by P. G. Thomas
There was an odd expression on Amber’s face when she looked up to Steve.
“What he’s trying to say is that the rain only hurt Mother’s forest.” I think.
Amber nodded
John awkwardly pulled out his sword and used it to start digging in the dirt. “For the plants to die, the source has to come from the ground. If it were an airborne blight of some kind, it would affect all of the plants the same, which could never be this localized. Something has to be in the soil, like a contained poison, as it’s the only thing that makes sense.” As he began to dig deeper, the others also joined in, but he warned them not to touch anything they found, not even the dirt.
Eric looked over to John, “Could Mother have an enemy? You know, like a bad step-daughter who did this?”
“Who knows? However, Hope said, when the forests began dying, the Earth Mothers went to find plant-based solutions, but they found less each year, and that was before the rains started. From the sounds of it, she suggested the forests were suffering from a drought, and I think Sister may have also believed that. That’s why it rained so much because she was trying to save the forests. When the Earth Mothers couldn’t find any solutions, people quit going to them. Basically, they stopped believing in Mother, and that’s how you kill a divine entity or whatever they are. Anybody find anything?”
Steve called out, “Just this weird yellow root,” and then Eric and Amber replied the same.
Looking down into the hole, seeing the same, John walked over to the others to examine their contents. It seemed that the farthest had the smallest plant structures, but others had larger, older growths in them. He repositioned the three, telling them where to dig. “We’re looking for the same. If you find more, but they are smaller than the last hole, change your direction. They’re spreading out from somewhere, and we need to find the primary root.” Ten minutes later, Eric called out, and everybody went over to him, seeing the large growth, which had wispy, yellow hair like structures extending into the surrounding soil. John had them form a line, and they started to dig holes to follow it, as it twisted and turned under the ground. When somebody found a larger version, everybody would shift so the sighting was in the middle. It took an hour of playing hide-and-seek with it, but with each new excavation, they would find thicker growths. Then John dropped down to his knees and carefully began to excavate the ground. The others walked over, viewing the sizeable growth that was a putrid yellow color, smelling as bad as it looked. John picked up a dry stick, prodded it, “What the hell is this thing?”
Eric nudged him with his foot, “As a general rule, we ask the questions. You’re the one who is supposed to have the answers.”
Pushing his sword into it, the tough outer skin resisted the dwarf metal, “I’ve never seen anything like this, but it’s everywhere.” John stood, setting the edge of his sword on top of the root, and then stepped on it with the heel of his boot. “And bloody strong.” He looked to Amber, “Is that a pure mithril ax?” She nodded. Taking off his shirt, he pulled off his undershirt, which exposed his hairless white chest, and then quickly redressed. “Step over here, placing your feet so you can make two cuts into this thing, but wait until I say. Since cutting it could displace a large amount of dirt or particles, I’m going to tie my undershirt over your face. There could even be microscopic pieces, that if inhaled, could be dangerous. Do you have any cuts on your body?” Amber replied that she did not, but he checked her exposed arms, hands, neck, and legs to be sure. “I wish I had a hazmat suit. Eric, you have the biggest coat. Can I have it?” Walking over, he handed it to John. “Okay, Amber, remember where the root is. I’m going to cover it with this coat to hinder any airborne movement of the soil or plant. Before your first strike, take a deep breath, and hold it until I uncover your face. Do you understand?” Even though she nodded, her face was losing its color. John smiled, “Hey, it’ll be okay. These are just precautions. Steve, Eric, start a fire. Amber, after you have cut it a second time, remain still until I say so. Also, do not touch your ax. Are we good?” She nodded, and John looked over to Steve and Eric, who already had a small fire started. He stepped to the other side of the hole, “Okay, Amber, remember where the root is located in relation to your feet, and where you want to cut it.” Moving a few inches to the left, she did a few practice swings and then nodded. John covered the root with Eric’s coat, and walking behind her, with his undershirt, he blindfolded her. “Remember; don’t breathe until I’ve taken this off.” Racing over to where Eric and Steve stood, John called out to Amber, “Cut!”
