Earth Magic

by Kenneth Price

  Mor looked at the table, then gave the priest a smirk. "With the sword?"

  Gillies drew in a long breath. "I hoped to discover its secrets. We need to understand it."

  "That is neither your job nor mine." Mor took a step closer to Gillies, pointing a long finger at him, she scolded at him as if he were a child. "We are to deliver both the prince and the sword to our master." Her eyes narrowed. "But you do not wish to do that, do you?"

  Gillies looked down at the sword. When he looked back up, his initial shock and uncertainty were gone. His smug smile returned. "Why should we? Why should we hand such a weapon as Saran Na Grain over to Torcull? Why should we not keep it for ourselves? Think, Mor. The power could be ours. Think of the possibilities."

  Mor crossed her arms across her chest. "We have spoken of this before. The Prophet will not be pleased with you, Gillies. Nor am I."

  "With the sword's power, I will not care. Help me, Mor, and Torcull will serve us! Just think of it. We could rule the world!"

  "You are mad, Gillies. The Dark Master will cut you down. We are his to command and to serve. To oppose him is to die a thousand deaths."

  "No!" snapped Gillies shaking his head. "I will serve no more! You can grovel at his feet if you wish too, but not me. I will be my own master. I will be the master of all."

  Mor frowned. "Do you think it is that easy? Do you think you can just take the sword and walk away? If you stand against the Dark Prophet, you will lose. Torcull wants the boy and sword delivered unharmed. If you must, take the Elf, but leave the prince and sword alone. Gillies,... " her voice took on a hard, commanding tone, "I order you to step aside!"

  Elwin shivered at the sound of her voice. Without thinking, he stepped backward, nearly tripping over Aidan, it was almost as if Mor's voice had pushed him. Gillies only laughed, "Do not try your tricks on me, Mor. They no longer work. I have learned more than you think."

  She looked at the sword.

  Elwin saw a worried look cross her face. Does she think he can use it?

  Mor looked up from the table. Her eyes still had authority in them, but now there was also doubt. "I don't believe you," she said at last. "You could not tap into the sword's powers. If you had," she nodded towards the cell, "they would be dead by now."

  Gillies smiled. He moved closer to the sword. "Maybe I have. But if you doubt me, then call my bluff. If you dare." Feeling a tingling sensation, Elwin look for a place to hide. The air began to spark with energy. Mor and Gillies were drawing up Earth Magic. Elwin gasped. The sword on the table began to glow. He could feel the sword. It was calling to him. Then he heard the power of Earth Magic. The magic was reaching out to him. He could hear it in his head. Like some strange song, the magic sang to him. At first, it was a soothing tune, strangely the song that did not have an actual beat nor a rhythm. The song was like that of a gurgling brook mixed with the sound of leaves blowing in the wind. Without words, the song sang of the grandeur of life and the mystery of creation. Held in the wonder of the song, Elwin heard it sing of towering mountains and seas without end, of forests of green thriving trees, and of life sprung out of the soil. Elwin felt himself sinking into the song. Elwin felt at peace. The world around him faded away until only the song of Earth Magic remained. Then the song changed. It began to hurt. The song pounded in his head. Elwin tried to pull back, but he couldn't. The world suddenly went black. Those around him were gone. The song took him deeper. Terrified, Elwin struggled against the power. Helpless against the song, Elwin was taken deeper and deeper into its magic. Like a rotting animal carcass, the music had now turned dark and foul. The air became thick. It was no longer the song of life, but of death. The song now sang of destruction. Wind and rain tore down the mountains, and the seas dried into vast deserts, forests became fields of dead trunks, and the land withered and died. Elwin felt a shadow rise out of the song. Within the shadow was a sense of great despair. A great hopelessness washed over him, and he felt lost within that shadow. Darkness was everywhere. The dark song pulled at him. Feeling helpless, he went down into its vast emptiness. He was alone, feeling so very lost, the song echoed in his head. All that remained was the shadow and the dark song of death. No longer able to fight the song, Elwin went deeper still.

