We were all dry, warm, and soon to be secured by the sea for the night ahead. I just hoped I was right about the sea stopping where I had judged it to be at high tide.
Jaramel had taken to sleeping almost immediately after he had lain down upon the soft sand. To my surprise, Baram walked over to him removed the Razorbear cloak he wore and covered the sleeping apprentice with its length.
“Are you going to read him a story as well?” I smiled.
Baram turned to me and frowned his serious frown.
“You’re too hard on him sometimes Taragon.” He looked back to Jaramel as the mage stirred in his sleep. “Why, he’s still a boy…and barely a man.”
“A boy who can burn others to a crisp if he so desires it,” I returned.
Baram shook his head. “Why don’t you like him?” he asked bluntly.
It was not a question that I was expecting.
“I don’t have to like him Baram, just endure him.”
“Same old Taragon,” he mumbled, “you’ll never change will you!”
I was not too sure if I liked where this conversation was leading.
“And just what is that supposed to mean, my friend?”
“Nothing!”
“Oh no, it’s not nothing. Now say your piece!” I demanded.
Baram rose from his place by Jaramel and stormed over to where I stood.
“Very well,” he growled. “I will.”
“It’s just that you’re always for you! It’s always about the money with you, and never about the concerns of others. You should take a look around you Taragon. Pretty soon, people are going to be fighting for their lives and homes, and all you care about is your damned gold!”
“Would others have given a damn if that Gloadonos had killed me? No, so why should I care about them! Gold makes me happy Baram, and it’s the only thing I do care about!”
“Bah! You’ll never change. You never let anyone get close enough to you, for you to change.” Baram was genuinely angered, but I was never one to back out of an argument.
“Close?” I said aloud, “like the way you have left Kendra in Ranak-Lore because you’re so close?” I laughed mockingly but instantly regretted my harsh words.
Baram exploded! In a rage, he shook his club fist furiously in front of me. In reaction, I took a defensive stance backwards.
“It is because of Kendra that I am doing this now!” he bellowed.
Since I had known Baram, we had never once come to blows, and given his current temperament, I think I would rather have faced a Fangore again.
I looked at the fist that was held near my face. His eyes followed mine, and his fist slowly lowered.
Turning away, he began shaking his head as he slumped to the ground with his back to a rock.
By some miracle Jaramel, was still sleeping soundly.
Moving to our packs, I removed two of the oilskins that I had purchased in Ranak-Lore and crossed the sandy ground to Baram.
The big weaponsmith rolled his eyes upwards as I extended one of the skins in offering. Taking the weatherproof material in his hands, his eyes met mine.
“Taragon…I’m…..”
“Me too my friend,” I nodded.
I extended my arm once again, this time in friendship. Baram placed the skin on the ground then clasped his large hand around my forearm, as I held on to his in our forgiving embrace. With words left unspoken, I looked to the mage.
“We shall let him sleep. I don’t foresee any dangers this night, but just in case I’ll take the first watch between us.” Baram smiled slightly with a look of surprise.
“It is just so he can recover his powers,” I added, “nothing more. He is of no use to us weak.”
“Whatever you say Taragon,” replied Baram with a half smile as he lay down and prepared for sleep.
Moving to the fire, I added another piece of driftwood before dimming the light of the Glowball. Then, after finding a suitable flat rock near to the entrance, I made myself as comfortable as possible whilst preparing for my watch.
I probably could have risked sleeping as well. The water had entered the cave so much now that nothing could have come in or out until the morning’s light anyway, but I was quite happy just to be alone with my thoughts.
Baram’s uncharacteristic anger played on my mind. I know he did not really meant any of it. Even if though most of it was true! It was to Kendra where the heart of it lay, or at least, his heart anyway. I played with my own fantasy of having a loved one to go back to. I imagined her to be slim with a buxom chest, and a heart full of love. She would run to welcome me home, with open arms filled with joy and happiness…
The feeling felt nice, if only for a moment, and as the image soon faded as I once again faced an uncertain reality.
Still, five hundred gold would buy me many hearts.
Picking up a small piece of driftwood, I tossed it into the gently lapping waves at my feet to watch it get slowly carried away into the gloom beyond.
As I looked out across the ocean, sparkling as it did in the day but now from the light of the moon, I wondered to myself what tomorrow would bring, in my search for the Soul Crystal.
Chapter Ten:
Fire, fire was all about me. Nothing but darkness and an endless sea of encircling flame. I was lost, I was alone. As I watched a dark circled shadow formed beneath the flames in front of me, something started to stir there; something began to emerge. The blaze now turned a fiery green within this circle of shadow, and two fearful looking points began to rise upwards through the flames. I knew approaching danger when I saw it, and I willed my legs to move but found they disobeyed my every command as the two sharp tipped points were now seen to be in fact two terrifyingly curved horns. Upwards and upwards they slowly rose and were now as thick as my leg and as long as my arms. Once again I tried to will myself from this place, I pleaded with my legs to comply with my wishes, but still they held firm to await the horrifying conclusion of the thing that was emerging before me. Spellbound and transfixed there was nothing I could do but to watch.
