Book 1
The Dragons of Winter's Dawning.
The world lay quietly.
Old evils long gone, leaving the peoples to live in peace.
Unfortunately this wasn't going to be the case forever. An evil so dark that it took seven desciples seven days and seven spells with seven daggers to separate its soul host that had taken shape, into seven separate components.
It's arising foretold in a great tapestry that lay hidden.
The Mural of Zhang hung in the dark. Every thread alive with its sinister work.
Yet it's darkness couldn't be contained, it leached out into the world. It's tendrils touched the weak.
The first signs,
Dragons fighting with each other in open warfare. Seemingly oblivious to their surroundings, yet they fought. No one would understand why.
A band of heroes stumbled upon a long forgotten tomb, unwittingly gave this evil a door. And it took it.
An evil was now loose on the world, the heroes knew no one would understand, so they would tell no one. Deciding to stop it themselves. Before it could gain it's full potential. To change the future of millions.
To bring the seven portions of evil back together. To destroy it before it had chance to gain it's full power and bring darkness to all.
Their adventures took them down rivers which lead to Murder. To being hunted across the lands.
Deep into caves with cascading water and Giant ants, on the prowl. To villagers lost to Beholders. Mindflayers took the lives of many and heroes fell.
Rescued dragons from the cages that surely meant their deaths.
Flying ships and mechanical miners. Lost for decades within the darkness of a forest. A crazed gnome had made it his home along with a giant spider or two.
Petrification. Was a fitting end, for one, becoming the figurehead of their vessel.
Goblins hide in the hive of an abandoned keep. Guarding one of the seven desciples.
uncovered a village controlled by women. A witch with her own agenda, brought down by a dark hearted deed.
Great power corrupted their very hearts. Turning them black and selfish. Seeking power that was not theirs to possess.
Friends new and enemies old Sought what was once never available.
Political fractions, lead to war. Brother fought brother. The world was no longer United, it hung on the brink of its own destruction.
Seats of learning and royalty alike, scheme and consider an army of Dragons to win a war. To many in numbers they counted in their thousands. Storms and disaster could not be halted.
Hidden horrors. Lay within.
Becoming king, is never an easy road. Mortoro the last of the 3 brothers has bargained with the wrong side.
Burning of Rathmore library and demons let loose.
Cities in danger. Rescued kings and destroyed armies. countries in danger , dragonlings let loose.
Was this all for naught.
Becoming the heroes they didn't set out to be.
Now, what lay ahead.
Thursday, 17 March 2016
Wednesday, 29 July 2015
Chapter 4 The Awakening
The Awakening
30 days had been and gone; deep in the wilderness as remote
from civilisation as he could manage Norgarth had secreted away the two
immortal organs from the Lich’s body. His trusted companions the Rogue and the
Monk should have also performed their duties by now and would also be on their way
back to the capital. It had taken them
years to track down the Phylacteries of the Lich, and many people had died in
the quest to collect them so that Zhang could finally be destroyed. And yet
still these objects could not be. This time there was no great history or
legends to link his demise to them. Only they knew the true purpose of their
quest and only they witnessed the final destruction of Zhang. He would take
this secret to the grave, as would the other two. For the sake of preventing
the return of this evil Haennah would never know.
Only once had Haennah questioned the absence of the other
two heroes, paranoid that they were plotting her downfall, that they had gone
back to Rathmore and somehow re-opened the portal and were already taking the
power that was rightfully hers. Her raving had worried Norgarth for a while,
but it had seemed to pass. Even so he had needed to remove the guard posted at
her door, as she had started to distrust their presence
‘They come into my
room, I know they do, and whisper things in my ear while I sleep. My mind is like
cake to them and their words are a knife. ‘
This suited some of the crew, who were uneasy being too
close to a dragon blood Teifling who could turn invisible and immolate her
enemies by Will alone. ‘Best to keep it
all calm and comfortable for the moment’ he mused. ‘At least she hasn’t set fire to anything… yet…’
* * * * *
Haennah apparated into her cabin, her bare feet inches above
the floor, the silvery mist swirled momentarily about her before evaporating and
she lightly touched down, holding her skirts above her angles. Her tail swished
playfully. She was having fun. Time spent teaching Norgarth to read kept her
mind at ease, and off the sounds. The weakness in her body had all but gone,
though now and again her new heart twinged and pricked at her if she overexerted
herself. Even so her magic was almost at full power....’In fact, little dove,’
she mused to herself while preening her hair in the mirror ‘we are feeling
quite spritely... ‘
She focussed inwardly
and rose on tiptoe, her arms lifting like a dancer from her side. Arcs of electricity started to crackle and
split through the air, her heart beat quickened and the sparks became galvanised
with greater force, and static filled the cabin like an audible buzz. She
watched with an inner joy as the tin plate and cup from her last meal liquefied
before her eyes. She breathed out calmly
and the tension in the room dissipated.
