Alexius said, “Right,” clearly not liking the fact that his men might hear the old man’s insults, then walked back to his group and grabbed a spot against the short stonewall, curling his body into a tight ball and pulling his cloak tight.
They fell asleep quickly but the wind, the cold and Muolithnon’s occasional cries for blood woke them often. No one slept well that night.
Some time later Alexius shook everyone awake and they all mounted their horses. The path quickly became more treacherous for the horses, especially in the dark as they could not always see exactly where they were placing their feet. After another half-day’s journey the path became much steeper and Nes’egrinon called back, “Alexius, does any in your band know this path? Does it continue to get worse?”
“Aye,” he replied. “We all know it. Soon we must leave the horses. They will not be able to take us into these mountains.”
It was not much longer when he called for them to dismount and they argued about tying the horses to a boulder.
One soldier said, “If we tie them, then they will be here for us when we return.”
“When?” another said. “You can’t leave them here alone for days with no water. And what of the ghoul-kind?”
In the end they decided to let the horses loose. The horses should be able to find their way back to Protolith. Hopefully they would make it without being attacked by ghoul-kind.
They continued walking on foot and the going was much slower as the path, if you could call it that, was full of jagged, ankle-gashing rocks. It would be hard enough to traverse in daylight but in the constant black, it was nearly impossible. Kerlith occasionally called a dim light into the surrounding stones when the way was especially treacherous but tried to not do it too much as it drained energy from all of them and he was nervous about weakening them before they even knew what they were up against.
Kerlith tied Muolithnon’s hand to his shoulder but as he had less and less blood to give him, the dead man stumbled often and the going was slow. His responses to Nes’egrinon’s questions were becoming less helpful too; they just didn’t have enough blood to give him in order to flush the fog from his dead brain. The group found themselves having to stop more and more often to allow them to catch up. Then the flask of blood ran out. As the band was waiting for Kerlith and his master to reach them, Alexius spoke openly to the archmage, “Nes’egrinon, do you feel it wise to continue so? Do you see this ghoul aiding us that much that it is worth risking this mission?”
“I have thought on this for some time and you are right to question. Let me speak to him.”
The men’s eyes stared hard at the mage and gave space when Kerlith and Muolithnon arrived.
Nes’egrinon said loudly, “Kerlith, has the flask run dry?”
“Yes, Master Archmage. Perhaps only a few drops left.”
The dead man mumbled incoherently, “Blood. Blood. Please. Give blood.”
“Give it to him.”
Kerlith untied his master’s hand and passed him the flask. The dead man slurped and sucked on it until not a drop remained. The soldiers looked away in disgust.
Nes’egrinon placed his hand on the dead man’s shoulder and said, “My old friend, how goes it?”
“I… I don’t know. Need more blood. My mind is not yet clear.”
“Can you tell us? Are we close? Can you feel the pull?”
“Ay… Aye. Ooohh, my head. We are close. Can I have a little more blood?”
The archmage pressed, “Please tell me. What do you see? Do you know what is ahead? What do you feel?”
“I feel… magic. There is magic here. I… I… Can I have… blood? Blood. Need blood.” The dead man’s mind was gone again.
Nes’egrinon looked at Kerlith. “Apprentice, we must leave him. We have no more blood and we cannot give him ours. You must let him go.”
“But master? I cannot. I am sworn to him.”
“Listen! He’s dead! Got it! You have to leave him. If we are successful then he will return to the earth. If we take him then I see our chances are much less. Think, son. We fail and he stays like this. We must leave him.”
Kerlith’s eyes started to tear. “But Master Archmage, he has been helping us. He has been showing us the way.”
“What you say is true but that is not the reason you say it. We are close enough now, anyway. I know you feel the pull. Certainly the Fifth Year can feel it too.”
Bel didn’t like being dragged into this painful moment but he nodded anyway.
The wizard continued, “You feel it; he feels it; I feel it. What do we need Muolithnon for now? He’s dead. Let him go. In his condition he cannot help us and he is slowing us down.”
Everyone looked at the indecision on the young apprentice’s face. If he decided to stay with the dead man then they would not stop him but they all knew it would only lead to his death.
Finally Kerlith turned to the dead man and spoke, “Master? I must leave you now. I must leave you to wander.”
“Blood. Need blood,” he replied vacantly.
“Master, please. I would ask of your stones. Your ring, it is on my finger. I would like to keep it; perhaps it will help me… help us to close the breach, to help send you home.”
“Need… blood.”
Kerlith began to slide the ring from his finger then the archmage placed his hand on his shoulder and said, “Keep it. We need everything we can.” The mage spun the boy around and cupped him into his shoulder, saying, “Let’s go now. Don’t look back.”
