Star Mage (Book 5)

by John Forrester

  Nikulo staggered over to leave and paused awhile to rest against the wood until the dizziness went away. The world seemed to tip sideways and as he opened the door, the crisp, cold air invigorated his mind enough for him to make his way outside and down the dark alleyway. His bladder demanded immediate attention and he obeyed, relieving himself in a hurry.

  “Ah, gods!” shouted a voice from below. “Why’d ya piss on my face?”

  Blinking, Nikulo gaped down at the man sleeping in the darkness. He yanked up his trousers and fought to keep his balance. “Sssoo sssoorry.” He reached into his coin purse and handed the pissed-on man a silver coin and hobbled away, mumbling slurred apologies along the alley until he reached a small square filled with chatting people.

  His stomach complained as the smell of roasted meat wafted into his nostrils. He realized he hadn’t eaten all day. How the hell is that possible? he asked himself. Perhaps some food would bring stability to his steps and get him home safely. Where was home these days? His befuddled brain refused to provide any insights. Was he staying with a brown-haired girl he’d met at a tavern, or with friends he’d gambled with, or perhaps an old witch who bartered in blood?

  He slumped into a chair at a table serving slices of pork slathered in oil and herbs and stinking of garlic. A tall man with jutting bones and shifty eyes brought him a plate of meat and chunks of burned potatoes. Nikulo produced another silver and the man went to hand him change, but Nikulo shook his head and found the world spinning perilously in reaction to his movement. The man seized him by the shoulders to steady him.

  “Eat up. Might want to slow down on the drink, young master.” The man gave him a sad stare as he turned and strode over to another table. Damn him, thought Nikulo. All he sees the one of the saviors of Naru all drunk and pathetic. What does he know of my torment?

  Then another voice spoke in Nikulo’s mind, a sinister voice that sounded like one of the Naemarians. “Kill him, kill the fool who dares look at you like that. Why are you still stuck in this city? Go west, go and find your power and free yourself from the pain; leave your family and friends. They’ll never understand what you must become.”

  He covered his ears in a lame attempt at stopping the voices, and found eyes staring at him as a yelp of pain escaped his mouth. His head lowered in shame. All he could do was to shove the roasted pork and potatoes into his mouth, wishing he had more ale to wash down the food. Each day since they’d returned, the pain had proved progressively worse, until now there seemed truly few reasons to stay. Would the pain really subside if he left Naru? The Naemarians promised him it would.

  Off in his addled mind he heard a familiar voice, “At least he’s not dead.” He raised his eyes and squinted at Talis and Mara staring down at him with concerned and troubled expressions on their faces. How were they able to look so kindly on him in such a horrible condition?

  “Go away. I don’t want you to see me like this.” Nikulo lowered his eyes and returned to his food, and sighed malcontentedly when he heard them drag over chairs and sit next to him.

  “We’re leaving for Ishur with Master Goleth,” Talis said, the tone of his voice sounding like their journey was a punishment. “We wanted to see if you’d join us.”

  Nikulo scoffed at that. “Fly down and visit with our enemies? Sounds like a perfect idea.” He let out a wet belch that smelled like ale and garlic pork. “Count me out.”

  “What’s happened to you?” Mara placed a hand on Nikulo’s arm and he stiffened and found the urge to punch her in the face. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you. Where did you go? We haven’t seen you in days and your parents are really worried about you. They said you had a fight and you stormed out and vowed never to return. What’s going on with you?”

  “I won’t ever return. I have no need for parents anymore. Now leave me alone, I told you I don’t want to see you.”

  “We’re not leaving,” Talis said, his voice low and determined. “Not even if you force us.”

  Nikulo shoved the table and sent the food flying, standing furious over them. “Can’t you stop bothering me!” he shouted, and aimed a finger at Talis. “Go off south, go on to Ishur, I don’t care! Just leave me alone, will you? I’m tired and drunk and this pain is killing me.” He seized his scalp and pressed his fingers hard until the agony subsided for a moment.

  “You’re gravely ill!” Mara came close and pressed a blissfully cool palm against his forehead. “When did the pain start?”

