Vlad'War's Anvil

by Rex Hazelton

  "Just a friend?" Lamarik's ears layed back against her head as she spoke through clenched teeth. "We're more than that. We have an agreement."

  Catching Lamarik's eyes with his own, seeing the combination of resolve and restraint they held, Travyn echoed her words. "Yes. We're more than friends. We have an agreement."

  Satisfied with the words she heard, not expecting Travyn's brothers to understand there full implications, Lamarik stepped back to stand beside A'Kadar. This was a good beginning. After all… the Oakenfels were only human.

  But the Neflin who had overheard the conversation knew the implications of what was said, and they weren't certain they liked what they knew.

  Like she had been waiting for the right moment, Mar’Gul appeared out of the darkness and went to Lamarik. Dog went to A'Kadar. "Come," she said. "Stay with me. We have much to talk about."

  Dog gave a canine rendition of the moan cat's eery sound and licked A'Kadar on the face. Then the four of them slipped away.

  Three of the Oakenfels returned to their hut.

  Before Travyn followed his brothers to face the interrogation he was determined to not let break him, he caught sight of Kolosha standing by the watch fire, gazing at him with his arms folded against his chest and an inscrutable expression showing on his face.

  Ashes, Travyn berated himself for his stupidity, now you've gone and jumped into the bull splatter.

  Then his thoughts went to Lamarik's full lips and the warmth that filled them and he added, Well, if I've made a mistake. I sure chose an amazing creature to make it with. Then he turned and faced the leather flap that served as the hut's door while deciding if he'd enter or go sit by the watch fire Kolosha had vacated. He wasn't going to do much sleeping anyway.

  Thinking it served no purpose to avoid the inevitable barrage of questions that would be thrown at him, Travyn steeled himself and pushed the flap aside. As he guessed, his brother's were stoking the hut's brazier back to life, since morning was not far off and all doubted they could sleep anyway, not with Lamarik's arrival and the renewing of their quest so close at hand. Plus this was the last time all four would be all together for the foreseeable future. Travyn and Kaylan would be going with Horbyn in search of Crooked Finger, while Ay'Roan and J'Aryl went to find their father.

  Morning did come quickly and none, who Lammarik's arrival had awakened, fell back to sleep- not the Oakenfels, not Mar’Gul, nor Kolosha. Amazingly enough, after speaking to Mar’Gul and telling her what she wanted to know, Lamarik dozed off for a time satisfied Travyn had acknowledged their agreement. Even Poroth remained awake. In fact, the Neflin's entrance had aroused the raiders to an early start.

  Horbyn, Kaylan, Travyn, Dog, Lamarik, and A'Kadar were the first to leave Lan'Fon once it was decided Lamarik would be allowed to go with them. Permission was begrudgingly given once the Neflin made it clear to all that she would follow Travyn anyway. Still, the consent came with one stipulation, the moan cat had to avoid all contact with humans even if it meant the Neflin and her beast had to take extreme measures to accomplish this.

  Then, one-by-one, groups of Neflin and Brie'Shen departed, each going in different directions. Some were mounted. Many were on foot. This was meant to keep those who were watching the Lorn Forest from thinking something suspicious was going on there, something Ab'Don would want to know about.

  This was the reason Bala had taken to the air, looking for signs that spies were around. Hoping they weren't. And if they were, hoping they weren't Hag or cretchym. If such were around, it was certain the Sorcerer would soon find out about the strange movements taking place in the Lorn Forest, even though the movements were shrouded in mystery and hidden with misdirection.

  Two of the groups would meet up later in the day. Ay'Roan, J'Aryl, Bacchanor, Mar'Gul, Dandaryll, and many of the Brie'Shen were numbered among these. The rest of the groups would join this company at preappointed times and places as the raiders moved towards Chylgroyd's Keep. The well orchestrated movements would keep a large fighting force from amassing too early. To do so would invite detection. In the end, the size of the band of raiders would be determined by the response that the outriders, both Poroth and Mar’Gul sent forth with their messages, received.

