[Chapbook 2009] - Shadow Knight & The Dark Path Read online

  They had found druchii sorcerers hidden in the wilder parts of Saphery, in the foothills of the mountains, trying to teach their corrupted ways to the misguided. Some of the sorcerers had been slain, others had fled, forewarned of their discovery by fellow cultists. It was to protect the young from this corruption that Thyriol had brought the most talented Sapherians here, to learn from him and his most powerful mages. That Anamedion brought talk of sorcery into the capital was a grave concern. Saphethion, of all places, had to be free of the taint of Dark Magic, for the corruption of the power in the citadel could herald victory for the Naggarothi.

  “I am glad you have found us,” Anamedion said with no hint of regret or shame. “I have longed to shed our secrecy, but the others insisted on this subterfuge.”

  The mention of the other mages broke Thyriol’s focus and he took in the rest of the faces, settling on the blood-daubed features of Illeanith. This brought a fresh surge of anguish and he gave a choked gasp and lurched to one side, saved from falling only by the burnt frame of the doorway. He had been disappointed but not surprised by Anamedion’s presence. Seeing Illeanith was one shock too many.

  It was as if daggers had been plunged into Thyriol’s heart and gut, a physical agony that writhed inside him, pulling away all sense and reason. The mages who had come with Thyriol began to shout and hurl accusations, but Thyriol heard nothing, just the arrhythmic thundering of his heart and a distant wail­ing in his head. Through a veil of tears and the waves of dismay welling up inside of him, Thyriol watched numbly as the sorcerers drew away from the door, adding their own voices to the cacophony.

  “Everyone but Anamedion, leave me,” Thyriol commanded. “Menreir, I will call for you when I am finished, we must discuss the latest messages from King Caledor.”

  The mage and students bowed their acquiescence and left silently. Anamedion stood defiantly before the throne, arms crossed. Thyriol put aside his anger and looked at his grandson with sympathetic eyes.

  “You are gifted, Anamedion,” said the prince. “If you would but show a little more patience, there is no limit to what you might achieve in time.”

  “What is it that you are afraid of?” countered Anamedion.

  “I am afraid of damnation,” Thyriol replied earnestly, leaning forward. “You have heard the myths of sorcery, while I have seen it first-hand. You think it is perhaps a quick way to achieve your goals, but you are wrong. The path is just as long for the sorcerer as it is for the mage. You think that Morathi and her ilk have not made terrible sacrifices, of their spirit and their bodies, to gain the power they have? You think that they simply wave a hand and destroy armies on a whim? No, they have not and do not. Terrible bargains they have made, bargains with powers we would all do better to avoid. Trust me, Anamedion, we call it Dark Magic for good reason.”

  Anamedion still looked unconvinced, but he changed his approach.

  “What good does it do us to spend a century learning spells when the druchii march against us now?” he said. “King Caledor needs us with his armies, fighting the Naggarothi sorcerers. You speak of the future, but unless we act now, there may be no future. For seven years I have listened to the stories of horror, of war, engulfing Tiranoc and Chrace and Ellyrion. Cothique and Eataine are under attack. Must the fields of Saphery burn before you do something?”

  Thyriol shook his head, fighting his frustration.

  “I would no more send lambs to fight a lion than I would pit the skills of my students against Morathi’s coven,” said the prince. “There are but a dozen mages in all of Saphery that I would trust to fight the druchii in battle, myself included.”

  “Then fight!” Anamedion demanded, pacing towards the throne, fists balled. “Caledor begs for your aid and you are deaf to his requests. Why did you choose him as Phoenix King if you will not follow him?”

  Thyriol glanced away for a moment, looking through the narrow arched windows that surrounded the hall. He did not see the greying autumn skies, his mind wandering to the ancient past. He saw a magic-blistered battlefield, where daemons rampaged and thousands of elves died screaming in agony. He saw the most powerful wizards of an age holding back the tides of Chaos while the Dragontamer conjured his vortex.

  His memories shifted, to a time more recent but no less painful. His saw Naggarothi warriors, skin ruptured, hair flaming, falling from the battlements of Anlec while he soared overhead atop the back of a Pegasus. Depraved cultists, dedicated to obscene sacrifice, wailed their curses even as lightning from Thyriol’s staff crackled through their bodies.

