The Legends of Kayshall Chapter-3 (The Eye's Upon Us)

 

                                           Chapter-3

   Death is such a beautiful thing; it’s a shame that it has to be marred by the living.                    

Quote: Arch Mage Eldrick Ur-Dagon

                                       The Eye’s Upon Us

                                      (The Colowe Forest)

    Sep was on watch when suddenly he saw something, it took a few moments and then it dawned on him what he was looking at; there were three sets of red glowing eyes. Sep took a drink from his flask as he watched the eyes moving back and forth for a short time and then he went to fined Kallander.

   “Kallander there’s something I think you need to see over here,” Sep said as he led Kallander across the camp, reaching the spot where he had seen the glowing eyes he pointed out into the woods for Kallander to look. He stared out into the darkness searching but not seeing and then he saw it, a pair of red glowing eyes staring back at him. Just then as if they somehow knew it was him, one of the creatures let out a bone chilling howl that caused his skin to crawl.

   “Do you see them yet? I would say those are the unfriendly guests that we had,” Sep said taking a drink from his flask as he watched the eyes moving back and forth. Derracky walked up about this time.

   “Kallander, Dimez would like to talk to you for a minute,” Derracky said softly as he looked over at Sep to see what was going on. Kallander looked up at the full moon for a moment and then he sighed and turned and walked over towards Dimez who was still tending to Teano’s wounds, he knelt down beside them.

  Kallander could tell from the glossy glow of Teano’s skin that he was running a fever. “How's he doing? Is he comfortable?” Kallander ask, figuring he already knew what the answer would be. Dimez pulled the sweat soaked blanket back to reveal Teano shoulder wound.

  “You see these reddish purple lines that are running away from the wound,” Dimez said waving his finger in a circle around the wound, as Kallander nodded in acknowledgment. “Now watch this,” Dimez said as he ran his finger lightly across one of the lines, causing Teano jerk and cringe in pain.

  “Those lines go off in all directions from the wound; there are about a dozen of them around six inches in length branching off in random directions as they get longer. For the most part there moving down his arm, but it's these other three that are moving across his chest and the one that moves towards his neck that has me concerned. I believe these creatures have some sort of poisonous bite and I'm not sure what to do about it. His fever is running horribly high so if the poison doesn't kill him, the fever probably will. It's getting to the point that I can't even keep water down him,” Dimez said as he covered Teano back up and put an extra blanket on him, as he tried to make him as comfortable as possible.

 

  “Do what you can; I'll see if I have anything in my saddle pack that might help with the poison or the fever,” Kallander said as he turned and went over to his saddle and started digging through the pack. In his mending kit among the bandages and other such things they found a small white cloth rolled up with Crescent weed in it. Kallander's eyes brightened and he quickly took it over to Dimez.

  Kallander quickly handed the rolled up cloth to Dimez. “Here this might at least slow the poison,” Kallander said and Dimez’s eyes lit up as he opened it.

  “Yes this may help,” Dimez said as he quickly stuffed some of the weed into the wound and put some in Teano mouth. “I'll brew tea out of this; it should bring his fever down by morning and maybe will be able to keep it down,” Dimez said as he set a pot to boil on the fire. The next morning when Teano woke up he was looking better, but he was still in no condition to ride.

  “The poison stop moving sometime during the night and I have given him some of the tea. His fever does seem to be coming down but it is still much too high and he's in no shape to be moved,” Dimez said as he and Sep stood there facing Kallander as the other seemed to be getting ready to break camp.

  Kallander stood there and looked at the two of them for a moment and wonder how far this was going to go. “I don't like it any better than you; we were out of Crescent weed and were running out of time. If that poison starts moving again we won't have a chance at being able to stop it, unless were at the ruins. Those creatures seem to have gone for now; but they'll be back and we both know it. The only chance Teano has is if we make it to the ruins and you know it,” Kallander said as he looked at the two of them and then down at Teano.

  Anger was starting to well up inside of Sep as he took a drink from his flask. “He can't sit up, so how's he going to ride?” Sep ask as he looked from Teano to Kallander.

