The damage had been done, but now Torz decided to use this event to his advantage. They both knew that the prophecy was of the fourth Quarterstar and its relation to the human king and Kronn, and they planned to exploit it. The sacred information had never been revealed beyond the Mage Masters and a select few graduates of the school.
Now Ra-Corsh knew it and Torz now had it. In his possession he could keep it hidden from all other mages and student mages forever.
Torz and Ra-Corsh took the pages and traveled the land as outcasts. They were searched by mercenaries throughout the land, but they evaded capture and death around every corner. Along the way they picked up a few followers and together became a powerful guild.
To make the prophecy work in their favor, they had planned to return the fourth and true god of the land, Dar Drannon, but only to destroy him. After years of traveling the land, they decided to split up and embark on this most important mission. Torz would go to the northern kingdoms and elicit their power, might and force to prepare for the return of Dar Drannon. Ra-Corsh meanwhile would enter the Goblin Tribes Forest, search out the origin of Gralanxth and summon him to their cause by using the Demon Summoning Spell to help them enter the Halls of Dar Drannon and steal the Ten Books of Magic.
Alaezdar, of course, had only heard tales of Torz and Ra-Corsh and had known a little of the history of their banishment from Wrae-Kronn Islands, but he never knew their mission or what the extended prophecy stated in the Floating Book.
Fyaa, on the other hand, he knew a little more about. Although he had never seen her, or seen Torz and Ra-Corsh either, he did know of her exploits through the tales of the land, but even what he knew was not much more than anyone else in the land knew. She had come to Wrae-Kronn by chance through the Aaestfallia Keep, a keep originally built by the elves to protect and house the Triestones. It was only by chance that she had come through the keep during a period almost four hundred years earlier when the Triestones were weak from the Markenhirth extension, and the barrier between worlds had opened.
It was then that Fyaa and three Birds of Fire, as the land had come to call them, came through the keep. It was an eerie coincidence because the Triestones’ function was to protect the Aaestfallia Keep from opening without an elven mage to work it open. It was during this temporary weakening that she and her birds fell through the keep and into Wrae-Kronn.
Even stranger was the fact that the keep had opened for only a few seconds and then promptly closed. Some say she had been banished from her own land and sent there, but that was pure speculation by the people of Wrae-Kronn. Fyaa’s vicious winged beasts came through the Aaestfallia Keep minutes before she did and they, not knowing where they were or what had happened to Fyaa, either took off looking for her, or as some said, escaping from their master.
Fyaa flew off chasing her charges, but she could not find their trail and she has been looking for them ever since. The Birds of Fire themselves have become a great mystery to the people of Wrae-Kronn because they wreaked havoc for only a short span of time and have since disappeared. Some believe that they are lost in the old abandoned dragon lairs, while others believe that they flew off into the Wrae-Kronn Sea only to grow tired and drown in the great waters. There are also some who believe that they are lost within the Halls of Dar Drannon and that they have made a perfect home within the grimshadows and their like, guarding the Ten Books of Magic. Yet still a select few say that they have met up with the Grimshaeds of Mervyyx.
Alaezdar could not figure out this new relationship between the gronts, Ra-Corsh and Fyaa. While still deep in thought, Alaezdar heard a scream from a few houses down the street. He took off running toward the scream and found Aaelie’s mom running up and down the rows of streets and burning cottages and yelling for her daughter. Alaezdar caught up to her and stopped her by spinning her around and putting his hands on her shoulders.
“Where is Aaelie?” he shouted.
“She is gone. I can’t find her! She can’t be dead, Alaezdar!” she screamed and then covered her face and whispered hoarsely behind her hands, “She can’t be”
“We will find her,” Alaezdar simply said in what he knew was a weak attempt to reassure her mother that she was fine.
Alaezdar unsheathed his sword and left Aaelie’s mom to go search for her daughter, but when he had gone around the corner and out of sight of her, he began to run in a panic throughout the village looking for Aaelie.
***
The people of Valewood worked for hours past dawn putting out the fires before they began salvaging personal items and saving livestock and crops. Though many homes had burnt completely to the ground, the village as a whole was not obliterated. Many of the markets and shops had burned to the ground and were still smoldering, and chicken, horses, goats, and cows were roaming through the village. The water towers and parts of the wooded ducts leading from the towers to the canals had also been destroyed and there was now a muddy mess wherever a tower had once stood. The stage, and every other structure where the once happy residents had celebrated, were now smoldering piles of unrecognizable destruction.
Alaezdar, Morlonn and Rivlok searched the village and its outer perimeter for Aaelie, but they could not come up with any sign or clue to her whereabouts. It wasn’t until after they had exhausted all of their options that they came across a farmer who claimed to have seen Aaelie being dragged away by three gronts, led by the fire woman.
Hearing this information, the three men decided to part ways and round up all of the villagers to discuss what to do next by organizing a meeting back at the center square for early evening. Rivlok first went to Aaelie’s mother to console her, and Morlonn went to his parents’ home to help with their partially burned home. Once Alaezdar had told as many villagers as he could, he went back home to Tharn’s farm and found it untouched.
