Dar Kendra led them in a prayer and then they sat. Daryx and Reznor each dismissed themselves. Dar Shara arrived and joined them with her dread lord watching impassively into the shadows all around. The conversation turned to news from Bloodstone with Shara fielding questions about the Temple there and her counterpart Dar Ana. At some point in the conversation, Lady Kendra leaned over and whispered to him. “You are probably exhausted. While you may stay, if you would rather not, you are dismissed. I believe R’Dar Ora is waiting for you in your chambers.” She looked at him and winked. “Were I you, facing accelerated training, I’d leave and go be with the soft and beautiful priestess who is obviously so smitten with you.”
Malcor nodded and hesitated wondering if she tested his resolve. Seeing this, Lady stood and tapped her goblet. “Order of Water, Malcor will be leaving us to rest and prepare. We are to help him defeat an ancient lich, possibly an eldar. Each of you will be receiving training instructions for him and Tembri as well as a schedule.” She raised her goblet in salute as did the others. Malcor stood, smiled, and then Tembri pulled him away.
Chapter Fifteen – A Brief Rest
Once away from the main chamber, Tembri said, “I thought you would like to know that Calvin is firmly joined now with the Shield Knights. They are an honorable but lower level order often joined by wealthy children of Dar and House families. His first rite is scheduled for the next festival. Unlike your meeting with Ynt’taris, Calvin will face a fallen white dragon.” Tembri smiled and then added, “The Order of Water… is powerful. It is amazing you found your way here Sir Malcor. I joined the Temple when I was fourteen and finished my first Bloodstone campaign before Dar Kendra would even consider my application. Even still, I did not face Ynt’taris until after I had trained here for several months. I hope you understand how remarkable all of this is. For myself, I hope to be the battle priest recorded in Tania’s stories who served the knight prodigy of the Order of Water.”
They reached Malcor’s room and Tembri bowed and left. Entering, Malcor saw Ora had brought in extra furniture and stands. A large desk adjacent to a crackling fireplace had a few pieces of official looking paperwork on it. She helped him remove his newly-gifted armor and hung it on the stands. The gleaming silver rose she had given him just several days earlier, she started rotating near the desk. Purple flecks of light gently fell from it. She smiled back at him. Stepping out of her robes, she took his hand and pulled him to the bath. “Let’s talk about your next three days.”
Much later, he stretched and pulled on some clothes. “So, Ora… I see forms on the desk and you want to talk about training?”
She nodded. “Do I look like I want to discuss such things?” She pulled him into the warm water and wrapped her arms around him. “The forms are to take control of House Tor. Now that you are officially a member of the Order of Water, you have legal status you did not yesterday. As you requested, Sai R’Dar will take a tenth of the Tor profits to the estate shrine. I will administrate. You do not need to review this now, but it must be signed and presented. The longer you wait the more time you give to Tor to rebel or challenge you if they wish. I suppose the real question here is if you trust Sai and my intent in this.”
“I will read it now,” he said but she pulled him back down and he found her embrace far more exciting. Some hours later, he sat down and began scanning through them. Ora walked to the door and whispered into the hallway. A few moments later, servants began quietly bringing in other items to fill and personalize the space. Malcor looked up and saw several tapestries, one with an image of the shadow dragon just like his statue, as well as some sitting chairs and privacy screens.
Ora’s scrolls were adorned in dragon art. He touched the runic calligraphy wondering if Ora had written it by hand. He wondered if all contracts in Tania used the Temple’s draconian script. He could not read normal commoner writing. No one in Klenna ever wanted special inscriptions done in Common.
Reading went slowly as he was not used to reading at length and was glad when something caught his eye and he looked up to see a minotaur walk in carrying a forge anvil. Several dwarves followed the minotaur and the far corner of his room quickly took the shape of a personal forge and armor works. The minotaur, he had never seen one this close, wore leather armor adorned with their god. The dwarves spoke with it in Tauran, the minotaur language, and after some time, they all stepped back and filled the forge’s cradle with small green gemstones. The minotaur retrieved a small rounded hammer and metal scribing tool of some kind.
