by J B Cantwell
“Fight?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said. “It turns out that Donnally was not such a coward as he seemed. They had brought him into the interior of the hive, and they must have attacked him. By the time I was nearing, bright flashes of power were overtaking the hive from within, and I knew he must be fighting for his life. I sped as quickly as I could to aid him, but I was too late.”
“They killed him?” I asked.
“No,” she said. “At the height of battle, his magic ripped apart their hive. I was still too far to reach him in time.” She wiped a tear from her eye with the back of her hand. “He fell. Too far for me to catch him in time.”
Nobody spoke then. It seemed everyone was taken with the grief of the story, and it was too much for Larissa. She stood and left the group, making her way back to where Cait and Rhainn sat reacquainting themselves with each other.
We sat around the tiny fire, lost in thought. Father sat away from us, taken there by Finian. Finian glanced nervously back at Erod as he positioned Father, far enough away to prevent a relapse of the violent man we had seen the last time the two were in the same vicinity together. Jade padded silently up to the large rock I was sitting on and sat down beside me. She handed me a cloth with some sort of salve on it.
“For your face,” she said.
I lifted the cloth to my cheek and instantly a cooling sensation spread out beneath my burning skin.
“Ahh,” I said. “Thanks.”
Zacharias came to the group and stood by the fire.
“Those who have returned from their journey have asked me to tell a tale,” he began. “The tale I thought was a myth before tonight. It is the story of Jared, the great wizard who fell to the magic call of gold.”
Fifteen feet away, in the dim light of the fire, I saw Father’s face wore the same look of concentration as mine must have. He may have been channeling Jared, but clearly there were still many things he longed to know.
“Five thousand years ago,” Zacharias began, “Jared was born to the king and queen of Riverstone. He was the firstborn, and as such he stood to inherit the kingdom, which ruled all of Aria. He had beneath him five brothers, and while his family was royalty, there was no magic among them.
“So it was with great surprise that Jared in his youth discovered that he had abilities the others in his family did not. He could make a fire spark to life with amazing speed, where regular men might require several minutes of coaxing before a flame emerged. When he held a branch of wood out before him, he found that he was able to not only coax a fire, but produce the sparks required to set wood ablaze. But, most importantly, it was with common, ordinary rocks that his talent revealed itself. He could control rocks of all sizes from the time he was a young man, and his power frightened the others in his family.
“Jared lived in a time before magic, a time before people understood that magic did not always mean danger. There may have been others in Jared’s time who possessed such gifts, but their stories were not known in the kingdom. What we do know is that in his own kingdom, and in his own family, Jared was feared.
“They rejected him and would not allow him to participate in the family in a normal way. He was sent to his own wing of the castle, to be taught and tended by butlers and nurses. And so he grew up alone, without the love of his parents, and with the taunting of his younger siblings. In the heart of the boy, there was goodness. But with year after year of torment and rejection, that goodness turned to loathing. They had never accepted him, and for what? There was no reason good enough that he could imagine. He was treated like an outcast, a freak, and all the while he was terrified of what was happening to him. To be a child and have such powers manifest, and to then be cast aside because of them … well, it was more pressure than any tender heart can manage.
“And so, with no one in his life to turn to to confide his fears, he instead turned to the very thing that set him apart.
“Magic.
“To entertain himself from the dullness of his life, Jared played with his power during the long hours he spent alone. At first he simply moved the stones around, a combination of his mind and fingers working in unison to create strength and movement where before there had been none. Then, as time slipped by, he found he was able to lift rocks, boulders even, fully into the air with nothing more than a passing thought and a flick of his hand. Eventually, Jared realized that the more precious the stone, the greater power it contained. Just holding a rare stone amplified his power by huge amounts.
“Then, one night as he crept through the castle alone, he saw a glimmer of something in his father’s study. Beneath a drawer in a chest a small treasure was hidden, and without a second thought, he took it for his own. At first he meant only to inspect it, but soon he realized that this stone was much, much more powerful than any other he had ever touched. It is said that, upon Jared’s first meeting with gold, he lifted every rock in the valley below the castle at one time, slamming them back down to the earth in unison, shaking the land with the violence of the act. And with that act, a section of the gold in his fist dissolved away, its power spent.
“Of course, Jared didn’t view such an action as violence. But the power he held over stone had fangs, and they bit deep into his heart and mind. He kept the tiny rock of gold on his person at all times, for years as he came of age, so that if there were ever a need to defend himself, he would have more than just a simple stone to do the job.
“When he was seventeen, his father insisted that he marry, and as heir to the throne he had little choice but to obey. The bride chosen for him was younger than he, and by all accounts she detested him as much as the rest of his family did.
“With the temptation of the gold so close to him, and the rejection of his family still so raw, he soon found himself hungry for more. More power. More of the feeling that he was something better than his family. And with that feeling, an appetite for destruction grew, as did his anger about his circumstance. He wanted to prove that his brothers had misjudged his slight frame and cautious eyes, that they had been wrong to assume that he was something less than themselves. He wanted to prove to his young bride that she, too, had judged him wrongly, and that he was more a man than any could hope to find in the entire kingdom.
