Dawn of Darkness: Book 1 - Full (Where The Shadows Stalk)

by Adam Watson

  He smiled to himself as he reminisced about his adventures with Aiden. It had been a dangerous situation, trying to bag a troll’s head, but in the end, they had succeeded.

  Now, thanks to the generosity of his friend, he was on his way to Tiet K’rea instead of risking his life in the countryside trying to fulfil a proclamation. Aiden had given up part of his share of the spoils so that Magmus could pursue his studies, and for that Magmus would be ever grateful. With his spirits lifted, Magmus decided he would enjoy the coach ride into the Deep South - despite what the clerk at the coach stop had said.

  So what if the Black Moon was rising? He had grown up in North Ravona, a land of constant war; he had seen death and destruction every day as a child and what … the clerk thinks he’s going to be afraid of travelling just because the Black Moon’s out? Superstitious nonsense.

  Magmus just didn’t understand the thought processes of the common folk. It seemed as though they would believe anything. Creatures roaming around in the middle of the night because the black moon rises. That was the clerk’s problem? Yes, he had heard the stories when he was a boy, but never had he witnessed anything to back those stories up. It’s just a bunch of tales somebody concocted to keep everyone indoors when the Black Moon is out, and I bet it was the innkeepers! Magmus nodded to himself smugly. Yes, the innkeepers would make a tidy profit having people indoors during the Black Moon because where else would they spend their time but inside the tavern, drinking the nights away.

  The whole concept made no sense to Magmus. For a start, why are these creatures only coming out when the Black Moon rose? Where do they sleep during the day? And where do they go when the moon is just its standard white colour? Why are they not coming out every night? Cassandra had said just as much when they were in the foyer of the coach stop seeking passage.

  Cassandra was the other passenger in the coach with him. A fiery redhead, with an equally fiery temper; she was very attractive but had a harsh demeanour and looked to be around the same age as Magmus. She wore a sleeveless dress, red in colour with a thick brown cloak. Around her neck hung a golden necklace and each hand had four silver rings; each set with a different coloured stone. Next to her was a bundle. Tall and thin, it seemed to Magmus that it contained some kind of staff or spear, but why it was wrapped up in cloth was a mystery.

  They had met at the coach stop. When Magmus had walked through the entrance to book passage, he was taken aback when he saw a beautiful woman seated in the foyer. He greeted her with a polite wave, and she had greeted him with a slight smile.

  At the time he had thought her to be a bit uppity, but when she had found out that he was headed to Tiet K’rea, her demeanour changed dramatically.

  “What is your name mage?” she had asked.

  “It-it’s Magmus ... but how did you know I was a mage?”

  “The robe, the stance, that amulet,” she replied, pointing to the talisman around Magmus’s neck. “And if that hadn’t been enough,” she continued. “The name would have been a dead giveaway.” Magmus stared at Cassandra somewhat taken aback, she said no more but glared back, daring him to question her logic.

  “What’s wrong with my stance?” She smiled cheekily at Magmus’s indignation.

  “Very straight, very proper. I’ve seen it before, but it was the amulet that gave it away. You see, I’m a student of magic.” Now she had Magmus’s attention, a fellow student on her way to Tiet K’rea? This news was exciting, as it had been a long time since he had someone he could relate to.

  “A student of magic? So you’re on your way to the academy then?” he asked.

  “Yes, as are you I assume.” Magmus nodded but was only half listening, he had just realised that she had the most beautiful blue eyes. Cassandra moved closer to Magmus, placing her hand on his arm.

  “Magmus ... I have been trying for the last hour to convince these buffoons that we have to leave for Tiet K’rea immediately, but they refuse, citing the Black Moon.” Magmus had snorted in disbelief. The Black Moon ... what nonsense.

  “Black Moon? Surely you jest My Lady?”

  “I’m afraid not.” Cassandra cast her eyes to the floor, she looked upset, and Magmus suddenly found himself wondering what he could do to help. “Magmus you seem like someone of high intelligence.” Magmus bristled, her words were like music to his ears.

  “I guess you could say that.”

