Chapter Five
"Hiii!!" gushed a cavity-inducing voice in a more cheerful manner than anyone had a right to in a place without sun and clouds and happy forest creatures. Aric gawked, Ellisia gawked, Lhynn seemed vaguely disconcerted and Emilio remained weary-looking. Emilio still being frozen might have had something to do with that.
For in the very center of the room was the strangest pair Aric had ever seen. Standing at least eight feet in height was a Golem, but a golem unlike any Aric had ever heard of. It was made of a sleek, polished black stone, and seemed arranged in segments so that it almost appeared a great suit of stone armor, with jagged blade-like edges at the joints. It even had a massive stone sword that rested point-down on the stone floor next to it, its fingers splayed along the crossbars to hold it upright. Within the visor-gap of the helmet-like head setting were two glowing red points of light, disconcertingly like eyes. The whole affair gave off the sense of a massive black knight, something only Shabranigdo Himself would dream to ravage humanity.
And upon the shoulder of this massive, towering thing of wicked edges and light-absorbing black stone...sat a girl, perhaps between thirteen and fifteen years of age. Long pink hair, blue eyes, a sorceress' costume that would have looked more appropriate on a risqué tavern dancer than a self-respecting adventuress (but then, that was something of a contradiction in terms these days, as most sorceresses seemed to favor a "less is more" theory in costumes; to be honest, Aric didn't have a real problem with that philosophy). What she wore seemed to consist mostly of a single white length of cloth, draped around herself in manners just enough to provide minimalist modesty, and held in place with narrow golden filigree vaguely patterned after climbing ivy-vines.
The second thing that caught the eyes of the erstwhile adversaries surrounding these interlopers was that in the Golem's left arm, cradled like an unconscious person...was a suit of full plate-and-chainmail, in varying hues of blue with golden tracery.
"That must be the Armor!" Aric blurted, first to recover his mental feet as he pointed to the suit in question.
"Thaat's right!" the girl atop the golem singsonged, beaming cheerily. "And it's all mine mine mine! Oh! Oh, but I'm being so ruuude! My name's Kaia and this is Onyx!" She patted the golem's unresponsive black helm, her hand running affectionately over the single curved prong that sloped backward from the top of its head. "It was nice meeting all of you, but we have to go now! Bye-bye!"
And with that, the golem began to move at an impressive clip, nowhere near as sluggish as the ones he had seen before, using its titantic sword as a kind of walking-stick. It was about this time that the three managed to get their facilities together--and Ellisia was the one to recover first.
"I think not, little girl! We came a long way for that armor and I will not let it be snatched away by some pink-haired little human tart!" Slinging her hammer back into her belt, she charged a few steps until she came past Aric himself, and then raised both hands over her head. "Elmekia Lance!" Power exploded between her upraised hands, a flare of blue-green light brimming with spiritual power, and then launched itself in the form of a fiery blue-green spear at the back of the girl on the golem's shoulder.
It impacted against a raised hand of black stone, and the girl spun around in her seat to glare cutely at Ell with her fists on her hips. "That was mean! What did I ever do to you? I was here first so the treasure's mine! It's not my fault you old people showed up too late!"
"Old people?!" Ell looked ready to explode, as Aric lifted a hand to his temple to sigh. He exchanged a long-suffering glance with Lhynn, who surprisingly returned it in kind as she walked casually over to Emilio while the girl was distracted. She jerked her head toward Emilio, and then gave Aric a conspiratorial wink, and he nodded and turned his attention to the girl.
"How about we try and work something out, ah, Kaia?" he asked, loudly, stealing the attention of both arguing females who were just in the process of glaring sizzling lightning-bolts at each other. "Some sort of mutually beneficial arrangement? There's no need for anybody to walk away the loser, here."
Ellisia shot him a "you stay out of this" look, which he promptly ignored, while Kaia crossed her arms stubbornly. "Nuh-uh! I don't trust you people! You just wanna take my treasure I worked sooo hard for!"
"Hey, now, you're not the only one who worked hard," Aric continued reasonably, slowly side-stepping to put as much distance between Kaia's gaze and Lhynn's attempts to free Emilio as possible. "Everybody here has put a lot of work into finding this stuff. Why don't we all head to town together and try to sell it off, split the money evenly."
