Staff of Shigmar: Chapter 8, Part 3

28 April 2026

Welcome back! In today’s installment of the serialization of the second book of our epic fantasy, Staff of Shigmar, we rejoin our heroes as Klaybear equips his new weapons and armor before they move on to the next stage of their quest for Shigmar’s staff, discovering what they will next face in order to fulfill their quest. . . . (12 January 2015) 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 8, Part 3

Klaybear smiled as he looked at his new weapon, then looked back at Thal. “I was leaning on the crate when I reached in,” he noted.

Thal looked puzzled. “Maybe the two combined?” he suggested, sounding at a loss.

Klaybear shrugged and walked over to the crate, reached out carefully, and gingerly touched it, jerking his finger away as soon as he touched the wood. When nothing happened, he put his hand on the crate. “Nothing,” he spoke softly.

Thal shook his head. “That is quite odd,” he said, looking at the crate and its contents.

Klaybear nodded. “Not much we can do about it now,” he said, eyeing the contents of the crate, “except put on this armor and get going.” He smiled at his companions and laid the mace carefully on an unopened crate; he removed his robe, then reached in and lifted out the leather jerkin, pulling it over his undershirt. He pulled out the shirt of brass rings, then stopped, looking at his companions. “What?” he asked, seeing the expressions on all their faces.

“You sure that you are all right?” Thal asked, voicing the question in all their minds. “We have had, after all, several difficult days, with little rest, and you were just accosted by your vision.”

“So?” Klaybear asked.

Thal looked at Tevvy and Blakstar, who both had shot a glance toward the other side of the room, where the cots rested. “Well, some of us are quite tired,” Thal went on, “so we were thinking of resting before we move on.”

“Not me,” Klaybear noted, throwing the shirt of rings over his head, which made a clanking sound as the rings slid over his helmet. He buckled the shirt in place, then reached for the belt. “I feel great!” he said, wrapping the belt around his hips and buckling it.

“Of course you feel great!” Blakstar snapped. “You just drank the Waters of Life!”

Thal and Tevvy looked suddenly at the kortexi, while Klaybear took out the leg greaves and buckled them over his shins.

“Why can’t we,” Tevvy asked, “drink some of these Waters?”

Blakstar was surprised by the question. “You’re not hurt . . . ,” he began, but Tevvy interrupted him.

“But we are tired,” Tevvy noted, “wouldn’t drinking the Waters give us energy? And aren’t we in a hurry to find the staff?”

Blakstar looked from Tevvy to Thal, then back to Tevvy again; Klaybear was now strapping on his arm greaves. “I don’t have much left,” he said, “shouldn’t we save them for a worse moment, when one of us lies dying?”

“I thought you said,” Tevvy went on, “that there was a fountain in the tomb? Couldn’t we refill it there?”

Without thinking, Blakstar turned to the portal that would lead them forward. “It is somewhere ahead.”

“Klaybear didn’t drink very much,” Tevvy said, “and look at him.” They all turned to look at the kailu, who was pulling out the breastplate.

“I’ll need some help with this,” Klaybear noted, holding it up.

“He looks quite energetic,” Thal noted, looking back at the kortexi. “And isn’t this the reason why you carry those Waters?” he asked.

Blakstar’s face fell suddenly. “I’m sorry,” he apologized, “but I fear that our haste and my tiredness has clouded my thinking; I should have suggested it sooner.” He offered the skin to Thal. “A swallow should be enough,” he added as Thal took the flask and unstoppered it.

The white maghi took a sip and held it in his mouth before swallowing; his eyes lit up, and he dropped the skin. Tevvy caught it and took a swallow, and he smiled widely, taking a second mouthful.

Blakstar looked down from Thal and took the skin from the awemi; Tevvy’s eyes had gone distant.

Thal’s eyes, then Tevvy’s, came back to the present and focused on the room; both smiled, then said together, “Let’s go; I feel great!”

