The Punishment Of The Gods (Omnibus 1-5)

by Jake Yaniak

'You will be much happier, Daryas, when you realize that you have as much need of me as I have of you.'

  Thus ended their dialogue, and much to Daryas' surprise, Revere had heard not so much as a word of their conversation, nor had he heard Daryas hit the ground when he fell. In the darkness of those tunnels Daryas began to pray for nightmares, for he preferred them now to his waking reality.

  Sorrow in the City

  When it seemed the tunnel could not go any further, they suddenly came upon what seemed to be an underground city of some kind. They passed beneath an arch of cut stone and entered a large hall. There were, from what could be seen in the torchlight, great storehouses and apartments, blocked roads, leading to where no man could guess. There were great chains hanging about and enormous gates, long broken down in rusted ruins. In this place the wisdom of the elves had lorded itself over the mighty river, channelling it through the city according to their will and their needs. But in the end, it appeared, the Falsis River triumphed over the cunning of the immortals, and had broken apart their walls and beaten down many of their gates and pathways. For the River had Time itself as its ally, which even the so called Immortals failed to master. It was, therefore, with great difficulty that Revere chose their course. When at last they came to the end of the hall they saw for the first time in many days, a flicker of natural light. It was only feint spark in the distance, but it's great intensity made their torches seem like candles in comparison.

  At last they emerged from the caverns and saw that they were standing within the walls of Dadron, though in an empty and ruined section of the city. 'We must be in the main city,' Revere said as he looked around. Such light could never reach Dusktown.' He looked around and saw the broken down city, 'So much for the city of the nobles,' he said.

  'Dadron is a very large city,' Daryas said, 'It should not surprise us to find some portion or another to have fallen into ruins.'

  Indeed, it was not long before they had come to a place where men dwelt. It was still very much diminished from the glory of the ancient city, but it was by no means a city of ruins. 'They must have abandoned the caverns after the elves were destroyed,' Daryas said. 'I imagine Dadron's usurpers were in no position to maintain the cunning inventions of the immortals.'

  As they passed through the streets of the city they saw many women, both old and young, but no young men. A few boys they saw here and there, and a few elderly men also, but there were no men of warrior age to be seen. 'The city was as yet at peace, but a darkness hung over every brow, and a sadness on every heart. The children played as silently as ghosts. On every young woman's eye was seen great anxiety and fearfulness. In the eyes of the older women was a gloom and a hopelessness.

  'For what would men war against such as these?' Daryas said, shaking his head in disdain. 'They have done nothing to Marin; they have done nothing to Amlaman.'

  'War is not about justice, Daryas.' Revere said, 'Were it so, men would not fight in the first place. To march against the innocent, or to trample the innocent as you march to the guilty, rights no wrongs and restores nothing to the dead.'

  'Yet it is difficult,' Daryas said, 'to see these fearful faces and not desire to free them from their enemies.'

  It was on the first day of Fuehas, under a bright summer sun, that Daryas and Revere at last entered the city of Dadron. Yet they were not greeted with any amount of excitement or joy. Olver was dead, and the men of the city were discouraged. The appearance of two strangers, men of Noras though they be, was not sufficient to lift their spirits. The men of Noras greeted Daryas with affection, but it was clear that the sight of the younger Galvahirne was not sufficient to renew their hope.

  Redwin took Daryas aside and asked him if there was any news of Cheftan Biron. When Daryas had told him what he knew, the old man immediately went on to ask for news of his brother. The disappointment in his eyes was unmistakable as he apprehended that Dynamis would not be coming to Dadron directly. 'Truly in the might of his arm we might rest for a great while in safety.'

  'He cannot come,' Daryas said, 'there would be no way to bring the whole Remnant of Galva through Amlaman to Dadron without exposing ourselves to great peril. As it is, Dynamis awaits the movement of the main force of Amlaman, and perhaps better fortunes, ere he spends the blood of our people in war.'

  'Would that I could see him, though,' he said, 'Then the people would have hope again.'

  'I wish my brother were here more than any of you,' Daryas said, 'but nonetheless he is not. I cannot take his place in the esteem of our people, but if I can do but half of what he is able, it may be that the people will find their hearts strengthened.'