  Feeling trapped, Elwin stared into the dark. Despair washed over him like a great sea. Within the shadow, there could be no hope. Then there was a light. A red spark flashed, then it was gone. Someone else was there. Elwin tried to move forward. Struggling against the shadow, he took a step towards where the light had been. It was like walking against a fast moving river. "Where are you?" he called out. There was no answer. Then he saw another flash of light. He struggled on. Out of the dark shadow, he saw two figures. There was another flash. This time, the light lingered for a moment before fading away. Elwin walked towards the two.

  "Can you hear me?" he called. Again, there was no answer. A light burst out of the dark. Elwin realized that the two figures were fighting with earth magic. And the Earth was in pain as its powers were twisted into acts of violence and hatred. Elwin then recognized the two combatants as that of the priest Gilles and High Priestess Mor. Elwin moved closer. He wished these two figures had not been of the Severed Head, he wished they were there to help him escape the madness of the magic. But at least he was not alone. Then there was a thunderous crash. It was like being at the heart of a thunderstorm. There was a red flash. The light raced towards him. Painfully, Elwin could feel the light pass him by.

  "I am too close!" Elwin suddenly realized, seeing that Mor and Gillies were losing control of the magic, he was beginning to panic. The magic sang out to Elwin, it was a cry of warning. The Prince tried to back away. But he was too late. There was another crash of thunder followed by a blinding red light. The light leaped everywhere. There was no escape. As the light touched him, Elwin screamed out in pain. The light burned. Dropping to his knees, he raised his arms over his head. Thunder and flashing light exploded all around him.

  "You are no match for me," warned Mor. "Stand aside! Let go of the power."

  Gillies threw back his head and laughed. "I have learned more than you think, High Priestess. Watch and see! Behold the powers that I have learned!" Blood red light sprang out of Gillies' raised hands.

  Mor raised her hands, shattering the light before her. Then she sent her own waves of fiery red light towards Gillies. Gillies spread his arms wide. As the light hit him, he seemed to embrace it. For a moment the light glowed, then faded away.

  Mor's eyes widened. She threw more light at Gillies, but it had no effect. Like a sponge, he absorbed the power that Mor threw against him.

  Horrified, Mor's look of confidence vanished. "Gillies!" she shouted. "You must stop! What have you done?"

  He smiled. "I have not yet discovered the sword's power, but I have learned other things." He pointed at her. "I tried to tell you, but you would not listen!" He threw a red ball of light at her. Mor shattered it before it could reach her, but the force made her stagger backward.

  "Oh no! The great Mor could not listen to me! She could not listen to a lowly priest!" He went on with a bitter laugh. "But I am not so lowly now, am I?" Another wave of light leaped from Gillies' outstretched hands, forcing Mor back against the wall. "And now, Mor, you must die."

  She gasped. Her face became distorted with fear. She had sensed what Elwin had. Gillies was calling up too much power. "Stop!” She cried. “You can't control it! You will bring the temple down upon us!"

  Gillies ignored her desperate warning. He was now beyond reasoning. "I will have the sword!" he howled like the raging storm that was growing inside him. "None shall stop me! None!" Above his head, he slapped his hands, and the air exploded. Blinding light and fire went in every direction. Gillies' mouth fell open. Too late he realized what he had done. Like the waters from a storm flooded river, the power poured uncontrollably out of him. At first, he struggled with the power, holding the torrents back, but soon he began losing control of the magic. There was ju
st too much raw power. A thunderous crash resounded through the room as yet another wave of magic broke free. Shrieking, Gillies feel to his knees.

  The floor buckled and the walls shook. As if waking from a nightmare, Elwin screamed and fell on top of Aidan. Trying to fend off the burning light and fire, he raised his arms over his head as a wordless song sang out to him. The wordless song sprang up from deep within the earth and raced through Elwin. For a moment, the song of Earth Magic was all there was. Prince Elwin had ceased to be, there was no room, no cell, no world. There was only the wordless song of life and death. A song of love and hate, of endless joy and the deepest sorrow. Then there was a silence, the song ended as quickly as it had begun, and the mindless roar of the storm of unchecked power had stopped as well, Elwin let his arms drop and opened his eyes. Once more, Elwin was back in the temple, but things had changed. Both Gillies and Mor were gone, and a fire was raging everywhere. Where Gillies had stood, there was a gaping hole in the floor. The very gates of hell had opened and had taken him home. The cell room was a disaster and fire leaped from every part of the chamber. By the immensity of the power, the cell doors had been ripped free of its hinges, and now the cell’s iron bars gate lay in poodles of molten metal. The cell floor and walls were burnt black. The straw that had covered the cell floor had been burned completely away except for one small circle. Where Elwin and Aidan laid, the straw was still there and was unburnt or even singed. The floor around them had not been touched by the raging power. Elwin looked down, expecting to find himself burned, but both he and Aidan appeared unhurt. With wonder in his green eyes, Aidan looked up at Elwin.

