Shadow Realms: Part One of the Redemption Cycle

by J. R. Lawrence

  “Strike below the claw!” shouted Gregarr at all round him.

  The nearest fighter, a warrior of Vulzdagg, who heard Gregarr’s words, hesitated as the claw of a crab came up into his face. The Vulzdagg’s blade cut straight through the arm as easily as Gregarr’s, and the crab was clawless and in great pain. The second claw took The Follower by the knee and pulled him down, but his blade found the arm and cut a deep wound into it just before his knee broke in its grasp.

  Both the fighter and the crab screamed in pain as either of them received severe wounds. Every fighter among The Followers that heard the voices of the two injured combatants, and Gregarr’s order, immediately charged with renewed determination, slicing off the arms of every crab that came near.

  Sheathing his sword, Gregarr pulled himself from the charging crabs and crawled to the side of the injured Vulzdagg; who had lost the bone of his knee to the strong grip of the crab he had fought and defeated. Gregarr wrapped his arms round the fighter’s chest from behind, and began dragging him away from the scene of battle.

  “We’re nearing victory!” Gregarr told the warrior with encouragement.

  The Follower in his arms smiled weakly, but looked as his comrades were falling at the claws of the crabs, and many ran from them in fear or with wounds. Several crabs charged in rage, swinging their claws too and froe in wild wrath, wiping many of the fighting Followers aside with their heavy pinchers.

  Once reaching safety from the battle, Gregarr braced the fighter’s back against the wall of the Citadel and turned to reenter the chaos of the battle. But he was halted midway to the fight by yet another fragment of some structure that landed in the midst of the area, killing both cave-crabs and Followers alike.

  Looking up from where the shattered building landed, Gregarr saw the Earth Elemental reaching down once again to unearth another home of the Vulzdagg soldiers and families.

  Gregarr cursed whatever witchcraft had brought the wretched thing from its place among the stones.

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Somewhere Else

  Neth’tek stood straighter as Vaknorbond approached with quickening steps. Vak’s face was expressionless, but held some truth to Neth’tek of what was before him. His future was not going to be at all how Neth’tek had expected; but would it have been the way he wanted? No. Neth’tek didn’t enjoy anything he had done in the past.

  All his training and all his studying in the works of magic and melee was all just to please his father and mother, brother and sister. Yes, it was exciting for Neth’tek to have the privilege to learn both the arts, but was it for himself or for his name? Could he even call it his name? Neth’tek wasn’t so sure anymore who his friends were, or even his family. They all seemed too much alike, particularly now with Dril’ead in the state he was in. Neth’tek knew how strange Dril’ead had become compared to the past, but he never thought that he’d actually be locked in his own room because of it.

  Vak laid a hand on Neth’tek’s shoulder as he came to stand above him. Neth’tek did not look up into the face of his father. He kept his gaze held firmly on the toes of his boots, waiting for some sign that told him that everything he had heard from his family was a lie. But the feeling that began to fill Neth’tek’s senses was not one of a lie. The look Vaknorbond fixed on Neth’tek as he came toward him from across the hall told him that he was no longer staying among the people of the Vulzdagg name.

  Vak’s gaze was set on Neth’tek for a moment. He turned to the door of Gefiny, removing his hand form Neth’tek’s shoulder, to place three hard knocks upon the doorframe of Gefiny’s chamber.

  In answer to the knock the door swung wide to reveal Gefiny standing tall, a look of fierce anger creasing through her face. She fixed a glare upon Vaknorbond, hating him for what he had done to Dril’ead.

  “What are you doing here?” Gefiny demanded harshly.

  “Gefiny, the city is under attack as we speak,” Vak said calmly but with a tone of haste.

  “And what will you do,” Gefiny said with growing wrath, “besides stand idly to be sure all goes the way you want?”

  Vak did not answer. Instead he ignored her words, saying, “Lead the Basilisk’s; it is the only hope for Vulzdagg.”

