Chapter 35
“Indeed,” agreed Lady Ellyn. “They were wrong. The forces of evil were too strong. Their siege engines were more numerous than the stars in the night sky, and the plains surrounding the plateau were black with enemy forces. The war was sure to be lost. Most of the good forces gave up hope; they were so outnumbered they didn’t see how salvation was possible.”
“One man, however, didn’t give up hope—the wizard Aran-Than. He alone reached the level required to cast a Wish. Through research, he knew that the Wish spell was not only the most powerful spell ever conceived, but also the most dangerous, as it was tricky and might not work out the way he intended. Even if Aran-Than got what he wanted, it might not be in the manner he originally desired. What Aran-Than was contemplating was especially dangerous. Because of the power necessary, he knew the spell would be incredibly difficult to control, and that there could be massive unintended consequences. He knew the danger, but as the forces of evil breached the walls of the City of Silver, he cast the Wish.”
“Aran-Than knew that he was walking a thin line, as the War for Dominance was set in motion by the gods themselves. He suspected that wishing for victory wouldn’t be allowed, as one side had to physically beat the other, and he doubted that the gods would see such a wish as ‘fair.’ He was also aware that when the war started, the forces of evil started out with a large advantage in the number of troops they had, and he thought that was where he had an opportunity. He Wished for the war to be restarted at the beginning, with both sides having equal forces that were separated from each other.”
“That Wish caused the Sundering. As he uttered it, an earthquake unlike anything ever imagined hit the world, and a rift cracked open the continent from east to west, breaking it in half. Where before there was just one land mass, Halidar, there were now two, Tasidar and Salidar, which were pushed away from each other in the devastation of the earthquake. The forces surrounding the plateau were destroyed, as were the majority of the forces in the City of Silver. The Sundering killed nearly all of the inhabitants of the planet; the only races that survived were some good ones living in the north of what is now Tasidar and some evil ones in the south of what is now Salidar. Some of the other races that lived at that time, like the cyclops and the unicorns, were lost for all time.”
“When he saw the outcome of the Wish, Aran-Than knew that he had only postponed the inevitable. Although the forces were now numerically equal, all of the evil races bred faster than the good ones, and it wouldn’t be long before the evil forces had a huge superiority in numbers again. With the two sides separated, the forces of good would be vastly outnumbered when the sides met once more. Good wouldn’t have a chance...again. Faced with a no-win situation, he cast another Wish. No one had ever cast one Wish spell before, much less two, and the energy that he expended in it killed him. Legend has it that, in his frustration, the Wish he cast was ‘I Wish I knew how to defeat the forces of evil the next time.’ He was given the Prophecy as his answer, just before he died.”
“Wait a minute,” said Ghorza, “you are telling this story as if you were there. How do you know all of this?”
“Someone from the City of Silver recently contacted us,” replied Lady Ellyn. “He gave us an ancient text with the knowledge we lost at the Sundering. We didn’t know that the current fighting was anything more than just civilized forces fighting to keep the evil races from our towns. We didn’t know that this is actually a war for control of the world and the heavens by proxy. After the Sundering, the good races forgot that this was the War for Dominance. The enemy, though, has never forgotten. They aren’t just fighting for loot or a little more land; they are fighting for the dominance of their gods, and the only way they can do that is to completely wipe us out. They are in this war with one goal and one goal only—to win it for their gods. They will stop at nothing short of our complete annihilation.”
Chapter 36
There was a long pause as the companions digested the new information.
“I have a couple of questions,” Dantes said. “You said you were contacted by survivors of the City of Silver.” Lady Ellyn nodded. “Where have these survivors been for the past centuries? Why haven’t they come forward before?”
“The answer to the second question is easy,” said Lady Ellyn. “They have been on the Mountain of Frost.”
“It can’t be,” said Dantes. “I have sailed past the Mountain of Frost, and there is nothing on it. The mountain top is covered with snow year-round.”
