Shadow of Evil

Lance had an easy smile on his face as he took a sip of ale. It wasn't the best but it was refreshing and it was the only ale anyone would ever see in Sarilbans chambers, the ancient elf had sent for it specially on Lances request. Sarilban, Lance set his mug down to regard the ancient elf mage who sat across for him. Though he had known him for years now the sight of him still inspired a feeling awe, it was humbling. He still looked the same as he always did, and Lance figured he would still look that way for many many years to come long after he himself was dead. He sat at ease with a glass of red wine in his right hand, Alkem, his familiar, a white mouse, sat upon his shoulder. He was tall, lean and elegant with long hair of dark mahogany and red. His eyes were dark pools of black ice, back lit now by something that could be called warmth but it was not enough to thaw them. Lance had seen those eyes go dangerously dark once before and it had almost terrified him, he would not have liked to have been the one that gaze had been levelled against. He was a mystery still in many ways but he was a good friend and in the years since his mothers death he had become even dearer and the Tower had become like a second home.

They had ridden hard south from Bloodhelm toward the Plains of Dust. Lance had not had a plan, as he had pretty much picked the direction at random, but the Tower had decided for him where it was that they would go. If you went out looking for the Tower of Wayreth you would not find it. The Tower would find you though eventually though more often than not visitors would find them selves in a forest of black trees first and could wander for days before reaching their destination but Lance and his party had found themselves practically at the front door of the Tower as soon as they hit the trees and they had been here for the last day and a half. Luca had spent much of his time in the Archives. He said that he was looking for information about Takhisis and her followers and a little something about dragons too though he could not say what compelled him to do so. Jarrin and Aldemere had familiarized themselves with the Tower, doing odd jobs for some of the mages, and if they were not doing that they were out before the tower engaged in sparring practise. They could not stay here for long, not because they were not welcome but because Lance knew his two cousins would go stir crazy eventually, there really was not much to do here if you were not a mage or if you didn't know someone that lived here.

Lance drank the last of his ale and slipped into his own thoughts. He was beginning to feel weary of travelling. He had the feeling that he just wanted to go home. He missed his father and his own room with its warm bed. He missed the Inn and fishing. He missed the Vallen wood trees. But waiting for him at home would be,

"Is there something on your mind Lance? You seem troubled"

"Just thinking Master Sarilban"

"A good practise" Lance chuckled then was quiet for a few minuets.

"Would you mind if I were to ask you a question Master Sarilban?"

"Not at all Lance, go right ahead"

"Well you see there is this girl, woman"

"Uh oh, trouble" Alkem chuckled and Lance smiled.

"Indeed, this one even more so than normal perhaps. Since we were children everyone, and I mean everyone, even Luca, has been telling us how good we look together and what a cute couple we make. I thought it was only teasing and that it would eventually die down and go away but it hasn't they are still up to it even now. Heavens help me if I ever even mention her around Jarrin and Aldemere or I will be hearing about it for hours. One of the main reasons I went on this journey was to get a way from her for a while and figure out my feelings, not just about her but a few other things too"

"I see. And this question you wish to ask is about her?"

"In a way...well I guess what I am asking for is more like advice on how to handle her when I do return home"

"So what you are saying is that you resent the idea that those close to you have already decided who you love and who you will ultimately be with and that you do not even have the option of choosing someone else for fear of their disapproval and hurting the fair ladies feelings. Yet you are asking me to tell you what you should do about it" Sarilban smiled a rare smile, Lance returned it somewhat shyly.

"Its not quite the same thing is it?"

"No I suppose not. The difference between me telling you something and giving you advice is that ultimately it is up to you whether you follow the advice I give you or not" while saying this the ancient dark elf finished off his wine and set his glass down, leaning back comfortably in his chair before continuing on. "I can understand how you might feel Lance. Feeling like you are not in control of your own life can be frustrating especially when you have been raised to believe that it is up to you who you chose to be with and what you will do with your life"

"Was it not the same for you?"