The rest of the morning the villagers worked tirelessly to put out the remaining fires and to tend to the wounded and bury their dead. Overall, there were thirty wounded, three of them so seriously that they feared they would not make it to see the next day, one missing, and twelve dead.
By midday most of the town was asleep. Many just collapsed in their homes from exhaustion from not having slept for over a day and those who still had a home offered it to those who did not. As a community they would re-build the homes of the unfortunate, but the building would not start that day. Many rose just before sunset and began about some regular business, and although they stumbled around town in a dazed stupor, they had never felt more emboldened before as a community.
As the sun set to the west, a faintly brownish hue from the lingering smoke hanging above them painted the sky orange, creating a beautiful sunset. The inhabitants of the half-burned community of Valewood were assembling at the center of town right at the stage where they all had been when the attack occurred.
Tharn climbed up onto the slightly damaged fountain in the square and began to address the crowd.
“Friends of Valewood, last night was a horribly tragic event. We have lost many loved ones and even one guest from the kingdom of Triel. Many are beginning the grieving process for family, friends and property. However, we must work to together to rebuild what was destroyed and get back on track. We will rebuild, and we will survive!”
“What about Aaelie?” Marlie, Aaelie’s mother, shouted from within the crowd. Tharn looked down at the grieving woman but he did not know what to say. He wished he could just forget poor Aaelie, and secretly he even wished that they had killed her instead of abducting her. He did not know why they had taken her, but he could only imagine the horror she must be going through. Knowing the type of monsters that had taken her caused his imagination to run wild with the horrible possibilities of her fate.
“Where is she? What can we do?” Marlie asked and broke down in
sobs.
“I don’t know,” Tharn said, finally, almost in a whisper.
Rivlok ran to Tharn and climbed up the first two steps to stand next to him.
“I do!” he said. “We track those creatures down and get her back! Morlonn is an avid hunter and an excellent tracker. If anyone can find them, he can. And last night I saw Alaezdar fight like…”
No!” Alaezdar shouted, cutting Rivlok off. “You do not know what you are saying.”
“Yes, I do, Alaezdar! I saw you fight last night with such swordsmanship as I have never seen. You are not who you say you are. Your skills are not those common for a traveling farm hand or a nomad, as you claim.”
“You do not know the power of these creatures. Look at what they did to you. You were no match for them. If I hadn’t gotten lucky with a few gronts, you and Morlonn would both be dead right now. It is just that simple.”
“Stop pretending, Alaezdar. Before I got hit, I saw you fight with skill, not luck.”
“What can we do?” Morlonn shouted. “We can’t just let them take her while we stay here and allow them to do whatever they want with her!”
“No, we can’t!” Kunther burst out, his words followed by an outcry by many others voicing similar opinions.
“You cannot simply go past the Sippling River and into the Goblin Tribes Forest. You will not survive a day alone,” Alaezdar interjected, even though he knew he was opening himself up to fall into a trap that probably would not have a good ending.
“Then tell us, Alaezdar, how you know this,” Rivlok challenged and the crowd began to grumble in agreement with Rivlok. Rivlok raised his hands to silence the crowd and looked directly at Alaezdar. “Lead us, Alaezdar. I plead you. If you don’t, I will go alone, and whoever wants to go may, but I will go no matter what, even if I have to go by myself. I feel you know more than I do about what is out in those woods past the Sippling River. Many of us have never crossed the river, and none of us have ever ventured into the Goblin Tribes Forest just beyond the river. So, you may be correct in saying that we will die, but if you do not go with us, our blood, and Aaelie’s blood, will be on your hands.”
“I will go!” Kunther shouted and he ran to Rivlok. “Whether Alaezdar goes or not!”
Morlonn went to stand next to Rivlok and Kunther. He gave Alaezdar a pleading glance as he turned to face the crowd on the fountain step.
“You and I have not been the greatest of friends,” Rivlok continued, Morlonn standing beside him, and he looked directly at Alaezdar, “but I know you love Aaelie, as well, and you must feel as I do, whether you say it or not, but I know you do.”
Alaezdar stood silent for a few moments and then walked over to Rivlok, still on the fountain, and stood in front of him, looking up.
“You don’t understand how grave this endeavor can and will be,” Alaezdar said flatly.
“I don’t care. What other choice do I have?”
Alaezdar lowered his head, took a deep breath and turned to the crowd. “Does anyone else want to go on this suicide mission?”
No one answered from the crowd, but an old, familiar voice from behind him spoke.
“I will,” said Tharn.
Alaezdar winced and shook his head slowly.
“Anyone else?” he asked as he turned around and saw the hard determination in Tharn’s eyes.
“Then we will go. How many is that…five?” Alaezdar acquiesced. “That will have to be sufficient. We don’t need to bring any more people than we have to. Go home now, get your swords and weapons, and sharpen them. Bring whatever you think you need, but pack lightly. Then get some rest we will leave before first light.”
“No, we leave now!” Rivlok interjected.
