Beastborne

by James T Callum

  “You wouldn’t, as far as I know,” Ashera answered. “They don’t give anything since they cannot be defeated, only banished. Maybe if you killed the summoner but….” She shrugged, showing the limits of her knowledge.

  That only bolstered Hal’s belief that the whole thing had been set up.

  “I’m going to light them,” Hal said with finality. He held up a hand to hold back the tide of complaints. “We’ll see what happens. If, as Elaise says, it banishes the fog and that voidmist, then we’ll hear what else she has to say. If something happens, then we will deal with it as it comes. Either way, we’ll find out.”

  There was more than a little grumbling at that - mostly out of Durvin - but nobody outrightly disagreed. With a nod, Hal took the bag of sticks and headed out of the wagon.

  Fog streamed over the ground. Like the ocean tide, it ebbed and flowed.

  The braziers were burning low as the fog smothered them instead of being pushed back. Bag in one hand, Hal drew out one of the black branches. It was fairly thick, about the size of his forearm around and nearly four feet long.

  The wood had a strange sooty texture to it but when he pulled his hand away there was no residue. He dipped the end into the nearest campfire, already beginning to gutter.

  A spectral green flame flickered to life. The effect was immediate.

  All around the caravan the fog peeled back as if a great giant blew it all away. In the fog’s masking absence, they could easily make out the threading black voidmist. A second passed, then two, and by the third, the voidmist was gone.

  It didn’t peel back like the fog, it was simply gone. As if it never was there in the first place.

  Elaise turned toward him, the bonfire at the center of the caravan backlighting her figure as she stalked toward him. The skulls that dangled on her armor bounced without a whisper of sound. “Believe now?”

  “I do,” Hal said. He motioned to the caravan. “You said there was something else you were commanded to do. Now that we’ve pushed back this voidmist, will you tell me?”

  She pointed to herself, two fingers double-tapping her sternum. Then she pointed with those same two fingers eastward. “Two days. I take you. Guide, understand?”

  Hal furrowed his brow. “Alone? I won’t leave the-”

  She shook her head, her braids swaying back and forth. “Take all. Show safe path. Lowlanders path death.”

  “Do you know where we’re going?” Hal asked. He wasn’t comforted by that thought.

  Elaise shook her head.

  “But you’ll show us the safe paths to take, wherever it is we are going?”

  She shrugged, as if she didn’t understand completely. “I guide.”

  “Fair enough,” Hal said with a nod.

  “I guide now.” And though Hal called out to Elaise, she didn’t turn around.

  The tall barbarian stalked to the eastern end of the caravan and waited.

  Hal called the caravan drivers back to their task. They were to break camp immediately and follow Elaise’s lead. Hal informed his friends - doubling as the Bravers Guild Council at the moment - that he intended not to go north toward the Barrier Peaks but to the central mountain, the sole landmark in all of the Shiverglades.

  To his great surprise, nobody objected. Durvin even gave Hal a nod of approval. Far from what he expected out of the dwarf. He figured the Bouldergut clan would prefer to be closer to their cousins to the north of Murkmire.

  Few people saw the barbarian throughout the hours of the night. She left glowing markers, painted sigils on the sides of towering trees and listing stones as big as a house.

  Using those readily visible markers as their guides, they had no trouble making their way southeast. Hal was not alone in his doubts of traveling at night.

  They had stopped at night mostly because of the dangers of nighttime travel. In the dark, it would be easy to fall into a ravine, a pool of water that was deceptively deep, or for one of the karaks to twist its foot.

  All manner of nasty things could befall them. There simply wasn’t enough of a reason to do it. But with Elaise urging them on, they didn’t have much of a choice.

  Throughout the night and into the morning, the barbarian returned only briefly to warn of a particularly dangerous area up ahead. The Shiverglades - or the Black Lands as she called them - truly lived up to their name.

  The farther inland they went, the colder and more miserable it became. The ghastly green flame that pushed both fog and voidmist away may protect them from the black threads but it did nothing for the cold.

  More than once they came upon swampy ground frosted and glittering in the early morning light. Though it pained Angram to say, he admitted that they were making better time than they would ever be able to without Elaise.

  She knew the Shiverglades like they were the back of her hand.

  When Hal showed her the mountain on his map, she instantly understood where he wanted to go. Though her incredulous look and snort of derisive laughter told him more than she could properly communicate.

  The drivers, with the exception of Lurklox, all took shifts. Even the Kweh Gang pitched in at the behest of Komachi, taking their turns pulling the wagons along while tired karaks were squeezed into the wagons to sleep.

  It was all a tight and uncomfortable affair.

  By the time the first branch burned down to ash, they were within sight of the massive mountain at the center of the Shiverglades. They swung to the north, putting the mountain on their right side and then entered a darkly wooded stretch of untamed forest.

  Upon the sturdier ground, the karaks could put more of their vaunted speed to use. They spotted the swift-footed barbarian more often during that stretch. With Elaise marking each tree along the path, the karaks had no problem keeping the wagons away from their mighty trunks.

