Vegenrage: The Magic User (17 page)

Ulegwahn is fairly young for an elf, only about four hundred years old and has spent his life proudly doing the things that were expected of him. He did not think about being king or running the kingdom, but it has occurred to him that this responsibility could possibly fall on him. He is well liked by those he lives with, and most here are secure in Ulegwahn’s capability. Actually he would be the choice of most to take on this responsibility, so he has a lot going for him. He has a very strong trust with the upper class of elves right down to the working class, where he spends most of his time working and getting things done. He is young and strong, and his thoughts are more of adventure and excitement than they are of ruling, but he takes his tasks as they come. And whatever they may be, he gives his best to do the best he can. He is looking at the races in the courtyard mingling and smiling, kind of in a daydream, thinking about his new role, when Logantrance shakes his shoulder, gaining his attention.

“Logantrance, I was just processing the situation that we are now in. What should we do about Cloakenstrike?”

“I do not think Cloakenstrike has any more interest here. If he knows about the Sapphirewell, that will be his interest. He may return for that, but I don’t think he will return just to cause more harm to the Erkensharie elves.”

Glimtron looks up to Logantrance. “Let him come for the Sapphirewell. If he does, we have a surprise for him.”

“You and the Dagi are prepared for a run-in with Cloakenstrike?”

“We are prepared. Let him come and taste the blade of my ax.”

“Well, be careful what you wish for, Glimtron. Cloakenstrike is very accomplished, and for good reason, he is as dangerous as they come. I hope he has no sense of the Sapphirewell and we can use this to our advantage because we will surely see him again.”

Ulegwahn puts his hand on the shoulder of Glimtron and Logantrance. “We must find him, seek him out, and put a stop to his chaos.” The three agree in unison.

Glimtron readies his ax from his back. “Let’s go get him, no more waiting for him to show up. Let’s surprise him.”

“Easy, Glimtron,” says Logantrance. “You and your people stay here for a while with the elves. This way both the elves and the dwarves will feel both secured and relaxed. Ulegwahn, I am working on something, a new strength that will be a most formidable ally in our hunt for Cloakenstrike. I must go and work on this, but I will return. Glimtron, after your visit here has finished, take your people home, and when I am ready, I will contact the two of you, and we will take things from there.”

“A new ally, Logantrance, who is this new ally?”

“He is a true master of magic and currently is on a quest. He comes from the human world of earth and is a simple man but possesses true magic.”

Ulegwahn squints his eyes. “A man, a mortal man, what can he do?”

Logantrance looks at Ulegwahn. “Cloakenstrike is a mortal man.”

Ulegwahn nods his head. “True.”

“Resume your lives, and I will come back with some ideas, because right now, I need to work on some things and figure out how we should proceed.”

“Logantrance, stay with us for a while longer, socialize and help me regain people’s morale, plus it would be nice for you to help with the cleaning up of the Great Erken tree.”

“Yes. Ulegwahn, I would like that.”

They go on to mingle with all the people and, later on that day, go with a lot of elves to clean up the disaster that took place in the Great Erken tree the night before.

CHAPTER 14
Alluradaloni Becomes Farrah

Vegenrage puts his hands on Alluradaloni’s shoulders and gently pushes her away, looking into her beautiful eyes. “How does Farrah sound?”

“What?”

“Farrah—do you like the name Farrah?”

She smiles. “Farrah. I like it. Can that be my name?”

“I like it, and if you want, from now on, we will call you Farrah.”

“Yes, my name is Farrah from now on.” And she smiles so beautifully.

“OK, Farrah, I would like to try something. Maybe you can help me find Alisluxkana?”

“How can I help?”

