Epic Fantasy Adventure: The Angel's Blessing: Holy Paladin's Quest: Book 1 (Sword and Sorcery Epic Fantasy Adventure Book With Dragons and Magic) (4 page)
Authors: Blaine Hart
The Anna’s leapt into our midst. In a moment one had Kell’s hands and legs freed of the ropes while the other sliced me free with her dagger. Meanwhile the witch Yasmeen had found her feet while Kell grabbed his Warhammer Ashrune from the fire, and I heard his flesh sizzle.
“Kill me then,” Yasmeen said crossing her arms before her. “Kill me and put me out of my misery!”
My master needed no other encouragement. He swung the hot hammer with furious blow, fueled by his hatred and pain – and his hammer struck sand. The force of his swing sent him tumbling.
“Missed me,” she taunted.
We all looked. The hag stood in the middle of the burning trees. Anna’s arrow flew but burned to ashes before it touched her. Kell cried out and ran towards the witch. He swung his hammer but she vaporized and he struck nothing but a burning bush.
“Missed me,” the hag sang in a taunting childish voice.
My master roared in rage. He hacked at the blaze until he had opened up a way into the woods. I heard the hag mocking him from beyond. He plunged through. In his rage my master ran heedless. The Annas didn’t hesitate. We grabbed my master’s armor and what weapons we could and raced after him.
But the island was enchanted against us all. My master seemed always within sight and within reach, but even as we called and struggled forward, he and the teasing old crone would flee from our sight. And all the while the fire raged.
Over time the flames forced us to the beach. The smoke enshrouded us thicker than the fog, and the glow behind us lit the sky with a weird light. We called and called but my master didn’t or wouldn’t answer. The three of us stayed together, running along the shoreline and ever calling for Kell. We found him standing by the
Chaos
. In the eerie light he looked as one insane, but when he spoke his words were calm.
“Longo.”
“Yes master?”
“Be my witness.”
“Master?”
“Hear me and remember. I am going to kill Yasmeen. I am going to wrap my hands around her scrawny ugly throat and I am going to throttle the life out of that bitch.”
“Yes master.” I said, a bit worried that his torments had rendered him insane.
During the rest of the boat trip a strange thing happened; Kell began to open up. He had the Annas tell their tale, and we were both so amused with their antics and ways that we urged them to tell it again. Kell was particularly tickled with the way they had trapped the spy-rats and so he called them the Cunning Annas. The girls beamed.
Then, sensing Kell’s mood, we urged him to tell tales of his own warrior youth, and to my delight he did. I learned a thing or two. I also learned that when my master promised a story, an incredible tale was always told.
But Kell was also aware of my feelings of uselessness. So he cleansed and blessed the rat-men’s scimitars, and when he felt sure that all evil had been purged from them, he presented them to me and the Annas. He also gave two long and very sharp daggers.
“These aren’t trophies,” he said. “These are well crafted weapons from Allieala, a strong, proud land in the southern sea. You must learn to wield them well.
En Garde
!”
The next few days on the lonely sea where littered the clang and clatter of steel as I was taught how to wield them properly. The Annas joined our lessons and no longer was I bored. We made a rotation where two of us would be tutored by Kell while the other saw to the wheel. And so it was that in those days on the Western Ocean I learned how to use swords, daggers, and how to operate a ship.
My master was tireless in his teaching, and when we would stop to eat he would regale us with yet more tales of the war against the Doriman. At night we would sing songs and tell lies. The Annas had some leather workings in their stores, and so the other Anna began to make simple scabbards for our new swords. Kell nodded and directed their fashioning and urged me to learn. Under the girl’s guidance I discovered the basics of yet another skill. She was a patient teacher and smiled often at my crude beginnings. The days on that vast expanse of sea were happy, except when I would fall asleep and the nightmares of our encounters with the witch would haunt me.
Then one day things changed.
Anna and I were engaged in battle. My goal was to plant the broad of my blade behind her left knee. She did not know that, nor did I know her aim. She parried and thrust like a rabid weasel. Her sword-work was bold and sure while mine was swift and light.
“You fight like a girl,” she taunted.
“So do you,” I replied.
“I am a girl.”
“Not that I’ve seen.”
“Cur!” she cried as she whirled my blade so fast I almost lost grip.
“Minx!”
