The Mountain Valley War

by M. A. Carlson

  “No, no, I understand completely,” Micaela said, waving away the Dwarf’s concerns.

  “Anyway, where were we?” Palm asked. “Ah, right, you and I were about to-”

  “No!” Micaela shouted, huffing angrily. “Listen here, you repugnant little pervert. I came here looking for help to save my totems, not to be hit on by a lecherous spirit. Your actions have made it very clear that I don’t want your help saving my totems. However, we both want off this island and I get the feeling that will take both of us to accomplish that task. So, my only question to you. Will you help me escape?”

  “You think I have not tried?” Palm asked, suddenly sounding old . . . old and very tired. “I have been trapped here for so very long. I cannot move on. I cannot return to living my life. And I have been alone . . . so alone . . . And now you ask for the impossible. No, I think I would rather enjoy myself and hit on you until you actually kill me.”

  Micaela was left feeling sympathy for the old Dwarf. Who knows how she would have behaved if she was in the same position? Then something stood out to her. “Hang on a tic,” Micaela said, eyes narrowing again. “If you want me to kill you, why not just walk out there and let that Nightmare Beast kill you?”

  “If you kill me, I go on to the afterlife. If that beast kills me . . .” Palm went silent then shuddered. “Well, I would rather risk death from flirting with a pretty girl than facing that thing. Anything but that.”

  “Then why not kill yourself?” Micaela asked, she didn’t condone suicide but that didn’t mean it wasn’t a viable option. She had gotten the clear impression that dying to a nightmare beast was not a good option, something Palm clearly feared. But that didn’t explain why he didn’t just take his own life.

  “Would that I could . . . but . . . well, there are a couple of logistical problems with that,” Palm replied, frowning as he gazed at his grave.

  “Like what?” Micaela asked.

  “It is personal,” Palm replied, moving back toward his grave and sitting down heavily upon it.

  Micaela frowned then left the spirit world. Maybe the solution was outside of the spirit world. Unfortunately, it was still dark, much too dark to see any real detail. The little island was about 20-feet across by 15-feet long. It was bordered by a small steep beach and the center mass of the island was a flat patch of tall grass.

  Then there was the solitary tree. It was strangely shaped, reminding her of a bonsai tree that had been wound back and forth too many times, left then right, left then right. It stood about 20-feet tall, another oddity for how thin it was. “Strange tree,” Micaela said to herself, running her hand along the tree, feeling the bark, feeling an oddity in the bark, like it was thinner in some places than others.

  “Vision, come here,” Micaela called to her pup. “I need you to look at this,” she said, picking him up and lifting him up high enough to see. It was much too dark for her to see and she really didn’t want to wait for daylight.

  “I do not know what that is . . . but it is nothing good,” Vision said, peering at the section of bark. He leaned in closer and gave it a sniff then recoiled. “Blood . . . very old blood.”

  Micaela backed away from the tree, setting Vision down. She equipped her axes, ready to attack the tree.

  “I would not do that,” Palm’s disembodied voice spoke up.

  Micaela huffed, considering whether or not to listen to the Dwarf. She huffed again, putting away her axes and sitting down heavily. She slipped back into the spirit world, ready to punch out the Dwarf if he was too close again.

  Luckily, the Dwarf was sitting cross-legged in front of his grave, leaning back against the gravestone.

  “And why shouldn’t I chop down that tree?” Micaela asked.

  “It is the only thing keeping that malevolent spirit from devouring me and now you as well,” Palm replied.

  “And how do you know that?” Micaela asked.

  “That is a ‘Binding Fetish’,” Palm answered.

  “And what’s that?” Micaela asked.

  “Witch Doctor’s equivalent of a totem,” Palm answered. “This one was made by a powerful one.”

  That made sense to Micaela, it explained the blood. She had learned a little about Witch Doctors when she made her first totems back in Hurlig Ridge. A Witch Doctor sacrificed living things to make totems. They were a kind of dark Shaman, the opposite of Micaela and Palm.

