He didn’t know if it had been seconds or minutes, but when he regained consciousness Thorik noticed that the river had slowed. It had widened as it entered the side of a large hot and dry boulder-filled cavern with a few glowing crystal columns. The faint blur of the crystal’s glowing light in an open area was all he needed to see in order to feel it was time to escape the river.
Finding a handhold, Thorik rolled Avanda and himself out of the water. His head bled from the cut created by the unseen rock, but he wasn’t concerned about himself. Avanda wasn’t breathing.
“Don’t you dare die on me,” Thorik ordered the lifeless girl before him.
Still unbalanced and dizzy from his own wound to the head, he quickly turned Avanda onto her front and began pressing on her back to get the water out of her mouth. His grandmother, Gluic, had taught him many healing techniques, which he had hoped he would never have to use.
She still wasn’t showing signs of life, causing Thorik to shake with fear of losing her. “Avanda! We made it out of the river. Wake up!”
Grabbing his Runestones sack, he reached in and selected the Runestone of Health before flipping Avanda on her back. Gluic had also taught him how to know what each Runestone felt like so he could tell them apart without requiring light to see them.
Placing the Runestone of Health onto her forehead, he placed his hand on it and allowed himself to become one with it. This was difficult to do in his dizzy and panicking state of mind. Focus, he told himself.
The gem in the center of the Runestone began to glow as he began to feel Avanda’s thoughts. She was still in there. She was still alive. But for how long? He could tell she was drifting away. She couldn’t pull any air into her lungs. She was dying.
“NO!” he shouted in anger.
Thorik knew he had to get her to start breathing. Holding the Runestone firmly on her forehead, he took in a deep breath and placed his lips against hers and tried to breathe life back into her. His thoughts still focused on the Runestone to understand what was needed as he took another breath for her.
“Please don’t leave,” he said between breaths. “I need you.”
The Runestone allowed him to know that she was starting to come back with each breath he gave her. The process was slow and by no means was she safe yet. He resolved that he would breathe for her for all of eternity if that is what it took to save her, and he began with the conviction to only stop when she could do it on her own.
“Come on, Avanda!” he yelled before the next breath. “I know you can do this. Come back to me.” Another breath was given. “I believe in you.”
Avanda’s body jerked once and then a few more times before she rolled onto her side and began coughing up the rest of the river water which had clogged her lungs. She was alive.
Thorik comforted her and patted her back while she continued to be sick. The rush of anxiety from nearly losing her suddenly kicked in and his heart beat so hard that it hurt his chest. He was overwhelmed with the joy of her survival, as he dropped his forehead against her shoulder.
Avanda eventually turned over and leaned up against him, resting her head in the crook of his arm. She looked up at him with exhausted eyes. “I told you the water was a bad idea.”
With tear-filled eyes, Thorik chuckled and nodded as he wiped his face clean. “I should listen to you more often.” He then hugged her tightly, knowing how close she had come to leaving him forever.
And with that, it was decided to rest for a while in the large hot cavern, several yards away from the raging river, and try to dry off before determining the next course of action.
Thorik created heat from one of his Runestones as well as additional light. Due to his depleted strength from malnutrition, the Runestone never lasted very long after he let go, so he would frequently pick it back up to recharge the stone with his own energy.
Once rejuvenated, Avanda ripped some cloth from the base of her tunic and tied it around Thorik’s head to stop the bleeding, before she started exploring for alternate routes out. She refused to get back into the river. “I think this is our way out,” she said to Thorik over the noise of the river.
Thorik looked across the bolder filled room and spotted Avanda’s silhouette standing in front of an angled crystal column. “Why do you say that?”
“Because I don’t see any water this way.”
Thorik grinned. He knew she would taunt him for years to come about his great escape plan, which had been a disaster. But he gladly accepted her teasing over her not surviving the river in the first place. “This time it’s your decision.”
Impatient to get out from the caves, she walked back to the warmth of the Runestone and crossed her arms. “Can’t one of your Runestones just show us the way out of here?” Her tone was slightly agitated as she wished for a door to appear which would allow them to leave the dark underground.
Thorik thought about it for a few seconds. “I’m not sure. I only know what a few of them do. I really haven’t had time to try the others.”
