Dawn of the Dreamsmith (The Raven's Tale Book 1)

by Alan Ratcliffe

  The old man indicated one of the seats. Obediently, Cole sat down. With an involuntary grunt, yet another blessing the passage of years had bestowed upon him, Merryl took the chair opposite. He pulled open a small drawer set in the table and rummaged within. After a few moment’s searching, he withdrew a bright green sphere: a crystal the size of an apple. Carefully, he set it down onto the pedestal.

  Merryl’s eyes met Cole’s over the top of the crystal, and the young man smiled. “Where?” he asked.

  Merryl made a show of carefully considering the question, but he already knew the answer. The boy knew, too. It was always the same.

  Brother Merryl adored the sea. He had moved to the Crag a young man himself, and had grown up and grown old beside it. He knew that one day, soon, he would die on this rock surrounded by the ocean, that he had long thought of as a friend.

  But, long ago, before making that gruelling trek across the breadth of the realm, there had been a cottage filled with children. Brothers – his true brothers – and sisters. A mother and a father. It was a place of easy laughter and sibling squabbles, as sudden, fierce and quick to dissipate as a spring squall.

  Behind this cottage was a garden. His domain. The others spent time there too, but it was in the garden where he truly felt at home. It was a place of adventures and magic; dangerous expeditions through the undergrowth and endless summers. It was a place of beauty and light, of wondrous smells and discoveries. It was his. He would not live to see it again.

  “Are you ready?”

  Brother Merryl nodded. Cole took hold of the crystal with both hands, pressing the stone with his fingertips gently but firmly. With sudden intensity he gazed deep into its core.

  Merryl felt the familiar dizziness, a not unpleasant sensation. Around them, the room seemed to fall away, leaving behind nothing but he and the boy. Between them, the green crystal pulsed with light, throbbing like a beating heart.

  The faint sound of the waves far below faded away, replaced by the low drone of bees dancing from flower to flower. Brother Merryl breathed in deeply, and the heady bouquet of dusk-lilies filled his nostrils.

  He closed his eyes, and smiled.

  * * *

  They were disturbed by a light knock at the door. Brother Merryl returned to himself with a jolt as Cole’s hands fell away from the crystal.

  The daylight flooding the room had taken on a more golden quality, and from the position of the shadows Brother Merryl could tell that several hours had passed. At least, he thought. So long, and yet so fleeting.

  He glanced towards Cole. The boy’s eyes were screwed tightly shut. His hands shook as he raised them from the crystal to knead his temples. As ever, the connection took a toll, but he knew from experience that the boy would soon recover.

  He felt the memories of the summer-bathed garden fall away from him as he rose to open the door. In the passageway beyond stood a nervous young man in the grey tunic of the keep’s servants. As the door opened, the boy’s eyes darted between Brother Merryl and Cole, still seated at the table. “Yes?” he asked.

  “My pardons, Brother,” the boy replied. “Elder Tobias has requested your presence in his solar.” His eyes flitted back to Cole. “Both of you.” His message delivered, the boy scurried away.

  Merryl closed the door quietly and returned to the table. “We have been summoned,” he said.

  “So I heard.” Cole opened his eyes, squinting at the light.

  “Are you well enough to travel?”

  “That depends on whether you’re up to carrying me on your back, Brother.” The boy smiled weakly. He rubbed a hand against his forehead, and Merryl saw the tremble in his arm. “I’m sorry,” Cole continued, noticing Merryl’s stare. “The connection can be quite... draining.”

  “No need to apologise, my son. As far as we have been able to surmise, yours is a unique talent, one that we have barely even begun to understand.” As he reached out for the crystal, he paused, hand outstretched. A vague feeling of regret and unease tugged at him. A moment later it passed, and he returned the gemstone to the drawer. “Does it become more difficult?”

  “No.” Cole shook his head. “Easier, actually. The first time, it was like...” He frowned, searching for the right words. “Like walking through a fog, where you don’t know where you’re going, or how far away your destination is. Where it’s safe to walk, and where it isn’t. I felt lost.”

