I watched with wonder as Xaset glowed with a dark, blood-red color. Then he began to change and grow bigger - a lot bigger. His shape morphed into the dragon; he now had a long tail and massive wings were starting to emerge from his back. His head was also elongating and soon resembled the face of the dragon.
As I stood staring at him, his powerful, strong wings unfurled. Then, with great and pounding beats, the blast of his wings pushed me into the ground. I felt the air pressure of the downdraft all across my body as the dragon ascended into the sky above me. It felt as if somebody was standing on my chest and preventing me from breathing. Some of the trees in the forest were blowing backward as the massive dragon rose higher.
Suddenly, I spotted the beginnings of a flame forming in his mouth and he gave me a thoroughly reptilian smile.
Not good, I thought, knowing his sense of humor.
Then, out of his mouth came a blast of flaming, gushing hot plasma. Within a fraction of a second, the white-hot, turbulent jet of hot gases splashed down onto me. For the briefest moment I felt intense heat followed by burning pain, but it was all over in an instant as my body turned to ash.
My disembodied form separated from my completely disintegrated body. In this ethereal state of being, I could see the powerful dragon pulling away and flying into the night. I stared after it, wondering why he had done that.
But then, he did say that was part of the puzzle for me to figure out when I’m with the elves.
In my otherworldly state, I was able to look around the clearing and see the process of my body reforming. I saw that parts of the ash and gas that had previously been me were swirling together. At first, they were just a small dust devil collecting mass. Then, as the minutes passed, I saw the swirling mass coalesce as particles started to twist around each other. A more solid image of the outline of my body started to appear in the center of the glass area that had been the center of the firestorm produced by the dragon.
Minutes passed as my body became more defined and solid, until I felt the pull of my ethereal being wanting to move back into my body and give life to the inanimate matter.
For some time, my mind was submerged in my body as it fully healed and I was not aware of my surroundings. I was finally able to pull open my eyes, feeling as if I had been in a deep slumber.
When I blinked and cleared the dust out of my eyes, my first sight was of several elven archers standing at the edge of the burned crater. I could tell that they were elves as they looked like Alea when she was dressed for battle. They all wore earthy colors that made them blend into the darkness of the forest. All of them had their bows drawn and their arrows pointed straight at my heart. As they looked at me, I had the uncomfortable feeling of the evening air all over my body.
With the best, most confident smile I could muster, I asked, “Could I borrow some clothes, please? I seem to have lost mine. Forgive me for asking, as I’ve been doing this rather a lot lately.”
This got no response. The look in their eyes was the only indication that they were reacting to my presence. I could see that were they were holding back the emotions of curiosity and a tinge of fear.
Shivering in the cold air, I repeated myself. “Clothes, please - unless you want to keep staring at me? But it’s making me feel rather uncomfortable, standing here with all of you just looking. Do you want me to do a dance or something?”
Still pointing their arrows at me, one of the tall elven men said, “We heard a dragon’s roar and then saw a blast of dragonfire from this area.”
“Yes,” I said, getting more annoyed that no clothes were being offered, “so what?”
He moved slightly and lowered his bow as he coughed. I noticed that none of the others put their bows down. They were all perfectly still, as if waiting for something to happen. I didn’t fancy becoming a porcupine so I kept perfectly still too. All while naked, wearing only the smile plastered to my face.
“We know that it came from this location,” he said with a perfectly straight face as if he was discussing the most boring aspects of his life. “When we got here, all we found was you at the center of a crater that's, how do I say… It has been melted by something intensely hot.”
“Any chance of some clothes while we discuss this further?” I asked with a frown, but still not moving.
His straight, no-nonsense expression did not flinch in the slightest as he continued. “You seemed to be healing in the glass crater that looked like what I think a dragon blast would look like. Then after a few minutes, here you are, awake and fully healed...”
“With no clothes on. You might have noticed that in your grand deduction,” I said, shifting my hands slowly to cover the sensitive parts of my body. I had just noticed that at least two of the archers were women.
One of the elves behind him, illuminated in the dark by the two moons, muttered the word, “Valkin.”
The rest of the elven archers shifted nervously when he said this seemingly magical word. The archer who had been talking to me barked an order. “Stand your ground!”
This froze the elves in place but I noticed that they still had their arrows pointing at me. Then the leader said decisively, “This needs further investigation that I’m not qualified for. You will come with us to the fort and then maybe to the royal court. This will need the wisdom of the council involved, when deciding what to make of you.”
“Yes, I was hoping to go there,” I said with a smile. “That’s all well and good, as long I get some clothing first!”
The elf seemed to speak formally with some kind of magical power emanating from his voice. “Will you accompany us peacefully to the court?”
“Of course I will,” I said, “as long as I can get some clothes!”
The leader’s eyes seemed to light up for a second and then he nodded with a look of relief. “Somebody give him something to at least cover himself.”
“Finally, thank you,” I said with a smile as somebody threw me a rough pair of trousers and a green cotton shirt.
