Chapter 8
Inner Struggles and Other Demons
The night had passed quickly without interruption, dusk turning to dark, and dark to dawn. Seth and Sara had little to prepare and thus went straight to sleep in each other’s arms. Seth slept fitfully throughout the night burdened by all his self-inflicted responsibilities, but managed each time to find sleep again, restless as he was. Both Seth and Sara awoke early and decided together to rise before the sun, each of them overwhelmed with anxiousness, uncertain what the days to come would hold.
Donning his blackened robes, Seth strapped his sword around his waist and shouldered his pack, deciding to carry the staff he had won the day before. He was pleased as Sara once again dressed in the less than modest leather outfit he had purchased for her in Stone Haven. She left briefly to gather her possessions from her room, but returned promptly wearing her own pack, and her crossbow which hung under her arm like a woman's shoulder bag. As Seth extinguished the enchanted candles in his room, and letting Sara exit before him, he remembered something that until this day he had completely forgotten. Hastily crossing the room again, Seth knelt. Reaching under his bed he collected the old worn leather tome Borrik had given him many weeks ago upon first arriving in the city. The tiny booklet had been a mystery of sorts, showing centuries of wear, yet all the pages in it appeared to be blank. Thus being unreadable, Seth had hidden the thing beneath his bed, lost to his memory until now. Standing once again Seth shoved the small book in a hidden pocket inside his robe, and joined Sara outside the room, closing the door behind him.
They climbed down the many flights of stairs, each thinking their own thoughts, witnessing from time to time a person rushing this way or that, and both assumed that last minute preparations were still underway. They made the ground floor in short order and crossing the entryway exited the enchanted doors that silently swung open of their own accord. Seth and Sara stepped out into the still darkened courtyards of the castle complex and were greeted by the remains of the cool night air. The entire expanse of the courtyards from the tower to the palace was a commotion of great purpose. Stable masters by the dozens led several hundred horses through the courtyard as wagons piled high with supplies and equipment were lined up in front of the gates ready to leave. People darted here and there caught up in their own duties, hurrying to complete that which they had not finished. Seth and Sara looked around shocked by the scale of the preparations, both assuming it would be a small procession leaving this day to join the larger body of the army, neither of them expecting anything of this magnitude. As they rounded the mages’ tower, deciding to head for the palace, a shadow detached itself from the wall at the base of the tower, sliding in behind them, matching their pace.
Seth had not seen so much as felt the man fall into step with them, wondering again at the many uses of the sight granted to him by Ishanya.
"Good morning Borrik. Were you able to get everything in order before departing?” Seth asked. He hadn't even looked back at the man behind him. Sara turned to look at Seth questioningly, wondering if his powers allowed him to communicate over great distances as well, and could not help but jump in surprise when Borrik responded, "All is in order as best as I was able to leave it, master."
Seth nodded his head but said no more, leading them all up through the terraced courtyards towards the palace in hopes of making some sense of what was going on. Near the palace several hundred common soldiers stood in ranks already prepared to march, but awaiting orders to do so. More and more wagons and horses pulled up outside the palace, loaded down with spare weapons and armor from the royal armory. But these were of little consequence to Seth and so he still looked with both his eyes and his mind for someone who might point him in the right direction. Finally passing the lines and lines of soldiers, Seth spotted a welcome sight amongst the milling crowd. Near the entrance to the palace itself stood four men, gleaming even in the early morning light, dressed in the armor of the Knights of Valdadore. Seth led Sara and Borrik, veering this way and that through the crowds of people wagons and animals, keeping as direct a route as possible to the palace gates. Moments later, approaching the four men, just as he had hoped Seth spotted his brother among them.
Garret and his three companions stood in a tight circle talking amongst themselves as Seth approached. Seth could see his brother and another young man beside him, but the other two knights had their backs to him, partially obscuring his view. As he neared, Seth waved to get Garret's attention, happy to see his brother laughing and joking with his peers. Having the intended effect, Seth watched as recognition crossed his brother's face, and excusing himself Garret left his companions to join Seth, Sara and Borrik a mere dozen yards away.
Seth and Garret shared a quick hug, pounding each other on the back in greeting then stood back a moment looking each other in approval before Sara hugged Garret as well. Not wanting to be rude, Seth then introduced his brother to Borrik, having noticed Garret's occasional stray glances at the man. As the two neared to shake hands in greeting, Borrik threw back his cowl exposing his inhuman features to Garret who barely hesitated before grasping the mutated man’s wrist in greeting. Garret shook Borrik's hand just as he would anyone else, though inwardly he found the man wholly unnatural. As the two men finished their introduction, Seth watched and was surprised as his brother motioned with his head towards Borrik, though he was facing Seth, meaning that he had already heard the rumors. The four talked easily for many minutes, Garret assuring them all that they would be leaving before the sun crested the horizon.
