The Emperor's Shadow War (Tales of Alus Book 2)

by Donald Wigboldy

  This time the light achieved a clearer picture. A vision of soaring above the land jammed itself into his head. The vision shifted upward slightly to a darkening sky. Looking back down towards the landscape, the sight revealed a castle looming nearby. The vision seemed to veer away and Dante was forced to resist the urge of his body to turn in the saddle.

  Woods and small hills near the castle made their presence known to the sight a few moments later. A wagon of some peddler was making its way over one hill towards the castle when a pack of animals suddenly swept up from behind. The man, seeming so small from the vision's great height, seemed to notice the dark horde only at the last second. Spurring his horse, the man tried to flee the attackers.

  Dante watched the scene unfold helplessly as the peddler was quickly overtaken. The wagon was toppled and both horse and man were savagely torn apart by the vicious beasts.

  The vision faded.

  Dante shook with the suddenness of his eyes returning to the present surroundings. Sergeant Lane, riding beside him, had noticed his reaction this time despite the annoying rain drops. "Are you all right, sir?"

  "I...," his voice shook, "I don't know. It was strange, as if I had a vision like a Seer, but I could see the earth as if I was a bird."

  "That was quite the daydream. I think that you've been spending too much time with Misery, sir. The raven must be rubbing off on you," the sergeant laughed as he tried to pass it off. The two of them had become friends already and he hoped that Dante wasn't somehow suffering some form of breakdown. He shifted his worried eyes from the lieutenant. Looking upwards, Lane pointed skyward. "There’s your bird now, sir."

  Dante looked up through the rain and briefly spied the dark shape of the bird, before a new vision took him over. This time he could see a group of riders. They began to loom closer as if the vision were descending to earth. Just as the view neared the front riders, Dante realized what he was actually seeing.

  The riders he counted were nineteen. As he felt the pressure of Misery landing upon his shoulder, he could see the rider's face. It was his brown eyes staring back in shock.

  Chapter 7- Darius

  Light split the darkness in rectangular panels from the light cast from within the Black Oak Inn. Through the late night air, the sounds of the tavern and its patrons were slightly muffled to Darius. That was exactly to his wish as the apprentice sat in a kneel upon the ground below their room's window. It was the same window that had brought him outside.

  With the discovery of the fallen wizard and Electra's disappearance, the world had quickly been turned upside down. The inn keeper had sent a worker to the village healer as Tate worked alongside Darius to preserve the old man's life. Darius had allowed Tate to do much of the magical rites since he had other problems weighing on his mind.

  The healer had come to help a short time later still dressed in his long night shirt and looking as if he had been taken from his bed, but the man was already completely alert. The apprentice guessed that it had not been the first such wake up call for this physician. He was able to quickly add to the efforts of the apprentices and soon he felt that Elias would survive the stabbing and concussion that had been dealt him.

  Darius had already turned his attention to the room by that time. Looking for details of the attackers, he searched the room thoroughly. There was little evidence to guide him, however. Only the fact that the window had been used without any damage to the frame and the obvious attack on the wizard could be found there. Whether Electra had awoken to attack the man or an outside force was at work he had yet to be able discover.

  That had led the young wizard through the window itself where he easily dropped down to the ground below. The lights cast enough luminescence to eventually allow Darius to find the faintest of tracks. The attackers had been booted in soft leather and there was definitely more than just one of them. The sizes, though nearly disguised, were those of men more likely than Electra.

  He could think of no reason for the men of the village to attack and doubted that any thieves would target them either since the wizards carried nothing valuable to anyone except another wizard. That only left one conclusion, since the trolls wore no boots it had to be Electra's people come to Tamaya to save her.

  Darius had to make sure and set any records straight that he could and, after telling Tate of his plans, Darius made his way outside to prepare himself for the job of finding Elias’ attackers. The rituals that he performed were a source of great pride for the young wizard. They were his own design that had been based off the teachings that had been bestowed upon him at Aerwold.

  The rituals were unique as far as he knew because it dealt with the use of nature in an adaptable way. The wizard, in essence, drew the properties of nature into himself in such a way that he literally became one with the environment around him. The properties that Darius gained were substantial. He could, in essence, see in the dark. Since the wizard became one with the dark, Darius could see through the lightlessness as if it wasn't there. Also he was attuned with the earth as well. His eyes could soon see not only the faint impressions from the leather boots, but even the last of the heat traces that the bodies had left behind as well. Though the men had tried to mask their path, Darius could see the tracks as they led off in an easily followed trail into the forest.

  Thus armored with his magic, Darius drew himself up and began to follow the trail into the woods. As he did so, the wizard chose a pair of needles as well as girding himself with special mystical wards. He was careful to choose only the less draining of his magic spells as the mage attempted to follow the men deeper into the brush clotted forest. Darius would be alone as he tracked these beings and would have nothing else to rely upon, aside from his own strength and skill.

