The Cor Chronicles: Volume 02 - Fire and Steel

by Martin V. Parece II

  The being sensed movement, like a push or perhaps a force lifting him from below. He still floated in the red medium, but something caused his body to move in a direction that felt like up. He had no sense of time, and he could not judge how long this went on for before his body broke the surface. There was warmth on his face and body, and he opened his eyes to see a dark orange sun and a red sky overhead. He turned his head slightly and saw that he floated on the surface of a blood red ocean that extended as far as his eyes could see, and he realized quite suddenly that he needed to breathe.

  “It was not yet your time,” a voice said, booming in his mind. “You have much work yet to do.”

  He closed his eyes for a brief moment, and when he reopened them, the ocean of blood was gone. In fact, he could see nothing but darkness, and he could feel that he lay on a cold stone surface. He inhaled sharply, as if for the first time, and coughed horrendously as the air around him was thick and musty. The coughing went on for several minutes as his chest cleared of thick, sticky globs. As his vision adjusted to the dark, he could see that he was in a small room that was not completely absent of light; a thin ray streamed through the crack of a slightly ajar door. Finding his legs wobbly, but strong, he set himself to escaping the musty prison.

  * * *

  Cor awoke early. Disentangling himself from Thyss’ naked arms and legs, he stepped outside of the spare junior officer’s tent Thom had found for him. It was early yet, and the sun had not broken the horizon. His breath came in white puffs in the chill air, and Cor thought of the journey that was to come. Thom had assured him that Queen Erella would have received the message by now, so today Cor would take his nursery, as Thom had called it, to Byrverus and the queen.

  He stood facing the mountains to the east before cocking his head slightly as if he heard a subtle noise. Cor slowly turned, scanning the horizon as he went. He stopped facing just south of west, staring at the horizon over the great grassy hills and plains of Aquis. He had no idea what he looked for, but it was as if something hovered just beyond his sight or perhaps just below the horizon. Something waited for him out there; he could feel the stirring in his blood, a sensation he had not felt since he fought with the thing that once was Lord Dahken Noth.

  Cor ducked back into the tent and, as silently as possible, began strapping on his black armor. Thyss stretched languidly and then transfixed him with one open eye. It made Cor think he had disturbed a comfortably sleeping cat rather than a deadly sorceress who was also in her own right a deadly warrior. She opened the other eye halfway, considered him for a moment and then rolled over on the cot to go back to sleep. The cat imagery not remotely dispelled, Cor fought back laughter as he turned to again leave the tent.

  Thom had sectioned off part of the least full barracks to accommodate the rest of Cor’s group. As it turned out, most of the soldiers at Fort Haldon were delighted to have children around. Many had their own families, and it served to remind them of what awaited them at home when their postings ended. The men very nearly lined up to be included in whatever game the youngsters played, while Keth and Geoff had taken some beginner’s lessons on swordplay. Fully armored, Cor checked on the Dahken and found most of them still asleep.

  Realizing he had little else to do, Cor proceeded to the stables to look in on his horse. Kelli, of course, always seemed glad to see him, and he thought in the silence as he fed her sugar cubes and brushed her coat. He had told the Dahken that they would be traveling with him to Byrverus and that they would meet the ruler of Aquis. As most of them were of Loszian slave stock and very young, Cor was not sure they had an inkling of what this meant. Regardless, afterwards they would be free to go where they chose, but without families, he had no idea where they would go except with him.

  Cor hoped that he and Queen Erella could now put the past behind them; hopefully, she would be convinced that he harbored no ill will toward the Shining West. She would want to know his intentions; he needed to build a new Dahken stronghold or castle where he could train those he had rescued from Losz. He would also need to go forth and find other Dahken; there was little doubt that more were about in the world. The trick was finding them before the world killed them. He would explain to the queen that his only aggressive intentions were toward the Loszian Empire; he would eventually bring it down completely.

  “Why bother with the Loszians?” Thyss had asked him a few nights previously.

  “The Loszian Empire is an abomination,” he explained. “It operates under a strict caste system in which the bottom level, half or more of the population, is slaves. These people have no free will. They are completely unable to serve their own desires or needs, but break their backs at the whims of a decadent and disgusting ruling class of necromancers. Put yourself in their position and tell me what you would do.”

  Thyss took a moment to answer, and when she did, her voice was merely a whisper, “I would burn it all down.”

  “Remember that the next time you think to ask me that question,” he had said to her.

  Cor did not know what he was going to do with Thyss. He knew she would come with him to Byrverus, and no doubt find some way to challenge the queen. But he had no illusions; Taraq’nok’s description of her had been terribly accurate. She would not wait around for adventure while he spent the next five or ten years training and teaching the Dahken. No, she would grow bored, and she would leave him to go elsewhere, anywhere.

  The thought turned Cor’s stomach upside down, and he was not sure how to handle the feeling. He wondered that he may be in love with the elementalist from Dulkur, and it was a bizarre thought. In his time at Sanctum, he had read many scrolls, journals and memoirs of Dahken, and he could not recall any of them discussing love. Even Lord Dahken Rena, the previous wielder of Soulmourn, had described sexual encounters in exacting detail, but she had never once discussed the emotion of love. Perhaps as the Dahken secluded themselves from the rest of society and continued to build their own strength, they lost sight of certain parts of their humanity.

