– Journal of Selthraxadinian
“Kant!” the innkeeper, a fat merry looking man wearing a white apron, called out merrily as Selth walked through the door. She almost jumped out of her skin. Why would a Mardulian innkeeper know who Kant was? She looked around the room to see if anybody had overheard what the man had said but the common room of the inn was empty.
When she glanced up at Kant, she saw he was staring at her with amusement plain on his face, “Hello Madib. It’s good to see you again. How have things been over here the last few years?” Her jaw fell halfway to the floor. She glanced at her other two companions and was gratified to see that both Aren and Mattle looked equally astonished. Kant looked back them. “Well it’s not like you knew everything about me.” he said with a slight quirk to his mouth and a look in his eyes that made it clear he was trying not to laugh. Selth scowled angrily and turned to glare at the innkeeper who looked just as amused as Kant.
“Please,” Madib said, cheeks red from suppressed laughter, “do not make fun of your friends on my account. The war here has been the same as ever, hard times for all but not too hard for Madib! Now, allow me to show you to your rooms.” he turned and waddled up the stairs, Selth and the others following close behind. Madib led them through a maze of hallways and corridors, the inn was far bigger than Selth had initially realized, before at last stopping by a large, ornately carved door. “For the lady.” he gave a bow that was somehow elegant despite his bulk and pushed open the door. She didn’t know why anything should surprise her after Kant and Madib proved to be acquainted already but the room came close to doing just that. A massive four post bed stood in the center of it, piled high with pillows and blankets which looked as though she could burrow down and never come out of them. All around the room were amenities that Selth didn’t think would be out of place in a noble lady’s dressing room. Madib chuckled slightly at her reaction and ushered her into the room. “Dinner will be served in an hour, please feel free to stay here or come to the common room in the meantime. Now, I must show these other fine gentlemen to their rooms.” he bustled away with Kant, Mattle, and Aren close on his heels.
Selth stepped into the room slowly, she had never been anywhere half so amazing, never been able to simply revel in the feel of luxury all around her. She allowed herself a small smile. From slum, to dingy room, to her well-furnished but stark room at the academy, to this gorgeous apartment. She stepped inside, dropped her bags on the ground, and with three steps threw herself onto the massive bed. She struggled through the sea of sheets and pillows until she was lying facing the door. Madib bustled back across the door, paused, and shut the door to her room but Selth was already falling asleep in the massive bed and barely noticed the man. It was far more comfortable than anything she had stayed in before and it felt impossible to resist its siren call to sleep.
It felt like moments later that Aren was knocking on her door and sticking his head through. “You’d better come down now or you’ll get the cold left overs!” he called out before scampering away. Selth rolled onto her side with a soft sigh of disappointment and slid out of the bed. She ducked out into the hallway and looked for Aren but he wasn’t anywhere in sight. For such an old man, he could move quickly when he wanted to. Calling back to mind the map she had made of the building when Madib was leading them through it she started down the labyrinth of hallways which led to the common room. It took her five minutes to navigate to the massive room and when she entered she was surprised to see people at almost all the stools and seats in the building taken. If felt a bit odd but she supposed it was possible that her group had arrived before the main rush for food. Too tired to think more about it Selth moved towards where Aren was sitting next to a piping hot bowl of stew. “Lamb!” he crowed happily when she reached him, “And it’s not rotten or corrupt either. Just nice, normal lamb.” He turned back to the bowl, as though it had taken all his effort to tear himself away for that one statement, and as Selth sat down a serving girl came up with a bowl for her. She tasted it and was delighted to discover that Aren was right about the meat in the stew. It didn’t take Kant and Mattle long to join them at the table and soon all four of them were happily occupied with their meals.
No one spoke for a long time but finally she sat back and looked around her. She hadn’t had a good meal in ages and she hadn’t known how much she’d needed it. Leaning back contentedly, something caught her eye. None of the other patrons of the inn were eating anything. Leaning over to Kant she whispered, “Why do you think no one else is eating? Does Madib not have enough food for them all?” She took a second glance and whispered again, “They don’t even have anything to drink.” Selth’s own mug of ale stood before her, half drained already. It was astonishingly good.
