Of Men Made Gods by Osman Welela
Chapter One
A Gathering
SOARING PILLARS SUPPORTED the flat roof of the meeting hall, dwarfing the milling crowd that moved under their looming presence. High up, almost at the edge of the ceiling where exquisitely placed jewels glinted mirroring the stars of a faraway night, rectangular windows, wider than they were tall, pierced the old thick walls, letting in air that cleared the room of thousands of breaths and light that banished the shadows from all corners. Every surface of it covered with huge slabs of polished white marble that had delicate golden lines running through it, the building echoed the chatter of the people inside it, shaping the collective sounds into a dull, incomprehensible roar; the whispers of a giant.
Seven hundred seats marched up to the walls at the edges of the room, growing in height as they receded from the large empty space in the middle. Three hundred pairs were always reserved for the male and female heads of a family while a hundred sat those who were granted a place because of their various positions as administrators and officials.
Gradually, the sound in the place lowered in volume as almost everyone in the hall found their rightful seat and settled down. It was into this subdued murmuring noise that a man suddenly stepped into. He passed the silver plated doors, which were the main gates into the building, without slowing down as he urgently talked with a man at his side who hurried away after listening to his words.
He was of medium height with long dark hair that receded from his forehead and a clean-shaven jaw which showed itself as being a recent effort by its paleness compared to the skin around it.
He strode towards one of the seats that awaited him, the traditional white robe with the golden trim which all attending the gathering always wore straining over his ample girth. His mind on other matters, he walked with his head bowed and his eyes absently staring at the floor until the sound of his name being called brought him back to his surroundings.
"Avon!" said his wife, Caenphis, almost hissing the word as she stretched an arm to him from amidst a circle of people as if she was drowning in a sea of bodies. Quickly muttering apologies to those around her, she fell in beside him as they walked towards their seats. "Where in the darkness have you been?"
"Just making sure everything's ready," he answered, as they finally reached their place which was only a few rows from the open floor in the middle of the hall; a privileged position even among the privileged. Settling down, he asked, "What's wrong?"
"You know I can't stand a moment of this alone," she replied, taking her place beside him and not bothering to explain what she meant by ‘this’.
"How have you been able to survive without me then?" said Avon, a small smile pushing back his cheeks.
She didn't pause even for a breath as she answered him. "By not coming, of course!"
He turned around to face her, and looking at her expression that was only starting to lighten up, he said, "It can't be that bad."
"Oh, you think so?"she asked, her tone falsely cheery. "I'm sure you're right. You would have probably been unfazed while weathering through a detailed explanation of why eastern horses are second to none in the whole wide world for a considerable part of your day."
"Ah," said Avon, his face contorting in sympathy for a moment, "Faeynar, was it?"
"Who else?"
"So, still at pains to let everyone understand how much he knows of everything, is he?" he asked absently as he started to scan the crowd while a little nervousness settled over his bones.
"Hideously," answered Caenphis, her tone changing in a shocking way as she mimicked another's voice.
Avon couldn't stop himself as he burst out laughing, the sounds of his sudden mirth hushing most of the hall for a second. Quickly controlling himself, he turned around to his wife again, ignoring the hundreds of curious eyes around him and forgetting his nervousness for a moment. "I can't believe he still uses that word," he said to her, his lips peeling off his teeth almost by their own will.
"A...," began his wife, but whatever she was going to say was interrupted by the sound of the silver doors closing.
Silence prevailed in the hall for a time before it was disturbed by another set of doors opening. This time it was the golden ones that moved from where they seamlessly fitted in the walls that faced the now closed way to the outside. Standing opposite their counterparts, they smoothly opened to reveal a way which led deeper into the building. As soon as they saw the widening of the golden maw, every person in the hall left their seat in an all-encompassing show of respect.
Achingly slow, the Master of the Hall passed the open doors heading for the single chair facing the people that waited for him alone. Three men trailed behind him, moving patiently as they followed his every step. Under the magnificent black robe with a silver trim, his frame had the painful thinness of a truly old person. An unblemished white beard trailed down to his waist, a stark contrast to the current fashion of a clean-shaven face that most of the men he now faced sported. Lines and spots marred his features where time had played its slow game with his flesh.
Once he reached his seat, the ancient looking man didn't hide his grateful sigh as he lowered himself onto the soft cushions. Following his example, the standing men and women before him lowered themselves to their seats too, momentarily filling the hall with the noise of hundreds of rustling fabrics.
When all had settled into silence again, one of the three men that had come with the old man stepped up to the middle of the hall. Lifting the ceremonial staff he held with both hands, he brought it down hard on the smooth marble floor at his feet. He repeated this two more times, the harsh sounds that he created echoing off the walls as they blended together. After waiting for the noise to disappear, he breathed in deeply before bellowing, in a mighty voice, words that had passed thousands of lips like his in the past. "SO BEGINS A GATHERING!"
Following this, another one of the three who had trailed the old man stepped up to take the place of the man with the staff who moved to stand behind the single chair on the huge hall floor. This time, the new man turned back to the ancient one behind him and bowed first before doing anything else. Standing straight again, he waited silently until the tired eyes focused on him and the old head moved in a small nod.
Having received permission, the man turned around to the people in their seats and unrolled the scroll he had been holding in one hand. Reading from the parchment he held, he spoke the ritual words and called out a name before taking his place beside the other two he had walked in with.
The man whose name had just been called stood up from his seat to take the now empty floor. As he began reporting some problems in the south, Avon quickly lost his interest. Amidst his own swirling thoughts, his mind wondered at all the changes he had seen in his brief glimpse of the city last night and this morning. It was a month ago that he had started heading for this place after hearing of the war, and he had only arrived at his home late last night.
Having traveled hard to get to the city he had left three years ago, he had barely glanced at the buildings he had passed in the dark hours of his arrival yesterday. Only meeting his wife had enticed his sluggish mind for a moment. Though they had talked every single day in his years of absence, they both knew it was never the same as meeting in the flesh. So they had spent more of the night than they both intended together. Then, after arranging some small things for the next day, he had finally reluctantly succumbed to his exhaustion by sinking deeply into the land of slumber.
When he woke up next, the morning had almost ended. Quickly getting together everything he would need later, he had wasted no time in rushing to the gathering where his wife waited for him. And it was in the middle of this mad dash that he really noticed some of the changes in the city he had grown up in. Instead of worrying about what he might have forgotten while making his way through the place, he took a moment to look at the new buildings that lined the streets while his memory whispered of a small forest in the same space. He watched as the cobbled road led down to a square w
here a large fountain made a play of water between its enormous statues, remembering the small dirt road that used to be there once. It had all looked beautiful, magnificent even, but also a bit mad.
To Avon, who had been traveling through distant lands where a few stone buildings were a rare sight, the excess of his native city slightly disturbed him. First he had thought it was because of his absence that he felt uncomfortable, but when at every turn of the street more structures were revealed, each more breathtaking than the last, he had suddenly realized what his mind had found so odd. It was the timing. He suddenly knew that it wouldn't have made him think twice if what he saw had been built at least in ten years' time, but he couldn't understand what could possibly have changed in only the three years he had been gone to make his people fall into such a gluttonous frenzy for opulence.
He looked at the people around him now while the first speaker was replaced by another and the day slowly wore on, he eyed them all trying to see past their normal looking facade and find the secrets that they might not even know they were hiding. Little by little, the longer he looked, he started to notice the rare stones that glinted from around the occasional neck or upon fingers on a shifting hand. A sight that would have been surprising in the subdued gatherings of old. But, still odder were the bodies which the jewels adorned. The longer he looked, he began to see hair that was blacker, skin that was clearer and backs that were straighter than he remembered. Men and women which were distinctly older than him in his memory seemed half his age now.
