A Twist of the Tale

by P R Glazier

Chapter 36. A Decision of Allegiance

  Amndo stood once again in the Grand Masters office, Shak’Ee’Roe stood by his side. The Grand Master entered and shut the door behind him. He looked across the office to where Amndo stood; the Grand Master had a calculating expression upon his face. He looked briefly at Shak’Ee’Roe and lowered his gaze to his desk; he walked across and sat down. He nodded slowly before he looked upon Amndo once more and said as he lent forward placing both arms flat upon the desk top. “So Gatekeeper, are you ready for your part?”

  Amndo took in a deep breath. He wondered if he should make small talk, would he bring suspicion upon himself if he seemed too eager. In the end he thought that if he was to play a dark elf sympathiser, or even worse their Gatekeeper, then he should perhaps be focused on doing the task he was set upon, he should probably not be passing the time of day with pleasantries. He would in fact be eager to do his part, be successful, be seen to be upholding the goals of his people, the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran. But he felt strange, this whole situation felt strange. He had an existing relationship with the Grand Master, all his life he had served this leader of his people. He had felt secure, was sure of that position and sure of the Grand Master, who he was, what he stood for. Yet it was now obvious that in fact the Grand Master was not the person whom Amndo had known at all, but someone with a dark secret. Amndo wondered how and when the Grand Master had become embroiled with the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran, was it the elf Tezrin who had made the first contact, been key in romancing the Grand Master to the cause of the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran? Amndo felt guilty, for he was now just as bad, he was pretending to be something he was not, but his pretence was in direct opposition to that of the Grand Master. 

  Amndo felt Shak’Ee’Roe looking from him to the Grand Master and then back again as if sizing up each of them and the situation in which they found themselves.

  The Grand Master cocked his head to one side a slight frown on his face. “Master Amndo?”

  Amndo was brought sharply back from his thoughts by the familiarity of the grand Masters use of his name. The Grand Master had called him Amndo not Gatekeeper. Was this a reference to their former relationship; was it a ruse to catch him out? Amndo took another deep breath, he wanted to get going, get out of this current mood of indecision, so he said, “I am Grand Master, I am ready. Lead us to the portal that we may pass through and reach the machine hall.” Amndo did not know what the response would be, but he looked directly at the Grand Master, daring him to say something, anything.

  The Grand Master nodded slowly, he looked towards Shak’Ee’Roe once more before he spoke, “then follow me.”

  Amndo let out his breath; he hoped it did not seem to be so obvious a gesture of relief.

  The Grand Master stepped to a blank wall; he reached within his robes and withdrew his hand.

  Amndo looked at the hand and thought; he has the keystone, the one that Tezrin was the keeper of after he had murdered the original Key that held that position.

  The Grand Master used the keystone and opened a portal, once it was fully established he stepped back and gestured that they should go through.

  With some feeling of renewed confidence, Amndo bowed and out of habit and reverence to his old master he waved his arm with an open palm in a gesture of genuine politeness he said, “after you Grand Master.”

  The Grand Master looked slyly at Amndo and said, “so you don’t trust me then, at least not enough to pass through into a portal leading to a destination you cannot be sure of?”

  Amndo went to correct the Grand Master, to tell him that he only offered the way out of respect, but he remembered the situation they were in and smiling partly at his own stupidity and partly for the benefit of the Grand Master he said, “would you?”

  The grand Master chuckled to himself and said, “sadly no, I would not. So have it your way then.” He gathered his robes tightly about him and walking forward vanished from sight through the portal.

  Amndo went to walk forward, but Shak’Ee’Roe stopped him and said, “I will go first Gatekeeper.” Before Amndo could say anything in response she was also gone through the portal. Amndo couldn’t help notice that she drew her dagger from where it was concealed in the waistband of her skirt as she walked forward. He felt panic rise in him as he in turn jumped through the portal, he dreaded what he may find the other side. But as he made the jump his senses adjusted and there on the other side stood the Grand Master and Shak’Ee’Roe. The latter stood with both her hands behind her back.

