The pounding of blood awakened Sergeant Maresh. His head felt ready to explode and he realized he was hanging upside-down. He attempted to move his arms which took considerable effort for they like his head were swollen with blood.
The Sergeant tried to get his bearings. Though his eyes were open, he could not see! After regaining the use of his hands, the Sergeant took stock of his body. Immediately he recognized his nakedness, but was for the most part unwounded. He suddenly felt painfully parched and desperately wanted water.
Reaching outward with both hands, Maresh searched for purchase in order to gain leverage and reach his feet. Long as his bonds were not too tight, he felt he may be able to free himself. When his hand brushed against something smooth and cool, the Sergeant nearly jumped from his skin!
“Calm down old boy! You’ve been in worse messes than this.” His words of self-comfort did little to relieve the growing gut twisting fear as he reached blindly for the object he’d touched. Once more his fingers contacted the surface but this time, he noticed it was soft as well. Very soft. Maresh’s fingertips followed the contours of the object and he realized it wasn’t an object, it was a body... a woman’s body!
Maresh’s hand reflexively jerked back causing his body to swing. His elbow struck another soft form. To the Sergeant’s dread when he reached out, his hand found the hanging body of a man! Frantically feeling about, Sergeant Maresh’s hands found hanging all around him were the bodies of men and women. Some bodies felt quite young, others with the leathery flesh of old age. The fear welling up inside him began to be overwhelmed by the pain he felt in his heels!
Having been stripped of all his possessions, the Pal-hadiin could not employ any of his kit for an attempt to free himself. However, Maresh still possessed the Holy Mark all Pal-hadiin of his rank or higher received. Forcefully bringing his forearms together, Maresh concentrated to surmount the dizziness of hanging upside down and then spoke the words of Osiris’ Prayer;
“Within the black confines of that dread casket, the Lord called
forth the Inner Light and revealed his dire predicament. In the
name of Osirs, I call forth the Inner Light!”
Upon the fading echo of the prayer, the intricately tattooed halves of an Ankh burst into pale green light revealing Maresh’s own dire predicament. Suspended from a heavy length of chain with a barbed hook piercing both ankles, the Sergeant saw dozens of other naked beings hanging in similar fashion! Men, Elves, males, females of all ages gently swayed around him.
Except for the Sergeant, all the other victims appeared to be either unconscious or dead. Even with the power of the Inner Light, Maresh could not make out where the floor was or discern from where the chains were anchored. “Osiris help us! Where in the 12 Hells is this horrid place?”
There suddenly came the sound of rattling chains and Sergeant Maresh could see the many hanging bodies swaying and bumping against each other as something approached. Digging deep to overcome his fear, Maresh concentrated to maintain the Inner Light flowing through the Ankh Tattoo.
The noise of the chains and the thud of bumping bodies grew louder as the disturbance grew closer. It was then he felt his chain jerk and despite the numbness of his legs and feet, Maresh grit his teeth at the growing sensation of pain in his pierced ankles. Something was slowly climbing down the chain towards him!
****
In single file, we stalked the streets of a deserted town. Normally, I wouldn’t be caught living letting a Pal-hadiin take the point during a search. Yet, that fine shield Captain Rhamalla swore held the ‘blessing of Osiris’ being ready to take the brunt of an attack up front met with my approval. I kept my bow ready with two arrows notched and my Cold-Forged Iron short sword slung just below my chest instead of at the waist. This was one of those rare times I had no idea what we were up against.
Beneath our boots crunched the same cracked and burned earth we found at the illusory forest line. Someone or something wanted to keep people out. I was beginning to understand why. All buildings were burned yet intact. Inside every structure we investigated lay scorched furniture, clothing hung from pegs, scrolls and food upon tables sat undisturbed. No surface or item was spared the touch of flames or something very hot.
I’d seen the aftermaths of a dragon attack, raids, city fires, alchemy experiments gone wrong and the effects of magical fire. None of what was left after any of those incidents looked like this. By my best guess, it looked as if all the air in the area burst into flame all at once!
Strangest thing of all, there was not a single body. No ash suggesting any either. We also looked for signs the residents may have stripped down and walked off naked like the travelers and the Pal-hadiin Troops did. But, there wasn’t a single pile of clothes laying anywhere. The only footprints we found were those we were already following from the camps. We ended up in what looked to have been the living room of a well to do family home. Amidst the once fine furnishings and carpets something caught my eye which nightsight could not discern.
“Captain, cover your eyes,” was the warning given as I pulled the glowvial from its pouch. The pale blue light instantly made my sight return to normal as I looked at the master’s table covered in charred scrolls. “You see this Captain?”
