Shattered Exile

SIX Expulsion-1

SIX

Expulsion

The Narlakai herd had moved much quicker than she had expected. Despite the distance covered since its withdrawal after the battle for Scrier’s Post, the herd had remained relatively intact, although its shape had curiously changed. The herd was now stretched out into a long meandering column, reminding her of a funeral march. Its silent retreat was methodical; each dimly sentient Narlakin diligently followed the next, as they collectively drifted further into Narlak. It was impossible to discern their numbers with any accuracy, due to the volume of Narlakai and their close proximity to one another, their flailing tendrils blurring the gaps between them. Regardless, her gifted mind could sense their collective presence, which was formidable; the mass of Narlakai trailing across the cracked landscape before her would ultimately be sufficient for her needs. She cared not for the herd’s miserable existence. The Narlakai were nothing more than a tool to her; marionettes, waiting for their strings to be pulled.

Opening her mind fully, she established hundreds of weak conduits to the Narlakai, hoping to assert her control over as many of the soul stealers as her mind would allow. Immediately the column began to falter, with gaps appearing as some of the Narlakai broke formation and began hesitantly drifting towards her position. Some of the nightmare horrors appeared to be confused, loitering, whilst others continued their blind march towards the heart of Narlak. Her initial attempt to alter the herd’s trajectory had seemingly failed, causing them to flounder instead. However, she would not be beaten. Redoubling her efforts, she channelled renewed mental energy along each conduit, in an attempt to impose her will on her tentative subjects.

‘You will follow me!’

More of the Narlakai broke formation and started to drift eerily towards her. Her Meldbeast mount reared its three dire wolf heads, each of which sniffed at the cold air, as the black writhing sea of Narlakai on the horizon gradually altered its heading. The strain on her mind was immense, unlike anything she had previously experienced. When she had initially gathered the herd – at Darlia’s behest – the task had been relatively straightforward, albeit slow. Gathering the Narlakai together piecemeal was a simple test of her ability, especially after discovering that one only needed to control a small percentage of the slow-witted horrors in order to guide the rest, due to their herd mentality. Trying to command the driven mass to alter its previous course, without fracturing it, however, was another matter entirely. Although the bulk of the herd was now heading silently towards her, she could sense parts of the horde breaking off, bent on pursuing their prior directive. Quickly realising that her ability alone would not be sufficient to bind the confused mass to her will, she turned her attention once more to Krashnar’s abhorrent pet, ready to impart fresh orders to her eager mount.

‘Round them up! Drive them south!’

Using its boundless stamina, the Meldbeast leapt forwards, eager to shepherd its newly-assigned nightmare flock. Once more, the beast’s jarring movements pulled at her flesh-metal torso, causing her to wince as agonizing pain shot through her upper body. More tears spilled from her eyes as her fervent mount raced towards the herd’s right flank. The Meldbeast’s powerful limbs propelled the creature across the landscape at impossible speed, which – by now at least – she should have been well accustomed to. Yet, despite her experience riding the creature, she continued to bounce around painfully on top of its chitin carapace, barely held in place by the flesh-straps securing her legs to the flanks of the chimera. The Narlakai withdrew from the beast’s colossal presence as the frenetic chimera approached the herd’s right flank, thus consolidating its mass. Those soul stealers that had previously begun to break away along the right flank of the herd, quickly re-joined the main mass, clearly not wanting to be singled out by Krashnar’s monstrous creation, presumably on account of its size. With the right flank’s fledgling separatist groups rapidly falling back into lockstep, she commanded the Meldbeast along the rear of the formation, ensuring that no more of the Narlakai splintered off from the herd. Whilst the Meldbeast tore down the rear of the formation, the dark clouds above signalled their displeasure, dumping heavy rain across the inhospitable landscape. The impromptu rainfall quickly washed away the bodily fluids and dried excrement staining the rear of the Meldbeast’s carapace. Despite the agonizing pain wracking her tortured body, seeing the shaper’s uncouth prophecy come to fruition prompted her to laugh aloud, unexpectedly. Oblivious to her twisted amusement, her impressive mount continued to power down the rear of the Narlakai’s formation, reinforcing the herds’ renewed purpose. Soon, the Narlakai would be back under her control – where they belonged – and those who had shunned her existence would once again feel her wrath.

