The Fires of Starpoint Mountain

by Bill Albert

  Rosario looked at him with 1000 emotions going through her before speaking. “Certainly, the Circle of Ministers would want the elves saved.”

  “They know! The Circle of Ministers knew the truth,” Mekon said finding it difficult to keep looking at her eye to eye. “I know at least some of them did, the Third Minister anyway. That’s why he discredited Gallif. That’s why the bounty was so high.”

  “That’s why she’s in more danger now and she is ever been,” Luvin reminded them. “We have to figure out what’s going on. We have to protect her,” he said holding up Acrufix’s helmet.

  “How long before the execution?” Rosario asked Mekon

  “Traditionally it would take a week to go through the process, but I suspect since Gallif pled guilty to the crime they will push it through a lot faster. Four days, at the least. Any move she’s going to make all have to be on the final day when the condemned are allowed to beg for forgiveness before being executed.”

  “Will they do that considering she’s pled guilty?” Rosario asked.

  “It’s a show of mercy from the Circle of Ministers,” Mekon informed them. “It helps keep faith and trust in their benevolence, so they’ll have to do it.”

  “We’ll have to keep an eye on her as much as we can.”

  “You will,” Mekon corrected him. “The two of you will be able to go to her, but I must stay here. The Third Minister knows I am aware of the truth. He suspects me, that’s why have gone into hiding down here. There are a few others I can trust, giants I can meet in secret, but I have to stay out of sight.”

  “I understand,” Luvin said snapping the helmet in place. “Maybe, when this is over, we can turn Acrufix into a true hero.”

  ***

  Gallif was standing in a very cold space. Cold enough that she could see her breath when she exhaled. She shivered and rubbed her hands for warmth and looked down at her red cloth shirt, darker red pants, and bare feet. She started walking to keep her blood circulating. It would help for a while, but she knew she’d have to find something to cover her feet.

  She saw the boots on the nearest body but could not bring herself to remove them. The body next to it were boots, the next one had leather shoes, the next also had boots on. All the bodies in every row in every direction had their feet protected in some way but she could not consider taking them. She walked from slab to slab, each with a body on it, and stopped at one at random.

  There was something familiar about this body. Something about the close it war and his physique. She reached forward and pulled the black cloth death mask from its face.

  “Tome,” she said slowly she had met him just after leaving Rayjen’s hidden school a lifetime ago. They had gone north following Zaslow and he had been murdered by an elf. She had trusted him, even given her body to him, and she wondered if he ever realized where he had been. She also hoped that he would never learn the Giant Lords he had given his life to protect were about to execute her to cover up their own crimes. She gently laid the death mask back on him, prayed to Tebiet that Tome’s soul had been saved, then moved on.

  Before she knew it all the slabs around her killed smaller bodies wearing tattered clothes. She didn’t need to pull the death masks off to recognize the body of an elf.

  One caught her attention and she stopped to look at it closely. The bottom half of the body was mangled and there was a wide cut in his chest where it had been impaled. Unable to stop her cell she pulled the death mask off and gasped that its lifeless eyes were still open.

  She looked at it again and knew exactly where she has seen his elf before. After finding out the truth about the elves inside Starpoint Mountain she had worked her way through tunnels were Zaslow had been hidden. She had come across an elf that was trapped under a boulder; its body was crushed but it was still alive. For the first time ever, she had felt compassion when she seen the fear in his eyes. She could not rescue him, so she had ended his life to stop the fear. She returned the death mask and prayed to Tebiet for its happiness.

  She looked at all the other aquilus bodies, but nothing was familiar. The floor got decidedly colder as she realized that both Tome and the elf had some way been attached to her. Wish you responsible for both their deaths? Wish you responsible for all of them?

  Desperate for warmth she started running in a new direction but there were more bodies on slabs wherever she went. The Giants she and Tome had defeated under Atrexia was on one slab. One of Zaslow’s acolytes that she had killed inside Starpoint Mountain was on another.

  She didn’t need to see more to recognize one was Maura’s body. The other was definitely Veret.

  There was a change in the slabs and bodies and she quickly came to a stop. The floor was suddenly wooden and warm, she was standing completely naked, and there was a finely crafted wooden pedestal with a body that was completely covered in a pure white blanket on it. She approached the body as if being guided by someone else and she swept the blanket away in one swift move.

  The body on the pedestal, still wearing the caste armor, was hers. There was a small gap with a blade had cleanly decapitated her during the execution.

  She felt no reaction to the site of her own deceased body nor to the fact that her green eyes were open and looking up at her.

  “Surrendering in confessing was a good idea,” her head said to her. “It really was. It’s not your fault it didn’t work.”

  “It will work,” Gallif protested.

  “No, no, no.” The head said. “Soon you will be dead, surrounded for the rest of eternity by those who died because of you.”

  “But this will stop the deaths. This will bring an end to a reign so filled with terror we weren’t even aware of it until it was too late.”