  Chapter 23: Bala's Task

  Riding on Dog's back for most of the day, Bala took to the air at regular intervals to sweep the area ahead of where Horbyn, Travyn, Kaylan, and Lamarik were passing through. This was the fourth day she had done this. Tomorrow Bala would set off to join Mar’Gul. But before she did, the swift cretchym would travel to the Black Mountains eastern end, where the Warl of the Brie'Shen was once found, to do a bit of reconnoitering. Following this, she would retrace the path the Oakenfels' took to reach the Black Mountains after they left Mishal Parm's ruins. Afterward, Bala would cross over Gore's Gap and the Lorn Forest that stood on its eastern boundary, before flying up into the Great Ral Mountains where she would rejoin those set on freeing the Hammer Bearer.

  By doing this, Bala would discover if anyone had been drawn to Sky Master's slopes by the magic that erupted atop Vlad'War's Anvil when the Oakenfel brothers made their swords. Hearing the story of how Andara and Vlad'War's power had been melded together in a profound outworking of magic, knowing that Ab'Don could sense any and all magical eminations that rose up in Ar Warl, Bacchanor and Mar’Gul were worried. Though the Sorcerer's ability to locate the exact origin of the eminations he felt was affected by the duration and strength of the power being used, the two thought it prudent to have Bala take a look and see if any of the Sorcerer's agents were tracking them.

  Horbyn and the others had entered the Thrall Highlands by the end of the third day of travel. It would take four more days to cross the undulating, stone-covered hills if they pushed their mounts hard and if Lamarik prodded A'Kadar on, whose powerful back she straddledd, to keep up with the horses that were better suited for such a sustained effort. Dog on the other hand had the canine capacity to lope along for as long as was needed.

  Big enough to carry the lithely built Neflin, Dog was confronted by an angry moan cat whenever Lamarik mounted the hound to give A'Kadar a break. Mostly freed from menial expectations, Dog acted as the company's chief scout after Bala took her leave.

  Once they reached the Thrall Mountains, it would take seven more days to reach the Hall of Voyd that sat esconced between two towering ridges running out of the mountain heights and into the Fertyl Plains. The mouth of the steep gorge pointed straight at Malam, the capital city of the Malamor and the political and military hub of Ab'Don's empire.

  The seat of the Sorcerer’s power was found in the Hall of Voyd and the School of the Hag that surrounded it. Glutted with the dark magic that was continually practiced there, the place had few peers in the depth of magical might it could call on. Only Stromane, sitting in a far off sea, and Forest Deep, nestled in the heart of Nyeg Warl, could hope to come close to the amount of magic the wicked place could conjure up.

  Until recently both places had been cordoned off from Ab'Don's grand enterprise, the elves by a curse the Sorcerer had a hand in having affixed to them and the griffin by their reticence to get involved in human affairs. The coming of the Prophetess and Hammer Bearer had brought an end to both the curse and the reticence. Love the griffin had for Muriel prompted them to support the one they called Little Sister and Muriel Blood. Her bravery in facing the demon who had stolen her innocence had freed the elves to confront their own failure that bound them in the Sorcerer's webbing when they refused to help the kingdoms of men fight the monster off.

  So, if Ab'Don avoided direct contact with the two places, for the magic they held diminished in degrees the farther afield the elves and griffin went, their was little chance he could be over-powered. The only thing that made him doubt this was the troublesome Hammer Bearer who carried a remnant of Mishal Parm's power with him- the great city whose magical might, back when it was young, could have challenged the Hall of Voyd's own- and the Prophetess whose Song of Breaking carri
ed magic he didn't understand. But now both were weakened sincee Jeaf was his prisoner and Muriel was vulnerable to Crooked Finger's manipulations.

  A stranger mix of traveling companions would be hard to find: a rebel Hag, a cretchym whose lineage was tied to Ab'Don's own by the magic he used to create her parents, a Neflin who was considered to be strange by a race the rest of the warl considered curious, a dangerous moan cat, a mysterious hound who most thought was Mar’Gul's pet, and the twin sons of the Prophetess and the Hammer Bearer whose spirits had been taken to the Warl of the Dead while they were still in Muriel's womb.

  Like the previous nights, Horbyn was asking Kaylan and Travyn to retell the events that had transpired immediately after the Battle of the Temple of the Oak Tree concluded. It was apparent he had an insatiable desire to understand things pertaining to the fateful transition from life to death. Muriel Oakenfel's ability to alter this dynamic piqued his interest to no end. How had she been able to call the warriors' spirits back to the broken bodies they had exited and then hold them there long enough for their fleshly forms to be mended? Included in the things he wanted rehearsed, Horbyn was also interested in the story of the young man Muriel had restored to life on the outskirts of the Village Barm back when the griffin had accompanied her when she returned to the Warl of Man that had so abused her.

