Chapter 1: Grand Entrances and Duels
Raznin awoke to a world of reds. From blood red, to brick red, to almost orange, to red so dark it was nearly black. Smiling, he slid gently out from underneath Jax's huge wing, blocking his ears as the dragon snorted in his sleep. They had settled the previous night on the banks of the Ninor river, after a long flight from Vroengard. Raznin walked silently to the river, washing his pale face to wake himself up, then moving into a series of exercises from the second level of the Rigmar. Today they would arrive in Gil'ead, their destination. They'd been sent simply to check things were in order, and to give a few 'mock duels', or something of the sort. Not that that would be any trouble. Not much people fancied a duel with a rider, even if it was just for fun.
He finished his stretches, then picked up hljodhr, silence, his sword, and swept through the forms he had been taught. Hljodhr's blade was short, just two feet long, and thin, making it very light and manoeuvrable, allowing for quick, precise strikes. It fit with his small, wiry frame perfectly, the ruby set in the pommel a stark contrast to his ice blue eyes and jet black, shaggy hair that reached down to his mid back.
Once finished with his exercises, he bathed quickly in the stream before dressing in his simple black breeches and tunic, over which he tugged on tight, dark red leather gloves, boots and vest. Around his neck, he wrapped a crimson scarf, which was actually enchanted with a few simple wards to protect him from airborne illnesses along with any poisons, such as the Ra'zac's breath. Hljodhr he placed in its leather sheath at his waist.
Once he had finished outfitting himself, Jax had woken, and they set off.
Jax landed with a great flapping of wings and a burst of flame atop a tower in the city, roaring majestically. Several citizens screamed in terror, cats and dogs went wild and guards cowered.
I will never grow bored of that. Jax said, laughing inwardly.
Raznin didn't bother replying, he just dropped to the ground and saluted the guard captain.
"Master Raznin, Thank you for coming. Do you wish me to accompany you to the Arena immediately?"
Raznin nodded, and followed.
The arena was simply a square set out in the town square, covered in a layer of dust with a few weapons set out along the sides. Upon Raznin's arrival, there was a cheer from the large crowd gathered. He smiled, and moved to stand in the middle of the square. He then spoke into the guard captain's mind, who translated his thoughts into the spoken word for the crowd to hear. This was Raznin's usual method of talking to large crowds.
"People of Gil'ead, I thank you for your warm welcome. Know that I am honoured by your presence here. It is good to see that you are all well. But anyway, enough formalities. I am here, as you probably all know, to check up on the state of things, but also to have a bit of a spar with any person willing. Are any of you one of these people?"
A myriad of hands went up. Raznin pointed to one, who stepped forward. He was a huge man, with a massive claymore across his back. His whole body rippled with enormous muscles, and he grinned confidently. Raznin, without even drawing his sword, beckoned to the man. He seemed surprised, but hauled his cumbersome weapon out of its sheath and surged forward, swinging diagonally downwards towards Raznin.
Lightning fast, Raznin whipped Hljodhr from it's sheath, batted the man's strike aside, and spun inside the man's reach, pressing his crimson blade against his neck. A gasp arose from the crowd, and the man stumbled backwards, the cocky smile wiped from his face. Without a word, he turned and melted into the crowd, which was cheering wildly. Raznin acknowledged them with a nod, and beckoned for anyone else to come forward.
After a few more 'duels' no more hands were raised, and Raznin bowed to them all, sheathed Hljodhr and turned to leave. Suddenly someone from the crowd yelled a warning. Raznin turned to find three men, bodies covered in black cloth, running towards him at incredible speed, daggers in hands. Hljodhr left it's sheath and Raznin dropped into a ready stance. As the first attacker drew within three feet and drew back his dagger to strike, Raznin rolled forward and turned as he did so, so he rolled left into the man's legs. He tripped over, slamming into the dirt. Before he even hit the ground Raznin was moving. Hljodhr came up, deflecting one man's dagger, while he lashed out with his empty fist, catching the other man in the chest. He staggered back coughing, collapsing to the ground. The man whose attack had been deflected came back again, stabbing straight for Raznin's throat. He swayed to the right of the thrust, and grabbed the man's dagger arm, twisting it. There was an audible crack and the man howled in pain, his dagger dropping to the ground. Raznin then kicked the man's kneecap, feeling the bone shatter under the impact of his boot. His opponent fell to the ground, incapacitated.