Raising the ax high above her, Amber cut through the coat into the dirt, and repeating her action, brought the ax to rest. The coat had served its purpose, as only a minimal dirt cloud had formed. Rushing over, John untied the shirt, being careful not to touch the front. When it was off, he told her to set the ax down and to join Eric, adding that they should walk thirty feet away from the fire. When they had moved the distance, he found a small dead tree about seven feet tall. Breaking it off at the base, busting the branches from the crown, he carefully lifted up the shirt with it, taking it to the fire, and after depositing it into the flames, he quickly ran over to the three. As it burned, he examined Amber to make sure there were no signs of a foreign contamination on her. When he felt confident that she was clean, he walked back over to the root, holding his breath the entire time, picked up the ax, and ran it back to the fire. There he set the massive double edged head of the ax into the flames and once again, ran back over to the three. After it had been in the fire for ten minutes, the flames dying down, he wrapped his coat around the handle to pull it out.
Amber looked at her once highly polished ax, its surface now blackened. “Is this all necessary?”
Steve walked over beside her, “Have to be honest, John, you seem to be overreacting a wee bit.”
“In this world, never. I saw Lauren use plants to make light and darkness, saw her cure people with them, and we even used plants to make the black-clad army sleep. If caution is a sin in this world, then I’ll happily be the biggest sinner you’ve ever seen.” He lifted up the long stick, “I’m going to expose the root by picking up Eric’s coat, and since it’ll most likely be contaminated, we’ll have to burn it.” Sticking the branch into one end of the coat, he started to roll it backwards onto itself, and they could all see the yellow mucus-like substance on the underside of it. Taking a deep breath, he rolled the coat up quicker and ran it to the fire. As he raced to the others still holding his breath, he stumbled, falling at their feet. When he looked back, he was surprised to see how large the fire had grown, seeing the thick yellow smoke floating to the sky. He looked up to them, “Anybody want to make smores?”
As the fire died down, the smoke returned to its natural color, and they walked over to look in the hole. Amber had been precise with her strikes, and a twelve-inch long section, three inches in diameter, sat severed from the rest of the mysterious plant, as a thick yellow jelly-like substance slowly oozed from the cuts.
“That’s disgusting,” advised Steve, “I guess you’ll want to take it with us?”
John picked up the tree, breaking a three-foot section from its base, so that it had a sharp point at one end. Sliding it carefully into the closest cut, pushing it deep into the yellow root, he cautiously raised it from the hole, setting it on the ground. From the backpack, he retrieved the large empty elf purse and then turned to the three. “We have to get that thing into this bag, and I’m willing to hold this, so who wants to work the stick?”
“There’s no more danger, is there?” asked Eric.
“Sure, it’s no more unsafe than anything else in this world.” John shook his head, “How would I know?”
As Eric picked up the stick, John moved to the far end, maneuvering the purse around it until it was safely inside. Then wrapping the purse around the stick, pulled the root off, and told Eric to burn it, as he tied the purse closed.
After setting it on the ground, John examined his hands
for any yellow residue. Walking ten feet from the hole, he dug another with the heel of his boot. With no signs of the root, he grabbed a handful of dirt to scrub his hands. Placing the contained menace into the backpack, he advised, “We need to get back to the others.” At the front of the forest, they brought forth the magical mounts to fly back to their camp. Once there, he explained his plan to fix the machine: to go back in time and kill Zymse, attempting to stop everything from happening.
Lauren set down her mug, “That’s the best we have?”
He was unable to meet her cold stare, “Right now, we only know one thing for certain. This Zymse Darpac is the cause of all the evil, and we’re not even sure if the three Earth Mothers that did this are—”
“How does this story end? Everybody lives happily ever after? You heard Fen and Fodu. They said the Earth Mothers had wandered off. Hell, even Hope said the same thing. Then three tall ladies, all identical looking, show up here. Then the people of Alron kneel before them, and they order them to walk into burning houses!” Lauren was incensed, glaring at him, “I’m not a silly seventeen-year-old girl, and there are no Earth Mothers in Calicon. Yet three identical looking females did that!” She was pointing to where Alron used to stand, “Not my daughters? How stupid do you think I am?”
