by Mike Ezekiel
“Yes, Master,” Kerwyn said, moving up to his master.
“I want you to draw on the One Power and use you nature magic, please. Infuse this pier with Mother Nature's magic,” said Master Sernett.
“Ok, Master, I will try.” Kerwyn started to gather in the One Power and focusing on his nature sight he concentrated on a spell “Pier of Tutela” and once Kerwyn’s magic took hold of the pier the glow became a green colour and shone bright enough to penetrate the dark of the forest. Kerwyn reached out, feeling the pier with his hand and then turned to say that it was alive.
The pier would protect all who came here in peace and it would give travellers a place to sleep free from any worries or fears. It would also protect Baldred’s grave for all eternity and know any of his family should they ever come that way. Celie, walking over to place her hand on the pier, opened her eyes wide and looked at Kerwyn. “You have placed Baldred’s spirit in the crystal pier. He talks to me and tells me to not worry over him, that he is safe and with the gods now. How have you done this? Baldred is gone yet I can still talk to him,” asked Celie.
“I haven’t trapped his spirit Celie; he is with Mother Nature and she is allowing him to communicate with you by using the crystal pier. Mother Nature loves all of her children and has granted you a place to come and talk to your brother anytime that you need to. Also, your family, for generations and generations to come can come here and seek Baldred’s advice. This place is now sacred and no evil can approach it,” Kerwyn told her.
Celie so overcome with emotion, reached out picked Kerwyn up, hugging and kissing him. She put him back on the ground and, once she had composed herself, Celie dropped to one knee with her hand on her heart and said to Kerwyn and Master Sernett, “You both have done my family a great honour. I pledge my life to yours and as long as one of my family lives, you and your families will be known as “Sanctus Abbas", holy fathers among the Cyclops. It is the highest honor that any cyclops can ever obtain. Higher even then any Cyclops Clan leader can obtain. You have the total power over all Cyclops people and when and if you ever need the Cyclops nation to stand with you, use that name and call for us. You both are now the Ultimate Rulers of all the Cyclops Clans and all must heed your call.”
“Now it is you who honour us. We are not worthy of such a high honour as this,” said Master Sernett.
“You both have honored our dead brother and the pledge has been made by my wife. I, Byamee, Leader of the Cyclops of Alberic also pledge to you,” and both Byamee and Elden dropped to their knees and made the pledge of “Sanctus Abbas.”
“Well if that’s what you want, then we must accept your gracious honor. Now please stand, my friends, and never kneel before either of us again. We are friends and, as friends, we will always help each other,” Master Sernett said.
Gathering up Baldred’s equipment, Elden asked to have Baldred’s bow and arrows, saying that he'd like to honour Baldred by learning how to use them.
Celie agreed to this and kissed Elden on the cheek saying that he was a good friend to Baldred and the rest of them. Elden smiled and started looking for the trail for the changeling again. He found it hidden just off the trail and it looked like the changeling knew that the goblins and ogres had been hiding in wait for any passer byes. Back on the trail of the changeling, the party made good time, almost like they had a new reason to catch up and get the acorn back.
Over the next hour they weaved in and out of the forest underbrush as it looked like the changeling was trying to confuse them with its tracks. Elden proved as good to his word about being the best cyclops tracker that had ever existed. There were many times that Kerwyn could not see any hint of a track but Elden seemed to always find the way even through shrubs and over mossy sections. With Elden tracking it, there was no way this changeling was going to get away.
As the day settled into night, Elden was having a harder and harder time following the tracks. Eventually he said that he could no longer see them. So Master Sernett called for a halt for the evening and to set up camp just off the trail.
Not wanting to draw to much attention to themselves, they tried to go into the forest a bit and hide behind a bunch of shrubs for cover. Byamee and Durin took up the first watch. They woke Kerwyn and Celie up for the second watch and reported that there had been some weird noises in the forest but nothing came to harass the little group.
