"There was a second much smaller portal that opened to the east of Aerwold. Near the village of Tamaya in the forest of Hameyl, the portal opened and closed. It did not reappear or fold as the other did, but we still know that the two are somehow related.
"You said earlier that the globe only reports magic in colors of yellow and blue, correct?" At his student's nod, the wizard bent closer and almost whispered, "These two portals appeared as red blemishes of light, a phenomenon that has never occurred before."
"What does this mean, sir?"
The wizard leaned back with a satisfied smile, "That, my boy, is what you and I and a few others are going to attempt to find out."
Chapter 3- Darius
The village of Tamaya nestled between a pair of hills on two sides and on its eastern end the first small groves of trees disclosed the beginnings of the great forest of Hameyl. The wizards and their apprentices had ridden into the peaceful hamlet to find the people going about their lives as normal. If creatures of otherworldly nature were around, they had yet to make themselves known to any of these villagers.
It had taken a day and a half from the time of Darius’ meeting to this moment and, after all the buildup, the apprentice felt somewhat disappointed by the quiet. Though conversely, he was also glad that he needn’t test his true mastery of magic in a battle with otherworldly creatures either just yet. The people of Tamaya looked at the odd procession of wizards and their tools and quickly moved away. These people were much more superstitious about magic than those of the big cities like those along the Taltan River or along the coast. There the people had to deal with each other and the walls of their cities. They were too crowded and their senses dulled by the stone surrounding them to be afraid of such things as magic. Villagers, like these of Tamaya, were much more in tune with the laws of nature around them. Much of their acts bordered on the mystic or barbaric. Their ties to the earth and the magical properties of the forests and hills made them fear creatures of power such as the wizards.
A small girl held a canvas patchwork doll with both hands in front of her as if her stuffed friend would protect her as no other could. There was a sense of curiosity in her eyes as well though and Darius smiled warmly at her. At his look, the girl's eyes widened briefly before she dodged back behind her mother’s skirt.
Darius shrugged. His mother had told him stories as well of the wizards that would appear from thin air to punish him when he was naughty. He supposed that he must have been able to see through such ridiculous tales even then. His perceptions were keener from the start than his mother had given him credit. His perception of the world around him was the original trait that had drawn the wizards to him as a child.
The wagon that carried Elias and the elder wizard Welden, started forward once again towards the forest. A jangle of glass and metal from the implements settled into the back of the wagon accompanied its every movement. Darius and his fellow apprentice Tate clucked to their horses to follow. Their foursome would use the tools to first find and then make sure that the portal would remain closed.
As the group started to leave the village behind, he could almost feel the sighs of relief from the villagers with their passing.
"Kind of makes you feel wanted, huh?" Tate asked sarcastically from beside him.
Darius turned to his friend and nodded. Tate was a fair haired, tall man from the border kingdom of Desdemona. The two of them had spent most of their life together even though Darius had been born in the south of Eirhden. The school had become their home and family more than those that they had been born to after such a long time. Only a year younger than Darius, Tate was a stolid companion and as much a seeker of learning as he.
Their quick minds were always challenging each other, though sometimes in ways that their teachers frowned upon, mainly the one-up-man ship through practical jokes. Both had been, and still were, frequent visitors to the wizards and their offices that formed the base of the college. He thought that even despite their sometimes juvenile behavior, the teachers still had hope for them. Perhaps that was the reason for this particular trip. Maybe this was a test?
Tate’s mind must have been following a similar line of thought as he offered, “I wonder what we’ll find out there. The wizards have never considered us necessary to seal a portal before.”
“Well, we need to learn sometime, if we ever plan to get beyond being apprentices. This just must be our time.”
They said little of it again as they entered the forest. The dark trunks skirted with gnarled shrubs still sporting their various colored berries and the darkness formed by the overhanging canopy, lent a feeling of the unknown and fear of potential dangers being hidden behind each piece of brush. The group drew into themselves more as they steeled themselves against what they felt but could not see, whether it was merely imagined or not.
When they stopped deep within the woods for the evening, the men started a fire and camped there on the beaten earth in the middle of the roadway. Darius served a turn at watch in the dark of night which was also the final watch before dawn. Though he knew that most of the plains of Taltan Continent may have succumbed to man’s need to settle, the hills, mountains, and assuredly the great forests were far from the safest of havens. It was almost as if they served to fight against the whims of mankind. Such a thought lent little to easing his mind as the night neared its end.
Eventually the gray dimness of first light filtered through the canopy as morning’s dawn fought to make itself known. It was a relief that Darius had never known living in the school for magic most of his life. It was amazing to him how easily just that briefest of first lights could also brighten his perspective quite literally.
With a quick breakfast put down, the quartet moved deeper still into the forest. By midday, the band had stopped again. This time they were forced to unload a portion of the wagon's gear. Darius watched as Elias and Welden performed with their tracking equipment and after careful deliberation, the two old men decided the way they needed to go was off the path. Picking up a few pieces of gear, the older wizards chose Darius to stay behind to watch over the wagon and horses.