“Lauren, I—”
“Don’t you dare say those three words!”
John, holding up his hands, looked like he was trying to pull answers from the air, getting angry as well. “What do you want me to say!”
“Damn it, I need something.”
“I have a backup plan, but it’ll take time as well.”
“What’s this one?”
“We went to the forest and found a strange root. I have a feeling that it’s the reason why the forests are dying, but I need to do some experiments on it to figure out how it killed them. If we can save the forests, maybe, Mother may come back, and she’ll be able to do something I can’t.”
“How long will this plan take?”
It was an old habit, “I don’t know.”
Lauren rolled her eyes, but it was too late for him to take his words back.
Ryan looked to John, hoping for a recovery, “So what’s next?”
He quickly assembled a reasonable response to satisfy her building anger. “We go back to Ironhouse, telling them what we found, and then we’ll head back to the Bright Coast. I’ll try to figure out what happened to the machine, and see if I can understand this root. There are no answers in the west, as everybody is on the Bright Coast. So we’ll continue our investigation there.”
“There is nothing else we can do?” demanded Lauren.
He fought to find arguments to support his hasty plan, “The sword and armor are gone, and even if we had them, Tranquil Fury has left. Logan can’t find Sister, so we’ll see if we can do something about Mother. I have one of my cloaks back with a bit of magic that I can use. Ryan, are you feeling anything?” After he had shaken his head, John continued, “Well, we’ve only been here a week, and it took you longer last time to get a charge. We aren’t out of the game yet, it’s just different this time.”
“I know, and I’m trying,” sighed Lauren. “It’s just every time I close my eyes, the images I see. The things I think—I wish I could just wake up when it’s all over. Isn’t there anything else we can do?”
As John was trying to find a way to rephrase the words that Lauren had prohibited, Logan pointed north. They all looked, but with nothing there, so everybody turned to face him.
“Why don’t we see if we can find the sky elves? We had a hard time locating them last time, so maybe they’re still in the mountains?”
“Then what?” asked Lauren.
“I don’t know,” replied Logan, quickly adding, “Maybe Sister’s still around, and they can help me find her.”
“It’s a good idea,” replied Eric.
Ryan reached over and grabbed Lauren’s hand, “It can’t hurt anything and might help. We need to try every route, and we’re already in the west, so let’s see if we can find some old allies?”
She nodded, “We may as well, but what about Grax, Gor, and Amber?”
“Since the winged horses seem pretty robust, we just have to double up the riders. It would be easier if Zack—” Then John went quiet.
Lauren took a deep breath, “We fly north close to the mountains. As I recall, they found them half way to the north pass town, about seven days from here.”
“What about Hope and Sam?” asked Ryan. “Couldn’t they help?”
“It isn’t their concern, and they’ve already paid a heavy price for this, so let’s leave them alone. Get out the horses because I want to get this side trip done as quickly as possible.”
After collecting up the magic items, John materialized the six large winged mounts. When all were securely attached to the saddles, the horses started to trot forward, picking up speed, and then unfolded their wings. Not all enjoyed the sensation of flying, as Gor and Grax each held the rider in front of them with a death grip, their eyes closed the entire time. Amber, being less anxious, squeezed Steve so hard that he thought she would crack his ribs.
It took two days to cover the distance, the flying horses being significantly faster. When they camped, John would bring forth the magic chests, and from them, tents, bedrolls, and more, but most importantly, the guard animals.
On the second night, Amber, Gor, and Grax had made a small fire a short distance from the camp that they gathered around. Grax pulled out a silver flask, took a drink, and passed it to Amber, “Magic portals, beasts that fly, and blood wolves.”
She took a quick sip, “Alron was a cruel fate that I could not believe,” then passed the flask.
“Hope and Sam, strange as well,” then Gor had a quick taste and returned it.
Grax put the cap back on, “We all heard the stories, thinking the bards had too much to drink, but they changed into many beasts. Believe it, I still do not.”
Amber looked at her two cousins, “Do not be lore struck, as this is serious. The root, when told to cut, I thought simple, but the Unchosen was serious. The root and my face, he covered both, and after, fire burnt all that the root touched, ax as well. We must be serious.”
