by Jeremy Dwyer
CHAPTER 26: Dagger and Teacher
The military forces of the Ihalik Empire, under the command of General Serafina, made their way slowly into the heart of the island, anticipating the enemy nearby – the enemy being the Ahitan woman, Victoria. They also anticipated the forces of other empires, such as those of the Jenaldej Empire. The ten thousand (10000) combat troops that made up the Ihalik forces were divided into four (4) divisions of two thousand five hundred (2500) troops each. These divisions slowly made their way through the thick forest.
~~~
Lavakara was unseen to them, using his ability to move through the spirit world as a hidden tunnel, granting him maneuverability that they could not match. He watched the Ihalik forces, looking for signs of a warrior who was capable of defeating him. They were indeed strong, most if not all being drinkers of the waters of the Nabavodel Ocean – the “tiger waters” as they were called. Yet, based on their movements and subtle clues that Lavakara picked up on, they all seemed only one (1) or two (2) steps above average, and thus, unimpressive. He did not bother confronting them – the effort would not be worth the reward: if no one could defeat him, the energy would be wasted. Perhaps, if a conflict were to occur, a superior warrior would reveal himself by his actual performance in combat. Lavakara considered how he might bring this about.
~~~
In other parts of the island, the military forces of the Jenaldej Empire, under the command of General Joshua, who was under the direction of Admiral Gavin, consisted of twenty-four thousand (24000) troops. These were not divided, but carefully arranged in a formation designed to be alert to an attack from any direction, even by an airship that might approach from above. Imperial Prince Emerond, who also accompanied them, was not about to lose troops the way that General Cassandra did in such large numbers previously, and Admiral Gavin followed his careful lead, maintaining high awareness.
~~~
Lavakara also watched the Jenaldej troops, finding them more numerous, and even more pathetic. He thought that they had a small percentage that were one (1) or two (2) steps above average warriors, many who were average, and a few who were one (1) or two (2) or even three (3) or four (4) steps below average. It was a wonder, he thought, that the Jenaldej Empire survived and thrived so long having such military mediocrity. He thought it might be because of a few well-planned critical battle victories that secured them enough prestige so that rivals gave them too much credit, and then assumed that the Jenaldej military was capable of more such successes. Lavakara wanted to test this theory, and considered how he might do so.
~~~
The witch, Fallavakara, traveled through the forest, followed by her undead army. They were slow moving due to the high density of the trees. Like the troops of the Jenaldej and Ihalik Empires, they did not have any recognition that a large part of the forest was actually illusory. Their movements were thus affected. Fallavakara pointed her ruby dagger in a direction that she thought was interesting, and her army would then proceed slowly in that direction.
~~~
Lavakara recognized his former student, who initially showed much promise and focus, but ultimately lost focus and proved to be a complete and utter failure at everything he instructed her to do. He found it fascinating that Fallavakara had an army, and quickly realized that when the ruby dagger she held was pointed in a direction, her army proceeded in that same direction. He wondered where she might have obtained it, and thought that it was unlikely that she possessed the skill and perfect focus to construct it on her own – her focus was always lost at the end, when her thirst for blood returned and distracted her. More importantly, he wondered about the worth of this army. Her forces were interesting in that they were not all human. He counted them exactly, and there were three thousand nineteen (3019) men, four hundred nine (409) wolves and two hundred twenty-seven (227) bats who fluttered by, yet they followed her general direction with that ruby dagger. This was fascinating, and made the potential battle a far better exhibit of the possibilities for the ruby dagger. Lavakara had no sense of humor, or he might have found it comical. It was definitely a curiosity to see how an auxiliary force of animals might affect the outcome. What was disappointing was that most of the men were peasants: farmers and craftsmen and merchants. Not one of them seemed qualified to do anything on a battlefield. This would likely be a slaughter, but he knew that surprises could occur in wartime, and surprise had a value all its own.
~~~
The forces of Fallavakara encountered one of the divisions of the Ihalik Empire forces, which consisted of two thousand five hundred (2500) highly competent troops. The witch had them outnumbered, but not outmatched with armaments or training. Her bats and wolves attacked first, however, striking at the eyes, faces, necks, hands and heels of the Ihalik soldiers, and tearing into their limbs. The animals, by their ferocity and surprise, were quite effective at cutting the Ihalik forces down to one thousand five hundred four (1504) troops. She only lost fifty-three (53) wolves and thirteen (13) bats to the enemy’s swords. Surprise, however, may have been their advantage in eliminating the nine hundred ninety-six (996) Ihalik troops. The remainder of them were surrounded and confused in the forest. The peasant men did not need to fight effectively – they merely needed to get in between the troops and limit their movement in the thick forest. The witch seemed to be alert enough – more alert than what Lavakara was used to seeing of her – and then she did something quite surprising. The witch personally entered the battlefield, and used her ruby dagger to strike at the troops, who could hardly notice or avoid her as they were pinned between trees and animals and peasants. She went about slicing necks and cheeks and wrists with the ruby dagger, inflicting its curse upon them. When she did this, they became her undead servants and stopped resisting, and their numbers declined, and hers increased. By moving from the outside of the enemy troop formation and inward, converting them to her own service by the ruby dagger’s power, she protected herself rather effectively. Fallavakara lost one thousand eight hundred twenty-seven (1827) of her peasants to the sword and skill of the Ihalik troops, but she quickly gained the one thousand five hundred four (1504) Ihalik troops for herself. Now, she had a much more competent force, which still had one thousand one hundred ninety two (1192) peasants, in addition to the three hundred fifty-six (356) remaining wolves and two hundred fourteen (214) remaining bats. Lavakara decided that this made her army very interesting indeed. His failed student, Fallavakara, was now quite dangerous, and he would have to watch her more carefully. She actually focused on a process and obtained a successful outcome. Lavakara wondered if her focus would last.
