Bladeborn

by Clayton Schonberger

  The temperature dropped many degrees instantly as frozen air blasted out of a portal that opened above the heavy wooden tabletop. Winds howled through the opening so strongly that several of those still seated were knocked over backwards in their chairs.

  From the portal, a thing that could only have been spawned in Hell stepped onto the table, out of the whorls of icy air. A large white devil—with a Rhinolon-like face—cast its fiery eyes about, as if taking a moment to adjust to its surroundings.

  The terrified guests scrambled toward the doors even as Bladeborn and Rodon drew their weapons. Sir Lomazi and Lord Kaken had been among those knocked down when the force ball hit and were just beginning to regain their feet.

  The boney, giant thing of the Hells grasped a whip in one of its clawed hands and a barbed sword in the other. Although much smaller than the Demon Zipzorag, the white devil was unlike anything Bladeborn had seen except in certain infernal books.

  Lord Kaken had jumped up, pushing past King Rosen, trying to scramble to the kitchen door. The Hell spawn snapped the whip it held, lassoing Lord Kaken’s neck, and then it yanked him backward into its arms. It hugged Lord Kaken close to its bony chest, bellowing as if in victory.

  Sir Rodon and Bladeborn rushed the large beast. It held Kaken with the whip-arm, and jabbed the barbed sword it held into Rodon’s chest. The point of the hellspawn’s sword did not pierce Rodon’s armor, but it knocked him back several feet, onto the floor. Bladeborn stuck Nightslayer deep into the thing’s armpit and the creature roared again, this time in pain.

  Having wounded the it, Bladeborn jumped back, ripping Nightslayer free. A spout of liquid fire shot out in a stream from the puncture, as if the thing really had fire for blood. Bladeborn wished to face this white devil alone, but it held Lord Kaken closely, like a rag-doll. Sir Lomazi dashed to his nephew to check on him, and Bladeborn saw four guardsmen helping King Rosen toward the kitchens and out of the room. But there were other guests who were in danger.

  Bladeborn increased his height and his eyes glossed over, deep black. At the same time, with sudden strength, the white devil, squeezed Lord Kaken even tighter with its chitinous arm. Bladeborn tried to pierce the white devil again, but it used Kaken as a shield.

  “AHHH!” Kaken screamed. Bladeborn saw Kaken’s armor crumple and heard snapping bones. The man was dead.

  In the next moment, the white devil forcefully hurled Kaken’s body at King Rosen and the guardsmen. When the armored, lifeless remains of Kaken hit them, all five men were bowled over.

  Pointing the tip of his weapon at the big devil, Bladeborn said, “Nightslayer! Destroy this creature!”

  A thunderous bolt of lightning electrified the horned thing and one of its arms was removed from its body in a column of electricity and fire. The creature’s blood was indeed liquid flame, and Bladeborn immediately regretted what he had done because the burning blood coated much of the hall. The thing was knocked off the table where it had been perched, but to Bladeborn’s surprise, it leapt back to its feet, arm-stump oozing flames, but still alive!

  Bladeborn jumped on the table, and attacked with Essence-based thought-killer from an angle that would only affect the wounded devil. The beast emitted an ear-piercing squeal and yet seemed to resist the Essence- attack. Now, despite its wounded arm, it moved with blinding speed, sweeping with its barbed sword, trailing bloody fire. Bladeborn reflexively tried to block with Nightslayer, but was slashed forearm to wrist by the creature’s weapon. Wearing no gauntlets, Bladeborn took a gaping wound to the right wrist.

  Such pain! Bladeborn could sense that the bones in that hand were broken, and he saw his blood squirting out of the avulsion’s opening. Bladeborn had nearly dropped Nightslayer, hardly able hang to on to the Sword and roll backwards from the tabletop in retreat.

  The white devil advanced. Bladeborn side-stepped between two statues, keeping them between him and the creature. With one of its arms completely gone the thing of the Hells should surely be done. Yet it kept coming, toppling the heavy stone statues to reach him.

  Then, the big devil attacked psychically with an Essence-based force of its own. Bladeborn had never experienced an assault of that type before, and he reeled, his head swimming. In a moment, he had fallen to his knees in the corner of the dining hall, nearly helpless.

