Burning

Aedric awakens to find many things have changed

39.

Burning

 

While Eioldth prepared to meet with Sophia, back in Synomenia, where time flowed at a different rate then in Flux, Aedric writhed and shivered, consumed in the unbearable pain of burns as the heat drained from his body.   He had no sense of time, only of several voices and the feeling of movement from time to time.  

 

For him the pain was all there was, and he laid there groaning softly for what seemed an eternity.   Dreams drifted around him like ghosts, haunting him in his agony.   There finally was some sort of chanting or singing and then the pain dwindled away like ripples on a pond until he finally drifted off into exhausted rest.

 

***

 

There came the continuous squeaking of an axle and from the jolts and bumps, he slowly began to realize he was in the back of some coach or wagon.   He could hear the distant claps of thunder and the steady drone of rain falling and rolling off canvas.  

But he could also hear the low rumbling of some large creature moaning softly in his sleep.   Aedric opened his eyes and gasped to find a pair of red glowing eyes staring back at him in the dark.  

“Aedric?”  There came a soft female voice from behind the eyes, “It’s alright, you are alright.   It’s me; Snoe.   You are alright.”

“Snoe?”  He whispered, now making out her ghost-like form in the darkness.   They were in the back of some sort of covered wagon and next to him lay the source of the moaning - it was the Bugbear, Carn, wrapped tightly in bandages except for his face.   His hair was gone and serious burns covered his face as he lay there.  

“My God!”  Aedric exclaimed, immediately laying his hands on the pitiful creature, “In the name of Yesh, be healed!”

Blue light flowed from his hands into the body of Carn, but nothing seemed to change.  

Aedric turned back to Snoe who was blinking back tears, but smiled sadly, “Thanks for trying, but it won’t do much good.”

“What happened to him?”

“The same thing that happened to you.   A horrible, horrible fireball spell.”   She covered her face with her hands and cried quietly for nearly a minute.   Instinctively, he rolled over to her, where she sat in the floor of the wagon, and wrapped his arms around her.

“It’s alright.” He tried to soothe her, rather inexperienced with comforting women, but he wasn’t at all sure if it was indeed ‘alright’ or not.

She leaned against his shoulder, fighting to regain her composure with great difficulty.

“No… no, it’s not.   That wizard used some sort of extremely powerful staff.   The magic was far beyond anything he should have been able to use.”

“What happened?   Snoe… who is dead?”

The question launched her into agonized sobbing and she tightly clung to him, burying her head against his shoulder.   Her agony filled him with dread, for she clearly was grieving someone close.

“Snoe…”

“Aranthi and… Sirya…” She managed to say, but that was enough.

“Oh Snoe… I’m so sorry.”   He found himself batting away tears, “What about your mother and Amala?”

“They’re fine… physically.”

“But how?”

“My mother… she has resistance to magic.   Most Drow do, but they usually lose it when they stay on the surface.   Mom’s resistance didn’t go away, and Amala and I apparently inherited it from her.   But Aranthi and Sirya didn’t…”

“Yesh have mercy!”   Her agony brought back the feeling of the loss of his mother.   How could Yesh let this happen to the poor girl?

“That’s not all, Aedric… Thorm is dead too… and the Queen.”

“Queen Eioldth is dead?!” He exclaimed, “But she was a wizard herself!   She had powerful magic!”

Snoe nodded slightly, “She had an Autocaster ring that would have saved her.   But she gave it to your brother just before they rushed to help you and mother.”

“Aaron!   Is he-“

“He’s alive and well.   He is consumed with guilt, though it isn’t his fault at all.”

“Snoe, if you can, please, tell me what happened.”

“The fireball threw us all back against the back wall.   You were near Amala when the spell exploded and her magic resistance partially protected you.   Mutt dove to the floor and he escaped most of the fire.   The Queen and Thorm took it full force.   Aaron had the Queen’s Autocaster on, so teleported upstairs, completely healed."

" Aranthi was not wearing hers… but Sirya was.   That is the worst, Aedric.    S-S-She had been injured earlier in the battle and the first spell in the ring healed her, but it was used up.   So when the fireball exploded… S-She… s-she… I’m sorry…   She was teleported back to Westmark, dead!   We thought she’d lived until one of Aunt Zeatt’s assistants contacted her by scrying ball with the news.   We found out just yesterday.   Mom… mom is… well, she’s… not good.”

 

He didn’t say anything, only nodding and letting the girl continue.  Snoe took a deep sniffling breath and continued.

“The spell was so powerful that it ricocheted off the back wall and took out the damned wizard that cast it and his guards.   Thank Yesh for that!”

“What happened then?”

