Rashemen Book 2

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Sepp lay on the ground under a smoky, flaming sky. Atten sat cross legged next to him, holding the now fully whole Earth's Heart. His eyes were closed. Was he sleeping? Was he meditating? Was he taking a dream-voyage? He hoped that the druid would quickly come back to the here and now and do something about the dire situation they were in.

Sepp could hear blades clashing not far from him. Then a cry of pain and Alexi's voice crowing triumphantly, "Take that you snaky scum!"

He could feel the wicked ones closing in on their position, and he reached for his Pa's magic sword and dagger, only to find that they were not there. Of course, they must have flown out of his hands when the axe hit his back in the fight in the cavern. He pulled out his knife and hand axe, wishing that he had more powerful weapons to face the coming foe with.

He tried to sit up, and found that he could not. Without being able to feel or move any part of his body below his middle back, the best he could do was to prop himself up on an elbow. He might as well be a black snow hare, trying to hide from the eagles on a snowcovered plain.

Maybe Ma could help them? He looked at the crystal she had been entrapped in. Now that it was back in the Earth's Heart, she would be able to escape it, wouldn't she? He saw her small face, pressed up against a facet of the crystal. It was beaming with pride at him, but filled with tears at the same time. She blew him a kiss, then faded back into the crystal.

Was this how it was going to end for him then? Dying in a forest near the Fortress of the Half-Demon? Next to Atten, who though Sepp had always tried to engage him in conversation and learn from the more experienced druid, had never really talked with him, or been his friend.

What was happening with his friends? Would Jex survive this fight, or die yet again. Surely Nakia would find a way to sneak out alive. His cousin was ... how did he know she was his cousin? He didn't know how, he just knew. She had to survive. Maron, who Sepp knew really was an angel, would take his spirit to meet Pa and Drell. Would the drow brothers ever learn to be nice and not attack people before they said hello? Would Alexi become king? Would Black be turned back into a halfling? Where was Black? Would Gesed's feet grow back? Would he ever become a chief?

His reverie was cut short by a strange sound coming from Atten. Atten's eyes flicked open and stared at Sepp with a startling gaze. What would he say? What would he do?

 

Delinos jumped over to the mage attacking Nakia, "Oh no you don't!" He took out a wakizashi in mid-air and stabbed it through the head of the mage. He smiled as he landed on the shoulders, but was hit in the back by the hilt of a sword, and fell to the ground, unconcious.

Delinos slowly got up. He saw his body on the floor, blurry, but still there. He jumped backwards from the body in fright. He looked around. He saw many bodies around, and yuan-ti fighting his only *friends*. His friends were glowing red. He didn't know what it meant, but guessed it was because they were his friends. Friends! His brother was stilll over there! He ran to where his brother had been in the Resilent Sphere. He wasn't there. Delinos looked around franticly. And there he was, leaning against the wall, sharpening his blades. Delinos ran towards him, but he seemed to be moving away. **Kelvados! Where are you going??** he asked, out of breath. Kelvados just looked at him, with a tear rolling down his cheek. **No!** Kelvados put down the sword, and walked into the rock he was leaning on. Delinos was confused.

He ran to the wall and touched it. It was solid. He suddenly realized what was happening. **NNNNOO!!** He cried out. He punched the wall over and over, until his fists were bleeding, or they would be if he was in his body. He stopped and remembered what his Matron Mother had said, ** The Drow cannot die by leaving the spirit world. Lloth will not allow it. At least if you are in her favor. They must be banished. Remember that, young fighter.** At that memory, he slowly moved his hand towards the rock again.

He was surprised to find his hand go through. He grinned. He stuck his hand in farther, then his head. he looked up, to see a world even more blurry than the previous. To his great excitement, there was Kelvados, walking away. **Kelvados, remember what the Matron said! you can't leave unless banished!!** Kelvados turned and had a surprised look on his face. He slowly spread a smile on his face. He ran towards Delinos, arms outstretched. Delinos grabbed him and quickly pulled him back to the other world. The fighting was still going on, but had slowed somewhat. He lead Kelvados to his body and laid him down. **Dorn kyorl dos ulnin,** he whispered. And he would see him soon, because Delinos's body was pulling at his fate threads. He ran over and jumped in.

Delinos woke up and looked over to Kelvados. He was already up and fighting, with a new sort of energy. He was fast, strong and unstoppable. Delinos smiled and ran towards the nearest yuan-ti or histachii, he didn't care, and sliced them to bits. Kelvados and Delinos were a force to be reckoned with.

 

Viper's Fang parried and blocked, but he could not stop the half-drow's onslaught. Finally, a scimitar broke through his guard and cut into his chest. He dropped to the floor as Jex pulled the blade out.

Garith watched the second in command fall. Yes, the Fellowship still outnumbered these foes, but both their leaders were dead, and those two drow had just gotten back up and were now fighting with more energy than before. "Retreat!" he called out. "Fall back to the lower tunnels. Retreat!"

