Herald of the Nine

by Tiger Hebert

  “Damn the Nine,” she cursed.

  Vacinne grabbed every piece of loose fabric on her attire and tried to wring it out so at least the water would land on the rug. She got out what she could, but most of it was on her armor still. This was going to leave a little bit of a mess. She hoped that the dry air inside the temple would help evaporate whatever water she would leave behind. Either way, she had a job to do.

  She shifted her focus to her surroundings. It was a room that she’d never seen before. It was large and spacious, with low warm light coming from the room’s opposite end. It actually looked like a library, or at least a very big study. Shelves full of books and scrolls lined the walls, not unlike the main library that she’d just left. There were no additional rows of shelves here though. Instead there were several oversized lounge chairs. One set of them was near her side of the room. They all sat around a large wooden table which sat low to the floor. The other set of chairs was on the opposite end of the long room near a fireplace, which she only just realized was the source of light. There was a fire that was still burning!

  Vacinne scanned the rest of the room to make sure she wasn’t being a fool. Then, when she was certain the coast was clear, she made straight for the fire. She crossed the room quickly but so as to not make a sound. Her footfalls padded with soft silence upon the polished wooden floors of the room. The wood floors were obviously made special for the Grand Master, because you wouldn’t find them anywhere else in the temple. Vacinne shook her head.

  She passed a large desk at the room’s center. The desk was covered with a vision stone, parchment, and several rolled up scrolls. She wanted to read the scrolls. Who knew what secrets or clues might remain hidden inside? She hurried over to the desk. Vacinne started to reach for one of the scrolls, then she realized her hands were still wet. She looked about for something that she could dry her hands on. Then her eyes caught something on the wall.

  It was the head of a drygar. She’d never seen one before. They were rare beasts that she’d only ever heard tales of. The creatures were believed to be a rare species in some way related to the common tiger. They were reported to be massive striped felines, true apex predators. The beast’s massive head was nearly as big around as her shield. Its fur was a stunning blend of light and dark greys with black stripes sweeping away from its face. The beast’s taxidermied face was contorted in rage with its maw left open, revealing dagger sized fangs. Vacinne ran her wet hands through its thick and surprisingly soft fur, and she was glad to have never met one of these while it was still alive.

  With her hands somewhat dry, she turned back to the desk. She reached for one of the scrolls, only to find upon closer inspection that it was still sealed. She pulled the scroll closer. It was hard to see in the dark, but she realized it was not the seal of the Grand Master. That meant that these were from someone else, and he hadn’t opened them yet.

  She set the scroll down and checked the others. Each and every one of the six scrolls was from someone different, and each remained unopened. There was no way for her to open them without Jherenon knowing someone had broken in. Vacinne cursed under her breath before making her way toward the fire place.

  The fire had mostly burned out, but large glowing embers still gave off warmth. She moved in close to the fire and sat right on the large hearth with her back to the heat. Its warm touch felt good and Vacinne sighed. Her eyes scanned the room. She needed to figure out where to plant the sound stone. She knew that the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth floors were Jherenon’s private quarters, and that his meetings generally took place down on the floor below.

  All right, just a little more heat, then I’ll get moving, she reasoned.

  She turned on the hearth and stretched her cold fingers toward the embers. She enjoyed the warmth for a few seconds, then she willed herself away. She had a job to do. She rose from the hearth and scanned the room for signs of the stairs to the room below. She saw an exit to another room off to her right. She didn’t know where it led, but she made her way for it.

  Sure enough the hallway only went a short distance before leading her to a winding staircase.

  Vacinne’s hand found the polished wooden railing of the otherwise rod iron staircase. She followed it as it cork-screwed down and around to the lowest of the Grand Master’s three floors. Vacinne found herself in an even darker room. There were no burning embers or a large glass window to let in light. The few narrow window slits that the room had scattered about wouldn’t be able to offer much this time of night. Vacinne stilled herself and calmed her breathing as she listened. She needed to make sure she was alone. Vacinne drew upon her power and created a small spinning sphere of golden light. The radiant orb pulsed with energy and light and it floated nearby.

  Vacinne smiled, the new trick she’d only just recently learned had proven to be handy, and she was quite pleased with herself.

  The light that spilled from the rotating globe illuminated the Grand Master’s meeting quarters. She found herself at the center of the large room on the twenty-third floor, a room she’d been in once before, the day when this whole mission began. She remembered it well.

  She’d been summoned to the room just a few weeks ago. No details were given, just an urgent summons. She was escorted by one of her old masters, who then left her to enter the room on her own. She remembered her initial feelings. She was terrified. Random, low ranking Wardens didn’t just get summoned to the Grand Master without a good reason. She couldn’t imagine what she’d possibly done to draw his ire, but her mind raced through every possible thing she’d done wrong for the past month.

  The door swung open wide for her. Inside, leaning over the large war table, was the wizened Grand Master Jherenon. He never lifted his gaze away from the table before him, which was actually a remarkably accurate topographical representation of Durghast. Instead, he merely waved for her to come and join him, while his eyes studied the map before him.

  Her heart thundered in her chest and the butterflies in her stomach had morphed into full-fledged dragons.

