by BJ Hanlon
His own weapons were impossible to get, but not hers. Edin quickly grabbed one of her Eluvrian steel knives.
“Get up. Go,” Edin said trying to help her to her feet as a few more small rocks crashed down on his head. This raptor seemed bigger than the others. A second figure came in from his peripheral vision. “Duck!”
Grent was pulling his sword trying to muster Master Horston after him. With a quick slice, Edin cut through the rope as Dephina made it to her feet. She didn’t look at him, she stood and began running down the perilous ledge.
Edin stayed a few steps behind as talons came toward them. He couldn’t see any cave or other spot to hide. Below them, was a dizzying couple hundred-foot drop at a steep angle. It would be an uncontrolled descent to their deaths. He turned as the large talon came at his chest. At the last second Edin ducked, slicing the long knife across the outstretched claw.
A shower of blood and a whelping cry came from the bird as it crashed into the rock face. Edin scrambled further down the path as it dropped onto the ledge with a crack that was either from the bird’s bones or from the stone. It tumbled backward, dropping over the precipice and tumbling down the rock face and bounced off twisting in midair.
A pained cry emanated as the bird crashed back to the cliff. Something tugged at his stomach. At first, he thought it was his gift. Then he saw the rope hanging from his waist.
It somehow got wrapped around a part of the bird. He only had seconds as he watched the bird fall. With a quick slice he cut the taut rope and began to untie the knot from around his body. Edin watched as the raptor’s body careened into stones, its caws echoing through his soul.
Louder calls came from above, he could make out at least two, maybe three. Edin scampered along the rock face keeping his body as close to the cliff as possible. He was looking for anything, a bigger ledge a cave, a place he could stand and fight.
It was clear that these beasts did more than just attack at night.
Glancing back, he saw three birds circling like vultures behind him. Another one was swooping in toward his companions.
Edin watched as Grent sliced the rope from his waist and waited for the attacker. At the last moment, he slid to the side bringing the full force of his blade down on the bird’s neck. The head and body separated, both clattered into the rocks taking chunks of stone with it to the bottom.
Grent beckoned them on.
Edin picked up some speed trying to keep his focus on the thin stone walkway in front of him. They were losing elevation, but it was slow. The ground was now maybe a hundred-feet drop below. Edin glanced down and felt dizzy but he noticed it wasn’t grass below, it was jagged rocks and boulders that must’ve fallen from the cliff over hundreds, maybe thousands of years.
A raptor screeched, its call louder and more piercing than its brethren. Edin fought the urge to cover his ears. Something crashed above him and a hailstorm of broken stones rained down in painful spikes. His arm went numb for a second and he almost dropped Dephina’s knife. His pack was getting heavy, making it difficult to move as he jogged. Trails of ropes hung behind all three companions.
That was either good or bad. If one fell, they wouldn’t take the rest with them, but there would be no stopping their death. Edin swallowed.
Ahead of him almost fifty feet was Grent and Master Horston, Dephina was closing in on them.
Edin heard a whap over his shoulder like a servant beating out an area rug. Edin dove forward just in time to see the largest raptor swoop over his head toward his companions.
At the last second it turned and flew out over the jagged rocks below before aiming its nosedive back at Edin. He reached his feet and started sprinting down the path. He could feel it gaining on him.
Dephina turned toward him, her eyes widening for a second before pushing the older men forward. The bird would get her or him. If he dodged again, which Edin doubted the raptor would fall for a second time it would grab Dephina or one of the others.
They weren’t magi, he was.
The cavern had offered fear and sorrow into his soul, pain unlike anything he’d ever experienced and Edin had prevailed.
Edin slid to a stop and closed his eyes, he could feel the energy around him. While the actual stones were dead of all energy, there were roots in the cliff, there was the sun’s rays and even the energy from the raptors circling.
He turned toward the beast and shot an arm out. It was only a yard away, its talons lifted and spread, ready to strike.
The twisting came in his stomach and he created the shield. A tough leathery feeling collapsed around his left wrist. Instantly he was being lifted off the cliff and his shoulder feeling like it was being torqued and ripped from his body.
The raptor had him. The world around shimmered in white as an ethereal bubble surrounded him. As he looked up, he saw it covered the bird as well.
They rose at incredible speed. Soon, he was far above the cliffs, then the forest. He could see Brisbi, the rising sun over prairie, hills forming to snowcapped mountains in the north.
He looked down and felt his stomach turn. Fifty yards below them was another pair of raptors, then much further, the unforgiving ground.
His loose hand burned. Looking down he saw Dephina’s knife. He didn’t want to stab it in case it dropped him. But what other choice did he have? Edin flipped the knife in his hand in one of the moves Dephina taught him and tried.
Swinging his legs back and forth to get momentum he twisted his body and stabbed. He drove the knife just under the wing.
The flying predator squawked and dropped a few yards. Windblown blood splatter rained on his face like a thin misting in the late spring. It tasted metallic. The raptor’s flapping slowed and he could feel they were losing altitude and fast.
The grasslands of Dunbilston came toward him quicker than he’d liked. Behind he could hear the birds still squawking chasing their leader for a portion of the meal.
