“You do not understand us yet,” Bail told him. He was the King with the red hair and full beard. He ruled Dorne, the most northerly Kingdom of the three. “Before Eryk united us we were a poor people who were constantly at war with each other. We were truly savages then. There were no cities in the North then, only a collection of run down villages who worked together for mutual protection.”
“Eryk changed all that,” Jarl continued. “He gave us a sense of purpose, a pride in being Northmen. This place is proof of that.” He spread his hands to indicate the palace around them. “We built this working together. No longer did we have to survive on raiding and stealing from others. We developed trade of our own and learned a written language for the first time.”
“And yet we were still divided in many ways,” Edric took over. “Still are. If Eryk had lived or his child had we might have become even more united. We might be a single nation. Eryk led us to war and many died, but they died for the future and it was worth it. If we die it will be for the future, to ensure that our children will be left with a better North. Every Northman knows this and that is why they celebrate your coming,” he finished meaningfully. The strength of that belief was clear on the face of all of those in the room.
“And you all accept me even though you are older than me, more experienced, and I was not raised to your ways?” He could probably think of some more reasons if he had a little time.
“You are the Lord of the North,” came the simple reply. They really believed it.
“It cannot be that simple,” Coran protested. “I show up and you all accept me just like that?”
Edric coughed uncomfortably.
“Yes?”
“Not all will accept you so easily, that is true. There will always be those who prefer the status quo to any kind of change, and you will bring great change. Nortia said as much after Eryk died.”
That was certainly true. There are bad and good people everywhere. The only conciliation was that there were more good than bad. “Like Keryk?”
“Keryk thinks himself important,” Storvik snorted. “He cares more for himself than our people.”
“And it will be worse with his cousin dead,” Bail said bitterly
“It is true,” Jarl added as well. “And he will not be
the only one.”
That was not very good news. If he had too much trouble in taking them south it could be a problem.
“Do not worry too much,” Storvik told him. “Some who would balk at you will follow them.” He gestured at the assembled Kings of the North. “As long as they accept you then just about everyone else will.”
Coran passed his gaze over the three. “Do you accept me?”
“I do,” Edric stated. “I believe Nortia willed it so. And she has never led us astray.”
Jarl lowered his brows. “I have a question?” Coran nodded for him to continue. “You will lead us to war, but will you help our people afterward, or will you abandon us for your Midia?”
He gave the monarch a significant look. “If we win then I will take the North to greater prosperity. You wish to be united as one. I will do that for you.” He didn’t think he had much choice if the goddess they trusted so much had her hand in this. If the woman he had met in his dreams truly was a goddess he knew he had no more choice than a stick in a flood. He had but to ride the currents of fate.
“Then I accept you.” Jarl sounded convinced.
“As do I,” Bail said almost reluctantly, but he had said it.
“With that settled I need to know when the North will be ready to march,” Coran asked them. There was no point in puting it off.
“Most of the North is already gathered. They have been awaiting our decision,” Edric reported.
“I suggest sending out messengers immediately,” Jarl suggested, pulling at his beard with thick fingers. “We can move to Nyess and have others gather there or meet us along the South Wolf. We can have them join us along the way.”
“What about ships,” he questioned. If there was a way to travel faster he had to find it. “You accounted for half your fleet back there in the meeting.”
“Ships are scattered in ports throughout the North,” Bail informed him.
“Could they meet in Nyess as well? We could sail to Lake Midia and then down the Blood. Both rivers are navigable.” Coran waited for their assessment. They wanted him to lead but he was still reluctant to push the bounds of this fresh relationship.
“Good idea,” Bail approved. He seemed the most willing to use the ships.
“We could not carry as many men,” Jarl stated.
“No, but a significant number would reach the south in time to help. The rest can catch up when they can,” Coran said. He waited for any more comments, but they remained silent. “Let us do it that way then.”
The Kings filed out one by one. Storvik stopped at the door. “You will be at the celebration tonight? It will be one like we have never seen before.” His grin took in his whole face.
“I will be there of course,” he answered and Storvik left him alone with Tenobius, who had been silent through the discussion.
He glanced out the window again for a time before turning back to the table. He went to the chair that Storvik had vacated and sat down across from the wise eyed man. He tapped his fingers on the table trying to decide how to begin. He just had to do it. “You knew did you not? About what would happen?”
He didn’t appear upset by the bluntness. “I suspected, but did not know for sure.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“If you think about it you will understand,” he replied calmly. “First of all, I was not sure. Could I tell you not knowing for sure if it was right? Secondly, it had to be your choice. It is your path to follow. No one can choose for you. Nortia believes it to be thus.”
The words were an echo of the woman’s from his dream. No. Not woman. He might as well start thinking of her as the goddess she was, at least in the minds of his Northern allies. No need to upset them by denying it. “I keep hearing of paths. Do you know where mine leads?” he asked anxiously. “Any clue would help no matter how small.”
