I swore I wasn’t going to step into this pool of body fluids and who-knew-what. So the next best thing was to swing out over it using the chains. It was a pretty heartless means, but I consoled myself with the likelihood these people had been hanging here a very long time!
Upon reaching the point of interest, I steadied myself upon the impaled feet of three people I pulled tightly together. After putting the glowvial between my teeth, I then pulled up a length of chain.
Suspended from a single hook were the faintly glowing bodies of more than a dozen Faerie! “That lying motherfucker!” To my astonishment, one of the impaled Bugs opened its eyes! In a tiny voice the Faerie begged, ‘End this….’ Nodding I replied, “Show me how.”
****
The body of the former highborn lay prone in a pool of copper-colored blood and ash as one of the cruel hooks protruded through her neck. The big guy looked none too pleased with my interruption of their ‘making the eight-legged monster.’ As he rushed forward with surprising speed, I saw the Captain lay a heavy swat on the skull of the she-devil!
I barely avoided the grasping hands and arms of the possessed Pal-hadiin and felt them slide over my back as I ducked. Still holding the length of iron chain, I lunged forward and then quickly pivoted behind the Sergeant still in motion. As he attempted to halt his momentum, with a flick of my wrist a looping wave rolled through the chain entangling his legs. Just as he reached the point of stopping, I yanked hard.
“AAAAhhhh! Iron! It burns! It burns!” Tangled in the chain, the Sergeant’s screaming was ear piercing. A quick spin and I found the back of the Pal-hadiin’s head with the heel of my boot. I turned to make sure the she-devil wasn’t coming for me only to turn and see the bright light of the Captain’s shield. That thing was a pain even though I wasn’t a ‘denizen of Hell!’
“YOU KILLED HER!” screeched the she-devil as she cringed under the light of the Pal-hadiin’s faith powered shield.
Dragging the still screaming Sergeant to lie beside his dead elven lover, with spiteful glee I quipped, “No, I didn’t. You can’t ‘kill’ what’s already dead.”
Using her dark wings to protect her from the shield’s light the She-Devil hissed, “You lie human! I just watched you murder her!” The Captain looked at me quizzically as well which made the situation that much more amusing.
“Hey... dumbass! I heard what you told the Captain. You two have been kidnapping people from the roads, emptying entire hamlets and small towns. You’ve taken whole platoons of soldiers human, elven and anything else that crossed your path.
You’ve eaten the livestock and every creature large and small until no life exists here. How long do think it would take a human and a highborn to do something like that? Months? Years? Centuries maybe?”
It was evident I had touched some small part of sanity within the possessed woman’s mind. “Didn’t you notice the many, many abandoned camp sights in the forest and the places where your victims piled their former belongings after they fell under your spell? You and your long dead friend here have been at this for more than seven hundred years. The war you lament ended centuries ago and its combatants both human and highborn are long dead!”
Following my lead the Captain goaded the she-devil by saying, “You hear that Devil? You and your dead friend failed to get revenge for your people hundreds of years ago! Now you are nothing but the pawns of an unuurthly power not even the mighty Faerie could control! You’re a blight upon this land and the innocents who lived here. You and your friend are no different than those who wiped out your people long ago!”
Pulling hard on the chain I dragged the now mewling Sergeant up from the ground and added, “Most of what the Captain just said is true isn’t it… Titioniel?”
At my utterance of the Faerie’s name both Pal-hadiin and the She-Devil simultaneously snapped, “What?”
Chuckling I replied, “Oh yeah! We’ve all been suckered. The Trynaught didn’t force its way into this world by accident. It was summoned by our friend here.”
I could see even the Devil’s shocked expression as I told that which the dying Faerie revealed. “Titioniel and his group of renegades were told to evacuate when the Faerie pulled out of the war. He told them of his last ditch plan to summon a great elemental power to stem the tide of humanity and end the conflict. His fellow Faerie knew with their numbers diminished, they wouldn't be able to control an Elemental of such magnitude. Shitbag here wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.
He convinced the group following him to create the rings needed to summon the great power. Of course just as he was warned, Titioniel couldn’t control the damn thing and he sacrificed his fellow Faerie to save his own skin. Isn’t that right Bug?”
With a hard yank on the chain the Sergeant screamed, “Yes! Yes! The iron! Please take it away!”
