Rashemen - Book 3

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"I'm with you, Nakia. No danger in the world is enough for good friends." Jex resting his hand on her shoulder.

 

Atten remembered the story of the special seed. He wasn't at all convinced it wasn't just some crazy fantasy. Sepp didn't appear to be completely sane, after all.

But the unnatural horror of what had happened in this swamp still repulsed him. He was willing to try anything that would in any small way help to mend the damage that had been caused here.

Atten pulled the amber coated seed from the depths of his pack. He weighed it in one hand and then closed his eyes and opened his mind to the ebb and flow of the living forces around him.

 

(Posting as the Seed)

Someone's touch wakened it. Was it time to come out, and send its roots into the Earth? No, but it might be near. How long had it waited? It did not know the words to express such a time.

It remembered the Wind blowing it off its parent's branch, and landing in the sap with a few of its siblings. Then a calm acceptance as it closed itself down to wait, comforted by the nearness of its parent and several siblings. But it also remembered slowly losing the comforting touch of parent and siblings over time. Until there was nothing left but itself, and the Earth as layers and layers and layers and layers of sediment built up around it.

Yet something had awakened it. It sensed a presence, not like parents or siblings, yet potentially friendly. It seemed to be one of the new ones, the ones that weren't satisfied with staying in one place, but always scurrying around, yet it was unlike any of the new ones it had instinctual knowledge of.

It could sense a deep rich place to send its roots down nearby, but also the hard case of its parents dried blood that had protected it for so long.

"HELP ME GET OUT OF HERE!" it thought out to the being that held it.

 

Atten did not hear any words. He felt the void in the living force created by the necromancer, a void which was slowly being refilled. He also felt something faint from within the amber. A familiar energy, the potential of life, but in other ways - old and alien.

"Hmm, maybe it is time to do something about this amber casing. Can anyone help remove the amber without damaging the seed?"

 

Kongol was sitting at the entrance of the tower just waiting for everyone to be done with there things, he wasn't very found of the swap.

As Atten ask for help, Kongol got up and said,

"I could help? The edge of my axe will just cut the whole thing in half, but if I use the blunt side all that would do is shatter the amber, leaving the inside intact. I know amber is very strong, don't know if anyone has better idea?"

 

Kelvados flashed out one of his many knives.

"These are my skinning knives, they're my sharpest." He shaved the hair off his arm with one as an example. "As you know I have been trained in torture, precision is what I am good at. I could probably cut it out undamaged."

They stared for many moments, shocked that the silent shadow could talk more then two sentences. He grinned slightly, getting the thing out of the amber would be simple enough, and he was determined to find out more from this seed.

[ January 09, 2007, 21:10: Message edited by: Dalamar Maximus ]

 

"Both of those ideas probably would work," Sepp said to Kongol and Kelvados, "but there's a definite possibility that the seed could be damaged, so let's use them as a last resort. I've got an idea. Atten, could I touch the amber?"

Atten nodded slightly, and lowered it so Sepp had easier access to it, but he didn't let it out of his grasp.

Sepp reached out and touched the amber. He sensed the seed within, and a eons long hunger to be planted. The amber was almost as hard as a diamond, yet it had started out a liquid, time and heat and pressure forming it into what it now was. Maybe he could get its itty-bitties to let some water back in.

He closed his eyes and focused on the amber. Several minutes later he started to humm. Apparently the elements of long ago were the same as today, though the lifeforms had greatly changed. He'd gotten the amber to realign so that water could come back into it and turn it back into sap. Now all he needed was water. Luckily, standing in a dank cavern in the middle of a swamp, that was easily to be had.

A dense fog floated into the cavern and was sucked into the amber. Sepp left the bottom half of the amber hard, like a bowl, for the sap to collect in.

A small crack appeared in the seed and a small green root poked out into the sap.

"NEED NOURISHMENT!" Sepp heard in his mind.