The Pal-hadiin drew near as she squinted and replied, “I see a table covered with burned scrolls Master Bounty Hunter. What am I supposed to...” I knew the ‘Pallie’ was sharp, for in mid-sentence she caught the strangest detail of all. “There isn’t a single speck of dust on this table!”
With a wave of my free hand I directed her eyes and backed up her observation. “There is not a speck of dust anywhere! It’s just like it was in the traveler’s camp. No dust, no mold on the food and no water.”
I could see that last bit sink in as the Captain went to the house water cistern. After opening the sealed lid of the heavy ceramic jar, she stated the obvious. “Nothing! Even if this had been sealed for centuries, there would still be water in it. What happened here?”
My hackles shot up and I shoved the glowvial back into the pouch. The Captain was too far for me to grab hold of. I took a large step backwards in the darkness and drew the cloak around me.
“Bounty Hunter! What’s going on? Where are you?”
The Pal-hadiin’s questions fell upon empty air as I stood motionless. That which caused my sudden alarm made itself visible in the form of a bright glowing red light. It passed the windows of the abandoned domicile and I could feel its heat far across the room where I hid. The Pal-hadiin grunted in pain and raised her shield to block the frying rays.
The window rattled and then exploded inward as a bright ball of red energy instantly appeared in the center of the room! It moved so swiftly, glass and bits of window frame were still flying in though the ball was already stock still.
I watched the Captain with shield held before her chanting a prayer and pale green light emanated around it. Waves of heat rippled the air around her as the shield held some of the energy at bay. However, the heat caused a small whirlwind to form behind the Captain and her plainspun green cloak began to smolder!
In another moment, the Pal-hadiin would burst into flames and I had no idea what this damn thing was.... Something caught my eye and my Little Voice screamed at me to fire both arrows! Bursting from cover, I let fly my arrows and reached for the handle of my short sword.
An odd thing happened as the glowing red ball abruptly rose over the two wrought-iron tipped arrows, I heard a squeak of surprise come from it. Freeing my blade, I hurled it towards the ball and as it turned end-over-end, the egg-shaped Cold-forged Iron pommel found the mark! This time, instead of a squeak there was a scream.
“Aaaaahhh! The pain!” The ball crashed through the charred wall with a much heavier than expected impact. I snatched up my blade and burst through the remainder of the wall to finish off our attacker. The razor-sharp short sword came to a heavy stop as its momentum was halted from impact with the floor. There was a blood-curdling scream and the Pal-hadiin rushed in behind me her shield still alight from her prayers.
“What in the name of Elysium?”
Over the Captain’s angry inquiry came the small, but loud voice of our attacker. “Please! Please don’t kill me! Not with that vile weapon! No! Don’t touch me!”
The heat from our attacker rapidly fell and I drew my cloak away from the exposed part of my face. Captain Rhamalla still holding the now fading shield squat down beside me and asked astonished, “Is that...?” Leaning closer to our prone attacker, I answered her unfinished question. “Yep, it’s a Faerie.”
Studying the still glowing mouse-sized creature whose flame-ruby iridescent wings were pinned to the floor by my sword the Captain exclaimed, “That’s impossible! The Faerie were driven off in the Conflict almost seven hundred years ago. They went back to their homeland far to the Westsouth. What in the name of Osiris is this fell creature doing here?”
With a shriek that shook the floor and made the both of us wince, the trapped Faerie exclaimed, “Fell creature? How dare you mortal scum address Titioniel of the Fire Scarab Weirdieth in such a manner! Unhand me foul wielder of the unclean element...!”
The ‘bug’s’ ranting was abruptly cut short as it looked into my eyes now alight with nightsight. It was worth the uncomfortable glare of the Faery’s hot body just to witness the look of abject terror on its face.
Both tiny arms and hands withdrew protectively over its face and Titioniel gasped, “You! You are a son of....”
Before it could finish, I punched the floor next to its head and the Faerie’s body bounced sharply against the splintered surface. “You’re right. I’m a ‘son-of-a-bitch’! Especially, when it comes to dealing with big mouth bug-fuckers.” The much wider eyed and deep grimace on the Bug’s face was clear it knew to keep its damn mouth shut about what I am.
Apparently too amazed by being in the presence of a Faerie, the Captain didn’t seem to catch our little exchange. “Amazing! You managed to subdue the creature! It is difficult to believe so small a thing could have committed such destruction.”
I wasn’t convinced. I’d run into bugs once before and for all their power, they needed other Faerie to do damage on the scale we’d seen so far. “No Captain. This little bug didn’t do all of this. But it knows what did, don’t you bug?”
