He looked across the lair at Bulak. The goblin leader was no longer smiling. It was Muk's turn to smile. He raised his arms into the air for effect as he sent out the mental summons. The worg pack charged through the many openings as one. The surprise on Bulak's face was quickly replaced with fear. He called for his goblin guards to protect him.
Under Muk's mental control, Bloody Maw and the pack fell on Bulak and the few warriors of the tribe foolish enough to try and protect him. Many fled. All goblins feared worgs. All goblins but Muk.
He walked past the feasting worgs and settled on Bulak's treasures. Muk noted an old human shield he himself had gathered. They were all his now.
His memories of the days that followed were pleasant ones. His tribe grew as other goblin tribes heard the leader of the Dark Skulkers kept worgs as bodyguards. Under his leadership the Dark Skulker's territory within the city grew. The wolves the other goblins used stood no chance against worgs. Muk had thought he would one day rule the entire city. Maybe even challenge the dwarves who patrolled the outskirts of the city on those flying creatures.
That was when the dream goblin had told him of another stone. One that would grant him even more power. The dream goblin told him where to find it. Muk would not be sated until he had it. Something had changed within him and he was no longer content to be leader of the Dark Skulkers or every goblin tribe scattered amongst the ruined human city. He had changed since he found the stone in that human statue. He growled as he remembered the pain.
Muk risked letting go of Bloody Maw's fur to run his fingers over his chest. The stone was there, a hard mound just beneath the skin. He had tried to remove it originally. Nothing could be further from his mind now. He and the stone were one. Muk knew the stone brought the dreams and with the dreams came the dream goblin.
The dream goblin had taught him many things. He learned how to reach out and touch the minds of animals and force them to obey. That was just the beginning. He was even now learning how to reach into their minds and see how they did things. He was learning to take those thoughts as his own. He could run as fast as a wolf or climb the wall as well as the huge spiders who dwelled in the deeper part of the ruins. Smaller animals were too weak and died when he ripped skills from their small minds. How hard that had seemed at first. How trivial it was now. His stolen abilities never lasted long, but now it was much easier for him to take them.
He was jarred and almost thrown from Bloody Maw's back as the worg leaped over a large gap and landed awkwardly on the other side. Muk cursed and reached into Bloody Maw's mind scolding him for the discomfort. “Be more careful!” He waited for the groveling and apologies he knew would come.
“Forgive, Master. The gap was wide,“ Bloody Maw responded in his deep growling way.
Muk was pleased. He enjoyed the respect his power brought. But it was not enough, he reminded himself. He could not, try as he might, reach into the minds of the other goblins. It seemed only the minds of animals opened to him. But, the dream goblin promised him more power from the magic stone across the mountains.
The Dream goblin had shown him the stone and the one who carried it. How he hated the little human boy. How dare he use Muk's stone! He would find the boy and take his stone. The rest he would leave for Bloody Maw.
“Are you sure this pass will take us through the mountains, Bloody Maw?” Thinking of his prize was making him impatient.
Blood Maw's response echoed in his mind. “Yes, Master. The ugly mountain is not far.”
He wished he could see through this thrice-cursed snow. If he could he might see this ugly mountain for himself. He had been shown it in his dreams and seen it in Bloody Maw's thoughts, but those images were so hazy. If he had been standing he would have begun jumping from foot to foot with impatience.
“Find the mountain and you will find the boy”, the dream goblin had told him. Yes, Muk would find this human boy. He would find him and kill him.
17
There is More
“Never trust them,” Adon said.
Ghile relaxed on one of the many roots extending from the giant oak in the center of the island, his feet hanging over the side as he rested. Adon had decided to use the time to reinforce his views on the dwarves.
“I don't, Adon.”
Ghile had already told him this. He looked around to see if the shadow was making another attempt on them. The warm breeze was the only thing stirring. It appeared they would be left alone today.