  “Tie him on… You heard; tie him in the saddle,” Kallander said as both Sep and Dimez gave him a shocked look, just then Teano raised his hand and pushed himself up on his elbow. He looked at the two men with a look of excruciating pain and utter disappointment. “I've heard enough of this crap…. out of the both of you. If we… stay here; I'll die. If you don't… tie me to the … saddle I'll fall and get hurt… and die. If you do and I… live till we get to the… ruins then I might have …a chance. At worst I die; but at least …I had the chance. Kallander's right… so do what he tells you …youngling's because I'm getting… sick of listening to you argue… with him, when it's not… your place. He's your commander, not your comrade… in the field his word is law... he should have you whipped… for acting this way… and you know it Sep,” Teano said as he stammered through his words because of shortness of breath and he pointed at the two men and then he lay back down. Sep and Dimez looked at each other for a moment and Sep took a long drink from his flask and started packing up the camp.

 Kallander knelt down by Teano and took him by the hand. “I should hope you're right… Kallander, because this ride… is going to… be hell,” Teano said as he shivered with the chills that came with the fever. About a half-hour later they were all on their horses; and Teano had been securely tied into the saddle.

   “Put my sword… in my saddle scabbard,” Teano said to Kallander as he walked by; Kallander looked up at him and nodded his head and slid it into the scabbard. Then Kallander went and mounted Gossamer and the group started out. Sep was leading Teano’s horse with a rope just in case Teano passed out and Dimez was keeping a close eye on him. His wound had been wrapped and bound for the ride to keep the bleeding to a minimum.

  As if things weren't bad enough as it were; almost from the time the group started out the strange creatures were spotted on their trail. Derracky spotted them off in the distance darting between the trees. Everyone in the group got there bows ready; even Teano attempted to but Derracky took it from him shaking his head no. The group kept a vigorous pace and by the end of the day the ground leveled out and the forest started getting thicker.

  That night they built a huge bonfire in the center of the camp in hopes that it might ward off any attack from the creatures. Dimez gave Teano what was left of the tea and it seemed that help him sleep; the poison didn't seem to move during the day but all that changed after nightfall; it didn't seem to move near as fast this time. The guards were set in shifts and they all kept their weapons in hand, even when they were sleeping; Teano sword was laid out next to him just in case. The night went by slowly; but quietly, almost too quietly. Sep sat by Teano when he wasn't on guard and wiped his head with a damp cloth hoping it would help keep the fever down.

                                        

                          (The Port City of Rican)

 The room is dark except for a plate of three large candles that sat beside a tome that Eldrick was reading. Looking up from the tome and glanced around the room until his eyes came to rest on the crate of bone that sat under the shelf; with a simple wave of his fingers the box of bone slid out into the middle of the floor. Then with the wave of his hand a stream of shimmering green energy shot out from it and into the crate. The bones began to glow a light green and shake, and then move; and finely they started to form a skeleton. Eldrick watched with satisfaction as the skeleton slowly rose up out of the crate; as first one bone and then another was connected. The headless skeleton had a green glow around it and then stood there shaking as if it were going to fall apart at any moment without its head. Eldrick walked over to the shelf where he had three skulls sitting; one had dark red runes carved into it and the other two had dark blue runes carved into them. Looking at the goals for a moment he picked up the one with the dark red runes and placed it on top of the skeletons body; the shaking stopped and a green glow faded away.

 “You are a fine looking one aren’t you,” Eldrick muttered as he took a long look at the skeleton.

“Yes’s I am mm,” the skeleton said as it stood up to its full height of six feet.  Eldrick raised an eye brow at the skeletons comment and then walked over taking a clay vial off the shelf and poured it over the Skeletons’ skull. Speaking some indiscernible words the bones from the neck down turned silver in color as the liquid flowed over them.

“There that will make your bones as hard as steal,” Eldrick said shaking his head in satisfaction. Turning he walked over to the desk and looked at the map sitting on it.

  “I wonder where you’re at my dear,” Eldrick said as he waved his hand over the polished silver mirror and it filled with a white fog.  After a few moments it cleared to reveal Shamonah sleeping next to a small camp fire.

  “Shamonah, Shamonah, you should come home to me. You know this is where you belong.  I can give a real life and teach you how to use your power to its fullest. Come home to me my child, come home where you belong,” Eldrick said to her in a low calm voice as he watched her sleep.  Shamonah started tossing and turning from one side to the other as the edges of the mirror started to fill in with a dark gray fog.

