The Demon's Blade (28 page)

Behind the waterfall, the chamber opened up in both directions right and left of the opening for some unknown distance. The darkness seemed to go on forever in all directions, broken only by the barely visible shapes of natural stone columns spaced irregularly around the chamber. The walls lay some unknown distance into the shadows. The water reached chest deep near the waterfall, but grew steadily shallower further into the cave. The three travelers’ splashing steps mixed with the waterfall and echoed in the cavern, producing a strange buzzing, humming mixture of high pitched drips and low pitched plunks. A unique but not unpleasant fragrance, like the smell of the deep forest after a rain storm, filled the cave.

“Alright sisters,” Maya said unexpectedly. “You can come out now.” As soon as she had finished speaking, dozens of lights suddenly appeared in the water of the cavern. Some of the lights were blue as the sky, while others shone in various shades of green, pink, yellow, orange, purple, and almost every other color imaginable. Each of the lights was quickly replaced by a faerie with wings of the corresponding color. The chamber came alive with flitting lights and dusty glowing wings. In a few seconds, a hundred faeries at least had appeared all around the cavern, while more continued to appear farther into the darkness of the cave. Some were exceedingly small, so small that their bodies were scarcely visible, no larger than butterflies and moths, distinguished from these only by glow of their wings. Some of the faeries were almost as large as Maya, and a few were larger. Like Maya, the faeries all took the form of young women with silvery white hair and garments matching the color of their wings.

Once most of the faeries had popped out of their lights, a ball of red light appeared in the center of the cave, far larger and brighter than the others. In a flash of brilliant crimson, a large faerie emerged. Unlike her sisters, she was quite tall, just a hair taller than Darien, but exceedingly wispy and thin. Her wings were so large that the bottoms dragged through the water, while the upper tips brushed against the stone ceiling. The wings stretched between two of the stone columns, a width of nine or ten feet by Darien’s reckoning. They glowed a brilliant pinkish red, much brighter than the other faeries, so much so that the entire area around her was filled with a warm red glow. The great faerie wrapped her wings around her like a beautiful red cloak, and stood silently, apparently waiting for one of the visitors to approach.

Maya landed before the large faerie, standing on top of the water’s surface as if it were solid, and bowed low.

“I am Zara, keeper of the sanctuary of Saliria, welcome honored guests” the great faerie stated in a smooth melodious voice. “And you must be Maya.”

“I am indeed,”

“And these are the prophesied ones, the ones the queen is seeking?”.

“They are. We have come to seek your aid. We seek to enter the hidden city. I can lead them to the secret path, but we require a boat.”

“Yes, I know. The queen anticipated this turn of events, and we have already prepared for your arrival, but for the moment, I have business with this one.” Zara then turned to Darien.

“You are Darien the Executioner, former servant of the Demon King, are you not?” Zara asked in a serious tone.

“I am,” Darien replied coldly. “What business do you have with me?” Already he was suspicious of these faeries. They knew far too much that he did not. They kept secrets, and secrets were dangerous.

“I was instructed by our queen to give you this message. Lucca, queen of faeries extends to you her gratitude for sparing and protecting the life of Rana, who is a friend of our people. Further, the queen instructed me to tell you this. You have disturbed waters long still, and changed the shape of history. The current has shifted, and you are caught in it. You can no longer merely hide from your enemies. The queen requests that you come to the city of Kadanar where your destiny shall be revealed to you.”

“By which you mean I will be told what to do?” Darien shook his head skeptically. “I am grateful for your aid in escaping my enemies, but that will not buy my service. I will travel with Jerris to Kadanar as I agreed to do when we set out. I will gladly speak with your queen. Words are cheap enough, but know this.” At this point, the Executioner’s voice became cold and grave as he raised his eyes directly at Lady Zara. “I serve no king, queen, or lord. She may ask of me what she will, but I will continue to do what I deem to be wise. If she intends to use me for her own purposes or bind me to her will, then she will be disappointed, for I am not easily manipulated.”

