Storm and Stone Ch. 04

*********

A gentle tug at the edge of his senses pulled Arawn from a comfortable sleep just before the witching hour. He sat up carefully so as not to wake Amevina and crawled from the bedroll. He got to his feet and quietly spoke the trigger for his armor, affixed his swords at his waist, and slipped into the night.

The pull got a bit stronger when he pointed himself in the direction of the crater, so he made his way in that direction. It surprised him when the guards let him pass with nothing more than "I'm checking something out" as an excuse. After his earlier display, he could hardly blame them. He still gave himself mental slaps over the lack of foresight, for good measure.

His attention was snatched outward when he felt the lich approach.

"So that was the caller I heard," he muttered.

Arawn looked up at the moon and down the road when he had passed the crater and reached the mouth of the roadway. It was on the wane, but it was still bright enough to illuminate the path and he could see his guest approach in the distance.

"Ain't this just a bitch... my first medieval parley, and it's a damned talking zombie. Nothing but to do it, though."

He strode down the dirt road and rolled his eyes when he passed giblets of what used to be soldiers, scattered about the roadside.

"Jesus... I really need to start thinking this shit through better before I end up cracking the damn planet. Bastards drop me into the middle of a wa..."

A voice called out as it neared, it was rich and vibrant, an obvious illusion to disguise the truth that Arawn already knew.

"Greetings, stranger! That was quite an introduction today. I've used that technique, myself, to intimidate enemies before but you were..."

Arawn groaned to himself and held up a hand, "Thanks and all, but could you cut the flattery and bullshit, and just get to the point, please? In case you didn't notice, I was sleeping."

Before the lich could respond, he added, "Oh, and drop the illusion too. I have known what you are since yesterday, and I've seen your egg."

The illusion dropped immediately and the withered, dessicated husk of an elf stared at him in annoyed surprise from behind the hood of elegant blue and green robes, trimmed with gold ribbon. What is it with all the gold trim here, Arawn wondered.

"How could you possibly know of the egg?"

The voice that reached his ears threatened to make him puke. He imagined that the raspy, whisperings of the walking corpse might be something akin to the sound of steel wool against petrified dinosaur shit, with a little death added in for resonance, and then shaped to resemble human speech.

A plan formed in his mind and Arawn gave the lich a sly smile, "Trade secret. If I told you, I would have to smash the egg and let the needle fall to the ground. We both know that needle is the one material object in existence to which you are an immaterial phantom. That's why you need the fluids of life within the egg to contain it, too. Anyone who holds the needle, holds your very soul in their hands. The egg is an inert life without it's own will... unlike a living, breathing, soul."

The undead's face was a mask of fear and outrage, "Who told you my secrets? The Master promised they would never be known!"

"It's actually common knowledge where I'm from...", it wasn't actually a lie.

That was more than his midnight caller could handle, and the lich attempted to teleport only to find that his magic was gone! Every time he tried to cast a spell, it started to form and then... it just collapsed.

"What have you done?" It rasped.

"Huh? What have I... oh, that!" Arawn laughed, "I just tied you to my root chakra and grounded out your magic. Every time you try to cast a spell, I almost literally shit it out. Simple, really, but good luck finding the connection." Arawn could not resist a sly wink.

The creature turned to run and Arawn lifted a hand and bade him return with the crook of a finger. The creature's body went stiff and turned, then floated back to the human. Terror was etched on it's features as it stopped, inches from the man's face. The human reached up and caressed the lich's cheek and a cruel grin painted it's fleshy features. The lich's face fell when the human's hand came away with the egg securely within its grasp... the very same egg which was supposed to be under guard back at the Vaszul camp.

"You... wha... how!"

Arawn shrugged, "You'd be amazed with what I can accomplish these days, once physical contact is established."

With his free hand, Arawn reached down to the lich's belt and retrieved a dagger, then stepped back. The litch remained frozen in midair and watched in confusion as the man took off his left bracer and unsheathed the dagger. Confusion turned to revulsion when cut open his forearm down to the bone with nothing but a grimace and a long grunt of pain. If the horrid creature had possessed a working stomach, it would certainly have turned when the human gouged a furrow in one of the long bones. It knew true horror, however, when the human crushed the egg.

