by Travis Kerr
Prologue
“It’s time for bed Drom,” Katrina called to her son. “Go to your room and I’ll be up to tuck you in bed in a minute.”
Katrina listened to the quick steps of her son as he raced to his bedroom. She understood his haste. He knew that if he went straight to his room, without argument or stalling, she would tell him a bedtime story. Each night she would teach him the histories she had learned as a child, histories that few people knew. She wanted her boy to know everything that she had to teach him. With only a moment of hesitation, so that he would have time to get under his covers, she quickly followed his footsteps to his room. She didn’t want to keep her darling boy waiting.
“Can you tell me about the dragons tonight mommy?” her boy asked as she reached the edge of his bed and softly sat down on the corner, her customary position.
Katrina gave an involuntary shudder. Drom often asked about dragons. It was the one thing that he had never learned in her bedtime stories. He had heard a few tales about them, in all likelihood complete fiction in her opinion, from the traders who came to buy the crops each harvest. Like all young boys he was instantly infatuated by the beautiful and dangerous creatures. She understood his fascination. But no, she would never tell Drom about dragons.
“Perhaps I tell you how the races were created instead,” she suggested gently. “It’s been a little while since I told you that story.”
“OK mommy,” the young boy agreed after a moment. Katrina could hear the disappointment registered in his tiny voice. She suspected that he knew that she didn’t like to talk about dragons, but he continued to hope.
Perhaps if he knew, she thought, but he never would.
Some stories should never be told to children.
Katrina gently pulled the covers up to her boy’s chest, folding them and tucking them under his arms. Closing her eyes slightly, she imagined another place, where once she had once caressed the soft pages of the books in her father’s library. As she had on a day long ago, she read the pages of that old, tattered book, as clear to her in her mind now as they had been when she first read them. Drom was too young to understand the words that were written there, so she translated them for him into words he could understand.
“Thousands of years ago the race of man lived in what would later be known as the Age of Technology. Machines, built by the hands of men, assisted in every aspect of daily life. Mankind grew to depend on those machines. They had creations that flew through the air, rolled over the land, and sailed the seas. Travel came quickly and easily to everyone. Goods were transported everywhere. Anything that a person could want they could get easily, from anywhere in the world.”
“Could they really fly mommy?” the young boy asked. Katrina could almost see the thoughts of flying on the backs of dragons floating through his mind, shimmering phantoms glistening behind his wide, innocent eyes.
“Yes love, they had special machines that could fly faster than the swiftest of birds. But that was a long time ago. Not much is left from that time anymore. Most of what they used, most of their technology, was destroyed in the Mage War. The few remains left behind are nothing more than rusted pieces of metal that no one can even recognize anymore. Even if those machines had survived it wouldn't have mattered. In the end, no one remained who knew how to repair them.
“In the time shortly before its end mankind was a very superstitious people. At some point, no one ever knew how, mankind learned that there were some people, a rare, special few, who could use great magic, powers that those who didn't have any magic at all couldn't begin to understand. As man has always done with things it cannot understand, the leaders of man attempted to destroy that magic, killing anyone found to possess it. So the Mage War began.”
Drom sat up straight in his bed, the covers that had been so carefully tucked under his arms rolling off in a bundled heap at his waist. He loved her description of the Mage War, she knew. He always became excited when she got to that part.
“The leaders of man attacked the mages with tremendous weapons, capable of destroying entire nations in a single blow. They gathered mighty armies, great multitudes of men with powerful weapons of destruction. As powerful as they were, the mages could not hope to defeat such numbers on their own. If only man had known the truth about magic, that most of mankind could use magic on some level, things might have turned out differently. But most people had no idea. With all of humanity leveled against them, it seemed that the mages would surely be doomed.”
“Can anyone learn to use magic, mommy? Drom asked, not for the first time. He would already know what her answer was going to be. He had asked that same question on a dozen or more nights, just like this one. Perhaps he hoped, deep down, that her answer might change. She would never lie to her son though, so it never would.
“No darling. Most humans can learn to use magic, and even a few of the other races, but mostly it’s only the humans that can.”
“What about sorvinians, mommy?” the boy pressed, hoping against all hope that the answer she gave might someday change. “Can sorvinians like me and daddy ever learn to use magic?”
“No baby, sorvinians can’t use magic,” she answered softly. She understood her son’s desire. Being a human herself, she had magic of her own, though she never showed her ability to her husband, nor would she ever show it to her son. She wanted to keep Drom as far from magic, and the mages who controlled the most powerful of those magics, as she could.
“Where was I baby? Oh yes.