“I am sorry Coran. I do not know what will come, but I hope,” he told him looking directly into his eyes. “But I would not tell you even if Nortia had revealed it to me. That is if She knows.”
“But why not?”
“Let me try and explain. You see I knew that you would almost assuredly arrive in Herrinhall. If you did then it was most likely that you would go after the sword. What I did not know was if you would choose the right symbol. I do not think Nortia did either.”
“I don’t understand,” Coran told him.
“You have a destiny, Coran. To fulfill it you must travel the correct path, but that does not mean you will stay on the path. There will be points along the way when things can be changed. As an example say you chose not to accept your path any longer, or you could be killed, or someone could tell you something that would affect your decision.”
“How could telling me something effect my decision?” Coran asked.
“Let me say this, if someone told you that something you're going to do would kill someone you know, would you do it, even knowing that it had to be done?” Tenobius sat back in his chair to let Coran contemplate his words.
“I don’t know,” he had to admit. “It would depend on the circumstances.”
“Perhaps, but it might alter a decision you would have already made on your own. So you can see why we wizards are taught to be careful in what we reveal when serving as advisors to rulers? Some things have to be.”
It made a sort of sense, and explained Gelarus’ reluctance to answer questions. “You seem to know a great deal about me.”
Tenobius smiled ruefully. “I only know what Nortia chooses to tell me, or what I learn on my own, which is considerably less.”
“Do you speak with Nortia? Directly, I mean.” He kept the smile from his face.
�
�It is not a conversation like you and I are having. Nortia speaks to me, in my mind. I can hear her voice and her words but they are like sounds carried on the wind. Almost as if from a great distance.” Tenobius had a reverent expression on his aged face. It was a look of profound joy.
That was not the way it happened with Coran but he didn’t say anything. What am I thinking? She is not real. Instead he hoped the wizard knew enough to answer his next question. “Elthzidor is supposed to be very powerful?” “He is. Though if you are overly worried about that I can tell you that Zir’Thenn was even more powerful, and Eryk defeated him, with Soros’ help,” Tenobius told him. Coran had the feeling that the last part was added for his benefit, being raised a Midian.
Then a thought struck him, a very alarming one. “Why should I be overly worried?”
“Ah,” the First Wizard said nervously. “I only meant that we all are worried.”
Coran knew that was not entirely true. Then it hit him, the passage he had read. The Champion of Light, with the sword of Ice, or something like that. Coran licked his lips nervously. “The prophecy says that only the one with the sword can face the Destroyer.”
“It is true,” Tenobius said. “But the prophecy says many things that are not what they might seem.”
“What do you mean?”
“Elthzidor has been given great powers by his master, the Dark God.”
“The Destroyer,” Coran said with dread. Then wondered why he felt that way. If Nortia was not real than neither was the Destroyer. “Wait a moment. You are saying that I have to face Elthzidor?”
“He has been chosen by the Destroyer. You have been chosen as well,” Tenobius answered his question.
How was he going to defeat a powerful wizard? Suddenly a lot of things made sense. And he finally had his answer. He now knew why Elthzidor had tried to kill him, and why the supposed Nortia was so interested in him. The Karands, the Northmen, it all made sense. “How can I fight a wizard? I have no power.”
“That is not exactly true. I sense some power in you.”
Coran looked up into the wizard’s face hopefully. “Will you help me use it?”
“It is not that kind of power,” Tenobius said uncomfortably. “Not exactly.”
“What do you mean?” Coran asked, the hope leaching away.
“A person who might have potential in the power, will first experience an ability to sense what is around them without seeing it, smelling it, or hearing it. Sometimes they will have to work at it in the beginning, but later it becomes so much a part of them that they do it without realizing it.”
That sounded familiar. “Gelarus told me that much.”
“Good. Now next comes an ability to affect those things they sense around them. They can control the air to move objects or draw heat from it for fire, or push something away,” Tenobius explained. “The limit of what someone can do is only restricted by the amount of power they can effect at one time and by their knowledge, or lack there of.”
“So where do I fit into that explanation?”
“You are one of those who can sense what is around them, but not touch it enough to effect anything. At least so far. The ability can reveal itself later in some, but there is usually some sign of it by your age.”
“So I can sense things around me. How does that help?” Coran asked. He thought he saw some ways, but he wanted the wizard’s opinion.
“For someone with your training, the ability to sense everything around you would enhance that training.”
“You mean as a warrior?”
“Exactly.”
Coran was silent for a moment as he remembered the fights he had been in. “I felt a calm come over me. When that happened it was like no one could touch me.”
“You see? That is your talent.”
“To kill people?” Coran said harshly.
Tenobius looked at him thoughtfully. “You can look at it that way if you choose, or you can think of it as defending people. People who cannot defend themselves.” After a moment the wizard stood. “When we have a chance there is someone I would like you to meet. Later though.”
