by Arlin Fehr
‘Only if he is in the area. It seems to be only a short range thing. I summoned the court Wyzards from the capitol and they were able to come and go without incident.’
‘Did he have a chance to get near the Archway?’
‘No. He cast whatever it was while still outside the walls.’
‘You checked the Archway yourself?’
‘I was concerned that it had been tampered with by him, so yes. But most spells aren’t near as precise as his, instead designed to kill anyone that uses the Archway, or to redirect it to a receiving Archway somewhere else on the world. The nature of this spell made it impossible for me to see. Or so I tell myself.’
Ahaki put her weathered hand on Azra’s shoulder. ‘There was nothing you could have done. We just need to find a way to get her back now.’
‘I have a way. I am to have a meeting with him tomorrow, at the Zharin Raider’s strong hold. He said he needed my help, and, in exchange for that help, he would grant Kia her freedom.’
They reached the entrance way to the tower. Ahaki knocked on it once with her staff. The door swung silently inward. They stepped through, and the door closed behind them, with only a soft thud.
‘You believe him?’
‘I have reason to believe that Princess Kia was not his real goal. He’s looking for something, and he seems to think my looking for it would draw less attention than him looking for it directly.’
‘And you’re going to go ahead with this?’
‘What choice do I have? The Princess is captured, and if I cannot get her release, then my brother-in-law, King Hadrian, will lay siege to the fortress and retrieve her by force.’
‘Does he have the forces to spare? I mean, he is at war with Hallon and King Shanta.’
‘He’ll find the men.’
‘It could weaken his hand in the war.’
‘That’s another reason why I can’t fail. If he does strike at the Sorcerer, it could cost him the war, and his daughter. What reason would the Sorcerer have to keeping Kia alive at that point?’
They stood in the middle of a vast room at the base of the tower. It had a domed ceiling. The walls were made of the same rusty coloured brick as the wall that surrounding the fortress. The floor had a mosaic in tile, showing the crest of each of the major nations that were, or had ever, used Sallock. The seal of the Zhakim Empire was the centre seal; theirs being the power that originally built the fortress before a great cataclysm claimed their empire and reduced them to a small reclusive nation on an island, in the ocean far to the west. Few had ever visited them since. The seal was a silver star, with a faint blue triangle as the backdrop.
At the time of the cataclysm, the Wyzards of Zhakim had all withdrawn from Sallock, taking with them many of the great secrets of the early age, and all information on the cataclysm. To this day, the Wyzards of the other kingdoms were still in the process of trying to discover what was behind the cataclysm, which had taken place five thousand yehvs earlier.
The rest of the seals were arranged in circles around the centre seal, some intersecting other long dead kingdoms, but none as mysterious as the Zhakim Empire. When new kingdoms began or rose up from the ashes of the old, a new crest would be added to the circles. So far, the seals took up about half the floor space.
Alcoves around the main hall had various important artefacts from the history of the world, each enshrined in many layers of enchantments to keep them safe and unchanging. There was a set of stairs in one of the alcoves, leading to Sallock’s seldom used prison. On the other side of the chamber there was a staircase leading up, to the rest of the tower.
Azra and Ahaki walked to the centre of the room and stood on the seal of Zhakim. Ahaki raised her staff and tapped it on the ground.
The two of them vanished with a flash.
They reappeared in the room above the hall. It was a smaller room, with several staircases and hallways branching off of it. This room was far more lively than the hall bellow, with Wyzards and apprentices walking about, doing their duties and killing time until they found something better to do, or someone else found something better for them.
Azra and Ahaki looked around, and Ahaki spotted someone she recognized.
‘Let’s go talk to someone, Azra. He may be able to help us with at least one of our questions.’
A man in an almost shimmering blue robe, wearing a cloth cap, and sporting a neatly trimmed, black, beard, was talking to someone Azra already recognized. The man he was talking to was Councillor Meridon, previously of the Kingdom of Hallon, and a Master of the Fire Aspect just like Azra, though nothing like Azra.
