by Sam Ferguson
“When I failed to find the artifact, I knew the shade had it. So, I researched for another year, hunting down the vile creature. Like you, I read Ravenel and the Garunda.” Cyrus stopped then and pulled a metal amulet out from under his clothes. It was a long, rectangular piece of gold with several runes engraved upon it. “So, I had this fashioned at the hands of a dwarf named Al, who is a great blacksmith living in Buktah. He laughed when I told him I was hunting a shade, but he obliged nonetheless.”
“It worked?” Kyra asked, her eyes fixated upon the amulet.
Cyrus nodded. “When I finally found the shade, it protected me from her powers. However, I still had to deal with a large and ferocious garunda.”
“You’ve seen one?!” Kyra shouted.
“Seen it? I killed it,” Cyrus corrected. “I took its head, and then used its blood to tip arrows in, just like Ravenel did. Of course, I am a wizard, not an archer, so when I found the shade, we battled with magic until I saw my moment, and then I used my magic to throw all of the arrows. Half of them missed, but two landed in her heart and three went into her skull. Just like in the story, the garunda blood prevented her from healing. She burst into flame and I can still hear her screams. They haunt me in the quiet times.” Cyrus looked down at the desk then and his lower lip quivered. “It’s a sound I doubt I shall ever escape from.”
“Did you find it?” Kyra asked after giving the old wizard a couple of moments to ground himself.
He frowned and shook his head. “No,” he said. “The shade did not have it.”
“So what did you do?”
Cyrus held up a finger. “Before we get to that, let me show you something.” Cyrus reached up and pulled at the neck of his tunic. Three large, purple scars ran across his collar bone toward his neck. “The garunda did this, as well as shattered two of my ribs with its psionic blast.” The wizard rose from his seat and turned around, conjuring magic with his right hand to lift his hair and show the back of his neck. There were three purple scars there as well. “I was lucky that this attack didn’t take my head off.” Cyrus turned back around and then lifted his tunic to show a strange series of three round scars in his abdomen, just left of his belly-button. “These I got from the shade. She nearly killed me with her magic.”
“You’re telling me it’s too dangerous to go after the shade that attacked me,” Kyra guessed with a nod.
Cyrus grinned. “You probably won’t listen, but yes, that is what I am telling you.”
“If the shade killed my mother, then I want to go after it.”
“If the shade killed your mother, it will have no trouble killing you,” Cyrus countered. “I’m not saying let him go, I am only saying that you should wait.”
“Wait for what?” Kyra asked.
“Wait until you are stronger. Train for the fight. I can help you, and Icadion knows your dragon can be a source of help as well, but you aren’t ready yet. You have to give it time. You understand, don’t you?”
Kyra sighed and closed her eyes. Logically she understood the old wizard’s words. It made sense. However, she had something that neither Cyrus nor Ravenel did. Kyra had a dragon on her side. Still, she remembered her mother’s words of advice. She decided to let Cyrus believe that his advice had sunk in. She nodded her head.
“Will you train me for the shade?” she asked.
“More than that, I will go with you when the time comes to put it down,” Cyrus promised.
Kyra nodded and then decided to change the topic, thus making it appear that her mind had released its focus on the shade. “Did you ever find the artifact?”
“I thought I had once,” Cyrus admitted. “You know that I accompanied Janik to rescue your mother, yes?”
Kyra nodded.
“I had believed that the vampire that held your mother prisoner had found the relic, but the artifact was not there.” Cyrus sighed and his eyes grew distant as he looked up to the window. “I spent some time after that searching for it, but I never did find it.” Cyrus shook his head and rubbed his hands over his shoulders. “Come, let me teach you some more effective ward spells.”
“I know plenty of wards,” Kyra said quickly.
Cyrus flicked his wrist and a blast of air pummeled Kyra, throwing her and the desk back several yards to crash across the floor. “You need more practice,” Cyrus said dryly.
Gone was the old wizard reminiscing about glories past.