Kerwyn and Celie both took up different spots around the little sleeping group. Looking out into the forest, Kerwyn could hear all the different creatures that run around at night but it wasn’t these creatures that he was worried about. Turning on his nature sight, he could see possums, deer, foxes and mice. Looking into the trees he could make out birds sleeping and bats fluttering around, eating the different types of insects that were also out in the forest at nighttime. He could even see a few dryads hiding up in the branches of their trees, looking down on the sleeping Cyclopes. Too shy to come out and talk to Kerwyn, they stayed hidden up in the canopy of the forest.
Kerwyn could sense that the forest was uneasy; almost like a part of it knew that another part had festered and died. The forest was one big living, breathing entity and Kerwyn could almost hear in the wind all the trees talking and asking how far the evil had spread. Kerwyn was sure that at one time a tree did answer his question and was told that the evil was moving closer to this section and then he thought he heard the other trees say don’t get involved in human affairs even though he was the tree brother, they were saying that if they don’t get involved maybe the evil will go away and leave the trees alone. At one point throughout the night, Kerwyn thought that he even saw one of the forest herders; that looked like the trees they protect but when he looked again, it was gone. As the time slipped away, Kerwyn and Celie went over and woke master Sernett and Durin for their shift.
Kerwyn lie down and shut his eyes but before his thought even made it to sleep, Master Sernett’s light spell lit up the clearing shouting and the fighting started again.
Up jumped Kerwyn and before he even knew what they were being attacked by, he saw the head of a massive of dog. Its eyes were glowing red and flames licked at the edges of its mouth. He tried to get his brain to work but all that would come were thoughts of sleep, wonderful sleep.
“Kerwyn look out!" Shouted Master Sernett.
These were Hell Hounds and ever so slowly the hound that Kerwyn had seen first was coming around the tree and focusing on Kerwyn. Kerwyn saw the dog squint and get ready to pounce. Throwing up his arm and saying “Veneficus Requiro” five magic missiles flew out from his outstretched arm, blasting the first Hell Hound in the face. Sparks flew up from where they had hit the Hell Hound, but it did little else other then stall it for a few seconds. Seeing that his spell had had hardly any effect all, Kerwyn felt his stomach knot up with panic and he started to back away from the creature.
“Kerwyn!” Master Sernett was calling out to him, “the Hell Hounds are almost impossible to kill using magic. They are naturally magic defensive as they are still a part of Hell. We have to use our magical or silver weapons on them.”
Kerwyn, remembering his knife the Ghost Hunter, reached into his belt pack and grabbed the handle of the knife. Holding it up in front of him like a sword when all of a sudden the Hell Hound pounced at Kerwyn. Kerwyn panicking, for this was his only defence, was surprised when he felt the knife penetrate the underbelly of the hound and heard it yelp in pain. He was knocked to the ground with the hound on top of him, and Kerwyn was sure that his life was about to end. Opening his eyes he saw that the Hell Hound wasn’t moving and that it was lying on top of him, trapping him.
Master Sernett had a Hell Hound of his own to worry about holding and was holding his staff like a club getting ready to swing. Meanwhile Byamee and Celie were attacking the third Hell Hound and, out of nowhere, Durin swung his massive hammer, catching the beast in the ribs. There were crunching sounds and the Hell Hound was pushed away and retreated a bit. Growling at Durin, the hound jumped a
t him before he could swing the hammer again. Catching Durin in its jaws, it started to shake the little dwarf. Durin losing his grip on his hammer couldn’t do anything but hope that his Elvin armor would hold up against the creature.
Master Sernett was the only one close enough and free to attack. He swung his staff like a club and caught the Hell Hound square in the face. A flash of green lightning exploded from Master Sernett’s staff and the Hell Hound dropped the dwarf and was thrown back into a tree. A sickly snapping of bones was heard throughout the area and the hound didn’t rise again. Durin, also getting caught in the lightning, was lying on the ground unconscious but still alive. With a spin swing and his super speed, Byamee took the head off the third and final Hell Hound.
