Kingdoms in Chaos

by Michael James Ploof

  Merek regarded him with amusement, seemingly not unsettled in the slightest. “I had my doubts about you. But it seems that they were indeed unfounded. I will accept the title of Duke of Breggard, a title that shall be passed on to my chosen son and those after him. And a knighthood to go with it.”

  Tyrron tensed, and Whill could see him watching him from the corner of his eye. “Very well,” said Whill. He stood and extended his hand.

  Merek stood as well and shook it with a grin.

  “You have words on your mind. Speak,” said Whill, as he and Tyrron rode back to the camp.

  “You give the man too much. I don’t trust the grinning bastard,” said the general.

  “Like him or not, he has the people’s ear. I need a unified kingdom. And it will not be gotten by civil war.”

  Tyrron shook his head. “This sets a dangerous precedent. As Du’Krell pointed out.”

  “We have done what we came here to do. Putting myself in Merek’s shoes, I cannot say that I wouldn’t have done the same. He has brought stability to the region, which is something that we cannot ignore. Let’s just hope things go as well in Brinn,” said Whill.

  Chapter 44

  Second Chances

  Raene watched with growing agitation as Gretzen sat before the fire ignoring her and stirring her large pot. The old witch had been building her brew for two days, leaving it to simmer at those times that she required sleep, which were few.

  Raene sighed and kicked at a stone she had been digging out of the dirt floor with her toe. “There must be somethin’ I can do.”

  Gretzen stopped as if she had discovered something and looked to Raene. “Would you like to learn spirit magic?”

  Raene reeled back from her, looking flummoxed. “Ye out yer head? I ain’t for wantin’ to learn how to meddle with spirits.”

  Gretzen regarded her flatly. “You already meddle with the spirits, you fool dwarf.”

  “Yeah? Well, summonin’ spirits from a figurine be different.”

  “How so?”

  Raene was stumped. She thought about it for a moment and when she realized the fallacy of her statement, she became red in the face. “It just be, all right?

  Gretzen shrugged and returned to her work. “Shame to let that power go to waste.”

  Raene was pretending to be interested in the rock she had loosened from the floor, but her shifty eyes gave her away to the old woman. “What…what power?”

  “The one inside you. Just like mine. I can sense it, you know. Just as I can smell a storm coming.”

  “Bah, it ain’t somethin’ dwarves meddle with.”

  “Again, you have already meddled with it.”

  Raene offered her a furled brow wrought with concern.

  Gretzen put down her work and regarded her with a kind smile. “If you are afraid, I understand.”

  “Afraid!” Raene shot to her feet and leveled Gretzen with a dangerous glare. Even seated as she was, Gretzen was taller. “I ain’t been afraid since…since…”

  “Yeah, yeah. You dwarves are all the same. “Ain’t been afraid since when? The last time you were afraid, I’d reckon.”

  Raene was speechless. She huffed, and she blinked, and she didn’t quite know what to do with herself. Finally—and in an attempt to save face—she kicked the fire and stormed out of the tent.

  “Stupid witch!” she muttered to herself when she was outside.

  “Has she summoned them yet?”

  Raene jumped and gave a stifled screech. Azzeal stood before her, smiling.

  “Don’t be sneakin’ up on me like that!”

  “I am sorry if I frightened you.”

  “I ain’t frightened, was surprised is all!” She reached up and pushed his chest. “Who told ye I be frightened?”

  He frowned at that. “I…uh…no one?”

  Raene threw up her arms and stomped off into the woods toward the beach. She kicked stones and tore branches from trees. Anger gave birth to rage, and she felt like she might explode. The waiting, constantly waiting… It was driving her mad. What if Dirk and Krentz couldn’t be summoned again? What if she had killed them both? And where was Zander by now? Likely, all the way to Belldon Island, assimilating the whole of Shierdon to his undead hordes. How long until they got into one of the mountains?

  She came out of the woods into the wide field leading to the beach. A well-worn path meandered through the tall grass, but she didn’t take it. Instead, she set her sights on the ten-foot-high rock that Gretzen had worked her strange magic on.