Only moments later Garret's words were proven true as all the common soldiers were given the command and began marching in ranks, four abreast, across the courtyards and out of the castle complex, followed directly by nearly a hundred horse-pulled wagons. After the commotion passed and the soldiers and wagons retreated from the castle into the city's streets, dozens of saddled horses were brought to stand outside the palace gates where Seth and his companions waited. Much to Seth’s surprise another beast came bounding across the courtyards as well, and when it came into view, Seth was impressed to see the giant armored beast saunter up to one of the knights his brother previously attended, and sit patiently beside its master.
Garret explained that the beast was a breed of enormous wolf from high in the mountains, and was mentally linked to the dwarf Zorbin so that they could communicate their needs to one another. All were astonished at the revelation and each had their own theories of what such a connection might feel like. Garret and Seth shared with one another all that happened to them in the many weeks past, both detailing their moment of being "blessed", and Garret tried to describe his blessing to his brother as best he was able, having only experienced it once. They talked on for nearly half an hour before the king and his retinue of advisors and servants exited the palace and prepared to mount their horses.
The king, wearing armor akin to those of his knights, mounted a great white horse while his retinue also began to mount similar steeds. Pulling on his reins, the king, looking as grand as the god he worshipped, turned on his saddle and his seeking eyes came to land on Seth. He guided his mount to intercept the young magician.
"I should like you to ride with me this morning," King Valdadore said. He spoke to Seth but his eyes strayed to Borrik. Hearing Seth’s affirmative response the king turned and guided his steed back to his now mounted advisors.
Seth, Sara, Borrik and Garret joined the other three Knights of Valdadore as they walked to gain mounts of their own, though Zorbin the dwarf climbed on the great armored wolf and took care to keep his distance from the horses. Within short order all were mounted, and Seth, Sara and Borrik found themselves near the head of the retinue, along with the king, his knights, advisors and various military leaders. Garret, Sirus and Philip took the lead of the procession acting as honor guard with Zorbin and his great wolf springing on ahead through the streets, clearing the way through the city. Behind the knights rode Seth, Sara and Borrik, accompanied
by the king himself. Behind them came the heads of all the other mage orders, and further behind still the various other people of note followed the procession according to rank and importance. In total the procession was less than fifty people, but the king assured them they would reach those who marched out earlier within the hour, and would join the main army within three days.
Passing through the city, the commoners treated the procession like a parade, tossing flowers upon the cobbles of the road and cheering on their king and all the nobles of his court. Seth more than once saw persons from the crowd pointing at him and then speaking to their peers. It was a fairly slow procession through the city, even on horseback, for though Zorbin had cleared the way, as soon as he was gone the peasants crowded the roads once more wanting to get as close a look as they could at their regal leader and his retinue. As they strode through the last few intersections of the city, the scent of trampled flowers rising from the hooves of their mounts, the sun crested the eastern wall finally bringing day to the city. The sky was clear with only a few wisps of clouds, but the night before had brought a chill that would not burn off for several hours into the day. Clearing the outer wall of the castle city, the horses themselves seemed to be relieved. Free of the confines of the city streets, it wasn’t long before the mounted riders sprawled out, stretching their line, and allowing the well-trained war horses to keep pace and formation with those ahead.
The war horses and their riders rode at a swift pace all morning unhindered. Even the weather seemed to be on their side with the skies remaining clear and a slight breeze at their back. Slowly the chill of the previous night burned off and the air warmed considerably. As the king had promised, within an hour of leaving the city gates they had passed all those who had left earlier in the morning, and when they approached the supply wagons they veered their mounts off the road choosing to race them through the freshly cut and harvested fields of wheat thus leaving the road to the wagons and troops who marched on foot. Seth was touched by the men marching to battle as they sung an old battle hymn to the rhythm of their marching. It was a somber tune of glories forgotten and brothers lost that made Seth think of his last night at home in Vineleaf when he had learned that he was not Garret's twin, but instead an orphan, who had been raised in a family who shared no blood with him. Seth still found the truth of his entire life a bit hard to stomach, so turned instead to ponder the days to come.
Several hours had passed since the mounted procession had lost all traces of the foot soldiers on the horizon behind them, and everyone’s thoughts seemed to drift to their own personal concerns and not the greater worries about what lay ahead. Even after hours of riding, the king remained to Seth’s right, and Sara and Borrik remained to his left, though several yards lay in-between each of the horses when traveling at these speeds. Even so, it caught Seth off guard when the king swung his mount to race directly beside Seth’s, leaving neither of them any room to maneuver if they should approach some obstacle in the road.
The king stared at Seth for several minutes as if trying to think how to approach the conversation he obviously wanted to start, and finally deciding, he spoke just loud enough for his voice to carry to Seth over the thundering of hooves from all around.
"This transformation you have done on the priest, is it true you have done others as well?" the king asked.
Seth simply nodded in response, unsure where this conversation might lead. The king pondered Seth’s answer a few moments more before continuing his line of questioning. The king asked many questions about Borrik's transformation and each time Seth gave an answer the king pondered anew, and many moments would pass before the king would phrase his next question. His questions started very vaguely, asking if it had caused any pain to the priest, why did he look like a half breed between a human and an orc, did it take long to accomplish, was the man affected mentally by the transformation, and then finally why did Seth transform the man at all.
