True to his word, Tark had the entire camp packed and ready to go before the sun ceased to touch the land in the far distance. The tents and all the hammocks were stowed away in a single pack with a magical trick Morgo showed Galena when they were traveling through the tunnels of the underground world such a very long time ago. She shrunk everything to the size of an ant. Morgo told her it took all the underground elves to pack, unpack, and construct the entire camp. Even then, they hadn’t been able to do it all at once, but had to resort to doing a handful of tents at a time so they could preserve their energy. It took them a little over an hour to do what Galena did in a matter of minutes with energy to spare.
Galena spent most of the morning walking beside Morgo and discussing the different strategies he thought would prove beneficial when it came to battling Rau or even how to get to him. They were both sure he would place every dark creature both named and unnamed between himself and Galena. He wouldn’t risk going directly against her until she forced his hand. Many of the ideas revolved around trying to use lightning or something else big to create an opening, but Galena felt this would be equivalent to Morgo trying to put creature after creature to sleep, eventually she would wear out.
Throughout Morgo and her discussions, Elenio walked patiently beside Galena, listening intently and offering suggestions at random. He never openly said it, but Galena could feel the fear radiate in him for her. She felt bad for him, knowing exactly how he felt because of her experience in that horrible cave. She reached out and taking his hand, gave it a squeeze, trying to reassure him, but knowing it was useless to try. No one would rest easy until the war was finished. Even then, if Galena lost, the elves left would have to go into hiding. She wasn’t sure what Elenio would do and tried not to think of it.
The elves walked through the entire day and only stopped to rest and eat late that night. The following day, like the morning before, they set out before sunrise once more. Tark had Galena check on the progress of the dark creatures and found they’d stopped just a short distance away from Blackwell. They appeared to have set up camp. Now they were waiting for the elves to make their appearance. Galena also searched for Morak and found him and his elves heading in the opposite direction of the enemy’s camp. They were jogging at an even pace and making good time. Tark figured if the elves kept traveling as well as they had and Morak’s group kept traveling at the pace they were, the two groups would meet within a couple of days.
Once again, the elves moved out as soon as the sun peeked above the distant land. This time they didn’t have to worry about packing up because they had all slept under the stars. They traveled in this manner for roughly a week, meeting up with Morak and his group on the third day as Tark predicted. It was on the seventh day when they came within seeing distance of the enemy’s camp. Galena could smell the salty sea on the breeze. She had never been this far south in the land of Tomiro. The Mountains of the Gods had been the farthest she’d ever been and even then, they didn’t lie on the outer edges of land, but more in the general southern part.
Blackwell was on a small island a short way from the southernmost point of Tomiro. Galena had always heard stories of how dark and depressing the land was in that region, but hadn’t realized how much so until she had reached it. Death and darkness was the most prominent feature in this forsaken land. The sky above even gave up trying to fight the dark of Blackwell and had the permanent look of an approaching thunderstorm. The ground below as far as the eye could see was varying shades of black and gray. The dark intunerics were scattered all throughout the area and were said to make up the very walls of Blackwell. They had sucked the surrounding land dry of anything good and containing life. Very long here and we won’t have to battle Rau, the stones will kill us, Galena thought dryly.
“We’ll make camp here tonight and tomorrow we’ll engage the enemy,” Tark said with a look of determination and disgust on his face. “Make sure everyone at least has a hammock to sleep on. I want no one lying on this ground for any length of time. They may not wake up if they do.”
The generals nodded their heads in agreement and set off to inform all of the elves of their plans.
“Kind of feels like we’ve arrived at death’s door, doesn’t it?” Elenio said, eyeing the enemy army and the surrounding land with disdain.
Galena said nothing to this, but looked at the enemy as well. They seemed much more intimidating surrounded by all the dark and gloom. Perhaps it was because they blended in so well with the surroundings, it made them appear to have doubled in size. It was possible Rau may have sent reinforcements, although Galena somehow doubted this because she felt he was truly a coward at heart and wanted his strongest closest to him.
“Come on, let’s help set up some hammocks. I have a feeling sleep will not come easy in this place,” Galena said, shuddering slightly at the thought of trying to fall asleep in a land that seemed filled with nightmares. If any land needed light in it, it was this one.
