A Single Candle (Cerah of Quadar Book 3)

by S. J. Varengo

  Parnasus nodded. “It is a risk. But if there are survivors they will need us.”

  Slurr turned to his old friend, “Kern, please choose enough of our friends to ferry the men you’ve saved to a safe place. Captain Idra will ride with me. He wishes to go with us to the east, and I am happy to have him join us.”

  Kern raised an eyebrow at this but Parnasus immediately said, “Yes! This is good. The captain will be of immeasurable aid to us.” The First Elder’s student quickly realized what his teacher was doing. If riding with Slurr could further pull Idra out of the pit of despair in which he’d been found, so much the better.

  “Very well,” Kern said and he walked to where the remainder of the wizards waited, selecting several to help the remnant. The rest he instructed to mount their dragons. “There is a good-sized town about an hour’s flight from Stygia to the southeast called Onor Bak,” he said to those with survivors. “I hope that is distant enough that Surok has not reached it. Bring these men there, then return to us.” The thirteen nodded, said farewell and took to the sky. A moment later the others lifted off as well, and headed to Stygia’s eastern border.

  The scene that greeted them there was not at all what they had expected. A force of about two thousand, battle ready and facing the walled city, stood, apparently untouched. The wizards landed among them, noticing that about twenty of their race accompanied the division of warriors. As Slurr jumped from Tressida’s back another of his captains ran to him.

  “Well met, General!” said the warrior, a man named Wilken Grath. He seemed in good spirits.

  “Well met, Captain. Have your forces seen any action?”

  “None yet, although three wizards have come from the south of the city with dire news. I do not know why we were not attacked.”

  “Have you seen any trace of the enemy at all?” Slurr asked.

  “We have not. But we did watch that bloody dark wall build itself. That was… creepy.”

  Despite the destruction of two-thirds of the cities defenses, Slurr found himself smiling at Grath’s choice of words. “Yes, I imagine that was pretty unsettling.”

  “Unsettling, yes. I’m still unsettled.”

  Now Slurr laughed out loud. This young captain’s ability to maintain some semblance of a sense of humor was just the tonic he needed. He surveyed the men and women arrayed across the field, all prepared to take on Surok’s monsters should they appear. As he stood with Grath, Idra came alongside.

  “Thank Ma’uzzi you’ve been spared, Wilken,” he said to his comrade.

  For the first time the young captain’s face took on a serious expression. He put his arm on his superior officer’s shoulder. “I’m very happy to see you. The wizards feared none were left alive among your division.”

  “Few were,” Idra said.

  “Well, let’s focus on those of us who remain,” Slurr said, hoping to keep Idra’s mind from falling once more into a darker place. “Elders, come please!” he shouted to Kern and Parnasus. They walked over to join the others.

  “Here is yet another new thing I have learned about Surok: his tactics often make no sense at all. Why he would wipe out two divisions and leave this one untouched baffles me, but this is obviously what happened.”

  Parnasus contemplated this for a moment, then said, “The demon is ruthless, and in his own way brilliant. But I believe he is, if one can say this about the spawn of a goddess, quite insane. His tactics make no sense when considered rationally and when viewed side by side with time-tested strategies.”

  “Here is what I think,” said Slurr, “Whatever his motivation for leaving these warriors unscathed, I fear he will attack before much more time passes. And I for one don’t intend to be here when he does. The Stygians have clearly thrown their lot in with him once again. Therefore, we will leave them behind. They may remain within their walled city and rot for, all I care. There are Free People elsewhere who are ready to oppose Surok with their last breath and I will not lose one more fighter on this field for their sake.”

  The others looked at the general, but said nothing, so he went on. “Captain Grath, pull up stakes. We mobilize at once.” As he spoke Slurr pulled a map of Illyria from a deep pocket in the breeches of his molute armor. Unrolling it so that the others could see, he pointed to the two cities closest to Stygia. “Here to the northeast is Trakkas, and here to the southeast and slightly nearer is Driada. If this were my army of monsters to lead I would send them to Driada. It is the larger of the two, and, as I said, is closer.”

