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

by Donald Wigboldy

  Zardia turned to the others and asked the unspoken question. All the men and women nodded, still in shock at the power that they had witnessed. "You would have attained the rank of wizard before the last show of strength, Darius. I wanted you to know that before telling of your new status. In the face of the power tapped through nature, it pales, of course, but none the less your stamina was among the best witnessed here. Let no other accomplishment take away from the fact that you faced your challenges calmly and with complete control of your techniques that make all of us proud. You are young and still have much to learn, but you have also proven that you have mastered yourself and your powers in such a way that no one less than a wizard could have shown. If you will follow us back to the council room, we will officially bestow the ornaments of your new rank and let all know that Darius Eremia is a wizard of the first order."

  Darius had been pleased with his accomplishments, but still he had problems grasping the suddenness of his rise. When he had returned to the dorms, Darius was clothed in the dark blue of the fallen Elder Welden. The other students and apprentices had simply looked upon him in awe. They had heard that he had gone to the grove, but still it amazed them. The new wizard gathered his few belongings and prepared to move into a new room provided only for full wizards.

  There were several rooms within the school set aside for such men and since it tended to take a death of one wizard for a new one to attain the rank it served them well.

  The last man to be given the nod had been almost ten years ago. Darius considered that a moment. The first new wizard in ten years. His class had several other men of ability and there would be more sooner or later from those that he had grown up with.

  He gave a last look at the dorm that he had lived in for so many years and sighed.

  "I can't believe that they made you a wizard," Tate's voice reached out to him morosely. "I thought that I had done well in my new rank. What did you do to deserve such a position? If I had known that returning to the woods would have made me a wizard, I would have left Elias in your care."

  Darius turned on his friend angrily. He allowed the magic to show in his eyes as a warning to Tate. "If you had left Master Elias to die, you would have been thrown out of the school instead. If you had gone in my place, you would probably be dead. Your heart is not in your duties, Tate. Such talk proves that you are the lucky one to be acknowledged not me.

  "I left you with Elias for a reason, Tate. As much as either of us hate to admit it, you were too afraid to go after the elves. You never would have gone to find them whether you could have or not. You were scared."

  "That was what I saw then when you returned," the apprentice said unhappily. He never bothered to disclaim Darius accusations as he continued. "You've left me behind, Dar. I thought that we would be together in all things. It was you that helped push me this far. How can I get to be a wizard without someone like you to push me forward?"

  Darius sighed, "You've got to challenge yourself, Tate. That's the only way that you'll ever do it. I'll help you as best I can, of course. That part will never change, but don't blame me for my progress."

  Tate nodded, "I'm sorry, Dar. I didn't mean to take it out on you. I guess that I'm more mad at myself for not trying the way that you did.

  "What are you going to do now? I hear tell that a

  Seer came while you were in the council room. The rumor has it that a group of wizards are going to be leaving soon."

  He nodded, "Yeah, we're going back to the elves and then off to Tolmona."

  "I can see getting even with the elves, but why Tolmona?"

  "We aren't going to attack the elves, Tate. We're going to take some with us when we go to Tolmona."

  The apprentice looked disappointed. "Who is going with you?"

  "It wasn't totally decided yet, actually. I think that the wizards Matalchus and Fioren are definite. We'll probably take along a few apprentices as well."

  Tate grinned and asked with a nudge from his elbow, "Can I come along? I'd like another chance to prove myself."

  The wizard shrugged before giving his friend a smile, "As one of three first level apprentices, I have a feeling that it can be arranged."

  "Thanks, Darius, or should I call you, Master Darius?"

  "Enough! I've got to get over to my new room. I'll let you know when it's time to go," he replied trying to ignore the ribbing. As Darius left, he knew that things were going to be all right between them after all thankfully.

  The return trip to Tamaya occurred only two days after Darius' confirmation. He rode a horse alongside five others. Wizards Matalchus and Fioren were there as he had guessed. Tate was there and another first level apprentice, Xarien. The fifth man had been appointed by Zardia herself and the fact that it was Palonius was a surprise to him.

  The apprentice seemed too naive to be party to such a group being sent on such an important mission, but she had insisted. Darius didn't mind much, however, and neither did the others. Palonius was a talkative fellow and always seemed ready to bend a man's ear, if let. That was neither a bad thing nor good, he supposed. On the other hand, the man was also one of the most controlled magic users that Darius had ever seen. If the apprentice was as good in the field as he was in the safety of the school, Darius felt that the man might actually prove quite a good asset to the group.

  The six riders made good time despite a steady rain in the latter half of the day. Waterproof cloaks were donned and the wizards pushed onwards. Conversation was kept to a minimum during that time even by Palonius, who had spent the first hour dredging up any information that Darius could remember about the elves.

  The group spent a night in the warmth of the Black Oak Inn. Nothing unusual happened in their stay which was a relief to all of them, including the inn keeper who had been eyeing his guests unhappily all night. With their last probable sleep indoors for the next several days behind them, the six men proceeded into the forest.