"You forget Lance that I was a lords son. The woman I married was chosen for me not long after I was born but I was only told of her once I came of age. The only reason our marriage was delayed so long was because of my pursuits in becoming a mage"

"But you loved her, you have often said so"

"I loved her very much but when I first fell in love with her I was not aware of who she was. Have I told you this story before?" he had, and he was sure Sarilban knew that, but Lance enjoyed hearing it so he shook his head and waited for Sarilban to continue. "It was the day I was to meet her for the very first time. My father had told me to go out and find some flowers to present to her. As I was wandering the royal garden I spied a woman at the far end of the same garden. Feeling curious, sure that she had not seen me, I slipped behind the trees to gaze upon her secretly. The sun was hidden behind a tree, casting a warm grayness over the garden and the woman her self. When the sun came out again I was as close to her as I could dare and in that moment was when I felt my heart had stopped beating. With the sun came a cloud, a whirl wind, of silver butterflies, who had up till that moment been resting upon the white lilies. They flew around her and she turned to face me. Her skin was slightly bronzed by the sun and her hair was the colour of rose wood. I knew that I was in love. As I made my way home, the flowers I was supposed to gather completely forgotten I made an oath that I would marry that woman and I did not care who she was. I would have no other even if it meant defying my father and giving up all that I had she would be mine. Imagine my surprise and delight when, on returning home, I found that my betrothed and the woman I had seen in the garden were one and the same"

"I wish that I could say I felt the same about Solana"

"No one can have these sorts of feelings dictated to them. Many arranged marriages are very unhappy because love cannot be forced and in the end in an arranged union it is not essential. But you are able to chose who you will be with Lance, remember that, no one can tell you otherwise. In the end all I can tell you is that you will need to search your heart one day and figure out for your self if you love her or if you simply care for her as a friend. And on the day you do figure that out you will need to tell her for she will have no other way of knowing" Lance nodded then smiled more easily.

"Thank you Master Sarilban. That does help, and I will do that"

"I am happy to help Lance. Is there anything else you would like to talk about?"

"Is I possible that Takhisis still lives?" Sarilban was visibly surprised by this question, and he was a hard man to surprise.

"What prompted that question I wonder?"

"A few days ago Luca, my cousins and I had to fight to rescue an infant draconian from being slaughtered by Her priests. Not but two days ago we came across a decimated village in Bloodhelm where we were told by Lucius him self that the Order of Takhisis had been attempting to re establish themselves there"

"Ah so that is why young Luca has shown such an interest in the Dragon Queen in my Archives, for a moment I was worried"

"My question stands, is she really gone? Or does she yet live"

"No Lance it is not possible. She is Gone. Remember she was mortal when she was struck down and mortal souls cannot return from the dead"

"What about the Necromancers? Do they not spend their lives dedicated to that very dark art?"

"Indeed they do exist but I don't think there is one foolish enough to attempt to bring her back. Besides that I am sure that the other Gods would have thought of that and placed her soul out of the reach of all sorcerers"

"I wish I had your confidence in Them" a silence passed between them then and Sarilban took it to refill his wine glass and fetch Lance another ale. Lance took a long drink and Sarilban settled back in his chair.

"If you cannot have confidence in the Gods I ask you to have confidence in me and believe when I say that she could not possibly be alive. If she were you can can have confidence also that a certain dark moon God would be raising hell and raving like a mad man in my ear"

"I thought that you and Nuitari were not on speaking terms"

"We respectfully remain out of one anothers way but if his mother were to suddenly return you can bet that I would hear about it, as would every other black robe in this tower and elsewhere. He would immediately begin plotting to send her right back to the Abyss again"

"Then why are her followers still active? How can they still follow a dead Goddess?" it was Sarilban`s turn to go quiet as he sipped his wine contemplatively.

"I suppose in that way she is not really dead. The Gods have two lives. One is themselves, in their own sphere of existence apart from us, and the other is within us in our belief in them. So long as Takhisis`s followers believe in her she will never be truly dead. Evil it self, as a force in the world, never goes away. Everywhere the Light shines there are Shadows and it is there that Evil will always lurk and it cannot be defeated completely. That is simply the way that the world works. All we can do is stop it from taking over every time it rallies to try so that maybe one day it will be content with simply existing and give up its designs upon power and control"

"Unlikely" Alkem sniffed.

"I only hope that the next rally isn't coming" said Lance.

"That remains to be seen but from what you have told me Lance it seems likely that it might be, perhaps not soon but at some point in the not to distant future, and I suggest in that event that you all ready yourselves because I don't think you will want to be caught of guard" Lance nodded and took another drink.

"Thank you Master Sarilban, I will take all that you have said to heart" the ancient dark elf smiled.

"Yes I know that you will" Lance smiled back and a more comfortable form of silence filled the chamber again.

"Well now that that is passed what might the rest of the day look like for you Lance?"

"I had not thought about that yet honestly"

"Oh? Well since we seem to have started with questions and answers I have a few I would like to ask you, if you don't mind" Lance chuckled.

"Ask away Master Sarilban"

"How is that reformed Mage Killer Juspar fairing?"

