The Ritual

 “Hey Kemen,” Ilargi said. Her tone was serious and cautious as she talked.

“She is asking something about when you were ambushed by some people. What kind of weapons were they using?” The ring said.

Corbin did his best to explain the concept of guns, but if she hadn’t seen them in action by her own eyes, she wouldn’t believe him at all.

“She is saying that some scouting and raiding teams have gone missing recently. Some of them were very well trained and equipped. Are these guns powerful enough even for people like that?”

“Yes, some guns could go even through the strongest plate no matter how far away they are shot from. In a way it is like how you have bows with different draw weights, guns also differ in their strength. When you were shot it only got through your bow, clothes and part of the shoulder. A stronger gun could go through plate, your entire body and through plate on the other side,” Corbin said. When the ring translated the last part, he could see her growing pale. “I guess your people don’t have any guns, right?”

“No,” she said.

“She said no,” the ring translated.

“Thanks, but I do understand a little,” Corbin said. The ring didn’t reply, but it felt like it was sulking. I hope I didn’t offend it.

By the time they returned to Esti the zurgina, Corbin could consistently do 25 press-ups per session. One time he even passed 30. At least I don’t have to do any leg exercises thanks to all this walking. His progress with sword and bow was slower, but he was certain he used to be even worse, if that was possible. His reach and probably raw strength as well outmatched Ilargi, but her skill surpassed his by far. Maybe she is actually stronger than me, the way she can draw the bow. Maybe it’s different muscles that I don’t normally use and form as well.

Esti’s cottage was already visible through the trees. And nothing went wrong on the way back. I wish life was always this easy. They had barely taken more than a couple of strides from that moment, when a loud bang sounded from the cottage, accompanied by a flash of light. Corbin and Ilargi gasped in unison. They exchanged a brief glance and scuttled towards the cottage. Corbin threw himself against the door, which banged open and Ilargi jumped past him messer drawn in one hand.

As soon as the door was opened, thick smoke poured outside and Ilargi was coughing inside. Corbin covered his face with his cloak and followed her inside.

“No, it can’t be,” the words escaped him. “It’s not possible,” he said and stared with mouth agape until a coughing fit took him over. The cottage looked even worse than it did before he started cleaning the place. The room was littered by trash and equipment. There was soot everywhere. He sighed and moved to open the doors and windows. He tripped over a heap and fell. The heap squealed with pain, making him take a better look. It was covered in soot, but it was a familiar green colour. One end of the heap was auburn and the other black. “Esti?” He held out his hand and picked her up. Ilargi was still coughing, but managed to open the doors and windows. “What is going on?”

The ring translated his question, which snapped her out of her daze. Her eyes shone and she was talking excitedly while waving her hands around. “She is saying, that it’s amazing that you managed to succeed and come back alive. And something about all the things she wants to do.”

“Calm down Esti,” Corbin said. “Tell me what happened. Were you attacked?”

“She is saying she was doing some experiments, nothing to worry your pretty little head about,” the ring said. Corbin thought her remarks might have sounded more impressive, if her experiment hadn’t just caused her room to explode, but decided to let the matter rest. The three of them cleaned the cottage up, just the essential things, so that it was possible to move around without tripping.

“What do we need to do now?” Corbin asked. After Esti answered, the ring was strangely silent. “What did she say?” Still nothing. “Hey ring.”

“I wish you didn’t call me that you know,” replied the ring.

“What?”

“I told you I’m sentient, but you don’t treat me any different than an inanimate object.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say. I just have a hard time keeping up with all the strange things that have happened here. But I understand. I’m sorry. I am Corbin, would you please tell me your name?”

The ring sighed. “Not that I was treated much better before, so whatever. I am Eder. Let me ask you something.”

“What?”

“Why does Ilargi call you Kemen?”

“Oh that. Well, after we ended up in prison together, we escaped and during that time I saved her from a guard. They named me Kemen for that deed. Of course they did most of the work and saved me several times, but it seems that that doesn’t really matter to them. Also, we got a little off topic. What did Esti say?”

“Yes, I was stalling. She wants to perform a ritual to bind us together,” the ring said and went silent.

“I see, and why is that?”

“It will make it so that we can communicate without speaking, effectively giving you the ability to understand and talk to others.”

“That sounds nice. Is it dangerous?”

“Not really, but it does require complete trust between us. That is why I was hesitant.”

“I can’t blame you, I stole you away and treated you poorly. I can’t expect you to trust me at all.”

“There is that, but as strange as it might sound, I am starting to think you are a decent enough person. You aren’t very competent or strong, but in a way I think I can rely on you.”

“Thanks, I suppose. Also what will you get out of this?”

“I get to experience life through you. The bind we have right now would only last a couple more days, maybe weeks and then it would dissolve. I would be just a dumb ring that could do nothing but scream and you wouldn’t understand anybody. Maybe it’s for the best if we do go through with it.”

“All right, it looks like you’ve decided. I need you even more than you do me, so I also want to do it. Tell Esti that we’re ready.” The ring spoke, and Esti’s face lit up. She rubbed her hands, replied and scampered off, collecting various items around her cottage.

