Dragonsong, Chapter One
"Saarvahar...virkotto...lumus!"
As she finished intoning the incantation in as hushed a tone of voice as she could possibly manage and still conjugate the syllables, the left hand of Raina Birelon began to glow. In the centre of her opened palm flickering wisps of arcane energy began to coalesce into a glowing and light-bringing orb of blue translucence. Raina counted to five and then casually flicked her wrist as if to toss it skywards. The luminous globe of pooled magical intent ignited as it ascended and came to rest in a gently bobbing hover a half-metre or so above Raina's curled mass of chestnut brown hair. There, and for the next two hours or until dismissed, it would follow her and bathe both her and her surroundings in a pale flickering luminescence.
The faerie-fire spell was a simple cantrip, but one that had still managed to impress the simple villagers and townsfolk of the settlements that she had passed through. The wandering adventurer had bartered magical pyrotechnic displays in return for food and lodging. If just to herself, she had to admit that she did enjoy the thrill she performances gave her, and to be the centre of attention. She even sang on occasion, at least once she had consumed enough clearwine, lifting her lilting voice in song. The words of her native elven tongue had sounded equally arcane and mysterious to the simple humans, and she'd been thankful on her journey to Dragonspeak Cave that precious few had taken superstitious offence at the sight of her slender pointed ears and harboured grudges against non-humans.
Now, she stood within the mouth of the tunnel that her research had hinted led to the aforementioned cave. Precious few travellers and even fewer adventurers and treasure-seekers had passed through this area since the Scarlet Empire had relinquished its claim upon the region. In their place, inhuman creatures and other monstrous denizens had moved in and staked their own upon the mountain range. She had been lucky though with only a single encounter during her trek across the rolling hills that eventually gave way to the mountains. The small group of foraging goblins had provided her with little real challenge and Raina had swiftly deflected or dodged the cowardly creatures' clumsy jabs with rusted spears and knives and dispatched them all with her long blade and enchanted energy missiles. Only a minor, but still nonetheless painful scratch on her thigh marked where her whirling dodges had been not quite quick enough after she belatedly pulled out of the predatory savouring thrill she had felt from dispatching one of the grotesquely ugly creatures. For such a hesitation, she had been nicked by a hasty and thankfully for her, poorly-aimed spear thrust. But this is what set her from the rest of her long-lived and generally placid brethren, Raina had mused as she had wiped her slender-bladed sword against the corpse of one of the goblins and slid it back into its sheathe. She had been gripped by wanderlust for as long as she could remember and had wanted to travel the world around her and see both its wonders and dangers. She also possessed what her family had proclaimed a most _unseemly_desire for items of precious value and appearance, and she had treasured her collection of found human coins and other trinkets as a youngling. Some years later, when she had set off on such adventurous travels, she had also discovered an appreciation for the thrill of combat and confrontation--something that would have _horrified_the elders of her clan, and especially her family. Of course, this personal exploration of her psyche had led her to blunder in more than a few situations.
Shaking her head to clear the fog of reverie into which she had fallen, Raina took a deep breath and gazed in to the faerie flame-lit tunnel ahead of her. The rough natural walls of the tunnel stretched out for an as-yet unknown distance, beyond the range of her arcane illumination, and any dangers that lay within were shrouded by darkness and mystery. Feeling her heart quiver and beat a little faster in her chest, Raina fought to forcibly quell the nervous energy that welled up within her as she gazed into the unknown. As it did in all such times, grasping and squeezing her fingers reassuringly around the hilt of her blade helped her to do so, and she pushed onwards.
The tunnel proved to be longer than she had expected and curved westwards and sloped downward. Only the sporadic dripping of subterranean water flows and the soft footfalls from her hardened leather boots disturbed the otherwise silent tunnels. Warily, and her eyes and keen hearing searching for the slightest hint of danger, the adventurer walked for what seemed like_hours_. She knew of course that it had been far shorter, after all the duration of the faerie-fire was no more than two, and it had not yet begun to sputter and fade. Nevertheless, tension coiled within her like a wound spring and she found herself growing annoyed at each protruding outcropping that painfully caught her toe and at the inconsistent drip of unseen pooling water. She did however begin to feel a warm breeze tugging at her shoulder length curls and the form-fitting crimson robes that she wore. Raina eschewed armour in favour of confidence in her swordplay and the agility of her feet to protect her against the blows of her enemies. She also had to admit, that they also added to her dramatic appearance during the performances that she put on, and indeed liked the way that the woven cloth felt against her cream-pale skin.