  “The day after we returned. It woke me from the most hideous nightmare I’ve ever had and has never left me since.” Nikulo pinched his eyes shut and seethed as a vast, jolting pain stabbed into his brain and caused his arms to tremble and shake. “I’m afraid it’s slowly driving me insane…”

  “Do you still hear the Naemarians inside your head?” Mara said.

  Nikulo nodded, too tired to resist anymore. “But it’s different this time, distant but more shrill, like the wailing of demons. I feel as if they’re still trying to reach out to me—they crave the power of the fragment. I’ve been telling them over and over again that I don’t have it. They just shriek and scream for me to steal it back. If I could only stop the pain and the voices…and sleep, sweet, wonderful sleep. Now do you know why I’ve hidden myself away from everyone?”

  “Have you tried visiting the Temple of Tolexia? Perhaps the Goddess will heal you.”

  “I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. Don’t you think I would have visited all the shrines and temples and priests in Naru? I’ve even drunk from the waters of the spring at the grounds of the destroyed Temple of the Sun. Nothing works. The Naemarians keep demanding that I leave Naru and go west and follow their commands. I have to obey them. They’ve promise the pain will pass once I leave Naru.”

  “So leave Naru with us,” Mara said. “Come south and help us.”

  With a shake of Nikulo’s head he staggered away and refused to answer their calls. He knew what he had to do. He would leave Naru tonight and join a caravan west, and find whatever the voices wanted him to find, and blissfully soon the pain would stop. At least he hoped and prayed to the gods that it would leave him…

  3. DESERT FLIGHT

  Talis woke early the next morning, hoping that his parents and sister were well protected along the western sea. After he’d healed the undead of the plague, he’d sent a messenger west to send word to his family that the city was once again safe. And now, as he gazed at the Nalgoran Desert from atop the city, he realized he wouldn’t be able to see his parents and little sister for a long while until he returned. If I ever return, he told himself.

  Master Goleth strode up alongside and together they silently studied the horizon. After yesterday’s conversation, the Builder had assumed a serious demeanor in his role as their master. What bothered Talis the most about his agreement with the Builder was the fact that he’d have to swear a vow of traitorous protection to the Jiserian Empire, the very empire that had destroyed his city.

  Mara snuck up to Talis and wrapped her small hands around his chest, joining him in gazing at the desert horizon. She leaned in and whispered something tender and undecipherable into his ear, and planted a kiss on his neck. He found a smile forming on his face at her touch, and glanced around to enjoy her mischievous eyes.

  “When we arrive at the village,” Master Goleth said, “you will follow my lead and remain quiet. Act as apprentices would act, respectful of their master and obedient. Do you understand? That’s good, then it’s all settled. Let’s depart at once, as my masters await my return to Ishur. I have informed them that I will be arriving from the mountains. The very mountains that I had intended to keep my wife and family safe during my journey.”

  But things rarely go as planned, Talis thought, and he transformed himself into a dragon. He had rarely assumed the shape, shunning the stares and suspicion of the people of Naru. But here high on the temple grounds of the Goddess Nestria, the emptiness of the early morning air surrounded and invigorated h
im as he flapped his dragon wings.

  Mara helped strap on a leather saddle fashioned by Master Goleth, a twin saddle fit to carry the Builder and Mara on their long journey south across the sands. Talis wasn’t certain how long the trip might take, but with the Ghaelstrom crystal positioned in the saddlebags, the power of the stars flooded into his dragon heart and prepared him for the flight. If only King Valeron had taught me more of the magic of dragons, Talis thought.

  On their long flight south across the vast Nalgoran Desert, Talis wondered about Nikulo and the voices that plagued him. Was there a way to heal his friend and keep him from going insane? He hated leaving Nikulo alone in his suffering, and worried that his friend might venture out west all alone. Were the voices truly the Naemarians or simply artifacts left in Nikulo’s mind? Talis was determined to use the Surineda Map to track his friend’s movement and ensure that he was all right. But what could he do if Nikulo refused his help?

