Rashemen IV

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Perim looked from Nakia to Jex and then glared at Sepp. "I'd like to go with Jex. I'm stealthy and fast for a Hin." He pushed his hand forward with a plain silver ring on it. "This ring gives me extra speed so don't think I can't keep up." The he turned to Nakia, "Love I know ye drained." Then he glared at Sepp, "Ye play with her life. She be not your toy or property."

Exhausted Nakia could only whisper, "Perim, take care. I be fine. Sepp good. Yondalla's geis is gone but we still serve." She then kissed him as warmly as she could in her weakened condition.

 

Daie looked from Sepp to Perim, then to Nakia.

'Neither is she your property, little one. Nakia makes her own choices, as we all must.'
At this he looked to Sepp.
'Or at least, as best we can when placed under a geas without our permission.'

He stretched, pulled his holy symbol from his pocket, and hung it round his neck again.

'Well, are we ready?'

 

Rosie stretched, and rolled her shoulders. She yawned, almost unperturbed by the events that had just came to pass. Delinos looked at her quizzically, then shook his head. Smiling, he offered to the others that he begin the chaos of magical destruction on the surface. He then asked, "Sepp, what exactly do you mean by 'destruction and magical mayhem? There are so many interpretations of the words."

Rosie beamed, and looked up at Delinos admiringly. "No Rosie, you can't come with me. I suggest you stay with Aunty Cici (Ciana), mayhaps you'll learn a thing or two." She made the saddest puppy-dog face you've ever seen, but quickly regained her composure and nodded.

 

Ciana picked up the buckets and looking at Rosie said "Do you want to come with me, I have to sing to the winds?" she held out a hand. Rosie smiled and skipped over and grabbed the hand. They went outside and carefully picked their way to a clear spot. Looking up she called the North Wind to her, he came down all hoary and puffy tasting of frost and snow, Ciana stood in front of him and sang him a song though only they knew which one, then telling him Sepp's instructions and a bucket of the metal bade him go forth.

Then she called down East, she came tinkling with the promise of April showers and the youth of spring, again Ciana sang a song for teh wind to play and a bucket followed instruction. Then followed South full of warmth and the promise of summer days and finally West stong with the smells of harvest. Throughout it all Rosie smiled and danced to Ciana's songs.

When all was done Ciana turned and Rosie rose and clasping hands with her asked "Will you sing a song for me, Aunnie Cici, Will you?"

And laughing gently Ciana and Rosie skipped back to the Cavern, Ciana singing silly songs that made Rosie giggle and smile happily so that they could wait for Delinos.

 

Rosie sat with Ciana on a few fallen rocks, humming a tune she wished to sing. Ciana agreed and motioned to continue. The small girl began with a long hum, then broke into a strong soprano solo.

The sun doesn't like you, you always get burned,
Stay in the shade and watch the world turn.
Better find a new place to lay on the ground,
Can't stay where you are or you're gonna be found.

And time won't pass you by,
And I won't tell you lies.

So tonight ... we can build a fire,
In the open field past the razor wire.
Sneak by the dogs when they go to sleep,
Bring part of yourself that you'll let me keep.

'cause time won't pass us by,
And I won't tell you lies,
Someday I will ask you why ... but not now.

And time won't pass us by,
And you won't tell me lies,
Someday we all have to die ... but not now.

She ended on a high note, in more ways than one, that left Ciana speechless. For one so young, Rosie possessed some sort of wisdom in her songs, and something magical was in them.

Delinos awaited Sepp's attention while he talked with Nakia, as to what he wanted him to do.

 

"Perim and Daie are you ready?" Jex asked accepting the ropes from Sepp and stowing them in his pack.

 

Sepp sat up to answer Delinos's question. "Oh, lots of fireballs, lightning bolts. Blowing things up type stuff. Spells that will make a large magical imprint. As the Tree and oasis are on the east side of the volcano, maybe you should keep the blasting mainly to the west side. Feel free to blow some boulders off, but be careful not to cause so much trouble that rubble falls down on Jex and his team."

 

Kelvados looked at his hands, they were covered in blood. Sepp's blood, he sighed and felt awful. He found himself reluctant to face the demon, he was confused. He usualy jumped at the word fight, but with the loss of the monster, Kelvados feared he might not win. He gripped his swords in his hands, and gave them a few testing swings. One slipped slightly in Sepp's blood, fear twinged his heart at the slip. Kelvados breathed deep and turned to Jex, he forced a smile.

"Let's go." Kelvados put on his helmet, an amazingly well made mask that fits to his face perfectly. His face was covered, only dark cold eyes shown out. He wiped down his blade, Sepp's blood dropped down onto the hot floor. The smell of blood affected him, a tint of red blinded him. He blinked twice, and started down the hallway. A demon's roars could be hears, the vibrations of it's heavy footsteps. Kelvados needed to remember, he pledged his life to Sepp. He wouldn't run, he didn't need the monster, he hoped.