I ran my hand over the shirt that had been handed to me. Surprisingly, it felt like the finest material I had ever worn. When I put the shirt on, at first it was loose but then somehow it tightened up and fit me perfectly, as if it had a mind of its own. As I looked at the plain tunic in wonder, I felt the comfortable material warming me as though it kept in the heat. I was certainly grateful not to feel the cold air blowing against my bare skin anymore.
By the time I had quickly dressed, the bows had been lowered. I saw that the elven warriors around me were still watching me intensely. Their eyes showed curiosity and fear combined. This expression was only noticeable in their eyes, as the rest of their facial expression was serious. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing straight up, as when I looked at them I could feel the tension in the air like static electricity that had built up too much charge.
Pushing my luck, I decided to test them by making a slight, quick movement. I saw a few of the elves tense and go for their weapons, as if they were expecting me to change into a monster all of a sudden. I nearly laughed at their nervous reaction, which was so slight that I wouldn’t have noticed it if I was not somewhat of an expert in body language.
With a grin still on my face, I looked back to the leader. He frowned and said, “My name is Arlen. I’m the leader of this war band. Would you please stop trying to get one of my warriors to shoot you with an arrow? It's not the smartest thing to do, as they’re rather nervous of you at the moment.”
I put up my hands, smiling, and said, “I was just seeing why they were so jumpy.”
He looked around and said, “They’re nervous of you. You’ve just survived a dragon attack that blasted you with fire. They are also not happy about being around where a dragon has been sighted.”
I didn’t correct him by saying that the blast of fire was actually a gift from my friend. I started to wonder about Xaset’s sense of humor, as he seemed to have a strange idea of what a gift was. I wondered what I could give hi
m in return.
Then the leader of the warriors, Arlen, turned around to the war band and flashed them a few quick hand signals. They must have been instructions as three of the elven warriors ran out of the clearing. The rest of the group, except for two rear guards, formed up behind me.
“OK,” said Arlen, “Let’s see how well you keep up with us. We move fast.”
After he spoke, I saw that several of the elves started to cast magical light spells. Once the spellcasting was complete, several floating white lights were hovering above our heads. I had been wondering how we could run through a forest at night without falling over everything.
Arlen started forward, first at a slow jog. I followed behind him easily. We ran through the thick bracken of the forest floor, the white lights remaining above the column of warriors who led the way through the dark. Around me, most of the war band formed up to guard me.
When I watched the elven warriors run, I saw they had a graceful way of moving. It was as if I was watching deer run through woodland, bounding over fallen logs as they moved swiftly through the trees. I tried to copy their movements but I just felt like a big, heavy buffalo smashing through the forest.
As we ran past more trees, I could now make out their twisting bark and branches. The elves were making little or no noise, so the only thing I could hear was my own heavy footsteps. With all the noise that I was making, I now felt like a massive elephant amongst deer that were springing with grace through the forest. I wondered when I was going to trumpet and announce to the world my presence.
The war band was constantly surrounding me as we passed through the dense forest for the next few minutes. As if he was testing me, Arlen started to speed up. I easily matched his speed with my powerful but plodding pace. When he saw that I could run faster, he sped up even more.
It soon became a race. Gradually the entire war band got faster and faster. Arlen was looking at me with surprise as I easily kept pace with the elves.
“Not bad,” he said with a nod of respect. “You only need to learn how not to make so much noise.”
“Thanks,” I said dryly as we ran on into the dark night.
The pace that we were maintaining under the lights seemed to eat up the miles as we navigated through the forest. Suddenly, the column was free of the underbrush as we found a path through the forest that had cart tracks on it. Now that the ground was clear of obstacles, the war band sped up. Running with the elves reminded me more and more of being with the powerful orcs, though they were certainly not as graceful as the elves.
With the dirt crunching under my feet, I ran along the roads that looked like the normal tracks that I had seen all across the human kingdom.
I asked Arlen, “Are we in the elven kingdom yet?”
He looked shocked at first, then appalled. “No, of course not. We still have to pass over the river. We were on patrol beyond our borders when we saw and heard the dragon. The elven kingdom is part of the great forest. This is merely shrubbery to us.”
I wondered what he meant by the ‘great forest,’ as this whole world seemed to be one endless forest.
Now that I was on the road, I ran as quietly as the elves. This earned me a pleased look from their leader. Under the light of the moons we entered a clearing in the forest. In the dark, open clearing was a large town with stone and wooden walls around it. I looked across and I could see the guard towers all around it, lit up by burning yellow torches that illuminated the clearing.
Instead of running toward the town, where I could see several guards looking at us from on top of the wall, we took another road into the dark forest depths.
This road sent us plunging back into the forest again. I wondered why we had not stopped at the town.
To my surprise, the path was fully paved with hard stone cobbles and even had drainage ditches on either side. This was the first time that I had seen such a developed road outside a lord’s estate. It made me wonder how much traffic traveled along this road for it to be surfaced this way.
