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

by Donald Wigboldy

  As they spent the rest of the afternoon talking of plans to turn the tide against the Dark One, Darius wished once again that everything could wrap up quickly and peacefully, but he knew that was a fool's dream. The war would not end peacefully or ever if they did not stop this Dark Emperor's army soon and that was why he had to get to the man from the other camp.

  He was almost positive of that man’s identity and Darius was hoping that perhaps with him in charge, the wizard could finally slip back from the forefront of this fight. It was with a decidedly lighter step that he returned to the Tolmonan camp that night.

  Chapter 45- Dante and Darius

  Dante found himself looking to the trees again in a vain attempt to find a friend that had been left behind. The man knew that Misery had not returned after the arrival of the dwarves that first morning, but still he looked for his companion of so many weeks. It was like a part of him was missing even though, at times, Dante could still sense the raven far off in his mind.

  "What are you looking for, lieutenant?" Dohman asked from his side, the place that the dwarf was always at these days it seemed.

  "Nothing that will be there, I am afraid."

  "Do you still think of the woman then? Would she be in a tree? I am confused by you humans," the dwarf's voice hushed to nearly a whisper as he added, "and terrified of these demons that you call gargoyles. How can that Grimnal person walk so easily in their midst?"

  Dante looked at the gargoyles nearest him and strangely he felt no such fears of the giant creatures. Wondering if that came from having been so near to Misery for so long, or perhaps once you have fought a dragon you no longer fear anything so small, the soldier actually found the powerful strength of his new allies somewhat comforting.

  The second thought he had was that of Valenia. The man found himself looking for her reassuring presence to come around a tent and greet him at any moment. Dante wondered if it was wrong that he thought of his beloved only as often as he did the raven. Coming to love Valenia with all his heart, the soldier still to admit the raven had truly been in his mind and he in its. Though it was a tie unnatural in its formation, the bond seemed virtually as strong in its own way as his love for Valenia. Sharing a mind like that,... it defied his mind's attempt to put it into words.

  When the man realized that he was staring through a pair of gargoyles that had taken note of his blank look, the man smiled and gave a nod. Not wanting to cause trouble, Dante made sure that he turned away as casually as he could under that return scrutiny.

  "Ah, well," the dwarf was saying, "Soon we will both be able to have what we want again."

  "What do you mean?" Dante asked trying to catch up to what Dohman was saying.

  Sighing, the man retorted in annoyance, "When this Grimnal's messenger delivers the message, your woman will come to you with an army from Gilwen. She will come to you and my people will come and I will go to them."

  "Getting tired of my company already, eh, Dohman?" Dante chided.

  The dwarf looked at him to see if he had insulted the human and realizing the joke at his expense, Dohman answered slightly annoyed, "Sometimes, but actually it is just that I miss being with my own kind. I do feel a bit of a kindred with your race despite your unusual height." Dante's eyed widened at the thought of being considered so unusual to another race, when the man was considered rather normal for a human. The dwarf continued on, "but these creatures around us. I feel the strangeness of them as much as I would the Dark One's creatures.

  "It is funny that, though I am in my own land, I am forced to feel apart from those around me."

  "That sounds like a word that I have heard a few people use in my world, prejudice."

  "We know the meaning of the word, but I don't agree with your assessment. I am not discriminating against these creatures around me, I just wish to fit in with my own race."

  Dante thought that was just a different set of words to say the same thing, but let the matter drop. He knew what the dwarf was going through, since Dante himself felt that way and at least he could always join one of the men from the North Continent to be with his `own kind'.

  "I wonder how long it will take Valenia and the others to get here?" was the question to change the subject.

  "Not soon enough for me," the dwarf sighed from where he sat nearly balled up against a log set in the camp.

  Dante agreed mentally with that, but then they were interrupted by noise from the northwest end of the camp. Valenia and the others couldn't be there so soon, and wouldn't they arrive from the south according to the maps that he had been shown? Perhaps they were under attack, the soldier thought, as his hand slipped to the pommel of his sword. Looking to the gargoyles nearby and noting their newly alerted looks, Dante noticed many that had been sitting only moments ago were now standing at the ready, and many fingered weapons strapped to their sides as well.