Raina came to a sudden halt as a chittering sound ahead of her tugged at her heightened sense of hearing. As she crept forward on the toes of her leather boots, a foul and rotten stench wafted from the direction of the chittering. She wrinkled her nose at the noxious odours and swallowed down the urge to cough and gag. Clamping a hand over her nose and mouth, she crept forward with her back against the wall that led to a T-Junction and shuffled sideways along it with as stealthy and approach as she could muster and craned her neck around the corner.
The young elven adventurer squinted into the darkness, trusting in the faint glow cast by her magical light as it hovered behind her to add her keener racial night sight to pick out details in the cavern that opened up ahead of her and lay at the end of a short natural corridor. Also ahead of her could be seen the source of the inhuman chattering and the foul aroma of rot: a monstrous spider, easily half the height of Raina, squatting in the rough centre of the cavern. Even at this distance, she could see its mandibles working to tear gobs of meat from the webbed corpse of a large dog-sized rat and force them into its dripping maw. She could also make out the bristling white and black fur that sprouted from its bulbous arachnid form in unsettlingly sporadic patches. Intent on devouring its prey, the lone spider seemed unaware of her.
For the moment...
Raina bit down on and chewed her lower lip as she considered unleashing another from her repertoire of memorized spells, weighing up the danger factor versus further depleting her admittedly limited reserve of invocational magic. The seconds ticked by, accompanied by the disgusting sounds of the spider's devouring, and Raina knew she needed to move _fast_if she wanted to catch the arachnid off guard. She slid her sword from its sheath slowly, carefully, and breathed a silent breath of relief as she did so without alerting her adversary, and moderating the act of doing so to a rasping leathery whisper.
Here we go...
She crept forward, waving the faerie-fire to halt around the corner and not follow her. The stench grew oppressively noxious the closer she got and her stomach roiled and complained as she tried--and failed--not to breathe it in. Raina grinned to herself in anticipatory relish as she trod as quietly as she could into the cavern and mentally pictured catching the spider completely unaware and plunging her sword deep into its bulbous head for an instant and swift kill.
Crunch.
She froze, eyes widening at the painfully loud sound, and looked down at her feet.
Vulkur's Balls!
Rain spat out one of the human curse words that she had learned in the course of her travels as she lifted her foot and saw the pile of now snapped bones that she had inadvertently stepped upon.
Krrrtthhcckk...
The unlucky--and overconfident--adventurer wrenched her gaze upward again as the chewing sound suddenly stopped and was replaced by louder and more emphatic chittering. Six luminous green eyes swung towards her as the spider scuttle-turned to face her and the chittering intensified as it spotted her. The razor-sharp mandibles worked frantically and began to drip an unpleasant ichor onto the rocky floor.
Without a moment of hesitation, the arachnid charged at her. Its many legs pumped in unison to propel it forward at a greater speed than Raina would have expected from its furred bulk. She tried to dodge its advance upon her with sideways leap, but she was a second too slow. Raina let out an anguished cry as it ploughed into her and smashed into her side with its thickly-skinned head. Her ill-fated leap turned into a crumpling crash down to the rocky floor as she failed to catch her balance, stumbled, and hit the ground. She gritted her teeth as white-hot pain flared at her ankle, hip and along her upper left thigh and arm were she had landed badly and gashed herself against any number of the protruding sharp rocks that peppered the natural cavern. Knowing that she did not have the luxury of time to curse and bemoan her misfortune, Raina staggered upward, grabbing her sword from where it had fallen at her feet and using it as a crutch to drag herself fully upright as her ankle protested. Better prepared and warier now, she regained her balance, extended her blade outwards and weaved it warningly before her foe. A low hiss filled the air as the arachnid skittered around to block the way in which she had entered its den and wheeled to face and fix its many-eyed gaze upon her once again. It let out a chittering cry of triumph, the cunning beast aware that its prey was injured and trapped.
"Asmarr...daeron...vahar...confus!"
Raina began to murmur the incantation of the first circle spell and forced herself to keep her voice steady as she gestured in the direction of the monstrous arachnid. The tips of her fingers began to glow as the rushing energy coursing through her swelled to a crescendo as she focused her will and expelled it through the incantation. She jerked her hand as she intoned the final keyword of application and weaving gobs of energy spat forth from her hand and rushed to strike the spider's head. As they struck the creature with splattering puddles of arcane energy, the unfortunate arachnid let out a keening screech. It began to wheel around in a mad fashion and snap at the air and at the phantasms conjured up by the confusion spell and that only it could see. Knowing that the timed efficiency of the spell was all too brief, Raina ran forward, wincing as her ankle and hip complained and flared with painful discomfort at the sudden exertion. She forced it from her mind with a defiant and nerve-steadying snarl and launched her follow-up attack. Her blade flashed forward once, and then twice, skewering and slicing into and through the confused arachnid's toughened bulbous flesh. The horrified screeches turned into frantic and inhuman outcries of agony as thick black blood bubbled up from the gashes that she tore open in its body and head. She more carefully and nimbly dodged blind snaps from its jaws and flailing hairy limbs.
