by JD Franx
“I agree, Ember. Change his mind if you can, but if you can’t... You will have to kill Giddeon to stop him. I truly do wish you all the best.”
“Thank you again. For everything.” Ember said, expressing her gratitude with a bow.
The wizard bowed in return, holding out his hand.
“Now, come,” he said. “Let’s go help your friend with those supplies.”
SOUTHERN GATES OF ARGELA, ELLORYA
Shasta Trey waited outside the southern gates of Argela for Dominique to meet her. After buying supplies and three horses, she had stopped at the bathhouse and enjoyed an hour-long soak in the company of two beautiful women, followed by another hour of muscle message. It was no secret among the crew that Natalia’s Rest was the best place to relax for those with no interest in drinking or whoring away their shore leave. The legitimate establishment offered baths, deep muscle massages, clean rooms, and fabulous food. The fact that is was not a brothel was the sole reason Shasta never stayed anywhere else. The crew sometimes harassed her that she was spoiled for a Northman woman. She never cared.
A smile crept onto her lips as she sat against a warm boulder and waited for her captain to arrive. Flexing her shoulder muscles and stretching her back, she sighed. The massage had loosened every knot, cramp, and twinge that plagued her muscles after so many months at sea. She closed her eyes as the supply-heavy horses grazed on the patchy grass to her right. It was short lived, however, as squealing wheels from the sliding gates disturbed her rest, but still, she did not open her eyes. Both cities were well aware by now that Havarrow’s crew were docked for shore leave, and no one would dare bother his first mate, not in broad daylight anyway. No one, that is, except for the man himself.
“Come on, Shasta, get your lazy ass up. It’s time to go,” Dominique barked. “You stopped at Natalia’s, didn’t ya?” Shasta nodded, easily jumping to her feet.
“Of course. I don’t mind waiting for you, Captain, but I knew you’d be a while. And you brought company, I see,” she said, noticing the tall man with dark skin accompanying Dominique.
“Shasta, this is Cormak WhiteFrost. He’s Duchess Feira’s court wizard. Cormak sailed with me many years before you were born.”
“You’re... You’re a Northman?” Shasta said, taking his hand in greeting, as was customary in the Southern Kingdoms. The shock of meeting a Northman wizard made her smile. His long black hair, plaited into Salzaran dreadlocks, was just as dark as his skin and showed no signs of grey. Shasta guessed he was well under two hundred years old, but couldn’t be sure. Magic and Northman blood was an oddity.
“Miss Shasta Trey. It is a pleasure to meet you. I have heard much.” He released her hand and bowed. “I am a Northman and a wizard, yes. Rare as we may be, we do exist.”
“Incredible,” she replied, still in awe. “I thought the Ama Taugr were a legend, a myth even.” Dominique scoffed, but Cormak answered.
“You need to return home more, young one. It is saddening to see so many of our youth not return after their Bloodborne years have passed. Once your Trail of Blood has ended, you should consider going home,” he said, referring to the Northman tradition where youths leave Kastalborg Island and travel the world, living by their sword. After twenty years, most returned home to their clan, but it was becoming more common for Northmen, male or female, to not return home.
“If you two are done...?” Dominique asked, his patience clearly wearing thin. Getting a nod from both Shasta and Cormak, he said, “Cormak can answer any questions you have about home as we travel. You’ll have plenty of time.”
“Three days’ worth,” Cormak said, smiling. “Or so I’m told.”
“Three days to the grove where this mad alchemist lives?” Shasta clarified, climbing into the saddle of her mount, a strong white horse flecked with black spots.
Cormak nodded. “The reports I’ve seen from those who’ve encountered this man seem to say the same. And we should hurry. I told Dominique earlier, we’re not the only ones after him. I had a rather violent meeting with a certain White witch a couple days ago.”
“Ella the White is here?” Shasta said, her voice riding high.
“She is,” Cormack said, frowning. “My apprentice could have testified to the fact her demeanour hasn’t changed in the last twenty-five years, if she weren’t dead.” Shasta could see the fury radiating in the runecaster’s eyes as he continued. “It doesn’t matter, we have time. Ella’s going through the Deep to get to this man.”
