Chosen of the Gods k-1

by Chris Pierson

  “E parpamo” said the old Knight, uncustomarily smiling.

  And forgiven.

  They clasped hands then, their blood mingling, then leaned forward to kiss each other formally on the cheek. So the imperial army and the bandits of the Taol made their peace, and a great cheer arose from the crowd, voices rising in jubilation.

  The cry only lasted a moment, however. Stillness descended again as a pair of figures appeared in the temple’s doorway.

  The first was a young warrior, clad in a snow-white tabard. His eyes swept over the mob, looking for signs of trouble. He then stepped aside, letting the second man come forward.

  Tears stung Holger’s eyes as he beheld Beldinas Light-bringer up close for the first time. Though he was weary and pale, the young man made a surprisingly regal figure, mantled in shining light and embroidered robes. His hair tumbled in rich waves over his shoulders, and his eyes burned with zeal. On his brow, gold and rubies and all, was the Crown of Power, die Miceram worn by the Kingpriests of old.

  Site ceram biriat, abat, Holger thought, staring at the crown and the onetime monk who wore it.

  Slowly, the old Knight doffed his helm and fell to his knees. Behind him, his officers did the same. They all drew their swords, kissed their quillons, and laid them upon the steps. They bowed their heads as Beldinas strode up to them, signing the triangle. When Holger looked up again, brushing white hair from his eyes, his cheeks were damp and glistening.

  “Holiness,” he said, “I cry your pardon. I have defied you, in my blindness.”

  Beldinas shook his head. “The fault is not yours, Lord Knight. You have been tricked by the servant of darkness who sits the throne. I ask you to help me set this aright. Will you follow me?”

  Holger drew a long, slow breath. In the silence a hawk skirled, riding the winds above the city. Exhaling, he leaned forward, touching his forehead to the floor. “We shall, my lord,” he said.

  A murmur ran through the crowd, then fell silent as Beldinas raised his hands in blessing.

  “Let it be so, then,” he said. “We shall remain in this place three days longer to tend our dead. When that is done, let us go forth to the Lordcity, and none of us rest until we have thrown Kurnos the Usurper down from his ill-gotten throne!”

  The people’s shouts ran long and loud across Govinna.

  Of late, the messengers within the Great Temple had come to view the imperial manse with dread. Indeed, most within the church grew nervous when they looked upon the Kingpriest’s palace, but it was the messengers who feared it most, for they had to go inside there.

  They had been going back and forth for days now, bearing missives from the imperial courtiers. None knew the contents of the scrolls, but there was no question the news was bad. Any good messenger gained a sense, when he delivered a message, of whether the tidings he bore were good or ill, and it would have taken a blind gully dwarf not to guess rightly in Kurnos’s case. Each time, his mood grew fouler, until the Temple’s messengers took to quarrelling over who would deliver the next one-or rather, who would not.

  Handril, a skinny, straw-haired acolyte who’d lost the latest argument, swallowed as he approached the manse’s great platinum doors. The Knights who stood watch outside kept still as he raised his hand and rapped. After a time, the doors cracked open, and Brother Purvis emerged. The old chamberlain looked older and frailer than Handril had ever seen him, his back stooped and weary, his brow an anxious wrinkle. He said nothing as he turned and led Handril in. They walked through the rich entry hall and on down sunlit passages. Finally, at the top of a long, curving stair, they came to a halt before the golden doors of the Kingpriest’s private audience hall.

  Purvis gave the boy a sympathetic look. “He awaits within, lad. Give him the message, and do not linger.” Pushing the doors open, he gestured Handril through.

  It was dark within, the curtains drawn, a few candles flickering. It took Handril’s eyes a moment to adjust to the gloom, so the first thing he noticed was the stench. It was a stale smell and sour, the reek of dried sweat and grime. He wrinkled his nose, wondering how long it had been since Paladine’s Voice on Krynn had bathed. Biting his lip, he stepped inside.

  “H-Holiness?” he asked.

  Nothing.

  There was no one on the throne or anywhere else he could see. Scalp prickling, Handril looked about, but there was no sign of the Kingpriest. Slowly, he crept toward the dais, an ivory scroll-tube in his hands. His sandals clapped against the marble floor as he went, then halted. There was something there-many somethings, in fact, scattered upon the dais and down its steps to the floor. Handril peered at them, then started forward again.

