Legend of Ecta Mastrino Box Set

by B J Hanlon

  He tried putting them together as he moved, his mind working at it like a puzzle. Eventually, he figured it was two elongated sticks crossed beneath what could only have been a crown.

  Edin followed the tiles until they abruptly turned north directly toward the base of a mountain.

  As he sped through the mountains the air grew colder and he almost forgot about the creatures.

  Suddenly, something twinkled in the cold but bright sun. It drew his attention like an arrow thumping a bullseye. It was a glint of metal with the perfect angle to reflect the sun’s rays. Next to it stood another squared-off block. Almost ten of them. Stone blocks stacked on top of each other.

  Another building. Nearly the same as the one he’d seen earlier. This one as well was crumbled as if hit by a thundering hammer. The stone walls that stood were smooth, and an arch above what must’ve been a doorway had collapsed along with the top of the tower. Was it a watch tower? How high had it risen?

  Edin moved toward it, curious as if it held some secret he just had to find. He paused at the entrance and gazed inside. It was a mess, broken wooden beams beaten nearly white with age crumbled next to hunks of stone, both large and small. Something must’ve happened. An earthquake maybe?

  A stone hearth stood silent in the somehow intact north wall; inside, was a pile of white and black dust. Above him he saw precarious looking beams hanging like a pen in loose fingers.

  Edin gripped the fang around his neck. Who had lived here?

  It didn’t look like a great shelter with the beams on the verge of collapse. With the tip of the sword, he pushed around small pieces of wood or stone and even a few hunks of rusty metal. Edin didn’t know what he was looking for, if anything. After a few minutes he moved on.

  The road turned north around a thin, almost needle-like peak, then south again. As he moved throughout the day, he saw another tower; it looked intact, however it was easily a hundred feet or so above him pressed into the bosom of a mountain. He wasn’t going to even try…

  As the dark blue and purple sky was beginning to crawl over the mountains, he found a tower that looked to have been cleaved. Inside, the bottom was completely incased in four walls with a decaying wooden door listlessly hanging by its hinges. He found crumpled stairs that would’ve led to a second story. Above him, the ceiling was mostly intact but for a few holes. Rotted wood smelled old and long abandoned birds’ nests were rammed into the dark corners.

  On the floor, was the symbol he’d seen on the road but it was completely intact. It showed a golden crown above a dark sword and a white staff. The crown held five circular dots around a large one in the center. They were colored blue, red, white, green, and yellow. The center dot was purple. He’d never seen it before, that symbol. A heraldry of some ancient clan, an ancient civilization from the mountains?

  He wondered if the dry and cold mountains could’ve preserved it for thousands of years. Maybe it was from Vestor’s time.

  This was as good a shelter as any, Edin thought.

  Inside that musty room, Edin felt alone… like the statue of the hunter. He shifted to a corner and lowered himself to the ground. He closed his eyes pulling the elven cloak tight around his body.

  A clicking, chattering noise began to rouse him. It was like a beetle only louder and faster. He heard more, then the earsplitting screech of blades being dragged against granite.

  He covered his ears and spotted a black figure drop to the ground barely three feet from him. A half-moon gave this vision some definition. It was tall and wide with reddish yellow eyes and stood on two legs. The smell was somewhere between putrid flesh and burnt hair. It snarled something that may have been words, though he couldn’t understand.

  Shocked, Edin didn’t move; he just stared at it for a moment.

  Then something clicked in him. He had to get up. Edin did, not creaky, stiff or sore, but with a fluid twist to the side just as a large blade shimmered through the dark room and sparked the wall where his head had been.

  In a single movement, his cloak slipped off and he drew his sword. He moved in as the large creature tried swinging the weapon back around towards Edin’s gut.

  But he was inside the blade’s strike and the handle rapped against his ribs. Edin thrust the blade into the shadow. It howled, the odor, one he could only really associate with death, washed over him. Edin felt miniscule, prickly hair tickling his hand and then warm syrupy liquid covering it.