“No, we will not!” Alaezdar retorted and felt his face get flush with anger. “That would be foolhardy. I cannot say enough about the seriousness of this quest we are about to embark on. We may not survive past the next day. Besides, you must take in account their traveling party consists of ten to fifteen gronts, one wizard, one witch, and their prisoner, who will be slowing them down. They are on foot and we will be on horseback. We will catch them in two days, if not more quickly, if we are well rested and make less frequent stops than they will make. If we leave without rest, we will be hurting our chances of catching them by not being sharp enough to find them by staying on their trail.
“So collect your food, armor, supplies. Tharn, can you get the horses ready?”
“Yes, I can. I will choose my best and strongest horses.”
“Good.” Alaezdar looked to the crowd. “Let’s all get some rest. We will do everything we can to bring Aaelie home to you.”
The crowd began to mumble and disperse. Alaezdar looked at Kunther and was about to say something when Rivlok grabbed Alaezdar by the arm and swung him around to face him. Rivlok was only inches from Alaezdar and he looked into his eyes with a fierce intensity that told Alaezdar he no longer would be patient with him.
“Wait! I want you to tell me who you are. Right now!” Rivlok hissed so that no one except Alaezdar could hear him.
Testing Rivlok’s patience, Alaezdar turned his back to Rivlok before telling him. “You don’t want to know.”
“Alaezdar, I mean it! Tell me!” he snapped.
Alaezdar stopped, but did not turn around.
“I need to know,” Rivlok said calmly, using every ounce of his restraint to do so.
Alaezdar turned and saw that Rivlok, Tharn, Morlonn and Kunther were all looking at him and also waiting for his response.
He stared at the three men and at Kunther, who was not quite a man, but yet a strong young teenager. He pondered his response. How much should he tell? He questioned keeping nothing a secret or keeping everything a secret. At this point he truly feared they were all doomed to die within the next few days, so it wouldn’t matter how much he told them, he reasoned. Surely his secret would go to their graves with them.
In the darkening evening, he began to tell his story.
“I am known as Rock Blade from Rager’s House of Renegades. I was a hired warrior, swordsman, and assassin. In short, if the price was right to our leader, then I was their servant, no matter what the cause. I was a killer, murderer and hero, all wrapped into one, yet perceived separately and differently, depending on whose side of the mission we were on. That’s what I was, but no longer.”
Alaezdar waited for that information to take hold. He had just blurted it all out, and they stood in shock, not only because they had actually received the information they wanted, but because they realized their village had such a famed mercenary in their midst. Even they had heard of Rager’s House of Renegades, and Alaezdar’s description of the guild was exactly how they understood it to be, as well. Many heard the tales of this guild and some had glorified them as they passed them on, yet all feared them.
They had indeed done many good things throughout the land, but as Alaezdar said, it all depended on the side of the mission one was on and who was telling the tale. Some said they were nothing but a group of murderers and thieves, while others told tales of great heroic deeds disposing of the evilest of men.
“I left Rager’s House of Renegades because I had killed a member of my own in a brief moment of conscience. I attacked, killed and disrupted a raid against one of our mortal enemies, Reikker-Kol.”
“Why did you kill him?” Kunther asked.
Alaezdar took pause at the directness of the question, but smiled at the youth’s carefree attitude, even in the delivery of the question. He should have been fearful of that information. Even speaking to a member of Rager’s House of Renegades could be a dangerous and risky moment. Just mentioning a member’s forename, such a
s the Rock in Rock Blade, could be grounds for a quick and silent death. Although usually a painless one due to the quickness and severity of the attack, because once the name was uttered or even heard by anyone outside of the guild, they were to be dead before it could be repeated or heard by others.
“Red Blade was our mission leader. Our orders were to carry out an assassination of two children of our enemy, Reikker-Kol. Well, the raid had not gone as planned. Eight of us entered his palace disguised in the armor of his own army. Our founder, Carsti Balron, known throughout the land as The Rager, had sent a letter to Reikker-Kol weeks in advance, while he was away. He was not due to return for at least a month. The Rager told him in the letter that his castle would be taken over by our guild by the time he returned and we would hold his children hostage until such time as he returned and surrendered himself to us.
“He never came to rescue his children. In fact, he sent an outside force to seek us out and kill us. We found ourselves trapped in his castle. The man was so ruthless that he didn’t care about the safety of his own children. Red Blade was about to kill the boy when I realized that I could no longer be a part of this wicked plan. I struck first and killed Red Blade and escaped the castle.”
“How long ago was this?” Morlonn asked.
“Actually, not long before I came here to Valewood. I wandered for quite a while, and I initially planned on leaving Valewood and wandering some more. But I liked what I saw here, and I settled here. Even as such, I planned to just stay here for the winter and move on because I knew that the Ragers were looking for me. I ended up staying longer because everyone made me feel at home and feel part of your village. I was eventually going to leave before trouble came to us, but it looks like it came anyhow, just in a different form than I’d expected.”
Alaezdar exhaled deeply, still in thought, and then looked at Kunther.
“Kunther, I want you to go to Daevanwood and search out Carsti Balron and ask him for help. Tell him to come find us on the other side of the Vixtaevus gap, and tell him that I will freely surrender when he comes as long as everyone else in our party is left unharmed.”
The Warrior's Bane (War for the Quarterstar Shards Book 1) Page 15