Fall of Igneeria: The Half-ling

by Kaylee Soderburg

  “The little traitor thought he could fool us,” Kojas announced, “but he was wrong. His death does not matter to me but what matters is what he could have said and done against us. He may have spilled too much.

  “But it does not matter!” he continued, his voice flowing with reassurance. “I have knowledge that the half-lings have entered our world and our grasp. The dwarf may have done us a favor, bringing them here, without knowing it. My help, my prize travels with them. He will bring us to victory, the half-ling boy!”

  The crowd roared louder than ever, fueled by the thought of victory. Anger rose inside me with every word Kojas said. Seth would not help them and the dwarf didn't make a mistake. The only one making the mistake was Kojas.

  The crowd fell silent as he said, “We will find them and kill them. Than nothing will be in our way!”

  My disbelief grew and a single howl sounded above all. I felt the ground disappear underneath me as I woke up to the safety of the cave.

  I opened my eyes and had to squint because the light was so strong. I sat up and leaned against the wall, looking around. The sun shone brightly through the cave's entrance, making dirt particles appear in the air. Seth was leaning on the wall, twirling his sword in the dirt, not appearing to notice that I was awake. Emily and Jason were sitting in the center of the cave, playing some kind of hand game. Jason hit Emily in the arm and she started yelling at. So, this is typical thing to wake up to.

  I stood up and walked over to Seth. He looked up from the ground and saw my troubled face. “What's wrong, Jazell?”

  “I need to speak to you,” I said in a low voice, “alone.”

  Seth nodded in understanding and I followed him out of the cave. We stood off to the side near the edge of the cliff where Emily and Jason couldn't see us. For a minute, I didn't say anything because I didn't know what to say.

  I hesitated, but knew that if I told anyone about the dream, it would be Seth. So what was the point in waiting? “I had a dream last night,” I began. “Only it wasn't really a dream, but more of a vision.”

  Seth nodded. “What was it about?”

  I told him about the cliff and how Kojas had killed the dwarf. I hesitated but told him what Kojas said about him too, and I saw him stiffen.

  “I'm sorry,” I found myself saying.

  Seth shook his head. “It's not your fault that he said those things about me. I'm happy you didn't try to keep it from me.”

  “What should we do?” I asked desperately.

  “Well we know that the dwarf is dead and that Kojas knows we're here,” Seth said. “We also know he's going to be looking for all of us.”

  “So?”

  “So?” Seth mimicked and smiled. “We do what we always do. We'll just step up our game and do a little more running than we're used to. No problem, right?”

  “Ya,” I said, feeling the fear creep up again. “No problem.”

  “Jazell, it's okay to be scared,” Seth looked me in the eye. “I'll admit to you, only you, that I'm scared too.”

  “No,” I said with mock surprise. “You? Scared? Never.”

  He gave me a light shove. “Hey smarty pants don't be sarcastic with me. I just gave you a huge secret.”

  I laughed and shoved him back, “Don't tell me what to do, bossy.”

  “Well,” he teased, “at least I'm not going around making fun of friends who are scared.”

  I opened my mouth to say something smart when I heard a small, “Ahem,” at the cave entrance.

  I looked over my shoulder to see Emily standing there, leaning against the rock wall, smiling in a way that made you happy...but scared. I mentally braced myself for whatever was coming from my eavesdropping friend.

  “So,” she said casually, “What are you guys talking loudly about?”

  “Uh...” was all my brain could compute.

  Luckily Seth saved me. “What's wrong with two crazy, half-ling kids going outside in the morning because they're both tired of listening to their other two friends bicker while they play hand games?”

  “Well, you know it's weird that you two are talking alone, without letting the rest of us know what it is,” she shot back. “Unless you two are hiding something from us?”

  Nice save, Seth.

  “Um...” I said. “Why would we hide anything from you two?”

  Emily put her hands on her hips. “I don't know, but you two are acting like you are hiding something.” She stopped and gave me a wicked smile. “Unless you two were not talking-”

  “God no, Emily!” I interrupted her. “No way, we were just trying to get away from you two because I just woke up and you guys are really loud first thing in the morning.”

  She sighed. “Fine, don't bite my head off Jazell, I was just asking a question.” Then she turned and disappeared back in the cave.

  Seth let out a huge breath. “Wow, I'm glad she left. I had the feeling that she knew we were hiding something.” He hunched over me. “Because we are.”

