Tirlanolir/D'nemy's Tales of Turgos: The Heroes of Goldfire Glen (UPDATE 7/26)

[Canaan]

Chapter 6: Dire Omens

The dog started barking wildly, licking at the fallen, masked man between pawing and butting his snout up against him. We all stood there, uncertain what to do next. Gabriel glared at Hu Li, “What?” Hu Li said. “I got him to stop his yammering!”

Lilian took a step forward, her hands outstretched toward the dog. It growled at her, bearing an ample row of teeth. She stopped.

“We don’t want to hurt you.” She said.

The dog melted into a spasm of infuriated barks. Rows of hair behind its head stood up. His eyes, wide and white with fury, flew passed each of us. Though a small creature, he was more than capable of intimidating his foes.

“Let me acid the mutt!” Growled Aesendal. “And his touched master!”

“No!” Commanded Shale.

The druid moved forward. He began muttering softly. The dog faced him, bent low on his haunches and continued his tirade of barks. The ground at Shale’s feet budded tiny, hair thin weeds. A soft wind caressed us like a mother’s hand.

The dog’s attention turned entirely on Shale. His barking only intensified, but he stopped pacing. The two were locked in some kind of conversation. Shale broke from it with a start.

“This is Jazzad!” He said, pointing to the fallen wild man. “And this hound is his animal companion.”

The dog finally stopped barking. He sat down next to his master and let out a pitiful sigh. Shale approached him and patted the dog on his forehead. The tail wagged mournfully.

Lilian gave a sigh. Hu Li harrumphed. Gabriel and Talon both stepped over to Shale. I stepped up to Lilian, while Aesendal stood back, still glaring at the dog.

“You found him.” I quietly said to her.

“But in such a state.” She answered, shaking her head. “He’s completely mad.”

“Yes!” purred Hu Li, an unnerving grin slicing across his cheeks. “As shall we all be if we stay here a moment longer! This place is cursed! Rampaging boars! Bedeviled rangers! What hope have we if this steward of the wilds falls prey to what avails this land! We must turn back now! Tell Menion of his friend’s fate, or else we shall all share in it!”

“Ails.” Talon said blankly. “Not avails.”

“YOU KNOW WHAT I MEANT!” Howled Hu Li, his face as flushed as an overripe pomegranate.

“Quiet!” roared Gabriel. “We’re not going to just leave him here. He’s sick. He needs our help.”

“Evora.” Talon called out. “Is there anything you can do?”

I looked at Lilian. She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head toward the rest of them.

Gabriel had bent over the man and removed the boar’s head mask. He, Talon and Aesendal gathered around, examining it. The dog stayed near Shale and Jazzad.

Hu Li skulked over to the two monks and the sorcerer.

“Let me see!” I heard him whine. “If that hollowed out head is in some way bewitched, only I, the Acolyte Hu Li will have the knowledge to counter its effects.”

I surveyed Jazzad’s slumbering body. Short of a few indigo bruises and small scabbed over cuts, he seemed in perfect health. He was completely nude, but his unmentionables were covered in thick clumps of dead leaf and grass laden mud. The color of his hair was uncertain, as it, too, was caked with mud and dirt.

“He appears to be in good physical health.” I said. “However, it is clear he has been living in this state for some time.”

“Perhaps he was bewitched by the same enigmatic source that has possessed the boars.” Shale said as he petted Jazzad’s dog. The dog’s tail wagged playfully.

Lilian knelt down beside me. She sighed. I could feel her warm breath tumble down my left shoulder.

“Can you help him?” She asked.

“I do not think so.” I shamefully replied. “We should keep him… bound, or sedated. For his own protection. Clearly he is not himself.”

Gabriel and Talon must have heard me, for a moment later, they were rolling Jazzad on his side, binding his wrists and ankles with their belts. I looked over to Aesendal and Hu Li just as the pale wizard was throwing down the hollowed out boar’s head he has been studiously studying.

“Nothing more than tanned hide.” He said in disgust. “I’m taking a walk.” He announced to no one in particular and stomped off. Aesendal watched him go, shaking his head. He moved over to help Talon and Gabriel secure the unconscious ranger.

Lilian, Shale and I all stood up and moved a few paces away to give them some room. “Are we to carry him all the way back to Goldfire Glen?” Shale asked.

“I see no other alternative.” Answered Lilian. She lifted her eyes to the sun and let out a long sigh. “What is happening?”

“I do not know.” Shale said after a moment’s consideration of the question. “Some power is at work here. What it is and what it wants, however, remains unclear.”

Just then, Hu Li appeared huffing out of the tall grass. His head was hunched forward. His usual pale features appeared even chalkier. His eyes were wide and red with fear. When he spotted me looking at him, his features softened, he straightened in an unconvincing attempt to gather himself together. “Well, let’s be off then.” He said, having noticed that Jazzad was very well secured. “We have what we came for. No other reason to remain.”

“What did you see?” Asked Gabriel striding over the wizard.

“Grass. Rock. Mud. Water. A few gnats.” Hu Li answered, his voice breaking. No one believed him.

All eyes fell on Lilian, who was taking in Hu Li with a maternal gentleness. The wizard slightly shook.

“What has frightened you so, Hu Li?” She finally asked.

Hu Li dropped his jaw in feigned offense. Lilian lowered her chin and stepped up to him. He could not take his eyes off of her. His mouth closed and his lower lip began to tremble.

“What is out there?” She asked him again.

He lowered his eyes in defeat.

“I am sure it is nothing.” He whispered.

“Show us.” She gently ordered.

We followed Hu Li through the overgrowth for a few minutes. The ground was littered with small rocks that kept creeping up into my boots. I ignored the pain, trying to keep pace with the rest of them.

When the grass gave way, we found ourselves near the far end of the canyon. That strange outcropping of rock Hu Li saw at the cliff was now standing majestically ahead of us.

“It’s that!” he said, pointing a trembling finger at it.

“It’s just a big rock.” Said Aesendal.

“No.” snapped Hu Li. “Come closer.”

He beckoned us on. When we reached the shadow of the outcropping he stopped. I gasped. Everyone stopped and turned back toward me. I saw what had shaken the wizard.

The large outcropping was, in reality, an ancient, weathered statue. Much of the detail had been worn away by countless years of decay. The few discernable features that remained appeared to me almost melted, but what remained clear were the clawed fingers and toes of the being depicted.

There were six instead of five. I took in what remained of the face. It had once been handsome, but cruel. The eyes were smoothed away and the mouth and nose appeared to be shorn off. Two time-smoothed horns protruded from the forehead.

“Who is it?” Lilian asked me, her voice betraying a slight tremor.

“Not who. What.” I said. “Graz’zt. A demon lord.”

“Shhh!” said Hu Li, rushing over to me and covering my mouth. “To speak his name…” His voice trailed off. He let go of me and moved to Lilian. “So now you know what I saw. Now we may….”

“There’s some kind of entrance over here!” Shouted Talon, who had surged forward to the statue and began searching around.

“Oh, good.” Muttered Hu Li through clinched teeth. Lilian, Gabriel, Shale and Aesendal all joined Talon at the base of the statue.

Hu Li and I remained behind. He glared at the clump of them for a moment, then turned to me.

“Fools. One and all.” He said. “You know what this thing is. You know nothing good will come of snooping around here.”

I had no choice but to agree with Hu Li. I knew of Graz’zt. Those in his thrall were beautiful to behold, but they used their beauty to corrupt, seduce and manipulate others into doing their dark lord’s bidding. A statue of this demon lord, even a half destroyed one, was far from an omen of fair tidings. For all we knew, the opening Talon had uncovered lead into a temple dedicated to every form of decadence and profanity known and unknown. It may even still be in use.

I broke from Hu Li and hurried forward. Talon, Gabriel and Shale were digging at a clump of loosened earth that surrounded a narrow opening in the base on which the horrid statue stood.

“What do we hope to gain from disturbing this place?” I asked Lilian. Shale answered for her.

“A clue as to what is affecting the boars and Jazzad.”

I looked back to Hu Li, who was reluctantly inching his way closer to us. He had swallowed his lips and tightly clinched his jaw.

“Shale says we may…” I began.

“I heard.” He spat. “And if we do, what then? Are we equipped to better a true servant of this fiend?”

“It doesn’t appear anyone has been here for quite some time.” Shale said softly.

“Even better!” snapped Hu Li. “That means we’re not dealing with a someone, but a something! If this find is related to these current events, we may be after something far worse than a misguided thrall. We may uncover the Prime Material lair of an imp, or a vrock or a marilith, or worse.”

“I think we have cleared enough away.” Said Talon. Indeed, a good sized portion of dirt, some four or five feet’s worth, had been upended to make room for anyone willing to slide into the threshold.

The dark opening sank passed into the ground. Aesendal evoked a ball of light, bent down at the mouth of the opening and pushed his hand in. It lit a floor some ten feet below. Little more could be made out at our angle.

Aesendal turned his palm over and the ball of light bounced into the opening. I gave Aesendal a quizzical look.

“Why did you need a torch at the cliff?” I asked him.

“I didn’t want to waste a spell.” He said simply. “Besides, your donkey carries all the remaining torches. No one thought to bring any more along. And he’s still waiting for us by the cliff.”

“Another mistake.” I thought. Hu Li will surely hold that against Lilian as well. We’ll all hear about it the entire way back to Goldfire Glen, I was sure of it.

Gabriel was the first to slip into the opening. Lilian followed. Talon went next, followed closely by Shale and Aesendal. I looked back at Hu Li who despondently shrugged his shoulders, shook his head and dropped down past me. I was right behind him.

Lit by Aesendal’s glowing arcane sphere of light was a small chamber, no more than twenty feet by twenty feet. In its center was a great stone rectangular altar. Beside it stood a four foot pedestal topped with a flat plate about the size of a birdbath. Clearly this was a temple.

The others stood aside when I entered, given that I was a priest and was assumed to be the expert on such things.

“What is that pedestal for?” Lilian asked me. I moved up to it. The round plate was perfectly smooth and round. Crafted with great care, but not much flourish. I let out a sudden gasp. It was a pure reaction.

I spotted Hu Li jumping out of the corner of my eye.

“Don’t do that!” He hissed.

“What is it?” Shale asked. “What do you see?”

What startled me was a thin line of silver powder that rounded the entire rim of the plate. One small portion of the otherwise perfect circle of silver had been brushed away. I recalled from my unauthorized studies ways to cage extra-dimensional beings using such methods, but, as this find proved, the cages were fragile at best. A strong enough wind could break the bond.

I looked over at Hu Li who was pressed up against a wall. I barely had the heart to say what I must, as he was clearly distraught enough as it was, but they needed to know.

“Something was kept here.” I said. I could feel the sharp swallows and rising tensions of the group behind me. “Was. This line here is silver powder. It is used in a ritual to bar the path of creatures summoned or conjured from other planes. Devils and demons and their ilk. It can also be reversed as well, in order to encage said fiends, so long as the circle remains unbroken. However this circle has been… disturbed. Whatever was kept here has escaped.”

“So, we have some errant demon gallivanting about the country side!” Said Hu Li. “This day just keeps getting better and better!”

“The pedestal is rather small.” I said in a pitiful attempt to soothe nerves. “The creature was most likely an imp or a quasit or something like that. Perhaps a mephit. They are mostly harmless.”

“Mostly?” Snapped Hu Li. “What ratio of harmless would that be exactly, most learned priest?”

“Evora!” Shale called from the altar. “Do you know what this says?” I moved over to him. Carved into the stone of the altar were strange runes. They slashed and curled into the stone like great gashes. The letters were foreign to me.

“I do not know what language this is.” I told Shale.

“Hu Li!” Shale said. “Can you read this?”

Hu Li pressed himself further up against a wall. His eyes darted to the entrance and back to the altar.

“Hu Li.” Lilian commanded. “Help them. See if you can decipher that writing.”
The wizard’s stark features softened a wisp when his glare met Lilian’s. His shoulders slumped like a punished child and he detached himself from the wall and sauntered over to the altar. When his gaze met the writing he recoiled.

“It is draconic!” He said.

“And?” said Aesendal. “That is the language of magic. Why the dramatics?”

Hu Li continued to read. He shook his head. His eyes slammed shut. He held his hands to his ears and went down on one knee.

“Oh, for Canaan’s sake!” said Gabriel. “What does it say?”

“We must leave!” Hu Li insisted. “Now. This place was not meant to be disturbed! We must leave, now!”

Hu Li ran for the entrance. He scurried up the short dirt hill and vanished beyond.

“Hey.” Said Talon. “I found a doorway over here.” He was standing in the small space between the pedestal and the altar. His hands were pressed up against the wall.

“I think I can manage to push it open, with some help.”

Outside, Hu Li was heard screaming.

Lilian was the first out. Gabriel and Shale were right behind her. Aesendal and I scampered through the entrance within seconds of each other. When I cleared the entrance I could make out what Hu Li was shouting.

“FOOLS! DO YOU ALL WANT TO DIE? WHY DO WE STAY? I TOLD YOU! WE ALL MUST LEAVE NOW! WHAT IS BURIED THERE WISHES TO REMAIN…”

He stopped and covered his mouth with both hands.

“Idiot, Hu Li. Idiot!” I heard him muttering.

Lilian, breathless, caught up to him. She placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Hu Li, please. What is there? What was that altar?”

He clamped his lips down under his teeth and shook his head.

“Just tell us.” Commanded Gabriel, who stood behind his sister. “I grow tired of your outbursts.”

We all gathered around him. He shot us each a terrified glare. Talon had emerged from the chamber and joined the rest of us.

Hu Li remained insistent.

“We must leave here now. I must return to my master. I must return to Balian. He will know what to make of this.”

“Tell us now! What was written on the altar, Jordan?” Gabriel shouted.

“That is the ACOLYTE HU LI!! And it was NO ALTAR! IT WAS A COFFIN!”

The shaken arcanist slapped his hands over his mouth again, shook his head and said no more. He swiftly stomped back in the direction of the now walking, but bound Jazzad.

 

[Canaan]

Interlude: Veshra's Message

Hail to the Axis of Annihilation! The Darkest Night is nigh! Preparations for the unholy ritual are nearly complete. Even now, our unwitting dupes, the Orcus priest, his dark champion and their Aquan concubine travel to Goldfire Glen. The unsuspecting Canaanite fools, on their damnable journey to collect the Enlightened Child, have by now, surely been slain.

Canaan is dead! Long live the Master!

Canaan thought himself clever to conceal His incarnation in that forgettable hamlet, Goldfire Glen. Perhaps He considered its proximity to the shadow of that unctuous withered old fart, Balian the Ever-Watchful. Hah! His powers and influence have surely atrophied over the last century, and the success of my plan shall prove it!

The streets of Goldfire Glen shall become a river of blood and despair! Their temples shall collapse and shatter along side the bones of His ghastly Inquisitors, arrogant Justicars and all His meek, innocent, foolish worshippers. Blind they are, and blind they shall forever be!