“That is true,” Lady Ellyn replied. “The peak is covered in snow, but what about lower down on the mountain?”
“I don’t know,” Dantes answered. “The lower half of the mountain is always shrouded in mist or smoke. No one knows which, because sailors won’t go within several miles of it.”
“Nor should they,” Lady Ellyn agreed, “as that is the abode of Scylla, and Charybdis looms nearby, as well.”
“Wait a minute,” John interrupted, “I’ve heard of Scylla and Charybdis. That is a myth we have on the world where I am from. One of those is a sea monster, I think, and the other is a whirlpool or reef or something.”
“Interesting,” said Lady Ellyn. “That is also what Sir Luce, the knight that escaped the island, said. There is a whirlpool that completely encircles the island. In fact, that is what causes the mist that rings it, preventing anyone offshore from seeing that the island exists. There is, however, a finger of land that goes over one part of the whirlpool before going back into the sea. Underneath that is the lair of Scylla, the many-headed. It is a monster that eats anything that approaches the island. If you somehow escape it, the odds are that you will be swallowed up by the whirlpool, or Charybdis as the locals call it.”
“How would I have known that?” asked John.
“No one knows where people that are sucked into the maelstrom end up,” said Father Telenor; “perhaps there is a portal to your world.”
“So you know about this island, too?” asked Dantes.
Father Telenor nodded. “I was there when we recovered Sir Luce,” he said.
“Father Telenor is being modest,” said Lady Ellyn, “as it was his healing spells that saved the knight, at least for a little. An elderly man, he passed away soon after, but not before he completed his mission.”
“His mission?” asked John. “What was that?”
“He told us all of the things that I’ve already told you about the island and the war, and two things more,” said Lady Ellyn. “First, he mentioned something about ‘the Keeper,’ a mystical being that lives high up on the mountain.”
“The keeper of what?” asked Ghorza.
“No one knows,” said Father Telenor, “although Sir Luce said that it was supposed to be something very powerful. Sir Luce also said that many people have tried to obtain it over the ages, but all have failed...failed and died. It is said that only the Chosen and the Unchosen, the champions of both sides, can pass his trials.”
“That’s comforting,” said Dantes. “What is the other thing the knight told you?”
“After the Sundering, the people that survived thought that they alone had escaped the devastation. They could not leave the island, due to Scylla and Charybdis, but they could climb up the mountain and see that the continent of Halidar no longer existed. They thought that they alone had survived the cataclysm, so they had no reason to brave Scylla and Charybdis.”
“And yet Sir Luce did,” said Dantes. “What changed?”
“Over 200 knights set out from the island with Sir Luce, along with their retainers and support personnel; Sir Luce was the only one that survived long enough to make landfall in Tasidar. The island has no trees, so building a ship was challenging, and it didn’t survive Scylla’s attack. Sir Luce was the only person who lived long enough to gather enough pieces of the ship to form a raft and float it to our shores.”
“That he lived that long is nothing short of incredible,” added Father Telenor. “He should have
perished long before reaching Tasidar. Only his incredible will kept him going, long past the point where anyone else would have given up and died.”
“His will, and the blessing of the one true god,” said Lady Ellyn. “Without her aid, he never would have made it to Norlon to give us warning.”
“What warning?” asked Dantes, dreading the answer.
“A knight arrived on the island six months ago, riding a red dragon,” said Lady Ellyn. “He captured and tortured some of the island’s population. That knight was wearing black armor with red gauntlets.”
“The Dark Lord Kazan,” said Fitzber. “Aye? Wasn’t that what you called him?”
“Yes,” replied Lady Ellyn. “That sounds like the Dark Lord Kazan. If he tortured the civilians, he got the information from them. He knows the last Item of Power is on the island, and it is just a matter of time before the enemy tries to claim it.”
“It’s almost daylight,” said Dantes, “and Harbortown is a long way away. If what you just told us is true, we need to get going. We don’t have a moment to lose.”
