Sunset of Lantonne (30 page)

Without anyone casting another spell, the man collapsed, his eyes glazing abruptly. The warriors rushed toward him, but by the time the first reached his side, the man’s skin had begun cracking and falling apart. In seconds, little more than his robe and a pile of dust remained.

A hush fell over those in the room, staring in confusion at the remains of their attacker. Then, the apprentice that had cast the first spell began coughing and collapsed, falling down the steps. The other apprentice reached for him, then gagged and fell as well, landing beside his friend.

Those who had any training in tending to the injured ran for the men, then stopped and looked around in confusion as Ilarra’s father leaned against the wall and fell into a seated position. He held his stomach and stared at the floor in dazed confusion.

“Raeln, go see if…” began Ilarra, then dizziness washed over her.

The next thing Ilarra knew, she was lying face-down on the floor, gasping for breath. She could hear people running around and calling out orders, but she could make out none of it.

Closing her eyes, she felt like she was going to be sicker than she had ever been in her life.

All shall be welcome into the tribes should they be worthy of learning. The ignorant and those who choose not to learn will be cast out or find their station lessened. We will rise as the wisest of nations, embracing the knowledge of the world, not just our own heritage.

Knowledge rewards the seeker and might will always destroy the wielder. We will take knowledge and give it freely to those who come to us. This shall be our law and our mission, and none shall challenge it.

-
Fourth law of Turess, lost original phrasing

All of humankind shall be welcome into the tribes should they be deemed worthy of learning. The ignorant, the foreign, the inhuman, and those who choose not to learn will be cast out or be relegated to slavery for their own lifetime and the lifetime of their children. We will rise as the wisest of nations, embracing our heritage and knowledge.

Knowledge rewards the worthy seeker and might can show the unworthy our place in the world. We will take knowledge by force if it is denied us. This shall be our law and our mission, and none shall stand before us.

-
Fourth law of Turess, modern Turessian teaching

Entering his room, Therec closed and barred the door behind him. He turned and slowly looked over the chamber, searching for any magic or the tingle of another living being within the walls. Nothing felt out of place, and he relaxed just a little as he looked out at the open window and the heavy snowfall outside the tower.

Kneeling at the center of the large bedroom, Therec flared out his robes around him. He calmed his mind and began seeking the very specific magics that he had intended to use for weeks. He had been ordered not to use magic of this sort while outside of Turessi, but he had little choice. Information was what he needed most, and this was the only way he would get it without enlisting the aid of half the city to seek it out. There was no one else he could ask.

“Master,” he said softly as magical winds drifted over him, warming him despite the snow blowing in from the window. Almost immediately, his heart began racing as the powerful spell drained much of his strength. When he opened his eyes, a dark hole hung in the air inches from his face, looking like a sort of black cloud that roiled in one place. “Council, please answer me. We must speak.”

Though the spell normally linked to the target person at any distance instantly, Therec waited several minutes as the magic gradually sought out anyone within the council chambers of Turessi. Hundreds of miles away, a matching black cloud would be drifting through the temple, until it could find someone there. He was nearly ready to give up, wondering if the council had come to some kind of harm, when he was answered by a woman. The features of the woman’s face appeared in the smoky cloud, with the tattoos on her face and the black of her hood remaining dark, but the rest of the cloud faded to an off-white for her skin, giving her a ghastly appearance. This was normal with the magic, revealing only a simple representation of the person at the far end. The spell had been designed to gain little more than a basic idea of the face of the person on the other end, along with a clear view of their markings.

“What is this, Preserver Therec?” the woman asked as her eyes shifted to stare at him. “You were ordered to learn more of these people and stay silent until you returned. We did not wish to hear from you for at least another year, if not longer. What warrants contacting us already?”

Swallowing nervously, Therec bowed his head. “Council master, I need to know whether there are more of our people here. I have encountered a man with clan tattoos that I did not recognize and…”

The woman laughed and cut him off. “Therec, you were to place yourself beside the king of that land and wait for any further orders. Why would the council reveal anything further when it might impact the tasks of others? There is a war underway, and you were to gather information on the king, not call home to check in on us every opportunity.”

Therec lifted his head and stared at the woman who had trained him, studying the smoky image of her for emotion. There was none, not even the annoyed firmness he had come to expect to see when he had done something wrong. She was not even forcing herself to be calm…there was nothing at all in her expression.

“Master Aphola, the king is in the next room. I have his complete trust,” Therec lied, monitoring every possible facial tick that might give him away. In person, he knew he could never lie to that woman, but the magic was imperfect that they used. She would have to listen to tone and watch for obvious clues, which he knew he could hide. “I spoke with him no more than an hour ago.”

A flash of emotion crossed Aphola’s face and she was distinctly unhappy. “Do you think lying to me would…?” she began, but this time it was Therec that cut her off.

