The Gems of Raga-Tor (Elemental Legends Book 1) (47 page)

“No. I want to know what to expect. You promised me that you would explain beforehand. Although,” Eris accused, pointing a finger at him, “you haven’t been very good at keeping that promise.”

“Fine. Just remember that you wanted to know,” Raga sighed and turned to look Eris in the face. Eris nodded for him to continue. “I want you to hold on to my shoulder or a handful of fabric if it makes you feel better. Then, I’ll shoot an arrow in the direction we want to go and we’ll go.”

“How?”

“The simplest way to explain it is this; we turn into a bolt of lightning and streak across the sky until we reach our destination. Once we’ve arrived, we reform in a sense and land safe and sound on the ground."

“Fly? You're telling me we are going to fly?” Eris wasn't sure if he should feel amazed, terrified or both. In either case, his stomach knotted and his heart raced.

“Lightning bolts don’t fly,” Raga said impatiently. “Besides, you’ve already traveled this way once, you just don’t remember it. Even the horses came along,” he added. He took a hold of Eris’ hand and placed it firmly on his shoulder.

“I don’t like this very much,” Eris said in a low voice.

“Too bad for you, because I’m not riding a horse again for a long time, and especially not for weeks through the cold and snow.” Raga put the shaft to the string, drew back the bow and aimed.

Eris clutched a great handful of Raga’s tunic just as the bowstring snapped loud in his ears. He held his breath as he felt himself pulled skyward and hoped they didn’t come apart. The red and black sky of the Vale flashed like a nightmare before his eyes, but was quickly replaced by the curve of turquoise blue beyond the Red Vale’s wall.

The arrow flew swift and true toward its destination with Raga and Eris trailing behind as a fiery flame that streaked across the wide arc of a cloudless sky and startled both king and peasant alike.

When Eris dared to look down, he was amazed by the appearance of the ground flowing by far below. He felt unexpected exhilaration surge through him brought on by the speed at which they traveled and by the tremendous power that snapped and sizzled a mere hand’s span away. Thin wisps of air that got through the fiery trail surrounding them felt cold and crisp.

The air grew colder as they continued north and neared the coastal mountains of Zephyra. The clouds thickened and through rare gaps they caught sight of heavy gray seas and the whitecaps of rolling surf as it pounded the rocks along the shore.

Eris felt his stomach roll as the earth came up fast beneath them and he knew they had reached their destination. As Raga promised, the touch-down was light, lighter even than jumping from the back of a horse. In spite of his misgivings, Eris had to agree that this was a better way to travel than spending no less than two weeks in a cold, stiff saddle.

Raga smiled when he saw Eris’ face unusually full of life and eyes bright with something akin to joy if that was an emotion he was capable of feeling.

“I think you enjoyed that, didn’t you?” Raga asked, smugly. He reached down, pulled the spent arrow from the mossy ground and slid it back into the quiver.

“I wouldn’t mind doing it again,” Eris answered before his mind consciously thought about it. An odd look came suddenly to his face when he realized what foolishness his tongue had uttered.

Raga’s laughter rumbled like distant thunder as he shook his scruffy head.

“Hah! There really is a feel for adventure under that black scowl of yours,” Raga said, and slapped him on the back. “Come on, let’s see how close we’ve landed to the witch’s keep. The gods must be smiling on us today to have given us such perfect weather.”

Eris nodded and followed Raga up a narrow ravine that lead to the top of a windswept hill. The terrain was rocky, damp and the clouds overhead threatened to make it even wetter. Clumps of scruffy grass grew in cracks of crumbling rocks, and blue-green moss grew in crevices sheltered from the scouring winds. Scraggly pines and other trees, bent and deformed by the constant wind blowing in from the sea, lined the hilltop.

As they neared the crest, the sound of pounding surf grew louder and the wind's speed increased as they left the sheltering ravine. The heavy clouds let in little of the morning’s light and varying shades of gray colored the countryside. Beyond the frothy surf, the sea stretched gray and desolate to the horizon. Sea birds cried in forlorn voices as they hunted for their breakfast. From the tree line, the land sloped rapidly down to the sea and was spotted with patches of dry, yellow grass. The sand was an unhappy shade of gray and added to the desolate mood brought on by heavy clouds and murky green water.