  War brought nothing but evil, even when fought for a just cause. Shaking his head to dismiss the waking nightmare, Thyriol returned his attention to Anamedion, his heart heavy.

  “Your father thought the same, and now he is dead,” Thyriol said quietly.

  “And your cowardice makes his sacrifice vain,” Anamedion growled. “Perhaps it is not Dark Magic that you fear, but death. Has your life last­ed so long that you would protect it now at any cost?”

  At this, Thyriol’s frayed temper finally snapped.

  “You accuse me of cowardice?” he said, stalking from his throne towards Anamedion, who stood his ground and returned the prince’s glare. “I fought beside Aenarion and the Dragontamer, and never once flinched from battle. Thirty years ago I fought beside Malekith when Anlec was retaken. You have never seen war, and no nothing of its nature, so do not accuse me of cowardice!”

  “And you throw back at me accusations that I cannot counter,” Anamedion replied, fists clenching and unclenching with exasperation. “You say I do not know war, yet condemn me to idle away my years in this place, closeted away from harm because you fear I will suffer the same fate as my father! Do you have so little confidence in me?”

  “I do,” said Thyriol. “You have your father’s wilfulness and your mother’s stubbornness. Why could you not be more like your younger brother, Elathrinil? He is studious and attentive… and obedient.”

  “Elathrinil is diligent but dull,” replied Anamedion with a scornful laugh. “Another century or two and he may make an adequate mage, but there is no greatness in him.”

  “Do not crave greatness,” said Thyriol. “Many have been dashed upon the cliffs of their own ambition, do not repeat their mistakes.”

  “So says the ruling prince of Saphery, friend of Aenarion, last surviving member of the First Council and greatest mage in Ulthuan,” said Anamedion. “Maybe I have been wrong. It is not battle or death that you fear, it is me! You are jealous of my talent, fearful that your own reputa­tion will be eclipsed by mine. Perhaps my star will rise higher than yours while you still cling to this world with the last strength in your fingers. You guard what you have gained and dare not risk anything. You profess wisdom and insight, but actually you are selfish and envious.”

  “Get out!” roared Thyriol. Anamedion flinched as if struck. “Get out of my sight! I will not have you in my presence again until you apologise for these lies. You have done nothing today but proven to me that you are unfit to rule Saphery. Think long and hard, Anamedion, about what you want. Do not tarnish me with your vain ambitions. Go!”

  Anamedion hesitated, his face showing a moment of contrition, but it passed swiftly, replaced by a stare of keen loathing. With a wordless snarl, he turned his back on his grandfather and strode from the room.

  Thyriol stumbled back to his throne and almost fell into it, drained by his outburst. He slumped there for a moment, thoughts reeling, ashamed of his own anger. Righteousness contended with guilt, neither winning a decisive victory. What if Anamedion was right? What if he really was jeal­ous of the youth’s prowess, knowing that his own existence was waning fast?

  Closing his eyes, Thyriol whispered a few mantras of focus and dis­missed his self-examination. The fault was not with the prince, but with his grandchild. For decades he had known that there was something amiss with Anamedion, but had turned a blind eye upon his deficiencies. Now that Thyriol had finally given open voice
to his doubts, and Anamedion declared his own misgivings, perhaps the two of them could move on and resolve their differences.

  With a sigh, Thyriol straightened himself and sat in the throne properly. Anamedion’s small rebellion was a distraction, one that Thyriol could not deal with immediately. He had Caledor’s messenger waiting, eager to return to the Phoenix King with Thyriol’s answer. The world was being torn apart by war and bloodshed, and against that the petulant protests and naive philosophies of a grandson seemed insignificant.

  Thyriol twitched a finger and in the depths of the palace a silver bell rang to announce that the prince of Saphery wished to be attended.

  Anamedion felt the other sorcerers opening the portal they had created for just this situation. The shadow at the back of their hiding place deepened, merging with the shadows of a cave some distance from the palace’s current location. Something seethed in the shadow’s depths, a formless bulk shifting its weight just outside of mortal comprehension.

  Hadryana and Meledir lunged through the portal without word, fearful of Thyriol’s wrath. They were soon followed by the other students and Alluthian, leaving only Illeanith and Anamedion.

