The Godling Chronicles

by Brian D. Anderson

A cold chill caused the hair on the back of Jayden’s neck to prickle. Something was not right about this man. It wasn’t just the incredible speed with which he moved. That could mean he was possibly an elf of significant skill. No, it was more than that. It was as if he radiated some fell power that was wrapped around him like an invisible mist.

  “What are you?” Jayden demanded, taking a step back. In his present position, there was nothing between him and the empty hallway. He could run if he chose to, though he doubted he could outpace this thing before him. Not that it mattered. He would never abandon his sisters.

  “My Lord!” called a voice.

  One of the soldiers must have heard them and was coming to investigate.

  “You and the other men stay where you are,” the figure commanded. “Young Jayden and I are just having a little chat.”

  “But…my Lord. Our orders are –”

  “Your orders are to obey me,” he snapped back.

  With a concerned frown, the soldier nodded and then moved away to rejoin his comrades.

  “I will ask you only once, son of Darshan,” the hooded man continued. “Will you come with me willingly?”

  Jayden shook his head. “I’m not going anywhere with you.” He could feel the flow coursing through him, fueling his muscles. “And if you think those pathetic excuses for soldiers can stop me…”

  “Actually, I am sure that they could. Remember, you are as yet untrained. Even with the power you now hold, their numbers would be enough to overcome you. That is, presuming I allowed it to happen…which I will not.”

  Jayden considered his options. There were none that might save him that didn’t involve abandoning his sisters. Even as this became obvious, the enemy moved closer, though his movements were so fluid it was as if his feet were not touching the floor.

  A blur of motion shot past the left side of Jayden’s head, missing it only by a small fraction. An instant later, the man in front of him clutched at his chest. Jayden could see the handle of a dagger protruding from his cloak just above the heart.

  “Run,” Linis’s voice called from behind.

  Jayden knew he could not do that. But there was another way he might seize advantage of the situation. He swung his blade in a rapid downward arc. Astonishingly, it found only empty air. Though this hooded opponent had to be severely injured, he was still able to lean quickly back, so avoiding the fatal strike.

  Linis stepped past, his short sword flying in a flurry of blows that drove the man back and shredded large sections of his cloak. Several of these strikes, Jayden felt sure, must have found flesh as well. Yet the man’s arm reached into the folds of his garment and the glimmer of steel appeared. How could he still be standing? Even if he were wearing armor, some of Linis’s thrusts were certain to have made it through.

  “I said run!” the elf roared, blocking a counter that was so fast it could scarcely be seen.

  “My sisters,” Jayden protested.

  Three soldiers, having heard the melee, came running around the corner.

  Drawing a second dagger with his left hand and ducking low, Linis squirmed forward and then rapidly up again to force himself inside the hooded man’s reach. Even as he was still rising, he plunged the weapon into his opponent’s gullet. The man stumbled back, yet was still able to inflict a small wound to Linis’s right arm before the elf could move away.

  “Your sisters are not here,” he told Jayden, blood already pouring from a three-inch gash. He spun, grabbing Jayden’s arm and propelling him along.

  With the sinews of his legs invigorated by the flow, Jayden was well aware he was moving far more rapidly than normal. Even so, Linis was soon far ahead of him. He could also hear footfalls behind him drawing ever closer.

  He raced through a series of large chambers and broad hallways, barely able to keep Linis in sight. No one should have been able to keep up with them, yet he could still hear his pursuer closing in. It could only be the cloaked man, he thought. Men in full armor could never run this fast. But after the wounds the man had suffered, how could it be? He had no right to still be alive.

  Along the way Jayden was forced to step around several bodies, mainly those of temple residents but one or two of the invading soldiers as well. Smoldering furniture also littered his path, and many of the walls he passed were badly scorched. He spotted Linis approaching a pair of large double doors at the far end of the main dining hall. Just outside of these were standing two unfamiliar elf men, together with Sayia. Even from a distance he could see her eyes burning as she spread her arms wide.

