Possessing the Grimstone

chapter Sixteen


Jorrel wiped the mud from his eyes with the back of his hand, thanking Thet that he could still hold his sword and tend to the perils around him. He tasted copper in his mouth. Rain battered his face, rinsing the blood from it.

The Cardoon cavalry was in ruins; they fought valiantly, but it was a losing battle. Some retreated back into the forest, but most fell to the fiery magic of the Neshing. Men and horses burned to ash, limbs littered the beach, and blood ran to the sea.



The stone was a black spot against the tempestuous sky. The mages scrambled in all directions to recover it. Arrows and lances cut down a couple of them. None had their attention on him. Jorrel pushed as hard as he could.

He leaped out with one arm into the midst of the mages. The stone came down, and Jorrel dropped his sword in favor of catching the glittering green stone. He caught it in the palm of his hand, and held it tight.

Mages snarled all around him; a fiery haze rose in his sights. He knew he would never make it back to Cardoon. If we can’t have it, no one can…

Jorrel climbed to his feet. He felt intense heat on his back as he stumbled toward the sea. Crashing waves lunged for him as he waded into the water. Hundreds of Neshing were right on his heels.

###

Cardoon’s walls were riddled with cracks. Watchtowers crumbled and fell to the battleground below. The gates buckled, fissures ran the length of them, but they held. The black spires were in flames. The fires could be seen for miles around, stealing the hope from the land. Despair spread through the villages and towns, the cities and palaces. If the most powerful city in Athora was on the brink of collapse, what chance did any of them have?

Sooth-Malesh cast wind elementals across the battlefield; whirlwinds tossed Neshing into the air, crashing them down onto jagged rocks, into their own catapults, and on top of their mages.

Soldiers, Southern warriors, Gwythroth ministers, Wivering, and Northerners made one final stand against the relentless scourge that would not die.

Olani fought her way back to the wall and stood alongside Sooth-Malesh. She donned a suit of armor that was meant for a man, but she didn’t care. She commanded another battalion of archers with flaming arrows.

“I see you have managed to shed your sickness, my dear.”

“I’ve cured it for good.” She looked at him with a sly smile. “And I’ve brought reinforcements.”

“It won’t be enough. The gates are weakening.”

“Still, we must not give up. A change in the wind may come at any moment.”

“We have not heard from our champions in nearly a month. If the wind does not bring them with it, we will need to accept our fate… the fate of our world. I will miss it.”

“It’s not over yet, Crimson mage. Fire!”

The flaming arrows ripped through the sky. Sooth-Malesh pointed at them, and they joined as one, exploding with a crack of thunder, and raining hell down onto the battle.

###

Custodian Charris waited on the docks as the group’s ship rolled in. He greeted them with a huge grin. Behind him, his people stood by with the group’s horses, well fed and rested.

“Glory to you all!” Charris called. “Our hearts sing at your return. May we see it, this stone?”

Pim and the others made their way past him as quickly as possible.

“Custodian Charris,” Tolan called. “We appreciate all of your help and gracious hospitality, but we can spare no more time! Our people are dying. We have lost many. We must go.”

“Just one look, I insist,” he ran after them to their horses.

Pim climbed onto his horse, his pack glowing green. Charris scurried over to him, grabbing hold of his leg. “Please… just one look!”

“Let go of me!” Pim shook his leg, but the Custodian held on tight. “We must go… we must! Let go!”

Drith drew his sword, preparing to strike. Tolan and Shannara placed their hands on the hilts of their weapons.

Pim grabbed hold of his pack and leered at Charris. “Get back!”

A wave of of energy swept the docks, throwing Charris and all of his people to the ground. A look of terror washed over Charris’s face.

“I-I-I’m s-sorry,” Pim said.

“Let us go,” Tolan said to Pim. He turned back to Charris one last time. “Thank you again for your ship and crew. You have helped save our world.”

A nervous smile drew across Charris’s face and he waved the group off.

They galloped out of Fiongall, down the coast, heading west toward Gonnish.



Another day of riding, and a break for sleep and food, and the group reached the outskirts of Gonnish. They galloped through devastated farmland, withered crops, and burned fields.

Pim held strong; his mind focused on reaching his home and the rushing river where he’d first ran across the water.

The further they rode, the worse the destruction grew. Scorched trees collapsed as the group passed. Wells were now piles of rubble. Bridges were destroyed. They were forced to circle around through a thorned thicket to reach the village proper.

Gonnish was in ruins. Piles of rubble, once cozy homes, smoldered by the hundreds. Debris filled the ground, farms and gardens were ravaged, and fences were now in splinters.

