All three of the dwarves in the room laughed at her openly. It was not her fault she did not understand the ways of dwarves, but it was amusing to watch her swim upstream.
Zorbin told her that he would explain it all later, but first they needed to plan for the following day. Linaya’s visit had been useless, but Zorbin had somehow saved the day. Linaya was excited and when asked to leave the dwarves to their planning, she happily complied, returning to the luxurious bed she had foresworn the day previous. This time she jumped into its silky depths. When next she awoke Zorbin stood over her. It was the middle of the night, and the look upon his face was a serious one.
He explained to Linaya what had transpired and why he had done it. He also explained that it had all been Gumbi’s plan. Finally he got to the facts that really mattered to Linaya. Boulder Gate would be supplying help to the human kingdom of Valdadore. That aid would come in the form of one hundred thousand armed and armored troops, including more than a thousand blessed with abilities that made them champions in battle. They would march the following day and the trip on foot would take the dwarves about three weeks. Most of the dwarves had never seen the surface, and would need time to adjust to the light and the differing consistencies of the ground they trod upon.
Following Zorbin, Linaya left the house that had been lent to her, and together they walked to one of the many secret entrances to the dwarven kingdom. This one was only an hour from the city. Stepping out into the night, Linaya looked down upon the glinting steel armor of a hundred thousand dwarven soldiers. Both moons clung to the sky, lighting the way, and below, the ground shook beneath the trampling feet of the dwarven army. Linaya smiled into the darkness.
Chapter Fourteen
Seth stood in a round room with no windows or doors. A layer of thick dust coated the ground and above the room a hole was barely visible in the ceiling where once a staircase had passed into the floor above. He had been here before. He had escaped here before. Yet here, now, no evidence of his prior escape remained.
He knew the room was not real. It was either a dream or a memory, but in either case it did not matter. He felt her in the room, but he refused to acknowledge her presence. His vision of the gods showed her power encircling his own, swallowing it, so immense was her aura. Still he ignored her, pretending not to notice that she had come.
“You have failed me,” came her voice in a vehement hiss. “I gave you everything you needed to succeed and still you failed.”
Seth did not reply; he didn’t care.
“I gave you the power to change the world, to make it better. I gave you the power to save the woman you love and you repay me by pissing on it all,” the goddess whispered, her rage poisoning the air in the room.
“You gave me enough to hang myself with and nothing more. What progress I made was my doing with no credit to you,” Seth spat into the darkness.
“Progress? You call the mess you left, the plague you began…progress? You are nothing!”
“If I am nothing, the one who brought you the followers you needed to survive, then what does that make you?” Seth grinned inwardly, caring not if he angered her.
“It is unwise to tempt those who hold your life in their hands,” Ishanya stated.
“My life is over,” he shrugged.
Out of the darkness, a shadow appeared and from that shadow she coalesced, her body slowly taking form, a blight within the darkness. As before her hair was braided in small, tight rows that clung to her scalp before trailing down her back. Upon her body she wore wicked armor, darker than night, both beautiful and menacing. Under her arm she held a helm in the visage of a demon’s face with huge horns that curled out to each side. She looked upon him, her nostrils flaring. Sadly, she reminded Seth of Sara, at least to a degree.
He wished he could be with her now. She needed him, and he needed her. Something about them together made each of them better. Without him, she would be forever foresworn from the light, forced to live an eternity in darkness. He needed to get back to Sara.
Seth wished that she was his only concern, but Garret too needed him. Without Seth, Valdadore did not stand a chance at holding out against Sigrant’s forces. Without Seth, Garret would likely lose his mind to rage, forgetting his responsibilities. It was his brother that had wanted to be a soldier. He had wanted battle and glory. Now he had lost so much in the last few months that Seth knew Garret was near the edge. If he stepped over, there would be no coming back.
