the god – or any of the others – existed. Then again, what else were you supposed to say at a time like this?
Others passed him in a various states of disarray. Some walked steadily under their own power. Some limped and clearly struggled. Some needed to be helped. But all of them like the first man, headed for the road out of town. And none of them could tell him anything more about what had happened, though he kept asking. The portal had just appeared. There had been no reason for it. And as for these things they could see in the portal, no one could tell him anything. Just stories of teeth and fire. Tales of terror. Could they have been seeing things, he wondered? Because what they were describing didn't sound real.
Soon he had people marching past him at a steady rate, some of them eyeing him strangely, most of them just staring straight ahead at the distant road. And the most he could get from them was that they were glad to be free. And they were hurrying – as best they could.
But the numbers weren't good. Stonely was home to fifteen thousand people. Maybe two thousand had been floating around in the sky. He had no idea how many might have escaped before he'd arrived. How many might have been near enough to the edge of the portal's zone of control that they didn't float, they just got lighter. But he still suspected that an awful lot had died. Thousands. And even with his breeze, there were still more people floating around in the sky. The ones who were higher up, attracted more strongly to the portal. He didn't know how many of those people might be his friends. All he did know was that those who had gone through, were far beyond his ability to help. And others were going to make that journey if he didn't do something.
But there were probably many more he realised, trapped in the town. People who had been in their homes and in the stores and factories. All of whom were now probably trapped against the ceilings of those buildings.
He had to do something for them, he thought. But he couldn't think what. If they escaped the buildings they were trapped in, the chances were that they would be pulled up into the sky, and some of them would be pulled all the way into the portal.
Then another thought occurred to him as the procession of fleeing townsfolk continued marching past him. This was about density. If you were light and stretched out you would be taken higher into the sky. But if you were smaller, rounder and more muscular you would likely end up a little lower in the sky. That was why the horses were escaping the clutches of the portal, but the cats weren't. They were floating ever higher into the sky, heading for the eye of the portal and certain death. But there was something he could do about that too. And it might help with the heat too.
Chy concentrated as best he could while trying to appear as though he was doing nothing at all except staring at the unfolding disaster in front of him, calling the rain. Bringing the storm to the clouds. His plan was simple – drench everyone. Wet people would be weighed down by the water, and so they would settle. And maybe they would settle far enough down that his breeze would catch them and carry them away from the portal.
It was hard work calling the rain though. Calling the wind was relatively easy. But with rain you had to summon the wind and then use it to drag the clouds around, then bunch them closely enough together and finally chill the air. It took a lot of effort and a considerable amount of time. And while he stood there, concentrating, people kept wandering past. Some of them spoke to him, distracting him.
Still after twenty minutes he was ready, he hoped. The sky had turned dark with the menace of the rain clouds, and all he had to do was chill them. So he worked on that.
“What's that in your hands?”
Chy jumped as he heard a man asking him a question. And then he jumped a little more as he realised it was Gerard, the baker. He knew Gerard. He bought sweet rolls from him.
“There's nothing in my hands,” he replied, lifting them up for the man to see. And noticing as he did so that Gerard had blood pouring down his face.
“Yeah there is,” the baker replied. “Like some sort of ice.”
“Ice?” Chy stared at his hands. There was no ice as far as he could see. “Just how badly did you get hit?”
“Never mind!” Gerard shook his head. “I've got to go!” And with that he continued on his journey, following the others to the road and then away to somewhere else.
Chy watched him leave, wondering if the man had got a glimpse of the magic he was casting. It could be. Maybe there were more people around who were touched by the gift than he knew. More than anyone knew.
Fortunately he didn't have to wonder about that for long as the clouds finally opened up above the portal, and after that the world turned to chaos once more. Or at least the sky above it did.
The rain came falling down, and when it hit the portal it didn't stop. It passed through the portal without being transported into the other realm because it was going the wrong way. And then it encountered the fire and energy that was streaming out of the portal. That was too much for the water droplets. They simply exploded and almost seemed to catch fire in the air as they continued their journey to the ground. But the rain kept falling. Great sheets of water, falling through the fire, sending up huge clouds of steam, fizzling like water hitting a burning hot stone. And things started crackling and banging everywhere.
