“Challenging?” Tevvy repeated, hardly believing what he had heard. “Are you crazy? We’ll be lucky if even one of us gets through here alive!”
Thal seemed to ignore Tevvy’s outburst; he was tapping the cloth covering his chin.
“We are meant to pass through this,” Blakstar said, turning without another word to follow the path.
Tevvy leaped after him. “Wait!” he exclaimed. “You don’t know if it’s safe!”
“It isn’t,” Blakstar replied without turning.
Klaybear touched Thal’s arm. “We better follow them,” he said, “I do not think we should get separated in this place.”
Thal came out of his thoughts. “You are right,” he said, “we should not linger.”
“Let’s hope we do not get another earthquake while we are crossing this narrow path,” he noted. Rumbling and cracking echoed from the east, then south-southwest, northeast and closer, west and farther away.
“There may be a way,” Thal mumbled.
“You have an idea?” Klaybear asked, as they hurried to catch Tevvy and Blakstar. Rumbling and cracking echoed from the southwest and very close; they paused on the narrow path as thick clouds rolled toward them.
Thal nodded, shielding his eyes from the dust. “Maybe,” he noted, “there is an orthek that creates a disc of air that floats above the ground.” Rumbling and cracking from the distant south, southwest and closer, southeast and distant. “This orthek allows the maghi to float above the ground, and when I’m more skilled, I can move the disc around.”
“How does that help us?” Klaybear asked. Rumbling and cracking from the far distant west.
“I can float on the disc,” he said as they caught up to the kortexi, and the ground beneath them shook violently. Thal shouted the words, “pleudkweklo,” and he was floating about two feet off the ground. “Grab onto me!” he shouted. “I cannot lift you, but at least I can steady you!”
Klaybear grabbed Thal’s ankle with one hand, dancing insanely as the sandy path boiled beneath him, moving his feet inexorably toward the grinding boulders on either side. Blakstar did the same thing, holding onto Thal from the other side, doing a similar crazy reel. Tevvy could not reach the white maghi as he floated, so he simply crawled onto the kortexi’s back, clinging there as would a child. Thal shook from side to side because of the vibrations passing through the two holding onto his legs, but his floating disc held steady, although beads of sweat formed on his face as he concentrated on keeping the disc afloat. As suddenly as it had come, the shaking stopped, the boulders stopped rolling, and the sandy path under their feet stopped boiling. Klaybear and Blakstar let go of Thal, who released the orthek and floated slowly back to the ground.
“That was useful,” Klaybear noted.
“You can get down now,” Blakstar snapped, irritated.
Tevvy unclenched his hands and slid down the kortexi’s back. As soon as his bare feet touched the sand, he ran forward as quickly as he could to the next clearing.
Klaybear started to laugh, but his laugh turned quickly into a cough as the air around them was heavy with stone dust.
“I think he’s got the right idea,” Thal mumbled, indicating that Blakstar should hurry after him.
The three of them jogged after Tevvy, soon entering the clearing. They stopped dead, seeing the awemi hurl one of his daggers straight at a pile of stones walking toward them. There were half-a-dozen of the creatures moving toward them, each about six feet tall, each looking as if some nearly-blind god had taken stones and piled them together to form legs, torso, arms, and head, then animated them. Tevvy’s dagger hit the closest creature in the chest where a person’s heart would be; the dagger shattered into a hundred pieces falling harmlessly onto the sand.
Tevvy turned to look at his companions. “I think we’re in trouble!” he exclaimed, backing toward the others.
Each of the creatures had only a single hole at the center of its head, which head was smaller than the companions’; the hole was filled with a gemstone that glowed with orange light. The creatures paused and shook, filling the clearing with the sound of many stones clunking together.
“I think they are laughing at me,” Tevvy said, moving behind his companions.