Keeping a firm grip I growled, “So after a couple decades of futilely trying to gain control over the monolith’s power, two refugees of the war still raging stumbled upon the land ruined by the arrival of the Trynaught. Tell the nice Devil-Lady what happened next bug!” A sharp kick in the ribs got him talking.
“I-I, realized the Trynaught was nothing like anything my people ever encountered. When the human and highborn showed up looking for you, I-I sacrificed them in the hope of gaining access to its vast power. When the two females drew close to the monolith, its subtle energies killed them outright! Yet, within the Trynaught's sphere of influence nothing can truly die.
It was simple to bring the females back to a semblance of life. Long as they ate the flesh of living creatures from time to time, the pair remained as they had upon their death day.
They became a means to gather more mortals in the hope that if enough sacrifices were made, I could finally master the Trynaught’s vast powers. Always, it wanted more and eventually I realized it was draining the life out of the land itself! To cover up what was happening, I used elemental fire magic to quickly burn everything. If anyone got too curious, I sent the females after them.”
It was the Captain who asked, “Why are all those people hanging in that cave?”
I answered that question. “Storage. Whenever Titioniel runs low on sacrifices, he pulls them from the cave. Since no one can truly die in the presence of the Trynaught, they’ll keep for hundreds of years if need be.”
My little voice screamed as I felt the other end of the chain move. The Captain scrambled to my side as the highborn she-devil stood up and with a sickening sound of ripping flesh, dragged the hook from her neck then dropped it to the ground. Plastered with a mixture of coppery blood and dark ash the highborn-devil roared, “I have heard enough!”
“Yeah, I guess you have highborn! You two didn’t know it was Titioniel who possessed all the lovers you’d taken from your victims. Ha!
The Faerie fucked you out of your deaths, fucked you out of your revenge and has been fucking you by proxy for more than seven hundred years!”
That was one joke too many. Even with the light of the Pal-hadiin’s shield shining strongly, both she-devils were instantly upon me trying to pull the chain and the possessed Sergeant from my grasp.
Unfortunately for them, the dying Faerie gave me one last thing to help put a stop to this ancient fiasco. Drawing my Cold-Forged Iron Short Sword charged with the remaining life-energies of the traitor Titioniel’s victims, I plunged the weapon into the Sergeant’s chest!
All eyes went wide and just as quick, I withdrew the blade with a screaming Titioniel former Prince of Faerie impaled upon it. The combination of Cold-Forged Iron being the perfect anti-magical material and the Faerie life energies burning through it caused a surprising reaction. Titioniel involuntarily flared with the same brilliant red flames the Captain and I saw in the ancient vision!
Around the Trynaught, the ancient Faerie Rings which facilitated its entry into this world centuries past, reignited in all their colorful glory. I yanked the blade from Titioniel’s tiny body and the Faerie exploded into ruby and copper colored flames.
“Captain, grab the Sergeant! We have to go now!”
Surprisingly, despite being a woman the Captain hauled the unconscious Sergeant onto her back and tottered up the slope at best speed. I had already gotten the Lumber Baron’s Son and the South City Bishop’s Niece up to the rim of the crater where my horse Hob waited.
I started to turn and run, but the oddest thing happened. Titioniel rose screaming in a growing fireball which headed for the centermost point above the monolith. No longer under the Faerie's power, all those who stood motionless during the battle fell to ground lifeless.
The two she-devils also free of the Faerie’s thrall smiled at me and said, ‘Thank you.’ After which, they both flared with copper flames then crumbled to bones and dust. With it being past time to un-ass the area, I felt drawn to face the Monolith one last time.
The glowing Faerie Rings began to revolve in alternating circles, squares, triangles and multisided shapes. The strange glyphs within each ring fluttered by with each revolution and then a voice which seemed to be everywhere at once said, “Now that was worth the wait.”
Stunned, I knew it couldn’t be Titioniel. The Faerie trickster now nothing more that a flaming ball high atop the Monolith, his screams had ceased. That left only one entity remaining.
“Well, I’m glad you enjoyed that. Uh... you’re leaving now right?” Beneath my feet, the ground shook hard enough to raise clouds of dust. I could swear my Little Voice told me the thing was ‘laughing’.
“You did quite well solving this puzzle Wolfwalker. Many have tried, all but you have failed.”
Cautiously I replied, “That’s... good to know. How do you know me?” I suddenly had a sharp pain as my Little Voice screamed for me to shut up.