  Raene stripped out of her armor and stood before the giant stone with clutched fists. She reached out with all her anger, every ounce of rage, and gripped the monolith with her consciousness. Nails dug into palms as she shook with effort. When the stone didn’t budge, her anger flared.

  She took three purposeful steps toward it and shot her hands out forward. Her face twisted and her body shook. Palms turned skyward and Raene gave a primal cry. To her utter delight, the stone began to quiver. Her excitement gave her renewed strength, and she lifted her clawed hands slowly. The stone broke from the earth and hovered a foot above the hole it had left behind.

  Raene gave a victorious cry before releasing the boulder, which landed with a resounding thud. She fell to her knees with a wide smile on her face.

  …and passed out.

  Azzeal was tapping her lightly on the cheek. She blinked her eyes open and saw that it was still night…but which night?

  “Gretzen has asked for you. It is time.”

  “Well, why didn’t ye say so?” Raene scrambled to her feet and ran from the field on through the forest, dragging her armor with a clink and clamor.

  She pushed back the tent flap and burst inside. Gretzen raised a hand that halted her quicker than a stone wall. “Leave your apprehension, fear, sorrow, guilt, and expectation at the door. Come to me when you have prepared yourself.”

  Raene gulped.

  When she was ready, she walked slowly to Gretzen and began to sit beside her.

  “Other side of fire,” said Gretzen.

  Raene did as she was told, silently. Gretzen sifted through her collection of ingredients gathered in several jars, bowls, and wooden vials set upon a flat fur. She reached in her pocket and handed Raene the figurine. “Call to her.”

  Raene took it and rubbed a reverent finger across the center where the crack had been. Her eyes began to pool with tears and she forced the painful emotion welling in her throat back down into her gut. “Krentz…come to me.”

  For many nervous flutters of the heart, nothing happened.

  …but then.

  Light began to swirl out of the figurine as it had done a hundred times over. The mist turned to fog, and the fog morphed into a shape, curves formed, a head, a torso, legs…

  Krentz came to form beside the fire and Raene leapt to her feet and gave a cheer. “Thank the gods!”

  Krentz searched the room, eyeing Gretzen suspiciously, and then settled her gaze on Raene. “You little bitch!” Her spirit shot across the tent and a clawed hand formed beneath Raene’s neck and lifted her high. The mist shimmered and turned to Krentz’s elven form once more. She glared at the dwarf.

  “Let her down. Once again she has saved you both,” Gretzen said calmly.

  Krentz eyed the woman sidelong and regarded Raene with one last snarl and released her with a shove. Raene hit the side of the tent and bounced down to land roughly.

  “Are you the one Talon spoke of?” Krentz asked, floating nearer the old woman.

  A wide smile spread across Gretzen’s face and she nodded slowly and rose. “I hope he kept you well.”

  “Where are we? Why haven’t you summoned Dirk?”

  “Please, sit. There is much we must discuss,” said Gretzen.

  Krentz glanced at Raene who was sputtering and choking by the sloping wall. “I would ask that you carry the figurine instead of that crazed dwarf.”

  “As you wish,” said Gretzen. She turned to Raen
e with an open palm.

  Raene choked back her tears as she pulled herself up. “I be sorry, lady Krentz. What I done was wrong. I know that now. I shoulda never dragged ye two along after Zander. But I brought ye to the Vald Witch. We be in Volnoss. She said she might be able to return ye to normal-like.”

  Krentz only stared.

  Raene gave a sigh and handed over the figurine to Gretzen.

  “Is that true?” Krentz asked the old woman.

  “Please,” Raene continued. “Please forgive me.”

  Krentz only ignored her, and waited for the reply.

  “I can try to restore you. Is it true that you had no mortal injuries when you were pulled into the figurine?” Gretzen asked, eyeing her closely.

  Krentz slowly nodded. “Yes.”

  “Then there is hope.”

  Krentz looked from Gretzen to Raene, knowing something was wrong. “And what of Dirk? He was mortally injured when I pulled him in with me.”

