Light of the Dark

by N. Saraven

  “—suddenly everything turned upside down. As you know, Whitefang left the leadership of the sunlits to Goldenrain, so they tried not to get involved, especially with the wraiths. The remaining mages disappeared, who knows where. The humans turned to Gerald.”

  “The boy had some wit and got out of the way. Literally, in a way. It was only a matter of time before the dragons got revenge on the wraiths …” Agony swayed his head.

  Something about the two friends’ story sounded off, but it was not the time to ask for details. They presented the happenings as if almost nothing happened, just a few quarrels and ill talking. They surely were not that simple, however. Or maybe they truly were, and they just coloured it a little.

  “And the kobolds?” Talek could not resist the urge to ask.

  “After the Queen died, the King disappeared soon after—”

  “WHAT?!” cried out the kobold in pure fury. He jumped on the warrior, grabbing his collar. If his eyes could kill, Agony would have been dead already. But he remained calm, maybe uncharacteristically calm.

  Nobody interfered, although Neila wanted to do something. But she felt unsure about what she could do, if anything at all. Halgor mostly seemed bored than anything else, as he sat on the table, playing with a speck.

  Finally, Silumar hopped to the furious Talek and jerked his tunic to draw his attention.

  “Don’t worry, Talek. She rests in Setal’s Temple. Silverfang told us what happened. From what I can tell, it was beautiful. I wish I could have been there to see.”

  For a big surprise, the kinwa’s words made their way through the red fog which ruled the soldier’s mind. Talek suddenly let go of Agony; his deep-blue eyes became foggy as sadness emerged. The kobold looked down at the little fellow beside him, who seemed too serious for his kind. His soothing voice did the trick, however—the paragon stumbled to a wall and sat, almost falling on the ground. The gloomy light in the hall suited the mood perfectly.

  The companions exchanged looks, but could do nothing. They knew Talek enough to understand his grief. Even though he was nomad by birth, he left his kind, thanks to the rivalry between him and his brother. He had found a home amidst the stone-loving paragons and lived for such a long time with them that he practically became one. He even made it to the royal family’s guardsmen, where he earned the rank of the Queen’s First Guardian. Thus they had a special bond. No wonder Talek was diminished by the news of the Queen’s death.

  Even Silumar stayed silent, which ruled the great hall. It seemed that the kinwas’ noise from outside was also faint.

  “You really could have told him that before,” murmured Agony under his breath, yet everybody heard. He poked the dust on the pavement with his shoe.

  “Anyhow, let us continue,” said Neila softly, who knew Talek would hear every word with his keen ears.

  “Well, the kobolds were …” continued Kira, but her voice betrayed her. She looked at Agony, asking for help in the matter, but he did nothing.

  “Veilon …” realised Halgor, who could not hide his anger. Agony swayed his head and shrugged.

  “Yes, me,” said a new voice, which made everybody, even Talek, glance at the entrance. A dark silhouette stood at the door, since it was sunny outside. He was unrecognisable, yet everybody knew him.

  “What are you doing here?!” snapped Halgor, jumping off the table and starting for the entrance.

  As he walked, he drew his sword out; his fierce eyes meant nothing good. In the next moment, Talek joined him with a furious gaze and banded bow in his hands.

  Neila could only stare at the happenings with widened eyes. Then she shook off her numbness and hurried after the men before they did something they would regret. Or, what anybody else would regret …

  As she trotted by the dragons, she could see from the corner of her eye that they were just as surprised as everybody else. Even Enargit seemed a little thrown off.

  Meanwhile, Veilon just stood calmly at the door, with a wry smile on his face, like a carnivore who had just eaten but still had room for dessert. He never looked away from the men coming at him, nor seemed to be concerned about their weapons. He was one of the strongest mages, so he could defend himself if needed.

  “I would think twice if I were you,” joined in a new voice.

