by Alexis Rojas
I took my sword and did with the chains what I had done with the lock, but it didn't work. It felt I was using a broomstick, for the blade simply jolted off the chains. And then, my heart sank:
"ANGUS!"
The bellow of Lord Vallias resonated throughout the whole forest. There was nothing more I could do. I looked at her helplessly, and her hope died. Her lines slowly faded back to black as she lowered her face to the floor.
The soldiers were coming. I jumped off the platform and I escaped to the forest. I ran, and disappeared.
#
Night came. I was not being followed anymore, but the rain made its presence known. I was sitting under a broad tree, trying to avoid the heavy water drops. With my rash decision, I lost everything. I had no shelter, no food, no loyalty, no nothing. What I had done made me a fugitive; an outlaw with no rights, no honors, and no knighthood. Only a wanted poster and death. I remained under the tree with my grief and sorrows, hugging myself for warmth.
"Damn it, I should have thought this through."
Then, someone sqeezed my throat. I'm a big man, but I was clenched hard enough to raise me up. Was it Vallias? Had he and his men found me? I couldn't breathe. I tried to remove the hand from my throat, but its grip was too strong. My eyes followed the arm to its origin and saw a hooded person. Inside the hood all was in shadow but for three green lines glowing steadily. The three lines curved and met at the bottom tips, making it look like some type of claw. Never had I seen such a creature, but it could only be one thing; hell had sent its demon to collect the soul of a betrayer. This was the result of my actions. This was my death.
I only had one question, “What is thy name, demon?”
Over the sound of the rain and with a hoarse tone, I heard it say, “Blood Marauder”.
23- The Arrangement
The sun at noon was at its worst. Vallias' men were uncomfortable with the heat as waves of sweat ran down their foreheads. Vallias stood patiently, wearing his noticeable horned helmet. Beside him was the cage covered with the black tarp. This place was not around the capital, rather far from it. They had changed their course and gone west, where the weather was hotter than usual. The area was surrounded by hills. Rocks pried out of the earth and thin dry trees struggled to grow. Suddenly, Vallias and his men looked toward the hill to their left. Down came walking a man wearing a blue sorcerer's gown, handling a blue wooden staff. His face was chalky and tattooed with symbols. His breath could be seen like if he were in chilly weather. He reached the bottom of the hill and met with Vallias.
"Where is your head mistress?" Vallias asked.
"Near," answered the man with a pushy, deep voice.
"Tell her to come."
"The creature; I need to see."
Vallias stared at him until finally complying, removing the tarp. There, Auria laid on her knees, one of the few positions she could manage because of the shackles. Even though she was a daystar, the shine of the sun hurt her eyes. She had spent too much time in darkness. The man tried to move closer, but Vallias’ blonde bodyguard stood in his way.
"Very well," the man stopped and smirked. He turned back and shouted, "Bring our Matron!”
From where the man had come from, a cool breeze blew down. Everything in the way of the breeze turned to frost. The rocks were covered by blue sheet of ice, the plants froze on the spot, and the grass would break by its own cold stiffness. A thick brume formed in the sky, the rays of the sun barely shining through. Down the hill came walking five people; two men in front and two women behind. They walked with staffs, their faces were also tattooed, and had the same visible breath as the other one. The one at the middle did not have a staff. However, she was dressed in white with a purple mask made from crow beaks. She was the Matron. Each step she took made a blanket of snow in the ground. Calmly they walked down and reached Vallias.
"At last you are here," he said. "The witches and witch men of the frontier north. And it is an absolute pleasure to be in the presence of the Matron, Lorana Enchantress"
"Save the formalities, Vallias" she sternly addressed him. "If it were not for our arrangement, I would be just another beast for you to kill."
Vallias chuckled and lowered his head. Lorana saw Auria and went to her cage. Vallias' men felt the sudden chill as she passed by. She grasped the bars, covering them with frost upon contact. She eyed her from top to bottom.
"She does not look too healthy."
