by Steven Drake
Darien shook his head, and leaned back in his chair to think. There's no point in using the shadow sight, he thought. She's neither lying nor insane. She just seems oblivious to the fact that none of this is the least bit useful. Hidden sanctuaries, royal bloodlines, and vague prophecies of ancient kingdoms. Who can say what it means? There's not enough to know. Half of an idea is worse than none at all. I can see why Jerris thought her mad. I have little choice, a resigned Darien thought to himself. She will not like this answer, but there is no other I can give.
Darien took a deep breath and began to speak. "I thank you for this wisdom, Lady Leianna. Still, I have never placed much faith in prophecies of any kind. Prophecy is an uncertain business at best. It may be that it has nothing to do with us, and will not happen for centuries yet. I do not doubt your convictions, but I will not risk allowing my old master to possess that stone. You were once told to keep that stone from the sorcerer Varias, and that must take precedence over all other considerations. I must ask you, Jerris, to honor your word. I will take the talisman, and hide it as secretly as I can. This way, if my enemies find you, you will be of no use to them, and they may let you go. I'm afraid I can offer no guarantees. The man who pursues me, Avirosa, may kill you anyway, for no reason at all. He can be violent and unpredictable. I wish there was more I could do." Darien's voice trailed off at the end.
Leianna looked at him darkly, clearly disapproving. "This cannot be your answer.” She raised her voice in protest. “Jerris cannot give this to you. It is not his to give. It belongs to our people. You cannot..."
"I can, and I will. Do not doubt that, Lady Leianna." Darien spoke in the same harsh threatening voice he had in the Duke’s castle. "Do not think yourself innocent in this. The talisman is indeed his to give. You entrusted it to his care, and such was his love for you that he was willing to give it up to see you free. I have apologized for my part, and the danger you now face on my account, but you, yourself, helped set this in motion."
Jerris had been quiet up until now. Darien had been looking over at him from time to time. The lad had listened to all that was said somewhat nervously, but had become increasingly fidgety as the conversation continued, repeating the same finger drumming as before. Now, the frustration which had been building within the lad finally burst forth. "Don't you see mother? I don't care about this stupid talisman or some stupid prophecy. All that I wanted was to get you away from the Duke. I did all this for you, and in the end it was you who sent me away to begin with. Is this prophecy all you ever cared about?" Jerris cried out in anger and in hurt. There it is, Darien thought, as he heard Jerris’ trembling voice finally let loose the words held inside up to this point. Now that the crisis of his mother's sickness has passed, Jerris has remembered the secret his mother inadvertently revealed during the escape. Now, I expect we will hear the truth.
"Jerris, No!" Tears formed in the elf woman’s eyes. "That's not what I meant. I love you more than anything. In my long life I have had no other children, and I shall have no others. You are more precious than any stone. I did not send you away to fulfill the prophecy. I only wanted you to be free, free to live your own life, to wander as I did. I wandered for so long looking for any clue about the hidden city. It gave my life purpose when I had nothing else and I thought it might do the same for you. I only wanted to give you some hope, something to live for in this world that hates that hates us."
"Then why not tell me that?" Jerris cried in frustration. "Why bother to make it appear that it was the Duke that had me sent away? And why not escape with me? I asked you so many times. We might have gotten away if we had tried before I was sent away, and it would never have come to this."
"I was afraid to tell you the truth," Leianna replied. "I could not escape with you then. You already hated the Duke so much. I did not know what you would do. I do not even know how to tell you now." Leianna then lost all control, weeping openly.
"Tell me what? Mother, what is it? What can't you tell me?" Jerris’ voice began to tremble and quake as he asked the questions.
"She is dying," Darien said, thereby resolving the impasse.
"What? What do you mean? I thought the potion cured her?" Jerris questioned.