Right in front of the lich, his cruel smile now a malicious grin... Arawn took the needle from the ruins of the eggshell in his hand and placed it into the furrow in his bone. When he sent a pulse of healing energy from his heart, the lich bore witness as the bone closed around the needle and sealed it into his skeleton, then the flesh closed and sealed his body without so much as a scar to mark the wound.

"You know what this means, Karva'uh Tel-Duraalith, last of the Elgoniyth... through our connection, you are now able to know who and what I am. I have freed you from the geas as well, since I have no doubt that you will prove quite valuable. You... are also... mine. Forever."

The spell released the lich and Arawn sheathed the dagger and returned it to its owner. An incredulous Karva'uh lowered himself on shaky knees and bowed in supplication.

"I... exist to serve, My Master," he whispered reverently.

"Good! With that attitude, we just might reform you into a valuable and productive member of society."

Just like that, the cruel and malicious man vanished, and the old Arawn returned. He reached down and lifted Karva'uh to his feet, threw an arm around the lich's shoulder and gave him a warm smile.

"So, now that you're with us, Karva, here's what I need you to do..."

Throughout their encounter, neither of them noticed the eight round and lidless eyes that observed them from afar. After all, their magical senses told them it was only a cautious spider.

*********

Three hours before actual sunrise, Arawn returned to camp. A brilliant incandescence burned above the Vaszul camp; so bright that many believed that dawn had arrived prematurely.

The orc and elven guards had questions when they saw him returning from that direction.

"My Lord, what is happening at the Vaszul camp? Is that light your doing," one inquired.

"Yep. I don't like fighting in the dark, so I figured I would set up some stadium lighting to keep things honest. Oh... before I forget, we need one too..."

The human raised his arms into the air and wove a complex spell, the very first of his own arcane design, and when he spoke the final word of the chant, a brilliant orb of light identical to the one he was questioned about, appeared over the allied camp and shone with the light of day.

Smoke began to waft from the forest and alarms went up.

"To arms! To Arms! The Vaszul have set the forest ablaze!"

Arawn pulled down his mask and palmed his face. "Shit, I should have warned them."

He focused on his throat chakra and raised his voice, "The forest is not on fire, The Pale burn under the light of an artificial sun!"

The power added to his voice by the energy was tremendous, and his words boomed throughout the camp like the declaration of a god.

Arawn winced at the intensity, "Jesus fuck! I gotta find the volume control on this shit. I do not want these people trying to worship me as the voice of some strange god."

Grok was the first to arrive, "By the hells, man! An artificial sun? What in the name of everything have you done now?"

At his friend's question, Rawn's face lit up with all the glee of a child who had just received their heart's desire on Christmas. He giggled like one, too.

"Vampires don't like sunlight, right?"

"Well, yes..."

Arawn pointed at the sky, "Well, there ya go! Magical suns!"

Grok shook his head, once again in awe, "What are you, Arawn Stonebrook?"

His human friend shrugged, "A a riddle wrapped in a jackass? I dunno... what kind of a fuckin' question is that?"

Grok laughed, "You call yourself a normal human from your world who just had... as you say, some gifts. Yet everything you do with them eclipses our understanding in ways beyond even our comprehension."

Arawn took a deep breath and thought for a moment, how to explain this...

"It really all comes down to magic, if you think about it. Here, you all have had magic to do things for you, to help you fight not only to defend yourself, but to feed your families. Before there were actual arcane studies, don't you imagine that there were some people who just used magic naturally without understanding it? Maybe there were ancient hunters in your original peoples who just felt the environment around them and were able to do things just that much easier. So they learned to hone it. That's how discoveries are made, and that's how you have advanced your knowledge of magic here."

"That is a very astute observation, Arawn," Grok answered, "but I do not understand how that answers my question."

