Sapphire of Souls

by M. R. Mathias

  The demon must have immediately sensed the shard. With a more concentrated aim this time, he swatted Braxton and the blood crystal across the sky as if he was but a pesky insect.

  When Braxton finally rolled to a stop, Pharark faced him and yelled defiantly, "You may have kept me from gaining the Sapphire of Souls, boy, but you will never stop the destruction of Narvoza. Antole and Camberly are falling even now." He paused and wiped a big swath of black blood from his side and looked at it. "When I get done with Narvoza, I swear by all that is evil, I will hunt down every dwarf, elf, and dragon and make them pay for this." Then, in a swirling cloud of dark gray and yellow smoke, he disappeared.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  After seeing the Sapphire of Souls crushed before his eyes, Pharark destroyed what remained of Krokin Bloodthorn's throne room. He first ordered the king of the wood trolls to send every single one of his trolls, including the women and children, to pursue and kill the group that had thwarted his plan to control the magical gem. Then, just as quickly, the raging demon changed his mind and ordered King Bloodthorn to send his people straight through Uppervale on their way to Camberly. After hearing that most of Bloodthorn's trolls were halfway between the emptied lake where the sapphire had been destroyed and not positioned to raid Uppervale, Pharark exploded into another destructive fit.

  At least a dozen trolls lost their lives in the tantrum, and the rest of them fled the area in fear. Only after King Bloodthorn reminded the demon that he'd ordered the trolls away to surround the lake did his destructive rant end. Finally, the demon calmed himself. After ordering King Bloodthorn to regather his trolls, and to await further instructions, Pharark left him and went back to his pile.

  He was pleased to learn of his necromancer's continuing success, and even more pleased to hear of Lord Ulrich's progress.

  Oker Slithery's reptilian horde was already devouring the fringe towns along the edge of the marshes. They were moving slowly but steadily toward Nepramma and King Raden's castle.

  Pharark was almost over the disappoint of losing the Sapphire of Souls when he learned of King Craggon's inability to break through into the Gothfol Forest north of Camberly. After threatening and berating the king of the rock trolls for his failure, Pharak decided to send a portion of King Bloodthorn's wood trolls to help Craggon. Once they were regrouped, the other half of the wood trolls would go straight to Uppervale. With little resistance there, even though they wouldn't be able to reach Camberly with the others, they could wreak havoc, keep the kingdom off balance, and destruct the flow of food and supplies down the river.

  He summoned Krookin Bloodthorn and told him what he intended now. King Bloodthorn assured him that as soon as his trolls returned from the Wilderkind Forest, they would do as he wished.

  After dismissing the trolls from his chamber, Pharark found he wasn't yet ready to let go of the frustration losing the Sapphire of Souls made him feel. He began to make plans for the destruction of the dwarven kingdom and the island of the elves as well.

  Reaton-Stav picked up on the demon's foul mood quickly. He was too afraid to ask for assistance in the matter of gaining entry to Debain's study, but he was pleased to find that Hertzel was already back with a living priest of Maul. It turned out that the other thief, Bart, hadn't been able to outrun a horse cart that a merchant and his family were using to flee the destruction the undead were bringing to Halden. Reaton-Stav called it a pity, because if Bart's legs hadn't been broken by the wagon's wheels after the horses trampled him, he would have turned the big brute into a servant. A corpse with broken legs was of no use, though, so his carcass was fed to the ravens instead.

  The terrified priest did as Hertzel instructed without comment. He'd watched the living dead walk into the peaceful temple of Maul and turn it into a bloody hell. Of the thirty-seven priests who lived and studied there, he was the only one spared. He had already accepted the fate of his fellows as his own, and he knew it was only a matter of time before he too would die. He only hoped he would stay dead, for the reason the corpses of the other priests had been bled out and stacked on a wagon and brought to the Sorcerious wasn't lost on him. Why the other living fellow spared him was the mystery he was currently praying for an answer to. He also prayed to Maul to spare him from death, but he doubted his prayer would be answered.

