by Philip Blood
"And so you lie to yourself, just like your teacher," the voice whispered, it was fainter, as though dissipating.
Then Aerin could not feel the presence around him any longer.
The troubled young man stood in the empty room for awhile, thinking about what had been said.
When Aerin went down the old wooden steps, Mara met him at the bottom. "So, did you have any trouble with the denizens of the house?"
Aerin answered her truthfully, as far as her question went. "No, the stains of their fear and hatred could not reach me."
"Good, I am pleased with your progress, Aerin. You have learned much in these past weeks."
Aerin nodded, but his thoughts were different, as doubt crept into his mind, Yes, Mara, yet have you taught me all I need to know?
The Dreadmaster’s words haunted Aerin's mind in days that followed. He watched Mara closely, not so much in suspicion, but so that he could exonerate her, and exercise the evil one's words from his thoughts. But with each stolen glance and every overheard conversation, Aerin was wracked with guilt.
Aerin saw Mara and Tocor approaching slowly along the walkway past the practice area of the courtyard. They were in deep conversation and half-oblivious to the students working out. Aerin stopped his solo warm-ups and sat down on one of the benches, where Mara and Tocor would soon pass. They wouldn't be able to see him, as he would be on the far side of the thick column, supporting the balcony, but he would be able to hear them. There was nothing suspicious about him taking a rest on this bench, but he felt the familiar lump of guilt in his stomach.
"…they are, but I'm worried about Gandarel. He has missed the fear training, and he will need it even more than his friends. We must figure out a way to tear him away from the clutches of those power hungry councilmen!" Mara said as she came into Aerin's hearing range.
He couldn't make out Tocor's low rumbled reply, and then Mara spoke again.
"I know, and I'm worried about that vision as well. It made no sense before, and it makes no sense to me now after much study. If he fails... not only will he die, but all..."
Aerin couldn't hear them anymore since they had walked too far away. After a minute, Aerin got up and continued his weapon practice. He even took a lump from Katek when he let his mind wander too far from the business at hand.
"Here, let me show you the proper block to that attack," Katek said, after giving Aerin his bruise.
Aerin was rubbing his shin with his hand in anger, mostly with himself. "You mean this move?" Aerin replied and performed it with perfect accuracy.
"Yes," Katek said in surprise. "Why did you not use it, if you know it so well?"
"I was distracted," noted Aerin, "I've got something important on my mind. Mara..." he paused, wondering if he should even speak to his friend about his problem.
Katek pointed with his left hand, "Look, Mara is..."
When Aerin turned to look, Katek hooked his feet and dumped him to the ground.
"That was a little lesson in attention when sparring or fighting you should concentrate on one thing, your opponent!"
Aerin looked up in anger for a moment and then cracked a smile. "Point taken, Katek."
Katek offered his hand to his friend and pulled him to his feet.
Aerin tried to tangle Katek's feet with his quarterstaff as he came up, but Katek was too cautious for that.
"Ha!” he yelled, "Now did you really think you could turn the tables on me so easily?"
"No, but it was worth a try," Aerin said with a grin.
Dono and Lor were at the front gate, and they had it cracked open so they could look out into the street.
"What's going on over there?" Katek asked.
Aerin didn't take his eyes off his opponent; "I'm not going to fall for it twice, Kat."
Katek stepped back and bowed, officially ending the bout. "I'm serious."
Aerin looked just in time to see Lor and Dono run in their direction.
"To the roof!" Lor called and leaped for a hold to swarm up the side of the Villa.
Katek and Aerin looked at each other a moment, and then both headed after their friends. They joined Lor and Dono on the roofs and moved to look down on the street in front.
Troops were marching past. These were not like any soldiers that Aerin had ever seen before. Their uniforms were perfectly matched in deep blue with gold buttons. Each carried the exact same sword and pack, and they marched in perfect unison.
"What's going on?" Mara called up to them from the courtyard.
"Soldiers, all dressed in blue," Dono called back down.
Of the students on the roof, only Aerin watched to see Mara's reaction, the others had their attention on the passing soldiers.
"Bluecoats," Mara said to Tocor, "it is time."
Chapter Thirteen
"The ground was blue with torn uniforms and red with blood. The heir to hope lay dead amongst them. Where was help in his time of need? Where were his friends?"
- From the Dark Prophecies
We're leaving," Mara said in two simple words.
It rocked her student's universe. "But..." Lor exclaimed, "we're coming back, right?"
Mara shook her head. "Not the way you are thinking, Lor. The time of waiting is over and from here the events become tangled and frenzied. We are at a crossroads and not the last. We must leave this city and go to Gandarel's aid or he will be lost."
"But Gandarel is here, how can we leave to go to his aid?" Lor asked.
"Gandarel will be leaving soon, trust me," Mara explained.
It was afternoon and the students sat on the ground around the bench where Mara liked to teach in the training yard area.
Katek was taking the news completely differently. He had a slight smile of anticipation when he asked, "To where do we travel, Mara?"
"For the moment, west, at least until we reach the Eigen pass. From there we will likely go... well, we can talk about that when we get closer and know more."
