Harbinger: The Downfall - Book One (30 page)

“Why did you do that?” Dawn asked Rogen as they left the road and continued west. Rogen looked at her for a moment before answering.

“Dawn, you are a pirate. Pirates rob from people, kill them, rape women, burn towns, and are generally a dangerous and untrustworthy sort.”

She thought this over while they rode on in silence for a bit. “I understand that you are not the stereotypical slaver, but even a saint may not have thought of doing such a thing for someone.”

Rogen nodded in understanding. “I believe in personal potential. That girl will never have any chance of finding hers while she is with a woman who does not care to help her. I do not believe everyone will be a legendary hero if given the chance, but I do believe that everyone can be happy in life if given the chance to discover what he or she loves to do. Current world circumstance aside, of course.”

“I think you and Bezel should have spoken more while you had the chance,” she said with a smirk. “Cyril, what did you learn from our smiling friend?”

Cyril looked over his shoulder at her and reined in so he was even with the others. “She told me in a roundabout way and practically went through my pockets in hope of charity, but I learned that many of the smaller villages around here have fallen to attacks from undead. She mentioned some other things also that didn’t seem like the same thing. Different ways of attacking.”

“Was it the werewolves, like what we fought in Red City?” Gruedo asked.

Before Cyril could answer, Dawn interrupted. “You guys have fought what? Dead things? Werewolves? I have heard rumors of those things while in ports, but you two have actually seen an attack?”

“Seen one?” Gruedo said. “We have been in the middle of one! You should have seen Cyril go, and I was no slouch either.” Gruedo went on to tell the tale of their encounters in Red City.

When she finished Dawn asked, “Is there anything else we should know about what is going on in the world?”

“Perhaps,” Rogen said. He then told the others about the encounter with the insects that he and Cite had had in the desert. “And we all know about the encounter on the Lady Luck with the beast.”

Dawn shook her head. “The world is being destroyed, the end of times without question.”

“Not necessarily,” Cite said. “I think there is a chance. My dreams tell me there is. I think that is why we have been drawn together.” He looked at Rogen. “I think there are other things that point to the same thing.”

“So you think that finding this castle will save the world?”

“I can’t say for sure, but I think it will help.”

“I know it will help,” Cyril said. “This Castle was the shining example of the best of man. It offered hope, strength, courage, justice, and so much more. When Kala the Black came to the land, he corrupted the magic of the area and enslaved the fae. Under his leadership, they attacked the people who were still in the city. The city locked down and withstood the initial siege. Kala turned to the smaller towns and villages, methodically wiping out every human settlement in the forest. A few of the port cities still survive, but barely.”

“What about the castle?” Rogen asked, rubbing his beard. He weighed the possibilities. Cyril shook his head.

“Silver Castle had been locked for centuries. For almost three centuries, ever since the Walking God called the Divine Slumber and all the gods withdrew from the world. Even when they returned after awakening a century later, Jonath did not unlock the castle.”

“Do you plan just to restore the city then?” Rogen asked. “Why would it survive with five of us when it could not with a full garrison and population to protect it? What would be different this time?”

“Nothing. We would die. I intend to try and open Silver Castle. Jonath has always been a friend to the Walking God, and the Walking God has always had influence over the dasism. I am hoping by opening the Castle, we can help cleanse Kala’s influence of the dasism. Or at least attract Kala himself and perhaps if he is destroyed, the fae will be free.”

“That is a lot of maybes,” Rogen remarked and Cyril shrugged.

“What else can I do? I have my faith magics; I will do everything in my power to turn back the influence of the Talisman. Cite has the mage abilities of the mind, that will also help.”

Cite looked at Dawn. She sighed and spoke. “I am an elementalist. A Wizard. I can touch the magical energy lines and harness them.”

Gruedo looked around at the three. “There are different types of magic?” she asked.

“Perhaps Cite should explain that,” Rogen answered and looked at the younger man. Cite took a deep breath and sat up in his saddle, his demeanor changing as he began to speak.

“There are five magics. Mind magic is internalized and generally is used for personal things. Reading or influencing other people’s thoughts, moving things with the mind, predicting the future, that sort of thing. Some people use focuses for this, like wands or tarot cards, depending on what ability they have.

“Faith magic is gained by absolute belief and trust in a deity. Like Cyril. He could probably better tell you what sort of things he can do, but from what I have learned, it depends on the god. For example, Torr is the God of Fire and War; his priests may be able to conjure fire or a weapon. Tarra, Goddess of Water and Healing, her priests could probably help speed the healing process or make it rain. Not every priest can call upon the magic of their god though. I am not sure why. It may be purity, but I suspect that certain people are born to magic. The same way some folks swim better, or have an instinctual direction sense.”

Cyril nodded at that. Cite looked around, checking to see if the others were still listening. Gruedo was practically leaning out of her saddle to hear and Dawn was watching him with a strange look. Rogen rode looking straight ahead, his spine straight, but Cite could tell he was listening by the stiff posture. He went on.

“Wizards are elementalists. They can ‘see’ invisible lines of energy or power called ley lines and can tap into them to use the energy. The theory behind this is that air lines follow the same air currents that a storm might follow, water follows the same water currents that migrating fish use or that a ship can find to move more swiftly. This would include rivers and other major waterways, of course.” Dawn nodded, agreeing with both comparisons for her magic and sailing. “The earth lines seem to follow various things, from what I have read and heard from stories. Perhaps roads created by people, or the roads are put there because people unconsciously felt the line of power. Large cities usually seem to be on a convergence of ley lines, again I am not sure if they are formed by the energy from the city or if the cities are built on the convergence or a combination of both. Other things the earth lines follow is large land features, such as mountain ranges, edges of natural features like a forest or desert, and even coastlines.