  Jayden reached the doorway a few seconds after Linis had passed through. He glanced back to see that the cloaked man was indeed uncomfortably close behind him. This was obviously the moment Sayia had been waiting for. She let loose a blast of icy air that struck his pursuer in the lower torso, instantly halting his advance. A second blast then lifted him completely up, hurling him back more than thirty feet.

  Gasping for breath, Jayden pulled up. “Where are my sisters?” he asked.

  Sayia’s face was twisted into a vicious snarl. “They’re safe for now. Get inside.”

  The man was already rising, sword in hand and poised to charge once again. “You cannot kill me, witch.” His voice thundered with incredible volume. “Saraf will not be denied.”

  Sayia gave the two elf men a slight bow, then turned to Jayden. “I told you to get inside.” This time there was more than an edge of impatience to her tone.

  The elves stepped forward, their hands outstretched, tiny balls of flame flashing into existence above them. Sayia grabbed Jayden’s arm and pulled him roughly through the door. He tried to resist, but even with his flow-enhanced strength she was still able to overpower him.

  On the other side was an oval courtyard. Statues of the gods had been placed around the outer edge, while in the very center he saw a great silver sword at least six feet long, whose blade looked as if some time in the past it been buried into the stone tiles a few inches shy of the hilt. Linis was standing with four other men near a narrow archway.

  The door behind them boomed shut, and Jayden heard a loud rush of fire.

  “You’re just leaving them?” he asked Sayia in a shocked voice.

  “They will buy us the time we need,” she said, her face expressionless and her voice cold.

  “Come on,” urged Linis. “We must move quickly. They won’t be able to hold that Vrykol for very long.”

  Jayden looked at him in astonishment. “Vrykol? It can’t have been.” He had heard of them – creatures of pure evil created by the Reborn King during the war. But they were all supposed to have been destroyed along with their master.

  “No time for questions,” Linis barked.

  “I’m not going anywhere until I know where my sisters are.”

  He received a firm nudge from Sayia. “They’ve already left the temple. Now hurry. I do not want my kin’s sacrifice to be for naught.”

  Finally yielding, he followed Linis through the archway and down a long corridor. After several more twists and turns they came to a small storage room, at the far corner of which was an open trap door. Linis was already ushering the four men with him down. While he did so, Sayia stretched out her hands and closed her eyes. The room immediately began to tremble.

  Several large chunks of the ceiling broke loose in front of the doorway just as Linis followed the other four down. For a moment, Jayden was transfixed. He could feel the flow raging into the elf woman, its tremendous power bending to her will. It felt different this time – like a steady pulse rather than a swirling tempest. Another great lump of stone crashed to the floor, shocking him back into the moment. The entire room would soon collapse.

  Sayia shoved him toward the opening. He nearly fell as his foot slipped from the iron ladder fixed to the shaft wall. Though she was no longer using the flow, the woman had already done enough for the room above to continue crumbling. A shower of small stones and debris followed them down.

  Once at
the bottom, they were forced to duck low as they passed along a narrow passage. The light quickly faded, and Jayden soon found himself reaching out into utter darkness. Nonetheless, they kept moving at a steady pace for almost half an hour. He stumbled a few times at points where the passage twisted and dipped, but Sayia was there to reach out and prevent him from falling.

  At last the pitch of the floor began to slope gradually upward, allowing a tiny amount of light to filter down from ahead. This revealed a roughly hewn staircase, at the top of which was stood a man bearing a stout axe. Directly behind this sentry, an open door led them out onto the surrounding marshland, where Maybell and Penelope, along with more than twenty others, were nervously waiting. His sisters immediately ran over and threw their arms around him.

  “We were so afraid you’d been captured,” said Maybell, tears spilling down her cheeks.

  “How did you two get out?” Jayden asked. “I thought the soldiers had you trapped.”