  The Grand Master said slyly, but in a tone that dripped with something resembling reassurance, “so you see Gatekeeper, nothing to fear here.” He drew his arms in a broad circle about him as if substantiating his words.

  Amndo pursed his lips and just nodded a response. He looked around him. They stood in a large cavern. Illumination came from veins of crystals in the walls. He had seen this before in the mines that the Grûndén in the void planes had dug. The crystal he knew had a unique ability to transform arcane energy into light. These crystals were one of the minerals that the Grûndén coveted; the mineral was of great value to them. He supposed as Grûndén lived and worked underground they perhaps they prized this crystal as a way of lighting their subterranean world.

  “This was one of many anterooms that the Grûndén constructed circling the cavern in which the great machine is housed. These anterooms performed as a staging areas for the construction going on within.” The Grand Master smiled.

  Amndo was surprised for it was Shak’Ee’Roe who was the next to speak, “so how do we get into the machine hall itself?”

  The grand Master shot a look at her, a look of malice, but he covered this quickly with a smile. “A good question minion, “the last word he said with a tone of disgust, he then glared at Shak’Ee’Roe, she glared back at him unflinching, all the time moving her hands around behind her.

  Amndo fearing the worst decided to try and intervene in the obvious dislike that these two had for one another. “Grand Master, you have the key stone? Another portal perhaps to get us from here into the machine hall?”

  The Grand Master slowly took his gaze from Shak’Ee’Roe and looking at Amndo said with a blank expression, “of course, each staging area has a permanent portal into the machine hall. Each of the Combined Races had their own staging area and could initiate access in this way.”

  Amndo picked up on the Grand Master’s reference to the Combined Races. This he knew to be an ancient term, one that was not in regular use today. He knew it was an old reference to what they now knew collectively as the Elder Races.

  The Grand Master seemed to be weighing something in his mind before he said, “but there is something I want in return.”

  Shak’Ee’Roe made a sort of disgruntled noise, as if she was expecting as much.

  Amndo looked at her, she was frowning deeply. What could the Grand Master want in return for access to the machine hall? Amndo at least was not expecting this. He looked at the Grand Master a puzzled expression upon his face.

  “What I want Gatekeeper is something equal in value. I also desire to show my value to our allies, give them proof of my worth, why should you get all the credit for these actions eh? What I want is to be able to present them with something equally as exciting, equally as favourable in their eyes.” He waited a few moments looking deeply into Amndo’s eyes then said, “what I want is sole command of the Leviathan machine you spoke of earlier, I want the machine.”

  Amndo looked at him a shocked expression upon his face. Suddenly the tables were turning. He felt that he was losing some control over the situation at hand; he needed to play for time, get his wits together.

  But before he could answer the Grand Master again spoke, a half smile upon his mouth. “Now, now Gatekeeper, you are about to get what you want, access and the power to control, or even destroy the great machine, why shouldn’t I have an equally valuable gift for my allies eh? Or are you intending to give them the Leviathan to?” The Grand Mast
er waved his finger in the air in front of his face and made a tutting sound with his tongue whilst he shook his head from side to side. ”But that would be a little greedy of you would it not?”

  Amndo was taken aback by the Grand Masters reference to him destroying the machine. Was it said in jest, or did he suspect something? But he said, “I do not have the Leviathan machine Grand Master. It remains in the hands of my ….” His voice trailed off, he almost divulged his relationship with the Pnook JDC, that would not do at all. So instead he said, “the machines pilot. I do not even know for sure where it may be now.”

  “Come, come Gatekeeper, you do not fool me, you must have a portal installed to take you there, it would be a simple task to retrieve the machine. A fair trade I feel.” He looked at Amndo with a questioning expression. “Think of it as a ‘machine for a machine’ so to speak.” The Grand Master chuckled, as if he found his little joke amusing.

