Windcatcher: Book I of the Stone War Chronicles

by A. J. Norfield

  “It will take more than that to beat me. I’m still the best, but don’t worry…I’ll be sure to protect my little brother in real life,” he said, with a smug smile.

  Raylan never liked it when his brother made him feel like he could not do anything right. He was about to say something, when the sound of the workshop door slamming closed startled both of them. The world around them came rushing back in.

  “What on God’s earth is going on?” boomed their father, “Why are you holding swords? GAVIN! Is that the sword I just finished?”

  Their dad grabbed Gavin’s arm and yanked the sword from his hands. Both boys looked at their father with large, shocked eyes as he shouted every curse word of the known kingdoms.

  “Now be gone! You’re not allowed in the workshop anymore without me present! Go on, skit! Get those cuts cleaned and start cleaning out the forge furnace, right away!”

  “But that will take us the entire night!” protested Raylan.

  “Precisely. Perhaps that will teach you not to take my hard work and damage it!” roared their father.

  They got out of there as quickly as possible, hearing their father cursing as the door closed.

  “Guess you can’t protect me from everything,” said Raylan, looking at his brother.

  It felt like a small victory, in the end.

  The image of Gavin, bringing down the gemmed sword onto him, faded away. It took Raylan a moment to realize that Gavin was still there, towering besides him. But instead of the gemmed sword coming at him, his brother’s sword blocked the incoming attack of the enemy soldier. It hovered no more than two inches from Raylan’s face.

  Both swords trembled from the power struggle Gavin was having with their enemy. With a loud scream, Gavin used both hands to force his sword upward, throwing the broken nose attacker backward and onto his back. Landing on the ground, the soldier hit his head on a large rock sticking out of the ground. The force of the impact could have been fatal, if the soldier was not wearing his helmet.

  Disoriented by the second blow to his head, the enemy soldier scrambled backward—away from Gavin, Raylan and Ca’lek—struggling to get his bearings. The immediate danger averted, Gavin looked over his shoulder with a big grin.

  “Seems like I can still protect my little brother when needed. You alright?”

  Raylan blinked for the first time in what seemed like ages.

  “Thanks,” he stammered. “That was a close one.”

  He got up and looked around.

  “Do you intend to let him get away? We need to go after him.”

  The soldier seemed to disappear behind a larger rock formation, out of sight.

  “No, but not many soldiers are still breathing. And, I would like to get some information from this one, if we can take him alive,” Gavin explained.

  “Ca’lek, go check on the others and see if any enemies still remain. Raylan and I will pursue our bloody nose friend and see if we can secure him for questioning.”

  They saw Ca’lek jog off in the direction of the last sounds of metal clashing and vanish from the soft light of a smoldering campfire, which seemed to be finally losing its fight against the rain.

  Raylan followed his brother on the path that the soldier scurried toward. The path from the campsite rounded a corner and the wagons of the small enemy convoy came into view. Slowly edging forward, both brothers looked around, trying to determine where the enemy hid himself.

  Getting closer to the wagons, Raylan heard a soft mumbling. Signaling his brother toward the closest wagon, they both moved to the back of it. The mumbling grew stronger, but it was hard to determine where it came from. It was not a language Raylan recognized; a strange, deep tone was heard under the words. Signaling three fingers to Raylan, Gavin counted backward before grabbing the side of the cloth and pulling it strongly to the side, while Raylan braced himself for a possible attack. The wagon was empty, except for a pile of dried wood. Not much was left of it, but it seemed like the soldiers brought firewood to keep them warm in the harsh environment of the White North. Raylan could not imagine how many of these wagons with wood would be needed to keep a large attack force from freezing in those mountains.

  Movement on the rock above them revealed Kevhin, taking up a position on the high ground, ready to assist in case of danger. They snuck toward the next wagon, as the mumbling grew more intense and a deep zooming sound resonated in the surroundings. As Gavin pulled the cloth of the wagon to the side, Raylan stood ready to spring into action; but what they found inside of the wagon was not what they expected.