  Looking for their general, the lieutenant figured that Lord Grimnal would be where most important things would be happening. Dante strode towards the sounds of the disturbance. He hadn't known Gerid long, but could guess that was where the man would be. Starting to run, a gasped, `wait!' from Dohman kept him slowed to the dwarf's pace of a jog despite his feeling of urgency. He started to look at the dwarf in annoyance, but the fear reflected from some deep recess within Dohman was showing in his eyes. Dante sighed.

  When they arrived at the edge of the camp, the Grimnal was there as he had guessed. Dohman was breathing slightly hard as they came to a stop and Dante was caught staring at nine riders being held just outside of the circle of tents.

  "Come on, Dohman," Dante said quietly and they moved to where he could hear what was being said between Grimnal and the new arrivals. He was surprised when the lieutenant spied that some were human, including a man dressed in a wizard's cloak, who had silver blond hair similar to his own. The soldier wondered if there was yet another coincidence about to be found in his life. Continuing to move forward, Dante found that he needed to talk with this man, though he was unsure of what truly needed to be said between them.

  The conversation was in full swing after an initial introduction that Dante had missed. The wizard was saying, "We came here and found about you from the wizards at Feirhgenrell. I just knew that it had to be you, Lord Grimnal!" The young man in the wizard’s robes atop the horse was extremely happy with that fact and with himself for figuring it out so well. "I knew that I needed to come and talk with you about joining forces to stop these creatures and their lord. There was another man with you as well with silver hair. Who is he?"

  "I am Dante Betrice," the one of question announced as he nearly finished breaking through the crowd of men and gargoyles. "Who are you?"

  The wizard slid from his mount even as a pointy-eared woman gave him a look of worry. Dante had little confusion as to the relationship of those two. It was the same look that he and Valenia had often exchanged as they grew to care more about each other. The wizard spoke and in his daydreaming, Dante almost missed the man's name again. "I am Darius Eremia, wizard of Aerwold. I've come with a message for all of you. Tolmona and the dwarves of that country have arrived and joined with the elves of Feirhgenrell. We wish to join forces to push back the armies of darkness so that we can finally defeat his evil."

  "And how do you propose that we defeat him? I, myself, was sent on a quest to help defeat the Dark Emperor by the Visionaries. I was never told how though. Perhaps you are the one that can tell me?"

  The wizard's face tightened in thought, but rather than respond to his questions, the man turned his head and asked of Lord Grimnal, "Is there somewhere better that we can discuss these things, my lord? If the Dark One watches, we may give ourselves away when we tell of our plans."

  The giant lord nodded and asked a pair of men to take the horses of the new arrivals. The elf woman, and two men of human descent, joined with Darius to follow

  Gerid into a large tent further inside the camp. Dante and Dohman followed behind the rest, even as the dwarf com
plained of having to jog again to keep up with their longer legs.

  They arrived at the large tent that served as the war room for Lord Grimnal and his lieutenants where they were joined by a gargoyle. At Darius' questioning look, Grimnal replied, "This is Kar' Duik. He is the general of his people. If you will not accept his presence then we will not talk," the giant stated firmly.

  Darius looked up at the gargoyle leader that Dante had met only once despite the size of the camp. He shrugged and answered, "That is fine as long as you vouch for him, sir. Greetings, Kar' Duik," the wizard said pronouncing the name exactly as he had heard it.

  The gargoyle bowed slightly and spoke in his gravelly voice, "Greetings, wizard."

  "You have plans of defeating this creature of shadows?" Grimnal asked immediately following the pleasantries. "We have engaged his forces many times already and I have yet to figure out the way to do so myself."

  Darius smiled and blushed slightly, "Well, not so far actually. The continent of Taltan is ready to send more forces, which will probably give us enough strength to bring our armies to his lair, but from what I hear, he is much like a shade and they have not found a way to kill him. But I think that finding out what the lieutenant was sent after, mixed with what I was sent after by another seer, might give us the answers."

