The Cursed Lands

by Timothy L. Cerepaka

  That was not the only anomaly she noticed. The statue was glowing slightly; in fact, it was the real source of the green light that Helnia and Sarzen had seen before, not Icicle. It was a very faint light, but it was visible and obvious now that she noticed it.

  “That statue will be his new body,” said the Draymens. “Once the ceremony is complete, it will transmute from stone into flesh. His soul will enter the body and it will be impossible for you humans to stop us.”

  The Draymens gestured at the paintings and text on the walls. “Look at these paintings, at these words. These are part of the ritual that will restore our great god to life. It is an ancient spell, one that took many centuries for my people to rediscover, but with it, we shall prosper and crush you under our feet.”

  “No,” said Sarzen. “That can’t be true.”

  “But it is,” said the Draymens. “If you wish to remain skeptical, that is fine. Soon, however, you will see the One rise again and you will know that I am telling the truth.”

  All of a sudden, the paintings and text on the walls began to glow the same green light from before. Helnia and Sarzen jumped, but nothing attacked them. The lights merely became brighter and brighter, until soon they totally illuminated the entire chamber.

  “What if we stop you before you succeed?” said Sarzen, looking up at the Draymens again. “If we kill you before the ritual is finished, will that end it?”

  “No,” said the Draymens. “In order to do that, you’d need to destroy the statue itself. That statue, by the way, was built from the rocks mined from Reck and other slave towns, though your freeing of the slaves was too late, because the statue is essentially complete already. All that needs to be done is the ceremony itself.”

  “Then I’ll destroy the statue,” said Helnia. She reached for her necklace. “A strong enough spell should be enough to shatter the—”

  All of a sudden, Icicle lunged at her and landed on her chest. It clawed at her neck, making Helnia think it was going to rip out her throat, but then Icicle grabbed her necklace and snapped it off.

  Beads full of Raugus energy went flying everywhere as Helnia shoved Icicle off her. The beads clattered against the stone floor, going in every direction. Helnia tried to scoop up a few, but they went out of her reach too fast for her to get them.

  As for Icicle, he jumped back over to the statue of the One and climbed up onto its head, well outside of her or Sarzen’s reach. The snow monkey smirked and stuck out its tongue at Helnia and Sarzen, as if taking satisfaction in their defeat.

  “Now, now, you can’t do that,” said the Draymens. “Icicle made sure of that. The resurrection of the One will proceed as scheduled … no matter the cost.”

  “So Icicle is working for you?” said Sarzen. “How did you get a Raugian on your side?”

  “Icicle is not a Raugian,” said the Draymens. “Like me, he is a Draymens, but in disguise. See?”

  A shadow suddenly passed over Icicle’s form, making his body look like a silhouette before it vanished.

  Standing in Icicle’s place was a short, ugly, monkey-like Draymens. Its tail was forked, while its teeth were pointed and sharp, like knives. Its eyes were a dead gray, but they somehow looked beastly and animalistic just the same. Icicle chuckled, which was like rattling bones in an empty room.

  Sarzen looked too surprised to respond to that, but something clicked in Helnia’s mind and she looked up at the assassin. “Did Icicle kill Misma?”

  “Of course,” said the Draymens. “We did not want Misma sending that letter for reinforcements from the Elect. Sinmo has been a thorn in our side for a long time; we were supposed to crush it after her death, along with you, but then that annoying lesser dragon appeared out of nowhere and ruined everything.”

  “But if the Elect are on your side, why would it matter if Misma sent that letter?” said Sarzen. “Wouldn’t the Elect simply ignore it?”

  “Perhaps, but we did not want that letter to fall into the wrong hands,” said the Draymens. “It might have raised awareness of the true threat that we Draymens pose to your people, which could have led to your people demanding action from the Elect, if not taking it on their own. That we could not allow.”

  “Why did you even allow us to get this far, then?” said Sarzen.

  “Because you proved more competent than we first thought,” said the Draymens. “A miscalculation on our part, but one we intend to correct here. Though it isn’t all bad; now that we have you here, you will make perfect human sacrifices for the ritual.”

