The Ruins

Chapter 5

RAMAL

“Fairies bright and fairies beam, Ramal the great and powerful queen.” The chanting came closer. Ramal’s ears were filled with it, as it repeated. The fluttering of their wings and the rhymes continued as they swarmed in and out. Ramal looked closely at them. They were bigger in this place, from a hummingbird to a parakeet. She stood next to the waterfall. The world around her was full of wonder and scented mist.

As she breathed in, the smell that filled the air was close to cotton candy mixed with berries and flowers. A fairy came and landed on her shoulder. A few more perched on the rocks near her. Their wings were a transparent gold and pink. They were diamond shaped and had spear like tips. Dark blue and green elongated eyes took up most of their face. Short slanted breathing holes were next to their tiny mouths. Thin lips surrounded vicious, sharp teeth. Small, feathered, bird like bodies, mounted on lizard like legs, with talons. Each one was slightly diverse in color.

The trees around the pool were huge. Long branches and willows that also had leaves. Marsupials hung from the branches, starting at her, wide eyed and curious. She felt as if she had been transported to the rainforest. Ramal was stunned at the landscape. She felt completely lost but serene. “What am I doing here?” She asked them.

“Time and place, is small next to an aethereal space. “ One sounded next to her. He picked at his beak with his talons.

“Why, will be of no consequence, from here, when she comes hence.” Sounded another. It glowed and nodded its head at her.

“Again! With the rhymes! Can’t you just speak plainly?” What do you mean?” Ramal was growing agitated. She leaned against a tree and scratched her head. “Ethereal space, and someone is coming? Again?” She questioned them, looking back and forth between the ones that were perched near her.

“The Queen. The mother. Ravania. There is no other.” A smaller fairy answered her.

“My mother! The Queen?” Ramal was aghast. Her eyes flew open wide. “My mother is dead! She was a peasant. What the hell!” She shook her head in disbelief. “There is no way……unless I’m dead. “ She trailed off and thought about it for a few minutes. “Am I dead?” She sat all the way down this time.

Laughter sounded all around her, from every creature, near and far. Ramal’s head began to spin. She had to close her eyes to stop from getting dizzy. “This isn’t funny!” She shouted. “I’m not dead!” She pinched he inner thigh to make sure. Yep. It hurt. Ramal sat with her eyes closed, thinking about her mother. She had learned a lot from the fairies in her world and from the dragon. Her mother was a witch. What did they mean by Queen? Why had they referred to her as such and then to her mother?

The air thinned. A fog rolled across the land from beside her. A slight breeze lifted the leaves and swayed the grass. Everything around her became a blanket mist of white and pink. She heard the faint sound of chimes and the tinkling of small jewels. Ramal looked around. She couldn’t see through the haze very well. The hair on her arms raised in apprehension of the unknown.

A small voice called to her. She turned in the direction of the voice. It seemed familiar. “Ramal.” The voice repeated as it drew nearer. Ramal squinted her eyes and looked harder toward the sound. An apparition appeared dressed in a white, flowy gown. The bottom of the dress went past her feet. Small silver streamers down the length of it ended in sapphires. The woman looked as if she was suspended in midair. Brown hair hung loosely from her shoulders. Tendrils curled and waved across her face in the breeze. Suddenly her face appeared.

“Mom?”…..

ISHLOCHE

Ishloche took Krag and Jakombie up to the cave in the mountain. They were both riding on his back. Krag was unsure of flight, he continually shifted on Ishloche’s shoulders. Jakombie was enjoying the view. The entire valley, beneath them as if it were a moving painting. The browns and yellows from the grasses and rocks blurred together.

Once to the mountain entrance, Ishloche perched on a large boulder. Jakombie jumped off and helped to pull down a nauseated Krag. Krag took a moment to regain his balance leaning against the large dragon. Ishloche eyes him with pity.

“The entrance is right here, Krag, when you are ready.” Jakombie told him. “We need to be careful and scope it out. It is awfully quiet.” He peered into the opening of the cave and saw no movement. Walking closer he could smell blood and tainted fluids. This was no surprise.

“Well come on then.” Krag pressed his way past him. The metals from the sword shimmered in the sun light as Krag swung it up and forward, making his approach cautiously, into the cave.

Jakombie lit a torch to light their way. Bodies littered the cave floor, Orc, Zombie and Zomborc. Going further inside, stepping around corpses, Krag withheld his urge to vomit. Nothing was breathing. Nothing was alive. He coughed.

“This way.” Jakombie told him. “His lair was beneath the boulder to the left. To the right is the holding cells for the newborns and the Zombie cages.”

“To the lair first. “ Krag nodded his agreement. “Let’s dispatch the leader and we’ll let Ishloche finish it with fire. “

They walked throughout the tunnels and found nothing but bodies. Jakombie recognized Gnork’s head separated from his body. “It seems that they killed each other, before they came out.” Jakombie told Krag. “This was the leader. There are no more tunnels or ways to go.”

“What about others that have been captured?” Krag asked him “Where are they?”

Jakombie thought back to remember if he had seen anyone besides Lanai. “Gnork kept Lanai in chains. He ordered her around and kept her like a pet. I think the others they fed from. “

Krag’s eyes filled with tears at the loss of so many innocent lives. “She was lucky.” He said. Krag coughed again. “Let’s get out of here.” Jakombie led the way out with the torch in hand. They were startled only once, by a rat, scurrying to get across the tunnel, into the other side.

The sun was blinding as they came back under it. Ishloche was waiting, impatiently, pacing back and forth. “Well?” he asked them.

“Everything in there is dead. They removed Gnork’s head from his shoulders and fed from everything else. You only need to cleanse it, and our job here is done.” Jakombie told him. Krag nodded his head in agreement.

Ishloche was pleased at this outcome. “Get behind me then.” His eyes glowed an azure blue. The scales on his body shifted and turned a brilliant orange. Krag motioned for Jakombie to follow him, down the mountain, and cower behind a rock. Ishloche took in a large breath of air. His lungs puffed out the sides of his ribs. Smoke came from his nostrils. He let the flames fly.