  Goldenrain stepped behind the kobold from the side. He straightened himself up; his golden scales sparkled in the sunlight. Certainty shone in his red eyes, his vertical pupil shrunk almost to a thin line in the brightness. The friends obviously needed to get through him first if they wanted the kobold mage …

  The huge sunlit dragon’s presence made the companions halt for a moment, although their gaze smouldered even more furiously than before. Neila’s mouth dropped as she tried to catch up; Enargit snorted loud enough for everybody to hear.

  “Well, this is something new …” He trembled.

  Agony and Kira also joined the others, albeit they stayed in the background. Cameron did nothing of the sort, however.

  “Goldenrain!” chirped Silumar joyfully, darting to the dragon, then jumped on him for a hug. He could not put his arms around the dragon’s neck, who crouched on the pavement, so the kinwa would not fall much when he let go.

  “It’s good to see you again, Sil,” the sunlit rumbled warmly, which made Veilon roll his eyes and sigh, annoyed. It seemed the air started to thaw, but nothing could be farther from the truth.

  “Could somebody tell me what is going on?” snapped Neila, as she stepped between the sides.

  “So, you were talking about me. All good things, I hope.” The kobold mage smiled, glancing at Agony and Kira in the background.

  His sharply sarcastic tone brought everybody back to the present. Halgor and Talek started forwards again, although Neila stepped in their way. If this would not be enough for them to stop, Goldenrain’s snap of jaws would do the job.

  Before the situation could get ugly, Neila motioned her friends to be calm.

  “Alright, enough,” she said firmly, which made Veilon smile again. This time warmly.

  “I knew you wouldn’t let me down.”

  “Don’t even go there!” barked back Neila, who seemed to be more agitated with every passing moment.

  She obviously became thrown off, which worried Veilon about her. He started to raise a hand to calm her down, but he caught Halgor’s vicious stare, so he lowered his arm. He cleared his throat to draw attention.

  “Anyhow … if I heard right, you were talking about the ending of the last Dragonwar, missing out me and my part completely.”

  “Now you can enlighten us about your glorious meddling.” Agony raised one eyebrow, standing with arms folded behind Halgor. Kira was right beside him, as if she had become the warrior’s shade. She looked everywhere but at her friends.

  “Well now, no need to be so harsh. I made everything in order again.” Veilon shrugged, as if he were talking about the weather. Then he smiled, but he looked as if Evil just triumphed Good.

  “Meaning, you took over all species,” snorted the warrior, staring at the dark mage sternly. Neila glanced from him to the kobold, looking even more confused than before.

  “Well, I wouldn’t say that …”

  “You rule the kobolds, paragons, AND nomads, plus the wraiths. And seemingly the sunlits. What DO you call it then, if not total domination?” snapped Agony.

  “Excuse me?” Neila turned to Veilon again. She seemed unsure that she had heard everything right.

  Everybody there knew what this would mean, since the companions had the pleasure to peek into the kobolds’ lives. They had fought alongside with both races; they also had seen their capitals. Moreover, Talek told stories too, whenever good mood struck him.

  From the two kobold races, the paragons had joined Veilon without a second thought. No real surprise there—the mage was the only son of the royal pair, so he could take the throne if he wanted. Which he obviously did, and the paragons followed the young, strong, not to mention ambitious Veilo
n, who would bring the new world for the kobolds. One with order and clarity, preferably without humans. They did not hate their pesky neighbours, only saw them as bugs fallen into their broths. The paragons thought they should do something about this nuisance and force the humans to get in line. So the kobolds could thrive, as the Perfect Race, bringing Order into the worlds.

  The nomads, on the other hand, even if they shared their paragon relatives’ points of view about the humans, tried to be as neutral as possible. They liked to keep to themselves, frowning upon everybody who might have tried to help them, or comment. The nomads drew an invisible line around their territory, and if anybody wandered too close, it ended badly for that poor person. They liked nobody, and the feeling became mutual towards them. Even with the paragons, some families had thousand-circles of quarrels between them. Surprisingly, they put somewhat of a halt to this hatred during the second and third Dragonwars. After the Wars, however, everybody returned to their original side and habits.

