Chapter 24 - Imminent

She recognized the younger Alldeh, and one of them, Senya, had more than a passing resemblance to Kyla. The other faces she had never seen before.

"So," Ullden asked no one in particular, "where is the path? Where is the right spot to see it?"

"I guess we spread out and search," Kyla suggested.

"You don't know where to go next?" Niza asked.

"The main path continues up into the mountains, but I did not know this was here, and he mentioned where we need to go. I do not think the main path will take us there."

They all started looking around. Their eyes were fairly adjusted to the dim light, but none of them found anything that looked like a path.

Her eyes came back to the faces in the scene. The detail was amazing enough that she could tell where the different faces were looking. Some of them looked at the demonic figures they were fighting. A cloud passed before the moon, darkening the scene even more. She caught a glint in the carved Alldeh's eye. His face was the only one looking away from the scene and not at something in it.

"Guys," she said, pointing to the carved scene, "I don't think he meant it would show us a physical path. I think we need to get up there."

"What do you mean?" Marus stood next to her, squinting up at the scene. "What do you see?"

"That one," she said, pointing. "That's Alldeh. I'm pretty sure this is a representation of the group that performed the ritual last, and the people who came with them. They are all either working on the ritual or fighting off demons. Except Alldeh. He's the only one looking away. I think we need to go see what he's seeing. If we can stand at that vantage point - "

"You've got to be joking," Ullden said, clearly unhappy again. "We've got to get up there?"

"We did bring climbing gear," Kyla pointed out.

"We only have to have one or two of us go up there I suppose," Jetha told them. "We just need to see where to go."

"We shouldn't split up," Marus said, shaking his head. "I think we need to do this together. The more eyes we have to look while we're up there, the better."

"If we all go, we lose the horses," Ullden argued. "They can't make that climb."

"We were going to need to leave the horses eventually," Kyla said. "At least if we do it now they can head back to the grasslands and survive. The further in we go, the more likely they would starve before escaping the mountains on their own once we'd released them. From here, they have a chance."

"We're never going to outrun the Elar if we lose our horses this soon," Ullden countered. "They're still going to be on horseback."

"We'll find a way, Ullden," Marus said. "Have faith. The Gods are watching over us."

Ullden sputtered, and looked about to start in on another round of arguement about religion. Jetha put her hands up to stop them.

"Enough!" She did her best to imitate one of the more commanding tones she'd heard Nordithet use from time to time. "Let's not waste more time argueing about it. We'll stay together. It's safer that way. We need to redistribute the weight for carrying, set the horses free, and start climbing in the morning. In the meantime, can we find a good spot to set up camp? We won't move any faster on foot if we're tired and hungry." She tried to look taller and more confident than she really was while she spoke, and was pleased to see the two men both nod and remain quiet. Ullden turned and led his horse forward, pointing to a larger area off the path ahead of them.

"We can make camp there. A small fire only. We'll repack the bags tonight. In case we need to move suddenly, I want everything ready to go. In the morning, we'll feed the horses and release them before we get in there and start climbing. I don't know how long it will take to get up there. A day, maybe more."

They sorted through the supplies they still had, narrowing them down to where they could each carry a pack on their back, excepting Alldeh. Jetha found herself chuckling inwardly over the fact that she was down to so little extra clothes, compared to what she had packed initially. It didn't seem to matter so much to her anymore. There were other things of far more importance to her.

They buried the things they were leaving behind, hiding them in an area where they hoped the Elar would not see them. Ullden had pointed out that some of the items might be able to be reclaimed on the journey back, assuming they succeeded in their quest. It seemed to lift everyone's spirits to think of a return journey, and a conversation broke out over dinner about what plans people had for after the quest was over.

"I expect I'll return to my church," Marus told them. "While this journey has proved exciting, I'm not sure I'm quite cut out for so much travel."

"I like the travel," Niza admitted. "I might like to see more of the world."

"I must find those of my people who survived," Kyla said. "Otherwise our ways will be forgotten. We must build a new tribe to carry on the traditions."

