The Rawn Chronicles Book Four: The Dragon and the Daemon (The Rawn Chronicles Series 4)

by P D Ceanneir

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  he third messenger Havoc sent was Lord Ness, charged with carrying two scrolls to the Pander Pass, one for the prince’s father and the other for the new Baron of Sloe, Fleet Admiral Uriah.

  Unfortunately, the Ri was three days late in meeting with his friend and liege lord, King Vanduke. The king had left with a sizeable army, heading east towards Aquen and the Brethac camp near the Rings of Port. This news disturbed Lord Ness and he quickly sent his own messenger back the way he had come. He was to go to Caphun, find the prince, and inform him of King Vanduke’s march east.

  Meanwhile Lord Ness sent another messenger to Sloe and into the hands of the Admiral or his staff officers. In the message, the prince urged Uriah to take the Rogun fleet and raid into the north of the Vallkyte waters, blockade the citadel of Dulan-Tiss and, if possible, bombard the citadel from the sea. Lord Ness knew this would be a dangerous mission for the Rogun navy but the prince assured the admiral in his letter that support from a land army would come.

  The next part of the Ri’s mission was one of great responsibility and honour for him as he trotted through the opening of the Pass and into the Rogun lands proper. A bright sun hung in a blue sky melting away the morning’s frost. The sun was high enough to be bright but too distant to take away the day’s chill. Lord Ness sniffed the clear air of the Aln Plain. A breeze shifted the stalks of grass beside the dirt track as he galloped along, though the rare snow showers from a few weeks ago had gone the taller grass still lay flattened to the ground.

  He stopped by the Silit River so his horse could drink and he could fill his canteen with cold mountain water. To the north he could see the peaks of the Sky Mountains, extensively capped with snow and they would remain like that for most of the year. He imagined that the cold air he breathed came from those lofty heights.

  He checked his saddle again and the security of it’s cargo. The large egg shaped object inside lay covered in bulky furs to break its shape. Many layers of Skrol-etched parchment lined the inside of the furs, for now the effects of Shadowfall were not yet evident. He and the prince had found the right balance of Skrol symbols that seemed to nullify the effects, but the sooner he got to his final destination the better he would feel.

  As he trotted towards Barnstown, he was lost in his thoughts and memories of the last few months as the Cybeleion returned home, their departure from Ternquin unfortunately delayed by several weeks so the local people could retrieve and repair the abandoned Sky Ships at the Nicbetha’s ruined palace. Carbaum, now the Sernac leader of his people, organised the retrieval operation. Meanwhile the lull meant that Captain Danyil had some time to repair the quest ship while Lord Ness and the Prince could begin placing the Gredligg Orrinn under the enchantment of the subduing Skrol in the ship’s lower hold.

  The Ri later discovered, after the Ternquin Sky Ships pursuing Admiral Hurnac from the battle over the Guardians Valley returned with the news, that the admiral had luckily found a fog bank and escaped. He would obviously return with the news that the Gredligg Orrinn was now in the prince’s hands.

  This development had not concerned the prince, yet he was eager to return home as soon as possible. The long months of the return journey saw few stops for provisions and more violent storms to pass through because of the Dark Entity’s Shadowfall influence.

  The De Proteous had changed much since his return from Mortkraxnoss. However, he kept what he experienced there to himself; mostly he remained alone and was often found deep in thought. One day Lord Ness decided to confront him.

  It was on one cold evening on the bow of the Cybeleion when she was finally sailing home some six months ago that the Ri found Havoc staring into the patchy mist, but seeing nothing at all.

  ‘Sovereign for them?’ he said to the princes back.

  ‘You really don’t want to know,’ said Havoc without looking around.

  ‘Your father was always like this in his youth, moody and lost in his thoughts...although I think it had something to do with courting your mother.’

  Havoc smiled. ‘My own love life is a cause for concern, but that is not why I’m moody.’ He sighed and shrugged his shoulders. Then he explained all he could remember form his time with the My’thos god Hagan and the Nicbetha.

  ‘This Great Plan that has been millions of years in the making has finally come to this point, this one point in time,’ explained Havoc tapping the railing with the point of his index finger for emphasis. ‘The Old Gods wanted the Earth Daemon out of its confinement in the Gredligg Orrinn and returned to his twin, the Earth Mother. It has taken many ages for her to be strong enough to diminish and disperse his volatile energy. That time is now. This much I understood.’

