“What the hell are you doing?” Viktor snapped.
“I’m extemporizing!”
The iron platform darted up and the two found themselves at the top of the tower.
“You are crazy!”
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone that your younger brother has saved you from trouble!”
“You were already in debt with me for all the punishments I suffered in the fields with Dad instead of you ...”
“Well, I think it’s a little different!”
Viktor looked away from his brother and pointed to a ladder leaning against the tower on the other side.
“Let’s use it to get down, before we run into other surprises like those bandits.”
Gabriel nodded.
Viktor put Siride back in its scabbard and saw his brother do the same with his knife; then, arriving near the long ladder, the two stopped to observe the monastery from above.
It’s simple, they said to themselves: don’t look down.
However, the more they tried to appease their mood, the more the ladder rungs crunched under their feet.
They tried to make their descent lighter but, despite this, one of the pegs broke half way down, putting Viktor’s life in peril but he managed to hold himself steadily on the ladder and not lose his balance on the lower peg.
“Are you all right?” Gabriel had shouted a few feet down.
“Yes, fortunately!” he replied in a trembling voice.
They sighed with relief when their feet touched the ground. They turned and unsheathed their weapons before launching into the battlefield.
Just at that moment, Viktor felt someone put a hand on his shoulder and turned around, pointing Siride against the person who had taken him from behind.
The boy let a smile emerge on his face and let the sword fall to the ground as he hastened to wrap Selene’s waist with his arms, kissing her on the cheek.
“Gabriel told you to stay ...”
“I know, but I couldn’t wait ... what are you doing here?” she asked, her eyes filled with joy.
“He helped me on the walls and it was he who suggested that I let you fall down so vehemently,” Gabriel said ironically.
Viktor could not help but laugh.
“What did they do to you?” asked his friend without breaking away from him.
“I will tell you all later, we must go to the Elders and understand what is happening,” he replied. He let go of Selene and retrieved Siride: “It will be better to get around the battlefield and run towards the central tower. Crossing the monastery does not seem to me the best choice. “
Gabriel and Selene followed him.
The three stopped, from time to time, in the space that was between a building and the other, leaning against the walls battered by the darts of the magician who had tried to harm the lives of the youngsters.
When they were close enough, they ran the fastest they could inside the central tower.
During the race, Selene was convinced that she had dodged two or three of a bandit’s arrows.
They began to climb the stairs to the top, accompanied by the faint glow of the torches on the wall.
Arriving in front of the great door that gave onto the hall of the four thrones, Viktor glanced at his friends, waiting to be certain about the destination.
«Once I have killed the other three, it will be sufficient to continue spreading knowledge to make them believe I’m a god! In the eyes of others I will try to look like an idol to worship: soon I will become the Lord of all Mirthya! The only one!”
The boy opened the entrance to the room as Gabriel and Selene gave him an affirmative nod.
The hall was cloaked in semi-darkness and it seemed deserted. Beyond the glass window at the back, the sky had become leaden and threatening because of the explosions outside.
Despite the looming war outside the tower, there was an unusual silence in the area. A silence that instilled fear.
The three walked slowly, listening to the reverberation of their steps in the hall, when Gabriel look at the four thrones.
“Viktor ...” Selene called in a low voice, at her friend’s side. “What’s up?”
“Did you heard? A moment ago, outside the door ...”
“Yes.”
“Earlier some bandits attacked me and I realized they were not real.”
“What do you mean?” the young man frowned.
“I mean that they were not bodies of flesh and blood, I think they were simulacra. It is possible that the soldiers of the monastery are fighting enemies that don’t exist!”
“Are you serious? The allied wizards would have noticed the deception, right? What does that have to do with the voice?”
“They are not just magical projections, they even have some shadows. Whoever it was must have excellent mana management skills. It is the only way to keep so many dissimilar clones in the whole area and manoeuver them all with similar mastery. Don’t you understand? Didn’t you hear the same words I heard?”
“It is strange that the Elders have done nothing and even stranger that this room is empty: where are the four? The monastery has been under siege for over an hour and no one has even bothered to do anything ... do you think ...,” said Gabriel.
“Whatever’s happening, there’s something wrong in this place,” Viktor said.
“I agree with you,” a voice in the hall said.
The words echoed in the air, then the sound faded.
The three widened their eyes and turned their fearful gaze behind them: even if the stifled glow of the flames outside didn’t illuminate the main door, the boys were sure they didn’t see anyone.
They turned once more towards the back of the room.
Beyond the stained glass window, they now saw clusters of people fighting on the walls of the monastery, but they were still too far away to be able to see what was happening underneath them.
They advanced a few more steps together, but they heard nothing.
“It was the voice of Sinus, I’m sure,” Selene whispered to Gabriel.
The boy nodded.
“Who is Sinus?” asked Viktor.
“One of the four Elders, he is not our enemy.”
