"What do you know of our kingdom?" Master Vhelan gave Jolrath a foul look. "We've done business together for how many years now? And you've never once spoken of this?"
Jolrath waved his hand as if it were of no importance. "We've never had the need for me to divulge my people's knowledge of this. But now we do. If King Braxion and his army breach the border into Drazal'tan, then I believe that the high elves will certainly accelerate their departure from the kingdom and escape to the east. This puts even more pressure on my forces to defend our lands."
"Lands you so often coveted controlling," the sorcerer said, and gave Jolrath a wry smile. "So is this your way of asking for my help?
"This would not be a plea for help. If anything, the knowledge we possess benefits you far more than us. For I do not know if there is anything of worth there in those ruins that would help our cause." Jolrath's long, black robes swished along the floor as he went to retrieve a volume from a vast bookcase set along the wall of the lavish room. "Were you ever taught the ability to decipher the ancient script of your people?"
"Why of course, I am the oldest and the leader of the Hakkadians." Master Vhelan found his hands trembling as he stared at the metal-bound book in Jolrath's hands. "Do you possess a relic of our ancient kingdom?"
"We hold many such relics in our possession, sorcerer." Jolrath released a weary sigh and fixed his eyes on Master Vhelan. "I suppose they rightfully belong to you and your people. Though we elves are far better at preserving ancient things than your nomadic race."
"I would not disagree with you, especially considering the current state of the Hakkadian population." The sorcerer exhaled in excited anticipation as Jolrath handed him the heavy volume. "This book is called The Sands of Time." Master Vhelan sat at a chair by the fire and opened the book to find strange, thin pages made of a kind of woven metal. "The edge of the fabric of time floats in infinite darkness. The ever-expanding tapestry of time is filled with the nourishing light of love and the lives of those that, like colorful strands of silk, help weave the patterns of time."
Jolrath's face darkened at the reading of the book. "The ancients of your people were always cryptic and impossible to deal with. I don't doubt their writings would be any different."
Master Vhelan gave the dark elf an incredulous look. "You knew of them, you were actually there?"
"But of course I was there, though I was young and was merely an apprentice to my master. And I was among the few to survive our disastrous invasion of the Saarian Empire. You know they never fought us? They never even had a concept of weapons. They merely allowed us to enter their cities and greeted us as if we were distant family, and gave us songs and food and wine. Our gods were worshipped by those Saarians and in our foolishness we believed we had easily conquered their empire because of their embrace. But it was we who were conquered by their wisdom and power."
"If the dark elves didn't destroy the empire, then who did?" Master Vhelan found himself puzzled by his words.
"That's the thing, the Saarian Empire was never destroyed. The Saarians simply vanished over time. Some left through their portals, some went south to establish the Malathian Kingdom, and a few went east as nomads and eventually became the Hakkadian people, and their seed was mixed with dwarves and gnomes. But the Saarians were very much human...but a kind of human of a much higher level.
"So of the original force of almost a hundred thousand dark elves that went to conquer the Saarian Empire, only a few hundred remained. The rest vanished in those portals. It was a huge loss for our race, a loss that we never fully recovered from. We went to gain power and wisdom and wealth from the Saarians, and ended up with nothing but indecipherable relics like the book you hold in your hand, and other charms and jewelry that seemed to possess little in the way of magical power."
"That was it? You lost most of your people and gained nothing usable? It sounds insane..."
Jolrath nodded and sat at the chair opposite Master Vhelan. "Indeed it was madness, but then again the Saarians were utterly insane. Madness seemed like the core tenet of their religion. No concept of natural laws were obeyed, in fact, their magic seemed devoted to nullify the concept of natural law. Nothing about them made sense, at least not to me, as I and a few of the others were somehow unaffected by their vast powers of charisma.
"The Saarians took the entire occurrence of our invasion as a religious reason to leave their civilization. I had managed to talk to a few of them and they mentioned that the worlds on the other side of the portals were very dangerous and welcomed the dark elves as soldiers to help protect them in their adventure into the unknown. One Saarian admitted to me they were afraid of venturing out alone. With our army, they had found a forward vanguard for their explorations across time and the universe."
"And you just stood there watching them disappear into the portals?"
"I tried to stop my people from leaving. I shouted at them, tried pulling them away, but it was useless." Jolrath's eyes tightened at the memory. "The worst was when my mother and father left with one of the groups through a portal. My father looked at me and told me that I wasn't his son. Why did he say that? His words still haunt me to this day. I'll never forgive myself for not being able to break them out of their spell."
"Those ruins have a foul reputation of causing people to never return once they enter." Master Vhelan flipped another metallic page and scowled at what he saw. "Do you think it likely that the portals inside the ruins are still functioning? Or that somehow their ancient magic still haunts the place and keeps people trapped there until they die?"
Jolrath shrugged and released a spiral of flame from his palm into the dying fire. "You are likely to know more than I, considering you can read the Saarian script. I will leave you now to your studies, and when you finish the book I will have another one waiting. If there is something within those texts than can help us fight King Braxion and his army, then I will be in your debt, sorcerer."