  As if a light went off in her head, she connected the dots. If Palm was a light Shaman, like her, then it made sense that the Duke, his brother, was a dark Shaman, a Witch Doctor.

  “Your brother,” Micaela said.

  “I think so,” Palm replied, sighing heavily. “Our parents were not very good, not to the both of us at least. I was the first born. I was the heir to the throne and Shrove was not. I never gave it much thought at the time, I knew my role and I knew his role, it never occurred to me that he might not like his role.”

  “Tell me about how you came to be trapped here,” Micaela requested.

  Palm sighed. “Fine. So, years ago, do not ask how many, I still do not know how long I have been trapped here. Anyway, years ago, my brother and I were both in training to become Shamans, my father was a Shaman as were his brothers and father before him and so on down the line. My father always used to say, ‘We live because of the shale. It is our duty to ensure the shale always has a voice in our city. That is why we are Shamans, to connect to the shale that gives us our lives and livelihood. Our spirits breathe life into the shale. And we are honored for it.’. All true. But my brother . . . I never saw it then but looking back, I should have known.”

  Pausing for a moment, Palm continued, “Anyway, I did not know it at the time, but my brother grew tired of the training, of taking the long arduous road to become a Shaman. He took shortcuts that took him down the dark path. Then one day, he told me he had sensed a dark spirit. He asked me to help him defeat it. He brought me here where I sensed the beast the instant I stepped onto the island. I spiked my totems into the ground and rushed into the spirit realm, thinking I would be in for a fight. I never had the chance to fight. I was killed within seconds of going into the spirit realm. My brother killed my fleshly body, slit my throat, and trapped my spirit after it left my body.” Palm snarled and clenched his fists.

  “I could not believe what he had done. The body dying like that, it weakened me severely. I remember passing out, thought I was dying as a spirit as well at the time. When I came to, he was gone, my body was buried,” Palm paused to motion to the grave marker. “And that nightmare beast was here, so I could not go tell my father what had transpired.”

  “I don’t get it, why trap you like this? Why not just kill you and get it over with?” Micaela asked.

  “To make me suffer,” Palm replied. “I told you before, he took a dark path.”

  “Okay, so the Fetish,” Micaela said, pointing to the tree. “Is the thing keeping that nightmare beast here?”

  “Correct,” Palm answered.

  “And if I destroy it, it will attack us?” Micaela asked.

  “Also correct,” Palm replied.

  “Okay, WWBBJD?” Micaela mouthed, trying to focus on finding a solution.

  “What?” Palm asked.

  “Oh, it means ‘What Would Bye-bye Jacko Do?’. My friend, Bye-bye, he’s kind of amazing at figuring stuff like this out. So, when I get stuck, I ask myself how he would solve this puzzle,” Micaela explained.

  “Interesting, and what would this Bye-bye fellow do?” Palm asked.

  “First, he would want to understand what a nightmare beast is,” Micaela answered. “So, what is it?”

  Palm blinked several times. “You are a Shaman, right?”

  Micaela nodded.

  “She doesn’t study,” Sundance added, popping out of his ax.

  “Well, okay,” said Palm. “A nightmare beast is a malevolent spirit, one that feeds on your nightmares and makes them a reality. They eat your spirit and torment you for eternity. They ar
e a favorite tool of Witch Doctors and Dark Shamans.”

  “Okay, and how did your brother bind one here?” Micaela asked.

  “With the Fetish,” Palm answered.

  “I understand that, but how did he get it to come here and stay long enough to bind it, especially at its current level?” Micaela asked.

  “Oh, I see what you mean. Okay, the answer is the same but more in depth. The fetish, both calls the nightmare beast and binds it. It also gives it instructions. In this case, it was instructed to guard this island, prevent anything from leaving,” Palm explained.

  “Okay, do you know enough to be able to reverse the fetish?” Micaela asked.

  “No,” Palm answered directly. “I am not now, nor have I ever been a Witch Doctor.”

  “You said if we destroy the fetish, it will attack. Just you or will it attack me as well?” Micaela asked.

  “I do not know, I would assume you would also be on the dinner menu,” Palm replied.

