Having grown up in either southern Aquis or a sailing vessel, Cor had experienced few snowstorms in his life. In fact the only one he remembered was the blizzard that struck his home on that one frightful night many years ago. This was nothing of the sort - a ceiling of hard gray clouds dropped wet fluffy flakes steadily for hours. It was actually quite beautiful, and even the warm blooded Thyss found it wonderful to watch. However, after a almost a full day of it, the snow came nearly up to a man’s knees. The footing underneath grew treacherous, and general feelings of those who traveled in the storm grew gloomy as the clouds overhead.
Nothing could be done about it however, and Rael did not let up on his training regimen for the young Dahken. During the months in Byrverus, Rael had rewritten as much of the Chronicler’s histories as he could remember, as closely as he could remember it, and he lectured on it during the cold, snowy nights. Commander Thom would listen in on the history lectures, often quietly smoking a pipe, and occasionally remarking that he had never heard of something that Rael related.
Rael continued teaching the Dahken to fight, something in which Thom joined. Cor watched as the venerable ranger and garrison commander showed great interest in the gray skinned children, helping Rael teach basic swordsmanship, and Thom in fact spent many hours with Keth during the evenings. There was nothing more Rael could teach him about his blood, the boy purely needed to become a more skilled fighter.
Having never before seen a blood ghast, nor ever known a Dahken who had, Rael had no direction to offer Geoff. At Rael’s behest, Cor agreed to allow Geoff to spend time by himself away from the main camp to work on manifesting the creature and controlling it. Rael wanted no accidents. On several occasions, Cor would stand on one of the crests of the rolling hilltops near the Spine and watch Geoff in the small valleys below him. More than once he saw the reflection of Geoff’s meager fire playing off the “skin” of his blood ghast, and sometimes the thing even moved despite there being no foe to combat.
There was something else that concerned Cor about the boy; he would occasionally find Geoff staring off to the east, into the mountains that were now not far away. Cor knew what the boy felt, and Rael had of course explained to all of the Dahken the pulls they would feel as they grew powerful. Even still Cor felt a need to discuss it with the young Dahken, and he did so on an early morning when the sun’s light was just beginning to outline the mountains in purple and blue.
“Something calls you, doesn’t it?” Cor asked, coming to stand to Geoff’s left on a hillcrest.
“I think so. I’m not sure Lord Dahken,” Geoff answered, his stare unmoving. He did not act as if Cor startled him, but also showed no sign that he had heard Cor’s approach.
“Have I told you how I was led to Soulmourn, and how I recovered Ebonwing? As time passes, that pull you feel will become stronger, and sooner or later you’ll have no choice but to go to it.”
“Do you think it’s in that strange place where you found your fetish?” Geoff asked, motioning at Ebonwing.
“No, that would be more south of us than anything. No, you’re looking into the heart of the Loszian Empire past Fort Haldon. If I had to guess, I’d say you are feeling something in the catacombs below Noth’s obliterated tower. We Dahken have a long history of robbing the dead. Perhaps that’s why we’ve always placed our fallen in tombs instead of the ground.”
A shiver ran through Geoff; for the winter morning air, the talk of Losz or other ghoulish things, Cor could not be sure.
“How will I find it?”
“When it’s time, you’ll be led to it easily enough,” Cor said. He turned and placed his left hand on Geoff’s shoulder before walking back to oversee the packing of camp.
It was late in the day when they finally arrived, the winter sun already low in the western sky, and Fort Haldon had changed substantially since Cor had seen it just a few months ago. Activity bustled everywhere as stonemasons, carpenters, laborers and foremen crawled across the area like ants as they performed various tasks. Several new but small buildings had popped up, and there were a large number of workers in an area against a cliff face. He noted also that the wooden palisade protecting the pass was being reinforced on the outside by huge granite blocks. Cor knew it would eventually turn into a true wall with battlements and a massive gate.
On the way, Thom went over the entirety of the construction plans with Cor, Rael and Thyss, though Thyss’ interest was nearly nonexistent. The cliff face was a convenient location for the keep, and a curtain wall would be placed in a semicircle around it. Cor wanted an additional wall that would surround the entire complex on the Aquis side, just in case an attack came from that direction. At first Thom argued the point that such a thing was highly unlikely, but he eventually conceded, though they agreed that it would be the last thing to be built. Queen Erella’s architects estimated that the entire project, excluding the additional wall, would take close to seven years; by then Cor hoped to have over a dozen full fledged Dahken warriors.
Cor took a brief tour of the site with Rael, Thom and a continuously listless Thyss, but they did not spend too much time pouring over details. They had tomorrow, and many months to come, to review the details. Famished, their stomachs ached for a real meal instead of travel rations, and they quickly ended their tour and moved on to dinner. The Dahken shortly settled in to bed early, including Keth and Geoff, sleeping two to a tent much like the last time they had been here.
