by BJ Hanlon
A moment later, Edin blinked and felt the world slow.
He felt the ethereal power in his body and lashed out at the dematian’s clawed hand where it gripped the weapon. There was a blinding flash of light and a crunching sound followed by a loud chattering cry. The demon stumbled backward and to the right, the staff fell from its hand and the sword trailed it on the ground.
Edin dove toward it and drove the blade into its chest between what he was certain were rib bones. The dematian howled then went silent.
He took a breath as he looked down at his kill. Then remembered the human scream.
There were swords still clanking behind him. Edin spun and saw Berka surrounded by three dematians. All armed and all attacking at different times.
The boy was red and slowing; to the right, barely visible was a crumbled frame that wore Dorset’s clothes.
Anger flared through him and he summoned a pair of ethereal knifes. Edin launched them at two of the beasts and saw them get ripped into two. Berka hardly flinched.
The last one did. It screamed as Berka sliced down taking it from right shoulder to left hip. The beast dropped into two pieces. Edin raced toward Dorset and dropped down over him. His friend was bleeding badly from a wound to the leg and another to the upper chest. Edin quickly ripped off his tunic.
“Tie off the leg,” Edin said thrusting the shirt into Berka’s hands. A few moments later, he held his hands over Dorset’s chest. He closed his eyes.
“Eletanto,” he mumbled.
He could feel warmth in his hands but it was a dull warmth, like heat through frozen fingers. Edin shook his head; he needed to speak and not babble like a child. He cleared his throat and started again. “Eletanto!” he said more forcefully.
Beneath his hands, there was a warmth growing and he could almost feel pieces of the skin knitting back together. It went on for hours… or so it seemed. Edin sweated while he put all of his strength into the wound on the chest. He heard a gasp but didn’t stop.
He began to feel dizzy and confused. For a moment, he thought he was in a warm spring, and then transported to a cold mountain keep where his mind was frozen.
The equilibrium disappeared and Edin started to fall. He felt arms grabbing him and letting him down. Water was poured down his throat and suddenly someone was slapping him, not hard but with enough force to clear his head somewhat.
Edin blinked and looked up at Berka.
Berka said, “we cannot let the guards attack alone. They’ll be slaughtered. You two stay here. I’ll go meet them. We’ll destroy the dematians.”
Edin blinked up at him again. He wanted to speak but words wouldn’t work for a few moments. “Tunnel?” he finally whispered.
“We’ll figure something out.”
Edin couldn’t talk much more. He felt drained and then more water came into his mouth. He remembered the day in the forest where he rejuvenated himself. It was so long ago and it was out in the world. He felt the energy around and tried to summon it. But little would come to him. A moment later, he saw black.
Edin woke. The sun had just risen and he was wedged next to Dorset in a small crevasse beneath a large dirt overhang. He felt tired and his joints were sore but he was able to slowly rise and step outside.
To the east, he saw the walls of the city just over a small ridge. A flash of memory ran over him. A vision of the giant mage dematian and Dorset’s scream.
Quickly he moved back and dropped to Dorset’s side. He shook him. “Dorset?” His roommate’s breath was even and not labored. He checked the wound in the chest. It was covered in dried blood. Edin spit on a cloth and wiped it away. There was a small yellowish scar but nothing else. Then he moved to the leg. It wasn’t bleeding anymore but it didn’t look good and part of it was turning greenish yellow. Dorset needed a healer soon.
Then he heard screams. Shivers ran down his spine.
They were far off and barely heard like whispers across the room. But he did hear them and he knew what they were. He thought about the captain and Berka and their men, the ones that went into battle without him. He couldn’t leave them there.
“Dorset,” Edin said. “I need you to wake.” He smacked his friend’s face. He was hot and sticky with sweat. He pressed the back of his hand to Dorset’s forehead. He was more than hot and his friend needed help. They needed someone out here, someone who could get him and take him back to the city. If only Berka didn’t leave.
