Staff of Shigmar: Chapter 18, Part 5

12 August 2026

Welcome back to all our readers as we continue the serialization of the second book of our epic fantasy, Staff of Shigmar. We return to our tale, following our three heroes as they are carried captive toward Shigmar. . . . (2 November 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 18, Part 5

Blakstar turned back to his companions. “How is he?” he asked softly, pointing at Klaybear who was slumped on the bed of the wagon.

Thal shook his head. “How are we going to get out of this?” Thal asked. “That is the more appropriate question.”

Blakstar looked forward at their weapons lying just in front of the cage on the bed of the wagon. He wanted to stand up, but the wooden bars overhead were too close. “Isn’t there anything you can do?” he asked, pointing to their weapons.

Thal shook his head. “Although you cannot see them, we are surrounded by black maghem and red kailum. Just at the edge of my hearing, they are chanting their ortheks, keeping the shield around us. If I tried to, say, lift my rod to me, the orthek would bounce back at me lifting me into the shield where I would be burned by the teka fire surrounding us. I think they hoped I would try. They certainly baited you and Klaybear for that very reason: to see you hurl yourself against the bars and be burned.”

Blakstar sighed and looked around. “Where are they taking us?”

“To Shigmar,” Thal said softly, “do you not recognize the road we travel?”

Blakstar nodded once after looking around them again. “At this rate, we will not be there until sundown.”

Thal nodded. “You rest,” he said, “you look like you could use it.”

Blakstar laughed once. “Rest,” he chuckled, “as if I could.”

“There is nothing else you can do,” Thal replied. “My mother . . . ,” he started to say, and Blakstar saw the tear forming in his eye, “she always taught me to take advantage of the opportunities placed before me. Since there is nothing we can do right now, you might as well enjoy the ride.”

Blakstar shook his head, but chuckled again in spite of their hopeless situation.

“I’ll wake you the moment anything changes,” Thal added.

Noon came and went; the afternoon moved toward sunset, ticked off by the constant “creak-creak” of the wagon’s wooden axle as the wheels went round and round. The ponkolu and purem continued to taunt the three caged, alternating between direct insults and vulgar stories of their violent exploits. Seeing the anger and frustration growing in his two companions, Thal touched both of their foreheads with a finger, creating a tiny envelope of silence around each head, so that neither could hear what the purem were saying; both rested fitfully after that. Thal sat cross-legged with his elbows resting on his knees, passing the time by meditating upon the facts and history of what had happened over the past few days, and what might happen in the future. He kept one ear on the conversations of their captors, hoping to glean more information that might help him to see new patterns among what he already knew, when he noticed the creaking of the wagon had ceased. He focused on his surroundings and realized at once they had stopped moving. The purem guarding the wagon were whispering among themselves, wondering, as Thal, why they had stopped. He saw no sign of the ponkolu. It was an hour before sunset; as Thal looked around, he saw they had stopped near the place where he and his companions had first entered the road as they traveled north from Shigmar: the city of the kailum must be just around these hills. The purem began looking around nervously; from their whispers, Thal gleaned that they should have met another company by now, to escort them, but the company had not arrived. Thal felt, and then he could hear, the chanting of the red kailum and the black maghem change, as if some of the voices had stopped chanting. He listened more carefully, saw the two purem driving the wagon exchanging nervous glances, and heard the chanting change again. He touched his companions, canceling the silence he had placed around them, roused them but held both still, to keep them from sitting up and alerting their purem guards, who were still looking around nervously.

“Hold still,” Thal whispered to them through clenched teeth. “We’ve stopped, and it sounds like some of those maintaining the shield around us have turned to do something else.”

“Can you break through?” Klaybear whispered.

“I’ll check,” Thal whispered back, reaching out tentatively with his mind, which was not thrown back, but the barrier was still there. Yet even as he probed, he felt it weaken further still, and he knew that the time had nearly come for action. Shouting and curses suddenly erupted around them, just beyond the edge of the trees all surrounding the road. “It’s weakening,” he whispered, and after another moment, “get ready,” he noted, “I’m going to try and cut through the shield on the side nearest our weapons. If I can breach it for a moment, I think I can call my rod into my hand, and then I can shatter the shield, and maybe the cage while I’m at it.”

“Don’t worry about the cage,” the kortexi noted coldly, “if the shield is gone, I will make sure the bars follow.”

“Together,” Klaybear said as coldly, “we will make the bars disappear.”

“And the purem guarding us will rue the day they were chosen for this job,” Blakstar added.
Thal shook his head but did not reply. He checked the shield again and saw that it had weakened further. “Ready?” he whispered.

They nodded. “The roof?” Blakstar asked.

“The roof,” Klaybear replied, and both shifted and rolled slowly sideways, until both were squatting on their feet. “For Klare,” Klaybear noted.

Blakstar nodded. “And all others they have violated.”

Thal noticed the looks on both faces and thought that if he were one of the purem and saw those looks, he would start running. “Watch me,” he whispered, and he stabbed at the shield with his mind. They heard a pair of strangled cries from somewhere in front of the wagon; the purem around the wagon looked nervously in that direction. The shield opened; Thal reached past the bars with the hands of his mind, lifted and brought his rod through the bars into his outstretched right hand. When his fingers closed around his rod, a bolt of white light shot straight up through the bars over their heads, then the bolt curved suddenly and shot toward the area in front of the wagon. They heard screams of pain, suddenly cut off. “Now!” Thal shouted. Blakstar and Klaybear threw their shoulders against the bars, their normal strength enhanced by their anger over what had happened to Klare, over being captured, caged, and taunted. The rough bars overhead creaked, then cracked, then burst under the force of righteous anger. As the two leaped over the cage to grab their weapons, Thal stood and shot bolts of forked lightning at the two purem driving the wagon, who had turned to see what the noise behind them was, and so both took the bolts full in the chest and were blasted from their seats.

On Friday, we will see the rest of this battle, and meet someone new! Until then, get a full ebook copy from Smashwords for free! If you prefer print, purchase your copy from the link provided. Good reading!