Stirring Embers: An urban fantasy action adventure (The Light and the Void Book 1)

by Willem Killian

  Jöanth was about to tell them that it was a ruse when the thing burst into the kitchen through the back door. Jöanth was still busy healing the wound on his neck, which meant that he didn't have Drÿmwÿn in his strong hand. Although trained to be ambidextrous, the beiier was just too quick for him to react. There was no way to fend it off and it went straight for Jöanth's neck. It rushed at him in a swirl of darkness and despite Jöanth ducking in an attempt to move out of the way, he immediately felt his lifeblood drain out of him. This time the wound was on the opposite side of his neck. A warm gush of blood spurted out and some of it sprayed onto Eleanor's shocked face.

  She could see the thing in its natural form but it moved so fast that it seemed to be a blur and not a dark thundercloud. It looked to be all shadow and nothing more.

  “Girls!” she shouted and switched on her powerful spotlight.

  Eleanor swung it back and forth haphazardly, not trying to catch the thing in its beam, but rather to cover as much space as possible in the shortest amount of time. It worked and by chance, accident, or a higher hand, a part of her beam touched the beiier.

  It let out a howl of pain and exited through the open kitchen door again. Bobbing beams of light told Eleanor that the girls had joined her. She placed her spotlight on the table, facing the open doorway and turned to Jöanth.

  He was bleeding profusely and his right hand was now on the opposite side of his neck.

  “The damned thing got me good,” he said, “I need to get to the Tree.”

  “What tree?” she asked as she continued to clean the wounds on his face.

  The gash on the left-hand side of his neck had stopped bleeding, a protective scab already forming. His healing magic had done its job there.

  “Can you fix this wound?” she asked, referring to the new and obviously deeper gash on the right.

  “I can, but it's going to leave me very weak. We need to get to the Tree. A few more attacks like this and I won't be able to heal myself. If I can get through to Edínu, I can heal much quicker. And we'll all be safe there.”

  “Hospital?” Eleanor asked.

  “No. I might look human on the outside, and have red blood, but we are wired remarkably different. A good doctor will be able to pick up the differences with just a cursory examination. That will lead to too many questions perhaps even incarceration in a state sponsored research facility. No, thank you. Besides, Edínu is the best place to heal. And you'll be safe there.” he stressed the last sentence.

  Jöanth stood up and Eleanor was surprised to see him stumble and grab at the table for balance. He was in worse shape than she had thought.

  He grabbed his sword in his right hand and kept his left on his neck, trying to stop the flow of blood. Eleanor was relieved to see the initial rivulet run slower.

  “El,” Rosewater interrupted her thoughts, “you're covered in blood.”

  Eleanor looked at her hands and shirt and saw great swathes of red everywhere. No doubt there was on her face as well. She was silently grateful for the red sweater she had on.

  “Later,” she simply said, grabbed her spotlight and sidled in next to Jöanth beneath his left shoulder, hoping to offer him some support.

  “Let's go,” he croaked.

  “I still don't know where,” Eleanor said as they tentatively made their way out the door and into the dark backyard.

  Whatever the beiier had done to the electricity, it also affected the neighboring properties. They were all dark. He must have ripped apart a power utility transformer up on a pole somewhere.

  Jöanth pointed towards the colossal Giant Red Oak at the very edge of the Prouza property near the woods. “That's a CéataCranné, a Tree Portal. It’s a gateway between this world and Edínu.”

  “In my backyard?” Rosewater asked incredulously.

  “That's why you and Eleanor have enhanced Gifts. Now quick,” he ordered, “before that thing comes back for another round.”

  There was a pathway that led upwards toward a gate at the edge of Eleanor's property. All the properties bordering the Pootatuck State Forest on this side of town, had their own private gates that led to a myriad of man-made and game trails. They almost made it to Eleanor's gate when they heard the beiier's screech again. It was coming from the dark woods in front of them, but the girls had learned their lesson. Instead of focusing in just one direction, they tried to cover all possible angles around them. Except for one. They forgot that the beiier could hover. It dropped down vertically and landed almost on top of Jöanth.

