Bakkian Chronicles, Book I - The Prophecy

by Poole, Jeffrey

  Together they walked to the center of town, angling for a large plaza near the Council chamber they first met Maelnar.

  “Ah, there is yer lady, Steve. This is where we depart. I will see ye again, lad.” And with that cryptic statement, the dwarf returned the way they had come.

  “Hi sweetie!” Sarah stood up and gave her husband a hug. “Did you have a good time?” She took a closer look at him. Dark smudges of soot stained parts of his clothes. His hair was all matted, and he looked bone tired. “Are you okay? What did he have you do?”

  “I’m a lot better than I look, I’m sure,” Steve assured her. “There’s a reason why we’ve never seen an overweight blacksmith.” Standing a little straighter, he grinned at his wife. “I made a sword blade.”

  “Really? He showed you how to make a sword blade?”

  Steve nodded. “It ain’t easy. Gotta keep folding over the metal into layers. Over and over and over.”

  Sarah was nodding. “That’s the same technique they use for making those Japanese katanas you’re so fond of. The really nice, expensive ones.”

  “That’s right. How’d you know that?”

  “You’re always filling my head with useless trivia. Since you’ve always been interested in swords, I get to hear all about it.”

  Steve laughed and gave his wife a kiss.

  ****

  On the sixth day of their stay in Borahgg, Steve and Sarah were observing a weapon demonstration that Rhenyon and his men were participating in when a young dwarf came up behind Steve and gently tugged his tunic. Surprised, he and Sarah turned around and looked down at the ‘underling’, as they were called here.

  “Yes?” Steve asked. “Can I help you?”

  Keeping his eyes on the ground, the young dwarf child shyly delivered his message. “Master Kharus requests your presence at his workshop.”

  “Thank –”

  The child darted off before Steve could properly thank him. Or her. He wasn’t sure.

  “– you. He better not want another day of work out of me,” Steve grumbled. He had been guilted into returning to Kharus’ shop to finish the blade the following day. Thankfully, he hadn’t been asked to return since.

  Scribbling their intentions on a small piece of paper, Sarah caught Darius’ eye from across the arena. She held up the message. Quizzically, Darius cocked his head at her. Sarah held up her hand, palm facing up, and waited until the soldier mimicked her. As soon as he did, she sent the message to him. She mouthed instructions to the soldier. Give it to Rhenyon.

  Understanding, Darius nudged his captain, handing the small slip of paper to him. Reading the message, Rhenyon glanced across the arena at the Nohrin. He nodded.

  The familiar blast of heat welcomed them both back into Kharus’ workshop as they stooped to walk through the door.

  “Welcome back lad, lass.” Kharus took off his smock and walked over to the far wall where numerous shields and swords were hanging. Bending down, he retrieved a large cloth covered bundle. Walking back to the humans, he started untying the strings holding the package closed.

  “Thought ye might like to see how this turned out. I will say, this is the quickest I have ever assembled a sword.”

  Removing the last of the wrappings, he presented the golden hilt of a broadsword to his former apprentice. Gently taking the sword from the dwarf, Steve stared at the amazing craftsmanship of the hilt. The grip, or handle, of the sword was wrapped in tightly bound dark leather, while the pommel had several intricate designs carved into it. In fact, Steve held the sword closer, they looked like interlocking crescent moons. The guard was absolutely breathtaking. Kharus had carved a golden dragon in flight, using the wings as the bulk of the guard, with the dragon’s tail entwined around the grip and coming to a point at the tip of the pommel. The dragon’s eyes were sapphires, while the claws clutched a large emerald.

  “Wow! That’s gorgeous!” Sarah was standing up on her tiptoes to admire the dragon sword. “Are those real jewels? Unbelievable!” She turned to the glowing creator of the sword. “That is a true work of art. Whoever gets that sword will treasure it always, I have no doubt.”

  Steve unsheathed the sword, noting immediately that the surface had been polished and the blemishes from the repeated strikes from his hammer had been smoothed. Gently touching the edge of the sword he could tell that it was probably sharper than a surgeon’s scalpel. He whistled in admiration.