Magic. He couldn't believe his eyes at first, he couldn't understand how anyone would use the precious gift for such a ridiculous thing as youth. He would never have taken it seriously if someone had told him a few days ago that these fools were wasting power in such an idiotic act as clutching at lost years, even with all the danger that was threatening to drown everything around them. Though, looking around himself now, he quickly realized that most were doing exactly that.
Even this gathering seemed like an unusual thing to him. He knew the traditional meeting that took place once a month was changed into a weekly thing because of the distant wars that had started some time ago. But now he wondered how much of it was actually necessary and how much an excuse for wasting time.
"Avon," whispered Caenphis, touching his arm as she brought him back to the moment.
"Hmm...?" he replied in a distracted tone.
"It's time."
"Oh," he said, a return of nervousness jolting him out of his thoughts.
Smiling sheepishly, he stood up while his heart began to flutter. As he started passing his wife, she took one of his hands and gave it a warm squeeze, filling him with a support he fiercely needed. His heart full of love for the woman he felt was watching his back, he went down to the open floor in the middle of the hall. By the time he reached it, some men had already brought in two separate things; each of them under a layer of cloth that completely hid its contents. One was rectangular in shape while the other looked more like a sphere. Both were large, though the angular one was by far the largest; the men had strained heroically to even move it while its cloth covering fluttered at one edge as if air was being blown from under it.
After first bowing to the Master of the Hall in his lone chair, Avon turned around to face the crowd while all his nervousness swiftly left him like a forgotten thought. He stared openly at them for a moment, his face impassive as he collected his wits about him. "What I am now going to show you might seem horrific though it's nothing you haven't heard about already," he began, sweeping his audience with his intense gaze, "so, I ask you all to try and look beyond the gruesome parts to see some of the things I believe I have found."
Once he had finished speaking, he turned around and, while muttering a simple spell under his breath, gestured with one hand at one of the cloth covered things that had stood waiting behind him. With his action, the large object lifted off the ground a few feet and began to float to the middle of the hall, following his outstretched arm.
As soon as the thing touched the marble floor again, he moved one hand alone snappily. And with that movement, the huge cloth was thrown off to one side of the room where waiting men quickly collected it. What lay beneath glinted in the light coming from the open windows, its glassy surface looking glorious by itself without a touch of magic. A seerstone, grown into an enormous size so that even its stand alone almost reached a grown man's height.
Stepping up to the globe, Avon extended a finger to touch it. After a second of contact, the crystalline surface gave way beneath his flesh to swallow almost half of his pointing finger. Standing still for a moment, he closed his eyes and spoke the appropriate spell carefully before taking his hand away from the globe.
When he opened his eyes again, what met his gaze was a dark spot in the middle of the white thing. Silently turning around from the imposing object, he walked away to stand where he wouldn't be in the way of anyone's sight.
Looking back, he stared at the globe which had become almost completely black as the dark spot he had seen earlier grew to fill its every surface. He waited a little before he spoke, watching the dark thing that seemed to eat the light around it as he tried to give the people a moment to get themselves ready. A small time later, he cleared his throat and whispered a word of magic, bringing the sound of screaming to the room.
The dark globe was instantly filled with a sight from a nightmare. The images, seeming to come from a person's eye viewpoint, showed a city under attack. Men and women, old and young, all ran blindly trying to get away from the soldiers in green armor who massacred anyone in their path without discrimination. Glimpses of fires raining down from the sky took up most of the view for brief moments whenever the person who had actually seen it all looked up in fright when hearing the booming noise of buildings collapsing in the distance.
Some people stood their ground and fought, uselessly trying to hold off some soldiers from passing through a small street while they failed to see the others that were coming from behind them. The noises of horror seemed to come from everywhere while blood vied with char and debris to color the grey stones all around.
Having nothing at hand, terrorized men brought up their arms to block swiftly descending swords that left them gushing stumps for their troubles. Unable to run, old people fell on their knees begging even as they watched the tired bones of others like them being crushed beside their bowing heads; never stopping their useless obeisance until the hard heals of the soldiers were mercilessly brought down on their own weak skulls. Mothers cowered over their small children, defenseless as their backs blossomed with red lines or swords were sunk into their flesh to reach the young ones they hid.
The view almost never blurred as the owner of the eyes blindly dashed from street to street, as if the person had not known where to go in the whole madness. It was in the midst of bypassing one street by a small alley that the individual was forced to stop as the globe was filled by the image of two soldiers that were just entering the tight space ahead. The view changed swiftly as the person seemed to try and head back to the other end of the alley which was also being blocked by another set of soldiers entering it. Eyes frozen on these soldiers, the image stayed still for a moment. Almost tangible fear seemed to flood out of the very images as all in the hall watched silently.
After a second, though, the view started to quickly shift as the person who had actually viewed these events turned from one end of the alley to the other in sheer panic. But in between this terror filled shifts the image suddenly paused on a grey wall. Slowly, almost reluctantly, the view changed from stone to wood as the person's eyes were brought around to look at what lay straight ahead. The wood grew larger in the globe as the person seemed to step up to it, the random marks of age on it clearly visible by the dirt that had settled into them until they became truly black in the surrounding dark brownness.
Slender shaking hands filled the image for the first time as they were brought up to tentatively touch the metal handl
e. They flexed as they pulled down and pushed into the rusting thing with the same motion, freezing as the action seemed to actually work and the door was opened.
Finally noticing what was going on ahead of them, it was at this moment that the shouts of the soldiers were heard above the cacophony of the chaos all around. The view was changed for a second to the men that were rushing from either side, before turning back to the darkness that was revealed behind the door where it plunged without the slightest of hesitations.
Inside the building, the image adjusted to the darkness, revealing a simple kitchen. Food, in various stages of preparation, still waited where it had been left by curious hands. A couple of onions lay half-chopped on the cutting board where the one that had left them would never return to finish the deed, a chicken rested on a wooden table midway into being fully plucked, its cut neck still leaking blood that spread over the wood until it met the edge and spilled onto the stone floor where it congealed in a small dark puddle, while the sound of something boiling on the stove filled the room where the noisy horrors outside were muffled slightly.
The person whose view the white clad audience were now sharing didn't seem to notice any of these things, the hectic gaze only fell on them for a brief time as it searched for something. The images, which were changing in an increasingly frantic pace, suddenly paused as they settled on another door nestled at one corner of the room.
The small door growing larger as it was approached, the view inside the globe continued. Upon reaching the wooden structure, the person didn't pause even for a second unlike the last time. When the door was unhesitatingly wrenched open, the bright room beyond was revealed dazzlingly. The curtains greedily covering all the windows, it was through the huge door ahead that the light was flooding into the place. And with the light came the blessed view of a miraculously empty plaza just outside the building.
The feeling of relief still almost palpable even to Avon who had spent many sleepless nights watching it all over and over, far past the point where he could fool himself by thinking he was looking for something he might have missed, the view shifted as, first with a frightened step and then with a full on run, the person started to head for that rectangle of light almost reaching the threshold in a second with the increased pace. It was at this moment that a thunderous sound was heard from the crystal orb just before all noise suddenly disappeared and the world in it looked like it was breaking as the ground heaved.