  Jöanth however, had expected a swift attack and had Drÿmwÿn ready. Álvur silvurn glinted briefly in the night and then it disappeared into the beiier. It seemed to effortlessly pass through the thing as if the beiier was an incorporeal being. For a moment, it seemed as if the thing was in fact made of rolling thunderclouds.

  It let out a bloodcurdling scream, but before it rocketed off, its tentacle reached out for Jöanth's neck again. It cut a vertical line, from shoulder, all the way up to his ear, missing his right carotid by inches. The cut was deep though and Jöanth let out a cry of frustration. The thing was going to tear him to pieces. He could only hope that he had mortally wounded it with his sword. Perhaps the thing would leave them alone now.

  Both Rosewater and Charlene sensed the attack on Jöanth and both turned their torches towards him. Before the torch light could identify the attacker though, it had moved on. But not before Rosewater had seen the boiling, malevolent cloud from the corner of her eye before it sped off. Now she knew what to look for.

  “Did you see it?” she asked Charlene as she continued to sweep the darkness with her torch.

  Charlene shook her head. “I saw Jöanth's skin split open before I could get my torch up in time, but no. The fucking thing is invisible to me!” she shouted in frustration.

  Charlene felt like the third wheel on a bicycle. Unneeded, essentially useless. She couldn't see these dark creatures. It pissed her off and made her angry. Another part of her was frightened to her core. How could she possibly try to fight something she couldn't see? There was nothing more for her to do than randomly move her flashlight around. She felt there was no chance that she would ever catch the thing in her beam, but she had to do something, so she kept whirling the torch in random circles.

  Eleanor handed her powerful torch to Rosewater and opened the gate, helping Jöanth through, feeling more of his weight leaning on her now. They walked the few paces to the similar gate on the Prouza property, opened it and hobbled towards the Giant Red Oak. They were already under its massive canopy, but the trunk was about thirty yards away.

  “Now what?” Eleanor asked.

  “I just need to touch the trunk.” Jöanth said and blundered forward like a drunkard. “The doorway will appear then.”

  That was when Rosewater screamed a warning.

  Charlene was getting more and more nervous. The more nervous she got, the angrier she got. The beiier could be anywhere, her mind kept telling her. It could be sitting on your head for all you know and you wouldn't see it. You could be looking right through it for all you know. Useless! She admonished herself. Why are you here? What good are you doing? You're pissing your pants and getting angry about it. That's all you're good for, really. Her mind spat at her. You're only ever good for getting angry.

  She kept spinning around and the motions, combined with the haphazard flashlight beams, made her feel dizzy. The super-fast light show definitely wasn't helping. Her eyes didn't have time to focus on anything she was shining on. Not that it mattered, she kept berating herself. You can't see shit! Great warrior you are!

  And then Rosewater screamed a warning. RW's torchlight was shining directly over her shoulder and Charlene spun around as quickly as she could, hand extended with the torch.

  First the torch, and then her hand disappeared.

  It seemed like the world was standing still. No one said anything and all eyes and torch lights were focused on the spot where her hand was supposed to be.<
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  “Guys,” Charlene croaked, “what's going on?”

  “Your,” Rosewater said from behind her shoulder, “your, uhm. Your hand is inside of it.”

  Charlene tried pulling her hand out, but it didn't budge.

  My bracelet, was her first thought. It better not stay behind inside this thing.

  “I can't get my hand out.” Charl looked at Jöanth expectantly.

  With the help of Eleanor, he scuttled closer. He raised his sword, his eyes focused on the spot where her hand disappeared. Once Jöanth was next to her, he grabbed her elbow with his free hand and pulled. There was no reaction. Her arm didn't move an inch.

  Charlene didn't know what to make of it. She could feel her hand holding the torch, but she couldn't move it. She also couldn't see it, which is what freaked her out the most. It looked like her arm was amputated between elbow and forearm. She was about to ask the others what the beiier was doing when the world erupted in a supernova of pain.

  It filled her entire world.

