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‘THE DARKLING TOOK WHO?’ I asked, my confident facade splitting. Nerves bubbling up in my throat. The vine I’d used to show off my ability withered and collapsed to the ground.
‘It didn’t just stop at Ghiaso, to ensure a new Seer was not chosen, it took every young girl from our village.’ the Chieftain explained, his head hung in shame. ‘It…it overpowered my man, our hunting party lay at the mercy of our healers.’
‘Show me to them, perhaps there is something I can do,’ I said, almost pleading for his permission to aid them. ‘My comrades; Tarasque and Barcius will stay here and discuss the situation, please give them any information you feel is necessary before our departure. Mitztail and I will assist the healers.’
The Chieftain rose from his throne, ‘You mean to aid us?’ he asked, shocked by my admission. ‘We almost slaughtered these folk on the grounds they were believed to be heretics, yet you truly are willing to assist our plight?’
‘I am. Tarasque has a warrior’s heart and Barcius, well he’s a scholar, I’m sure he would love the opportunity to discuss your realm.’
The firbolg clicked his fingers, not a second later another appeared wearing leather armaments. He kneeled before the Chieftain, who in turn whispered commands in his ear. I watched the guard nod, rise and salute to my comrades.
‘You two, please follow me. I understand you’ve been granted permission to speak with the hunting party. Very few of our men survived the wrath of the darkling, I only hope you fare with better odds and we did,’ he said.
Tarasque scoffed, ‘We’re seasoned adventurers and I for one have never met a fiend I could not slay.’ She slammed her fist into her hand, but the tiefling rolled his eyes.
‘I entrust my comrades to your company. We’ll regroup when you’ve concluded business.’
The pair of them gave a single nod to agree and followed the guard out the back entrance, leaving Mitztail and I standing in the centre of the hut waiting for the Chieftain to give his next command. Next the crowd were dismissed from the hut, and still I held my ground.
‘Rohan,’ the Chieftain called out.
A slender firbolg snaked around the crowd, hauling books under his arm and pushing his glasses up his nose, ‘Yes sir,’ he said sheepishly.
‘Take the Lady Seer and her pet to the healers.’
The weedy firbolg nodded, turned on his heel until his eyes landed on us.
‘Pet!’ Mitztail hissed. ‘I’ll have mew know I’m a respectable-’
‘Mitztail,’ I snapped, interrupting him mid rant. I glanced at him and then to the chieftain and shook my head.
The tabaxi removed his hardee and bow in an apologetic fashion, before we both followed the scholar out of the hut.
‘Return my daughter,’ I heard the chieftain plead before I left, ‘Bring them all home safely.’
I sighed, glanced back and said, ‘We’ll do our best. You have my word. We shall not fail you.’
Back outside, the sun shone through the upper canopy, illuminating Niverson’s Grove in all its natural glory. Just being around the firbolgs and being back within a forest reminded me too much of home. I had to keep it together for the sake of my comrades and to conclude this trial with haste.
The firbolg led us to another communal hut, elevated cots sat in neat rows running the length of the building. I stared in horror, every single bed was occupied by someone. This had been the hunting party who went up against the darkling the night the girls were stolen.
I looked at each of them in term, their cries muffled by layers of bandages. Healers darted across the room, aiding any who screamed in agony.
‘What ails them?’ I asked the firbolg. I eyed the concoctions the healers were tending too, using natural herbs to fashion healing elixirs, but their portions were all wrong.
‘That’s just it, we don’t know,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘A secondary hunting party was sent in after them; they were found outside Niverson’s Temple, paralysed to the ground yet screaming out in agony. We bought them here of course, hoping to aid their recovery but it seems something is keeping them stuck in this stasis.’
Much like I’d experienced the previous night. A curse from the darkling.
‘Allow me to assist,’ I replied, walking over to the healer fashioning healing potions, ‘I don’t wish to tell you how to do your job, but your method is wrong. The most this will cure is a headache.’ I ushered them away and started a new batch, pulling herbs from my own supplies.
I heard shuffling behind me, and the familiar sound of a lute being gently strummed. I glanced back to see Mitztail playing a sombre melody, lulling the soldiers into a dreamless sleep. Once I’d finished crafting the new healing potions, I divided them amongst the healers.