  That evening, the body of Olver was laid to rest in a tomb in the upper city of Dadron, where the ancestors of Lord Akellnarva himself were buried. 'A sad hour claimed his life and his wisdom,' he said to Kardian, 'but it claimed not his honor, nor his valor.'

  'We would have been better served by his life and wisdom, however,' Kardian replied soberly.

  When Olver was buried and the night was at last full, Lord Akellnarva summoned Revere and Daryas to his throne. There Daryas and Revere were called upon to give an account of all that had transpired between the time the goblins first appeared in the Coronan Mountains and the moment they emerged from the hidden waterways of Dadron. To all this he listened intently, only interrupting now again to further clarify what he had heard. Daryas told him nothing of Lutrosis, who, much to his relief, he now knew to be visible and audible to himself alone.

  Akellnarva called Daryas to his throne and gave him the right hand of friendship. 'In the darkest hour of the elves, Galvahir himself made good his promise to Lord Falruvis of the Argent. He died defending this very city. Though the elves have all been slain, or have all sought refuge in the myst of Solsis, the memory of Galvahir's bravery survives and endures within these walls. And not Galvahir alone; many of his sons have fought on Dadron's behalf in the time since the elves were at last defeated. The fates, it would seem, of that strange and brave forest tribe and the fate of this city are bound together by an unbreakable bond of friendship and loyalty. I welcome you to this city, therefore, and I accept your service with humility and gratitude. Captain over all the men of Noras you shall be made at least. Who can tell what greater honors await the son of Biron?'

  'You are most gracious,' Daryas said with a low bow, 'Galvahir himself owed much to this city, and we in turn, as his descendants, still must look to this city with delight and reverence.'

  'It is a pity, though, that you came at the hour when you did. Had you come but a day sooner, Olver may have had hope enough to restrain his desperation. But who can know what the purposes of the gods are?'

  After they had spoken, Lord Akellnarva bid a meal be prepared for them. The food they ate was like none that they had ever set eyes upon. It was as if a millennia of art and wisdom was poured into every cut of meat and every dash of spice.

  There were brought to them many different kinds of bread. Some were long and crusty, others round and buttery. Some were so sweet that a single bite was sufficient to satisfy one's hunger. So much flavor was in each loaf of bread that butter was unnecessary. There was a great deal of butter provided nonetheless, and Daryas was very generous with his portions. 'If you add good to good,' he told Revere, 'you cannot go wrong.'

  'Indeed,' Revere laughed as he too partook of the excess of Dadron.

  There was beef roasted to perfection and seasoned with a very sweet sauce and with a sprinkling of herbs and sea salt, such as they gather in Kollun. There were also many vegetables, cooked in oil, and several strange pieces of fruit, which, they were informed, 'come from the deepest jungle in Kharku.'

  When they had finished dining, Lord Akellnarva sent his family away and turned his attention once more to the siege, asking for news of Dynamis, and whether any help would come from Noras. Daryas then told him of the men he had met with in the forest and how there were many thousands of faithful men and women among them, and many more who would b
ecome so once their tyrant was overthrown.

  'It is encouraging news, son of Biron,' Akellnarva said as he listened, 'but nonetheless, the Noras are more in need of aid than able to provide it. But I will say this at least: If the men of Noras prove faithful, and the city of Dadron is delivered, then all that remains of our strength will be set against the fool of Oastirland.'

  When all their councils were at last finished, Lord Akellnarva asked Daryas if there were anything he might need. To this Daryas replied, with an unexpected boldness, 'Indeed, my lord, I wish to ride out against our enemies on the morrow.'

  Lord Akellnarva looked at him with great surprise. 'And meet a like fate as your kinsman? I forbid it.'

  Revere looked at his comrade as if he had never met him before. 'Daryas,' he whispered, 'what are you doing?'

  'I must ask yet again, my lord,' Daryas insisted, 'that the gates be opened and I be permitted to ride into battle without delay. For only then will the hand of Cheft Ponteris be removed from my father's neck. Should Biron fall, and his sons remain hidden in shadow, the will of the Noras will falter utterly. There will, then, be no Noras to restore, should victory be granted to this city.'