The Light of the Great Thief, Canaan, shall at long last fade beyond memory and Turgos, His most precious creation, shall be no more!

By the time those Orcus worshipping fools discover that they have been deceived, it will be much too late. My Master, having fed on the soul of the
Canaan's next mortal incarnation, will rise, again! Canaan. What a fool! A child! A child! It is too easy! Ha!

Glory to the Chthonic Alliance!

All is going as planned!

I will admit, however, that the appearance of the succubus Caladriel troubles me. I cannot fathom why one such as her freed one such as me. She claimed to be bound to do a mortal's bidding and in that service freed me, but refused to divulge who that mortal was. Something about her wasn't quite right. Her demeanor was not one of servant or slave. She seemed far too, well, happy to be trapped on this horrendous plane. I suppose she could be the mortal's concubine and serves willingly only to corrupt his soul for her abyssal magnate and take it to her lord on his death.

Still. I cannot shake the feeling that her true role in this has yet to be revealed. I suspect she is a spy. But for whom? Orcus? Is he wary of a plan? Is his enmity toward my master still fresh as it was a century ago? Unfortunately, as cut off as I am here in
this detestable world, I have no means of ascertaining her loyalties and allegiances.
So for now, I must put it out of my head. I must not jeopardize my Master’s
return.

My plan is brilliant! It is pure diabolical perfection! I am destined for infamy! Even the great Bel himself will bow before me! The Orcus worshippers will reap all the fury and none will know of my Master's return until his glorious ascension is complete.

I must take care, however. Even now forces are moving against me. I must remain vigilant. Urgency is of the essence.

It was only by instinct that I discovered that mortal ranger hiding out, watching, as Caladriel freed me. I couldn't possibly imagine the damage he could have done had he successfully relayed that information to the Canaanites. He is of no consequence now. Mad as a Slaad, he is, thanks to those delirium-inducing mushrooms growing in my Master's sepulcher. I have no knowledge as to when or how they came to be. They certainly were not there when the cairn was raised and I was imprisoned. I am not altogether certain that they are even of this world.

Perhaps they were a fancy of that cur Balian; wretched creature. But for his meddling, my Master would be ascendant now. He is our most tenacious and powerful enemy. I must take care not to alert him to my activity or all is lost.

 

[Canaan]

Chapter 7: Balian's Tower

I hurried to catch up with Hu Li. He had stepped up to Jazzad, who was pacing excitedly, the veins in his exposed arms bloated with effort as his muscles fought to tear his wrists free of the belts that bound them. The Ranger’s whole face was twisted in a feral grimace. Foam and spittle oozed down his chin, neck and bare chest.

“Domiere.” Hu Li lazily uttered as he passed Jazzad. The Ranger’s legs buckled, his eyes rolled back and he fell to the ground, again, out cold.

I finally caught up with him.

“Hu Li.” I said, wheezing from the effort of running. He shot an irritated glare at me. “I wanted to tell you, I agree with you. We are outmatched by whatever…”

“Good!” he said, curtly cutting me off. “You are wise, as a priest should be. Let’s be off then.”

“And.,.” I began, but thoughts began to clumsily topple over one another in my head. I stood there, sputtering for a moment. Hu Li watched me, encased in a posture mixed with bemusement and impatience.

“Well?” He said, reminiscent of a town guard who had been dealing with a drunkard. “Spit it out, then.”

I gave a quick look back over my shoulder and spotted the others closing in. They were still out of earshot, or at least I hoped they were. I quickly turned back to Hu Li.

“I would like an audience with your Master, Balian. A private one. If you could arrange it.”

“Hu Li!” I heard Gabriel shout. “We have all agreed. You are correct. We should take Jazzad back to Menion. Our mission here is done.”

Hu Li ignored the tallow haired monk. His eyes stabbed at me. They went from shock, to dubiousness, to a hint of jealously, and ultimately ending on something I interrupted as akin to victory.

I shuddered.

“I believe that can be arranged.” His shrill voice purred.

Gabriel and Talon glided up to us. Jazzad’s dog, who had been sleeping, suddenly awoke and sprang past us, bolting for Shale.

The two monks looked down at the sleeping ranger.

“Still out?” Asked Gabriel, somewhat surprised.

“Yes. Thanks to me.” Answered Hu Li with more than a little pride.

Talon sighed. He and Gabriel lifted the ranger up over their shoulders as the remainder of the band joined us.

“How many days back to Goldfire Glen is it?” asked Gabriel.

“Several.” Lilian responded.

“Hu Li, you have the power to keep him asleep the whole time?” I asked.

“Well, no.” Hu Li answered, with a hint of embarrassment. “Only a few moments each day. We will have to find some alternative methods of keeping him sedated.”

“I think I will be able to handle that.” Talon said.

No one questioned him. In silence, we turned back east, back toward Auros. Back toward the Granite Bridge and Farmer Jed’s. Back toward civilization. I will admit, I was much relieved to be finally leaving what I had grown to feel was a beautiful, but awful place.

“One moment.” We heard Shale say.

“We have no moments to spare, druid!” Cracked Hu Li.

Shale had knelt down. He was tracing his hand over some trampled grass.

“Tracks.” He said. “Footprints. They appear to be goblins.”

“Good!” Said Hu Li. “Then we can avoid them.”

But his voice betrayed a dread that there would be nothing of the kind. Shale led the charge, Jazzad’s dog at his heels, while Lilian, Aesendal, Talon, Gabriel, Hu Li and finally myself followed the goblins’ trail.

Jazzad had begun to stir. Talon, who was grasping the ranger’s upper torso as Gabriel held onto the legs, deftly reached up to Jazzad’s neck. He gently pressed two of his fingers against the side of the neck, near the shoulder. Jazzad let out a sigh and stopped stirring.

Up ahead, Shale yelped. Something scurried through the tall grass. Shale was holding onto the side of his neck. I could see a thin needle protruding from betwixt the druid’s fingers.

Lilian ran up to him. She pulled the needle out and placed her hand on the wound.

Aesendal ran past both of them, intent on hunting down whatever was moving through the grass. Talon held onto Jazzad as Gabriel let go of the ranger’s legs and sprang after the sorcerer.

I moved up to Shale. Lilian may have healed the wound with her touch, but the scab around was beginning to bubble. Shale reached a hand up to scratch it. I held up my hand to block him.

“What is it?” He asked me.

“I believe you have been poisoned.” I said.

Shale nodded. He looked to Lilian, and then to me.

“We must get out of here.” Lilian said.

There was a hiss and a flash of green light. I could make out the outline of a translucent, glowing arrow sailing over the tops of the grass. It caught the small frame of a goblin who had suddenly leapt above the ceiling of the grass, its body flat, as if diving.

Aesendal’s hand was outstretched, a fading green glow surrounding it.

“Got you!” he shouted.

Gabriel ran forward to where the goblin fell. He stopped and turned back to us. He held up a finger to his lips and signaled all of us to get down.

We obeyed. Lilian, Shale and I crawled forward. Moments later we met Gabriel and Aesendal who were both pushing aside some of the tall grass and peering out to what lay beyond.

Talon and Hu Li stayed behind, keeping watch over Jazzad.

“There is a village of some kind down in the gorge.” Aesendal whispered. “Small mud huts surrounding a wood pillar.”

“It’s the goblin’s home.” Shale said. He gritted his teeth and winced. We all looked to him.

“I am fine.” He said with some effort. “The poison is only making me a little dizzy.”

“We need to go.” Lilian said. “We are in no condition to deal with a whole goblin village.”

No one disagreed.

“As much as I hate to admit it,” Gabriel added. “Jordan is right. With everything that is happening, we need Balian’s counsel.”

We hurried back to the dark, guano strewn cave. The darkmantle corpse had begun to rot. With much relief we found our rope still tied to the pit where we originally climbed down. With an even greater relief, my donkey at the top of the cliff, was still there. He had barely moved. Not a pinch of the supplies he carried on his back had been molested. Talon and Gabriel tied the slumbering Jazzad to the donkey’s saddle.

The next few days went by in a blur. We barely stopped moving. We slept for only an hour at a rest. Prayers and morning rituals, even Hu Li’s necessity for study went ignored in the name of haste.

Jazzad was kept sedated by Talon’s skillful touch. Shale’s condition stabilized. His eyes would mist over now and again, but he showed no signs of deterioration.

We swept over the Granite Bridge, each, in turn, keeping to the tradition of discarding a pinch of salt for the spirit that legend claimed haunted there.

Within an hour of passing the bridge, we smelled smoke. Acrid gray clouds hung bloated above the trees before us. Gabriel and Talon surged forward. Lilian and Aesendal followed.
The smoke was rising from directly over Farmer Jed’s.

Beyond exhausted, I felt Canaan’s presence around me. His power gave me strength, conviction and hope. Fatigue vanished. I clutched my mace and with a shout sprang ahead.

Within moments I came onto another chaotic battle. Goblins, bearing chipped short blades and stone axes, hoarded around Farmer Jed’s cottage. Some were on the roof. Some were at the doors and windows, hacking at the thresholds with their axes. Lilian had felled many by the time I arrived, and she found herself surrounded.

Talon and Gabriel were busy breaking through the goblins’ ranks, clearing a path to the cottage door.

Aesendal took in a deep, chest inflating breath and instantly let it out. A stream of acid, the color of moldy bread, geysered from his open maw and bathed the goblins on the roof. They howled with pain and plummeted to the ground, their flesh eaten away.

I gave a shout and ran up to aid Lilian. At my cry and charge, a few of the goblins fled, but she was still greatly outnumbered. I clinched my mace and slammed it down on the head of the first goblin that I could reach.

Its skull cracked like a robin’s egg and leaked out blood, bone and gore. Lilian’s blade slashed through the marauders. Her eyes were fixed, bloodshot and despite all the traveling and the lack of sleep, full of power.

Within moments the sound of battle melted into the fading whoops and cries of the fleeing goblins. Talon and Gabriel had cut down many with their uncanny martial mastery. Aesendal was at the door, calling out to Farmer Jed and his family.

The door swung open. The old farmer emerged with a pitchfork clutched in his white knuckled hands.

“They came out of nowhere.” He said, trembling. “We thought we were done for. How may I ever repay you?”

“I need two horses.” Answered Lilian.

Without a word, Farmer Jed unbridled his cart horse and released another horse from the mill.

Soon after, Lilian and Shale were off, riding with all the might their horses could muster for Goldfire Glen. Jazzad was tethered to Shale’s saddle. We had agreed to rendezvous outside Goldfire Glen in two days time. We needed rest and recuperation.

Aesendal, Talon, Gabriel and even Hu Li all pitched in with gathering the goblin’s bodies in a big heap behind his farm. Farmer Jed splashed pitch on the fire and set it aflame.

The grateful, provincial man opened his home to us. We dined on succulent boar meat. His lovely family soothed our bruises with sweet smelling salves and stinging hot, but calming teas. I fell asleep to a lullaby sang by Jed’s daughter.

The following morning I awoke early to pray. I moved to a secluded spot east of the farm to catch the first rays of the sun as it rose.

I was halfway to an old, comfortable looking stump of a tree when I tripped over something.

“Please, master! I have had my fill of the tentacle room!”

It was unmistakably Hu Li’s high pitched voice. I looked down to see my foot had caught his side. He woke with a shudder.

“Master?!” He blinked, looked around and spotted me staring at him. “Oh, it’s you.” He said.

“Why are you sleeping outside?” I asked.

Hu Li got to his feet, brushed off the wet grass and dirt from his white robes and grumbled.

“That fool farmer. I spooked him, I suppose and he banished me from his home.”

“What did you do, Hu Li?”

“I…” he began “… managed, when no one was looking to procure one of the heads of the fallen goblins. I secured it to one of the farmer’s pitchforks in his barn.”

My morning stomach churned. Whatever compassion I had for the wizard’s sleeping arrangements vanished with the story he told.

“And, given my limited knowledge of nature of death, I attempted to communicate with the newly deceased goblin’s spirit. To do so, I needed his head. It’s quite simple, really. A standard, quite common procedure, really.”

“Did it work?” I asked, secretly horrified by my curiosity.

Hu Li’s eyes fell to the floor.

“No.” He admitted with derision. “But it would have if that idiot had not interfered. No matter. I want to be off. Be quick with your morning ritual, priest. Time is of the essence!”

He stomped off.

At the sun’s zenith on the following day, we reunited with Lilian. Shale was not with her.

“He is resting with your master, Talon.” She told us. Her voice and face were lit with some inner glow, some aura of sheer happiness that I had never seen in her. I first thought it may have been the result of a good night sleep on a proper bed, but even her brother saw the change in her.

“Lilian.” He asked. “What has happened? You seem… blissful.”

“I will tell you later. We must be off to Balian’s.” she said.

“Is it news of our parents?” Gabriel pushed.

“No, but it is joyous news, to be sure. I will tell you all after we visit Balian’s. I wish to know if his counsel will reflect the news I have just heard.”

Talon and Aesendal stayed behind in Goldfire Glen. Aesendal wanted to check in on the Feisty Fox and Talon thought it was best to aid his master is watching over Shale.

We left Lilian to her enigma and all traveled south, back to Balian’s twisted, moss ridden tower.

By noon the following day, it came into view. Hu Li sprang forward.

“Master!” He was shouting with glee. “I have returned!”

Old fears crept back. I recalled the ill feelings that tower cast upon me the last time I entered its shadows.

The stench of dung and rotting plants pummeled my nostrils and snaked down my throat. I swallowed the urge to gag. I was comforted to see, when I turned to the others, that they too we overcome with the sting of the noxious odors. Hands clasped over noses and mouths. Heads turned away from the wind.

I heard the angry quacking of the ducks that called the tower’s moat their home. The quacks were soon joined by the creaking of the massive drawbridge being lowered to greet Hu Li who was at the edge of the moat, shouting and gesticulating madly.

“We are here.” Said Gabriel, gravely.

“Yes.” His sister answered. “I certainly hope this was the right thing to do.”

Hu Li scrambled onto the drawbridge before it had completely lowered. He ran through the raised portcullis and vanished within. His voice echoed from the darkness.

“Master! My master! I have returned! I bring guests! I bring news! News most urgent! Most foul! You’ll love it!”

We crossed the lowered bridge. I was surprised and even a bit delighted to discover that the dread that greeted me on my last visit to the tower had yet to manifest itself.

Gabriel, Lilian and I entered the tower. We all came to a sudden stop when we heard a booming, high-pitched, rancorous voice bellow.

“APPRENTICE!” it said. “COME QUICK! MY SORES ARE IN DIRE NEED OF A GOOD LICKING!”

We all looked at each other. Lilian’s words came instantly back to me.

“I certainly hope this was the right thing to do.”

In that moment I certainly shared her trepidation.