  Dante straightened up and looked at the wizard angrily. "You don't know how to defeat him either? Gods, I can't win!"

  "Calm down," Darius said echoed by the Grimnal. The wizard kept on, however, "I didn't say that we would not figure it out, but I wish to know what they sent you after. If the Visionaries sent both of us on a set of quests to stop this creature, then perhaps together they make sense. What did you seek and did you find it?"

  Dante looked worriedly around the table to those that stood there awaiting his answer. He still wasn't sure that they could be trusted. If this wizard were one of the Dark One's minions sent after the ring, then he would probably be giving away everything that everyone had been sacrificed to find. "You tell me first," he stated stubbornly.

  Darius shrugged in that same nonchalant way of his. "Fine, I was sent to gather a band of elves that had taken shelter in Eirhden. With them and the wizards and apprentices that I was lent, I was told to find the Armor of Norn and take all those that were willing to come after me to fight against the Dark Emperor."

  Dante was still not quite ready to tell of his treasure, such as it was, and asked, "Did you find everything that they sent you for?"

  "And more!" Darius answered excitedly. "Not only did I find the armor, but the descendant and king of the dwarves to wear it. Now his army and those of Taltan Continent are gathering to come here and stop this menace once and for all. Now what have you accomplished?"

  Dante grudgingly answered, "I was sent into the Dragon's Spine along with a captain and her soldiers to find a special ring. It is called the Ring of Dimensia. The seer that came along was lost to me along with the others a few days ago, so I was never told how it was that I could help defeat him."

  Darius sat a moment staring at him lost in thought. No one dared to interrupt the silence, until the wizard returned a clear steady gaze at him and asked, "Do you know how the ring works pray tell?"

  Dante looked at him in confusion. Dohman spoke up first and nearly startled the soldier, after nearly forgetting the dwarf's presence. "It did something to a natural portal that we dwarves found in a mountain. When the lieutenant went through, the door turned silver and we were both pulled into a void. He found a way to get us out."

  "Yeah, but we didn't come out near the others and thus got lost here. It could have been worse if I hadn't thought of looking for an immortal of our world on this plane, I wouldn't even have been able to find the Grimnal or this world."

  "You thought your way out?" Darius asked interestedly.

  Surprised by the wizard's excited look, he almost didn't reply. "Yes, I guess so."

  Turning away, Darius snapped his fingers as if he had it all thought out. "Yes! That must be how we contain the monster."

  Grimnal spoke up first and asked, "Would you care to explain how the pieces fit, Wizard Darius?"

  Darius turned back to the soldier and took them all in as he turned to watch for reactions to his news. "Okay, I think that I may have it. I was sent to gather strength to fight the Dark One. I, a wizard, was sent to gather the might that a soldier would need, while you gathered the weapon that can stop the Dark One himself by removing his shadow from this world.

  "Let me guess at something you said earlier, Dante, or perhaps it was your dwarf friend? Anyway, you said that the two of you were pulled into some kind of silver void?"

  "Yes, where we just kept falling ever downward until I thought of an immortal to direct myself out."

  Darius tapped his finger against his jaw thinking again, even as he pondered aloud, "If we can get to him, then maybe the Norn can weaken him enough to somehow seal him away with the ring.

  "It will take a lot of power, and we'll have to find some way to prevent him from thinking his way out." Darius' eyes glazed over as he mumbled, "Destroy the ring? A spell on it to stop him from using it? Take him in and the traveler tries to escape and leave him there? Risky that one, though they all are, I guess."

  "Excuse me?" Dante snapped and pounded the table once to draw the wizard back to reality with a start. "Are you saying that, this stupid thing that separated me from everyone, can also strand this Dark Emperor in limbo? Why not just kill him with that armor that you found?"

  "It was tried already. It didn't last. He got better and returned nastier than ever."

  "Gods!" Dante cursed once again. "So we can't kill him, but we can exile him and hope for the best?"

