“The moment of truth,” Voll whispered to himself as Aegyn found him and landed to his right and walked over to him. She walked on four legs until she reached him and turned around facing the valley next to him. Voll could hear his men behind him stir in anticipation unsure if the dragon was now going to attack them. Swords, spear and shields raised as the dragon came close. Voll spun around, raised his hand, and lowered his arm to signal them to be at ease.
“Why did the elves attack me?” Aegyn asked as she approached.
“I do not know. Maybe they thought you were with me, which in a way you are.”
“But I was not going to attack them. I was just curious to watch.”
“I know, but they didn’t know that. You and your mother tend to forget that you are frightening.”
Aegyn’s Mother then came into sight and landed directly in front of Voll. She eyed her daughter, but he could not hear the conversation that he knew they were having.
“My mother and I agree that it is time for me to finish our bargain so that we can leave this place before it erupts into chaos,” Aegyn said to Voll.
“Well, it just so happens to be that is exactly what I was hoping for,” Voll said with a grin. “I am in need of your help and I am also expecting a fair amount of chaos after you help me.”
“Then speak your need,” Aegyn’s mother snapped, clearly growing impatient.
“I need entrance through that thick forest so that we can storm their fortress. It is magically sealed and we cannot break through,” he said, pointing to the spot of the forest that had given him so much consternation.
“And you think dragonfire will clear a path for you?” Aegyn’s mother asked.
“I am certainly hopeful. Can it be done?”
“You are asking us to destroy and dispel this magical forest so that you can kill countless elven lives?”
“Well, yes, that is precisely that is what I ask. The elves have captured your daughter and held her prisoner. Don’t you think they deserve some retribution?”
The two dragons spoke again to each other silently for a few seconds before they both took to the air and flew south. Aegyn landed in front of the tangled forest of trees and vines and arched her head back and blasted the edge of the forest with a fire so hot that Voll could feel the heat reaching him as he watched from the hillside. At the same time, Aegyn’s mother came in from directly above the tangle and shot a huge blast of fire torching the tangle from above.
The impassable tangle erupted into a massive forest fire, but it only lasted a few minutes, as the fire was so hot that everything in their blasts were incinerated to ash. When they were finished, they took to the air and circled above twice, inspecting their work. Aegyn’s mother roared and Voll knew she was not happy with her actions.
“Charge!” Voll yelled to his men, wanting to take advantage of the open passageway before there was any chance of the magic repairing itself and closing up the path. He charged his horse to the rear of his forces, shouting at all of the sub commanders to charge and take the fortress. They now had a clear path, and even though the elves and spiders had taken down a large amount of their force, they still had the numbers to finally win this battle and destroy the elves.
Voll watched with great satisfaction as the large force of humans crowded through the smoldering forest that had once blocked their way. Within minutes, he heard the sub commanders giving orders as they began to meet resistance at the fortress. The final siege had begun. With the last of his force charging through the forest, he then began to work his way down the hillside when he saw Aegyn and her mother watching the fight just above the fortress.
Aegyn’s mother turned around and headed back towards him. “This is far more than we bargained for!” she said as she flew, circling above him.
“Call it revenge against them for capturing and holding your daughter prisoner.”
“So be it. I regret agreeing to allow Aegyn to make that bargain with you in the first place. I should’ve toasted you when I first saw you with her.”
“I saved her life!” Voll shouted shaking his fist at her.
“That is why I agreed, but now we are done with you!” she shouted to Voll, clearly angered at the whole situation. She then gained altitude and swooped down, opened her mouth and a sent a large blast of fire over the elven village, catching what remained untouched by the human torches on fire, including the barn that contained the elven survivors. The dragon watched in horror as a handful of elves scrambled out of the burning barn, their bodies completely engulfed in fire.
“What have I done?” she roared. “This is not what I bargained for.”
Aegyn witnessed what her mother had done and flew south to escape her wrath.
Voll watched the dragon now fly towards him and saw her open her mouth just seconds before a large blast of fire encompassed his body.
Chapter 34
Naemyn returned to the castle just as the human forces were breaching the walls. The human force was massive and it would not be long before their defenses were overrun. The elven archers expended most of their supply of arrows attempting to take out the men as they climbed up the walls with their ladders, but there were just too many men. As they crested the walls, the humans, realizing their victory close at hand, attacked with such vigor and rage that the elven defense could not rally against the coming onslaught.
He heard the human force work their way through the castle, killing every elf in sight as they picked their way from room to room behind him. It would not be long before they would reach the king’s chambers where he sat on King Jaerick’s throne. He sat stone-faced looking straight ahead wondering how he had been so wrong. He had done everything the Guardian had told him to do if he had wanted the result he sought.
The fighting was getting louder as he could hear the humans working their way up the steps to the throne room. He would not die by a human blade, or possibly be subjected to their torture. He had made his decision: he decided that he would walk to the balcony and throw himself down to the inner bailey.
