by C. Mahood
Elessa climbed a nearby tree and started picking a few of the soldiers off with her bow. Dertrid and Keldon fought back- to- back defending the villagers from the soldiers . When it seemed impossible for the villagers to win this battle, Keldon ran over to an old food stall and knocked it over. Then he started knocking over all of the food stalls in the market place. - Before the soldiers could figure out what Keldon was doing they found themselves trapped in a square of overturned food stalls and
Saw Keldon and Dertrid standing on top of an old trade wagon. "Revenge is one thing I never used to believe in,” said Keldon, "But I used to believe in mercy too". At that, Keldon dropped a torch on the food stall nearest him, setting it alight. One by one the stalls ignited until the soldiers were trapped in a circle of fire that was closing in on them quickly. Keldon remained on the wagon until he watched every last soldier burn.
Later in the day Dertrid went to the closest inn and booked a room for the night. However sleep was impossible as the towns people were buying them drinks, giving them free weapons and equipment, telling them stories and generally making them as welcome as possible. After all the wining and dining was over a very drunk Keldon and a slightly tipsy Dertrid arrived back at their room. They both fell onto their beds and went to sleep. The next morning Dertrid awoke to see Keldon looking into the city out of the open window. "This is a beautiful place in the daylight. You should really come
And see", Keldon said, still gazing out of the window. Dertrid walked over to the window and looked out but he was blinded by the natural light that flooded into his eyes.
When his eyes adjusted he could see a vast amount of green but as he looked closer he saw that it was ivy growing up the sides of the houses. The houses were all shaped like pillars or lighthouses and were arranged in circular patterns around numerous green spaces Where children’s laughter could be heard breaking the silence of the early morning. The main transport into the city was by riverboat. There were hundreds of different boats and barges meandering up and down the city streets. The city was bustling with life and the lively antics of the children playing in the water added to the cacophony of noise. Dertrid could see the beautifully detailed designs on all the buildings, which looked like an intricate written language of some kind. All the buildings were of a sandy colour and the designs seemed to wind themselves down from the roofs in a spiral manor. Dertrid could also smell an array of strange aromas. They ranged from fresh herbs from the market, an appetising smell from the open-air bakery below and the sweet smell of the corpus plants that grew all over the buildings in this wonderful city. Elessa, who was eating a freshly- baked loaf of bread, disturbed Dertrid.
"Come on you two. Hurry up! We have to be on our way. We must find Sir Gladwin soon ." she said with her mouth full. The three carried their bags and other newly acquired belongings down to the courtyard below where their horses, kindly donated by the innkeeper, awaited them. While Keldon and Dertrid were trying to pack their belongings onto the horses Elessa emerged from the crowed which had amassed to wish them well followed by a small dwarf covered from head to toe in armour. The engraving on his breastplate told of the events of the great division war in which Dertrid’s father and Sir Gladwin had fought . The scene depicted showed Sir Gladwin brandishing the blade of the blood- thirst and plunging it into the earth’s life- core destroying all of the evil in the world at that time . Penla,the dwarf’ s jet black hair was blowing in the wind revealing steely blue eyes, his face was obscured by a long white beard which reached down to his waist and was held together in a ponytail with several lengths of twine. His large axe was fastened to his back with a long piece of thick leather. He was holding a helmet with more detailed designs on it and horns pointing out from the top. Elessa walked over to the two that were still frantically trying to pack everything onto the horses. Penla ran over to Dertrid, pulled the bags off the horse and said,
"You don’t need to do that, lad. .Leave the poor mules alone!""Why not little man?" Keldon asked.
"Because I have a cart you stupid fools,” Penla laughed and he carried the things over to his cart.
"What are we waiting for? Let’s go!" Dertrid shouted in an excited voice. The trio walked over to the cart where Penla hooked up the horses and then they set off, out of the beautiful city of Partisan.
