Consequences Within Chaos Page 26

  Again a set of claws sunk into his shoulders as it raked at his stomach with its own lower legs. Taihven had to lean way back in order to avoid the creature’s lunging jaws. He got one hand up between them and cast Shocking Fist. The scaly cat screeched in pain and anger as it flew across the chamber and bounced away.

  Taihven clutched at his stomach with one hand feeling sticky blood gushing between his fingers. Light blinked and flickered from the spire; the glass panels were all lit. An extremely fortunate strike from one of the Lightning Bolts must have hit and seemingly unlocked the spire’s power. Its base walls folded in on themselves and opened to reveal a spiral staircase. He scooped up his machete and raced inside.

  “Donsiam Donstoa Reas Vash-kekaa!” he screamed and a portal appeared behind him, blocking anything from following him.

  At the top, secured in a metal cabinet surrounded in hundreds of roots and cords, the Eyes of Cinnelel flashed at him. Taihven rained down blows with the machete, cutting the crystal free.

  Taihven fell through one last Gate Ring; dazed and bleeding at the base of a smooth ramp.

  Home…

  The prince remained crumpled up on his back, semi-conscious of the Balshazra as they surrounded him.

  The Eyes of Cinnelel held firmly in his grip.

  #6

  Taihven awoke, finding himself in the same chamber he had stayed in before. Akuem rested next to him, a thick leathery tome in his right hand and his left hand on the prince’s shoulder.

  “How long have I been here?” he asked and then glanced down at his leg. It had reverted to its normal form and the ankle was whole and healed.

  You had grievous wounds when you arrived, Akuem answered. It has taken your body nearly two days to heal by our incantations and to…

  ...I morphed my body with sorcery. Did you restore it or did it happen on its own? Taihven inquired.

  You were your normal shape within minutes after your arrival. I assume one needs to keep focus of such spell in mind in order to maintain it. Prince Taihven you have gained new abilities. And your crystal… it is very interesting. Could you tell me what it is?

  Akuem, I am sorry. It is good to see you today, but my sister and the people I am supposed to protect are under an extreme threat and I cannot put off getting to them any longer.

  Understand. Akuem was disappointed.

  While Taihven was sore and battered, he had to insist upon leaving — he could not afford to rest another day or two like he wished. He gathered up his items and the Eyes of Cinnelel.

  Please return when you can and if you need help, Wandering Wolf. The huge lizard watched Taihven form a gate and limp into it.

  ***

  Two of the three Soul Render cubes floated in the air above the little island. The cube that Taihven escaped lay partially buried in the sand and flooded with water. The air was humid and hot, but as he knelt behind the trunk of a dwarf tree, his body shivered. It shook from fear and dread. Auste’s sister had been trapped in the middle cube. Her cube continued to rotate; however, the thick lid was conspicuously open.

  The girl was freakish and frail, but her entombment had driven her beyond insane. He keenly remembered the aura of evil and pandemonium she carried about her and it brought out a primal terror in him. Something warned him that in spite of easily outweighing her, there was an irrational danger within her.

  The prince had gated a half mile away from the lake in an effort to not appear where she might likely be. When he arrived at the beach of the still water lake, nothing moved or could be seen. The area was clear and abandoned, but there were tracks marring the muddy bank. Taihven approached the cubes as silent as a burglar — he wanted to see her long before she ever saw him.

  Was she inside the cube? Did she return to the only home she has really known her whole life? He worried to himself as he could almost feel her hate-filled eyes crawling over his body as she hid in the dark shadows of the prison cube.

  Its runes were mostly intact. Some of the magic that enchanted the metal still flowed and had not been disrupted by his Gate Ring.

  Taihven used the trunk of one dwarf tree to partially hide his form. He removed from his backpack a burlap cloth sack that he stored the Eyes of Cinnelel. Not wasting any time or giving her an opportunity to attack, he held up the Eyes and stared deep into its translucent blocks. The world beyond the crystal altered and the prince could feel it melt around him. The landmarks and dwarf trees around him became shadowy faint outlines of themselves.

  As he was drawn and absorbed into the crystal, the laws of reality bending as the air liquefied into a sea of olive-emerald gel. All around him, thin white-silk lines filled the sky and traveled above and below the surface of the desert. His physical form had faded away and yet as if every nerve ran from his body and into every molecule of the land.

  The lines, which he recalled Auste labeling them “soul-lines”, crisscrossed and intertwined with each other, but never cut into each other. His own soul-line drifted behind him. This was the complex weave of the multiverse and he had made it into the In-Between. He was positive that this was his link back to his world and into his life.

  There were two pale strands that went directly to lifeforms inside the cubes. The prince had guessed right — Auste’s sister had returned to her cell after all.

  Taihven drifted over to her cube. Could he cut her line? He wondered. Could he actually end her threat that easily?

  No. What happened to her was not her fault, but it was father’s. All of this was brought on by father’s bloodlust and anger. I do not have it in me.

  He paused by her soul-line. Would killing her be a mercy — ending her turmoil and exile in the Soul Render.

  Or she could become a terror in this land. Yet, even in the In-Between, he dreaded being near her.

