The Beginnings Omnibus: Beginnings 1, 2, 3 & Legend of Ashenclaw novella (Realm of Ashenclaw Beginnings Saga) (20 page)

Elec then reached into his belt pouch and removed a small piece of glass that, when held over the eye, magnified the landscape, making objects appear closer and in greater detail. He held it up to show his uncle that he still had this present.

“And take this, too,” Faorath added, handing him a thick cloak of the best leather and wool. It was much heavier than the fine one Elec currently wore.

“And this? What does this do?” he asked his uncle, smiling in wonderment at what magic this newest item might have hidden within.

“It keeps you warm,” his uncle said, raising an eyebrow. The two of them shared a laugh at that lighthearted joke and embraced a long time before Elec wriggled free.

“I thank you much for these and you have my eternal gratitude,” Elec said, heading for the door. His uncle breathed a heavy sigh, and heard the door open and close.

And just like that, Elec was gone.

The giant eagle ascended magnificently into the sky with the proud high elf atop its back. Elec’s hair streamed and whipped behind him in the very cool breeze of the night air. The cold was piercing right through his leather and animal skin ensemble. He guessed that he might soon have to begin to wear his woolens beneath his armor and his furs in the coming days.

This was the farthest he’d ever been from his home, he realized. He was many score miles to the west. There were three islands here that he felt might be good places for him to further pursue his journey into alchemy. There were new plants there for him to use and test, including ones he’d read about in several books.

He patted the giant eagle on its head as it flew higher into the night sky. After several hours Elec knew now that he had reached the isle furthest from Acillia and he decided to explore this particular land mass. Rumor had it that the vegetation flourishing here included the rare
whitetails
used in the healing balms and elixirs that he wanted to test for himself.

The darkness was beginning to fade, giving way to the morning light. The sun had not yet risen, but would be upon him soon. Elec decided to descend now, between two large croppings of trees. Down he went, seeing some of the animals in the forest scampering and running as he approached. There was a sparse section of land, backed up to a hill not far off, that might provide him some defensible ground in which to make his camp.

The giant eagle landed and came to a stop right at the base of the prominence and Elec dismounted. He began to set up a small camp, unpacking his portable tent beneath whose canvas and animal skin walls he could find shelter from rain and sun alike. He removed some of the dried food and breads from Adok’s saddle bags and tore into them, tossing a few bits over to the eagle, too. He liked the dried meat, but Elec knew he would need to allow his mount to hunt on its own. He waved the bird away, secure in the knowledge that it would return after it had finished eating.

After he had completed his meal and the tent was in place, Elec set off in the morning sun looking for any and all unique plant life. He did not stop until the sun was sinking low into the clouds. He scarcely realized he had not eaten until he looked up into the sky. He had spent the better part of the day scavenging and scrounging and had discovered many flowers and herbs. Excitedly, he hurried back to his camp, several hundred paces to the west, where he found Adok waiting for him, morsels of some kind of carcass still on his beak.

Elec lit a campfire, using several of the dried twigs he’d managed to scavenge along the way, and chewed at another bit of dried bread. “We will need to do something about this,” he mentioned to Adok, holding up a piece of the stale bread and laughing to himself.

After his meal, he set up lanterns in his portable lab and went to work, shredding and distilling many of the plants. Elec repeated this procedure many times over several weeks, testing the elixirs on himself with varying outcomes—but most of them with the desired results. He tried out the healing balm and elixir, and also one particular potion that increased his reflexes and speed. He employed this while he familiarized himself with the weight of
Daegnar Giruth
, practicing his strokes over and over into the open air and upon several of the bushes and foliage nearby. Once satisfied with the consequences of an experiment, Elec would quickly cultivate many vials of a particular potion, placing the finished product into a flask in his bandolier and quickly moving on to the next one.

His hunger increased along with the effects of the swiftness elixir and he felt that there might be a relationship there which he documented. For several more weeks, Adok would return with fish from the surrounding reaches of the Eastern Sea, after satisfying his own hunger first. Elec rewarded the giant eagle with more of the cured meats, which the feathered creature seemed to find to his liking and of which, fortunately, Elec had plenty, thanks to his uncle.

 “I thought I might find you out here,” called a voice from behind him one day. Unsheathing
Daegnar Giruth
,
Elec spun round to face the owner of that voice. He saw a familiar high elf approaching.

“Wha-?” Elec stammered, lowering his weapon as the elf approached. “Shardrin the Scoundrel! What are you doing here?” he finally managed, using the title given to his new companion by several other high elves. It was a nickname that Shardin did not care for.

