Demons Vengence

Chapter 3

Chapter 3








Griish just kept smiling as Rakagar made his pitiful lunge.  With a quick step to the side he was out of the way and an easy chop sank his hand axe deep into the foolish young orcs head. 


Rakagar crumpled.


         Just that easy the rebellion was quashed.


         “Get this idiots’ corpse out of my sight, throw into the crack,” Griish growled to the gathered orcs.  “A lesson to all of you, it take more than strength to led.” The old eyed the lot, staring them down.  Without another word he turned pulled the axe from Rakagar and went back into his tent. 





         Rakagar wasn’t dead, though he wished he was, he could hear and seen but couldn’t move.  Blood ran from the axe wound, dripping into his right eye.  Two orc approached and picked him up carrying him to the edge of a crevice near their camp.  Unceremoniously, they threw him in.


Still alive Rakagar felt every bump as he tumbled down the steep cliff edge.  Bouncing off a boulder twice the size of him shattering his left arm, Rakagar was airborne, sailing uncontrollably towards the other wall of the gigantic crack.  With a thump he hit the opposite side, he felt both his legs break, and he passed out still tumbling down the crevice.


Rakagar rolled to a stop deep underground, with both legs broken and a shattered arm he couldn’t move even if the head would Griish gave him let him.  Opening his left eye and he a demon.


“I can help you, if you promise to serve me,” the monstrosity offered.     


         


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Before his hand connected with the door it swung open, revealing an old man dressed in a loose fitting, expensive looking, and white robe.


“Come in, Come in,” said the elderly elven wizard in an excited voice, smiling and gesturing to a chair on the opposite side the desk.


As Jerek walked over to the chair he heard the door click shut as Ariel left to attend to her studies. Glancing around the room he was amazed, arcane objects of all varieties littered the shelves that ran along nearly all the wall space of the room.  Along one wall various jars contained small animals suspended in a blue liquid.  Across another expensive looking books sat, piled haphazardly on top of each other, some gold, some silver, some with gems, some without.  Strange hides and dishes of colored powders sat on Dervins’ large oar desk.   


“Hello Master Selvarnes,” Jerek, bowing respectively, said “I would like to thank you for your aid without which, I would now be dead.”


“Think nothing of it, and call me Dervin there’s no need to be so formal,” replied the wizard, putting the hides into a pile.  “How are you feeling?”


         “Very well thank you, Ariel said you wanted to see me when I felt better.” Jereks tone more question than statement.


         “Yes, yes very much, I was hoping you could tell me what happened to you among other things,” said Dervin “If you don’t mind,” he added.


         “It’s the least I can do,” replied Jerek, part of him hoping the wizard could take vengeance on the orcs for killing his family.  Recounting his tale took Jerek nearly an hour, reliving it emotionally exhausting the young farmer.  When he got to the part where he found the key, Jerek pulled it out of his pocket showing it to the wizard.


         “I think it might be magic,” said Jerek confidentially, handing it to the wizard “When I put it in my pocket a light flashed, then down the tunnel a light flashed and continued to glow leading me to a pool.  When I got to the pool I saw an elf in armor and slipped falling in and landing here, where Vernis found me.” 


         Dervin took the silver key and looked at it for a moment, turning it over in his hand, the elf gazed into oblivion lost in thought for several seconds. 


         Just a Jerek was about to clear his throat fearing the old man had drifted asleep with his eyes open Dervin snapped out of it.


         “Do you mind if I keep it?” asked the wizard still holding the key in his open hand. 


         “Not at all, do you know what it does?” said Jerek, not knowing much about magic he regarded it as dangerous stuff.


         “That is a story of mine from long ago, I’ll gladly tell you if you all about it if you want.” Jerek nodded and Dervin started his tale.  “It was about three hundred years ago, I was an young apprentice to a foolish wizard who thought he was more powerful than a demon.”  Instantly Jerek was entranced.





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         “This is my insurance,” said Mallus Sanffis, an arrogant wizard, to his young apprentice.  He was holding up a golden globe, etched on its surface were four hideous creatures. “Its an item I had made by a grand mage for quite a lot of money.  It has the power to teleport and permanently bind any demon inscribed on its surface in deep cavern underneath the mountains.”


         “How does it work Master,” said a young Dervin, fifty summers to the day when he started his apprenticeship ten months ago.


         Eager to show off his trophy item Mallus explained, “it’s simple you just shatter it within fifty feet of any demon it depicts.  The orb will do the rest releasing two keys, one silver and one iron, which unlock the binding on said demon.”