Hyaaah!
Raina kicked out with her good foot and grinned tightly as she caught it square on the side of its head with the heel of her boot and sent it failing and rolling across the floor of the cavern. Knowing that she had to swiftly press her advantage, the wounded elven adventuress limped over to the overturned spider and hove in, dodging the flailing legs and plunged her sword into the spider's softer underbelly. Gritting her teeth, she now gripped the hilt with both hands and pulled and then pushed downwards, opening a vivid gash across its belly. The inhuman screeching died off into gurgling hissing as the arachnid's lifeblood gushed out from the mortal wound and forcing Raina to hop back, lest she become drenched in the foul fluid. She solemnly watched, recognising the arachnid as a worthy opponent, as it died and forced down the bile and revulsion that rose up in her throat as thrashed and writhed. Little by little the movements slowed and became ever-more jerky and sporadic. Finally, and mercifully for both of them, it fell silent and then lay unmoving. Raina let out a shuddering breath that she had not realised that she had been holding in, and was profoundly relieved that the death-throes had ceased.
It was over.
She shook her sword free of the worst of the ichor as she stepped back, wiping the blade against the walls and floor in an effort to remove the black blood that clung thickly to the metal. Satisfied that it was as clean as it could possibly be and that she had not alerted a whole nest of vengeance-seeking spiders, Raina sheathed her sword and took a few steps back to lean against the cavern wall and catch her breath. A low hiss of discomfort escaped her lips as the adrenaline surge began to throb and the bruised area of her hips and her ankle gave a painful twinge and reminded her of her own thankfully non-mortal injury. She gingerly pressed a hand to her sore flesh, spread out her fingers and closed her eyes, directing her will inward.
"Zaheerian...mortis...anaethima..."
Soothing warmth blossomed beneath her fingertips as she invoked the healing incantation. The pain began to dull within seconds, replaced by a life-giving warmth, and was gone completely within a few moments. She did the same with her ankle and several other tender areas of her body. Smiling brightly from the after effect of temporary euphoria, she put her full weight on her formerly twisted ankle and was pleased to see that it bore it without discomfort. Feeling the urge to be about her business, she forced herself to hold her position for a little longer, knowing that the post-healing feeling of jubilation was dangerous in her situation and dulled her senses. Raina nevertheless sighed in disappointment as she felt the artificial sense of euphoric contentment escaping her and somewhat dejectedly pushed herself away from the wall. She gestured for the ball of illuminating faerie-fire to hover just above the spider's deflating corpse and cast its gradually fading light about the cavern. And for the first time she since had entered the cavern, she more properly surveyed her surroundings.
The spider's domain was a roughly circular cavern and it had made its grisly nest to the right centre of the mass of softly luminous mass of fungi and moss which had sprouted and spread across the middle of the cavern and along one natural pillar that stretched upwards to the ceiling and helped held it aloft. The elven adventurer crept carefully forward, avoiding treading on the spreading pool of arachnid blood and the swollen caps of the mushrooms and clumps of moss. She had grown more accustomed to the stench of rot and death and found that she could breathe more easily now. She was just about to return to the corridor and head off in a direction yet not taken when she spotted a dusty-looking altar standing at the far end of the cavern. Curiosity piqued, Raina padded forward and waved the globe forward ahead of her. She was more ready now to react to the appearance of further foes and any traps she might alert and trigger. Fortunately none made an appearance and she safely reached her goal.
The altar was carved from a polished stone of a kind different in texture and in colour to that around her. The base and much of the arm-length in size flat altar top was thoroughly covered in both cobwebs and glowing moss. Wrinkling her nose in disgust at the sight of the mix of unpleasant fibrous matting, Raina drew her sword and stood at arm's length away and began to slice and push the matted growths away and clearing it off from the altar as best she could.
Aha!
Raina's eyes lit up as she uncovered an ornately carved box, grimy and worn with age. In addition, resting in front of it and across the surface of the altar was an immense and well-disguised sword, fully half as long again as her own. A gemstone stood in the centre of the hilt, its orange-red hue rendered almost colourless by the pale eerie light cast by her faerie fire. She gingerly touched it and then wrapped her fingers around the hilt and tried--and failed--to lift the sword. It was_far_ too heavy for her and she scowled at her inability to wield it. The lustre of the blade, still keen and gleaming as if it had been forged the same day as she had found it, despite lying beneath an enshroud bed of moss and cobwebs, suggested to her that this was no ordinary blade.