  The wizards and the captains all nodded in agreement. Slurr continued. “Therefore, I propose that we head with all haste to Trakkas instead.”

  “But, General,” said Grath. “You just said…”

  “I said what I would do. But we are attempting to anticipate what Surok will do, and I am banking upon this insanity with which the First Elder has diagnosed him,” he said, smiling. “If we are indeed fighting one who is out of his mind, then let’s make the less tactically sound decision. We go to Trakkas.”

  Around him Slurr watched the faces of his comrades gradually brighten. “Why not?” said Parnasus. “It is as good a guess as any!”

  With all the haste they could muster, the division broke camp and within twenty minutes were ready to move out. As he prepared to climb onto Tressida’s back, Slurr turned to Idra. “Are you coming?” he asked.

  The captain shook his head. “No. I am as well as I can expect to be, both in body and in spirit. I will march with the army,” he said.

  Slurr clapped him warmly on the back and said, “As you will. I am having Kern send most of the riders on ahead to Trakkas, but Yarren and I will overfly you as you march. If you can keep the men at double-pace we should make Trakkas by dawn. With any luck, there will be a dawn, and not a sky filled with Surok’s hellish clouds. That will mean we have beaten him there.”

  “Very good, General. Let’s make haste, before another city is taken!”

  Slurr left his captain and walked to where Tressida waited for him, with Yarren and Valosa nearby. “Well, brother,” he said to the young wizard, “let’s provide these men and women with what help we can.”

  “At the very least we can be their eyes. From above we will know if trouble is approaching long before it reaches them. On then to yet another city!”

  “Excellent. Perhaps we can attach a banner to Tressida’s tail that reads ‘Join the Army! See the World!’”

  Tressida, at hearing the suggestion let out a very displeased, but good natured, grunt.

  “I don’t think the queen likes that idea,” laughed Yarren as they took wing while the ground forces began to move.

  “I didn’t really think she would,” said Slurr.

  As they flew above the marching men and women, Slurr found himself thinking about Cerah. He thought about the first and only time he’d ever heard her voice in his mind, as she projected a call for him to hurry to her and he had heard it. As he sat on her dragon’s back he wished he could hear her again, from wherever it was that she’d gone. He closed his eyes and let her image form in his mind. Even in his thoughts he could not believe how beautiful she was. At that moment, her voice came to him: “My beloved, one comes to you sent by Ma’uzzi. Take him in and help him find his purpose.” This was followed by the image of a young boy, who Slurr thought looked a little like him.

  His eyes shot open in wonder and surprise. As with the first instance, Slurr wondered if this was an actual projection. Had it really been her? Or was his desire to hear her voice again so strong that he’d imagined it? No, he thought. If I were going to imagine her speaking to me, it would have been to say, “Kiss me, Lug!” Well then, Ma’uzzi is sending someone to me? Who could that be? And does my hearing her confirm that she is alive? His thoughts raced, and he decided finally that he would believe from this point forward that she was alive, that she was reaching out to him, and that he would hold her once more. And that he’d need to keep a watch for the one whom he must help to find his p
urpose. And though he was not a wizard, he closed his eyes once more and thought, I will do as you say, my love. And I will wait for you to come back to me.

  As they flew on to Trakkas, Yarren glanced to his right and saw Slurr wipe at his eyes. It must be the wind, he thought.

  5

  Face to Face

  Cerah had been roaming Between for what seemed to her like days, but there was really no way to measure time in this place. Vellus neither rose nor set. Her beloved night companions, the moons Giselle and Antera never appeared above her head. So it may well have truly been days. Or it could have just as easily been years.

  She strained constantly for the sound of Surok’s laughter. She knew that as he moved in and out of Between while leading his vile creatures to war, there was the chance she might encounter him, and now she yearned to do so.

