Vhadrah- Evolution of HiSkale

by Ambear Shellea

  I shook my head, “You ride this?”

  “Yes!” he shouted, full of childhood glee. “She’s quite comfotable, and the ride is much smoother than any ship I’ve ever been on. The choppy waves don’t hinder her movements, and there isn’t a sea creature out there that would attack her.”

  I was still in utter dismay. My eyes saw, but my mind didn’t want to believe. Was this real? That answer came the next instant when one of the tenticles touched my arm.

  I turned to Wexx, “Can she understand human language?”

  He shook his head, “I really don’t know. It might have something to do with the sword, or rather the crystal Luna put in it. The Amethyst, is actually her crystal globe, not a gemstone.”

  This was out of my hands and looked to be the only way to Mhores Isle. I had spent too much time already.

  “Alright, Wexx, what do I need to do?” I asked.

  He was way too chipper about this for my taste. I think he found much humor at my expense, but then again, in his shoes, I may have done the same. When I retell this story, no one will believe it. The good Captain went on with the instructions.

  “Stand still, she will pick you up, and position you where you can sit.”

  I looked from Wexx to the creature.

  “Well, Salty Sea Harrah, I am ready.”

  I sheathed my sword, and stood, waiting for this wild ride to begin. The next second, a tenticle knocked my feet out from under me, only to catch me before I hit the ground.

  I was cupped in the tenticle as one does when scooping water from a stream. It was weird, and crazy, but Wexx was right, I was quite comfortable.

  When I checked on Wexx, he was already in postuion, in a small notch on Salty Sea Harrah’s head, as if that spot were made for him. Still, huge smile plastered on his face.

  “You ready, Vhadrah?” he asked.

  “As I’ll ever be.” I muttered back.

  With that we were slowly moving away from land, and further out to sea. The last thing I heard was Wexx’s voice.

  “Salty Sea Harrah, take us to Mhores Isle.”

  Sirens and Salty Sea Harrah

  We had been travelling swiftly, for hours, when we began to slow. It could have just been how fast we were going, but it didn’t seem like we were close to our destination.

  “Why are we slowing?” I yelled.

  Salty Sea Harrah moved me closer to Wexx.

  I patted the tenticle, “Thank you.” It seemed the polite thing to do, though weird in practice.

  “I’m not sure.” Replied Wexx.

  Salty Sea Harrah pointed to a small island off in the distance.

  “Why are we going there?” I asked.

  Wexx, shook his head. “I don’t know, she has not deviated from our course before. Although, we have only gone from Skale Island to Drekkin Reach.”

  Once we made landfall, we were both placed in the sand, but Salty Sea Harrah never left. She sat, bobbing in the water as if she were waiting for more instruction.

  “Wexx, what is she doing?”

  He shrugged but stepped to Salty Sea Harrah.

  “Harrah, lass, we need to get to Mhores Isle.”

  As if watching a sane, grown man speak to an oversized Octopus wasn’t weird enough, it communicated back. I almost fainted. In my many years of life, given by Odin, I have never witnessed such a sight.

  Salty Sea Harrah turned from her dark purple color to varying shades of green, shaking a tenticle from side to side. Something akin to a mother telling her child no. It was wild to watch.

  “Hey Ocotpus whisperer, what is she saying?”

  Wexx had a nervous laugh. “I’m working that out…at least trying to.”

  “Wexx, she understands enough to give yes or no answers, perhaps that’s how the questions need to be?”

  “Perhaps…” he muttered, “This is still new to me too.”

  I laughed a bit, “Wow. No one is ever going to believe this. I’m here, and I can’t believe it. We rode a giant octopus, and now your trying to communivate with it, like it’s a small child. This has been a strange day indeed.”

  Wexx ignored me, as he was deep in thought, it seemed. I pushed my amusement aside, and stepped close to Wexx, and the creature.

  “Is there danger at Mhores Isle?”

  It was a weird question, as I already knew the answer. However, Salty Sea Harrah’s response was not what I expected. She tapped the water, and once again turned several shades of green.

  “Poison?” asked Wexx.

  Salty Sea Harrah tapped the water. I went to say something else, but my attention was diverted to a female singsong voice behind me.

  “She brought you here so I could help you.”

  I turned, my hand on my sword.

  “There will be no need for that sword, Valkyrie. I am here to help you, not hurt you.”

  I knew exactly what she was the moment I heard her voice. That long wavy teal and soft green hair, siwrling around her scaled, and flesh skin, gave the answer to Wexx. I knew he had figured it out when he clamped his hands over his ears.