“There’s the keep on the cliffs yonder,” Eris said and pointed. He squatted behind a brown volcanic outcropping of rock to protect himself from the biting wind.

“Good. We won’t have far to walk. I didn’t want to come too close just in case Charra-Tir recognized my bolt,” Raga said.

“How could she not? I don’t think lightning is too common here,” Eris said and spoke too soon as bright light streaked across the leaden sky. Rumbling thunder echoed over and over as the sound was trapped between clouds and water. He looked up just as heavy drops fell and splattered his face. “Tell me again why we needed weather like this.”

“Come over here.” Raga motioned as the wind whipped the words away from him. Eris followed him to a rocky alcove that gave them shelter from the wind, but did little to shield the rain. “Ahhh,” Raga said, rubbing his ears vigorously. “Now I can hear again.”

Eris sat down on the most comfortable rock he could find. It was better than in the mud. He pulled up the cloak’s hood over his head.

“Now, as I was going to say,” Raga said, trying to get situated, “Charra-Tir’s magic is a little different than mine. I need my gemstones to focus my power, because there is so much of it. Though we elementals are powerful, we are not like the gods who can control their vast powers at will.

“As we have both learned and come to appreciate, my focus is my bow and the three stones set in it. With that focus gone, my power drifted out of my control. I have the feeling that had I understood this a little better before, I could have chosen something else as my focus and that frightful dissipation would never have occurred.

“But that—” Raga paused abruptly feeling that peculiar sensation of Eris glaring at him, which he was. All previous good humor vanished. “I only meant it was a possibility. I’ve never tested it. Besides, I still needed these gems back. You can’t have the gems of a pure elemental drifting free in the world. Morengoth isn’t the only one with the ability to have eventually figured out how to use them.”

“All right, enough. Go on with what you were telling me.” Eris pulled the cloak tighter around his shoulders.

“Well, Charra-Tir doesn’t really have a focus. She wears a bauble around her neck that helps her some, but it really isn’t necessary. They collect some of their power from the things around them."

“Then I guess on one level we can’t really fault her for being greedy for more."

“Yes, we can, because her kind has plenty of power in simply existing as the entity they are. When she creates sea storms, there is a reciprocal effect and she gets power from them. Even bathing in the sea gives her strength. It’s when second-level elementals desire more, more strength, more power that they become dangerous. But in that moment of trying to wrest that bit of power from the sea, the wind, the storm, she will become vulnerable to anything or anyone that commands even the lowest form of magic. Which is what I think you know already, because your plan was to touch her with that earth elemental talisman you have,” Raga explained as his fingers gently rubbed the curve of the bow. Eris nodded at his supposition. “That’s also why you are going to be a great help in capturing the wench and you’ll have a good deal of control in getting yourself uncursed.”

“Me? You’re speaking foolishness again, Raga. You have the stones, not me,” Eris said.

“Think for a moment.”
Raga spoke through the mind bond
. “I still believe you have some latent power within you that only time will reveal. I still think there might be a piece of that demon you saw destroyed wedged in you. I thought it was Riza before, but he’s gone and the bond is still in place.”

“I think I’d know if I had demon ilk inside me.”

“Could explain that temper of yours.”

“Doubt it. It’s always been there. I can’t believe this bond still exists,” Eris said. In his struggle for recovery, he’d never bothered to see if it remained. “I thought it was supposed to fade. Surely my almost death should have undone this.”

“I would have thought so too, but there it is, just as strong as if we had created it yesterday.” Raga shrugged. “I can’t explain it, but it will be useful for what I’ve a mind to do. We just have to wait now for the storm to increase in intensity.”

Eris nodded again and looked around searching for anything dry enough to burn. He was cold. Sitting huddled and still made his back ache. Raga noticed his discomfort and reached out to gather several hand-sized rocks and put them in a pile. He picked up one more and as he held it, it burst into orange flames. He set it at the bottom of the rock pile and instantly the rest of the rocks flamed with mystical fire.

Eris sat silently for the remainder of the morning and for a good part of the afternoon. The rain let up long enough for them to have a bit of lunch then the storm began to build in earnest. Memories of the past became so real in the gray storm shadows that Eris hardly noticed the drizzling rain that had long ago soaked his cloak and ran in small rivulets down his face.

