The Cursed Lands

by Timothy L. Cerepaka

  Helnia wasn’t the only one to notice the coming cloud. Rothel, the Slayer, and the others were looking up at it, while the slaves scattered again in fear. Some closed the doors of their shacks, others pulled their heads back in from their windows, and still others hid behind their shacks again. The cloud did not increase its pace; it simply kept floating toward them as if it was taking a casual stroll through the woods.

  “What the hell is that?” said Aroda, though her voice was a whisper, as if she feared that speaking too loudly might draw its attention to them. “A Draymens?”

  “I don’t know,” said Helnia, her tone matching Aroda’s. “It’s … I’ve never seen anything like it. Maybe it’s a spell cast by a Draymens sorcerer, but I’m not sure. All I know is that it is a threat.”

  The cloud rumbled closer and closer, until soon it covered the entire area. It was so dark that it almost completely blotted out the few rays of the morning sun that were rising, making it look like night again. Rothel and the others held their weapons before them, even though the cloud was too high in the sky for them to attack.

  Then, without warning, tendrils descended from underneath the cloud toward Rothel, the Slayer, and the others. The tendrils came down quickly, but Rothel and the others began attacking them. The mages fired fire or lightning bolts at them, while Rothel, the Slayer, and the Warrior Priests began slashing at them with their swords.

  But none of their attacks were very effective. They managed to destroy a handful of tendrils, but more grew to replace them and those that hadn’t been destroyed lashed out at the group. The group scattered, but a Warrior Priest got slapped in the back so hard that he hit the ground and immediately stopped moving, though it was hard to tell if he was dead or simply unconscious.

  Rothel and the others, meanwhile, were doing their best to avoid getting killed or harmed, but it meant they were no longer organized enough to form a resistance against the cloud.

  Helnia was trembling despite herself. She wanted to go and help, but without her necklace, she was useless. She glanced at Aroda, who looked even more frightened than her. In fact, Aroda had actually retreated into the shack, her hands over her head as if that would protect her against such a powerful creature.

  “Aroda, there must be something we can do,” said Helnia. “That thing will kill my friends if we don’t stop it.”

  Aroda shook her head. “No. If we try to fight it, it will kill us. It must be an ally of the Draymens, probably meant as their last resort in the event of a successful slave rebellion.”

  Helnia bit her lower lip, but she had to admit that Aroda had a point. The cloud, whatever it was, was clearly a powerful beast. It was just as clearly intelligent; as Helnia watched, it distracted one of the mages with one of its tendrils before stabbing him directly in the chest and causing him to fall onto the ground in a rapidly-widening pool of his own blood.

  It’s only a matter of time before it kills them all, Helnia thought, her heart aching at the thought. And what’s to stop it from killing us, too? Maybe it will make an example of a few slaves to discourage anyone else from trying to rebel.

  It may have been dumb, but Helnia couldn’t just stand here and watch. She ran out from the safety of the shack, ignoring Aroda’s calls to come back. She picked up a rock as she ran, her only weapon, as pathetic as it may have been.

  But the cloud must have somehow known that Helnia was going to attack it, because it immediately sent one of its tendrils at her. Helnia hurled her rock at it, but her aim was terrible and the rock missed.

  The cloud’s aim, however, was better. It hit Helnia in the chest, which was like getting punched by a professional fighter, and Helnia’s weak body immediately collapsed under the impact. She fell onto the ground and gasped in pain. The blow had been so painful that she couldn’t even stand up.

  But the cloud was not finished with her yet. It raised its tendril above her, the tip sharpening into a needle, and then brought it down on her chest.

  Right before the tendril could pierce her chest, however, a golden sword came out of nowhere in between the tendril and her chest. The tendril bounced off the sword, but then the sword slashed through it entirely, immediately dissipating it. The cloud rumbled above, which almost sounded like it was making a surprised grunt.

