All of the islands had a similar look to them. Each of them held a vast jungle of various trees, large beaches that stretched nearly around all of it, with some of them bearing more jagged approaches. We could see plenty of rivers coming from the islands, and two with volcanos and one with a large ice capped mountain range. One of the jungles looked far sparser than the rest, and two of them were connected by an isthmus that could barely be seen by the naked eye unless you were close by. We all discussed which island was our best bet, often referencing the poem or the journal entry that we now passed around. All around the same time we started to agree the island with the ice capped mountain would be our starting point. We knew the poem referenced a cave adorned in frost so it only made sense.
Brindle provided us with rowboats when we approached and told us he would keep the ship near and a close eye on the Deshok vessel. It had drifted to the bay near the opening and it looked like it wasn’t moving anytime soon. They had oars out, but they had to have taken enough damage that they had to repair it before moving on. We pressed out on 3 rowboats and landed in a matter of minutes. As we stepped onto the beach I felt in my soul this was the right place. I could almost taste it in the air and with the song of the Salt Sparrow all around us, I knew I was not mistaken.
“Where to first,” Sorin asked me as he looked around.
“We should follow the river towards the mountain. It will probably lead us to where we need to go, though what we are looking for is something that runs off of this. This is far too large to be the creek from our poem.” I surveyed the river and was pestered with the idea that we could wind up on the wrong side once we did find the creek. The river was fairly wide, nearly 20 feet or so, and we would have to construct some sort of bridge or trek the whole way back to the base. “
So right or left,” I finally said aloud to the others. They were all aware of the trouble choosing the wrong side could lead to, and ultimately we decided to take the right side. The journey following the river took over an hour before we reached a creek that stretched off away from it. We knew it was the creek of the poem as it was marked by two Salt Sparrows in a tree beside it. We watched them quietly as their soft cries began to harmonize. It was as if gods were singing a single beautiful note in complete harmony. They dropped from the tree and each landed on a separate side of the creek before taking off into the air and criss-crossing one another. Over and over again they crossed all while making delightful soft cries whenever they passed by. Like performers in an elaborate circus, they danced this harmony the whole way down the creek. We were so captivated in their capers that we nearly didn’t notice the shadows looming underneath them.
“That journal entry mentioned Jappers or something in the waters.” Silaraeon stepped forward and with a flick of his wand a bolt of fire shot out and directly into a large fish like creature that jumped from the water towards our avian performers. “I thought so,” he said before he gasped. “Wait. There's more of them!” He jumped back and called forth a magical blade that appeared in his hand.
“Protect the sparrows!” I yelled, and all of the mercenaries charged at the four fish-like beasts that crawled from the creek. They had large bulbous eyes, gills along their necks, and frog-like feet and hands. They stood about five feet tall but their otherworldly appearance was caught in between appalling and threatening so one didn’t know if they should run from it or destroy it to rid the world of it. One was adorned in random mushrooms and rocks and carried a wooden stick he held like a staff. The others had spears made from large bones. Solana and Bataar tried to charge the one with the staff but the spear wielders kept them at bay.
The whole time they charged, the Japper with the staff held it high and chanted in a strange and guttural tongue that must have crawled from the Abyss itself. Amara seemed to understand this dark language and spoke it at will against it. I didn’t know whether it was a battle of spell casters canceling each other's magic as the other breathed it into existence or some kind of battle of verse poets engage in to demonstrate their ability to rhyme someone into embarrassment. Either way, Amara seemed to come out on top as the Japper she battled against burst into a thousand pieces and fish guts flew all over us. By this point the other Jappers were repelled by Bataar and Solona as Sorin and Silarean fried and diced the other fish with their magic. Before they were able to destroy the remaining two beasts, they made their retreat into the water and were gone in an instant. All baptized in fish guts, we quickly washed away the grime.
“Do you think we should worry about their return?” Alrick asked. He had some kind of strange arcane cannon he was itching to use but so far the opportunity had yet to arise.
“I would think not,” Amara replied. “They aren't used to dealing with things so powerful, it was clear from their priest that he had a limited understanding of dark arts.”
“We better hurry and catch up to those sparrows before we lose them,” I said and I took off after them.
