Chapter 1
Just so you know, this is volume one in a seven-volume epic that I've completed over the course of nearly three years. This storyline is generally seen to have hit its stride around halfway through this story's sequel, The Shadows Coil. So if you can bear with it for a little while, it gets much better. In my opinion, at least.
The sun had set by the time Shardak returned to the stark city of Intax. The moon cast its dispassionate gaze down on the city below, and the tall towers rose like avaricious avengers against the cold north wind. Drawing his dark cloak around him to conserve heat in the cold conditions, he stared at the rather rundown urban landscape before him. The warring Kodax tribes had already decayed the once-beautiful city beyond all hope of repair.
Beside him, his friend Blast contemplated the grim towers before them and spoke the words they were both thinking.
"It's so...desolate. As though nothing at all lives here."
It was not abandoned, of course. The Kodax soldiers that ruled the city of Intax would never let anyone leave the city alive. But everyone knew that the price anyone paid for wandering the city at night, the unspoken promise in the eyes of the Kodax guardians who currently controlled the city. And it wasn't death.
"You know the reason." answered Shardak. "Everyone is distracted now. The Kodax tribal wars never spread to Intax before, and since the most recent battles…" he let his voice trail off.
"There haven't been any attacks on Intax." Blast protested. Then he added, darkly, "Yet."
"I know." replied Shardak. "But everything seems so...quiet...as though a storm is about to break. And when the attacks strike Intax and Xaterex, we must be ready."
Blast nodded grimly. "We could escape all this, you know." he said, almost as an afterthought.
"How?" asked Shardak incredulously. "There's no way out of Intax, except the way we leave at twilight for mask making, carving, and hunting. And even if we could escape, we'd never get Nightshade and Arcturas out without official permission."
"I know." said Blast. "But...there has to be a way to solve the puzzle...a way to escape the city forever. The Kodax, obviously, have a way out."
"If there is a way out, and we find it, there's no way they'd let us live," said Shardak. He briefly wondered why they bothered to discuss all of this. It wouldn't help them earn more widgets to support his father and sister, Arcturas and Nightshade, and it certainly wouldn't allow them to escape Intax. But it was almost as though discussing it had become a cold comfort to their predicament as they tried to support many other Glatorian as well as themselves from day to day in the city of Intax.
They had other ways to support their families and friends. Blast had no family, but he and Shardak were part of the same group of young Glatorian that also included their friends Kor and Skar. Blast and Shardak were both bound to support them in addition to Shardak's family, who had lived in Intax as long as he could remember.
"We'd better return now." said Shardak, breaking the long silence that had fallen between them as each of them pondered their predicament. "It's long past twilight."
The two Glatorian strode across the bridge which spanned the Shadewater River that flowed through the center of Intax. Grimy and overflowing with decay and scrapped metal, Shardak couldn't see the bottom of the river, despite it being quite shallow.
"Shardak." said Blast. There was a tone in his voice that Shardak had heard only once before, when they had almost been apprehended by Kodax guards at night. "Shardak, something's on fire."
Shardak turned to look at the sky, and startled, noticed that the ebon Glatorian was correct. Smoke was rising from a nearby area, and sparks rose into the night, then flickered out like dying stars.
And it was coming from an area which Shardak knew only too well.
No. He thought, but as he drew nearer to the city he realized that his fears were proven correct. The flames were coming from their street, and he could see the buildings were wrapped in a sheath of pure red-orange flame.
"No!" he screamed, racing down the streets, turning down an alley that was blanketed in smoke and fire.
Arcturas.
Nightshade.
The sparks and smoke were rising higher now. For a moment, Shardak wondered what had happened, if Arcturas and Nightshade had escaped and had been taken to safety. As he ran, gasping for breath as he tore down the streets, he saw that the entire roof of a house nearby their own had collapsed, and that the flames, steadily rising above the buildings, blotting out all sight of any beings. Only Blast's armored hand, wrapped tightly around his, kept him from running out into the blaze.
"Shardak, there are Kodax here. They'll help them out." Shardak looked around wildly. There were no sign of the dark-armored guardians of the city in the streets. He tore his hand out of his friend's grasp and raced into the smoke. Gagging and choking, he staggered around and fell to his knees in shock. At the center of the smoke stood a Glatorian he knew very well.
Arcturas. Three strange, obsidian armored beings, each one carrying spears in their gauntleted hands, surrounded his father. Their eyes burned in the twilight, cold and dead. Shardak realized that if he or Arcturas even moved an inch, he'd be transfixed by all of their spears. No, he realized, they'd throw one at Nightshade as well.
No... he thought. This can't be happening. Not now, not like this...
Arcturas was standing, defiant and unbowed, despite the carnage and flames surrounding him.
"I knew you'd find me one day." he said. "It was only a matter of time."
From the flames came a harsh, cackling laugh. "We anticipated your every move. Now where is he?" One of the strange beings stepped forward, his red eyes reminding Shardak of the ring of fire that surrounded them all.
"I will not tell you," said Arcturas, but the fear was audible in his voice. "He's gone. A long time ago."
"Very well," said the being, advancing on him. "Then you will die. It is a...shame that these poor Glatorian must die with you." He raised his spear.
Arcturas moved so quickly that Shardak couldn't even see his fist until it slammed into the being's face. The being, dropping its spear, staggered backward and collapsed on the ground, unconscious. Two more of them leapt out of the flames, felling Arcturas. One of the spears caught him in the leg, the other in the side. Shardak noticed blood, stark black against the dark sky and the darkened flames. As Arcturas slipped out of the beings' grasp and staggered to his feet, the other being threw his spear.
