by AJ Martin
“You would have me give up now and let you leave?” Grimm shook his head. “My old friend, you don’t know me very well, do you?”
The blade of Thadius’s sword burst through Grimm’s chest, its end sticking out an arms’ length, covered in black, sticky blood. Grimm gasped and stared at the end a moment, and then the knight pulled it back out again with a swift tug, and stepped back. Grimm remained standing. He looked at the wound in his chest, and then turned to the knight.
“That hurt,” he said, before his free hand shot out and pulses of energy that wriggled from his hand like hundreds of snakes burrowed into the knight’s body. Thadius dropped limply to the floor, his muscles turned to jelly, and his sword fell to the dirt. “I am afraid that I have grown quite a bit more resilient since we last met,” he said, staring down at the man. “I have felt the maggots and the rot of decay. Now it cannot touch me as it once did.”
“Stop it!” Josephine cried from where she had moved to comfort Luccius. She tried to use her power, but she couldn’t. Fear paralysed her ability. Grimm turned to her, but Matthias stepped in front of her, a hand raised defensively.
“Stay away from her Grimm,” Matthias commanded. “She has done nothing to you.”
“She has done everything to me!” Grimm exclaimed, and shook his head frantically. “Her and the false gods! I wouldn’t expect you to understand. You are just as much a victim of your faith as I once was!” His nostrils flared. “Step out of my way wizard and let me end this!”
“If you think I am going to let you hurt her, whatever your confused reasoning might tell you she has done, then you are sadly mistaken. I gave you a chance to live.”
Grimm shook his head. “Then prepare yourself wizard! Because I will not lose her again!”
Matthias and Grimm faced each other, swirls of energy counteracting the other, sparking off the rocks. The wizard leaped and bounded across the path, dodging bolts of light that surged from Grimm’s palms. He threw a line of fire at the man that engulfed his withered body, but it barely touched him.
“Will we dance with each other like this all day?” Grimm asked, as the circled one another.
“I have barely started,” Matthias said. “You’re on the losing side, Grimm.”
The man snarled and his eyes flared. He began running at Matthias unnaturally fast, his fists flying as he pummelled him, striking with an upper - cut to the chin that sent the wizard to the ground. The lights that had swirled around them dimmed, as Matthias lost consciousness. Darkness enveloped the pass a moment, before a dim light emerged in front of her. Grimm had turned to Josephine, his body surrounded by a murky green aura. His serpent-like glare met her doe - eyes. She rose slowly, her legs shaking, but she forced herself to keep calm as he approached and took a deep breath.
“I suppose you are planning to kill me now, are you?” she asked. “Well you can just think again! I am not some helpless damsel who will just lie down and let you cut me up into pieces while I wait for a knight in shining armour to arrive! I am powerful!” Her heart pounded in her chest, and in truth, she felt like her legs could give way at any moment.
Grimm smiled and his yellow teeth seemed to glint in spite of the lack of light. He was more than ugly, he was wretched: the body and face of a haggard, walking corpse. “So why have you not slain me with your gods - given powers?” he asked. She swallowed, unable to reply. “I know how powerful your gift could be, princess,” Grimm said. “I have seen what you are capable of. But it is a potential that you could never hope to fulfil. A longbow has the power to kill a man, but only if the one who wields it has the strength to pull back the string.” He stepped forward, and his foot caught on something. Matthias’s staff sat at his feet. He bent down to pick it up and Josephine pounced. She jumped on him, clawing his face with her nails. She fought to find the power, but it wouldn’t come! He grabbed her arm and tore her off his back, throwing her to the ground.
“Why do you resist? With a flick of a wrist, this could all be over for you! You would not need to worry about the world you leave behind. You would be at peace!”
“People are relying on me,” she said, as she felt the wetness of blood on her tongue from her cut bottom lip. “I can’t let them down!”
“You can’t stop the inevitable princess,” he said calmly, and held up the staff in his hand. “You are fighting against the tide. Not even your friends can help you.”
