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Blood from a stone by I learned all
I know about humans from their blood. I read it as it trickles in crimson
rivulets through the fissures of my being. I glean what I can from the
miniscule permutations of the iron and the copper; for they tell all the tales,
record all the stories. And I know
this: I know that man is earth sullied by the other elements. He is rock,
tainted by the whispering lies of air; he is granite weakened by the impurity
of water. Men burst like berries underfoot when my stony pseudopodia smash into
their frail forms. I crush men
because I must. I squash men because I am commanded to. I am bound by ancient
sorcery, enslaved to the will of Tervor, the Ogre. And as men smear my pebbled
skin, their vital juices spattering far and wide, I learn more. I have learned
deception. I have learned to hide my thoughts from this master I serve. I have
learned to nurture a secret. And I have hidden the secret deep within the
catacombs of my being. I have hidden
a man. #
On the fringes
of my prison, where the eldritch runes radiated their agonising border, was a
moat of lava. The heat scorched through me whenever I chose to pass my essence
through the rocks nearby. It took me a few hours to gradually move the hollows
within the mountain to a proximity wherein the transmitted heat would warm him. The air pocket
would sustain him for many days, of that I was certain. But his face was dried
and his lips cracked with want of moisture. Now the heat made this worse and he
moaned in delirium. I foraged
through the stone of the mountain, sliding my spirit through its convoluted
channels. I passed the chambers that Tervor kept his malignant treasures
within, ascended through the seams of granite and haematite, searching for
ingress of water. I located it
near the peak. A large pool had formed in a divot of non-porous rock. I circled
the recess then began remodelling the stone, shaping and moulding it into a
channel. I teased the impervious rock down, deeper and deeper into the
mountain, directing it towards the man.The water dripped into the hollow and
pooled near his face. I shifted the stone within the tiny cave and tilted his
face into the water. He lapped it like a thirsty cat, colour easing back into
his cheeks. The man was
still somnolent; he required something further, something from the air. I could
feel the disgust spidering through my being, like the cracks in my spark-father
those aeons ago. ‘Crikk, attend
me now,’ Tervor’s voice resonated through the mountain. The man would
have to wait; my master commanded my presence. # Tervor was
stood in a vast chamber, its wide ceiling supported by innumerable columns.
Each had been carved to resemble souls writhing in torment. He was garbed in
shadow, his dark blue skin merging seamlessly with oily darkness that fell to
the floor. His smouldering eyes regarded me as I moulded the rock into a
humanoid form. It was how the master preferred to address me. ‘Crikk, you
are tardy this night.’ ‘My apologies,
master, I was dormant deep within the roots of the mountain.’ ‘Indeed? The
intrusion earlier was disturbingly close to this chamber.’ I could feel a
swirl of unease arising in my granite chest. ‘I can not be
held responsible for the failure of Argyx and...the wind spirit.’ Tervor sneered
at me, the serpentine slits of his nose flaring. ‘You can not even bear to say
her name? Argyx has been dealt with already, he screamed exquisitely for a fire
elemental. But Urryst? No, I could find no fault in her protection of my
domain.’ ‘She mutters
her lies on the breeze, master...I...’ A searing
agony tore through my spirit, as if every particle of my existence were being
torn asunder at the same moment. I could not measure its duration; perhaps the
clatter of a pebble, perhaps the erosion of a monolith, I could not tell. Tervor’s
whisper was in my mind. ‘You hope to trick me, don’t you? By allowing the
humans into my sanctum, by guiding them to the source of their pain.’ I moaned my
reply. ‘Master, it is not true...my loyalty...’ ‘...is based
on fear and through that respect. The runes hold you bound for eternity, should
I choose and your service...will never end. What if you had not sensed my
return, eh, Crikk? Would have you let them pass?’ ‘Master,
no...’ More pain
washed through me, tiny channels of torture. My thoughts drifted, in the cloud
of suffering, to the waterfalls of blood that had run through me but an hour
earlier—and it gave me strength. ‘I am sorry,
master. I exist only to serve.’ Tervor’s laugh
was terrible. ‘You exist to guard, you stupid elemental. Generations of misery
have been visited upon the city of mankind. They will pay evermore for the
deeds of their forefathers and their driving of my brethren from this isle. Now
be gone, I wish to indulge the fifth element alone.’ I allowed the
statue I had created to crumble but I remained seeping through the rocks as
Tervor strode through his treasures. His element, that of darkness, clung to
him like a needy child. He moved through the crystal skulls and the silver
chalices until he reached the Pestilence Brazier. Words of thick malignancy
oozed from his blue lips. The air in the chamber was dense with sorcery. I left then,
flowing through the fissures and the cracks of the mountain, pushing upwards.