 

[Canaan]

Chapter 8: Balian

Lilian, Gabriel and I stood motionless under the darkness of the threshold to Balian’s Tower for an interminably long time. When she recalled this moment, Lilian admitted with deep humility and regret that she allowed fear to seize her. If, she told me, a little darkness and the eccentricities of an old man filled her with such a paralyzing dread, how would she fare against a genuine threat? She told me she had felt cowardly. I reassured her that courage is not the absence of fear, but the subjugation of fear.

The moment we stepped into the foyer, our fears were duly caged.

Lit candles held in brass sconces the shape of writhing serpents illuminated a rug strewn stone staircase. I heard a labored scraping coming from the archway that yawned just beyond the landing at the top of the stairs.

Gabriel strode ahead of us, bounding up the stairs.

“Jordan?” He called. “Is everything alright?”

Lilian sprang up next to her brother and I followed behind. Gabriel stopped just shy of the landing as a small, hunched over figure emerged from the shadows behind the archway.

It was unlike any creature I had ever seen. Its head was as round as a pumpkin. A bloated nose grew from its pinched, jowly face like an egg-shaped boil. Its eyes were all but submerged under loose draperies of grey skin. The mouth hung in a permanent frown, weighed down by waves of heavy flesh.

Its hands dragged along the stone floor, rendering the knuckles into splintering mounds of white calluses.

A bulbous belly sank over stout, dumpy legs.

All told, it stood maybe three feet tall. Dressed in blue and purple fineries as fitted its station as the tower’s yeoman, it greeted us with a sigh and an exhausted, simple… “Welcome to the Tower of Balian, the Everwatchful. I am Orolde, the Master’s Caretaker. I have been instructed to show you to your rooms.”

“That is not necessary.” Gabriel said. “Where is Jordan?”

One of Orolde’s eyes popped out from under the folds of skin. It gazed at Gabriel, confused.

“The Acolyte Hu Li.” Lilian corrected for Gabriel.

“Ah.” The servant answered with a sigh. “He is with the Master, performing his apprentice duties. They must not be disturbed. Please, follow me.”

Gabriel stepped up to the little creature, clearly in a mind to bully, but I took hold of his shoulder.

“Gabriel, please.” I whispered. “I too am far from comfortable here. But this is the man’s home. We must not be rude.”

Gabriel gave me a sidelong glance. His features did not soften a wisp, but after a moment, he silently nodded and allowed the little creature to lead us down the corridor.

The ceiling was arched, like a cathedral’s. Great candelabras hung from invisible hooks above us, lighting our way. The air was stale and smelled of wax, but it was warm and free from the biting winds we had endured for the past week.

“What manner of being are you?” I heard Lilian ask Orolde. Her voice echoed, bouncing about the austere hallway.

“What?” Answered Orolde, betraying an insult. “I am a gnome! You mean to say that you have never seen a gnome before?”

“I am afraid not.” Humbly retorted Lilian. “I meant no insult. I was merely curious.”

Orolde said no more. He led us up a steep set of stairs and passed another yawning archway. The short hall was lit with a single candle at the far end. The tiny flame gave off enough light to brighten the whole alcove. Two black iron reinforced wooden doors stood on either wall.

Curious of the candle, I stepped up to it. I put my hand over the flame.

“Stop!” commanded Orolde. “Touch nothing!”

“Amazing.” I said. No heat emanated from the flame. It was as warm as the rest of the halls. I turned back to the others, a smile smeared on my face. I wiped it away when I met Gabriel, Lilian and Orolde’s shocked glares.

“Forgive me.” I muttered and, eyes cast to the floor, rejoined them.

“These are your rooms. The Master cares not which ones you choose. Dinner will be served in the main hall in two hours. Please, do not be late.”

With that, the gnome turned and wobbled back down the staircase. Lilian called out to him.

“We do not intend to stay long.” She said.

“The extent of your stay is solely at the discretion of the Master.” Answered Orolde, as if by rote.

“We are prisoners then?” Fumed Gabriel.

“You are guests of the Master.” Said Orolde, flatly.

I turned to Gabriel.

“Calm yourself, Gabriel.” I told him. “This Balian is strange, to be sure, but I sense no evil intent.”

“Neither do I.” Lilian added. “I do not believe we are in any danger here.”

“Fine.” Bit Gabriel. “But I refuse to stay a moment longer than needed. We endure the counsel of this… madman, and then we’re off.”

Two hours later, we had gathered in the great hall for dinner. A solitary long rectangular table, festooned with an ivory white cloth and sparkling silverware, awaited us. Large golden discs, smothered in succulent meats, piles of fruit and steaming breads covered the table. Jewel laden lead goblets were filled with honey wine. A high back, cushioned bronze chair, encrusted with elegant, colorful jewels was placed at the head of the table.

Orolde scampered around the table as we entered, straightening the place settings and measuring the height of the piles of fruit.

“Can’t be too high.” We heard him muttering to himself. “Master says all it takes is a quarter of an inch to go from glorious to garish.”

Upon seeing us, Orolde bowed low, his bulbous head scratching across the floor with a stony scrape and he left without a word.

The three of us sat down and a moment later a tall, narrow door at the far end of the hall swung open. Hu Li emerged, gave us all a quick nod and cursory look, and hastily sat down at a chair closest to the far end.

The tall door remained open. All eyes were turned to it. We sat transfixed, staring that the heavy shadows that loomed beyond the narrow threshold.

“Hello.”

The sharp voice snapped us out of our trance and we all jumped. It came from the door we entered. We all turned to see an eerily gaunt, towering figure, drowned in layered gray robes standing under the archway. He stood easily a head and shoulder above even Hu Li. His flesh was almost chalky in complexion and pulled tight against his skull and hands, the only parts of his body that escaped from under his attire.

He stood at the door way, leaning on a twisted staff, giving us what I can only assume was a welcoming smile. His thin lips were pulled to the side of one cheek, curled into rivulets that appeared almost painful.

“You, of course, know who I am. So, I need not introduce myself. I, on the other hand, have no clue as to who any of you are.”

His eyes first landed on Lilian’s fair frame.

She stood and bowed.

“I am Lilian Evenshire. Champion of Canaan in service to Goldfire Glen.”

“Canaan!” Balian said, his smile broadening. “Good! Right jolly fellow, if you ask me. Quite agreeable when you get Him in the right mood, as far as deities go. His followers can be another breed of beast entirely, though.”

All eyes went to me. Hu Li stifled a laugh.

Balian slowly crept over to the end of the table. Gabriel introduced himself, but Balian ignored him.

As he passed, I swallowed an urge to gasp. I saw that his heavy robes did not entirely cover everything after all. His back was exposed. Eight ghastly round wounds that perpetually leaked yellow and dead green viscous broke his powdery flesh. The wizard must have sensed my reaction, for he turned his head back, glaring at me.

“And who are you?” He spat. I sputtered out some incomprehensible reply.

Strange, I thought, after counseling Lilian and Gabriel on their behavior, that I should be so affected by this man’s presence. Strange, too, that I never felt flustered or at a loss for dignity when I faced down those stern, impassive glares of the Curia.

Balian’s affect on me was instantaneous. I tremble as I write these words, for they border on blasphemy, but I cannot bring myself to water down any truths.

Had he asked me, I would have worshipped this man.

His eyes lowered to the Canaan Cross I bore.

“Ah, forgive me, Priest. I did not realize my apprentice brought in one of Canaan’s earthly denizens.”

“No offense taken.” I answered. “Master Balian, believe me, I understand from where you speak.”

His eyes narrowed, but not with displeasure. In that moment it was as if he considered who and what I was, and was satisfied that he needed to learn no more. He sat at the tall back chair at the head of the table.

“I could help you with those sores, Master Balian.” I said.

Hu Li’s eyes widened. Lilian and Gabriel gave each other a quick glance, suppressing smiles.

“Help me?” Balian retorted. “You mean heal them? Why on Turgos would I want you to heal them? They are mine!”

I looked away from Balian, my face flushing. I had offended him. I had offended my Master, I heard myself thinking. What had come over me? Did I indeed intend to be tutored by this shriveled husk of a man? What had he instilled in me in this initial, informal meeting? I began to silently, internally pray to Canaan for guidance and succor.

So distracted, I missed most of the conversation over the meal.

Hu Li had finally divulged what was written on the sarcophagus under the stature of Graz’zt:

“Here lies the condemned diabolist Kharas’Vhoories. His crimes are as innumerable as the stars. Let no one disturb this place under the penalty of death and eternal suffering in the world beyond.”

Kharas’Vhorries, Balian explained to us, was a powerful devil worshipping wizard who Balian was instrumental in defeating a century ago.

Something did not add up for me. Above the tomb was a statue of Graz’zt, a Demon Lord. Demons and Devils, as I learned in the nights I indulged such forbidden knowledge, are bitter, eternal rivals. They never commingled in a theosophical sense.

“Yes.” Slithered Balian when I brought up the anomaly. “I placed that statue there.” He said with a slight, unnerving laugh in his voice. “As a joke. Do you like?”

“Oh, most clever, Master.” Hu Li sycophantically bloated.

Lilian, myself and Gabriel were at a loss.

“I am not following you.” Lilian said.

“Oh, well, you see, Kharas’Vhoories was in all appearances a worshipper of Orcus. But he only gave lip service to the Demon Lord of the Undead. His true allegiance was with the Devil Princes of Hell. They granted him his immortal servant, the detestable imp, Veshra.”

“Veshra?” Lilian asked. “What is Veshra?”

“The imp!” Balian said, with a growing irritation. “On the pillar, held by the circle of silver powder. I am sure it tried to lure you into releasing it. Appeared as a little girl in tatters, begging for your mercy. Bah!”

“The circle had been disturbed.” I said. “It was broken. There was no imp. It was released before we arrived.”

“WHAT?!” Thundered Balian. His glare daggered into Hu Li who sunk into his chair. “AND YOU DID NOT FEEL THE NEED TO TELL ME THIS, APPRENTICE?”

“I was getting around to it, Master.” Hu Li squealed.

“Well, this changes everything!” The wizard said. “Eat your dinner and be off. You must return to the Wildlands and find Veshra. You must destroy its mortal coil and send its soul back to the Nine Hells from which it came.”

“We dare not go back into the Wildlands without Shale. He was our guide.” Gabriel protested.

“Where is this Shale now?” Balian impatiently demanded.

“Recovering in Goldfire Glen, from a poisoned dart, shot by a goblin.” Lilian said.

“You have no choice but to go without him. The four of you will have to suffice. Time is of the essence. Stick to the path this Shale forged for you. Find Veshra and destroy her. Apprentice!” Balian grabbed Hu Li by the shoulder.

“You are to come with me. You need to be disciplined.”

“Of course, Master.” Hu Li sputtered.

“I shall return him to you in an hour. Then, you must be off!” Balian ordered as he dragged Hu Li out past the tall narrow door at the far side of the hall.

Gabriel stood and took a step to follow, but Lilian came about the table and blocked him.

“I cannot just stand by and let this… thing… torment my friend like that.” Gabriel spouted.

“What we need to worry ourselves with now is that there is a powerful fiend on the loose in our land. Have faith, brother. Canaan has brought us to this juncture for a reason…”

“Do not preach at me, sister!” Spat Gabriel. “How do we even know Balian is telling us the truth? What if he just wants us to march off to our deaths as some sick joke?”

“We have no choice but to believe him. I sense no evil in him.”

“So. Now, only the evil can lie?” Gabriel said.

“Sit, Gabriel.” She answered soothingly. “Eat. We will all be in need of your strength for this.”

Gabriel looked across the table covered as it was with such opulence. He scowled.

“I have lost my appetite.”

With that he stormed off.

 

[Canaan]

Chapter 9: Balian's Mark

Lilian hurriedly trailed her brother. I chose to lag behind. So consumed with calming her brother, she entirely forgot about me. I waited under the archway that bordered the great hall until I could no longer hear the echoes of either of their footsteps.

I stood there half cast in the shadow of the archway for a long moment. The decision I should have made was in direct opposition to the decision I longed to make; the decision, as fate would bind me, which I had no choice but to make.

I turned and faced the tall, narrow doorway on the far side of the hall. It had been left ajar. The small crack through which I could see the corridor beyond called to me with the irresistibly potent songs of the mythical Sirens. Though as you will see a bit later in this tale, the Sirens are not as mythical as I had once thought. But I digress.

I could just make out a black iron banister and the steps of a downward staircase. I muttered a quick prayer to Canaan and pushed myself past the long dining table, past Balian’s throne-like chair and through the doorway. I did not stop until I had come to the bottom of the staircase and was at another door. Like the other, this one was also ajar. I thanked Canaan for that, because it was constructed entirely from a solid slab of some black metal, much deeper and richer than common iron. Had it been closed, even unlocked, I doubted very highly that my meager physical potency would have been adequate to pull the door open.

I could hear Balian on the other side, though I could not see him.

“There” He said. “When the wick melts down to the next line of the candle, the tentacles shall recoil back. Immediately return to your friends. Lead them back into the Wildlands and find and destroy Veshra. Do not fail in this. Let this discomfort be a reminder of the importance of your task. Veshra is a most heinous of evils and cannot be allowed to run amok, whither and thither!”

I heard Hu Li give an incomprehensible, muffled reply, followed immediately by the sound of a door squeaking shut.

Balian stepped into view. He moved to a wooden table in the middle of the small room. It was covered with papers, scrolls, bottles stained with residue, and several bare quills whose feathers had long since sprinkled away. A leather bound book was clutched in his boney hand. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but I could have sworn I saw a bas relief image on its cover of a man screaming, his eyes closed tight and ropey flesh of his face burned away. I shook my head trying to remove the image.

He sat at the table and opened the book. I held my breath and squeezed my way through the opening. Balian made no indication that he had any notice of my presence.
He had opened the book to the front page. It was written in Draconic, the language of dragons, and magic. I had learned to both speak and read this tongue during my dalliances into lore judged heretical by the Curia. The title of the page read:

The Book of Abu-Abai



Concerning the rituals to summon and bind the entity provincially referred to as “The Horror.”​

The book suddenly slammed shut.

“I do not suffer snoopers lightly.” Snarled Balian who was suddenly gone from behind the desk and standing behind me.

The whites of his eyes were like the surface of a frozen lake, holding me in my spot.

“Forgive me.” I sputtered. “I only wished to have a word with you.”

“No.” He answered accurately. “You wish to have several. Hu Li spoke to me of you. He told me you wanted an audience.”

“Yes.” I said, trying to gather my wits about me to speak clearly enough. My eyes drifted over to the wall from which I heard Balian speaking to Hu Li and closing the door. It was a solid wooden door, reinforced with iron bands. At head level was bolted a circular crest etched with an icon of writhing tentacles.

“Well, then…” Balian huffed, returning to his desk. “Get on with it. I have things to do. What do you want?”

“I wish to learn the arcane arts.” I said. “From you.”

“You’re offering to become my apprentice?” He asked, his eyes narrowing with curiosity and delight. “

“I am.”

“Which school? Conjuration? Evocation? Transmutation?”