Running along the paved road, I started to see the first rays of light from the rising sun in the east and the orange glow started to filter through the branches. I realized how much had happened within the past twenty-four hours. Life for me was moving at such a fast pace with so many significant events. I hoped that the others had got away safely from the trouble in the capital.
Now that the speckled rays of light were shining into the forest I could see the detail of the trees. The green hues were coming to life in the early dawn. I could hear the morning birdcalls as they woke up to start their day. Not far away in the forest the sound of bellowing creatures could be heard, announcing to the world that sunlight had arrived. This was all very familiar to me as I had spent some time living in this dangerous world. Most of it had been spent going from one kingdom to another, and on this day it seemed that I would see the elven kingdom.
Running with the mostly silent elven war band, I heard the sound of rushing water in the distance. The rushing and smashing sound increased as we got closer until it was drowning out the other noises in the forest. I guessed that this was the river that Arlen had spoken of. He had said that it divided the kingdom of Neo-Nursia from the elven kingdom.
I was about to ask the leader of the war band about the size of the river, but I saw that he was talking to one of the other members. From where I was, I could see that both wore a happy smile on their faces. When I glanced around at the elves, I saw that they all looked pleased. They must have been happy to be returning home after a long journey.
The speed of the run started to drop, as if they were relaxing somewhat now that they were about to reach safety. I wondered if they thought that entering a human kingdom was like crossing into enemy territory.
Chapter Two Elven Fort
Soon the war band rounded a corner on the paved road. Wondering what was before me, I nearly stopped. Ahead was an open field with some patches of forest leading to a wide chasm, and I could hear the rushing of water in the depths below. On the other side of the river was a tall cliff made of dark rock, with thick trees growing all the way up.
To me it looked like a vertical jungle with trees clinging to the cliff face, like I had seen in some magazines on Earth. Clambering in the trees were many strange types of creatures that again made me wonder at how strange this new world was, considering I was just a boy from Earth.
Many of the creatures had similar colors to the trees’ foliage that grew on the rock face. Between the trees were flowers and shrubs that were blooming with vibrant color. The great forest on this side of the river had all the hues of the human forest, but on the other side they seemed to have a stronger, more powerful glow to them.
Now the speed picked up as we ran closer to the chasm and I got my first look at what was on the top of the cliff. This time I did stop in wonder, as I could not help myself - I was flabbergasted by the spectacle of the sight in front of me. On top of the cliff, intertwined trees soared into the sky as if the flora had built an interconnecting web structure like the massive skyscrapers on Earth that seemed to reach for the heavens.
This interconnecting web of life had colorful foliage covering every free area of the landscape. Holding this all up were the vast and glorious trees. Similar to the skyscrapers, I guessed that some of the twisting tree trunks were tens of meters across. To me it looked like a three-dimensional maze of giant trees and platforms all intertwined with natural beauty. It took my breath away. As I was gazing with appreciation at the wonders of this world, I could see sunlight falling among the dark trees. In these areas, flowers and greenery grew like a garden.
Beside me, Arlen, the leader of the war party, spotted me with my mouth open and said, “Well, I guess it's the first time you’ve seen a real forest. A bit different from all the shrubbery in the human kingdoms.”
“This is your home,” I said to the elf in amazement.
“Certainly is,” he said with a smile that showed his satisfaction. “We’ll need to
cross the river at the trading post. It's only a little way downstream from here.”
We started to run downstream following the deep chasm. The sound of water could always be heard from down below and I wondered how deep it was, but didn’t have time to go to the edge to see. I also expected the warriors around me would have stopped me from exploring too much.
My curiosity was piqued and I kept glancing at the forest on the other side of the river. From my rough estimation, I figured that some of the trees reached hundreds and hundreds of meters into the sky.
At the edge of the forest I could see different levels that seemed to be their own biodomes in amongst the massive trees. These platforms were filled with smaller plants that were sheltered amongst the trees. A multitude of creatures could be seen moving through the massive forest. The amount of creatures that I could see brought a whole new level to the abundance of life. The forest was teeming with life on every level. The great elven forest made the forest that the war band was passing through seem like a desert in comparison.
Leaning my head back, I could just about see the canopy at the top of the forest, which was especially full of the wonders of life. I could see flocks of colorful birds moving around the light green leaves at the top, though they were just tiny specks of color to my eyes from all the way below.
While I was staring across the river, I tripped over my feet as I was not really watching where I was going. When I recovered my footing, I looked ahead and saw that we were approaching a large wooden fort.
From this distance it vaguely looked like it had just grown out of the ground. Many strange and beautiful trees made their way up its walls as they stretched into the sky. When I looked closer, I could even see that the trees had roots that locked into the dark soil below. The top of the wall had been designed so the tops of the trees spread out. The branches reached back and forth, creating a barrier of thick branches full of thorns. The top of the fort looked as if they would stop anything trying to enter the fort that way. Trying to climb through the mess of thorns would result in being cut to pieces. A few times in my life I had been caught on barbwire and that was an unpleasant experience. Passing through this barrier would be even worse, I thought.
Dirty Rotten Seizure Page 2