“Tough luck, buddy,” Tate said briefly before following the wizards into the unbroken woods. “I’ll let you know if anything interesting happens. I hope you get to be bored.”
“I don’t want boredom, Tay, but if you’re wishing that no thieves or wild animals attack me, then I appreciate your concern, he chuckled at his friend. “Have fun following the wizards into realms unknown,” he retorted.
“Realms unknown?” the other man chuckled. “Perhaps I should ask to trade?”
“Get going!” Darius ordered with a clap to his friend's shoulder. “You know how impatient Wizard Elias gets. You don’t want to have to fear him and the wild animals. Do you?”
With a quick shake of his head and a grin, Tate jogged after the two old wizards.
Darius sat on the wagon awhile. Boredom was beginning to creep up on him as Tate had wished and he decided to practice with some of the equipment to pass the time. Though an apprentice still, he was trained on every piece of equipment in the wagon. He just never got that much of an opportunity to practice with such tools these days, especially not in the field as they were now, so it seemed like a good chance to get a little time in on them.
Taking a translucent piece of glass held in an odd frame that constituted the portable version of the globe of Portalis, Darius began playing with the device. He could pick up a faint crease of red towards the border of the glass when he turned in the direction that the others had followed. It was the reading that the wizards had found to follow and the lightest of blue readings relayed their locations to him as well.
He smiled with the knowledge that he still hadn’t lost his touch after all this time. It took a small amount of his own magic and skill to accurately use a locator. That small magic that Master Elias used was the blue haze that he had used to lock the wizard’s exact location. They weren’t born of magic, after a
ll, and unless the men used it they would be like ghosts to the machine. It was one of the drawbacks to the devices. Sometimes after casting great magic, the leavings of their power covered them like a coat with enough residues to make them known for a time afterward. But wizards were careful in their expenditures and that coating was rarely left behind to find. Each use of magic also took from the overall well being of the man as well which meant even more caution was used with their powers. Without rest in between uses, in fact, the well of energy would run dry. Caution and patience were keys to the wizards’ mentality for just such reasons.
After ascertaining the others’ location, Darius began to slowly turn around in a circle. He turned nearly full away from the others when he noticed a faint glimmer. It was so faint that he thought perhaps a stray beam of light had been let through from above. He looked up briefly and by the time he returned to look at the locator the glimmer was gone.
He turned both right and left in an effort to discover the possible source of the disturbance. Again he caught a brief glimmer that flickered so quickly Darius thought that he was imagining things. Curious, he turned back to the direction the others had gone and found the solid blue light easily and it held steady.
Sweeping back towards the other side of the road, he spotted the readings twice more. They were in separate places and flickered out quickly. He wondered if he was witnessing the birth of a new portal.
His curiosity was peaked. The apprentice began to head in the direction of the last ghost image and continued to search back and forth with the glass. Darius was careful to be very quiet as he proceeded into the woods around him. He tried to look about him to avoid both pitfalls and obstacles as he moved, while he also looked for the source of the strange readings. The reading nearest him seemed to be moving. It may have been a portal trying to establish an actual location on their plane perhaps, he thought.
A flutter of leaves as a bird took flight startled him almost to death as the apprentice continued to try and trace the signal. All of a sudden, the signal seemed to appear in the brush ahead of him. He looked with his eyes and found nothing. Looking again to the recorder, the glimmer had disappeared again. Shaking his head in confusion, he stood directly before the bush and scanned determinedly before turning away to try a new direction.
A sudden rustle from behind him alerted Darius too late that the brush did indeed hide something from his eyes. A pair of hands took hold of him. One passed over his mouth as the second pulled back just below his neck and that one he noted bore a knife aimed at his throat. He allowed the attacker to pull him into the brush even as he willed the blue fire of his order to his free hand.
He was about to use the flame on the arms when a face looked directly at him and he heard a faint feminine voice declare, “Quiet or we’re both dead!”
The voice was so hushed that he almost didn’t hear her over his hammering pulse beat. Some of his excitement came from the look into the strange, almond shaped, blue eyes of his captor laid in silky, smooth skin. A single blond curl escaped a green bandanna hiding the rest of her hair.
The woman was no longer watching him. He looked forward to follow her gaze. A large, furred creature came into view. Thick, black, matted hair covered the creature’s body in rough patches. The monster was easily two feet taller than any man that Darius had ever met.
After searching around it briefly, the beast moved onward. Darius turned slightly in the woman’s grip and noticed an unusual trait to the woman. Above the loop of an earring, the woman’s ear tapered upwards into a point.
Darius’ eyes widened slightly in surprise. A man beast and a pointy eared female? What had he stumbled into?