‘Nathaniel, I am sorry, but I really must be getting back to the Tri-Spires. My presence will be needed to coordinate the final preparations for the Trials.’ she said, before finishing her drink.

‘I understand.’ replied Nathaniel, who paced restlessly whilst she and Lothnar sat opposite one another.’

‘You will contact me if you need anything?’

‘Yes...of course.’ replied Nathaniel distantly.

She turned her attention to Lothnar. The bored Paladin lazily slouched in the rocking chair opposite, staring vacantly at the grubby window adjacent to them. Krisis lay on the floor, across Lothnar’s feet. The black-furred dire wolf appeared entirely uninterested in their discussions.

‘Lothnar, please, will you stay with him?’

The master telepath offered her a sidelong glance, displaying his obvious displeasure at her request.

‘Please, Lothnar.’ she implored softly. ‘He should not be alone right now.’

‘Fine – I guess I shall have to read some of these dusty books.’ he replied, shifting his eyes towards the piles of literature surrounding them.

‘Thank y--’ she began to reply, when suddenly a thump sounded above them.

She immediately rose from her chair, though Nathaniel was already ahead of her and running frantically up the stairs. Lothnar, however, reacted slowly, due to Krisis immobilising him – the animal’s ears simply twitched in acknowledgement of the sound.

‘Come on boy – shift yourself.’ said Lothnar, who was eager to join Nathaniel and check on Rayna’s condition.

Eventually Krisis took the hint; the large dire wolf slowly rose and moved to find a better spot, behind one of the dusty book piles.

‘Come quickly!’ cried Nathaniel, his muffled voice loaded with urgency.

Together they ran up the curved wooden stairs, in single file, leaving Krisis to enjoy his renewed slumber. Upon entering Rayna’s room, they found the light bringer on the floor, pushed up on her hands and feet. Rayna appeared to be struggling to breathe and was retching violently, as though trying to expel something large that was stuck in her throat. As Rayna’s head rocked back and forth, she saw black liquid streaming from the light bringer’s eyes, in addition to trace amounts seeping from her nostrils. Nathaniel was crouched by her side, attentively, holding Rayna’s left arm, trying to steady her. Once more Rayna retched, causing the vile liquid seeping from her eyes to run down her cheeks, before dripping onto the floor. Again, and again, the light bringer retched, until finally a substantial mass of black liquid projected from her mouth onto the wooden floor with a wet splatter. Rayna’s ashen face immediately regained some of its natural ochre colour and she began to breathe more easily. She gasped in horror as the expelled liquid began to slither away from where it fell, reconstituting itself as it connected with the multitude of other dark pools heaved upon the floor. The vile liquid quickly consolidated its form in the centre of the room, and in doing so grew in size to form a large black puddle. However, before it could claim a fresh victim, Rayna staggered to her feet and began to harness pure white light in her closed left hand. The brilliant white light quickly grew in intensity, spilling between the gaps in Rayna’s clenched fist, bleaching the room with its genesis.

‘Look away!’ she cried, as Rayna unsteadily directed her left arm towards the evil fluid.

She turned and closed her eyes as brilliant white light flooded the room, threatening to blind its occupants irrevocably. Despite closing her eyes, shutting them tightly, Rayna’s light permeated the skin of her eyelids and stung her retinas. For a brief moment she felt disorientated and unstable on her legs, however, the phenomenon quickly passed, allowing her to open her eyes, gingerly, once more. The dark puddle no longer existed. Instead, in its place, were flecks of grey ash, strewn across a carpet of fine white powder.

‘Rayna!’ cried Nathaniel, grasping his surrogate daughter by her shoulders, trying to steady her.

‘What did you do to it?’ asked Lothnar, as Rayna sought to compose herself.

‘Lothnar, please, give her a moment.’ she said pensively. ‘She is probably quite disorientated.’

