Vhadrah- Evolution of HiSkale

by Ambear Shellea

  I nodded. It made sense. I couldn't keep calling her little warrior.

  “Ok. You can call me, Vhadrah. What is it your village calls you?”

  She smiled sweetly and whispered my name silently before she answered.

  “My name is Lalynn Frikk.”

  “Lalynn Frikk.” I muttered, to commit it to memory, “Which do you prefer? Lalynn or Frikk?”

  “Lalynn, please. That is what my mother called me.”

  “Alright, Lalynn. Let us head back into that cave and work out this snake thing. I know that snake is somehow connected to the HiSkale.”

  Lalynn smiled and nodded, “I noticed the markings were similar myself. I don't understand what it is doing here. We have never seen such a creature before.”

  I motioned for her to join me as I walked back to the cave. She continued to explain.

  “My family has been a part of this village since it's inception many generations ago. This creature is new.”

  I looked to her, “This creature may be new to you, but it is not new. It has been around for many ages, just not in this part of the realm. These snakes are secretive and hide. They are descendants of dragons. Some say they are the punishment Odin dealt to the dragons of old who disobeyed and tried to take over the realm.”

  She walked quietly for a moment before she spoke.

  “Is that why we don't see dragons anymore? Because Odin punished them all?”

  I laughed a bit. These mortals had no idea.

  “No. Dragons still exist. Odin just moved them to a part of the realm humans do not inhabit. Dragons and humans can exist and work together but pride and power taints too many hearts, so Odin, to preserve both species, removed them to another place.”

  “Hmm...That makes sense. Some humans seem Hell bent on power and control and will go to any extreme to obtain it...”

  I finished her thought, “...Even if it means they must drink from the fountain of darkness.”

  She didn't comment as we had arrived back to the crevice. I looked to her, giving her the option to enter with the torch or follow without it. She smiled and handed me the torch as she quickly made her decision.

  “'I'll follow. I think I have seen enough of that snake surprise.”

  I laughed, taking the torch and entering the cave.

  “Me too.”

  Scales and Whispers

  The flames staggered and danced along the rock, giving light to the area. There, at my feet lay the long coils of the snake Lalynn had killed. Each scale illuminated and glowing as if the snake itself had swallowed fire, its waves of flame spreading and igniting the beast.

  Yet, in the dark, it was as if nothing was there until it was ready for the prey to know. Chills ran down my spine. The width of the coils matched the exact circumference of my waist. This creature wasn't only long but big around, for a snake. I knelt down, running my hand along the scales. They were cold and smooth like stone, until you reached the jagged point at each scale. Those were razor sharp.

  “So, not only can this thing smother you and bite off your face, if you try and get away, you'll be stabbed to death with scales. Quite the predator indeed.” I said outloud.

  Lalynn said nothing. She stood silently at the opening of the cave. To make a hasty getaway, I assumed, should it have friends come to call. I stood, leaning the torch here and there, looking to see whatever else lay within this dwelling. It looked to be a just an opening in the rock that led to nowhere...well, to death if you weren't aware of the danger or quick enough to slice it's head off.

  Muttering, “There is nothing else here, that I...”

  My inner alarm sensors went off when I heard faint whispers just beyond the inner rock wall of the cave. I looked back to Lalynn, who shrugged. She had heard them too but was just as confused as I. Careful to watch the scales, I crept closer to the wall, looking for a doorway, or a hole or something. To my dismay, there was nothing there, but the closer I got the rock, the louder the voices became.

  Lalynn crept up behind me, her hand on my shoulder.

  “Who do you suppose they are?”

  I shook my head, “I don't know.” I whispered back.

  I ran my hand along the wall, searching for some secret switch or break in the wall but I found nothing. They were right there whoever they were. I could hear them as if they were standing right next to me, yet I could not make out the words they spoke.

  Lalynn was in my ear again, “Perhaps if we followed the hung torches I mentioned, that would lead us to a doorway or an entrance or something.”

  “Perhaps.” I said, thinking it through, “But that is quite the distance from there to here...Meaning whatever this is, it's big and deep...Let's go.”

  I hurried out, Lalynn right behind me. I followed where she pointed and started around the bend, counting the hung torches as I went. We passed thirty-five before we found the entrance to the cave.

  Something didn't feel right. This did not make much sense. Why so many torches that far passed the entrance and then stop about one hundred and fifty yards before the small crack in the cave. If not for the moonlight hitting it exactly right, it would have been missed to the average eye.

  I didn't like it but my curiosity, and my duty, had me carefully walking through the final torches leading into the cave.

  A Place of Magic and Murder

  There was more than a cold draft and torch smoke wafting through that entrance as we crossed the threshold. Whispered words and voices carried along the breeze made their way to us. It was in-distinctive and downright creepy, yet it drew us further in.

  Torch in hand, and Lalynn at my back, I walked slowly into the outer chamber. The air was foul. It stunk of dead men and fire. It reminded me of the old dragon's dens back in the day, when Odin sent us hunting to remove them from this plane and set them to another.

