“Tell me what to do Old Man,” Kajn frantically asked as he staggered slightly towards him.
“There is nothing you or I can do. She has to fight this on her own and if she is strong enough, she will survive. If not, she will not be with us for long.”
Chapter 3
Battles
Nearly a week later the Old Man came in to change Vanor’s fever-drenched clothes and bed linen. He found Kajn sitting on a stool asleep , his head resting on her bunk, his hand holding hers. As the Old Man stood and watched these two loves, Vanor started to murmur “blood.” The Old Man touched Kajn and he instantly awoke. When the Old Man immediately made the Shh finger sign, he heard her distinctly say, “Why would blood be the answer?” Her voice was croaky but very clear. The Old Man looked at Kajn and opened his mouth to say something when she said, “Is it the blood or the love that heals?” Then all was silent.
She fell again into a deep slumber. The Old Man looked thoughtful for a few moments, and then with purpose reached over to Kajn, grabbed his wrist and produced a jewelled dagger. Kajn, looking fearful and thinking that the Old Man was possessed, tried to withdraw his wrist but seeing that the Old Man’s age betrayed his strength, held steady. “What are you doing Old Man, are you wanting to kill me?”
Pulling Kajn forward over Vanor, the Old Man sliced Kajn’s hand with the dagger, and amid protests from Kajn he clenched the hand. When the blood started to drop he aimed it onto the bite wounds of Vanor.
Both were surprised when the blood hit the wounds, as a loud howl could be heard in the air, and the blood dissolved like acid int the wound. As they watched, the wounds closed and only a pink scar remained.
Kajn reached out and gently caressed the side of Vanor’s face and quietly begged for Vanor to come home.
Vanor’s arm stung and throbbed and she reeled in terror with the deepness of that pain. She had been floating for so long that it was a surprise when her full senses returned. She heard a voice in the distance repeating a message. Wanting to investigate further, she floated in that direction. “Please Vanor love, come home.” She realised she was missing home and wanted nothing more than to snuggle close to her Kajn and breathe in his love. She closed her eyes and his voice became clearer.
She felt cold somehow and opened her eyes. Kajn hugged her so tightly that she felt she couldn’t breathe and when the Old Man pulled the tearful Kajn off her, she sighed deeply and said, “I thought I’d never get back.”
The next day after a restful sleep Vanor awoke to find Kajn gently holding her hand and staring at her.
“What?” she asked embarrassed that she probably looked a mess. Kajn laughed. “You’ve got a lot more colour now and the Old Man wants you to start work again if you feel up to it.”
Kajn had hold of both of her hands as she gingerly pulled herself off the bunk. She had healed really quickly, and with Kajn and the Old Man acting like mother hens, she had decided to get up anyway. Within a few short steps she realised she was weaker than she thought and decided to not overdo it the first day. But she told them both to go get some sleep, “real sleep”, as she was fine. When both had gone she quietly slipped into a healing trance and soon felt her body rejuvenated and full of life. Slipping quietly out of bed she felt that her body was now lithe and fit and she reached for her sword ready to limber up, as she knew that very shortly she would have to be in battle again and did not want to be weak and unprepared.
She nearly jumped when a voice, half chuckling, said, “I knew you would start without me.” Kajn stepped from the shadows and gave her a great bear hug. “Well if you insist on overdoing it, let’s get moving before the Old Man wakes up. Did you know that he didn’t sleep at all when you were ill?”
Vanor quietly reflected on those words and answered, “No, but I would believe it as he takes his responsibility of me sometimes too seriously. But I love him as a father, even though I deeply miss my real father.”
“You must tell me about that one day, but for now let’s do some slow – and I mean slow warm-up exercises.”
Vanor chuckled and said, “You are up for a challenge are you?” and her voice was lost in the clanging of weapons.
The Old Man stepped back from the scrying pool and sighed. “Little do you know, Vanor my child, but at least now I can get a little rest.” After three hours of deep sleep he awoke and started fumbling around for his alchemy ingredients. By the time he had placed the tooth and a few ingredients into the centre of the pentagram, drew the protective designs and placed the candles at each corner, it was getting dark.
A mouse could not have heard the Old Man’s footsteps as he walked into Vanor’s room. He found them arm in arm asleep in the comfortable old chair with both swords at their feet. Looking at them he realised that this may be the last time for a very long time that they would be at peace without something haunting them. He came out of his reverie and with a “hmmph” said, “Time to get up you two, there’s work to be done, monsters to kill and general ‘saving the world’ type stuff.”
After explaining the scrying failure of the demon the previous night, he told them what he had seen before the demon’s face had turned to him, and the scrying pool had burst into a shower of stones and water.
“He is strong and located not far into the north province. There is a short castle possibly going underground, but is distinctive by the red wall, well half a wall, on the south side. He seems to be partially magical, although how much I’m not sure, but is intent on killing you Vanor.”
“You are strong now both physically and mentally and should be able to defeat him but the earth elementals may be harder to kill. According to legend, if one elemental is killed the other three gain the slain one’s strength. Here is a ring for you to call me when you are in front of the Mora demon, which is distinctive by its red jewel at the third eye region. I may be able to help you with him but I need to do more research. It appears indestructible, but I have some tricks which may work.”
“Tell me again Old Man why, if it cannot be destroyed, you are sending us?” The Old Man’s eyes looked sad but he replied, “It will destroy every warrior in the land if not stopped and it has to have a way of being destroyed. You both are the strongest and quickest I have. Now you have to leave soon before he recruits more demons or monsters, but don’t forget to destroy the elementals first.”
The black snorted and pranced as Kajn searched the woods on his left for any sign of danger. Either the black was just misbehaving or there was real danger off in the dark wood, but by the look of the plumes of steam and the terrified look that the black gave he knew it must be the latter. Vanor had sensed the presence too and had stopped her grey to stare at the woods. Her horse was showing the same terrified look as the black; Vanor was having a hard time trying to control the grey enough to stay in the saddle, as it just wanted to flee.
Kajn eased the black beside Vanor and looking towards the wood they both saw it at the same time. “My God, look at the size of it!” Vanor exclaimed as she jumped from the saddle, grabbing her crossbow as she did so. The grey, having been relieved of its burden, wheeled in terror being held only by the reins that Kajn had grabbed. Kajn’s immediate response would have been to turn tail and run, but he controlled that urge and knew that they must destroy this beast. “Obviously the earth elemental,” Vanor said as she drew her crossbow from its holster. Automatically she loaded her normal bolt and fired.
Rising to its full height, the giant earth elemental towered over the forest spilling trees and dirt in its wake. Thirty feet high with a great girth, eyes ofjade green and long spikes of teeth, the monster put despair in both Vanor and Kajn. Vanor’s bolt bounced from its massive bulk, but shaking herself with resolve Vanor replaced the useless bolt with the bolt that the Old Man had given her.
With the sound of crashing rocks and trees, the elemental moved towards the two warriors with a speed that defied its massive weight. With one blow of its arm it wiped the grey from the snow like a chessboard piece