“Well, if you let me, I can look into your past, and maybe somewhere there is a hidden memory that will help us find her. OK. Just relax, this won’t hurt at all.” Vegenrage puts his hands on Farrah’s head and concentrates. He sees a burning house, and Farrah is a newborn baby, only a few days old, crying in a crib. Her mother picks her up wrapped in blankets, and both are crying. Her mother yells, “Why are you doing this!” And she runs out of the house, which is filling with smoke. She gets out of the house. There is a barn to the side, about twenty yards away, and her husband is in front of the barn, tied to two poles that are staked in the ground, forming an
X
. Her husband is bound at the wrists and ankles with metal wire, which is cutting into his flesh, so if he struggles to free himself, the wounds get deeper and cause great pain.

“Emily, run, get out of here, run!”

“No, I won’t leave you.” She runs to her husband. “Brad, what is going on? Why is this happening?”

“It’s Kana. She has followed the dark magic, and she won’t let us be.”

Emily puts the baby down and tries to free her husband. She is crying and struggling with the wire at Brad’s wrists high above her head.

“Emily, you must take Sarah and get out of here.”

“No, I won’t leave you.” Emily tries and tries but cannot undo the wire.

“Emily, she will kill you.”

“Then I will die with you.”

Kana walks out from the barn and faces her palms behind her as she walks toward the struggling husband and wife. Emily sees her and watches as fireballs fly from her palms behind her, setting the barn on fire. Kana is a very beautiful woman with long brown hair, a strong female body, and she points her left hand at Emily.

“What do you want?”

“I want you dead.” Kana squeezes her fist, putting a magical grip on Emily’s throat, cutting off her air supply.

Emily grabs her throat, trying to relieve the pressure, with no result.

“Kana!” yells Brad. “Kana, stop. I will do anything you want.”

“Oh, but, Brad, you already are. You are going to die with your beloved.”

“Kana, stop, please don’t hurt them. They never did anything to you.”

Kana twists her wrist to the right, and you see Emily’s head snap to the right, breaking her neck and killing her instantly. Kana opens her hand, and Emily falls to the ground, motionless.

“No!” Brad yells as he watches his love fall. “Kana, you are sick! You are evil!”

“You made me that way.”

“I do not love you, Kana, and never did. It would have been a lie for me to be with you.”

“You never gave it a try, and now it doesn’t matter. I have what I came for.” Kana picks up the baby and cradles her in her arms.

“Kana, you don’t hurt my baby girl, you don’t hurt her.”

Kana waves her right hand at Brad, and he, along with the poles, flies into the barn, and Kana follows it with flames flying from her hand, engulfing the barn in an inferno, burning it as she walks away smiling, cradling the baby. She then swings her right hand behind her as she walks away, throwing Emily’s body into the burning barn. Kana walks out of sight, carrying the baby.

Vegenrage pulls his hands from Farrah’s head with his eyes still closed and concentrating.

“Did you find her? Did you find her?”

Vegenrage takes a deep breath. “I have to keep searching.” He gently puts his hands back on Farrah’s head.

He sees Kana with Sarah in the cave, and Sarah is still a baby.

“Your father thought he could fall in love with someone other than me, and now you are my baby girl. You are going to be the baby girl that can seduce any man. No man will be able to resist you, and I will steal their souls, giving me eternal life.”

The next time he sees Farrah, she is about six years old, and she is running through a cave that enters into the large cavern.

“Little girl, wait, little girl, where are you going?” A large man sheathed in armor is chasing after her, and he enters the cave, mystified at what he sees. “Little girl, is this where you live?” he asks as the sharp end of Alisluxkana’s broom stabs through his back, immobilizing him.

The next time he sees Farrah, she is now about ten, and a handsome young man is reading from a book to her. He is teaching her language and its proper use. As he reads to her, Alisluxkana walks up behind him and puts her hands on the sides of his head. The man shrieks in pain as his body shrivels, and Alisluxkana sucks the life force from his body. The young Farrah looks on like she does not know what is happening and is emotionless to the terrible act that is taking place.

Vegenrage sees Farrah as she is becoming a young adult and Alisluxkana is giving her potions to drink. These are magical concoctions of female traits and hormones that help Farrah grow naturally but with all the female attractions, making her the perfect visual beauty that she has become. Vegenrage sees many men that have been attracted to Farrah, and Alisluxkana uses their distraction to murder them and steal their soul and essence.