  After many longs hours, the day faded into twilight, and the shifting sands shimmered under the soft light of the sun. Talis relished in the feeling of the air striking his snout and the sensation of speed racing over the land. He swooped low and soared over the serpentine sand dunes. The taupe and onyx shadows provided a vivid contrast to the breathtaking burnt orange and gold of the dunes. With the wind whipping the sands in a harmonic fury, the undulating landscape brought a depth to Talis’s flying meditation. The shapeless sands formed at once into a face, the harrowing eyes of a ghoul studying him.

  Talis snapped his dragon eyes shut and back open, and instantly locked on a series of ruins in the desert. The feeling of awe and horror overtook his heart and compelled him to circle around the desert ruins, much to the protestation of Master Goleth. Talis spied the inky darkness of an entryway into a submerged sandstone building, and he dove down and landed.

  “Why have you stopped here in the Ruins of Elmarr?” Master Goleth said, his face fearful as he glanced around at the structures jutting above the sands. “These ruins are forbidden to all citizens of the Jiserian Empire, and the skies are often patrolled by flying sorcerers. Change at once back to dragon form—we must leave here immediately!”

  But Talis ignored the Builder’s command, a powerful premonition pushing him on, and he carried the heavy saddle over to the dark opening of the largest building in the ruins. Mara jogged alongside, casting him worried glances, her eyes alert and scared as they entered the tunnel. Talis swore he could hear a low, raspy breathing coming from deep within the ruin. Like the sound an ancient, slumbering dragon makes, Talis thought, and sniffed for signs of sulfur but found only stale, putrid air. Like the smell of old bones and decaying flesh.

  Every bit of sense in his mind shouted at him to flee this foul place and never return. He ignored the thoughts racing through his mind and instead focused on the rhythm of his pounding heart. Who resides within these ancient halls, the dead or the tortured living? Thump thump—whump—thump thump. His erratic heart seemed to battle against his mind. He pictured something pervasive and black, something greasy and hideous lurking down in the depths. Or should I ask “what” resides within the ruin? Talis told himself, and the words “The Nameless” entered his mind like the cold steel of a blade.

  Someone seized his wrist and he jumped in fright, and realized that Mara was holding him from blindly striding down the tunnel like a thrall. “I don’t want to go inside.” Her voice was a terrified whisper.

  A new, mesmerizing voice hissed and slithered into his mind. Enter…enter my embrace. Another step, just one more foot inside. Come and claim your reward.

  Death awaited him inside and it was no reward, not after all he’d been through. He had the people of Naru who counted on him, and his family who would be returning soon. And Mara needed him. So with a surge of strength he forced himself away from the enticing tunnel, and strode back to the windswept desert, greeted by Master Goleth’s confused and terrified face.

  Talis changed back into dragon form and allowed the Builder to strap the saddle onto his back, and once again they took flight towards the craggy hills off to the southeast. Night was falling and as he flapped his wings and lifted higher and higher, he took one last glance at the Ruins of Elmarr and the hissing voice wailed in his mind.

  Darkness fell and the stars flooded the shimmering sky, the air so clear and black, and swaths of diffused white and pink and blue arced across the sky as if painted by the Goddess Nestria. Soon he sniffed water from the ground far below and he circled and followed his nostrils to land near a small oasis of palms and sweet acacias scenting the air. Back in human form, Talis stretched his spine and strode with Mara over to where he heard a bubbling spring in the middle of a stand of palm trees.

  He avoided eye contact with Master Goleth, and instead found a secluded place behind a palm and cuddled up with Mara to fight off the night chill. The Builder seemed to perceive his desire for privacy, as he had not followed them to their resting place. Talis unfurled the Surineda Map and checked for Master Goleth’s location, and found him far back in the place where they had landed. A morbid curiosity caused him to check on Nikulo’s location, and Talis’s heart sank as he found his friend in the desert west of Naru. Separate ways for old friends, Talis thought.

  “That’s Nikulo, isn’t it?” Mara’s wistful voice whispered as she studied the map. “I hope he’s ok. I’m really worried about him.”

  “First Rikar and now him. Too much strain and darkness.” And too much death. Talis pictured the hordes of dead in the Underworld, and Zagros leading the fray.

