The Xalinor Chronicles

Valinos

Jake felt a burning sensation spread over his whole body as he slowly returned to his human senses. It was as if he too had been touched by fire which burned the spirit eagle.

“What did you see? Did something happen?” asked Yolen, in an anxious voice.

“I saw a village,” said Jake with an air of discomfort. Sweat was dripping from his bare forehead and he had turned red in the face.

Yolen studied Jake’s features from head to toe before asking him to lower his face. The old healer gently pressed his wrinkled palm against Jake’s burning forehead.

“Your body is too warm. This isn’t natural!” he exclaimed in shock.  Without wasting any time, he turned to Zill and instructed him to fetch a silver slug from his hut. The little gnome scurried inside the cave to search for the item.

It took him only a while to get the silver slug from Yolen’s hut. He promptly handed it over to Yolen, who squeezed the slug tightly at the rear to extract some silver white eggs shaped like grains of rice. The old gnome dropped the eggs into the cup of moonberry brew and waited for the eggs to dissolve.

“Here, take a sip of this,” he said, placing the cup close to Jake’s lips.

Jake clasped the cup with both his palms and slurped on the bitter liquid inside. The moonberry water had lost its fruity flavor completely. He concluded that it must be due to the eggs which were added to it. Despite his earnest entreaties, Yolen forced him to drink the entire cup.

When he had finished drinking the bitter brown liquid, Yolen touched his forehead once more. He held his palm against Jake’s skin till he was satisfied and then declared with a sigh of relief, “Thank the Goddess! You are not burning up anymore.”

Jake noticed that he had stopped sweating and was no longer feeling hot. Both Zill and Yolen were eager to know what Jake had seen.

“What did you see through the eagle’s eyes?” asked Yolen.

Jake went on to describe the village where he had been previously tied to a stake. When he mentioned the eagle bursting into flames, Yolen knitted his bushy eyebrows together and whispered in a grim voice, “This cannot be good. The other human must have been sold to the warlocks in Valinos village.” He lifted his gaze towards the clear blue sky and folded his hands behind his back. “Spirit familiars only burst into flames when they collide with an arcane shield. This can only mean one thing; there must be a shielding ward inside that building.”

“I know that building,” Both of them turned towards Zill to discover a horrified look upon his face. “That is a college for adept warlocks. It’s impossible to get inside that building. Only warlocks can enter the college unharmed. If anyone else tries to sneak inside, they are burned to ashes.”

“If the eagle flew towards that building it means the human girl is being held inside the college,” added Yolen.

“We have to rescue her. There is no way I am leaving her with those crazy warlocks!” Jake stood up and took the Ziraelium bow in his hand, “I will kill every single warlock guarding the village if I have to. But I am going to save her!”

“The town of Valinos is well guarded by Vanguards. I wouldn’t advise creating a mess. Your powers aren’t at their peak yet. These are warlocks you are dealing with, not some wild beasts. You have to calm down and think of a smarter plan if you want to save this girl.” Once more Yolen decided to be the voice of reason. He knew that Jake wasn’t ready to face the Vanguards head on.

Rescuing the human girl was now Jake’s sole objective. He had last seen the village of Valinos during a dark night and since he was in a perilous situation back then, he hadn’t been able to find out anything useful about the place. His body trembled in fear as he recalled Malkoth’s coral red eyes. It would be impossible to rescue the girl if he was still around.

Jake took in a few deep breaths to steady his nerves. He then asked Yolen if Malkoth and his men would be guarding the village.

“Malkoth only comes to the village during executions. They do not allow any hangings or burnings to take place inside the Kingdom of Drakenmoor. I think you don’t need to worry about Malkoth. He should be busy with his wife and daughter. After all it’s a holiday today.” Yolen took out a dirty piece of parchment from his bag and placed it on the ground, “This is an old layout of the village. Grevlin had given it to me 10 years ago,” he said, pointing towards the dirty brown paper.

Though the map was old and dirty, it was extremely detailed. It showed the location of not just the shops inside the village but also the other small huts, inns and alleys.

Yolen placed his index finger on the map and spoke aloud the following incantation:

Sentrianus Alightus

Dispello Shadini

Auro Morellis

Jake’s eyes widened in surprise as the map floated in the air and glowed brightly. Soon, a number of glowing red dots appeared on the old parchment.

“I still remember the spell”, said Yolen with a smile. He grabbed the floating map with his right hand and showed it to Jake. “These red dots show the location of all the Vanguard sentries posted in Valinos. Though it is an old map, the spell on it can still sense the life-forces of the Vanguards in Valinos.”

Jake took the map from Yolen and looked at it long and critically. Knowing the positions of the sentries offered him a huge advantage. He knew this was going to be the ace up his sleeve.

He turned to Yolen and held out his left palm. “I want to use that Skill Shard now.”

“Do you have a skill in mind?” asked Yolen.

“Do I need to choose a skill before activating the Shard?” Jake enquired anxiously.

“Yes, you do. In order to use the Skill Shard you must think about the skill you want to unlock.”

Jake knew very little about elven Sages and was utterly clueless about the skills they could gain access to. He looked towards Yolen for assistance.

“You must know about their skills,” he said with a hopeful glimmer in his eyes.

To his bitter disappointment, Yolen shook his head helplessly. “I only knew about the Eagle Eye skill because I had seen an elven Sage use it in front of me. But I don’t know the names of any of their other skills or what they are used for.”

Jake cast his eyes towards the ground as a wave of dejection flooded his darkening face. The Skill Shard was worthless to him now. ‘If only Goddess Vaari had told me more about my skills, I wouldn’t be stuck in this mess!’ he thought to himself.

He was still thinking about the problem, when Zill cried out excitedly, “My father’s special book can help you. It has a list of all classes of elves and their special skills!”

Saying this, the little gnome ran into the cave once more to fetch his father’s most prized possession.