* * *
It was a simple plan. The “foreman” waited outside the buildings in the darkness dressed in black, tar coating his face and hands. He presumed they would all come together and then separate, but the plan could not be left to such chance. He would wait and watch for the marks to come to their quarters. Once they arrived, the two lovers in one building and the older man in his own, he would pelt each roof with a small stone. The men inside would then start counting down. Each had a half hour glass, and after four full turns, they would kill their marks.
He didn’t have to wait long before the marks approached with the garrison commander. They were exactly as described by Larnd, lean and dangerous, but that didn’t matter. The most deadly warrior would fall beneath the blades of his assassins if that warrior was asleep, and he left nothing to chance. A killing stroke would not be necessary as the blades were coated with a relatively quick and deadly poison. Arms were clasped, and the garrison commander soundlessly took his leave back to his own quarters. The trio separated exactly as expected.
After he heard both doors open and shut, he signaled his men inside and sat down against one of the buildings to wait with his own half hour glass.
The two men in the false ceiling turned their glasses and waited, listening intently for the lack of moving sand that they should turn them again. Their marks were a young warrior and a beautiful witch from the east, potentially two dangerous foes, but the plan neutralized that. They heard the expected fumbling around - thuds from footsteps between the rooms, the clinking of armor as it was removed and the sound of bodies flopping into a soft bed with contented sighs.
They turned the glasses over, starting the flow of sand through the next half hour. As the minutes passed, other sounds came from the bedroom below, and the muffled grunts and moans made it obvious what was happening. Perhaps it wasn’t a terrible surprise now that they had private quarters and a soft bed after a long ride. It was all the better for the two would exhaust themselves even more, and that would make the job that much easier. The assassins turned their glasses a third time.
The sands ran out again, and they turned the glasses the fourth and final time. In a half hour, the sands would run out, and it would be their time to strike. But the couple was still at it, showing no signs of slowing. They could wait, but the third assassin would have no idea that the plan had changed. If the other murder didn’t go well, the two below would be warned, and the whole affair would come apart. Larnd would not be happy, and that is a bad thing.
The sands ran out.
The man meant to kill the witch sprung, dagger in hand, and it was then that his world exploded into light, colors of yellow, orange and red. A heat unlike anything he’d ever felt infused every fiber of his being; it was like the warmth of the sun on your face on a winter day, but it was ten thousand suns. He tried to open his eyes but found he couldn’t, and something boiling hot stung the cheeks of his face. Someone screamed incessantly, pausing only long enough to take another breath and again scream. His dagger gone, he could think only of escaping the heat into the cold winter’s night air. He found a door pull, the cold metal very soothing against the skin of his hand, and yanked the door open. The assassin then ran screaming into the night.
* * *
Cor paced Thom’s quarters, his temper raging as he clenched and unclenched his fists. He felt a tingle in the back of his skull, Soulmourn and Ebonwing pushing him to action, begging him to slay. He ignored it, though he allowed the sensation to fuel his anger. Thom for his part sat quietly, coolly with his feet up on a small table while they waited. Rael stood solidly and placed a hand on Cor’s shoulder in a suggestion of calm as the Lord Dahken paced by.
Rael had easily dispatched his would be assassin with a sword thrust through the heart from behind. The Dahken said he had always had trouble sleeping in unknown places; he’d been sitting in a corner of the room quietly, just listening to the night. The assassin came down facing the bed where his target should have been fast asleep, and he hadn’t stood a chance.
As it was, things could have gone badly for Cor and Thyss; he had wanted to go straight to sleep, but the always hot blooded elementalist had other plans. It was pure luck he’d been looking up at that exact moment. Thyss reacted instantaneously with anger and power, lighting a blue ball of flame in her palm. She blew into it as if blowing a kiss, and the flame changed colors and streaked in a sheet toward the two men, instantly setting their hair and clothes ablaze. One man fell dead almost immediately, while the other ran screaming into the night; he didn’t get far.
Thyss’ magic managed to set the entire room on fire as well, and it was all they could do to retrieve their clothes, armor and weapons before the ceiling came crashing down around them. In their exit, they nearly ran headlong into Rael, and the older Dahken watched the buildings roof burn and fall in while Cor and Thyss dressed themselves.
They immediately ran to Thom’s newly expanded quarters, waking him and his family as Cor barged right through the door. He did not suspect the veteran of duplicity, but anything untoward that happened at For Haldon was Thom’s responsibility. Thom, a true professional, shook off sleep quickly and laid out the plans for the current stage of construction. He called for two of his men to retrieve the foreman responsible for the buildings, thinking that perhaps there they could find some answers. After a wait during which Cor seethed and Thyss dozed, the men returned with no sign of the man.
“Find him!” Cor yelled at them, causing Thyss to open both eyes and glare at him. “Wake the entire fort, search and find him. No one rests until we do! Go!”
The men paused uncertainly, edging toward motion, but looking at Thom.
“Lord Dahken Cor is your lord and mine. Obey his orders without hesitation,” Thom said and paused; after the men left he said to Cor, “The men are not used to taking orders from anyone but myself. I apologize Lord, I will correct it immediately.”