  “It turned out a lot nicer than I would have thought. Thanks for letting me see it before you give it to its new owner.”

  Kharus smiled. “I am looking at the new owner, sir Steve.”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “Ye gave yer heart and soul into the making of this blade. That type of devotion does not go to a simple warrior. It was destined to be yer blade. And now it is.”

  Shocked speechless, Steve could only stare at his new sword. Smiling warmly at the dwarf, Sarah spoke up.

  “Your skill and your generosity will never be forgotten. We are honored. Thank you.”

  Kharus nodded. “It is I who am honored. Use it well,.”

  Steve, however, was still staring at the magnificent sword, and was unable to move or say anything. Chuckling to himself, Kharus picked up the scabbard and gently slid it back on the immobile blade, preventing the human from slicing off a toe in case he dropped it, which it looked as though he was ready to do.

  Pulling her husband back out into the street, Sarah gently shook him.

  “Hey, are you okay?”

  “What? Yeah, sorry. I’m okay.” He held up the tightly wrapped sword. “Look what he gave to me! I mean, I need to pay him something. I can’t just accept this!”

  “He wanted to give it to you. Which he did. Be thankful. Everything happens for a reason, right?”

  “Look at this thing! Does he really think I’d take something like this out and use it against someone? Hell no. I think I’ll have you give it to the king for safekeeping, okay?”

  Sarah nodded. “You can if you’d like to, but I think you’d be dishonoring its creator if you choose not to take it with you tomorrow.”

  Still gazing fondly at his prized sword, Steve could only nod.

  Chapter 14 – Exterminators

  After spending a total of seven days charging the power crystals, including taking time to replenish their own personal jhorun, the emissaries from R’Tal were finally ready to fulfill the arrangement made with the dwarves. Outfitted in their brand new leather armor (except for Sarah, who was wearing a scaled-down lighter version), the troupe of humans, with Breslin as their guide, left Borahgg behind to venture into the recently dug eastern exploratory tunnels, last known location of the dreaded guur.

  “I’m not kidding,” Steve was saying again, his right hand resting on the hilt of his sparkling new sword. “If there’s the slightest sign of trouble, I want you to get back to the city on the double. Okay?”

  “No worries, honey. I hate bugs. I see a bug that big coming at me and I will give you my personal guarantee, on my honor, that the last person you’ll have to worry about will be me.”

  “Have you practiced teleporting at all?”

  “I have! You’re going to be impressed! Watch this!” Sarah stopped walking, closed her eyes, and vanished.

  The rest of the group disappeared into the tunnel when Rhenyon, about to step foot into the dark opening, noted Sarah’s absence. Pausing in mid-step, he turned, raising an eyebrow at Steve. The male Nohrin held up a hand with one finger raised, signaling him to wait. Sure enough, moments later Sarah popped back into existence right next to her husband.

  “See? No queasiness, no stumbling, no problem!”

  Steve breathed a sigh of relief. One less problem for him to worry about. If things were going to get sticky, as he was certain they would become, it was a welcoming relief knowing that his wife could get herself to safety.

  “So what changed?” Steve wanted to know. “Or did the queasiness just go away by itself?”


  “Maelnar explained it to me,” Sarah answered. “The reason I got so nauseous before, back in that tunnel, was of something they call ‘the Barrier’. Basically it’s a series of enchantments they have in place to prevent people like me from getting in the easy way. The Barrier was supposed to repel teleportation. Somehow, and I’m not sure how, I managed to sneak through.”

  “So your jhorun essentially defeated the security the dwarves put in place to keep strangers out, is that right?” Steve observed.

  “That’s exactly right.”

  “Cool!”

  Following Steve closely, Sarah ducked behind her husband as he disappeared into the dark tunnel. Within moments they had met up with Rhenyon and the others, each holding a lit torch. The soldiers appeared to be in the midst of detailing their plans for the assault on the guur.

  “We must assume that these creatures are wickedly fast,” the captain was saying. “According to the dwarves, the guur’s only weapon is its bite, so everyone keeps their armor on at all times. I do not care how cumbersome it feels to have all this on in here. Is that understood?”