  Gretzen offered her a grave nod. “I will not lie to you. It may not be possible. If he is returned to his human form and retains the injuries that he had going in…”

  “Has it ever been done?” Krentz asked hopefully.

  “No ritual exists that I know of. I will have to make one up, as I have done with the spell prepared for you. I wanted to tell you first, so that you might tell him. It is his choice, after all.”

  “And if he cannot be restored?”

  Gretzen shrugged. “Then he will remain what he is, like Chief.”

  “Send me back, let me speak with him.”

  Gretzen raised the figurine and spoke the words, sending Krentz swirling back to the spirit world.

  “You’re back so soon. What has happened?” Dirk asked, noticing how her face was wrought with worry.

  “Raene has gotten the figurine to the one Talon spoke of. Her name is Gretzen,” said Krentz.

  “Can she restore us?”

  Krentz’s eyes fell for a fleeting moment before finding his. “It may be possible. Listen…” She sat down on the bank of the backward-flowing river and pulled Dirk down with her. “She says that she can help me, but you…you were dying when I pulled you in. She said that she will try, but it might not be possible.”

  “But you? She is sure that she can help you?”

  Krentz nodded, and Dirk’s face relaxed a bit. He looked out over the glade as a shooting star streaked backward across the waters. “If there is a risk, then I should wait until Zander has been dealt with. We might need the advantage of spirit form.”

  “How did you know I wanted to go after him?”

  Dirk grinned at her. “I’ve known you a long time.”

  She could see that he was happy with the news. Even though he might be doomed to eternity as a spirit, he was glad that at least she could be saved. Krentz, on the other hand, was not so happy about it. “If you cannot return to form then neither shall I. How can I leave you here in this…in between world?”

  “You must. No matter what happens, we will still be together. When you take form, you need to gain possession of the figurine. You shall become the bearer.”

  “Dirk…”

  “You must,” he said. “Let the witch help you. When the necromancer has been dealt with, we will see what can be done for me.”

  She grabbed him and held him close. Shimmering tears, like liquid diamonds, spilled down her glowing cheeks. “It is so strange. We have spoken of returning to the physical plane for so long…now that it has come, I find myself frightened. Magic has been taken from the elves. If I return to form, I will have nothing left—neither magic nor spirit form.”

  “You will have gained your life back. What else is there?” said Dirk.

  It had been long enough by Gretzen’s reckoning. She held the figurine out before her and summoned Krentz forth.

  “What have you decided?” she asked the swirling mist.

  Krentz stood before her, looking solemn yet resolute. “Do what you can for me.”

  “And what about, Dirk, aye? What did he say?” Raene blurted, nearly hopping out of her chair.

  Krentz ignored her, answering to Gretzen. “Given the risk you have mentioned, he wishes to wait until the necromancer has been dealt with.”

  Gretzen nodded respectfully. “Are you ready?”

  Krentz looked nervous, but nodded.

  The old woman took the figurine in her left hand and raised it to the heavens. Her eyes fluttered and her head tilted back.

  She began to chant.

  A thick blue smoke billowed up to the ceiling and snaked its way out of the hole. There was a blinding flash as powder was thrown in and Gretzen’s voice rose. The words flowed from her now, beckoning to Krentz, commanding her spirit.

  Krentz began to feel warm, and soon felt herself burning up. The energy flowing through her pulsed and hummed. The figurine vibrated in the old witch’s hand and the fire flared to the ceiling. Blood was poured over the flames, which hissed and crackled. Krentz let out a cry of pain as her body pulsed with strange power. She felt as though she were being torn apart—a feeling she hadn’t had since walking through Eadon’s portal to Agora those many years ago. Gretzen reached out with a clawed hand and Krentz floated above the flames. The figurine glowed like a rising sun.

  Pain so terrible as to leave her speechless coursed through Krentz, and she thought that surely something had gone wrong. She instinctively tried to flee—to turn to a wisp and fly far from the demonic barbarian. But Gretzen’s clawed hand held her firm. Krentz howled and cried, pleaded and screamed for her to stop. The chanting only became more furious, more demanding.

