by N. Saraven
She now could hit the targets in the given time, so they moved on to the next lesson. Usually they did the same routine: firstly, Rita had to hit the same target with as many arrows as she could in the given time. Then Talek threw the marks into the air, or moved them with magic. In other times, Rita had to run on a specific route, hitting the targets on the trees. Luckily for her, they did not have any horses, so that part was skipped. The girl admitted her shame—she was terrified of horses. She loved them, as animals, but would never, ever sit on one’s back.
The friends practised almost until noon with only small pauses, when they took a big lunch break.
“You know,” said Rita, breaking the silence around them, “there is somebody of whom I didn’t hear a thing so far.”
Talek glared at her questioningly as he sliced the cheese and bread with his knife. Neither of them asked how or where the cheese came from, when there was no animal in or around Varomor that gave milk …
“Who?” asked the soldier, when the girl did not continue. He was not bothered by the fact that she currently battled with a bigger bite of fruit than comfortable. As a result, she had quite the struggle until she could swallow the piece of fruit.
“Carus,” she said, when she was finally able to.
“Hmpf …” mumbled Talek, who seemed to rather avoid the question if he could. But he knew Rita enough to know that she would not let this go that easily. He would need to come up with some kind of answer, even if he was not in the mood.
“How much do you know about him?” he asked finally, glancing at the other. He sipped from his bottle, but then changed his mind. He grabbed a smaller flask from his belt and offered it to Rita, who shook her head. The soldier then raised a brow questioningly, as if he thought she was insane for not taking an excellent quality wine on the side. Even if it existed in the Tower because of Veilon …
“Well,” started the girl, “I know that he is, or was, a wraith apprentice, and Cameron loathed him. The wraiths took over many dragon territories; they are at war since the wraiths got here. I cannot understand this, seriously. We are talking about three worlds. I’ll bet there are enough lands for everybody …”
“Stay on topic,” said the kobold, which made her blush a little. It was common knowledge that the soldier liked to stay on course.
“Sorry,” murmured Rita, a little insulted, which drew a stern glance, but at the moment she did not care. “Anyway, Carus tried to hide his identity as long as he could, but of course he couldn’t forever. After a lot of happenings, I think Cameron could tolerate him, maybe started to became friends, I guess.”
“Hold on, don’t overthink it,” Talek cut in. “They were never friends. Cameron never took his eyes off the boy, ever. No matter how many times Carus saved him, he never felt safe. I think that was one of the reasons that made Carus refuse to join Varomor, when Halgor asked him to stay.”
“Well, I can relate to that. So he vanished after the Dragonwars. Alright, so Halgor paid him a visit after they also disappeared with the Gods. But still … what happened to Carus?” she mused. Then something struck her. “Wait a minute! How on Earth do you know about Halgor’s ask? At that time you …” Rita fell silent; she dropped her head and bit her lip. The air around them almost froze from the tension, emitted by the soldier.
Talek was dead by then, captured, tortured, then killed by werewolves, who marched against the Capital. He and Silumar were caught by the wolves, who then tried everything to gain some information about them and their companions—that hated little group, who stood up against a whole army, making trouble as they went, trying to stop the invasion against the kobolds and humans.
At the end, the werewolves were defeated, but victory came with a heavy price. The companions lost one of their own, Halgor turned out to be a traitor, Neila’s father got a deadly spear wound. Not to mention, the disappearance of Halgor and Neila at the very end.
Talek’s whole body stiffened; he could not say a word.
He suddenly felt terribly cold inside; his throat closed up whenever his death came up. He felt her green gaze upon him, which made him even more anxious. When he realised this, he chided himself and stared into the thicket, irritated.
“Eryn mentioned it, or somebody else. Must I remember every little detail?! If you are in the mood for this, why don’t you interrogate somebody else, like Neila?! Ruin HER meal!” he barked angrily, with which he earned the girl’s surprised glance. This made Talek even more nervous, which annoyed him more than an unknown creature lurking around the forest.