  To my knowledge there should be no more dragons on this realm, yet this cave reeked of them. It made me doubt the great job we only thought we did.

  The outer chamber held a huge pit full of fire in the center, small brittle bones of various creatures lay scattered about the sand. Strange markings covered the walls in crude colored oils and blood.

  At the far end, the largest wall detoured off to each side. A path to the right or the left, nothing down center. We had to make a choice. The right held the whispers of voices, the left the stench of burning corpses. Either way offered little hope, yet both offered fear and uncertainty.

  I turned to Lalynn.

  “Which way? Left, or right?”

  She stood statue still, her hand over her face, and said nothing but her eyes said it all. She was terrified. So much so, she was frozen with it. Her searching gaze the only proof she hadn't been magicked into a flesh monument of fear.

  I stood in front of her, forcing her to make eye contact with me. When I had her attention, I spoke softly to her.

  “Lalynn, are you alright?”

  Dropping her hands, she shook her head, “No.”

  “Have you been here before?”

  Again, a head nod, “No.”

  “Why are you so frightened?”

  This time her voice came back to life, terrified and shaky, but alive.

  “I have seen this in a dream before.”

  “You have?”, I asked, “In your dream, what was this place?”

  “A place of magic and murder. I don't want to go any further.”

  I had to agree, magic and murder was the sense I got from it too, but we needed to find out.

  “Did you venture further in your dream?”

  “Yes. Much further. I don't want to go.”

  “What did you see?” I asked, though i could imagine.

  “Gruesome and terrible things. I don't want to go.”

  I knew then, she wasn't going to go, and I couldn't leave her here. She was Odin's chosen and I was currently unaware of what I was to do with her...or this situation. The HiSkale was dealing death and devastation across the realm. She is somehow t
he key...but so is that snake. Two paths indeed.

  I looked back to the two paths behind me, “Which way?” I whispered.

  I turned back to Lalynn, “In your dream which path did you take? The left or the right?”

  I knew she heard me, yet her gaze, and possibly her mind, were somewhere else. I shook her slightly, gaining her attention once more.

  “Lalynn...” I said again, “In your dream which path did you take, left or right?”

  Her answer stunned me and offered no help.

  “In my dream, there was no path. Only a dark hole in the center wall, and a voice beckoning me forward. I don't want to go.”

  I tried another approach.

  “Once you were through the dark hole, which way did you go?”

  And there it was, the answer I was looking for.

  “I went to the right. I don't want to go.”

  I understood her fear, yet I was getting quite annoyed at her constant statement, I don't want to go. It was as if she were in some trance. I looked back at the two paths, then to her.

  Trance.

  That had to be it. Her body was here, but her fear had captured her mind and was replaying her dream. I was sure I would regret this, but I didn't have time to walk her out of the dream she was trapped in.

  I held my breath and closed my eyes, saying a soft prayer of forgiveness. Then I slapped her. Hard.

  When she screamed and clutched her face. The anger displayed in those eyes let me know she was once again in the present. I reached out and touched her shoulder. She flinched.

  “Please forgive me, your fear held you captive in the dream you once had of this place. I had to pull you back.”

  My triumph was short lived when her next words threw me off balance and straight into full on confusion.

  “I have never dreamed of this place. What do you mean trance? I have been in no trance, Vhadrah, we just walked through the entrance. You stopped, held up the torch and then slapped me.”

  I shook my head, “No, we have been in here, at this entrance for several minutes now. We had a full discussion about you dreaming of this place. I thought you had succumbed to fear and were trapped in that dream once more. That is why I slapped you.”

  We both stared at each other for a few moments. Both voicing the same conclusion, at the same time.

  “Magic.”

  I checked her cheek to be sure she was alright. “I do apologize, Lalynn. I did think you were in danger of something unforeseen...”

  “Well, clearly, I was.” she said, wincing each time my finger touched her angry skin where I had struck her.

  “So, behind me is two paths. One to the left and one to the right. Which direction should we choose?”

  Once I was done mothering her cheek, she side stepped me and looked at what lay before us. It would be more of a guess than a choice, considering we had no information in which to draw a conclusion that would result in making a choice. At this point, one way was just as good as another...or bad. There was no way of telling.

  Finally, Lalynn tried to add some sensibility to her opinion.

  “Well, since there are whispers coming from one side and the smell of death from the other...I would say, toward the whispers, however, since we have already witnessed the use of magic, that could be a trick luring us the wrong direction. Most people do not want to walk into death, so, my guess is that is exactly the way we should go. “

  I had to admit, it made some sense...but rationalizing the irrational was pure nonsense. Yet, here we were, walking toward the aroma of death.

  It didn't disappoint.

  Rounding the next corner was more gruesome than expected. Large parts of creatures hung wildly from small cages. Blood and other things running down the bars, dripping and mixing with the sand below. The rock face splattered with it in vile shapes.

  The stench was thick in the air, sticking to my tongue and throat, making the need to vomit increase. I clenched my stomach muscles, urgently fighting the battle raging within. My eyes watered and small vessels in the nose were set a fire. I had to focus on the way forward just to keep my feet moving.

