The Beginnings Omnibus: Beginnings 1, 2, 3 & Legend of Ashenclaw novella (Realm of Ashenclaw Beginnings Saga)

by Gary F. Vanucci

  “What exactly is this place?” asked Dainn as he wandered in and spoke a command word, releasing a dull light from atop his staff. He recoiled in fear as Phaera’s amber eyes and fanged mouth entered the radius of his light, signaling him to dim it even more.

  “You wish us discovered so quickly?!” she asked him in a hushed, yet threatening tone. He appeased her unspoken directive by doing so.

  “Apologies,” Dainn said remorsefully with a slight dip of his head.

  “I feel…the presence of a...other worldly creature,” Prishnack fumbled, hovering behind Megnus, who strapped a shield to his left arm and produced one of his deadly axes.

  “Yes!” agreed Phaera, as she too not so much felt, but heard the voice of a demonic presence. She closed her eyes and reached out to the entity, speaking in the tongue native to the depths of Pandemonium.

  “We are coming to take you back to Sadreth,” she began, communicating with the demon, who revealed itself as Cyrza.

  “Follow the sound of my voice and return me to my rightful host!” shouted the demon inside her mind.

  Phaera made her way with haste toward the voice as it guided her up one level after another.

  “What in the realm be this thing?” Xorgram shrieked, producing the gemmed pendant. As he stared at it, the item was black and dull one moment, and then shone brightly as if it were polished diamond the next. Xorgram gazed around at his confidantes gathered within his private quarters. Fuddle, Kilkutt and Skilgo were all present and occupying far corners of the room.

  “It is clearly something evil, or contains something malevolent,” stated Fuddle, echoing the sentiment of the warlock Helene, who had warned them of the deadly and very powerful presence within the gem. He sat on a chair and fidgeted with his goggles nervously.

  “We don’t be knowin’ what lies within the durned thing, and I fer one don’t want it here no more! If I’m thinkin’ it be doin’ what they be sayin’ it be doin’, then we need ta get it gone!” cried an exasperated and wheezing Skilgo.

  The slagfell miner sat resignedly after that boast, his rump finding the end of Xorgram’s own bed.

  “I’m fer gettin’ the thing gone, too,” agreed the heavily muscled smithy. Killkutt moved toward the center of the room where Xorgram stood and stared hard at him and then the amulet. His gray eyes shone with contempt for the thing in Xorgram’s hand and his pupils seemed to shift from gray to a deep red for just a heartbeat. Xorgram watched as Kilkutt balled up his fist and then rapped him on his jaw.

  “What in—?!” Xorgram heard from the mouth of Fuddle through the ringing in his ears. He stared up at Kilkutt, still grasping the amulet, and glaring back hard at his cousin.

  “Better be puttin’ that thing back in its box,” suggested Skilgo after a cough, not moving still from the edge of the bed.

  Xorgram regained his footing without saying a word and did as Skilgo mentioned. His cheek was throbbing and likely bruised from the impact of Kilkutt’s solid punch. He said nothing, truly believing that whatever demon resided within the amulet was beginning to have its way with his cousin’s will.

  “Sorry ‘bout that,” Kilkutt claimed after a moment had passed. “I don’t be knowin’ why I did that.”

  “I’m thinkin’ I got a pretty good idea,” Xorgram acknowledged.

  “I be havin’ visions…and I be hearin’ a voice,” Kilkutt said as he clenched and unclenched his fist. “It be whisperin’ things in me ears and makin’ me want to do things I ne’er thought meself capable of doin’.”

  “I understand, cousin,” Xorgram nodded, looking down at the box that held the amulet.

  “You are leader of these people, but you could be so much more!” Xorgram heard sounding inside his own head as a manipulative whisper.

  “I be hearin’ it meself now,” Xorgram admitted, wiping a stray lock of raven colored hair from his face. “I be thinkin’ it’s time ta send this thing to the bottom of the lake!”

  “That won’t be necessary,” called a sultry voice from the doorway, which now stood wide.