He glanced up from his meal and glanced around the room himself then cursed softly. “We’ve been sold out.” he whispered turning back to their small group. Aren coughed up the ale he had just swallowed and Mattle nearly choked on his meal. “Be a little more obvious about it, why don’t you?” he hissed at the two of them, eyes flashing dangerously, “I don’t know how they got to Madib but he must be in on it. There’s no other reason this many soldiers would be sitting around in the common room doing nothing.” He gave a quiet moan and covered his head with his hands, “I should have noticed it as soon as I walked into the room. Maybe we could have escaped unnoticed.” His tone switched to one of dejection, “I was not looking forwards to a running escape all up the western reaches of Mardule. Sometimes you just have to play the cards you’re dealt though. Selth, you go to our rooms. No, Mattle you do it. She doesn’t know where our rooms are. Get our stuff and bring it out the back. The soldiers won’t attack until all of us try to leave and if Madib is the one who gave the information then they’ll be after me. Letting one of us go should be fine, although you might encounter some resistance when you try to leave. The rest of us will wait five minutes before busting the hell out of here. Meet us around back with our stuff.”
Mattle nodded slowly, he didn’t say what everyone was thinking but it was clear the thought was troubling him. What if the three of them couldn’t get out of the inn? He stood and walked back towards the stairs that led to their rooms. “This would never have happened if we had just slept all night.” Selth muttered to Kant and Aren as they sat, staring around the room in worried silence.
Aren glared at her, “Well sorry,” he hissed, putting as much sarcasm as possible into the statement while still keeping his voice to a whisper, “I didn’t realize that the common room would be swarming with soldiers and I thought that you might have wanted the meal.”
She made a pacifying gesture with her hand and calmly turned to Kant, “So, what do we do?”
He picked up his own mug of ale and took a long drink, “We wait and pretend as though we have no idea what’s going on until I give the signal. Then we run like hell for the door and I set the inn on fire.”
“How are you going to do that?” Selth hissed, incredulous.
Kant wiggled his fingers at her, “Magic.” he said with a mischievous grin.
“No.” Aren shook his head, “No magic. Whatever these soldiers try to do to us we have to fight with mundane means. I told you, there are wards around Mardule. Your fire might not even work and if it does it might be worse than if we just fought them as ordinary people.”
Kant frowned at him, “Fine, then we just take off running. I can’t fight forty soldiers at once and I doubt Selth can either.” she opened her mouth to protest but he rode over her, “Not without magic anyways. We’ll just have to run for it and take our chances outside in the dark with the corrupt forest all around us.” he sighed and rubbed his forehead, “I honestly thought Madib was trustworthy. From now on I won’t bring you anywhere I’m known. Anonymity is just too important.”
Selth and Aren sat staring at the table in awkward silence. Both of them should have spoken up as soon as Madib mentioned Kant’s name but the idea of a secure house and a good night
’s sleep had been too enticing. The three of them stayed that way as the clock slowly ticked towards the time when Kant would give his signal. Selth wanted to ask what the ‘signal’ was but the silence was oppressive. She didn’t want to be the one to break it.
A tugging near the center of Selth’s back, by her spine, caused her to glance around. There was nothing there, shaking off the feeling she refocused on the time, but the feeling came back, stronger. Now it felt as though something were pushing on her back. She frowned, it brought something to mind but she couldn’t place it. There was something which reminded her of a pressure on her back. She could feel the answer floating just outside her reach but just as she thought she had it figured out Kant flipped over the massive wooden table they were sitting at. “Now!” he shouted, breaking her concentration, and bolted for the door.
