The Awakening

by Joe Jackson

  Max sighed. “It is a legend among the Caerumach. They speak of a striped man, a gnoll chieftain who led them in ancient days. Unlike the spotted gnolls we are familiar with, this one wore stripes instead. He led them to victory over their enemies, united many of their internally-warring clans into one tribe – the Caerumach – and, as difficult as it may be to believe, made them a lot less savage than they were. Furthermore, they believe he will return to lead them to even greater prosperity in the future.”

  Starlenia bobbed her head. “And when they see your birthmarks, they think maybe you’re a reincarnation of their striped man? And then you add in the facts that you’re a seventh son of a seventh son, a single birth, a paladin, a prince…”

  “That would be a good summation.”

  “Shit,” Starlenia blurted. Leighandra fixed her with a stare along with everyone else, and the shorter woman shrugged. “Hey, I was hoping we might be mistaken and somehow avoid all of this. But if these things that keep cropping up are folk legends among all our peoples… it’s hard to believe this isn’t prophecy of some kind. This just keeps getting worse and worse.”

  “How many signs have you seen in total, my lady?” Max asked.

  “Twenty-one to date,” Karinda responded. “Seven times three; if you are unfamiliar with numerology, this is not coincidence. This is why I have taken the angel’s presence as it appears for the time being. When I first became aware of the angel and these things, I thought it was superstitious nonsense or coincidence, unconnected events I was reading too much into, and trying to place importance on random occurrences, mistaking correlation for causation. But I no longer believe this to be true.”

  “What are the other signs you have seen?”

  “A demon raising an orphaned mortal child as its own – this has now happened twice. I am certain I need not explain to you the unlikelihood of such an event happening even once. I have seen so many things, some of which would have little meaning to you, but tremendous meaning to those they have happened among. I have seen children receive names that outsiders – or even their parents in some cases – might not understand… such as Final Gift.”

  Max let out one of the most disturbing sounds Leighandra had ever heard, something between a bark, a biting sob, and a gasp, and he shot to his feet. “Stop. Stop!”

  Karinda pursed her lips, folding her hands in her lap. “Your people do not believe in coincidence, Auremax Talvorus.”

  Starlenia looked back and forth between them. “Your name means Final Gift?”

  Leighandra blanched. He was his mother’s final gift to her people, she thought, making an effort to hold her tears in check.

  “My people do not believe in coincidence, but I do not believe in superstitions,” Max insisted. “I am not Christ Incarnate, not to my people, and not to the gnolls!”

  “I never said you were,” the archmage responded.

  “My people do. They think I do not hear their whispers, or see the way they look at me when they think I am not paying attention. These stripes – birthmarks, whatever they truly are – my people think they mean more than they do, and the Caerumach feel the same way. They want me to live up to something I can never live up to. Never!”

  Karinda sat forward, a hand raised to placate him. “Max, please sit down. You are not expected to live up to anything but your own potential. You were not chosen; you chose to come. Galadon was not chosen; he chose to come. All of your companions chose to come; they were not chosen. As I explained, this is not a prophecy, but some angelic being is drawing my attention – and most probably, many others’ – to these signs. You have the opportunity to make a stand, make a difference, but it is not fate or destiny. It is merely opportunity.”

  “Then why the signs and wonders?”

  “The signs and wonders are for the others, Max, not for you. You have all decided to take a stand already; the signs are for those who will follow you. There is a proverb among your faith about those who believe without seeing, compared to those who believe because they see. You and your friends are the former, but you will require the aid of the latter. I believe this is why the angel has been laying these… breadcrumbs, as Starlenia so aptly put it.”

  At last Max sat back down, dipping his snout with a sigh. “Forgive my outburst. I did not mean to insult you or act like an ungrateful child.”