"She's had one or two emotional problems," Vallias simpered, "But other than that, she's good."
Lorana smiled at her, "Your blood shall make for a fine potion, my dainty, fairy friend." Auria closed her eyes and turned away.
"Enough, witch," Vallias deepened his voice. "If you want the fairy, you have to honor your part of the agreement."
Lorana turned and went toward her witches. Each one gave her a crystal vial; one was round containing red liquid, and the other was square containing blue liquid. She then walked to Vallias and showed him the vials.
"This red potion is of Might. It provides inhuman strength and ambition. The blue one is of Wellness. It brings healing and vitality. When both are consumed equally at the same time, it will give the consumer 'milae enie vih'."
"Milan any vih?" Vallias replied, trying to repeat the twisted witch language.
"A thousand years of life," she softly whispered near his face.
He steered away from her and her mask, "Only a thousand? I thought it would be more... permanent."
"Judging by your abilities, Vallias, if you take more than a thousand years to create your kingdom, then you don't deserve the potions. Anyway, if you want to live more than that, you can always see me again in a thousand years."
Vallias stared at her, pensive, until he finally cracked a smile, "I'll take it. A thousand is better than sixty, anyhow."
Vallias and Lorana were about to be very happy. He would have his potions; and she, Auria for her blood. It was about to become a done deal. But, I wasn’t going to simply stay hidden and let it all go down. It was then that I made my presence known.
I appeared from the dead trees opposite to them. I was hooded, carrying a large sack. They all looked at me as I walked. I sat on a fallen tree trunk and put down the sack.
“Is he one of yours?” Vallias asked Lorana.
“He does not breathe our coldness,” she replied.
I opened the sack and began to take out its contents: severed hands. They were pale, and the blood around the detached wrists was dry and crusty. I started taking them out, one by one.
“I’ve seen enough, this man is insane,” Vallias expressed. Lorana took a look at one of her witch men and gave him an order, “Kill him.”
The witch man raised his staff and pointed it at me, “Piato Dismam!”
A bluish, razor edge disc shot out of the staff toward me. Vallias and his men watched anxiously to see what the result of this magic would be. But as the disc reached me, I bounced it away with a swing of my arm. The disc took to the trees behind, cutting them in half.
Everyone was perplexed. The witch man looked back toward his Matron.
“Impossible,” she blurted out, “The disc was to cut him down. He should be dead now!”
I continued as I was, only this time I took out a hand twice my size. This one had the middle and ring fingers broken. I hurled it to Vallias’ feet.
“Sire,” said one of his men, “A hand that big, it could only be of… the Beast.”
Vallias’ face fired up as he viciously pointed at me, “You! Who are you? Show your face!”
There was no point continuing in anonymity. I removed the hood and revealed myself, sporting my newly acquired green glow on my forehead.
“It is I, Erik Belrose.”
Vallias stepped back by the enormous surprise, Lorana and her witches looked confused since they knew nothing of me. When I took sight of Auria, she was speechless to see me alive. I gave her a small grin that made her lines gleam a low tone of yellow.
“I killed you…” Vallias lashed out, “Why are you still here!?”
“It’s quite simple, really,” I replied jovially, “During my journey, before you killed me, of course, I had saved a small Devita Butterfly. It’s a type of fairy in your country. Unfortunately, she ended up dying, but not before giving me a gift I did not quite understand at the time. Fast forward, after you killed me and left my body to rot, the next thing I saw was myself inside a luminescent cocoon; not what I expected from Heaven or Hell. But, when I broke free from it, I found myself in a Devita lair in a mossy and hidden part of the world. They were the ones that revived me. The invisible mark the original Devita put in my forehead lured them to my body, where they took me to their lair. And with a little bit of magic dust, boom, I’m here.
“The claw-like glow on my forehead I’ll have to get used to, I guess. But this is much better than being dead.”
“Well, I liked you dead,” Vallias expressed, pulling out his sword, “How about I go and fix that?”