Kerwyn was still trapped under the Hell Hound and called out for help. Celie came over and picked the animal off of Kerwyn. Looking down, shocked, she said to Kerwyn, “Whatever you did to this critter, you can do to any others that we run into.”
Kerwyn, not understanding what she meant, stood up and looked down at the Hell Hound. What he saw shocked and horrified him; the skin of the beast was taunt like it had been dried over a fire for a week and the eyes were all but gone and shriveled. Kerwyn looked down at his knife and now understood what the Ghost Hunter could do. It absorbed the life-force of a creature and stole its spirit.
While they were all checking themselves over for any damage, the sun started to rise.
Waking Durin from the lightning blast wasn’t as hard as they would have thought; Master Sernett just threw water into his face and he was up and ready to go. “Dwarves are tough creatures,” Master Sernett said.
Master Sernett, observing the sunrise, decided that it would be best to get a move on before anything else came back and wanted to eat them.
Elden took up point again and started his tracking of the changeling. Finding that they weren’t very far behind it, they all increased their pace and prepared themselves to get the acorn back.
After what seemed like another three-hour walk, Elden told them all to be very quiet. They had come up to a little stream and by the stream was the changeling in Elgar’s form.
Kerwyn, wanting to be the first to attack, gathered the One Power and quietly called out "Lentesco Textus" and, again, a hundred spidery webs shot out of Kerwyn’s hands and covered the changeling in sticky webbing. Unable to move, the changeling called out for help, not knowing yet who had trapped him. When Kerwyn walked forward so that the changeling could see his face, the changeling realized who had him and paled with fright.
“Please don’t kill me, Master Kerwyn. I promise to never involve myself in your affairs again. Here, I’ll even give you back the acorn for the Tree of Life,” said the changeling in Elgar’s form.
Durin, coming up behind the changeling said to Kerwyn and Master Sernett, “Don’t you worry about the changeling, I will take care of him.” The dwarf tapped his massive hammer against the palm of his hand and, grinning like he was a mad man he said, “A friend of mine has died because of you, and we have some unfinished business to take care of.”
The changeling soiled himself and started to weep, “Please don’t let him kill me, Masters. I promise that you will never see me again if you let me live. I am a pathetic creature and one of the weakest of the Dark Minions. I am always bullied and teased and I hide from the others, as they would kill me just for fun. I thought that stealing the Acorn would raise me in the ranks and the others would leave me alone. I am sorry for the trouble that I have caused.”
“The unfortunate thing for you is this; you have killed how many people at the Tree of Life? At least thirteen that I know about and I don’t think that you really are sorry at all. I think that you will say anything to save your own skin and then come and get us while we sleep,” said Kerwyn.
“No, no! I promise I’ll leave and never return. I can’t face the Dark Master anyway now. He would kill me because I have failed to give him the acorn. So I need to run and hide anyway,” said the changeling.
Kerwyn turned to his master and asked very quietly, “We are not going to kill this pathetic creature, are we?”
His Master looked at Kerwyn but his face never changed. Looking back at the changeling, Master Sernett went over and took the acorn from the Tree of Life and handed it back to Kerwyn. He then told everyone to step away as he was going to deal with situation.
The party backed up, all except Kerwyn who said, “Master, you can’t kill this creature, not in cold blood.”
“Why not Kerwyn? This creature would have killed you if you hadn’t stopped it. This creature will continue to kill the helpless; it feeds off of our blood. It’s a parasite and deserves to die.
I am willing to rid the world of this creature and all of its kind. They sneak in and kill you while you sleep. There have been many deaths on this one’s head. In three years he has killed thirteen people. This worthless creature is at least seventy years old. That could mean that there are upwards of around two hundred and seventy people dead by its hand. No Kerwyn, this creature must die; it is one of the Dark Minions and it will never stop killing.”