“Good. Let’s go then,” Dominique snapped, holding his hands up.
Cormack nodded. “Right. A small grove three days’ ride to the south and west is our destination, as long as we don’t run into any of the emperor’s Centari. Many people have lost their lives during these run-ins with this man so Emperor Mero has dispatched small groups of cavalry to patrol the roads between here and Avalera City. I’ve researched this Eamon O’Leary as well, Shasta. He is a ghost in our records too. A very dangerous ghost who may not be from Talohna.” Shasta felt her bottom jaw drop and shook her head at the possibility.
Pulling himself onto his horse, Dominique snorted. “He’s a man, Cormak. One who has managed to stay out of the Southern Kingdom registry, that is all. He has something Bauro wants, something I want. Let’s go get it.” Giving his horse a light heel, Dominique, riding bareback, galloped away.
Shasta smiled at Cormack as they raced after him heading for a three-day ride into the jaws of madness.
The journey south and west passed quickly and easily. As the sun set on the second day, a snake spooked Cormack’s horse, tossing him from the saddle. He was unharmed, except for his pride, so Dominique called a stop for the night. They shared a camp with two of Emperor Mero’s Centari. The horse-mounted cavalry soldiers were normally abrasive brutes, but the young and untested soldiers in camp were excellent company who lightened the load for night watch.
The morning of their fourth day out from Argela saw them arrive at the grove where the mad alchemist was rumoured to live. Dense with heavy brush and tall trees of varying species, the grove grew for miles, reaching to the mountain range an hour’s walk to the west. It took half an hour to settle the horses and make camp. As Shasta finished brushing her white stallion, she approached Dominique and Cormak. Both stared into the heavy foliage and trees that grew within the grove, but neither said a single word.
“Problems?” she asked.
“Death weighs heavily on this place,” Cormak muttered. The wind shifted direction and Shasta caught the pungent scent of rotting flesh, rotting human flesh. Once it fouled your nose, you never forgot it.
“The stench riding the wind tells me that, Cormak,” she said.
“People die every day,” Dominique scoffed. “It just means they were greedy or stupid. Let’s go, we’re already way behind schedule. Bauro will nearly be at Rejtett Island by now. We don’t have time to waste.” He stepped forward, but Cormak grasped his shoulder.
“Greedy and stupid created the stench here, brother. We do not want to add to it.” Releasing the pirate and bending over, Cormak pulled four fist-sized rocks from the dirt at his feet, piling them one on top of the other in his left hand. Taking a small square sapphire and a coin-shaped pearl from the pouch at his waist, he winked at Shasta and placed both between his front teeth. Grasping a dirt-covered stone from his left hand, he tossed it a foot into the air and caught it as he surveyed the grove before him.
“Something inside there killed the last to walk this way,” Cormack said, his voice muffled by the runes held in his teeth. He tossed the rock into the grove to the right of centre, about fifteen feet into the trees.
Nothing happened. Without another word, he took the pearl from his teeth and snapped it between his fingers, palmed the pieces and placed his hand over the remaining stones, freezing them. Grabbing a second and third stone, he stared into the heavy foliage again, throwing the stones twenty feet upwards and another twenty feet into the grove. The stones landed, shattering f
rom the cold as pieces of rock rolled in every direction. A second of eerie silence hung in the air before a piercing snap echoed through the trees. A high-pitched mechanical whirl whistled out immediately after.
“What the...” Shasta whispered, as two more mechanical whirls whistled out of the trees on the heels of the first. Shasta and Dominique both drew their blades as Cormak spit the sapphire into his right hand. Snapping the gem, he pulled the magical essence seeping from the two halves and expanded it into a shimmering blue shield that covered him and his companions. A large ‘ping’ echoed out of the trees and long blades exploded from the ground inside the grove, shredding everything within thirty feet. Five seconds turned to ten and finally the mechanical blades slowed as they lost whatever had powered them to begin with. Cormack let his hands fall and the magical shield dissipated on the light breeze.