  The wizard shrugged. "Do you have a better plan?"

  In exasperation, Dante growled, "I just want to find all my people and my raven back again. Then maybe I'll worry over this plan of yours."

  "Easy enough with the ring I would imagine," Darius replied. He stepped around the table and took Dante's hand in his to look at the ring. "It looks normal enough, but I'm guessing that, like the armor, lack of decoration won't limit its powers."

  "How can you say that the ring can take me to them? Are you going to use your magic to get us there?" Darius shook his head with a smile, "No, you are."

  "What!"

  "Is either of the people you mentioned still in Alus?"

  "Yes, Misery, my raven is."

  "Why would anyone want a bird like that?" the wizard mumbled under his breath. "And the other?"

  "She is here with the soldiers of both our units."

  Darius' eyebrow rose slightly at the mention of a woman, but chose to leave the matter be. "All right then, first let us hold one another's hands. I wish to see this void as well and maybe I can help your concentration on the journey."

  "Darius?" Electra asked worriedly as the wizard took the lieutenant's hands.

  Dante was just as unsure of this plan as the woman. The large, human male wearing a severe look and several weapons didn't appear any happier than the apprentice wizard next to him at the thought of the two of them trying such unknown magics. Dante was about to protest, when Darius sighed and said consolingly, "Don't worry, it won't take long and Janus can always find a way to get us back if we get lost.

  "Now, Dante, close your eyes and think only of your raven and let's go there."

  Surprised by such a simple theory of use, Dante inadvertently thought of how he missed the raven and wished that it was that easy. The air snapped around the two of them and startled Dante's thoughts. Looking about him in fear, the soldier's eyes looked to behold the silver void surrounding him once again.

  The wizard holding his hands firmly, asked, "This is the void? I can't think of a more perfect place to stick that shadow lord. Well, I've seen it enough, Dante. Think of your raven and let's go on."

  Panicked from the return to the void, Dante snapped, "How can you be so calm? We might never get out of here, Darius! How can you be so calm!"


  Darius shook his head as the two of them began spinning in the void, though Dante still wondered how his body could truly tell that without any points of reference. The wizard smiled, "You thought us into here, now think us out. It's that simple. Why shouldn't I be calm?

  "Think of the raven or the woman if you like. From the void, I should think that you could go wherever you wish."

  Dante thought of the stories of genies and their wishes that had been told to him as a child. Maybe it was that simple, he thought. After all, a stray thought of wanting to be near Misery was all it had taken to get this far. And again there was that feel of a stiff wind as he thought of going to the raven once more.

  With a snap, Dante opened his eyes again and they found themselves in the mountains of the Dragon Spine. "Gods!" the lieutenant gasped and had to sit down from the excitement the man felt as he realized that it had worked as the wizard said.

  A vision looking down upon the pair of them from high above came to his mind instantly and he heard a scream come to his human ears that caused him to look up out of habit. The wizard was looking up from beside him and awaited the raven as it flew happily down to sit on his shoulder.

  Misery pecked his cheek out of anger or as a form of greeting, Dante didn't know, but it smarted from the rap of the beak against the skin. "Ow," he said quietly and without anger. He was too happy to be angry with the bird. "I missed you too," the lieutenant sighed and turned to look at the glossy black raven with his human eyes.

  Looking over at the wizard standing there watching the exchange, Dante thought that he saw a look of awe in the man's eyes. "Thank you, Darius. I've missed him as much as I do Valenia and our soldiers. With this trip under our belts, I think that it will be much smoother the next leg of the trip.

  "So how did you know how to do this? Is it one of the wizard's magics that you learned?"

  "Yes, and no," the wizard replied as he took a seat on a rock beside the soldier. "The elf knights, and some elf wizards too I think, know the magic. I was given the basics of how they did it, though with my own magic I could not do it if I tried yet, but with the story of how you found the Grimnal by essentially wishing wrongly... I put two and two together. I am a wizard after all. That is one of the things that we do."