I had not, up to that moment, given such a question any thought.

“All of them.” I said, not fully understanding what that meant.

“Interesting. Quite hungry for power, aren’t we?” Balian cooed.

“I seek only knowledge.” I said, not entirely convinced I was telling the truth.

“I was never one for splitting semantic hairs.”

He moved closer to me, his tall, gaunt frame looming over me. He took my chin in one hand and examined my face, in particular my eyes. His eyes glazed over for a moment.

“Yes, this specimen will do nicely.” Balian almost whispered, to whom I know not.

Then he held out his other hand and touched my forehead with his finger.

“You’re a good man, Evora Faro, Priest of Canaan. Never let that go.”

I felt a warm tickle slither at the spot he touched.

“There.” Balian said pulling his hand back. “Hu Li’s apprenticeship is near its end. You shall take his place. When you return, your training will begin.”

“Thank you.” I heard myself answering him. Something wriggled in my forehead. I wanted to ask, no, demand, Balian tell me what kind of mystical vermin he had implanted there, but I dared not, for I wished not to upset my new Master. For that is precisely what he was to me at that moment. Canaan was my Lord, my Light, my Life, but Balian was my Teacher.

I bowed low. “Thank you.” I repeated. “Master Balian.”

“Be off with you!” He said. “Hu Li will join you momentarily. I have no doubt you shall prove to be a worthy apprentice. Yes.”

He voice trailed off into a quiet chortle. He sat back down at his desk and reopened the book.

I obeyed his edict and turned about, leaving him to his studies.

I found Lilian just outside the tower, standing on the lowered drawbridge that straddled the deep moat. Bird dung stung the air beside the shrill, angry quacks of the Tower’s ducks.

The Champion of Canaan stood sternly and silently next to her ashen faced brother. They both greeted my arrival with little more than a glance and a nod.

“Where is Jordan?” Gabriel finally asked me after a long silence.

“He is still with Balian.” I answered.

“I’ve had enough of this.” He said, striding past me, and pushing his way past his sister. He strode forward, but was stopped by the emergence of Hu Li, wearing a clean, white robe and employing a slight limp. A smug, satisfied smirk split his face.

“My Master has officially released me to continue our quest. We are off, then, to the Wildlands! Come, my friends! We must make haste!”

He scurried past us. I noticed he had an extra tome tucked under his arm. I immediately recognized it as the book Balian had been studying when I interrupted him. It did indeed have the image of a screaming man on its cover, carved as though it was trying to escape the bounds of the book!

While catching up to Lilian and Gabriel who had joined Hu Li on the far side of the drawbridge, I slipped a reminder to myself in the back of my consciousness to inquire of the young wizard just how he came to acquire such a seemingly precious artifact from his Master. Perhaps Balian had entrusted his apprentice with it. Perhaps the Master believed the tome would aid us on our quest. Perhaps… but a private little imp of doubt nagged at me. It was whispering to me that Hu Li had somehow pilfered it.

Flirting with the ire of an eccentric arch mage did not seem to me the wisest thing to do.

Rejoined, we four headed north, back to Goldfire Glen and the Wildlands.

It was decided that we should stop at the village and look into how Shale was faring. We also thought it prudent to include both Talon and Aesendal in this task. Without the druid’s aid we would need all the strength and power the monk and sorcerer had to offer.

When Balian’s Tower vanished beneath the horizon behind us, Lilian suddenly stiffened. She turned back to me, the same serene smile she wore when we rendezvoused with her at Goldfire Glen days before.

“I forgot to tell you.” She said with a dreamy intensity. “Something has happened to our small village, something… profound.”

She turned to her brother.

“You know Tanner, the merchant, and his wife?

“Yes.” Gabriel said.

“And their son, Tanner, Jr.?”

“Yes. He’s, what, around eight now?”

“Yes.” She answered. “The Curia is sending a delegation from Soliel to collect him.”

Lilian had my complete and undivided attention. I knew what this meant.

Gabriel stared at her.

“Collect him?”

“Father Nimitz told me. He was nearly beside himself.”

“He has good reason to be.” I thought, but I stayed my tongue and let her continue her story.

“It seems Tanner, Jr. has been discovered to be a potential Voice and Will of Canaan.”

“The current Voice and Will is aging.” I said. “The Curia is anxious to find his legatee.”

“And they believe they have found it.” Lilian said, gleaming. “In Goldfire Glen! In our village!”

Gabriel looked away and shook his head.

“The Curia.” He hissed. “In Goldfire Glen. No doubt there will be Inquisitors and Justicars with them.”

“This is glorious news, Gabriel!” Lilian said. She looked to me for support.

“She is right.” I said. “If he is chosen to succeed the Voice and Will, Goldfire Glen will be held in the highest esteem in the Church. Your little village will hold great sway for this.”

“I’m not interested in sway. I’m also not interested in the village. In fact, most in the village don’t even like me.” Gabriel said. “Especially the priests. They all have problems with my… attitude. Whatever they consider that to be. To me, more priests equals more problems. If I am in town when they arrive, I’ll be weathering their visit at the Feisty Fox.”

Lilian stopped and kindly placed a hand on her brother’s shoulder. We both stopped and looked at her. Gabriel held tight to a scowl, despite, or perhaps in answer to, her gentle, serene expression.

“I wish, Gabriel, you could just… let all that anger go.” She said sincerely.

“It gives me purpose.” He said. “And strength.”

“What are we stopping for?” Spat Hu Li, who had strode several paces ahead of us. “Haste! Haste! We must maintain our haste!”

We journeyed on in silence for some time. Hu Li clutched the two tomes under his arm while muttering to himself. He stayed well ahead of us, moving briskly, forcing us to keep up with him.

“I only hope the boy is happy.” Lilian finally said.

“Why wouldn’t he be?” Asked Gabriel.

“He was taken from his parents and placed under the protection of the Church, in order to await the arrival of the delegation in safety and solitude. Surrounded by stuffy old priests and nuns, no matter how doting they may be, cannot be the most pleasant of experiences.”

“Well, I am sure his parents are allowed visitation.” Said Gabriel.

“Normally, yes.” Lilian answered. “But they have left Goldfire Glen. No one is certain why, but they sold their shop and moved away.”

“Sold their shop?” Gabriel said with suspicion. “Sold their shop? Or were they driven out?”

“I don’t know.” Lilian admitted. “I went by their shop to purchase some torches, as well as give his parents my blessing and well wishes, but I was greeted by a most disagreeable Shuuthian man who told me he had purchased the shop from them and that they had moved away. I told him what I needed to purchase, and to my shock, he tried to sell me a clutch of five torches for five full gold pieces. I tried to bargain with him, but he was beyond stubborn. I left and went immediately back to Father Nimitz who corroborated the new shop keeper’s story about the Tanners. He said he helped them load their cart. When I asked him if he knew why they left, he simply shrugged his shoulders and said he did not know. He said they were overjoyed to hear the news about their son, but insisted it was their time to move on, and that was all.”

“Do you think the boy and what has been happening in the Wildlands is at all connected?” Gabriel asked. “Perhaps.” Lilain said. “If so, then the Church is most wise to sequester the boy. He will be quite safe under their care.”

“What of Jazzad?” I asked. “How is he faring?”

Lilian sighed.

“Poor man.” She began. “I left him with the Herbalist Menion, who was very happy we had found him. After my second visit with Father Nimitz, I stopped by Menion’s shop to inquire about Jazzad. Menion told me he had given the ranger something to keep him sedated while he took a sample of his blood for study. Menion said Jazzad was poisoned, but he was not sure how or by what. He asked me if I had seen any strange plants or fungi in or around where we had found him. I admitted we had seen nothing of the kind. Menion said he would try to concoct an antidote from his store of remedies, but he held out little hope.”

“Now that we’re returning to the Wildlands,” Gabriel said. “we should all keep an eye out for any unusual plants or mushrooms, for both Jazzad and Shale. Did you hear that Jordan?”

“That is the Acolyte HU LI! And yes, yes, distinctive flora. Yes, yes. Remedies and antidotes! I get it!” shouted the wizard without so much as turning back to us.

“My worry is that none of us will be able to tell the difference from one flower or weed to another.” Lilian said grimly.

“We’ll do our best.” Said Gabriel. “And that’s all we can do.”

Lilian nodded. We continued northward, quietly keeping pace with Hu Li’s persistence gait.

Gabriel broke the silence, turning to his sister.

“Why didn’t you tell all of this to us earlier?” He asked.

“Balian may have been able to provide some insight into what ails Jazzad.” I added.

“I don’t know.” Lilian sighed. “I suppose my fretfulness with regard to meeting Balian face to face preoccupied me at the expense of all else.”

“Well, that’s understandable.” Her brother said. They both looked at each other and let out a short familial laugh.

Night fell before we had reached Goldfire Glen, forcing us to make camp by the side of the road. Hu Li had been uncharacteristically silent the entire day, staying well ahead of us and ignoring any attempts to include him in our conversations. I agreed to keep first watch over the camp.

Lilian and Gabriel immediately fell into a deep sleep as the last embers of the campfire died off. All was silent, save for two things, the chorus of crickets and the incessant mumblings of Hu Li. He was still awake, sitting cross-legged, his back to me and a small lit lantern at his side.

I moved over to the wizard and saw, peering over his shoulder, a glimpse of the Book of Abu-Abai, opened in his lap. He must have heard me coming, for he, in a manner that perfectly mirrored Balian, slammed the book shut and turned to me.

“Do you mind?” He spat. Gabriel stirred at the noise, but turned to his side and proceeded to quietly snore.

“I saw Balian reading that book back in the Tower.” I said.

“What of it?” Asked Hu Li, clearly suspicious of my suspiciousness.

“What is in it?” I asked.

“Spells. Rituals. Arcane things. Things you could not possibly comprehend.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because you are a Priest of Canaan! And Canaan does not… appreciate arcane lore. Not like the Eyeless Hollow Ones. They feed upon it as a newly hatched fowl feeds on its mother’s vomit.”

“You don’t believe in Canaan, do you?”

“Of course I do! I just have little respect for Him.”

“Unlike your Master. Balian claimed to have communed with Canaan and the way Balian spoke of it, the experience was… most pleasant.”

Hu Li rolled his eyes.

“That was a joke, you fool! Balian has no more communed with Canaan as I have bedded with a harpy! You’re so blind by your faith that you have lost the clarity of mind to recognize when something is said in jest!”

Bile churned up from my stomach into my throat. Hu Li was treading on shaky ground and I was too tired to continue humoring him. I looked down at the book in his lap and quickly changed the subject.

“Why do you have that book?” I asked, trying to sound more curious than accusatory.

I failed.

Hu Li jabbed an icy, dark glare at me. He pulled the tome from his lap and up into his chest.

“Are you implying something, Priest?” He snarled. “Are you implying that I may have… stolen it? That I am no better than a common thief?”

“I am merely asking…”

“Posh!” He interrupted with a sharp click of his lips. “If you must know, it was a gift.” He said coolly. “A… graduation gift from my Master. Yes. In honor of my reaching the 1st Valance. Yes. That’s right. A bit late, perhaps, but that does not spoil my appreciation of it. I am not at all petty when it comes to such things.”

The mark in my head, the one that Balian had implanted there, squirmed.

Neither Hu Li nor I were adept at lying, but I chose not to push the issue and left him to his reading. I returned to the smoky remains of the campfire and sat down next to it, settling in for the remainder of my watch. I silently prayed to Canaan for patience, guidance and wisdom.

Balian’s mark wiggled again. I added a prayer, begging for forgiveness. I was beginning to worry that I had made a horrible error of judgment when I asked to become Balian’s new apprentice.

Balian was not an evil man. Of that I was certain. It was not the mage’s morality that concerned me, it was my own willingness to give in so easily and allow him to brand me thus. I feared my own lust for knowledge and power was already beginning to corrupt me.

I looked back over to Hu Li, who had commenced with his studies. Bent over as he was, clad in his dusty white robes, his back to the camp, his shape, half caste in shadows that danced on the edge of the lantern light, elongated his already lengthy and gangly frame. He appeared to me more as a rabid wolf, selfishly hording his kill, than a human being, thirsty for knowledge and truth.

I had taken the first step in becoming a Theurgic Mystic. I kept that image of Hu Li fresh in my mind, serving as a warning of what I must not allow myself to become.

 

[Canaan]

Chapter 10: Goblins & Mushrooms

We reached the border of Goldfire Glen by the middle of the next day. The final hours of the trip went by in silence. When we arrived the main cobblestone street was alive with activity. White robed Canaan priests were hoisting gold and silver laced flags up roof top poles that looked as if they had not been used in decades. Young, gray-garbed disciples were hastily polishing each pole, cleaning away years of weathering.

A gloriously stitched golden Canaan Cross gleamed in the center of each ivory flag. We soon learned that word had spread about the impending arrival of the delegation from Soliel. Instead of attempting to squelch or limit the rumors, Father Nimitz had wisely chosen to embrace the growing excitement and make ready the village for the historic event.

Scents of fresh baked bread, incense, sausages and beer mixed delightfully and heavily in the air, but yoked as we were with our mission, we had not the time to indulge in any of the town’s giddiness. Not that everyone was overjoyed with the news. I could see the fear which clouded the faces of most of the Green worshipping farmers who trod the busy streets. They knew they would have to make their true devotions discreet under the oppressive glares of the Inquisitors who were about to invade their home. I tried to bestow a compassionate smile when I spotted that look of dread, but it was of little avail, as being a Priest of Canaan myself, my paltry attempt at comforting them, I am sure, only exacerbated their worry.

Lilian and I left Gabriel and Hu Li to gather Aesendal from the Feisty Fox and retrieve Talon from his Master and look in on Shale’s recovery. Lilian and I were to go to the Church of Canaan and request horses to speed our journey. As Lilian was a designated Champion in service of Goldfire Glen, such a request could not be denied.

As the stableman saddled up our mounts, Father Nimitz bound toward us. It was the first time I met this jovial, well fed man. His round, perpetually smiling face glowed from within. He greeted Lilian with a warm hug, then turned to me.

“So, this is Evora Faro.” He said, shaking my hand. “The Lady Evenshire has told me much about you.”

“There isn’t much to say.” I said.

“Nonsense!” He answered with a laugh and hardy, stinging slap on my shoulder. At that moment his eyes met the saddles being tightened on our conscripted horses. He turned to Lilian.

“You have just returned!” He bellowed. “How can you be leaving so soon? The delegation will be here any day now!”

“We have urgent business in the Wildlands.” Lilian said evenly. “Two men suffer from an enigmatic toxin they ingested there and…” she hesitated and looked toward me. I nodded, signaling her that it was best she continued. “We have reason to believe a fiend, a servant of the Adversary, is wreaking havoc somewhere in the midst of the Wildlands.”

“By Canaan!” gasped Nimitz. “What sort of fiend?”

