by Joe Jackson
“And you plan to lead the nations this time?” Councilor Peters asked Max.
The luranar prince nodded. “I do. But first we must reclaim the four flames, the ancient symbols of unity that helped bring all our peoples together. I am too young to rally the nations the way I did your people, riding in through the gates upon Galadon’s noble steed. If we have the four flames, though, and perhaps the assistance of dragons, we can rally the people to stand up, to either destroy this menace or at least drive it out, perhaps back to the underworld.”
“And one of the first orders of business in that regard is having my sword re-forged,” Galadon said. “As you gentlemen may have heard, it was shattered in the battle with Arku. I’m not even sure if it can be fixed, but we’re going to need an expert smith to assess things. Who is the best smith among our nations, do you know?”
“There are a number of talented smiths among the nations, but if you need someone to fix that blade, I imagine it’s going to have to be someone as special as the blade itself,” Councilor Mitchell answered.
Leighandra perked up. “Surely you don’t mean the legendary harmauth smith Terx, do you? From what I’ve seen, his markings adorn at least two of the four blades we seek; but getting to him to have the blade – or even blades – repaired is no simple feat.”
The three councilors exchanged looks. “I was speaking of the guardian demon Serenjols, who makes his abode in Latalex on Askies. He is among the most talented smiths in the world, and his familiarity with… hellfire is rumored to allow him to craft things no mortal man could ever hope to.”
“It’s a place to start, I suppose,” Delkantar said, a hand to his scraggly chin. “What’s the easiest way to get a message to him, to at least see if he’s interested?”
“One of the temples could pass that message along easily,” Leighandra answered. “If he is interested, and willing to come here to see to it, then that gives us ample time to see to our more immediate task from Karinda.”
“And what would that be?” Peters asked.
“To go speak with Fireblade,” Starlenia huffed, and she laughed at the men’s reaction. “Yeah, we pretty much feel the same way. So, you may be looking for new leadership soon.”
Audrei grasped Max’s arm. “Surely you don’t mean to speak with the fire wyrm?”
“Karinda seems certain that Fireblade will aid us to some extent, and what little aid she gives us will set us on the correct path,” he assured her.
“Correct path? To where? Eternity?”
“Audrei…”
Starlenia chortled. “I like this girl.”
“Max, did you not just tell us of the numerology behind your faith a few days past?” Yiilu interrupted. “Vo’rii is my companion, and I consider her a friend, but if we add Audrei to our number, that brings us to seven people. And Karinda did specifically tell us to come here and see to something first.”
The luranar prince started to respond but then closed his mouth and considered each of his friends. “There are no coincidences, Max,” his wife told him.
“Then we must trust Lady Karinda,” he returned. “Even if that means we walk into the very mouth of a dragon’s lair.”
“Do you need anything from us to aid in your journey?” Councilor Mitchell asked. “I cannot recommend you follow this course, but I will not stand in your way. You have already discovered much.”
“Just basic provisions, and perhaps some armor and a weapon for my wife. If you could have one of your people see to sending a message to this… Serenjols regarding the re-forging of Galadon’s blade, that will be a tremendous help to us.”
“We will see it done,” Peters confirmed. “If we may, there is one thing we’d trouble you for, should you be willing.”
“The cemetery needs clearing out again?” Galadon guessed.
The councilman made a gesture of partial agreement. “It took a great deal of explaining, arguing, and fighting to get the point across, but a more permanent solution to the zombie and skeleton issue was enacted. But as I mentioned, we’re still receiving reports from commoner and guard alike that the trouble has become spirits and ghosts now, and the priests of Kaelariel, brave as they are, have been stretched thin with how widespread this issue is. I understand you’ve got a more pressing matter before you, but …”
“We’ll take a look,” Starlenia declared. She glanced at the others. “If we catch another necromancer, maybe we’ll get more answers and direction this time.”
“Let’s get Audrei outfitted and have a meal before the sun sets,” Leighandra offered.
