‘I urge caution sister’ said Shalia as Saniel pulled instinctively away. ‘That is no idle piece of jewellery; it has killed witches’ and goblin alike.’ Dafina withdrew her hand quickly as Saniel backed further away. Dafina looked around. ‘Jericho the wolf and the brave fox I have heard about. She looked down at Taegan, lying on his back and breathing in shallow gasps. What has happened to Taegan for him to sleep so soundly in the middle of all this?’ Shalia replied ‘He had an encounter with a Night Spectre, which we destroyed.’ ‘I see’ said Dafina. Sounds of heavily breathing hounds and goblin shouts came closer to them as Shalia spoke with a bit more urgency. ‘Let us leave here.’ Buhoo ruffled his feathers and spoke again. ‘The strikers from my brood are being led by my fierce wife, Athena. We will keep the nightbirds busy for a while.’ ‘Thank you’ said Shalia and bowed. Jericho bowed as did Red Whiskers. Saniel thought it wise to follow suit and bowed as well. Buhoo bowed back graciously and with a whoosh of his wings, followed by a loud hoot, disappeared into the dark above.
Dafina looked at the group and commented. ‘There are too many here for us to fast track through the shadow plane, we must use the shrouded veil to mask our travel on foot.’ Shalia agreed and together, they spoke the words to cast the shroud enchantment over the group. Both staffs darkened, and they were concealed just in time as some hounds trotted into sight. Shalia glanced at the Talisman hanging down in front of the mancub. She was concerned that it may betray them.
Princess Eylon clung hard to the thick neck of Karvu the muntjac as he galloped up along the river’s edge. A great fracas was behind them as the Fire Daemon Incendus and the water sprite Aquiraa fought for domination of the forest. As the sounds faded behind them, Karvu snorted loudly and slowed down inhaling deeply of the clean air. The fire had not reached this part of the forest, and the Princess also inhaled deeply of the natural clean smells not yet tainted by fire and ash. They caught up to a group of fleeing elves and bears and soon passed more survivors heading further into the Great Rift towards Aledran.
The Princess gave a sigh of relief that the water sprite had delayed the Fire Daemon enough for them to escape. This had allowed most survivors to make it to the next staging point of their defence. Buhoo, the great horned owl, caught up and relayed to the Princess details of the mancub; twin elves, Jericho, the fox and Taegan’s escape from Strala. After another hour, the ground rose slightly, and they came to an area of the vast rift where the valley narrowed to a kind of channel through a gorge. Sheer sided rock walls flanked the river which ran narrow, deep and fast over the boulders. This area of Aledran forest was known as the ‘Neck’, the choke point where the Shah Bragus had instructed Eylon to make the next stand.
After a brief rest, Princess Eylon took stock of the surviving warriors. Buhoo was sent ahead to inform Bragus of the situation. 296bears, 312wolves, 153elves and 107swine. This was not counting the owls, Falcons and the handfuls of Kite Hawks, muntjacs, warthogs and smaller species. Less than half of Aledran’s army remained as they rested on high ground above the gorge. They could see the bloom of fire approaching through the forest, still a few miles away but moving fast. The bears looked on, saddened to see the destruction of their home and vowed revenge.
The water sprite Aquiraa had suddenly vanished, and the Fire Daemon Incendus roared in triumph and resumed his conquest through the forest unchecked. The defenders watched in silence as the flames came closer, through the canopy of the close-knit trees. The river level had dropped dramatically, and the flow had almost stopped, with mud and slime-covered rocks now exposed on the bottom. The pools of mud began to boil as the heat swept up the narrow valley preceded by hot wind spouts spraying coals and embers in all directions.
Incendus rose to a great height and surveyed the narrow gorge in front of him. Behind him spread a long wide trail of the burning landscape. He was pleased as there was much more to eat here than in the Dread-Realm. A vast forest lay on the other side of this gorge, and that’s where he desired to go to next. Incendus dropped casually to the ground and made his way into the narrow gorge with the yowling werecats in his wake. The sound of crackling flames forming his outline were amplified and echoed. An enormous rumble was felt in the ground dislodging some small rocks and an overhanging tree above the canyon. Incendus laughed as a long crack appeared in the river bed before him, he did not care about earthquakes. From the crack suddenly sprung an upright torrent of water, blocking the Fire Daemons path. He tried to get around the pool but couldn’t as either side of him were sheer rock walls with nothing to consume.
