“It could just be a merchant, right? They come through here,” Jak added.
“Perhaps,” confirmed Karlona. “But we can’t take those chances. Stay here.”
With that, her mother disappeared. Jak sighed. The Shadow Elf magic was still something she wasn’t entirely used to, especially when the one wielding it was her mother. But it was definitely useful for situations like these. Shadow Elves made the perfect spies and assassins.
She waited for a minute or so, saying nothing, and hoping that Marek wouldn’t decide to break the silence. Thankfully, he hadn’t said much since they left, other than to thank them for agreeing to go. Jak wasn’t sure if she liked that about him or not. On the one hand, she didn’t really like the idea of trying to pretend like nothing had ever happened and go back to being friends again. On the other, it was Marek. He was the person she went to with all her troubles, the person who listened most to her when they were younger. A part of her, a big part, wanted that again. Perhaps if he was telling the truth about this Pillar of Eternity, she could come to believe his story, as outlandish as it was. At least he was cooperating fully.
She nearly jumped as Karlona materialized once again in front of her.
“What is it? Merchants or something worse?”
Karlona opened her mouth, but hesitated a moment before speaking. “I think you’d better come see for yourself.”
Curious, Jak followed Karlona around the next bend for about a hundred yards or so, with Marek trailing behind.
Not far ahead there was a trickle of smoke from a small campfire. Now that they were close enough, Jak recognized the scent of rabbit or some other small animal cooking. And rotating the dead animal on a stick was…
“Seph!” she shouted. What in the world was he doing here?
Seph waved a cheery hand, like it was completely normal to have run into them. He had a bow and arrow strapped to his back, and a travel pack like the rest of them. “Hey there.”
“What are you doing?” she asked. Karlona folded her arms, watching the two of them.
“I left during the night, while you were sleeping. You don’t sleep often so I thought I’d take the chance while I had it. I got this far and figured you’d be coming this way, so I waited.”
“Waited? You...you, why?” was all she could say. But she knew why. He told her that he wanted to come, and she refused. So he decided to take it into his own hands.
Seph placed the roasted rabbit on a rock near the fire and stood. “Jak, I know you’re probably upset.”
“Upset?” she said.
“But if you’ll give me a chance, I will make it up to you, I promise.”
“Make it up to me?” Why was she only capable of repeating what he was saying right now?
“Look, I can help. You need help carrying things, or hunting. I can do that. I made you lunch.” He waved a hand at the cooked rabbit.
Jak’s face was growing red, and she was having difficulty putting two thoughts together. In the end, she just pointed back the way they came. “I want you to go back right now.”
Seph glanced behind her. “The others have likely moved on by now.”
“So follow them. They’re a big group, they won’t be hard to find.”
“You know if you won’t let me travel with you, I’ll just follow from a distance, right?”
A frustrated growl escaped her lips, and she turned to her mother for support. To her astonishment, the woman was leaning against a nearby bolder and smiling. Smiling! This wasn’t a laughing matter. Seph could seriously slow them down, or get himself killed, or…
“It’s his decision,” said Marek from behind her. “If he wants to come, who are we to refuse that of him.”
Jak scowled. What was it with the men who took an interest in her life? One died then came back to life, one betrayed her then saved her life, and now Seph was directly going against her wishes that she clearly laid out for him the day before.
Maybe she could force him to go back. She could use the Pillar of Eternity to drag him to the main camp in the blink of an eye, and then leave him there, returning to Karlona and Marek just as fast. But she’d probably have to carry Seph there, as he would not go willingly. She could do it though. She had enough strength from her brands to carry him, even if he protested. But it would not be fun.
Seph waited for an answer, his arms open in an inviting gesture. He knew she could force him to go back. She could see it in the way his muscles tensed when she moved. But would she?
In the end, she began marching past Seph, kicking the rabbit into the fire on her way, and not looking back.
“I think you can take that as a yes.” Karlona spoke to Seph behind her. The woman sounded amused. Didn’t she know Seph could get himself killed out here?
“Thank you, I’ll do what I can to help,” said Seph. She didn’t need his thanks. This was his fault.
“I’d start by staying a safe distance behind,” Karlona added before beginning to follow. Jak did not turn around or say anything. She just kept her eyes fixed on the path ahead of her. Let Karlona watch over Seph and Marek. It was her job to keep them safe anyway.
They continued to walk like that for the rest of the day, Jak leading the way closer and closer to the mountain. Seph wisely said nothing more after that first encounter, and Marek said little, other than to let them know they were on the right path. Once they neared the mountain they would have to leave the main road and find a different path leading upward. But that was still at least a day’s march off.
Light dimmed as the sun set in the west, though they were used to walking in low light. The sun only directly illuminated the canyon for a few hours every day, hidden for the most part by the towering walls of mountains on all sides.
Once it was dark, Marek finally spoke. “We’re close to the place where I awoke. We’ll need to leave the main road soon. Perhaps this would be a good place to camp for the night?”
Jak wasn’t tired at all, thanks to the compound effects of her Sleeplessness, Toughness, and Strength brands. But they had been walking all day, and none of the others had what she had. Seph looked exhausted, as served him right. But even Marek and Karlona looked like they could use a break.