“The palace was on fire.   Mom regained consciousness first, and she got Amala, Mutt and I on our feet.   By then, my father and the other knights had broken off from their battle and raced back to the palace to assist.”  

 

“Thankfully, Redburr’s men were too surprised by this all to press their attack.   Even the airships broke off their attack.   I guess they figured that maybe the Queen had been killed.    I don’t know, but at any rate, they withdrew to a camp outside of town.   If they had wanted to, they could have captured all of us then, for all of our people were trying to help rescue everyone at the palace.”

 

 “How many died in the fire?” He asked, hating to ask her as she grieved, but desperate to know.

“Eighteen, if you count Sirya.   About 30 or so were seriously burnt.   You were the very last body pulled out of the hall.  I found you.”

“Thanks… that must have been horrible.”

She nodded, “It was; we didn’t know who was dead or just badly injured.   Everyone was burnt.   They thought you were dead; your armor was nearly molten.   It’s a miracle you are alive.   By the time we found you, Zeatt and the Clerics had used most of their healing magic.”

“What happened, then?”

“Do you remember Brother Keaven, that monk?   He came out of nowhere and laid his hands on you, praying for Yesh’s mercy upon you.   It wasn’t a spell he cast, but simply a prayer to Yesh.   After he did this, your breathing grew stronger, though you didn’t really look too different.   We just carefully bound up your burns and took you to the make-shift hospital.  Nobody thought you or Carn would live.”

“We still don’t know if Carn will live.   The burns are very resistant to healing spells.   Aunt Zeatt thinks the staff that wizard used was not just an average magic staff.   She thinks there is some sort of evil involved.    That’s why you, Carn and the others haven’t been healed completely.”

“How long has it been?”

“Four days - the first night was the worst.   The palace burned to the ground, and Mom was hysterical when… well, uh…”

“I understand.   How is she now?”

“Not good, Aedric.   Your Mom - I mean Alis- and Aunt Zeatt have been staying with her.   Dad of course stayed with her too that first night, but with Redburr’s forces outside of town, he had to take charge and protect the city.   They sent a messenger to us, demanding surrender.   Dad had a lock of Aranthi’s hair… this sounds horrible, but it was all that wasn’t burnt… a-and h-he went forward and grabbed Redburr’s messenger’s hand, put her lock of hair in it, and closed his fist.   He then grabbed the man by the throat, lifted him in the air and yelled in his face.  Aedric, I have never seen my father that mad!”

“What did he say?”

“I’ll never forget it.   He shouted so loud the walls rang.  He said, ‘THAT LOCK OF HAIR IS ALL THAT WAS LEFT OF MY THIRD OLDEST CHILD, THANKS TO YOUR DAMNED WIZARD!!!   YOU TAKE THAT HAIR BACK TO YOUR EARL AND YOU TELL HIM EXACTLY THIS.   I VOW BY YESH THAT I WILL NOT REST A DAY UNTIL I HAVE KILLED HIM AND COMPLETELY DESTROYED HIS ARMY, IF, BY YESH, I ALONE TAKE THEM ALL ON MYSELF!!!  I WILL NOT STOP UNTIL I HAVE KILLED HIM.   YOU TELL HIM THIS!!  I AM COMING FOR HIM, AND I WILL KILL HIM!!   YOU TELL HIM THIS!!’ “

“He then just threw the man backwards like he was a piece of wood.  The messenger got up and ran as fast as he could out of camp.   Aedric, all of the knights and soldiers were weary and some had lost family members.   But they all went down on one knee before my father and swore by Yesh that they would follow him to the gates of Hell to fulfill his vow.   I-I’ve never seen anything like it!   It was terrifying but awesome too.”

“What did Redburr do?”

“They withdrew -both their army and the airships - they withdrew in the night.   I was relieved, but father- Aedric, he is burning with rage!   He met with the royal officials in King’s Reach the next morning and told them that he was going after Redburr.   The barons, however, were against it.   They wanted peace with Redburr and he thinks that they may have had a part in the coup.”

“Oh no!”  Aedric groaned, knowing the tale wasn’t going to go well from here forward.

“Yes, their meeting grew very heated.   Father said that there were a couple of strange men sitting in the back of the meeting hall that didn’t say anything the whole time, but they were wearing the yellow robes that the priests of the Church of Nunmontu wear.   One of the barons toward the end even said that it was because of all of the ‘damned subhumans’ that caused all the grief to Northmarch.   He meant Elves, Drow, dwarves - anyone non-human.”

 

“Really?   That is very bad, Snoe.”

