Staff of Shigmar: Chapter 9, Part 2

2 May 2026

We return with another installment in the serialization of the second book of our epic fantasy, Staff of Shigmar. We continue to follow our heroes as they struggle through the elemental realm of earth. Blakstar soon discovers that the power of his sword to overcome his foes does not come without a cost. . . . (26 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 2

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.

Tevvy walked in the direction Thal had pointed, and, after a moment of careful searching, he found a second gem, looking it over carefully before pocketing it.

“Why do you want that thing?” Blakstar asked.

“It’s probably worth something,” Tevvy said shiftily.

Blakstar turned away shaking his head.

“We ought to collect as many of them as we can,” Thal added. “They might have useful elemental properties when we return them to our own plane.”

“Even if they don’t,” Tevvy said, “they look to be quite valuable.”

Rumbling and cracking still sounded all around them, sometimes distant, sometimes close by, sending clouds of thick, stone dust rolling over them.

“Those stone men would be difficult to handle,” Tevvy noted, “if the ground were shaking beneath us. I suspect they would not be bothered by it.”

The others nodded, looking around warily. Rumbling and cracking sounds came from the distant west, and then all fell silent.

“I don’t like that,” Tevvy noted, looking around, his voice sounding shrill in the unnatural silence, “it doesn’t bode well.”

They looked around again, watching for signs of what the oppressive silence signified, many slow breaths passing before anything happened. The ground beneath them gave an almighty heave, hurling all of them from their feet, then the ground shook more violently than before, the sound of boulders grinding around them deafening, the sand beneath them churning, the stones of the former stone men quickly moved to the edges of the sandy clearing, consumed by the boulders grinding around them. All tried to get back to their feet, made more difficult by the sand flowing like water toward the edges of the clearing. Thal managed again to create his floating disc, shouting for the rest to come and hold on. Klaybear and Blakstar were closer to Thal, and so were able to get close enough to grab onto him; Tevvy was too far away, although more agile, he was keeping his feet, running as fast as his legs would go, but he was slowly moving closer to the edge and the grinding boulders. Thal shouted, and Blakstar let go of Thal’s ankle, both moving and allowing the flowing, churning sand to move him toward the struggling awemi. Klaybear turned, and, in spite of the insane steps of the dance to keep his feet, he tried to push Thal and the floating disc closer to Tevvy; the sweat was running freely down the white maghi’s face in his effort to keep his disc floating. As the kortexi neared Tevvy, he turned and started his legs moving back toward Thal, sure that his forward momentum would carry him to Tevvy before his body changed directions. He stretched his hand toward Tevvy’s reaching hand, their hands met and clasped, and Blakstar heaved Tevvy toward him. As soon as the awemi was close enough to Blakstar, he clambered up the kortexi’s back as before, and Blakstar ran back toward Thal and Klaybear. But the intelligence behind the churning sand and grinding boulders increased the fury of the shaking and churning. Although Blakstar had initially succeeded in moving closer to Thal, the increased flow of the sand toward the grinding boulders carried the running kortexi inexorably toward crushing death. Klaybear saw what was happening, so whipped out his staff with his free hand, stretching it as far as he could while still holding onto Thal. Blakstar lunged forward and caught hold of the end of the staff, but instead of pulling himself and Tevvy away from the grinding rocks, he pulled Klaybear and Thal closer to him and the spinning, clashing boulders.

Thal released his floating disc and, before it faded and he fell, shouted, “steighudnes!” and pointed his rod up. He started to rise, pulling Klaybear, and then Blakstar, with Tevvy clinging to his back. He grimaced when Klaybear’s weight pulled on his legs, and he groaned out loud, and Klaybear also groaned, as they lifted and dragged Blakstar up and across the churning sand. When the kortexi was directly beneath him, his strength faded, and he was dragged slowly down. The churning and rumbling sand and rocks slowed, and then stopped, and Thal surged upward when Klaybear released his legs. He lowered his rod and sank slowly down, stopping next to his panting and coughing companions, as thick clouds of dust rolled over them. Silence reigned when their coughing ceased.

Tevvy was white with fright. “Let’s get out of here before it happens again!”

The others looked around, listening, troubled by the total silence.

Klaybear looked up from where he sat on the sand. “Have you got some rope?” he asked Tevvy.

Tevvy was looking around. “Yes,” he said after a moment, although his voice still quavered. “It is thin and light, but very strong; I use it for climbing,” he explained. “What did you have in mind?”

“After what has happened,” Klaybear said, “I think we should rope ourselves together.”

Blakstar nodded. “I agree. That way, if it happens again . . . ,” he began, but Thal interrupted him.

“When it happens again,” Thal put in, “although it might not happen again for a while.”

“Why do you think that?” Blakstar asked.

“Whatever force controls this place,” Thal replied, “sounds, by the silence, to have expended all the energy it had, so I don’t think we need to worry until we hear the rumbling again.”

“Might I suggest,” Tevvy said, “an alternative: if we are all tied together, fighting will be difficult. I’ve got a couple of short pieces, and I can cut more, if we need them. I’ll give each of you a piece that you can tie around your waist, tie a loop in the other end, then coil the excess and loop it under your belts. At a moment’s notice, you can toss the loop to someone else, who needs only to put the loop around his wrist, Thal to Klaybear to Blakstar to me. Then, we are free to move as necessary while fighting.”

