The varghul opened its fang filled mouth and screeched at them, its ear-splitting howl causing Celia to put her hands over her ears. She watched as Salrissa fired another arrow at the creature, managing to hit it in the dim pre-dawn light. Unfortunately, the arrow hit the creature on the bony part of the skull between its eyes, bouncing off harmlessly. Hoyle and Robart moved to try and flank the creature, weapons in front of them.
The varghul moved faster than thought, slashing at Hoyle with his middle right leg, its long claws forcing Hoyle to dive out of the way into a pile of bushes. At the same time, its left front leg whipped out at Robart. Robart ducked quickly, but a claw still sliced into his shoulder, drawing blood, knocking him off-balance. Salrissa let another arrow fly, sinking it into the shoulder next to the other arrow.
The creature turned to Salrissa and screeched again in anger, then pounced at her with its powerful legs. Salrissa dove to the side, rolling into the shadows under the wreckage of the ship, and vanished from sight. The varghul clawed at the wreckage, trying to get at Salrissa. All this happened in mere moments since the creature attacked.
"Cravash!" Celia intoned, sending her marbles of light at the back of the beast while it was digging for her most immediate prey. They hit the rear end of the creature, singeing its fur, causing it to yelp. It turned in a circle, trying to determine the source of its distress. Its eyes caught Celia and Valena standing close together near the side of the clearing by the fallen logs. It began to stalk towards them, crouching for a leap. Just as it was coiling itself, Robart stepped up behind it and swung his giant sword, hitting the creature in the rear thigh, drawing a serious amount of blood. It screeched in pain and swung its armored tail, slamming Robart across the clearing, slicing a red streak across his chain armor. He landed in the bushes unmoving.
It turned to face Celia, now wary, now moving forward with a limp. She could hear Valena praying to her left, and began to prepare her next spell as quick as possible - this varghul was now really angry and in a blood rage. Celia looked at the sky, noticing the first hints the sun would peek over the horizon. She also noted Salrissa and Hoyle moving up from behind the creature.
Suddenly the beast sprung forward, just as Valena stepped up beside Celia, throwing her hands up in front of herself. The creature's mouth open to bite, it looked like the two of them were both doomed, but the creature was brought up short, running into a clear shield of force that Valena must have called into being. The creature stumbled back dazed and shook its head. At that moment Celia saw Salrissa run towards Hoyle and stepped into his cupped his hands, which he used to hurl the assassin up onto the varghul's back. Salrissa ran along the stunned creature's back and sank two knives into the soft spots on either side of the creature's neck armor. The creature bucked, throwing Salrissa to the side, where she managed to tumble to break her fall and roll to safety.
Celia took that opportunity to cast her Flare spell, causing painfully bright sparkling lights to dance in front of the night-hunter's eyes. At the same moment, Hoyle took the opportunity to drive his rapier into the same leg that Robart had already wounded. The creature wailed again, shook its head twice and ran limping into the woods in the direction from which it came, crashing through the brush all stealth forgotten in its haste to flee.
Celia let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. The rest of the group formed up and moved to where Robart lay in the underbrush, unconscious. Valena knelt to tend to him as the rest watched the bushes for the varghul, or anything else that might attack. Celia noted that the varghul's tail had ripped a gash across his chest, right through his chain armor. Valena's healing prayers sealed the wound quickly, but she suspected that his armor was ruined beyond repair.
Chapter 21
Hoyle looked around at the group, surprised that they were not more injured. Aside from Robart's serious injuries and the shoulder he himself wrenched when he had to dive into the bushes, they were remarkably well off. However, he knew that couldn't last long. He was a city boy at heart, who had spent a summer working on an ocean trader as a deck hand when he was younger. So he knew a little about ships and a lot about the city, but absolutely nothing about how to survive in the wilderness. And it being spring, with unpredictable days, and chilly nights, not to mention the creatures that lived out here, he ventured that there were going to be a number of uncomfortable days coming at them.
Valena finished her prayers, her glowing hands healing the wound across Robart's chest. Robart sat up with a start, then groaned and lay back down.
"Seven Hells that tail sure hurt." he said. Quiet laughter followed from the rest of the group as the tension of the encounter left them.
"We had better get moving. The smell of blood will probably bring out some other animals to investigate." He was only guessing, but tried to say it with authority, so no one questioned him at this point. "I'm going to climb a tree and check out our best path. Salrissa, why don't you and Celia go back to the lake and fill the water skins she brought out of the wreckage please? Valena, stay here with Robart and makes sure he's ready to go when we get back." He then turned and walked into the woods, opposite the side the varghul left, and tried to find a tall tree.
He managed to find a suitable tree about twenty paces from the wreckage as the sun was rising, its leaves not yet budding in the chill early spring air. It had to be ten or twelve spans tall, with thick evenly spaced branches that appeared easy to climb. This proved true as he scaled the tree with no more challenge than climbing a ladder. Near the top, the branches began to sway with his weight, but he was able to see in all directions.
