DragonStone- Fatal Winds

by M A Bernier

  “Where…” His throat was so dry one word spoken caused him to cough several times. He felt a hand support his head then felt cold metal touch his lips as a small amount of water entered his mouth.

  “Slowly my lord, take small sips please your still very weak.”

  “I’m alive?” He said weakly trying to look around but only saw the healer at first. He looked and saw his wife, the queen, asleep in one chair. In another he saw the youngest council sorcerer Crin just waking. There was not a place on his face without a bruise or cut healing. He is right arm was bandaged from his elbow to the end of his fingertips and rested in a sling. He saw Eriflen waking and gently lay his left hand on the queen's arm. The queen stirred lazily opening her eyes, once she saw Eriflen her eyes widened, she smiled brightly and tears began to flow.

  In the years that past Eriflen and his wife had many children but not in Tre’El. They, along with all the city inhabitants, moved to the surface of the planet to aid in its healing process. The four elemental demons had caused such devastation that every hand was needed in replanting. Everyone from Tre’El missed their home city, however they realized the need to help EverGreen and the others. The joy and satisfaction at seeing the lands grow lush and green filled the gap of missing their home city.

  On a small ship four individuals sat upon the deck as it sailed seemingly without a captain upon the calm sea. The aged king and his wife looked forward as they spied the edge of the great whirlpool. Deep within the ocean depths a city they had not seen for hundreds of years was waiting for them. A young couple stood behind them, the young woman known as Lady EverGreen appeared young but her eyes hinted of someone who was tired, or perhaps seen too much of life’s darkest side. Beside her stood a young man. She held his hand as she guided the boat with wind and currents to the whirlpool the king had guided her too. The ship caught the edge of the whirlpool and Lady EverGreen released her control. The whirlpool performed its magic and took them to the hidden city below. The ship sailed smoothed along the inner edge. It was not handled in any way that might have caused it damage or cause its occupants harm. They listened to the torrent of sound and delighted in the gentle sprays of ocean water. The ship was guided downward into the waiting air above the sea floor, below the protected dome and then invisible set gently upon the sea floor. The aging queen lay her hand upon her husband who had momentarily fallen asleep. He slept for short periods often and easily.

  “My lord Eriflen.” His eyes flickered, he looked around instantly smiling as he recognized where he was. “We are home my husband.” Lady EverGreen stepped beside the queen while the young man beside the King, arm in arm the assisted the elderly couple disembark from the ship. The king marveled at the city. Tre’El was as wondrous as he remembered even if it was no longer inhabited. Someday the people would once again come to this place, but not for some time, not for the many generations it would take to fully heal the surface lands. Lady EverGreen summoned sea vines from the ground that formed chairs; the vines lifted them up and to the very top of the highest tower in the center. The king and queen sat within the two cushioned chairs waiting at the top of the tower and held each other's hand. Lady EverGreen and her companion stepped softly to the opposite side of the tower to allow them privacy.

  “You do not have to do this for me.” The young man replied.

  “I have been EverGreen enough, the Tree will pick a new protector.” She touched the side of his face with her hand. “I have done enough, our children are grown and I wish to spend the last of my days with you my love.” He touched her face softly and then looked at the queen and king.

  “It won’t be long now will it?” He asked.

  “Not long.” She replied and then took the book the king had given her from her robes and set it on the stone floor. He had asked his diary be buried with him when he passed from life. He asked Lady EverGreen to guard it and imbue its pages with the strength of the Earth so that his story would endure the passage of time.

  “What will happen to Tre’El once the king is gone?”

  “My successor, or successors will be able to find it should they need to.” Lady EverGreen sat down cross-legged on the stone floor next to where she lay the book. Her companion sat down beside her and took her hand. “My only regret was the loss of Tobin, the knowledge he carried was priceless.”

  “I thought the EverGreen Tree you told me of also has that knowledge and passes to that individual.”

  “It does but if it’s carried from person to person in the presence of the EverGreen Tree the knowledge flows much rather than the Tree to person. The tree thinks much different than we do. Once a person has that knowledge, even if he doesn’t understand it all, it begins to re-arrange itself in a way that fits our way of thinking.”

