El-Vador's Travels (29 page)

He
knew not whether he would break free, but should the time arise his
target was not going to be the Elf.

I have been to lands beyond your imagination,
often I have traversed lands beyond my own. The senses can only
provide so much clarity in these given situations before they are
overwhelmed. My attempts to detail such places seem woefully
inadequate.

'
S
o
how are we going to get in?' Eihblin asked, a dangerous-looking light
entering her eyes.

They
had returned to the inn and the downtrodden populace of the village
knew better than to ask any questions of their torn clothing and
blood-soaked state. If anything they avoided them even more as a
result, clearly not wanting to get involved in whatever trials these
strangers had witnessed lest it be the death of them.

El-Vador
tapped his closed fist against his temple as he sat near the warming
hearth, there had to be a way into the fortress that they could
discover without being detected. No major structure this size ever
had one entrance, or so Phaedra had told him. He was beginning to
wonder if it were true of this mountainous building.

Staring
into the flames, he tried to jog some sort of answer from his tangled
thoughts but came up empty, judging from the expressions of this
companions they were in the same state. 'I cannot see a way, no
matter how hard I think of all I had witnessed of the exterior of
this place. We may well have to do as I was jesting earlier and rap
upon the doors and demand passage.'

Phaedra
shook her head. 'We both know that would be tantamount to suicide, at
the very least we would be taken hostage. At worst his forces would
simply kill us where we stood.'

'You've
been inside, you even escaped before. Are you telling me there's no
way to recover my heirloom?' Eihblin asked in a cold and demanding
voice.

The
other woman shook her head again in response. 'Not that I am aware
of.'

'Your
companions are useless,' the booming voice echoed inside El-Vador.

Not
again.

He
gripped his temples as the shadows seemed to lengthen in the room,
his companions stared at him obliviously.

'As
you no doubt realise, they cannot hear me. Your inability to breach
this fortress is most disappointing considering the talents you have
available to you. It would seem that I am required to take matters
into my own hands.'

El-Vador
blinked away the pain. 'I do not understand.'

'I
shall take you and your companions through the walls of this mountain
and breach the sanctum within.'

The
Elf's eyes watered as he stared at the concern on his companion's
faces. They were speaking to him but he could not hear them, as if
their voices had come from too great a distance to be audible. The
rain hammering outside seemed muted like everything else, his
attentions were forced to focus entirely upon the voice ringing about
his head as it continued to speak.

'I
will take you to a place beyond your feeble imagining, your
companions may not have offered much thus far but they still have a
role to play. They shall accompany you.'

The
voice began to chant, a strange, resonant sound that didn't hurt
nearly as much as when it spoke. Smoke passed over El-Vador's sight
and judging from the panicked reactions of Phaedra and Eihblin
something was happening to them too. He wanted to reach out and
reassure him that he knew what was happening but he didn't feel any
more knowledgeable about the situation than they did.

The
smoke now seemed to fill the room, making everything seem hazy and
insubstantial. It wavered in front of his watery eyes as if warped by
a great heat and then faded into nothingness.

He
found himself on a cliff face, observing the fortress in the
distance. The sky was green and the air seemed thin, his companions
were gazing out in wonder at his side. He moved with a lightness that
he had never experienced before, and was startled when his jump sent
him soaring into the air.

His
foot touched the substantial and discoloured land lightly, probing it
to see if it were real or but a figment of his imagination, to that
end he could not tell.

The
green sky grew darker as it came closer to the land, blanketing their
sight and preventing them from seeing further in any direction but
that of the fortress. It was clear which way they were supposed to be
heading, El-Vador watched his companions test out the odd lightness
that he had felt with mixtures of bemusement and suspicion. It was
then that he realised they probably had no idea how they had arrived
here, he owed them that much of an explanation at least.

The
fortress lay south from the strange cliffs that they bounded off,
without words it had become apparent to each of them that they needed
to head in that direction.

Settling
on one of the odd plateaus, El-Vador signalled to his friends as they
were in mid air to come down and speak with him. They had made their
way toward the fortress for some time, during which El-Vador had been
deep in thought about how exactly to speak to them of this strange
place they found themselves in. They had clearly seen that he was not
as perturbed by the incident as they must have been and had followed
him without question, which struck him as odd.

They
stopped and stared at him silently as they came to rest on the cliff
beside him, staring blankly without a word of protest or concern.

'Are
you not going to ask what we are doing here in this realm?' El-Vador
asked them, uneasy at their gaze upon him.

His
companions remained ominously unresponsive even after the Elf's
repeated attempts to rouse speech from them. There was nothing left
to do but keep moving onward. With a leap, El-Vador took off once
more, his mute companions again following in his wake.

Their
slow falls and large leaps made descending from the plateaus an easy
task, the mountainous region that had once been the location of the
village gave way to rolling fields untouched by snow or ice. Aside
from his companions there had been no trace of life to stand in their
path, there flew no birds overhead and he saw no trees or discernible
plant life. Although it filled him with an even greater unease than
the condition of those who followed him, El-Vador would rather that
he not encounter any potential obstacles from here to the fortress.
Perhaps that was exactly the reason he had been cast into this
strange land by the demon in the first place.

They
drew near to the fortress now, its towering walls seemed to rise out
of the plain rather than a mountainside, a most curious development.
It also seemed to be much closer than it had seemed prior to entering
this strange plain of existence. El-Vador suspected that may have
been due to the leaps taking them far further than ordinary feet
possibly could.

It
wasn't until the wind picked up that he had noticed its absence, a
gust that coursed past him as they walked over the plains toward the
fortress. To his dismay it started to coalesce mere feet from his
location, it would appear that they would not reach the fortress
walls unimpeded after all.