Seth answered the questions as best he could, with as little information as possible. He told the king that it was neither a painful nor lengthy process, and that he had indeed infused the priest with the characteristics of an orc, that it had not affected the priest mentally, and he had done it because the priest was aging and frail and wanted to join Seth in going to war. This last part was a lie, of course, but Seth did not want to share his moment of weakness with the king. All his answers the king accepted, no emotion but intrigue ever crossing his face. Almost an hour passed in silence with the king and his mount racing perilously close to Seth’s before the king, apparently decided about something, began to speak again. This time however Seth noticed right away that the king's line of interrogation led to only one likely outcome.
"Is it possible to give any race of man the characteristics and attributes of another?" asked the king.
"I believe so, though I have only tried with humans and orcs," Seth replied.
Seth knew where it was going as soon as the king began to question anew. This time he asked questions about possibilities. Would it be possible to entwine the attributes of more than two races of man, perhaps four or five? Was it possible to do the same with different species of animals? Could the same be done between men and animals, and other questions of the likes of these.
Seth again answered that he believed that most would indeed be possible, though he hadn’t tried it. He was a little unsure about the blending of a man and an animal as not all animals had the same organs as a man and it was a new ability he hadn’t been able to explore yet. It was after taking all this in and mulling it over for a while that the king posed his one real question.
"Could we use this ability to create a special breed of soldier?" King Valdadore asked, his face taking on a visage of pure tactical seriousness.
"It is possible," Seth conceded. Seth knew it was coming to this all along, and after his talk with Sara yesterday, the thought already made him uncomfortable. By serving the king and kingdom, Seth could twist it to serve Ishanya as well, but how would Sara feel about it? Seth did not want to disappoint her or do something that might put a wall between them. Seth waited for the next question, already loathing it.
"What would be required for you to perform such a blending as you call it?" the king asked. At this question the king leaned precariously over his saddle to hear Seth more clearly.
"I would need the men you wanted to blend, and whatever else you wished to blend them with," Seth replied. It seemed inevitable that the king would want to create some new breed of soldier. If they really were as outnumbered as the reports said, it may be their only chance. The king nodded his understanding and posed another query.
"Nearly all of our enemies have superior vision at night than we do. Orcs, goblins and trolls all see nearly as clearly at night as we do during the day. If they attack at night, without warning, we will be decimated. We need some scouts who can see as well in darkness as they can in daylight, but I want them adjusted to their eyes and new bodies before we arrive on the battlefield. We haven’t any prisoners to blend with our men, but what else may suffice?" the king asked, almost in desperation.
"You would need an animal, I suppose one with superior night vision, though I would suggest a large animal as close to the size of a man as possible. Having never tried it, I would not want to risk anything else at this point," Seth offered.
"What of the men, do we need anything in particular when it comes to the men?" The king had already decided upon the course of action.
"I would not take such a risk on any man, your majesty. If you wish this of me, then spare the young with families and children. Bring me men who have lived a full life already, have no families or wives, and have no faith to any god." These were Seth’s demands, and the only way he could think of to make it right with Sara. "One last thing, your majesty. The men have to volunteer of their own free will."
With a nod of his head the king left Seth’s side and raced ahead where he veered his stallion close to that of Philip, one of his kni
ghts. The king and knight spoke a moment. The knight, nodding his understanding, leapt from his speeding horse with amazing haste and agility, stripping his armor mid-flight and letting it fall like leaves. He landed with a roll and began running back the way they had come at an unbelievable velocity. Seth watched as his brother slowed and turned to retrieve the armor. With Philip racing back the way they had come, the king reined in his horse, slowing the procession to a trot for the remainder of the day, stopping twice to rest the horses and eat a quick meal before resuming.
The rest of the day the king kept a safe distance from Seth, who spent his time pondering what the consequences might be for the deed he had agreed to do. At their slowed rate of travel, the afternoon seemed to stretch unnaturally compared to the morning. The landscape looked much the same the entire day, covered from horizon to horizon with freshly cut fields broken only by the occasional farm house in the distance. But now that evening was upon them, the terrain took on a different look entirely. The first thing Seth noticed was the change in the road. Up until the last few miles it had been a well maintained cobble road; now it was just a wide dirt path. Previously there had been unending fields in all directions; ahead of them now he could see the edge of an immense forest with towering ancient oaks such as he had never seen before. These were massive trees whose trunks were wider than any tree Seth had ever before imagined. Though the trail had been blazed between the trees generations ago, and the trees cut back from the road a hundred yards to a side, as the miles passed beneath him Seth was disturbed to see that no light reached the earth where the road entered the forest. Despite the fact the nearest trees on either side of the trail were over two hundred yards apart, their immense limbs stretched across the great expanse, creating a nearly perfect canopy that left the ground below in utter darkness. The auras of these trees were also amazing to behold. Theirs was a rainbow hue like that of every plant Seth had noted, but these held an undercurrent of a deep purple. They pulsed so slowly as if to barely live at all with no real beginning or end to their rhythm.
Age of the Gods: The Complete, twelve novel, fantasy series (The Blood and Brotherhood Saga) Page 49