But what mattered was that everywhere the raindrops fell and whatever they landed on they started dragging down with them. People, animals all started sinking slowly and when they got far enough below the portal little by little they were carried away from it by the breeze. Meanwhile the portal above them began turning into a disaster zone. A storm of magic. Everywhere he looked he could see steam and lightning. He could hear thunder. And he could also hear the terrified screams of the people trapped by the portal as they thought they were going to die.
Thankfully they didn't die. They sank lower and one by one they were carried away by his breeze until they began descending the rest of the way to the ground. And then when they reached the ground, they started running. Those that could run. But even those that couldn't, hurried. The were even more panicked than the ones who had fled before. But then they had been closer to the portal. They had probably had a clearer view of whatever was on the other side of it.
Why were they running? Chy didn't understand that. There was no reason to run, once they were on the ground. All they had to do was w
alk away.
He asked. He yelled the question at them. But they didn't answer him. They just ran. They screamed and they ran and they scattered in all directions, no longer heading for the road. They were only interested in getting away.
Then he heard the shrilling and things unexpectedly fell into place.
“Shit!” He'd heard that bone chilling sound before. Sprites! Or rather elementals – their servants. In this case fire elementals. He had seen one before. At the Heartfire Temple. sprites visited the temple like the other races. But unlike the rest they brought their servants. Or at least they had until the guardians had made them stop.
What Chy remembered of the fire elemental was little more than a ball of flame that had somehow walked almost like a man – though it wasn't shaped like a man. And a face in that flame. A face filled with teeth and hatred. But that had been years ago, and ever since then he had tried to tell himself he hadn't actually seen that. Because such a creature couldn't be real. Fire couldn't actually be alive. And it couldn't sound like that! Nothing could sound like that thing had. The shrilling sound, it was like metal scraping against more metal.
Now though, he knew who had created the portal – and worse he knew why. He also knew that the people who had been sucked up into the portal were probably alive. It wasn't completely certain. The other end of the portal was still fire. And that didn't make sense. But the sprites were behind it, and he couldn't imagine any reason why they would come to Stonely and simply suck up most of the town into a hell dimension, only to have them burnt to ashes.
So they had to be alive. But he wasn't sure that that was a good thing. Sprites kept slaves. They were a diminutive people, standing no taller than a dwarf and without their robust physiques. On top of that the wings on their backs got in the way whenever they tried to do anything physical. Lady nature for some reason had been unkind to them, giving them wings which wouldn't allow them to fly, but which could get in the way of everything. So they had servants. Slaves in truth, who would do all the hard work for them. People bound to their service by magic.
Apparently they'd now decided that humans would make good slaves. This wasn't an attack in truth, it was a hunt. And the chances were that it wasn't just happening in Stonely. There would be other portals opening up over towns right across Ruttland. Probably across all of Althern. The sprites had a world to stock with slaves.
That made him angry. That they should come here and do this to his home! To his friends! And until then he hadn't been angry. He'd been too busy being worried to think about who was doing this or why. But now he knew, and it was just plain wrong.
Chy wanted to do something. To punish them. To make them give his friends back. It was more than a desire. He needed to hurt them. To make them pay. But he couldn't. He was only one man with some magic and they were an army of casters. Powerful spell-casters. Powerful enough to create a portal that could cover an entire town.
And he still had the fear that things weren't quite as they seemed. Because why would the sprites have portals with fire on the other side of them? He couldn't make sense of that.
Still he had to put that aside. All he could do was what he was doing. Rescuing as many of his friends as he could and hope that it was most of them. And that the sprites wouldn't come back after it was over. So that was what he did. He stood there and stared and let his magic fuel the rain storm above the portal and bring the people safely down to the ground so that they could run away.
Eventually his work was done. There were no more people or animals floating around above the town. Just clear air full of rain. But that brought another consequence. The sprites on the other side of the portal realised that no more were heading their way. So they decided to let the spell ease. And he watched as the portal slowly lessoned and faded away.
That should have been a victory. Or at least an end. But it was something not so welcome. It was the closing of the cell door on those who had been taken. Now they had no hope. That filled him with sadness.