  The devilish creature was almost on top of Bladeborn when Rodon and Lomazi came at it from the side, swords flashing. In their swift assault, they cut deeply into the thing’s body and it howled once again in pain. With Lomazi’s and Thell’s attack Bladeborn believed he was saved.

  The white devil dodged backward as the two Knights continued to slash it. Bladeborn managed to sheath Nightslayer, and took a moment to wrap his wounded hand in his cloak, slowing the bleeding. Thell and Lomazi ran toward the white devil in the opposite end of the room to finish it.

  Then, Bladeborn heard the white devil call out in a mighty voice that was not only a sound. It was in an understandable language, despite being in the tongue of the Hells. Beset by Rodon and Lomazi the white devil said, “Father, help me! I summon D’diapzong the Reaper!”

  Another icy vortex from the freezing Hells appeared and the badly wounded white devil vanished into it. In its place appeared a nightmarish master devil twice as big as the first. It materialized out of the cold right in front of Sir Rodon and Sir Lomazi. The thing was covered with boney ridges in a devilish exoskeleton, and over that, it wore a tattered, heavy grey robe. In its hands, the Reaper held a giant scythe which brushed the high ceiling of the feast hall. To Bladeborn’s great horror, the creature reached back to quickly strike with the scythe before Rodon and Lomazi could get out of the way.

  Bladeborn cried out, “NO!” a moment too late.

  In a single motion of its scythe, the devil cut down both of Bladeborn’s friends. Their headless bodies fell to the floor of the chamber, and then the reaper looked his way.

  Rodon and Lomazi had followed Bladeborn through many battles and been there for him countless times. He could not believe they were gone.

  D’diapzong the Reaper advanced. Though severely wounded, Bladeborn vowed to himself he would avenge his friends. From a place deep within, he used psychic Essence and “divine fate” to reach his left hand into the room-that-was-not-a-room.

  Bladeborn was “gone” from the feast hall and into the alternate reality only for a second, but it was long enough for him to grab a fistful of small snakes from what seemed to be a “void space.”

  Nightslayer spoke to Bladeborn, when he returned to the feast hall, ~~Throw the serpents at this hellspawn~~

  Diving just under the edge of the Reaper’s weapon, Bladeborn threw the fistful of snakes at D’diapzong. Now trapped in another corner of the room, Bladeborn struggled to regain his feet. D’diapzong the Reaper turned, but even as it did, Bladeborn could see the serpents were entwined around it and growing.

  The rapidly enlarging snakes were crushing D’diapzong. One of the thickened reptiles had forced it way into the cowl covering the devil’s head. Another expanding snake was squeezing the reaper’s chest, and its exoskeleton was cracking under the strain.

  ~~GET AWAY FROM THAT DEVIL BEFORE IT EXPLODES!~~ Nightslayer commanded.

  Bladeborn arose and dodged past the entire mass of writhing creatures. He glanced back and saw that D’diapzong had been crushed by the serpents, it’s exoskeleton bursting in a fiery mass.

  In the next second the room began to shake more violently, as though an earthquake had begun. Bladeborn knew such phenomena were nearly unheard of in the Six Valleys, yet the room continued to shake and whole chunks of rock were falling from above.

  King Rosen’s four guardsmen had been killed when Kaken’s body so forcefully struck them, but Rosen had survived, perhaps because of the magic cloak he wore. Bladeborn saw the King run behind a bookcase that had fallen forward into the room. There was certainly a passageway behind the bookcase, yet in trying to cope with all that had happened, Bladeborn stood there a moment,
staring at the lifeless forms of his two best friends, Rodon and Lomazi.

  ~~FOLLOW THE KING OR WE’LL BOTH BE BURIED HERE, SWORDSMAN!~~ Nightslayer ordered.

  Bladeborn turned to follow King Rosen, climbing a series of dark stairways leading upward, through falling debris. Soon, the passageway behind them collapsed. The earthquake continued and the rain of rock and dust intensified as he and Rosen followed an ancient twisting tunnel up and up. At last they reached a long, creaking, wooden staircase, which shattered to splinters just as they reached its top, emerging into the light of day.