  Karinda smiled. “No offense taken. Believe me when I tell you that after two hundred years, I still feel overwhelmed at times by what I face, and what we face as a people. What I see and hear and feel… I have no one to explain these things to me. At least I may try to explain them to you so you are not lost. Now, with regard to the signs, there are also three gatherings taking place: a gathering of seven, being your group; a gathering of four, referring to your plans to reunite the flames of the north, south, east, and west; and a gathering of six, the significance of which leads to a task I have for you. It is time for you… to visit a dragon.”

  “Alamarise?” Max guessed.

  Karinda shook her head. “No. To the west, in the Dragon Mountains, sits the lair of the elder red dragon known among our people as Fireblade. You must go and speak with her.”

  Suddenly, I’m a lot less excited by the prospect of speaking with a dragon…

  Delkantar sprang to his feet. “Are you daft, woman? She’s as vicious as they come! Surely you mean to get us killed, sending us there?”

  The archmage gestured for patience. “She has calmed considerably in the years since her mate and young were slain. While she is far from hospitable or congenial, if you go to her lair in good faith and speak the words of peace, she will allow you entry, and at least listen to what you have to say. I will warn you, however, that if you go before her full of bluster and bravado and say something… regrettable, you will be incinerated. Of this, I have no doubt.”

  “Well, that makes me feel much better. When do we leave?” Starlenia muttered with a roll of her eyes.

  Karinda laughed. “Do you think I would send you to her if I doubted your abilities? You have come to me for help, and I am giving you all I can without sending you on a fool’s errand or tipping our hand to our enemies. I know you still harbor doubts, and Tilcimer’s words have obviously been a factor in that. But think about it this way: If you had never come to see me, would you have put any less effort into seeing to these things with no inkling of these signs and wonders?”

  “I suppose not,” the Okonashai woman admitted.

  “Consider also that you have the opportunity, however small, of making an ally out of a volatile but powerful being. Fireblade is among the most powerful dragons in the entire world. She will not aid you out of altruism, but this is not to say that she will not aid you. Even a being whose loyalty and aid can be bought is better than an enemy, no? So I urge you to be kind, be patient, tolerate her quirks, and do your best to appease her without compromising your goals and principles. You may come away from the encounter not just surprised, but richer for it.” She turned and looked at Delkantar. “And no, by richer, I do not mean she will give you a set of paluric armor, if she even has such a thing in her possession.”

  “How the hell…,” he muttered, chuckling.

  “And what are the words of peace?” Galadon asked.

  “Simply tell her that you are keepers of the flame. She will understand.”

  Yiilu looked somehow paler than usual. “Are there other signs we should know about?”

  “None that I will share with you at this time. If things with Fireblade go as I hope, you will find your path going forward, and have little need to see me until it is absolutely necessary.”

  “What do you know of the Tempis’ra, though? Is he a demon god?” Starlenia asked.

  “That is a contradiction by nature,” Karinda said. “But demons and their kings can become quite powerful, and nearly godlike in their own right. It is possible the Tempis’ra was a demon king in those ancient days; I am not overly familiar with their ranks, banned as I am from going to t
heir world. Rexis, obviously, would be far more familiar with what he and his brethren faced in those days, but even he does not have the whole of it. It is possible no one does.”

  “Is there anything else we should know?” Delkantar asked.

  “Only that you should stop in Solaris on your way to Fireblade’s lair; there are things there that you should see to.”

  “Then that is where we should head,” Max said, rising up. “As it stands, I should send a message south to my people, to let my king – not to mention my wife – know that I am fine, and what it is that is keeping me from home.”

  “Might just want to cut your stones off and send them to your wife,” Delkantar said, and Max’s ears went up, his jaw opening slightly in shock. “She may cut them off anyway when you finally get back home, with how long you’ve been gone…”

  Leighandra put her hand over her mouth, but Max burst out laughing. Karinda seemed more amused by Max’s reaction than the blunt joke, but Yiilu turned a lovely shade of crimson. “Have some respect,” the chronicler said.

  “Sorry.”

  “Thank you again for your help, my lady,” Max said. “We will see you again soon.”

