Shifting Planes- The Complete Box Set

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Shifting Planes- The Complete Box Set Page 31

by Jeff Sabean


  “We leave quietly,” Mialin injected forcefully. “We have been lucky enough to avoid detection by their dragons, and I intend to keep that intact. You will have your war, shadow elf, but it does not begin tonight.”

  “Fair enough, lady,” Fion replied, bowing his head slightly in acceptance. “Master gnome, what did you have in mind for a quiet exit?”

  “So glad you asked,” Zatus replied, winking at the elf as his eyes filled with color once more.

  He pointed to one of the guards ahead who was nursing wounds from his scrap with the “ogre,” and transformed him into a lurching troll. His skin turned green as he grew to over six feet tall, his ears elongated and grew until they were longer than his head, and his face stretched to create a long snout. He opened his mouth in shock and revealed a mouth full of sharp teeth as he looked down at his hands, which had grown talonlike fingernails, and the stench of death began rolling from his mostly naked body.

  “You are very fun to have around,” Fion stated gleefully as the guards attacked their disguised companion. “I just wish we could be around to see all your illusions removed and the chaos that will ensue.”

  “For now, we run,” Gabrielle stated, rushing the group through the shadows to sneak past the battling guards.

  They reached the tavern in record time once they reached the market district and snuck in the back door left open for them by Ethanicus. Fion followed the instructions given to him by the strange bartender and had no trouble finding the secret tunnel in the basement that would lead them under the wall and into the woods.

  “We should get back to our camp right as the sun rises,” Fion explained to the members of the group as they shuttled the other rescued prisoners through the tunnel. “We can hide until night fall, then I will take Dracorex to rally my army. When we are safe, contact Master Shenroc and ask if he was able to bring any reinforcements from Terminus.”

  Giving the shadow elf a confused look as Zatus removed all his illusions from this night, Heishi had to ask: “Who exactly put you in charge?”

  “My father, when he died,” Fion responded, then winked and ducked into the tunnel behind his brother.

  “We have much to discuss, Top,” Aki replied, then slapped his friend on the shoulder and followed the elves to freedom.

  Chapter 10 – Building an Army

  Upon exiting the tunnel in the woods outside the city, the rescued prisoners scattered every direction to return to their homes while the members of Ronin Team stealthily followed Fion back to where Dracorex was impatiently awaiting their return. As they reached the camp, the city lit up like a Christmas tree as the guards discovered the prison break.

  “Stay alert,” Fion whispered as they assembled under a bush. “That Trodgen character will have the city’s dragons in the air shortly, and I cannot stress enough how well dragons can see.”

  As if his statement was prophetic, a lightning bolt cracked off in the distance, and as the group turned, a blue dragon could be seen floating in the area.

  “They are hunting the escaped prisoners,” Gabrielle confirmed. “There are three dragons who call Harmonui home: that large blue one is named Gyrinth. He is the source of that blast of lightning, and not one to be taken lightly.”

  Dracorex snorted derisively at the notion of a blue dragon being dangerous, shaking his head at the elf.

  “Three dragons?” Fion mused. “It would seem we are one short.”

  He turned his glance to Mialin and arched an eyebrow, implying he hoped she could bolster their numbers.

  “I assume your pet there has no friends he can call upon?” Mialin stated, tossing a sidelong glance toward the disguised shadow dragon. “I shall see what I can do.”

  “Wait, dragons?” Heishi asked, a stunned expression on his face. “I can see the blue one, which is terrifying even from this distance, but what do you mean we are one short? We have two dragons?”

  Dracorex snarled a bit as he stood and moved away from the group, his disgust apparent to all.

  “It would appear proper introductions are in order, human,” Fion replied with a slight grin on his face. “We must remain vigilant for the other two dragons, but now would be an excellent time to bring the wayward humans and my brother up to speed on current events.”

  “Wait, your brother?” Heishi and Tiane both replied at the same time, turning to look at their companion.

