Grimoire Bound

by Jeff Sproul

  "We can't stay here!" Verun yelled in return, but kept his focus forward.

  Chaxin gripped both the mage-caster and the gun-saber tightly. He wasn't sure how great a weapon the saber was, but he wasn't just going to leave it behind. He still wasn't entirely sure how 'alive' the two crew members had been when they arrived. Had the monster been controlling them the entire time, even their eyes? There was just too much that they didn't know about this creature, and now they were in the midst of some hunt for it.

  A dark shape fell from the ceiling in front of Verun. A long thick tail lashed out and smacked him into a nearby crate, which cracked the box's wooden frame and left him to fall to the floor.

  "Verun!" Chaxin called, and quickly stepped back from the creature that had fallen before him. The monstrous woman's spider-limbs stretched out like wings. Her face was in shadow due to the light coming in from behind her.

  "It's been fun watching you squirm, but I have other matters to attend to," the woman hissed. "You'll make for a decent snack. Then, I'll hunt your companions." Her head tilted and her barely discernable lips seemed to curl and part, giving way to the pearly white fangs lining her mouth.

  Chaxin raised the saber and squeezed the trigger lever. He had no idea if it had even been loaded.

  Bang!

  The hot orange round blasted from the top of the hilt and streaked out at the woman's chest.

  She was incredibly quick. Her body moved like liquid, pulling to the side and avoiding the heated shot, which missed its mark, only to smack uselessly into a crate.

  But the moment he'd fired the shot, his right hand lifted. He readied another bolt, despite the awkwardness of holding the saber as well. He thumbed the appropriate X runes, and this time, readied the bolt for the corrosive setting.

  Before he could truly line up the shot, he released the bolt, knowing that he had to be quick, because this creature was far beyond his capabilities. He needed every edge he could get.

  The mage-caster released the corrosive bolt with a soft 'thunk.' It wasn't wreathed in flame like the flame setting had done for the other bolt, and in fact, looked completely normal.

  The dark metal helped hide the projectile as it shot towards the woman. She saw it at the last moment and managed to avoid it, but not entirely.

  The corrosive bolt hit the mid-section of one of her arachnid-like legs. The bolt liquefied in an instant. The liquidized bolt melted right through the chitinous leg.

  "Ah!" the woman screamed as her leg was torn off. She winced and bared her fangs with a hiss. "Wretch!"

  With her outstretched remaining legs, she rushed at Chaxin. Each of those crimson-tipped appendages were aimed at him as she slithered with absurd speed.

  He was a short distance away, and after firing the corrosive shot, he'd grabbed another bolt, but his time was running out. He thumbed the X rune to draw the string back, but it didn't work. He pressed it again and again, but it was unresponsive. With the non-functioning mage-caster, Chaxin went into a panic. He dropped the caster and drew the saber into his right hand, readying himself for the woman coming at him. He'd managed to wound her, but there was no way he could stand up against such a formidable foe.

  Bang! Bang!

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  Bang!

  The woman was mere feet away from Chaxin, her sharp limbs nearly upon him, but the loud sound of what could only be gunfire made her pause and swing her head.

  Numerous bolas flew through the air. The projectiles, consisting of a strong cord and two round weights on the ends, came rushing at the creature. She had no time to dodge as the flurry assailed her. They wrapped around her arms and chest, and her spidery appendages. The force of the armaments drew her down to the ground.

  Just behind the bolas came a heavy corded net which fell across the woman, razor edges interlaced all throughout. Her initial struggles caused the blades to mar her chitinous legs and cut into the scales of her tail and flesh of her body. She let out a terrible cry, which chilled Chaxin to the bone as he managed to take several steps back.

  "Lightning!" came the single word from a woman's mouth, from across the warehouse.

  Chaxin looked up, and spotted at least a dozen figures headed his way. One of the figures stopped and held up some sort of metallic rod that glinted in the meager light coming in from the warehouse entrance. There was a series of blue-white flashes at the pyramid-shaped head of the rod, before the person directed it at the fallen monster.

  In the blink of an eye, a streak of lightning arced out from the rod and struck the metal net and bolas. The monster cried out, before her voice was silenced. She went immobile, her body slack.