  “Come!” commanded his mother, grabbing him by the arm. Anamedion shook free her grasp and looked at his grandfather.

  Thyriol was a broken creature. Anamedion saw an elf near the end of his years, frail and tired, his own misery seeping through every fibre of his being. There was no fight left in him.

  “I am not ashamed,” said Anamedion. “I am not afraid!”

  “We must leave!” insisted Illeanith. Anamedion turned to her and pushed her towards the shadow-portal.

  “Then go! I will send for you soon,” he said. “This will not take long, mother.”

  Illeanith hesitated for a moment, torn between love of her son and fear of her father. Fear won and she plunged through the tenebrous gateway, disappearing into the dark fog.

  When Anamedion returned his attention to Thyriol, he saw that the prince had straightened and regained his composure. For a moment, doubt gnawed at Anamedion. Perhaps he had misjudged the situation. Thyriol’s look changed from one of horror to one of pity and this threw fuel onto the fire of Anamedion’s anger. His momentary fear evaporated like the illusion it was.

  “I will prove how weak you have become,” said Anamedion.

  “Surrender, or suffer the consequences,” growled Menreir, blue flames dancing from his eyes.

  “Do not interfere!” Thyriol told his mages, waving them back. The pity drained from his face and was replaced by his usual calm expression. In a way, it was more chilling than the prince’s anger. “I will deal with this.”

  Anamedion knew that he must strike first. He allowed the Dark Magic to coil up through his body, leeching its power from where it lurked within and around the Winds of Magic. He felt it crackling along his veins, quickening his heart, setting his mind afire. Uttering a curse of Ereth Khial, Anamedion threw forward his hand and a bolt of black lightning leapt from his finger­tips.

  A moment from striking Thyriol, the spell burst into a shower of golden dust that fluttered harmlessly to the bare stone floor.

  Only now did Anamedion see the counterspells woven into his grandfather’s robe. The sorcerer’s cruel smile faded. The prince’s body was steeped in magic, subtle and layered. Dark Magic pulsed once more, bolstering Anamedion’s con­fidence. Thyriol’s defences mattered not at all; the wardings were many but thin, easily penetrated by the power Anamedion could now wield.

  The view was breathtaking from the wide balcony atop the Tower of Alin-Haith, the vast panorama of Ulthuan laid out around the four mages. To the south and north stretched the farms and gentle hills of Saphery, bathed in the afternoon sun. To the west glittered the Inner Sea, barely visible on the horizon. To the east the majestic peaks of the Anullii Mountains rose from beyond the horizon, grey and purple and tipped with white. Thyriol noted storm clouds gathering over the mountains to the north, sensing within them the Dark Magic that had gathered in the vortex over the past decades.

  “I am going to tell Caledor that I will not open the Tor Anroc gateway,” the prince announced, not looking at his companions.

  The three other wizards were Menreir, Alethin and Illeanith, the last being Thyriol’s daughter, his only child. Thinking of her led the prince’s thoughts back to Anamedion and he pushed them aside and turned to face the others.

  “I cannot risk the druchii taking control of the gateway from the other end,” Thyriol explained.

  The palace of Saphethion was more than a floating castle. It was able to drift effortlessly through the skies because the magic woven into its foun­dations placed it slightly apart from time and space. From the outside the palace appeared beautiful and serene, but within there existed a maze of halls and rooms, corridors and passages far larger than could be con­tained within normal walls. Some of those rooms were not even upon Saphethion itself, but lay in other cities: Lothern, Tor Yvresse, Montieth and others. Most importantly, one of the isle-spanning gateways led to Tor Anroc, currently occupied by the army of Nagarythe.

  As soon as he had found out that the city had fallen into the hands of the druchii, Thyriol had closed the gate, putting its enchantments into sta­sis. Now the Phoenix King wanted Thyriol to reopen the gate so that he might send agents into Tor Anroc, perhaps even an army.

  “Caledor’s plan has much merit, father,” said Illeanith. “Surprise would be total. It is unlikely that the druchii are even aware of the gateway’s exis­tence, for none of them have ever used it.”

