TERRA: Earth Warder Chronicles

by Adrian M Ferguson

  Not realizing the honor, I hesitated.

  Seeing this, his mouth set slightly.

  ‘Umm, thank you,’ taking the pearl, before I caused some sort of unknown elemental diplomatic kerfuffle. ‘I would be honored.’

  His face lighting up, I braced myself, feeling a deluge of pure emotion roll of him.

  Gee, I seemed to be the flavor of the month.

  CHAPTER 32

  ‘Watch out, Warder!'

  Nichsa slammed me aside in a watery geyser of confusion. Falling down heavily, he formed a thick wall of opaque water in front of me just as a black ball of pulsing energy hit the spot where I had been standing. It exploded against him instead with a concussive release of hot steam.

  I heard Nichsa grunt, as he absorbed the impact; the energy dissipated, not seeming to cause him any pain or too obvious discomfort.

  His head formed in the water, facing back to me.

  ‘Now that was unpleasant, he grimaced’. ‘

  Beware, Warder, evil approaches.’

  ‘Fuck, really?’ I panted. I hadn't even caught my breath yet.

  The forest ahead of me darkened, a deathly hush descending. All of the remaining revenants scattered, screaming gibberish, fervently trying to move out of the way of the approaching night. They were terrified, those not moving quickly enough engulfed by the wall of black set back in the forest. Their screaming was so loud and high pitched it reached inaudible decibels, then cut off; whatever was in there made short work of them.

  I watched as an undead wolf not moving fast enough tripped and was engulfed, meeting the same fate. I could hear a terrible whining followed by the sounds of flesh being torn. Moments later a meaty missile came flying our way.

  ‘Incoming,’ I hollered.

  Both Nichsa and I moved the required steps as the wolf half skidded along the ground between us, slopping blood and entrails in tow, the head still aware and making harsh clicking sounds as its teeth snapped in my direction.

  Niche’s skewered it negligently with a spear made out of glistening hard water.

  ‘Thank you twice over, King Nichsa,’ I said, inclining my head in his direction.

  ‘You are welcome, Warder,’ he said, sliding his spear out. Sinking to the ground in a formless mass he spread out with barely a ripple. I watched the liquid heading to where Agrona was ripping to shreds another wight.

  Like she needed help.

  He helped her anyway, coming up behind the wight and quickly wrapping its legs in surging watery manacles, collapsing onto its back. Agrona with a sneer firmly stood on its head, collapsing its skull with a loud pop, with no effort at all. I could see her manic grin from here.

  She was back in good form.

  I still didn’t have a warm and soft cuddly spot for her, but Ghob needed her whole, physically and mentally. She was a ferocious fighter. I could now see why she was his second-in-command; she was absolutely ruthless.

  A cacophony of shrieks and hisses broiled out of the fast-approaching darkness and faintly I could pick up a sly, quiet cackle.

  Backing up right to the edge of the circle, tendrils of malignant blackness shot out from the forest, some hitting the ground ineffectively writhing in the undergrowth searching for something to latch onto, though a few actually flew past me smashing into my circle. Black patches of energy hissed with a sharp sibilant sound, weakening my circle on impact.

  That dark energy was clearly not my friend.

  Bursting out of the canopy from above the encroaching darkness a shrieking flock of undead ravens, hundreds strong came directly for me. Their feathers were tattered and falling off them in a deluge of dry inky black silkiness, and their grey, glazed eyes were all focused on me. I took a quick hopping step back into my circle, and cringed as they hit the wall in one terrible splattering of noise and broken bodies.

  Surprisingly I felt calm, my mind wandering as my circle wall became a macabre imitation of a blood-spattered impressionist painting. It seemed this was the life of a warder, full of blood and offal and screaming, dying undead animals. I was prepared to believe otherwise but, as the bodily fluids and beaks slid past my gaze, to say I was getting concerned was a bit of an understatement. My thoughts drifted back to my mother apparently doing this for five hundred or so years. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be doing it for the next five hundred. But the thought of my mother made me stand a little taller. She had protected this Earth and now it was my turn.