Ullden was quiet, and Jetha suspected he was brooding again. The man seemed to be getting more and more unhappy the closer they got to their goal.

"What about you, Ullden?" she asked.

"More of the same I guess," he shrugged. "I really haven't thought about it."

"What about you?" Niza asked, looking at her. "You haven't said either."

"Oh, I'll go home," she said. "But I won't stay there. I'll go back to see my family, and Nordithet, my old teacher. But my family's life isn't for me anymore. There are some academies for magic, I might go to one of those, but I have a feeling Nordithet will discourage that. I think I'll end up traveling as well, although I'd like some time to stick in one area for a while and study."

"I wonder if anyone else knows the magic Alldeh is showing you," Ullden said. "You mentioned it was different. If you go to one of those academies you might not be the one doing the studying."

"Yeah," she agreed, "I think Nordithet would say the same thing. I'm not sure what to plan."

At that they all settled in for sleep, after Marus set up one of his prayer spells to alert them if the Elar caught up to them. In the morning they fed and released the horses. Ullden joked wryly about what the Elar would think when they encountered just the horses. None of them found it likely the Elar would assume them dead and give up.

Marus used his prayer to see where the Elar were. The different groups had all converged, and were just beginning to turn back towards the mountains. Ullden urged them to climb quickly, estimating that they would be up at the carving by the time the Elar caught up.

"They may just continue up the mountain path," Marus pointed out. "If our path is different, then we just need to let them pass us by."

"We'll find out up at the top," Niza insisted. She started up and the rest joined in. Kyla ended up leading the way.

It took them most of the day just to reach the bottom of the carving. In the beginning, they walked and climbed the slope with ease, as it was still gentle enough. By lunchtime, Ullden had brought out climbing gear, and they had all put belts around their waists, connecting them together. Ullden seemed to have climbed before, and he took the lead, using metal stakes to anchor the rock from time to time. As they came into view of the bottom of the carving, they found a large enough ledge along the rock face for them to make a camp.

They left most of the gear there while Ullden began securing the stakes again, to give them a path up to where the depiction of Alldeh was. Jetha pointed out the glinting in the eye, which had become more and more obvious the closer they got. They agreed that it was the specific location they needed to reach, in order to see whatever the carving was meant to show them.

"It doesn't look as if it was actually carved from the stone," Marus commented, looking at the carving above them as Ullden moved up and secured the next stake. "It would have taken decades to carve something like this and make it that smooth. Possibly longer, depending on the manpower and tools available."

"I don't think he used a chisel, Father," Jetha said. "I'm pretty sure he used magic to do it. I can't even imagine how taxing a spell to do this would be. I didn't know magic could do something like this."

That magic had been used to make the carving had been the only conclusion she'd been able to come up with all day. Whenever she'd had the chance, she'd looked at the carving in the sunlight, as they climbed towards it. From a distance, it had seemed intensely detailed. As they came closer, however, it just seemed big, more than anything else. Kyla had commented a couple of times about how surprised she was that it had never been mentioned by any of her people, in the stories about the mountains. Jetha wondered if it even could be seen by others. She thought it possible that Alldeh's presence was making it visible. Especially since Alldeh seemed quieter than usual that day, as if he was focusing on something else. His eyes still wandered wildly, but he also had no trouble with keeping balance and finding his footing as they climbed. Marus had taken position behind him, but had rarely had to help the man at all.

By the time Ullden had gotten the rope staked about halfway up between them and the glinting eye, it was too dark for them to safely climb. He left the rope set for the next morning, and they ate some cold dinner and slept as far away from the edge of the ledge as they could manage. Tents weren't possible, but the weather seemed to be holding, despite the thickening clouds in the sky. Nonetheless, they slept close together, to help fight off the chill of the night air. It had gotten windier as they made their way up as well, and Jetha found herself having a hard time sleeping with the sound of it howling through the mountains.