Meridon saw them walking toward him, and his expression hardened into a look of distant professionalism.
Ahaki stopped next to the two Wyzards, and Azra stood behind, looking at Meridon.
‘Meridon, I’m sorry to interrupt, but I was hoping to borrow Mister Reso for a moment.’
Meridon regarded Ahaki with a nod. ‘Not at all Councillor. Kont and I were just finishing. I have business to attend to back in Hallon before I return here and meet with my Apprentice.’
Meridon gave a nod to Ahaki and walked off.
Kont Reso turned and looked at Ahaki and Azra, smiling.
‘Councillor Ahaki, to what do I owe the pleasure?’ he asked brightly.
‘I’d like to introduce you to Baron Azra Hemnoth, of the Kingdom of Hallon. We’ve got a few questions that we think you could help with,’ Ahaki said, gesturing to Azra.
Kont stuck out a hand, and Azra shook it.
‘Baron, how good to meet you finally. I’ve heard so much about you.’
Azra frowned, and asked, ‘From Meridon?’
Kont smiled even more broadly, and said, ‘But of course! He didn’t have much nice to say though. He said you were brash, irrational, hot headed, egotistical, and a great deal more.’
Azra felt himself seething. ‘And?’ he asked.
‘And I decided it would be best to meet you in person before I drew any conclusions. I’m not one who takes others words at face value. Words are such interesting things, void of any meaning except for what we assign them. So in your case,’ Kont stepped back and gestured at Azra, ‘I chose not to assign any meaning to Meridon’s words until I met you.’
Azra relaxed a little. ‘And what do you think?’ he asked.
‘Too early to tell my good sir. Now then, what can I do for you?’ Kont asked.
‘I understand you’ve just finished a stint up on the Hyper-Wormhole-Cannon,’ Ahaki said, ‘and I might have some questions for you.’
Kont nodded. ‘Yes, I did just return. I enjoy working up on the HWC and seeing the world stretched out below us. Of course, I would like to see the other side of the world. But, as you know, the HWC remains fixed over this half of the world.’ Kont’s face became a little more serious. ‘As for your questions, I suspect I may know what brought them up. I’ve heard there’s a certain Sorcerer stirring up trouble near your end of Anita, Baron.’
‘How would you know that if you just got back from the Hyper-Wormhole-Cannon?'
Kont looked wounded. ‘Well, I was just talking to Meridon after all, a Wyzard in good standing of the court of Hallon, currently at war with your own Kingdom. Plus, it was the Councillor here that got the information to warn you of the attack in the first place.’
Azra was about to say something, but Ahaki raised a hand and he stopped.
‘Kont, did you notice anything out of the ordinary while you were on the Hyper-Wormhole-Cannon? We’re unsure how the Sorcerer got here, and you were up there.’
‘Nothing really caught my eye, no.’
‘No ships? No unplanned activations? Nothing?’
‘Not a thing councillor,’ Kont replied, 'Just the usual traffic from beyond the Anciantos' worlds. All searched of course.'
‘Hmmm,’ Azra said rubbing his chin. ‘Well, thank you anyway Kont. If you recall anything, maybe you would be so kind as to tell me?'
‘I would be deligh
ted. Now, I must be off. I have to get back to my Queen. She’ll have some work for me now that I’m back down on the planet.’
‘Farewell Kont,’ Ahaki said.
‘Farewell Ahaki, and to you too Baron, good luck in your travels,’ Kont said with a bow.
‘Thank you,’ Azra replied.
Kont walked off and they watched him go.
‘What an odd man,’ Azra said.
‘Kont’s unique, but he generally likes to help people.’
‘I can’t quite help shake the feeling we just didn’t ask the right questions.’
They were silent a moment. Then Ahaki asked, ‘So, where to now Azra?’
‘Let’s check out the library. I should know what kind of fortress the Raiders have.’
‘You’re the Governor the desert holdings of the Kingdom of Minna, and you don’t know about your biggest threat?’
‘The Zharin Raiders hadn’t been a major concern until now. They had usually attacked Hallon, not us.’
