Hemlock And The Wizard Tower (Book 1) (27 page)

He had
initially
dismissed Gwineval because of his
unusual appearance.

But
Safreon had not found any overtly encoura
ging signs in any of the other w
izards.  He
had
thought that he had seen a trace of distaste pass over the features of the only female member of the
Wizard C
ouncil
during Falignus’ outburst. 
But he
had not felt
sure enough
in his observation
to take a risk with her.

But then
his gaze had fallen back on Gwineval
.  And Safreon had seen the unmistakable
look of
distaste pass over the
l
izard features of
the wizard
.  Safreon had been so surprised that he
hadn’t
trust
ed
his first impression, but Falignus had
continued to rage
, and Safreon had seen the
look of
distaste
on Gwineval’s visage
a second time. 

That evidence
had been
enough for Safreon.  He
had judged
that this was
a risk that he had to take.  H
e
decided
to make contact with Gw
ineval at his first opportunity, since he had felt uneasy about the boldness of this new wizard leader known as Falignus.

Safreon marveled that an
opportunity had presented itself
so quickly
. 

He
hoped that the
emergence of the
opportunity represented synchronicity and was not
the result of
his misread of a situation that might
be
too good to be true.  He watched for any escort that might
accompany
Gwineval
as he split off from the group of wizards
.  But none of the red robed guards
had followed
.

Safreon shadowed Gwineval
as he walked
, and continued to look for escorts f
ollowing Gwineval at a distance.
Again he was reassured to see that no guards followed.

Ascertaining Gwineval’s probable destination in the smallish Wizard
building
which
lay
only a few blocks ahead, Safreon
strode up beside the w
izard, who moved briskly.

"
Pardon me
,
sir, may I speak
with
you for a moment
?"
Safreon
asked.

"
You may
,"
Gwineval
responded,
but did not stop
or turn
toward Safreon.

"
Could you stop for a moment, sir?  I will only take a moment of your time
,"
Safreon
asked again
, not wanting to be in the visual range of the small
wizard building
during this conversation
, for fear that someone might observe their interaction
.

"
Fine, what is it
?"
Gwineval
asked, turning toward Safreon
with a look of annoyance
. 

Safreon hoped all that Gwineval perceived was a nondescript citizen looking back at him, and not a rogue wizard under a spell to alter his appearance.

"
I was at the Senate
meeting
just now, and I saw what happened
,"
Safreon began.

Gwineval looked at Safreon from head to toe,
mildly perturbed
.

"
Is it fair to say, sir, that some within the Wizard Guild do not favor the policies of Falignus
?"
Safreon asked.

Safreon saw the effect of that question immediately take hold, as
Gwineval stopped
looking inquisitive
and his features displayed
open
disdain at the
content of the
question.

"
Whether that is or isn’t so is not a matter of your concern
,"
Gwineval stated dismissively and began walking again.

"
Oh
,
you’re wrong in that regard,
"
Safreon
said
,
and jogged for a moment until he reached a position walking
abreast of Gwineval
,
"
it’s a matter of principal concern to me… and to the Warrens.
"

Gwineval stopped again and
had
turned to Safreon. 
"
The Warrens?  And why would you have any concern for the Warrens
,
Citizen
?"
he asked skeptically.

"
Speak to me for a few moments and I’ll tell you
,"
Safreon replied.

Hemlock
could still hear the enraged creature thrashing about outside the cave entrance as she, Safreon and Gwineval sat on the floor of a dark, natural tunnel.  They were all recovering from the battle at the mouth of the cave and the long trek that they had taken prior to that.  Merit stood idly beside Hemlock, apparently in full working order again.

"My sabres passed right through that creature without hurting it," Hemlock noted in a low voice.

"It is possessed of an unnatural power," said Safreon darkly.

"Yes, clearly the creature is formed of some magic that even I am not familiar with.  My strongest spells only partially affected it," added Gwineval, seeming troubled.

Hemlock turned to Gwineval, "How’s that possible for a Wizard like you
to not know this magic?"

"I do not know," Gwineval replied, then added: "though I suspect that Falignus must know of this magic and may be keeping it from the other wizards for some reason."

Hemlock’s eyes registered movement from the interior of the cave and she was on her feet with sabres drawn in an instant.  She was only barely conscious of knocking Merit back toward the cave wall as she had drawn weapons.

Safreon and Gwineval were also on guard quickly as the solitary figure of a man strode calmly forth from the pitch black interior of the cave.

As he approached, Hemlock could see that the man was impassive.  He seemed dark complexioned, but as he emerged into the light, it became clear that his skin was covered in a chalky blue coating.  Hemlock had seen men of this appearance before in the City when she had encountered the outlanders known as Tanna Varrans.

"Stop," said Hemlock.

The man continued to approach until Hemlock stood directly in front of him with her sabre point leveled at his neck.

