Shards of etha, p.13
Shards of Etha, page 13
part #8 of Stormborn Series
“Well, I had forgotten about it, to be honest!”
Evurn had set his own staff against the railing as he examined this white staff of twisted bone. “Surprisingly, it is well made. The bones are a mix of animal and elf, from what I can tell. There might even be a few embedded shark teeth, or perhaps that is a baby sea monster of some kind. It is difficult to be sure.”
The longer Evurn held the staff, the more a strange aura began to surround the staff itself.
“The necromantic energy is dormant but still quite potent.”
Valrin glanced to Evurn and back to the seas ahead. “Are you sure you should have such a device at all? Could it not be bad luck?"
“Now I know you’re a sea captain, but you don’t have to start talking about bad luck aboard the ship. No, the staff may have been used for evil dealings, but that does not make the staff inherently evil. It only knows the magic it was blessed with.” He paused for a moment, running his fingers over the runes. “Or cursed.”
He took his own staff back in hand and set both down beside him. The aura upon the necromancer’s staff darkened.
“Do you plan to use both staves in our challenges ahead?”
“I do. I never studied death magic to any degree beyond basic familiarity. This staff may be of use to us.”
“Because it is a necromancer’s staff?”
Evurn nodded. “Staves that are carved and then made to focus certain types of magic will allow those not familiar with advanced spells to cast some basic necromantic spells. Dispel is a common one. Many magics will just annoy spirits, but necromantic dispel spells will turn them away. This staff in particular should be of use for that.”
“What of your staff? You cast many spells, earth magic but also the other ones.”
“Blood magic?”
“Well, I guess that is what you call it. I was more referencing the elemental spells.”
“Any staff can do basic elemental spells, but if you’re asking if I have focused my own staff, yes. Blood magic is an inherent shadow elf magic. Though I never used it for offense before I put my blades down, it is a fail-safe. Considering it weakens me to such a degree, I only use it when I have no other choice and the situation is dire. But I didn’t realize I had used it before you, Stormborn.”
“I don’t think you have, but I have never heard of that as you describe it, so if I did, I didn’t know.”
The Aela Sunrise began to rise higher in the water as a storm blew in behind them. The winds shifted, and to keep up their pace, Valrin used the ship’s energies.
Evurn stood silent next to Valrin for some time. He was solemn, staring out across the vast sea. Valrin looked down at the shadow elf’s long fingers tapping the wood of the ship, and while he was silent, his face spoke much. His eyes were sunken in, and there was little color in his face.
“You’re tired,” Valrin said. “Go get some rest.”
Evurn sighed. “I will rest when I have reached Aeveam. In my homeland, we have words for certain acts of extreme sacrifice. My entire culture holds individual actions regard over any acts as a group. Further truth that one’s own actions have the greatest effect on the turning of the pages of life; I must not rest while one of my own is in such dire circumstance. I have not slept save when I was captured, and sleeping then was not for rest but because of poison. Do not worry of me, Captain,” he said with a grin. “It will take much more than sleepless nights to truly weaken me.”
It was clear to Valrin that Evurn had made up his mind on the matter, and it wasn’t long before the ship began to shift across increasingly larger waves.
Soon, Braei and Elera emerged. Elera’s orb was glowing.
“Is it hatching?” Valrin asked.
“No, still growing,” the dragon rider said. “It will still be some time. But when it is time for my dragon to emerge, we will all know! The sound the orb will make is truly unnerving if you do not expect it!"
“No chance of your little friend emerging in time to help us get these shards?” Braei asked.
“No, unless it will be a day or two longer to get there. Though, her emergence time is not set. In some situations, she could come sooner, but I’d prefer her to come as she wishes.”
“We will be at Aieclo by nightfall,” Valrin said. “Though, the area we go is not one we have been to before, and we must hope the Scourge Siren does not sense us.”