"This isn't like my dreams at all," Niza said, obviously worried. Niza held the torch as they stood outside the cave. They knew it was the right cave because it was carved like a skull and they had to enter through the mouth.

"The rest have already gone inside," Niza whined. "We have to go, too."

She shivered in the cold, standing naked and barefoot in the falling snow. It burned when it touched her skin.

"I can't go in there like this!" she said, nearly shrieking it.

"Oh, come now, don't be afraid. If I'm not afraid anymore, I don't see why you should be..."

Finally she stepped forward into the cave mouth. The light from Niza's torch was not following her.

She woke still in her bedroll. The waning moon stared down at her from the blackness above. She thought there were two, maybe three more nights until the new moon. She suspected the timing was not coincidental.

She looked down at the path below them. It was a long way down. There was a light down at the path. It was a lit figure. It was humanoid in shape, although it had a long wispy tail that darted around like a snake. And it looked like it was on fire. Its head was a little too big for its body, and it was looking around.

Suddenly she did not feel so far up. The demon looked up, but obviously did not see her in the dark. It walked on.

She realized that she'd been holding her breath and let it out at soundlessly as she could, fearful that even that might make the demon turn back towards them. She sat there for a long time, motionless, yet poised to wake the others if it should return. However, she did not want to wake them unless they were actually going to come under attack. They were getting little enough sleep as it was.

Niza moaned softly and mumbled something, shifting in her sleep. Jetha leaned in to see if she could hear, but the words weren't clear enough to make out. She found herself taking the girl's hand and holding it, in case it might help her get through the dream. After a short while, Niza seemed to drift deeper into sleep and no longer made any noise.

Jetha found she couldn't settle her mind, and didn't know what to do. She was fearful of going to sleep again, in case the demon came back. She was tired, however, and found herself drifting off for short spans while she leaned back against the cold stone of the mountain. She pulled the bedding around her more, as it seemed that her own shivers were waking her more than the worry over the demon. She wanted to do her spell, and leave her body to see where the Elar and demon were each at. But she wasn't about to do such a thing while nobody else was awake. She felt like she sat there for hours, feeling torn when she was awake, and unsettled whenever she drifted off. Eventually, the sky started to get lighter, leading the eventual sunrise that would come, and Ullden stirred awake.

He woke quietly, and stretched a little before sitting up. He did not groan like Father Marus did while waking.

"Awake already?" He asked softly.

"Yes," she said through a yawn. "A demon passed below us, perhaps an hour ago. It was looking around, but did not see us."

"Where did it go?"

"Farther up the path. Fortunately it couldn't fly, or I think it probably would have seen us."

"Yes, that would put us in a rather vulnerable position right now," he agreed. "Let's start waking the others. We've got more climbing for today, and this is delaying us enough as it is."

She woke Niza while Ullden woke Marus. Kyla woke up on her own, and was putting her bedroll away before Niza had made it out of hers. Jetha took care of her own while Ullden handed out bread and some cheese for a light breakfast. They waited until the last minute to wake Alldeh.

Ullden checked the ropes, resecuring a couple of the stakes he had set the night before, and then started them climbing again. The clouds were thick enough that the sun was hidden from view, making the light gray and dreary. The wind still howled angrily through the mountains, preventing the chill from leaving with the weak daylight. Stray hairs escaped from the ribbon she had tying them back, and whipped at her face and eyes. She squinted and tried to concentrate on the rope and climb, watching for the hand and footholds that Kyla used just before her. She also tried to keep from kicking pebbles down onto Niza, who climbed right behind her, with Alldeh, and then Marus, in the back. They didn't speak much, except to pass messages along about tricky spots to climb. The higher they went, the harder it was to talk over the wind.

By about lunchtime they had made their way to the crevice that marked the top of the carved Alldeh's arm, where they stopped to rest. It was just long enough of a shelf to hold them all, although they would not have been able to lay down and sleep on it. While they ate, Ullden wondered aloud how they were going to get up to the eye itself.