At last, when everything had stopped moving, a small red stain started to grow at one end of the image in the globe while the rest was filled by an impenetrable curtain of dust. Silence filled the hall, as men and women held their breaths while they sat still all around, waiting to see what the glassy surface would reveal when the dust had finally cleared. Slowly, the air becoming free of particles as they were swept away by a dead wind, a heart-clenching thing came into view. In the distance, the previously empty plaza could be seen littered with ruble that increased in number closer to the still seeing eyes. But that was not the reason that made many an Adam's apple bob inside suddenly constricted necks all over the hall; instead, it was the fragile looking hand that stood out in one corner of the image that made everyone's heart suddenly miss a beat. It lay there, bruised in a couple of places; disturbingly unmoving.
For a while, nothing happened inside the crystal globe, the world it showed seemingly frozen in the haunting silence. But none of the crowd lost interest. They watched with rapt attentions as they sensed, almost instinctively, that there was still more to see.
And, after only a small amount of time, the silent audience's diligence was rewarded when the dust on the grounds of the distant plaza started to be disturbed. As they watched, the slight flurry quickly grew into a full blown gust that cleared a large circular space. This continued for a second or two before something that made every single person in the hall move to the edge of their seats suddenly landed on the middle of the plaza. It was a dragon.
Violet scales covered its every inch, from its large head where its dark eyes sparkled above its big jaws, which fleetingly parted for a second to reveal dangerously sharp and large teeth, down its back, where three men sat on some form of saddle, and on to its tail which ended in an unusual stump where it seemed to have been cruelly cut. Even the great wings seemed to hold a bit of scale at their edges as it stood supported by its two slightly smaller front legs and the larger two back legs. All of its limbs had frightening claws that seemed to fiercely grip the ground under them.
Darker in some places than others, the lizard-like skin was breathtakingly beautiful; its glory only slightly shadowed by the numerous wounds that pierced its surface. Some of them looked recently made, a dark liquid that looked like the thing's blood marking their edges where it had dried, while the others were old enough to have turned into grayish scars.
But for all its awesome demeanor, the great thing looked to heave its back in relief as the three men dismounted from it. With the humans finally off it, it seemed bigger than it really was. Its smaller legs were only slightly taller than a big horse's while its long neck, without its vicious head, looked more fragile than threatening as it was seen beside the men below it. Only its wings were actually as huge as they seemed, though they were resting neatly folded on its back and a bit around its lithe frame.
Without wasting any time, two of the men started to walk away together, heading to the right, while the third waited beside the dragon. All of them were wearing green armor edged with a deep red color and black hooded cloaks that trailed a little on the ground behind them. On their dark, almost nightly surface, each of the cloaks had a red mark that was round below like a drop before flaring above like a flame.
The two men were almost out of sight when the one left behind absently stepped in front of the dragon. With his back to the thing, he bowed down slightly like he was looking at something on the ground that had caught his attention. For a moment, the huge animal regarded him without any movement at all. It simply looked at him. And then, slowly, as if it was afraid, it lowered its gigantic head slightly to the human before it. Then, just as slowly, it pulled back again.
Seemingly oblivious to the animal behind him, the man lowered himself to one knee to pick up the thing he had been looking at all this while. The beast's reaction to this was only a reptilian slithering of its forked tongue, the long thing sticking out for a second as if to taste the air before disappearing again between the gigantic jaws. Still looking at the thing in his hand, the man stood up from where he had knelt and began to turn around only to be stopped on his tracks as the beast behind him struck.
It happened too quickly for most of the gathered to see clearly, making them break the silence for the first time since the whole thing began to be shown as they spoke out in a confused murmur. Avon too had needed to watch it numerous times to see what had actually happened. At first he had only seen what all were now seeing. He had been stupefied when he watched the thing that time. One moment a man was turning and the next blood was spewing all over the plaza ground while the two men that had almost left came back running.
He had had to slow the whole thing down to see the creature's neck pulling back for a second before coming down on the man in a blinding speed. He had watched, stunned, as the enormous jaws had engulfed the man, armor and all, without meeting the slightest resistance. The horrifying mouth had smoothly swallowed the small human head, the whole left shoulder and arm, and some of the hip before snapping closed with a terrifying ease. He had watched as the body was slightly lifted with the thing's head which had started to move back, the flesh and bones resisting before they finally gave up so that almost half the body was left inside the dragon. He had watched the remaining part of what had been a full man only a second ago fall to the ground where it obscenely still stood for a small time; one arm waving around as it balanced madly, scattering blood and gruesome solid chunks of human matter all over the place.
Knowing what was going to happen next, Avon silently wa
tched from the side as the murmur in the hall grew. Inside the globe the image of the men running towards the dragon still showed. They seemed to approach the animal without a hint of fear, waving their arms in front of them as they closed on the monstrous thing.
It was an old woman, sitting in one of the first row of seats, who seemed to notice first the odd thing about the two men. She gasped in surprise as she understood what she was actually looking at. By the time others around her started to turn to the crystal orb, there was no mistaking the fact that the men were practicing some sort of magic.
Horrified silence enveloped the hall, as all watched fire leap from the outstretched arms of the black cloaked men. The one to the right reached the dragon first, making the beast snarl and stumblingly back as he blasted it with balls of blue flame.
Only a step behind the other, the second man also approached the murderous animal, coming from its left as one of his hands, which was sweeping the air above his head, was suddenly engulfed in green flames that trailed around him in a fantastic whip. He brought this whip about in a smooth practiced sweep and landed a blow on the thing's beautiful skin. Step by step, and working together, the men were able to subdue the animal, making it cower before them as it lowered its sinuous neck and laid its head on the ground in a clear show of submission.
At last, Avon spoke a word, bringing the glassy globe to its earlier darker form again, and stepped forward. "What you have just seen was found from a girl in Rumnick, the city of trade in the west," he began, his voice booming in the glaring silence around him. "Though she had died in the city's fall," he continued, "she was one of the hundreds from whom my men were able to extract the memory of this terrible experience.
"But what makes this special is not the close sight of the dragon alone, as I'm sure you have realized by now. Yes, what you saw was magic being used by people whom we had thought as being barbarians up to now. And no, I don't know what form of spell that was though I'm sure we can all agree that it was definitely not one of ours. The use of fire magic even for a brief time is a trying experience even for some of our high mages, and what you just saw now was nothing but brief.
"So, this brings me to the two things I've come here to tell you. One is good while the other might just spell our doom if we are not careful in the next steps we take. I shall start with the darker of the two," he paused to turn around to the globe once again as he spoke a word of magic. The blackness was immediately replaced by an unmoving scene of the two men trying to control the dragon with their fires. Speaking another word of power, Avon watched as the same image was leached of color until all of it had become gray.
"As you can see I've just used the Numir spell to see the life force of these men. Now, watch closely," he said, before stepping back as he waved a hand in front of him. Horror stricken gasps filled the hall as the scene inside the orb was gifted with motion. Looking at the image as he started walking around the glassy surface, he pointed to the violet colored lines that connected the dragon to the two men attacking it. "These men are using the dragon's power as a source of their magic," he said in a loud whisper, feeling a shiver go down his spine as he did so.
"What our civilization had been trying to do since its inception has now been achieved by those who were known to have never even used magic in our great-grandfathers' time. Channeling another's power has always been a mythical quest for all of us. I must admit, it has been a goal that had been driving my work for the past few years. Which brings me to the good part of the thing I've come to tell you today."
Turning back to the glassy orb, Avon spoke a word, turning its insides into black again. After speaking one more word, he gestured at the globe without looking at it as he said, "Watch this more carefully."
The view inside the globe was back to where the moment just before the dragon attacked the man that had ridden it, only now it was all without any color. Just a few people showed any surprise this time while most looked on the grayish scene almost without any reaction.