‘Any idea why?’
‘Yes. Long ago the Zharin were slaves of Hallon. They had been for some generations, and it was at that time that Hallon’s borders were at their largest, stretching deep into the Bazra Desert. However, a leader rose up in the Raiders, who lead a rebellion in which the Raiders escaped into the more inhospitable parts of the desert, where Hallon didn’t want to follow. They hated Hallon for their enslavement, and spent the next fifty yehvs attacking their holdings in the desert, pushing them more and more back until they had almost been driven entirely from the desert. Now Hallon just has some cities and fortresses on the desert side of the North Tranten Mountains.’
‘Would they have reason to attack your Kingdom?’
‘Apparently, before they were rebelling, their leaders secretly sent envoys to the other Kingdoms asking for help. No one came. They have a deep seated grudge against any Kingdom, and the very idea of royalty. I’d been attacked a few times, but never with such fierceness.’
‘Mmmm, I see.’
They turned and walked for one of the staircases. They took the staircase up to the library on the next level. There was a bigger library out in the fortress proper, but this one had a Mahgical creation made by one of the Wyzard council members. It allowed certain shelves in this smaller library to transport other books from the larger library, and back again when finished. It was incredibly convenient for the Wyzards of the tower, as normally transport spells were restricted to the Archway plaza and they would have had to walk to the library outside of the tower if they wanted to access books.
Beyond that, the rest of the shelves were stocked with the most important Mahgical and historical texts of the various factions that made up the council.
The nearest of the Mahgical shelves were in use by various aides, sent by Wyzards to dig up pieces of information that they needed. Azra and Ahaki walked to one of the farther ones, closer to the centre of the library, and stood next to it.
‘So, where do you want to begin?’ Ahaki asked.
‘The Raider fortress I suppose.’
‘All right, let’s try the history of the Bazra Wastes.’
Ahaki placed a hand on the empty bookshelf and closed her eyes, a second later, rows of books appeared in the shelves.
Azra looked across all the books in the shelf and spotted one with a silver star and a faint blue triangle. He reached for it and pulled it off the shelf.
‘Ahaki, do you recognize this?’
Ahaki grabbed the book from Azra’s hand and looked at it. She flipped it open and looked at the first few pages.
‘It’s a new addition. This is a fantastic find, but it’s not been translated yet. It’s written in the Zhakim scholar’s tongue.’
‘What is it?’ Ahaki handed it back to Azra.
‘Near as I can tell, it’s a map book.’
Azra opened it and flipped through it. The first few pages were a grand map showing the Halli Continent and its smaller southern neighbour. The subsequent maps appeared to in greater detail of certain areas of the world. Azra continued to flip through, but found one map of interest that showed what he recognized to be the Bazra Desert.
Sallock was shown on the map, and using it as a point of reference, he was able to pin point other land marks. His city of Jarridon wasn’t on the map, but that didn’t surprise him. The Zhakim pre-dated the Minna Kingdom by thousands of yehvs.
What was on the map though, was the Raider fortress. It seemed to be fairly important, and had the Zhakim symbol above it.
Azra looked over the book. Ahaki had pulled out a few others and was flipping through them.
‘Ahaki, do you have any ability at reading this thing?’
‘I'm afraid not,’ the woman said, looking up, ‘I only recognize numbers.’
‘That may still help. Look around this area.’ Azra went over to her and pointed at the fortress. ‘See any numbers? They may be page numbers and some basic phrases.’
‘Yes, yes I do.’ She held the edge of the book with one hand. ‘Try another fifteen pages forward.’
Azra flipped the pages and stopped at what looked like a floor plan.
‘You don’t think this is a plan for the fortress is it?’ he asked, hopeful.
‘It could well be,’ Ahaki reasoned.
‘I think this may be all I need. If I could get this to Kia somehow, she could probably manage to escape.’ Azra flipped through more of the pages, ‘Yes, I definitely think this is plans for the fortress, it’s even got tunnels marked under the desert.’
Azra handed the book to Ahaki, who looked through it herself.