  Even during the midday sun, the dark of the forest was complete. More than once a dwarf remarked how it felt like a mockery of a dwarven tunnel.

  When they finally broke from the forest, the mountain loomed ahead of them to the south. The ground was broken into rocky steps and large jagged outcroppings of stone littered the region.

  Their goal was within sight, but it would take at least another half day to reach the base of the mountain. Hal’s goal.

  The map didn’t do the mountain justice. It was truly a sight to behold. Ridgelines spread out to smaller peaks in a crown surrounding the towering behemoth.

  As the [Explorer’s Map] began to fill in, Hal gained a steady stream of Exploration Levels.

  Your Exploration has risen to Level 9.

  …

  Your Exploration has risen to Level 13.

  +10% Faster drawing speed (+130%).

  +3% Discoverable range (+39%).

  You have 1 Exploration Perk point awaiting distribution.

  Explorer 0/1

  As an explorer, your passion is finding new places and hidden nooks. Your ability to find hidden areas increases by 0.5% per Exploration Level. In addition, you gain Experience Points every time you discover a new location.

  Trailblazer 0/1

  Just exploring isn’t enough, you need to forge new trails and paths ahead. Trailblazers gain area effects based on the amount of area discovered. The less an area is currently mapped the greater the area effect is.

  Hal jumped at the chance to take Explorer. While Trailblazer was good, he planned on making this area his home. And Trailblazer had severely diminishing returns. Meanwhile, Explorer might even help him find a proper home. One sheltered and hidden away.

  They rode across marshy ground that soon became solid and firm as it rose up the rocky foothills. Hal’s tired mind - he hadn’t slept at all since the first [Umbral Branch] was lit - began envisioning the towns and fields he would make and the best places to construct defensive towers and walls.

  “We’re home,” Hal muttered, as they came around a rocky spur to see a large waterfall cascading out of the southern face of the mountain.

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  “We take the time and build it right,” Hal said, pitching his voice over the distant roar of the swift waters that emptied into the waterfall below. “Or we build it fast, and build it multiple times when we find the quality lacking.”

  Durvin lifted his gnarled thick-fingered hands. “Ye don’t gotta tell me,” he said. “Dwarves are knowin’ how to do a job right the first time, don’t ye doubt.”

  “People are sick of the wagons,” Elora put in. “We range up and down these mountain spurs, across this ridgeline or that, and you have still not selected a spot for the Manaseed. Much less the settlement.”

  Hal could see she was trying - and failing - to put a stopper on her temper. The last two days had been much the same.

  Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, Elora continued, “Are the wagons to be our homes now? Not to mention, Elaise has been increasingly agitated. The two additional umbral branches she procured will be the last she will find for us. You heard her yourself.”

  Waving a hand for Elora to stop, Hal nodded. “I was there. That gives us time yet. I will find a suitable location,” he vowed.

  “I sincerely hope so, Hal,” Elora said, turning to the south.

  They stood on top of a low ridgeline stretching out from the main mountain on its eastern side. The going had been rough and Hal was keenly aware of the time constraints.

  But there was something wrong with each proposed location. While there were several potential sites on the northern face of the mountain, something told Hal they were wrong for the Manaseed.

  He couldn’t say why and that frustrated not only himself but his friends as well. However, none were more annoyed with the delay than their most recent addition, Elaise.

  She loomed everywhere Hal went, questioning him in her halting command of common. And often reverting to her natural tongue where she was no doubt cursing up a storm. Hal heard the word “fangrah” more than once and it did not seem a flattering word.

  If not for Elaise’s procurement of two more [Umbral Branches], they would have been forced to settle somewhere less than ideal.

  Hal knew with bone-deep certainty that the Manaseed would repel the voidmist. It would keep them safe, even if its range was minimal. He wasn’t worried about that.

  But the Manatree needed a proper home. A place where it could send its roots deep.

  Hal found more than half a dozen gorgeous vistas that would provide startlingly breathtaking views for the future citizens. Places that afforded impossible landscape images of snowcapped mountain peaks, valleys of thick forests, and the silver gleaming ribbons of rivers.

  But he still had not found the right home.

  He had the sneaking suspicion that Elaise was waiting for just such an occasion, though he could not say why. Another test? Hal shook his head, ran a hand through his long dark hair, and sighed.

  Komachi had more to do with the additional [Umbral Branches] than anything else. Elaise was rather smitten with the tiny creature - as were they all - and seemed to delight in conversing with her.

  Because, for reasons Hal couldn’t begin to fathom, Komachi could understand the woman’s harsh language. Just as the woman could somehow understand Komachi’s squeaks and chirps.

  This place wasn’t right either.

  Turning his head to the right, Hal spied Noth up on a nearby ridge. Though she was hardly more than a few football fields away, it would take the rest of the day to bring the caravan down into the rocky vale and then up to her position.

  Everybody was frustrated with the slow pace and the constant dangers around them. The Rangers and the dwarves had the security of the caravan well in hand, but Hal still felt a pang of guilt every time he heard the din of a battle being joined while he was safely away on one vantage point or another.

  He was no Ranger, though. His job, he reminded himself constantly, was to place the Manaseed in the best location for the future of the Sanctum.

