Shadow Realms: Part One of the Redemption Cycle

by J. R. Lawrence

  My people shouldn’t be doing this, he told himself as he made his way through the streets and alleyways toward the citadel of Vulzdagg. If the Urden’Dagg wants it done, then it should do it on its own. I will not stand to have the blood of another stained on my hands.

  He went up the steps to the gates of the citadel and did not slow his pace as he approached the iron doors. The doors opened on approach as always, powered by some source of magic cast by the mages of the city, and Vak strolled into the throne room of the Lord and the Lady of the Vulzdagg Branch.

  The thrones were empty of his father and mother, as Vak had guessed, and he turned to his right where a set of double doors were built into the wall, guarded by two of The Followers. Beyond such doors was the Circle of Power, the chamber in which the captains and generals of the Branch met with one another and their lord and lady for matters such as theirs. A communication link was always implied in the chamber so that a message could be delivered to another Branch of the Urden’Dagg Tree without time wasted in travel.

  Vak sighed as he approached the doors, the guards pulling them open for him to pass, and he entered into the Circle of Power. Inside was the three commanders of Vulzdagg and the chief mages of the Branch; Lord Vishtax and Lady Dela’burda were sitting with the rest of the captains in circles connected along the edge of a much larger sphere.

  Vak sat himself down in an empty circle, and crossing his arms over his chest he patiently waited for the war gathering to be over and done.

  Vishtax rose from his circle and everyone looked in his direction. Everyone, that is, except Vaknorbond. Vak sat motionless, eyes shut to his surrounding comrades and friends, as he waited for what his father was about to announce. The way to Hulmir was clear, and so the battle was to take place.

  Vishtax did not speak to the congregation as he rose, but instead he gave a command to the Circle of Power, saying, “Grundagg and Swildagg and Zurdagg!” and immediately the circle began to send forth the summons to the meeting.

  In the center of the Circe of Power there appeared six orbs that slowly began to materialize before all of them. Vaknorbond looked up into the orbs, wondering what the others of The Tree might say now that their assault upon Hulmir was official.

  “Are all present and hearing?” Vishtax asked the orbs as the faces of the Lords and the Ladies of the other Branches appeared within them, each holding a pride in their facial appearance and eyes.

  “We are,” said some of those in the orbs, the others simply nodding.

  “Good,” Vishtax said to them. “The Urden’Dagg, as you all should know, has demanded that the company of Hulmir be removed from its standing position, and therefore cut off. We three members of the Urden’Dagg Tree are to bring about this destruction. The road there is open and ready for our forces to traverse upon – I and Vaknorbond have made sure of that. We will attack within the next hour. Are all agreed?”

  “We are,” said a few of the specters in the orbs, the others just nodding.

  “Excellent,” said Vishtax. He continued to relay the plans of the assault, saying how the militia was to march in as soon as Hulmir’s defenses were eliminated by the mages, and afterwards his Basilisk Riders were to scale the walls or pass through the crumbled gateway into the city. Vak would be at the head of the Basilisks, doing the dirty work of the Urden’Dagg.

  It was agreed that the expert mages of Zurdagg were to shatter the defenses of the city and the towers guarding its perimeter, and that Grundagg and their melee fighters were to face off against that of Hulmir’s soldiers, and defeat them in the streets of their city while Swildagg flew in on the backs of their Drakes to land upon the battlements of the citadel and city walls, and finish off any Hulmir’s standing there. The nobles of each Branch were to make his and her way through the chaos and to the citadel where they would cast down the aristocracy of Hulmir.

  Hulmir was doomed – hopelessly outnumbered by the strength of three Branches of The Followers of the Urden’dagg combined as one, and their great numbers.

  The Branches of Zurdagg, Swildagg and Grundagg, agreed to one another’s strategy before separating from their Circles of Power. Vishtax gestured for all to rise as he exclaimed that the time for the assault was drawing near, and all the commanders and captains of the Vulzdagg Branch rose as they went to gather their forces.

