Staff of Shigmar: Chapter 9, Part 1

30 April 2026

In the next installment of our story, the second book of The Redemption series, Staff of Shigmar, we rejoin our heroes as they begin to journey through the elemental realm of earth, facing the strange creatures of this realm. . . . (19 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 9, Part 1

Although dimensional slices reflect the values of their tekson creator, one cannot remove the influence of Gar; I fear that if left to themselves, over time, any created dimensional slice would fall under Gar’s influence, altering the conditions of its creation, even though their personal nature would prevent him or his minions from entering directly. . . .

from Annals of Melbarth, Ninth Series, Early Lectures of the Hierarchs
Lecture by Sedra Melbarth

They stood at the center of a small, sandy clearing, surrounded by jagged chunks of stone, from the size of a clenched fist to the size of a small house. The sky was dark, lit with an orange hue, devoid of stars, or moon, or sun. The sand of the clearing around them was empty of plants or animals, and they only heard distant rumblings, punctuated by the sounds of cracking stone coming from every direction; the sound echoed and reverberated hollowly, as if they were inside a large stone dome. Clouds of red-brown dust billowed around them from time to time, making it difficult to breath; Tevvy and Thal were coughing, and the awemi pulled his hood up around his mouth, as he had done in the sewers of Shigmar that seemed to be an age and universe away. The others took cloths from pockets, tying them around their heads to cover their mouths and noses, having learned from their experiences in the sewers under Shigmar. The ground beneath their feet shook suddenly, making them, and the stones around them, reel to and fro like an inn’s common room filled with drunken farmers and merchants trying to dance. The sharp retorts of cracking stones pierced their ears, painful for its closeness and loudness. The sand beneath their feet started to boil, as if pushed up from below, pebbles and shards of stone coming up out of the sand, while pebbles and shards of stone already lying on the sand moved out from the center of the sandy area to be ground under by the twisting and rolling boulders surrounding them, throwing up new clouds of dust that rolled over them, obscuring their view. Each quickly closed his eyes when the thick dust clouds rolled over them as the gritty dust stung the eyes. As quickly as it started, the shaking ground and grinding boulders stopped, the sounds echoing away into silence, returning as distant rumbles and cracks. The sand ceased its boiling, and they saw, churned up from the depths, a broken hilt, part of a belt buckle, and the broken stock of a crossbow, all of them pocked with holes and scoured clean. Blakstar nudged the broken hilt with one boot.

“That’s ominous,” Tevvy said, voice muffled.

Each had managed to keep his feet by using his weapon to help steady him.

“Did you notice what happened to the path?” Blakstar asked, pointing to the only way out of the sandy clearing.

“I was a bit busy,” Klaybear noted wryly, “trying to keep on my feet. I think if one fell down during one of those earthquakes, one would be carried straight to the edge of the sand and be eaten by the boulders.”

Blakstar nodded. “That is exactly what happened to the path,” he said, “only problem is the path is so narrow that a single stumble to the right or left . . . ,” he left it hanging.

“This might be challenging,” Klaybear said.

Even though his hood covered the lower half of his face, they could tell Tevvy’s mouth was open.

“Challenging?” Tevvy repeated, hardly believing what he had heard. “Are you crazy? We’ll be lucky if even one of us gets through here alive!”

Thal seemed to ignore Tevvy’s outburst; he was tapping the cloth covering his chin.

“We are meant to pass through this,” Blakstar said, turning without another word to follow the path.

Tevvy leaped after him. “Wait!” he exclaimed. “You don’t know if it’s safe!”

“It isn’t,” Blakstar replied without turning.

Klaybear touched Thal’s arm. “We better follow them,” he said, “I do not think we should get separated in this place.”

Thal came out of his thoughts. “You are right,” he said, “we should not linger.”

“Let’s hope we do not get another earthquake while we are crossing this narrow path,” he noted. Rumbling and cracking echoed from the east, then south-southwest, northeast and closer, west and farther away.

“There may be a way,” Thal mumbled.

“You have an idea?” Klaybear asked, as they hurried to catch Tevvy and Blakstar. Rumbling and cracking echoed from the southwest and very close; they paused on the narrow path as thick clouds rolled toward them.

Thal nodded, shielding his eyes from the dust. “Maybe,” he noted, “there is an orthek that creates a disc of air that floats above the ground.” Rumbling and cracking from the distant south, southwest and closer, southeast and distant. “This orthek allows the maghi to float above the ground, and when I’m more skilled, I can move the disc around.”

“How does that help us?” Klaybear asked. Rumbling and cracking from the far distant west.

“I can float on the disc,” he said as they caught up to the kortexi, and the ground beneath them shook violently. Thal shouted the words, “pleudkweklo,” and he was floating about two feet off the ground. “Grab onto me!” he shouted. “I cannot lift you, but at least I can steady you!”

Klaybear grabbed Thal’s ankle with one hand, dancing insanely as the sandy path boiled beneath him, moving his feet inexorably toward the grinding boulders on either side. Blakstar did the same thing, holding onto Thal from the other side, doing a similar crazy reel. Tevvy could not reach the white maghi as he floated, so he simply crawled onto the kortexi’s back, clinging there as would a child. Thal shook from side to side because of the vibrations passing through the two holding onto his legs, but his floating disc held steady, although beads of sweat formed on his face as he concentrated on keeping the disc afloat. As suddenly as it had come, the shaking stopped, the boulders stopped rolling, and the sandy path under their feet stopped boiling. Klaybear and Blakstar let go of Thal, who released the orthek and floated slowly back to the ground.