“Take this with you,” Councilor Peters said, scribbling something on parchment before he marked it with a wax seal and pressed his signet ring into it. “Whatever outfitter you go to will help you free of charge, on our account.”
“Thank you, sirs,” Audrei said with a bow of her head.
Peters smiled somewhat crookedly. “Our pleasure, lady. If I may be so bold as to say so, you chose a heck of a man to marry.”
The two luranar exchanged a glance but smiled. Leighandra figured they had decided not to point out that their marriage was arranged. It was pleasant to see such a situation turn out well, for the chronicler had seen far too many that didn’t. And then other times, the prospect of it led to other complications, such as her mother running away to be with the human man she’d become enamored with. That had worked out well, too, but it was not without its obstacles.
“Farewell, gentlemen. As always, we will report back with our findings,” Max said, and the councilors rose and bid the group goodbye.
~ * ~ * ~
They went to the nearest adventuring outfitter, a shop offering arms and armor that had its own smithy attached. Starlenia and Delkantar helped Audrei choose a set of armor that would be protective without exhausting her too quickly. The woman was clearly not accustomed to wearing armor at all, and to drop a set of chain or plate on her would’ve been crippling. At the same time, something made of padding or fibers might invite fleas and other irritants, something that would be far worse for one of the lupine folk.
They settled on a leather set in the same style as the ones Starlenia, Delkantar, and Leighandra wore. It was a fairly simple matter for the shop’s leatherworker to make a hole for the luranar’s tail. That was the only real adjustment that had to be made. Their body styling was otherwise close enough to human – from breasts to hips to rump – that everything else fit well. That made Leighandra wonder about the relationship between gnoll and luranar; the gnoll females they’d rescued had lacked defined breasts, their teats instead all located on their lower bellies. Who had created the two races? Was it the same deity? And if so, why the differences in legs and other features?
A fascinating puzzle I’d love to find the answers to, she mused.
Audrei added a walking staff that could double as a weapon, and they returned to the inn where they’d been well-served before to arrange for rooms and meals. With Max and Audrei pairing up, Yiilu and Vo’rii were afforded their own room. The innkeeper looked skeptical about the wolf possibly sleeping on the bed, but Yiilu preempted him voicing his thoughts.
“Vo’rii is not a creature of comforts; she is more than satisfied lying on the floor,” the druidess told him.
As if to accentuate the point, the wolf curled up beside the druid’s chair, and the innkeeper gave a lop-sided smile, a hmph, and continued with his work.
With the sun approaching the horizon, the companions gathered around a large wooden table and shared a meal. “To Audrei, the newest addition to our number,” Delkantar offered in toast with his drink. “To getting to know you, and returning you and your husband safely home to your children when all is said and done.”
“Thank you,” Audrei said as they all clinked their glasses together. Max had, as usual, declined an alcoholic drink, but his wife held no such reservations. She had a stein of ale along with the rest of them, though Leighandra saw no judgment from Max on the matter.
The ch
ronicler wanted to ask the woman about her family and husband, but decided it might be best to wait until she could speak to Audrei privately. “Are you familiar with weapons at all?” she prompted instead.
Audrei smiled sheepishly. “Well, I did learn a thing or two about the bow and the staff from my brother, though I never received any formal training.”
“You mean Kas’Yari?” Starlenia asked.
“Oh, has Max told you about him?”
“We met him,” Delkantar said. “Fine fellow. Has a good nose for woodland tactics and tracking. We helped him with freeing some of his people and the Caerumach underchief.”
“You found Kas’Yari?” Audrei said, turning to her husband.
“He is fighting bravely in the north to free his people from yet another facet of this trouble,” Max answered. “We lent him what aid we could, but I think once Prince Roltek was with them, they were more than capable of taking care of their own.”
“Where did you find your father’s things?”
Max didn’t answer for a few moments. “Up north, in the lands of the fures-rir.”
“But they didn’t take care of his body?”
Max said something to her in their language, and Leighandra got the impression Audrei’s response was an apology.