"Do we have to go?" Dono asked.
Mara looked sympathetic, but her eyes were watching and weighing. "Dono, none of you MUST go, but any of you who stay will not be part of this fellowship again. I have told you, this is a crossroads, and decisions you make now will change your life. Great events have been building for more years than you can imagine. They are building towards a nexus where all is confused and many things are possible. From this great moment in time, the future paths will narrow to color the future of our lives and this world."
"How do you know all this?" Lor demanded.
"It is written in the prophecies of Gold and in the Dark Prophecies."
Lor was looking stubborn. "Those are just someone's guesses. They can't predict the future."
"You are correct," Mara said, surprising Lor. "Prophecies are never perfect predictions of the future because there is no set path. Time is not preordained, nor are the choices you will make set in stone."
"Then what good are these prophecies and why do you follow them?" Lor asked.
Mara thought for a moment, she was not considering the answer to the question, but whether her students were ready to have this knowledge. "Prophecies are the best looks down the myriad of possible paths. They are the most likely events. But even that is a serious oversimplification. Think of them this way, at minimum, they are major branches in a host of possibilities, but once they are known and people get a look at these paths they can give them even greater power. If enough people believe in one possible future then it is even more likely to become the true path. I have taught you how great pain, anger, hate, and fear can stain a place, and you have all experienced this recently and in other small ways your whole life, agreed?"
"Yes," Aerin said for them all.
"Well, great belief is no different. If enough people believe in something they imbue it with the combined emotion of their belief."
Lor rubbed at her eyes vigorously. "Mara, your answers often give me a headache. Sometimes I wish I never asked. All this doesn't
matter, what does matter is that I don't want to leave my home."
Mara put a comforting hand on Lor's shoulder. "Then that would be your choice. I do not force any of you to take a destiny that is fraught with danger, pain, and suffering. I can tell you this, the major paths all point to severe challenge, pain and suffering for the bondsmen of the new NexLord. But be warned, the prophecies also show the likelihood of our success diminishes with the loss of any Bondsman. This means if you stay, taking the comfortable path, you might be happy in the short run, but in the end, your choice could be your doom."
"That isn't fair; you said you wouldn't make us go! Now you're making it sound like we're going to die if we make the wrong choice," Lor growled.
"I'm not, I'm just telling you what the prophecies say, your choices are your own. Remember, the prophecies could be wrong, but it just isn't likely that they are far wrong."
Aerin's mind was on another thing. "Mara, you have mentioned two prophecies, how can we be on both?"
"In essence, we are not. For a time, events were following the Prophecies of Gold, and I have tried to keep them on that track by 'helping' events to come true. But we have diverged from the more desirable branch and have entered an area where all likely paths are foretold in the Dark Prophecies. These writings were portends of doom, and as we sidestep one pitfall it but puts us in the path of the next. Instead of trying to keep on a known path, as I've done for many years, now I fight to avoid ruin by staying in the unknown. Each victory is short lived. I don't like being on the defensive, but that is the situation."
"Is there any way to get back onto the path that the Prophecies of Gold predict?" Aerin asked.
At his question Mara looked on her student with pride; instead of fearing the dark choices ahead, and asking about the next portend of doom, he was looking for intelligent solutions. "Yes, Aerin, there is always that chance, but with each day, with each step that we go away from that future, it gets harder. In truth, I don't see a way, though I know more of these prophecies than anyone else alive."
"Well, I'm sorry, but I don't believe in any of this tripe," Lor noted, angry enough to speak back to Mara. "I'm not leaving my home on the possibility that Gandarel will leave, and we need to save him, from something, only to have it be futile since we don't know that what we change the future to will be any better! And I don't think my friends should go either."
Mara smiled and shook her head sadly, but her grim humor was for her own failing. "I seem to have done something wrong in my teachings. First Gandarel goes against my counsel, and tears us from the best path, and now Lor is afraid to leave as well."
"I'm not afraid!" Lor answered.
"Oh, but you are, Lor. You're not afraid of the things you would face out in the world, you're not even afraid of those unknown dangers in the Dark Prophecies, though if you read them you might reconsider. No, you are afraid of losing your home, of losing the last connection to your childhood. You fear growing up."
"I do not!" Lor stated and stood up. She glanced at her friends for a moment as if looking for support, but when she did not see what she was seeking she turned and went to the place where they climbed to the roofs. In moments, she was gone.
Mara sighed, and then said, "After her, Aerin, I don't know what you can say, but she must come with us."
"But you said each of us gets to choose."
Mara nodded. "Yes, but I didn't say those choices wouldn't have consequences. The rest of you stay, we need to start packing. We leave with the dawn."
"So soon?" Dono asked with a slight look of panic in his eyes.
Mara patted his red hair fondly. "Yes, Dono, though I will miss this frozen moment; it has been a very special time in my life. I dreaded it for years before it happened, and now I find that when it has passed I will miss it more than I would ever have guessed. The reason I told Lor we could not return is simple, you can never go back. A place in time is better left untouched by the future so that your memory can keep it alive. I wish I could go on being your teacher forever, but events for which I've prepared a lifetime approach, and I must move back into the mainstream where the water flows swift and the jagged rocks are dangerous."