“Fine,” she said, swinging the pack off her back. “Let’s build a fire and see if we can find any animals nearby to eat.”
Seph nodded and brought the bow off his back, saying nothing as he ventured off the road past a small hillock nearby. Jak didn’t protest. If he wanted to travel with them, then he’d have to pitch in. It was only fair.
Marek and Karlona helped put together a fire while Jak got the rest of their provisions ready for the night.
Seph eventually arrived with more than a little rabbit this time. On his shoulders hung the body of a fully grown deer. “We’re going to eat well tonight. And have some left over for the next few days too.” he said cheerily as he flung the carcass down on the ground. “Mind if I borrow your knife, Karlona?”
Karlona handed the weapon to Seph without protest, who set about skinning the beast. Jak sat down near the fire. Of course he had to find a huge catch on their first night, making him look all the more valuable to the group. Though from the way Seph prepped the deer meat, it became clear that he did know what he was doing. He hadn’t learned to do all that as the adopted son of the queen. Maybe it was something he picked up after he left and traveled northeast, before he discovered the Book of Illadar.
“I am told you are a religious figure of some kind,” said Marek to Seph.
Seph looked up from his work and regarded the man quietly before resuming. “Yes, that about sums it up.”
“You’re not exactly what I would expect from a preacher.”
“What did you expect?” said Seph.
“Well, I suppose I haven’t had much contact with other religious leaders, but I guess I imagined them to be a bit more...like they’re living in their own heads.”
Seph laughed. “Yes, well, that’s certainly true of
some that I know. My experience turned out differently. I never had the training that they do.”
“Yes, I’ve heard. You found some book while you were abroad, no? I would love to hear more about that.”
Seph slapped a piece of meat on a hot rock that sat on the fire. It sizzled and Jak caught the first whiff of roasted flesh. Despite herself, she felt her stomach growl. Hungerless or not, that smelled good.
“I’d be happy to,” said Seph, poking at the meat a bit with the knife. “I suppose we have time.”
He glanced at Jak, as if asking if it was okay. While Jak did not particularly care about joining the conversation, she had cooled down since earlier. Somewhat at least. Seph definitely wasn’t hearing the end of it. But if he wanted to join them, that was his problem. And she certainly wasn’t going to stop him from talking to Marek. In fact, there was something relieving about having someone else for Marek to talk to, instead of her. This way she could observe her former friend interact with others. Perhaps she’d get some kind of insight.
When she said nothing to protest, Seph continued. “As you can tell, I’m originally from the eastern nations, but I was adopted by the queen when I was very young. Things never worked out well for me there, so eventually I decided to run away and go back to my own country.”
Marek listened intently, and so, despite herself, did Jak. She knew Seph’s story, but hadn’t heard him talk about it in a while.
“Along the way, I found a book. I don’t really want to describe the circumstances surrounding that discovery, as they are sacred to me, but suffice it to say, I was given a mission.”
“So you came back?” Marek prompted.
“I did, though I never went back to the queen’s palace. Once she learned I had returned, she sent for me, and locked me away in one of her rooms. I starved myself until she finally agreed to let me go. Eventually she just lost interest in keeping me against my will, and allowed me to leave, claiming to the public that I had to learn to be self-sufficient and wanted to prove myself by living among the people.”
“And was that when you formed your little church?” Karlona asked, from where she sat.
“Not quite. Elva was the first to listen to me, and for a while it was just the two of us. But she eventually told her friends about the book, and what it revealed. And there were rumors about Fae in the mountains. I guess that could have been the gnomes and dwarves or the Shadow Elves. Nevertheless, it increased some of the excitement surrounding the book for those who knew about it.”
Jak rubbed at her temples. Another headache was coming on, and it was not an opportune time for it. Right now, with Seph joining them and the long journey, the last thing she needed was a throbbing temple. Shouldn’t her Healing brand be able to help with things like this?
None of the others seemed to notice. “So what exactly was the book about?” Marek inquired further. He was talking more than Jak had seen since he first arrived. That was good.
Seph fished in one pocket. “I have a copy here that you can flip through. It’s a bit worn but you’ll get the idea.” He handed a small, leather-bound book to Marek, who accepted it carefully.
Seph continued, “It was written by a man called Abel, the son of our first ancestors. After Jak returned from Mt. Harafast with the Pillar of Eternity, I learned that his brother, Cain, is somehow still alive and the man behind the demons.”
“And you believe all this is true?” Marek said, flipping through the pages.
“I do, and we’ve seen some of the prophecies come true in the past two years alone. Each of the races are mentioned in one form or another, including some we have not seen yet. You can see some of them here,” he leaned over to point out a passage to Marek. “It mentions beings of light and darkness. We have one of those with us today.”
Marek looked at Karlona. “And do you believe the words of this book?”
Karlona shrugged, “I never was one for religious texts. Too easy to interpret the wrong way. But after finding an original copy of the Annals of Adam in the Hollow Peaks, and having seen some of these events play out before my very eyes, I’d say there’s something to them.”