  Helnia didn’t care about that, however. She just looked to the right, wondering who had saved her, and saw someone she never thought she’d see again: Sarzen. His face was covered in sweat and he was panting as if he had run a marathon, but he still looked ready to help.

  “Brother?” said Helnia in shock. “Is that really you?”

  “Sure,” said Sarzen, flashing her a smile. “What, did you think I wouldn’t save you? You know I’d never lie to you.”

  Helnia could not help but smile in return. “Thanks. I thought I was a goner there.”

  “Yeah,” said Sarzen. “Are you okay? Can you stand?”

  Helnia pushed herself up on her elbows and shook her head. “I think so, but that cloud’s attack was hard. It almost killed me.”

  “Maybe you’ll feel better wearing this,” said Sarzen as he pulled something out of his pants’ pockets and held it out to her.

  Helnia gasped again. It was her necklace, with every bead attached and not a single one missing. She snatched it from Sarzen’s hands and immediately put it over her head. And, even though she had not yet cast a spell, she already felt better right now than she’d felt all week. It was like taking a deep drink of cold water after a long day of traveling through a blazing hot desert.

  “My necklace,” said Helnia, clutching the beads around her neck. She looked up at Sarzen again, this time in confusion. “But how did you get it? The Draymens stole it from me.”

  “Where do you think I was this whole time? I was getting your necklace,” said Sarzen. He held out a hand. “Now, do you think you will be able to help me beat this cloud or do you need to rest?”

  Helnia did not hesitate to take Sarzen’s hand. He helped her to her feet, and for the first time since being kidnapped, Helnia did not feel afraid.

  “Where did this thing come from?” said Sarzen, looking up at the large cloud.

  “It just came from the sky after Rothel and the others killed the slave masters,” said Helnia, gesturing at the corpses of the Draymens slave owners on the ground. “We don’t even know if it is associated with the Draymens or not.”

  “I’ve heard of something like it,” said Sarzen. “In the old legends, it was said that Draymens sorcerers could conjure monsters that looked like clouds to destroy their enemies. I didn’t think they were actually real, though.”

  “Sure seems like all of the old legends are turning out to be a bit more than just legends, though, doesn’t it?” said Helnia. She shook her head. “Regardless, I don’t know how we can beat it. It’s got everyone on the run. Even the Slayer hasn’t been able to beat it.”

  “Don’t worry,” said Sarzen. “I’ve got a plan, but we’re going to need to distract it, though only for maybe five minutes.”

  “Five minutes?” said Helnia. “Why? What’s your plan?”

  Sarzen smiled. “You’ll see. But again, if we don’t distract it, it might figure out what we’re doing, so let’s attack it. Do you feel like you can fight?”

  Helnia felt her chest, where the cloud had hit her, but nodded. “Yes, if your plan will work.”

  “Good,” said Sarzen. He raised his sword and turned toward the cloud. “For the Dragon Gods!”

  Sarzen ran toward the cloud, screaming at the top of his lungs, but Helnia did not move. She just tapped her beads and conjured a fireball in her hand, which she lobbed at the cloud.

  The fireball hit the cloud head on, but it did no real damage that Helnia could tell. The cloud, however, must have felt it, because it immediately launched a tendril at her, this one shaped like a knife.

  Helnia jumped forward, narrowly avoiding the tendril, and rolled back to her feet. But she immediately winced; her back hurt and rol
ling across it turned out to be a mistake. But she quickly forgot about her pain as the tendril came back at her, moving fast.

  Tapping her beads again, Helnia held out her hands and waved them in a circle. A glowing shield of energy appeared between her and the tendril and, when the tendril struck, it bounced harmlessly off its surface.

  Then, lowering the shield, Helnia unleashed a burst of flame at the tendril. The flame—bigger and stronger than the fireball—tore through the cloud’s tendril, immediately vaporizing it.

  Helnia had no time to celebrate that victory, however, because the cloud sent another tendril at her. Once more, Helnia formed a magical shield, but this time the tendril went over the shield and would have gotten her if she had not jumped backwards in time. The tendril slammed into the ground where she had been standing previously, but ripped itself out of the dirt and came at her again, this time almost too fast for her to dodge.