  Once his sight adjusted to the lower light level in the wagon’s interior, Raylan saw two giant feet pointing toward him, so dark in color they could not be from a real man. In fact, it looked like a black stone statue.

  Why would they be transporting such a thing? Raylan wondered, for a moment. Is this the object Xi’Lao is looking for? Then what happened to the chest?

  The mumbling increased and he made out the soldier with the broken nose in the far corner of the wagon. Sitting on his knees, clutching a small scroll of parchment, the soldier slowly rocked back and forth, as if in prayer. The deep zooming sound grew louder and Raylan heard the rattling of the wagon as it vibrated with the sound.

  “Come out of there!” said Raylan.

  Gavin shifted beside him, checking on what was happening in the wagon, sword at the ready for any surprises.

  The soldier did not react to the command. His mumbling became louder, as he seemed to repeat a phrase in a language Raylan had never heard before. The soldier’s voice seemed to build with the intensity of the resonating deep tone. The vibration became so penetrating, it felt like their heads were splitting. They moved their hands to their ears, trying to block the sound.

  In the back, the remaining members of the squad came running up, wondering what was happening. While continuing the phrase, the soldier took the scroll and made a deep cut in his hand with his dagger. As his bloody hand grabbed the scroll, a faint blue light immediately emanated from the scroll. The glow rapidly increased into a bright flare almost too bright to look at. The others saw the blue light, shining through holes of the cloth around the wagon, while the sound seemed to echo all around the rocks.

  As both brothers felt their ears painfully object, the sound affected their equilibrium, making it hard for them to stay on their feet. Gavin turned his head away from the bright light, but Raylan squinted his eyes, trying to keep the enemy soldier in his sight.

  The bottom of the scroll had two long, pointed blades at each end, as if the scroll could be rolled out and stuck in the ground, forming a small banner. The blades of each point were actually two crossed blades, which left the imprint of an X, if stuck in the earth and pulled back out again. But it soon became clear to Raylan that those sharp tips were not meant to be stuck in the ground at all. The soldier raised the bloody scroll high above what seemed to be the chest of the large, dark statue. Suddenly, jerking his head sideways, he looked Raylan straight in his eyes. His voice thick with a foreign accent Raylan had never heard before, the soldier roared at the top of his lungs, “Long live the Stone King! You won’t stop the mountain from crushing you! You will be buried under it in darkness!”

  With one mighty thrust, the soldier plunged the pointed scroll directly into the statue’s chest. A high-pitched screech blasted out of the soldier, as his head jerked backward into his neck, and his face stared up to the heavens.

  The blue light from the scroll engulfed the soldier’s entire body; it looked liquid—almost alive—swirling around the skin and armor, sometimes sparking like small lightning. Raylan saw blue flames burn the soldier’s eyes out of their sockets, while a glow was seen through the stretched cheeks as light rose from his mouth. The blue aura seemed to flow out of the soldier—toward the scroll—at an increasing speed, feeding the bright blue flare more and more.

  All of a sudden, all of the deafening noise imploded, as Raylan felt the air being sucked into the wagon. The la
st of the blue light rushed from the soldier, directly through the scroll, into the statue. At the moment the blue light disappeared, a sudden shockwave erupted from the statue’s chest, blowing both brothers off their feet. The other members of the team, not being as near to the source of the blast, only had a moment to brace themselves. Most withstood the sudden wall of wind, but turned away their heads away to prevent all the sand and dirt from flying into their eyes. Kevhin was the one most taken by surprise; he found himself tumbling backward off the rock he had taken up position on. Rohan quickly disappeared behind the rock, checking if his friend was alright.

  The silence was as deafening as the chanting had been. As he scrambled to his feet, Raylan shook his head, trying to get rid of a painful buzzing in his head. He looked into the wagon at the soldier, now slumped forward over the large statue. His face looked like it had been dried in the sun for many years. The eye sockets were two gaping black holes with burn marks on the edges, and his mouth stretched open further than any normal human could do himself. It was enough to make Raylan turn his head away, when a movement caught his eye.