  Quickly, the courageous young man was past the wall of trees and into brush on his own. With the woods surrounding him, soon the sounds of civilization were muffled and left behind the apprentice. Other sounds were his to be known now, however: the calls of night birds, the sounds of predators stalking their prey and those of the prey still unaware that they were being stalked. There was the faintest rustling of the trees as a light, late spring breeze caressed their upper branches, and even the sounds of the day creatures as they slumbered in their burrows were made known to his heighted senses. These were sounds that kept him from straying into danger beyond that of what he was trailing.

  Time quickly lost meaning as he hurried after his quarry wrapped up in his magical nature state. The earth was virtually ageless to such a creature as he was become and time meant little to the land. Darius hardly gave it a thought as he determinedly dogged their trail.

  His persistence paid off as the first light of pre­dawn began to touch the tops of the trees to the east. The faint sounds of men moving through brush and the decayed droppings of the forest made themselves heard to his heightened senses. Relief washed over him as he rushed to catch the stealthy attackers. His senses were starting to become a drain on him now though. If he were forced to fight, Darius worried that he would soon be left with too little energy to withstand any significant attack. The apprentice would probably not be able to spy out their numbers without being seen either, if Electra was typical of their kind.

  His theory of their skill proved itself not long after unfortunately. He had come across a small gap in the forest caused by a stream running through the land when the whistle of a projectile warned him of his discovery. The tracker had known that he was getting close, but, as a mystical barrier sprung up reflexively to protect him by deflecting the shaft of an arrow, Darius realized just how close.

  Leaping through the water to the far side, the wizard went for the slight protection that the trees afforded him there. More whistling sounded and several more arrows flew at him to be rebuffed by the magical barrier. He was quickly across and let his sense of nature flow outward searching. Finding a disturbance in the bushes only a dozen feet from him, Darius flung an acorn towards his concealed attacker.

&nb
sp; The explosion sent the leaves of the bush scattering enough to reveal a surprised man. An elf, he corrected, as the mage spied the pointed ears of the archer before he leapt away and disappeared again from view. Another tremor from off to his left triggered his retaliation with another acorn, which again dislodged an elf from his cover.

  Darius could have moved deeper, but this was not a fight that he wanted to wage. They were Electra's people he believed and the attack could easily come from their fear of her presumed mistreatment by the wizards.

  Daringly, he chose to stand his ground. "I've come to make sure that Electra is safe!" Darius shouted with no better words coming to mind. "I come in peace if you are her friends. If you choose to continue attacking me, I'll have to assume that you are her foes and will do all in my power to save her from you."

  Standing away from the tree cover, Darius awaited a response. He could sense almost no movement from the elves as they seemed to be thinking upon his words. No other arrows had been sent and that, he felt, was encouraging. The lack of any real movement also meant that they were not trying to attack by surrounding him. His magical weapons were poised, just in case.

  He waited there several minutes more before an elf finally made his presence known in a straight forward way. A silver haired male of slightly above average height had come out clad in an unusual set of armor that glistened from the metallic, purple surface. Darius didn't know for sure, of course, but he could hazard a guess that this was most likely Electra's leader.

  "What is the elf woman to you, wizard?" the warrior had come to a stop only a few dozen steps away from Darius. Pointing his scabbard covered sword tip first towards the ground, the elf leaned upon his weapon lightly.

  Darius had little reason to lie, so he simply stated, "She tried to protect my life from a troll and was injured. I saved her then and would do so again, if need be, for no other reason than because she needs me."

  The silver haired warrior waved him off nonchalantly, "Then your duty to her has ended. She is safe with her people. Go on your way, human, and we will forget this trespass."

  Smiling against the man's haughty attitude, Darius shook his head, "Not so fast, sir. You have some explaining to do."

  "To you? You're hardly more than a boy, despite your powers," the elf rebuked. "Why should I answer to such as you?"

  Darius doubted that the elf would hear him out. He was only twenty-one and his youth seemed to be a matter of import to the elf. Still, he carried his mantle of power as a wizard's apprentice and he was a good one. As the mage had talked, he had allowed his powers to shift in their use. Trying something that the apprentice had only tried one other time, Darius reached to the earth and buttressed his waning strength with the health of the land nearest to him.

  It was a gamble, for he had failed in his last attempt so many months ago, but Darius was both desperate and bold after his past day's heroic uses of magic. The gamble paid off better than he had dreamed possible as a rush of energy entered his body making it feel ready to burst. It had been another theory drawn from his teachers' teachings. He thought that, if one tapped the flow of the earth's energy rather than try to just affect a change to it; in essence a wizard could use the earth's power and focus it through himself like a lens.

  Like his first try, power flowed to him like an ocean into a bucket. The apprentice realized that he needed to be careful. Such a small vessel as his body could hardly hold the vastness of the life that quickly threatened to destroy him. Darius stumbled and his vision heightened unbidden to see the very lines of power that coursed throughout the earth around him. The mage noticed that he seemed to form a break in one such line. Stunned by the sheer power of the earth, Darius stumbled and took hold of the tree next to him to steady himself.