Even in the hot dry air, shivers raced across Avanda’s body from her wet cloths. “See if one of those will conjure up something to eat as well.” A smirk crossed her face before she started to walk about the cavern again.
Sitting cross-legged, Thorik pulled the Runestone of Trust from his sack and closed his eyes. Relaxing, the way Gluic had taught him, he closed his eyes and focused his thoughts and energy to allow the Runestone’s powers to work their way up one arm and then back down into the other arm before returning to the Runestone. It felt as though miniature electric eels were coursing through his body as he waited for something to reveal itself.
He patiently waited as the sound of the river lowered in his ears before ending his intense focus. Opening his eyes and looking up, Thorik watched Avanda move at a fraction of her normal speed, as she walked around the cavern. On the other side of him, Thorik watched the river move at a pace far too slow for water and too fast for ice. Standing up, he moved closer to the river, reached out, and then scooped up a handful of the odd moving water, only to find the liquid he touched suddenly began to move normally. Nevertheless, after flowing out of his palm, it slowed in its descent back to the sluggish river.
Time appeared to be affected by this Runestone when activated. However, time was not the only thing affected. Thorik’s body was quickly being depleted of strength as his legs began to wobble and his head began to spin. Unlike the other Runestones he had used, this one could not be used for more than a few moments at a time.
Allowing his thoughts to return to the real world, the rush of the river’s noise returned along with the movement.
“Didn’t that one work?” Avanda asked as she glanced back at him. “Try a different one.”
Giving himself a few moments to shake off the effects from the event, Thorik put the first Runestone away and pulled out the Runestone of Courage, hoping again that this would be the one they would need to help them escape the caverns. He took in a deep breath before relaxing his shoulders as he exhaled. The Runestone texture slowly faded from his fingertips as he began to feel past the smooth rock and into its internal powers. Closing his eyes, he became an extension of the Runestone and acted as a conduit for it to release its energy.
Avanda gasped, causing Thorik to open his eyes and look toward her.
There in the caves, were hundreds of ghostly figures. Shoulder to shoulder, walking through the cavern as they all headed in from a passage and then out the other side. More filed in behind them in a continuous slow and steady march. Sounds of footsteps and moaning filled the room even though most of the apparitions’ feet never even touched the cave floor.
Standing up, Thorik moved over to Avanda and then turned toward several semi-transparent figures coming toward them, while Avanda pushed her shoulder blades against his to watch his back.
The spirits walking toward the Nums proceeded past them, keeping their distance from the Runestone, which Thorik held out in front of him. Their faces sagged like candle wax
in the hot sun, and yet it was apparent that there were spirits of multiple species in the group. Human, Polenum, Del’Unday, Ov’Unday, and even Fesh made up the slow moving crowd.
Avanda watched the procession move past them. She eventually reached out with her hand and softly touched the arm of a female gliding past. A tingle ran down Avanda’s arm as though the energy of her own body was flowing out of her and into the spirit.
The mist of the ghostly woman’s arm turned dark and solid. Her skin became visible and warm, as it spread up her arm and toward her chest. Gasping suddenly, the woman turned and looked at Avanda in astonishment.
But the energy needed to bring this woman back to life was being stolen from Avanda, who now began to feel sick and look pale. Lightheaded, she removed her hand from the woman.
The ghostly lady, with one solid arm, immediately panicked. Feeling life again for the first time in so many years, she wasn’t about to let it slip away so easily. Reaching out, she clutched onto Avanda’s wrist to absorb the energy she so desperately needed.
Avanda fell to her knees as she began to feel drained of her life. Her skin began to turn a light gray and even her normal flowery colored hair lost its luster. She was being depleted of all her life forces.
Thorik’s shock at the sight of the oncoming ghosts had worn off before he had realized Avanda had fallen behind him. In turning, he witnessed the attack of the semi-solid woman on Avanda. There was no time to spare as his young friend mouthed the word help, unable to make a sound.
Kicking her arm away from Avanda, Thorik stood between them and held out his Runestone to get a good look at the woman.
But the woman craved what the Nums had, life. Reaching out to touch Thorik, she suddenly stopped. The Runestone prevented her from passing. She tried to touch either of the Nums again and again, each time being blocked by the Runestone.