“One of the mages, a man known as Dorian Tabernacle, attempted to create an army to fight for him, an army of creatures that were part man, part animal. It was his belief that the only way to defend against such a vast host was to create one just as great, so he had gathered together thousands of animals to become his new army. His plan had been a simple one. He would use his magic to change those animals into intelligent beings, like humans, who could learn to use the same weapons that were being leveled against him and the other mages.
“Somehow the spell went terribly wrong. Not only were the creatures his spell targeted affected, but so were many other animals, all around the world. Millions of creatures, nearly twenty percent of the animals that were alive some believe, suddenly stood.”
“That was how the races were created mommy!” The young boy said excitedly. He knew this entire story by heart, she was certain, yet he never seemed to tire from the hearing of it.
“Yes darling, it was. The spell magically changed them to stand, think, and fight like a human being, while still retaining a part of the animals they once were. It did not, however, provide them with knowledge. They had all the strength and speed that their new bodies provided them with, but they knew no more about the world then they had when they were still nothing more than animals.
“Had he kept the spell confined to the animals he had intended to change he might have been able to control his creations, but Dorian Tabernacle could not hope to control so many. The newly created races, unable to understand what had happened, went wild, attacking anything within their reach. Very few records remain of the time just after the war. They suggest that less than a tenth of the human population was left within that first year. Many of those newly created races, those unable to stand against the more aggressive or stalwart of the new races, were also destroyed. Only the strongest survived.”
“They all were very mean mommy,” Drom stated unexpectedly. Unlike his earlier responses, this was a new one she hadn’t heard before.
“No honey, they weren’t mean. They were just scared and didn’t understand what was going on. So because they were scared they attacked everyone and everything around them.”
“Just like the humans did wi
th the mages in the Mage War mommy,” the boy surmised, startling Katrina slightly, though she didn’t show it. As young as he was, she wouldn’t have expected him to comprehend such things entirely on his own already. She had known adults that wouldn’t have been able to understand what fear could do to a person.
“Yes dear, exactly like that. The Mage War had ended in a most unexpected way. Some would say it was the mages who had won the war. The few people who had survived had been those that could use their magic to protect themselves. Those humans without magic, who relied on technology to survive, could not cope with the speed and power of the new races who suddenly infested the planet.
“The mages would say that in the wake of such destruction neither side could claim to have won. So much of what man had become had been lost that the world now seemed empty by comparison. Millions had survived, between the remaining humans and the new races that had been created, but billions had died.”
“Is billions a lot mommy?”
“Yes sweetie. Billions is a very big number. It's more than all the people of all the races in the world today. A great many more. For the first few years it seemed as if nothing could stop these magically created beings. The mages tried fighting back with their magic, but the new races were too strong even for them.
“In the end a council of mages managed to end the killing, not by destroying these new races, but instead by teaching them to speak. They taught the new races all they could about harmonious living, focusing on those strengths that each possessed to the benefit of all. It took many years, but in time the killing stopped and all the races began learning to live without killing each other. The Age of Learning had begun.
“That’s when the races all learned to live together and how to use tools and stuff!” Drom announced gleefully. Katrina smiled.
Drom will not soon forget the things he learns now.
“Yes Drom, that’s exactly right. The mages never attempted to bring back the machines that other humans had once used. There was little that their magic couldn't provide them, and the new races knew nothing about them. Survival became more important than the machines that mankind had once depended on. Those few machines that remained could no longer be used. The fuels that had once powered them were no longer available, so those useless devices were discarded or destroyed for their raw materials.
“At the same time, those newly created races began to learn to build and create for themselves. These creations were nothing like what mankind had once relied on, but it was a beginning. They learned at an alarming rate, and as quickly as they learned they evolved, each in a different way.”
“Evolving means to change mommy,” Drom informed her. “You told me that the last time you told me this story. I remembered!”
“Yes dear, I’m glad you’re remembering so well. Evolving is more than just changing. It means to change in a way to suit your environment.
“And the new races had evolved, many taking on the appearance of the humans that they had been created to resemble. Most kept only part of the animals they had once been, while others changed in unexpected ways, no longer resembling either humans or the animals they had once been. Only a few dozen races had survived to populate the planet. Those that did were only the strongest, the brightest, or simply those that the mages found to be of the greatest use to them.
“The mages took control completely. The technology of the ancients was gone forever, but some things, such as the forging of steel, the mages still knew. The races needed to know those things to thrive, and the mages used that to their full advantage. Now that the races were compliant it was easy for them to take control of them. Some of the races, like the ferals or the avians, managed to keep themselves separate from the mages rule to a point, but even they had to pay tribute to the ruling caste. At first perhaps some of the mages wanted to help these new people, but even then most just wanted to rule them.
“Now, several thousand years after the war that changed the planet forever, each race has carved out its own place in the world. Many of the inhabitants keep to themselves, staying closer to their own kind, paying tribute to whichever mage rules in their land.”