  Well, if she could do it, I could too. I was my mother’s daughter — of that there was no doubt. Lifting my gaze to the desolate scene before me I stopped cringing.

  This fucktard was going to pay.

  Gesturing at the ravens, I let the earth take them, swallowing their remains. I didn’t want to have to walk through more rotting bodies. I was tired of being on the defensive. Time to take the fight to this evil son of a bitch and show him that I, hell, we were not ones to mess with.

  The clamor ahead of me reached a crescendo, and then as if my intentions were plucked from my mind the necromancer appeared out of the darkness, he cackled, and I heard him clearly whisper.

  ‘Now, we meet in the flesh Warder, and you are going to pay dearly for all your meddling’.

  Raising his arms, he took the offensive, as out of his fingers he flung a barrage of basketball-sized balls of crackling energy at me. His aim was excellent. I just had time to throw up a half-assed semi-circle of protection in front of me as all of them hit point on. I had the sense to draw energy from Earth, which was about all that stopped them from getting through to me. It bolstered the wall’s strength indefinitely.

  Raising my arms in evocation, several large boulders that were scattered around the forest responded to my command. As I whipped them at him, they whistled through the air from several directions and disintegrated against a black hazy protective shield not a few inches from his grimy tattered body. Seeing the little effect they caused and the smug grin on his pointed face, I gestured again, straining as I raised a solid basalt rock barrier directly up from the ground, fully enclosing him. Immediately afterwards, I raised my arms again and, bringing them in with a resounding clap, attempted to crush the life out of him.

  I heard him screaming in anger. Increasing the pressure I felt his protective layer under the rock wall strain, then pop and bend under the force I was exerting against him. His angry screams turned to screams of agony and I applied more pressure, hoping to squeeze him to a bloody mess. I felt resistance, then a massive crack as the rock prison exploded out in all directions.

  He hung there, scratched and bloody, surprise flashing across his face, which quickly turned into a rictus of rage. I had drawn first blood and he was uber pissed.

  Nichsa glided forward, twin spears of wicked sharp water forming in his hands.

  ‘Please, no, Nichsa,’ I yelled, gesturing him back. ‘I’m here to settle a debt with this murdering son of a bitch, Necromancer. He's responsible for a lot of deaths.’

  Nichsa, seeing vengeance shining from my eyes, pulled back hesitantly, not used to taking commands from anyone below his status.

  ‘Please, King of Elemental Waters,’ I beseeched. ‘I’m responsible for avenging all the animals he’s killed and the damage he’s caused. He needs to know that I am now the Warder and that he cannot act with impunity, not on my watch.’

  The water spears slid back into the king’s mass. He nodded gravely.

  ‘I’m here, if you need assistance, Warder,’ he murmured, slightly bowing his head in deference.

  My strength and will bolstered, I watched as Ghob also rose silently from the ground, his hammer spinning lazily by his side.

  Bowing his head in mimicry of Nichsa. ‘This was the disturbance I was investigating. He was shielded very strongly from me, Warder.’

  I nodded brusquely.

  ‘No shit, let me deal with it now, though.’

  I turned back to inflict some serious butt kicking on this piece of shit, when suddenly all hell broke loose, literal
ly.

  The necromancer had burned a pentagram into the ground below his feet, and was now inscribing a circle. It pulsated red. Searing hot letters quickly followed along the outer edge, flaming into existence, spiky, elongated and barbed.

  The necromancer raised his spindly back arms in evocation.

  ‘Arise, faithful servant, arise devil and harbinger of death,’ he intoned, his voice rising to a crescendo. ‘Arise and destroy this petty small human, who has angered our Master Bezelbuth. He commands you to do my bidding in his name, he gives you the power to rise from the depths of the abyss and rain your wrath down, smiting this pathetic mortal. Arise!’ he screamed, spittle flying in all directions at his last command.

  The circle’s outer rim of light and heat exploded into the air. Ripping out, it created a jagged hole tearing into our reality. Billows of noxious gas escaped, withering and killing all the grass surrounding it.

  Ghob was transfixed. ‘He has summoned a demonic devil onto this Earth, in the name of Bezelbuth, Lord of the Fly. That is impossible.’