“Wait a second there, horny man, I still have something in the sack that I want to share with you.”
While I searched inside the sack, I told him, “You know, I had an encounter with one of your guards the other day, the bald one. Um, Angus, I think his name is. Anyway, I had a nice little chat with him. He told me about a cute little cave not too far from here, and what I would find inside it; the other half of the cargo. That’s from where I brought all these gifts for you.” I gestured at the severed hands.
“And here I have the most important one of all,” I took out another pale hand, but this one had markings and symbols above the knuckles.
“That hand,” the enchantress gasped. She recognized it.
“She seems to know who this hand belongs to, Vallias. You should recognize it, too.”
24- Cavity
Seventh Memory
I swung the hand in front of me, waiting for Vallias to tell me whose hand I held. I think he knew whose hand it was, but he couldn’t utter any words out of the hatred he felt for me. I lowered my sight and saw the other dead extremities resting on the ground. Looking at them in their fetid state made me remember what I went through to get them…
*
It was midnight. In the middle of the darkness, a hooded Erik hid behind a wide boulder. The land was covered by a blanket of shadows, but he could see a dim radiance coming from a near cave. He prepared his sword and shield and went forth.
At the entry there was nothing abnormal, only rock and silt. But as Erik walked more to its innards, he found lit torches on the walls. He saw crates and garbage thrown around; dirty blankets, empty bottles and animal bones. He treaded carefully so to not step on anything, and for the torchlight not to cast his shadow. Then, around the bend he heard a voice.
“Hey, Edgar, wake up. Your turn to stand guard.”
Erik took a peek and saw two soldiers; one laying on the ground with a quilt, and another sitting on a crate, resting a halberd on his side. The tunnel was not wide enough to pass by unnoticed. To continue deeper into the cave, Erik would have to go through the pair. A confrontation was inevitable. He jumped from hiding and pointed his sword at the one on the ground. The other got spooked and fell back on the crate.
“Where is the kid?” Erik asked.
He asked as he normally would, but he forgot about his appearance. What the guards saw was a sword wielding creature, with a claw-like green glow coming from within its hood.
“Demon!” cried the one on the ground. Erik kicked his head unconscious. The other got on his feet and thrust his halberd. Erik easily dodged and slashed him across the face.
Now that blood had been spilled, there was no need to be cautious. Erik advanced farther into the cavern, where the torches became more abundant. Ahead, the way divided into two separate tunnels. Both seemed the same and were well illuminated. Erik chose to follow the right tunnel, and sure enough, he heard more voices upfront.
“I know I heard something, damn it! We should check on Edgar and Jon.”
Erik peered by the next bend and saw that the cavern opened up to a great underground cavity. Bunches of fires and torches pushed away most of the darkness. He saw three soldiers arguing in front of a cage. Imprisoned inside the cage was Auria’s nephew, Beam.
“You two are lazy bums, I’ll go and see,” concluded the shortest of the guards and marched toward the tunnel. Once past the bend, Erik smashed his shield unto the unsuspecting guard. The other two got alarmed by the sudden bashing. Erik ran into cavity, and as the soldiers saw the hooded figure advancing, they instantly attacked. One had a spiked mace and the other a pike. The one with the mace engaged first, but he was too erratic. On every swerve he left himself open, and that gave Erik the chance to get close and slice him through the stomach. The other yelled as he engaged with his pike. Erik stopped him by throwing his sword at him. The soldier never expected the move, and received the blade on the shoulder. He fell with a moan. Erik went beside him and kicked him on the side of the head.
With the guards taken care of, Erik retrieved his sword and went to the cage. Beam scurried to the opposite corner when he neared.
"Will you kill me, too?" Beam asked, clutching the bars behind him.
"What are you talking about, kid," Erik removed his hood, "I'm here to save you."
Beam looked, but didn't recognize him, "Who are you?"
"My name's Erik. Maybe you've heard of me."
