Gods of Shadow and Flame

by M. H. Johnson

  Alacabar grinned. “Horses? We don’t need ‘em, boy. You can ride all day if you want, we’re going to take it at a run.”

  Malek could all but feel Latif's awe-filled gaze as he and his companions diligently checked the knots and strappings of their custom made boots, far thicker and sturdier than any normal man's would ever have to be. Unusual, but rarely noted upon, their natural presence catching the eyes of those who were captivated by the aura and mystique of Delvers. Neither nobles nor townsfolk focused upon their footwear, odd as it was.

  The young healer gave a self-conscious chuckle, sighing shakily as his only slightly trembling hands patted the secured purse strapped so tightly to his side with one hand, "You place a lot of faith in a Spring Delver such as I, Del Morlekai, to grant me a boon equivalent to a hundred family farms, and the buildings and livestock needed to make such an investment sing with profit for years to come. Almost as if I were a lesser lord, without the serfs or manor."

  “Or to train and equip a hundred armsmen kitted in full suits of armor, with sword, shield, mace, lance, and rounceys to charge upon. A company of heavy cavalry sufficient to make your mark upon all the killingfields of Dawn,” Malek noted. “A strike force sufficient to shatter through enemy infantry formations with ease, once your allies' archers soften the opposition and Zweihander wielding shock troops shatter or knock aside the lead poles of any defensive pike formations raised against you.”

  Latif gave a Malek a hesitant nod. “I suppose you’re right, young sir, though I know little of military matters.”

  “Our young friend here was trained at Highrock,” Lucienda explained.

  “Ah!” Young Latif nodded in instant understanding. “The preeminent battle college of our fine nation. I travel with prestigious company indeed!”

  Malek flashed a sardonic grin. “Save having a fair head for battle and a berserker’s temperament, I assure you I am a complete disappointment in all other ways.”

  Latif sighed, gazing forlornly back at his grand house, and Malek even from that distance could make out Nadia's forlorn gaze as she watched her husband ride away. "Then I am indeed in perfect company. Here I am, having thrown well over a hundred gold crowns into an investment that may well turn out to be a fool's venture if I cannot survive half a decade or more with no return, and I fear my wife is now most disappointed in me as I compound my folly, gambling my life in a venture that could well cost me everything, up to and including my very soul.”

  "Don't worry, boy. Let's just revel in the adventure and take it all as it comes!" said a madly grinning Alacabar, choosing that moment to break into a run.

  Malek laughed. "Come, Latif, put your girl through her paces. Let's see if she can keep up!" With that the group made a game of it, pushing Latif, enticing him to keep up even as they broke the trail, allowing the mare to gallop quite comfortably behind the packed path of snow they left behind them, and far sooner than one might have thought, they made their way back to Barlton, Latif's great purse of gold safely deposited into the Guild bank, the solemn-faced scribe formally setting up ledger and accounts, even as the bard on duty made diligent note of Latif's wife and child in the Guild books, so that even should Latif be lost to Shadow, the Guild would not forget its obligations to his family, nor the gold that would be their inheritance.

  "I'm really going to do it, aren't I?" Latif shook his head. "I'm really going to journey back into Shadow, after all my oaths and promises to myself and Nadia never to set foot within those realms of treacherous dream again."

  Malek gazed sympathetically at a once more pale-faced Latif. "It's going to be okay," he soothed as he gently led his newest companion to the elegantly appointed dining hall, servitors immediately rushing and bowing before them to take their order. Once they had left with the expediency all servitors showed Delvers about to brave Regio once more, Malek caught his companion's worried eyes, doing his utmost to reassure him. "It will be an adventure worthy of the bard's tales. It will be a story to impress your own daughter with one day, and it will end sweetly, with just the touch of gentlest Shadow upon both our souls."

  Latif gazed solemnly into Malek’s dark eyes. Malek felt himself somehow weighed and measured and was afraid the stains that he just knew lay upon his soul would repulse his perceptive acquaintance. Oddly, the healer did naught but offer a slow nod, his voice now strange. “I trust you, friend Malek. Do you know why?”

