TEARS OF THE LE’IGRO
SYNOPSIS
The Le’igro is dying…
The miraculous and enchanted Garden of Life and Illumination that has seen to the vitality and protection of the surrounding lands since the dawn of time has been poisoned. Now the people of Caladashari face sickness and death.
The weather soon threatens crops and life, and the dead rise, even as darkness falls.
Cities crumble under the onslaught of sorcerers, dragons, and devils.
The only possibility of salvation for the Le’igro lies in the tears of the one that breathed life into her at the beginning of time.
Once a god of goodness and beauty, now after thousands of years of disreputable treatment by the other gods—Parthalamas has grown embittered and callous, and now finds his home in the nether regions of the hellish realm of Infer’nos.
Only the most elite of heroes has a chance of braving the realm of darkness and demons, and petitioning the tears from the Lord of Flame and Shadow, in hope of restoring the Le’igro, and bringing life and peace once again to the surrounding lands…but can the tears of a dark god save the Garden, or is she doomed to die?
9
I |
t was a half-hour past noon when Queen Siilver’s party was celebrated and went into full swing, there was the cutting of several cakes, and gifts were exchanged. This was one occasion where the presents were quite remarkable. The children of Palimaar and Freeland became so excited by their gifts that eating became a secondary priority. There were toys for the youngsters the like of that which had seldom been seen before in the land, all of them beautiful and enchanting, and not just a few of them having magical properties, apparently having been ordered years before, coming as far away as the Dwarven Mountain of Karnsh and the Elven city of Silverwillow. As for the adults there were mostly sundry items of wealthy and even eclectic tastes, there were gems and jewelry, and articles of fine clothing. And when every guest had arrived and been welcomed finally inside the gates of the Royal Palace, there followed games, music, songs, dances, food and drinking. When the festivities for the afternoon finally subsided almost three hours later, most of the crowd retired to their homes to prepare themselves for the evening’s entertainment, namely that of Xaneth and his band.
The coaches that showed up then by the dozens had fanciful carved bodies gleaming with glossy colors of black and red and gold. Below their side panels fenders ran from the front wheels to the back, curled rather elegantly, and both ends dropping in the center to form running-boards. Atop the coaches, richly adorned in brocaded coats, red cummerbunds, black breeches, and plumed hats sat the coachmen, taxiing people out to the Nial’ni. Attire for the concert was a combination of regal assortments, and outfits colorful, pristine, comely, reserved, and salacious, covering the bodies of men and women alike. The revealing and suggestive clothing was worn mostly by the women who had painted their faces and spent the remaining hours working on their hair. Most of the men carried a dagger or sword on their person as well as the women that were also Blademasters; each knowing that to draw a weapon during the concert without proper provocation would indict the most serious of charges. An hour before Xaneth was scheduled to go on stage people had already gathered at Nial’ni, and the Queen’s Convoy of skyships graced the skies, looking like a combination of streamlined insectoid avian fish moving gracefully through the air, while dragons with scales and eyes the color of gold, silver, azure, emerald, and ruby, patrolled the skies and guarded the Royal Flagship that would hover one hundred feet above the crowd, allowing for a most advantageous view of the concert. The gypsies and rovers played their share of music on their instruments, singing with sweet voices well into the afternoon evening, an almost insignificant prelude of what was to come, however pleasant nonetheless.
The crowd that gathered as suspected was even larger than last year. People stretched for a quarter of a mile toward the east, the north, and the south of the stage, pushing beyond the outer perimeter of the Woods that surrounded Nial’ni. People of every race and class were assembled together that day as the sun began its slow descent toward the ocean. Those that would rather not find themselves within the congested and confining area of the audience would observe the show from outside the doors of their house, standing high up on the terraces that wound over and through the canopy of the trees.