My mind was a maelstrom, a storm and with that comparison I could sense my
disdain of the air above my surface arising within me. # The eagle had
only an instant to protest before I sucked it into the surface of the mountain.
It lived only a short minute before my grip asphyxiated it; its transition was
swift. The storm
slammed against my surface, the violence of the gust splintering boulders from
my exterior, sending them hurtling into the rain. It was a scratch compared to
Tervor’s torture. ‘Crikk, she is
not yours to take,’ Urryst wailed. ‘She was born
in the peaks that claw away your poison, wind-child. All living things are
primarily of the earth.’ ‘Such
arrogance,’ Urryst said. ‘Has Tervor being tormenting you again? Or do you hold
onto prejudices long since faded?’ Anger rumbled
within me; a tremor rippled through the mountainside. ‘They are an
old hatred, wind-child. I watched as your kin destroyed my spark-father;
watched as their gales eroded his being until he was nought but rubble.’ ‘It was a war
long past, Urryst. Are we not now united in our servitude, our incarceration?’ ‘We shall
never be united. My hatred is too fierce.’ Urryst’s
laughter was like the wind rustling through the long grasses of the meadow. ‘You cannot
hate when you have never known love, Crikk. You sicken me, with your weakness.
Tervor holds you only partly in thrall with his runes. You shall never be free
until you cast off the shackles of fear and selfishness, until you think beyond
your own misery.’ I roared my
fury at this insolent air-sprite but she weaved away into the breeze, her words
an echo in my canyons. # The man ripped
the flesh from the eagle, gulping down the bloodied strips with mouthfuls of
water. He would hesitate every so often, to gag and retch, but I took this as a
marker of strength. Once he had
eaten his fill he lay there in the pitch-blackness. His breaths came in little
gasps, pathetic, weak, like a little animal. How could this creature assist me,
I asked myself? ‘Can you
converse, man?’ He jumped,
like he had been touched by the lava of Argyx, the fire-child. ‘Spirits of my
ancestors, who’s there?’ ‘I...I did not
intend to startle, man. Be still.’ ‘What are you,
your voice...?’ ‘It is the
grinding of the rocks, seeking to emulate your fashioning of the wind in your
throat, though I may converse with the mind-speech if you prefer.’ The man looked
around the cave, though there was no glimmer in which to see. ‘You are
part...of the rock?’ ‘I am.’ ‘An
earth-spirit?’ ‘Indeed. I am
a Duke of the Sandstone Steppes, brood of the Earth-mother, Nolir. The master
calls me Crikk.’ ‘Then you serve
the ogre, the sorcerer Tervor? It was you who killed my allies.’ I could sense
his anger; it burned so brightly, with such passion. ‘I sped their transition.