  “You miss your brother don’t you?”

  Lady EverGreen did not answer immediately. She sat for several minutes with her hand in her companions. “I loved Tobin a great deal.” She said with sadness. “When I told him of the choice I was accepting he gave up everything to be a part of that choice. He became, in every sense, an ordinary person without any special elemental power to be repository of knowledge passed to him from his predecessor.”

  “Ordinary except that he would not age?” Asked her companion.

  “Yes.” She replied as she looked into his eyes. “Like myself he would not age, but he had no power to defend himself.” Her face grew sad for a few moments as she looked away. “There was some greater evil at work giving more power to these demons than was their right.” Her face then grew angry. “He could do them no harm, I was the one they should have hated and feared most.”

  “Through him though they hurt you more than they could have directly, and they knew that.”

  “It sometimes scares me,” she said, “how we can understand actions that evil does. It scares me how close we can come to being what they are.”

  “I don’t believe that understanding makes its more possible for us to become like them.” He took both her hands in his; it forced her to turn to him. “Despite all the good we strive to do there is still a part of us which if not kept under the blanket of moral beliefs set down by the first; would corrupt any one of us. It is our understanding of that; and what evil is capable of which allows us to see it and not walk that path.”

  ** Weeping of Leaves of Memories **

  An impassable forest of thick trees surrounded a meadow on three sides. A shore of sand and marshes lined the south end. It was not that the trees grew so close, or the brambles to thick or even dangerous animals that prevented passage through the forest. It was protected and watched by an ancient creature not known to mortal men but only to the chosen EverGreen and the vessel of knowledge. If anyone were to enter the forest unprotected or unguided they would be lost forever. At the south border of the meadow beyond the sandy beach there was a lake surrounded by cliff walls reaching hundreds of feet high. A gentle breeze caressed the water of the lake constantly so that the sun reflected off the tiny ripples in a sparkling array of countless flashes of reflection. The meadow itself stretched for miles in all directions from the lake. It was populated mostly by freshly growing grass with waist high flowing wheat along the outer edges. Scattered throughout the meadow were several areas of rock and a few large boulder-like projections. In southern area of the meadow stood a tree as high as the eye could see with yellow-golden leaves splashing with the light of the sun. The tree guarded the meadow, the lake and the forest at the edge of the meadow. For the world beyond it chose a protector to see for it as the mortals did. It could not think or see as they did and it wanted to. It wanted to share all its knowledge with humankind so that mistakes it had witnessed in ages past were repeated over and over again like the endless cycles of the seasons. It wanted to share what it knew of the dangers beyond the border of the meadow and of the physical realm it watched. All it knew was too much for the Evergreen so the tree chose a receptacle for its knowledge. It chose one who could take what it knew and form i
t into words and sounds that Evergreen could understand. If the EverGreen Protector and his or her companion wished to return to a mortal life they were always free to do so. The companion who held the knowledge would come to the tree with another to be chosen to continue in their stead. The tree would touch the mind of each and pass the knowledge in the way of their thoughts to one another.