The Faerie was a creature of pure magic. With so much iron present, it was beginning to lose material form. I could see tiny streamers of red-orange energy being drawn into my sword. The Faerie knew it didn’t have much time.
“N-no Mortal, I did not wreak this havoc upon the land! These past centuries, I have endeavored to slow the destruction.”
Now we were getting somewhere. “All right bug, tell us what’s going on?”
Somewhat emboldened the Faerie replied, “My life essence hangs in the balance Mortal. You of all well know what your weapon is doing to me! What do I get in return for revealing that which you want to learn?”
I couldn’t suppress a toothsome grin as I retorted, “Oh, so it’s a bargain you wish to strike? Ha! All the stories say no good will come from truck with bugs!”
The Faerie’s bright yellow eyes narrowed and shot back, “Our peoples have that in common Mortal. Fair enough. Release me and I will tell you what you need to know.” The Faerie’s gaze darted towards the Captain and it smiled. “Perhaps you two can be of assistance in ridding me... uh, this land of the menace which threatens to consume us all.”
I thought about the deal for a moment. The Faerie are creatures of pure magic and chaos. Only an idiot would trust one for they were known to be notoriously fickle. Hell, they even abandoned their allies the Highborn on the battlefield when shit got thick during the Conflict!
Of course when I really needed to hear from my Little Voice, that fucker was dead silent. I should take the Captain’s suggestion and get fitted for that Jester’s Motley because I was going to do something really foolish.
“All right bug. We have an accord. Keep in mind… people like me don’t take kindly to those who go back on their word....” I drew my weapon from the floor and the Faerie’s wings and within seconds, its glow returned. Rising into the air, Titioniel regained a portion of his regal demeanor though I could tell he’d been severely weakened.
“Well Faerie? The Bounty Hunter held up his end of the bargain. Time for you to give forth!”
At the Captain’s demand, Titioniel’s ruby wing shells spread wide and his flame-ruby wings beat with a growing roar. “I will not ‘tell’ you anything mortal! I shall show you....” A burst of spherical heat engulfed us causing all the remaining furnishings in the long abandoned living room to disintegrate in showers of sparks. Then, all went black!
****
A war-ravaged landscape rapidly spun into view and I stood outside the growing multi-colored fires of a Faerie Ring! Within the layers of concentric circles, squares and triangles were the many floating bodies of the Faerie. Each group within a ring glowed with the same color of flames encircling them. All colors of the rainbow were present down to a single red flame Faerie. I instantly recognized it as Titioniel and surmised he was the leader of the group.
I looked about and saw the Pal-hadiin beside me with her eyes large as chicken eggs in amazement. No living human in the past seven hundred years had ever seen a Faerie and lived to tell!
I was certain both of us were the first to witness a Faerie Ritual in thousands of years. The hot red glow made the real Titioniel’s presence known on my back as he came forward. “Look ye mortals! Witness the power and might of an elder race!”
The bug had my full attention. I’d read some ancient scrolls detailing accounts the Highborn recorded from their dealings with their elder cousins. Reading accounts did not fully describe what I was seeing! Upon Titioniel’s small face, I could see the pain of seeing the past unfold once more.
“T’was a grave time for us Mortal. In what initially was to be an afternoon’s romp for my people, turned into witnessing the unfathomable! Against weapons of Iron and Steel, our fellows fell before our mortal enemies in battle after battle. The concept of Death was long unknown to us. Yet, I held in my arms only to watch die friends and loved ones of uncounted time!
We underestimated your mortal resolve and the madness of our adolescent highborn allies in the face of such bloodshed. Our numbers were never great and we thought our power made this no problem. By the time we grasped this terrible point, more than half our number had been lost! My people were on the verge of extinction at the hands of a bloodthirsty and insatiable mortal enemy.
It was clear, the highborn were not going to prevail and neither would they listen to our calls to withdraw. There were those among us who believed you mortals would not be satisfied with our destruction. They felt with the way your numbers explode, the mortal races would consume the world!”
As Titioniel spoke, I could see rusty barbed iron arrowheads tearing through Faerie and Highborn bodies. Men and women girded in armor of iron and steel were bathed in the milk-white blood of elves as they hacked their way through the streets of their cities, shires and glens. In their wake, flames rose high into the air topped by thick black smoke. The sights of battle gave way to the ritual reaching its climax. Inside the central blazing red circle a black spot appeared.
Right off, something was wrong. A great wave of energy pushed through all the rings buffeting the Faerie about like sparrows in a strong wind! That was not supposed to happen.
“You see it can you not Mortal?”
It was the Captain who beat me to the question as she yelled over the sudden din. “What on Uurrth were you summoning?” There was a long silence from Titioniel as the events played out before us. The circle grew larger and as it did, the Faerie were sucked into what seemed a black void!