“I believe that is mine?” said a voice from behind him. Matthias was on his feet again. He nodded to the staff, still in Grimm’s hand, as the man spun to look at him. Grimm shook his head.
“None of you know when to let fate take its course and die, do you?” he said.
“We’re not the only ones,” Matthias rebuffed. “Why do you persist?”
Grimm snarled and flailed wildly with his arms. A cluster of green bolts crackled towards Matthias, and the wizard raised both his hands. The energy evaporated before it could touch him. Grimm shook his head.
“I am foolish to have underestimated you,” he said. “That much is true.”
“So perhaps you have also underestimated our chances to save Triska?” Matthias said.
Grimm laughed. “Your wordplay will not convince me wizard,” he said. “You are persuasive. I will admit last time you set seeds of doubt in my mind, but now but I know I must continue!”
“You believe you must continue because that is what they have made you think,” he said calmly. “Who are you to them Grimm? Why have they chosen you to do this?”
“Enough!” Grimm wailed, and leapt and span across the walls of the pass, jumping back and forth, shooting energy from his palms. It exploded into the ground, leaving sizzling craters where Matthias has stood. Matthias picked up his sword where it lay in his path and leapt into the air, whirling at Grimm. Blood spattered the ground as the blade sliced from his left cheek, across his nose and up to his brow, disfiguring the man’s already tarnished face. As his feet found ground again, Matthias turned and with a roar, he threw out his hand. Lightning burst from his palm, surrounding Grimm where he landed. The energy crackled around him, and Grimm wailed. His skin popped, burst and charred as the bolt assaulted his body. Matthias’s face greyed and veins snaked across his forehead as he continued the attack. The walls sparkled with the flashes of light, until, exhausted, Matthias let the bolt go and dropped to his knees.
Grimm was a blackened mess, his skin burnt like coal, but he remained standing. His bloodshot eyes regarded Matthias, silently, and he smiled. Then he opened his mouth and took a deep breath. As he did so, his skin healed. His body shook with the effort, but in moments, he was healed, aside from thick veins that mottled his face like Matthias. His face had grown even more sallow and the skin over his cheeks looked wafer-thin, as if his cheek - bones would burst through at any moment, but he was no longer charred and smoking.
“They protect me because I can help them bring their plans to fruition,” he said through deep breaths. “I will be the Vessel. Together we will bring about the cleansing of the world and it will be reborn.” He looked at his hands, which were grey and skeletal, and the back to Matthias, who stood gingerly, exhausted with the effort. “You have this fight wizard. But it doesn’t change anything.”
With lightning fast speed he swung towards Josephine. She yelped as he came at her, and again tried to focus her power to repel him, but failed. He grabbed her fiercely, twisting her arm around her back and stood behind her, his free hand on her neck. Matthias rose and started forward.
“I will destroy you,” Matthias growled, and raised a hand. “Don’t hurt her!”
“The tides of chaos will blind everyone,” he said breathily, as his grip tightened on the princess. His nails broke her skin and blood poured from the wounds. “The alliance will bring forth the Return.” He pushed Josephine toward Matthias. She fell to the floor, and Matthias ran to her side. Grimm looked down at them, his eyes cold. “The cycle will be broken.” His body burst into purple-black light, beams
radiating out from his torso. Then he was gone in a flicker of purple lighting, and the darkness returned. Matthias relit a ball of light with effort. He had drained himself. He stared for a moment where the man had vanished, stunned. Then he drew his attention to Josephine.
“Matthias!” She gulped awkwardly. Her skin was paling as he watched. “I... I don’t feel well. I’m...” She passed out, her eyes rolling up into their sockets.
“Princess!” Matthias patted her on the cheek. “Josephine, wake up! Oh gods, no!”
“What’s happened? Matthias, tell me!” called a voice. Thadius stared at them from where he lay, limp and floppy, like a gutted fish.