The next morning was as dark and gloomy as the day before. The only reason Galena knew it was day was because the night had been the darkest Galena had ever been through. Without the aid of lanterns or campfire, she had not been able see her hand in front of her face. Elenio still claimed she glowed faintly, but she couldn’t see it. The chill that had seeped into her very bones, made her feel depressed and alone. She could tell by Elenio’s thoughts and emotions that he felt the same.
She awoke and waking Elenio, because she refused to be apart from him for even a moment since they had arrived, they went to find Tark. They found him, along with several of his generals, going over last minute instructions before setting off to meet the enemy. Galena looked over at Morgo who looked as tired as she felt.
“Rough night too?” she asked, looking concerned.
“I was haunted by nightmare after nightmare. It seemed as soon as I would wake from one, another would follow. All my worst fears placed in my dreams to torture me.”
Not for the first time was Galena thankful Mira had taken her ability to dream from her. She could only imagine what the night would have held for her if she hadn’t.
“Tell me about it,” Elenio said darkly.
“I think that was the common theme for the night,” Tark said, joining them. “Were you able to sleep at all?” he asked, looking at Galena, worry coloring his voice.
“My dreams were taken from me. A blessing from Mira,” Galena answered as she looked in the direction of the dark army. “When are we heading out?”
“Within the hour,” Tark answered. He turned to look at the enemy army as Galena was. “Why?”
“I’m going to see who would like to own a blazing blade,” Galena said, smiling at Tark as she did.
“Glad you can find something amusing in all this mess.” Tark shook his head in amazement as Galena continued to grin mischievously.
“Giving us an advantage should make everyone happy.”
“Just make sure that they understand the spell will react anytime the sword comes in contact with any living flesh. It doesn’t matter if the flesh belongs to good or evil,” Morgo said, coming up on the other side of Tark.
“Got it. Care to come with me to help explain the rules and provide water for the ones who manage to set themselves ablaze for not following those rules?” Galena asked.
“Lead the way,” Morgo said.
“Elenio, are you coming?”
“No, I want to talk with Tark for a little while. I’ll catch up in a bit.” He too was staring in the direction of the enemy army, a look of disgust on his face.
Galena looked at him for a moment more, debating whether she wanted to argue about this, but decided against it. Instead, she turned and followed Morgo, who was already heading to a group of elves preparing for battle.
Galena and Morgo had talked to several groups of elves and put spells on most of their weapons, when Elenio finally caught up with them. He looked grim, but stood back and watched as Morgo explained to another group the idea of having blazing weapons. Galena backed up, knowing Morgo would be able to do a much better job convincing the elves than she would and turned to Elenio.
“What was that about?” she asked so only he would be able to hear. She felt a sadness wash over him and thoughts of her battling the enemy army alone as she had before flashed through his mind. “Oh.”
“I’m not saying anything or trying to convince you to do differently,” he said, watching as several elves in the group stepped forward to have spells put on their arrows and swords. “It’s not my fault you know my thoughts.” He looked back at her and grinned halfheartedly.
“I love you. Would you like me to blindfold you or tie you up so you don’t have to watch?” Galena asked, smiling and poking him in the side.
“Yeah, because tying me up worked so well before.” He raised his tunic sleeve showing her the scars left from wrestling with a vine. When she had been in the cave fighting against the fears of her mind, Elenio had been struggling with a vine the guardian tied him to a tree with in order to keep him from attempting to get into the cave and saving her. When Galena emerged from the depths of the darkness contained within the vanishing mountain, she needed to heal all the cuts and bruises on Elenio, but some of the deeper cuts had left ragged scars on his arms for which she could do nothing about.
“True, so maybe I’ll keep you locked up in a giant air bubble.”
Elenio looked at her curiously and Galena saw flashes of his thoughts race through his mind.
“Interesting,” she said as she pieced together the thoughts. “It might be worth a try once we decide we need a break.” Morgo was finishing up with the explanations, which meant that Galena was up.
She fixed the fire within each of the weapons and turned back to Elenio when Morgo shouted. She rolled her eyes, extinguishing yet another elf with a wave of her hands. Apparently, not all the elves listened carefully, she thought. Fortunately, for the elf, no serious damage had been done other than the burn marks on his pants. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.
