by Tom Burton
A few moments later, Laura appears. She enters from one of the doors in the rear of the throne room.
“Your grace,” Laura says.
She walks slowly toward the king, her hands behind her back as the king turns to see her.
“Good afternoon, lord commander, how can I be of service?” the king asks.
Laura walks to the throne to face King Edmund. She remains standing with her hands behind her back and her feet at the appropriate width.
“We need to tell everyone about Aaron and Daniel,” Laura requests.
The king shakes his head. She says, “If we show them we are taking this seriously, then they may calm down.”
Laura tries to persuade the king, but he remains unconvinced.
“If we tell them that we are taking this seriously,” King Edmund explains, “then they will see that this is genuine, then there will be a mass panic, and the situation will be a lot worse for you to deal with!” Before Laura can respond, King Edmund rises from his throne, walks down its steps, and turns away. “That will be all, lord commander!” the king shouts sharply before walking through the door that Laura came in through.
“Guards!” Laura barks.
Two guards open the doors of the throne room. They enter the room and approach Lord Commander Hutton, in a military stance.
“We are now starting a search party. Send twenty men northbound — search for four men walking from Redlock, the names are Aaron, Daniel, Sam, and Jaylen.”
The guards nod and walk back out of the throne room, closing the main door behind them. Laura then turns to look at the empty throne for a few moments.
Back in the hut, the four men of the company and the two strange men who were their former captors are all gathered. Jaylen lies on one of the featherbeds, closely monitored by Sam. Aaron and Daniel sit with the two men.
“We’ve been searching for you for a long time, Aaron,” one of the men says. “Did you get our message?”
Daniel looks over to Aaron. Aaron soon realizes the man is referring to the message he received when he was back in his room at Greyshore. Shocked, he is unable to respond.
“Who are you?” Daniel asks.
The men don’t respond to his question. Instead, they continue to focus on Aaron.
Frustrated that his question hasn’t been answered, Daniel walks over to Sam and Jaylen.
“How is he?”
“I’m no doctor,” Sam replied. “I can only do so much with him, but we need to get him back.”
Daniel looks at the two men behind Aaron. “These are the men Aaron is looking for. We need to wait for answers…the whole kingdom may depend on it.”
“Where is the medicine?” one of the men asks Aaron.
Aaron again retrieves the medicine from his pocket. One of the men snatches the medicine from Aaron’s hand then marches out of the hut. Aaron curiously follows then man outside, who then throws the medicine against a tree, smashing it to pieces.
“What have you done?” Aaron yells at the man.
Daniel waits beside Aaron, one hand holding his bow on his shoulder. The man slowly walks turns to Aaron.
“You’ve seen what lies in the North…war is coming,” the man explains.
“And we need everything we can to win this fight….Your visions are our future, Aaron, and we need to know what it holds for us all.”
Aaron seems convinced at what the man says. Daniel releases the tight grip on his bow.
“We should get some rest,” the other man suggests, “we’ll speak again in the morning.” They begin to disperse within the small confines of the large hut and make preparations to sleep for the night. Aaron takes to a separate room with one of the men.
Night falls. Jaylen sleeps on one of the featherbeds. Daniel and Sam sit around Jaylen in another room of the large hut.
In the room, Aaron suddenly wakes up in a cold sweat. He sits up, breathing heavily. One of the men waits at the door, watching Aaron.
“What did you see?”
Aaron slowly turns to him, catching his breath.
“It was night…people are running, screaming as they flee from something…fire all around…barns and taverns crumbling to the floor….royal soldiers dead on the floor…broken swords all around. A horn was blowing in the distance, drowning out the screams of everyone around me.”
The man stares back at Aaron. “Rest, Aaron Silver,” he says. He then leaves the room.
The next morning, Daniel uses chopped wood and one of Jaylen’s knives to carve more arrows. Sam continues to monitor Jaylen, but Jaylen has a fever and continues to deteriorate. Aaron wakes up in a cold sweat. He climbs slowly out of bed, putting on the clothes he took off the night before. Then he begins to walk around the hut. He sees the two men, standing together in the other room. He watches the two as they hold their hands on a book while speaking in a foreign language.
Aaron continues walking around the hut. He approaches Sam and Jaylen, who is still lying on the featherbed bed by the entrance to the hut.
“How is he?” Aaron asks.
“I don’t know….” Sam tells him.
Aaron places his palm Jaylen’s forehead.
“He’s got a fever.”
Daniel walks into the room from outside of the large hut.
“I heard horses last night, riding straight past us. I didn’t know if they were us or them…but someone is looking for us.”
“Daniel and I can take Jaylen and head for the capital, and you can stay here,” Sam suggests to Aaron.
Daniel refuses this. “I’m not leaving Aaron here. We stay as a foursome, or we leave as a foursome!”
Aaron nods. He turns to walk back into the room where the men were. They seem to have finished reading the book.
“You don’t sleep, you speak unnatural tongues, and you sent a message from many miles away, calling me a prophecy…who are you?”