  The sunlight was partially obscured by clouds of powdered rock. The heavy dust made it hard to breathe. The tremors of the earth sheared the sides off surrounding mountains and caused the trees in the orchards on the valley floor to uproot. Bladeborn and King Rosen had passed through a collapsing doorway in the center of the Sixth Valley, clinging to a lone piece of rock that tossed about like a small boat on a rough sea. In a final explosion of dust, the Sixth Valley up-welled and then caved in, with a singular shuddering after shock. Then, no more.

  As the dust settled, Bladeborn wiped his face and eyes with his good hand. The pain from his shattered, torn wrist was nearly unbearable. Bladeborn closed his eyes to try to focus enough so that the wound would stop bleeding. He had done such emergency healing during previous the three years of war, but never on himself.

  Bladeborn knew King Rosen’s heart was withering with sorrow over the calamity that had struck his home. Bladeborn, coming out meditations, glanced over at Rosen and saw tears had welled up in aged man’s eyes. Rosen wiped the dust and water from his face a moment later.

  Breath returned to them as they began trying to re-orient themselves to their new, harsh reality. They lay there a long time, and a light snow began to fall.

  That evening without a word, Rosen placed the purple cloak over Bladeborn as he resumed meditating. Bladeborn awoke in the middle of the night to find that Rosen had started a small fire to keep them from freezing to death. The two men sat alone with their thoughts until morning, unable to sleep or talk.

  Upon first light, King Rosen said with resolve, “Our next move must be to find survivors. We can’t have been the only ones who made it out.”

  “What then King Rosen?” Bladeborn said. “The passes east are surely blocked.”

  Rosen replied, “Eventually we will try to go east to the other Realms. I can’t imagine that they suffered the same fate.”

  Bladeborn said, “What if we were to go south? There are many paths through the southern Spiral Mountains…”

  King Rosen replied, “Long ago, we selected the locations of the Valleys for their inaccessibility, and this means we may be trapped here. We could go through the more accessible passes out of the Valley to the west, if we are lucky. This all if the Fifth Realm, along with the others, are still safe.”

  Bladeborn and King Rosen grew quiet for a time, solemnly worrying about the other Realms.

  Bladeborn broke the silence, “King Rosen, my army lies encamped to the southeast, near the Second Valley. We must try to get to them before the Silver Regiment leads the Rhinolon to them.”

  “We just have to hope that it shall not happen, Bladeborn,” King Rosen stated.

  “But the Army could dig for survivors, if we could only get to them…”

  “There could be no survivors, unless they were somewhere on the surface, like us. I keep asking myself, why did fate allow only us to survive? I should have been buried with my people, but for some reason, Saint Morth saw fit to preserve me. Now I will live a life of sorrow.”

  “I lost my two best friends, my King,” Bladeborn responded. “I, too, would have given my life to have it otherwise.”

  Bladeborn and King Rosen found two other survivors immediately. The men were scouts, and they ran to King Rosen across the debris field that had been the floor of the Sixth Realm. They could scarcely believe their King and General Bladeborn had survived. After catching their breath, they delivered grim news.

  The first scout said, “My King, The Rhinolon Legion is camped to the south, and there are Shaman among them who are weaving some sort of magic ritual!”

  “We must leave here, sooner than I thought,” King Rosen said. “You two…I know you are tired, but I want you to search the perimeter of the Valley for others who are alive and meet us back here.”

  The scouts returned with eight other men. Amazingly enough, one who had lived through it all was Sera Ayaba. He had followed Sir Rodon’s progress from the First Realm to the Sixth on the surface of the lands. When Bladeborn told him of the death of Sir Rodon, Ayaba said, “Permit me to grieve, General. I knew the man for years.”

  Ayaba sat down and crossed his legs. Bladeborn recognized the posture as a form of meditation. Ayaba hardly moved a muscle for the next half day, and then he arose without a further word.

  Some of the survivors of the earthquake had escaped from the underground through a different passage, while others were scouts who had been patrolling the mountains. One scout had watched the men of the Silver Regiment enter the main passage on the southern side of the Sixth Realm two hours before the earthquake. It seemed likely that Lord Kaken had already met with them before the luncheon, when the disaster struck.