"I'll have to make the initial climb myself, to set the stakes. It looks just big enough that one person could stand crouched on that bit just under the eye and see." Ullden craned his head, presumably searching out the best route, when something occurred to Jetha.

"I could just lift someone up there," she said. "With a spell, I mean. I've got one that Nordithet taught me to lift things in the air. It's a little more taxing with heavier objects, but not as much as some of the spells I've been doing more recently. I could lift someone up there to set the first stake at least. The cheekbone area is straight up from here. Then it's only a few steps up to reach the eye itself. A couple more stakes from the first one and the rope would lead right to it. It would take me less time than it would for you to climb."

"Do it," Ullden nodded. "Can you lift me, or should I instruct someone else?"

"If you weren't wearing the armor, I could probably lift you. It's more of a strength of will I'm using against your weight. Too much will knock me unconscious. But, without your armor I think I could manage."

"Just don't drop me."

She began to start reassuring him that she would be careful, but then stopped when she saw the half-grin on his face. She smiled back, glad to see that he wasn't serious.

"I won't," she said, grabbing up the satchel that held her remaining supplies from Nordithet. She pulled out what she needed and quickly set up the two circles she needed - one for her and one for Ullden, each drawn in a mixture of chalk, charcoal, and sulfur. She made the circle for him as close to the carving as she dared without risking putting him too close to the rock when she lifted. Meanwhile, Ullden stripped out of the heavy armor, and grabbed up the stakes, rope and hammer. She had him stand in his circle before she crouched down and sprinkled the remaining components on the section where the two circles met as she stood in hers. She chanted as she used each one, focusing on spell as she felt the energy gather. She sat down in the center of her circle, still chanting, and used her flint until a small spark lit the components. From the center, where the circles met, there was a bright flash of light and flame flew around both lines. For a second, both circles burned along their respective paths, before dying down to what looked like lines of slightly glowing embers. She continued chanting the spell, as Ullden lifted upwards.

Once he reached the place he needed to be, she changed the words she was chanting to maintain the power needed to keep him aloft. He looked nervous up in the air, but wasted no time in getting the first stake into the stone. The sound of the hammer seemed to echo loudly in the air as he started to secure the rope.

Then, the words froze on her lips as a large figure rose up to the ledge where she was sitting. It was almost translucent in shape, and yet blacker than the darkest night she'd ever seen. Somehow, it's eyes were even darker, and so was the mouth it opened to scream at them. It floated in air, with no specific legs or arms to speak of, but tendrils began extending out from it, like webs being spun from a spider, reaching for each of them in turn. As her focus ended, so did her spell, but she was only vaguely aware of Ullden falling back down next to her. She found herself paralyzed, unable to take her eyes from those of the demon.

Marus thrusted his shield towards the demon, calling out to Ogrun for protection. The shield glowed and seemed to hold the demon at bay momentarily.

She did manage to recoil from the tendrils reaching towards her. She could not take her eyes away from the inky blackness. An arrow passed through it uselessly.

There was other commotion, but she still couldn't take her eyes from the demon. She heard the groaning of Ullden standing up. Hands grabbed her and pulled her back away from the demon.

Finally the spell was broken, and she could look elsewhere. Fear came back to her in a rush with the rest of her awareness. Niza looked enthralled and lost the same way she had just been.

She could not risk one of her fireballs. It was too close for them, and the flame would burst out in all directions when it hit. Ullden stepped closer to the edge and swung at it with his sword.

The sword hit one of the tendrils and cut it off. Another tendril whipped out and hit Ullden across the face as if slapping him. He staggered back as if shocked by it and the sword slipped from his fingers. It clanged and clattered off the ledge and fell down the cliff.

In a rush she thought about the different element words she had learned of the old magic. She formed the image of the fire symbol in her head, yelling out the word for it. A jet of fire leaped from her hands, passing through the blackness just as ineffectively as the arrow had.