  The first person to reach the fallen creature was a woman in similar leather armor and clothing to the other three people Chaxin had met so far while they were in Trillin. She had mocha skin and wrinkles around her eyes, and deep black hair which was tied back. She had sharp features, and a few scars on her neck and exposed arms.

  She kicked the creature's tail with a brown boot. Her narrowed eyes watched the monster-woman's body.

  "Is she dead?" asked Chaxin, taking a step forward. In the corner of his eye, he could see Verun pulling himself up from the crate he'd been smashed against.

  "She's not going to let us kill her that easy, not Keldara," the mocha-skinned woman spoke as she then looked up to Chaxin. She glanced to the saber in his hand and then up to his face. "Who are you, and why are you holding one of my crew's weapons?" Her eyes narrowed again, just as they had when she'd been looking at the monster.

  Chaxin tensed and dropped the weapon to the floor, not wanting to incite a conflict. He'd seen how easy that could be, with what happened after the cyclops fight. "Apologies," he said. "One of your friends was being controlled by that creature, and I had to seize the weapon, or be shot."

  The woman slowly walked around the side of the monster, known as Keldara. The people in her group were already hooking poles into the net. Without waiting, they began to drag the monster towards the entrance to the warehouse. One of the new arrivals went up to the scarred woman. He was a man, perhaps ten years older than Chaxin, with light skin and short dreadlocks drawn back against his head. "Captain, we have ping confirmation from the western group. They're returning to the ship, but the two south teams and east are still silent."

  "Um," Chaxin spoke up, upon hearing the man speak to the captain. "Some of your people are over there," he said, and pointed back the way that he and Verun had ran from earlier. Three bodies were lying on the ground now, and flames were building from several of the crates where Verun's fireball attack had struck.

  The captain spoke, raising her voice. "Someone check those bodies, grab what you can."

  Two men darted off from the group.

  Four individuals were dragging Keldara's body, and another two were guarding them, while two more waited nearby with the man that had just been speaking to the captain.

  Chaxin took a few seconds to retrieve his dropped mage-caster, but didn't attempt to pick the saber back up.

  The captain's attention returned to Chaxin. "What's your business here? Are you part of another crew?" she asked, then glanced over to Verun, who was slowly wandering over, holding his chest on the left side. "Is it just the two of you?"

  "Just the two of us," Verun spoke up, before Chaxin could say anything. "Do you happen to have a healer? Or any remedies? I fear I might've broken something."

  "That all depends on who the hell the two of you are, and where you're from. This isn't the place to be making friends," the captain said.

  "He's Chaxin, I'm Verun. We escaped Purgatory by mere luck. We travelled via mausoleum. But I fear we're not quite where we left off. I was hoping to get some answers on how much time has passed, as well as what's befallen this city. And since it doesn't seem to be as friendly as I'd hoped, we're looking for passage elsewhere."

  "I'm Captain Nessa of the Macidna," said Nessa.

  Upon hearing the word 'Macidna,' Chaxin's brow furro
wed. He'd heard that word before.

  "And I'm not one to call a stranger a liar, but there's no working mausoleums here," said Nessa. "Or much of anywhere, for that matter. Only in Grittin, as far as Wake is concerned."

  "What do you mean?" asked Verun, finding her words both confusing and troubling.

  "Lord Karnith destroyed them years ago," said Nessa. She placed her hands on her hips and looked between the two of them.

  Chaxin's brows lifted as he looked to Verun.

  Verun returned his gaze. "Well… the one we traveled by was hidden away."

  "Didn't know you could travel with a mausoleum," said Nessa. "Your story is unbelievable. You realize that, right?"

  Verun sighed. "Look, we're not trying to deceive you. I'm a very knowledgeable arcanist. I'm part of a scholarly group known as the Mitigators. I've learned a great deal about scrawl and how to manipulate it to my purposes with efficiency. We managed to leave Purgatory, but we have surely been gone a long time. Now, you say that Lord Karnith destroyed all the mausoleums several years ago? Why would he do that?"