  “And thank you for the rings,” Leighandra added.

  “And for bringing Galrinthor back to me,” Galadon finished.

  “You are all most welcome. Be safe, and know that I will be watching over you.”

  “Even in the bathtub!” Starlenia quipped, and then she dashed out the door chortling.

  “We’ll just see ourselves out,” Delkantar said, laughing, as he shoved Max playfully ahead of himself. The luranar had the good grace to look mortified.

  Leighandra turned an apologetic look the archmage’s way, but was surprised to find a mischievous grin on the woman’s face.

  I wonder if the angel gave her any indication how odd this group would be…

  ~ * ~ * ~

  “Dark spirits roam these woods now,” Yiilu commented as they passed through the edge of Laeranore toward Solaris. “My people must have their hands full trying to contain or combat this scourge. Even the trees speak in hushed tones, wary of the darkness that wanders between their ancient boles.”

  The deeper haunting of the woods had persisted right to the border and even beyond it. Not an hour had passed where the forest didn’t feel alive, but contrary to the wondrous sensation from their first trek through, now it felt unwelcoming. The trees must have sensed that there was something amiss, and their trepidation bled into the very air of the woodlands, settling onto the skin and into the lungs of the travelers. Delkantar blazed ahead of them, guiding them through the woods as quickly as possible without endangering the new mount among them.

  “Things are getting much worse,” Galadon agreed from up on Galrinthor’s back. He had been putting in some effort getting reacquainted with his trusty mount, and the charger seemed disappointed when the knight didn’t ride. “I can’t help but feel like we wasted too much time hiking up north. As much as Max having his father’s sword – not to mention his armor – is a boon to us, we lost much time, and our enemies have grown stronger and bolder.”

  “Are we really going to see that dragon?” Starlenia complained. “I know there’s a good chance we’ll all end up dead in this conflict anyway, but it seems a bit stupid to me to go ensure it by trying to chat with that evil old cow.”

  Delkantar chuckled. “Well, our enemies will certainly never see it coming.”

  “Because it’s a stupid thing to do!”

  Leighandra had a hard time coming up with an argument. We should trust Karinda may have seemed like the natural thing to say, but how far did that trust extend? They knew the archmage more by reputation than personally, and the fact that she wouldn’t or couldn’t tell them everything she knew did leave room for doubt. The chronicler trusted that Karinda was trying to do the right thing, but that didn’t mean she had the companions’ best interests at heart. All too often, the heroes had to be sacrificed for the common good… at least in the epics, anyway.

  She studied the notes she’d taken during Karinda’s explanation, but they were still far from complete or satisfactory to the inquisitive chronicler. What was the truth of all these signs and wonders, and how was this… angel or whatever it truly was involved in them? Angels were exceedingly rare in the history of Citaria, far more so than demons, so to find that the seeds of some prophecy, for lack of a better term, had been laid by a divine messenger seemed odd. And then there was the archmage’s comment about the number of signs.

  “Max, you said you are Christian, yes?” Leighandra prompted.

  “I am.”

  “I’m not overly familiar with that faith, but isn’t numerology a facet of it?”

  The luranar paladin nodded. “Very much so. Three is the number of the Trinity, but also of completeness or perfection, and appears numerous times in the word of our faith. Seven is the number of divine perfection. Karinda must have known this to point specifically to the number of signs as a suggestion of divine guidance. However…”

  He paused, and the others looked to him, except for Delkantar, who moved ahead to scout the paths through the trees for trouble. “What is it?” Leighandra pressed.

  Max sighed. “These are things written over five thousand years ago by our reckoning. Does any of it apply specifically to this world, much less to these events? I cannot say. My people do not believe in coincidence, but honestly, that often makes things more confusing, not less. Is the being Lady Karinda has witnessed an angel of our Lord, or a servant of one of your deities? Could they possibly be one and the same? I have no idea. And even if I did, I am not certain it would grant any more clarity to this situation.”