Raznin turned to find the first man off the ground, leaping towards him with his dagger held in both hands. Raznin easily sidestepped the clumsy blow, and slammed Hljodhr's hilt into the mans forehead. He fell to the ground again, this time unconscious. The crowd erupted into cheers as Raznin sheathed Hljodhr.
Are you alright, Raz? That was Jax's voice, using the nickname he kept for Raznin.
Yes, I'm fine. Just some people who took the duel too seriously. he replied.
Guards came and took the failed assassin's bodies away. Raznin bowed again, and left.
Just as he turned, he thought he saw, out of the corner of his eye, a large black cat. But when he looked again, it was gone. Shrugging, he headed over to the guard centre. After enquiring, he found to his pleasure, that the crime rate for the city had hit an all time low, despite the drinking rates rising. He then took his leave, but not before reminding the guards to stay watchful. No matter how peaceful things seemed to be right now, there could always be a murderer around the corner.
He stepped out of the guard centre to be greeted by a gust of cold wind, accompanied by more than a few leaves. Shaking them out of his hair irritably, he spotted something black flash down a side street just ahead. Intrigued, he dashed after the movement. Disappearing around the corner of the side street he saw two black, furry hind legs and a tail.
Its that cat again… he thought quietly to himself.
Rounding another corner, he found himself at a dead end alleyway. At the end of the alley was a dark green door. The cat was nowhere to be seen. Cautiously, he moved to the door, placing his hand on the doorknob. He hesitated.
"Well, if you're going to come in, there's no need to take such a long time with it!" Cried a distinctly feminine voice from the other side of the door, "I swear by the great felloberry gods of the south I will have a beard to rival young king Hrothgar's by the time your done turning that handle!"
For a moment Raznin just stood there in shock. Not to mention confusion.
Felloberry? He thought, then shook himself, and turned the handle, pushing the door open. He was completely unprepared for the sight that greeted him.
He stood in a large room, with three thin windows on the opposing wall. By one of these windows was a small cage containing a young, brightly coloured bird with a sharp looking beak. The walls themselves were covered, oddly enough, with vines, which also extended to cover the ceiling. There were no paintings to be seen, indeed no decorations of any kind except for a brand new, shiny chandelier hanging from the centre of the roof.
Along one wall were a myriad of shelves and drawers, in front of which was a long counter. Sitting on this counter was the cat he'd seen earlier, lazily licking a claw, and on a rickety old chair behind the counter sat a woman. She was short, with dark, extremely curly hair, and was busily writing something on a piece of parchment. Nestled next to the parchment was a large toad. She didn't look up as he entered, but spoke nonetheless.
"Hello, sir rider, and don't bother replying, I am already well aware you are unable to. Not to mock, of course," she added, raising a finger, "I simply state the truth. People take offence at the strangest things these days. If it would please you, you can simply speak into my mind. Go ahead."
Raznin, after another moment of stunned confusion, spoke.
Well…I am Raznin-
"yes yes, I am quite aware of that. How many other riders do you know of that are mute?" When Raznin had no answer for this, the woman sighed. "Continue…"
If I may ask, who are you?
"I suppose you may. And most people these days call me Angela. I am a herbalist, a fortune teller, a witch, take your pick."
…okay, it is a pleasure to meet you, Angela. I believe your pet led me here?
"He is my pet? Ha! But anyway. He is not my pet, but yes he led you here."
Several seconds past, then Raznin realised she was waiting for him to speak.
Um, why did he do this?
"Because, firstly you are a rider, and secondly you are a mute rider. I believe your fate will be rather interesting…I just want you to let me give you a fortune telling. Its your choice of course, but why let such an opportunity pass, eh?"