“An imp.” I answered for her. “A familiar of a long dead Diabolist. It had been entombed near the corpse of its master for nearly a century, only to be freed from its bindings by what we do not know.”

Both Father Nimitz and the stableman stared horrified at me for a long, silent moment. Lilian broke the tension.

“So, you see, our mission is both urgent and dire.” She said. “We are to track down and slay this menace before it is too late.”

Father Nimitz nodded and a moment later gave us a hasty blessing. He left us, his terrified, worried look never fully vanishing from his face. The stableman quickly finished securing the saddles to our procured horses and was off with little more than a curt nod.

We had six. One horse for each of us. My donkey was to be stabled, being that he would only slow us down, and we needed to move with all swiftness. Lilian and I tethered the horses together and led them to the Feisty Fox. Aesendal was waiting for us. He was dressed for traveling. He donned a gray cloak that hung over a loose shirt and pants tucked into shin high boots. His hands were sheathed in thick leather gloves. His eyes were somehow brighter than I recalled them, and at certain angles, looked almost reptilian. I decided that fatigue was causing my mind to play tricks on me.

The young sorcerer told us that Gabriel had gone off to retrieve Talon.

“We should purchase our provisions while he’s away.” Aesendal said. Lilian and I agreed. She was also anxious to have others meet the strange Shuuthian who had purchased the shop from Tanner.

Lilian led Aesendal and I to the shop. It was filled with the usual accoutrements associated with long travel and adventuring types. Lanterns, oil, ropes, poles, rolled up blankets, waterskins, torches and bags of dried meats and cheeses. A door on the far end creaked open as we entered. A tall, gaunt, ebony skinned man dressed in a richly colored shirt and plain, dark pants appeared behind the wooden counter near the rear of the store. He scowled at us.

“May I help you?” He said. His voice was touched with a bulky but musical accent. I had never met anyone from Shuuth, and was momentarily shaken by both his appearance and the alien sound of his voice.

“We seek provisions.” Aesendal answered, taking long strides to get closer to the man. I noticed the Shuuthian recoil subtly at the sorcerer’s approach. Lilian and I followed Aesendal.

“Of course.” The shopkeeper said. “I have everything that you need.”

“We need a week’s worth of rations and at least ten torches.” Lilian said, moving in front of Aesendel. Her eyes studied the new shopkeeper with great earnestness.

“Very well.” Said the man. “That will be fifty gold pieces.”

Lilian and I raised an eyebrow. Aesendal leaned forward.

“That’s impossible!” Aesendal retorted. “All told, it should not be more than ten!”

“But that is my price.” The Shuuthian said, his voice cracking with indignity. “If you can find someone else in this village with the same provisions for less, I suggest you go to them. But alas…” He added with an oily grin. “There are no other shops here which specialize in the products you need. I suppose you have little choice. If you do not like it, there is the door. I am a busy man and have no time to deal with your foolishness!”

We decided the higher priority were the torches. If all else failed, we could hunt for our food. Even so, the man charged us twenty gold for ten wooden sticks topped with treated cloth. Aesendal stormed out as I lagged behind with Lilian to pay.

We both nodded to the man respectfully, only to be answered with another scowl.

We left, catching up with a crimson faced Aesendal. Rounding the corner to our right, I spotted Talon, Hu Li and Gabriel. They instantly saw us standing outside the shop and a moment later we were all together.

“The man is evil.” Lilian said in a hushed tone. “He was trying to hide it. His aura was muted somehow, but I could still sense it.”

“How do you know that?” Gabriel asked.

“As a Champion of Canaan, I have the power to sense the presence of true malevolence, to detect evil, if you will. It is a subtle gift, but a very potent and indispensable one. I could feel the man’s traces of evil, of that I have no doubt.”

“What do we do about it?” Gritted Aesendal, his hands balled up into fists.

“Are there laws in the village that pertain to price gouging?” I asked. Lilian shook her head.

“Not any I know of.” She said.

“I don’t like this.” Aesendal said.

“Neither do I.” Gabriel added.

“We should have the guard lock him up.” The sorcerer continued. “Find out why he’s here and what he wants.”

“He is here to make money.” Hu Li snorted. “He wants to make a living. And that is all. He may be rude and overpriced, but that does not make him a villain. We cannot dally here any longer. A ranger and a druid are dying. A true fiend is loose upon the land and it is our duty to stop it!”

“But what if the arrival of this… foreigner… is connected to everything else that’s been happening?” Asked Aesendal.

“We find that out from Veshra.” Lilian said. “Hu Li is right. We need to find the imp and the antidote for Shale and Jazzad first. When we return, we’ll find out more about this new shopkeeper.”

An hour later, we were miles away from Goldfire Glen. Lilian led the way. We were riding at top speed. Chill winds battered us from the east, as we made our way north and west, back toward Farmer Jed’s, back toward the haunted Granite Bridge, and back into the Wildlands. By nightfall, we were already there. Our steeds were exhausted and in the last hour or so of the day, they began to revolt, slowing down, trying to buck us off our saddles, stopping by a puddle of water for a drink, or a clump of grass for a bite.

Well enough into the Wildlands, we all agreed it was time to make camp.

Talon had informed us that both Shale and Jazzad, while not improving, had at least stabilized. They were both being kept sedated by their watchers in order to slow the progression of the mysterious contaminant. Shale was being looked over by Talon’s Master; Menion, the Herbalist, was caring for Jazzad.

After what felt like only an hour’s rest, the sun crept over the Eastern horizon behind us. After Lilian and I finished our morning prayers, Aesendal completed his arcane rituals, Hu Li dispensed of his studies and Talon and Gabriel concluded their meditations and exercises, we all silently climbed into our saddles and rapidly rode west.

Two full days passed unmolested by boar or goblin. As the sun set, casting wide orange and yellow sheets across the landscape, we arrived at the edge of the great rift below which housed Vorhees’s tomb, the swamp and the goblin village.

Leaving our horses tied to a rock at the cliff’s edge, we gathered enough rope to climb down the dark tunnel we traversed a week before. A few hours later, led by Aesendal’s light that glowed around his raised, gloved hand, we were once again in the thick of the marsh lands. The sun had completely set and the black sky was sprinkled with twinkling stars like sugar crystals floating on thick, Shuuthian coffee.

We had little time to take in the splendor of our surroundings, however, as Lilian pushed us toward the dried out ravine, at the bottom of which awaited the goblin village. During our brisk, tiring ride back into the Wildlands we had concluded that the goblin village was the first place to look for both a cure for Shale and Jazzad and to find clues as to the whereabouts of Veshra.

When we arrived at the edge of the ravine, I could smell rancid smoke choking the air. Thick, black rivers of smoke rose above the edge of the ravine, barely visible in the dark night. A sickening, mad war chant broke through the night’s silence.

“They’re preparing for something…” Whispered Gabriel. “We should end this now.”

“One moment.” Lilian crawled to the edge and looked over. A few moments later she returned to us, her face void of color. “Veshra is there, somewhere, I am sure of it. Goblins do not exude the kind of evil I felt, no matter how frenzied they may be.”

“How many are there?” Asked Talon.

“A dozen or so.” Answered Lilian. “Surrounding what appears to be a shaman. He has a large black spider on his shoulder.”

“Talon!” spat Hu Li. “You are our master tactician. How do you suggest we tackle this menace?”

All eyes floated toward Hu Li. Quiet as he had been, his shrill voice suddenly splitting our conference startled me. His assertion that Talon was our tactician only confused me. Spanning the faces of the others I immediately surmised that I was not alone in my confusion.

Talon opened his mouth to speak, but Lilian took control of the moment.

“Hu Li and Aesendal will go to the far west of the village.” She said. “Once there, Hu Li, you will summon your celestial dog while Aesendal, you prestidigitate a distracting light show. The interruption will confound them. The shaman will most likely order his minions to investigate, leaving him open for an assault. Myself, Talon, Gabriel and Evora will deal with the shaman and what is left of his guards. My hope is once we fell their leader, the rest will scatter and whatever wickedness they are intending will be thwarted.”

“And if they do not scatter, my fair lady?” Hissed Hu Li.

“Then we deal with them. As best we can.” Impatiently spat Aesendal, clearly weary of the wizard’s cowardice.

The two arcanists ventured off. The rest of us crept as close to the edge of the village as shadows and terrain allowed. The air was thick with smoke and it took a great effort to fight down my reflex to cough. Mercifully, Aesendal and Hu Li did not disappoint. On the far end of the village, two tall torches exploded into dazzling sparks and pyrotechnic explosions that lit the night sky like lightning. The goblins shouted in terror. As Lilian predicted, the shaman pointed his twisted wooden staff toward the disturbance and most of the goblins that had been dancing around him tore off to investigate.

From our standpoint we could hear Hu Li’s conjured hound barking. Battle had begun.

“Now!” Shouted Lilian. Talon and Gabriel, swift of foot and free from bulky armor, were first to pounce on the shaman’s thinned protection. Bones cracked as the two monks took hold of what was left of the goblins, clearing a path toward the shaman for Lilian and me.

The black spider on the shaman’s shoulder stood on its four hind legs and batted its four front legs at us in defiance. The shaman spoke ancient, draconic words while waving his hand two and fro in front of his face. Two black, smoky spheres sprung from his fingers, striking Lilian in the chest.

She stumbled back, but did not fall. I lunged past her and came upon the shaman, striking down with my mace, but missing his small frame entirely as he leapt aside. My mace managed only to dig a small hole in the dirt.

The spider . . . giggled.

Lilian jumped between me and the shaman, slashing with her blade. She caught only air.

Gabriel and Talon dispatched the last of the goblins that remained to protect their master.

“They’re coming back!” Shouted Gabriel pointing to the west, toward the wall of goblins that had been sent away to investigate Aesendal’s trickery.

Two simultaneous voices rang out in chorus.

“DOMIERE!” They uttered, and half of the goblins tumbled to the ground, in a deep sleep. Aesendal sprang from the shadows of the end of the village, hastily closing in behind the remaining goblins. His frame was sheathed in a faint, shimmering glow. His mouth hung open, taking in a deep breath.

Gabriel and Talon leapt on the shaman, but failed to make any contact with him, protected as he was in his own transparent, glimmering patina.

A stream of acid erupted from Aesendal’s maw, showering the wall of goblins. They fell to the ground screaming as their flesh was eaten away.

I took a step back from the battle and prayed to Canaan to bless us in this face of our tribulation. Canaan answered. A lightness emitted from me, raining down on my allies, tightening their focus and renewing their spirit.

The spider turned to me and hissed something at the shaman. Although I could not understand the words, the tongue was unmistakably that of the dark, taboo language of the devils of Hell.

“Veshra…” I whispered. The spider froze, looking straight at me with its six tiny eyes. I attest to this day that at that moment, the spider somehow managed to smile at me.

The shaman turned toward me, ignoring all others and began muttering. His hands dripped colorful, crackling streams of sand. He raised them and I was instantly enveloped by a color spray. I tried to fight off the paralyzing sensation that took hold of me, but ultimately failed. All turned white. The last thing I remember was Lilian’s horrified face watching as I crumpled to the ground.

When I awoke I was seized with pain. Lilian knelt next me, her hands on my chest, pouring in warm waves of Canaan’s grace. I was conscious, but overcome with stinging agony. I tried to move, but Lilian pressed upon my shoulder.

“Wait a moment.” She said. “You have been bitten by a centipede the size of my forearm. The poison will pass, or so Talon believes, in a moment. If it were not for Hu Li, I do not think you would have survived.

A shadow fell over me. I looked up and saw Hu Li grinning smugly over me.

“That’s right, Priest.” He said. “I saved you! Glory be to me! The Acolyte Hu Li and to the Eyeless Hollow Ones who darken my path!”

“Is he awake?” I heard Gabriel’s voice somewhere nearby. It was heavy with pain.

“I am.” I said, forcing myself through my own pain to stand. Lilian tried to protest, but I ignored her. She quickly gave up and helped me to my feet.

As I healed my battered companions, they told me what had happened:

The Shaman had great power. He summoned waves of cat-sized centipedes, whose finger length pinchers bit straight through armor, injecting a burning toxin deep under the flesh. As I lay there, a few of these massive vermin took turns feasting on bits of me. Between the band of goblins and the centipedes, my companions, save Hu Li, were overwhelmed and could not get close enough to the Shaman and the beast that clung to his shoulder. Hu Li skulked in the shadows, avoiding the battle.

“Not out of cowardice!” He interjected. “Where some of you use brute strength, I use cunning! And it worked!”

The Shaman moved to my bleeding, comatose body, brandishing a long knife, ready to slash my throat and end my life. Hu Li flung two magic missiles at the Shaman, catching him dead in the face. Burnt through by the mystic blow, the Shaman fell back, dead.

When Lilian ran up to the corpse, the spider hissed, assuming a gaseous form, and vanished in a cloud of brown mist.

* * *

Lilian’s prediction proved to be accurate. Upon seeing their leader slain, the few remaining goblins fled into the night.

Aesendal and Gabriel wanted to hunt them down to the last one, but the rest of us convinced them otherwise. Talon and Hu Li immediately began searching the abandoned squat huts.

Laughter filled my head. It was childlike, but ancient, timeless and cruel, like a young girl who had done something horribly wrong and was glad for it. I scanned the others and could see that they, too, had heard the laughter.

“Hurry, now! Hurry!” She cackled. “Your friends are dying! Your town is crumbling! Why waste time with goblins and mushrooms when all you love and cherish lies crushed and bleeding in the streets? Heroes are you? More like idiots! Clumsy and blind! Hurry now! Hurry!”

Veshra’s laughter died away.

Talon emerged from one of the larger tents. He held a sack in his clinched hand. He glided over to Lilian who was clutching at her chest where the shaman’s magic missiles had struck her. I moved to her, praying for Canaan’s grace and healed the wounds.

“We have to leave now!” She said. No one argued. As we hurried back to the cliff where our horses awaited, Talon held out the bag, opening the top of it.

The inside was stuffed with bluish green mushrooms.

“I believe we have found the cure for what ails Jazzad and Shale.” He said.

“Good.” Said Lilian.

“If there is anything left of them to cure.” Mewed Hu Li.

Although no one answered, I admit I secretly agreed with him. If Veshra was speaking the truth, then Goldfire Glen and all its innocent inhabitants were in great danger and our dalliance into the Wildlands may have not only been in vain, but may have sealed their doom.

“There is still time, my lady.” Said Talon calmly. “All is far from lost. The Green will provide. Have faith.”

I wanted to believe him.

 

[Canaan]

Chapter 11: Suffer the Innocent

Chapter 11: Suffer the Innocent


All I can recall, from the time we left the Wildlands and arrived at the horrors that awaited us on the Granite Bridge, was the sound of my heart pounding in my ears and the air slapping my face, keeping me alert in the saddle as we pushed our horses to the point of collapse through the night and into the next morning.