 

Ciana asked Rosie to sing it again and when reached the last parts Ciana sang a Contralto counter harmony to it

'cause time won't pass us by,
(When the wind blows, will you play with me)
And I won't tell you lies,
(When the rain falls, will you dance with me)
Someday I will ask you why ... but not now.
(And when the sun shines, will you come away with me)

And time won't pass us by,
(When the frost shines, will you cry with me)
And you won't tell me lies,
(When the storm blows, will you lay with me)
Someday we all have to die ... but not now.
(And when the moon sets, will you come live with me ... Forever ... Forever)


Rosie clapped and bounced "Yay, yay, let's sing again, aunnie Cici"

 

"Got it." Delinos grinned and set out to the western side of the volcano. The wind and sand stung his face as he walked, and he felt like he was being watched. Must be some of the others. He continued on his trek. Suddenly, something caught his feet, and he tumbled forward in the sand. Spitting sand out of his mouth, he lifted his head only to see Rosie, suppressing giggles.

"Rosie! What are you doing here?! I told you to stay with Aunty Cici!"

She smiled and giggled again. The girl simply shrugged and hugged his leg.

He smiled, then gave in her to super cuteness. "Fine, you can stay with me, but you have to be careful! Day-day has a lot of dangerous work to do!" She nodded and then continued walking, with Day-day trailing behind her.

When they reached a spot that was of satisfactory distance from harm, the Drow began his spells. He fired a few fire balls at the wall of the volcano, sending large chunks of stone flying in every which direction. If a boulder strayed towards the eastern side, Delinos simply grabbed it with a magical arm, and pulled it back. With this new magical arm he had acquired, he decided to do the damage with it.

It stretched from his hand like blue jelly, and whipped in every direction, slamming down on the desert floor, causing craters and holes everywhere. He continued doing this for a few minutes, until he saw something bright and green beside him. He looked down in awe as he saw Rosie performing the same task, in a smaller scale! His arm faltered as he realized what skill this spell took, and how easily she created and wielded it.

He stopped suddenly and she stopped moments later. She looked at him with a blank smile on her face. "What are you?!" He yelled, his fingers trembling a bit. Rosie recoiled in shock, her smile turning into a frown.

"Mad, are you Day-day?" She quietly asked, barely heard over the wind.

Delinos quickly shook himself and regained his cool. "No, no, I'm sorry, I was just.. taken aback, that's all. I'm sorry for yelling." He crouched on the warm sand and gave her a hug. She was crying in his shoulder, and he suppressed tears. Why does this girl give me so many emotions!?

The duo finished the job and returned to the cavern, and Rosie returned to Aunty Cici for more songs.

 

The demon waited in the bottom of the crater, where the lava was pooling, bubbles blowing nice sulphury smells towards him. It reminded him of home.

The Eye's presence had been strongly felt during the creation of the volcano. But then had vanished. Gruumsh's information said that they would probably be throwing the Eye into the volcano sometime soon.

Up on the surface he sensed a lot of magical energy. He thought about checking it out, but Gruumsh's orders had been explicit. Gruumsh had not been a bad master, these past few millenia, but he was not one to be disobeyed. However, that Lloth's offer was interesting, or maybe even he would take the Eye for himself and use it to claim a layer or two of the Abyss.

That would be nice, several personal succubi, as many souls to eat as he wanted. It would surely make up for having been left out of the battle with the halflings. Some of his acquaintances got to eat good elf-flesh there.

He took out his sword and whip, itching for something to beat, but there was only the lava and the rocks. So he satisfied himself with a few good lashes of the whip into the air.

 

Nakia lay on the cavern floor her head pillowed on rock. Once more she had stood in the doorway of death, had felt the call of the Green Fields, had smelled the scent of its enchantment, had felt soft breezes tugging at her. Once more she had been called back to grim reality, to conflict and danger.

She sighed and let her senses sink into the rock around her. Her spirit flowed into the earth to which she was so closely tied. Part of her followed Jex and Kelvados and part Delinos. It wove itself into a dreamlike state as she became aware of the oneness of the Earth, each part tied to another part creating the whole.

She slept and dreamed of a world recreating itself, ever changing yet ever one.

 

Jex started down the hallways pausing for a second as his eyes adjusted to his darkvision. He followed Kelvados a little worried about the drow. They had clashed a few times but Jex never felt it was his place to interfere with his personal battles. Catching up to the drow he asked "Why do you rage such internal wars with yourself? I understand the fight with your brother, but you always seem to be half here and half away. We're going to need you in this fight. We can't have you fighting a personal battle and yelling in the corner while Daie, Perim and myself get devoured by a demon."

