The Callindra Chronicles Book One - First Quest (31 page)

“
I am Luaga.  I take it
this is the patient?”  He gave Adbar a cursory
glance.

“
This is the Countess
Adbar.”  Tryst confirmed, “I am Tryst Te’Chern, this is my
brother Cronos.  These area Vilhylm and Callindra, my other
companions.  We have journeyed far to reach you and to seek
your council.”

They were interrupted by a guttural laugh
from the Countess’s mouth.  “You fools have brought me here?
 In spite of what remained of this vessel’s animal instinct
that fought you every step of the way I have been brought here, to
stand beneath the shelter of the first living thing’s arms.”

Luaga’s eyes widened in surprise, “Who is
this that you have brought here?”  His eyes narrowed, “What
exactly have you allowed to come into this most holy presence?”

“
I will allow the blood of
my servant to summon the things that must come.”  The same
guttural voice shouted at a volume that made Callindra’s ears ring.
 It made her vision blur and she was only barely conscious of
Luaga incanting a spell and the Elves drawing arrows.

“
NO!”  Callindra
shouted, “Whatever she carries said it needs her blood!  We
can’t allow her blood to spill here!”

The Countess’s wrists parted and her bonds
snapped as though made of embroidery thread.  “My will shall
NOT be denied!”  She shouted.  They watched in terror as
she reached her hand to her throat and tore out the veins with her
manicured nails.  Her voice shrieked impossibly high and
shrill in pain and triumph.

Vilhylm fell to his knees, sobbing and trying
to stem the flow of blood with his hands.  Tryst attempted to
cast a healing spell, but it failed to take effect.  The
bubbling laughter of the Countess echoed wetly throughout the
clearing and the spreading pool of blood began to shine with tiny
motes of emerald light.

“
Get back!  GET BACK!”
 Callindra yelled desperately, “Something’s happening!
 Something terrible is coming!”  The winds flared around
her and she drew Brightfang from his sheath.  Drawing on the
well of power within her and focusing it through the carved stone
on the pommel of her sword.  The very winds themselves
gathered around her, lending her their strength and
speed.

The tiny motes came out as a cloud of
fireflies that glimmered beautifully in the twilight.  As they
rose into the air, a massive hand of blackened flesh with veins of
sickly green fire pulsing from within stretched from within the
pool of the Countess’s blood.  The flickering green bodies of
the insects began to land on anything that was alive.  Plants
withered and died at their touch and when they touched exposed skin
they brought pain.

The screaming began immediately, but
Callindra was focusing on the monstrous golem that was pulling
itself from the portal formed by the Countess’s lifeblood.
 Its eyes were pits of emerald fire and even as it crawled
free of the gore on the ground it raised its head and roared in
rage.  More of the tiny insects streamed from its mouth,
spreading death and pain wherever they landed.  With an
answering battle cry Callindra leaped to the attack, Brightfang
swinging in a perfect arc of silver.

“
WAIT!”  Luaga’s voice
was loud enough for Callindra to hear but she ignored it, springing
forward to slash the monster across the hamstring.  Instead of
the deadly strike she had been hoping for, she was greeted by a
cloud of tiny glowing green insects.  They settled on the
exposed skin of her arms and pain burst along them like she had
thrust them into burning flames.

Callindra screamed in pain and summoned
threads of Weave from the flat of Brightfang’s blade.  A blast
of wind exploded from him, driving the bugs from her flesh and
leaving ugly red welts in their place.  Stumbling backwards,
she saw another shape emerging from the massive wall that was the
trunk of the Tree.

“
Your filth has no place
here vermin!”  The figure said, and the words held Power that
rippled across the clearing.

“
Oh foolish Goddess.”
 A dread voice rippled from within the pool of the Countess’s
blood, “Manifesting thyself here on the Prime?  No wonder thou
art so weak.”

Whatever the ... Goddess? said in reply was
in a language Callindra and her friends did not understand but it
angered the golem.

