Yamara - Book 1 - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

True to Brina's word, we reached the ruins of the ancient city of Guthmoor two days later. I had gotten to know all of them a little better, though I was far from placing my trust in them. Brina continued to treat me as a legendary hero that she idolized, though as our familiarity grew, she tempered it down a bit so that I felt that she considered me a treasured companion more important then the others. Trusting my own instincts about her, I kept my reservations about her, but responded to her warmly on the surface.

Arktan struck me as truly the strong but silent type. He possessed strength unlike anything I had ever seen before, and went about his tasks silently. I studied him carefully as best I could and came to learn that as Sandala had told me, he was not a dullard. The way in which he did things and even his lack of conversation at times showed signs of a keen mind. Occasionally I would catch him looking back at me, but when I caught him he would make an expression that reminded me of a snake trying to smile and then quickly move to do something else.

Kryl appeared exactly as he had been from the beginning. Arrogant, surly, and unpleasant. He reminded me of the dwarves I had met on Halador, always something to complain about. Unlike them, however, he showed no signs of ever enjoying life unless he had a task ahead of him that required all of his concentration. In fact, the longer we went the more unpleasant he became. Brina confided in me at one point that Kryl gets ornery when he doesn't have anything to fight for a long time. I did not consider 4 days a long time, but I was not from the same world as them, so what did I know?

I had learned about priests as well when I asked about the Gods of the world. There were no known Gods, but instead the priests of Acathia worshipped either one of the four elements or, in the case of priests, the sorcerer king of a city. That surprised me, to learn that the tyrants that controlled the cities were so powerful that beings could worship them and be granted spells. There was another type of priest on Acathia, a nature priest. They were called druids and reminded me much of the druids of Halador, save that these druids worshipped the nature spirit of a place and were granted their powers from that spirit, whom they were sworn to protect. Magic was non-existent in Acathia, from the looks I received when I asked of it. Sorcerer kings were not the sorcerers I was used to, instead they were powerful psionicists.

A psionicist, I learned, was someone with a powerful mind. Someone that could use their mind to affect others and in some instances, even the very world around them. Sounded like magic to me, just by a different name.

My head was abuzz with all the information I had learned in the past several days. I had begun to get accustomed to the heat, though by no means did that mean that I was able to claim immunity to it, simply that I could endure the 150 degree weather in silent misery. It was a moment of this misery that had me squinting through the shimmering heated air that rose off the ground when we reached Guthmoor.

I caught my first glimpse of the Sea of Lost Souls then too. Brina had finally explained to me what is was. It was sand, rock, and other bits of the world ground so finely as to be individually no larger then a spec of dust. The winds had blown these specks together in depressions across Acathia, leaving behind lakes and seas of this dust that was so fine that anything foolish enough to walk in it quickly was sucked under. Apparently at a depth of around 15 to 20 feet it was compressed enough by the weight of the dust that it became solid enough to walk on. However, only giants could reach that depth, and apparently Acathia did not possess any of them. To be sucked into the silt, I was told, is a painful and quick death of suffocation. Now that I saw it, I likened it to quicksand, for it looked harmless enough on the surface.

"So this is a city of the ancients?" I asked Brina of Guthmoor as we approached it.

She grinned and said, "Yeah, isn't it exciting? I've seen ruins before but never any this big. Look at how they fit the stones together, can you imagine how much skill that would have taken?"

I chuckled and surveyed the city. It was a good size one, I had to admit, but the walls were scarred and broken by the harsh climate. Many of the buildings we could see were equally broken down, and in many places the sand had been blown by the wind and covered up entire sections of it. If I had any doubt to the nature of the Sea of Lost Souls, it was erased when I saw the crumbling walls descending into the dust where once they had stood on solid ground.

