by Sam Ferguson
Erik was so delighted by this newfound peace that he didn’t notice the memories of Lepkin, Al, Jaleal, or Dimwater fading from his mind. By the time his memory of Janis was pulled he had only a vague recollection of who the man with the crippled arm had been. None of it seemed to matter now.
Then there was the image of a man upon a dais. The man looked familiar somehow, as if Erik knew him. Though how he could have ever seen a man wrapped in chains was beyond him now. Next to the man stood another wearing white robes with purple rings around the openings of the sleeves. As the orb containing the memory was pulled away, Erik saw a short, stout dwarf standing near him before the dais. What was it they were doing? A golden orb moved toward Erik then and touched his forehead. Its warmth tempted him and called him away from the fading memory.
Erik blinked. His eyes went back to the fading memory and at once he remembered all of it. He felt the rush of anguish, fear, and hate he had felt when he and Al had faced off against the warlock masquerading as a senator. The man in chains was his father. Erik managed to wrangle one arm free and he snatched the fading memory back. It absorbed into his hand and then he resumed fighting against the golden tendrils. He swatted away the orb meant to replace the memory of the senate chamber and his father’s trial. Then he yanked the tendril from his mouth and began pounding on the thick cords wrapped around him.
“No!” he shouted.
He pulled back with all of his might only to land on his rump back inside the tower. Allun Rha stood over him with his hand still outstretched. Erik shook and trembled, but the wizard only smiled.
“Congratulations, Erik,” Allun Rha said. “You have passed my final test.”
“What did you do?” Erik asked. “You were stealing my memories!”
Allun Rha stepped back a few paces and put his hands into the air to show he meant no harm. “That is what the Illumination does. It forces control onto others.”
“You tried to enslave me! You said you did that to the others because they chose to use the power. I thought you wouldn’t do that to me.”
Allun Rha nodded. “It is also part of the tests I am instructed to give. Even if a candidate chooses correctly, he or she must be strong enough to withstand the spell itself. One tests the candidate’s mind, and the other tests the heart. I am sorry, but there was no other way to be sure.”
“You are a monster,” Erik said as he gasped for breath.
“I was desperate to find a way to save my people,” Allun Rha said. “Now I hope that you can succeed where I failed. Wipe Nagar’s blight from our world, and then set the others free.”
Erik paused. “The others?”
Allun Rha nodded. “The soldiers I told you about earlier. They wait still for release. They are at the Immortal Mystic’s temple, waiting for you.”
“They never died?”
Allun Rha let a tear escape his eyes then and his shoulders slumped. “When I said that only the sadness of death interrupts their happiness, I didn’t mention that all the soldiers and the first people I used the Illumination on are incapable of dying from age. They are kept in a permanently healthy state. The only way they can die is to be killed by another, yet with my magic forcing all to choose good, none can kill another without it being in self-defense. Unfortunately, those born after them are not immortal. They live good lives, but are prone to sickness and death. So as each generation passes, that first generation goes through a torment that cannot be described. That is why they were taken away from here, to spare them the continual suffering as all those around them grow old and perish.”
The wizard stumbled to the couch and fell to a seated position. The tears fell freely now and he let his face fall into his hands. Erik took a step forward, but then stopped. What could he possibly say?
Allun Rha looked up, as if feeling Erik’s eyes upon him. “I never meant for them to be tortured so,” he said. His chin quivered and his eyes and nose became red. “I only wanted to stop Nagar the Black. I never…” the words trailed off into soft sobs and the wizard buried his face in his hands.
Erik stood there for a while, shifting and fidgeting with his toes in his boots while he waited for the wizard to compose himself.
At last Allun Rha sniffed and wiped his face with his forearm. He stood and motioned to the table. The food vanished and then a map appeared instead. Erik moved closer to look at it and saw that it was similar to the large map he had seen in Lady Dimwater’s study. The clouds moved with the wind and the trees reached up from the map. However it was much smaller in scope. This was only a map of the eastern wilds. A set of footprints appeared, exiting the village and winding their way through the mountains eastward. They finally stopped as a large tower of gold and glass rose upon the map.