“How did you know the war had begun? The cities were skirmishing for decades. When we spoke last, the war had not erupted into anything more than small land-grabs. There is something you are not telling me, councilwoman.”

The woman’s lips curled into an amused smile, but her eyes gave no hint that there was humor backing it. “Therec, dear Therec,” she mused, cocking her head as she stared at him. “You always were the clever one. This was why we were ordered to place you where your skills would be most useful. A shame you had to survive. I was told you would die there, but something has gone wrong or changed. Your mission was to die far from home, not to reveal our secrets. Something will need to be done about this.”

Therec clenched his gloved hands, but fought to keep his face calm. “What has happened to the council, Aphola?”

“Nothing to concern yourself with, Preserver. You are much too far away for it to be a matter for your attention. We still control the lands and will until long after you are gone.”

“Tell me what has happened to the clan…my wife, my child, my parents.”

“No. You are on your own, Therec. Be a good little preserver and keep those bodies fresh and ready for our arrival. You have no further orders from the council of clans. We will not answer any further summons. May your death be swift.”

“Aphola,” he said more firmly, raising his voice in uncontrolled anger as he stood. “What have you done?”

“I did not do this, friend,” Aphola said more gently, her eyes showing just a hint of sadness. “You will understand someday, if all goes well. Until then, I can only say that Aphola is sorry for all that has happened to the clan and your family.”

“Why speak as if you are someone else?”

The image smiled broadly at him, then shook its head. “You will figure it out in time, Therec. I trust that you are a wise man. Your wisdom will mean much to the people there. Do not let your remains get buried according to their customs. We would wish to see you return to your homeland, proud of what you have done.”

“Die alone in a storm,” cursed Therec in an old Turessian dialect, waving his hand across his body. As he did, the smoke dissipated, leaving the room quiet and empty once more. His hands shook with more anger than he could remember feeling in his life, but there was nothing to be done.

Heading straight to his desk, Therec began laying out book after book that he had taken from the magisters’ libraries. Several he tossed aside, knowing they held nothing useful for him. It was the books on magic and northern history he began arranging in order of importance for him to read.

He had to prepare himself for a war against his own people, and without his clan’s collected knowledge at his disposal, this would have to do.

As Therec began searching for ideas of how to fight against an army of undead, he found himself worrying about his family. Though he had been trained to always ignore such emotion when it interfered with his duties, this once Therec embraced the fear and allowed himself to hope that they were safe somewhere.

*

“Sir, the enemy is falling back. Should we pursue?”

Therec looked around in surprise. He had been lost in thought as the battle had raged on. It took him a moment to get his bearings again. After two weeks of hard riding and another of preparations for the journey, he was far too tired for what he was trying to do. Another hour and he would likely have fallen off of the horse as he nodded off.

Seated atop a horse, Therec was among dozens of Lantonnian soldiers at the foot of the mountains, where Altis had sent out a large force to slow them. He had ordered the attack through Dorus, after convincing him that testing the enemy’s strength would be vital. The results had been about what he had expected.

Arrayed across the foothills, more than fifty trebuchets had been arranged, surrounded by battalions of soldiers. In each battalion, Therec had insisted on no less than a hundred archers and several wizards, even if the wizard was little more than an apprentice. This, in his mind, was to be their trial by fire, an attempt to get them used to using their limited skills in the field of battle. What he had not told Dorus was that this was also a test of the enemy. He needed to know what the Turessian holed up in Altis was capable of and sending in these forces was the only sure way.

As the commander spoke to Therec, the trebuchets continued hurling rocks into the mountains. They crashed down on the road that ran from Altis down into the plains, and every impact created a plume of fresh snow, making it easy to spot the landing. Entire sections of the cliff-lined road had collapsed, taking hundreds of undead with it. Therec doubted they were “dead,” but if their remains were buried under boulders, he would count that as a kill. For the first time in his life, he had begun to view the shambling bodies as the enemy, rather than the unfortunate ancestors of those who still lived.

“Do not pursue,” Therec ordered. “I want that road destroyed. Collapse every section that can be torn off the mountainside.”

“The enemy has already fallen back out of our range.”

“Keep firing. I want them to use the other roads if they want to attack us again. Going around will cost them days of travel and may encourage their leaders to find a new target. Given the size of their forces, it might buy us weeks or longer.”

“What of the golems, sir?”

Therec turned in his saddle and stared up at the massive metal beings that waited behind the Lantonnian army. They were not nearly as impressive as the war golems the dwarves had loaned the city, but they were finely-crafted and powerful as anything Therec had ever seen. A dozen of the metal men stood ready, unmoving until the apprentices that controlled them gave an order.

“Send the golems into the mountains to smash anything that tries to escape off of the main road, but stop them before they reach the first curve, where we would lose sight of them. I want every Altisian pushed back toward the city, not into the wilds. I’ve been advised there are people living out there beyond the control of Altis, and I would rather have them come to us for aid than be killed pointlessly.”