  Echoes of “aye, sir” resonated off the tunnel walls as each soldier checked their weaponry. Swords were unsheathed, inspected, and sheathed again. Three of the soldiers were wearing full quivers of arrows, each with a long bow already strung. Breslin pulled his axe off his back and checked the sharpness of the twin blades. Rhenyon pulled Steve and Sarah aside.

  “Are ye prepared for battle, sir Steve? Lady Sarah?” Both Nohrin meekly nodded. “Keep your crystals ready. In fact, give several to Lady Sarah to hold for ye in case ye are too busy to get them out.”

  “Good idea.” Steve pulled three mimets out and offered them to Sarah, who tucked them safely inside her pocket.

  Silently, the group descended further into the depths of the earth. Pheron, being the logical choice to lead the group onwards, cautiously inspected tunnel after tunnel, only to find them consistently empty. Following the lieutenant was Breslin, quietly pointing out the minimal traces of spoor he could locate.

  “Guur spoor,” Steve snorted, chuckling to himself.

  Sarah elbowed him in the stomach.

  “Quiet.”

  Rhein, Kern, and Darius were all casting their torches about, looking for any traces of the huge insects. Following Darius were the Nohrin, nervously looking here and there for some signs of their adversaries. Bringing up the rear, Rhenyon kept an eye out behind them. It will be a cold night in a dragon’s nest before he’d let anything come up behind them and catch them unaware.

  It wasn’t until they had finished their midday meal in a small cavern they had discovered when Pheron stiffened, motioning for the others to be silent.

  Rhein and Kern were instantly by his side.

  “What is it?” Rhein whispered. “What do ye see?”

  “Perhaps two hundred paces away, along the back wall, two creatures have descended from a hole in the ceiling. They are presently about five feet from the ground.”

  Both men were shaking their head. They were unable to see that far away in the darkness.

  “Are they the guur?” Kern asked softly.

  “Insectoid, at least eight legs. No, make that ten,” Pheron corrected, squinting at the far wall. “If that is something besides a guur, then we have more problems than we were led to believe.”

  From a safe distance, Pheron observed the two guur excavating a section of a stone wall. The insects’ jaws were literally scooping mouthfuls of rock right from the surface of the wall, as though they were pulling the soft part of a piece of bread away from the crust.

  “They are digging into the stone,” he whispered, watching in awe as an opening to a new tunnel started to form. “Our armor is ineffective. They are digging into solid rock as though they were digging through sand.”

  “Good. Then this blasted armor is history.” Darius pulled the buckles loose on his bulky armor, restoring his arms to full motion.

  “No, wait!” Rhenyon’s call came too late. The armor fell to the ground with a noisy thud.

  In horror, Darius looked at Pheron. The lieutenant cursed as he stared at the far wall.

  “Look out! Here they come!”

  The two guur covered the distance across the small cavern in a matter of moments. Their ten segmented legs smoothly carried their heavily armored bodies towards the fresh meat they had just learned existed.

  Watching the guur rapidly approach, Pheron whipped out his bow, fit an arrow, and fired it at one of the large insects in a single fluid motion. Disheartened, he watched as his arrow bounced harmlessly off the insect’s thick carapace.

  “Arrows are useless! No arrows! Use swords!” he called, pulling out his own sword. More shouts sounded behind him as the rest of his companions followed suit.

  Rhenyon hastily pulled his own sword out and watched as his men attacked the two advancing guur. The bugs were incredibly fast, darting easily around the swords that were thrust at them. One of the soldiers howled in pain and went down as a guur managed to slip by the jabbing swords. Rhein feinted right, and as the huge bug went to lunge to the left, the short sword he was hiding behind his back whistled through the air, slicing the unfortunate bug in two. The remaining guur lunged for the fallen man, hoping to get in a couple of solid bites before the other bipeds could drive it off.

  Breslin’s axe suddenly whizzed by Kern’s head, actually shaving off a few facial whiskers in the process. The attacking bug was neatly sliced in half, right down the middle. Such was the force of the throw that the axe actually embedded itself into a stalagmite several feet away.

