'Who is this?' the Orc asked the other before he left.
'He killed most of my group. He came seeking a reward for capturing the thief.'
'If he aids us why then have you bound him so?'
The second Orc with whom El-Vador had previously dealt with offered a grimace that showed yellow teeth. 'So that he may not be a threat to us and those he encounters.'
'A dangerous one then, this...what are you? It matters not, you shall be rewarded.' A sly smile twisted the creature's features. He grabbed Judicael by the scruff of the neck and started marching him deeper into the garrison building. 'Once I have dealt with the thief, we shall discuss your reward.'
The two of them disappeared around a corner. El-Vador's sharp senses heard bolts clicking into place and a door creaking, then the screams began.
The Orc returned, seemingly oblivious to the sounds of the torture and settled back down into his chair. 'Now, where were we? Ah yes, your reward.'
El-Vador saw the slight nod to the men behind him and reacted accordingly, catching one guard full in the face with a clubbing blow from his bound arms and leaping out of the chair as they advanced upon him. Dark power surged from his fingertips and devoured the bonds, freeing his arms and allowing him to duck a swipe and acquire his sword. A quick slash cut one Orc down, a thrust opened another's throat, and El-Vador gutted a third that came stumbling through the door at the sound of the commotion.
Before the body hit the floor, El-Vador turned and faced the Orc that had ordered his execution. The fat creature, who had been observing the carnage, drew a large axe from underneath his desk and snarled.
El-Vador was too fast, he dove forward and disarmed the Orc before he could rise, smashing the Orc in the face with the pommel of his sword. Enough to daze him but not to kill, he then shoved the creature back into a chair.
El-Vador pressed the blade to the Orc's throat with one hand. 'Who is your master, Orc?'
'What do you want with Salvarius?' the Orc snarled, to his credit he was not afraid of the deadly situation he found himself in.
The Elf's icy eyes narrowed. Salvarius was at the heart of this? Was this what Anacletus had wanted him to know? El-Vador knew he had not slain Harg in his attack upon the burrow, why then had the human turned against him and allied himself with the Orcs once more?
'Salvarius.' El-Vador nodded grimly. 'I have business with Salvarius. Where does he reside?'
'His domain is in... The name would mean nothing to you, foreigner. The burrow to the far west of here, he has made it an impenetrable stronghold and plans many great things from within. Though he is not there currently from my latest reports. The people are with him, though he tells them naught of his greater schemes. It is an unassailable place, if I opposed him I would not try to breach it if I had a legion of men.'
El-Vador arched an eyebrow. 'If Salvarius is not at the burrow currently, where is he?'
'The barrens to the north, on some damn fool quest for some power I have never heard word of before.'
'You lie. There is nothing there.'
'I told him as much, and that is why I am out here for my sins.' the Orc smiled in spite of the blade at his throat. 'I hope that he returns empty-handed.'
'Do you know what Salvarius wants in the barrens?'
'I do not know, some kind of artefact to give him the power, I don't have any specifics, I swear to you.'
The Elf's gaze hardened. With the proper motivation and access to power, Salvarius could prove a very dangerous man indeed. He was beginning to see why Anacletus had sent him out here in the first place.
'Your use to me is at an end, Orc.' he stated simply, then cut the blade across the creature's throat.
He walked away from the gurgling sounds and deeper into the room where he found Judicael strapped to some kind of torture rack. He swiftly liberated the thief and watched as the small man composed himself, a look of wonder upon his features.
'You truly have saved me!' Judicael crowed, falling in behind El-Vador. 'I am in your debt, you need but say the word.'
'Why should I trust a thief's honour? Be thankful that you still live.'
'Clearly you have not heard of Judicael's exploits, good sir. I am a man who keeps his debts paid, lest I lose my life over it.'
'Honour among thieves? I'm not buying it.'
The little man ran in front of El-Vador and walked backward as quickly as he could. 'I heard your conversation with the Orc, you will require passage into the burrow if you cannot best Salvarius in the barrens.'
El-Vador nodded slowly. 'That much is true. Perhaps I shall seek you out should I survive that encounter.'
The little thief smiled. 'Either way my debt will be repaid. For now let me return from whence I came, and should you have need of me, I have no doubt that you can find me.'
Without further word of farewell, the two parted ways. El-Vador gathered his bow and quiver from the floor of the garrison, replenished his supplies from their stock and prepared for a journey into the barrens.
LXI
It was the first time I had ever felt anything beyond a basic sense of companionship for any of the people I had seen in my travels. It unsettled me, and had I known what the repercussions were I would have been much more circumspect.
El-Vador finally discovered Anacletus in the upper reaches of the tavern he had previously departed. The assassin was descending the steps and his voluminous robe betrayed hints of weaponry underneath, he was prepared for something. He stopped mid-step and appraised the Elf with his dark eyes. 'Now do you see why you had to come here before marching upon the burrow?'
'If you knew all of this previously, why not simply tell me?' El-Vador replied, more than a little annoyed at being moved about like some servant.
