by Rex Hazelton
Seeing his father floating inside a Sphere of Power with his arms stretched out to the side and his head sagging on his chest like he was locked up in invisible stocks, Ay'Roan shouted, "Father!" With five long winters having passed since the last time he saw him, Ay'Roan wasn't able to restrain himself.
"Father, you say?" A raspy voice rose up out of the throng of Hag before excited whispering, sounding strangely like bacon had been thrown onto a hot skillet, was heard coming from his companions. "That explains your imbecilic attempt to free him."
More whispering followed as the Hag adjusted their plans to include the new information. All the while, Jeaf hung limply inside the Sphere of Power whose parameters were distinguished at its rounded boundary by the contrast between the sphere's shimmering exterior and the clearly defined floor, walls, and ceiling that lay beyond.
It was all Ay'Roan could do to keep himself from rushing forward and cutting his way through the mass of black robes that surrounded his father.
The last time he had seen him, Ay’Roan was only fourteen summers old. Not yet a man when Jeaf set off on his quest, needing him as he was turning into one, Ay'Roan's throat tightened with emotion as he looked at the father that, until that moment, he didn't realize how much he needed. The pathetic way Jeaf looked like he was a piece of meat hung up in a larder added to the grief that, after all these winters, tried to take command of his conscious mind. Having lived with the sea-faring Bjork for as long as he had, those who replaced his father as best as they could, Ay'Roan was able to keep his emotions towards his father's absence in check until this moment.
"You say he's your father," the raspy voice returned, "but you look like a fire-blasted Bjork."
Catching his miscue, for it was a mistake to let the Hag know who he was, Ay'Roan replied, "You're right. I am one of the sea-farers who call the Hammer Bearer Father, for he wields the same kind of weapon our god, Wygean, does."
Ay'Roan tilted his head so that one of the long, thin braids that hung in front of his ears would fall away along with the rest of his hair to expose the blue tattoos that were inked into his neck. Still, he didn't carry a hammer as most Bjork would. Instead, he carried a sword that had blue light dancing along its razor-sharp edges.
"That may be," the location of the Hag who was speaking couldn't be identified by any movement in the wizards' ranks, "but it's more likely, your heart betrayed you."
With all the suffering the prisoners had endured, none who watched what was happening seemed interested in the goings on. To them, it was just another thing their captor's would eventually use to bring them more pain. Only the penned up animals responded to the tension-filled air with a cacophony of growling, whinning, and snorting as they paced back in forth behind the iron bars that constrained them.
Moving in concert, the Hag's black candles lifted up from their hands and began whirling about as the battle began. Growing brighter by the moment, the wheels of light expanded into fiery shields that floated through the air and methodically advanced on the Fane J'Shrym.
Remembering the story of how Dolfon, his mother's friend and personal guard, fought off a company of hunchmen, a tree troll, and two giant rock bears with the use of just one Candle Maker's candle, Ay'Roan took out one of the benevolent wizard's ware. Using a Word of Power to light its wick, he sent it whirling about in the same way the Hag had done with their candles. But instead of letting it take the shape of a shield, he swept his hand before him and turned the fiery substance into a wall that he continued to manipulate until it had taken on the characteristics of a fortress. Towers, a crenulated top, and individual stones soon came into focus.
But his one candle, though enhanced by the touch of Vlad'War's magic he had inherited from his parents, was no match for the approaching host of fiery talismans. And once the Hag and Candle Maker magic met, Ay'Roan's creation was pushed backwards, herding the men the fortress of fire protected toward the pool of dark water that spred out behind them.
Unable to do anything about the magical contest, the Fane J'Shrym inched backwards while keeping their eyes on the Orskovyt and Malamor guards.
Unable to breach the fiery wall that resisted them, the Hag's shields stretched upward to test the limits of the lone candle and the one who wielded its power.