Chapter 4- Dante
Dante had been forced to spend a night in the woods almost ten miles from the castle. Darkness had fallen and with it the sounds of animals could be heard. Without the safety that numbers provided with his former command, he chose to climb into the bough of a tree. Nearly fifteen feet off the ground, Dante figured that he would go unnoticed by the predators natural to Daronwoods. The unnatural would find him or not, so he refused to worry unduly. The exhaustion caused from the battle during the day quickly sent him to sleep despite the uncomfortable resting conditions.
A squawk from near his head awoke him from the deep slumber. The sun was just rising and the first rays of morn had begun to light up the trees as he rubbed his eyes. Dante searched groggily for the noise that had awoken him. Only a few limbs away, the raven looked back at him as if daring him to fall back asleep.
"Thanks a lot," he grumbled to his shadow. "What have I done to warrant your interest anyway, bird?"
Dante brought out the remains of the food he had found. Breaking off a small piece of travel bread, he threw it towards the bird. As it started to fall, the raven swooped down quickly after it and managed to catch the small morsel in its beak before returning to its perch. He was slightly impressed, but the longing for his breakfast was a larger concern. The soldier ate quickly as he had been conditioned to from army life. When Dante noticed that the raven was finished, he again tossed off a piece which was accepted in much the same way.
After finishing, Dante removed himself from the tree. Soreness was stretched away as best the man could before turning south once again. The castle was still his destination and he intended to make it there before midday. He noticed that the raven continued to watch over him as he walked for whatever reason it had decided. Flying from tree to tree, the ebony winged scavenger dogged his path. Dante soon learned to ignore the bird's antics and the morning passed by quickly as he traveled towards Trea.
His strength had returned fully with the night's rest despite the uncomfortable perch that he had shared with his new friend. Dante soon worked out the soreness with his exercise as well and his gait lengthened. Striding powerfully along, the warrior tore through the miles separating him from his king and castle.
The woods betrayed no other presence to him as he traveled, whether there was man or monster. There were no further signs of battle and he soon came to wonder if the dark army had chosen this path after all despite the destroyed village only a dozen miles away.
When he finally freed himself from the woods, Dante was able to spy Castle Trea. The stone walls of the fortress rose majestically above the surrounding homes of the peasants which made their need of protection easily known. Dante thought perhaps the castle walls would receive their first test in nearly a hundred years, if the otherworld creatures sought out the ruler in their march of death it certainly would.
Such thoughts sped him on his way once again.
A sudden flutter of movement alerted Dante to the raven's presence once more. This time the bird had the audacity to fly straight up to him. The nearer of the two wings clipped his ear as the large bird came to a rustling stop aboard his shoulder. Dante turned his head slowly to look at this strange creature. The black eyes of the raven, which matched the rest of its form, stared back at him totally at ease. Dante thought that he could detect an unusual intellect mirrored in those strange eyes. Strangely, it was comforting rather than eerie.
Since the bird seemed to have come to the conclusion that without trees along the way, his shoulder would do nicely for now, Dante decided to let matters stand and proceeded across the final small hills and valleys to the fortress.
Dante entered the outskirts of the city and immediately noticed that things were unusually quiet. As he walked up the winding street way, he found no one outside of their homes. No children played in the streets under the feet of peddlers and merchants. No wranglers of one kind of animal or another made processions to markets or slaughterhouses. The complete quiet of the city made him worry that he was much too late.
There were no signs of battle, however. Still he pushed on hoping to find the source of the desertion. Dante finally reached the end of the road and found the castle gates closed before him. Knocking on the thick wood and metal bound doors, he heard the sound echo off the surrounding buildings. After se
veral minutes, a voice called from much further down along the great wall.
Dante turned gratefully to see a soldier waving him towards what appeared to be an out-thrust piece of stone attached to the outer wall. He quickly moved to meet the man.
"Come in, sergeant," the guardsman insisted.
"What's happened here?" Dante questioned worriedly. He passed through the small opening in the wall before the soldier answered.
"A few men from the battalion sent to engage the enemy returned just before evening to warn the king of the massacre. King Druin sent out word immediately to the people of the city and had them all come within the walls until our latest patrols could find where the army had gone to. None of the patrols have returned yet.”
"Is the king still accepting information on the matter?”
"Yes, of course, if you go to the main hall, the chamberlain or one of his assistants will take your statement."
The guard turned away from him in dismissal as he resumed his post. Dante knew that such a man would have no other information available anyway and quickly chose a path leading to the castle's hall.
The streets he used on the way were jammed with people. The noise within the confines of the stone walls had been contained by them, but once inside Dante found an incredible racket from people talking, shouting or even crying. He almost wished to be back outside once again. But that was not an option for him, the raven, however, must have felt the same and quickly lifted off from his shoulder. The bird rose up and over the height of the outer wall and disappeared.
The Emperor's Shadow War (Tales of Alus Book 2) Page 2