Blue Diamonds (Book One of The Blue Diamonds Saga) (13 page)

“I sense something very upset in here,” he warned.

“Something? What do you mean by something?” asked the prince.

"Exactly that. Something."

"Can you elaborate?" asked Shomnath.

"Isn't the fact that it's upset enough?"

Shomnath shrugged Baymar’s grip and proceeded into the tunnel with new confidence. The carved walls told him that there were likely intelligent beings involved here, and if so he wanted to have a chat with them. In the least, they might know what happened to the ferryboat, and at best, know of another way to cross the sea.

Before Baymar could protest two yellow orbs, nearly as tall as they, flickered from somewhere down in the tunnel. Although the flash beamed out of the darkness for only a fraction of a second it captured their full attention with paralyzing effect.

They held their breath, embracing the stillness of the cave. Baymar’s hand was once again on Shomnath’s shoulder, only this time it trembled slightly. Then, the orbs exploded with the intensity of twin suns. They quickly shielded their eyes out of instinct, but weren't prepared for how the entire cave began to quake violently, causing them both to lose their balance. Along with the shaking came a deafening moan that sent sound waves reverberating down the tunnel walls and through their bodies.

Shomnath drew a dagger, immediately realizing the inadequacy of his action. Baymar regretted following the prince into the cave but was too frightened to speak. Futilely they shielded the light with raised hands and began to slowly back out of the tunnel. Suddenly, in the midst of them backing out and trying not to tumble over each other, the light bore straight at them with violent speed.

At the moment of impact they realized that the yellow orbs were connected to a monstrous, flat beaked face as wide and tall as the cave itself, but by then it was too late to react. The creature slammed into them as though they didn’t exist, with a butting force that rattled their bones and lifted them from their feet.

Luckily for Baymar, Shomnath’s body was directly in front of him, and it cushioned the initial impact of the giant face. Unluckily this effect was reversed threefold when they were flung outside and into the air, after which the prince landed on the cleric with a thump. Adrenaline hid whether they were hurt initially, but they both quickly scrambled to their feet, tripping over each other as they back-peddled from the ensuing madness.

Rolo, Kala, and Pall were quickly behind them with weapons drawn, but they weren’t in any type of defensive stance. Instead, they stood gawking at what was taking place.

The creature eclipsed the sun, casting a wide shadow over a portion of the beach. The earthquake they felt inside the tunnel was the hill breaking free of the ground. Now, the hill itself was high above, leaving a wide crater in the beach. It hovered like a floating mountain, dripping sparkling black sand. The behemoth balanced on three legs that stemmed from caves they hadn’t seen earlier, because the holes were buried in the beach. A fourth hole was visible, but no leg emerged from the opening.

The creature had a beak of glossy, orange marble, while the neck and face was a dull, blue-green. The inside of its beak glittered white with jagged quartz. Once Baymar regained his bearing, he quickly understood what they were witnessing. It was an earth elemental, and a most ancient one at that judging by its proportions and prehistoric turtle shape. This was good news, for these rogue spirits of the earth were a wise, peaceful creature. Very opposite from the more commonly seen gorilla-shaped descendants who are much smaller, violent, and murderously savage.

The Mages Guild had many research papers theorizing that as time passed, and more pollution damage was inflicted upon the world, these once peaceful spirits devolved along with the land. They became twisted, mad, and infinitely agitated, for they are part of the world itself and the world knows exactly what is destroying her. It was no surprise, at least not to Baymar, that humans were the usual victims to these mystical creatures. Yet benevolent reputation aside, this particular Elemental was wounded judging by the missing leg and that made it impossible to predict its mood. Then, loud as thunder, the ancient one spoke.

“Whyy caann’t humanssss leavvvve Aga alooone?” boomed the elemental.

The voice rang so loudly that they dropped to their knees. Aga’s beak did not move, but his voice thundered from the very stone it was made of. His was the voice of the earth, the voice of mountains. The companions looked to each other confused. Even if they wanted to attack, how do you begin to fight something twenty stories tall and made of solid rock?