  Malek gave a slow shake of his head even as the young healer spoke. "We all receive dark gifts when we journey to Shadow, whether we will it or no. I was once quite the prodigy at the Royal Healer's Academy. Yet my daring to Delve into Shadow utterly warped my talents. I am now gazed at with pity at the Academy. Little more than a physic educated in brutal surgery and delicate herb lore. Yet all things have a balance, Malek. For all that it warped my healer's gifts upon the realm of mundus, in Shadow I can seal the wounds of the soul fast and sure, and have saved the life and earned the gratitude of more than one Spring Delver."

  Latif smiled, catching Malek's gaze with his own. "The warping of my healer's gift also means that I can measure a man's soul through his gaze. And just peering into your own eyes, Hound, makes me shudder with the weight of things you have seen and done. But that which I sense most clearly is the great silver ribbon of honor that streaks through the ichor of your own terrible soul. Deceiving someone placed in your trust, that act of ultimate treachery, is a weight your soul does not bear; for all that it is stained black with sins so old their nature is lost to time."

  Malek shuddered, suddenly chilled. Frozen by gentle Latif’s potent stare. As if the young man had somehow strolled across his grave, and worse, peered into the darkest secrets of his soul.

  Latif blinked, seeming suddenly confused.

  "I am sorry, good friend Malek, did I say something?"

  Malek sighed as their food arrived. "Nothing I didn't already know, good Latif, every time I look too deeply in the mirror.”

  Latif flashed a sheepish smile, before ravenously digging into the delicious fare before them, the servitors having most discretely set up a great platter of roasted pork, meat pies, and fresh baked bread oozing with butter, well suited for scooping up the savory juices dribbling from the perfectly prepared platter of meat before them.

  “My apologies, Malek,” Latif managed between mouthfuls. “I try not to stare too long, no matter how inviting a person’s gaze is to me. More than once I’ve awoken to my wife crying in my arms, saying that I redeem her but being reminded of her sins always brings her to fresh tears.” He shook his head. “I tell her I will try not to stare too deeply into the eyes of the woman I adore, and she always says it's worth the risk, to be gazed at by the one man in the world who could truly love her.”

  He laughed of a sudden, self-consciously. “It bores you, no doubt, hearing me go on and on about love.”

  Malek shook his head, feeling a warm sort of fondness for his new friend. “Not at all, Latif. In fact, I am gently envious of you. I would move Heaven and Hell for the sake of love, had my own not been lost to me.”

  "Saints above, this fare is fine! I forgot, I fear, how truly excellent the Guild chefs were." Latif flushed then, gazing apologetically up at Malek. "I am sorry for your loss, by the way."

  “Our chefs are among the best, that is for certain.” Morlekai noted as he together with Lucienda and Alacabar seated themselves at their table. “Ah. You have ordered for us in advance. Well done, Hound.”

  Malek rolled his eyes. “You are quite welcome, fearless leader. But please, it's Malek.”

  Alacabar chuckled. “At least he doesn’t call you Red.”

  Malek shrugged. “I think Red’s a strikingly good nickname. And it fits.”

  “True.” Alacabar gave a happy stroke of his beard. “Though Siren here has the prettiest name of us all.”

  Lucienda raised a bemused eyebrow, Alacabar suddenly blushing and looking away. “As I thought,” she said softly. “In any event, dear Hound and Healer, you will be
happy to know that we have successfully booked package on a cutter heading for Riskord.”

  Latif whistled, impressed. “That is quite a distance. Down the great river, then several days hugging the coast; past Velheim and any blockade they have in force. Assuming we aren’t sunk outright, what’s to stop Velheim's navy from seizing our vessel and impounding our goods, or declaring us all spies?”

  Morlekai’s grin was savage. “I’d love to see them try. They’d lose their pretty ship, and any crewmen who dared to raise steel against us.”

  “And it would never come to that,” Lucienda soothed, even as Latif’s eyes widened at Morlekai’s implied threat, his look of dangerous confidence.