She _wanted_it! But alas, her own strength was not sufficient to match her avarice.
Raina snorted as she sulkily pulled her attention back to the box. Perhaps within there was something that she could lift. She leaned closer and beckoned for her floating globe of illumination to draw closer and marvelled at just how intricate the carvings engraved on the surface just were. They depicted fanciful scenes of dragons in flight, overlapped with words in a flowing script that was unfamiliar to Raina's eyes and her reasonable knowledge of languages. It vaguely resembled her own written tongue, and she thought perhaps that she could at least grasp a basic meaning of a couple of the words, but only an estimation.
"Gem...Dragon..."
She softly recited the words that she could fathom a deciphering guess at, her melodic voice barely a hushed and musing whisper. She ran her fingers carefully across the surface of the box, feeling for locks and switches or anything at all that might hint that it was trapped. She couldn't be entirely sure without spending more time and much magical energy on a clairvoyance incantation and her natural heightened curiosity was tugging for her to be bolder and open the casket right then and there.
She who dares, wins...
Raina took a deep breath, and then before her caution got the better of her, she grasped the lid with bold hands and pulled it open. To her surprise, it opened easily, and the breath caught in her throat as she beheld the contents. Resting upon a time-faded velvet cushion was a gleaming blood-red gemstone the size of her fist. She stared wide-eyed at the priceless treasure, avarice welling up she imagined the worth and marvelled at its sheer beauty. It had been carved into a pristine angular beauty that drew the eye with its rich colour and sheen. Raina's hand was already moving towards it before she was truly aware it was, ready to pluck it out and claim the gem for herself. Too late, her magically-attuned senses began to prickle in warning. The stone began to throb with a sullen inner light that casting a reddish glow against Raina's avarice-stricken face. But it was too late. Her fingers had already closed against and around the smooth surfaced magical stone and a sudden shocking thrill jolted up and along her arm as she made contact with it. Raina's shocked gasp at the sensation turned into a panicked yelp as she found that she was unable to release her grip. The gemstone began to grow warm and vibrate against her hand and the warmth suffusing her arm and shoulders became a dizzying heat that enveloped her. She stumbled blindly back, still holding onto the hefty stone, and let out a despairing and incomprehensible babble of words as her vision swam before her and a rushing sound echoed in her ears.
Drakool...
An echoing voice boomed in her head, a deep and rumbling growl that invaded her thoughts and reverberated inside her skull. Pain followed in its wake, a deep and terrible agony that flared at the top of her head and ran down her spine.
Drakool...
The voice continued to repeat the guttural sounding word and Raina's heartbeat seemed to thump in time with the steady cadence.
"Valerian, h-help me!"
Raina cried out to the prime deity of the elven pantheon for help, but her frantic plea went unanswered. Her sword tumbled from suddenly nerveless fingers, drawn instinctively with her free hand, and clattered dully on the floor, She almost tripped and fell over it as her despairing stumbling flight back away from the altar continued.
Drakool...
The rumbling voice continued booming within her head, swamping her own frantic thoughts. She clutched and scratched at the hand clamped around the pulsating gem, drawing blood with her nails in an effort to force herself to release her vice-like grip upon the stone, but it was to no avail. Burning pain continued to flare and throb through her body and she cried out again for mercy, tears freely streaming down her cheeks from the sheer agony that she was experiencing from being forced to hold onto the stone and behold the terrible voice.
Drakool!
The chanting voice reached a voluminous crescendo and the gemstone flared with a blinding light in perfect timing. Raina let out a broken moan as at her shoulder blades, the agony intensified and the flesh beneath her robes began to roil and bubble. From the bubbling mass of bloody and warping flesh, leathery sandstone-grey bat-like wings pushed their way out and unfolded outwards, and grew in length and breadth with every passing moment. Wild terror filled Raina as she looked over her shoulder, hissing and sobbing as she beheld the first of her transformations. Fresh discomfort flared between her temples, and the sense of despair deepened as with a ripping and fleshy sound, flared horns sprouted from the top of her head. The glossy black protrusions jutted and curled up and back, and she witnessed their unnatural growth reflected in the surface of the gemstone.
"W-What is h-hap..."