  "How did you do that?" the Elf breathed.

  Not knowing what Aidan meant, the prince came to his feet. Part of the cell wall suddenly collapsed. "We have to get out of here." He stepped over the puddles of metal, careful not to touch them.

  Aidan started for the door, but when he realized that Elwin had stopped, he turned back around. "What are you doing?"

  Elwin was searching through the rubble that was scattered across the room. "My sword, I have to find it."

  "It could not have survived," Aidan stated. There was an urgency to his voice. "The table and everything on it was destroyed. We have to leave!"

  The roof above creaked. Looking up, Aidan saw that the fire was eating through the support beams. "Elwin! There is no time!" Ignoring Aidan, Elwin continued to search.

  "Elwin!"

  "There it is!" Elwin suddenly exclaimed.

  Lying at Elwin's feet, Aidan saw the sword. The sheath had been devoured by the flames, but the sword and hilt remained. The blade glowed red hot, but sword had survived.

  Elwin bent down.

  "No!" shouted Aidan. "It will burn you!"

  It was too late. Elwin had already reached out and grabbed hold of the sword's hilt. To his surprise, the leather hilt was cool to his touch.

  Above, the ceiling groaned and moaned. With a loud crack, one of the beams snapped in half. The two ends of the beam came crashing down to the floor, bringing a large section of the ceiling with it. Smoke and flames were everywhere.

  Elwin coughed from the thick, black smoke. "Let's get out of here! This room is about to collapse."

  Aidan offered no protest, and the two dashed past the archway and into a narrow hallway. With a thunderous crash, the room behind them suddenly gave way and fell. Fed by the air above, the fire leaped upwards, engulfing the upper floor.

  Attempting to escape the spreading blaze, Elwin and Aidan staggered past the dead body of a hobgoblin that had been crushed by a fallen beam. Down the smoky hallway, they stumbled forward. The fire, as it, if were possessed by the mad power that had created it, was rapidly engulfing the temple.

  "Up!" cried Aidan, "We have to go up."

  "Here," said Elwin, finding a pair of stairs. As fast as they could, they raced up the stairs. Three floors later, they found a closed door.

  Aidan placed a hand upon a door. "It’s not hot. There's no fire on the other side. At least not yet."

  Pulling open the door, they hurried on. But it was not long before they discovered that the flames had outrun them, and they were forced back. They tried another hallway. The temple was like a maze, and the two wandered looking for some way out while at the same time avoiding the rapidly spreading fire.

  Struggling through the winding halls of the temple, Elwin and Aidan raced against the flames. They climbed every staircase they could find, but the fire was moving faster.

  More smoke filled the hallways. Below, they heard a groaning sound. Then somewhere below there was an explosion. The floor shifted, and Elwin was thrown from his feet. Aidan helped him back up, and they raced on.

  "We're not going to make it," Elwin stated. "The place is burning too fast."

  "We'll make it," insisted Aidan.

  Aidan pulled on Elwin's arm, and they hurried on once more. Coughing, their eyes stung from the smoke. Three more times, they were forced back by the spreading fire.

  Covered in soot and ashes, Elwin and Aidan rushed through a final doorway. Coughing, the two finally stepped out into a courtyard. They were outside and alive.

  Elwin drank in the fresher air. There was still a lot of smoke, but it was a lot better outside the temple. "We made it!" he breathed not quite believing their luck.

  "Not yet." Aidan glanced back through the door that they had just passed through. Laying on the floor were two dead hobgoblins. "What’s happening?"

  Elwin stepped past him. "A battle. Look."

