Tartarus Beckons by Edmund Batara (reading an ebook .TXT) 📕

“I’m not short! And it’s not my fault!” protested Kadir vehemently.

Tyler disregarded the two and looked at Sford. The mage seemed to be the most reasonable and lucidly communicative among the three. He could have asked Orm, but the large warrior apparently had a habit of keeping to himself.

“Kadir got hold of a magically charged lightning scroll. I hope he paid for it, though I doubt it, those things are ridiculously expensive. In fact, he talked about nothing else during our entire journey. And when we got to a point a few miles ahead, we saw a group of armed dokkalfr heading towards us. Guess what this fool did?” explained Sford.

“Ah. He used the scroll,” commented Habrok.

“Good thing it worked. Such offensive artifacts are generally for mages, there’s too great a chance it wouldn’t work for those with little or no knowledge and instead create a backlash of magical energy,” continued Sford.

“I did try to grab him, but he slipped past my grasp,” added Orm.

“Hey, Sford! You said generally for mages, does this mean I am a mage?” butted in the unrepentant Kadir.

Sford turned and icily looked at him.

“No. You were just lucky. Or there’s an extremely busy and unfortunate deity watching over you.”

“But what are you doing here? The last time we saw you three was back in the Barrens,” asked Tyndur.

“Another commission,” Orm answered in his usual terse fashion.

“Don’t you know there’s a war on between the dokkalfr and Ymir? And you’re heading directly into it?” Tyler asked, continuing the einherjar’s line of questioning.

“Ah! We know! But the area we’re interested in lies on the sea side of the mountains. We’ve been told by our employer that there’s minimal, if any, presence there of either dokkalfr or jotnar. It’s an easy job,” voiced out Kadir.

And what are those dokkalfr out there? A mirage? thought Tyler.

At what the rogue confidently declared, Tyndur suddenly slammed his boot into the ground, and as soon he got the attention of the three, he carefully looked at them and shook his head.

“You’re jinxed,” the einherjar declared, pointing his finger at the rogue.

Orm immediately cuffed Kadir’s head and then looked at Tyndur.

“You’re right,” he said and then turned his attention to the rogue who was still holding the part of his skull which Orm struck. “And you. You’ve been telling us that easy thing all this time, and look what happened. Those dokkalfr would be hunting us now.”

“Sire, movement,” Kobu warned.

Everybody looked at the dokkalfr host. It was about three hundred strong, though they could see mages in the mix of skirmishers, armored infantry, and archers. A group of three individuals had detached themselves from the main group and was heading their way. They were riding horses, a fact which surprised Tyler since he thought dokkalfr didn’t use steeds.

Tyler stared at the three before him. They had dismounted, and two were male, the other a female. The female and the apparent leader were wearing armor, though their weapons were sheathed. The third member was in a robe, but Tyler could see that he wore internal armor, a dark protective gear made of leathery material. He had a dirk on his belt and a staff.

A mage, he concluded. As for the other two, the complexity of their armor and engraved runes indicated that they were leaders of some sort. But the height of the three meant they were nobles.

The male stopped well away from weapons reach, removed his helmet, and raised his hand, palm out. He had long wavy hair, bound at the back. He looked like a veteran campaigner, if the small scars on his face were any indication.

“Hail and greetings, humans,” he said. His two companions moved to flank him.

Tyndur positioned himself in front of Tyler and looked back at the mage. Tyler nodded, thinking about the einherjar’s vast knowledge about the land and peoples around Skaney. Suddenly, he felt worry rise among the rest of the companions. Then he realized it was Tyndur who was going to do the talking.

Oh, shit. It’s going to be a battle for sure.

“Hail and greetings too, dark ones. What brings you out of your holes on a fine day such as this?” said the einherjar.

Fuck Tyndur. And fuck me for agreeing to his suggestion.

The dokkalfr stared at Tyndur. Everybody became quiet, and the tension continued to rise. Tyler watched as the dokkalfr leader’s hand slowly inched towards the sword at his side.

Tyler could sense the killing intent in the dokkalfr, though he could also see the effort exerted by the being to control himself. His companion, the one Tyler suspected to be a mage, put his left hand on the shoulder of their leader. Suddenly, the furious aura Tyler felt was gone. Yet Tyndur had an oblivious look on his face throughout the entire time.

The dokkalfr leader took a deep breath, and looked at Tyler.

“I wish to talk to the leader of this party. Not to a mouthpiece.”

Tyndur was about to fire back with another of his verbal jabs, but the mage got him first.

“I’ll take this, Tyndur. Let’s not make it worse,” he calmly told the einherjar. At his words, Tyler could sense a palpable decrease in the tautness in the atmosphere.

“My greetings and apologies, but the antagonism between our races seemed to have come between us,” said Tyler. “I am Havard, High Mage.”

The dokkalfr leader gave a slight bow.

“I am High Thegn Galar, the Hersir of the force you see. I come to seek restitution, the weregild for the dokkalfr those three slew and injured,” said the leader.

“They are not of my party, High Thegn Galar,” replied Tyler.

“Even so, High Mage. Your spell prevented my men from exacting justice for an unprovoked attack. And you gave them sanctuary.”

Shit. Kadir jinxed us all. Could a jinx be contagious? thought Tyler.

“Yet I was told your men were armed when they approached these three,” reasoned Tyler.

“Humans and dokkalfr go armed during these troubled times. If an attack were our intention, my men would not have shown themselves. We now have two dead and several injured.”

“Could you wait while I clear matters up with these three?”

“Of course, High Mage,” said the Thegn. Then he and his companions retreated