Heading back out of the Govi Glade before their presence caused the spheres to speed up any more, Thorik and Santorray carefully watched all sides for danger. And danger is what they found, only this was not in the form of a rogue sphere which they had expected.
Lifting out of the ground just outside of the glade, a red glowing mass of liquid rock began to form arms, legs, and long teeth. The creature stood between the sleeping travelers back at camp and the two still in the glade. Fire escaped from cracks on the creature’s motionless body while its outer surface cooled to a crusty black. Bakalor’s son had returned.
“Grub?” Thorik’s eyes widened and his mouth open, as he stood speechless for a moment. “But…Rummon killed him.”
Santorray stepped in front of Thorik to protect him. However, in doing so, Grub could tell exactly where the Blothrud was. Without eyes, the lesser demon used the vibrations in the ground to determine his enemies’ locations.
Opening his gaping mouth, which spanned his stomach, intense flames rolled out of Grub after facing Santorray. Then, without hesitation, he charged at the two travelers in the glade.
“Run!” Thorik swiveled around and followed his own advice.
“Split up,” Santorray said. “He can’t follow us both.”
Grub ran halfway before folding up his arms and legs and rolling after them. The massive heat pouring out of the lesser demon scorched a path in the earth as it increased its speed.
Thorik veered off to the left, and Santorray to the right. Spheres increased their speed from the energy of three beings within the glade perimeters. Lighting struck inside some, others were completely black. Nearly a third of them had sun shining within their barrier’s grasp.
Looking back to see which one of them Grub was chasing, Thorik had mixed feelings about finding the molten mass rolling behind him.
Banking to the left and then tumbling to the right, Thorik used every trick he knew to lose his chaser. Unfortunately the small gains he made were quickly lost when he ran straight.
“Get him near a sphere!” Santorray followed from behind, carrying a large branch he had pulled from one of the deformed trees.
The Num turned and dodged a near fatal attack from Grub. “Why?”
“Get as close as you can and I’ll knock him into it.”
It may not have been a good plan, but at least it was a plan. Thorik knew he couldn’t keep running forever. Seeing a cluster of spheres all rising up near each other, he figured it would increase the odds of Santorray being able to knock Grub into one of them as they ran near them.
Darting off in a new direction, Thorik added a few feet between himself and the lesser demon as they both raced toward the spheres with the Blothrud following behind with his bulky wooden weapon. By the time they reached the cluster of spheres, Grub was on Thorik’s heels as his heat began to burn the Num’s back.
Struggling to catch up to them, Santorray leaped forward with all his might and swung at the lesser demon while still flying in the air.
Smacking the fiery mass with the end of the thick branch, the wood immediately ignited into a huge torch, as Grub went rolling into one of the winter spheres with an ice storm coating everything in sight.
Crashing to the ground, Santorray nearly impaled himself with the other side of the tree limb.
Thorik skidded to a halt, before running back to his friend. “You did it!”
“Not so fast. We’re not safe yet.” Santorray peered up to witness a few more spheres emerged on their other side. They were now surrounded by them. They were trapped.
A flash from within one of the darker spheres caught Thorik’s eyes. He looked inside of it to witness a battle of magic. “The spheres are moving faster. We’ll have to make a quick escape once an opening presents itself.”
“No time!” Santorray yelled as Grub launched himself back out of the sphere he had rolled into. His crusted over mass flung through the air, striking the branch that Santorray quickly pulled up to block himself with. Igniting the branch, the thick wood had prevented Grub from touching the Blothrud, but the impact knocked him backward.
Santorray’s fall pushed both he and Thorik into the sphere the Num had been looking at. They fell backward in time, and into the actual battle which had carved the glade into a place of danger. They were now in the middle of the Alchemist and E’rudite War, and the night air was electrified with magic.
Grub followed in after them into the glade of the past.
Seeing him arrive, Santorray rolled to his feet and swung his flaming club, knocking the glowing mass out of the glade toward one of the two battling sides. In doing so, his branch exploded into a thousand splinters. His weapon was destroyed.
“We need to get back out of this sphere before it closes,” Thorik yelled over the pounding noise of the battle. The only noticeable sight of their passageway, from this side of the sphere, was a slight hue change to what appeared to be the inside of an arched piece of glass, a section of glass which was getting smaller by the moment. The location of the sphere was unnoticeable for anyone not specifically looking for it.
Racing back toward their exit home, a battered old man appeared before them, blocking their way. “Death to all those who refuse to believe!” he yelled, before clapping his hands tightly together. Waves of energy sprung forth from his single clap, knocking Santorray high in the air and into the front lines of battle.
There wasn’t time for Thorik to run all the way over to his friend and back as the sphere continued to close.
“Thorik! Run!” Santorray shouted as he became engaged in the battle. “Don’t wait for me!”