  Two of the scouts checked the mountain passes leading toward the remaining Valleys. One scout reported to King Rosen, “I am certain the amount of rock and snow dislodged in the earthquake has separated this area from the other Realms, my King.”

  Another scout agreed, “My King, only a walk through Rhinolon-held territory would get us to the Fifth Realm. In my opinion, it would be best if we go west, then North, then finally east through the Blasted Plain to see our people again.”

  King Rosen acknowledged all this. Thoughtfully he responded, “If we are lucky we can get through to the other Realms that way, but it may take six or seven months. We’ll have to forage for food until then, and make do.”

  King Rosen thought they should go to the Elvin City that he had seen so long ago. “The Pyramid I spoke to you about may still hold wealth that we can trade with the Dwarves. Our path will take us in that direction anyway. Let’s go, before the Rhinolon Shaman complete whatever foul magic they are doing.”

  The others agreed it could be accomplished, and they lost no time in setting forth in a western direction.

  * * *

  A week into their journey some of the severity of their great loss had eased. The scouts hunted wild game, and found other food in the Spiral Mountains. They often stayed in ruined forts or dwellings where long ago denizens of the Realms made their homes. The beasts living in such places were skittish creatures, although lone rockcats and packs of wart-dogs were a concern.

  The long journey affected each of the travelers in their own way, and afforded them plenty of time to discuss past and future events. Initially, the shock at the devastation of the Sixth Kingdom was acute, for each of them had lost family or friends. Bladeborn had the awful suspicion that his presence had caused the destruction. Yet after discussions about the cause, the consensus was Lord Kaken had much to do with it.

  Bladeborn kept busy each night removing his armor and cleaning it, one piece at a time. Still, rust was appearing, because he didn’t have the oils and tools with him to give the armor proper care. It was the armor that had carried him through many battles; and he would not part with any of it, despite the additional weight of it over the long journey.

  The wound to his hand was healed quickly by his Essence-based healing, and a few weeks into the journey, he realized his ability to grip Nightslayer was stronger than it had been before.

  The destruction of King Rosen’s Realm had turned the King from a jovial man of sixty to one of dark determination. Despite his advanced age his strength was magnificent. He walked faster and more proudly than any of the other men and was a great example to every one of the survivors, including Bladeborn. Sometimes Bladeborn could hear him quietly speaking to himself the names of people he re
membered who were now gone. As the sun arose each day, King Rosen would be the first awake, barking orders like a young Sergeant to those that had survived.

  Bladeborn and King Rosen spoke nearly every evening. As they talked, Bladeborn found an almost fatherly figure in King Rosen.

  Although he had lost so much, King Rosen defiantly felt hopeful about the parts of the Realms that remained. One night, Bladeborn was finally able to confide with King Rosen about his love for Queen Deocarla and how it had ended.

  King Rosen asked him with marked surprise, “...She promised to marry you…But she had a change of heart while you were at war?”

  Bladeborn repeated, “Yes, my King. I think it was the honey tongue of Lord Esket that stole her affection. She told me that she kept the letters I wrote her, but with worry for my safety she could not bear to read them. Now, I am convinced she still wears her Heartring, as a token of what we once had.”

  Bladeborn showed King Rosen the ruby circle of hearts he wore on his hand.

  “By Heaven!” King Rosen exclaimed stepping back a few paces. “That is undeniably our mother’s Heartring! There is only one set in the world. Deocarla would only have given it to one she cared deeply for!”

  Nightslayer said, ~~Perhaps she did love you, Swordsman. It is a reason to look to the future!~~

  King Rosen paused to think, and then said, “I cannot easily explain her behavior, General Bladeborn. She stopped writing me not long after you arrived in her Realm.”

  “She did?” Bladeborn said. “Do you know why?”

  “I was going to ask her, eventually,” King Rosen said. “I certainly have a lot to talk to her about…”

  “I hope to be there when you do, my King.” Bladeborn said.

  King Rosen paced back and forth a bit, in further thought. “By the gods! Lord Esket must have had Deocarla caught in some financial trap! She was too proud to allow anyone but me to know that the coffers of the First Realm were empty.”