She stared hard at her reflexion again, the blue mist was
still there deep in her eyes, distant yet present. ‘No pain that we suffer, no
trial that we endure, is wasted…. We?’ She laughed out loud sharply and twirled
around. ‘Me! ‘ She looked once more in the mirror at that distant mist in the back
of her black eyes. ‘Thankyou….. For everything!’ she laughed.
* * * * *
The Petrified Gnome touched down within the city, children
and adults had once again gathered to see the flying ship arrive. There on the
dock stood the Rogue and the Monk, as Norgarth had promised. She ignored the
sound of dripping water, the sky was perfectly clear.
Haennah had nervously spent
the morning trying to tidy herself up and look presentable. The goddess only
knew why, but she left like she was on trial, being scrutinised by her companions.
It was as if all eyes were upon her. She resisted the urge to reach up to her
chest, even though her crystal heart was safely hidden behind the steel
breastplate that identified her as Holy Paladin of Skythia. She’d almost
forgotten about her holy duties for the 2 months she had been away. ‘This will
not do little dove’ she thought to herself. ‘All we have done and endured has
been for the will of the Goddess.’
As the two slowly walked up the gangplank to meet them, she scrutinised
their faces, while trying to smile sweetly. ‘They must know, how can they not,
they think I have betrayed them and they are here to cart me away to some oubliette
to rot. She felt panicked.
Norgath looked up at her, ‘What’s wrong?’
Her mind swirled and she blurted out in a hushed voice ‘I...
I hear his voice sometimes, distant, distracting, like rainfall at night.
Pitter patter, pitter-patter.’
The End
The End
Chapter 3 The Revelation
The Revelation
The days went by; it was clear to Norgarth that she had
regained some of her strength, she seemed healed yet still she just laid there
staring with her black eyes at the roof of the cabin. He explained to her
slowly, said how it seemed that objects she was carrying, an eye, an ear and
others had been pulled into the portal along with Zhangs body. The lie, he believed,
was the only thing that could prevent the young sorceress descending into
madness, and he hoped, evil.
As he spoke he watched Haennah’s blank expression change to
one of pain, despair, longing, and anger.
Suddenly she grasped out at Norgarth and gripped tightly to his
shoulders. Instinctively he braced himself and grabbed her wrists, preparing to
kill her with his bare hands lest she conjure some magic against him. Yet there
was no malice in her touch. She slowly wrapped her arms around the gruff dwarf’s
wide shoulders and hugged him her head buried under his chin.
‘You saved my life Norgarth, and for what it is worth I will
never forget what you have done for me’ For a moment he sat rigid, unused to
such affection and vulnerability from a woman who had often argued and balked
against his opinions. As she gently
sobbed , he uncomfortably pushed her down onto her bed. ‘Rest now’ He left the
room as she fell again into exhausted slumber.
* * * * *
Her head pounded, the ribs around her new heart ached, and
she felt flushed. Even tight shut it was as if the morning light was scorching
the back of her eyes. She opened them and stared up in the soft light. Her head still pounded,
and the ceiling made her queasy. ‘Eyes
shut !’ she thought.
Her fingers ached on her left her hand, and then she
remembered one was missing ‘It’s all in my mind, if indeed it still IS my
mind.’ She lay there listening to two of
the Templars outside the cabin. Their voices were low, a private conversation,
but in the silence of the room they
filled Haennah’s ears.
‘Tis not natural’
‘Wat is these days
brother’
‘I tell thee, I know
the cap’n has his reasons but I for one would like to know what happened to her
and why allofasudden ‘tis of such importance that we have to be flying ‘round
keeping away from civilized places just for her sake.
‘You think too much.
Remember before he was a Templar he was a trusted friend and protégé of our
great fallen leader, may he rest in peace. It’s only right that another dwarf
hero take up the mantle. ‘
‘Yeah but I’m not
saying that’s not right, I’m..’
‘..And so before you
interrupt again brother, if he has reason that the sorceress.. and remember
they have knowed each other longer than we have knowed him… what was I sayin’
yeah his reasons must be good reasons. If she needs rest away from folks, and flying
into the wildernesses as we are is what he says we must do then so be it.’
‘’spose… but tis still
not natural. And her waking nearly ev’ry night screamin’ as she does, it’s
creepy’’
‘Always one for lookin
a gift horse in the mouth. How many of our brothers did we lose against those
dragon creatures, and in the fire at the temple? I for sure am liking the
chance of not getting killed at for a change.’
