“Many thanks,” Elec replied humbly. “I am glad I can make the slightest bit of an impact at all. My people wanted to make certain you had this information in written form for safe keeping and reference,” he continued. “The elders do not want it to fall into the wrong hands.”
“It will be safe here,” Nimaira confirmed confidently.
“We could use some advice here about a few of the finalists,” Tiyarnon suggested. “If you feel up to it that is, Elec?”
“Advice?” Elec replied in a perplexed manner. He stood at a loss for a moment, which was evident on his face to any of the onlookers. Then he recalled the seriousness of the situation and added, “I will give you any help you need.”
“I was hoping you would say that,” a commanding voice called from an adjacent room. The imposing form of well-armored man with striking features entered and regarded Elec. A hint of a smile briefly crossed his visage before he resumed his imposing and expressionless demeanor once more.
“What do you mean?” Elec asked him, truly curious now.
“I am Garius Forge. I have interviewed several applicants myself today and not one elf amongst them would I choose,” Garius explained. “That is…except for you.”
He let the words and their meaning wash over the elf for a moment as Elec stared at him with his mouth open.
“The idea of having a representative of the high elves of Acillia with us brings many advantages. We could use a scout such as you, particularly with a keen set of elven eyes, on the expedition. I am contracting your help unless you can give argument to the contrary.” Garius stood waiting for a moment again, giving the elf a minute to think about it.
“But, I am no mage.” Elec’s gaze drifted to the floor.
“I am aware. Your considerable other skills would be useful,” Garius countered. “I have done some research into your past and have contacted your elders who give me the impression that you can handle yourself, especially your Uncle Faorath, who sends his warmest regards. He is the one who showered me with news of your talents,” Garius added, watching Elec’s eyes widen in delight. “He speaks very highly of you.”
Elec trembled visibly as he tried to understand just what the Inquisitor was asking of him. Many thoughts of incompetence ran through his mind at this point, stemming from his father’s regularly stated disappointment and poor opinion of him. Why would this man want my help? I am no hero, Elec thought. “What of my family?” he asked. “Or my elders? My mother? May I speak with her?”
“I will be able to send word to your people by eve’s end with the aid of magic in my possession,” Nimaira explained to Elec, trying to ease his mind. “The Inquisitor used the same magic to speak with your family already. It is difficult to maintain for long, but I would be able to allow you a slight exchange.”
“I will be able to speak to them?” Elec asked the sorceress, after a moment of confusion. “My uncle and mother, I mean?”
“Aye,” Nimaira said. “Briefly, but yes, you may. There is a limit to even my powers, you understand?”
“I suppose that will be good enough,” Elec resignedly agreed.
“I suppose it will,” Garius reiterated. The way he spoke made Elec feel as though he demanded compliance from him. “I have heard that you are a cunning trapsmith, a formidable guide and a capable warrior,” he continued, not allowing a response from the elf. “I am suggesting that we can make use of your services. I have interviewed many an aspirant this day and none match your…qualifications or history. You will be properly compensated with anything we can offer you.”
“That is not the issue,” Elec replied, hesitant to confess his real reason. Finally he spoke again after a long pause. “I am not a warrior,” he flatly admitted.
“Yet, you carry many a magical trinket and I see you are equipped with ancient, enchanted blades that contradict your own assessment,” Garius stated, countering the elf’s argument. Elec looked a bit startled again by the amount of knowledge this Inquisitor seemed to possess.
“How do you know all of this?” Elec asked, truly amazed at how easily this man had refuted his point and encouraged him in his own abilities, something he was not used to hearing very often.
“Let us say it is one of my gifts, Elec,” Garius responded simply.
“Let us compare notes and see what we have on our agenda,” Tiyarnon proposed, drawing the attention from the Inquisitor and back to himself. “We have much to discuss in the coming day.”
Garius left the room and stepped out into the hallway. Elec tracked him with his eyes down the corridor. He was a fascinating human indeed. He obviously had a lifetime of altruistic deeds under his belt and yet didn’t seem so old at all—for a human that is. Elec paced down the hall after him and followed him to his room.
Garius spun on him. “Is there something on your mind, elf?” the Inquisitor asked as he blocked the door to his room.
“Yes…you spoke of what I can do and my weapons, but I know nothing of you and yours,” Elec said accusingly. After he realized what he’d said, he immediately thought himself the fool.
“I am out of line and meant no disrespect,” Elec apologized, moving past the Inquisitor to stand within his quarters. “What is that?” Elec asked, gesturing toward a massive two-handed maul. It had runes on its head and appeared to be one of the finest crafted weapons he’d ever seen. Though, it seemed too large for the man to wield comfortably, he reflected.
“That is my weapon of choice. It is called The Repentant. It is magically enchanted and I am able to focus holy energy through it, filling it with righteous power to help smite my foes,” Garius explained to him. “I am an Inquisitor and a Faceless Knight of Order, do not forget. I have not only the power of the Gods of Order backing me, but I can handle myself in combat as well.”
“Of course you can, I did not mean to offend.”