“Amazing,” Shasta mumbled. “Never seen Ama Taugr magic before.” Cormack smiled, offering a low bow.
“It has its benefits,” Dominique growled. “Also has one serious weakness.” Shasta titled her head as she stared at Cormack.
The wizard shook his head, staring back. “No runestones, no magic. It’s not like we can carry thirty pounds of runestones around.”
“Come on,” Dominique cursed. “Let’s see what this Gods-crazy, fucknard bastard’s done in here.” He and Cormack slowly entered the dense grove to examine the mechanical devices as the court wizard rolled another sapphire runestone through his fingers. “What are these things, Cormak?”
“By Lady Freyla’s grace, I have no idea,” he said, crouching to examine the open-flower design of the five-foot-long blades. Spread like the petals of a flower, the three devices, side-by-side, each covered ten feet in diameter. The wind shifted again, blowing through the grove.
“Ugh,” Shasta gagged, standing behind Dominique and Cormak. The entire area, cleared by the spinning traps, smelled and looked worse than any battle Shasta had ever seen. Chunks of rotting body parts hung from trees, flies swarmed over putrescent pieces of gore she had no name for, and maggots swarmed over and inside unrecognizable Human and Elvehn flesh that had been scattered everywhere by the power of the whirling blades. “That’s just... wrong...”
“Yeah,” Dominique agreed. A veteran of hundreds of battles, it was clear he struggled to control a revolting stomach as well.
“That’s funny,” Cormak added laughing. “I can’t smell a thing.” Shasta gave him a strange look, so he trailed his finger through the air in front of himself, triggering sparkling waves of reverberation from his new shield.
“Damned wizards,” Dominique griped, kicking a disemboweled torso out of his way. Cormak flashed a frown at his disrespect, eliciting a grunt. “Come on. These idiots smell too bad to care about a boot to the ribs, but that crazy bastard hiding in there can still feel it.”
“Easy, brother,” Cormak snapped. “Perhaps it’d be better if you two stayed behind me? Let my shield take whatever this fool has to send our way. These blades are genius. Something you might find deep within a Dwarven ruin. We need to be careful.”
Dominique chuckled. “Lead the way, brave man.” Turning to Shasta, and bumping her shoulder, he added, “Enjoy this, First Mate. It’s not very often you see a wizard lead the way anywhere.” Getting another dirty look from Cormak, Dominique howled with laughter. A clang from behind them cut his laughter short as the blades lifted, closing like a pre-bloom flower.
“Run!” Cormack yelled, as the blades slowly recessed, lowering into the ground. “Now! Before we trigger them again.”
Rushing deeper into the wooded grove with Cormak leading the way, the group encountered no more traps and the scent of death faded, staying behind them. The mechanical blades stayed quiet, hidden below ground as if in wait for the next group of unsuspecting fools to stumble onto them.
A half-hour walk led them to a shallow, fast moving stream a stone’s-throw wide. A clearing on the far side of the stream held a large two story wood cabin nestled against the first of many sheer cliff-faces heading into the mountains, light smoke trailed lazily from the clay brick chimney. Shasta crouched inside the treeline behind Cormak.
“That cabin is something else,” she muttered.
“So crazy people are good with wood, who cares,” Dominique snapped.
Shasta shrugged, agreeing. “What now?” she asked as Cormak sat in the grass. Crossing his legs and closing his eyes, he thumbed a blue stone in his right hand. The stone flared with magical energy, making his shield pulse visibly. With a solid snap, the stone broke and the wizard’s shield rolled out across the stream and into the meadow, across the clearing to the little cabin. Nothing happened. He opened his eyes, but stayed sitting in the tall grass.
“Whoa,” Shasta whispered. “I’ve never seen magic move like that. What was it?”
“I hoped that the pressure from my shield would trigger any traps hidden in the clearing out from the cabin. The blades behind us triggered by pressure, like the stones I threw in. That meadow is completely undisturbed. I suspect there are traps there, but they’re not pressure-sensitive.”
“Great,” Dominique muttered, staring into the cleared meadow. “Any chance you can expand that shield of yours around all three us without weakening it?”
