Darkstone - An Evil Reborn (Book 4) (2 page)

Sulm looked down at the book and read directly from it. “This old book describes the legend.”

The winds howled and desolation covered the land. Rock burned and the soil turned to blood. The Great Emperor hid deep in the caverns beneath his vast palace and pulled all of the power of the nexus in Ayrtan into the Purestone. The storms scoured the surface of the land as the Purestone glittered and coruscated and pulsed. The power grew and grew and grew. The Great Emperor grinned in the bright light, but a calamity of massive proportion took him. The power imploded into the Purestone and it became dark and dangerous. The stone grabbed part of the Great Emperor’s soul, enough to kill the man. Then, nothing. The three other stone-holders descended warily into the depths of the basements to find a desiccated body clutching the now-dark gem.

Sulm shivered and closed the book. “They took him to our continent of Zarron and supposedly buried him with the stone somewhere to the north of here in Dakkor. People have looked for the Great Emperor’s tomb, but none have found it. The Darkstone may still have great power, but none would want it. This story was written by an author who exercised his own version of perspective. Historical documents are like that; often filled with more perspective than truth. We do know some truths. The emperor died, because he isn’t alive today. Ayrtan was cursed. It is a fact that there is no magical power on the entire continent. We don’t really know if the emperor was buried in Dakkor. No one has found the tomb after all of this time.

“Other legends abound. One of them is if all of the stones came together again the Darkstone would release all power and the soul of the Great Emperor would finally be released into the Great Beyond.”

Vish laughed. “That would be some kind of trick.”

Sulm shrugged. “At least the legend gives us a reason, however improbable, why Ayrtan is a wasteland today. No one has found any evidence of an active nexus on the entire continent and it still seems to sap the energy of any who have tried to settle it. The savages can’t be redeemed unless they are removed from their homeland. Wizards quickly lose their power. It is an awful place.”

“So how do we know what is truth and what is perspective?” Vish said. “It seems to me that none of it may be true.”

“Oh, smart boy.” Sulm scratched his head. “I don’t know. I do believe some of the words are true. We know of the Moonstone and the Bloodstone. How the Moonstone acts isn’t a great secret. It’s not very useful, in my opinion. I’d have to discount the specific circumstances of the Great Emperor’s demise. He did exist thousands of years ago. Something did curse all of Ayrtan, it might as well be the story in this,” Sulm said and then slapped the book.

“So if someone could find the Darkstone, they might be able to become the Great Emperor over the whole world.”

“Dream on, Prince. Remember, perspective.” Sulm put the book back onto the shelf. “It’s time for our midday meal and then we can attack numbers.”

Vish looked at the book as he left the room with Sulm. They ate in the kitchen with Vish’s other siblings. The Princess usually had other matters to attend to, but today she ate with her children. Vish ran up to her and laid his head on her shoulder as she sat. He put his hand on her arm and felt the smoothness of her honey-colored skin and the scent of jasmine filled him when she was near.

“What got into you, my boy,” she put her hand to his head.

“I thought last night that I wouldn’t be able to do this much longer.”

Her laugh always reminded him of tiny bells. “You won’t at the rate you are growing. It must be all of those sweet rolls you’ve stolen from the kitchen.”

“I don’t know what you mean?” Vish felt his face grow hot. Lying did not always involve perspective, he thought.

“Oh, you are truly one of the Emperor’s sons. I actually came home to speak with you. Tomorrow, Sulm will take you the Sorcerer’s Tower to be tested for Affinity. If you have any, your schooling will change.”

Vish looked at Sulm, who seemed to grow pale at his mother’s words. “I won’t have any power. I intend on taking over the Red Kingdom on Besseth and seize their Bloodstone. I can only rule if I have no power, so I know I’ll have no power.”

That made her mother laugh, more tinkling bells, but Sulm only managed to give Vish a half smile. “Thank you, Vish,” the princess said. “There has only been one of your many brothers who has tested sufficiently sensitive to be schooled by the Sorcerer’s, so your chances of failure are good.” Sulm flashed a quick, frightened look at Yalla.