  Ignoring the grisly sight of squishy bug innards, Sarah pushed by the soldiers to kneel beside the fallen soldier. Darius was clutching his right leg, which had blood steadily pumping from an ugly gash on his upper thigh. Retrieving her precious vial from her medallion, she administered a single drop to the wounded soldier’s leg. The bleeding lessened, but unfortunately did not stop. What was happening? Sarah stared at her vial. This was supposed to cure everything, wasn’t it?

  Breslin knelt down, inspecting the wound.

  “His leg has been infected with guur venom. Elixirs will not help him now. He will need the help of a wizard.”

  Helplessly, she looked at her husband. “What do we do? How do we get Shardwyn here?”

  Rhenyon leaned over to grasp Darius’ arm. “Ye have fought well.” He glanced at Sarah. “We cannot get Shardwyn here, but maybe we can get Darius to him. Think ye can take him all the way to the castle?”

  Sarah sat back on her heels and thought for a moment. “Castle R’Tal is much farther away, but I think I can do it. If I get too drained, I’ll just use one of the mimets I have. Sweetie, I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.” Leaning forward, she took the wounded soldier’s hand. “Hang on, help is on the way.”

  Darius’ glazed eyes focused on Sarah’s. “Many thanks, milady. Sorry to be a burden. Sorry to be –”

  “Don’t start.” Sarah closed her eyes, bringing up the familiar image of the throne room. “This is likely to cause a strong jolt to the system. Deep breath. Ready?”

  Darius nodded.

  In the blink of an eye, both people vanished. In the second blink, however, a raucous chittering had started and steadily grew louder.

  “Uh, oh.” Steve looked at the others. “That doesn’t sound good.”

  A single guur appeared at the same entrance its brethren had previously emerged from. It stared for a moment or two at the intruders before making the loud clicking noise again. Instantly more guur came streaming out of the same tunnel. Clicking angrily, a group of at least twenty insects advanced on the small group of humans.

  “Not good. This is not good at all.” The dwarf was slowly retreating. “We cannot successfully face that many. We must fall back!”

  “Not an option,” Rhenyon snapped. “Lady Sarah will return here in a few moments. I will not let her arrive here to face these abominations alone!”

  “And she
won’t,” Steve declared, stepping forward. “This is my show. Time to put on a performance these little buggars aren’t soon gonna forget.” He looked back at the small group of soldiers, catching and holding Rhenyon’s eyes. “Watch for Sarah to return. Keep her safe, okay?”

  Silently, Rhenyon nodded, turning to watch the group of large insects advance. At that moment, Steve ignited both hands and faced the approaching Bugs from Hell.

  The encroaching horde hesitated. Where had the fire come from? Could they still get to the meat they craved while finding some way to avoid their one, true fear? Greed and hunger prompted half the group to try, surging forward suddenly, pincers clicking furiously. Twin jets of fire appeared out of nowhere, incinerating those that had chosen to attack. Confused, the surviving guur turned to face the lone biped. Two of the biped’s appendages were lit like torches. How could they make it to the meat they craved while avoiding the flames?

  Dispatch the biped: the fire will be dispatched with it.

  This single collective thought circulated throughout the remaining insects. In just a matter of a few seconds, all guur were focused on the same goal.

  Steve watched as a wave of restlessness started with one insect and spread quickly throughout the rest of the group. It was then that he realized the clicking noise they were making had been steadily increasing in volume.

  They’re talking to each other, Steve thought with amazement. What could a bunch of bugs possibly be talking about? When to attack? How they were going to take me out?

  “I never did like ants,” Steve muttered, eyeing the large bugs distastefully.

  All the remaining guur suddenly leapt forward in perfect synchronicity, something Breslin hadn’t even known that they were capable of doing. If they could rush this One Who Wielded Fire, then perhaps with the instant onslaught of activity the biped would become confused and be unable to defend itself.

  Unfortunately for the guur, Steve was fast becoming a pro at defending himself against a large group of creatures who all tried to rush him at the same time. As the bugs all leapt towards him, he ignited a jet of fire and kept it ignited, essentially turning his left hand into a flame thrower. Sweeping his arm in an arc, he ignited all of the leaping guur at the same time, one right after the other, which resulted in all ten guur falling back to the ground as flaming, charred husks.