Azra gazed at some other books still on the shelf, but his mind was on the book he had found, and how to get the maps to his niece. Plans climbed to the forefront of his mind, only to be tackled back by flaws and doubts.
Ahaki drew him out of his thoughts. ‘Azra, isn’t this next to Jarridon?’ she asked.
Azra looked over the map Ahaki had flipped to. It was a detailed map of the Bazra Desert. On it, Azra recognized various landscapes that had been there since before Jarridon. Near where Jarridon would have been – had the map been a few thousand yehvs more recent – was marked an image of a cave with a dotted lined towards the fortress. Several other caves were scattered on the map, but this one in particular was close to areas Azra knew.
‘You’re right. I know that rock outcrop. It’s a half day’s travel to the north of Jarridon. John and I have been there once before. If that’s right, then we could have a back door into the fortress.’
‘Unless the Sorcerer is expecting this.’
‘I can’t see why he would be, but even if he does, I still have a plan.’
‘So you aren’t going to meet with him?’
‘No, no, that’s still part of the plan, it’s just now I’m banking on him holding me captive.’
‘That doesn’t seem wise, if whatever you are planning doesn’t work, your brother-in-law will attack the fortress as you said, and may well lose the war because of it.’
‘That shouldn’t upset the council much. They’ll be out two thorns,’ Azra said with a forced grin.
‘The Kingdom of Minna is not a thorn’ Ahaki said sternly.
‘It is so long as I am a Baron in it, and it is the largest Kingdom on Anita, it is. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have preparations to make.’
‘You’re not going to meet with the council?’
‘Not anymore. But I would ask that you continue your investigations of how the sorcerer got here in the first place.’
‘I don’t want you doing this. It’s too dangerous.’
Azra exhaled in frustration. ‘I know you don’t, but this is my choice, and my plan. I will do what I must to free Kia, and to find out what this fiend wants from me. There is more here than meets the eye, and we are practically blind as it is. Do what you can and I won’t ask any more of you.’
‘Fine. May Heaven shine on you.’
‘Thank you. And one last thing... I might recommend con
firming Kont’s story with other people who had been serving on the Hyper-Wormhole-Cannon while he was.’
Snake in the Sand
‘We commonly distrust those things that hurt and kill without a care...’
-Azra, teaching his apprentice, Jahnyz
WESTERN WASTES – NEAR THE ZHARIN FORTRESS
Azra stood with his head wrapped in cloth head coverings, with only a slit showing his eyes. The soldiers he had brought with him had similar coverings and stood all around the opening to the cave, looking in. The sun was just rising over the eastern desert. They had just arrived here in the morning, after marching all night.
‘This cave leads right to a tunnel system constructed by the Zhakim many yehvs ago. It was originally used to connect their main fortress on this continent – which is now the Raider’s lair – to all their secondary out posts in the area. It is as vast as it is unnavigable. Unless, of course, you have the map, which I happen to have,’ Azra told his troops.
‘My plan is to allow myself to be captured by Shakla and slip a map to Kia so she can escape through the tunnels and out this cave. You men need to be ready and waiting to help me fight off any pursuers, and to hold this cave mouth at all costs.’
‘What if the tunnels have caved in sire?’ John asked thoughtfully.
‘The tunnel is open. I searched most of the way Mahgically on our way here. I could not go too close to the fortress, but the large tract of the tunnel I was able to scout is still open. Now, I want you men to camp above the opening, in among the rocks of this outcropping. It will shield you from prying eyes, and allow you to see anyone coming out of the tunnel before they see you. Also, remember to do whatever you can to keep from being seen. Surprise will be our greatest weapon.’
John marshalled the men and started them up the rocky climb a sheltered cliff above the cave. He then walked up to Azra.
‘We’ll be waiting for you,’ he called.
‘I’ll be back when the sun again sets.’
‘And if you aren’t?’
Azra was quiet for a moment, the wind tugging at his robes and face covering. ‘If I’m not back by tomorrow night,’ he finally said, ‘march back to the city and prepare to assist the King in his attack on the fortress.’