“That is where you will find the Immortal Mystic,” Allun Rha said. “Go there quickly, for your training will take some time before you will be ready to confront the enemy.”
“How long?” Erik asked.
Allun Rha smiled. “It will take about a year.”
Erik shook his head. “I don’t have the time. Lepkin is fighting the orcs, and Salarion stole the book.”
“Have faith in your friends, Erik, as they have put their faith in you. You are the chosen one to destroy Nagar’s magic, but that does not mean you are the only one who can fight all battles.”
Erik didn’t say anything. There was no use arguing. All he could do was move on to find the Immortal Mystic. He nodded and reached for the map. Allun Rha slapped his hand away. Erik startled and looked up.
“The map stays here,” Allun Rha said. “As long as my tower stands, it is my duty to hold sacred the location of the mystics.” He waved his hand and the map vanished. “Fear not, you will remember the path as you walk it. You should go now. It is several days journey from here.”
*****
Allun Rha sat in his high backed chair long after Erik had left. He sipped a cup of tea staring at the door. He stewed about the prophecies, wondering why none of the versions he had studied had come to pass. Was it Salarion’s interference? Or perhaps it was the presence of the gnome? There was no way to know for sure. All he could do was hope that this event would lead to a better and brighter future than the others he had expected. He dared not think about how bad it might be otherwise.
He set the cup of tea down and moved to the pink granite desk. He opened a drawer and retrieved a blue sphere of sapphire.
A golden orb of light appeared within the orb and a soft voice called out to him.
“I am listening,” the voice said.
“The Champion of Truth has passed the test. He is on his way to you now for final instruction.”
“Very well,” the voice replied. “You have done well, Allun Rha, you should be pleased that you managed to find him.”
Allun Rha hesitated, but then decided to explain the problem he had encountered. “It isn’t the one I expected,” he said. “And he didn’t come in the fashion of any of the three prophecies.”
“Many things influence the fates,” the voice said calmly. “Do not let it trouble you.”
Allun Rha wrinkled his nose and smoothed his beard over his chest. “Have you told me all you have seen?” he asked timidly.
No response.
The wizard gathered his courage to ask despite feeling that he shouldn’t press the matter. After all, the Immortal Mystic saw everything there was to see. He had to have known this was going to happen. Still, it was so different from what Allun Rha had been expecting. The wizard had spent centuries preparing for something else entirely. He had to ask.
“I mean, did you know who would come to me?” Allun Rha asked. “After the twins failed to pass my tests, I spent all of my time studying every book you sent me. I also wearied you on the subject multiple times. Over the last two years I grew elated when I thought I had finally figured out the puzzle. Everything I researched, and everything we discussed told me that it would be Trenton Lokton’s son.”
“Was it not Lokton�
�s boy?” the voice called out.
“No,” Allun Rha said. He paused for a moment. “It was my grandson.”
A long moment of silence ensued.
“That is most interesting,” the voice replied. “I have not seen this anywhere in the visions.”
“So what does this mean?”
Silence again.
Allun Rha grew frustrated and held the sapphire orb closer to his face. “He passed the tests,” he reiterated. “I administered them exactly as I was told to do, and he passed. Could this mean things have changed?”
“You are certain it was your grandson?” the voice asked.
Allun Rha sighed. “I saw it in his very soul. Though I have never laid eyes on the lad before today, I know it was him. I am not sure how, but Dremathor’s bastard son came to my village, and he presented himself to me as a candidate for the Champion of Truth.”
“What was his name?” the voice asked.
“That was the strange part,” Allun Rha said. “He is not called Aparen, nor did he even react when I mentioned the name. He is known as Erik. More than that, I searched his soul and his memories. He is the adopted son of Trenton Lokton.”
“Ah, so he is a Lokton after all,” the voice said. “Someone has meddled with the fates and changed the destinies.”
