The Spell of Binding (Part One) (8 page)

Slis, on the other hand, was hungry. In the morning, when the group moved on, he would slither out and see what food had been left behind. He hoped to f ind something nice; he had a delicate stoma ch.

It wasn’t all bad though. Regardless of how uncomfortable they were, they were still excited about their mission.

Chapter Ten

THE PROPHETESS

V
orr slowly walked along, his anger gradually leaving him.
How I hate that damn vampire. Maybe I w ill hold all the Heads of Houses meeting s outside from now on, in the blazing sun.
He chuckled to himself ; a n unpleasant sound.

Compared to the throne room the chamber he was heading towards was comparatively small, but in res pects of sheer size the chamber was still massive; and just as full, but for a completely different reason.

Vorr’s immense bulk rounded another corner, his towering height caus ed his wing tips to rub slightly on the ceiling. He made a mental note to have the ceiling raised, as he did every time he walked this way. But as always he forgot all about it as soon as he reached his destination.

He hated having to go and see her, but knew it was important. He knew he wouldn’t get the information out of her until the time was right. She had been under his protection for over two thousand years; that was a lot of food –she was no lightweight when it came to the eating department.

Offhandedly, he wondered when she had last seen the light of day. He thought that was ironic, considering what some humans thought she use d to be.

Tonight was possibly one of the most important meetings he would have since returning to this world. He had been waiting hundreds of years to hear what she would say. It all seemed an anticlimax. Maybe he should be following a musical procession, or all the House Heads. Walking down silently and alone seemed wrong somehow.

Vorr could hear a low droning as he approached the next corner. The heat started to get stifling, and considering he was a demon, then that mean t it was getting extremely hot.

The walls were dripping with pale goo; bubbling and rolling down the heated rock, as if the stone itself was crying. Small beetle type creatures scurried about underfoot. He dared not step on one, that would make her angry . And even though technically he was king, he didn’t think that really mattered to her. Down here, she ruled.

Vorr rounded the last corner, deep, deep down under his throne room. The chamber was vast, but cluttered. She ha d hundreds of helpers –feeders.

Vorr came to a halt, right on the edge of a cliff that dropped down into a fier y pool of magma that ran off in to the gloomy distance; always churning, bubbling, rising and spitting. And there, hanging above the superheated rock, surrounde d by protecting, feeding mini ons, hung the Great Prophetess.

She hung upside down like a hug gluttonous sack, with hundreds of her young moving constantly over her body.

Vorr could understand how an ancient tribe (ancestors to the Egyptians ) upon seeing her began to worship her, and how thousands of years later, in Egyptian mythology, she was still looked upon as a Goddess –Khepri, the Great Scarab beetle –The Sun. Even after she, along with all the other dark creatures, had bee n banished to another dimension .

The p rophetess noticed Vorr’s presence. Without a word all the smaller creatures started to spread their wings and fly off her body. Others were scurrying up the huge tethers that connected her to the roof of the cavern, all disappearing from sight, shooting down holes that doted all the walls. A small collection landed by Vorr and started to scuttle in to a pile, r esembling a nightmarish, living chair, a ll controlled by her hive mind.

He hated sitting on it, but it would make her happy. Slowly he lowered himself into its grasp. He hated how they moved under his weight; always shifting, clicking and rustling.

Now they had removed themselves off her, she was radiant. With the heat from beneath her wing casings glowed with an inner power – she shone like the very sun. Her two powerful, immense wings opened, revealing an oily, reflective body. A small head twisted in Vorr’s direction.

“You have come for the prophecy?” Her hoarse voice reverberated throughout the chamber. Grit and small sta lactites fell from the ceiling.

She doesn’t get wiser with age , Vorr thought to himself. “Yes, Great Prophetess.”

“An age I have waited to impart my vision. Worlds have come and gone.” She shifted; a tether broke, falling to the magma, it boiled around it, consuming it.

“I will describe my vision, our king…”

Vorr stood. He had been protecting and feeding her for a millennium, preparing for this day.