  There was no doubt that the demon’s magic was imposing. But so was hers. She had long surpassed the powers of even her great teacher Parnasus, a fact that he readily acknowledged. She had first built upon spells she’d been taught, adding new dimensions to them that had brought expressions of wonder to the First Elder’s face. Then she went beyond even this, bringing forth new magic. She spoke spells that had never been heard on the Green Lands of Quadar in the entire, vast history of the race of wizards, both banishing death…and bringing it.

  She touched her chest, where deep inside of her the burning ember of the Greater Spark still blazed. Her God was with her. “Surok!” she called, before even realizing that she had. Again she called the hated name. Then she listened for any trace of a response.

  She wondered if the demon thought that by his mother first pulling her into the Under Plane, then, apparently, allowing Cerah’s ancestor Therra to do her bidding and lead Cerah to the portal which had sent her to Between, had given him an insurmountable advantage. Obviously, it meant he could move much more freely upon the Green Lands. But should they meet in this place, did Surok imagine he was immune to any danger from her?

  Is he immune? Cerah caught herself thinking. Despite Ma’uzzi’s burning presence and in spite of the recognition of her own ever growing powers, she did not possess a spell that would destroy Surok. At least she didn’t think she did. To date the most forceful spell she had created was “apart,” the killing spell with which she had dispatched several of Surok’s Silestran minions. When she had first cast the spell, to kill the last remaining Silestran assassin led to her by the traitor Zenk, she had not known in advance that it would work. She merely focused all her energy and pain at the head of the monster, and it had burst. She hadn’t really even thought about it as she cast it, she realized now, thinking back. She had wanted the Silestran’s head to shatter, and she caused it to do so.

  But surely she couldn’t expect the same outcome if she attempted to cast it upon Surok. He was gigantic, standing as tall as ten Silestra. No, he would require a magic more compelling than any she had yet imagined.

  For all her calling out, and for all her listening, however, she sensed nothing of the demon’s presence. She felt the heartbeat of her Creator within her, but apart from that she was alone. Desperately alone.

  More than once while she wandered, she had spoken as if still in conversation with her mother’s spirit, and though Jul did not answer, it seemed to lessen the utter emptiness of the place. “I know you saw when Slurr and I were married, mother. But oh, how I wish you could have been there in the flesh. I remember going with you to the weddings of our friends in the Softer, and I remember how much you enjoyed yourself. And not one of those weddings came near to the joy and beauty of mine! As Slurr said once, wizards really know how to throw a party.” Cerah imagined her mother, beautiful flowers in her light brown hair, laughing and clapping her hands as Slurr spun her daughter around the dance floor. Then she laughed herself as she imagined Slurr offering his hand to Jul, then dancing with her as Cerah looked on.

  “Father has joined the army,” she said. “So has Martan. Slurr made father a captain of the home guard of Harundy, and your son is serving somewhere else on Illyria. I must confess when we found them in Surok’s lair, I didn’t dare imagine them making it down off the mountain, let alone taking up arms to fight the Beast.”

  But it wasn’t constant conversation. She also spent a great deal of time in complete silence. And she walked. Ever she walked. It occurred to her more than once that she never seemed to get tired. And that was a very good thing, because Between seemed to never end!

  After an extremely long time, however, she came to a halt. She looked around her, and seeing the same gray horizon that had met her gaze since first stepping into Between, she let out a long, woeful sigh. I am sick of this place! she thought. And with that she sat.

  As she attempted to get comfortable on the hard, cracked ground, she thought again about magic. She had sent two projections from Between, not really knowing if they would reach their intended targets, Ban and Slurr. But her mother had said it was Ma’uzzi’s wish that she send the projection to Ban. So surely it meant that her magic worked here, and the projection was not a pointless exercise. Hopefully that meant that should she face Surok in a battle of craft, her spells would work then as well. Finally, she thought that a test might be in order. Although she had no concept of how distance worked in this place, the space between any point upon the Green Lands and any point Between, she decided she would Go Within and thereby determine where Slurr was now, and how he was managing in her absence.

  Since she was already seated, she closed her eyes and practiced her preparatory breathing. Once she felt as though she’d drained her mind of anything extraneous, (not that there were many distractions here), she reached within, seeking the vision that the Greater Spark offered to her.