Chapter 5
The search for the brotherhood
The morning broke as the sun slowly crept over the endless fields that covered the surface of Northland plains. The drops of water that dripped off the lip of the cliff splashed in a Puddle directly in front of Dertrid’s face. He pulled his covers slightly up over his chin and wiped away the few drops that had splashed on his face during the night. “What a night,” he thought. Dertrid sat up and looked at his companions, his friends, his family. They were the ones that had helped him all this way in the few short months since fleeing Sáann. Sáann! That name reminds him of his father. It reminds him of his childhood and growing up in the Kingdom and the Palace grounds. It reminds him of the happiness he had there, the joys and the education he enjoyed in the great library.
He misses the battle training he had, jousting lessons, archery lessons, survival skills and how he survived for a minute and a half under the water wearing his full adventure gear.
He chuckled as he remembered the first time he brought his father to the ground and what he said afterwards, "You will make a great king, the best that Sáann ever had, but I see something different for you. You will win the hearts of the people but you will not have them build statues of you or make them pay taxes to you as a sign of respect, but you will do a great deed.... yes, Dertrid’s deed will be the greatest tale ever told throughout the whole of Northland, how the son of the great Almanac the Conqueror won the hearts of a nation. But the tale is your destiny.
Only you will determine what happens in that story and I hope you choose well" Dertrid murmurs softly under his breath, " I will choose well father...I will". As he says this Elessa Tums around under the covers and sits up beside Dertrid. She throws one arm around him and lays her head on his shoulder. Dertrid gets a funny tingly feeling every time she does that because it makes him feel like nothing else matters in the world apart from her. But it does. Everything matters. He has found Gladwin, as his father told him to and now he must find the elemental weapons as his father instructed as well and there is still something that Gladwin has not told Dertrid. Dertrid still does not know how to get the fourth element or what it is but he is sure Gladwin will tell him today as they have been preparing to leave the great dwarf cave of Denvan for about a week. It is a very strange place .It resembles a cave from the outside but on the inside its tall stonewalls seem to reach up into the sky. There are three floors of shops and houses, run and lived in by lots of small dwarfs that make this giant place look like an anthill. It is a beautiful place though, for in the very centre of the city there is a large building that Gladwin lives in, and in front of it there is a fountain that flows elven blessed holy water. The fountain its self is made out of pure gold and was forged by the first few dwarfs to have excavated the whole cave themselves as a large military outpost in which they were hiding after the third great war in which the elves and the dark elves waged war across the whole of north land engulfing every man women and child that set foot any where near the fighting. Many large cities and great monuments were destroyed during that war. Many great artefacts, ancient remedies and spells were burnt by the dark elves during their pillage of Northland. Knowledge itself was destroyed after that; this is why the years that we live in are called the darkness years, the loss of knowledge, and the destruction of power. AS the three companions made their way to the fountain of life hundreds of dwarfs greeted them. There was singing, dancing magic tales and food! You have never seen so much food. The tables stretched from the fountain to as far as you could see and they were piled with moist warm juicy meat and gravy. After that the fruits and the sweets that seemed to come from thin air appeared beside the savourie
s to fill the table back up to the brim again. After they could eat no more, Penla stood up on the table and called for everyone’s attention. He cleared his throat and then yelled out as loudly as he could so that the whole cave could hear him.
"My fellow dwarfs I would just like to say that once again we have created the greatest meal any race of Northland has ever made! But I would also like to say that I will make every single one of you proud to be dwarves!" The crowd suddenly fell silent as they waited to hear what their leader was going to say next.
"I am going with these brave heroes to destroy the Queen of Sáann and put the names of dwarfs back on the list as one of the bravest races Northland has ever seen!" Still there was silence but suddenly there was a cheer from the bottom of the cave which got louder as more and more people joined in until the cheers, laughs and joyful song was deafening around the circular cave. Later that day the five heroes left the cave to head Northwest toward the great temple of the brotherhood. There they would have to defeat the horse men to release the 3 elemental weapons, one of fire, one of water and one of strength which they would have to bring to Sáann where the fourth element would be born.
