by JD Franx
After leaving Dominique Havarrow’s pirate ship, try as he might, Kael could no longer keep the fog caused by nearly three days of no sleep from clouding his mind. He climbed the stairs to the room he shared with Kyah, unable to stop yawning.
Kael opened the door and stepped into their room, wondering how he was going to stay awake for a couple more hours. A bright multi-coloured explosion rocked his foggy mind. His body hit the floor and he slid to the far side of the room. Pain bloomed inside his skull and neck. Running his hand from the base of his skull upwards, Kael pulled back fingers coated in blood and hair and what he desperately hoped were not small pieces of bone. More pain seared the nerves behind his eyes and dizziness overwhelmed his faltering senses as he rolled himself onto his back. Though conscious, he could not stop his legs from twitching like a brained animal.
Several wavering sets of three rugged men stood by the door. The first set closed the door while the other two sets advanced in his direction. Blinking with frantic desperation, Kael’s muddled brain slowly informed him that he was seeing triple. He fought to understand that the three identical men carrying matching heavy black clubs were in reality the lone man who hit him as he entered the room. Even dazed, Kael could tell the man’s enormous size accounted for the damage to his skull. How he missed sensing them was the only mystery. Kael knew he was in mortal danger, but his body refused to co-operate with his mind even though his legs quit jerking.
“Well look at that, Grunt, the big scary wizard is so stupid he didn’t even have a shield up,” the large man with the club said.
“Yeah, boss. Lircang’s doodad musta worked. The dummy had no clue we were here.” Grunt laughed, as he fondled a carved bone charm that hung from a hide strap around his neck. Just by looking at it Kael could tell the charm was dulling his esoteric senses and his magic. He couldn’t sense the three thugs and he couldn’t tell how much damage the club had done to his head, but he knew the wound was life threatening.
Grunt leaned down over him, still chuckling about the effectiveness of the charm. “Where might that weird little wife of yours be, wizard?” he asked, as he put his hand out for the big man’s black club. The words entered Kael’s head through a red haze of pounding torment, but he could not get his mouth to work. A throbbing pulse had started thumping in his chest and shifting voices from far away washed at his consciousness.
“Gods, Jaz, I think ya kilt him. How we supposed ta find out where the girl is now?” Grunt slammed the club into Kael’s ribs, snapping at least two. It was pain he knew intimately, having felt it many times before. Not so much as a gasp escaped his lips as he smiled. The man asked again.
“Where is she, boy. Huh? Lircang has tried to track you two down all night. Ya refused to drink the wine we sent to your table. You left the Exotic but didn’t come here and we couldn’t find you anywhere in the city. Then, when you do finally come to your room, the sweet little thing ain’t with ya. Last chance, little wizard. The boss wants a new toy and we’re gonna kill you anyway, just like all the others. Where is she? I promise, you’ll die fast. What ya say?” he asked, raising the club above his head.
Between the splitting pain in his head, the thumping inside his chest cavity and the shrill voices that kept getting louder, it was all Kael could do to keep conscious, or alive for that matter. Answering his attacker in any way was out of the question. Completely helpless, Kael saw Grunt shrug and bring the club down, powering it towards his head with every ounce of strength the man had.
All he could do was flinch as he felt the impact. Kael screamed as more anguish exploded from his arms and hands. Biting his lower lip, he opened his eyes to see that he had somehow managed to raise his arms in defence. Mangled and broken, they had stopped the blow from killing him. Though happy to be alive, Kael’s mind was overwhelmed by the torment racing through his body. With no magic, unable to move, and his mind trying hard to shut down, he knew his life was running out fast.
“Son of a bitch, you see that?” the big man named Jaz said, clearly shocked that Kael had defended himself. “Stubborn fucking wizard, ain’t he?” he said with a laugh.
“Only once,” Grunt smiled, as he lifted the club for a second swing. Kael closed his eyes, expecting death, but instead the wish-wash sound of voices and shrill cries echoing inside his head suddenly cleared. Short phrases and sharp words jumped around his mind. Trying to focus, he reached for them.