Our mounts caught the scent of the carnage first. Almost in unison, they skid their impressive gait to a standstill, kicked their forelegs up, flared their nostrils. Their maws fell open, spewing out a chorus of shrill whinnies. Lilian and Gabriel’s shouts could be heard over the cacophony, trying to wrest control of their horses.

I followed suit, with surprisingly effective results. I jerked back on the reins, gave a commanding shout and my ride calmed down. After some spine jarring moments, our horses were calm enough to carry on and we galloped eastward, toward the Granite Bridge. A strong wind battered my face. It was heavy with the stinging coppery stench of fresh blood.

Lilian signaled us to halt our steeds at the edge of the Granite Bridge. The smooth, stone surface was awash with drying blood and gore. The center of the bridge was clogged with the mutilated remains of white robed travelers.

I recognized the emblems and markings on the robes immediately. It was the delegation from Soliel. They had all been slaughtered mercilessly. Ponds of blood, soaked up by the robes, covered the golden Canaan Cross on each of their robes.

We each, in turn, tossed the traditional pinch of salt over the ledge of the bridge for the ghost legend told haunted there. Even in the wake of this carnage, none of us dared tempt the wrath of a restless, hungry spirit. I pushed ahead of the rest of our party, hastily searching the bodies for any sign of survivors.

All the bodies lay faced down. I took hold of the shoulder of the first one I came to and turned him around. I gasped and stared deeply, frozen in dismay from what I saw.

The flesh of the face of this man, the highest ranking priest by the look of his insignias, had been shorn off. All that remained was a skull masked in of browning mush of pus and blood.

“How horrible.” I heard Lilian say behind me.

It was the same with the others. All their faces had been removed.

“Some kind of Cultists!” Hu Li announced with great authority. “Face collecting, blood worshipping madmen!”

“Perhaps.” I said quietly. “I have read of dark, corrupted magics that require such an act to evoke. They need the face of those whom they are going to emulate to mask not only their likeness, but also their true nature.”

“I have never heard of such a thing.” Said Hu Li. “Intriguing.”

Lilian gasped. “Tanner.” She said. “They’re after the boy.”

“He’ll just march right in and take the child.” Added Gabriel.

“Something tells me they want more than just the boy.” Talon said. “They want chaos. They want blood. They want fear. We must act now to save what is left of Goldfire Glen!”

Just then we heard a howl. It was followed by several more. Up the road on the far side of the bridge, masked, black and red robed Cultists barreled toward us. They bore wide, curved blades in their heavily scarified hands.

“For Orcus and Kharas’Vhoories!” They shouted.

Gabriel answered their howls with a cry of his own, thrust his fist into the air and hurtled himself forward. Lilian and Talon were right behind him. Hu Li and Aesendal stayed back as I began to pray to Canaan to, once again, bestow my allies with his strengthening grace.

From behind me, blue, glowing balls of energy curved toward one of the Cultists. They slammed into the man’s chest, burning holes in his robes and hurtling him back. He fell, dead.

Canaan’s blessing shone down upon Lilian, Gabriel and Talon as they engaged the remaining three. Lilian’s blade, infused with Canaan’s Holy Might, smote the screaming Cultist in one blow.

Talon and Gabriel’s fists shattered the faces of the other two. In less time it takes to sip wine from a flagon, four men’s lives were snuffed out. Wicked as they were, I could not help but take pity on them. They were still human. I wondered if their fall from holiness into depravity was the result of a tormented life, simple lust for power, or the soul rendering lies of some contemptible prophet of decadence.

Once again on horseback, we pushed eastward, trying to gain ground on the imposters, hoping beyond hope that we would overtake them before they reached Goldfire Glen and succeed in kidnapping Tanner.

We rode hard for a few miles coming to another sudden halt when Lilian signaled us to stop.

In the middle of the road stood a little girl. “More of Veshra’s trickery?” I thought, but as Lilian dismounted and stepped toward the child, I recognized her. It was Carrie, the youngest daughter of Farmer Jed’s. Her eyes, though the same crystal blue, were remote and frantic. They stared through us as we all approached, she was speaking to Lilian in a harsh, hushed whisper.

“I ran. I could only run. My mommy told me to. She told me to and I obeyed. They broke through the front door and my mommy told me to run. I didn’t want to, but she told me to. She told me to run until I could find help.”

“Who came?” Lilain asked. “Who broke through the front door?”

“Priests of Canaan.” She said, almost inaudibly.

Carrie led us back to Farmer Jed’s farm.

The butter churn on the front porch had been knocked over. Watery butter mixed with blood splattered the floorboards.

Talon decided to stay with the girl while the rest of us cautiously explored the farm.

Lilian and I went into the house. Aesendal, Hu Li and Gabriel went off to search the rest of the property.

Inside the house, the scent of copper, mixed with offal, urine and curdling milk, married into a nauseating malodorous stew. The furniture was broken apart. Clay pots and bowls were smashed into pieces, strewn across the floor.

I heard Lilian gag as she entered into the kitchen. I quickly caught up with her, but had to turn away when my eyes beheld what had sickened her.

Farmer Jed’s wife lay on the table in the center of the kitchen. Her legs were bent at the knee. Her unmentionables had been gutted open like a fallen tree trunk that had been ravished by termites. Blood dripped from what was left of her, expanding a pool that stretched to nearly every corner of the kitchen.

We heard Gabriel shouting from the barn. Lilian and I rushed out to find him at the barn doors, pointing urgently at what was inside. When we all entered, we saw Hu Li staring dumbstruck at what remained of Farmer Jed. The innocent, sweet, provincial farmer stood impaled on a pitchfork that had been shoved a foot into the soft ground.

A cloud of flies gathered to sample from the crusting wounds that sealed around the sharp ends of the fork which sprang from his chest.

Aesendal, breathless, face full of rage and sorrow ran into the barn.

“I found their son.” He said.

We all followed him to the north end of the farm. Hidden in a copse of trees was the decapitated, fragile frame of Farmer Jed’s boy.

“He was trying to run away.” Aesendal said, battling emotion.

“They chased him down.” Gabriel added through clinched teeth. “This was fun for them. This was sport.”

Hu Li’s piercing, high pitched voice let out a scream.

We all ran after the sound, coming upon Hu Li at the outhouse.

“You found his son?” He asked us.

“What’s left of him.” Said Lilain.

“I found the rest.” Hu Li said.

One by one we looked. What possessed us, I cannot say. Was it the need for final proof? Was it morbid curiosity? Did we need to bear witness to one more heinous act before administering justice?

All I know is that as long as I live I will never forget the image of that small face, that little boy’s head, wreathed with human waste, bobbing on the surface of a brown and yellow pool at the bottom of the latrine’s narrow well. His eyes were wide open, staring aghast into an eternal, abyssal void.

We rendezvoused with Talon and Farmer Jed’s youngest. In hushed voices, so as not to frighten little Carrie, we told Talon of what we found.

At last the girl had had enough of waiting and asked us what was going on. Lilian bent down to her.

“We’re taking you away from here.” She said. “Bad men have done some bad things to your family and I am going to take you someplace safe.”

“Goblins?” Asked the girl.

“Something like that.” Admitted Lilian.

Carrie nodded, tears bubbling up in her eyes. Lilian held her in her arms and picked her up. We helped Lilian hoist the girl into the saddle of Lilian’s horse.

Lilian took in a deep breath. She looked at all of us, then wordlessly climbed into her saddle. The little girl held on as they rode off to the east, then turning to the south.

Any lingering exhaustion that may have plagued me after our all night ride, evaporated. I did not wait for anyone else to answer the Champion’s lead, and soon realized I did not have to.

We pushed our tired steeds onward, chasing down the sun as it climbed to its zenith. Chasing down fear and dread and horror, determined to lay down my life if necessary, the moment we had cornered our prey.

 

[Canaan]

Talon's Journal: Beginnings

I have been restless of late--distracted during my meditations. Master says I should write in this journal to sort out my thoughts. He says writing my thoughts down may help free my mind of their influence and allow me to see them more clearly, even from a new perspective.

Shale, my old friend and a Priest of the Green, what the Canaanites refer to as a “druid,” lay poisoned in the adjoining room. My Master says he is unsure how to treat Shale, save for keeping him in a deep sleep in order to slow the progress of the toxin invading his body.

I admit I am frightened. Jazzad, a seasoned Ranger, also suffers from some delusion evoking madness. He is back in Goldfire Glen, being cared for by his long time friend and the village Herbalist, Menion. From all accounts, Menion is as lost as my Master as to how best to treat this ailment.

I await the others to return from Balian’s Tower. They thought it wise to seek the old, enigmatic man’s counsel. All are my childhood friends. All save one. A Priest of Canaan named Evora Faro. I have heard whispers from some of the local aspirants that this Priest was thrown out of Soliel for delving in forbidden lore. He is a peaceful, quiet sort. Shy, even. He has done nothing to betray our trust in him and has proven to be an asset in our recent troubles.

I have no clear path before me, but if I wish to bring order to my scattered thoughts I suppose I should start at the beginning. Well, my beginning at least. I was born in the town square of Goldfire Glen, some eighteen years ago.

As a man who vigilantly strives for balance, my beginning was anything but. My mother was a slight woman, I am told, but strong in spirit. Master found her stumbling through the woods outside of town. She had clearly been through something horrible. Her body looked broken, but even as the pains of labor took hold of her, she kept moving forward, her mind focused on a singular purpose: to save her child.

When she first saw him she tried to run. Her face took on a look of renewed determination, like a fox, deeply wounded by the bite of a wolf, running on, ignoring all pain, seeking only to escape into shelter, with no other thought but that of survival. Master called out to her, and assured her that he only wished to help.

My mother, perhaps seeing hope, perhaps succumbing to her fate, reluctantly gave her self over to him. Master says that she didn't say a word, but fell into his arms. He carried her as quickly as he could into town--and Master moves like the wind blows--but once they reached the town square my mother could wait no longer and Master helped deliver me right there, in the middle of Goldfire Glen, next to an ancient oak tree.

A midwife was called for, and then a healer, but both arrived too late. She died under that oak. She was buried there. Sometimes, when I'm in a deep meditation, I can see her face. Beaten and bruised but glowing with an inner strength, looking up at me from the grass, she smiles contentedly, then closes her eyes and lets herself go.

I'm told there was some debate over what should be done with the child. With me. The priests insisted that I be raised in the church of Canaan, believing only they could save me from the damnation of my birth. Master calmly pointed out that the pregnant stranger had found him, and entrusted him with her care. Further it was he who birthed me, not a follower of Canaan. Ultimately the townsfolk agreed and to the priests' disappointment he was allowed to take me home. I have lived with Master ever since.

Our home is a small hut in the woods, just outside of Goldfire Glen. We live a simple life, but one rich with meditation and study. Over the years I have learned to focus my mind and tune my body. I understand my connection with the Green, I feel its force infused within me and I allow it to guide my actions. I follow the way of the Celind [kehl-ind].

As I write this it occurs to me that no one in Goldfire Glen knows that Master and I are Celind, and few would understand if they did. The Celind were once a great order. As guardians of the Green they dedicated themselves to maintaining balance in Turgos. Revered for their wisdom and objective nature, Celind were called upon to resolve disputes throughout the land. When necessary, they were also cunning warriors. Just nobles often relied on Celind for support during times of trouble, but Celind swore fealty to no man. If your heart was corrupt then no crown would save you from a Celind’s deadly blow. Those were the blessed days.

Master says the Canaanites were our allies when they first appeared. They were good and kind and tolerant. Some still are, but as the church grew it gained a life beyond the control of those within it. This new being--the Church, and their mortal authority, the Curia--soon realized that life given could just as easily be taken away, and it began to fear. Fear of course leads to jealousy and hate, so it wasn’t long before the Church turned its vengeful eye toward the Green.

Master speaks of a dark time when the Church’s political sway was at its peak. The Curia attempted to demonstrate “the might of Canaan” and solidify its complete domination over the people of Turgos. I can tell the thought of this time disturbs him, so Master discusses it little, but I do know that the Green was deeply wounded and many of her followers were massacred in the name of “goodness and light”. The Curia of course made sure that history forgot these acts, but we have not. Nor has the Green.

Many Celind had expressed concern about the Church, but few realized the true nature of their doom. Destruction would not come from without.

There was one Celind, Master Thurin, who saw how the Church used fear to gain great power over the people and thought the Celind must do the same in order to survive the coming holocaust. Alas, one cannot use fear without succumbing to it. In time, Thurin's good intentions transformed into an all consuming and corrupting quest for power. To make matters worse, he seduced others to join his cause. They formed a secret cult, known as the Mordind.

Turin saw the dark time coming and, believing the Celind were already dead, he and the Mordind temporarily allied themselves with the Church in a bid for power. When the Curia launched its merciless and bloody persecution of the Green, the Mordind helped them assassinate nearly all of the Celind. Luckily the Mordind underestimated their former colleagues. They failed to destroy our entire order and most of them died as well. Those Mordind who survived disappeared from sight, for fear of retribution. The remaining Celind also went into hiding, thinking it best to let the Curia believe they had been destroyed and wait for a better day to return. Meanwhile, the Church in its conceit had overextended its reach and, losing much of its strength, was forced to retreat to lick its wounds.

And so it has been ever since. There is a truce of necessity on all sides, as each tries to recover its losses, creating an uneasy balance in Turgos. Master is the only Celind I have met. I believe there are others, but Master does not speak of them.

The tale of Thurin and his Mordind cult is a cautionary one. It is always best to keep one's emotions in check. A lack of temperance can cloud the mind and lead one astray. I must remember this, for I sense the unknown approaching me and uncertainty can lead to fear if I am not careful. Master has said nothing, but I feel a change coming on the horizon.

I do hope my friends return from Balian’s Tower with some insight that eludes my Master. I admit, however, that my hopes grow thin and transparent. I can see through them as one would see through a opened window.

Patience. I must have patience. Master says that in all things patience is critical. I must not give into despair. If Shale’s time has come to return to the bosom of the Green, there is little I or anyone else can do about it.

I take refuge in the Green. Life is but a fleeting flame. One cannot live without dying. One cannot die without having lived. Both are precious. Both are essential.

 

[Canaan]

Chapter 12: The Sacking of Goldfire Glen

Despite a beautifully clear sapphire sky, a bright sun and a gentle cool wind, clouds had gathered over Goldfire Glen. The usually gleaming spire that rose above the otherwise simple skyline was obscured in a thick glove of black smoke. Bloated red and orange fiery tongues peeked through the opaque undulations and from as far as a mile away, soot and ash blustered about in the light wind.

Much of the village was on fire.

As we rode past the narrow, two-story, northern tower, I spotted two armored guards hanging out the tower’s narrow window. Fresh swabs of blood painted the wall under the window’s ledge, fed by deep gashes that gaped widely from their throats.

The streets were deathly quiet. All that could be heard was the crackling fires voraciously consuming unseen buildings.

We made the first turn into the heart of the small town, near the square, close to the Feisty Fox and Menion’s Herb shop, and were forced to finally stop when we saw what the invading Orcus thralls had done to the square’s fountain.

