by RG Long
The city was covered in the stones and debris of fallen buildings. Speakers were everywhere as they tried to clear away the mess and restore order. People ran wild in the streets. Some were chaotic, running from pile to pile, calling for loved ones. Other just sat at the foot of what Teresa assumed were their dwellings.
“This won’t be easy to get out of,” Teresa said with a frown. “Not only do they not like your kind, but they’re also scared right now. People who are frightened do things they wouldn’t normally consider decent.”
“We’ll wait for night,” Urt said.
It seemed like a good enough plan. The night would come, the city would be much less crowded, and they would probably be able to sneak out of their hiding place in relative secrecy. It would be somewhat safer, thought Teresa thought of how scared people would be at night compared to the daylight.
Then the low, grumbling noise came again. This time it was much closer. And Teresa was quite sure the noise was coming from behind them.
Both she and Urt spun around. It wasn’t quite possible to see the full picture of what was stalking them in the darkness, but it was definitely there. Its dark, glowing eyes looked back at them with a ferocity of something very hungry.
Teresa felt for a sword on her back or at her side and was deflated to learn that she didn’t have one in either place. Urt must have been doing the same thing because Teresa saw his arm twitch from his side to his back.
They were weaponless in the darkness.
Teresa spoke the word of magic she knew, lighting up the surrounding area with Rimstone dust. She immediately regretted doing so. The magical rocks illuminated the great monster out in front of them. The thing stood just as tall as Urt and twice as long. It was a great horned lizard of sorts. It had the claws of a dragon and the mouth of a serpent. And the orange glow of the stones only made its dark eyes glow all the more terrifying.
“When it rears back, jump left,” Urt said out of the corner of his mouth.
Teresa didn’t have time to question. The beast took a step back and then sprung forward.
Teresa jumped to the left, knowing that there was only so much ground to fall to there. She managed to jump far enough to avoid the beast’s claws, but not so far that she was cast out into the darkness.
“Urt!” she yelled as she turned around to see the great cat-like figure dodge to the right as the lizard burst through the opening in the wall, making more rubble and stone fall down around them.
Screams rang out in the street immediately as the thing let out a great roar at the brightest light it had probably ever seen and began to chase anything that moved through the streets.
“No waiting,” Urt said. “This is our best moment. Let’s go.”
Teresa was not in a mood to argue. After seeing that one beast, she feared there might be others. And until she had a sword, that would be a problem.
Feeling at her side for the pouch that was around her shoulder, she nodded and followed Urt out into the city, where the great beast was causing just enough of a ruckus that their exit from the tower base went mostly unnoticed.
“Where do we go?” Urt asked.
Teresa looked over and saw another tower that seemed to have sustained similar damage.
“The hanger,” she answered.
10: Dwarves
The king of the dwarves looked down on the puny human and his horse. This was something he had expected. It was why he had brought his army right underneath the shadow of the capital of Severn. He did eventually intend to fight the elves of the east. If that meant he had to go through the middle of those who stood in between him and his long-legged enemies, then so be it.
The army behind him was hungry for war. They had been driven to revenge by the death of all the dwarves at Taystone. He had seen to stoking the fires of war in his halls and his mines. This was a war he was even hungrier for than his people. It was a chance for the dwarves of Taystone to repay old grudges and return to their former glory.
The king of the dwarves wanted his nation at war. He would do whatever it took to claim back the mines that had been taken from him and to get new ones as well.
Even driving his people to war, they were not as adequately prepared to wage as their forebears had been. It was no matter. Once they conquered Severn, they could gain the resources they needed to supply enough
“I will give you one last chance,” the king said from the top of his wyvern. He wanted to at least appear like a diplomat. Word of war traveled fast.
“Allow us safe passage to the elves and do not block our way, or face my wrath and that of my army. The elves have wronged us. Do not add to our grudges is for we dwarves do not quickly forget.”
The dwarf King saw the human’s horse whinny and shake with fear. This sight pleased him. Perhaps his mount would throw him off and step on him, keeping the dwarf from having to do any of his planned dirty work.
“Go back to your ancestral home, Fra, king of the Dwarves,” Governor Thamund said. “I know your people attempted to treaty with lady Veronica. I know you intend to steal my countrymen away for me. You will not do so without a fight. Turn your army around now, and you will not suffer another loss at the hand of men.”
The dwarven king puffed up his chest at this. It had been embarrassing enough that his uncle had lost the war to the humans. They had defeated them at all the right battles, even though the dwarves had the upper hand, the heartiness of their warriors, and the advanced weapons they had developed over the years.
And yet they had lost all the same. His uncle had been thrown out of the kingdom after this embarrassment. Fra had ascended the throne afterward since all of the king’s sons had been killed in the War of the Hammers. The dwarven king did not desire to simply walk by the human nation of Severn. He wanted to burn it to the ground and then build his own kingdom atop the ashes.