I used brute strength to slash and force her to the bulwark. She thought to be clever. She leapt to the rail and then to the hatch cover. But as she jumped I landed my blade home.
“A hit!” I cried. “A hit! Score!”
“Back at ya!” she called bopping my butt.
“Kell!” we both yelled.
But my master was no longer watching. He had been drawn to the prow of the ship. The other Anna started to speak but I held up my hand. I knew my master’s mind. He was standing up and holding a line, but I knew that he was meditating, seeking.
“I think,” I said softly to her, “that we are coming close.”
“To what?” she asked. “What is he looking for?”
“An Angel.”
She looked puzzled as we stowed our gear. It was her turn at the wheel and so I stood by her to study what I could. Anna climbed a line up to the top of the boat and peered out into the distance. We all wondered what we would find.
Evening drew about us and with it came high clouds veiling the sun. The sea was ashen grey and rolling. Long, deep swells rocked the
Chaos
, but Kell directed our way straight into them lessening their impact. Water broke the prow and the ship would pound down on the other side of the swell with a thunk. Light was fading when Anna called out,
“Two points starboard quarter!”
The other Anna turned the wheel. The sea splashed my master but he stood unconcerned. I clutched a shroud as we rolled. Then I saw what looked to be a small hill in the distance. It was like a little, bright hill alone in the ocean. The swells crashed about it, sending spume and spray into the air. Kell raised his hand and Anna scampered down the lines as I joined her to trim the mainsail. The ship slowed and as we approached the mound I gaped in wonder.
Here was no rocky rise. Before us sat an Angel on a small flat rock in the middle of the sea. She was naked and sitting with her slender legs crossed and her knees up about her chest. Her arms wrapped her legs and drew up to her face, her hands pressed as in prayer. Her skin was as white as sea foam and without blemish, her golden hair fluttered in the breeze. What I had seen from a distance as a hill were in fact the Angel’s wings, folded and pointed above her head like a tall hood, sheltering her from the rages of the sea. They were white with strains of grey running along the leading edges.
But even as we approached those wings opened and fanned. As they did a wave broke behind her sending a stream of white water straight into the air. Our ship ground to a halt, though there was no land beneath us nor rope to moor us. We bobbed in the water before the magnificent being, shocked into awe and silence.
She unfolded her hands and looked up, revealing a beautiful face that was glowing brightly and so fair that neither the Annas nor I could look on it for long without being forced to blink and look away in utter astonishment. Kell stood stead fast.
“I know you Kell,” a voice like liquid silver sang. “You seek Gavial, the Angel of Glory.”
“I do,” my master said.
“How is it that you deem yourself worthy to stand in her presence?”
“I am not worthy,” my master answered. “But my cause is.”
She smiled and turned her gaze to the Annas and me. I could feel her. It was as though something was peering into my very soul and with that searching came both a sense of delight and one of shame. Her gaze passed me and then I heard the Annas giggle softly as if they had been tickled.
“You are bold, Kell,” the Angle said.
“My need is great.”
“And what would you ask of Gavial?”
“A blessing for my quest.”
Laughter like tinkling ice crystals lilted through the air and filled my heart with joy.
“Your heart is good,” she said. “Your cause is just, and your companions wisely chosen. I will grant you entrée; but the rest is up to up to you. But hear this Kell, Gavial will test you.”
“So be it.”
“
Vade in pace. Vade cum fortuna
.”
And then her wings began to fan. We felt the air about us pulse. The ship rocked and shuddered. Anna and I clutched the mast as we rocked back and forth. Then we were engulfed in a bright white light. It felt as though the ship was spinning wildly as the air about us sparkled. My head was spinning, and a moment later we slammed down back into the ocean. I heard water splash and crash, and then all was calm.
The glittering air melted away and we found ourselves in a watery grotto. The sea rolled calmly toward a shore of white sand that was dazzled with a thousand tiny points of light. Beyond that a yellowy green light glowed from below the earth of two tall statues. The cave rock above us sparkled in the weird lights. The
Chaos
bumped the shore and Anna and I dropped anchor after taking a few moments to collect our wits.
Kell stood silent while looking at the lights before us. Then he shook his head sadly and bade us to don our armor. We obeyed but I wondered why we would go armed into the presence of an Angel. Still, I felt proud to wear my weapons. The other Anna had fashioned a crossed sheath for my daggers that hung on my back, and I was a small shadow of my master as we jumped into the shallow water.