  “Come now, I don’t bite much these days,” grumbled the old man in the long brown robes.

  Vacinne was too afraid to laugh.

  The old man finally looked up. He must have seen the apprehension in her. How could he not? She was sweating, she was paler than normal, and her knees were practically knocking.

  “It was a joke,” said the old man. “Or at least an attempt at one.”

  “It was very funny, Grant Master,” lied Vacinne.

  The old man glowered at her and shook his head. “You’ve got many strengths young Warden, but lying surely isn’t one of them.”

  “I... um... what—”

  The old man waved a dismissive hand and bristled, “Oh, relax already. I’m not here to eat you or throw you in the dungeon, or whatever it is that you young people think I do to people.”

  Vacinne’s eyes were still wide. “There’s a dungeon?”

  The old man laughed at her. “Dear child, you really need to stop believing all the stories people tell you about me. No there is no dungeon, and you’re not here because you are in trouble, quite the opposite really.”

  Vacinne’s sigh of relief was not so subtle, provoking quite a chuckle from the old man.

  “Vacinne LeDroux, one of our finest Wardens to graduate from the temple in years. I was right to listen to your uncle all those years ago. I knew you came from good stock, but you surpassed all of our expectations. Even your uncle’s, and his expectations were quite lofty indeed,” said Jherenon.

  “Thank you, Grand Master.”

  “How’d you do it?” he asked, his brown eyes boring into her.

  “Do what, Grand Master?” she asked, her defenses rising once more.

  “Exceed every expectation?”

  Vacinne exhaled with relief. She tried to tell herself that she wasn’t on trial, but she still didn’t fully believe herself.

  Vacinne stammered, “I—I knew others were more gifted t
han I was, so I outworked them. I out studied them, out trained them.”

  The old man nodded and wore a warm smile. “Indeed, you did. I’ve gotten reports on your work ethic since you first arrived here six years ago. Even the instructors that weren’t fond of you couldn’t refute your effort.”

  “Instructors that weren’t fond of me?” questioned Vacinne, with the clear sound of shock and even pain in her voice.

  “Of course! No one is universally liked,” said the old man with a laugh. “There will always be people who doubt you or hate you for what appears to be no reason. Even if you were the one person who could change the whole world, you would still be hard pressed to find more than six people to believe in your vision—believe in you.”

  The old man paused and offered a long silence.

  “But I digress. Vacinne LeDroux, you’ve graduated all your training with flying colors. You are the pride of the Kothari temple, and we have need of your services.”

  “I’ll serve with honor, Grand Master,” she replied.

  “I’ve no doubt you will. Now this mission is going to be dangerous, but I believe you are up to the task. One of my most trusted Wardens, Masoc Bastoc, was on a mission to scout the regions southeast of here, down around Dunmorrow and the ruins of Esboralis. A few days ago, we lost communication with him,” explained Jherenon.

  Vacinne nodded as the Grand Master explained the mission. She was to trace Masoc’s path and see if she could find him and the small company that he travelled with. The Grand Master had been explicit in his instructions, telling her to assist Masoc with anything he needed, should she find him. It seemed like a straight forward mission, and she couldn’t wait to begin.

  That was three weeks ago and she could still remember the fear and worry that assailed her in her first meeting with the Grand Master. She also remembered the anticipation and excitement that came with her first solo mission. She couldn’t wait to get out and make a difference, and to prove herself worthy of the title of Rift Warden.

  Oh, how quickly things change, she mused.

  Her focus snapped back to the present. She focused on the room around her. It wasn’t like the room above. This one was cold and empty save for some large war tables that sat just a few feet from her. She moved toward the tables and looked at the rolling hills and the towering peaks of the map. Then she scanned the room. It was largely empty, bereft of any good hiding places for her or the sound stone.

  Vacinne squatted down and looked underneath the table. It had a plain flat design. Even if she could find a way to affix it to the table’s underside, it wouldn’t be concealed and would likely be easily seen from the sides.

  She shook her head, “No, this won’t work.”

  She turned back to the spiraling staircase behind her. Every part; rail, step, and beam was fully exposed. It offered no hiding spots for the stone. She shook her head, then she ascended right back up the stairs. Vacinne passed back into the large study once more. She was concerned that this room might not be the best location to eavesdrop from, but it would be fairly easy to find a way to hide the stone.

  Vacinne made her way toward the old man’s desk, her golden orb followed her shining its light around her. Her eyes glanced around from the desk, to the plants, to the comfy looking chairs, to the bookshelves that wrapped around the room. Then her eyes shot back to one of the potted plants in particular.

  She turned and directed her light toward it. The large flower pot stood over two feet tall and it was a worn and faded green. A band, several inches tall stretched around it. It was decorated with all sorts of glyphs of ancient people hunting wild game. The plant itself was a type of coniferous shrubbery that was commonly seen high up in the Drechic mountains, just past the alpine zone. The shrub was a bluish-green and was thick with branches full of pine needles.

  Perfect, she nodded as she pulled the sound stone from her pouch. She spoke the quiet words of command that Arrett had given her and she slid the stone deep inside the shrub where it couldn’t be seen.