If all that stood in his way was this puny man and his city, then he would crush him like a stone beneath a hammer and continue his conquest east. He would ensure that the grudge against the men of Severn would never be forgotten. His people would put them in their place.
“Your city will be reduced to ash,” the dwarf king said through gritted teeth. “Not a single human shall escape my wrath. You will live to rue the day you insulted the dwarves.”
“And you will leave with a shaved beard, oh King.”
The dwarf pulled back the reins in the wyvern’s mouth, and the mighty beast let out a roar, sensing his master’s fury. The dwarves who had come out with him beat their hammers against their shields. This was an insult. This was fury. This was unacceptable.
“Prepare the cannons!” Fra shouted. The governor and his entourage had turned around and began their trek back to the city. If the dwarf king had any less honor, he would’ve ensured the man never made it back alive.
11: Risk of Loss
"So you were sent by the governor of men to ask the elves to help you?" Laserie asked the strange woman for what felt like the fifth time. She was having a hard time wrapping her mind around humans asking elves for aid. The elders and her tower had always told her that the men of the west were proud and never sought the wisdom of the elves. Men had scorned them and their kind. That jealousy of the elves’ long life and expanded understanding had driven a wedge between their races.
This woman and her company party put those prejudices that Laserie held deep within her to the test. They sat across from one another on the steps of the broken tower. Some of the woman’s guards had walked a circle around the structure to ensure their safety. The Skrilx had gone with them to ensure that they did nothing foolish. But right in front of her was the woman named Paula, who had asked for their aid. Laserie was confused.
Mixed within all these doubts was the fact that the tower she had sought to come to, the home of the elves she had hoped to find, was not only deserted but dead. Looking on the outside now, Laserie wondered how she had missed the sings. Perhaps if she had been more willing to see it, she had woul
d have noticed it before she entered the grand tower.
Part of the structure was decaying on the outside. Some of the stones looked rotted, though such a thing had never been something Laserie had seen before. It was like the tower had become a living thing, only to waste away slowly. Her tower looked lavish; this one looked like both death, and the plague had slowly crept up upon it.
The plague was certainly inside.
Some of the Skrilx had gone into inspect the tower further after Laserie had rejected any other offers they had made to go with her. She did not want to see her kindred in whatever state she might find them in there. The sight at the doorstep was terrible enough and would be burned into her mind forever.
The two Skrilx who had gone in came back with solemn-looking faces. All they did was shake their heads when Laserie asked what they had found.
Nothing. Not a living thing.
The bright suns mocked Laserie. Her heart was heavy with worry and doubt. If the plague had made it to this tower, what stopped it from reaching her own? Was it because their Rimstone had not yet been fully infected? Had this tower not known about the ritual sacrifice that could be made to purify the stones?
If she returned home, would she have a home to return to? Or would the plague had already begun to claim it?
“I do not think the elves are in any position to offer help to your nation,” Laserie said. “We find ourselves in our own crisis at present.”
“I can see that you are fewer than perhaps the governor of Severn would’ve hoped for,” the strange lady said as she looked over Laserie and the Skrilx.
Laserie shook her head.
“There are more to the south. But we are in our own crisis. Our Rimstone is fading. It is being corrupted by this ancient power. I did not see it before. I think some of our kind had been blind to it or blinded by it. There are other elven towers that may have already been afflicted like this one. It will be impossible to tell if there are any elves other than the ones from my own tower unless we seek them out. It disobeyed my elders to come here in the first place. Surely they would not condone another such journey. And even if they did, our tower is in enough peril that we may not be able to assist even our own kind.”
Laserie could hear the despair and gloom in her own voice. Had she already given up hope? Had the passion that had sent her from her tower run dry up when she realized her elven kindred had already been affected by the plague?
Maybe the plague was beginning to affect her too.
The woman who was seated across from her stood up abruptly.
“This is no longer about looking out for the interests of one nation,” she said. “It is also not the time to be putting our own interests above those of the greater good.”
She took a deep breath and then exhaled as if what she was about to say next was costing her greatly.
“I, too, have lost. I have had to endure the suffering of my own family at the hand of elves. They were assassinated. All of them. My husband, my two children, and my mother. All of them killed by those of elven blood.”
Laserie shook her head. She didn’t understand.
“What does that have to do with this?” she asked.
The woman folded her arms and began to pace as she looked up at the tower, then to the forest, then back to Laserie.
“There is something moving on the continent,” she said. “A force darker and greater than any one of our nations alone. It is a thing that seeks to both control and create chaos. I knew this was the case when the elves murdered my family. I withheld from my darker desires of wanting just to seek vengeance or what have you when it occurred. Instead, I wanted answers. I wanted to know why my family, of all those in Severn, had been targeted. Why they had to die, and I had to endure.”
She took a deep sigh.