  “Our room has a passage leading to the far side of the temple,” Penelope explained. Though she was not crying, she was visibly shaken. “We tried to get to you, but there were too many.”

  “We can discuss what happened once we’re away from here,” Sayia cut in. “I’ve sealed off the exit, but it won’t take them long to begin searching outside the temple.”

  At first her words went unheeded. The twenty or so men and women standing around in small groups were mostly still in their nightclothes. Only a few of them bore arms, and all appeared to be in a state of stunned disbelief.

  “Please,” said Sayia, raising her voice for everyone to hear. “I know you’re afraid. But we have to start moving immediately.”

  “Where can we go?” asked an older woman clutching desperately to a small bundle. “Those men came from Baltria.”

  “I have a ship docked to the west,” Sayia replied. “You’ll be safe there. But I need you to be strong. If they come for us, more will die.”

  She turned to Linis. “Do you know where Loroni Rock is?”

  He nodded.

  “Lead them there. I will join you before you arrive.”

  “Where are you going?” asked Penelope.

  “I have business to attend before I can leave,” she answered, clearly unwilling to say any more than that. She hurried away before any objections could be raised, vanishing into the thick of the marsh.

  Linis took stock of their situation. Under normal circumstances, Loroni Rock was only a day and a half’s walk away, though with so many people in tow and some well into the latter years of their lives, it was sure to take longer. Gathering them all together, he had them form a single line.

  “Follow exactly in my steps and your footing will be sure,” he announced. “Do not wander. These marshes can be dangerous.”

  Jayden and Maybell went to the rear, while Penelope stayed with Linis.

  Though the light of the full moon illuminated the way well enough even for human eyes, the line still moved painfully slowly. For Linis, who had traveled this area many times in his days as a seeker, it was no challenge to find the best way through. In their favor, the trees here bore nan vines that could be cut open and the fresh water inside drunk without fear of illness. Food, however, was another matter. Hunting would be impractical, and unless several more of these people had foraging skills, he alone could not provide enough for everyone. But empty bellies could wait.

  “What business did Sayia have?” he asked Penelope, after they had walked for close to an hour.

  “I don’t know for sure,” she replied. “But I suspect she’s going to see to the one who sent those men.”

  Linis furrowed his brow. “Is she mad? She’s going alone into Baltria?”

  “Right now, I think she might well be mad. Beneath that practical exterior, Sayia is quite a passionate woman. She reminds me of Mother, actually.” She gave him a weak smile. “You shouldn’t worry. Only Maybell and I are her match in raw power. And Jayden, of course.”

  “Perhaps,” said Linis. “But it’s not elves and soldiers I worry about.”

  After a while longer, they took a brief respite on a patch of solid ground large enough for the group to spread out on the mossy turf. During the break, Maybell and Penelope walked from person to person, offering words of comfort and hope. Many wept into their arms, lamenting the loss of their home or the death of someone close.

  Jayden plopped himself down beside Linis. “Now that we’re safe,” he began, “you can tell me what the hell that thing we fought was. Nothing could take the kind of wounds you inflicted, yet still it kept coming.”

  Linis stared down, absently rubbing a bit of moss between his fingers. “It was a Vrykol,” he said. “I’ve already told you that. Though I have no idea how it came to be there.”

  Jayden huffed a dubious laugh. “They’re all dead. They died with the Reborn King.”

  “Yes. That is true. They could not survive without the power of their maker to sustain them. And yet, it was a Vrykol we faced in the temple. But this one was different from those I have fought before. It was somehow…better, I suppose is the best way to put it.”

  “You actually fought against the Vrykol?”

  Linis grinned. “There is much I have done that you do not know of. Even before the war I had many adventures.”

  “Tell me all you know about these monsters,” Jayden pressed.