Blakstar leaped forward, brandishing his sword, the stone glowing and the blade licked by golden flames; Klaybear followed, swinging his mace, which glowed with green flames. Blakstar deflected the arm of the lead creature with his shield, swung his sword in an overhand stroke, severing the other arm of the lead creature. The blade scraped between the chest and arm in a shower of golden sparks and a flash of orange light, the stony arm fell to the sand. The creature fell onto its knees in front of the kortexi, who stood momentarily stunned by its behavior, prostrate in front of him as if it were suing for clemency. A green flaming mace swung down, shattering the stony head; the creature fell apart.
“Didn’t I tell you,” Thal noted from behind Blakstar, “that we’d be in for a surprise the first time you used that sword?”
“Go for the head!” Klaybear shouted, “it seems to be holding them together.” He stepped to Blakstar’s left, bringing his green flaming mace down upon the head of the creature on that side. For the second time, a stony head shattered, and the creature of piled stones fell apart.
Taking his cue from the kailu, Blakstar again leaped toward the next creature, swinging his sword cross-body and aiming at the space between head and chest. The flaming blade scraped between the stones, golden sparks flew, orange light flashed, the stone head fell back off of the creature’s chest, and the body prostrated itself on the ground before the kortexi. For the second time, Blakstar paused, stunned by the behavior, and as he stood there, Tevvy darted forward from behind the stunned kortexi, stabbed his dagger into the eye hole of the stone head, and popped the glowing orange gem out of the eye hole. The creature fell apart in a flash of orange light, and Tevvy darted back behind Blakstar.
Thal raised his glowing rod in one hand and held up his other hand, open with palm outward. “Ghesorsista!” he shouted, and pieces of yellow light gathered to form a hand of yellow air in front of one of the creatures. This creature paused to look at the transparent yellow hand, then tried to walk through it. Thal staggered back as the creature walked into the hand of air, and the hand wavered. Thal pushed himself forward, pushing the creature back momentarily, but then the creature started forward again, pushing both hand and maghi back. “I can’t hold it long,” he hissed through clenched teeth.
Blakstar moved toward one of the creatures, one closest to him not blocked by Thal’s orthek. To his left, Klaybear moved toward the other free creature. Instead of swinging his sword to sever head from chest, the kortexi lunged forward and stabbed at the glowing eye, crushing the orange gem and putting out the light. The creature fell apart. Klaybear crushed the head of the fifth creature moments after Blakstar stabbed his. Thal released his orthek just before the creature pushed him into the sharp boulders surrounding the clearing. The kortexi stepped to his left, intending to stab the final stone creature, but Tevvy hissed from behind.
“Cut off his head,” the awemi said, “I want to get one of those stones intact.”
Blakstar altered his steps, swinging his sword in a wide arc. The flaming blade scraped between stony head and chest, causing another shower of golden sparks and a flash of orange light; the body fell forward, the head fell back, and Tevvy darted forward, leaning on the head while trying to pry out the glowing orange gem. The head and body started thrashing around, hurling Tevvy from it. Klaybear stepped forward and crushed the head.
Tevvy stood and brushed himself off. “I wanted that one whole!” he exclaimed.
Klaybear shrugged. “Sorry,” he said, “I thought you needed help with it.”
Thal stooped where he was and picked up one of the orange gems. “I think I saw another fly off over there,” he said, pointing. He held the gem in the palm of his left hand and passed his glowing right hand and rod over it. “Ther
e is a hint of teka, but I cannot tell what it is; I need more time to study it.” He slipped it into one of his pockets.
Tevvy walked in the direction Thal had pointed, and, after a moment of careful searching, he found a second gem, looking it over carefully before pocketing it.
“Why do you want that thing?” Blakstar asked.
“It’s probably worth something,” Tevvy said shiftily.
Blakstar turned away shaking his head.
“We ought to collect as many of them as we can,” Thal added. “They might have useful elemental properties when we return them to our own plane.”
“Even if they don’t,” Tevvy said, “they look to be quite valuable.”
Rumbling and cracking still sounded all around them, sometimes distant, sometimes close by, sending clouds of thick, stone dust rolling over them.
“Those stone men would be difficult to handle,” Tevvy noted, “if the ground were shaking beneath us. I suspect they would not be bothered by it.”