The
air compacted and solidified ahead of them, thickening into visible
form as colours washed over it in dizzying fashion. The cornucopia of
colour did not dissipate over time, as if the swirling patterns were
the natural appearance of these mysterious creatures intent on
blocking their path.

The
closer they drew to these things, the more dizzying they became, no
noise came from them and no attempt at communication was made.
El-Vador was loathe to attack something simply for obstructing his
path, and made to go around the odd beings that blocked the way.

The
glowing coloured bodies followed his movement, refusing to let him
be. Very well then, that left few options.

While
there were no discernible eyes on the creatures, he had no doubt in
his mind that their attention was entirely upon him. Their shimmering
had intensified as they had moved out to block him, was it a warning
gesture of some kind?

He
drew his sword cautiously, waiting for them to strike in response to
his own aggressive gesture. Nothing happened, they remained standing
there and continued to pulse in an odd and mesmeric fashion. He took
a meaningful step towards them and still they did nothing, were they
just going to stand there until he was within striking range? Looking
around at the green sky for a moment, El-Vador pondered as to whether
they were figments of his own imagination. He shuddered, remembering
the time he had imagined a whole army at his side.

'Stand
aside or I shall strike you down.' he stated simply at them.

They
pulsed at him in response, but if that shift in colour amidst all the
rest had any inherent meaning it was entirely lost on El-Vador.

He
sighed, muttering to himself, 'There is no reasoning with these
creatures.'

They
sprang at him then, their limbs blazing in an aura full of confusing
patterns of light. Fortunately the nature of the land surrounding
them gave El-Vador enough time to recover from the surprise and mount
a counter, slashing out a riposte and wondering what effect his blade
would have upon these strange lights in the shape of men.

A
blazing brightness hit his eyes and blinded him, he then felt a knee
sink past his defences and into his sternum. He rolled through the
pain and his returning sight indicated that he had moved past the
beings and evaded any other reprisal through luck alone.

The
swirling colours seemed indistinct to his eyes now as they turned to
strike at him once more.

Eihblin
and Phaedra stood motionless and impassive, neither drawing their
weapons or being attacked by the strange creatures in spite of their
proximity. Something was very wrong here, but El-Vador had no time to
think of that as he was assaulted by the coloured beings once more.

As
they attempted to crowd him out he leapt high into the air and closed
his eyes. This time the flashing lights did not blind him and as he
came down he swung hard, cleaving into one of the things. There was
no sound as the blade bit through it, it simply dissipated into the
air as if it had never been there.

He
laid into them then, angry now at being waylaid so pointlessly by
these things. His sword sheared what looked to be limbs from their
bodies, but only a direct hit seemed to make them vanish.

The
remaining creatures regrew the appendages they had lost and began to
increase the speed and frequency of their attacks, one came at his
front to distract him as the other tried to strike at his rear.

El-Vador
kicked out at the first one and reversed his blade, slamming it into
the one that planned to attack from behind. Whatever these things
were, they lacked any craft at warfare. The ease with which he had
overcome them was worrying, was this really the only trial he would
face on his way to the fortress?

Refusing
to be distracted further, he leapt at the last creature and
decapitated it with a swift and clean stroke, closing his eyes to
avoid the light that characterised these strange and indistinct
creatures.

They
had offered little resistance in truth beyond their blinding powers,
El-Vador wondered if they had truly been an obstacle at all. Or had
he simply condemned a peaceful people within this realm to a
senseless death?

His
mind shut it out, he needed to get to Sarvacts' fortress and destroy
the Orc before he could hurt any other people, if anything got in his
way from here on in then he would simply kill them too.

In
my profession, the snake-eating snake exists as a matter of course.
Alliances are tenuous and infrequently remain an even partnership.
Reprisals and retributions follow inevitably as one seeks to domineer
the other, never knowing just when their own downfall will come from
living this way.

A
nacletus
seethed as he stalked the fortress, he had no power to leave and
could do nothing but wait for whatever the Elf would finally attempt.
That was until the smoke he had seen in Caldalia started seeping in
to the corridor, there was no escaping it this time.

Standing
stock-still, he stared on at the billowing black cloud as it engulfed
the walls and ceiling and rushed toward him. At least if he were to
die now he would be free of this enslavement, a shame that he would
never see the Elf's attempt at dethroning the monster that had
captured him.

The
wave of smoke hit him and he breathed it in, expecting it to lacerate
his insides and leave nothing but ash in its wake. Silently he hoped
that it went after Sarvacts and every cursed creature in this foul
place, but he knew deep down that it was meant for him alone. He shut
his eyes tight and waited for oblivion to come, it would not be long
now.

Nothing
happened.

Anacletus
tentatively opened his eyes, he was still surrounded by the thick
smoke but it seemed no worse than the steam of heated waters. Had he
been wrong in fleeing this entity in the first place? Did it feel a
kindred spirit of smoke and shadow nearby?

He
laughed, it was a hysterical thing that echoed through the high
corridors and into the dark, then he finally choked it off. What was
this thing going to do now? How would Sarvacts respond to finding it
in his domain? The cloud of dark smoke seemed now to wrap about him
everywhere he went, a nuisance at best and a liability should
Sarvacts decide to do away with it.

Anacletus
continued to stalk down the corridors aimlessly. The smoke followed.

As
they drew closer to the fortress the green melted away from the sky
to be replaced slowly by a blue that seemed much more natural.
Whatever magic had allowed them to pass this far was beginning to
lose its hold, yet they had not penetrated the walls of the place
yet.