He hesitated. I'm not so sure I believe fortune tellings, but-
"Yes? Alright, brilliant! Come over here, sit yourself down!" She beckoned to an empty chair across from her. Raznin blinked. That hadn't been there before. Still, he sat down. Angela pulled out a thick cloth from seemingly nowhere, and spread it over the counter in front of her. From beneath the counter she pulled out a bag. She upended this bag on the cloth, and several white objects spilled out, each carved with runes.
"these are the knucklebones of a dragon," She said, voice suddenly serious, "Unlike most other methods of fortune telling, these ones actually work. Now, lets give these babies a whirl, shall we?" And, without hesitation, she scooped up the knucklebones, placed them back in the bag, shook it about, and tipped them out once more, crying out "Manin! Wyrda! Hugin!" Raznin frowned. He recognized those words as being from the ancient language…This truly was a real fortune telling. He waited patiently while the witch studied the bones. A minute passed. Ten. Twenty. Finally she looked up from the bones, sweat beading her forehead.
"My, you do have an interesting future, even for a rider…I myself cannot even read a lot of this. However, there is some I can discern.
"I might as well start with the bad news. There's a good chance that your life, which I had expected to be long, will in fact be brief. There is a great war coming, and you may well perish in it…but not before doing your part."
Raznin sighed. He wasn't too surprised- a rider was constantly involved in battles, and a war no less…at least he'd be able to do something to help.
"Now, onto the good news," Angela continued, "You will find a great love soon…Though it will end in sadness. That's pretty much a given seeing as your life is ending shortly. No offence. Also, apparently a great curse will be lifted from you…but only in your final hour." she shook her head, a melancholy smile upon her lips,
"Rider, you have such a depressing fate… But interesting nonetheless…I must try to…find out what the rest of this means…"
She is distracted by the news of impending war, I fear. A strange voice echoed in Raznin's mind. He glanced around, shocked, then his eyes came to rest upon the cat.
You seem rather intelligent for a cat. he said, a slight tint of humour in his voice.
And you seem rather dull for a fully trained rider. The cat shot back. For I am no cat… I am in fact a werecat, and I trust you will not forget this fact.
Understanding dawned upon Raznin. He had been taught of them once…a year or so ago now.
Forgive me, werecat. What is your name?
The cat spread lazily across the counter before replying, I have many names…My real one, you will have to search elsewhere for. But for conveniences sake, you can call me Solembum.
Raznin nodded, turning to find Angela smiling mysteriously at him.
What? he asked suspiciously.
"You're the only one besides me that he has ever deigned to talk to. That's is interesting…indeed. Hmmm…Anyway, shouldn't you be going now? I believe you might want to be Ellesmera in three days for the autumn celebrations…you should hurry."
I- yes, how did you know that?
"I know a great deal of things, Raznin," She replied, a twinkle in her eye. She then stood, bustling him out of her abode. "Out with you now, out! If you linger any longer you'll start sprouting tentacles!"
Raznin ignored the strange comment about tentacles in an attempt to preserve his sanity, instead saying,
May I ask, before leaving, why you happen to have a toad there?
"Oh, I'm going into research, trying to prove that toads are not real, so that toad is, in fact, nonexistent, and it is actually a frog. Like all other toads in Alagaesia…Or frogs, as it may be."
That could take some time. He replied, a smile on his face.
"Nonsense!" She huffed, "I will have it done by the end of the year!"
And with that she shoved him out of the door, slamming it behind him. He glanced back, only to find a solid brick wall facing him. His mind in a muddle, he wandered out of the alley.
What was that about? Jax asked as he reached the top of the tower.
To be completely honest…I have no idea. But we have to go now. Ellesmera awaits us, mighty Jax!
Oh, why must you be so patronizing. Jax grumbled, Extending a foreleg. After Raznin was safely strapped into the saddle, he roared, powerful legs launching him into the air, heading for Ellesmera.