  He was led into the Sorcerious through a maze of torchlit hallways full of wooden doors that opened onto classrooms, libraries, and larger gathering halls. After climbing several sets of stairs, he was thoroughly lost and was sure that if he found a way to run, he wouldn't know which way to go. Soon, Hertzel presented him to a young man who looked as if he might be dead but was not.

  Hertzel stood proudly as if awaiting praise or payment as Reaton-Stav studied him and the priest. After some thought, Reaton-Stav smiled wickedly and asked Hertzel to go into the room before them and retrieve his glasses so he might see better. Hertzel did as he was asked, clearly thinking he was about to be rewarded in some way, but the second his foot crossed the threshold, his life ended. Reaton-Stav laughed out loud when Hertzel fell backwards, smoldering on the floor.

  "It's your turn, Priest." Reaton-Stav laughed again. "Let's see if your god is with you today."

  The priest said a silent prayer to Maul and steeled himself to the will of his god. Then he walked through the door. Nothing happened, and he was suddenly standing in a study complete with a library, a day bed, and a basket of uncannily fresh fruit sitting on a long wooden table.

  Reaton-Stav barked orders and screamed at the priest, but he just shrugged back at him. He was hungry so he took an apple from the basket and sat at the table.

  "I take it you can't come in," said the priest. "I sense there is a good reason for that."

  Reaton-Stav cursed and yelled and barked orders for a good long while, but to his dismay, the priest of Maul just looked at him and ate his apple. The priest then opened a book and ignored Reaton-Stav completely as he began to read.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  When Braxton opened his eyes, he was in an ancient forest with trees so big around that ten men, hand in hand, might not be able to encircle a single trunk. Autumn leaves of a myriad colors, some as big as table clothes, lay about the lush green undergrowth. The familiar sounds of a pair of mockingbirds whistling back and forth carried to him on the cool evening breeze. He sat up and saw Cryelos and Chureal talking softly to one another on the other side of a small fire. Either Darblin or Big H, he wasn't sure, sat with his back to the others, staring out at the ancient, overgrown ruins. The memory of Darblin's gruesome, but thankfully quick death flashed through his mind, and he knew that it was Big H.

  "Where are Vinston-Fret and Nixy?" he asked. Looking around frantically. "And Suclair?"

  He gained his feet quickly, his concern turning to panic after not seeing any sign of them or their things.

  "They're safe, Lord Braxton," Cryelos spoke softly. "Well, except for Vinston-Fret. He didn't make it." Cryelos dropped his head sadly.

  "Sit down, Brax," Chureal said. "Cryelos, made magical soup out of roots and berries and mushrooms." She stepped over and handed a small carved wooden bowl up to him. Braxton took it and sipped, then sat back down. "Where are Nixy, Suclair, and Emerald?" he asked after swallowing a sip of the tasty broth. "And where did this forest come from?"

  The sigh Cryelos emitted told Braxton that he might not want to hear the answer to his question. "The dragon, Emerald as you call him, took Nixy and Suclair to try and get Nixy's family out of Antole before the gothican army destroys the city." Cryelos cringed at the look Braxton gave him. "Of course, after your new friend healed them."

  "What?" The feeling of alarm that had just left Braxton returned tenfold. "You let them go alone?"

  "A lot has happened that you don't know about," Cryelos said with a glance at Chureal that indicated he might have to speak roundaboutly. "Debain didn't make it to warn King Barden. He died by the hand of the same person who put a bounty on your head. He is working
with the demon."

  "It seems that Pharark has a hand in everything." Braxton spat the words.

  "Everything evil," Cryelos agreed. "Suclair wanted to retrieve her father's things before they fell into the wrong hands, an old spell book or something. After carrying news of our success—" the elf looked to Big H for a moment, and then up into the trees. "And of our losses to Pranthius and the elves, she and Nixy plan to get Debain's things and your horses from the Sorcerious. Then they are going to ride to Antole and try to get Nixy's family out before the gothicans get there and—" he glanced at Chureal and left it at that.

  Braxton knew that Nixy didn't have an actual family, and that she intended to try and get the few dozen children from the orphanage out of the city to safety. It was a mission of noble intent, and Braxton felt as much pride for her as he felt sadness. It confused him that she would leave without at least speaking with him, which brought on the next question.