With her battle victory secured, Fallavakara looked around her and marveled at the feeling of success. She had never achieved anything like this against an actual army, and so she felt a thrill, despite knowing that she had accomplished little and the ruby dagger had accomplished much. She desired true power, and the ruby dagger gave her the hope of having it. Her own meager skills, which were to communicate with the spirit world by drinking the waters of the Zovvin Ocean, afforded her little opportunity to prevail. She was not particularly good at anything she did, although it wasn’t for lack of intelligence, as she could definitely reason and plan. She remembered her old master, Lavakara, whom she hated bitterly for reminding her of her flaws. He felt that there was one real reason for her failure, and that it was her own fault – she was too easily distracted by her addiction to blood.
She was addicted. There were bloody corpses on the ground from the soldiers and peasants who fell in battle, and her thirst returned. She stopped to drink of it, and Lavakara saw this and was disappointed. Then, he was angry – she had thrown away a chance at a meaningful victory. He moved through the spirit world to a location directly next to her, and then he became material again. It was time to teach his former student a new lesson.
A sudden pain shot through her, as Lavakara broke her left arm – which held the dagger – with one snapping motion. She screamed. The ruby
dagger fell but Lavakara’s quick reflexes let him catch it by the hilt before it reached the ground.
“You still have not learned, Fallavakara,” Lavakara said, seething with anger and filled with disappointment at her failure.
“You are no longer my teacher. What do you want of me?” Fallavakara said through the pain.
“Appreciation. Not for me. For the opportunity you had, and then threw away. You had focus, and thereby subdued your enemy. Then, you lost focus and gave your conquest over to me,” Lavakara said.
“I thirst,” Fallavakara said.
“For blood. Yet, you do not thirst for victory. You are too easily distracted. You lack focus at the end, as I have seen before, and I still see now,” Lavakara said.
“To the victor go the spoils. I shed their blood. It belongs to me,” Fallavakara said.
“The treasure you seek cannot save you, and the battlefield is not the proper place for your celebration. Why do you not yet know these things?” Lavakara asked.
“It kept me alive all these years,” Fallavakara said.
“For all the distraction that it causes you, the drinking of blood has given you a lifespan only slightly longer than a century. You have achieved so little power and developed your skills so slowly that you are easily surprised and defeated. Now, I was impressed with your use of the animals in combat – that was a most useful technique, and it is to be commended,” Lavakara said.
“I have my ways, and some of what you taught me,” Fallavakara said.
“You also have my name, as part of yours. Yet you defame it with your carelessness,” Lavakara said.
“No one can see you! How was I to know you were hiding here?” Fallavakara said, still in pain from the broken left arm.
“Yet you know that it is always possible that I might be around any given battlefield, and you did not maintain awareness. You could have held me back for some time. Instead, you handed me an easy opening. The shame is on you,” Lavakara said.
“I am not all powerful,” Fallavakara said.
“Neither am I, yet it is you who readily surrenders to her weakness, in the midst of danger,” Lavakara said.
“The blood will strengthen me,” Fallavakara said.
“Not enough. You never studied true magic – that would be hard work, which you always avoided. Instead, you drink the Zovvin waters only to call out to the spirit world and ask for help. You never help yourself, and that is why you have no real power of your own. Your bloodlust consumes you. That is why you lost the dagger to me,” Lavakara said.
“I’ve had the same body for one hundred thirteen (113) years. The powers of blood mixed with the spirit waters enabled me to stay young and healthy all this time. You just steal bodies after using them up, wasting their potential. How many is it now?” Fallavakara said.
“I use their potential for combat to its fullest. I don’t waste them – these are men who trained to be warriors. You, however, murder skilled craft workers: their abilities are necessary for society, yet you waste their potential to satisfy your bloodlust. You will never amount to anything – not for long. If only you had learned the lessons I tried to teach you,” Lavakara said.
“I’ve learned many things!” Fallavakara said.
“From a demon! You bargained away your soul for little gain. That is the ultimate waste, and your destruction is guaranteed,” Lavakara said.
“I have learned by watching others, so I know how to use their tactics to get what I want,” Fallavakara said.
“But you haven’t learned to keep your focus! You have only learned a hundred (100) ways to drink blood and a hundred (100) ways to fail!” Lavakara said.
Lavakara then looked closely at the ruby dagger and saw what looked like drops of blood inside of it. He surmised that these may carry the power of the dagger. “These must tempt you, the drops of blood inside this ruby dagger. I wonder how close you came to breaking it open just to drink them. That would have been a pity,” Lavakara said.
