Ch5-5: Earth Spirits
The ship was aflame, though it remained mostly in one piece.
Well… more or less…
Which must have been Captain Silver’s line of thought as she began to bark commands to her men to put the fire out. Ben couldn’t tell if there was anything salvageable between the smoke pouring from the engines and the deep gashes across the planks of the deck.
But he did know there had been surprisingly few injuries among the passengers – nothing that couldn’t be handled by the young Mysidian White Mage. The crash, too, had taken them out of the sky with astounding smoothness, a tribute perhaps to Silver’s piloting skills. Or maybe it had been luck.
Or maybe she’s just crashed so many times she knows how to make the best of it by now.
The brittle black remnants of the Dracolich were still embedded into the wood of the cabin wall. Oily ooze leaked out across the deck from where the collapsed bones buckled inward, snapping and popping as the heat of flame consumed the final foundations of the massive beast.
The men were rushing back and forth, a line of buckets and water between a random forest stream and the ship. Captain Silver cast about orders, her hands waving wildly as the sailors scattered through the darkening brush. A few nearby trees had already caught flame, the threat of spreading wildfire becoming more real every moment.
Chase clung tightly to Ben’s cloak, golden eyes wide as the flame danced in their reflection. The boy had been below deck during the attack, yet seemed to regard his first glance at the charring Dracolich remains with a steady silence. The flaming ship, however, he gave a look of horror.
“Ben!” the boy pleaded after a moment, craning his little head back to stare up at the Master Wizard. “Ben, the ship’s on fire!”
“Yeah, I know,” the Half-Lunar replied, not quite sure what answer Chase was fishing for.
“Can’t you do something?” the boy pressed, shivering a little despite the heat.
“Um…?”
“Like make it stop?” Chase wrapped his fingers more tightly in the green of Ben’s cloak, face hopeful. “You can make it stop.”
“Well, I guess I can. But I thought Silver’s sailors were doing okay and I didn’t wanna bother them?” Ben scratched the back of his head. Then squinted at the bonfire ship.
“I don’t think you’d bother them, Ben. They could use your help… the trees are catching,” the page pointed out. “It might light the whole forest on fire!”
Ben murmured, half to himself. “But if I interrupt, Captain Silver is gonna yell at me again…”
“It’s okay, Ben,” Chase gave an encouraging smile. “You have to do what you know is right… even if other people don’t understand at first.”
The Half-Lunar’s mouth parted slightly, a stricken, thoughtful look glittering in his green eyes. Finally, he nodded. “Okay… I’ll try.”
The boy’s face broke into a sunny grin.
Feeling encouraged, the Master Wizard paced away from the boy, advancing carefully towards the flaming ship. Red hues flashing from white hair and deep green eyes beginning to glow, his tall form was instantly noticed as he strode across the glade. Even Edge paused, water bucket in one hand, to give the Half-Lunar a snerly look.
“What are you doing?!” Silver shouted at him, just as he had predicted. “If you wanna make yourself useful, grab a bucket and stop holding us up!”
Undaunted, Ben continued toward the billow of fire, stretching his hands in front of him, palms down. The soles of his boots crunched as he stepped into the ring of flame, the heat sending distorted ripples through his vision. On every side, walls of fire stood tall and impenetrable.
“Cecil!” Porom’s voice was tinged with shock, “He’s walking right into it!”
Fire was not his most natural element. But it was one that he was most comfortable with… one that he had studied the longest, even in the days of his childhood. And the years had only worked to secure that mastery.
I don’t see how they can’t understand… putting a fire out is easy. Just the opposite of making a fire. If you can do one, you can do both.
Obediently, the fire did not touch him. It spun in raging circles, leaving the area around the Master Wizard’s feet clear. Not even the hem of his cloak felt the heat of the flame.
“Golbez…?” Cecil’s voice was wavery behind him. Unsure.
Slowly, Ben brought his open palms down, pressing them both towards the ground. As he did, the fire followed, lowering and shrinking as if being sucked back into the wood of the ship. Finally, all that was left was the stream of wayward smoke curling up from the red-crusted planks of the deck.
The flames were no more. Reversed into extinction.
Silence fell over the now-dark glade. Ben could feel all eyes upon his back as he realized, for the first time that the entire crew as staring at him. Slightly embarrassed, the Half-Lunar turned around, only to find that facing them was ten times worse than feeling their gawks at his back.
“Why…” Silver was the first one to speak. “Why didn’t you do that before?”
“Eh… well…” Ben swallowed, giving the Captain a sheepish look. “No one asked me to?”
Cecil just gave a long, blank stare. Edge grumbled something under his breath as he set the water bucket on the ground. Chase had already run up to Ben, wrapping his small arms around the Master Wizard’s waist as if he would never let go.
“Well, hows about I ask you to do a quick fixer-upper on my ship and get us back into the air?” the Captain stuck one hand on her hip, eyes gazing at the Half-Lunar.
Ben scratched the back of his head. “Sorry… it doesn’t work that way.”