The animal’s fall seemed to slow about fifty feet above the ground, but they were still dropping. The bird was panting, its grip on his arm was loosening. He couldn’t drop from there. She’d hate him but he let go of Dephina’s knife and swung his free hand up toward the other talon seizing what he considered an ankle.
The bird squawked over the roaring wind and let go of Edin’s left arm. One strap of his pack slid and he felt the quarterstaff slip out.
Edin glanced down and saw they were heading toward a large red boulder. There was no change in course. Edin swallowed. It would crush him into the rock face. Edin took a deep breath and let go. He dropped before the rock landing on the hard ground. His knees buckled when he hit the ground and began tumbling forward, his momentum whipping as he flipped over the pack.
Stalks of grass slapped at his exposed face and arms like whips. He rolled for what felt like an entire minute.
Suddenly he stopped. His chest and face collided with something softer than rocks. Edin gasped and got a mouthful of dry thin feathers. Edin opened his eyes to see a blue sky with more black feathers floating down on him like snowflakes.
Edin felt like he tweaked his neck and heart was pounding… but he was alive. His hands grabbed the soft plump body of the predator. Edin rolled onto his pack and collapsed to the other side. He heard nothing, felt nothing but the ringing in his ears and pounding of his chest.
Slowly, he sat and looked around.
The raptor’s body was crushed into a huge rock the size of Master Horston’s cottage. Its neck craned in awkward position, its eyes open and staring at him. But there was no life in them.
Edin heard Grent’s yelling but he didn’t want to answer. He didn’t know if he could. All he could picture was his body in the same mess that the raptor’s was. His hand reached up and he gripped the crillio fang. It was there.
Then he started to feel something in his stomach, almost like the talent. It rose through his body and he felt a tickle in his throat as he began to laugh.
11
Friends with
Foes
Edin found the missing weapons, the knife in perfect shape, the staff had a hairline fracture down one end. Afterwards, he watched his companions making their way down the pass in the shade of the stones.
The trail ended behind a large boulder camouflaging its exit with the cliff. In fact, it was nearly impossible to tell there was even a path up or down the side of the cliff. He still noted multiple caves in the face, some small, some large. Edin wasn’t sure where the one he’d delved into happened to be.
He had laughed himself to tears earlier, more out of exasperation and sheer giddiness for surviving that.
Was it luck that saved him or the gods. That was a query for someone who pondered such things.
As Grent appeared, Edin laughed again. “Why are you giggling like a little girl?” Grent asked walking toward him.
Edin grinned and stared up at the large man, his beard and black mustache were covered in sweat and a thin layer of stone powder. Small flecks permeated his beard.
“I found a quicker route,” Edin said as Master Horston and Dephina appeared around the large boulder and glared at him.
“That was about the dumbest thing…” Master Horston said, he lifted his robe as he stepped over a broken wing of the dead raptor. There were squawks from the other animals above, but they were too far overhead for him to care.
“Who wants chicken for dinner?” Edin said through a laugh as he pushed himself to his feet. His body ached from the many bruises and scrapes he’d recently acquired, but after the torment in the cave, this was nothing but a small annoyance.
He’d have to change his trousers and shirt… again. But he didn’t want to until he had cleaned up a little. They walked toward the large raptor and Edin pulled the head back. Its neck cracking like a wet rag over a clothesline. The pink tongue was a blueish purple and its eyes were open and dull.
Edin grabbed it by the wing and yanked it from the rock. The great bird crashed to the ground with a gaping hole in its breast. A pyramidal outcropping from the boulder had crushed its chest.
He wiped his eye and stuck his sword into the chest of the bird. “I like white meat, any preference?”
Grent’s frown lifted and he started to laugh, he walked over and helped Edin cut the meat from the animal. “Be careful for shattered bones. They can be tough.”
Master Horston and Dephina stared at the two of them, both with their arms crossed, Horston’s mouth was gaping.
“Get over here old man,” Grent yelled, “you’re on dinner tonight.”
“You two are like little girls…” Dephina said, her brow furrowed like she was trying to find the answer to a long-lost question.
“We need firewood,” Grent said.
With large chunks of meat they headed toward a copse of trees a thousand or so yards to the southeast.
With the fire blazing and the meat crackling on a spit, he sat he stared into the fire. The flames didn’t dance as they had in the cave, but Edin could still picture them. He reached into his pocket gripped the gemstone. In the morning sun, it felt cool, Edin wanted to keep it near him at all times.
With his other hand, he reached up and grabbed the fang, his fingers fuddled with the necklace as he stared into the stone. Maybe when they had time, he could add to his necklace.
Edin closed his eyes and laid his head back. There would be long treks through the hills and grassy plains of the evil eastern empire of Dunbilston. He wished he remembered more than just the general geography of the place, but since he never thought he’d be here he didn’t put any effort into learning.
Master Horston cleaned off Edin’s wounds, he didn’t want to have another experience like on the edge of Brisbi.
“Are you going to practice your strength exercises?” Grent asked taking a seat next to him. “Or are you just going to stare at your jewelry like some haughty princess with nothing better to do than admire herself.”