Realizing that he needed to hurry, he stood up, straightened out his robe for no purpose other than habit, and walked upon the balcony. As soon as he opened the glass doors, he heard a sucking sound coming from behind him. He turned around and saw again the black and blue swirling mist. His need to jump was immediately replaced with the sensation of being pulled into the mist.
“Come to me, Naemyn,” he heard a voice whisper from inside the mist as he could see a body forming inside. Its form shifted in and out of visibility as he neared it. “Come and become one with me Naemyn. You cannot accomplish your goals in your present state,” the voice continued.
Naemyn no longer cared enough to fight the urge or even question it. Without any hesitation, he stepped inside the swirling mist. Immediately he felt a presence that would change him forever. His body swirled within the mist and he could feel his old body melt away and become replaced with a new dark, but powerful form. This new form made him feel invulnerable, unstoppable, and completely invincible.
* * *
Jaerick and Traelyn transported back to the throne room. Jaerick looked around and realized where he was. Looking down, he saw that he stood above Traelyn as she lay on the stone floor. Her bleeding had stopped, but she was still in pain. She writhed in agony as her skin wrinkled upon her face and her soft brown hair turned from the beautiful silky brown to gray.
“Jaerick,” a voice echoed throughout the chamber alerting him that they were not alone. Taking his gaze off of Traelyn, he looked up, recognizing the voice of Naemyn. Except what he saw was not his friend. What stood before him was a black figure that towered above him, standing twelve feet tall. He had black wings unfolding out of his b
ack and bright blue eyes shone out of a dark face that had sharp black horns upon its head. A blue mist rose off of every inch of his skin looking as if the body had just walked out of an icy tundra landscape and into a warm environment.
Jaerick looked at the creature and somehow knew it was once his friend.
“I am going to destroy these humans for you,” he said to Jaerick as he spread his dark leathery wings and smiled, showing his jagged and sharp teeth.
“No Naemyn, you will not,” Traelyn said, exerting effort to stand on her own power, first from all fours and then painfully standing erect.
The door to the throne room crashed down, sending splinters of the solid oak door flying upon the polished floor. The human force charged in expecting to meet a stout defense, but paused when they saw their Great Mother, the elven king and a demon apparition standing before them.
Traelyn raised her arms and walked towards them. “Stop!” she shouted. “The fighting is over and you have won. This kingdom now belongs to you!”
“Kill the elven king and his demon!” one of the men shouted.
“No! Kill no more elves. They will leave peacefully. I will take care of this demon.”
“What are you doing?” Jaerick said to her, rushing to her side.
“Leave me Jaerick. It is time that I finish this. The spirit at the lake has told me what to do.” She smiled at Jaerick, giving him a look with her eyes that told him this would be her final act in life. With incredible speed for an ancient woman that had just struggled to stand up, she charged for the black beast, grabbed his chest, and pushed him onto the balcony and over the edge.
They fell, and Naemyn laughed as he wrapped his arms around Traelyn and started to unfold his wings. He tried to make the wings move to fly away, but something stopped him from doing so. He struggled and just before they hit the ground, his black form turned back into a blue and black mist, consuming Traelyn. When they hit the ground, it was in the form of a solid black and blue shard.
The green dragon from the lake appeared from the west. He swooped down out of the sky, landed in the bailey, picked up the shard, and took flight. Jaerick watched the dragon disappear, heading north.
* * *
The dragon flew north passed the coastline and miles over the northern sea until he came to an island, landing on the highest peak. He waited a few seconds and then a large crevice opened up before him exposing a massive hole where nothing could be seen except darkness and shadow. Taking flight again, he dropped the shard into the crevice, watching it fall inside. As the shard fell, he saw the bodies of Traelyn and Naemyn reappear and flail about as they fell. Before he lost sight of them, he saw their bodies return to the shard and then the crevice sealed them in.
Satisfied, the dragon flew back to the western lake.
* * *
The elves left their fortress home and began their journey to the west. Jaerick had gathered them together and told them of a beautiful lake deep in the forest that they would soon make their home. The humans were gracious in their victory and allowed the elves to leave in peace. Before they left, Jaerick commanded a handful of his most trusted elves to go to the Aaestfallia Keep and remove the Triestones. The humans could not be trusted to have control of this magical portal, so they would, in essence, neuter its power so that it could not be abused.
As they filed out of the burnt forest, they came upon the valley and saw for the first time the battle that had waged there. Blackened and bloody bodies littered the field of battle. As they crested a hill, they saw one body that was still alive. Two elves slowly approached the body and heard him moan. The hair on his head was gone, his eyes had melted, leaving two large gaps where they had once been, and his skull could be seen in several places.
The two elves looked at each other and placed their hands upon his head. Within seconds, his eyeballs returned to the sockets, and the man screamed as soon as he regained consciousness. Voll looked at the elves and could not believe he was alive.