  It wasn't long until Lalynn lost her battle and we had to stop as she tossed everything in her stomach, adding to the bits already fused in the sand.

  I stood watching both directions, knowing she was heard, and checking for company. To my surprise, she was done quickly, and we had no visitors...yet.

  “Are you alright, Lalynn? Can you walk?”

  I helped to wipe her face and brow with the corner of her shirt. Her eyes were bloodshot and watering, and her nose was red and running. It took a few seconds to removed the evidence from her face and chin.

  She nodded before speaking, “Yes...I am sorry. I am alright now.”

  I looked her over once, “Are you alright enough to continue?”

  Again, she nodded but this time said nothing. I took her at her nod, and proceeded further in.

  I drew my sword and held it at the ready. There was no way we obtained the element of surprise any longer. If something was around the next corner, it knew we were coming.

  As we rounded the last corner, it was worse than I imagined. I froze at the sight of it.

  As a trained warrior you see lots of gruesome things. As one who helped to move dragons from this plane, I've seen a lot worse, but this...This was something I never expected to see.

  In the center, just as the main chamber, a large caged fire pit burned. This one held a rainbow of hues in its flames. I didn't want to know what you had to burn to acquire such colors. My gaze went next to the large table off in the corner, to the left. It was empty of a body yet parts of it remained.

  The sinew and gore mixed with the flowing wax of burning candles, formed thick globs of moving liquid, creating the smell that was permanently burned into taste buds. The air was so thick with it, it had formed almost a fog that blurred my vision. I had to turn away. This was not an answer to my question.

  I crept in further and my heart went into overdrive, trapping the air from my lungs from escaping.

  Squinting, I stepped closer, hoping and praying to Odin, what I saw was a trick. I reached out to the touch the fabric hanging loosely through the bars of the large cage, suspended from the ceiling. I rushed forward, sheathing my sword, and turned the cage carefully around. I did not see a face, but what I did see confirmed my nightmare.

  Before a word left my lips, Laylnn was asking the question I had moments ago.

  “Vhadrah, what...Oh, my God, is that a human?”

  It was not I who answered her. A voice from a place we did not notice, rose and answered before I had a chance.

  “Though the frame matches yours, it is not exactly human...More, like your friend.”

  I drew my sword and placed it at her throat. This woman in front of me wearing a tattered dress, bruises and missing teeth, who had spoken what I didn't want to hear, was clearly not the responsible party. I lowered my weapon and took a better look.

  The rags she wore was like the women in Lalynn's village wore. Long, plain and accommodated movement. Her exposed skin was covered in old and new bruises, accompanied by oozing wounds. Her eyes seemed bright in the firelight, contrasting with dark marks upon her cheeks and swollen lips.

  I reached out to touch her face and she flinched.

  “I will not hurt you.” I assured her, “I just wanted to check your wounds.”

  She said nothing, she just stared back at me in curiosity.

  I turned to Lalynn, who looked just as confused as I.

  “Who is that in those cages?” Lalynn asked as I went back to investigate the other two bodies suspended by death and chains.

  Again, the sudden mute began to speak once more.

  “They are her kinswomen.”

  I kept to my investigation, but I explained.

  I turned the cages, so their backs were exposed and pointed to it.

  “You see the markings here? In the canter of the back? Just above the sp
ine?”

  “Yes.” Laylnn answered and I heard her moving closer. “What is it?”

  “It's Odin's mark. The winged sword. The one he gives to those chosen to be Valkyrie.”

  I heard her gasp. “They are Valkyrie? Like you?”

  I turned to face her, “Yes, they are Valkyrie, but they are not like me. It only seems that way because whoever captured them, ripped off their wings.”

  Dear Odin...They ripped off the wings...ripped...

  Rage and pain came on quickly, with the force of an army. With the release of my tears, and so the contents of my stomach. There wasn't much there considering my interruption in the cave this morning.

  I took only a moment before regaining control. Once the tremors stopped, I turned to the others just as Lalynn was asking a question.

  “What are they doing here? How did they get captured in the first place? I mean, they're Valkyrie!”

  Once more, the captive spoke, “It was him. The High Priest.”

  I strode passed Lalynn and back to this woman. “Who is the High Priest?”

  She shook her head, “We only know him as High Priest.” “We?” I asked, and my answer slowly crept forward from the shadows. Two more women, just like the one on front of me. They were also covered in bruises, tattered clothes and matted hair. I looked at each of them. They were faces I did not know.

  I turned to Lalynn, “Do you know these women? They look like they are from your village.”

  I stepped aside so she could move in to get a better look. The expression on her face never changed from confusion. She inspected each woman carefully. She moved their hair from their faces and looked them dead in the eye hoping she would see something familiar. She did not, I assumed by the look of disappointment and relief on her face.

  “Who are you?” I asked them.

  The same woman who had been answering questions, answered this one too. The others stayed behind her.

  “We are from a village nearby called Lhos Adreva. Our village was attacked, and we were captured by the HiSkale and brought here, to the High Priest. They are twins...” she pointed behind her, “My sisters. I was trying to get them to safety when we were caught.”