The others nodded, looking around warily. Rumbling and cracking sounds came from the distant west, and then all fell silent.
“I don’t like that,” Tevvy noted, looking around, his voice sounding shrill in the unnatural silence, “it doesn’t bode well.”
They looked around again, watching for signs of what the oppressive silence signified, many slow breaths passing before anything happened. The ground beneath them gave an almighty heave, hurling all of them from their feet, then the ground shook more violently than before, the sound of boulders grinding around them deafening, the sand beneath them churning, the stones of the former stone men quickly moved to the edges of the sandy clearing, consumed by the boulders grinding around them. All tried to get back to their feet, made more difficult by the sand flowing like water toward the edges of the clearing. Thal managed to create again his floating disc, shouting for the rest to come and hold on. Klaybear and Blakstar were closer to Thal, and so were able to get close enough to grab onto him; Tevvy was too far away, although more agile, he was keeping his feet, running as fast as his legs would go, but he was slowly moving closer to the edge and the grinding boulders. Thal shouted, and Blakstar let go of Thal’s ankle, both moving and allowing the flowing, churning sand to move him toward the struggling awemi. Klaybear turned, and, in spite of the insane steps of the dance to keep his feet, he tried to push Thal and the floating disc closer to Tevvy; the sweat was running freely down the white maghi’s face in his effort to keep his disc floating. As the kortexi neared Tevvy, he turned and started his legs moving back toward Thal, sure that his forward momentum would carry him to Tevvy before his body changed directions. He stretched his hand toward Tevvy’s reaching hand, their hands met and clasped, and Blakstar heaved Tevvy toward him. As soon as the awemi was close enough to Blakstar, he clambered up the kortexi’s back as before, and Blakstar ran back toward Thal and Klaybear. But the intelligence behind the churning sand and grinding boulders increased the fury of the shaking and churning. Although Blakstar had initially succeeded in moving closer to Thal, the increased flow of the sand toward the grinding boulders carried the running kortexi inexorably toward crushing death. Klaybear saw what was happening, so whipped out his staff with his free hand, stretching it as far as he could while still holding onto Thal. Blakstar lunged forward and caught hold of the end of the staff, but instead of pulling himself and Tevvy away from the grinding rocks, he pulled Klaybear and Thal closer to him and the spinning, clashing boulders.
Thal released his floating disc and, before it faded and he fell, shouted, “steighudnes!” and pointed his rod up. He started to rise, pulling Klaybear, and then Blakstar, with Tevvy clinging to his back. He grimaced when Klaybear’s weight pulled on his legs, and he groaned out loud, and Klaybear also groaned, as they lifted and dragged Blakstar up and across the churning sand. When the kortexi was directly beneath him, his strength faded, and he was dragged slowly down. The churning and rumbling sand and rocks slowed, and then stopped, and Thal surged upward when Klaybear released his legs. He lowered his rod and sank slowly down, stopping next to his panting and coughing companions, as thick clouds of dust rolled over them. Silence reigned when their coughing ceased.
Tevvy was white with fright. “Let’s get out of here before it happens again!”
The others looked around, listening, troubled by the total silence.
Klaybear looked up from where he sat on the sand. “Have you got some rope?” he asked Tevvy.
Tevvy was looking around. “Yes,” he said after a moment, although his voice still quavered. “It is thin and light, but very strong; I use it for climbing,” he explained. “What did you have in mind?”
“After what has happened,” Klaybear said, “I think we should rope ourselves together.”
Blakstar nodded. “I agree. That way, if it happens again . . . ,” he began, but Thal interrupted him.
“When it happens again,” Thal put in, “although it might not happen again for a while.”
“Why do you think that?” Blakstar asked.
“Whatever force controls this place,” Thal replied, “sounds, by the silence, to have expended all the energy it had, so I don’t think we need to worry until we hear the rumbling again.”