“I know better than to destroy my own weapons,” Fallavakara said.
“But you don’t know how to keep your own weapons. Now, the ruby dagger is mine,” Lavakara said.
“If you’re so wise and great, then you have no need of the ruby dagger,” Fallavakara said.
“Perhaps I don’t need it, but I shall make better use of it than you did. You did not maintain your initial focus, but gave in to your bloodlust. It was your drunkenness that made you unaware, and your unawareness that brought your failure. You failed in the past, and you failed again now, for the same reason. It seems that you will remain a failed student for all your life,” Lavakara said.
Then, Lavakara took an ordinary dagger – not the ruby dagger – and quickly severed Fallavakara’s broken left arm, leaving her bleeding profusely. She screamed horribly, and shook violently and fell on her face.
“Now, drink your own blood! Let it save you! Perhaps you will now learn a new power – to transfer into another body. That requires a great deal of focus – or you will fail to acquire the new body and lose your grip on the old one, thus dying forever,” Lavakara said, and he left her to die.
~~~
Lavakara traveled through the forest – not in the material world, but in the spirit world – by way of his spirit walking powers. He moved more slowly this time, moving from location to location, only hundreds (100) of feet away, in an instant. The troops and wolves and bats followed him whenever he became material once again and pointed the dagger in the next direction he wanted them to travel. He considered how the dagger could be used to subdue some other forces, turning them to be in service to him. Yet, it was not an army that Lavakara wanted to command: he wanted to be in a perfect warrior’s body, and to command it directly, from within.
Lavakara considered his situation, and the island around him. He knew the Jenaldej Empire forces were here, along with other forces of the Ihalik Empire. He also suspected, strongly, that the Ahitan woman – Victoria – was not here. She would soon have to be found, and killed, if there was to be an orderly world. The thought of the Ahitan Empire returning to power, and murdering the males of the world after mating with them to produce useful offspring, was more than simply unappealing. Their demonic sacrifices of their victims were dangerous beyond imagining. Lavakara knew much about the spirit world, and never had dealings with demons, ever. Those who did always lost, and they lost everything. The Ahitan Empire was assisted by a terrible demon to whom they made their sacrificial offerings.
When they ruled from the sea, the Ahitan Empire launched attacks against the land. Lavakara was far too young to have personally seen the battles over one hundred (100) millennia ago, but had read of the history in the archives of Emeth. And his teacher, Serfex-Paveden-Agrotto, was alive then. He was probably still alive, though Lavakara hadn’t seen him in nine thousand four hundred eighty-one (9481) years. Serfex was a mysterious and ancient man, and he would appear when it suited him, according to a logic that only he understood. Yet, he instructed Lavakara on many things, including the legendary Ahitan depravity and cruelty.
If this tiara of power is what Lavakara had been led to believe, then it would give the Ahitan woman the power over all of the oceans, and the Ahitan Empire would likely rise again, far stronger. What made matters worse was that it was abundantly clear that the Jenaldej Empire of today was far weaker than that of the past which was instrumental in defeating the Ahitan threat.
Killing Victoria and depriving her of the opportunity to use this tiara was one of Lavakara’s top priorities for the moment. Finding the ultimate warrior – who could defeat him and whose very body he could then overtake so as to become the ultimate warrior – was his utmost priority forever.
If he somehow managed to take the tiara from Victoria in the process of destroying her, Lavakara had no intentions of keeping it. He planned to destroy it so that no one else might upset the balance of power. Lavakara was the supreme warrior, and had been for millennia, and he planned on eliminating a
ny threat to his status, whether it was in the form of man or woman, animal or magic item.
CHAPTER 27: Light against Illusions
The illusion dispelling effect of Daven’s earlier song had diminished to very little and then to nothing, and he would have to sing again to bring it back. He, Brant, Zoe and Ovid would have to travel the thick forest the slow and difficult way, so as not to attract attention with a new song. That would have to come later.
Zoe was a drinker of the waters of the Lujladia Ocean, and she took a fresh drink of these waters from the vial she worse on a chain around her neck. She had the power to bend light, and she drank the same waters as the illusionist, Madeline. However, Zoe was not particularly good at creating illusions, as not everyone manifested the same form of a power, even if they drank of the same waters. Instead, Zoe could see around corners, view things clearly at long distances and observe fast-moving objects. That is why she never, ever missed her target with the bow and arrow. One clear sighting was all that she needed.
The power to bend light did not grant the ability to see through illusions, even though it came from drinking the same water that granted the power to create illusions. The trees – both those that were real and those that were illusions – made it difficult to see what was ahead. Zoe could see around corners, for sure, and saw the approach of some bears. One of them saw her, and then began to move toward her, and she struck it dead with an arrow to the neck. All that Daven and Brant saw was Zoe quickly poise to strike, draw back the bowstring and release. The bear was over one hundred twenty (120) yards away. “A bear was moving in for the kill,” Zoe said.
“Where?” Daven asked.
“There, around that corner. Believe me, it saw us, or smelled us, or both,” Zoe said.
