The Written

by Ben Galley

  ‘You’ve been gone for weeks, I was starting to worry about you...’ began the maid, but Farden shook his head.

  ‘You always worry about me Elessi, I’m fine,’ hissed Farden. He looked down and surreptitiously tried to spot the bundle of the nevermar amongst the leaves.

  ‘How can I help it Farden, when I see you sneaking into the forest in the middle of the night? I haven’t seen you in days!’ Her voice was full of emotion, but Farden wasn’t listening.

  ‘Where is it?’ he mumbled to himself.

  ‘What’s wrong with you?’ She sounded like she was about to cry. Elessi followed his gaze and spotted something by her sandal. Before he could stop her she bent to pick it up and held the little cloth package in her hand. She peered inside. The sickly-sweet smell was unmistakable, even for her. Tears instantly sprang to her eyes and Elessi looked up at Farden with a quivering lip.

  ‘Tell me this isn’t yours, Farden, please,’ she said, shaking her head as if she couldn’t or wouldn’t believe what she had just found. The mage ground his teeth together in annoyance. He rubbed his forehead with his thumb and forefinger. ‘I was getting rid of it Elessi. Just give it to me,’ he muttered quietly. He held out a hand.

  ‘No,’ said Elessi. She fought back tears and clasped the nevermar to her chest. He wasn’t sure if he had ever seen her cry before.

  ‘Elessi, give it to me,’ repeated Farden.

  ‘No I won’t, not until you explain what’s going on here. You know this is against the rules... how could you do this to yourself?’ she said, sobbing pitifully. Her face scrunched up in distress and her hollow eyes glistened with huge tears.

  Farden clenched his fists by his side. ‘I don’t have to explain myself to you,’ he growled, and his words sounded foreign even to him. Her expression said everything and screamed disappointment.

  Elessi sniffed loudly and shook her head. ‘Then I think Durnus would want an explanation!’ she cried. The maid stumbled backwards and turned to run into the forest but Farden grabbed her arm before she could get any further. ‘Wait a minute!’ he hissed. The mage pulled her close and put both of his arms around her to make sure she couldn’t get away.

  ‘Let go of me!’ she shouted. The maid thrashed against his chest futilely with her fists like a child, sobbing and straining to get away, but Farden held tight. ‘Listen! Elessi, stop struggling!’ He winced as a blow caught his chin. After a moment of struggling she gave up and simply buried her head in his tunic. He whispered in her ear as she sobbed and cried against his clothes. ‘I won’t hurt you Elessi but you need to listen to me! Durnus must not know about this, understand? I can’t let him find out,’ he said. His words flooded his heart with guilt.

  ‘Is that all you care about? What about me?’ she gasped, punctuating her words by thudding her fist against his chest. ‘They will hang you for this.’

  Her words were like darts and Farden’s heart sank in his chest. The mage sighed heavily and rested his chin on her head. Farden looked around at the dark forest, trying to find an explanation in the shadows or in the night that surrounded the two of them. He was speechless, without excuses. He sighed. ‘I kept it secret didn’t I? I can deal with it’ he said in a quiet tone.

  ‘Alone, and without help,’ she sobbed, and sniffed. He had always hidden it. ‘And you, of all people,’ she muttered. Her words echoed ominously in his head, and somewhere deep within him it terrified Farden, even if he hadn’t quite realised it yet. It was because of who he was that he started in the first place. But Elessi was right. The mage lifted his head and met her teary eyes. He had never seen her so sad. ‘I came out here to burn it, I swear to you. I’m finished with it.’ Farden paused, ‘...please,’ he added.

  Elessi blinked and thought for a moment, a moment that felt like forever to the mage. ‘Fine, but you go back on your word and that vampyre will be the first to hear about it, I swear to the gods.’ Her voice was hard like granite, and Farden believed her. The maid awkwardly thumbed away a tear with sudden embarrassment and slapped him one more time on the chest for good measure. Slowly and gently he let go of her and then took a few steps back. Elessi cleared her throat and in the light of his spell and the moon he watched her blinking the last of the tears away. Her eyes were still wide and fearful, but she tried a wan smile and Farden held out his hand for the nevermar. At first she shook her head resolutely, but he took a slow step forward and met her gaze with an honest look, trying to convey as much trust as possible.