  Horbyn was also interested in what Kaylan and Travyn thought their visit to the Warl of the Dead had done to them? Did they think they were altered by the experience, seeing it brought them before the Evil One? Were they tainted by the encounter? Did they have dark thoughts? Or was it possible the taint lay hidden, waiting for the right moment to emerge?

  Whenever Horbyn took the conversation in this direction, Travyn would say, "If you keep talking about this, I'm pretty certain I'll get a dark thought you won't like. So, shut up."

  Horbyn didn't flinch a bit at the threat he had no doubts Travyn would carry out if he pushed too much. His watery, gray eyes hardened to ice as he replied, "I just want to know who I'm traveling with. It's a question I'm sure your still wanting an answer to. So don't take offense."

  Whenever this exchange happened, and so far, a night hadn't passed without it doing so, faint rings of amber light appeared in Lamarik's eyes as she looked at Horbyn angrily. And each time her large eyes took on what had been, heretofore, Travyn's dinstinctive trait, Horbyn would cock his head, purse his lips, and return the gaze unflinchingly.

  In time, the ex-Hag would include Lamarik in his inquries. And more so when he found out about her quest to find her father's spirit now imprisoned in the Lorn Fast Swamp's vast expanse. After the Neflin heard of Horbyn's mother's death and his desire to be reunited with her, though he hid the plan he had concocted in his troubled mind to make this happen, a friendship was struck and Lamarik could be seen with the wizard almost as much as she was with Travyn.

  Curiously enough, Kaylan found that he told Horbyn more than he expected to given his normally reserved nature. Occasionally, Kaylan told more than he even wanted to. That's when he made certain the wizard hadn't lit one of the candles he carried with him to make certain he hadn't fallen under an enchantment. On this, the third night of the trip, he was surprised to hear hmself mention Lylah by name, though he only refered to her as a friend.

  "She's a waterkynd?" Horbyn beamed like a child who had made a birthday wish, then opened their eyes and found it had been granted. "I wasn't sure their kind really existed." The discovery fired up the wizard's imagination, sending it to upgrade his fondest dreams.

  "Yes, they exist." Kaylan was both irritated that the wizard was speaking about those he loved, and annoyed he was going along with him. What did he really know about Horbyn? He was an unproven commodity. And not too long ago, he was a Hag. "But they're neither human nor elemental. They're more."

  "Are they immortal?" This was a topic that was dear to the wizard's heart.

  "I don't really know." Kaylan's dark eyes studied the man who leaned closer to make certain he heard every word. "Is water eternal... ice or vapor? I can't say if this is true or not, though it seems likely. Still, the metaphor doesn't do the waterkynd justice. It's to limiting."

  Wondering if the waterkynd are immortal, curious abut the nature of the Warl of the Dead, fascinated with the magic Muriel Oakenfel wielded inthe Battle of the Temple of the Oak Tree- wasn't there a recurring theme found in the things Horbyn's questions pursued? And wasn't the quest to capture Crooked Finger in keeping with this theme? These thoughts made Kaylan feel uneasy. Dog's quiet whinning, as he lay upon the stony ground, didn't help mattters. Still, Kaylan found he was drawn to Horbyn, and given different circumstances, he thought he might even grow to like him. Maybe that's why he was so uncharicteristically open with the wizard? He even thought the waterkynd might like him too. Then Dog whined louder.

  After putting his fist to his mouth and clearing his voice, Kaylan said to Horbyn, "Please excuse me, I need a moment by myself." Then he wrapped himself in his cloak and walked up the steep hill the company used to protect the campfire from the wind that was blowing across the highlands that night, the vast expanse that rolled out in every direction, looking like an ocean filled with massive, stone-strewn waves. Silvery-gray, the undulating treeless hills reflected the moon's unhindered light. Though it was always cold in the highlands at night, Kaylan used his cloak to ward off the wind and not to keep warm. His memories of Lylah did that, memories that came like a flood when Horbyn pressed him to talk about the waterkynd.