Allun Rha almost didn’t dare to ask the question. “Then who has become Aparen?”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Lepkin sat at the foot of the bed, watching as Dimwater lay still upon the bed. Her fever had broken, but she was still unable to move much. The few moments of consciousness she had were spent eating or drinking. Still, she had a difficult time keeping anything down. Marlin worked himself to utter exhaustion while Peren tried to add whatever he could to augment the healing process.
The door flung open and slammed against the opposite wall. Lepkin jumped to his feet, but relaxed when he saw Mercer.
“Come quickly, Lady Arkyn has returned, and she is in bad shape,” Mercer said. Lepkin and Peren moved to exit the room, but Mercer stayed in the doorway looking to Marlin. “I need you too.”
Marlin looked to Lepkin and then finished with his current efforts before breaking the connection with Dimwater. He patted her shoulder and then they all went down to the audience hall of the keep.
“What is the trouble?” Lepkin asked.
Mercer’s eyes sat angrily above a grim frown on his face as he limped down through the halls and stairs. “She says there was an ambush. She was struck with a poison dart, but has managed to sustain herself enough to return.”
“What of Gorin? Was she alone?” Peren asked.
Mercer nodded soberly. “She said the others all perished.”
Peren stopped mid-step in the hallway. The others paused and turned back to look at the man. Peren began breathing through long, heaving breaths. He turned and vomited on the wall and floor near him as his knees weakened and he collapsed to the floor.
“I should tend to him,” Marlin offered. Mercer snatched out with a grip to stop a bear and pulled Marlin back.
“Grief is not a mortal injury,” Mercer said. “Lady Arkyn needs your help now.”
“We’ll return for you,” Lepkin told Peren.
Peren didn’t move or make a sound. He just knelt over his puddle of vomit.
Mercer urged the others onward. “Come, we must hurry.”
The three of them made haste to the main audience hall and found the golden haired woman lying upon a table. Marlin broke into a jog and went straight to her.
“She is very pale,” Lepkin noted.
Mercer nodded. “I am not sure she made it back here in time.”
Al stood up from the other side of the table and came around to greet Lepkin while Marlin began his work. “Not how I wanted to see you again, beanpole,” Al said.
Lepkin looked down at his friend and sighed. “I thought you went to the east with the other dwarves?”
Al nodded. “I did, but Arkyn was delirious to the point that she wandered back toward our keep, and was unable to locate the central keep. So, I brought her here as quickly as I could. I am afraid I could do nothing for her though. We don’t deal much with poisons.”
Lepkin placed a hand on Al’s shoulder and squeezed it. “She is strong, and she has elf blood in her veins. Marlin will help her through the worst of it.”
Mercer turned to them, partitioning them off from Marlin and Arkyn with his arms. “We have another problem,” he began. “She has the message with her. None of the runners survived. We have no reinforcements coming. We all saw the orcs making their way out east. We know they will bolster that fort and dig in until they find a way to attack us.”
“Or they will open the gates and try to bypass us,” Al said.
“No,” Lepkin interjected. “The orcs would never run from a battle like this one. No matter how many they lose, to conquer Ten Forts would be a victory of legend for them.”
“Not to mention if they try to open the gates and run past us, we can open ours and pursue without compromising our backsides. They would be cut off,” Mercer added. The commander rubbed his chin between his thumb and forefinger and then shook his head. “Either way, we still need to get a message north. The commander at Fort Drake must be told of our situation.”
“I have an idea,” Lepkin said. The other two turned to him. “We know there is a traitor in our midst. Let us put on a show of sending new runners. Mercer, pick some men we can trust. I will work with them to see if we can sniff out this rat before he can get the signal out that we are sending more runners.”
“You are assuming he will wave a flag as the runners get ready at the gates?” Al quipped. “If you haven’t been able to find them yet, I doubt it will be easy.”
“If we don’t find him, we will lose every runner we send.”
Al shook his head. “No we won’t, not if we are smart about it.”