  There was no telling when he might get another Manaseed and it was paramount that this one be used wisely.

  Noth turned to Hal and started to wave to get his attention, then noticed he was already looking her way. Hal was glad for the distance between them at that moment. Hopefully, she would think he was looking at something in the distance instead of her.

  After a moment she raised a piece of crystal that was polished to a brilliant sheen and with a twist of her wrist flashed a message toward him by reflecting the waning light of the day.

  Hal raised his own piece of crystal and flashed it twice back at her, letting her know he understood.

  The code was simple, and all Noth had told him was that she thought the valley below was promising. She would move on to the next ridge, one that was placed almost directly in the southeast shadow of the mountain.

  That was another oddity. So far, everything had a name if he came near it. But aside from the title for the general area of the Shiverglades, Hal had no further prompts.

  Even the mountain that rose higher than Everest could ever dream of seemed to have no name. With a shake of his head, Hal went back to the makeshift table. They had stopped bringing the caravans up to the top of every ridge - unless it was necessary to cross into the next valley - purely to save time.

  The caravans were already rolling across the valley between his position and where Noth had been moments before.

  “What’re ye thinkin’?” Durvin asked, hands on his stout hips. His bronze beard practically glinted in the light.

  Hal shook his head and the dwarf took it in stride with a nod.

  Elora opened her mouth to say something and Durvin gently laid a thick hand on her arm. She looked at him in surprise, Durvin offered her a small shake of his shaggy head and then walked on.

  When Elora looked back at Hal, her blue-gray eyes held far more sympathy than before. She nodded to him and without a word of argument began to gather up her things.

  Angram and Ashera waited for Hal to fold up the table into its tiny cube-shaped form and together the three picked their way down the ridge to rejoin the caravan.

  The next ridge was much the same, and the one after that.

  By the time they camped for the night, nobody was in a particularly good mood. Several gorgeous areas rich with minerals, forests that spread out to the south for miles, and clean mountain spring water aplenty were already denied.

  How many more could he pass up before they demanded he finally choose?

  Dinner was a subdued affair. With the fog thick around them in a wall nearly fifty feet high, they could see little else of their surroundings.

  Everything felt so claustrophobic.

  The next day dawned bright, and with one final [Umbral Branch] remaining to be lit, Hal knew he would have to choose that day. Whether or not it was what the Manaseed wanted.

  Once more, Noth resumed her duties as a forward scout with Yesel while the rest of the Rangers kept the denizens of the Shiverglades off their flanks.

  Half the day was burned away already by clearing rockslides for the caravan or finding a path into the adjacent valley. Hal was sweaty, dirty, and tired.

  So when he climbed that last ridge with the help of his shadow essence appendages, expecting to see Noth on the next, he was surprised to find her not above but below. In the valley.

  And he soon understood why.

  The entire valley was belled out at the edges. The ridges on either side curved around like a protective parent safeguarding their child.

  Only at the southernmost edge did the two ridges abruptly end, providing a narrow gap into the spacious valley below. It looked like the remnants of a giant doorway.

  Rivers crisscrossed the green forested region below. The land rose up on steps of flat ground the closer they were to the mountain’s base. From within, there were two lakes that gathered at the western and eastern ridges of the valley, which were fed from waterfalls that broke through the sheer cliff.

  The whole thing resembled a bowl or a crater with sheer sides. It was unlik
e anything Hal had seen so far. At the far end, closest to the base of the mountain, there was a dark spot on the stone.

  It was there that Noth and Yesel were gathered, and as Hal strained his eyes the dark splotch resolved into a wide crack. A way into the mountain.

  Your Perception has risen to Level 20.

  +2% Perception highlight chance (+40%).

  +5% Awareness of magical items (+100%).

  +10% Danger sense (+40%).

  You have 1 Perception Perk point awaiting assignment.

  Premonition 1/1

  Gain the ability to see outlines and indicators where powerful attacks are about to land moments before they hit.

  Preternatural Dodge 0/1

  Requirement: Premonition

  When Premonition triggers, time seems to slow down providing you precious seconds to get out of the way in time. All onlookers perceive you as suddenly much faster if they lack this perk.

  Keen Eyes 0/3

  Increase your range of perceiving things through visual and audio cues.

  Lv1: Vision & Hearing Range +35%.

  Lv2: Vision & Hearing Range +60%.

  Lv3: Vision & Hearing Range +120%.

  Awareness 0/3

  Increase your situational awareness, making Critical Hits and ambushes less likely.

  Lv1: -10% Critical Hit & Ambush chance | -5% Critical Hit damage.

  Lv2: -20% Critical Hit & Ambush chance | -10% Critical Hit damage.

  Lv3: -35% Critical Hit & Ambush chance | -20% Critical Hit damage.

  Your Exploration has risen to Level 14.

  +10% Faster drawing speed (+140%).

  +3% Discoverable range (+42%).

  +0.5% Hidden location discovery (+7.0%).

  +200 Experience Points.

  As soon as Hal read Preternatural Dodge, he took it. He didn’t even need to read the other older perks.