"Potions do many things, but rarely do they do anything permanent," the shade answered flatly. "The potion I gave your mother only granted her a temporary resistance to the enchantment's effects. She knows this already, I suspect." Leianna nodded yes, and he continued to explain. "I have seen enchantments like this before. It takes time for them to be administered. The victim drinks a specific kind of potion, not all at once, but slowly over many weeks, months, or even years. It builds up in the blood of the victim, becoming a part of their very blood. It is enchanted to be bound to a specific object, called the anchor. As long as the victim remains near enough to the anchor, the enchantment remains inactive, having no obvious effects. However, if the victim goes far enough from the anchor, the enchantment activates. The enchantment can be tailored to activate into many different effects, but unless administered with the utmost skill and care, the end result is usually the death of the victim. This was not administered with particular skill or care. In fact, it was so overused that it had begun to produce side effects even in the presence of the anchor. These enchantments are, regrettably, fairly simple for even novice mages to produce."
"Is there no way to reverse it? Can nothing be done?" Jerris cried.
"There are ways to reverse most enchantments. Unfortunately, almost all of them require the original enchanted object, in this case, the anchor."
"The Duke must have it!" Jerris exclaimed. "If we could get it, could you save her?" Jerris grasped for any hope he could find.
"I doubt it," Darien shook his head gloomily. "This enchantment is brutally simple. Its strength comes from the fact that it builds up slowly, and once it has built to a certain point, the effects become irreversible. Even magic has its limits." Even as he spoke the words, he thought of the Demon Sword. It was the first time in a long time he had given it any thought. The sword's demonic energies transcended the limitations of normal magic. The Master had once told him that the demons were creatures unfathomably ancient, and that their powers went beyond the limits of time and distance. The Master himself was almost invulnerable to normal spells. If the sword were used to destroy the anchor, it could obliterate any enchantments no matter how old or distant, but there was no guarantee it would work. He had not tried to wield it since that day, and he remembered Ezra’s warning against it. Should I use it, even to save her life, he wondered?
"You can't go back there Jerris!" Leianna blurted out. "Not for me. It's too late for me. He dug a great pit beneath my cell, and filled it with melted metal of some kind. The anchor is somewhere in the center of all that hardened metal. It would take weeks to dig it out, and an army to lift the hunk of metal. It's too late anyway. I can already feel the effects of the potion beginning to weaken."
Darien sighed. It was no use, but at least he was spared the agony of having to choose whether to use the sword or not. "You bargained with the Duke to allow Jerris to stay at the castle, and that was his way of ensuring you kept your part of the bargain, unless I miss my guess," he sighed.
"Yes," the elf woman confirmed. "Halas was dead and Jerris was still an infant. Boras offered to let me stay and raise my child in the safety of the castle, if I would… serve him as I did his brother. I didn't know what else to do. He was the Duke and could have just as easily had me killed or thrown both of us out into the wilderness to starve, so I accepted his offer."
"I see," Darien grumbled. "I should have killed him when I had the chance."
"No, no," Leianna shook her head violently. "He was true to his word, no matter what else he may have done. I did not love him, but he did not treat me badly, and he saw to it that Jerris was safe. I would not wish ill upon him even now." Darien let out a low growl. Leianna's merciful heart was too easily taken advantage of by men like the Duke. Such men were the reas
on he had sought power in the service of the Master so many years ago.
"But didn't he kill my father?" Jerris asked, still certain of his guess.
"No, it was as I told you before Jerris, there was a goblin raid, and..ech," Leianna began to cough uncontrollably. The potion's effects were fading quickly.
"You are a poor liar, Lady Leianna," the Executioner astutely observed. "Even if your tone did not give you away, the goblin clans have not ventured this far west in five hundred years, not since the five great houses of the dwarves signed their peace treaty. You have no time for this lie. You owe your son the truth."
Leianna recovered from her coughing, and nodded, tears again welling up in her eyes. "You're right, I know," Leianna conceded, "but it's hard to speak of, even so many years later."
"I would say 'take your time', but under the circumstances...." Darien said, but he was quickly interrupted.