"Some of you might have noticed what the beast was doing at that moment," began Avon, turning away from the globe after changing it back to its former white form. "It doesn't matter if you haven't. I had to see the scene almost a hundred times before I could believe it myself. The dragon was testing the lines that bound him to the men. What is surprising here is not that the animal knew of the thing's existence, though that is still a remarkable thing in itself, but rather that the men did not."
Men and women around him murmured in surprise as realization dawned on them. "They do not yet know that they are using the animal's power," he paused for a time to let it all sink in before he continued. "I've checked this as much as I can on the rare few memories my men had found in a couple of the other attacked cities. Though it is not as clear as it is on this one, I believe I have found signs that strongly support this new revelation."
Leaving the men and women sitting around the hall to digest the new knowledge, Avon floated the giant crystal orb away from the center of the floor and towards the men who waited at one edge of the hall before bringing the other covered object to take its place. Once he did this, he returned to his audience, waiting for them to quiet down before he began speaking again.
When the noise around him had finally died down, he said, "What we must do now is try to make sure they never know the thing they have. I do not need to tell you that they are heading for this land, the reports from the scouts this city has sent all show that these invaders are the same as the ones our forefathers had barely stopped. The pattern of the attacks and the reports that are flooding in all make no secret that they are only gathering enough forces to attack us and us alone. Even with just their men, all of you know we will barely be able to defeat them. If they understand the power they hold, no one that I know of is ever going to win a war with them.
"So, we must stop their source of power before they know what it truly means and, if we can, we must find a way to learn what they have done. Now, I have been working to find a way to channel another's life force for the past three years but I am sad to say my work has not hinted at any signs of progress in that regard," he stopped for a second, looking as if he had just spoken about something he was grateful for. "As for the problem of blocking their source of magic from these strange people, my solution is this," he said, turning around and, with just a gesture of his hand, throwing back the cloth covering the object in the middle of the floor.
Indignant cries, and some frightened screams, filled the hall as the thing amidst them all was suddenly revealed. It was a cage. Its sides and ceiling were made of huge bars of some dark metal while its floor was one solid piece of the same odd metal. Inside it, head resting at one corner, laid a dragon. It was completely white with only a hint of gold where the scales hardened to form ridges on the back of its head, on its shoulders, at the joints of its legs and the top parts of its tail. When it lazily lifted its head to look at the people, its eyes were revealed to be large black orbs surrounded by a sliver of a shining silver circle at the edges.
Lifting a hand, Avon tried to silence the terrified crowd so that he might continue. But no one seemed to notice him at all.
'Silence!'
The word, unmistakably a command, came as a whisper into every single person's mind inside the hall. In the sudden quiet, all eyes turned to the old Master of the Hall.
Grateful for the timely intervention, Avon bowed to the man who had sat alone behind him all this time before turning to head for the cage as he spoke. "I know you are confused," he began, stopping right before the enormous white head which had turned to him as he approached it. "You are asking yourselves why a beast that looks so much like the one you just saw mauling a human being is here in the heart of our city. But I assure you this animal is nothing like the one you saw in the seerstone," he paused for a second, looking at the enormous black eyes with undisguised adoration written all over his face.
"This," he began again, his voice almost a whisper as he stared at eyes
which stared back at him, "is a marvel the likes of which the world has never seen before." Then, with the last of his words barely out of his mouth, and accompanied by some escaped gasps from the people around him, he fearlessly plunged one of his hands between the metal bars to rest it on the dragon's head.
Instead of tearing off his arm, as Avon knew most of his audience were expecting it to, the animal's only reaction was to lean into his touch as it stepped closer to him. "In the past few years, I've learned, and then perfected, the techniques of breeding practiced by the numerous people of the foreign lands I've visited," he said, patting the scaly skin, "But the level of control I have over the infants by my new techniques goes beyond what one might call breeding. The animal you saw inside that girl's memory did not show a unique behavior from its kind. By all accounts dragons are notoriously vicious. No known attempt to truly tame them has ever worked. Even our black cloaked enemies who call themselves Vardrakus, which in their tongue means dragon lord, have to continually control the frightening animals they ride as you have just witnessed.
"Yet," he paused to turn around, not lifting his hand from the beautiful creature behind him, "as you can clearly see, this dragon is not as blood thirsty as the rest of his cousins that roam the mountainous wilds of the western lands. Another thing that makes this one different from most of its kind is its size. You may have noticed that it's somewhat smaller than the violet colored one you just saw eat a man with just one bite. What you do not understand is that this beast is only a couple of weeks old. By the time it finishes growing it will at least be twice the size of the largest of the wild breeds. And all of it has been possible because of a number of spells that I've invented.
"Now I can control these mighty beasts’ dangerous temperament, their age, their size, and even the shades of their scales. But, the most important thing, the thing that I think makes this animal the most effective of our weapons in the coming war is that I've been able to control what this creature's brood are going to be like." He fell silent for a moment, his face flooding with amazement at the thing he had just said.
Seeing only confusion on most of the faces around him, he brought up his hands as he cried, "Don't you understand what this means?" He whirled around to face the dragon again. "By giving them the greater size and more colorful hide that these creature's wild mates prefer, we can now provide our creations the upper hand at being the parents of the next generation of these animals. And even if we do not make these new clutch barren, which we are able to do, just by controlling the gender of their offspring we will be able to control the continuance of the whole species. And because of the small lifespan of the animals in captivity we will be able to decimate the ranks of the Vardrakus at most in the next two years."
Turning to the crowd once again, Avon continued, "We can't face our enemy with our limited slave soldiers and expect to win the war. Our magic will not be enough to defeat the sky roaming Vardrakus." He moved trying to catch as many eyes as he could before he spoke again. "This is the only solution we have."
The hall fell into an uncomfortable silence as every single person took a moment to face the fact that, for the first time in its remembered history, an enemy with greater magical power than their civilization was moving to destroy them. Weakly hid dread shone from each person's face as they digested the words they had just heard or silently recalled the fire wielding magicians they had seen in a dead girl's memory.
Trying to control his own fears, Avon opened his mouth to fill the silence. But before he had uttered a single word, another person spoke.
"No," said a voice, coming from Avon's right and shattering the silence around him. When he turned to the sound he was met with the sight of a man getting up from one of the seats near him.
"No, it is not," the man spoke again, his soft voice filling the hall and coming to each ear almost like an intimate whisper. He was almost the same height as Avon, with features that looked a bit younger and handsomer than his while his body was of almost the same considerable size. "There is another solution," he continued, turning his gaze towards the people around him as a smile crept up his face, "my plan."
"Oh, come now, Elizo," said one of the men who had spoken before Avon, seating half turned in his place as he stared at the interrupting man with a disdainful look, "you're not speaking of the thing you've been working on for the past year, are you?"
With an unwavering smile plastered over his features, Elizo answered with a single word. "Yes." While people began chattering all around him, their voices slightly louder than necessary as they were tinged with a bit of fear that still clung to their owners, he stood silently before he continued. "The gateway is finished," he said finally, his words somehow breaking through the noise and reaching every ear in the hall which made every face turn towards him as a hush fell over the place again.
"It shall be opened the day after tomorrow," he continued in the sudden silence. "And I would like to invite three people to accompany me and my men on that day as we step into the land of gods. Master of the Hall, Druid Eaelom," he turned to the ancient man in his lone seat and bowed grandly, "Druid Faeynar Salvio," here he sought an old man seating way behind him and gave him a slight nod, "and Druid Avon Lamourn," he finally finished, turning to Avon with a grinning face that showed no hint of what the mind behind it was thinking.