  “Wexx, that will not help you. Yes, she is Siren, but she has removed the lure from her voice. You are safe.”

  He looked a bit embarassed. “Good to hear. No offense, Siren, but I try to stay away from women of magic.”

  The Siren pointed to creature. “I can see that you have failed at that, even before today. Is she not a gift from a woman of magic?”

  He satmmered, so I answered.

  “She is, but the gift was a reward for the sacrifice he had given in assisting said magic woman.”

  The Siren didn’t seem to care either way. She shrugged at my answer to her question. I think, though she removed her lure, she still loved toying with men in other ways.

  “Siren…” I went to say.

  “The name is Kalaria.”

  I nodded, “Thank you. Kalaria, how can you help us?”

  Though she spoke to me, her gaze was fixed on Wexx, and clearly making him uncomfotable.

  “As you know, the water, and air around Mhores Isle are poisonus, and disasterous.”

  “Yes.” I nodded, “I am aware, but also immune.”

  Kalria pointed to Wexx, “But he is not…” then she pointed to the creature, “and neither is she.”

  “I’m aware of that too.”

  Wexx finally spoke, and in anger too.

  “You were going to sacrifice me and Harrah? How would you have made it back?”

  My gaze slid to him, “I had no intention of you, or her, getting that close. I had inteneded to have you stop, before the water turned black, and let me go on my own. I had planned to swim the extra distance.”

  “That’s a long swim, Valkyrie.”

  “It is.” I agreed, “But I have swam further before.”

  Wexx went to comment but was cut off by Kalaria.

  “What is it you seek on Mhores Isle?

  “Answers.” I replied

  “To what questions?” she mused.

  “The Skale island snake has made its way on land, and all the way to Tanaloka. There is a connection between the HiSKale, and that snake.”

  Kalria wore a triumphant smile, but I wasn’t sure why. Her reply was just as confusing.

  “He knows that answer.”

  I looked to Wexx, who was now stammering.

  “I do—No! I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Kalaria taunted, “But you do, Wexx. You just haven’t put it together yet. Either of you. Fuse what you both have witnessed. The answer lies there. In plain sight.”

  My gaze went from her, to Wexx, for a moment. None of this made sense. I was out of patience and out of time. Just as I opened my mouth to voice my frustration, it hit. The asnwer was there, as she said, in plain sight.

  “Mirher” was all I could say.

  “Where?” Captain Wexx said looking around as if they might jump out and attack.

  “Yes!” Kalaria stated. “I told you he had th
e answer.”

  “No!” Yelled Wexx in frustration. “If the land and air is poison, then the men who stole the Mirher woud have died shortly after making landfall.”

  I shook my head, “No. They would have risked it. That is why they needed the Mirher, they are immune, just as I am.”

  He was starting to catch up.

  “You mean, they stole some of the Mirher just so they could get that snake from that Island?” Wexx asked.

  Kalaria answered this time. I was glad for it, she had asnwers that hadn’t made it me to yet.

  “Yes, and no. Yes, they used the Mirher to calm, and retrieve several of those snakes, they also used the magic harnessed from the Mirher to create the HiSkale. What Luna did not know, was that the fleet of men she defeated was the third round of men to steal her creation away from her. The first happned many years before she realized. In her jaunts from the Skale Isle, they snuck in and stole a little at a time, so she would not notice.”

  I chimed in this time.

  “Then why not keep doing that? Why attack her, just to take them? From what Wexx has told me, most of those men died, as did many Mirher.”

  “Not as many as you think. Only two Mirher died, the rest was Luna’s own magic used agianst her. As for the men who died, again a twist on Luna’s magic. They were not dead, only but a mirror of death. That is the secret the secret the Mirher hold, is it not? to mirror life? All things in life, from ground to upper realm. If it has life, the mirher cam become such.

  To answer your other question, greed is the answer. They wanted to make more creatures, so they needed, and wanted, all the Mirher. They have been placed all over, with many Magi and priests. They are as scattered as wildflowers on a Spring breeze.”

  Wexx did not hide his anger any longer.

  “If you knew all of this, why not intercede and try and stop it, or inform someone?”

  Kalaria’s answer was swift, and matter of factly.

  “Sirens do not meddle in the affairs of land dwellers.”

  “You lure men to their deaths? Captain Wexx pointed out, “How is that not the same?”

  “That is Sea business, and we are hunters of the waters. If the Land Dwellerss come to sea, they are fair game. Sirens know many things about the affairs of Land Dwellers, but we do not get involved.”

  “Until now.” I pointed out. “You are involved now, Kalaria. Has something changed?”