  "Macidna!" Chaxin spoke up, his attention going to Nessa before she even had a chance to answer Verun. "You're the captain of one of the ships that was with the Scalli. But… in the Scalli's manifest, it said that there was a storm and that you were lost at sea."

  Nessa lifted a brow at Chaxin. "You've read the Scalli's manifest?"

  At that moment, the two men that had run off to check the three fallen crew members returned. Their arms were laden with the weapons they'd been carrying, along with other knick-knacks that must've been in their pockets. "Sorry Captain," one of them spoke up. "But all three are dead."

  Nessa shook her head. "Damnable woman," she muttered. "We can't linger here. It could be dark any time, and I don't want to be anywhere near this island when the light fades." She looked to her crew, then to Chaxin and Verun. "You two, you're coming with us." Her sights rested on Chaxin as she gestured to the saber he'd dropped. "Take that with you. You've earned it, it seems. But we have much to discuss."

  Chapter 24: The Macidna

  Chaxin tore into half a roll of bread. It was coated with some sort of sweet glaze. He chewed and chewed, and swallowed as fast as he was able. He brought a metal cup to his lips and gulped down some of the ale he'd been provided. The ale wasn't as tasteful as what he'd had back in Kamber. In fact, it had a strange tang to it that made him wonder if it hadn't gone bad. But regardless, it was the first thing he'd had to drink in what felt like days. His time in Purgatory, and then the transition here, had really destroyed his sense of time.

  Verun sat beside him and was much more managed with his eating style, as he cut into some sort of green vegetable.

  Seated at the wooden table across from Verun was the short-dreadlocked man that had spoken to Nessa earlier. He was Nessa's second in command, and his name was Tamos.

  Beside Tamos, across from Chaxin, was Nessa herself. Her arms crossed, and her eyes were upon Chaxin.

  Nessa's ship, the Macidna, had already set sail. All in all, Nessa had lost nine of her crew, and gained a captured monster named Keldara.

  Night had indeed encroached quickly upon them. Minutes after pushing off from port, the sky began to fade, minute by minute. Even now, night was upon them with a cloudy sky.

  In the mess of Nessa's ship were four tables. Several members of her crew were eating at the others, while she sat with Chaxin, Verun, and her second in command.

  "Ten years ago," Nessa spoke up, "we left port in Trillin, with the Luwalt and the Scalli. We acted as an escort ship, along with the Luwalt, for the Scalli."

  Chaxin's ravenous behavior took a sudden turn as he heard the length of time that had passed.

  Verun looked to Chaxin. "How long ago was that for you?"

  Chaxin swallowed a bite of bread and eased back in his seat. "About two or three days ago? I guess. The ship on the shore of Kamber had been there for hours before I woke up and saw it."

  "So you're a new face," said Tamos.

  Chaxin nodded. "I certainly feel like I've been around a lot longer than I have. I can't believe ten years have passed. What happened to your ship? What happened to the Scalli? You know what happened to it, right?"

  Nessa nodded. "We learned of its fate sometime later. A storm separated us. We got off course, and the sea was treacherous. We were attacked."

  "Attacked?" Chaxin asked.

  Nessa looked over to Tamos, and gestured with her head.

  Tamos took in a breath, and spoke up again. "A storm came, and separated us from the Scalli. As Nessa said, this was ten years ago. Some of our crew has come and gone, and we lost a quarter of our number on that night. Nessa was in her quarters, but I was out on the deck. In the murky depths, we saw it. Moving like a shadow, with eyes as large as a man's body. We couldn't make out much else than that, but it damaged the ship. We began taking on water. We didn't even see how it hit us, only that the hull was cracked, as if it had been squeezed on both sides. Luckily, we had a woman who had the knowhow to enchant and mend the hull. But the damage was extensive. Some of our crew drowned in the lower decks. Others were knocked overboard from the waves crashing against us."

  Chaxin swallowed. He then recounted in detail, the day and night that he, Kaiz, Deloris, and Jerem had all spent on the ship. How they found the captain, how they found the cargo, and what was in it. He then described the event that led to his death and his quick journey to Purgatory and back. Verun filled in some of the details of their Purgatory ordeal, but left out anything describing his own death.

