Echoes of a Shattered Age (39 page)

Chapter Forty-Three

The surviving defenders gathered about the base of the tower and tended their many wounds. The last of the demon threat had been put down, but not without further loss. The centaurs stood gathered together, silently mourning their fallen comrades. The brunts had begun singing songs of the times of old, as well as those songs that would help to usher their fallen brethren into the next world.

The human warriors sat with their backs against a wall, exhausted and glad that the battle had finally ended. Iel and Mira joined them.

“Not bad, my friends,” the Ilanyan said. “I have never seen humans fight as you do. I am honored and thankful to you. Takashaniel is a place of great power, but also a place of sanctuary. I can have all of your wounds mended and your energy returned to you within but a few days if you will be my guests.”

Akemi was more than happy to remain, but she looked to her brother. To her relief, he nodded in agreement. The stubborn samurai must be as hurt and tired as she was to accept the invitation.

Kita and Kenyatta needed no coaxing. They had been amazed with the tower when first they’d visited during their non-physical excursion that seemed a lifetime ago.

“How long is the invitation for?” Kenyatta asked with a smile that quickly disappeared after he was elbowed in the ribs by his friend.

“As long as you wish,” Iel answered.

Mira noticed Shinobu sitting away from the group, seeming submerged in private thoughts. She sat next to him and the two said nothing for a time.

“Thinking about the road,” Shinobu finally said, gazing into faraway places she could not see.

“Do you not intend to at least stay with us for a short while?” she asked. “You have many wounds that could be mended with little time.”

The strider never shifted his gaze. “I have quite a bit to do, Miss Mira. My road has much ahead, and I cannot let time escape me.”

“Maybe so,” the young woman persisted. She removed a strand of hair from in front of her face and slid it behind her ear. “But if you take the road too soon, you won’t have a chance to recuperate. I need you to grant me two days before you leave.”

When the strider turned a curious look on her, she explained, “I can sense the contamination in your body. It has affected you deeper than you realize. If you take to the road in your already-fatigued condition, your body would not hold longer than a few days before you fall. I will need time to properly expel the taint.”

“Darker things than demonic poisons haunt my path Miss Mira,” Shinobu whispered. After another stretch of silence, he finally looked at her, and saw the concern on the woman’s soft and youthful face. He sighed and grudgingly promised to remain long enough for her to do her work.

Two days after the battle, the animals and inhabitants of the surrounding fields made their gradual return. The guardian had put forth a great deal of effort in cleansing the land of the vile residue that resulted from the tainted blood and presence of the demonic horde. In some places, the ground was as black as tar where the Quentranzi had bled.

It would take time to cleanse the area of the taint, and Iel and his student had begun immediately. Now, after two days, he lay at rest in his private chamber. Around the tower, the simple presence of the animals, large and small, helped to heal the battered and beaten rolling hills of Takashaniel.

A week had passed before Shinobu finally packed his few supplies, along with some fresh provisions given to him by Mira. He had stayed a few days longer than planned, to help with cleaning up. The brunts, the centaurs, Mira and Iel, and Shinobu’s four companions bade him farewells that ranged from warm to gruff. Once he left the tower, the other four companions escorted him to the boarders of the lands. It was during this leisurely walk that they realized how strong their friendships had become. After spending nearly half the day remembering their adventure together—and promising to share another in the future—Shinobu departed to the northwest on an errand he was less than willing to discuss.

“The man seems to have some unfinished business waiting for him in the northwest,” Kenjiro remarked as they watched the strider on horseback, disappearing over the distant hills toward the soon-to-be setting sun.

“He won’t be able to stay away from us for long,” Kenyatta remarked. The others glanced at him curiously. “We’re too much fun,” he added with a grin.

A few more days passed and Taliah arrived to aid Iel. She had spent most of the time watching the battle with Grandmaster Akutagawa. She had felt guilty in not helping, despite her instructions by the Daunyans not to interfere. Watching her brother and the others struggle through such a time, not knowing if they would survive or perish, had proven to be a challenge in itself. Sensei Akutagawa had been her crutch during that time.

As soon as the battle was over, Taliah had begun preparing for her and the Grandmaster to travel using a network of portals that would take them there. Normally, the process took no time at all, but with the presence of so many portals that transported so many demons from the dark world, she did not want to take the chance of unintentionally passing through a portal that would have dropped them in the throne room of the Quentranzi lord Grala himself!

At the end of the second week, the four remaining warriors informed that they would take their leave. The night before their departure, Iel called them to the same observation chamber they’d gathered in during their out-of-body visit.