The man look distracted even as he met Hemlock’s eye.

"What are you doing?" Safreon asked the stranger, "There’s a deadly monster out there.  Stay and take refuge."

"Let him go!" intoned a strong, strangely accented voice from deeper in the cave.

A score more figures were now visible emerging from the deep shadows and approaching.

Hemlock kept the first stranger at bay as the others approached.

"You must let him go," instructed the same voice that had spoken from amongst the group, which despite the shadow of the cave, was now visibly composed of both men and women.

"We’ll not let this man walk to his certain death," chided Gwineval.

"Yet that is precisely his intention, and you must not interfere," responded the shadowy figure.

"I intend to interfere," growled Hemlock, eyeing the distracted figure in front of her.

"You think to do good by saving him, yet you would actually be causing him great harm in doing so.  He knows that his family will suffer and possibly even die if he does not walk out of this cave right now," responded the distant figure more urgently.

"What is this, some kind of twisted punishment?" replied Safreon indignantly.

"Stand aside now, or bear the deaths of many on your consciences!" cried the man in the shadows, his commanding voice reaching a crescendo.

Outside, the great monster screamed into the cave, and the man in front of Hemlock used that moment of distraction to charge past Hemlock’s blade, knocking it aside.

Hemlock quickly turned her blade aside and hit the man hard in the head with the pommel of her sabre as he ran past her.

The man staggered, but continued to run toward the cave entrance.  Hemlock turned to pursue, but a force held her feet in place and she fell to the cave floor awkwardly.

"Magic!" cried Gwineval and he quickly made a two handed motion toward the distant figures and they all scattered as if struck by a great force.

Safreon, his short sword in hand, ran to Hemlock’s side.  The magical force that had bound her was gone and she rose to her feet.

Safreon and Hemlock returned their attention to the shadowy group before them, but then a great cry from the beast outside echoed through the cave, followed by an anguished human scream.

"Why?" mouthed Hemlock to Safreon as they all heard the crashing footsteps of the monster receding from the cave mouth and then the all too familiar beat of shadowy wings as the creature took flight.

The group of shadowy figures had reassembled in the cave in the same place where they had stood prior to Gwineval’s attack.

"What was the purpose of that?" cried Safreon.

"A sacrifice," stated the distant man simply, sounding impassive again. "We mourn his passing but our people will be safe now.  I apologize for the magic spell, but it seemed like the only way that you would allow our brother to pass."

"He was slaughtered!" gasped Gwineval, slightly winded from his spell casting.

"He has made a great sacrifice for the safety of his people and will be remembered in song," replied the figure.

"Isn’t that great!" muttered Hemlock loudly and sarcastically.

"Why have you come to our lands?" asked the figure, oblivious to Hemlock’s muttering.

Safreon and Gwineval looked to each other, glanced at Hemlock and then Safreon spoke: "We came here inadvertently, and now we seek to return to the City."

"…to the City," mused the figure.

"Yes, the man with the serpentine appearance here is named Gwineval, and he is a member of the Wizard Guild in the City.  This is Hemlock and she and I are from the Warrens section of the City."

"And the fourth?" asked the figure.

"Ah yes," added Safreon, "that is a machina named Merit."

"Please approach.  Come and sit with us so that we can discuss what has happened." suggested the figure.

After some discussion amongst themselves, Safreon responded for the group: "We will do that."

The four of them walked further into the cave in a state of cautious alert.  Safreon and Gwineval both conjured glowing magic which lit the way before them, but little else.  This revealed around twenty men and women covered in the blue chalk standing in a large cavern. 

"We rarely
reveal these hidden places to outsiders,
"
commented the apparent leader, whom they could now clearly see appeared to be middle aged and bore a noticeable scar on his torso.  All of the males were clean shaven and had long brown or black hair.  They were clothed in well-crafted animal skin garments–the men bare chested and the women’s bosoms supported by small elastic coverings which appeared more functional than decorative and did not seem to be instruments of modesty.

The Tanna
Varran
s drew out
and lit
torches
, and in their flickering light,
a vast cavern complex was revealed, extending as far as the light travelled.

"Come," said the Tanna Varran leader calmly.

The Tanna Varrans began to follow their leader and the four outlanders walked behind them, still cautious.

The air was heavy and still, laden with moisture from the underground streams that flowed through the space.  The only noise was their collective footsteps, the occasional murmur of a terse conversation, and the sound of water flowing over rock all around.  They stepped over small arteries, and at times forded larger ones as
the water
flowed
in knee deep
streams
over old and stubborn rock.

After a few minutes, they came to a shallow pool which was roughly round and bordered with a collection of squared off rocks which enclosed the pool.

"I am Tored," stated the leader of the Tanna Varrans, as he motioned to all to sit around the circle.  He then motioned to his right: "And this is Taros Ranvok.  Taros Ranvok is the son of our King and ruler, Pan Taros."