'What in Heaven's name is going on?' thought Avon, nodding to the smiling man looking at him. With his acceptance marking the end of the presentation of his solution to stop the swiftly approaching war, the hall was filled with voices of hundreds of people again. 'Maybe I should have brought the green one,' he whispered to himself in his mind as he turned to look towards the white dragon.
Wondering what he had gotten himself into, Avon headed back to his sit and the woman who might be able to explain where this 'land of gods' place was that he had just agreed to step into.
*
A Gathering
SOARING PILLARS SUPPORTED the flat roof of the meeting hall, dwarfing the milling crowd that moved under their looming presence. High up, almost at the edge of the ceiling where exquisitely placed jewels glinted mirroring the stars of a faraway night, rectangular windows, wider than they were tall, pierced the old thick walls, letting in air that cleared the room of thousands of breaths and light that banished the shadows from all corners. Every surface of it covered with huge slabs of polished white marble that had delicate golden lines running through it, the building echoed the chatter of the people inside it, shaping the collective sounds into a dull, incomprehensible roar; the whispers of a giant.
Seven hundred seats marched up to the walls at the edges of the room, growing in height as they receded from the large empty space in the middle. Three hundred pairs were always reserved for the male and female heads of a family while a hundred sat those who were granted a place because of their various positions as administrators and officials.
Gradually, the sound in the place lowered in volume as almost everyone in the hall found their rightful seat and settled down. It was into this subdued murmuring noise that a man suddenly stepped into. He passed the silver plated doors, which were the main gates into the building, without slowing down as he urgently talked with a man at his side who hurried away after listening to his words.
He was of medium height with long dark hair that receded from his forehead and a clean-shaven jaw which showed itself as being a recent effort by its paleness compared to the skin around it.
He strode towards one of the seats that awaited him, the traditional white robe with the golden trim which all attending the gathering always wore straining over his ample girth. His mind on other matters, he walked with his head bowed and his eyes absently staring at the floor until the sound of his name being called brought him back to his surroundings.
"Avon!" said his wife, Caenphis, almost hissing the word as she stretched an arm to him from amidst a circle of people as if she was drowning in a sea of bodies. Quickly muttering apologies to those around her, she fell in beside him as they walked towards their seats. "Where in the darkness have you been?"
"Just making sure everything's ready," he answered, as they finally reached their place which was only a few rows from the open floor in the middle of the hall; a privileged position even among the privileged. Settling down, he asked, "What's wrong?"
"You know I can't stand a moment of this alone," she replied, taking her place beside him and not bothering to explain what she meant by ‘this’.
"How have you been able to survive without me then?" said Avon, a small smile pushing back his cheeks.
She didn't pause even for a breath as she answered him. "By not coming, of course!"
He turned around to face her, and looking at her expression that was only starting to lighten up, he said, "It can't be that bad."
"Oh, you think so?"she asked, her tone falsely cheery. "I'm sure you're right. You would have probably been unfazed while weathering through a detailed explanation of why eastern horses are second to none in the whole wide world for a considerable part of your day."
"Ah," said Avon, his face contorting in sympathy for a moment, "Faeynar, was it?"
"Who else?"
"So, still at pains to let everyone understand how much he knows of everything, is he?" he asked absently as he started to scan the crowd while a little nervousness settled over his bones.
"Hideously," answered Caenphis, her tone changing in a shocking way as she mimicked another's voice.
Avon couldn't stop himself as he burst out laughing, the sounds of his sudden mirth hushing most of the hall for a second. Quickly controlling himself, he turned around to his wife again, ignoring the hundreds of curious eyes around him and forgetting his nervousness for a moment. "I can't believe he still uses that word," he said to her, his lips peeling off his teeth almost by their own will.
"A...," began his wife, but whatever she was going to say was interrupted by the sound of the silver doors closing.
Silence prevailed in the hall for a time before it was disturbed by another set of doors opening. This time it was the golden ones that moved from where they seamlessly fitted in the walls that faced the now closed way to the outside. Standing opposite their counterparts, they smoothly opened to reveal a way which led deeper into the building. As soon as they saw the widening of the golden maw, every person in the hall left their seat in an all-encompassing show of respect.
Achingly slow, the Master of the Hall passed the open doors heading for the single chair facing the people that waited for him alone. Three men trailed behind him, moving patiently as they followed his every step. Under the magnificent black robe with a silver trim, his frame had the painful thinness of a truly old person. An unblemished white beard trailed down to his waist, a stark contrast to the current fashion of a clean-shaven face that most of the men he now faced sported. Lines and spots marred his features where time had played its slow game with his flesh.
Once he reached his seat, the ancient looking man didn't hide his grateful sigh as he lowered himself onto the soft cushions. Following his example, the standing men and women before him lowered themselves to their seats too, momentarily filling the hall with the noise of hundreds of rustling fabrics.
When all had settled into silence again, one of the three men that had come with the old man stepped up to the middle of the hall. Lifting the ceremonial staff he held with both hands, he brought it down hard on the smooth marble floor at his feet. He repeated this two more times, the harsh sounds that he created echoing off the walls as they blended together. After waiting for the noise to disappear, he breathed in deeply before bellowing, in a mighty voice, words that had passed thousands of lips like his in the past. "SO BEGINS A GATHERING!"
Following this, another one of the three who had trailed the old man stepped up to take the place of the man with the staff who moved to stand behind the single chair on the huge hall floor. This time, the new man turned back to the ancient one behind him and bowed first before doing anything else. Standing straight again, he waited silently until the tired eyes focused on him and the old head moved in a small nod.
Having received permission, the man turned around to the people in their seats and unrolled the scroll he had been holding in one hand. Reading from the parchment he held, he spoke the ritual words and called out a name before taking his place beside the other two he had walked in with.
The man whose name had just been called stood up from his seat to take the now empty floor. As he began reporting some problems in the south, Avon quickly lost his interest. Amidst his own swirling thoughts, his mind wondered at all the changes he had seen in his brief glimpse of the city last night and this morning. It was a month ago that he had started heading for this place after hearing of the war, and he had only arrived at his home late last night.
Having traveled hard to get to the city he had left three years ago, he had barely glanced at the buildings he had passed in the dark hours of his arrival yesterday. Only meeting his wife had enticed his sluggish mind for a moment. Though they had talked every single day in his years of absence, they both knew it was never the same as meeting in the flesh. So they had spent more of the night than they both intended together. Then, after arranging some small things for the next day, he had finally reluctantly succumbed to his exhaustion by sinking deeply into the land of slumber.
When he woke up next, the morning had almost ended. Quickly getting together everything he would need later, he had wasted no time in rushing to the gathering where his wife waited for him. And it was in the middle of this mad dash that he really noticed some of the changes in the city he had grown up in. Instead of worrying about what he might have forgotten while making his way through the place, he took a moment to look at the new buildings that lined the streets while his memory whispered of a small forest in the same space. He watched as the cobbled road led down to a square w
To Avon, who had been traveling through distant lands where a few stone buildings were a rare sight, the excess of his native city slightly disturbed him. First he had thought it was because of his absence that he felt uncomfortable, but when at every turn of the street more structures were revealed, each more breathtaking than the last, he had suddenly realized what his mind had found so odd. It was the timing. He suddenly knew that it wouldn't have made him think twice if what he saw had been built at least in ten years' time, but he couldn't understand what could possibly have changed in only the three years he had been gone to make his people fall into such a gluttonous frenzy for opulence.