  They followed the roadway at first. It was easier for their mounts and they could make much better time. Darius found it strange that they were all following him after so many years of his following others, though he had needed to do little in the way of leading as of yet. When he thought that they had come the proper distance into the woods, the new wizard had them turn to the south.

  He tapped into the nature around him as did the other wizards. They all knew that Darius would not have an exact bearing on the elf encampment. In fact, the council had discussed the fact that the elves could easily have moved since Darius' escape. They spent nearly an hour before finding that they needn't have bothered. An elf contingent made themselves known early in the afternoon.

  The elven hunters recognized Darius immediately and he was pleased to see Electra move into view from behind the others shortly after the formal greeting had been made.

  Darius dismounted and strode over to speak with the woman. The other hunters were unknown to him personally though several faces were familiar enough to have names to go with them. "Hello, Electra," he greeted the woman trying not to sound as happy as he felt to see her beauty again.

  "Hello, Darius. Why have you returned?"

  Taken slightly aback by her coldness, Darius answered truthfully, "We've come to speak with Janus and the elders of your people. We came to see, if you would like assistance in saving your home world."

  "You would offer this? Why?"

  He took her hand in his and gently lifted it. With a slight bow, the young man kissed the back of her hand. "With all due respect, I must not discuss such things here. I have been ordered to speak with Janus or the elders only. You don't hold a rank high enough to help in these matters."

  "Fine. Follow us," her voice replied holding some ice over his words. Darius started to turn to remount when Electra spoke, "You have a lot of nerve, Darius. You snuck out on us without a word."

  Darius tossed his reins to Tate and urged the others to follow the elves. "I left that I might tell my mentors of the news. I would have said
good bye, but I sensed that I might not have been allowed to leave as easily as your people had promised."

  The elf woman looked vaguely surprised. "Why would you think such a thing? Janus himself offered to let you leave without harm. He would never go back on his word."

  "Tell me, if you will, what did he send you to get out of me that night?" the wizard asked knowingly. It had taken very little time for him to realize the ploy, though

  he had not decided what they were after specifically."Though I was sorely tempted by your beauty, I could tell that you were trying to ensnare me with your body. What was so important to him that you had to humiliate yourself by giving your body to someone you didn't love?"

  Darius heard her breath catch in her throat and knew that he had been right, after all. The thought saddened him with its validation. Electra wouldn't look at him at first. He could feel her shame overwhelming her. This was not a woman who enjoyed such games of deceit. The man knew that, but she fought off his insight.

  "How can you accuse me so, Darius?" she asked from the shelter of her blond curls still unable to face him, but sounding defiant.

  "Your tears and now your shame tell me everything," he answered her quietly.

  Electra turned on him angrily, "Do you know my people so well, Darius, as to think that you know me? Why would you believe that you could even begin to guess at our nature?"

  The wizard sighed, "I don't think that our people seem so different, Electra. Some of us are capable of deceiving everyone, even themselves, but people like you and I are different. We may not give away secrets, but neither can we live long with our deceptions. Perhaps that is why I had hoped that your intentions had been real. I felt those same desires myself. That was the other reason that I left."

  The woman looked at him intently for several moments. Her face tried to remain impassive beyond her surprise. They failed to notice that the others had disappeared ahead of them. Taking a deep breath, Electra stated, "Many of your perceptions were correct, Darius, and still are, but one thing that you failed to notice is that of my offer of myself.

  "As you said, I am bad at playing at deceptions. Some things are impossible to pretend at, Darius. Love is one of them. It is hollow if it isn't real and you can feel it within the deception. I tried to love the man that my parents wanted me to marry," the young woman said and her eyes glazed slightly as she considered her past, "but I discovered the deception and could not live with it.

  "I never thought that I would love someone after that, though I tried." She turned and kissed his cheek swiftly. The woman sighed stepping back from the wizard. "Even a holy knight could never make me give myself in that way, Darius," she added before running ahead of him.

  Darius stood numbly and touched his cheek where her kiss still warmed his skin. There were tears in the woman's eyes again, he had noted. His mind mulled over Electra's words and wondered if he could afford to believe her this time.

  Chapter 16- Dante

  The tension between the two sides of the camp was thicker than Dante had ever seen between two sets of people without a battle. There were so many things that threatened to throw the camp into chaos that he wondered how the thirty-five men and women would survive each other until the Seer's return, let alone the length of time of some quest that Gannon would be giving them.

  The first tensions were from his initial meeting with Valenia, of course. With both leaders having tried to kill each other being considered a bad sign, it left little thought that they would be enemies despite the two having resolved their personal difficulties. Then there was the difference of nationalities to separate them. That alone had sent armies into war in the past, Dante knew. On top of that, adding an all woman band of warriors out to prove themselves with Dante's soldier's admittedly biased view of such a concept just made it a matter of time until the boiling point was reached.

  Valenia and her first sergeant Calla stood watching over the others with Dante and Sergeant Lane.