“Hey, no fair talking in a language the rest of us don’t speak,” Starlenia offered, her tone an obvious attempt to lighten things. “You never did answer the question earlier. Is it possible your father might still be alive?”
“I don’t think so,” Galadon answered for the prince. “I was there; I remember seeing him struck down, and his unblinking eyes were the last thing I remember seeing…”
“How ever are you still alive?” Audrei asked.
“Damned if I know,” the knight returned with a shrug and a sigh. “Karinda seems to think an angel has something to do with all this, but that’s not much to go on. She said there were two other people resurrected as well: some woman who’s apparently a werewolf, and Karian Vanador. So, there’s the hints of something divine behind all this, though again, it’s not much to go on.”
“What have the lot of you stumbled into?”
“More trouble than I bargained for,” Starlenia muttered.
They shared a laugh and then their meals arrived. Chatter was minimal during dinner, and once the sun had completely set, they stowed their things in their rooms and prepared to head to the cemetery.
Leighandra caught Audrei alone when Max went to use the privy. “What did Max say to you when you asked about his father?”
“Hmmm? Oh, he asked me to let the matter pass,” she answered as Yiilu came up beside them. “Max and his father had a bit of a… terse relationship. On the one hand, Max has always looked up to his father, but at the same time, I think he fears he’ll never live up to his father’s memory. Asking about Kalamaris’ body was just a little much for him in the moment.”
“Did you know King Kalamaris well?” the druidess asked.
“He and I had a rather terse relationship as well,” Audrei replied matter-of-factly. “I wasn’t all that pleased when he told me I would be betrothed to his seventh son and, being the outspoken young woman I was, I told him so.”
Leighandra chuckled. “I take it that didn’t go over well?”
“Let’s just say I had trouble sitting for several days,” Audrei said with a wolfish grin, but she subdued it a bit when she saw Max approaching. “I’ll tell you more about it later. For now, what exactly are we to do in the cemetery?”
“Hunt ghosts,” Starlenia answered as she joined the other women.
“Hunt ghosts?”
Max stepped up before his wife. “Yes. Stay here if you wish. No one is forcing you to go anywhere. You were never trained for something like this.”
Audrei looked around at them. “None of you were trained for this! What… how are you even planning to fight them?”
Delkantar chuckled grimly. “Good question.”
“Faith,” Max answered.
“And a little bit of magic,” Leighandra added with a nod.
The luranar prince led the way to the cemetery, and the guards posted near its gate let them through without complaint. Leighandra couldn’t help but notice the guards manned their post from across the street now. It made Audrei’s question echo in her mind: What did they plan to do if they came face-to-face with a spirit of some kind? Could their weapons even hurt it? Did the stories of blessed weapons, or those dipped in holy water have any truth to them? More interestingly, were blades enchanted in some fashion able to do the same?
That last thought drew her gaze to the hilt of the Sword of the North Wind at Max’s hip. Even he’d looked at the sword in astonishment after decapitating the undead yeti. Did Max have any idea what the sword could do other than burst into flame in the right hands?
The sprawling graveyard was appropriately quiet as a tomb, and even in the post-twilight gloom, there wasn’t a trace of movement. Councilor Peters hadn’t specified exactly what they’d done to combat the necromancy, but Leighandra suspected it had to do with exhuming and burning a lot of the corpses. That had to have cost the council face with many of the citizens, and couldn’t have been an easy decision to make or carry out.
And yet, here the companions were, prepared to do that and more to see to their ends.
Max retraced their steps through the cemetery, but there were no bonfires this time, no trace of man or beast or undead creation. All was quiet – too quiet – and Leighandra saw that hers weren’t the only hackles raised by the stillness. Yiilu was on her guard, and the ears and noses of the two luranar and the wolf twitched and sniffed frequently. Delkantar and Starlenia looked for tracks and other signs of passage under the chronicler’s summoned lights, but didn’t turn up anything for nearly a quarter of an hour.