“The minotaur is a runesmith Malcor," Ora explained. "I thought you might appreciate having access to a forge here. The Order has its own, but you have a particular knack that may exceed even the Order's best. They’re going to ignite the gemstones to burn magically and contain the heat to the cradle there. Then, they’ll connect a portal on that wall to the Order’s quartermaster for any supplies you may need.”
“I’m stunned that you would consider… how…”
“Daryx and the Lady Kendra asked me to make your space more personal, given that it may be some time before you have a chance to notice such things.”
Across the room, the minotaur stood back and one of the dwarves placed a metal rod in the green gems. It immediately glowed red hot and started to turn molten. When they pulled it back from the forge’s cradle, Mal heard its heat sizzle.
“The Tor papers, they’re in draconian…”
She nodded. “That was not my doing. My master’s scribe received word yesterday to rewrite the papers, all of them, in draconian. I don’t know who sent word.”
Malcor nodded. “So, someone knows I don’t read Common.” He sighed. “I have some observations. I hope they aren’t too annoying. The first is that I want my father Ishan to own control of the Klennan armory. I don’t have any issues with Tor advising and representing but whatever they call it, it is Ishan’s to own and operate. I couldn’t find anything that reflected this.” She nodded. “Also, what is left of House Tor, I want a date set for all of them to come to Sai’s shrine and pledge fealty. Any who do not show up, are to be cast out.” He continued, “and I don’t know how to do this next one, but isn’t there some kind of compelling magic that can reinforce correct behavior? The elders, the leaders, whoever is nominally in charge of House Tor, can we bind them to good behavior?”
Ora thought and replied, “There is geas magic that can prevent certain behaviors, but at a certain point, unless you have trust, the contract would need to be written to define correct behavior. It gets painful to administrate as each new guideline highlights a boundary and thereby makes it easier to cross, break, or get around. Most of the elite here choose instead to create magistrates with total authority. Like what you want to do with Ishan. If you do not trust their fealty pledges, well, you already killed two of their leaders.”
He sat down and stared at the minotaur as it rearranged the anvil and tools around the gem cradle. “Lets trust them until they prove themselves untrustworthy. I do not want to hold them to the same standards as those who challenged me. Also, one last final point, Ora, I trust you. Please update these so that you, not I, have final authority. In your absence, Ishan leads. I sense that the Queen wishes me to focus on my paladin tasks, not commerce and business.”
The minotaur had started inscribing additional runes on the cradle’s opposite side while the dwarves had started placing and fixing with mortar white pre-shaped stones along the wall framing a doorway against the stone. The tapestries had been hung, each depicting moments Ora likely thought interesting to Malcor. One showed Klenna’s valley framed in winter mountain snow. Another showed King Rojo’s ascension and his sword Twilight Fell. His favorite showed the emperor working in a forge, hammering the first divine scriptures out onto metal plates – the Book of Flames. The picture showed the emperor’s human form striking the open metal pages of the Book of Flames with hot plasma surging from the strike and exploding out into draconian scripture that then framed the tapestry -“By
my love, I guard those that are Mine. By their love, shall they be guarded in Mine,” read the verse on the tapestry, that had connected him to withstand the white dragon.
A different tapestry, really a map, also hung by the desk showing the general locations and layout of the empire. Tania was oversized to provide detail against the large island that held it, Tsora. The elven empire of Morilon, the boundaries and general city locations of Taysor, the Sea of Glass – a deadly desert of burning sands, the Bloodstone Valley, all of it stood out and for the first time in his life, Malcor saw the shape of the world he lived in. Ori’s location on Khasra stood down in the south just to the western side of the island named Mondo. Coming back to Tania, he noted the general locations of Home, where the Halflings lived as an autonomous part of Morbatten, as well as the minotaur port island just off Tania’s eastern shoreline. And there sat Klenna, on the road to Bloodstone.