“I know.   By the end of the meeting, some of the barons’ guards were about to draw swords with father and the knights.   The barons warned father to take his troops and ‘all your subhumans’ out of Northmarch.   ‘Subhumans’ is a pet phrase that some of the disciples of Nunmontu use, Aedric!”

The Elf nodded, “I’ve heard about that - Nunmontu wasn’t too thrilled with any intelligent being other than humans, but even he didn’t condemn them.   It was his disciple Torrin, wasn’t it, that said that subhumans were an abomination to the one true God and should be destroyed like their God, Yesh?”

“Yes, and Torrin’s philosophy is fueling the Church of Nunmontu.   Apparently they’ve been working up frustrated humans all over the Southern Empire, and now, I guess, even here in Northmarch, to hate anyone different then them.”

“But Eioldth was a greatly loved Queen!  I don’t understand how that could change so fast, Snoe!”

“I don’t know either.   Dad thinks that it is the rural areas in the south and east of the kingdom, where there are few demi-humans.    General Fortatius is certainly fuelling that too, for he wants to add Northmarch to the Southern Empire.”

“But if Redburr is in league with the Emperor, and they are backed by the Nunmontuites, then why would Redburr use Orcs and Ogres?   That would seem hypocritical.   Unless he was using them to save his men and then he planned to betray them later.”

“That’s what my parents think he will do; get as much from them in service as he can, then eliminate them when the dirty work is done.   Or maybe the Church of Nunmontu has no problem with demi-human slaves.”

 

“So what happened after the meeting with the Barons?”  

“Father and his men found a mob of supporters of the barons waiting for them outside the meeting hall.   It had all been set up, no doubt, but they yelled and threw rocks at father and his men.   They threatened to kill us all unless we fled the city.   The mob was rather large, Dad said, but they didn’t fight them.   They rode through them back to where we were gathered around the ruins of the palace.”

 

“A large group of supporters joined us and they all had a quick meeting and decided that we all needed to leave Northmarch before the Barons fire up their idiots to fight us.  So they all decided to flee Northmarch.   The knights salvaged all they could from the palace, and thankfully most of the Queen’s treasure in the dungeon-like basement survived.   So we loaded up all of our wounded and left yesterday morning.   We have a long caravan of wagons, because several thousand people loyal to the Queen and followers of Yesh, fled with us.”

“Yesh have mercy!”  Aedric exclaimed, “Redburr’s men will take over the Kingdom!   The Barons will welcome him with open arms now.”

“And the Church of Nunmontu as well.”  Snoe added.

“You know what will happen then- The Emperor will send legions here to assist his ‘loyal subject’, King Redburr, and they’ll march against us.”

“I know.”  Snoe said in a somewhat scared whisper, “The world just fell apart for us all.   My sisters, Thorm and the Queen dead, the Kingdom falling apart, and now we all are apparently outlaws.”

Aedric patted her on the shoulder, “So this all happened while I was unconscious?”

“Yes.  We left yesterday morning and even the weather seems to be against us, as it has rained the whole way.   Father says that it is a blessing, as nobody is following us.   Alis and Abigae sat with you all day yesterday, but mother was really having a difficult day today after we got the news about Sirya and so we changed shifts.   I’m sorry; I should have stayed here from the beginning, but with my sisters and all-“

“Snoe, why would you apologize?   Your parents, Gamel and Amala need you at a time like this!”

“Yes, but I am your squire-“

“Snoe, I appreciate that, but now it’s a moot point and you have much more important concerns then me.”

“Sorry.” She said, looking down at her hands.

“Don’t be sorry.   You have nothing to be sorry for.   Tell me; where is your brother and father?”

“They are riding at the head of the column, a few miles ahead of us.   Your father and brother are protecting the rear flank, along with the Orcs.    Aedric, all of the Queen’s Honor guard came with us!   All of them, including their families.   We have about 400 Orcs with us and they are really wonderful people.   They are nothing like the ones you hear about.   They’re friendly and respectful; they are really impressed by father and I suspect they will fight for him.”

“So where are we heading?   Westmark?”

“Yes, Dad has something in mind - he won’t say anything, and I don’t want to bother him by asking, but he’s got a plan or something.”

“He probably is planning to declare Westmark and Dullerm as independent of Northmarch.”

Snoe nodded, “That’s what everyone says he’ll do.  With the Faesidhe forest added… oh… sorry…”  

 She looked awkwardly embarrassed, having forgotten that she was speaking to a son of the last king of that kingdom.

Aedric just smiled, sincerely, “I’m not offended, Snoe.  Not any more.   I’m actually glad now that it is under Westmark’s jurisdiction.”

“Well, with that, and the land that the Queen had added to the Duchies-“

“What land?   I hadn’t heard about that.   She added land to Westmark and Dullerm?”