The torrent grew and grew until the outline of Aquiraa stood before him. Incendus backed up a little, surprised as he thought he had banished this upstart water god. With a long blue rippling arm, Aquiraa pointed at Incendus and with a booming watery voice cried, ‘You have no place here Daemon! Return to your realm.’ Incendus shook his head and roared in defiance. Aquiraa smiled and raised both her arms to the sky. She paused for a moment then brought them down in front of her. She collapsed into a colossal aqua fall and flowed towards Incendus. She was followed by an immense volume of water that came from above the gorge in a surging wave to join her. Hours’ worth of river water had been held up by Aquiraa for this very moment. In a wave 50 feet high and the spanning the entire gorge, a mountain of water completely engulfed the narrow valley. Incendus was briefly seen as a red glow beneath the ocean of water then vanished. The werecats cats unable to retreat fast enough were carried by the sea of water out of the neck and into the rift to drown. The surge carried downstream like a tidal wave extinguishing the flames for miles and flooded the floor of the rift. From a distance, it looked like a multitude of candles being blown out that plunged the ruined forest into darkness.
Taegan regained his senses as the others quietly told him of all that had happened. He still felt weak and drained from the conflict with the Night Wraith and leaned heavily on the twin’s shoulders and Jericho. After several hours of walking along the river through the burnt forest, they rested and drank from a thin stream that was once the river. It appeared that the hounds had stopped searching for them as they had not seen or heard one for over an hour. The Owls reported that the hounds were amassing with the rest of the witch army behind them. No doubt waiting for daylight Jericho thought to himself.
They were curious as to why the river was suddenly low, and the current had slowed. Still, the tired group got down and washed as much of the black soot and ash from their bodies as they could. In this part of the forest, the fires seemed more recent with trees and shrubs still burning and crackling. The owls confirmed that the raging source of the fire was only several miles in front of them. Taegan and Jericho looked concerned. By some smiling fate, they had managed to elude the heart of the Chaos Legion, only to press on unavoidably to some other Daemon in front of them. As they moved on again, the elf twins sensed an oddity. At first, they were unsure, and then they all felt it. A great gush of fresh air flowed down the nearly dry river past them as if it were being pushed by something. A distant roar could now be heard as Red Whiskers cocked his head and leaned his ears forward. ‘It sounds like water.’ He said innocently enough. Then the twins realised what was coming. ‘Get to high ground!’ They both yelled.
Owls hurriedly appeared and cried warning hoots as the group ran helter-skelter, dodging the small fires towards the sides of the valley. Taegan seemed to have a miraculous recovery and regained all his strength to keep up with the rest as they ran to safety. The ground rose upwards, as Saniel's legs began to tire. He had never run this much in his whole life, up until this journey began. Above the roaring sound, groaning and crashing could be heard as trees were pulled out of the ground and tumbled end over end with boulders to be battered by the swash of the flood surge. A broad dark strip appeared through the centre of the glowing forest as the water smothered the trail of the Fire Daemon. For a good half hour, the water roared past them coming close to the high ground they stood on. In the distance where the water ran dee
per, Jericho spotted a solitary werecat perched upon a floating tree with a look of terror on his face as he bobbed around, the trunk twisting and turning to the mercy of the swift current. The sound of the surge eventually faded away as the water receded to the river to resume its ordinary course. It was nearly daylight now as the group made their way further east to join the last of the Aledran defenders. Saniel yawned and struggled to keep his eyes open. ‘Do you think the water would have washed the hounds and goblins away downstream?’ He commented. Red Whiskers pricked his ears up. He had longed to ask the same question. Nobody answered however as they stopped and looked through the burnt treetops into the sky to see several Ravens hovering high above and watching them.
64.
