Changelings Book1 Dragons & Demons

Chapter 10

Jack stood with his bone gauntlet resting on the glowing globe. He barely managed to avert his gaze before the glow had swallowed him. He staggered slightly as a dizzy spell swept over him and, even though his eyes were screwed tight shut, the light still hurt.

It seemed to make him as light as a feather and his grip on the orb tightened as his bone boots lifted from the floor. The light began to pulse rapidly and the armour enveloping him slid off a piece at a time.

The pulsing slowed and Jack lowered gently, till his feet touched the floor. The brightness dimmed to a soft glow and he tentatively opened his eyes. It took him a few moments to realise that the presence of Ulfner seemed to have left him.

Jack saw that he was still in the same chamber, though the roof was now intact. He stepped into the octagonal room, halting before a basic stone table in the centre of the dais. Ulfner's bones rested upon the smooth surface,still glowing a faint green.

A low hum vibrated the room and the luminous runes flared brightly and then vanished before a nimbus of green particles formed around the bones. He rubbed his eyes and took a back step as the bones began to knit together; the face formed; the segmented ribcage broke noisily into individual ribs; and all the small bones magically shaped themselves from the green motes.

He watched aghast as pulsating organs swelled, appearing in the hollows of the, now complete, skeleton. Sinews, muscle and skin snaked and slithered, forming the complete body. As Jack stepped closer, thick, dark hairs began sprouting across Ulfner's massive, barrelchest and abdomen. Ulfner Darkbane was a giant of a man, built like a bull with broad shoulders and a thick neck, but with the slim physique of an athlete.

A row of thin, black spikes were puncturing his skin; one in his forehead; one between his bushy brows; one in his throat; one in his heart; one in his solar plexus; one in his navel; and a final in his groin. Each spike was engraved with tiny runes that glowed with the same green that had previously covered the bone armour.

Jack leaned over the huge frame and studied the spikes closely and was amazed to find that the inscriptions seemed to be moving slowly, creeping and crawling in slow spirals down into Ulfner's body.

Jack gingerly touched the forehead spike with the tip of one finger.

"COME ON LAD! PULL THE NECROMIUS SPINES FROM ME," Ulfner's voice boomed into his mind, making him leap back in fright.

He gripped the spine and heard echoes of the great, magical words ringing through the metal, "Ateh... Malkuth... Ve Gebburah... Ve Geddulah... La Ohlam... Amen."

As the last spine was removed from the body, the wounds sealed themselves over,vanishing completely after a moment. Ulfner took a deep whooshing intake of air, then suddenly sat up. He reached out with two hands the size of shovels and gasped Jack's head, cupping his palms around his ears. Through the muffling hands Jack heard a quiet mumbling sound. This grew to a loud, highpitched whistle and ended in a terrible scream.

The sound was actually painful, causing his teeth to chatter and a thin line of blood to run from his nose, the metallic taste unsettling him. A tingle ran from the base of his skull, down his spine and right to the tips of his toes. Ulfner lifted his hands away, and Jack wiped at the blood trickling down his bare lip. He was further astonished to discover that the hair that had previously covered him was gone.

He also felt different.

Then it hit him: he was young again!

Ulfner stood and gave a luxurious stretch, making his bones pop and crackle, grinding noisily. "Do you know just how good that feels?" he said.

Jack shook his head, in awe of the big man standing before him.

"I have been pinned there for many years...far too many." Jack looked up at the man towering over him with his huge, lantern jaw and full, jutting lips, topped by a hooked nose with flaring nostrils. But it was Ulfner's eyes that really held his attention more than his sheer bulk, for one eye was piercing green and the other was a deep crimson.

"Those words..." Jack began. "The Mighty Binding," Ulfner interrupted, answering his question before he asked it. "What do they mean?" asked Jack. Ulfner smiled, "Well to put it simply, young champion, it means: By the Will of the Creator; Her Kingdom; Her Power; Her Glory; Forever and for all Eternity; So Be It."

Jack frowned, thinking he had heard some old temple preacher shouting something similar, what seemed like an age ago. Ulfner nodded.

"Yes similar, Jack, merely the words but without the real power of the creator behind it." Ulfner reminded Jack of the old mage, Belthor, answering the unspoken questions as he did. "Why were you pinned there Ulfner?"

"We foresaw the inevitable release of the Demons, Jack, and I was pinned here so my bones could act as a portal linked to the future. To the time when you would find them. My Angels were also pinned into forms of their own - albeit slightly lesser prisons than my own here."

"Angels?" Jack was puzzled. Ulfner nodded, then stepped across to a large stone container beside the entrance to the stairs. He lifted the thick stone lid, making the thick cords of muscle on his arms bulge. Holding it open with one hand, he reached in and produced a shimmering robe of green silk, which he slipped on.

"Come Jack, let's go and see how the struggle is going." Ulfner made towards the door. Suddenly he realised that he did

not have the weapon he had wielded before being transported here. He was about to call after Ulfner when he found the shining dagger had magically appeared in his right hand. It seemed he need only think of it and the weapon would appear. Jack scrambled after Ulfner as his broad back disappeared around the central column of the spiral staircase. As the pair walked, Jack quizzed the mage.

"Angels, you said, actual Angels? With wings and all?" Ulfner laughed to himself, a deep, friendly rumble, "The Angels you are thinking of are the archetypal beings mentioned throughout history in texts and holy documents. The real Angels, my Angels...are slightly... different."