The wagon stopped and I hopped out of it. Immediately the sun attacked my already burnt skin, making me grit my teeth against the pain. I knew that eventually I would tan down, but it felt like the sun would just burn me to the bone before that happened. I glanced about, squinting even more now that I had no cover, and noticed an occasional eddy of wind would blow up the fine silt and carry it far into the air before letting it drop so slowly I was further convinced of its dangerous nature.

"What now?" I asked, not sure of how they planned on exploring the ancient ruins. I knew how I would go about it, but they had their mounts and Brina's wagon to be concerned with.

"Well, usually Sandala and I head in to do a little scouting because we aren't as big and noisy as Arktan and Kryl are. Hey, do you want to come with us?" Brina asked me, a smile on her face as the idea hit her.

I knew damn well why she wanted me to go with them, she wanted to see if I was any good at what I did. Still, without a reason to stay behind, and with my own curiosity to see these ruins, I felt I might as well go along.

The others joined us in a few moments and Brina happily opened her mouth and said, "Yamara wants to come with us when we scout it, Sandala! Can she?"

Sandala looked at me with an amused expression, to which I rolled my eyes slightly. She hid a chuckle behind her hand and said, "Certainly, Yamara. From what we've heard, this place is abandoned mostly, so there should be little risk."

"Then let us be off," I said, loosening my sword in its scabbard and turning towards the ruins. A little surprised, the other two women quickly fell into step beside me.

We approached the ruins straight on, me angling towards the closest breach in the wall. The closer we got, the quieter we became. I noticed that we all slowed down a bit and began to choose our steps more carefully. By the time we reached the hole in the wall, I would not have known we were there if I had not seen us, so silent were we.

It was then that I felt something tickling the back of my head. I glanced behind me quickly, wondering what was happening. Nothing was back there save my two companions, and they only looked at me curiously. Shrugging it off, I stepped through the breach and glanced around as the tickle turned into a buzz. Several feet away from the wall were buildings, or at least the remnants of buildings. Broken down and in many places missing entire fronts, they nevertheless stretched away for several hundred feet.

Finally the buzzing resolved itself into a voice in my head that said, Go back, you are in danger! Then the feeling of something contacting my mind vanished, leaving me confused and wondering what had happened.

I spun around quickly and stared at Sandala suspiciously. I suspected her to be one of these psionicists I had learned of and I knew of no other way to speak in someone's mind then through magic, though they claimed no such thing existed. She looked back at me, wondering why I would stop in the middle of what was once an ancient road. I opened my mouth to say something when I heard a faint noise behind me, towards the ruined buildings.

I spun around in time to catch a small rock in the shoulder. It knocked me off balance it flew so quickly. It hurt as well, but it was not life threatening. Other rocks came flying at us too, seeming to jump from the very ground and attack us without anyone throwing them. Brina and Sandala both grunted as well as they were struck. More wary now, I dodged the others that came at me and looked for the source of the unnatural attack.

I found it a moment later. 10 spindly legged creatures came charging at us suddenly, emerging from behind broken walls and ruined buildings. Gaunt and lanky, they appeared to be the height of a man and ran on two legs, but they were bent over and grotesque looking. They wielded spears with heads made of sharpened obsidian, and had what looked like plates of larassu shell strapped on them for armor. I quickly drew my shortsword and my dagger, preparing for combat. Brina did likewise, but Sandala took enough time to knock an arrow and turn and fire it back towards where Arktan and Kryl waited outside the city. Unseen to all of us, it arced high into the air and fell only a few inches from Kryl's foot, sticking into the ground.

Battle was joined then, and I found that while the larassu shell armor the creatures wore was too thick and tough to easily penetrate, their skin was not. I had one disabled with a slash of my sword and thrust of my dagger, his blood being soaked up by the dry ground as quickly as it pumped out of his wounds. Nearby Brina had produced two throwing daggers and had thrown both to good effect, wounding one of the creatures rushing her badly enough so that when it reached her she could slip inside the swing of its spear and dispatch it with her saber. I was concerned about Sandala for she had no time to draw her bastard sword before 4 of the creatures were on her.