When they returned to the center of the graveyard, Max began poking around the tombs and the mausoleums. Leighandra swore she could feel a change in the temperature, but chalked it up to her imagination. It wasn’t every night one walked through a cemetery, especially in the wake of a massive undead uprising. There was nothing to suggest trouble, and the coldness was likely just the contrast to the warmth of the day.
But then Max whirled to the west. “Stand ready!”
Leighandra didn’t hesitate: she set her blade aflame, and called Delkantar and Starlenia over to do the same to theirs. Audrei and Yiilu stood together, sweeping their gazes side to side across the grounds, looking for any signs of trouble while Vo’rii hunkered down and let out a long growl.
A shadow that was far more than a shift of the chronicler’s summoned lights fell across the path and then the party, and all eyes turned toward a nearby crypt. There was a horrid moan that echoed through the area as an inky cloud rose from the cracks of the crypt door. Leighandra lost the focus of her magic as she stared in shock at the incorporeal being, a massive shadow in roughly the shape of a man from the waist up. It was as if all will had left her at the sight of this undead abomination, and Leighandra felt sweat bleed out of her skin in nervous prickles.
Starlenia slapped her on the rump with the side of her kukri. “Get those lights back up! And keep your blades aflame; there’s no telling what it’ll take to fight these things.”
That got Leighandra’s wits back about her, and she focused on what she could do, and not on what might or might not work.
“Galadon!” Max shouted, and he tossed his father’s blade to the human knight.
As soon as Galadon gripped the pommel, the blade sprouted blue flame. The shadowy specter reared up in the face of the holy light source, and Max sidestepped over to his companion and took the greatsword from the knight’s back. He pointed eastward, and Leighandra whipped around to see that while their attention was focused on this first and obvious foe, others were rising from the nearby crypts. Leighandra swallowed hard and worked to keep her composure.
“Great Spirit, what is going on here?” Starlenia grunted through her teeth. With
her twin blades aflame, she started forward with Galadon, circling around to see if she could pin their nearest opponent between them. “Here goes nothing!”
“On the contrary, here goes everything,” Delkantar shot back. “Max, with me!”
The luranar paladin fell into step with the ranger, and they made their way to the next closest of the shadows. Max glanced over his shoulder and shouted, “Audrei, bless the ground beneath you, it should hold these creatures at bay! Yiilu, summon your Earth Mother’s blessings and give us what aid you may.”
“Bless the ground?” Leighandra muttered, and she turned to the luranar woman. “Are you a priestess, then?”
“In a sense, I suppose I am,” Audrei said, straightening out with confidence. She began to speak in the soft tones of the luranar tongue, and though Leighandra couldn’t see any effects, she thought she could feel something starting to build.
Yiilu’s prayer to the Earth Mother was a familiar one to the chronicler. She had seen the elven druidess work her power several times now, so she left the two women, confident Yiilu could protect them. The chronicler went with Max and Delkantar, likewise confident that Galadon and Starlenia would be fine, especially with that legendary sword.
Max cut through the bulk of a shadow, but the greatsword seemed to have no effect on it. The specter reached for him. The luranar paladin ducked out of its reach, and with it extended toward him, Delkantar stabbed and slashed at it with his flaming blades. It was hard to tell if his attacks had any effect, as there was nothing physically there to cut or burn. But whatever the case, he got the specter’s attention and it whirled on him.
That was just what Leighandra wanted, as she stabbed it three times in rapid succession with her own flaming blade. She didn’t feel anything; there was no resistance or sensation through her blade as she stabbed it, but at the very least, it didn’t appear to like the light or being touched directly by it. Max called out something in the luranar tongue as well, and waded back in with a massive overhead chop.
He missed a step, stumbling over the remnants of an exhumed grave. The specter turned again and thrust its shadowy fingers through Max’s breastplate. He yowled in pain and staggered back, but the creature stayed with him. Delkantar hacked at it furiously, and Leighandra followed suit, simply trying to get it away from the paladin, but to no avail. A trail of frosty breath came forth from Max’s mouth, and the luranar’s eyes went wide.