Under the Shadow of Darkness: Book 1 of the Apprentice Series

by James Cardona

  “Ah old friend, even now you refuse to acknowledge me? Cutting the honor from my name? Well then, I will call you by the name of your youth also. Nestor. A long time since anyone has called you that, eh? By the way did you see your son on the path? Hahaha.”

  The wizard replied, “I did. I gave him a spanking. Fleck. I called him Fleck. You know that.”

  “Ah, I do. You tricked us all. But now I have met him and he has told me your secret.”

  “Rylith, we have known each other for many years, more years than I care to count. Please tell me you are not responsible for this.”

  “And two apprentices you have, I see? How does that feel? You know, lads, your master here has only ever had two apprentices, both dead of course. And now he has two at the same time! What are you planning to do? Kill them both together?”

  “We must stop this, Rylith. Please, we must. Do you not see what is before you? The dead walk among the living.”

  Rylithnon refused to acknowledge the old man but continued to address Bel and Kerlith, “Listen, young apprentices. It was not long since you left my charge at Lasaat. Many things I would have you know when you were at the academy but it was not convenient to say them there. But now, here, there is no need for secrets. Tell me this, do you know how your master received that nice scar on his face? Perhaps you have figured it out already, no?”

  Bel and Kerlith looked at each other, their hands still clenching their weapons. Neither spoke.

  “Well I’ll tell you. The great and honorable mage before you tried to use the mage-words of the creature-kind. Think of it! A woodland magician! Using the language of… Which was it anyway, Nestor? You never told me? Felis? It was, wasn’t it? Oh my! Cats! The language of the feline-kind! I had hoped so! Which dialect? From Percia? Or Otomani?”

  “Rylith, this is insane! What are you doing? We must stop this! We must close this hole!”

  Anger flashed into the dead mage’s voice. “Why? So I can be trapped there? With the dead in the darkness? I don’t think so! I quite like it here among the living and I plan to stay here. Sure, I made a mistake. It got away from me and… I died. I think. Yeah, I think I died.” The wizard looked down and shook his head slowly then took another draft from his cup of blood. “I died, didn’t I? Well, no matter. I am here now and I am not helping you to close this gateway. Hahahaha. Even if I knew how, I wouldn’t. I’m not going back there. Not to stay anyway.”

  Nes’egrinon motioned for Bel and Kerlith to give him more space. He continued talking to the dead mage while they slowly stepped back. “But you did do this right? You did cause this… this thing here, didn’t you?”

  The dead mage replied, “Probably.”

  “How?”

  “I guess I can tell you. You can’t stop me anyway. I’m already dead! Hahahaha.” Rylithnon smiled then continued proudly, “Well, the moon was full. I was here, in my lands, the stone lands; my magic would be strongest here. I should have been able to control it. Yes! I should have. Just a small spell, a little forest magic. Then a small casting from the words of the tundra. It was working! It did feel a bit odd though. Peculiar. I don’t know why it felt so, but it worked! I know what you are thinking. Heresy. That is why I had to do it out here. The others would never understand. And with Sturfelis’ infernal eyes everywhere I had to get somewhere where there was nothing that he could see through. No animals, no birds, no trees, just cold hard rock. It had to be here.”

  Alexius interrupted, “But this? How could your magic lead to this?”

  The dead man drank again and replied, “I do not know. But I will figure it out. Next time I will control it. Dead or no I will unite all magic. I will cast the one spell. I will find it, the one spell that works in all lands and among all creature-kind, the words spoken at the beginning of creation, the words of unification.”

  Bel could stand no more. “Again! You are going to do it again! Look what you did the first time! How much worse do you plan on making this? You will destroy the planet!”

  “Destroy? I will create! Don’t you see! You of all should know! Why do you think I kept you back? You tasted it; you should know! Ha! And not even yet an apprentice. Do you know that you, of all people, gave me the courage to do this? I have you to thank! I had studied for far too long. For too long I had been afraid to step out and just do it. It took a young boy, barely past his Third Year’s training—you may as well been still in diapers! It took you, doing what you did, to convince me to step out and do this. It is fitting that you are here now, that you would be one of the few here to witness what I am about to do.”