Facing hunchmen, Dolfon didn't have to deal with such a problem. Her main concern was centered on the length of time she could keep her luminous fortress intact, since whenever her candle’s waxy form was finally consumed, its magic would go with it. This left Ay'Roan with the task of doing something his mentor had never done, to keep expanding the defensive barrier after it was established. If he was able to do this, he would still be left with Dolfon's concern about how long the candle and its magic would last. Though he was able to increase the wall's height, to his chagrin Ay'Roan wasn't able to stretch his barrier high enough and still maintain its core strength. Before long the Hag fire was topping it. And once it did, the dark wizard's power flowed over the fortress wall like lava sliding over the lip of a volcano.
The raiders in the back moved quickly towards the pool of black water to give their brothers room to escape from the fiery flow that oozed toward them. Many of those who didn't have room enough to retreat, in the areas where Hag magic topped the wall, were soon burned up under the blanket of seering hot magic that caught them.
Hearing the cries of those who were perishing, seeing more of the Hag's magic brimming above the fortress wall, Ay'Roan had to do something. He was the one who led these men to their deaths. But by all that is holy, he wouldn't stand idly by while the tragedy unfolded. Instead, he thrust the magical sword he had crafted on Vlad'War's Anvil into the fiery wall before him, not knowing what would happen. Ay'Roan figured it was time to find out what the magical blade could do.
The second his blade plunged into the candle's fire, its light swept through the wall, filling it with blue illumination that stretched the barrier higher than Hag Magic could reach. As it thrust upward, the fortress threw the Hag's fire back over its top like it was a blanket being discarded by one rising from their bed. Still, Ay'Roan didn't know how long the sword's magic would last. He didn't know if it was limited to the life of the candle that wasn't far from being consumed by the demanding work it was asked to do.
Prompted by this thought, Ay'Roan fashioned a gate in the massive blue wall with a movement of his sword. Before he would let the rest of the Fane J'Shrym die, he planned to open the gate and free his father. After all, that's why he had come to Chygroyd's Keep. His assault would keep those who had come with him safe until the outcome of his attempt was determined. If luck was with him and his sword's magic proved to be strong enough, Ay'Roan might get past the Hag's fire and the warriors who guarded his father and the Hammer of Power. Then he'd plunge his sword into the Spheres of Power that kept them prisoners. Once this was done, who knew what would happen. The way his sword helped increase the candle's magic had given him this idea.
While Ay'Roan was readying himself for his daring attempt, the Fane J'Shrym were forced onto the dark pool of water's bumpy shoreline where tufts of wiry grass and mushrooms of extraordinary size grew among the rounded rocks that lay there. To find vegetation living this deep underground was unusual. Maybe the tufts of grass were a part of a failed attempt at subterranean horticulture? Maybe that's why the pool of water was here? But that wasn't the case at all, since the sparse foliage was a ruse. It wasn't vegetation at all. It was camouflage used to hide a dangerous killer.
As the Fane J'shrym stepped onto the irregular ground, they found it was slimy and spongy to the touch. The surface didn't give way and let the raiders boots sink into the mud they expected to be there. Then the ground moved- first in one place and then in another- like it was alive. When several boulders split open to reveal murky green and yellow eyes that quickly locked onto them, the raiders rightly guessed that that was the case.
Chapter 30: Slograp
Cries of SLOGRAP soon followed as the ground moved more. A mo
ment later, huge mouths opened all along the shoreline and the monsters, who called the Lorn Fast Swamp home, began inhaling the fleeing men into there massive maws. Ten slograp had sucked ten men into mouths that were busy forcing their hapless victims into gullets that would soon crush them to death. The wounds they endured, as the surprised Fane J'Shrym flailed about with their swords when they were sucked in with the air that surrounded them, didn't keep other slograp from lumbering out of the dark water to get at the men. As wide as a king's bed and twice as long, the amphibious creatures had mouths as big as the bed's head board when opened. Some of the slograp were twice as big as this. The smaller ones moved aside to let the large ones reach the shore before the massive amphibians decided the smaller slograp would suffice for their portion of the meal that was being partaken of. These had reached their enormous size feeding on the disgarded corpses of countless men and women whose lives were sacrificed so the Sorcerer and his followers could gain the dark powers they lusted after. Ten more Fane J'Shrym soon disappeared into massive maws that snapped shut over them. Caught between the anvil and the hammer so to speak, the raiders were being decimated by their inescapable predicament.