Marek nodded, satisfied with that answer. Thankfully he did not ask Jak the same question. While she agreed with her mother, there were some troubling implications for her own destiny contained in the book’s pages. Marek turned back to Seph. “What other races are meant to appear?”
“Well, each one appears to be a sort of steward over a particular element. Water, earth, fire, and life energy, which I presume are the trolls we recently found. Other than them, we are promised others over the remaining elements: air, frost, plant life, animal life, and spirit. There are twelve total, if we include humans.”
“What is their purpose?”
Seph opened his mouth to answer, but nothing came out at first. Both Jak and Karlona stared at the young man. “That...is not clear. As I stated, they seem to be stewards over the different building blocks of our world, but we don’t necessarily know what that means, or what it’s for. I suspect it has something to do with the creation of Illadar.”
“You’ve mentioned that before, and the book is named after it. What is Illadar exactly?”
“We don’t know,” Jak said, speaking for the first time. Seph had some theories, but she had to make sure that they were just theories, nothing factual. Talk of Illadar was where she usually entered the picture, and there was too much uncertainty there to make her comfortable.
“That’s true,” said Seph, slowly. “We don’t know exactly what it is. The book describes it as a place of peace, where all twelve races will live in harmony together. So far, we haven’t found it yet.”
“Assuming it is a place,” said Jak. “And not a state of being.”
“True, it could just mean establishing peace among the land, locally. I suspect it’s something different though.”
Marek nodded, “And I suspect you are correct.” He looked directly at Jak. There was a knowing look in his eyes. Did he know that Jak was supposed to be instrumental in forming Illadar? Or at least, someone who matched a lot of Jak’s characteristics.
The book spoke of a hero, known as the Oren, who could give multiple brands and who was the key to uniting the Pillars of Eternity and creating Illadar. All evidence suggested that person was her, and many of the others had even begun calling her ‘Lady Oren.’ And when she thought about it, she supposed she was. There wasn’t much use in denying it. It was just odd to think of oneself as a fulfillment of prophecy. How often did people see a foretelling unfold in their lifetime, let alone be the one to carry it out?
Marek didn’t ask much more after that, choosing instead to read Seph’s copy of the Book of Illadar until the fire began to die. Jak kept the watch that night, since she didn’t need as much sleep like the others. But honestly, sleep might have been a happy companion, as she spent most of the night mulling over what Seph had said, and everything else that had happened during the last few days.
It was a lot to process, but at least things were simpler now. She could focus on a single task, getting the Pillar of Eternity. With that, perhaps their jobs would be a little easier. Or at least her job would be. She did not envy the task Skellig would have in leading everyone without herself and Karlona to help manage things.
But perhaps it was for the best. Because as much as Jak could help the Fae, she was also a liability. Jak rubbed at her temples more, trying to massage the ache out. But it only seemed to get worse the more she kept at it. The dying embers pulsed in time with the blood throbbing in her head.
“Hello, Jak.”
Jak scrambled to her feet, ignoring the sudden spike of pain in her head from the effort. Her eyes were fixed on the figure standing just on the other side of the dying fire. He was of a large build, and with wavy blonde hair.
“Cain.”
6
Jak shot to her feet, looking around wildly for the Pillar of Eternity. She had left it lying near the tent. Stupid! How cou
ld she have been so negligent. She lunged, hoping that she could somehow dodge any incoming attacks from Cain. But no attacks came.
Her hands closed on the metallic finish of the Pillar, and she whirled around to bring it to bear on her enemy.
Cain had not moved. He only stared at her with a mixture of amusement and disdain.
Karlona, on the other hand, had been roused by Jak’s sudden movements. “What’s wrong, Jak?” she said, her daggers out and spinning to see the threat that had spooked Jak.
But she did not see Cain. Letting her guard fall, Jak realized what was happening. Cain wasn’t really here. He was communicating with her as he had before.
“It was nothing, mother,” she said. “You don’t have to worry. A fox startled me is all. I’m going to take a short walk. Clear my head for a bit.” She did not take her eyes away from Cain, who waited with arms folded, a sly smile on his lips.
She didn’t give her mother time to agree or protest, but began walking forward, moving right through the apparition of Cain, and a safe distance away before turning again to face the monster of a man. He, or at least his image, had followed her away from the small camp.
“Why are you here?” she asked, through gritted teeth.
“Much more confident when you know I’m not actually there,” he said, glancing around the place. “An interesting setting you find yourself in.”
Jak swallowed. She had to keep him from knowing what they were doing, or where they were. “You’ve never seen the Hollow Peaks before?”
Cain laughed, a deep bellowing sound. “You are a terrible liar,” he said. “I know exactly where you are. And I know why.”
Jak’s heart chilled. But she said nothing. Perhaps Cain was lying in an attempt to get more information out of her. She could not give him that chance.
“You have proven yourself quite resourceful, young Jak. It’s a shame that you never agreed to join me back in the mountain. The things we could have done together. But all that is past. I will hunt you down sooner or later, and I will make you pay for all the pain you have caused me.”
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