He looked at the people around him now while the first speaker was replaced by another and the day slowly wore on, he eyed them all trying to see past their normal looking facade and find the secrets that they might not even know they were hiding. Little by little, the longer he looked, he started to notice the rare stones that glinted from around the occasional neck or upon fingers on a shifting hand. A sight that would have been surprising in the subdued gatherings of old. But, still odder were the bodies which the jewels adorned. The longer he looked, he began to see hair that was blacker, skin that was clearer and backs that were straighter than he remembered. Men and women which were distinctly older than him in his memory seemed half his age now.
Magic. He couldn't believe his eyes at first, he couldn't understand how anyone would use the precious gift for such a ridiculous thing as youth. He would never have taken it seriously if someone had told him a few days ago that these fools were wasting power in such an idiotic act as clutching at lost years, even with all the danger that was threatening to drown everything around them. Though, looking around himself now, he quickly realized that most were doing exactly that.
Even this gathering seemed like an unusual thing to him. He knew the traditional meeting that took place once a month was changed into a weekly thing because of the distant wars that had started some time ago. But now he wondered how much of it was actually necessary and how much an excuse for wasting time.
"Avon," whispered Caenphis, touching his arm as she brought him back to the moment.
"Hmm...?" he replied in a distracted tone.
"It's time."
"Oh," he said, a return of nervousness jolting him out of his thoughts.
Smiling sheepishly, he stood up while his heart began to flutter. As he started passing his wife, she took one of his hands and gave it a warm squeeze, filling him with a support he fiercely needed. His heart full of love for the woman he felt was watching his back, he went down to the open floor in the middle of the hall. By the time he reached it, some men had already brought in two separate things; each of them under a layer of cloth that completely hid its contents. One was rectangular in shape while the other looked more like a sphere. Both were large, though the angular one was by far the largest; the men had strained heroically to even move it while its cloth covering fluttered at one edge as if air was being blown from under it.
After first bowing to the Master of the Hall in his lone chair, Avon turned around to face the crowd while all his nervousness swiftly left him like a forgotten thought. He stared openly at them for a moment, his face impassive as he collected his wits about him. "What I am now going to show you might seem horrific though it's nothing you haven't heard about already," he began, sweeping his audience with his intense gaze, "so, I ask you all to try and look beyond the gruesome parts to see some of the things I believe I have found."
Once he had finished speaking, he turned around and, while muttering a simple spell under his breath, gestured with one hand at one of the cloth covered things that had stood waiting behind him. With his action, the large object lifted off the ground a few feet and began to float to the middle of the hall, following his outstretched arm.
As soon as the thing touched the marble floor again, he moved one hand alone snappily. And with that movement, the huge cloth was thrown off to one side of the room where waiting men quickly collected it. What lay beneath glinted in the light coming from the open windows, its glassy surface looking glorious by itself without a touch of magic. A seerstone, grown into an enormous size so that even its stand alone almost reached a grown man's height.
Stepping up to the globe, Avon extended a finger to touch it. After a second of contact, the crystalline surface gave way beneath his flesh to swallow almost half of his pointing finger. Standing still for a moment, he closed his eyes and spoke the appropriate spell carefully before taking his hand away from the globe.
When he opened his eyes again, what met his gaze was a dark spot in the middle of the white thing. Silently turning around from the imposing object, he walked away to stand where he wouldn't be in the way of anyone's sight.
Looking back, he stared at the globe which had become almost completely black as the dark spot he had seen earlier grew to fill its every surface. He waited a little before he spoke, watching the dark thing that seemed to eat the light around it as he tried to give the people a moment to get themselves ready. A small time later, he cleared his throat and whispered a word of magic, bringing the sound of screaming to the room.
The dark globe was instantly filled with a sight from a nightmare. The images, seeming to come from a person's eye viewpoint, showed a city under attack. Men and women, old and young, all ran blindly trying to get away from the soldiers in green armor who massacred anyone in their path without discrimination. Glimpses of fires raining down from the sky took up most of the view for brief moments whenever the person who had actually seen it all looked up in fright when hearing the booming noise of buildings collapsing in the distance.
Some people stood their ground and fought, uselessly trying to hold off some soldiers from passing through a small street while they failed to see the others that were coming from behind them. The noises of horror seemed to come from everywhere while blood vied with char and debris to color the grey stones all around.
Having nothing at hand, terrorized men brought up their arms to block swiftly descending swords that left them gushing stumps for their troubles. Unable to run, old people fell on their knees begging even as they watched the tired bones of others like them being crushed beside their bowing heads; never stopping their useless obeisance until the hard heals of the soldiers were mercilessly brought down on their own weak skulls. Mothers cowered over their small children, defenseless as their backs blossomed with red lines or swords were sunk into their flesh to reach the young ones they hid.
The view almost never blurred as the owner of the eyes blindly dashed from street to street, as if the person had not known where to go in the whole madness. It was in the midst of bypassing one street by a small alley that the individual was forced to stop as the globe was filled by the image of two soldiers that were just entering the tight space ahead. The view changed swiftly as the person seemed to try and head back to the other end of the alley which was also being blocked by another set of soldiers entering it. Eyes frozen on these soldiers, the image stayed still for a moment. Almost tangible fear seemed to flood out of the very images as all in the hall watched silently.
After a second, though, the view started to quickly shift as the person who had actually viewed these events turned from one end of the alley to the other in sheer panic. But in between this terror filled shifts the image suddenly paused on a grey wall. Slowly, almost reluctantly, the view changed from stone to wood as the person's eyes were brought around to look at what lay straight ahead. The wood grew larger in the globe as the person seemed to step up to it, the random marks of age on it clearly visible by the dirt that had settled into them until they became truly black in the surrounding dark brownness.
Slender shaking hands filled the image for the first time as they were brought up to tentatively touch the metal handl
Finally noticing what was going on ahead of them, it was at this moment that the shouts of the soldiers were heard above the cacophony of the chaos all around. The view was changed for a second to the men that were rushing from either side, before turning back to the darkness that was revealed behind the door where it plunged without the slightest of hesitations.
Inside the building, the image adjusted to the darkness, revealing a simple kitchen. Food, in various stages of preparation, still waited where it had been left by curious hands. A couple of onions lay half-chopped on the cutting board where the one that had left them would never return to finish the deed, a chicken rested on a wooden table midway into being fully plucked, its cut neck still leaking blood that spread over the wood until it met the edge and spilled onto the stone floor where it congealed in a small dark puddle, while the sound of something boiling on the stove filled the room where the noisy horrors outside were muffled slightly.
The person whose view the white clad audience were now sharing didn't seem to notice any of these things, the hectic gaze only fell on them for a brief time as it searched for something. The images, which were changing in an increasingly frantic pace, suddenly paused as they settled on another door nestled at one corner of the room.
The small door growing larger as it was approached, the view inside the globe continued. Upon reaching the wooden structure, the person didn't pause even for a second unlike the last time. When the door was unhesitatingly wrenched open, the bright room beyond was revealed dazzlingly. The curtains greedily covering all the windows, it was through the huge door ahead that the light was flooding into the place. And with the light came the blessed view of a miraculously empty plaza just outside the building.
The feeling of relief still almost palpable even to Avon who had spent many sleepless nights watching it all over and over, far past the point where he could fool himself by thinking he was looking for something he might have missed, the view shifted as, first with a frightened step and then with a full on run, the person started to head for that rectangle of light almost reaching the threshold in a second with the increased pace. It was at this moment that a thunderous sound was heard from the crystal orb just before all noise suddenly disappeared and the world in it looked like it was breaking as the ground heaved.
