A father-daughter spat sends young necromancer Emilia Mortalis to seek out her real parents, beginning with a summoning in a cemetery, where she encounters a faceless Angel statue. When her foster father is killed while fighting in the Badlands, sh...
As the Sand Flea Clan Warriors neared Gift Rock Box 18, Sam blew the netheryak horn, calling them to stop. He explained what was going to be attempted. First, Ginny, Kharimar, Elona and Emilia would come from out the rocky shelter. If the Clan saw them as netherkin, they were to wave but stay put. The four mages would perform a spell that would remove all the red sand particles they had breathed in, or swallowed, or was in their clothes. They would gather all the sand together and change it.
Sam told them that such a spell had not been tried in this way before, but because they were Sand Flea Clan, and warriors, they would be brave and wait until the spell was done. It might hurt a little, or it might hurt a lot. When he saw the doubt on their faces, and the fear in their eyes, he knew what he had to do.
"I will go, and they will do this spell on me first."
"You don't need to do this, son," said his father.
"Yes, my Chief, I do. I'm the one who brought you here, remember? Your lives are my responsibility now. Wish me luck!" As he walked towards his new friends, a salamander sprouted wings, and became a dragon. A small one, but a dragon, nonetheless.
"Luck is with you already!" shouted Old Spit-In-Your-Face.
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"Absolutely not! Are you nuts?" said Emilia, when Sam told her his plan.
"I think it's a bit heroic," sighed Elona, who (Emilia noted) batted her eyes.
"We might kill you...not on purpose, of course," stated Kharimar.
"Enough," said Ginny, "It's a stroke of genius, actually. IF you survive, mind you. Are you ready? Stand about 10 feet away, please. It might not hurt, but it will sting!"
Sam swallowed and watched as the salamander jumped to land on Ginny's shoulder. The four mages stood before a basin on the ground, which had a small quantity of the red sand. Sam was directed to stand behind it. Ginny began the chant: "Annal Neth Rak, Urthvas Beh Thud, Dothiel Dien Vay", and the others joined in. After the third round, the basin lit up with a blood red light.
Tiny grains of red sand first began emerging from the pores of Sam's skin. His head snapped backwards as a stream emerged from his ears and open mouth, and finally...from there, too. The sand swirled above the basin, forming itself into a ball. Khari and Elona then hit it with a fireball. It gained weight as it fell, to rest in the basin, a kitten-sized ball of red glass. Sam fell to his knees.
Concerned that something might have hurt him on the inside, Ginny walked up to him and asked, "Are you alright?" He nods, and she helps him to stand. He walks, shaky but determined, to where his clansmen can see him, and waves. They cheer, as he walks to them and shows them the blood-red glass ball.
"How is it," asks Gobbers, "the Netherbitch controls 'em with the sand?"
"It's reg'lar sand, innit?" asks Micky.
"S'Blood Magic, it is. Why d'ya think it's red? Cause the Netherqueen has dyed it in blood," explains Drattus, trying to find a place in the sand where his cane won't sink in.
"Netherkin blood!" says Ravvy.
"No," corrects Ginny. "The caster of Blood Magic has to use her own blood to control someone. I'd guess that she's been taking Badlands sand every day for two years or more, to have produced that much red sand."
Elona shouts, "Sam's back. He says they're ready."
It took the quartet a good quarter of an hour to cleanse the 100 or so clansmen together. When it was over, the weakened warriors and villagers saw that the Adventurers were not netherkin at all. Which was fortunate, since at that moment, sizable groups of real netherkin were advancing to their very location.
"Sand Flea shamans, lend us your strength and join us!" shouts Ginny. She looks at her 3 Teenmagers, and warns them: "Whatever you may see, stay focused, understand? Do not lose focus. We have to cleanse the Badlands, now, and with a lot less help than I'd hoped."
"Why," Emilia asks with worry, "do we have to hurry all of a sudden? I don't understand?"
"Call Tempus! We could use his help!"
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Badlands Netherwindow, Dune Whales Clan Territory
Sleep in the Nether was a rare and precious commodity. You never knew when an enemy might be lying in wait, ready to kill you and eat you. Or eat you while killing you. Elysia had the advantage on her enemies by having a very active and paranoid presence – the former queen – who would keep watch while her own, constantly besieged brain rested.
She was dreaming – something that rarely ever happened since being trapped in the world of the Nether. She was back in The Keg Runneth Over, celebrating something with Gristle, Oneida and Alzabar. It had to have been a Caturday night, because they were onstage doing karaoke, a horrendously off-key version of 'Love in Beor is Crazy.' Then a sandworm erupted from the tavern floor, swallowing them whole, but they couldn't scream for help because their mouths were full of red sand, her blood-dyed sand...
Elysia woke up screaming, to the sound of the bitch queen's voice.
"We're near one of our Netherwindows, you stupid flesh-bag! Stop shouting or I'll stop your heart and end both of us!"
A group of 500 or so netherkin were crowded around her, their expressions were mostly blank. She pointed at the window, making certain most wore the time-shielding bracelets, disguised to look like Badlander jewelry, and watched as they fell into Beor. Greater numbers were waiting at the other six netherwindows.
Something, though, was very wrong. Magic was being performed on a grand scale not usually experienced in Beor – not even in her time.
"What's the problem? We've got more troops waiting to..."
"SHUT UP! Let me concentrate!" she sent as a razor-sharp warning to the loudest of the thousands of voices in her head. Elysia spread her awareness wide, and there, in the north, was the unmistakable signature in the ether of her own flesh and blood, Emilia. There were also two that had to be divine in origin, which did not frighten her in the least. It was as she was considering them as an amusing challenge that she felt the sudden pain of searing heat, as her own blood was fused into glass.
And as old Sympathetic Magic clashed with old Blood Magic, Elysia knew what happening. And that she had very little time to decimate the clans, destroy the armies of Tasuil Beor, and rip her daughter away from Beor and into the Nether. And wouldn't her clever little girl be surprised that she'd just given her dear old Mom the means to do it?
Elysia located the Netherwindow closest to Emilia and moved herself there to have a better vantage point for her plan. She sent out a psychic signal to all the true netherkin in Beor to attack everyone, Beor army and Badland clans alike. And then, she began her Sympathetic spell to bring her daughter to her side.