The horns were now as big as I was! Something else could now be seen rising, it arose like some behemoth from the ocean depths. The revulsion that followed was almost too much for me to bear.
Fear gripped at the very core of my soul as the massive demon’s head slowly manifested itself piece by piece from the circle of unnatural flames! A long flowing fiery red mane of hair was the first thing to be seen after the horns, it swept backwards between the two fearsome looking points and disappeared somewhere behind them. Next came its ears, surprisingly small for such a large head, their leathery tips were directed backwards, just underneath of the horns. The two small illuminated disks that followed radiated evil, glowing bright green and cat like, they fixed me with a hungry stare of enquiring curiosity that I found unnerving, to say the least. It had tight leathery skin that was drawn taut across its face, a dark brown in colour it accentuated its evil features brilliantly. More of the flame-red hair was now to be seen; it extended backwards to join the mane on either side of a slightly protruding muzzled jaw. This opened with a snarl to reveal a ferocious salivating mouth full of sharp teeth. It was then that I found my body starting to tremble involuntary, I was not sure if it was out of the fear I was feeling or just being in the presence of such evil. Every ounce of my being screamed at me to turn and run, but I knew it would be futile to try. I had little choice but to force my will to look on this abomination for as long as I was able. Its fearsome head was almost free of the green fire now. As I looked, I had to wonder just how big this thing was? Judging by the size of its head, the rest of it must have been immense! Now in its entirety, I noticed that the flame red hair extended all around its face like the mane of a Werecat, it even continued as much to a flowing tuft of hair that ran down from its chin like a beard. Massively proportioned tight leathery neck muscles supporting the head were now also visible, but there was something else...
A chain? Yes, it was a chain. An eno
rmous inter-linked grey chain was fixed around this creature’s neck like that of domesticated pet! As I stood spellbound in the presence of this being, I watched as a wickedly clawed hand consisting of three long fingers and a thumb reach upwards through the flames to paw at the chain. It seemed as if it wanted to be freed from this restraint as it then glared almost pleadingly in my direction. It was then that I found my body unable to take any more punishment. I closed my eyes tightly, not willing or perhaps not able to behold any more of this monstrosity that still continued to rise before me. I stood for what seemed like an eternity before daring to open them again, and when I did, I found that I now stood alone.
The unnatural flames had gone, and thankfully so had the thing that had been rising within them. But the darkness remained.
With the sudden realisation of movement, I thankfully turned to see a man standing with his back to me. Silent and unmoving he stood, and not more than five paces away. His clothes consisted of a hooded cloak of forest green worn with leather hide trousers and brown muddy boots. His choice of weapon was a longbow, and he wore it over one shoulder, so it hung at his back.
I made a move to approach this new stranger, maybe to get some answers from him and ask him where this place might be, but once again I found my movement denied by the will of my legs!
I tried to speak. To yell out in anger and protest over my restrictions, but I found that no words would issue forth. This man, however, appeared to have no such problems and began chuckling to himself as he reached for his weapon!
Again fear and panic gripped my being as the man turned and I viewed the empty black space where his face should have been! My nightmare intensified when this spectral shade produced an arrow from within its cloak, it then proceeded notching it onto the bow and pulling back on the bowstrings whilst aiming level with my chest. With laughter echoing all around me I screamed in horror as the taut bowstring was released for my imminent demise…
“Taragon! Wake up!”
I opened my eyes to see Baram’s bearded face close to mine etched with a look of worry. His hand rested on my shoulder, and I realised he had been shaking me.
“Are you ok?” he asked concerned. “You yelled out in your sleep.”
“Sleep…?” Rubbing my hand over my eyes, I came to a sitting position in my bed as I tried to clear the fog from my head and the sweat from my brow.
The smell of salt filled my nostrils, and the sound of the sea could be heard close by. It was then that I realised that I was still in the cave we had chosen for our camp the night before.
“By the Gods Baram! It was him!” I said in sudden realisation.
“Who?”
“He was wearing the same cloak of green, and had a longbow, even right down to the muddy boots he wore, only I did not recognise him until now.”
“Who?” said Baram again only with a little more frustration.
“Yesterday at the entrance by the cleft, that ranger, it was the same man who won the gold from me in that tavern in Ranak-Lore.”
Baram leant back a little, his look changed from one of concern to one of puzzlement as he scratched his head.
“Are you sure?”
“Positive,” I replied as I recalled the dream I just had.
“If I could go back there now, I bet he would have a face.”
On this last remark, I saw Baram cast an uneasy glance towards Jaramel.
The young magic user stood in the dim light of the cave a little way away and almost resembled a spectral shade himself; his fiery eyes were locked onto mine as they once again glared as brightly as ever from the shadows of his hood, his magic apparently restored.
“That reminds me, there was also something else in my dream. A demon.”