  With a large cowl covering his head, Kaylan Looked down at the campsite to make certain Horbyn hadn't followed him. A wry smile crossed his face when he saw Travyn standing guard over the wizard, for that's what he knew his brother was doing. Travyn didn't have to be told to do this. They were twins. And as a twin, Travyn was going to make sure Horbyn wouldn't bother his brother when he had dismissed himself from the wizard's company.

  This region wasn't a highland at all, in the sense that it wasn't mountainous. Rising up to an elevation that barely matched the Great Ral Mountain's lowest foothills, it was given its name by those living on the Fertyl Plains that abutted the highlands on the northwestern side. Included among these were Ab'Don's own people, the Malamor.

  With the wind blowing against his back, as he looked in the direction where he knew Dragon's Tooth stood, southeast of their present location, Kaylan wondered if the breeze was hurrying off to find The Watcher and tell him what he was doing. Worse yet, would it tell the dangerous stranger about the waterkynd he had fallen madly in love with. Having partaken of his blood back in the rolling sand dunes where the Oakenfels met him, Kaylan wasn't convinced that The Watcher didn't already know this. At least, he insinuated that he gained knowledge of those he fed on as he drank their blood.

  Looking around at the rolling landscape, Kaylan was surprised at how similar the flowing stone-covered hills were to the undulating sand dunes found in the Madara Desert. Maybe that's why he was thinking about The Watcher, or maybe it was the wind that initiated his ruminations, or maybe a combination of the two. Soon Kaylan was pondering the Stone Desert's vast expanse and what might lie on the other side of the unfathomably broad mass of glassy shards of black stone. Then as quickly as his thoughts had moved from the waterkynd to The Watcher, they returned to Lylah. Thinking of the possibility of another Warl had done this, for the waterkynd weren't bound to just one as humans were. Their existence was experienced in multiple realms.

  "Do you love this Lylah you speak of?" Bala's high pitched voice was carried on the wind while Dog's huge, shaggy snout brushed against Kaylan's cloaked side.

  Not surprised they had come to him, nor bothered by the intimacy Bala's question implied the three shared, Kaylan replied, "Aye, with my whole being." Who cares if the tattle-tale wind carries his words to The Watcher's ears? What could the bloody wizard do about them? "How did you guess?"

  Dog's huge, wire-haired-covered bulk pressed up against Kaylan as Bala gave her answer, sitting on top of the hound's back. "
I'm a cretchym and I love Mar’Gul, a human, not romantically mind you, but its love nevertheless. Why wouldn't I think you could love a waterkynd?"

  "But I love her in a different way than you love Mar’Gul."

  "That's apparent to anyone who has eyes to see and ears to hear. But don't think the affection you have for your waterkynd surpasses the love I have for Pearl." Bala used the name Mar’Gul was once known by, making certain that Kaylan kept in mind her relationship with the woman predated the august position she now held. "The love males and females share is no less fervent than the love a parent has for their child or the love true friends have for each other. And what about brothers? Can you not see?"

  "I think I do Bala." As Kaylan spoke he looked down from the hill he stood on at Lamarik and Travyn. As the campfire played upon their faces, he saw how longingly the Neflin gazed upon his brother while Travyn returned a hungrier look, the type of hunger he had satiated in the Warl of Vapor.

  Lowering himself to a cross-legged sitting position, Kaylan wrapped his cloak about himself and said, "Since I've been so talkative lately," here he laughed a bit over his unusual behavior, "let me tell you about the Warl of the Waterkynd, about Mythoria and the Realm of Ice, Water, and Vapor. I think it will be good for me to do so, since Lylah's absence makes my heart ache. I need to feel closer to her. But before I do, you must promise me that you'll not share what I'm about to say save with Bacchanor and Mar’Gul. For these two will understand as I'm sure you and Dog will."

  Burn the wind to ashes, he thought before smiling and beginning his tale.

  Slipping off the big hound's back and then using Dog's bulk to rest against as he laid down across from Kaylan, Bala was soon heard laughing as the fascinating Mythorians' secrets were unveiled. And all the while, Dog's tail gently waged as it brushed across the hilltop.

  The night passed by uneventfully. A persistent wind prompted all to wrap up tightly in their blankets. Safely cacooned as they were, dreams of a pleasant nature came to visit them. Bala, dreaming about the Warl of the Waterkynd, slipped into Pools of Tansition as they moved from the Realm of Vapor, to the Realm of Water, and on to the Realm of Ice. Each fashioned the strange places in keeping with their own imaginations' eye.