  “The hope of Vulzdagg was destroyed long ago, when you led the attack against Zurdagg,” Gefiny said coldly. “Vulzdagg deserves its true leader, the true captain of the Basilisk’s, the one who defeated the demon of Maaha single handedly and lead his followers to safety!”

  “The hope of Vulzdagg is placed now on your shoulders,” Vak said calmly still. “It is you now who must lead this people to victory over such dangers. We cannot rely on Dril’ead forever.”

  “But we can believe in him,” Gefiny said.

  “Then what would you have me do?” Vak demanded, spreading his arms out wide, exposing himself to her fully.

  “Release him!” Gefiny’s cry was indignant.

  Vak grinned, having known that to be what she had wanted from the start. “I am not so certain I have that power,” he said, reached down to his belt to seize a pair of keys he had buckled there. He lifted the keys from their place and handed them toward Gefiny. “It is no longer in my power to decide the fate of this Branch. I am no long the lord of Vulzdagg.”

  Gefiny eyed the keys suspiciously, and then slowly she took them from him. “As simple as this?” she asked wryly.

  “Not everything is gained by battle and the shedding of one another’s blood,” Vak said, then added silently for her only to hear, “Especially when it comes to family.”

  A deep rumbling followed soon after he had spoken, and the ground beneath their feet began to tremble. Neth’tek braced himself against the wall, afraid that the ground below him was going to split and he would fall into the pit of darkness within. Gefiny staggered a moment, looking about in fear of enemies, but Vak remained standing calm, his eyes closed in deep contemplation as he took in every vibration.

  Neth’tek looked up into his father’s emotionless face. Not a wrinkle of distress or grief was marked upon it, or one of age. The warrior was old, but young in the years of The Followers. In that calm face, Neth’tek saw a resistance hidden within that fought the decision he was about to make.

  Then the alarms which were first a dull ringing that Neth’tek hadn’t noticed before, suddenly increased louder and louder.

  “The alarm!” cried Gefiny over their tumult and the sound of the earth’s rumblings.

  Vak opened his eyes and looked wearily down at Neth’tek. “Neth’tek, it is time,” Vak said in growing anxiety, his eyes widening with every word. “We must leave for your safety and the safety of this Branch.”

  “Where are you going?” Gefiny asked in trembling fear.

  “There is no time to explain!” Vak replied quickly. “You have the keys, Gefiny. I suggest you use them before it is too late!” and then pushing past Neth’tek, Vaknorbond continued down the hall briskly. He stopped near the end, where it bent suddenly to the left, and beckoned for Neth’tek to follow. “Come, Neth’tek!” he said earnestly.

  Neth’tek hesitated, unsure of whether he should follow Vaknorbond or not. However, Gefiny pushed him foreword as she ran to Dril’ead’s door.

  “Go, Neth’tek!” Gefiny said to him at the door of Dril’ead’s chamber.

  Neth’tek ran foreword, finding he’d much rather leave now than face whatever danger was befalling the city. He was not as good a fighter as some would expect, and he knew it. All the training he had done with Dril’ead taught him much more than the ways of combat than Neth’tek would have expected. It seemed like there was so much to learn from such skills, but so little time to learn it.

  As Neth’tek ran toward Vaknorbond, leaving Dril’ead and all the things that that warrior could teach him behind, he wondered if the trainings had been that way for every Follower that had been trained throughout the past. Or was it only Dril’ead who had gone so far in depth into the work, that it was made to be much more than simple
sword play? What it seemed now to Neth’tek was an art like magic, but not summoned by words; but with steal instead. It was magic of a different kind, and the words from the time Neth’tek had spent with Dril’ead in all their training came back to him, dropping one simple question that would be so hard to answer on his own.

  Would Neth’tek ever see his brother again?

  *****

  Vak went down the passage, and Neth’tek hurried to keep up. The ringing of the alarms stung his ears and made it difficult for him to focus enough to run in a straight line. When the path ended at a stairway, Neth’tek nearly tripped onto his face at the base. But he managed his footing, found the first step, and ran as hard as he could to keep up with Vaknorbond.