* * * *
The elves gathered and stood waiting a short distance from the dark creatures Rau sent out. Unlike the first battle, there was nothing but flat, dark land all around. There were no good hiding places for the archers to shoot from, so Tark settled for keeping them toward the back of the elf army. He briefly considered placing them on some of the larger intunerics, but it made the elves feel drained when they stood on them for too long. This suited Galena fine, she had an idea that involved their use.
Galena stood at the front of their army with Elenio and Morgo on one side, Tark and Taura on the other. The other generals were placed strategically throughout the remaining forces surrounded by those they trained. She felt sick at the thought of what was to come, knowing this was just another step toward Rau. Regardless of what she let the others think, she was terrified with the idea of fighting the darkest creature in all of Tomiro. She knew she had no other choice, but it didn’t help her to feel less afraid.
She knew the elves killed several dark creatures the last time. She, herself, had taken on several hundred and destroyed all of them. However, when she looked at the readying army before her, it seemed as if they hadn’t even put a dent in the rolling mass of darkness. How discouraging, she thought. To think there were more waiting for them at Blackwell, including the vicious and frightening Tookoos. She shuddered involuntarily as she thought of those dreaded creatures. They made the earagos seem tame in comparison.
Elenio reached for her hand, giving it a comforting squeeze, sensing her thoughts and fears. She tried to smile at him reassuringly, but only managed to pull off a grimace. He, however, smiled at her efforts before turning back to look at the growing mass of darkness in front of them. It seemed to swell in size, doing nothing to calm Galena’s anxieties.
“I don’t know about you guys, but I get the impression they’re trying to intimidate us,” Morgo said sarcastically.
“If you’re referring to their looks, then that’s not intimidation, they’ve always been that ugly,” Tark replied, feigning a calm Galena knew none of them felt, but she had to smile at his attempt at humor during this time. She saw Taura roll her eyes and shake her head at her commitment partner’s remark, making Galena’s smile widen even more. No matter what, she would protect her family and friends with her every breath. She couldn’t watch them die again. She wasn’t strong enough.
“What do you say about not giving them a chance to attack first this time? Let’s give them a greeting they’ll be sure to remember. Galena, would you mind giving Morak the signal?” Tark asked, watching the dark creatures ahead of him preparing themselves for battle by removing their blades and clubs from around their waists.
Galena raised her hand and shot a column of fire straight into the air. As they planned, a torrent of arrows flew over the heads of the elves and into the crowd of dark creatures, catching fire as soon as they encountered any flesh. The result was a large number of the enemy front lines were now dancing around in flames.
“Well, I think we got their attention,” Elenio said, readying his sword as the enemy took the fire arrows as the signal they should attack.
“Yep, that definitely did the trick,” Tark answered back.
The first of the torlics came charging at them, blades ready. It had an evil grin on his bright, red face, his long, black hair streaming behind him like a flag, encouraging others on.
Leaping into the air, Galena met him head on, striking his blade with her own. The familiar energy of the sword coursed through her body, giving her a rush like no other. The torlic pulled his blade back and swinging around, he meant to cut into Galena’s side, but she deflected the blow easily. She spun around and aiming low, cutting deep into the monster’s leg. Like so many other dark creatures that felt the kiss of the Sword of Lumina, he burst into pieces, light replacing the dark. She turned to meet another one as he swung his sword down and toward her head. She blocked the blow and returned one, stabbing him in the belly, and causing him to erupt into blinding light as well.
From the corner of her eye, she saw both Tark and Taura handling an earagos, alternating swings until they brought the giant to its knees where Tark landed the final blow. She smiled while fending herself from three torlics and a narooks. The narooks tried to wrap its fingers around her neck, but only succeeded in losing his fingers before succumbing to the death the Sword of Lumina held for every dark creature. She made quick work of two of the torlics while Elenio dispatched of the third, causing it to catch flame as his sword met the torlics skin.
“I really like having a sword with fire,” he said grinning broadly.
“Let me know when you need a recharge,” Galena shouted, while she took down one of the two dark creatures for which she had no name. They reminded her somewhat of a cross between a narooks and a torlic, with the wings of a Crag. Not a very appealing mix in her mind.
Elenio swung around, burying his blade deep into the side of a narooks before spinning around and cutting one of the wings off the creature that Galena was fighting. Both creatures caught fire before he turned around to assist Morgo with an earagos he saw heading their way.