‘It’s OK, Kirika.’ replied Rayna, straightening her back. ‘Whatever that thing was, it’s gone now – it hates the light.’

‘How did you manage to expel it?’ asked Lothnar curiously.

‘It was feeding on the darkness of my past, causing me to become trapped there. Alarielle helped me to see things differently.

‘I am so glad to have you both back.’ said Nathaniel, who was now visibly more at ease.

‘As am I, sister.’ she said, stepping round the fallen ash to offer Rayna a welcoming embrace.

‘I’m glad to be back. But where’s Krashnar?’

‘We do not know. He released a local fisherman – Riknar – and could conceivably still be lurking in the vale.'

‘Kirika, he must be stopped!’ replied Rayna, regaining some of her characteristic determination.

‘I agree, however, Mirielle is more concerned with maintaining the status quo. She has entrusted Marcus to deal with the threat. In the meantime, she expects you to compete against Lothnar in the opening duel of the Trials.’

‘Kirika, I do not understand why Mirielle would be so irresponsible. Krashnar poses a real threat to the Freylarkai. We should secure the civilians and hunt him down, without delay.’ replied Rayna fervently.

‘Again, I agree with you, however, I cannot go against the Queen’s decision on this matter.’

‘But you are on the ruling council – surely there is something you can do?’

‘Sadly, there is not. I have already tried. Marcus is loyal to Mirielle; therefore he will not readily challenge her edicts. I have thus been overruled. In addition, Mirielle does not endorse a curfew which I instated, following the news of Riknar’s release.’

‘Kirika, we have to stop him. Marcus is going to need our help.’

‘Then you oppose the will of our queen?’ asked Lothnar with a curiously raised eyebrow.

‘I oppose any decision which puts the lives of innocents at risk.’

‘Then there is more you should kn--' Lothnar began to reply, before being abruptly cut off by a loud knocking on the door of Nathaniel’s tree.’

‘Nathaniel, are you expecting company?’ she asked, concerned by their unexpected company.

‘No, I am not.’ replied Nathaniel pensively. ‘Stay here – all of you.’

Nathaniel left the bedroom and promptly made his way down the curved wooden stairs. An uncomfortable moment of silence passed between them whilst they stared awkwardly at one another, unsure as to who would attempt to seek an audience with Nathaniel at such time. Those who knew The Teacher well – including the local forest dwellers – were keenly aware that Nathaniel habitually returned late from the arena. Who, then, would know that he would be home, shortly after noon? They stood silently, hoping to glean the occasional word of dialogue between Nathaniel and whoever it was that sought an audience with him – yet they heard nothing. Time passed, and she could sense both Rayna and Lothnar growing restless. She was about to raise her hand to ask for their continued patience, when suddenly they heard the sound of footsteps ascending the stairs. Shortly afterwards, Nathaniel re-entered the room, looking the worse for wear, more so than when she had first laid eyes on him that morning.

‘Nathaniel, what troubles you?’ she whispered quietly, concerned by his ominous appearance.

‘I think that you should all come down and see for yourselves – though I urge you all to exercise restraint.’

She offered Rayna and Lothnar a curious glance, before swiftly following Nathaniel back down the stairs into the main living space. There were two Freylarkai standing in the centre of the room. The first was a male of respectable height, with short raven-black hair, shaved at the sides, and piercing blue eyes. He carried a long blade across his back, and stood a full pace forward of his companion. The other – a female – wore a brown robe, fitted around the waist, adorned with fine metal chains and with an elaborate metal collar affixed to it. The slender Freylarkin had long dark purple hair, tied back in a loose ponytail, and deep violet eyes similar to her own. She took a step forwards to the right of the male, seeking to better observe her female counterpart. It was then that her lips parted in disbelief, as she suddenly realised who in fact stood before her. Slowly, the female Freylarkin opposite slid her left hand out from behind her back, revealing an ornate prosthetic bronze mechanical claw. Her heart skipped a beat, and tears immediately began forming along the bottom of her eyes. She tried to move closer, but her limbs stiffened, and her movements became awkward whilst her mind struggled to process that which her body already knew to be true. In that single moment, her world was – once again – turned upside down.