         “Why have keys to release the foul being?” asked Dervin, curious why you would ever want to release a trapped demon.


         “Anything that can be done must be able to be undone,” replied Mallus absently, staring the enchanted orb.  “One of the keys scatters itself across Krelstin, the other stays where it was released.  When the scattered key is discovered, the one who bound the demon, or his direct descendants, are warned with a vision of who or what has taken it, it’s ingenious really.  Do you know the history of the demons apprentice?”


         “Yes sir,” Dervin replied.


         “Summarize it for me.” Said Mallus, testing Dervins’ memory.








Dervin began…





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         Demons live in a world of torment and anguish, once know as Gotillis.  Gotillis was much like Krelstin a long time ago, thriving and growing its people got greedy.  Waging terrible wars, all the races of fought over who controlled what, for hundreds of years.  Evil spread through the entire world disgusted the gods turned the back Gotillis, but before they did the changed the inhabitants to reflect their evil ways.  Thusly demons were created.


The gnomes became the raski, emaciated and standing, at most, three feet tall they had deep red to black skin.  Their arms were almost as long as their bodies ending in six fingered hands with five-inch talons on each one.  With over sized lower jaws, overfilled with jagged broken teeth and small baldheads the raski are capable of biting off the arm of a grown man.


The elves became the eltinni.  Twelve foot monsters weighing a thousand pounds or more with maw of a lion and a disfigured elven face.  Covered in black skin that looks like cracked dried mud, the eltinni have long curved horns coming out of the sides of their heads.  They have six arms, all capable of wielding weapons simultaneously.


The dwarfs became the dreckin, with bluish gray skin and four stout legs ending in a thick torso with no visible head and a giant mouth comprising nearly the entire chest.  Two stumpy arms sit on either side of its mouth, used mostly to hold unfortunate victims while it feasts.


And the humans became the krisini; the least disfigured the krisini look like an overly large man with jet-black skin that shines like obsidian.  Small, typically less than a couple inches, horns jut out from their foreheads sticking straight up.  They have long thin tails that end in a poisonous stinger spiked with tiny barbs.





As manner of life on the planet turned into something far more twisted, the gods vowed to guide their children properly the next time.  They started anew and created Krelstin.  The as further punishment the gods aligned the sister world so they existed in the same place on separate universes.   


The demons could see everything that went on in Krelstin and it infuriated them, hideously distorted, they hated being reminded of how ugly they had become.  And how gods, learning their lesson from their first failed world, showed Krelstin more attention than they ever did Gotillis.


Krelstin on the other hand was for the most part oblivious to the demons, which were usually invisible to them.  Some wizards, sensing the power of nearby demons, created spells to summon them through a magically created portal unleashing the first demons.  Binding them in circles of power they can force their will upon the demon.  If for some reason the demon gets loose it will kill everything and anything it can until it’s stopped. Bound to their own world demons are only magically conjured essences on Krelstin, when slain they dissipate, pulled back to their own destroyed world.





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“Will you be summoning one today?” Dervin inquired nervously.


         “Yes, I have some questions I need answers for and the quickest way is to enlist the help of a demon,” Mallus replied, setting the orb on the desk.  He proceeded to open several drawers and remove arcane components, some chalk, a book, herbs, and a brazier.  Walking into the center of the room the old mage opened his book and called to Dervin.


         “When summoning a demon you must use the utmost care, you draw a seal in around the area you wish to summon.  This acts as both a gate from their world to ours and a barrier to keep them from causing harm, if properly inscribed and unmarred a no demon can break a seal.”  Mallus lectured while drawing his seal on the ground.


         Dervin walked up examining his masters’ work. It was three circles within each other and in between the circles were runes he didn’t recognize circling as well.


         “The outer set of runes is the protective seal, the inner set is the gating seal.” Mallus continued, “If the seal is broken in any way the demon can get out and is free to walk Krelstin, that is the unlikely eventuality I had the orb prepared for.”  Finishing his seal Mallus starting filling the brazier with herbs still reading from his book.


         “How many demons have you summoned master?” Dervin asked wary of how often Mallus was consulting his book.”


         “This will be my first but not to worry I have been studying for week and I’m quite sure it’s within my power,” the arrogant wizard stated.


         “Of course master,” Dervin replied not so sure.


         “Alright I’ve finished the preparations now I need quiet while I bring forth the demon,” said Mallus, thumbing through his book to another page.  Finding his page the old wizard began chanting in the arcane tongue.  The runes of the seal began to glow, first yellow then orange finally turning deep red at the culmination of the chant.