"It doesn't, at least not all of it. Anyway, because of magic, your peoples haven't had to study the natural world in the same way as mine have. When Terrock was expelled from my solar system and sent here, it broke the harmony of the planets and weakened magic everywhere in the Sol system. Since that time, we have had to rely on the power of our minds to decipher our natural environment, without the aid of magic.

"That is how, and why science was born on my world. Where you used magic and alchemy to get materials to do different things... even to create new materials, we used science to develop devices and more advanced tools, that showed us the very building blocks of those materials far beyond what the eye can see, both within and without. From that knowledge, we have taught ourselves to build things so small that they can fit comfortably on the shaft of a hair with space to move around. The power of thought, logic, and rationality has always been our greatest weapon... also our greatest curse. A lot of us are arrogant fuckers."

"And your knowledge of science allowed you to create a sun in miniature above our heads, just to kill The Pale?"

"Yup. Magic is intuitive, the more detail you can provide with your mind, the better... the spell actually requires less power. Still, if you have a basic understanding of something... such as, the fact that a star is a big ball of burning gases in a vacuum, then you're good. Magic can take it from there, without you me needing to know the exact elemental composition of the star. And yes, I put two miniature stars in the sky just to kill The Pale. I hate vampires. Fucking leeches..."

"You have them on your world? I thought you said humans were alone?"

"For one, vampires and werewolves are humans... or humanoids, just infected with a virus or something. At least, that's the way we imagine them. All we really have are legends of men that turned into wolves and vice-versa, and tales of men and women who either drank blood to survive, or bathed in the blood of virgins to attain eternal youth. But, yeah...apparently we do, or did at one time because I just fried a forest full of the bastards from both ends using info from our legends."

Arawn laughed and pointed, "Look at all that smoke! It's a barbecue!"

Once more, a a crowd gathered and Arawn stepped back and allowed Grok to explain the thwarted attack by The Pale. Amevina arrived almost immediately after Grok, but had chosen to simply stand silent beside her husband and listen. She saw no reason to speak, as Grok seemed to be asking questions for the both of them at the present. While Arawn waited, something occurred to him.

"Hey, Grok, the scouting reports that initially told us these guys were coming... Did they happen to mention whether they made their observations in the day or in the night?"

"I believe it was night, if I recall correctly. Why would that be important?"

"Don't forget that vampires move easier at night. They probably kept them hidden away in light-proof tents during the days at camp. Since that is the case, I'd wager we took out between a third and half of their entire army just now."

"You've got to be kidding! How could you possibly know that?"

The human pointed back the the smoking forest.

"Have you missed the fact that there is so much smoke coming out of those woods that the scouts thought the enemy had burned the forest?"

Amevina chose to join the conversation, "Arawn has a point. We would have seen flames by now, even in the current lighting..."

Grok expelled a heavy sigh and cursed, "By the hells!... How did we miss that?"

"Don't kick yourself too hard, Grok. I would have missed it too, if the lich hadn't called me out for a little midnight rendezvous."

"The lich...? For what purpose..." Amevina demanded, a dangerous edge in her voice.

"So that The Pale could attempt to kill everyone. My guess is that we caught them literally in their underwear. They couldn't have expected resistance or they would have shielded themselves from something like this... I would, anyway. It's okay, though, he works for us now. He warned me about the attack."

In a demonstration of one of Arawn's own habits, she palmed her face.

Grok's tone mirrored her exasperation, "He works for us now? Do I even want to know what that means?"

Arawn sighed, "Can I just say that the needle which holds his soul is now my very, very personal property, and leave it at that until tomorrow?"

"Fine, but only because I trust you implicitly. Otherwise the war council would have my head, promotion or not," the orc conceded.

Arawn looked around and saw a host of faces that he both recognized and did not, quite a number had only been present for part of the conversation and he knew questions were coming.

"Can you handle it from here, big man? I need to get a little more sleep. It's going to be a long day tomorrow."

"Yes. You thwarted the attack, the least we can do is keep watch. The light will remain till dawn, I assume?"