  Brother Merryl listened, keeping his face carefully blank. He still recalled the first time they had sat a number of the novices and initiates, Cole among them, in front of the crystals to observe the results. A few of the other boys had suffered mild headaches. Cole, however, had remained unresponsive for over an hour. He was being carried to the infirmary by two concerned Brothers when he had finally woken.

  “Each time, it gets easier,” the boy continued. “I’m still in the fog, but I know the way now. It is just... tiring,” he finished.

  Brother Merryl smiled and patted the boy’s arm kindly. “If you are well, then we should not keep the elder waiting.”

  They rose and made their way to the keep’s solar. Unlike the climb to the garret, it was a walk that Brother Merryl did not mind. On the west wall of the keep stood a wrought iron gate, beyond which was a bridge, almost a hundred yards in length. At the end of the bridge was a tiny islet, little more than a column of rock that half a hundred men, linking hands, could comfortably encircle. Perched atop this column, assailed on all sides by the sea, stood the Crag’s solar.

  They passed through the gateway, which was habitually left raised when Elder Tobias was in residence. Beyond, the sound of the waves grew louder. They walked in silence, content to gaze upon the vista all around them. Before them the sun sank lazily towards the horizon, leaving behind it a sky of vivid reds and oranges edged with pale violet. The sunset was reflected by the sea far below and Brother Merryl felt as though he had stepped into an oil painting. The sky always seemed much bigger here than on the mainland. He felt the salt tang of the ocean air and breathed it in deeply.

  Across the bridge was the solar, a circle of flagstones hemmed by slender columns as tall as two men. Wooden trellises connected these, and dozens of sea-orchids had been trained to grow along them and down the columns. The bright red, gold and purple blooms perfectly complemented the sky around them. There was no roof of any kind.

  They passed through a small archway leading to the solar. Behind a table carved from a single slab of stone sat a middle-aged man wearing the pale robes of an elder. Before him, a stack of papers sat on the tabletop, secured by a small lead weight. As they approached, he stood and gazed out across the sunset.

  Cole opened his mouth to speak, but Brother Merryl shook his head. In silence, they waited as the sun slowly fell past the line of the ocean, and the sky around them darkened.

  Elder Tobias sighed, then turned and seated himself behind the desk once more. Two servants appeared from behind them and busied themselves lighting torches attached to several of the columns.

  “For twenty years I have served the Order as the head of this college, and that is a sight I have yet to tire of,” said the elder at last.

  Brother Merryl bowed his head in a gesture of assent. “It is truly a wonder to behold.”

  “Stelys, a tiny island a league west of the westernmost shore of the realm,” the elder continued. “And west of that, an even smaller rock, too insignificant in size to merit a name of its own. Beyond us, nothing. Here we sit, three men at the edge of the known world, the last men in the Empire to see this day.” He smiled sadly and stared off into the distance. “It is something to think upon.”

  After a moment, when nothing further was said, Cole coughed impatiently.

  Elder Tobias frowned. “To the matter at hand, then,” he said gruffly, searching among the papers stacked upon the desk. With a satisfied sound he found the parchment he was looking for, and reached across to hand it to Brother Merryl.

  “Do you recognise the seal?” Brothe
r Merryl leaned across to examine the emblem pressed into the blob of wax on the back of the bone-white paper. Then his eyes widened and he nodded. “Read.” As the old man’s eyes scanned the closely written lines, Elder Tobias regarded him silently, his fingers steepled and held against his lips. Cole fidgeted, unsure as to why his presence had been requested.

  Presently, Merryl looked up from the parchment. “The Archon is to come here, to the college?”

  “Indeed. He will be here one week from today, it seems.”

  Cole’s brow wrinkled in puzzlement. “Is that unusual?”

  “You have been with us your whole life, boy, eighteen years if I am not mistaken. In all that time, do you recall such an occasion ever before taking place?” Elder Tobias spoke as if lecturing a dim-witted child.

  “Forgive me, Elder, but my memory of the first few years is somewhat hazy.”

