Tartarus Beckons, Edmund Batara [bts book recommendations .TXT] 📗

mage immediately. Then he remembered the offer of the dwarf Otr about getting rid of a dark area near their kingdom, and Dvalin’s advice about negotiating terms for the task. Smiling at the memory of the two contentious dwarves he had met in Hedmark, one a svartalfar and the other of the dvergar, Tyler looked at Labiru.

“I think I know where, though getting to the dwarves might be tricky.”

“They’re under attack themselves from Sutr’s forces. They doing well so far, but they’ve faced only the advance guard,” revealed the old man.

“Now our next problem. Getting to Maljen,” said Tyler.

“Don’t you mean the dwarven kingdoms?” replied Labiru.

“I want to see the area where the attack took place. Those bastards surely have left traces of their emergence and departure,” remarked the mage.

“Your decision. I could help with your journey to Maljen, though you’d be arriving at the hills at the back of the forest. As for the dwarves, I’ll get somebody to help you with that part. You’d be doing us a favor if you manage to eliminate that pest of a barnacle and the least I could do is to ease your way in that direction.”

Tyler breathed an enormous sigh of relief. Then he saw Asag’s countenance. The demon was beaming.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Transformations

After everything that happened, the preparations for Maljen felt anticlimactic. The opening appeared on the mountainside, goodbyes and thanks were said, and the company arranged their ranks before the portal. Tyler saw members of the group glancing from time to time at the now quiet valley. Kobu and Tyndur eyed Asag for a while, and the mage couldn’t tell what they were thinking. He expected the deadpan look from Kobu, but now the einherjar was doing the same.

What a mess! I now have three unpredictable personalities, the mage reflected. On the positive side, he couldn’t sense any sign of a brewing headache, though his stomach’s guts now felt as if they were twisted and stretched in very uncomfortable ways. And now it’s my stomach. I don’t know which is worse – a killer of a headache or a severely stressed stomach.

Tyler was next to the last to enter the eldritch waiting gate, and Kobu, as usual, made sure he had the mage’s back. Looking at his companions as they stepped into the magical construction, the mage couldn’t help but think about the uncomfortable and awkward questions his friends will have for him. Such queries wouldn’t be asked now, while they were in the middle of the unknown, but he had no doubt they would be made later at the proper time. Just as it was his turn to enter, Labiru went to him. The old man had a friendly smile on his face as he grasped Tyler’s shoulder. The mage smiled back, though he wondered what the entity’s real form looked like. Even Rumpr had admitted that the shapes they took merely reflected the reality around them.

“The blessings of Mother, young mage,” said Labiru.

“And here I thought you were going to say good luck,” Tyler joked.

Labiru gave a good-natured laugh.

“Luck is a mere set of circumstances put together by a greater being, young Havard. Yes, I know your names,” winked the old man. “Luck is but a word used to explain what is beyond one’s capacity to understand. Before me stands a very fortunate and incredibly blessed mortal. Your road, as many might have told a stubborn young human mage, is a difficult one. An understatement if one takes the time to examine the monumental task ahead of you. But it is a worthy cause, much preferable than dying as an ignorant and naïve visitor of this world. Believe me, Adar is not kind to those from the First World.”

“That fact I seem to realize now,” replied Tyler, thinking of the recent First Worlders he had already met.

“Goodbye then, and the best of luck,” smiled Labiru.

It was Tyler’s turn to laugh.

When Tyler emerged, he found the company staring at a familiar figure waiting for them. It was Hrun. Then he noticed that Habrok was in front of the stone elemental, talking to the rest as they put away their weapons. Except for Asag, who had gone to the side of the clearing and apparently busy exploring.

Oh, shoot. I now remember that only Habrok and Jorund were familiar with Hrun. The rest must have instinctively drawn their arms when they saw him. Good thing Habrok, as the scout, was the first to enter the portal. Otherwise, I would have emerged into a full-blown battle.

The mage looked at Asag. The entity was looking around the clearing where they came out. Tyler wasn’t surprised at the benign reaction of Asag to Hrun’s presence. The stone elemental had the same magical emanations as Labiru and the erstwhile prisoner would have immediately recognized it. Instead, Asag busied himself with examining his surroundings.

Can’t really blame him for acting like a kid on a field trip. Imprisoned for only God knows how long, everything now could be a new experience. Either that or a recollection of a memory long thought forgotten, noted the mage.

“Greetings, friend Hrun. I am glad to see you’re the one the Ancient sent to guide us,” grinned Tyler. “And it has been a long time.”

“Ah, my friend. I am also glad to see you,” replied the being.

“Time may pass

Like the tempest of the night,

But the memory of a friend

Will last a day and forever.”

“Poor lines, I am afraid, as I still grieve for our loss,” continued Hrun.

“Me too, Hrun, and everybody in the company. But there will be a settlement of accounts and our bill shall be high,” said the mage with steel in his voice.

“Ah, and your beautiful wife too. What will happen to the forest while she is gone? Somebody needs to tend to the trees, the plants, and those who live in it. I grieve, and I am ashamed as I cannot help in such things,” mourned Hrun.

The forest needed tending as