“Josephine’s fallen unconscious! I don’t know why. Grimm pierced her neck with his nails, and-” He stopped as he tilted her head to look at the half moon shapes on her side. The blood that sat in the wounds was thick, tarry, dark red- black, and tinged with green. When he touched near the wounds, the pressure made more blood ooze out like curdled milk. “Thadius, I think Grimm has poisoned her with something!” he called back.
“Can you help her?” he asked.
Matthias pressed his hand to her forehead and shut his eyes a moment, taking a deep breath. His brow creased, and his eyes worked beneath the closed lids. “I can’t even tell what it is. I can’t do anything!”
“Then you have to get her to someone who can!” Thadius called gruffly. “Leave us and go!”
Matthias balanced Josephine in his arms and stood up. “I’m not leaving you behind!” He walked over to them and laid Josephine back on the ground, and went over to Thadius first.
“I implore you, please, take the princess out of here! Get her to a village! A doctor might be able to help her!”
“A doctor won’t be able to help her Thadius!” he exclaimed, as he sat beside him.
“You have to try! You-”
“Just shut up, you great boulder,” Matthias grunted. He felt at Thadius’s arm then moved his hands to his chest. His eyes flared. “I think I can heal you,” he said. “I’m going to channel energy into your body Thadius, to reanimate your bones and muscles. It may hurt a little. “
“Just do it!” Thadius ordered. “Quickly!”
Matthias closed his eyes, concentrating, and then Thadius gasped, cried out, and his chest jumped off the ground in spasm. His body shook for a few moments, face contorted in pain, and then it was all over. Matthias sat back.
“That hurt a lot!” Thadius grunted.
“Can you move?” Matthias asked.
Thadius moved his head, then flexed his fingers, before he pulled himself upright with a groan. “Apparently so,” he said. “Now see to Luccius!” He leant over Josephine and stared helplessly at her, stroking her hair back.
“I should have protected you,” he whispered. “I’m sorry princess!”
Matthias inspected Luccius, who stared up at him.
“You look terrible,” the ansuwan whispered hoarsely.
“You don’t look so good yourself, old friend,” he said back, and pressed a palm to Luccius’s forehead for a moment. Matthias’s lips thinned, and then he exhaled, frustrated, shaking his head.
“I can’t heal this Luccius,” he said. “I’m so sorry. I’ve tried to blunt the pain a little. Is it any better?”
“Remember… when we tangled with that glashtyn demon?” the ansuwan asked, as Matthias helped him sit up.
“The horse - demon?” Matthias muttered in recollection. “I remember you were kicked in the groin so hard you couldn’t walk for a week.”
He smiled, and nodded. “This is worse,” he said, as he grasped Matthias’s arm and hoisted himself up onto his feet, where he swayed.
Thadius stood, holding Josephine in his arms. Her head hung limply to one side. “Should we return to Gormal?” the knight asked.
Matthias shook his head. “There’s nothing there that will help her,” he said, and turned to the rocks that blocked their path ahead. “If we can get to Olindia I think she might stand a chance.” He ran forward, and pressed the rocks. They didn’t budge. He took a deep breath, and embraced the earth power fully once more. His head pounded with the effort, and he could feel his body ready to give way at any moment. It was as if he had run a marathon; he was weak, hot, sweaty, and his lungs burnt as if they could not get enough air, only it was his body that craved rest from wielding rather than running. The rocks began to crunch, and with a groan they burst into pieces, until all that remained of the blockade were a few misshapen stones and a mass of pebbles. He let go of the power as soon as they yielded, save for a trickle to maintain the light, which at that moment seemed too much to cope with, and turned to the others. “Can you carry her for long?” he asked Thadius. His head was spinning.
“As long as it takes,” Thadius said.
Matthias nodded. “Then let’s go,” he said sadly.
They set off down the path, slowly and surely, picking their way around the stony ground. The cold and the dark seemed the least of their troubles now.
