Falk spun his head around while the Glower Bear, still standing on his hind legs, stretched up his nose in an attempt to catch their scents.
‘Tlik stopped him from ripping the blessing of the gods out of my body. He sacrificed himself and there’s been a kind of recoil…HE, WHO FORCES has simply disappeared.’
The old Forest Guardian’s eyes suggested he believed what the apprentice was saying. He looked critically at the Glower Bear, then gave a cautious nod.
‘You could be right. He’s behaving like a normal bear at the moment.’
‘And what are we supposed to do with a giant bear standing right in front of us?’ asked Trogadon urgently. ‘The beast is still dangerous, damn it.’
Falk scratched his beard.
‘We’d better think of something quickly, he won’t hold on to his free will for much longer.’
‘Is there any way that Selsena can calm him down?’ Ahren asked quickly. After all, the Titejunanwa had helped him free Culhen that time. The circumstances might have been different then, but the principle was still the same.
Falk looked as if he’d just bitten into a lemon.
‘She can try, but she’s not going to like it.’
‘I couldn’t care less if she likes it or not’, snapped Trogadon. ‘If it works, then I personally will comb her down every day for the whole of the next moon until her coat is shining all over’.
Falk nodded and tilted his head while he made his request to Selsena.
A short time later and they were all feeling calming waves of gentleness and contentment rolling over them.
Everyone dropped their weapons with the exception of Trogadon, who looked around irritated.
‘Has she started?’ he whispered.
Ahren nodded and tried to disregard the Elvin warhorse. He watched the Glower Bear, who had gone down on all fours, intently. The bear grumbled contentedly, and Falk hurried up to the smoke-covered beast.
‘Shoo, shoo’, he called and waved his arms in front of the bear’s enormous face, which was the same size as the broad-shouldered man’s upper body.
The Dark One turned with a grumble and trotted away into the night.
‘He was almost going to curl up into a ball and settle down’, said Falk, while he was reading Selsena’s thoughts. ‘The last thing I need during the Naming is a sleeping Glower Bear that could attack us at any moment. Selsena is going to escort him for a while. She says the other Dark Ones are also behaving like normal animals and are not under HIS control.’
They turned towards Jelninolan, and Falk gently shook her by the arm. She opened her eyes and looked at him with tired eyes.
‘You can stop now. The connection between HIM, WHO FORCES and his servants seem to be impaired. They’re behaving like normal animals at the moment and you’ve probably blown the swarm all the way to over the Eastern Sea’, he said with a wink.
The elf looked at him in wonder and finished the spell.
‘What happened?’ she asked, confused.
‘Later’, said Falk tersely. ‘We don’t know how long of a breather we have, and Uldini doesn’t seem as fresh as a daisy. Let’s complete the Naming and get out of here.’
Everyone was back in position and Uldini continued with the ritual.
The Arch Wizard was bathed in sweat by now and his voice was hoarse with exhaustion.
‘May the Einhan of the dwarves impart to us if he supports the selection of the aspirant here present, and if he considers said aspirant to be worthy of bearing the burden of a Paladin conscientiously and diligently’, he intoned.
Trogadon stood there with arms folded and winked at Ahren.
‘Sure, why not’, he responded.
Uldini cleared his throat impatiently and the dwarf quickly added: ‘the Einhan of the dwarves considers the aspirant to be worthy’.
‘May the blessing of HIM, WHO IS be upon the aspirant and may the sacred armour and weapons serve the Paladin well’, continued Uldini.
Trogadon made an apologetic gesture with his hands.
‘Sorry, son, at this point you’d be getting my armour, but as was already said, we’re improvising here. When we get as far as Thousand Halls, I’ll forge you something decent, and that’s a promise.’
Uldini looked daggers at the dwarf, who promptly stopped talking.
‘May the Einhan of the elves impart to us if she supports the selection of the aspirant here present, and if she considers said aspirant to be worthy of bearing the burden of a Paladin conscientiously and diligently’, said Uldini.
