The high priest was impressed. “Thank you, Romzin. Fleck, have you anything more to add?”
Fleck scowled at Romzin; He did not like to lose a debate, but she had beaten him thoroughly. “I have represented the cautious approach high priest, for I think this is the way forward. I do not condone war in any sense of the word, and that is what we do if we side with or against Raessa.” Fleck turned towards the gathered men and women. “Let the guild make its choice.”
Joachimedes raised his hands in a gesture of invitation. “Two bells there are at the back of the room. The light bell for yes, and the dark bell for no.” He turned and pointed. Revealed to the order were two bells that shimmered into existence from behind a wall of air, used only for deciding such a weighty matter. One was a bright polished brass, magnificent in its appearance. The other was almost black, but equally impressive. “Make your choice. Shall we go to war, or stay out of the way and leave others to direct the future of the Duchies?” Each member of the order focussed, and sent a force of solid air towards one of the bells. The dark bell toned low to start with, and then the light bell responded with its shimmering ring. As each wizard decided they sent their focus towards one or the other. Occasionally the dark bell tolled, but it was the shimmering brass of the light bell that rang out more often.
The order had been stirred into restlessness by Romzin's words, and Joachimedes approved. He personally would never have stood by and watched others reduce his country to ruins, but the forms of the guild had to be observed. The next part he dreaded, for he had no idea what his guild was thinking. “As decisive as the previous question was, it needs to be clarified. It has been decided by us all that we will take action of one form or another. Here is the choice: For Raessa, or against Raessa. Choose the dark bell for and the light bell against.” Joachimedes made the conscious choice of giving the dark bell for Raessa, as it was a path that saw no good. The answer was swift and sudden. The light bell rang out in magnificent song, with not a single dark tone to offset it. “The choice is made,” the high priest rang out as the bell still hummed with vibration, “we will see this through to the bitter end if need be. Gather your strength my kinsmen, for we go out as soon as we may to join those that would fight this oppressor and his allies. We will seek out those orders that will stand by us, and the wizards of Nejait will put an end to the Witch Finder once and for all!” The guild cheered their leader, even the dark-faced Fleck yelling out in support. The weavers were as one; they would do their utmost to preserve the Law by which everybody once lived, and hopefully would live by once more.
* * *
Gregoriades rued the day so many members of his guild had left on the pilgrimage downriver to the larger cities. It had meant the decimation of his order, and the end of the good that they did in Nejait. No longer could they range far and wide in search of villages to aid. No longer could they even sustain an active temple. The grand temple dedicated to Ilia stood barren and disused. There was not a lot that three of them could do. For a place so large, there was little more that the three of them could do than keep the 'home fires burning', and keep looters out. The latter was not hard: simple cantrips and a focus that guarded the entire building saw to its protection. The former was the problem. The guild was so empty without the rest of the members.
He looked down at the floor miserably as he shuffled out of the main hall. “Nothing to be done.”
“Nothing,” agreed a voice as downtrodden as his own.
He looked up and almost bumped into Bortcosh, another of the surviving trio. “What can we do, Bort? We keep the halls clean and polish the windows until the crystal gleams in the sunshine, but it will not bring back the others. We keep stores of food until they go rotten, but still we have no more mouths to feed.”
Bortcosh leaned into the crutches that he had used since a child to compensate for the leg that was stunted at the knee, and moved along beside him, the only noise that any of them made for a while being the tap of wood on stone. “We exist, my friend. That is what we do. Perhaps an answer will present itself if we just look in the right place.”
“I wish I shared your optimism,” Gregoriades replied, defeated by the great walls of stone around him.
A door slammed. “I thought that I would find you two moping around somewhere.” A high-pitched voice assaulted the silence. Teresita, the final member of the surviving trio was definitely not going to become overwhelmed by the circumstances, and had been trying to take what advantage the situation provided. She was a severe-looking woman with her grey hair tied back tightly and her clothes as grey as the walls, but she had a heart of gold and both men were fond of her finicky ways.
Bortcosh smiled. “What would you have us do, o great lady?” He bowed, intentionally just missing Gregoriades with one crutch and making him jump out of his way, and out of his sour mood.
“I would have you both accompany me to the former master's room. There are things that we must discuss, and they can only be spoken of in that room.
Intrigued, both men followed with not a word. When they all walked together, the guild felt less lonely. It was not uncommon to wander the halls alone, or in pairs or trios but when alone in a place they knew would never be filled again the company was more than welcome. All three had developed close bonds that would never have had time to form in normal guild life. They relied on each other in their different ways. Gregoriades was of a very practical nature when he was not moping. Bortcosh was massively intelligent and good with focuses. Teresita was a real find, as she was a miracle with documents, administration and research. She was most determined to keep the guild alive, and whenever she had a point to raise both men listened. Ushering them into the office of their former master, Teresita motioned for them all to sit down. Pulling up a chair for Bortcosh, Gregoriades eventually eased into an immense leather-bound chair across the desk from the other two. “What have you found?”