The mercenaries eventually caught up to me as we approached the mouth of a large cave. The Salt Sparrows slowly hopped inside and I looked on in slight horror at the prospect of entering a cave known to carry a beast who had some kind of “dark art”. “This must be where the beast is,” I told them as I pointed out the bits of frost and snow high up above us.
“Then we should prepare,” Silareaon brought up his staff and said something in Elvish. An arcane circle surrounded the mercenaries as green energy rose up around them. Once he had finished chanting his spell they were ready.
“Let me get a shot off,” Alrick said as he walked in first. “I haven’t had a chance to use this yet.” Alrick patted his cannon the way an owner pets their dog. We pressed on into the cave. We could still hear the beautiful melody of the Salt Sparrows but an unsettling growl could be faintly heard in the background.
We knew the beast would be here, we just weren't sure what to expect. The term beast has been used throughout history to often refer to Tamanos, as with the Remnants that spawned from him, simply speaking his name could call him to you. Hoping that certain death didn’t wait for us, we passed into the cave but stopped when we heard the crunching of bones beneath our feet.
“By the Gods!” I cried and called for a light. Sorin produced an orb of fire and we were greeted by the sight of several bones scattered around.
“Not all of these look to be human,” Sorin said as he stooped down and picked up a large bone.
“I suppose the dark beast must truly be here,” I replied. I swallowed my fears and tried my best to remember the Valley would be just ahead.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
A large opening lay in the heart of that cave and that is where we found ourselves when the soft growl that had lingered in the background could now be heard just overhead. We backed up and saw a creature staring down at us from a precipice nearly 20 meters above. It had deep yellow eyes that glowed like torches in the night, and its wispy shadowy body was like black smoke that somehow kept its form.
“That is a beast of Doubt,” Silaraeon yelled. “Shield your thoughts and be sure of everything you do or else you’ll become its slave!”
The creature pounced down like a panther and had three snake-like tails that curled up and towards myself and the mercenaries. The first tale reeled back and slammed into Solana, sending her flying into the rock wall. The second went for me and it hit me with such force I flew into the air and hard on my back. The wind was knocked from my lungs and I laid staring up at the ceiling for what felt like an eternity. All around me I heard yells and grunts, the off scream or two, and a call to action. I couldn’t make out the words but I knew we were winning. I then saw a bright flash and all that followed was silence.
It was another few minutes or hours before I finally saw Alrick’s face appear above me. He helped me stand and as my hearing returned to normal they explained they had slayed the beast and found a dagger up on the ledge it was sitting on. They were all pleased with the find and we could now get moving. The Salt Sparrows seemed to hide out in the cave as we fought, but as we stepped towards the light that crept into the darkness we walked through, the Salt Sparrows were the first to enter into the light. My heart was renewed for I feared that during the fighting they might have gotten injured or ahead of us, at any rate I was at ease and we all followed behind them.
The valley was a lush garden of wildflowers and various large trees long untouched by anything but nature. Salt Sparrows were all around, some in the air, some atop branches, all singing in unison with a selected mate. It was then the two that we had journeyed with showed us the Salt Sparrow Heart.
They jumped into the air, took flight, approached one another, then bounded away and arced down in a way that resembled a hand drawn heart. Excitement and beauty are just words, what I saw that day was beyond that. “We’ve done it!” We’ve Done it!” I shouted over and over again. “We have found the valley of the Salt Sparrow Heart! My word and its wrapped in such elegance, such beauty! The world will not believe it, but it is true and we proved it!”
The others shared my excitement in their own ways. Silaraeon was beaming and glowing as if he had found something divine. Alrick looked on with the curiosity and wonder that gnomes always have with the little things in life. Solana gazed out at the expanse of flowers but I could tell she was more excited for the strange dagger they had found. Amara seemed to be in high spirits as well, I believe I even saw her smile. Sorin had pulled out his spell book at this point and was drawing the flowers as well as collecting some in a bag. I watched as Bataar approached a large tree and held his hand up to it, as if he was saying hello to it. For a brief moment I had hoped the thoughts of vengeance slipped from his mind and we could return to the ship and make our way home with several prisoners, but the look on his face was unlike the rest of us. He was not happy, he was not content, no. He would only find his solace in bloodshed.