Before he realized what he was doing, Sepp took out Jex's dagger and cut off his left pinky. Letting the dagger fall on the floor, he squished the finger in his right hand, concentrating on decomposing it down to the carbon and calcium and other essential minerals his flesh and bone were composed of. When he opened his hand, he held a handfull of bloody dirt, which he then gently sprinkled on the bowl of sap with the sprout in it.

The dirt was quickly absorbed, and the seedling quickly grew totally out of the seed, sending out several small roots and a shoot with two pointed leaves, filling up the small bowl and standing maybe half a foot high.

Sepp then noticed that his left hand was squirting a spray of blood on Atten's robe with every heartbeat, that it hurt quite severely, and that Atten was looking at him with a look that Sepp interpretted to mean Atten was now completely sure that Sepp was utterly, totally, insane.

He fell hard on his butt, bunched some of his garment up in his right hand and staunched his bleeding left hand with it, then said, "Earth and Sky, why in the Nine Hells did I do that?"

 

"Good question, little one," Delphinae said in a puzzled tone as she walked over to help with the bandaging. "You are growing strange indeed as your power increases. That may be a symptom of your destiny, however. I too was a bit strange, I see now, before I was released from the hold my destiny had over me. We should hurry to release you as well. But first, there is something I must do..."

Del stood up tall, stalked over to Jex, and grabbed the back of his head to pull him into a kiss.

 

Kelvados' eyes widened as he took in what just happened. Sepp's finger, gone, the seed growing, and most surprisingly, Del kissing Jex!

The Brothers stood in silence, silencing a laugh.

 

Nakia entered the room in time to see what was happening but too late to stop Sepp. She marched over to him, handed him a small jar of healing salve and then proceeded to lambaste him in the halfling language. After running out of things to say in halfling she started in Common.

"Sepp, you crazy. Turned brain to stone too many times. We still in Rashemen. Not anywhere near home. How I get you home I don't know. Maybe should put you in bag. Keep safe, out of trouble." She stomped around knocking things off tables and chests working up a good thorough tantrum. She tried kicking things but decided that hurt her more than the objects. Finally she hopped up on a table and sat glowering at Sepp.

 

“Because you’re a complete raving . . . . . . .”

Atten did not get a chance to complete his response to Sepp’s question before he was knocked flat by an unexpected wave of sensations. He had never experienced anything like this from the living force and it was clearly due to the emergence of the seed from the amber. Atten did not sense any words, just a whirlpool of images and emotions. This was nothing like his usual experience with the plants of the forest and he was completely unprepared for it. The sensations were powerful, but contradictory. A sense of immeasurable age, but also of freshly sprung youth. A sense of ancient wisdom, but also newborn innocence. The power to lead, but the humility to learn. And an undeniable desire for balance. Balance.

When Atten recovered his composure, he knew that, once again, that mad halfing had been right.

“Right. Despite your inexplicable disregard for your own flesh, Sepp, your instincts regarding this seed appear to be sound. The spark of life within this seed is the perfect balance to counter the darkness of death in this place. The repairing of the damage done here will be a slow process, but this tree has patience. It will see the job done. Maybe in time, this dark area will become a place of great life. I hope I shall live to see some of this glory unfold.”

 

"Then let it begin here." Sepp said, standing up. "Thanks for the bandage, Del. Sorry to keep worrying you Nakia. I'll try to be more careful." He walked over to the well, transforming into an earth elemental as he did.

"Just a little bit of landscaping and this should be a good spot. Watch out up above!" he called, lifting his hands up in a V to the ceiling. A small hole appeared, letting in a little moon light. Then he kicked and pushed the stones of the well into it. Finally jumping up and down on the stone floor around it, turning it into a gravelly substrate, with some dirt in it as well.

He shook himself back into flesh and bone.

"This ought to be a good place, Atten," he said, making a small hole in the dirt.

Atten nodded and came over, then gently put the sprout into it and patted some dirt over it.

It started growing, slowly at first, then with increasing speed, until a trunk as thick as Sepp's waist was through the hole in the ceiling, then the astounding growth started to slow, until it became barely perceptible, but much more than one would expect from a normal tree. Several branches grew from the trunk, and Sepp was sure up above leaves were taking in the sunshine from the dawn that had recently broken.