“Oh, great Aga!" Shomnath stunned everyone with his outburst, including Aga judging by the long pause.

"We have humbly come in need of your help, and we are prepared to help you!” Shomnath gave a quick, but hardly assuring grin back to his friends. Baymar was waving his hands and shaking his head for the prince to stop.

“Whaaaat hellllllp frommmmm punnnnny humaanns?” The ancient Aga boomed again, this time with a stomp of his foot that shook the ground so violently that even Rolo was brought down on his ass.

“Yea, what help?” whispered Pall, wide-eyed. Shomnath ignored him, fully focused on the giant turtle.

“I, Shomnath, prince of Somerlund, have with me the world’s greatest healer to help you regain your leg,” declared Shomnath. He was now standing and yelling up to the elemental, waving a hand at Baymar, who had apparently been promoted to
world's greatest healer
without knowing it.

“What?” Baymar gasped. He was also standing now, and but unlike the mask of confidence that the prince wore, his face spoke of the fear he felt. Healing a creature of flesh and bone is a completely different than healing one of spirit and stone, and he shuddered to imagine the outcome if he couldn't perform the healing.

Another long pause followed.

“Humanns on Booat hurrrt Aaagaaa.”

An even harder stomp followed this time, sending flocks of birds squawking into the sky. Shomnath was relieved to get to the bottom of what caused the shipwreck. Baymar did not share his relief.

“I apologize for my people, oh great and mighty Aga. I'm here to right their wrong, to help you, in exchange for a small favor.” Shomnath spoke with increased volume and confidence, which only added to his companion’s nerves. Their weapons remained sheathed, but they each fingered at their amulets, ready to take flight the instant the situation shifted for the worse.

“Whaaaat faaavorr?” thundered the elemental, but this time there was no stomp. Now Shomnath smiled. He knew he’d caught his turtle.

“All that we want, is to be brought across the boiling sea,” he said, gesturing out towards the green horizon.

During the pause that followed Shomnath turned to his companions with a confident smile stretching across his face. As confident as the prince looked, Baymar noticed that sweat beaded across his forehead, and that he was also gripping his amulet.

“Healll Aaagaa now!” it thundered, swinging its head down to their level. For a moment Baymar thought they were going to be a quick elemental snack and he nearly soiled himself.

“Okay cleric, it’s your show now,” said Shomnath. The prince sounded at ease, but he quickly maneuvered away from the cleric, as did the others. Kala looked at him with such sorrow in her eyes that the hair on Baymar's neck raised.

“Great, either I’ll heal his leg and get us across the lake, or we’ll all die a horrible insect’s death,” said the cleric.

Shomnath gave him a pat on the back. “You’ll do great,” he said. If the prince was worried it didn’t show.

Baymar closed his eyes, and then inhaled several slow breaths, trying his best to avoid the panic attack he felt coming on. When he opened his eyes, he found Aga’s face, only a few feet away from his own. Sweat was now rolling down his forehead. He swallowed hard, trying hard to ignore the giant, menacing, granite face that was within biting range, and then walked to Aga’s injured side. His mind was already racing through his assortment of healing spells. None of them seemed adequate for the current situation.

Baymar circled the behemoth twice, which in itself took several minutes, before stopping to look up into the hole. It was Aga’s rear left, and once Baymar stood directly below it he could even see a partial stump within. Along with the leg, a large piece of Aga's shell was also blown off, leaving a gash nearly the size of his house. He imagined how the captain of the ferry must’ve panicked on first sight of the monster, which was probably only looking for a spot on the beach to rest. He envisioned the ferry firing off its cannons and scoring the hit that caused the nasty injury. Then he imagined the fury Aga unleashed on the ship. He shuddered at the thought.

Then Baymar walked backwards several yards, looking up and down the massive turtle in inspection, before plopping down to his knees and going into deep meditation. Aga's long neck curved around to keep the cleric locked in its sight, hardly trusting the human but eager to be walking on all four legs. Shomnath and the others were far back now, watching from the boat wreckage.

