The Shadow of All Worlds

by Shane Porteous

  Chapter 12

  Three more times Rhaldan called Kae to spy on the Ulnath for him. Kae didn’t mind. Anything done in opposition to these vile Ulnath, was a thing he gladly did. Even if it was for the Head Priest’s benefit.

  Only, each time Kae learned more about the real reason why they were summoned here. And the things he learned, kept him awake at night, and unable to stay still during the day. The Ulnath had already commanded some of the other world beings and they had already started attacking the people of Ebulon as well as other humans of this world. Innocent people, like the villagers back home in the Realm, dying for the sole purpose of satisfying the Ulnath’s greed.

  After Rhaldan dismissed him the third time, Kae went to find Second Captain Agara.

  “Do you know why we are here?” Kae asked him. Perhaps his tone was too harsh, but the images of men, women and children hacked to death by an army were still too clear in his mind.

  Agara glanced up at him, then resumed cleaning his nails with the tip of his knife. “We are here because Head Priest Rhaldan ordered us to accompany him.”

  “It isn’t right! These Ulnath mean to attack Ebulon again,” Kae protested. “The same city we came here to protect last time.”

  Agara screwed his eyebrows at Kae. “I’ve never been here before. Have you?”

  Is the man lying?

  But Kae could think of no good reason why Agara would do that.

  “I think King Yadi should be informed of the Ulnath’s plans.”

  Agara placed his knife in his boot and straightened up. “You will follow the Head Priest’s orders, as will the rest of us!”

  A few of the other Protectors turned to them.

  “I don’t like the feel of this place either, Agara,” Protector Hyldar said. “And I’d rather not slaughter any defenseless people.”

  “I am certain the Head Priest won’t ask us to do that,” Agara said.

  “And I’m sure he will,” Kae countered, adding, “he’ll have no choice in the matter.”

  He was sure of it. Rhaldan wanted that weapon the Ulnath dangled as a reward for helping them too much. And any weapon coveted by Rhaldan so much was better kept out of his hands.

  “That Red Lady’s humanoid army has already been dispatched to a camp of refugees,” Kae said. “I used my separated self to follow them and--”

  “Stop this talk!” Agara cut him off, though the weary look in his eyes didn’t match his harsh tone. “I am not happy to be here either. It feels wrong, all of it. But we have taken oaths to protect the Head Priest and we will fulfill those oaths.”

  A few of the other Protectors shook their heads, some spitting on the ground to show their displeasure, but none argued further. Kae gave it up too.

  He found an empty spot by the tower and leaned against it. Yet the visions of the Red Army descending upon the poor defenseless refugees would not subside.

  Ever since he was first brought to train to become a Protector as an orphaned boy of seven, he dreamed of the day he would finally take his oaths. Now, barely a few days since his dream finally came true, he was already being forced to break them. Never, not once did he think that Protectors were anything less than noble, honorable, just. He believed as much of the priests too. Yet here he was, forced to witness innocent people being slaughtered and doing nothing to help them. And all of it on Head Priest Rhaldan’s orders. What would be next? Would Rhaldan order them into battle against the refugees next? Or even Ebulon itself? Was that the kind of loyalty a Protector owed the Head Priest?

  No.

  The answer came unbidden, yet it was the absolute truth. King Yadi had to be warned of all this. Only then could the Ulnath be stopped. And Kae was the only one who could carry that order. None of the other Protectors challenged him as he walked away from the tower.

  Kae sent his separated self far ahead to scout out the quickest route to Ebulon. But the city was hundreds of miles away. Even if he ran, it would still take him weeks to reach it.

  A vast stable stood near the edge of the morbid city, guarded by two Ulnath soldiers in lavish blue armor. Kae called his separated self back to his side and approached them.

  “I need a horse,” he said in his best commanding tone, focusing all his Life Force on wedging the idea deep into their minds.

  The two exchanged a glance. Nothing in that glanced revealed whether Kae’s Convincing had worked or not.

  You will give me a horse now, he said, speaking directly into their minds now.

  “Aren’t you a little small for such a big meal?” one of them asked.

  What does that mean?

  These Ulnath had no Life Force inside them, at least none that Kae could feel. It made them all the more unpleasant. Even Kae had to concentrate hard to know when one would suddenly appear from the shadows like the stranger who had offered Rhaldan the bed. Then he remembered witnessing an exchange between Oos and another Ulnath, while they dined on a horsemeat delicacy.

  “The horse isn’t for me to eat, I was sent by Head Priest Rhaldan to collect one. He wishes to dine on an Ulnath delicacy while he is in your city as a sign of respect to your kind.”

  The two guards looked to each other. Secretive and sickening, these creatures may have spoken with elegance, but deep down they were cruel and callous.

  “Fine, take your pick,” the guard on the right finally said. “I would also recommend riding it back to the tower where Rhaldan is staying. Doing so will get its heart racing and blood pumping. That’s what makes the meat so delicious when you kill it.”

  Kae walked into the stables, and felt through his separated self for the strongest horse. Most fidgeted in their stalls, terror resting about them like a thick blanket. All of them wanted to get away from these vile Ulnath creatures, and Kae didn’t blame them. But he needed a horse, which still had some fire to live left beneath the terror.

  A white at the back of the stables was the closest thing. It seemed more alive than the rest of the horses, at any rate. Just as he reached its stall, another horse closer to the exit crashed though the wooden gate and bolted from the stable.

  Kae untied his white and saddled it quickly, mounted and rode out too.

  “I will retrieve the horse that got away for you,” he called back to the Ulnath, knowing it was the perfect explanation for why he was riding in the opposite direction of where Rhaldan stayed.