TERRA: Earth Warder Chronicles

by Adrian M Ferguson

  I hung there, the elemental magic entering every fiber and cell of my body. I now felt complete. The energy was now part of me. This was what it was like to be fully alive. My senses seemed to awaken and suddenly I was aware of every sound and movement in the grove. Turning my head slightly I could sense the connection that Ghob had to Earth and how he was a master of its dominion — absolute power was a part of him and he a part of it.

  Ahead of me, I could sense the bewilderment coming off the hanging spiders as a smoky haze of emotion. They were hungry still, always hungry, but tonight was not their night to feed. To the left, Agrona stood. I could feel stunned amazement pouring off her, though her face betrayed nothing. She was also a part of the earth, though she had been created from it, and wasn't connected in the same way as Ghob was.

  And there in front of me where Hulda stood I saw hundreds of gossamer strands of dark light pulsating out of her, connected to every part of the grove. These dark beams were her power and were why she had absolute power here, though some of the strands appeared to be dimming, centering on a small area behind us. She looked up at me, exhaling sharply, and spoke a word of chaotic power. The connection I had with Earth's power was cut off abruptly. I dropped to the ground, my hair spilling over my face, my body boneless and limp.

  ‘That is enough of that now, my dear warder,’ she breathed softly.

  ‘Congratulations, you are now not such a soft little human anymore.’

  CHAPTER 7

  Ghob let out an audible sigh of relief. His lips were thinning in what I think passed as a satisfied smile.

  ‘We finally have a new warder, blessed be. Though you did seem surprised before, Hulda. Is there anything to be concerned about?’

  ‘No, Ghob, I am very pleased. She is unusually strong for someone so new to the power of the element. We now have a new warrior for our Earth, and I think that she has come just in time. I have sensed disharmony in the ether, and she will be the focal point for a lot of it, I imagine. So you must prepare her quickly. Even now I feel that particular beings may have already sensed her coming into power. She must be ready, or she will be quickly out of her depth.’

  I stirred weakly, raising myself halfway up.

  ‘Agrona, please assist her,’ Ghob ordered.

  ‘As you will, Master.’ Agrona glided over to me and lifted me up by the scruff of my jacket. She lifted me into the air, holding me there without any particular effort. Pausing, she appeared confused about what to do with me.

  ‘Put her on her feet, Agrona — gently now,’ chided Ghob.

  She lowered me. I stood gingerly under my own power, feeling as weak as a day-old kitten, but as I clenched my fists, I felt the stirring of new strength; aches felt this morning were gone, the twinges of pain I sometimes got from an old bullet wound, gone.

  I gingerly unzipped my jacket and pulled back the edge of my thermal top, exposing my shoulder. The bullet scar had vanished — pale, unblemished skin shone up at me. Gasping, both hands flew to my face where I knew would be pinpoints of small holes created from the chaos spiders. My hands groped all over my face. There was nothing there. My hands came back streaked with blood, but overall my face was completely unmarked.

  ‘This is what you would call a perk to being a warder. As I mentioned before, you will be harder to kill, or hurt for that matter. In the instant Earth accepted your call it healed you from your skin down to the very smallest cell of your body, as well as neutralized the chaos spider’s poison. It was a feat only Earth could provide. You are still human — but more than human. You are a Warder now, and there is only one of you at any one time on Earth.’

  I gazed at her in astonishment.

  ‘I feel fantastic!’ I finally exclaimed aloud.

  ‘There is a cost for this, though, Warder, and that is that now you are responsible for the protection of not only this area, but for the Earth itself. Its humans, in particular, are vulnerable, frail and living in a blindsided fashion. And they are to remain unaware of what is out there, from paranormal and elemental alike; that is also a responsibility that falls on your shoulders.

  The enormity of my situation sunk home.

  ‘Me, one person?’ I asked hesitantly.

  ‘Yes, though you will have Ghob's guidance and perhaps elementals of other types may assist you from time to time, though that is entirely up to you.’

  The grove sorceress suddenly gasped in shock, rising straight up into the air, her cloak billowing out and around her, spreading into a massive field of dark, impenetrable wings. Her small chaos spiders bolted into her cloak disappearing into the folds, swallowed entirely into whatever void resided in its pleats. The other larger spiders scurried up their drop lines and hovered in the canopied roof, hissing in displeasure.

