Ashes of Verdenheld

by Jack Wright

  “Eris! Come on, we need to keep going!” Caesia urged, grabbing her desperately by the arm.

  Eris reared her head and the hair obscuring her face swept away as she looked up at Caesia. Her face was contorted by agony and awash with tears. Across her cheek was a deep, bloody red gash, blood pouring profusely down her face and neck. Her eyes were panicked and her breath was heavy. She tried to talk but only a cry of pain left her mouth as the wound stretched.

  “Shh, it’s okay, it’s okay!” Caesia gasped panickedly, placing her hands on Eris’ shoulders in a vain attempt to calm her down.

  Caesia looked around at the legions of undead closing in around them. With Eris incapacitated, it looked like it was her turn to play the hero.

  “Come on. We’re getting out of here.”

  Caesia pulled Eris up off the ground. So in shock was Eris that she could barely stand up straight, leaning on Caesia for support.

  There was still at least one hundred skeletons surrounding them, but the wall had become thinner. There were far less now between them and the archway. Caesia knew that if she could clear the path, they would have a window in which to escape.

  She extended her arm out in front of her, while the other she wrapped tightly around Eris.

  “I hope this works.” She anxiously whispered.

  Energy arced up Caesia’s arm, more intense than ever before. She looked concernedly at Eris, staring at the ground barely conscious, and then squeezed her eyes shut.

  In a flare of green light, a blinding bolt of lightning burst from her hand. She screamed and convulsed with pain as she felt her mind burn, like a flaming knife in the back of her head. The lightning streaked across the room and struck a skeleton, incinerating it completely. The lightning leapt to the skeleton beside it and then to the next, on and on, arcing through all nearby and vaporising them in a series of dazzling green flashes.

  As the pain ceased and Caesia recovered from her dazed state, she had no time to be proud of herself, as more skeletons began to claw their way out of the walls.

  “Come on!” She yelled, making for the new gap in the undead wall, dragging Eris with her. “Just… just hold on. We’re going to be fine.”

  Eris staggered through the arch and into the next room, dropping onto her knees and pushing herself up against the wall. Caesia followed, pushing out her hands and in a swift motion created a shimmering wall of green light within the arch. As the skeletons pushed and clawed at the shield to no avail, Caesia finally dropped her hands to her side and took a deep, ragged breath. She would probably have collapsed if she could afford to let herself. Tears slipped down her cheeks and her breath became shaky and rough. She turned to Eris, who lay in a heap against the wall, soaked in blood. Caesia would have utterly broken down if she could, but she had to stay strong. Someone had to.

  Caesia shuffled over and slumped against the wall beside Eris, letting slip a heavy, exhausted sigh. Eris was sobbing quietly into her hair, her face still scrunched up with pain.

  “C-Caesia…” She whispered, her voice hoarse and shallow.

  “Yeah?” Caesia replied quietly, trying to maintain a calm tone, despite her awful state.

  “I…” Eris winced with agony, clenching her teeth. “I need you- I need you to…”

  Caesia turned intently to Eris, trying for her own sake not to look too closely at the wound.

  “You need to… to c-cauterise the wound.” Eris gasped through the terrible pain.

  ”What? No!” Caesia gasped, completely taken aback by the request. “Eris no, there’s no way-”

  “Please!” Eris begged. “I… I don’t…” Her head swayed light-headedly to the side, dripping blood all over Caesia’s legs. “It’s too deep….”

  Eris looked Caesia in the eyes. Caesia could see the fear and the pain in her desperate eyes. She had to go through with it. Eris was right, even with bandages she would probably die - if not from blood loss then likely from infection, the sword after all was rusted.

  “Okay…” Caesia sighed shakily, lifting her trembling arm up to Eris’ face. “Ev-everything’s gonna be okay.”

  She said that more for her own comfort that Eris’. A life was in her hands now.

  Energy crackled down Caesia’s arm and collected at her fingertip. As her hand moved closer she had to force herself to look at the wound directly. The flesh was raw and shredded by the battered sword edge. She was overcome with nausea at the sickening sight, she could feel her stomach bubbling and churning.