“Have confidence, Elec. We will get to know one another very well over the next few months, I am sure,” Garius said in a friendly manner. “And beyond, perhaps.”
Elec bowed his head in agreement that Garius could indeed be both a great warrior as well as the Inquisitor he claimed.
Only the events of my impending future will confirm that, he thought as he exited the room.
“Tell Tiyarnon I shall return shortly to discuss the details,” Garius called after Elec as he headed toward the main meeting room and the opportunity of a lifetime.
Chapter 9
Rose Thorne sat comfortably on her living room sofa in her home, which was located in the Commons District of Oakhaven on the Street of Jackals. The Commons was where the multitude of laborers and craftsman made their homes, and was the largest of all of Oakhaven’s districts. It was also referred to as the ‘less-fortunate’ section of town. Rose knew. She preferred this area and remained here to keep up appearances. It did her well to behave as if she were deprived in order to blend in with the common folk.
She sat with her feet up on an end table and a glass of wine in her hand. It was just after Sun’s Peak on The Second Day of Holy Enlightenment when she heard a knock upon her door.
She stood up, placed her glass down and slowly walked to the door, pausing for a moment.
“Yes?” Rose asked.
“I am a representative of the High Council, my lady,” returned a voice from the opposite side of the thick door.
“One moment,” Rose called out. She quickly went about disarming a crude trap aimed at her front door that she had set to ensure that if anyone forced entry, they were assaulted by a pair of bolts fired from concealed crossbows. Once finished, she returned to the door.
“I am here,” Rose called. She slid the bolt and threw open the door.
“You are hereby summoned to the Hall of the High Council on official business,” announced an unknown man as he handed Rose a rolled-up parchment with the official seal of the realm, a stylized dragon seal, set on it. “This is your invitation.”
Rose didn’t even acknowledge the man as she received
the parchment, shut the door, broke the seal of the document and unrolled it. It read:
‘You are hereby summoned to the Hall of the High Council to confirm your presence as a member of the chosen ones led by the Order of the Faceless Knights. Please pack a travel bag and make arrangements to be gone from Oakhaven forthwith. Time is of great import. Understand that you will be given details of the journey upon your prompt arrival.
Sincerely,
Tiyarnon,
High Priest of The Shimmering One and Main Spokesman of the High Council.’
Rose Thorne smiled.
She was finally going to get a chance at setting her extensive abilities to task on something worthwhile. She had gotten much enjoyment from the life she had made recently in Oakhaven after a childhood full of abuse and misery, but here was her chance at something she hadn’t even conceived of until very recently. She immediately went to get her things packed. A series of exploits and thrills awaited her in the very near future.
Saeunn was roused from her slumber by a voice in the distance that seemed to grow louder each minute.
“Saeunn!”
Her mother stood over her, waking her forcefully from her sleep.
Saeunn shot up, chased away her dreams, and rubbed her eyes. She hadn’t slept much in the past month, so it was no surprise that she slept so deeply now. Pure fatigue had finally caught up with her.
“A servant arrived with this,” Huuna told her excitedly, shoving a parchment in her face that was marked with a noble seal.
Saeunn’s eyes widened, looking like giant pools of emeralds, and with a noticeable conveyance of surprise followed by delight. She ran a hand through her long, blonde locks as she stood unashamed by her bare body and took the parchment from her mother’s outstretched hand. Her mother fetched her robe and placed it over her back and shoulders. Saeunn did not notice at all as she slowly broke the wax seal.
She unrolled it in eager anticipation and looked at the symbols on the parchment. She embarrassingly handed the note back to her mother with a frown. In her excitement, she had forgotten that she could not read.
Her mother took the parchment and hugged her daughter, attempting to comfort her from her obvious shame. “I cannot read either, Sae,” Huuna reminded her daughter. “I merely meant for us to find someone who could read it for us.”
The two of them ran out into the common area of the facility.
“Could you read this for us?” Huuna asked one of the servants there. The older, leather-skinned woman looked at her with a saddened expression and shook her head, indicating that she could not.
“Take it to Logan,” the servant suggested, pointing to the stairwell of a hallway that led to where a man conducted his business for the city of Oakhaven. “Logan is a bookkeeper for the city and works for the Guild of Lawyers and Scribes.” Saeunn followed Huuna up the stairs in a rush and burst into the room where the man they assumed was Logan, was engrossed in writing. He was an older gentleman, with shades of gray in his long hair.
“Can I do something for you?” Logan asked, not even looking up from his parchment. When he received no answer, he looked up to regard the two of them conveying an expression of irritation. He removed his spectacles from the bridge of his nose, revealing a pair of intelligent, blue eyes. However, upon registering the cause of the interruption, he quickly changed his demeanor to a friendlier one.
“I am sorry to interrupt,” Huuna offered. “I have here an important document addressed to my daughter.”
“I would like it very much if you could read to us the message,” Saeunn took over for her mother, almost pushing Huuna over to stand before him and handing him the parchement.
“Be careful there,” Logan scolded Saeunn. “Do not be rude to…?” Logan let the question hang, allowing the woman he was helplessly staring at to respond to the question.