Master Vhelan only nodded to the dark elf as he left, and returned to study the metallic book. Each page he read was more disturbing and enlightening than the one before. After he finished, he closed the book and pictured the sands surrounding the City of Shaar'el, and knew he had to return and help Sebine and Tael. But first he had to study every book that Jolrath possessed, and inspect the relics and charms. They needed to find a way to survive those ruins, and discover something to aid them in their fight against the Princes of Naverstrom...
Chapter Nineteen
TAEL AND SEBINE stumbled through the fallen trees and broken statues around the temple complex. He felt a chill creep up his spine as they stared in amazement at the still-standing temple of the earth. Whereas the buildings of the city were formed of stone and brick, all the temples were made of twisted wood and vine and mud, and other than broken patches of earth, were unaffected by the quake. After managing to find clothing to wear, Tael and Sebine had slept a few hours until the morning light woke them.
"It's a miracle the temple survived," Sebine said, and glanced back at the central part of the city. The buildings were still most intact, but a few had collapsed.
"I hope my sword isn't stuck underneath one of those ruined buildings." Tael didn't want to even think about how he was going to find Balensaar. But he had to try...
Sebine climbed the wooden steps leading into the main temple, and Tael followed after her until they entered the vast, candlelit chamber of the temple. It was filled with people kneeling and prostrated, praying to the earth god in low mumbling chants. At the far end of the chamber stood a woman wearing white robes administering blessings to the congregation.
"She must be the high priestess," Tael whispered to Sebine. "The priest said I was supposed to talk with her."
"For such a terrible loss of life, she doesn't look sad." Sebine squinted at the woman. "In fact, she looks gleeful."
It was true, the high priestess held a kind of maniacal expression of pure joy on her face, and the other priests around her bore a simil
ar countenance. Tael's mind screamed a warning of danger, a warning that didn't exist the night before. Some of the priests had a look of bloodlust in their eyes.
"The god of the earth has spoken!" the high priestess shouted, and raised her hands high into the air. "He is displeased at your complacency and refusal to embody the seven tenets of the faith. I witnessed the tameness of the believers last night at the festival, and realized the truth in what I saw. You lack the god of the earth inside of you. Who will be our first true believer to allow full possession and sacrifice to our god? He demands sweet incense to sate his wrath."
The high priestess scanned the crowd until she discovered the trembling form of a young man around Tael's age. The boy started chanting and babbling words, his body twisting up and clenching as if overtaken by some immense fury. He started hitting himself, fists smashing his head and chest in a rabid frenzy, until the high priestess pointed at the boy and caused him to writhe and rage in renewed vigor. Streams of dark tendrils poured from the high priestess's fingers and filled the young man with a dark power.
He roared and howled like a night predator, and started attacking the others around him with fists and kicks and wild screams that raised the worshippers around him to action. The women acted first, grabbing his head and ripping out his hair, shrieking and wailing in a mad delight. They pummeled and scratched his face with their nails, and one demonic-faced girl gouged out his eyeballs and screamed in pleasure as the blood sprayed over her face. The same girl seemed to crave the boy's lifeblood, and sunk her teeth into his neck and bit down so hard that more blood gushed from the wound.
The boy's arms and legs flailed and tried to beat off his attackers, but there were too many mobbing him and grabbing and ripping anything their hands could find. Sebine turned her head away from the horrific scene and sobbed in big, frightened gasps of terror. But Tael fixed his eyes on the religious fervor firing the eyes of the high priestess, and felt goose-pimples form over his body. Had the high priestess wanted to invoke such madness and violence? She seemed thrilled that her followers were now ripping the young man apart and eating his flesh and lapping up his blood.
"Let's get out of here," Tael whispered, and turned Sebine to sneak out of the temple. But as they were about to leave the temple, the shrill, commanding voice of the high priestess stopped them.
"We have guests amongst us?" The high priestess stepped to the front of the dais and craned her neck forward to peer at Tael and Sebine. "Come closer, young ones, come up here to the light so we can see you."
The noise of the crowd diminished at the woman's words. All eyes turned to stare at Tael and Sebine as they strode towards the front, and Tael tried his best not to catch eyes with the crazed worshippers. On the stage he recognized Yaran, the priest who had guided him to the temple. His eyes were now black, like the dull eyes of a bull.
"Ah, you are the young supplicants Yaran spoke of, from the Kingdom of Valance? Come here, come closer, do not be afraid." The high priestess put on a mask of a bearded man with wild, curly hair, and stretched out her long arms to place her hands on Tael and Sebine's forehead.
Instantly, the world went black. Far off in the darkness, Tael could see a brilliant, burnt-yellow light coming from a hole in the ground. He felt a surge of curiosity and excitement and only the slightest bit of trepidation, and jogged over to inspect where the light was coming from. He shielded his eyes from the powerful light, and soon he could withstand the brightness, and peered down into the hole. There, with the power of many suns, shone the face of the most beautiful god he had ever seen. His eyes burned like lava, and out of his mouth poured millions of miles-long, living tendrils that provide water and nutrients to all life on earth.
"The god of the earth," Tael said, and marveled at the vision. When he spoke the words the god's eyes fixed on him and hundreds of the tendrils wrapped around his body and yanked him down into the enormous belly of the underworld.
