“Yes, I do believe it can. Unlike the rest of the things that will come in contact with that wind, as you move the sword from its current location to the Fire Mountains.”
“Could I contain its destructive force inside a shield of light?” Arius asked.
“You are incredibly powerful, young paladin, but even if you sacrificed the life of your father to reach your full potential, I doubt you would be able to contain those winds inside that bubble for more than a few hours. And unfortunately, the trip will take several days.”
“So what can we do?” Licius asked.
“What about a Bronium sheath for the sword?” Stundroff asked.
“Yes, I do believe that would work. But only if you can find a way to work with that metal.”
“Well, it is fortunate for us that our Dwarf friend here can bend Bronium,” Arius said.
“Is this true, can you work the metal?” the Merchant asked.
“Yes, I am strong enough to bend it, or even break it, given enough time. And if I can make some basic tools out of the metal, I am sure I could craft a sheath for the sword,” Stundroff replied.
“Very well then, I shall grant you one last gift before I let you go.” The Merchant approached Stundroff.
He raised his hand and placed it on Stundroff’s forehead. And with that simple touch, he transmitted the exact shape and size of the sword into the Dwarf’s mind, so that he would be able to craft the sheath.
“Now you know what to do, but be aware that if you leave the smallest of openings, the wind will escape the sheath and freeze to death anything on its path.”
“Now I just need some Bronium and we can go look for that sword.”
“Excellent, and where can we find Bronium?” Arius asked the Merchant.
“I believe I have said enough for now. If you want to know where to find the precious metal, I can tell you, for a price of course.”
“No need for that, if I remember correctly the halls of Nel Badhur are filled with Bronium. I am sure we will be able to find some there,” Licius said.
“True, but the sword you seek is in the deepest cave in the mountains at the north edge of the world, and Nel Badhur is pretty far south. So unless you plan on taking months to prepare for battle, I suggest you listen to me.”
“The frost lands to the north, you say?” Arius asked.
“Yes, where your beloved Outsiders dwell. I don’t suppose your royal influence will help you there.”
“We will split up then; I can jump great distances and cover terrain faster. So I will go to the stronghold, get the Bronium and catch up with you in the north lands latter,” Stundroff said.
“Yes, we seem to have no other choice,” said Arius.
“Very well then, it seems that I have fulfilled my end of the bargain and I am no longer needed,” the Merchant said.
Licius nodded, and then he felt the same burning sensation in his neck. The brand now glowed dimly with the same blue light as the Merchant’s eyes and before he could say anything else, the creature floated back towards the shadows from which it once came and disappeared into the darkness without making a single sound.
“Well, we know what to do now,” Stundroff said.
“Yes, but we still need to heal Licius’s wounds and get out of this forest, before we can proceed with our plan,” said Arius.
“True, besides I don’t even know which way is south and which is north,” Stundroff said.
“Just use the sun or the stars to guide you, my friend,” said Arius.
“I have lived my entire life inside a cave, what makes you think I know how to guide myself using the sun or the stars.”
“I never thought about that. I shall teach you before we go our separate ways. But I need Licius to retract his armor in order for me to be able to heal him, for I doubt that I will be able to carry him all the way up to the north lands.”
Licius made a conscious effort to retract his armor, but to his surprise, instead of retracting as it usually did to the top part of the Elf’s back, It split into two discs, each of them covering the wound from both sides.
“That will not work; I need to see the wound in order to heal it, otherwise the armor will prevent my magic from working,” Arius said.
“I know, but the armor won’t listen to me. I can feel it moving inside the wounds, as if it was trying to heal them.”
“Let us hope that it doesn’t take long, for I have no idea how we will get out of here, much less how ill I carry you.”
“I can help with that.”
“Lizandra, is that you?” Arius asked.
“Yes, I am down here.”
They looked down to see a blood-covered snake on the ground.
“What happened to you?” Arius asked.
“I had a fight with Rallec,” Lizandra replied, as she slowly returned to her Human form.
“Then you are lucky to be alive,” Licius said.
“You call that luck?” Stundroff asked, as he contemplated Lizandra’s broken and bruised body.
“Did you kill him?” Arius asked.
“I am not sure; we both got injured really badly.”
“If you are not sure, then he is most likely alive,” Licius said.
“Then we need to move fast before he returns,” said Arius.
“I doubt he will be in any shape to pursuit us.” Lizandra coughed a little bit of blood.
“Even if that is the case, we still have a lot of ground to cover and little time to do so,” Licius said.
“I don’t care if you trust me, but right now I am your only hope of getting out of this forest and making the trip to the north lands in one piece. So I would strongly suggest that you start treating my wounds.”
“Very well, I will heal you once more, but this time you are in my debt.”
“You sound like the Merchant, but it seems I have no other choice.”
“It is all right prince, if she was able to fight Rallec to a standstill; I trust she will be a most valuable asset to our party.” Licius said.
“Yeah that guy kicked the three of our asses single handed.” Stundroff added.
It took a few minutes for the prince to heal the druid’s wounds and after that, almost a day for Lizandra to guide them out of the dark forest.