  “By the gods, you think you can do it, don’t you. Even I've heard of Velheim's naval exploits. You’d be so bold as to take on an entire ship of soldiers trained in boarding and overtaking enemy vessels.” Latif shivered, his gaze one of grave apprehension.

  Alacabar shrugged. “We’re deadlier than you might think. Even here upon plain old everyday mundus, Dawn's gentle surface, as far from the dark glories of Shadow as we could be.”

  "And it would never come to that," Lucienda emphasized, glaring disapprovingly at her mercurial companions. "For one thing, our ship possesses writs assuring safe passage, as do its cohorts which have been seeking apprentices from our shores these last several months, without a single report of Velheim's interference. Velheim's elite players are not fools, after all. They will have enough trouble dealing with Erovering as the storm of battle marches ever closer, without risking a war on two fronts."

  “To say nothing of the Delver’s Treaty,” Morlekai said.

  Lucienda nodded. “Remember what it means to be a Delver, dear Latif. The Guild has treaties with all sovereign nations upon this continent, even where other nations have loose adventuring brotherhoods of their own. For as long as Dawn is plagued by incursions of Shadow, we are the only force that has a hope of neutralizing it.”

  Latif nodded in sudden recollection. “That’s right! I do recall one of the bards mentioning something to the effect that just as a Delver’s glory rises, the portholes leading to the Dreamrealms journeyed within start to fade.”

  “That’s right,” Alacabar acknowledged. “Every time we journey into Shadow, we slowly push shut the doors by which we were able to enter those wondrous nightmare lands. Which causes the common folk no end of relief. For the more beasts we kill in those depths, the fewer horrors make it to the surface realm, and the less risk of any territory slowly being consumed by Shadow.”

  Malek gave a rueful shake of his head. “And for all that, new paths to the realm of dreams always seem to pop up.”

  “Which is a good thing for us!” Alacabar laughed. “For we can always dip back into the wondrous madness of Shadow and dream, to behold new sights, new glories, carve legends from the bedrock of fate, such that the bards will always have fresh tales to tell when singing praises to our names!”

  Alacabar's shout was joined by cheers from those other Delvers in attendance, all of their kind reveling in the glorious boast, as Malek liked to think of it, even as he and his companions lost themselves in a night of wine, revelry, and good cheer. Alacabar soon found himself with several admiring doxies wishing to discuss his marvelous exploits in private, leading away the grinning berserker, even as Lucienda gently squeezed Morlekai's hand, leading their fierce looking leader off for a night of sweetest passion before they risked their lives once more upon their quest.

  “Don’t stay up too late,” Morlekai said as a final rejoinder to a nodding Malek and a still stunned looking Latif. “The ship leaves a glass after first light.”

  Malek nodded. "Enjoy your revelry, fearless leader. I shall be quite fine, left to my own devices."

  Morlekai grinned even as their siren dragged him off to forge some sweet memories of their own, Malek turning to favor Latif with a measuring gaze. "Hot blooded bunch, aren't they?" Malek looked about the room, the mood in the dining hall such that those adventurers in attendance were all embracing the sweet fruits of life, and with little care or regard for those well-to-do citizens of Barlton who were reminded once more that in addition to being renowned for serving the most exquisite fare to be found outside the capital, this Guildhall, like all Guildhalls, served Delvers' needs before all others.

  "I almost forgot how… passionate and lively we all get before we effectively went off to battle." Latif sighed. "Silly of me. It's how I met the love of my life, after all."

  Malek nodded. "It's fortunate for both of you that you found each other. It's a sweet madness that infects our brothers, but a madness nonetheless. I won't lie, Latif. I hope that you can stick to your resolution. After this one final adventure, I do hope you can return to your beautiful home and family without the dark appetites and passions that are a Delver's burden sweeping you up in their mad glory once more."

  Malek flashed a rueful smile. "For I know I shall never be free of its calling. Were I not still mourning the death of my lover, I'd be swimming in this decadent sea of flesh, even now. Reveling in the sweet joy of life, before embracing the terror to come."

  Latif’s grin was sympathetic. “This Guildhall does boast some of the most beautiful men and women I've ever seen, outside of my one true love. I think I shall be retiring to quarters, then. Thank the gods the walls are thick, allowing for a good night’s sleep, revelries aside.”

