Crooked Finger and the Warl of the Dead

by Rex Hazelton

  Seeing what was happening, the Sorcerer lifted his hands and threw his own magic into the barrier to keep it from being overwhelmed by the power he did not yet understand. Until this point, the Evil One had withheld its own might in an ill-fated attempt to keep the end of the bargain it had made with the Prophetess when she was told that her son would be set free. Since the Hag, who were not a part of the agreement as far as the Sorcerer was concerned, had enough magic to keep the company of travellers from escaping, the Sorcerer decided to play along with the amusing charade. But with the sword's magic, the one Not Ab'Don couldn't separate from Kaylan, coming into play, the Sorcerer had joined the fray entirely.

  Like time was rewinding, Kaylan's flames retreated from the Hag's barrier looking like a pool of blue ink was returning to the toppled over ink well it had come from. Withdrawing his blade from the cage before the Sorcerer's magic could touch the sword, Kaylan shouted out in anger as he turned to look at his mother. If they couldn't escape, he was determined to destroy Crooked Finger and break the hold it had over his mother. Then they could try to escape the trap that had been set for them together: he with his sword in hand, her with the Song of Breaking on her lips. If they failed, it would be up to his father and brothers to avenge their deaths and win the war.

  But even if he could destroy the slender, iron branch that jutted out of his mother's chest without harming her, how would he get Muriel free from the fraethym that held her in their grasp. Though not as strong as Crooked Finger, the fiery tree was a formidable foe in its own right.

  Like it was aware of Kaylan's concern, the ring on Muriel's finger erupted with light that served as a doorway that gave two spirits entrance into the hall: Laz and Mara's spirits, Muriel's parents who had died trying to keep her from being taken captive by Schmar and his loathsome river-children.

  With ethereal weapons in hand, the two warriors lept up into the cloud of flames that swirled above the fiery tree and began to cut the fraethym guards to pieces; and as they did, the evil spirits, not being able to maintain purchase of the corporeal warl, were dispatched back to the Warl of the Dead from whence they came.

  With the man, who was swinging his unwarly blade with the precision of a masterswordsman, looking like a male version of his mother, Kaylan was aware that he was seeing his grandfather's spirit. The woman who looked so much like him had to be his grandmother.

  As the lump he felt in his throat grew, Kaylan shouted, "Grour Blood, my grandparents need our help."

  Realizing that escape was impossible, the mighty griffin let out a vicious roar as his desire to help Muriel Blood was unleashed. Banking downward from the place where Kaylan had withdrawn his sword from the fiery cage he had tried to destroy, the winged-lion flew towards the fiery tree and the Sorcerer who stood before it with the palms of his hands aimed at the griffin, sending out his magic to block their way.

  Hitting the invisible shield the Evil One had put into place, Grour Blood and Kaylan were rudely thrown backwards. Like all cats, the griffin had an uncanny ability to land on his feet as he hit the tile-covered floor. Luckily Kaylan didn’t lose his grip on the winged-lion's heavy mane. If it hadn't been for the remnant of the Hammer of Power's magic that resided in both of them, a remnant Grour Blood had been given in the Battle of the Cave of Forgetfulness along with the rest of the Company of the Hammer and a remnant Kaylan had inherited as the Hammer Bearer's son, the two would have been crushed by the Evil One's magic that slammed into them.

  Still, that was little consulation given that the Hag's fiery cage was descending on them like it was a net used for catching fish.

  All was lost. Still, Kaylan's grandparents kept fighting and so would he. So, Kaylan lifted his sword overhead and pointed at the storm that continued to violently broil beyond the hall's windows. A moment later, a bolt of lightning crashed through a different window than the one the fraethym had used to make an entrance.

  Cutting through the net-like cage of magic, the bolt of searing energy struck the Hag shieldwall they used to encircle the company of travellers. Rushing round and round, pushing the black-robed wizards back and filling the hall with blinding light, the lightning failed to breach the shieldwall before its power was spent. A second bolt struck the invisible barrier the Sorcerer had erected, revealing its shape as the lightning's energy was absorbed within its expanse.

  Seeing Laz and Mara's spirits fighting the fraethym who cut at them with thorns made of fire that reached out from the evil spirit's midst, Pearl took hold of Bala's hand who took her to the fight. Though Pearl could have made her way there without assistance, she asked for Bala's help cognizant of the fact that the cretchym could get her there much more quickly than she could herself.