  Vacinne smiled with satisfaction. She turned to leave.

  “Damn you, damn you!” shouted a haggard voice from behind her.

  Vacinne’s heart leapt in her chest. She extinguished her light and she spun, her hand reaching for her sword.

  “I’ll teach you to meddle in my affairs!”

  Vacinne’s horror-stricken eyes fell upon the wizened old man, still in his night clothes. He waddled toward her in the dark. His arms flailed about wildly as he prepared to cast one of his powerful spells.

  It all happened so fast.

  He muttered something incoherent, then he shouted, “Back to the Nine with you!”

  And he walked right past her.

  Vacinne’s heart thundered in her chest, but she stood there in utter disbelief as the raving old man kept on walking, right toward the glass door and the balcony.

  What in the Nine Hells?

  Jherenon continued to curse his invisible foe and his arms still waved about in no clear form, but he never so much as looked at Vacinne. She froze, afraid to move or even breathe. Jherenon reached the glass door and stepped on the wet rug. He cursed with even greater ferocity as his stockings grew wet. The flustered old man bent down and snatched up the small wet rug, he rolled it up and tucked it under one arm. He slung the heavy glass door open, marched outside into the storm and the rain, and hurled the wet rug from the balcony in his anger.

  Jherenon turned around and marched right back inside the room, without ever closing the glass door. He muttered another handful of foul-mouthed curses and walked back the direction he came.

  The cursing old man strolled right past Vacinne. “I showed them, ha!”

  And then he was right out of the room and gone. Vacinne shook her head in disbelief. She didn’t waste any time sitting around thinking about it though.

  I’m coming, she whispered into Renlar’s mind.

  Is everything okay?

  Yes, see you soon.

  She turned and hurried toward the door. She left the sliding glass door open the way it was, and slipped outside into the stormy night. She popped her head over the railing and looked down to Renlar, who was still standing on the balcony below. She gave him a thumbs up, then her hands worked to dislodge the grappling hook. It took her a couple minutes to work it free and unwrap all the rope from the railing. Then she lifted one leg over the balcony, then the other until she sat atop it.

  Here I come, catch me, she said as she dropped off the balcony.

  Vacinne dropped rapidly toward the balcony below. She drew upon her magical shield as Renlar’s magic rushed upward to meet her. The magic slowed her fall and eased her down onto the balcony next to him. She never needed the magical shield.

  “Better safe than sorry,” she admitted.

  “It’s done?” he asked.

  “I planted it right near his private desk on the twenty-fourth floor.”

  “You don’t think he will find it, do you?”

  Vacinne smiled, “No, I don’t think so. We’ve got some other matters to discuss though.”

  “Can we get out of this weather first?”

  “Yes. Let’s find my room,” said Vacinne as she lifted her shield from the balcony floor and stepped inside the library.

  9

  Vacinne’s Room

  Vacinne led Renlar through the quiet halls, back to the service passage. Vacinne guessed it was past midnight now, and the empty halls were pretty much what you’d expect through most of the temple. Sure, there were roving guards on their patrols, but security inside the building was quite light on the common floors. Call it confidence or call it arrogance, but the Wardens never really believed a threat would dare reach them inside the tower. Tonight, that worked in Vacinne’s favor.

  Vacinne led Renlar back down the servant stairs until they reached the nineteenth floor, where her quarters were. They made their way onto the common floor and navigated the hallways. They passed down several hallways before reaching her ro
om. They passed a pair of young Wardens that were making out in the corner of one of the less traveled hallways. When the teenagers heard footsteps coming, they stopped and nervously tried to pretend that nothing was going on. Vacinne just nodded toward them. Renlar chuckled but said nothing.

  Vacinne led the way down the long hallway, and then took a left turn. The hallway was very short and offered only three doors. She made her way to the single door on the left. She reached out and grasped the door knob and channeled her power into it. The golden yellow glow flowed into the door knob, then a metallic clink could be heard. The glow faded and Vacinne turned the knob and pushed the door open.

  The two walked into her unlit room and she quickly pushed the door closed and locked it. Vacinne conjured her glowing orb of light and commanded it into the center of her small room. For years this had been her sanctuary, her home. It was still a place of memories, but it didn’t feel the same anymore. She looked at the small, neatly made bed and her nightstand with the large candles on it. She looked at the small bookshelf that was across from the foot of her bed. Its dusty shelves filled with books on the Wardens, the history of Durghast, the history of demons, and the eternal struggle between the Heavens and the Nine Hells. Her eyes studied the oval multi-colored rug that covered the majority of the hard-slate floor of the little room.

  In that moment a realization settled in. This will never be home again.

  Emotions were a rogue wave, surging and swelling within her. She knew her life would never be the same after her discoveries, but she had no idea that simply walking into her room would hit her so hard. But the realization that things would never be the same again really did rock her like an unexpected wave would a child.

  Standing there in her room, soaking wet, and in the midst of a plan to overthrow her former Grand Master, Vacinne wept. The tears flowed freely and with ferocity. Renlar knew better than to ask, he simply pulled her into his arms and held her. She wept until the tides of emotion ebbed.