  Tobin had stood with his sister, Lady EverGreen, and accepted their roles without hesitation and had severed well and with joy for many years. When the elemental demons burst forth upon the world aided by powers darker and stronger than their own Tobin had been the first casualty and tree knew why. His knowledge made him in a way more dangerous than Lady EverGreen, the tree itself, or all the elemental sorcerers put together. There were few enemies the tree had which knew of this knowledge. The death of Tobin filled the tree with grief, anger and rage, so much so that it never had a chance to fully grieve. The demons attacked without hesitation or warning. All were forced to put aside any and all thoughts of lost loved ones and focus on fighting and healing the world and the elements. The demons sought to poison the land as well as corrupt and create elemental chaos in all lands. The tree could easily have countered any element they possessed and manipulated, but the poisoning, unseen by mortals, was another matter. One of its enemies working through these demons stretched forth its influence. It had forced the Tree to forsake all other concerns as it fought the poison from seeping into the dirt, rocks to the very foundation of the world. There had been no time for it to truly grieve. Lady EverGreen visited one last time to say goodbye to her brother and to the Tree. She asked it to choose another. It would do so and its only regret was that this young woman would no longer share its existence. The moment the king sorcerer Eriflen placed the key into the gateway it had felt the dark poison begin to recede from the land. It was still several passing of ages before it could truly grieve for Tobin. From the ground beneath its branches a large bundle emerged wrapped in leaves' twigs and branches. Roots emerging from ground carried the bundle. Branch, leave and limb caressed it softly as it passed by. A procession of woodland creatures followed the leafy bundle as it made its way to the edge of the meadow and into the forest. They departed almost as soon as the body had gone to its resting place. The tree’s leaves almost imperceptible drooped; moisture formed and would not have fallen if the leaves had not started a slight quiver. The moisture became droplets of water that fell to the ground, as each one burst butterflies of varying colors and patterns emerged and flew skyward. If anyone had been standing afar off they would have seen a large tree surrounded by hundreds of butterflies flying upward in a blur and flurry of colors almost obscuring the tree entirely for hours. There had only been one other time the tree had wept so greatly. At its own beginning it had chosen four to serve it and the Earth to tame the elements to make it safe for mortals. These four had served it well to many thousands of years until a dark enemy corrupted them. In time their outward appearance grew to reflect the element they served. No longer did they appear human but instead formed wings of leather, faces demonic and a black heart of chaos. Earth, Fire, Water and Wind lost all that was human in them and were forever changed as they followed the service of the underworld. At first they hated and sought revenge only against the Tree for it alone had the power to defy them, at first. They learned a new EverGreen protector had been chosen. One with whom the tree would instill with all power of the elements. Their hatred grew inclusive of the chosen protector and by extension all who served with the tree. As mortals grew and learned to defend themselves the demons’ hatred turned to blanket encompassing all who opposed them, in time they hated all, loved and remembered nothing of the world from whence they came.

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHOICES AND CONSEQENCES

  The bright morning sun tipped over the horizon and bathed Syl with is warmth. She had already been awake for several hours. She scanned the horizon briefly with her dragon eyes, still no sign of anything unusual that would mark the entrance of the lost city. The cloud marking the direction the ship needed to take had dissipated once their journey began. She knew if he found anything or another direction he would let them know. Syl walked out from under the large canopy and stretched her wings to their full length. After several days the crew became accustomed to the occasional shadow of wings over the ship as she stretched, arrived or departed. Movement to her left caught her eye. Jaymee emerged from the decks below and he appeared rested. For the first time his face was no longer the many shades of color it turned each time the waves caused the ship to sway. Eating had been out of the question for him. After a week’s time of barely keeping anything in his stomach he had lost significant weight. Eryyn and Alys continued to try to use every power at their command to determine the source of the darkness that was invading all the lands. Both were equally perplexed and frustrated as the sense of the danger seemed familiar in some way. Syl did not need to talk to Alys to see that Eryyn was becoming increasingly frustrated with making no headway to finding the enemy. It did not matter that she and the others were equally helpless. Eryyn, as always, was taking it harder than any of them. She and Alys had exchanged a short conversation in which Alys had expressed her concern that Eryyn might do something rash out of frustration and Syl agreed. The mood on board the ship was not as good as the pleasant weather that had prevailed over the last week. Syl and her kind may not be able to manipulate the elements, but she could sense EverGreen’s influence in the waves and wind as the ship continued to speed quickly in a southerly direction. She relaxed her wings and turned to Jaymee who stood beside her at the deck rail.

  “How are you feeling?”