  "How long have I been out of it?"

  "Two whole days," said Chureal as if it had been a full turn of the moon.

  A handful of questions assailed Braxton's mind. How would this lush, seemingly ancient forest have appeared in only two days? He remembered seeing little green sprouts pop up before he jumped off of Emerald's back to try and—

  "What of Emerald?" he asked suddenly. "What will the dragon do when Nixy and Suclair get the horses? Surely the horses can't ride on his back. Are we stuck here for the winter?"

  "No, no." Cryelos shook his head. After all he'd been through, he found it odd that the elf's yellow eyes still unnerved him. "After word is passed to the elves, and the dragon leaves the girls at the Sorcerious, he is supposed to return to carry you, Big H, and Chureal to meet Suclair and Nixy somewhere outside of Antole that Nixy thought was safe."

  "The place where you peeked at her naked body when she got out of the river," Chureal said in a shaming tone that was clearly mocking.

  Braxton was glad the sun was no longer above them. The shadows hid his flush of embarrassment. "She told you that?" He remembered the spot behind the old fortified monastery by the river where he'd once camped with Nixy.

  "She did." Chureal grinned broadly. "She told me a whole lot more, too."

  Braxton finished his cup of broth and asked for more. Chureal happily scooped some from the tin, and they all sat quietly for a long time around the dying embers of the fire. Eventually, Cryelos gathered more wood and stoked the flames. Chureal curled up in a blanket and fell fast asleep. Not long after, Big H joined them, and the sadness of his expression served to remind the other two of the great toll of loss and sacrifice the quest to destroy the Sapphire of Souls had taken.

  In an attempt to lighten the mood, Braxton asked about the forest and what it was like seeing it grow so quickly.

  "It's still growing," Cryelos said excitedly. Then, as if his joy was shameful, his voice shifted to a quiet monotone. "Everywhere the sapphire dust settled it is like this. For leagues and leagues. The tangled old Wilderkind with all its sad, twisted-looking trees and treacherous thorns is now pure and clean. It's like the forest my elders tell of in their stories." He paused and swept a hand across the air before him. "Like this."

  Cryelos had a momentary spark of something good and hopeful flash before his eyes, but Braxton saw it die out just as quickly as it appeared. The elf was embarrassed to feel so much promise while the dwarf beside them looked so miserably sad. Braxton figured since the mood was so low anyway, he might as well ask the question that had been eating at him since he woke.

  "What happened to Vinston-Fret?"

  Big H looked at Cryelos and answered so that the elf wouldn't have to. "After you…well, after we thought ye was eaten by that snake, he and Nixy found troll tracks that suggested we were being followed." He paused and looked at Cryelos, possibly gauging his expression. "He went to scout a new place to camp. One we might better defend, but he never came back."

  The elf gave Big H a reassuring nod, and then looked to Braxton. "The story I want to hear is how you went from the mouth of a snake to the back of a dragon."

  "Yeah." Big H nodded in agreement, showing the first signs of anything other than depression on his gnarled face. "The girl told us about a great battle, an old wizard, and a storm over the sea."

  "Sounds like she covered most of it." Braxton shrugged. "But I'll tell you my side of it anyway." As he began his tale, he saw the sadness slide from their eyes and curiosity, at least for the moment, take its place.

  He told them first of his appearance in the middle of a battlefield in the mouth of the snake’s giant head, and of seeing little Chureal sticking out like a daisy in a dung pile. He mentioned the High Wizard Jorvan, and his dreams, and even told them a little about Skyla-Veltin. By then, Cryelos and Big H were both far from their troubles, and Braxton did his best to keep them there. He told them about the strange tower and of finding the cliff he hoped was the same cliff the city of Scarlee was built into. He recounted what the dragon had told him about the men of Baderdan, and soon they were all lost in the wonder and hope Braxton so easily conjured with his words. But when he was done, he had a few questions of his own.

  "What happened to all of the trolls that were attacking when we arrived?"