  ‘So what bothers you?’ asked the Ri.

  ‘The thing that bothers me is the final manipulation of the gods. It started a long time ago with Elemental Firesprites and the Stormwraiths; they were the champions of the gods from the start it seems. Stormwraiths, because of their elegance and aid in the Great Plan and the Firesprites, for their control of vast power, a power that could tap into, and use, the volatile energies within the Dragon Lanes, was a great asset to their cause.

  ‘Then came this,’ at this point he extracted SinDex from its scabbard on his back and rammed the point into the deck. He tapped the wobbling Muse Orrinn with his fingernail and it made a light musical ring.

  ‘This is the missing part of the Gredligg Orrinn,’ went on the prince, ‘taken by the spirit of the Nicbetha and given to a Rawn blacksmith to make the pommel of Tragenn. The Nicbetha is as much a design of the great plan as the Blacksword is.’

  Lord Ness was about to say something, but the prince held up his hand for silence.

  ‘It was not fate that stayed Baron Telmar’s hand and allowed my father to live at the Battle of the Single Survivor. No, I believe it was the influence of this,’ he tapped the Muse Orrinn again. ‘It subconsciously told the baron to place a Pyromantic Spore into my father’s head so it could pass and grow into his successor, someone who would come into position of Tragenn. I think Shanks figured this out, he knew about the prophecy of the Blacksword, he knew that the Blacksword was to become a Pyromancer and that the Blacksword was not him.

  ‘I was given the curse, and through the Muse Orrinn I also find a new persona for myself later when I exiled myself in the mountains. On the other hand, was it the essence of Kwi-aqua stoking my twin into being and shaping our lives? Yes, I also found out that the soul of the My’thos is a twin, part of their complex Twin Aspect, Kwi-aqua resides inside the Muse Orrinn, showing me the land through the eyes of Mirryn and glimpses of the future, my future, to help my cause.

  ‘Yet all of those things that brought me the Sword that Rules was not just a string of strange coincidences. Fighting Powyss and shattering Tragenn’s blade, going to the Vale and meeting Gunach, a descendant of Pelnier, who helped me forge SinDex, the Blacksword of Prophecy. Then there are the dreams you received all your life from the My’thos god Hagan. Of all of the Ri to trust it was you, the man who taught me at the academy. Even Mulvend had some part to play in all of this I would think.’

  He sighed and continued, ‘every one of the Five Who Speak has a twin, it seems. Dragons, the Vul’yoi and the Korzac, even humans, though the twin of an individual human is not as pronounced as the others, yet that voice of reason and sub-conscious thought is your twin nonetheless. Mine was forced to grow into dominance by the Muse Orrinn. Why did it grow into the Blacksword? Well, to be the supreme champion of the My’thos of course. The Blacksword is the ultimate icon of fear, not just to man but also to the Earth Daemon. Think about it, with the Dark Force of the Earth trapped inside the Gredligg Orrinn he is powerless to use the rest of the energy that swims within the Earth Mother’s energy matrix, but the Blacksword can, which is why he fears him, because if he ever escapes he will have a rival to match his power.’

  ‘Through me, the Blacksword is not just a powerful Rawn Master who can become even stronger if he uses Pyromantic Surges, he can
also use the vast power that is within the earth, just like Firesprites of legend, and now he has another power that is beyond my comprehension.’

  The prince stopped his rant and continued to look over the railing. Lord Ness wondered where he was going with this and gently pressed him for an answer.

  ‘What is this new power you speak of?’ he asked.

  ‘The God Hagan gifted to him the power of foresight,’ sighed Havoc, ‘or rather he showed him the future in a myriad of visions, too many to comprehend. The Blacksword keeps what he saw to himself, I have never been able to get far into his mind, we can both block each other out and empathetically his feelings are limited. He conceals the visions behind the steel wall of his solitude. He refuses to tell me what he saw.’

  Lord Ness took all of this in and nodded.

  ‘Maybe it is for the best. The future is a dangerous thing to know,’ he ventured.