The boisterous audience that had gathered there on the Nial’ni was all at once hushed by the sound of li’jhiris chords originating from the sky; they were woeful, and strong, originating from the center of the stage. All turned and gazed in the same direction, focusing their undivided attention. But there was no one yet visible on the rostrum. And for a time nothing else was heard. The plain of Nial’ni was quiet with anticipation. After a time the music seem to come from a great distance away. Beyond the grassy plain. Beyond the Freeland Woods. Perhaps drifting in off the waves of the ocean, like the song of whales. With deliberation the music drew closer, the melody slow, haunting, entrancing. Another chord was struck, followed by another. And then a calabariis keyboard joined with the li’jhiris, followed by mandariis percussions, and a slowly developing melody took flight.
Those watching the stage were not certain if it was the light of the setting sun that played tricks on their eyes, or if it was something else. The air on the stage seemed to ripple with a strange sort of distortion, rolling in and out of focus, while the plain of Nial’ni glowed brilliantly as the sun touched the ocean’s horizon, presenting an enchanting moment indeed. And then images on the stage, ghostly, and inchoate, began to form, solidifying from nothingness. The cheers started, and then all at once the band was there, and as it played the crowd went wild.
10
T |
he leader and eldest of the band was Li’reigh, his instruments consisted of a double neck steil li’jhiris glowing with mystic energies and his fallen angelic vocals. Wearing attire that was all at once wild and of noble regalia in nature he sang with a voice that complimented each. He moved and gyrated in a manner sometimes seemingly unseemly. Music spilled out into the audience in waves, and as it did so, small iridescent dragons materialized from columns of colorful smoke that meandered throughout the audience, the small creatures fluttered roundabout, periodically alighting on the shoulders of individuals within the crowd. The fiery avians were as harmless as the glowing nymphs and sprites that followed, slightly smaller than the pseudo-dragons, waving wands and sprinkling pixie dust. Then, scantily dressed woman appeared on the stage to either side of the bard, dancing to the rhythm and percussion of the current song which, by the by, spoke of tragedy and triumph. Tears from even the stoutest of hearts fell capriciously.
Without prior warning, twin fireballs to either side of the stage discharged explosively, launching upward into the starlit sky simultaneously, then they burst into a brilliant pyrotechnic display of fireworks that rained down harmlessly on the audience.
The sounds of melodious composition sent compelling waves of arousal that rose and fell throughout the crowd. Voices cried and cheered while chords, vibrations, and stimulating harmonies reverberated, and scintillating lights danced, wavered, and twisted in bursts of stupendous spectacles. Harmless walls of blindingly beautiful fire erupted and climbed high into the air; architraves, entablatures, columns, rose brilliantly, effulgently, surrounding the audience. There was a moment of efflorescence followed by expulsions that painted a living representation of the Royal Palace surrounded by the Freeland Woods. There followed scintillating fountains of fireflies and butterflies that flew glittering from trees with dark trunks rising up from the ground, and their leaves opened like the blossoming of Spring that seemed to solidify for an instant and then fade in a scattering of fireworks and tendrils of colorful smoke that acknowledged the birthday of the Queen.
A kaleidoscope display of palatial grandiosity rippled through the crowd, glimpses of wide, graceful plains, and radiant mountains gave way to an image that remade the Freeland Woods with an aura of glistening crystal starlight, where pixies danced and sprites fluttered about. And then the ground seemed to disappear, and the audience floated for a time, apparently in the sky amidst the floating skyships, while fiery dragons and flying equines circled around them. Lattices of indescribable splendor whipped back and forth, flashing and fading and blending into the natural substance of the surroundings. Magnificent castles that appeared in the sky then followed the presentation, and as the structures rose higher and higher amidst the avians and skyships, the crowd found its feet on the ground once more.
The stage was aglow with rainbow wavering brilliance that reflected the passion of the band, the voice of the bard. And the music played was aspiring enough to bring the gods and nature herself to weep.
People then saw what they wanted to see, what their heart desired to behold, treasures longed for. Aspirations, dreams, loved ones long gone appeared before the eyes of those that would summon them for the moment of the song, a moment wherein they could dance. Tears spilled freely and smiles made countenances glow. The crowd became one with nature, one with the cosmos, one with the spirit. And the surrounding aura was as resplendent as it was enrapturing.
