Consequences Within Chaos

by Derek Barton

  “Take him back to his room so he can prepare his leave.”

  Taihven conceded to the Madnad and nodded in compliance. He was hurt by the king’s words but understood their anger and mistrust and did not say any more.

  His argument was continued amongst the crowd of Duradramyn while he was escorted out by the guards and led back to his hut.

  It was time to go either way. He could not convince them with his words, but perhaps common sense would prevail and other Duradramyn might win their leaders over. It was time to prepare for his work on Bre’avat and find the Eyes of Cinnelel.

  As he packed a sack with fruits, a noise at the door caught his attention. The stalwart warrior that had stood at his door many days while he was healing had returned and two other guards had accompanied him. It was another indication that he had taken another step backwards with the Duradramyn people.

  The prince shook his head. The Duradramyn couple was very serious about his departure.

  The warrior strode forward and put his hand on Taihven’s shoulder. “Prince Taihven,” he spoke with a slight lisp. “I am Palyavek, your Beneradt.”

  The warrior then stepped back, bowed and lowered to one knee.

  “Uh, Beneradt?” questioned the prince.

  The guard stood and reached out to clasp Taihven’s hand.

  “It is my honored duty to guard and protect you at the cost of my own. I am your Beneradt.”

  “And to keep tabs on me. Do not worry, Palyavek. I am leaving with no protest.” He started to pull away to finish his packing. The guard, however, did not let his grip go.

  “The majority of us are not happy about their decision.” Palyavek said with conviction. “Wandering Wolf, do not let our Madnad’s grief color your opinion of us. The crisis we face is not simple and no clear choice is available ahead of us. If truth be told, most of us see the value to what you offer. I do not feel our ancestors would want us to die in vain over their graves. However, we will not contradict the Madnads.”

  Palyavek unsheathed a black crystal-tipped spear strapped along his back and extended to him. The young man stood with it uncertain as to the meaning.

  “Prince Taihven, please accept this as a gift. You will need this on your journey. It is also a symbol of my pledge of life-debt to you.”

  “I do not understand.”

  “My two brothers and I were caught in the same storms as you that day in the Sacred Groves. We were honoring our father’s baine. Had you not come to the grove, the patrols that were looking for you would not have come across us as well. The Lashkair mounts outran the Wildwyns that we would not have been able to on foot.”

  “It was pure chance that I found your realm. Thank you for your gifts, but I cannot take from you what is not owed, Palyavek.” Taihven was caught off guard by the male’s gratitude.

  “I will be taking leave to come and help protect you from the Khorthas.”

  “The fire beetles?”

  He chuckled and shook his head. “No, not beetles. Worse. One thing to remember is that the Khorthas are nocturnal. Be quiet, be fast. And keep upwind of them if you can.” In Palyavek’s mind, a memory surfaced of a green and orange striped-scaled beast with reptilian legs and tiger feline features. It sprung out from ferns and bolted down a pebbled path.

  As if live volcanos and fire-belching beetles were not bad enough, thought Taihven.

  He shrugged feeling overwhelmed, “I am not a fighter of any real sort, but I could not ask you to come along and endanger yourself on my behalf. Please take this back as I am more likely to hurt myself with it. Thank you for your offer though; I am very grateful.” Then he spotted the warrior’s belt.

  “Could I perhaps borrow that?” he pointed at the thick machete hanging from a hook in his belt. “I took some basic training with something similar to two of those.”

  “Two? You use two at once?” Palyavek handed Taihven the weapon and took the other guard’s matching machete. “Could we see?”

  Taihven grinned sheepishly. “I can do a couple of posts and parries, but as I said, I am a spellcaster not a fighter.” However, he did oblige the guards with a show of several thrusts in the two-weapon style.

  “Perhaps, one day we could teach and learn from each other?”

  The prince agreed, but he felt the odds were dwindling that he would be returning anytime soon.