‘Again my Templar
brother you misunderstand me meanings. I mean ‘she’ and all is not natural. You
saw plain as day when he hauled her carcass on’t deck. Bloodied, flayed , and
as dead as a doornail to all she looked. Yet now not a scar upon her….. except
the ones she already had of course.’
‘Of course brother,
and what precisely are you getting at?’
‘Well I mean, when we
took that accursed dragon rod, remember. She went crazy mad and demanded it,
cursing the Templars and threatening the wrath of her so called Goddess upon us
if we didn’t give it back. And then when it looks like we gonna have to
fight her, us surrounding her wit swords
drawn and shield raised we was, she just commands our knight to hand it , and
he does so without question.’
‘Well it was either
that brother, or end up frazzled to a crisp, you seen what magic she wields,
never mind that sword of hers. Rather she be on our side than against if I
rightly say so.’
‘That’s against the
code and you know it.
‘I’m not saying she
should join us jelly brain, merely she makes a better ally than an enemy, and I
think Norgarth is thinking that too.
Anyway you is just scared of her, I saw you when you tried to move her
clothes’
‘I had been asked to
tend to her best I could, and clearly she was in pain, I merely offered to see
what was ailing her.’
‘And then when she snapped
at you nearly peed yer pants, yes we know. I don’t blame her, I wouldn’t want
your grimy mitts pawing at me neither.’
‘I’m not used to
Infernal speak, it startled me. Bloomin Teiflings , they is not natural.’
Haennah listened, part of her wanted to giggle at such silly
boy talk, but she also felt unnaturally angry at what she had heard. Then her
mind raced, her body became taught with rage ‘Foolish, feeble, floundering
fools. What do they know of me, they think me unnatural? Pitiful mortals fear
what they cannot comprehend and so they should. Their lives are but wheat
sheaves in the wind compared to me. I have lived an age beyond men and endured.
All life must end, yet I will live on, all will be judged unworthy and I will
have my rightful prize for good or for evil. But in the name of my Goddess I
will rebuke that evil and destroy its tyranny, yet they dare look upon me and
say that I am tyranny and I am evil?
What do they know of evil, I have seen
true evil , I have been touched by evil the likes they cannot imagine. It has
penetrated me, defiled me, yet I have survived. The dark power is defeated, and
in its place a sorceress. Yesss, Yet I
shall not be dark, but beautiful beyond enduring, worshipful and terrible as the Fire in
the Night, Dreadful as the lightning.
All shall love me and despair.’
Strange sounds, like dripping water, broke into her rage,
and she gasped shocked as she realized her own thoughts, and what she was about
to do. The sparks of electricity that had danced along her arms, skittering
across the floor, subsided. The two men outside continued to talk oblivious to
what could have been.
She slumped back down on the bed and looked at the ceiling.
‘My mind is not my own it seems.’ She wiggled her fingers, muttered words and a
spectral hand apparated and picked up the nearby looking glass. She studied her
face, the small blue dragon scales highlighted her temples, belied her distant
draconic heritage, seemed more prominent. She looked at her arms, calves, tail,
and elsewhere. ‘Indeed my dear’ she thought to herself, ‘the legacy of my
bloodline becomes stronger every day. I am pleased.’
She stared at the
reflection of her eyes. She thought she saw something different in those solid
black orbs, a distant wispy blue glow, like looking up from a deep well at a
misty sky. ‘The dark well of my soul?’ She mused. ‘Or another’s? I have you in
my eye and I shall keep you in my eye till you learn to behave. Yet am I in
good spirits? Good or bad I must be in control of them!........I must make more of an effort to be well, yet I am undone, or at least my clothes…. A
spell of mending shall be of aid, and good practice.. little steps my little
dove, little steps.’
The next day was bright yet the sound of rainfall from
outside her cabin was a distraction . Her legs were unsteady as she padded to
the door and opened it. ‘Where is the rain?’
‘Wha - What rain?’ answered the startled guard. He stepped
back looking surprised as she gripped tightly against the door swaying slightly.
‘I thought I heard rain?’
‘Lady Haennah, you
are not yet strong enough.’
‘Food.’
‘Food?’
‘Yes food , do you have any, we are hungry. Food and
sunshine.’
She watched the man hurriedly walk towards the galley.
Haennah stepped away from the door, felt her head swim and her legs buckle slightly.
‘So we will , I will, crawl if need be.’..
