by Tiger Hebert
Renlar understood. “Ah, of course. I’m happy to leave my blades with you.”
Cautiously, under the watchful eye of the Wardens he eased his swords from their sheaths. His movements were slow as to not spook them. Renlar held the swords so the grips were extended toward the Wardens. Then he moved forward one slow step at a time.
“Slow!” shouted one of the Wardens nervously.
“Any slower and I’m moving backwards, son,” quipped Renlar.
Warden Tellrect nodded to two of his fellow Wardens to step forward and take the swords from Renlar.
“Those swords were a gift from King Goldenhall, I expect they will be in the same condition when they are returned to me,” added Renlar with a sharp edge.
Tellrect reluctantly nodded, saying, “Very well.”
Renlar mumbled something under his breath.
Tellrect snapped, “What was that?”
“Stormburst.”
Magic surged into the twin swords. Cords of snaking blue energy surged around the blades. The Wardens shouted. It was too late. The energy leapt from the swords. Lightning arched across the Warden’s weapons and armor. The entire group of Warden’s was left convulsing and dropping to the floor.
Renlar turned to Vacinne and with a nod of his head, gestured for her that it was time to go. He released the enchantment from the blades, reached down and picked them up from the floor, and began to step over the bodies of the men.
“Hurry, before they get up,” he insisted.
“They will get up, right?”
“They’ll be fine,” said Renlar.
“Do you know that for sure?” she demanded.
Renlar said, “You know as much about the enchantments as I do.”
“Then how can you say they’ll be fine?”
Renlar smiled at her as he reached for the door knob, “What can I say? I’m an optimist.”
Vacinne hurried after him. “You’re not an optimist, you’re just full of sh—”
“Shh,” said Renlar as he pushed open the door of the Grand Master’s chambers.
When the two of them were inside the room, Vacinne was quick to pull the door closed. Her fingers were even quicker to slide the latch, locking the door. She turned to Renlar, then she made her way toward the spiraling staircase.
They had made it halfway up the stairs without a sound, when they could hear the voices above. Vacinne could make out two different voices. One was definitely Jherenon and the other she assumed was his attendant Tolem. She was careful to ascend the last few steps without alerting anyone to their presence. Renlar followed suit and just like that, they had reached the twenty-fourth floor. The voices had grown louder as they drew closer to Jherenon’s study. Vacinne crept to the end of the short hallway until it allowed her to see the man standing at the desk, facing away from them.
Jherenon, dressed in his normal brown robes, appeared to be leaning over the desk as he spoke into the vision stone. Vacinne eased her blade from the sheath and crept forward as the conversation carried out.
“Tolem, where are you?” demanded Jherenon.
Tolem’s reply was rife with confusion, “What do you mean?”
“Where in the Nine Hells are you?”
“I—I’m right where you told me to be,” answered Tolem with confusion.
“Good.”
Vacinne leveled her sword toward Jherenon and called upon her power. She phased forward like a bolt of lightning. The yellow magic flashed in the room. It was too late for the old man. The rune blade was driven through his back. He screamed in pain as he looked down at the point of the blood-soaked blade that protruded from his stomach. He gasped.
“What...,” was the only word that managed to eke out of the old man’s mouth as the blade was ripped from his body.
“Die, traitor,” snarled Vacinne through clenched teeth. The old man fell into the desk, then rolled to his left as he turned to face her. He spun. His hands were crimson and the fatal wound was quickly staining his robes. His dark beady eyes fell upon her. They were full of horror and agony—and they were not the eyes of the Grand Master.
Vacinne stammered, “It... no, no!”
Renlar was at her side now. “Damn it!”
They watched Tolem slide off the edge of the desk and collapse to the floor. His blood freely leaving his body. He shook and cried as he died.
“I’ll see you on the other side, Tolem,” rasped a familiar voice.