  Still, Helnia managed to jump out of the way and then fired a lightning bolt at it. The lightning bolt cut through the tendril, dissipating it instantly.

  Panting and sweating, Helnia brushed back some of her loose hair, but she didn’t have much time to relax. The cloud rumbled, causing Helnia to think that it was going to send another tendril at her again, but this time, it flashed purple briefly and a purple lightning bolt exploded from its mass toward her.

  Instinctively, Helnia conjured a shield just in time to block the attack. But when the purple lightning struck the shield, the shield exploded and the impact of the explosion sent Helnia flying. She hit the ground and rolled for several feet before coming to a stop. Dazed and in pain, Helnia felt her necklace again to make sure that it was still there, before she heard another rumble and looked up to see that the cloud was preparing to fire another lightning bolt at her.

  Helnia pushed herself upright, but she was too slow. The cloud shot another purple lightning bolt at her, which Helnia—too desperate to summon another shield—counted by firing a blast of lightning at it. Her light collided with the cloud’s lightning and there was a massive explosion that forced her to cover her eyes to avoid getting blinded.

  But when the light of the explosion faded, Helnia lowered her hands, only to see that the cloud was still floating above her. The explosion hadn’t even harmed it, which was making Helnia wonder that they would ever beat it.

  At that moment, however, Helnia heard the sounds of people walking. She immediately whipped her head to the right, even though she knew how dangerous it was to turn her attention away from the cloud, and saw the slaves marching toward the cloud.

  It looked like nearly all of the slaves in Reck. Old, young, male, female … even though they all wore rags and looked as thin as sticks, there was something about the way in which they walked that made them look like an impressive fighting force. There was definitely fear evident in their eyes, but she doubted that any of them would run away.

  But Helnia didn’t understand why until she noticed that each and every one of the slaves was wearing a Raugus necklace, much like her own. And the beads on each necklace were full of glowing Raugus energy.

  “Helnia!” Sarzen shouted. He was standing on the other side of the battlefield, fighting off a tendril with his sword. “Grab a hold of something! Quickly, before it’s too late!”

  Helnia didn’t know why Sarzen told her to do that, but she trusted him enough to listen to him. So Helnia ran over to the nearest shack and ran inside it, but she didn’t close the door. She just grabbed the door frame and looked outside to see what was going to happen next.

  The slaves of Reck were still marching toward the cloud. The cloud finally seemed to have noticed them, however, because it had stopped attacking Sarzen, Rothel, and the others. It was now turning to face the slaves; well, perhaps ‘face’ wasn’t the right word, since the cloud had no face to speak of, but Helnia could not think of a more accurate word to describe the cloud’s movements.

  They’re going to be slaughtered, Helnia thought.

  She was about to go out and try to distract the cloud from the slaves, but from across the battlefield, Sarzen shot her a hard look, a warning that clearly said, Stay where you are.

  Deciding to trust Sarzen, Helnia didn’t leave the shack. But she could not help but watch with anxiety as the cloud began to drift toward the slaves, but the slaves had already stopped and were glaring up at the cloud. A few were trembling in fear, but the slaves looked surprisingly firm and resolute; perhaps it was due to their strength in numbers or something.

  Then, before the cloud could attack them, the slaves raised their hands and tapped their beads. All at once, their necklaces glowed brightly, a powerful and beautiful sight in itself, illuminating the firm expressions on each face.

  And then, as one, the slaves jerked their arms forward in a movement that Helnia recognized instantly: It was the action of a mage unleashing a wind spell.

  All of a sudden, a huge burst of wind roared from the crowd of slaves. It was huge and loud, sounding like a tornado concentrated into a small area, and it went straight toward the cloud. The cloud tried to avoid it, but it was too slow, and the wind struck the cloud head on.