Thorik tried to determine exactly how far the Blothrud had been thrown, but all he could see were the bodies he was tossing up in the air as he attempted to make his way back.
“A Num?” laughed the battered old man. “I’ll melt you down where you stand. Raising his arms to perform a spell, Thorik felt his feet become stuck to the ground, preventing him from escaping.
Thorik could see the sphere as it continued to close. Attempting to jump, his feet had taken root to the ground, causing Thorik to fall forward. In doing so, he felt a ball of extreme heat roll past his back.
Grub had returned. His flying attack on the Num had missed. When the Num fell, the lesser demon had shot past him and hit the old man by mistake, instantly killing him instead of Thorik.
The spell holding Thorik’s feet to the ground was immediately released, due to the spell caster’s death. Freedom to reach his exit was available again. However, Grub now stood in his way of the sphere as he breathed a furnace of heat toward the Num.
“Off with you!” came a voice from the side. It was followed by Grub’s body being crushed in midair. Squeezing tighter and tighter, the lesser demon shrunk from the building pressure until a bright flash of light blazed outward, leaving nothing but a large diamond floating where he once was.
Grabbing the diamond, the E’rudite who had turned Grub into the gem, handed it to Thorik.
Thorik looked up to see a friend he had missed for a very long time. “Ambrosius!”
“Thorik, get out of here! You don’t belong here.”
“The sphere is nearly closed.” The Num pointed to the small section of floating color distortions hovering in the air. “And Santorray is out there. I can’t leave him.”
“Get back to where you came before you make things worse. I’ll take care of your friend.”
Thorik took a step toward the sphere and then turned back to his dearly missed companion. “I have so much to ask you.” He hesitated as to his next action. “Come with me!”
“Go!” The E’rudite held out his hand, forcing the Num into the air and back into what remained of the sphere before it closed up.
Thorik rolled out of the sphere just as it went under the ground. Several more continued to float about, as he waited for Santorray to appear from one of them. However, the longer he stood in the glade, the more danger he put himself into. But he refused to leave. In fact, he
was hoping to increase the speed of the number of spheres in order to increase the chances for Santorray to appear in one of them. It was a risk he was willing to take.
Dodging his way from one sphere to another, he kept on his toes and hoped one wouldn’t open up directly below him.
This went on for several minutes before he heard a loud scream of pain. Looking up, he witnessed a massive creature fall from a sphere above him. The two-headed creature had two arms, four legs and a tail that had a sharp hook on its end. Long sharp horns rose from its head while shorter ones traced down both of its long snake-like necks. Blood from recent cuts and bite marks coated parts of the beast’s body and splattered against the grass glade. The creature had fallen out of an overhead sphere and into the glade, nearly landing on the Num.
Thorik fell backward from the shock. This was not what Thorik was hoping would appear.
Shaking off the unpleasant landing, the creature stood up and looked down at the Num. Reaching out with both of its arms, it leaned forward to scoop Thorik up as he attempted to crawl away.
But before it reached the helpless Num, Santorray fell from the same sphere and landed on the creature’s back. With a bloody saber in each hand, he stabbed the creature deep into his back.
Three times the size of Santorray, the creature arched its back and tried to grab the Blothrud.
Bracing his body with one saber deep into the creature, Santorray used the other one to slice one of the creature’s long necks. Blood sprayed from the new gash, glazing the grass and the Num with thick red liquid.
Jerking from the cut, the creature attempted to buck the Blothrud off its back. It thrashed back and forth and swung its tail violently to crush its attacker.
Even with his best grip firmly holding onto his saber, the speed and mass of the creature’s tail knocked Santorray off its back. Sliding down the beast’s side, he dug his arm spikes into the creature’s skin, ripping a long gaping cut down its shoulder and chest.
Flailing about, the creature reached over and finally caught Santorray in his grip.
It was at that moment when Santorray reached up inside the new wound with his saber and struck the creature’s heart.
A sudden moment of silence followed as the creature realized what had happened. An instant later, the creature fell forward, while Thorik scrambled to get out from under him before being crushed.
With a thunderous crash, the creature’s lifeless body stretched out across the field.
Pulling his arm and weapon out of the creature, the Blothrud stepped back from it and wiped his sabers clean.
“Santorray!” Thorik shouted.
“Thorik, what are you still doing here? Did you accomplish your mission?”
“What? We haven’t even finished sleeping the night away.”
“This is the same night we fell into the sphere?”
Thorik looked baffled. “Of course. Why would you think differently?”
“Because I’ve been fighting in battles for months. It could be a year for all I recall. Then I saw the inside of a sphere.”
“And that creature prevented you access to the sphere, so you had to kill it?”