Chapter Eleven

OLD MEMORIES

S
imeon woke up cold and aching from every joint. He lay still, his mind was confused. For a few brief moments he didn’t know where he was. He went to move his head off the cold stone flooring.
Where am I ?
he wondered .

His head fell back to the hard flagstone. Darkness returned .

His confused mind jumped to the past.

An image appeared in his minds eye, an image of the first elf he had ever saw ; glorious and radiant – beautiful. He remembered the story of how they had first appeared. A t first there was just glimpses, flashes in the night. What could they be? Rumors spread quickly. Maybe it was a mutated form of a human-type biped that had been living in the deep wastelands?

Then the first ambassador for the elves approached the human race, in all his splendor and magnificence. It was a time of suspicion and open hostility. Where did they come from? The elves were tightlipped and only imparted limited information . Decades passed . Skills were traded. Trust was eventually gained. The elves became trusted advisors to great magi’s, and kings of old.

Then somethi ng different appeared – dwarfs!

At least dwarves look similar, simply smaller. But people whispered, what more was coming? How much sparse land did they have to give up? The suspicion started all over again. Three races trying to live side-by-side. Each with its own laws and rulers. Each with its own beliefs and customs. Times were har d. At first bickering turned in to fighting. Small wars broke out. Eventually all-out war. It was a complete massacre.

Over the years everything settled down, people became accustom to the new arrivals, even though no real answers as to where th ey came from w as ever given.

Eventually acceptance was granted. They became New Mankind. Three races, living side-by-side as one. Small skirmishes – mainly land disputes –still erupted from time to time, but nothing major. The kings at the time sorted the disputes out.

Simeon’s eyes flickered. The aching rushed back over his old worn body. He slumped back to the flagstone flooring, unable to conjure the strength to lift his body. Dizziness returned.

Memories flooded his aching mind. Flashes of the distance past. He was young and carefree. A diffe rent time completely. Decades had passed, elves, dwarfs and humans now lived side-by-side.

Simeon remembered training as a young apprentice, strong willed and eager to learn. A physically perfect body, schooled in the arts of athletics and warfare. This was years before he had to take his place in defending a city against the destructive hordes of hell. A time of relative peace. He had been cocooned from all the violence behind tall, magically protected walls. He had never left the protection of the city. Everything outside was just stories. He was happy with what he had.

A memory jump to a different age, the age of fighting, when he had to face the creatures for the first time. It was horrific. Stories and training hadn’t prepared him for what he had to face.

He could easily imagine the complete destruction when they had first appeared . What New Mankind had managed to build was destroyed so quickly by them. How they were scattered, lost without direction, and utterly confused. Picked off with ease and violence. It had taken years to rally the magi to fight back. Years to organize a decent defense. Years to create a magical barrier that they couldn’t penetrate . A barrier they now all took for granted . The three races of New Mankind had to pull together as never before. They had no choice. Unite or die was the new banner they all rallied under.

Simeon’s eyes fluttered again. This time his senses started to return. The images of his minds eye were banished bac k to old corners of his memory.

Every inch of his old body ached with a fierce intensity. He managed to prop himself up on one elbow and scan his surroundings. His memory returned like a kick in the face, he almos t flinched at the recall .

Someone had betrayed him. Hurt him. Tried to cause him real physical pain – and succeeded. His anger started to burn, washi ng away the pain his body felt.

He lay across the base of the statue, with the swirling moat of runes still encircling him. He cast his eyes down to the runes sown into the hem of his garment. The cause of his suffering. Someone had tampered with them ; chang ed them. He received clean clothes each day, laid out by an assistant.

How had someone managed to tamper with my runes ?

Long ago he used to check them, make sure they were joined properly –sown rig ht. Over time he had slipped in to a habit of simply putting t hem on.

Who would want to hurt me?
Everything I d o is for the good of the majority. I have given up years of my li fe to the betterment of others.