  “He won’t take your offer,” the head said, “you’ll die and all those who trust you will feel your failure.”

  No,” she said angrily. “No this will work! This must work!”

  To her horror of the head just started laughing and the body suddenly sat up and pointed at her. She took a step back in shock and caught more movement of the bodies of the surrounding slabs rose and turned in her direction.

  In aquilus elf turned and started walking in her direction. It pointed at her MSJ in Hilo teeth made a sickening smile. An orc, one sheet killed the day she met Blinks, was right behind it also pointing at her and letting out a cackling laugh.

  She turned in the other direction and stared in shock as her parents, Henra and Neita, stood up on the other side of the pedestal where her head remained. They pointed her and left as well.

  All the bodies were moving towards her as their laughter increase to a point where she had to cover her ears for protection. They were closing in. She had no directions to run. No place to hide. She realized she had only one way to stop their assault.

  She held her hands out with her palms up as if that alone would push them away, she looked at her own head of the pedestal and refused to look away.

  “I,” she said with all the confidence she had inside her.

  “Will,” the head said matching her strength.

  “Survive!” They called in unison.

  A light is bright and is pure as the sun started to emit out of their hands. It spread getting lighter every second as it started to emit from her entire body.

  As soon as direct rays of the light reach them the undead stopped approaching. As the intensity increased, they backed away and tried to cover their faces. Her glow increased further and the undead started to back away from her. In a very short period, it was so intense Gallif’s body had been replaced by pure white lights and they were all absorbed into the brightness.

  Soon there was nothing but a blinding white light in every direction that covered everything.

  Then there was silence.

  Darkness.

  Silence.

  “This is why I survive.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN: DARKNESS FALLS EARLY

  The White Cliff was the wildest and most popular bar in
Dakteria. Located close enough to the heart of town to get steady traffic it was also far enough out of the center to occasionally break a few rules. It served the most potent ale allowed in the Land of Starpoint, and, to a few exclusive customers, the most potent ale not allowed.

  It was a place for customers who wanted to drink hard and fast would go. There were plenty of extra rooms and cots upstairs so if anyone was unable to make the right home they could be safely stashed until it wore off. Parr, the bartender, was highly respected and figured if he made it through a night without at least one person passing out then he wasn’t doing his job properly. He believes that, considering what they paid for drinks here, they deserved a good time whether they remembered it or not.

  Parr wiped a glass and looked at the crowd knowing it was going to be a rough night. There were several customers drinking steadily but there were no highly expensive card games at the tables and even the dancers and musicians had closed up and go home. No one was partying tonight. Deep down inside he couldn’t blame them.

  There was a bit of relief as one of the regulars, Postum, a halfling male with a long dormant beard and a big belly, entered the White Cliff. Parr didn’t have to ask and just poured a large mug of the most allowed ale. He had it on the bar as Postum sat down.

  “Thanks,” Postum said though he didn’t look much happier. “I’ll need at least two more,” he said as he gulped down a quarter of the mug.

  “You heard?”

  “I was there,” Postum said taking another hard drink.

  “Did it happen though everyone says it did?”

  “Exactly,” Postum added and Parr just shook his head. “I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t been there myself. Of all the proclamations, good and bad, that I’ve witnessed right out of Spring Field I’ve never seen anything like it. Even after the fall of the mountain nobody has ever been a shock as they were when that girl rode up. You should have seen the look on Bordia’s face when she stood up and confessed.”

  “Oh, I never liked him,” Parr scoffed.

  “No, but you trusted him. We all did.”

  “Oh, that’s true. I can’t say I never doubted him.”

  “Our them?” Postum asked then finished his mug in a single gulp.

  “No,” Parr said wiping a small stain off the bar. “I don’t want to think that.”

  “We have to.”

  “No,” he insisted and quickly poured his friend another mug of ale. “I don’t want to think that, and I don’t want to believe it.”

  Postum let the ale sit and looked directly into Parr’s eyes and said, “I can’t explain it in any way.”

  “It’s really easy,” Parr said shaking his head, but not turning away. “It takes a lot to rule something like this land. It was a simple error, something that didn’t get passed on through Royal channels.”

  “Not with something this important.”

  “Because it is this important,” Parr shot back. “The official grieving. It is barely over and look how much we’ve lost. This woman assassinated the King.”

  Supposedly,” Postum said. “Can we be totally sure about that now? He asked and when Parr didn’t respond he continued. “Is that possible that some of the other things they’ve told us were wrong?”

  “But is it possible that this was just a simple mistake? Nothing more than that?”

  “It could be,” Postum admitted. “It just doesn’t feel that way. What if it was a deliberate lie?” He said and finish the drink.

  “Then everything we know is changing,” Parr said taking the mug away and washing it. “And that scares the hell out of me.”

  “Give me one more,” Postum said throwing a few coins on the bar. He picked one of them up and looked at the symbol of the giant on its face. Him was felt guilty wondering if it was really the most valuable coin after all.