"Welllll..." Kaia raised a finger to her chin in cute consideration, her eyes rolling toward the ceiling as she thought. Then, though, she shook her head again, crossing her arms under a chest that hinted at someday becoming epic. "No, no, no! It's mine, and I found it first and you can't have any of it! Vol Ga Dooga!" She flung her hands forward, fingers curled like claws, as tendrils of yellow light snaked from the tips. Where they struck the stone floor, they burned marks into the surface, slowly searing the image of a five-pointed star, a pentagram, into the floor. When the symbol was complete it flared up with more yellow light, in a blinding flash, and when it cleared there stood a great black hound about the size of a calf, all snarling teeth and bristling ebony fur.
"Get 'em, Blacky!" Kaia proclaimed haughtily, then turned her golem back around and proceeded to march back outside as the creature blocked their path.
"What is that?!" Ellisia blurted, hastily backing away with wide eyes, her hammer held ready. Lhynn, to her own great frustration, still hadn't managed to liberate Emilio; Aric must have made that spell stronger than he thought.
"It's a garm," Aric responded, familiar with the spell, as he gathered sparkling blue magic power between his cupped hands. "I've never seen one before, and I've never been very interested in summoning spells, but I've heard about them. You know why nobody ever goes between Elmekia and the Desert of Destruction?"
"No."
"Because of these."
"Oh."
As near as he could figure, it looked like Lhynn and Emilio weren't going to be much for participation in this fight. That was okay; he'd taken on tougher things than a garm before--he hoped, anyway. And that had been even without Ell's help. He glanced toward her from the corner of his eye, gave a slight nod which she returned...and then dove off to the left, as she veered right, hurling the power between his hands. "Freeze Arrow!" The beast opened its mouth, as the small cluster of frigid projectiles hurtled its way...and a blast of blue-tinted flame erupted from its mouth, melting and even evaporating them out of midair.
"What?!" Ellisia stumbled and lurched to a stop, eyes wide.
"Oh yeah, I forgot..." Aric muttered, frustrated and no small amount unnerved. "Garms breathe fire."
"Wonderful..." Ell sighed, grip tightening on the handle of her hammer, "I don't suppose you have any good news for me?"
"Less talk, more fight!" Aric shot back, even as he staggered back away from another blast of blue-hot flame.
"Right! Bram Blazer!" The blue beam of energy, about the diameter of Ell's fist, slammed into the garm's exposed side with the sound of a muffled hammer blow, sending it staggering to the side before turning its head to snarl at her.
Smirking, Aric slowly shook his head. "Sad. Girl should have known better than to summon some dumb animal. Freeze Brid!"
Aric blinked to see the globe of sparkling blue light fly right past the garm's backside as it bounded forward, hurtling straight at a wide-eyed Ellisia. She managed to duck in time, but only just barely, and her hair was lightly frosted as she rolled to one knee.
The garm hit the nearest wall with all four feet, the great claws actually gouging the ancient stone as it pushed off to pounce at a wide-eyed Aric. The front paws landed squarely on his shoulders, as the thing's massive weight bowled him over flat onto his back. Frantically, his hands shot up to force back the snapping head, one hand at the throat and the other tugging at a long, shaggy-furred ear. Belatedly, he realized that would do little good when the monster decided to cook him with its breath, but instinct urged him to provide what little self-defense he could at the moment.
"Aric!" It was Ellisia's voice, and the sound of her boots drawing nearer. He flinched, even as the garm turned its head toward her, and he tried to force its head away before it could roast her...but it was simply too strong, the corded muscles in its neck far greater than his poor leverage could hold any power over, and Aric forced himself to look away as it blasted the full force of its deadly breath at her.
Inwardly, Aric railed. She may have been snooty and stuck-up and downright pushy, but she didn't deserve...
Suddenly the weight upon him was gone, with the sound of flesh hitting a stone wall and a yelp. Eyes snapping open, Aric turned to look as he felt himself being lifted up by the collar...
...and came face to face with light golden scales. "Wh--?!"
She flashed him a small, wan half-smile, golden lips and eyelids and pointed ears among the only parts of her face not covered with fine gilded scales, and a hand with golden claws poking out of the tips of torn gloves rose to brush wisps of shimmering golden hair out of her eye. "Heh...surprise, I guess," she murmured, and then the steely grip on his collar shifted to his shoulder and he felt himself being hauled along.