Suddenly, the words wouldn't come to her. Her tongue felt swollen, and the question she tried to form was rendered into incomprehensible mush and a wetly sounding hiss. Raina fell to her knees as another wave of dizziness stole her sense of balance. She tried to stand, but her legs refused to obey her. They felt...strange_..._almost as if she had forgotten how to use them. And then suddenly her prized trail boots felt deeply and painfully confining as if they were shrinking, with their supple leather uncomfortably and painfully pressing against her feet. She tried to flail her free hand at them and to try and pull them off, but instead ended up toppling forward instead, now sobbing uncontrollably in a mixture of agony and frustration. Her new and still growing wings flapped with newborn life and then fell over her and she gasped as one of the sharp claws that edged the muscled framing scratched her cheek. The pressure at her feet continued to swell and it was with no small sense relief that she saw boots split with a ripping sound. But then, she saw the dark grey scales spreading up her lower legs and the clawed and reptilian feet that were now uncurling and had replaced her formerly dainty elven toes. Memories of the dragons carved onto the surface of the box and the fleeting meaning she had gleaned from the strange words flitted through her mind as her gaze darted between the wings and her feet. She groaned as the realisation sank in that she had fallen prey to some sort of black magic or terrible cursing trap finally settled in her mind and the moan came out in an inhuman-sounding hiss from her mouth.
Just what in Valerian's name had_happened_ to her?
She tried to push herself up to stand, trembling from the effort of doing so. Her new clawed feet scraped across the floor as she tried to stand upon them and find her balance. Her legs felt strange, and her customary sense of balance felt more of a hindrance as she tried to stand on newly-transformed digitigrade legs. But, at least the pain was lessening now, as her also-new wings reached their final length and breath, as did her new horns. The sense of relief after so long of being bathed in intense pain was palpable and almost as euphoric as the healing balm had been. Replacing it was a feeling of strength. She suddenly began to instead feel stronger than she could ever remember feeling. She gazed down and saw that her thighs had widened, becoming more muscular and straining the leotard she wore beneath her robes and that their creamy-white skin had dulled to match that of the scales that were continuing to spread across her lower legs. A sudden flush of empowering strength ran through her upper body, radiating outward from the gemstone still clutched in her hand. She gasped a sudden thrill of euphoric pleasure blossomed in her chest, and for the first time since she had slain the spider, Raina smiled, now feeling intoxicated by the energy now running through her and supplied by the magical transforming gemstone. It now transformed her chocolate brown eyes to a solid golden glow and there was a final flare of pain as a long reptilian tail broke through the roiling flesh at the base of her spine and curled out from just above her curving rump, but it almost went unnoticed as the sensation of empowering strength continued to fill the former purebred elf.
A small part of her mind tried to comprehend her situation logically, knowing that a _terrible_fate had befallen her and that she should be even more afraid now, but it was subsumed by the swelling sense of _power_that blossomed within the newly transformed draconic hybrid.
Raina padded forward a few unsteady paces, and found that with practice and concentration that walking became easier, as was managing the shifted centre of balance within her now lithely muscular and taller winged form. She gazed down, noticing too that her vision now had a slight golden tint, and spotted her fallen sword lying on the ground. She tilted her head as she caught her reflection in the blade. Curiosity and wonderment warring with feelings of discomfort and anxiety as she saw her glowing eyes and horns. She reached down to pick up her trusty sword and then stopped. She craned her head to gaze at the much larger blade lying atop the altar.
Hmm...
She gazed back down at the smaller blade, lips pursed in thought, and then straightened again and snorted in derision at its now smaller size. She instead turned to the blade lying atop the altar and wrapped her fingers around the hilt and lifted. It came away with an almost comical jolt as she instinctively braced herself for the weight she had felt before and found that now she was able to lift it with relative ease this time. She turned it around and marvelled at the keen edge and the glowing script that flared up against the flawless metal of the blade, and found that now she was able to read the previously unknown language without difficulty.
"Dragonsong..."
Her own voice now sounded deeper, richer and unfamiliar, the words easier to form again, and presumed that it was the name given to the sword. Tilting the blade to catch her reflection, she snorted as she beheld her newly changed self: a hybrid mix of elf and dragon and this time and without consternation, she considered how much it really did seem to suit her.
No, that was wrong! She was an elf! Not a...dragon thing!
Anxiety, repressed by the exultant strength until now, won over her at the sight of admittedly attractive alien form. Raina's mind worked now to construct ideas of how to reverse and undo whatever magic or curse had been wrought upon her, but could not deny that part of her revelled at the feeling of strength and in her formidable-looking appearance and just how useful it could be to her, as could Dragonsong. Perhaps she shouldn't look to reverse whatever ancient curse had befallen her.
Only time, and her future adventures, would reveal her eventual fate and decision...