Instead of responding harshly to this, as Darien had expected, Zara instead smiled a warm and almost motherly smile. “So be it,” she said calmly and kindly. “We faeries can only show you the paths that fate has opened for you. Which you choose must be up to you. Now, all of you come and rest.”

Zara led the way deeper into the cave. Her feet passed effortlessly through the water, without a splash or sound, while the three travelers splashed along behind. Maya bobbed along in the air a few feet behind. Zara finally led them to a dry mossy area at the rear of the cave. From here, the green glowing light of the cavern faded to almost nothing, and the only light left was the faeries themselves. Several smaller faeries brought an assortment of fruits and berries, many of which were unknown to the three travelers. Darien disliked the sugary sweet taste of the strange fruits, but ate some out of polite gratitude toward his hosts. His two companions, on the other hand, were quite pleased with the fare, and after a few minutes, none remained for the faeries to take away.

Once the food was eaten, two deep forest green colored faeries appeared out of the water. They cast some sort of strange spell, and the moss grew thicker and softer, forming three beds of soft green moss for the weary travelers. Jerris threw himself down on the nearest of the three, and slept almost as soon as he lay down. Rana removed her armor and quickly followed, while Maya disappeared into the waters of the cave. Darien studied the moss carefully, trying to discern what manner of enchantment was at work. After a few minutes, he gave up that effort, and laid down himself. He laid there staring at the ceiling of the cave in the darkness for a long while, too troubled to sleep, and still bothered by his injuries. 

Finally, he was beginning to doze when a glowing red figure appeared above him. Darien sat up quickly, and spoke, “Lady Zara, what do you want?”

“It is not that I want something,” she said calmly. “It has been many centuries since any of your kind visited us. I only wanted to observe. I did not expect to find anyone awake.”

“Your hospitality is not lacking,” he apologized, wary of appearing ungrateful. “I am preoccupied, as you might imagine.”

“Even so, you should sleep if you can. The enchantments upon the moss will help you sleep soundly.”

“I appreciate your kindness, but there is no magic that will calm my sleep. The Demon Sword troubles me most in sleep.”

“You are troubled by more than the sword, I think,” Zara observed. “You have the bearing of one who walks through life already dead. I have lived a very long time, and I have seen such looks before.” Zara glanced momentarily at Rana. “Some hurts are so grievous that even death seems not so great a price to pay to escape them.”

“By all rights I should be dead,” Darien crossed his arms in front of him as he spoke. “I did not intend to steal the Demon Sword and escape. I intended to use it take my Master’s life, and then my own. As you can see, I failed at both tasks.”

“Yet much good has come from that, whether it was your intention or not,” Zara said consolingly as she looked over towards Jerris and Rana. “Maya has told me all that has happened, all that she knows, and has seen. Jerris believes he owes you his life, that he would have been killed the very night he met you? Is he wrong?”

“I don’t believe those men would have killed him. They were just thugs. They would have either beaten him senseless to teach him a lesson or thrown him in some dungeon.”

“Maybe, but that isn’t all. These two would never have found their way here, but for your choice to live. Jerris will achieve a dream he could scarcely have even attempted without you. As for Rana, instead of being consumed by bitterness and vengeance, she will heal, and be whole again.”

“You don’t know that. You don’t know what she’s been through. You don’t know what Jerris could have done if I hadn’t intervened,” Darien snapped back. “You’re only guessing at shadows.”

“And what is it that you’re doing?” Zara replied pointedly, smiling quietly. “Guessing at the same shadows, seeing within them all the pain and anger you have experienced? We all make our guesses at the fleeting shadows of the future, but what we see are often simply our own shadows, cast by the light of our experiences.”

Darien did not reply, and grumbled quietly under his breath. The conversation had tired him, and he laid back down on the soft moss.

“I pray, for your sake, and for all our sakes, that you find some hope to cling to. Sleep well, and may tomorrow be a brighter day.” She had scarcely finished speaking when Darien did indeed fall into a deep sleep.