  Bacchanor flew the short distance it took to carry him and Bear to Grour Blood and Kaylan's side. "What do we do now," he shouted at the powerful griffin whose form he had emulated.

  "We attack the shieldwall and try to work our way around the Sorcerer's defenses to reach Muriel."

  "What then?"

  "We die trying to free the Prophetess."

  Bacchanor sighed at the thought as he watched the net-like cage continue to descend. "I guess I'm going to be with Pearl sooner than I thought. That's not so bad. What about you?"

  "To die helping Muriel Blood will be an honor. Besides, another pride awaits me beyond the vale."

  Kaylan's thoughts went to Lylah. If he were to die, Kaylan doubted he would see her again since the Warl of the Dead was a place unfamiliar to the waterkynd. This made his heart ache in a way his mother's suffering couldn't. And their child, what of her, he wondered. How he wished he could feel Lylah's vaporous hands caress his face one last time. As bleak as things had become, the thought of taking one more trip to the Warl's of Vapor, Water and Ice with her by his side became a treasure surmounting his wildest dreams. In truth, having one last opportunity to say good bye to Lylah was no less valuable

  With his wishful thinking careening out of control, Kaylan's mind transformed a peel of thunder into an Ice Dragon's roar. If only, he thought a moment before another window’s glass blew into the hall along with large chunks of the tube-like material that Hag magic had engineered to make the citadel. A giant creature, as colorful as a humming bird, accompanied the detritus that continued to grow as the shock of the beast's impact spred out from where the elongated window once was found.

  An Ice Dragon's roar was heard again as the behemoth crashed into the Hag host that was closest to the window, dispersing their ranks and unravelling their contribution to the net-like cage that immediately lost its integrity.

  "LYLAH!" Kaylan shouted when he caught sight of the dragon through the portion of the cage that had unravelled. Then he summoned a bolt of lighting to strike the Hag who were assembling to attack the mammoth beast. Without the shieldwall in place, many of these died as the jagged shaft of energy cut through the black-robed wizards's bodies on its way to the floor where it was being drawn. Others were tossed about by the ambient energy the bolt of lightning threw into the hall. Blinding light accompanied the jagged shaft adding to the Hag's confusion.

  The Ice Dragon that had smashed its way into the Hall Of Voyd was the most beautiful creature Kaylan had ever seen. Whether this was because of the harrowing predicament he found himself in made him relish the sight or it was because the dragon was the female Kaylan had come Together with in the waterkynd's Warl of Vapor didn't matter.

  The brilliant colors that washed over Lylah's dragon form belied the strength her jaws had to break rocks with their bite, nor did they convey the power found in a tail that could shatter a stone outcropping with blows used to break apart the mountains the Ice Dragons fed on in the Warl of Ice. The violet-colored scales covering Lylah's chest and abdomen were ringed by a swath of yellow scales, followed by a swath of purple. Shades of shimmering green, leaning toward the darker side of the spectrum as it approached her spine covered the rest of her body. A long, sinewy tail, green as an emerald, with yellow spikes protru
ding from a ball found at its extremity, trailed behind. Her triangularly-shaped, reptilian face and large, yellow eyes had an exotic look to it that was mesmerizing in Kaylan's estimation.

  As big as Lylah was in her Ice Dragon form, she was not large enough to weaken the Hag's trap for long. The rain that the storm threw at the Hall of Voyd had made it possible for her to attack the fortress, since it provided the requisite water she needed for travelling. As it turned out, her arrival had given the company of travellers a window of opportunity to escape through if they acted quickly enough.

  Not expecting to face a host of Hag who were arranged in battle formation, the waterkynd was glad to find that she was not alone in her fight. Her gladness turned to ecstacy when she saw that Kaylan sat astride Grour Blood's back. How this could have happened, she could only guess. Seeing Muriel's limp form hanging on the fiery tree helped her make that guess.

  As Bacchanor, Grour Blood, and Kaylan put pressure on the Hag who Lylah had thrown into dissaray with her arrival, keeping them from doing their part in reestablishing the net-like cage that had lost too many cross beams of magic for the Hag to guarantee it could keep the company of travellers from escaping the hall proper, Bear had an idea, an idea that the huge Ice Dragon's presence had given him, one that Laz, Mara, and Pearl's ruthless assault on the fraethym they continued to send back to the Warl of the Dead helped germinate.