Ellisia dove with him behind the frozen Emilio, Lhynn following rapidly behind, just in time to let it shield them from another blast of garm breath. When the heat passed, the ice was gone--leaving only a lightly charred and smoking Emilio, coughing up small clouds of smoke and looking generally bewildered. Lhynn reached up to snag the platinum-haired sorcerer's collar and drag him down, even as all four flattened themselves to the floor to barely avoid another flare.
Ell was up and moving first, and Aric watched with wide eyes. Her once fine clothes were both faintly charred and badly torn, her cape and hammer discarded on the stone floor, boots burst apart and lying in pieces on the floor. The back of her shirt had been sheared open, making way for her grand, sweeping golden-sailed wings to unfurl from her back; a hole had been rent in the back of her trousers, just about at the base of her spine, for a sinuous golden-scaled tail to snake out. Her sleeves were gone, perhaps burnt away judging from the charred edges, revealing startlingly toned arms.
Aric wasn't the only one baffled by this change; Emilio too stared in silent shock, trying to assimilate this strange twist of events, while Lhynn merely watched in stoic silence. Aric tried to rise and rejoin the fray, but Lhynn snagged his shoulder to drag him back down, and when he stared at her incredulously she just shook her head and went back to watching. Frowning, Aric watched as well, shifting anxiously.
But Ellisia was quite clearly a force to be reckoned with, now. She used no magic as she advanced on the garm, diving this way and that to avoid its fiery breath until finally closing...and laying into it like a wild animal, tearing with claws and slinging it this way and that whenever she could get a grip. This Ellisia was a far cry from the prissy golden-haired Lady with whom he had become familiar.
Before she was done, Aric had to turn his gaze away, but thankfully by the time she was done, the garm was quite thoroughly dead. In fact, there wasn't even enough left to be recognizable as a garm, and he was careful to avert his eyes from the corpse and instead keep them focus on a rather blood-spattered Ellisia as she approached, still sporting golden scales and damaged clothing. She stopped before the three, and shifted her weight a little awkwardly from foot to foot, tail pushing loose pebbles about on the stone floor as it lashed anxiously behind her.
"...Ell?" Aric asked, at last, just for posterity's sake.
"...yeah." She said nothing further, made no effort to elaborate nor excuse this sudden transformation, just folded her wings against her back and stood in silence.
"...thanks," he answered in the same tone, nodding. Then, taking a deep breath, he stepped closer and crossed his arms, speaking in tones for her ears only. "But you and I are gonna have a long sit-down-and-talk once we get outta here." He actually smirked, which caused her to blink and then mimic the expression, before he turned back around to face the other two. "Alright, Emilio. Situation's changed. You can save the story stuff for later, because the longer we delay, the further away that little thief gets with our treasure. So how about you fork over that coin and--"
"Ahahahahahahahaha!" Emilio retorted, rising to his feet and crossing his arms imperiously. "You think I'm going to fall for this little diversion of yours, Winterbourne? I think not! I shall pursue your lackey and recover the Artifact you so guilefully snatched away by underhanded cunning! If you are fortunate, I may deign to inform you of the location of the third and final piece, once I've found the rest, but if you continue this pattern of trickery then I fear I shall have to cease being sportsmanlike. Come, Lhynn!" With that, he turned and swept toward the stairs--an impressive feat, since "sweeping" was usually a method of travel reserved for those with capes.
Lhynn merely glanced at Aric and Ellisia for a moment, then slowly turned without a word and moved to follow her companion, sword at hand as ever.
"He's so weird..." Aric muttered under his breath, tiredly. "Come on, Ell, let's get back upstairs and figure out where we're going next."
By the time he turned back to face her, Ellisia had reverted to normal, though her clothing was still a total loss. As she kneeled to pick up her hammer, he retrieved her cloak and carefully draped it around her shoulders to preserve her modesty. Blinking up at him, she nodded a little with a small hint of a smile, and then pushed to her feet to sweep properly out through the double-doors, Aric following in turn.
