1. The Fugitive

Lightning tore the sky asunder. The night flashed bright as midday and shadows danced in the momentary illumination. I froze. Thunder rumbled deafeningly as the looming threat of rain turned to reality. Large, frigid drops beat down upon my weary shoulders and soaked the tattered remnants of my clothes. I looked up at the stand of trees before me. No, not a stand, a stand was a grain of sand compared to this. This was a forest, a forest older than recorded time. These trees towered above me and disappeared in both directions. Taking a deep breath, I advanced the last few feet to the woods edge in the momentary cover of darkness. Inside I knew could find some shelter from the driving rain and my relentless pursuers. They had dogged my steps for too long.

Unseen sentinels clawed at my face and sent me staggering back as I pushed my way through the snarled brushwood at the forest’s edge. My head hung down as I tried to steady my ragged breath. I looked up at the wall before me and sighed as I tried once again. This time my assault was successful. I shook myself free of the grasping branches and the underbrush that twisted about my ankles. Clear of the scrub, I raced deeper into the shelter of the wood. A carpet of fallen leaves and ancient mosses softened the steady pounding of my ruined and blood-soaked feet. The icy downpour mingled with my sweat and blood, and dirt of the last month. The grime cascaded down from my brow into my already raw eyes. I brushed my forearm numbly across my face in a vain effort to clear my vision.

My legs prickled with numbness before I finally slowed enough to take notice of my surroundings. Rain water cascaded down the trunks from high in the canopy above. It formed streams that turned to rivers as they met the flooded forest floor. The wood would be a swamp by dawn’s arrival. The shadow of a hollow under the twisted roots of an elder tree, offered a welcome respite from the torrent of bone-chilling rain and grasping tendrils of wind. A large, flat rock, soft with emerald moss, was a welcome sight in the mire of earth. Its raised surface would make a fair enough bed on which to rest my exhausted bones until the sun began its inevitable morning climb. I knew danger bore down on me, but fighting sleep any longer was futile. My exhaustion, the steady rumbling of the thunder and rhythmic pounding of the rain conspired to pull me into an uneasy slumber.

* * * * *

The sky was a sickly yellow-black as the wind screamed all around me. The surface of Eldragor quaked under my feet. The wasteland stretched out endlessly in every direction. All about me bodies littered the ground. Their decaying flesh filled the air with a putrid stench. I retched, the taste of bile burning at the back of my throat. I ran, searching for an escape from the charnel grounds. Each frantic step brought more lifeless faces. They stared up at me, the white eyes of the Naralis and the once violet eyes of the Pyrians followed my every step. Eyes glared at me with hate and accusation, each more so than the last. My leg caught. I looked down in horror to see a withered turquoise hand clawing at my ankle. I felt my flesh tear open. Hot blood streamed from where the nails dug into my leg. With a sharp tug it pulled me down into the mire. I turned to kick the hand away and fell to my knees as my other foot caught. Cold hands pulled me deeper into the filth. I screamed as I felt the crushing strength of the corpses crush the bones in my legs.

* * * * *

Threads of morning’s light cut through the canopy above, rousing me from my sleep. My ankle lay tangled in a knot of roots. My dirt streaked skin was already turning a purplish hue around the ragged flesh were the briars had torn through my leg. A shiver crept along my spine as I remembered the rotting hands trying to drown me in the sea of death. I couldn’t guess how long I had slept. I felt like I had run a marathon. I was grateful to be awake and out of the hellscape that had haunted my sleep. In the night the storm had spent the last of its rage and moved to more distant shores. Even now, the distant crescendo of the thunder rumbled off at the far edges of the world. A cool morning breeze wound its way around the mammoth trunks causing goose bumps rise on my bare arms. The earthy scent of the air was sweet and refreshing after the foul odor of death.

As I set off, my mind lingered on the terrifying images that haunted my dreams. There had been so much death and destruction all about me. Was this the fate that Eldragor hurtled towards? Was I already too late to stop the endless spiral of damnation? There was already so much damage done to the world. I couldn’t help wonder if I would be enough to change the course of the future. Or, was this just another nightmare brought on by the horrors of my past? So many questions whirled about my mind as I pushed further into the forest. Dream or prophecy, either way it mattered not. I had set my feet on this path and I couldn’t let anything sway me from the route.