  Amndo didn’t know what to say, he knew the grand Master had taken an interest in the Leviathan, but that was before he suspected the grand Master of being in league with the dark forces. Now he knew, he was loath to hand over the Leviathan machine to the grand Master and effectively to the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran. Or it may be the grand Master intended to keep the machine for his own dark plans. No one had yet calculated that into their suspicions, he certainly didn’t want to complicate matters by allowing such a thing. But how could he refuse? The Grand Master thought that he was the Gatekeeper, if they both were supposedly in league with the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran, then why wouldn’t the Gatekeeper give the Leviathan into the hands of an ally? But then if the Grand Master was in league with the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran why wouldn’t he freely grant access to the machine hall to an ally. Before Amndo could come to a decision he heard the Grand Masters voice raised in anger.

  “I am wondering if you really are who you claim my old friend, you seem reticent, indecisive even. We are both seeking a common goal after all. What do you care if I want the kudos of giving our allies the Leviathan machine?”

  Amndo was also finding his anger rising, he was angry at his own indecision, he was dismayed at the Grand Masters apparent betrayal, he was annoyed that the Grand Master should raise his voice, push him into a corner. Before he could stop himself he said, “I would never give the Leviathan into your hands, you want it for yourself. You suspect me of wanting to destroy the machine don’t you? With the machine gone you suspect that the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran will also change. You will then use the Leviathan for your own ends whatever perverted thoughts you have.”

  Before Amndo knew it the Grand Master had withdrawn a long dagger with a shiny black blade from within his robes and held it threateningly in front of him. “Why shouldn’t I have the machine, it is mine after all, I had it constructed. I placed it back in the Silo long ago to keep it safe, but I didn’t foresee that my accomplice the T’Iea would find the way to access the Silo and be able to steal one of my weapons. Then another T’Iea managed to steal another. You will relinquish the machine to me you don’t know the half of it, you don’t even suspect in your wildest dreams what the Leviathan machine means to me. It is mine, it belongs to me, you have no claim on it, no preference over the machines rightful owner.”

  Amndo stuttered. “Who are you?”

  “I am your Grand Master, that is all you need to know.”

  “No. You are more than that, the evil within you is like an ancient stench, it is very old and festers in your psyche, it is like a pariah, a great malice waiting to pounce. It is clear to me there is more to you. Much more.”

  The Grand Master laughed, quietly to himself at first, but his laughter increased in volume until he was bellowing. But the sound subsided after a minute or two. He drew himself up with a hint of pride in his tone he said, “very astute of you Gatekeeper.” He circled menacingly around Amndo, his eyes burning with darkness like obsidian marbles. “I had a name once, long ago in another age. A name long forgotten in the past, one that I have kept hidden for many lifetimes, a name that would still perhaps instil fear into our people. For some may remember that name from old.”

  Amndo thought for a minute. He knew the history of his people, there was one name above all others that the keepers feared, one name that brought shame to the keepers although the true reasons were lost to time, that name was still, even now shrouded in fear and mystery, it was even used sometimes as a pseudonym for evil. “He disappeared long ago, that evil was laid to rest, the old regime, the old priesthood was routed, all were captured or died.” 

  The Grand Master smiled and bowed low. “No. not at all he escaped, I am living proof. I survived and I returned. I took up my rightful position once more. I remain strong Amndo, the weak are so easy to influence, so easy to overcome.”

  Without knowing it Amndo whispered the name, “Borhran. By the Maker, you are Borhran!” Amndo’s eyes darted towards the Grand Master. “That name is to be despised, it is evil, pure evil. The acts undertaken in that name were demonstrable, unforgivable acts against our people and the elder races. I spit upon that name.” Amndo’s anger flared and he realised too late that he had said too much.