  Vak rose and immediately left for his chamber in the citadel, disturbed by the coming of events and the horrible picture it painted in his mind. In his heart, Vaknorbond Vulzdagg hoped that this battle would take his life.

  *****

  Leona’burda Vulzdagg was Vaknorbond’s wife, and she awaited him in the throne room outside the Circle of Power as all the leaders of their Branch dispersed through the chamber and into the streets of the city. She stood with a calm expression as Vak left the powerful chamber and approached the door into the anteroom and his accommodations.

  “Vaknorbond, the Riders are awaiting your presence,” Leona said to him as he passed.

  Vak turned to her suddenly, surprised at her appearance, though he hid it well. “I will meet them as soon as I may,” he replied offhandedly. “I need my swords, and the proper equipment for this battle, first.”

  “You do not want to go,” Leona was quick to observe. “This battle is for all of us, Vaknorbond; and if we do not fulfill the task that the Urden’Dagg has entrusted upon us, we will fall.”

  “I know,” Vak replied in a low voice, “Father already told me so. If I wanted your opinion on the matter, I would have asked for it. Keep to your own thoughts and feelings.”

  “They are not just your thoughts. I do not agree with this action either,” Leona said. “But I know that if we don’t…”

  “We will die with Hulmir!” Vak finished for her, growing ever weary of the idea. “Please leave me alone to ready myself for death. If Hulmir is to fall by my swords, I will make it my end to die atop them. Leona’burda, I will not be coming back.”

  Vak turned round and strode into the anteroom and passed through a passage wherein his quarters were, leaving Leona alone in the throne room to think on what he had said. She knew, though, that he would return despite what he said. Vak loved his Branch more than the shimmering stones in the caverns surrounding them, and he would return to fill the throne of their father if he were to die in this battle. But the weight of the dead was already falling upon his shoulders, weighing him down with anxiety and fear for his doomed soul. Vak knew that to rise against Hulmir was like to rise against himself and destroy his own soul as well as that city.

  As he dressed himself in his mesh armor, buckled his belt and scimitars round his waist, Vak fixed upon his shoulders the purple cloak of the Urden’Dagg. He inspected himself before a mirror under the low light of a candle softly burning beside the reflective glass, and in that reflection Vak saw the shadowy features of a pale face never feeling the warmth of sunlight, a certain glyph marked on his brow symbolizing his birthright as among the aristocracy of Vulzdagg, and the stark white hair of a Fallen. All of him was prepared to destroy another of that forsaken people.

  “I look my last upon you,” Vak said to his reflection, gently touching the glass with the tips of his fingers. “I will fight my last battle this day. If my doom is to be decided during this fray, my hands shall not hinder it; for these hands have felt the stones of the underworld, grasped the hilt of a sword, and touched the warm blood of an opponent. However, they have forgotten the warmth...” His voice faded as he looked away from the mirror and down at a leather book lying before him on the desk, and his hand drifted from the mirror to touch the smooth front of the manuscript.

  “Never to return,” he quietly whispered.

  *****

  Vaknorbond and Vishtax left the citadel and stood before the gathered host of the militia and Basilisk Riders. They all stood in strict formation before the citadel doors as they closed behind the Lord of Vulzdagg and his son. Two hundred and eighty nine Followers of the Urden’Dagg Branch of Vulzagg, all arme
d and ready to answer the call for battle that their Lord had sent forth, stood before them in strict obedience. They were all willing to die for the cause of which they were to march.

  Vishtax and Vaknorbond had buckled at their hips their adamant scimitars, and draped down their back was the cloak of the Urden’Dagg. Both the Lord and his son reached back and pulled the cowl of their cloaks over their faces to conceal their glyphs from those who would see them; and as they did so, the gathering of two hundred and eighty nine Followers did likewise, until all faces were hidden behind the masks of shadow.

  Vishtax nodded to the commanders of the separated troops, and stepped down toward the lines of his army. Vaknorbond went down the steps as well, but instead of following his father he turned toward the gathering of the Basilisk Riders, and called for his own mount.