“Then why doesn’t he come out?”
As soon as Viktor uttered those words, a black outline emerged from the back of one of the thrones.
The three continued to remain silent when he entered under a beam of light that split the room in two: the traits of the Elder were tinged in fiery colours.
AT THE SERVICE OF THE SEVEN
T he Elder’s eyes shone brightly.
What until a few hours ago was the gaze of a wise and hospitable person, now appeared as the empty, inexpressive frown of a dummy.
“I agree that this place has something ... well, as you said, something wrong,” he spoke again, this time raising his voice while maintaining a gloomy tone. “I am Sinus, second of the five Elders. Your friends have already met me, but I could not avoid introducing myself again in your presence, chosen one. It is a pleasure to meet you: I wonder, however, if you will be able to bear all that will derive from what is completely different from your character.
“I no longer have any responsibility, I pulled out of all this: tomorrow I will return to my normal life. A man cannot change the fate of a population.”
Sinus exploded in a loud laugh, a macabre and forced laugh.
The three boys looked at the Elder with dismay: whatever was happening, the elf in front of them didn’t seem to be the same as the day before.
“Your soldiers are fighting bandits outside this tower,” Selene said. “With them there are such skilful wizards that they can make clones of their allies: I don’t know what they want, but I think you should do something to stop them.”
Sinus looked at the trio with an inscrutable expression: “Everything is going as planned. I knew that Viktor was coming to look for you, so I hired bandits to my command as cover during the siege, and all this for the sole purp
ose of overpowering the other Elders and waiting for you to arrive here.”
“You’re saying that ...” Gabriel cried, realizing the meaning of those words.
“Did you organize all this to eliminate the other Elders and bring us here?” Viktor asked with wide eyes.
“Exactly,” answered Sinus.
“This to ... to get control of the monastery?”
“Exact again, two out of two: bright and perspicacious.”
Gabriel clenched his fists until the pain exceeded his anger.
It was unthinkable to believe that, among those who for years had provided knowledge of all kinds everywhere, there were individuals who could do something like that.
“The actions of an individual cannot be associated with those of the community,” Selene repeated, trying to save the personal reputation of the Elders.
“What you are doing is deplorable. We heard about your plan just before entering this room. I had a better opinion of you, Sinus,” Viktor said contemptuously.
“They don’t care about your ideas, nor mine. People don’t live on ideas, they must be concretized with facts. If I didn’t kill you now, for example, my talk would be in vain.”
“Then let me concretize mine!” Gabriel cried. He put his hand to his waist and pulled out his knife, throwing himself against Sinus.
Anger gave way to dismay when the image of the Elder, a span away from him, dissolved in front of them in a cloud of smoke.
Sinus reappeared a few steps from the boy, who tried another charge. Viktor and Selene yelled at the young man to stop, but there was nothing to be done: when Gabriel tried to hit the target a second time, he realized he couldn’t move his body anymore. His hand had been stopped at a distance to allow his knife to lightly graze only the tuft of silver hair that fell on the elf’s forehead. The young man tried to regain control of himself but, despite noticing the facial contractions due to fatigue, he didn’t move.
Then he found himself a few feet off the ground and stood in mid-air.
“Put him down!” Viktor shouted.
Sinus didn’t answer and the boy tightened his hand around the hilt of Siride.
“Don’t do it,” Selene whispered in his ear.
Everything remained motionless for a moment. Viktor calmed down.
“I will not deal with this situation with violence.”
The boy knew that the statement would have irritated the Elder, but he kept a calm tone.
“You say? I wouldn’t swear on it.” The elf’s words rang out in the room.
Gabriel was lifted a bit higher, then he looked at his brother.
Selene and Viktor watched with wide eyes: Gabriel was catapulted towards the large window at the back of the room.
It all happened so quickly that, when the roar of broken glass shattered their eardrums, the boy’s body had already precipitated towards the battlefield.
Before the last fragment of glass touched the floor, Viktor set himself in a position of attack with his sword drawn.
Sinus smiled, and this gave the boy a further reason to bring more precision to the slash he aimed.
Viktor screamed, Selene remained motionless.
All the following blows failed: the elf deflected the blade at each new attack through invisible flows of energy that he manoeuvred through the movement of his fingers.
The opponent retreated giving space to the young boy to continue fighting, amused by his poor skills with the sword.
Sinus’s eyes shone with a purple light and his opponent was thrown several meters away.
Siride and the body of its owner were thrown to different parts of the room: the boy not far from Sinus, near one of the walls of the room hidden by the shadows; the sword next to Selene, lying on the ground: Sinus had wounded her with some spell.
Viktor jumped up, ignoring the pain in his back and ran to Siride.
Tears rolled down his face and blurred his vision.
Anger made things worse. He had lost control.
A moment before grabbing his sword, it slipped from his hand and he tried to chase it a couple of times.