Now he was the same as always -he crazy old wizard that was anything but predictable.
Kyra pushed up from the floor and dusted herself off.
“Come on now, Kyra,” Cyrus said. “The shade will not give you any warning either.”
The young sorceress nodded and prepared a ward spell just as another blast of air came at her. Even with her ward, the force of Cyrus’ spell had her sliding backward across the stone floor.
“Again,” Cyrus called out as she centered herself and prepared for another volley. “We’ll work on this until you can deflect my spells. If you have half as much talent as I believe you do, then we should be able to move on tomorrow to a different kind of ward that can dispel illusions. We’ll have you ready for the shade in time.”
*****
Only an hour after the lesson with Kyra had ended, Cyrus was sitting at a large, stone table in a great chamber dug out from a stone mountain. A warlock approached from a magically sealed doorway on the far side. Cyrus wondered when the suspicious lot would welcome him into their inner sanctum. He had been working with them for some time now, and he was tired of doing their chores.
The warlock sat down and tilted his head to the right. Cyrus noted that this new face was much younger than the representatives of the Order of the All Seeing Eye he had previously met with.
“How does the young sorceress fare?” he asked, fiddling with the sleeves of his black robes until the purple trim around the cuffs was fully displayed properly. A long hood hung loosely over the man’s face, partially covering his features. Like all the others Cyrus had seen before, a medallion hung around this warlock’s neck in the shape of a gleaming triangle of gold enclosing the image of an open eye. “Has she yet pledged her service and loyalty?”
Cyrus shook his head. “As I said before, the girl is headstrong, and her mother’s murder has given her a kind of raging tunnel vision that makes her unwelcoming to any notion other than revenge. However, I do believe I am gaining her trust. She sees me as an ally, especially now that I am sharing her secret regarding the dragon.”
“Our order is pleased with the progress.”
“Tell me why the girl is so important to you.”
The warlock laughed and shook his head. “My brother has already told you all that we shall ever divulge on that matter. She will be a great ally for us.”
“Yes, I remember.”
The warlock leaned across the table. “If you were to swear fealty to the Order of the All-seeing Eye, I could shed light on some of the visions we have seen of the future.”
“I don’t need your visions,” Cyrus said.
“Then it must be something else that causes you concern,” the warlock said. “Is it the fact that the young sorceress has the same name as your late wife?”
Cyrus bristled and his head pulled back. Anger rushed through his veins and it was all he could do to keep from lashing out. “You have no right to mention my wife.”
“Just see to it that you do not baby the apprentice out of some misplaced affection or lingering grief. You are, after all, indebted to us.”
“Yes, but you know, the information I have gotten from you has never been entirely accurate. First, you tell me that the shade has the dagger. So, I tracked her down and killed her. Then, after that you tell me that Bhaltair the vampire has the dagger. So, I go with Janik to the vampire’s lair and the dagger is not there either. Now, you can’t even find the dagger. All you can say is that I have to find it before Severin does. Perhaps I would be better off on my own.”
“Is that
a threat?” the young warlock hissed.
“It is merely an observation,” Cyrus replied. “Perhaps your visions are not as powerful as you claim. In that case, I would do well to work the riddle out on my own.”
“The dagger is still tied with Caspen Manor,” the warlock said. “If you want it, you must look there.”
“I have looked there already,” Cyrus replied.
“Then the other option is to go after Severin directly,” the warlock said.
Cyrus nodded. “I just told the young sorceress about my fight with the shade,” he said.
“You told her of the dagger?!” the warlock shouted.
“No,” Cyrus said. “I told her only that there was an artifact of great power that I was trying to recover. She doesn’t know what it is.”
“Then why tell her anything about it?”
“To whet her appetite. She thirsts for revenge, as I said, and has already discovered that a garunda beast’s blood can aid in slaying shades. I merely gave her a push in the direction I wanted her to go.”
“She will try to hunt the shade,” the warlock said.