  A rap upon the hut’s door frame startled both of them and interrupted their impromptu banter.

  Gi’yandan the Ara Yve Seld had come to Taihven’s hammock was standing next to the other guards. Taihven had not seen the Duradramyn since that first healing session. In one hand, the master healer carried a leather sack.

  “It is good to see you have regained your feet and strength, Wandering Wolf,” the Duradramyn healer said, bowing at the hip. He wore the same colors as before, but seemed more diminished than before and leaned heavily upon a chunky, wooden staff.

  “I am very happy to meet you and get the opportunity to thank you for what you have done for me. I am sorry it has taken so long to extend my appreciation.” Taihven answered.

  “Madnada Yua Tib advised me that you were leaving. I brought you this,” He produced from the sack a metal stone before him. No, not a stone as he first guessed, but an actual crystal comprised of metal. Taihven never saw anything like it. His multiple reflections gleamed back at him.

  “The Threeva!” Palyavek whispered in awe.

  “It has no true power on its own, Prince Taihven, but has magic that leads you to other crystals.” The Ara Yve Seld explained further, “Tap the Threeva and it will call out to all crystals near to you. The louder their reply the stronger they are. The Eyes of Cinnelel you search for will have a pitch like no other.”

  “Thank you, Master Gi’yandan. It will be safe in my hands and I promise to return it to you. I do not know how I can repay you.”

  “No such payment is required, young wolf. However, I hope that your journey does not destroy all the work we have already done with you. This is my way of seeing to that. May the Threeva bring you much luck as well.” Again, he bowed and left. His steps whispered across the stone floor.

  Taihven took all of the moment in and all that it implied. This was an end of his stay with the Duradramyn. The first steps on the beaches of Bre’avat would be the first part of his trek home. His first steps in repelling the Viestrahl and Auste.

  “Thank you, Palyavek. I—I have to go now—” Taihven stammered as emotion choked him up.

  “As your Beneradt, I could not forsake you at this critical time of need,” He squeezed the prince’s shoulder. “We will go together and retrieve the Cinnelel. I see now how you are very much like us: lost and separated from your loved ones. It would be an honor to help you, Wandering Wolf.”

  Taihven could not yet reply so he turned away from his newfound bodyguard and focused on creating a gate. With the two sacks slung over his shoulder, the two machetes tied to his hip belt and a strange ally, he took a bold step through the ring and into the new land of volcanoes, fire beetles and wild things that thrive in the oily hours of the nightfall.

  #3

  Icey blue water of the tide rushed up and washed over his feet and soaked his pants up to the knees. The beachfront itself was quiet and empty. Wind tossled his hair and the warm breeze carried a peculiar citrus taint to it. Flocks of birds squawked and chirped in the tall tree-line. Bre’avat was alive and active.

  “Do you know which direction?” Palyavek asked over the crash of the waves.

  The prince shook his head and waded over to the shore and looked in both directions along the coast.

  The span of the land expanded in front of him as far as he could see. He could hear and feel the thrum of the island’s active volcanoes. On his left, several streams of molten magma dropped from a rock ledge and flowed into the oncoming sea water. Steam and smoke from their conflict rose in a constant pillar into the sky. A steady hiss could be heard over the raucous of the jungle birds. In spite of the
dangers of the wildlife that he knew existed here, Taihven felt that this continent was attractive and enchanting.

  “When my father used to take me hunting for Spring Prawen, he always insisted that we start by finding the high ground to see the layout of the surrounding lands.” Taihven stated.

  “You want to make for that volcano then?”

  “Yes, I just hope we can get there before the end of the day.”

  The deep forest ahead of them was overrun by Blood-amber ferns a good seven to ten hands high. Looming in the distance like a festering boil, a smoking volcano mound, swollen and oozing hot lava, crested the forest canopy. From the top of the volcano, they would certainly find a better vantage point to survey the entire jungle landscape.

  Taihven pulled the twin machete blades from his belt. He could not see any visible paths through the vegetation.