At last, when everything had stopped moving, a small red stain started to grow at one end of the image in the globe while the rest was filled by an impenetrable curtain of dust. Silence filled the hall, as men and women held their breaths while they sat still all around, waiting to see what the glassy surface would reveal when the dust had finally cleared. Slowly, the air becoming free of particles as they were swept away by a dead wind, a heart-clenching thing came into view. In the distance, the previously empty plaza could be seen littered with ruble that increased in number closer to the still seeing eyes. But that was not the reason that made many an Adam's apple bob inside suddenly constricted necks all over the hall; instead, it was the fragile looking hand that stood out in one corner of the image that made everyone's heart suddenly miss a beat. It lay there, bruised in a couple of places; disturbingly unmoving.
For a while, nothing happened inside the crystal globe, the world it showed seemingly frozen in the haunting silence. But none of the crowd lost interest. They watched with rapt attentions as they sensed, almost instinctively, that there was still more to see.
And, after only a small amount of time, the silent audience's diligence was rewarded when the dust on the grounds of the distant plaza started to be disturbed. As they watched, the slight flurry quickly grew into a full blown gust that cleared a large circular space. This continued for a second or two before something that made every single person in the hall move to the edge of their seats suddenly landed on the middle of the plaza. It was a dragon.
Violet scales covered its every inch, from its large head where its dark eyes sparkled above its big jaws, which fleetingly parted for a second to reveal dangerously sharp and large teeth, down its back, where three men sat on some form of saddle, and on to its tail which ended in an unusual stump where it seemed to have been cruelly cut. Even the great wings seemed to hold a bit of scale at their edges as it stood supported by its two slightly smaller front legs and the larger two back legs. All of its limbs had frightening claws that seemed to fiercely grip the ground under them.
Darker in some places than others, the lizard-like skin was breathtakingly beautiful; its glory only slightly shadowed by the numerous wounds that pierced its surface. Some of them looked recently made, a dark liquid that looked like the thing's blood marking their edges where it had dried, while the others were old enough to have turned into grayish scars.
But for all its awesome demeanor, the great thing looked to heave its back in relief as the three men dismounted from it. With the humans finally off it, it seemed bigger than it really was. Its smaller legs were only slightly taller than a big horse's while its long neck, without its vicious head, looked more fragile than threatening as it was seen beside the men below it. Only its wings were actually as huge as they seemed, though they were resting neatly folded on its back and a bit around its lithe frame.
Without wasting any time, two of the men started to walk away together, heading to the right, while the third waited beside the dragon. All of them were wearing green armor edged with a deep red color and black hooded cloaks that trailed a little on the ground behind them. On their dark, almost nightly surface, each of the cloaks had a red mark that was round below like a drop before flaring above like a flame.
The two men were almost out of sight when the one left behind absently stepped in front of the dragon. With his back to the thing, he bowed down slightly like he was looking at something on the ground that had caught his attention. For a moment, the huge animal regarded him without any movement at all. It simply looked at him. And then, slowly, as if it was afraid, it lowered its gigantic head slightly to the human before it. Then, just as slowly, it pulled back again.
Seemingly oblivious to the animal behind him, the man lowered himself to one knee to pick up the thing he had been looking at all this while. The beast's reaction to this was only a reptilian slithering of its forked tongue, the long thing sticking out for a second as if to taste the air before disappearing again between the gigantic jaws. Still looking at the thing in his hand, the man stood up from where he had knelt and began to turn around only to be stopped on his tracks as the beast behind him struck.
It happened too quickly for most of the gathered to see clearly, making them break the silence for the first time since the whole thing began to be shown as they spoke out in a confused murmur. Avon too had needed to watch it numerous times to see what had actually happened. At first he had only seen what all were now seeing. He had been stupefied when he watched the thing that time. One moment a man was turning and the next blood was spewing all over the plaza ground while the two men that had almost left came back running.
He had had to slow the whole thing down to see the creature's neck pulling back for a second before coming down on the man in a blinding speed. He had watched, stunned, as the enormous jaws had engulfed the man, armor and all, without meeting the slightest resistance. The horrifying mouth had smoothly swallowed the small human head, the whole left shoulder and arm, and some of the hip before snapping closed with a terrifying ease. He had watched as the body was slightly lifted with the thing's head which had started to move back, the flesh and bones resisting before they finally gave up so that almost half the body was left inside the dragon. He had watched the remaining part of what had been a full man only a second ago fall to the ground where it obscenely still stood for a small time; one arm waving around as it balanced madly, scattering blood and gruesome solid chunks of human matter all over the place.
Knowing what was going to happen next, Avon silently wa
It was an old woman, sitting in one of the first row of seats, who seemed to notice first the odd thing about the two men. She gasped in surprise as she understood what she was actually looking at. By the time others around her started to turn to the crystal orb, there was no mistaking the fact that the men were practicing some sort of magic.
Horrified silence enveloped the hall, as all watched fire leap from the outstretched arms of the black cloaked men. The one to the right reached the dragon first, making the beast snarl and stumblingly back as he blasted it with balls of blue flame.
Only a step behind the other, the second man also approached the murderous animal, coming from its left as one of his hands, which was sweeping the air above his head, was suddenly engulfed in green flames that trailed around him in a fantastic whip. He brought this whip about in a smooth practiced sweep and landed a blow on the thing's beautiful skin. Step by step, and working together, the men were able to subdue the animal, making it cower before them as it lowered its sinuous neck and laid its head on the ground in a clear show of submission.
At last, Avon spoke a word, bringing the glassy globe to its earlier darker form again, and stepped forward. "What you have just seen was found from a girl in Rumnick, the city of trade in the west," he began, his voice booming in the glaring silence around him. "Though she had died in the city's fall," he continued, "she was one of the hundreds from whom my men were able to extract the memory of this terrible experience.
"But what makes this special is not the close sight of the dragon alone, as I'm sure you have realized by now. Yes, what you saw was magic being used by people whom we had thought as being barbarians up to now. And no, I don't know what form of spell that was though I'm sure we can all agree that it was definitely not one of ours. The use of fire magic even for a brief time is a trying experience even for some of our high mages, and what you just saw now was nothing but brief.
"So, this brings me to the two things I've come here to tell you. One is good while the other might just spell our doom if we are not careful in the next steps we take. I shall start with the darker of the two," he paused to turn around to the globe once again as he spoke a word of magic. The blackness was immediately replaced by an unmoving scene of the two men trying to control the dragon with their fires. Speaking another word of power, Avon watched as the same image was leached of color until all of it had become gray.
"As you can see I've just used the Numir spell to see the life force of these men. Now, watch closely," he said, before stepping back as he waved a hand in front of him. Horror stricken gasps filled the hall as the scene inside the orb was gifted with motion. Looking at the image as he started walking around the glassy surface, he pointed to the violet colored lines that connected the dragon to the two men attacking it. "These men are using the dragon's power as a source of their magic," he said in a loud whisper, feeling a shiver go down his spine as he did so.
"What our civilization had been trying to do since its inception has now been achieved by those who were known to have never even used magic in our great-grandfathers' time. Channeling another's power has always been a mythical quest for all of us. I must admit, it has been a goal that had been driving my work for the past few years. Which brings me to the good part of the thing I've come to tell you today."
Turning back to the glassy orb, Avon spoke a word, turning its insides into black again. After speaking one more word, he gestured at the globe without looking at it as he said, "Watch this more carefully."
The view inside the globe was back to where the moment just before the dragon attacked the man that had ridden it, only now it was all without any color. Just a few people showed any surprise this time while most looked on the grayish scene almost without any reaction.
"Some of you might have noticed what the beast was doing at that moment," began Avon, turning away from the globe after changing it back to its former white form. "It doesn't matter if you haven't. I had to see the scene almost a hundred times before I could believe it myself. The dragon was testing the lines that bound him to the men. What is surprising here is not that the animal knew of the thing's existence, though that is still a remarkable thing in itself, but rather that the men did not."