Borrik and the werewolves also needed Seth. Without him they would have no real purpose and would likely break down into more feral groups, turning upon the humans from which they were spawned. Though Borrik had been a priest with morals and beliefs, because of Seth he had put that behind him to become a killer. He needed Seth to remind him of his humanity.
There were a hundred reasons Seth needed to return to Thurr; a hundred things he had planned to see though until the end. There was so much he had left unfinished that even without a body his heart hurt for the want of life. Angered at his own weakness, his own failures, he lashed out at the goddess who had led him to the power he needed to fix all that he had broken. He needed her to send him back; he needed to convince her that he could serve her better.
“Send me back,” Seth said, more a question than a demand.
* * * * *
Already Ishanya could see that he was slipping. Within minutes he would vanish from this world and return back from whence he came. There was nothing she could do about it. It was out of her hands, beyond her control. Looking upon the eternally weaving tapestry of time she saw where the threads of his life and his body intertwined yet again. It raced near.
Though she had not anticipated it, and not planned it, somehow the sum of his failures had been a success. Though it had not been a victory for her, causing her to lose a great portion of her hold on this game that she had started, he had become more than mortal. Even now his body regenerated, and just as it would start to tug at his soul across the planes, it would stop again.
Though she had lost a handle on him in some capacity, she could still bend him to her will. All Ishanya needed to do was convince him that she held the power over his life. He needed to think he was indebted to her. Ishanya formulated her plan.
“Returning you to your mortal flesh would do you little good, tiny mage. Your body lays destroyed, useless. There is no vessel to return your soul to,” she lied to her servant.
“You could fix it,” he replied, trying to keep his voice in check.
“Your beloved princess is a captive of the enemy. He plans to torture her for all eternity,” she lied again, playing to his fears.
“Why if you plan to keep me here do you not just end me and absorb my power?” Seth asked in anguish.
Ishanya pondered the question. If she could do as he said, she would have done so already. Alas, she was unable, and as such she was forced to let him return. Time was running short; a bargain would have to be struck and quickly.
“If I were to send you back, we would have to agree on some new terms.” Ishanya gave him a hint of hope.
“Anything you desire of me, my goddess,” Seth offered, the words feeling like death as they parted his lips. Seth of all people understood that striking a bargain with a god was ill-advised.
“I can send you back but every moment you will abide by my rules. If not I will see to it that everything you love is destroyed.”
“Yes, mighty Ishanya.”
“If I send you back you will no longer be fully human. Like your beloved princess you will become a creature of the night. If this becomes a limitation to your ability to serve me I suggest you fix it!”
“Yes, my goddess.”
Ishanya needed to hurry.
“A plague has been unleashed into the men of the world. You must quickly end the war and diminish its spread.”
“Yes Ishanya, anything you wish.”
“If I decide to send you back, as soon as your puny war is done, you will leave yo
ur kingdom and travel the world gathering me followers by any means necessary.”
“Yes, as you wish.”
Ishanya had him where she wanted him. He would return to the realm of the living whether she liked it or not. Now, however, he had sworn to do all she demanded. She would keep close tabs upon him to be sure he did. So long as he thought that she would hurt those he loved or again remove him from the living, so long as he feared her, he would do as she said. Ishanya waited and watched the flow of time. The moment arrived so she again spoke to her servant.
“So be it then, return to your corpse and serve me once more. I warn you slave…Fail me again and everything you cherish will burn before your eyes. Your father’s death will be a celebration compared to what I will do to those you have left.”
“I will not fail you again.”
Seth felt something tug at his consciousness. It pulled again. At first it was just a small thing, and then it yanked him like nothing he had ever felt before.
* * * * *
Posted on the wall, Valdadore’s soldiers stood looking down upon a small congregation of troops that had approached from Sigrant’s camp. It was obvious that they studied the giant gate and the city’s fortifications. An archer loosed an arrow into the group of enemy soldiers below. Meeting its mark, a soldier slumped in his saddle before leaning to the side and tumbling to the ground.