I knew the trackers would have kept to their ceaseless pursuit while I slumbered. The leader, Zephrin, was a fierce hunter renowned for his tenacity. I overheard many tales during my long imprisonment of the hunting parties going days, sometimes even a week or more, without sleep while on a hunt. I needed to move quickly if I was to have any hope of eluding my former captors. I set off at a brisk pace further into the forest. The thin wisps of light, that had until now granted some modicum of illumination, began to fade. Gloom pressed in on me from all sides. I felt a thousand eyes peering out of the darkness. They followed my every move. A chill ran down my spine as boughs overhead sighed with a passing breeze. They would undoubtedly catch up to me if I lingered here too long. If the ancient shrine I sought did in fact exist, it would be here, far to the south in this primordial wood.

My stomach snarled with hunger. I looked about to realize that dusk was once again closing in. I looked down into my pockets at my nearly depleted food stores. I needed to conserve what I had. I had already been in the forest for two days and I had still found no sign of the shrine I sought. If I delayed any further all hope of success would fade like a distant dream. Once I had set my plans into motion, then there would be time to satiate my hunger.

I heard the sound before I saw its source. Gentle burbling, mingled with a soft rustle of leaves. As I followed it I came across a stream winding its way through the depths of the forest. Tracks in the soft banks formed a jigsaw puzzle of sorts. Large and small, all the animals that called the woods their home clearly made their way here to drink their fill. In any other circumstances I could envision myself sitting on the bank studying the creatures as they congregated. For now though, I would have to content myself with quenching my thirst and moving along. I lingered just long enough to see the hunter green canopy above lighten to a soft emerald with the light of the new day.

I hadn’t dared sleep since that first night and fatigue was starting to bear heavily down upon me. Now after three days and nights of ceaseless searching, I was beginning to doubt the existence of the shrine. I had learned much from the dusty books which my captors had granted me access to, so much more than just the languages of Eldragor. They studied me like some curious pet for decades. I had studied them, their history, and the fears of their people. I learned their strengths and their weaknesses. The long history of subservience the Naralis had endured at the hands of the Pyrians and the many bloody skirmishes and wars that lead to their emancipation. Prophesies of old were all there just waiting for me to decipher. Centuries of knowledge laid bare for me to garner all I could. All the information in those books were a waste if it was just a collection of bedtime stories to scare children.

The trackers were steadily closing in on my position. I could hear them blundering about in the distance. The stillness of the forest made their approach hard to overlook. In the sky the Naralis were unmatched in skill and grace. On the ground, however, their large wings made maneuvering troublesome in such a wild and tangled environment. I had eliminated their aerial advantage the moment I entered the woods. Better still, I had drawn them into this place, forbidden to them by ancient Pyrian laws. I couldn’t avoid them forever, not without help. The Pyrians were an ideal distraction, even if they didn’t know it yet.Sooner or later sleep would take me, whether I went peacefully or not.

Was it four days or five in this forest of endless night? I had begun to lose count. Despair crept into the dark places of my mind. Maybe the shrine didn’t exist. My years of planning were just a child’s dream. I choked back the scream that clawed at the pit in my stomach. I took a breath and released my hands at my sides. I could feel the chapped skin beginning to crack and split from my lack of care. Thankfully, I knew that the forest could provide what I needed to tend my wounds.

The vera plant was growing at the base of one of the larger elder trees. It was hard to miss. Its long fleshy leaves were a soft jade green in the twilight of the wood. The sap oozed out as I cut into the plant with the edge of a rock. Where it flowed over my raw hands the relief was immediate. I rubbed the pieces over my numerous injuries letting the cool liquid coat and soothe my tattered flesh. I cut a few more petals free and pocketed them. In a pinch they would make a meal. Eventually I would need to leave the forest and find my way to someplace safer and hunting in the open ground would be inadvisable.