It had been overstuffed with the dismembered corpses of dozens of the village’s innocent residents. Positioned atop the heap were the flayed remains of what I recognized immediately as Goldfire Glen’s Justicar and its Inquisitor.

Rising from the center of the fountain was a beautiful marble statue of an angel. From the opened palm of her hand that normally sprouted out a delicate stream of clear water, purpling blood sputtered down the porcelain arm, tracing through the folds of her sleeve, her billowing dress and atop of her exposed, delicate foot.

Every building was stained with some molestation. Smashed windows, bent, broken doorways, feces smeared on stoops, brown, amoebic tarnishes burned into the walls.

Lilian was the first off her horse. Carrie, Farmer Jed’s little girl had buried her face in the folds of a blanket she had pulled from Lilian’s saddle.

We all followed the Champion as she zeroed in on the Feisty Fox.

Gabriel raced up to her, grabbing her shoulder.

“Lilian!” He said in a terse whisper.

Her eyes were elsewhere. Crimson veins scratched the usually clear, ivory white pools that surrounded her brilliantly verdant eyes.

“Can’t you hear them?” She said. “They’re laughing!”

At that moment, we all heard the muffled roar of laughter coming from within the Feisty Fox. Something heavy smashed on the floor. It was followed by what sounded like a wretched plea. The laughter only intensified.

Lilian unsheathed her sword and stepped toward the front. Aesendal breezed up to her, placing his gloved hand on her shoulder.

“Wait.” He said. “I own this place. I know a secret entrance that leads to a crawlspace above the attic. We can catch them flat-footed.”

“What about Carrie?” Asked Talon, who had come to stand next to the Sorcerer.

“I will stay with her.” Said Hu Li. “I will protect her.”

Everyone looked to the tall, gaunt, pale prestidigitator. After the third silent second of our dubious stares, Hu Li stiffened his back and harrumphed.

“What do you take me for?” He said, adding in a whisper, after reaching up to cover the girl’s ears. “A pedophile?” He removed his hands from her ears. “She will be quite safe with me.”

He waved his hands about the girl, and then gingerly touched her forehead. A glimmering prismatic prestidigitation formed about an otherwise invisible suit of mage armor that enveloped her small frame. Carrie poked her face up from behind the blanket, saw the starry shimmer that surrounded her, gave a quick “eeep!” and buried her face again.

Another crash broke through the tavern, followed immediately by more laughter.

Aesendal led the way as we squeezed through a narrow gap between the Feisty Fox and the Blacksmith Everhammer's shop next door. A ladder greeted us at the end of the alley. We climbed up, as quietly as possible and followed Aesendal through a small square portal on the side of the roof.

The crawl space ended at another square opening some fifteen feet from the alley. As I scuttled in, I saw Aesendal, on all fours, halted at the adjacent aperture. I could hear him whispering to Lilian, who was the second to enter. Talon and I were next, while Gabriel watched the rear.

“I see some people, all women.” Aesendal was saying. “They’re all tied up and gagged. They appear to have been… brutalized. I see no one else.”

Footsteps were heard coming up a staircase right below us. Aesendal turned and put his finger to his lips. A door whined open and someone stepped into the room. I could hear the muffled pleas of the bound and gagged women. Lilian’s fist tightened around the hilt of her sheathed sword. I grabbed hold of my mace and readied myself for to request another blessing from Canaan. I realized in that moment that none of us had sufficiently rested or engaged in our usual rituals and meditations required to replenish our various gifts. We would be heading into a battle with an unknown number of enemies worn-out and almost depleted.

Aesendal betrayed no sign of fatigue, however, as he raised his hand, contorted his gloved fingers into complex, delicate contours, muttering quickly to himself. A moment later I saw three magic missiles fire from the sorcerer’s hand, followed by the sound of the Cultist below collapsing onto the floorboards.

Laughter erupted from the bar below. Using the sudden burst of mirth as a cover, we all leapt from the small opening as gingerly as possible. Aesendal, Gabriel and Talon had no problem keeping quiet, as their garb was loose and light, but Lilian and I, being encumbered with our heavy, clinking armor, might was well have yelled down to the Cultists that we had arrived.

When Lilian hit the floor, the laughter died down. When I landed, the laughter stopped altogether and was followed by the heavy footfalls and a half a dozen armored Cultists barreling up the stairs.

I took the moment given us to call upon Canaan to bless us in this skirmish. I had but a scant few prayers left to me, and given the destroyed condition of the women here, I knew what was left would have to be used to cure their wounds, provided they were not too far gone.

The door to the attic swung open. Gabriel and Talon leapt at the first two Cultists, each apple-faced from ingesting too many spirits, donning chain-shirts over their black and red robes and wielding wide, curving blades that were smeared with browning blood.

Canaan’s justice was with us as the monk and the brawler grabbed the villains, grappling them to the floor.

Two more Cultists jumped past the threshold, where they met Lilian, sword out and ready to enact justice.

Canaan’s Champion swung her blade down hard on the first Cultist to engage her, but he was too deft of foot for the attack and feinted, clear of her steel’s path. The second of the pair pitched his blade toward Lilian’s exposed throat, but she managed to snap her head back, and twist her frame to the right. The blade still met flesh, flaying across the back of her shoulder. She grunted down the pain, twirled to stand evenly between the two attackers and readied for her next opportunity.

I swung my mace at the head of a fifth Cultist who had ran behind his detestable allies, but all I caught was a ceiling’s support beam bolted just above the door’s threshold. Wood splinters rained down on me and the Cultist smiled, slashing his sword. It bit into my upper arm and yanked back, creating a gash that leaked blood down both sides of my arm. Filled with Canaan’s righteousness, I only felt the pressure of the wound and the wet of my blood, but I refused to feel any pain and steadied myself to return the man’s blow with one of my own.

I heard bones crack and noticed my enemy give a quick glance over to his right. Gabriel and Talon had snapped the necks of the two Cultists they had engaged. The drunken hue that masked my enemy’s face melted instantly into stark white.
To my right, Lilian sliced through one of her rivals, dropping him to the ground.

Aesendal, standing between us and the Cultists’ victims, inhaled with a curdling whistle and exhaled a thin green torrent of acid, striking Lilian’s other opponent, and sending him withering to the floor, sizzling under the ravenous assault of the Sorcerer’s acerbic breath.

The Cultist with which I was engaged, having seen his fellows fall in seconds, lost his will and turned to flee, but Gabriel had hurried up beside me and seized the opportunity. He landed a strike at the back of the man’s neck, sending him tumbling down the stairs. He rolled to a stop at bottom of stairs next to the barrel lined wall.

The Cultist never moved again.

Lilian, Talon and Gabriel moved down to the bar proper to insure there were no other villains lurking about. Aesendal and I stayed in the attic to unbind and care for the captives.

Three of the unfortunate women were beyond our help. Their frail bodies were broken under the debaucheries that had befallen them. The remaining survivors had no tears when they spoke with us. Anger was the only fuel than fostered their tale. How they were wrenched from their homes, witnessed their husbands’ murders at the compassionless hands of the Cultists, then dragged to the attic of the tavern, bound and gagged. They were summarily beaten, humiliated in unspeakable ways and violated beyond comprehension.

Aesendal recognized the most vocal among them as the Baroness Underhill. He addressed her in accordance to her station.

“My lady,” He said as he released the rope that bound her wrists behind her back. “Are there any other invaders in the village?”

She shook her head.

“I do not know for sure, but I believe most of them left.” She said. “My husband…” Her voice cracked and trailed off as the anger that bore her until this moment crippled and gave way to tears. The other ladies, now all freed, draped their arms around her.

The movement proved to break her spell of self pity. Her long, regal neck stiffened. She wiped away her tears on her torn sleeve and immediately stood. Though shorter than the other women, her presence, bold and commanding, towered over everyone else, even Aesendal.

“There will be time for tears. If he is dead, he is dead. We will mourn for them all when the time comes.” She said. “We must rebuild our home. That is our top priority. Our only priority.

“He may yet live, Baroness.” Said one of the women, a barmaid, by the look of her dress. “I overheard some of the invaders saying something about locking up all the guards and the royalty in the palace’s jail.”

“What of Tanner?” I asked.

“The Chosen One? I… do not know.” Answered the Baroness. She fell silent, seemingly at a loss for words.

I placed a hand on her shoulder, in a sincere gesture of compassion, but, knowing she was a noble and yoked with a responsibility that demanded her attention, I had an ulterior motive.

And it worked. She curtly brushed off my hand and her handsome mien reclaimed a stately facade.

“You are quite right to ask about the boy.” She continued. “Clearly he was the motivation for this incursion. If they have taken him, he must be rescued, unharmed, and returned to us.”

We rendezvoused with Lilian, Talon and Gabriel who told us that the rest of the bar was clear of enemies, but they had found one of Aesendal’s bartender’s covered in wine and beaten to death.

Aesendal nodded, balling his gloved hands into fists. His shiny, almost serpentine eyes glistened with malice.

The Baroness came up to Lilian, who bowed to her.

“Enough of that.” The noble said. “We must make haste to the palace and the chapel. If the Baron lives, he must make his presence known. It will instill hope in those who survived this atrocity.”

We met Hu Li and Carrie, remounted our horses and, with the Baroness sharing Lilian’s saddle, raced for the palace.

On our way, we took notice of what was once the Tanners’ supply shop, now owned by the mysterious, unfriendly Shuuthian. Although the front was duly barricaded with criss-crossing wooden planks, it was completely untouched. The buildings on either side were little more than razed, smoldering husks. The anomaly did not go unnoticed from any of us.

I heard Gabriel yell up to his sister. “We need to look into that!”

Lilian responded with a nod.

The town was in shambles. Virtually every building bore scars of the invasion. Menion’s Herb shop vomited a thick, black funnel of smoke from its front door. We hurried past, but I could see the others staring at the store, mouths agape, fearing the worst for both the herbalist and Jazzad, his Ranger friend.

By the time we reached the palace gate, most of the fires had died out, leaving great piles of ash and soot in their wake.

We raced under the raised portcullis into the palace’s courtyard. The once pristine, elegant garden of hedges and brilliant flowers, was blackened by ravages of fire.
Every path way was littered with the corpses of the town guard and Cultists.

The body of Captain Tiberon’s lieutenant was impaled on the horn of a stone gargoyle which grimaced over the archway that led into the main foyer of the inner palace.

As we dismounted, I gave a prayer for the dead. I asked Canaan to hasten the fallen heroes to paradise.

The Baroness led us through the interior of the palace. Every room was smeared with blood, gore and other unmentionables. The odor was all consuming and I found it difficult to keep from gagging.

Little Carrie clung to Hu Li’s robe. Her free hand covered her mouth. Her eyes darted about, taking in the horrors. I thought to myself that I wished I had the means to force this young innocent to forget these sites, for it was almost too much for me to bear. I could only imagine what nightmares would plague her for the rest of her life.

How could Canaan allow this to happen?

We soon came to the prison cells underneath the palace. The Baroness let out a sigh of relief as we came to the first cell. Her husband, the Baron Derren Underhill, was there, sharing the cell with Captain Tiberon and the rugged, burly blacksmith named Everhammer. The Baron was keeping watch over both of them, for they lay motionless at his feet, their bodies covered from head to toe in browning bruises and deep gashes.

The Baron was almost naked, having torn his regal garments into strips to cover what wounds he could on his less fortunate cellmates.

He lunged for the cell door as we approached, grabbing hold of his wife’s hand. No words were spoken. I asked the Baron if the other two were alive. He simply nodded.

Both Talon and Gabriel tried to release the bolt on the cell door, but failed. The keys were nowhere in sight. At last the Baron spoke. His voice was parched and labored, as if he had not spoken in months. He told us that after they were locked in, the Cultists left with the keys.

It was decided that Talon, Gabriel, Hu Li and Aesendal would look for the keys to the cell while Lilian and I would go to the chapel in hopes of finding Tanner safe. If the boy had been abducted, then we hoped to find some clue as to where they had taken him, and for what purpose.

Carrie would remain with the Baroness.

Lilian and I hurried upstairs to the chapel. As we feared, it had been defiled and desecrated. Feces and urine stained the delicately carved archways and angelic statues that greeted the devotees as they first entered the serene halls.

We both gasped as our eyes fell on the altar. Crucified upside down on the Canaan Cross that hung above the altar, was the gutted remains of Father Nimitz. His entire torso had been torn apart and hollowed out to the bone. His eyes remained open. His lifeless mouth was twisted in frozen agony.

Spread before the altar was an inverted pentagram, the symbol of the thralls of Orcus. It had been sculpted from the priest’s entrails. A spreading moat of oozing bile emanated from the outer circle of the demonic rune. Lilian and I stood for a long moment. Both of us were stunned into silence by the sheer inhumane cruelty and artistry of the dreadful vista.

A creaking floor board freed us from the chimera. The sound came from behind a closet door to the right of the altar. Lilian unsheathed her sword and I took hold of my mace as we gingerly moved to the door. The creaking continued as we approached. Lilian took hold of the handle and pulled it open.

We both raised our weapons to strike, but stayed our hands when we saw a young priest rocking back and forth, sitting with his knees brought up to his chest, his eyes wild and distant.

His lips were shining with saliva and his white robe was damp and stained with sweat.

“Acolyte Tim!” Uttered Lilian, resheathing her blade and kneeling down to him.

“Canaan, have mercy!” He cried. “Have mercy. Free me from my mortal coil. Take me into your arms and let me gaze upon your glory. Have mercy. Have mercy.”

“He’s in shock.” I said, knowing I was stating the obvious.

Lilian grabbed the young priest’s face with both of her hands. She forced him to look straight at her. Their eyes locked for a fleeting moment.

“Where is the boy? Where is Tanner?” She asked.

“Have mercy, Oh Canaan!” He pleaded. “Have pity. Have mercy. Forgive me my sins and lead me to life everlasting.”

“Where is Tanner?” She asked again, raising her voice.

Tim struggled, but her grip would not give.

“Forgive me!” He said. “I failed! We all failed! All hope is gone! They have him! They wore the faces of priests!”

“The Cultists?” Asked Lilian.

The acolyte nodded. Tears beaded up in his eyes and fell freely down his cheeks. He tried to pull away from Lilian’s grasp, but she only held on tighter.

“Where did they take him?” She asked.

Tim could only sob.

“Answer me! Hope is not lost. Canaan is with us. He is with you! Have faith! Have strength! Do not give in to your fear, or the Adversary will truly have this day. Speak to me, Priest! Where have they taken Tanner?”

A cry, beget deep in the acolyte’s soul, moving up in a slow, but horrific crescendo, burst out of his mouth in a pitiable admission.

“I DO NOT KNOW! I DO NOT KNOW!”

The effort proved too much and the young priest fell into unconsciousness. Lilian let him go. She stood and turned to me.