  'You speak with the boldness of your ancestors,' Akellnarva said with new respect for him. 'If the stories of their courage and bravado are true. But tell me, what will there be to save of Dadron if another of their heroes are lost to the beast of Vestron? Surely the wills of our people are set on edge as well, and our warriors are ready to fall into despair. You saw the look on their faces, I presume, when you entered this city. What will they do when it is said that Daryas as well has fallen?'

  'I will not fall,' he said, seeming to both Revere and the lord of the city to be a different person entirely. 'And I will commit myself to this: That I will not challenge the monster, nor fight any longer than I must to make it known among my enemies that the son of Biron yet breathes. That alone will stay the hand of Ponteris.'

  'On the morrow, then,' Akellnarva said, 'we will set our fates on the winds of chance, to see what will become of our people. May Pelas' hand be upon you.'

  To this Daryas did not reply, for it was to make an end of Pelas that he had been sent.

  The Son of Galvahir

  That night, the weather turned violent, and thunder roared throughout the night. The wind howled, blowing away many of the tents of Marin and Amlaman, sending their soldiers into confusion and fright. Lightning ripped the sky asunder overhead, and rain poured out upon them like a waterfall. The morning came, and the violence of the evening faded away into a ghostly silence. The sun did not appear, for the clouds were yet very thick, threatening still more storms.

  It was then that the gates of Dadron creaked and roared, opening for the son of Biron. Daryas rode out of the gates first, riding upon Novai with a helm of iron upon his head. A great plume of bright green flowed from this helm, and matched in hue the banners of the Galva army. Behind him rode many brave men of Noras, and Revere also came up beside him. Trumpets roared throughout the city, echoing down into the lands wherein their enemies lay in wait. Soaked and miserable, the soldiers of Marin and Amlaman were unprepared for combat.

  First Daryas struck at the place where Natham had slain his cousin. He guessed correctly enough that the great monster would no longer be in that place, but for appearance's sake he wanted to make it seem as though he sought his blood in revenge (for indeed he did, though he had committed himself to avoid such an encounter).

  He made an end of the Marin soldiers that had occupied that place, and he drove out all the hirelings of Olgrost who had taken to looting what little remained of the outer lands of Dadron. Great portions of the city he freed from the soldiers of Marin, and nearly seventy desperate survivors were brought back to the city, there to be nursed back to health and hope. Indeed, the sight of these sickly people being saved from the blaze of their enemies was enough to bring hope into the hearts of the men and women of Dadron.

  But most encouraging to them all was the appearance of the Sword of Pelas. It was unmistakable in its might. When it was drawn, it seemed to capture the light of day for itself, darkening all that surrounded it. Almost in a daze men stood by and watched as it drew nearer and nearer to them, finally slashing their heads from their shoulders. Terrible was the wrath of Daryas in that day. When his helm was set upon his head it was thought that his eyes caught a gleam of light reflected from the plume of his helmet; and for an instant, it was said, his eyes glowed like a green fire. It was really Lutrosis that rode out to war on that morning - a creature of cruelty and bloodlust. Little difference might it make in war, whether the warrior weeps or rejoices to see men slain, but to Daryas, it was almost more than he could bear. To himself he seemed a mere observer on that day, though to others he grew in esteem almost to match his brother, nay, almost to match his first father Galvahir. When he returned to the city at the fall of night, he was hailed, not as the son of Biron, but as the son of Galvahir, as though his own father's reputation were not high enough an honor.

  Everywhere he went that day he saw fit to proclaim, 'Vengeance upon the heads of Biron's enemies! Daryas Galvahirne lives and breathes! Hear it, O foes of Noras, O friends of treachery, Daryas the son of Biron still draws breath!'

  It was said, by those who rode at his side, that he slew in that day, one thousand men, and hundreds of soldiers of Marin.

  'Me?' Revere told Captain Kardian upon their return, 'I think I slew three, though I cannot be sure about the third.'

  'There will be, I fear, time enough for increase,' Kardian said somberly.

  From that day forth, Kardian no longer felt disappointed to see Daryas in his brother's stead. 'If the elder son of Biron is indeed the greater, then we might yet have cause for more than hope.'

