different from how I remember though it’s remarkable that I can remember anything after being incarcerated in stone for years. You will of course, have no memory of me... You must have ascended a few times since our last meeting I imagine. How many years has it been?”
She stepped back from him, aware of his eyes upon her as they overtly inspected her long slim frame. A feeling of creeping unease seeped through her body.
“Over a thousand years My Lord,” she said.
He raised two thin eyebrows.
“That long?” He caught his breath.
His eyebrows converged into a surprised frown as he pondered on this information. Studying her intently, he chewed on the inside of his cheek then, pursing his lips, his eyes narrowed.
“When Lord Eldwyn perfected his petrification spell,” he said, appearing almost nostalgic. “I knew that the war was lost and that if I were to survive I would have to somehow find a remedy for its effects. As you know, I had some success in contriving a rudimentary sublimation charm, though I had no time to finalise or test it. That was why, as a precaution to the event of my demise in this manner, I left a message for you with the native Ophites. It was to be passed down to you El-on-ah, generation by generation, each time your vapour ascended until one of your incarnations was successful in casting the charm and bringing me back. I chose you, because you were the only ascendant that I was confident had the motivation, as well as the ability, to complete and cast the charm. I had, however, expected you to accomplish this much sooner.”
His voice had hardened. El-on-ah felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle. He paused, and seeming to sense her unease, he smiled, though his eyes remained cold. She saw that his teeth were crooked and stained.
“Evidently,” he said, with an unexpectedly approving lift in his voice. “You did eventually manage to obtain the mercurium and successfully cast the charm, or I would remain trapped in my magnificently statuesque, but rather more impotent form.”
El-on-ah nodded a faint and uncertain smile of triumph on her lips.
“Very, impressive my dear El-on-ah,” he said. “It takes a great Alchemist to create and cast a charm such as this, so successfully. However, I am curious as to how you managed to solve, what was my greatest conundrum. How in the name of Phlegon did you manage to acquire the mercurium you needed, without unleashing the Djinn?”
El-on-ah’s smile vanished, her gaze falling to the floor.
“I am afraid my Lord, that despite our precautions, we were unable to contain...”
“What!” The cold blast of his voice turned her blood to ice. “You surely cannot have been so stupid as to release the Djinn?”
Ka spun around, his hand striking her across the face with a blow so powerful that it knocked her off her feet. Tu-nek-ta grabbed hold of Che, who, with a face like thunder, had leapt forward in order to go to her aid.
Ka glared down at her, a look of incredulity and fury etched on his face.
“Do you have any comprehension of the consequences of what you have done?” he said, spitting out his words like venom. “Djinn cannot be reasoned with. Djinn care only about taking what is not theirs to take; our lands, our bodies and our powers. How can you have been so stupid?”
El-on-ah held a shaking hand to her reddening face.
“I am sorry my Lord. I understand your anger, but the error was unintentional.” Hesitantly she added, “I know that this was not how you had planned it, but was it not your ultimate intention to free the Djinn eventually?”
“You imbecile girl” he roared.
The fury in his voice made her flinch.
“You have little, if any, knowledge of my plans.” He said, “I had intended to conquer Hydrargyrum and Aurum. Then from a position of strength I could have negotiated the release of the Djinn in exchange for the services of their Army. I could have offered them something they had always craved, a Kingdom above ground. I had planned to give them Rhodium. Now we have nothing to bargain with. They will merely take it all. You have doomed every one of us to a life of eternal slavery, ruled by the Djinn.”
El-on-ah’s body shook as his tall frame towered threateningly over her. Ka’s demeanour, which she had once thought to be magnificently noble and rebellious, now seemed merely wicked and menacing. His long blood red hair, pulled into a tail by her dragons claw clasp, fell almost to his waist, and his eyes, two jet black coals, burned red with fury.
Then, as he looked down at her, his expression changed, his pale, angular features softened and his eyes glinted. A thought seemed to flicker in his mind, lighting his face like single candle in an abyss of darkness. He offered her his hand. Cautiously, she took it.