She walked through the trees never stopping to think about the direction she was going until finally behind some trees, our heroes saw the much missed sun light.
Once outside, Arius explained to Stundroff how to get to Nel Badhur and then to the north lands. Lizandra turned into a horse and Stundroff placed Licius on her back. Arius and Licius then said their goodbyes to the Dwarf and started their journey north as the Dwarf leaped south with great speed. Licius and Arius wondered if they would ever see their friend again.
As they were afraid of what their journey had in store for them.
Chapter 9
A familiar Place
A cold breeze brushed against his face as he crossed the skies with leaps that seemed to reach the clouds.
He felt both happiness and concern - he was able to see the world faster now that he traveled alone, but at the same time it felt strange leaving the protection of the group.
But his worries seemed to fade away every time he caught a glance of the world from that great height.
As long as the sun rises from your right and sets at your left, you will be traveling south. Those were the words that Arius had said and Stundroff kept repeating them so he would not forget. He knew there was too much at stake for him to lose his way.
Almost a day has passed and the Dwarf has not stopped to eat or rest. So as night fell upon that side of the world, Stundroff stopped near a river that ran at the edge of a small forest.
“This will be a great place to rest.”
The Dwarf kneeled at the edge of the river to drink some water and fill his flask.
“Well, it is not ale, but at least it is cold.”
He walked upstream, looking for any animal that co
uld become his dinner. Yet no animals were to be found and the more he traveled, the more he noticed the signs of Orcs in the wilderness
“Damn Orcs, I am hungry and if I don’t find something to eat soon, I’m going to eat the next Orc I see.”
He caught sight of a campfire in the distance. Unsure if it was a Human or an Orc camp, Stundroff decided to take a closer look without drawing too much attention to himself.
He slowly made his way to the edge of the camp, where he saw that both his assumptions had been correct. This was a Human camp, but it had been taken over by Orcs.
The savage beasts had gathered around the bonfire; some of them were busy eating, others were busy fornicating and a few of them seemed to be busy doing the two things at the same time.
Stundroff watched with disgust, at how the beasts feasted with raw animal and Human flesh alike.
What would Licius do in this situation?
Sixteen male and twelve female Orcs; that’s too many for me to handle on an empty stomach.
One of the Orcs left a deer carcass, with nothing more than a few bites taken from it, at the edge of the camp.
This is my chance.
So taking his time and without making any sudden movements, he made his way towards the dead deer using every bush, rock and tree he could find for cover. Finally he made it to the bush that was closest to the carcass. But he realized that he had misjudged the distance between the bush and the carcass from so far away, since there was no way of him grabbing the deer without leaving the cover of the bush.
Our hero was desperate; he was caught between his hunger and a fight he wasn’t sure he could win.
Unsure about what to do, the Dwarf waited patiently. Suddenly there was a commotion in the camp. A tree had caught fire. While the Orcs were distracted, Stundroff wasted no time in leaving the cover of the bush and grabbing the carcass. .
The Dwarf took one look back as he entered again the cover of the bush, just to make sure he hadn’t been noticed. And it was then when he saw an Orc staring directly at him from the distance.
They stared at each other for a few seconds, until the Orc looked away as if he hadn’t seen anything.
Stundroff was unsure if the Orc had actually seen him, but he wasn’t going to stay there to find out. So moving as quickly and quietly as he could, the Dwarf put as much distance as he could between the Orc camp and himself.
The Dwarf finally made it to the top of a small hill, just about a mile away of the camp, from which he could both cook his diner and keep an eye on the camp, in case the Orcs decided to come his way.
Using the cover of some rocks the Dwarf started a small fire and began to cook the deer, hoping that the fire would not alert the Orcs of his presence. But just when he was about to take the first bite out of his meal he was interrupted by a voice.
“Well at least you cooked your meal before eating it.”
“Who said that?”
“My name is of little importance to you.”
“You better show yourself, or I will crush you.”
“Yes, I am sure you would. But that would be of little importance to me.” The voice came closer…finally revealing the Orc that had been watching Stundroff. .
“You saw me take the deer.”
“Yes, I did, but I saw you way before you took the deer, in fact I created the diversion that allowed you to take it.”
“You started the fire?”
“Indeed I did, since I grew tired of waiting for you to make your move.”
“So you are one of those Fire Orcs?”
“You are correct again, my Dwarf friend.”
“Why didn’t you alert the other Orcs then?”
“Because I wasn’t sure that you were alone, and I knew a small pack of Orcs wouldn’t be a match for you and your friends.”
“But now we are alone. And you must know that you can’t take me on by yourself. So what stops me from killing you right here and now?”
“Nothing, I am afraid, but I just had to take a closer look, for I find you and your friends both fascinating and annoying. That is why I decided to follow you, but after you went inside the dark woods, I lost your track.”
“So you would sacrifice your life just to get a closer look at me?”
“Do not flatter yourself; this body is nothing more than an empty vessel to me. But it has served its purpose.”
“So this means I am speaking directly to Xandraf.”