  Caesia’s finger touched the end of the gash nearest to Eris’ nose, the slick blood making her shudder in disgust. As the heat from her finger burnt Eris’ flesh, Eris gritted her teeth in pain. The flesh sizzled and cracked and the blood bubbled and popped, the raw pink skin turning a dark, meaty red. Leaving the skin scorched and black, Caesia began to slowly run her finger down Eris’ face. She herself began to well up at the pain she was inflicting upon her friend. As the burning continued, Eris could keep up her resistance no longer and erupted in a blood curdling scream, a tortured screech that echoed throughout the silent halls. Tears rolled down Caesia’s face at the sound of the chilling wail, begrudgingly forging on as Eris kicked out erratically.

  Finally, as Caesia withdrew her hand from the wound, Eris ceased and slumped back against the wall again. Her wails of pain subsided and her hoarse breath steadily slowed.

  “I… I’m sorry.” Eris gasped, now able to move her face without experiencing utter agony.

  From her jaw to her nose was a burnt red scar, surrounded with a patchy outline of singed black flesh. Just like at Jordenholm, the choking stench of burnt flesh polluted the room.

  “No, you were right.” Caesia muttered, wiping her quivering, bloody hands on her trousers. “It was the only way.”

  “No, not for that. For everything.” Eris moaned miserably. “For dragging you into this stupid adventure, for making you throw your life away for my silly fantasies. I thought I was ready for this, thought it would be easy but I never stopped to realise I was just some idiot girl with a stupid dream.”

  “Eris…”

  “And now, thanks to me we’re trapped in this damned crypt, with no hope of escape or survival. We’re gonna to die and it’s all my fault, and-”

  “Eris.” Caesia urged, placing her hand gently on Eris’ shoulder and turning her to see her face. “This was my choice. I chose to come here, to fight by your side, not for the good of humankind but to keep you from harm… and look how far we’ve made it. I didn’t think we’d get past the highwaymen, yet here we are in the middle of an ancient tomb, having just kicked the inhabitants’ collective arses!”

  Eris managed a faint smile, as much of a smile as she could muster with the pain in her cheek.

  “As bleak as it may look, we’re doing great and I’ll be damned if a little flesh wound is going to get in our way. We can do this, not because we have what it takes, but because we have each other.”

  Eris stared for a moment into Caesia’s eyes. Despite all that had transpired, all that Eris had put her through, Caesia still had hope. Her mesmerising green eyes were bright with it and her smile was warm and encouraging. She was like a beacon of light in the darkness.

  “And what’s a story if the hero doesn’t take a few scrapes along the way?” Caesia smirked, making light of the otherwise morbid situation.

  Eris made a trembling grin. “Okay… how’re we gonna get out then?”

  “Don’t you worry about that, just get some rest.” Caesia insisted with a warm smile.

  Eris clearly needed it. She looked a complete wreck - her face was drowned in sweat and blood, her eyes were gaunt and red and her hair was dishevelled and smothered with dry blood.

  “Here? Seriously?”

  Eris pulled a bandage from her backpack and delicately smeared it across her face, wiping off the blood not already soaked into her clothes.

  “Yeah. Don’t worry, we’re safe.”

  “But… the shield.”

&nb
sp; “I said don’t worry. It’s only the middle of the afternoon, I’m not going to drift off.”

  Eris was hesitant, but could hardly bring forth enough energy to stand, let alone object. “Fine.” She sighed, shuffling away from the wall.

  She lay down on the cold stone floor, staring up at the ceiling, warmed only by the furs padding her armour and by the single torch that lit the room.

  “Look at us.” Caesia sighed with a shallow smirk. “Two girls, barely adults, soaked in blood, sweat and tears, sleeping rough in an ancient tomb.”

  “Yeah… we don’t belong here at all, do we?” Eris chuckled, closing her tired eyes.

  “Perhaps.” Caesia smiled softly, glancing over to the shield, still being aggressively clawed at by the tireless undead. “Or maybe, we’re exactly where we belong.”

  Chapter Seven - The Dragonslayer

  Eris opened her eyes, only to cringe suddenly at the pain of her scar. In her sleep she had almost forgotten about it. On the bright side, it hurt a lot less than it did earlier.