Taros Ranvok was a youth who appeared to have just crossed into manhood.  He was lithe, but muscular, and it appeared that he would one day be as powerfully built as the older Tored beside him.

Hemlock noted, as they all sat in the circle, that the Tanna Varrans had an odd calmness about them.  Even in the face of the recent death of their comrade, they seemed unfazed.

"We have few visitors here from the City," stated Tored.

"I understand that this is a bit unusual, but we are on Wizard Guild business," stated Gwineval, talking over Safreon as he had begun to respond.

Hemlock risked a guarded look at Safreon whose features wore a hint of surprise at Gwineval’s improvised statement.

"We are no friends of the Wizard Guild," responded Tored.

"You may not be our friends, but you will be wise to let us proceed with our business," said Gwineval.

Hemlock noted that Safreon was beginning to frown.

"Are you aware that your ‘business’ has cost us the life of our friend whom you just saw exit this cave?"

Gwineval made to respond but then said nothing, turning to Safreon.

"Tored, my friend Gwineval’s account of our reasons for being in your lands did not fully represent certain subtleties of our situation," stated Safreon diplomatically.

Tored nodded and waited for Safreon to continue.

"Gwineval is a member of the Wizard Guild, but we arrived here as a result of a misunderstanding that occurred between some of the wizards, and the three, ah four, of us," Safreon added.

He then continued: "So while Gwineval is a member of the Wizard Guild, it is not clear that his agenda is in alignment with theirs at this time.  Basically, we are trying to return to the City in secret.  You said that we were responsible for your man’s death – what did you mean by that?"

Tored paused as if considering his response.  Then he looked to Taros Ranvok, at his side, more than once before responding.

"You speak well, Safreon, but you attempt to cover for your friend.  I sense that even you are unsure of his motives," he stated.

"It is none of your concern," responded Gwineval in a haughty tone.

Tored continued without acknowledging Gwineval. "You four awoke the beast we call ‘Mathi’ from his slumber on the hilltop, is that true?"

"Yes," responded Safreon before Gwineval could; Hemlock felt content to allow Safreon to speak, yet remained wary of a fight.

"Why did you do this?" asked Tored.

"I did so inadvertently as I used the energy from the obelisk on the hilltop to cast a magic spell," said Safreon.

"The Mathi is a creature of the Witch, whose name we utter softly for fear of her wrath," said Tored. "It is a soul eater and a demon.  If it had not found a victim soon, then it would have attacked our Town and done great damage. This we would have had to allow per the ancestral laws that govern our lands.  Once aroused, this beast hunts until it claims a person’s soul in vengeance.  If satisfied immediately, it will limit its revenge to one soul per the ancient law.  If not satisfied quickly, it will attack us viciously and take many souls. It will return to the Witch’s Ziggurat and offer the soul or souls it has claimed to her.  She will feast on them and look in favor on her minion.  We are a peaceful people, and the Witch enjoys our souls the best."

Safreon paled visibly at these words and Hemlock gasped aloud.

"What do you mean by devouring a soul?" Hemlock asked.

Tored turned to her and spoke: "If death is a mystery, then our land sheds some light on that mystery for we see the energy of the dead–their souls–drawn to our hilltops.  We believe that some spirits cannot or will not make the journey to the higher planes; as they linger, they are drawn back to the earth and the special spiritual properties of this land."

"They often head for the highest points, the hills, in order to try to take the next step of their journey.  Sometimes, they cannot continue and remain trapped there.  The weaker spirits often sink back into the valleys. 

The Witches have learned to devour the weak spirits and enslave the stronger ones; tempting them with the ultimate reward of flesh gained anew.  The Witch devours souls and feeds off of her minions to stay alive and remain powerful.  She lives in her Ziggurat to the West, around a score hilltops hence. 

The Mathi is a powerful type of demon which she sends to guard her soul trapping Obelisks.  The Mathi now has the soul of Bradrun, our brother, and soon the Witch will devour and consume him," spoke Tored gravely. 

At that last comment, all of the Tanna Varrans bowed their heads.

"What if we kill this Mathi?" asked Hemlock.

Tored raised his head and gazed at Hemlock.  "We have not killed a Mathi since the Witch Wars that occurred prior to the great separation – when our land was sundered from our people."

"You mean when your people and land were bound to the City?" asked Safreon.

"Yes, that same event," stated Tored.  "We have lost many of the arts of battle over the years.  Combat with a Mathi is forbidden by the ancient laws.  Plus these young warriors do not know how to battle a Mathi," he said gesturing toward many of the Tanna Varrans, including Taros Ranvok.

Taros Ranvok looked confident as he replied, "My father does not allow this training, but I venture that with some guidance from you, Tored, that we could kill that Mathi and allow Bradrun the peace of his final rest."