  ‘Who would dare?’ Hulda spat.

  I felt a tremor beneath my feet.

  Ghob sighed, sounding put out by the interruption.

  The whole grove shook. ‘We are being attacked, Ghob! To arms, my old friend!’

  Surprise lit his granite features. ‘Attacked, here, on neutral territory, in your house of power?’

  ‘Yes, it has already breached the outer wards and will be upon us at any moment.’

  ‘But that's impossible, hag … None may enter here without your permission.’

  Just behind us near the base of the grove’s warding trees, the wall of wood rippled and flowed, and a serrated clawed arm of massive proportions punched through, ripping at the boundary of the newly created hole, widening it dramatically with a few powerful swipes of razor-sharp serrated claws.

  On its arrival I hissed in displeasure and the new scar started to itch horribly. Rubbing it hard I tried to ignore it and focus on the problem at hand.

  The creature’s other arm entered the breach, and I noticed that its arms were enormously out of proportion, gnarled and covered with patches of rotting dark hair. A roar bellowed out of the opening. The creature was enraged, hitting berserk levels of frustration at its apparent lack of progress.

  Its arms pulled back and out, and there was a slight calm in the attack. The creature exhaled thunderously and charged the hole, headfirst. The nightmarish head, seemingly all teeth, its face malformed, grey and mottled, as if in a late stage of decay, pushed through followed by the monster’s grotesque shoulders.

  The impact was ferocious; shards of splintered wood detonated out into the grove. The creature, hell-bent on gaining entry, heaved and the ancient wood groaned under the enormous pressure it exerted.

  ‘A wight!’ Hulda breathed.

  I dived for cover, covering my face from the bits of shrapnel that had whizzed past me.

  ‘Protect the Warder, Agrona,’ Ghob bellowed, his face impassive and set, his dreaded hammer already slowly spinning beside him, humming in ecstasy. Agrona glanced at him, inclining her head in obedience, sinking into the ground directly beneath her and immediately rising up beside me.

  ‘Take care, human,’ chortled Agrona quietly, ‘we wouldn't want to see you get damaged now, would we?’

  I glared at her. Why was she so gleeful?

  ‘No, we wouldn't now, would we? So listen to your master,’ I retorted.

  Agrona crouched, hissing in anger.

  The grove noticeably darkened, the sorceress was spitting out words, ancient and long dead, raking her claws in the air above her. Glyphs appeared in front of her in the air in a glow of white phosphorous light, dazzling my eyes at the sheer power in them. Her cloak spread out, rippling along the grove perimeter, seeking out and sealing any damage already caused by the projectile splinters, reabsorbing them back into the tree barrier.

  The massive creature roared in defiance, half its body now pushed tightly though into the clearing. Its body, though immensely strong, seemed to be covered in sores, and putrid dead flesh. I watched as a chunk of his shoulder, which must have hit the tough tree bark, sloughed off and slowly slid to the forest floor.

  Whips of darkness lashed out from Hulda’s cloak, crac
king loudly along the creature’s exposed flanks. Trails of searing burns were revealed from the whips, which were sinking in, though doing no apparent damage.

  The creature swiped them away, not seeming to be perturbed by the wounds; they just appeared to enrage it even more. Crouching down, I tried to make myself as small a target as possible, not wanting to capture its attention in any way. I still felt quite weak from the earlier Testing and knew I couldn't even fight my way out of a very wet paper bag right now.

  Not to mention I didn't even know what the hell it was, or what it could do. Ghob sure had a lot of explaining to do, if we survived this, though judging from the expression on Hulda’s face, this creature hadn’t much of a chance.

  My peripheral vision caught a faint movement, and I turned just in time to see Ghob, with a flick of his wrist, send his engraved hammer slashing through the air, so fast to be almost invisible. Cracking the creature directly in the side of the head, it bounced off with a meaty dull thud, completely ineffective. The creature shook its head, merely confused at the noise.