Yuan-ti and cultists started to move out of the large cavern. A few were still fighting the foe, but Garith didn't wait to see if they would make it, he slithered down the passageway and into the depths.

 

Delinos and Kelvados, within a split second of each other, took out their bows and began rapid fire at the fleeing cultists and snake people.

They decided to do a special attack that they had taught themselves to do a few years before. Kelvados laid on his back with arms and legs up, palms and feet flat. Delinos put his hands on Kelvados's feet, and put his feet on Kelvados's hands. Once they were in a wheel shape, they started to roll towards the fleeing group. They spun so fast and were almost to them, and then Delinos flung off at them, arms outstretched, with 'very pointy fingers' ready to be stuck into someone's behind. He caught about 5 of them, and brought them to the ground, with Kelvados jumping over them to chop up more.

After a huge tussle, the brothers ran back to the main cavern to see if their *friends* were OK.

 

Jex his next strike. And slammed his scimitar through the mans neck. Leaving Vipers Fang dead on the Jex turned on the retreating foes. He brought down a few more. But let the rest run. Looking towards his companions he noticed the one man, still attacking Del. Running across the room, he swung a powerful leg and landed a solid kick in the mans midsection. Standing protectivly over Dels prone body, Jex dared anyone to come and attempt to cause further harm to her.

 

Delinos and Kelvados stood on either side of Jex, protecting Del from harm, as Jex was.

"I think..," Kelvados said slowly, "We won that battle.."

 

“Where on earth did you come from!”

Atten was startled by the appearance of Sepp next to him but did not not have time to worry about that as he was overwhelmed by the power that now seemed to be emanating from the Heart. Clearly something very important had happened to it. The power was no more even, less disrupted, and more intense. Atten had to fight hard to centre himself and find the Living Force again.

After struggling to gather some sort of control of himself, Atten was suddenly aware of the approaching danger.

“Hmmm, time to get out of here, I think. What we need is a diversion.”

Atten reached out to see if there were any nearby animals who might be able to help. All he could find were rabbits.

“Great. Rabbits. What are we going to be able to do with rabbits?”

Boof! Atten was suddenly aware of a strange disturbance in the Living Force. A sort of a pointy eared fluffy tailed feeling of defensive indignation. It was almost as if a whole warren of rabbits had taken offence at his comment………

 

Sepp must have slipped back into his reverie about the black snowhare getting hunted by eagles on a snow covered plain, because he suddenly completely understood how that rabbit must feel. He felt the enclosing fear of death as the eagle's talons tore into the rabbit in a metallic grip. He was encased in a metal bag. He had to get out!

He struggled to reach the light he saw, and was surprised when he wiggled out of his mail shirt and saw his clothes empty on the ground, huge compared to his small body.

He heard Atten say something, but didn't understand it. He tried to ask Atten what was going on, but all that came out of his mouth were some grunting sounds.

Atten looked at him and started laughing. Sepp felt angry and stomped a long foot on the ground. It was then that he became aware that he could move his lower body again. Looking at the foot he had stomped, he noticed that it was long, and covered with hair, and was connected to a rabbit's body!

He was a rabbit! How in the world?

But then he heard the answering foot-stomp alarms of the warren's survivors. He started to listen with his large ears, and he understood.

"They burned up all the mothers and kits!"

"They are worse than the foxes and weasels!"

"We shouldn't just run away anymore!"

"We have the power of the earth with us!"

"Our muscles move with the power of earthquakes!"

"Out teeth are harder than the rocks!"

"Attack! Attack! Attack!"

The call was impossible to resist. Sepp hopped away and soon joined the horde of rabbits. They saw Alexi, trying to hold three dark clad men at bay. The rabbits almost flew through the air. Biting any areas of exposed flesh: noses, ears, fingers, Achilles tendons, even necks. Alexi quickly took advantage of his foes sudden predicament and drove his blade through all of their bodies.

Several rabbits kept gnawing on the fallen bodies, enjoying the new taste of flesh, but Sepp felt a great presence of wickedness watching them from behind a tree.

"There!" He cried to the other rabbits. "He is the cause of the death of all our families! Get him!"

The warren charged the figure, who had now stepped from behind the tree to send flame from his fingers over them. But rabbits know how to deal with fire, they are safe in their dens when the forest fire passes over and burns the grass and the shrubs. And now, their bodies instantly grew an outerlayer of dirt as the fire passed over them harmlessly.

In an instant, the figure was covered with a bloody mess of flying fur and flashing teeth. Sepp went straight for the man's jugular vein and bit deeply. He could feel it cut clean in two with his razor sharp teeth, and the warm blood that flowed into his mouth tasted sweetly of victory. The pack of carnivorous rabbits started to feast on his warm body, but then the earth shook, just a little, and the world shifted.