  Taihven decided and willed his consciousness forward to where his own strand went to the cube.

  He retraced his soul-line before he was imprisoned within the Soul Render. Ghost images and trace outlines of the world he had left swam by him. The soul-lines were not bothered by any obstacles and went right through anything they pleased. Incredible, intricate groups of lines wove together and formed gargantuan braids. These he decided had to be families and bloodlines. The braids were the lines of people who touched their lives with the most impact.

  Taihven followed his line until it met up with one of these gigantic braids. This was his family. One of the soul-lines came to a stop and ended in a smooth stub. A deep-seated ache built in his chest as he studied it. This had to be the point of his father’s death. Grief mixed with sudden homesickness. He raced forward along the braid, not certain if actual or imagined tears were rolling down his cheeks.

  A couple times he lost his track and had to backtrack his movements and dissect the strands along the braid. The prince could understand why Auste had said that it had taken years to navigate the In-Between.

  At the thought of Auste, he froze in place. Is my body standing helpless within reach of the Cros’seau girl? The image of her bald, sickly body crawling out of the cube and dropping down onto him was not farfetched. He forced that black fantasy out of his head.

  Or is my body lying in Tayneva? All of this soul and body shell displacement hurt his head and he could make no sense of it.

  As he continued along the braid, the sense of home grew stronger. He took comfort and confidence in the indication he was on the right path to Tayneva. The Eyes of Cinnelel not only brought him to the In-Between, but seemed to produce an extra boost of mental energy. “Swimming” here was taxing and he was struggling as he finally found a massive wall that stretched miles high above and far below. His strand and his family's strands bundled and joined a seeming thousand other strands as they pushed through the immense wall at the same juncture. He had found Tayneva!

  A part of him wanted to explore, delve into other worlds and the millions of other realities of the In-Between, but he knew that any distraction could cost him everything he loved in
his own war-torn world.

  O Lady Haethraa bring me back and help me save my family!

  Taihven willed his consciousness into the soul-line braid and dove through the wall.

  #7

  Diving…

  Drowning…

  Falling...

  Fading…

  Taihven plummeted fast in the pitch black, swirled then tumbled and crashed hard… into a body! A human body that laid on its back covered by a pair of wool blankets and head against a bag. A human that was Prince Taihven Artadeus. He shook with tremendous spasms and his legs and arms flailed as his soul and body collided and merged.

  Taihven was home!

  He threw up on himself.

  After a few minutes, the earth slowed down and stopped spinning. He yanked his arms out from under the blanket and rubbed his hands on the ground. Cold stone and mud. Taihven sighed heavy with frustration. His mother had buried him again in another dungeon hole.

  He rose up — an involuntary screech escaped him as the pain from his back, leg and hip erupted all at once. His body ached all over from the over-extended episode and his unanimated frame remaining motionless for such a long period.

  Faint light trickled down from gaps around a cast iron trapdoor in the ceiling. In spite of the frigid air and the rough landing, he smiled to himself. He had regained his freedom and he was at last home.

  “Not going to fail you, father! Not this time. I will stop Auste and save Wyvernshield from the Viestrahl.” He testified aloud. “I swear it or I will be the last to die!”

  ***

  Taihven rose to his feet, still stiff and inscribed in the air his trusted Hand Torch sigil. The rocks were cemented in mortar and the cell was only four feet across and wide. He never heard of any dungeon cell like this. Perhaps he was not in the castle after all.

  He cupped his hands and called out, “Hello? Excuse me! Is there anyone there?”

  Nothing moved nor answered above him.

  “Pretty hungry. Can you get me something? I am awake now.”

  A distant and shrill scream was his answer. It was not in his vicinity and it was soon joined with other men’s shouting and women’s cries.

  Taihven used the Hand Torch to light up and reveal more about the trapdoor. It did not have any apparent lock or chain. He had to get out of here — he was positive the castle was under attack and he would not stand idle. Not now, not this time.

  He cast his Levitation sigil and pushed the door open easily. He rose up to the ground floor of the abandoned cellar. Immediately he recognized the room. This was the same cellar he had found before he was drawn into the Chaos Plane. He lowered himself next to the hole to the stone pit; his head filled with questions.

  How did I wind up in there? Had someone moved me in the pit and then under a blanket? Perhaps Letandra had found me somehow?

  Another man’s terrorized pleas broke his concentration and spurred Taihven to dash across to the windows next to the twin horse-doors. He used a sleeve to clear enough to see outside.

  Panic and rage pounded like dual hammers to his heart. All across the field were legions of the Viestrahl beasts racing after and mauling villagers.

  #8

  Audience members and court officials alike held their breath, intent on hearing the man’s testimony; the court room sat in restrained silence.

  Crovar Tandenaar gave witness before a stocky, wood table where the High Court Panel sat. It was presided over by the Lady Magistrate Letandra, Queen Demetryce, Captain Ruessard and two other city officials. The farmer wrung his simple leather hat in his hands and sweat drenched his neck and brow.

  The queen probed further, “You state that he burst from the barn doors, hovering in the air. And that was the first time you saw Prince Taihven?”

  The farmer nodded several times.