Galena turned to take on a rather small earagos single-handedly. She jabbed her blade down, catching the giant in the foot and destroying it with light. Tark was fighting against a group of narooks while taura fought against two torlics, both seemed to be holding their own. Galena noted they were covered in blood, but none of it seemed to be theirs, rather it belonged to the creatures with which they fought.
Galena turned to take in the condition of the other elves surrounding them, flying off the ones who were lying on the ground injured, in the general direction of Nigora’s tent. She’d managed to land them safely when a group of torlics surrounded her, thinking she was occupied. Silly creatures, she thought, haven’t you learned anything? She spun around meeting blade after blade with her own sword. She swung out and the wind took two of them, sent them high into the air and several hundred feet away before they dropped on the ground in giant heaps. Two more she struck with lightning, and while the others were distracted, she swung her blade around burying it in the back of one and the side of the other, both became pieces that were scattered in the wind. She was about to engage several more dark creatures when she heard a sound that caused her blood to turn to ice in her veins.
“GALENA! HELP!” she heard Elenio shout from somewhere behind her. Wasting no time with the creatures around her, she set them all ablaze before she searched for Elenio. She found him on the shoulders of a giant earagos. It was larger than any of the earagos she’d seen so far. He was cutting at its back with no effect on the giant creature whatsoever. Galena then looked down and saw what was keeping the earagos so focused. Below him, on the ground in a bloody heap, was Morgo. The earagos was hitting him repeatedly with its giant club, making his body even more unrecognizable.
“ELENIO, MOVE!” she shouted as she raced over to him. Elenio jumped from the back of the creature and with a wave of her hand, she sent the earagos flying into the air and into another earagos some feet away. She watched as the culprit got shakily to his feet, shaking his head as he did. She would deal with him in a moment. She raced to Morgo’s side. His legs were at an odd angle and he definitely shouldn’t have been able to bend that way. His face was unrecognizable under the swelling and blood that seemed to cover every inch of his once handsome features. He had a large gap at the crown of his skull; his blade lay uselessly beside him. Galena leaned her ear close to his face and was surprised to hear a faint, raspy breath. It was shallow and almost nonexistent, but it was there.
“I’ll take him to Nigora,” Fala said above her.
“You hold him and I’ll fly you back. I don’t trust myself to land him gently enough when he’s this bad. I’ll be there as soon as I can. He is beyond what Nigora can do for him,” Galena said darkly.
“We could all use a break at this point. They’re driving us back. It’s almost like they’re stronger here with the intunerics feeding them,” Tark said, panting heavily. He had come over as well to fend off any attacking creatures with Elenio and Taura while Galena had looked at Morgo.
Galena nodded her head and turned to Fala.
“Are you ready?” she asked.
Fala scooped up the broken form of Morgo, causing his head to roll in a revolting sort of way. Blood streamed to the ground from gashes unseen, causing the already pale elf to become deathly gray.
Galena had to choke back a sob at the broken form of Morgo, unsure if she would ever see him alive again. “I’ll be with you as soon as I can, just hang on,” she whispered into his ear, unsure if he was past the point where he could no longer hear her. Picking Fala and Morgo up with a gentle wind, she sent them flying at a controlled speed until she was sure they were somewhere near Nigora’s tent. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she turned back and looked at the approaching enemy. They were indeed pushing the elves back at an alarming speed. More elf bodies littered the ground than those of the enemy, a sure sign they needed to regroup.
“Time to put our plan into action,” Galena shouted, more tears springing to her eyes, as it had been Morgo’s plan originally. “Mira be with him,” she prayed quietly. Sending another column of flames high into the air, all the elves began to race toward the camp, grabbing their fallen comrades as they did. The enemy started to give chase as well, but Galena discouraged this with a couple well-aimed lightning bolts. When she saw all of the elves had retreated toward their camp, Galena decided to use the intunerics to their advantage. Using the wind to pick up every stone within a mile of the elf camp, she lifted them into the air and sent them flying into the enemy army. She heard the satisfying sound of dull thuds and groans of pain resonate from within the dark mass. There you go, plenty of dark rocks to play with, Galena thought grimly.