My fears were unfounded, however. I caught a glimpse of her briefly and saw her moving in a fluid dance like motion, her arms and feet striking out at the creatures to drive them back and give her room enough to draw her weapon. By the time she had acquired that room, one of them lay on the ground struggling to breath from a crushed windpipe and one of the others was cradling a broken arm.

Confident my companions could take care of themselves, I returned my attention fully to the other ones attacking me. More were emerging from the buildings to advance on us, and I quickly grew worried that there would be no end to them. My dagger took another of the things in the throat after my sword had parried its spear, but another took its place and then I faced two of them.

Fortunately for me, these creatures were not trained to fight together, and after a few blocks and parries, I managed to trick one of them into thrusting his spear at me while the other slashed with his. They ended up tangling each other up, and my shortsword thrust into the side of the one on the right, parting his ribs and cutting through his lungs and heart. I shoved him off my blade into the other creature, giving myself a moment to recover from the strike.

A roar from behind me somewhere distracted me though, and I did not move quickly enough to dodge another approaching creature. I expected them to use their spears as piercing weapons, but the large obsidian head they had on them they apparently felt was designed more for slashing. I barely managed to lean out of the way of the slash, and even then my success was not complete. The tip of the spear cut and tore the skin under my left breast, my ribs keeping it from sinking deeper. It came up and across, tearing the halter top I had borrowed from Brina into a useless rag and cutting a groove between my breasts and across my upper right one. It stung like hell too, but I had long since learned to ignore pain.

The roar, it turned out, was Kryl charging into combat. He swung a bastard sword around as though it weighed as much as my short sword. His strength and skill was impressive, I had to admit, for with each swing it seemed an adversary fell.

Arktan was a demon of battle as well, using his great size to benefit. Wielding a two handed sword, he literally cut his first opponent in half. In spite of the number of creatures growing to 23, I was certain they were going to deal with them now that Arktan and Kryl had arrived.

That required me to beat the things attacking me though, at least as far as I was concerned. After the spear slashed across my chest, I jumped forward inside the reach of it and plunged my dagger into the soft underside of the creatures chin, killing it instantly. The other one that I had managed to keep off balance and tied up so far was now ready to deal with me. He came at me with deadly intent, slashing overhead with his spear at me. I jumped to the side, pushing off the dying creature I had just stabbed, and felt the spear head snag on my borrowed cloak, but otherwise miss me. That tripped me up though and caused me to fall. With the wind knocked out of me, I saw the creature recover from his attack and turn to come at me again.

Behind me, Sandala was nursing a wounded arm and used her bastard sword in her other good arm. She had already claimed three of the humanoids that attacked us, and had wounded the remaining one that faced her. Brina had slain two herself, but two others had her slowly retreating as she tried desperately to keep them from wounding her any worse then the scratch on her thigh she had already taken. Kryl had slain four of them himself and, as I was busy raising my dagger and throwing it at the creature stalking me, he dispatched a fifth one. Arktan had a similar number of dead or dying humanoids around him, though it was hard to tell the exact number as his great strength meant that quite often only pieces remained.

My thrown dagger missed, but it caused the creature to dodge to the side. That gave me the time I needed to jump to my feet and sprint over on its flank. It spun to try and attack me, but my shortsword cut across its upper arm, causing it to draw back in pain. My next swing took the spear out of its hand, leaving it defenseless. I approached it again, sword held ready to strike, and the creature looked at me with fear in its eyes. It fell to its knees and raised its hands in a supplicating gesture, begging for mercy. I gave it the only mercy I knew... and its head fell beside its body.

I snatched up my dagger then and turned to see how my companions fared. Sandala was pulling her bastard sword out of the rib cage of the last of her adversaries, though she bled freely from her arm and her side. Kryl and Arktan were both finished with their foes, but were to far from the rest of us to offer much help. Brina was still retreating from the last two, her strikes becoming more and more desperate as the creatures got a feel for fighting with each other against her. I decided to even things up a bit and sheathed my sword and dagger. I pulled the two throwing daggers I always carry close by and threw both of them, one after another.