‘The Einhan of the elves considers the aspirant to be worthy’, said Jelninolan simply and with a warm if tired smile, which Ahren responded to by nodding gratefully.
So far, the apprentice felt no difference at all, which seemed somehow strange to him.
‘May the blessing of HER, WHO FEELS be upon the aspirant and may her servant protect him from all dangers in his travels, be they physical or spiritual’, Uldini’s voice intoned.
Ahren waited with bated breath. They had explained the ritual to him beforehand, and now the time had come when his companion animal should appear. Ahren was secretly hoping for a Titejunanwa so that he could ride off with his master and Selsena, but perhaps it would be a Griffin. Only one Paladin had managed to earn a Griffin until now and the thoughts of flying was very exciting. Several heartbeats passed by. Everyone kept their eyes peeled on the where their light met the darkness, but nothing stirred.
‘There is no normal animal in the surrounding area’, said Jelninolan in a comforting but almost apologising voice. ‘I’m sure it will come to you in the next few days.’
‘I, as human Einhan, consider the aspirant to be worthy of bearing the burden of a Paladin conscientiously and diligently. May the blessing of HIM, WHO FORMS be upon the aspirant and his form prove itself against coercion from within or without.’
Ahren felt a small but subtle change for the first time, once he had heard these words. Like a door closing quietly because it was caught by a breeze, it seemed as if a diffuse connection to the Adversary had been cut, a connection that had been ever present if barely tangible his whole life long. Suddenly he was breathing more freely and the air around him smelled more intense. The colours were brighter, and a surge of joy overwhelmed him. His eyes welled up with tears as Uldini finally said: ‘Dorian Falkenstein, do you accept this aspirant as Paladin and are you willing to teach him everything he needs to know?’
Ahren turned to face Falk, who looked at him with a dignified look and scratched his beard for a moment as if considering his answer.
‘I accept the aspirant as one of our own’, he finally said, and Ahren could do nothing but give a laugh of relief.
‘Then I hereby seal the Naming’, intoned Uldini in a loud voice.
‘Welcome, Ahren, the Thirteenth of the Paladins’, everyone shouted with joy, and merry laughter echoed through the ruins in the shadow of the Pall Pillar for the first time in nearly eight hundred years.
Chapter 26
Day 1 after the winter solstice
They were all snuggled under their blankets and were enjoying the warmth of the campfire and its comforting crackling sounds. Once Ahren had been named, they had taken to their heels and Falk had found an abandoned cave, which Uldini and Jelninolan had camouflaged with the strongest magic they could manage.
Now they were all sitting together and gazing contentedly into the fire. Selsena was scouring the area outside and reporting back that Dark Ones were gradually coming under the control of the Adversary again, beginning with the weakest and smallest.
‘We have about three weeks of a cat and mouse game ahead of us before we’ve left the Borderlands behind us. The quickest route is from here to Hjalgar’, said Falk.
Ahren’s head shot up. ‘Can we drop in on Deepstone then?’ he asked hopefully.
Falk nodded. ‘I think so. Uldini and Jelninolan really exhausted themselves yesterday and need a couple of weeks to rest. A sleepy little village would be just ideal’. A
nd he winked at Ahren while Uldini gave a pained sigh.
‘I was counting on the Sun Court. Decent food, attentive servants and cultured conversations on intrigues and politics’, he grumbled half-heartedly.
Falk dismissed him with a wave of his hand and changed the subject.
‘Now that we’re safe, tell us what happened in the middle of the battle. And don’t leave anything out.’
All eyes were on Ahren as he explained in detail how HE, WHO FORCES had tried to sway him and had used the young man’s own convictions against himself. When he got to the point where he had been convinced that the only way of achieving anything worthwhile was by his own death, Falk went grey in the face, and Ahren hurried on. When he had finished his report, there was a silence in the cave as everyone took in what they had just heard.
