Redemption

Carn hurries to assist Duke Eleazar in the Underdark.

8.

Redemption

 

Their expressions betrayed their skepticism at his story, but Carn did not waver in his explanation.

“So you just suddenly knew that you had to assist Duke and Duchess Dullerm?   Forgive me, Carn, but this somehow seems very unlikely.”   Captain Bairns arched his eyebrows as if silently demanding the truth from his Bugbear stowaway.

“I learned some information about the foe they face and I know of this being.    I can uniquely defeat him.”   Carn did not try to even vaguely sound like a typical Bugbear now, for he wanted the crew to understand that he was not some stupid Goblinoid, but on an important mission.

“What information can help them… or help you defeat him?”   The Captain asked, “The rumor I have heard is that they are going to battle a dragon of some sort underground in the world of the dark elves.”

“You’ve heard correctly, Captain.   But new information has surfaced.   The Dragon is possessed by a demon named Mazzikim’ruhin.   This demon is very, very old and very diabolical.   He makes careful plans and moves to protect himself in whatever he does.    Long has he caused pain and misery in our world, though most of those whom he has tormented do not have the vaguest idea of his presence.”

“So how do you know him so well, Bugbear?”   The first mate of the Phoenix asked.

Carn began to reply, but as usual when he tried to tell, no words would come.    He mouthed them quietly for a moment and then finally sighed and said all that his curse allowed him to say on the matter, “He has cursed me as well.”

He expected more questions and anger at his vague replies, but apparently the pain that came across his face as he tried to speak, or maybe a haunted look in his eyes, seemed to satisfy them enough to not ask more.

“Alright, Carn.”   The Captain said, “We will do as you ask - we will take you to where you claim the entrance to the Underdark is.”

“Thank you, Captain.   It is indeed there.   I took this path… many, many years ago and spent a decade there.”

“A decade?”    The First mate snorted, “You don’t look old enough for that.   I know for a fact Bugbears don’t live as long as men.”

He nodded, “True, but I am much older than I look.”

“So what do you hope to do by going underground?”   Captain Bairns asked.

“Stop the Dragon.”   He responded, preparing for what he knew would be their next question.

“How do you intend to do that?”    The First Mate asked.

“By letting the Dragon kill me.”  

They laughed or snorted, but then saw that he was not kidding.

“How will that stop the Dragon?”    The Captain asked.

“I cannot tell… I am not allowed, though I would tell you if it were possible.    Just trust me and don’t ask me any more questions.”

He looked down at his huge hairy feet, feeling the usual awkward embarrassment at his brutish appearance.    Captain Bairns studied him for a moment then surprised him by asking, “Are you under some sort of geis or curse that prevents you from telling us more?”

He managed to nod once before the curse froze any other response to the man’s question.    Yet Captain Bairns had seen the nod and accepted it, to Carn’s great relief.

“We’ll be over the mountains in under an hour.    Our orders are to observe, but we will let you disembark when we reach our destination.    I’m afraid that is about all we can do for you.    You aren’t really a Bugbear are you?   It’s alright, I’ll bet you can’t respond to that either, due to the curse.    You don’t speak like any Bugbear I’ve ever heard speak.     If you are seeking death to escape this curse, then may Yesh shower you with mercy and show you a way to free yourself without dying.”

“Thank you, Captain.”  Carn responded, longing to let someone know his story - the whole story- before he passed from this world.   But he couldn’t do that as long as the Geis remained.    There was no escape but death at Mazzikim’ruhin’s hands, and after centuries of torment, this did not terrify him.     In fact he longed for it, and prayed that his idea would fool the demon long enough for Mazzikim’ruhin to lash out and end this nightmare once and for all.  

If it worked, Mazzikim’ruhin would be cast out of this world too.    How he had laughed as Carn had assumed the nature of a Bugbear!    He had bound them together --- He could not die except at Mazzikim’ruhin’s hand or bidding.    But even that wasn’t enough for the fiend.    He’d teased him with a faint glimmer of hope.

‘I will give you a chance, Carnithum.    A sporting chance, though a glimmer it is only!   Your form will be restored if you shall gain the love --- expressed verbally--- of one of Celathon’s blood, without any knowledge of your true self.    Only a Faesidhe maiden who is Celathon’s kin can remove this curse, but only by a confession of her love for you.   Not pity, Carnithum, but love, freely given without first knowing your true state.’

‘This chance I give you, and you shall see that it is a more horrible and painful curse than the Goblinoid form you now wear!    You will beg me for death, and I will laugh at your pain and mock your loneliness.    Then you will learn the folly of scorning your king.’

 

It had been prophetic and the curse had generated ripples like a huge stone thrown into a pond.   For over 2,000 years, Sialia had accepted that he was dead, believing the lies of her evil brother: that a Drow raiding party, led by a powerful wizard, had killed her teacher.  

 

Then, as Celathon’s great grandson, Galonmoris, lay on his deathbed, Sialia -now the Great Bard of the Faesidhe- sang softly to him to ease his dying moments.   Perhaps it had been a collective sense of ancestral guilt that had overwhelmed Galonmoris, but he had confessed the truth to his great, great aunt shortly before he died.

Why had she thought she would find him in the Underdark after 2,800 years?    She had been told the name of the Drow noble house of the wizard who had summoned the demon for Celathon.    So she’d journeyed to the Underdark with the brave, but foolish notion that she could find him and save him.    

