Chapter 14
Raelag's face was grim as he looked down at the book he held in his hands. His brow as furrowed in the telltale expression of one who has been forced to see something that he would intensely prefer not to deal with at all. The book Sareth and the others had been to acquire in Arantir's mansion had mostly survived intact despite what they had gone through to get it. The only damage that was really noticeable was the ale stain down the spine of the book and this came from being stuffed inside Graug's dirty tunic for too long.
Before the clan lord, waiting for his response stood Leanna, Xana and Sareth. The two girls watched Raelag face for any sign of emotion but Sareth's attention was not entirely there, his eyes off to one side. The three of them after some discussion has decided it was best if they made the report to the clan lord, rather than involve Havez, Graug or Lethos who might not be taken seriously.
Sareth's heart for their work, to prove Arantir the murderer, had greatly if not completely diminished. All his attention now was on the realisation of his role in the machinations of the demon cultists. The knowledge of some darker nature lurking inside him brought up more questions than it answered but any interest in answering them was overshadowed by an intense self loathing that bubbled up through his very being.
Raelag leaned back in his chair and placed the book down on the desk in front of him next to the other pieces of damning evidence they had brought to him. The samples from the summoning platform used by Arantir to bring forth the Wight that killed Menelag was perhaps the most damaging to any claims the Necromancer might make of innocence.
When Raelag glanced up there was a profound look irritation in his expression.
"Alright." He began in a contemptuous tone. "Proud of yourselves now?" He stood up and paced back and forth, scowling.
"I bet you were all thinking that if you presented this to me I'd have no choice but to renounce any alliance I could make with Arantir and hunt him down."
Even Sareth was lured out of his gloom by the unexpected reaction in the clan lord. He was angry, even outraged that they had brought this to his attention.
"And you know what?" Raelag asked, slamming both hands down on his beautiful carved mahogany desk. The book and all other objects on the top bounced. "You'd be right! I can't ignore this." He slapped one hand down on the book. "The world above is going all to smash and I need an alliance with the Necromancers to at least stave off destruction but despite any of that I can not ignore this!!"
He was so angry his pale dark elf skin was actually beginning to turn a shade of red.
"Clan lord, my uncle was murdered by..," Leanna began in growing indignation but was cut off when Raelag glared her down savagely.
"I am well aware of that!" He was nearly spitting in rage. "This evidence is undeniably and proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Arantir was secretly working to murder my other allies but if you had only held off presenting this to me I could have worked through the Heresh Council itself rather than through Arantir as a go between."
The was a moment of dumbfounded silence as the three of them stared at Raelag, only now beginning to comprehend the reasons for his anger and the political machinations that had been happening behind their backs.
Raelag, perhaps realising that he had said too much, straightened his back and look a long deep breath to calm himself.
"But any hope for that is now gone. If you haven't already heard, Arantir left the city about an hour ago."
"He what!?" Sareth asked, taking a step forward. Raelag frowned and titled his head to one side.
"He made some excuse about being recalled to Heresh by the council and left with all his retainers and guards." He eyed the collection of objects on the table with something closer to active dislike. "And now with all this slapped before me I can only assume that he was simply fleeing before I could detain him."
"You.. you have to go after him!" Leanna began in horrified alarm.
Raelag just shook his head.
"I already have Grim Riders out patrolling my clan's tunnels and caverns for his group. It won't do any good though; an hour's head start is all a skilled Necromancer like Arantir needs to avoid detection. My guess is he's already been picked up by some transportation from Heresh."
"You mean you're going to let him get away with it?" Sareth was so indignant he momentarily forgot his melancholia.
"And what do you suggest I do, Sareth?" The clan lord asked, eyeing him sidelong. "If I don't find him within the bounds of my own kingdom I have absolutely no authority to chase him into other kingdoms, especially NOT with the surface world on the brink of Total War!"
Sareth opened his mouth to answer but Raelag cut him off.
"When you run a country then you can lecture me about the finer points of law and diplomacy but until then you understand nothing about the political ramifications of pursuing those with Diplomatic immunity!"
Sareth stood there wide eyes, unable to think of any retort to the fuming clan lord. Did the leaders of states care nothing for justice? Did they allow criminals to get away with their heinous acts just because it was politically inconvenient for them to do anything about it?
Sareth took a step back, swallowing his pride. What right had he to condemn anyone?
"What's the matter with you anyway?" Raelag asked, looking him in the face with a scrutinizing glare. "You've been as glum as could` be imagined ever since you got here."