Vacinne turned toward the vision stone. There, hovering over it was the grinning visage of Jherenon. She was only just seeing it now. She was so focused on the dying man; she’d totally missed the small projection.
“Vacinne LeDroux, so much potential, yet still so much to learn,” he said with a laugh.
“You’re dead,” she roared.
“But am I?” he replied with a doubting glare. “No, I don’t think so. You just played right into my hand, my lovely little puppets.”
“We know your plans—”
“What, from those fancy little spying stones that Arrett created for you? You didn’t really think that you’d walk into my temple, and get my servants to turn against me, right under my very nose, and I not be aware of it? You have seriously underestimated me, my dear, but foolish girl,” said Jherenon with a laugh.
“Turn against you? You are the one who abandoned the very faith you presume to lead. It is you who have broken your oaths and forsaken your God, your order, and your brethren,” snapped Vacinne.
“The Light is the one who’s forsaken us, and the sooner you realize that, the better. For a girl who had her mother stolen from her, and her whole life ruined, you should already understand this. I shouldn’t have to explain it,” he rasped.
“You are wrong,” she railed.
“Am I? You were a devout family. Your uncle Vichont served the light his whole life and your father was a devoted follower of the faith, yet where was the Light when disease took your mother? When it ate away her health, when it stole her vision, and her memories! Where was the Light when she was left with nothing but fevered dreams for weeks before it finally took her!”
“Stop it!” shouted Renlar.
Jherenon ignored him, “Vacinne, even the Light’s attempts at protecting his faithful were weak. Occasionally he would send the Seraphim through rifts to join the battle against the legions of the Nine. The Seraphim were always too few, and too late. The demonic hordes were never without blood to shed before the Seraphim even arrived. The whole concept of them being protectors of the mortal realm is just a lie used to perpetuate the belief that the Light gives a damn about us.”
Jherenon roared into the vision stone, “It’s a dangerous lie to believe in the Light and his benevolence, his protection. That’s why I put a stop to it years ago. My ward stones helped bring an end to their charade, and soon to their lies. People want the truth, Vacinne. They deserve the truth!”
“What truth? What, some version of the truth where the Nine care for mortals?” she retorted.
“No,” laughed Jherenon. “The Nine care only for their own ambitions, but at least they are honest about it. No, the truth is, in this life, you only get what you take. The only power you have is the kind that you obtain yourself.”
“That is not true,” shouted Vacinne.
Jherenon replied snidely, “Oh, and I suppose you think that you were just chosen to become a Lightborn.”
His laughter that followed was haunting and eerie.
She turned her glance toward Renlar, who simply nodded.
“We gave that to you, and your uncle paid a fortune for it,” Jherenon snapped.
Vacinne turned her gaze back to him, her face was calm, her voice was cool. “I know about my awakening. I know about all the awakenings. If you want to talk about propagating lies, let’s talk about Lightborn and Hellborn, and the truth about demonic activity. You are the one responsible for the rise in rift activity, you are the one responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocents over the last
ten years. All for what, revenge?”
Jherenon offered a forced and uncomfortable laugh. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, ignorant girl.”
Vacinne snarled, “Oh, I do. Revenge? That’s the biggest lie of all, one you continue to tell yourself every single day. You want power. That’s the bottom line. You can lie to yourself and everyone else, but you’re not fooling me. Every time a rift is opened or a demon is on the loose, the temple becomes more important, especially with your damned wards. You didn’t do this because of the family you lost. You abandoned your own family. You didn’t give a damn about them; they didn’t even live in the tower with you. Frankly, you didn’t even know them.”
Vacinne kicked the desk. “One of the only honest things you’ve said is that you hate the Light, but it’s not even for the reasons you suggest. You’re too damn cowardly and selfish for that to be true, your issue with the Light is that he didn’t give you the power you craved. That only came through selling your soul to the Nine!”
Vacinne breathed heavily after her diatribe.