Their forms are one with the earth now.’ ‘Damn you,
they were good men, good souls, trying to end this evil your master brings upon
us.’ I had no
answer for him. Their transitions were necessary, lest Tervor become
suspicious. ‘Why am I
alive? Are you toying with me?’ ‘We will talk
on it more, later. First you must regain your strength, man.’ 'Er-Jan, my
name is Er-Jan.’ I did not
reply. I had to secure more sustenance for this Er-Jan, without raising the
suspicions of Urryst further. # For a week I
foraged for living matter for Er-Jan. It was soon apparent to me that not all
creatures with sparks were to his taste. It was a subtlety I had missed from my
readings of the blood. His dismay was
evident when I brought a writhing mass of earth worms from the humus of my
slopes. It was doubled when I gathered three dozen beetles from the same
locale. Birds were his favourite, but each one I seized brought more
confrontation with Urryst and I dreaded Tervor’s discovery of my scheme. Er-Jan was a
stripling of a man and I found it increasingly intriguing as to why he would
stride into certain death within the ogre’s sanctum. One night, as he ate a
sparrow, I addressed the subject. ‘It is because
I name myself Oath-breaker.’ ‘You have two
names, Er-Jan, is that not a privilege?’ ‘Perhaps in
the endless caverns of the lime-nomads, but in my city it is a mark of shame.
It denotes one who has not gained balance within his soul, one who is sheared
by conflict.’ ‘Why
Oath-breaker?’ ‘I swore on my
honour, upon my father’s death-bed, that I should protect my family when he had
departed for the table of my ancestors. I had two sisters, twins as precious as
a golden rose and as fair as the jasmine that grew once in the squares of my
city.’ I slowed my
passage around the cave in which the boy sat. An odd sensation flickered within
me. ‘And I was
true to my oath. Each day I would escort them to their school, in the upper
city of ‘A month ago I
was engaged in a delivery in the upper city when I met a woman. She was
beautiful beyond my mediocre ability to describe. I walked with her as the sun
cast its longest shadows on the walls of the city and in my indulgence I forgot
to collect my sisters.’ ‘What happened
to them?’ ‘Tervor came
that sunset, for it was the eve of the red moon, the moon of blood. He demanded
his brides, the twenty maidens chosen to be given to him. ‘Two of the
maidens were daughters of a merchant, As’Rgar, Jitun of the outer district. His
men swapped the daughters for my sisters, exploiting my absence. I became aware
of this terrible deed only as I saw the twenty lifted over the city walls and
taken to the mountain--his mountain--this mountain.’ The cavern was
silent after Er-Jan’s tale. I saw water leaking down his face, tumbling onto my
exterior. ‘Why does your
city give these women to Tervor?’ I asked. ‘He holds a
terrible curse over us,’ Er-Jan said. ‘Once, twenty years ago, the Jitun of the
city vowed he would no longer sacrifice his people to this sorcerer. Three days
later a terrible plague was inflicted upon the city. The suffering was
indescribable. Tervor demanded two score maidens that season and the Jitun’s
head.’ 'And the liege
of this land--why does he not challenge Tervor?' Er-Jan rubbed
his face with weary despair. 'The king--the Isjitun--has always cared little
for the cities of the west coast of Shorvor. Now he is in thrall to the might
of the Artorian Empire. Our once proud isle is but a cog in the grinding
war-machine of Artoria.' ‘And, knowing
your Isjitun's indifference, you come seeking vengeance?’ ‘I sought to
end this evil with my compatriots, the finest warriors of Kalun-Be, though my
enthusiasm outweighed my skill. I sought to destroy the Pestilence Brazier.’
Over the
following week I restored Er-Jan to health. I hid him in the roots of the
mountain, far away from the peripheries of Tervor’s awareness. Once Er-Jan had
regained his vigour I commenced further preparation for his task. Within the
limestone caverns, far under the surface, I had discovered a narrow chasm with
the added benefit of illuminated lichen. It took little effort on my part to
alter the width of the chasm gradually to exercise Er-Jan’s muscles and nurture
his capacity to leap the distances I required. On the sixth
day Er-Jan was unusually silent. I found humans far more intricate than I
suspected; more intricate than their blood would lead me to believe. ‘Why do we
skulk in the caves, Crikk? We could practice my jumps far better on the
surface, where the air is fresh and enhanced by the scents of spring.’ ‘You fantasise
again about your city. Remove it from your mind, it distracts from our purpose.