  Brother Merryl shook his head in dismay. Elder Tobias gave Cole a cool look. “Mark this, boy,” he said sternly. “The Archon has not left Ehrenburg in fourteen years. He has not returned to Stelys since he graduated from these halls some quarter century past.”

  “Do we know the reason for this unprecedented visit?” Merryl interjected, before the boy could open his mouth again and further incense the elder.

  The elder held Cole’s gaze for a second longer, before his eyes flicked back to Merryl’s. “We do.” He held up another letter. “It seems the Archon has taken a particular interest in your... studies.” He gestured towards Cole. “One student in particular.”

  Brother Merryl bowed his head low. “It will of course be an honour to demonstrate our progress to the Archon in pers-”

  The elder cut him off with a swipe of his hand. “Yes, yes, I am quite sure. My main concern is that this... this... rapscallion,” he glared at Cole, “does not embarrass us all. His past conduct is not becoming of the Order and our tolerance of his misdemeanours is at an end. Your task, Brother Merryl, will be to curb his behaviour and see that he is kept under control for the duration of the Archon’s stay. Is that understood?”

  “Most assuredly, elder.”

  “Good.” Slightly mollified, the elder picked up another paper from his desk, and curtly waved them away. “You may go.”

  As they made their way back across the bridge, Brother Merryl’s staff clacking loudly over the flagstones, the boy muttered, “I don’t believe the elder cares for me overmuch.”

  Merryl glanced at him from the corner of his eye. “Elder Tobias has never been fond of rogue elements. He wants his world to run in an orderly fashion, and you remind him that not everything can be controlled.”

  Cole considered this for a time. Eventually, he said “Is it true?”

  “Hmm?”

  “About the Archon, I mean. Has he really not left the Ehrenburg in all that time?”

  They passed beneath the gateway. Two servants in grey tunics stood nearby, ready to winch down the small portcullis as soon as the elder returned to his chambers. “As I understand it, no,” Merryl replied. “He has become a trusted advisor to the emperor, and His Excellency is loath to be without his sage counsel. Then, of course, he has been heavily involved in overseeing construction of the Spire.”

  Cole perked up at the mention of the Order’s new tower, being built in the heart of the imperial city. “It sounds like an impressive sight,” he said. “I would love to see it one day for myself.”

  Merryl chuckled softly. “You may get your wish, my son. After its completion, many Brothers currently without a position elsewhere will be called to the Spire. The Archon feels that the Order is better served by having its college in the capital.”

  “So what will happen to the Crag?”

  Merryl sensed the concern in the boy’s voice. Of course, he thought, this is the only home he has ever known. “I’m not party to the Archon’s intentions,” he replied gently. “It’s possible that these halls will soon stand empty, just as they did until the late emperor granted it to the Faith in his wisdom. All things pass,” he added, wanting to reassure but not willing to lie just to ease the boy’s fears.

  Cole didn’t reply. For a few moments they walked again in silence, the young man staring at the flagstones, lost in his thoughts. Merryl decided to change the subject. “He was a student of mine, you know.”

  Cole glanced up, his interest piqued. He had not heard this before. “The Archon?”

  Brother Merryl nodded. “As a novice he was bright. Gifted, even. Inquisitive. For him, it wasn’t enough to know that something happened. He wanted to know why. How. He was also impetuous, impatient. Hot-headed and argumentative. He always believed that he was right. Most often, he was.” Brother Merryl stopped walking, and raised his eyebrows. “You remind me a lot of him, Cole.”

  The boy smiled awkwardly. “I’m sure I don’t know to what you refer, Brother.”

  They resumed the walk back to the Hall of Novices. “So, what happened?” Cole asked eventually.

  “Happened?”

  “Well, if Elder Tobias is anything to go by, hot-headed know-it-alls do not rise up to the higher echelons of the Order, no matter how gifted.”

