Staff of Shigmar: Chapter 2, Part 2

12 March 2026

Welcome back for another installment of our epic fantasy, Staff of Shigmar: Book 2 of The Redemption! We return to Blakstar, asleep in one of the rooms of their underground sanctuary, deep beneath Shigmar, where the kortexi is awakened by something unexpected. . . . (25 August 2014) We remind all readers that this book, Staff of Shigmar, as also the first book, is free for download from Smashwords! Glossary links: Book 2, Book 1

Chapter 2, Part 2

Blakstar woke suddenly, sitting up in bed. He had dreamed as before, disjointed images of the hooded, blonde girl, whose name he did not know, the two ponkolam, and the bony figure of Xythrax; he again found himself in the glade next to the Mountain of Vision, but the girl did not come to him there. He began to hear strange, echoing sounds, as if several people were shouting but their voices were muffled, their words incomprehensible. The marks on his chest and above his loins burned uncomfortably. A strange humming sound, growing louder, underscored and finally interrupted his dreams, waking him, a strange golden glow filling his mind; he looked around and saw Thal lying asleep on the bed next to his, golden light flashing feebly from the hilt of his sword and the golden topaz affixed to its pommel. The door to the room was ajar, and he thought he heard soft voices fall silent, but then remembered that Klaybear was alone, so the voices must have been leftover from his troubled dreams; he stood and quietly opened the door, looking out, and his eyes met Klaybear’s. The kailu was coming out of the hallway that led out of their sanctuary.

“What is it?” Klaybear asked, noting the concern on the kortexi’s face.

The door to the other bedroom opened, and Blakstar heard Thal stirring behind him. Klare looked out, meeting the eyes looking at her.

“Did you hear a sound?” Klare asked.

“What is that sound?” Thal’s voice asked from behind the kortexi at nearly the same moment as Klare.

“It started when I opened the door,” Klaybear said.

“It’s coming from over there,” Klare added, pointing at Blakstar.

“It is here,” Thal’s voice spoke at the same time as Klare, “in this room.”

Blakstar turned; his eyes went to where his sword in its scabbard leaned against the head of his bed and the dim light flashing within the depths of the pommel stone. Thal’s eyes had fallen on the sword at nearly the same time. The kortexi moved forward, grabbing the belt of his sword with his left hand, then grabbing the sword by the handle with his right; when his hand gripped the handle, the stone flared golden, filling the room and their faces with its now brilliant light. He looked over at the white maghi. “It’s my sword,” he said; “it’s humming.”

“Humming?” Thal said, puzzled. The sounds of rustling robes preceded Klaybear, and then Klare, entering the room, both frowning.

“And glowing,” Klare noted as she entered the room, covering her eyes with her arm.

Blakstar released the hilt and took hold of the scabbard, the glow diminishing, moving the handle toward Thal. “See for yourself,” he said.

Thal reached out and touched the hilt, causing the golden light to brighten, holding his hand there for several moments, before speaking. “I think it’s trying to tell us something.” He let his arm fall, and when his fingers no longer touched the hilt, the light dimmed again.

Klaybear and his wife moved closer. “The sword?” Klare said.

Thal looked up at the kailum. “It is an artifact of great power.”

Klaybear shrugged. “It’s possible.”

Blakstar was more puzzled. “My sword?”

Thal nodded. “Sit down on the beds.” Blakstar sat next to Thal; Klaybear and Klare sat on the other bed. “Now stand your sword in the center between us, so that we each can touch the hilt; you grasp it with your right hand.”

Thal’s request seemed odd, but he complied, recognizing that Thal probably knew more about teka-enhanced artifacts than he, the light brightening as each hand touched its handle.

“Now, Blakstar,” Thal continued, “immerse yourself in the sword; let your mind fall wholly into both the light and the sound.”

“Uh,” the kortexi said.

“Concentrate on the humming sound, and focus your vision on the pommel stone,” Thal said, “and exclude all other thoughts; imagine yourself falling into the sword.”

“It might help,” Klare noted, “if you allow your eyes to close once they are filled with the golden light.”

They sat quietly for several moments before the kortexi gasped: he had succeeded in switching his level of awareness to one wholly mental. He suddenly saw the sword surrounded by golden light; the floor of the room glowed softly white. He saw a light green string attached to his sword and going off to the north, and a bright white string, thick as a rope and vibrating, going off just west of north.

“What are . . . ?” he started to say, but the mental awareness started to fade as he tried to speak.

Just ‘think’ what you want to say, came Thal’s voice in his mind, and we will hear you.