  The eyes flashed and then closed. There was more snarling and howling. Edin pulled out his blade and swung toward the door whipping blood along the walls. A slash crossed another shadow, he felt it bight the body between the same yellow-red eyes.

  The… thing dropped.

  Edin sprinted out the door and leapt behind a fallen hunk of the old tower. In the shadows of the mountain, he glimpsed figures. A lot of them. Leaping in and out from behind crevasses and granite boulders. He saw them for only an instant, then they were gone.

  One leapt over a rock to his right bearing down at him with sharp claws. Around its waist, it wore something that reminded Edin of his own dress from a few days ago. His lion cloth.

  With its powerful body and enormous claws, it moved through the air with tremendous agility. It did look like a lion, or a hairless crillio.

  Edin dropped to his back and rolled over his shoulder coming up to his feet and slashing the blade through the air where he’d been.

  There was a screech and a splash of blood as a clawed arm was severed at the elbow when the humanoid figure had attempted to strike. It fell backward, crying and chattering like a child.

  Edin felt another presence and heard a chattering cry from above, from the top of the collapsed tower. The beast man leapt down with a long handle blade. It seemed to slow during the drop. Edin stepped to the side and drew his sword across the beast’s chest. It howled and collapsed. The blade sparked against the stone.

  Edin jumped over a small stone wall to the tiled road. Something hard caught him in the side of the head. Edin stumbled. His left hand caught himself from sprawling out. When he turned, he saw two black shadows advancing. They seemed to be on all fours moving silkily and sliding into a crouching, predatory position. The coordination, the movement was almost preternatural… then they leapt, each pulling weapons as they came at him from the air.

  The attackers made a sort of war cry. Their sharp needle like teeth looked dull in the moon. The one on the left had some sort of hooked blade and brought it down toward Edin. He dropped and rolled between the thing’s legs and came up behind it.

  But it was quick; the beast turned and met Edin’s strike with a parry. The hook on the beast’s blade grabbed him and bit into his shoulder. The searing pain blanketed his mind.

  Edin screamed and then kicked. He did it as it had happened with Dexal. A white, ethereal boot covered his leg.

  He felt the energy and put it all into that foot.

  The shadow howled and flew straight into the bottom half of the tower. A single stone fell, then another. A moment later, the entire wall collapsed on the shadowy beast.

  Edin barely realized what was happening as he saw the other shadow coming at him with another long-haft blade. This time, the blade had a lunar crescent on it. The shadow jabbed at Edin, but he dodged. Then it pulled the weapon back, spun it in a circle over its head, and brought down the other end. One with a thick black ball. Edin moved just in time as it shattered the stone tile he’d been standing on. Flat shards of rock flew up as if it had been hit by lightning. The beast kept attacking and Edin knew other shadows were around somewhere… ready to attack.

  He was growing tired, his arm getting weak, and he didn’t have a quarterstaff to help fend off some of these attacks. Edin dodged right, then left, barely engaging. The shadow roared in frustration. He still couldn’t see any real features, but the smell was just as bad.

  Edin saw an opening, when the shaft was spinning above the shadows head, and he went for the kill. The shadow bared its teeth and
Edin knew he’d made a mistake. He’d been watching the weapon.

  The black ball was almost at his head, coming directly down on him like a hammer. He cringed, ready to feel the blow when the white ethereal shield popped into view.

  The light lit up the shadow’s face… it was almost human, a nose, mouth, and eyes all proportionate. The eyes were somewhere between yellow and red and it had a black, semi-hairless body. These things said it was some other race entirely.

  Long ears were poking out from the side of the head. The cousins.

  The stone ball slammed into the ethereal shield and the haft shattered. The cousin was already moving, throwing its momentum into the strike. The beast was shocked and it took Edin but a moment to shutter the shield and slice through the black neck.

  Edin dropped to the serpent stance and looked around.

  Shrieks came from around and Edin started to look for the next attack. Where would it come from?

  But it didn’t.