  Bark turned to ash and smoke rose from a line running back down to the earth. The power lessened its pressure on his body. He found the line of power flowed once again to the earth, though its course had risen to run through his body and back through that of the tree beside him. A new theory of how to use such power fluttered at the back of his mind, but he had other matters to give himself over to first, namely in the form of the warrior before him.

  The elf had obviously sensed his powers. Standing where he had been before, the man now held his sword unsheathed in front of him protectively.

  Darius noticed a great amount of power in the elf and realized that the warrior held magic as well. He didn't know how he would appear to the elf now. Perhaps the warrior could sense the shift of strength to Darius. It mattered little, he decided, since the elf's power was seen as nothing beside that which he had now tapped into. The apprentice stood taller as he retained his contact with the tree to continue the flow safely.

  "I see that you know my ability now, elf. Choose to answer me so that no blood flows foolishly," Darius boldly requested though he also tried not to sound threatening to the man at the same time. He had no idea just how his power would work if it should actually come down to a fight, and the apprentice feared such power could easily consume the wielder as well as the intended victim.

  Another movement from the brush behind the elf drew both of their attentions. Darius took in the appearance of the elf woman Electra and wondered what this meant.

  She simply walked past the elf warrior to stand as a barrier between the two men. "There is no need to fight over me, Janus Orfrost, or for you to either, Wizard Darius. I am safe as my lord has assured you."

  His senses told him that it was true. This was the girl that he had searched for all night. She looked drained from her injuries still, but sound of body otherwise. The elf woman didn't look like she was strong enough to have attacked anyone though and that brought the other matter to mind. "Why did you attack the old man?"

  Janus knew to whom the question was directed and frowned. "It was an accident. Two of my trackers had climbed to the window to find Electra. When they had started to pry open the window they noticed the wizard and he them. Min threw his knife to defend himself before the old man could use his magic. We knew enough of his powers to know that he was dangerous."

  "You left him to die and gave him no chance to hear any request to release her. He would have given Electra over to you, if you had not come at him like assassins from the dark. She called you lord, but I fail to see the nobility of such an act."

  The warrior's face turned dark with anger.

  "Why didn't you come to us in the forest for her?" Darius asked before a reply could come. "If you saw Elias in the woods, then you should have had every opportunity to come for her."

  "We were attacked by a band of trolls first. Every last one of them needed to be slain before they could bring others over. Your world is safer because of it as well, wizard."

  "We were safer before you brought their kind here, actually." Darius turned away as he released the line of power. "I am not your judge and I have no need to stay here debating your guilt. If you choose to stay on this world, do nothing to harm it or I'll return for you and your men, Janus Orfrost. That is a promise."

  The apprentice strode away without looking back trying to appear strong, but he was suddenly tired to his very soul. Holding the power had given him unlimited resources, but once detached from the limitless well of power Darius found that none had remained behind to strengthen him. He hardly was across the stream and into the woods beyond, when darkness suddenly overwhelmed him. In a faint, consciousness left him before Darius even hit the earth in front of his feet.

  Chapter 8- Dante

  The sky had darkened significantly as the riders had galloped furiously forward. Sergeant Lane had looked at him as if he was losing his mind when Dante had ordered that they ride to warn the castle of Peleth about a dark horde from a vision. The lieutenant wasn't sure that he wasn't just hallucinating, but somehow it had seemed too real to be ignored. If he had somehow been able to see through Misery's eyes, then the castle was truly in danger.

  Dante turned his face up towards the sky ignoring the pelting
rain drops. The clouds overhead roiled thickly just before them to the northwest. They almost appeared to be congealing over one destined position like that of clouds before a tornado, but these clouds seemed even more unusual in their movements.

  Topping the last rise to stare at the castle atop its great hill, Dante brought up his horse abruptly. It would hardly do to rush into a trap, so he and the others scanned the hills surrounding them to see if they could indeed find the darklings that Misery had seen in his vision. The rain made it difficult and seemed to thicken even more as they neared the castle.

  Another look to the sky revealed that the clouds were indeed centered over Peleth. "Shades!" the voice of Sergeant Lane breathed from just behind him.

  Dante turned to the sergeant. "Can you see anything out there?" he asked as his own search could not penetrate the thick sheets of the rain storm in front of them.

  "There!" a private named Volin answered from off to his right.

  He peered east towards the area that the man had directed for him to search. There they were. A dark mass just ahead of a stand of trees and less than half a mile from the castle was where the enemy stood waiting. For what though, the soldier did not know.

  “Can anyone see what they are doing there?"

  When no one answered, he ordered, "We need to move closer. If we can gather numbers and intent, King Yled can deal with these monsters."

  Leading the platoon down the hill, Sergeant Lane moved closer to him and asked, "How did you know?"

  Dante watched the trail intently as the horse navigated the slippery slope of the hill. He could think of no way to disguise the matter well and chose the straight forward answer, "Somehow I saw through Misery's eyes earlier. They were still another half a mile from here then. What magic caused such a vision and why, I have no idea, but there they stand before us, sergeant."