Despite his size, the regret in Titioniel’s voice was evident. “It was I who convinced my people to get involved with this madness. So many lives were lost because of my foolishness. The Faerie are an ancient race. We have command over equally ancient powers. As a final solution, we were calling forth an Elder Elemental. Our plan was to unleash it upon the Mortal Armies.”
At the mention of an Elder Elemental I screamed, “You were calling forth a what?” Before I could form my next question the Faerie replied, “That was what we summoned Mortal... but something else came into the world....”
I watched as the ebon hole burst beyond the boundaries of the final ring amidst an explosion of rainbow flames. The bodies of Faerie flew past us like flaming bolts. The survivors flew off in streaks of multi-colored light... all but one.
The remaining Faerie held its ground as the hole in the uurth was suddenly mirrored by an equal sized one in the sky! Blocking out the stars and causing the ground to vibrate like the strings of a Troubadour’s Lyre between the two points, something fell into this world. A gigantic form covered in flame hurtled towards the ground. Shielding my eyes, I heard the Faerie say, “You should cover your eyes Mortal.”
The Bug’s last second instruction was an understatement! Though I could not feel the powerful impact, the brilliance of the light did the impossible and flashed through both my Caterpillar Cloak and my armored arm. For an instant, I clearly saw the translucent bones in my arms dotted by the bronze studs in my bracers!
“It is safe to look now Mortals.” I didn’t feel bad as I also saw the Captain sheepishly peer from behind her shield at the surprising scene.
Amidst the smoldering flash-burned landscape we’d been traveling stood a massive structure made of what looked to be translucent copper! Suddenly, the vision of the structure was gone and then two people burst through the brambles. I could clearly see the lacerated faces of a woman and an elven female as they supported themselves while trudging across the barren nightscape. Haggard and unable to move, the pair fell to the ground at the base of the glowing monolith.
Now free of the smoke and flames covering it, I saw an oval shaped object with two smaller circles within. The monolith was now farther in scale and I could tell its influence had spread for the impact zone was surpassed by burnt and lifeless ground.
The scene faded and we were still in the ruined living room with all unchanged. Titioniel flittered before us and said, “We had no idea what we brought into the world. My people fled back to our lands to prepare for what was to come. I alone stayed to find a way to hold back the Trynaught’s power.”
“Hold it bug? You know what that thing is now?” The Faerie looked me squarely in the eyes as it said, “I know enough. I know that it is the Trynaught. I know that it is a power beyond even my comprehension. I know that it forced its way into this world and has been slowly consuming it.”
This time the Pal-hadiin interrupted. “Consuming the world? Is that even possible?” Extending tiny arms Titioniel retorted, “Look about you Mortal. Within its sphere no life save us exists. Not even the tiniest mote of a creature lives in the air or ground here. In time, the entire world will suffer thus.”
I felt my stomach start to fall away and my Little Voice was rattling around in the back of my mind. I had no choice but to ask the question. “You know how to stop this thing right?”
The mouse-sized head nodded and his body glowed bright with excitement. “I know the Trynaught had the power to destroy the world long ago. But it did not. It is waiting for something or someone. While it waits, it consumes. Three mortal towns were caught in the expansion of its hunger. All within were... absorbed. That is why you have found no one among the ruins.”
Captain Rhamalla interjected by saying, “The people from the caravans, my troops and all those we found the remains of clothing back in the forest, what happened to them?”
All the forlorn looks evaporated as the Faerie smiled wickedly and replied, “Ah, they were taken by the Trynaught’s Agents. You saw the two females did you not? They managed to bargain with it and they bring those they find to be judged by their master.”
An important detail hit me before my Little Voice could chime in. “How long ago did they make this ‘bargain’?” I didn’t like the answer.
“Not more than twenty years before the war’s end!”
Astonished Captain Rhamalla looked to me and marveled, “For over seven hundred years these two have been waylaying travelers through this forest in order to serve them to this Trynaught?”
Floating to her Titioniel snapped, “Yes! For all that time, I have hidden the presence of the enemy with illusions and grown the brambles to ward off inquisitive mortals! Each time the Trynaught receives more lives, its killing influence expands. Yet, you two may be the key to stopping this!”
I knew this was going to be a pain in the ass at the least. On the other side of it, my assignment and many others might still be alive. I hate rescue missions.
“All right bug. Tell us what we’re up against, how we can take those two bitches out and what you get out of all this?” The Captain briefly looked at me with surprised respect and then turned to the Faerie expectantly. The leering smile left Titioniel’s face as I placed a hand on my short sword.
To be continued....
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