Brina saw the flash of steel and jumped forward, ramming her saber into the bowels of one of the creatures. The other one turned to strike her down but stumbled and fell to its knees instead. My daggers stuck out of its back, one spearing a kidney and another a lung. Wrenching her saber free in a disemboweling move, Brina turned and lopped the head of the kneeling creature to finish them both off. She smiled at me and winked, then looked around.

I reclaimed my throwing daggers and looked down at the scraps of the halter top hanging from my shoulders. I pulled it off my shoulders and winced as I stretched and the gash across my chest opened further. Chuckling ironically, I figured I had some fresh scars coming. The blood ran down my chest and across my belly. I opened a pouch at my side and reached into it, my hand sinking deeper in it then should have been possible. I saw Brina watching me out of the corner of her eye and I smiled to myself. She definitely had potential. I did not see Sandala also keeping her eye on me, however.

I pulled a vial of pale blue liquid out of my magical pouch of holding, so named for its extra-dimensional space inside that could hold far many times what it should be able to, as well as its ability to let whatever the user wants to find (if it is inside the pouch) be found simply by willing it to be so, instead of rooting around needlessly for the correct thing. I took the cork out of the end of the vial and carefully took a sip of it, making certain I drank no more then a third of it. The liquid ran down my throat and felt cool and soothing, tempting me to drink more of it simply to fight off the effects of the exertion in the heat.

Brina gasped when I turned around and faced them. While the blood on my chest and belly was still there, the wound itself had rapidly began to close and knit together. In a matter of moments a pink scar was all that remained, though it was still tender to the touch. An added benefit I had not considered would happen from taking a drink of my healing potion was that my skin, already a bright red from the suns harmful touch, tanned down quickly. Inadvertently, I had just saved myself several days or more of painful sunburn and peeling. I popped the cork back into the vial and placed it back in my magical pouch.

"What did you just drink?" Sandala asked, coming closer to me. Brina approached also, her hand reaching out subconsciously to touch my chest where the slash had been.

"It was a potion of healing," I said, watching Brina as her fingers lightly traced the new scar then pulled back as she realized that she had just practically fondled my breasts.

"A potion? I have never heard of such a thing," Sandala said, a hint of awe in her voice.

"They are common where I come from," I told her. "Or at least common among magical items."

"We have something similar here, though none of us have any," Sandala said, considering what she had learned. "To us such healing can take place by consuming kuwami fruits."

I tilted my head and considered what she said. "You okay?" Kryl said as he came up on the three of us. He had already gone through several of the dead creatures belongings, and Arktan was finishing up with the others. Arktan had a slight gash on one of his cheeks, and Kryl was unwounded.

"Aye, we'll live," Sandala said, smiling at the Acathian.

He grunted and studied me for a few moments, not paying any attention to my exposed chest any more then he did the rest of me. Finally he met my gaze for a moment and nodded. "You fought well," was all he said to me before he turned away went to check on more of the creatures.

"I think he likes you," Brina said conspiratorially to me with a grin. I could not help but laugh at that, in spite of myself.

"He's in a good mood," Sandala explained, "he got to fight."

I chuckled and turned to look at the slain beings. "What were they? I've never seen their like before."

"Shissar's," Sandala said. "A small group of them, usually there are many more. And usually they are lead by a more skilled and powerful leader with psionic powers."

Something clicked in my head at that. "Then there must be one about! When we approached I felt something contact my mind, I thought it was magic at the time. It warned me to retreat because we were in danger. Then those rocks all came flying at us, remember?"

Sandala, Brina, and Arktan all looked around suspiciously then, remembering the rocks themselves. "I don't think that the shissar leader would warn you before attacking," she said doubtfully. "But the rocks are proof enough of a powerful psionicist being here."

