The Celestial Paladin

by Gil Hough

CHAPTER 2

  FROM THE ASHES

  When Rodregas awoke he was confused about why he was lying on the floor. As he opened his eyes he was also alarmed to see Captain Poir looking down at him with a confused and worried expression. Captain Poir said, “Master Ravenhurr?” It was a question. Rodregas wondered why his captain would think he was the Master. And then suddenly it all rushed back to him, all the details of the final ceremony.

  “Oh my gods he had burned!” Rodregas thought in alarm. He quickly raised his hand to his eyes, but instead of his scarred, wrinkled hand that should have been seared by burns; there was a powerful smooth hand. Rodregas reached up and touched his face.

  “Dear Gods,” he thought in amazement, “the trigger words had worked.” He had done what he had learned to despise and hate most of all; he had switched into the body of an innocent man. “I am an Immortalist,” thought Rodregas in dismay. It had been his only shot at survival, and the young man had already been dead in all ways that mattered, but still it was an act of incredible repugnance to him. He thought, “Once again I have done what I needed to survive.”

  As Rodregas lay on the floor he looked up at the stars and the looming figure of the captain. He had to think quickly. It was instant death for anyone to interfere with an Immortalist Ascension ceremony. It was the most stringent rule enforced by the Guild of the Celestial Path, and therefore the most enforced rule in the Eastern Realm.

  “Ah, thank you Captain, I am fine,” Rodregas said. He instantly realized the captain would know that all was not well. Rodregas felt exposed without his armor and said the first thing that came to mind. “Please, if you can get me my clothes.” Rodregas waved over to where the sorcerers robe was folded on a small table next to the stairway.

  As he looked over, Rodregas saw that Junnit and Dale had re-bound the AElf maiden with iron and replaced her gag so that she could not use magic on them. While they guarded her they also kept her at a distance as if she was somehow strange now. To them she was supposed to have been consumed by the ritual, and they seemed a little put off to have the AElf maiden standing there. Both were watching their prisoner but also throwing quick concerned looks over to where Rodregas now crouched on the tower roof.

  Captain Poir looked hesitant but then nodded. He walked over to the table and gathered up the robes. “Damn, Rodregas thought” he had said “please.” Master Ravenhurr ordered something done; he did not say “please” to his guard captain.

  As Rodregas stood, Captain Poir held the robe open and he clumsily put it on. His movements were awkward in this new larger body. His angle was wrong, Rodregas felt like he was standing on a crate.

  “Should I order the birthday celebration milord?” asked the captain. The coming celebration had been the talk of speculation for months as well as the object of more than a little betting among the guards.

  Rodregas nodded, his thoughts swirling as he realized that he could use the celebration to his benefit. Without looking at the captain he walked toward the stairway, and the captain followed close behind him.

  At the door Rodregas took a deep breath and said, “Captain, that ceremony did not go smoothly, but the gods once again proved to favor me, and I wish to be generous with the birthday ceremony. Tell the purser to pay everyone an extra month’s wages today and give everyone a week off to spend as they wish. Make sure you tell Purser Stevents to be generous. I want all staff rewarded, even the kitchen drudges.” He finished, hoping it did not sound as halting and made up as he knew it to be.

  “Yes, sir,” replied Captain Poir, his expression going from a guarded concern to enthusiasm. He seemed reassured when Rodregas mentioned Stevents. He must have thought either Ravenhurr had been a bit damaged by the ritual or that the young man whose body he now inhabited might still be alive and faking it, obviously the young man would not know about Stevents. It must not have occurred to him that his senior sergeant, who had burned in the end, might now inhabit the body.

  The AElf maiden twisted her body against the guards and tried to meet Rodregas’ eyes and he realized that only she had the magical background to have realized what had happened.

  “Just two things, sir,” said Captain Poir in a hesitant voice.

  “Yes?” he asked trying to act calm and in control.

  “We might lose some guards and probably some of the kitchen drudges if they have money in hand and a whole week off, also we leave ourselves open for theft if we don’t keep at least a minimum of guards at the front gate.”

  Rodregas relaxed at the mundane nature of the questions. “True, but I will not stint in thanking the gods for a favorable ceremony. Keep a few guards at the gate, but only the minimum needed. But that does remind me. Release any remaining prisoners and make sure they are fed and clothed, and allow them to make their way back to their homes.”

  “That has some danger to it,” said Captain Poir hurriedly, his expression returning to a look of concern.

  “True,” he replied. “But do as I command,” Rodregas stated in his firmest voice.

  Captain Poir nodded and immediately said, “As you command, master.”

  Rodregas started to open the door to the stairway when another thought hit him, and he turned back to the captain, and said, “I need time to adjust. Make sure that I am not disturbed in my quarters tonight, but tell Adapt Korin that before he leaves to celebrate, to come up to my room for some last minute instructions.”

  Captain Poir responded with his very military, “Yes sir.” Rodregas had to admit while most of the guards were no better trained than a ruffian off the street the captain had served with The Immortal Guards and he was highly trained and disciplined. Rodregas had always wondered what had brought a man of his obvious military background to serve Ravenhurr; thank goodness he clearly did not understand the simplest things about magic. On the other hand, the AElf maiden clearly had some ideas. He was glad she was gagged and not able to speak, and the guards knew better than to release a mage from her bindings until they had to.

  As Rodregas made his way down to the next level, the personal level of Master Ravenhurr, he closed the door to his suite of rooms that covered the whole floor. He listened as the other guards made their way down the tower. He leaned against the wall and took a deep breath.