 

Kelvados was annoyed with Jex's patronizing tone, but he bit down his annoyance.

"Don't worry I'll do my part." Kelvados told him, but he didn't know if he believed it. Kelvados rolled his shoulders, and did something he had never done. He prayed, he prayed and hoped.

 

Atten never ceased to be amazed by what Sepp managed to achieve. The depth of his vision and imagination were extraordinary. Who would have thought he could learn so much from such a humble looking yokel?

Atten didn't much like being ordered around, but he was curious about this tree and anything was better than hanging around for too long as people started talking about attacking demons.

He headed up to the surface towards the east where Sepp said the so-called tree was.

 

The Tree in the Desert became conscious, and started to send its senses out into its environment. It had knowledge of what it was, and what it was descended from, and how.

It's parent was the Staff of the Tree, and had sent down roots from it during some type of powerful storm, then was broken off from the Staff by the Giver. Both the Staff's and the Giver's nearby presence had been felt strongly until recently. Now they could not be sensed.

At a great distance the Tree in the Desert could just barely sense the Tree in the Swamp, its grandparent, which had sprouted from the Seed after being planted by the Carrier and Planter and nourished by the Giver.

The Tree in the Desert felt satisfied at having figured out what it was, and where it had descended from. It could tell it was in the middle of an inhospitable place, but its immediate surroundings were actually quite nice.

The soil was a good mix of nutrious volcanic ash with some good organic compost, composed mostly of a sandy base. Not ideal, but okay. There were many various seeds of plants strewn throughout the soil. The water source it was drinking from was deep and cool, and seeped with a steady even pressure up from its underground reservoir. Already, a small pool of excess water had formed in a low spot not far from the tree.

Instinct told the Tree that it would be a good idea to grow some thorns to protect itself in this environment, so it went to work separating harder elements of the soil and ash and forming thorns along its bark. There were no animals in sensory range right now, but surely they would come to the water in this dry land.

Here came one now! The Tree's recent ancestral memory recognized this one. It was the Carrier and Planter! The Tree was very content to meet this one. An instinctual memory reminded it of how nice it felt to have small scurrying creatures climbing over its bark and scratching where it itched, but unfortunately, the Carrier and Planter was too big to climb in the tree just now, only a little smaller than the Tree.

Nonetheless, the Tree waved a few of its small branches in friendly salutuation to the Carrier and Planter.

 

Jex slowed a step to allowing Kelvados to take the lead. He was quietly preparing himself for the fight. He wondered what kind of demon they would be facing. He found himself fall into line with Daie and Perim, all three of them were quiet.

 

Ciana sat outside watching Delinos and Rosie attack the side of the volcano, as she sat she was softly singing to herself.

Where the edge of the sword is keen
And the entrance is clean
Darkness shines on the brightest spot
I am where I am not
Where men fell and rose again
I am carried in a bloody stain

The battle rages on and on
The storm has come and gone
I'm standing on my own two feet
The taste of blood is always sweet
From the depths to the heights
Where the cold wind bites
I am always standing here
While some know me through fear

Colour me black, colour me red
I'll play with your head
You'll scream, you'll shout
Even laugh when I'm about
And in the end when there is but one
It'll be me not you, who's won

 

Atten approached the strange looking tree and the even stranger looking oasis. He wasn't at all sure that this was 100% natural.

The whole idea of sentient trees was a little unnerving, but when he thought about it for a bit longer, Atten could not really think of anything that was bad about it.

Did it really matter how this oasis came into being? The fact was, that the area was fertile and had water. This meant that life would come, whether he liked it or not.

So, Atten concluded that there could be no real harm in seeing what he could do to fulfill Sepp's odd suggestions.

 

As Delinos laid down to rest, Rosie sat cross-legged in front of Aunty Cici while she sang. Once she finished, the small girl stared intently at her friend. Humming a slow tune close to that of Ciana's, she began a song..

Your blade, will be strong
And your heart will go on
But always remember this my dear
Always will I be, I will be so near

Man falls where others succeed
Oh my love, oh can you read
The signs, the signs of my mind
But no, wait, I cannot find

The heart of her mind, it closes
The mind of her heart, it closes
No soul can reach hers
Its beyond our power, its our curse

But you can reach me, always you can
Whether it be water, blood or fan
Your mind, closed to the world
Your ivory feathers unfurled
Fly you, Fly you to the skies
Ho! We've reached such highs!

The battle, he rages on forever
In your mind and in your soul, and ever
The thought of death swims through
But life can also come from this too

I colour you black, I colour you red
You'll play with my head
I'll scream, I'll shout
Even laugh when you're about
And in the end when there is but two
You can't but think this through
Oh, And time draws nigh
All that will be left is You and I