“She said you should keep sweeping the ground, while she prepares. We will leave before dusk.”

“Ilargi is asking what were we talking about,” said Eder the ring.

“Hm, you know what. Why don’t you tell her in own words as much as you want to,” replied Corbin. Eder was silent for a while, than began talking. To Corbin’s surprise Ilargi’s reaction was strange. At first she stared, then her face flushed red and in the end she was staring murder at Corbin before going out of the cottage.

The two women walked in front and talked, while Corbin was following and struggling with a heavy backpack. The Sun was still high in the air, but the winds were announcing the approaching chill of the night. Their destination was a hill, marked clearly by the fact that it was the only one absent of any trees, though it was still green with grass. The other thing that set it apart was the large stone circle at the top of the hill. The stone monoliths were twice the height of a man.

“She is saying this is a stone circle, which we call harrespil. It’s a place of great power, built by the giants, the basajauns and the jentils. In fact the whole hill was created by them and there is another harrespil at the centre of it, where the ground used to be. Many ancient ones are buried bellow. They will help us facilitate the ritual.” Outside the stone circle there were piles of smooth stones. They put their gear down next to them. Esti started taking stones into the circle and arranging them into different shapes. After a while a circle of runes was written using stones within the harrespil. Then she took out herbs from the backpack, and lit them at the edges of the runes. A strong but pleasant smell permeated the air.

“She is telling us to kneel at the centre of the circle and remove your shirt,” Eder said. Corbin did so and Esti came with a pouch in her hand. She dipped a finger inside, and then began tracing turquoise patterns across Corbin’s face, continuing to his chest and then arms. All the while Ilargi kept making sure that the incense never stopped burning. It took a long time before the pattern reached the ring. At that point Esti stopped and motioned Ilargi to come. She gave her a flower and instructions. Ilargi opened her mouth to say something, but changed her mind and got closer to Corbin. She began weaving the thorny stem of the flower around his fingers. Despite the pain, he made no sound. The weave ended with the flame red flower just on top of Eder.

Esti took a gnarled old stick and began thumping the ground in an even rhythm. After a couple of beats she began singing. She gave Ilargi a look and she joined in. They began walking around the circle and Esti struck a different rune on each beat with the stick, making them light up in different colours. The melody was slow and simple like a very old folk song, but the harmony gave it a mysterious quality. Then lines of light grew from the runes and snaked along the ground towards Corbin. The swirling patterns on his body began to shine and the flower on his hand constricted until the thorns began drawing blood. A cry of pain escaped him. The ring on his finger also contracted until it felt like his finger bones were about to be crushed. Just as the last ray of light shone through a hole in one of the monoliths, a lightning struck from the clear dusky sky, enveloping the circle in a flash of blinding blue light.

Corbin became aware when the Sun had already risen. He didn’t remember what exactly happened, whether he slept or just lost consciousness. It looks like it worked. Wait, who are you? It’s Eder, did you forget what we were doing? Oh, so you are now inside my mind. Think of it as our mind. You’ll get used to it fast. I’ll be just another voice in your head. You won’t even notice me if you aren’t looking for me. And is that all right with you? I told you already. Corbin grunted and picked himself up. Esti and Ilargi sat just outside of the harrespil, covered in blankets. Ilargi slept while Esti was just barely awake. When she saw Corbin she poked Ilargi, who jumped to her feet.

“Kemen, are you alright?” Ilargi asked and ran to him.

“Yes, I’m fine, just a little sore,” Corbin replied. Then did a double take. Ilargi looked at him with a shocked expression. “Oh, I can understand you.”

“Same here,” she replied, “I mean, I knew this was supposed to happen, but it’s still a bit of a shock. It was quite a pain to deal with you because of this,” she was talking excitedly, bordering on incoherent rambling. Then she took a breath to calm herself. “Anyway, I think we have a lot to discuss, but we can take it slow.”

Corbin looked at his hand. The patterns were still drawn on him, but it looked like the colour had faded to a burnt grey. The ring was gone from his finger, leaving behind just an impression of itself and the flower on top of it. Unlike the patterns drawn on Corbin, this one seemed to be merged with his skin. “Yes. I think it’s time to go back. Esti, is there anything else we need to do?”

“No, this is all. I can’t believe it actually worked,” Esti said.

“Wait what?” Corbin asked.

“What? Nothing, forget it,” said Esti. “Let’s go back.”

“Hey Esti, you can do magic right?” Corbin asked.

“I suppose you could say that. Why?”

“Do you happen to know anything about portal magic or travelling between different worlds?”

“There are some legends about it, but to be honest, if you weren’t here right now I would assume that the magic is either lost or never existed in the first place. You are from a different world, aren’t you?”

“That’s right. I was brought to this world against my will,” Corbin said. Ilargi stood by and watched with interest.

“As I said, I can’t really help you right now, but I can keep an eye out while going through my books. Don’t expect anything to come of it though. If you want to go back, you should use the way you came.”

“Yes, I thought as much. Still, thank you for trying at all. I don’t think it will be easy to go back. The Empire seemed pretty keen to keep me imprisoned. Or worse.”