Chosen (Majaos Book 1)

by Gary Stringer

  * * * * *

  It was some time, once the companions had been escorted to the War Room, before Prince Garald appeared. He looked terrible. “Please,” he begged, “I need your help. My teenage daughter, Princess Mystaya, has been kidnapped. How this happened here in the heart of Shakaran I can't explain. The details I have are sketchy but that's a security issue for the future. Right now, the only thing I care about is launching a rescue operation. We have a good intelligence network in the city so it did not take long to discover where the kidnapper has taken my daughter, though his identity is at present unknown. On the basis of this intelligence, my personal Enforcer guards have returned with the news that they cannot rescue Mystaya.”

  “I'm sorry, Your Grace,” Eilidh said, “but if two powerful Enforcers can't do it, what help can we possibly give?” “Forgive me, I am coming to that. According to my guards there are only two possibilities for success. The first is a powerful all-out assault but that is high-risk: the kidnapper could decide to kill Mystaya, and it would also divert resources away from protecting Shakaran. For all I know, that could be the whole point - this could be a diversion prior to a major assault on the city. It would make for a tempting distraction…too tempting. I can't take that chance. I can't risk the protection of my city for the sake of one individual, even if that one individual is my own daughter. No, this approach is completely out of the question. That leaves me with the second option.”

  “And that's where we come in?” Eilidh prompted. “That's right. You see, the kidnap per is over-confident. He has shut himself in his lair, surrounded by magical defences, but his detection magic is flawed. Most of his defences are only set to activate when they detect a certain level of magical power. A low-level party like yours could probably slip in almost unnoticed.”

  “Well, I can see the logic of that, but still -.” “I will of course be prepared to pay, " Garald assured her, quickly. "Five hundred gold each now, and the same when you return, plus a total of one thousand gold for any new party members who join you and help you. Plus, of course, you are welcome to keep anything you pick up along the way. All I care about is my daughter.”

  “Money isn't really the issue, Your Grace," Eilidh told him. "Please understand, I'm grateful for your hospitality and feel for you over your daughter, but I have an important quest to pursue. I can't afford to get sidetracked too much. My quest has to be my priority.”

  “That is where the rest of my proposal comes in: While my people gather more intel ligence and make the necessary preparations, I will see that you are all provided with intensive training in your various disciplines before you leave. Then when you return, I will give you certain information that I guarantee will be invaluable to your main quest. There is somewhere you can go, someone I can lead you to - a wise sage who possesses information and knowledge lost to everyone else. There is no doubt that he will be able to get you on the right trail. If you rescue my daughter, I will take you to him. Without me I can guarantee you will never find him or the knowledge he alone possesses. I’m sorry, but that’s the way it is. Please, help me. For my daughter, I will do anything short of jeopardising my people.”

  Eilidh looked around at her party,then asked, “Your Grace, would you give us a moment to discuss this in private?”

  “Of course,” he replied, “but please bear in mind that the first part of my offer is negotiable; the second is not.” With that he left.

  “Opinions, everyone?” Eilidh invited her companions.

  “Withholding information for our quest and using it to force us to act is not honourable,” Lady Hannah stated. “Perhaps not,” the elven cleric allowed, “but this is the man's daughter we're talking about. For her he will do almost anything short of putting the entire city in danger. In that, there is an honour all its own. In fact, if we were to act with honour, we would volunteer to go anyway, so the blackmail becomes unnecessary and irrelevant. It's only blackmail if we are inclined to act without honour ourselves and refuse to help.”

  Lady Hannah gave a small reverential bow. “You are correct, Revered Daughter Calandra. Forgive me, for I didst speak, methinks, with undue haste.”

  “Our Loving Father does not ask that we make no mistakes, child, simply that we admit them and do our best to learn from them.”

  “That's two votes for taking on the rescue,” Eilidh observed. “What about you, Granite? Where do you stand on this? After all, this isn't what you joined us for.” He winked, “Och, nev er mind that, lassie! It's like I said: with adventures ya never know what yer gonna get. The way I see it is one thousand in gold, first pick of any interestin' stuff we find and free warrior trainin'. Where else am I gonna find an offer like that?”