  A few of the attendees in the room glanced over at the youth as he sat slouched in a chair behind the witness. He had a long brown hooded robe and bandages covering all but his eyes and mouth. His left leg was braced and stood out stiff. A pair of wooden crutches were placed at his feet and shackles bound his hands. Several bandages were along his arms and more wrapped around his stomach. The Menders were not yet allowed to work upon him per the queen’s instructions.

  “Yes, yes ma’am, uh, Your Highness. He crashed right through those doors, lightning sparks firing right out of his hands and into the line of beasts. If it had not been for him, I am certain me and my family would have died right along with my neighbors. They was every place — jumping right off the roofs and even out from under the snow banks. Them animals knew all along that we were coming that way and they sat and waited to ambush.”

  Queen Demetryce frowned and then waved to dismiss the peasant back behind the courtroom gates and back to his seat. She did not like the facts of this man’s story nor her impudent son’s heroic return.

  LLasher had failed her miserably and he would pay dearly. With this grand resurfacing, it had forced her to take time for this trial. Letandra had also failed and broken their deal. Now Taihven had to be dealt with publicly and not in private as she had intended.

  “We call for Sergeant Renald Devin to report and stand next in witness.” Letandra instructed.

  The barrel-chested soldier made his way up and took the same spot before the court as Crovar had. He coughed into his hand. Devin had suffered a head wound, but stood with confidence.

  “Report.” the queen snapped.

  “Your Court,” he bowed. “I was personally heading up the evacuation of the village of Lustigg after the prior night’s report came in that Millnock Veil had been overrun and sacked by the beasts. We have several important mines there as you know and many good fighting men in Lustigg so Captain Ruessard decided to secure them as we needed the reinforcements for the castle. Over thirty families were marching with us. Nothing seemed abnormal and the trek had been quiet. I know now we should have realized that it was too quiet.”

  He stopped, shook his head and then grimaced. It appeared he was replaying some inner memories in his mind. “We had reached Orenburg and started down the Market Alley. It was early, well before the Meridian Suns, and there was no one about in the streets. It had not struck me as odd as it was bitter chill and there were flurries. Anyway, we went about three quarters of the way through when the Viestrahl ambushed us. They dropped off rooftops, came out of holes dug in the yards and swarmed us from the sides and charged into the front guard. Before we could react the villagers and farmers panicked. They fled in every direction and even away from our protection! Unfortunately, they went straight into the main force of the Viestrahl which were hiding along the buildings and homes off Market Alley. The bastards had not come to capture; no, this time was only to slaughter and maim!”

  He wiped at his neck and adjusted the bandages wrapped about his head. “We lost formation trying to gather up the runners. By the time we regrouped we were spread out in several teams trying to locate the refugees. I found only victims or the dead,” He cleared his throat as emotion took him. "Most of these poor people had never actually seen one of those fiends. However, some of the merchants and miners had stayed at our side, but the Viestrahl were not focusing on us. They were intent on running down the villagers.

  We were desperate and disordered. The beasts were... precise and focused. They easily outnumbered us four to one and we were a long march still from the castle—"

  Queen Demetryce interrupted, “—Who led the Viestrahl forces?”

  “There were two of the Kabal, each leading separate units east and west of the Alley.” Devin answered.

  He wiped at his eyes and continued his account, “I have never seen them attack in ambush nor have I ever seen them go for the weak first. They were blood-crazed and determined in maiming and killing.

  I found Prince Taihven near one old barn and where he had been defending several families. As Farmer Tandenaar stated, he was blasting the beasts with his Lightning and other Evoker spells. They had him surround
ed yet he had levitated above them. It was his stand that gave us a foothold. His help saved many lives. When we approached, he had called out to me and said ‘No matter what, hold this gate!’.”

  “What gate?” asked Nobleman Benan Brova, one of the seated court officials.

  “Right after Prince Taihven said that, he conjured some sort of a ring or…” He floundered trying to come up with a word.

  “A portal?” Letandra offered.

  “Yes! A portal through which I could see City Square Field.”

  Murmurs and gasps erupted from the crowd as they reacted to his statement.

  “As long as we, the city guard, did not allow any Viestrahl in, I knew that this was our only salvation.”

  Cheers were called out and Queen Demetryce pounded a gavel to silence the uproar.

  “It was sure to become a massacre, Your Highness. I have never seen any magic like that, but without it, I doubt many of us would have made it back here. This was even worse than the Docks. These victims would be women and children. As it stands, we did lose forty three of the residents. As the last of us ran into his portal, Prince Taihven lowered himself down into it. However, two beasts were able to pounce on him and had pushed through with him. Before any of us could react, they were tearing and biting the boy. He just took their attacks and held on to them tight, not letting them go attack anyone else. The prince went up a good two hundred feet in the air and then used some sort of shock spell to send them crashing to their deaths. When he fell himself to the yard, two of my Menders were on hand to stabilize his wounds.”

  Letandra beamed a smile at Devin and tears were welled in her eyes.

  “I want to testify…" The soldier pointed at the defendant, "I want to emphasize that the only reason we are here today is due to the bravery of Prince Taihven who freely sacrificed himself to save the lives of all.”