“What’s the fool doing?” asked Pall.

“I don’t know. I was expecting to make a run for it,” said the prince.

“What?” hissed Kala. “Shom, you’ve killed the man!”

“No, I figured we could use the head start more than he, being that we’re riding on his magic bison.”

“I don’t think he got the plan, boss,” stated Rolo.

Then, after a dramatically long session of chanting Baymar stood, calling out to nobody in general but capturing everyone’s attention.

“Great Aga!” announced the cleric, his arms spread wide above his head. “I will mend your leg, but you must not put your weight on it for one entire day, or else my magic will fail.”

The huge elemental didn’t respond. It only nodded slowly as it glared down at Baymar.

Shomnath was captivated. Even more so when Baymar clapped his hands and produced a blue light that pulsed from the center of his body. The prince thought it strange that Baymar could go into a healing enchantment so easily. He'd seen his father’s healers work their enchantments hundreds of times. The blue luminescence, or the light of life as the wizards called it, never appeared until the healing ceremony was nearly complete. This normally took many sessions of chanting and the laying on of hands. Yet here, Baymar summoned the light of life with a mere clap. The pulse grew in intensity as flailing tentacles of light radiated from his palms, another feat Shomnath hadn't seen.

The tentacles radiated out from him, whipping and curling like a sea creature in the last throws of life until one of them reached into Aga’s empty socket and attached to the stump of what used to be Aga’s leg. The elemental slightly flinched, visibly startled by the strange looking magic invading his body.

“Hold still,” Baymar’s voice rang out, but not the way it had earlier. Now his voice thundered as loud as Aga’s.

“A demigod?” wondered Pall out loud. He received no answer though, for his friends were speechless.

A few more light tentacles whipped in, and then they also attached to the stump. Once connected, the light tentacles arched up and bent back and away, like a fishing rod trying to pull in a whale of a catch. At the end of the tentacles the stump sparked violently and began to stretch outward. The tentacles of light shortened, as the stump stretched, until it eventually reached all the way down and settled on the beach just a few paces from Baymar.

After the new leg had been touching the ground several moments, Baymar screamed something in the old tongue of magic and separated his palms. As fast as the light of life appeared, it was extinguished.

"You are whole, once again," announced Baymar, again in his demigod voice. "But remember, do not apply any weight to it yet, not for an entire day," he added before slumping down to his knees, appearing exhausted.

Aga remained silent, staring at what looked to be a completely healthy looking fourth leg for a long while. Once the elemental was convinced that his new leg wasn’t going to vanish, it turned to acknowledge the friends.

"Come," was all that Aga said, and then it swung its neck away from them and gingerly wobbled into the boiling sea, mindful not to apply any weight to the new limb.

There was a great crashing of waves from the elemental wading into the green water, sending plumes of foul, acidic vapors high into the sky. Despite the fantastic display, Aga marched right in, indifferent to the boiling acid as if he were dipping into a fresh water spring. In fact, Aga chose to live near the acid lake for the very purpose of taking a refreshing dip once in a century or so. While the acid wreaked havoc on fleshy creatures, it polished Aga’s shell as if it had just emerged from the planets molten core yesterday (or to an Earth Elemental the last millennia). Before Aga completely left the shore he stopped, leaving his tail lying on the beach so that his passengers could use it as a bridge.

The friends cheered Baymar in total awe of the performance he’d put on. He was quickly earning their respect. Oddly, when they reached the cleric he didn’t seem very fatigued, but anxious.

“Won’t mind losing me limbs if yer around,” joked Pall, patting the cleric on the shoulder.

“Never in a thousand campfires have I heard such an amazing tale," said Kala.

“Honestly, it was nothing... in fact let’s not talk about it,” he said. Between the pats on his back Baymar apathetically waved off the compliments. He simply adjusted the shoulder strap of his satchel and beckoned everyone to follow him up Aga’s tail.