  “No, only repaying a favor to Luna for a debt we owed her. Nothing more, nothing less.”

  I waited for a moment before I spoke again, to not lose my temper. Her words were harsh, but I knew them to be true. Sirens did not meddle in affairs of land Dwellers, but…I turned back to her, hoping to call a bluff.

  “Kalaria, I understand that you don’t meddle in the affairs of land Dwellers, but you do have to obey Odin and those on his authority. I am such an authority.”

  “I like you, Valkyrie, but you are not an authority to us. We are not governed by anyone or anything. We are who, and what, we are. We do not seek favor, or glory, nor expect happiness, and love from the Gods. They simply exist. We simply exist. We do not mingle.”

  She was right, I had no authority over her. She was a creature of the Gods, not just Odin himslef. I had hoped she were much younger, perhaps, naïve, and I could bluff her into giving me answers. This apparently wasn’t her first run in, so she was well versed, and I’m out matched in authority. We would get nothing further from her unless she volunteered.

  I looked to her, “Is there anything else you wish us to know? Since you will not answer questions we ask.”

  Kalaria, paced for a moment.

  “There is.” She started, “Vhalos, Her, The Apprentice. They are all linked, and you must intercede if you are to succeed in Odin’s task.”

  I stared at her a moment, baffled she knew of my task from Odin. How did she know? What else did she know?

  “So, I have been told.” I answered, “Any ideas on how I can accomplsih that?”

  "I’m glad you asked.” Kalaria mused. Clearly, she was enjoying this game.

  “You must protect the Little Warrioir, at all costs. You must drink from the ancient bloodline of Drakhosa, and you must get back to Drekkin Reach before you lose them all.”

  “Drakhosa!” I questioned. “He is dead…Long Dead.”

  “His blood flows plentiful enough for someone who is dead. The beat of his heart, healthy and strong. You must go, beofore it is too late. Time waits for no one, and the sand in this hourglass is falling fast.”

  I stepped forward, to demand to know more, but was stopped in my tracks. Kalaria snapped her fingers, and everything disappeared.

  Once again, I was trapped in a dark oblivion, falling to only Odin knew where. Fear did not fill me this time, it was curiosity. Where would I ended up when I resurfaced? Would it be Drekkin Reach, as Kalaria mentioned? Will I be realigned with my companions, or left alone? Like many others, these questions did not have answers. I knew one thing for certain.

  I would hit the ground swinging.

  Teaser from Book #2

  Evrah: The Alchemist’s Secret

  Evrah stood, shaking, from head to toe, in a white-hot rage at the scene before her. Here, in the eagle eye's nest atop Karlear mountain, trapped with no way to lend aid to the destruction in front of her.

  Forrest Keep, a once busy town so full of peace but no longer. A place of vibrant villagers turned to nothing but scattering ants, running and screaming for their lives. Death upon wings had descended from the stars setting everything ablaze.

  It was horrific to behold.

  Nothing was untouched by fire. Grand buildings that once stood as inspiration and hope, now reduced to burning rubble crumbling to ash, burying everything in its path.

  Shops and houses exploded, propelling people like shrapnel into their neighbors, and out among the bloody cobblestones. Bending trees, slammed the ground as an unnatural wind, commanded by their will, spread more flame and fanned the smoke.

  Evrah's throat burned from her unheard screams of terror as she pleaded and begged for the horror to stop, for her friends to find safety, and for her need to help. She paced like a caged animal, looking for a way around the burning tundra of chaos that blocked her way into the village.

  Her fists bled from beating the ground as she was forced to watch the devastation of her people. Screaming children, lost, scared and crying for the comfort and safety of their parent's protective arms. Parents and elderly, clinging to their dead, or searching in vain for lost loved ones. Wives, bent over still bodies of husbands and children, cursing the winged death above them. Husbands carrying lifeless body of wives, children and elderly, in search of refuge.

  Some fell to the ground, while others staggered in confusion and fear, unsure of what to do. Many lost in the madness of chaos, like headless chickens, ran about, searching for protection that wouldn't be found.

  The decimation on wings was only the beginning.

  Round two came in the form of the Army of Darkness, covered in armor and brandishing crude weapons. A walking demolition for as far as the eye could see. The soldiers were a more formidable force than that of the flaming danger above them, feeding and devouring on the fear of the innocent.

  Her whole life and everyone else, drowning in pandemonium. Her world, as she knew it, nothing but ash and flame, was ending and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

  She was going to try, or die doing it. Either way, standing by, and watching any further, wasn't an option.

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