City of IF

[Kalanna Rai]

Hey look...a whole new chappy! Enjoy.
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Chapter Thirteen: Laid Low pt 1

There are many hazards at the foot of the Ebon Spire. All seemed designed to keep those who would ascend it on the path that leads to the stairs carved into it. Indeed their placement leaves no other option for doubt. It could be viewed as an affront to the Gods to assume they would create so many places of certain death in such close quarters with one another. Yet then we must wonder what depraved mind could dream of such horrors as exist in these places. Traveler's take the path now for all other passages hold nothing but ruin.
-The Chronicles of UnderDark vol. 5
-Unknown

Asalia sobbed her heart out as they left the Bridge behind them. Each tear a bright light that swiftly winked out in the ever expanding darkness. For a long time her companions were silent, letting her grieve for her loss. Now, more than ever, she felt isolated and alone. As if clued into her thoughts a velvet muzzle bumped against her cheek and she smiled unwillingly at Callix's tender gesture. "I'll be alright."

"And I'll suddenly run across a lovely sundrenched medow of hay." His sarcastic snort was gently tempered and Asalia heard the soft thunk of Ceddon's heel against the kession's ribs. "I was only trying to help." The equine muttered, one worry filled eye fixed on Asalia, ears skewed in distress.

They were all so worried about her, always so worried about her. The endless string of nurses and laidies in waiting, the governesses and long suffering tutors. Her protetors like Sir Olath..and Darith. Instantly that last image of him and his desperate message clawed their way to the fore of her mind and she could do nothing to force them away.

Neverstar reduced from a gleaming black warhorse to an ebony skeleton through which mists curled, tack tattered and flapping in the cavern's wind. Darith no better, his bones charred as if some great fire had ravaged him, fresh blood from his stripped flesh dripping off of them. The spilt blood of the pair coloring the mists around them red, like a pair of slaughter house hellions ready for battle. Darith's Ryker-hide armor had been crossed with deep grey scar-marks, like it had been shattered on him almost.

And then, his message, hurled to her in ways only she would understand. In the flick of his eyes before they were gouged out, his the motion of his hands as the flesh sloughed off. In the broken halo of his aura that had evaporated into the mists. He had passed on his burden of protection to another. He demanded that Fallon ward her with his power since he had failed to do so. It was Darith's last wish, the message he had given Asalia to bear.

Yet Asalia knew without even attempting an argument that Fallon would dismiss the request out of hand. Fallon had warded Fayleon, had given his life for that little boy...but it wasn't something he would do for someone like Asalia. She knew, deep down, that she had nothing to offer him. Dying wish or no, Darith could not demand Fallon protect her. She'd pass the message on, but she held no hopes.

"And maybe I'm ill-wishing myself again." More tears, hot and salty at this. Ceddon had been furious when she'd voiced her concerns. He'd given is own dire warnings to echo hers, and they'd rang with conviction she'd been unable to muster. Now she wept bitterly, realizing that Darith's death might indeed be her fault. She truely was paying the price for her doubts, but Darith had paid a price even greater.

She didn't realize they'd come to a halt, after twisting and turning down an eternity of tunnels she hadn't been noticing. Ceddon sat with the maps unfurled across his lap, stabbing a slender white finger first at the map, then tapping it against his lips. "We're in the right place but I'm not seeing what should be here."

Asalia nudged Stormwing up alongside Callix and stared through the opening in the rock and into another cavern. It looked to her like a normal cave. No glowing fungus, no luminous rocks, no strange archtecture, no signs of habitation at all actually. No beasts, no plants, no nothing...just walls of natural rock. Yet Ceddon was shaking his head. "Something's not right here."

He drew forth Varathax and held it aloft. The blade burst into silver flame almost instantly, throwing a percing glow through the soild darkness. Instantly the scene that had been before their eyes drained away, like water across rocks. It rippled and danced before dissolving completely and showing them a passage that spiraled steeply upwards. Ceddon drew a shaky breath before sheathing the blade. Asalia felt a sense of loss as the brilliant light was quashed, relenting to the darkness as it returned to scabbard.