  Having dispatched the cloud of evil spirits that Not Ab'Don had summoned, the three began to cut branches off the fiery tree. Seeing that they tree had been sufficiently pruned to leave only the trunk and the few branches that actually held Muriel's body in place, Bear ran past the Sorcerer whose attention was focused on Lylah and Kaylan as it considered what to do next, and shouted out to Laz who dropped from the fiery tree to stand before the giant.

  Sensing Bear had a plan, Laz asked, "What would you have me do?"

  "Cut the tree's roots away, so I can carry the trunks and the Prophetess over to the dragons, so it can carry your daughters out of this fire-blasted places."

  Moving so fast that he looked like a blur of vapor, Laz completed the task before Bear had time to say another word. "Hurry now," Laz nodded his head to the giant to thank him for what he was about to do, "We'll keep the Evil One occupied for you."

  After calling out to Mara, Laz and his wife set about using their unwarly blades to work, cutting at the evil entity who had taken possession of Ab'Don. Though the Sorcerer's body could survive the blades' attack, the Lord of the Darkness That Covers Half of The Warl of the Dead could not. If used properly, the ethereal weapons could separate the entity from the body it clung to.

  Aware of what Muriel's parents were trying to do, Not Ab'Don set about protecting itself from those foolish enough to attack it, the two human spirits who would pay dearly for their folly. It had to. Though the Evil one was confident it could defeat the upstarts, it needed to focus its attention on the two for the brief time needed to send them back to the place they had come from. And as the ancient entity lifted its hands to block the blades that wooshed about it, the Sorcerer promised itself that it would destroy the ring whose magic had ushered the unwanted dead into the Hall of Voyd.

  While Bear grabbed hold of the glowing tree trunk and lifted it onto his powerful back, Pearl kept cutting at the fiery branches distracting the fraethym from what the giant was doing.

  Bear shouted, "Kaylan help," aware that the Hag would intercept him before he reached the dragon who was busy fighting off the dark wizards whose ropes of searing hot magic sizzled as they struck her scales, causing steam to rise from Lylah's hide wherever they did. Though she was made of water like that found in the human warl, the powers that had created her kind were not. As such, they wouldn’t be easily subdued in the Realm of Man.

  "Lylah, go get my mother," Kaylan shouted as he sent another bolt of lightning against the shieldwall that had reformed nearby. And like before, the shieldwall held against the massive burst of energy that struck it, though the Hag were pushed back by its force.

  Swinging her tail behind her as she turned, Lylah drove the nearest Hag farther away as she went to meet the giant who was carrying the tree trunk and the body that was held in the last of its fiery branches.

  As she drew near, Bear's strides took on a ponderous aspect like he was walking through knee deep mud. His flesh took on a gray cast. His mouth froze in place as he bellowed out his complaint. His feet took root where he stood as the tree Bear was carrying lost its fiery facet and became as gray as he was. Last of all, the light coming from Muriel's ring began to wane as she too was covered in gray coloring. But before the ring's light could be extinguished, Laz and Mara fled to the closing portal and returned to the place where they came from; thus, maintaining the bond they had with the gem that was perched on top of the ring that sat on Muriel's finger.

  Grabbing hold of the tree trunk just above Bear's head, Lylah found the arbor was too heavy to lift, like it had turned into the heaviest metal found in the warl.

  Shaking her head to let Kaylan know she had failed, Lylah roared in despair while the Sorcerer mocked her with his laughter.

  "This is my house," Not Ab'Don shouted. "Here, my magic is at its greatest as you shall soon see."

  "We must flee now," Bacchanor's voice could be heard above the incessant thunder that sounded outside, though its timber was not much different. "Bear and Muriel are now beyond our reach. Take wing, we have a fight ahead of us."

  With that said, Lylah lept into the air and lowered her head as she bore down on the net-like cage that was short of being restored. Bursting through the ropes of super-heated magic that tried to melt the scales on her back as she did, filling the room with warm steam, Lylah opened the way for the others to follow.