The Order of Thet’s ceremonial building and totems were destroyed; the Warrior Guild, too, was nothing more than crumbled walls and a collapsed roof. Nearly all the homes were burned down.

Pim came upon his own home. Its roof was collapsed: one wall was missing, and the rest of the frame was blackened and charred. Ashes blew from its foundation. He jumped from his horse, approached the threshold, and stopped.

The young Wivering fell to his knees as tears began to stream down his face silently. His chest heaved and arms trembled at the sight.

Tolan looked down on him, his heart breaking for the boy. He placed his hand on his shoulder.

Pim looked up at him, eyes wet. “All I’ve ever known is gone.”

“We will rebuild it with you.”

“How? We haven’t won anything. All we do is lose everything we love.”

“It is not over yet, Pim. You hold the key to our victory.”

“Part of a key… we still don’t have the other piece. What if they already found it?”

“We have to try, my friend. Try for your family, for your life. Where is this river?”

Pim stood up and wiped the tears from his face. “Follow me.”

###

“The current is very strong. I was almost swept away in it once.” Pim looked across the raging river at the trees he had leaped upon. It felt so long ago.

Shannara stepped to the edge. “I feel the pull of it. The third piece is beneath the water.”

“I don’t think I’ll survive going in,” Pim said. “How am I to fight the current?”

“We will put a rope around you,” Tolan said. “The rest of us will hold onto you. We will not let you go.”

“How can you be sure?”

Panno walked up to Pim and touched his face. “It is not your fate. You will not drown in the river. Take comfort.”

“You’re kind, but I still fear it.”

“It’s your fear that keeps you alive,” Shannara said, fetching some rope from her pack.

Tolan and Shannara tied the rope securely around Pim.

“Just wade in, Pim,” Tolan said. “Do not use your fleet, do not try to swim, just wade through.

“Here,” Shannara broke a long tree branch off a nearby sapling. “For balance, hold it against the river’s bottom and move slowly. We’ll hold onto you.”



Pim turned to the river again and started down the bank. He slipped off his boots and slid his feet into the cold water. A shiver shot up his spine. He turned back to Shannara. “Is there a certain direction?”

“I feel energy in the center, around that cluster of rocks.”

Pim spotted the rocks she mentioned and eased into the river. The current smashed up against him. Tolan, Shannara, and Drith held onto the rope with all of their strength.

Panno watched from a distance; the last D’Elkyrie warrior stood by his side.

He reached the rocks and fell onto them, but the others pulled the rope tight, keeping him from getting pulled under. He pushed on his tree branch and fought back for his balance.

His feet tingled again as before, when his fleet had worked wonders. He took hold of the rocks with both hands, and dove under the water.

“Hold on to him!’ Tolan called from the shore.

They could no longer see him. The Wivering had vanished from their sight. All that remained was the rope, wriggling and thrashing violently.

“By the Gods,” Drith cried. “What is he doing? I am losing my grip!”

“Do not let go,” Tolan said. “You hear me? None of you let go!”

They fought the tug of the current until finally, the Wivering broke the surface. Pim opened his eyes and smiled. In his hand, he held the third piece of the stone. Pim and his friends now possessed two thirds of the most powerful magic their world had ever known.

Tolan hauled Pim up and out of the river. Pim reached for his pack to hide the stone when it flew out of his hands and soared through the air. The first half flew out of his pack and the two hovered in the air.

Pim stared up at them as a green hue enveloped both pieces. Pim felt his eyes tingle again and his feet.

Everyone stood and stared in awe as the stones merged with each other then dropped into Pim’s outstretched hand.

He clasped it in his palm and reached for his pack, stuffing them inside and closing the latch. He looked at the others. “Let’s go.” They headed out of the woods and back to the Wivering village.

They reached what had once been the village, and howls erupted all around them. The smoldering ruins rumbled, and from beneath them, the Neshing emerged, charging the group.

“Ambush! Neshing Ambush!” Tolan cried, slinging his sword across the throat of the first to attack. It gurgled and fell to its kness. Its familiar reached for Tolan, but he beheaded the Neshing, and the familiar vanshied.

A battalion of Neshing flooded the village from their hiding spots beneath the rubble, just waiting for someone to uncover the third piece of the stone.

Shannara and her D’Elkyrie warrior jumped into action. She gutted her first Neshing foe with one of her blades, and sliced another across its throat. She leaped over the next charging one, and slashed the back of its head when she came down.

Her warrior sliced and diced her way through two Neshing before a third one struck her down with its massive club. Its familiar clawed at her face, then dragged her up by the hair. The Neshing drew back its club for the deathblow, but Tolan took its head off, stopping it dead. He helped the warrior to her feet.