  ‘Please,’ he said, in no more than a whisper. Elessi sighed and held out the bark-cloth in front of her with pursed lips and wary eyes. Farden took the little bundle and closed his palm around it. There was a burst of orange light from behind his fingers and smoke curled around his hands like grey liquid. As the sickly smell of the drug reached Farden’s nose a pang of regret suddenly shivered across his chest, but he shook his head and threw the burning mess into the bushes.

  ‘I suppose that’s the first step then,’ Elessi said quietly. She clasped her hands in front of her.

  ‘Thank you,’ he said.

  She shook her head at him. ‘I’ve watched you for years and I never suspected a thing. You’ve come too far to ruin it now, and I... Well, we care too much about you.’ The maid sniffed. ‘I care too much.’

  Farden nodded and stretched. A stray cloud had momentarily covered the moon. ‘You always have,’ he said, and she gazed at him through the darkness with wide eyes. ‘I can’t help it,’ she said. ‘I lo...’

  But something moved in the shadows, and Farden swiftly covered her mouth with a hand. A twig snapped under invisible boots and the metallic whisper of swords sliding from scabbards floated on the breeze to Farden’s keen ears. A twang of a bowstring rang out from somewhere behind them and with the speed of a pouncing wolf Farden threw out his spare hand. A burst of white light burned an arrow to cinders in mid air. Elessi screamed. Farden grabbed her roughly and pushed her forward through the undergrowth, back towards the Arkabbey. She was making enough noise to wake an army. Farden kept pushing.

  ‘Move Elessi! Go!’ he yelled at her as he turned to face the attackers. The forest suddenly came alive with shouts and cries. Dark men with hidden faces swarmed through the trees towards them, waving blackened swords and curved knives. Farden crouched to the loam and put a fist to the cold ground. He shuddered as the spell ran through him. It jolted his arms but he held his stance and concentrated. Just as three men burst from the bushes mere paces from him, a black wall of rock and earth sprang from the ground, arched and rippling like a wave crashing on a shore, and collided with them in an explosion of dirt. Their cries were cut short by the thick soil filling their open mouths and roots and armour cracked noisily under the blow. They scrabbled and spluttered to their feet but the mage was already gone. He sprinted back through the forest, grabbed Elessi by the hand and led her a twisting path between trees and bushes.

  ‘Where’s the abbey?!’ she wailed as branches whipped her face and scratched her arms. Farden kept going, weaving through the darkness and ignoring the angry threatening cries from behind them. ‘Just keep moving!’ he hissed urgently.

  All of a sudden they stumbled onto the short grass of the abbey lawns and Farden was pushing her in the direction of the kitchen door. For a moment Elessi hesitated, but he waved his arms frantically for her to flee. ‘Go to Durnus, he’ll get you out of here!’ he shouted.

  Elessi’s eyes were wide and flicked nervously between the forest and the mage. ‘But...’ she began, clinging to her nightdress.

  ‘GO!’ Farden yelled. She said no more and scurried off into the darkness towards the tall abbey with her sandals slapping against her feet. Farden turned to face the invisible foes, planting his feet wide and feeling his hands shake with magick. Their stealthy approach ruined, the attackers shouted and bellowed and crashed noisily through the forest towards him. Their shouts and cries had woken the abbey from its peaceful slumbers and a handful of guards tumbled out of the main door, still
struggling with their armour and wiping tiredness from their eyes. The moon and stars bathed the abbey grounds in a pale glow and they could see dark shapes surrounding the abbey grounds. The trees shook with movement and the sound of men and metal clattering through the undergrowth grew louder by the second. The Arkabbey bell began to toll.

  ‘Stay together!’ Farden shouted to the confused and bewildered soldiers. They rushed to his side and readied their weapons, forming a little line halfway across the lawn. Arrows exploded from the trees and thudded into the grass inches from their feet but they held firm, their courage bolstered by the powerful mage standing with them pulsating with magick. Farden stretched out his hands by his side and a sudden wind flattened the grass around the group. Dead leaves scurried around their feet and cloaks clapped and fluttered, crackling like whips.

