Death Or Fortune (33 page)

    
When Kandella received the orders to travel to the temple of Solarth in Arcadia
she had no idea what it was about.  She asked her bishop in Eystlund three
times what was so important yet all he would tell her was that she was needed.
When she arrived and it was explained to her by the strange bishop that her
language skills were needed to translate old documents, she thought she was
being punished.  When she discovered just what it was that she was being
asked to do, she no longer thought of it as punishment.  She became
honored at the thought of being the one person who would chronicle the history
of the order of Solarth.  Being one of the few people who were alive when
the order fell at the hands of the followers of Asmodai, she came to revere
this new position once she found the depth and scope of what was being asked of
her.  Spending most of her days and half the night giving great care to
make sure none of the original scrolls were damaged, she copied each into a
series of journals.  She would have given up sleep in order to complete
the work but Bishop Hans insisted she take her rest periods.  He even
chastised her the first time she missed the morning prayers, she was almost
insulted as she was four times his age.
     After more than two weeks of pulling down old scrolls
and returning them to their original place she found something odd. A wood box
had been hidden amongst the oldest of the scrolls.  It was made from pine
and there was a name carved on the lid, J. Cook.  It was nowhere near as
old as the scrolls it was with.  Pulling it out with great care she took
it to the table wondering just what it was that she would find inside.
 What she found inside stumped her for a moment or two. A series of sea
charts and what seemed to be a captain's log book.  Captain J. Cook was
the name inside the cover.  When Kandella opened up the sea chart there
was a large circle drawn in the middle of the sea directly to the east of what
is the current coast of Eystlund.  Yet, looking at the map, the borders
where all wrong.  Some of the names she knew but most of it was different.
     "Ahhh," she said "This is from before
the time of Ent'Ara." Still, she did not understand this find, why the sea
charts and the captain's book. She took a moment to look over the charts, wondering
why there was a large circle drawn out in the middle of the sea. Taking the
book in hand she slowly cracked open the cover. The first page said only
J.Cook, The Dusk Chaser.  Most of the pages were filled with simple
entries.  Port stops, goods taken on board, crew hired or removed.
 No thoughts from the long forgotten captain, only simple entries. After
ten pages of this was something different. At the very top of the page it said,
paid charter.  Five passengers, paid in full.  It then listed the
names of the passengers and next to each name it stated their race. Three
elves, Keltor, Tai'noral and Delmon. Two humans by the names of Logan and
Taynor.  It then listed where the charter was going, looking back at the
sea charts she could see that the large circled area is where they were bound.
 The question came to mind, why charter a vessel to take you out to sea
for more than two months, to an area that was devoid of any land at all?
     When she turned the page she saw something she did not
expect. The elven script was written in long sweeping strokes. Doing a quick
scan of the page she did not stop to read as she turned the pages over. Five
pages in all were filled with the same long hand writing. Turning back to the
start she began to read. After reading the first page Kandella stopped and
looked back at the sea charts. She checked the first page of the elven writing
again and started to read it again. It stood out to her even more the second
time than during her first read. Clear as day it said the island of Napatiea,
island of the chosen. At the tender age of one hundred and forty nine years old
Kandella had long forgotten many of the things she had learned as a child. Her
parents being semi-wild elves did not see fit to teach her things other elf children
learned. It wasn't until she found her way to Kemmermer that she began a life
devoted to study. Over the years she had spent time in all the southern
kingdoms, even Toryth Vol. Once a place of interest to her but she found that
her kind wasn't welcome everywhere she went. She settled in Eystlund fifty
years ago, when worship of the god Solarth returned she was one of the first to
open her heart to the good god. It was there that she first saw this word,
Napatiea; the chosen people of Solarth. Taking her quill in hand, Kandella
started to translate the words from elven to common.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     My name is Delmon Windfall, Cleric of Solarth. I am
also part of another order, the Keepers of the Silver Dragon. We are the
keepers of our gods' teachings and history. I write this down here in hopes
that should I not make the return trip home, that this will find its way to the
right hands. In the beginning of time when the gods created man, they stood
under the watchful eye of all the gods. Over time each began to spread their
influence to all of their creations. Our lord Solarth fearing for the future of
his people took aside two villages of people and placed them on an island, far
from the rest of the world and hidden away from the eyes of the other gods. He
said onto them, here you will prosper and grow. The first village was called
Othos, Solarth shared with them the gift of magic and invention. The Othos were
a natural born thinkers and problem solvers. Over time they discovered and
built such wonders, the like that the world has never seen. The second village
was called Melkor. Solarth shared with them the gift of nature. The Melkor
would grow the crops, hunt the beast on land and fish in the sea to feed all
the people of Napatiea. It was commanded by him that the Othos would reside on
the northern half of Napatiea, the Melkor the south. Each month they would
gather on the Plain of Hope in the center of the island to share with each
other the gifts they had to offer. It was here that the first temple to Solarth
was built.
     Over hundreds of years the people of Napatiea
continued to grow and prosper. After some time the god returned to his people,
he was pleased with them but warned them not to forget the past when looking to
the future. He appeared to the people on the Plain of Hope in the form of the
Silver Dragon. It was then that the idea of a lore keeper was first born. It
was then that the clerics of Solarth named the first of my order. The first
Keeper of the Silver Dragon was named Ancella. He was sent forth by his
superiors to explore the world of Majius and to seek out others who worshiped
the good god, in order to teach them the true history of Solarth. In their
desire to teach others, they laid down the path to their own destruction.
Ancella was transported to Atalanxia, how was never told to us. He found other
people who worshiped the good god shared with them his knowledge.  In his
travels he would find one or two of those most devoted to the god and make them
into Keepers of the Silver Dragon, so that the lore of the order would not be
lost. With the teachings of Ancella, the order of Solarth grew. With this
growth came the attention of the dark lord, Asmodai. He instructed his
followers to hunt Ancella, to learn just what it was that he was teaching the
clerics of his most hated rival.
     For many days and nights the followers of Asmodai did
their worst to Ancella, while he was able to hold onto his faith after more
than a month of physical and mental abuse Ancella told all he knew to the dark
lord's followers. This was how the dark lord learned of the island of Napatiea.
One man was chosen to be sent to Napatiea, a wolf who could hide among the
sheep. He would live among them, be one of them. For more than two years he
lived among the people, learning their ways, moving place to place. He at last
settled in the Othos village. He took a wife and had a child.  A child
that he surrendered to the dark lord.  As the child grew he was taught the
ways of the dark lord. By the time he was fully grown he was completely
corrupted, an agent of Asmodai.  As a man he sought to gather power and
take control of the Othos people.  His corruption spread through the
people as ideas of progress and change for the better.  Ignore the old
ways he told them, there is a better way.  By the time he had the Clerics
of Solarth killed all of the Othos people would bow to him. Under his direction
they began to capture and make slaves of the Melkor people.  It was then
that the war began, when the Melkor fought to be free of the bonds of slavery.
The war between the Othos and the Melkor raged on for more than fifty years
before Solarth set about to undo the damage that Asmodai had done.  He had
hoped that this time of war would pass that they would remember his teachings.
As the bodies and blood continued to collect on the Plain of Hope, Solarth then
turned to another of his followers.
     A little more than two months ago, before we arrived
here, the god Solarth appeared to my friend and brother.  An Elven cleric
of Solarth by the name of Keltor Stormcaller. The god came to him in the form
of the silver dragon and told him of all the blood being spilled on Napatiea,
telling him to set out for the island.  To help heal the people who had been
so hurt by a single follower of Asmodai.  It was then that Solarth gifted
Keltor with two items.  The Silver Scale, armor crafted with the gods love
and devotion.  The second item was The Fist of Solarth, a blessed hammer
created by the god himself in a forge heated with his blood and cooled by his
tears. Keltor gathered together his friends and I. Tai'noral the huntress,
Logan a Paladin of the west and Taynor the ranger from the north. Tai and
Taynor were lovers refused to become parted. The five of us set out to the
east, hoping to find a ship that would give us passage to Napatiea.  It
took some convincing but Captain Cook saw the profit in finding a new island at
sea, I am sorry to say he never saw any of his dreams come true. After finding
the island we landed at its southernmost tip.  Not long after making
landfall the Melkor attacked the ship thinking we were agents of Othos, half of
the ship's crew was killed along with Captain Cook. The five of us along with
the remaining crew surrendered to the Melkor only asking, no begging to speak
with their leaders.
     Only after many days and nights of talk with the
council of elders did the Melkor people believe the words of Keltor. They saw
the wisdom in his heart and agreed to help him make peace on the island. Yet we
were warned, that peace did not mean to be happy with a life in chains. This
was something we all agreed on.  We were taken as far north as the Plain
of Hope. It was there that we saw the ruins of the first temple.
 Destroyed by years of war, what was once a place of great joy became a
place of misery. We continued on past the plain, north towards the home of the
Othos. At first we were shocked at our reception, most of the people we met
welcomed us with arms wide open. They had not seen a cleric of Solarth in many
years, many thought it was a sign that their leader, Kesslin was taking them in
the right direction.  It was only when we met Kesslin and his commanders
that we found any resistance at all.  We could all feel the darkness in
his heart yet the war had deeply hurt his standing with the people.  He
knew that it would only be so long before one side or the other would face
complete destruction. Anyone could see the outcome of a continued war here. We
thought we made him see how peace was his only option. After many talks Kesslin
agreed to meet with the council of elders from Melkor on the Plain of Hope, to
end the war and make peace. We should have known better than to trust him.