  Overall, it seemed impossible for the two races to make peace without the worlds falling apart around them.

  “This is interesting,” murmured Enargit, who also knew well what this could mean. He took a good look at the kobold Ruler.

  “The nomads …? You must be joking!” gasped Talek, lowering his bow in his astonishment.

  “Be calm. You don’t have to exaggerate. They, of course, returned to their lovely, isolated life,” answered Veilon coldly, although the sarcasm never disappeared from his voice. Talek sighed in relief, so the Ruler added with a wry smile. “But I have gotten in touch with them.”

  The soldier became pale in anger, but before he could do or say anything, Goldenrain cut in.

  “I would add that the sunlits are under my rule, not Veilon’s.” He tried to lighten the mood, yet Agony interrupted him angrily.

  “Whom HE commands!”

  The dragon regarded him disapprovingly, although it did not seem to bother the warrior, who still looked at the newcomers hostilely.

  “Wait a moment!” cried out Neila, who became flooded by the information and could not tell what was up or down.

  The others obviously saw and knew more because they argued as if they had parted yesterday instead of ten circles ago. But she had missed a lot, apparently, even during the Wars, as she had to acknowledge.

  “And by the way, I too am happy to see you again, Neila,” jeered Veilon, although true happiness shone in his eyes.

  The Master dismissed it completely, still thinking hard. Not Halgor, however, who by any means stared at his rival with such fury as never before.

  “So …” Neila tried to summon up what she could, as she looked around to make sure they let her speak this time. “Overall, we can say that among our lines there is order, under the ruling of our lovely Veilon …”

  “Yeah, you could say that …” murmured Agony, with which he earned Neila’s disapproving glance.

  “Then what did you do for ten circles? I assume you didn’t ‘just gain power’ at the end of the Wars, it just made it official.”

  Neila turned to Veilon with folded arms. Halgor and Talek stepped behind her, as if they were her guards, waiting only for one wrong look or action to make their move. Although they had put away their weapons a few moments earlier.

  Veilon looked at every single one of them, measuring the situation. He thought through what he should reveal and what should remain unspoken. His gaze caught Enargit’s for a short moment, then he opened his mouth to answer, as he took a deep breath. But Goldenrain cut in again.

  “Whatever you think now, the situation is not that bleak. We are here to help,” said the dragon, which made Veilon glance at him, annoyed.

  “I don’t think your help is such a good idea …” muttered Agony under his breath. “Look what happened last time. Because you looked into the future, you bent everything to your liking.”

  “You looked into the future?!” cried out Neila, but nobody could tell whether in anger or surprise.

  Veilon became paler than before, when he saw the golden eyes demanding answers from him. Obviously, he still had not worked out what he should do in this situation.

  Every single mage-caste forbade looking into the future, and all Masters made sure everybody followed this Rule at all costs. ‘The future is to be known by the Gods only’, said those ancient mages who created this Rule. Nobody knew exactly why they thought this way, although everybody accepted and obeyed it. There lay something naturally logical behind it, which nobody wanted to overwrite.

  Until Veilon.

  The rather ambitious dark mage had decided in the Dragonwars that it was worth breaking the Rule. He could never resist his two terrible addictions—the thirst for knowledge, and to possess. He just had to have everything; what he had already gained never proved to be enough. If something caught his eye, he could not get rid of that thought. He must have it, even if the price was so high that he would surely regret it later. Although he had never regretted looking into the future, he also never wanted his former Masters, Neila and Halgor, to know about it …

  Veilon remembered the day when the elven first visited him as clearly as yesterday, when he got the most wonderful offer of his life—the opportunity to join the greatest caste of all times, Varomor. The caste was so new, yet it gained the highest reputation in a very short time. The caste, which only existed in stories and nobody knew the truth.

  The paragon could not say no to this, even though after a while he came to wonder how bad the punishment would be if he ‘happened to break’ some rules. Only a few mages existed from the very beginning who actually risked this punishment. For a very good reason …

  Yet it was not enough force to hold back Veilon. He even wanted to charm away the Master of Varomor because he thought an elven did not suit a kobold enough. Even if Neila actually was only a half-kobold.