“Might I suggest,” Tevvy said, “an alternative: if we are all tied together, fighting will be difficult. I’ve got a couple of short pieces, and I can cut more, if we need them. I’ll give each of you a piece that you can tie around your waist, tie a loop in the other end, then coil the excess and loop it under your belts. At a moment’s notice, you can toss the loop to someone else, who needs only to put the loop around his wrist, Thal to Klaybear to Blakstar to me. Then, we are free to move as necessary while fighting.”
“Good idea,” Thal said, “but we should hurry, since every second we wait is used by our enemy to gather strength for another assault.”
The others nodded; Tevvy pulled several small coils of rope from his pack. “I can hand them to you, and you can tie them on while we walk.”
They moved forward in this manner, passing through three more clearings, becoming highly proficient at dispatching their stony opponents and roping themselves together following each battle to be lifted by Thal above the sand while it flowed like water beneath them. After the third encounter and earthquake, the kortexi fell to the sand, looking gray, coughing and gasping for breath, unable to move.
“What is wrong?” Klaybear asked, kneeling beside the fallen Blakstar.
“I’m spent,” Blakstar hissed between coughs. “This sword may bring my opponents to their knees,” he went on, wheezing, “but it has nearly drained the life out of me. I fear I cannot go on.”
Klaybear cursed under his breath. “Rokwolf hinted to me that this might happen,” he said, turning to the white maghi. “You are better at this kind of thing, come and show him how to draw energy from the sword: it is the reason why Rokwolf, and the morgle, could use the keys without becoming exhausted.”
Thal looked puzzled. “What do you mean?”
Before responding, Klaybear took his staff, drew energy from the air around them, and funneled it into the fallen kortexi. “The kortexem,” he said, slipping his staff back into the space between his back and pack, “are forbidden from using teka-enhanced weapons and artifacts, and so are not trained in their proper use.”
Thal’s face lit with comprehension. “Yes, of course,” he said, “that explains a lot.”
“Is that right?” Klaybear asked Blakstar.
The kortexi was sitting up, his breathing eased by the energy the kailu had given him. “Well, yes,” he said, “we are taught to depend on our physical strength and skill alone.”
“So all of your focus,” Thal said, “is on mundane weapons and armor.” Thal knelt on Blakstar’s other side. “Take out your sword,” he said, and when Blakstar had done so and placed it across his knees, all could see the pommel stone glowing and pulsing brilliantly; Thal laid one of his hands on the hilt over the kortexi’s hands.
“Now, remember how we discovered the morgle’s door?”
Blakstar nodded.
“We will do the same thing,” Thal continued, “only we will be staying inside the sword; concentrate on the stone and its golden brilliance,” Thal noted.
The kortexi focused his eyes on the golden topaz affixed to the handle and concentrated.
After a moment, Thal spoke in Blakstar’s mind. Do you see that pool of power?
Yes, Blakstar thought.
Draw that back to yourself, Thal thought back, which should happen as soon as you touch it with your mind. Thal watched until Blakstar had drawn all of the energy back into himself. Do you see how it is done? he asked.
Yes, the kortexi replied.
Remember to do that after each battle, or as you need it. The more often you do that, the easier it will become, until you do it without thinking, Thal added.
Blakstar stood and put his sword away. “I feel great!” he exclaimed, and the color had returned to his cheeks.
Tevvy came back from where the path among the boulders moved forward. “We have a problem,” he noted.
“What is it?” Klaybear asked.
“The path goes forward a short way,” Tevvy replied, “then splits, going in two different directions.”
“Is there anything to indicate which way to go?” Klaybear asked.
“Without actually following them, no,” Tevvy replied, “which I am leery of doing alone, as I do not think I could survive an earthquake without help. However, the left path looks like it opens into a clearing, at least, I think I could see it opening up.”
The others raised their eyebrows, exchanging glances. “What do you mean?” Blakstar asked, his suspicion aroused.
Tevvy shrugged. “I don’t know how to explain it,” he said, “but the left fork appears to open into a clearing a short way down the path leading that direction. I could be wrong, since this place does not seem to follow normal rules; I have thought before that the path ahead was short, but it took longer to cover that space than it should have.”
The Redemption, Volume 1 Page 46