  “I wish to keep it that way,” said Thyriol. “The wards upon the gate can resist the attentions of any normal druchii sorcerer, but I would rather not test their strength against the magic of Morathi. Even the knowledge that such gateways can exist would be dangerous, for I have no doubt that she would find some means to create her own. On a more mundane point, I cannot make the gate work only one way. Once it is open, the druchii can use it to enter Saphethion, and that puts us all at risk.”

  “The Phoenix King will be disappointed, lord,” said Menreir.

  “The Phoenix King will be angry,” Thyriol corrected him. “Yet it is not the first time I have refused him.”

  “I am not so sure that the druchii are still unaware of the gateways, prince,” said Alethin. “There are few that can be trusted these days with any secret, and I am sure that there are Sapherians who once served in the palace now in the employ of the cults, or at least sympathetic to their cause. Even within the palace we have found texts smuggled in by agents of the druchii to sow confusion and recruit support.”

  “That gives me even more reason to be cautious,” said Thyriol, leaning his back against the parapet. “Tor Anroc is shrouded in shadow, protected from our augurs and divinations. Perhaps the druchii have discovered the gateway and guard it, or even now work to unravel its secrets. The moment it is opened, it will be like a white flare in the mind of Morathi—I cannot hide such magic from her scrying.”

  “Forgive me, prince, but to what end do you tell us this?” said Menreir. “If your mind is set, simply send the messenger back to Caledor. We are no council to give our approval.”

  Thyriol was taken aback by the question, for the answer seemed plain enough to him.

  “I had hoped that you might have some argument to change my mind,” he said. Sighing, he cast his gaze back towards the mountains and when he continued his voice was quiet, wistful. “I have lived a long, long time. I have known the heights of happiness, and plunged into the depths of despair. Even when the daemons bayed at the walls of Anlec and the night lasted an eternity, I had hope. Now? Now I can see no hope, for there can be no victory when elves fight other elves. I wish an attack or Tor Anroc, an assault on Anlec, could end this war, but there is no such simple ploy. Not armed force or great magic will end this conflict. We are at war with ourselves and the only peace that can last must come from within us.”

  “Do not do this,” Thyriol warned.r />
  “You are in no position to give me commands,” snapped Anamedion. A sword of black flame appeared in his fist and he leapt forwards to strike. Menreir stepped in the way, out of instinct to save the prince, and the ethereal blade passed through his chest. In moments the mage’s body disintegrated into a falling cloud of grey ash.

  Anamedion swung back-handed at Thyriol, but a shimmering shield of silver energy appeared on the mage’s arm and the flaming blade evaporated into a wisp of smoke at its touch.

  “You cannot control the power needed to defeat me,” Thyriol said. He was already breathing heavily, and Anamedion heard the words as nothing but an empty boast.

  Dispelling the warding that surrounded the room, Anamedion reached out further into the winds of magic, drawing in more and more dark power. A black cloud enveloped him, swirling and churning with its own life, flashes and glitters in its depths. He urged the cloud forward and for a moment it engulfed Thyriol, cloying and choking.

  A white light appeared at the cloud’s centre and the magic boiled away, reveal­ing Thyriol unharmed, glowing from within. Anamedion could see that his grandfather’s pull on the winds of magic was becoming fitful and saw a chance to finish him off. Taking a deep breath Anamedion reached out as far as he could, a surge of sorcery pouring into his body and mind.

  Thyriol felt a hand upon his back and turned his head to see Illeanith next to him.

  “Anamedion told me that you have banished him from your presence,” she said. “He is stubborn, but he is also brave and strong and willing to prove himself. Please end this dispute. Do not make me choose between my father and my son.”

  “There are no words that will lift the veil of a mother’s love for her son,” replied the prince.

  “You think me blind to my son’s faults?” snapped Illeanith, stepping back. “Perhaps I see more than you think, prince. Other matters are always more important to you. For over a thousand years you have lived in the mystical realm, you no longer remember what it is to be flesh and blood. I think that a part of you was trapped with the other mages on the Isle of the Dead, a part of your spirit if not your body. Anamedion has not seen the things you have seen, and you make no attempt to show them to him. You think that you guard him against danger, but that is no way to prepare him for princehood. He must learn who he is, to know his own mind. He is not you, father, he is himself, and you must accept that.”