Sulm excused himself before Vish had even started to eat.

“Mother, will I have power?”

She looked towards the door where Sulm exited. “I don’t know, but you are the 22nd son of the Emperor of Dakkor. Older sons have always had a bad habit of getting the younger ones out of the way. It has ever been so.” She hugged Vish. “Any edge you might have that will keep you alive longer is a good thing. If you have power, grasp it and learn it quickly, so you can survive.”

Yalla’s words disturbed Vish. He barely made it through numbers after the mid-day meal, and Sulm didn’t have the usual enthusiasm, either. Did his tutor know more about the situation than Vish knew?

“You aren’t happy about the testing?”

Sulm looked out the open window, his gaze focused far, far away. “No,” He looked at his hands and then at Vish, “you are a very bright boy. Most of the times exceptionally bright boys have some Affinity. Even I have traces. It’s not a certain thing, but I think the chances are good that you will move on from my tutelage.”

That didn’t match what he said earlier. “You told my mother--”

“I told your mother something to soothe her and something to soothe me.” Sulm took a deep breath. “I will leave now and be back to escort you to the Sorcerer’s Tower tomorrow.” He turned and walked out the door, his shoulders and head bent down just enough to convince Vish his life might be about to change.

Sulm didn’t bother to hide his true feelings with ‘perspective,’ that was clear. Sulm’s sadness had infected him. He did not look forward to tomorrow.

~

To Vish’s new way of seeing things, the Sorcerer’s Tower ended up much like the Thousand Steps. A clump of buildings surrounded the tower’s base. As they walked down, from the Palace Hill, he could count at least ten or fifteen little towers around one somewhat higher than the rest. Calling the compound with the name of a single tower evidently put more ‘perspective’ into play.

Red marble covered the surface of the stubby towers and the same color stone found a place on all the buildings that Vish could see. Some only had a line of reddish stone at the top. Others had window trim out the material and he saw another with bands of red contrasting with the yellowish tan stone used for everything else in the imperial city except for the palace itself. Trees and bushes growing at their bases softened up the buildings.

Sulm didn’t say a word. His normal pedantic mood had given way to something else that Vish couldn’t recognize. He carried himself with a cloak of seriousness, perhaps. Vish would do the same. He put a fierce frown on his face and continued on, adding a furrowed brow.

“In here,” Sulm said. They entered a large hallway that instantly cooled them from the hot sun outside. Sulm led him to a desk underneath a curving stair that seemed to float away from the walls.

“Vishan Daryaku,” Vish said. “I have come for testing.”

The young man raised hooded eyes at Sulm. “And you are?”

“Just going. I am his tutor and escorted Prince Vishan and have fulfilled Princess Yalla’s wishes.” He turned around and left the way they entered.

Vish smiled. He liked the way Sulm ended the snooty man’s sentence.

“No smiling during the test. This is a serious time in your life, Prince Daryaku. You aren’t the first of the Emperor’s children to enter these walls, nor will you be the last.”

Vish’s eyebrows rose. “Are any being taught in this tower?”

The sorcerer frowned. “Do not talk, either.” He ignored Vish’s question and rose from his desk, stepping across the large sterile hall to a door. Vish stayed rooted to where he was. “Aren’t you coming?” the man said.

Vish pursed his lips. No smiling. No talking. He didn’t like this place at all, and reluctantly followed the sorcerer.

The room consisted of a table with two chairs facing each other. A battered brass box sat on the table. Something about the whole setup to the room made Vish’s skin crawl.

“Sit and a tester will come soon. There will be others in the room to witness.” The man left.

The room was warmer than the lobby. He rubbed his hand over the old worn table, except it didn’t feel like wood. The worn corners didn’t seem worn at all underneath his touch. There were no windows, yet he could feel the hint of a warm breeze.