Anacletus slid down beside El-Vador in a fluid motion. 'Would you have believed me if I had simply told you it was the case? Would you have complied had I tried to force you here rather than asked?'
El-Vador nodded reluctantly. 'I'd have tried to kill you had you done the latter.'
'We need not clash when our goals are so mutually bound.' Anacletus leaned forward, his eyes keen. 'Have you a plan for the barrens then, Elf? How will you locate Salvarius in all that desolate stretch of land?'
'I know of a way to locate him, yes.' the Elf hedged, realising that the assassin lacked certain capabilities that had been taught to El-Vador by the now ominously silent voice.
'You can locate the man that easily?' Anacletus shook his head. 'Much has changed since you were my target, Elf. Had I known you had grown this powerful I would have been warier in my approach.'
'I plan to head out into the barrens alone to face him.'
Anacletus shook his head, the most vigorous motion he had seen from the man outside of combat in some time. 'I did not bring you all this way for you to face him alone, Elf. Salvarius dabbles in powers from the other side now, you will need my aid in order to defeat him.'
El-Vador looked up from the dark depths of the shadows swirling around them both. 'I already have one villain to deal with, Anacletus. I do not trust having a second at my back while doing so.'
'You think that I plan your demise alongside this new threat? That when you have finally slain Salvarius that I will turn against you?'
'I know you, Anacletus.' El-Vador smiled. 'If you did not require my services now you would slay me where I stood.'
'Is that your only reason for returning to this tavern instead of simply heading off into the barrens, Elf? To tell me that you are prepared for my treachery and to demand impotently that I should not follow you?'
El-Vador stepped forward, his face getting uncomfortably close to the assassin's. 'You said yourself that your duty was to protect Aliana from whatever machinations your foes have, not to follow me through the barrens.' He stepped even closer then, he could feel the warmth of the man's sickening breath. 'If I sense anything following me into the barrens, it shall die. Do you understand?'
Anacletus nodded slowly. 'Ha
ve it your way Elf, I shall look after the girl as planned. Should you fail against Salvarius and live, I will see that you die by my own hand.'
El-Vador smiled coldly. 'Should that come to pass, you are welcome to try.'
Anacletus fumed impotently to himself as he paced the upper floors of the inn, he knew that he couldn't kill the Elf with so much in the balance. To have the Elf realise that and taunt him about it in the most insufferable of manners was almost more than his paper-thin temperament could handle. One day he knew that the calm veneer would slip totally, exposing the rage within him and causing it to engulf whatever misfortune soul had set it off.
He calmed himself slowly, staring at the sleeping form of Aliana and pondering how best to keep her from harm while she was in stasis. It had been a strain on him already to suppress her seemingly indomitable spirit, to continue doing so and somehow fend off the inevitable opposition that would come seeking her was a task he worried was beyond him. He would have to wake her should it come to that, and he knew that he couldn't count upon her being in his corner as a result. If her skills were comparable to the Elf then he was in trouble, he didn't want to get on her wrong side to find out.
He gripped the bridge of his nose as he settled down into the chair by the bed, his muscles melting into the furniture as if the very act of holding him up any further were beyond them. He hadn't realised just how exhausted the drain of his powers had made him. He had been lending his energies to those beyond the ether in order to stem the gap that a potential Brotherhood incursion could slip through. Now on top of this he would somehow have to sleep and yet keep the Pixie in slumber with him, a task he had anticipated performing with a clear mind, not the sleep addled remnants of consciousness he was left with. The plugging of the gap had cost him more dearly than he had suspected.
He blinked once and started, realising that consciousness was slipping from him, yet powerless to stop the inevitable or think his way out of it. How many days had he gone without respite?
He tore at his hair, trying to raise himself out of the seat but failing. His body denied him the clarity of thought that he sought so desperately, pulling him under into the darkness from which even he could not escape.
Except that he was not sleeping, caught in some odd limbo from which he could neither rouse himself nor sink away from.
He tried to rise, in the hope that such cognitive action would fight him out of this darkened fugue. Nothing happened, there was no sense of motion and that troubled him. Something was wrong here, this was not the natural state between wakefulness and sleep and he was powerless to stop it.
Trying once again to rise, Anacletus became distinctly aware of a growing laughter from an invisible throat somewhere in the darkness beyond.
'Long have you been a thorn in the Brotherhood's side, Anacletus. Forever meddling in affairs that were never your concern, tasting the sweet nectar of power and forcing it into places better left untouched.'
The ordinary response to such words would be to call out and ask for the identity of the supposed captor, Anacletus remained silent instead, studying every sentence and analysing it for potential information.
'Your silence does you credit, assassin. Though by now you will have formed the misconception that I am one such as your benefactor beyond the ether. A spirit form of the Brotherhood that desires to waylay you from your efforts at redressing the balance.' The voice drifted closer then, if such things as space were relevant in this domain. 'No, I am not one such as this, I am known simply as the arbiter. You have overstepped your bounds in your machinations against the Brotherhood and as an impartial observer I cannot allow such gross imbalance to continue.'