Men and women around him murmured in surprise as realization dawned on them. "They do not yet know that they are using the animal's power," he paused for a time to let it all sink in before he continued. "I've checked this as much as I can on the rare few memories my men had found in a couple of the other attacked cities. Though it is not as clear as it is on this one, I believe I have found signs that strongly support this new revelation."
Leaving the men and women sitting around the hall to digest the new knowledge, Avon floated the giant crystal orb away from the center of the floor and towards the men who waited at one edge of the hall before bringing the other covered object to take its place. Once he did this, he returned to his audience, waiting for them to quiet down before he began speaking again.
When the noise around him had finally died down, he said, "What we must do now is try to make sure they never know the thing they have. I do not need to tell you that they are heading for this land, the reports from the scouts this city has sent all show that these invaders are the same as the ones our forefathers had barely stopped. The pattern of the attacks and the reports that are flooding in all make no secret that they are only gathering enough forces to attack us and us alone. Even with just their men, all of you know we will barely be able to defeat them. If they understand the power they hold, no one that I know of is ever going to win a war with them.
"So, we must stop their source of power before they know what it truly means and, if we can, we must find a way to learn what they have done. Now, I have been working to find a way to channel another's life force for the past three years but I am sad to say my work has not hinted at any signs of progress in that regard," he stopped for a second, looking as if he had just spoken about something he was grateful for. "As for the problem of blocking their source of magic from these strange people, my solution is this," he said, turning around and, with just a gesture of his hand, throwing back the cloth covering the object in the middle of the floor.
Indignant cries, and some frightened screams, filled the hall as the thing amidst them all was suddenly revealed. It was a cage. Its sides and ceiling were made of huge bars of some dark metal while its floor was one solid piece of the same odd metal. Inside it, head resting at one corner, laid a dragon. It was completely white with only a hint of gold where the scales hardened to form ridges on the back of its head, on its shoulders, at the joints of its legs and the top parts of its tail. When it lazily lifted its head to look at the people, its eyes were revealed to be large black orbs surrounded by a sliver of a shining silver circle at the edges.
Lifting a hand, Avon tried to silence the terrified crowd so that he might continue. But no one seemed to notice him at all.
'Silence!'
The word, unmistakably a command, came as a whisper into every single person's mind inside the hall. In the sudden quiet, all eyes turned to the old Master of the Hall.
Grateful for the timely intervention, Avon bowed to the man who had sat alone behind him all this time before turning to head for the cage as he spoke. "I know you are confused," he began, stopping right before the enormous white head which had turned to him as he approached it. "You are asking yourselves why a beast that looks so much like the one you just saw mauling a human being is here in the heart of our city. But I assure you this animal is nothing like the one you saw in the seerstone," he paused for a second, looking at the enormous black eyes with undisguised adoration written all over his face.
"This," he began again, his voice almost a whisper as he stared at eyes
Instead of tearing off his arm, as Avon knew most of his audience were expecting it to, the animal's only reaction was to lean into his touch as it stepped closer to him. "In the past few years, I've learned, and then perfected, the techniques of breeding practiced by the numerous people of the foreign lands I've visited," he said, patting the scaly skin, "But the level of control I have over the infants by my new techniques goes beyond what one might call breeding. The animal you saw inside that girl's memory did not show a unique behavior from its kind. By all accounts dragons are notoriously vicious. No known attempt to truly tame them has ever worked. Even our black cloaked enemies who call themselves Vardrakus, which in their tongue means dragon lord, have to continually control the frightening animals they ride as you have just witnessed.
"Yet," he paused to turn around, not lifting his hand from the beautiful creature behind him, "as you can clearly see, this dragon is not as blood thirsty as the rest of his cousins that roam the mountainous wilds of the western lands. Another thing that makes this one different from most of its kind is its size. You may have noticed that it's somewhat smaller than the violet colored one you just saw eat a man with just one bite. What you do not understand is that this beast is only a couple of weeks old. By the time it finishes growing it will at least be twice the size of the largest of the wild breeds. And all of it has been possible because of a number of spells that I've invented.
"Now I can control these mighty beasts’ dangerous temperament, their age, their size, and even the shades of their scales. But, the most important thing, the thing that I think makes this animal the most effective of our weapons in the coming war is that I've been able to control what this creature's brood are going to be like." He fell silent for a moment, his face flooding with amazement at the thing he had just said.
Seeing only confusion on most of the faces around him, he brought up his hands as he cried, "Don't you understand what this means?" He whirled around to face the dragon again. "By giving them the greater size and more colorful hide that these creature's wild mates prefer, we can now provide our creations the upper hand at being the parents of the next generation of these animals. And even if we do not make these new clutch barren, which we are able to do, just by controlling the gender of their offspring we will be able to control the continuance of the whole species. And because of the small lifespan of the animals in captivity we will be able to decimate the ranks of the Vardrakus at most in the next two years."
Turning to the crowd once again, Avon continued, "We can't face our enemy with our limited slave soldiers and expect to win the war. Our magic will not be enough to defeat the sky roaming Vardrakus." He moved trying to catch as many eyes as he could before he spoke again. "This is the only solution we have."
The hall fell into an uncomfortable silence as every single person took a moment to face the fact that, for the first time in its remembered history, an enemy with greater magical power than their civilization was moving to destroy them. Weakly hid dread shone from each person's face as they digested the words they had just heard or silently recalled the fire wielding magicians they had seen in a dead girl's memory.
Trying to control his own fears, Avon opened his mouth to fill the silence. But before he had uttered a single word, another person spoke.
"No," said a voice, coming from Avon's right and shattering the silence around him. When he turned to the sound he was met with the sight of a man getting up from one of the seats near him.
"No, it is not," the man spoke again, his soft voice filling the hall and coming to each ear almost like an intimate whisper. He was almost the same height as Avon, with features that looked a bit younger and handsomer than his while his body was of almost the same considerable size. "There is another solution," he continued, turning his gaze towards the people around him as a smile crept up his face, "my plan."
"Oh, come now, Elizo," said one of the men who had spoken before Avon, seating half turned in his place as he stared at the interrupting man with a disdainful look, "you're not speaking of the thing you've been working on for the past year, are you?"
With an unwavering smile plastered over his features, Elizo answered with a single word. "Yes." While people began chattering all around him, their voices slightly louder than necessary as they were tinged with a bit of fear that still clung to their owners, he stood silently before he continued. "The gateway is finished," he said finally, his words somehow breaking through the noise and reaching every ear in the hall which made every face turn towards him as a hush fell over the place again.
"It shall be opened the day after tomorrow," he continued in the sudden silence. "And I would like to invite three people to accompany me and my men on that day as we step into the land of gods. Master of the Hall, Druid Eaelom," he turned to the ancient man in his lone seat and bowed grandly, "Druid Faeynar Salvio," here he sought an old man seating way behind him and gave him a slight nod, "and Druid Avon Lamourn," he finally finished, turning to Avon with a grinning face that showed no hint of what the mind behind it was thinking.
'What in Heaven's name is going on?' thought Avon, nodding to the smiling man looking at him. With his acceptance marking the end of the presentation of his solution to stop the swiftly approaching war, the hall was filled with voices of hundreds of people again. 'Maybe I should have brought the green one,' he whispered to himself in his mind as he turned to look towards the white dragon.
Wondering what he had gotten himself into, Avon headed back to his sit and the woman who might be able to explain where this 'land of gods' place was that he had just agreed to step into.
*