Chapter 37
“They’re still closing on us,” said Fitzber as he materialized next to Dantes.
“By the gods!” swore Dantes. It was the fourth time in three days of traveling that the gnome had done that to him. “Didn’t I tell you not to do that?”
“You did, laddie?” asked Fitzber. “Sure’n I don’t recall you not wanting a status report on the enemy forces. In fact, I thought that was what you said to do. ‘Now Fitzber,’ you said in that gruff devil voice o’ yours, ‘we want you to go find out where the enemy is, how far behind us they are,’ and so on and so on. To me, that meant you wanted a status report. My apologies; my wee mind must have misinterpreted your meaning.”
“That’s not what I meant,” said Dantes, steam starting to rise from him in several places.
“So the enemy is catching up?” asked Ghorza, stepping in between the two. “How far behind us are they?”
“Sure’n they’re not more than four hours behind,” said Fitzber. “Three and a half if they take to hurrying.”
“How do they keep gaining on us?” asked John. He stifled a yawn. “We’re barely getting any sleep, and we’re going all day. How are they catching up to us?”
“It helps that most o’ the beasties are twice as big as us,” said Fitzber, “and more like three times bigger than you and me. They can take big steps and move a lot faster.”
“They’re most likely being magically aided, too,” said Dantes, “and fear probably plays a part. You can get people to do a lot more than they ever thought possible with the correct application of a little fear.”
“What do you recommend?” asked Lady Ellyn, who was used to working with rangers and knew their skills.
“Well, lassie, if we push hard the rest o’ today and tomorrow, we can be there by midday. They’ll be closer, but should still be two hours or so behind us. Is that enough to get us through town and onto a boat?”
“It should be, yes,” said Lady Ellyn.
“Then you ought to get the devil to stop standing around. He needs to get going,” said Fitzber, looking in Dantes’ direction.
Dantes opened his mouth for a retort, but Fitzber faded into the forest and was gone.
Chapter 38
“I forget what we decided last time,” said Fitzber, materializing next to Dantes. “Were you a-wanting a status report or no? Sure’n I remember having a wee bit o’ discussion o’er the topic, but for the life o’ me, I don’t remember what was decided.”
Dantes tried to grab the gnome, but only succeeded in grabbing a handful of air.
“Which way was the right of it?” asked Fitzber from the other side of Dantes.
Dantes stopped and growled, steam coming from his nostrils in two big clouds that smelled of sulfur.
Ghorza gave him a little push to get him moving again. “You know you only encourage him when you do that, right?”
“What’s up, Fitzber?” asked John, who was coming to like Fitzber’s pranks. Things had a way of going missing when he was around, and then turning up later in unexpected places. For example, Dantes’ pack had been about 20 feet up in a tree when they woke up in the morning. Although Fitzber swore he didn’t do it, John saw a glint in his eyes when he said it. He may not have done it himself, but he probably had a hand in it.
“Sure’n I don’t know,” replied Fitzber. “It’s the darnedest thing I’ve ever seen. The forest ends about 15 minutes from here, and you wouldn’t think that there was any sort of hostilities going on. Farmers are out in their fields, working at a normal pace, doing the things that they always do. Confused I am about how they don’t know there is a giant army, no pun intended, just a couple o’ hours from here. It’s almost like they didn’t know…or didn’t care.”
“It must be that the word has somehow failed to reach here,” said Lady Ellyn. “It cannot be that they don’t care. When the enemy arrives, they will all be killed. Of that, there can be no doubt.”
The group continued on and found it to be as Fitzber had related. A farmer, along with his wife and son, were picking beans in the first field they came to, looking as if they didn’t have a care in the world. The woman wore a white dress to reflect the sun as she worked, the man a brown tunic.
“Hello there, gentle sir,” said Lady Ellyn in greeting. “Can I ask what you’re doing out here?”