"He was here, and he has been dealt with."

I spun at the sound, seeing a man wearing a light brown robe floating slowly down from the exposed upper story of a ruined building. He held out his hands to show that he had no immediate ill intentions toward us, but my hands rested on the hilts of my weapons regardless.

"Who are you?" Sandala asked. Kryl had seen what was happening and rejoined us quickly, scowling at the man but clearly excited at the prospect of more battle.

"My name is Keeden," He said, finally reaching the ground and approaching us with a smile on his face. "I have been hiding from those Shissar for many days now, always a step ahead of them. I and my companion have been troubled by them, but they were to many for us to deal with. I thank you for your intervention, and in return I dealt with their leader so he would not harm you."

He turned and looked at me then, a strange look in his eye. "It was me that contacted and tried to warn you. You have a strange mind, not like your companions or any I have ever touched before. I think there is a hidden potential in you."

I bristled at that. "I thank you for your warning and help, but I warn you once and once only, stay out of my mind."

He held up his hands apologetically. "I'm sorry to upset you, I was not 'in your mind', as you put it, I merely touched it to warn you and sensed the unharnessed power within you. I could help you find it, if you would like."

I refused to believe that he was willing to help me without some sort of personal gain, it went against everything I had come to know and trust. "And what do you get out of it?"

He appeared surprised at that question, but I knew it had to be a ploy. "Well, um, I suppose you could pay me if you wanted, but I don't really need it. Consider it another sign of my thanks for helping me stop the Shissar that were plaguing me and my friend."

I snorted slightly and turned at the sound of someone approaching. From between two buildings emerged a woman using a walking staff that I was certain could double as a weapon in a moments notice. She wore a revealingly low cut tunic made of some tanned animal hide I did not recognize that also exposed her sides through wide leather laces. She also had a shield on her left arm, boots and a sand colored cloak to complete her outfit. A moment later a female lion slipped out behind her. Both came to stop next to the man, the lion sitting down and panting in the heat as she leaned affectionately against the woman's leg. I studied her carefully, noting faint elven - oops, make that Pudarin - features in her face and tall but skinny frame.

"Allow me to introduce my traveling partner, Sarya. We came here several weeks ago because I have heard there is some psychic disturbance in this area and I wished to investigate it for my own curiosity," Keeden said.

"Hoping to find some long lost treasure?" I asked cynically.

He laughed and responded, "Well, of course... aren't you?"

He had me there, so I did not respond. Sandala looked around at the scene we stood in the middle of. A small tribe of dead shissar with an as yet undiscovered psionic leader, and an admitted psionicist in front of us. Apparently my suspicions were not the only ones to be raised.

"Where is the shissar leader?" She asked.

"Check that building over there, he should be on the first floor in the back near what was once a window," Keeden responded.

Sandala nodded to Kryl to go and check it out. He scowled but headed towards the building. I glanced at Arktan and then the building and felt a brief moment of pity. Standing 9 feet tall, he would have a hard time fitting in almost any human sized establishment.

Kryl came out a moment later and tossed the body of another shissar onto the ground in front of us. Dried blood had run from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth, and there was bruising apparent around his temples. I shuddered slightly to think of the power of a man that could kill with his mind alone, and vowed that I needed to learn as much about psionics as I could.

"You are wounded, please, Sarya is a priestess, she can tend your wounds," Keeden said, noticing the blood on us and how Brina and Sandala seemed to be not faring as well because of it. Sarya looked at him questioningly, but he just smiled and nodded towards us.

"What sort of priest is she?" I asked cautiously. After all the talk of corrupt priests serving evil sorcerer-kings, I was not about to let one of them touch me.

"I worship the elemental powers of water," Sarya said defensively, looking at me challengingly. I could tell right there that the two of us were not going to get along.

"A water priestess? You travel in good company, Keeden," Sandala said, nodding her assent to Sarya to treat her.