Norgarth sat in the sun studying his book; he was at first
puzzled at the sounds of a girl’s voice signing a sea shanty. He recalled how
what seemed an age ago now, Haennah used
to sing it, and how her silliness annoyed him. He looked up and saw her
crawling towards him a stupid grin on her face. ‘Feeling better it seems?’ He
grumbled.
‘Whatya doooing?’
‘It’s no concern of yours girl’
‘The fact that its upside down from here does not hide the
fact that you are reading somatic
draconic. And it is also a fact that I speak dragon quite fluently, plus you
will never learn to read or write it properly from studying that.’
‘And what would you suggest I do instead then,’ he replied
gruffly.
‘Why would you be wanting to learn to speak Dhovah anyway?
You’ve never shown any interest bef….’ Her eyes widened in surprise as she
spied the thin scaly tail of a dragonling wrapped around the dwarfs neck, it
curled around into his shirt and as she
twisted her head to look she spied the balled up shape of a sleeping hatchling copper dragon.
‘Oo Pahdul! Tol mii druv hi laan wah tinvaak Dovah. Fos brit
Pahdul.’
‘Wait that’s too fast.’ The dwarf scowled ‘Did you call her
Paddle? That’s not her name’
‘PAH – DUL! Dear Norgarth, it means baby. So what have you
called her?’
When the dwarf pronounced the hatchling name Haennah could
not help herself and laughed out loud. ‘You can’t call her that!’ she exclaimed
‘ while it may be a fine dwarven sounding name it means nonsense in Dhova.. in
fact it’s even worse .. you basically named her toy-fox-brush. Dragon names all
mean something. If she was hatched from the flames of the temple then
Kiinnolyol would be suitable. It is an important part of their legacy.
‘And I suppose your name has some stupid dragon meaning
behind it.’ He snapped angrily.
She looked solemnly at him before speaking, ‘Rei means Line,
as in lineage. My family stopped using the first half... Monahrel .. it
means……. Matriarch.’ She cast her eyes downwards ‘ I must find out..’ her voice
trailed off.
‘The ghost dragon you said you saw’ his tone became serious.
‘Haennah?’
She looked up and gave a wry smile. ‘Scooch up and I will
help you and Pahdul. Now first thing you need to know about the script of
Dhovah is how it is formed, claws, wings, and tail marks…so …’
Chapter 2 The Nightmare
The Nightmare
The black gorge of her mind is shocked from its catatonia ‘You fell into my trap‘ From the mists of
her memory the glowing orbs of those eyes come into view deep in her dream
state. ‘ All life must end.‘ A
dizzying visage of the clawed winged demon, its hooved feet stepping through the
portal from the Abyss, she looks on through her own eyes , feels her body step
forward and raise a finger. She speaks
but it is not her voice. ‘And
now demon.. you Will Die’.
The demon falls slain by her magics, but it
is not her. The power overwhelms her senses every nerve on fire , like an
opiate it exhilarates and numbs her very soul yet she cannot hold onto it. Her
body is not hers, her mind is ensnared, she is a chattel of some greater evil. She
feels unseen claws pull her soul away from her body. That laugh, she is one
with his thoughts, her body will be his new vessel upon the earth. She is dying
.
She pushes back. Strange sounds like dripping water. The
world spins and she looks down. Her hand claws at her chest, carves away the
flesh. Her toes scrabble for the floor as her body levitates off the ground,
standing exposed like a raw nerve before the gateway to the Abyss. Voices in tongues
twisted and horrendous spill from beyond. She is dying.
There is one last hope. His mind is in hers and she knows
his weakness. The crystal heart only has room for one soul, and his is weakened,
complacent in his arrogance, she has a chance. Her body contorts with pain, she
is dying.
Time eternal like an endless void overwhelms them both. ‘ I am not weak. You are the weak, Skythia is
my shepherd, and I am her tyranny against evil and the bringer of death. This
is my legacy.’ She pushes once more with all that she is. Feels her flesh
tear, her skin flayed, her body scorched. And watches as Zhangs soul is ripped
from her and pulled into the Abyss…
Haennah wakes from the nightmare, yet she cannot breathe,
standing upright she grasps for the very air to fill her lungs. And with a
rasping intake screams out the horror of her mind into the darkness of the
room. The door flies open and there is
Norgarth, her head swims and her legs buckle beneath her, she feels herself
being caught and then darkness takes her once again.
* * * * *
Strange sounds like dripping water wake her. She hesitates
her mind fuzzy, such nightmares were beyond anything she could recall. Her body felt weak, tired beyond measure as
if it had gone through some great ordeal yet she couldn’t remember… wait…
She pushed herself up so she sat, she was in a bed , and on
the flying ship. This made no sense… she couldn’t remember. … but wait.