  Nichsa appeared equally as stunned. The water moving in the column beneath him perceptibly slowed and stilled, the ripples gently undulating around him.

  ‘Warder, please do not move from where you are standing. Please be still,’ Ghob gently pleaded.

  I slowly moved my head in his direction, reluctant to take my eyes off the demon and exultant necromancer.

  ‘What do we do?’ I hissed.

  Ghob's hammer had stilled, lying unobtrusively by his side, its perpetual blurring movement gone, as though it too didn’t want to be noticed.

  ‘Warder, I believe this may be out of your depth, even with your newly acquired Earth Focus. You are not trained in its use yet,’ he breathed, eyes latching onto the demon.

  ‘This necromancer must be in high favor with his master, if he has the skill and power to raise even a lesser devil. Though any demons are quite powerful if they are able to access the earthly plane.’

  The demon let out an ear-piercing hissing roar, and several of its appendages, jagged and cruelly armored with chitinous barbs, pulled free. As the hideous sound reverberated through the clearing and surrounding area, an instance of terror-filled silence fell. I watched as the few remaining wolves slunk away into the hoary undergrowth, and the revenants scampered back into the forest, squealing in unadulterated terror.

  Even one of the heavily maimed wights attempted to drag itself into the darkness, pushing itself as low into the ground as possible so that it wouldn’t be spotted.

  I felt the same terror wash over me. This was a being of pure evil, blighting the land with its sheer presence. I caught myself backing up with an uncontrollable urge to pee myself. I clenched down hard, shocked at my body’s involuntary reaction.

  Nichsa's watery hand eased onto my shoulder, heavy and solid. His thoughts swam out engulfing me, calming me, embracing my terror and consuming it in his oceanic depths, so that I wouldn’t flee screaming.

  *Be calm, Warder, still your mind. Demons prey on terror and panic — let him not notice you. Ghob and I will deal with him. Please observe, but from behind your shield, if you don't mind.

  I looked at Ghob. He nodded gravely.

  ‘Please do as he requests, Deirdre, and reinforce it with the Earth Focus.’ Ghob’s use of my first name shook me out of my daze.

  ‘Yes, Ghob, yes I will do as you say,’ I breathed.

  Backing up very slowly, I watched as both the elemental kings exchanged looks; whether they shared thoughts or not I wasn't sure, but an agreement definitely was reached between them, as they both turned in unison to face the enraged demon spawn.

  In moments Ghob and Nichsa inflated and grew, shooting up in height and mass. Ghob’s skin rippled and I watched in amazement as slabs of jagged rock slid up his legs and torso, coating his arms and broad chest with thick impenetrable armor. They locked into place, connecting with each other, leaving no visible chinks or weaknesses for the demon to exploit. The rock formed a rigid helmet around his head that seemed a part of his skin; now this was an Elemental King of Earth encased for battle.

  Ghob flexed his shoulders in a rolling movement creating a slow pronounced rumble.

  Game on.

  Nichsa rose next to him in the air on a screaming vortex of pale white water. Putting out one arm, a solid whirling shield grew from his arm. Gripped in his other hand, a spear elongated and formed, javelin style. He whirled it experimentally through his fingers in a soft deadly hiss. Motionless, he stared at the snarling demon, supported by his element which he was master of; he was ready for the imminent battle.

  These were some badass elemental kings right here.

  Moving back till I was completely behind my circle I touched the surface with the palm of my hand, turning my thoughts inward and to the Focus on my wrist. I skimmed the surface of its power and let it trickle into the protective ward. As when I journeyed to the earth’s center I added another inner layer, thicker than the first, attuning it to repelling evil as well. I wasn't entirely sure how that would stop a freaking demon, but I had my fingers crossed that it wouldn't come to that.

  Nichsa flicked his razor-sharp spear at the ground and moved it in an effortless semi-wave. Immediately in front of him a small tornado of water appeared, a muddy, slowly spinning vortex. I noticed movement on the ground and realized the whole area was glistening wet. Nichsa must be drawing water from underground and inundating the area. He flicked his spear more aggressively this time and my thoughts were proven right as the mini tornado inhaled all the water and debris from the surrounding area in one swift suction and shooting it up meters high, transforming into something terrifying in its ferocity.