“I figured as much. You’re totally useless,” she huffed loudly.
Ben grimaced to himself.
Then Silver looked at Cecil, “I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that we’re stranded. We’re going to have to wait till the morning before we can figure out all the damage that’s been done to the ship. And with no place nearby to get parts for the engines…”
The Paladin’s face was grim.
“Why not just foot it on over to Troia?” Edge folded both of his hands behind his head. As if that was the answer to everything.
“Because we don’t know how much of Troia is left,” Ben replied with a spreading scowl.
Porom gave a little half gasp, pressing her fingers to her lips as if to compose herself. But the quaver of her brown eyes gave it away.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” the Ninja’s face darkened as he turned to glare at the Half-Lunar.
“It means…” Cecil’s voice sounded pressured as he broke into the death-glare, “That Troia’s current standing might not be very secure. That Dracolich that we fought on the ship was of the same origins of the Water Dragon that came with the Mysidian refugees. You saw the damage that the creature did before we stopped it – it flooded Mysidia and took out the better part of upper-city Baron. If this Dracolich was released in Troia and the Clerics were unaware…”
“There’s no telling what happened to the people,” Porom finished quietly.
“Ben?” Chase peered up with worry at the Half-Lunar.
“Obviously, they weren’t able to stop the beast since it decided to make my ship its new chew toy,” Silver grimaced, kicking her heel against a nearby rock. “How did a big dumb monster know to go for us… us in particular? It seems rather unusual for the odds to fall that way — we just happen to fly in and it attacks on nightfall?”
“No,” Ben shook his head. “I don’t think it was coincidence. An undead creature like that has some sort of intelligence… but…”
“Ben–?” Chase peeped again, still staring up.
“You think there might have been something controlling it?” Cecil frowned, rubbing his nose with one finger.
“I’m not sure, but…” Ben murmured.
“Beeen?” This time, Chase tugged insistently on the hem of the Master Wizard’s cloak.
“Eh? What’s wrong?” Ben squinted down at the page through the shadows. A frown hovered on the edge of his lips.
Seeing he had the Half-Lunar’s attention, the boy pushed himself up on his tip-toes. His voice was eerie as he announced, “Ben… they’re all around us…”
Caught off guard, Ben squinted more. “What’s all around us?”
“Bad things!” the boy peered fearfully into the looming shadows of the forest. As silence fell upon the sailors, it seemed as if the night sounds began to grow in intensity. Threatening.
Edge’s sharp grey eyes darted from point to point, his brows drawn down in listening concentration. His hands were ready over the grips of his katana. “I don’t hear anything…”
Chase’s hand tightened upon the cloak. His voice became more frightened. “Ben… they’re everywhere… bad things…!”
Ben’s own senses were busy scanning the darkness.
Nothing..?
Nothing but the normal feeling of life flowing through the heavy tree limbs.
But if Chase says there is…
The child’s golden eyes… so certain… so afraid. Staring into the forest.
Chase doesn’t lie…
He focused harder, green eyes flickering with light from within. That’s when he felt it.
A pale spark in the shadows.
Then two. Then five. Then many.
Too many!
It was as if a great light had flashed, just for a moment, clearing his vision of the forest shadows. And within that vision, Ben had seen them – nameless creatures of terrible duality. Encircling the crash spot… in numbers far greater than their own.
“Cecil…!” was the only word that could pass his lips before the forest erupted, a blur of ethereal color bursting from the darkness.
At first, the mind picked out nothing more but a strange conglomeration of beast and magic. But as the charge leapt up over the nearby brush, Ben could see that each was actually a rider and a mount.
What?
The air parted as the wraith-beasts bore down upon them, lit with a sickly azure glow, leaving streams of light in their wake. Beasts that appeared canine but moved feline, dead holes of void where eyes should be. And upon the broad backs, humanoid riders moved with the mount’s charge, shadowed faces lost to secrets of the night. Each rider was armed with a spear-like weapon that gleamed coldly in the shifting moonlight.
Their advance was soundless. Their motion was like a trick of the eye – appearing now here, now there, now gone… now bearing down from above, a pale vision of death.
The first screams jolted Ben from his bewildered stare. Belying their ethereal appearance, the riders fell upon the nearest group of sailors, ripping men from their feet with snapping jaws and shredding spears.
They don’t have a chance!
Instantly, the Master Wizard thrust Chase behind him, shielding the boy’s eyes from the violence, pulling his own blade ready. Peering over his shoulder, he could see that Cecil had done the same for Porom. The two brothers found themselves back to back, swords held ready and the children between them.
Chaos ensued as the eerie blue wave of dead-silence crashed over the men. The air instantly filled with the sound of metal striking metal… the solid thunk of pierced bodies hitting the ground… the shrieks of the panic-stricken and dying… the quiet cry of Chase at Ben’s back.
The Master Wizard’s hand shook, fingers sweating around the grip of the sword.
I can’t see them!