  “Ah, welcome back to the world of the living.” Caesia smiled cheerfully.

  She was still sitting beside Eris, legs folded and once again buried in a book, ‘A Beginner’s Guide to Electromancy’.

  “Have you been reading that this whole time?” Eris smirked as she propped herself up against the wall.

  “Of course, reading to me is what swordplay is to you. Besides, as of your recent brush with death I’ve come to the conclusion that I definitely need to figure out some of the higher level electromancy spells. They’ll come in handy next time I have to save you.” Caesia teased with a cheeky grin.

  “In your dreams!” Eris chuckled. “I’m not going to let there be a next time. Lesson learnt.”

  Caesia smirked. She was amazed how plucky Eris could be despite her recent audial.

  “You alright?” Caesia asked in a softer, more caring tone.

  Eris sighed and brushed her bravado aside. “I’ve… been better. My face still hurts and I’m stuck in a tomb full of skeletons, but it could be worse.”

  “I suppose it could.” Caesia muttered quietly. She didn’t want to imagine what worse could be.

  Eris heaved a heavy sigh and stared longingly at the ceiling. “When I finally went out into the world, I felt invincible. I was so confident in my skills that I didn’t stop to realise how unprepared I actually was. Nothing could’ve prepared me for this.”

  “Yes, the heroes in the stories tend to make it look far easier, don’t they?”

  “Yeah, I was stupid to think I could be like them.” Eris mumbled glumly.

  “Oh, come on. You shouldn’t blame yourself, you’re amazing!” Caesia urged, bright eyed as she was before. “You’re strong, brave, compassionate - you’ve got everything it takes to be a hero!”

  Eris smiled shyly, embarrassed at Caesia’s praise. Nobody had ever described her with such admiration, not even the flatterers back home trying to cosy up to her father.

  “Your shortcomings are the fault of the chiefdoms.” Caesia muttered spitefully. “Their dogmatic isolationism gives them such a skewed view of reality, it’s no wonder you were so naive.”

  Eris buried her hands into her unscathed cheek to hide any potential blushing. “Alright, I’m not that perfect.” She smirked timidly.

  “No, you’re not. Who is? It’s our imperfections that make us who we are.”

  Eris had no words, but she certainly felt a lot better about herself. Caesia had quite a way with words.

  “That was revoltingly poetic.” Eris sniggered amusedly, finally perking up. “Thanks though, I needed a pep talk… and for the record, you’re pretty awesome yourself.”

  Caesia laughed. “Oh, please-”

  “No, really. You’re as much a part of this team as I am! Neither of us would be alive without the other.”

  Perhaps Eris was right, maybe she did need to stop putting herself down all the time. She had always felt like she was following in Eris’ shadow, but now she realised that maybe she was more than just a shadow.

  “Good to know I’m not the sidekick then.” Caesia grinned smugly, slamming her book shut. “Let’s get out of this tomb, shall we?”

  “I’d like nothing more in the world. What are we going to do about those guys?”

  Eris gestured to Caesia’s barrier. The skeletons were still grinding against it relentlessly, their bones now scorched and eroded by the barrier’s energy.

  “Those guys? Ah, we can outrun them with a hasty walk. Just watch out for pressure plates this time, would you?”

  “Like I said, lessons learnt.”

  “Great.” Caesia hopped up and wedged her book back into her bag. “Let’s go.”

  As they left the room, the barrier dropped. The skeletons pushing against it collapsed into the room with the colossal clatter of toppling bone.

  Eris and Caesia stepped into the next hallway, only for the coffins lining it to begin bursting open in explosions of ancient dust.

  “Bloody hell, give me a break!” Caesia snapped in frustration.

  “We just had one, come on!” Eris snapped, grabbing Caesia’s arm firmly and pulling her along with her as she launched off down the hallway.

  “Unhand me!” Caesia demanded, shaking her arm out of Eris’ grip. “I can run just fine on my own!”