  Micaela frowned before an idea struck her. “What will it do after we are both dead?”

  “Go back to its home plane,” Palm answered.

  “And what if I was the only one to die?” Micaela asked.

  “How do you mean?” Palm asked, studying Micaela.

  “Well, my quest is to find and make a totem with a Shaman spirit. What if I was to make you into a totem? You could hide inside of it and when the serpent kills me, I respawn and you and my totems all get to survive,” Micaela answered.

  “What about me?” Vision asked, putting one hell of a thorn in her plan.

  “Sorry, Vision, sometimes I forget you’re not also a totem. So much for that plan,” Micaela said with a sigh.

  “Better to go down fighting,” said Butch, popping free of his totem, “than to die with a whimper.”

  “I say we fight,” said Sundance.

  “Fight!” All three of her raven spirits said.

  “Run away,” said Boots, unsurprisingly.

  “Guys, I am not willing to risk losing any of you,” Micaela said, scratching the wolves, petting the horse and ruffling the feathers of the three ravens, the latter looked more irritated than anything. “We will just need to wait out the month. Ollie will just have to understand, he wouldn’t sacrifice a friend, and neither will I,” she said, wincing slightly at the last statement.

  Micaela didn’t notice how Palm was looking at her, or rather he was looking between Vision and the three Ravens. “I have an idea,” he said, the words surprising him as he said them.

  Micaela looked at Palm in surprise. “Really?”

  “Yeah, your birds. They are big enough and strong enough to carry him,” Palm said. “He’s a spirit wolf, that means he exists in both planes . . . well, more in this one but still. He is tangible enough in this realm for them to pick him up and carry him, far above the water. Far out of the reach of the nightmare spirit.”

  Micaela quirked her head to the side, then she looked to the three large ravens. “Can you do that?”

  “We can,” they answered as one. “But not that far,” they added.

  “With my help, they could,” Palm said. “With my Spirit stat added to your own, you would have enough excess to give them that kind of range.”

  “And once we are all safely on the other side, I can set you free and you can move on or whatever you want,” Micaela said.

  “Alright, you got a gem on you?” Palm asked.

  “A gem?” Micaela asked.

  Palm sighed. “Mover, shaker, need to do a bit of grave digging lads,” he said loudly, looking toward his grave.

  Micaela was confused for a moment before she saw a large hand reach out of the ground, followed by another, which preceded the body of a massive gorilla, which was joined a minute later by a second, equally large, gorilla.

  “Hand, you called?” one of the gorillas asked, its voice was deep, deeper than any Micaela had heard before.

  “Still with that? How many years have we been together? And you still call me that,” Palm griped. “My name is Palm,” he said, holding up one hand, showing the palm to the gorillas. “See, palm,” he said, pointing to his palm. “Not hand,” he added, a finger circling the entirety of the hand. “Palm,” he restated slowly.

  Micaela thought she saw the gorilla smirk and forced herself to hold back a giggle.

  “Who is she?” the other gorilla asked, pointing to Micaela. Its voice wasn’t quite as deep as the first gorilla.

  “This is Micaela Crushhammer, a Shaman. Went and got herself trapped here,” Palm answered.

  “So, she is an idiot like Hand is,” the first gorilla replied.

  “Shaker, stop,” Palm said. “Look, I need your help. Are you going to help me, or not?”

  “Fine, fine,” the gorilla, Shaker, replied, waving the Dwarf away. “Mover, I will loosen the dirt, you will move it.”

  “I know my job, Shaker,” Mover stated flatly, stepping away from the grave.

  Micaela could only watch and try to keep her feet under her as Shaker put his large mitts flat on the ground. A moment later an earthquake shook the entire island. It only lasted a moment but looking around, it looked like the island had become slightly larger and closer to the water as if it had suddenly spread out. Any further speculation was forestalled when Mover stepped up next. When his palms touched the ground, Micaela braced for another earthquake, but none came. Instead, it looked like a giant hand pushed a large amount of dirt from the ground. Then the process repeated.