  “Come to me Shamonah and I will make you greater then you could ever imagine. I can help you make all your dreams come true,” He said as he looked into the mirror as he watched her sleep by the fire. Suddenly the gray fog swarmed over the mirror and a shimmering blue hand busted out of it, clutching at Eldrick’s throat. He jumped back causing the spell to brake and the mirror to return to a solid form with a silver hand and forearm that now protruded from it.

  “Well it does appear that you are getting more powerful than I had thought, but that is all the better,”  Eldrick said as he ran a finger across the silver finger tips  and then walked back over to his desk.       

 

                                       (Cragg Pass)

   After a night of bad dreams and a day of hard riding Shamonah sat next to a small fire within sight of Cragg Pass. She sang softly as she fed her horse some grain.

  “Ruby we’ve got over twenty miles to cover before the sun comes up and we can’t have those steel shoes of yours making all that noise. So I’m going to make you quiet as a mouse,” Shamonah said as she waved her hand and a glowing yellow dust covered the hooves of the horse. Just as the sun was setting Shamonah cast another spell causing her and Ruby to become like shadow and then they started walking towards Cragg Pass. As they got closer to the pass she could see large groups of Black Craggs moving around in the pass. Moving throw the pass was slow because whenever the Craggs would get close, Ruby would get nervous and pull away and Shamonah would haft to stop to calm him down. It was during one of these times when a Cragg suddenly appeared on the rocks next to them. “GRRRAAAAAAAA,” Growled the Cragg as it sniffed the air, catching the scent of Shamonah and the horse. Just then the Cragg lifted his head to howl and Ruby let out a scream of fear and with the flick of her wrist a massive shard of ice shot form Shamonah's hand hitting the creature in the throat and sticking out the top of its head, it fell dead making no other sound than the thud of it hitting the ground. Shamonah looked down at this massive wolf like creature and wished that she had the time to take some of its venom for her spells. After a few moments to get the roan calmed down she continued on through the pass. The sun was just starting to show its face as she came out the west side of the pass, she turned her horse as she looked back and was glad to be out of Cragg Pass and then she started to ride north.

 

 

                                 (The Chanton Trail)

   As the sun started coming up Kallander woke to the sound of Sep quietly sobbing as he sat next to Teano; Kallander walked over to see what was wrong.

   “Sep what is it?” Kallander asks as he knelt down beside him. Sep looked at him with tears in his eyes.

   “Teano died about an hour ago; he asks me to have faith in you, and to stick by you know matter what. You had better turn out to be every bit as good as what he thought you would be; just keep that in mind Kallander,” Sep said as he stood up and pointed at Kallander’s chest and looked down at Teano. “I’ll be watching you to make sure you hold up your end,” Kallander looked over at Teano’s emotionless eyes and then he took his blanket and covered him. Just then Kallander felt a sudden surge of emotions and he had to cover his face with his hands as a wall of emotions came rushing over him from all sides; sorrow, fear and anger were just a few of them. He had to fight to contain them and control himself.

  “Okay Derracky and Dimez, wrap Teano in those two blankets; will take him with us. Let's be up and ready to move out within the hour,” Kallander said as he pointed to the blankets. Then he turned to face Sep. “You pull yourself together and don't ever threaten me again,” Kallander said as he glared at Sep.

 “It was not a threat Kallander; I gave Teano my word that I would look after you whenever I could in the upcoming days and you’re going to need it,” Sep said taking a drink from his flask and then he turned and walked away.

 The group road all day without seeing any sign of the creatures; they arrived at the Ruins of Keep Morran just as the evening Sun was setting over the Coldsper mountains. There was another group of Rovers already there that had also been instructed to wait at the ruins for King Raylanty.

   The group cut and gathered wood, making a large pile for a funeral fire; carefully they placed Teano on top of it and soaked him and the wood in oil. Then as the others stood back, Kallander took a torch and turned to Sep. “It is a funeral fit for a king Sep,” Taking the torch Sep walked forward and knelt down and said the barrio prayer,                                                                                   

                                                  “We heard the call,

                     One and all,

              We filled our ranks,

           With the brave and free,

              We stood the field,

              In the name of the,

          Now we send our dead,

     To the loving arms of Agarith,

   Where the brave may live forever,”

 and then he set the wood aflame. They all stood there at attention till the flames where almost gone.