“I suppose that’s why Governor Thamund sent me on this quest. He knew that I could speak to you. The elves,” she added. “About our need to join together. To put away old feelings of mistrust and grudges and begin to work together.”
Again, she looked up at the tower.
“If we don’t, the fate that had fallen on the elves here in this tower may not be contained to only your kind. But to men and dwarves, and all who live on Redact. Perhaps all of Gilia. Surely you have seen the signs? The stars in the sky? The dark comet’s strange actions?”
Laserie had seen signs. They had studied the stars in her tower. They had watched as the dark comet turned colors with varying intensity and had at times come close to their own sphere as if threatening it with its existence. She had heard tales and rumors of darkness.
“But what does that have to do with the elves joining with the men of Severn?”
Laserie stood up as well.
“I do not think we are the help you’re looking for,” she said. “I must return to my own tower and inform the elders of what I found. They do not know what fate has befallen our brothers yet. If I do not tell him, it may be too late.”
The strange woman began to nod her head.
“Then I still travel with you.”
Laserie was not expecting this.
“The forest is dangerous,” the older Skrlx, Tert said. “It nearly claimed us on the way through. We can protect one, but to protect your company would stretch us far too thin.”
“If they are willing, they should come. As long as they accept the risks involved,” Acred, the brown hair Skrilx added.
Paula nodded again.
“The lives of my company or in my own hands. Only show us the way, and we will do our best. It is worth the effort and the risk of many lives. For if we do not risk, lives that could be saved will be lost. We will accompany you, but we will not hinder you.”
Laserie looked at her feline companions.
The older one shrugged his shoulders while the younger, brown-haired cat took up his weapon and motioned that they should follow him. And as one, they made their way back down the path that would lead them through the forest.
Laserie already had the nightmares replaying in her mind’s eye before they had even reached the first tree. What would these humans see when they walked through the mysterious ancient power that was the plague?
12: Innocence
“Do you think you could’ve calmed it with the magic!?” Elise was shouting at Blume. “Now we look guilty!”
Blume shot another blast of magic behind her to deter the second group of guards who had come running at them since they had been magicked out of the House of Poral.
“No,” Blume shot back. “You looked guilty when they had a guy saying he had confessed everything to the mayor and your father began to doubt your loyalty.”
Ealrin looked sideways at Blume.
“He looked like he doubted us?” he asked with a concerned tone.
“Not now!” Blume said as she caused a group of barrels to go rolling out of a cart and into the path that they were running along, hopefully blocking enough of the road to stop the guards from chasing after them.
She looked back over her shoulder in triumph as she saw the guards falter and try to climb over the barrels but were unsuccessful. Since the barrels contained fish in salt, they proved to be rather hard for the guards to climb on top of.
Blume let out a whoop of excitement, hoping that she had given them enough time to get away from the guards and to make a new plan.
Oh, and she was definitely going to berate Ealrin something awful when this was over.
How long had he known that there was something going on behind the scenes? Why had he not told Blume about any of this? That information certainly seemed like something that would’ve been helpful to know going into this meeting.
Blume looked back over her shoulder, expecting to see soldier still tripping and falling over barrels of fish. Her heart sank when she instead saw an orange glow holding the barrels up and soldiers running underneath it.
“There’s another speaker!” she shouted. “We gotta get out of here!”
The tria
l so far had been easy enough to put up with. Blume didn’t know how long she would be able to continue helping them escape if she was also trying to shield them from magic. She was well-rested and fed at the moment, but she did not know how long she could endure.
“This way!” Elise said as she cut through an alley. Blume certainly hoped the girl knew where she was going. The guards of the city definitely knew the area better, and if they made a wrong turn, they could end up walking right into chains.
They had cut off from the main market place and were now in more of the back-alley ways of the city. These had normally been useful to Blume and Ealrin whenever they needed to get away, but Blume had misgivings about this particular path.
They could still walk three-wide in the street and not be hindered. Looking over her shoulder, Blume didn’t see the guards or the speaker pursuing them. Not yet, at least.
Perhaps they had run far enough away from the house of Poral that they had escaped the most stubborn guards and were now dealing with those of a more persistent variety.
“In here!” Elise said as she dodged into a door with the sign over in that read the Sleepy Sailor. Blume never liked ducking into a shop in order to get away. She always felt like they were doing better when they were running as opposed to when they were hiding behind a counter.
“Welcome! Find a seat!” said a jovial looking man from behind the bar. “I was wondering when we might start seeing some business from that ship in the port. Grand airship! I don’t see much of that around here in Poral. And all the talk of the town. What can I get for the three of you?”
Blume was sure her shocked expression was not wiped off her face fast enough. While traveling, she had been used to back-alley taverns being somewhat grimy and hard to stomach. The Sleepy Sailor, on the other hand, was one of the most well-kept and she had ever laid eyes on.