“And so the tiny seed of malice, the one that is planted in every man’s heart, began to sprout and bloom. It did not take long for him to decide to leave his family. Soon he left his young wife and the small son they had been obligated to produce together. And he left the king and queen and brothers who had never believed in him.
“And, perhaps more important than anything else, he also left his right to the throne.
“By now he understood that his power was much more than a hobby he might toy with on occasion. It had grown into a snarling resource of revenge, and had allowed him the glory of recognition that he so craved. He had grown bitter and tired of those who did not share his gifts, thus turning the tables on all who had hurt him.
“He made his way through the towns of Aria, hiding his true identity so he could freely wander. During his first years in the towns, when Jared’s understanding of his abilities was still young, he used the stones to create elixirs for the townsfolk. He never used the gold, of course, for that was intended for only his own use and entertainment. Any ordinary stone would do for the village potions, though, for stone carries within it the lifeblood of a place, power deep to the core just waiting to be released. If a villager had a troubled back, a fractured mind, an injured heart, Jared’s vials of potion could set things right once again, and soon he became famous.
“Many years passed, and he found that death was the greatest revenge he would ever need against the family who had underestimated him so badly. He didn’t even need to kill them, himself. He needed only to live on, to outlast them, to see their bodies buried before he, too, succumbed to death’s embrace.
“And pass away they did, one by one. The kingdom fell to that lost son to rule over when year after year
of searching produced no sign of Jared, for he had left his kingdom behind to pursue other, more powerful heights. But even, eventually, the son he had created fell to death as all mortals must.
“Jared, however, did not die. He had long had bigger goals than to simply rule a kingdom.
“The elixirs kept him entertained for that first lifetime of years, but it was not the brewing that had taken over his mind and given him purpose. It was the payment that the people made for the cures to anything that ailed them. Of course, after a time he became quite rich, which suited him, as he was used to the finest accommodations. But most of his money he saved so that he might purchase more of the greatest and rarest of stones, the stones that would allow him to wield great power over entire valleys, entire populations, maybe entire planets.
“Gold.
“He had long since known of the gold hidden within the heart of each planet. When he first quested on Aria, he used the existing gold in his stores to search for its hiding places. He discovered what he was looking for quickly with the aid of the gold he carried, and soon he found his way to the hidden places where the planets held their treasure. He forced the rock beneath his feet to open and allow him entry into the chambers. And he took all that he found there.
“Over the many years that followed, Jared determined how to live longer than any other man had done before him. During that time he sought out more and more gold. He learned the art of link-making, which before had never allowed one to travel farther than a few miles in any direction. But with the addition of gold he was able to go to places that men had only dreamed of. To different planets altogether. And upon each new planet, the power of the gold in his pockets led him to the hiding places of the gold at the heart of each. He became obsessed with the great symbols he, himself, left on the ground at the entrances to each cavern, and drew them in all of his notebooks. When he came close to exhausting his search on the planets he knew, he retreated to the mountains beside where Riverstone now stands. In those caves, which have been protected by the giants since those first days, Jared obsessed upon the symbol. He meditated on it, carved it into the walls, slowly driven mad by his unchecked desire for more of that most powerful stone.
“Finally on Dursala, the last planet he traveled to, he found a great store of gold. Nine pieces were placed within the bowl, and he was then, by any measure, rich beyond most men’s dreams.
“But Jared saw in the gold not riches, but the ability to unleash such magic as the Fold has never known. Earth was, at the time, unknown to him, though Jared searched for it nonetheless. He did not know which planet he sought, but he dreamed of a place where gold was plentiful, and at every opportunity sought for the knowledge of how to bring it closer. For his greed had overtaken him, and his hunger for more consumed his every thought. Then, one day, he discovered that Earth was slowly moving toward Aria. His intense desire fueled by the gold he had stolen had slowly shifted the planet’s trajectory, and now it was aligned with, though very far away from, the other planets in the Fold. It crawled toward Aria, and he could see that someday it would be within his reach.
“But this was not fast enough for Jared.
“Earth lay along the outskirts of the planet Grallero, so it was visible in the frame he used to plot his links. But, as it was not within the Fold proper, he was unable to create a link directly to it.
“The only way he would be able to reach Earth was to draw it into the Fold itself. While it was true that he had unconsciously begun this process already, he believed it was time to put all of his will to the task.
“And so it was upon Mount Neri that he readied himself for the event. In his hands he held every piece of gold still remaining to him, perhaps every piece left on any planet within the Fold. And with the great power that emanated from so much treasure, he cast his magic up into the night air, in search of Earth.
“At first the spell worked just as he had planned. He had long since learned to use gold to create pathways toward more, and though his eyes couldn’t see the path to Earth, his skin, muscles, and very bones felt it within him. Within minutes he found the small, blue planet, and had begun to draw it closer.