“All may not yet be lost El-on-ah,” he said, smiling disconcertingly as he pulled her to her feet. “I may have a solution, but for it to work, we will have much to do. You will need to gather some minerals. There should be ample opportunity for you to do this on our journey. We are to leave for Cynnabar immediately.”
No one challenged Ka’s instructions, though they had not slept for almost two days. They made their way down to the horses in subdued silence. Che hurried to El-on-ah’s side.
“Are you alright My Lady?” he asked as they tended to their mounts.
El-on-ah nodded uneasily.
“I’m fine,” she said, tightening the girth on her horse.
Che lowered his voice.
“This is madness,” he said. “If we go to Cynnabar the Djinn will kill us all.”
El-on-ah dropped the saddle flap and adjusted her stirrups.
“Right,” she said, arching her brows. “Are you going to tell him... or should I?”
Silently they finished packing their belongings, mounted up and reluctantly began their journey along the main roadway back towards the Hydra Pass and the Hydrargyrum capital. El-on-ah knew that the three of them were thinking the same thing that this was going to be a disastrous and suicidal mistake, but no one dared to question Ka.
A few hours after they crossed the border into Hydrargyrum they began riding south towards the capital city of Cynnabar. The terrain changed dramatically, from the ice and snow of Rhodium to the barren, volcanic terrain of Hydrargyrum. There was little to ease the monotony of the landscape, which was broken only by the flaming rivers of lava that periodically intersected the miles of featureless, steaming brimstone.
Small rocks floated and burned in the lava flow, some of them emitted a blue coloured flame as they melted into a blood red liquid. The acrid fumes burned El-on-ah’s throat as she swallowed and the air reeked like putrid eggs. El-on-ah and the two natives wrapped their cloaks high around their faces. Ka, who did not appear to be bothered by the stench, rode with his head high and his eyes fixed, like a hawk on the distant horizon.
After riding almost without a break for two days, they and their horses were weak and tired. Lord Ka had taken Che’s mount, which meant that Che had to ride with Tu-nek-ta, and although they were both slim framed, the horse was beginning to struggle with the extra weight. Che cursed that they had not thought to bring another and then realised, with sudden clarity that none of them had really expected to need it.
They entered a clearing in between some steaming rocks and a river of slowly flowing lava. Lord Ka pulled up his horse and dismounted. Towards the north of the clearing, there were jagged dark holes in the cliff face; the entrances to a number of large caverns.
“We are about five miles south east of the mines of Treymaneor this will be a good place to gather what we need,” said Ka, pointing at a cluster of rocks. “I’ll need some brimstone, also some rock salt, which you should find in those caverns and some stibnite from which I can extract the antimony. When you have bought these to me, you may rest while I mix up a potion.”
Ka was good to his word, the minerals were as he had indicated, relatively easy to find. Within a few minutes, they had completed their task. Deciding to make use of the shelter of the caves, Tu-nek-ta and Che quickly settled dow
n to rest, in an alcove lined with soft moss.
“Che,” said Tu-nek-ta, pointing anxiously at some jagged shards that looked like the remainder of a nest of large eggs. “Are they what I think they are?”
“Hmmm, well, if what you think they are is the remnants of a clutch of dragon’s eggs, then yes...”
He grinned at the horrified look on Tu-nek-ta’s face.
“I wouldn’t worry about them,” he said, dismissively cavalier in his attitude, “they look old. There haven’t been dragons this close to the city in hundreds of years. So get some rest, I’ve a feeling that we won’t have another chance for a while.”
El-on-ah sorted through the collection of ores and minerals that had been placed on top of a large stone just inside the cave.
“Bring them in here,” said Ka, “ and bring your occultus.”
El-on-ah picked up the equipment and followed him into the adjoining cavern.
Ka had her lay out the equipment and the rest of the materials on a large flat-topped boulder in the centre of the cavern.
“What charm do you intend to brew my Lord?” said El-on-ah moving closer.
She watched him eagerly as he assembled the small cauldron and laid out the rest of the equipment. Ka was considered a master charm brewer and he was renowned for this talent amongst Alchemists throughout the Afterlands. El-on-ah’s talents were in the same area and she had aspired to be like him since her first year as a