Adon stood on the ground, a short distance below, watching him with concern. Ghile knew how Adon felt about the dwarves. Who could blame him? They had taken his life. If not for Ghile finding this magic stone, Adon would still be lost in the afterlife.
“Adon, are you sure you do not remember what happened? Where you were?” Ghile wanted to know what happened after you died.
Adon refused to talk of his culling and only had vague memories of his afterlife with the elders. This hadn't stopped Ghile from consistently returning to the subject whenever there was a lull in his training.
“I have already told you everything I remember, little brother,” Adon said.
“I'm sorry, Adon. It is just all so incredible.”
Ghile motioned around him. “Look at this place. The things we can do. It works the same when I'm awake. It is incredible.”
“And I can't tell anyone!” Ghile shouted to the forest.
Adon smiled at the outburst. “That's right little brother, no one. The dwarves will kill you if they find out. I still think going through with the manhood tests is foolish. “
Ghile shook his head. “What am I to do, Adon? You know it is expected.”
“Leave, Ghile. Pack up what you will need and leave.”
“Where would I go? The Cradle is my life.”
Adon shook his head. “Not anymore, Ghile. Things are different now. You are different now.”
Ghile nodded. He saw the truth in Adon's words. He was different. He had always dreamed of leaving the Cradle and living a life of adventure. But now that he was on the cusp of this decision he didn't know if he could. What about his family? How could he do that to his mother? What would his father think? Would he think Ghile ran from the tests? Then there was the issue of the dwarves. Would they know?
The manhood tests were a tradition and a matter of honor for his people. Every girl of age for handfasting went to the festival. They all knew it was law that they attend the Rite of Attrition. It was the law. It was just something you did for the good of all.
“Why did you teach me this, Adon? Why have you done this to me?” Ghile's throat got tighter and his eyes stung. He would not cry. He breathed in deep and swallowed. “I am so glad to see you, but I didn't ask for any of this.”
Adon nodded. “I know.” He walked up next to the large trunk and looked up at Ghile. “It is knowledge that has been lost for too long. You found me, remember?”
Ghile nodded and closed his eyes. “What's done is done.”
Adon nodded, watching him. “So, you're going to leave?”
“No,” Ghile shook his head. “I will not do that to our family. I will keep you and this place a secret. I will learn the lost knowledge of the old ones. But I will not leave our family.”
Adon only stared at him, sorrow in his eyes.
“And I will take and pass my manhood tests and the Rite of Attrition,” Ghile finished.
Adon shook his head, but apparently decided not to push the issue just then. “Fine, little brother.”
Ghile slid off the root and let himself drop towards the ground. He concentrated on his feet and pushed his will through them. He pictured his will as a tangible force and willed it to flow from the bottoms of his feet. He could see it in his mind, pushing out and forming a thick shimmering plane.
He could feel his descent slowing as the force touched the ground first and was pressed together. He waved his hand to keep his balance as his momentum was slowed and had almost reached the ground when the pressure was too m
uch and the force he had created by will alone snapped out of existence.
He dropped the last foot and absorbed the last of the momentum with his knees. He looked up at the top of the root and figured the drop was around twenty feet. He smiled at Adon.
Adon nodded approvingly. “Not bad.”
Ghile laughed and feigned being insulted. “Not bad?”
Adon smirked. “Yes, not bad.”
Suddenly a large rock came flying from Adon's hand as he shouted, “But can you do it quickly!”
Ghile only had a moment to respond, he focused his thoughts and raised his hand, forcing his will through it. He only needed a little force to deflect the stone, but what if he formed it like he did when he was trying to slow a fall. Just as the rock reached him, it slowed. In the past it had reflected off the force shield he would have created, but this time it just slowed as its momentum was taken in by the shield. When it had all but stopped, Ghile willed the force to push it away.
The rock hurled back towards Adon, whose eye widened as he brought his own hand in front of him and brought forward force to block the small projectile.