He put his arm around Amevina's waist and waved, "Indeed it will, Grok. Goodnight everyone..."

*********

At dawn on the fourth day, Arawn stood at the edge of camp and watched quietly over the battlefield. His twin suns still hung in the sky, though they had faded considerably since the true sun had begun its ascent. Grok joined him in in silence for a few moments, and finally Arawn turned to him with that ever-present smile.

"This is the big day, my friend. Gather the troops and tell them to get ready. We are about to bleed the Vaszul dry for their transgressions."

"Even after last night, Arawn... how? They only sent a token force yesterday, a little over ten thousand at best, plus the lich and The Pale, and we still have not seen their warbeast..."

Arawn focused on the ruby in his circlet and shouted, "Vulkan! To me!"

From under the huge canvas tarp came a mighty metallic roar, so loud that it must have been heard for miles. The figure under the tarp moved and hurled it aside to reveal a masterpiece of gnomish craftsmanship in the form of a massive gorilla, apparently male... given the broad proportions of its body. Armored pauldrons sat atop its shoulders and spikes sat atop the elbows, knuckles, and knees. On it was emblazoned an insignia that he did not request, but the imagery made it easy to recognize. Someone had designed for him, his own personal heraldry device, and decided that the first place to display it should be Vulkan's chest.

A gray shield, crossed fists in human skin tone, and they even included my brass knuckles... can't get mad at them for that, he thought.

The great beast thrust its shoulders back and pounded its metal chest with cupped hands. The body of the beast rang like a bell, then it crouched and covered the distance to Arawn with a single leap. Grok dove aside in surprise, his sword came out on instinct, and Arawn's request to gather the camp became moot as everyone flooded to their location with weapons drawn, in search of the commotion. Vulkan stood on all fours for a moment, then lowered its bottom to the ground in a sitting position beside Arawn.

"Rawn! What in the hells is that," Grok shouted.

Arawn grinned like an idiot, "Oh, nothing much. I talked to this spirit that calls itself the guardian of Lake Home. He told me that he talks to the shamen all the time, but he hates that he's forced to watch while everything happens around him. So I offered to build a form that would let him do both, and he happily accepted."

Igga stepped forward, a deep scowl on her green-ochre features.

"You have caged the spirit of the forest! How is this a boon for us? How can he can communicate with us if he is confined within a physical form?"

Grok placed a hand upon her shoulder and sighed, "Igga, be calm. Arawn would not have done such a thing." He turned to his friend, "Please explain to us, how, so that they may understand."

Arawn gave an easy smile and a nod, then pulled his hood back and pointed to the circlet that adorned his forehead.

"Just like the ruby, here in the circlet, lets me communicate directly with him... those massive rubies in his eyes," he pointed to the enormous ruby cabochons that were set in the eye sockets of the beast, "serve as a conduit for his soul to move between the forest and the vessel. He is most certainly not trapped in any way, and that is not a cage at all."

That left Grok curious, "Then why did he come at your command so quickly?"

Arawn shrugged, "Vulkan wanted to make an entrance, so I let him."

"You mean to say that the spirit itself, chose to do that," Igga questioned?

"Absolutely. Think about it for a minute, Igga... Vulkan already knew they brought that demon with them, he could feel its presence as surely as our scouts spotted it. That little show was not for our benefit, it was for the Vaszul. Yesterday, they learned that their soldiers, combined with a lich, were impotent in the face of your new ally. Then they sent a horde of vampires to kill us in the night, who also failed miserably. We are going to see that demon again, I have it on good authority."

Amevina was confused, "You mean, through the lich's cooperation?"

A feral grin spread across his lips, "Can't do details right now, we are running out of time. That roar will have them on the move. So, they know we have an answer for their mages... right? Now there is a big unknown in the form of Vulkan. They haven't even set eyes on him yet, but they just learned that there is something over here that is big enough to be heard all around. To them, a roar like that is going to indicate power. All of that adds up to one thing, everyone... they know we are no longer afraid and that we have power they do not understand. Now, they have to save face, so they will come at us with everything they have, and they will lose."