  ‘Hold on!’ Farden bellowed to the others and slowly he began to move his hands forward, inch by blustery inch. The wind howled wolfishly around them. Two men emerged from the trees and rushed forward but suddenly they seemed to collide with an invisible wall of air. Farden pushed his hands forward, shaking, and the men were plucked from the lawn and thrown backwards into the forest. Two more ran ran out of the undergrowth yelling but the wind ripped the swords and shields from their hands and they tumbled into a bush.

  Farden slowly wound the spell down, but as he did so a sudden flash of light in the corner of his eye caught his attention. ‘Watch out!’ A shout rang out in the darkness just as a streak of fire tore through the darkness towards them. Farden spun and threw himself flat to the ground as the fireball exploded against the chest of a soldier standing behind him. Flames consumed his face and neck and he crumpled to the ground with a gurgling choke. The poor man frantically rubbed at his scorched chest as the others ran to quench the bright fire. Farden leapt to his feet and threw two of his own fireballs back in the same direction. Another arrow sprang from the forest and a soldier caught it on his shield.

  Farden found himself barking orders at the men. ‘You two, take that man back to the kitchens and keep him there. You, guard the main door, and wake up the others. The rest of you, follow me!’ They sprang to do his bidding with alacrity, some stayed, others dashed off into the night and dragged the man with them. Farden’s eyes roved over the bushes and trees, watching for movement or any glint of metal. Aside from the pealing bells it had become very quiet in the grounds. There were no shouts, no yells. They jogged towards the north side of the Arkabbey. The others at his back breathed noisily and their armour rattled but they seemed ready enough. They kept moving.

  As they reached the corner of the north wall a shout rang out in the darkness and a blast of lightning struck the lawn in a shower of dirt and charred grass. They ran for the cover of the wall and crouched in the flowerbeds. Farden slammed his vambraces together and a ball of fire began to grow and spin above his palms, getting bigger and hotter with every second. The soldiers shuffled backwards and eyed the mage warily. Farden, deep in concentration, muttered one word at them. ‘Ready?’ he asked. To a man, they all nodded eagerly, and Farden stood up.

  Another fork of lightning flashed across the lawn as the mage emerged from behind the wall with the spinning fireball balanced in his hands. A dozen yards from him two hooded sorcerers crouched between a fallen tree and a stone bench. They yelled and pointed at him and waved their swords, but it made no difference. Farden lifted the ball of searing fire above his head and it pierced the night like a miniature sun. It took all of his strength to throw the fireball but it flew through the air in a deadly white streak and exploded against the tree trunk. With a deafening boom and a searing blast of heat the trunk shattered into a thousand pieces, sending deadly shards of wood flying through the air like vicious hornets.

  Farden quickly held up his arms and a bubble of air pulsed from his hands with a dullish thud. A dozen flaming daggers of wood struck the invisible wall and ricocheted to the ground and sizzled. Farden blinked and squinted the white spots from his eyes and looked at the mess he had caused. A massive smoke cloud rose like a mushroom above the crater where the tree had been, and the stone bench lay on its side with a nice new crack through its middle. To his back he could hear the soldiers gaping at the flaming scene.

  A coughing came from behind a section of the tree and Farden dashed forward to investigate. He found a hooded and masked stranger lying behind the broken bench. The man’s chest was punctuated by three thick chunks of wood buried deep in his ribcage, and every breath seemed to be a battle. Blood was pooling in the scorched grass and rotten splinters under his back. Farden crouched down next to him.

  ‘Who sent you?’ growled Farden.

  The man attempted to laugh but just coughed instead. ‘You think you scare me Farden? A hermit like you? You’re a lost cause.’

  With a quick flick of his hand Farden tore away the mask covering the man’s face, but as he did so his stomach flipped.

  Ridda grinned at him through a mask of blood and slowly whispered his last few halting words. ‘Think you....can run, Farden? Run...from the likes of him?’

  ‘Tell me who you work for, traitor or I swear to the gods I will make you die in agony,’ Farden’s eyes were like flint and blue sparks hummed and spat threateningly in his palm. ‘Is it Helyard? Speak! How did he get his orders to you?’

  All Ridda gave was a wheezing chuckle and blood trickled down his chin He shook his head and mockingly wagged a weak finger. ‘Helyard...’ he paused to gulp and breathe, ‘...is only the beginning.’

