Ashes of Verdenheld

by Jack Wright

  As she wailed and screamed, the beam only grew stronger with her emotions. It gradually grew larger and more intense, melting all the snow within several metres and blasting holes into the rock as uncontrollable bolts of lightning arced out from the beam.

  Eris rolled over onto her back, barely conscious. She felt weak and limp all over, barely able to lift her arms and legs. Her hazy vision began to subside - Xeracrir was looming over her, spitting fire erratically as he was continually struck with a barrage of lightning. Between the dragon’s anguished roars, she could hear Caesia screaming and whimpering hysterically.

  “Caesia…” She gasped, propping herself up.

  Suddenly, Eris felt much of her strength return, a surge of energy like that which a mother finds to protect her child. She had to help her friend.

  Eris pushed herself up against the wall and scrambled up, gradually worked her way to standing upright. She staggered away from the wall and began to move as fast a she could to her friend’s side.

  She could barely see Caesia past the pulsating beam, but she could see that she was down on her knees now, her legs buried in snow saturated with her own blood.

  As Xeracrir roared in pain again, spewing a jet of fire violently into the air, Eris realised the opportunity that had arisen. As she approached Caesia, she drew her bow from her back and an arrow from her quiver, stepping just beneath the beam. She could feel the heat of the lightning against her skin, an intense warmth like standing in a burning building. Eris reached out with her arrow, hand at the base of its shaft, and plunged the iron arrowhead into the very edge of the beam. As her hand drew close, she winced at the feeling of her fingers burning, as if they were being scolded with boiling water.

  She withdrew the arrow before any major damage could be dealt to her hand. A few of her fingers stung now, but she didn’t have time to care. Eris slid the arrow into place on the bow, charged with energy, surging with arcing green light. She levelled her bow at the dragon’s head and drew back the string.

  “Come on…” She mumbled. “Hero time.”

  As Xeracrir roared again in pain, the arrow whistled from the bow, sailing through the air with a dazzling trail of green sparks. Xeracrir flinched suddenly as the arrow struck the roof of his mouth, puncturing his flesh and allowing the energy of the arrow to surge into his head. The dragon twitched and convulsed violently as electricity arced from Caesia’s beam, through the arrowhead and surged into his brain. He threw his wings around erratically and staggered clumsily into the rocks, sending the entire rock formation crashing down under his weight. As he wailed a chilling roar of agony one final time, he went limp, his wings slumping worthlessly to his sides.

  Caesia ceased her assault, her arms flopping to her sides. As the beam dispersed, the dragon was released and collapsed with a colossal thud and an enormous explosion of snow, the mountainside trembling at his demise.

  Eris looked on in disbelief as the snow thrown into the air fell gently upon her. She knew she should probably have been horrified by the brutality of the dragon’s death, but she could find it nothing but satisfying. She let her bow slip from her trembling hand and into the snow. As her adrenaline faded from her system, she felt only now the frigid breeze against her sweaty, blood soaked skin. Nothing had ever felt so refreshing.

  Eris’ moment of euphoria was swiftly interrupted by a faint thud from behind her, as Caesia’s eyes rolled up into her head and she toppled face down into the snow.

  Eris gasped and darted to her side, rolling her over with what little strength she had left in her. Caesia was an utter mess - her face and chest were covered in blood streaming from her nose, her eyes were tired and gaunt, she was soaked head to toe in sweat and her hair was a scrambled heap - but she was alive, her shallow breaths turning to vapour in the cold. Eris sighed heavily in relief, standing up and scooping a handful of snow off the ground.

  “Sorry.” She smirked, dropping a large clump of snow on Caesia’s face.

  Caesia jolted back to life, inhaling erratically and spitting snow from her mouth. After a moment of panic, she slumped back exhaustedly in the simmering snow.

  “Do you mind?” She hissed, blowing a strand of blood soaked hair out of her eye.

  Eris chuckled quietly and Caesia quickly failed to keep a straight face. The two of them giggled gleefully.

  “Well, I-” Caesia suddenly gasped in pain as she propped herself up, her arms giving out from under her.

  “You okay?” Eris gasped concernedly.

