Metal and Magic: A Fantasy Journey

by Steve Windsor

  “Your heart.” She said softly. “It pounds heavily.”

  “It is through no fault of mine.” Davydd said breathing heavily as his hips sunk slowly in between her thighs. “I know not a man’s heart that wouldn’t tremble at such a sight.”

  Vannera smiled warmly as she pulled Davydd’s face close to hers and wrapped her lips around his in another loving kiss. She arched her hips up to meet his and the connection between their bodies further ignited the flames within them.

  “Then let us see both hearts erupt in ecstasy.” She said, smiling seductively. Davydd could not resist any longer and they both began a slow and sensuous dance in rhythm to music that only they could hear.

  The early morning was filled with a thick fog that enveloped most of the forest floor and extended up high to some tree tops. The branches of the trees rustled as unseen figures landed heavily on them and bolted off almost as instantly as they had made contact with the branches. They could not be seen. The only evidence of their presence was the depression of the branches under their weight, and the way those same branches sprung back to their original position, when the invisible figures bolted off again. Flying just above the tree line, a figure could be seen, with its bat like wings spread out and flapping occasionally. Balek surveyed the blenders as they rapidly made their way through the forest. They had gotten more and more animated and it told him they were closing in on their prey. He swooped down low and flew speedily over the tree line, howling as he did. The blenders picked up their pace, and began to spread apart into formations of four. They were now very close. After days of searching for Davydd’s scent, they had finally found it along with that of Vannera’s. To think they had traveled this far towards the shores of Angweleth. Balek let his mind wander to thoughts of victory. He imagined the feeling of killing Rikard Miljorn’s son and finally destroying any lingering hopes the humans might have. He was still lost in these thoughts when instinctively, he barely dodged a black and brown metallic gauntlet that suddenly appeared in front of him, with the fingers pressed together to make a spear like shape. His eyes briefly caught the figure of two women and a glowing rectangular opening in the sky behind them. Part of the sharp talons of the gauntlet caught the top of his head, scraping of scaly flesh, arching his head backwards and drawing blood. As he was falling and spinning out of control, Balek flapped his wings violently, trying to regain control of his flight. He whirled around to see who the women were but was met with a punch to the stomach that felt like the force of an entire mountain of diamond, dropped on him. The air in his lungs was forcibly expelled from his mouth. His eyes, nose and mouth spouted blood as he plummeted to the forest ground. Balek, realizing he would not be able to regain his flight in time, retracted his wings and fell through a series of branches before hitting the ground with a resounding thud. He howled loudly and sprang to his feet, while unsheathing a wavy shaped serrated blade that was stored in a strap on sheath, on his right shoulder. It was then he caught sight of his attacker. A tall, slender woman with black hair and a dark brown flowing gown, descended steadily until her feet gently touched the soil beneath her. The early morning fog gave her a ghostly appearance, as her pale skin was barely discernible amidst the cloud cover and yet her bright red eyes illuminated in the dim early morning light. Balek took a step forward, his face wearing an expression of disbelief.

  “Feona?”

  “In the flesh... as it were. I must commend you on your reaction Balek. I meant to take your head off.” She smiled.

  “Why are you here?!” Balek growled. “Gods do not interfere with the fates of humans. Leave!”

  “Do you say that out of concern for me or do you say that out of concern for yourself and your underlings?”

  Feona started walking towards Balek. Her flowing dark brown overall began to constrict on itself and separate into different pieces. These pieces began to solidify into armor pieces. The chest piece formed first, conforming to her torso and cleavage, then the shoulder pieces. The boots however, remained the same. The rest of her overall formed a skirt lined all around with metallic adornments and engraved rectangular shaped metal slabs that bore engravings on them. They clanged with each other as she moved towards Balek.

  “If it is indeed the former that concerns you, then you are foolish. However I think it is the latter. Your life was forfeit the moment you ran into me, Balek.”

  Balek, regaining his composure, growled at her and laughed.