  “Good,” continued Cassandra. “That means you know better than to fall prey to the superstitions of the locals. Maybe you can talk some sense into them.” She smiled slightly, looking straight into Magmus’s eyes. Had his heart been made of ice it surely would have melted in that moment. It was unlike a woman to have this kind of effect on him. He could feel her touch on his arm, it was soft and delicate yet firm enough for him to be well aware that it was there.

  “Maybe? My dear lady we shall be leaving for Tiet K’rea this very day!” Apart from wanting to help a damsel in distress, Magmus also wanted to be on his way. He had better things to do than to hang around the coach stop for a week waiting for the Black Moon to go down. Emboldened by the need to impress Cassandra he turned back to the clerk.

  “You there, my good man,” he bellowed, causing the clerk to turn in his direction. “I understand there is a problem with passage to Tiet K’rea.”

  “Yes,” answered the clerk. “As I already explained, it's a four-day ride to Tiet K’rea. To get there would mean being out in the countryside whilst the Black Moon is out for three nights in a row. Now, as you can understand, that would be absolute madness, so we won’t be offering passage to anywhere that is more than a day’s ride until it has gone down again.” Magmus thought about the situation. Yes, it was all superstitious nonsense, but these people really believed the tales, and if they weren’t going to travel whilst the Black Moon was out … well, there wasn’t much he could do about it. He turned his head towards Cassandra. SHE’S LOOKING AT ME!

  “UNACCEPTABLE!!” he roared, which was completely out of character for him.

  “W-What?” asked the clerk in disbelief.

  “UNACCEPTABLE!”

  “What’s unacceptable?”

  “The fact that you won’t book passage to Tiet K’rea for either myself or this lovely lady here …” He flourished his hand towards the red-haired beauty.

  “Cassandra,” she added softly.

  “Cassandra! Instead, you make up all kinds of excuses based on nothing more than superstitious garbage!” He screamed the words, leaning in so close to the clerk that spittle could be felt.

  “What do you mean superstitious garbage?” replied the clerk, wiping his face with indignation. Everyone knows that you can’t travel when the Black Moon is out.”

  “What I know is this … that is a story that the Innkeepers Guild created so that everyone would stay home in their little villages and spend their money on wine and ale.” Magmus could see that the clerk didn’t believe him. “Tell me something … why is everybody scared of the Black Moon?”

  “Well … because creatures come out when the Black Moon rises.”

  “Creatures … interesting … what kind of creatures?”

  “Nightstalkers!” the clerk proclaimed dramatically. Magmus nodded his head as though that was exactly the kind of child-like answer he was expecting. He even turned back to Cassandra who mouthed the word ‘Nightstalkers’ sarcastically at him. He turned back to the clerk with a smug smile on his face; if nothing else it seemed that Cassandra was enjoying the show.

  “Nightstalkers … I guess that would be ‘creatures’ that stalk the night.” The clerk nodded.

  “That’s right.” Magmus leant back down.

  “Do you have any idea, any concept of just how ridiculous that sounds? Nightstalkers! Creatures that stalk the night.” Magmus smiled again, he thought he just heard Cassandra giggle at that remark.

  “But it's true, everybody knows about Nightstalkers.”

  “Have you ever seen a Nightstalker?” asked Magmus, with a
raised eyebrow.

  “No.”

  “Well, do you know of anyone that’s ever seen a Nightstalker?”

  “No.” Magmus flourished his hands outwards as though signifying the conclusion of his agreement.

  “You see, that’s the problem. You’ve never seen a Nightstalker, no-one you know has ever seen a Nightstalker. I’ve never seen a Nightstalker, Cassandra over there has never seen a Nightstalker and no-one we know has ever seen a Nightstalker. So, when we put all of that into consideration it makes it very hard for me to believe that Nightstalkers actually exist.” This time it was the clerk who was nodding, but not in agreement, he was nodding because he was getting frustrated and tired with Magmus’s tirade.

  “Look, I know you want to go to Tiet K’rea. I know you want to impress your girlfriend over there.” What did he just say? “But as I said before … there are no coaches going to Tiet K’rea whilst the Black Moon is out, and there won’t be, until it goes down in a weeks’ time. Did he just say, my … girlfriend? Magmus slowly turned his head in the direction of Cassandra. She was still looking at him expectantly. Did she just hear that? He laughed nervously at the thought.