Farrah has been charmed by Alisluxkana since the time she was a baby and has no real sense of the terrible, murderous witch that Alisluxkana is. The magical brews that Alisluxkana gave to Farrah halted her aging at age twenty, and as Alisluxkana kills people, both the life of her and Farrah are extended with each life force stolen. Farrah has maintained her beauty because although she has committed sexual acts to seduce some men and women, it was done under charm, and Farrah is truly innocent, unaware of what she was doing.

The same is not true for Alisluxkana. She followed the path of demons and black magic, which does give her eternal life, but it takes her beauty from her, turning her into the scarred and battered-looking witch she now is. Vegenrage can see how Alisluxkana was a very beautiful woman, and over hundreds of years, she has become more and more grotesque. He cannot find any memory at all of Alisluxkana ever telling Farrah where she lives or ever taking her there. He sees how Alisluxkana has used Farrah to gain the attention of men and women, and while they are helping, teaching, or just plain attracted to Farrah, Alisluxkana kills and takes their life force. He also realizes that Farrah is completely innocent and has been robbed of her natural life. He notices how Alisluxkana has used Farrah for her own personal desires and will not mention it to Farrah, knowing this has to be a very shameful and hurtful past that Farrah had no control over. He pulls his hands from Farrah’s head and takes a deep breath, opening his eyes and looking at her.

“Did you find her? We can go kill that evil witch now right?”

“Farrah, your real name is Sarah.”

“My real name is Sarah.” She smiles. “Did you see my parents? What happened to them?”

“I did see your real parents, and they were …”

“What I want to know.”

“They were murdered by Alisluxkana, and she took you captive and kept you here since you were a baby.”

Farrah puts her hand over her mouth. She looks confused. “I have no memory of them at all, not one. I never knew them. I wish I did know my parents. Sarah is my name. Farrah is the name you chose for me. I think I am going to keep the name Farrah for my own. Is that OK with you?”

Vegenrage nods with open eyes, thinking about Farrahbeth, who saved his life from the demons.

Farrah grabs Vegenrage by the shoulders, shaking him. “Are you OK? Are you there? I like Farrah. I want to keep it as my name.”

“Farrah. I like it.” Vegenrage takes a step back from Farrah and rubs his eyes, thinking about the situation he is now facing. He is the first person in Farrah’s life that she has looked at with her own eyes and her own thoughts. He believes this will make him very attractive to her, and she is young and at the age in her life where she wants to love and to be loved, he believes. He knows he cannot leave her in this place and does not want the confusion of being in dangerous situations and worrying about the safety of Farrah. Well, he does but tries to reason how this will affect his thought process. Farrah does not let Vegenrage think too long before she snaps him back to the here and now.

“Vegenrage! Hey, Vegenrage! What are we going to do? Let’s not waste time. We have to go find and kill that witch.”

Vegenrage puts his hand over his face and said with a deep breath, “I don’t know how to find her. Well, I can find her, but I am concerned about you and your safety.”

“I will be safe, I will be with you.”

He so did not want to hear her say that—well, yes, he did. He is already bouncing back and forth in his head like all confused older men do when they are next to beautiful and innocent young women. He shakes his head.
What the hell.
He gets that stern look in his eyes; that serious look takes over his face. “Enough of this.”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you ready to go kill that witch?”

“Yes.”

“OK, I want you to listen to me good, OK?”

“OK.”

“I am not going to leave you here and where we are going is very dangerous. Alisluxkana will kill you if given the chance, because you are not under her charm anymore. I will do what I can to make sure she cannot get to you, but that is no guarantee. From now on, you are an adult. You are your own woman, and the choices you make are your own. Let’s go get that witch.”

Farrah smiles. “OK.”

Vegenrage looks around all the treasures on the floor that he pulled from the walls and finds a piece of leather armor. He picks it up. “Here, we are going to get you a little better prepared for our journey.” He closes his eyes and rolls his hands to his sides, palms facing her. Her shirt unbuttons and comes off her.