  “You seem to underestimate me on the basis of a few lucky blows. I am one of the ten principals! And I have brought with me over a hundred blenders to erase that bastard son of Rikard from existence. Besides, it would seem you are still without your sword of power, and one of your gauntlets. Was it wise of you to come here?”

  Feona smiled menacingly.

  “Enough small talk. Your life is over.” At that moment, Jaynea materialized behind Balek with a dagger in her hand. She thrust the tip towards Balek’s neck. Balek bent forward just enough to make Jaynea miss her mark. Before she could react, his tail smacked her viciously into a tree. Balek had begun to walk towards her, when his jaw was caught by a ferocious kick from Feona. His body lurched upwards and fell to the ground from the force of the blow. Balek forced himself to his feet coughing up blood as he did. At that moment, Jaynea was forcing her way out of the tree trunk she had been slammed into. Her eyes glared in anger, as did Feona’s. Balek observed them both for a time. He wasn’t terribly worried about Jaynea, but he knew if he stayed and fought Feona, she would kill him and he could not imagine how she would choose to do so without wincing. Feona was the goddess of death after all, and her reputation preceded her in the world of the Dragol. Balek took a step back and growled at his invisible blenders.

  “Move!” He yelled and immediately jumped into flight in the direction of Davydd. The chase had begun. Feona and Jaynea rapidly portal travelled in the direction of the Dragol, landing on branches and tree trunks, and propelling themselves forward with their legs on each landing.

  “Get to Davydd!” Feona yelled at Jaynea. “Warn them about the impending danger and kill as many blenders as you can. I will handle the principal.”

  Jaynea nodded and portal travelled ahead, fatally stabbing and slashing blenders as she did. Her immortal eyes allowed her to see them despite their disguise. She barely dodged a blender’s tail swipe by flipping over it and slicing it off with one of her daggers. Jaynea landed on her feet and subsequently dodged two otherwise lethal blows to the torso by the blender. She parried the third blow with her left hand and quickly stepped toward the blender, slicing it from neck to waist in rapid and vicious succession with her daggers. The blender shuddered for a moment and then fell from the high tree branch, already dead. Another blender was at that moment, closing in on her, its two three toed feet drawn together in a manner similar to an eagle swooping down to capture its prey. The lethal intent was clear, as the talons were fully exposed. Jaynea pointed her left dagger at the incoming blender, as her right pointed in the opposite direction of her left. A portal opened in front of the blender, enveloping it before it could react. The portal opened up on the other side half way up the blade of her right dagger, and the blender was immediately stabbed through the heart when it materialized on the other side. Jaynea flipped her blade and cut upwards, splitting the blender in half from the chest up to the crown of the crown of the head. She jumped away from the branch just in time to evade two other blenders who had crashed through it and used a tree trunk to propel her way forward in search of more to kill, and towards Davydd. She was moving faster now, seemingly as fast as Sam could move on the ground.

  Feona rolled out of the way of a falling burning tree, and immediately arched backwards evading the tail swipe of a blender. She came back up and parried three simultaneous blows coming at her, and almost immediately punched a hole through the chest of the three blenders that had thrown the blows at her. She jumped away from a stream of fire bearing down on her from above, as Balek attempted to burn
her with his flames. The principal swooped down and using his momentum, swung downwards at her with his curved serrated blade. Feona parried it with her gauntlet, while her right foot shot out behind her and slammed into the face of a blender attempting to impale her from behind. She pushed off Balek’s arm just as another blender launched itself at her, growling loudly. A portal opened up in front of Feona and she was instantly behind Balek. The blender hit the ground and Feona’s gauntlet, impaled Balek’s back. The principal lashed behind him and caught Feona on the right cheek. The sheer force of the blow knocked her to the ground. She tried to get up but was struck in the left rib by Balek. The force of the blow pushed her across the forest ground. Her body tore through the soil, ripping through giant tree roots, and earth in a trail of mud, dust and splintered bark. A large ball of fire descended on her, and engulfed her. The impact pushed her further back still, and into the ground a bit. It was then that Feona realized that the forest had gone up in flames. She slowly got up and glared at Balek who was staggering forward and bleeding rather profusely from the puncture wound in his chest. A trickle of blood fell from Feona’s lips as well and she smiled rubbing it off. Balek growled at her as he kept staggering.