  Charlene couldn't help but look. She wanted to look away, was expecting blood to spurt from the stump at any second, but it never came. Instead, the cascading rivers of blood was replaced by waves of pain.

  She had never known pain as intense as this. It felt as if her hand was melting, and there was nothing she could do about it. Her arm seemed to be cemented in mid-air. She tried pulling away from that pain, but it held fast. It wouldn't budge. It had her in an invisible vice. And then her hand seemed to explode in rays of light. Where there had been nothing a second ago, light seemed to be born. It was as if the rays were breaking free from a great depth, as if they had been caught deep within the darkest ocean trench and were finally escaping. It started as a soft glow and as it grew more intense, so did the pain.

  The screaming started and Rosewater was at her friend's side a second later, pulling at her arm. Even with Jöanth, they couldn't budge Charlene's arm. It was solidly stuck inside the rolling cloud that was the beiier.

  “Kill it!” Rosewater shouted at Jöanth.

  “I can't risk using Drÿmwÿn! I don't know where her hand is. Who knows what's going on in there?”

  The álvur looked uncertain and there was a hint of fear on his face.

  Rosewater tried turning Charlene to face her, but her friend didn't budge, she kept staring at the spot where her arm disappeared inside that bubbling cloud of darkness.

  Rosewater turned to Eleanor. “Your spotlight! Melt the thing!” she screamed, desperate to help her best friend.

  Eleanor seemed to come out of a daze. She made eye contact with Rosewater, nodded and was about to train the intensely bright beam into the center of the thing, when the beiier seemed to split apart.

  Cracks of light appeared all around it and an electric blue light seemed to escape from it. Charlene stopped screaming and her cry was taken over by the high-pitched shriek of the beiier. It lasted a second and then the thing seemed to implode inwards for a second before it violently exploded outwards in a blinding flash of light.

  The center of that light was Charlene's hand.

  Her hand seemed to pulse as if it had its own inner light and then it died down, replaced by flames reminiscent of St. Elmo's fire. It danced up and down Charlene's right arm and then seemed to retract into her skin. She didn't cry out in pain or alarm.

  Charlene was staring at her hand in wonder. She was still holding the flashlight and her bracelet was still safely there, but her arm seemed to be on fire. The heatless flames died out completely, leaving only a smoking arm as evidence of what had happened.

  The beiier was gone. It seemed to have disintegrated because of the light that had been inside it.

  “You okay?” Rosewater asked, hugging her friend briefly. She looked between her friend's unscorched arm and her huge eyes.

  Charlene seemed to be stuck in a state of wonder and confusion. Her eyes didn't want to believe what they had just seen. And the pain that had been so intense, where she had wished for a quick death, had ended as suddenly as it had begun. Just like the beiier, it was gone without a trace. Her skin felt a slight tingle where the flames had been, but otherwise, she felt fine. In fact, she felt great.

  “What just happened?” she asked.

  “I think you killed the beiier,” Rosewater said.

  “What? How?” Came the numb reply.

  “You turned right into it when I shouted the warning. Your hand and the torch was inside its body,” Rosewater replied with wonder. “The thing froze when your hand and the flashlight was inside of it.”

  “The light from the torch killed it,” Jöanth confirmed.

  “My hand disappeared,” Charlene said, holding her hand up for inspection. It still looked exactly the same as before, despite the tingling. “And then I felt an incredible pain. It felt like my hand was melting, but I couldn't see it.”

  “It disappeared because it was inside the beiier!” Rosewater exclaimed.

  “I guess so,” Charl said, still in wonder.

  “How do you feel?” Eleanor asked and gave Charlene a once over.

  She gently took the younger woman's upper arm and lifted it towards her spotlight beam. She couldn't see any marks. No bruising, no scorch marks.

  “I feel great, thanks. Why do you all keep asking?”

  “Your hand and forearm are still smoking,” Jöanth said with a frown.