 


As the runes turned red, the center of the seal turned black and a pair of enormous charcoal hands reached up out of the new hole, followed by a second, then a third pair, covered with thick cracks.  Following the arms was a huge creature.  The cracks ran along the monsters body giving the demon the appearance of being covered in dried mud, on its head were long curved pointed horns.  Standing twice as tall as the wizard the demon looked at Mallus our red eyes glaring and growled showing a mouthful of angry teeth.


         “You err in summoning me human filth,” growled the eltinni “you will die for this.”


         Amazingly Mallus didn’t even flinch in an effort to appear to both the demon he walked right up to the seal and looked the demon straight in one set of its eyes.  “You will harm no one you are trapped I need answers from you not threats if you don’t cooperate you will be tortured.” Saying that Mallus turned his back to the demon and started walking back to his desk.  As he spun his cloak swung out brushing away the chalk of the seal in a small section. 


         Sensing the break of the seal the demon smiled a grotesque smile, “What you need foolish wizard is a shorter cloak.” Leaping from the now useless seal the demon grabbed up Mallus, holding one appendage in four of his six arms the demon pulling off the wizards limbs like a disturbed child with a grasshopper.


         “THE ORB!” Mallus screamed to Dervin, “USE THE ORB!”  Snapping out of his trance the young apprentice grabbed the orb and hurled it at the demon.  Too late the demon noticed the apprentice in the room as the orb bounced off its ribs and shattered onto the floor with a blinding flash.


         When Dervins’ vision cleared the demon was gone, on the floor where it stood lay his dead master, next to him lay his arms and legs and a small iron key. 


         


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         “So this key is the scattered key from your masters orb three hundred years ago, then when I found it the flashes of light and the portal pond were those yours too?” Jerek asked, digesting the last of Dervins’ tale.


         “Yes, yes when you pocketed the key I received a vision of you, and saw you were hurt so I decided to make that portal to get you here un sure of the situation with the key” replied the old wizard.


         “Do you think the key has anything to do with the orc attack on my village?” Jerek asked.


         “I can’t be sure but I can see no other reason for such a savage attack on a town with so little to offer.” Dervin said, musing the possibilities in his head.  “If the orcs have found the demon and are working for him the other key might be in jeopardy as well.  I gave it to a friend a long time ago; I’ll send him a message just to be safe.  Jerek, you have my deepest sympathies for your recent losses and are more than welcome to stay here with us.”


         “I haven’t really thought of it but I guess there isn’t much for me to go back to there,” Jerek stated, though it pain him to say it.  “I’ll accept your kind offer Master Selvarnes, you have my thanks.”


         “Dervin, my boy, call me Dervin, Master Selvarnes makes me feel like I own you,” said the wizard, rising from his desk with a chuckle.  “Ariel will provide you with anything you need, feel free to come by my office anytime I spend most everyday in here.  If you don’t mind though you have given me much to think about, I’m going to run into town and see about sending out a letter.” As he walked around the desk, Jerek rose from his chair as well.  “On my way out I can give you a quick tour if you want,” Dervin said as they both walked to the door.


         “It’s alright I think Ariel is already planning on giving me the tour and I wouldn’t want to disappoint her.” Replied Jerek thinking of his new elven friend, as he opened the door and they stepped into the hall.


         Dervin smiled “Good, good, then I will be heading into town, again if you need anything don’t hesitate to ask.” With that he headed down the west wing to the stables and Jerek found himself standing alone in the hall. 


         “How did all that go?” came a voice from behind, Jerek turned and saw Ariel coming down the hall, “Dervin is a really nice man he’s helped a lot of people here.”


         “Mostly unbelievable,” Jerek said “Apparently, the key I found is one of two that hold a demon in captivity.  He’s going to town now to send message to a friend who has the other key.”


         “Oh,” replied Ariel like this sort of thing happened to her all the time.  “Wanna go take a look around there’s lots to see here. Might take your mind off things.”


         “Why not.” Jerek agreed, thinking a break wouldn’t be a bad idea.


         


         Ariel took him all through the grounds of Dervins manor, showing him the armory, which was filled with all sorts of weapons mundane to exotic.  The library, a huge room filled with books of all shapes and sizes. The gardens, which had a large pond with a giant hedge encircling it, and the abbey, a temple almost three quarters the size of the manor where priests and members of all faiths could come to study and worship.