  The cloud rumbled, but this time its rumble sounded like a creature moaning in pain. The purple eyes that Helnia had seen inside it before flashed in anger, but it was a pointless gesture, for the wind from the slave mages was tearing through its dark form like a knife through butter.

  The roaring of the wind blocked out every other sound in the area; in fact, Helnia could barely even hear herself think. Her hair whipped about her face, even though she was not in the path of the wind attack, and she gripped the door frame as hard as she could. Her shack shook all around her, threatening to collapse, while other nearby shacks also shook under the pressure of the wind. One of them even outright collapsed, but Helnia was too busy staring at the huge attack on the dark cloud to care.

  The dark cloud had clearly given up trying to fight back by now and was instead focused on maintaining its cloud form. But it was no use; the combined wind spells cast by the slave mages was too much for it. The wind tore through its cloudy form without mercy, dissipating the nimbus without mercy.

  Finally, after several seconds of powerful winds battering against its body, the dark cloud completely dissipated, allowing the first rays of the morning sun to fall across the town.

  ***

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  The slave mages ceased their wind spell as soon as the last of the cloud vanished. As a result, the powerful winds abruptly ended, causing the wind in the air to return to normal.

  Sarzen—who had embedded his sword into the earth to keep himself from flying away—tore his sword out of the earth and looked around briefly. He expected the dark cloud to reappear or maybe for more Draymens to attack, but he did not see any other threats in the area. It looked like they had finally won, a thought that made Sarzen sigh in relief.

  Then he heard someone shout, “Sarzen!” and he looked up to see Helnia running toward him. She wasn’t the only one coming over to him; Rothel, the Slayer, and the other Warrior Priests and mages who had aided in the freeing of the slaves were also coming over to him. All of them looked relieved at their victory, as did the slaves, who had lowered their hands and looked tired, probably because it had been a while since any of them used magic.

  “Is everyone okay?” said Sarzen, looking around at his friends as they approached. “Is anyone hurt or dead?”

  “Sehn was killed, as was Pral,” said Rothel, his voice bitter at their lost. “Aside from them, however, I don’t think we lost anyone else.”

  Sarzen rubbed his forehead. “We will have to bury their bodies later. For now, I think we can safely say that we won.”

  “Yes, but how?” said Helnia, scratching the top of her head. She looked back over at the slaves in confusion. “Where did the slaves get all of those necklaces from? And how did they all know how to cast wind spells?”

  Sarzen was about to answer, but then he heard t
wo small feet running toward him and looked over in the direction of the slaves in time to see Pula—the girl who had been the personal servant of one of the slavers—running toward him. She skidded to a halt several feet away from him and the others, a look of worry and hesitation on her face.

  “Invisible Man, are you okay?” said Pula. She sounded out of breath; she had probably been frightened by the slaves’ wind attack on the dark cloud, Sarzen realized.

  “Yes, I am,” said Sarzen, nodding. “And it was all thanks to your help. Had you not done what I told you to do, we’d all be dead right now.”

  “What did this girl do?” said Helnia. “And who is she? I’ve never seen her before.”

  “Her name is Pula,” said Sarzen. “She was the personal servant of one of the slave masters. I managed to convince her to help me.”

  “How did she help, though?” said Rothel. He looked at Pula skeptically. “She’s such a small, skinny thing. Is she secretly a powerful mage in disguise or something?”

  Pula blushed, while Sarzen said, “No, but she is the main reason we were able to distribute those necklaces among the slaves so quickly. She also helped in convincing a good majority of the slaves to help us in defeating the Draymens.”

  “I still don’t understand how,” said Helnia.

  “Do you remember how most of the slaves in this slave town are captured mages?” said Sarzen. “And what do all mages have to carry in order to use their magic? Raugus necklaces. When I went to the vault where possessions stolen from slaves are kept, I found tons of necklaces, all of which were full of Raugus energy because the Draymens had not used them.”

  “I see,” said Rothel. “You and Pula took the necklaces and then gave them back to the slaves in exchange for their aid in defeating the Draymens.”