"Well now this is familiar. It's a passage to the Surface. From here, we'll exit the caverns for the edge of the Low Mounds. Then it's across those and open land until we reach the foot of Ebon Spire...unless you've anything to add." This last comment was not addressed at Asalia but rather at Layla.

The Priestess was chewing her lip. "No. Nothing. Once we reach the base I'll take over."

Ceddon nodded and then turned to Asalia. "Princess? Anything?" She opened her mouth...then shut it again. She still had these doubts but they were as formless and shapeless as the tides, washing over her now and again but leaving no real traces. She mutely shook her head, wishing she could rid herself of this lingering chill she felt. Ceddon nodded to her. "Right then. Up we go."

Stormwing was none too happy about a return to the frigid conditions of the Surface. The Breath, that bitterly cold pulsing wind, instantly began to lace them in layers frost as they started their ascent. Those layers soon turned to a coating of ice that made everyone miserable as they neared the final exit of the passage. While greatful for the Ryker-hide and it's warmth and protection, Asalia felt she'd freeze to death with every breath she took.

It was worse once they were fully exposed on the surface, with only that ebony vault of sky above them. Were it not for her half-gallaeni senses, Asalia doubted she'd have been able to discern the horizon, so little difference was their between the sky above and the ground under their feet. Yet she could make out the horizon and breaking it's level plain, like the mud pies of a giant child, were the Low Mounds.

The moment she laid eyes on them her dread intensified. She remembered back to when Layla had looked at the map. Darith and Ceddon had shown her the route they had chosen and pointed out the two unsafe areas it crossed. The first had been that Hellspawned Bridge. This had been the second. Yet she didn't know what horrors might await them here. Another Toll Keeper to demand another life? Or some monster from nightmare slumbering under the frozen earth, it's massive coils thrusting the soil into the rolling terrain as it shifted it's bulk. For some reason it was this last fancy that stuck in her heart, striking a chord of pure fear in her soul. This, she knew, was the unquestionable truth.

Without thinking, Asalia gripped the staff she had found in Fallon's pack that first day. As the chill bore down on her and she shivered all the more, she began to dream fondly of roaring fires and feeling her toes again. Following a pace behind Callix, Stormwing was already laboring despite the heat the kession was giving off. If only she could find a way to warm them.

Almost instantly warmth suffused her body and, judging from the change in stride, seeped into Stormwing as well. She wondered where it had come from and glanced around for some sulphurous vent though no foul smell lingered in the air. She was shocked to find the staff was glowing and small flames were dancing down it's length. She lifted it, bringing it closer to her face to inspect it. It was then that Layla's scream brought her attention back to her companions.

"NO!" Instantly the light went out as Asalia lost concentration upon the feelings of warmth and fire. All around them the earth bucked and rolled, vibrations shaking them to the very teeth. The priestess gripped the end of her staff and glared as the rumbling began. Soon it was as loud as if some creature with boulders for teeth was gnashing them together. Over the din, Layla shouted at her in hot rage. "You fool! You selfish fool! Now you've woken the Sleeper!"
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I'll try to get the second part of this chapter up tonight but I make no promises.

[Chinaren]

Mmm. That was about as well a written chapter as I've ever seen you do Rai. And I only saw two typos too! :D

[Kalanna Rai]

Why thank you China. Havn't seen you lingering around these shadowed halls in a very long time. Good to have you back. Now for the rest of this chapter. Enjoy!
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Chapter Thirteen: Laid Low pt 2

Ceddon twisted Callix around as the ground beneith the kession's hooves roared upward in elemental fury. He sprang into the air, his own wings snapping wide as he gave Layla the fore position on the saddle. With a deft shift of his wings Ceddon swooped down on Asalia and pulled her clear of her saddle...just in time. The earth boiled around Stormwing as the Sleeper rose clear of it's earthen bed and the horse was quickly churned into the now liquid soil.

He pounded hard on the air, struggling for any lift he could pry from the greedy fingers of gravity. "Hand her here!" Layla's slim hands reached out toward Ceddon from Callix's back. Darting in so that their wings didn't foul each other, Ceddon dumped Asalia across Layla's lap, trusting the priestess to sort things out.