"Well as far as I can say. He married Linara and they have two sons"

"You don't say? Well that is a surprise and tell me how did that sister of his manage to convince him to collect the money that his mother left behind?"

"She didn't, apparently he didn't touch a copper of it"

"I see, well I cannot say that I am surprised over that. A man can only change so much"

"His hate for his mother is something that has always baffled me"

"He has talked of her?"

"Little but it is evident in his face when he speaks of her at all or if ever she is mentioned"

"Well I should not talk of it if he has not but you can hardly blame him for his feelings toward her. Not everyone has been lucky enough to have a mother that loved them the way that yours did Lance"

"I understand" Sarilban sipped his wine before speaking again,

"And how is your father?"

"Better, by all outward appearance but I know that he still misses my mother greatly, she is always in his thoughts"

"Are the two of you getting along better?"

"I didn't think that we were ever getting along badly we just seemed to run out of things to talk about. He is so sullen now a days and not much like his old self, though he tries. But not talking often is not a sign that we don't get along is it?"

"I suppose it all depends on what you talk about"

"Indeed, and not it is my turn to ask you another question Master Sarilban"

"Oh?"

"How are Lindon and Kate?"

"Oh them, they are just fine. They do not come here often as they used to. They have turned my family home into their own"

"That is good to hear I am glad for them"

"As am I" Sarilban smiled, "I am sure that the house it self is grateful to be a home again"

"Have you been to see them there?"

"Once, in secret. Oh I was invited, what I mean is I had to do it dicreatly. Remember Dark Elves are not permitted to return home and there is one elf there that would uphold the penalties of that law"

"Lindon would have protected you I am sure"

"You are right, that is why I had to be so careful. I will not let him put himself in danger for me"

"But is that not what family is for?" Sarilban burst into laughter.

"Oh Lance you are so much like your father" once his laughter had subsided Sarilban drank some more of his wine and rose to his feet. "Sadly it is time that I returned to work"

"I will come with you. If Luca is still in the Archives I should talk with him" Sarilban nodded and led the way down to the Archives. Lance had not been down here for quite some years. It had grown vastly, there was even a whole new section that had been added on to accommodate the books and artifacts that Sarilban had found on his journey to find the Lost Archives. Luca was indeed still here, seated at one of the oak tables, pouring over a book with three stacks of other books about him. The site made Lance smile, the scholar was a side of his brother that he had not seen for a long time. He left Sarilban to continue his work and walked to join Luca, taking the empty chair at one end of the table.

"Find something interesting?" Luca looked up from his reading and smiled at Lance.

"Quite a few things actually. This one is Takhisis`s Battle Plan"

"That does sound interesting and highly useful"

"Sadly the title is misleading. It is mostly a journal of battle field tactics. Still useful but not in the way I had hoped"

"Do you think there is a chance we will ever have to fight them?"

"I don't know Lance. They are becoming active again and it is troubling"

"I think its really too soon to be worrying about it. We have only dealt with them a small bit ourselves and the incident in Bloodhelm was isolated"

"So far. I wish that I had your confidence brother. I think that it would benefit us greatly to be vigilant once we leave here" Lance nodded and the blood brothers fell silent. After a while Luca closed his book and set it aside with the others. "My father, it would seem, already has men looking into the situation. The ones we saw with him are only a fraction of the force that will be out there tracking down leads, we are not alone in this brother"

"Will you be joining them?" Luca turned to his brother and smiled.

"I started this journey with you brother and I will finish it the same. My father does not need me for the time being" Lance smiled back.

"Alright. In the meantime though you must have an idea of how we might be of help"

"Well I think we have pretty much already been doing it. If we run into any more of Takhisis`s lap dogs there is nothing stopping us from sending them to join her is there?" Lance grinned.

"Nothing indeed" Luca laughed and squeezed Lances shoulder before standing up.

"I'm starving, how about you?"

"I could eat"

"Lets go then. Should I just leave these books here?"

"Yes you had better. Sarilban will look after them and he hates when others mess with his filing system" Luca laughed again and Lance joined him. They walked side by side out of the Archives and made their way from their to the rooms they had been given to share with Jarrin and Aldemere, Jenna had apologized for this arrangement but had explained that it was because of a lack of available empty rooms. Having been in similar circumstances before they weren't bothered by it and had thanked Jenna all the same. As it turned out Jarrin and Aldemere were there waiting for them.

"Ah right on time. We already sent for lunch hoping that you two might show up soon" said Jarrin.

