by P. G. Thomas
In front of the windows, behind a small wooden desk, the black veil of Zymse looked up. “Are you fast enough—I was expecting more, or were you the only one stupid enough to try?”
“If you give me the child, I’ll let you go,” Steve said, wondering where Ryan was.
“No, here is what you are going to do. YOU WILL LEAVE RIGHT NOW! Make one move towards me, one dies. Make a move to one of them and a different one dies. Maybe the first will be the Earth Bitch’s daughter, maybe it will not, but you are not fast enough to save them all.”
I really hate fanatics. Raising his arm, Steve’s hand transformed into a snub nose revolver, including a laser scope on top, and he saw the red dot on Zymse forehead. “Why don’t I just kill you?” Zymse stood and then stood a second time. The one sitting in the chair still had the red dot on his forehead, but Steve could hear all three laughing. Then his hand reconfigured, creating two similar weapons.
The Zymses spoke in unison, “You cannot win this and are going to die.” Then three explosions sounded in the hold of the ship, causing it to lean to the left, “We are all going to die.”
I really, really hate fanatics.
When he regained his balance, two things happened simultaneously: the face of Zymse sitting behind the desk began to distort, and he heard Ryan scream.
“Break the mirror.”
Turning around, Steve saw Ryan’s reflection pull the baby from the middle Zymse image, and then he smashed the reflective glass, causing broken pieces to rain down on the floor. When he turned around, the four glass enclosures were empty of infants. As well, the three images of Zymse were gone, and Ryan, not Rage Heart, was holding his daughter.
While they both breathed a sigh of relief, it was short lived.
On the pieces of shattered mirror that covered the floor, thousands of images with a black veil appeared, and a voice filled the room. “Magic has its limitations: How much damage it can sustain, how much pain it can inflict, how far it can travel. When this spell activated, the range back to land exceeded that distance. NOW DIE!”
Damn fanatics!
Then three more explosions rocked the ship, breaking it in half, and only the closed door stopped them from sliding to a watery death.
“Tell me you have an exit strategy, Kid.”
Ryan grabbed Steve, “To Lauren,” but nothing happened. [Analyze situation.] “Take me someplace safe.” While they may have been standing vertical, they were actually lying flat against the wall, and both felt the water lapping at their feet. [Insufficient resources. Options. Similar energy present. Absorb.] Ryan’s left hand went translucent, “Sorry, but you’ll thank me later.” Slamming it into Steve’s leg, he felt the cobalt and chromium implants, tasted the magic. [High-speed transfer engaged. Conversion in process.] Screaming in pain, Steve’s body transformed back to normal, as he felt the cold water rushing in from behind the door. Hearing the thin lumber strain, he felt it bulge against his back, and when the external pressure was too much, it failed, allowing the cold water to rush in.
“TO LAUREN!”
*******
The only sounds in the courtyard were the painful moans from the injured Ironhouse dwarves, large and small, as Krisp and the Earth Daughters tended their wounds. When the door of the stone house opened, the sounds of crying babies soon filled the air. Standing in front: Lauren holding Samantha, Ryan cradling Hope, and Jasmine embraced Brooke. The rest followed behind them: Steve, Eric carrying the unconscious Logan, Jaykil with Breax Ironhouse, and the Crimson Shields escorting John, Gayne, and Mirtza
Aaro walked over to Lauren, “Zymse?”
She pulled a blanket up over Samantha’s shoulder, hiding the offensive brand. “He’s gone. We just don’t know where.”
Aaro’s thick voice rumbled off the distant walls, “Back he will come and revenge seek he will.”
In the courtyard, of the 250 plus Ironhouse dwarves that had arrived to help, less than sixty wandered or hobbled around the massive pulverized corpse of the winged trollmare. Searching with them, the Alron Bastards, and mixed in with them, three large timber wolves: Zack, Sam, and Hope.
Eric nodded towards the scene, “Aaro, what’re they doing?”