Sareth swallowed hard but said nothing, avoiding direct eye contact. There was only one thing he wanted to say. Only one question he wanted to ask. But he feared to. He feared to ask because he feared what the answer might be.
But to live in doubt, he realised all too quickly, was far worse.
"What am I?" He blurted out quickly so any lingering fears could not stop him. Beside him Leanna blinked and looked at him in confused astonishment. Xana pursed her lips tightly together and then did not look in his direction.
Raelag stared him down until Sareth was forced to look at him directly. The clan lord's expression was stern and emotionless.
After a moment of this oppressive silence Sareth felt the need to go on.
"I have felt it several times, deep within me... power beyond any magic." He said. "And I can feel it growing stronger, along with a savage impulsive side to me that I can feel even now. Its like the mind of some animal and it scares me!" Growing bolder he took a step forward. "That's why the cultists wanted me isn't it? I'm… I'm not human!"
He had been struggling towards that awful final conclusion ever since that terrible moment when he had perceived the true designs of the cultists for him. There could be no other explanation for all that was happening to him.
"You know don't you?" He stared into Raelag's eyes. "You knew why those cultists wanted me. You knew what they intended and why they needed me, I can see that now. You know what I am."
Raelag's expression did not chance but the look about his eyes was grave.
"Oh do I?" He asked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "Well then young man, if you are not human then tell me what you think you are."
Sareth floundered. When he did not speak Raelag glanced over at the startled Leanna.
"How much of your uncle's work did you tell him about?" He asked bluntly, even disapprovingly.
"All I knew." Leanna replied after she recovered enough to speak. "What little that was."
Raelag grunted with a scowl and then folded his arms behind his back. Frowning did not really do much for his complexion and the creased lines seemed to make him look a great deal older.
"Alright then." He began after a moment of rigid contemplation. Then he glanced around the room and his frown deepened. "But this conversation can take place somewhere without an audience."
The three of them glanced around in sudden surprise. The chamber they stood in was empty accept for Raelag and themselves.
"I did not invite you to ease drop Lethos." Raelag stated, gesturing to the far wall.
"Lethos?" Xana began looking back the way the clan lord has gestured. There was a short chuckling sound and stepping out seemingly from the wall itself was the dark elf poisoner. His face was creased by a large sardonic smile and he bowed to them all almost mockingly with a long sweep of his arm.
"Greetings one and all." He said still grinning. "I am willing to wager that you did not expect to see me here."
Xana grinned at him.
"Oh you have been a bad boy haven't you?" She asked with a raise eyebrow, her head cocked to one side.
"One does ones best." Lethos replied.
Leanna blinked in confusion.
"You.. you just walked through a solid wall." She gasped. "How did you do that?"
The dark elf tilted his head to one side and laughed.
"Perception is not always truth my dear." He said with a supercilious grin that spread from ear to ear. "Throughout Lord Raelag's stronghold are hidden doorways to spy runs in the walls. They're constructed as to be completely invisible from the outside. It involves the casting of light and the concealment of secret mirrors as to create the illusion of there being nothing there but a dull wall."
Raelag grunted and shook his head with a half amused sigh.
"Your theatrics more often than not become annoying, Lethos." The clan lord said disapprovingly. "You can't do anything without some boyish display can you?"
"Oh my apologies Father." Lethos' grin widened to show his teeth. "It's that I'm so flamboyant that I simply can't help by show off."
Sareth was stunned.
"Father?!" He stuttered as the two girls either side of them looked at Lethos with wide astonished eyed.
"Oh did I not mention that?" Lethos asked in feigned innocence, tapping onside of his face with a finger. "Oh dear how forgetful of me." He walked past them to the side of the table. "Allow me to introduce my adopted Father, Clan lord Raelag and ruler of Ygg-chall."
Sareth's mind worked fast and suddenly he connected the dots. He knew that Lethos was a professional spy and assassin but had never considered their chance meeting in the baths to be anything but that. Now the subterfuge behind it all was more than plain.
"You were sent to spy on me." He said and he could not keep the accusatory note out of his voice. "You were there just to keep me in line."
At that Lethos actually looked offended.
"Sareth, please… do you know me so little?" He asked. "Do you believe for a moment that I am so devoid of integrity, brother mine?" He swung his hands wide. "I was looking after you, a stead fast dependable guardian."
Sareth shook his head from side to side as if to clear his muffled and confused brain. Was nothing as it seemed?
"Well now since you're here anyway..." Raelag began still frowning. "Are there any other spies listening to us?"