 Then the four younglings turned and went back to the main camp to get some rest. Kallander told the other group commander what had happened to them and he agreed to let Kallander’s group rest for the night instead of taking a guard shift.    

 

                            (The Ruins of Keep Morran)

   The group laid out there bedrolls and started lying down; they slowly went to sleep and for the most part rested well. Kallander woke up just as the sun was starting to break over the top of the Pedrick Mountains to the east; it looked as if the Legendary Bendel Pass was giving birth to the flaming ball of light as it rose up out of the pass. The beauty of the sun casting its light across the mountains and on to the plains was beyond description. Just then Kallander noticed that Sep was sitting with his back to him by the fire. One of the guards was walking by Kallander about this time.

   “How long has he been there?” Kallander ask as he motioned towards Sep.

   “Most of the night; he got up after about four hours and he’s been sitting there sipping on the same mug of Fyana Flight ever since,” The guard said as he looked at Sep and then he turned and walked away. Kallander got up and walked over and sat down beside Sep.

   “I was thinking about when Teano and I were growing up together. When we would go swimming and fishing down at the river and when we would help his Pa-pa at the smithy; that was always so much fun. Then we went and joined the Rover school for our training and we would always practice together. I remember when we all went to my house for spring break and you and Teano got into that shooting contest. How you two kept splitting each other’s arrows like that I’ll never know and the way your face looked when you ran out of arrows. And then Teano split your last arrow with his last shot; that had to be the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. Remember when we went to your house last and Teano threw the match so you wouldn’t look bad in front of your Pa-pa,” Sep said as he sat there and stared into the fire and drank from his mug. Suddenly a look of shock flashed over Kallander’s face.

   “He threw the match!” Kallander said with an air of disbelief in his voice and then Sep started laughing.

   “You didn’t know, did you?” Sep said with a grin and just then Derrick came walking up.

   “Say do you remember how we all met?” Sep asks as he looked at Kallander sitting there. Then he got up and walked over to a keg and poured a mug of beer; Kallander shook his head no in response to Sep’s question.

   “Well I remember it was a cold spring day. Derracky, Dimez and you were all down by the river range shooting for points. When Teano and I showed up and wanted to know if we could shoot with you. Now that was a contest to remember,” Sep said with a slight smile as he walked back over and handed Kallander the mug of Fyana Flight. Sep poured his into a small pot and wormed it over the fire as they sat there and talked. Over the next few days the groups spent as much time as they could at rest while they were waiting and healing from the loss of their friend.

 

 

(Along the West side of the Pedrick Mountains)

  As Shamonah was heading north through the hills, a small dirt trail formed and then it grew larger and larger until it was obvious that a large force had moved through here. The trail seemed to have come from the direction of the Demon Swamp. Keeping off what had now turned into a road she moved on north along the Pedrick Mountains. About night fall she scanned the horizon and could see the lights of Lord Percie’s Keep.

“I suppose one of these days I should give you back to your Lord Percie,” Shamonah said as she patted the roan on the neck. Shamonah followed the trail for the rest of that day and on into the night until it turned off to the west.

The dirt trail suddenly turned heading out on to the plane. “They’re going towards Valley Point. I hope Martex is ready for them,” Shamonah said as she looked at the camp fires burning in the distance’s as she kept going north. As she traveled north she started seeing large Orc camps along the Pedrick Mountain range. These Orc’s camps didn’t seem to be preparing for war but rather they seemed more like refugee camps.

“This is something that Raylanty will want to know about,” saying to herself as she road on north.

Reviews

[Bruce Grimes]

I just posted the rewrite for chapter 3 if anybody's interested.

[blackclown]

The remenising of the past was a great addition to the book an also gave a small glips into how they all met great job but u should find a way to add in somehow a way for them to get revenge for the death of there friend

[Rose of Gondor]

Haha! I LOVE Shamonah. She is awesome. Now I wanna read more! Orcs??? Have I heard that somewhere before? Is it from LOTR? Or is it Eragon???

(by lotr I mean lord of the rings)

:)