Slowly she reached up with her hand to her
rib cage and froze. She felt a cold hard point and felt a steady rhythmic pulse from an unmoving
surface. The blanket slipped down off her shoulders as she lowered her eyes. Her
mouth moved, repeating the same word over and over, but no sound came. Wetness
landed upon her hand , one drop. She felt another roll down her cheek, it
struck the keen edge of the jagged heart and splashed into tiny drops that
scattered rainbow motes of light across the harsh black unforgiving peaks and
canyons of the crystal heart. ‘ no……
no…….. no no nO No NONONONONONOO. ‘
Her sobs racked her weakened body and she slumped back down,
drawing her legs up and clutched at her chest. Her mind was overwhelmed with a
tidal wave of horror, regret and panic, and it felt it would never end. Finally
she sank once more into the oblivion of sleep.
Chapter 1 The Escape
The Black Crystal Heart
The Escape
He spied his companions the Rogue and the Monk, already small shapes in the distance, heading off to he knew not where, their deadly cargo hidden on their persons. Victory had been theirs but the costs had been dire, and it seemed that danger was still upon them. Many of the dwarf’s companions had perished over the years, but now his thoughts turned to the present and the task he had sworn to do.
One of Norgarths men grasped at his hand to haul him the last foot onto the deck as the ship listed in the winds high above the ground. He shouted orders and the ship veered round and headed straight as a dart in the opposite direction from his companions. ‘MAKE HASTE MEN,… before whatever unnatural beasts arise from those ruins to take your lives!’He grabbed the bosons arm and shoved two objects into his hands and leant close ‘take them to my cabin and wait... AND no questions!’
The girl was still over Norgarth’s shoulder, her lanky frame was like a feather to the warrior. Her bloody fingers brushed across the deck as he carried her body to an empty cabin and shut the door behind him. He laid her down upon the rough linen and stared momentarily at the pained/horrified expression still upon the Tiefling girls’ face, no more than 18 years of age, yet it was unnaturally drawn and ashen. Haennah’s breath came fast, shallow and laboured; her chest rose and fell in an uneven rhythm. Expressionless he steeled himself knowing what he was about to see, but he had to look again, to ensure his eyes had not deceived him. He roughly pulled her robes down off her shoulders leaving her bare to the waste.
Whatever foul magics that had ravaged her body had left its mark, her skin was scorched and looked half flayed off. And then there was that thing, Norgarth’s mind raced to try and glean how it could have happened, but this dread sorcery was beyond him. It was only a few days since Haennah’s deceit had become known. She’d had on her person the Black Crystal Heart of the Lich Zhang all along. And then in Rathmore again took it from the mummified body of undead wizard. And yet somehow, somehow it was now embedded in her chest. Before they had left Rathmore he had tried to remove it but it was fused to her ribcage half embedded. But now it looked as if it had sunken deeper into her chest, the flesh had partly closed around it so only a third of the heart showed.
The pale skin around the edge was almost transparent ,the dark black of the human shaped crystal heart fading beneath the flesh. The light in the room reflected on the sharp edged faceted nodules that covered its surface, as if he was looking down from afar upon the black dread mountains of the Abyss. He grit his teeth as his gaze followed the black hair-line veins visible just below the surface of the tieflings skin and he could just discern the throb of the blood that passed from the crystal heart into its new hosts body.
There was a knock at the door, ‘Sir are you ok? Is the girl?..’‘Yes fine! Leave me be!’ He hesitated, his free hand on the nearby blanket ready, and listened for the soldier’s steps to fade. He reached down and hesitantly touched Haennah’s new heart.. he felt a tingle of energy, like a beat pulse from it through his fingertips and into the marrow of his bones, the ache was painful and he pulled his hand back sharply. He placed a hand on her neck ,… the pulse was strong and throbbed at the same tempo he had felt from the heart. Her breath still came in short sharp gasps but already seemed more regular. He threw the blanket around her and got up to leave. ‘If you live , so be it, but there’s nothing I can do for you now.’
A few days passed and Haennah remained comatose. There was little that could be done other than keep her warm, yet the wounds she had succumbed to healed surprising quickly and without any scarring, yet still she could not be wakened.
Norgarth stood in the rain and leant against the rail of the prow looking out into the night sky as the ship continued on its journey. The body parts of Zhang that he had taken could not be destroyed so they must be scattered and hidden, and Haennah must never know. He had seen her obsession twist the girl’s personality, it seemed that little of the naïve, overly chirpy tiefling was left and she had been consumed by an evil desire for power. He hoped that by some miracle she had not succumbed finally to her own folly. Was the crystal heart actually evil and if so what would become of her?
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