  “Human sacrifices?” said Helnia. “What do you mean?”

  “In order for the One to be fully resurrected, we must spill the blood of two humans on the statue,” said the Draymens. “They must be two related humans, a brother and sister ideally, though any sibling pair will do. We originally intended to kill you two somewhere along the way and drag your corpses here, but we can work with you if you are still alive.”

  “Why us?” said Sarzen. “Why not just pick out any two random siblings? Why go through all of the trouble of manipulating us like this?”

  “Because you two have an … interesting connection with the One,” said the Draymens. “I don’t understand it myself, but the Elders have discovered that you two are closer to the One than even we Draymens are. They told me that you are Children of the One.”

  “What does that mean?” said Sarzen. He put a hand on his chest and grimaced. “What are Children of the One?”

  “You don’t need to know that,” said the Draymens. “Truthfully, I have no idea what your real connection to the One is. The Elders did not see fit to tell me. They just told me to make sure that you two are brought here one way or another; they weren’t especially picky about how I did it, so after Sinmo, I made sure you got here unharmed.”

  Helnia felt her neck. She felt both defenseless and scared. She looked at Sarzen, who looked just as confused as her, and she realized just how powerless they really were now.

  Then Helnia suddenly remembered something and looked up at the Draymens. “The letter from our parents. Did you write it?”

  The Draymens smirked. “Yes. I forged it myself, because forgery is one of my special talents. It was the only way I could figure how to make you come along with your brother on this quest, and it worked beautifully, if I do say so myself.”

  “Letter from our parents?” said Sarzen, looking at Helnia in confusion. “What letter from our parents?”

  Somewhat sheepishly, Helnia took the letter out of her robes and handed it to Sarzen. Sarzen took the letter, unfurled it, and quickly glanced it over before looking up at Helnia again.

  “Why didn’t you tell me about this?” said Sarzen. He did not sound hurt, but he sounded disappointed, made more pronounced by the disappointment visible in his eyes.

  “Because she didn’t know if it was real or not,” said the Draymens. “Like the good sister that she is, she did not want to get your hopes up only to dash them against the rocks. She’s smart that way, though still not smart enough to realize just how much I fooled her.”

  “I wasn’t trying to lie to you,” said Helnia. She felt her neck starting to heat up from embarrassment and found it hard to meet Sarzen’s gaze. “I just … I just wasn’t sure if it was real or not.”

  Sarzen did not respond. He just looked at the letter again and then looked up at the Draymens. “Are our parents dead, then? Did they never make it past here?”

  “Your parents are still alive,” said the Draymens. “Unfortunately, I don’t know where they are. They came this way ten years ago, seeking the Dragon Gods. We tried to kill them, but they escaped and continued on past Ferro’s Pass.”

  “They’re still alive?” said Sarzen. He sighed in relief. “Amazing. I thought for sure they were dead.”

  “They should have been,” said the Draymens, a trace of bitterness in his voice. He traced a finger along a scar above his left cheek, a scar that Helnia had not noticed before. “But it doesn’t matter. I imagin
e they must have perished on the other side, because they have yet to return with the Dragon Gods. Or perhaps they ran into some other obstacle along the way that kept them from completing their quest; in any case, you will not live long enough to see them again.”

  “You can’t stop us from running away,” said Sarzen. He turned to leave. “Come on, Helnia! Let’s get out of here before—”

  He was interrupted by the entrance to the room closing shut. Sarzen ran over to it and started banging his fists on the door, but the stone wall was too thick and firm for him to even dent. Helnia doubted she could have broken it even with her magic.

  “Did you really think I would be dumb enough to let you two just run away, after all of the work I did to get you here in the first place?” said the Draymens. “Not to mention I have stopped your friends from being able to intervene as well. It’s just you two, me, and Icicle, exactly the way I want it.”

  Sarzen whirled around and held up his sword. Helnia, being entirely defenseless now, walked backwards until she was behind Sarzen. She wished she had thought to bring a weapon of her own, but her only weapon, her necklace, was destroyed and useless.