  “I thought you turned your back on your people because they are evil,” Tiane said, a confused look on his face.

  “I suppose I should begin,” Di’eslo replied slowly. “I have not been entirely honest with you. I told you that I had given up my birth name because I did not want to be associated with my evil people, which is partially true. I am Vathio Raenvree, son of Xy’rvyre Raenvree, leader of the free city of Zylsandoral. For centuries, the surface elves have attacked my people for sport and profit. They have no reason to travel beneath the surface of this world to find our cities, but they do anyway and attack us unprovoked.

  “There are good and evil of every race, my friends. The shadow elves are no exception to this rule. We receive a bad reputation with the surface races because the evil among us travel to the surface to plunder and destroy while the good remain deep underground in our home. But let me pose this question to Gabrielle and Ja’ade: when was the last time either of you fought off a raid by my people? Have you ever even seen a shadow elf besides my brother and me? And yet we are painted to be ruthless killers who every child should be terrified of!

  “After one of these brutal assaults of my home, my father asked me to travel to the surface to gather information about these attackers. I took on the name Di’eslo to not give away my family name to any I may encounter who has information about my people. That was five years ago, and it took that time to gather enough information to determine that Harmonui should be the first strike in our war to end the oppression of our people.

  “When I learned that Big Jim had sold the sister of the queen of Harmonui to Sgel the Nasty, I made it my quest to rescue the lovely princess Gabrielle. I knew that if I could rescue her, she would see that my people are not what we are made out to be. I also knew this was my last chance to make peace with her people without bringing a war to their city. You see how that turned out.

  “Make no mistake, these ‘high elves’ of Harmonui are evil. They raid my home repeatedly, but it is not spoken of. They oppress any who attempt to settle in their city of ‘harmony,’ but it is not spoken of. They have attempted to eradicate my entire race, and we will not stand for it.

  “Join our war, or stay out of our way,” he finished, looking directly into Heishi’s eyes.

  The group remained silent, digesting the information Di’eslo had just presented. None could argue his logic, especially considering they had just broken out of the city dungeon, but the thought of a war is never something to entertain lightly.

  “May I propose an alternate solution to all-out war?” Gabrielle asked hesitantly, her eyes never leaving the face of her shadow elf friend.

  “I had a feeling you would,” Fion scoffed, and the group could hear Dracorex grumble something in the darkness that was unintelligible.

  “What do you propose?” Di’eslo asked, glaring at his brother.

  “I am next in line for the throne of Harmonui,” she replied hesitantly. “I love my sister dearly, but if it would save the rest of the city all we truly need is to remove her from the throne. With me as queen, I will guarantee the attacks on your people will cease immediately.”

  The silence was deafening as the entire group stared at Fion, waiting to hear his answer.

  “And how would you propose we replace your sister, princess,” the shadow elf sneered.

  “Are you telling me you know not a single assassin?” she replied, her soft eyes going hard and shining with fury in the breaking dawn.

  Fion stared at her for several minutes without blinking before answering. “An interesting proposal. I have not given you enough credit, I
feel. Had this been an option yesterday, I would agree with you and would have turned my devastating associate against another city to fulfill his bloodlust.

  “The problem now, however, is that we have tipped our hands to the authorities of the city. It is possible an assassin could get close to the queen now, but it is highly unlikely. I truly apologize, princess, but the only way we will get a shot at your sister is to attack, drawing her out with her army.”

  “Do I have your word that you will cease hostilities immediately when she falls?”

  “Aye, lady. The moment your sister is dead, I will draw back and await your coronation. If anything goes wrong, there will not be a single brick of the wall or a building that will remain stacked upon another, and the inhabitants will be utterly decimated.”

  “Fair enough,” she replied, bowing her head slightly to Fion. “But know this: if you do not cease hostilities when she falls, I will kill you myself. Your army may prevail, but you will certainly fall.”