  After the ‘angry disagreement’ between him and Halgor, Veilon left Varomor and decided to look on the bright side of things. He had worked out how to look into the future, so he tried to gain as much as he could from it. He could perform the spell only once, albeit he gained enough information for the time being.

  Except the solution, which could save his life from his former Masters’ anger.

  “If he hadn’t done that, we would already be dead.” Goldenrain tried to smooth out the mood, which earned him a furious golden gaze.

  “Is that supposed to be comforting? It is forbidden for a reason!” argued Neila angrily, but the calmness of the dragon soon cooled her down as well.

  At the moment, there were far greater things to think about. No need to spend valuable time on something which happened many circles ago, reasoned the sunlit Leader.

  Although he had good points, his strange behaviour caught Neila’s attention. Something was not quite right about this whole situation. Obviously, the sunlit and the paragon made some kind of arrangement, which she could not even imagine back in the Dragonwars. But now, they seemed to share some knowledge, which possibly was told by Veilon. And this struck Neila.

  She started to guess what kind of truce they had made. After all, nobody, no matter how smart or strong, could manage so many things amidst so many species. Veilon must have had help, and he took a great risk by choosing Goldenrain. There was the possibility that after he had showed his cards, the dragon would have just dragged him in front of the other mages for judgement. However, if he did not …

  The dark mage had to choose very, very carefully, betting everything on one being. If he lost, he would be lucky if he paid only with his life.

  Neila looked at Goldenrain enquiringly, which the dragon withstood calmly. A mirror lay in those red eyes, yet just before they were raised, they showed enough for Neila. And she became stunned by the facts.

  It was a dangerous game which the Leader participated in. If Veilon failed, he would surely drag Goldenrain with him. Neila would give up a lot to find out what the price was. What was worth so much? She also knew if she wanted to
know that, she must break Veilon, get him to talk. However, to do that …

  Neila closed her eyes, accepting the facts and the circumstances. There was no time to think about punishments or argue about broken rules. What happened in the past must stay there. They ought to do a lot, in little time nonetheless, so Neila started to think about what Veilon could know. She wanted to join this alliance of theirs, this great knowledge. She assumed that the kobold became one of the forces which would forge the upcoming happenings.

  Although if she really wanted to join the dark mage, it would probably cost her. A lot. Maybe change her life in such a way that she would regret later. Just like the ending of the Dragonwars.

  Yet Neila had the feeling that she must give in and pay the price—at least, if she wanted to have a say in things.

  A short silence fell on the companions, who glanced at each other uneasily.

  “This being said, it is important for the army to get here as soon as possible,” said Enargit, reminding the others of the facts. If they wanted to get moving forwards with their plans, he added.

  “The army is already here, Emissary of the Dark.” Veilon glanced at him, which made the shadow Leader widen his eyes.

  He immediately scrambled to his feet, then flew out of the hall, making the companions drop to the pavement. On the main square, he looked around, astonished by the view—wherever he glanced, everything was full with shadow dragons. Beside the kinwas, of course, who got friendly with the reptiles immediately. Nobody minded that they spoke different languages and could not understand a word of the other.

  “What the …” babbled the shadow Leader. Then an Elder stepped to him.

  “My Liege! The dark mage Veilon has arrived to us in our temporary valley, which we call home at the moment. He informed us, my Liege, that You await for us in this stronghold, which was once presented to Lexénia so many cycles ago,” the Elder explained, which made Enargit even more amazed.

  As he watched the Elder walk away, he started to wonder. Only through magic could the army arrive here that fast. After all, it took them almost two days, although it was mainly because of Neila. She wanted to scout the landscape. Still, from the valley, no shadow dragon would be strong enough to fly that fast, for that long. From this, Enargit had learned that Veilon was indeed very powerful, which made him cautious about the paragon. Especially when it could be obvious to anybody that he had made a pact with the current sunlit Leader.