“Yes, shortly after Prince Edwarren died, when she became Queen.   She had my parents meet with the Dukes of the two neighboring duchies and with her, and they arranged for a land purchase from them.   Westmark and Dullerm were given about 20 miles of land along their eastern border, and the Queen paid the Dukes of these other duchies very well for the land, and gave them some land around King’s Reach in exchange.”

“Dad said they weren’t too happy to each lose 20 miles of their duchies, but the land was rocky and only really good for sheep farming, and they really didn’t have many shepherds, anyway.   It sat there unused and uncultivated and their duchies are huge anyway with most of their populations on the east side, so they really didn’t lose much.”

“I didn’t know about this.”

“It really wasn’t that big of a deal; they kept it low-key, but apparently the Queen was nervous that there could some day be some sort of coup against her reign.   Dad said that she wanted us to fortify the eastern border with watchtowers and an earthen wall.”

“Really?   No one ever mentioned that.   Did they do it?”

“Well, they have the wall mostly done - it isn’t much of a barrier - it looks more like a hedge made of dirt with a big moat in front of it.”

“I didn’t see anything like that when we rode to King’s Reach.”

“They did that on purpose - they wanted to do the section nearest the main roads last.   They probably have about a mile left on the north and south side of the Western Road.”

“What about the Watchtowers?”

“They have several of them done, but none near the roads, so they won’t be much help yet.”

“So your father thinks that the Queen was preparing for just this sort of thing?”

“Yes, more of a precautionary move, I guess, especially after what happened at Orc Pass.  She knew popularity could quickly change… I guess she was right.  She planned to flee to Westmark, if it happened.”

“I’m not sure that this whole change wasn’t orchestrated in the past year.   It is amazing how quickly and completely people’s minds can be changed by a charismatic person or group of people.”

“You may be right.”   Snoe wiped her eyes and pulled slowly away from his shoulder, “Thanks for comforting me.   It’s been tough.  We haven’t had any time to really grieve… or do much of anything.   I just want to get back to Westmark.   How do you feel?”

Aedric thought about that for a moment, “Well, I feel weak and my skin seems very sensitive to any touch.   I take it I was very badly burnt?”

“Yes, but it was due to your armor - in fact it probably kept you from being more seriously burnt.   Your armor partially melted, Aedric, so your skin was more seared then actually burned.”

Aedric snorted, “What’s the difference?”

“Well, your hair didn’t burn off and your muscles weren’t as badly damaged.   Carn wasn’t so lucky.”

“Will he be okay?”

“Aunt Zeatt doesn’t know.   Everyone in that blast hasn’t responded as well to healing spells and potions.   They work, but at a much reduced rate.   Aunt Zeatt personally worked on healing both of you, but it has taken four days and Carn still has a long road ahead of him.”

 

Aedric began to get to his feet in the wobbly wagon.

“What are you doing?”   Snoe asked, grabbing his arm, which caused him a slight twinge of pain from his sensitive skin.

“I should find your father and pledge my services to him.”

 

“You should lay back down and rest.   I was given orders to make sure you stay put if you regained consciousness.   This was Aunt Zeatt’s order.  Besides, father is at the front of the convoy and you don’t have a horse.”

“Or any armor now, I guess.”   He sighed and sat back down, looking over at Carn, “The poor guy, he really looks bad.   With Thorm gone, who will be the Master of the Bitter Dregs in Northmarch?”

“I don’t know " with all that is going on, they’ll really have to stay hidden.”

“So where is that little goblin… Mutt?”

“I’m up here, driving the coach.” The voice came from the front of the wagon.   A moment later and a flap was flipped back, revealing the rather ugly face of the Goblin, who was sitting under a canopy to keep him dry as he drove the wagon.

“Were you listening to our conversation?”  Snoe asked with a gentle smile.

“Yes, actually I was.   Sir Aedric, it’s good to see you with us again.   We were all very worried.”

“Thank you, Mutt.   I’m very glad you are alright as well.   Hopefully we’ll get Carn up and around soon.”

“He’ll make it " he’s like that, a fighter.   You’ll see.”

“I hope so.” Aedric replied, glancing back at the Bugbear who still shook and groaned in his sleep, “We’ll need all the help we can get.”

Reviews

[Elina]

"...groaning softly for seemingly an eternity." Perhaps "...for what seemed an eternity." ?

[Eddie Davis]

Your teachers would be very proud of your skills at proofreading. My teachers would probably spit on me if I passed them by, but many are probably dead or in nursing homes somewhere and probably don't remember the rules they taught me in school anyway. Thanks, Elina.