“Fire is a whole different thing though. From what I have come to understand, fire is not an element.” He stopped as Dawn began to speak.

“I don’t know if it is an element or not, but I know it is damned handy when in a fight. Of course, using it on a ship can backfire, if you’ll excuse the pun.”

“What I mean to say is that fire is a by-product of heat. The sun would be the fourth element, heat. It works with the others, just as the others work with each other. When a volcano erupts, it is earth and heat blended that comes out as lava. Deserts are created by wind and heat.

“I don’t know much about summoning. I know the users of this magic are usually called sorcerers. They are secretive. Not many tales are told about them, and not many books are written about, or by, them. They seem to need a place to do it and rely on fetishes and focuses more than any other type of magic.”

“Not really the complete truth there,” Rogen interjected. Cite turned to look at him, surprised. Gruedo spoke before Cite could ask Rogen to explain his comment.

“You mentioned focuses before, but not fetishes,” Gruedo said. “When you talk about a fetish where I come from, I don’t think it means what you think it means. What are they?”

Cite nodded his understanding. “A fetish is anything used to help concentrate someone’s energies. It may be a wand for directing ley line energy to make fireballs. It may be rune stones to help a mind mage predict the future. Or it could be a ring of protective symbols to help a sorcerer control a summoned demon.”

“What about the walking dead Cyril and I fought? What sort of magic made those damned things? And I mean that literally,” Gruedo said.

Cite shifted in his saddle and pulled his shoulders back even more. Rogen watched him with interest. The boy was showing poise he did not usually display. It appeared to the older man that Cite showed the confidence when he was expected to, otherwise he just shrunk back out of sight.

“Necromancy is a blend of magics,” Cite answered. “It combines summoning to draw the soul, or something like it, to animate the body, then uses mind magic to command and control it. There are many blended magics. If you use mind magic’s telekinesis and specialize in the fire side of ley lines you could be a pyrokinetic and blast people with fireballs and control existing fires. If you combine the ley lines of earth and summoning, it is thought that you could conjure earth golems, guess that could be done with any of the specialties. Faith magic often combines things for specialties if the god allows it. Torr and fire, Tarra and water, Jonath and earth, Latress and air, or even Verl’zen-luk and necromancy.

“From what I have gathered by listening to holy casters, the gods allow their chosen priest or priestess to access things that somebody who had the ability for magic could not normally combine. Also, a priest’s ability and level of power can shift and change depending on how many faithful are physically close to them. It a symbiotic relationship allowing the flow of energies to be exchanged from the faithful, to the god, to the priest.

Cyril nodded and added, “You seem to be on the right track. I haven’t thought it through much, I just have faith that Jonath will provide as He sees fit.”

“I see,” Cite hesitated, shifting in his saddle to face the priest, “how are your powers delivered? I draw upon very subtle forces, feeling it out in my head. Logic dictates some, but just gut instinct really seems to be important. That is why I am able to access greater abilities when I am a bit intoxicated. How do you feel, physically and emotionally when you channel the magic from your god? And is it different when it is something you are doing for the first time?”

“Oh.” Cyril considered for a moment. “I had never thought about it. I feel connected when I channel the power of Jonath. I feel his presence and power. It is like getting a gift, and it fills me with admiration and hope that something greater than myself is doing what I can to help me and the people around me. It centers and clams me, making me feel like there is a reason for everything. It makes me feel complete and loved.”

“Dawn, I am very curious about your abilities also,” Cite said, turning to the woman, who glanced at him with a nervous look. “Do you feel anything when you channel the raw forces of nature? And do you decide what the result will be, or do things just happen that you don’t expect?”

“Well,” Dawn hesitated, collecting her thoughts, “like Cyril, I never considered these things. I get a rush of energy, of power, when I funnel the ley energies through me. It is amazing, to be honest. It is an almost orgasmic feeling, but all mental. Well, a little physically. It makes me excited, rather than soothing me like the priest. As for how I form the results of what happens, I decide that before I pull the raw ley energies into me. Sometimes it does come out different than I expected, but usually it is about what I imagine. If it is different, it is ‘bigger’ than I anticipate.”

The conversation continued, and it helped the time pass unnoticed. As the afternoon wound on, the temperature dropped as the sun did the same. When they had stopped for the evening in a small copse of trees, Dawn announced that it would frost tonight.

“Should we have a fire?” Gruedo asked. “It may attract attention, but it also may keep things away.

“Yes,” Rogen answered, unpacking his supplies to make dinner, “we will make a small fire to cook, but let it go out before we sleep.”

They laid out the camp the same way it had been for the past nights and each were assigned a watch by Rogen. Each had a small tent, set in a circle around the fire, so anyone on watch could stand outside the ring.

“Do you really think we need to set a watch?” Gruedo asked Rogen as they all sat around after their meal.

“Need? We will never need one till the night that we do not set one. That will be the night we would need one,” Rogen answered. They sat around the fire, each lost in their thoughts for a while.

Dawn turned to look at Cyril. “You are from the north, right?” she asked.

“Yes, Humbrey. Why do you ask?”

“My father was a merchant and worked far north on the rivers. He worked the Sidelong River from the southern coast to the Ice Sea, including going down the Weird River into Pantageas when the Conglomerate allowed it. He even sailed his ship up the Seariver and along the Lost Swamp on the Luanum River to Humbrey once.”

Cyril nodded, not sure what Dawn was getting at.

“He met a lot of people, dealt with a lot of people. One in particular I recall being a very shrewd negotiator was Duke Malvornick. Have you ever had dealings with him?”