         The armory is what most interested Jerek; he wanted to learn to fight, to protect those he loved like he couldn’t just a couple of months ago.  After Ariel completed the tour, and left him to roam on his own while she finished her studies, Jerek went back to the armory and looked around a little more.  Swords, spears, halberds, pikes and axes of all sizes littered the room.  Jerek started grabbing up various weapons testing how they felt in his hand, finally settling on a large iron double bladed axe.  Carrying the heavy weapon he went to the practice yard to take a couple warm up swing at the target dummies strapped to poles.  The first swing with the heavy axe caused a shift in his balance and Jerek stepped forward to compensate, causing his shoulder to drop and the axe head to tilt.  When he connected with the dummy the angle of the axe head caused it to jerk violently out of his hands with the handle smacking his head as it flipped to the ground.


         “Need any help finishing that one off lad?” came a shout followed by a chuckle from behind.  Spinning around Jerek saw the elf from the pond smiling at him as he walked over.  “Your treating it like a sword, it’s an axe swing it like your felling a tree,” Vernis stepped on the axe and with a quick flick of his foot flipped it into the air and caught it.  “Put you dominate hand a hands breath down from the head,” the warrior said demonstrating as he talked.  “Keep your other where you want it to be when your strike connects.  As, you swing step forward and slide your hand down the shaft, like so.”  As he said this Vernis took a small step forward and swung at the dummy burying the blade four inches into the post behind it.  He pulled the axe from the post and handed it to Jerek, “You try.”


         Jerek took the axe and did his best to replicate the warriors movements with marginal success and the axe bit into the post, though not near as far.


         “That’s it, if you like I could teach you how to use that axe properly, I’ve heard your story from Dervin and seeing you out here I imagine you want to learn how to protect yourself, maybe for more than protecting, eh”


         “Is it that obvious?” Jerek questioned.


         “Nah, I just know these things.”


         “How?”


         “Its what I would want,” Vernis said with a grin.


         Jerek smiled “Sounds, good.”





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         The next couple of months went by quickly by for Jerek, a few times a week he trained with Vernis.  Other days he roamed the grounds with Ariel enjoying her company.  The rest he practiced by himself.  Determined to get better each day he did, until after few month’s time he fought with an axe like he’d been doing it his whole life.


         “You’ve go talent lad,” Vernis said after a particularly hard training session.  “I’ve seen few better with an axe then you are now.” 


         “I imagine few have the incentive to learn I have,” Jerek stated grimly.


         “Aye, that’s true too,” Vernis replied.


         Ariel came up, interrupting, them with a shout,  “Dervin asked me to fetch you two, seems he never received a reply from his friend and is planning to check on him,” she said jumping the fence around the training area with ease.


         “Thanks lass we’ll be there shortly let us get cleaned up first and, I you don’t mind, could you have the cooks prepare a meal for the discussion I’m famished,” Vernis said, with Jerek nodding enthusiastically behind him.


         “Already underway,” Ariel smiled and began walking back to the manor.


         


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         Later that night after Jerek had washed up Dervin, Vernis, Jerek, Ariel, and Herpan, a healer Jerek recognized from the abbey, were seated at dinner.  They made small talk as they ate and drank, jokes and stories of adventures past.  As dinner was wrapping up Dervin cleared his throat.


         “Friends though I wish we were gathered he for better reasons I have something important to discuss.  You’ve all heard the story of the demon I trapped during my apprenticeship,” Dervin began.  “I fear it is close to freedom, though I don’t know for sure I believe the attack on Jereks village was in effect to get the key located in the cave near there.  A second key I gave to a trusted companion of mine named Dammar Rockchipper to take and protect in Dwarfsholme.  I have tried to get a message to him but have received no reply and fear the worst.  If Dammar is in danger, I can’t be sure, but I must find out so I will travel there myself.  I ask you four to accompany me it will be dangerous and I will need your help if I am to reach Dwarfsholme in one piece.”


         Looking around the room Vernis saw everyone nodding, “When do we leave?” he asked.


         “As soon as possible, the preparations should be ready by the end of the week.  We will travel northwest to Highfalls and from there we will follow the cliffs west to Alaskar, where we can get a boat to Dwarfsholme,” Dervin finished in one breath.  “Anything you wish for the trip tell my steward and he’ll make sure we get it, good? Good.”


         With nothing else to discuss the now formed band retired for the night.  Jerek walked back to his room thinking of the adventure ahead, he was a little nervous, before that awful night he would of thought it exciting.  Now the idea of death was all too real to him and Dwarfsholme was a long way away.  The only thing driving him to go was the chance that he might find out who ordered the attack on his home whether it was Dervins’ demon or someone else.