Turning their weapons on the emotionless amphibians, the men fought with a terror-driven fervor that drove the smaller slograp away. But larger ones were coming, each so big that they could inhale a handful of men at a time. The two responsible for giving birth to this brood trailed behind the biggest of these. Larger than any of their children, the amphibians' parents would surely devastate the Fane J'Shrym ranks.
Pushing their children aside, crushing three of their offsrping beneath their ponderous bulk as they did, the hungry parents slid up out of the pools depths and onto the shore. As the monsters took a seat at the dining table, Ay'Roan dropped the drawbridge he had created with Candle Maker Magic and charged at the nearest luminous shield. Thrusting his sword into the shield's broad, super-heated surface just like he did to the fortress wall, the swords blue light bled into the brilliant shield at the point of penetration and nullified the Hag's magic, withering its form until it looked like a waterskin bereft of liquid. As Ay'Roan did this, other shields turned on him and buffeted him with brutal force, though they were not able to crush him, nor could their heat breach the young man's skin that shone with a blue light that came from his sword.
Staggered by blows that came from either side, Ay'Roan struggled to target the shields. Those he did pierce with his magical blade were soon freed from the consuming sword's power when Ay'Roan was batted away by another Hag talisman. In time, half of the shields had boxed Ay'Roan in while the others continued to push the fiery fortress and the Fane J'Shrym it protected into the slopgraps' hungry jaws. With slimy hides and impassive eyes, the stubby-legged amphibians went about their work with an efficiency that was in keeping with their uncomplicated way of thinking, if it's alive and small enough to swallow, then eat it.
With a fifth of their number crammed into the giant amphibians' huge guts, Poroth decided he wouldn't wait for his turn to be sucked up by one of the aquatic monsters. So, he lept onto the nearest slograp, who had just snapped its mouth shut on another Fane J'Shrym, and then onto the back of another that was pushing its way forward before he jumped on top of one of the approaching parents. Shouting in rage, he went to work on the monster's exposed back.
Seeing what their leader was doing, other Fane J'Shrym soon joined in the offensive. The smaller slograp that were attacked in this way, quickly sought out shelter in deep water, squirming backwards on short legs that were hidden beneath them. The bigger ones were not so easily disuaded from the chance of getting fed. Since Poroth was on one of the two largest slograp, the monster simply quivered its skin where he cut at it, looking like a horse that was shooing away a bothersome fly.
Sensing the irritation its mate was experiencing, the other slograp parent slowly turned to face Poroth. Then twice lunging forward, it pushed its bulk up onto its partner's side and positioned its mouth to suck up the pest. Opening its broad maw before Poroth had time to jump on its back, the monster's protruding eyes rolled back in its head in anticipation of the pleasure of tasting fresh human flesh, instead of the decomposing corpses it usually ingested.
The slograp's mouth opened wider as the gill-like slits, located behind and below its eyes, fanned out as the monster got ready to inhale Poroth.
Bracing himself against the inevitable suction that he knew he had no chance of resisting, Poroth thought it was not a bad way to die with his sword in hand and fighting against the Sorcerer and the creature Ab'Don had the Hag bring to this hole in the ground to do his bidding. Then the air began to rush past him, his wavy hair was caught up in its passing, and his feet slipped.
The Hag fixed their eyes on Ay'Roan's sword as they they kept him corraled with relentless blows delived by their ubiquitous, incandescent shields.
"He's coming you know." The raspy voice came from Ay'Roan's left, though none of the Hag moved in a way a speaker would.
"Who's coming?" Ay'Roan thought he'd play along.
"The Sorcerer of course."
"Let him come."
"Is your blue trinket that powerful?"