“Neila won’t see anybody and she flew out last night with Enargit and Veilon. Eryn said something about it during breakfast. And I didn’t mean to be rude, you know that. It came out wrong,” murmured Rita apologetically. Talek took a deep breath.
“You’re right, sorry. You didn’t deserve that.”
“I never deserve this.” The girl grinned, although her tone sounded still firm.
However, real mirth shone in her eyes, so Talek swayed his head. He opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly Agony and Kira stepped out from the woods. The friends glanced at them, surprised. The warrior carried a big bird on his shoulders.
In time, more and more inhabitants had met the animal, which turned out to be delicious. No wonder that Agony was radiating with joy.
“Wow, where did you get this ostrich?” asked Rita, as she watched the warrior putting down his prey. He panted heavily, which was a rare sight. He humped down beside it, grinning.
“What?” said Kira.
“Yeah, it looks more like a moa. Never mind. They are, or the latter were, animals on Earth.”
“I don’t care until it’s edible,” rumbled Agony, still grinning as he wiped his sweat off. Then he took a huge gulp from his bottle. “How is your progress, lassie?” he asked as he glanced at the many arrows sticking out from everywhere.
“She’s getting there. She would even hit a … moa now,” answered Talek, which made Rita smile. “If it’s standing still and close,” he teased, grinning. Rita’s features became firm at this.
“Don’t pay any attention to him.” Agony waved dismissively. “He’d say the same about every other kobold too, even if they’re better archers than him.”
“For your information, there are no better than me,” pouted the soldier, folding his arms.
“Whatever you say … just don’t ask anybody else, ey?” struck back the warrior, smiling. The paragon’s body stiffened; he was ready to jump on him. His deep-blue eyes flared in anger, but nothing could frighten the other.
Rita and Kira just exchanged looks, eyeing the men’s same old argument. Then they sat down on a huge trunk which lay nearby. They knew well that the others did not mean a thing; they just liked showing off. So the girls made themselves comfortable, softly talking. Seemingly nothing could ruin their good time.
Only an abrupt storm could prove the opposite—the rain started pouring down from one moment to the other. The companions scrambled to their feet and started to run back to the Mist. The prey now became Talek’s concern, who used a spell to move it swiftly in the air.
They hurried back, but even if they were not far from the Mist, they stepped through it already soaking wet. Everybody looked at them surprised as they walked through the sunny garden to the Tower. After they put down the bird in the kitchen, they decided to rest in their dorms. They did not meet again before dinner, when they decided they would not meet afterwards for a cup of wine.
For the friends, it was a perfect day, and they had no reason to assume tomorrow would be any different.
31. The secret reveals itself
“I do not understand,” murmured Indrek under his breath, as he stared at the huge map in front of him on the table. Beside him stood Grey and the Commander of the scÿta forces, Talon. Cameron sat behind them in a comfortable armchair, reading as if he did not care.
“We swept through the Empire and found nothing. They are nowhere to be found in the known parts
of Nimron,” said Talon with a silky, yet ice-cold voice. Indrek glanced at him.
The Ruler would never admit it, but even he felt uneasy around the wraith Commander. Every time he looked at him, a chill ran down his spine.
Even now, when he took human form, those white eyes, in which the pupils gave the only colour, made everybody wince. As if they were looking deep down, beyond the soul. He tied back his long white hair, showing his rounded ears. He wore a grass-green, thick tunic, with brown trousers and black boots. A wide belt surrounded his waist, from which different sizes of blades hung. His whole appearance showed that he was ready to act at any moment. No wonder he got the leading post amidst the scÿta.
This force meant nothing more than the collection of the best of the best, gathered and put together by Indrek. The test to join them was very serious, and in some cases resulted in Death. There were no preferences in species; everybody could try it. But because of the specific tasks they had to perform, some species had an advantage over others. Still, almost every species represented themselves in the force, even an elven.