  “So you'll come with us, then. “Aye, I'll go with ye, lass.”

  “Good, that's three. Toli? You haven't said much.”

  The hobbit shrugged and smiled at Eilidh. “I'm your friend, Eilidh. Wherever you lead, I'll follow from now until the end. If you say we go, thenI go.”

  Eilidh found that simple statement of loyal friendship wonderfully heart-warming.

  She was snapped out of it pretty quickly, however, when Phaer, arms folded across his chest, said, “Well, best of luck to you, then, I'll grab my stuff and be off.”

  “What? You mean you're not coming with us?” Toli demanded.

  “I never suggested I was,” the half-elf replied. “It was always my intention to leave once you decided on your next move.”

  “But thou didst agree to join us,” Hannah objected. “Sorry, my L ady, but I never said any such thing. I agreed to escort you safely to Shakaran City. To `watch your back` as I put it, to make sure you didn't get yourselves killed in the Borderlands. I said nothing about joining your quest. You haven't even told me whatit is and it’s not really my business. I've done my job and now I must get back to it. There are other travellers getting lost out there who need a ranger to guide them. That's my place out there.”

  The Knight and hobbit were struck speechless - they had both assumed Phaer was a permanent part of the group but they realised he was telling the truth: he had never actually agreed to that. Even Lady Hannah had to admit it was no dishonour to simply do one's job, especially when that job involved helping others.

  Eilidh, however, was more devious than that. Fixing Phaer with her cat-like green eyes, she asked, “Are you sure about that?”

  “Sure about what?”

  “Are you sure you can just go back to your job, just like that?”

  “Why not?”

  “Well, where are you based?”

  “The Borderlands.”

  “Shakaran Borderlands,” Eilidh corrected.

  “Yeah, what of it?”

  “Who is your ultimate boss? Wouldn't you say that it's Prince Garald?”

  Phaer didn't answer. He could see where this was going and he didn't like it much. “If I understand Shakaran politics correctly, the Prince Regent has the ultimate power to pick and choose those who work within Shakaran land.”

  “That's true,” Phaer conceded. “Well, the Prince is asking you to save his daughter. If you refuse, I imagine he'll be quite upset with you. He might even decide that he no longer wants you working anywhere near Shakaran, and a bad reference from a man as powerful as Prince Garald could see to it that no-one in Mythallen will ever hire you again. Then what will you do? If I were you, I would consider this rescue mission as not so much a request as a polite order.”

  Phaer could not deny the logic of Eilidh's words, but still remained silent. “On the other hand, if you volunteer to help rescue Princess Mystaya, I imagine Prince Garald will take a personal interest in your career from that point on. It could go very well for you. To say nothing of the fact that you could be the most valuable member of our group in this rescue.”

  “There are other rangers,” Phaer objected.

  “I don't mean your ranger's skills, I mean that you’re magically Dead.”

  “So?” “So think about it: Prince Ga
rald said that the kidnapper's defences are designed to detect high-level magic. What better counter could there be than someone with no magic to detect? Truth be told, you could probably go and rescue Princess Mystaya all by yourself. We'd most likely just slow you down and attract magical defences that would ignore you completely. If any of us go, it should be you.”

  Phaer thought through Eilidh's arguments. She was smart; he had to give her that much credit. She'd used bribery, blackmail, threats and flattery all in the course of one argument. Any one of those he might find a way to ignore, but together they bound him tightly. She was right; he didn't really have a choice.

  “Alright, I'll rescue the princess,” he surrendered. “And,” he added with a crooked smile, “you can all tag along, too.” There were smiles all around. “But,” Phaer held up a cautionary finger, “let's make it clear that I still haven't made any promises about joining your quest. We go there– wherever there is rescue the princess, come back and that’s it. Then we part company.”

  “Well, why don't we just cross that bridge when we come to it?” Eilidh suggested.

  “Fair enough,” the half-elf agreed.