  “Breakfast seems to agree with me this morning.” He replied with a great deal of caution and suspicion in his voice. “But, I still had to eat alone.” He face began to turn one of the shades of color when he was first sick. “They eat too quickly and easily.” He looked at Syl and smiled softly. “They will be up in a while, mother and father are still trying to sense something," he paused, “anything.” He sighed deeply as he looked out the apparent endless ocean. “The captain says we will be passing by the ring islands in a day or so, I would very much like to feel a dry land again, even if only for a moment.” Jaymee noticed that Syl had suddenly tensed, her eyes appeared to focus on something in the distant he could not see. He doubted anyone else could see Syl the way he did, spending time with her and her sons he had learned, like his parents, to see subtle changes that no ordinary person could.

  “Ask the others to come on deck.” She unfurled her wings and Jaymee felt the warmth of the sun momentarily shut out by them.

  “Is something wrong?” Jaymee asked.

  “I don’t know. I see a ship but the way it moves does not seem right to me.” She stretched her legs and raised her wings high. She had learned the hard way at a very young age to not use her legs to propel her into the air from ships because doing so tended to cause damage to the boat which tended to make the crews more than a bit upset.

  Jaymee, Eryyn and the others along with a few of the crew stood at the railing facing west, the direction Syl had flown. Several minutes passed by before they saw her form flying low, almost at water level it seemed. After a few moments they could see she appeared to have a smaller ship in tow by a rope she grasped in one of her back claws. Syl slowed her approach and dropped the rope into the waiting hands of the crew below. The ship was only thirty feet in length with a single sail mast and portals for oars that were no longer present and it appeared deserted.

  “It appears empty and its riding high in the water which means there is no cargo?” The crew/guard captain commented as she others below reach out of small portals from his ship and pulled the smaller cargo ship alongside and secured it.

  “Captain.” Eryyn placed his hand momentarily on the captain's shoulders. “Look closer at the ship, do you notice anything different, perhaps unusual?” The captain looked closer, at first he did not seem to recognize any difference, then Eryyn saw
his eyes widened slightly.

  “That ship is too far worn, the wood too faded to be the rising moon.” He turned to Eryyn and the others. “That is the cargo vessel Rising Moon, I recognize the crest. Its maiden voyage was less than two months ago. The only reason I know that was that I had several guards return after training with its captain. It was to make regular cargo runs to the Ring Islands.”

  “Jaymee and I will go on board.” Eryyn said as he turned to Alys and Ardant. “Alys, see if you can sense anything at all. Ardant, use whatever resources you have as well to determine what happened to that ship.” A single rope ladder was lowered. Eryyn and Jaymee climbed down and once on board Alys tossed down their staffs to them. They both walked from one end to the other, there was no sign of any crew, it was as if they had simple abandoned it. Eryyn motioned for Jaymee to follow as he walked opened the hatchway on the aft end. He lowered his hand and created enough light to see the cargo hold was empty as well. He climbed down the ladder, Jaymee followed closely, as he looked around the cargo hold he too saw it was empty. The hold itself was three quarters of the length of the ship, they could only walk down the center to where a single door led to the where the crew slept. There was a small opening about hand size in the lower part of the door. Eryyn closed his eyes for several moments, he opened them and nodded to Jaymee who prepared himself just in case something did attack which they could not sense. Jaymee grasped the handle on the door an at Eryyn’s nod opened it quickly. Eryyn let forth a burst of light to illuminate the quarters beyond, nothing happened. Eryyn kept his hand burning bright as he entered with Jaymee close behind him. On either side was a set of two upper and lower beds. It was typical that four at a time slept while the other four manned the ship. At the foot of each set bed was a wardrobe closet. At the farther end of each set of beds Jaymee recognized the same type of thick wooden crates that could hold ice within and sawdust to keep certain foods and stores cold. One of the covers was not entirely on properly and the room had a distinctive odor of fish. It was then they heard a slight plaintive noise from one of the wardrobes. Jaymee saw his father relax and lower the light from his hand as he opened a lower drawer which was already open several inches. Inside was a mother cat with six kittens who could not have been more than a few days old. On the floor in front of the draw he would see dozens of fish skeletons. The mother cat had obviously managed to get into the only store of food and eat enough to survive and feed her offspring. It was apparent that one of the crew had not secured the food stores as well as they thought and that was fortunate for the mother cat.