  The Basilisk came to its riders call, pushing through the gathered host of the Vulzdagg troops to its master’s side. Vak swung his leg over the Basilisks back and sat on its shoulders as he looked over the company of Riders and their mounts; counting their heads to be sure all were present.

  “All are accounted for,” Vaknorbond said to Vishtax as his father looked inquiringly in his direction. “The Riders and their mounts are ready.”

  “The mage’s are prepared,” said the chief of the mages.

  “Our melee fighters are armed and ready, my lord,” said Razarr, the chief commander of the militia.

  “Then let us march forth and meet our neighboring Branches before the walls of Hulmir!” Vishtax declared for all to hear.

  Vak grimaced as the implication took hold in his mind once again. He struggled to shake the notion from his mind, reminding himself that he had no choice on the matter, and that it was his duty as captain of his father’s Basilisk forces to march with them.

  Someday, Vak thought as he watched his father order the troops round to march for the gates of their city. Someday I will be lord, and none of this nonsense will be necessary.

  Dela’burda and Leona’burda were not to join in the battle with the rest of the inhabitants of Vulzdagg, trained and able to fight; for they, and a select few of the mages, were to remain in the Circle of Power for purposes of supplication to the Urden’Dagg in deliverance and protection of their troops and their victory. Such was the custom of the Vulzdagg Branch, and perhaps others.

  The host of Vulzdagg marched down the streets of their city and passed beyond the wall of stalagmites and stalactites, and then turned away left as they entered the grove of mushrooms. Each mushroom was armed with a natural energy to explode or scream if disturbed; thus alerting the Branch of any intruders.

  They marched on throughout the passing minutes, silently making their way through the grove of dangerous mushrooms as they advanced toward Hulmir. They would meet Grundagg and Zurdagg, and also Swildagg, before beginning the invasion.

  The Branches of the Urden’Dagg Tree were not too far spread, keeping within a one hundred yard boundary of one another for defensible reasons, so it didn’t take long for Vak to see the stalagmite walls of Hulmir rising in the distant spectrum.

  He led the company with his mounted force following in tight formation. Vishtax was mounted upon his own Basilisk at the head of the militia, standing beside those commanders, and the mages took up the rear or scouted the distance remaining between them and the walls of Hulmir. They searched for any sign of danger, or a patrol group guarding the boundary of Hulmir.

  Vak commanded his mount to stop, and raising his fist above his head the whole company of Followers and their Basilisks halted behind him. They were near the walls of the city they had come to destroy, and so they patiently waited in the shadows of the shadows for the three other Branches of the Urden’Dagg to come as commanded.

  There came an absolute silence as the ranks of mounted Followers, mages and melee fighters among them, settled in the grove of stalagmites. The silence filled the thoughts of every fighter and mage, seeming to encircle them in a dreamlike sensation. A hazy feeling crept over each of them as the silence felt somewhat dead. Indeed it was, for not a creature stirred before the walls of Hulmir.

  It was the silence before the cry of a doomed people.

  Vak tensed when a stalagmite stirred in the darkness directly before him. In the infrared spectrum it had at first appeared to be a common formation of a rocklike substance, but then the heat of life boiled within it as the powerful mage removed her disguise from before the eyes of Vulzdagg.

  Maaha Zurdagg stood before Vaknorbond and Vishtax’s army of apprehensive fighters. She wore a grim expression as she looked down the ranks of Vulzdagg, sensing their anxiety and seeing the startled expressions they turned on her as she materialized.

  “Your troops are overanxious, Vishtax,” Maaha said to the Lord of Vulzdagg as he sat on his mount behind the formation of Basilisk riders. “That is good. It is always better to feel the emotion of fear before marching into battle, but only as long as you can override that fear with rage and determination to fulfill your master’s orders.”

  “Well met,” Vishtax said as he urged his Basilisk around the ranks of his soldiers to position himself before Maaha. “I assume that your mages are ready to make their mark?”

  “Not as well as you might assume,” said Maaha in a dismal tone. “My mages are prepared to bring down the defenses of that city, if your Riders are ready to die.”

  “Why so grim?” Vishtax asked her, forcing a smile to show that he had no fear.