“Mountain eagles and sky elves we now search for. When asked to join, I did not imagine none any of this. I cannot wait to tell all,” added Grax, his eyes still wide with amazement.
Amber looked at both, “In father’s footsteps we walk, be we need to be careful, as you can return home two ways. If you are cautious, you will tell your stories. Be foolish, and your name forgotten will be only your reward. Ironhouse is our clan, so will we bring no shame to it. Now put away the flask. Grax, the first watch you have. Magic they may have, but dwarf eyes protect best in dark. Gor, the second watch you have, and the last is mine.” Then Amber stood and headed back to the main camp
Logan was tending the fire, telling Steve stories about what he used to do with magic. Then he started his favorite; “My name is Korgamon Haile, but please call me Korg.” As he repeated the story, everybody took turns correcting him, and as it progressed, some even enjoyed a laugh, but parts of the story also brought forth other emotions. The image of Lauren lying dead at Pintar’s brought tears to John’s eyes, as he remembered that heartbreaking night. When Logan talked about the other Earth Mothers almost dying, he saw Lauren and Ryan wipe away tears several times, but during the telling, John also saw his friends smile with genuine emotion. The entire time, Amber and Gor sat beside the fire in complete awe, as it is one thing to hear stories about legends, but beyond words to witness the legends speak the stories themselves. Steve even asked Logan to repeat the ending at Pintar’s, shaking his head the entire time in disbelief. Being late, they turned in with everybody thinking of sky elves, hoping they would be able to help Logan find Sister, and to bring them one step closer to the missing girls.
*******
John was up early the next morning, and after retrieving the guard amulet
s, he went over to Amber. “I’m worried about you three. When the wolves attacked us, you made your fathers proud, but this isn’t a game.”
Amber looked down to the ground, “Earth Mother—”
“Don’t call me that, call me John.”
“I warned my kin last night not to be lore struck. Bast...Logan a story he starts, and to dwarf, it called like ale. It was hard to turn from words heard for so long, now heard from legend itself. I will instruct my kin to make our own camp. Protect, not mingle, I know now our place.”
“That isn’t what I meant. It’s just that I don’t want to see anybody get hurt. Look, I know you heard the stories, and I’ve no idea how long it takes to watch the entire play. However, I’m going to tell you something right now, and you might not like it. We aren’t legends; we’re just people like you. We cry, hurt, bleed, get angry, curse, eat, drink, and even crap just like everybody else. If we get hurt bad, we die. Lauren almost died three times, Logan once. When they caught us, Eric, Mirtza, and even I came close to death. The first time we were here, this world adopted most of us. Mother and Sister selected Lauren and Logan. Eric had Tranquil Fury, and the world healed Zack and Ryan. In the end, I was lucky and captured the magic. This time, there is no Mother, Sister, or Tranquil Fury. I have a little bit of magic, and I’m not sure about Ryan. Last time, these lands blessed us, and we made some good decisions—” Then John’s voice went quiet, as he looked to the ground, “and some bad.” He looked back to Amber, “We had Earth Guards to look out for us and your fathers, but this time, we’re on our own. All we have is what you hold in your hands, what is between your ears, and what is under your breastplate. Steel, brains, and heart. The last time, anyone of us could have killed those wolves, depending on when they attacked. This time, Ironhouse saved us, and we were damn lucky that Hope and Sam showed up to kill the last, but we can’t bet on luck. Steel, brains, and heart. That’s all we have, and I don’t know if it’s enough. Tell Gor and Grax that they aren’t on an adventure with legends. That they’re on a journey with six ordinary people, and it’s dangerous. Unless any of you want to discuss it with your Uncle Gor, you need to get your heads wrapped around that. You don’t need to make your own camp and are welcome at ours. If we tell stories again, don’t just listen to the words, instead, look at the faces. There you’ll see pain, anguish, anger, tears, and emotions that the dwarf bards never knew of. If you’re lucky, a few smiles also. Watch those faces, as that is where you’ll see the real story.” Glancing up at the sky, John saw the large shapes and called to everybody, “Mountain Eagles, we need to move out.”