All their eyes turned up to the top of the wall, and from one on the ground a fireball lanced towards the defenders. Another of Seth’s werewolves fell.
Miles away, unnoticed by anyone, Seth’s corpse did something unexpected. With a twitch of his neck his heart fluttered, as again the synapses in his brain began to fire. Coughing, the death mage rose from the dead.
-End
THE CROWNED
AGE OF THE GODS, VOLUME VII
THE BLOOD AND BROTHERHOOD SAGA
Prologue
Within the span of a few months the entire future of the world had been rewritten. Out of obscurity two new champions blessed by the gods had arisen upon the face of Thurr. Believed twins, these champions had special abilities that made each of them an asset in battle. Heeding the call of their kingdom, Seth and Garret had marched to war against the black horde, a formidable army comprised of orcs, trolls and goblins.
* * * * *
Using his unparalleled magical abilities, Seth created a new race of men to serve the kingdom of Valdadore, melding wolves with men to form werewolves. At their head, Seth appointed Borrik, a once-human priest to the goddess Ishanya, who now served loyally as the alpha werewolf, a vicious predator designed for killing. Garret, trained by the mighty Knights of Valdadore, became a warrior unlike any other, impenetrable to physical harm by any weapon. Together with their allies, the brothers faced the previously undefeated black horde. Though the battle had eventually been won so, too, had much been lost.
Taking an arrow to the neck, Sara, Seth’s young wife, had fallen in the battle. Losing control of his powers in his anguish and rage, Seth unleashed his magic with devastating effect to both friend and foe. In that final blast, the battle was won as thousands of enemy troops were obliterated. However, the King of Valdadore and several of his blessed warriors were also destroyed by it. Seth and Sara were nowhere to be found. Most assumed them dead, as no trace remained of the young couple.
* * * * *
His brother, king, and mentor Lord Sirus all slain, Garret had no choice but to ignore the emotions threatening to overwhelm him as his new duties begin to stack up in service to the kingdom. Witnessing the suicide of Sirus’s wife Sasha, he was charged with looking after their beautiful daughter, Linaya. Each overcome with their own sorrows, Garret and Linaya sought solace from one another and became closer by the day as a deep-seated love began to grow between them.
* * * * *
Seth and Sara found themselves transported to a foreign land following the magical blast that had ended the battle with the black horde. Though Sara had been mortally wounded, Seth managed to save the woman he loved by using his powers to combine her life force with that of a species of bat with amazing healing abilities. However, he soon began to realize that his magic came with untold and sometimes devastating consequences. As Sara was restored, it quickly became apparent that their lives together would change immensely. Sara had become an agile, powerful, bloodthirsty predator who could no longer tolerate the sun. Together the pair set out to find their way back home, but were captured and delayed by a tribe of miniature warriors. Hearing these people’s sad tale of persecution by the mysterious Zoomba, Seth and Sara allied themselves with the small race in hopes of defeating another immense enemy. Little did they know that the enemies were cat-sized insects that numbered in the millions.
* * * * *
Borrik, the alpha werewolf, sent his hybrid troops in all directions to seek out Seth following the battle with the black horde, confidently believing his master still alive. Leading a small contingent of wolf troops himself, he was approached by more of Seth’s creations in the night. A pair of feline girls Seth had shaped prior to the battle swore that they knew the location of their creator. Changing course, Borrik followed the trail laid before him by the sisters, racing east towards the mountainous border of Valdadore. As he and his men raced day in and out to reach their master, the lunar cycle progressed. Under the influence of the twin full moons in the sky, the contingent of hybrid wolfmen were filled by lust-induced rage, and brutally raped the inhabitants of a small community before fleeing the scene to again seek out their master.
Cresting the mountains the pack of werewolves were accosted by a giant and took several casualties before finally bringing the immense beast down. Rejoined by another pack of his troops, Borrik led his men onwards and soon witnessed Seth’s magical fire in the distance. Leaving his injured men behind, Borrik and his troops raced with no regard for their own safety to his side.