Dowsing
130th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)
In the barren, malnourished Olindian territory directly beneath the shadow of the Gormal Mountains, where it grew too cold to cultivate crops, there were no towns, villages or farmhouses to speak of. Save for one or two watch towers manned at sporadic intervals, depending when the guardsmen could be bothered to get up from their beds, barely any signs of civilisation marked the area at all. There had been no real bad blood between Aralia and Olindia for almost forty years so the need for larger armies guarding the area was minimal. Given the unimportance of the mountain region, Olindia seemed content to let it lie abandoned and focus on the arable land where the climate grew warmer.
A sombre band of travellers strode through this land now. Josephine’s flagging body lay cradled in Thadius’s quaking arms, her head lulling back and forth as she fell against his chest. Hours had passed since she had been infected. They had walked through the night and now dawn began to peek across the horizon. Her skin was cracked, so dry that it flaked off at every opportunity and a pallid grey had now begun to form around her eyes and lips.
“It’s a form of petrification,” Matthias had said, when he noticed the new effect of the poison on her. “I’m certain of it. It is as if she is being remade in stone. Every last drop of water is being sucked from her body.”
“Is there nothing we can do to stop the effect?” Thadius asked, staring down at the girl in his tired arms.
“There are so many ways to petrify someone. With weaves of energy, like the dragon, you can suspend someone in a stone shell indefinitely. But poison, like this seems to be, will completely turn the victim to stone forever. And each type has a specific antidote or way of releasing the hold on the target.” He shook his head. “We should keep her hydrated as much as we can. Pour water over her if we have to. It might slow things down. Use the canisters we have left.”
“Can’t you create water with the power?” Thadius asked. “You created a ball of water and turned it to ice in Rina.”
“I pulled water from the air in the palace because it was thick with moisture,” Matthias said and indicated to the landscape around them. “But water is the hardest element to divine from the air. It’s the key to life and it keeps itself guarded well. I can only manage to retrieve small amounts here. I could pull some water from around us, but not much. Not enough to make a difference.”
“Well we had better find a stream soon then. Otherwise we’ll soon run out, and she is already as dry as the Renegath Desert.” Thadius replied dolefully.
Matthias stopped. “At the rate she is deteriorating, it won’t make any difference how much water we give her if we can’t cure her,” he said. “Giving her water won’t stop the deterioration, only slow it down and sooner or later the poison will win.”
“Then what do we do?” Thadius asked helplessly. “I won’t just let her die!”
“Neither will I!” Matthias exclaimed. There was silence for a
moment and then Matthias continued. “There is an option I’ve considered. But it’s a long shot,” he added.
“I’d say a long shot is better than nothing right about now,” Luccius added. “What is it?” he asked.
“Do you remember Maryn?” Matthias asked the ansuwan. Luccius raised his eyebrows and whistled.
“Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a while,” Luccius nodded. “She would be difficult to forget,” he replied.
Matthias nodded. “True enough.”
“Who is this woman? You think she can help Josephine?” asked Thadius impatiently.
“She is an old acquaintance,” Matthias said. “And yes, I do. One thing is clear: this is an enchanted poison. I thought about finding a doctor, but this is beyond any apothecary. Maryn knows a lot about potions. She might be able to concoct something that can help.”
“And you think she’s nearby?” Thadius asked
“I keep track of her movements,” Matthias said. “Or at least, I used to.”
“That is… disturbing,” Thadius commented, shaking his head.
“Are you saying she’s in Olindia?” Luccius asked.
“It’s been a while since I have been able to locate her,” Matthias said. “But she was in Olindia when I last checked.”
"Do you track all your acquaintances?" Thadius asked.
"Only the pretty ones,” Luccius whispered.
"I was looking out for her," he replied to Thadius. “It is a long story. She could be long gone by now. But if she is still around...”
“How exactly can you find her?” Thadius asked.
“There’s an old method used by wizards to find people. As I said, I have used it before. But I have only ever found it useful to find people in a short range."
"How short is ‘short?’" Luccius asked.
"It depends on the wizard," Matthias said. “And the last few times I have tried, I met with limited success.”
Luccius nodded. “Well it is worth a try, don’t you think Thadius?”
The knight looked uncomfortable between the two men. Finally, he nodded. “What do you need?” he asked.