“Good day,” said the man, wiping sweat from his brow as he looked up from a bean plant. “There’s a water barrel over there if you need it.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand your meaning,” said Lady Ellyn.
“Well, it’s pretty obvious…to me, anyway…that I am a farmer out working in my field,” he said, holding up a handful of beans. “If you can’t see that, then I figured you were having some sort of heat stroke and needed water. I wanted to render what assistance I could.”
“Are you not aware that there is an army no more than two hours from here?” asked Lady Ellyn in frustration. “Has no one given you the warning?”
“Of course we know there’s an army coming,” replied the man. Both he and his wife were wearing large straw hats; he removed his to fan himself with it. “We were told about that a couple of days ago. In fact, I was starting to get worried that it wasn’t going to come. You know, what with all the talk that the forces of Salidar are on the move, it certainly calms one’s mind to know that there is a big army around to protect you…even if they do tend to eat up all of your crops and only pay you a pittance of what it’s worth. Still, that’s better than having trolls and such around, you know?”
“But sir, the enemy following us is the army of Salidar. No more than two hours behind us is a huge force of trolls, giants and ogres. You must flee now to Harbortown or you will be killed.”
“I’m sorry, but you are mistaken,” replied the man. “The mayor of Harbortown, himself, was out here in the fields just a few days ago to tell us that the Norlon army would be passing through here. He personally assured us that everything was okay, and that it would be even better once the army got here. Now, you’re wasting my time, so if you could please move along, I have a lot of work to get done before the sun goes down.”
The companions started down the road, all except for Father Telenor. “Can I ask your names for a prayer?” he inquired.
“Name’s William James Rysanek, just like my dad and his two dads before him,” said the man, “and this here’s my wife Angie and my son Will.”
“Thank you,” said Father Telenor. He extended his hands in their direction, saying a prayer over them.
“Why did you ask their names?” asked John as Father Telenor rejoined the group. “Was that some kind of blessing?”
“No,” Father Telenor replied, “it was their last rites. They’re already dead; they just don’t know it yet.”
“This is craziness!” said Lady Ellyn as the group continued once more down the road. “They’re expecting an army fr
om Norlon? There no longer is an army of Norlon. There are probably soldiers on the run, maybe even a few scattered units that got out in one piece, but an army? I don’t believe it. Where did they get that idea?”
“I don’t know,” said Fitzber. “He can believe what he wants to, but I’ve seen the army that’s following us. It is not an army o’ Norlon. They have been tricked somehow. The army that trails us is the army o’ Salidar.”
“We must hurry,” said Dantes. “If this is the state of the outlying fields, I’m worried about whether the city is ready to receive an enemy army.”
Chapter 39
It was as Dantes feared. As the group neared Harbortown, they could see the gates standing open. Four soldiers on guard duty lounged nearby, watching people pass back and forth through the gates. “I am going to do a little scouting,” said Fitzber. “Something is very wrong here.” He faded out.
The companions continued to the gate.
“What in the name of the one true god is going on here?” exploded Lady Ellyn when the soldiers waved her through, without even getting up to acknowledge her status. Although they looked a little chagrined at getting yelled at, they didn’t appear to be terribly worried about any additional consequences of their actions.
“Uh, sorry ma’am, but what do you mean?” asked the soldier with the most stripes on his rank insignia.
“What do I mean?” asked Lady Ellyn. “I mean, there is an enemy army no more than two hours from here, and you are all sitting here like you have nothing better to do. You should be preparing for war!”
“Naw, you heard it all wrong,” said the leader. “There is an army coming, but it’s coming from Norlon. They threw back the forces of Salidar, and now the army is coming to help defend Harbortown.”
Lady Ellyn drew her sword. “There is an army coming from Norlon, but it is a Salidarian army. Norlon was sacked four days ago. I know because I was there!”
Can't Look Back (War for Dominance Book 1) Page 14