Cor waived it away saying, “I don’t care about that right now, Thom. I want to know who just tried to kill me, us.”
“Hykan damn it, Cor!” Thyss swore loudly. “Don’t you understand? He’s gone, and if he’s any good at his job, we’ll never know who he was. Now I am going to sleep in Thom’s bed! Is anybody joining me?”
Cor watched open mouthed as she stormed through a doorway into an adjacent room. Thom chuckled softly to himself, leaning his face heavily on his palm. “Lord Dahken,” he said, “please go with her. My wife sleeps with the children for the rest of the night, and I will be fine here.”
Cor heard Rael sigh loudly as he turned and followed her.
They met the next morning with clearer minds and calmer tempers. It was clear that the last assassin, the foreman that arranged the entire affair, was gone. The only trace left behind was a set of tracks in the snow leaving Fort Haldon, but these disappeared quickly as the sun shone and warmed the air. Thom showed great concern over his lord’s safety, but Cor convinced him that they needed to protect the younger Dahken as well. Whoever wanted Cor dead may very well strike at those who had not yet learned of their powers.
They would build a small barracks, really little more than a dormitory for the Dahken. It would have one large room in which most of them would sleep and about a dozen small rooms for the older Dahken. These would have little room for more than a bed on which to sleep. Four sets of larger quarters would be adjoined to the barracks, one for Thyss and Cor and one for Rael, with two to remain empty should they be needed later. They designed the building with large double doors at either end of the building’s length, and these would be guarded at all times, as a handful of other men walked a perimeter. Thom hand picked the men for these positions; no new faces from Byrverus would safeguard the Dahken.
An architect drew up the plans quickly, as they were rather simple, and ground broke on the project before the day ended. Cor wanted the building complex finished immediately, and no small part of their resources were diverted to the project. There was little doubt to Cor’s mind that the attempt on their lives had its roots in either Losz or, more likely, Byrverus. He doubted that the Loszians, as lazy and self absorbed as they seemed, would have gone to the trouble. As such, it would be about two weeks before the person behind the attack knew of its failure. And then, what would happen next?
9.
Palius sat in his chair before a raging fire, wrapped in a heavy brown robe over top of the normal white robes he wore daily. He had found this winter to be increasingly cold even though most considered it relatively mild other than one recent snowstorm. He knew he was dying, as did Queen Erella and most of the palace, but he refused to make a bother over it. The old man coughed occasionally, something he tried to remedy by adding more layers or stoking his fire, all the while saying that he merely had a cold. In his chair before his fireplace is where Palius could be found more often than not, for he could not stand the deep cold of the rest of the palace. All of his meals came to him here, as did Queen Erella when she needed him for counsel or aid, and she came to him with decreasing frequency as the days advanced. Those who entered Palius’ chambers typically found themselves sweating in a matter of minutes or even seconds.
This day, like most days, Palius sat in his chair and stared at the fire, waiting. He waited for his queen to need him, he waited for news that he may think over, and he waited for the icy hand of death to close its grip about him. He coughed loudly twice, a deep rumbling cough from down in his chest, accompanied by wheezing and the momentary sensation that he was drowning. Palius inched his chair closer to the blazing hot fire, unaware that his underclothes were soaked against his body.
Palius thought of the Dahken and Fort Haldon every day. He wondered how they fared making the journey from Byrverus back to the outpost, especially having to trudge through a good bit of cold, wet snow. And the snow would have been worse closer to the Spine. It would make life easier if a number of them had died from exposure on the way, and it certainly would help his conscience if he didn’t have to arrange the slaughter of children. On the other hand, he did it all for the Shining We
st and Queen Erella, and Palius knew that Garod and his queen would forgive him in the end.
The death of every Dahken at Fort Haldon was absolutely necessary to the security of Aquis and its queen. He must force the Dahken back into obscure history as they were before the birth of Cor Pelson. In a generation or two, no one would even remember the gray skinned abomination. Any Dahken babes born in the future would be thought of only as sickly children and oddities, and their existence as a race would be finally and completely purged.
A knock at his oak doors broke him from these thoughts. Slightly irritated, he turned his head to consider the sound as the knock came again somehow more insistent. If it were the queen, she would have simply entered, but no one else had such privileges. He considered ignoring the knock in the hopes that the offender would just go away when it sounded a third time, this time the dull thud of a palm being slammed against the heavy door.
“Enter,” Palius called resignedly.
“Sir,” a guard captain in mixed plate and chain armor with the seals of Aquis emblazoned upon it entered Palius’ chambers. “A man, an undesirable I might say, is at the palace entrance demanding to see you. He says he has an urgent message for you. We pushed him off, but he wouldn’t leave. I suggested that he use proper channels tomorrow, but he says the message cannot wait, nor does he trust it in anyone’s hands. One of my men got a little rough with him, and well, it didn’t turn out well. Sir, I know you don’t feel well, but perhaps you could come look into this?”
The Cor Chronicles: Volume 02 - Fire and Steel Page 9