“That was useful,” Klaybear noted.

“You can get down now,” Blakstar snapped, irritated.

Tevvy unclenched his hands and slid down the kortexi’s back. As soon as his bare feet touched the sand, he ran forward as quickly as he could to the next clearing.

Klaybear started to laugh, but his laugh turned quickly into a cough as the air around them was heavy with stone dust.

“I think he’s got the right idea,” Thal mumbled, indicating that Blakstar should hurry after him.

The three of them jogged after Tevvy, soon entering the clearing. They stopped dead, seeing the awemi hurl one of his daggers straight at a pile of stones walking toward them. There were half-a-dozen of the creatures moving toward them, each about six feet tall, each looking as if some nearly-blind god had taken stones and piled them together to form legs, torso, arms, and head, then animated them. Tevvy’s dagger hit the closest creature in the chest where a person’s heart would be; the dagger shattered into a hundred pieces falling harmlessly onto the sand.

Tevvy turned to look at his companions. “I think we’re in trouble!” he exclaimed, backing toward the others.

Each of the creatures had only a single hole at the center of its head, which head was smaller than the companions’; the hole was filled with a gemstone that glowed with orange light. The creatures paused and shook, filling the clearing with the sound of many stones clunking together.

“I think they are laughing at me,” Tevvy said, moving behind his companions.

Blakstar leaped forward, brandishing his sword, the stone glowing and the blade licked by golden flames; Klaybear followed, swinging his mace, which glowed with green flames. Blakstar deflected the arm of the lead creature with his shield, swung his sword in an overhand stroke, severing the other arm of the lead creature. The blade scraped between the chest and arm in a shower of golden sparks and a flash of orange light, the stony arm fell to the sand. The creature fell onto its knees in front of the kortexi, who stood momentarily stunned by its behavior, prostrate in front of him as if it were suing for clemency. A green flaming mace swung down, shattering the stony head; the creature fell apart.

“Didn’t I tell you,” Thal noted from behind Blakstar, “that we’d be in for a surprise the first time you used that sword?”

“Go for the head!” Klaybear shouted, “it seems to be holding them together.” He stepped to Blakstar’s left, bringing his green flaming mace down upon the head of the creature on that side. For the second time, a stony head shattered, and the creature of piled stones fell apart.

Taking his cue from the kailu, Blakstar again leaped toward the next creature, swinging his sword cross-body and aiming at the space between head and chest. The flaming blade scraped between the stones, golden sparks flew, orange light flashed, the stone head fell off the creature’s chest, and the body prostrated itself on the ground before the kortexi. For the second time, Blakstar paused, stunned by the behavior, and as he stood there, Tevvy darted forward from behind the stunned kortexi, stabbed his dagger into the eye hole of the stone head, and popped the glowing orange gem out of the eye hole. The creature fell apart in a flash of orange light, and Tevvy darted back behind Blakstar.

Thal raised his glowing rod in one hand and held up his other hand, open with palm outward. “Ghesorsista!” he shouted, and pieces of yellow light gathered to form a hand of yellow air in front of one of the creatures. This creature paused to look at the transparent yellow hand, then tried to walk through it. Thal staggered back as the creature walked into the hand of air, and the hand wavered. Thal pushed himself forward, pushing the creature back momentarily, but then the creature started forward again, pushing both hand and maghi back. “I can’t hold it long,” he hissed through clenched teeth.

Blakstar moved toward one of the creatures, one closest to him not blocked by Thal’s orthek. To his left, Klaybear moved toward the other free creature. Instead of swinging his sword to sever head from chest, the kortexi lunged forward and stabbed at the glowing eye, crushing the orange gem and putting out the light. The creature fell apart. Klaybear crushed the head of the fifth creature moments after Blakstar stabbed his. Thal released his orthek just before the creature pushed him into the sharp boulders surrounding the clearing. The kortexi stepped to his left, intending to stab the final stone creature, but Tevvy hissed from behind.

“Cut off his head,” the awemi said, “I want to get one of those stones intact.”

Blakstar altered his steps, swinging his sword in a wide arc. The flaming blade scraped between stony head and chest, causing another shower of golden sparks and a flash of orange light; the body fell forward, the head fell back, and Tevvy darted forward, leaning on the head while trying to pry out the glowing orange gem. The head and body started thrashing around, hurling Tevvy from it. Klaybear stepped forward and crushed the head.

Tevvy stood and brushed himself off. “I wanted that one whole!” he exclaimed.

Klaybear shrugged. “Sorry,” he said, “I thought you needed help with it.”

Thal stooped where he was and picked up one of the orange gems. “I think I saw another fly off over there,” he said, pointing. He held the gem in the palm of his left hand and passed his glowing right hand and rod over it. “There is a hint of teka, but I cannot tell what it is; I need more time to study it.” He slipped it into one of his pockets.

Look for further adventures in this dimensional slice of earth on Saturday and see how the creatures of this realm are not the only things this group of chosen have to contend with! Get a full ebook copy from Smashwords for free! If you prefer print, purchase your copy from the link provided. Good reading.