by Sam Ferguson
“What if they don’t?” Lady Arkyn asked.
“Then they are shunned and sent away. Sometimes those in exile return and ask for reinstatement, those who do so with sincere hearts are allowed to tend to the caribou herds you saw on your way in. In this way, they can atone for their reckless behavior with additional service and sacrifice, it is what maintains balance.”
“Utopia will not stop the Four Horsemen,” Erik said sourly. “At best, it will delay their arrival, but they are going to come, I have seen it in visions.”
“That may be so, but there is nothing else we can do. We live for today, and allow tomorrow to come as it will.”
“That sounds familiar,” Lady Arkyn whispered.
Erik sighed and shook his head. “Is there nothing else you can tell me?” he asked. “Do you not have books that I can look at?”
“You would not understand them,” Zefra replied. “They are written in Zammin’s language.”
“You mean the language the old lady spoke out at the stone hut by the caribou?” Erik asked. “Her husband could interpret for me.”
“No,” Zefra said emphatically. “Zammin was… special. He wrote in a language that is not to be found elsewhere on this world. There is no spoken language to go with the written system.”
Erik sighed. Alkantar had told him the same thing back in Pracheloor Cave. “Actually, I had a book written in the same language. I was successful in translating part of it. I even memorized some of the symbols,” he divulged.
Zefra shook her head. “Assuming you were correct in your translations, which is doubtful, it would still take years. And, as I have said, you would only come to the same conclusions that our predecessors did. It would be a futile exercise. I have summarized their conclusions, that shall suffice.”
“What if we worked together? I could ask specific questions and you could translate for me then? It is very important.”
Zefra shook her head. “When the Followers of Zammin realized there was no way to defeat the Four Horsemen, Zammin gave them instructions to live in harmony. He laid down a list of laws for us to follow that would help, and then he took the knowledge of his language with him. When I said it would take years for you to learn, I would have been more correct to say that it would take years for you to learn even if Zammin himself returned to teach you.”
Erik grunted and thumped the table with his right thumb. “What is the point of a library if you do not utilize the information and knowledge kept within? Where did Zammin go?” Erik asked.
Zefra shrugged. “That was centuries ago. I am not aware of anyone who knows where Zammin went. He left behind some of his books, but we were given strict charge to keep them safe here. For the most part, we have obeyed well.”
“For the most part?” Erik asked.
Zefra sighed and looked to a shelf on the opposite side of the room. “From time to time, there have been members of our society who have become fixated on the Four Horsemen, or on other points of interest, that have stolen from the library. The best book to offer you would be one known only as The Infinium, but it was taken from here many years before my birth, and has since been lost.”
Erik straightened in his chair. He knew that book! Tatev had purchased it from a book store during their travels. “What was in that book?” Erik asked carefully, trying to see how much about it Zefra knew, and thereby determine the overall value of other knowledge kept by the Cult of Zammin.
“It is said to be the most complete book ever written about the Four Horsemen,” Zefra said. “As I mentioned before, there have been other worlds before ours. The Ancients, the mighty dragons that now reside across the waters to the south, came from a place called Kendualdern. The Infinium is an account of how their world fell into disfavor, and details the destruction of their world. The other information we have collected here is left by Zammin, who is gifted with special knowledge of the Four Horsemen, but even he said that The Infinium would be the key to understanding them. Unfortunately, those in our order who attempted to read the book would go mad. We could never pull all of its information from it, and now it is lost.”
Erik nodded quietly and thought carefully about whether he should tell her that he knew where The Infinium was. Then again, seeing as how the Father of the Ancients, the first and oldest dragon to come to Terramyr, was now trying to decipher it with Al’s help, there was little point in getting Zefra’s hopes up, for she would not be allowed to take the book back.
“Now answer a question for me,” Zefra said. “You said you had a book that contained our language. Where was it, and do you have it now?”
Erik described the book he had found in the monastery of the Monks of the Southern Light, far to the south of the orcish lands beyond Ten Forts. He talked about the monks who had it in their library, and explained where the monastery was. He then talked about the information he had parsed out of it, and described how he went about trying to decipher the language. Zefra listened intently, and then finally nodded and interrupted when Erik had told her enough for her to know which book it was.
“That was another great loss to our library. The book you describe has no title, as such, but is instead one volume in a series of chronicles that details the actions of a group known to us as the Grand Cosmic Council. The books were written in Zammin’s language, but he told our forerunners that he had not written the books. Instead, he had acquired them and brought them to us for study.”
“There are more of these books?” Erik asked hopefully.
Zefra nodded. “There are a few, but we no longer have them.”
“It seems you have lost a lot of important books,” Lady Arkyn said.
Zefra sighed. “In a society where everyone is so trusting, it is easy to take advantage. The thefts occurred before my time, as I said, there have been no crimes during my lifetime, but that is because we now have instated the inspection of all who wish to enter these halls. Had I suspected the slightest bit of guile from either of you, the doors would have remained closed and you would have been banished from our lands.”
“I see,” Lady Arkyn said.
“Where is the book you speak of?” Zefra asked Erik. “May I see it?”