‘These should aid in their recovery. While it may not save them from the darkling’s curse entirely, it may keep them close from death until we can eliminate the fiend,’ I explained. ‘I’ve procured enough of the elixir till our return. But should the worst happen, I’ve left instructions of how to recreate the elixirs in my absence.’
I gathered up the remainder of my ingredients, shoving them into my satchel before re-joining my comrade. ‘Ready to check in with the others?’ I asked.
Mitztail gave a single nod of his head, finishing up his song with one final strum before taking off his hardee and bowing to the silent crowd, ‘I hope they will find comfort in their slumber. Saria’s medicine is unparalleled, I’ve had the honour of witnessing it work first hand. I don’t need to tell mew, I only hope you trust her.’
‘Thank you for all you have done,’ the scholar said.
I shook my head and replied, ‘It’s no trouble really, I only ask you to follow my instructions to the letter. It’s a healing elixir my mother created. She was the Seer before me, but sadly she died before we met. This elixir is her recipe, please cherish it so her memory can live on.’
The firbolg hummed, ‘You have my word.’
As we left the community, I spied our tiefling comrade leant against another building, barely a stone's throw away. I held up my hand, giving him a slight wave to signal our arrival. Barcius glanced up from the ground and locked eyes with me. He pushed himself off the wall and came over to greet us both.
‘Tarasque is inside finalising some details,’ he said.
‘Have you all the intel we need?’ I asked.
Barcius nodded, ‘Perhaps we must wait for her to conclude business before interrupting. Tarasque has shared some rather colourful language with the secondary hunting party.’
Mitztail frowned, ‘So, why are mew out here?’
‘She kicked me out.’
I couldn’t hold in my laughter. It was typical of him, a notorious scholar, to be kicked out of such an important meeting. No doubt he talked over our leader, probably with another one of his theory crafts, but I didn’t want to press him for details.
A few moments passed before a firbolg emerged from the hut. He said nothing but ushered us into the communal hut where Tarasque stood, arms folded, at the head of a round table. Her Tempest shield rested on the edge of the table, weighing down a map of the forest. I scanned the parchment, making a mental note of every nook and cranny. There in the centre of the map, resided Niverson’s Grove, home to the firbolgs.
I quickly learnt the tribe, much like my own, had given themselves a name. The Nymphoods Tribe, a humble community of Firbolg who also worshipped the Wildmother, Melora. North of the grove was the Temple of Niverson, the first firbolg to find and claim this forest for his tribe.
Barcius stood off to the corner, still brooding over his dismissal before our arrival. He’d retrieved his book and began jotting out any information he deemed important. I peered over his shoulder, spying the details he’d already written. Notes on specific landmarks and details of every child that was missing. I admired his attention to the task at hand, a feeling of pride swelled within my body. My gut screamed out, reassuring me that this trial would be a success.
Tarasque concluded her business with the secondary hunting party. They’d been ordered to stay behind and wait for our signal before stepping in and escorting the stolen children to safety. Our group, the Ashen Order, would take the fight to the fiend head on, eliminate the threat and collect the sacred relic we believed to be sealed away in the temple.
A flawless plan, what could go wrong?
We were given basic provisions for our journey and stocked up on the supplies we already carried. Once our mission concluded we wouldn’t be returning to the Niverson’s Grove or have a moment to bid farewell to the Nymphoods Tribe.
I hoped in completing this task for them, I would begin to feel less guilty about the past. Once I was the darkling slain, I might finally be able to sleep easier. But this was all hope and no guarantee.
We set off for our adventure and as we stepped out of the comfort of the grove and the tribe’s hospitality, I took a moment to look back.
I held my crook before me and chanted, ‘May the Wildmother watch over you, for now and always. May your kind be safe and your land fertile for years to come.’ A faint glow illuminated my fingers and with a tap in the air, a watery veil encapsulated the grove. A protective enchantment that should hold for many moons to come.
Tarasque glared at me, ‘Why should we trust you?’ she asked, her brows furrowed.
‘What do you mean?’
‘You had every opportunity to tell us about your past, you didn’t think being banished from your tribe was important enough to say?’
I shook my head and replied, ‘But you never asked. You didn’t pry me for the details.’
‘Are you saying we should have?’
‘No, I’m only asking you to trust me.’
‘Trust you?’ Tarasque spat. She grabbed my shoulders, shaking me. ‘I can’t trust a liar.’