* * * * *
Reunited with his troops, Seth formulated a plan to defeat the insect army. Together with the help of the werewolves and the miniature warriors, Seth and Sara managed to destroy the queen of the insects. Their leader lost, the remainder of the Zoomba dispersed as Seth, his wife and his hybrid soldiers headed back to the capital city of Valdadore. Along the way they were rejoined by the remainder of Seth’s small personal army of mutated men before reaching their destination.
* * * * *
Garret sought to help repair the kingdom, and now, as a member of the royal council in his role as a Knight of Valdadore, he had the means to do so. He used his meager influence to help vote good people into positions of worth within the kingdom with the help of allies in the council. When it came to selecting a new king, however, two unexpected events occurred. First, Garret made an enemy of the powerful battle mage Vladmere who fled the city after setting the mages’ tower ablaze once he realized he would not be elected as king. Second, Garret was tricked into the most powerful position within the kingdom, and within weeks a crowning ceremony was held in his honor.
If being crowned king of a mighty kingdom was not enough to make a memorable day for Garret, Linaya had also professed her love for him the night before. To top that off, little over an hour after being crowned, Garret was surprised yet again as his brother apparently returned from the dead with his resurrected lover in tow. But that was still not the end of the most memorable day of his life. No sooner was the new royal family reunited than a messenger from the western border of Valdadore arrived to announce that the kingdom was being invaded by their neighbors led by King Sigrant. Bloodshed, it seemed, would not remain a thing of their past.
* * * * *
Having learned to enchant inanimate objects, Seth helped to equip warriors with weapons and armor with magical attributes. Beyond that he began to create his own champions out of those loyal to his cause, blessing them with size, strength and more. The kingdom of Valdadore marched out to meet the approaching foe but was caught off guard by magic unlike anything ever seen before. The enemy, it se
emed, had abilities at their command that could destroy Valdadore.
* * * * *
With the death of Seth, the waking god, Sara became a prisoner of war as the invading king, Robert Sigrant, used her in hopes of utilizing her gift to his own dark ends. With the dark prince defeated, and his princess captured, Sigrant has Valdadore under his heel as the battle ensues. Though, he does not know that a Dwarven army a hundred thousand strong marches to the aid of Valdadore at the behest of Zorbin and Linaya. Though only one could claim it, all seek a victory that will forever alter the Fate of Thurr…
Chapter One
The landscape lay wasted, a testament to the butchery of previous hours. Here lay the disfigured corpses of thousands of soldiers, those decimated beneath the feet of blessed champions and supply wagon alike. Blood coated the ground everywhere, though now in the darkness it could not be seen, but everything was slick with the gore. The cold had blown in wickedly from the north with the coming of darkness. It threatened a winter storm, turning blood to ice, and creating a crystallized frost on everything as if to preserve the macabre scene for an eternity. Though a waterfall plummeted into the ground, to be lost from sight in the unknown depths of a giant chasm cut into the face of Thurr, its falling water only created a resonating hum somewhere below as occasional blasts of steam were exhaled from the giant scar. Naught but the occasional caw from a scavenger bird, or growl from feasting predator, broke the eerie silence that had fallen over the battlefield. Even those animals that dared feed upon the men steered clear of the southern edge of the field, for at that place a strange charge emanated and electrified the air.
A large circle of ash rested at the southern edge of the field, a blight that even now showed signs of unholy sacrifice. At the perimeter, piles of carcasses still smoldered, flames peeking out into the night occasionally to paint the scene in hues of red and orange. Even now, hours after the combatants had moved on, the ash lay undisturbed. It had become a shrine, or perhaps a solitary display of respect to the man who had fallen there. None upon the field had thought he could be killed, the walking god known as Seth, the dark prince of Valdadore. And those who believed were as of yet correct.
Age of the Gods: The Complete, twelve novel, fantasy series (The Blood and Brotherhood Saga) Page 122