"She's all yours!" He whirled in the air as the grinding noises ceased...the Sleeper had risen and the ground lay still. Ceddon hung there for a moment, his mind struggling to take in the monstrosity that overwhelmed his vision.

Twelve legs, like the pillars of the world, supported it's great weight. It's feet were like those of elephants, made to bear their heavy load well and crush anything foolish enough to be under them. Two-hundred feet above the ground, the legs ended and the body began. It's body was long and undulating, like a snake, and rounded in places, like a great tortoise. Even now boulders rolled off it's stony back and crashed to the ground. Like grains of sand off the hide of a lizard.

From it's back, where the hide was smooth as a shell and hard as the surrounding rock, rose odd waving appendages. They were long and thin, for the beast, and seemed to sense every little movement in the air as well as the soles of it's feet felt tremors in the earth.

It's head was like that of a worm, covered in the same tough, wrinkly hide as the legs, lacking the smoothness of the body but none of the toughness. It had no eyes and Ceddon could not see it's mouth until the beast opened it to let loose a roar that stirred the darkness above it. It seemed that even the Dark paid mind to the Sleeper. Ceddon didn't know when his sword had appeared in his hand, but Varathax was there and glowing with subtle menace.

As that maw opened, Ceddon glimpsed a gateway to hell. It opened to the entire circumference of the monster's body and from within rose many...tounges for lack of a better word. The slimy chords were covered in hooked barbs that undulated in one direction, toward the beast's gullet. Anything they caught would be consumed. Again the beast screamed and again the world shuddered.

A shaft split the darkness as one of Layla's arrows was loosed against the creature. One of the tounges snapped out, batting it out of the way with the very tip. She grunted and looked at Ceddon. "Well I'm out of options. Any bright ideas?"

Ceddon looked at the blade in his hand, then toward the beast, then up at the defiled sky. He estimated the distance and shook his head. "I knew one day I'd try my wings against you," he muttered to the Dark. "It seems that this is that day." Screaming a wordless warcry he lunged forward on his wings, sword held before and above him in a dual-handed grip.

The Sleeper turned it's head toward him, as greedy for his magic as the Dark above suddenly was. Yet the Dark did not reach for him, merely coalesced...waiting. He spared it no mind, if it wasn't attacking it could wait until later. Right now he was more concerned with the abomination's many tounges. None came within reach as he danced back on air currents, carried up and over the head toward the beast's body.

Folding his wings close, he entered a sharp dive that brought him close enough to the beast's hide to try a strike. Silver light scored the darkness, illuminating hide in mottled shades of blackened brown and Varathax met it cleanly. Yet while the beast screamed again the hide suffered no damage and Ceddon was forced to climb higher than he wanted to avoid the monster's counter. The Sleeper nosed the spot where the blade had touched with obvious care for something tender then turned back toward Ceddon.

"Great, all the power of the blade and I only bruised you...it's like bashing a rock." An idea suddenly dawned on him. When he'd found them battling the Cabodise Asalia had been using that staff of hers to send tremors through the earth. Perhaps something like that could be used against the Sleeper. Gathering his courage he darted through the waving appendages, like a fly through the threads of a broken spider web.

All the while the Sleeper turned and turned, like a dog chasing a bird, it's jaws snapping after him. Time and time again they clashed shut on empty air as Ceddon managed to avade the creature. For all it's size and bulk it was surprisingly swift and agile. He was sweating hard by the time he made it back to where Callix was flying, unable to fly to the attack with his passengers to worry about.

Layla shook her head as he returned. "Hail the conquring hero. I see you faired no better than I." He bared his teeth in a false grin, sides heaving as he labored for breath. If he didn't finish this soon he'd need to land and that would put him at the beast's mercy. Already his wingbeats were slowing and he doubted he could make another pass over the creature's back without dire consequences.

"Asalia, your staff...could you use that Earthbreaking against the Sleeper?" The girl looked at him blankly and Ceddon realized it was the term. "When you made the ground soft battling the Cabodise, and those tremors that off balanced them. If you hit the beast's hide could you do it again?"