  They both exchanged a, dare I say, ‘man look’, of ‘let’s fuck up this demon’s day’ and Nichsa with a casual gesture let loose his geyser, which rocketed off as if let loose from a slingshot. Careening along the ground, it picked up whatever was in its way — rock, debris, rotten carcasses, all went up that spout.

  The demon paused in mid-snarl as the tornado hit its head in a clash of screaming wind, high-spinning water and earsplitting noises of surprise and pain.

  In tandem with Nichsa, Ghob gestured with one heavily armored hand. Serrated spikes of rock burst out of the ground in front of the demon, angled up, stabbing towards it through the geyser of whirling debris. I heard them thunk home and then retract like a flick blade back into the ground, ichor and black meat dripping slowly from their jagged edges.

  The demon, injured, had already let loose a maelstrom around itself. A blistering cloud of fire billowed out, eating away at the tornado’s contents and dampening the strength of the wind surrounding it. Through the pulsating fire, the demon appeared, his wounds a gaping mess pouring out black blood. He bellowed a challenge and stepped fully out of the fiery earth. His elongated limbs pounded at the molten ground ripping up two large searing handfuls. He lobbed them at Ghob and Nischa, the searing heat from the spattering of droplets burning holes in the uneven earth. I watched as the grass around them caught fire, igniting a line of destruction.

  Ghob waved his hand at the very last moment and a wall of invisible protection formed in front of him and Nichsa as the scalding, packed earth hit directly in front of their faces.

  Shrieking in glee in the background, the necromancer, drunk with power and manic abandon, let fly another trio of dark energy. It zipped through the air past the demon’s head, hitting Ghob’s circle. I watched in horror as inkblot-sized holes appeared on the shield. Ghob grimaced as he realized that demon fire and necromantic energy were damaging even his Earth-wrought Circle.

  Using his spear, Nichsa flung a deluge of water at the interior of the sphere. The water spread, coating the damage and sealing it tight, flowing across the whole shield and reinforcing it. Ghob grunted in thanks.

  ‘This has gone on long enough. Nichsa, please dampen the fires, if you will, particularly around the demon itself. I will distract the beast.’

  Nichsa
nodded, raising his arms in a gesture of command. I felt the earth tremble and gaped in amazement as water started bubbling slowly out of the ground, around and underneath us. It seeped through the compacted soil, slowly spreading out until, under Nichsa's direction, it moved imperceptibly towards the pissed-off demon, who was unaware yet of its insidious approach. The ground water reached the Hell Hole’s edges and in a deluge of angry steam poured into the hole, dampening and darkening the glare of the maw-like cavity.

  Steam rose up and the demon reared back roaring in fury, temporarily blinded. The hole, being the devil's gateway to our plane, contracted, dragging a portion of the beast back down into its depths. I saw what might have been akin to panic flit across its humanoid face before its eyes narrowed, focusing on the ground, and the wet culprit responsible for his sudden unintended backtrack to hell.

  Before the devil could retaliate, Ghob spoke a thundering word of Power and a hush fell over the clearing. I held my breath. I could feel the air go still around me. Looking at Ghob, his eyes were closed. The demon paused, quick jerky glances our way betraying his unease even though it was clear he knew something had just occurred but not what exactly.

  I spied a shadow appearing over the demon. Quickly looking up I gasped in complete shock. Falling from the sky was an immense craggy boulder spanning several meters across. It plummeted down directly above the demon and the necromancer. The necromancer, a bit quicker on the uptake than the demon and noticing my reaction, let out a shriek of part fear and part amazement, blurted out a string of words and stepped sideways into the narrow sliver of darkness that appeared beside him. He reappeared instantaneously near my property’s circle, catching himself in surprise at his location.

  I gave him a nasty grin.

  Glaring at me and hissing, he raised his hand and a volley of pulsating globes of necromantic energy got flung at me, dripping with a sickly flavescent tone, and struck my circle in front of my face. Billows of putrid vapor steamed away; thankfully, my circle remained intact.