A branch, about as tall as Sepp and as thick as his wrists fell at his feet. He picked it up and felt an odd buzzing in his head. After awhile he began to understand.

"In return for your gift of part of your limb to start my life, I give you part of my limb, may it guard yours."

Sepp turned the staff over in his hands, it was smooth, and strong, and alive. Then the buzzing came again in his head, but it didn't take as long for him to understand it this time.

"What brave new world this is, with such creatures in it."

 

"What was that Del? Whats going on?" Jex questioned stunned and alot out of breath. "Again what is going on?"

 

"You know what that was, Jex'talin," Delphinae said as she stared unflinching at the half-drow. "The only question is whether you feel the same."

 

Kelvados was awed by the imense growth of the tree. What thing could grow that quickly. This was no ordinairy tree, he wasn't even sure if it was a tree. It was amazing, this ancient being was wonderful. He wondered if he could communicate with it. He circled the now imense trunk and put a tentative, wary hand on the rough wood. He could fell the life, the energy, the power. It coursed through the trunk like blood, Kelvados longed for the energy this being had. He sent a timide thought, hoping for an answer.

 

"I do. That I do. Where do we go from here though?" Jex said looking down at Del. With his hands resting on her hips instead of their usual place on the hilts of his swords.

 

"I don't know; wherever you want it to, I suppose. But I'm done hiding from myself." Delphinae looked down for a moment. "It's no way to live."

 

Posting as the Tree

The Tree sensed a new presence and sent out a touch to it. First it felt darkness and recoiled a bit then it became aware that beneath the darkness was a deep and great love for nature. It reached deeper to the creature.

I sense you come from darkness but love nature. You interest me. There is much blood and death. You are a strange one. I wish to know more

The Tree brushed Kelvados's mind but hesitated not wanting to frighten or upset the creature.

 

Kelvados quickly took his hand off the bark, shocked by the small wisp of intelligence. The tree was talking to him! He returned his hand to the rough bark.

This is amazing, I always thought nature was a silent beautiful observer. I never thought... I could connect with it. I can tell you are very wise, you must know much, can you contact with all that surrounds you? This is amazing... I, I'm speechless."

Kelvados took his hand off the trunk and shook his head, he returned his hand, waiting for an answer.

 

Sepp was suddenly overcome with a wave of fatigue and hunger. He hardly had any muscle on him, and no fat, and with all this exertion he'd used up more energy than he had to spare. He almost couldn't decide whether to eat first, or sleep, but Nakia's cheeses and honey cakes in the pouch tied to his waist calling to him made the decision.

He sat down with his back to the tree, the staff cradled in his arms, and snarfed down the rest of what Nakia had given him. Then he rest his head against the bark and closed his eyes.

The deep hum of the tree living was relaxing. He was vaguely aware of Kelvados communicating with the tree, but that made him even more sleepy, like listening to Ma and Pa talk in the cave after they'd tucked him into his furs.

...

He dreamed he was back in the necromancer's lair, but instead of just sucking the life out of the man to heal his own wounds, he was ripping his face off, with Kelvados and Delinos beside him, laughing with gleeful looks on their faces ... then they were in the lab with the big slugs, spraying acid on them and burning them with flaming swords in joyous vengeance, more slugs and mind flayers came at them, and Sepp threw balls of flame and lava at them, but then the whole cavern started burning, the flames getting hotter and hotter, consuming the brothers, then finally reaching him!

...

"NO!" Sepp screamed, as he woke with a start. His body felt rested, and hungry again, but his mind was shaken. It was wrong to feel joy in another's suffering, that was evil, wasn't it? But then why did he feel so good imagining destroying those slug guys?

One thing for sure, things were better with food in your stomach. He got up and stretched, heading over to where Nakia was repacking her gear.

"Hey, Nakia, do you got any more food?" he asked.

[ January 11, 2007, 23:54: Message edited by: Scot ]