  He was nearly to the dais when he saw what the things were, and a frown creased his face. Why had the Kingpriest strewn khas pieces about the floor? Stopping again when he reached them, he bent down and picked one up, his breath catching when the dim light touched it. Handril knew little of khas, but he knew enough to understand that the white champion in his hand should not be slumped against his horse’s neck, his back raked with tiny sword wounds. He rose again, shivering, turning to look around-

  The hand that seized his throat was like a band of iron, squeezing off all but a thin trickle of air as it jerked him forward. Handril wanted to shout, but all he could manage was a squeak as Kurnos loomed out of the shadows.

  The Kingpriest was a terrible sight, a pale, drawn apparition whose beard stuck out in red tangles. His robes were dirty and disheveled, and the sapphire tiara on his head sat askew amid tufts of silver-frosted hair. The worst, though, were his eyes. They were wide and red-rimmed, and a wild sheen lit them. They were filled with anger, fear, and madness.

  “What do you want?” Kurnos hissed.

  It took Handril several wheezing breaths to find his voice. “A-a dispatch, sire,” he gasped, raising the scroll-tube. “From the-First-Daughter.”

  The Kingpriest’s eyes narrowed to twitching slits. His grip tightened, and black spots whirled before Handril’s eyes. With a growl, he snatched the tube from the messenger’s hand and shoved the boy back, letting him go.

  “Out,” he snapped.

  Clutching his bruised throat, Handril all but sprinted from the room.

  Kurnos stood silently for a time, staring at the scroll-tube, then, scowling, he opened it and slid out the roll of vellum. Violet wax sealed the message, bearing the seal of the Revered Daughters of Paladine. He tore this away, then unfurled the message and read it.

  A moment later he flung it away.

  Word of the Battle of Govinna had reached the Great Temple six days ago. A courier, caked with road dust, had arrived from the borderlands, bearing word from Lord Holger. Kurnos’s heart had leaped as he unfurled that scroll-and died, just as suddenly, as he read the old Knight’s account of what had happened. The traitorous bastard had changed sides, gone over to the damned Lightbringer! Even now, the wretched pretender was marching toward Istar itself, with both the bandits and the imperial army at his back.

  Kurnos had quit the basilica at once, hiding in the manse to keep the news from his court. It didn’t work. Holger had sent other missives to Istar, and soon the Temple’s halls echoed with whispers about the Crown of Power and silvery, healing light.

  The writs of Nio Celbit-withdrawal of support from the reigning Kingpriest-had started arriving the next morning. Nubrinda of Habbakuk was first, declaring her intention to side with Beldinas when he arrived. It made sense, of course- how could she not, when he wore the Miceram and had thousands of Scatas at his command? Kurnos cursed her anyway, declaring her Foripon along with Holger and every soldier who marched with him.

  He’d hoped the denunciation would give the other hier-archs pause. He was wrong. Soon after, Stefara of Mishakal had dispatched a writ of her own, then Peliador of Kiri-Jolith. Marwort, the court wizard, revoked the support of the Orders of High Sorcery, and Quarath of Silvanesti had done likewise for the Chosen of E’li-the first of Paladine’s clergy to forsake Kurnos’s
reign. Even the high priests of Branchala and Majere, whom Kurnos had appointed after his coronation, denounced their patron. When he’d woken this morning, only the First Son and First Daughter had remained loyal… and now he’d lost Balthera. Kurnos felt his reign crumbling like rotten mortar.

  Snarling a vile oath, he raised the scroll-tube high, then smashed it down on the floor at his feet. Splinters of ivory skittered across the floor.

  A cold laugh rasped behind him. “Really, Holiness,” mocked Fistandantilus’s voice. “That’s hardly decorum befitting an emperor.”

  Kurnos whirled, hands clenching into fists as he faced the Dark One, barely visible in the room’s smothering shadows.

  “You!” he growled, stabbing a finger. “You foul, lying bastard!”

  The sorcerer inclined his head.

  “You said you’d help me,” Kurnos snapped. “You said you wanted me on the throne!”

  “So I did,” the dark wizard replied. “Apparently I underestimated the forces arrayed against you.”