“If she is successful, then perhaps I can still sneak up on Severin.”
“Doubtful,” the warlock said. “After your fight with this new shade, I am sure Severin has already been warned of your involvement.”
Cyrus nodded. “Perhaps so, but it is still worth a chance. Let the girl and the dragon hunt down the shade, and then I will interrogate the shade to find Severin.”
“The Order of the All-Seeing Eye wants the girl alive, if possible, so she can join us.”
“And I want the dagger,” Cyrus said. “The deal hasn’t changed.” Cyrus pushed up from the table. “Besides, from what I understand, the order doesn’t care much if the girl dies, just so long as she doesn’t become your enemy, am I right?”
The warlock sat silent for a moment before nodding. “We prefer her allegiance, but we would accept her death as well.”
“Then it is settled,” Cyrus said. “Either her pursuit for revenge will help open her mind to joining your group, or the shade or Severin will kill her, thus ending the threat she poses to you. Either way, your desires are fulfilled.”
“Very well,” the warlock said.
“I must return to the academy. I will keep you informed of our progress.”
Chapter 6
Kyra sat in the library. She had pulled a small end table and a stool into what she now thought of as her part of the library. Even when she wasn’t studying about dragons, she brought all the books she wanted to read to the seventh section on the third floor. Hardly anyone else came to that part of the library, and those who did were either lost, or passing through to another part of the library.
Today, Kyra was not reading about dragons, though she did have the next of the Chronicles of Kendualdern out on the table, along with the notes she had been making as she translated the arcane text, just in case she felt in the mood to continue on with that project. The Chronicles had been the last birthday present she had ever received from her mother, and now that she had gone through Ascension front to back a dozen times, she had recently begun work on Dominion. She paused for a moment, running her hand lovingly over the book’s cover and remembering the night her mother had caught her in Lord Caspen’s study, trying to decipher the titles on this and its companion books. She smirked at herself then, thinking of how strange she was compared to the other apprentices who would be arriving at school in three months. She couldn’t imagine anyone else she knew scaling a wall to break into a forbidden reading room to try and translate ancient runes on a book that was locked in a case.
Shaking herself from her thoughts, she turned to the book she had selected. This morning she was busy studying wraiths. From what she could tell, there was hardly anything in the library that mentioned shades, but there were additional volumes about wraiths. Since the wraith she had killed had been working for the shade who had attacked her and Leatherback, hunting her down for its master, she hoped that by learning the habits of wraiths, she might uncover clues about where the shade might be.
If Cyrus had been able to find his answers, then so would she. The young sorcery apprentice already knew that she could use a dwarf charm, and not necessarily a weapon, to ward against the shade’s most deadly magic. So, now it was a matter of finding garunda beasts so she could harvest their blood.
Unfortunately, none of the books she had read shed any light on garunda beasts. Though they both seemed to be associated with shades, the passages about wraiths didn’t mention the garunda at all. Nor did they say much about where wraiths lived. From everything she could find, it was believed that wraiths lived between the plane of the living and the plane of the dead. It wasn’t known how they appeared, or where they went when they disappeared.
She set the last book she had pulled on wraiths to the side and let out an exasperated sigh as she slumped back into her chair, her body sliding down slightly, forcing her head forward. She closed her eyes and tried to think. She had already looked for books on garunda beasts after reading Ravenel and the Garunda. There were no other books in the library that mentioned the animal.
Kyra jerked her head to the side, cracking her neck a bit to relieve the cramp that had crept up on her during her library session, and then she reached out for a nearby book on dragons. If she couldn’t find answers today, then at least she could have a bit of fun learning more about dragons.
Suddenly a hand was on her shoulder and she jumped in her chair, uttering a high-pitched squeak and jolting around.
“Easy there, it’s just me,” Kathair Lepkin said as he backed away a pace.
“Why must you sneak up on me?” Kyra asked.
“Just havin’ a bit of fun,” he said with a boyish grin. “Sorry, shall I go back out and knock?”