Erik’s cheeks went red. “I was, in fact, bringing it to you for help deciphering the parts that I could not understand, but it was lost in a battle at sea.”
Zefra pursed her lips and folded her hands upon the table. “Pity.” The three sat in silence for a few moments.
After a while, Erik’s thoughts turned to different subjects. If the Cult of Zammin couldn’t offer help with the Four Horsemen, then perhaps they would have information about Dremathor, or at least some insight into sahale. “Do you know of a person called Dremathor?” Erik asked.
Zefra frowned and shook her head. “No. I do not know that name.”
“What about Alkantar?” Lady Arkyn asked, catching on to the new line of questions.
Zefra’s face turned sour. “Yes, him I know, but not personally. He was one who ran away the day before he was to make the choice to follow our laws and customs. He was known by a different name while here, Kavin Colbreat. He was my nephew.”
“How do you know of his alias, then?” Erik asked.
“Because, his father, who was my brother, went after him when it was discovered that Kavin had not only fled, but stolen several books from our library. It took several decades, but eventually my brother found his son. My brother had taken three others from our home here. As you know, traveling can be quite dangerous. In any case, by the time they found Kavin, he had made a pact with a demon. He had been granted dark magical powers, and he had turned from mischievous pranks to deadly passions. He slew all of the men who accompanied my brother.”
“But your brother lived?” Lady Arkyn said.
Zefra nodded. “He was allowed to return to us so that he could deliver a warning not to follow Kavin. My brother told us that Kavin had changed his name to Alkantar, and was going to try to mount another attempt to
find his son, but before we could find anyone willing to go with him, my brother died. Apparently, Kavin had cursed him, and cut his life short. That was over two hundred years ago.”
“Alkantar is dead,” Erik stated, trying to make his tone as soft as possible.
Zefra nodded slowly, but showed no hint of a smile. “If you are looking for thanks, you will not find it,” she said. “I abhor the loss of life. While I cannot condone what Kavin did, I also cannot revel in his death.”
“I offered mercy,” Erik said. “But, he would not take it, and he attacked us twice. It was unavoidable.”
Zefra turned and looked at Erik for a moment. “Then you are different from most men in this world,” she said.
“That’s what I keep telling him,” Lady Arkyn put in.
Zefra said, “Many would call themselves heroes for slaying someone like Kavin, but you offered him mercy?”
Erik nodded. “I did.”
Zefra smiled. “I am sorry I cannot help you with the other person you mentioned, but I have not heard the name Dremathor before today. Did he associate with Kavin?”
“That is what we are trying to figure out,” Erik said. “Can you tell us anything about the sahale?”
Zefra nodded once and spoke. “I do not have extensive knowledge about them, but I can tell you what I do know. The spell that binds sahale to their human form was stolen from us as well. Another one of our families had a son who was always getting into trouble. I am not sure whether he knew Kavin, for he was only eight when Kavin had left and stolen from our library, but this boy followed in Kavin’s footsteps. Upon his twelfth birthday, he was asked to either commit to obeying the law, or to choose exile. He swore to obey the laws, but that night he slipped into the library and took many spells, the binding spell among them. The others were mostly divination spells, mixed with a few healing charms, but the binding spell was never recovered. We tried to follow him, but were unsuccessful. I have no way of knowing how it got into the hands of the murderer you seek, but I do know someone who might be able to help. He will have answers about the sahale as well, and should be able to give you whatever information you need.” Zefra stood and walked around a bookcase, only to come back a moment later with a rolled parchment. She gently untied the ribbon around it and unfurled it for Erik to see.
It was a map of the northern territories.
“We are here,” Zefra said as she pointed to a blank spot on the map nestled at the base of a mountain. “The orcish lands lie to the east, with a great city some two hundred miles from here. On the eastern border of the orcish lands is a treacherous forest called the Dread Pines. If you can make it beyond that, then you will come upon the ruins of Galardene, which sits upon the Black River. To the south of Galardene are the Cliffs of Rontular, but you don’t want to go that way. The cliffs are several hundred feet high and drop directly into the sea below. You want to travel up the Black River, through the ruins of Tarntin, and up into the mountains. The trek will be difficult, but if you can follow the Black River to its source, you will find Hermit’s Hole.” Zefra pointed to the origin of Black River, but there was no mention of Hermit’s Hole on the map. “An ancient and powerful sahale lives there. He is the one who created the binding spell.”
“A sahale created the binding spell?” Erik asked. “But why?”
Zefra sighed and shook her head. “The records of our people say nothing about it, but as I have searched through other tomes about the Four Horsemen, I did come upon something that may have an explanation. You see, the sahale who lives there was once a friend to our people. He never joined our numbers, but he admired our pursuits of knowledge and peaceful living. He had once helped a few of our scholars research something that they thought would spell disaster for our world.”
“What was that?” Lady Arkyn asked eagerly.