‘Call us.’ echoed through his pounding head.
‘Let us help you.’
‘We’re here, listen.’ And one voice louder than all the others was so clear it hurt his head. As if two voices had been melded into one. A gruff male voice reverberated around inside his skull, but calm overtones of a relaxing female voice mixed with it.
‘Let me save you, Kael.’
Kael knew he had to be dying and his scrambled mind was hallucinating, grasping at the straws of hope. He looked up just in time to see Grunt start his second swing when the door to his room slammed open and a woman entered. Kyah glanced his way, but she quickly disappeared as waves of confusion swamped his mind. She was locked inside a slave cell blocks away. Blinking, he stared at the woman. Though she looked familiar, he realized he did not know who she was.
The same height as he was, the woman was lighter, fit, and ten years older than he. She had unnaturally bright blue eyes and an even stranger hairstyle of looping braids that circled her entire head. She was covered in tattoos—the skulls and zombies flared with power, moving on her flesh as if alive. Kael blinked repeatedly, wondering how much of what he was seeing was real.
As best he could tell, she was wearing nothing more than the gown she had been sleeping in. A strange dagger appeared in each hand as if by magic, both blades glowed with ethereal blue light. The first dagger immediately sprouted from the big man’s neck. Her throw was so fast, Kael never even saw it. Jaz fell to floor opposite Kael, bleeding out, his pumping blood crackled on the dagger’s blade as if warming the cold metal.
Stepping further into the room as Grunt turned to face her, the woman merely smiled, though outweighed by over two hundred pounds. Kael flinched as the light blue dagger punched through the back of Grunt’s neck. The black club clattered to the floor, followed by his body.
The woman looked at Kael and he could see the concern in her eyes, but she did not see the third man behind the door. He approached her silently, his sword already drawn as she bent down to pull her dagger from the big man’s throat. The voices in his head renewed with a savage vigour, screaming to be released, promising only to help. Kael tried to warn her, but only managed a croak that drew her attention and distracted her further. The thug pulled back his sword to drive it through her back when Kael screamed inside his head with every ounce of energy he had left.
“Help her, yes, whatever it takes, save her... Please!”
Thinking it was only his busted head hallucinating anyway, Kael opened his tear-filled eyes to watch the death of the woman who had tried so valiantly to save his life, knowing he could do nothing to return the life she had given him.
Instead of watching her die, a strange tearing noise ripped through his room. A black rift appeared in the air behind the man who was about to stab his saviour. The woman spun around in time to see what Kael was witnessing. Several sets of black, demonic hands reached through the dark tear in reality and grabbed the thug by both arms. Another set of hands grabbed his legs. Yet another arm emerged and slid around the man’s neck with such gentle ease it reminded Kael of a lover’s embrace. Terrified, the woman stepped backwards, tripped on Grunt’s body and fell on her butt. She scooted closer to Kael, tearing her nightdress as the head and one cloven foot of the creature stepped through the tear, almost fully into Talohna’s reality.
A face born of pure demonic nightmare glared down at Kael and his rescuer. Two horns grew from the side of its head above the temples, but split into long spiralling forks that stretched out into the air. From the same location, two more horns grew along
its jaw line, protruding out from its chin like a set of spiralled tusks. Chains and carved bone adorned the horns, clicking against each other. The demon’s blood red eyes and solid black pupils bored into Kael as he watched the creature snort through its wide, flat snout. The demon held the would-be killer in an iron-like grip as the man struggled in a futile attempt to escape.
Shocking Kael even further, the demon spoke, flashing four long fangs inside its mouth.
“Your magic called, dark wizard, and we have answered,” it growled. The deep, rumbling voice reminded Kael of heavy boulders grinding together in the quarry outside his city back home. “As payment for helping you, we claim this body and soul for our own.” It lifted the thug off the ground with ease. “Are we in agreement, wizard?” he asked, looking right at Kael as if daring him to say no.
“Say yes, Kael. Now!” his saviour whispered. Unable to speak, Kael nodded his head as best he could.