  Farden fumed. He felt a huge nauseating dread clutch his heart with the icy fingers of a corpse. The mage shook him to keep him from slipping away too soon. ‘Who do you work for?’ Farden’s hand hovered over Ridda’s leg, and a spark connected with his cloak. He flinched with a yelp and then winced as the wooden splinters twisted inside him

  ‘You’re a...’ he began, but his eyes slowly started to close. Farden jogged him with another spark.

  ‘... dead man,’ he croaked. Ridda’s eyelids closed permanently.

  Farden clenched his fists and roared with frustration. He got to his feet and kicked the body of the dead mage to the ground, swearing and gritting his teeth. Behind him the soldiers looked at one another and swapped nervous glances.

  Just then the other masked mage emerged from behind the splintered tree and tried to limp away, but Farden’s anger quickly found him. In a flash his hand flew to his sword handle and he wrenched it from its scabbard. The blade flew spinning through the air and caught the stranger between the shoulders. He fell to the floor with a crunch and didn’t move again. The Arka soldiers moved to make sure the man was dead and waited until Farden joined them. When he reached the body he tore the sword and the bloody cloak from the man’s back and ripped it until he could see the man’s bare shoulders. His dirty skin was unmarked and clear, but Farden was still not satisfied. The soldiers muttered amongst themselves and Farden simmered with anger. All of a sudden there was a smash of glass and a limp body landed in a small bush at the foot of the wall with a horrible crunch. They all looked up to find Durnus standing at a broken window frame gazing down at them. His face was smeared with dark blood and his fangs were bared, eyes wild with the fire of battle. He shouted to the mage.

  ‘Farden! They’re inside!’ he yelled, but the mage was already up and running towards the main door. The soldiers could barely keep up with him. He slid to a halt in front of the tall oak doors and darted into the darkness of the abbey. The moment he was inside a man ran at him from the shadows bearing a long knife. Farden dropped to his knees and light pulsed from his open hand. The hooded attacker stumbled and yelled, blinded by the sharp white blast. Farden punched him hard in the midriff and the man crumpled winded to the floor. The mage’s knee collided with the man’s forehead and he sank to the floor. Farden took the man’s knife and ran on.

  He leapt up the nearest stairs, taking them two at a time. He heard the clanging of swords above and below him but he kept running, heading for th
e vampyre’s room at the the top of the abbey tower. The bells were still ringing.

  A young maid ran ran screaming from a doorway followed by a sinister looking man in a hood. He grabbed and snatched at her arm but she managed to escape him and cowered by the wooden banister.

  Farden sped forward and plunged his blade into the man’s chest, letting the attacker slump to the ground at his feet with a groan. The girl stared in horror at the dead man. She ran off whimpering into the shadows before Farden could stop her.

  The mage ran on, and the shouting and sounds of fighting grew louder with every step he took. The Arkabbey was now overrun by dark invaders and servants and soldiers alike were being cut down in the darkness of the corridors. Farden ducked a spinning arrow and ran on. A hooded man appeared in a doorway and poised to strike at the mage with a snarl. Three broken ribs and a shattered skull later the stranger lay on the floor, immobile and gasping through crushed lungs, choking on the dust from Farden’s boots. Shouts and curses echoed off the stone walls behind him and a long wail came from somewhere below. Farden’s head spun.

  Up in the far reaches of the abbey tower Durnus pressed himself against the door as the men outside charged for the tenth time. Elessi whimpered and shook her hands frantically while she paced back and forth by the fire. Her nightgown was shredded and torn, covered in dirt and more than a few specks of blood. The vampyre snarled and shoved the door again to keep it closed. He could hear blades hacking at the wood from the other side.

  ‘What are we going to do?’ Elessi moaned. She pulled agitatedly at her curly hair.

  ‘Calm down woman. Farden will be here soon, and then we can leave!’ Durnus licked his lips nervously and cast a glance at the humming quickdoor in the corner. The fire crackled quietly in its hearth. The tolling of the bells above made the room vibrate.

  There was a splintering thud and a spear head wiggled its way through a gap in the wood. Durnus seized the blade and yanked it with a forceful twist. The spear haft split and there was a cry from the other side as someone tried in vain to retrieve his weapon.