‘Easy!’ Mitztail hissed, getting between us.
Barcius was on the other side, hauling the fire genasi back, ‘Calm down. At least give her a chance; both to prove herself and explain.’
I stumbled back, falling into the marsh and covering myself in mud. My crook fell from my hand, a short distance away from me. A fire was lit inside of me, and I screamed, I wasn’t backing down. ‘I couldn’t tell you, just like I didn’t tell you what happened last night. The darkling found me, its voice poisoning my dreams. I couldn’t move, all I could do was lie there while it tortured me, just it had the hunting party. I want to see an end to the fiend, once and for all. I owe that much to my brother.’
The earth began to shake, driving the fauna of the forest out from their hiding places. Four giant toads crashed into the marsh, splashing me with murky water and mud. One landed inches away from me, its front legs trapping me in position. I stared up at the creature, fear overwhelmed me.
Out of the corner of my eye I spied Tarasque drawing her greatsword, ‘Is this your doing?’ she bellowed at me, ‘Call them off, Saria.’
I heard Mitztail hiss then squeal, I turned to see him suspended in mid-air by another toad’s tongue. Salvia soaked his fur. ‘Saria, help I knead you!’
When I looked for our tiefling comrade, I couldn’t see him at first, but I soon found him up in a tree with his notebook in hand, scribbling. Even in a dire moment such as this to be studying the creatures instead of aiding us three.
Did I influence them to come? I have to help them.
I looked around for my crook, but I realised it was too far to reach, especially while I was still pinned by the toad. ‘Time to try something different,’ I muttered to myself, and drove my hands into the slimy earth. I clawed through layers of marsh and mud until I rooted myself in place.
The earth obeyed my call, two vines sprouted from the mud and wrapped themselves around the toads stomach. I shuffled myself out from under it, and hurried to fetch my crook. Once in my hands, I began chanting an incantation to charm animals, an odd trick Elder Sheatu taught me. I didn’t think the spell would ever come in handy.
‘Hear me, feel me, obey me,’ I said softly, closing my eyes to focus on each one of the toads. ‘Release.’ I opened my eyes and watched the slimy creatures. Their demeanour shifted, their crimson eyes dulled to amber, and neither of them looked like they wanted to attack us. I held out a hand towards the toad I’d snared, inching closer. ‘There, there. We mean you no harm. You have our word.’
Mitztail crashed down into the marsh once his toad had been released from the charm. ‘Great, now I look as bad as mew.’ He sat up in the mud and began sulking.
I laughed, looking down at myself, not a spec of me wasn’t covered in marsh water, mud or leaves. The giant toads now quelled, they bobbed about in place, seemingly waiting for their next command. I released the single toad from his vine restraints and stroked its cheek.
‘They were corrupted by the Darklings magic,’ I explained, but to no one in particular. ‘I sense much of this side of the forest will be tainted in the same way. The air feels denser here, colder almost. I think this is why we keep going round in circles. The darkling is playing games with us.’
Tarasque sheathed her greatsword and folded her arms across her chest, ‘You mean it is toying with us and preventing us from advancing. But why, surely it’s eager to see you again? Have you two not got unfinished business that needs to be concluded?’ she asked.
I nodded and replied, ‘Yes, I believe we do but the darkling is a minion of the archfey. Those from the feywild are wicked tricksters, this task was never meant to be easy, despite how it looked on paper.’
‘Then is it possible to use your affinity with the earth to find the correct location of the temple?’ Barcius asked.
‘I can only try,’ I said. I circled the marsh, trying to find an ideal spot to commune with the land. But at every location I tried, all I received was static screaming piercing through my ears. I dropped to my knees, clawing at the ground, yet I pushed through the madness, through the influence of the darkling to hone in on its location.
‘There,’ I shouted, trying to hear myself over the static screaming. ‘I… I’ve found it.’
Tarasque placed a hand on my shoulder, yanking me back and out of my trance, ‘Hey, you good?’ she asked.
I gave a slow nod of my head to agree, before speaking softly, trying to catch my breath. ‘The darkling’s influence is rooted deep in the earth, I can hear it. The fiend’s screaming, and it’s calling out my name.’
‘Then how do you propose we venture to the temple, if the influence is keeping us away?’
‘We’ll take the toads.’
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