  At once she saw Slurr, who to her surprise was perched on Tressida’s back. The sight of her husband and match-mate together brought a smile to her face, but she forced herself to concentrate. Next to her husband she saw the wizard Yarren, who she knew had become close friends with Slurr. She was glad they were together. Next, she turned her attention to their surroundings. She could see that they were escorting a division of warriors. It seemed smaller than the number of men and women with which Slurr normally travelled. It was difficult for her to determine where they were. Currently the army was marching through open fields. The terrain was slightly hilly, but she could see that they were making good time. It also struck her as peculiar that there were no other riders in the sky. Slurr and Yarren alone accompanied the division. There was no sign of either Kern or Parnasus, and this too seemed odd to her. She would have thought that in her absence Slurr would have kept the elder wizards near him.

  She studied Slurr’s face. What joy that visage had brought to her, when she could in fact still feel joy! Emotions or not, it was good to look upon his handsome image. His blue eyes sparkled with life, but there was more than a little sadness around the edges. She did not need magic to know that he was missing her. She noticed his full lips were turned down as he spoke with Yarren. Although in the past she’d been able to hear the voices of those she saw in her inner vision, both her husband’s voice and that of Yarren were not coming through to her. So, for the moment she focused upon their shape and the sadness that there, too, rested. Then, as her distant vision remained focused on Slurr’s mouth, she thought she saw it form the word “Trakkas.”

  Illyria, then, she thought. They have moved on to Illyria and are flying to Trakkas. She considered this. She knew that Surok had abandoned Sejira, at least for the time being, and would be moving somewhere else. His recent attacks had focused on single cities, both on the continents of Oz Qanoti and Sejira. When he’d attacked Niliph, however, the demon had torn across the entire land mass, wiping out both major cities, Roo and Armethia, as well as every small town between them. Niliph, she thought, was virtually undefended. The fiend so overmanned our forces there that he was able to easily move across the land and eradicate every trace of human life. But at both Oz Qanoti and Sejira our forces w
ere strong enough to prevent that from happening. So again he shows his cowardice. If he is unable to tread freely, he snatches up his toys like a spoiled child, and moves on.

  Thus, it would make sense, she realized, to anticipate that Surok would head away from the site of his last unsuccessful incursion. She knew that Jenoobia was closer to Sejira than Illyria, but it appeared her husband had felt that latter was a better choice. It was not what she would have done, but she trusted her husband’s judgement. His skill as a leader was growing steadily, just as her power had been increasing. Not that it was helping her right now! But no, even that was untrue. She was using it to look at Slurr!

  As she pulled her vision back from the face that she so loved, she saw that below Slurr and Yarren the force was marching at a rapid pace. Almost running, if I’m being honest, she thought. She couldn’t tell if they were running away from something, or were just in a hurry to get to Trakkas, which she now assumed was their goal. In any case, they were making hard for their destination. At least they know where there going.

  Cerah, her eyes still closed, let go of the vision Within. The image of Slurr and Tressida seemed to become obscured by a gradually thickening fog, and then was gone. She opened her eyes and looked around her. I would run too, if I had any notion which way to go and how far to travel.

  She stood once more, and in spite of a general malaise, resumed walking. She was neither angry or sad, encouraged or elated. She was as flat as the place in which she traveled. Seeing Slurr had not really helped her much, she admitted. She was pleased to know he was alright, and that he wasn’t alone. She was glad that, for the present at least, he was not engaged in battle. But though the very sight of him was a blessing, in the end it just reminded her that she was not with him, not leading the struggle.

  And so she let the calm, empty mode in which she placed herself when Going Within or casting complicated magic linger as she moved on. She did not want to think about battle tactics, or being far from the man she loved. She did not want to think that she was in a state of futility, walking aimlessly through a blank landscape. She did not want to think of the lives that had been lost, or of the spirits, both above and below her, who watched her every move. And she certainly did not want to think about Surok.