  Kurnos reached to his left hand, where the emerald ring sparkled, the darkness that had haunted it gone. It had refused to let go of his finger before. Now he could pull it off easily. “Underestimated?” he shrieked and flung it at Fistandantilus.

  The sorcerer caught the ring easily, eyed it, then closed his hand around it. “Even I can be mistaken, Holiness. I did not think the young man would find the Miceram. Now the Lightbringer comes to Istar. You cannot stop him.”

  “You could.”

  Fistandantilus shrugged. “To what end? You have lost the throne anyway.”

  The room fell silent. Kurnos trembled with fury. He’d lost the army, the church, Sathira… and the people of the Lordcity would soon follow, once word of the miracle of Govinna got out.

  “Is there nothing I can do?” he asked.

  Chuckling, Fistandantilus raised the ring. He peered through the emerald a moment, then passed his fingers above it, leaving trails of green sparks in the air as he muttered an incantation. The air around the gem shivered, and a faint rumble sounded from it, like the roll of distant thunder. With a viridian flash, it vanished.

  Kurnos felt a sudden pressure on his finger, and a groan burst from his lips. The ring was back.

  “Now,” the dark figure hissed, staring at him from the depths of his hood, “listen carefully, Holiness. When the Lightbringer comes, he will confront you. His men will search you for blades, but they will not have cause to notice the ring, and that will be his undoing. The enchantment I have laid upon it is a killing spell, released when you speak the word Ashakai. Get close to the boy, point the ring at him, then…” His voice trailed into silence.

  Kurnos stared at the emerald. Within it, where Sathira’s shadows had lurked, a tiny stormcloud billowed and flashed, spitting forked lightning.

  “What about me?” he asked with a shudder, looking back up. “What will happen-”

  Fistandantilus was gone.

  Spitting an oath, Kurnos looked back at the ring again. For a moment, he considered turning it on himself. The sorcerer had told him how to use it. All he had to do was point it, speak the word… then one last flare of pain… he wouldn’t have to endure the shame of being cast down from the throne… the sapphire tiara lifted from his brow…

  “No,” he whispered, the word no more than a breath.

  Kurnos had nothing left. All he’d striven for, all he’d been, was ashes now. He’d betrayed his god, and Paladine had turned his face away. There was one last thing he could claim, before the game was over, one sweetness to temper the bitter thing his life had become. He laughed, the mad glint in his eyes becoming a flame.

  He would have revenge.

  Chapter Thirty

  Eleventhmonth, 923 LA.

  “Is that it?” asked Wentha. “Is that Istar?” Cathan held his sister steady as she leaned forward, afraid she might fall from his saddle. She had ridden with him the whole distance from Govinna, her eyes wide with wonder at the sight of the lowlands, the aqueducts towering over the rolling fields, the towns with their whitewashed villas and domed cathedrals, the sapphire waters of Lake Istar, where the floating boat-city of Calah stood, all towering masts and gliding outriggers.

  All of it was as strange to her as it was new to him, which was part of the reason Cathan had taken her along, when most of the common folk-from Luciel and Govinna both-stayed behind. Mostly, though, she’d come because he couldn’t bring himself to leave her behind again, as he’d done that summer. No one had argued with his choice, though Tavarre and Holger-both commanders of Beldinas’s legions now- frowned on the notion of bringing a young girl when there might still be battles ahead. In the end, Cathan was the Light-bringer’s favorite, and the Lightbringer had said yes.

  Now, looking ahead along the marble-paved High Road, Cathan smiled, a shiver of awe running through him. “Yes, Blossom,” he said. “That’s it.”

  The army had been inarching steadily for more than a month, coming down from the highlands with the winter’s first blizzards at its back, then crossing the grasslands of the empire’s heart. Lowlanders had gathered to watch in amazement as they passed, murmuring at the strange sight: Scatas and Taoli marching together, priests and soldiers alike singing hymns to Paladine… and at the force’s heart, the shining figure of Beldinas, bestride a mighty chariot and wreathed in light, the Miceram glittering on his brow. Seeing him, the lowlanders bowed their heads, signing the triangle in reverence. A century past, the Trosedil had raged across their fields, and all still knew the legend of the Crown of Power. Truly, whoever the strange man in the chariot was, he was the Paladine’s chosen.