The short silence in the conversation was broken by Jherenon’s slow clap. His words dripped with sarcasm, “Bravo, bravo! You’ve figured it all out. Maybe you’re not as dumb as I thought. Truthfully, it’s nice to finally have someone unwrap the whole mystery. It’s been exhausting carrying the weight of my secret all alone. It’s such a relief to finally have someone to confide it.”
Jherenon smiled at her.
“You’re going down, Jherenon,” she declared.
“Not this time, Vacinne,” laughed Jherenon.
Loud warbling tones sounded inside the tower.
“What in the Hells is that?” shouted Renlar as he covered his ears.
“He set off the alarm stones!”
“How do we shut it off,” shouted Renlar.
“We’d have to find the stones!”
“What do they look like?”
Vacinne shouted back, “I don’t know! Just look for glowing stones.”
With that, Renlar and Vacinne scrambled in different directions looking for glowing stones. The vision stone still held an active link, with Jherenon’s visage still projected high above the desk. His laughter grew at their plight. Vacinne turned back to face him. Her eyes found the glowing runestone. She sprinted toward the desk and snatched up the stone. She spun and in one fluid motion whipped her arm toward the balcony. The vision stone sprung from her hand and shot toward the exit. The sound of shattering glass filled the loud room as the spinning stone blasted through the panes of the sliding door. The vision stone and the warlock’s projection were gone.
Vacinne turned back to the task at hand. They must find any active stones. Finding the alarm stone at this point wouldn’t make much of a difference, the alarm was already sounded, and the whole temple would surely be on alert already. The real concern was finding the warding stones, and quickly before they were found.
Vacinne knew the emergency protocols within the temple. When the alarms were sounded, not only would everyone respond, ready for battle, but the War Masters would first sweep up and through the Grand Master’s chambers, before sweeping down through the tower. That meant that at any moment, four of the deadliest Wardens in all of Durghast would be on them.
“Renny, we’ve got to hurry, we are about to have company!”
He didn’t respond, but she could hear him running up the stairs to the top floor. She swept the room, her eyes scanning for anything giving off any sort of illumination.
Nothing.
Then she heard him shout over the noise. “Up here!”
Vacinne turned and ran from the study. A new sound rose in the distance. The sound of Wardens breaking down the door on the floor below. She made it into the adjoining hallway and she cut toward the stairs. She took the steps two and three at a time as the sounds behind her seemed to grow closer.
“Renny, they’re here!”
Vacinne crested the top of the stairs to find Renlar rushing around the circular room. This was the Grand Master’s private quarters and as such it was off-limits to everyone. The room was unlike anything she’d seen before, and she wasn’t prepared for it. The room was nearly barren, save for the large, crimson pentagram that was crudely painted at the center of the room. The blood-red star had large clusters of unlit candles, all at different stages of usage, set upon each point of the star. The cobbles at the room’s center were much darker than the stones further away.
“This is blood,” she gasped.
Renlar snapped, “And our blood will join it, if we don’t move our asses!”
Her horrified eyes snapped upward to him, as he hurried around the room. He was collecting glowing stones from the many sconces that lined around room. He was right too, as the sound of the Wardens was growing frighteningly close.
Vacinne shouted, “I’ll get the stones. We need you to stall them, or we’re dead.”
Renlar stuffed the handful of stones into whatever pockets and pouches he could find, as Vacinne rushed toward the nearest sconce. Renlar’s hands began to move in slow, deliberate circular motions, and the wind began to stir.
Renlar’s hands shot forward.
A violent gust of wind hammered the sliding glass door that opened out to the balcony. The glass door exploded outward. Thousands of shards of wood and glass shot outside.
Renlar drew his hands back toward himself, then toward the stairwell at the opposite side of the room.
Howling gusts of wind shot into the room from outside the tower. The powerful currents of air shot through the room and into the stairwell just in time. The howls of the wind were met with cries of surprise and pain from below.
“Renny, come.”