“Now, time to give us a little breathing space,” she whispered aloud. Concentrating on the elf camp and all the elves within that area, she sent a blazing, white-hot ring of fire around her and everyone she loved. She caused the ring of fire to grow higher and higher until even the tallest earagos could no longer see over it. She waited to see if it would hold should any of the dark creatures be foolish enough to try crossing the barrier. They did not disappoint her. Several torlics and even more narooks thought they would be able to race across the fire ring, but Galena already thought they would try this and took measures for just that occasion. As soon as the dark creatures touched the flames, it burned even hotter and grew wider in response, causing the dark creature to catch fire. The creature was not able to return from which it came before falling to the ground, food for the living barrier. More tears streamed down her face, Morgo’s idea worked perfectly.
She caused the wind to lift her up high into the air where she could see the enemy army above the fire. She saw the earagos that had broken and possibly even killed her friend, grin evilly at her. He seemed to realize how much damage he did and reveled in his accomplishment. He even had enough nerve to wave at Galena, rubbing in his victory. Galena’s blood boiled, and anger filled her. Think this is over do you, she thought, her ears ringing with the blood that so violently rushed through her. “Wrong,” she whispered aloud.
A giant bolt of lightning, larger than anything she caused so far, came racing to the ground and into the head of the waving earagos, stopping him in mid wave. A smile still frozen on his ugly face, he crashed to the ground, dead. “That was for Morgo,” she said angrily. Turning, she sent herself flying toward Nigora’s tent to see what had become of her friend and mentor.
* * * *
Elenio grabbed a female elf with a deep cut on her leg, but otherwise appeared to be fine. He knew they were to grab any fallen elves on the way back to the camp as they were instructed the day before, but he was in a hurry to see Morgo. It had been his fault his friend was struck in the first place. Elenio hadn’t been paying attention to anything around him as he delivered the deathblow to the first earagos they met. So when he turned to say something witty to Morgo, he was surprised to see another even larger earagos standing over him, his club poised to strike.
Elenio had no time to prepare himself when the giant beast’s arm started down. Elenio remembered feeling as if he was flying when Morgo crashed into him, pushing him out of the way, and putting himself into position to take the blow instead. The club came down squarely on Morgo’s head, causing him to crumple to the ground, unmoving. As if that hadn’t been enough, this particular earagos seemed to have an incredibly vicious streak and continued to beat the unconscious elf. That was when Elenio had called out to Galena and jumped on the broad back of the evil creature. Elenio thought, if he could just hurt the giant brute bad enough, it would give up its assault on Morgo and turn his attention to Elenio, who was in much better shape to defend himself. Fortunately, that was when Galena showed up and at least gotten the creature away from Morgo. Elenio was unsure what had become of the earagos after Galena had sent him flying. He secretly hoped he would have the chance to exact some revenge on the brute.
Elenio drew near Nigora’s healing tent, his heart sinking when he saw all the elves injured and in need of attention. However, that was not the reason Elenio felt sick. Blood, soaking into the ground around the entrance, covering the tent flap, it was everywhere Elenio looked. He swallowed and then lowered the female to the ground gently so he wouldn’t hurt her further. She grimaced, but nodded her head in thanks before laying back on the ground to await her turn with the healer.
Elenio stood straight and squaring his shoulders, stepped through the tent flap and into Nigora’s domain. The devastation that consumed the inside of that tent was overwhelming. There were injured elves everywhere, but it was a closed off area that caught Elenio’s attention. Behind it, he could just make out the tall and imposing frame of Fala. Tark came in about that time and Elenio met his gaze with his own.
“Has Galena put up the fire barrier?” he asked dully.
“Yes, she’s doing something at the battlegrounds right now, but I’m sure she’ll be on her way in a moment,” Tark answered quietly. They both made their ways toward the closed off area, weaving between beds and other elves.
“Is Taura okay?” Elenio asked, trying to keep his mind off what they were about to encounter.
“She’s fine. She outside trying to do what she can for some of the injured elves while they wait. We have more injured this time in that short battle then we did the entire time we fought the last time. I think the intunerics had something to do with it, but I can’t be sure,” Tark said, his brows burrowed in concern.
Elenio pulled back the sheet used to close off the area where Morgo lay and stepped through. What he saw didn’t leave him with much hope for his friend. Nigora was sitting in a chair beside him, heavily slumped to one side. Her face covered in sweat and she was a shade of gray that caused Elenio to bend down and check her pulse. He was relieved to find one, but realized her unconscious state spoke badly for Morgo.