He watched as she bit her lip uncertainly then slowly shook her head. "That's not the staff's power. Fallon once told me that stone crumbles and is bourn away by the wind. I thought he ment that the Cabodise could be swept away by our forces despite the fact that we were as the weight of wind compared to boulders against them. But now I think he meant this...thing. Earthbreaking won't work against it and the staff bears no spells of wind strong enough to do more than distract it."

They were forced to split apart as the Sleeper lunged for them and Ceddon cursed, striking it with Varathax to drive it back momentarily. The beast recoiled on itself, nudging the spot where the brilliant blade had touched it's hide, and hissed with all the sound of gravel pouring over a shale mountainside. "I need to get through that armored hide..."

Yet he could see no weak spot as the creature stretched out again, not even at the joints. He didn't have time to try them for hidden weakness either, he was nearly to the point of dropping out of the sky. The beast's head aligned with him, rearing up on the end of it's long neck. "Ceddon, pull back!"

He backwinged hard, not asking why Asalia had given warning as that head shot out toward him faster than should have been possible. The longest tips of the tounges just missed him and he lashed out with his burning blade...watching as it severed them neatly and the Sleeper bellowed in honest pain. Suddenly he knew what he had to do.

Calling on reserves of inner power that were part of Fallon's legacy to him, Ceddon felt himself encirlced in a sphere of azure brilliance. As that head reared back again, readying for another strike, he brought the blade up against his forehead and closed his eyes. "This is going to be a bitch."

As the head shot forward so did Ceddon, like a sapphire hurled into the maw of hell. For a moment he could be seen in stark relife as the tounges wrapped around the sheild of his magic. Then the mouth closed and the ghastly scene was cut off from the rest of the world.
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One last chappy part...can't wait can you?

[Kalanna Rai]

And ta-da! The big finish. Enjoy!
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Chapter Thirteen: Laid Low pt 3

"No!" The word roared out across the intervening space before Layla could clamp down on it. Contained in that single word was a muddle of feelings she couldn't even begin to sort out since she was totally unaware most of them even existed. Asalia, arms locked around her waist as if frozen in place, moaned softly against her back. And that damned beast was still there.

It turned it's blind head toward them, sensing Callix's magic, and took a single lumbering step. Layla drew her bow, fully ready to put every ounce of magic she had behind the arrows she shot. If she couldn't kill it maybe she could keep it away from them long enough to reach the base of the Spire. Once they touched the mountain they'd be safe but not before. Asalia moaned against her back again.

"He can't be dead. He can't..." It was then that the beast shuddered to a stop and craned it's head around to look at it's side. Blue lightning shot with silver erupted down it's length, sending up a glow that lit the landscape for miles around. Lines and fissures appeared in the rock-like hide of the Sleeper and it bellowed again and again.

Layla swore softly. "By the All-Maker..." Now where had that come from? She'd never used a term like that efore. But it fit because she'd never seen anything like this before. And she realized just how much danger they were in an instant before all hell broke loose. "CALLIX!" But the kession was already diving toward the meger shelter of the broken ground.

Plunging straight into the massive crater the Sleeper had gouged out, the kession came to a clattering landing under a small ledge of rock while above them the massive monstrosity shattered like glass struck with a hammer of lightning. And in the center of that swirling malestrom of debries and remains was a figure with widespread wings, barely visible in the nova-brilliance.

For a moment all hung suspended, the massive pieces of the Sleeper poured out of the sky like the fury of the false gods themselves. Now that whatever dire enchantment that had created it, and whatever spark of life that had powered it, were gone it was nothing more than so many stones...and bones. It hadn't taken Layla long at all to figure out that the entire crater was filled with remains...most of them human.

Boulders crashed around them, shattering like marbles dropped on cobblestones from on high. Shards of razor sharp flying rock were everywhere and it was all Layla could to do maintain a sheild, even with Callix and the fearful Asalia pitching in. Layla's thoughts were bitter as she dwelt on the girl's contribution. Had Asalia been stouter of heart and stronger of spirit then they could have been garunteed safety by the sheilds her power could have made. Yet because she was afraid they were hunkering behind sheilds that were much like bridal veil.