He rose from the chair and followed the air currents to the blank wall. He put out his hand to touch the dirty stone, but his eyebrows rose when his hand and half of his forearm disappeared as he plunged them into… nothing. He felt the sun on the skin of his hand. For the first time he wondered if what Sulm called perspective was, in actuality, deception. There was deception in this room.

Vish had seen enough to know he’d been tricked and sat back down. The brass box still seemed intact as his fingers brushed against the design hammered into the metal.

“Young Daryaku,” a shaven headed old man said. The sorcerer walked slowly into the room staying as stiff as an iron rod. His costume seemed to come from old pictures Vish had seen. What was the word Sulm used? Archaic. That meant old-fashioned. Sorcerers didn’t dress like this when visiting the palace. “You have examined the room?”

Vish thought that one of the walls must have contained a window or opening so they could see him as he sat. “Only part of it. This table is made of stone. There’s an open window over there.” He pointed to where his arm disappeared. “The box is made of metal, but I can’t tell if it is brass or something else. I didn’t have to use any magic to find this out. My senses told me all I needed to know.” That should put the old man in his place.

The old man took his time sitting in the chair across from Vish. He moved slowly and seemed to be in pain. Vish could smell a strong sickly sweet odor coming from the sorcerer. The man, along with the whole room, repelled him

“Is there any way I can help you?” Vish could nearly feel the old man’s discomfort and tried to be polite where the sorcerer at the desk was nasty.

“No, but thank you for asking. I am your tester. You have already shown promise.”

Those words were not what Vish wanted to hear. That meant his life would change. Sulm would not like it and he wasn’t sure about his mother. Did she deceive him? Vish didn’t feel right about a lot of things at the present.

“What would you have me do?”

The sorcerer lifted his chin and opened the box. The lid hid the contents from Vish. “Here hold this.” He offered a simple stone ball. “Say the words: Show my power.”

Vish took it and recited the phrase. The ball glowed with different colors swirling around inside of it. “Is this the test?” The glowing part made him uncomfortable and he had to shift in his chair.

“An important part, but not the only part. Read this.”

Vish examined the proffered scroll. It smelled old and unpleasant. “I hereby pledge my life and loyalty to the Dakkoran Sorcerer’s Cabal to the exclusion of all else.” He looked at the sorcerer. “I don’t agree with this. It would make me an enemy of my father.” They were trying to trick him!

“There are many loyalties one might have, Young Daryaku. Ours would be one of many. You are loyal to your mother?”

“Of course,” Vish said. What did this man mean?

“And you are loyal to your father?”

“I am. He is the Emperor.”

“What if your father commanded you to kill your mother? Whose loyalty would win out?”

Vish put his hand to his forehead. Why would this man ask him to do such terrible things and make such an awful choice?

“I would tell him I wouldn’t kill my mother. Someone else could do it.” Is that how he really felt? He knew he couldn’t stand by and watch another take his mother’s life. He couldn’t retract the words in front of this terrible man.

“Ah. So your loyalties are split. So it is with all loyalties. But loyalty can be bought and we buy it with teaching you how to tap into the power of the nexus. You have sufficient power. The ball shows it.”

Vish rose from his seat. “I won’t. I love my mother and I love my father.” He didn’t really love his father. He feared his father, but he wouldn’t say that here, but would exercise a bit of perspective with this old stinky man. “I’m leaving. I won’t take the test.”

“Think about what I have said. We will speak to your father about your test results. You may go.” The sorcerer waved his hand and muttered some words. The room changed. Gone were the illusions. Four sorcerers stood at an opening into the room. They didn’t look pleased. He rose from his seat, moving carefully and opened the door. He’d never been so scared in his entire life.

Vish tried not to run out of it, but he couldn’t keep his feet from shuffling quickly as he quickly glanced at the man at the desk and bolted out the door. He ran down the steps and out of the compound. After he started to breathe heavily he stopped and leaned against a wall of an alley on the shady side of the street.