They had to hide perfectly, including from another of their species. They needed to work fast and be untraceable, spying perfectly if needed, and most importantly kill without being seen. Furthermore, they ought to be Indrek’s loyal and obedient subjects. Their Commander was Talon, whose cold canniness became legendary even amongst the wraiths. Nobody ever saw him frightened, or even surprised in any situation.
But now it seemed that some emotion emerged in him, showing faintly on his always firm face. He stared at the map, while his mind worked fast to solve the riddle—to where did the Tower of Mysteries disappear?
Some time had passed since the hated Tower turned into thin air. Since then, Indrek ordered everybody to find it, to leave no stone unturned. Scÿta and other scouts searched Nimron back and forth, from top to bottom, in every possible direction.
“It couldn’t just disappear. It must be somewhere.” Grey noted the obvious.
“You don’t say …” hissed the wraith mockingly, which made the wolf sway his tail. Not even the Commander of the werewolves wanted to get on the scÿta’s bad side …
“Cameron, what do you think?” Indrek suddenly turned to the bright dragon, who glanced up from his book. His gaze showed that the Ruler had to be mad to ask him about this.
“Why do you think that I know a thing?” he asked.
“Because you know who lives there.”
Cameron’s eyes flared up, although they did not affect Indrek. Both of them knew that the Ruler had no actual proof about that statement.
He just put those information morsels together as well as he could, deducting this conclusion. As for being right, he never could work it out, even though he said this openly to the bright’s face several times. He got no usable reactions, however.
“If you are right … then what?” snorted Cameron, which irritated Indrek, but he did nothing. “Seriously, just because I know exactly how many soldiers or different forces you have, would I know what you’re planning with them?”
Indrek twisted his mouth at the tone, but said nothing. For some reason he always overlooked the other’s rebellious acts towards him, even though every one of his Commanders glanced at him puzzled. Especially Talon, who raised his voice several times so far. He, as he said, could not imagine why the Ruler did not question the bright. Or, if he had no mood for it, why he did not give him to the wraith. The scÿta would not have any problems doing so.
However, even the wraith had never even tried to go behind Indrek’s back. If the Ruler wanted the bright around, he might as well do so. Whatever sense that made …
“Let us go through this again,” started Indrek, which made everybody moan in dismay. “To the east, you found nothing as far as you went. You went to the Chained-lakes, did you not?” He glanced at Talon, who nodded.
“Of course, my Liege,” hissed the scÿta with a tone that meant that he could not imagine why he would doubt his word.
“All right … to the south, you cannot go farther than the Impossible-defile, since the many storms. But up to that point, still nothing.” Indrek glanced up again, so Grey shook his head. “Nighteye went to the west to Lexénia’s stronghold at the Anaca-lake. From there, they should circle back from north. They left Nightfort ten days ago, so they should arrive soon. But I have a hunch that they will have the same news as you all. Again … so that gives us …”
Indrek fell silent, as he stared at the map sternly. He knew well that other lands existed beyond the ‘known world’. Or should they say, the world-known-by-humans. So Varomor must have fled somewhere there. Beside his work on his glorious Empire, he put all efforts in to find the missing neighbour. He turned into some kind of maniac regarding that Tower, which meant that he was not ready to just give it up.
“They must have fled beyond the borders,” mused Talon, giving a careful look at Indrek, who only nodded, still eyeing the map.
The Ruler saw his glance, but ignored it. It was not the time to make a fuss about his decision to obey his own rules of living.
Wraiths had a much faster life cycle than any other species. Because of their fast growing, Talon seemed to get older by the moment in Indrek’s eyes. He almost saw him grow old. But most importantly, they had an enormous thought process. As a result, the scÿta probably had this idea for a long time now; he just did not want to seem better than his Ruler. He obeyed the existing hierarchy above all, which now gave the dragon this late information.