Still they held and the three survived the stone rain. When no more boulders dropped from the sky and all the blade-sharp fragments had settled Layla dropped the wall and patted Callix on the neck. The next thing she knew she was flat on her back staring up at the rock ledge that had covered their heads, Asalia next to her as the kession galloped over the feild of bone. His desperate bugles for Ceddon all went unaswered.

"We made it!" The girl wrapped Layla in an impromptu hug before Layla could do anything about it. "We made it!" The girl shouted again before releasing Layla. The priestess stood, brushing off her clothing and looking around in growing horror at the number of bones piled underneith them. With all the soil in the surrounding area gone, she could clearly see that it had only been fifty feet deep at most...all the rest were the bones of the dead. The bed of the Sleeper was built on the ruin of a thousand-thousands of lives.

In the distance, Callix's desperate cries could still be heard and she turned cold eyes on the jubilant girl sitting at her feet. "And what of Ceddon?" Her voice rivaled the Breath for it's chilling bite and her posture was as stiff as frozen iorn. "Do you still think he lives?" Asalia's joy drained from her eyes and she seemed to stiffen in fear.

"He must...We need his strength." Layla agreed with that but deep in her innermost heart other reasons were given for her concern and rage. Concern that he had survived not. Rage that his sacrifice left her with only the girl to support her. She would rather have run a poison pin into her body than have only Asalia to rely upon. The girl was next to worthless.

"Get up...the kession shouldn't have to search alone." She hauled the girl to her feet. Why had she agreed to look after her? Because her brother had been a warrior worth Layla's respect and it had been his dying wish? Layla was beginning to wonder if that was a good enough reason. Then came Callix's joyful trumpet from far away and both women sprinted over the bones to where his form flicked against the sky.

"He's breathing! He's actually breathing! The bastard..." The kession landed and nudged Ceddon's still form, soft muzzle quivering with each shallow breath. "He's lived this far! Stubborn bastard, c'mon!"

Layla skidded to a stop on her knees next to the fallen Gallaeni. He lay in the center of the ruin where shards of boulders piled all around him like heaps of dragon-gold. His wings were twisted and slightly skewed in at wrong angles. Many of their feathers had been stripped clear, leaving patchs of smooth white skin daubed with golden-red blood, and lay scattered around and atop him.

One leg was bent double and trapped under him, the other lay straight. His left arm crossed over his chest the palm grusomely twisted so that his middle finger touched his chin. Shards of bone stuck through the skin, as clear as glass, and swelling had started to puff it up. His other hand lay outflung, upturned fingertips a heartbeat away from Varathax. The sword had impaled itself into the bones, it's hilt aimed at the heavens as surely as if Ceddon had knelt and planted it there.

Asalia stumbled to a halt across from Layla on Ceddon's other side. Layla wrinkled her nose at the tears that coursed down the girls cheeks, she was forever crying, until she realized she was doing much the same. She brushed some of the strands of white hair from where they'd fallen across Ceddons face and pressed her fingers against his neck for a pulse. It beat, but weakly, like a child new to the world or an old man soon out of it.

"Can you heal him?" Layla looked sharply up at Asalia. The girl had near boundless power and yet she looked to Layla for the solution? Yet Layla had done many healings when she'd served Elonia. She spat at the thought of the 'false goddess' but could not deny that she'd healed when she'd followed her. Now though...

"I know not. We shall see..." She rubbed her hands togther until their warmth was exuded from the Ryker-hide gauntlets. Slowly she turned her palms to face the Gallaen and moved them slowly across him, an inch away from physical contact. Slowly the injuries sprang to her mind, clear as cracks in crystal, until she knew the extent of the damage. Her heart sized and she felt hollow for a moment.

Before she knew what had happened she was turned away from Ceddon, puking her guts out onto the frozen bones of countless ancestors. Asalia's thin arm was wrapped around her shoulders, other hand pressed against her side as the girl held her close. Layla wanted to shove her away but was glad of the warmth at that moment. "He's so torn up inside...I don't know. I havn't got that kind of power."