  “Yeah I-” Caesia whimpered and bit down on her lip. “My arms…”

  Eris looked at Caesia’s arms. In the gap between her sleeves and gloves, she could see that Caesia’s skin was swollen and purple with severe bruising, like slender, veiny grapes.

  “I-I think I might’ve overdone it.” Caesia grinned, welling up at the pain.

  Caesia gritted her teeth as Eris peeled off one of her gloves. The bruising went all the way up from her hands to just beneath her shoulders.

  “If it’s any consolation that was the coolest thing I’ve seen in my life.” Eris assured her admiringly.

  “Well, I’m glad you found it cool.” Caesia spat. “That was easily the single worst thing I’ve ever done. So, don’t expect me to do it again.”

  Caesia tried to heave herself into a sitting position but was unable to conjure the energy to do so. She lied back again in the sizzling puddle of melted snow.

  “Help me up, would you?”

  Eris smirked and grabbed Caesia under her arms, hauling her up off the ground. Luckily, as frail as Eris’ was, Caesia was nonetheless light as a feather.

  The two of them stood together, looking on at the crumpled heap of the dragon, blood pouring from his wounds, still twitching in death. It was a shame, Caesia thought, that it had to come to this. He may have killed hundreds of thousands of people, but he was by no means evil. He was but a creature twisted by loss and grief, with every right to hate humankind. To some extent Xeracrir was right, but that didn’t make him the good guy.

  “Poor guy.” Eris remarked.

  “I know. As twisted as his sense of justice was, it’s a tragedy that he never got to see the justice his people deserved.”

  “Yeah, but I mean how he died.” Eris muttered. “Don’t you think we killed him a little… brutally?”

  “We did. Nothing should ever have to die like he did, but he gave us no choice.”

  “I guess. Better him than the thousands he would’ve killed.” Eris sighed.

  “Indeed…”

  The two stood in silence at the morbidness of the situation. Caesia looked Eris up and down, who was as much of a mess as her at this point - she was utterly drenched, painted red from head to toe in dragon blood. It was caked in her hair, on her face and all over her armour. She had left a trail of red footprints in the snow and a large Eris-shaped print where she had fell from Xeracrir’s neck.

  “You know, as tragic as this guy’s life story is, we totally just kicked a dragon’s ass.” Eris smiled triumphantly.

  Caesia smirked at Eris’ usual optimism. “That we did. Why don’t we take a step back for a moment? I don’t think this fellow’s going anywhere.” She suggested, wandering away from the dragon.

  “Sure.” Eris agreed, following in tow. “Where are we going?”

  “Just south a bit. I have a good feeling about the view.”

  “I’m in.” Eris eagerly accepted, catching up hurriedly.

  “I must admit, this is… well, surreal!” Caesia gushed. “I don’t really know how to react.”

  “I know what you mean.” Eris muttered. “I feel like I’m not reacting hard enough.”

  “I guess we were so focused on getting here that we didn’t really think about what came after. I mean, how are we even going to prove we killed that thing?”

  “I… don’t actually know. Ah, we’ll figure something out.”

  Eris and Caesia came to the edge of the rocky field, into an open expanse of snow at a cl
iff’s edge. A mild breeze rolled over them as they stepped up to the very edge.

  “Oh my…” Eris gasped, an enormous smile spreading across her cheeks and her eyes lighting up with excitement like she’d never felt before.

  The view was incredible, like nothing Eris could ever have imagined. From half way up this mountain, they could see almost all of Verdenheld. A blanket of vibrant grassland stretched across the colossal expanse, surrounded on all sides by impenetrable mountain ranges and endless, shimmering ocean, encompassing an enormous bay at its centre.

  “Behold, Verdenheld!” Caesia announced, marvelling herself at the sheer scale and majesty of the lands. “It’s politically corrupt, riddled with inequality and racism and just generally a terrible place to be - but it’s bloody beautiful.”

  “This- it’s amazing!” Eris gushed in excitement, her mind flooding with endless possibilities, thinking of all the endless adventures they could have. “Those down there, are they cities?”