As she proceeded to do so the solid structure of her arm slowly bled out into the rest of her body, causing the ghostly image to become more visible. Along with that, her arm softened and began to become transparent again. She hadn’t obtained enough life force to keep her with the living; however, she had already stepped out of the realm of the roaming souls.
Her body struggled between the two worlds as parts of her body attempted to become solid, depleting other areas. She let out a hideous scream of pain as the vapor-like parts of her began to vanish and the solid parts began to fall to the floor before they quickly dried up, cracked and crumbled apart.
The woman’s spirit continued to change from white vapors to a solid mass as she gave off a high pitched shriek, which echoed within the caverns.
Both of the Nums covered their ears in an effort to minimize the sound, but upon doing so, all of the other ghosts disappeared. Thorik’s concentration on his Runestone had been broken, breaking their ability to see them.
However, the woman and her scream were still present. She looked at Avanda as her face became solid and asked one simple question before it was over. “Why?”
Avanda didn’t have time to respond before the woman’s head cracked and crumbled into sand before falling onto the floor.
Avanda sat in shock. Her body, depleted from the assault, slowly regained the color in her skin and hair.
“Are you hurt?” Thorik asked, reaching down to help her up.
She grabbed his hand, stood back up, and shook her head. She was still physically drained and lightheaded from the event.
“What happened?” Thorik asked.
“I don’t know.” Avanda felt terrible. She had no intent on causing the woman any pain. “I just wanted to see what a ghost felt like.”
“Well, don’t do that again.”
Ignoring his comment, Avanda swiveled her head and searched the cavern. “Do you think they are still around us?”
Peering around, Thorik nodded. “I would assume so. We just can’t see them without the glow of the Runestone.”
Avanda shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. “Do you think they can see us without the Runestone being used?”
“I don’t know.”
“Can they grab us again?”
“I don’t think so. Somehow the Runestone allows us to see and touch each other. But they can’t touch the stone itself.” He looked down at the Runestone still in his hand. “Without the Runestone’s powers, they could be walking right through us.”
They both stood very silently to listen for any noises or to feel any sensations. An occasional footfall or moan was heard, but always at a distance and the direction was difficult to isolate.
Avanda continued to tremble from the ghostly woman’s assault. “Do you think they can hear us without the Runestone being used?”
“I don’t think so.” Even with that said, Thorik felt a cold sensation on his arm and shoulder. Shivers immediately ran up his spine and then over his head to his temples.
“You don’t belong here,” a voice whispered into Thorik’s right ear.
Thorik quickly covered his ear with his hand and jumped out of the way, expecting to see someone, but he didn’t.
“I heard it as well.” Avanda’s eyes became excessively wide as she scanned the room.
“Bakalor will come for you,” the voice said again.
Avanda grabbed onto Thorik’s arm as she searched for whoever was talking.
Thorik began to activate the Runestone again, but his nerves prevented his ability to concentrate.
“Who is Bakalor?” Thorik asked.
“You will become one of us, Dain,” the now familiar voice announced.
Shaking his head to dismiss the idea, Thorik continued in his attempt to become one with the Runestone. “We will heed your advice. Can you show us the way out?”
Without warning, the cavern shook from a tremor deeper down into the cave. A soft light emerged at a distance and exposed the silhouette of a ghastly beast stepping into the mighty cavern.
Avanda’s grip on Thorik’s arm increased as she watched the events unfold.
“It’s too late,” the voice said as it trailed off.
Thorik ignored everything except the Runestone as he felt its energy begin to flow through him. Knowing it was beginning to work, he looked up to see the spirits running the opposite way from where they had been walking earlier. The one who had been talking to him presented a distorted smile on his melted face.
Before they could talk again, the spirit in front of them blended into the rest of the misty vapors that were quickly moving away from the approaching flaming giant beast, as it grabbed handfuls of spirits and tossed them into its mouth. His touch caused them to instantly become solid masses filled with life, as they screamed in pain from his sharp teeth biting down on them. Their sudden return to life was abruptly over.
The screams of horror were deafening and the crunching of bones along with the tremors of the beast’s movement put Avanda into a state of panic.
She grabbed Thorik and pushed him into a safe hiding place, surrounded by boulders. But by doing this, she broke his concentration on the Runestone. The ghosts were now gone from their sight, but the beast remained.
Chapter 7
Bakalor’s Lair
Essence of Gluic Page 7