Zefra frowned and took in a deep breath. Her hand started to tremble ever so slightly, but as soon as Erik noticed it, she rubbed her hands together and put on a smile for them. “It turned out to be a superstition, really,” she said. “But, a little more than five hundred years ago, one of our scholars had a vision, something that is rare among our people, but taken very seriously. He saw the Four Horsemen come to Terramyr in answer to a reckless creature that was terrorizing all living things both in the Northern Territory, and in your realm, and beyond. There was much slaughter and devastation. It attracted the attention of the Four Horsemen, so they came to put an end to our world.”
“This creature, did it have a name?” Lady Arkyn asked.
“In the vision, it came to our scholar that it had gone by many names, but the truest one was Daqn Saqr.” Zefra reached up and rubbed her shoulders vigorously, as if a chill had overtaken the room.
“And so this sahale that was helping your people made this spell to stop the creature?” Lady Arkyn asked.
Zefra nodded. “But it never came to that. The creature was never born. Then, Nagar’s Blight took over the land as you talked about earlier, Erik, and the scholar never had the vision again. The sahale that made the spell left it with us for safe keeping, just in case, but it has never been needed. I am sorry that it has been used to murder so many, it had been meant only as a defense.”
“So if the spell was made to protect the world from this creature that would usher in the coming of the Four Horsemen, the creature known as Daqn Saqr must have also been a sahale, and the binding spell was created to make a fight against Daqn Saqr easier.”
Zefra nodded. “I do not know much about Zammin’s language, but I do know the language that this name comes from. It is an old form of High Terryn. In High Terryn, Daqn Saqr means Dark Sahale.”
CHAPTER 17
Erik spent the next ten minutes throwing all sorts of questions at Zefra, but came away with nothing more of any value. If he wanted any additional answers about the Dark Sahale, he was going to have to find Hermit’s Hole. When it was obvious that there was nothing more to be gained, the three of them rose from the table and exited the room. Erik had to fight against his urge to search the library for himself, but he was getting the sense that they were wearing out their welcome. Zefra was becoming increasingly tight-lipped, especially with questions regarding Zammin. He and Lady Arkyn exchanged a couple of glances that told him she was feeling the same as he was. Neither of them said it, but they could tell that Zefra knew more about Zammin than she was letting on.
They followed Zefra through the halls and back to the door leading out from the dome. They all exchanged polite bows as they said their good-byes, and Erik thanked Zefra for the map once more before they left.
Erik and Lady Arkyn exited the dome to find Rafe exactly where he had been, chewing on a long stem of thick grass. He motioned to three bags at his feet and smiled.
“The other ladies that came out to meet us dropped these off for us,” Rafe said. “The backpacks are filled with bandages, food, and other necessities for our journey.” Rafe tossed the chewed length of grass to the ground. “Good people here. Never met anyone so willing to just give me things. This would have cost quite a bit back home in Gontin.”
“Yes, well, they seem eager enough to send us on our way,” Erik put in.
Rafe arched a brow. “Oh, now what did you do? Did you break someone’s house in there?”
Erik shirked off the jest and pointed eastward. “We should go.” They set out immediately, not even waiting to spend the night and rest.
“So, did everything go all right?” Rafe asked as they left the dome far behind them. “Neither of you have said much since you came out of there. Was it strange on the inside? Sacrifices? Cannibals?”
“No, nothing like that,” Lady Arkyn said flatly.
“Well what was it then?” Rafe pressed. “Something has you both spooked.
“We don’t have time to explain,” Erik said. “Let’s just say that the murderer we are after might have something to do with the Four Horsemen.”
“The Four…” Rafe stopped short and snorted. “You
can’t be serious, how can one person—”
Erik spun around and handed Rafe the rolled up map that Zefra had given to him. “You can stay if you like, but there are things that you should know.” Erik filled Rafe in on all the details about Alkantar, the thirteen murdered sahale, and everything else they had learned along their journey so far. Rafe stood silently, listening to all of it with a straight face. After Erik finished, he said, “The shadowfiend I killed before coming to Gontin talked about a Dark Sahale, a being that would possibly end the world. Now, inside the dome, Zefra told us of a vision one of their scholars had that warned them about a Dark Sahale who would summon down the Four Horsemen by his actions. If you come with us, we don’t stop to eat, and we only sleep as long as we have to until we find the sahale who made the binding spell that stops sahale from changing into their dragon form, and get all the answers we need from him so we know exactly what we are dealing with.”
“Is it at all possible that we are chasing ghosts?” Rafe asked. “I mean, legends and myths are one thing, but we don’t really know that a Dark Sahale is running around do we?”
Erik shook his head. “I don’t know it for certain, but it feels right. The more we follow after the murderer who killed the thirteen sahale in Winter’s Beak, the more it starts to make sense to me. There is something about this that has to be more than a coincidence. For the idea of a Dark Sahale to come up so often by groups who don’t have any interaction with each other, there must be something more than simple myths and scary stories.”
Rafe took the map from Erik and unrolled it. “And you are of the same opinion?” Rafe asked Lady Arkyn.
She nodded. “It could be that the shadowfiend who murdered the thirteen sahale in Winter’s Beak is specifically targeting sahale to absorb their powers. If there was ever a creature that I would label as a Dark Sahale, it would be this one.”
“Either way, the sahale in Hermit’s Hole will have more answers for us than Zefra could give,” Erik said.