"That was thoughtful of you" this from Lance as he found a chair for himself.

"Please tell me that we will be leaving here soon" said Aldemere.

"Isn't the food to your liking?" asked Lance.

"Its perfectly fine I just think I might start going a little mad if we stay here any longer"

"Oh yes that would be quite the problem as you are already half there"

"I'm serious Lance. There just isn't anything to do here unless you happen to be a resident"

"My brother is right Lance I too am beginning to feel a little restless. No disrespect to Master Sarilban or any of the other mages here but I would just as soon be on our way"

"I understand, just as soon as we figure out a place to head for we can go and please help me out this time wont you? I'm always the one that ends up deciding these things"

"We just thought it would be easier that way is all but you are right Lance it might not have been fair on you. This time we will all decide the place we head to next" Luca and Aldemere nodded their agreement and Lance did the same. Their lunch arrived in short time, the brothers had ordered chicken stew and bread. They all ate quietly, absorbed in their own thoughts.

"We could go to Sancrist" said Aldemere.

"Thats an awful lot of ground to cover and the easiest way would have us crossing this damnable dessert to Enstar and Southern Ergoth"

"Just sounds like more adventure to me, have you ever been to any of those places?"

"Never"

"Well thats what this journey is about isn't it? Going new places that none of us have seen to have adventure"

"My brother is right Lance and I think it sounds like a fine idea, besides that I am sure that if we talked to him Master Sarilban might provide us with a way to cut short the time we would have to spend out on the Planes of Dust"

"I agree with them Lance and besides that my father has friends in Sancrist that we could stay with once we reach there. What say you?" in the end Lance found that it was a difficult thing to argue with them about this. Really there was no reason they could not go and they had done enough travelling by this point that the distance really should not matter. His own mother had travelled almost the whole of Ansalon on her own and on foot and it might also give him the opportunity to see what she had seen. At last Lance smiled.

"Alright to Sancrist it is then. I will talk to Sarilban tonight about it"

"We'll go with you Lance, there isn't anything else to do" said Jarrin. Lance nodded his agreement. They finished their lunch in a contented silence they had all become accustomed to after they had figured out where they would head next.

Later that night they were all seated in Sarilban`s chamber. They had enjoyed a dinner of pheasant and roasted vegetables. The ancient dark elf had supplied them all with ale while he himself enjoyed his customary glass of wine. Lance had explained their plans and where now waiting for the mages response.

"Sancrist is a long way from here, are you sure you wish to go?"

"We are sure Master Sarilban. We all discussed it" said Lance.

"We were hoping that you might be able to assist us crossing the Planes of Dust however Master Sarilban" said Jarrin, "That is one part of the journey that none of us look forward to and would like to avoid if possible" Sarilban smiled behind his wine glass and Alkem snickered.

"What brave warriors"

"Pay no mind to him. As you come to me for aid I will not refuse, keep in mind I do this for you because you are among those I would consider my friends. I can take you as far as the Sirrion Sea coast, from there you will be on your own. Is that agreeable to you?"

"That is fine Master Sarilban and thank you" said Lance. Sarilban smiled again.

"You are all welcome" the mage finished his wine. "When do you plan to depart?"

"Tomorrow"

"Eager to be gone are we?" Sarilban chuckled.

"No offence to you Master Sarilban but my cousins are growing a might restless"

"Young blood is always restless" while saying this Sarilban rose to his feet. "Well if that is the case I suggest we all get some rest it will be an early and busy morning for us all" the four young men rose and bowed to Sarilban before departing to their own shared chamber.

"The Sirrion Sea, as I had promised" said Sarilban as they all stood looking out along the sandy coast. From here they could all see the small island that separated them from Enstar, just off the southern coast of Southern Ergoth. To the North of where they now stood was the forest of the Qualinesti and beyond that Abanasinia...Home. Lance dismounted, the travel through the roads of magic had made him lightheaded and it did not wish to risk falling.

"How are we to cross?" asked Lance. Sarilban smiled.

"Something you did not think of? I am surprised"

"There is bound to be a village further up where we can find a boat. Fear not cousin there is a way" Jarrin smiled and Lance smiled back before turning to face Sarilban.

"Thank you for bringing us this far. We do appreciate it"

"No thanks needed Lance. I must leave you now I bid you all well on your journey" Sarilban bowed and vanished before their eyes, melting into the mist floating off the sea. Lance stood silently for a few moments before collecting his horse and leading the others up along the coast. He hoped that his cousin was right a village and finding a boat for he did not fancy taking a swim.