The song grew to a growing crescendo, chromatic flames flashed rapidly, and then in an instant, it was all gone. The song had finished. And the audience again went wild.
The sky was dark and glistening of starlight while the bard sang a ballad about a queen that could not shed tears. Before he was finished the rhythm and cadence of the song picked up the tempo and the instrument and her owner screamed passionately. Suddenly the clouds were seared by a brilliant flash that exploded around the band, and in that moment the audience saw them; black shapes, huge bat-like creatures with sinuous necks and heads like serpents of rock, awesome and oppressive, with riders wearing armor and carrying sable shields. Copperheads, there were dozens of them, filling the air. Dragons and their riders, and they were not part of the show.
As soon as this was considered, even before the first cry of utter surprise and terror filled the air, the sable and copper avians unleashed a barrage of fire from their mouths, a torrent of flames swept over the audience.
Arrows and crossbow bolts whistled through the air, either hitting their marks, or clinking against shields and armor, glancing off stone, thudding into wood. And that is when the screams began.
The dark shapes wheeled out of the sky seemingly as one. They descended like a body of great bats, their movement appearing surreal, their numbers seeming prodigious. An instant later and they separated, scattered, began to choose targets. Some, breaking off from the group, flew to the east, to the north, and to the south, far into the Woods, miles away from the open plain of Nial’ni; the Dragons of the Realm gave chase. The rogues that remained unleashed torrents of flames from their jaws setting the surrounding woods ablaze.
It was the cries of men and women that pierced the air mostly as flames turned their bodies into fleeing torches that would stop abruptly, jerk spasmodically for brief moments, and then drop with finality. Some of the younger children that were not among their parents in the crowd were either in the palace, the Freeland Woods, or Whiispiirheart, being looked after by adults that had volunteered their services earlier that day. They would be considered the lucky ones.
Cries of horror, high-pitched howls of agony filled the air, even as the bard, seemingly with a purpose, started into a new song. The Imperial Guard on deck the skyship Iqariis moved to protect the Royal Family, gathering around the Queen and her daughters with shields, archers firing their arrows at those creatures venturing too close, while they hurried the family toward the safety of the cabins below deck. At least that had been their attempt. But the attack by the enemy had been too precise, and as the Iqariis banked and pulled away, the trio of dragons watching over the Flagship was drawn out, and suddenly one hundred feet from the aft to the cabins seemed like such a great distance to run, especially while bombarded with dragonflame. Queen Siilvers’ daughters were able to move more swiftly than their mother. And Sefarini chanced a glance over her shoulder as she was hurried away, what she saw next filled her heart with an inconceivable horror. Fires ignited on the deck as the rogue avians charged in, and even as the skyship veered out of the way of the other incoming dragons, one avian, looking like a pincushion marked with bolts and arrows, managed to slip in beneath the ship’s defenses.
(Time slid sideways…)
Queen Siilvers stumbled unexpectedly and as she did so the Rhiin Staff slipped inexplicably from her grasp, and then the Queen witnessed a wall of fire rushing toward her. The roar of flames drowned out the sounds of all of those who would be around her. Time, for the briefest moment, stood still. And then fire crashed down and engulfed the Queen. Her scream was lost in the roar of the flames.
The Queen is dead! Sefarini’s mind screamed. By the gods, no! My mother is--and then a howl of misery burst from her lips and followed her down into the safety of the cabins below. “Mother! MOTHER! No…NOOOOO…!”
And he, who would have saved the Queen by trying to push her away from the incoming torrent of flames, lost his footing and his life as well, as dragonfire embraced and consumed him. Men and women scattered, and the daughters of the Queen were then forced below the deck of the Iqariis, their screams of horror-laced sorrow were screeching bursts from their terror-stricken voices, cutting through the hall of the Queen’s cabin, reaching out into the night.