The Orc stood there for a second looking confused until the confident smile slowly returned to his face.
“So that is what the three of you went looking for in the dark forest, but it is of little importance. I shall deal with the Merchant and his big mouth when the time comes.”
“Yes, we talked to him. And now we know how to stop you and your puppets, so I would be worried if I were you.”
“Interesting, so there is a relic of power that can challenge the Crest of Flame. Well, I guess I will just have to start my invasion sooner than expected.”
“What do you mean? What invasion?”
The Orc took a few steps back, transforming into a Fire Orc as he did. Once he had a bit of distance, he raised his right hand and, with it, a thick wall of flames that surrounded the Dwarf and quickly spread all the way downhill.
“I believe that you have served your purpose,” Xandraf said from within the flames, just before he let out a powerful scream alerting all the Orcs at the camp
Who turned towards the burning hill and immediately charged towards it.
Stundroff was caught inside a small circle of flames that were hot enough to melt his skin even without touching it and high enough to block his view, making it difficult to know in which direction he should jump to escape.
It took no more than a few moments for the Orcs to reach the foot of the hill. And once they did, a small path began to open through the flames, allowing the Orcs to reach Stundroff’s location.
The Dwarf was confused and in a lot of pain, but as the earth began to shake and the air filled with the sound of the Orc’s screams, Stundroff knew that he had overstayed his welcome and it was time for him to leave.
So even though he was unsure of where he would land, he used all the strength left in his legs and jumped as high as he could in the direction away from the screaming Orcs.
Stundroff managed to escape the flames with only his skin burned, but now he was soaring through the skies higher than he had ever been before and with no idea of what was waiting for him at the bottom.
The Dwarf flew for a few seconds until gravity began to pull him back into the ground, filling Stundroff with concern since the height of the hill added to his powerful jump made the fall much longer than he expected, and with every passing moment he gained speed in his descent towards a forest he didn’t know.
Stundroff hit the branches of some trees, which did very little to slow him down until he finally saw the ground. A slippery bed of rock covered by mold was the only thing that would stop his fall. So Stundroff did his best to land on his feet and avoid injuries, but as his feet touched the slippery stones, one foot slipped, dislocating the knee.
Stundroff let out a scream of agony as he felt the pain racing from his leg and into his brain, a scream that alerted the Orcs of his position as they ran down the hill after him. He began to crawl as fast as he could, since he was too tired and hungry for his wounds to heal with the speed he needed.
The Dwarf had almost made it to the edge of a river when he was finally spotted by one of the Orcs.
The Orc let out a war cry alerting the others to the Dwarf’s position.
Stundroff continued to crawl towards the river, as the Orc jumped on top of him, sticking the long nails of his toes in Stundroff’s back. The Dwarf once again screamed in pain, but such a wound would not stop him. So using what little strength he had, he managed to grab the Orc by one of his ankles and then slammed him against the rock floor with such force that the Orc’s body exploded, releasing blood and gu
ts all over the place.
The Dwarf was no more than a few feet away from the river now, when three more Orcs got there.
It was dark and the place was covered in blood so it took them a few seconds to spot him, seconds that Stundroff used to get closer to the river. But before he could reach the water, one of the Orcs kicked him in the ribs with enough force to lift his entire body from the ground. Stundroff felt an intense pain in his ribs, as his body made contact again with the floor. But before he could do anything, he felt a bite from one of the other Orcs on his shoulder.
But this time he did not scream, because by now Stundroff was so mad that he was becoming numb to the pain, so using his left hand he crushed the head of the Orc that was biting him. He then rolled over on the floor and faced the Orc that had kicked him as it tried to do so again, but this time Stundroff caught its foot stopping its momentum completely with one hand. He then pulled the leg with enough force to rip it clean from its socket; the Orc then fell on the ground screaming in pain, a scream that was short-lived as Stundroff smashed the Orc’s skull with a hammer fist.
The third Orc was hesitant after seeing the might of the Dwarf, so while Stundroff managed to get back on his feet the Orc raised his head and let out a powerful scream to make sure every Orc would know its location.
Then the Orc looked directly into Stundroff’s eyes and jumped head on towards the mighty Dwarf. It plunged its claws as deep as it could in the Dwarf’s chest, but the Dwarf seemed unaffected by this attack. The Orc tried to pull its hand back; Stundroff grabbed the Orc by the wrist to prevent it from getting away and began to strangle the Orc.
The Dwarf stood, holding the Orc by its neck for a few seconds until the silence was broken by the sound of the Orc’s spine snapping.
Stundroff saw the Fire Orc leaning on a tree, watching him.
“You are quite remarkable. I can only imagine what I could accomplish if I managed to possess you,” Xandraf said.
“Then why don’t you come closer and try?”
“It is of no use for me to try again, sadly I already lost an Orc trying the first time we met. I still don’t understand why, but you seem to be able to resist my mind control almost as effectively as you heal. Well, how you used to heal, for it seems you are not recovering from your wounds as fast as you did that time.” Xandraf laughed.
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