“Perhaps next time you will not wait so long before granting us the permission required to help you.” It smirked. Kael could see the demon’s joy over the fact he did not have a clue what was happening. When he could not verbally answer, it accepted his nod of agreement and bowed.
“Until you call again, child of Death, be well.” The demon stepped back into the tear. The extra sets of claws followed as both dragged Kael’s third attacker with them. The would-be murderer kicked and fought, cursing the whole way. A second tearing sound ripped through the room and closed the rent in the air as if it were never there.
Exhausted, Kael collapsed back on the floor, causing more pain to pound through his head. The woman who saved him looked down at him when he opened his eyes.
“I don’t know how you did that, but I’m glad you did. Even if it did nearly scare the shit right out of me and that’s not something easily done to my kind. You saved my life, thank you. I had no way of knowing how many were in here when I entered. My husband can’t be in the same room as you, so he couldn’t help us either, even if he were in the condition to do so,” she explained. It made absolutely no sense to him.
Who the hell was she and how did she know his name? And why couldn’t her husband be in the same room as him? In no particular order, questions and thoughts kept revolving through his head, but he was unable to hold even one of them for more than a second.
Kael tried again to talk, but his mouth gasped, opening and closing as he tried to force the words out.
“It’ll be all right,” she said. “Stop trying to talk and just lay still. My name is Sephi. I’ll do my best to help you, but I’m not a healer and these two are dead. I can’t use magic to leech their life and heal you.”
Still trying to speak in order to get her to destroy Grunt’s pendant in the hopes that he could heal himself, he grabbed her arm as once more words failed to find their way free. Sephi moved her hands over his body, looking for wounds. She came to the back of his head and her face went pale.
“Curse the Void,” she gasped. Locked onto his eyes, she placed her hand on his chest. “Our room is right beside yours, all right? I have something there that will help. I don’t think it will save your life, but it may give you some time, a few hours, perhaps. We’ll find you a healer… I promise. Be right back.” With that she got up and left. He hoped she was true to her word, he felt himself fading, and fast.
Kael suddenly jerked awake, realizing he’d lost consciousness. Sephi was trying her best to force something down his throat.
“Come on, Kael. Stop fighting me and drink. It’s the last we have. It’ll help you get back on your feet. Try, dammit,” she cursed, finally getting his mouth open. A thick, putrid, sludge slid down his throat and into his belly, burning like the fires of Hell the whole way. Once it hit his stomach the fire spread to his limbs and then up to his chest and head as if molten lava flowed through his blood veins.
The smouldering heat enveloped his head. Suffering and intense agony overruled all conscious thought, becoming his only concern. The bones of his skull shifted and ground together, turning his stomach with nausea as some kind of obscene magic began to meld the bone. He shut his eyes as unending waves of torment rolled through his head and he felt tears run down into his ears. Pain so severe it rivalled the corruption of the Dead Sisters’ demonic magic forced his eyes wide and his whole body shook with tremors and seizures.
Sephi slid on top of his stomach and sat, using her weight and elbows to hold him down at the shoulders as her hands firmly held the back of his head. Her blazing blue eyes and the hot breath of her exertion were the only things he recognized through the blur of agony. Focusing on her blue eyes with every ounce of willpower he had, Kael rode out the agony as it increased further. Blood and fluid drained from his eyes and ears as broken ribs flexed, clicking back together. The shattered bones in his arms and hands crunched, popping as they reformed to the way they were before being smashed by Grunt’s club.
Finally, after what seemed like days, blackness numbed the excruciating experience and Kael passed out from the stress of the accelerated healing potion.
Chapter Fifteen
“The true measure of any person will always be taken when they are cornered and out of options. The calmest, kindest, and quietest people can become aggressive and vindictive when pushed too far. I’ve seen it first hand and it always seems to leave everyone involved with scars, even those who are merely witnesses.”