“No, how about you go out and stay out?”
“Ouch,” Kathair said as he moved around to look at the books on the table. His blue eyes scanned the titles and he reached out to turn one of the books over.
“It’s research,” Kyra said.
“Mhm,” Kathair mused as he inspected another two books. “Quick question,” he said.
“What is it?” Kyra asked impatiently.
“Why are you hunting the garunda?”
Kyra’s mouth dropped open. Other than Cyrus and Leatherback, she hadn’t told anyone about wanting to find the shade, and only Leatherback knew she was actively hunting the garunda, so how had Kathair guessed her secret? “I don’t know what you mean,” she said as she collected herself and sat up straight. “These books are about wraiths.”
“Yes, but you are hunting garunda,” Kathair said. “I bet you are trying to find a connection between the wraiths and the garunda, am I right?”
“Kathair,” she began.
“Ooo, you know I hate that name,” he said as he scrunched his face into a sour expression.
“Well, you know I don’t like it when you sneak up on me,” Kyra fired back.
“Listen, I’m more than just good with a sword, I have a working brain. It isn’t too hard to see what you are doing here.”
“It’s that obvious?” Kyra asked.
Kathair smiled wide and winked. “Well, that, and you left your book bag open behind you and I can see that you have the story of Ravenel and the Garunda in there.”
Kyra breathed out and pushed Kathair away from the table. “Now you are going through my things,” she snorted.
Kathair shrugged. “Actually, your bag tipped over, look for yourself.”
Kyra turned around and saw that in fact the bag had spilled over, and the book he mentioned was on top. “Still,” she said as she collected her things into the bag and propped it against the table leg. “How did you gather that I was hunting garunda if you saw one book about them and all of these books about wraiths and dragons?”
Kathair put a finger to his nose. “I told you, I’m smart.”
Kyra shook her head, but couldn’t hide t
he grin emerging on her face.
“Listen,” Kathair said as his tone lost its playfulness and became serious. “The truth is, there have been some strange attacks in the countryside. I have overheard the dragon slayers talking about it, but they won’t tell me exactly what is happening. All I know, is some dark creatures are prowling around. I don’t mean to pry, but given how your mother was murdered, I started looking into it.”
“Why?” Kyra asked defensively.
Kathair leaned in and spoke in hushed tones, glancing over his shoulder before speaking. “I meant no offense, just, it seemed odd that these attacks are happening more and more now. I was with the dragon slayers for a couple days after I saw you in the woods. I listened when they thought I was sleeping. It seems that they hadn’t heard about these animals, or any attacks, until after your mother was murdered. So, naturally I thought it might all be connected. I started researching it too. I found a connection between wraiths and garunda, and then I found a connection between the garunda and shades.” Kathair pointed to Kyra’s book bag. “There is another copy of this book,” he held up the volume containing Ravenel and the Garunda, “here at the academy, but it’s in the headmaster’s library.”
“What were you doing in the headmaster’s library?” Kyra asked, a quick thrill of excitement shooting through her at the thought of another student willing to break into a forbidden location for the sake of a book.
“Never mind that,” Kathair said. He reached behind his back and pulled a small book out that had been tucked into the back of his pants. “This is a journal from a wizard. It talks about the connection between wraiths and garunda beasts.”
Kyra snatched it out of the boy’s hands and opened the first page. She looked down and saw the name printed upon the page and then looked back up to Kathair with unbelieving eyes. “This isn’t some wizard’s journal. This is Headmaster Herion’s journal!”
Kathair shrugged. “Don’t get caught with it,” he suggested. “Listen, I have to go, but tomorrow morning we are supposed to go and meet with a farmer to the south. I guess he sent a falcon to the school and said his sheep have been attacked every night for the last week. At first he thought it was wolves, but now he wants the school to send a wizard to help him. The attacking animals are leaving the dismembered carcasses on the ground for the carrion birds. It’s like whatever is killing the sheep is doing it for fun.”