“The gold in his hands began to dissolve, just as he knew it would. But Earth would not come so easily farther into the Fold. It bucked and stuck in its cosmic fabric, pulled back into the place in space it had inhabited for so long. It was much more difficult than he had expected, as he had, of course, seen himself as all powerful from his years of thievery and success. As the gold in his fists dissolved away, it is said that the force of the spell dissolved Jared away, too, that the power he thrust out into the cosmos stuck to him, running up first his hands and arms, and eventually ripping his body apart with the force.
“So Jared did not know at the time of his death what he had succeeded in doing. For Earth, stubborn as it was, had been ripped from its rightful place and then caught in the outer reaches of the Fold, just as Jared had intended.
“In the end, Earth settled into the Fold, just like every other planet. Its location was far, much farther away than any of the eight others Jared had visited in his quest. Now it might be possible for a wizard of great power to fashion a link to the unknown planet.
“But the gold was gone. Jared was gone. And the power to reach Earth had been forever lost.
“Or so I thought.”
Zacharias turned to Father.
“It seems,” he said, “that there is more to be learned of Jared’s plight. More to the myth than what I was taught so many years ago. You, sir,” his eyes fixed on Father. “I believe it is your turn to talk.”
Father didn’t move a muscle. His face wore a look of surprise, and was it a little fear, too?
Zacharias stepped backward, opening his arms to indicate that Father should rise. Eventually he did so, slowly, staring about as if he thought an attack might come at any time.
And then he spoke.
“I have heard the man you are speaking of. Heard his voice. The voice talks to me, but does not overwhelm me. I have also heard the man that this boy,” he pointed to me, “calls his father, though his voice is much quieter than Jared’s.”
He looked down at his feet, perhaps searching for courage there.
“The voices came on slowly,” he said. “When I first came into being, there were no voices at all. I felt a sense of comfort, and I was driven to visit certain places, do certain things. That is how I ended up in the gold mine Aster and Cait found me in. It was in those first moments that the will of his father attacked Aster. He did this somehow through me. I was still present in my mind, but my body was completely at his command. Then, as I wrestled the spirit back into hiding, I came out again. Later, when I began to hear the voice of Jared, I realized that my body, this body, is like a vessel. The spirits of those two men move through me. Jared’s voice comforts me, guides me. It tells me things about the places we have traveled, because Jared, himself, once traveled there. His memories flash through my mind as if they are my own, and in them I see the man, the beast, that Jared finally became. His body did not dissolve as the gold did on that terrible day, but his spirit did. All that was left in the end was the malice and pride that had hidden within him for centuries.
“And now, unchecked, that malice grew. It grew so strong and so overpowering that it changed his very being. From the ashes of the man who had once been good, who as a child had been captivated by the wonder of his own magic, grew the Corentin, a beast so foul that none could touch him. All he desired from that point on was horror, terror inflicted upon the people and planets of the Fold. He had no gold with which to wreak his havoc, but he found other ways to use his powers against anyone who dared show happiness in their life, against the health of the very planets those people inhabited. He now wants nothing more than to destroy us all, to extend his power and use it for the destruction of not just the Fold, but of galaxies, as a god might.”
Father shifted his weight, wringing his hands uncomfortably.
&nbs
p; “But Jared remains. Somewhere within the Corentin’s black soul, the young man of his youth stirs. And he guides. He guides me and us all to right the wrongs the Corentin has wreaked.”
Father sat down then, distancing himself from me, I noticed.
“But there is another voice, of course,” he went on. “The voice of the boy’s father. It is a disturbing contributor to the voices I hear inside my head. Thankfully in recent days, as we have slowly leveled the planets, his voice has diminished. And no other has filled in the blank spot where his father once spoke, but what has been left behind instead is more like a feeling. A warm feeling that I can’t quite describe.
“And that is all. That is all I know.”
The crowd of listeners stayed silent, thinking on his words, trying to make sense of what he was telling them. I did the same, only from a different perspective.
“What can you tell us of the Corentin,” Kiron asked. “Surely you realize that your eyes run black, just like every other possessed we have seen. They are Corentin black, and it is under his power that you are here.”
Father shook his head slightly.
“No,” he said. “I have never heard the voice of the Corentin. At least I don’t—”
“Of course you have!” I was surprised by the outburst, and realized that the angry voice came from Tristan. “Who else’s voice might you be hearing? You weave a tale so perfect and complex, but the truth is that you are Corentin possessed. This kind voice you hear in your mind is nothing but a trick. The Corentin has played you, has played all of us, for fools! First Donnally, and now the rest of us will meet our ends as well. So long as we blindly follow along on these mad journeys you are setting before us.”
Father looked away from him, letting his eyes rest on the flickering flames of the small fire.
“I don’t feel that it is a trick,” he said. “Jared’s voice is nothing but kind and innocent. It’s almost like a child’s voice, in a way. It is from a time before corruption. A time before Jared ever discovered gold, or ever thought an ill thing against his family, or ever felt superior.”