  “Karinda said that our meeting with Fireblade would likely provide all the clarity we will need in the short term,” Yiilu offered.

  “Death sure does remove the uncertainty from life,” Starlenia muttered.

  “Oh, come now,” the druidess admonished her. “Think of this in other terms, my friend. We could all be home, dealing with each incident with fear and uncertainty! Instead we have become privy to what is truly behind this travesty, and given the opportunity to either put a stop to it or put events in motion that will do so. We should be honored to have been given this opportunity, as Karinda put it.”

  “About as honored as a spotless lamb,” the Okonashai woman said, and Max turned a shocked gaze her way. Starlenia drew her finger across her throat with the appropriate sound added, and Leighandra was pretty sure the color would’ve drained from the paladin’s face, if one could see the skin beneath the fur.

  After a moment, though, his face hardened, his lupine lip curling up to show a bit of fang. “I have no plans to die for this cause. My father laid down his life for it; I, on the other hand, intend to make our enemies lay down theirs for a change.”

  “Well said,” Galadon agreed.

  Delkantar came jogging up the path and stopped a few paces before the group. “Can any of you speak the language of the lizard-folk? There’s a whole lot of them headed right for us.”

  Yiilu frowned. “Even they can sense the change in our homeland, else they would have passed directly through it, and some time ago at that. They must be skirting the edge in the hopes of avoiding whatever trouble has left the feeling of unease about the woods.”

  “They speak elvish, do they not?” Max asked.

  “Oh, yes, many of them do. You, Leighandra, and I will be able to speak with them, at least. It is probably best, however, if we simply continue on, and only trouble them if their scouts come across us.”

  “Never seen the lizard-folk before,” Starlenia mused. “I’ve heard some live to the north of us, but as far as I know, my people have never had contact with them.”

  “There is a simple honesty about them that makes them quite pleasant, to my thinking,” Yiilu explained. “They are far from stupid, but their society is simple, and they lack a lot of the greed and avarice we see amongst our own.”

 
“Explains why my people don’t deal with theirs,” the rogue muttered. “Swindling the simple isn’t nearly as much fun.”

  A pair of czarikk scouts appeared at edge of the forest as the group continued along. Delkantar waved a hand in greeting, and the lizard-folk paused and took in the party. They leaned back toward the direction they’d come, but then they saw Yiilu and straightened out. The sight of Galadon mounted on his charger nearly sent them skittering away again, but the knight stopped a respectful distance away and let his companions greet the czarikk.

  The lizard-folk were tall despite their bent posture and had a peculiar beauty to them with their deep green scales and colorful crests. If memory served, Leighandra thought this type was called sulrassa. The scouts wore some utilitarian items – belt pouches, knife sheaths, and the like – but otherwise wore no clothes. Their smooth scales betrayed little of their genders, and the chronicler took in as much other detail as possible to put in context later. The golden and red eyes of the scouts took in the approaching elf, half-elf, and luranar, and Leighandra was surprised they showed no fear or concern over Max’s appearance.

  Well, if the luranar and the czarikk both have dealings with my mother’s people, it’s quite possible they have dealings with each other, or are at least acquainted, she thought.

  “Good day, friends,” Yiilu called to them in elvish, Max and Leighandra accompanying her a couple of steps behind. “Are your people only just now making their way to your northern settlements?”

  The scouts bowed to the druidess, but one deferred to the other to speak. It began in a slightly hissing but pleasantly sibilant grasp of elvish, “We are. We have had many strange troubles to deal with these last turnings of the moons. Have…” The scout spoke quickly with its companion, who nodded. Turning back, it continued, “Have you seen troubles with your dead returning, driven by unclean spirits?”

  Yiilu’s mouth tightened, but she nodded. “Yes, my friends. It is not just your people or ours dealing with this, but the other nations of this land as well. My companions and I are in the process of investigating. Please let your chieftains and shamans know that should you require aid, you are always welcome to ask my people. We are happy to be of help to you.”