Ora dragged her fingernail from Morbatten to Ori, and tapped on Ori. “This is where your second rite will be.” She pointed up to Bloodstone in the northwest. “Normally, this is the second and final rite for initiates. After that, you’re a fully-fledged paladin of Takhissis.” She leaned against the wall and stared at him. “There are always exceptions though and I guess you’ll be exceptional throughout.” She traced her finger back to Morbatten and tapped the mountains crowning the city. She moved it down to the south and said, "This is where I was born."
A knock on the door interrupted her, and Tembri stepped into the room. “I’m here to discuss training.” He saw them looking at the map and walked up and pointed to the area north of the emperor's mountain. "I'm from here, the tribe of the winter wolf brought me into this world."
“Training," Ora said. The word sounded flat and dull compared to everything else that had happened.
Malcor nodded and they went over and sat down in the new seating area. Tembri placed a leather book on the table and turned it to a page showing a drawing of a lich. The skull head was half bone and half emaciated flesh. Phylacteries and other magical objects adorned it. Tembri asked, “Have either of you encountered a lich?” They shook their heads no. “Neither have I. My second rite as a battle priest is actually going to be this test. Even in my Bloodstone campaign, I never encountered a high enough ranked undead to qualify.” He chuckled and rubbed his bald head. “It wasn’t for lack of trying though! I’m excited to face off against a lich. I pulled this as a reference just in case. Here is what I found in the archives.”
Malcor recounted the basics. “A lich is a sorcerer of great power who trades their soul for prolonged life and enhanced powers in undeath. While any evil or abyssal god can enable the exchange for prolonged life, Tania views lichdom as dangerous and heretical.” He went on to add that liches gradually decay as they age over thousands of years. Eventually, the magic holding them together disintegrates leaving behind a shadow of the lich, but still dreadful.
Tembri approved, “Glad you didn’t skip your Temple education while working as a smith. You got the basics down. The point here is that you have to imagine someone very powerful, like Dar Reznor or Sai R’Dar. Imagine then that they exchange their soul for additional powers. Then give them hundreds if not thousands of years to become experts in those powers while also continuing their sorcery. There is a chance this lich is an eldar, which increases our danger many times over.”
They then discussed the hellhound possibility. Malcor had never heard of hellhounds. “They aren’t dogs,” Ora said. “They are disciples of the Jade God and serve undeath. They can seize control of any undead they encounter, even this lich. Anything they kill rises in undeath. They are free-willed and entrusted with that god’s malice and hatred of life. A lich like this, as a hellhound, would be a nightmare. Not to be confused with normal hellhounds, which are actually devil-spawned dog creatures from the Hells. While there are no artifacts of the Jade God in Ori, there is nothing that stops a hellhound from learning of the lich and going there. Typically, the lich will be offered gifts for its fealty to the Jade God. As undead, the lich is already part of the Jade God’s dominion, the lich just doesn’t realize it yet.”
“So, this word – hellhound – why that name?” Malcor asked.
Tembri turned the pages of the book to a picture of a skeletal wolf standing behind a human-sized figure for scale. “This is the hellhound’s state when it comes into this world. It takes a while for them to consume enough living souls to alter their shape. In the Jaden War, a powerful hellhound naming itself Mauler, took possession of a low level priest and within months, Tania fought a civil war of the living versus the dead. The western provinces all but fell. Dar Rojo and Dar Kell, with new doctrines and teachings, marshalled a counterstrike that killed the hellhound and the priest. After that, it was a mop up job. Their bones are likely the closest artifact we have besides Bloodstone itself.”
Ora added, “Oh, and liches don’t trade their souls until death. Part of the ritual is the transfer of their soul into an object to keep it anchored to this world. So, killing the lich without destroying the soul “gem” – it could be anything – allows them to return over and over.” She pulled Malcor’s face to look at her. “Malcor, this is important. If you kill the lich, you pass the rite. BUT, the glory is many times more if you destroy the soul gem.” She let that sink in and then bit her lower lip. “And, if you capture the soul gem, and the lich has not yet been destroyed, you can take control of the lich for even more glory.”