Uldini was the first to speak.
‘Was the vow strong enough to make Tlik sacrifice himself? Was the oath that powerful?’
Jelninolan shrugged her shoulders before shaking her head.
‘I don’t think so. It might have released the impulse in him to want to help – but allowing himself to be killed? Definitely not. It’s more probable that he really wanted to help, and his deed was the only way of saving Ahren.’
‘But what exactly did he do?’ asked Ahren insistently. He still couldn’t understand what had happened.
Uldini spoke again.
‘He, to put it metaphorically, threw himself in the path of the arrow that was intended for you. The dark god wanted to suck up your blessing of the gods and instead he absorbed a whole lot of goblin magic. If I understand your description correctly, he set free all his power at the very moment the Adversary was sucking it up. Like an enormous juicy roast that suddenly transforms into a fireball in your mouth.’
In spite of the troubling theme, Uldini couldn’t help a little whoop of joy.
‘That will set him back considerably. We successfully had Ahren named at the winter solstice and the little goblin’s prank will have done HIM, WHO FORCES considerable harm. We surely have at least five and perhaps ten years before HE wakes up. That gives us a great chance of finding the others and uniting ourselves before it becomes all-out war.’
Ahren was confused. ‘Finding the others? What do you mean? I thought that now I’m a Paladin we can tackle the Adversary.’
Jelninolan interjected before Uldini could speak.
‘Let me explain’, she said, looking into the apprentice’s eyes.
‘Ahren, we’ve discussed this already, that first all the Paladins have to be gathered together before we can be victorious against HIM, WHO FORCES. Isn’t that right?’
The young man gave nodded. He was waiting for the catch and expecting it to be big.
‘The rest of the Paladins have to be found first, and then persuaded. Many of them have been missing for hundreds of years, they’ve withdrawn from the world or are leading completely different ways of life now. One of them is the Eternal Empress, two others have become pirates, one is a pretty successful mercenary, to give you a few examples. It’s going to be difficult to find them, and to persuade them to join us. Each and every one of them lost their families in the Night of Blood and had to watch how the world continued to turn, and how the peoples of the world gradually banished them to the kingdom of legends’, she explained with sympathy in her voice.
‘Five years may sound like a long time, but we have to find eleven immortal warriors who do not want to be found or have settled down somewhere in their own place where they can live comfortably. All in all, a difficult task’, added Falk quietly.
‘But they’re Paladins. Now that I’m the thirteenth, they’ll want to meet us, won’t they?’ asked Ahren, who was beginning to feel frustration creeping in.
The others just gave him a knowing look.
‘The Ancients already sent forth a magic call several moons ago. All Paladins were to gather together after we had found you that time. But nobody came’, said Uldini in the stillness.
Ahren shook his head in disbelief, and Falk continued trying to explain the situation to the fledgling Paladin.
‘I had only been living in Deepstone for a few decades, but you remember how set in my ways I was. I didn’t want to leave and even slammed the door in Uldini’s face when he came to warn us. Now imagine what it must be like for those who experienced the Dark Days, and centuries later, having built up their own lives, they has to go into war again, having already lost everyone who was dear to them.’
The thought of it made Ahren dizzy. Over the last few moons he had seen enough violence and death to last him a lifetime. How could he sit in judgement on the men and women who had suffered far more than he had? He nodded respectfully and looked at the others.
‘Good’, he said, ‘where do we begin?’
There was an immediate avalanche of names and places, and Ahren couldn’t sort them out. There were too many, and the others were speaking too quickly for him to take in all the suggestions. Even Trogadon threw in a few ideas and soon there was a lively discussion in the cave as everyone put forward their ideas for the travel route.
Ahren was simply too exhausted following the events of the previous few days and all he wanted to do was sleep. He still couldn’t comprehend how the cantankerous goblin had helped him to the point of offering up his own life. Had the fay-creature seen the destruction that the dark god was doing to his reason? Or was it the goblin’s last act of defiance. ‘You can’t save them all’, he had said to Ahren. And by offering himself up, he had shown the apprentice this to be true.