  "After the demon disappeared, and the forest started sprouting, they fled to the west," Cryelos answered. He then hopped up and went to a pack sitting at the far edge of the camp. "That reminds me," he said over his shoulder while digging through the contents. "This." He grunted. "Nixy said she saw the trolls use this to summon the demon." Cryelos handed Braxton a glossy stone that was as big as his head and twice as heavy. "Suclair called it a summoning stone and said you might be able to use it to call forth the demon."

  "Why would I want to do that?" Braxton handed it back to the elf, who stowed it back in the pack.

  As the night wore on, Braxton found that he wasn't tired, and he decided to let the others sleep instead of waking them for their watch. Instinctually, he knew the area was safe. Having been underwater only three days previous, not many creatures other than birds and bugs had time to infiltrate the area. As he sat there, he thought about how badly he wanted to see Nixy and pondered the implications that being a Warrior of the Void would have on their relationship.

  Something pulled at his attention. Something down by the ruins kept causing his thoughts to pause. After looking at it from the camp, he finally saw what it was. A beam of bright blue light was shining into the darkness from the altar where Darblin had smashed the sapphire. It was invisible except for when a bug or a leaf fluttered down from the trees and reflected its glow.

  Braxton decided his friends were safe enough, and since it was only a few dozen paces to the altar, he would go inspect the phenomenon.

  As he neared it, he saw that the thick slab of stone that formed the altar top had been cracked in half by Darblin’s bow. Up through this finger-wide crack was where the blue beam radiated. He tried to look down into the gap and found that what he was seeing was a mummified corpse wrapped in newly grown vegetation. There was a small chunk of the Sapphire of Souls resting on its chest, pulsing like a beating heart.

  He realized then that it was no altar. It was a tomb. He tried to move the smaller half of the lid back so that he might retrieve the piece of the jewel, but it was far too heavy. It wouldn't budge. He even tried wedging his sword into the crack and levering the two pieces apart, but after putting so much force into it that he thought he might damage his blade, he gave up and returned to the camp. He decided he would tell Big H and Cryelos about it in the morning when they woke. Between the three of them, maybe they could get it to move.

  Sitting there watching the others sleep, he grew bored. He decided to meditate hoping to sort out the many conflicting feelings inside of him. He felt a sort of elation over having completed what Taerak told him was the first step in defeating the demon, but he felt great sadness for the ones who'd given their lives to accomplish it. He also felt great anger and twinges of yearning to e
xact revenge on the demon for their loss.

  The jewel came into the void as soon as he closed his eyes. The many facets sparkled and spun on their own until he found himself sitting in the cavern by the lake near his home. The memory of seeing trolls here the last time he dreamt of it alarmed him, and he dove into the water, swam to the shore, and then leapt into the air.

  On the wings of the white hawk, he began to explore, but all he could see was blackness. As he studied this new void, he found confused emotions swirling around inside it like ribbons caught in a whirlwind. They were his feelings, he understood. With his beak, he reached out and plucked the ones he wanted to keep, the ones that couldn't harm him, like the memory of Sorrell, Vinston-Fret, and Darblin. He left the ribbons of guilt and sadness and took only the ones that represented friendship and knowledge. Then he ignored the ones he didn’t want until they sputtered and spun away on the breeze.

  The only negative emotions he kept were those pertaining to Nixy. He made sure to leave nothing of her behind, for he wasn't ready to deal with those feelings yet. The self-doubt and fear, the longing and uncertainty, the love and the pain of not knowing where she was, he kept them all, knowing in time he could sort it all out.

  He'd also found a few ribbons floating there that he hadn't expected. One evoked a deep concern for Chureal. The other represented a deep longing for his home, his family, and his friend, Davvy. As he stowed these representations of his feelings in a safe place, a familiar voice came to him. It was Taerak's voice.

  "You should have used the power of the jewel, but you did well enough."

  "What do you mean I should have used the jewel?" Braxton asked, wondering how human words were coming out of his beak.

  "Never leap blindly off a cliff, or a dragon, in your case," the voice said. "Not when there is a staircase for you to command."