Simeon’s anger was growing like a volcano; building, pushing at the limits o f his physical body. In a flash all the pain was washed away . He sprung to his feet as if on elastic. With a wave of his hands runes burst forth, battering away the ones sown on his garments, obliterating them completely, causing the bottom of his clothing to flare up in magical green flames. They died as quickly as they started; leaving his knees visible through the tattered remains. In another flash of his hands –his sleeves flying like things possessed, his age completely forgotten –runes ripp ed the moats protective barrier apart. Electrical discharges flicked about the chamber, blowing chunks out of the wall and statue. Still Simeon continued. In one final display of sheer power the moats protective safeguards exploded, and after one mighty flash the chambe r was left in complete darkness. Smoke hung heavy in the stagnant air.

Simeon’s shoulders sagged in the darkness. Slowly, his breath returned, bu t his anger was still building.

Someone ha s taken the Book. Someone tried to kill me . Someone was going to pay dearly.

A lesser being would have been incinerated by the magic he used to protect the artifact. But the magic was his, created by him.

With a simple flick of his wrist a rune glowed in the smoky chamber, highlighting the devastating power his magic had unleashed. Stone and rubble littered the floor. The only thing left standing, even though it had an arm missing, and chunks gouged out of it, was the statue. Simeon gave it a quick glance, knowing deep down that it was both of their fault th is was happening – their shame.

At this though his anger had now turned psychotic, years of built up emotions waiting to be unleashed. Instead of rising bac k up through the stone flooring and along the corridors, he went directly out the thick stone wall, which was suspended above the Main Gate. In a shower of falling masonry and massive stones, Simeon, like a vengeful ancient mythical God, landed right next to the powerful Sphere that hung above the main entrance to New Babel.

Chapter Twelve

DESERT HEAT

S
lis and Qwat stood looking down in to the fading embers of a fire. Before leaving t he group had tipped s and over the fire to smother it . Slis found this funny for some reason, wondering why they had bothered.

It’s not as if anything would be set alight, it was simply sand... sand everywhere.

Qwat was rummaging through the embers; a bit of charcoal was a nice change to sandstone and sedimentary rock. What he wouldn’t give for a nice chunk of granite, or quarts. He had black smears around his wide mouth as he finished his breakfast.

Slis on the other hand was still hungry; all he had found to eat was slim pickings off a couple small, what looked like, lizard carcasses, which had been tossed to the side. After he had finished getting every last scrap off, he tossed it t o Qwat, who proceeded to munch down on the bones.

How Slis hated the desert and its crushing heat. His scales were drying out and becoming brittle. The sand was so rough and corrosive against his under belly. What he wouldn’t give to be soaking in his scummy cold pond, eating a nice raw fish head right about now.

Qwat had finished the skeletons and all the charco al and came to stand beside Slis. In the distance, from their elevated position, they could see sand and dust being kicked up by the small group who were heading towar ds the large city of Keep Safe.

Qwat burped. A tong of flames erupted from his nos trils. He patted his warty gut.

Slis’ stomach rumbled. His belly was empty on the inside and aching from the hot rough sand on the outside.
What a great start to a new day , he thought. It could only get better , he decided.

How wrong he was.

*

It was scorching in the heat, even at the break of dawn. They had been traveling for only an hour and the heat was affecting them already. The small group trudged along at a controlled rate, trying to control their breathing in the deserts wicked temperature.

Minika had pointed out that they would reach the city within hours. It was dangerous traveling around during the heat of the day, but they needed to get to the location of the Temple of Time as fast as humanly, el fingly and dwarfingly possible.

Minika needed to get to the city of Keep Safe because part of the message she was sent was in code. The ancient Grimoire of Absconditus was locked away in the city’s dry catacombs. The message had reference to one particular word on one line on one page. As a child her father would send her codes to break. They would be simple to start with, but eventually they became complicated. One code had taken her three months to crack, because it was so old and unused. The code was a Vigenere Cipher, which needed a keyword to crack it. So until she knew what word was her Key, the Spells location was just gibberish.