  Raene tore at her hair and cried, muttering words to her gods.

  Chief gave a long, baleful howl.

  With one last exclamation, Gretzen reached for the figurine and pulled. Her words were drowned out by a great crashing of thunder that shook the ground.

  Krentz fell to the ground, panting.

  Her naked body twitched and convulsed, and Raene was there with whispered words of reassurance. What was that taste? She moved her tongue around her mouth—dirt…blood.

  She could taste, she could feel, she was alive!

  The smoke slowly dissipated through the top of the tent and the fire receded. Raene threw a blanket over her quaking form and cried with joy. “She did it. By the gods, she did it. You be an elf again!”

  Krentz pushed her away weakly, but the stubborn dwarf was undeterred. She helped her to sit up and fussed over her like an older sister. Krentz tried to speak but choked on the words. Her lungs burned and her body ached. But the feeling was a welcome one, for only the living feel physical pain.

  Gretzen bent forward and placed the timber-wolf figurine in Krentz’s hand and squeezed gently. “You have done well, brave elf. Now you must rest.”

  Tears pooled in Krentz’s eyes and she held out a shaking hand. “Come to me, Dirk Blackthorn!”

  Out of the mist came Dirk, and his smile was wider than she had ever seen. She reached out for her lover and he took her up in ghostly arms. “Rest, my love. I will watch over you this night, and every night.”

  “Come to me, Aurora Snowfell!”

  Aurora stood on the edge of the high cliff and cocked her head to the wind. The misty ocean flowed backward, and the rocky cliff side offered no answers. The voice came once more, and a sliver of brilliant light suddenly split the air before her. She looked down at her pale hands and gave a startled cry when her skin began to fleck off like ash being pulled into the light. Her body fell apart and the light engulfed her, blinding her to the world beyond. She came out into the darkness and instinctively tried to run away. To her shock and amazement, she had no body. Yet she flew through the air like a bird.

  Soon she realized that she was in a village much like the one she had grown up in. Then she remembered…she had died…again.

  “Aurora! Do not be frightened!”

  She turned to find Azzeal moving toward her, holding up defensive hands meant to calm
her. Aurora tried to speak but was scared to hear her own voice. It was like a moaning wind through the bare trees.

  Gretzen erupted from the tent and shuffled toward her with a limp. One wide eye regarded her sideways like a crow. She stopped between tents. “Aurora Snowfell. Come to me!”

  Aurora felt herself pulled against her will, and soon floated before the old witch. “Do not panic. Remember who you are, what you were. Envision the body that you once possessed.”

  Aurora fought back her disillusionment and fear. Gretzen’s voice soothed her, allowed her to think. She looked down and thought of her hand—and before her eyes, it materialized. The other swirled out of the blue mist as well. And then she was looking down at her body. Seeing that she was quite natural, she imagined her gleaming armor, and so it too came to be.

  “What am I?” Sparkling tears fell from her eyes when she heard her voice as it should be.

  “You have given yourself wholly to me. I have made you like the wolf, Chief.” Gretzen held up a figurine that looked remarkably like her. “You have been cursed with the protection of this land and this people for all time; until the oceans swallow up the world, and the fires of the deep clash with the waters of heaven. Then, you shall have earned a place in Val’Kharae.”

  Aurora regarded herself once more, and the memories returned. She looked to Azzeal, whose bright eyes shone upon her with reverent awe. The realization of her power caused her to gasp, and then laugh merrily. She raised a hand before her and willed it to turn to mist. It complied, and she laughed all the more. She was free. For the first time since her great betrayal against Azzeal, she was free!

  She bowed before Gretzen. “Thank you, oh great one. Matriarch of all of Volnoss. Queen of the barbarian lands. I shall be your weapon. Speak the words, and I shall do your bidding.”

  Gretzen leveled a dangerous one-eyed glare on her. “You’ve been given your command. Now swear to it with your very soul.”

  Aurora noticed then all the children and elders watching her from the edge of the firelight. “I swear to you. Like the spirits of old who have watched over the tribes since the dawn of time, I shall watch over you until the end of time.”