Selth leapt over the upended table and followed him, Aren close on her heels. She stumbled as a sharp pain struck her in the back but she shrugged it off; she didn’t have time to worry about what it might mean anymore. All around them Mardulian soldiers were stumbling to their feet, overcoming their initial shock, and drawing swords. She and Aren dodged around a few of the quicker soldiers and charged towards the large door which led out of The King’s Sacrifice. Leaping outside Selth nearly slammed into Kant’s back. Mardulian soldiers formed a semi-circle around them, blocking their escape. Suddenly Selth doubled over in agony, the pain in her back felt like a claw ripping straight through her. As the pain faded she realized what was happening, the traiganidorian! The pain was originating from the location of the wound the traiganidorian had given her in her dream. “When I say so, run.” Selth gasped, through gritted teeth, at Aren and Kant as soldiers moved closer in front of them and more clogged the doorway to the inn behind.
“What are you planning on doing?” Aren asked, worry coloring his voice, “You won’t use magic, will you? We can’t use magic!”
“It’s too late for that, Aren.” she said, despair flowing freely from her. “There’s something out there and it’s after me. It knows I’m here and nothing you, or I, or Kant can do will stop it. So the only thing I can do now is get the two of you out of here and safely on the road with Mattle again.”
“What do you mean, something’s after you? Don’t be silly, if there’s anything here it’s after all of us!” desperation showed in his voice.
“Shut up Aren!” she shouted, “It’s because of who I am, what I am. It’s because of that armor! But that’s not important now. Just run when you get the chance.” Not waiting for his reply, she carefully pulled on the strands of magic which allowed her to move at the speed of light. Aren’s mouth, opening to say something in reply, ground to a halt. Kant, his hand reaching for his sword, ignoring the conversation she and Aren were having, also stilled and the soldiers approaching them slowed so that Selth could see the individual movements of dust particles on their clothing. Drawing out her daggers she stepped into darkness and began cutting throats. She appeared next to one soldier and killed him and all those within arm’s reach before disappearing and reappearing next to a new soldier. It felt like five minutes had past but when she slid to a halt and reasserted time Kant’s hand still hadn’t closed around his sword blade.
A roar cut through the air as time reasserted its normal pace. “Run!” she shouted at Kant and Aren, both had been looking in shock at the bodies scattered all around them, but at the roar they leapt straight up in surprise.
“What was that!” Kant shouted.
“Just run!” she screamed at the two of them and surprisingly they didn’t argue with her. They charged around the inn with Selth following close behind.
“What’s going on!” Mattle cried as he ran around the building to meet them.
“Run!” Kant called over his shoulder as he passed Mattle, heading for the road. Mattle glanced at Aren and Selth, also sprinting, and followed Kant’s example.
A crippling pain in Selth’s back sent her tumbling to the ground. Aren half turned as he saw her fall but she shouted, “Run!” and scrambled back to her feet. He nodded and kept going but she had barely gotten to her feet when the pain hit again and she collapsed to the ground. A second roar cut through the night, closer than the first and Selth felt fear seep into her. Pushing herself to her feet she turned towards the sound. The pain in her back stopped as soon as she faced it. Taking a fighting stance, she waited for the traiganidorian she knew would come.
“Selth! What are you doing! Run!” she heard someone shout behind her but it was as if her mind registered everything in a distant way. There was only the beast approaching her and the need to hold it off for as long as possible so her friends could get away safely. The traiganidorian was her monster and it was her responsibility to deal with it. Footsteps started returning her way and a massive roar cut through the night air. It dwarfed the other two, each of which had been earsplitting by themselves, and left Selth trembling to her very bones. Whoever had been approaching her stopped and she heard those footsteps retreating as a power of pure fear forced whoever it had been to move back.