“I might ask you the same thing,” Shardrin answered, ignoring the comment and stepping close to Elec, smiling in the process. “I am hunting game and looking for the skins and scales of the Tyrantian beasts as well as other… materials… acquired from creatures that I cannot find on Acillia. I need these resources in order to construct my finer items, such as that very belt you wear,” the high elf stated, rubbing the leather of Elec’s bandolier between his forefingers. Then he pulled his black mane into a pony tail.

“Aye,” Elec nodded. “If there is anything I can do to help you, please tell me. For now, share some of my bounty.” Elec slapped Shardrin on the back.

The two of them sat and ate, Shardrin recounting tales of his adventures and indicating that he was nowhere near finished with his career.

“I am only just beginning to build the tales for the bards to sing in taverns,” Shardrin laughed. He removed his belt that held two scabbards of the most intricate and boiled leathers, much like the armor that he wore. “There is always room for one as skilled as I that can scout and disarm the deadliest of traps. Have you been practicing?”

“Aye,” Elec nodded, producing the gears which he had been taking apart and putting back together with the greatest of ease.

“It seems it might be time to show you something a bit harder,” Shardrin observed, clearly impressed with Elec’s attention to detail and expert placement.

“What are those?” Elec asked, not really listening to the last comment but instead focusing on the twin scabbards.

“These,” Shardrin explained, picking them up and setting them on his lap, “are my prized swords.”

“May I look at them?” Elec enquired, throwing more wood onto the fire. It was getting dark and there was a distinct nip in the air.

Shardrin nodded, handing Elec the first of the two. The short sword that he removed from the scabbard was even more intricately constructed than the casing. Elec did not know who had made them, but recognized expert craftsmanship when he saw it. He also noted a faint blue glimmer along the edge of the blade and felt a chill there that was more than the cold of the steel. The glow indicated that some kind of magic had been mixed with the blade when it was crafted.

“So. Do you want to attempt to work on a more difficult mechanism?” Shardrin asked him, holding up a new device of some kind. It was truly more intricate, with more gears, pins, springs and moving parts than Elec had ever seen before.

Elec took it, once he had replaced the short sword back into its housing, and stared at the object in fascination. As he fiddled with something, Shardrin took the sword and refitted the belt around his waist.

“Ah!” Elec yelled out in sudden pain, shaking his hand to stem the ache. Shardrin returned his gaze to him.

“Quiet,” he advised Elec. “We do not know what is out here in the wilderness. Now, as I was trying to tell you, this particular device has an electrical discharge upon it. It is not fatal, but will certainly hurt you if you are not careful,” he added, standing up suddenly. “It makes you focus, does it not?”

He unsheathed his swords. The second blade appeared to have a dim red glow… or was it just the reflection of the fire? Elec could not tell.

“What are you doing?” Elec asked in confusion, looking around for some hint of danger. He could see nothing in the gloom of twilight, except the glowing sword. Adok was nowhere to be seen since he had taken flight some hours ago.

Shardrin moved away from the fire and toward a path that led up the hill above them. Then Elec saw them. A half dozen or more smallish shapes were bounding down the hill, the size of dogs, and with pointy snouts and long, slender tails that made them seem like…
dire rats
?!

Elec kicked a few of the fresh logs back out of the fire, thinking that they would not want to leave it unattended. The flames immediately dimmed.

Shardrin was moving up the hill toward the attackers. As the creatures approached him, Elec stood and removed
Daegnar Giruth
. From then on, things seemed to move in slow motion around him as he followed the trail of the rogue elf. As he ascended the path, he watched as Shardrin engaged them.

His first pass of the blade, a south to north upward
chop
, seemed to freeze the center section of the first rat as it was cloven in two, the lower portion falling straight down to the soil and the top portion flying off. It hit the ground some fifty feet away and shattered into a hundred shards upon the rocky ground below them, the parts scattering and vanishing in the weeds and foliage.

Shardrin’s second swing caught another of the creatures with an outward hack that carved through the flesh and bone of the beast like a warm dagger through fresh butter. Elec looked at the remains of that one as he neared the combat, its insides completely and utterly liquefied and held together by its own melted vestiges.

“By the gods,” Elec murmured.

“Mind helping me? You can swear later,” Shardrin remarked nonchalantly, ducking as a dire rat launched itself over him, heading toward Elec now. His hearing was better than even Elec’s it would seem. That was an impressive thing, Elec thought as he strode forward, his enchanted blade held out before him, gripped tightly in both hands.