  “Come goddess of death! I shall put an end to you! I shall show you the power of a principal!!” Balek fell to his knees coughing profusely as he labored to breathe.

  “Your kind was wise to declare war against humans and not against us... you pathetic lizard. While it would give me great pleasure to end your existence, I cannot. I believe we both know that. However, my work here is done.”

  “So you came to slow me down Feona? It is one thing to fight against a god in such a condition and it is another to fight against the humans. I will still kill them.”

  “Right you are lizard. As far as you know, right you are.” A portal opened up as numerous blenders descended on Feona. However, she was gone before they could reach her. Balek pushed himself up to his feet with much difficulty. He used his sword as a support while he looked on ahead. As far as you know, right you are. What did she mean by that? Balek was suddenly apprehensive about pursuing Davydd and his group, but he was even more reluctant to fail Omni and hence, incur his wrath. He forged on.

  The sounds had spread towards Davydd and his group’s location. They had heard the cries, growls and clashes that had roused every forest creature that morning. The experienced men, Ergol, Ovar and Matilom had concluded that the sounds they all heard were that of Dragol. However, that was all they seemed to come to an agreement on, as they each bickered loudly about the next course of action. Sam, Leo and Max along with Ergol’s men and Segmiatus watched on unsure of whom to back with their own words. It was then that Davydd and Vannera appeared from behind the brushes with a look of worry on their faces.

  “Something’s going on!” Davydd exclaimed.

  The others turned to look at him with a look of exasperation on their faces. After a little while, they all turned away to continue their conversation. Segmiatus was the only one to come up to Davydd and Vannera.

  “Where have you two been?”

  Both Davydd and Vannera moved to respond.

  “Well we... errr...”

  “Look don’t worry about an answer.” Segmiatus shook his head. “As we speak it has been determined that Dragol are moving upon us. We do not know how many or what kind of Dragol, but you’ve heard the sounds.” Segmiatus pointed in the direction. Davydd followed his hand and his eyes caught plumes of smoke rising in the distance.

  “And seen the flames.”

  “What?”

  “Turn.” Davydd grabbed the back of Segmiatus’s head and turned it towards the direction of the plumes.

  “We need to warn them and move.” Davydd said, walking towards the group. As Davydd walked up to them, Ergol flashed him a disdainful glance. Davydd noticed this, and looked back towards Vannera who smiled reassuringly. He remembered the words she had said to him the night before.

  I don’t know how to lead these people Vannera.

  Yes you do. It is inside of you. It always has been.

  Vannera... being the son of a king does not make one a king.

  Well then you are the son of a blacksmith and you are a thief. Davydd had looked at her quizzically and she had laughed at his expression.

  You don’t have to be a king to lead, Davydd. A king can be a leader but not always. A leader on the other hand, can inspire much more than a dynasty of kings. So lead Davydd. Lead.

  “Whatever plan is being devised can wait. We need to move now.” The bickering died down and Ergol turned to Davydd.

  “And this is your plan. Move. Move to where if I might ask?”

  “We move to the shores as we have been doing. There is a fire coming our way.” Davydd responded.

  “He’s right.” Segmiatus chimed in as he pointed in the direction of the plumes of smoke. “Over there. As Davydd said, we need to move now.”

  “And since when do we concur with the boy on what to do?” Ergol asked without bothering to hide his disgust at the thought.

  “Go back to sleep princesses. We will wake you when we have arrived at a decision.” Ergol’s men burst into raucous laughter at the taunts. Davydd was enraged but he walked up to Ergol calmly.

  “Do not approach me boy!”