“Granite Guardians, beards at Ironhouse leave they did not. Search for them we do, so honor they will have, and on the winds wander they will not.”
Krisp ran over, “Earth Mother, their injuries are grave—serious. We need to get them—I know not where, but away from here.”
“Gayne.” When Lauren looked at him, his hands were still clasped to his ears, similar to John and Mirtza. Reaching for her bracelet, she saw the dull metal. “Sons of a bitch! How do we get them to Alron?”
Steve stepped forward. “When Gayne went to get the Rockeaters, he just told it that he wanted to go to Ironhouse.”
“We don’t have a—” Then Lauren saw Krisp hold up her bracelet. “Aaro, gather your clan. We need to get them to Gingaar!”
Before they could act, Jedimac walked over, smiled, “Panry,” and then turned to Lauren. “Earth Mother, I see you are once again with your daughters, so can I assume Zymse is no more?”
“He fled to a ship, but we don’t know if he is alive or dead,” advised Ryan.
“What?” asked Jedimac.
Nodding, Lauren scanned the thieves on the outer wall, “Of all the places for help to arrive from, I never thought it would appear from the shadows, yet I need more. Zymse had a complex in the north where he created those trollmares. Crap, we don’t know where it is!”
“I can help with that,” then Panry wandered out to the carnage of dead bodies, and spotting the man who wore the furs, he cut the purse from his belt. Then he handed it to Lauren, “When he travelled north, he triggered the portal with these.”
“Jedimac,” Lauren began, “I need two favors from you. First, can your men strip this house of sheets, making stretchers, and help take the wounded to Alron?”
He scanned the injured, “I doubt if they will survive such a long trip.”
“Don’t worry about that. It’ll be quick. Also, I need you to secure this place until I return.”
“It would be my pleasure,” added Jedimac.
“As well, I claim all wealth and possessions in the name of Mother.”
His smile vanished, “For a percentage fee.”
“Fine,” Lauren turned to Krisp. “Can you borrow another bracelet for me?”
When she went to retrieve the item, Jedimac pulled the mask over his face, and calling to the Black Watch, he ordered them into the house to find sheets or items to make stretchers, forcibly telling them not to steal anything.
Ryan looked at Lauren, “You’ve done enough, so let’s go home—back to Gayne’s.”
“I can’t, not yet. Zymse might have gone there or sent them a message. We need to see it, and if we have to, destroy it.”
“How?”
“I don’t know!” When she looked to John for a reaction, his hands still covered his ears with pain written on his face. “Look, all I want to do is hold my babies because I’m tired of being an Earth Mother, and I just want to be a Mom. However, if any part of Zymse’s still breathes, then his infection could fester, poisoning the lands again. This ends today!”
“To Ironhouse for brave warriors?” asked Aaro.
Lauren shook her head, “You’ve already done more than enough and paid a price too high. If we can’t handle it, we’ll figure something out.” When Krisp handed Lauren the second bracelet, Croy was standing beside her, and she saw the rolled up sleeves.
“Will the Bastard be okay?”
Lauren lied, “Yes, but I need you and two Bastards to accompany us in case we need any help.”
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can,” replied Krisp. “There are more than enough Earth Guards and Bastards to protect us, and Earth Mother needs your help.”
“Yes, Mother Krisp.”
“Panry, are you done playing Crimson Shield?” asked Lauren.
“Good, then take my daughters to Gayne’s house and keep them safe. Steve, show Babartin how to use the bracelet so that he can take them to Alron.” Then she turned to Jaykil and Breax, “With your honor quest complete, I can already see stubble growing on your faces, but would you accompany me one more time?”
They both turned to Aaro, who nodded.
Jaykil smiled, “Great honor you gift us, and we will return the same.” Slapping their swords to their chests, their wolves came running over.
“What’s going on, Dudette?” In his arms, naked Zack held two small furry squirrels.
Not wanting to ask the question, Lauren needed to know the answer, “Did you find—” the beards.