Blakstar smiled weakly back at them, then drank from the skin. He swallowed and put the stopper back in, returning it to his belt. His smile mirrored Thal’s and Tevvy’s.

“If you have finished grinning at each other,” Klaybear said, a note of impatience in his voice, “then maybe one of you can help me put on my breastplate?”

They laughed before Blakstar and Thal went to help Klaybear; Tevvy went to the portal that led forward.

“There is another inscription here,” Tevvy said, as Klaybear picked up his new mace and hung it from his belt. He picked up his shield and strapped it to his right arm.

Thal moved over to where Tevvy stood looking at the portal. He looked over the inscription, then turned toward Klaybear. “How would you translate repindo?” he asked.

Klaybear thought for a moment. “Snatching, or maybe seizing,” he replied.

Thal looked back at the inscription under the arched portal. “It says, Thrown from a heart of fire, creatures who are made of stone, seizing those of flesh, corrupted by contact with evil, swiftly takes them to the gate of the house of death, I think,” Thal added as he finished, brow furrowed.

Klaybear pointed to one of the words. “Isn’t that the evil one?” he asked.

“Oh, yes,” Thal said, “corrupted by contact with the evil-one, it should say.”

Tevvy looked puzzled. “But who is seized, who is corrupted, and who is taken to the gate?” he asked.

“Well, it is poetry,” Thal noted, “so it is the stone creatures who are corrupted by evil, and who seize creatures of flesh and take them to the gate, or I should say, kill them.”

“And that is supposed to help us?” Tevvy asked. “How?”

“The arch,” Thal said, pointing, “is a portal. Notice these symbols,” he pointed to various parts of the arch, “around the arch. Each symbol activates the portal, opening a doorway to different places, depending on which symbol is activated.”

“So how do we know which to activate?”

“Earth,” Klaybear said; Thal nodded.

“How do you figure that?” Tevvy asked.

“Creatures of stone,” Klaybear said.

“And Shigmar told us above,” Thal added, “that we had to pass through the elemental realms and be tested in each.”

“But it also mentioned fire,” Tevvy protested. “Couldn’t it also be fire?”

Thal shook his head. “The stone creatures were thrown from the heart of fire, and they are doing all the actions, so it must be earth.”

“What happens if you are wrong,” Tevvy asked, “if you choose the wrong symbol?”

Thal shrugged. “Anything from nothing,” he replied, “to instant death.”

“Fine,” Tevvy quipped, “you won’t mind if I get out of the way before you try?”

Thal ignored him; Klaybear pointed to a symbol on the left side of the arch. Thal reached out one hand, the end of his index finger glowing white. “Has everybody got everything?” he asked before touching the symbol. “Everybody ready?” He waited for their nods.

“Do I have any choice?” Tevvy asked; he had moved to stand behind the kortexi.

“No,” three voices spoke together.

Thal touched the symbol for earth; the portal flared to life, filled with a gray shimmering similar to the archway opened with Blakstar’s sword. They turned to look at Tevvy.

“You first,” Klaybear said, “followed by Blakstar, then me, then Thal. Weapons ready, I think.” Three nods were followed by the sound of Blakstar’s sword and Tevvy’s short sword sliding from scabbards; a dagger appeared in Tevvy’s left hand; Thal slipped out his rod, spoke a word, “kreska,” and the rod lengthened and thickened into a stout quarterstaff, although still gray; Klaybear held up his mace. “May the One hold us safely in His hand,” he prayed and nodded to Tevvy, who grimaced and stepped into the portal. He disappeared from sight; Blakstar followed, then Klaybear, then Thal, and the light of the portal went out.

Come back Thursday for another installment of our tale as this group of chosen begin to journey through the elemental realm of earth in their quest for Shigmar’s fabled staff. Get a full ebook copy from Smashwords for free! If you prefer print, purchase your copy from the link provided. Good reading!