Pim dashed between the Neshing, ripping open their legs with his sword. Six fell to the ground, where Drith finished each of them off with his serrated sword.

Pim looked back with a smile, proud of their teamwork, until he noticed that the Neshing were targeting him. They stalked him, circling him; they knew what he carried, and they wanted it. He ran, letting his fleet carry him through crowds of them, but at each turn, more waited.

Finally he tripped over some fiery debris, and the creatures closed in.

Shannara back-flipped through the air and landed beside the fallen Wivering. She pointed at his pack, and a green bolt of energy shot out at her. She harnessed the magical power and directed it back at the beasts.

Green lightning bolts crackled through the air, knocking some off of their feet, setting others on fire, and reducing still others to ashes.

She cast the energy through the village, clearing a path for Pim before vanishing back into the blur of carnage.

Pim looked up at her, stunned, and mouthed a thank you. Drith rushed to him and extended a hand.



Tolan turned to clash sword against axe. The Neshing swung hard, knocking Tolan’s sword out of his hand, and a kick to the gut took Tolan off his feet. The Neshing advanced, but the warrior reached for the dagger in his boot, sunk it into the creature’s belly.

He jumped to his feet, but was pulled to the ground again by ghostly claws. Stunned, he looked up at the Neshing and its familiar.

The misty white ghost that was now enslaved to the Neshing host was the spirit of his best friend, Geyess. Tolan’s heart filled with pity and anguish. The torment filling him now was worse than any blade or axe. Geyess’s spirit reached for Tolan, scratching claws across his armor.

Tolan crawled backwards, away from the abomination. Geyess shrieked as its host chased Tolan down.

He reached for anything to use as a weapon: stone, sticks, anything. Quickly, he remembered and reached into his pack for King Rasa of Norrow’s bird claw. He pulled it out, and brought it to his chest.

Geyess reached for Tolan again, and stopped. He leered at the claw, but then Tolan saw his feral face transform. Geyess’s eyes filled with sadness; his hollow, sunken features lightened. He looked down at his Neshing host and tore into its throat with its claws. The Neshing howled and died. Geyess looked up at Tolan and smiled before vanishing.

Tears welled in Tolan’s eyes. He prayed that Geyess had found peace. He leaped up, fetched the axe from the Neshing’s dead claw, and rejoined the fight.

Shannara spun over the shoulder of a Neshing, turned, and swept the legs out from under it. Its familiar swiped at her, but she ducked and plunged both blades into the Neshing’s chest.

She got to her feet and spotted her warrior overrun by three Neshing. Drith and Pim clashed with six or more, and Tolan held off two. More Neshing ran into the village. They were quickly becoming outnumbered. Shannara hesitated, but then darted to her warrior, who suddenly went down.

“No!” Shannara jumped into the air and came down with a kick, sending two of the creatures to the ground. She spun her blades, and felt an axe tear into her back. The once-fearless leader gasped for air. Blood seeped down her chin. She turned slowy, and a blade plunged through her chest. Shannara looked up to see a ghostly claw come for her, and slash across her throat.

All air was cut from her body, and she fell. Her dagblades dropped, and she stumbled. Her eyes fluttered as she fell to the ground.

Panno rushed out of hiding. He screamed and wailed over her body. Dropping to his knees, he took her dagblades in his hands and drove both into his chest.

Pim watched her fall and looked on at the horror of all the blood glistening over her ivory body. “No!” His cry echoed through the entire village and the forest. He launched his fleet and dashed to Shannara, but she was already gone. Pim’s rage magnified. He reached into his pack and grabbed the stone.It glowed green, and a circle of energy burst across the village. All of the Neshing were swept off the ground, their bodies exploded into ashes, and their familiar spirits vanished, but the magic didn’t stop there. It raged across the land, uprooting trees, blowing rubble into the farmlands, and snuffing out the last of the flames.

Pim stood frozen, his face a mask of heartbreak. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, hair dancing in the blistering wind.

“Pim! Pim!” Tolan cried. He ran up to him and grabbed him by the shoulders. “It’s over! They’re gone! Enough, Pim, enough!” Tolan shook him, and finally, he snapped out of it.

The magic dissolved, and Pim’s jaw dropped. He screamed one last time: his hands twitched, his knees buckled. “She’s gone…” he looked down on Shannara’s lifeless body. “She’s gone.”

“You saved us, Pim, you saved our mission.”

“I should have acted sooner. As soon as they attacked, I should have used the stone.”

“Shannara sacrificed herself for all of us, Pim. So you could make it back to Cardoon. We must go! We have to go now before the city falls.”

Pim looked at Shannara and her last dead husband, and nodded his farewell. He, Tolan, and Drith rushed to their horses, and raced from the village back toward Cardoon.