  “Do you think we should tell them about my vision?” I asked.

  He chewed his lip in frustration. “Maybe we should, but not include the parts about me.”

  “Seth,” I said slowly hoping he didn't get mad at me, “we should tell them what's going on with you eventually. What if Kojas comes for you and they have no clue why-”

  “No!” he said sharply, and the tone of his voice surprised me. “I can't Jazell, I wouldn't have told you if you hadn't ran after me demanding to know what I was hiding.”

  “But you're happy I did, right?” I asked.

  He looked away. “Yes I am. It's a lot better than hiding this on my own. The secret just keeps getting bigger.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Emily will find out eventually, and when she does, she'll kill you for keeping a secret from her.”

  “Let's hope it isn't until you and I figure this thing out.”

  I nodded and walked back into the cave. Emily and Jason watched us enter and I swallowed nervously. Seth gave me a small nod, signaling me to start telling them about my dream.

  “Listen guys, I had a dream,” I said and repeated my dream again, minus the part about Seth.

  Emily and Jason listened to every word I said. When I got to the part about Kojas, Emily's mouth made a small O and Jason's eyes widened. My voice shook as I recalled the dwarf's dead body.

  “That's awful!” Emily said, her voice shaking. She hopped over and gave me a small embrace. “I'm sorry you had to see that.”

  “Uh...thanks Emily,” I said and allowed myself to be hugged.

  She bounced back over to Jason's side and waited for me to continue but there was nothing else to say. I had told her everything I needed to tell her. Did she somehow know that I wasn't telling her the whole story? I looked at Seth out of the corner of my eye and saw him doing the same. We needed to talk longer and more in depth about the situation we were sharing.

  “So,” Emily said and tapped her fingers on the cave wall, “is that all?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well then,” she looked us in the eyes, “what are we waiting for? Let's get a move on and leave this small, damp cave.”

  I shrugged and followed her out. The sky was lit but still had a gloomy feeling mixed in with the warmth. I felt a sense of dread as we entered the never-ending forest again.

  A few rays fought their way through the thick canopy of trees, making it possible to see what was around you. Seth led the way as we followed a faint path through the unknown. I was bringing up the rear of the line, Emily in front of me. I watched her cloak swish around her ankles, the rhythm surprisingly soothing to me. The silence was unnatural, and I felt like there should be some kind of sound.

  I shouldn't have thought that.

  Out of nowhere I heard a single rattle. Then it suddenly stopped. A feeling of unease rose inside of me but I kept walking. Then another rattle that didn't end sounded, vibrating all around us. Another seemed to join it, then another and another until the noise
was unbearably loud.

  Sick, quiet laughter sounded all around us. It giggled and laughed in amusement, shrieking at us. The laughter stopped, but the rattle didn't. But whatever it was, it surrounded us. The four of us pressed together.

  “This is the prey?” a rake-like voice cackled. “This is nothing!”

  I saw Seth draw his sword and the rest of us readied our weapons. I gripped my bow so hard that I was afraid it might break in two.

  I heard more screechy laughter. “Easy kill,” another agreed.

  “No challenge,” something else piped up. “The King under estimates our abilities.” It laughed.

  A voice hissed, “We will show him.”

  This was seriously starting to freak me out. It was like the dead were talking to me, and I shivered.

  Then I saw them. They slithered from the shadows of the trees and bushes. There hundreds of them, each easily my height. They were covered in black, grey green scales that were each the size of my hand. They were layered on its body like plated armor. Their beady dark, red eyes sent shivers down my spine.

  I slung my bow back over my shoulder and grabbed my hunter's knife from its sheath on my side. One stopped and raised its head up towards me. It opened its mouth to reveal rows of sharp, yellow fangs. A chuckle escaped its mouth.

  “What are you going to do with that, half-ling?” it said with a voice that sent needles into my skin. “A knife won't do a thing against something like me.”

  I almost listened to the thing and started to lower my weapon but I caught myself. My hands started to shake.

  Its eyes glistened with hunger. “You can't even hold a weapon. So how are you going to save your friends?”

  I didn't know what it was talking about until I looked over. Seth was stiff and frozen, his eyes following one of the snake creatures that was climbing its way up his leg. It twisted itself around his arm and brushed onto his neck. Seth swung his sword at the back of the snake but there was a flash and it sliced his arm instead. He winced and dropped his weapon. The snake had wrapped around his neck and was squeezing. I gripped my knife but stopped when the creature snickered from the ground.