  Malek nodded. "A good plan, my friend. I will see you on the morrow." With that they parted ways, Latif towards an exquisitely soft feather bed, and Malek out into the bitter cold that bothered him not in the least. He found himself feeling refreshed with the crisp night air, jogging at a steady pace through the twisting allies of Barlton before finding himself upon familiar stairs leading up to a solidly constructed door in a rather shabby part of town.

  A tentative knock and greeting earned him a welcome smile from Anja who bade him enter, young Lucile and Jacey racing across the shabby room to wrap him with fierce hugs of their own.

  “Malek came back, mom! I told you he liked us!” Lucile cried happily, even as Jacey gently squeezed Malek’s hand, leading them to a cramped looking table. “Mother has just prepared our soup. Have some, Malek.”

  Malek nodded, feeling a curious ache in his heart, even as he gazed at the young mother and her already healthier looking daughters, so happy to see him. “It is good to see you all,” Malek said softly. “And what a delicious soup we have here!”

  Jacey nodded. "Oh yes, Malek. We eat three times a day now. Sometimes fish, or pork; potatoes with every meal, and sometimes even fresh bread! And Malek, guess what? Mother says Lucile and I can attend the Guild school, where they will teach us to read!"

  Lucile grinned. “I want to learn to read so I can learn the stories. Do you have a story, Malek?”

  Malek nodded solemnly. “It is called Jessica’s Journey. It is about the adventures my shieldsister and I had, our first year traveling through Shadow.”

  Anja smiled. Cheeks already fuller with a just a few days of healthy eating, Malek could see blossoming within her a beauty long buried under worry and care. He felt a curious ache in his heart, smiling warmly as he gently squeezed her offered hand. “We are more grateful than words can say, dearest Malek. You truly have been a guardian angel to us. I hope you will always feel welcome to visit us. We would love to have you, as humble as our fare no doubt is to one of your glory.”

  Malek gently shook his head. “Food made with love is the best food of all.” Earning solemn nods from both of Anja’s daughters.

  “Thank you for saving me from the bad people, Malek. Can you stay with us?” Malek gazed gently into Jacey’s innocent blue eyes, even as her mother blushed fiercely and looked away.

  “Duty calls me down other paths, dear Jacey. But I am touched you care enough even to ask, and I look forward to visiting with you often, as circumstances allow.”

  Jacey shrugged and smiled. “Okay.”

  “You already have a place in
my heart, so we are already connected. Even if my body is far away from you, my heart is not.”

  Jacey nodded. “You are nicer than daddy was.”

  “Jacey!”

  Malek smiled and did not pay attention to Anja’s embarrassment, and soon enough their talk became relaxed and animated, Malek losing himself in tales of the day's adventures since he had been gone, and it was sometime later that Malek found himself tucking in two sleepy girls, bidding Anja a gentle goodnight.

  "Thank you for coming, Lord Malek," Anja said softly. Her tender gaze locked with his own, and Malek sensed the question there, the fiercely guarded hope. Gently he lowered himself to kiss her forehead, answering her question as gracefully as he could.

  "I shall be heading for unknown shores, dear Anja. I am glad to see you and your daughters happy and healthy. Did the Guild offer lodgings of any sort?"

  Anja sighed and nodded, her smile turning rueful. “Yes, dear Malek. They did. I am thinking upon it, though my feelings are scattered. I like my independence on the one hand, and I know the Guild is more than just what we see upon the surface.” She chuckled lightly at Malek’s expression. “Don’t look so surprised, dear one. Even the poorest of us with a shred of common sense knows that far more goes on behind the scenes than what our betters see fit to display openly, and those of us who must struggle hardest to survive must be more alert to potential dangers than most.”

  “I don’t think the Guild would be anything but a friend to you, dear Anja.”

  She shrugged. “Perhaps, dear Malek. Perhaps.” A soft kiss upon his cheek. A hopeful gaze and a rueful smile. “Don’t be a stranger, dear one. You are already precious to my children’s hearts. And mine as well.”