  “Tee, hee, hee … this crazy little man,” he commented, pointing at the clerk. She just smiled and nodded, encouraging him to continue. You’re trying to make me look like a fool. Magmus now felt like he had to obtain passage for them both, just on principle. He could see her looking at him, the flowing red hair, the icy blue eyes, the pale complexion … I think I’m in love. Herrhem! he cleared his throat as he turned back to the clerk.

  “Listen here my good man. You don’t seem to understand the urgency we have here, I have studies to attend to … and Cassandra well … she has to get to Tiet K’rea. Surely there’s some kind of arrangement we can come to, I have extra gold if that will help.” The clerk silently contemplated the words coming out of Magmus’s mouth. Extra gold always helped things along, but not this time.

  “Sir … this is out of my control. I don’t have the authority to make these kinds of decisions.” Magmus pursed his lips in thought, he may have to do something drastic. “The manager of the coach stop is a man called Victor Kaban, and he is currently out of town, so I don’t see how anything could be done.”

  “Are you the only clerk who works at this establishment?” Magmus asked, changing the direction of the conversation.

  “No, there are three of us …”

  “Gooood,” he whispered, softly cutting the clerk off. “And you have riders here, right now?”

  “Yes, there are several riders here today, but they will only travel to towns within a day's ride.” Magmus nodded dismissively, that didn’t matter. What mattered was that they were there.

  “Do you know what a Dragon Gem is by any chance?” The clerk’s brow furrowed and his eyes squinted perplexed.

  “No,” he answered, shaking his head. “No idea.” Magmus reached into the inner pocket of his robe and pulled out the red gem. He held it out, the clerk looked at it mystified.

  “Look into the eye of the dragon and tell me what you see.” The clerk stared, he could not take his eyes away. Inside his mind, he saw visions of Tiet K’rea: the vast, sprawling city of the South. Beyond that, he could see the Spleentar Mountains; huge mountains whipped by howling gales. Then, located in the heart and isolated from the world – Men’hoven’s Magic Academy: a looming fortress with two towers that spiralled towards the heavens. His gaze followed the spirals up into the sky, and behind them, the sun glowed brightly. He watched the sun transfixed by its glow, he couldn’t take his eyes off of it. It grew before him bigger and bigger, filling his entire vision. Was it descending? Was it coming closer to him? Or was he floating up towards the sky to be consumed by its fires? Either way, the light engulfed him and sent his mind to oblivion.

  ***

  Two days later, the clerk snapped out of the spell that bound him. At first, he was confused. What was he doing on top of a coach? How had he got there? Why was he sitting cross-legged in a meditative pose? And why was there wind blowing in his hair? Then he realised the coach was actually moving.

  By the gods! He was on his way to Tiet K’rea! How he knew that, he did not know, but he was sure of it. Looking ahead he saw the coach driver and a retainer sitting in the driver's seat. What in the Seven Hells? Randall? Erwan?

  “BY THE GODS, WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?!!” Randall, the driver of the coach, turned back and upon seeing the furious look on Torvar’s face quickly brought the coach to a halt.

  “WHOOOOAH!!” Inside the coach, Cassandra looked to Magmus and Magmus back to her.

  “Look’s like somebody has woken up out there,” she commented dryly. Magmus put his hand up in a calming fashion.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll handle it.” Cassandra smiled back and Magmus’s heart fluttered.

  Now that the coach had come to a standstill, the three men outside had dismounted and were now arguing by the horses.

  “What in the Seven Hells is going on here? Why are we all on our way to Tiet K’rea?!!” Torvar was furious. What madness had taken hold of him that he would dare to travel under the light of the Black Moon?

  “What do you mean why are we going to Tiet K’rea?” snapped Randall. “You're the one that barged into the stables and told us that we had to leave immediately.” Torvar shook his head in disbelief.

  “I told you that?”

  “Of course you told us that?!!” Torvar was confused, he couldn’t remember saying such a thing.

  “W-What exactly did I say?” Randall was starting to get angry – this had better not have been a waste of his time.