It is not safe in the open.’ ‘But why?’ ‘Air can not
be trusted. She is duplicitous. It is in the nature of her kind.’ Er-Jan stared
down at the darkness of the crevice. ‘It is the
first time I have heard emotion in your voice,’ he said. ‘It rumbles with
hate.’ ‘They are the
enemy of my kind, though our wars are long since finished. They slew my
spark-father.’ ‘If you know
of hate, then you must know of love.’ I could feel
the irritation arising in my stones. ‘We have not the time for this nonsense. I
saved you for a task and...’ Er-Jan stepped
off the precipice and plummeted into the darkness. I moved with
the speed of a landslide, surging down through the rock face of the crevice. If
I simply thrust a plateau out under the man then he would explode like a
raindrop. Every iota of my being strained to speed below him and then I pushed
the rock out into a gentle slope. He struck the
rock with a meaty jolt and scraped down the slope. I pushed the incline
progressively more horizontal until he tumbled to a halt. Er-Jan was
laughing. Fury more
suited to the Magma Lords of the Lava Planes engulfed me. I thrust a column of
rock under Er-Jan and brought him the hundreds of feet up the crevice to the
brink. ‘You mock me,
mortal,’ I rumbled. ‘I wished to
see how much I matter to your scheme,’ he said. ‘Do not try my
patience, Er-Jan. I can locate another.’ ‘In which
case, you must be starting to care for me--to save me thus.’ Huge fissures
snaked up the wall of the cavern, such was my anger. The insolence of this
mortal was staggering, to attribute me with such human failings. ‘Foolish man.
Do you think me some benign sprite, invoked in a glamour by an amateur
sorcerer? I am a Duke of the Sandstone Steppes, a noble of the elemental
plains. Your life is but a flicker of a flame, a flash in the vast void of
time. I am nigh on eternal, boy—I will persist when all mankind is but dust on
the breeze.’ ‘Yet you are
trapped in here with me, held in thrall by evil made flesh. I burn briefly, but
I burn brightly, Crikk.’ My rage was
distilling through the cold seams of the mountain. The man was correct; I
needed him. ‘And so I help
you for a price, Crikk. I will help you escape if you assist me in ending the
pestilence of Tervor.’
I brought
Er-Jan towards the surface once I was content that Tervor was absent from his
sanctum. The corridors and chambers were lit by sputtering torch flames and it
took Er-Jan many minutes to become accustomed to the glare. I slid along
the smooth carved walls of the corridors, vigilant for the return of Tervor.
Er-Jan ran along by my side. His strength had improved vastly and I felt a
strange sense of pride at my achievement. I had little
opportunity, as a result, to avoid the power of the runes around the inner
sanctum. I struck the ethereal barrier at full speed and waves of torment
pulsed through my essence. Er-Jan had
halted, sensing my pain. ‘Crikk, why are you stopping? Is that not the sanctum
where the ogre stores his vile devices?’ It took a
minute for me to recover enough to reply. ‘You are
correct. He has become wary. The room is inscribed with runes of power
preventing my passage.’ ‘Then I shall
go.’ ‘Halt!’ I
cried. ‘Tervor is no fool. He has bound a guardian of shadow within the
sanctum. For me it would have proven a mediocre challenge. But to you...?’
‘It will
require a weapon of silver to wound a shadow creature.’ Er-Jan rubbed
his face. ‘I have only a slingshot on my belt. My sword was destroyed when
you...killed my companions.' Weariness was
infiltrating my stones. ‘Then you must leave the brazier and flee with me now.’ ‘I can not. It
is all I can do to restore my name, restore my honour.’ ‘By the gods!
Your stubbornness is worthy of granite,’ I said. ‘Your sisters are dead,
Er-Jan. Why still do you care? Why do these words you have said matter so? They
are sounds stolen by the wind.’ ‘For the same
reason you continue your hatred of the air spirits. You were robbed of your
father in the same way as I was my sisters. Some things are worth more than
your life—honour is one, friendship and love are others.’ ‘Crikk, attend
me.’ Tervor’s voice
rippled through the mountain. Er-Jan and I were united in a moment of utter
panic. I stretched out my consciousness at the same time as propelling Er-Jan
down through the rock within an air pocket. I located Tervor out on the plateau
bordering the moat of lava. There was another presence there with him. I sped towards
my master, suppressing my fear lest he recognise its taste.