  “Keep your money, Postum,” Parr said and walked away without looking back. “Last orders, please.”

  ***

  The students at the school stared at each other in confusion. They looked up at the headmaster and waited for him to explain the contradiction, but he was at a loss. He stared at the proclamation he just read, then quickly reread the first one, then back again. He looked at all the official stamps on the papers and they were both identical. There was no doubt these came from the Giant Lords, yet what they proclaimed made no sense. One said that Gallif had been killed and that the reign of terror she had laid upon the land was over. It had been released first. The second proclamation released a day later, but arriving at the same time, announced her capture and inviting all those who wished to attend her execution in four days’ time. The students looked at the headmaster who had no idea how to explain it either. They were just as lost as he was, but he had the students looking at him for guidance.

  “Well,” he started again clearing his throat several times before continuing. “There seems to have been some miscommunication of some sort. Obviously, these two proclamations contradict each other.” A hand went up and he reluctantly called on the student. “Yes, Beuly, you have a question that I will try to answer.”

  “Has this ever happened before?” The 11-year-old dwarf asked in her shrill voice.

  “As far as I can remember this is never happened before. There have, on occasion, been delays in their delivery due to bad weather. When I was very young my family lived in the town of Perweet, that’s near Outbound, and we received a notice of King Belacula’s coronation nearly 8 days after the event had taken place. Everything south of our beloved mountain had been caught under horrific rain torrent that made everything damp and movement was slow.”

  “Which one should we listen to?” Beuly asked. “Until we know otherwise, we will assume the second is correct,” he said as his next move suddenly came to him. “Yes, that is the important thing to remember. I am sure that the Giant Lords, with all their benevolence, have already dispatched proclamations explaining what happened. I would expect that any moment a writer would approach us and solve the confusion. Rest assured, I know this mystery will be solved and her faith in the Giant Lords will remain strong.”

  He looks at the crowd with confidence as he noted that many of the students had found comfort in what he had said and were relieved. Some were even smiling and shaking their heads sure the crisis was over. He asked if there were any more questions. Daverin, an eight-year-old human boy waved his hand excitedly and jumped up and down to make sure he was called on next. The headmaster nodded and instructed him to proceed.

  Daverin spoke loudly and clearly as if he wanted his voice to be heard all across the Land of Starpoint. “What if Aliala was right?” he asked. “What if the Giant Lords have been lying?”

  ***

  By the next morning people in Primor had just finished listening to the joyous news of Gallif’s death when a second writer approached with the announcement of her pending execution. The writers knew each other, he had even helped the first saddle his horse the night before he left, so there was no doubt about which one had been sent first. This only left more questions as to why they contradicted each other and what that actually meant.

  In the fourth day, the proclamations that had been dispatched by wing reached their targets in Atrexia, Tater, Krui and other cities. Some plan to celebrate her death while others simply started asking questions

  That same a day a student in a school very close to Spring Field itself asked the same question. The principal told her she should never ever question the Giant Lords and ordered her to stay after school for punishment. She did as she was told but more than a few of the students and teachers were surprised that they could not answer the question. The teacher in charge of punishing her could not deny the possibility either and let her go home fairly quickly.

  Another day later a dwarven boy who lived along the Gerard River also thought if it was possible the Giant Lords had to them. He fought the urge to ask at school but brought the idea up to his older sister and younger brother that night. They a
ll admitted, in all honesty, that it was possible but decided it was best to stay quiet and not ask their parents.

  The day before Gallif’s execution in the Rainbow Mountains and the Giant Lords cities of Winter Gate, Spring Field, and Summer Down the Giants went about their daily business knowing none of this was happening. They enjoyed the sunlight and went about their carefree life is confident that, as soon as she was executed, they would go back to their peaceful place as rumors of the land.

  All except one.

  Seated in his chair the First Minister of the Giant Lords sensed the changes. As sure as the trembling from the fall of Starpoint Mountain had spread across the land a shadow of doubt was growing. Part of him wondered if even the gods could stop it spread. Part of him expected that the gods had all turned away in disgust.

  As darkness fell across the land on the eve of Gallif’s execution he didn’t speak, he didn’t sleep, he didn’t move. He only sat there and cried.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN: TO DUST

  On the morning of the third day since Gallif had surrendered Luvin woke up early enough to watch the sunrise. As Acrufix he’d been granted permission to stay in a private room and given everything he asked for, but it was getting harder and harder for him to put the armor on. They had treated him respectfully but there was still the reminder that, despite everything, he was not a giant. Even Acrufix the legendary Elven Killer was just a human and would be treated as such.

  He had also found it impossible to get to see Gallif. She was so well guarded that he could not visit her as easier the shiny and armored Acrufix or in his other special talents as a shadow caster. Without that option, he has spent most of his time underground.

  Mekon had been very carefully talking to other agents and giving them what they needed to know. Just enough of the truth to keep them interested, and him safe, had been told but the number of supporters he had was growing.