Nearly a full year had passed since he had first come to this deserted stretch of coastline to seek out and destroy Charra-Tir as the fulfillment of the vow he had made while hanging between the stone pillars. He had come armed with a magical amulet that was supposed to have belonged to a long-dead earth demon. If he could get close enough to her to touch her with the talisman, then the amulet’s dry earth would have soaked in her watery essence and trapped her within its boundaries forever.

He had ridden along the barren coast alone for nearly a week before he caught sight of her keep, and one of her handmaidens, who was gathering moss from the scraggly forest. The sight of the girl evoked unwanted memories of the lover he had lost that bleak night and it angered him. He remembered pleading with her to leave the hideous home of the sorceress before something equally evil befell her as well, but the maid wouldn’t hear his words.

Eris stared at the place, which was not far from where they sat, that became the first act of his year-long travesty. He recalled his words, which were cajoling at first, but with her refusal they became harsh, almost abusive, with the reality of his demonic experience. In the end, she sat beneath a tree weeping in fear of him and of her mistress. In spite of his anger at her stubbornness, he managed to calm himself and offered what little apology he could, kissed her hand and left her as his vow of vengeance drove him in pursuit of Charra-Tir.

He had found the sorceress alone in her chambers in a room with a balcony that overhung the rocky cliffs and the bright blue sea. With stealth and quiet as nothing more than a summer breeze that tickles the ear, he crept up on her as she sat daydreaming in a chair. Just as he was about to lay the amulet against her skin, the door burst open and her handmaids, including the one from the shore, ran into the room. One group of angry-faced women surrounded the girl and another group quickly surrounded him with spear tips brought to bear.

In a voice that made the tower tremble to its very foundations, Charra-Tir wasted no time in the pronouncement of his fate. Prodded by no less than a dozen spear tips, the women forced him from the balcony and sent him plunging into the sea. Thinking back on all that had happened since that day, Eris thought it was an unfortunate thing that the tide was high and broke his fall.

“Eris, let the past rest. You can’t change it,” Raga said toward evening. He had allowed himself to be privy to Eris’ wandering, brooding thoughts and now knew they had come full circle. “Learn from your mistakes and go on. The gods know I’ve made countless numbers of them and we’ve both seen what happens when they want you to pay attention.”

Eris nodded. “So we have. Let’s just not provoke them to teach more lessons any time soon.” He sat up straighter to stretch. The cold had made his back increasingly stiff. The sooner he got up and moving the better.

“It’s time to work and I’m going to need your help. Are you ready?” Raga asked.

“Yes. What do I do?” Eris answered and Raga knew that he was, even if it did involve magic. He saw the keen edge of resolution set his jaw firmly and his gaze was attentive.

Raga handed him a long staff that he had cut from a nearby tree and Eris realized he had been so lost in thought that he hadn’t even noticed the sorcerer's absence. To the top of the twisted, gray-brown staff, Raga had magically affixed the green stone.

“As you seem to have an affinity to green, I’m going to give you back the green gem to help with this business. Aside from the storm, Charra-Tir gleans power from the glowing leaves of seaweed that the storm dredges up from the ocean floor. The storm surge is rising and soon they will start washing ashore. When you see them in the surf, touch them with the gem. It will turn them black and powerless. Now, stand up and look at the rocks I’m pointing at,” Raga said, then reached down to help him up, when he realized Eris was slow to move. “Are you sure about this?” he asked when Eris grimaced.

“I’m fine. The cold just made me a little stiff,” Eris answered gruffly, stamping his feet.

“We can wait until—“

“No. I want this done and finished. I’m fine,” Eris repeated, looking out to the sea.

“All right, if you say so,” Raga said with uncertainty, but knew Eris wasn’t going to back down now. He pointed to a large cluster of brown, volcanic rock rising above the pounding surf not far from shore. “When I tell you, wade out and climb up on those rocks. Then get ready to hold up the staff when I tell you. Once she starts her power gathering there will be a moment when she is more vulnerable and we’ll trap her. If we don’t trap her close to that moment, we may have some difficulty, so keep your mind open to receive my messages. And don’t forget to have that little of yours ready. We’ll need that too.”