  “We would spend a good two weeks every year in the woods, living off the land and camping under the stars. My father thought it would help ground and tie me to reality. Make a ‘man’ of me or something of the sort. It failed to stop the episodes of course, but the weeks that we spent together were the best memories I have of my childhood.”

  “You will always miss and grieve for him, Taihven, but you will learn to live with the loss.”

  “I suppose so.”

  He was uneasy and hesitant to start, but at least he had not heard or spotted any trace of the Khorthas so far. Palyavek did warn that the beasts were nocturnal, but he knew it would not be wise to assume that this was an absolute.

  It took the better half of the day to cut through the ground cover and reach the base of the volcano. They explored along its base, but found no viable openings into it so they decided that they would have to scale its sides. Under the fronds of Twin-trunk Palm trees they took shelter in the shade and had a rest.

  After the suns had passed from being directly over his head, Taihven tried to spot the best path up the side of the peak. This would not be an easy climb and he worried that the light would fail before they crested the top.

  “Should I risk another Gate Ring?” He proposed.

  “No, it is not safe. Your ring might appear too close to the magma.”

  The prince shook his head in agreement. No easy way around this, he chided himself and set his footing on its rocky side. Palyavek followed after without a word.

  The young men managed to beat the last sun’s dusk and mounted the top edge of the crater bowl. Peering into the crater, Taihven found that it was much deeper than he anticipated. Its apex was an eye of bubbling lava that was surrounded with a honeycomb labyrinth of old lava tubes. He hauled himself over the edge.

  Heat waves baked his backside as he scanned the far horizons. The expanse of jungle went on for several miles to the north and swarmed a series of tall plateaus.

  “Wolf! Look!” The Duradramyn had crossed to the other side of the volcano crater top. He waved at the prince. “Hurry!”

  Within moments, the prince spotted what excited his Beneradt. Much further inland, perhaps eleven arpents to the east were three grey and white stone spires that poked from the tree cover. They were attached to mammoth walls of similar grey and white material. A fourth and fifth spire were barely visible beneath the trees, both broken and splintered. The five spires were set into an immense circle of similar grey and white material. His gut instinct told him that these were the ruins that he was looking for. An overgrown city with gutted tall structures and leaning towers.

  One tower poked high into the clouds, something there called to Taihven immediately. The fine details of it though were hidden among vines and mossy growths.

  “That is going to take a long time to get to, Palyavek. You sure you want to take this on with me? I can still gate you home.”

  The Duradramyn smiled and pounded his staff into the dirt. Light faded and dusk darkened around them.

  Eyeing the bubbling magma pool, he said, “Then I think we can sleep here tonight. Tomorrow though we will have to find safer shelter.”

  ***

  “Gayada’asha. Gayada’asha, Watalsis!”

  Taihven kept his eyes squeezed tight against the morning light. He was sore from head-to-toe.

  “Gayada—”

  “—No, Palyavek!” He snapped; he was not ready to start another long day of hiking and cutting down ferns at every step. They had stopped right at dusk again and had found a set of entwined Twin-trunk Palms that could support their weight and their bedding.

  The tell-tale flapping sound of wings overhead instantly brought the prince awake and upright. In the branches further up sat a bat-creature, silvery white with wide yellow eyes and silver claws. It ate from a clump of grapes and watched them without fear.

  “What is that?”

  Palyavek babbled to him, but because they were on separate trunks he was not able to reach out to understand him.

  A long purring whine came from another bat flying in a circle over their glade. It had a set of watermelon-sized oranges in its claws. This one was also bleach white and silver and had a wingspan of at least twenty hand lengths. The partnering creature landed above his Duradramyn friend.

  “Down!” Taihven whispered in a stern tone.

  The creatures had taken note of them and of course knew that the youths were awake. In Tayneva the bats were of a much smaller variety and mostly nocturnal. The bat colonies were foreboding and thought to be signs of bad omen to the villagers. He had no cause to be worried yet of these bats, but he was not taking chances. He grabbed his two blankets and machetes and scampered away down the trunks to the ground.