  The grounds of the courtyard were lit by the burning temple. Ashes floated down from above. Scattered here and there were more bodies. From around the building, a small group of hobgoblins appeared. Ignoring Elwin and Aidan, the hobgoblins rushed past them. Hurrying towards the sound of men fighting, the Hobgoblins were running towards the outer wall. Over the noise of shouts and the crackle of the fire, the sound of metal hitting metal could be heard.

  "There," Aidan pointed.

  Elwin looked. Three men were trying to fight their way to the wall. Amongst all the fighting, their faces were hard to see. A guard of the Severed Head dropped before a man in leather armor. Not far away, a hobgoblin fell before a big blond headed youth. The second teen with curly red hair broke through the guards and dashed up a ladder to the wall's walkway. His sword lashed out, and a guard screamed, toppling over the wall. The other two hurried up behind the redheaded youth. More hobgoblins and men appeared. The first hobgoblin reached the ladder and started up. With his bulging muscles, the larger of the two boys pushed the ladder away from the wall. The hobgoblin howled angrily as he crashed backward. Then the three leaped over the wall and escaped. "I think that was Pallas and Colin," said Aidan.

  "Here in the temple?"

  Aidan shook his head. "It doesn't matter. We have to escape."

  "We'll never be able to fight our way across the bailey."

  "Well, we can't stay here. It is only a matter of time until someone sees us."

  Elwin nodded, then after a brief moment of silence, he said, "Let's make our way to a gate."

  Careful not to be seen by the passing soldiers, Elwin and Aidan kept close to the shadows and the wall of the temple. Slowly, they worked towards the temple's postern gate. Several times, hobgoblins, men and priests rushed the past, but they never gave Elwin and Aidan a second glance. They had more important things to worry about. The fire was destroying their temple.

  Another explosion erupted and the ground shook. Off to the far side of the courtyard, a bucket brigade had formed to fight the fire. Avoiding the firefighters, Aidan and Elwin were forced out into the open, but again no one was paying them any attention.

  Still within sight of the bucket brigade, they found the postern gate. Elwin moaned, "It's guarded." With all the confusion, Elwin had hoped that the gate would be abandoned.

  The two ducked behind a wall and laid flat upon the ground. "Why so many guards?" whispered Aidan.

  Beneath Elwin, the ground felt warm
. He nodded to the men fighting the fire. "I think they're trying to keep those people from fleeing."

  Aidan looked up and saw a hobgoblin throwing a man towards the burning buildings.

  "You're right. Those people are being forced to fight the fire."

  Just then a black-robed priest came running out of the temple. His arms were waving over his head. "The altar room has caught on fire!" he yelled as if it were the worst possible thing to happen. Everyone stopped working and watched him run across the courtyard. The priest ran right past Elwin and Aidan, and in a mindless rush headed straight for the heavily guarded gate. Terrified, the priest ran as if the end of the world was at hand. The guards at the gate did not dare stop one of the Black Priests. As if he were being chased by a Blood Demon, the priest threw open the gate and vanished into the night.

  "The temple is lost!" someone else screamed. “Run!”

  The men that had been fighting the fire dropped their buckets and turned as one. Then, with panic in their eyes, they ran for the gate.

  Confusion quickly broke out. At first, it looked as if the guards were going to be overrun. Taking advantage of the confusion, Elwin and Aidan jumped to their feet, mingling in with the panicked crowd, they ran towards the gate. Suddenly, more guards appeared. They lifted up their crossbows and leveled them at the gathering crowd. The mob stopped and stared, not sure if they should charge forward or go back, they were caught between the fear of what lay before them and behind.

  An officer in black armor stepped forward. "Get back to work!" the armed man barked.

  "And close that gate," he told another soldier, shoving him into action.

  The crowd shifted nervously. Slowly they began to draw back, but hesitating they did not return to the fires.

  "I said get back to work!"

  The crowd fell further back. Reluctantly, they started heading towards the temple. Elwin and Aidan were left standing alone. "You!" cried out the officer, spotting Elwin and Aidan. "So you are alive!" The officer pointed at Elwin. "You're the one who started this! You will pay for trying to destroy the temple!" Elwin raised his sword. He was too close to give up now. Freedom was only a dozen feet away.