He thought, that there had to be some way to send a signal.
Then another flash of inspiration. Though he was still not back to complete strength, he had to try. Edin closed his eyes and felt the static in the air. He felt the rushing of power around him and thrust a hand into the air. Lightning crashed in his ears and split the early morning sky with wild and angry booms.
They crashed for nearly a full minute draining a bit more of Edin than he thought was wise. But it was for Dorset.
When Edin was done, there was silence all around. It was as if the battle and everyone had stopped to watch. That was good.
A moment later, it started again. He could hear men and dematians. Edin slowly started to pull Dorset a bit further out. There were dematian bodies all around including the giant one.
Edin separated them and grabbed a sword. He jammed it into the damp soil by Dorset’s head. He thought he heard horses coming from the city. He hoped he heard that; then he turned back northwest to Mount Falic. He grabbed the dematian’s ironwood staff and followed the trampled grass until he found a tight gap that lead up to the top of the escarpment. There were many handholds and he climbed it with ease.
At the top, he could see Carrow and hear the horses. He saw them crossing the grassland toward the river.
Edin turned back to the mountain and saw the northern side barely in view. Black figures were on the sides. Many black figures.
He started to run. He had no idea how long it would take though the sounds of steel on steel and human and animalistic cries of anger and fury and pain told him some men were still alive, and that gave him hope. It pushed him to run faster and faster.
A partially tree-covered hill rose before him and the mountain rose up from beyond it like a canine tooth.
His calves and thighs burned as he scampered up and between rows of tall pines that seemed like a fence. As he reached a small flat area, he saw across a great valley nearly half a mile wide to the battle. Edin dropped his hands to his knees and was panting and watching the fight. Bodies were on the ground. Guards and dematians. There were at least six humans left but more dematians. Many more.
Above them, he spotted the dark mouth of the cave and descending from it were more dematians. The way they were descending reminded Edin of a squirrel climbing down a tree.
The mountainous cliff meant nothing to them. Could they climb walls like that? What happened if they reached the actual city wall? Then he remembered them leaping over in Coldwater.
Yes, they probably could. He thought.
A large crash and furious cry echoed from the valley. Edin turned to see one of the men had dropped and more dematians were racing down toward them.
With Dorset out, he couldn’t close the cave and Edin was very low on energy. He caught his breath as best as he could and thought of the talent and the lightning strikes.
They were powerful but inaccurate. Then he remembered hitting the peak in Arianne’s keep. He wasn’t sure exactly where that was supposed to hit, but it did the job and dropped boulders down effectively crushing the courtyard and parts of her home.
As he watched the dematians screaming down the mountain toward the weary soldiers, Edin held out a hand. In it, the electricity cracked. Then it was pulsing through the air and crackling next to his head. Then he whipped out his hand. A bolt, a yellow bolt, one he hadn’t seen before erupted from it and instantly crashed into the mountain side.
It was too far left though when it hit, and a spray of rock erupted like a high dive into still water. Then the bits started to
come down like large and deadly hail. A few dematians that were still climbing down face first lost their balance and dropped. He almost felt them crunching into the ground.
Others, as well as the men, turned toward Edin. Edin heard a great roaring cheer and saw a giant sword being hoisted overhead. Then the sword tore forward like a scythe through wheat and took out three in one strike.
It roused the rest and then the men began pushing forward.
Behind, Edin heard the thundering of horses. Edin looked up as more dematians appeared at the entrance of the cave. He took a breath and nearly fell. The dizziness was coming again and he wasn’t dealing with it very well. One more and he’d be under, and if Por Fen monks were coming, he’d be skewered...
With Berka and the captain down there he closed his eyes. “Not even a choice,” Edin whispered and felt the same crackling and snapping of electricity in the air. He envisioned the dark cave entrance. It grew larger in his mind, so large it took up the entirety of his vision.