  Eris pointed excitedly to the distant specks decorating the landscape, one of which was still billowing with smoke.

  “Yep. To the west you can see Abenfurt, my home. Just east of us is Tryzantopol, probably our best place to be headed once we get out of here. Off in the distance, you might be able to make out Windspire and Vilandil. Schardenhelm is nestled in the Iron Peaks, to the south.”

  “What about the big one in the middle?”

  Eris gestured towards a massive behemoth of a city, at least thrice the size of the others. It was built on a slender island close to shore, amidst the enormous bay at the centre of the Kingdom.

  “That’s Aldreichen - capital of Verdenheld.”

  “It’s huge!” Eris marvelled. “Can we go there?”

  “Ah, you probably wouldn’t like it.” Caesia muttered, not having heard such great things about the capital.

  “No, I want to see it all!” Eris declared excitedly. “The good and the bad, the cities and the wilds - all of it!”

  Caesia chuckled. Eris had such an enviably childish sense of wonder. Maybe she had a thing or two to learn from her.

  “I suppose we can get round to it sometime.” Caesia sighed, earning a giddy smile from Eris. “We still have to come up with a plan for proving we killed this thing.”

  “Alright, well you’re the smart one. How’re we gonna do it?” Eris asked, bouncing up and down ecstatically.

  Caesia racked her brain. “Hm… perhaps we could take a sample of his blood in your waterskin.”

  “Wouldn’t they just think its regular blood?”

  “Yes, but if they hand it off to an alchemist, our claim can be proven.” Caesia insisted confidently.

  “And if they don’t?” Eris mumbled doubtfully, an eyebrow raised.

  “They will. I hope.” Caesia muttered.

  “Okay… now, how do we get off this mountain?”

  Caesia sighed annoyedly. “Well, it pains me to say so, but our best bet is likely sliding the rest of the way on your shield.” She groaned. “The mountainside seems less steep and far flatter now. That and there is absolutely no way I’m going back the way we came.”

  “Agreed.” Eris assented, hardly wanting to add another scar to her face. “Besides, I felt like we were getting the hang of it!”

  “Until we fell off a cliff.”

  “Nah, we had that under control.”

  “You mean I did?” Caesia sneered.

  “It was a team effort.” Eris concluded. “Alright, let’s get some blood and get outta here.”

  “Happily. I’ve had quite enough of snow…”

  Chapter Ten - A New Beginning

  Eris and Caesia slid smoothly down the featureless white mountainside, the dark, jagged rocks subsiding into a snowy slope.

  “This is a lot funner when we’re not being chased by a dragon!” Caesia yelled excitedly.

  It did take away from the experience that her arms stung from clinging to Eris, but she didn’t really have a choice. Eris grinned in delight at Caesia finally learning to enjoy the outdoors. She would make an adventurer of her yet.

  Eris had taken Caesia’s gloves and bandaged up her arms to protect them from being irritated by the breeze. She could barely move her fingers with the constraints of the bandaging, but that was a consequence she was willing to tolerate.

  “I don’t know, I kinda liked the impending danger.” Eris argued. “It made it more intense!”

  “I’m sure you do.” Caesia muttered. “But if you hadn’t noticed, intense isn’t really my thing.”

  “Alright, slow us down.” Eris commanded as a few trees began to emerge on the mountainside.

  Caesia groaned irritatedly and lifted one of her arms. She cringed as she projected a small barrier in the snow ahead of them, slowing them down with the resistance of the snow. A harsh stinging pain shot up her arm, forcing a quiet whimper out of her.

  The barrier ground through the snow and slowed them gradually down, skidding to a halt just as the snow cover began to dwindle. Caesia stepped off the shield and Eris fitted it back around her hand.

  “Tryzantopol should be about half an hour from here.” Caesia declared, getting her bearings through the gaps in the trees.

  “You’re sure we shouldn’t go to the capital?” Eris questioned, eager to see Aldreichen up close. “This seems pretty important, especially the whole ‘the Oppressor has returned’ thing.”

  “Tryzantopol is controlled by House Severin, same as Jordenholm. They’re the ones to tell about the dragon.”