Turning suddenly, Master Sernett cast his spell. Aiming at the changeling with his staff, he yelled, “Levitas Offendo!” A bolt of intence blue lightning blasted from his staff into the front of the changeling, melting its skin and sending it into convulsions.
Watching the last of its death throes, Kerwyn couldn’t believe that his master had just killed this creature in cold blood and thought, “Shouldn’t even evil be given a chance to repent? Otherwise, don’t we become them?”
Master Sernett walked away from Kerwyn knowing that he was going to be mad and upset over what had just happened. But it had to be done; this creature was like a mosquito, it had to drink blood to stay alive and reproduce. It was an evil creature that could kill a person and take over that person's appearance and then kill their entire family at night while they slept. Master Sernett knew a few families that had ended up that way. They were good people, found in the morning sucked dry of all of their fluids and all that remained was the dried up husks of who they had once been. Kerwyn couldn’t have any idea how many times Master Sernett had said that if he found one of these creatures he would kill it. Today was that day.
Kerwyn watched his master walk away. He was the one person who Kerwyn thought he knew the most about, and it turned out that he didn’t know as much about his master as he thought he did. He thought, “I guess when you live as long as wizards do sometimes secrets are hidden very deep.”
Kerwyn turning to look at the rest of the party saw the same look on their faces, all except for Durin’s. He was nodding his agreement that killing the changeling was the right thing to do.
Kerwyn looked down into his hand at the fragile acorn in his palm. He looked again over at the body of the changeling and then back again to the acorn, and thought to himself, “Why do things have to die so that life can continue?”
“Ok, let’s get back to the forest elves' domain. I’m afraid it’s going to be two nights outdoors before we get back there and it looks like rain,” said Master Sernett.
No sooner had Master Sernett spoken than it started to rain. It rained lightly at first and then, as the day wore on, it became harder and harder. Everyone was soaked even under the canopy of the trees. Also, the Cyclopes with all their hair didn’t smell too nice plus they hadn’t had a bath since before their last fight. Cyclopes sweat is a very strong thing.
Kerwyn wrinkled up his nose at the smell of their party and said, “If the smell alone doesn’t keep anything evil away then nothing will.”
Celie told him that they smelled bad because their armor was very heavy and it was hot walking through the forest with it on. But they would keep it on just in case anything jumped out at them and they needed it. They walked all day and into dusk. Elden was in the lead and again raised his hand up, everyone to stop.
There, ahead of the party, lights could be seen approaching through the forest. Tellin
g everyone to get and hide somewhere, the cyclops hid behind the base of the trees and the smaller creatures of their party hid under brushes.
They all hid quietly waiting to see what it was, that was coming around the bend.
chapter twelve
GODS IN THE FOREST
Around the trail came a strange and beautiful looking creature that was a cross between a tree and a young girl. She had bark for skin and looked like she had bark and leaves for her hair as well.
It was pulled and tied back into a ponytail with a green sash that looked like a vine to keep her hair out of her face. She had a wicked looking bow and arrows that were also made out of wood. But this wood had runes all over it and it had an incandescent green glow. She also had a very sharp looking sword that was made out of the same material that her bow and arrows were and it too had runes inscribed all over the blade and along the hilt of her sword.
She wore what looked like a leaf skirt and had smaller leaves covering her breasts. The weird thing was that the bark moved in the same way normal skin would move and she was extremely pretty. Her eyes were the colour of green emeralds and shone with the same glow as her runes on the sword and bow. She had a walk that would remind you of one of the great cats and had that same graceful stance, as though she knew how to handle the weapons she carried. There was also something else unseen, but felt about this exotic female that said danger and to beware.
Coming up behind her, and where they could see the lights approaching from, was a multi-antlered stag and the beast had an aura about it glowing golden and green. The wooden girl was talking and not paying attention to the creature that was walking behind her almost like this was a very typical thing for this creature to do. Kerwyn was thinking to himself that this was the same creature that the Queen of the Elves had as her throne in the Elvin Great Hall.