We slogged ashore. The soft sand soon became hard smooth rock. As we approached, I saw the little lights to be small candles set atop tombstones with no markings. They stretched in a vast field making the whole place glow with an eerie green light. There was no path and so we wound our separate ways around the tombstones.
“Why would an angel shrine be surrounded by a graveyard?” the other Anna asked me softly.
All I could do was shrug and be glad that we had all brought our weapons.
We neared the eerie light and marveled at the two huge angel statues. They stood twice the height of the mast of the
Chaos
and were carved of white marble. Who could of made something so magnificent I couldn’t imagine. The stone was polished to a luster and there were a myriad of dark vein-like threads throughout the stone. Their wings were spread wide open and seemed to envelope the cavern. They held their arms high and in their hands they clasped bronze swords that crossed above them. Beneath their arms and between their breasts where strange birds with dragon-like wings that hung there suspended silently and drifting slowly in no wind that I felt.
“Curiouser and curiouser,” the other Anna whispered. Anna put a finger to her lips and told her to “hush!”
At the base of the giant Angel statues was cleanly cut blue marble stairs that led downwards. We cautiously walked forward and as we came close to the stairs we realized just how huge the Angel statues where. Kell barely reached the stone angel’s ankles. Far above the swords gleamed and the bird things whirled slowly. Below we saw a large cavern that had been carved into the grotto. A single narrow set of stairs wound down to a wide landing running all around the base. There were arched doors set in the walls. At the very bottom a pool of green water glowed so bright we had to shield our eyes. In the center of the pool there was a small island, and on that island it seemed to me that a figure crouched.
Kell led as we descended the stairway. Our eyes were dazzled by the light and I hugged the wall to keep my balance. When we had reached the base of the stairs and had our feet on solid ground we were suddenly nearly blinded. Kell raised Ashrune to the angels above and sang a chant in a language I didn’t know. Then he charged forward and plunged the head of his hammer into the green water. The splashing sound was more of a shriek – and in that moment the light dimmed.
The bird things above wheeled lower and all about us there were weird stirrings. It took a moment for my eyes to focus, but when they did I saw that the doors we had seen were cell bars. Behind each door where dozens of child-like angelic creatures. They were dancing and clamoring about, many of them reaching their tiny arms through the bars. They seemed to be begging, but they spoke no words. Then I heard something move on the small island in the middle of the water. The other Anna clutched my arm as we gazed across the green water.
In the middle of the island we saw a mighty Angel. She was as tall as my master and wearing glowing golden armor. Her breastplate was inlaid with sparkling emeralds, and her skirting hugged her slender waist and then draping around her firm round thighs. Her yellow hair sparkled like the sun as it draped about her shoulders and wings. Then with shock I noticed that she was chained. A thick iron collar wrapped around her delicate neck and the chain was bolted to the rock pedestal on which she lay.
“This is no shrine.” Anna breathed.
“It’s a prison.” her sister added.
“Hush,” Kell said. “She speaks.”
But if she did she used no words I heard. Her eyes gazed on my master and she looked as if she were pleading. I watched a golden tear fall from her eye.
“She begs me to release her,” Kell said.
“Then you should.”
“You must.”
“I will,” he cried.
In a mighty bound he jumped into the water and swam across the watery moat. He then pulled himself onto the stony pedestal. Kell raised Ashrune above him and then brought it crashing down onto the lock that held the chain – and then Kell wailed as sparks flew from the blow and he was thrown backwards. The Angel reeled in her bonds, her face contorted in pain, and when the smoke cleared the head of Ashrune was cloven in two.
Kell looked at the Angel in dismay, but the woman hung her head and wept.
“Gavial?” he said.
But in response the Angel shuddered as if in pain. My master stood silently, gazing down at the weeping woman, whisps of smoke rising from the shards of his war-hammer.
“There’s devilry here,” Anna said.
“Mighty devilry, “the other nodded.
“Or,” I ventured. “It’s a puzzle.”
“What?”
But then I heard Kell laugh.
“Of course,” he said. “The watery guardian said as much. The Angel would grant her blessing not to brawn but to brain. It will take more than mere strength to defeat Visalth, and I must prove my cunning to be worthy.”