Asalia looked at Layla for a long moment before she turned both of them back to face Ceddon. "Yes you do. I believe in you Layla." Almost instantly Layla felt a surge of eneregy, of healing power. She felt like she could cure anything, even Death, with a flick of her finger. Yet she could clearly see cost written on Asalia's face. Could she have been wrong about the girl?

"Uh ladies? I hate to interrupt a bonding moment but we need to get moving otherwise we're all about to become Dark-chow." Layla looked upwards and nearly screamed as tendrils of massed darkness dropped toward them at that maddening pace. It was toying with them, she knew, and probably on his command. When she and her brother finally came face to face Layla had a few choice words to share with him...none of which he was going to like.

Still she wasn't going to say those words if the Dark got ahold of her. So she poured healing energy into Ceddon as quickly as she could, watching bones reknit and limbs straighten. Splintered ribs rejoined into an unbroken whole and lacerated vitals sealed their wounds. It took only a minute or so, but in that minute the tendrils had come within bowshot. She swept her hands along him one last time, making sure she'd missed nothing, then slapped him hard across the face.

Layla hadn't expected his reaction though as he threw her back and somehow drew Varathax from the ground at the same time. He looked at himself, at her, at Asalia, and shook his head. "Dammit. That's the last time I play hero..." He then looked up. "Well second to last time." With a thrust of his wings he hurtled upwards, blue light and silver fire already wrapping back around him.

"What are you doing!" Layla shouted at him. Had she missed something? Forgotten to fix his common sense? Because it looked like he was heading straight for the Dark with that damned sword. Didn't he know that if it touched him it would bleed him dry of light and magic and leave him yet another husk for some creature to eat.

Yet the Dark shied back from the combined light, which had aquired a purplish tint Layla noted with a critical eye. Ceddon's voice rang out over the feild of the fallen, the bones of those who had tried the same task as he and failed. "I'm buying you two time. Get your asses on the kession and head for that damned mountain! I'll catch up. Callix, run hell for leather or I swear I'll use the flat of this sword on your rump shortly after I sever your balls with it's blade! Move you mule!"

"Mule!" The kession snorted. "Alright ladies, mount up! I've no wish to be insulted...or gelded!" Layla sprang onto Callix's back nimbly, pulling the girl up after her. They were barely in the saddle before Callix was away, putting the wind to shame with his speed. Behind them the sounds of an aetheral battle rang out and Layla spared a backward glance toward the shimmering white warrior and the pure Darkness he faced.

"Run faster Callix, faster..." She whispered, leaning low on his neck to reduce wind resistance. Benieth her the kession panted.

"I'm trying lady...Fallon knows how hard I'm trying..." Layla shook her head. Ceddon was distracting the Dark for now, but more tendrils could come after them at any moment. If only they could reach the damned mountain.

She wished she could help Ceddon fight but if she so much as spit in the direction of the Dark her brother would know. Wait? Wasn't that an idea? If her brother knew she was facing his Darkness...wouldn't he pull back so that they could meet face to face? And yet...if they wanted to steal the orb they couldn't let him know they were there. "If we make the mountain in time I know the secret way. We could steal my brother's supper from under his nose. Yet even if the three of us make the mountain, I doubt Ceddon will. Oh what can I do?"
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What should she do? Reveal herself and buy them safe passage and a prepared foe? Or continue on the current course and hope all of them make it to the mountain for a stealth attempt? Choice is yours...
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Hope you liked.

[Lilith]

Continue on.. There are no guarantees that her brother would want her alive.. All they've got is themselves.

[Glyph]

Yet another amazing chapter. I personally think it is the wisest course to do......BOTH. Send Asalia on to the mountain with the directions to the secret way and have Layla try her plan to save Ceddon. If all goes well Asalia could have the orb and reunite with Ceddon and Layla for a run or a showdown with Fallon. Plus this way opens up a miriad of possibilities. I eagerly await my next visit to this world weaved of words.

Glyph

[Kalanna Rai]

HEY I'M BACK! SOON I WILL GET THIS MONSTER MOVING AGAIN!

Hum...guess what.

THERE'S A POLL!

Told you I'd get it moving