And on we go...
05.07.2005: Answers to reviews removed. See chapter 3 for details.Current Music: hide – Best Psychommunity (Too bad the man died – kinda kills the chance for an X-Japan-Revival...)
Disclaimer: None of them are mine. Well, maybe a few (see list chapter 5)... but all the others are property of Mr. and Mrs. Eddings.
And a little warning: I might "take off" some days to collect my thoughts again... I started into this without anything even resembling a plan of action (although I have the general idea of what is going to happen laid out in that sick brain of mine), and I would like to verify some things and think about some others, so I can make the next chapters even better (especially since we are starting to get into the interesting phase, after all this setting up!). Don't worry, I won't be able to let this thing lie for more than a week ;-)
Okay, now on to the next chapter!
CHAPTER 10
Aphrael flashed one of her special pearly-toothed smiles at Dorgatan, when he came through the door, his charges following him. A long time ago, she had had something of a crush on him, when he had been tall, lean and handsome, not in the mortal form he was stuck in now. That had stopped after a few decades, thankfully, and by now she had a far more interesting love interest...
She had finally revealed her secret of her newest incarnation as the daughter of the royal couple of Elenia to the other knights, as she felt that it would make things a lot easier for her. She had an idea that this quest of Dorgatan's friends might take a while to accomplish, and she did not want to figure out lie after elaborate lie, when she had to rest on their trip to be Princess Danae for her mother, Queen Ehlana.
The messenger God answered her question whether they had had a hard trip with a smile of his own, and then inclined his head to greet the other people in the room.
"Prince Sparhawk... Sir Tynian... Sir Ulath... Preceptor Bevier... Vanion..."
After he had greeted the men this way, he strolled over to the small, darkhaired woman, grasped both her hands, turned the palms upward and kissed them reverently.
"And of course, the lovely Sephrenia, High Priestess of Aphrael. So nice of you to make some time to meet with us – after all, the annual meeting of the Thousand is not far off."
She smiled at the boyish God. "Aphrael asked me to let the annual meeting slide – I believe she used the words 'Let those old men bicker out among themselves whether there should be a tax break for priests in the next year, they don't reach a conclusion anyway.' And although nobody in Styricum pays taxes anyway, she made her point quite clear. I already sensed that this was not going to be just one of her whims when we traveled here – and it seems I have been right."
Vanion, the former preceptor of the Pandion Order and husband of Sephrenia, cast a sharp look at Dorgatan, but did not say anything. It seemed he knew what was going on with the boy.
Bevier, however, as well as most of the other knights, were not quite so fortunate as to know that the scrawny Styric boy in front of them was actually a God, and their conversation proved that they had not thought about this possibility yet.
"How did he know...?", the just recently appointed young preceptor of the Cyrinic Order of Arcium asked his comrades-in-arms. Tynian and Ulath shrugged. Clearly they didn't know, either. Sparhawk, however, who studied the boy's face intently, as if he could find something there that might confirm his speculations. When he finally looked at Sephrenia, the question in his eyes apparent, the Styric woman decided to speak up.
"Dorgatan is the Styric God of messengers, Sparhawk. This is his newest incarnation."
The tall man with the crooked nose sighed. "I had feared something like that. Somehow, I didn't dare to hope that my little encounter with Cyrgon was the last of this whole 'Anakha'-Thing."
Belgarath and Polgara exchanged a look. This somehow sounded familiar...
Dorgatan, who had not said anymore since his initial greeting, now stepped into the middle of the room; the looked slightly vexed as he stopped the idle conversations that had started at their arrival.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, please. If you stop talking right now and listen to my explanations, we can all properly introduce ourselves to each other and I can explain the situation to you."
He waited, until the murmurs had calmed down, then he continued by pointing at the two disciples of Aldur, who had waited close to the door for the situation to become manageable again. "These are Belgarath and Polgara. They are – and I hope you will accept this term for now – from another world than this one. While they were inspecting a mysterious light in a cave not far from their home, at the request of their God, they were sucked inside and found themselves here. This light, they say, is draining great amounts of energy from its surroundings. I believe this energy is channeled to a place here in our world – it would be consistent with the fact that some Gods have kept to themselves a lot in the past years... To make it short, I have the distinct feeling that both our worlds might be in great peril – and I had Aphrael arrange for this meeting, because you, ladies and gentlemen, have been the champions of this realm twice already. We will discuss any further question after I have formally introduced all of you to each other."
He started by naming the two sorcerers from the Vale first, and introduced: "These are, as I already told you, Belgarath and Polgara, both disciples of the God Aldur, who rules with six other Gods over the realm they call home. Back there, they are powerful sorcerers, more powerful, in fact, than most users of magic I have encountered here, from what I gather. Their sorcery does not function here, however. They both have lived for thousands of years, serving their Gods in guiding the people of their realm."
He continued with Sephrenia, emphasizing the fact once again that she was Aphrael's High Priestess and had been the Pandion's Styric teacher of the secrets for centuries, then went on to Tynian, Alcione Knight and accomplished Necromancer (Tynian blushed a little at this point), Ulath, of the Genidian Order in Thalesia, well-versed in the language of the Trolls and with his battle axe, Bevier, whom the Patriarchs of the Elene Church in Chyrellos recently had voted to be the new preceptor of the Cyrinic Order, after three years of interim preceptors and against a number of older knights, for they felt he had the purest faith of all the candidates. He left out Sparhawk, for some reason, mentioning Vanion, the man who had won the heart of a Styric woman, against all odds and all naysayers and former preceptor of the Pandion knights, and then he turned to the prince.
Sparhawk visibly winced when Dorgatan intonated: "And this is Crown Prince Sparhawk of Elenia, interim preceptor of the Pandion knights, Anakha, The Man Without Destiny, He Who Slew Monstrous Azash and Warmongering Cyrgon."
"Are you quite done yet?", the tall man grumbled.
"Indeed, Your Highness, I am," Dorgatan said, sounding dignified and bowing in front of him, his smirk the only indication of mockery.
Sparhawk buried his face in his palms.
"So," Sephrenia asked, "how exactly can we be of help? Are there any hints yet who might be responsible for this gate phenomenon?"
Dorgatan's young face showed dismay. "Yes, we do have hints – not many, but we do. There is a number of Gods who are rather unresponsive lately – namely, the Troll Gods and the Elder Gods. The Trolls have not been out of line in the last couple of years though – or have they, Ulath?"
The Genidian Knight shook his head. "Not that I have heard of. Of course, accidents still happen – but in general, they stick to the agreement we made with the Troll Gods."
Aphrael's beautiful face was grim. "That leaves the Elder Gods – again. One would think that after Azash's demise, some of the more whimsical ones would have gotten the message..."
The Messenger God's face showed an equal expression, as he asked: "But which one of them is behind it? Why is he doing it? And, most importantly, how do we find him, or the people who are supporting him?"
"I might have an idea there, Dorgatan!" The Child Goddess suddenly smiled. "The flow of energy out of these people's world," she nodded pleasantly to Belgarath and Polgara, "is rather extensive, as far as I understood your explanation. Obviously, it must have been concealed for us to miss what is going on. Now, as we don't seem to be able to feel this energy flow separately, it might be possible to join forces – maybe the two of us together will be able to tell just where all this energy is directed to. I would guess that there, we will find our culprit, or one of his handimen."
Okay, that is it for tonight. This chapter took me quite some time, as I didn't quite know how to realize the encounter of these groups without screwing up any original character concepts... however, I already have some ideas for the next chapter, it will involve more personal interaction between the two groups, promise promise!
Just give me a few days to gather my thoughts... will be back with you next week!
Oh, and please review – thank you!