Looking across the room at him, one of the two men stands up and leads the way.
“Follow me.”
He begins to walk out of the room. Aaron follows him, and the other man follows behind them both.
The three eventually walk into the main room, where Jaylen lies on the bed, with Sam and Daniel watching over him. As they see the men, they stand up and back away from them. One of the men approaches Jaylen and lifts his shirt to see the wounds. The cuts are infected; puss and blood surround the wounds. The man places his palm on one of the wounds and begins to speak in the foreign language Aaron heard earlier. Suddenly, the wounds begin to rapidly heal: the lacerations quickly close and the skin scars up in a matter of seconds.
Once the wounds close, Jaylen wakes up, screaming. Sam rushes over as the strange man takes a step back.
The man looks over to Aaron. “We’ve been in hiding for centuries, Aaron, waiting for our brother to appear, and to find the man capable of destroying him.”
Jaylen’s screams eventually stop. Sam and Daniel looks over to Aaron, who soon realizes who the two men are.
“The Guardians of Neroman,” Aaron says. “You’re the wizards….”
“My name is Azdus,” the healer says. He points to the other man. “ “This is Goras.”
The four men stare at Azdus and Goras. Their jaws have dropped, their eyes failing to believe what they are seeing.
Back at Dellmoor, Laura is off duty in a tavern with some other off-duty guards. All four of them have a pint in their hands as they sit around a table. Suddenly, a royal steward walks in with a message for Laura from Queen Kendra, who demands to see her right away. Laura shoots up and heads for the castle. She charges up the stairs and knocks anxiously on the locked door of the royal chamber.
After a few seconds, the queen opens the door.
“You summoned me, your grace?”
“Yes, I did; please come in.”
> As the queen walks back into the chamber, Laura shuts the door behind her.
“I want you to tell me the truth, lord commander,” the queen tells Laura.
“Of course.”
“Is there a war coming?”
Laura takes a moment before she answers.
“Yes, I believe so, your grace.”
The queen sighs and looks down. She walks over to the balcony. Laura follows her.
“I worry about him,” Queen Kendra says.
“The king?” Laura asks.
The queen nods.
“He changed when Aaron left. He feels he has to face something on his own, he feels the country has turned against him….”
“He is our king, your grace; we will never turn against him.”
The queen smiles at this.
The two women continue to look over the balcony, at the view across the city.
Back in the hut, Jaylen, Sam, and Daniel are waiting outside for Aaron.
“We went into hiding after Mutaro turned against, trying to recover what we lost,” Adzus explains to Aaron. “Then we sensed someone from the West gathering the cold visions, and we needed to inform whoever it was to get to the capital. And here you are.”
Aaron remains silent.
“What did you see at Redlock, Aaron?” Goras asks.
“An enormous military operation, orcs building more orcs, more steel than you can count…. It looks like they are preparing for an invasion.”
“The one leading it all is Mutaro,” Azdus explains, “just as we all feared…. We thought he was dead, until the Redlock stronghold came back to life.”
Nervously, Aaron asks: “Why am I the one who is chosen?”
“You are the last of the Pioneers, you can save those around you…if you accept who you are.”
Aaron nods, accepting the task that lies ahead of him.
“How did you regain your powers?” Aaron asks.
Goras looks to Azdus to explain.
“Our powers never went. Back when Mutaro turned our country into a war-torn state, he tried to wipe us out for good by attempting to destroy our power. That was a spell far beyond any of our capabilities, and Mutaro didn’t quite master it. When he conjured it, he was able to deplete our skills, but not take them away completely. However, because of his failure to understand it, the spell also turned on him. Mutaro suffered the same fate as us.”
“And how do we defeat him?”
The two wizards look uncomfortable answering the question.
“Wizards are as mortal as any other race…. Sure, our life span is far greater, and old age is something we do not have to endure, but we can be killed. That’s not the issue. The issue is getting close to him, and no one knows how skilled Mutaro may have become. He may even be the most powerful man in Neroman.”
Aaron sighs in disbelief.
Goras looks at Azdus and back to Aaron.
“That being said…Mutaro is scared. Otherwise he would have taken Neroman already.”
“What does he fear?” Aaron asks.
“Many things,” Azdus answers. “He fears Goras and I are still alive; he was desperate in the war to wipe us out for good.”
“He also fears the humans,” Goras tells Aaron. “He will destroy everything in his path before he sees the humans fighting together against him! He knows the race of men are split, and he is biding his time to see you destroy each other first.”
Outside, Daniel, Sam, and Jaylen continue waiting for Aaron. Eventually, they see Aaron and the wizards walking out of the hut, still talking.
“Once you get back to Dellmoor,” Azdus suggests to Aaron, “tell your king to prepare the city for a siege as quickly as possible. We do not know when Mutaro may strike.”
“Come with us!” Sam suggests.
The wizards look at each other then back at Sam.
“We cannot…not yet,” Goras asserts. “Leave now, and get your armies prepared!”