We remained in the Valley of the Salt Sparrow Heart for nearly an hour before making our exit. I still could hardly believe I had achieved what I set out to do. I knew it was something I could not have done on my own, and I was eternally grateful to the hands that carried me here. The walk back to the beach was quiet.
The sun had begun to set, and all of the sky was red and purple. There were no clouds anymore. As we approached the beach we were greeted with Rueon and One-Tusk Tolgar along with a few of their men. They had gotten their ship to the beach, though it was clear the dwarfs took a few more shots on it, as the entire back of the ship was now sunken into the bay.
“I take it the Salt Sparrow heart exists?” Rueon yelled as we approached.
“It doesn’t matter if it does or doesn’t,” Bataar told him. “Because at the end of the day, you will be dead.” Bataar approached the enemy line without hesitation and the other mercenaries were not far behind. I knew the Deshok wanted me only to wound my father, and though I had paid them to protect me, I felt I had no other option than to join. What kind of man would I be if I simply hid? I wanted to be an adventurer, and I knew if I let them fight without me, I would only ever be a coward. So I drew my blade beside them and we all charged into the fray.
The large Half-Shok on their side tried to smash Bataar to bits but he was far too quick to be caught by such large and clumsy hands. Bataar rolled beneath him and sprung up directly in Rueon’s face. The two began throwing punches and kicks, each blocking and parrying the other as if they were evenly matched.
Two Half-shoks charged our back line of spellcasters but Alrick pinned them down with his cannon. A huge burst of lightning rippled out and the two Half-shoks that charged took cover behind a large rock.
There was a dwarven priest accompanying them named Bridla, who chanted scripture from the Parable of Humanity and was protected by Tolgar himself.
I knew she was enchanting them with her divinity and knew the only thing I could do to counter this was bolster the resolve of my allies. So I sheathed my sword and brought out my flute. The notes seemed to pour out of me as freely as breathing and before I knew it I was lost in my own song. I played and played until my lungs felt like busting and as I played my final note, I looked around and saw the battle had ended. From my best guess I believe it had ended for nearly 5 minutes or so as all of the mercenaries were now just picking through the dead bodies save for Tolgar and Brilda who they left tied up. Apparently they didn’t want to disturb my song. Brindle had at some point made his way to the island as well and now stood by Tolgar with the same tusk that gave Tolgar his infamous nickname.
Brindle was overjoyed and revealed in the moment far longer than what I thought was appropriate. “Haha!” he shouted as he stared Tolgar in the face. He paced around, threw his hands in the air, and took sips out of his flask which he must have reclaimed from the dwarf he gave it to weeks prior. The sky was growing dark and the purple hues turned to a dark blue with only a slight color of light remaining. “Sun’s going down,” he said as he looked at the tusk he palmed in his hand tightly. “You know, Tolgar,” he said slowly, “when you stabbed me with this, the pain I felt was so immense, so deep, that I haven’t been able to forget it.”
“Do it!” Tolgar said with a husky voice. “I don’t care for your sob story, just kill me and get it over with.”
“Ohh, I’m not going to kill you Tolgar,” Brindle smiled and let out a little chuckle. “I’m just going to let you experience what I had to, only to be cruel, I’m going to double it up.” Everything was still as the last embers of light faded into darkness. The screams and howls of pain that poured from Tolgar were sounds that I will never forget.
Epilogue
We sailed back to Denmor and were greeted as heroes. The now blinded Tolgar was handed over to the Denmor Navy along with Brilda, and the mercenaries' reputations were restored. We all left the ship and said goodbye and it was the end of it. I never really saw them again, and as for Brindle, he headed back to the flotilla to see the Buckwater clan about restoring his family’s name to its prior glory. I returned home to my manor in Denmor and began writing and visiting with the academy about my findings. Within the year a second voyage was planned, this time with the aid of the Denmor navy and funded by the Count of the Gold coin. I was asked to go and lead them back, but I knew the Valley of the Salt Sparrow Heart was something you only needed to see once.
I had followed Dominic to the Valley and I had gazed up at its beauty. I knew there was nothing stopping me from achieving my dreams other than myself. Pitfalls are in every direction and come with every step, but as long as you continue walking you will reach your end. Whether you seek glory or fame, notoriety or wealth, you can achieve whatever end you wish to make, you need only set yourself on the path and begin walking