Edin whipped his hand forward again and felt something other than a lightning bolt fly from it. Something that felt rounder and somehow more volatile.
Edin opened his eyes as the yellowish blue ball struck the far wall of the cave. There was an explosion that sent stone, lightning, and dead dematians flying through the sky.
He dropped to his knees and felt the weariness rolling over him. Edin slowly lowered himself further and leaned his back against a tree. A few moments later, he heard the horses rushing past him and down the hill.
He blinked again and saw whipping black and purple cloaks as cavalry charged the dematians and the small group of defenders.
8
Skipping Town
There was a stillness and quietness about the area when he woke. It was dusk with a dark blue sky. As far as he could tell, he hadn’t been moved or killed. That was good.
Edin glanced around and could barely make out the dark outlines of trees near him though he couldn’t see beyond the lip of the hill. He shivered in the cool air. He was alone in the woods and now beginning to smell blood and death.
To the right, he heard snapping of something in the woods and nearly jumped. A moment later he spotted a dark figure exiting while carrying a large bundle of what looked like firewood.
“You’ve been busy I see,” a familiar voice came from the left. He turned and saw a figure leaning against a tree but looking the other way. He saw the copper hair long and over the shoulder.
“Like a squirrel in autumn,” the bundle carrier called. He knew both and leaned his head back against the tree.
“It’s not easy saving the world,” Edin said.
Dephina snorted. “Got a big head since I last saw you.”
“Like his old man. I’m afraid Rihkar has rubbed off on him far too much.”
“Possibly,” Dephina said. “But I think he was always an arrogant little noble. A bit too caught up in his own feelings and plans.” She turned toward him and smirked, her thin lips spread to show white teeth and the fair, bard’s face he’d had a crush on so long ago.
“I thought,” Edin looked to Grent, “you had a child coming.”
“Our son is resting with your friend,” Grent said. “We heard a rumor you had gone to see the Raven and hadn’t returned. So we went there to search, found out what happened and kind of had to rush out.”
It took Edin a moment to realize what he was saying. “You know she’s a criminal?”
“So are you,” Dephina said.
“Forever I only thought of him as a weasel,” Grent said dropping the bundle near him. Sticks clattered to the ground and rolled up to his leg.
“Thanks, my guardian,” Edin said.
“He did save you a bit ago,” Berka called, walking up the hill before him. “They’re about to start the fires,” he said.
Edin watched in the gloom as Grent started to pile the wood and he pulled out a sparkstone. Using his connection to the talent he tried to grab the sparks. Edin missed the first one but caught the second. Edin reformed it and lit the pile of sticks with a large whoosh that caused Grent to topple backward.
“Gahh,” Grent cried as he fell. Then he scrambled back to his toes, his beard glowing with small red coals he quickly fought to put out. Then it smelled like brunt hair.
“Did you soak the branches in oil?” asked Dephina.
Edin said nothing. Berka was grinning on the other side of the fire. Then, down in the valley below, he saw more fires starting and the piles of bodies in the flames.
After a few moments he looked toward the mountain. “Was the entrance destroyed?”
“Yes. A bit of a shock to the captain’s men,” Berka said.
“And some relief,” Grent added, his head tilting in that very Grent-ian way. He pulled out his knife and sat across from Dephina.
“What of Dorset?”
“The kid with the sword near his head?” Grent began picking at his fingernails with the tip of the blade but stopped there.
Dephina frowned at him. “Stop that,” she grumbled and Grent looked up guiltily.
For a moment he looked confused. Then Grent said, “I had one of the Raven’s people take him back to the city to Rihkar.”
“Those were the Raven’s men on horseback?” Edin asked.
“And us,” Dephina added, “and a few Por Fen monks.”
“How’d you all join together?”