Blurs flickered around him, desperation moved his blade. Ben managed a few clumsy blocks – one high, then low. But it was slow… too slow for the massive numbers of ghostly images that swept over the forest floor. There was little doubt that his lack of sword-training was going to catch up with him… right here and now.
I can’t feel them! Where are they?
He could hear Cecil behind him, blade ringing as he fended off blow after blow. The Paladin’s motion was smooth with inhuman grace, his sword flashing like a pulse of starlight through the shadows, never hesitating to strike its mark.
Something’s wrong!
With a massive growl, Ben thrust back the nearest attacker, throwing both rider and beast over on its side with the heave of his raw strength. Seeing a chance to strike, the Half-Lunar lifted his blade in both hands, point leveled down at the soft underbelly of the creature. With a hiss of slicing air, Onyx plunged down, staking straight through the ribs and pinning the beast to the ground.
Hun?!
Ben flinched back, eyes narrowed. No blood spilled. No writhing of beast upon the blade. It was as if there was nothing solid to strike at. Only a trickle of blue energy spreading from the point where the sword struck.
It can’t be…!
The rider had rolled away from Ben’s blow and was now on its feet only a yard away. With a sharp whistle, it commanded its mount. The beast leapt to its feet as if the sword in its side did not even exist, the dead eyes turning in fury upon the stunned Master Wizard.
Onyx didn’t even graze it!
Yanking his sword from the ground, Ben stumbled back, green eyes flicking over the glade in terrible realization. For if one of the creatures were immune to physical attacks, chances were, all of the enemies would be. And that meant…
Silver’s men are finished!
“Cecil!” Ben bellowed above the din of the battle.
He didn’t know why he shouted for his brother. Maybe it was to warn. Maybe it was in hopes that the Paladin’s superior sword technique would prevail where his lack of fighting knowledge couldn’t.
The young king’s reply was instantly disheartening, “Golbez, do something! I can’t hit them!”
Odin’s Blade!
“Ben! Watch out!” Chase’s shout filled his ears. Just in time to alert him to the rider and beast that were mounting a second attack. With others following close behind.
No thought. Simply instant reaction. Ben’s hands lifted, parting in a wide arc of flame, bursting forward to consume the oncoming charge. Waves of heat lit up the underside of the hanging branches, the flame sweeping around the sickly blue forms with the Wizard’s command of desperate fury.
Like the onslaught of steel blade, the flame seemed to wash over the beast and rider without causing any sort of harm. But something else had happened. Something so nearly imperceptible that only highly trained mage-sense could tell…
Now I feel you!
A ripple of shifting space peeled from around the riders. Like something being pulled from a protective pocket. The riders’ forms no longer shown with blue light.
I see! So it’s—
Before his musings ran full circle, a shadow dropped between him and the storming riders. Stunned, the Master Wizard only caught a glimpse of forest green eyes under a stream of black hair, flying with the speed of impossible motion. A curved blade swept into the fray, silent blur of pale light among the fountaining black blood of the beasts.
Spine-chilling howls broke the night air. One by one, the beast and riders fell prey to the flicker of man-shadow that danced between their darkness. Until finally, there was nothing but a lone figure standing among the clumps of lifeless shadows upon the ground.
Ben hissed, taking in a sharp breath.
He’s not one of the riders… but he’s certainly not one of the sailors from our ship.
“There is no time!” an accented voice spoke. “They will mount another attack.”
“Who..?” Cecil had turned his attention toward the stranger with upraised eyebrows.
The young warrior lifted his hands, spreading them in an arcane motion too quick to follow. Ben felt the shifting of air around them, sparks of light drawing patterns upon his inner mind. Soft and green.
A warding?
“I can only hold them back for a short while as we move,” the stranger spoke intently. “Gather your wounded. You must follow me.”
“To where?” the Paladin frowned.
“There’s no time to explain.”
Ben gazed at the strange green light that shone from the warrior’s hands. Already, the droves of blue-lit riders had vanished to the edge of the shadows, cast away by the power of the forest wards. Slanted eyes, youthful features and pointed ears marked the stranger as one of the Elven people. And yet…
There’s something different about him…
“Cecil,” the Half-Lunar’s voice rumbled. “There’s no chance to stand our ground here. Anywhere else would be better.”
“Quickly,” the Elf encouraged, he was already looking toward some forest trail that likely only his eyes could find.
“Okay… let me find Captain Silver and gather the men,” Cecil’s face was lined with concern. His white cape fluttered behind him as he turned on his heel, back towards what was left of the ship.
Chase and Porom peeked with wide eyes from around Ben’s cloak. At the stranger.
Seeing their look, the Elf addressed Ben, “There are many human refugees in the forest. There is a safe place warded. You can trust me to fight with you against the Daear.”
“The what?” Ben frowned in confusion. He could hear the sound of the men approaching, herded between the voices of Cecil and Captain Silver.
“I will explain later. For now, just follow,” with that, the Elf turned, flitting into the forest. Only the green light of his wards served as their guide.