  Black shadows were running… away from him. The scratching of their sharp claws on the stone sent gooseflesh down his body. Rocks crashed down sides of the mountains all around him.

  More chatters and shrieks came from somewhere in the mountains. Strength and energy coursed through his body… there was nothing else around. Edin stared up as the mountains grew quiet. After a moment, he stood over the corpse he’d gutted.

  It looked like a hairy elf. Ugly things, demonic things...

  He went back to the tower and sifted the ruins to try and find his basket. Whatever just happened, he didn’t want to be around if more returned.

  After a few minutes, he knew he didn’t have the strength to lift the stones and reach it. Crushed beneath the collapsed stone, the rest of his food, water, and the warm elven cloak were lost.

  At that moment, Edin nearly gave up. He plopped on one of the crumbled stones. He had nothing again.

  Edin sighed thinking about his family… “Why?” He pleaded. “It’d be so much easier…” But he knew he couldn’t just stop here to die. There is something ahead…

  Edin got moving quickly. He ran into the night, his boots clapping on the stone road. The shadows off the mountains and stones cut darker swaths into the road. Edin nearly tripped but he didn’t stop until it was early morning and the stone road began to turn again around the backs of mountains.

  Edin paused behind a boulder, dropping his hands to his knees to catch his breath. His chest gasped for air and his shoulder stung from the stab. Other than that, he was okay.

  The dark monsters were out there. Where they really these so-called cousins? It was a question for when he was safe. Now was not the time.

  Suddenly, he shivered. He’d been warm from the fleeing, sweating actually, but now the cool air lapped at him furiously. He tried rubbing his hands together, the pain from his shoulder grew worse.

  Edin checked it and saw it was wet and sticky but he didn’t think the cut was too deep.

  After the brief pause, he continued following the road. It started to ascend heading straight into a mountain. The higher he went, the more he wished he still had that cloak.

  The wind began to pick up, growing stronger and more constant. It came from the direction he was headed. Edin wasn’t sure why, but knew he had to go this way and found himself fighting for any sort of forward movement.

  His tunic and trousers were pulled tight against his body. Flakes of soft white snow began to drop in the sunlit sky. Frost began to appear on the tip of his nose and his face stung.

  The elements were fighting him now too.

  It continued to grow colder, the snow thicker and his visibility was quickly disappearing like a twig in an inferno.

  Ahead he spied a stone outcropping, a large rock that could give him some cover from the torrent. Edin pushed himself. When he reached it, he dropped to the lee side facing the way he’d just come from. He could barely see anything.

  The wind howled ceaselessly for hours and he began to lose feeling in his feet and hands. Snow built up on his body as the whistling became louder. Edin jammed his hands under his armpits and began to rock, his body trying to keep some warmth.

  Edin wouldn’t live through the day. He’d be frozen soon if he didn’t get moving; even so he’d probably die.

  With a nearly frozen, bright pink hand, he scooped up a hunk of snow and put it in his mouth. He had no food; the biscuits were gone as was the waterskin. He wished for anything edible. A root or even a grub would be fine…

  He imagined crunching on a squirming insect in his teeth. His mind shivered while his stomach growled.

  Barely twenty minutes later, the snow seemed to let up, but only slightly. Edin stood with great effort and began moving again. He stumbled up the road as it rose further up the side of the mountain. He was staying clear of the drop off to a deep ravine a few yards to his right.

  As he crunched through the snow, he began to feel something, almost see something like a mirage in the blizzard ahead of him. It was her. The woman from his dreams. She was weeping… standing in the snow, unworried about the cold. In her hands he saw a glint of yellow and azure and silver. A bejeweled dagger pointed at her chest.

  She didn’t see him.

  “Don’t,” he yelled as he stumbled through the snow. He lost his balance, slipped, and dropped. His legs weren’t working fast enough and he took a face full of sticky wet snow.

  He looked up and she was gone.

  Where she’d been sat a pointed black boulder beneath a white frosting. It seemed out of place on the gray landscape. Edin pulled himself up and stumbled toward it as if he were looking for a last round of ale at the end of a particularly festive night.