  Eilidh called Prince Garald back in and told him their decision: They would rescue Princess Mystaya. “Thank you, my friends,” he responded. “I will have your five hundred gold coins delivered to you from the royal treasury within the hour. We will begin your training immediately. There is just one small problem you should be aware of, so you have time to think of the best solution.” “And that is?” Eilidh pressed.

  “According to Kismet, the best and fastest route to where the kidnapper is holed up, is through Avidon.”

  Chapter 7

  Avidon. Prince Garald was right: that was going to be a problem. The party was relaxing together after their second day of training. The rest of the group was engaged in conversation, but Eilidh, as usual, had said little, almost nothing in fact. In that way she was able to quickly extract herself from the tedium of listening to all the small-talk as the others forgot she was even there. That suited her just fine. It meant she could set her mind to work on the practical solutions of the rescue.

  Avidon was the only one of the five major cities of Mythallen that had been conquered by the Hand of Darkness Liberation Front. Pretentious title notwithstanding, they were firmly in control of the city and that had led to a dangerous situation. Dark warriors had replaced the old Guard and all installations devoted to Patrelaux, Father of Light, had been destroyed or de-sanctified with blood sacrifices and given over to the worship of Mortress, Mistress of Death. The overt worship of EgaliTe was also illegal, although a few `cults` as they were perceived, were tolerated in Avidon, mostly because it wasn’t worth the resources the Hand would need to expend on exterminating them all.

  Clerics of any order other than the black would be executed on sight and so would Knights of Paladinia. Therein lay the problem: how to get Lady Hannah and Revered Daughter Calandra into Avidon, rescue Mystaya and get out again safely. Calandra seemed a sensible elf who might be persuaded of the wisdom of covering her white robes and hiding her clerical symbol. But Lady Hannah would never agree to anything less than stepping right up there in the full golden plate armour of the Paladins. To conceal or lie about her order would be dishonourable in her eyes. Dammit, why couldn't she have been a Knight of Zhentilon? The Dark Knights were allowed inside Avidon City, if for no other reason than the Hand would not dare to refuse them. But there was no use thinking in those terms. Reality was reality and no amount of wishing would change it. Seeing no solution immediately available, she did the only thing she could. She prayed.

  EgaliTe,” she prayed, quietly, “Sovereign of Balance beyond this world, please hear your mortal servant. I have a problem and ask respectfully for your help. I must guide two Servants of Light into a Den of Darkness and I do not see a way. Please, show me a path that we might tread. Let it be so.”

  Balanced prayers were generally simple affairs. None of the grandiose language and purification rites of prayer to the Father of Light, or the shedding of blood that accompanied prayer to the Mistress of Darkness who was just as likely to strike down her servant for daring to disturb her as grant anything. In fact the latter was often worse because she gave nothing without a heavy price being attached. The Balanced One required nothing more than basic respect and a simple request asked in a simple way. Traditional worshippers of Egali-Te had a simple concept: their god was busy. He was constantly striving to maintain universal balance and naturally that is where his attentions were focussed. Therefore, one did not disturb him unless it was important and even then, one kept one's address short and to the point. The only trick to the prayer was to keep the request open to interpretation. That's why she had not specifically stated `I want to lead Hannah and Calandra in and out of Avidon and I need you to stop the dark warriors from attacking us`. It wasn't the place of the servant to dictate to the master precisely how something was to be done. Hence, Balance prayers were always broadly worded. The Balanced One liked to leave it to his supplicant's own intelligence and wit to find the solution he had already thoughtfully woven into the world.

  At least, that was the accepted wisdom.

  Eilidh herself held a different view. She didn’t really believe in the gods as such. To her, the `soul` was an extension of the will. It was that will that made one sentient. Prayer was nothing more or less than a meditation, clearing the mind to search for the solution that already existed but lay currently out of reach, or out of sight. She presented Egali-Te, and therefore herself, with a goal and left the details of the task open. That way there was more chance of having her prayer answered. More chance of finding an acceptable solution if she did not restrict her mind by focussing on the problem.