  The wagon creaked loudly, struggling under a sudden shift in weight. Hardly believing his eyes, Raylan saw the giant statue tremble and rise—first its head and then its torso—upward. Two glowing blue eyes stared, with an icy emptiness, out of the darkness of the wagon directly at him, as if measuring him up. Slowly, the statue looked at the mummified soldier and effortlessly swatted the corpse through the wooden floorboards of the wagon. With a loud crash, the wagon instantly broke in two, slamming the moving statue onto the ground. As it got up, they heard the sound of rocks crushing.

  “Get back!” Raylan yelled to Gavin, who was still getting his focus back from the sudden blast.

  Raylan grabbed his brother’s arm and dragged him backward as the statue broke free from the wreckage of the wagon. It straightened itself out, and for the first time, Raylan saw the full length of the stone man. The feet already looked huge, but now he saw that this thing—this non-living, moving thing—was gigantic. It was at least three heads taller than Galen, who was the largest in the group. As the stone giant moved, small chunks of rock broke off its knees, elbows and other joints; its once very square body turned more human-like with every crumble. The stone giant looked at its hands, which consisted of a single, solid piece of rock, as if someone had glued the fingers together. As the giant strained its stone hand, cracks formed. Stretching wide, the stone slab broke into a fully functioning hand with five fingers. As it flexed its newly made fingers, the statue looked around. Gavin and Raylan moved backward till they reached Galen, Xi’Lao and Stephen. Peadar rushed up with two swords he retrieved. Gavin and Raylan had dropped theirs when they were knocked off their feet. To the side, Raylan saw Harwin and Ca’lek take up flanking positions.

  Seemingly satisfied with its hands, the stone giant slowly looked down at them. Stepping one foot toward them, it stretched its neck forward; its arms trembled in front of it, as a low sound resonated again. Its face had no distinct features: no eyebrows, no nose and hollow eye sockets—with icy blue light deep inside. The sound of splitting rock was barely noticeable as a thin crack slowly formed in the place where a normal human would have a mouth. Its body trembled with effort as the crack grew wider and finally formed a mouth. Spreading its newly formed mouth wide, it released a deep roar that Raylan felt in his bones.

  “It doesn’t look very happy,” Raylan whispered, as he felt all those around him tense.

  Each one of them looked stunned by the scene before them, as they waited for its next move. Out of the blue, the stone warrior picked up one of the wagon’s large wheels and flung it toward them. The movement seemed effortless, but the overbuilt wagon-wheel flew at them with incredible speed.

  Diving out of the way, everyone scattered. The wheel shattered against the rock behind them.

  “Holy mother, it takes three of us to even put that on a wagon. How strong is this thing?” called out Peadar.

  The giant pushed off at an unexpected speed. It quickly closed the gap between itself and Stephen, who had ended up closest to the stone horror. With three big strides, the thing was on top of him, bringing a fist down toward where Stephen lay. Rolling to the side, the large fist barely missed him. The impact of the stone knuckles shook the ground, which Raylan felt tremble beneath his legs.

  “Rohan, Kevhin! Try to take it out,” Gavin shouted, as loudly as possible.

  Both archers had been behind the rock when the stone giant emerged. They had moved on top of the boulders as soon as they heard the roar of the stone opponent. Rohan found Kevhin on the ground with some darkening bruises, but no serious injuries. Confused about what was going on, Gavin’s command pushed them into action.

  “Where the hell’s my crossbow?” Kevhin shouted, while he looked around wildly.

  “I don’t know! It must have been flung to the side by the blast!” said Rohan, while pointing to the side and trying to prepare his own crossbow at the same time.

  Moving across boulders, Kevhin found his crossbow a small ways from them. It was lodged in a crack between two rocks. He quickly yanked it out and checked it for damage. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he quickly loaded a bolt. Both men had their crossbows ready at the same time the stone warrior raised his fist for a second attack on Stephen. The strings released and sent the bolts flying toward their target. The first bolt ricocheted off the stone torso as the second bolt hit the giant squarely in the eye. The giant froze in the middle of its movement, slowly turning its head toward both archers. Without any indication of pain, the giant pulled out the cross bolt and pulverized it in its hand.