As they slowly continued trudging through the course rocks and up the edge of the mountain, the dead man’s voice echoed in their ears, growing more and more faint as they pressed on, “Blood. Blood. Please. Need blood.” Nes’egrinon told Kerlith to not look back.
Eventually they arrived at a small landing chipped into the side of the mountain. Alexius announced, “Here. We camp here. Tuck yourselves up against the side of the mountain and huddle together. Conserve your warmth.”
It was bitterly cold and there was nothing to burn. They ate another portion of their rations but even had they eaten it all it would not have been enough.
Cautiously one of the soldiers left his group and stood in front of Kerlith and Bel. “It was good what you did back there. There is no dishonor in it. You cared for your master long after many a man would have left him. You cared for him even in his death. Do not worry for him. The dead take care of the dead.”
Kerlith responded shallowly, “Thank you.”
They thought the guard would leave, but he continued. “They call me Kephas. It means rock in our language, as you might suspect, a very common name here among the stonecutters. I had a brother. Perhaps you might know him? He would be about your age; he went to Lasaat about six years ago. We have not heard from him.”
Bel replied, “What was his name?”
The soldier became less wary and more comfortable with these two but he dared not let his eyes drift over to the archmage. “Petras. Hahaha. That also means rock. We have many, many names for all the different kinds of rocks here, you see. Kephas is a small, soft rock, more of a stone actually. Petras can be small or large, but they are usually jagged and hard. Like the ones we have been walking on all day. That was him; his name fit him. Did you know him?”
Kerlith answered first, “Petras? Yes, I knew of him. He was one year ahead of us. I saw him in the courts and practice fields. I never spoke to him though. I remember when he graduated. He went to the desert lands, I think.”
Bel added, “Yes, that sounds right. He studied hard and worked hard. I guess his name did fit him.”
Kephas sat down in front of them.
Kerlith said, “I always wondered who came from these lands for me to be sent here. My people are stonecutters also, but from the midwestern mountains, very far from here. It was hard for me to leave them, especially since I did not know if I would be assigned to such a people when and if I graduated.”
Bel added, “Kephas, you know h
ow it works, don’t you? Since your brother was called?”
“Somewhat. I was out on a mission when they came looking for him. When I returned home he was already gone. My kin said that our people would receive a mage if Petras completed his studies and graduated. We never heard from him again but some years later I had heard from the old women that Muolithnon had an apprentice. I cried that day for I knew Petras had made it.”
Kerlith smiled. “Yes, that is what happened. I was so happy to be among the stonecutters again. We do not choose our assignments; they choose us and I loathed to go to the tundra or desert lands. I was blessed to have stone magic in my blood.”
“Yes. That’s how it was with my brother,” the soldier said. “He always seemed extraordinarily good at things. Lucky, I always thought. But there was something deep inside of him wasn’t there?”
Bel replied, “That’s the way it works. You have to be born to it. Predestined is the term they use at school, but yeah, you are either born with it or you’re not.”
“So how does it work?” the guard said innocently. Bel and Kerlith looked at each other, then over at the archmage who looked to be lost in deep thought.
“What do you mean?” Bel said.
“The words. You use magic words. I do not understand why a person has to be born into it if you are using magic words. Cannot anyone learn the words?”
Bel and Kerlith looked at each other once more then Nes’egrinon said softly, “Fifth Year, you can answer that one question but nothing more.”
The guard tensed but refused to look over at the old wizard.
Bel started, “It is like this. When you speak, or I speak, or anyone speaks for that matter, we breathe in the air of the world and something in our throat vibrates as the air passes out and into another’s ears. This is normal speech and all things that make noise or speak, whether they be of creature-kind or human-kind, do something like this. You understand this, do you not?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Now a mage or an apprentice will speak like that also. But they also have learned another speech, a different speech, and it is not just learning a different language; it is the old language, the language of the ancients and it is much, much more than merely air vibrations from one’s mouth to another’s ears.”
“What is it?”
Bel looked at his master who nodded. Bel said, “There is a saying at Lasaat that every First Year learns, ‘Life and death is in the power of the tongue.’ And what is truth is that this is not referring to the words that any human speaks but to mage-words, the words of power. You see, the word tongue has two meanings, one meaning is the body part in your mouth, the other is language. The saying refers to both of these. Life and death is in the power of the tongue and life and death is in the power of the language. You must have both and the language that is being referred to is not just a collection of mere words.”
“I never heard this before.”
“Yes. To your ears it sounds like normal speech, but it is not. In fact it is something much more, something unseen, something that is happening inside. What you may have observed when you heard us speak those words was the outward manifestation of something that was happening inside, internally, inside of our bodies. The people of the tundra lands call it ch’i. In other lands it is called a spirit and in still others it has no name. At Lasaat it is called life-force. Whatever it is, it has power and energy. When a wizard does his magic, something unseen is happening inside of him, deep down in his life-force, calling to the life around him, connecting with it, asking it to help him, to do what is needed to accomplish the task—”
“That’s enough,” Nes’egrinon said calmly and without malice. “We do not need to give away all of our secrets in one day. We must rest, young stonecutter.”