Sepp found himself back as his halfling self, naked and covered in blood, gnawing on a man's chewed up face. All around him rabbits, also spotted with blood, were spitting blood and pieces of meat out of their mouths. Sepp could understand them for just a moment.

"Yuck, what an awful taste!"

"What we're we doing? Not running away from danger. We must have been insane!"

"But at least ... grunt, grunt, grunt, grunt, grunt."

The rabbits suddenly became aware of Sepp watching them, and scattered to the wind.

Sepp took a dagger from the man's belt, and used it to cut his cloak into a smaller size. He wrapped the cloak around his waist, and made his way back to Atten. His back was a little stiff, but his legs moved and he could feel the earth beneath his toes.

He sat down, then vomitted little chunks of meat on the ground.

Alexi came up to Atten and Sepp, an incredulous look on his face. "Do either of you have any idea what just happened?"

Sepp could only shake his head.

 

Nakia ran over to the others.

"Let's get out of here. Can some one carry Del? I'll go last to set trap triggers."

 

"Hmm, maybe I shouldn't have scorned the rabbits after all. I'll have to remember that for the future."

 

"We'll carry Del," Delinos and Kelvados said, Del already resting on their shoulders.

 

Even in unconsciousness, Delphinae instinctively flinches away from the evil of the drow wizard Delinos. Kelvados is forced to drop Del for fear of puncturing her with one (or more) of his many blades, but oddly enough, having her head crack against the stone floor of the cavern brings Del back around.

"Wh...where am I? ... You're here?! ... I'm so sorry I lead you all to your deaths ... I should have known I couldn't command a group ... Sepp's not here; he must have escaped ... Even in death we have succeeded..."

Delphinae rambles on as Delinos and Kelvados pick her back up, this time holding her more securely in their grip.

 

I see them.

The Drow brothers. I have finally found them. They will pay for not completing their task.

I need to travel to them. A powerful enough Dimension Door should work. But not too close.

Their companions seem powerful enough, the bodies of yuan-ti and histachii are evidence enough. Although, I do not find either of those a challenge, I should be wary of their companions. I am surprised they even found friends.

I will be there soon. They will pay.

 

A significant tremor shook the earth for a few seconds then stopped.

 

Jex followed Nakia, she would remember what traps meant what. "I have a bad feeling that this isn't going as planned," he muttered to the halfling. He felt more like himself. The challenge in killing Vipers Fang had brought a little of the old Jex back, he was still shaken by his death, but he felt more secure. "Lets get to Atten as quickly as possible."

 

Sepp felt the earth shake beneath him, and his stomach turned in reply. He leaned over and heaved, but he had nothing left in his stomach to empty.

He looked up at Atten. "Atten, what happened to me? I was a rabbit. How did I do that? I was eating that man. What was I thinking?" As usual, Atten looked on silently.

Sepp looked into the crystal that had completed the Earth's Heart, but could not see his mother in it anymore. But he knew that she was still there.

"Ma's not going to be able to leave that crystal, is she?" He wanted Atten to answer, but didn't want him to answer at the same time.

 

With the Drow brothers leading the way, Nakia and Jex followed. She set the triggers to the traps as they went. Reaching the last one where the weakened stone was she said, "Dark ones take Del and hurry out. Get away from the fortress. Jex, prehaps you should go with them. Don't know what will be out there. I will set this trap off, then run like heliness. If all is right there will be a big explosion."

Jex is hesitant to leave but finally nods his head and the others leave. She drinks part of a haste potion and then speeds down the corridor and out of the fortress. Waving to the others she runs back towards where they left Atten.

Behind them is a very loud sound and she turns to see the fortress both crumbling to the ground and stones flying in all directions. The fortress is in ruins.

 

Jex looked at the brothers and grinned. "Perhaps our friends will need omy blades. Keep Del safe." With that he touched him amulet and enacted the Haste spell. Breaking into a sprint, he charged ahead to where Atten and Sepp where.

 

Sepp glanced up at Jex, who had burst upon them looking ready to kill. Jex looked at Alexi, standing with his bloody blade still drawn, then at Atten, holding the Earth's Heart, and then at Sepp, covered in blood and naked but for a torn cloth wrapped around him.

"Jex, it's good to see you," Sepp said. "My back was broken, but it's better now that I was a rabbit for a little while. That's pretty weird, isn't it? We're all okay here, the Earth's Heart is complete, the wicked people are dead, but I haven't seen Black anywhere. Did the others make it out of the Fortress alive, or are you the only one left?"

 

"Everyone is out. Dels hurt. Mostly just pummeled, Naga's dead as is the damned Vipers Fang." Jex wiped his scimitars on the grass. "Somehow we got lucky and there was less fight in the Fellowship than we first thought. They scattered like ashes when the snake and Vipers Fang died."

"So we have the precious Earths Heart. We've killed, been killed and have sacrificed more than I think we've truely realized, but we have the damned stone. Lets get it back to where it belongs. Even though I doubt it will be a safe trek."