“Huuna,” she said. “I am Huuna of Chansuk.”
She was immediately uncomfortable in the man’s presence as she felt his eyes upon her in an intrusive way. She understood that the man was interested in her or otherwise flirting. It was an odd feeling for Huuna, having been wed to such a strong specimen of a man for the entirety of Saeunn’s lifetime. This man was a different type altogether than the barbarians of her tribe, and she did not know how to react to him.
Huuna immediately felt at fault for several reasons and blushed in embarrassment. She had not felt the same attraction to Logan that he obviously felt for her. She became visibly flustered, but Saeunn, eyes still focused on Logan with the parchment held in front of her, completely missed both the exchange and the changes in her mother’s expression.
Logan took the parchment from Saeunn, forcing himself to disengage from Huuna’s countenance. He unrolled the parchment and replaced his spectacles on the bridge of his nose and read it aloud.
As he finished, he removed his spectacles once again and handed the parchment back to Saeunn, looking up to witness a distressed Huuna.
“Are you all right?” Logan asked her, sincerely concerned for her at this point. “If I have upset you or offended you in any way, I am deeply sorry. I did not mean to—”
“No.” Huuna pulled herself together enough to speak. “I have recently lost my husband and my home. I am feeling a bit foolish as well and wish to return to my room. It is not your fault.”
“I see,” Logan responded, his expression indicating that he’d felt badly now for making her feel uncomfortable.
“I am deeply sorry for your loss,” Logan added, genuinely embarrassed for his actions. “All of them.”
Huuna turned back around nodding in respect now to this gentleman, who obviously meant no harm or ill will toward her. Then she headed toward the door.
“Let me extend my services to you in case you want to learn how to read or write,” Logan called after the departing Huuna, causing her to pause a moment again and nod politely to him before continuing on her way.
Saeunn turned to the man after her mother had left, realizing now that she’d missed quite a bit.
“I know you meant no disrespect, but my mother is in no condition to receive your…friendship,” she began to explain in a firm voice. “Our home has been overrun and she is in deep mourning—as am I—over the loss of my father and our kin.”
Saeunn simply stared at Logan, trying to make the man understand what they had been through. “The pain goes deep and is very fresh. If you intend to befriend her, she will need time.”
“Again, …I am truly sorry,” he started to say, and then simply waved her away. “I did not realize what you and yours had experienced. Please extend my deepest regrets to your mother. And good luck with…everything.”
Saeunn thanked him and exited the room.
A short time later, Saeunn was storing her belongings and feeling badly about having to leave her mother after promising the contrary to her father, Scarr. She stopped packing and looked at Huuna, who seemed to be doing a bit of soul searching too.
Huuna was thinking about her husband and her home and the loss she felt, then about the encounter with Logan, which shook her world to its foundation. It affected her greatly in so many ways that she did not realize. She shook it off and suddenly became mindful of her daughter’s plight and so refocused her attention from her own problems to those of her daughter’s.
“Saeunn,” she addressed with a smile. “I have long known that your place is not within the walls of any structure. Your spirit wants to soar free and you need to let it.” Saeunn avoided eye contact at first with her mother until Huuna gently grabbed her face in her hand and turned it towards her own.
“Sae, it is a strange thing that you are a strong and fierce warrior on the battlefield and not so strong when faced with emotional turmoil!” Huuna teased her daughter. “You must fulfill this request and your own destiny. The High Council and the Inquisition are requesting your assistance. Support is what you must give them!”
“But…you are—”
“My daughter! And
I am so proud of you,” Huuna cried out, and then paused a moment. “Saeunn, you will do this. We Chansuk survivors will be fine. We are a strong lot! Remember, I have your father’s sister for comfort, and though this stay may be temporary, we may end up liking it here; I do not know.”
Huuna finished speaking and saw a hint of relief on her daughter’s face. That was something she had rarely seen this last month, she noted, even if it was for a brief second. Saeunn carried her father’s promise seriously, but the time had come for her to be released from it. There were many circumstances that dictated her place to be elsewhere.
The two proud Chansuk women hugged again, then Saeunn continued packing her gear as she felt that her mother was completely honest. That honesty made her feel confident enough and free enough to perform the task at hand properly. There would be no feelings of guilt or regret now when Saeunn left their new home and headed into the unknown. She had her mother’s blessing.
“I will miss you, mother,” Saeunn sighed, hugging her once more.
“I will barely notice you gone,” Huuna teased, drawing a look of shock from Saeunn. “Besides, I may well be learning how to read soon,” she added through a chuckle.
This drew a deep and sincere laugh from her daughter. Huuna had not seen her chuckle like that for a very long time. Saeunn was indeed a strong and proud warrior and now she would show not only the High Council and her peers what she offered in the way of battle prowess, but the originators of this current evil as well.
She finished her preparation and strapped her reliable greatsword upon her rather wide back and headed down the path to the Hall of the High Council with a clear mind and a free heart—truly a barbarian.
The Beginnings Omnibus: Beginnings 1, 2, 3 & Legend of Ashenclaw novella (Realm of Ashenclaw Beginnings Saga) Page 28