Santorray shook his head as he sheathed his sabers. “No, he and his two bigger brothers were in my way. He made a run for it once I taught the others a lesson. He made a bad choice of places to run.”
During their discussion, a sphere emerged from the ground, near the two, and covered up the location of the creatures left shoulder and head. As it moved past, it had replaced those parts of the creature’s body with grass and shrubs. It literally looked as though the parts had been precisely carved away from the rest of the creature’s body. It wouldn’t be long before the entire body had vanished and replaced with the glade at other times in history.
“We need to get out of here.” Santorray turned toward the nearest edge of the glade.
Thorik jumped to his feet and followed Santorray, exiting the glade boundary. He didn’t understand why the spheres couldn’t pass the perimeter, but it was obvious where the boundary was by the row of undistorted trees and brush.
Rounding the perimeter of the glade, the two returned to camp, no one was the wiser that Thorik and Santorray had nearly vanished in the night after speaking to ghostly spirits and falling into a sphere. But what haunted the Num, more than the disembodied voices or not having a chance to speak with Ambrosius, were the words of warning he had received about Avanda and Vesik.
Once they arrived, Santorray began healing his wounds while Thorik woke Grewen and told him of the shack and the adventure that followed. It was important that he didn’t forget any details by sleeping on it prior to discussing it.
Grewen sat quietly and listened before responding. “Are you sure you weren’t sleeping?”
“Yes, I’m sure. Santorray was with me.”
Grewen stretched his long arms out and twisted his head to work out the kinks in it. “You saw Ambrosius? Are you sure it was him?”
“Yes, but he was different somehow. His face…wasn’t burnt. I never met him prior to Darkmere’s attack on the Grand Council, when Ambrosius was severely burnt across the side of his neck and face. But I know it was him, and he knew me as well. He called me by name.”
“Did he tell you how he survived Weirfortus or what his plans are to prevent Darkmere from destroying our lands?”
“No, there was no time to talk. He simply saved me from Grub and then sent me flying back through the sphere. Look, I even have what remains of Bakalor’s son.” He pulled out a large diamond from his pocket.
Grewen nodded. “So we know nothing more about him or what we need to do to help in this pending war.”
“No, we will have to carry on as we were. The question I have is whether this is tied to the warning about Vesik.”
Grewen’s bald forehead bunched forward at the thought. “So, a haunted shack shows up out of nowhere to warn you that Avanda is in danger from the book, Vesik?”
“You make it sound ridiculous.”
“I didn’t make it sound like anything more than a summary of your story.” Straightening out his legs, he hung his toes over the campfire flames. “Would you say it’s a fair statement?”
“Yes, for the most part. The problem is that I couldn’t hear a lot of the words. There was a warning, and Vesik’s name was said. And so was Avanda’s. So it seems pretty clear.”
One of Grewen’s large eyebrows raised up. “Perhaps. But could it be a warning that Avanda will destroy the book?”
Thorik hadn’t considered that. “Why would she destroy it?”
“I didn’t say she would. We’re just guessing the meaning of this riddle…we may not even have enough clues to properly perform this task.”
“We know enough that Avanda needs to stay away from Vesik. That we know for sure.”
“We do?” Grewen wiggled his toes in the lapping flames.
“Yes. I heard it say, ‘Warning, Vesik, and Avanda.’ What else could it be?”
“I don’t know, but that doesn’t imply there isn’t another option.”
“Well, until you think of one, I’m going to make sure Avanda keeps her distance from Vesik.”
“That may be a little harder than you think.” Grewen pointed toward the second campfire in which Bryus had established farther from the glade than the original camp.
Snuggled up under Avanda’s arms was the book of magic, as the Num slept next to Bryus and his campfire. Her face was content and relaxed as she cuddled the large book to her chest and stomach.
Thorik had no idea if they had fallen asleep naturally or if one of her spells had knocked them both out again. “You know, Grewen, I just get a bad feeling about her having that book.”
Grewen yawned and stretched. “I think you are just spooked from the shack you saw. See if you feel differently in the morning.”
“I doubt it. The book could be dangerous. It might be best if we keep it away from her, perhaps even tonight. At least until we know wh
at the warning is about.”
“We may never know. Besides, doesn’t this sound like Brimmelle’s reason for taking Gluic’s dagger from you?”
“No, this is completely different. When we first met Ambrosius, he had warned us to stay away from magic. Then, he suddenly appears right after I receive this warning. Let’s face it, Avanda’s spells are usually more dangerous than they are helpful. And now we have just given her more power.”
Raking his fingers back through his hair, Thorik knew that pulling the book away from her would only end in a fight. “I’ll address this with Bryus in the morning. Do you think he would help me with this?”
Looking back to Grewen for approval, he found the Mognin already lying back down and falling asleep. Apparently Grewen didn’t feel it was his decision to make.
Chapter 37
Open Book