Edin raised an eyebrow, his body was too sore and bruised. It wasn’t the time.
“Tomorrow,” Edin said, “I can barely move.”
“It’s still early enough, we’re having lunch and we’ll move on.”
“Let’s stay here the night,” Dephina said, “after all that happened, we need a rest.”
“There’s going to be people who noticed the raptors attacking and the floating ball of light.” He looked absently in Edin’s direction. “Someone will investigate and I’d rather not be here.”
“I think we’re okay for the day,” Master Horston said, “as long as we put the fire out early. We’re at least a day north of the fort. There aren’t any major cities around us and to the east, there’s nothing until the river with small towns at least fifty miles away.”
“What do you have a map in your head?”
“It’s filled with much more than maps.”
“There are patrols on the cliffs,” Grent said.
“We’ll wait for tomorrow,” Edin said as he stood. “I’ll do the Oret Nakosu if you join me.”
Grent pushed himself to his feet and sighed. “I guess it is time for you to learn the final movements. You know the first eighteen, only six more.”
They spent an hour and a half training and then ate the crispy bird meat. Horston added some rosemary and garlic, and the meat did taste like chicken.
As they ate he relayed the events of the cave to his companions. It was all a mystery to them. He hesitantly spoke about the detour into the mountains. Though he wasn’t certain of where exactly to go, the mountain range was nearly three hundred miles, he was positive it was east. No one agreed to the expedition.
Grent wasn’t sure the cloaked man in the mural was a mage. Other than that, no one knew much about the murals or what they represented. Edin left out the vision of the blonde woman, for some reason, it felt too personal. He remembered seeing her wake, but it couldn’t be real could it? It felt that way.
His mind focused on her waking, her golden hair was full, not like some of the women from the village whose hair thinned as they aged. She was young.
Was it the same bow wielding woman as on the mural? Edin wondered. The huntress?
Bards told tales of women who’d adventure with men. Dephina probably knew some. Heck, she was one. Legends existed from before the fall of the kingdom, much more in recent times. Any that featured magi tended on the negative aspects of their kind… of his kind.
It couldn’t be all of them that were evil.
Edin wondered if there were tales of good magi only to have been suppressed. How much history and knowledge were lost during the uprising and the purges?
Who was she? When did she live?
“There was another mural, a woman, she was young and blonde and she held a bow pointed and stood next to a king.” No one spoke, “are there any stories about someone like that?”
“Personal curiosity?” Grent asked with an inquiring tone.
Dephina sighed and looked away. “There are stories about almost all types of people, some overthrowing kings, others saving them. I can tell many of these stories, usually while playing my lute in a dimly lit tavern or great hall.”
He waited for her to continue not knowing what she would say.
“An elfin princess slew a usurper of their throne as he was consolidating power.” Dephina shrugged, “anyways, she and her magus lover died freeing their people. I’m not sure how true it is, as most stories of the elves tend to be one of a unified people fighting humans or dematians.”
“Dematians are just legends, right?” Edin asked.
“Some say they were the cousins of the elves,” Dephina said. “They eat human, elf and anything else that has flesh and bone. Of course, I agree they’re fanciful creatures that never existed or died out like the elves.”
“Huh,” Edin said looking at Master Horston, his old tutor shrugged.
“There are heroes throughout the ages. Well, heroes to some, villains to others. They were man, elf and magus... again the last two are not sung about in publi
c. At least on this continent. Anyways, some may be true, most though are exaggerations with shreds of truth in them. The ones that survive the ages have themes, morality, universal truth, what to beware of and how to act that sort of thing. Maybe your princess had a story, maybe not. Now unless you want a spooky campfire story, I suggest we get some rest.”
“Princess?”
Dephina shrugged. “She was next to the king…”
Edin spent the rest of the day in his thoughts, mostly on the woman. When she woke, it felt invasive, even creepy looking down on her. Who had she been? Was she one of the heroes who protected a king or was she a usurper who helped place the man in power? Could it be somewhere in between?
Edin woke early the next day early and began practicing his forms. His muscles and bones were sore from the fall but the stances were easier to hold than they had been. As he twisted, slashing his blade high over his shoulder he caught a whiff of his own stench and almost gagged. He needed a bath soon. Edin looked out over the endless fields. He remembered a river from the top of the Great Cliffs but it was impossible to know how far it was.
“Hold it,” Grent said, “you’re a little off. In this position, your body is not aligned for balance or power, it’d be easy to knock you over.” Edin paused and looked toward the warrior.
Grent was marching over, he grabbed Edin’s right hand mid-thrust. He lifted the arm up slightly higher. Then he pushed Edin’s toe so it was at a more acute angle. “You’ll feel more strength and balance, now continue.”
Edin stepped back with his front leg and put his back leg behind it while swinging the sword up in an arc past his body and slashing up from the bottom as if to cut into a man’s groin. He continued the form, twisting and jumping while trying to feel the solid ground beneath his feet.
“Know where you’re stepping,” Grent said. “Be aware of your surroundings.”
Edin heard the whoosh of a sword being unsheathed. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Grent moving closer. He twisted bringing his blade across his body just in time to block the strike.