"That isn't the least bit funny," Jerris snapped. "She is dying and you make jokes about it."
Darien sighed deeply. "Perhaps you will better raise her spirits by weeping like a child? Your mother has but a short while to live. Why remind her of it? There is already enough suffering in life."
Jerris was taken aback, speechless at this. Once again, he gave the unsympathetic shade that strange look, just as before. Fear, shock, pity, and wonder all mixed together into an expression of disbelief at what had been said.
"It's all right Jerris," Leianna said soothingly. "He means well, and he is not entirely wrong. I would be glad to see a smile upon your face before I must go." Jerris nodded, and Leianna continued. "Now I will tell you the truth about how your father died. I swear to you that Boras had nothing to do with it. It was Halas’ and Boras’ own father, Duke Baran. There was a plague upon the land then, and it struck Baran. He survived, but it addled his mind.
“He became increasingly hostile both to me, and then, once you were born, to you as well, Jerris. He called me 'elf-witch' and said I brought the plague upon the land, and that the child would be the doom of his house. He convinced a number of the guards to listen to his madness, but fortunately, not his sons.
“Boras and Halas worked to help protect me together. They made sure that one of them was always at the castle to prevent Baran from doing anything rash, but there were times that it could not be avoided, especially after you were born.”
“Once, Halas went to town for the day to get food and supplies. Boras was away, visiting the dwarf king who rules over these lands. The Duke took the opportunity to have his guards arrest me. They were going to kill us both, but your father got back just in time to stop them. Halas was so angry that he fought his father openly, and the Duke's guards fought amongst themselves for hours. Halas and his men won, but in the process, Halas killed his father, and several of the guard who supported him.”
“It was impossible to conceal what happened from the people. Baran had ruled many years and was loved by the people of the town. Most of them have no love for elves. Had they discovered what happened, that Halas had slain his father over me, it would have meant rebellion.”
“When Boras returned, he conferred with Halas and they decided what had to be done. Boras assumed the title of Duke, and in order to prevent a rebellion and to protect me, Halas was executed for murder and treason, along with several of the guard who aided him."
Leianna halted finally, and began coughing again. She had become pale and sweaty, and, her hands had begun to. It would not be very long now. The potion had served its purpose. It had given her the time to tell her story. Jerris laid her down upon the bed.
"I will leave you for a time if you wish, to say your goodbyes," Darien said quietly.
"No... no.. it's.. alright. Come over for a moment. Let me see you." Darien looked down into her eyes, bright green like his own mother's. Leianna gazed back.
"What is it?" Darien asked, curiously, uncertain why his presence was even needed.
"So much pain... So much strife... It is written on your face and reflected in your eyes... Darien, I thought Jerris was ready to take up my journey on his own, but he is still too young, and too innocent. I know I have no right to ask this of you, but there is no one else. Please… help him. Keep him safe, help him find the hidden city if you can. I know you do not believe me, but I have faith, faith that fate has not brought us together for nothing. There is something about you, some hidden power, something you yourself do not see. I don't know why, but I know you will find it… Jerris, come near."
Jerris grasped his mother's hand and drew near to her face. "I'm here mother." He struggled to smile as best he could through his tears.
Leianna was now shaking all over, yet still she struggled to speak. "Jerris, my only child. You cannot know how precious you have been to me. I would… trade all my long centuries wandering and seeing the wonders of the world… if I could live just for a little while with you and your father as a family… do what you must… survive… find your destiny… live well, and live happily… My love shall always… be with you. I shall wait for you…, beyond the doors of death… May you live long… and happily before you see them." Her shaking then ceased, and she was gone.
Jerris buried his face in her pale breast and wept. Darien only turned away, in shock and in sudden indecision. What had seemed clear only a few moments ago was now horribly confused. Why did she ask me? Did she hear nothing I said? It will be difficult enough to evade Avirosa without caring for this foolish child. All the Executioner’s instincts, his experience, and every lesson he had ever learned about surviving in this world told him he should take the stone and flee, yet he could not dismiss Leianna's request. Was it because she reminded him so of his own mother? Was it the familiarity and sympathy he felt for Jerris? Was it guilt for putting Jerris in the sights of his own enemies? Whatever it was, it hurt, and he could not do more until he gathered himself.