  Grour Blood was close behind the Ice Dragon. In spite of Kaylan's protests, the winged lion had made the decision to flee for both him and his rider. Bala flew alongside Pearl who now rode on Baccahnor's back as the company of travellers and the waterkynd made a bid for freedom.

  Bursting out of the gaping hole she had made on her way into the hall, Lylah sped off into the torrential rain that greeted her outside. As the others followed, a swarm of cretchym swept through the storm to meet them. The fight was short lived, for Ab'Don's mutant children found their weapons had little effect on the massive dragon whose bulk easily knocked them aside. With Kaylan using his sword's magic to send lightning at the winged-demons, and with prospect of griffin claws and teeth completing the job the bolts of energy failed to do, the swarm was soon dissuaded from following the fleeing company that plunged deeper into the black clouds that had turned day into premature night.

  Chapter 16: Arga’Dyne

  As ever, the sky over Shtytl was filled with clouds that were perpetually draped across the Great Ral Mountains' shoulders like a cloak an old man refuses to shrug off after all the winters it has kept him warm. Thicker than normal, the previous day's storm had reinforced the clouds with an extra measure of moisture in its turbulent passing. In addition, a company of travelers, swept up in tempest’s violent winds that were strong enough to knock down any tree with a weakened constitution, was dropped into the Fane J'Shrym village below.

  Now gathered in a building used for communal purposes, one that served as a tavern and meeting hall as need dictated, the travelers were sharing their tale with those who represented Ar Warl's resistence to the Sorcerer's aspirations of ruling over all. Along with the Fane J'Shrym, the Broyn'Dar, Bro'Noon, Neflin, and a cross section of the rest of the oppressed in Ab'Don's malicious empire were there to hear what was said. Numbered among these was Poroth and his father Vlad’Aeroth, Arga’Dyne and his mate Shala’Dyne, Jeaf Okenfel and his sons, Bacchanor and his wife Pearl, Lamarik and the spirits of her father and sister, the Bro’Noon- Jan’Gyn- and the Neflin- Onorok- who had become good friends after working together at the time the Broyn’Dar were contacted, Ilya’Gar, Bala, Grour Blood and many more.

  "You're certain the body of the fire-blasted man
who fathered me is possessed by a being that came from the Warl of the Dead?" Dandaryll looked so much like the Socerer, he could be mistaken for Ar Warl’s lord if close inspection was avoided. With eyes more amber in color than yellow and blonde hair that didn't look like eagle feathers were sprouting from his head, the Sorcerer's illegitimate son was just shy of being his father's twin. Plus, the way he carried himself lacked the pomposity that was his progenitor's trademark, nor did Dandaryll possess the air of calculated cruelty that eminated from the man who had raped his mother.

  "The thing living inside Ab'Don admitted this to us when it took control of the vessel we were Flying in." Bacchanor referenced the harrowing incident where the confession had been made. "We're dealing with an enemy whose abilities to wield magic far surpasses your father's own. And much of the magic the malevolent entity has at its disposal is a kind unknown to us. The fact that the fiend could so easily negate the lightning Kaylan threw at him in the Hall of Voyd proves this."

  "Serves the bastard right." Dandaryll, fixating on the one who unintentionally fathered him, ascribed the invective people applied to him for as long as he could remember to the man. "I only wish a blood worm had taken control of his body and not the Nameless Evil that story tellers used to frighten us as children. Then I could squish the fire-blasted monster beneath my boot heel. How great would that be to get revenge for what the Sorcerer did to my mother and end the war with a simple foot stomping?"

  Dandaryll was one of thousands of Ar Warl outcasts that were continuing to flock to the Hammer Bearer's side.

  Privy to secret paths winding their way through Ar Warl, the disenfranchised had set their course for the Great Ral Mountains where they heard rebel forces were gathering. Many others, fleeing from villages that were being smothered beneath the Spell of the White Hand, had been scooped up by those the Sorcerer maliciously persecuted and brought along to the place where a glimmer of hope had unexpectedly appeared in a realm known for its ubiquitous darkness, a glimmer few believed could last long, but one they were drawn to when all other options of escaping Ab'Don's cruelty were quickly vanishing with the growing number of whiteskins seen walking about. It was like a raft had appeared on a sea of despair, and all those who had been cast from a fleet of sinking ships swam towards the craft that couldn't possibly save them all but offered the only chance to escape drowning.