"Oh there were." Lethos said with a chuckle to his lips. "But they're taking a nap right now." He tapped the side of his belt where he kept the pouch that carried his various chemicals, concoctions and poisons. No doubt along with any lethal substances he carried a few drafts capable of putting any inconvenient people to sleep.
Raelag nodded approvingly.
"Very good." He said. "Then perhaps now is the time for a few explanations."
Sareth glanced up in sudden alert stance, pushing any duplicity on Lethos' part to the back of his mind to be dealt with at a more appropriate time. This took full priority right now.
Raelag took a deep breath and rolled his eyes as if he wondered where to start, his lips pursed together thoughtfully.
"Alright." He began. "If you must know Sareth, no you are not completely human." A raised hand cut off anything Sareth might have said when he opened his mouth. "Let me speak and then when I am finished you may ask questions." His stern glare forced the young mans mouth shut.
"As much as I understand about this, you are a hybrid."
"Hybrid?" Leanna asked with a furrowed, puzzled brow. Beside her, Xana's face had paled slightly and she remained silent.
"Everyone is a mixture you see... half of them comes from their mother and half comes from their father." Raelag explained, sitting back down in his chair. "We inherit characteristics from our parents, hair and eye colour, height, weight, even in some cases hereditary diseases." He looked at Sareth across fingers that he knitted together across his face. "You might take some comfort in the fact that you take more after the human parent."
The young man stared at him unblinking, unable to absorb what Raelag was insinuating. Everyone was looking at him as if waiting for him to speak. Leanna looked just as stunned as he himself felt, clearly if her uncle had known anything of this nature he had not divulged it to her. Lethos had a thoughtful and quizzical expression and appeared more puzzled than shocked.
Xana was quiet, her expression forcibly neutral but her skin did appear quite pale.
Sareth swallowed hard to clear his throat.
"If what you say is true…" He began in a trembling voice. He paused and tried again, a little more confidently this time "If what you say is true then I… I was never Phenrig's student… I was his experiment!"
Raelag looked off to one side and grunted.
"In a manner of speaking." He replied. "Menelag was my 'inside' man in the cult, but he died before he could bring me any more useful information than this." He turned to Leanna. "Forgive me, but your uncle was a fine man doing good work to route out a nest of vipers. I only wish that he could have carried on. I could really use his help and advice."
Leanna managed a nod but the tightening around her eyes told of the pain she still felt for the loss of the only father figure in her life.
"But if only half of me in human…" Sareth asked slowly. "… then what is my other half?"
"I don't have enough evidence to say for sure." The clan lord sighed. "And it would be an exceptional mistake to assume anything, although I can make a few educated guesses.
"You're evading the question." The young man accused with a frown.
"Your damn right I am." Raelag replied. "I am not net prepared to divulge my speculations to anyone. For the moment I have told you all I know for a fact, which as you can see is surprisingly little. The question right now is what are you going to do about it?"
Sareth gritted his teeth, trying desperately to let his anger not boil out of him again.
"What in the name of Sheogh can I to do about it?" He asked. "No matter how desperately I may want to do so I can't change where I came from! No power in the world can change that! I…"
"…are what you are?" Leanna asked, finishing the sentence when he faltered. She was smiling at him fondly and with understanding in her eyes. Sareth glanced at her for a moment before his expression softened and he took a deep breath.
"Yes." He agreed. "I am what I am."
Strangely, saying that made him feel a great deal better. He may fear the animalistic side of him that he knew now dwelt inside of him but what point was there in wallowing in misery over something that he could not change? If this was his heritage than he was stuck with it.
Raelag actually looked a bit surprised by this, mouth open slightly and eyes wide. He blinked a few times and then cleared his throat to cover his momentary confusion.
"Well said." He eventually decided but there was a disturbed quality to his tone that made Sareth look around at him again. "But this does lead me around to the proposal that I have been meaning to ask of you for some time."
"Proposal?" Sareth repeated.
"The Demon Cultists have been a cancer in Ashan for longer than you could ever know." The clan lord told him. "Their machinations led to some of the most horrific events in the history of this world. The ancient wars of fire with the Falcon Empire, the War of the Grey alliance…"
"The Night of burning tears." Lethos added dryly.
Sareth remembered Wyngaal had talked about this event in the history of the Sylvan people, of how the mother tree Brythigga had been burned by a demon summoned by the cultists and how the blame for this act had been placed on the Dark Elves.
"They have caused much suffering." Raelag spat. "And all in the name of their master, Kha Beleth."
Kha Beleth, the Demon Sovereign. Ancient and powerful, the reputed Avatar of Urgash itself, mothers told stories to frighten their children into obedience of this monstrous being. If they did not behave then the Sovereign would get them.