When Zack shook his head, he saw a tear form in his eye.
Lauren continued. “Babartin is taking John, Gayne, Mirtza, and Ironhouse to Alron. Jedimac’s friends are going to help escort them, but we’re going to where Zymse raised his trollmares.”
“Count me in,” then Zack looked down into his arms. “No, you two are going home!” Then he walked the two squirrels over to Babartin, “Make sure they get safely to my house, Earth Guard!”
When Croy returned with two Bastards, Lauren called out, “Ryan, Eric, are you ready?” She handed the bracelet to Steve with the purse of tokens to activate it, “Take us north.”
“Are you freaking crazy? You just want to walk into that place?”
“I want this to end, all of it, and today. I have Rage Heart, the Champion, Bastards, the Legend Absent, and whatever the hell you are, so this ends today.” Then Ryan and Lauren handed their children to Panry and Careel.
“Fine,” Steve pulled out a gold medallion from the purse, dropped it through the bracelet, and raising it up, added, “Take us a mile from that place, to someplace safe.”
When the portal opened up on a deserted snow-covered hill, Zack grabbed the crimson cloak from Panry, “It looks cold, Dude.”
Then all stepped through, including Jasmine and Oxron.
*******
Panry and his Earth Guards, carrying the three young crying triplets, started towards the main gate when he heard Jedimac call out.
“You, my friend, are not taking those girls back—”
Panry reached for his sword.
“Your temper is short like you are. The last word in the sentence was alone so just calm down. Right now I am in Mother’s good books, both of them, and there is no way you are screwing this up for me.” Jedimac called out to eight of the Black Watch’s toughest enforcers, “After you escort their carriage back, forget the destination.” Then he turned back to the activities of organizing the wounded.
When Bor walked over to Jedimac, he said something, but being unable to understand the mixed sounds, he called Torango over by staring intently at him. “I assume you use that ointment of translation.” The elf thief nodded. “Please, translate.”
“He inquiries about his dead clan members.”
“Tell him that we will respectively collect the honored fallen, preparing them for their return home.”
After Bor had heard the answer, he headed to Aaro.
When the injured were loaded onto wagons from the compound, Babartin stepped forward, telling the bracelet to open a portal to Alron. Two Earth Guards hastily led Mirtza and Gayne through, as Careel, with two squirrels on his shoulders, guided John to the other side. Then Aaro led the procession of wounded through the magical opening, including Logan in his own small carriage, as the Black Watch guided all of the horses. Babartin stayed until all had passed through, including the last, the blood wolves absent of mithril-armed and armored bald dwarves.
When the portal winked out, Jedimac shook his head in disbelief. I have to find a more diplomatic way of negotiating with Gayne to acquire one of those—or stealing one.
Chapter 29
The portal opened on the snow-covered hill, and in the distance, they could see a crudely built wooden wall across the pass into a mountain valley. Behind it, brown plumes of hot smoke gently floated upwards in the cold air, and embracing the thermocline, it congealed into a large brown haze. Cold winds carried snow from the hilltop down to the valley floor, crafting and re-crafting small gentle snowdrifts, giving the scene the appearance of white waves on an ocean. They flowed to the craggy outcropping of the mountains, which quickly rose up to the blue sky, forming an unusual painting of dark rocks with snow filled crevices, looking like bright shadows. In the elevated ice and snow covered peaks, the winds howled a high-pitched shriek, sounding like angels being tortured.
“I wasn’t expecting something so significant,” sighed Lauren.
Steve nodded in agreement, “Must be a couple thousand or more in there.”
Oxron stepped forward, “Black-clad guards walk the wall, and trollmares patrol the front. From inside, I hear many terrible beasts.”
Rolling his shoulder, Eric felt his hand embrace the heavy weight, “Time for a storm?”