"You are the land dweller!" Beam blurted out. Erik gestured him to lower his voice.
"Auria told me about you. But, she had not told me about that glow on your forehead."
"Yeah, well, that's a bedtime story you'll have to hear later. Anyway, why are you here? I thought they had only taken Auria."
“They took us both,” Beam frowned. “That day Auria was headed to the river. I saw she was sad, but she refused to tell me why. She only told me that she was meeting Bri. Worried about her, I tagged along. But, when we landed by the river, these land dwellers attacked us. Auria fought them, but I was not strong enough and got captured. They threatened her I would come to harm if she did not surrender. They put her in shackles; and me, in a bag.”
“I see,” Erik said. “Well, no more imprisonment for you. I will free you.”
The cage door had a lock, but Erik did not want to break it with his sword and make a loud racket. There could still be more soldiers on other parts of the cave.
"If only I had the strength of a grown up daystar,” Beam said, “I would try to bend these bars.” Erik got a bit shocked by the statement. He knew daystars were strong, but not that much that they could bend iron. He quickly dismissed the thought and started searching the guards for the keys. His search quickly stopped when a high pitched thud echoed from the tunnel. It was the sound of chains and metal clashing with the ground. The noise echoed closer and heavier, until he appeared. Holding a great hammer with a long handle, and an iron cast on his right foot, Sebastien "The Beast" showed up.
"Who dare enter the warlock's cave?"
"You've got to be kidding. You are here?” Erik expressed in stupefaction.
Sebastien lowered his head a bit to have a better look at Erik, but as soon as he recognized him, he exploded with rage.
"You!" he yelled and descended the hammer. Erik jumped back and saw how the heavy weapon shattered the ground.
"You made me like this," Sebastien barked, "Cannot run, cannot march, cannot go to war! The only thing I'm good for now is to be confined in this cave, babysitting this overgrown mosquito." Beam's body lines turned red as he looked at the big man with hatred.
"I'm very sorry for what has happened to you, Sebastien," Erik replied, "but you only got what you deserved."
Sebastien twisted his face and grinded his teeth, "I may not be able to return to the frontlines, but I will be content when I slay the creator of my pains."
"Whatever, 'Oddfoot'. Your move!"
The insult boiled Sebastien's blood, "I'll have your head on a pik
e!"
He descended the hammer again, Erik dodging to the right. He wanted to counter, but the hammer was on him again. He had to drop and roll away. The giant of a man was slow with the legs, but not with the arms. Stepping away a good distance, Erik took out his weapons and quickly took a gander at his surroundings. He hadn’t noticed before, but a few meters behind was a great chasm. The darkness within assured it was deep. This was bad for Erik, for Sebastien was on the right position to push him in. The Beast kept swinging swiftly and Erik dodged and blocked as best as he could, not having the chance to step close and strike. Inch by inch he kept losing ground towards the chasm.
“Scream as you fall in, miaflorian!” Sebastien taunted.
Erik was just a couple of feet from the edge when Sebastien thrust his hammer forward, trying to shove him in. Erik struggled as he pushed back with the shield, chafing his feet on the ground. He finally found footing and pushed the hammer up. Sebastien plunged down again, but Erik got fed up with the dodging. It was his turn to go on the offensive. He skipped to the right just in time to miss the dropping hammer. When it landed, Erik stabbed over it into the ground, trapping the handle of the hammer with the cross-guard of the sword. Sebastien pulled, but the hammer was stuck. The balorian flared with fury and resorted to his hands. He raised his giant fist and threw a punch down to his enemy. Erik did not coward as the enormous hand descended on him. He clenched his own fist and launched his knuckles.
That brief exchange would determine the loser and the victor. Both fists travelled to their meeting point, and although the odds of the encounter did not favor Erik, one thing gave him a certain edge: pure conviction.
I Won’t Fail Again!
The fists clashed, Erik’s knuckles striking Sebastien’s middle and ring fingers. They both heard a snap as the bones broke in half.