  “If you want to sacrifice us to your god, then you will have to fight us both,” said Sarzen. “And, since I already beat you once, there’s a good chance I can do it again.”

  “When did I ever say I would fight you myself?” said the Draymens.

  The Draymens raised one of his hands and snapped his fingers.

  On the other side of the chamber, opposite Helnia and Sarzen, a portion of the wall slid to the side, revealing a dark, hidden chamber. Then footsteps could be heard coming from the chamber, footsteps that sounded almost human, but Helnia believed it was probably yet another Draymens.

  So Helnia held up her arms before her defensively, even though she couldn’t fight very well without her magic. Sarzen redoubled his grip on his sword, turning his focus on the footsteps that grew louder every second.

  Finally, something emerged from the secret chamber, but it was not merely something, but someone. It was an ancient, old-looking human, who looked like he had just been dug out of a grave.

  Helnia couldn’t believe her eyes. It was High Priest Renuk and he was walking again.

  ***

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  High Priest Renuk looked awful. His robes and coat were covered in dirt and grime, as well as being ripped in several places. His head lolled to one side and he moved unnaturally, like he was a puppet being controlled by a greater, invisible unseen force. Even from a distance, the stink of decaying flesh was intense, causing Helnia to gag and cover her nose and mouth. Sarzen just grimaced, which made Helnia wish she could be as strong as him.

  “I see you recognize him,” said the Draymens. He glanced at the corpse. “Or his corpse, at any rate.”

  “What did you do to his body?” said Sarzen. The rage in his voice was barely contained.

  “Reanimated it using the dark essence of the One,” said the Draymens. “It is under my control now. It is a useful spell, and quite fun, too, because most humans totally lose their courage when they see the walking dead shambling toward them.”

  “This is disrespectful,” said Sarzen. “How could you desecrate the High Priest’s grave like that? Why did you do this?”

  “For leverage,” said the Draymens. “I can already tell that my little ploy has shaken your courage to its very foundation. Now I wonder: Do you have the courage and conviction necessary to kill your beloved High Priest, or will you let him tear out your throat and turn you into a corpse like him?”

  “I will defend my sister and myself against any and all threats,” said Sarzen. “Even if that means killing the man who was basically my second father.”

  Despite Sarzen’s brave words, even Helnia heard the tremble in them. The Draymens was right: This ploy had shaken Sarzen. Whether it had shaken Sarzen enough to make it impossible for him to fight the corpse or not, Helnia did not know, but she had a bad feeling about this just the same.

  “In any case, even if you do defeat him, it won’t matter,” said the Draymens. He licked his hand in anticipation. “You will still be trapped in here, with me and Icicle. Both of you will die one way or another. At this point, the only question is ‘how,’ not ‘if.’”

  “Helnia,” said Sarzen under his breath, causing her to look at him. His back was still to her, no doubt so he could keep an eye on the reanimated corpse of Renuk. “While I fight the corpse, gather as many of the dropped beads as you can.”

  “But I can’t make my necklace without the proper tools,” said Helnia.

  “Just do it,” said Sarzen. “Magic is the only way we will stand a chance in here, so just grab as many as you can so you can fight with magic.”

  Helnia was about to object, but then she thought about it and nodded. “Okay. I see your point. I’ll grab as many as I can.”

  “Good,” said Sarzen.

  Suddenly, Sarzen ran toward the reanimated corpse, screaming loudly. Helnia didn’t wait; she immediately got on her hands and knees and started scooping up as many of the beads as she could. She put them into the pockets of her robes, but then she heard movement before her and looked up to see Icicle lunging toward her from the statue of the One.

  With a yelp, Helnia ducked, allowing Icicle to soar over her head. Icicle crashed into the floor, while Helnia crawled away from him as quickly as she could, grabbing beads all the while. But she could hear Icicle already recovering, so she turned around just in time to see him coming at her again.

  Helnia reached for the beads in her pockets, but Icicle was quicker. He leaped onto her chest, screeching like a demon straight from the pits of hell, and forced her down onto her back. He started clawing at her robes and face, but Helnia grabbed him around the neck and began to wrestle with him.