"The last few years have been the craziest of my life!" Aerin noted, getting to his feet to follow Lor.
"I believe you will look back on them someday and pray for the peace you have known. But do not despair, my young friends, for the future always holds its own promise, and though we lose something we leave behind, we never know what tomorrow will really bring. That is the adventure!"
Mara finished her speech and grew silent for a moment before looking at Aerin, who had paused. "Ignore the rambling of an old woman, soon you will follow the stirring of youth and life will become much more interesting, if less comfortable. On with you, Aerin, bring her back. As for the rest of us, it's time to get to work packing the wagon."
The spire on Celimah's watchtower is the highest peak in Strakhelm, and that is where Aerin caught up to Lor. The climb up the side and over the angled eve, that overhung the balcony below, would have frozen Aerin with fear a year ago, and even now challenged his climbing skills, and mental control, to their limits. Then he had to scale the steep side to reach the metal rod that poked out of the very top. Lor stood next to that rod, holding on with one hand as she looked over her city.
Aerin arrived and took hold of the rod. He didn't say anything but looked out over the vast array of shapes and colors that was Strakhelm.
They stood side by side silently sharing every detail of the only home Lor had ever known. She spoke first, "There is a storm coming."
Aerin raised his gaze to the skies and looked to the west, where the red sun was setting behind the Dragonback. There was no sign of gathering clouds.
"It will come from the east, but not in the way you are looking for it. The storm will tear our lives away from us. You know it too; I've seen the same haunted expression reflected in your face."
Aerin couldn't meet her eyes.
"What have you seen, Aerin, why do you look away?"
Aerin forced his eyes back to meet his friend's, and tears welled up inside. "I've had a vision, it was not a dream. I told you something about it that night when the Togroths attacked the east wall, but I didn't tell you everything."
Lor frowned slightly while trying to understand.
Aerin looked down and paused a moment, gathering his resolve, before looking up into her eyes. "I saw the aftermath of a great battle and you..."
"I was dead," Lor finished for him.
"Yes," Aerin answered. After a moment, he continued, "Mara sent me to make you come with us. She said you are important and that you have to come with us, but I've come to warn you that you will die if you come on this journey; I saw it in that vision."
Lor looked at the anguish on Aerin's face and her face broke into a warm and loving smile for her friend. She took him by the shoulder and looked into his teary eyes. "Aerin, I will not come along for Gandarel. He is my friend, but this is my home, yet I have to ask you, are you going with Mara when she leaves?"
Aerin's voice was barely loud enough for Lor to hear over the wind. "Yes, she is my teacher, my guardian and she saved my life when my parents were killed. I know you don't believe her claims of prophecy, and I can't prove them right or wrong, but she believes what she is doing is the right thing, and so I will go with her when she asks. I have to, she's my friend."
Lor looked at Aerin for a moment. "I don't know if I believe in those prophecies or not, Aerin, nor do I think you can see the future, but none of it matters, I am coming with you."
"But..."
"I know, you think I'm going to die in some great battle, but I'm not that easy to kill. Know this, I’m not going for Gandarel and I'm not going for Mara, I'm going for you, Aerin. You tried to help my mother, and you didn't do it to get something from me; you didn't even want me to know. I can never repay the kindness you showed, and because of it, I will always love you as my brother. The others ar
e friends, and I love them dearly, but you cared for my mother and became my brother. You are my only family now. I can't let you face this storm without my protection."
Aerin smiled mischievously, "I seem to remember being the one coming to YOUR rescue in the basement of that temple."
"And I owe you for that as well, you saved my life. Regardless of what you saw in that vision, I can't let you go out alone to get killed doing something stupidly heroic."
Aerin reminded himself that Mara said the future was never set, they could beat this vision, somehow.
"But," and Lor's voice grew serious again, "We're losing something here, today. I'm going to miss leading you across the rooftops of the High Road."
The two of them watched the city below for a few minutes, remembering times together.
Lor spoke again without looking at Aerin. "I will face the coming storm with you, Aerin, because you are MY friend and you are my brother."
When they returned to Mara's Villa there was no talk of what had happened, Lor pitched in, and it was accepted that she was going. When the cold mists of morning lay across the wet cobblestones, Mara's covered wagon trundled out of the gate onto the streets. It was Dono who wiped the tears from his face as their lives changed and they left their home, but Lor had made her peace with the city the day before. She knew her place was with Aerin, wherever he went, she would go.
But their troop was missing one person and they felt incomplete. Gandarel was not with them. Mara made no mention of the boy who meant so much to the future.
Gandarel was shaking with anger and he could hardly contain himself. Councilman Enolive stood with his young charge and helped select clothing for him to take on his journey.
"How DARE they demand I leave here today," Gandarel exclaimed for the hundredth time. Enolive did not answer the rhetorical question.
Gandarel wanted answers, even if he had already heard them before.
"Tell me, Enolive, what gives them the right to order the heir to the Seat of Stone?"