Ahren shook his head, confused. Maybe it was that, maybe it was a combination of all those reasons. All he wanted to do was lie down and leave the planning to the others, but a buzzing sound on the edge of his reason was troubling him. He shook his head, but the buzzing remained, like a mosquito that had made itself at home inside his head. It became stronger, and Ahren massaged his temples and closed his eyes. But nothing helped. For a moment he considered telling the others, but then Culhen came over to comfort him. Ahren ruffled the wolf’s neck hairs and looked down thankfully into his yellow eyes.
That was the moment the buzzing stopped and was replaced by something else. As he looked into the depths of the wolf’s eyes and as the wolf looked loyally and lovingly up at him, the apprentice heard a voice in his head.
Ahren? asked Culhen timidly.
Epilogue
Khara had withdrawn to the entrance of the cave and was standing guard.
The others were discussing which Paladin they should seek out first, and they were speaking so quickly that it was difficult to follow the conversation. She was still a little mistrustful of the Ancients’ magic and so she had slipped out to the cave entrance to keep guard in spite of the protective magic that surrounded them.
Every now and then she would hear a snuffling sound or the scraping of claws when a Dark One would pass by their refuge, but none of the creatures came up to the entrance, and the girl began to relax.
She looked back thoughtfully at the dreamy looking young man who was cuddling his wolf and who had his head tilted as if he were listening to something. Tears were running down his face, and he was smiling.
Was Ahren blubbering again? Khara rolled her eyes and looked back out into the night. She swore to the gods that she had never seen such a cry-baby as this young Paladin! Well, at least he could shoot arrows well, and his tea wasn’t bad.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a figure appearing out of the darkness.
Khara was wide-awake in an instant and had already half drawn Windblade when she realised that it was an old woman approaching the cave, whose features were hidden by a black veil. She was dressed in mourning clothes and walked in a stoop. She didn’t step into the cave, however, but remained at the entrance and lifted a finger to her lips.
Khara had actually wanted to call for help, but there was no sense of danger coming from the woman, mostly a sensation of deep sorrow, which seemed to permeate her every mov
ement.
‘There’s no need to disturb the others, my child’, she said in the Emperor language. ‘I shall not stay long and merely wished to deliver a message. Out here there are too many creatures on the hunt and an old woman needs to take care of herself’. She laughed like a billy goat, as if she had just told a very good joke, but there was also a terrible bitterness in her voice.
Khara was alarmed and fascinated at the same time. How had this little old lady survived in the Borderlands? And what was she doing here? Was she one of the frontiers women who had been driven mad by the presence of the Pall Pillar?
‘Madness is only another way of understanding the secrets of the world’, said the old woman, as though she had just been reading Khara’s mind.
The girl recoiled and the old woman raised a placatory hand.
‘I am sorry, my dear. I did not mean to frighten you.’
She lifted her skinny hand to her chin as though she were contemplating something deeply.
‘Now I remember what I was going to say. If you all want to be successful in your plans, then first you must go to the Brazen City. If the Sun Emperor is successful with his siege of the city, and if the captain of the Blue Cohorts is executed before you have arrived, then once again there will only be twelve Paladins walking the earth. The Emperor is very angry and is looking for blood. So much so, that he is willing to starve a whole city.’
Then she looked past Khara and clapped her hands together in delight.
‘Look, he has learned to answer Culhen. How quickly they grow.’
Khara looked over her shoulder back into the cave and saw Ahren, sitting in the same position as earlier, drooling over his wolf and blubbering. Khara shrugged her shoulders and turned back to the old woman. But she was gone.
The girl stayed sitting there for a time and tried to understand what she had just seen. Then she went back to the others to pass on the message from the mysterious woman.
At least she knew now where they had to go next.
The Naming Page 41