“You will live out the rest of your life as this ugly creature,” one of the elves said.
“Let this be a reminder of your horrible deeds to the elven kingdom,” the other elf said as they stood up and walked away.
Chapter 35
Traegon entered the catacombs again, this time alone. To his surprise, the magically sealed entrance opened as soon as he neared it. It seemed to him he was welcome. There were no ravages, wraeths, or goblins, nothing hindered his progress as if it was his home and all of its inhabitants welcomed his arrival. The stars in the sky opened up on him as he entered just as they did the first time he entered, but this time the cavern did not have the bluish purple haze, the wraeths, floating above. They seemed to have either calmed down, or simply had gone back to sleep.
Whatever it was, he only cared that they were gone, as they had scared him terribly the last time he was here. He pulled his torch out of his backpack, lit it, and then walked down the steps as quickly as he could. When he reached the bottom of the steps and into the open expanse where the long undead arms attacked them from the ground, he hesitated, took a deep breath and then stepped forward and stopped. When nothing happened, he walked as fast as he could, eventually breaking down and running. He ran all the way to the wall that led to the tunnels that would eventually lead to his father.
Surprisingly, he remembered the way, though he had to admit to himself that he felt as if he was somehow being guided by some unknown entity rather than his keen intuition, which he knew was not really all that sharp. He could not explain how he knew where to make each turn, but every time he did, he rounded a corner that not only seemed familiar, but felt as if he was indeed going in the right direction.
This continued for nearly an hour when he began to hear the sound of the river rushing through the cavern and the air began to move stronger and stronger with each corner he turned. He knew he was close and began to feel the excitement and anxiety of seeing his father. He really wanted to see his father, but he feared that he might not even be there, or he might be eternally trapped in this creepy elven crypt.
He was still deep in thought when he rounded a corner and his path was blocked by an elf in a bright white robe with his hood covering his face and his hands crossed in front of his waist. His head was down as he was sleeping standing up. Traegon stepped slowly to the elf, stood directly in front of him, and waited for a response that did not immediately come.
When the elf did not stir, Traegon walked around the elf, continually facing him and keeping a close eye on him. He had just rounded to his backside and had only taken one step backwards while still keeping his eye on him, when the elf spoke.
“You are welcome here today.”
“Why am I welcome here?” he returned.
“You are of the Guardian, and I, as the Caretaker welcome you.”
“What is going on?”
“Your father is waiting.”
Without any further response, Traegon turned around and headed down the final corridor where he found the rushing river running through the cavern. His father stood on an island in the center of the river as if he had been waiting there for him.
“Do you have something for me?” Daegon asked as he removed the hood from his head. He wore the same white robe that the Caretaker was wearing. Traegon had only been gone a short while, yet his father had looked slightly older and more wizened.
“The talisman, yes, I have it,” Traegon said as he pulled it out of his pouch, and as soon as he did, it disappeared from his hands and reappeared in a blue flash into the hole in the wall on the far side of the room. Both Daegon and Traegon stared in wonder as it seated itself in the hole. It floated in place, illuminated by a magical light as if on display. “It is time to come back to
the battle father, we need you. Naemyn has taken the Great Mother with him and they have left us behind to battle the elves.”
Daegon looked down upon his son and frowned. “I cannot. My place is here. Besides, the battle is already over.”
“But you still have to leave here. I don’t know what has happened to the Great Mother!” he protested clenching his fists like a child moments before throwing a tantrum.
“No son, you don’t understand. I cannot leave, I am no longer who or what I was.”
“Are, are you dead?”
Daegon laughed. “No, not really. In fact, I am very much alive and have been granted eternal life, or at least until certain events transpire, and I am no longer needed.”
“What do you have to do?”
Daegon laughed again and scratched his growing facial hair, that was turning whiter than the usual salt and pepper color Traegon had been accustomed to seeing on his father. “Really, all I have to do is wait. Wait until the prescribed time,” he said.
“So you are a prisoner here?”
“I guess you could say that. Technically yes, I suppose so, but it really is more complicated than that. I am to wait for a few generations to pass, until one of your offspring return to take this talisman away from me.”
“But this is an elven sanctuary. How is it that you are to stay here and help the elves?”
Daegon laughed at his sons predicted response. “Yes, I admit that I am not thrilled about being so close to these elven spirits, and sometimes my human nature wants to kill them. However, I am now enlightened and see life and the workings of this realm from a different aspect. In the short time that I have been here, they have shown me many things. I have seen many things: the big picture of things, if you will. I have seen the future, the past, and have come to see the connection in all things. The elves play a big part in the end of this world as we know it, and your son, grandson, great grandson and so on down the line will each play their role in restoring the realm as it should be, as it once was before the great disruption.”
Quarterstars Awakening Page 29