He nodded approvingly. “Now that was not bad!”
Ghile smiled. This was so different than all the other training he had ever done. At this he was a natural. He would love to have Gar and Bralf throw another stone at him now.
“Ghile?” Adon had closed the distance between them and Ghile noted a change in his demeanor.
“Yeah?” Ghile said.
“You are glad I'm here in this place, aren't you?”
“Of course, you know that. Why would you even ask?”
Just then, Ghile heard a twig snap behind him. He turned quickly and saw the shadow creature disappear into a thicket. It had been watching them again.
Ghile reached for his pouch. If he could just get a stone out in time.
“No, Ghile. Don't,” Adon said loudly, reaching down and taking him by the hand.
Ghile was taken aback. Adon had told him not to trust the shadow creature and had used stones and even the magic to drive it away.
“Why not?” Ghile said, removing his hand from his pouch and watching the creature slip deeper into the forest. Ghile wondered why Adon had spoken so loudly. He was right next to him.
Adon watched the creature leave and then removed his hand. He turned and started walking the other way.
“It was already leaving, I saw no need to attack it,” Adon said.
“But you said it was dangerous and not to trust it. It has tried to attack you numerous times and has tried to lure me into the forest just as many.”
Ghile still didn't understand why the shadow creature attacked Adon openly yet only ever tried to lure him deeper into the forest to attack him. He asked Adon.
Adon shrugged, “It knows I am the teacher and the greater threat, perhaps?”
“Why don't we just hunt it down and kill it?” Ghile said. Ghile didn't understand why it was even here if this was a place he had created. He definitely wouldn't have dreamed up a skulking monster to inhabit an island paradise.
Adon shook his head. “It would do no good, little brother. I have tried that when you were not with me and it just disappears. It is very adept at remaining hidden when it wants to.”
Ghile finally shrugged. “Alright.”
“Come, back to practice,” Adon said.
18
A Heavy Burden
“Is this what death is like?” Ghile asked.
He was leaning against the huge oak, the large patterns in the bark worked well when he needed a good scratch. The warm breeze and the silent forest along with the full day of training had done its work. His eyelids felt heavy. He could feel his breathing falling into that deep rhythmic pattern just before sleep.
Adon leaned against the trunk near him, looking up at the sky.
“You are just going to keep asking, aren't you? Even though I said I don't really remember,” Adon said. He took his hands from behind his head and crossed them over his chest.
Ghile shrugged and smiled a little. “You have to remember something? You know all these secrets from our ancestors. You had to speak with them.”
“Listened to them,” Adon interrupted. He was silent for a moment and then sighed, looking like he had finally resigned himself to something. “I listened to them. Ghile, the afterlife is not like this place. Here we are someplace. There is this island and on it a forest. It sits in the middle of this huge lake and the mountains rise up around it,” Adon said.
Ghile nodded.
“But what lies beyond the mountains?”
Ghile thought about this and looked through branches at the distant mountains. “I never really thought about it. More mountains I guess.”
“I'm not so sure. I think of this as an in-between place. I don't think we could any more leave this island and pass over those mountains than we could breathe the water in the lake. This place is real enough, don't get me wrong, but it is not anywhere on Allwyn.”
Ghile considered this for a little while. “And when you die you don't go somewhere like this?”
“No, you don't. It is like dreaming. It isn't unpleasant. It's nice. Like a nice dream. But like a dream, you are there, but not really. You see things, experiencing things from your life. But you are not there,” Adon said, putting emphasis on the last word.
“Then how did you hear the elders?”
Ghile understood dreaming well enough. He knew he was dreaming now. He ran his hand along the bark of the old Oak. So real, he thought.
Adon had to consider that for a moment, “Well, imagine being in a field which is filled with other people. You are laying there in the grass with your eyes closed.”
Ghile pictured himself there as Adon described it. He could see all the people spread out around him.