  Now the army stood halted on a cliff along the shore of Lake Istar. It was a misty morning, fog filling the hollows and eddying across the water. Just ahead, a huge arch straddled the road, twined with bas-reliefs of roses and dragons, divine triangles and falcons’ wings. Atop it blazed three great fire urns, their flames leaping high, and a huge, plaque of gold shimmered at its apex, etched with letters ten feet high:

  Calsa, Agomo duruc, du nosomforbo ciforud.

  Calsa duforbo sebais mifusas.

  Calsa, bosodo arburteis, du Istar.

  Welcome, O noble visitor, to our beautiful city.

  Welcome to the city beloved of the gods.

  Welcome, honored guest, to Istar.

  Two miles down the road, the Lordcity shone like a jewel at daybreak. Its domes and minarets, gold, alabaster and lapis, strove skyward from within its mighty walls, topped by the bloody finger of the Tower of High Sorcery. Keen eyes could spot the fabled Arena, the Kingfisher Keep, the silken canopies of its market stalls. Trees-cedar, almond, orange, and others-showed green in its gardens, and statues and fountains dotted its plazas. Sails of countless colors flew in its harbor, and spread out across the waters beyond. Amid it all, like a silver promise, shone the Great Temple.

  Looking upon Istar for the first time, Cathan felt a rush of tears. He thought back to the springtime, and the man he had been: a godless outlaw squatting in a ditch, waiting for a priest to rob. What would he have said then if someone had told him that he would one day follow a savior to the empire’s heart? He shook his head. Paladine’s games were strange indeed.

  “It’s even more beautiful than I imagined.”

  He recognized the musical voice at once and lowered his eyes as Beldyn came up alongside him. The Lightbringer had descended from his chariot and stood on foot now, his strange eyes fixed on the sprawling city. His was a conqueror’s face, hungry and fierce, eclipsed by the Miceram’s light.

  “Lady Ilista would have been proud to see you here today, sire,” Cathan said softly.

  Beldyn nodded, then glanced up at the brightening sky. “I know. She is.”

  A shout rose from the lookouts. At once, everyone was on their feet, muttering and staring about. Tavarre had sent a handful of outriders ahead to the city to make sure the road was clear. There was no sign of any more Scatas or other threats, but both the baro
n and Lord Holger wanted to be sure before they approached the Lordcity. Thinking the scouts had spotted the riders, Cathan stared down the High Road toward Istar’s gilded gates.

  “What is it?” he wondered. “I don’t see anything.”

  Wentha sighed, as if he were a simpleton. “Not there. In the sky!”

  Cathan blinked, confused-then he saw something too. There, silhouetted against the cloudrack, was a large, dark shape, part eagle, part lion. There had been wild griffins in Taol once, and the borderfolk still told tales of them, but Cathan had never seen one before. Now his mouth opened as he watched it glide toward them, riding the high winds above the cliffs. As it drew nearer, he saw the creature wasn’t alone: a rider sat upon its back, white-robed, a long shock of golden hair trailing behind.

  His horse whinnied, shying as it scented the flying beast. Cathan patted its neck to soothe it, but the animal remained skittish, as did the other soldiers’ mounts. Horses were griffins’ natural prey, which was why the Highlanders had hunted them out, long ago. The beast’s rider knew this too, it seemed, for he didn’t try to land near the army. Instead, the griffin lit upon a neighboring hillock, and its rider climbed down. Cathan watched the tall figure speak in his mount’s ear, then turn and head toward them, across the stony ground.

  “An envoy,” Beldyn said, nodding toward the rider. “I must parley with him.”

  “Not without me, you’re not,” Cathan muttered, swinging down from his horse.

  Leaving Wentha in his saddle, he went after Beldyn, his hand on his sword. Several others-Tavarre and Holger, as well as other Knights and bandits-hurried to join them. The white-robed figure raised a delicate hand, and Cathan felt a fresh pang of wonder. He had never seen an elf before either.

  “Sa, Pilofiro,” the elf said, his face cool and haughty as he signed the triangle. Hail, Lightbringer.

  “I am Quarath, Emissary of Silvanesti. I speak on the church’s behalf.”