  “Well, now that we have that hashed out,” Heishi interjected, breaking the awkward silence, “is someone going to explain to me exactly what has been going on around here in our absence?”

  “Before any stories are exchanged, you have something that belongs to me,” Fion stated, staring at Heishi, who returned the look with a confused one as he shrugged his shoulders. “You have my orb hidden somewhere, and I want it back,” the shadow elf clarified in no uncertain terms.

  “Ahh, that. Yes, I have it here,” Heishi replied after Di’eslo nodded to him, indicating that he should return it to his brother.

  He reached into the extradimensional space of the bag Di’eslo had given him and retrieved the orb. As he slid the orb from the bag, the solid black sphere burst to life with red swirls, absorbing the light around it and feeding on it. Heishi’s eyes began to glow with energy as he held the orb, and a swirl of red smoke wrapped around his body momentarily. He reached out to hand it to Fion, who immediately snatched his orb and then stood motionless for some time, the red swirl of smoke circling his body occasionally as his eyes moved back and forth.

  When the smoke faded, Fion stood with a smile on his face. “Thank you for returning my orb, human. It was lost to me some time ago in a raid by the high elves. I tracked it for some time until it was recovered by Sgel the Nasty. Something about his throne room protected it from my sight, although I could tell that it was there. When you recovered it from his corpse, I could not see or feel its presence anymore. I should have known you had a bag with an extradimensional space which removed it from this plane of existence entirely.”

  “I knew how to keep it safe until we returned it to you, brother,” Di’eslo answered with a grin. “I suppose I could have left you a message to tell you how we hid it, but that would not have been as much fun.”

  “Little brother...” began Fion, then he stopped abruptly. “Thank you for recovering it for me. Now, I would very much like to hear the full story of how our human associates arrived in our world.”

  ◆◆◆

  Several hours later, Heishi had explained his story to the group of how he landed on Kartos, met Jim, killed Sgel the Nasty, and then returned to kill Jim and destroy Terminus. Aki picked up his story of entering Terminus shortly after Heishi and Tiane had departed, how Shenroc and Yutri were now running the city, meeting the sisters in the tunnels beneath the city, their trip to Eskanda, and escaping the zombie-filled city.

  “So, what you are telling me,” Heishi began after Aki explained his adventures in Kartos, “is that this is Earth, just on a different plane of existence?”

  “Yes,” replied Zatus, having lost track of how many times he had confirmed the questions asked thus far.

  “How is it that we all came through the portal to this alternate plane at the same time, yet Tiane beat me here by over three months, and the two of you were a few weeks behind me?”

  “Altering space and time between planes is probably the least explainable theory I have,” Zatus replied hesitantly. “My best hypothesis, however, is that we landed separately because we were not in contact with each other when we entered the portal. If we can try again, I would suggest holding hands to see if we land together.”

  “Great, we’ll just call that the ‘kindergarten hypothesis,’” muttered Aki, who grinned when he saw all heads turn his direction. “You know, like how the kindergarten kids have to hold onto the rope when they walk down the hall? Come on, I can’t be the only one who knows that’s how they keep the rug rats from wandering off in the hall...”

  “Oh, we got it, Doc, it just wasn’t funny,” replied Zatus the gnome.

  “Fion, tell me of home,” Di’eslo interjected before the conversation could get further off track.

  “Upon your departure, the attacks on our home intensified,” Fion began, a distant look crossing his face as he searched his memory. “Father and mother led a counter-attack on the surface elves but were led into an ambush and the entire war party was decimated. I was coordinating the defense of the city at the time, or I would have fallen as well.

  “That was when I decided to search out more powerful allies. I traveled to the lair of Dracorex and promised him death, destruction, and treasure if he would assist in the assault of Harmonui based on the information you sent home. We raised an army of our people, and it is on its way here now. We had secured the ‘loyalty’ of Big Jim by promising his people treasure in exchange for their support, but now that army is scattered thanks to your actions in Terminus.