"No!" Shardak screamed, flinging out a hand as though he could stop the spear's path midflight. There was nothing he could do as it drew closer and closer to Arcturas.
An explosion of fire startled Shardak, and he stared at Arcturas, staggering toward the edge of the fiery circle, and the molten remains of the obsidian being's spear. Shardak was forced to take a step back as the fire began to separate him from Arcturas and Nightshade.
As the fire rose higher, Shardak thought he heard a scream of rage in the distance, followed by a sharp pain in his side. As though struck by some great force, he was flung back. The flames spun in a whirling, deadly kaleidoscope of red, orange, and yellow, and the stars spun around and around his head as though something had set the planet spinning at light speed. It took him a moment to realize he was lying on the ground, a shattered spear lying next to him. Realizing he hadn't been wounded, he attempted to stand and collapsed again.
Impervious to everything except the flames, he lay there, mesmerized and lost in a world beyond caring for a few moments, before a scream jerked him back into reality. For a moment, his mind was completely blank, then he remembered.
"Arcturas..." he gasped.
"It's me." said Blast.
"Blast..." he asked, his throat dry from the smoke and fire. "Where's Arcturas? And Nightshade."
"I don't know." he said. "We have to get out of here before this entire place collapses."
"I'm not going to leave them!" snarled Shardak. As his vision cleared, he could see the beings in the distance, and he could hear Arcturas' voice, defiant but weakening. The flames, rising hungrily over the carnage of battle obscured everything else.
"Shardak-" began Blast, but the yellow-armored Glatorian had already torn himself free from Blast's grasp and fluing himself into the flames. For a moment, he was lost completely in the clash of weapons and flames, then his vision cleared. He could see Arcturas, racing toward him, horror in his eyes three of the obsidian beings lay motionless on the ground behind him, and two more were still fighting.
"Shardak!" He screamed. He was carrying his flaming weapon, the Blade of Arcturas, in one hand, a spear from the obsidian beings in the other. "Run! You shouldn't be here! Get Blast and-"
One of the beings stabbed out at him, but Arcturas blocked the blow with a sweep of his flaming blade and speared the being under the chin. Scarlet blood fountained.
"I'm not leaving you!" Shardak screamed, trying to make himself heard over the clash of weapons and the roar of flames. It seemed as though the ground was giving way beneath him. The world was spinning rapidly, causing the Glatorian biting nausea and horrible pain from where the spear hilt had struck him.
Arcturas decapitated the last obsidian being with a sweep of his flaming sword, then raced toward Shardak. "You have to get out of here." he said urgently. "Run! They're coming."
Shardak was about to reply when he noticed that one of the obsidian beings had staggered to his feet. "Arcturas! watch out!" he screamed. Arcturas, racing toward Shardak, stopped and turned around-just as the spear that the being had thrown entered his body. The momentum carried him backward, and he collapsed limply on the scorched earth.
"Arcturas!" yelled Shardak as he raced toward his father. He was lying, either dead or dying, on the ground. Shardak wondered for a brief moment if he was dead. Shaking him, he searched frantically for a pulse, for any sign he was still alive.
Arcturas' eyes fluttered open. "Shardak..." he gasped. "I am dying."
"No!" said Shardak. "We can get you to Intax...invent some story."
"The wound is fatal, Shardak." Arcturas said gently. "I cannot move, or I will hasten my passing."
"Take this," he said, placing the blade in the hands of Shardak. The Blade of Arcturas. Normally Shardak would've argued, saying he wasn't worthy of the powerful weapon, but now he reached out and touched it. A bolt of energy shot up his arm, and his vision went out of focus. "And remember, while the secret is hidden, sometimes the answer...the answer is in plain sight."
"We can still escape." Shardak said desperately, and for a moment he was oblivious to the soldiers firing at them, to the noises of the night, to everything but Arcturas.
"No. Run!" Arcturas gasped. "You have to live. Then we may still have some hope." His voice softened. "You can survive. Just- don't hate me in the end. When you know the truth."
"What truth? What-" Shardak was cut off by the sound of more of the beings racing toward them. They hadn't spotted Arcturas yet, but if they did, Shardak knew they would both be killed.
"Flee..." Arcturas gasped, his speech horribly slurred. "They'll not follow you, they only want me. Run!" The effort of speaking made the blood flow faster from his horrible wounds. Shardak knew then there was no way to save Arcturas. If he fled with the Toa, the beings would follow them, and kill them both. And Arcturas had said he must live. For what reason, Shardak did not know, but he guessed it went beyond the bond they shared.
"Shardak." said Arcturas, his voice quieter now. "Please leave. Some part of me will always watch over you." his breathing began to grow weaker now. "Go..." he whispered. "Take care of Nightshade for me. Follow...your heart."
Nightshade. his sister's name jerked him out of stupor. Staggering to his feet, blinded by tears and by the all-consuming smoke, he raced away from the dark soldiers.
And as he turned, he saw, for a sliver of an instant, a tall, cloaked being standing over Arcturas' remains. His red eyes stared balefully at Shardak, then the curtain of flame rose once more and the being was hidden from view once more.
Shardak was dimly aware of the Blade of Arcturas' weight in his hands. His head throbbing with pain and his side aching from where the spear's hilt had struck him, Shardak collapsed on the ground, his eyes staring at the flames which blotted out even the night sky itself.
Stars, Shardak thought numbly. The stars are burning.
Then he was gone, lost in a realm beyond life, death, or reality.