They were in a ravine of sorts, maybe more of a valley, between two arms of the mountain that contained the lake that had saved their lives last night. He could see the small forms of Salrissa and Celia at the lake's edge filling the water skins. Hoyle could see a small glimmer leading from the lake which must be a river or creek of some sort. To the northwest was the main face of the mountain, ridges running on either side of them to the north and south. The valley opened up into the foothills to the southeast. Far to the southeast, past the foothills, he could see the plains of Goralon, and imagined that he could see Karvesh. However, in all directions all he could see was unbroken forest, other than the clearing the wreckage had created. He knew they were in some serious trouble.
Climbing back down, Hoyle returned to the wreckage to find everyone ready and waiting for him.
"So what's the plan?" Salrissa asked him as she cleaned her knives with a clump of brown, dead grass.
"Yes, what did you see?" Celia added.
He summarized his survey of the surrounding area to the group. "I suggest that we either follow the stream from the lake, or make it to the southern ridge." Hoyle offered as confidently as he could manage.
"Why?" Robart asked with slight contempt. Hoyle noted that he had turned his chain shirt around as no slash was apparent on the front.
"Why what?" he responded to the larger man.
"Why should we follow you or any suggestion you make? Who made you leader of this little group?" Robart crossed his arms stubbornly across his chest.
Hoyle was not surprised. There had been a tension between the two of them since they had stepped through the magegate. Besides the fact that Hoyle hated Robart for the torture he had received at his hand and did not understand why he was on this mission, Robart had been walking on eggshells around him the entire expedition. He sensed something like this might happen sooner or later, but he didn't want to force this confrontation here. "Fine! What do you suggest then?" he rebutted.
Valena moved up to Robart and put her hand on his arm. Robart leaned down and listened as she spoke quietly to him. He shook his head at something she said. She spoke again, and finally he looked up at Hoyle, his eyes ice. "Alright, let's get ourselves to the ridge then." He gestured for Hoyle to lead the way.
---o---
They spent the day fighting through the thick woods, with few words spoken between them. Th
ey had started by following their trail back to the lake, and then following the shoreline to the east, until it curled around to the south. Birds called and insects chirped in the mild spring air. The sun was high, and though mild, it was not warm.
They stopped where the small river left the lake in a steep cascade of rapids to have lunch. They each only had a small amount of rations with them, which they each ate in silence. They followed the north side of the river ravine most of the afternoon, fighting through the thick underbrush, until the banks dropped down and leveled off enough for them to get close to the river. They ended up walking along the gravel at the river's edge for most of the afternoon before finding a place to cross.
They managed to cross the river only getting partially wet, and found a small ledge above the river on which to rest. The sun was now close to dropping behind the mountain to the west, and light had started waning when they decided that they would have to stop and stay there on the ledge for the night.
The ledge was located two spans above the riverbed, and had a small overhang that created a protected area, and had restricted access. A few pine trees grew at one end of the ledge, but otherwise the ledge was exposed to the ravine. It would be somewhat defensible, and hard to reach for most animals. For the varghul, should it decide to come back, it was at perfect head height.
Hoyle stood on the ledge as the others climbed up the steep trail on their hands and knees, finding all the hand and footholds that Hoyle had indicated as he climbed. He looked at the clear sky above and was grateful that it would not rain tonight, but it would be cold.
He turned to Celia, as Salrissa hoisted her the last few feet onto the ledge. "Can you get a fire started with your magic?"
Celia brushed off the dirt clinging to her robes from the climb. "Yes, if you find me some dry wood, it shouldn't be a problem to get a fire started."
Hoyle leaned over the ledge and called out to Robart who was still waiting to climb as he watched Valena ascend the slope. "Robart, can you start collecting some wood for a fire?" he asked as diplomatically as he could. "I'll be down to help in a moment." He looked around the ledge and gathered some of the larger rocks lying about and created a small circle near the middle of the ledge. Meanwhile Salrissa collected a few small, dead pine branches of the trees at the end of the ledge, along with handfulls of dried needles. She piled them in the circle of stones.
Hoyle deftly leapt from the ledge in a flip and landed in the gravel below. Robart had gone down the river to the east, picking up the wood deposited along the bank in the fall, so he went west stacking the sticks and branches under one arm.
Soon thereafter, with some help from Celia's magic, they had a small fire burning in the circle of stones. There was just enough room for all of them to sit on the ledge, as long as they did not mind being shoulder to shoulder. As they all brought out their rations Valena stopped them.
"Please hand your rations over to me for a minute," Valena directed.
"Why?" Salrissa asked with a slight defensive tone in her voice.
"You will see, but I assure you, I mean no harm." was her reply.
Hoyle handed his remaining rations over to Valena with the rest of the group, the dried jerky and hard tack bread barely edible fare. He watched as she collected it in the lap of her robe and completed a prayer to the Goddess. A blue glow enveloped the food for but an instant, and then Valena handed it back to the rest of them.
"Now your food will be more edible, last longer, and fill you up faster. So, be careful not to eat more than a few bites, or you will end up with stomach pains." Valena lifted her own bread to her mouth and took a small bite. "We don't know how long it's going to take us to get back to civilization, so I thought this would be best."