  “It appears that our task will not be as easily won as your assumptions have presumed,” said Maaha. She turned to face the walls of Hulmir as she continued, speaking in a dry, careless tone. “I have thoroughly examined the defenses of this city, and have seen their preparations. They are stronger than we thought. They know we are coming and that we are standing before their walls. They will fight back like the fierce warriors they are.”

  “Let them have their hope!” Vishtax said quickly. “It will be useless against our strength. Let them have what little hope they can muster so that it may shatter beneath our trampling feet. We will conquer with the greater power of the Urden’Dagg’s command behind our blows!”

  “Be careful what you say,” Maaha said darkly, a light of some kind or another shining in her eye. “Someday it may turn against you and your Branch.”

  Vak shifted uncomfortably in his saddle, seeing the gleam in her eye and sensing the tension in her words. There was anger, hate, and the ever lustful want for more power sparkling in her dark eyes. Vak did not like it, the sensation of such feelings sending a disturbing chill down his spine, as if breathed upon by a ghost of a disgusting nature. He stared at her, unblinking, as he wondered what it truly was that she spoke of. But at the same time, and for perhaps the same reason, he did not want to know.

  As she turned from the ranks of the Vulzdagg army, Maaha glanced for a very brief moment at Vak. In that quick glance their eyes met, and Vaknorbond knew thereafter that the Zurdagg friendship with the Vulzdagg Branch was a lie. She turned from him, facing the stalagmite and stalactite wall of Hulmir in the distance before them, and raising her hand she snapped her fingers and the host of Zurdagg warlocks appeared from the darkness of shadows among shadows in their march toward the wall.

  “Behold the might and power of Zurdagg!” Maaha cried aloud for all to hear, purposefully alerting the city of Hulmir to the understanding of who exactly was to bring about their destruction.

  As if in reply, a green luminescent light cascaded upwards above the perimeter of the wall. It encompassed the city in its blanket of protection from any of those who attempted entry into the city, and indeed any of those who came close to the wall of glowing green would be destroyed in a matter of seconds. Great indeed were the revealed powers of Hulmir in that startling moment, and Vak and Vishtax wondered upon it as the wall arose before them, realizing that Maaha must have been right in saying that Hulmir was expecting their assault to prepare such a defense.

  But Maaha did not waste her time h
esitating to admire the magical wall rising before her. This was her time to show forth the power of her Branch against such odds, knowing with reassurance that her will with magic outdid all others by a very long road of expertise and training.

  She quickly gathered to her the thoughts and emotions of her mages, shoving from their minds any fear or doubt to the power which she had given them, and so organized them into a pattern of incantations intended to throw down such defenses and shatter the wall barricading their passage to the citadel.

  Vak knew that the battle had just begun.

  Book One

  Vulzdagg Respect

  Vulzdagg… What a beautiful name! But a beautiful people? A Branch is like a family, and a family is like an army, and the army of Vulzdagg is the greater. But others not of our name disrespect us; they force us down and throw us into the darker places. Do we respect this? No.

  Vulzdagg means honor and power, and we, the people of the Vulzdagg name, will uphold it, and stand for what it’s worth. We’ll fight until every last bit of us has been cut into pieces; and even after all are destroyed, the name will live on as a lost and forgotten name. But it will be there, it will always be the name of Vulzdagg, the powerful followers of the Urden’Dagg.

  The Urden’Dagg, the great and powerful one, doesn’t defend any Branch of its tree. But justice will be done upon those who openly destroy a Branch, or who do unjustly upon one without the consent of the Urden’Dagg, and shall be condemned to utter destruction.

  All who fear the Urden’Dagg are left in peace, but those who level themselves are cast down, back to their right position – below the Urden’Dagg.

  Darkness thickens every day of my living life. I see only the burdens of my people become heavier. I know it’s not in my place as the prince of Vulzdagg, but I also know that it’s my duty to see that my people, my land, my kin, are not being treated unjustly, and to seek action if necessary to lift their burdens, and to restore our stolen respect.