“Not yet,” Lauren said before calling to Mother’s magic. Are any children present? Without the staff, it took longer for the request to form in her mind, but she never saw the green dots similar to the visions in the Bright Coast. Even though there were a couple hundred images, all were a faded green; while some barely illuminated in her mind, others were nothing but a dim circle.
Croy and his Bastard brothers had rolled back their sleeves to rub their blue feather tattoos, making the sky turn dark and angry.
Eric sighed, “Lauren, let’s get this over with.”
Jaykil stepped forward, “Champion, this battle does not belong to you. Granite is shamed, and they seek justice.”
Lauren called to the magic, sending it deep into the mountains, where it embraced the history lost. Looking out to the valley, she unleashed an Earth Bond to the children present, or what was left of them, “Deep sleep.” Having been through enough, they did not deserve a terror-filled death. Then her voice boomed towards the valley, “Granite Guardians of Northjem, Darkpaye has destroyed your lands, your clan. They bring horror with them, wishing others to suffer the same, but to your valley, they have brought death and shame. I release you from your earthly bonds, so your honor you can reclaim.”
When the winds became quiet, the elves saw the mountains begin to tremble, and the intensity built until they had to hold onto each other to steady themselves. It started with small pebbles being dislodged, rolling down the steep slopes, liberating larger. That which was now free sped downward, building momentum, and the high peaks turned into a river of rage, flowing into the valley. Summits on the left and right, from the back of the valley to the front, crumpled like air once filled them, but the mountain valley filled with dwarf honor, earned in the ages past.
With the gigantic dust plume moving towards them, Steve pulled off the bracelet, “Back to Gayne’s?”
Jaykil stepped in front of Lauren, “Granite Peace, the second last just broke.”
Breax nodded in agreement, “Only Ironhouse’s granite remains unbroken.”
Lauren grabbed the bracelet. “To the First Forest.”
When the massive trees appeared, they all left the cold of the north to embrace the warm air of the magical woodland.
“Let me guess,” began Fury. “Your path led into endless night, and you have come here to haunt my everlasting eternity?”
“That was my backup plan,” advised Lauren.
Fury looked at Zack, “Welcome—”
“Don’t,” he interrupted.
Tranquil was beaming with joy, “Earth Mother, I can see the events transpired, but your words I would like to hear.”
Fury shook his head, “This I forbid, as its length is longer than my everlasting eternity. Should she start, I fear that in endless night I will wake.”
Scowling at her brother, Tranquil began, “Your daughters are safe. Zymse is gone, and the Bastard lives! Sister will be so pleased.”
“In additio
n,” began Fury, “legends many Ironhouse birthed. Their stage suffered from aged performances, so this event will provide fresh blood to the uninspired bards.”
Steve stepped forward, “Pardon?”
“A poor choice of words perhaps, yet a stage without actors is like a keg without ale, meaningless to dwarf.”
When the machine inside of Steve released the emergency reserves, his clothes melded to his body, becoming a dull silver-gray metal. “Warriors died, giving up their lives for something they never understood.” Again. “Children are without their fathers, wives will sleep in empty beds, and YOU TALK OF BARDS!”
Fury looked down at the small man-shaped figure that was growing in size, “With the great honor they have received, for hundreds of years, they will live in the memory of dwarf.”
Steve now equaled the height of the dark god, “Even if that play lasted one hundred thousand years, it would never compare to the number of tears that will be shed. The children, wives, parents, brothers, sisters, friends. Do you think they want to see their deaths acted out on a stage? Or would they rather see them face to face? An honorable death is like a flower that blooms at dawn and dies at dusk. For one day, it’s a thing of incredible beauty, but its death is an endless void. THERE IS NO HONOR IN DEATH, ONLY THE ACT, THEN MEMORIES VOID OF WARMTH!”
Transforming into rock, Ryan grew in size and tapped Steve on the shoulder, “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?”
“Roger that,” and Steve began to revert back to normal. “When you can leave this place, visit the families of the fallen each night until they stop crying, and then maybe you will understand.”