by Eric Vall
There was now no doubt in my mind that there was something more than met the eye afoot here. We had been brought to this place for a reason. More importantly, it was as though we were being watched, like the angel or maybe someone else led us here with the purpose of disposing of us. After all, we had no banisher. Unless someone eventually came along to close this rift, we would be trapped here for a long time, and depending on how long it took for someone to respond, we could be in here for days which was more than long enough for someone to put an end to us.
The cyclops howled again, only this time it was in excruciating pain.
I rubbed my eyes in disbelief when I saw the source of its pain: Gawain Madox with a fire whip slung around its neck.
“Gawain!” I yelled, relieved.
Gawain glanced up at me with gritted teeth, and I could barely make out the smirk on his lips from this high up. He tugged on the whip he’d conjured with his magic, and the cyclops screamed in agony as its skin bubbled and melted.
“What are you waiting for? Kill it!” he replied.
“You heard him,” I told the baroquer with a laugh. “Let’s finish this.”
My baroquer nodded and lifted its fire-licked sword. The tip was aimed at the chest of the cyclops, and we charged. In one solid thrust, the sword went clear through the other side of the fleshy, one-eyed beast. I thought we had won. There was no way it could have survived such a brutal attack as that.
I was wrong.
The cyclops did howl as blood exploded from its chest, but it still had a little bit of fight left. It struggled against Gawain’s magic whip, and my comrade never stood a chance in holding it back. He was one human with magic, though a substantial, potent amount, but this was a cyclops that was being super-charged. The monster dragged Gawain along like a dead pet as it grabbed the flaming sword and impaled itself further onto the blade. It continued to do the same with the other hand, and it cried and wept with giant, bloody tears as it pushed the sword deeper.
I stood, stunned beyond words. What in the world was it doing? Surely it had to know it was over, that there was no coming back now that there was a sword with fire imbued into it going in one side of its body and out the other. Still, it came at us, inch by torturing inch. Its hands bled and sizzled in the fire of my baroquer’s sword. The stench was almost unbearable, and I pinched my nose shut in an attempt to keep from breathing any more of it in, but the taste of it in my mouth was just as rancid. I was sure to have that putrid flavor in my mouth for weeks to come.
When it finally stopped, it was nearly nose-to-nose with the baroquer, well, at least where I suspected there to be a nose. I wasn’t actually clear on what it looked like beneath its helmet, or if there was anything there at all. For all I knew, I was riding a sentient body of armor into battle. The cyclops huffed, and with what remaining energy it had left, it reared its fist up and brought it down hard and fast between the horns of the baroquer’s helmet.
“Shit!” I yelled as the baroquer shook beneath me. The plates of armor shifted, and they started to crumple as his life began to leave his body.
In the cyclops’s last stand, it had nearly brought my baroquer down with it. I knew if he died, my mana would be sapped, and I would be up shit creek, especially with more monsters on the horizon.
I had to make a decision, and I needed to make it fast. Did I take the sap of mana and at least have a bit of cushion to fall on when my baroquer fell, or did I recall it now and risk falling forty feet without anyone to catch me this time?
As the baroquer’s knee hit the ground, I felt my mana start to slip even more. No, I wasn’t going to do this to my monster. It was my partner, and I couldn’t let any more damage befall it. I swallowed thickly and braced myself as I recalled it to its crystal to reserve what strength the both of us had left.
I was starting to notice a trend of falling from atop my monster and made a mental note to find somewhere different to command him from as wind rushed by my face on the way down to the ground. The crystal in my hand was warm against my skin, and it was comforting in this time of questioning whether or not I was going to wake up this time.
Somewhere out of my line of sight, I heard the collapse of the cyclops and the sickening thud as it splashed into the pile of its own blood. I tried to twist around to see if Gawain had made it. I hoped he did.
The ground became closer and closer by the second, and I closed my eyes. I decidedly needed a winged monster that was a devourer of souls like my pyrewyrm that could potentially get me out of situations like this, but I wasn’t even sure I had the mana left in me to summon even an axe goblin at this point.