"What will you do?" Jerris asked, still with tears in his eyes and long wet streaks down his cheeks where they had left tiny rivers of moisture. Darien could see the desperation of the question in the young man's eyes, and those eyes now burned into him as no spell of the Master ever had.
"I don't know," Darien answered, honestly and uncertainly, lacking the characteristic force with which he usually spoke. "Please, I… I need to clear my head and think a while. Stay here for a time, I must be alone with my thoughts." Jerris nodded, as if understanding the pain that the older half-elf now felt. Darien then made his way toward the outer entrance of his secret room, where hopefully the cool night, with its accompanying darkness and silence, would allow him to regain his composure.
Chapter 11: Changing Course
The night wind blew cool through Darien’s raven hair. It would have been cold by the measure of most men, but to the Executioner, it was just chill enough to be comfortable. Dry autumn leaves crackled in the wind. But for that, the forest was quiet. The events of the past hours had shaken the normally cold and immovable man to his very core, but the darkness and the silence provided some small measure of comfort to his troubled mind. In the shadows of the trees, he struggled to come to a decision. The prudent thing to do would be to hide the talisman, exactly as he had intended, and yet, there was something about the words of the dying Leianna that gripped his heart, an echo of his own mother’s dying words that pulled the painful memory to the surface of his mind, and threatened to drown out all reason.
"What will you do now?" Darien heard a voice speak. He whirled to his left at the sound. The voice, however, was familiar.
"You!" Darien exclaimed. "Ezra, was it? How did you get here?" Sure enough, there stood the old man he had first met in the fog five years ago.
"It was. I'm flattered you remember, and I suppose I got here the same way you did," the old man spoke whimsically as he leaned upon his gnarled staff. "You seem to be in a difficult situation once again."
"My situation is always difficult. You should know that."
"True enough, but this is something else entirely, i
s it not? Something out of your experience?"
"I suppose so," Darien said. "What do you make of it? Can you tell me anything about this Star of Kings, or about the starstones, or the ancient elves?"
"Not much I’m afraid, and that isn't what I meant anyway."
"What did you mean then? I assume you chose to appear here for some reason other than to state the obvious to me," Darien scoffed, stepping to his left and leaning on a nearby tree.
"Well, yes, obviously." Ezra smiled through his scraggly white beard. "I meant that it's quite out of character for you to be so helpful, and now it seems that choice has gotten you into some trouble, hasn't it?"
"Obviously. So, I shouldn't have helped the boy? Is that it? If you showed up just to tell me that, you needn't have bothered? Of course I realize that already," Darien growled. "Do you have anything helpful to say? I remain grateful for what you did for me before, but I have no time to waste debating decisions already made."
"Well said, young one. It is better to focus on the present problem, rather than lament over past mistakes," Ezra said in a fatherly tone, lecturing the experienced mage as if he were a child. Darien bit his tongue, holding his temper in check, and allowed the insult to pass. He found it strange to be roused so quickly to anger at words, but somehow, Ezra seemed to know exactly what to say and how to say it to elicit a strong reaction in the usually dispassionate man. After a slight pause, Ezra continued, "The question remains then. What will you do now? Will you take up the elf woman's impossible quest? Will you keep the boy with you or send him to his likely capture and possible death?"
Darien sighed deeply. I suppose there's no use asking Ezra how he knew any of this. I may as well move on. "Well, do you know anything about this hidden elven city, Kadanar? Does it really exist?"
"If I knew, I would tell you. I have heard of hidden clans of elves in various places, but nothing more than rumor and legend. I would not send you chasing after them. It may still exist. It may have existed once, but now be gone. It may never have existed, and be nothing more than a legend."