Entry from Master Wizard Seifer Locke
City of Dasal’s joint-commander journal, 5025 PC
DASAL, FREE LANDS
“Wake up, Kael. Come on now.” The female voice was slow to permeate Kael’s concussed mind, but he used the words as an anchor to pull himself back to consciousness. A loud crack echoed in his ears as the verbal lifeline filtered through once more.
“Dammit. Come on. Wake up. We don’t have much time to find you a healer. Now get up,” the woman barked. It was the same woman who saved him earlier. Kael opened his eyes and grasped her hand in time to stop the second incoming slap, but instead realized she was not slapping him, but clapping her hands in an attempt to bring him around. “Oh, thank the Void, you’re awake. Come on, can you stand now? Or talk?” she asked.
He sputtered, his mouth felt full of cotton. “H... How. Ugh,” he gagged, as his tongue caught the back of his mouth, forcing him to cough. “Long. How... long was I out?” he asked, flooded with worry that time had run out on Kyah.
“Only about a half hour. It’s incredible, your body is trying to heal you. You must heal five times faster than a normal human,” she said, much to Kael’s relief.
“Who are you? And what did you give me?” It was the only thing he could think of to ask. His head still blazed like an inferno, and it was taking him longer to collect his thoughts than he would have liked.
“My name is Sephitro... Sephi Kohl. I gave you the last potion of accelerated healing that we have in the entire country of DormaSai. It’s a mystical elixir that was made during the reign of the Ancients. It speeds up your body’s natural healing ability. In your case, it fixed your caved-in skull and removed the blood and fluid in your head by draining it through your eyes and ears. We still need to find you a healer. The swelling in your brain will kill you before the day’s done. The potion’s not a miracle cure for fatal wounds,” she explained.
“That explains this god damn sadistic headache then,” he winced, grabbing his head. He sat up with little trouble, but fell over when he tried to stand. Settling for leaning his back against the bed, he moaned.
“Come on, let me help,” Sephi offered, trying to get him to his feet, but pain washed over his mind in pounding waves.
“Stop, stop. Christ, stop. Please...” he begged, holding his head. The pressure inside his skull pushed against his eyes to the point where he was sure they’d burst from his head.
Sephi helped him back down. She had a softness about her that reminded him of Ember. “We have to go, Kael. I don’t believe there is a healer in this city skilled enough to help you,
if one even exists. We must leave Dasal to find you one. You will die otherwise.”
Still holding both his aching head in his hands, Kael whispered, “How about you find that cursed charm that greasy bastard was wearing, so I can heal myself, instead.” She looked at him like he was from another world.
“Can you do that? I never knew a DeathWiz... Ah... That, ah, wizards could heal themselves,” she stuttered, as she slid across the floor on her knees to the two bodies that had been left behind.
“Yeah, nice try,” he whispered. Even though speaking just caused more pain, he added, “I caught that in case you were hoping I didn’t.”
“No wonder I had no idea how many were in here,” she said, lifting the charm from around Grunt’s neck. “This is Dwarven-carved whalebone. It must shut down a mystic’s senses,” she suggested, changing the subject, or trying to at least.
“I’m painfully aware of that,” Kael groaned. “And not just senses, most magic. Smash it, please,” he begged. She put it on the floor and slammed the butt of one of her blue daggers down onto the bone. It took several blows before it shattered. Kael’s extra senses rushed back to him. Feeling his inner sight instantly relieve some of the pounding agony in his head, he sighed with relief.
“It’s done,” she said, glancing over her shoulder. “Can you heal yourself now?”
“Give me some time. How about you tell me why you helped me, and more importantly, how you know what and who I am,” he insisted, as he closed his eyes to concentrate on lowering his inner sight into his body.
“My husband and I are here looking for a young woman. She’s Fae. Magical healing is getting stronger again here in Talohna. Not like it was in ancient times, but it is definitely increasing. We believe this means the Fae have returned to our plane, but maybe only a few of them. She’s nearby, so we’ve been waiting for news from the rest of our group. If possible, we’d like to offer her our protection, if she needs it. I know who you are because your presence almost killed my husband this afternoon in the marketplace...”