"I guess we'll find out... won't we."
"You're quit calm for someone whose friends are being devoured."
Looking back at the Fane J'Shrym, Ay'Roan saw his fiery fortress waning as the candle that had made it sputtered out its last bit of power. As the luminous barrier disappeared, he saw a black figure leaping among the slograp, slashing at them with a sword that looked like a shaft of sunlight cutting through a storm cloud. Flying over head, Bala dove at the amphibious monsters whenever she spotted one of their eyes. Lorn Elves lept along with the inimitable swordsman, moving so quickly that the slograp couldn't target them. Though the majority of the Fane J'Shrym turned their attention to the fiery shields that kept advancing, three of the men were seen moving along with the Neflin. Among these was Poroth who had been saved by Rybara's timely arrival.
Now that the slograps were being driven back into the black water's depths, Ay'Roan wondered if he should retreat and set up another defense around the Fane J'Shrym that the Hag, who continued to assault his failing fiery wall when he rushed past them over the lowered draw bridge, steadily advanced toward.
When he saw another slograp lumber out from among the prison cells instead of the pool of water like the others of its kind had, one that equaled the amphibians' progenitors in size, Ay'Roan decided to return to his brethren. But before he could act on his decision, the slograp opened its mouth wider than Ay'Roan thought possible and inhaled the air that lay before the advancing Hag at the place where the fiery shield-wall was erected. Bereft of fuel, the black candles' flames, that were responsible for creating the radiant shields, were instantly snuffed out.
The startled Hag stepped back as they watched their parafin talismans fall harmlessly to the ground. Instead of reigniting the candles that already had half of their lives burned away, the dark wizards took out other candles hidden inside their black robes.
Seizing the moment, the Fane J'Shrym attacked the Hag before they had time to light all of their candles. Knowing the window of opportunity would soon shut, and when it did their lives would certainly end since Ay'Roan was no longer with them, the clansmen moved so quickly that they reached the wizards while most were still reaching into their robes.
Then a roar was herd and a griffin flew over the mysterious slograp's vanishing form to attack the Hag from above. Once the slograp had transformed into a replica of the winged-lion that had just passed overhead, the shape-shifter joined the griffin's assault.
With the slograp retreating through the dark water that was now awash with their yellow-colored blood, the black-clad warrior and the Neflin joined the Fane J'Shrym's assault on the Hag. With Rybara's sword, that was created with Andara's magic, cutting through the fiery shields that were frantically being formed, and the the rest of the raiders slashing away at the wizards who were not fortunat
e enough to bring their magic into play, the Hag soon joined the slograp in retreating from the deadly intruders' swift reprisal.
Taking their cue, the keep's guards rushed forward and engaged the raiders in a battle that gave their black-robed masters time to regroup. Aware that they were engaged in a stalling manuever, the guards' furious fighting didn't last long. And few died in the ensuing chaotic struggle. In time, Orskovyts and Malamor were falling back to, once again, flank the repositioned Hag.
The dark wizards who had trapped Ay'Roan gave up on him once they discovered they could neither destroy him nor herd him along as they hoped. Though they threw a continuous barage of buffeting, fiery blows at him, the Hag surmised that continuing to restrain the resilient young man would expose their backs to the advancing intruders. This was quickly proven true when another warrior, whose sword had the same blue light dancing on its sharp edge as Ay'Roan's did, began cutting his way through the Hag to meet up with his brother. With three black-robed Hag clutching at their wounds, and two more laying motionless on the fire-warmed stone floor, J'Aryl gave notice that he had arrived.
"It took you long enough," Ay'Roan's wry wit revealed the relief he was feeling.
"With what I faced up at the Hall of the Moon," J'Aryl surveyed the battlefield as he spoke, "I'd say we've each had a burden we bore alone. But that time's over."
"Aye Brother," the diaphonous blue light that radiated from his body reached out and enveloped J'Aryl as Ay'Roan spoke, "let's see what two of these swords can do working together."