  Nes’egrinon blew on the tip of his staff and it suddenly burst into flame. “I cannot allow you to do that.”

  Rylithnon paused, furrowed his brow, and then replied, “I am sorry to hear that. If you try to stop me then you will die.”

  Chapter 17

  Rylithnon

  Nes’egrinon whispered, “Alexius, Kerlith, Fifth Year, I need you to stay well back. Do not get in the way. Keep my back safe. Do not let the ghouls sweep in from behind me. I do not yet know if he controls them.”

  Bel thought, Maybe that is why we pushed through them so easily? Rylithnon wanted us here?

  Alexius nodded, withdrew his sword and walked back about ten paces as Kerlith and Bel pushed love out into small puffs of purple and pink haze, frightening the surrounding ghoul-kind, clearing a small circle around the entrance to the breach. Nes’egrinon stood in the center of the circle, an old, broken looking man, forcing himself to stand upright when it was clear that his back wished to stoop low and crooked, his gnarled, oversized knuckles twisted around a worn out stick. Rylithnon, still standing at the breach entrance, faced him with a broad smile. They had been friends—they both said as much—friends that disagreed often yet knew each other well enough to voice those disagreements and still work together afterwards. Yet Rylithnon smiled at this upcoming duel for some odd reason. His mind cannot be right, Bel thought. The glint in his eye and the peculiar way his cheek twitches? No, he’s just not right. He’s gone soft in the head.

  The dead wizard guzzled blood, drinking much more than the last time, and then pointed his arms at the ground, his fingers extended and rolling. The ground began to shimmer. “You cannot win, you know! Look around you! Look where you are, mage of the forest!”

  Stones trembled in place violently. The dead stumble-stepped further away. Some ran toward the mountain. The two apprentices and Alexius tried to find somewhere to brace themselves. Alexius ran awkwardly over to a boulder and placed his hands on it trying to steady himself but the boulder was shaking briskly too. Bel went down to one knee and placed his hands on the ground. Nausea crept into his stomach. All the while, Nes’egrinon slowly twisted his staff in the ground.

  A small rock popped into the air and Rylithnon waived his hand sending it flying. In the blackness, Nes’egrinon did not see it coming. The rock smacked him on the cheek, splitting it open.

  “Now do you see my power? Now do you see why you cannot stop me? While you have sat idle in your precious wood for the last half millennia, I have been studying, perfecting my craft, learning the words and their meanings and usages, developing a metaphysical connection to the language. You speak words. But I, much more. I use sentences!”

  “Rylith, you know I’ve had just about enough of your bravado for one lifetime! You never stop talking about all that you can do. Don’t you know no one cares about your boasts?”

  The dead wizard flicked his wrist and another stone flew toward Nes’egrinon. “And you? Why should I listen to you? What have you done? Oh, your name is out there for some past deeds. I’ll give you that one. A bard or two has immortalized you because you were in the right place at the right time. I haven’t been as lucky but all will know my name now.”

  “If a name is all you want then I will spread it myself. I will speak of your great accomplishments. Just, please, let go of this insanity. Help me to close this rift and I will tell everyone that the great Ryli
thnon did it. You’re the best. Really you are.”

  Rylithnon waived his hand again and several sharp pebbles flew at the old wizard. He covered his face with his arm this time but one still struck his neck, cutting him. The dead wizard screamed back, “Insanity? Insanity? What is insane is sitting idly by and watching the world pass before your eyes. I am tired of talking about accomplishments. You think I care about what everyone thinks? I don’t care what anyone thinks! What did we teach in the academy? Seize the day? Embrace life and live it? Now feel my embrace!”

  The dead magician placed his hand on the ground and grimaced as if he was severely constipated. A few moments later a large boulder, taller than a man, rolled down the mountain toward them. “Now you’ll see!” Rylithnon said.

  Corpses fled from the huge rock’s path, it accelerating as it continued toward the breach.

  “Here it comes! You’re about to taste my power!”

  The boulder bounced as it struck rocks on the ground, shattering them into rubble.