“A demon?” enquired Jaramel suddenly interested.
I gave a nod. “Two huge horns with a fiery mane of red hair, as large as you like and bathed in green flame with eyes to match! It also instilled a feeling of dread into me that I care not to remember.”
“Interesting,” pondered the mage.
Baram took a step back as I stood up from my bed.
“You know something of this?” I asked.
“Perhaps….” replied Jaramel “You have just described the very thing that we aim to seek Mr Stein…the Bane Demon.”
“That was the Bane Demon!”
“As you described it, yes.”
“And you want us to release that thing into our world?”
“Not us Mr Stein, master Luka will accomplish that undertaking.”
We must be crazy I thought.
“Have you ever seen this Bane Demon yourself Jaramel?”
“Master Luka did conjure an illusion of it for my education, yes.”
“Did he also conjure the feeling of pure evil that radiated from it?”
Jaramel was silent for short moments before replying.
“No, he did not. But I have great faith in Master Luka’s abilities, and you are forgetting Mr Stein, that unlike the last person to summon this demon, my Master has the one thing that he did not…a rod of control.”
I shook my head at the madness of releasing such horror upon the living world.
“Well then, for all our sakes, I just hope that your Master Luka is as good as you say he is.”
Jaramel gave a polite nod in my direction before bending down to collect his bedding from the ground.
“There was one last thing,” I added, “I think it was trying to tell me something.”
“Oh?”
I nodded in answer. “It had a chain around its neck that it wanted to be freed from, that much I am certain.”
“A chain you say? That is interesting…the chain symbolises its attachment to this world by way of the Soul Crystal. It is its connection with us. It is its binding imprisonment to the Soul Crystal which manifests itself in the form of this chain that you speak of.”
Jaramel stood in silent thought for a moment.
“This is good news,” he said aloud. “It means that the crystal has absorbed the necessary amount of souls required for its summoning.”
“Good!” I said in disbelief. “ I doubt you will be saying that once you see this thing face to face.”
“Mr Stein,” sighed Jaramel. “I am well aware of the power of this Demon, and so too is Master Luka. That is why we are on this quest. The King told you, did he not, of the number of his armies? When the North invades, it will not take them long before they conquer all of southern Kantaria. Master Luka knows this and so does the King, but with the power of the Bane Demon at our control, we will be able to turn the tide of battle in our favour.”
“Huh!” I snapped back. “Upon the battlefield I doubt that you would need little else.”
“That is the idea,” affirmed Jaramel with another nod.
Now it was my turn to go silent as I thought this over in my head.
“Well let us move out,” I barked back “I’m only being paid to find the blasted thing. What men do with it after that is no concern of mine.” I turned without another word and bent down to collect my bedding from the ground. As I stood, I saw Baram still standing in the same spot as when I had first woken.
“What chain?” he said with another puzzling look.
After leaving our sea cave encampment, I had to make a choice. With Jantar’s map in hand, I had one of two options. I could either continue to lead our small band around the coastline as originally planned, or cut directly northwards overland and save time, I glanced at the map again, there did not appear to be any marked settlements that I would have otherwise avoided if I were to take the quicker route, and since time was of the essence.... That was it. My mind was made up! We would head directly north overland and rejoin the coastline when needed, and besides, we were still deep in the south of northern Kantaria and far from the gathering armies of Vorgannon, or at least I hoped we were.
We were four hours into our ride, and I almost convinced myself that my gamble was going to pay off when I spotted
smoke up ahead. It travelled upwards in the warm breezeless air in an almost thin straight line. Most men could have been forgiven for passing over it with their eyes at this distance, but since mine were constantly scanning the horizon, I had noticed it instantly. I drew Storm to a halt and followed the thin black column of smoke down to its base at the flat of the land ahead. There was something there. Too far to be made clear, it was nothing more than a tiny black speck upon the land. Baram’s voice spoke from my right as he brought Anvil alongside.
“Trouble?”
I first ignored him as I shielded my eyes from the sun’s glare and raised myself up in my stirrups to better my view. It did little to help.
“I’m not sure.”
Udos’s almost stealth like approach signalled that Jaramel was to my left.
I turned to view the shrouded apprentice.
“I do not suppose your eyes could do better?”
Jaramel turned his hooded head to meet my gaze with a fiery calm look.
“My eyes have one benefit and one benefit only, and that is when it is dark. Apart from that, my sight is just as limited as yours.”
Wizards! I thought to myself as I turned back to view the land ahead.
Grass, hard earth, leafless shrubs and few sparse trees were all that could be spied in the flat landscape around us. Nothing else could be seen here apart from a small shimmering heat haze that rippled along the ground like invisible water. The thought of circling around this occurrence entered my mind, but that would have taken us miles out of our way, and in the end, we might just end up in some other unforeseen predicament.
“A campfire maybe?” offered Baram as he joined me in my scrutiny.
Taragon Stein: The Search For The Soul Crystal Page 25