Tembri nodded. “I agree. The objective here is clearly for Sir Malcor to pass the second rite. In so doing, I will pass my rite as well. But, to capture a lich and its soul gem. To take control of a free-willed lich, perhaps even an eldar. Can you imagine?” The sparkle in his eyes and Ora’s interest also came through loud and clear. “The rest of the Order will be working to create an opportunity for you to confront and destroy the lich. However, as your battle priest, I will be in the fight with you. Our secondary objective is to become a single fighting unit, united in faith. We must become mighty. I am ready and I have faith you will be.”
Malcor pressed, “We have three days to get ready to capture a lich’s soul gem. I doubt we will be able to wander around freely looking for it.”
Ora chimed in, “You have three days to get ready to defeat a lich and pass your second rite. Remember though, it's a lich and you're still new at this knight business. No matter the training. No matter the plans. When we get into combat, who knows what opportunities might present themselves? However, you can bet that an ancient lich is not going to leave its soul gem lying around for the taking. It did not last this long by being sloppy. I get it is either nearby or retrievable. The trick will be to not engage the lich so much that it retreats, or abandons its body. Instead, we will want it to betray the gem’s location. Well, maybe we are too far ahead. Mal, what do you want to do?”
Malcor looked at them both. “I’m barely nineteen. I just faced down a white dragon. I’ve never faced undead. This all seems a bit beyond me. Maybe I can do it, but is it wise to make plans when we don’t even know if I can survive the battle? Above all else, I must defeat the lich. If the opportunity is there, I think I should take it. That is what I need to prepare for. Maybe if we had several months to plan, but we have three days. And that assumes the second rite goes well. Tell me about it.”
“Leave the lich plan to me Lord Malcor. If I cannot identify some possibilities by the time your moment comes, then we'll just follow the Queen's will. Have faith,” Tembri winked. “About the next three days."
"Tembri," Malcor cut him off. "I'm not very comfortable with you calling me Lord. Malcor, or Mal, works just fine."
Tembri shrugged. "Okay Malcor, so let’s start with the basics. Kendra basically killed you on the stage when you first came here. I understand that Ynt'taris essentially killed you on the mountain. So did Armageddon. You know, through this and your forge work, how painful life can be. We may not get to choose the circumstances of our pain, but as a paladin, you must be able t
o make decisions with faith-unwavering and clear from pain or death as a possible consequence. The fear, even anticipation of being caught in that moment can make you lose focus. You must have faith that the Queen will save you. You must be wise in combat and help save yourself. Too many knights, especially in these more powerful elemental orders, they get addicted to that moment “on the edge” as some call it. Your training these days is all about this. Measuring you."
Ora interjected, "It's also about understanding how much pain you can take Mal. Not all paladins can take as much as the healers can heal. If Kendra matched you well, Tembri is the perfect battle priest to augment your combat skills with healing."
Tembri nodded, "So consider this. A newborn child, in fact, any innocent, would have died on that mountain. You did not die. In fact, you lived through it. So, you're hearty. And you have faith on a level most Tanians do not. Yet, there are things that will kill you dead quickly, slowly, and some not so obvious. As you train and work through your second rite, you, me, all of us will see what it takes to kill Malcor. Understanding that will allow all of us to better support you."
Ora took his hand and traced her fingers in it. "Some things only come with experience. You must become more powerful than you are now to face the lich and win. Your second rite, it will be brutal. You will train. You will fight, past death, past exhaustion, past all possible hope of rest. We will sustain and heal you so that you may continue. It won't make sense until later when you've had time to digest it all, ponder on it, and learn from it."
Chapter Sixteen – Killing Malcor
Tembri recapped the first rite. "Not all paladins face the white dragon you did. Some are required to face fears drawn by a priest from their very own thoughts. At the end of the day, fear is an emotion. Tania does not want its heroes make decisions based on fear avoidance. Cowards are ruled by fear. Tania wants you to be ruled by the Goddess. You cannot serve these two very different gods."
Malcor's Story Page 14