  Ghob stood there immobilized, and I think in some disbelief. The hammer slapped back into his hand, thrumming with energy. He snarled, and I saw his poker face for the first time express anger. I was inclined to think that it was not very often he couldn't smite the shit out of someone or something. I heard him snarl a command in a rock-like tongue, and his hammer burst into brilliance, a swirling cold energy pulsating off its length, which I could feel even from my partially hidden position.

  Cocking back the hammer in an overhand throw, Ghob let it fly. It buzzed through the air, leaving in its trace a swathe of ice particles, and struck the creature in the shoulder. The arm cracked in a series of sharp retorts and broke off onto the ground, leaving behind a solidified useless stump.

  Nodding in grim satisfaction, Ghob looked slightly smug this time.

  Hulda howled more archaic words, and the glyphs hanging in the air radiated and burst asunder, revealing a steel-like gossamer net which appeared hovering above the creature. She made a defiant pass, and massive thorny projections extruded slowly from the net’s thick threads. Writhing, the net dropped onto the creature’s back and rippled over its bulk, expanding with deadly intent.

  The creature paused, shaking its coat in annoyance, until the netting gave way and the jagged thorns all pushed down, piercing deeply into its thick hide. It screamed in agony, the first sign of pain to issue from its maw since it attacked the grove. The netting squeezed tighter and flowed, trapping its front arm and constricting it in towards its lower chest. With its only support now missing, it dropped with a resounding crash onto the ground, spraying loam and leaves out into the clearing.

  Hulda clapped her skeletal hands in psychotic glee and serenely floated down towards its head. The creature, now completely immobilized, desperately rolled its eyes to keep her in its vision, fury etched on its face, mewling through its entrapped jaws.

  ‘My, my, my, now, what do we have here? Undead scum? Also a trespasser on neutral territory, an intruder on MY territory,’ she roared. ‘One stupid enough to commit themselves to an act of this magnitude as well.’

  The creature attempted to roar, pulling the netting to stretching point with its jaws. Despite the thorns, it held and snapped his jaws back.

  The sorceress cocked her head, contemplating her catch, ‘I will have an answer I am thinking,’ she whispered.

  She flicked a bony digit at the thorny cage and the area directly around its mouth released, moving and re-wrapping itself instantly back over and around its neck, throbbing its thorns back into its skin.

  The creature stretched its jaws, its chest expanding for another roar.

  ‘You utter a sound and I will kill you, and your insolence,’ she commanded.

  It exhaled dramatically and glared at her, ignoring her warning.

  ‘Where's my prey? Where’s the warder? I have a message,’ it hissed.

  It moved its head around as much as possible, scanning the grove. Its keen eyes passed over Ghob, dismissing him, doing the same for Agrona. It sniffed the air and peered around, finally spying me lying inert, dug somewhat into the soft moss.

  ‘Ahhhhhhh, a little human, tasty morressell,’ it growled appreciatively. Its tongue, slithered out, mottled black and swollen, flickering in my direction. It shivered hungrily at my scent. ‘Release me, hag!’

  ‘Enough!’ roared Hulda. The creature cringed at the volume. ‘How did you get in here? How did you get past my wards and barriers, vile thing? You have no real power. Who summoned you and sent you here, Wight?

  The creature looked at her, and its eyes blanked over, filming into white orbs.

  A deep voice issued out of the wight’s mouth, as another took possession of the creature, emulating Hulda’s tone. ‘I will not suffer another warder. I will kill this one just like the last. You will all feel my wrath.’ At those words, the fires fuelling the creature’s eyes snuffed out. The creature dropped limp and lifeless, half hanging to the ground. A vile stench wafted up from it as gasses escaped from its orifices. The body deflated, its animating force gone.

  Hulda looked at me sharply, and her eyes seemed to bore into me. I glared right back. It looked like I had a few more questions to ask about my mother's mysterious death.

  CHAPTER 8

  I left the grove with a well of nausea stirring in the pit of my stomach. I was now apparently a warder. I thought I had a vague inkling of what I had become, but leaving the grove had just raised more questions, which were burning on my lips. The wicked witch of the scary grove would have none of it, though, loudly ejecting us from her sanctuary in a monumental, wrinkled hissy fit.