Coran nodded absently to the man as he left. There was still some things that did not make sense, still questions he needed answered. Nortia had told him that he would possess a great power one day. She said that he could do great good or great evil with it. In that dream with the two tunnels he thought he had been given a taste of that power as a reminder of her warning. It was strange that Gelarus had said he should learn more about the power, but that was before he had left for Tyelin over two years ago. Could he have been mistaken? When Elthzidor had come into his mind, he said Coran had no real power, and Tenobius intimated as much too.
He felt torn in a way. On one side he wanted nothing to do with power, but on the other hand he wanted as much as possible if he was going to face Elthzidor. That fact was something he did not want to be thinking about, not if he ever wanted to sleep again.
Instead of debating the issue inside of his head any longer he decide to go to the feast. It would be a welcome distraction.
That night there was a great feast in the dining hall which was large enough to hold all. With the number of people who had come for the meetings a large meal had already been planned, but under the circumstances it was being called a feast. It was not the formal dining and dancing he associated with Midians, but was rather a meat tearing, back slapping, and overall boisterous gathering of comrades. That Coran was readily accepted into their joking and laughing company made him feel welcomed by a people he hardly knew, but now led. He was starting to like these loud and formidable people he had somehow inherited.
They ate on benches by their tables that stood in lines across the hall as they consumed platters of beef, fowl and great quantities of ale, which Coran tried to keep in moderation. He began to enjoy himself immensely. His concentration had been on reaching Herrinhall, and persuading the North to fight. Now that everything was being set in motion, - faster than he could have imagined- he only had to wait. It seemed a long time since he was able to just relax and joke as if nothing important were happening. He was sure that the ale was helping in that regard as well. Of course he kept the revelation of his destiny in the very back of his mind.
He sat at the same table as the Kings, between Storvik, who seemed to be known by everyone, and Tenobius, who watched the wild display with amusement.
“What do you think?” Storvick asked him with slightly glazed eyes.
“About what?” Obviously he missed something that was said.
“Jarl is concerned about leading an army into Midia. There were those raids into the boundary. Won’t Northwatch think we are invading them?”
“Don’t worry about that,” Coran told him.
“But I heard that some guy’s niece was taken. From what I heard a rogue band of Northmen were involved. Shouldn’t we do something about that?”
“I already did. She should be at Northwatch by now,” he replied simply. Scanning the room he tried to pick out any who would be here to train with the power. No one stood out to his eyes and he had to wonder. Where were the wizards of Herrinhall? So far he had only met Tenobius. Was he the first and only wizard?
“What did you say?” Storvik asked. “You found her?”
“Yes. She was being held by someone named Gorod.”
“Gorod? I should have guessed that he was behind it. How did you get her away from him? He has a bad reputation.”
“There was not much too it once he was dead.” Coran shrugged.
Storvik was definitely surprised by the news. “You killed Gorod?”
“Yes. My friend was with me too.”
“Yes, but how many did he have with him? He is supposed to have run with a nasty crowd.”
“I don’t know about who they were, it was pretty dark when we killed them.”
Storvik stood up and called in a loud voice that barely carried over the noise of the feast. “Bail!”
Th
e King of Dorne was down the table a ways. He was clearly far along with drink. “What is it!?” he shouted back.
“He killed Gorod!” Storvik pointed down at Coran.
“Good for him!” Bail replied, very pleased at hearing the news. “Give him the reward in the morning!”
Storvik laughed and sat back down.
“Reward?” Coran had to ask.
“A thousand in gold.” He laughed again. “You probably don’t need it though.”
“Why do you say that?” Coran asked even though it was true. Tyelin was well enough off that he would not want for necessities.
“You are going to marry a queen, right?”
“Yes,” Coran nodded.
Storvik took another drink from his mug. “That should be interesting,” he said as his words started to slur together.
“What should?” Coran asked absently.
“The Lord of the North and the Queen of Summerhall married. That will be an interesting union.”
Coran stopped and stared at the red haired Northman who was already moving to refill his cup. There was something about the word ‘union’ that made him think. What was it?
Coran stepped into the rooms that had been hurriedly readied for him to use. They had not been used since the place was first constructed. The bedroom contained a bed and nothing else. The bed itself was impressive. It was huge, with four solid posts at the corners and black silk sheets. It did look inviting.
It had to be around midnight and the feast had given no sign of letting up. Not used to the rowdy behavior he finally retreated to find his bed. This was the room that had been originally set aside for Eryk. He died before he could even see it and his wife stayed here briefly before she disappeared. It was his now, or at least for the two nights he would be here before leaving for Nyess.
Off his main ante-chamber was a door to a narrow balcony that overlooked the city. The breeze was cold being so high up so he went back in long enough to grab his cloak and wrap it around himself.
The night was bright with a full moon and a multitude of stars. More lights could be seen from the city below, evidence of the continuing party there as well.
Fire And Ice (Book 1) Page 55