  * * * * * It had been a week since the kidnap. Prince Garald was going frantic with worry, but reason told him that rash action would only serve to put his daughter at further risk. Now, at last, the time had come for Eilidh’s party to make the trip to Avidon. The Catalyst considered their week well spent. They felt more likea unit than before. They had begun to recognise each other’s strengths and how to support one another to best effect. There was much more to be done, of course, but there was only so much time.

  Phaer was dressed in the dark brown leather he favoured, armed with his sword and a brand new re-curved longbow with a quiver full of arrows. Toli, Eilidh and Calandra were dressed in their simple robes, Granite was decked out in scale armour with armoured boots, shield strapped to his arm, and a helm. The dwarf was armed to the teeth with a spear and single-handed, triple-loading crossbow plus one hundred bolts, as well as his battle-axe. His harp was strapped to his backpack, but easily accessible. Lady Hannah Collins' Knightly armour was freshly polished so that one could not look directly at it from a certain angle where it reflected the glorious sunshine that had greeted the day. Kismet was still missing but had left word with Prince Garald that he would catch them up. Somehow.

  At this point, they still had no clear idea how they were going to even get through the gates of Avidon, let alone affect a rescue. As they were getting ready to leave, however, Phaer's sharp elven ears picked up the faint sound of a newspaper seller calling out the day's headline from several streets away. “Truce?” he wondered. “Hannah, I didn't know the Knights were at war with anyone, other than the chaos creatures, I mean.”

  “We are not.”

  “Then what's this truce?”

  “I am sorry, Phaer, I must confess that I know not of what thou speakest.” “Oh, I just caught the newspaper headline. Calandra, did you catch any more?” Phaer reasoned that the hearing of a full-blooded elf was likely to be better than his half-human ears. Apparently not.

  “Sorry, I was talking to Lady Hannah and wasn't really listening.”

  “Oh.” Phaer was vaguely suspicious about that, but kept it to himself. “It's probably not important.” Eilidh, however, had other ideas. Her instinct started to prickle the hairs on the back of her neck. She
asked Phaer to run and buy a paper for her. When the ranger returned, Eilidh read the headline out loud.

  Eilidh was so taken aback by the news that she almost read the weather report aloud before she realised it wasn't relevant. “This is it! This is how we get into Avidon.” She sa id a silent `thank you` to Egali-Te for answering her prayers, or more accurately, she gave thanks for the gift of reasoning so she could spot the solution when it presented itself.

  “How does the truce help us?” Toli wondered.

  “What we need is an escort. A Dark Knight escort.”

  Lady Hannah wasn't convinced. “The Knights of Zhentilon may honour this truce, but the Hand of Darkness will not.” “They don't have to. Whatever their opinions on the matter, they will not risk a confrontation with the Knights of Zhentilon, especially with your order as allies. Hannah, we need you to put aside your personal feelings about Dark Knights and take advantage of the truce.”

  “Very well,” the Knight sighed, though she clearly didn't like it.

  * * * * * As the party walked about a mile towards the Eastern fringe of Shakaran, they had no idea they were being watched. In fact, Loric's eyes had scarcely left the young party this past week whenever they were outside the palace.

  “So, you’re coming to Avidon, are you?” he mused to himself. “Might as well wait in for you at home, then.” He quickly used his powers to return to his dragon form and flew off into the sun. That way, even if they looked up, they would have to shield their eyes from the glare, leaving them unable to identify him.

  * * * * * Eilidh decided that she and Hannah should go alone, rather than present the Dark Knights with too many reasons to refuse. After all, the truce was between them and the Paladins. It did not extend to elves or to Clerics of Patrelaux. Therefore, presenting the Dark Knights with Phaer and Calandra would be unwise, she felt.

  “We cannot conceal their involvement in our quest,” Lady Hannah objected. “It would not be honourable. I will not lie.” “I'm not suggesting we should. When it comes to the negotiations, I will make them aware of every member of our party. But before we get to the negotiation, we need to persuade them to allow us within the walls of their barracks. Under the terms of the truce, you should have no problem on that score. I am the party leader, so it's really me who is making the request. That means I have to be there with you and since Knights have no use for magic, they have no reason object to me as a Catalyst. Let's not give them any reason to say no at that stage.”