“You should listen to that ‘Little Voice’ of yours more often Wolfwalker. It is far wiser than you can imagine.”
The hair on the back of my neck had packed its things and was ready to leave! Despite my Little Voice’s incessant warnings I had to ask, “Have we met?”
Just as I felt that was the stupidest question for I couldn’t remember the last time I’d met a damn alien monolith it replied, “Yes, we will meet for the first time once more in a time far from now. Until then, survive. And the answer to your next question is; I came here to meet you.”
I was thoroughly confused. From the way the ground was vibrating, it was long past time for me to be somewhere else! Upon reaching the top of the crater rim, I turned to see great black openings form beneath and far above the Trynaught. Within the openings, I could see what could only be the pattern of stars from skies unfamiliar to the ones blanketing the uurth!
One by one in succession, Faerie Rings fell into the growing chasm. Then by some massive unknown force, the Trynaught crushed in upon itself and turned into a shaft of copper light stretching from the uurth to the nighttime sky! The action was so sudden and intense, the ground lurched forward and we were all thrown from our feet!
****
Morning finally arrived. The Captain and I stood facing each other wearing dejected expressions. Both the young man and woman died immediately after the disappearance of the Trynaught. With the powerful departure of the Trynaught, the cavern containing the bug's hundreds of victims collapsed burying all within. To add further salt to the wound, Sergeant Maresh expired as the rays of sunrise fell upon him! We hadn’t saved anyone but ourselves.
My commission was to bring back the Lumber Baron’s son alive. Instead of a fat payday, I would be lucky to receive compensation for my basic expenses. The Captain lost her entire patrol and only had the rapidly putrefying bodies of the Bishop’s Niece and her disgraced Sergeant to show for it.
Captain Rhamalla extended her unarmored hand to me. After a pause, I grasped her wrist near the elbow. Only those who have peered over the precipice of death together and lived to tell ever did so. “You know Captain, we can never tell what truly happened here.”
Dropping her head with a heavy sigh the Captain replied, “Rhamalla. My name is Ramallah. You’re right Bounty Hunter. No one would ever believe such a tale. What will we say then?”
I thought about the Captain’s question for a long moment and then said, “Ramallah, my name is Wolfwalker.” She smiled. I then said, “Tell... the truth. A couple of she-devils waylaid the caravan carrying our assignments. You and your troops encountered them and suffered heavy casualties in the initial attack.
You and brave Sergeant Maresh tracked them to their lair and put them down. Unfortunately, you were too late to save their victims and Sergeant Maresh later fell in action after having been poisoned by both she-devils.”
Nodding Rhamalla replied, “That’s pretty good. Hell, even I’d believe that bullshit story!”
I grinned as I thought, ‘You damn well better, ‘cause that’s what you’re going to tell them.’
We said our good byes after I dropped Rhamalla not far from the nearest Provincial Guard Station near the North-South border. The job wasn’t a complete wash. Before picking up the body, I took a few choice items left behind by the She-Devil’s many victims. As my horse Hob trotted up the long road to the Lumber Camps, some sobering details came to mind.
Just prior to combining their remaining energies, the Faerie warned me those who encountered the Trynaught and survived would not do so for long. The strange energies were lethal to mortals and within a few years, those exposed would suffer a terrible disease which no magic could cure. With my Psaychaelien heritage, those energies would have little effect on me. Rhamalla however, would not be so fortunate.
As compensation for their part in bringing the Trynaught to uurth, the Faerie said they would lend their energies to Titioniel’s spell in order to keep people out of the area. According to them in a number of centuries when the spell dissipated, the land would be fit for life once more. My curiosity would not allow me to let go of what Titioniel and the Trynaught told me.
The Bug was right in that, the Captain and I were exactly the pair needed to stop the fiasco of his making. Why would the Faerie secretly sabotage his effort to control the Trynaught?
Stranger still the Trynaught told me, ‘It had been waiting to meet me and would meet me again for the first time in a time far from now.’ Something about the way the monolith looked was very familiar.
I then remembered the dying Faerie told me to use my short sword to stop Titioniel. At the time, I recognized it as the right thing to do because Cold-Forged Iron is 'Faerie Bane.' But how did they know I even had the thing? I drew the blade forged by my own hand and did not like what I saw.
The Cold Forging process created a unique pattern of swirling and twisting discolorations in the metal. A pattern exactly like that infusing the Trynaught! “Aw shit….”
Hardly The End
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