Teresita unfolded a huge leather tome that she had produced from one of the drawers. Since they had waited so long, they had only recently begun to respectfully delve into documents that they would normally have had nothing to do with. As it had dawned on them that they were now the only members of the guild, they had lost their timidity and looked deeper and deeper into the secrets of the Order of Earth. Thus had the network of chambers surrounding the high-priest's become their own mini-guild. They rarely journeyed far beyond the rooms that they really needed. “This is a tome that will raise your eyebrows. If you concentrate, you will see that it is surrounded by a focus, a most unusual focus.”
Bortcosh leaned forward, his cloak spilling over the side of his chair, and dipping one of his crutches to the floor as he did so. Squinting at the tome in the dim light, he proceeded to probe at it with a focus of his own. “It is not all there,” he said after a moments' consideration.
“How can a focus not be all there?” Gregoriades asked.
“Not sure,” came the reply, “but it appears that the focus is part here, and part somewhere else. What is inside it?”
Teresita flipped the book open. “Messages, some written quite recently. It appears that this is some type of communiqué between all Earth guild heads.”
All three of them poured through secrets that were only known to the principal worshippers of the Earth goddess, staring in awe as they did so. Not a word was spoken until they had read all the covered pages within, and then they looked up at each other in silence.
“I had no idea that all of the guilds were so intertwined,” Bortcosh almost breathed, “we are not as alone as we think.”
“So it is a simple case of writing in this tome and then the other guild heads will pick up the message?” Gregoriades asked rhetorically.
“Perhaps,” Teresita agreed as she eyed up the page that was mostly blank, “but something tells me that this script was not written with ink and a quill, but by a method much more subtle.”
It was at that point that the room became suddenly chilly. It was instantly notic
eable, and all three guildsmen shifted their clothes around them. They suddenly felt as though they were not alone.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” A voice hissed out of nowhere. “Answer!”
All three of them gave their names and guild ranks, adding the reasons why they did not accompany the pilgrimage, though they did not need to.
“Gregoriades, Bortcosh, Teresita.” The voice repeated out loud, more human now it had been mollified somewhat. “I remember those names. You were away from the guild at the time of the pilgrimage. You were expected back but did not make it. Lucky for you that you did not.”
“Listen, I don't mean to be rude whomever you are, but you ask a lot and know a lot for somebody that stands behind us and offers little. Who are you?” Bortcosh was nothing less than forthright, and the hissing voice had his eyes flashing in anger. He risked much, but then he had always figured that he had little to lose.
“It is Brendan. That is my name.” The announcement made them all turn around at once.
“Where are you Brendan, for we knew each other well.” Teresita stood up and walked towards the source of the voice.
“I remember you now, Teresita. It has been too long.”
“I'll say,” she replied as she searched the shadows, “we thought you were all dead.”
“I might well have been.” He answered. “We were captured by the Witch Finder's forces and taken to Raessa where we were held and forced to use our skills in focussing to aid him. Unfortunately he had no care for our skills, and many of our brethren were killed when a particularly powerful scrying recoiled on us. I am the only one that is left of the pilgrimage as far as I am aware.”
“Where are you?” Teresita persisted.
“I am all around you, inside of you, in the wood and in the stone.” Brendan replied with an amused tilt to his voice. “I am in a place that cannot be reached by yourselves, but I have some powerful allies. Ispen of the Water guild and Jacob of the Order of Life are with me, as is a Law Wizard called Obrett Pedern. It was he that taught us the methods by which we freed ourselves from Raessa. I cannot tell you of our current location, for the knowledge would put you in danger. What I can tell you though is that we can relay messages just about anywhere, and that is needed especially now. There is war coming, a war involving all of the guilds, a war started by the tyrant in Raessa.”
Shock ran up the spine of all three presenting the room. “War? Brendan, are you sure?”
“I have seen it with my own eyes, heard it with my own ears. He is after something, and he is going to use any means to get it. He has already unleashed emotive magic in the form of a Golem.”
This brought sharp intakes of breath from all of the three; they knew of emotive magic only from ancient tales. “Brendan, can you tell us any more?”
After a pause, Brendan continued. “As we have all learned in our novitiates, emotive magic was a dark and very powerful magic that utilised the energy given off by the negative aspects of the human psyche. Fear, anger, pain, they all serve to feed any given sink. The Golem is such a sink, and the level of suffering being stirred up by Garias Gibden and all those he rules over is something that can no longer be measured. There is something really wrong with this world, and it only makes his creature stronger.”
All three looked at each other in stony silence, and then looked down at the ground as they wondered what had caused the world to go so wrong. As usual, Teresita took control of the conversation. “What is it he is after?”
“An ancient relic, with the potential for more power than you could ever imagine. Again, I will not reveal too much for your own safety. I am sorry that I cannot be with you, my brethren, but were we to reveal where we are then it would put you all in danger. Pray, tell me what you have been doing since we abandoned you so.”
Brendan listened as the three told him of their attempts to keep the guild on its feet, their growing numbness at being left alone, and finally their discoveries, most importantly the book.
“I had thought there must be a way for them to keep in touch. They seemed to get messages across to each other just a bit too quickly at times.” Brendan's invisible form said out loud, half in thought.