  But to all such praises Daryas said only, 'It was not by my own strength that all this was accomplished.' This his companions took to mean that he attributed his victory to the gods, or to Pelas in particular, but to Daryas, who alone knew his own dark thoughts, it was clear that the strength of Lutrosis was greater than his own by far. 'I could not so much as lift a finger by my own strength,' he mourned to himself. 'How powerless am I, and how omnipotent is the devil within me!'

  Though it seemed to him to be by the efforts of some foreign power, the desire of Daryas was in that day fulfilled; for the rumor of his might, and the terror of his sword came quickly to the ears of Cheft Ponteris, filling him with dread.

  Even as his messengers spoke, saying, 'The son of Biron lives!' he heard the voice of Rahdmus saying, 'Galvahir will again bear the sacred sword.' Just a day earlier he had ordered a great feast to be made, for he had received word of Olver's death. But when it came time to celebrate he found his appetite had left him. 'The old fool fancies himself a prophet now,' he grumbled, trying very hard to remember what else Rahdmus been said on that night. The words that came into his mind, however, was this line, 'By your own flesh and blood shall your end come.' His eyes grew dark and his mood sour from that day forth, and he sent a messenger to Sion, summoning him to Oastir-la without delay.

  Daruvis

  Of all living souls, he had the greatest claim on the lordship of the Mighty Fortress of Dadron. Yet of all souls he was perhaps the most unworthy of such a title. Lord Daruvis, son of Falruvis the Argent lord, entered the city of Dadron on the morning of the eighth day of Fuehas, beneath a bright hot sun. He entered not by the gates as he did in the Golden age, when he was trusted by his father and loved by his people. But rather, he entered in through the secret waterways that only the Argent elves of old knew. He was greeted by guards, who had been assigned to watch over that entrance lest it be discovered by the enemies of the city. Accordingly, Rahdmus and I were accosted the moment we set foot into the sunlight. We were blindfolded, bound hand and foot, and carried to the palace of Lord Akellnarva. Neither among his own people, or within his own city would Daruvis find welcome.

  'What are your names,' he required of us, 'And for what do you enter thi
s woebegotten city?'

  'I am, these days, a traveler of little account,' Rahdmus said. 'But it once was that in this city my counsel was cherished. I come at this hour that the defenses of this land might be made sure, according to the ancient wisdom of the elves.'

  Lord Akellnarva looked carefully upon us for a long while, as if to measure our words with his gaze. Finally, when he had looked deeply into our eyes, and when he had given our words some thought he said, 'You are one of the Ancients, I perceive. But for what do you come to the aid of this city? And what reward would you have, should your counsel prove true?'

  'My reward I have spent already. I must now work to earn it, my lord.'

  'What is your name, and how is it that you lay claim upon such knowledge of this city that you would, by that knowledge, save it in its hour of need?'

  'I am called Rahdmus,' he answered, 'but in better days was I Daruvis, son of Falruvis.'

  Lord Akellnarva stood from his seat, and threw his scepter to the floor at Daruvis' feet. 'Then you have more claim upon the lordship of this city than I!'

  Rahdmus sighed and shook his head. 'I am one who ought to be dead, my lord,' he said. 'My life is ended, and all authority and inheritance with it. Power is born of that great Eternal power to which the whole world is a shadow, and to whom that power passes we cannot hope to alter. Fate, if you will, has given the rule of Dadron into your hands; and they are more worthy hands than my own.'

  'But not more capable,' Lord Akellnarva said. 'To you I still offer the scepter.'

  'And I yet refuse, for the lord of Dadron must protect his people. I am forbidden to draw the blade, by the command of one greater than I. It is by words alone that I must aid this city, even as it was by sword that I once betrayed it.'

  'Your words seem dark to me, Lord Daruvis, by what shall I know that I can trust your words.'

  'By this alone,' Rahdmus said, 'I am, as I said, one who ought to be dead.' With those words he showed the Lord of Dadron those fatal scars, saying, 'Yet I live that I might bring, as it were, a message from the dead to those yet living. Have hope, son of Daevaron, and see to it that the defenses of the city hold. For it will not be long ere your enemies are destroyed and peace is restored to this great valley.'