  Suddenly a shadow filled the threshold of Xorgram’s room, followed by another demonic figure that now stood before him, though this one instilled a very different emotion from deep within him. Xorgram recognized it as what he knew to be a succubus. She was pale skinned, with hair to match and a pair of wings set upon her back. Her cold, amber eyes seemed to bore into him, and yet they were alluring and seductive, too, he realized. She wore leather boots to her thighs and gloves to match, horns adorned her head and a tail waggled back and forth from behind her. She was wickedly beautiful, Xorgram admitted, and felt a stirring from deep within his loins.

  He took a step back from fright and then one forward in attraction, ending up where he’d been at the start.

  The succubus was followed by two more slagfell, a warrior with markings upon his face and neck, indicating a certain status. He also bore an axe and wore dull, yet heavy armor. And the other slagfell was dressed in garish robes and appeared outwardly hairless, even his beard was missing. He came to stand silently beside the succubus, leaning upon an ornately carved staff.

  The strangest thing, though, was the figure that floated in next, flickering in and out of sight, its red eyes flashing intermittently. This was no doubt one of the legendary djinn, Xorgram figured.

  “How did ye get down here and where—”

  “I will be the one asking the questions,” interrupted the succubus, with an authoritative tone to her voice. Xorgram felt an irrational compliance wash over him. It faded just as quickly.

  “She’s toyin’ with me,” he thought in recognition of her power.

  He turned and watched both Skilgo and Kilkutt race forward to advance on this newfound threat. The two slagfell that accompanied the succubus also readied themselves and began to counter the move. Xorgram held out his hand to stop Skilgo and Kilkutt just as the succubus did the same.

  “I only wish to talk,” said the succubus, “for now. You’d do well to listen to my offer.”

  Phaera held both Dainn and Megnus at bay with a wave of her hand. She heard Megnus grumble something under his breath in the slagfell tongue and ignored him. Prishnack made no move and would not until she gave him the word to do so. Cyrza had made it very clear where he was situated and she had no intention of failing Zabalas.

  She leaned into Dainn and slyly spoke to him.

  “Make the tracings,” she whispered, “outside the room here. I am not about to walk back to Stonehill. And make it short-term.”

  Dainn immediately removed himself from the room, moving to obey her.

  “What are ye proposin’?” asked the dwarf. He was a charismatic and attractive one, save for the patch that covered his right eye and the hint of a scar that barely protruded from both the top and bottom beneath the eye patch.

  “I am proposing that you hand over the amulet and that we let you all live,” Phaera said with utter confidence as she smiled cruelly, exposing fangs.

  With that, a rather muscular and red-haired dwarf wearing an apron covered in soot and whose beard was clearly singed from fire, raced toward her with a hammer clenched threateningly in hand. She pushed out her pheromones before Megnus could intercept him and soothed him, making him stop in mid-charge and promptly fall to his backside quietly.

  “Well, If I ain’t a halfling’s daughter,” said the dwarf, one blue eye wide in disbelief at seeing what had just happened. He glanced back at the slagfell dwarf behind him, who coughed and mumbled quietly to himself, and then back to the gnome, who shifted back and forth, as if his legs were not supporting him properly.

  “I be more’n happy ta part with the durned thing if ye leave and ne’er come back,” he mentioned reluctantly.

  “I think that is something that can be arranged, dwarf,” Phaera replied, moving closer to him.

  “Xorgram,” he said matter-of-factly. “My name be Xorgram. Now take yer cursed demon trinket and get ta goin’,” he said in a bluster of unwarranted
confidence. She was about to make note of it, then decided against it, looking over her shoulder to Dainn, who nodded that he was ready.

  Phaera stretched her wings as she moved forward, accepting the iron box he held.

  “Yes!” she heard Cyrza bustle gleefully from within the iron prison. “Take me to him so that I might taste of his soul and give him back the power he so rightly deserves!”

  She ignored the demon’s elated words and opened the box, peering at the amulet inside. Phaera smiled and bared her fangs at the group within the room, holding up the amulet and spinning it round on the length of chain, the gem reflecting in the light of the torch lit room.