     
Complete and total destruction of the Melkor people is what Kesslin wanted the
most. Kesslin used the peace talks to stage an attack on the council of elders
at the sight of the old temple of Solarth. It was during that attack that we
lost Tai and Taynor.  They were killed while defending the council. Trying
to get them away from the Othos troops.  Logan and I were able to get them
away but the attack crushed the hopes of not only the Melkor but our own as
well. We were sent a single message later that night, Kesslin planned on
marching his army into the home of the Melkor. It said he would kill every man
and woman in his path until the council of elders agreed to meet his demands.
 He was going to give us two days to prepare for his arrival.  All of
us turned to Keltor, asking him what we should do.  He told us he must
take a night to pray to the god, to see if there was a way to avoid the
bloodshed to come.  While I joined him in his night of prayer, the god did
not see fit to share any plan with me.  Yet the following morning he said
he knew of the gods' desire and that he would see that desire become reality.

     The Melkor
were to stay and defend the village, just in case Keltor failed in his task.
When I asked him just what that task was, he would not tell me. He just smiled
and rubbed his hand on The Fist of Solarth. That night he came to the elder's
council of the Melkor people and told them that he and he alone would face the
army of Othos, with the power of Solarth as his weapon. They called him mad and
started to panic. We were able to calm them down and instead talked of how to
defend the village. Logan was most useful in this task. While he was loyal to
his god, war was in his blood from birth. He understood tactics that were well
beyond anything I knew. Before the meeting ended Keltor reminded the council of
one last thing. That they were still the chosen people of Solarth but that both
villages had lost their way. He told them that they needed to remember the
gods' teachings. He then admitted that the god had made a mistake, he had hoped
that over time the two villages would become one. Yet this is not something he
ever encouraged, it was just his hope for his people. When the meeting ended
Keltor started heading north towards the Plain of Hope. He came to Logan and I
to say goodbye, we told him he wasn't going alone.