“Yes,” he answered, as Shasta sighed with relief. “I think I have a couple sapphire runes left. And this.” Cormack took a black runestone from a small pouch hanging around his neck. “This is my last onyx stone, Dominique. I can use it now, or wait...”
“Use it.” Getting a strange look from Shasta, Dominique turned her way. “Black onyx stones are rare and highly sought after. Kastalborg Island has almost been mined clean. It’s augmentation magic, powerful too. Elderblood powerful. Strengthens or reinforces magic, in this case, his shield.”
“Think bigger and stronger,” Cormack added. Smiling, he held out his hand. “Give me a length of hair, both of you.” Taking the single hairs the two pirates handed over, Cormack wrapped them around the two gemstones. Rubbing them together between his thumb and first finger, he grasped both, squeezing hard. A sharp snap rolled through the trees as the stones cracked. Blue magic swirled from his hand, mixing with a soft black essence from the onyx stone. Cormack manipulated the blue magic, pulling and pushing it up and around himself, Dominique, and Shasta. Holding the blue shield in place with his left hand, the wizard coaxed the black essence with his right, layering it against the blue, once, twice, and finally a third time before slapping his hands together. The shield shimmered and a second later cleared. Double-checking, Cormack slowly swung his arm out around his body, triggering a response. The shield reverberated, shimmering a dark blue as shadows of black swirled through it.
Shasta did the same, chuckling as the shield in front of her became visible for a few seconds. “That is incredible,” she whispered, more to herself than the others.
Cormack smiled. “It’ll cover us all, but we won’t be able to fight under it,” he said as the shield cleared once more. “Both of you stay within five feet of each other or you’ll weaken it. It’s tied to you through your hair so you can’t walk away from it. The further away you wander the more it stretches and the weaker it gets.” Both pirates nodded. “Good. Let’s go.”
Cormak rose from the grass, untying a pouch from his waist. Shaking the contents into his left hand, a dozen stones and gems tumbled out, all the size and shape of a man’s thumb or round and shaped like coins. All were raw, uncut gemstones, some clouded from not being polished, while others, though uncut, shone with clarity, including the bright blue sapphire he took from the pile. He quickly grabbed a shiny, round, red-fire opal, and a cloudy moonstone rectangle. Inscribed with a magical script-like lettering only the Ama Taugr understood, the stones were a deadly weapon in the hands of the very few who could use them.
“Dominique?” Cormak asked, turning his head. “Across or around the side of the meadow?”
The pirate captain frowned. “If this fucknard has traps here, they
’ll likely be in the middle and to the sides of the meadow. Take us along the very edge of the mountain face to the left.” Cormak nodded and started out to the west, crossing the river and making his way to the rock face of the mountain cliffs on the meadow’s south side. Shasta and Dominique followed close, keeping the umbrella of Cormak’s magical shield strong. Reaching the meadow, Cormak crouched in the shade cast by the looming mountain and waited. Watching for movement within the cabin and the outbuildings, they saw nothing.
“Maybe the bastard’s already dead,” Dominique offered.
“I doubt it,” Cormak said, shaking his head as he pointed to the smoke still drifting from the chimney. “Someone lit the cook fire inside the cabin. He’s gotta be here.” Shasta could see Cormack eyeing the rock face carefully and her eyes followed his as he checked for any signs that might suggest a trap or trip-lines. Seeing nothing, she guessed he sensed even less as he waved for Shasta and Dominique to follow. He crept against the mountain face, edging his way closer to the cabin. They were still a hundred feet from the cabin when the door crashed open and an older man stepped out onto the porch. Without the slowed ageing gifted by magic or Northman and Elvehn blood, Shasta put the man’s age in his fifties, a long scraggly beard hung from his chin and his hair was a mess of knotted lengths.
“Crazy hermit if ever there was one,” she whispered, getting a nod from the others.
The man stared at the three intruders, finally yelling in a strange accent. “Go back! Get off my land, or die like everyone else.”
“Cormack?” Dominique asked quietly. “Care to reason with a madman?”