THE LAST STAND
The last rays from the afternoon sun trickled through the tall pines bringing warmth to the weary and exhausted travellers. It did little however to suppress the memories of the recent horrors. Princess Eylon knew this warm atmosphere would be short-lived as it was likely about to be swallowed by the bewitched clouds moving in from the west. Saniel squinted as he looked through the tall trunks to see the crisp blue above; it seemed forever since he had seen a sky like this. The overpowering scent of the pines was aromatic and pure. Large yellow and black bees flew by lazily on the daily errands for their hives. The Great Rift ended and opened into this broad Vale surrounded by black mountain cliffs. To Saniel, it seemed to be another world.
The Glistening River kept its course and wound through the middle to disappear upstream to the far side lost from sight among the thick pines. Smaller streams came down from the snow-capped mountain tops to feed into the river, with water that was blue and sparkling. Jericho and his father, king Blackpaws, were overjoyed to see each other. Blackpaws had arrived a day before the first battle and had safely escorted his mate and remaining Silent Ridge pack to the Vale. He had recently returned to join the defenders at the neck. All the Silent Ridge wolves of age had already been given to the command of Princess Eylon and been involved in the thick of the fight so far. Blackpaws now stayed at the gorge to direct the defenders. Jericho’s mother Nova was already in Aledran somewhere tending to the young and wounded.
The Elf twins Shalia and Dafina also stayed with Blackpaws for their arcane abilities to assist the remaining clerics. A tired Princess Eylon with burns to her garments, blisters to one side of her face and badly singed hair greeted Saniel, a huge weary muntjac by her side. Captain Gron was also pleased to see that the others were safe. The bear spent some time trying to explain to Saniel why he was referred to as a Dwarf, much to the amusement of the others. Gron stayed with the defenders for now as Princess Eylon accompanied them along the paths near the river towards the Vale. They had walked till the afternoon to reach the entrance of the Vale as fresh and rested warriors from the wolf packs and bears marched past and greeted them. Looking behind him to the west, Saniel saw the clear sky meet a seemingly impenetrable black cloud front. Jericho leaned affectionately against Saniel and spoke softly. ‘We are nearly there, and then you can meet the wise Shah Bragus.’ Princess Eylon scowled and looked behind them at the Great Rift and spoke in a worried tone. ‘That purple lightning continues in the clouds. That is the sign of the witches’ conjuring up the black craft.’
Red Whiskers still overjoyed that they had made it to Aledran a second time without being eaten added, ‘If the witch horde travels under the cloud, then they are only half a day away.’ The Princess coughed, ‘Best you place that trinket inside your shirt. The bears have not seen a mankind animal for centuries, let alone one that wears an item of power such as what you have.’ Saniel nodded and tucked the Talisman inside his shirt and out of sight. It gave a queer hum and then went silent. They were challenged by a group of tall shaggy brown bears as they followed the path out of Aledran forest and into the Pines of the Vale. Saniel swallowed and looked in awe at these magnificent creatures. They wore silver armour covered in gold images of the Pine forest. Saniel found it hard to believe that anything could beat them in combat. Jericho and the Princess spoke to one of the bears in low voices, and the bear finally grunted a reply and moved aside to allow them to pass. They looked at Saniel curiously as he walked between them, stumbling as he glanced back and tried to keep up with Red Whiskers.
The silence in the Chamber of Ponds was broken by the echoed sound of water dripping constantly from somewhere. In the combs of Aledran Mountain and far beneath the Ring of Pines, Bragus looked long and hard into the Soothsayer Chalice. Images formed within the rainbow that was cast onto the liquid surface by the encirclement of jewels. Bragus watched for a while until the scene faded, he knew what he had to do. The road would be hard, and he believed there was a good chance they would all perish at the hand of the witches’ and their Dread-Realm Daemons, but he had to try. He began the long dark climb up through the warrens to the meeting chambers. Messengers brought him news of the progress of the invading horde, the survivors and envoys from other species either offering or declining to help. Then he was advised about the mancub currently being escorted through the Vale on his way to Aledran Mountain. The guards would direct Jericho to take the mancub to the visitor’s chamber near the Ring of Pines. He must ensure the other mankind animal was there to greet him, Barney? Or whatever he called himself.