  ‘Yes, but knowing what will happen is the most dangerous of all,’ said the prince turning to the Ri. ‘Think about it, the powers of the elements are at the Blacksword’s disposal, so too is the energy of the earth. This makes him the most powerful being on the planet. Now he has foresight. He is truly the creation of the gods.’

  ‘Do you think the My’thos made a mistake and turned the Blacksword into a monster?’ asked Lord Ness.

  Prince Havoc shook his head.

  ‘No, they went one step further than “Creating a Monster”. They told him that he is their Demigod on Earth.’

  Lord Ness was silent for a while then placed both hands on the prince’s shoulders.

  ‘I don’t think that the gods made a mistake,’ he said as he looked into Havoc’s sad green eyes. ‘I think they knew what they created. You have always had the ability to control your twin, so I say to you that the gods had a backup plan, a form of insurance if you like. I think this is why they chose you, my lord.’

  The prince’s face softened and he actually smiled.

  ‘I never thought of it in that way,’ he said.

  ‘It helps to have another’s perspective.’

  They talked quietly for a long time, Lord Ness probed the prince with more questions about what Hagan had said while the prince absent-mindedly got it off his chest and fidgeted with the Talisman of Mortkraxnoss attached to a silver chain around his neck.

  ‘When we return home I need you to take the Gredligg Orrinn to a safe place in the Rogun lands,’ said the prince. ‘I need it somewhere safe and secure where the effects of Shadowfall are mitigated.’

  Lord Ness could hardly speak.

  ‘I will do as you wish, my lord, I may have somewhere in mind.’

  That is how Lord Ness found himself picking up supplies at Barnstown and trotting out of it’s outskirts via the Old Road, with the Book of Lost Souls covered in furs and parchment behind him on the saddle.

  He stopped some distance from the town looking at the fading light and the glow of Aln-Tiss in the distance. He rubbed his smooth chin and then looked along the horizon to the south west.

  It was at this moment in the tale that Lord Ness made a fateful decision that would change the outcome of events as he sat on his mount at the crossroads. After a moment’s deliberation, he made his choice and turned his mount to the left, kicked her flanks so she spurred into a canter and headed south away from the safety of civilisation.

  ‘He’s done what?’ shouted Havoc at Ness Ri’s newly arrived messenger who flinched at the raised voice. The prince sat ramrod straight in his high-backed chair at the dining table strewn with maps of the local area. He did not know that the messenger had avoided three Brethac patrols in the two days that it took him to get to Haplann and he was near to starving. Luckily, he found a friendly horse patrol, commanded by Sir Foxe, who rushed him to the prince with his news.

  ‘It is true my lord,’ said the dusty, dishevelled messenger. ‘Your father, the king, marches to Aquen as we speak.’ The messenger jumped again as the prince slammed a fist onto the table.

  ‘How long ago?’ said Bleudwed in a soothing voice. She had bathed and clothed herself in practical attire; yet still shone like the jewel she truly was after several meals of warm food brought by her forester father, Hoban. She smiled at the frightened man to calm him.

  ‘At least five days since, my lady,’ he said, nodding apologetically. The prince stood up and began to pace the room. As High Warden of the March, he should have been informed sooner about the massing of the Temperance League army at the pass and their subsequent departure.

  ‘What of the Falesti?’ asked Morden who was at the table shuffling through maps with Powyss, ‘are they joining the king?’

  The messenger shrugged. ‘I’m not sure, my lord. Last I heard Atyd Barnum was acting as Guardian in the queen’s stead and had his hands full with Lord Nethroin and his dragon.’

  ‘Guardian?’ said Havoc.

  ‘Ah...er...Yes...King Kasan has the queen imprisoned at the town of Aquen. This is why the king goes to her aid.’

  The prince was no longer pacing. He was obviously stunned at the news of the Falesti queen’s capture. Morden looked just as surprised.

  ‘My lady,’ Havoc said turning to the countess, ‘how many horsemen can you field at short notice?’

  ‘Um, well about fifteen hundred or so if we gather in mounts from the outlying farms and there are stable yards at Little Dorit for the Marshtroopers, why?’ she asked puzzled and then her eyes widened. ‘You’re not planning to go to your father’s aid and rescue poor Bronwyn, are you?’