  Vak glanced over his shoulder every so often to be sure Neth’tek was still following. Neth’tek followed, knowing that he was leaving, but not knowing where exactly he was going. But he had no time to ask questions of that sort, nor did he think his father would pay any heed to them. Even if his father was to answer such questions, Neth’tek never found the breath to do so in all the running.

  Many times Neth’tek had gone up and down these same steps on his way to and from Group Training. But this time it was harder for him to take each step, and he tripped midway up the first row of the many steps, landing on his arms as he threw them out to catch himself. Vak halted when he fell, and ran down to Neth’tek’s side as he was struggling to regain his footing.

  Vaknorbond said something as he pulled Neth’tek back onto his feet, but the tumult of the alarms was too great for Neth’tek to hear.

  And so they continued onward up the steep steps until they reached the top, but yet another set of stairs remained ahead of them, branching in the opposite direction of the first in the same upward angle.

  Neth’tek wanted to collapse to the ground in exhaustion, but Vaknorbond ran ahead, calling to him to keep up.

  As they ascended higher and higher toward what seemed to Neth’tek as the top level of the citadel, the cries and roars of monsters and soldiers grew louder and louder, and the rumbling increased in base; shacking Neth’tek until he felt as though he were to vomit. He didn’t, and instead kept running behind his father until they reached at last the end of this stairway.

  Vak, however, did not halt his running, but continued to the next set of stairs. Neth’tek kept going after him, dismayed at the distance they had to run straight upwards, always in a zigzag line from below.

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Taking Control

  With the cave-crabs attacking and distracting all The Followers at the gate of the citadel – especially the Elemental intimidating everyone there – Mazoroth caught the chance he had been waiting for. With a silent signal to his remaining troops, Mazoroth left his hiding place among the ruin of the Vulzdagg barracks, and went in a more or less straight angle across the field of ruined buildings.

  The citadel doors were still blocked by the battle taking place before it; but Mazoroth figured that if he couldn’t go through that mass of weapons, he could go over it.

  He changed directions and ran straight for the back of the Earth Elemental, and once reaching it he jumped into the air and caught hold of a knob in the many uneven stones that built the monster of the earth. He began to climb its back, as one would climb a wall. The Elemental either didn’t notice his actions or didn’t care, for it paid no heed to him, and instead bent again to lift chunks of building and rock to hurl at the gate of the citadel or warriors before it.

  Mazoroth’s followers followed their chieftain’s example until all thirteen were climbing the back of the Elemental. Mazoroth now held tightly to its head, bracing himself for what he planned to do next, once the thing was near enough to the citadel.

  Looking down at his troops, Mazoroth made sure all were on and could see him.

  “There’s only one way to do this!” Mazoroth shouted at them. “We’ll have to jump from here!”

  The Horg’s didn’t like the idea, but none had anything better in mind, so following their chieftain’s orders was all they could do.

  The Elemental took two steps forward, nearing the gate of the citadel, and nearing the remaining Followers fighting off the crabs. The third step the Elemental took brought Mazoroth to the distance he needed to make the leap, and also pressed what was left of The Followers back against the gate in a hurry to stay clear of the Elemental’s heavy feet. The door to citadel did not open on approach as it usually would have done. Some would have run round it, or even attempted under it, if it hadn’t been for the continuing charge of the crabs.

  The elemental lifted its heavy arms to destroy the remaining Followers at its feet, and as it was about to bend closer to the citadel Mazoroth prepared himself for his leap to the window directly before him.

  It was during that moment of despair for all The Followers that the gate behind them suddenly swung inwards, allowing them to enter the citadel. Every Follower fell backwards and within, or just charged the distance to get inside as the rock hands of the Elemental came crashing down, and the Horg’s upon its back made their leap.

  Not every Follower present made it to the safety within. Many of them were caught first in the hands of Death before they could escape.