  “Any moment now. You’ll see. That big boulder is coming.”

  Bel and Kerlith turned their heads to look at the approaching boulder, then back at Rylithnon, then back over to the boulder. Nes’egrinon stared intently at the dead wizard, refusing to look back. Bel and Kerlith stared at the rock and then toward Rylithnon.

  “It will be the end of you. You’ll see. You’ll see. It’s coming to smash you. Any moment now.”

  As the huge hunk rolled into the circle, the old wizard swung his staff behind his head, its tip striking the approaching stone behind him, splitting it into two, its forward motion arrested and the two broken halves falling to either side.

  Rylithnon shook his hands in the air, visibly upset. “See? I worked on that spell for weeks and you didn’t even look back at it to see your impending doom. How disrespectful!”

  “Doom? It is you who are doomed.”

  “Enough goofing around!” Rylithnon extended his hands and rolled his fingers, each having a large stone ring on it, the rings slowly glowing brighter and brighter. Streams of ghoul-kind emerged from the blackness of the breach behind Rylithnon, appearing to pop into existence, some in the full battle dress of the great Achaean warrior and others wearing all manner of foreign dress: large men with reddish hair and wearing patterned clothing carrying large hammers or balls hanging from the ends of chains; naked warriors carrying wooden spears; short, squarish, yellow-skinned men with long black hair and curved swords; and hairy faced giants wearing thick, furry clothing with double-sided axes in hand. They poured in and formed a wall alongside of the dead wizard, all of them moaning, groaning and croaking, their vacant, dead eyes staring forward.

  “Shall I introduce you to my new friends?” Rylithnon turned his head toward them and pointed his outstretched arm at Nes’egrinon. “See, my friends. I told you. Look upon this old man. He is all that stands between you and freedom from your prison. Destroy him and I can set you free.”

  “Lies!” Nes’egrinon yelped. “He lies to you!”

  Some of the group started forward but then stopped when the old wizard began to speak. Nes’egrinon continued, “Achaeans, brothers, some of you must remember me and the wisdom of my council. Surely you know I would not be here for ill.”

  One stepped forward and said, “This is my old friend, Nestor, who stands before us. How long has it been that you still walk with the living? You were old when we stood side by side at the siege of Ilium. No. We cannot stand against him. He is one of us.”

  Several of them turned to the blackness and popped out of sight, disappearing without a perceptible sign of retreat. One moment they were there; the next they were not as if the breach had somehow breathed them back in.

  “No, no, no. No!” Rylithnon yelled.

  A large giant of a man with an axe in his hand, his body covered with the skin of a bear, said, “This man I do not know. And if I did, I probably wouldn’t care anyway. The wizard says we must kill him to be free from this place. That I will do easy enough. If the wizard lies to us then I will remove his head. Sounds like fun, either way.”

  The group agreed and charged, several of the naked warriors throwing their spears in the air ahead of them, screaming, “Aaaaaaaahhhhh!” Others swung their chains and metal balls. The men with curved swords held them to the side pointed straight, running fast. Alexius readied himself, both hands on the hilt of his sword. Bel and Kerlith swung their tools, stone and staff, grabbing individuals near the ends with their magic and heaving them into the air, flinging them far off onto the mountain. Nes’egrinon spun in a circle, dragging his staff on the ground, mumbling words of the old language. Soon a circle of blue light surrounded them. The dead warriors stopped instinctively at the border of light.

  The spears sailed through the air but the four easily dodged them as their points buried in the earth with a thud.

  “What are you doing? Why are you stopping?” Rylithnon screamed, spittle flying off of his dead lips. “Oh. A spell of protection from the dead. I forgot about that one.” He lifted his hands high and a large boulder rose in the air. It coasted through the ether toward the old wizard.

  “Kerlith! Do something!” Bel yelled.

  “I… I don’t know what to—”

  “Something! Do something!”