“We have Aeveam on our side,” Evurn said. “If she is continuously fighting off what is consuming her, we can likely move unseen upon Aieclo for a time. The deeper concern is the remaining two shards. Considering your tasks in getting just the one, I suspect this will be no easy feat.”
“Ready for another monster, Evurn?”
“Child, I wasn’t ready for any monster I’ve ever faced, but I’ll deal with it. Why don’t I go get the one from the spring and you three can go deal with the one in the bones of the creature?”
“Do you really think it is still a spring?” Valrin teased.
“Well, no. Considering that entire ruin of a city err . . . island, is a smoldering pot of fire and ash, I do not. Still seems less likely to have a monster than the shard in the bone.”
“Could the goddess not just tell us what to expect? Prepare us?” Elera asked.
“You don’t know the gods of the North, do you?” Evurn laughed. “They entertain themselves with our misery.”
While Valrin wasn’t completely in agreeance with the shadow elf, he didn’t mind that Braei had been busy preparing a bit of tea. He handed the wheel over to Evurn and joined her near the device Eliue had placed on the ship.
“Sleep well?” he asked her.
“Yes, I did, and then the rolling of the ship in this growing storm woke me, but the seas have calmed since I woke up."
Valrin sipped the tea and looked up at the sky. “I think Aieclo is influencing the weather somehow. The dark clouds we’re coming into are not of the same that were above us from the storm. I was hoping to convince Evurn to sleep. He needs it.”
Braei put her arm around him. “You know, you need to rest, too. Evurn will do what he does, but you haven't slept since . . .”
“A long time.” He smiled. “Perhaps when we have Aeveam back, I wouldn’t mind heading back north for a time, back to Corson. We can spend a few nights resting at the old harbor. We didn’t stay very long after I woke up initially, but I wouldn’t mind just resting for a bit there. Just spending time to enjoy one another versus our constant toils back and forth across the ocean.”
Braei embraced him. "That would be nice. Then we can go hunt down some Dwarven pirates! You know we can’t just kick back for too long!” she teased him, and he laughed.
“Once the crew is back together, I think we deserve a small break.” He touched the Dwemhar device before them. “I wonder how Ordak is.”
"Considering he was afraid of flight, perhaps unconscious?”
They both laughed.
A streak of red lightning shot out across the black clouds above them.
“Getting close to Aieclo,” Evurn shouted.
The wind had kicked up, and the waters were starting to crest in rolling waves.
Valrin handed his cup to Braei. “I’ll take over the wheel.”
Aieclo loomed before them. While the island had been foreboding on their original approach when they were first searching out the Verit Gamblers, this time, the sick turning in their stomachs was nothing but an unnerving, near-terrifying reaction. The island had many bright stacks of lava flowing out in the mountains. Ash was thick, rolling across the ocean, and still, high above the island, there was the bright glowing light where Aeveam was suspended in a crooked towering crag of stone.
Drawing around the eastern edge of the island, Valrin checked the map, ensuring they did not go too far around the northern cusp of the island. He could see towering dead trees still sticking up like skeletal towers, a reminder of the life that was once there. He imagined that they must have been grand back when Aieclo was a city, a garden of life, in its time.
The contrasts between the terror of the weapon Aieclo hid within its core and the bastion of hope it must have represented for the Dwemhar race was stark. Now, it was a hellish reminder of the dark evil of the world. The entire crew shuddered as a screech shot across the bow. Explosions of white popped in the sky above Aieclo, and the dark winged spirit of the Scourge Siren struck the area where Aeveam was.
"Our wayward friend still resists,” Evurn said.
“Aeveam,” Elera said. "She is quite a powerful member of the crew?”
“Very,” Braei said.
“She is still within the prism, as we saw,” Evurn said. “Her energies resist the darkness. The teachings of her home at the Temple of Swia have come to purpose. Perhaps this will give us enough time.”
Valrin noticed that the pointed crags that made up most of the island were beginning to soften, and as they came around the edge of the island and neared the region of the High Fells of Etha’s Rage on the map, the coastline was that of dark sand and the waters were not nearly as rough.