“Well first those soulless black cloaks were setting a posse to look for this escaped abomination. They went to the Raven’s where we,” Dephina pointed to Grent and then herself, “were having tea with Yassima. When the Por Fen showed up they demanded you be given to them. Apparently, she’d already given you up.” Dephina looked at Edin who nodded. “I nearly gutted her,” Dephina said twirling her long thin blades in her hand.
“Yes, my love, you wanted blood,” Grent said and Edin noticed he no longer blushed when he said that. “Then there was the lightning display we saw from the window. It was like a sign.”
“That was the idea,” Edin said.
“So, we rode out. Your friend Yassima lent us horses. We came upon the dead dematians and the one still breathing human. Then a shape disappeared into the trees.” Grent pointed his knife at Edin. “So, we followed. The explosion we didn’t see, but the soldiers surrounded by dematians, that we did.”
Berka said, “The exploding rock was amazing. Nearly as awesome as my twisting stab.”
Edin gave a single chuckle.
Then there was silence and a minute or two later Grent spoke. “I wonder about dematians who’ve already gotten through.” He looked to Edin. “If there were that many dematians pouring through the underground now, how many came before you closed it?”
Edin shrugged.
“Don’t suppose the wall would do much for their exposed backside.”
“Probably not,” Edin said and his stomach growled. He realized he had nearly slept through an entire day.
“Hungry?” Dephina said somehow hearing it. Or maybe it was just that loud.
Edin nodded.
“We’ll head back to the city shortly. You can take my horse. I’ll ride with the husband.”
Edin leaned his head back and thought about going back through those gates. He knew he couldn’t. He’d destroyed the tunnel, he had to move on. He had to find the she-elf and her cadre. If Suuli was right, he’d need to complete his task to find Arianne.
But was finding the elves his real task? Also, he was completely void of any supplies, he hadn’t even a waterskin.
If he could even get through the gates, he didn’t know if he could get out. Feldspart may help but Edin wasn’t certain that the Por Fen wouldn’t try to capture him again.
“I cannot go back.” He paused and his stomach growled again. “I need to move on. I promised Sinndilo I would go to the elfin village.”
“Elves?” Grent guffawed and Dephina joined with a big laugh.
After it had died down a bit Edin nodded. “Elves.”
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“Are you going after her, or are you going after Arianne?”
“Who’s Arianne?” Dephina said.
“His girlfriend,” Grent said.
“You didn’t tell me he had—”
“Please,” Edin pleaded. “Do not do this now.” He looked to Berka. “I don’t know where Arianne is. But I do know where I last saw the she-elf.”
“You’re serious?” Dephina said. “There are elves in the world still?”
“You are the bard, haven’t you sung about them? Haven’t they been part of your world for decades?”
“In verse, not in real life.” She turned to Grent. “Do you think?”
Grent shook his head. “We have Horston. He needs his mother and father.”
Edin raised an eyebrow. “No you two. I don’t want any of you to come. The she-elf was rather adamant that I never return and that humans who stray into their land are met with a quick and certain death.”
“He’s weaned and our friends can watch him.”
“El could help,” Berka said hopefully. Why, Edin didn’t know. Then Berka turned to Edin.
“Who’s El?” Dephina said. “Is he a traitor like this one?” She pointed to Berka with her long knife.
Despite being easily twice her size, Berka seemed to suppress a shiver.
“He was never a traitor,” Grent said. “Only a fool.”
“Thank you,” Berka said. “El is my lady friend.”
“Just as red up top,” Edin said. “But she’s very nice and very quiet.”
“Not always.” Berka smirked.
Edin ignored it, “we saved her and her grandparents in Glustown.”
“Hero’s complex,” Grent said shaking his head.
“Berka really did,” Edin said and his friend flushed. “I just chased her through the streets and slew some dematians.” Then he paused. “Regardless, thank you two for your offer, but you cannot join, none of you. I have to do this part alone.”
“I’m coming you blotard,” Berka said. “You cannot do this yourself. If I have to, I’ll tie you up and throw a wan stone over your neck to make sure you stay with me.”