He shakes a hand with Aaron, and Aaron turns and leaves to join the others. The four men then head to a small path and start walking.
“Aaron!” Azdus shouts. The four quickly turn back. “Remember the visions,” Azdus suggests, more quietly. “…Let them in.”
Aaron nods as the four turn and keep walking.
Walking in front of the other three men, Jaylen turns to Aaron.
“You were in there a long time — what did you discuss?” Jaylen asks sternly.
Before answering, Aaron turns around again. The wizards are no longer there.
He slowly turns back around to face Jaylen.
“We need to get back to Dellmoor,” Aaron replies.
Jaylen notices the change of subject but chooses not to press the matter.
The four continue walking down the small path, on their way back to Dellmoor.
Just outside of the capital, a bloodied rider wearing a damaged suit of Dellmoor armor, charges toward the front gates of Neroman. He whistles walkers out of the way then rides around carts and other horses, continuing to gallop to the front gate.
“Summon the king! Summon the king!”
Some of the soldiers before the gate relay the rider’s message toward the royal castle.
In the castle, King Edmund once again sits on his throne, where he is listening to advisors debate their current issues. Soon they see the doors slam open; the bloodied rider limps into the throne room. The king waves his advisors away. He stands up.
“What happened?” he asks urgently.
“We were slaughtered. We took camp for the night, and these…monsters killed us in our sleep!”
“How did you escape?”
“I was lucky to be awake,” the solider replies. “As soon as I heard the screams, I mounted a horse and fled…like a coward. I’m sorry.”
The king closes his eyes. Then he slowly opens them and refocuses on the soldier,
“Any sign of the lord commander?” the king asks.
The soldier weakly shakes his head, then falls to his knees in pain. The king turns to one of his guards.
“Take him to the healing room!”
The guard leads the wounded soldier out of throne room.
The king sits slowly back down on his throne, where he becomes lost in thought.
One of his advisors nervously approaches him.
“Monsters?” the advisor asks.
The king continues to stare in the distance.
“The rumors are true…,” he whispers.
The advisor looks at the king with confusion.
Deep in the night, over in the West of the Crown Lands, thousands of orcs make camp in an open field. They act savagely: ripping cooked meat off the slabs of animals as they eat, laughing as they do so. Some of the orcs bang drums around a great fire; some sit quietly and sharpen their weapons. Wolves can be heard howling at the fully lit moon above them.
Near the center of the campsite, there is a wooden house, seemingly bigger than the tents. Inside, Luke Snow pours himself a mug of wine. As he walks toward a single wooden chair, he stops and looks at his light armor. He shifts his gaze slowly away from the armor then slowly sits on the chair, sighing as he does so. He hears the orcs cackling outside. He rolls his eyes and takes a drink of the wine; then he leans back in his chair. Slowly, his eyes wander to the fire in the corner of the house.
Luke….
He hears whispers in the fire: a woman speaks softly. He slowly leans forward, his eyes locked on the fire, the color in his pupils beginning to turn from brown to red.
To learn the future… you must first visit the past….
The woman speaks more clearly. Luke suddenly finds himself within a vision twenty-eight years prior to that night:
The moon continues to fully light the night sky, and wolves continue to howl
at its shine. In a small town in the North, a young hooded figure walks through the muddy streets. He stops and looks behind him, seemingly checking for any followers, then continues on. He finds a tavern called The Turn. He walks into the Tavern and quickly finds a table by the window. He keeps his blackened jacket on and leaves the dark hood covering his face. As the hour goes by, more and more people fill the tavern. The man, now with a pint of ale on his table, remains vigilant, eyeing anyone who walks past him. A woman then approaches him with another pint of ale and a plate of bread. “Hear you are!” the woman says joyfully. The man simply nods in acceptance and then begins to quickly eat the bread. A man with a towel over his shoulder then walks past the table. “Are you the owner?” the man at the table says.
The man walking past slowly turns then sits down on the opposite side of the table. “And who might you be?” he asks, taking the towel off his shoulder and dropping it onto the table.
The other man slides his hood back on from his head.
“My name is Luke… I was wondering if we could have a chat?”
The owner leans forward, his arms crossed.
“And what exactly would you like to discuss?”
“I know by the king’s law that scrolls listing people who are wanted for crimes against the crown are distributed to all public sellers, including your tavern. I was wondering if I could take a look?”
Luke has asked the question kindly; however, the owner simply laughs in his face. Luke begins to scowl.
“You know we’re in the North?” the owner asks rhetorically, following a loud laugh.
Luke does not respond, but leans forward to confront the owner. The laughing begins to die.
“The king’s laws do not apply around these parts….Ever since his conflict with the West, his influence outside of Dellmoor has waned,” the owner explains.
Luke continues to scowl at the owner. The two simply stare at each other. A few men begin to walk over to the table, which Luke notices.
“I will just have a room for the night then, please.”
He leans back in his chair and places a few silver coins on the table. The owner instantly takes the coins; he reaches his pocket to find a key and places it on the table.