A half-hour later, a panting Bragus walked through a stone arch into a comfortable chamber with a sandy floor. A crudely cut square opening in one of the rock walls led to the outside where sunlight streamed in and bathed the room with a warm light glow. Barney sat on a flat rock, given to him by the dwarf bear Gron as a gift. Gron had noticed how the mankind animal liked to sit on things rather than the ground like everyone else. He ate the apples and other fruit supplied to him and after already spending several nights here, had felt much refreshed. The bears had undoubtedly made him comfortable and tended to his basic requirements of food and rest. They allowed him to wander about freely inside the mountain to explore. The bears looked at him strangely to begin with but now ignored him as if he was some domesticated pet. Bragus approached as Barney looked up and smiled at him. ‘Our visitor from your tribe is near with us’ said Bragus. Barney, with a mouthful of apple, nodded. Bragus shrugged and went outside to wait; he stood on the precipice of a high lookout and watched with a heavy heart the clear sky and some early evening stars. He knew this would be the last time he would see the sky clear for some time.
A few cries were heard in the air above as a formation of fresh Falcons flew towards the forest in the Great Rift. They went to join the defenders until the Phantom Brood awoke to guard the night sky. Bragus looked down to the Vale floor as it fell into the afternoon shadow. He saw a small group walking the winding river paths through the Vale towards the base of Aledran Mountain. They were being followed by several curious onlookers, mainly annoying bear and wolf cubs. Bragus grinned; it was rare these days to feel a pang of joy. He would go outside now with Barney and wait to greet his visitors at the river.
Even though it was nearly dark, Saniel enjoyed the warm air and the comfortable smell of wolves and bears around him. The scent of the pines and flowers mixed together, made him feel homesick. He wondered at the place they called Aledran. He could now make out caves in the cliffs, some occupied by bears and wolves and others stored with things he did not recognise. Well-worn paths stretched across this grassy valley floor that was crisscrossed with watercourses teeming with fat fish. Small timber platforms sat over a few streams and served as bridges that the inhabitants used. High above, the Falcons wheeled about the high cliffs, whistling to each other occasionally and keeping watch as the glow of daylight shrunk within the Vale to finally disappear over the crags.
Red Whiskers looked alarmed as some pesky wolf and bear cubs ran around them growling and barking in silly tones. Jericho pretended to snap at a few of them and growled to chase them off. Karvu, the muntjac suppressed a snort of laughter. Saniel thought they looked very friendly and maybe a bit mischievous, and smiled for the first tim
e in days. Several bears and a group of wolves passed by talking among themselves excitedly; they hardly gave the group a second glance. Taegan produced a dirty brown rag from one of his coat pockets and proceeded to clean his staff as they walked along, complaining about how he nearly lost it to the night Wraiths. After a while, the main branch of the river took them close to one of the valley walls.
As they approached a rock outcrop, he stopped and rubbed his eyes. A giant bear with a dark red coat of fur stood upright on his two legs and beckoned them, but it wasn’t the bear that surprised him, it was the man standing next to the bear. He wore the black trousers and blue overcoat of a Saltwood village watchman. However, if Saniel remembered correctly he was no watchman; he had been a newly appointed elder. Saniel had not seen another person for several weeks and to know this one and meet him here on the other side of the moorlands in the mountains was rather odd.
Barney exclaimed, ‘Saniel Carlow! My sister’s boy?’ Saniel had seen this person occasionally in the village but didn’t know too much about him. ‘Who are you?’ Saniel replied. Barney looked Saniel up and down as if examining a sheep. ‘I guess I’m your uncle, though I’ve had little to do with you after the death of your father. We disagreed on certain things that I’ll let your mother tell you about one day.’ Saniel’s voice shook as Red Whiskers rubbed against his leg and licked his hand to comfort him. ‘My mother is dead, killed by a hound and a monster.’ Barney thought for a moment then replied ‘Hmmm. I recall some watchmen were killed and you and your mother had vanished. I then set out to Brineburg for help and ended up here. You must tell me everything.’ Bragus grunted. ‘Enough time for that later. We have other pressing matters to deal with. First, we must go inside to safety and feed our guests.
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