Tervor was
stood on the rocks, Urryst swirling around him. On the one of the columns that
acted as stepping stones across the lava was stood a man in armour. He carried
a slender spear and had a sword strapped to his back. I could see the runes
which marked my prison etched on the surface of the stepping stones. ‘You are tired
of waiting for death, I see,’ Tervor said. ‘A death in
bed is no for ending for a hârdan, sorcerer. Nor a death of disease
precipitated by your evil tools,’ the hârdan replied. Tervor
sneered, manipulating the magic in the air around him. He compelled me to arise
before him and I did not resist. It would not do to raise suspicion at this
time. ‘Then I shall
endeavour to be creative in your demise, before I return to punish your city
for its affront.’ The hârdan
moved like lightning. The spear hurtled from his hand and straight towards
Tervor. I rose from the ground at the same instant Urryst gusted down. We
clashed with a crackle of energy. The spear
passed through the confusion. It struck
Tervor in the shoulder, spraying black blood across the rocks behind him. A
mixture of fear and hope swirled within me. Why had Urryst collided with me? The hârdan
leapt from the final rock column and onto the plateau. Tervor roared in anger
and black sorcery poured from his arms. It struck the hârdan square in the
chest, as he ran forwards with his sword drawn. His flesh hissed and smoked and
he crumpled in agony, his sword clattering on my surface. The sword was
magnate—god-silver—alloyed with steel. It was the weapon Er-Jan needed. Tervor
advanced on his writhing foe and then plunged his hand through the hârdan’s
breastplate. A rain of blood pattered around him as he tore the heart out.
Disgust was written across his face. I could see
Tervor’s fury steaming from him. He lifted the corpse off the crimson rocks and
tossed him into the lava. I reached out surreptitiously for the magnate sword,
letting my rocky grasp close over its length. ‘Crikk, throw
that weapon into the fire too. Then tell me what you have plotted.’ I froze in
horror. How could he have known? ‘Master, I...’ ‘The sword.
Then the explanation.’ I watched as
the shimmering blade sank into the lava with a hiss. I re-formed a body shape
from the rocks. ‘Why did you
allow my wounding? Are you plotting my death?’ Tervor said. His voice was as
cold as a tomb. I emptied my
mind of all traces of Er-Jan as I faced him. His willpower was ferocious. ‘Master, it
was my fault,’ Urryst said. We both
regarded her with astonishment. ‘I sought to
protect you as eagerly as Crikk. We both exist to serve you, yet I have
become...jealous of his favour in your heart.’ Tervor’s laugh
was shrill and terrible. ‘You are like idiotic pets. To think your kind
dominated this world before the gods created ogres and man. Pitiful.’ I slunk back
into the expanse of rock within the mountain. What had possessed Urryst to lie
in that way? Whatever reason, it had repelled Tervor’s suspicions for a while
longer. But my fortune could not last.
‘We have no
weapon, Er-Jan. It is suicide. Your transition will be futile.’ Er-Jan stared
at the gloom of the sanctum. Tervor had healed his wound and departed for
Kelun-Be, vengeance dripping from his heart. This was our chance.