  “Why did you stop there in the ruins? That place freaked me out.” A shiver went through her small frame and she seized his arm as if for protection. “There was something down there at the bottom of the tunnel, something alive and hideous.”

  “Maybe not alive, at least not like a human. Something else. Something Nameless.” The hissing voice surged in his mind in frenzied excitement, “Yes, yes, you will worship me and drink from the well of power.”

  “The same being that Master Goleth talked about? You think the Nameless is there in the Ruins of Elmarr?” Her voice had turned cold and fearful and Talis caught her emotions. He wanted to feel the heat of a campfire on his skin.

  “Let’s collect some wood…I’m freezing.” She joined him in scavenging fallen branches under the acacia trees and returned to the spring and assembled the wood. He released a wiry stream of flame from his palms and the wood ignited into a slow, soothing burn. The fragrant smell of the burning acacia intoxicated Talis’s mind and caused him to lean back against the palm tree and enjoy the heat of the blaze.

  “I do think the Nameless resides there in those ruins.” Talis found Mara wiggling her way back into him, where she reclined against his chest. “I barely stopped myself from going inside. The power was so strong and seductive. I wonder if Aurellia stumbled upon those ruins and fell into that trap.”

  Mara bobbed her head as she nibbled on some dried meat. “Different.” She finished chewing the meat and turned to look up at him. “Your heart is pure and filled with light, but his heart is obsessed by the darkness. That’s why you could resist going in there.”

  “I can still hear its voice inside my head, like a hissing snake.” He shivered at the memory of the sound and the feeling of the Nameless trying to writhe its way inside his brain. “If the masters of the Jiserian Empire worship that thing… Perhaps we’ve made a grave mistake in coming here with Master Goleth.”

  “We’ve not sworn any oath to him or to his Order. What’s to prevent us from leaving him there in that village and exploring the City of Ishur on our own?”

  “I don’t know how much we’d learn as simple travelers to their realm. Besides, we know little of their culture and how to fit in to their society. We’d likely be suspected as spies or rejected as unwelcome strangers to their realm. And without caravan owners or ship captains to vouch for us, how would we say we arrived to Ishur? They might not believe me if I claimed I was a dragon.”
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br />   She released a small laugh and glanced up at his eyes.

  She looks so pretty tonight and smells of the roses from her mother’s garden. He tried to concentrate on the problem at hand, but found her body pressed against him incredibly distracting. Out of habit, his mouth opened to speak, but she placed a finger against his lips to quiet him. She shook her head and smiled, a wild fascination dancing in her eyes. The four moon sisters were arrayed low in the sky and the hazy light illuminated Mara’s face in a soft glow. Her hand snaked up behind his neck and she pulled him closer.

  His speeding heart sent a quick rush racing through him. He held his breath and felt the tingling exhalation from her nostrils land on his chest as she nestled there and pressed her ear against his heart. Once he felt her breathing quicken, he wondered what was spinning in her mind. Maybe we are thinking the same thing, Talis thought, and for some reason a clear vision came to him of Mara laughing and twirling in a white dress, her enraptured eyes raised to the flittering rose petals he had thrown above her head. She was so beautiful. Why hadn’t he ever told her so?

  “Hey, where did you go?” Mara’s voice was gravely, as if unused to speaking. “I could feel you’d drifted off someplace.”

  “I was picturing you in your mother’s garden.” He chuckled at the memory of how he’d tickled her after she’d raised her hands to catch the petals.

  “When?” She pushed herself up and stared at him with insistent eyes.

  “A long time ago, before we had tried to hunt a boar. It was late spring and the roses were in bloom. We had snuck out of some stupid royal ceremony and were running around in the gardens. You wore this white, lacy dress with embroidered patterns of the Goddess Nacrea.”

  Mara gave him this serious, entranced look and her eyes sparkled in the firelight. “You paid attention to what I wore all the way back then? And you never once told me? I hated that dress and thought for sure you’d make fun of me for wearing it. I remember that day in my mother’s gardens, and you tickled me so long I almost peed myself. I was furious at you.”