It was over, he realised. But so too was Stonely. There were no people left in the town. Or not many anyway. A few came out of the various buildings and then stood in the street, looking around. Some laughed. Others cried. And then most of them started walking away. Heading either past him to get to the main road out of town or else going the other way, heading for the farmlands just out of town and the safety of the trees beyond them.
The rest of the people had either fled the town or else had been pulled through the portal. He doubted that any of them would ever be able to return. They would spend the rest of their lives in chains.
And somewhere amongst them was Sana. The thought hit him hard. He didn't know where she was. Or Helmond for that matter. Or the rest of her family. They could have escaped the hunt. Or they could now be in chains in N'Diel, beginning their lives as slaves. He didn't know. All he did know was that they were gone.
Chy gave up on standing and staring about then. His work was done and he was tired. So instead he sat down on the grass and gazed at nothing at all as the world returned to normal. As the rain and the wind died away and the dark clouds faded to reveal blue sky above. And as Stonely became once more the simple little town it had been. Quiet and peaceful – and mostly empty.
A few more people came out of their houses while he sat there watching. They looked around, stared at the empty streets, and then wandered around the town calling out for people they knew. People he guessed that they would never see again. And judging from what he could see, they already guessed the same. Some of them, many of them turned their faces to the sky as if to look for any sign of them. But there was only the light blue of a sunny day.
In time he guessed, they too would leave, though of their own free will. You couldn't live in an empty town. Where would you work? Buy your supplies? Sell your wares? And eventually Stonely would become a town of memories and loss.
The same was true for him. He would not be coming back either. A piece of his life had just died.
Chapter Eight
Something was wrong. He didn't know what. But Fylarne could feel something out of order in the Temple. Something discordant. And of course there was a feeling of sickness in his gut as he immediately guessed what it was. The sprites had arrived early. It was time.
But it couldn't be! He hadn't lowered the defences!
Immediately Fylarne had to check. He had to make sure that his fellow guardians were safe. And to check that it was actually them. They were early. There should have been months ahead. Time enough to put in some defences of his own and get his fellow guardians to somewhere safe. They'd promised. But keeping their promises was never one of the sprites' qualities.
He got to his feet and hurried out of the main room where he'd been drinking a cup of tea and reading a book, and headed into the main passageway. The one that lead to the terrace and the grand portal. It was there that he guessed the sprites would be. And he feared, their elemental servants. Those were the true danger. The sprites had magic, powerful gifts. But their most powerful weapon was the command of the elementals. A magical gift that came naturally to them without the need for training.
A few minutes later having run the length of the Temple, he emerged into the sunshine, to see them there. And not just a few of them. There had to be a hundred or more sprites. And worse than that, scores of elementals. Of all types.
He could see fire elementals, which were little more than burning balls of flame with teeth. Horrifying, but at least they killed quickly. There were lightning elementals, and air ones too. Nightmares that could kill at a distance without anyone being able to fight them. Huge earth, stone and iron elementals ready to crush their opponents underfoot. Quicksilver and water ones too which he knew would drown those they fought. That would be a horrible way to die. But these were killers. An army of them. And all of them there to kill his friends. His fellow guardians.
Worse they had already killed. There were two bodies lying on the terrace. Two of his companions. Ly
ing on the stone as little more than blackened husks. He stopped and stared at them in horror, and he knew that it was all his fault. They were dead because of him. And the grief and rage, and the self hatred exploded in his chest.
“No!” In that moment Fylarne knew, he couldn't allow it to happen. He couldn't allow what had already happened to be real. And the hatred and rage took over.
He cried out again, all pretence of sanity lost, and ran at them, screaming like a madman, wanting nothing more than to wipe them from the face of the world. Instinctively he reached for his magic. For a spell of fireball that would wipe these winged vermin from the world. A spell that would turn the horrid little creatures to ash. He hated them far too much to let them live. And it was a huge spell. It had all the power he'd ever known and more.
But he didn't get the chance to launch his cast. Something grabbed him even as he was about to release the magic and before he knew it, he was spinning. Twisting and tumbling out of control, rising up into the air, unable to concentrate on anything.
He knew what it was though. An air elemental, toying with him as a cat toyed with a mouse.