“Like Daddy and the other sorvinians mommy?”
“Yes sweetie, exactly like us. We all live right here, growing food for ourselves and for many more people as well. We give half of what we grow to the mage here to pay for our land, and everything else we don't use we send with the traders to go to market, so everyone gets to eat some. Your father grows food for many people, so he's very important. Now let me finish your history for tonight so you can go to bed.”
“OK mommy.”
“Some people don't want to live separate like we do. They live in the trade cities that were built over the ruins of the human cities that once existed. In these cities the races live together. The mages keep a tight control over the cities and those that live there. They don't want anyone to take control away from them. Some of the mages are good people, and use both their power and their magic to help the people in their cities and their lands, but in many places the mages have been corrupted by the power that they have had for so long. They only care about themselves, making themselves richer and more powerful.”
“Did you come from one of those cities mommy?”
“I came from far away,” she answered in a vague sort of way. She rarely talked much about her past, not even to her family. “I've been to some of those cities though, before I came here and met your father. Don't worry love, I'm staying right here. I'm never going to leave you and your father. I'm happy here. Now please let me finish sweetie, OK? I'll stop telling it to you if you interrupt me again.”
“No! Don't stop mommy! I won't stop you again, I promise!”
“I know sweetie. So, where was I? Oh yes, that's right. Most of the new races couldn't use any magic at all, and those that could only had a fraction of the power that the human mages had. Without magic there was nothing anyone could do about the mages rule. The races could rule themselves now if the mages would let them. They no longer have to be watched over.
“In order for them to be able to rule themselves though, the mages would have to give up control, and they will never be willing to do that. The mages have the power to keep the others in line. Few people are brave or foolish enough to oppose them.
“Not everyone is willing to fall in line. There are always those that disagree with the control that the mages wield. Sometimes people fight back against the mages, and there are even some mages that think it's time for the people to be allowed to rule themselves. They think that the mages should use their powers to help everyone, instead of just controlling them. Maybe someday I'll tell you about one of the mages that was like that, that wanted to help everyone instead of ruling them. But not tonight dear. Now lay down so I can give you a kiss goodnight and tuck you in again.”
“No mommy, not yet! Could you tell me about the different races?”
“I just told you about them last night sweetie.”
“I know, but I want to hear about them again.”
“Not tonight. It's time for bed now.”
Katrina gave her son a kiss on the forehead and tucked him in tightly. She watched him for several minutes, noting the change in his breathing that told her he had fallen asleep.
“Goodnight, my dear Drom,” she said softly to her sleeping boy. “May all your dreams be sweet, my dear one, and may all of them come true.”
Chapter One
From the very first, Drom knew he would never forget the first time he met Garan, or the man who was first introduced to him as Garan. Not in a thousand years. For the rest of his life he would think back upon the night that would change his life forever.
Anyone who didn’t know Drom would have wondered, and with good reason, what a young sorvinian man was doing at the Staghorn Inn on a night like that to begin with. Most sorvinians would never have strayed from their farms long enough to have made it that far.
Of course, Drom was no
thing like most sorvinians.
While Drom's father was sorvinian, his mother was human. Growing up in a farming community of sorvinian children had been brutal for Drom, who looked different from all the other children. Those children all looked like the bulls that the sorvinian race had been created from, while Drom looked neither human nor sorvinian, at least not enough to pass as either one of them completely.
Drom had inherited his father’s sorvinian ears, and like his father he was covered in short, coarse fur from head to foot, but the similarities ended there. His nose and mouth looked human, instead of the wide, bovine muzzle that his father sported, but unlike his mother’s small features his were wide and distorted.
He would always be seen as different. Not just different but downright ugly, at least in his opinion. He simply didn’t fit in. When he became older and his horns, the pride of any sorvinian man, didn’t grow in at all, it became even worse for him.
Unlike other sorvinians, he hated the idea of living out his entire life on a farm, watching crops grow. He longed for the adventure that lived in the stories that the traders would tell him when they came to buy his father’s crops. His mother had taught him to read and write, something that few of the traders seemed to know, but the handful of books his mother lovingly cared for only left him hungry for more adventure than what those well known pages could offer.
That was how he had come to the decision that it was time to leave the farming life behind, at least for a while, and see what the rest of the world had to offer. His father disapproved, but was good enough not to say anything about it. His mother kissed him goodbye and, with only a small pack of supplies and a hand-drawn map his mother had given him, he headed south toward the distant city of Port Dayton.
Which was how he now found himself in the Staghorn Inn, one of the more disreputable places in the city. Its only advantage was that it was cheap. According to the city guards he had talked to on his way in it had the cheapest ale and the cheapest rooms, perfect for anyone brave or stupid enough to walk through its doors.