“
Then I shall CRUSH thee and
BURN thy precious tree!”  It roared, the sound of it making
their bones rattle within their bodies.  One step brought it
close enough to swing a vast fist at the tiny form that stood
defiantly next to the tree, but that blow never fell.
 

Branches sprang from the trunk of the
Grandfather Tree to form a protective barrier between the Goddess
and the monster while roots erupted from the ground to wrap around
the golem’s arms and legs.  Callindra was vaguely aware of her
friends attacking the insects however they could, but she was
focused only on the monster in front of her.  The roots had
dragged one of its arms down close to the ground.

Grinning, she ran forward and up the roots
toward the golem’s arm.  Perhaps if the legs weren’t
vulnerable the head would be.  Just before she reached the
monster’s bound hand, the roots snapped and the hand flung into the
air with the force of a catapult’s throwing arm.  Callindra
flew skyward, surprised to find that she wasn’t afraid. It was as
though she belonged here, flying free.

The winds gathered around her, allowing some
measure of control over her fall.  Instead of aiming for
somewhere moderately safe or attempting to slow her fall, Callindra
aimed for the back of the golem.  It had leaned down and was
breathing out clouds of bright green insects onto the shield that
protected the Goddess below.

With a wild shout of abandon, she plunged
down toward the monster, placing her feet on the dull back side of
her blade.  As she fell down towards its unprotected back
Callindra drew upon the force of the wind that tore at her face and
forced it into Brightfang.   Arcane Power exploded from
her blade as his tip plunged into its flesh and she unleashed it
into her enemy.  

It roared in rage and pain, arching its back.
 Gold light emanated from the Goddess in front and Callindra
saw something flickering just behind the Golem’s knee joints that
hadn’t been there a moment before.  She swung first left, then
right, hacking through the cords of Emerald green light.  With
a groan that made her teeth ache, the golem crumbled into pieces
that exploded into thousands more insects.

Looking around, she saw dozens of Druids
laying on the ground, covered in biting insects.  She fell to
her knees, hundreds of the bugs biting and stinging, their poison
burning in her veins.  The last thing Callindra saw was a
beautiful golden radiance that seemed to be coming from everywhere
and a calm, beautiful voice assuring her that everything would be
fine.  The feeling of the myriad of tiny feet rending flesh
accompanied her on her way to an uneasy unconsciousness.

Chapter 26

“
Callindra, are you awake?”
 Tryst sounded as though he had been awake for
days.

She opened bleary eyes, “I guess so.”
 Sitting up she surveyed her surroundings.  The walls,
floor and ceiling were all wood.  Not wood paneling, but
solid, polished wood.

“
Praises be.”  He said,
“Now we need to secure an audience with the Druids.”

“
Tryst, you look like shit.”
 Callindra said bluntly, “I don’t think any high ranking
officials would want to meet you right now.  Why don’t you lay
down in my bed for a minute, I’ll see if we can schedule an
audience or whatever they do here.”

She stood up, noting that she was only
wearing her underbreeches.   Her chest wrap was missing,
either burned by the insects or cut off for her treatment.
 Ignoring the creeping feeling of embarrassment she guided
Tryst to the bed and covered him with the blanket.  After a
short search of the chamber she located a loose tunic and pulled it
on.  What she did not locate was a door.

“
Hey!”  She shouted,
“Let me out of here!”

A door opened in the wall, a seamless joining
that she never would have seen.  A pair of Elven guards stood
outside, hands on their sword hilts.  They stared at her for a
few moments, her shocked by their sudden appearance, they by her
being on her feet.

“
Where is my sword?”
 She asked, “I demand that my Brightfang be returned to me,
what is the meaning of us being imprisoned like this?”

“
You are not imprisoned Lady
Callindra.”  One of them said, “These chambers are designed
for you to recover as quickly as possible.  Your other friends
are still asleep, we believed you would also be sleeping for at
least another few hours…”

“
Yeah, well Tryst has his
ways of speeding our recovery along.” She said, eyes flashing with
defiance.  Her voice trembled with apprehension though,
spoiling the effect.  “What have you done with my
sword?”