  “Why do you have gorilla spirits?” Micaela asked.

  “When I was young and first earned my class of Shaman, Father gave me a quest to acquire my first totems. The only condition, I was required to leave the province. He paid for an expedition and I ended up in the Gocon Jungle Province, all jungle and all of it dangerous. Closest thing to a city was a small trading outpost. I was never so grateful for the guards my father hired to keep me alive. There were plenty of spirits to choose from there. Panthers of all kinds, monkeys that swung from the trees above us, and a multitude of snakes. And then there were the gorillas. First time I saw one, first time I felt the ground shake when it struck the earth as it charged my retinue, I knew. Anyway, Mover and Shaker agreed to join me a few days later when I finally found their nesting area. We have been together ever since. Never thought they would get so big though,” Palm explained, scratching at his beard as he stared up at the pair. “Anyway, looks like they are about done.”

  Micaela looked to the resultant hole in the island, lying inside that hole was a skeleton with bits of hair and scraps of armor but little else remained.

  “The bones have seen better days. It is just not the same as being buried properly in stone. My ancestors would turn in their grave if they knew,” Palm said with a sigh, stepping into the grave. “Okay, your turn is next. Back in the mortal realm, you need to remove the emerald signet ring from my hand.” Palm placed his hand on the ring and waited.

  Micaela returned to the mortal realm and stepped into the grave, which totally creeped her out. She shakily touched the ring and slid it off the finger of the skeleton, almost dropping it when the finger broke off with it. Micaela needed to shake the ring a few times to get the bone to fall out. After that, she was quickly out of the grave, trying to put a comfortable distance between her and the skeleton.

  After giving herself a minute to calm down, Micaela returned to the spirit realm to be confronted with a glaring Palm.

  “Really, you could not put my finger back where you found it?” Palm asked.

  “I got the ring,” Micaela said, ignoring the question about the Dwarf’s finger. She hadn’t really looked that closely at the ring when she plucked it free, she was more concerned with the skeleton at the time. The ring was a simple gold band with an obscenely large emerald gemstone that was the size of her thumbnail in the real world, maybe larger than that.

  “Good, first, break the gem free of the ring,” Palm ordered, waiting on Micaela to free the gem from the ring. “
Alright, now, start pumping mana into it. You need to use your ‘Infuse Mana’ skill,” Palm instructed.

  The only problem with that order was that her ‘Infuse Mana’ subskill didn’t say anything about gems.

  Mining II

  Level: 89

  Experience: 47.10%

  Professional Skill: Mining is the ability to extract usable material from rock.

  Skill Stamina Cost: 5 per swing

  Subskill: Infuse Mana

  Skill Effect (Active): Used to create Mana Infused Stone.

  Skill Mana Cost: 1,000 per cubic foot of stone with a maximum density of 2.4.

  “Umm, my ‘Infuse Mana’ only works on stone with a density of 2.4,” Micaela replied.

  “Just do it,” Palm said.

  Micaela frowned. She was worried she might damage the gem, but she did what she was told. It was to her surprise when the gem took the mana even easier than the stone did, despite having a much higher density than stone. It also drank up a lot more mana. It took hours for Micaela to charge the thing properly. It was almost sunrise when she received the notice that the gem was infused.

  Mana Infused Emerald – Mana infused gemstone is a very powerful crafting element useful for empowering jewelry, weapons, or armor if used in crafting.

  Oh, it was a gemstone, ‘stone’ being the operative word. Still, it needed to be significantly denser than stone. She made a mental note to do a little research later.

  “Good job, now, you need to reshape your armor a bit,” Palm said, pointing at her chest armor. “Need to form a socket for the gem to fit. Just make sure the gemstone is still visible once you close the stone around it.”

  Micaela furrowed her brow a little but didn’t question it. It took a moment to reshape the stone of her armor and insert the gem, then move the stone to clasp the edges of the stone properly.

  “Good, first, I need to transfer my totems to you, if they want to that is?” Palm said, looking to his two gorillas.

  “Hand will get killed again if we leave him,” Mover stated.