“What are you suggesting?” Mercer asked.
“Send me. Let me pick a few of my men. We know none of them are the traitor, and we can travel much faster than a runner on foot with our cavedogs.”
“And then I hunt for the rat,” Lepkin said. “It is smart.”
Mercer shook his head. “No, that won’t work,” Mercer said as he waved a hand before the three of them. “If you aren’t out to wish Al farewell, everyone in the fort will know you are up to something. You might scare the traitor away. We need to lure him in, and make him feel confident.”
The three of them stood there silently, each glancing over to Lady Arkyn and then back to each other.
“Any ideas?” Al urged.
“One,” Mercer said after a while. “We announce that Lady Arkyn has succumbed to her wounds. I haven’t allowed anyone in since Al brought her here, so it would be easy enough for the others to believe.” Mercer then turned to Lepkin. “And then we announce that Dimwater has died.”
Lepkin’s eyes went wide and the large man stiffened.
Mercer patted the air. “Just hear me out,” he pleaded. “We don’t so much announce that she has died, but I tell a few of the officers, and then have them in turn tell their lieutenants, but swear not to let the news out. You and I both know news like that won’t be kept secret. Sooner or later someone will let it slip. Marlin will move to the surgeon’s ward, and help with the wounded.”
“Marlin can’t be away from Dimwater for long, she will die if he does,” Lepkin said.
Mercer nodded. “It won’t be him. It will be Peren.” Mercer ran a hand through his hair. “That wizard can change how animals appear right? He created those, those things out on the battlefield. He can make himself appear to be Marlin. So others will see him. They will start to question why he isn’t with Dimwater anymore.”
“Where will I be?” Lepkin asked.
“You are the bait,” Mercer said flatly. “The dragon slayers will come for you, try to motivate you, but you will be in mourning. You will lock yourself in your chamber.”
“How will this dra
w out the traitor?” Al asked.
“The dragon slayers will be in on it with us. They will spread the rumors that you are broken with grief. They will be watching how the rumors spread, and who spreads them. Eventually they will find the traitor, and we can plug the leak.”
Lepkin shook his head. “That is a dangerous game to play,” he said. “If your men take in all of that at once, it may break the morale.”
Mercer nodded. “Still, if we were going to chance it, what better time than now while the orcs are digging in and giving us a breather?”
Al scratched the back of his head and looked back to Lady Arkyn. “I don’t know much about hunting rats,” he said honestly. “Still, I suppose if you wanted to catch a rat quickly, you would set the rubbish out and let it stink up the place while you hid the cats in the corners. I suppose it has as much chance of working as any other plan.”
Marlin rejoined them at that moment. “I am sorry to interrupt, but I thought I should tell you that Lady Arkyn will make a full recovery,” he said.
“You’re sure?” Mercer asked.
Marlin nodded. “She was wrought with fever from a secondary infection. That is cleared away now. As for the poison, very little of it remained in her system. She should be up on her feet by tomorrow I would say.”
“Would she be able to fight again by then?” Mercer pressed.
Marlin skewed his face into a frown and hesitated before answering. “I wouldn’t put her on the walls right away, but in theory I suppose she will be fit enough to use her bow.”
“No,” Lepkin said. “She will use the bow I took off of that fallen goarg. Let’s get her up to my chamber. She can hide in there with me and Dimwater until she is ready, then she can join in on the hunt for the rat.”
Marlin looked between the three of them and folded his arms. “Something was decided while I was busy, yes?”
Mercer clapped him on the back. “I’ll explain on the way, but let’s hurry before any see us.”
*****
The early morning rays of sunlight fell upon Mercer and several captains from the various forts he had recalled. He met them on the steps of the main keep, allowing him to observe each of them as he gave them the news. As he looked at each of the officers he mentally chided himself for suspecting them. Each of them were good men, men he had known and fought with. It felt wrong to deceive them, and worse still to know that he was about to deaden his army’s morale throughout Ten Forts.