The demon looked at her and laughed, a low, horrible sound that echoed off the mountains before it was lost in the wind. It tried to reach for her, but Marus' shield seemed to keep it from getting to her. Ullden reached down and grabbed Niza's sword right out of it's scabbard, swinging again at the demon. He nearly fell from the ledge himself when the blade swung right through the demon as if it wasn't even there. Then the demon turned and almost casually smacked Ullden backward, sending him flying against the mountain behind him. There was a sickening thud and he fell to the ledge in a heap, motionless.

She reached forward and put her hand over Niza's eyes, pushing her to one side, towards Ullden. Her mind went through the possibilities, trying to figure out another combination she could use.

Maybe the pure energy one I've used before will work, she hoped, forming the symbols in her mind. She chanted them, feeling the power surge through her and out towards the demon. The light still seemed to pass through it, but not without some effect. The demon pulled to one side, moving quickly to get away from the blast, and howling. She couldn't be sure if it was in pain or just angry.

It rose up above them, and it looked as if wisps of the demon were seperating from it's body and forming a fist-sized ball of blackness. The ball spun in mid-air for a moment before shooting out at Father Marus, striking him in the chest. It seemed as if the ball was only slowed slightly by the armor Marus wore, as it burrowed, disappearing into his chest. Marus screamed and dropped his shield to clutch at his chest. He fell to the ground, clawing and beating at his armor.

"Get it out! Gods, help me! Get it out!"

Jetha's mind was in a panic as she tried the energy blast again, feeling the fatigue on her own body as she tried to put more power into it than she had before. The demon turned towards her next, ignoring the others entirely. Niza had grabbed up her sword and tried to swing at it. Kyla was doing the same. Both swords had no effect, however, and the demon continued to float towards her. It was if she could sense it drawing energy to itself for a spell, as it drifted back and forth to avoid the blast she threw at it. She missed with most of it, and she knew that another blast like it would leave her unconscious. Still, she began the spell again, not knowing what else to try.

This time she did hit the demon, but it had already formed one of it's black balls again. The demon wavered in the air a moment, from the blast, before it was able to send the ball flying towards her. But Jetha's knees were giving way underneath her, and the ball slammed into the mountain behind her instead, sending a shower of stone and dust over the group.

Jetha lay on the ledge, barely managing to keep conscious, when she realized that Alldeh was quietly chanting. He wasn't even standing, but sat off to one side, dangling his legs off the edge of the ledge as a boy might. She saw the clarity in his face, as well as a distinct anger, as he finished casting the spell. The demon hadn't even been paying attention to him, turning towards Kyla next, extending a tentacle as if to knock her off the ledge entirely.

Then Alldeh finished chanting, and the demon exploded.

"Boom," he said, and giggled. There was a moment of tense silence while everyone waited to see if anything else would happen. She realized she was holding her breath again and let it out. She was not the only one.

"Are you alright?" Kyla asked Father Marus, breaking the silence. Marus was sitting leaning against the mountain, clutching his chest.

"It...stopped...when the...demon...stopped," he said, the pause between words shortening with each one. "It still hurts, but it's not incapacitating."

"Incapac-a--"

"I will be alright in a moment," he added. He did his healing prayer, and she watched the bright light swirl around him. As before, it came from within him and from around him at the same time. She had already reasoned out that the others could not see it.

Again she watched what the energy was doing, but she could not figure how to get energy to do that herself. It was more than closing a wound, it was recreating the damaged tissue. That's the difference between my spells and divine power, she told herself. He waited a moment before healing Ullden, and she watched that, too.

"Thank you, Father," Ullden said once he was awake again and sitting up.

"I should climb down and get his sword," Niza announced. "That way you can have some more time to rest back up."

Ullden raised his hand.

"I can handle the climb just fine," she said insistently.

"We can lower you on a rope, and then pull you back up. It'll be faster that way," he suggested.

"It's pretty likely that the summoner who brought that demon to this world knows that it just died," Jetha said quietly. "The faster we can finish here and get moving, the better."