“I fear we must return to Balian’s.” She said. I was astonished by both her certainty and the incongruity of her idea. “He will want to hear of this, and, though I am loathe to admit it, I do not know who else might have the means to locate the boy. An arcanist of his caliber could scry virtually anywhere in the world. It is a task beyond any of us, and I see no other alternative.”

I nodded, knowing in my heart that she was right. Balian was our only hope.

 

[Canaan]

Chapter 13: Helena

Every muscle in my body, stretched as thin as parchment, screamed out to me for solace as I rode behind Lilian, heading southward for Balian’s Tower. Gabriel and Hu Li rode just behind me. I could hear them arguing, but it was unclear over what as the loud pounding of the horses’ hooves drowned out nearly all other sound.

The horrors that scarred Goldfire Glen were beyond quantification. Not a soul in the village was untouched by the massacre, save for the Shuuthian and his recently acquired shop.

After the last of the fires had been extinguished, the horrible task of collecting and counting the dead commenced. Both Jazzad and Menion had been found in Menion’s home above his shop. They had been bound together and burned alive.

Aesendal and Talon were to remain. Carrie, Farmer Jed’s orphaned daughter was temporarily left under the care of the Baroness until appropriate Church officials arrived from Auros. Aesendal demanded to stay behind. He wanted to help spearhead the reconstruction as well as confront the mysterious Shuuthian. We had theorized that he may have bribed the Cultists to leave his shop alone, or, worse, that he was an Orcus worshipper, sent ahead to Goldfire Glen as a spy.

Talon returned to his master’s abode outside the village to give the mushrooms he found in the goblin’s village to his master in the hope that his master could craft a remedy for Shale. As it was secluded in the woods an hour outside the borders of Goldfire Glen, Talon’s master’s home had been spared the wrath of the Cultists.

By foot, Balian’s Tower is a full day’s travel from Goldfire Glen, but at the pace we were pushing our horses, we first spotted the moss smothered top of the tower by the sixth hour of our journey. A mere two hours later, we were galloping over the lowered bridge, past the angered quacking of the moat’s bloated ducks and into the main foyer.

We dismounted and Lilian commanded Hu Li to lead the way to his master. It was of no consequence, as the door to the dining hall swung open and Balian all but floated out to greet us. His countenance was wrapped with annoyance.

“You have returned what is mine, then… apprentice?” He said holding out a boney hand toward Hu Li who cowered before his master.

“I haven’t a clue as to what you insinuate, Master.” He sputtered.

“The book.” Said Balian. “The one you stole from me.”

“I stole nothing. It was a gift. I borrowed it only.” Hu Li answered unconvincingly.

“We don’t have time for this!” Gabriel said, stepping forward. “Our home has been destroyed, Balian! My sister and the Priest here…” He said pointing at me. “… believe you are the only one who can help us. A boy has been kidnapped and we need to find him. Are you capable and willing to do that for us?”

Balian ignored Gabriel’s intrusion. Both he and Hu Li were locked in some silent conflict. Their eyes never strayed from each others.

“I demand you answer me, old man!” The brawler hollered. I stepped up to him.

“This is the man’s home. Show some respect.”

Gabriel stepped away from me, narrowing the gap between himself and the arch mage. Lilian hurried up to him and blocked his path. At that moment, Hu Li let out a sigh and dropped his head. Reluctantly, he moved over to his horse, pulled the thick tome of Abu Abai free from a saddle bag and handed it over to his master.

Balian’s chalky face was split by a pleased smile.

“Thank you.” He said to Hu Li. “You have learned much, my apprentice. Despite your petty larceny, I have a reward for you. Go to your chambers and wait for me there.”

“Yes, master. Thank you master. You are most forgiving, kind and merciful.” Hu Li all but leapt from the foyer, running past Balian and disappearing into the great hall.

“You’re being quite rude, Balian.” The voice was soft, feminine and soothing. It came from above and behind us. Balian’s features strangely relaxed at the admonition as his eyes drifted in the direction of the sound.

We all turned around and beheld a towering, intoxicatingly beautiful woman standing statuesque on the landing at the top of the staircase behind us. She was wrapped in translucent, silky shades of indigo. Her alluringly milky arms were wrapped around one another at her chest. Fiery red fingernails tapped over her arms just above her elbows.

“You have yet to introduce me to your guests.” She purred.

“Forgive me, my dearest.” Answered Balian. I turned back to him and caught his boney hands wringing over each other, his shoulders drooped just so. He looked almost submissive, but when his eyes caught mine, he instantly snapped back to his usual commanding stiffness.

“Everyone, this is Helena. She is my friend and advisor.” Balian waved a hand over us, then toward her. “Helena… this is everyone.”

With that, Balian turned away and glided off.

Helena rolled her eyes and moved down the stairs, her hand outstretched in greeting.

“He is a master of much, etiquette not being one of them.” She said as she took Lilian’s hand.

“I am Lilian Evenshire, Champion of Canaan in service of Goldfire Glen. This is my brother Gabriel.”

Gabriel held out his hand stiffly as Helena took it and rubbed the back of it with hers. She drank in his muscular frame for a long, silent moment.

“You’re quite a specimen.” She said.

Gabriel yanked his hand away. Helena only smiled at him. Gabriel moved behind his sister and whispered something to her. Lilian shook her head in response.

I offered my hand. Helena took it and allowed me to bring her hand to my lips. I politely kissed it. Her skin was as soft and cool as a spring’s morning breeze.

“I am Evora Faro, Priest of Canaan.” I said. Her eyes betrayed a recognition.

“Ah.” She said. “So you are Balian’s new apprentice.”

I could feel both Lilian and Gabriel’s stares of shock.

“He has graciously offered his tutelage to me, yes.” I admitted. “At my request.”

Gabriel grumbled something, pushed past Lilian and headed into the dining hall.

“We are here on urgent business, Lady Helena.” Lilian said.

“I know.” The arcanist answered. “Goldfire Glen has been brutally attacked.”

“How did you know that?” Lilian asked.

“We saw it happen, or at least, saw the aftermath.” Helena said, a bit quieter. “It was horrible.”

“You and Balian were at Goldfire Glen?” Said Lilian, her voice choking. “You saw the attack and did nothing to stop it?”

“No, my Lady.” Helena said, affecting a sad smile. “Balian and I were scrying, trying to find Veshra. We were searching everywhere, but found nothing. When our search brought us to Goldfire Glen, it was already on fire. A moment later we saw you riding in. We watched you slay what remained of the Cultists. We then turned away from the village, trying to find any sign of other Cultists. We were unsuccessful.”

“We encountered Veshra.” I said. Helena immediately locked eyes with me. “In the Wildlands. She had taken the shape of a spider, serving as a familiar to a goblin shaman. Once we slew the shaman, she disappeared, but not before telling us Goldfire Glen was being destroyed.”

“The shaman is dead?” Helena asked, a pleased, thin smile spreading over her enticing face. She turned from us and rushed to the dining hall. “Balian!” She cried out. “Ready your summoning chamber! We have work to do!”

An hour later we had gathered in a large chamber beneath the tower. We all stood at one end of a large circle hewn from the living rock in the floor. Helena and Balian had swiftly drawn in large, arcane symbols around a wide thaumaturgic triangle. Hu Li was not present. When Gabriel asked Balian what he had done with Hu Li, the master waved an irritated hand at the brawler and replied flatly “He is being disciplined.”

Candles were lit at the corners of the triangles. Pungent incense was burned by each candle.

“You must all keep very still and very quiet.” Helena told us as she positioned herself by the edge of the circle. “Denizens of Hell are a complicated and ornery sort. Many of them trust me, but if they suspect something is out of place, they will not cooperate.”

Lilian, myself and Gabriel gave each other astonished glances.
“You confer with the beings of Hell?” Asked Lilian, her voice halted and concerned.

“Oh, yes.” Helena answered plainly. She looked at our worried miens, rolled her eyes and gave Balian an annoyed glare. “Balian, my dear, didn’t you tell them?”

“Tell them what?” Said Balian, never looking up from a thick tome that lay open on a pedestal next to him.

“That I am a Diabolist.” She said.

“You worship devils?” Spouted Gabriel, his hands clinching into fists. Helena threw her head back and laughed.

“No, silly man!” She said. “I entrust them to me, in service of the greater good.”

“And why should we entrust ourselves to you?” The brawler said through his teeth. “How do we know you are not corrupted by all this… conferring?”

“I already told you, Gabriel.” Interrupted Lilian. “I sense no evil in her. I have no choice but to trust her.”

“Very wise of you, my dear.” Helena said. “I dally with fiends with only one goal in mind, and that is to use them for information. Believe me, devils are an ever-flowing font of knowledge, and given the right enticements, they like to talk.”

“What sort of enticements?” I asked.

Helena simply smiled and turned back toward the circle. She raised her hands and began chanting in a language I had never heard. It was drearily melodic, sinister and beautiful, like a requiem. At various intervals, Balian paused from his readings to add a line of harmony to the unveiling song.

Smoky shadows began to undulate at the center of the triangle. The flames of the candles stretched upward, shifting from yellow to a rich ruby red. The air about the chamber grew dry and hot. The slithering shadows coalescing in the triangle twisted into shapes of cherub sized, gaunt fiends. Their heads were adorned with small horns. Their faces where broken into twisted, cruel smiles. Boney wings flapped at their backs as they swirled in and out of the cloud of smoke that had gathered.

Helena’s song stopped. Her voice grew commanding and insistent. A few of the devils stopped their cavorting and listened intently, cowed into submission by the force of Helena’s will.

They nodded in response to her orders and vanished. The cloud dispersed, then reformed but a moment later, taking on the transparent, ghostly shape of the hunched shaman we had fought and bettered in the Wildlands not two days previous. Chains of bone fell from his wrists, waist and ankles, anchored to some unseen moor below the stone floor. Blade wounds and acid burns still scarred the shaman’s frame.

He and Helena spoke for some time. Whenever the ghost answered, azure smoke billowed from his mouth and nostrils. Many of his responses were preceded with a violent shake of his head and writhing against the chains that bound him. At last Helena waved an open palm before the goblin and it vanished. The candles blew out and the infernal shadows evaporated.

Balian and Helena wordlessly left the chamber. We followed them up the stairs to the main floor and into Balian’s private library. Dusty, yellowing tomes clogged the colossal shelves that lined every wall. A large, simple mirror hung at the far end of the chamber. Balian and Helena went right to the mirror and began what appeared to be a complex ritual.

Gabriel leaned to me, his voice crackling with rage and distrust.

“What are they doing?” He asked.

“I am not sure, but I gather they are trying to scry some location based on what the ghost of the goblin shaman told her.”

“This is madness.” He said. “Utter madness.”

“We have it!” Announced Helena, turning back to us, a fist punching the air. She hurried up to us as Balian left the chamber through an archway by the mirror. Gabriel’s eyes followed him.

“They have taken Tanner to a ruined tower. It is in the Wildlands not two days travel from Goldfire Glen.”

“What do they mean to do with the boy?” Asked Lilian.

“They mean to sacrifice him to Orcus.” She said. “On the night the New Moon. If they succeed, Kharas’Voorhies will rise. They will use the power of the purity of this boy to fuel that villain’s rebirth.”

“When is the New Moon?” Lilian asked, her voice shaking.

“Four days from today. You have the luxury of time. You must use it to rest. You are weary and in need of sleep.” Helena told us. Gabriel shook his head at her.

“We’re not staying here.” He spat. “And neither is Jordan. We are leaving. Now.”

He tore off after Balian, vanishing under the archway. We heard him calling out to the wizard. Lilian and I chased after him. Helena did not follow.

We caught up with Gabriel in an adjacent room. It was a smaller, but equally impressive library. The walls were covered in large maps of alien looking landscapes. Hu Li sat at a desk near the center of the room, his nose in an opened book.

Balian stood near his apprentice as Gabriel stomped up to him.

“We are leaving.” The brawler said.

“Fine. Then go.” Answered Balian. “No one is keeping you here.”

“I am taking Jordan with us.” Gabriel said. “I am not leaving him here with you.”

“That is the Acolyte Hu Li!” Hu Li said in response.

“I need to stay in order to study.” Hu Li continued.

“You can study anywhere.” Answered Gabriel.

“No. I cannot. I have to remain. I can only learn all I need to know if I remain here for the night.”

“I will remain.” I said. “I will look after Hu Li and make sure no harm comes to him.”

“You?” Said Gabriel. “You yourself are already taken by this wizard’s hollow lies. What good will you be?”

Balian stepped forward.

“You may leave.” He told Gabriel, his usual shrill voice deepened and threatening. “But Hu Li must remain. If he does not, his usefulness to you will be greatly diminished.”

“That makes no sense!” Said Gabriel, his temper shattered. “You are all bewitched by this madman and I am no longer willing to stand by while you…”

Balian rolled his eyes dramatically and waved a hand at Gabriel. The brawler vanished. Lilian gasped and ran forward, stopping at the place where Gabriel stood.

“What have you done with him?” She shouted. “Where have you sent him?”

Balian sighed.

“He is quite safe. He is outside. With the ducks.” He said.

“Show me.” Lilian insisted.

“Very well. Apprentice, stay here and continue with your studies.”

“I never stopped them, master.” Said Hu Li.

Balian led us up a spiral staircase and stopped when we came to a narrow window.

“There.” He said, pointing a boney hand out the window. We both looked and instantly spotted Gabriel pacing back and forth on the far side of the moat. The drawbridge had been raised. “You see. Quite safe.”

Balian left us. We watched Gabriel for a few silent moments, then the weight of the last few days finally fell upon me and I leaned on the wall, a breath away from collapsing fully. Lilian must have sensed my fatigue, for I felt her hand come to rest upon my shoulder.

“I am sorry I could not do more for your village.” I said.

“You are little more than a stranger to us, Evora.” She said. “And yet you selflessly remain and aid us. I cannot thank you enough for all you have done.”

“Canaan has brought me to you.” I said. A fog rolled in over my eyes. I could barely stand. “It is by His will alone that I act. Do not thank me. Thank Him. Have faith, Lilian. All will be well.”

I remember little else of that day. Lilian and I supported each other as Balian’s Gnomish house servant led us to our rooms. I remember laying my head upon a soft pillow, closing my eyes and dreaming of a lake of fire, blood and smoke. On an island in the middle of the lake sat a boy, clinging to a bald sapling. The acidic waters of the lake lapped up at the boy’s bare feet. I cried out, but it was to no avail. The waters surged and boy was lost under the waves.

When I awoke it was night. A silver sliver of a crescent moon frowned down at me through the window of my room. In three nights an innocent, frightened child will be brutally murdered and myself, Lilian, Gabriel, Hu Li, Shale, Talon and Aesendal had been chosen to thwart the crime. If we failed, the horrors that befell Goldfire Glen would engulf all Turgos. With those terrifying, prophetic visions haunting me, I fell back into a deep sleep and by the grace of Canaan, did not dream for the remainder of the night.