  Stephen, deciding not to stick around, made use of the distraction by crawling away as fast as he could. He managed a small distance, only to be grabbed by the leg, as the stone giant picked him up and threw him directly at the two archers. While Stephen protected his head, he knocked both of them down. All three men came crashing down from the boulders, and Raylan heard Kevhin curse as the archer, once again, found himself smacked onto the unwelcoming ground.

  Raylan and Xi’Lao moved in, trying to determine a weak point on their gigantic enemy. Dodging below its arms, Raylan slashed at its side, but it was literally like hitting rock. Xi’Lao put her knives in its knee cavity, where they got stuck. The giant turned around, as both Raylan and Xi’Lao rolled away. Xi’Lao threw a salvo of knives at the giant, without effect. As it moved its leg, Xi’Lao’s knives bent effortlessly, after which they dropped to the ground completely ruined.

  “Stay out of its reach. It’s dangerously quick, and it does not seem to feel anything!” Gavin yelled to them both. “Peadar! Go find me some heavy spears…perhaps those will do some damage!”

  While Peadar ran off, Ca’lek and Harwin moved in and slashed at the giant’s legs. Ca’lek jumped back and forth seeing if his sword could do any damage without being caught by the giant’s flailing arms. Harwin moved to its back, but the giant suddenly twisted around and gave a full swinging kick toward him.

  Being a soldier of experience, Harwin often preferred the defense of a shield together with sword. Since he did not have the speed of the younger men anymore, it was a vital part of his survival on the battlefield. Turning into the approaching kick, Harwin brought up his shield, knowing he would not be able to move out of the leg’s reach quickly enough. He braced for impact, with both arms behind the metal shield, holding his sword to the side. It was like being hit by a rock slide. The giant’s leg did not even slow down as it kicked Harwin off his feet. The shield wrapped around the leg upon impact. Raylan heard the air being pushed out of the shield warrior. Harwin felt himself flying across the ground and crashing into the wreckage of the destroyed wagon.

  Peadar came running with two spears he found and passed them to Gavin. Gavin tossed one to Galen, who lined it up and threw it with all his might toward the stone giant. It hit the giant in the back of its upper arm, in the crack where the arm attached to the shoulder. As it r
eached for the spear, Gavin charged in with his own spear, thrusting full force into the spot where the scroll had pierced the statue. The spear did little damage, but it did get stuck in the small crack that the scroll had left. As the giant turned toward Gavin, Raylan’s brother pushed the spear sideways in an effort to widen the crack in its chest.

  It was a mistake to linger so close to the stone man. Raylan saw the stone warrior bring its arm around and hit Gavin with an outward swing. Gavin flew through the air and smashed, back first, into a boulder. His head hit the rock and he slumped forward onto the ground.

  “Gavin!” Raylan screamed, running toward his brother; but the stone abomination cut off his path, and punched his solid fists straight at his chest.

  Raylan slid to a halt and used quick footwork to dodge the attack as he was driven backward by the stone giant. All of a sudden, a rock hit the back of the giant’s head, making it turn around to see Peadar on top of a boulder. Vulnerable on top of his perch, Peadar was unsure of what to do next, now that he averted the giant’s attention from Raylan. The boy was like a startled deer looking at a hunter.

  Out of nowhere, Richard appeared, making a cut at the giant’s stone knee. His sword sparked from the impact of the attack, but still there was no visible damage. Focusing its attacks in front of itself again, the stone giant moved in on Richard and Raylan.

  Dodging and retreating, they moved around the wreckage of the smashed wagon. Raylan glanced toward the wreckage to see if he could spot Harwin. He saw a couple of legs sticking out from the pile of wood and canvas, but he had no time to see if Harwin was breathing or not. As he moved his eyes away from the wreckage, jumping out of the way of an incoming punch, his eye caught a small glimmer. It looked like a black snake, moving under the broken wooden planks. As the giant focused on Richard, Raylan checked again and saw what it actually was. He rolled forward and moved in on the pile of wood and metal. Ignoring Harwin, for now, he put both hands on the big iron chain and gave it a strong pull. The chain slid out from under the wreckage, but it got caught on some of the wood.