  Something nagged at him. Besides the fact that the young woman had just killed a beiier, and that her hand had been inside it, and that her hand and arm came out as if on fire, and then the flames seemed to retract, and her arm was now smoking, something else had happened. And then he noticed it. Charlene's Glow had changed. It was now brighter than before. Even brighter than Rosewater's.

  She had gained a Gift.

  “Weird,” Charlene answered. “I don't feel anything. There's a tingly feeling, but it's not painful. It's actually nice.”

  “Sure you're okay?” Eleanor asked.

  “Yes, Grammy,” Charlene said a little harsher than she should have. It was meant as a joke but sounded like a snide remark. “I'm okay, really.” She said in a softer tone of voice and gave Eleanor a hug to make up for her harsh tone.

  Jöanth also inspected her hand, but the new, brighter Glow seemed to emanate from all over Charlene. She had definitely acquired a new Gift by killing the beiier and having a part of her inside of it when it happened. The question was, what had she inherited?

  Charlene looked at the battered álvur Tracker. The bleeding from his neck seemed to have slowed, but she could still see fresh blood issuing forth from between the fingers of his left hand that was still trying to heal the wound.

  “Shouldn't we get you to the Tree?” she asked and pointed her smoking arm towards the Giant Red Oak.

  As if activated by the movement towards the tree, or by her question, the bracelet started to change. Her arm was still bathed in torchlight and everyone saw the transformation. All of a sudden, the bracelet seemed to be made from a liquid, not a solid, as it changed shape. The thick band shrunk to a fifth of its previous size and from it a fine copper chain formed. At the end of the chain was a traditional-looking copper key that floated in the air next to Charlene's outstretched forefinger. The key was at the end of the chain, hovering in the air and was pointing at the Tree Portal.

  Jöanth didn't see what the humans saw. Instead, he saw the copper key as a flat disk at the end of the chain. The disk had many runes, symbols, grooves, bits, wards, landings, and projections. It was a key to the CéataCranné, to all the Tree Portals.

  It was a key to the universe.

  “It's a key, right?” Charlene asked incredulously. “You all see a key, right?”

  “Yes,” Jöanth answered on her behalf. “It is not any key. That is a key to the CéataCranné, the Gateways. With it, you can travel to just about anywhere in the known worlds. It is a great Gift. There are not many Key Keepers.”

  “Is that what I am?” Charlene asked, holding the key. />
  She opened her palm to watch it float and the key immediately pulled on its chain again, reaching for the Tree.

  “It would appear so,” Jöanth said, “it comes with great responsibility.” He said in a stern voice. “Now, more than ever, you need to come with me to Edínu.”

  “Now?” Eleanor asked, looking at their shoddy appearances.

  She had a shower not more than an hour ago but she felt filthy. She was also covered in Jöanth's blood.

  “Thanks to Charlene, not at this very moment, no. You don’t have to follow me through now.” Jöanth answered. “I was going to suggest that we all go through the Portal to Edínu since álvur are the only ones who can travel through the CéataCranné at will. But now that you have a Key, you can follow me in a few minutes. Time changes when you use the CéataCranné. Minutes may pass here, but when you use the Portal, days may have passed in Edínu. It is probably better this way,” he said leaning against his sword.

  Jöanth hated using the great Drÿmwÿn as a crutch, but there was nothing to be done about it. The beiier had caused him severe damage and he was weakened to the point where he could not stand upright without assistance.

  “I will go through now and seek assistance. I will also prepare my people for your arrival. They do not like uninvited guests. Strangers who suddenly appear on their doorstep are met with,” he paused, looking for the right word, “I don't want to say disdain and mistrust, it's not that bad, but rather with caution. If they know who you are and that you are coming at my invitation, the welcome will be quite different, I assure you.”

  The three women nodded.

  “So, how does it work?” Charlene asked, lowering her arm as it started to tire. The key stayed horizontally afloat, pointing to the Tree.

  “Come,” Jöanth ushered the little group towards the Tree and Eleanor sidled in next to him, on his left side again.

  A few paces later, they were gathered around the foot of the Tree, looking at its massive trunk and up at its overhanging branches with thick foliage. It blotted out the moon and the stars.