"I am not the only one who seeks to cut this cancer from the heart of our world." Raelag went on. "But I my allies are far flung and scattered. I am in need of strong, skill and well trained agents to seek them out and thwart their plans." He looked directly at Sareth, his eyes questioning. "To be blunt, I want you for this agent Sareth. Your skill with magic and… other powers, are growing at a rate that would make you a formidable opponent for even the most powerful chaos mage."
"And surely you would want to pay them back for what they put you through?" Lethos added with an ironic smile. "To turn their 'experiment' against them."
Sareth was silent for a long moment and no one dared to speak. His head was down and nobody could see his face.
"And…" he added just when the silence reached unbearable proportions. "To ensure that they never do anything like it to anyone ever again." There was the strange, perhaps uncharacteristic, firmness in his voice which made Xana look at him with an odd expression on her face.
It was a mixture of pride, and fear.
"Very good." Raelag said, sounding very satisfied. "Then we begin your training in the control of elemental chains…"
Before he could finish, Sareth leaned one shoulder down and let the sheath of the Dragon Tongue Blade slide off. He caught it by the sheath and then with placed it down firmly on the desk in front of the clan lord.
"I will help you but If you can speak with Malassa..." He pushed the sword across to him. "… then give her this back."
Raelag looked taken aback, as did everyone else Xana included. Sareth set his face into stern lines and pressed the sword forward.
"You would reject Malassa's gift?" The clan lord asked after he managed to regain himself. "Why?"
Sareth took a breath.
"Because I can't be trusted with it." He replied as frankly as possible. "Its power is too intoxicating. I can't control myself when it's in my hands."
Raelag looked between him and the sword several times, his expression gradually changing from one of shock to grim disapproval and then once again, surprisingly, to one of reluctant understanding.
"Your decision does you credit." He said. "That you tasted power and then offered it up shows that despite everything, you still cling to the essence of your humanity."
But he offered the sword back to him, lowering it back into Sareth's hands and then closing them over it.
"However, you were offered this sword by Malassa herself. Gods do not do things without reasons and they see much more in people than ordinary men. I do not believe that she was ignorant of your nature and that she knew what she was doing by giving you this sword."
Sareth looked at him incredulously.
"Sareth you must not run from this." Raelag's face and tone suddenly went grim again. "You must not fear the power within you. If you let fear consume you, you will never be able to master it. Control, discipline and concentration… with these you can keep whatever beast you feel is within you on a short leash."
Sareth looked him in the eye for a moment but then glanced away, looking back over his shoulder to the others. The three of them stood there looking expectedly at him, each with a unique expression on their faces, a combination of confidence and faith in him. Each of them returned his gaze with one of their own, telling him that they would support him whatever decision he made.
Xana's expression said more, that she would be at his side even in the worst of times.
Fuelled by such belief in him, Sareth gripped the sword tightly and nodded once.
"If you all think I can."
"Excellent." Raelag declared and clapped his hands once. From the far end of the study came the sound of deep, resonating thudding footsteps.
"Oh no…" Lethos began apprehensively.
The creature that entered has to duck its massive head in order to fit through the stone doorway. It was definitely a Minotaur as the shape of a human with bull like features was far too clear, but it towered above the others by a good two feet. Its chest and shoulders were all muscle, covered by a thin layer of chestnut coloured fur. Over his side barrel chest was a thick plate of steel, strapped in place by chains that spread over the shoulders and down the back.
The muscle over his mouth and nose was more like a helmet, with protective plates curving back over the neck and horns. Bracers of the same, thick material were strapped over the muscular forearms.
"You summoned me, my lord?" The Minotaur asked, sinking down to one knee, an action with nearly knocked the surprised Leanna over.
"May I introduce my taskmaster, Adrastos." Raelag said by way of introduction, gesturing to the huge Minotaur.
Sareth was taken aback by the creature's massive presence. The hydra he had escaped from had been much bigger but to his mind it had been a force of nature and so vicious that he had hardly ever stopped to consider it a living thing. Close up to this minotaur that illusion was impossible and he tried desperately not to be intimidated by the forearms which, he was quite sure, were capable of ripping a man in two.
"Your training starts as of now." Raelag went on with a strange, almost cruel grin spreading across his face. "As you're not young children you'll need to be brought up to speed rather quickly. Adrastos here is the best at advancing older students in magic training rather quickly. I'm sure you'll study diligently under him until you are ready to receive instruction from me directly."
"I will do my best to hurry them along, my lord." Adrastos replied and Sareth heard Lethos audibly gulp.