Hoyle bit into his jerky, surprised to find that it was soft and pliable and tasted like the best steak he had ever eaten. He felt the energy returning to his body fairly rapidly. He tried the bread next and found it to be soft and flavourful, not the dry, crusty, flavorless dough it usually was. He nodded his thanks to Valena as he edged away from the group to the end of the ledge obscured by trees.
"I'll take first watch." he offered, climbing up onto a stone above the ledge near the trees as dusk was falling quickly in the ravine. He watched as the group settled back against the cliff face at the back of the ledge, pulling their cloaks over them for warmth.
Celia stayed closer to the fire, and murmured something he couldn't hear and threw some powder into the fire. The fire flared briefly, then settled down into a smaller, more constant flame. She then reached into a pocket of her robes and drew forth a pulsing, purple stone slightly smaller than her fist. It looked like a magestone - a magestone the size of the ones on the magegates, and she had it in her pocket.
Hoyle listened to the night carefully as he watched her caress the magestone and stare into its depths. Finally, after many minutes, she put it back in her pocket, wrapped herself in her cloak and settled in to sleep. He thought he could see tears on her cheek in the fire's light.
She was a mystery to Hoyle. She seemed so naive and trusting when he first met her what felt like ages ago, but was only but a fortnight. She seemed competent in her magic, but unsure of herself. When he really thought about it, he found that he really liked her, and was maybe even attracted to her. But he had Salrissa, though sometimes she was distant and cold, but when he could get her to open up a little, the passion came forth with almost a rage burning inside. He was torn, but willing to let things play out a little while before making any decisions. Besides, he was not sure that Celia even liked him.
Now with Robart... he knew Robart did not like him. And Hoyle sure as the Seven Hells were certainly vile, did not like Robart for obvious reasons. What he could not figure out is why Robart was with them on this suicide mission for the Emperor. Had Robart done something wrong? Was this his punishment for letting the prisoners escape? Or was he driven by something else?
The decision to bandage Robart's legs during the prison break was a spur of the moment decision, one he had not yet decided if he regretted or not. He had certainly made a choice when he did it, and it had probably saved Hoyle's life on the Imperial Sky Citadel - at least temporarily. Now he had a chance to live that much longer, and that was as much attributed to his skill and the skill of those around him, even if this was meant as a means for the Emperor to get rid of them. Whether they succeeded or failed, there was no downside for Randramas.
Chapter 22
Celia waited as the others settled down to sleep. She could hear Hoyle shifting on the rock at the end of the ledge, slightly above her. She reached into her pouch and brought out a powder, intoned the words to a Lingering spell, then tossed the powder into the fire. It flared briefly then settled to an even flame. The spell was similar to what Valena's prayer had done to their food - it would allow the fire to burn slower, diminishing its light, but not it's heat, and also allow it to burn the night through without adding any additional wood. If necessary, she could reverse the spell, instantly putting out the fire if there was a need to.
She could feel the pull of the quafa'shilaar's presence in her mind, as she had all day long as they traversed the bushes, and downed trees, and thorns, and walking knee deep through the river. She had had to stop and remove a stone from her boot on more than one occasion. But all through the day, the quafa'shilaar was a separate distraction that she could not remove. Nor was she sure she wanted to.
She reached into her pocket and retrieved the glowing violet stone. She stared into it, caressing the stone in her hand. She noted a small crack down one side that she could not see, but only feel with her fingers. The stone was no longer smooth, but was that important? She did not know.
She looked into the depths, and cast her thoughts forward, feeling a falling feeling as the stone accepted her into itself. She could sense awareness, not of its surroundings, but more of a self awareness. That startled Celia. When she had bonded with the azure magestone of her amulet, she had felt no intell
igence, no spark of awareness, just a small sense of the power residing within. Now, she could sense the power of this magestone, but also an underlying need. It seemed to want to help, to be of use, to have a purpose to its existence. Again, as these feelings rolled over her, she gasped, shocked at what was happening.
The stone seemed to be alive! She opened her thoughts further to the stone, allowing it to see within her, to the very core of her being. It seemed hesitant at first, tentative to explore what she was offering, possibly sensing her reluctance to share. Eventually the stone probed into those hidden recesses of her mind, forcing her to relive those experiences over again - the memory of her father rejecting her for her desire to join the Dar'Shilaar and casting her out, disowning her, her mother weeping in the background; the excitement of being allowed to join the ranks of the Dar'Shilaar; the joy in passing her exams and getting her own quafa'shilaar. The stone saw it all, delving deeper, causing emotions to well up within Celia that she had bottled up so fiercely, so deep down, that she had never expected to have to feel them again. But the stone laid all to bear, but then finally eased up sensing her discomfort. She felt an acceptance from the stone, a soul akin to hers, willing to be her partner, willing to help, to have a purpose, to be an equal. Celia was gladdened by the emotions returned by the stone - acceptance, eagerness... and love? The last caught her off guard; this was just a stone, was it not?
Stones Unbound (The Magestone Chronicles Book 1) Page 22