Then I felt it, the rush of the Shadowscape as it disappeared and sucked me back into the real world. My body tingled as I landed onto something surprisingly soft and far closer to where I had fallen, and my mind was fuzzy.
When I opened my eyes to the sound of birds and sunlight beating down on the back of my neck, I knew I had made it out. I counted my lucky stars but stopped when I sat up and realized something was very wrong.
I was alone.
Chapter 12
Panic washed over me, and fear settled in my bones. I was on my feet in an instant but bowed over in pain when I realized my body was coming off the shock from falling at such a height, even if the last moment shift of dimensions had lessened it. I gritted my teeth and kneeled back into the sand. This sand was different. It wasn’t the sand from Ortych, desert sand that scorched my skin and felt like millions of hot grains. No, this sand was cool in the shadow of the mountain to my left, and compact. Rocks jutted out from it, and it was then I heard the sound of the ocean to my right.
I looked out and wondered if everyone else had landed in the water, and I shook my head. If they had, there was a chance they’d drowned, and what kind of shit luck would that have been?
“Ashla!” I called out. “Gawain! Orenn!”
I was met with silence at first, then the sound of hooves as they galloped through the mushy sand. My chest heaved as I forced myself to look behind me, but relief washed over me as I recognized the horses coming up to my location.
“Gryff!” Doc yelled. “Gryff, are you okay?”
A tired smile spread across my features, and I relaxed a little as Doc and Zyg stopped in front of me. It was nice to see friendly, familiar faces.
“I’ll be fine,” I rasped. “Ashla? Have you--”
“She’s safe,” Zyg supplied. “Karn found her and your other comrades on the other side of the beach and brought them back to the inn in Balvaan.”
“Balvaan,” I repeated and then nodded. She was safe. They were all safe, thank the Maker.
Doc hopped off his horse and kneeled to meet my eyes. As he looked over me, he hummed, more to himself than anything, I was sure. Then he smiled a little.
“You’ve suffered a great deal of mana depletion,” he told me. “You need to rest, and you’ll likely want to take it easy. You probably broke some ribs in your fall.”
I looked him up and down, confused. “How did you know I fell?”
“Gawain,” Zyg supplied again. “He said when we closed the rift you were in, you fell from atop a forty-foot baroquer.”
I chuckled though I immediately regretted it. Damn, that really did hurt.
“Let’s get you back so I can treat you properly,” Doc suggested, and he carefully helped me to my feet. It hurt to do so, but I managed to climb up on the back of Zyg’s horse.
“So, you guys closed the rift?” I asked to clarify.
“We’d heard a rift opened in the direction you guys had taken off in,” Zyg answered. “We would have responded anyway, but we knew you’d be in big trouble without a banisher there. Turns out we were right. We showed up to Ortych Sands, and the only sign of any of you were your horses. We knew you’d gone in to do what you could.”
I nodded and felt my head droop. Man, I was tired.
Zyg chuckled as my forehead must have hit his back. “You can rest. Balvaan isn’t far f
rom here.”
“Thanks.” I leaned heavier on him, and the last thing I remembered before I conked out was Zyg grabbing my arm so I didn’t fall off as we sped off to the port town.
When I opened my eyes again, it was dusk in Balvaan, and I was in a bed in the inn. I laughed a little to myself. I had to stop meeting with beds like this, all injured and sleepy. There were much better uses for beds that didn’t involve medicine and rest.
I sat up with a pained groan and noted that Ashla, Orenn, and Gawain all sat at a small table in the middle of the room. There were four beds, one for each of us, and there was a small kitchenette to the left. Windows were on either side of the stove, and there was a bathroom door at the foot of my bed.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” Orenn greeted when they realized I was awake. “Take it easy. You got banged up pretty good.”
“I didn’t end up in a coma for three weeks,” I teased, but I was shot down quickly.