‘But only
silver, whether man-silver or god-silver, can slay the creatures of shadow.’ Er-Jan
shrugged. ‘And you are all out of coins?’ I had never
understood this human trait of humour and so did not reply. A spark of a notion
ignited within me, however. I reached deep into the roots of the mountain,
probing and exploring, looking for a unique tang. I found it. I dragged what
fragments of silver there were from the bowels of the rock. I focused my will
and condensed the metal into three dense spheres and then spat them out at
Er-Jan’s feet. ‘Go carefully,
I can not aid you,’ I said. ‘Walk past the Coffer of Sighs and the Phials of
Lover’s Tears and you will see the Brazier. It is small but exudes black
sorcery. Take care.’ ‘You are
sounding like you care, Crikk.’ I rumbled my
irritation at his tardiness. Er-Jan smiled at me then stepped into the chamber. I could see
his progress through the doorway, though the shimmer of the runes’ magic made
it indistinct at times. He weaved cautiously through the dark treasures. A cold
dagger of apprehension was thrusting within me. The shadow
serpent came at him from the side. He rolled across the floor as its jaws
decimated a shelf of potions. Thick purple smoke belched into the air. Er-Jan
came to his feet and hurled a silver sphere at the serpent. The glittering
missile missed and clattered away into the corner. The
serpent lunged again. Er-Jan kicked a small chest into its jaws and the
enchanted wood splintered like glass. He turned and ran between two broad
tables, the serpent in pursuit. Er-Jan leapt onto a table and his second silver
missile hissed from his slingshot. It struck home
and the serpent screeched in agony, black smoke cascading from the wound.
Er-Jan loaded the final sphere in a blur and slung it with all his might into
the shadow serpent’s head. The creature
jerked back with the impact and then crashed to the floor, dead. I roared in
delight, sending pots crashing to the floor in the sanctum. It was time
for our escape.
Er-Jan
preceded me onto the plateau at the base of the mountain that ran to the moat
of lava. Even from a distance I could see the heat was unpleasant for Er-Jan.
If Tervor returned then the unpleasantness would magnify considerably. ‘Where is the
rune I need to carry you past?’ I formed a
torso and head from the granite. ‘It is on the second column of rock that juts
from the lava. Even if I could pass through the fiery rock, and I am unsure
whether Argyx, the fire elemental, would permit it, I can not pass my essence
through the ward.’ ‘But if I take
you?’ ‘Then I can
escape. We must hurry. Tervor has a habit of returning unexpectedly and our
luck dwindles like sand through the hourglass. If he returns whilst I am
reduced then I can not help you.’ Er-Jan nodded
and advanced to the edge of the plateau. It was a good jump to the first column
and would not be helped by his carrying the brazier. He turned and gestured to
me. I focused
every corner of my willpower into my task. I drew all the fronds of my
consciousness, of my vast form, in together and then I squeezed. I constricted;
I shrunk; I condensed; I folded in on myself an impossible number of times and
then some more. It was liquid agony. All that I was
I reduced into the density of a diamond, pure and ordered and regular in its
beautiful lattice. I felt terror at the claustrophobia, an intense longing
arising in me to stretch out my essence into the expanse of the mountain again.
Yet I resisted, for I knew it to be my only hope of escape. Er-Jan scooped
me in his hand and slid me into his pocket. I retained some awareness of the
environment around me but it felt muted, strangely distant. ‘Crikk, what are you doing?’ Urryst’s voice
swooped around Er-Jan as he neared the edge of the plateau. ‘Escaping,
wind-child, fleeing the tyranny of the ogre. If you try to stop...’ ‘Why would I
do that? I despise him as much as you. Go swiftly, Crikk, before he returns.’ I felt a
lifting sensation as Er-Jan leapt to the first column. His boots scraped on the
moist stone. The fires of Argyx flared in the lava below. ‘The leap is
greater to the next column, Er-Jan. Do not lose your focus.’ ‘Oh, I am
focused beyond all comprehension, Crikk,’ Er-Jan said. He fidgeted with the
Brazier, trying not to look down at certain death. The moment
seemed drawn out in time, thin and insubstantial. Er-Jan ran at the edge and
leapt. I had the sense of the lava bubbling below us and then felt a jolt as he