  “True. Shortly before he was due to graduate and don his Brotherly robes, he left Stelys. We found a note in his sleeping cell, which said little other than that he believed he had found something of importance, far from here.” Merryl clucked his tongue. “Impulsive, as always. Shortly before he disappeared, he had cloistered himself within the Deep Archive, researching goodness knows what. We could only assume that while there he made a discovery that others had missed. Or believed he had, anyway. After nearly two years, he returned.”

  “Did he explain where he had been all that time?”

  Brother Merryl shook his head. “Not a word. But he came back a changed man, no longer the foolhardy boy we had last seen.”

  Cole frowned. “Changed how?”

  “More serious, driven. It was difficult at first to reconcile the man who arrived with the rebellious youth that had left us. He returned with a vision for the Order, said that it was imperative that we evolve, for the good of the realm. He graduated with haste, and rose quickly. I would never have believed it possible, had I not witnessed it myself. As he gained seniority, he was able to enact his vision. The Divine was gone, he told us, if He had ever even existed. If any other had spoken so, he would have been expelled, cast out. But he spoke with such conviction.” Merryl sighed. “He gained followers, those with whom his message of mankind’s supremacy struck a chord. It shook the church to its foundations.”

  “You’re talking of the Great Schism, Brother?”

  “A dark time,” Merryl agreed. “A bloodless civil war that lasted a decade. By then an elder, his support grew until it became the majority. Eventually, every church and shrine stood empty and he took on the mantle of Archon of the new Order of Enlightenment. Over time, all who remained fell into line with the new way. It was better than the alternative.” He grimaced. “Perhaps it was not so very different. We were still preachers, of a kind. But now the word we spread spoke of the need to progress, to advance the species. To elevate mankind above all.”

  “What did the common folk think of this? Was there no opposition to what was taking place?”

  Merryl did not answer immediately. “At first we thought there would be an outcry,” he said after a pause. “But our fears were unfounded. Ours is a hard land, our people lead lives of strife and struggle. After a lifetime of having their prayers go unanswered, belief in the Divine was not as strong as it once had been. Oh,” he went on, “I’ve no doubt the pious continue to worship in hidden corners away from prying eyes, but they are not so many as you would think. Many seized upon the knowledge we offered, using it to make tangible improvements to their lives. Others ignore us just as they ignored the sermons that came before. For them, life goes on as it always did. One preacher in robes is much like another.”

  They walked on in silence, the only sounds the clack-clack of Brother Merryl’s
staff echoing along the stone corridors.

  “What do you believe he discovered?” Cole asked finally.

  “I have often wondered. In truth, I have no idea what could change the nature of a man so. But he did return with something else, which he believed should become the symbol for the new Order. A symbol that could unite the people of the realm.”

  “The crystals.” Cole, like all the novices, had been lectured on their role in the Order’s recent history.

  “The crystals.” Brother Merryl nodded agreement. They had reached the Hall of Novices, and he stopped before the door that led to the sleeping cells. “We had never before seen their like, but we could immediately see they were special. The green star became our sigil.” He reached into the collar of his robe, and withdrew a small silver chain and pendant, into which a small green stone was set. “Now we each wear one around our neck.”

  Brother Merryl opened the door to the hall, and ushered Cole through. “Rest now, my son,” he said. “A week is no time at all to prepare, and there is much to be done. I will call for you at daybreak.”

  Cole watched the old man leave, lost in thought. The sound of his staff echoed back up the passageway towards him.

  Clack. Clack.

  CHAPTER 2

  “Cas, your eyes are sharp, what do you see?”

  Grumbling under his breath, the scraggly youth clambered onto the parapet and leaned out. Two pairs of hands clung firmly to the back of his tunic, all that stopped him from a two-hundred foot plummet onto black, salt-sprayed rocks below. Shading his eyes with one hand, he squinted out across the water, towards the faint shoreline away to the east.

  “A ship,” he called to the group of boys loitering behind him. “Just leaving Westcove by the look of it.”

  There was a ripple of excitement. “Is the Archon there? Can you see him, Cas?”

  “Course I can’t! Mayhap if he was forty feet tall I’d have a chance. Pull me back.”