Sarya came forward and examined Sandala's wounds. She studied them for a few moments before chanting low arcane words that I sensed were little more then nonsense. She grabbed the waterskin at her side and pulled the stopper from it. She let a few drops of water fall into the palm of her hand and mixed a strange powder from one of her pouches with it. When she applied the mud to Sandala's injuries the wound quickly healed, leaving streaks of clean skin amidst all the dust and dirt of several days travel. She moved to Brina next and repeated her process. The lion yawned in the heat and moved over to a spot of shade next to the wall. She laid down and waited patiently for Sarya to finish.

She left Brina and approached Arktan next, motioning for him to bend over so she could heal the scratch on his head. He smiled at her and thanked her quietly, offering her some of the ceramic coins he had taken off of the dead shissar. She smiled at him and shook her head, pushing his hand away. She moved to me next, and I could tell that if it were up to her, she would leave me to die rather then heal me. I smiled at her sweetly, knowing how much she must be irritated and enjoying it for some dark reason. She looked at my wounds carefully though, spending as little time staring at my exposed chest as possible, before deciding there was nothing she could do for me.

I had been healed many times by clerics in the past and I knew damn well that she saw no open wounds or life threatening injuries so she did not want to waste her time on me, but I was still sore and could have used a little bit of help. Rather then add any fuel to the situation, I just smiled at her and said, "Thanks anyhow." She returned to Keeden's side, refusing to look at me.

"The day grows long and now that at least this part of Guthmoor appears safe, will you share a camp with us?" Keeden asked us. I glanced at my newfound companions and shrugged. It appeared the others had similar feelings.

"Our thanks again, Keeden and Sarya, we would be glad to share your fire," Sandala said.

Being the individualistic person that I am, I would have figured that Sandala and I would rub each other the wrong way, since she appeared to be the leader of the group. However, we got along quite well thus far, and I was surprised by it. I admired her keen intellect and ability to react to situations as they unfolded with the group in mind. I had to admit, she did a good job of it, probably even better then I would be able to, since I would keep my own well being as a priority over anyone else. Then again, we had not butted heads over anything yet either, so perhaps our comradely nature would dissolve as soon as it was tested.

Nonetheless, we gathered what things we needed from the mounts and moved them within the city walls several streets away where Keeden and Sarya had already set up a camp. I grabbed another shirt from Brina's sack of clothing, with her permission, and realized that by the time we reached a tailor, I would probably owe her a fortune in clothing alone. Picking a sharp rock out of my bare foot I realized that I would gladly pay a fortune for a decent pair of boots.

Night, or the perpetual dusk that Acathia called night, came quickly after that, and we split up the watch amongst all of us in pairs again. This time Keeden got stuck with me on the second watch, and the jealous looks from Sarya told me far more then I suspect she wanted me to know about their relationship. I filed it away for future use, and spent my time speaking with Keeden about psionics, wanting to learn as much as I could about them.

By the time our watch was over, Keeden had showed me some of his psionic abilities. Igniting the torn and useless top I had worn before the fight with his mind alone, as well as weakening a piece of rock so that I could snap it in two with my fingers. The powers of the mind, he explained to me, were limited only by the mind. Pretty existential. By the end of my watch with him, I was seriously considering his offer to help me unlock the hidden potential he claimed I had. My questions remained as to how far I could trust him to tamper with my mind. He insisted that he would not look into my thoughts, but if he could do all the things I had seen him do, and I was sure countless more beyond that, then how could I trust him? He had pointed out that my companions would be there to protect me in case anything happened, but that made me wonder just how much I trusted my companions.

I felt as though I had the potential to open up a great new world for exploration, but my fear was that perhaps instead of a door to a new world, I might instead find a fake door with a poisonous trap instead. Worse then that was the thought that I might become dependant upon people, even if only for a short time. Even worse yet, what if I could not let myself depend upon them?

Continued in Chapter 5

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