He turned to see Vacinne tucking the last of the stones away as she made her way toward the balcony. He kept a wary eye on the stairwell, but backing his way toward her.
“What’s the plan?” he asked.
“We’ve got to let them see this,” she said.
“I don’t think it’s going to matter,” he replied.
“What do you mean?” she shouted.
“In the heat of battle, they’re not going to listen to reason. Listen, we are invaders. The alarm is sounded, and this is their master’s private chambers. They are going to respond to their training, regardless of what they see here.”
“Dammit!”
“I hope I’m wrong, but this is what soldiers do. They respond to their training. That’s the whole point!”
Time was up. The War Masters ascended the stairs. Taegun opened the door and was the first Warden to enter the room. Armed with a short sword in each hand, he was ready for battle. With the back of his glove he wiped blood from his busted lip. Then his eyes went from Renlar to Vacinne, and the trappings of their order.
“What in the Nine Hells is going on here,” he barked.
“The Nine Hells is exactly right,” shouted Vacinne. “Jherenon has been communing with the Nine. He’s planning to open Hell Rifts!”
“Blasphemy!” shouted Demlin.
Taegun said, “You’re a Warden, how dare you speak against the Grand Master?”
Vacinne countered, “I found Masoc! He was opening rifts in Drenamere for Jherenon. He betrayed the order!”
“Lies! Traitor!” roared Karus.
“Just look at the evidence,” screamed Vacinne, pointing to the bloody pentagram.
Taegun was prepared for battle. “This doesn’t make any sense.”
“Kill the traitorous cur,” snarled Nar.
Renlar stepped in front of Vacinne and pulled his black longswords from their sheaths and with his magic, he pulled his daggers into the air. “Not on my watch, boys.”
Karus said, “Taegun, what are you waiting for?”
Taegun snapped, “Hold on a damned minute. Where’s the Grand Master?”
Vacinne leaned around Renlar. “He knew we were coming to kill him before he could open the rifts. He lured us up here, knowing we would think Tolem was him.�
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“Where is the Grand Master?” Taegun demanded again.
Renlar said, “He’s not here, or we’d have killed him already.”
Vacinne screamed, “He’s got to be in the courtyard by now, he’s going to open a rift for the Nine. He’s starting the war!”
“What war?” demanded Taegun.
Vacinne exhaled and said, “The war to end all wars.”
“None of this makes any sense, but if what you’re saying is true, then we will deal with it. You’re coming with us,” said Taegun as he moved forward.
“What?” Vacinne was incredulous.
“We will bring you and the Grand Master before the council, the inquisition will find the truth,” replied Demlin confidently.
“Wrong answer,” replied Renlar.
His hands flew into action. A violent gust of wind hammered Taegun. The burst of air lifted him off his feet, and slammed him back into the wall. He smacked his head against the stone. His swords clattered to the floor, then his body slumped to down as well.
Demlin and the others charged forward. Renlar’s daggers shot ahead. Demlin pulled his large round shield in front of him and drew his sword. The metal disc absorbed the violent impact as the daggers embedded themselves into its surface. Demlin closed the distance with a lunge and a diagonal slash of his long sword.
Renlar met the attack with his left sword. His attacker’s long sword clashed against Renlar’s black blade. Renlar caught the silver blade with the cross guard, parried it away, and followed with a horizontal slash of his right blade. Demlin brought the dagger-filled shield around in time to block the attack.
Renlar shot a blast of wind against the Warden’s back. The Warden was thrown into the nearby wall. He wasn’t harmed, but was knocked back and staggered by the impact. It was enough to impede Karus or Nar from advancing.
Renlar held a defensive stance with his twin blades ready for battle as the alarm in the tower finally stopped sounding. He drew upon his magic, ripping his daggers free from Demlin’s shield. By this time, Taegun was rising back to his feet and Demlin was ready for another go.
Renlar said, “Wardens, we are not your enemy.”