  “There isn’t that much to tell. As you know, the Reborn King joined the cursed souls of the First Born to the dead bodies of mortals to create something that was foul and wholly evil. But he was not the first to do this. That’s what the stories tell us. Long ago, the gods created the Vrykol to do their bidding. These were hunted down by the elves until only two of them remained.”

  “Do you think that thing was one of those two?”

  “No. The survivors were a brother and sister. One was killed during the war. As for the other…she is enjoying a well-earned peace. The one we encountered must be something new.”

  “So it was made by the gods? Is that right?”

  “It seems likely. It has the same feel as the other Vrykol I faced. Its speed and strength were similar too. Yet it was less corrupt in spirit.”

  Jayden leaned back on his elbows. He had heard some of the stories before, but only of those Vrykol that had fought in the war. As Linis had explained, they were pure evil, molded from the bodies of the dead and suffused with the power of the Reborn King. Beyond that, he had no knowledge.

  “Can they be killed?” he asked.

  “Yes, but only by taking their heads or if they’re consumed in fire. No simple task. And gathered in numbers, they’re able to suppress the flow. If the gods have enough of them to do their bidding, I fear that we would be out-matched, even should you learn to use your abilities.”

  Jayden noticed a look of deep concern in the elf’s eyes. “You’re worried about Dina?”

  Linis shrugged. “I always worry about her when we’re not together. I’m sending danger to my own doorstep: the kind I thought never to see again. What I’m unable to shake is the fact that your father could not resist whatever force was set against him. It is clear that the gods are moving with intent. But they could not do so without first dealing with Gewey.” He rubbed his arms. “The strength that would take to accomplish is beyond my comprehension.”

  “Is he really so powerful?”

  “Your father is the son of Garath and the Creator herself. Her fire burns within him; within you and your sisters as well. None can match him.”

  “The Reborn King almost did,” Jayden pointed out.

  “Yes. But only with the stolen power of many gods. And your father was cut off from heaven at the time. Had the door been open and he’d been able to draw from its strength, he could have easily cast him down.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Gewey and I have spoken often of the past since the war ended. He told me much.”

  “He told me nothing.”

  The anger Jayden w
as feeling had become a constant companion. None of this would be happening if he had been told everything from the beginning. And now, having been sheltered all his life, he was unprepared to face the dangers of the real world.

  He glanced over to Maybell, who was talking quietly with a young elf girl, stroking her hair with a consoling smile. Penelope was a short distance away, tending to a minor scrape on an older man’s arm. They were younger than he, and yet in many ways, far older.

  “Don’t dwell on things beyond your control,” Linis told him. “Gewey fought his way through the gates of hell. Whatever trickery the gods have loosed, it will not be able to contain him forever.”

  Jayden gave a heavy sigh. “I hope you’re right.”

  * * * * *

  Lady Zarhari leaned back in her chair, the cup of wine on the table beside her untouched. She had not anticipated the Vrykol’s involvement in this matter. It was unsettling. Unfortunately, she had been left with no choice but to accept the situation.

  Lady Leanna, who sat over by the window flipping through a book of sketches, looked up. “Why are you so nervous?”

  “How could I not be? Have you any idea what could happen should this go afoul? If we fail, the wrath of Darshan will descend upon us like a storm.”

  “I already told you, Darshan is no longer a threat.”

  “How can you know this?”

  Leanna closed the book and stretched her arms above her head. “Your lack of faith causes me to grow weary. It is not befitting the station bestowed upon you. Please try to be a bit more positive. Soon Jayden will be back in our hands and this ordeal will be over.”

  Zarhari did not like this woman. Her little slights were a constant source of irritation. Why Saraf would favor her was baffling. Yet the words that had been passed on were quite clear: Lady Leanna was his emissary and must be obeyed.

  “I do not lack faith,” she responded. “But the power the boy possesses should not be underestimated. I felt it firsthand. You did not.”

  “He is untrained and ignorant,” she countered. “Nothing but a farm boy.”

  “As was his father. And look what he became.”