"So let me get this straight," Aric reasoned in quiet tones, propping his feet up on the table in the secluded corner-booth of the tavern-and-inn they had finally settled on. They had decided to postpone discussions until they could find someplace to sit down, eat and relax, since there had been no trace of either Emilio or Kaia outside the tower. "Your mother was a Gold Dragon shifted down into human form, but your father was a human ex-dragonslayer. So you're only half-Dragon, meaning the closest you can come to dragon-form is what you did with the garm. Am I clear up to this point?"
She nodded, still pensively silent, not her usual self.
"Okay. Makes sense so far. Can only maintain the form for so long and can't use any magic while you do, right?" Nod. "Right. Okay. So what's all this about, with the armor and artifacts and whatnot?"
Ellisia sighed, fingering the sleeve of her new shirt. It wasn't as fancy as the last one, because they had yet to score a significant treasure or any other form of income, but it at least matched the rest of her repaired clothing. Aric, too, had managed to replace his lost goods with a new, pristine white mantle. "I don't know what's going on any more than you do, not with these Artifacts Emilio seems so keen on. I just thought the Armor he was talking about might be something I've been...looking for, for a long time."
He frowned, leaning forward and propping his elbows onto the table. "Ell, I think it's time you squared with me. I want to know what I'm getting into before I get my head chewed off by a garm for real next time."
She actually flinched at that, almost imperceptibly, and then nodded. "All right. Have you ever heard of the Clare Bible?"
"'Have I ever heard of--'?" He laughed, sharply, then caught himself after a few glances were leveled his way and lowered his tone again. "What self-respecting sorcerer hasn't heard of the most significant piece of magical lore since the Articulated Talking Shabranigdo Doll of Lei Magnus?"
"Since the what?!" Ell blurted, then hunched her head down between her shoulders as more stares were drawn.
"Just continue."
"...right. Well, written in the Clare Bible is the method for making a special kind of Chimera, a half-living suit of armor called the Zenafa Armor. Did you ever hear of the Zanaffar Incident in Sairaag?"
"Where Lina Inverse blew the hell out of the magical demon-beast that totaled the city?!" Aric could barely contain his excitement, though he still kept his voice in a hushed whisper. "I only wish I could've been there to see the fireworks!"
"...right," Ell echoed again, looking at him oddly. "Well, Zanaffar was initially the result of a failed attempt to create Zenafa Armor from a copy of the manuscript. That's why it had to join with a human body to have a tangible presence."
"Okay..." he nodded slowly, taking this in, and then frowned. "Now what's this got to do with anything?"
Ellisia sighed, folding her own arms upon the table. "Zenafa Armor possesses very strong anti-Mazoku properties, but nobody's been able to properly create a suit of it in centuries. But we know they have been made in the past, otherwise it wouldn't be in the Clare Bible at all. If I could find a suit, a real set of Zenafa Armor in pristine condition--something no full Gold Dragon has ever managed to do, might I add--then maybe it could be studied to find out what's being done wrong! Think about it, Aric!"
And earn yourself a tidy bit of acclaim and respect, as well, Aric did not add out loud. Instead, he said, "Okay, I think I follow. And you think the Armor that Kaia took might be it?"
She shook her head. "No, I'm sure I'd know if it I saw it. But it may be linked. Think about it. Pieces of a magical Artifact set, sealed in ruins blocked off from the Astral plane, so that no Mazoku can go and retrieve them...I could be getting close, Aric. This could be the way!"
"But we're at a roadblock now," he derailed her train before it could take her onward to visions of glory and away from the present and the hard facts. "Emilio's got one piece, and this strange summoner girl has the second. We're still left with nothing but a vague glimmer, and names, and no way to track down either person nor the puzzle-pieces they possess. Ugh, I should have choked the whole story out of Emilio while I had the chance. Then at least we'd know what the last Artifact is."
"...it's a staff," Ellisia said quietly. Aric looked up at her sharply, but her dark eyes were focused on the table between them. He said nothing, simply staring at her expectantly, and when she realized this she took a deep breath and let out a sigh. "'The Ritual of Unsealing requires that three pieces be united: the Token, the Armor and the Staff'. That's what the front side of the coin said. I lied because I wanted to see if you could read it."