  The Grand Masters voice dripped malice and hatred. ““So even now after all this time my identity is still held in awe. But alas, you also reveal your true identity, you are not the Gatekeeper after all. You disappoint me my friend. I see now you have resisted the call of the Rift entity, as did I, it is a gift we have, the keepers, we are not so easily manipulated as the T’Iea it seems.” He sneered at Shak’Ee’Roe briefly, “stay out of this minion,” before he walked forward and lunged towards Amndo.

  Amndo was surprised at the speed that that Grand Master, Borhran, moved. He jumped backwards, a shocked look on his face; he knew that he was not going to be quick enough. He focussed on the blade that the Grand Master held; it travelled towards him, towards his heart at a great speed. Even as Amndo tried to step backwards out of the way, he tripped and fell. This may have saved his life, for the blade caught in his clothing at a flat angle. He felt the floor smash into his back, he was winded by the impact, he felt a painful stinging sensation in his chest and a warm wetness trickle down his skin.

  The Grandmaster bent over him, hate shone from his face, the dagger was centimetres from Amndo’s throat, there was red blood on the blade. “I am sorry my old friend, but I have spent too many lifetimes biding my time, waiting once more for the opportunity to rise again and take my rightful place amongst the Combined Races. With a Leviathan machine once again in at my command I will be invincible, just as I had initially planned all those ages ago. I see that I cannot convince you; well you know too much, I cannot permit you to live with such knowledge. I will not risk failure again.” The dagger moved down towards Amndo’s chest, where it was positioned over his heart.

  But the Grand Master jerked back up once more a shocked look upon his features; he swayed reaching behind him as if he sort something. He looked down at the front of his robes. Blood ran freely down the cloth dripping onto the floor and soaking into the now sodden material. Amndo looked on in horror, he could clearly see, there protruding from the Grand Masters chest the point of a dagger. Judging by the flow of blood from around the blade and the way that the flow pulsated, the dagger had obviously gone right through his heart. His eyes showed a look of shock, before the lids fluttered closed. He fell to his knees and then pitched forward onto his face. Amndo scuttled backwards out of the way. The Grand Master’s skull struck the hard floor with a sickening crunch and he lay motionless.

  Amndo wrenched his vision from the still form and looked at Shak’Ee’Roe, she was gazing down at the body a snarl upon her lips. But eventually she looked up towards Amndo and smiled, a triumphant look upon her face.

  But this moment of elation passed, her face suddenly screwed up in pain. Amndo watched in disbelief as she fell backwards clutching her head.

  Amndo made to stand, to go to her, he was afraid that she had fallen to some ill thing linked to t
he Grand Master’s death, a hidden poison perhaps. But as he went to stand he swayed a little, a wave of nausea flowed through him, he put his arm behind him and leant on the wall. Amndo felt a pain in his temple as if something had been wrenched forcibly from his mind, something withdrew from his consciousness. Something that he had kept locked away, guarded and cocooned within his psyche. It had been there for a while and he had become accustomed to its cries, its constant pressure for release. Now it had suddenly gone, disappeared without any warning. He knew what had happened, the Rift entities presence had left him. Even though it was buried within its locked prison within his mind, he still felt the release as it passed from his being. The temporary void it left disorientated him for a short while. He shook his head, his eyes focussed slowly.

  After several minutes he felt well enough to open his eyes once again. There on the floor in front of him a form huddled. His features saddened, he thought in his mind ‘oh no’. It was Shak’Ee’Roe. He knew what was wrong with the T’Iea, he had himself felt it. The loss of the Rift entity from his mind was a strange feeling. What must it be like for this T’Iea when she had lived with the Rift entity’s presence within her all her life. She must be experiencing the same loss but magnified many fold. But there was nothing he could do now, the Rift entity was diminishing, maybe had even gone altogether, that meant only one thing, someone had reached the machine room before him and caused the destruction of the machine. Who and how he did not know, he had to find out, he stood and walking across to where he knew the access portal to be he placed his hand there on the spot and waited the few seconds for the portal to open.