My heart leapt. I had nearly lost all hope of the legend being true. Here it was, though, secreted in the shadows of a rock outcropping. I nearly missed it. I would have if I hadn’t been scouring the landscape for this exact place. The clearing was small, and the canopy high overhead was still dense enough that no direct light from the outside world broke into this hidden sanctum. I crouched down. The air that escaped from the caverns depths was cool and damp. I took a breath and readied myself for whatever I might find in the darkness.

Carefully, I crept down the passage, feeling my way along the walls as I went. The rock was cold to the touch and every so often I felt the surface change beneath my fingertips, as if another mineral veined the walls. The passage wound down into the earth at a dangerously steep angle. I leaned against the wall to keep my footing in the darkness. After an hour, no, not so long, a half hour perhaps, I finally began to see a warm glow in the distance. The soft light grew steadily brighter as the passage began to level off. Light flickered and danced along the walls, its source hidden just inside a room at the halls end. My heart pounded like a war drum. I paused. With a few slow breaths I steadied my pulse and crept to the threshold as quiet as a feather floating upon the wind.

I peered around the roughly hewn entry into the dimly lit chamber. A shadow loomed up in front of me as my eyes tried to adjust to the illumination. I gasped and ducked back into the shadows. Had they seen me? Had they heard me? My heart beat like a jackhammer in my chest as I strained to listen for any sound. Silence. I let out a sigh of relief and offered a silent prayer of thanks to the spirits. Slowly, I leaned forward until I could just see into the room. The shadow which had given me such a fright was nothing more than the back of a massive earthen throne. I leaned back against the wall and let stone momentarily cool my bare head.

I looked again into the room, taking in the few features I could see. The room was bare save the throne, an ornately carved altar to the far wall, and two ancient bronze braziers, the source of the dancing firelight. Something shimmered in the flickering light off to my side. An elaborately hilted great-sword leaned against the wall. The gems set in the pommel caught and reflected a myriad of tiny rainbows about the chamber. I wrapped my fingers around the hilt. The sword almost felt alive in my hands. The sensation was that of a gentle vibration that I felt make its way up my arm. I closed my eyes and let the feeling spread through my entire body. With my eyes still closed I drove the sword through the back of the throne, right up to its bejeweled cross-guard. The gasp was all I needed to know I had found my mark.

My fingers loosed from the blade and the sensation which had filled me dispersed at once. I circled to the front of the throne and beheld the face of the first sacrifice. The delicate lace of her ancient dress was quickly staining crimson. Blood flowed out around the blade which had erupted through her breast. Her deep violet eyes looked at me sadly as her creamy face paled and turned ashen. “What have you done?” She whispered, struggling to form the words. Her neck creaked, like a rusted hinge, as her head sagged lifelessly to her chest.

I was alone. I stared down at the woman who might have once been beautiful. How long had she been sitting here in the darkness? Did anyone even remember she was here? My heart was heavy as I looked at the sad expression that filled her eyes. I reached out and closed her eyelids before she could stare deeper into my tainted soul. I steeled my heart. There could be no room for pity in my mission. This was the only way. More would die before I reached my final goal, possibly countless more. While regrettable, a handful of innocent lives, even my own life, would be a small price to pay to bring an end to the wars that the ancient races had started so long ago.

The walk back to the caves entrance was interminably long. My thoughts were as dark as the spiraling tunnel as I made the climb back to the surface. Thankfully, the fresh air of the forest cleared the corners of my mind from the doubt which had begun to seep in from my encounter with those sad eyes. From the shadows of the overhang I scanned the tree line for any signs of my pursuers. Off in the distance I could hear the cracking of branches and the soft muttering of one of the younger hunters. A wicked smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. They were closing in but I had a little time to toy with them. My tracks, which I had been so careful up to now to obscure, I now left plainly visible. Deep stomping impressions led to the hidden cavern entrance. If they were dim enough to take such obvious bait, it would certainly give me extra time to reach my next destination far to the west. With one last look at the cave mouth and my conspicuous tracks, I smiled and took off into the undergrowth.


Next Chapter: 2. Tomma