* * * *
After about a day or so of travelling the group could finally see the three pyramid- shaped towers that each held a member of the brother hood that each companion had to defeat to release one of the elemental weapons. When they finally reached the towers they could not even see the tops of them. The temples were three different colours each representing an element. The first tower was red representing the fire horsemen and element, the middle was silver representing the strength horseman and element and the third were green representing the earth horseman and the element.
The group knew that they had to split up if they wanted to get all three without the gates closing stopping them from getting another "We will rest here tonight then tomorrow we split up and take a temple each, Agreed?" Dertrid said "Agreed" the group said. "We will wait here, " said Penla who was now fixing the fire for the night. The next moning the three walked to the entrance of each temple and waited for Gladwin to chant the awakening spell. As he did this gates for each temple opened and the group ran in to their chosen temple.
Keldon [fire temple]
As Keldon ran into the large fire temple he could see down to the bottom of the long thin staircase, which had a glowing red light at the bottom. The light was glistening softly with a small twinkle like sparkle to it. The smell of sulphur and burnt flesh Wafted up the stairs as Keldon slowly walked down them but never letting the large red light out of his sight. A voice echoed up the thin hallway.
It caught Keldon off guard and made his very soul jump inside his body. "AH!! So you have come then!” exclaimed a voice.
“Ha! Another adventurer seeking my treasure and yet another meal to my dogs". As Keldon made it to the bottom of the staircase he saw a tall man wearing nothing but black, rusted armour. He was also wearing a long black cloak with red , silk lining. It draped over his whole body and the back end of his horse. His horse was a large black stallion. It also had very old rusted black armour. The black cold metal draped over the whole body of the horse except the joints of its legs and the joint between its neck and its main body. "So you want my treasure then"
The horseman said as he dismounted from his horse.
"Well I am afraid you can’t just take it. You have to defeat me before you can get it so you might as well just walk back up those stairs and no one gets hurt. What do you say?" The horseman turned his back to Keldon and started to walk towards a large throne that was covered in fire. "Hey you listen to me you sorry excuse for a warrior! I came for the element and I believe that the only way I can get it is to defeat you and I am not leaving without it",Keldon said as he walked over to the horseman with his shield ready and his sword held high above his head. The horseman turned around and faced Keldon. His eyes were burning and his skin crawled with anger. His throat was dry and he longed to taste man- blood again. He drew his large two-handed sword from the large pack that hung down on the left side of the horse. He raised it above his head and muttered a few words under his breath then spat on the sword. Suddenly the blade burst into flames. He looked Keldon in the eyes and turned to face him again. Keldon looked the horseman in the face and made a very taunting finger gesture. The horseman was not very amused at the gesture; He drove his spurs into the horse's side causing it to run straight towards Keldon. Their two swords clashed together with the sound of thunder and sparks that looked like a blacksmith's shop at night. The power of the horseman’s attack knocked Keldon off balance. He fell to the floor with a thud, dropping his blade and sending it skidding across the cold stone floor. The horseman jumped off his horse and dived towards Keldon's blade. He stood up slowly holding both blades, one in each hand. He raised the blades above his head as he approached Keldon who had backed himself up against a wall. The horseman swung both blades toward Keldon hoping to perform the killing blow but Keldon rolled between the horseman’s legs and ran over into the middle of the lair. The room they were in was a large circular room so this mint there was no corner for Keldon to back into. Keldon watched the horseman tum around and slowly walk toward Keldon; Keldon ran toward the horseman and dived at his legs. He caught one of his legs and pulled him to the ground. Keldon quickly rolled on top of the horseman and started smashing the horseman’s head against the cold floor. Keldon reached for his sword, which was now lying on the ground beside him. He lifted up his sword and drove it into the horseman’s shoulder. The horseman screamed out with anger and kicked Keldon off him. The horseman stood up and ran toward his throne where he pulled a lever which released 3 large dogs that ran straight towards
