Empire Builder 4: Breed, Populate, Conquer, page 14
The kin did as she was asked, rustling through one of the packs, pulling out a fist-sized crystal, and handing it over to Uzax. The wizard wasted no time hungrily gobbling it down. As he finished, Ben and Melody shared a look that suggested they were both worried that a great mistake had been made.
“It’s coming back,” Uzax said. “My power is coming back. Thank you, Ben. I’m going to prove to you that you made the right call in letting me assist you.”
Before Ben could say anything, another pair of aurochkin stepped into the transportation room. One carried—barely—Lyra’s enormous blade. She quickly took it from the kin, looking it over with pleasure before tucking it into her back strap.
The other aurochkin carried another blade, a longsword with a handle of red steel.
“What’s this?” Ben asked.
The aurochkin approached Ben and offered the sword.
“A little something from my personal collection,” Zito said. “I heard what happened to your sword—sad business! If you ask me, Ben, you’re going to need a blade worthy of your title as the emperor. This… well, this isn’t it. But it’ll get the job done in the meantime.”
Ben picked up the blade. It was well-balanced and light, and the shorter length of the sword was a good change of pace after the long, curved form of his previous sword. And he knew Zito was right—before too long, he’d need to make a blade that would serve him well in the battles to come.
He slipped the sword into his belt. “Let’s do this.”
Uzax nodded. “Come along. The sooner we move, the sooner we can accomplish the task.”
The group formed in the center of the room, the aurochkin leaving the bags with them before departing.
“Now,” Uzax said. “If a voice calls out to you in the darkness, do not follow it. Try your best to focus on nothing. It shouldn’t take long to arrive at all.”
Uzax held out his hand, a dark swirl forming around it and growing larger, pulling the group into it. Ben gasped, closing his eyes.
When he opened them, there was nothing but darkness around him.
Chapter 14
“ Beeeen. ”
The voice called to him through the darkness. It was a woman’s voice, sweet and inviting.
He said nothing in response, remembering what Uzax had told him. The darkness around him was total, so complete that he couldn’t even see his hand in front of his face. But there was another hand, one that reached out to him through the murky black.
Ben could see that it was a woman’s hand, the skin smooth and the fingers slender and long. It seemed to reach out through a tear in the black as if it were trying to save him and pull him out.
“The rest of them… they’re lost. But it’s not too late for you. Please, take my hand and let me save you.”
The fingers of the hand curled, beckoning him to take it.
“Please, you must hurry. If you don’t come with me, you’ll be trapped in this darkness forever. Ben, let me save you.”
He knew he had a choice—take the hand or trust Uzax. Indeed, the wizard had warned him something like this might happen. But what if the voice spoke the truth? What if the spell had gone wrong, and there was nothing to do but take the hand and be saved?
Ben quickly cast that aside.
“No. I’m not coming with you.”
The hand went limp. Then it stiffened and clenched into a fist.
“Fine!” The voice was different now, hard and deep and like that of an old woman—no longer sweet and light. “Come find me and meet your death. I promise I won’t make it easy!”
With that, the hand aged rapidly before Ben, turning from young and flawless to tough and wrinkled. Then it withdrew back into the black and was gone.
Once more, Ben was alone. But before he could spend too much time worrying whether or not he was trapped, the blackness vanished, and he found himself in mid-air. He hung for a moment, his eyes flashing wide with surprise before he dropped down to the ground, landing with a thud.
He groaned, pain throbbing through his shoulder where he landed. But he quickly realized that he wasn’t hurt too badly and wasted no time pushing off the ground and getting up. He looked around, seeing that he was in a forested area of tall trees, the thick trunks and massive height of the trees reminding him of the Pacific Northwest region back on Earth.
And there was something more to the setting—the unmistakable scent of seawater in the air. Ben looked around, and when he turned, he saw a sliver of blue in the far distance. He moved quickly, making his way around the thick trunks of the trees and toward the water. He hurried closer and closer, but to his confusion, he saw no beach approaching.
There was, however, an edge. Ben, in the middle of his run, looked down to see that he’d reached the edge of a cliff. The beach below was a good hundred feet down, the cliff face sheer and stark white. He realized that if he hadn’t stopped, he would’ve fallen to his death.
Once he’d stepped back and caught his breath, his heart still racing, Ben backpedaled from the cliff face and took stock of where he was. The first thing he noticed was that he was alone. Tension gripped his stomach as the fact dawned on him. He thought about the hand that had reached out to him in the dark.
Had it tried that with any of the others? he thought. What if they accepted?
He stepped close to the edge of the cliff once again, grabbing onto the branch of a nearby tree as he looked down. Just as the forest had reminded him of the Pacific Northwest, the sheer, white cliff face reminded him of the dramatic coasts of southern England. He’d never been there himself, having only seen them on TV and in movies, but all the same, the resemblance was striking.
But the scenery didn’t matter. What did was finding his companions.
Ben took one more look down at the beach, making sure that none of them were down there. When he was satisfied, he turned and started back into the forest. The air was strange and misty all around him, and something about the place compelled him to keep his hand hovering near the hilt of his new sword.