  He reached the rock and touched it. Nothing happened. Why did he think something was supposed to?

  The stone was cold with a sheen of ice. Edin had to pry his hand to get it away. Then he noticed something: a small gap between it and the rock wall.

  Edin reached inside. He was hit with air… warm air. A moment later, he slipped in. He had to turn sideways to get into the dark cave. As he glanced back he saw the large black stone didn’t look natural.

  But he was out of the elements and it didn’t matter. Edin sighed and looked around. The room was a small entrance hall, a foyer.

  He shuffled in further. It grew warmer and there was no more wind. Then it opened into a round chamber, egg shaped, with soft glowing sun light coming from somewhere high above.

  Edin looked up and saw a circular window maybe forty feet up in the face of the mountain. Manmade, he was certain. Snowflakes were entering but dissipating instantly though no water seemed to enter the room.

  It was warm in here, not toasty but warm, like a mid-autumn day. He closed his eyes and sat against a wall blowing on his hands.

  Exhausted tears began to form on his face as the needling feeling returned to his extremities. Slowly, he peeled off his wet boots and sat in the cavern staring up at the white sky through the window and drifted off.

  Sometime during the night he woke. He heard the sobs and thought first they were his own… then the woman’s. Above him, he saw the shaft of light from the window. There was no more snow and the light was focused in a beam. He shivered again and touched his boots. His bare feet were cold, but the boots were wet still and putting those on would be worse.

  He stood and stretched his cramped and sore muscles. His stomach growled and he felt thirsty. He remembered the snow outside but that was difficult to drink. Then he remembered… I’m a water mage.

  He closed his eyes and felt for the moisture in the air. He grabbed it with his mind and drew it toward him. Edin held out a hand and looked. Orbs of floating water were suspended above it.

  Form in my cupped hand, he thought.

  Instead, they all burst and dropped. Some landed in his hand, enough water to wet his lips but not enough to stymie the hunger pangs.

  Edin closed his mouth and tried to stretch his stiff neck by letting his head loll. The beam of moonlight st
ruck the wall a few yards away. And next to it, he noticed something. An archway. The change in light made it difficult to see.

  Edin ambled toward the arch. He could tell it wasn’t natural. It was probably the same ancient peoples who’d had made the road and the watchtowers. He thought.

  A minute later, it was confirmed by the same crown and weapons on the cap stone. The single shaft of light splayed out on the wall next to the portal. Edin put a hand in the white glow casting a shadow. He remembered making finger puppets on the wall with his mother. For a brief moment, he dropped all but his fore finger and middle finger and formed a rabbit.

  It brought a smile to his face and a feeling of release that he hadn’t felt in a long time. Then he looked toward the opening.

  Through the arched portal was a black abyss, like stepping off into a void of some unknown world. The underworld maybe. What’d be in there? Monsters? Demons? More of those creatures that attacked him…

  He stepped in anyway and was enveloped by the blackness. Edin raised a hand and let the ethereal ball bubble up braising the room in light.

  The howling wind crashed past the window above him. It was no wonder the mountains were never crossed.

  A breeze, almost like a sigh came up on him from behind, tickling his neck like some ghostly presence, then quickly disappeared. Edin looked up. He was in a dome with stone trusses above him and perfectly smooth walls and floor. It was as if stone simply fell away without ever being tooled.

  His eyes dropped to something at the edge of the light. It was next to the wall, almost protruding out as if it’d been part of the stone. He took a step forward and saw the flicker of a body. His heart nearly stopped and the orb flickered with his drop of concentration.

  The person in the corner didn’t move.

  “Hello?” Edin asked taking a step forward in the darkness. Blood coursed through him and he touched the hilt of his blade. Edin took another step forward as the line of light on the floor rose to show a black clawed foot.

  Edin swallowed. It was one of them… the shadow demons. He pulled his sword quickly and backed up. It didn’t move.