Yet he had long left the world of the Underdark and Sialia found House Ar’Grumet now more evil and less friendly to bribes than when her brother had dealt with them.    They took her, killed her companions and did horrible things to her.

He hadn’t known of her plight, for he lived in the Southern Empire then, serving as a slave of the Emperor.   Yet Mazzikim’ruhin had known and after she had been murdered by the Matron of Ar’Grumet, the demon had cast a nightmare vision of her horrible death to him, from afar.

Again and again he had experienced her agony and death until he avoided sleep.    Months of replaying the scene each night, and all the while he could feel the demon - connected to him through the Geis- laughing at his suffering while rejoicing over her torture.

For when he had paid the Drow wizard to force the demon to lay the cursing geis upon Carn, Celathon had wisely set protective conditions before hand.     The demon would -- unbeknownst to him- also be under a geis; this one prevented Mazzikim’ruhin from trying to bring harm upon the family of the one who had forced him to utter the curse.

Celathon had ordered the Drow wizard to craft the conditions of the curse so that none of Celathon’s family could be physically harmed or killed by Mazzikim’ruhin.   If he knowingly harmed or killed any of them; he would be ejected from Synomenia and cast back into Hell.    Celathon had also included the condition that if Mazzikim’ruhin ever did kill Carn, then the demon would immediately be dispelled from this world.   

This would get him away from the Faesidhe royalty for once and for all if he ever tired of tormenting Carn.   The Drow wizard wisely set this two-part geis up as a protecting ‘Ward Geis’.    As the demon was only restricted from harming or killing specific people, it could be cast without the demon even knowing about it, unlike a typical geis.   Yet Mazzikim’ruhin had finally learned of it, so the demon had completely avoided the Faesidhe royal family.

 

When Sialia had sought Carn in the Drow wizard’s household, Mazzikim’ruhin had rejoiced, for he had not broken his geis, yet she had suffered greatly and died.   

 

Carn had seen, in his nightmares, Sialia’s son.

The terrified young Half-Drow boy had watched his mother die, and then the boy was possessed by a lesser demon, who led him on a rampage out of the Underdark.    Carn had wondered about her son, until finally he began hearing about the Half-Drow Paladin, Eleazar.  

Then he’d known it was her son.    For ‘Eleazar’ had been the name of the human Watcher who had, eons ago, instructed the first Elven bard in the art of magic through song.     Sialia had remembered the tales Carn had told her about the Watcher, who had died while trying to help defend Elven children from Trolls.   He was the second of only six Watchers who had ever died.    

Sialia had named her son after the great man, and from this unusual human name, Carn had learned that her son had survived.

 

Upon learning of the acceptance of even Goblinoids in the Duchies of Westmark and Dullerm, Carn had travelled there with his Goblin friend Mutt.  

Thorm the Dwarf had readily accepted them, employed them, and had even brought them into the Bitter Dregs.   

Yet years of living as a Bugbear had dulled his mind almost to the point of accepting his lot.    Everyone was kind to him in Westmark, especially Eleazar’s daughter Snoe, who befriended him quickly.

He hadn’t really seen much of Amala until recently, but after seeing her suffering under her own geis in the Faesidhe woods, with surprisingly similar mannerisms (and the personality) of Sialia, he had found his mind awakened again.

Perhaps he should have stayed asleep.    He’d been alone for so long, though.    He hadn’t realized just how lonely he was until the Drow girl had abruptly befriended him.    She was so much like Sialia, yet at the same time different in such delightful ways.   

Confident and yet vulnerable.    Strong and yet soft.    But wonderfully beautiful with her long silvery white hair that she hated so badly, and her fiery red eyes.    How ironic - she represented a mixture of his favorite student - Sialia- with her murderer’s family - House Ar’Grumet.    But she also seemed to have a lion’s share of her mother’s beauty and charm.    Aurei Dullerm had always treated him with respect and compassion.

 

He admired her as well as her aunt; the equally lovely Matron Zeatt.   Perhaps these were the reasons he found himself loving Amala Dullerm.   Though he hardly knew her.

Carn closed his eyes and shook his head to clear away the thoughts.   They were the wild dreams and fantasies of yesterday.    

 

Nothing would remove the scars of nearly 3,000 years of loneliness and solitude.    Mutt and Snoe were his friends, and the others perhaps were too, if he would admit it.    But Amala Dullerm was a beautiful young Drow tomboy that had a bright future filled with joy and happiness.

He would have no part of that.   But he could help insure that this future arrived for her one day, and he would do that by sacrificing himself to destroy the demon.    Mazzikim’ruhin would not realize the trap until it was too late.    Then, he would finally be free of this miserable life as a Bugbear and be at peace in death, while all those who had been kind to him - and those he secretly loved-  could have long and happy lives.

It was worth dying for, and he smiled at the thought of a brighter future with the elimination of the demon from the world.

Sitting back in the chair in the bridge of ‘The Phoenix’, Carn stared ahead as the scenery streaked by below.   

Soon, he told himself with a slight sigh, Just a bit more suffering and it will all be over.    Very soon.    Then you will have eternal sleep.

Reviews

[Elina]

Golly, but I am loving this! I am very curious to see how things turn out...

"The demon would -- unbeknownst to him- also be under a geis - this one prevented Mazzikim’ruhin from trying to bring harm upon the family of the one who had forced him to utter the curse." I think the third "--" should, instead, be a semicolon. ?

[Eddie Davis]

Thank you, Elina, I am very glad you are enjoying the story.