  That had been close. Rodregas was shocked he had gotten away with it, especially after he had commanded the release of the remaining prisoners. He had been twice as generous as he thought Ravenhurr would have been, and Ravenhurr was too practical a man to release the prisoners as part of his celebration.

  The only prisoners in the keep’s dungeon were beings that were held for potential use in the ceremony. That meant they were of great power or talent. The prisoners were too dangerous to release, after Ravenhurr had so pissed them off by their imprisonment. But people did not question the order of the sorcerer and master of Raven Keep, so it should work.

  He dared not stay longer than he had to; Rodregas did not believe that he could fool Ravenhurr’s guards and servants for long. Ravenhurr was a powerful sorcerer who used magic quite casually; it would become quite obvious that Rodregas did not know how to use magic anywhere near Ravenhurr’s level.

  As soon as the keep emptied out for the birthday celebration he would make his escape. If he missed this opportunity he was not sure when he could try again. It was very rare for an Immortalist to leave his tower, and if he were behaving oddly, the guild would send someone to check on him soon. They were careful in their control of the kingdom.

  For a while Rodregas just leaned against the cold stone wall. Not thinking of anything, there was too much to think about to even start. So instead of thinking he simply felt the cool stone wall and it slowly, truly, hit him. He was alive. For some time that simple awareness was enough.

  He was alive, and in a stronger, younger body. With the physical essence of the lion now part of his new body, and the magic of the sorcerer Ravenhurr, he would be an extremely talented person.
That everything had gone so well was simply a god-sent miracle. He had rescued the maiden and killed the sorcerer. Of course the man's soul and intellect had been destroyed and a lion from the realm of the gods itself had been destroyed. It was far from a perfect victory, but Rodregas knew there were never perfect victories.

  He had had more luck in the last half hour than in his entire downtrodden life. Then, the next revelation hit him; maybe the Celestial Gods had answered his prayers. He had promised the Gods that if he lived, it would become his sworn duty to take down the Immortalists. Rodregas’ new heart seemed to stop for a moment at that thought and a chill ran down his body.

  There were supposed to be well over a hundred Immortalists in the Eastern Realms, each one incredibly powerful. What had happened today was pure luck and unlikely to be repeated. Trying to tear apart the Immortalists and their powerful guild was a near impossible task.

  Ravenhurr had been known as a powerful Immortalist, but nothing compared to Guild Master Oreintvenir or the Immortalist Guild Dealer Taiga. They had been slowly rising in power for centuries on their path to true godhood.

  Rumor was that the Guild Master (and maybe Taiga as well) was close to ascension to true godhood. Only two Immortalists had ever succeeded in this task. The first was the legendary Accerntorino. He was said to have created the Immortalist Ascension ritual and to have been a genius without par.

  The first guild master Accerntorino was also known for his ego. Within two decades of his accession he challenged the All-Father Allód for control of the Celestial Pantheon of the Gods. Accerntorino claimed he could better lead them to victory over the Daemon Lords of the Infernal Realm. But Allód quickly and soundly defeated the upstart Accerntorino. What still caused whispers almost 400 years later was his fate; the All-Father had destroyed him.

  Everyone knew stories of various gods that had challenged Allód over the millennia. The punishments he had dealt some were horrible and some simply funny or embarrassing. A few times he had even driven Gods to join the fallen Daemon Lords in the Infernal Realm. But the All-Father did not kill any of these other challengers. It was his duty to support the Pantheon, even when they betrayed him. Yet his reaction to this newly created god, this incredibly powerful, magic-wielding new immortal, was to simply kill him; and that was the end of it.

  Centuries later, when the next Guild Master had ascended to the Celestial plane, she kept her ego in sharp check. The Sorceress Goddess Blodeuwedd was known for how helpful she was to the rest of the Pantheon, especially Allód. Rodregas had always assumed that this had been the point of killing Accerntorino; if mortals where going to become Celestial they would do so on the Celestials terms.

  He raised his hand up again and touched his face, feeling its strong, smooth, square jaw. The teeth were not the sore, crooked teeth that he had had to be so careful to chew with this morning. They were now strong and straight. His balding head was now covered in thick long curls, too beautiful for a man in his opinion. Rodregas would cut the hair short when he had a chance. Ravenhurr had looked for the most perfect physical specimen that he could find and Rodregas was now him.

  Over the years Ravenhurr had “collected” many very gifted young men. These men had won athletic contests and were known for their incredible physical gifts, good looks and sharp wits. Ravenhurr tested them for strength, reflexes and dexterity. Those that succeeded were further tested for the sharpness of their senses, their intelligence and ability to learn new languages. The winner of these tests was rewarded with having his soul and mind ripped out and made into a piece of meat to be filled with the mind, personality, and the very soul of Ravenhurr himself. However, this time, instead of Ravenhurr, his old guard sergeant had ended up as a new powerful Immortalist.

  As the cold of the stone chilled his back Rodregas thought about his promise to the Celestial Gods that if he were able to kill Ravenhurr and live, then his new duty would be to fight the Immortalists. When all and everyone else had failed him over the years, only his duty had kept Rodregas alive. He no longer knew what to do without it.

  His back straightened and he pulled away from the wall that he had slumped against. Rodregas lived instead of the man whose body he now lived in. He had seen the tragedy of gifted person after gifted person be torn asunder by the Immortalists. He hated the Immortalists for their casual destruction and use of people.

  Could he now live in one of these stolen bodies, unless he had a reason? The Immortalists and their Guild were evil and needed to be opposed. The gods had given him a new duty. He stepped away from the wall. It was time to get to work.