  He wondered if Thyss loved him. He wondered if that would be enough for her.

  Lost in these thoughts, Cor failed to realize that the sun had broken the horizon, and the fort’s activity level was picking up. Patting Kelli one last time, he left the stables and returned to his tent to find Thyss awake and beginning to dress. He waited for her to finish, admiring her as she did so, and together they left for Thom’s quarters.

  There were no long goodbyes in this military camp. Thyss and Cor breakfasted with Thom while the other Dahken arose and ate their own meal. Thom had dispatched his quartermaster immediately upon waking to make sure the Dahken were properly provisioned for the trip to Byrverus, and the group left Fort Haldon well before noon. Thom wanted to send an escort with the band, but Cor declined. The two men clasped each other’s arms, and Cor genuinely hoped that he would again see this ranger and captain of men.

  A quiet ride through the country, which lasted Cor and two soldiers of Aquis a mere week not so long ago, now took him almost twice as long. Though well rested and incredibly resilient, the children logistically required more time to travel than three men. They needed more sleep and required more time to eat meals, but Cor pushed himself to be patient. The threat of armed pursuit had passed, and there simply was no need to rush anymore.

  Cor spent most of his time thinking, and due to the lack of conversation, Thyss had dropped into a sort of belligerent melancholy. He ignored her for the most part during the day, but gave her whatever attention she craved once they had stopped riding to rest. He thought over the coming audience with Queen Erella, and how he would explain to her his future plans. He needed money to build a new Sanctum, a stronghold in which his Dahken would live and learn of their strength. He thought of the jeweler in Worh, capital of Roka; with any luck, the man would have a sizeable sum awaiting Cor from the sale of a gem that was fit for a king. Perhaps, he could convince the queen Herself to aid in the construction, considering his long term goal was
to reclaim Losz for the Shining West. He would need to train the older Dahken first, and then he would send them forth into the West to find more. Cor continued to lay down plans in his mind, and he decided he would have to spend the next fifteen years at least training the Dahken he had with him now.

  Thyss would not wait fifteen years.

  Cor continued to feel an almost magnetic pull from the west, slightly south of the setting sun. It had been easy to ignore at first, but it grew stronger with each passing day, and he knew he would have to deal with it, perhaps right after meeting with the queen in Byrverus. They were just over halfway through their journey to the capital of Aquis when Cor felt a startling sensation, as if his blood may actually try to exit his body through his pores. Whatever or whomever it was, the thing that called to him was moving, and he was certain that it was coming toward him.

  The rolling hills had long given way to rich plains as they traversed the road between Fort Haldon and Byrverus. Cor knew they were within a few days journey when the great plains began to change to occasional farms, followed by huge sprawling farms and small village centers. The huge farms then turned into smaller farms and large numbers of cottages with inns, mills and smiths. They began to see many people about these places, and there was no shortage of long stares from the commoners. Though they were still several miles away, Byrverus was in sight now; so massive, the city gleamed in the sun like a beacon for all who would travel there. Within a mile of the city walls, a score of armored men stopped Cor and his group. Cor recognized the man at their head, the same captain who had brought him before Queen Erella months before.

  “Dahken Cor, welcome back to Byrverus,” he said. “Her Majesty sent me to meet you and escort you to Her palace.”

  “Thank you, Captain. Might I assume that Her Majesty’s hall can accommodate my companions?”

  “I am certain She would expect no less, sir.”

  With that, the mailed soldiers took up flanking positions on either side of the Dahken, and the captain led them into the city. Cor’s Dahken gasped in awe and stared at the awesome city; they had never seen anything of the like. They traversed the heart of the city, heading directly for the palace and main temple of Garod. There were no stares or fingers pointed at the group; the city dwellers of Byrverus were too busy with their day to day tasks, and most of them had seen it all as far as they were concerned. However, the children openly gawked, and he was content to let them do so. Even Thyss failed to completely mask her interest with her practiced look of disinterest, and her eyes drank in every aspect of the largest city in the Shining West and possibly the world.

  Beyond the weather having cooled, it appeared that nothing had changed at all in the great city. Everything was exactly as Cor remembered, including the beautiful plaza connecting the palace and temple. Despite the constant bustling activity, the city was peaceful in a way, as if the people were content and sure of their safety from the dangers of the outside world. Cor wondered what most of these Westerners would do if real war were to again come to Aquis.

  They dismounted outside of the palace, and the guards escorted the group into the palace. The children continued to stare and point in awe, while the teenagers and Thyss had finally settled into calm interest. The wet nurse, Celia, paid little attention to any of it; she simply followed the group, her attention focused on the infant she carried. There was no wait for admittance into the palace’s great hall; no doubt the queen awaited him for days, and she was prepared to see him immediately upon his arrival.

  Upon entrance into the hall, he saw her sitting upon her throne, examining his group with a practiced eye, but relinquishing no clue as to her thoughts. The old man who was her advisor stood to her right, and he coughed lightly into a small handkerchief. Cor approached her raised dais slowly while removing his helm, and then, somewhat uncertain as to why, went down onto one knee before her. Most of his group hesitantly followed suit, excluding Thyss, whom Cor noted held a disdainful grimace upon her face.