  Kerlith stepped forward, pushed both arms out into the air as if he would catch the giant stone coming at them, his head pointed down, eyes squeezed shut. The boulder pierced the barrier and the warrior-ghouls cheered. The flying rock reached Kerlith and slowed as it reached his hands as if the air around it had thickened. It landed upon him and he screamed as his legs slowly buried into the ground, deeper and deeper into the ground. His arms began to bend unnaturally under the intense weight. Bel got behind him and put his hands on Kerlith’s back, pushing his energy into him, the boulder grinding against Bel’s face as Kerlith sunk lower into the earth.

  “Push! Push, Kerlith!”

  Kerlith screamed as he both drew energy from Bel and pushed on the giant rock. The boulder turned a little, then a little more as Kerlith gained control of it. It rolled to the side, landed on the ground and continued to roll. Bel helped a panting Kerlith to free his legs from the earth and Nes’egrinon walked toward the large stone and tapped it with his stick. The boulder continued to roll then picked up speed, rolling toward the warriors. In a panic they leapt out of the way. The boulder sailed into the breach and disappeared.

  Rylithnon chuckled, “So, the great defender of what is normal and right, the mage of the wood uses stone magic once again?”

  “My hand never left my staff,” replied Nes’egrinon in a growl.

  “I see. I see. Hahahaha.” The dead wizard looked hysterical, one moment laughing uncontrollably then the next pensive. “Maybe that is what I have been missing? You are a wood mage so your hands never leave your staff of mage-wood, yet you control the stone. I must need to channel my magic through stones?”

  Bel finally pulled Kerlith from the ground but Kerlith’s feet, legs and ankles were severely gashed and bleeding.

  “What you need to do is either help close this breach or step out of the way and let me do it.” The old wizard was visibly exhausted. Bel hoped his master had an idea of how to close the rift.

  “Help? You?” Rylithnon gulped more blood then laughed again. He pointed his left arm at the sky and his right at the wizard then opened his mouth wide. He looked wild-eyed and hungry, as if with his mouth open he could somehow swallow all men, all birds, all beasts and all life, rapaciously, ravenously, as if he could suck away all the air and swallow the very earth in one voracious bite. A deep guttural sound emerged and slowly reached Bel and the band, reverberating through them. A dark swirling cloud appeared above Rylithnon. No one would have been able to detect it in the black sky except that in the cloud were all manner of lightning. Thunder roared. In the utter darkness of the valley the bolts of light were such a shock that even though the living sheltered their eyes they were momentarily blinded
. Many of the dead ran for fear.

  A strong gale force blew and they fought to not be blown from their feet. Rylithnon tried to speak, tried to taunt them again but the wind was deafening. They could not hear a word he said. The naked men with spears, the dead warriors from a long past day ran back to the breach and disappeared. Rylithnon screamed at them, apparently cursing their cowardice, but no one could hear his words.

  Nes’egrinon pointed for the others to get far behind him as he held his staff in front of him. Just as the three got behind a few large boulders and an outcropping of dirt, a bolt of electricity streamed down through the sky, erupting from the large cloud, lighting up the sky and striking Rylithnon’s outstretched arm. The dead wizard shone bright white; the voltage permeated his body and then extended out from his arm that was pointed at Nes’egrinon all the while. Large flakes of skin popped off Rylithnon’s face and arms as the energy flowed through him and out his arm toward the mage of the forest. Light burst from the flesh underneath. The bolt struck Nes’egrinon’s outstretched staff, it glowing blue as the energy filled it then slowly crept into the wizard’s hand then his arm then his body. He gasped loudly, “Aaaaahhhh!” but no one could hear it for the resounding boom of the electricity was ear splitting.

  There was a final flash of light then utter darkness. No one could see for the impulse had blinded them all. They sat silent and waiting as their eyes adjusted. Bel only hoped that his eyes would adjust before the ghoul-kind. He blinked and squinted then blinked and squinted and finally he could barely make out his hand just inches from his face, but it was enough. He stood and peered over the boulder to see a fuzzy image. He tried to piece together what he was seeing. It appeared to be his master, lying on the earth, wisps of steam emanating from his body, his clothing singed and burnt and Rylithnon standing over him. But that couldn’t be right. Bel stood and walked toward them, not able to make mental sense of the images that his eyes were showing him.