  The prince distinctly heard the giant bats chattering togethering in the treetops, but they did not give chase or pursuit.

  ***

  Palyavek crawled ahead of him under the Blood-ambers, using the shadows to hide his presence. The city ruins stood before them — majestic grey and white walls with lattice works and stairs connecting five levels. Beyond broken gates were small, flat buildings that were perhaps shelters or homes which were built all around the bases of leaning towers and several sky-high buildings.

  And there were bats… Hundreds of them.

  Taihven and Palyavek had made a mistake.

  The giant bats surrounded and swarmed the ruins. In the two days since their first encounter, the two had discovered three prevailing species of giant bats: the silvery-white ones that liked the West walls and the jungles near it, dark red ones with white bulging eyes and feathery, long ears that claimed the East walls and inside the walls larger brown bats with ivory stripes nested. The Browns were very aggressive and even dangerous when they patrolled their territory.

  Four of the Browns had returned from a patrol and were devouring an unlucky Silver. It squealed and struggled, but could not free itself from under their weight. They were taking their time; cutting and biting into it while they waited for it to bleed out.

  Taihven squirmed his way up to the Duradramyn. “It is getting dark.”

  “And they are not nesting.” the Beneradt pointed out. The plan had been to wait for the Browns to bed for the night as they had observed the other bat species doing at sundown.

  “Every creature must sleep. We go in, use the Threeva, gate home. Simple.” He tried to sound confident and bolster his comrade’s spirits, but nothing about their raid seemed straight forward now.

  The Silver stopped moving and the Browns began to feast in earnest. It was gruesome and very audible in the lull of the jungle’s dusk.

  “What do you make of that?” The prince asked. He pointed at several clusters of bordering Twin-trunk Palms. The trees were glowing bright, the light seeming to be coming from within the bark itself.

  “I have never seen anything like it.” The entire region in front of the walls were glowing a yellowish, haunting pale luminescence.

  “Could the trees somehow be trapping the sunlight?” Palyavek ventured.

  “That is amazing! Light is also coming from inside the walls.” The prince whisp
ered. “I… I know that this sounds funny, but you do not suppose that the bats built this place do you?”

  “They seem like normal animals to me.” He shrugged.

  The last of the suns dropped below horizon, but the city ruins were still lit up and alive with active Brown Bats.

  “This is not going to work for us, Wandering Wolf.”

  “I think you are right. But... I have an idea. It is dangerous though.”

  “That does seem to be a pattern for you.” Palyavek quipped.

  “I could cast a Fireball Sigil so that it arches out into the jungle and distract them. Although, I am not sure if it will burn out on its own or if it will burn everything down.”

  They laid under the ferns in silence working out their thoughts and monitoring the Brown patrols.

  “That is too risky and the fires could come back on us. Do you have any other… sigils?”

  “No. Well, nothing that would be any more helpful than the fireballs.” Defeat dampened Taihven’s spirits.

  He studied the glowing trees and foliage. From that distance he could not make out much, but finally he spotted triangular disks which were embedded in the bark of the trunks. Perhaps they were the source of illumination, but he doubted that they would be of any assistance in helping them get into the city ruins.

  “Wolf! I think I have it – a possible way inside.” Palyavek pushed himself back away from the edges of the clearing. The prince did not hesitate and followed the Beneradt.

  They stood up once in the darkness of the forest and he took Taihven’s arm to lead him among the trees and spaghetti-like roots that covered the ground. They did not speak for a long while until they stood on the banks of a muddy, flowing stream.

  “I think this will lead into the ruins. We need to find something to cover us and float with. Do you understand, Wolf?”

  “That is perfect. All we need to do is get within the walls. The Threeva will direct us to the crystal and then we gate out of here!” Taihven said; he was feeling excited again.