Chapter 25: The Nameless River

Darien awakened refreshed, and in better spirits. The pain in his leg had dulled considerably, though the burns on his arm were still quite tender, and the skin had stiffened so that whenever he tried to move the arm, the skin pulled and cracked, sending sharp stinging pains through his arm. Jerris and Rana sat a few feet away eating a breakfast of more berries and fruits.

“Ah, you’re finally awake,” Jerris said. “Did you sleep well? I feel like I’ve slept a hundred years.”

“Yes, I suppose. Where are our hosts? I don’t see them anywhere around.”

“They said something about arranging transportation,” Rana answered. “Then they just disappeared into the water.”

No sooner had Rana finished speaking, but a light came towards them. As the light drew nearer, it became clear that it came from Maya.

“Are you well rested? Do you feel better?”

“We’re fine,” Rana answered. “What’s this about arranging transportation? I assume you know which way we go from here.”

“Oh yes, but that isn’t all. We must go very far very quickly. To go on foot would take far too long. Follow me and I will show you.” Maya said, then bobbed merrily off towards the opening to the larger cavern. The two half-elves and golden haired lass followed her out to the main cavern.

Once they had taken a few steps into the large cavern, it became apparent what Maya had meant. In the deepest part of the pool, where the main channel of water flowed, an unusual looking boat floated placidly. Darien immediately walked over to examine the craft, and found it quite unlike any craft he’d ever seen before. It did not appear to be made of wood, at least not any kind of wood he could recognize, and there were no boards or nails anywhere on the craft. It stretched perhaps twenty feet long, and about half as wide. The outer surface was rough, and covered with tiny raised ridges and sunken grooves, not unlike the shell of a sea creature. The boat’s color varied with an outer hull ranging from peach, salmon, and pink above the waterline to magenta and maroon below the water, while the inner surfaces were milky white, smooth, and lustrous like pearl. The boat’s bow tapered gradually to a point, which turned upwards into an odd spiral shape, the tip of which stood a foot or so above Darien’s head. The stern was raised only slightly, and did not taper. It appeared to be a sort of river barge, but one unlike anything made by men.

“Is this actually a boat?” Jerris blurted out. “I’ve never seen anything so odd. It looks like it’s made of stone, but that can’t be.”

“No, not stone,” Maya said. “We faeries know all about the water and the creatures in it. This material is made by many aquatic creatures. You have no name for it, but we call it corin. We harvest it and make it into this shape. Of course we have no need for boats, but the elves taught us to make them a very long time ago, and we have preserved the art, awaiting a time when the elves would once again have need of them.”

“Will we be able to bring the horses on that?” Rana asked.

“I don’t see why not.” Darien stroked his chin thoughtfully as he considered the size of the craft. “There is plenty of space, I can keep them asleep with my magic. As long as the river isn’t too rough, there should be no problem.”

The travelers then unloaded their supplies and Rana’s armor from the horses, and organized them on the boat. The horses were, unsurprisingly, reluctant to board the vessel. Rana’s horse, Squall, was well trained and disciplined, and boarded with only a bit of coaxing, but the two horses from Vorog, on the other hand, struggled mightily. After a few attempts at getting Terra and Cloud to board, Darien resorted to domination magic. Once they were on board, they were tied, and the he put the animals into a deep sleep.

It was impossible to tell what time of day it was in the lightless cavern, as the bulbous glowing fruits continually showered their pale green light over the cavern, though Darien guessed from the amount of time since the battle of the previous afternoon, that it was sometime late in the next morning.

Once all was prepared, the travelers set out into the pitch black darkness of the cavern. The boat had no oars nor any rudder. It appeared to be controlled entirely by magic, as the boat followed the movements of Maya as she glided along effortlessly through the air a few yards ahead. The boat easily outpaced the swift current, yet Darien could sense no magical energy from either the boat, or the faerie herself. Whatever strange powers they possessed, they were different enough from ordinary magic that they evaded the shade’s senses.