He wasn’t long into his trek before he heard the thump-thump-thump of something running through the forest. Without thinking, he gripped the handle of his sword and pulled the blade out, ready to fight whoever might be approaching. He thought of the fell beasts in the northern jungles and wondered if these woods contained similar beasts, ones just as deadly.
The thumping grew louder, and he turned in the direction of the noise, ready to drive his blade into whatever might emerge from the mist. Then he spotted it—a huge, purple thing running toward him. His heart raced and he prepared himself to fight.
But the closer the beast drew, the more familiar it seemed.
“Nipper?”
Sure enough, the creature running in from the woods was none other than his faithful monster. And on his back was Melody.
“Ben!” she cried, her smile big and wide and white among the fog. “Stop, Nip!”
Nipper came to a quick halt a few dozen paces from Ben. Melody gave him a quick pet, then hopped off his back. Ben looked her up and down, seeing that she was no worse for the wear.
“There you are!” she shouted, running over and throwing her arms around him. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you?”
Ben hugged her back, beyond happy to see the pair of them. Once he was done hugging Melody, he hurried over to Nipper and scratched the monster behind his ears. Nipper purred in response, letting Ben know that he was happy for the attention.
“You’ve been looking everywhere?” Ben asked. “Does that mean you’ve been here for a while?”
“Only twenty minutes or so. Nipper wasn’t too far from me, so I’d hoped that meant the rest of you would be near. No such luck, however.”
Ben glanced around at the trees, their height so extreme that their tops were invisible among the fog.
“Any idea where we are?”
“Maybe. I’m no expert on the northern continent, but I have heard legends about the massive Ashwood trees of the southern coast.”
“Ashwood?”
She nodded. “Take a closer look.”
Ben did as she asked, stepping closer to the nearest tree. Sure enough, the brown of the bark was dusted with some sort of substance that gave it the appearance of ash. Ben touched the bark, but the ash didn’t come off.
“They say there was a huge volcanic eruption around here somewhere that put out so much ash it permanently changed the bark of the trees.” Melody shrugged after she spoke. “But that could just be one of those things they say.”
“So, you think we’re on the southern coast of the continent?”
“That’d be my best guess. Not to mention the sun rising over in the west.” She pointed off in the distance, the sun a dull, orange orb through the fog. “Anyway, regardless of where we are, the best thing to do would be to get moving and find the rest of our party. If there’s a wizard around here, the last thing we want is to get caught while spread out.”
“I’m with you on that,” Ben said. “Let’s move out.”
The trio moved through the forest, Ben keeping his ear out for any sign of the rest of his group. His hand stayed near his sword—he knew he couldn’t forget that the wizard they’d come to find was somewhere nearby, perhaps already knowing that Ben and his group were here.
It wasn’t long before Ben and Melody spotted movement in the distance.
“There!” she whispered, pointing ahead. “That could be them!”
Ben narrowed his eyes, trying to see if he could make out more detail. But he couldn’t.
“Let me scout,” he said. “Both of you, stay here.”
Melody nodded, placing her hand on the back of Nipper’s neck and scratching his fur.
Ben was eager to give his snake powers another try, and the situation seemed like the perfect time in which to do it. He closed his eyes and focused, tapping into the snake magic and letting it change his body. Scales spread over his skin, dark green with bits of red here and there. His body elongated, his limbs melting into his torso. He even felt his tongue turn from thick to thin.
But instead of changing into a massive snake beast, like he had during the battle, he shrank himself down, shifting into the size of an everyday serpent. Soon he was in the grass, his vision changing to a deep blue. At first, he was confused at why this color of all others. But when he glanced over at Melody and Nipper, he realized what was going on. The forms of his friends were yellow and red, with no other features visible.
It's heat-sensing , he thought. Like Predator .
If he could’ve smiled, he would’ve. Ben realized that this was the perfect way to scout—he could stay low in the grass and spot people from afar.
“Ben?” Melody asked, her voice strange and warbly as if she was underwater. “You still here?”
Part of him wanted to shift back and tell her what had happened. But he didn’t want to risk using too much of his precious mana. Instead, he turned toward the figures in the distance, making his way through the grass.
At first, it was difficult and more than a little awkward to slither. Ben kept wanting to use his hands to grab onto the ground and crawl forward. But the more he moved, the more comfortable he became. It was like swimming, he realized, but without needing to use his arms and legs.
He kept his eyes on the figures in the distance, making out more and more detail. There were three in total, along with a blue pile of rocks.
Three people—Zito, Uzax, and Lyra. And the rocks have to be Brock.
He moved closer and closer, soon hearing the back-and-forth of several voices.
“Just saying!” Zito’s familiar voice spoke. “We should split up and try to find them that way!”
Uzax snorted. “We split up and we’ll be easy targets for the wizard. No, we stay here and hope that they find us.”
“I say we go on the hunt,” Lyra added. “If we have the wizard’s head in hand when we find Ben, that would most definitely go a long way to gaining his trust.”