“
All of your personal
effects are in a salon set aside for your use.”  The guard
said, “If you would follow me please Miss Sol’Estin I would be
happy to show you the way.”

Feeling like there must be some kind of trap
but unable to see it, Callindra cautiously stepped out of the room.
 One of the soldiers led her down a short hallway into a room
that had light breezes blowing through it.  One entire wall
was open to the outside which showed a vista of pristine treetops.
 The ground was not visible.

“
Where…”  She took a
deep breath, noticing her armor, clothes and most importantly her
sword in a tidy pile on a table.  Letting the breath out as
her hand closed over Brightfang’s hilt she amended what she had
been going to say.  “Where are we?”

“
We are in the Grandfather.
 In Jorda’s domain.”  He said, “You are guests of
honor.”

“
Inside the tree?”  She
said, her voice dropping to a whisper.  “I knew it was big
but… this is amazing.”

“
He is vast.”  The Elf
agreed, “Outsiders are always overawed by him.”

“
I don’t think I would ever
stop being awed by this sight.”  Callindra said, looking out
the window again.  “I mean… look at it.”

A ghost of a smile played around the corners
of the soldier’s mouth.  “You will find breakfast for you
here.  If you need anything else, please come to the door and
call out.  I will be here.  Later the Goddess wishes you
to join her in the main feasting hall.”

“
W-what?”  Callindra
stammered.  “I’m a warrior, not some simpering maiden who goes
to fancy feasts!  Besides, I don’t have clothes to wear to
attend a Goddess!”

Now the Elven warrior did smile, “She does
not stand on ceremony Miss Sol’Estin.  There is nothing more
appropriate for you to wear than your armor, seeing as how it is
your status as a warrior that is being honored.”

“
Wait, where are my
friends?”  She asked, swallowing hard.  “Did the others
survive?”

“
Your friends weren’t quite
as resilient as you seem to have been.”  He said, “They rest,
recovering with the help of the young priest’s ministrations.
 We expect them to be ready to attend the feast tonight.
 Please, break your fast and refresh yourself.”

Callindra watched him turn to leave, unsure
of what to make of his statements.  She hadn’t really believed
in Gods and Goddesses until yesterday when she had felt more than
heard Jorda address the monstrous golem.  Now she was expected
to believe that a being that wielded such power wanted to see her
and didn’t expect her to be some kind of lady.

“
I want to see them.”
 She said, managing to focus on what was truly important.
 “I won’t be able to relax until I see my friends.”

“
By all means.”  He
replied easily, “However you must not awaken them.  They must
rest if they are to fully recover.”

He led her back down the hallway and she was
able to peer through small windows in the unbroken wood wall that
opened at his touch.  There she saw Cronos in one room, and
Vilhylm in another.  Tryst she had already seen.
 Satisfied, she went back to the open balcony.

The smell of freshly baked bread drew her
attention to the table where an assortment of food was laid out.
 Hunger drove her apprehension away, it would be much easier
to deal with these things once she had a full stomach.  She
sat and ate, the bread had nuts in it and there were fresh
vegetables and fruit as well as a light and refreshing mead.

“
Good to know you were
concerned about us.”  Cronos said dryly from the
doorway.

“
It’s not like I was going
to wake you from your beauty sleep.”  She said, “You looked
just fine to me when I looked in on you not ten minutes
ago.”

“
Is that fresh bread?”
 Cronos asked, “If it is I may just forgive you.”

“
They have fresh apples and
cheese and an amazing mead too.”  She said, “Come and get some
before I eat it all.”

Before long, Vilhylm had arrived as well and
they fell to talking about what they remembered of the battle.

“
I saw you flying through
the air and then I’m sure it was my imagination but it looked like
you rode your sword down that thing’s back.”  Cronos
said.

“
Did you let it throw you
first?”  Vilhylm asked with a grin, “I can’t see any other way
you’d have been able to get that high in the air… but surely you
wouldn’t have done something so reckless.”