  “So many had to suffer so that we might regain you,” she told the demon in the amulet. She spun and began to walk out the open door into the passage outside. “I hope you are worth it,” she commented in a whisper, then stopped and stood within the rune-covered circle painted on the floor. Dainn, Megnus and Prishnack all stood within the ring of runes, too, waiting.

  She waved a hand and concentrated, releasing the muscular dwarf from her command. He stood and shook his head back and forth as if trying to clear his head from the after effects of her influence. He was looking perplexedly at the one named Xorgram and she smiled at that.

  “It was a pleasure bartering with you, Xorgram. You’ve made a wise choice today and you may yet live to regret it,” she said with a threatening laugh.

  With that, Dainn tapped his staff upon the ground and the runes that made up the circle burst into flames. They figures faded from sight, leaving behind a flabbergasted group of diminutive men. For several heartbeats after, they could still hear the laughter of the succubus.

  Xorgram and his fellow coven watched as the foursome entered the strange runic circle. They stood staring as it burst into flames and collectively watched as they faded from sight. He hurried out into the corridor to get a closer look and observed as the runes that were painted so plainly upon the crusty surface just a heartbeat ago, disappeared into nothingness right before him. He stared with his one good eye back at Kilkutt who was right behind him.

  “Ain’t ne’er seen nothin’ like that,” Kilkutt declared, rubbing his singed beard. “She told me ta sit still in me own head an’ I did it! Like she was me own mind, tellin’ me body ta do it.”

  “Where’d they even come from?” Fuddle wondered aloud, moving forward on his mechanical legs, as the whir of the motor hummed beneath his words.

  “I just came from the upper levels, so I be thinkin’ it weren’t from there,” Skilgo mentioned with a cough.

  “Then they musta come up from below,” Xorgram reasoned.

  “What about the princess?” Fuddle mentioned to Xorgram, whose eyes widened and he hurried toward the elevator.

  “I’m aimin’ ta find out now,” he said as he waited on the platform for the rest of them. Fuddle followed, but Skilgo and Kilkutt remained behind, waving him on. The two of them passed level after level until they finally reached the bottom floor.

  Amara heard footsteps approaching, pulling her from her meditation. It was the only way that she seemed to be granted a reprieve from the visions lately. They were inundating her thoughts and she needed relief from their constant return.

  “Are ye in there, my lady?” called a familiar dwarven voice from the outskirts of the shadows that surrounded her cell.

  “Where else would I be?” she asked derisively, remaining in her meditative posture, legs folded over one another and sitting on a bundle of straw.

  “Did ye happen ta see any…bodies pass by?”

  “No. I have been meditating for hours,” she replied in a succinct tone, closing her eyes again and trying to force his voice away. She drifted for a short time before hearing his voice once more.

  “Are ye even listenin’, princess?”

  It was then that she felt the presence of the demon that had been there. It was a voice that she had been pushing away and ignoring for the past few weeks. It overwhelmed her with visions and disturbing images, and then simply disappeared, but she knew its name.

  Cyrza.

  Then she saw a succubus demon, both beautiful and deadly. There were two slagfell, one a vicious-looking warrior, and the other a mage dressed in robes of motley, but both cruel and filled with thoughts of ill intent. Then another creature that floated in between realms filled her visions, red eyes buried deeply within robes of a murky black.

  Her eyes opened wide at that revelation. Just as quickly, another vision consumed her thoughts. It was of the same people she’d seen recently in her visions. Except this time, they were coming for her. It was unsettling as her heart thundered in her chest briefly.

  As she came out of her dream state, she was sweating and her heart was still racing.

  She witnessed the head miner she knew as Skilgo speaking with Xorgram, telling him that they were under attack.

  “Cassia, Skuros and others made to intercept ‘em,” he wheezed to Xorgram as they all hurried off, no longer interested in her.

  She did not know what to make of the whole situation and took a few deep breaths to steady herself before hearing footsteps coming her way once more. She shrunk involuntarily at the sound. Again, it was Xorgram.

  “Yer comin’ with me,” he said abruptly, unlocking her cell and grabbing her by the arm. “This ends now.”