“This time,” he reminded me. “Don’t think I forgot about your uber nap after what happened in Bathi Highlands.”
I laughed. I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten that. “Touche.”
Orenn chuckled, and Ashla stood. She sat on the edge of my bed and put her hand on my forehead.
“You still have a bit of a fever,” she told me. “It’s likely just from exhaustion and your bones mending, but I’ll let Doc know so he can take a look at you.”
“Thanks,” I replied, and Ashla cupped my cheek before she took her leave.
“So, what did I miss?” I asked as I shifted my weight so my back was against the wall.
“Just soup and bullshit,” Gawain answered.
Orenn rolled his eyes at that. “You really didn’t miss much. It’s only been about a day since we got here. Crazy to think we ended up on the complete opposite side of the mountain though.”
“I’ll say,” I replied. “I’ve never been this far out before. Even Tietra was new territory for me.”
Orenn nodded, then apprehensively continued, “This is my hometown.”
“You grew up here?” My eyes went wide as I balked.
“Is that so surprising?” Orenn asked with a tilt of his head.
“No, I guess not.” I shook my head. “I just pegged you for being a mountain boy or something.”
Orenn laughed at that and shrugged. “Nope. I’m a beach bum. Spent my teenage years working on the docks and unloading supplies at the pier. Spent my off time fishing.”
It was my turn to laugh. “I’ll be damned. That’s so cool!”
“It has its perks,” Orenn admitted. “I miss the surf and sunrises here. The ones in Varle are nice if you’re high enough up in the city to really enjoy them, but they just don’t have the same glow to them as they do here.”
“I’ll bet,” I chimed in. “It sounds beautiful.”
Seconds later, Doc came in to interrupt our talk, followed closely by Ashla.
“Long time, no see,” Doc joked as he pulled up a chair in front of my bed.
“We really need to stop meeting like this,” I replied with a grin. “People are going to start getting the wrong idea.”
“Still have your wits about you,” Doc chuckled. “That’s a good sign.” He put his hand over my forehead as Ashla had and nodded. “Definitely have a bit of a fever, but nothing some herbs and a nice cup of hot hen broth can’t help you out with.”
My stomach rumbled at the mere mention of food, and I smiled sheepishly. “Sounds delightful.”
“I’m sure it does, seeing as the last time you ate was several days ago,” Doc informed me.
I blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”
Doc blinked back, then looked at Ashla with narrowed eyes. “You didn’t tell him you were gone for four days?”
“We hadn’t gotten that far yet, Doc.” Ashla shrugged. “Get off my back.”
With a sigh, Doc shook his head, then turned his attention back to me. “Yes, it’s been a couple of days, but nothing to concern yourself with. Nothing worth taking note of has happened in your absence that we’ve been made aware of as of yet.”
I groaned. At this rate, I was going to end up missing an entire year with how much time I lost going in and out of the Shadowscape.
“Let’s check your ribs right quick. Then we can see about getting you some of that broth,” Doc said quietly.
I lifted up my shirt, and it was only then that I noticed I had been bandaged up. Doc pressed his fingers lightly in a few places, and I winced as he poked a particularly nasty spot.
“Still extremely tender,” he commented. “All right. You’re going to be in bed for at least another day until I can secure the supplies that will fix you up faster.”
“How long do ribs normally take to heal?” I asked.
“You mean without the use of magic? It could take weeks to months to get you back to full health,” Doc told me. “Fortunately, I’m decent friends with the herbalist here, and I’m confident we can get you the plant we need so I can make you a potion that will do the job in twenty-four hours.”
I grinned through my pain. “That’s incredible!”
“Yes, well, don’t thank me yet, Gryff,” he snorted and stood. “I’ll be back when I have news, good or bad. In the meantime, have that broth. I gave Ashla the herbs to put in it to reduce the fever.”
“Thanks, Doc, I owe you one,” I replied, and with that, he nodded and left the same way he came.
“He likes you,” Ashla informed me. “He doesn’t treat just anyone like this, even if I ask him to.”