“You knew of such a thing?” Gregoriades asked.
“I suspected,” Brendan replied. “I mean no disrespect to you all, but I was higher up in the guild than you and therefore privy to more of its secrets. Several of us suspected that such a thing might exist, but only the head of the guild could know it all.”
“And are we supposed to use this now?” Gregoriades looked at the tome doubtfully.
“You must,” Brendan replied, “because you have to warn all of the other head wizards about the problems that we face. It may be too late for many of them. They may have already chosen the path down which they will travel, and it might not be the same path as yours. But any who still truly represent Divine Ilia will read your words. Leave nothing out. Use all the detail that you can. Perhaps we will all get out of this alive.”
The three of them looked at each other. “Who are we to choose the user of this book?” Bortcosh sighed.
“You are the Earth Guild of Nejait, that's who.” Brendan answered with a grave tone. “I am in a place that cannot be revealed, not for perhaps a long time. But I am always with you. Guilds often started out with so few members, quite often with one alone. In time things change. Have faith in yourselves, for I do not see three minor members of a guild. I see the head wizard and two assistants to help run the Order of Earth.”
It was so simple. Gregoriades locked eyes with Bortcosh and they understood. “Brendan, please welcome Teresita, the head of the Earth guild and the keeper of the Nejita range.” He intoned this carefully, using the honorific bestowed upon the traditional guardian of the mountains. Teresita's face paled, and she looked both men in the eyes. “Are you sure about this?”
“You are the most capable of the three of us in mind, body and spirit.” Bortcosh answered her.
Gregoriades nodded eagerly. “We will aid you as well as we may, head wizard.”
Teresita, obviously never having ever thought of herself as the head of a guild let alone such a traditionally powerful one, kept a straight face. But the tears were shining in the candlelight. “Thank you, you dear, dear people. We have much work to do. What else can we do to help?”
Together with Brendan's advice, they discussed the strategy of their 'guild' from that point onwards. It was clear that they simply could not function without replacements despite Brendan's encouragement, so it was agreed that they would ask for any volunteers from other guilds to boost their numbers. It was a desperate play by an honoured guild that had nowhere left to turn. It was also agreed that they would try to convince the surrounding guilds in Nejait of the danger. They further decided to encourage the other guild heads to do the same. At the end of what had amounted to more than a half of a day in discussion, the revitalised if somewhat smaller Earth Guild of Nejait felt a great sense of accomplishment.
“Are you not tired from the focus you are casting?” asked the new head of the order to the empty space that they had all agreed contained Brendan.
“Not at all. There may come a time when I can divulge to you the great secret that I must keep, but until then let me leave you with this knowledge to suffice.” There was a pause, and Gregoriades felt as if they were alone once more. Then Brendan's voice returned. “Ask the other guild heads to send forth wizards to the plains of Ciaharr and northern Ardicum. There has been a great battle fought there this day, one which we have won but at a great cost to those fighting. This cannot continue to happen. People are being slaughtered out there, whole villages put to the stake.”
A gasp of shock left the mouths of all three wizards. “Put to the stake? But that has not happened in over twenty years.”
“Well trust me it is happening now. Act swiftly.”
“How do we contact you?” Gregoriades asked, feeling isolated at not being able to contact this
knowledgeable source.
“Do not worry for I am keeping a watch on you, on all Nejait. The time is coming when we shall all have to band together. We shall speak anon.” The voice of Brendan disappeared, and left alone were three people who, geed up with ideas and a desire to dig a hole in the easy trail towards destruction that emanated from Raessa, left their seats to go out and speak the word to those in the city around them.
Brendan closed his eyes and willed himself back to the tower. When he opened them once more the familiar blue glow was on the horizon, the tower dark and shiny with a subtle red glow from the windows within. He was under one of the huge trees in the courtyard, though he could have conceivably just remained where he was in Nejait. He now had the knowledge to transfer himself entirely to the city, but once there he would have to make his way back to the ruin in order to activate the focus that would shift reality and allow him to enter this state Ispen called 'out of time'. It was Jacob that waited for him when he came back to himself, his face eager and yet frantic at the same time. “Any more news?”
“Not much, save that casualties to the tribe and travellers were less than previously assumed.” As a member of the Order of Life, Jacob was very finely attuned to the goings on in the normal world. In the enhanced state of the tower's reality it sometimes became too much for him, and it had been Jacob crying out that had caused Brendan to break contact with the brave souls that were all that remained of his guild. “What about your findings?”
Brendan took off at a stroll, finding immense contentment in the various shades of blue around him. What he realised was odd was that the leaves on the trees still thrived without proper sunlight. “I think the guilds are starting to take sides. We know that the Earth guilds will come behind us, especially after the discovery of the message tome. We have your guild and Ispen's guild, and between them much of Nejait. It is basically up to those guilds to go about contacting others. If they have similar methods to my order, then we can hope for a good showing. If not, then we will just have to hope fate is on our side.”
The Path of Dreams (The Tome of Law Book 2) Page 54