  “I wouldn't do that if I were you,” it said. “That wouldn't be wise.”

  “Why?” I demanded. “It wouldn't be right to help Seth?”

  It hissed in laughter. “No, half-ling. If you haven't realized it yet, we change our shapes. Your friend already hurt himself learning that.”

  Seth wasn't looking so good. He was bent over and was grabbing at his neck. I then realized that the snake was now a smaller brown colored snake and had its whole body wrapped completely around his neck. I had an awful feeling that I couldn't help Seth without hurting him. I was helpless.

  Emily and Jason were farther off fighting their own swarm. I could see from here that they were slowly losing too. Emily continued to try to fry the creatures or knock them away with air, but it wasn't really working. I kept seeing Jason's knives fly off into the woods, or sink into the ground, instead of hitting their mark.

  “And now half-ling,” it whispered with joy, “you die.” It lunged up at me.

  I had a sudden feeling inside and I stabbed at the creature. It tried to change forms to avoid the knife's path but somehow my knife stabbed it anyway. It withered and then went still. I gasped as the body fell to the ground and even some of the creatures, around stopped.

  They murmured among each other, “She killed a syphon! She killed one of us.”

  So the awful creatures were called syphons? What did they want? I made a mental note to tell Emily about this. That is, if all of us didn’t die first.

  They screeched in anger and I felt their eyes on me. Every single one was full of burning hatred. But I ignored the feeling and focused on Seth. His eyes locked on mine as he wheezed and he sent me a clear message, Help.

  Not that I needed his permission anyway, it's just Seth never asked for help. I, again, suddenly knew the syphon's weakness but I didn't know why or how. I could sense some dark black area on the neck just like a target dot. I stabbed it and the creature gave a dying hiss, falling to the ground too.

  Seth rubbed his neck and grabbed his sword. “Thanks Jazell.”

  “No problem,” I said. “Want to rescue the others?”

  Seth grinned, “Sure, Jason isn't going to be happy about me saving his butt.”

  “Well he can deal,” I said and walked quickly towards Emily and Jason. “We better hurry.”

  I reached Emily in a few, quick strides, stabbing some syphons that were trying to attack her. She looked up at me and opened her mouth to ask me how the heck I did that but I shook my head. I'd explain the unexplainable later.

  “Aim for the neck!” I shouted to the both of them. “It's their weak point.”

  They both nodded in agreement. Jason spun around and began to stab them as I suggested. He ducked and I say their number start to drop because of his quick reflexes.

  The swarm's size was reduced to half. The syphons were starting to look uneasy, hesitating before they flung themselves at us. It didn't matter to me.

  “Retreat!” one of the voices yelled. “Fall back!”

  They gave one more angry hiss at us and disappeared into the woods. The bushes and trees rattled and then the woods were silent. I could hear everyone's heavy breaths as we turned to face each other. Well, actually everyone turned to me.

  “So,” I said and wiped the sweat off my knife's handle, “that was something, wasn't it?”

  Emily put her hands on her hips. “Jazell, how the heck did you know how to kill those things?” She shook her head. “What were those things?”

  “Syphons,” I said. “I don't know how I knew where to stab them. I just did, alright? It was weird.”

  Seth shook his head and leaned against a tree. “How come you get some random power when the rest of us don't?” He gave me a fake pout. “It's not fair.”

  I leaned against the tree next to him and rammed my elbow into his side. He winced and I grinned. “I didn't ask for the power, Seth. But it did save our butts so I'm happy, I magically gained it.”

  “Well I hope I get some cool power too,” Emily said and stretched.

  “Whatever,” Jason said and twirled a knife in his hand. He seemed to go back to say-a-few-words-and-then-say-nothing-which-drives-everyone-crazy.

  Emily made a face at him. “Wow, thanks so much for the support, Jason. That speech was incredible.”

  Jason stuck his tongue out. “You're welcome.”

  “One day,” she mumbled. “One darn day...”

  “Emily, are you okay?” I asked.

  Her head shot up and she gave me a big smile. “Yup, never better. I'm just having a minute to myself.”

  “Okay...” I trailed off.

  Seth walked over to join us. “We should get moving and find somewhere else to stay. If we stay and argue in the forest, something worse is bound to find us.”

  “Right, lead the way,” I said and pushed off the tree.

  Seth nodded and I walked beside him as he led us, once again, through the woods. Emily and Jason were talking quietly about something which gave us both the opportunity to talk.