He turned them south, moving into a bleak coastline and smoothed rock that went as far as he could see across the island.
“I see no shallow port here or place to dock the ship. We’ll put anchor here."
Braei looked over the edge and focused her magic, sending a stream of ice spells across the ocean, creating a large pathway of ice. Evurn joined her, building up a causeway of ice wrapped with vines that led to the shoreline.
“You’ve done this before?” Elera asked.
Valrin secured his sword at his waist and handed Elera hers. He also had his Dwemhar saber he had gotten before.
“Assault an island of dread searching for two shards of a goddess to free a sword capable of killing a dark siren’s soul? Or do you mean making a bridge? We’ve done one of these before. I’ll let you take a guess.”
Elera laughed. “Fair answer.”
The causeway to the cursed slice of paradise was complete.
Rasi jumped from Evurn. The serpent slithered to the helm of the ship.
“Not going?” Valrin asked.
“I figured Rasi could stay here,” Evurn said. “I’d rather we have someone of regard keep the ship well for us. Rasi can keep the turtles company.”
Valrin led the way, navigating over the ice and vines that was surprisingly well made. As he reached the sand of the beach, he turned back, watching the others make their way to the shore.
“You know, Evurn and Braei, if it doesn't work out on the Aela Sunrise, I think you two might could find work making arcane bridges. I mean, it works out that you're so good at this.”
“You’re not getting rid of me that easy,” Braei teased, punching his arm. “You're stuck with me.”
As Evurn slammed his staff on the bridge, being the last person across, the bridge shattered. “I might be interested. At least there would be no monsters.”
Valrin trudged through the sand, smiling at Evurn's comment and knowing that like Braei, he would rather die than leave the crew. He was okay with keeping his companions close. He hated that they were back on this island, but glancing to the tower of rock in the distance and seeing Aeveam, in whatever form she was in, still fighting everything coming against her, he knew they could save her. They just had to be quick.
The soft sand of the beach was so fine that with each step, it went up nearly to his ankle. More like ash than sand, especially the closer they got up to the sheer rock that made up most of the land away from the coast. When at last they ascended from the shore and he looked back at his ship sitting offshore, he felt a strange urge to return to it, to not move forward. He looked back at the others forming out in a line, looking over the barren terrain ahead of them. The land was desolated. The surface was rock but was so sheen that it was almost slick. But it wasn't like the hardened black lava stone of the island where they were captured. It was like glass, black glass.
"They call this the High Fells of Etha's Rage. The power of the goddess has many forms, but in this case, she brought stars down upon the land. I can only imagine the sounds and sight of the horror. Perhaps she destroyed the last outward signs that Aieclo was ever a city in the clouds.”
Valrin glanced at the map. He knew about where they were, and they could either go west or east. "So, the spring or the bone?”
“I'd say the spring, but you three will likely want to get the one in the bones of the beast. Let's do that. I'll end up dealing with something regardless," the shadow elf said with a chuckle.
“The bone shard sounds easy enough," Braei said.
"Elera?” Valrin asked.
“Well, unless you're going to say spring and we have to break a tie, I'll just go with bone."
It was decided. Valrin pointed them east, and they began the journey across the barren rocks. The wind cut across the open area, bringing a chill that was only thwarted by the heat rising from Aieclo itself. They came to an area of bones within a deep crater, not unlike a valley between mountains, but the bones were from creatures they could not identify aside from they were massive. Night had fallen. Evurn used his staff to light their way as a smoky haze floated high above them. Even so, they could still make out the stars. Red lightning flashed in the distance, and Aieclo trembled.
"These are not dragon bones," Elera said. “Not even our Dragon King is shaped liked this."
“The palette of which the gods have created beasts is so full of color, you'd be amazed at what exists to simply kill you,” Evurn told them.
"What do you think the change is that we'll just find it lying on the ground?" Braei asked. “I mean, it is in the bone creature. I doubt that means it must be in a living entity."