Keldon. Keldon ran over to the horseman and sliced off the horseman’s arm that was holding the burning sword. He turned towards the 3 large dogs and threw his own sword at one of them. The blade seemed to glide through the dogs rotting flesh causing the dogs corpse to split in half and send blood splashing all over the room's walls. The horseman and Keldon both dived toward the flaming sword but Keldon punched the horseman just before he picked it up sending the horseman flying back onto his large oversized golden chair. Keldon picked up the sword and held it above his head letting all the energy flow from his body to the sword. The remaining two dogs stopped dead in their tracks as they saw the new wielder of the flame sword. Keldon took advantage of this and pointed toward the wounded and bleeding horseman that was crouching behind his throne, "Attack!" Keldon shouted pointing toward the horseman, "Rip him apart!" The dogs did so but as Keldon was walking up the stairs the fire that surrounded the arena and throne that they were fighting in went out and the walls started to crumble as did the very stairs that Keldon was standing on. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him but he saw the stairs in front of him crumble as well, he wasn’t going to make it so he threw the sword and him self to the edge of the stairs hoping to grab onto the lip of the entrance. The sword landed straight up in the ground outside but his hands just missed grabbing the lip. As he fell Keldon prayed that Dertrid would not fail. As he closed his eyes he stopped abruptly and felt himself being slowly hoisted up by Penla who had caught his wrist as he fell. " I thought you were gone for sure" Penla laughed as he lifted Keldon up from the fallen temple, which was now just a large pile of rubble. Keldon hugged Penla but was pushed off as Penla laughed saying "I don’t love you that much!""Where are the others?" Keldon asked as he got to his feet "They aren’t out yet " Gladwin said with a worried look on his face
Elessa [earth temple]
As Elessa ran down the long stairway, she tripped on a large tree root and fell to the bottom of the cold stone steps. She picked herself up and brushed the dust off her green and blue goblin hide armour. She took her bow off her shoulder and loaded it with some of her poisoned arrows from her quiver and slowly pushed the large doors open. The room that she walked into had trees growing from the ground beneath her that reached right up to the tip of the temple. The ivy had gr
own over the surface of the four walls that rose as high as she could see, the shrubs had grown over the floor so that you could not even see the stone floor she was walking on, the birds sang from the trees but their songs were not joyful ones. They gave off the feeling of entrapment and claustrophobia. The birds had been born and lived in this temple for hundreds of years. As she walked toward the large pool in the middle a strange glowing green light emanated from the large tree at the far end of the temple. She walked towards it with her bow aimed directly into the middle of it just waiting for a head to emerge so that she could finish this once and for all. Before long, a large black helmet emerged from the light and moved very quickly toward her. She did not hesitate at all.
One quick shot fired the arrow directly into the middle of the helmet which penetrated the helmet directly through the crown. A large cry of pain came from the man inside it as he pulled it off his head. Elessa saw an old- looking man who's face was covered in blood walk slowly toward her with fire in his eyes and a strange coughing sound in his voice as he said " Ah, so you are one of the friends of the brave adventures that killed my brother, am I correct?" Elessa loaded another arrow into her bow and replied "Correct" while aiming toward his forehead with another poisoned arrow,
"And now I’m going to let you re-unite with him you old fool! ." At that she once again fired an arrow toward his head but as fast as lightning the horseman lifted his shield and caught the arrow clean in the middle of it. Before Elessa had time to reload, the horseman swung his shield and knocked Elessa’s bow flying into the large pool in the middle of the temple. Elessa ran toward the man diving at him with her two daggers that she had just pulled from her girdle. As she tried to drive them into the horseman he caught her hands and crushed them until Elessa let go of them He then threw her off him and pulled out his large bow that glistened with the golden trim down the middle. It had a web string from the giant spiders of Mount Brinish that was un breakable. It was also made out of the same type of wood as the root that Elessa had tripped on earlier and it seemed to move as the horse man loaded the arrow into it. Elessa stood up and put her hands above her head while saying, " You do realise that if you kill me my friends will just come and finish you off! ""Yes I am aware of that fact but I am very willing to take you with me" At that the horse man aimed toward Elessa’s chest and pulled back on the string building up as much power as he could muster at that time, but before he fired he loosened his aim on the bow and then dropped it. Elessa took this chance to jump toward the horseman, roll under his legs and grab her daggers. After she