  Even though Icicle was much smaller than Helnia, he was much stronger. It reminded Helnia of when she would wrestle with Sarzen when they were very young, only those times had always been for fun. Icicle was literally trying to kill her.

  And, even though Helnia was not very strong, her self-preservation instincts kicked in and a jolt of adrenaline shot through her body. With a yell, Helnia threw Icicle off her. Icicle hit the floor and scrambled back to his feet, but Helnia, this time, was faster.

  She pulled out a fistful of beads from her pockets and squeezed. Her hand suddenly glowed with heat and energy and she pointed her fist at Icicle.

  The Draymens monkey had just enough time to snarl, revealing row upon row of tiny sharp teeth, before he utterly exploded into flame. Icicle screeched in pain as the fire consumed his form and he immediately fell onto the floor where he continued to screech in pain.

  Helnia increased the power of the flame, watching as it went from orange to white in seconds. She felt the Raugus rapidly draining from the beads in her hands, so she grabbed more beads and added more energy to her spell, until soon Icicle was so consumed by the fire that it was literally impossible to see him through the flames.

  Eventually, Icicle stopped making any noise at all, so Helnia stopped the flames, which died as soon as their connection to her beads was cut off.

  Where Icicle had been mere moments ago was a small, smoking pile of ash on top of a partially-melted, blackened spot on the floor. The stink of burning rock was awful, but Helnia felt relieved that he was dead nonetheless.

  Then Helnia heard metal cutting through flesh and looked up. Sarzen was now engaging the Renuk corpse in combat, but the corpse moved far quicker and more gracefully than it should have been able. Though Sarzen had managed to land a few blows on it, the corpse was doing a good job at dodging his attacks. It wasn’t attacking just yet, but Helnia figured that the puppet was just looking for an opening to take advantage of, or maybe it was trying to wear him down and then strike him when he slipped.

  Helnia looked at the beads in her hands. They didn’t have enough Raugus energy left to do much, so she’d need to find more beads so she could he
lp Sarzen. She crawled on her hands and knees across the floor, trying to find more beads, but it seemed like they had all disappeared in the chaos of her fight with Icicle.

  Then she spotted one just a few inches away, so she reached over to grab it, but then a clawed foot came out of nowhere and smashed the bead under foot.

  Helnia looked up. The Draymens assassin was standing above her now, a demonic grin on its face.

  “You’re feistier than I expected, mage,” said the Draymens assassin. “I didn’t expect you to kill Icicle, but I never liked him much anyway, so it wasn’t much of a loss. Shouldn’t be very difficult for me to kill you myself.”

  The assassin backhanded Helnia across the face. Helnia hit the floor, her senses briefly shaken as she cracked her head against the stone. Thus, she was unable to stop the assassin from grabbing her neck and raising her off the floor, its smirk as wide and demonic as ever.

  “You mages are utterly useless without your spells,” said the Draymens assassin, “which is why, of course, we Draymens will ultimately win.”

  The Draymens assassin suddenly threw Helnia to the side. Helnia crashed at the base of the statue and, before she could get up, the Draymens kicked her in the face and then slammed his clawed foot against her chest. His clawed toes dug into her chest, poking through her robes and causing her to groan in pain as the claws cut through her skin.

  Helnia grabbed the assassin’s leg, trying to shove him off, but he was far stronger than her and didn’t even seem to be trying to hold her down. He just looked down at her with an amused expression on his face.

  “It won’t be long now before the puppet kills your brother,” said the Draymens assassin. “I should probably wait until he’s dead, because the ritual requires both of you bleed on the statue at the same time, but it is probably more logical to kill you now so I can help the puppet, because it seems to be having more difficulty dealing with your brother than I thought.”

  Helnia did not respond to that because the Draymens’ pressure on her chest made it almost impossible for her to speak. She grabbed his leg and pushed back as much as she could; it wasn’t much, but the Draymens must not have expected it, because he actually did fall off her.