The fear seeped into Selth as well but as it did she remembered things, things she which had been locked away behind a wall in her mind. With a strange twist of her wrist the fear vanished and then the traiganidorian itself appeared in her vision. It was far more horrifying than she had remembered. It rose twenty feet above the ground and its whip cord body was a mass of oozing sores and pustules. Six arms connected to a broad chest, with ribs protruding outwards several inches, and they lashed back and forth in a frenzy. Everything they touched was destroyed and as the beast destroyed it grew in size. It stretched from twenty to twenty-five to thirty feet as it approached her. Its long, narrow, clawed feet, humanesque in shape, sunk into the ground and left massive gouges. Its head jutted forward almost like that of an eagle and massive mandibles guarded a mouth which had more in common with a black hole than what Selth would call a mouth. Teeth jutted out of it from every angle and it seemed as though the world was being consumed by that maw which led straight to the heart of fear and pain. Taking a deep breath she let her swords, Valeirenin and Draxos, appear in her hands and, with an impossibly sad gaze, turned to give her friends one last look. They stood rooted in place, horrified by what was approaching them, unable to move even if they had wanted to.
“Selthraxadinian Rothinunuss!” the traiganidorian crowed in its foul tongue as it approached her, stopping when it was some twenty feet away. She had to crane her head back to see the face of the beast. “We have met before,” it laughed and all around her buildings and trees blew into pieces, “Although as I remember last time you were somewhat more, how shall I say this, potent?”
She swallowed, “I may not be as powerful but I’ll still send you back to the lowest level of Hell before I die!” she shouted in the same black language as the traiganidorian.
It threw back its head and howled with laughter. Selth was driven to her knees and it felt as though, all around her, the world was being pulled to pieces. “I would love to kill you now!” it roared, “Unfortunately my master requires you to be brought before him alive, I almost wish that he would allow me to watch what he does to you, but as you are, even capturing you will not be difficult. You do not have the power to so much as scratch me and yet you talk of sending me back to Hell as though it were as simple as your petty tricks with Shadow. That is all you have after all, isn’t it? Shadow?! True power is held away from you and without it you are as helpless as the fools on the council before the likes of my master and I.”
The traiganidorian started walking towards her and as it did incandescent chains appeared, flickering, in two of its ghastly hands. Selth pulled on her reserves of Shadow power and directed as much as she could into the shadow of the creature, seeking to take control of it and drive it away. The beast laughed and as it did she felt her power quiver and then shatter. Reeling as the broken strands of magic smashed back into her, Selth slowed time and teleported towards the massive beast
. With a cry of fury, she brought her swords slashing towards its head but the traiganidorian had already moved. It twisted away faster than she could track and with a casual gesture smashed her back into the ground with the force of a mountain. She screamed and curled around her stomach where she had been struck. The traiganidorian moved closer, implacable in its dark power. The chains in its hands became more and more corporeal as it approached and with a scream of fury Selth reached towards the reserve of power she had blocked off all that time ago in Andin. Reaching into it felt as though someone were repeatedly stabbing her through the back but she gritted her teeth and drew as much as she could. The traiganidorian had said true power, she would give it true power! With a scream, Selth blew undiluted magic directly into the creature. She felt light as a candle flame, incandescent, she was everything and she was nothing, she felt her whole body tearing apart as she channeled more power than she had ever believed possible and with terror she realized she couldn’t stop. The pain which was tearing her apart grew until she thought she would die of agony but Selth couldn’t shut off the torrent of power flooding through her. She started screaming and thrashed against the new bonds of her power but after so long of being suppressed her powers refused to go away.
Suddenly the traiganidorian’s hand, a third of the size it had been before, smashed through the barrier formed by her channeling. It reached out the chains which had formed in its hands and, with a strangled scream, snapped them over her wrists. A final burst of power flew from Selth and the traiganidorian vanished in a puff of red and black smoke, the final remnant of power which had been keeping it alive destroyed. Selth collapsed onto her side, power shut off as though a tap had been blocked. The sound of armored boots tramped out of the wreckage of the town she had just leveled and surrounded her. As she faded into oblivion she heard a man ask, “What should we do with this one?”
The God in the Shadows (The Story at the Heart of the Void Book 1) Page 25