"Right," Ullden said, slowly getting to his feet. "Marus, you and Kyla lower Niza down for my sword. Jetha, can you still lift me up there? The rope isn't secure enough yet to use."

"I think I can," Jetha said, trying to sound more confident than she felt. She'd used up more energy in the fight with the demon than she'd even thought she could use. But she thought she could still manage a ritual spell. It seemed as if it used her up in different ways. She started pulling the bags of components back out and resetting the circles again. Ullden nodded and sat down again, in the circle she'd had him in before.

Marus and Kyla lowered some knotted rope down and Niza climbed down it with relative ease to fetch Ullden's sword. She was back before Jetha was even ready to light the components and begin lifting Ullden again. This time it seemed even easier to maintain her focus as Ullden rose in the air and finished securing the rope up to the eye in the carving. Then he pulled himself up to stand there, squinting in several directions.

"Maybe you're supposed to be at the same height as the eye?" Jetha suggested, looking over at Alldeh for some hint of what they were supposed to do.

"Maybe you should come up here, Jetha," Ullden said. "You're the wizard. It might be that you will see something I can't."

"It could be magically concealed," Marus nodded. "I've heard of such things. Let me pray a moment over you first, Jetha."

She nodded, and waited while he prayed to Theran to give her guidance to the unseen. She blinked, as she felt a strange tingling in her eyes.

"That should help," Marus said, offering a hand to help her start up the rope.

"Thanks," she said. She pulled herself up the rope, making use of the knots that had been made at intervals so her hands and feet wouldn't slip. It was hard work on her arms, and made her appreciate how easy Niza had made it look when she'd gone down for Ullden's sword. It seemed to take her much longer to reach the top of the rope, where Ullden held out a hand and helped her up the rest of the way.

She looked the direction the carving of Alldeh was facing, putting herself at the level where her head was at the same height as the center of the eye, and was rewarded for her instincts. Across the mountains, several miles away, she could see an opening in the side of one mountain.

It was not shaped like a skull, as she had almost expected from her dream. Instead, it was almost an ordinary cave entrance, except for the black markings that made it look as if something had exploded outward from inside it, leaving black sooty marks around the edges of the opening. Inside was black, showing her nothing of what to expect.

To be sure, she looked in other directions as well, checking for anything else. There seemed to be no other cave entrances that could specifically be seen from that height, however. She felt reasonably sure that it was where they needed to go.

She tried to point the cave out to Ullden, but he could not see it. He agreed that it was the best guess they had, and the two of them went back down to tell the others, Ullden bringing the rope down behind them to remove the evidence that they'd been there. Marus' prayer to remove tracks each day was working, and the wounds in the rock, left by the stakes, seemed to heal themselves as he pulled them out and made new ones to work his way back down. When they reached the ledge, Jetha filled everyone else in on what she'd seen.

"Well," Ullden said, "the good news is that it's less likely the Elar know where they're going?"

"Unless the demons guiding them know where they're going," Father Marus countered, "which, all things considered, I think is likely."

Ullden sighed. "Yeah, I know. Let's get going."

while it had taken them a day and a half to get from the path up to the carving, down was considerably faster, and they were back down at the path with an hour or two of daylight left.

"It does not look like there's a path that will lead us the right direction," Kyla pointed out. "This one curves the wrong way." She pointed at another peak closer, saying, "This way will probably get us there, but it will not be terribly direct, and will take time."

Before they had a chance to get any further, a group of Elar came down the path and spotted them. It looked like two squads of ten.

"Ready your fireballs," Kyla warned her, drawing an arrow.

"I'm not sure I'm rested enough," she protested.

"Then we die," Ullden said, drawing his sword. "Marus?" Father Marus drew his sword and chanted his protection from arrows prayer. The first volley from the six archers hit the barrier and fell short. Kyla reached into her satchel. She had three of the fireballs still prepared. There had not been time to prepare more.

"Picnic?" Alldeh asked.

"No, no picnic today," Niza told him as Kyla launched her first arrow.