  "So who do you think is going to start it?" Lane asked the air curiously. They were all thinking along the same line and didn't bother to ask what he had meant.

  "Hopefully, none of them," Dante replied. "I've had enough misunderstandings here today. If they could just listen to each other and leave things alone, I'd be happy."

  "That is kind of unrealistic, lieutenant," Calla snorted. "You would have to be living under a rock to think that we'll get off without at least one fight along the way. It'll probably settle down after some blows and both sides learn to respect each other."

  "Sergeant, I hope that you are wrong," Dante stated firmly.

  After awhile, Valenia took the lieutenant by the arm and guided him away from the others. After looking around cautiously to ensure that no others were near enough to listen, she said, "I know that you are not naive, lieutenant. You see the same things that Calla has. Do you have any ideas about resolving the soldiers' resistance to being put together like this?"

  Dante shrugged, "What would you have me do, marry you so that all the children become one big happy family? Come on, captain. These are soldiers that we are dealing with here. The theory that I have in mind is that they behave like adults and get along. We gave the orders and they should follow them or be punished."

  The woman frowned, "As easy as that, Betrice? You may be right about them all being adults, but we're also dealing with their prejudice as well."

  "Prejudice? Then are you referring to my men, or are your women all against men in the army?" he replied sarcastically.

  Sighing in frustration, Valenia shook her head, "This is what I mean, lieutenant. You see how even our words get turned back on each other and you were referring to the others as children, but often you can see children resolve their petty differences much quicker than we adults.

  "I believe that you want to get along with me, but it would be easy enough to give into pettiness and argue for my women as well, just as you could argue for your men."

  "You have a good head on your shoulders, captain. Unfortunately, not all those here are of the same vein. For example, Calla tried to bait me along as I just did with you, wouldn't you say?"

  "And so you want to blame Calla for anything that goes wrong now?" the captain argued with more heat than even she had meant. "I'm sorry, but that isn't right, Betrice. I could blame Lane for his comment as well, couldn't I?"

  "His remark is hardly worth noting. Both of them just spoke their fears," he replied absently. Changing back to the original subject, Dante said, "I think that I'm right that they will need to try getting along before we start worrying about getting involved in their disputes. In my first weeks of training, I went through a period of adjustment. People go through those all the time. When it comes to soldiers, they either learn to live with the changes or they die by the lack of adaptation."

  "So you are saying that we let our commands sort it out for themselves and risk losing our people?" the captain asked in mock horror.

  "No, what I'm saying is that we have all gone through that initial training and have learned to adapt. Why should we not trust our soldiers to cooperate when they have been doing so for us individually already?"

  Valenia wanted to dispute the words given her, but simply opened her mouth and then closed it again. She thought on his words as she watched his vision turn to the large raven in the branches of a nearby tree. "Perhaps you are right. I hate to admit to such a convoluted bit of thinking, but it does make sense at the base of it."

  "My men adapted to a leader that received visions from a wild bird. I'm trying to adjust to the words of a Seer as we all are. The others adjust to one another finding the good and the bad. You work to accept me as I do you. That is the way of life, isn't it?"

  The silver haired captain smiled. "But I am so much easier to get used to than you are, lieutenant," Valenia laughed.

  "And why is that, though perhaps you are right?" he asked soberly. A strange kind of exhaustion had suddenly settled over him. He wondered if it had to do wi
th his attachment to Misery. More than likely his theory wore him down with its truth. The raven descended to land upon his shoulder as if to confirm both reasons and neither. Dante looked back at Valenia awaiting her answer.

  The woman had been caught off guard by his reflective expression. "I suppose the fact that you should be dead could be one reason. The raven is another as you mentioned, I think. But there is something that I have liked about you that I can't put my finger on yet."

  "You may have been unconscious and missed something that the Seer said after all," he remarked absentmindedly.

  "Huh?" Valenia lost him as he considered another thought.

  "I'm not sure, if I'm supposed to tell you. The Seer may have meant it to be something that you would learn on your own."

  "Don't start something like that and not finish it, lieutenant. I'll just think the worst, until you tell me so speak."

  Dante shrugged. "Do you remember the note that I told you had sent me to find you?"

  "Yes, of course. What is it you are not telling me?" Valenia asked impatiently.

  "The note said that I needed to find one like myself. It didn't just mean another officer or warrior, apparently."

  "You mean that I am undying?" the woman asked both stunned and unbelieving.

  "I didn't test his theory, but that is what Gannon said."

  Valenia looked at him and raised her eyebrows questioningly. "That is a strange thing to say. You sound as if you had considered it."

  "Only slightly in my anger, but Gannon pointed out the flaws with any such thoughts at least where I was concerned."

  "How so?"

  Dante looked away again and found Misery staring at his face. He often wondered at how accurate the bird’s off the cuff naming seemed to fit the bird's personality. The raven did seem to be there when trouble loomed. Desperately, he tried to think of a way to avoid telling his feelings.

  The woman sensed his difficulty and placed her hand beneath his chin. She forced his head to face her.