“I felt no need to speak to the strider about this because I feel he already knows,” Iel began. “It is with you four that I wish to share this information.” They faced the largest wall of the room, Iel facing them and Mira and Taliah standing to the side. “I told you once before that the world is changing at a rapid pace. I know that you have already discovered that humans are not the only beings inhabiting this world. I know of your encounter with the Stonecliff Clan.”

Iel looked each of them over. “They and the centaurs and brunts are not the only beings you share this world with.”

“Without your technology to help you control the world and change its physical makeup to suit your desires, the world has begun to reshape itself, and those who have remained hidden may one day resurface. The return of magic brings with it beings and forces unlike anything your species has experienced in countless years. Landmasses will change, becoming larger or smaller, and in a relatively short period of time. People, animals, even the names of your towns, cities, countries and provinces may well change. Some traditions will remain, others will change, and others will evolve. I tell you this because you and the strider will continue to play a part in the changes to come.”

Iel smiled and continued. “One last thing, and this message actually comes from Taliah here. The extraordinary abilities that have aided you in defending Takashaniel will not come to your call at will. You were each born with the gene gifted to you by the Daunyans. This gene gives you enhanced abilities beyond any normal human, but it was implanted in your parents to pass to you for the sole purpose of battling evil not born of this world, such as the Quentranzi incursion. In their wisdom, the Daunyans understand that for a human, having the benefit of such a powerful gene at any time would hinder your evolution and in effect, slow your growth, both personally and as a species. You as humans learn little without struggle involved. I tell you this for your own safety so that you will not expect the same of your bodies as you do now. Such a miscalculation could have devastating results.

“This gene will not automatically activate in any circumstance other than when you are battling a being that is not from this plane of existence. In human conflict, if your life is at stake, the gene will not activate. This may seem cruel or unfair, but your growth and evolution as a species depends on you living your lives the way they are supposed to be lived, without the constant interference of the Gods or their gifts to you. If it is your time to pass from this life, so it will be.”

It was with that that the four companions, the four friends, remained at the tower for one night and one day longer before departing the following morning before sunrise. Iel and Mira, along with the brunts and the centaurs, bade them farewell with promises of future meetings.

The humans thanked them once more for the extra supplies and took their leave, traveling with the aid of Taliah’s portal to expedite their return home. It was a difficult departure, but the road-weary friends were happy to return home.

***

Chapter Forty-Four

Brit watched his two servants not so quickly making their way from the Tower of Balance. He’d never been one to accept excuses, and surely both were careless in allowing the centaurs to blindside them. Still, he knew that the mighty beasts along with those annoying little runts would have proven too much for the two.

Fortunately for them, he was in more of an understanding mood than usual. Actually, things had gone a bit better than he had planned, surprises notwithstanding. Brit hadn’t been foolish enough to expect his first attempt on the tower to bear much fruit, but he had achieved his first goal. He had a gauge of the tower’s defenses and the capabilities of the guardian. The five humans that aided him were strong, but not much of a threat to hold his attention.

He’d anticipated treachery from the Quentranzi general—could one expect anything else from a demon?—and though he hadn’t expected the appearance of those two winged fiends in his fortress, he was not unprepared. With all of the other demons back in the dark world, and Kabriza and on the loose, things were moving more or less according to plan. The addition of the other two fiends made little difference. Indeed, their presence might be a boon in dealing with Iel’s humans.

The Drek’s face twisted into a smile. Things had not turned out quite that bad at all, and now he had a firsthand report of the landscape and abilities of those who would defend the tower again. From his balcony, Brit gazed out at the sick and twisted surroundings, home to countless wretched forms of life that infested the lands.

This place had once been colorful and filled with life until the Drek had made his home here, and drained the land of its life to strengthen his own. Such was the result of the presence of his leeching species.

Although it sickened Brit to see himself lowered to such a classic aspiration as world domination, the truth was that this world was much larger and more bountiful than his own, and much easier to manage, given the less harsh atmospheric conditions. Besides, the humans didn’t seem to be doing much with it beyond wasting and destroying it, so why not take it for himself? While it was true that his kind, by nature, siphoned the life out of the land they lived on, humans just wasted it.

Brit leaned against the back wall of his balcony with his arms crossed. He had nothing but time. Patience came with little effort, and with Kabriza’s pets roaming the lands, time was all that was required. He withdrew back into his chamber to retire with the amusing thought of how those insects would react when he did decide to show himself. They would try to prepare, but they couldn’t. There was nothing they could do. And they would perish.

***

About the Author

R. J. Terrell was instantly a lover of fantasy the day he opened R. A. Salvatore’s
The Crystal Shard
. Years (and many devoured books) later he decided to put pen to paper for his first novel. After a bout with aching carpals, he decided to try the keyboard instead, and the words began to flow. When not writing, he enjoys reading, video games, and long walks with his wife around Stanley Park in Vancouver BC.

***