![]() The Legends of Kayshall Chapter-3 (The Eye's Upon Us)A Chapter by Bruce Grimes![]() 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![]()
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. © 2013 Bruce GrimesReviews
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3 Reviews Added on December 13, 2011 Last Updated on March 26, 2013 AuthorBruce GrimesHastings, MNAboutI had a rather unique childhood to say the least. This and the firm belief that I had a angel watching over me; made it to where I lead a rather eccentric young life. It also contributed greatly to my.. more..Writing
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