A few hours after they had set out, they passed out of the underground passage and into the Craglands, somewhere far south of the site of the previous day’s battle. The cool humid air of the cave was immediately replaced by the chill north wind. Winter was coming in earnest now, and quickly. Fortunately, the afternoon sun provided some warmth to the travelers, and the reflective white surface of the boat’s interior reflected the heat back up, adding to the warmth.

Sometime in the afternoon, Maya flew back to the boat, perching daintily at the top of the spiral on the bow. Darien took the opportunity to ask Maya about the river. “So what is the name of this river?”

“Name? I’m sorry but I don’t know what name men have given it.”

“Alright, then what do you faeries name it?”

“Hehe, we do not name waters as you do.”

“Why not?” Jerris said. “I would think that you would know every river, sea, lake, or pond in all the world.”

“Oh, we do know them, but we do not name them,” Maya explained. “You see, we do not understand how men decide on such things as names. You say that the name of a river is this and the name of a sea is that, yet there is neither a beginning nor an ending to divide one from the other. This river flows into another, and then that river goes out to the sea. That sea is joined to other seas and other rivers, all the way up to small rivers and tiny streams. There is even water far under the ground as you have seen, flowing in great underground rivers and even within the rocks. All water is connected, so there is only one, yet you have no name for it. You name only tiny pieces of it, as if it could be taken apart and put back together like one of your devices.”

“I see,” Jerris said. “I guess I’ve never thought of it that way.”

“Men name rivers because it is useful to do so,” Darien said. “How else would we know where we’re going, or how to get there, if none of the rivers or roads or cities had names?” Darien thought for a moment, then spoke again. “I suppose since we have no name for it, we may as well call it the Nameless River.”

“As you please,” Maya said. “It matters not to me.”

Darien felt rather strange having nothing to do but ride along in the boat. The tedium of the journey upon the Nameless River contrasted starkly to the difficulties of the past few days and weeks. The weary shade spent most of his time in quiet contemplation, occasionally commenting on the usually meaningless small talk Jerris and Rana seemed determined to use to fill the silence. As he watched them, his mind returned to the words of Zara in the cave. What would have happened to them had they never met me, I wonder? Was Zara right? Would Jerris have persisted trying to rescue his mother until Duke Parham was forced to kill him? Would Rana have turned her vengeance on someone else if I had already been dead, and where would that path have led her? Would her vengeance have led her to the Demon King himself? Ordinarily, Darien would not waste time on meaningless conjecture. Still, there was plenty of time to waste, and these musings seemed no more trivial than any other activity.

The terrain hardly changed; each mile looked exactly like the one before, multicolored rocks, grays, yellows, and reds, bare scraggly trees, tufts of yellowed grass along the water’s edge which clung to life as long as possible before the inevitable winter. As the sun began setting behind the Silver Mountains, Darien began to wonder when they would stop to camp. Maya was once again flying a few yards ahead of the boat, so Darien shouted ahead for her. Maya turned and flitted back to the boat, settling on the side next to Darien.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Evening will soon be upon us,” Darien said. “Do you have someplace in particular in mind to camp?”

“Oh, well no,” the faerie giggled. “Why do you want to stop? Is something wrong? We’ll get there much faster if we keep going.”

Darien was left speechless a moment, wondering how to respond to this unexpected reply. Finally, he managed to speak. “You’ve been flying most of the day. Surely you need to rest sometime.”

“Oh, you needn’t worry. The water is strong and clear and full of life in this place. It lends me its strength, and besides, I’ve slept in that vial for most of Rana’s journey to this point. If I grow tired, I can guide the boat sitting here, but I have missed the feel of the wind and the water after so long in the vial. If I need to rest, I will rest, but I thank you for your concern, all the same.” She smiled and zipped off ahead of the boat once again.