“Another foolish idea,” Uzax said. “If this spellcaster is powerful enough to disrupt a teleportation network, then he or she will be more than powerful enough to take on three of us. We need to attack as a group.”
“Whatever,” Lyra said.
Ben had seen all he needed to. He closed his eyes and shifted, his body growing, the scales receding, and his arms and legs sprouting from his body. It didn’t take long before he was back in his human form.
The group’s collective eyes went wide as they realized he was there with them. Brock, who’d been in a pile of rocks, formed into the shape of a person.
“Ben!” Zito shouted. “How the hell did you sneak up on us like that?”
Lyra grinned. “I see you’ve learned the snakeshifting ability is good for more than just combat. You’re already getting the hang of it—impressive.”
Ben looked the members of the group up and down. “Are all of you alright? What happened?”
“We came out just a little apart from one another,” Lyra said. “Didn’t take long to join up. Doesn’t seem like the same situation for you and Melody. Where is she, by the way?”
Ben nodded behind his shoulder. “Just a little ways back.”
Uzax crossed his arms and leaned against the nearest tree. “A little strange. There was no reason we should’ve been split up like that. Did anything odd happen in the transport, Ben?”
“Yeah. A hand reached to me and told me to take it.”
Uzax snorted and shook his head. “I don’t need to ask you if you took it—you wouldn’t be standing here right now if you had.”
“Why?” Ben asked. “What was she trying?”
The smirk stayed on Uzax’s face. “If you would’ve taken her hand, she would’ve pulled you through the magical tunnel to be completely ripped apart by the barrier keeping the tunnel together—and that’s if you were lucky. If you would’ve, through some sort of miracle, made it through the barrier, you’d be stuck in the eternal blackness until you died from natural causes. It was a trick, and you did the right thing in not going along with it.”
“Then that means this wizard knows we’re coming,” Lyra said.
Uzax nodded. “That’s right.”
“We should get moving, then!” Zito said. “If the wizard knows we’re here, then we need to find her and take her out before she has time to prepare for the battle!”
Another nod from Uzax. “The more time we waste, the more spells she’ll be able to have ready for us.”
“We need a plan,” Ben said. “And I need to know where we are, what to expect around here.”
“Let us find Melody,” Uzax replied. “And when we’re on our way, we can discuss all that.”
Ben agreed with the plan, gesturing for the group to form up and continue in the direction from which Ben had arrived. It wasn’t long before they found Melody and Nipper.
“There you are,” she said. “What’s the plan?”
Uzax began, “We’re on the southwestern coast of the continent. The place that the Xurian Realm refers to as the ‘Porcelain Cliffs’.”
“Fitting name,” Ben said, recalling the sheer sheets of white that he’d nearly tumbled down.
“This is a very remote location,” Uzax went on. “These forests go on for ages and lead to a vast stretch of desert called the Bleachbone Wastes. I’m sure I don’t need to explain how a desert might get a name such as that. Anyway, this is an ideal place for someone looking to keep a low profile.”
“Any guess where we ought to start looking for them?” Ben asked.
Uzax turned his head upward. “Well, not here under the trees—not ideal conditions for casting magic; you want a clear, unobstructed view of the sky. And I doubt they went north into the deserts. My suggestion would be the beach. I’m sure there are any number of caves they could be hiding out in.”
“You think it’s going to be they ?” Lyra asked.
“Certainly. A wizard wouldn’t be out here on her own—she’d have her own retinue of soldiers protecting her.”
“Soldiers?” Melody asked. “Then we need an army.”
“Not that many soldiers,” Uzax said. “Just enough to protect her and keep her supplied.”
Ben stopped, putting his hands on his hips and turning to face the group.
“Then that means we’ve got an organized effort to disrupt my transportation networks, not to mention assassinate me in the process. Who the hell would be behind something like this?”
“My first guess would be the other towers,” Zito said. “You’re quickly pulling ahead as the power on the continent. An assassination would be a way to take care of you.”
Ben turned back toward the forest, letting his arms fall to his sides.
“Either way, we’re going to find out. Let’s move.”
Ben took the lead, and the group made their way through the forest. The scent of sea air grew stronger with every step he took, and it wasn’t long before they were within sight of the cliff face.
“This is amazing,” Melody said, stepping to the edge. “What a view!”
“Be careful, catgirl!” Zito said as he moved to her side. “That’s a long way down.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Ben looked up and down the beach, not spotting any sign of anyone.
“I’m going to take my hawk form,” he said, “and do some reconnaissance. I want all of you to stay here and be on the lookout.”
Chapter 15
Ben stepped to the edge of the cliff and closed his eyes, activating his hawk power. Once in form, he flapped his wings hard, letting out a cry as he took off into the sky. He flew forward, over the endless ocean, turning to see that his group was soon nothing more than little dots on the edge of the cliff.
The sight of the Porcelain Cliffs was incredible, a sheet of white that stretched off into the distance in both directions. He decided to head west first, flying closer to the shore and keeping his eyes on the cliff face to see what he could find. He flew for several minutes, using his hawk vision to scope out anything out of the ordinary.