  “We retain the support of the orcs but are unsure if that will be enough to destroy this city. We must win here if we are to gain the support of other orc clans to bring the war to other ‘high elf’ cities if destroying this one does not end the oppression of our people.”

  “We will contact Shenroc and Yutri in Terminus. If what Master Aki has told us is accurate, they are in control of the city and its army, and may be able to send support,” Di’eslo replied to his brother, a pensive look on his face.

  “I will go to my people as well,” Ja’ade interjected for the first time in the conversation. “There is no love lost between the woodland elves and these snobbish ‘high elves,’ and I should be able to bring archers with me to support your cause.”

  “That would be most appreciated, lady,” Fion replied with a smile. “I would appreciate if you ensure they are aware of who is commanding this army so they do not turn on my people.”

  “We shall leave at sundown when we can slip away, and Mialin will bring me there swiftly,” she answered, turning to speak privately with her sister.

  “Then it is settled. Contact your friends on that device the gnome designed for you so we know when you will be returning.”

  “That reminds me,” Zatus said, reaching into his bag and tossing a communicator to Heishi, Tiane, and Fion. “Those are the updated versions, and they work in this world,” he told his team. “I also included a video feed, because I thought holograms of the one you are speaking to would just be cool.”

  “You have outdone yourself, master gnome,” Fion replied with a grin. “I saw Master Shenroc using his and was hoping you would give me one as well but did not want to be presumptuous.”

  “I still do not trust you,” Zatus answered, staring the shadow elf in the eye. “But Heishi trusts your brother, so that is good enough for me. Do not make me regret this, because I am not without tricks myself.”

  “Fair enough, good gnome. Should we rest now? It has been a long night and would seem we will have a lot more work to do this evening.”

  “We need to contact Shenroc first, but that sounds like an excellent plan,” Heishi replied, yawning as he answered.

  Chapter 11 – To the Woodland Elves

  As it turned out, Shenroc was slightly over a day away from Harmonui with eighty-two soldiers from Terminus. It did not equal an army of hungry Chondri bent on destruction, but at least his soldiers would be easier to control than the blood thirsty Chondri.

  Darkness began
to settle on the camp of unlikely companions, and Ja’ade began readying for the trip to her people.

  “It should only take a few hours to fly, then there will be a council meeting to decide if my people will support this attack, and a day or two to bring back reinforcements,” she explained to the group as she ate a quick meal of dry bread and jerky. “With any luck, we should have at least a hundred elven archers supporting your war.”

  “That does not seem like very many,” Heishi answered hesitantly, drawing condescending smiles from the natives of Kartos.

  “That is only because you have never seen elven archers in action,” replied Fion, a grin plastered across his face. “My understanding is the woodland elves put these high elves to shame with their archery skills, and I would not desire to face a hundred high elvish archers.”

  Nodding at the complement, Ja’ade turned to Mialin. “Are we ready to go, sister?”

  In reply, Mialin’s body began to grow, shifting in and out of focus as her illusion of a wood elf transformed into her true form, the last light glinting from her golden scales.

  Heishi and Tiane, never having seen a dragon up close, could only stare in awe and try to keep their slack jaws closed at the sight.

  “It is good you are on our side,” breathed Heishi as the transformation completed.

  Still disguised as a shadow elf, Dracorex snickered from the shadows of a tree at that. When all eyes turned his direction he muttered, “Wait until you get a load of me, human.”

  Growling disgustedly, Ja’ade nimbly ran up the leg Mialin offered to her, perching atop the dragon and settling in comfortably.

  “No saddle?” Heishi asked, enraptured by the scene unfolding before him.

  “She is a dragon rider,” Fion explained patiently. “She has a bond with the dragon, closer than a sister, although that is how most choose to describe themselves. She could stand atop Mialin in full flight, raining fire and destruction all around, and would never even slip. It is a symbiotic relationship, and one of beauty.”

 

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