  “You think Kojas sent them?” I mumbled to him and pushed a branch away.

  He looked at me from the corner of his eye. “Obviously, why else would they say that the 'King' would underestimate them?”

  “You make a good point,” I said. “Why did the syphon attack you?” I lowered my voice so only he could hear me. “I thought you said they wouldn't attack you.”

  He looked uneasy. “The syphon said he would be rewarded for grabbing me. I think he wasn't trying to kill me but trying to knock me out.”

  “So he could bring you to Kojas.”

  He nodded but he seemed somewhere else. He sighed and said, “I hope they won't go too far to achieve that, or it'll get harder to hide this from Emily and Jason.”

  I crossed my arms. “I told you that we should tell them. But yo
u still refuse to let me-”

  “No,” he said sternly. “No and that's that.”

  “Fine,” I said and threw my arms in the air. “I give up. At least I tried but you're just too stinking stubborn.”

  Seth flashed me a smile. “It's what you love the most about me.”

  I punched him in the arm. “Who said I loved anything about you. Maybe I like puppies more. At least they listen, mostly.”

  “Ow, that hurts,” he said and clutched his side.

  I laughed and felt the world brighten a bit. “You're so annoying. You can add that to the list.”

  “You just love to insult me,” Seth grinned. “Is it your new hobby?”

  “It will be if you keep annoying me,” I fought the urge to punch him again.

  He just rolled his eyes at me. He really is the most annoying person I've ever met besides Emily and myself. Wow, he was going to have us both beat.

  “I'm sorry to interrupt your playful banter, but are we actually looking for a place in particular or just some random cave?” Emily's annoyed voice asked us from behind.

  “Yes, just a random cave or a place to stay. Why?” Seth asked, just as annoyed.

  “Well,” she said, “a cave won't be found in a forest, so shouldn't we be finding a way out of the forest?”

  “I know that, Emily,” he said and pointed to the trees. “Can you find a way out? It just goes on and on. I'm hoping that we find a clearing soon.”

  “Fine,” she said and crossed her arms, “I'm sorry I interrupted your conversation.” Then she started talking to Jason again.

  Seth made a cat noise and clawed the air, “Someone's a pussy cat today.”

  “Be quiet Seth or she'll hurt you,” I said and looked over my shoulder. Emily seemed to have heard that and she winked at me. I smiled and winked back. “Seth I'd be really careful.”

  Seth snorted, “I'm not scared of her.”

  “I would be,” I said and had to fight another smile.

  I could tell it was getting past noon because the air started to get cooler. I was suddenly really jealous of Emily's long robe. I also was getting hungry and wondered if there was any way to get food in Igneeria.

  A huge rumble startled me and I looked up at the sky. We were in a clearing and I could see the sky clearly. Dark clouds covered the sky and a rumble shook the air again. A single drop of water landed on my cheek.

  “Oh no,” I breathed.

  Another drop landed on my forehead and then on my chin. Then they started to pick up speed and I covered my face with my hands. The rain streaked through my hair, soaking it to my head. Seth looked extremely annoyed as he stood there, his blue hair plastered to his face. His eyes were half covered by his hair and his eyes locked onto mine. He rolled his eyes and looked away. Jason had his arms over his head, trying to keep the rain off his red hair but I already saw dark spots all over it where the rain had escaped his arms. Emily's pink hair was dry and safely under a hood.

  Wait, what?

  “Emily, how come you have a hood?” I had to shout over the rain.

  She gave me a dazzling smile. “I'm always prepared.”

  “This is just great,” Seth shouted. “We better find some shelter because the rest of us are getting soaked to the bone.”

  “I'll take the lead,” I said and ran in front of him. “You'll lead us into a dragon's cave if you take the lead.”

  Seth rolled his eyes again. “Fine!”

  I walked through the trees and took a right. The trees parted and the trees ended. Right ahead of me was a cave.

  “Found a cave, that wasn't too hard Seth,” I said.

  “Right,” he said. “So what are we waiting for? Let's go!”

  I ran towards the cave, eager to get out of the rain and into somewhere dry. I stopped in front to catch my breath. Emily, Jason, and Seth ran up behind me and we stared into the cave. I took a deep breath and started to enter the cave. All of a sudden, a roar made me freeze. Two nostrils and eyes popped up from the cave. My blood stopped.

  It was a dragon.

  Chapter 8