"You will worship and obey me," the god roared, and squeezed so hard that Tael couldn't breathe. "Bow down and consume the soil that sustains you. Eat and drink of my body, until you become me and I become you. Be filled with the madness of life. For I will tell you the story of how life on earth was created by me, and how my power caused humans and elves and dwarves to cluster together and form cities and cultivate the soil. Worship me with all your heart and all your soul and I will give you all the answers your mind craves. The past and the present are interconnected and form a bridge of power to invigorate the arm's of heroes to dominate the earth. You will one day realize this power and rule the world..."
Tael found himself entranced by the god's words, and bowing his head, he groveled and ground his teeth into the loamy soil, feeling the essence of the earth seep into his body. He would worship this power and obey the god. As a feeling of oneness with the god pervaded his entire being, he heard the god whisper his name.
"I am Gaa'el, I am your god, you will obey me always, from one life to the next, even until the end of all time."
The light disappeared and all Tael could feel was the coldness of a cave and the pressure of the god's tendrils tearing the life out of him. In a burst of pain he screamed, and all his concerns and all his memories vanished into a crushing sea of nothingness.
Chapter Twenty
AS TAEL'S BODY trembled and writhed under the power of the high priestess's touch, Sebine knew the woman was trying to take possession of his mind. For some reason, Sebine found herself unaffected by the woman's spell, and when a surge of heat pulsed from the Ring of Galdora, she realized that likely the ring was protecting her. But without help from Tael, and being surrounded by a room filled with maniacally believers, Sebine had closed her eyes and pretended to shake and quiver under the earth god's touch.
The high priestess babbled nonsensical words and hissed so loud a shower of spittle flew from her mouth and struck Sebine's face. The woman shoved them backwards and cackled as they collapsed to the ground.
"Welcome, true believers of Gaa'el...feel and feast in the power of the earth, let it flow into your body and feed the frenzy of your desire for our god." The high priestess leapt about the dais and raged and shouted for music and singing and dance. The worshippers jumped to their feet and obeyed, and Sebine followed, noticing Tael's eyes had changed to an inky pool of blackness and his mouth was open and ranting praises to Gaa'el. She resisted the urge to slap him and break him out of his ridiculous trance.
"Destroy your personal desires," shouted the high priestess. "Attune yourself to the singular, the one, the earth mind...be unified with our god, let your consciousness dissolve into the whole. Allow your thirst to consume your desire, and drink, drink, drink!" The woman spread her arms wide as priests and priestesses carried jugs of wine throughout the worshippers and gave them crystal glasses to drink of the blood-red liquid. The people moved in a frenzy to accept the glasses and sang a song of earnest longing that filled the temple with harmonizing music. They sang and drank until the red liquid bubbled out of their wild, raving mouths, faces desperate and pleading as their hands stretched out towards the high priestess.
Sebine tried her best to mimic the movements of the crazed worshippers, but all the while her mind had been scrambling to come up with a solution to allow them to escape the city. The high priestess screamed and Sebine glanced at the woman, wondering what would happen next.
"Sing to your god, give praises to Gaa'el, beg for him to show you a sign." The high priestess danced and twirled and joined in the revelry, her long, lean body writhing and jerking in wild, frantic movements. When the chaos of the crowd of devotees had reached a dizzying height, Sebine noticed the high priestess aiming her hands at the ground and glimpsed threads of magical energy spreading from her palms to the dais.
Another massive earthquake jolted the ground and shook and swayed the standing people until the adherents fell prostrate and wailed thanks to their god for hearing their prayers. Now Sebine knew the horrible truth. The high priestess had cast a
spell and caused the earthquake, the same quake that had killed so many people and almost cost the lives of Tael and her. What kind of a twisted and heartless religion so easily killed its own believers to inspire allegiance to their god?
But the question that Sebine kept trying to answer was whether the other priests and priestesses knew magic? She could find no evidence of it. The only way she could discover the truth was to get the high priestess alone and force her to give some answers. So she waited for a chance, and memorized the face and mannerisms of the old, bald-headed priest who often remained close to the high priestess. If she could stun him and knock him out, or perhaps tie him up and gag him, Sebine could cast a spell of self-illusion and disguise herself as the priest.
So she waited, pretending to follow in the chaotic celebration of the earth god, until many of the people passed out in a drunken stupor and slept in the temple. Sebine joined them and closed her eyes, trying to remain unnoticed. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the high priestess and several priests leaving the dais, and Sebine knew this was her chance. She cast a spell of self-illusion and transformed herself into the image of the bald priest in golden robes. She chased after the line of priests now disappearing into a corridor at the back of the temple.
As Sebine followed, she noticed the priests and priestesses entering small rooms and closing the door behind them, leaving only several of the elder priests to flank along with the high priestess. But soon even the elder priests left for the solitude of their chambers, and the high priestess exited the temple and strode through the wasted wilderness, striding over fallen trees in a delicate display of agility. To Sebine's relief, the bald priest cast no magic, and climbed over the trunks and scrambled after the woman.
Lord Of Dragons (Book 2) Page 12