Kephas arose and nodded then retreated to his friends.
Bel said, “Master, I do not understand. You allowed me tell him those things but then you stopped me when I started to speak.”
He replied, “What do you mean you don’t understand?”
When Bel did not answer but only stared dumbfounded, the wizard looked over at Kerlith. “You too?”
Kerlith said, “I’m not getting into this one,” then rolled over.
“So, two knuckleheads. What were you planning to do, tell him everything? Then what? He tries to do something and kills someone. With my luck, it’d be me.”
Bel tried to defend himself, “But Master, then why did you let me start?”
“I first let you speak so that he would understand that he should not try it himself, that there was more to it than what he had in his mind. I stopped you for the same reason. Too much information in the hands of the uninitiated can only lead to death. Remember what you just said—life and death is in the power of the tongue.”
The mage exhaled then closed his eyes. Exhaustion showed on his face and they all slept quickly but it was fitful sleep. The three could not escape the pull they felt, the ominous dread calling to them, even in their rest. They all knew that they no longer needed Muolithnon to lead them. Bel thought he could find the breach blindfolded, the tug was so strong. But what they all feared was the unknown reason why the breach was pulling them toward it and who was behind the gnawing yearn to run headlong into whatever it had planned for them.
Chapter 13
Hell Hounds
They were awakened by the sounds of barking in the distance, not knowing how long they had slept.
“Dogs? Here?” one soldier said.
Kephas replied, “It is as in the stories of old. The hounds of hell. We are close.”
“Aye,” Alexius breathed.
Another said morbidly, “It sounds as if there are many out there.”
They quickly packed their bags and started back on the path, scaling the steep height. After a time they reached the summit and paused to drink the last of their water. They had no more supplies; the food was gone; the water was gone but they were not so troubled as no one still imagined that they would return from this journey. Their eyes looked down upon the dark valley below and the large black rift at the far end of it.
Bel said, “Master, is that it?”
“What do you think? What does your spirit tell you?”
“I feel it calling to me. I think that it is the breach,” Bel replied.
“What say you, apprentice?” Nes’egrinon said to Kerlith.
“The Fifth Year is right.” Kerlith answered.
“I would appreciate it if you didn’t call me that,” Bel retorted as his eyes rolled.
“It’s your name. Or would you prefer wiggle-farts?” Kerlith smiled.
“Enough!” Nes’egrinon barked. “You two may need each other soon. Start acting like it.” He then pointed his finger off into the black. “Now that, right there, is the breach. How could it be anything else?” The old mage stared at it with a puzzled look on his face. Bel knew what he was thinking: Now what? How do we close it? How did it get there?
The barking grew closer and more distinct; there was more than one dog, that’s for sure. And they would be on them soon.
Alexius told his men, “Ready your swords. Do not go down unarmed.” He looked around at them and the doubt on their faces, and then continued, “Today is the day. We should reach the breach today. Lighten your loads. Drop anything that you do not need. There is a saying among the stonecutters, ’Live every day as if it is your last.’ Today we do that more than ever. Lighten your loads, my friends, and prepare yourselves.”
The men had little weight to shed but a few things they refused to throw down, trinkets, keepsakes, mementos and the like. They pulled them out for a few moments, looking at them longingly; a bracelet of small stones made by a child, a polished stone in the shape of a heart, a simple bracelet of twine that had an unknown memory attached to it. Bel and Kerlith watched them but had no such things; they had forsaken everything to become wizards and all that they carried of their previous lives resided in their minds. The barking
grew louder and looking down the mountain into the valley they could now see motion in the darkness. The dogs were coming.
“Prepare yourselves!” Nes’egrinon hollered.
The soldiers tightened their grips on their swords; Kerlith gripped his stone; Bel and Nes’egrinon their staffs; the three men of magic called light to enter their implements.
“There! There!” Kephas said, pointing at the motion down below and to the right.
Another soldier yelled, “There’s another! And another! Two over here on the left! Coming in fast!”
Alexius, up in front, hollered, “Hold! Hold! Wait for it! Hold the line!” Several dogs bounded straight up the middle at them, barking excitedly.
Bel held power in his staff, it pulsating with life-energy, like an extension of his own body, his own life-force pushed out into the end of the glowing piece of mage-wood.
The dogs did not stop and snarl or bark when they reached them but continued their full speed run into a leap, mouths open, teeth glistening, sharp nails of their paws reaching out to strike.
Kerlith and Bel yelped, “
Under the Shadow of Darkness: Book 1 of the Apprentice Series Page 12