"Nothing of bone is living, but anything of bone can be enchanted,” Evurn said.
They were descending into the crater, walking through ground-up bone that stuck out of the sand like jagged spikes. The ground itself shifted under their feet as Valrin held his stance, floating down a small avalanche of bone into the bottom of the crater and spotting a glimmer of crystal ahead.
“Well, would you look at that!” Braei said.
She ran ahead of Valrin, stopping just short of the shard.
Evurn had hung back, his staff in hand. Valrin noticed he had both his normal staff and the staff of the necromancer.
Elera drew her sword.
Braei looked back at Valrin. "I know this will not be so simple. Are you ready?"
“Might as well waken whatever it is. Evurn is getting restless.”
“Rusis,” Evurn said, “restless is not in my actions, but annoyed that I'm fighting any monster or spirit is absolutely present in my mind.”
Valrin reached down, grasping the crystal. He went to pull it up and—nothing.
“Is it stuck?" Braei asked.
He tried to grasp it deeper into the ground, but nothing. The thin layer of crushed bone atop it went to hard rock just beneath the surface. He used his sword to attempt to break it off, tapping several times. It was then the ground rumbled, the sands and bone shards around them shifted, and the sky itself seemed to get smaller around them.
“We're in its mouth! Go!" Evurn yelled.
He was right. Too right.
Valrin and the others clawed their way up the side of the crater just as the sharp bones of an open mouth clenched behind them. Braei was nearly caught in the jaws, but between Valrin pulling her up and a blast of fire into a piece of a tooth, they both emerged on the other side and rolled down the hard surface of whatever creature they had been baited to.
Evurn and Elera were far enough away that the creature shifting out of the stone and emerging was not a threat to them as much as Valrin and Braei, who were directly under it.
The bone creature, whatever it was, was many times larger than any dragon. Its entire head was made of white bone, with over-sized incisors that were filled with the skeletal remains of other creatures. Its body was long and slender, rooted into the rock, and sending bits of lava wherever it reached out. It was a slow creature but so massive that it was difficult to flank in any form. Valrin and Braei rushed to get close to Evurn and Elera.
The creature screamed a shrill, high-pitched sound.
Elera's sword was shaking. "What in the creation of all creatures is that?" she asked.
Evurn rushed forward, slamming his staff into the rock and sending several dark shards of stone into the creature.
The spells struck the bone, sending off plumes of white smoke before the creature grew upward in incredible height before angling its head downward and smashing into the sand, nearly striking Evurn.
Several tendrils shot out with sharp bones on their ends, swiping at the others. Elera parried as best she could and then rolled away. Valrin managed to deflect one of them away from Braei, who drew up a fireball, sending it streaking toward the bone of the creature. It struck but had no effect.
“Braei! Use ice and I'll use fire!" Evurn shouted. "Valrin, you and Elera stay back!"
Valrin ran out of range of the creature, noticing that its tendrils with the shards of bone were slowly pulled back to the creature’s center as it turned its focus back to Evurn. Braei sent a blast of icy wind toward the massive skull, encasing what appeared to be one of its many eyes in an orb of ice before focusing her ice into one spot. The creature's tendrils were fully retracted.
“It is about to use its other attack!" Valrin shouted.
At that moment, Evurn sent a blast of fire into the spot Braei had focused. A chunk of skull flew off, much larger than they had managed to destroy before. The creature screeched, snapping its bladed tendrils out again. Braei was struck and thrown across the sand.
Valrin ran for her, the creature reaching high into the sky to smash the area where Braei was with its massive skull. Just as Valrin reached Braei, the shadow of the creature hovered above them, ready to smash the ground. Evurn channeled a spell of earth magic, building up a large earthen mound around them piece by piece. The creature smashed into the spell, and darkness covered Valrin and Braei.
He couldn't move. He could feel Braei’s hand and could hear Evurn shouting. Another explosion and the air turned hot.