struck the column. The Brazier clattered on to the column before him, allowing
Er-Jan to use both hands to scrabble for a grip on the stone. Fear penetrated
my perpetual pain within the confines of my minute being. Er-Jan
scrambled on to the flat top of the column. The raw power of the rune etched
onto the stone seeped through the pouch and into me. My scream was silent yet
resonated through the chasms and fissures of the mountain. ‘Crikk!’ Urryst’s
warning echoed across the lava. On the plateau we had just left shadows swirled
then coalesced into Tervor’s dark form. I could feel
his willpower rolling out like the waves of the ocean towards me. His dominance
over we three elementals was total. My prior fortitude dispersed like rust in
the wind. ‘Crikk, come
back here. Urryst, flay the flesh from the human before he ruins my treasure.’ The wind
screamed around us as Urryst strived to resist Tervor’s command. I felt the
heat of the rune’s sorcery engulf me and I tumbled to the surface of the
column. I could not resist this close to the rune; I needed to be back on the
plateau to challenge Tervor’s power. ‘Crikk, what
are you doing? We have one last jump and then you’re free,’ Er-Jan screamed
above the gale. ‘Take the
Brazier away from him. Save your kin. Restore your honour. Go now, Er-Jan—let
one of us be free.’ ‘No, I...’ ‘Go, burn
brightly and fiercely,’ I said, agony wracking my tiny body. ‘Cast me back onto
the plateau, so I may strive against my....master.’ Water leaked
down Er-Jan’s cheeks. He scooped me in one hand. On the plateau darkness surged
from Tervor towards Er-Jan. All was lost.
Er-Jan hooked
his boot under the Brazier and kicked it into the path of the dark sorcery
cascading towards us. The oily magic struck the enchanted metal and an
explosion ripped across the plateau, throwing Tervor back. Huge cracks
ripped down the shaft of the column. Er-Jan tottered on the precipice. The lava
belched smoke towards us; the thick spiral twisted in the writhing winds of
Urryst. Tervor
staggered to his feet, his flat blue face contorted in hatred. I felt Er-Jan
place me in the slingshot and hurl me through the air towards Tervor. I arced
through the smoke and wind. An abrupt realisation came upon me: the throw was
too weak, I would not strike Tervor. Ethereal
fingers grasped my glittering body. Urryst took hold and poured every fragment
of power she had into my flight. Tervor’s eyes widened in horror. I struck his
forehead and continued through his brain and out of the rear of his skull. I
skittered across the plateau, wet with his blood and bone. Tervor flailed
around and then keeled forward, dead. A wave of dark magic rippled from his
corpse, blasting out across the plateau and lava moat. The columns shattered in
a cloud of rocks and I saw Er-Jan flip in the air and tumble towards the lava. I could not
hope to move from my tiny form into the rock of the mountain in time. I watched
helplessly as he plummeted. Sickness overcame me as I remembered the transition
of my spark-father those aeons ago. It was the sickness of sorrow, the grip of
loss, the ache of love. Er-Jan thumped
against the hard magma of the moat. His cry of pain transformed into a yell of
relief as he realised he lived. The flaming ‘You have
earned gratitude beyond comprehension, human,’ Argyx said. ‘As have you, Crikk.
Your plan was ambitious.’ ‘And bolstered
by fortune,’ Urryst said, as she diminished her form to a small dust-devil. ‘And your aid.
You have my thanks, Urryst, and my apologies. Perhaps if I had learned to
abandon my prejudice we would have combined our powers and escaped Tervor’s
hold sooner.’ We watched
Er-Jan clamber from the magma moat. ‘The human is
the distillation of all four elements,’ I said. ‘I thought him the weaker for
it--now I see I was wrong.' ‘And how did
you learn of the humans and their prowess?’ Urryst asked. ‘I had
considered I knew all from their blood, wind-child. But the sounds, the words
that they say, the oaths that they speak--they carry the true power.’ And Urryst’s
laughter was like the breeze through the leaves of autumn. Read more stories by this author 2012-01-02 09:48:36 Loved this story - reminds me of the arabian knights. strong sotry, engaging characters, well crafted 2011-12-01 07:16:55 Excellent! Loved it. 2011-12-01 06:14:11 Well-written and riveting! Thanks. ![]() | Home | Editorial | Submissions | News | ![]() |
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