“I wonder how long you will continue,” Sinus taunted, still moving his fingers.
A twinge hit Viktor’s right leg, and he fell to the ground on his knee.
“As long as necessary,” he repeated in a low voice.
“When I end up with you, you will regret having persevered. Killing me is not your job, chosen one.”
“You took my brother away. My job is not killing you ... it’s erasing you from this world!” he shouted and got up to stagger toward his sword.
He held it, but another stab hit his arm.
It was as if a clamp was compressing both his limbs: the pain went quickly up to his brain, he tried to resist but in vain.
Siride fell back to the ground and he fell over it.
He saw his brother fall over the window of the tower and Selene surrender on the marble floor.
A new strength allowed him to get up again and collect the sword.
There was another blow, then silence.
He felt his body suffused with electric shocks. He fell at the elf’s feet.
Sinus bent over him.
“You cannot kill me. Resign to the idea of ...” he paused.
The Elder felt a strange sensation, as if his strength was being cut in half: he looked at his abdomen.
Siride was stuck in his tunic and had pierced his flesh.
Viktor raised his cadaveric face to his opponent’s and smiled.
“Now I have concretized my ideas,” he said before losing consciousness.
******
The moment Selene regained control of her strength, she got up with difficulty and trudged to the broken window where there the bodies of Sinus and Viktor were.
Beyond the window, the sky was still covered with grey and orange clouds, but no noise could be heard from the battlefield, except that of the flames that kept burning the monastery.
The girl dropped to her knees over Viktor’s body, brushed a lock of blonde hair from her sweaty forehead and laid her hands on his body.
“No ... I’m fine,” the boy assured her with a nod.
Selene dropped over him and cried.
She cried for Gabriel, for fear of losing Viktor and over what had happened.
“I didn’t want it to go like this ...” she sobbed as her friend clutched her head in his battered arms.
At that moment, it seemed that nothing could divide them.
A rustle of wind came through the window of the great hall and Viktor felt the body of Sinus vibrate: he turned his head towards him and Selene did the same, stopping the tears.
The body began to crumble like a castle of paper hit by unexpected rain.
Siride fell on the mound of sand and noises were heard behind them.
There was still someone outside the door: the youngsters looked with dismay toward the end of the unlit room and for a moment they seemed to hear their hearts pounding.
“Hide behind that throne,” Viktor ordered.
“What will you do?”
“Whatever I do, I don’t have the strength to stop anyone. I’ll try to buy time.”
“Buy time for what?”
“I don’t know.”
Selene hesitated but, although she didn’t want to leave her friend at the mercy of nothingness, she obeyed him and ran to hide.
Viktor took a deep breath, brought his right hand to the hilt of his sword and held it firmly, helping himself to stand up with his other hand.
His legs trembled, unable to support his weight.
He took a couple of steps toward the door, but he was forced to stop due to a stabbing twinge in his ankle.
His throat was parched, he tried to swallow to moisten it, but without success; then, the door in front of him began to open allowing the light from the torchlight filter through the entrance.
He heard an annoying noise, a screech of worn out wood that was rubbing against a corroded m
etal surface; finally, when the door had completely opened, the outlines of three people appeared on the threshold of the room.
Viktor had to cover his eyes with his hands for a few seconds to get used to the light.
He succeeded in distinguishing the figures of Dandelion, Vilsius and Gabriel, in the centre.
“What does all this mean?” he shouted to the trio, incredulous.
“It’s all over,” the librarian replied.
“Nobody will do anything to you,” said a voice behind the boy.
Sinus was behind Viktor, completely unharmed from what should have been a mortal wound.
“Your blade is sharp enough to destroy my simulacrum: good choice.”
“Simulacrum?” Viktor asked without understanding.
Anger and pain had given way to an inane and stupefied expression.
“None of today’s events was real: we knew you’d come here and we orchestrated a fake invasion by bandits. We were sure you chaps would have believed that everything was really happening. My monologue, just before you entered the hall, was the final bait. The only one who sensed something strange was your friend when she managed to overpower a couple of magical projections, but this was not enough to arouse suspicions about the entire break-in. So we continued calmly.”
Selene, meanwhile, had come out into the open after making sure the situation was calm.
“The character I had built was not bad,” Sinus said, turning to Selene. “Control the races through knowledge ...megalomaniac and presumptuous, perhaps, but crazy enough at the same time to allow those who had listened to me to get bad ideas about me.” the Elder concluded smiling and went to Gabriel giving a pat on Viktor’s shoulder, who kept on showing a confused look.
“Why all this?” asked Gabriel.
“As for you and Selene, we wanted to make sure that the chosen one had the right company, while for Viktor he was chosen to test his skills and I must say that I am very enthusiastic about him. Your preparation with the sword is still scanty, but you have the values that will allow you to succeed in your task.”
“I was thrown from the tower, I could have died!” complained Gabriel.
Viktor Page 15