Indrek loathed and respected this at the same time. They could be closer to the truth if the scÿta would not be stiff like that. Yet he said nothing because it would be utterly useless. From the moment these creatures had arrived to their worlds, a new saying had emerged: hardheaded as a wraith. With good reason.
Even if Talon could not have lived more than twenty circles, he looked twice that old. Because of this, when something stuck into his head, there was nothing that could change his mind about it. He would make himself and every other under his command keep that thing. Moreover, the hierarchy gave the Meaning of Life to these creatures, so if they accepted somebody as a Head, that person had their utter respect and obedience. In this case, he would never, ever make Indrek seem smaller in any way. He only dared correcting the dragon, or made conclusions out loud, when there lay no other way.
Indrek sighed and moved on. There was nothing he could do about that at the moment.
“Yes. So we have to scout those lands also,” murmured the Ruler. “The good part is that we can rule out the east, so we can concentrate on the other directions.”
“Why would you? We have the same amount of knowledge of what lay beyond the Chained-lakes as anywhere else,” argued Grey, which made Talon regard him angrily.
“We really do not need to do that, believe me.” Indrek stared deeply into his eyes; he did not seem convinced, but dropped the argument nevertheless. Apparently, the Ruler had some kind of knowledge of the east, from which he could assume that the Tower was not there.
“What lies there?” Cameron cut in suddenly, drawing all eyes on him. He usually stayed silent during the meetings, reading, so it seemed unusual for him to speak now.
“It is not important. I know for a fact that they will not be there.”
“Why not? It would seem the perfect place then,” argued the bright further, with which he earned the scÿta’s smouldering gaze.
Not that he would mind it, or cared. He had had the chance to be around wraiths in the past and he never got fond of them. Even though he personally never went to war against them, he considered enough sunlits as close friends to relate to their hatred towards them.
When these creatures had arrived, they colonised the still-free lands too fast. Then they asked for lands from their neighbours, instead of going out into the wild, charting and discovering new terrains. So the sunlit dragon and wraith began their long, bloody history.
The dragons gave up some unused lands in the end, albei
t those ran out eventually. So when the newcomers needed more, they refused. After a few stern refusals, the wraiths launched an invasion.
The dragons fought back bravely, but they had never faced such accurate cruelty before, which the enemy used against them. Many perished during the war; the wraiths killed every single reptile whom they came across. They never took prisoners, nor gave any chance to escape. The one good thing about them was that they never tortured any dragons.
However, because of their drastic reduction in numbers, the sunlits finally forfeited, giving up their beloved home. From that time, they tried to find sanctuary wherever they could. Although whenever their path passed a wraith, they took revenge.
Just as Cameron did, who fought alongside the sunlits during the Dragonwars. He saw their efforts to survive, to save their home. After the bright left his original home, the sunlits welcomed him and accepted him. So Cameron could never just sit back and watch a wraith wobble before him.
Meaning, he would kill every single one of them.
Only a few exceptions existed from under this rule of his—Carus, former apprentice of Neila’s father, and the ones who lived in Varomor.
He had to work with the former during the second and third Dragonwar. That young wraith got the idea, that he wanted to prove to Cameron, that some of the wraiths could be nice. They probably were lonely and left their kind for a reason, but they existed. And they resented the way their fellow wraiths behaved towards the dragons.
Both Carus and the ones who lived in the Tower always behaved with the utmost respect towards Cameron. They mostly got out of the reptile’s way, as if they did not even exist. But when they had to get in touch, they behaved submissively. Regardless of whatever they did, however humble they got, Cameron never trusted either of them. He always kept his eyes on them, which the wraiths knew too. They could never be safe with him.
On the other hand, Talon could be the model of his kind, so Cameron would never lessen his guard around him. They both knew that the cold behaviour with which they bore each other’s presence was a show for Indrek only, who, they believed, never bought it. The two of them just waited for the perfect moment to strike. Even if that would mean that the scÿta had to disobey the Ruler. Cameron thought that he would not do that, yet he enjoyed torturing him this way more and more.