“Now imagine it is completely dark. No moon or stars to see by. Now everyone begins whispering about their lives.”
Ghile imagined the scene and realized how confusing that would be. “It would sound like bees buzzing,” He said.
Adon chuckled. “Yes, it did at first. But, you eventually can block out the ones you are not interested in and focus on the ones you are.”
“Is it like that forever?” Ghile didn't know if he liked the sound of it. Being somewhere but not really being there. Spending eternity listening to other people's memories of their lives. Having people listen to his.
“Were you reliving your life? Were people listening to you?” Ghile said.
“Of course. Though, you don't realize it at first. Keep in mind you are not just listening. Once you focus in on a specific memory, you see it like it's your dream. I could see doing that for a very long time. There are some ancient dreamers there, Ghile.”
“Do you wish to go back?” Ghile wondered if he had done something wrong by bringing Adon here. Maybe that was where he was supposed to be, and now Ghile had trapped him in this in-between place forever.
“No,” Adon said emphatically. “Ghile, you know what was missing there? What should have been there but wasn't?”
Ghile leaned forward focusing on Adon's features.
“Dwarves. Or any of the other races of Allwyn. There were only human dreamings. I don't think we are supposed to be there forever. I don't think that is the after-life. I think that place is where some of us go ever since our god was banished.”
“Banished? He was imprisoned, Adon. Daomur and Islmur defeated him in battle and imprisoned him beneath the mountain city of Daomount.”
Adon shook his head. “His prison is not in Allwyn, though. Ghile, there are dreamers still there who remember the times of the Great Purge. When the dwarves and elves slaughtered entire cities of our people. I have seen some of those memories, Ghile. It was a horrible time.”
Ghile swallowed and wondered what other things Adon had seen in the four years since his death at the hands of the dwarves.
“The All Mother, Allwyn, did awake and command the slaughter to stop. She didn
't want us destroyed. We humans are special to her, Ghile. I think that is why she only allows the descendants of those who awakened her to even hear her dreams. So was our creator, Haurtu,” Adon said.
Ghile flinched at the name and made a protective gesture over his heart. “Don't say that name, Adon. The devourer will hear you if you speak his name.”
Adon smiled as if at some inner joke.
“It isn't funny, Adon,” Ghile said.
“I agree. It isn't funny. The people from the Great Purge go to some endless slumber instead of where they should go, all because the other gods were jealous of Haurtu. Not just them either. Why am I there? I think it is because I was culled. There are many others there who were culled, maybe all of them.”
Ghile just stared and couldn't form words to reply. He had never heard Adon speak of the gods and the histories like this. What had he seen in those dreamings? His fear gave him focus.
“Adon, the Devourer ate his own brothers and sisters,” Ghile said after a time.
Adon grimaced. “Don't be silly, Ghile, he didn't make a soup out of them and nibble on their bones.”
Ghile pictured a giant monster gorging itself on body parts, sucking on a leg with wet slapping lips.
“That is what the histories say,” Ghile tried to defend himself. He wasn't sure why, but he somehow felt his position was the right one so he defended it.
“No, he did take in some of the other gods, but he made them a part of him. Like when you pour two mugs of water into a bigger mug. He was trying to become the All Father, to join Allwyn in the dreaming. It was what she wanted her children to do. The others were just too afraid to try.”
Ghile made a face like he just tasted something sour. “He wanted to handfast with his mother?”
Adon gave him a look as if he thought Ghile was being dense on purpose. It was the same look he used to give him when Ghile would fail at one of the chores Adon had explained to him for the fourth time.
“She created the gods, Ghile. So yes, to us she is their mother, but not to them. To them she is just a powerful being who brought them into existence with a purpose. But one she never shared with them. Haurtu was known as Haurtu the Wise, he was a god of thinking and learning.” Adon's face was filled with wonder as he looked back into his memories.
The Cradle of the Gods (The Soulstone Prophecy Book 1) Page 7