“Good idea,” Thal said, “but we should hurry, since every second we wait is used by our enemy to gather strength for another assault.”

The others nodded; Tevvy pulled several small coils of rope from his pack. “I can hand them to you, and you can tie them on while we walk.”

They moved forward in this manner, passing through three more clearings, becoming highly proficient at dispatching their stony opponents and roping themselves together following each battle to be lifted by Thal above the sand while it flowed like water beneath them. After the third encounter and earthquake, the kortexi fell to the sand, looking gray, coughing and gasping for breath, unable to move.

“What is wrong?” Klaybear asked, kneeling beside the fallen Blakstar.

“I’m spent,” Blakstar hissed between coughs. “This sword may bring my opponents to their knees,” he went on, wheezing, “but it has nearly drained the life out of me. I fear I cannot go on.”

Klaybear cursed under his breath. “Rokwolf hinted to me that this might happen,” he said, turning to the white maghi. “You are better at this kind of thing, come and show him how to draw energy from the sword: it is the reason why Rokwolf, and the morgle, could use the keys without becoming exhausted.”

Thal looked puzzled. “What do you mean?”

Before responding, Klaybear took his staff, drew energy from the air around them, and funneled it into the fallen kortexi. “The kortexem,” he said, slipping his staff back into the space between his back and pack, “are forbidden from using teka-enhanced weapons and artifacts, and so are not trained in their proper use.”

Thal’s face lit with comprehension. “Yes, of course,” he said, “that explains a lot.”

“Is that right?” Klaybear asked Blakstar.

The kortexi was sitting up, his breathing eased by the energy the kailu had given him. “Well, yes,” he said, “we are taught to depend on our physical strength and skill alone.”

“So all of your focus,” Thal said, “is on mundane weapons and armor.” Thal knelt on Blakstar’s other side. “Take out your sword,” he said, and when Blakstar had done so and placed it across his knees, all could see the pommel stone glowing and pulsing brilliantly; Thal laid one of his hands on the hilt over the kortexi’s hands. “Now, remember how we discovered the morgle’s door?”

Blakstar nodded.

“We will do the same thing,” Thal continued, “only we will be staying inside the sword; concentrate on the stone and its golden brilliance,” Thal noted.

The kortexi focused his eyes on the golden topaz affixed to the handle and concentrated.

After a moment, Thal spoke in Blakstar’s mind. Do you see that pool of power?

Yes, Blakstar thought.

Draw that back to yourself, Thal thought back, which should happen as soon as you touch it with your mind. Thal watched until Blakstar had drawn all of the energy back into himself. Do you see how it is done? he asked.

Yes, the kortexi replied.

Remember to do that after each battle, or as you need it. The more often you do that, the easier it will become, until you do it without thinking, Thal added.

Blakstar stood and put his sword away. “I feel great!” he exclaimed, and the color had returned to his cheeks.

Tevvy came back from where the path among the boulders moved forward. “We have a problem,” he noted.

“What is it?” Klaybear asked.

“The path goes forward a short way,” Tevvy replied, “then splits, going in two different directions.”

“Is there anything to indicate which way to go?” Klaybear asked.

“Without actually following them, no,” Tevvy replied, “which I am leery of doing alone, as I do not think I could survive an earthquake without help. However, the left path looks like it opens into a clearing, at least, I think I could see it opening up.”

The others raised their eyebrows, exchanging glances. “What do you mean?” Blakstar asked, his suspicion aroused.

Tevvy shrugged. “I don’t know how to explain it,” he said, “but the left fork appears to open into a clearing a short way down the path leading that direction. I could be wrong, since this place does not seem to follow normal rules; I have thought before that the path ahead was short, but it took longer to cover that space than it should have.”

Blakstar shook his head; Klaybear and Thal exchanged another glance.

“There is something strange,” Thal said, “about the way distance and time behave here. I have noticed that, although it has taken longer each time for our enemy to recover enough strength to attack us, we have been attacked by stone creatures and earthquake immediately upon entering any clearing.”

“I had noticed,” Klaybear agreed.

“So what do we do?” Tevvy asked.

Klaybear thought for a moment before responding. “I think we should go forward on the short path, just to see what is there, and then decide.”

The others nodded, and all moved quickly onto the path. Almost as soon as they entered the left way, a clearing opened, different from the others: this one was a depression, like a shallow bowl, with rocks like standing stones around the rim providing cover, as if they were supposed to see into the bowl without being seen by any who might be below. They took cover behind the rocks, looking carefully down. They could hear clinking sounds, and a rhythmic grinding sound that they soon discovered was stony chanting. Below, they saw a flat area at the bottom of the depression, a stone pillar at its center, surrounded by a score of the stone creatures, who appeared to be dancing and chanting around the stone pillar. Next to the pillar stood another stone creature, waving a rod topped with some kind of feathers. The stone pillar was revolving slowly, at the same speed as the creatures who circled, but in the opposite direction, and sinking slowly into the sand. As it turned, they could see chains binding something to the pillar, then they saw what was clearly a female figure, which caused them all to watch the pillar more closely.

Tune-in again next week, on Tuesday, and discover who is bound to this strange pillar, about to be sacrificed by the creatures of this realm to their god . . . or so it appears! Get a full ebook copy from Smashwords for free! If you prefer print, purchase your copy from the link provided. Good reading!