  “You can leave.” Davydd said without the slightest hint of passion in his voice.

  “You and your men.”

  “Who gave you the...”

  “Silence! Can you wield the sword of Feona or wear her gauntlet? Are you the son of Rikard Miljorn? If I were not here, would this journey have purpose?”

  “Facts you have known for barely a moon! We are in danger while you sleep and explore the false king’s daughter!”

  “However long I have known them they still stand very true. If not, why am I here? And if you ever talk about princess Vannera that way again, I’ll show you what danger is.” Davydd walked up to a high rock above the forest ground and addressed the group.

  “Many of you do not believe in me and neither does your leader, Ergol. However, there are those here that do and they have put their trust in me. I will protect Angweleth and Terrianus with just them if I have to. Rikard Miljorn was your king before his untimely death and he left me a task to do. If you do not believe in me, leave. I will not hold it against you. However if you choose to stay,” He turned and glared at Ergol “Do not attempt to make a mockery of me, make any decisions without me or divide my people. The choice is yours.”

  Ergol turned to Matilom.

  “Has he lost his mind?! Say some...”

  “Ergol” Matilom said sternly. “My king has spoken. You will respect him, or you will leave and we will find another way.” Matilom left the shocked Ergol standing where he was, and walked up to Davydd. He leaned in and whispered.

  “I hope this is a start my boy. If you want to win the complete trust of these men, events like seeking pleasure amidst danger will not help your cause.”

  “It won’t happen again Matilom.” Matilom nodded and patted Davydd on the shoulder. It was at that moment that everyone heard Vannera scream. Davydd turned around and ran towards her.

  “Vannera! Are you okay?” He approached her and his eyes quickly examined her for injuries or anything that could give him clues as to why she screamed. But there were no injuries that he could see. Her skin had turned pale and her face was white with fear.

  “What troubles you? Vannera?”

  Amidst heavy and frantic breathing, Vannera barely managed to lift up her hand and point it upwards towards the tree area right over where Max was.

  “Has she run mad?” Ergol asked.

  Davydd followed Vannera’s finger direction and her eyes. However there was nothing in the air above them where she was pointing.

  “Vannera this is not the time for games.” Davydd said, still perplexed. It was then that Vannera found her voice.

  “I’m not playing games! There... it’s her! She’s right there!!”


  “Who?!”

  “I... don’t believe... this.” It was Leo’s voice but he could not be seen.

  “Is that really you, Jaynea?”

  There was a gust of wind in response and what sounded like a thousand voices echoing at once. Jaynea slowly became visible to everyone. To them, she appeared not as a fully solid being. There was something airy and light about her. Everyone there stood in awe of what they were seeing. While she could not be seen clearly by all of the others, Vannera and Leo in his invisible state could see her as clearly as she had been when she was alive.

  Davydd’s eyes were wide with shock and amazement. He was looking at the very first sight of Vannera he saw. So this was the woman whose sacrifice had saved the life of the princess who tugged so greatly at his heart now. Jaynea descended slowly to the ground, but her feet never touched the ground. She looked at Vannera for a little while. Their eyes conveyed the numerous words that weighed heavily on their hearts. The pain they felt was unmistakable and almost unbearable. However, Jaynea did not speak to Vannera. Instead, she turned to the rest of the group.

  “I have come here to warn you. As we speak, numerous blenders and a single principal are heading your way. If you do not prepare to fight, or prepare to run, you will die standing here. Personally, I suggest the latter.” She turned around and began walking off.

  “How many?” It was Vannera’s voice. It shook and trembled as she fought against crying further. Jaynea continued to walk away from the group.

  “Answer me Jaynea!! How many blenders are there? At least say a word to me before walking away into oblivion again!!” The tears had come now. Vannera fell to her knees and cried profusely, letting her tears soak the rock and grass beneath her.

  “Did I not tell you to breathe and be strong the last time I was by your side? Is this as far as you are able to go?”

  Vannera looked on in shock as Jaynea’s words sank in.