“I’m flattered then.” I smiled.
Ashla returned the gesture and turned to the small kitchenette so she could prepare the soup. “We were waiting for you to wake up to discuss what happened.”
I winced as I sat myself up straighter in the bed. “Is that so?”
“There’s a lot to talk about,” Orenn started, “including what happened to Gawain in the first place.”
“Don’t drag me into this,” Gawain scoffed.
I made a face. “Don’t make me hurt myself and throw a pillow at you. Just tell us what happened after you got sucked into the rift.”
Gawain was silent for a moment as he gathered his thoughts, then sat back in his seat and crossed his arms. “I’m not sure where I was, or what happened to me. One second, I was standing with you lot in the middle of the desert, the next I’m on top of a mountain that looked similar to where I was injured the last time I got lost in the Shadowscape.”
“Did you see her?” I asked as I stared at him curiously.
Gawain flicked his gaze over to me. “See who?”
“The little girl from the Magicae Nito, did you see her?” I asked again.
“I … don’t think so,” he responded at length as though he wasn’t sure. “Although now that you mention it, I do recall hearing her voice around me while I was trying to find a way down. It sounded like she was singing, but I couldn’t make out the words.”
I looked to Orenn who nodded. “That sounds about right. We heard the same song outside of Bathi Highlands before we hopped into the inverted rift. She was there, too, but not as prominently.”
“Seems like this little girl is more important to this plot than we might have initially thought,” Orenn pondered aloud. “First in Bedima, then Bathi, then Varle and Ortych. There has to be a connection.”
“Aside from I’ve been to all of those places,” I sighed, “I can’t think of anything at all they have in common.”
Ashla laughed quietly from the stove as she prepared the hen broth. “I’m sure there is a connection we’re missing. We just aren’t looking in the right places.”
“It’s probably something right in front of our faces, too.” Gawain bounced his leg up and down restlessly as he spoke.
“Well, what do we know?” Orenn asked and placed his hands on the table.
“We know the ciphers we’re collecting are supposed to reveal the key to a language that hasn’t been used in centuries,” I start
ed, “and we know whoever hid them didn’t want them easily found.”
Orenn nodded. “What else?”
“We know the monster world wants to extinguish humans,” I continued. “That’s what the angel in Bedima told Nia and me, anyway.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Gawain chided. “If they wanted to extinguish humans, they would.”
“They’re certainly trying,” Ashla chimed in.
“You’re missing what I’m saying,” Gawain argued. “Gryff has the ability to turn them docile, almost pet-like.”
I perked up. “If you’re suggesting I tame every single monster in the Shadowscape, you’re out of your damn mind.”
Gawain rolled his eyes, clearly frustrated. “I’m saying I don’t think all of the monsters we’re dealing with are on the hostile side. A lot of them are no different than the animals and game we keep and hunt in Mistral.”
I considered that a moment. He had a fair point. Even though I had the advantage with the ability to control monsters, especially ones I’d caught myself, there was a significant difference between the generally hostile monsters that felt threatened and the ones that wanted our corpses on sticks. It was becoming increasingly more obvious there was something in the works that made monsters stronger than they already were. We’d seen it in Bedima, and we saw it just now in the rift.
“Okay, so that’s something,” Orenn said to keep the discussion rolling. “Anything else?”
I was quiet for a moment as I tried to piece things together mentally, then slowly started to talk them out. “The designs on the doors in Tietra … Tem, said they were the seals of the twelve guardians and they are the masters of tending to the balance between our world and the monster world, but we don’t know who any of them are.”
“Tem mentioned that to me, too,” Orenn mused as he crossed his arms.
“We also know the elders and the libraries have answers we can’t find,” Gawain added. “Maybe it isn’t a bad idea to seek out the other libraries.”
“You heard Elder Sterling,” I reminded him. “Two of the others were lost to time. There are only two others that remain, and we don’t even know where to begin looking for them.”