  ‘I have a cleanup to attend to,’ she shrieked angrily, opening the folds of her night cloak. The chaos spiders flowed out, mandibles twitching excitedly, skittering out towards the wight’s corpse; well, it seems they didn't differentiate between eating a rotting corpse or me. She waved a hand at us and an irregular opening formed in the grove’s perimeter. The spiders above hissed in a symphony of death. Hulda flicked her fingers, and a strong gust of wind pushed us, staggering, towards it. We left pronto.

  The rotting creature’s words were seared into my mind. It knew about my mother's death, and was seemingly responsible in some way for it. Though it seemed that something or someone was controlling it at the end there, when it went all weird — hah, well more bizarre than it already was. Crap, it appeared that destiny did have me firmly in its grasp, and, if I had balls, them too. But the wight was dead, a steaming pile of ooze, being devoured hungrily, so I didn't have that lead to go by.

  Ghob and Agrona both walked me back to my car on either side of me, grim and silent, leading me through a deserted pitch-black forest. The chill of the air had settled right through the canopy, seeping through my clothes and digging deep into my bones. I rubbed my arms, shivering despite myself. A light mist had formed, rising and reaching our midsections — yup, party animals the pair of them.

  I peppered Ghob with questions, but he didn't even bother glancing my way. I even halfheartedly tried Agrona. I was pretty sure what her reaction would be — and yeh, she just hissed at me like an overgrown cat; gee, no help from her either, surprise, surprise.

  Leaving me in my car, Ghob nodded to me silently, and both he and Agrona sunk swiftly down into the asphalt. I looked at the spot for a moment, wonder entering my eyes at all that I had witnessed and gone through tonight. I shook my head in disbelief, as I drove away.

  Soon after arriving home, I called it a night, dropping into my bed like death warmed over. As I plummeted into desperate sleep, my mother floated past my closed eyes. I hoped she was watching over me, as I had the distinct impression that I was going to need all the freaking help I could get …

  day three

  I rose, bleary-eyed, the next day, to the incessant ringing of my phone; damn, I usually let my message bank take over, especially on a day off. I groped blindly for it, barely grappling it to my ear.


  ‘Yup, speak to me.’

  ‘Ha, I've heard better one-liners from telemarketers, Dee Dee.’

  ‘Ah god, Bruce, why are you ringing me so early?’ I croaked, a note of annoyance in my voice.

  ‘Umm, it's 1 pm, emphasizing the PM, Deirdre. What the hell are you still doing in bed?’

  ‘Gah, that late! I rolled over to the other side of my bed to check the digital clock. Holy crap, I'd slept all day.

  Oh my god, I thought, I hadn't been into the store all day either. People will be wondering what had happened to me — eek! Zoey will be full of questions.

  ‘Have a rough night, Deirdre? Perhaps on a date, hmm?’ he chuckled.

  ‘Feeling brave today, Brucey, are we? You know I know where you live, right?’

  ‘Ack, okay, okay I was just joking, okay? Seriously, though, are you alright? I thought you were an early riser, Deirdre. You know, seize the day and all that.’

  ‘Carpe diem is not working for me today, it seems. I just had a late night for once, a bit of insomnia and all, so I didn't open the store today,’ pretending in my voice that nothing was wrong, ‘So don't you even dare think of coming over. I'm all right, okay?’

  ‘Sure, Deirdre, whatever you say. Hey, by the way, I rang for a particular reason, before I forget. You know how I mentioned holding off on runs the other day? Well, it seems we may have a bit of a problem. Whether or not it’s related is still to be seen, though we have found two dead mountain hikers about a kilometer away from those claw marks. They were found tucked into a wedge of a boulder. Both were viciously mauled, but the coroner is still unsure by what species. That rogue bear comes to mind for me, as the damage was pretty significant, though it was strange how the bodies were hidden away.’

  ‘Were there any tracks? Didn't you mention that last time there were some near the radius of the scratched-up trees?’

  ‘Yeh, but nothing animal-like, mostly just from the hikers, though in saying that they might have been disturbed enough for me not to make out. But no, you’re right, there should have been at least a couple. Strange, huh?