No more prodding! D: Vultures.
Here be chapter three! (see what i did there? ehehe... -.-)
Chapter Three: The Witch's Lair
The sun was starting to appear. I had been over at that mans home all night fighting him off with one tale or another. He had me by my arm in such a grasp I never thought possible. "Here is my escape", I thought to myself, daylight!
"Wait!” I told my unwitting guide. "The sea witch will not be there at the lake. It is daylight and she will not come out until sunset again." I thought I had him for sure on that one. Everybody knew about the tale of the sea witch. The nocturnal soul stealer could not bare the light of the sun, which is why only during the day did the ferry work. Superstition....seemed to be a good tool right now, so I used it.
The old man turned at me with a sarcastic smile and a chuckle so deep. "Tell me boy, do you really believe everything you hear? You have a lot to learn! Let’s go". And off we went, with my arm numb from his grasp. If I didn’t know better, I would think he had an even tighter grip on that bag.
"Hey, the front gate is over there.." , I tried to warn him as we were headed no where near there.
"Just stay quiet...if you can... and you will see." We headed in what seemed the exact opposite direction. What was going to happen next? This old man is dragging me all over, I pondered to myself as I thought of the next tale that would maybe release me.
We came upon the thicket that was growing inside the tree towards the back of our haven. It was a grotesque vineyard of thorns and such. None of the kids played there. It was too creepy. It was told that if you got too close it would grab you and suck you in and consume you. Supposedly that was the reason the tips of the thorns were red, stained from the blood of its victims.
Wait. This crazy old man is going to throw me in there! "NOOO!!!" I screamed as loud as I could. But nobody came to that area. A sudden masking of my face with his huge hand concealed my cry for help and my impending doom was about to be. Why did I say the Sea witch? Why not something else, even the truth...that I had no idea where that damned acorn was, or if there even was one. What have I done? These thoughts came faster and faster as we approached the edge of the thicket.
We stopped, and the old man released his grip. His right hand entered his flowing garb and he unveiled the staff. I had forgotten all about that staff. It just sort of made itself and, as quickly as it was made, he had grabbed it, me and that bag and shuffled us off.
"Take this staff boy and go into the thicket", he ordered.
"Are you crazy?" I asked, and then realized I already knew the answer to that question.
"Take it!" he demanded as he threw it at me.
Instinctively, I caught it. Or did it catch me? Odd how natural it felt in my hand. How balanced it was. As if I had always had it, like another arm. A quick push in the direction of the gnarly mess broke my thoughts. I shoved the staff in front of me for protection from those needles protruding to slice any invader. The tip of the staff touched the front of the graveyard of vines and, as if a command was given, the vines simply separated. A narrow path just wide enough for one elf to pass was afforded us. It winded around for a bit, then stopped at the inside of, from what I could see, the Great Sandar tree.
"Wonderful", I murmured back towards the man, "just wonderful, a dead end".
I sat down on a protruding root, disgusted with the nights, and day so far, events. I thrust the staff into the ground where I sat. To my amazement, the ground became unsettled under my feet, and split into a cavern some 30 feet deep. We fell to the bottom. I landed with a hearty THUD! I looked over to see if the old man was hurt but he was just sitting there. He wasn’t hurt at all. He was barely even bothered by that fall and here I was lying once again, flat on my backside with the air knocked from me.
An extended hand helped me to my feet with a word of caution, "take heed the way you wield that staff young man."
The staff? No way! It was starting to sink in to me. This crazy old man wasn’t...crazy? And I lied to him? Now I was really in trouble. Once again, my thoughts were pushed to the wayside as my body was pushed to march forward. "Where does this cave lead?", I asked, now with one ear in cautions wind and the other with anticipation of crazy...no I wont be using that word again...weird...yes, definitely weird things to happen.
"Quickly now, we must hurry", said the old man. "Before she wakes up, we must reach her lair and grab the acorn."
He had moved to far in front of me to stop now. I couldn’t tell him that I made that story up. I was a warrior at heart, but this man was troubling indeed. I didn’t dare let out my secret until I knew my path of escape. We came to the end of the cave. All that could be seen was a glimpse of sunlight from the top of the caves pitch black ceiling. The walls were wet and slimy, yet another seemingly dead end. With frustration from the waning days events, I thrust my new weapon into the walls of the caves belly and began chipping away. The pebbles that fell were a solid reminder that it would never work. My frustration grew, and my irritation with this situation was coming to a boil. I closed my eyes, holding in my breath. My face swelled with exasperation and turned purplish red. My veins burst to the surface and their pulse was easily seen.
"Stop!!!" I heard the man scream "Stop!!!"
I broke from my trance only to see the entire cave covered in moss, the old man had been spun up to his neck, and the moss was ever so slowly creeping over his face. What had happened? Where did this come from? Whose magic was this? Mine? The grip I had on the staff loosened a bit, and so did the moss entrapment around the neck of my companion.
"What is wrong with you? You could have killed me! Give me that staff…until you can learn to control yourself, I'll just have to keep a hold of this."
He was right, I had lost control. "I didn't mean to..." I said with a look of desperation for his forgiveness.
"That is the point, you didn’t have control" he threw back at me, dusting the last remains of the deadly moss trap that was around his feet. As he did so, his robe was flushed backwards and that scar shown once again. I could see he was very agitated with the current events, so I didn’t probe about the scar. The moss was very thick, thick enough to grab hold of and climb out of the cave.