  “What? Have you lost your mind? You told me to get the horses ready right away, and you told Erwan to arrange two weeks worth of supplies and pack them into the back of the coach!” Torvar was shaking his head in disbelief.

  “W-W-Why would I do that? The Black Moon’s out!”

  “That’s what I said,” cut in Erwan. “I told you it was madness, but you said that it was an order from the King.” Order’s from the King?? What is going on?

  “Is there a problem gentlemen? The coach seems to have stopped.” The three men stopped their arguing and turned towards Magmus.

  “Everything is fine, isn’t it Torvar,” answered Randall. Torvar glared at Randall, and although he wasn’t entirely sure of what was going on yet, it seemed that he didn’t want to seem unprofessional in front of a paying customer.

  “Ah … y-yeah. We were just discussing a few things.”

  “Torvar, you look unsettled.”

  “It’s just that …”

  “It’s all right, Torvar ... I understand.” Magmus moved closer to Torvar whilst the other two looked on. “I have something here which will allay your fears.” Magmus pulled the red gem out of his pocket once more and held it out in the palm of his hand.

  “Have you ever seen one of these before?” Torvar stared at the gem. Perhaps it was a huge ruby, but a lighter shade of red. It was clearly a gemstone, but unlike any gemstone he had ever seen before. It seemed to be calling to him – he wanted to look up at Magmus, but he couldn’t take his eyes off of it.

  “No, never.”

  “People call it a Dragon Gem. Look into the eye of the dragon and tell me what you see.” Torvar continued to stare as images formed in his mind.

  “I see Tiet K’rea.” Torvar looked at Magmus astounded. “We must go to Tiet K’rea immediately.” Magmus nodded knowingly.

  “And why is that?” Suddenly Torvar’s expression changed to one of desperation.

  “BECAUSE THE KING DEMANDS IT!” he roared.

  “Let's be on our way.”

  “Yes … You two!” he shouted, pointing at Randall and Erwan. “Stop your jabbering! We have to be on our way to Tiet K’rea immediately.” Both Randall and Erwan looked at Torvar incredulously and then to Magmus even more so.

  “Y-You used magic on him,” stated Randall, in pure disbelief.

  “That explains why he’s been ac
ting so strangely for the last two days,” added Erwan. Magmus could tell by their demeanour that they didn’t like that – not at all. He held the Dragon Gem up to them.

  “You know nothing of this magic and will remember nothing of what has transpired since the coach has stopped.” The two men nodded silently. “You will remain calm at all times and obey whatever commands Torvar gives you. You will only speak to us in times of danger.” The two men nodded again. “You will remember nothing of the Dragon Gem.”

  “Now stop dilly-dallying, we have to get to Tiet K’rea!” With that Torvar climbed back up onto the roof of the coach and once again assumed the meditation position. Magmus smiled – the work he had done on Torvar before they left was working a treat. He returned to the coach where Cassandra was waiting inside.

  “That Dragon Gem is truly amazing,” she commented, as the coach started moving again. Magmus smiled – he did that a lot around Cassandra. On their journey so far, they had become fast friends, it had turned out that they had a lot in common. Apart from them both having a keen interest in the arcane arts, their stories were very similar. They had both lost their families, they both liked poetry, they both liked art and storybooks, especially tales of far away and fabulous places, and they had both journeyed a long way to be where they were today.

  Through their conversations, it seemed that Magmus was the veteran magic-user of the two. Cassandra was a complete novice and hadn’t really learnt much at all, whereas Magmus was well versed in illusion and charming.

  It felt good to Magmus, being the more knowledgeable one; she looked up to him. She had asked him many things over the course of two days, and he had always had an answer, but what was even better, as far as he was concerned, was that she was impressed by his illusions. In fact, by the way she went on about them, Magmus was certain that she thought that they were fantastic. Emboldened by his success, he showed her the Dragon Gem and explained some of its uses in charming – needless to say, she had been most impressed.

  And so it rolled on, the coach slowly traversing the countryside, making its way further and further south towards Tiet K’rea. Hours later, when the sun was going down and the sky had been lit up with a golden hue, Randall pulled the coach up in a secluded area to make camp for the night.