  CHAPTER 22

  The five of them had found nothing of consequence neither in the deceased druid’s cave nor within the ruins of any of the buildings. There was a mineshaft entrance here which would be the last place that they had yet to inspect.

  Elec had joined them a few moments ago, the wound on his shoulder all but healed.

  Garius suddenly whipped his head toward the entrance of the caves.

  “I feel the presence of something evil deep within these mines,” he informed them as he stood at the mouth of the mineshaft entrance.

  “That’s comforting,” quipped Rose as she waited for Elec to join her at the front of the group.

  “It was hidden from me. Clever demon,” Garius said, turning to stare each of them in the eye. “It is the amulet we seek. It is below!”

  Saeunn stood at the entrance to the mines and was thankful for the torches that lit the passageways within. She was a fierce combatant, but this did her no good if she could not see her enemy in the gloom of the cave. She peered inside and noticed Elec and Rose as they took the lead, Orngoth remaining far behind them all.

  They made it into the mines and saw that the cavern walls were as black as those they had seen in the Blackstone Mountains to the north. The torchlight danced on the walls, elongating their shadows as they passed. Other than the five of them, there was no one else to be found anywhere in sight.

  Suddenly Elec held up his hand, as did Rose, and then signaled to move back. Garius, Orngoth and the barbarian retreated toward the entrance once more, having made it only a hundred paces inside the tunnels, which widened and narrowed every dozen paces or so. Saeunn concluded that these sections of the walls had been chipped away by miners’ picks and axes as they had been attempting to harvest the mineral.

  “Going somewhere, elf?” called a gruff voice that echoed in the barren cavern.

  Saeunn managed to peek ahead and saw a grey-skinned half-orc with huge tusks staring down at Elec with an axe in his hand, its head made from a blackened material matching the very walls here. It looked unlike any weapon she’d ever seen before.

  She realized a heartbeat later that the half-orc was not alone.

  Behind him, emerging from the platform was a female form clad in the blackest of robes with skin of a pale white that juxtaposed her garb to great effect. She had a red-skinned, winged demon perched upon her shoulder, too, that seemed to somehow match the pigment of her lips flawlessly.

  A blonde woman exited the platform next, staring directly toward Rose and sliding twin rapiers from scabbards on either hip. She uttered a warning or threat that she could not quite make out.

  Saeunn�
��s eyes grew wide with anticipation as pair of furry, bull-headed creatures emerged from the platform next. She heard the steady breathing of Orngoth behind her, turned her head and peered up to see him set a firm jaw at witnessing the taur enter his line of sight. He snarled and his lip curled up to reveal one of his canines.

  Garius walked forward casting an invocation to The Shimmering One that bathed the passageway in a radiant light. Saeunn immediately felt a strange sensation of power flow through her veins as the light washed over her. The Inquisitor walked right toward the pale-skinned woman and they exchanged words.

  Then the pair of taur charged the two barbarians in unison.

  Orngoth removed his club from his back as Saeunn withdrew her own greatsword from its scabbard and the two of them countercharged. She met the steel of the taur’s twin axes as sparks flew and the ringing of metal on metal deafened all within the confined area.

  The taur’s attacks came on with intensity and were struck with vigor. She had to work extremely hard to maneuver her greatsword in such a way as to divert them. After a moment of futile exchanges, the taur paused, bent his head low and charged her again.

  He collided with her shoulder and drove her back a few steps, creating an opening. His axes swung once more in rapid succession. She managed to block one with the pommel of her sword as the other bit deeply into her right shoulder. Pain overwhelmed her senses for a moment until the white-hot intensity of rage supplanted it.

  It was the call of The Champion. She was lost to the bloodlust.

  Orngoth met the charge of the taur, lowering his own head and meeting the bull-like skull with his own ram-horned helm. The resulting impact sent the two combatants reeling and stumbling backward.

  Orngoth shook off the effects of the impact and refitted his helm just as the taur regained his footing. The taur began to swing a spiked ball and chain around wildly coinciding with the spewing of venomous curses in his native tongue.