'I have never heard of an arbiter, my so-called benefactors made no mention of it in their words with me, why would they conceal such a fact?'
The chuckling, which was hard to pinpoint to what Anacletus thought were his own senses, continued unabated. 'I have knowledge of you Anacletus, you are not that naïve to think that those who employ you would inform you of the entire truth.'
Whatever the intentions of this voice, it had a point. He himself was a master at withholding just enough information, why would those who used him as their tool be any different?
'When one such as you can tap into the ether and also walk upon the material plane, it causes a great imbalance. That there are now three of you doing so means only that elements of the Brotherhood should be given the opportunity to arise and strike against you for the sake of parity.'
'What of the lair that the Brotherhood had previously constructed?' Anacletus hissed back at the voice. 'Where was your balance then?'
A mildly amused tsking sound followed his question. 'As you already know, the forces for which you act in favour were much more powerful when given a focal point to target. Since the destruction of the Brotherhood's sanctuary the focal point has diminished, and as a result their power has waned. The defectors were an unforeseen consequence of that destruction, and now the Brotherhood will redress that balance through the actions of Salvarius.'
Anacletus attempted to shake his head in disbelief but the attempted movement only served to reinforce how paralysed he was. He refused to believe that an arbiter could be so short-sighted in their understanding of the ether and the elements within. Whatever this thing holding him was, he was determined to discover a way out.
'So you have taken me out of your game, so to speak.' he offered, speaking to the darkness in general. 'Do you plan to hold me here permanently?'
'Yes,' the voice replied simply, fading away into nothingness.
Alone in the darkness, or so it seemed, Anacletus mulled over the situation and tried not to panic. By implying that he was to be simply removed from the equation, the voice had given lie to his claims of being an impartial arbiter. If that were the wish of such a powerful force then he would be dead already. No, this imprisonment was the sum total of what his enemy could do to him. All that remained was for him to figure a way out.
The darkness stretched out endlessly, and time became meaningless as piece by piece, the gears of Anacletus's sharp mind formulated new plans.
LXII
The fortuitous timing of this documentation means that I can expend a great degree of energy into the readings of those who once opposed me. To do so requires no small amount of sacrifice on my part that I am not willing to divulge. The tale would not be complete in the telling if the perspective did not shift to the antagonist. In a sense they all have one final chance to damage me of my own volition.
Mina stared at her new-found body naked in solitude. Not even the pounding of the horse's hooves or the wagon's creaking could disturb her from the child-like fascination as she beheld her form. The flickering light of the swaying lanterns seemed to sparkle off her thin wings as she experimentally flitted them open and closed before her. Aside from this minor quirk the lithe body she had formed from her twin was not displeasing to her. She had seen how Salvarius's lackeys had looked at her, they sought her exotic form in spite of her alabaster skin.
She gazed into the mists of the future even as the scion for the opposition did the same, but its portents remained cloudy at best. There was always the one image that remained with her, a strange figure marching through that mist at a measured pace with sword unsheathed and a cool smile upon elongated features.
The transformation was not yet complete, there were still elements and aspects that required further honing in order to become the beacon she was required to be by the others. Soon her twin would feel the inexorable tug of certainty upon her. The reality that she must become one with her in order to exist, the absence that would grow within her the longer they remained apart would only draw her closer.
She was the puppet for this Salvarius to claim to wield, she was subservient to his wishes and desires both in order to appease the figurehead he would undoubtedly become for the final passing of the Brotherhood through the ether.
They would soon have power enough not only to hold the ot
hers at bay, but to create a new Brotherhood entirely with what was left of the used Salvarius at its helm.
She smiled at that thought, she need only remain a beacon, the girl would come of her own subconscious volition. For a heartbeat she imagined the thought of the fleshy entwinement with her twin and the era it would usher forth, then she resigned herself to the building blocks she must make do with until that point.
Still, the marching figure through the mists must be dealt with, and she must make her master aware of this somehow.
The irony of their goal was delicious, that through the conduits they had discovered an old artefact from times long passed, one that had been entrusted by the opposition with powers yet untapped. The workings of their ancestors would undo their own efforts to return and cement the place of the Brotherhood for all eternity. Whatever the voices had promised Salvarius as they spoke to him during her forming, the man now seemed possessed with an intensity that was breathtaking to behold, a singular purpose that remained bent upon acquiring the artefact and augmenting himself with it. Should he succeed then there would be nought in this world or the next that could prevent his domination of the lands.
'Mina, we must speak.' came the familiar voice from beyond. Salvarius had need for her once more.
She made her out of the moving wagon and onto the platform above the horses where Salvarius spent most of his time gazing out onto the horizon.
He turned toward her now, his eyes flashing dangerously. 'The voices claim that without the conjoining of your twin the artefact will be useless. How much longer until you are a beacon to them?'
Mina moved to her master's side and slipped a hand from within the cloak to lay it on his sword arm. If any glimpsed her nakedness within the shadows, none gave sign, they knew not to stare upon her when Salvarius was present.
El-Vador's Travels Page 40