  Slightly faster, Eris ran ahead and battered a skeleton into the wall with her shield. Another behind her staggered out of its coffin and swung at Caesia with an axe, who clumsily dipped aside it and blasted it apart.

  The pair moved steadily through the hallways, smashing aside any skeletons fast enough to make a move against them.

  “Caesia, mage!” Eris called, sliding to a halt as a skeleton stepped out with a glowing blue mist seeping from its hands. The mage thrust its arm towards Eris, sending a bolt of blue light whistling towards her. Eris pulled up her shield and the bolt exploded against it, sending her staggering back. A cluster of jagged blue splinters of ice formed on her shield’s face, yanking her arms low at the sudden spike in weight.

  Caesia hastily caught up and launched a bolt of lightning at the cryomancer, blasting off one of its arms, and then slung another, that time taking off its head.

  Eris thrust the face of her shield into the ribs of an approaching skeleton and again into another, shattering and dislodging most of the ice.

  They kept moving into another small room, like that which they had rested in. Suddenly, a strange quiet fell. There was no vigorous shuffling of bone or clattering of footsteps. Caesia turned back to the archway through which they had just passed to see that the skeletons had stopped completely and stood unnervingly staring at them through empty eyes.

  “What did you do?” Eris asked in confusion.

  “This wasn’t me.” Caesia muttered curiously, searching the room for answers, to no avail.

  “Did we stand on another pressure plate?” Eris gasped, scanning the floor erratically.

  Caesia struggled to resist sighing condescendingly. “I doubt there would be a trap in this place that resets another trap.”

  “Well… you hungry?”

  Caesia sighed condescendingly. “Eris, this could just be another trap. What if we let our guard down and they start attacking us again?”

  “Then we put our food back and keep going. Unless they start running all of a sudden, I think we’ll have time to get out, don’t you?”

  “I guess when you put it like that, I am pretty hungry.” Caesia timidly grinned.

  Eris slid her backpack off her back and dug around.

  “Carrot?” Eris jested, pulling out one of her many carrots and waving it around.

  “Shut up.”

  “Suit yourself.”

  Eris winced in pain as she opened her mouth wide, stretching her scar. Caesia giggled quietly to herself, although she probably shouldn't have been laughing at the expense of Eris’ pain.

  Eris continued digging, slowly nibbling at the end of the carrot instead. She st
uffed her arm deep into the bag and forcefully yanked it back out, presented Caesia with a loaf of bread.

  “How’s this for filling?” She grinned cheekily.

  “You brought an entire loaf of bread?”

  “Why not?”

  Caesia tried momentarily to come up with a counter argument but quickly gave up. “Do you have anything to go with it?”

  “Uh… no.”

  “Seriously?” Caesia hissed.

  “We were out of meat, I just grabbed whatever I could!”

  Caesia rolled her eyes and sighed disappointedly. “You didn’t have any cheese or something?”

  “Just eat the bread already!”

  Caesia glanced down at the loaf of bread. Was she really this hungry? She took a pathetic bite out of the loaf, dry as a mouthful of sand. She felt as if all the moisture had been sucked immediately from her mouth.

  “Oh God, tell me you have some water!” She spluttered hoarsely.

  “Worry not.” Eris scoffed through a mouthful of carrot. She dug a waterskin out of her bag and handed it to Caesia, who swigged it rapaciously. “Whoa, save some for me will you?”

  Caesia withdrew the waterskin and wiped the water from her mouth. “Sorry, I’m not really used to anything but fine dining. It’s a bit of a shock to the system, but it’s a damned relief not having to concern myself with manners or etiquette.”

  “Etiquette?”

  “You don’t- actually, I shouldn’t be surprised.” Caesia smirked. “Ah, it was all bloody pointless anyway - what’s the point of having several sets of cutlery for one meal? And don’t get me started on having to hold your knife and fork in particular hands. I’m ambidextrous, I should be able to hold them whatever way around I damn well please!”

  “Stars, that sounds awful! I normally just eat with my hands - cutlery is just so… pointless.”

  Caesia managed to re-evaluate her response before making a rather unsavoury joke about the common view of the chiefdoms as savages. She figured that it was better to keep the darker sides of her humour to herself.