Morgo was lying on a table. His legs straightened out, but still looked wrong. The gap at the top of his head was closed, which was good because that was where he lost the most blood. His face was still unrecognizable under the swelling, dirt, and blood. There were slits where his eyes should have been and his nose was flush with his cheekbones. His side sunk in at a weird angle and there were bones sticking out from the other. His chest barely rose and fell, but he was still breathing. Elenio had no idea how this was possible and almost wished his friend would pass on to the Land of the Gods versus being in this state.
“Nigora managed to close up the wound on his head before she passed out. She said there was a tremendous amount of brain damage there because of the swelling and other trauma...” Fala started, but he stopped to clear his throat. “She didn’t have a lot of hope for him. She said there was entirely too much internal and external damage for anyone to have survived. The fact he’s still breathing is a miracle.” Fala stopped and looked down at the ground, tears in his eyes.
Elenio just looked at his friend, thanking him silently for saving his own life, but wishing at the same time, he hadn’t.
“Galena is coming,” Tark said dully, looking up and down at the broken form of Morgo.
“Do you really think she’ll be able to reverse all of this?” Fala asked, using a hand to indicate the form that they once knew as Morgo.
“She can try.”
“Then she better hurry, because I’m pretty sure no one can bring an elf back from the Land of the Gods.”
Elenio could do nothing but stare. It was his fault. Why hadn’t he been paying attention?
“Leave.” All three of the elves turned to see Galena there, holding back the sheet as she took in the bloody image of Morgo. Her eyes were sad as she noted every injury on her friend. “Take Nigora, she needs to rest. Start making the other elves as comfortable as possible and we need patrols circling the camp to make sure my fire holds out the enemies,” Galena said, her eyes never leaving Morgo for a second.
“Can you...” Elenio started, but stopped when his throat closed up with emotion.
Galena looked at him, determination filling her eyes as she read his thoughts and emotions.
“I don’t know. I know he would never let you take the blame.”
Tears sprang to Elenio’s eyes and he couldn’t speak. He knew she read his thoughts and he realized she was right, but it didn’t make him feel any better.
“I already killed the brute,” Galena spat having registered his own thoughts of revenge. “He thought he won. I showed him just how wrong he was.”
Galena’s focus returned to Morgo and Elenio nodded his head, glad the creature was gone, but sorry he couldn’t have been a bigger part in his demise.
“Now everyone leave and do not bother me. I will come to you one way or the other,” Galena finished lamely.
Fala picked up the tiny form of Nigora in his strong capable arms and with Tark holding the sheet back, went out with her. Tark followed him and Elenio brought up the rear. He knew Galena needed to be able to concentrate. He didn’t think he would be able to sit back and wait to see the fate of his friend. Tark reached over and squeezed Elenio’s shoulder, but said nothing. They both knew this would be exactly like their trip to the Mountains of the Gods. Morgo’s fate rested with them now.
* * * *
Galena took a step closer to Morgo. If she hadn’t been told this was him, she would have doubted it and went looking for the elf elsewhere. The only thing resembling her friend was his long, dark hair. Although, now it was matted and caked with dried blood. She leaned her ear close to his mouth and felt as well as heard the faint and weak breath there. A gurgling sound came with it, leading Galena to believe his lungs were punctured. How could they not be,” Galena thought, eyeing the broken body. She cut away his shirt, reveling the grossly discolored and swollen chest. Bits of bone punctured the skin and it rose and fell in odd areas as well.
“Oh Morgo, I don’t know if it’s wise to heal you if you’re this bad off,” Galena said through the tears falling fast and free down her face. Galena laid her hands on Morgo’s rib cage and began the tedious task of sensing the overwhelming amount of injuries fighting against his will to live. She detected punctures to his lungs in several place and his heart was a battered mess. Not a single organ in his body escaped the wrath of the earagos. She placed a hand on his head and felt the extensive damage there as well. His brain was bruised and shaken loose, making it useless in its present condition. There was also extensive bleeding there, held in by the newly healed gap. There wasn’t a whole bone in his body. Galena bowed her head, and fought to regain control of her emotions. She reached out, seeking Elenio, for she would need his calm if she were to continue. She felt Elenio and knew he was striving to find the peace she needed. She took a calming breath and began.