“What are you doing?”

“You’ll see.” Of course, Vegenrage opens his eyes as the shirt changes its form to a perfectly fitting bra for Farrah. Her pants split down the side of each of her legs and come off, changing their form to a perfectly fitting underwear for her. The leather armor rises up in front of Farrah and changes its form to very comfortable and well-fitting pants and a full long-sleeved shirt for her to wear.

Farrah looks at her new clothing with a great smile on her face. “I love them.”

“Now we need to get some good, comfortable boots for you to wear.” Vegenrage looks around all the scattered items on the floor, and sure enough, there are some leather boots that he magically alters to fit her perfectly.

Farrah looks over her new all-leather attire, except for her underwear, and is very happy. The inside of the clothing touching her skin is very soft, and the outside leather is good protection from the weather.

“You are all set now.”

She looks at Vegenrage with a smile. “You wanted to see me naked, didn’t you?”

“Of course. Now listen, wait here for a minute, OK? I need to check the entrance to make sure Alisluxkana has not set any traps for us, and I will be right back.”

“OK.”

Vegenrage takes a step back and levitates up through the exit. Farrah smiles watching him rise up out of sight. She is so excited. She has never been outside of this cavern, which has been her home all her life, and she is so excited to explore. She can remember her past and what Alisluxkana had her do, but that is not her and all the people that have been killed were not her fault. She is very well adjusted, not dwelling on the horror of her past, and Vegenrage being the only person able to evade her charm and escape death by Alisluxkana makes him very attractive to her. She wants to adventure and explore with Vegenrage but has no idea what is out there.

Vegenrage rises up through the tunnel leading to the Mindsunk Bog, and before he reaches the bog, a circle of blue and white grows around him. It looks like a sphere of sky and clouds and is designed to deflect any projectiles that may be thrown his way. As he exits the tunnel, he lands close on the ground and pounds his closed fists onto the ground. The sphere takes the shape of a dome and extends, growing up and outward, creating a brilliant light. The dome extends outward, past the clearing created by his incineration spell earlier and into the tree line about ten yards, and sure enough, many traps are sprung. There are magical arrows all around the circular opening, along with fireballs and weak magic missiles, which are simply absorbed by Vegenrage’s magical shield.

Alisluxkana has set traps with barbed wires that extend the entire width of the cleared landscape and, when triggered, pull together very fast, meant to cut victims in half. Vegenrage levitates high enough in the air to avoid these traps and floats back down to the ground, igniting an incineration spell as he has done before, clearing the landscape yet again.

Farrah is looking up, already jittery and anxious to explore the outside world. She looks around, amazed as she feels very light and begins to rise up out of her lifelong prison. She rises out of the tunnel and is gently put down, standing next to Vegenrage, who is holding his Staff of Light, which is so cool, looking like a lightning bolt in his hand. She looks around, ready to adventure. He holds out his left hand to her. “Here, hold my hand.” She does with her right hand. She feels all tingly, like when you hit the funny bone on your elbow. It is not a good feeling, and it moves down her arm through her shoulder and moves throughout her whole body. This lasts for about ten seconds.

“What was that? I did not like it.”

“I have created Diamond Skin for you. This will protect you from any organic threat. There are many beasts and/or monsters in this land, and if any should slash at you with claws or teeth, this will protect you. If any poisonous snakes or insects try to bite you, this will protect you as well. Just don’t become separated from me. I am very concerned about Alisluxkana charming you to her control, and this presents a difficult situation for us. She has had you under her charm for so long that even the strongest of magic will not be able to defend against her control of you. The only way to prevent her power over you is to destroy her.” Vegenrage has not mentioned the scale affixed to his clothing that fortunately was not damaged when Alisluxkana thrust her broom through him. He so wants to give it to her, but he cannot take the chance because he also will fall under charm without it. He wishes he could break the scale and give some to her, but breaking the scale would degrade its protective power, and this is a chance he cannot take, and so he keeps the scale a secret.