"Wanted to make sure I wasn't going to run off and snatch it up for myself, first?" he hazarded. She nodded, a touch guiltily. "I guess I can't begrudge you that. But right now you and I are in the same boat. I'm not going to let that idiot Emilio make a monkey out of me, nor am I going to get shown up by some little punk kid." There was also the fact that he still had Galamoth's bargain to consider, and he could only uphold that by keeping track of Ell...but even that was beginning to worry him. A Mazoku couldn't have any good reason for wanting him to keep an eye on a Gold Dragon, even if she was only half-Dragon. Especially not if she was seeking a powerful anti-Mazoku tool.
The Mazoku had made contact with him, after a fashion, on their way from the tower to this little village. The trip had taken a nice, appropriate three days, and on the second night he had awakened to what he thought was an empty, darkened camp-sight...until he realized that Ellisia was nowhere in sight. It hadn't taken much for his sharpened instincts to detect that it had been a dream--at least, not when the Mazoku startled him out of trying to poke the unresponsive campfire back to life and told him as much. Unfortunately, even in dream-state, the Galamoth was damnably vague and uninformative: he had only informed Aric to remain close to Ellisia and continue seeking the Artifacts, and that they would lead him to his due and their mutual goal.
As a sorcerer, Aric knew when to dismiss nighttime visions as dreams and when to take them seriously. Sorcerers dreamed much the same as any non-magical humans, of things like flying armadillos and bats swimming through cheese sauce with little snorkels on their heads. Even the more detailed dreams they had difficulty remembering, much the same as anyone else. Anytime a sorcerer could remember a dream, especially one so specific, with the same perfect clarity as any other memory, it was generally something worth taking seriously.
Jerking himself back to the present before Ell could begin to stare, he cleared his throat and continued. "Anyway, even knowing that, we still don't know how to find this staff. All we can really be sure of is that Emilio will be after it as soon as he gets the armor back from Kaia. But we don't even know if Kaia is aware of any of that or not."
"To be on the safe side we'll have to assume she does," Ell said with a frown, settling back in her chair and frowning thoughtfully. "The choice before us is either to continue pursuing or start looking for the last piece ourselves."
"I'm for chasing down that punk Emilio anyday," Aric said immediately, but Ell shook her head with a frown.
"Aric, if we just chase after them, odds are we'll just be following them to the third piece and arrive just in time to see them take it. What we need to do is try and get the next piece ahead of them. Then they'll have to come to us and that will be our chance to take it."
"Just like we took the coin--er, Token from Emilio the other day?" Aric asked cuttingly. "And I suppose we'll defend the Staff the same way we kept Emilio from taking the Token right out from under our noses?"
Ell frowned, actually winced, and Aric realized that may have been a little too sharp. "Sorry. I'm just frustrated. We don't even know where to start looking, Ell. Clues to ancient mystical artifacts don't just fall out of the damn sky, you know."
With a resounding, splintering crunch, a rock dropped in through the roof over their heads and plopped onto their table, sawdust and wood splinters showering down along with a shaft of sunlight...that illuminated a piece of parchment tied to the rock in question. Aric looked up, looked down, then looked up again. "...beautiful, willing, rich and available young women don't just fall out of the damn sky, you know!"
Nothing happened. Well, Ellisia whacked him out of his chair with her hammer. But nothing else happened.
When he dragged himself, groaning, back up to his chair, Ellisia had already unwrapped the parchment and was perusing the note. Frowning, she passed it over to him, and he examined the scrawl with some trepidation.
Ahahahahahahahaha! Beaten again, Winterbourne! Sending your hapless flunky to Atlass City for the Staff while you languish here in Obscurity was a cunning ploy, but Emilio Van Strahd shall not be deceived by such an elementary ploy! You underestimate your foes at every turn, Winterbourne, and such arrogance has finally come back to bite you in the bum! ...Bum isn't a very dramatic word, is it? IS there an appropriate term for one's backside with suitable flair that does not come off sounding vulgar? ...well, no matter; time to wrap this up before I begin to ramble. Again, your foolish attempts to throw Emilio Van Strahd off your trail have failed miserably, etc. etc. etc., and so on and so forth.
Sincerely,
Anonymous
P. S. Ahahahahahahahaha!
Silence hung heavily over the table like a...heavy, silent, hanging thing. Then...
"Does he really count how many 'ha's' are in his laugh?" Ellisia asked, a bead of sweat rolling down her temple. Aric fell out of his chair this time, needing no propulsion assistance from Ell's hammer.