What are these strings? Blakstar thought. And why is one green, one white, and why does my sword glow with golden light?

The color of the light, Thal’s voice said, indicates the kind of teka: the green is kailu teka, the white, maghi, and the golden, kortexi teka.

But we are not tekson, Blakstar thought.

He heard the sound of soft laughter in his mind. Surely you have seen other examples of kortexi teka, Thal’s voice said.

Blakstar remembered the golden glowing line that led him up the Mountain of Vision.

You see, came Thal’s voice, you have.

We can see your thoughts, came Klare’s voice, answering his question.

Right now, Thal’s voice, overriding the others, focus on the white thread and follow it with your mind’s eye, and we will follow you.

Blakstar felt his body nod, then moved his “mental eyes” along the vibrating white string. His mind seemed to leap forward through the wall, and passing through the stone brought to mind his journey through the stone of the Mountain.

Keep your mind on the white string we follow, came Thal’s voice, or else we could be trapped here.

His mind followed the white string up through the sewers, and he felt the others with him. They passed quickly through the ceiling into the city, passing through houses and still moving a little west of north, then through the walls of the city.

Slow us down, Blakstar, came Thal’s voice again, we are getting close.

They passed into a hill north and west of the city, the white line thicker and vibrating faster.

Other side of this hill, came Klaybear’s voice. Lift us up to the top of the hill, so we can see what is going on below.

Blakstar thought himself up, and watched the white string get small as they rose through the hill to its top. When they came out of the hill, he could still see the glowing white string passing among torches and going into a gray shimmering arch. The sky was still dark, although beginning to get pink in the east. The sounds of clinking metal and squeaking leather came from the area dimly lit by torches, but the archway caught his mental eyes, as he had seen this kind of archway before.

It is like the archway . . . , the kortexi began, but was stopped by a thought from Thal.

Softly, came his whispered thought, there are undoubtedly people below who can hear us, including whoever is wielding Melbarth’s rod. Move us carefully closer, so we can see who it is.

Blakstar started them moving, and, even though he had never entered this mental realm before, his combat training caused him to move toward the rod-wielder, as if he were physically moving from one piece of cover to the next. He stopped when they had a clear view of a creature, on the other side of the archway, holding to the ground a white-glowing, diamond-topped rod tinged with sickly green, keeping the archway open so that more creatures could pass through.

A morgle, came Thal’s voice.

The creature was tall, with skin that was deep green in the glow of the rod. The hands holding the rod had two fat fingers and a thumb, just visible below the sleeves of the dark robes it wore. Its head was large and bulbous, like a squid’s, with small black eyes, slits for nostrils, and tentacles hanging below the nose slits where the mouth of a human would have been. As the creatures passed through the arch and passed by the morgle holding the rod, Blakstar and his mental companions saw in the glow of the rod glimpses of ghelem, purem, an occasional red kailu, and black maghi.

Be ready to take us back quickly, came Thal’s voice.

Blakstar felt a rushing around him, as if some large creature were drawing breath, then the breath concentrated and flew toward the morgle holding the rod. The mental attack caught him by surprise, but morgle were one of the most proficient races in mentalics, so it managed to raise a shield against the attack, but it could do no more than hold the attack at bay. For several moments, Blakstar’s three companions poured mental energy into their attack, striving to breach the morgle’s shield, but it was too powerful to be overwhelmed in this fashion, and Blakstar could see it beginning to form a counter-attack.

What can I do? Blakstar thought.

Do you see the green thread going from the morgle toward Shigmar? Thal’s voice asked.

Yes, Blakstar thought, noticing the thread.

Your sword is still in your hand, Thal thought back, reach out with your sword and cut that thread. We cannot hold him much longer.

The kortexi felt his mental fingers raise his sword, glowing golden before his mental eyes. With a single swift stroke, he slashed through the green string going from the morgle into Shigmar. The morgle snarled as his shield began to weaken when Blakstar cut the white string; the kortexi saw the string begin to unravel swiftly, saw also that it was two strings, although one of them, much thinner and not diving so deeply under the city, faded before he could do more then take note of the direction. The morgle lifted the rod from the ground, the arch winked out, slicing any who were on its threshold in two, and he heard screams of pain suddenly cut off.

Quickly! came Thal’s voice, follow that string!

Come back Saturday for another installment of our tale, in which the chosen, traveling through the mental realm, discover where the mental string leads them. Get a full ebook copy from Smashwords for free!. If you prefer print, purchase your copy from the link provided. Good reading!