  ‘I plan exactly that. How soon can the horses be available?’

  ‘It will take most of the day I would think.’

  Havoc nodded, ‘Sir Foxe I need as many cavalry as you can muster, travel light. We move at nightfall.’ Foxe nodded without a word and rushed off.

  The men in the room had obviously forgotten about the messenger as the prince’s men rushed around him. The countess had the presence of mind to send him away with a servant to get some food and a bath.

  ‘Mulvend, I will have to take a large amount of your men from Caphun’s defences,’ said the prince as he took her to one side where Powyss was leaning over maps. ‘You must send the women and children with Hoban back to the Little Dell for safety. Until the smith, masons and the carpenters have finished building the new gate then everyone else must stay behind the castle walls. Captain Danyil will stay here with the Cybeleion for now until he replenishes his supplies and makes repairs.’

  ‘But surely the Cybeleion would get you there quicker? What supplies does she need?’

  Havoc rubbed his chin, ‘I have explained to you the effects of the Dark Entity’s Shadowfall?’ he said, and continued when Bleudwed nodded. ‘The Quest Ship suffered much damage during the storms of our return journey, in addition, her cannon ammunition is low. While you were unconscious, I took the liberty of ordering your many smiths to make more cannonballs, strip lead from roofs and gutters and take any iron railings in order to make more. There was also the stock of your gunpowder.’

  Bleudwed blinked in surprise at all that had occurred while asleep. ‘Well, I see,’ she folded her arms and frowned in annoyance, ‘it seems I am superfluous to requirements!’

  ‘Sorry, but I am Warden of the Central March and Haplann falls under my jurisdiction,’ said the prince with a very apologetic look.

  Bleudwed sighed, ‘alright, alright…I give you the keys to the munitions cellar. There are enough minerals down there to make plenty of gunpowder.’

  Powyss looked up, ‘there was no need for the keys, countess. We managed to help ourselves. Young Lung is making up kegs of the stuff as we speak.’

  ‘What? The door is made of expensive steel and triple locked!’

  ‘And a bugger it was,’ remarked Powyss, ‘we Rawns do have our ways.’

  Bleudwed rolled her eyes. She should have known there were very few places a Rawn Master could be kept out of.

  Havoc placed a hand on her arm, ‘this is war now, Mulvend. Things c
hange; you of all people know that.’

  ‘You are right, of course,’ she nodded once as if making up her mind, ‘Morden will stay and command here, I will go with you to Aquen.’

  ‘You cannot come, it is...’

  ‘Nonsense! I’ve waited this long to see you, now I’m not letting you out of my sight...besides, Little Kith will look after me, just as he looks after you.’

  It took several hours for all of the Paladins to gather over a thousand horses and riders from the surrounding Haplann farmsteads and many more landed gentry along with their retainers flocked to the De Proteous banners that flew from the high white towers of Caphun.

  The waning evening light saw them leave in a cloud of dust.

  Aquen bordered Haplann at the northern edge of the Haplann Hills with Sonora further to the north on the Trappers Road. Her eastern border looked out onto the vast Dulan Plain. She was a small satellite state of Haplann with her own lordship, the Baron of Aquen, who was a vassal to the Counts of Haplann for hundreds of years. Sadly, the old baron died just as he learnt that his son was a long-time member of the Brethac Ziggurat, so the conquering of Aquen became a gradual and complete affair.

  There were two main townships; Kerness, to the north east, beyond the Caves of Aquen, was the smallest and the main cattle town before travellers reached Sonora. Then there was the town of Aquen, itself the county’s capital and seat of the current baron. The town was small, with a single brick wall built into a hexagon around stately limestone-built houses that sat on either side of a twenty-foot wide river; ten separate stone arch bridges knit both sides together. A network of various manmade canal routes criss-crossed throughout the town, harking back to the days when Aquen was just a few scatterings of villages on marshland. Many regarded Aquen as one of the most romantic towns on the continent. The waterway streets reflected the sun’s light onto the painted walls of the multi-coloured buildings, dappling the shade into a vibrant sheen of rainbow colours. Trees, shrubs and beautiful flowers grew in profusion along these waterways and ivy clung to the sides of the three storey stately homes and dangled to the canal waters from the arched bridges.