Upon ascending to solid ground once more, I realized that we were in fact in yet another cavern. But this one was different; it had no walls or ceiling. It simply had an energy. As I look up at what would be the sky, it was soon that I realized we were "under?" the lake. "The liar...it existed!" There we were, on a small island just up above the water in the centre of this energy. And there, just on the outer rim of the water was a silent ominous shadow. From here I could not make out what it was and as I moved towards it to get a better look, I was jerked back behind the old man.
"You foolish little boy, she will kill you with one swipe if you get too close". The shadow started to move and roll around, then settle back into a new position. As it rolled, I caught a glimpse of what looked like a boulder sitting behind it. It looked as though this shadow was protecting it. But from what? Why would a rock need protecting?
The man placed the staff back into my hand and told me to close my eyes and concentrate on the other side of the pool. I started to question him, but was abruptly interrupted.
"We don’t have time for that now, just do it!".
I obliged the old man, focusing on the land on the other side. As I continued, I could swear I heard the ground itself "talk" to me. It wasn’t saying hello or how are you or anything like that, it was more of a faint humming. But I understood. I turned the staff upside down and pressed it against the ground. Roots sprung up and formed a bridge over the water towards the outer rims surface. The crackling of the wood carving itself across the pool startled the shadow and a hiss so piercing followed that it completely distorted everything I was thinking about. The roots came to a halt about 20 feet away from the outer ring as my concentration had been thwarted by that screech. The man grabbed my arm and headed over the newly formed bridge, darting with such elegance and speed, I could barely keep my feet under me to keep up with his pace. We reached the edge of the bridge and, without any hesitation, leaped across the remaining length. As I stood next to the edge, with the water splashing up from the wavy pool, the old man warned me that the water was indeed deadly and not to let it even so much as touch your skin.
The shadow moved forward towards us and emerged from the darkness. There she was, beautiful. Aqua skin adorned with jewels that I had only read about in the ancient scrolls. Slowly she moved towards us, smiling. Her arms, all six of them, were long and thin. At the end of each protruded even longer tentacle like fingers with dazzling nails. Her shape was so beautiful, and the hood behind her flared out and gently ruffled in the wind. She was enchanting to say the least. It was over as quickly as it started. Her beautiful posture flared into an attack of swinging arms and hideous howls that froze me in place. She came closer and closer and then she stopped and slightly retreated. I turned around and there he was, standing behind me, bow drawn, and arrow in place. The tip of the arrow was what got my attention. It was not a sharp tool of death, there was a small bag at the end of it. I didn’t know what this witch was afraid of, how could a bag be any threat to her?
"We have come for the seed!" he yelled at her.
"Never shall you take it whilst I stand guard", she replied in a hiss, more akin to a cobra than this, deceivingly beautiful female.
"So be it", he said as he loosed his arrow, bag on end.
Never was there a straighter and direct hit. The arrow's head burst on impact and a powder flew into the air. The white powder covered her and she began to scream in torment. She quickly darted into the pool of deadly water to try hopelessly to cleanse herself, but to no avail. As she lay floating on the waters surface, she began to mutter a low and fast string of words.
"Hurry" the man said, "thrust the staff into the seed".
I had no idea what was happening, but in light of current events, I was not going to waste time trying to sort out details. I thrust the pointed staff directly into the seed and watched as the staff consumed what was inside the shell. Waves of blues and greens and yellows filled the voids in the staff and worked their way up to the hollow blossom, filling it with a glowing bulb. The piece hummed gently, as though with contentment at being reunited with lost brethren.
"We must leave now!" he yelled as the energy that kept the water at bay seemed to be dying with the sea witch herself. If we didn’t act soon, we would be crushed by the water from above.
I closed my eyes and thought about the pier up above at the front of the lake. The man was frantically yelling for me to follow but, somehow, I knew what to do. As he reached out to grab me, the walls of energy failed and the water crashed down upon us. What would have been a crushing weight never hit us, it seemed to slide around as a perfectly shaped orb, nothing but sheer will holding it back. The water seemed to listen to my mind, as I asked it to afford us safe passage. A piece of wooden root, large enough for us both to stand broke through the walls of our bubble. Using this as a raft, we rode the waves the lake was gently pushing at us to the surface and were gently deposited on the beach beside the pier, not a scratch to be seen, except that one on his ankle. Once we landed, he turned to me and gave me a quizzical look.
"Very well done, son. You learn quickly", were the only words spoken as we started back towards the tree.
* * *
I watched the young elf almost skipping towards the gatehouse as I turned one last time to face the lake. "I can’t believe that damned witch had it all this time", I said to myself in disbelief. As the boy continued even further up the road, I noticed the stillness of the night. The forest was serene and quiet. The animals were still. On the surface, it may have seemed a perfect night to the average elf but, not being any average elf, I could sense it. I hadn’t felt that feeling in over 500 years. The creeping darkness that made my heart race, even as I feebly attempted to slow it down, I needed to control this emotion or who knows what might happen again.
I remember how stupid I was the night I saw the robed figure on top of that hill, watching us battle with the trolls, slaughtering them with my newfound energy. I should have finished him along with the trolls that night. I should have never let it go. And now, that hunger, that yearning, that darkness was back. I realised with dawning sadness, our time was short. Long ago I had discovered, through my conversations with nature, the blight that infested this land. The dark enchantment woven by the sorcerer was nearing its completion. This boy will have to learn quickly or he will never survive. Tomorrow I think we might take a trip. I surely hope he doesn’t get "tangled up". As I looked into my bag for a quick inventory, I was ready. I prayed dearly that he was as well.
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To be continued!
-Istalris-
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