  “Rise Dahken Cor,” she said. “It is interesting to me that you now show respect. I would ask what you found in Losz, but the answer seems obvious between your black armored countenance and those who follow you. I truly did not expect to see you again. Why have you returned to Aquis?”

  “I have slain the Loszian lord responsible for my parents’ murder,” he answered. He then half turned and motioned as those behind him. “Majesty, I present to you the future of the Dahken and perhaps the future of the Shining West.”

  “Interesting, and who is this exotic foreigner?” she asked. Cor had not expected the queen’s interest in Thyss, and the question gave him pause.

  “I am Thyss of Dulkur, Elemental Priestess of Hykan,” Thyss said in her thickly accented Western.

  “You show this court no respect, Thyss of Dulkur, and you dare mention the name of a heathen god before my throne.”

  “A heathen god in your eyes, but King of the Gods in mine. A god of whom you dare not deny existence, Queen of Aquis,” Thyss retorted, and her voice contained a dangerous note of challenge. The assembled crowd hissed and murmured to each other about the audacity of this woman, and the old man called for silence.

  “As I must treat you as a dignitary from an empire we have little relations with, I will allow your tone to pass Thyss of Dulkur, but do not push too far lest you find yourself unable to return,” the queen said softly. She then turned her eyes to Cor. “What do you here, Dahken Cor?”

  “I have come to discuss with you my plans and hopes that the Shining West and the Dahken may find common ground, Majesty.”

  “And what ground would that be?” she asked in response.

  “It is time to free the Westerners who remain enslaved to the Loszian Empire. It is time to end the reign of evil over half of this continent,” Cor declared loudly. The onlookers had mixed responses, from mild cheers to guffaws.

  “How, Dahken Cor, do you expect to accomplish that? With an army of children?” Queen Erella asked, and this evoked laughter from the assembly.

  “Majesty, the Dahken are among you, regardless of what you know or believe of them. We are born to all classes, in any nation, and we are ostracized or even murdered at birth. Only the Dahken can help you defeat the Loszians. The children you see before you represent the first of the new generation of Dahken and more will follow. I will build a castle in Aquis, a stronghold such as Sanctum once was, and as was once done, I will find more Dahken and bring them to our stronghold to learn of their power.”

  “And you would expect me to allow this?” the queen interrupted him. “To create a small army comprised of your kind? You would expect Aquis to allow you to erect a castle so that you may destroy us from within with the power of your evil god? You would expect me to allow you free reign over the lands of the Shining West to find more of your abominable kind? You expect much, Dahken Cor.”

  Queen Erella stood from her throne as she spoke, and her voice had risen as if with a violent rage, though her face remained as impassive and calculating as always. The crowd had gone completely silent; some of their eyes locked on their queen, while the rest bored into Cor’s back like daggers. He had expected she would have this reaction, but hoped for otherwise; it showed just how entrenched her beliefs of the Dahken were. As he replied, he kept his voice as calm and reasonable as possible.

  “The Dahken are not evil. The god from whom we spring is Dahk, the God of Blood. All Rumedians have blood, and as such, a Dahken may be born to anyone. I neither worship him, nor any god, but they all exist in our world and must be recognized. The Dahken history, as translated by The Chronicler, shows that the Dahken didn’t stand with the Loszians, but neither did they help the Westerners in their plight. That was a mistake, and they paid for it dearly when The Cleansing came to them.

  “I am here to make amends for the mistakes of the past. I ask you to judge neither me, nor the Dahken based on your view of history. Judge me for who I am, what I have done, and what I will do.”

  �
�You admit to having murdered a venerable priest of Garod and twelve of my soldiers, do you not? That is a crime punishable by death,” she said, her voice very quiet though it carried well through the hall.

  “I admit to having defended myself against men who killed my mentor and tried to kill me also. One even dealt me what should have been a killing blow, had I not spilled his blood before I died. I have no guilt over it. And if you wanted me dead for that crime, you would have had me killed last time I came before you. Certainly, you would not have risked the lives of Thom and his garrison to save me from the Loszians,” Cor reasoned. “Majesty, I know that you don’t trust me, and you’ll likely not be surprised to learn that I don’t much trust you. Powers in this world, Her Majesty included, have worked to manipulate me from the day I was born. Trust starts with one person. I have never lied to you, and I ask you to trust me. In return, I will make myself your loyal servant, and together we will free the rest of Garod’s people.”

  Queen Erella dropped back heavily in her throne in shock of this man who stood so confidently in front of her. He was barely out of boyhood, but he spoke with a well reasoned mind. This Dahken Cor was far wiser than his age, and he spoke in a way that made one listen. And here he was, standing in her hall, with over a score of his people and one exotic, arrogant foreign woman standing behind him. What was it about him that made people listen to him and follow him? Even now, she, Queen Erella of Aquis and High Priestess of Garod, wanted to stand and proclaim her agreement to his ridiculous claims. She needed to think over the entire situation.