  “And will they care about Valkyr in Tryz- Try… the city?”

  “You think anyone’s going to believe a couple of girls when they hear that a long dead, four hundred year old warlord has returned from the dead to bring an end to mankind?”

  “Fair point, but what do we do? We can’t just forget about it!”

  “No, we can’t…” Caesia mumbled, thoughtfully burying her chin in her hand.

  They had to act on this, but they had no leads whatsoever. She knew how she might find one, but she didn’t like it one bit.

  “The issue is, we have no leads.” Caesia sighed. “But I know where we might find one.”

  “Okay…”

  “If anyone in Verdenheld knows about this, it would be my mother.”

  Eris was taken aback with confusion. “Your mum? What does she have to do with Valkyr?”

  “My mother is… well connected. Intrigue is something of specialty of House Lacroix.”

  “But you can’t go back! You said it yourself, if you-”

  “I know what I said.” Caesia snapped. “But we have to face the facts - this is bigger than the both of us. If I have to risk it all, so be it.”

  “But-”

  “I understand you’re worried.” Caesia consoled. “I won’t let them take me. If they try, I’ll happily fight my way out.”

  “And I’ll fight with you.” Eris grinned. If Caesia was going to go into the belly of the beast, she wouldn’t hesitate to jump in after her.

  “I know.” Caesia smiled warmly. “Besides, you’ll like Abenfurt. It’s a beautiful place.”

  They emerged from the treeline and into the endless green fields once again. Sprawling over four massive hilltops, each connected to the central hill by enormous stone bridges, was the city of Tryzantopol, not far up ahead. The city had a strange mix of architecture, with the central hill largely comprised of beautiful, white pillared buildings, while the surrounding buildings and walls were a cluttered mess of grey, rigid structures with thatched roofs, similar to Jordenholm. The Minaachen River was weaved between the hills, houses and water mills clustering around its banks. Surrounding the hills was a wall stretched around the perimeter, containing the blanket of buildings from spilling out onto the rolling farmland surrounding the city.

  “Whoa…” Eris gasped, marvelling at the sheer immensity of the city and the jaw dropping beauty of the central buildings.

  “Huh, I’ve always wanted to see Thyresian architecture.”
Caesia muttered, admiring for herself the dazzling white structures.

  “The white ones are so much better.” Eris observed. “Why doesn’t it all look like that?”

  “Tryzantopol was a Thyresian city state, until it was captured by House Severin about ninety years ago. I suppose House Severin forgot to spare the local architects.”

  “Huh…” Eris wondered now what the Thyresian cities looked like. She could barely imagine how beautiful they must be, all shimmering and white.

  “Come on.” Caesia urged. “We’ve still another twenty minutes or so to go.”

  The towering stone gates of Tryzantopol’s perimeter wall cast a looming shadow over the lands ahead of them. The intimidating black and orange banners of House Severin fluttered from the rigid battlements, displaying their sigil of a white flaming horse on its hind legs in the centre.

  “I always wondered…” Eris sighed, staring up at the daunting gate. “Why are these gates so big?”

  “I guess you don’t have siege weapons in the chiefdoms?”

  “Siege weapons?”

  “Catapults, trebuchets, essentially big wooden contraptions made for breaking walls like this.”

  Eris might have found it unbelievable that these walls could be broken, but after seeing what happened to Jordenholm, it didn’t seem so out of the question.

  A gate guard stepped out from beneath the portcullis, wearing similar armour to that of the guards at the Norskar Gate. He stretched out his arm, signalling them to stop.

  “Halt.” The guard demanded, looking Eris up and down, who was suspiciously soaked in blood. “Why are you covered in blood, girl?”

  “Uh… I-”

  “Apologies, sir.” Caesia interrupted confidently, making voice even more posh than previously. “We were assailed on the road by a gang of lowlife ruffians! My bodyguard here is simply slick with their blood.”

  The guard paused in analysis. “And, er… who are you?”

  “Lady Caesia of House Lacroix, here on behalf of House Tarantis. I have been sent by Lord Edmund Tarantis to discuss an appropriate response to the attack upon Jordenholm.”