Once night fell, Rana and Jerris took turns trying to sleep leaning against the front of the boat. They offered Darien a turn, but he refused, and instead leaned against the supplies stacked at the back of the boat. But for this, the night passed much as the day did. Darien watched Maya’s pale green glow bounce and bob in front of the boat until he grew drowsy, and nodded off, dozing lightly during the rest of the night.

The next day was as uneventful as the first on the river had been. The gray miles whisked by on a cloudless day, as they proceeded southwest down the river. As they continued, the Silver Mountains began to loom large ahead of them, and on their right. Darien could tell that they were proceeding at a faster pace than would have been possible in an ordinary boat, and he could tell where they were heading. Sooner or later, this river would meet the Saldean, which ran south and west from its source in the Red Mountains and across the Craglands to Silver Falls, where it flowed through a great canyon and tumbled down into Bladereed Marsh. He estimated that at their current swift pace, traveling both day and night, they should reach the falls in less than two more days. Sometime before then, they would have to reach the hidden path the faeries had mentioned.

Maya continued to be less than forthcoming about when exactly that would be, however. No matter how Darien asked the question, the whimsical faerie remained frustratingly vague about geography, such as where the Nameless River flowed into the Saldean, or where the hidden city lay. He soon grew tired of hearing ‘you will see soon enough’ or ‘it wouldn’t be hidden if I could just tell you where it is’, so he finally gave up asking. He now found himself in the unfamiliar position of having placed himself entirely at the mercy of someone else. Under the circumstances, trusting the faerie was the only reasonable choice, but the feeling of relying on someone other than himself was still not altogether comfortable.

The journey upon the river passed uneventfully. The faerie guide spent most of the time bobbing along ahead of the boat, only seldom stopping to rest. The Silver Mountains rose ahead of them and to their right, jagged peaks capped with white, while the river cut a deep canyon through high hills. Smaller streams joined the river here and there, swelling the Nameless River to nearly twice the size it had been when the travelers set out from the faerie sanctuary.

Early in the morning of the fourth day since they had set out on the river, the canyon deepened, and sheer white granite rock walls rose straight up, perhaps twenty yards high, on either side of the river, shading the river from the early morning sun. Jerris slept soundly at the front of the boat, while Rana sat quietly near his feet. Maya had again perched on the bow of the boat. There was no doubt that they were well into the mountains now, and Darien again attempted to get information out of the faerie guide. “Maya, we are well into the Silver Mountains. We cannot be far from the falls. Where does this river meet the Saldean, anyway? You told us that we would reach the hidden path before then, so we must be close.”

“Must you be so impatient? Yes, we are very close now, and this river enters the Saldean just above the falls if you must know. Now be quiet and let me focus. The entrance is easy to miss, even for a faerie.”

Maya then turned back to the waters ahead, her eyes fixed upon the western canyon wall. Suddenly, just as the boat rounded a bend, the faerie zoomed towards the western canyon wall. The boat dutifully followed her, turning its side to the current. The boat halted and jerked violently, jostling Jerris out of his slumber and nearly throwing the horses out of the boat. The leftmost horse, Terra, was only saved from the river by well tied knots and a swift reaction from Darien, who darted to catch the animal, positioning himself between the horse and the side of the boat. The swift current pushed hard against the boat’s right side, as the boat headed towards a sheer rock face, with no shore to stand upon.

“Maya, what are you doing?” Rana shouted. “Did we pass it? Are we turning around?” Jerris looked dazed and disoriented, gripping the sides of the boat while he attempted to recover from the shock of being suddenly roused from sleep. Darien continued to hold himself between the side of the boat and Terra as the boat continued to list with the current pushing against it.

It appeared they were headed towards a certain collision with a granite wall, but as Maya reached the cliff face, she seemed to disappear. Darien realized immediately what was happening, but before he could say anything, the boat was already at the cliff face. The golden haired southerner screamed, while Jerris pressed himself into the bottom of the boat, looking more confused than before. However, instead of a crash, there was only a sudden quiet calm, as the boat passed into a tunnel, which was just wide enough to accommodate the large craft.