  Gregarr Grundagg was able to save himself, and the wounded Vulzdagg soldier he had dragged from the crabs before. He carried the soldier in his arms as he ran across the stone floor toward the empty thrones of the lord and the lady of Vulzdagg.

  Guards charged foreword to help the soldiers to safety, and to fight off the crabs that began to enter the chamber; holding them back by their spears as they jabbed at their eyes.

  “Get in! Get in!” a strong commanding voice was saying to all within hearing, “Don’t let the monsters inside! Close the gate, before the Elemental gets too close! Take the injured into the Circle of Power, quickly! Quickly we must act else all falls into the hands of our destroyers! We are Vulzdagg! We are the people of the Basilisk! We are the fighters!”

  The voice continued on, giving orders and organizing the soldiers into formation to be sure no crab entered the throne room.

  “Gate Keeper, close the doors!” the voice shouted over the shrieks of the crabs, “No enemy has ever set foot in the Throne Room and lived, or breached the Circle of Power – nor shall ever!”

  The doors came to a swinging close, slamming hard just in time to stop the Earth Elemental from entering. But crabs still remained within, however the formation that the speaker had organized charged foreword and destroyed them with all the strength they had remaining.

  Many fighters of both Vulzdagg and Grundagg fell side by side in the death that came from defending against such monsters as the ones that had entered the citadel, but the monsters within the citadel had been defeated, and a great host of The Followers remained well enough to fight. They were then joined by another group of Vulzdagg warriors that had been lying in wait within the citadel.

  “Reform your ranks!” the speaker cried as he sheathed his scimitars at his hips.

  It was Dril’ead who had taken control over the panicked people, and reorganized them to fight. Gefiny was at his side, waiting for the moment when she, too, could fight in the battle before her. But Dril’ead commanded her to hold her blade back, and let the warriors do their part.

  “Your part is soon to come, captain of the basilisks,” Dril’ead said with a slight grin. “The battle here is done, but outside monster still lurk – destroying all they come to. Soldiers of our city and of Grundagg are no doubt fighting still out there, and dying. It is your duty to gather the basilisks and their riders together, and make for our victory. You, Gefiny Vulzdagg, will bring us victory!”

  Gefiny’s smile told Dril’ead that she had enough confidence to lead The Followers, and so he permitted her with a nod of his head.

  “Fight hard!” he called to her as she went with fifteen warriors toward a small door disguised into the wall.

  When she had gone through the hidden door – wi
thout any danger before her yet – Dril’ead heard the rattling of the iron gates of the citadel as the Elemental threw a hard punch into them.

  Another came, followed by another, and Dril’ead knew the doors would hold. But for how long, he couldn’t say. He had only to stand with his fighting soldiers and wait, and then he would know how long they would hold for.

  *****

  Gregarr heard the order given to place the injured warriors within the Circle of power, and so he went as swiftly as he could with the groaning warrior in his arms to where the powerful room lay.

  The doors to the Circle of Power were open, and within already many soldiers lay with their many wounds at the hands of the mages who worked their healing magic on them. A mage came forward and took the wounded soldier from Gregarr, and Gregarr was left for a moment to ponder something that he hadn’t thought of before, though he was aware of the whole time.

  He had just saved a fighter of Vulzdagg from the clutches of his attacker, and many of his soldiers had faithfully followed him into the dangers of Vulzdagg; gladly accepting the deaths that awaited them. His troops were mingled among those of Vulzdagg, and they fought side by side as brothers and sisters. No other soldiers had done as his and those of Vulzdagg.

  A strange thing, it seemed to him, to have allowed his troops the honor of dying at the gates of another Branch. Not in an attempt to breach it, but to defend it with their lives. The notion was so strong and heartwarming that tears welled in his eyes as he looked into the chamber of Vulzdagg, and saw the wounds of his troops being treated at the hands of Vulzdagg.

  Gregarr smiled in gratitude, and turned to join the ranks of his soldiers and the soldiers of Vulzdagg.

  Chapter Thirty-six

  The Lady’s Wrath