  "On that ship, those spectres," said Nessa. "That's what Lord Karnith has been after for many years. We'd captured one and held it prisoner in Jari. But we didn't know what it was capable of."

  "Jari? Like, the continent?" asked Chaxin, trying to figure out what Nessa meant. "I was told about a Jari war, due to the people of Jari being mostly pirates, or something."

  Nessa shook her head and sighed. "Our laws were lax, there's no question there," she said. "I'm sure pirates operated on our ports and shores, but it wasn't as if we were a nation of hooligans. Lord Karnith discovered that we'd captured a spectre. He tried sending agents to seize it for himself, but those plans were thwarted, as I've been told. Then, he rallied all the armies of the Kajura continent against us. Claiming us as pirates, and a threat to all peoples. We didn't stand much of a chance, I'm afraid. But those events transpired before you ever arrived."

  "He went to war for one of those things?" asked Chaxin. "What happened? Did he get it?"

  Nessa shook her head. "No, the creature was sealed in a sarcophagi and shipped away. I don't know what happened after that, but some years passed, and then I, and the Captain of the Luwalt, Captain Gregmore, were contracted to protect a merchant vessel to the shore of Kamber. We didn't know what the Scalli's cargo was. We simply thought it was something highly profitable, to warrant two escorts."

  "And what of this Captain Gregmore?" asked Verun, who was listening intently to everything being told. "And I assume you survived this Jari war unscathed?"

  "Captain Gregmore is at the bottom of the ocean," said Nessa. "Whatever attacked us sunk the Luwalt. As far as my time in the Jari war, I gained my share of scars from it, even as a young captain at the time. After Karnith failed to seize what he wanted, and Jari was in ruins, he withdrew with the spoils of our wealth. And I and my crew took work where we could get it."

  "You said that there are no mausoleums," said Verun. "That Lord Karnith had destroyed them. Please explain that."

  "As Chaxin just explained, Lord Karnith gained access to a spectre. I know very little about the creatures, other than their combat abilities." Nessa then cleared her throat. "About a year after the incident with the Scalli, word began to spread that Grittin was amassing weapons, wealth, and power. It wasn't long after that Lord Karnith struck out against all the other cities of the Kajura continent. He seized control of each town, planted his own governors, and left militia to ensure his will be do
ne."

  "And what was his will?" asked Chaxin.

  Nessa looked to Chaxin. "The destruction of all mausoleums. The forced conscription of strong adventurers, and the transportation of wealth and goods, to Grittin."

  "But how?" asked Verun. "From my understanding, Grittin was a powerful and wealthy city, but surely its armies couldn't have conquered all of Kajura alone?"

  Nessa's expression grew more solemn. "I wasn't there," she said. "All I know are the stories. People say that in the middle of the night, there was a flash, and a bright oval light opened up in the center of town. From the light, soldiers poured through, all wearing the seal of Grittin. There was no great conflict, no war. Just the overnight seizure of towns, one after another. Karnith's men planted devices in the towns and stationed guards, and recruited even more. Town after town was targeted, before they could warn any others. The armies of Grittin seized everything on Kajura, and then, they set their sights to the other continents. Jari had already fallen, so it was saved for last. But Pothis and Lontor were claimed in just a week each. Then, they returned to Jari to wipe out any mausoleums and conscript anyone they could find."

  Verun scratched at his chin after hearing Nessa's description of the events. "Instantaneous travel through some sort of portal? Does it have something to do with the spectres?" he said, mostly musing to himself.

  "What are they doing with all those people?" asked Chaxin.

  "Using them for further atrocities," said Tamos. "With those portals, Karnith is able to reach beyond Wake. He conquered this sphere, and then set his sights upon others."

  Verun's eyes widened as he looked up to Tamos. "He's reaching other spheres?"

  Tamos nodded. "Karnith conquered Wake in less than a month. In the following year, his army grew and he used it to attack other spheres. Sometimes monsters, sometimes human cities and settlements on other worlds. He plunders everything he can get his hands on."

  "But why is everyone following along?" asked Chaxin. "Surely these people don't want to die and fight for him? I don't understand."